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New literary voices emerge from everyday life in China

Xinhua) 09:29, March 30, 2026

Writers share their experiences during an event hosted by the China Writers Association at the National Museum of Modern Chinese Literature in Beijing, capital of China, March 25, 2026. (Xinhua/Yu Junjie)

BEIJING, March 28 (Xinhua) -- On a mild spring morning in Beijing, a group of writers gathered at the National Museum of Modern Chinese Literature. They had traveled from across the country.

Some were from rural villages in the northwest and others from factory towns in the south. Some had spent years working as domestic helpers, construction workers or delivery riders.

They did not look like a traditional literary circle. But on this day, they shared a single name: writers.

The occasion, a special event hosted by the China Writers Association, brought together 35 participants representing what is increasingly described as China's "new forms of literature and art for the general public," a term that has appeared not only in cultural discussions but also in the country's policy documents, including this year's government work report.

At its simplest, the idea reflects a quiet but far-reaching change: in today's China, more people are writing and sharing their work, often drawing directly from their own lives.

For much of modern literary history, writing in China, as elsewhere, was often associated with scholars, intellectuals or those with the time and training to pursue it. But this boundary has begun to blur, shaped by the rapid spread of digital platforms and broader social changes.

Few stories capture the shift more clearly than that of Li Wenli.

Li is from Pingliang, in northwest China's Gansu Province. For years, she worked as a domestic helper in Beijing, moving between households, washing dishes and cleaning rooms. In the hours between tasks, she began to write, at first simply to record her days. Her memoir, whose title translates as "I Worked as a Housekeeper in Beijing," eventually found its way into print.

"I am just an ordinary rural woman," she said at the event. "I never imagined I could write a book."

Her story is no longer unusual.

Across the country, people from different walks of life are picking up pens, or, more often, tapping on phone screens, to document their experiences. In the central province of Henan, a shop assistant is preparing to publish a poetry collection, while in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region in the northwest, a community worker has written essays rooted in life along the Yellow River.

These writers range in age from their late 20s to over 70, and come from widely varying educational backgrounds. Taken together, their work is expanding not only who writes, but what counts as literature.

In places long defined by hardship, writing has taken on an added resonance.

In Ningxia's Xihaigu, a region once known for its harsh natural conditions, a group of farmer-writers has emerged over the years. They tend crops by day and write at night, turning lived experience into narrative. "The crops grown from the soil sustain the body," one local writer said. "The words grown from the pen sustain the soul."

Further south, in the manufacturing city of Dongguan in Guangdong Province, another literary tradition has persisted. Known as "migrant worker literature," it began in the 1990s among factory workers documenting life on assembly lines and in dormitories. It continues to evolve today.

For some, writing has offered a way to reclaim a sense of self. "On the production line, my life once repeated like a machine," one worker-writer reflected. "Literature brought me back to life."

Such expressions, circulating online and across social media, have found readers far beyond their immediate communities.

Digital platforms have played a central role in enabling this reach. They have lowered the barriers to entry, allowing aspiring writers to publish instantly and connect with large audiences. Some works have gone on to be adapted into films, television dramas, animation and video games.

In some places, literature is also being woven into local development. In Qingxi Village in Hunan Province in central China, the hometown of renowned writer Zhou Libo, a model combining "writers' studios" with cultural tourism has taken shape, linking literary activity with rural revitalization efforts.

For institutions, the shift has prompted new efforts to engage a broader range of voices. Zhang Hongsen, chairman of the China Writers Association, emphasized that literature remains rooted in the people and in the realities of the times.

What is emerging from these new forms of literature is not a single style, but a widening field of expression.

In the words of one participant, literature has made the invisible visible. In doing so, it is returning to where it began: in the lives of ordinary people, and in the telling of their stories.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
Chairman and CEO Chen Wei emphasized that success lies in combining strong IPs with strong creativity. He noted that 52TOYS has built a scalable and sustainable IP portfolio spanning both proprietary and licensed properties, with a continued focus on delivering fun, trend-leading products.

The 2026 lineup includes collaborations tied to major milestones such as Pixar's 40th anniversary, the 10th anniversary of Zootopia, and the release of Minions 3. Additional high-profile IPs, including Inside Out, Coco, and ZOA, the pet of G-Dragon, will also debut in new product formats.

Alongside licensed IPs, 52TOYS continues to invest in developing its original IPs. At the conference, creators behind popular in-house brands such as POUKAPOUKA, NOOK, Panda Roll, CiCiLu, NINNIC, LITTLE BUNS, and Lilith presented their 2026 plans. Future efforts will focus on product innovation, celebrity collaborations, cross-brand partnerships, and expanded content ecosystems.

The company is also expanding into hardcore collectibles and cultural products. New offerings include the transforming mecha series BEASTBOX and the articulated figure line "Infinity Dance," alongside upcoming experimental product lines targeting male enthusiasts. Meanwhile, the "Hyper-Activated" series reinterprets traditional Chinese cultural elements into accessible consumer products, achieving a strong market response during recent pop-up events.

To support partners, 52TOYS introduced enhanced channel policies encompassing systems, products, marketing, operations, and tools, aimed at empowering mutual growth. In a market full of uncertainty, 52TOYS offers partners reliability through proven hit-making expertise and long-term operational strength.

The conference reinforced 52TOYS' long-term development strategy and comprehensive IP roadmap, receiving strong recognition from partners and signaling continued momentum in the global toy market.

For more information about 52TOYS, please visit https://hi52toys.com/.

SOURCE 52TOYS
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., March 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Biointelli Corporation today announced the launch of Biointelli Predict, the first commercial intelligence platform built on Scientific Signal Intelligence (SSI)  a new category designed to detect and score real-time scientific momentum to identify organizations entering purchasing cycles before they appear in traditional sales pipelines or CRM systems.

Predict UI

Unlike conventional sales intelligence platforms that rely on contact databases, static lead lists, and web-based intent signals, Scientific Signal Intelligence draws directly from the scientific record  including NIH and NSF grant awards, industry funding, PubMed publication velocity, USPTO patent filings, lab hiring activity, clinical trial expansion, citation network growth, and conference abstract activity. Each signal is measured as a rate of change  a Delta  enabling commercial teams to identify emerging demand 6 to 18 months ahead of CRM visibility.

"The scientific record is the most accurate leading indicator of life science demand ever assembled," said David Hines, Founder and CEO of Biointelli. "With Biointelli Predict, commercial teams can see purchasing cycles as they begin. Scientific Signal Intelligence makes that possible. It's all about the Delta."

For example, an oncology laboratory that receives a new NIH grant, increases its publication output, expands hiring, and increases conference participation is typically entering a purchasing cycle for instruments, reagents, and services. Biointelli Predict detects this acceleration in real time, enabling commercial teams to engage these accounts months before traditional signals appearwhen vendor decisions are still being formed. This early visibility allows sales teams to prioritize outreach, tailor messaging, and compete more effectively at the beginning of the buying cycle.

Biointelli Predict: The First Platform Built on Scientific Signal Intelligence

Biointelli will formally launch Biointelli Predict at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting in San Diego on April 17, 2026.

Built on 18 years of proprietary, normalized scientific data, Biointelli Predict indexes millions of scientific entities globally. For the AACR launch, the platform is focused on oncology, including 17,000 companies and more than 500,000 academic laboratories worldwide.

Biointelli Predict identifies opportunity, while BioConnect PRO converts these signals into qualified pipeline through GenAI-powered outreach.

The core methodologies are the subject of USPTO Provisional Patent Application No. 63/998,284, filed March 6, 2026, establishing Biointelli's priority in defining and implementing this category.

Availability

Biointelli Predict will be available to life science manufacturers, distributors, CROs, and scientific services firms. Biointelli has supported organizations including Thermo Fisher Scientific and Danaher for over 14 years. Biointelli representatives will be available for demonstrations at AACR 2026 in San Diego beginning April 17. To schedule a meeting or request a demonstration, contact: [email protected] | biointelli.com/predict

References to these organizations do not imply endorsement of Biointelli Predict or Scientific Signal Intelligence.

About Biointelli

Biointelli Corporation is a life science commercial intelligence company specializing in Scientific Signal Intelligence (SSI). Founded in 2008, the company has built a dataset based on 18 years of proprietary, normalized scientific data across grants, publications, patents, purchasing data, Industry intelligence, clinical trials, and conference activity.

Biointelli operates under GDPR and CPPA compliance and delivers GenAI-powered tools for early-stage commercial engagement.

Media Contact

Robin Hines

Biointelli Corporation

[email protected]

617-444-8420

SOURCE Biointelli Corporation
EXPRESSWAY will withdraw its Dublin Airport to Waterford Bus Service, Route 4 from 24 May, it announced on Friday 27 March.

At present route 4 operates 12 services a day, stopping at Dublin Airport, Busaras, Dublin Heuston, Carlow Town, SETU Carlow, Leighlinbridge Cross, Royal Oak, Gowran, Thomastown, Ballyhale, Mullinavat and Waterford Bus Station.

Expressway is a commercial service which receives no state funding.

In a statement, Expressway said that they had cancelled the service as they experience continuous significant losses while operating it.

The decision to consolidate our Expressway network and withdraw from a small number of routes is aimed at safeguarding the Expressway network, a spokesperson said. Given the scale of our operations, there will be no impact on jobs given our current recruitment needs In addition to withdrawing route 4, Expressway also announced that route 52, which connects Ballina and Galway and a segment of route 40, which connects Rosslare/Wexford and Waterford, are also being withdrawn.

A spokesperson for Expressway said that any customer who has a prebooked journey on any of the impacted services will be contacted and provided with a full refund.

Peter Chap Cleere, Fianna Fail TD for the Carlow-Kilkenny constituency and a spokesperson for rural affairs, called the cancellation a major blow to communities across Carlow and Kilkenny.

Deputy Cleere confirmed that he will raise the matter with both the National Transport Authority and Bus Eireann.

This route is not just a transport service  it is a vital lifeline for so many people, deputy Cleere said. Workers, students, families and older people rely on this service every day to access employment, education, healthcare and Dublin Airport. John McGuinness, leas ceann comhairle and Fianna Fail TD for Carlow-Kilkenny, criticised the decision to withdraw the regional Expressway services.

Deputy Cleere also called on the National Transport Authority to implement an investigation into a Public Service Obligation on the loss of service on Waterford to Dublin Airport bus route.

Deputy McGuinness warned that the decision runs counter to Irelands legally binding climate commitments, with the state aiming to significantly increase public transport usage by 2030 or face potentially substantial EU penalties.

We are supposed to be getting people onto buses and trains to meet our ambitious 2030 climate targets  yet, here we are removing services that people depend on. It is completely contradictory and risks pushing more people back into private cars, deputy McGuinness said.

He also raised concerns about the constraints posed by EU competition rules, which limit the ability to subsidise commercially operated routes.

It seems that EU competition laws expect us to meet our climate obligations with one hand tied behind our backs. If essential regional routes are treated purely as commercial ventures, then rural Ireland will always lose out, Deputy McGuinness said.
By Grainne Ni Aodha, Press Association

A man is due in court in Dublin in relation to the investigation into the murder of Denis Donaldson.

Mr Donaldson was shot dead in Co Donegal in 2006, months after admitting his role as a police and MI5 agent for over 20 years.

In 2009, the dissident republican group the Real IRA claimed responsibility for Mr Donaldsons killing.

On Monday, Gardai investigating Mr Donaldsons murder arrested a man aged late 40s following his extradition from Scotland on foot of a European Arrest Warrant.

The man is to appear before the Special Criminal Court on Monday afternoon.

The arrest was carried out with the assistance of An Garda Siochana Extradition Unit, Garda National Bureau of Investigation, and the Irish Air Corps.
Sean McCarthaigh

A young toddler who was killed after being struck by a vehicle close to his home in Dublin last year suffered fatal injuries to his head, an inquest has heard.

Theo McEnroe (1) was pronounced dead on October 7th, 2025 at Childrens Health Ireland at Crumlin where he had been rushed by ambulance.

The fatal incident occurred close to the boys family home at Rathmintin Crescent, Jobstown, Tallaght at around 2pm on the same day.

The opening of an inquest into the toddlers death at Dublin District Coroners Court heard Theo was just 18 months old at the time of the fatal incident.

Garda Patrick Prendergast gave evidence that the little boy was formally pronounced dead at CHI at Crumlin at 2.38pm.

Garda Prendergast also confirmed that the victims mother, Ciara Kennedy, formally identified her sons body to him at the mortuary in the hospital just over an hour later.

No member of the boys family attended the brief hearing at the court in Store Street on Monday.

Detective Inspector Denise Donnegan applied for an adjournment of the inquest under Section 25 (1) of the Coroners Act on the basis that criminal proceedings are being considered.

Det Insp Donnegan said she expected progress in the Garda investigation into the circumstances of Theos death during the six-month period of the requested adjournment.

The coroner, Clare Keane, granted the application and listed the case for a further update on September 29th.

Dr Keane also confirmed that a postmortem on the victims body showed the young boy had died as a result of head trauma.

The toddler is survived by his parents, Ciara and Shane, and two older sisters.

In a social media post following the tragic incident, Theos father, Shane McEnroe, posted an emotional tribute to his son.

My son, you are my world. My boy, Ill forever love you son, I love you so much. This feels like a bad dream, he wrote.
THE 5km fun run Run for Roxanne that passed through Carlow town on Sunday 15 March raised 3,000 towards Roxanne Kellys scoliosis surgery this summer.

On 18 February, The Nationalist reported how, despite Roxannes scoliosis rapidly progressing from 40 to 80 degrees in the past six months, she has not been placed on an Irish waiting list for scoliosis surgery due to the complexity of her case and the large backlog of cases. If her scoliosis progresses to 130 degrees, she will be unable to eat or breathe properly.

xxx

Jenny and Jay Regan with Jade, Laura and Danny Doyle

Runners head off at the start of the 'Run For Roxanne' fundraiser at Graiguecullen GAA

Clare Ramsbottom and Clodagh Clarke

Roxanne with her parents Mairin and Declan and her brother Curtis before the 'Run For Roxanne' fundraiser at Graiguecullen GAA Photos: Michael O'Rourke Photography

Im only looking at her back there now and its starting to really kind of bend over, which is kind of frightening really, Roxannes mother Mairin Nolan said.

Its worse than it was a month ago. We dont have any recent x-rays of her back, as they didnt do an x-ray in Crumlin Childrens Hospital last time she went, probably because they dont want to acknowledge that its getting worse.

Roxannes surgery costs 60,000 and will take place in the USA. The run, which was organised by Jenny Nolan, has helped the family get closer to their fundraising goal.

I think theres around eight or nine grand left. Weve booked the surgery now, Mairin said.

Mairin emphasised how lucky the family feels to have received such great community support and expressed thanks to all who came out and to Tribe Art, who put on free activities for children after the run.
Oman Cement reported a profit before tax for the year ended 31 December 2025 of OMR 9.574m, down from OMR 13.067m (US$46,800) in 2024, a decline of OMR3.493m (-26.73 per cent), mainly due to market pricing pressures and rising costs. The profit after tax reached OMR8.303m during this period.

According to the company's filing with the local stock exchange, it reported stable operational performance for the year ended 31 December 2025, with clinker production reaching 2.97Mt and cement output totalling 3.38Mt. The figures reflect effective utilisation of installed capacity, which stands at 2.6Mt for clinker and 3.6 Mt for cement.

Cement sales during the year amounted to 3.39Mt, comprising 3.37Mt in domestic sales and 29,046t in exports. Clinker sales stood at 57,554t, all within the local market. Despite aggressive pricing strategies by competitors, overall cement demand in Oman remained broadly stable.

The company also continued to expand its footprint in specialised segments, supplying oil well cement (Class A and Class G) to both domestic and international customers. Management is confident it can maintain market share in Oman, subject to prevailing market conditions.

Recalled here that Oman Cement Co SAOG (OCC or the Company) was established in 1978 as part of the economic renaissance initiated under the leadership of the Late His Majesty Sultan. It is one of the leading cement manufacturers in the Sultanate of Oman and plays a vital role in supporting the countrys infrastructure and construction sectors.

Advertisement

The company commissioned its first cement plant in 1983, with a clinker capacity of 0.6Mt. In response to growing regional demand, clinker capacity was expanded to 1.2Mt in 1998, enabling cement production of approximately 1.26 Mt.

In 2011, OCC further enhanced its clinker capacity to 2.4Mt by installing Kiln 3. Subsequently, in 2014, Kiln1 was upgraded to a capacity of 2700tpd, increasing the total clinker capacity by approximately 0.21 Mt to 2.6Mt. With the commissioning of Cement Mill5 in 2016, having a capacity of 150tph, the companys total cement grinding capacity increased to 3.6Mta.

In 2023, Oman Cement Co SAOG was acquired by Huaxin (Hong Kong) International Holdings Ltd. Following completion of the mandatory acquisition and takeover procedures, Huaxin (Hong Kong) International Holdings Ltd, through its wholly owned subsidiary Abra Holdings Ltd, Mauritius (Abra), holds an aggregate of 64.66 per cent of the issued share capital of the company.



By Abdul Rab Siddiqi,Pakistan
Brightspeed representatives visit neighborhoods, going door to door to share service options

CHARLOTTE, N.C., March 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Brightspeed, the nation's third-largest fiber broadband builder empowering families and businesses with multi-gig-speed internet service, today announced that its fiber network in Georgia is 65 percent complete. Now, nearly 20,000 residents in Liberty and Bryan counties have access to the country's fastest internet service,* with nearly 31,000 fiber-enabled locations planned in those counties.

"As the representative of Georgia's first district, it's exciting to see Brightspeed's investment in high-speed internet for Hinesville and Richmond Hill and its efforts to close the digital divide," said Congressman Buddy Carter. "High-speed, reliable internet is essential to everyday life for schools, businesses and families. I strongly supported the Broadband Equity and Deployment (BEAD) program, which unlocked $1.31 billion to help expand access to quality internet services and strengthen connectivity in Georgia communities like ours."

Connecting with the community door to door

As construction continues, Brightspeed representatives are hitting the streets in Hinesville and Richmond Hill to help residents and businesses learn about fiber service and help them get connected. Residents can expect:

Who: Friendly, trained Brightspeed representatives in branded apparel

Friendly, trained Brightspeed representatives in branded apparel What: Clear information on fiber availability, plans and benefits

Clear information on fiber availability, plans and benefits Why: To expand fast, reliable, affordable internet where quality options have been limited

"We're not just building infrastructure; we're building opportunity," said Tshacha Romeo, director of sales channel at Brightspeed. "Residents and local businesses now have the tools to compete, connect and thrive. Seeing people take advantage of fiber in their own communities is the most rewarding part of our work."

Leveraging federal investments

Brightspeed's Georgia expansion is supported by $2.2 million in federal BEAD funding** that coupled with the company's private funding will augment the planned fiber build by an additional 1,227 locations, boosting the company's infrastructure investment in the state.

Check availability and get connected

Fast, reliable internet is more than a convenience, it fuels opportunity. Brightspeed's continued investment in Georgia helps ensure communities stay competitive in today's digital economy.

Residents and businesses can check availability and explore plans at www.brightspeed.com.

*As determined by HighSpeedInternet.com's 2025 Annual Service Provider Review

**Provisionally awarded pending approval by NTIA

About Brightspeed

Headquartered in Charlotte, N.C. and with assets and associated operations in 20 states, Brightspeed provides broadband and telecommunications services through a network platform capable of serving more than 7.3 million homes and businesses. Our nearly 4,000 employees are committed to building a future where more communities benefit from a more connected life, deploying a state-of-the-art fiber network and a customer experience that makes being connected as simple as it should be.

SOURCE Brightspeed
The playground at Harrison Bay State Park will be upgraded this summer with a quarter million dollar investment that will expand the small playground near the ballfield into a larger footprint.

On Saturday, the Friends of Harrison Bay State Park members, along with park staff, Senator Bo Watson, County Commissioner Steve Highlander, County Commissioner Jeff Eversole, and Vice-Chairman of the School Board Gary Kuehn, met with State Rep. Greg Vital, Deputy Commissioner of TDEC Brian Clifford, and Director of Tennessee State Parks Chris Padgett at the park for the announcement.

Rep. Vital said the announcement would launch forward some things that will help this park better serve our community and its visitors.

The Friends of Harrison Bay State Park has been working for six years to get a new playground through fundraising and donations.

Deputy Commissioner Clifford stated, Weve got good advocates here locally that make things happen.

Park Manager Matthew Vawter said, Were very excited that the state is remembering our park and not just worried about the new ones and its excellent to see both things happening at once right here in our county.
The Cherokee Area Council of Scouting America celebrated the outstanding achievements of Troop 2, chartered to St. Elmo Presbyterian Church, including the sixth Eagle Scout in the same family.

Those earning Eagle Scout in Scoutmaster Ed Sunder's Troop 2 include Caden Gildernew, Phinehas Doe, Nathan Sunder, James Tracy and Lyle Vaughn.

The Sunder family of Flintstone, Georgia, marked an extraordinary achievement as Nathan Sunder became their sixth Eagle Scout. The youngest of six, Nathan joins his older brothers - Isaac, Samuel, John, Bennett, and Eddie - in attaining Scoutings highest rank.

The Sunder brothers completed Eagle Scout service projects that contributed nearly 800 total service hours. Project beneficiaries included Cloudland Canyon State Park, Audubon Acres, Chickamauga City Parks, and Chattanooga Valley Middle School.

Looking back, their parents, Ed and Betsy Sunder, reflect, It was a joy to watch the Scouts work together and see the boys become young men. Our boys have learned valuable skills, life lessons, and made lifelong friendships through Scouting.

Betsy grew up in a Scouting family and attended both Philmont and Sea Base as a youth member. Ed has served as a Cub Scout and Boy Scout leader for the past 22 years.

Officials said, "The Eagle Scout rank places service at its core, and these new Eagle Scouts exemplify that ideal through impactful projects benefiting the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum, Dade County Schools, Lookout Mountain trails, the town of Flintstone, Georgia, and Chattanooga Valley Middle School. Collectively, these projects contributed more than 600 hours of community service, engaging a multitude of volunteers and supporters."

Since its founding in 2007, 26 young people have earned the rank of Eagle Scout through Troop 2.

Among their many shared experiences, these Scouts fondly recall attending - and serving on staff at - Camp Sidney Dew in Armuchee, Georgia, as well as Skymont Scout Reservation in Altamont, Tennessee. They also attended Seven Ranges Scout Reservation in Kensington, Ohio, over several years. All five have now graduated from high school and are pursuing further education and careers in the Chattanooga region.

Looking ahead, Troop 2 is partnering with Reflection Riding Arboretum and Nature Center alongside Cub Scout Pack 4 to welcome boys and girls ages kindergarten through 12th grade into the adventure of Scouting. Key volunteer leaders include Scoutmaster Brian Purvis, Cubmaster Joy Smith, and Assistant Cubmaster Jim Daughdrill.
NEW YORK, March 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Burford Capital Limited ("Burford"), the leading global finance and asset management firm focused on law, today provides a further statement on the YPF decision in the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (the "Second Circuit" or the "Court").

We have unsurprisingly received many questions from investors following Friday's decision in the YPF matter. Given the communications constraints of Regulation FD and the impending quarterly reporting period, we have compiled a number of frequently posed questions along with our responses, to ensure equality of information in the market.

Before turning to those questions, Christopher Bogart, Burford's Chief Executive Officer, commented:

"We understand  and share  the market's disappointment with Friday's court decision regarding YPF. While we are optimistic about an eventual positive outcome in the case given the availability of international arbitration, we recognize that represents a meaningful delay in expected cash proceeds and affects investors' views about Burford's present value.

"Although the outcome was disappointing, we have always treated YPF as separate and apart from Burford's core business. Burford is run on a cash basis, and does not rely, or count on, cash from the YPF case to operate the business; YPF has always been additional to the core business, and we have repeatedly described it that way.

"Our core business is based on a portfolio of many hundreds of valuable cases  a portfolio we expect to produce more than $5 billion in cash proceeds over time and that produced more than $1.2 billion in cash in just the last two years. We calibrate our commitments and deployments to new business based on our cash on hand  which today exceeds $700 million  and our expected cash generation from the portfolio. We have always presented the portfolio on an ex-YPF basis, and we have never relied on cash proceeds from YPF to fund or grow the core business. The core business is healthy, growing well and has produced consistently high asset returns.

"While the YPF decision will have a negative non-cash impact on the GAAP carrying value of the YPF asset, it will have no cash impact, and our core business is unaffected. With our significant liquidity we remain well placed to continue investing in and growing our core business, exploiting our market leadership role.

"We are sensitive that we now have more debt than the level we previously suggested was ideal. That said, we believe we are still not highly leveraged, we have carefully laddered our debt maturities to stretch out over the next eight years, and managing our debt load will be front of mind as we proceed. Given our strong cash position and our expected cash proceeds from our portfolio, we remain confident in our ability to achieve both continued growth and debt rationalization."

Q: What happens next in the US court process?

A: We provided a detailed outline of the process and a sample timeline in our October 22, 2025 release. In brief, although no decision has been reached, we anticipate that the plaintiffs will seek rehearing en banc from the Second Circuit. In that process, a party essentially asks the entire circuit court to re-hear the appeal that was originally decided by just a three-judge panel. Different circuit courts have varying levels of willingness to hear matters en banc; the Second Circuit rarely does so. If the plaintiffs do not secure relief in the en banc process, we expect that they will then seek certiorari (leave to appeal) from the Supreme Court of the United States, although the Court declines most such applications.

Q: Tell us more about the arbitration alternative.

A: Argentina is party to a number of bilateral investment treaties, including with Spain (relevant to Petersen) and the US (relevant to Eton Park). Those treaties provide for compensation to be paid to investors upon the expropriation of their assets or in the absence of fair and equitable treatment. Burford has longstanding expertise in bilateral investment treaty arbitration, including in a prior successful claim against Argentina.

Friday's court decision said that even though Argentina clearly breached the promise it made in the YPF bylaws to induce investors to buy YPF shares, Argentine law did not permit plaintiffs to bring a private law contract suit against Argentina as a fellow shareholder for refusing to make the promised tender offer when it expropriated 51% of the company. Under the applicable investment treaties, the relevant question is not whether there is a private law action available to shareholders under Argentine law following Argentina's takeover of YPF, but whether Argentina made and broke a promise to foreign investors to induce them to invest in an Argentine company, thereby frustrating their legitimate expectations, acting arbitrarily and depriving them of the value of their investment and protections guaranteed by the tender offer mechanism.

We believe there are viable arbitration claims here. Such claims will likely be brought before the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes, which is an agency of the World Bank. More information about ICSID can be found at: https://icsid.worldbank.org/. The duration of such an arbitration is uncertain given the extensive record already developed in the US litigation, which might abbreviate the process, but like any complex litigation, it would be a multi-year process.

Q: What is going to happen to the carrying value of the case in the interim?

A: Burford's valuation policy generally calls for a substantial write-down of an asset following an appellate loss, and we would expect a substantial write-down in this instance. We will be working over the next month to determine precisely how to determine the fair value of the YPF asset as at March 31, 2026 and will provide full details of its revised carrying value when we release our first quarter results in the first half of May.

Q: Are you concerned about Burford's liquidity?

A: No. The YPF case has not provided any cash to Burford since 2019, and Burford did not rely on the case providing cash at any particular point in the future, given the complexity of the litigation and the vagaries of enforcing against Argentina. Burford has long operated and organized its affairs without relying on a cash contribution from this case.

Burford has more than $700 million in cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities on hand and a portfolio that routinely and reliably delivers cash proceeds, and we continue to expect the portfolio to deliver billions of dollars of cash in the years to come  again, entirely without reference to YPF.

Q: Does this alter your plans to double the size of the core portfolio by 2030?

A: No. The litigation finance business is an attractive asset class, we are the market leader, and we plan on continuing to grow. Our existing growth plans did not rely on debt to fund any additional growth in the short to medium term, and so we expected  and continue to expect  to maintain our growth trajectory with our cash on hand and the proceeds from our large portfolio.

Investors may find interesting some of the content from our management meeting in January 2026, where we enunciated three key goals  to double the portfolio by 2030, to bring in cash from the portfolio and to use technology smartly, all to generate a 20% ROE. And we said explicitly: "And we need to get there without any more borrowing". That is the path we are on and the path we intend to follow.

Q: How do your bond covenants work?

A: Burford's only outstanding debt was issued in the US 144A market. Until recently, we also had debt issued in the English market, which came with quite a different structure and covenant package, but the English debt has now been retired. Thus, it is important when looking at any antecedent Burford documents or filings, to focus solely on the 144A debt.

Our 144a debt is all unsecured and does not have financial covenants that we are obliged to maintain; we are not, for example, subject to a maximum debt/equity ratio or any such concept. Rather, our debt only has "incurrence covenants" that restrict our ability to incur additional debt or take certain other actions, with enumerated exceptions (including exceptions tied to our financial condition); a substantial write-down of YPF could limit our ability to use some of those exceptions. We are not concerned about the impact of the incurrence covenants on our ability to operate the business, and in any event, we were not planning to expand the amount of debt we have outstanding in the short to medium term. The incurrence covenants do not prevent us from refinancing existing debt; they merely restrict our total debt level from increasing by a substantial amount.

Our debt also does not create any restrictions on our ability to operate and organically grow our litigation finance business, including entering into new commitments and making new deployments. (Our debt indentures are all public documents and can be found on Burford's investor relations website accessible at http://investors.burfordcapital.com.)

We have long said that we do not believe it is prudent for us to use debt to repurchase shares, which continues to be our position regardless of the share price and however much we may disagree with the market's assessment of the underlying value of our business.

We are grateful to our shareholders, bondholders, employees and other stakeholders for their continuing support.

About Burford Capital

Burford Capital is the leading global finance and asset management firm focused on law. Its businesses include litigation finance and risk management, asset recovery and a wide range of legal finance and advisory activities. Burford is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: BUR) and the London Stock Exchange (LSE: BUR) and works with companies and law firms around the world from its global network of offices.

For more information, please visit www.burfordcapital.com.

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The attorney for former Chattanooga Police officer Lawrence Goodine is asking for a delay in his murder trial due to a conflict with Federal Court.

Attorney Neal Pinkston said Lawrence Goodine wants to proceed with the trial of the case in which he is charged with murdering girlfriend Kara Akins. The trial is set to start April 21 in the courtroom of Judge Barry Steelman.

However, attorney Pinkston said he has been directed to be ready for a trial in Federal Court on April 20 in a drug conspiracy case. He said he nor the prosecutors had any input in the setting of that trial date.

Attorney Pinkston said in a motion, "Counsel understands that the state of Tennessee wants to try this matter as soon as efficiently as possible. Counsel for Mr. Goodine wants to try this matter as well.

"This request is not meant to delay the proceedings or cause undue burden to any of the parties. This request is made in efforts to provide Mr. Goodine with sound competent defense counsel and to seek the ends of justice.

"Counsel is requesting only a 60-90-day continuance of the jury trial in this matter."

The attorneys had been set to argue the continuance motion on Monday morning, but Judge Steelman is tied up in a trial that went longer than expected.

The motion will be argued on April 9 at 1:30 p.m.

A Ring video played in court earlier showed Goodine pushing Ms. Akins as she pleaded for him to stop. She was later found dead in her apartment in the 2600 block of Carr Street on Nov. 29, 2023.

Goodine, who was 43 at the time, is facing charges of first-degree murder and especially aggravated kidnapping.

General Sessions Court Judge Gary Starnes earlier kept him on the same $3,050,000 bond, calling him "a danger to the community" and a flight risk.

The Ring video was from a neighbor's porch that caught the fight outside Ms. Akin's unit.

Ms. Akins, who was 48, could be heard saying "Stop!" 10 times, "Lawrence!" four times, and "Why are you doing this?" three times.

Goodine had told police that he and Ms. Akins went for cigarettes and she went missing. He said he later found her and it appeared she was high on drugs. He said they went to her unit, had sex, then he woke up and found her unconscious.

However, the autopsy showed that the mother of seven had been strangled and she had bruises all over her body and blunt force injury to the head. There was no sign of drugs in her body.

Blood was found on a living room carpet and couch. Goodine's wallet was also located in the apartment.

Goodine, while on the police force, was charged with perjury and theft, but he was found not guilty in a trial in 2008. He was not given his police job back.
Tennessee lawmakers are correct about one thing: good policy begins with good data. But in the debate over HB 793/SB 836, the issue isn't whether data is important. Its about whether this bill collects data in a way that improves our schools or quietly harms them.At its core, the legislation requires public schools to verify and report students citizenship or immigration status, generating aggregate data for the state. Supporters, including House Majority Leader William Lamberth and Senator Bo Watson, say this is about transparency.Tennessee taxpayers, they argue, deserve a clear understanding of the costs involved in educating all students in the system.That argument resonates. The government must be accountable. Policymakers should not operate in the dark, and states should not be forced to bear the costs of failed federal immigration policies without understanding the full scope. However, good intentions do not always result in good policy.Even in its scaled-back form, this bill puts schools in an uncomfortable and ultimately counterproductive position. Educators are not immigration officers, nor should they be expected to act as de facto extensions of federal enforcement systems. The distinction mattersnot just in theory, but in practice. Because in communities across Tennessee, perception often carries as much weight as policy.If families believe that sharing information with a school could put them at risk of scrutinydespite guarantees about anonymized datathey might choose not to enroll their children or pull them out entirely. The outcome isn't better data; it's missing students, higher absenteeism, and classrooms disrupted by fear instead of focused on learning.That outcome would directly conflict with the spiritand likely the legal boundariesset in Plyler v. Doe, which confirmed that children should not be denied access to public education based on immigration status. While this bill falls short of outright denial, it approaches territory that could lead to similar effects in practice.This legislation is likely to become the subject of litigation and may end up back in the Supreme Court. Former Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia had argued that Plyler v. Doe was a "legislative" decision that misused judicial power, asserting that education is not a fundamental right and that states have legitimate interests in restricting resources from illegal immigrants.Steven Calabresi and Lena Barsky argue in their paper "Originalist Defense of Plyler v. Doe" [ https://digitalcommons.law.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3089&context=lawreview ] that the case is grounded in the original meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment as adopted in 1868. They believe that the Fourteenth Amendment grants certain rights, such as life, liberty, and property, to immigrants through the Equal Protection and Due Process Clauses.However, they say these rights do not include the full privileges of citizenship, such as civil rights and the right to vote.They also argue that public education is a right for everyone and is protected under the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses.This protection was understood at the time of the Fourteenth Amendment's ratification, ensuring that both citizens and immigrants had access to free public education.This legislation raises two fundamental questions: 1) Is public education a fundamental right? 2) If the goal is improved policymaking, why begin with a policy that overburdens the very system it relies on for data?Cost remains a concern. Estimates indicate that the first-year expenses for implementation and maintenance could exceed $50 millionan unfunded mandate at a time when schools are already facing staffing shortages, efforts to improve achievement, and increasing operational demands. Even some supporters of stricter immigration enforcement have expressed worries about adding another administrative burden on local districts.None of this is meant to dismiss the legitimate concerns behind the bill. Tennessee needs clearer insight into how federal immigration policy interacts with state education funding. Lawmakers are right to seek answers instead of relying on assumptions.But there is a better path.If the state wants reliable data, it should invest in methods that do not risk discouraging school participation or diverting resources from instruction.If it wants accountability, it should ensure that any new requirement to schools or districts comes with funding for implementation and clear safeguards for students and families.And if it wants to lead, it should do so in a way that reflects both fiscal responsibility and the longstanding principle that public education serves every child who walks through the door.Tennessee can pursue transparency without creating fear. It can demand accountability without overburdening educators. And it can uphold the law while still advocating for change where change is needed.The line between data collection and unintended consequence is thinner than it appears. On this issue, we would be wise not to cross it. Yet here we are. This legislation may end up in either state or federal court. Soon, taxpayers may want a clear picture of the cost of legislation-driven litigation and implementation. No matter what, we will all watch carefully.JC Bowman is the executive director of Professional Educators of Tennessee, a non-partisan teacher association located in Nashville.
The Cherokee Nations Cherokee Language Master/Apprentice Program graduated seven students March 20 during a special commencement ceremony at the Durbin Feeling Language Center in Tahlequah. The group was celebrated by friends, family, Cherokee language speakers, Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr., members of the cabinet, members of the Tribal Council and other Cherokee Nation leaders.
Screenshot: YouTube/ CBN - The Christian Broadcasting Network

An agency affiliated with the United Methodist Church has voiced support for federal legislation aimed at removing restrictions on cosmetic sex-change procedures for minors who identify as transgender.

Julius C. Trimble, who serves as general secretary of the churchs General Board of Church and Society, released a written statement on Monday criticizing discrimination against transgender individuals.

Transgender youth often experience a combination of sexual harassment, bullying, school violence and estrangement from family members. They are also disproportionately placed in foster care and welfare programs compared to their peers, wrote Trimble.

Adult transgender people regularly encounter sexual violence, police violence, public ridicule, misgendering or other forms of violence and harassment in their daily lives.

Trimble also criticized lawmakers who have enacted anti-transgender legislation that restrict access to gender-affirming care, sports, bathrooms and facilities, or the use of gender-affirming pronouns in schools.

As United Methodists, we are called to stand with transgender people, rejecting laws that allow politicians to dictate their healthcare decisions, he continued.

He further urged support for recently proposed federal legislation known as the Transgender Bill of Rights, describing it as an effort to protect and codify the rights of transgender and nonbinary individuals under the law and ensure their access to medical care, shelter, safety, and economic security.

The proposal includes provisions calling on the federal government to reaffirm the right to bodily autonomy and health care for transgender and nonbinary people by ... eliminating unnecessary governmental restrictions on the provision of, and access to, gender-affirming medical care and counseling for transgender and nonbinary adults and adolescents.

The issue of transgender medical treatments for minors has sparked ongoing debate in the United States and internationally, particularly regarding the legality and long-term effects of surgical procedures and hormone therapies.

A 2022 feature by The New York Times reported that a growing number of medical experts and individuals who previously identified as transgender have raised concerns about potential long-term risks associated with puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones in children.

In December 2024, the UK Department of Health and Social Care announced a ban on the use of puberty-blocking drugs for minors experiencing gender dysphoria, except in clinical trial settings.

Earlier, in May, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services published an extensive report that criticized so-called gender-affirming care for minors, describing such interventions as invasive and usually irreversible.
Home News 10 people saved after man points gun at pastor during teen's funeral and no one gets hurt

Some 10 people surrendered their lives to God during a funeral service in Detroit, Michigan, on Saturday, when no one got hurt after a grief-stricken man, who declared he didn't believe in Jesus, pointed a gun at the pastor officiating the ceremony for a teenager who died by gun violence, and ordered him to be quiet.

The late teenager was identified as 17-year-old Jabari Malik Kenney by Detroit youth leader Toson Antwan Knight, who said he witnessed the incident at the funeral.

A representative at the New McFall Brothers Funeral Home confirmed with The Christian Post on Monday that the incident occurred at their facility but declined to comment further.

Julius J. Baker, a chaplain and funeral professional who serves primarily at East Seven Mile Chapel of the funeral home, confirmed the incident in a statement on Facebook Saturday night.

Yes, something unfortunate did occur as a family was in the sacred moment of laying their loved one to rest. But I want to be clear  our staff remained calm, professional and fully committed to serving that family with dignity. We were able to pivot quickly and ensure the service continued in a safe and secure location, Baker wrote.

It is deeply disheartening that in our city, even in moments of grief  when a life has already been lost to violence  there are still those who do not value the sanctity of life. That reality weighs heavy. But even in the midst of it all, God was present, he added. No additional harm came. The family was cared for. The assignment was completed. And at the end of the day, God still gets the glory  because we are covered by His blood.

Pastor Darthanian Nichols of Breaking Chains Outreach Ministries, who officiated the Detroit funeral, did not immediately respond to CP's questions on Monday but confirmed the incident in a Facebook post on Saturday and shared more about what happened.

First, let me shout out New McFall Brothers Funeral Home. Your heart to serve families with dignity, care, and excellence does not go unnoticed. No matter the situation, you show up with compassion, and that means everything, Nichols said as he thanked his pastoral team for making sure his family was safe.

The Detroit pastor then explained what happened at the funeral home.

While I was officiating a funeral service, I asked the room to clear the floor just in case of an emergency, just trying to keep everyone safe. In that moment, a man began yelling obscenities, pulled out a gun, and pointed it toward me, threatening to hurt me if I didnt stop speaking, Nichols wrote. Immediately, the room went into chaos, people screaming, running, fear and anger filled the room.

Despite the chaos that erupted inside the funeral homes chapel, Nichols said God gave him peace in the middle of panic.

I grabbed the microphone and calmly instructed everyone to leave in an orderly way. I made sure my wife and kids were removed to safety. And even in that moment, as a trained clinician, I recognized this wasnt just anger, this was grief speaking loudly. So I began to pray!!! he declared.

Nichols said he tried talking with the gunman, but he made it clear he didnt want to hear anything, even said he didnt believe in the God I believe in.

At that point, he said he was certain he would have been shot, but God protected him.

If Im being honest I braced myself. I just knew I was going to be shot. But even in that moment, my heart wasnt just about me, it was about making sure others were safe and making sure my children dont see me being shot, he wrote.

Nichols said God gave him wisdom when he needed it, along with peace, clarity and courage to navigate the moment that impressed 10 people who were at the funeral to repent and give their lives to God.

The Bible says: And my God will supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Today, that wasnt for money or provision But for strength, discernment, and grace under pressure. And even after all of that, God still moved, he explained.

I was still able to minister to the family and the young people and 10 people gave their lives to Christ. Thats the kind of God we serve, he added.

Following the funeral, Knight, the Detroit youth leader, described the funeral as one of the wildest things he has ever experienced in his life, and praised the funeral home for honoring Kenney and his mother despite what happened.

After that incident with the gun, it was complete chaos. People running, clearing the room, everything felt out of control. It was one of those moments where youre thinking theres no way this service is about to continue. But they still went to the cemetery, Knight said of the funeral home.

When I say it was the fastest procession Ive ever seen, I mean we were moving. I followed, and about 50 family members still showed up, minus the one with the gun. What stood out to me the most was this: they still gave my guy a proper service, he said.

Im going to be real, if it was me, I dont know if I couldve done it. I mightve shut it down completely. But they didnt. They showed grace in a moment where they didnt have to, he explained.

They owed nobody anything at that point except maybe turning over footage and letting the police handle it. Instead, they chose to honor that grieving mother and her son. That meant something.
Home News Archaeologists unearth 1,500-year-old monastic complex in Egypt

Egyptian archaeologists have unearthed a 1,500-year-old monastic complex in the Nile Delta, including a fifth-century building believed to have served as a reception facility for pilgrims, Egypts Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities announced.

The discovery was made at the Al-Qalaya site in Beheira Governorate, where an Egyptian mission from the Supreme Council of Antiquities has been excavating since 2023, according to the announcement.

Officials called the find significant for understanding the origins of organized monastic life.

The newly uncovered structure contains 13 rooms that served multiple functions, including individual and communal monastic cells, spaces for hospitality and education, a kitchen, and storerooms.

Architectural elements added during later historical periods were also identified, indicating the building was modified and repurposed across subsequent phases of use.

A large hall in the northern section of the building features stone benches decorated with botanical motifs and was likely used to receive visitors, including senior monastic figures and those seeking to study monastic life. The building extends along a north-south axis, with a prayer room oriented to face east. A limestone-carved cross is set within the eastern wall.

Hisham El-Leithy, secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, identified Al-Qalaya as the second-largest known monastic gathering site in the history of Christian monasticism. He said its architectural style reflects the earliest nucleus of monastery establishment.

El-Leithy said the decorative motifs and illustrations found at the site are among the most significant sources for the study of early Coptic art, offering historical and archaeological evidence about the nature of monastic life and artistic development in its earliest stages.

The discovery also shows the evolution of monastic architecture from solitary dwelling to communal housing and, ultimately, to facilities designed to receive visitors, he added.

Wall paintings recovered from the site depict monks, identifiable by their clothing, alongside geometric and plant-based decorations. These include braided ornaments in red, white, and black, as well as an eight-petaled flower. Officials said the works point to the richness of symbolic expression in early Coptic art.

One prominent mural shows two gazelles surrounded by vegetal motifs within a double circular frame, which is believed to carry symbolic meaning, Basilica News Agency reported.

The site offers evidence of a transition from eremitic life, in which monks lived in isolation, to communal monastic organization. The development occurred in a region distinct from the desert areas of southern Egypt, which have long been regarded as the cradle of early monasticism.

A complete marble column measuring 2 meters in length was also recovered, along with column capitals and bases. Pottery fragments bearing vegetal and geometric motifs, ceramic pieces inscribed with Coptic letters, bone remains of birds and animals, and a collection of oyster shells were found across the site. The bone remains and shells are consistent with food preparation and daily activities at the complex, according to officials.

Samir Razaq Abdul-Hafiz, head of the excavation mission, said researchers found a rectangular limestone piece at the entrance of one chamber bearing a Coptic inscription. An initial translation suggests the text is a funerary stele. The inscription refers to the death of an individual identified as Apa Kyr, son of Shenouda, confirming continued human presence at the site during a period of flourishing monastic development in the region.

Since excavations began in 2023, the mission has also uncovered multiple clusters of monastic cells known as manshubiyyat, groupings of pottery vessels associated with monks living quarters. Auxiliary service buildings were also found, indicating the presence of a large and organized monastic center.

Research at the site is ongoing.
Home News Canadian House of Commons passes 'hate speech' bill that would remove religious protections

A bill that critics warn would eliminate key religious protections from criminal bans on acts of hatred has passed the Canadian House of Commons, prompting concerns from religious freedom advocates.

Canadas House of Commons passed the measure, called the Combatting Hate Act, Wednesday. The House of Commons approved the legislation in a 186-137 vote that fell along party lines. All opposition to the bill came from the Conservative, New Democratic and Green parties, while all support for the legislation came from the Liberal and Bloc Quebecois parties.

The Combatting Hate Act, also known as Bill C-09, declares that Everyone who commits an offence  referred to in this section as the included offence  under this Act or any other Act of Parliament, if the commission of the included offence is motivated by hatred based on race, national or ethnic origin, language, colour, religion, sex, age, mental or physical disability, sexual orientation or gender identity or expression is either guilty of an indictable offence or guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction.

The legislation defines hatred as an emotion of an intense and extreme nature that is clearly associated with vilification and detestation. Additional acts prohibited under the legislation include engaging in conduct with the intent to provoke a state of fear in a person in order to impede their access to buildings or structures that are primarily used for religious worship or educational institutions, residences for seniors, and cemeteries used by members of protected classes.

The measure includes a clarification stating that it does not prohibit a person from communicating a statement on a matter of public interest, including an educational, religious, political or scientific statement made in the course of a discussion, publication or debate, if they do not willfully promote hatred against an identifiable group by communicating the statement or willfully promote antisemitism by condoning, denying or downplaying the Holocaust.

Bill C-09 would repeal part of the Canadian Criminal Code, stressing that no person shall be convicted of an offence if in good faith, the person expressed or attempted to establish by argument an opinion on a religious subject or an opinion based on a belief in a religious text.

This aspect of the bill has raised concerns among religious groups, including the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops. CCCB President Rev. Pierre Goudreault wrote a letter to Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney late last year urging opposition to the provision.

The proposed elimination of the good faith religious-text defence raises significant concerns, wrote Goudreault. This narrowly framed exemption has served for many years as an essential safeguard to ensure that Canadians are not criminally prosecuted for their sincere, truth-seeking expression of beliefs made without animus and grounded in long-standing religious traditions. Courts have made clear that only the most extreme forms of speech fall within the scope of hate-propaganda offences.

According to Goudreault, The removal of this provision risks creating uncertainty for faith communities, clergy, educators, and others who may fear that the expression of traditional moral or doctrinal teachings could be misinterpreted as hate speech and could subject the speaker to proceedings that threaten imprisonment of up to two years. As legal experts have noted, the publics understanding of hate speech and its legal implications are often far broader than what the Criminal Code actually captures.

Eliminating a clear statutory safeguard will likely therefore have a chilling effect on religious expression, even if prosecutions remain unlikely in practice, he warned.

Before Bill C-09 can head to Carneys desk for his signature, it must pass the Canadian Senate. While most senators are nominally nonpartisan, the overwhelming majority were appointed on the advice of former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, a member of the Liberal Party. The Canadian Senate is not due back in session until April 14.
Home News Christian groups speak out against bill that could lead to land seizure in India

Quick Summary AI Summary Christian groups oppose a bill in India that they fear could enable land seizure.

The proposed changes to the foreign funding law would increase government control over charities.

Organizations warn that the bill threatens properties meant for marginalized communities. An artificial intelligence-powered tool created this summary based on the source article. The summary has undergone review and verification by an editor. See Summary

Christian mission groups in India are speaking out against proposed changes to the countrys foreign funding law, saying the measure would give the government stronger powers over charities and institutions that use overseas donations for work among poor and marginalized communities.

In a statement sent to The Christian Post, the All India Christian Council said the proposed changes amounted to a move to take away Christian properties meant for the development of marginalized communities, including Dalits and tribals, or indigenous people.

The council said these lands and assets were built in most cases through a combination of local and foreign funds and were dedicated to welfare, education, healthcare and livelihood support. The organization called it a "dangerous and deeply alarming crisis with immediate and potentially irreversible consequences."

"The systematic alienation of properties strikes at the very heart of democratic principles of social justice, equality, and inclusive growth," the council said.

Indias federal cabinet approved the Foreign Contribution Regulation Amendment Bill 2026 earlier this month but still needs to be approved by parliament, UCA News reports. The FCRA governs foreign donations and charitable contributions sent into India, and organizations must be registered under it to receive such funds.

The proposed measure would expand government oversight of foreign-funded charitable work and create a statutory mechanism allowing the state to take control of assets, including property, created through foreign contributions after an organizations registration is suspended, canceled, surrendered or not renewed.

The bill also introduces a new Section 14B, which provides for the cessation of registration upon expiry or refusal of renewal, and sets timelines for the receipt and use of foreign contributions.

Under Indias FRCA system, 14,994 groups are registered as of Sunday, according to the countrys interior ministry. Its data also show that the registration of 21,954 organizations has been cancelled, and the registration of about 15,174 more groups is deemed expired.

The organizations that have had their FCRA registration cancelled include World Vision, Compassion International, Church Auxiliary for Social Action and Evangelical Fellowship of India.

AICC President Joseph DSouza said authorities were continuing and accelerating the alienation of properties in the name of enforcing the FCRA and said the proposed amendments were a ploy to bring properties and assets run by Christian institutions under government control.

The council said the measures threaten constitutional protections for religious minorities.

The council added that it opposes any legislative or administrative measures that allow authorities, non-state actors or private entities to alienate such properties without the free, prior and informed consent of the communities involved.

It called for immediate consultation with affected communities and grassroots civil society organizations, and urged the federal and state governments to suspend any processes that could lead to such alienation.

AICC's statement also said Christians fear misuse of investigative agencies against minorities.

Mission Network News reported that the proposed amendment follows earlier changes to the FCRA renewal system that left thousands of organizations under review.

FCRA rules changed in 2021 to require renewal every five years, and all organizations were asked to reapply, according to MNN. About 45,000 organizations submitted renewal applications that year, and between 3,500 and 4,000 were still awaiting review as of the last count.

John Pudaite of the Bibles For The World ministry told MNN that the government had been using the review process to stop the flow of funds into the country and had used the changes to scrutinize Christian and Muslim minority organizations.

Pudaite said one of Bibles For The Worlds longtime partners, with which it had worked for more than 50 years, recently lost its FCRA registration.

Father Cedric Prakash, a Jesuit human rights activist based in western Gujarat state, told UCA News that the proposal would affect church-based nongovernmental organizations and groups run by other minorities.

He said assets bought with foreign funds, including land and buildings, would be at risk and that the proposal would allow the government to take control of them once the amendment is passed.

He added that the measure would move the state from administrative oversight to direct control of civil society organizations and warned that poor people would be the biggest losers.

A church leader who did not want to be named told UCA News that the proposal appeared intended to ensure that only civil society groups supporting the governments Hindu nationalist agenda could receive foreign funding.

In its 2026 report released last month, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom has urged the U.S. State Department to designate India as a country of particular concern, citing systematic and ongoing violations of religious freedom.
Home News Church employee allegedly stole nearly $95,000 from historic congregation

A church employee has been arrested and charged with allegedly embezzling nearly $95,000 from the Oklahoma church where she worked.

Kandace Ballenger, 40, was arrested earlier this month and charged with embezzling $94,257.34 from First Presbyterian Church in Oklahoma City, according to court documents acquired by local media outlet KFOR News Channel 4.

Ballenger is accused of having willfully and fraudulently taken the money beginning around August 2024 through February 2025, within months of her starting to work at the church.

Court documents stated that the money was delivered and entrusted to the care and custody of Ballenger as an employee, who then did thereafter appropriate to her own use and benefit without the knowledge and consent of First Presbyterian Church.

The church's staff began to suspect suspicious activity last year and discovered that charges had been made for several unrelated expenses, including $1,000 for home repairs, more than $1,500 on custom quilts, and thousands of dollars at a Crunch Fitness in Norman, according to KFOR.

Ballenger was booked at the Oklahoma County Detention Center after being charged with embezzlement. She was later released after posting bond, reported KFOR.

According to its website, First Presbyterian Church traces its origins to 1889, when the congregation was launched as a mission church for the newly founded Oklahoma City.

A member of the Presbyterian Church (USA), the largest Presbyterian denomination in the United States, the congregation has occupied multiple buildings, having moved to its current location in the 1950s.

First Church has always been interested in missionary projects, FPC states on its site. In 1920, the Home Mission Board made our church a sort of big brother to all Home Mission work in Oklahoma City. Many members in our past have gone on to the mission field, ministry, and education, especially a number of women.

Now in the third century of our existence, we continue to spread the Christian message of grace, wholeness and healing, which is our legacy.

According to a 2017 report from Lifeway Research, 9% of surveyed Protestant pastors said their church has witnessed the embezzlement of funds, citing reliance on volunteers to handle finances as a possible major factor.
Honouring 35 patients who stand as inspiring examples of resilience, underscoring the long-term success of organ transplantation

SINGAPORE, March 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- For transplant recipients, reaching the 25-year mark is a significant achievement. According to international statistics, a deceased donor kidney lasts about 8 to 12 years, while a living donor kidney transplant typically lasts 15 to 20 years on average [1]; liver transplants may last from 10 to 20 years[2], though sometimes longer. Historically, the success rates of kidney transplantation before 2000 were much lower than they are today. With advances in immunosuppression and healthcare, success rates are much better.

Guests on stage during the presentation of a collective art tribute painted by NUCOT patients, caregivers and staff. From left: Jeremy Lee, Chief Operating Officer, NUH; Professor Yeoh Khay Guan, Chief Executive, NUHS; Professor Aymeric Lim, Chief Executive Officer, NUH; Ms Clarice Lim, Head, Operations, NUCOT; Mdm Surinder Kaur, Singapores first adult liver transplant recipient; Professor A Vathsala, Director, NUCOT; Dr Leong Sai Fan, one of Singapores earliest recipients of a transplant from a non-genetically related living donor; Guest-of-Honour Professor Tan Chorh Chuan, Permanent Secretary for Prime Ministers Office, Public Sector Science and Technology Policy and Plans Office; Adjunct Professor Mark E. Puhaindran, Chairman Medical Board, NUH.

Today, at the National University Centre for Organ Transplantation (NUCOT), average survivals for adult deceased donor and living donor kidney transplants are 15 and 31 years respectively. Achieving these outcomes that surpass international benchmarks by two- to four-fold is only possible with holistic and multidisciplinary care that can be delivered at centres such as NUCOT.

NUCOT has organised an evening of celebration as a tribute to a remarkable group of individuals who have reached 25 years of life or more after a kidney or liver transplant. The event will bring together 35 such patients, making it one of the largest gatherings of long-term transplant survivors of its kind, alongside their living donors, family members and healthcare professionals. The occasion stands as a testament to the fortitude of these transplant recipients and to NUCOT's longstanding commitment to delivering comprehensive, top-quality transplant and post-transplant care. It also honours their families, medical teams and the generosity of organ donors whose gifts have given recipients the chance to enjoy decades of renewed life.

Professor A Vathsala, Director of NUCOT, said: "Reaching 25 years after an organ transplant is an extraordinary milestone, and it is never an easy journey. Every patient who stands here today has not only endured the physical demands of complex medical challenges and the emotional weight of uncertainty, but also repeated treatments and lifelong adjustments. To see them living, thriving and dreaming a quarter century on is a profound reminder of why we do what we do at NUCOT."

Strong outcomes backed by comprehensive, multidisciplinary care

Transplantation is a miracle of modern medicine but sustaining a transplanted organ over decades remains medically challenging. The most important medical problem faced by organ transplant recipients is rejection which occurs when the patient's immune system perceives the transplanted organ as a foreign invader and attempts to attack and destroy it. Transplant recipients must therefore take lifelong immunosuppressant medications to prevent rejection. However, these immunosuppressive medications also prevent the recipient's immune system from attacking other invaders such as bacteria or viruses, therefore increasing the patient's risk of infections.

Immunosuppressive medications can also give rise to other complications such as diabetes, high blood pressure and kidney impairment. Avoiding rejection on the one hand, and infections and medication-related complications on the other, is a fine balancing act. It is only if this balancing act is done well that outstanding results can be achieved, and transplant recipients are able to reach this milestone of 25 years and beyond.

NUCOT has incorporated the latest advances in transplant medicine such as advanced tissue typing and antibody assessment methodologies, molecular biological approaches to assess infections and rejection, the latest perfusion technologies to better preserve organs, and modern methods to perform complex procedures such as blood group incompatible transplants. Beyond technology, it also has a multidisciplinary team that ensures holistic patient management, including tailored immunosuppression protocols, close long-term follow-up for life after transplant, as well as education on medication adherence and lifestyle modifications post-transplants.

The centre's 10-year statistics show that its clinical outcomes are better than or comparable with international benchmarks. For instance, the 10-year survival rate for adult patients who underwent living donor kidney transplant is 90 per cent, compared to 82.7 per cent in the United States and 86 per cent in Australia/New Zealand. For adult patients who underwent living donor liver transplant, the 10-year survival rate is 78 per cent, compared to 67.9 per cent in the US and 61 per cent in Europe.

In paediatric transplant, the organ needs to last through a child's developmental years and well into adulthood to allow the individual to live a productive and fulfilling life. Indeed, NUCOT has delivered even better survival at 10 years for paediatric organ recipients in comparison to counterparts in the US and Europe. NUCOT's paediatric kidney patient survival at 10 years is 92.9 per cent, compared to 90.5 per cent in the US and 74 per cent in Europe; the centre's paediatric liver patient survival is 82.2 per cent, while it is 70 per cent in the US and 75.8 per cent in Europe.

Twenty-year survival benchmarks are less easily available. At NUCOT, patient survival for adult kidney transplant at 20 years is 76 per cent for living donor transplants (vs 66 per cent based on data from the Australia-New Zealand registry) and 67 per cent for deceased donor transplants (vs 50 per cent from the New Zealand registry). That so many at NUCOT have thrived for more than two decades speaks to both their determination and the quality of care they have received.

Lives rebuilt across decades

Dr Leong Sai Fan, a 70-year-old retiree, received a kidney from his wife Mdm Quek Seow Chiang who donated her kidney to him in 1997. At the time, a transplant between genetically unrelated individuals required special approval, before legislative changes in 2004 allowed such transplants more widely.

He said: "My transplanted kidney has lasted 29 years. It gave me a new lease of life and was a gift made possible by my wife who could not bear to see me suffer. As part of the early generation who benefited from living donor transplants, I was able to continue working, watch our children grow, and now enjoy being a grandfather of four. I'm deeply grateful to my wife, and to the doctors and transplant coordinators who have cared for me over the years. They feel more like friends now in many ways."

Another long-term transplant recipient is Mdm Leong Kwai Sin, who at 41 years post-transplant is one of NUCOT's longest surviving patients. Now 69, Mdm Leong had undergone a kidney transplant due to kidney failure in 1985. She said: "It has been more than four decades since my kidney transplant, and every day since has been a gift. I am especially grateful to Professor Vathsala, who not only cared for me medically but supported me wholeheartedly when I hoped to start a family. She tailored my posttransplant care to make sure I was healthy enough to conceive, and I always felt safe under her guidance. Tonight's celebration reminds me how far we've come and how deeply the care from NUCOT has shaped my life."

In a separate case, Ms Tay (who preferred not to be fully named) was only around three years old when she had a liver transplant in 1996, making her the youngest liver transplant recipient in Singapore at the time. She was born with biliary atresia, a rare condition affecting newborns where the bile duct is blocked or did not develop properly.

Now in her early 30s, she recounts: "Receiving a liver transplant 30 years ago allowed me to live on and have a normal childhood, which I would otherwise not have had. Years later, I was also able to pursue tertiary education overseas. Since then, I could work full-time and pursue graduate studies. As such, I am deeply grateful for this gift of life and the ongoing care from the NUCOT team that made it possible."

A leading transplant centre with over 50 years of experience

Faculty from the National University of Singapore and National University Hospital have been at the forefront of advances in transplantation for over 50 years. Professor Khoo Oon Teik from the University Department of Medicine established a haemodialysis unit at the Outram campus, laying the groundwork for a kidney transplant programme. Professor Chan Kong Thoe from the University Department of Surgery performed the first cadaveric kidney transplant in Singapore on 8 July 1970. The first living donor kidney transplant in Singapore was performed in 1976 by Professors Ong Siew Chey, Foong Weng Cheong and Abu Rauff, all from the University Department of Surgery.

Notably, this year marks the 50th anniversary of the very first living donor kidney transplant in Singapore and NUCOT is privileged to have Professor Abu Rauff grace this celebration.

In 1985, the University Departments of Medicine and Surgery moved from the Outram campus to their present location at the National University Hospital. Under the leadership of Associate Professor Evan Lee, Professor Prabhakaran Krishnan and Professor Yap Hui Kim, the transplant programmes have grown from strength to strength. At NUH, Singapore's first paediatric kidney transplant was performed in February 1989, the first liver transplant in September 1990, and the first simultaneous kidney-pancreas transplant in 2012.

Since 1987, NUCOT has successfully carried out over 900 kidney and 500 liver transplants on both adult and paediatric patients. It remains Singapore's only centre performing paediatric solid organ transplants and has carried out over 100 paediatric kidney transplants and 150 paediatric liver transplants.

NUCOT was officially created in 2012 to bring together healthcare professionals in the kidney, liver, paediatric and pancreas programmes to advance care for organ transplant recipients. NUCOT's model of care is driven by a diverse team of transplant physicians, surgeons, nurses, pharmacists, allied health professionals and counsellors who work closely to provide holistic, long-term support for transplant patients and their families.

NUCOT also serves as a key hub for clinical training and research in Southeast Asia. Its commitment to education, innovation, and regional collaboration enables the centre to provide advanced treatments and foster expertise in organ donation and transplantation.

As NUCOT marks the 25-year milestone of post-transplant life with its patients, it remains committed to advancing transplant medicine so as to improve patient outcomes and transform patient lives after transplantation.

[1] Source: National Kidney Foundation, https://www.kidney.org/kidney-topics/kidney-transplant [2] Source: British Medical Journal, https://www.bmj.com/content/bmj/379/bmj.o2541.full.pdf

Chinese Glossary

National University Centre for Organ Transplantation (NUCOT)  Professor A Vathsala Director, NUCOT Head & Senior Consultant, Department of Medicine National University Hospital A Vathsala    Associate Professor Evan Lee Emeritus Consultant Division of Nephrology Department of Medicine National University Hospital Evan Lee     Emeritus Professor Prabhakaran Krishnan Emeritus Consultant Department of Paediatric Surgery Khoo Teck Puat - National University Children's Medical Institute National University Hospital Prabhakaran Krishnan   -  Professor Yap Hui Kim Medical Director & Emeritus Consultant Paediatric Kidney Transplantation Programme National University Centre for Organ Transplantation National University Hospital     

About the National University Hospital (NUH)

The National University Hospital (NUH) is Singapore's leading university hospital. While the hospital at Kent Ridge first received its patients on 24 June 1985, our legacy started from 1905, the date of the founding of what is today the NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine. NUH is the principal teaching hospital of the medical school.

Our unique identity as a university hospital is a key attraction for healthcare professionals who aspire to do more than practise tertiary medical care. We offer an environment where research and teaching are an integral part of medicine, and continue to shape medicine and transform care for the community we care for.

We are an academic medical centre with over 1,200 beds, serving more than one million patients a year with over 50 medical, surgical and dental specialties. NUH is the only public and not-for-profit hospital in Singapore to provide trusted care for adults, women and children under one roof, including the only paediatric kidney and liver transplant programme in the country.

The NUH is a key member of the National University Health System (NUHS), one of three public healthcare clusters in Singapore. For more information, visit www.nuh.com.sg

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SOURCE National University Hospital (NUH)
Home News Episcopal Church court orders new hearing for priest accused of stealing $300K

An Episcopal Church court has granted a new hearing for a priest accused of stealing $300,000 from a Texas church, striking down an earlier decision against him.

Last year, Edward Monk filed an appeal with The Court of Review of The Episcopal Church over an earlier decision from a diocesan hearing panel that found him guilty of misconduct.

The Court of Review issued a ruling last week in the case of The Rev. Edward R. Monk v. The Episcopal Diocese of Dallas, concluding that the hearing panel had violated canon law.

Specifically, the majority opinion cited the hearing panels arbitrary exclusion of the Rev. Monks counsel from the hearing itself, and the improper use of the criminal prosecutor to present selective grand jury information from an undisclosed expert forensic accounting report that had not been provided to the Rev. Monk or his counsel in advance of the hearing.

Those canonical violations were highly prejudicial and require us to order a new hearing, reads the Opinion of the Court. These errors were highly prejudicial to the Rev. Monk and deprived him of the right to present his defense.

The opinion was not unanimous, as four Court of Review members  Delbert C. Glover, the Rev. Giovan Venable King, the Rt. Rev. E. Mark Stevenson and the Rev. Marisa Tabizon Thompson  signed a dissenting opinion.

The four members believed that because Monk failed to participate in the hearing, he was entitled only to a much less exacting level of review than that applied by the majority.

Under that more limited standard of review we find that, despite the Panels many procedural failures, the ultimate result was not clearly wrong so as to require reversal, reads the dissent.

Nevertheless, while much must be discounted, enough remains that we cannot form a definite and clear conviction that the Panel made a mistake in finding that the Rev. Monk misappropriated funds, misled his parish about his behavior, and violated the canons as alleged.

Monk, who had served as rector of St. John's Episcopal Church of Corsicana since 2003, became the subject of a police investigation in July 2024 after parishioners reported suspicious financial activity.

In December 2024, Monk was arrested and charged with stealing over $300,000, fraudulently using the identity of an elderly individual and credit card abuse of an elderly person.

For their part, the Dallas-based diocese put Monk on administrative leave in August 2024, with the priest being charged with six counts of mismanagement of the local church's funds and fraud.

The counts included withholding information from church accountants, misusing a credit card for which a parishioner was liable, misusing the ministry fund of St. John's Church, failing to document the purpose of expenditures, and misappropriating church funds for personal use.

In late May of last year, a diocesan hearing panel concluded that Monk violated Episcopal Church disciplinary canons by allegedly defrauding his congregation and financial misconduct.

Monk appealed the hearing panel decision last December, arguing the hearing had been a "sham" and that he was not given enough of an opportunity to defend himself from the allegations.

"This long train of abuses culminated in the sham hearing of May 27 from which the [hearing panel's] order issued," stated the appeal document.

"The hearing panel insisted on conducting the hearing in a manner that both deprived respondent of his right to effective counsel at the hearing and placed his canonical and constitutional rights in the criminal proceeding in grave jeopardy."
Home News Let my people go: First look at Wonder Projects 'Moses special starring Ben Kingsley revealed

Wonder Project has announced The Old Stories: Moses, a three-part companion special set in the world of House of David, along with a new trailer and first-look images, including Moses standoff with Pharaoh.

Produced by Wonder Project and Amazon MGM Studios, the special is created by filmmaker Jon Erwin and stars Ben Kingsley as Moses and O-T Fagbenle as Pharaoh. The project is set to premiere on Wonder Projects subscription channel on Prime Video in the United States this spring, with a global rollout to follow at a later date.

Moses is one of the most iconic figures in history, and his story still resonates with us today, Erwin said in a statement shared with The Christian Post. We set out to tell 'The Old Stories: Moses' with a cinematic awe and scale that feels both epic and personal. I am especially proud of the cast performances, and I cant wait for people to see it on Wonder Project.

The three-part special expands the universe of House of David, exploring events that shaped Israel before Davids rise to the throne. The story follows a young shepherd who sees his own future reflected in the courage, failures and obedience of those who came before him.

Additional cast members include Louis Ferreira, Anna Khaja and Rada Rae.

In the trailer for the special, Moses is shown standing before the burning bush as described in Exodus 3.

I heard a voice, Kingsleys Moses says. He knew my name. He told me I must return to Egypt, to the place of my birth, to where my people are in bondage, slaves.

The trailer also shows a series of key moments in Moses story, including Pharaohs daughter discovering baby Moses in a basket in the river, his standoff with Pharaoh as he commands the Egyptian leader to let my people go, and the parting of the Red Sea and the 12 plagues.

Erwin serves as director, writer and executive producer of the special. Jon Gunn and Justin Rosenblatt also executive produce for Wonder Project, with Gavin J. Behrman as co-executive producer and Adam Abel as producer.

In a recent interview with CP, Gunn emphasized the importance of maintaining authenticity in faith-based and biblical epics, a quality he emphasized is essential to the genres success.

The purity is what makes it work, he said. Studios often try to duplicate authenticity, but it doesnt have the soul. We focus on what we call epic authenticity, stories with real emotional truth, made with genuine passion.

If I dont feel moved by it, I dont want to make it, Gunn said. We look for stories that make you want to tell your friends, You have to see this.

He added that audiences, and particularly those of faith, are quick to recognize when a story lacks sincerity.

Theyre smart, Gunn said. You can feel if someone is trying to sell you something versus something thats pure and authentic.

The three-part special will premiere this spring. Watch the trailer below.
Home News Israel allows access to Holy Sepulchre after initial Palm Sunday rejection

Quick Summary AI Summary Israel allows Catholic leaders to hold Palm Sunday mass at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher after initial police block.

Prime Minister Netanyahu intervenes following international criticism and ensures access for Cardinal Pizzaballa.

Police announce a limited prayer framework for the church amid ongoing security concerns in Jerusalem. An artificial intelligence-powered tool created this summary based on the source article. The summary has undergone review and verification by an editor. See Summary

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered authorities to restore access to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem on Sunday after police blocked the senior Catholic leader in the region from entering the site to celebrate Palm Sunday mass, drawing sharp rebukes from Western governments and the Vatican.

Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem and the Catholic archbishop responsible for the diocese covering Israel and the Palestinian territories, had attempted to travel to the church with Rev. Francesco Ielpo, the site's official guardian. Police stopped the two men en route and compelled them to turn back, according to a statement from The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem.

All holy sites in Jerusalems Old City had been closed to worshipers since the outbreak of war with Iran in February, under directives from the Israeli Home Front Command, the military-civil authority responsible for civilian protection. Iran has repeatedly targeted Jerusalem with ballistic missiles since the conflict began.

In one strike, fragments landed meters from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. A separate intercept sent shrapnel across all four quarters of the Old City, with debris landing on homes, a convent, the Dome of the Rock complex and the church compound itself. Iranian missile attacks have killed at least 19 people in Israel.

The intervention marked the first time in centuries that church leaders were prevented from celebrating Palm Sunday mass at the church, which is widely regarded as one of the holiest sites in Christianity and stands where Jesus was believed to have been crucified and resurrected.

Israeli police said they acted out of concern for Pizzaballas safety. Netanyahus office said there was no malicious intent whatsoever."

After international criticism mounted, Netanyahu wrote on X that he had instructed authorities to enable Pizzaballa to hold services as he wished.

"To protect worshippers, Israel asked members of all faiths to temporarily abstain from worshipping at the Christian, Muslim and Jewish holy sites in Jerusalems Old City," Netanyahu wrote. "Even though I understand this concern, as soon as I learned about the incident with Cardinal Pizzaballa, I instructed the authorities to enable the Patriarch to hold services as he wishes."

Israeli police announced early Monday that they had approved a limited prayer framework for the church, worked out in consultation with the Latin Patriarchate.

The formal Palm Sunday procession, which typically draws thousands of Christians to Jerusalem, had already been canceled in advance because of a ban on large gatherings.

The Latin Patriarchate said that Pizzaballa and Ielpo had been traveling privately and without any characteristics of a procession or ceremonial act.

U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee wrote on X that barring the patriarch from the church on Palm Sunday for a private ceremony was difficult to understand or justify and called the police action an unfortunate overreach already having major repercussions around the world.

European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said freedom of worship in Jerusalem must be guaranteed for all faiths and called the police action a violation of religious freedom.

French President Emmanuel Macron also condemned the decision, writing on X that it joins a worrying series of violations of the status of the holy sites in Jerusalem.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni expressed solidarity with Pizzaballa and Ielpo and described the denial of entry as an offense not only against believers but against every community that recognizes religious freedom.

Pope Leo XIV opened his Palm Sunday address at the Vatican by saying his prayers were more than ever with the Christians of the Middle East. He repeated the sentiment in an X post after the incident, without directly referring to it.

Inside the Old City, residents spoke of living under the constant threat of incoming missiles.

Many homes in the Christian, Armenian and Muslim quarters have no shelters, and for some families, the nearest public shelter is an eight-minute walk away, according to All Israel News, republished by The Christian Post.

Shrapnel from a recent intercept landed on at least one apartment building housing an American Embassy worker.

Netanyahus office said authorities were preparing a plan to enable church leaders to worship at the holy site throughout the remainder of Easter week.
Home News Judge rejects UMCs claim to own breakaway megachurch

Quick Summary AI Summary Judge rules United Methodist Church does not own an Alabama megachurch's property.

Court finds Harvest Church is the sole owner, rejecting UMC's claims based on a trust clause.

Ruling follows a legal dispute initiated in November 2022 before Harvest Church voted to leave UMC. An artificial intelligence-powered tool created this summary based on the source article. The summary has undergone review and verification by an editor. See Summary

An Alabama judge has ruled that the United Methodist Church does not own and has no legal claim to the property of Harvest Church, a megachurch in Dothan that broke away from the denomination over its stance on same-sex marriage.

Houston County Circuit Judge Christopher K. Richardson issued the ruling last week, finding that Harvest Church is the sole owner of its property and that neither the denomination nor any of its affiliated bodies holds any right or interest in the churchs real or personal assets, AL.com reported.

The Alabama-West Florida Conference, the UMC regional body, had argued in court that it owned Harvest Churchs property based on a trust clause in the denominations Book of Discipline, a roughly 900-page governing document.

The trust clause provision holds that local church property is held in trust for the denomination.

Richardson rejected that argument, finding that the deeds to Harvest Churchs property never included any such trust clause. No one at Harvest had ever agreed to be bound by the Book of Discipline, and the church had operated with minimal contact with the denomination, the judge found.

In 1999, the Alabama-West Florida Conference gave Harvest Church trustees $273,377 to purchase land on which the church built its campus. Richardson ruled the money was a gift with no strings attached, noting that communications at the time described it as such and that no contrary evidence was presented.

Richardson also rejected several counterclaims brought by the denomination.

He ruled there was no breach of contract, no breach of what the denomination called a connectional covenant and trust, and no liability tied to the original land gift. He further rejected claims of unjust enrichment, noting that while the denomination had provided Harvest with a total of $442,050.19 in funding, Harvest had paid back more than $2.4 million to the denomination through apportionments, the required financial contributions local churches make to the UMC.

Richardson dismissed a claim for breach of fiduciary duty, finding the denomination failed to prove either a fiduciary relationship or a breach, and rejected a claim for reimbursement of 2025 healthcare premiums for Harvest Lead Pastor Ralph Sigler, who helped found the congregation.

The ruling caps a legal dispute that began in November 2022, when Harvest filed suit against the Alabama-West Florida Conference, concerned that the congregation would lose control of its campus if it sought to leave the denomination.

In January 2023, 98% of Harvest members voted to leave the UMC. The departure was part of a wider fracture in the denomination over its stance on same-sex marriage and the ordination of noncelibate gay clergy. The schism prompted more than 7,000 congregations to leave the UMC, many joining more theologically conservative bodies such as the Global Methodist Church.

In April 2024, the Alabama Supreme Court rejected a denomination conference petition to dismiss Harvests lawsuit, with Associate Justice Greg Cook ruling that civil courts have jurisdiction to resolve church-property disputes as long as they can do so on neutral legal principles without settling a religious controversy.

More than a dozen similar cases remain active in Alabama courts, brought by other congregations that broke away from the denomination and contest its claims to their property. Many of the congregations have joined the Global Methodist Church.

In May 2023, the Alabama-West Florida Conference approved the disaffiliations of 193 congregations in a special session, leaving 318 churches affiliated with the denomination in the region.
Home News Karoline Leavitt responds to papal war rebuke, incident over Church of Holy Sepulchre

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Monday responded to recent comments from Pope Leo XIV suggesting God closes His ears to leaders who wage war, and addressed the U.S. response to the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem being shut out of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre on Palm Sunday.

During a press briefing at the White House that focused heavily on the lingering war in Iran, Leavitt was asked to respond to the pope, who claimed during his homily in Rome on Sunday that Jesus Christ is the "King of Peace, who rejects war, whom no one can use to justify war."

"He does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them," he continued, quoting Isaiah 1:15, when the prophet rebuked ancient Judah for its violence: "Even though you make many prayers, I will not listen: your hands are full of blood."

The pope has frequently called for an immediate ceasefire, dialogue and humanitarian aid since the outbreak of the war, describing it earlier this month as a "scandal to the whole human family."

Leavitt deflected from repudiating the pope's comments directly, but noted that prayer has featured prominently throughout the history of the United States, especially during wartime.

"Our nation was a nation founded 250 years ago, almost, on Judeo-Christian values," she said. "And we've seen presidents, we've seen the leaders of the Department of War, and we've seen our troops go to prayer during the most turbulent times in our nation's history."

"I dont think there's anything wrong with our military leaders or with the president calling on the American people to pray for our service members and those who are serving our country overseas. In fact, I think it's a very noble thing to do," she added.

REPORTER: "Pope Leo said yesterday, and I quote him, 'God does not listen to the prayer of those who waged war.' Can you comment on that?"



KAROLINE LEAVITT: "Our nation was a nation founded 250 years ago, almost, on Judeo-Christian values. And weve seen, presidents, weve seen, pic.twitter.com/US5BupIZMg  Fox News (@FoxNews) March 30, 2026

Last week, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth prompted criticism for invoking the imprecatory psalms against the enemies of the U.S.

During the first monthly prayer service at the Pentagon since the outbreak of the war, Hegseth read from a prayer by a U.S. military chaplain that asked God to give U.S. military forces "wisdom in every decision, endurance for the trial ahead, unbreakable unity and overwhelming violence of action against those who deserve no mercy."

"Preserve their lives, sharpen their resolve and let justice be executed swiftly and without remorse, that evil may be driven back and wicked souls delivered to the eternal damnation prepared for them," continued the prayer, which Hegseth said had been written for the U.S. Navy task force that captured and extradited former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in January.

During another point in the Monday press briefing, Leavitt also touched briefly on the international diplomatic incident that erupted when Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa was prohibited by Israeli police forces from entering the Church of the Holy Sepulchre on Sunday, as recounted by a statement from The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem.

When Pizzaballa, whose Roman Catholic archdiocese also covers the Palestinian territories, was barred from the traditional site of the Resurrection for safety reasons, he performed a brief Palm Sunday mass instead on the Mount of Olives, where Jesus wept over Jerusalem for its unfaithfulness during the Triumphal Entry.

After drawing sharp rebuke from the Vatican and other Western leaders, including U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu apologized for the incident, assuring there was no "malicious intent" while promising Christians they would have access to their holy sites in Jerusalem during Holy Week.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog also called Pizzaballa to express his "great sorrow" over the incident.

Leavitt said she spoke with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is a practicing Roman Catholic, about the incident earlier on Monday.

"We did express our concerns with Israel with respect to these holy sites being shut down," she said. "We want worshipers to be able to access these holy sites. Of course, safety is a top priority, but we understand Israel is working on those security measures to reopen the sites throughout Holy Week, and that's something that we're appreciative of."

The holy sites of all three Abrahamic religions in Jerusalem's Old City had been shuttered to worshipers since the outbreak of war with Iran, under directives from the Israeli Home Front Command, which serves as the military-civil authority responsible for civilian protection.

Iran has repeatedly targeted Jerusalem with ballistic missiles since the conflict began, with fragments landing meters from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in one strike. Another intercept sent shrapnel across all four quarters of the Old City, with debris landing on homes, a convent, the Dome of the Rock complex and the church compound itself.

Iranian missile attacks have killed at least 19 people in Israel.
Home News Priest of last Christian village in West Bank speaks out against Israeli settler attacks 'This story is about the life of a Christian community'

The Latin parish priest who pastors the last entirely Christian village in the West Bank recently urged Christians worldwide to support its inhabitants amid reports of violent attacks by radical Israeli settlers.

Bashar Fawadleh, who serves the Palestinian village of Taybeh, told EWTN's sister publication ACI Prensa last Saturday that the land seized by Israeli settlers earlier this month "belonged to the people of Taybeh and were, moreover, our private property."

Taybeh is located east of Jerusalem and north of Ramallah and is also known as the biblical town of Ephraim where Jesus withdrew before His crucifixion in John 11:54. Fawadleh maintained that the settlers are engaged in "a violation of international law and of the rights of the local community," and that their actions are offensive from both a religious and historical perspective.

"This story is about the life of a Christian community that has been present in this land for more than 2,000 years," he told the Catholic outlet.

Fawadleh's appeal comes amid reports that dozens of Israeli settler extremists have escalated raids of multiple Palestinian villages in the West Bank, setting homes, vehicles and agricultural fields on fire, according to the BBC.

The violence reportedly sparked in response to 18-year-old Yehuda Sherman being struck and killed by a Palestinian in a car while he was riding a quad bike earlier this month. Israeli settlers carried out more than 20 attacks against Palestinian villages and towns in the West Bank on Saturday night, injuring at least 11 Palestinians, according to The Jerusalem Post.

Taybeh has repeatedly featured as a flashpoint of regional tensions.

In 2005, hundreds of Muslim men torched homes after a 30-year-old Muslim woman from neighboring Deir Jarir was allegedly engaged in a romantic relationship with a Christian man from the village.

In 2013, Israeli settlers took over a monastery in the village and hoisted an Israeli flag over the building, according to the Palestinian Ma'an News Agency.

During a solidarity visit to Taybeh last July, the Council of Patriarchs and Heads of Churches of the Holy Land called on Israeli authorities to punish Israeli settlers for their alleged attacks against the village's fields and holy sites, according to OSV News.

"The attacks by the hands of settlers against our community, which is living in peace, must stop, both here in Taybeh and elsewhere throughout the West Bank. This is clearly part of the systematic attacks against Christians that we see unfolding throughout the region," the Roman Catholic and Orthodox leaders said in a joint statement.

Last summer, the Israeli Defense Forces said they and Israeli police were dispatched to the area after dozens of Israeli civilians torched property amid a conflict between Israelis and Palestinians that devolved into "mutual rock-hurling," according to OSV.

The latest alleged Israeli settler violence drew condemnation from Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., who wrote, "The coordinated attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank at the hands of Israeli extremists are unacceptable, and the perpetrators must be arrested and prosecuted."

"Violence against Palestinian civilians in the West Bank is a national security threat to Israel and must be treated as such," added Rosen, whose father's family were Jewish immigrants from Russia and Austria.

Since the outbreak of the war in Iran, Pope Leo XIV has frequently called for an immediate ceasefire, dialogue and humanitarian aid, describing the conflict last Sunday as a "scandal to the whole human family."

"We cannot remain silent in the face of the suffering of so many people, the defenseless victims of these conflicts. What hurts them hurts the whole of humanity," he said from St. Peter's Square in Vatican City.

Since occupying the West Bank and East Jerusalem during the 1967 Six-Day War, Israel has constructed approximately 160 settlements, which are home to about 700,000 Israelis, who live there along with 3.3 million Palestinians.
Home News Texas Baptists, nonprofit Communio partner to help Christian marriages thrive

The Baptist General Convention of Texas (Texas Baptists) and the national Christian marriage ministry Communio are teaming up for a new statewide partnership to equip churches in strengthening marriages, supporting families and sharing the Gospel across Texas.

Communio, a Virginia-based nonprofit founded by author J.P. De Gance, trains and equips churches across Evangelical, Protestant and other Christian contexts to evangelize and disciple by renewing healthy relationships, marriages and families.

The partnership provides Texas Baptists-affiliated churches  numbering about 5,300 congregations  with direct access to Communios experts, resources and training, helping pastors and leaders assess congregational relationship needs, host welcoming events for couples and singles, deliver faith-based classes and retreats on marriage and dating skills, and leverage relationship ministry for broader outreach, discipleship and growth.

While the initiative is still in its early stages, the urgency behind it is undeniable: according to a 2024 report from the Texas Public Policy Foundation, approximately 54% of Texas children are raised by their married, biological parents, meaning nearly half grow up outside such homes. Additionally, over 42% of children born in Texas are to unmarried parents, while the state records 5.8 marriages and 2.1 divorces per 1,000 residents, according to CDC data cited in the report.

Pastor Ronny Marriott, senior pastor of First Baptist Richardson and a former Texas Baptists president, highlighted the impact based on his experience partnering with Communio at two churches.

We have utilized Communio to help us plan and advertise several on-campus block parties for our church. They helped us design the graphics for the promotions, which we used for social media, community magazines, door hangers and invitation cards, Marriot told The Christian Post. They also provided a database for us of potential prospects for our church. We told them the parameters of who we wanted to specifically invite to each of these events, and they sent direct mailers and emails to those houses.

Marriott says the app was also instrumental in conducting a relational survey of his church members. They did an assessment of our congregation to help us understand the needs in our church related to church growth and engagement, he added.

J.P. De Gance, founder and president of Communio, said in a statement shared with CP that the organization has seen tremendous transformation coming from our partnering Baptist churches in Texas with double-digit increases in church attendance, hundreds of first-time guests and a number of marriages saved.

I am thrilled that this new partnership with the Texas Baptists will give thousands of pastors easier access to our ministry support services, De Gance added. This means many more people meeting Jesus and many more thriving Christian marriages.

Communio also highlighted results from partner churches nationwide, including seeing an average 24% growth in Sunday attendance at churches participating in the program for one to two years. In 2025, over 56,000 people attended Communio outreach experiences, with nearly one-third from outside church membership, and over 82,000 participated in in-person relationship ministry events.

Beyond planning events and coordinating church outreach, Marriott said Communio took his congregation to another level when it comes to communication. The biggest challenge is communicating clearly the why behind the what. Our church is filled with engineers who like details, he said. Communio helped us to craft our language.

In addition to its partnership with Texas Baptists, Communio says it is currently working with a number of other ministry and policy partners, including the Arizona Mission Network, the Family Leader and the Center for Christian Virtue.
Home News Trump shares letter from Franklin Graham urging his faith, repentance: 'Important issue'

President Donald Trump shared a letter on Palm Sunday that had been sent to him by evangelist Franklin Graham last October, which urged him to seriously consider his eternal state, accept Jesus Christ as his Savior and cease trusting in his own works if he hopes to go to Heaven.

In a letter dated Oct. 15, 2025, Graham congratulated Trump for securing a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas and the return of remaining Israeli hostages, which he praised as "incredible accomplishments" and "an answer to prayer" amid Trump's "historic" leadership. He also praised Trump for being a peacemaker, noting that Jesus promised blessing for such figures.

Graham went on to exhort the president to remember that, despite his many accomplishments and apparent blessings, neither he nor anyone else can earn favor before God and salvation from Hell apart from trusting in the righteousness and atoning death of Jesus Christ, performed on their behalf.

On this Palm Sunday, President Trump shared his letter from Franklin Graham explaining the only path to Heaven is through Jesus, our Savior. pic.twitter.com/pgbZD0kpnM  Speaker Mike Johnson (@SpeakerJohnson) March 29, 2026

"This week you commented to the media that you might not be heaven bound," Graham wrote, referring to remarks Trump made last October, walking back previous comments he made last August suggesting he might earn a place in paradise by inking peace deals.

Trump's initial comments prompted a flurry of theological debate among his Evangelical supporters, many of whom worried that Trump maintained a faulty view of the Gospel, despite hearing it many times and narrowly escaping death multiple times.

"Maybe you responded in jest, but it is an important issue to know for certain that your soul is secure and will spend eternity in the presence of God," Graham told Trump in his letter. "The only One who can save us from Hell is Jesus Christ. You can't save yourself; I can't save myself."

Graham, whose father, the late Rev. Billy Graham, preached in person to more people than anyone in history, warned that "good works, prominence, [and] success" are powerless to gain entry into Heaven, adding, "The only way to Heaven is through the shed blood of Jesus Christ."

Though Graham was accused by some X users and media outlets of promising Trump he was going to Heaven, Graham's letter clearly presented Trump's salvation as conditional upon his faith, which he noted is inextricable with repentance.

"God requires us to turn from our sins and, by faith, believe in our heart that Jesus came to earth, died on the cross for our sins, was buried, and God raised Him to life on the third day," he said.

"If you accept that by faith and invite Him to come into your heart, you ARE heaven bound, I promise you," he added.

Graham closed his letter by promising prayer for Trump and quoting the Gospel message from Romans 10:9: "If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved."

Trump shared Graham's letter amid concerns even from some of the president's staunchest supporters regarding his increasingly mean-spirited attacks in response to the suffering and death of his enemies.

Trump drew scorn for celebrating the death of former special counsel and FBI Director Robert Mueller earlier this month, provoked Christian rebuke for attacking his political foes during the National Prayer Breakfast in February and prompted two-thirds disapproval from Republicans for mocking the late Hollywood director Rob Reiner after his own son gruesomely murdered him and his wife in December.

During his eulogy for the late Charlie Kirk at his memorial last September, Trump admitted that he "disagreed" with Kirk when it comes to forgiving one's enemies, noting, "I hate my opponent. And I don't want the best for them."

"Erika [Kirk], you can talk to me and the whole group, but maybe they can convince me that that's not right, but I can't stand my opponent," he added to Kirk's widow, who famously forgave her husband's murderer during the same memorial.

Despite some accusations of cynicism from detractors on social media, Graham's letter drew approval from figures such as evangelist and Trump supporter Sean Feucht, who expressed hope last fall that the 79-year-old president's remarks could indicate that he is at least thinking about eternity and questioning where he will spend it.

"He has no shortage of people that have clearly explained to him on phone calls, on conference calls, in person ... about the forgiveness of sins, repentance, by grace alone you can be saved, not by works," Feucht said at the time.

"He's heard it many, many times. However, I do think it is amazing [...] that he is acknowledging now that his good works alone  all his wealth, all his fame, all his stature, all his accolades, all his power  is not enough to get him to Heaven, and he's right. And that takes humility," said Feucht.

"I believe God is moving his heart closer than ever before," he continued, adding that he is praying that Trump would have a public conversion experience before he leaves office.

My thoughts on President Trumps comments about not getting to heaven. pic.twitter.com/uQKTZV9weu  Sean Feucht (@seanfeucht) October 13, 2025
TN Lawmakers Walk Out Over Prayer, Graham On CPAC Remarks, Americans Likely To View Others As Morally Bad

link to download the audio instead. link to download the audio instead. 07:04 07:04

Top headlines for Monday, March 30, 2026

In this episode, we unpack a tense moment at the Tennessee House, where lawmakers walked out during a politically charged prayer, revisit Franklin Grahams response after saying he misspoke at CPAC, and explore new survey findings showing Americans are more likely than people in other countries to see their fellow citizens as morally bad.

00:11 Lawmakers walk out of invocation denouncing Christian nationalism

01:00 Franklin Graham says he 'misspoke' in CPAC speech

01:46 Catholic university to offer talk on 'Queering Spirituality'

02:41 Most Americans say fellow citizens are morally bad, survey finds

03:37 Feds agree to stop pressuring for social media censorship

04:33 TPUSA Faiths church tour stresses Gospel over politics

05:25 7 new faith-based movies, TV series to watch this Easter

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Home Opinion Paivi Rasanen's conviction: Finland considers Christian free speech as 'war crime'

The 18th-century Christian hymn Be Still, My Soul is a cherished favorite of my family. The lyrics are a comforting reminder that a loving and sovereign God both sees and understands what troubles us and will set all things right in His time.



The hymn is set to the tune Finlandia by Sibelius. I hummed this to myself to quiet the rage I felt when reading the news that Finlands Supreme Court criminally convicted Paivi Rasanen and Bishop Juhana Pohjola on March 26.



The irony was so thick I could have choked on it.



Rasanen, a member of the Finnish Parliament, and Pohjola, a bishop of the Lutheran Church, were charged as criminals under the war crimes and crimes against humanity section of Finlands criminal code for writing and publishing a pamphlet for church members more than 20 years ago, when Finland was considering redefining marriage.



The prosecution began in 2019 when Rasanen tweeted Romans 1:2427 to question her church's decision to sponsor the Helsinki Pride Parade. What followed was a grueling criminal investigation into her past statements, including hours upon hours of interrogation at the hands of the state.



She was criminally charged for the tweet, in addition to the 2004 church pamphlet and a 2019 radio discussion. Pohjola, who published the pamphlet for their church, was charged alongside her. Notably, the pamphlet was written years before the enactment of the law under which Rasanen and Pohjola were prosecuted.



Both the trial and appellate courts acquitted the two unanimously. The Finnish Supreme Court upheld the acquittals related to the tweet but, by a 32 vote, convicted both for publishing the pamphlet. (The acquittal for the radio show stood because it was not appealed.) While it is just that the acquittals have been upheld, the vigor with which the state pursued the entire case is cause for great alarm. The relentless fervor of the prosecution reveals the extent to which our Western democracies are comfortable punishing views that differ from the elite orthodoxy.



The conviction for the decades-old church pamphlet confirms what my colleagues at Alliance Defending Freedom have long warned: Vaguely worded hate speech laws are being used to criminalize peaceful religious expression. The court itself found no incitement to violence or hatred, yet convicted her anyway. This is a dark and foreboding day for Europe, with dire implications for free speech around the world. The court went so far as to order the destruction of the pamphlet and its removal from the internet. (Good luck with that last part, by the way.) Somewhere, George Orwell is wondering if his works have been forgotten or, worse, read as instruction manuals instead of satirical cautionary tales.



Regardless of whether the Finnish public agrees or disagrees with Rasanens views, they should be asking themselves, What have I written over the last 20 years? A blog post, a comment, a pamphlet for my church, school, or civic organization? Under a standard like this, even the most ordinary expression could become the target for investigation, criminal prosecution, and conviction. The scope of this travesty and injustice is not confined to Rasanens case, as it shows that all peaceful expression can fall prey to judicial erasure and penalty.



This case underscores why it is more important than ever to roll back vaguely worded or ill-defined hate speech laws, which chill public debate and pose a grave threat to free and democratic societies. Free speech in Europe will be a relic of the past if hate speech laws are not repealed across the continent. Every European deserves a robust free speech framework protecting this fundamental human right.



The threat of hate speech laws is not theoretical. This conviction makes clear how these laws are being used to investigate, prosecute, and convict individuals for benignly expressing their beliefs in the public square. This is not about whether one agrees with the views expressed. It is about whether the state should have the power to punish peaceful expression.



Europe risks replacing its democracies with authoritarian conformity, where only approved views can be expressed without fear. Those whose silence gives consent to the criminalization of speech with which they disagree will have no defense when their own beliefs fall out of fashion with the thought police.



For now, the future remains uncertain for Rasanen and Pohjola as they take counsel from their legal team. The future of free speech in Europe is buffeted by tempestuous waves of doubt as well. So, may this verse of Be Still, My Soul be of reassurance:

Be still, my soul! Your God does undertake to guide the future as He has the past. Your hope, your confidence, let nothing shake; all now mysterious shall be bright at last. Be still, my soul! The waves and winds still know His voice who ruled them while He dwelt below.
XIAMEN, China, March 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Akuvox, a global leading provider of smart intercom and smart home products and solutions, is proud to announce that the X937, its premier 15.6" Surveillance + Intercom AI Monitor, has been honored with the prestigious iF Design Award 2026 for the User Experience(UX) discipline. This global recognition celebrates the seamless fusion of elite UX design with cutting-edge smart intercom technology.

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Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2945399/X937_Award_Winning_Design_1920x930.jpg
Home Opinion Dear pastors: When your silence is not neutrality. It is surrender

After watching an episode of House of David, I found myself drawn back into one of the most familiar and yet most profound scenes in all of Scripture.

It was the moment David faced Goliath.

On that battlefield, Goliath was more than just a giant  he was defiance personified. Day after day, he hurled insults not merely at Israel, but at Israels God. His size, his armor, his voice, his sheer presence all declared the same message: Your God cannot save you.

For a time, it seemed as though that message was winning. The armies of Israel trembled. Not a single man stepped forward. Not even the king.

Then came David.

A shepherd boy. No armor. No sword. No stature. No reputation as a warrior. By every human measure, he was utterly unqualified.

Yet David saw what others refused to see: this was not ultimately a contest between a giant and the Hebrews; it was a confrontation between a wicked blasphemer and the living God.

When David stepped onto that field, he did so with a confidence that defied all human reasoning. He had seen Gods hand before  in the paw of a lion, in the jaws of a bear  and he believed that the God who delivered him then would deliver him now.

Goliath laughed. The very sight of David seemed an insult. Surely Israel had lost its mind not to send a champion, but a boy.

Nevertheless, in that moment, something far greater was unfolding.

With a single stone from a shepherds sling, the giant fell.

What was Goliaths rage, his blasphemy, his towering opposition? It became the very means by which God displayed His power to the world.

The defiance of man did not diminish Gods glory. Instead, it magnified it.

The wrath of man praised Him.

Scripture declares this truth with striking clarity: Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee: the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain (Psalm 76:10).

Psalm 76 reminds us that no opposition, no matter how fierce, can ultimately stand against God. More than that, it reveals something even more astonishing: God does not merely defeat His enemies; He overrules them. He sets limits to their rebellion, and He bends even their resistance into the accomplishment of His purposes.

What appears to threaten His glory becomes, in His hands, a means of displaying it.

That truth is not confined to ancient battlefields. It speaks directly to our present moment.

We are living in a time when defiance against God is no longer subtle. It is bold. It is organized. It is celebrated. Biblical truth is mocked. Moral absolutes are ridiculed. Foundational realities  concerning life, family, truth, and even human identity  are being aggressively dismantled.

In many ways, it feels as though Goliath has returned to the valley.

Too often, the response has been silence.

Many pastors and church leaders have grown hesitant to address these social issues. Some fear controversy. Others fear division. Still others have come to believe that such matters fall outside the scope of Gospel ministry.

But Davids example, and Psalm 76, tell us otherwise.

There are moments when silence is not neutrality. It is surrender.

David understood that Goliaths defiance was not merely a political or military problem. It was a spiritual affront. To ignore it would have been to be complicit with it  even to participate in it.

So, David stepped forward.

Not because he was the most qualified. Not because he had others' approval. But because he believed that Gods name must not go undefended.

That same zeal and conviction must be recovered in our own time.

To speak to the moral and cultural issues of the day with the truth of Gods Word is not a departure from the gospel; it is an expression of it. The Gospel declares that Jesus Christ is Lord. If He is Lord, then His authority extends over every sphere of life, including the public square.

We do not engage because we trust in our own strength.

We engage because God reigns.

We speak because no opposition can ultimately prevail against Him.

We speak because even the wrath of man, however fierce it may appear, will, in the end, serve His purposes and bring Him glory.

I know something of this, not merely from Scripture, but from experience.

Nearly three decades ago, I became deeply convinced that as a minister of the Gospel, I could no longer remain silent about the political and cultural issues that were plainly contrary to the Word of God. The moral drift I was witnessing, both in society and, increasingly, within the church itself, was not merely concerning. It was, in many cases, blasphemous.

I knew what it might cost.

I was serving a church at the time, and I understood that if I began addressing these matters from the pulpit, it could very well mean the end of my pastorate.

Still, the conviction would not leave me.

And so, with a sense of resolve that I can only describe in the words of Esther, I came to this conclusion: If I perish, I perish (Esther 4:16).

Gods truth must be declared.

I began to preach, not politically, but biblically, addressing the controversial ethical issues of our day and helping my congregation understand how to think about them through the lens of Scripture. My aim was not to inflame, but to disciple; not to divide, but to bring clarity where confusion had taken root.

What happened next surprised me.

I was not dismissed as expected.

Instead, it became clear that people were hungry for such preaching  sound, biblical preaching that spoke directly to where they lived. They needed wisdom from above to navigate the most pressing matters here below.

The church began to grow. Visitors came. New families were added. Opportunities opened  first to write, then to radio, and later to speaking engagements beyond the walls of my own church. Platforms of various kinds emerged that I could never have created for myself.

I am not a great intellectual. Though I have received an honorary doctorate, my formal theological training has been limited. Yet it has been God, in His providence, who has continued to enlarge my sphere of influence  not for my sake, but for His purposes and His glory.

Looking back, I can see it plainly: what I feared might destroy my ministry, God used to establish and strengthen it.

I would be disingenuous to say there was no pushback or backlash. Yet the opposition I experienced became, in His hands, an instrument for advancing His truth  most importantly, the truth of Gods saving grace in Christ.

The wrath of man praised Him.

Still, I must add that, after all these years, I remain burdened more than ever.

Because so many pastors, so many church leaders, so many denominations continue to hesitate stepping forward. The risks feel too great. The cost seems too high. Careers, reputations, and congregational stability are placed on one side of the scale, and faithfulness to speak the full counsel of God on the other.

Too often, silence wins the day.

What we are facing is not a minor challenge. It is not a passing trend. It is a Goliath  massive, defiant, open hostility to the truth of God. It threatens to mute the Churchs witness and erode the very foundations of our liberties as a nation.

Like the armies of Israel, most stand back, waiting.

God has not changed. He is still able to take what seems small, what seems weak, what seems utterly insufficient, and use it to bring down what appears invincible.

The question is not whether the giants will rage. They will. They already are.

The question is whether there will be those who, like David, are willing to act  not in their own strength, but in the name of the Lord.

Who will rise to the challenge and declare that there is a God who rules over all?

Whoever does will discover what Psalm 76 has declared all along: The opposition they feared is not beyond Gods control. It never has been. It never will be.

And in the end, even the rage of arrogant and blasphemous giants will fall, and God will make the wrath of man to praise Him.
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In 2022, Kash Patel, now the director of the FBI, published The Plot Against the King, the first in his series of illustrated childrens books. In The Plot and its two sequels, which draw on the stolen-2020-election conspiracy theory and the Trump-Russia probe, Patel appears as a wizard in a pointy blue hat (Kash the Distinguished Discoverer) who helps King Donald battle a series of foes who seek to usurp his throne. These include Hillary Queenton, Baron Von Biden, Comma-la-la-la, and the heralds, Patels name for the press, who spread rumors and lies about King Donald being a cheater. The heralds hold trumpets labeled NYT, CNN, and The Post. Dont just trust the person with the loudest trumpet, Patel urges readers at one point.

Its easy to laugh at Patels books, which are marketed as a fantastical retelling of the terrible true story. But they also capture something of the Trump administrations alarming desire for retribution, which Patel is intent on weaponizing the FBI to achieve. Patel, who is forty-six, rose rapidly through the ranks during Donald Trumps first term in a variety of national security roles, distinguished less by his competence than by his unswerving loyalty to the president. As he said on Steve Bannons War Room podcast in 2023, Were gonna come after the people in the media who lied about American citizens, who helped Joe Biden rig presidential elections. Were gonna come after youwhether its criminally or civilly, well figure that outbut yeah, were putting you all on notice.

At 6:05am on January 14, the FBI executed a search warrant at the home of Hannah Natanson, a Washington Post reporter who had spent much of Trumps first year back in office covering the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) as it took a hatchet to the civil service. After Natanson posted her contact details on the Reddit forum r/fednews, her Signal became a kind of grand terminus for whistleblowers. She followed up with many of the sources and referred others to colleagues. In January of 2025, I just posted this sort of vague question relating to this one tip, Natanson told the Posts podcast last April. And it took off.

On December 24, Natanson published a first-person piece about becoming the papers federal government whisperer and gaining 1,169 contacts on Signal, all current or former federal employees who decided to trust me with their stories. The three weeks between the article and the FBI search of her apartment created an opening. Was the administration exacting retribution for Natansons reporting? What might the implications be for future national security journalismor newsgathering in general? This was the first time the Justice Department had raided a journalists home in connection with a national security leak investigation and, as CJRs Riddhi Setty wrote, many saw it as a blatant violation of the First Amendment.

Although the Justice Department and the FBI executed the raid, which Maddy Crowell wrote about for CJR in January, the search request for Natansons home came from the so-called Department of War, according to an X post from Pam Bondi, the attorney general. During the raid, FBI agents seized Natansons phone, work computer, personal laptop, and smartwatch. Investigators reportedly told Natanson that she was not the probes target. They also assisted her in applying her right index finger to a Post-owned MacBook Pro, providing access to all its data, and took photographs of Signal conversations before they could auto-delete, according to a DOJ court filing.

Soon afterward, attorneys representing the Post demanded the FBI return the materials it had seized. The raid was a prior restraint and a violation of the reporters privilege that flouts the First Amendment and ignores federal statutory safeguards for journalists, they argued. On January 21, the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia issued a standstill order, instructing the government to preserve but not review any of the seized materials. Meanwhile, attorneys for the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press (RCFP) filed an application to unseal the search warrant affidavit justifying the raid. On January 30, the court granted that request. A partially redacted document, dated January 13, outlined how the FBI, on January 8, had arrested and charged a man named Aurelio Perez-Lugones, a systems engineer and information technology specialist who worked for a government contractor, with unlawfully retaining classified national defense information. The FBI sought authority from the court to seize Natansons electronic devices because there is probable cause to believe the devices contain evidence of a crime, contraband, fruits of crime, or other items illegally possessed, and propertyused in committing a crime.

Legal observers, however, were quick to notice that the Justice Departments lawyers had omitted any reference to the 1980 Privacy Protection Act, a federal law that prohibits raids targeting journalists or newsrooms, protecting reporters from searches and seizures of material unless they themselves are suspected of committing crimes related to that material. Gabe Rottman, RCFPs vice president of policy, said the government had ignored a crucial press freedom guardrail.

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Visitors to the federal courthouse for the Eastern District of Virginia are welcomed by a statue of Lady Justice, blindfolded and holding balanced scales; the Natanson case appeared to suggest another kind of blindnessto the law itself. In a fiery court hearing on February 20, Judge William B. Porter rebuked the Justice Department for failing to alert him about the 1980 law. Why didnt you raise it? Porter said, according to a New York Times report. How could you miss it? How could you think it doesnt apply? (Sit down! Porter also reportedly shouted at one of the government lawyers who tried to interject during his grilling.) One Justice Department lawyer, Christian Dibblee, said he understood the judges frustration, adding that the decision had been made by higher-level officials. Despite another government lawyer apologizing to the judge, it seems the Trump administration had decided that the 1980 law did not bar the search, because it concluded for itself that Ms. Natanson had probably violated the Espionage Act, the Times wrote.

This brought the case into perilous and untested waters regarding First Amendment protections: a reporter for an established news organization has never been charged under the Espionage Act, as Kyle Paoletta has written for CJR; the government has historically gone after whistleblowers, such as Daniel Ellsberg in the 1971 Pentagon Papers case, or Edward Snowden when he gave documents to journalists exposing National Security Agency surveillance. Charging a reporter under an arcane 1917 law would be another attempt by the administration to close the legal gap between reporters and sources when it comes to sharing information. Although it hasnt charged Natanson with a crime, the Department of Justice contends that she, along with her source, violated the Espionage Act by possessing classified documents, Seth Stern, chief of advocacy at the Freedom of the Press Foundation, wrote over the weekend. In Natansons case, the notion that a journalist or publisher can violate the Espionage Act by obtaining government secrets in the first place is a red line that many administrations decided against crossing in prior decades.

On February 24, Porter ruled that the Justice Department could not search Natansons electronic devicesinstead, the court itself would review the seized materials. The language of Porters opinion was interesting. He directly addressed the Trump administrations linked aims of stopping unauthorized disclosures and purging employees perceived as disloyal to the administrations agenda, and said the Justice Department couldnt be trusted with wholesale access to Natansons deviceswhich would be the equivalent of leaving the governments fox in charge of the Washington Posts henhouse. But he stopped short of returning all devices to Natanson and the Post, because classified national security information may be among the seized material. He also tried to give the administration the benefit of the doubt. The Courts genuine hope is that this search was conductedas the government contendsto gather evidence of a crime in a single case, not to collect information about confidential sources from a reporter who has published articles critical of the administration, he wrote.

The administration, though, has rejected efforts to chart a compromise. On March 10, the Justice Department appealed Porters order, arguing that it violates the Constitutions separation of powers and that journalists are not protected from searches when the government fears they could possess sensitive government materials, the Post reported. Government lawyers also said, last Wednesday, that it would be difficult for the court to review the material because it contains classified documents for which Top Secret with SCI [Sensitive Compartmented Information] clearance would be needed.

For now, we await the outcome of that appeal; the courts standstill order remains in place, meaning the government cannot search the seized devices. But whatever the eventual First Amendment consequences of the case, the impact for Natanson is clear: her tipline has gone dark.

Other Notable Stories

The Israeli military bombed a media car in southern Lebanon on Saturday, killing three journalists in what the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) called part of a disturbing pattern of Israel accusing journalists of being active combatants and terrorists without providing credible evidence. The three people killed, CPJ said, were Ali Shoaib, of Hezbollah-affiliated Al-Manar TV; Fatima Ftouni, of pro-Hezbollah Al-Mayadeen TV; and her brother Mohamad Ftouni, a freelance photojournalist. At least four other journalists have been killed across the Middle East since the US and Israel attacked Iran on February 28, CPJ said. Last year, Jon Allsop wrote for CJR about Israels claims that it doesnt target journalists, as such.

Last week the New York Times accused the Defense Department of defying a federal court ruling over restrictive press rules that were deemed unconstitutional on March 20 by the US District Court for the District of Columbia. The Pentagon has signaled its intention to appeal; it issued revised media rules last Monday that the Times said were a thinly veiled attempt to flout this courts ruling. A couple of days later, the Pentagon Press Associated filed an amicus brief supporting the Times. For more about the background of the case, see Ivan L. Nagys reporting for CJR earlier this month.

On Monday, the Supreme Court rejected an appeal from Priscilla Villarreal, a citizen journalist known online as La Gordiloca, who accuses authorities in Texas of wrongfully arresting her after she asked for and obtained nonpublic information about cases from police. Villarreal was charged with two felony counts of misuse of information after she spoke to a police officer and published the identities of suicide and car crash victims on Facebook in 2017, according to Reuters. Justice Sonia Sotomayor dissented, saying: It should be obvious that this arrest violated the First Amendment.

On Friday, US District Judge Troy Nunley, an Obama appointee, temporarily paused the merger between media companies Nexstar and Tegna, which the Federal Communications Commission and the Department of Justice approved last week. The merger has been championed by Donald Trump (GET THAT DEAL DONE! he wrote on social media) and would create a broadcasting behemoth. For CJR last week, Carolina Abbott Galvao interviewed Diana Moss, the vice president and director of competition policy at the Progressive Policy Institute, about the merger.

Matt Brittin, formerly Googles president in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, will become the next director general of the BBC, replacing Tim Davie, who was forced out under pressure from right-wing forces after a BBC documentary featured a clumsy edit of a Trump speech. Brittins lack of editorial experience has worried some BBC insiders, The Guardian reports. The broadcaster, which employs more than five thousand journalists, is expected to appoint someone who does have an editorial background to a new deputy director general role.

And Tracy Kidder, the narrative journalist whose deep reporting and staggering levels of research allowed him to tell true stories that were novelistic and immersive in scope, died last week of lung cancer, his family said. Kidder, who was eighty, won the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction for The Soul of a New Machine, published in 1981, which explored the nascent computer industry. Later, he spent an entire school year in a Massachusetts classroom for the 1989 book Among Schoolchildren. And for his most recent book, 2023s Rough Sleepers, he chronicled the work of Dr. Jim OConnell, who dedicated his career to caring for homeless patients. Earlier in his career, Kidder had attempted to use a swashbuckling first person narrative style, he told the Times, which hadnt worked. But over time, he said, I found a writing voice, the voice of a person who was informed, fair-minded, and always temperatethe voice, not of the person I was, but of the person I wanted to be.
A property insurer is on solid ground in applying depreciation to actual cash value, as long as the policy makes that plan clear, a federal appeals court said in shooting down a proposed class-action lawsuit against Cincinnati Casualty Co.

The policyholder, a Florida-based investment firm with property in Kentucky, also purchased an additional policy that would have covered the $45,000 depreciation deduction. But the firm blew it by failing to make repairs within two years of the loss, as required by the policy, the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals wrote in a March 25 opinion in Schoening Properties vs. Cincinnati Casualty.

Schoenings argument in the appeal ignores the basic principle that insurance which covers the full cost of repair without deduction for assured depreciation demands a higher premium, as it force[s] [the insurer] to pay for erecting what is in effect a new building,' the court wrote, quoting from previous federal court decisions and a treatise on the issue.

While insurance companies have often lost appeals due to unclear or ambiguous policy language, that was not the case here. The commercial policies for Schoening make it clear that the policyholder may not claim a payment without deduction for depreciation, the court noted.

It may claim only a payment for actual cash value, less a deduction that reflects depreciation.'

The ruling upheld a federal district court decision from the Southern District of Ohio. The final opinion and Schoenings complaint do not explain exactly where the property is or the cause of the incurred loss.

The seminal legal dispute before the Court is whether Defendants standard form policy language allows for depreciation on partial losses in which Defendants estimate and claim payment were based on proposed repairs to damaged insured structures, reads Schoenings complaint in the 2024 lawsuit.

The trial court and the appellate judges found that all of the investment firms arguments fell short. Schoenings interpretation of the insurance contract makes little sense against the backdrop of the contract as a whole, the court said.

The move to make the suit a class action also failed. As Cincinnatis legal team argued, the proposed class of plaintiffs hailed from different states where contract law treated ambiguity in contracts differently.

The opinion can be seen here. Schoenings complaint is here.

Depreciation Not Allowed on Labor Costs, Lawsuits Say.

Michigan Bars Depreciation on Labor Costs
Three Australian plants that provide about 8% of the worlds liquefied natural gas have had their output curbed by a cyclone, in a further blow to mainly Asian buyers reeling from the halt of shipments from Qatar.

Karratha, the onshore processing facility that feeds Woodside Energy Group Ltd.s North West Shelf export plant in Western Australia, had a production interruption due to severe Tropical Cyclone Narelle, according a company spokesperson. Meanwhile, Chevron Corp. said one of the three production units at its Gorgon plant was stopped, as well as a platform that feeds its Wheatstone facility and domestic gas production.

The disruptions come at a precarious time in the global LNG market after the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and the halting of the worlds largest liquefaction plant in Qatar following attacks by Iran. Most of that supply went to buyers in Asia, who have been looking to offset the shortfalls and are also the most impacted by disruptions from Australia.

Temporary shut-ins at Australian LNG plants come at the worst time for LNG buyers looking to replace supply from Qatar, said Josh Runciman, lead analyst for Australian gas at the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis. LNG spot prices are likely to increase on the back of the shut-ins, leading to further pain for buyers.

LNG prices in Asia have risen more than 90% since the US and Israel first struck Iran at the end of last month. Gorgon, Wheatstone and North West Shelf accounted for almost half of Australias exports last month, or about 8.4% of global trade, according to advisory EnergyQuest.

North West Shelfs offshore workforce was evacuated in line with Woodsides cyclone preparation arrangements and production is expected to recommence after they return, according to the companys spokesperson. Woodsides Goodwyn A, Angel and North Rankin platforms are offline, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

Output continues at the Macedon and Pluto facilities, and Woodside is continuing to supply domestic gas to its customers from its Western Australian portfolio, they said.

Severe weather associated with the passing of Tropical Cyclone Narelle likely caused the interruptions to both Gorgon and Wheatstone operations, the Chevron Australia spokesperson said in a statement. The Wheatstone outage occurred at 12 p.m. local time on Thursday, while the Gorgon outage was at 3 p.m. local time, they said.

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Santos Ltd. said its Varanus Island gas processing facility off the Western Australia coast also tripped as Cyclone Narelle passed over the region. Varanus supplies major mining and industrial customers in Western Australia.

Narelle has had a long track from Queensland, over the Northern Territory, and then across Western Australia, forcing the temporary closure of mines. It is currently a category four storm, with wind gusts of 250 kilometers (155 miles) per hour, according to Australias Bureau of Meteorology.

Listen and follow The Bloomberg Australia Podcast on Apple, Spotify, on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Weather models have shown Narelle shifting slightly more to the east as it travels down the coast, bringing the storm closer to the Chevron and Woodside LNG facilities and exposing them to more severe impacts, said Alex Zadnik, business manager for Australia at MetraWeather.

The system is expected to continue bringing destructive gusts and heavy rains in its wake. Precipitation over the states southwest, known as the Wheatbelt, could be beneficial for the planting season.

Top photo: The Gorgon liquefied natural gas (LNG) and carbon capture and storage (CCS) facility, operated by Chevron Corp., on Barrow Island, Australia, on Monday, July 24, 2023. Bloomberg.

Copyright 2026 Bloomberg.
A woman who claims Jeffrey Epstein sexually abused her filed a lawsuit claiming the U.S. government and Alphabet Inc.s Google failed to protect her identity and that of other victims amid the release of millions of pages of records about the disgraced financier.

The lawsuit, which seeks class-action status, claims the Department of Justice violated U.S. law requiring it to remove her personal identifying information from public disclosure when it released records required by the Epstein Files Transparency Act.

Those documents included the names, phone numbers, email addresses, occupations and photos of alleged victims of Epsteins sexual abuse and sex trafficking, according to the lawsuit. The failure to protect that personal information showed a reckless disregard for victim privacy and resulted from inadequate review and redaction procedures, the suit alleged.

The United States intentionally prioritized volume and speed of public disclosure over the safety and privacy of Epstein survivors, adopting a release now, retract later approach that made unlawful disclosures of personal identifying information about the victims not merely foreseeable, but inevitable, lawyers for the woman wrote in a lawsuit filed Thursday in a California federal court.

While the US acknowledged improper disclosures and removed some from the Justice Department website, the unredacted documents remain available on publicly available websites, including those hosted by Google, and has done nothing to demand their removal, the womans lawyers said in the suit.

Spokespeople for the Justice Department and Google didnt immediately respond to requests for comment.

The lawsuit, by a California woman called Jane Doe 1, claims that Googles AI Modes enhanced search experience generates content allowing anyone to contact victims. After the DOJs release of unredacted files, Google indexed and cached materials that including personal information, the suit claimed.

As a result, searches for names of survivors, or searches combining their names with terms such as Epstein, victim, or survivor, produce content in Google AI Mode displaying victims full names, contact information, cities of residence, and association with Jeffrey Epstein, the complaint said.

Lawyers for Jane Doe 1 asked Google to remove references to her in relation to the Epstein files, but the company has failed and refuses to remove, de-index, or block access to the offending materials, according to the complaint.

Google still displays personal information about Jane Doe 1 and other victims in search results, cached pages, and archived materials, effectively republishing the unlawful disclosure and making it permanently and globally accessible, according to the complaint.

It claims that Googles search, indexing, caching, and AI-generation capabilities to take already exposed victim PII and project it to a vastly larger audience, in more powerful and synthesized ways, than the underlying government site ever could.

The lawsuit claims the Justice Department violated the Privacy Act of 1974. It also claims Google violated California civil law by engaging in negligence, invasion of privacy, and unlawful business practices. It seeks an order requiring Google to remove, de-index and case displaying the personal identifying information of victims. It seeks compensatory and punitive damages, and it asks a judge to certify a class of victims.

The case is Jane Doe 1 v. United States of America, 26-cv-2624, US District Court, Northern District of California.

Top photo: Printouts from the Epstein files released by the Department of Justice. Bloomberg.

Copyright 2026 Bloomberg.
A former Brookfield Asset Management senior vice president sued the firm, claiming it wrongfully fired her over a social media post following the murder of conservative political activist Charlie Kirk.

Jennifer Kipley, who joined Brookfields global client group in 2022, claims in a lawsuit filed Wednesday in New York state court that her post about Kirk was misinterpreted and that she became the target of stalking by an online mob who demanded she be terminated from her job.

Within a 48-hour window, Brookfield made the craven choice to throw Ms. Kipley to the wolves, her lawyers wrote. She claims the firms decision to fire her violated a New York law that prohibits discriminating or retaliating against victims of stalking.

A spokesperson for Brookfield, which has over $1 trillion in assets under management, didnt have an immediate comment on the suit.

Scores of people lost their jobs over social media posts in the wake of Kirks Sept. 10 murder. In many cases, those peoples employers were encouraged to take actions by online activists. Some have challenged their firings, with one Tennessee college professor reportedly winning a $500,000 settlement along with reinstatement.

Kipley claims her online speech was legally protected, noting it took place outside of work and was on a personal Instagram account only followed by friends and family. But she also says she wasnt celebrating anyones death. She claims the allegedly offending post was one in which she was responding to the platforms suggestions that she follow the accounts of President Donald Trump and Turning Point USA, the group Kirk led.

The post included a selfie of Kipley, the caption how I feel about Trump and CK in case its not clear, and the scrolling lyrics of an expletive-laden Lily Allen song, according to the suit.

Kipley claims the post was partly directed at Instagram for serving her content that was politically anathema to her. Her lawyers also say she was simply expressing a moment of frustration towards an administration which, Ms. Kipley believes, has attempted to both assert control over the media and push significant amounts of propaganda upon its citizens.

About a week after Kirks death, Kipley says she began receiving unsettling, and even threatening comments through her Instagram and LinkedIn pages, some asking if she worked at Brookfield. The companys social media pages were also bombarded with demands that she be fired, according to the suit.

Until the controversy, Kipley said she had been well regarded at Brookfield, receiving swift promotion and at one point overseeing diligence processes for several of the firms funds, including one with a $17 billion target.

She said in her suit that the firm recognized her contributions with an additional six-figure equity grant for 2024 on top of her standard bonus and equity grant, which she was told was almost unprecedented.

But she claims that her years of dedicated service, as well as her fears for her safety, were ignored by Brookfield.

It was immediately clear that Brookfield intended to punish her for privately expressing a personal sentiment on her own time and the fact that this post had drawn the attention of a mob of stalkers, Kipley said.

Top photo: Brookfield Place, which contains the Brookfield Asset Management headquarters, in New York, on Wednesday, May 14, 2025. Photographer: Yuki Iwamura/Bloomberg.

Copyright 2026 Bloomberg.
Bank of America Corp. agreed to pay $72.5 million to settle a lawsuit on behalf of Jeffrey Epstein victims claiming the bank aided in the late financiers sex-trafficking.

The parties on Friday presented details of the previously announced settlement to US District Judge Jed Rakoff in Manhattan. Rakoff, who must approve the deal, put the case on hold on March 16, disclosing only that the parties had reached a settlement in principle.

Bank of America doesnt admit wrongdoing in the agreement.

Related: BofA Agrees to Settle Claims It Aided Epstein Sex Crimes

While we stand by our prior statements made in the filings in this case, including that Bank of America did not facilitate sex trafficking crimes, this resolution allows us to put this matter behind us and provides further closure for the plaintiffs, bank spokesman Bill Halldin said in an emailed statement.

Bank of Americas proposed settlement is lower than the the $290 million that JPMorgan Chase & Co. agreed to pay Epstein victims in 2023. While the case against JPMorgan focused on the banks client relationship with Epstein, the one against Bank of America mainly alleged that it was used by his co-conspirators, associates and victims.

I believe the settlement agreement was the highest number that the plaintiffs could have achieved at the time of resolution, Layn Phillips, a former federal judge who acted as a mediator in the settlement, said in a court filing supporting the deal.

Related: Epstein Survivor Sues US, Google Over Release of Personal Data

The money is to be paid to a class of all women who were sexually abused or trafficked by Epstein or his associates between June 30, 2008 and July 6, 2019.

According to the suit, Apollo Global Management Inc. co-founder Leon Black used Bank of America accounts to transfer $170 million to Epstein. Lawyers for the victims alleged those transfers were the primary means by which the sex-trafficking venture was funded and for which there was no apparent business or lawful purpose.

Black has consistently denied wrongdoing and was not named as a defendant in the case. The settlement agreement allowed Black to avoid sitting for an eight-hour deposition in the case on March 26. A spokesman for Black declined to comment on the Bank of America settlement.

According to the suit, Epsteins former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell used accounts at Bank of America. Maxwell was convicted of sex-trafficking in 2021 and is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence.

The suit accused Bank of America of actively concealing details and evidence concerning its assisting and facilitating Epsteins sex trafficking.

In addition to Bank of America and JPMorgan, Deutsche Bank AG also agreed to settle Epstein-related claims. The German bank reached a $75 million deal in 2023.

The case is Doe v. Bank of America, 25-cv-08520, US District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).

Top photo: A new Bank of America branch at 200 East 59th street in New York, on Friday, Jan. 23, 2026. Bloomberg.

Copyright 2026 Bloomberg.
Inside a mock control tower next to Hong Kong International Airport, a virtual near-miss plays out on multi-panel screens.

A passenger jet descends in the computer-generated sky, seconds away from landing when suddenly, a barely visible object trundles along the edge of the runway and onto the aircrafts path.

The simulation bears an uncanny and coincidental resemblance to a tragedy that unfolded at New York Citys LaGuardia Airport, where an Air Canada Express jet with 76 people on board smashed into a fire truck shortly after landing on March 22. The force of that crash obliterated the cockpit, killing the two pilots and demolishing the emergency services vehicle trying to cross the runway.

On the virtual runway in Hong Kong, well before the trajectories of the passenger jet and ground object intersect, artificial intelligence steps in.

A computerized interface instantly identifies and tags the aircraft with its flight number and marks the unexpected object on the tarmac as an airport vehicle, flashing a warning to a human controller. The simulation is part of a training program for an AI-powered system actively deployed at Hong Kongs airport. Combining advanced software with data from hardware inputs like high-resolution cameras, its designed to prevent incidents like the fatal collision in New York.

Imagine how difficult it is for someone to spot a vehicle on the runway, said Wesley Yung, chief air traffic control officer at Hong Kongs Civil Aviation Department, as he points out the moving objects on the screen. You may not be able to see it, but the system will tell you: Dont land anyone there.

The disaster at LaGuardia, the third major commercial aviation accident in the U.S. in 15 months, has exposed the shortcomings of an industry under tremendous strain.

The aviation business has lurched from one crisis to the next over the past few years, from the pandemic and mangled supply chains to a new war in the Persian Gulf that has upended air travel. At one end of the spectrum, plane makers cant produce enough aircraft to replace aging fleets.

At the other, a shortage of air-traffic controllers, experienced airport staff and well-trained flight crews has stretched the air travel industry and the ecosystem supporting it to their limits. Meanwhile, passenger demand for flights globally is expected to more than double by 2050.

Implementing AI to help keep track of all that air traffic may become critical.

The neural network deployed in Hong Kong cant completely eliminate the chance of an accident. The software isnt omniscient, hardware can fail and humans are still in the loop. Air traffic controllers still must ultimately determine whether a plane is cleared to land or take off.

But airport officials say the systems key strength is its ability to process enormous volumes of information  multiple flights and moving vehicles  that could easily overwhelm a human in a situation where there are multiple other variables such as fatigue and weather.

Nuanced Picture

While AI-related job losses have attracted much attention  such as fintech firm Block and software developer Atlassian Corp.  its a more nuanced picture in aviation, where AI is helping alleviate severe staffing shortages and reduce human error.

And just like in health care, where AI screening can increase levels of cancer detection while reducing the workload on radiologists, or at public swimming pools where AI lifeguards can spot drowning swimmers faster than the human eye misses, the technology has life-saving, and game-changing, potential.

At LaGuardia, air crews and controllers consistently faced a late-evening rush to clear planes from the busy New York City airport. On the night of the recent crash, the two air traffic controllers on duty were grappling with a higher-than-anticipated workload, complicated by foul weather.

Initial investigations into the incident by the National Transportation Safety Board show a system designed to warn air-traffic controllers of a potential collision failed. One reason: The NTSB said the fire truck on the tarmac had no Automatic Dependent SurveillanceBroadcast, or ADS-B, transponder to broadcast its location. In the U.S., predictive safety technologies are used in control towers, but unlike in Hong Kong those arent AI-based, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

A digital solution that has cameras and AI to monitor runway incursions and provide information to ATC and augments situational awareness could have helped prevent that type of accident, said Michael McCormick, an air traffic specialist at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Florida and former FAA official. If you had a digital solution that tracked the vehicle irrespective of ADS-B status, it may have given the controller more information.

McCormick said that in the future, these systems may also provide pilots with greater awareness of potential runway obstructions as yet another way to avoid bad outcomes.

AI monitoring systems are a key first step until theres a solution that integrates the technology in the cockpits of aircraft, he said.

Hong Kongs air traffic control system uses a multi-layered approach incorporating data from cameras, flight plans, radar and satellites plugged into algorithms to provide constant surveillance under all weather conditions. The territorys Civil Aviation Department boasts its one of the worlds most sophisticated systems in operation thats jointly used by HKIAs operator Airport Authority Hong Kong. Searidge Technologies Inc., a unit of partly UK government-owned air traffic control service provider NATS, said it supplied the proprietary AI platform that sends alerts based on real-time analysis.

The airports training simulator consists of 12 vast screens enveloping a room that can project almost any scenario in most weather conditions. In an extreme example shown to a visiting Bloomberg News reporter, a staffer generated an imaginary scene of maximum risk to demonstrate the systems capabilities.

One virtual plane was ablaze on the runway and another was about to land on top of it. Two more computer-generated jets closer to the terminal were also burning, and plumes of smoke climbed into a foggy sky, impeding visibility.

The goal isnt just to better respond to crises. AI and automation have emerged as key tools to help controllers manage growing volumes of normal landings and takeoffs without increasing risk. Hong Kong has the worlds fifth-busiest airport for international traffic, according to aviation data firm OAG.

In the Loop

Humans are still required in sensitive areas such as the cockpit for both ethical and safety reasons. Flight crews have campaigned against plans to operate services with just one pilot, even as flying becomes more automated.

Pilots argue that a lone person at the controls could be overwhelmed in an emergency, and that computers arent failsafe  even those driven by AI. After all, at least 50% of all generative AI projects fail due to poor data, inadequate controls, rising costs or unclear benefits, researcher Gartner said in January.

You need the human component there, said Mike Nakornkhet, San Francisco International Airports chief executive officer. We need to introduce technology, to introduce AI, to find a way to assist a role a controller may have.

An International Civil Aviation Organization working paper last year warned of the possible risks associated with integrating AI into commercial operations. Advanced automation, the paper said, can lead to over-reliance on systems and lack of attention in emergency situations.

The risk of AI becoming so good at certain tasks that humans lose key skill sets has been warned about in sectors like health care, where the use of cancer-detecting AI technology has stoked fears of human doctors becoming unable to diagnose problems without it.

But ICAO, which sets the standards for global aviation, said in the working paper it also recognizes the benefits of AI in a range of areas including air-traffic management, plane maintenance and safety.

Technology would lessen the risk without a doubt, Torbjorn Karlsson, senior client partner at Korn Ferry and a former aviation executive, said citing the aviation industrys know-how to apply technology and improve safety. AI, it could be a step change, as a solution to our problems.

Older airports with legacy systems often have more difficulty adopting cutting-edge technologies. And in the U.S., airport functions are split up among the FAA, facility administrators and individual airlines, so theres no single authority to easily push through complex, costly or controversial makeovers.

That contrasts with countries such as China, which has newer airports, bigger infrastructure budgets and more centralized control over aviation operations.

In much of Asia, especially China, technology in aviation is treated as an instrument of state capacity and national competitiveness, whereas in many Western markets it is treated as one policy priority among many, competing for funding, regulatory approval and political attention, said Linus Benjamin Bauer, founder of aviation advisory firm BAA & Partners.

The FAA, which is responsible for air traffic control in the U.S., has long struggled to obtain funding needed for system upgrades.

Washington lawmakers allocated $12.5 billion last year to carry out an air traffic control modernization project, including upgrading air field telecommunications systems by replacing old copper wire with modern fiber-optic cables. U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said about 30% of the lines have been replaced, but $20 billion more is still needed for the overhaul.

AI Efficiencies

Beyond safety, airlines are increasingly using AI to squeeze out greater efficiencies. Take Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. It developed an AI program that was first deployed in 2025 when Super Typhoon Ragasa barreled into southern China late last year.

That disruption management system crunches millions of options to redeploy its fleet and figure out which aircraft and passengers to prioritize.

It takes into account things like airport curfews, passenger compensation and hotel accommodation costs, available crew and delays to freight, and like most AI tools, it gets smarter each time its used.

In the past, that meant filling a room with more than 20 engineers, operations technicians and customer service specialists, where they would spend a minimum of 10 hours to plot out the airlines initial recovery plan, according to the airline. But with AI, the airline can accomplish the same with little more than half a dozen people and a digital screen in about 90 minutes.

In Europe, Ryanair Holdings Plc and Wizz Air Holdings Plc are among carriers that have been embracing AI for efficiency gains.

And while AI is being deployed for things like route optimization, chatbots and air traffic management, adoption has a long way to go, according to Kim Macaulay, chief information and data officer at the International Air Transport Association.

We are seeing it scale, but its not scaling as quickly as we would hope, Macaulay said. Its heavily costly.

But as the recent tragedy at LaGuardia has shown, companies and authorities should prioritize AI deployments toward enhancing aviation safety, according to Yung, the chief traffic controller in Hong Kong.

It gives us all a kind of safety net, said Yung, a three-decade veteran who credits AI for making flying safer. Safety has been much enhanced using this technology. Multiple layers of safety net can really help to reduce accidents and incidents.

Top photo: Control room of Integrated Airport Centre at Hong Kong International Airport. Photographer: Anthony Kwan/Bloomberg.

Copyright 2026 Bloomberg.
FLORENCE, Ky., March 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- The Article Explains How Preparation, Observation, and Medical History Help Support Accurate Pediatric Eye Exams.

What should parents know before scheduling their child's first eye appointment? HelloNation has published a HelloNation article that answers that question by outlining a practical checklist to help families prepare for a child's first comprehensive eye exam.

Dr. Kimberly Arnett, Doctor of Optometry Speed Speed

The article focuses on how preparation can improve both the experience and the accuracy of pediatric eye care. Featuring insights from Optometry Expert Dr. Kimberly Arnett, the piece explains how gathering information in advance helps eye doctors better understand how a child sees and functions in daily life.

The HelloNation article explains that a child's vision plays a key role in learning, development, and confidence. Even small vision issues can affect reading, classroom performance, and everyday activities. The article notes that preparing ahead of the appointment allows the doctor to evaluate vision in a broader context, not just through standard in-office testing.

Observation is one of the first steps highlighted. The article describes how children may not recognize or communicate vision problems, so parents should look for behavioral clues. These may include squinting, sitting very close to screens, holding books too close, or rubbing their eyes after reading. For families thinking about a checklist before a child's first eye exam, the article emphasizes that these observations can guide the doctor toward potential concerns.

Medical history is another important part of preparation. The article explains that parents should gather information about past illnesses, medications, allergies, and any existing health conditions. Family history is also relevant, particularly for conditions such as glaucoma or strabismus. This background helps provide context during the exam and supports a more thorough evaluation of the child's eye health.

For children who already wear corrective lenses, the article notes that bringing the current prescription is essential. Comparing previous prescriptions with new test results helps determine whether vision has changed. This step ensures that any updates to lenses are based on clear, consistent data. The article presents Optometry Expert Dr. Kimberly Arnett as a source of insight into how these comparisons support long-term vision care.

The article also explains what parents and children can expect during the appointment. A pediatric eye exam typically includes simple, noninvasive tests that measure how clearly a child can see at different distances and how well the eyes work together. Doctors may also examine internal eye structures using specialized tools. Understanding these steps ahead of time can help reduce uncertainty.

Emotional preparation is another key point. The article describes how talking to children in advance using simple, reassuring language can ease anxiety. When children feel calm and understand that the exam is designed to help them see better, the process tends to go more smoothly. This preparation can also improve the accuracy of test results.

Organization plays a supporting role throughout the process. The article explains that bringing notes on observed behaviors, along with medical and vision records, allows the doctor to spend more time evaluating the child rather than gathering basic information. This approach helps ensure a more focused and effective exam.

The article concludes by emphasizing that early preparation supports long-term eye health. Establishing a routine of regular exams and informed observation helps detect issues early and track changes over time. For parents, following a checklist before a child's first eye exam creates a foundation for ongoing care and clearer vision as children grow.

Checklist Before Your Child's First Eye Exam features insights from Dr. Kimberly Arnett, Optometry Expert of Florence, Kentucky, in HelloNation.

About HelloNation

HelloNation is a premier media platform that connects readers with trusted professionals and businesses across various industries. Through its innovative "edvertising" approach that blends educational content with storytelling, HelloNation delivers expert-driven, good-news articles that inform, inspire, and empower. Covering topics from home improvement and health to business strategy and lifestyle, HelloNation highlights leaders making a meaningful impact in their communities.

SOURCE HelloNation
TAMPA, Fla., March 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Crown Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCK) will release its earnings for the first quarter ended March 31, 2026, after the close of trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Monday, April 27, 2026. The Company will hold a conference call to discuss these results at 9:00 a.m. (EDT) on Tuesday, April 28, 2026.

The dial-in numbers for the conference call are (630) 395-0194 or toll-free (888) 324-8108 and the access password is "packaging". A replay of the conference call will be available for a one-week period ending at midnight on May 5, 2026. The telephone numbers for the replay are (203) 369-0896 or toll free (866) 427-6407. A live webcast of the call will be made available to the public on the internet at the Company's website, www.crowncork.com.

Crown Holdings, Inc., through its subsidiaries, is a leading global supplier of rigid packaging products to consumer marketing companies, as well as transit and protective packaging products, equipment and services to a broad range of end markets. World headquarters are located in Tampa, Florida.

For more information, contact Corporate Communications at (215) 602-2653.

SOURCE Crown Holdings, Inc.
The Rebel-Quad is the second-generation product from Rebellions and is made up of four Rebel AI chips. Rebellions, a South Korean firm, is looking to rival companies like Nvidia in AI chips.

South Korean AI chip startup Rebellions said Monday it has raised $400 million as it looks to expand into the U.S. market ahead of a public listing.

Mirae Asset Financial Group and the Korea National Growth Fund, an investment vehicle of the South Korean government, led the round, which values Rebellions at $2.34 billion.

Rebellions is one of the many semiconductor startups looking to capitalize on demand for AI chips and investor appetite for companies that are fueling the build-out of infrastructure for the technology.

Sunghyun Park, CEO of Rebellions, told CNBC that the money will be used to expand into the U.S.

"Our main target right now is big labs," Park said, naming companies like Meta and xAI as target customers, rather than hyperscalers like Amazon and Microsoft .

Park added that Rebellions currently has some active proof-of-concept trials with customers in the U.S.

The CEO also said the company is preparing for an initial public offering, as CNBC previously reported, but declined to give any specifics on the timeline or listing location.
Budget airlines in Asia risk losing their price advantage as fuel prices rise and Middle East tensions disrupt key routes, forcing carriers to raise fares and cut expenses.

Low-cost carriers rely on high passenger volumes and low fares, leaving them with thinner margins and less room to absorb fuel price swings and route disruptions than full-service airlines.

Airline executives, speaking at the Aviation Festival Asia conference in Singapore, said they are now trying to cut costs, adjust fares and shift routes to avoid passing too much of the increase on to passengers.

"[We have to] adjust the fares, and at the same time, stimulate the demand," Vissoth Nam, CEO at AirAsia Cambodia, told CNBC's Monica Pitrelli during a panel on Thursday. "Otherwise, we don't have travelers."

India's SpiceJet said the Middle East conflict has significantly affected its operations due to heavy traffic between India and the region.

"Dubai alone has 77 flights a week from India, and that's absolutely a huge impact for us from a route and loss of revenue perspective," said Kamal Hingorani, the chief customer officer at SpiceJet.

While higher fuel costs have not yet fully hit the airline, Hingorani said prices are set monthly and could rise further in April.

The Investment Information and Credit Rating Agency of India on March 26 changed its outlook on India's aviation sector to negative from stable, citing the weaker Indian Rupee against the U.S. dollar and higher fuel prices. Fuel prices were 5.4% higher in March from a year earlier and are expected to rise further in April.

Hingorani said if fuel prices rise to an unmanageable level, the airline "may have to absorb some [costs]" because passing on high fuel surcharges would hurt demand.
HSBC has raised its target price for Hybe, the company behind Kpop sensation BTS , even as the band's March comeback concert in Seoul drew a smaller crowd than expected. The bank reiterated its "buy" rating for the stock, increased its target price for Hybe to 500,000 won ($332) from 420,000 won and gave it a 31% upside potential in a note to investors. HSBC also addressed "the market's three big questions" for Hybe. "As the BTS comeback is well-known, where can positive surprises come from?" HSBC analyst Junhyun Kim wrote. The strength of demand for BTS's forthcoming world tour is one such positive, Kim noted, leading the bank to increase its estimation of the show's total audience from 3 million to 3.5 million. Ticket prices, which the bank estimated to be around 220,000 won, were increased to 300,000 won. The second question is whether Hybe can keep up momentum during the 2027 leg of BTS' tour, Kim said. HSBC predicted operating profit growth of 18% year-on-year in 2027 thanks to the increased BTS shows as well as "robust" interest in Hybe's "rookie artists," such as South Korean boy band Cortis and global girl group Katseye. Investors are also asking whether Hybe can monetize music genres beyond Kpop, HSBC said. Katseye, based in Los Angeles, gave the company "valuable experience in the global pop music market." "We expect the company to manage production costs more efficiently in the future, while monetising global IPs by hosting offline concerts at a faster pace than K-pop artists' usual path for world tours," Kim wrote. The seven-member group performed live in Seoul's Gwanghwamun Square on Saturday with about 100,000 people in the crowd, falling short of a 260,000 forecast. Shares in Hybe's stock fell 15% on Monday. Despite this, HSBC maintained its March 18 target price for the stock, the bank confirmed to CNBC via email on March 25. Analyst Jiwoo Oh from CGS International similarly retained her "Add" call, with a target price of 480,000 won in a March 19 note to investors. "Based on our estimates, we forecast yoy growth of 98% merchandise and licensing, 6% in content, 22% in fan club, and 8% in advertising and appearance, which we attribute primarily to the BTS comeback effect," Oh told CNBC via email on March 25. Hybe owns the band's record label, Big Hit Music, which brought BTS to international fame after the release of their first album in 2013.  CNBC's Joseph Wilkins and Lim Hui Jie contributed to this report.
DELRAY BEACH, Fla., March 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- According to MarketsandMarkets, "Cryogenic Vaporizer Market by Vaporizer Type (Ambient Air, Electric, Hot Water, Radiant Heat, Steam, Custom), Cryogen Type (Nitrogen, Oxygen, LNG/Natural Gas, Specialty Cryogens, Other Cryogen Types), Application (Industrial Gas Supply, Energy & LNG Applications, Chemical & Petrochemical, Medical & Healthcare, Metallurgy, Electronics/Semiconductor, Other Applications), and Region - Global Forecast to 2031", The cryogenic vaporizer market is projected to reach USD 0.72 billion by 2031 from USD 0.52 billion in 2026, at a CAGR of 6.5% during the forecast period.

Download PDF Brochure: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/pdfdownloadNew.asp?id=37182080

Cryogenic Vaporizer Market Size & Forecast:

Market Size Available for Years: 2023-2031

2026 Market Size: USD 0.52 billion

2031 Projected Market Size: USD 0.72 billion

CAGR (2026-2031): 6.5%

Cryogenic Vaporizer Market Trends & Insights:

The cryogenic vaporizer market is witnessing significant growth as the demand for liquefied natural gas (LNG) and industrial gas continues to rise. The demand for medical oxygen in healthcare facilities, along with the expansion of metallurgical, chemical, food processing, and hydrogen production projects, is driving increased adoption of these technologies. The adoption of energy-efficient automated vaporizers and the implementation of stringent environmental regulations also support market growth.

Asia Pacific is the largest market for cryogenic vaporizer, accounting for 49.1% share of the global market.

The ambient air vaporizer segment has the highest market share, accounting for 61.5% in 2025.

LNG/natural gas is the fastest-growing cryogen type segment, registering a CAGR of 14.4% during the forecast period.

By application, the industrial gas supply is expected to dominate the cryogenic vaporizer market.

Company Chart Industries, Nikkiso Co., Ltd., and Air Liquide are identified as some of the star players in the cryogenic vaporizer market (global), given their strong market share and product footprint.

Cryogas Equipment Pvt. Ltd., ACME Cryogenics, and Cryeng Group Pty Ltd., among others, have distinguished themselves among startups and SMEs by securing strong footholds in specialized niche areas.

Browse in-depth TOC on "Cryogenic Vaporizer Market"

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54 - Figures

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The cryogenic vaporizer market experiences growth as industrial gases become necessary for multiple sectors, such as healthcare, metallurgy, chemicals, and energy. The demand for medical oxygen, nitrogen, and argon gases drives market expansion as these gases serve essential functions in the healthcare and manufacturing sectors. The expansion of liquefied natural gas (LNG) infrastructure requires vaporizers to transform LNG into gas for distribution and usage. The adoption of cleaner energy sources, along with enhanced environmental protection regulations, creates a favorable environment for LNG development. The market growth is supported by technological advancements that enable more efficient, durable, and safe operating vaporizers. The global increase in industrial infrastructure spending, combined with gas storage and distribution system development, creates high demand for cryogenic vaporizers.

The ambient air vaporizer segment is projected to account for the largest share in the cryogenic vaporizer market during the forecast period.

Ambient air vaporizers dominate the cryogenic vaporizer market as they provide cost-effective solutions. These vaporizers use natural heat transfer from surrounding air to transform cryogenic liquids into gas without needing any external power sources or fuels. The equipment requires minimal upkeep as it has few operational components, which enables operators to use it continuously in various fields. Ambient air vaporizers operate as environmentally sustainable systems as they produce no emissions and require no combustion processes, which helps organizations meet international environmental standards and regulatory requirements. It can be easily installed and functions effectively in remote locations where industrial gas networks are expanding. Design and material improvements have enabled better efficiency and performance results across different weather conditions, which boosts their competitive advantage in the market.

By cryogen type, the specialty cryogens segment is projected to register the second-highest CAGR in the cryogenic vaporizer market during the forecast period.

Specialty cryogens are increasingly used in high-value and precise applications. Electronics manufacturing, space research, and scientific laboratories now use helium, hydrogen, and rare gas mixtures to maintain exact temperature control and deliver ultra-pure gas. The rising demand for semiconductors and advanced electronics drives up the usage of specialty cryogens, as these gases play a vital role in both chip fabrication and cooling operations. The increasing focus on hydrogen as a clean energy carrier further contributes to this trend. Furthermore, technological advancements in vaporizer design increase safety features, operational accuracy, and contamination-free functioning.

Electronics/Semiconductors is projected to be the fastest-growing application segment in the cryogenic vaporizer market during the forecast period.

The electronics/semiconductors segment is the fastest-growing application in the cryogenic vaporizer market due to the rapid expansion of semiconductor manufacturing and rising demand for advanced electronic devices. The operation of cryogenic vaporizers becomes essential as they provide high-purity gases required during wafer fabrication, etching, and cooling operations. The increasing use of 5G technology and artificial intelligence systems creates a higher need for semiconductors, which results in greater demand for dependable gas vaporization systems. The expansion of data centers and electronics manufacturing facilities drives this business trend. Technology advances in chip design, along with miniaturization techniques, create a higher need for ultra-pure gases, which is fueling the market for cryogenic vaporizers in the electronics and semiconductor industry.

Asia Pacific is expected to be the fastest-growing region in the cryogenic vaporizer market during the forecast period.

Asia Pacific is projected to be the fastest-growing market for cryogenic vaporizers due to rapid industrialization, urban development, and economic advancement in China, India, and Japan. The region experiences substantial growth across its manufacturing, energy, and semiconductor sectors. The demand for cryogenic vaporizers increases due to rising investments in liquefied natural gas (LNG) infrastructure and growing acceptance of clean energy solutions. The electronics industry expansion, together with the existence of key semiconductor manufacturing centers, drives the demand for high-purity gas solutions. The market expansion is also supported by government programs, which promote industrial growth and energy transition projects.

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Kay Players

The key manufacturers in the cryogenic vaporizer market are Chart Industries (US), Kobe Steel, Ltd. (Japan), Nikkiso Co., Ltd. (Japan), Linde PLC (Ireland), Air Liquide (France), CRYOSPAIN (Spain), INOX India Limited (India), SUMITOMO PRECISION PRODUCTS Co., Ltd. (Japan), Cryostar (France), and Taylor-Wharton (Japan), among others.

Get access to the latest updates on Cryogenic Vaporizer Companies and Cryogenic Vaporizer Market Size

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Pickleball paddle producer Devi Wei has a message for U.S. shoppers.

"Americans will have to pay more," the Chinese businessman told CNBC at a Beijing trade show last week at the China International Exhibition Center.

Because of the recent swings in oil prices resulting from the Iran war and closure of the Strait of Hormuz, Wei, who founded his own exporting business, Huijin Trade, has had to hike prices on his paddles and pickleballs by as much as 20%, he said.

Wei's goods are made with polypropylene, a plastic material derived from oil and made in the Middle East, a dominant producer in the global industry. The war in Iran has stalled shipments of oil and its products through the Strait of Hormuz, raising concerns among Chinese manufacturers at the trade fair about further disruption across the global supply chain.

"I might have to go even higher," Wei said. "Maybe double if the Iran war doesn't stop soon."

Surging oil prices are filtering into prices of all kinds of products that rely on the commodity for manufacturing.

James Li, who makes scarves and said he sells a third of his inventory to the U.S., has marked up his polyester products by 5%.

"This scarf is 30% polyester," Li told CNBC from his trade show booth. "We will definitely pass on the extra cost to our customers."

Wang Mingming, a general manager of toy manufacturer Jinming Gifts, said he is hoarding two months' worth of the plastic polymer PVC, but isn't sure he can hold off charging more for his figurines.

"In our industry, these materials are almost irreplaceable," Wang said. "If oil prices rise any further, we really won't be able to manage."

Cameron Johnson, senior partner at Shanghai-based supply chain consultancy Tidalwave Solutions, said he foresees competition for oil-related products among entire sectors if the crisis at the Strait of Hormuz isn't resolved soon. A prolonged impasse in the critical waterway also raises the possibility of product shortages.

"If this goes on into May, everyone will be in big trouble and there will be triage between industries," Johnson said, predicting autos and the medical field would be granted higher priority. "There is no visibility when new supply will come."

Perhaps the biggest worry among China's manufacturers is what costlier oil will mean for discretionary spending by consumers worldwide.

More money for gas means less for Wei's pickleballs.

"Ordinary people are getting squeezed the most from the high oil price," he said. "Their spending power just isn't what it used to be."
This picture taken on March 26, 2026 shows an oil tanker unloading crude oil at a port in Yantai, in China's eastern Shandong province.

That uncertainty is beginning to show up in markets  particularly in oil  where industry participants are sounding serious alarms about the fallout of a prolonged conflict.

However, as the war enters its fifth week and reports emerge of potential U.S. ground operations, the timeline for any potential ceasefire or resolution remains as uncertain as ever.

On March 11, President Donald Trump said that the Iran war could end "very soon," adding that "Any time I want it to end, it will end."

Hello, this is Dylan Butts writing to you from Singapore. Welcome to another edition of CNBC's Daily Open.

The Pentagon is preparing for weeks of ground operations in Iran, as thousands of American soldiers and Marines arrive in the Middle East, according to The Washington Post, which cited U.S. officials.

The potential ground operation would reportedly fall short of a full-scale invasion but could involve raids by a mixture of Special Operations forces and conventional infantry troops, the officials were quoted as saying.

In comments to the Financial Times on Sunday, Trump also said he wants to "take the oil in Iran," including potentially taking over Kharg Island  a major Iranian oil terminal.

Together, the reports signal a possible escalation in the Iran -war  the fallout of which has already rattled markets and raised fears of broader supply chain disruptions and higher global prices.

U.S. crude prices have surged over 50% since late February, with Brent up more than 55%. Oil executives and analysts warn that the Iran war disruption is already bigger than the markets understand and prices are unlikely to return to pre-war levels soon.

Industry leaders also say the Strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping route now being impeded by the war, must reopen by mid-April or supply disruptions could worsen significantly.

In the face of this uncertainty, companies and other organizations are preparing for a world in which the conflict  and subsequent jolt to crude prices  becomes a long-term challenge, affecting everything from travel planning to mail delivery.

U.S. equity futures fell Sunday evening on the latest reports of a possible ground operation, ahead of a holiday-shortened week of trading. Asia-Pacific markets also fell at the open Monday after U.S. markets closed out another negative week, as investors showed signs of headline fatigue from the conflict.

 Dylan Butts
The build up of U.S. troops for a potential ground invasion also confuses the news that face-to-face talks could be just days away. A confusing picture for investors, who seem to have chosen to stay broadly risk averse at the start of the week.

Sometimes, two things can be true at the same time. But U.S. President Donald Trump's declaration that he wants to "take Iran's oil," while saying a "peace deal could be made fairly quickly" has left markets seeing the glass half empty in early trading this Monday.

Hello, this is Leonie Kidd writing to you from London. Welcome to another edition of CNBC's Daily Open.

"My favorite thing is to take the oil in Iran." So says U.S. President Donald Trump, as he outlines a potential escalation in the war with Iran that could involve seizing Iran's energy export hub, Kharg Island. In comments to the Financial Times on Sunday, he compared the action in Iran to the U.S. military operation in Venezuela, but he added that indirect talks with Iran were progressing and that "a deal could be made fairly quickly."

These comments come as the Pentagon is reportedly preparing for weeks of ground operations in Iran. Thousands of American soldiers and Marines are arriving in the Middle East, according to The Washington Post, which cited U.S. officials.

Together, the reports signal a possible escalation in the Iran war  the fallout of which has already rattled markets and raised fears of broader supply chain disruptions and higher global prices.

Oil prices are driving higher once again. On Monday, Yemen's Iran-backed Houthis fired missiles at Israel following a weekend of attacks, marking the first direct involvement in the war.

Asia-Pacific markets fell sharply on Monday as the Middle East war entered its fifth week, with the conflict escalating despite efforts aimed at finding a diplomatic solution. European and U.S. futures are pointing to a negative open across major markets.

U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer will hold a roundtable of ministers and senior figures from the business world later on Monday, with The Times reporting that representatives from energy groups BP , Shell and shipping giant Maersk will be in attendance.

Industry leaders also say the Strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping route now being impeded by the war, must reopen by mid-April or supply disruptions could worsen significantly.

In the face of this uncertainty, companies and other organizations are preparing for a world in which the conflict  and the subsequent jolt to crude prices  becomes a long-term challenge, affecting everything from travel planning to mail delivery.

 Leonie Kidd
Elon Musk looks on as President Donald Trump speaks at the U.S.-Saudi Investment Forum at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, Nov. 19, 2025.

Judge Kathaleen McCormick of Delaware said Monday that she's reassigning cases involving Elon Musk after the Tesla CEO accused her of bias due to what appeared to be her support of a social media post critical of him.

Musk formally accused McCormick of bias last week, and his attorneys demanded that the Delaware Court of Chancery judge recuse herself from two Tesla lawsuits. The LinkedIn post that McCormick allegedly responded to with an emoji touted a court verdict that could cost Musk upwards of $2 billion for defrauding Twitter investors.

McCormick said in a letter to Musk's attorneys last week that she didn't intend to click any emoji expressing support for the post, and that she had reported possible "suspicious activity" on her account to LinkedIn.

In her order on Monday, McCormick denied the motion for recusal, but said she was reassigning three Musk-related actions now before the Court of Chancery to other judges.

"The motion for recusal rests on a false premise  that I support a LinkedIn post about Mr. Musk, which I do not in fact support," she wrote. "I am not biased against the defendants in these actions. In fact, I dismissed a suit against Mr. Musk just last year. The motion for recusal is denied. But the motion for reassignment is granted."

McCormick became the target of Musk's ire after she ordered Tesla to rescind his 2018 CEO pay package, worth about $56 billion in options, when she presided over the shareholder suit Tornetta v. Musk.

Musk moved his businesses, including Tesla, out of Delaware, incorporating them in Texas and Nevada and encouraging others to do the same.

In 2025, Delaware's Supreme Court said Musk's 2018 pay package must be restored, deciding that the lower court's decision by McCormick was too extreme a remedy and did not give Tesla a chance to say what a fair compensation for Musk ought to be.

McCormick wrote in her order on Monday that "disproportionate media attention surrounding a judge's handling of an action is detrimental to the administration of justice." She said she has "complete faith" in her colleagues' abilities to adjudicate the cases.

Tesla and Musk still have two cases proceeding through Delaware court. One concerns Tesla directors' compensation, and the other is a consolidated shareholder suit filed by investors alleging that Musk breached his fiduciary duties to Tesla when he started a potential competitor in artificial intelligence, xAI.

WATCH: Why Musk is pivoting Tesla
People queue to refuel their vehicles at a gas station in Hyderabad, Telangana, India, on March 24, 2026, following import disruptions related to the war in the Middle East.

India has warned that its growth forecast of 7.0%7.4% for the financial year ending March 2027 faces "considerable downside" risk due to rising energy costs and supplychain disruptions linked to the Iran war.

The conflict, which began on Feb. 28 following U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran, has disrupted goods movement through the Strait of Hormuz  a critical waterway carrying 20% of global oil  driving up energy and freight costs and straining supply chains.

"The trade deficit will rise significantly" in the next financial year ending March 2027 and will lead to "widening [of] the current account deficit," India's Chief Economic Adviser V. Anantha Nageswaran wrote in the report published Saturday.

"Keeping it manageable will require burden-sharing between the government, via fiscal absorption, and households and businesses," he said. However, the pass-through of higher import prices to end-users "will also moderate demand growth," said Nageswaran.

So far, the Indian government has shown little inclination to pass the rising energy costs to consumers. On Thursday, it cut central excise duties on petrol and diesel for domestic consumption by 10 rupees ($0.11) per liter each to prevent pump prices from rising as the Iran war disrupts global energy supplies.

The government also raised duties on exports of diesel and aviation turbine fuel, with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman saying it was done to "ensure adequate availability of these products for domestic consumption."

"This will provide protection to consumers from a rise in prices," Sitharaman said in a post on X on Friday. This move will hurt India's tax revenues, India's Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said Friday.

A note from global brokerage Nomura on Saturday said that if crude oil prices "remain elevated," pump prices will eventually be increased, but added that such a move is likely to happen "after the state elections, which are scheduled for April, with the final results on 4 May."
BAHRAIN - APRIL 17: Aluminium ingots seen at the Aluminium Bahrain B.S.C plant in Bahrain, Tuesday, April 18, 2006. (Photo by Phil Weymouth/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Aluminum closed in on prices not seen since 2022 following Iranian attacks on two Middle Eastern producers over the weekend, heightening fears of a supply crisis for the industry.

Futures prices on the London Metal Exchange initially jumped 5.5% on Monday to briefly touch $3,492 per tonne, a price last seen in April 2022.

It pulled back slightly by Monday afternoon to land 3.5% higher at $3,381 per tonne. Aluminum has risen around 10% since the conflict began on Feb. 28, though it fell briefly last week alongside most other asset classes amid fears of a global recession.

Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) and Aluminium Bahrain , two of the Gulf's largest producers, came under fire from Iranian drones and missiles on Saturday.

EGA said in a statement that its Al Taweelah smelter sustained "significant" damage in the strikes, injuring several people.

"The safety and security of our people is our top priority at all times," CEO Abdulnasser Bin Kalban said. "We are deeply saddened and are assessing the damage to our facilities."

'Shockwaves' through the global market

Saturday's attacks only served to darken the outlook for commodity firms in the region, which have faced severe supply disruption over the past month.

Around 9% of global aluminum supply comes from the Gulf, and most firms there have been unable to export the metal beyond the region since Iran effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz. EGA's damaged smelter produced 1.6 million tons of cast metal in 2025, according to its statement.

"The attacks have sent shockwaves through the global aluminum market, raising the risk of a supply crisis that could reshape the industry," April Kaye Soriano, aluminum research analyst at S&P Global Energy, told CNBC over email.

She added that, if the damage proves lasting, the market could move away from any temporary softness and begin to reflect expectations of tighter supply and higher prices.

Joyce Li, commodities strategist at Macquarie Group, told CNBC over email that their base case before the attacks assumed a cut to the current running capacity of approximately 20%, which amounts to roughly 800 to 900 kilotons of production loss in 2026.

Li said Macquarie saw this disruption as sufficient to push the global market into a full-year deficit, adding added that they were closely monitoring the "fluid" situation for any changes.

The role of China

Aluminum is an essential material across electronics, transport, and construction, as well as other industries such as solar panels and packaging.

China is the world's biggest producer of aluminum and tends to keep production constrained at 45.5 million tons per year to reduce emissions and prevent overcapacity. Some analysts believe the country has a role to play in unlocking supply to the wider market.

"If the Chinese government decides that the prices are too high, they can restart a number of idle smelters in the country and the world will be full of aluminum," Artem Volynets, CEO of miner ACG Metals, told CNBC's Europe Early Edition on March 18.

S&P Global's Soriano, on the other hand, believes China's ability to ramp up supply is "limited."

"While there is some capacity to increase output, the global market remains exposed to further shocks, especially if the conflict spreads to other metal supply chains," she added.
French AI startup Mistral said Monday it has secured $830 million in debt financing to fund a data center powered by thousands of Nvidia chips.

Founded in 2023, Mistral is one of the few European startups building foundational AI models, looking to compete with the likes of OpenAI and Anthropic, albeit with a far smaller war chest.

The company has increasingly looked to invest in the infrastructure needed to power AI, and in February it announced a 1.2-billion-euro plan to build data centers and compute capacity in Sweden.

"Scaling our infrastructure in Europe is critical to empower our customers and to ensure AI innovation and autonomy remain at the heart of Europe," said Arthur Mensch, CEO of Mistral, in a statement.

"We will continue to invest in this area, given the surging and sustained demand from governments, enterprises and research institutions seeking to build their own customized AI environment, rather than depend on third-party cloud providers."

The transaction was supported by a consortium of seven global banks, including Bpifrance, BNP Paribas, Credit Agricole CIB, HSBC, La Banque Postale, MUFG and Natixis CIB.
The clock is ticking on Nike's recovery. Without any signs of improvement, Jim Cramer said we may soon have to make a hard decision on the stock. "I want to wait until the fall before we cashier [Nike's stock] and take the loss, or I see some green shoots by then," Jim said Friday during the March Monthly Meeting . "If I see some green shoots, we could buy some more." Jim's commentary comes ahead of Nike's critical fiscal 2026 third-quarter earnings report Tuesday night. It is CEO Elliott Hill's latest chance to show a skeptical Wall Street that his "Win Now" turnaround initiative is working. Since taking over in October 2024, Hill has made changes to executive leadership, managed to largely clear a backlog of classics inventory, and introduced a fresh lineup of products. Some of its recent drops include the Nike Mind collection , which officially launched in January, and the NikeSKIMS activewear collaboration with Kim Kardashian's brand. New, exciting collections can help drive sales and reinvigorate the brand. But so far, nothing has been enough to sustain momentum in the stock  not even the Supreme Court striking down President Donald Trump's emergency tariffs last month, on its face a win for companies like Nike that have seen their profits squeezed by elevated import duties. Nike shares are down more than 18% year to date, with the vast majority of the declines coming since the Iran war broke out on Feb. 28 and muddied the outlook for the global economy. At roughly $51 per share on Monday, the stock is down roughly 35% from its 52-week closing high of $79.24 in July. Nike's performance in China will be under the microscope Tuesday night, just as it was when the company reported second-quarter results in mid-December. In the three months ended in November, Nike's Greater China segment saw a 17% year-over-year decline in sales, and executives guided for similar performance in the third quarter. That was one of the biggest reasons the stock plummeted 10.5% the following day. "I have not seen what I want to see, though, particularly in China, nor has anyone else," Jim said at Friday's Monthly Meeting. NKE 1Y mountain Nike's stock performance over the past 12 months. Indeed, Evercore called China the biggest "swing factor" for the stock this Q3 earnings report. In a note to clients Friday, analysts said stronger-than-expected Lunar New Year trends from peer brands suggest Nike may have seen sequential improvement in the region. While Nike's brand is still struggling in China, analysts said "retailers are positive on initial meetings with Nike's new China leadership ... and see the early signs of a better strategy emerging." Hill in late January announced that Angela Dong, its top executive in China since 2015 , would be replaced by Cathy Sparks, who previously led Nike's Asia Pacific Latin America division. Nevertheless, Evercore said if the China results disappoint and management indicates it's too early to offer details on a turnaround strategy, the stock could see even more declines ahead. The initial focus of Hill's revival efforts has been in North America, Nike's largest market by sales. The bulls have been able to hang their hat on the fact the region has showed progress, with sales up 9% annually last quarter to $5.6 billion. That was by far the strongest geography. "North America has been positive the last couple quarters, so I want to see continued positive growth in North America," Jefferies analyst Randy Konik said Monday in an interview with CNBC. There is more to prove, though. Thus far, Konik said Nike's growth in North America has been primarily driven by "sell-in," or inventory sold to wholesalers like Dick's Sporting Goods . For that reason, Konik said investors want to understand where Nike stands on "sell-through," the term for retailers selling their inventory to customers. Under Hill, Nike has worked to repair its relationship with retailers after his predecessor, John Donahoe, made an aggressive push into selling directly to shoppers online and at its own stores. Nike's direct-to-consumer business has become a drag, with revenues declining 9% last quarter and 5% in the June-to-August quarter. Accordingly, Konik said investors also want to see whether there's "any movement or improvement" in the DTC business. Konik is among the 61% of Nike analysts who have a buy rating on its stock, according to FactSet data. His price target of $110 implies more than 100% upside for shares, making him one of the most bullish analysts on the Street. Evercore also has a buy rating on the stock, though the firm on Friday cut its price target to a much more modest $69 from $77. Our price target is $75. UBS analysts, who have a hold-equivalent rating on Nike's stock, said in a note last week they're curious about the weight of several macro issues, including the fallout from the war in Iran. Among their top questions for management: What percentage of sales are from the Middle East, and what is the impact of elevated oil prices on product and logistics costs? The analysts also want an updated view on what tariff costs Nike expects to incur moving forward, given the recent Supreme Court ruling. For their part, analysts at Goldman Sachs on Monday reiterated their buy rating ahead of the quarter, telling clients they believe "current expectations appropriately reflect near-term choppiness" in the turnaround. The steps that Hill is taking are helping set the groundwork for improved momentum into next fiscal year and beyond, they said. Bottom line We're giving Hill a fair chance to steer the ship in the right direction, especially considering some headwinds, such as the war in Iran, are out of his control. "I have faith in CEO Elliott Hill, and so does the board," said Jim, noting the major insider buying by Nike directors, including Apple CEO Tim Cook, in response to the December earnings sell-off. Turnarounds take time, but we also don't have forever. At Friday's meeting, Jim said he's willing to give it about a year from when we initiated the position in late September 2025 . "If it hasn't turned [by then], it goes," Jim said. (Jim Cramer's Charitable Trust is long Nike. See here for a full list of the stocks.) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust's portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade. THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY , TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER . NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTING CLUB. NO SPECIFIC OUTCOME OR PROFIT IS GUARANTEED.
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In 1973, OPEC proclaimed an oil embargo on the U.S. for its decision to resupply the Israeli military during the Yom Kippur war. The embargo lasted until March 1974, and during this time oil prices quadrupled. To control supply, the federal government under Nixon rationed oil, by state, to 1972 levels. By February 1974, it was estimated by the American Automobile Association that 20% of gas stations had no fuel to sell. The decade's second energy crisis was in 1979, in the wake of the Iranian Revolution. Photo: AP

The U.S. economy has been remarkably resilient lately, confounding forecasters who have insisted we're due for a bust after nearly six years of expansion since the body blow from Covid. So when will the wheels finally come off? There's no way to know, former top White House economist Tyler Goodspeed says in a new book that will likely confound the legion of professional forecasters who regularly predict impending doom. "Recessions are fundamentally unforecastable," Goodspeed said in an interview about the book, "Recession: The Real Reasons Economies Shrink and What to Do About It," which comes out Tuesday. He was acting chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers in the first Trump administration. Goodspeed's thinking is highly relevant to the war in Iran, but for now he's asking readers to draw their own conclusions about it. Since leaving government, he has gone to work as chief economist for ExxonMobil. Given the sensitive nature of the conflict, CNBC agreed to not ask Goodspeed directly about the war. Energy nonetheless features prominently in Goodspeed's analysis of when and why the U.S. has hit an economic wall over the decades. The transcript of his conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

Q: You say recessions are unforecastable. What does that mean? There are a lot of people who try to predict them. Tyler Goodspeed: In a nutshell, it means recessions are about shocks, and they are shocks we can neither fully anticipate nor effectively hedge against. We have tools to predict recessions, like the yield curve. But when you actually test these tools on the historical record, there are a lot of false positives and false negatives. I'll admit, I still look at the yield curve just to take a look. I'm not a believer in astrology, but I still take a peek at my horoscope now and then.

Tyler Goodspeed Courtesy: Tyler Goodspeed

Q: You're only human. So, recessions are about shocks. What does a recession-causing shock look like? Goodspeed: There are many types. One is your sort of big aggregate, macro shocks, like a pandemic, that affect all sectors of the economy roughly evenly and simultaneously. There's another category of shock that affects maybe only one or two sectors directly, but those sectors have very high linkages to the rest of the economy. If you look back over not just the past 80 years, but indeed over the last three and a half centuries, energy is one of those sectors that has generated, or has been subject to, a lot of shocks that then permeate the rest of the economy. It's not hard to see why, because energy is an input into a lot of other sectors, and it is very difficult over a 12-month or even 24-month time horizon to find substitutes for fuels, for heating, for the materials that use petroleum products. But it's not just energy. The relatively mild 1960 recession was in part a result of a large-scale steel strike at the end of 1959 that created a lot of inventory shortages in 1960. You can think about all the downstream impacts of steel shortages. The 1927 U.S. recession, the primary contributor to that was that Ford Motor Co. shut down all production for quite a few months as they retooled the factories to produce the Model A instead of the Model T. Again, you think about all the upstream and downstream linkages of automotive production, and that combined with a coal strike and a boll weevil infestation in the Carolinas, don't be surprised that you get a recession. The point is that energy is not the sole cause of shocks, but it has been involved in a number of them, and in interesting ways.

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Smoke rises from the direction of an energy installation in the Gulf emirate of Fujairah on March 14, 2026. Smoke could be seen rising from the direction of a major UAE energy installation on March 14, in what appeared to be the latest strike targeting the Gulf's petroleum facilities hours after the US struck Iran's Kharg Island.

U.S. President Donald Trump said he could "take the oil in Iran" and seize Iran's export hub of Kharg Island, as hostilities in the Middle East continue for a fifth week.

Trump told the Financial Times on Sunday that his "preference would be to take the oil," comparing it with the U.S. military operation in Venezuela earlier this year where the U.S. effectively gained control of the Latin American country's oil industry, following the capture of its leader Nicolas Maduro.

The Trump administration has weighed sending ground forces to Kharg Island, according to Reuters, with one of its sources warning that such an operation would be "very risky." Tehran has the ability to reach the island with missiles and drones.

In the FT interview, Trump said that "my favourite thing is to take the oil in Iran but some stupid people back in the U.S. say: 'why are you doing that?' But they're stupid people."

"Maybe we take Kharg Island, maybe we don't. We have a lot of options," Trump said. "It would also mean we had to be there [in Kharg Island] for a while." The White House and the U.S. State Department didn't immediately respond to CNBC's requests for comment.

The president then added to the commentary Monday morning, warning that the U.S. would "completely" obliterate Iran's electric generating plants, oil wells and Kharg Island if the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz is not "immediately" reopened and a peace deal is not reached "shortly." Iran has not yet commented on Trump's latest remarks.

The conflict between the U.S.-Israel and Iran has expanded across the region, raising risks to energy and infrastructure, and sending crude oil prices surging.

On Monday morning, Spain announced it had closed its airspace to U.S. planes involved in attacks against Iran, doubling down on its anti-war stance and marking the latest clash with the Trump administration.

"We don't authorize either the use of military bases or the use of airspace for actions related to the war in Iran," Spain's defense minister, Margarita Robles, told reporters in Madrid.

May futures for Brent crude rose over 3.2% to $116.12 per barrel during early Asia hours, with the international benchmark heading for a record monthly jump. U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures gained 3.4% to $102.96 per barrel.

The Washington Post reported Saturday night that the Pentagon was preparing for weeks of potential ground conflict in Iran with around 3,500 troops arriving in the region on Friday. Thousands of soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division have also been ordered to support the war effort.

Trump said last week that Iranian negotiators were "begging" the U.S. to make a deal to end the war, though Iran has denied any direct interaction with the U.S. Trump in his interview to the FT said that indirect talks between the U.S. and Iran via Pakistani "emissaries" were progressing well.
China's emerging robot rental market gains momentum

People's Daily Online) 09:33, March 30, 2026

The rapid advancement of robotics technology and the expansion of application scenarios are giving rise to a new form of consumption: robot rentals.

Among the early trendsetters is ZeNexus, an immersive robot experience store covering about 500 square meters that opened inside a Mercedes-Benz dealership in Beijing's Chaoyang district. The venue brings together products from several leading robotics companies, including Unitree Robotics and UBTECH. It features a full-lifecycle service system that integrates product display, rentals and sales, after-sales service, and user feedback.

According to Han Yunfei, general manager of the robot operations and management division at the Beijing-based Boshi Group, placing ZeNexus inside the dealership was a natural convergence between a traditional retail and a rising industry. Robots have improved the service experience and added value to the showroom, while car buyers now enjoy the novelty of interacting with robots, boosting customer satisfaction. Since the store opened, foot traffic at the dealership has risen by roughly 15% month-on-month.

A robot grabs an item during the International Sci-Fi and Future Tech Expo Beijing 2026 in Beijing, capital of China, March 27, 2026. (Xinhua/Zhang Chenlin)

Among the products on display, household robots priced under 10,000 yuan (about $1,450) have maintained relatively steady sales, while professional-grade models, which can cost anywhere from the tens of thousands to several hundred thousand yuan, are more commonly entering the market through renting.

Han said current rental demand mainly comes from scenarios such as companies' annual events, shopping mall promotions, exhibition displays, weddings, and educational activities.

While physical experience stores remain in their early stages, data from online platforms show even stronger momentum in robot rentals.

Dai Fu, who oversees self-operated rental services under JD Retail's 3C digital retail division, said the companys offerings now span humanoid robots, robot dogs, and exoskeleton robots. The customer base is also shifting from primarily tech enthusiasts to enterprises and everyday consumers. Current orders are concentrated in first-tier cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou, but demand is steadily expanding nationwide.

Platform data from January 2026 shows that transaction volume for JD's self-operated robot rentals surged by more than double month-on-month, with some popular models booked out until mid-March.

"This trend became even more pronounced during the Spring Festival holiday," Dai said. "From New Year's Eve to the fifth day of the Chinese New Year, searches for JD's robot rentals increased about threefold compared to average traffic numbers, inquiries quadrupled, and order volume doubled month on month." During the Lantern Festival, many businesses rented robots on JD's platforms for live performances and interactive events.

Rental fees vary widely by robot type. For performance-oriented models, ZeNexus charges around 20,000 yuan per day for a piano-playing robot ensemble equipped with high-precision dexterous hands, while robots of the same type as Unitree's products featured in the CCTV Spring Festival Gala rent for between 5,000 and 6,000 yuan per day.

Han noted that China's robot rental market is still in an early stage of development, but continuous product upgrades and increasingly diverse application scenarios will support steady growth.

"What is worth noting is that beyond performance-related demand, robots are making faster inroads into everyday life. Commercial promotions, tourist-site interactions, teaching assistance, and even household companionship are all showing increasing demand for robots," Dai said.

In Dai's view, the surge in robot rentals is more than a seasonal spike. As technology evolves and public familiarity deepens, robots are expected to become more integrated into diverse scenarios in the years ahead.

(Web editor: Hongyu, Liang Jun)
NEW YORK, March 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- CurePSP hosted a congressional briefing this month in partnership with Representatives Subramanyam (D-VA) and Bilirakis (R-FL), bringing together lawmakers, scientists and people affected by progressive supranuclear palsy, corticobasal degeneration and multiple system atrophy (PSP, CBD and MSA).

Left to right: Dr. Kristophe Diaz, Jennifer Wexton, Jessica Shurer

"I used my remaining time in Congress to raise awareness about what the 30,000 Americans with PSP, like myself, deal with, and the resources we need from our government," said former Representative Jennifer Wexton. "I was happy to return to Washington DC alongside CurePSP to educate a group of new Congressional staff."

Toward the end of her tenure, Wexton helped pass the historic National Plan to End Parkinson's Act.

"This was the first piece of significant legislation that included PSP, CBD and MSA  a major win for the broader neurodegenerative disease community," said Rep. Bilirakis. "My goal for this federally coordinated effort is to help families affected by these diseases achieve better diagnoses and treatments."

The briefing marked a deeply personal milestone for many. During their remarks, advocates laid bare the emotional, physical and financial toll on families  and expressed hope for a better future. Experts from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) outlined NINDS's critical role in advancing research for PSP, CBD and MSA.

"When my mother-in-law was diagnosed with PSP, our family didn't know what to do," said Representative Leger Fernandez (D-NM). "Then we watched Rep. Wexton's address on the U.S. House floor. She showed us that every person who receives this diagnosis is still fully themselves, far beyond the diagnosis. We must invest more in federal research, so we can drive answers and hope."

Advocacy priorities included passage of the HEALTHY BRAINS Act and increased federal funding for atypical parkinsonian diseases.

"I was described as "a rising star in Democratic politics," said Wexton. "Now, I rely on text-to-speech software to communicate, a rollator to walk and my caregiver for transportation, meals and personal care. I want my colleagues to understand that if this can happen to me, it can happen to them or to someone they love."

"Hearing my dear friend and mentor Jennifer Wexton's story reminds us that while PSP may be rare, the need for answers is urgent," said Rep. Subramanyam. "Thank you to CurePSP for pushing for change on Capitol Hill."

About CurePSP

CurePSP is the leading nonprofit organization dedicated to the awareness, care and cure for three neurodegenerative diseases: progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), corticobasal degeneration (CBD) and multiple system atrophy (MSA). As a catalyst for new treatments and a cure, CurePSP establishes important partnerships and funds critical research internationally. Through its advocacy and support efforts, CurePSP enhances education, care delivery and quality of life for people living with PSP, CBD and MSA and their families. Science, community and hope are at the heart of CurePSP's mission and all its services. CurePSP is a registered 501(c)(3) charity within the United States (EIN: 52-1704978).

Contact:

Kristophe Diaz, PhD

Chief Executive Officer

646-725-1453

[email protected]

SOURCE CurePSP, Inc.
An old Soviet-era Lada car drives past a truck belonging to a private Cuban company (mipyme) parked in front of a gas station with an IsoTank of imported fuel in Havana on March 19, 2026.

The Kremlin on Monday welcomed the arrival of a Russian-flagged oil tanker to Cuba, saying energy supplies to the fuel-starved island had been discussed with the U.S. ahead of its delivery.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow considered it its duty to help Cuba, according to Russian state news outlet RIA Novosti. He added that Havana needed petroleum products amid a de facto U.S. oil blockade.

A Russian oil tanker carrying a humanitarian shipment of 100,000 tons of crude oil reportedly arrived in Cuba earlier in the day.

The sanctioned Anatoly Kolodkin vessel was said to be waiting to unload shortly after U.S. President Donald Trump said he had "no problem" with a Russian crude tanker delivering fuel to Cuba.

Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday, Trump said, "If a country wants to send some oil into Cuba right now, I have no problem with that, whether it's Russia or not."

The shipment of crude oil is seen as something of a lifeline to the Caribbean nation, which is facing its biggest test since the collapse of the Soviet Union amid a deepening energy crisis.

Cuba had been heavily dependent on oil supplies from Venezuela, but it has effectively been cut off since early January when the U.S. launched an extraordinary military operation to depose Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

The Trump administration subsequently threatened to impose tariffs on any country that sent crude to Cuba, prompting the likes of Mexico to halt shipments. The Kremlin has previously shrugged off Trump's tariff threats, pointing out that Washington and Moscow "don't have much trade right now."
Every weekday the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer holds a "Morning Meeting" livestream at 10:20 a.m. ET. Here's a recap of Monday's key moments. 1. The S & P 500 is higher Monday after President Donald Trump said the U.S. was in "serious discussions" to end the war in Iran. But Jim Cramer said he wasn't ready to take Trump's comments as an all-clear sign to do some buying. "We're not committing capital into this," he said, explaining that the decision is in part due to an emerging pattern of Trump making one claim, only for Iran to later deny it. Earlier on Monday, we exited its position in Cisco to replenish our cash position after Jim's Charitable Trust made its annual charity distribution, which reduced our cash levels to roughly 6.5% from 15% . This year's distribution was nearly $300,000, bringing the Trust's total since inception to over $4.5 million. 2. Meta shares jumped over 2% after being named a top pick at Morgan Stanley. "It's time to buy Meta," analysts argued, noting the stock has fallen on concerns about its massive AI investments and, more recently, new regulatory risk following two separate court defeats last week in social media harm trials. Jim has said investors would regret selling Meta on regulatory concerns, and Morgan Stanley also told clients it believes these risks are manageable. As for worries about Meta's AI spending, Jim said Monday that Meta is right to aggressively add computing capacity in order to remain competitive versus the likes of Google's YouTube and TikTok. "I think you have to be respectful of the situation they find themselves in," Jim said. 3. Club cybersecurity names CrowdStrike and Palo Alto Networks are rebounding Monday after their stocks were crushed Friday on concerns over Anthropic's upcoming model release . CrowdStrike is up nearly 5% after Wolfe Research upgraded the stock to a buy-equivalent rating. Analysts said more capable AI models will force organizations to bolster cyber defense, not erode their businesses like the sellers appear to believe. Morgan Stanley also reiterated CrowdStrike as a top pick. Meanwhile, Palo Alto Networks jumped about 7% after CEO Nikesh Arora purchased about $10 million worth of shares Friday, sending a strong signal to the market that he believes the stock is undervalued. "I think the market's getting a lot of things wrong," Jim said. 4. Stocks covered in Monday's rapid fire at the end of the video were: Sysco , Alcoa , Expedia , and Colgate . (Jim Cramer's Charitable Trust is long META, CRWD, PANW See here for a full list of the stocks.) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust's portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade. THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY , TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER . NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTING CLUB. NO SPECIFIC OUTCOME OR PROFIT IS GUARANTEED.
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BEIJING, March 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- This is a news report from China Daily:

A series of scientific and technological breakthroughs was showcased on Sunday as a key part of the closing ceremony of the 2026 Zhongguancun Forum.

The 2026 Zhongguancun Forum Annual Conference concludes in Beijing on Sunday, unveiling a series of scientific and technological breakthroughs.

The event unveiled a total of 21 major achievements, covering five in the frontiers of global science and technology, seven in the main economic battlefield, four addressing national major needs, and five related to people's life and health.

They span key sectors such as artificial intelligence, aerospace, integrated circuits and healthcare, emerging from a diverse array of entities such as national laboratories, research and development institutions, universities, central and State-owned enterprises, and leading tech companies.

Among the highlights was the high energy photon source, developed by the Institute of High Energy Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, which has now entered trial operation.

This marked China's entry into the 4.0 era of synchrotron radiation light sources. Pan Weimin, director of the project, described the facility as "an extremely bright high-energy light that illuminates the microscopic world and solves major scientific challenges".

The HEPS, known as a "super magnifying glass" and a giant "X-ray machine", is Asia's first fourth-generation high-energy synchrotron radiation light source. According to the institute, the facility is expected to support at least 90 high-performance beamlines, with 14 user beamlines and one test beamline already constructed in the first phase.

Upon completion, it will enable researchers to explore microstructures and their formation and evolution processes in unprecedented detail.

Another significant achievement was the FlagOS 2.0, an open-source intelligent computing software system that supports over 20 mainstream AI chips, launched by the Beijing Academy of Artificial Intelligence.

The project is expected to serve as a key foundation for China's AI basic software, supporting the large-scale application of domestic computing power and enabling independent and controllable development of the industry.

SOURCE China Daily
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Small, dedicated neighborhood pharmacies to open in select communities to help increase access to convenient pharmacy care

Openings are part of ongoing commitment to serve communities and meet consumers where they are

WOONSOCKET, R.I., March 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- CVS Health (NYSE: CVS) today unveiled the first of nearly 20 pharmacy-only, apothecary-style CVS Pharmacy locations it plans to open this year to increase access to pharmacy care. The new pharmacy, located at 2628 West Pershing Road in Chicago's West End, will help bridge gaps in care and make it easier for community members to access medications, immunizations and other health care services provided by pharmacists.

Interior of new pharmacy-only CVS in Chicago. Exterior of new pharmacy-only CVS in Chicago.

Pharmacy-only locations will open in areas across the country, increasing access to vital pharmacy care, creating a simple and convenient way for community members to seek pharmacist support. Each site will feature a full-service pharmacy with a customized selection of over-the-counter products available for purchase. With footprints averaging around 3,000 square feet, the pharmacy-only sites will help ensure patients have access to prescription medications and the trusted advice and counsel of their neighborhood CVS pharmacist.

"Pharmacists are among the most accessible and most trusted health care providers," said Len Shankman, Executive Vice President and President, Pharmacy and Consumer Wellness, CVS Health. "We know how important it is for patients to be able to speak one-on-one with their pharmacist, have their questions answered and seek medication advice when needed. Our new, pharmacy-only locations allow our pharmacy teams to continue to build relationships with patients  their friends and neighbors  and provide on the ground pharmacy care in communities that need us."

Multiple pharmacy formats to meet community health needs

The pharmacy-only locations are just one component of the company's work to reinvent pharmacy. By taking a customized approach focused on the diverse needs of the communities they serve, CVS Pharmacy has worked to strategically realign its retail footprint over the last few years. The new pharmacy-only sites, opening in select communities, will help the company better support its patients in those communities, ensuring its footprint is the right size and scale, and addressing shifts in the pharmacy industry.

These smaller dedicated neighborhood pharmacies join several other formats already in place across the country. They include CVS Pharmacy's traditional full-service front store and pharmacy locations, store-in-store pharmacies, such as those inside Target and Schnucks grocery stores, CVS Pharmacy stores that feature a MinuteClinic retail medical clinic, and side-by-side CVS Pharmacy and Oak Street Health care centers, primarily located in neighborhoods with high Medicaid populations.

The company opened its first pharmacy-only location in Birmingham, AL late last year. In addition to the new site in Chicago, pharmacy-only locations are planned for several other communities in 2026, including Houston, TX, Roxbury, MA, Detroit, MI, and Brooklyn, NY. The company also plans to open more than 40 new CVS Pharmacy locations, including traditional stores and pharmacies in Target.

Importance of one-on-one interactions with pharmacists

The 2025 CVS Health Rx Report highlighted that 80% of patients prefer face-to-face pharmacy care, and nearly half (48%) would switch pharmacies if limited to digital-only options. The overwhelming majority of pharmacy professionals (97%) also say in-person interactions remain vital.

Added Shankman, "We believe health care is best delivered locally, in the community by trusted, caring and tech-enabled colleagues and our customers and patients want to shop and engage in the way that's most convenient for their busy lives. Whether in-person, online, or a combination of the two, our community pharmacies are delivering best-in-class service through consistent, connected, personalized experiences  meeting consumers where, when and how they need us."

Whether a patient prefers the convenience of same-day or 1- to 2-day prescription delivery or prefers to visit their local pharmacy in-person, CVS Pharmacy is ensuring patients have multiple care options to choose from, depending on their individual needs.

About CVS Health

CVS Health is a leading health solutions company building a world of health around every consumer, wherever they are. As of December 31, 2025, the Company had approximately 9,000 retail pharmacy locations, more than 1,000 walk-in and primary care medical clinics and a leading pharmacy benefits manager with approximately 87 million plan members. The Company also serves an estimated more than 37 million people through traditional, voluntary and consumer-directed health insurance products and related services, including highly rated Medicare Advantage offerings and a leading standalone Medicare Part D prescription drug plan. The Company's integrated model uses personalized, technology driven services to connect people to simply better health, increasing access to quality care, delivering better outcomes, and lowering overall costs.

Media contact

Amy Thibault

401-318-2865

[email protected]

SOURCE CVS Health
PARIS, March 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- EKINOPS (ISIN: FR0011466069) (Euronext Paris: EKI), a leading provider of optical networks, connectivity and SASE cybersecurity solutions for Service Providers and enterprises, announces the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with a leading European Tier-1 telecom operator.

This agreement comes as part of advanced discussions between the two parties, with a view to concluding a framework agreement in the coming months.

The MoU covers the supply by Ekinops of optical transport equipment based on WDM technology, for the deployment of a nationwide high-speed optical network. In addition to telecom infrastructure systems, Ekinops would also provide its network management solution, based on its Celestis platform, as well as associated software and professional services.

This major framework project, expected to be deployed over several years, confirms the relevance and competitiveness of Ekinops' optical networks solutions among leading European and global operators, and reflects their growing confidence in these solutions.

For more information please check https://www.ekinops.com.

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2940596/Ekinops_Logo.jpg

Ekinops contacts:

[email protected]

Investors

Mathieu Omnes, Investor Relations, Tel.: +33 (0)1 53 67 36 92, [email protected]

Press

Amaury Dugast, Press Relations, Tel.: +33 (0)1 53 67 36 74, [email protected]

SOURCE Ekinops
Theyve spread across our high streets at astonishing speed - but some of Britain's Turkish-style barber shops are hiding a troubling reality.

The art of delivering a good haircut using advanced scissor skills and cut throat razors is a time-honoured tradition originating in the Ottoman Empire.

And while most barber shops are entirely legitimate businesses, a worrying number are anything but.

Police have linked barber shops to a wide range of crimes, from drug dealing and money laundering to human trafficking.

Others have been locked in vicious turf wars with rivals, leading to bloody street brawls - and even a murder.

Here are the most dangerous barber shops in Britain -

Marmaris Barbers, Blackwood, South Wales

Located halfway along the high street of Blackwood, a quiet market town in the Welsh valleys, Marmaris Barbers looks entirely unremarkable.

But last year, the pavement outside the shop was the site of a mass brawl that left a man with a fractured skull.

The violence broke out after Marmaris employee Omed Pirot, 31, announced that he planned to open a store in the nearby town of Newbridge.

This angered the staff of Kurds Barbers, who jumped into four cars and drove to Blackwood.

Employees of Marmaris rushed out onto the street to confront them, sparking a frenzied fight in which scissors and spanners were used as makeshift weapons.

The most dangerous barber shops in Britain include Marmaris Barbers in Blackwood, a quiet market town in the South Wales valleys

The mass brawl that broke out near the shop on February 13, 2025

The brawl also involved men from Kurd barbers in nearby Newbridge

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The brawl, which involved as many as 25 men in total, took place in front of terrified local shoppers at just before 3pm on February 13, 2025.

One man was left with a one-inch stab wound to his back, while Pirot had his skull shattered after being hit with a knuckle-duster.

Like many men running barber shops with Turkish in the name, Pirot was not actually from Turkey  but Iran.

He claimed to have been defending himself from an attack. But he was found guilty earlier this month of affray alongside his 26-year-old colleague Shabab Husseini after prosecutors argued they were willing participants in the violence.

Five other men from Kurd Barbers had already admitted affray, and all seven will be sentenced next month.

HB Barbers and K Barbers in Hove

The brawl in Blackwood appears to have been motivated by straightforward competition for customers, but the background to a separate dispute that unfolded in Hove - the trendy neighbour of Brighton - is far murkier.

There, tensions had been simmering between a group of men from K Barbers and those from HB Barbers, which sits diagonally opposite.

On April 2, 2024, the long-running dispute erupted into violence, with men affiliated with both shops seen battering each other with weapons including a knife, a tyre iron and wooden clubs.

Two men were left in a critical condition, with one man suffering a 25cm-long cut to his arm and a stab wound that went to the bone.

Three Kurdish Iraqis from K Barbers - Ayob Mohammed, 21, Sarbast Ibrahimi, 25, and Sardam Qadir, 31 - were later jailed for violent disorder and possession of an offensive weapon.

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Ayob Mohammed, 21, Sarbast Ibrahimi, 25 - of K Barbers in Hove - were both jailed over a brawl

Sardam Qadir, 31, was jailed for violent disorder and possession of an offensive weapon

Brighton Crown Court heard Mohammed - the shop's owner - had been in a dispute with Hogr Banaee, founder of HB Barbers, with the Iranian once threatening in a phone call to 'cut his legs off'.

Prosecutors said there had been 'bad blood' between the men but did not give any more detail, prompting locals to speculate that their dispute may have been about more than simple competition for haircuts.

Today H&B Barbers is still operating from the same premises on the crossroads but has changed its name to Bamo 1 Barber. K Gentleman Barbers is located just 20 metres away.

There are several other barbers in the vicinity, but when the Daily Mail visited on a Friday morning, some were closed, with neighbouring businesses saying they kept sporadic hours.

SR Barbers in Somercotes, Derbyshire

While brutal in themselves, the brawls in Blackwood and Hove pale in comparison to the violence seen in the village of Somercotes in Derbyshire.

On November 25, 2021, residents woke to the sound of a fight outside a local Co-op.

Peshang Sleman, a worker at SR Barbers half a mile along the High Street, had been stabbed to death and his brother, Ibrahim Takmary, was left seriously injured.

A court later heard the men had been locked in a dispute with another shop, Pro Barbers, which was directly opposite the Co-op.

Herish Zandi, who lived locally and worked at Pro Barbers, pleaded guilty to manslaughter after admitting to inflicting a fatal stab wound to Mr Slemen's heart and was jailed for nine years.

But the victim's family were left furious, claiming he was covering for the real killer.

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Peshang Sleman (left) was stabbed to death in a fight with a group affiliated to a rival barber shop in the Derbyshire village of Somercotes. His brother Ibrahim Takmary (right) was also injured

Police at the scene of the fatal stabbing in Somercotes on the morning of November 25, 2021

Herish Zandi (left) pleaded guilty to manslaughter after admitting to inflicting a fatal stab wound to Mr Slemen's heart and was jailed for nine years. Sam Mohazeri (right) admitted a charge of violent disorder

Two other men, Danyaal Panah - from Nottingham - and Sam Mohazeri, who lived in Surrey, admitted lesser charges of violent disorder and were each jailed for two years and 11 months. All those involved were Kurdish.

Once again, limited information was shared in court about the nature of the dispute. Was it merely a question of barbers squabbling over customers?

Sarah Linacre, a 52-year-old who was working at the Co-op at the time, is sceptical, noting that two of the men jailed over the attack lived elsewhere in the country.

'It does make you wonder why they should travel so far from their home towns to open a barber shop in a small village,' she said.

Traditional Barbers, Camden, North London

In other cases, specific barber shops have been found to have clear links to organised crime.

They include Traditional Barbers, a shop in Camden, North London owned by Hewa Rahimpur.

While the Iranian posed as a legitimate business owner, he was actually a major people trafficker who helped bring 10,000 migrants into Dover from the French coast on small boats.

The 32-year-old, who had arrived in the UK illegally and was granted asylum after claiming to have suffered 'political oppression' in his home country, was driving a top-of-the-range Mercedes when he was arrested by police in 2022.

Traditional Barbers in Camden, north London, was owned by people smuggler Hewa Rahimpur

While the Iranian posed as a legitimate business owner, he was actually major people trafficker who helped bring 10,000 migrants into Dover from the French coast on small boats

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His gang had netted 13million in cash from the crossings and it needed to be laundered somehow, so Rahimpur, a former barber, reentered the hairstyling business.

He was extradited from the UK to stand trial in Belgium in 2024 and is now serving an 11-year sentence for people-trafficking.

Boss Crew Barbers, Hammersmith, West London

Some salons have also been linked to terrorism, including Boss Crew Barbers in Hammersmith, West London.

The shop was owned by Tarek Namouz, who claimed coronavirus relief grants from Hammersmith and Fulham Council during the pandemic.

However, he sent the funds via a money transfer bureau to ISIS supporters in Syria.

Police identified transfers totalling about 11,280 but Namouz boasted to a friend during a prison visit he had also sent 25,000 to Yahya Ahmed Alia, who he described as an 'ex-fighter with Islamic State' who could buy sniper rifles for 2,500.

Namouz denied knowing the money would be used for terrorism, telling police he sent the funds to 'help... the poor and needy in Syria'.

But in 2023, he was found guilty of eight counts of entering into a funding arrangement for terrorism between November 2020 and May 2021.

Some salons have been linked to terrorism, including Boss Crew Barbers in Hammersmith, West London
Would you rather go to the dentist or the airport? From hours-long security lines to skyrocketing ticket prices, modern air travel has never been so aggravating.

Bipartisan wrangling over funding for the Department of Homeland security, which operates the Transportation Security Administration, has resulted in a budget standoff, and TSA agents have gone without pay for a month.

As a result, some TSA employees aren't showing up for work, with absentee rates hitting 50 percent in some airports.

Add a Middle East war causing jet fuel price to spike and a busy travel season and it's a perfect storm for travel chaos. Even so, there's little evidence that Americans are cancelling their plans. In fact, most American airline CEOs say they expect air travel demand to be robust through the spring break and summer seasons.

So, if you are still committed to getting away in the next few months, we've assembled a series of tips and tricks to help you navigate the mess that is air travel.

Knowledge is power

Travelers must always arm themselves with as much information as possible. That's more important now than, perhaps, ever before.

Begin with the basics. Check airport security wait times, but not through the TSA website or app, which is not being updated amid the agency shutdown. Instead reply on official airport social media accounts and websites. Some airports even stream live online feeds of their security lines, so you can monitor them in real time.

Bipartisan wrangling over funding for the Department of Homeland security has left TSA agents (above at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport) unpaid for months

Despite the perfect storm for travel chaos, there's little evidence that Americans are cancelling their plans

Travelers must always arm themselves with as much information as possible. That's more important now than, perhaps, ever before

Add an extra 90 minutes to any recommended security wait times (and even more if leaving from the hardest-hit airports, such as Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport, Hartsfield-Jackson in Atlanta and LaGuardia, John F. Kennedy and Newark Liberty in the New York City area).

Another trick, consider traveling on a Tuesday, Wednesday or Saturday, when there are fewer passengers and airports are less crowded. Or travel from smaller airports, like Long Island's MacArthur instead of New York City's LaGuardia or Los Angeles' Ontario International in place of LAX.

Smaller airports have been less impacted by the current problems; though the TSA has warned that the tiniest airports (such as Tweed New Haven in Connecticut or Northwest Arkansas National near Fayetteville) could eventually be closed entirely, if the shutdown drags on much longer.

Cut the lines

If ever there was a time to pay for expedited security programs, like TSA PreCheck, Global Entry or CLEAR  that time is now.

Sign up for Global Entry if you travel abroad. It is a US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) program that allows pre-approved, low-risk travelers expedited entry back into the US. Plus, TSA PreCheck is included in that plan.

Global Entry will set you back $120 for a five-year membership. TSA PreCheck, which speeds domestic travel, costs between $76.75 and $85 for five-years, by itself. The renewals are slightly cheaper and kids join parents for free.

Many credit cards, like Capital One Venture/Venture X, Chase Sapphire Reserve and The Platinum Card from American Express will give you a statement credit for the cost of the programs.

TSA PreCheck, which speeds domestic travel, costs between $76.75 and $85 for five-years

CLEAR is a paid membership service that has partnered with the US government. It uses biometric technology to speed travelers through airport security checkpoints

Add an extra 90 minutes to any recommended security wait timesand even more if leaving from the hardest-hit airports, such as Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport (above)

These services also make you eligible for TSA PreCheck Touchless ID, which is biometric screening. It is currently available at 15 US airports and will be coming to 50 more this spring. You'll also need to opt in through your airline's app.

Not every airline participates, but Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines all support Touchless ID. It uses facial recognitionand sometimes fingerprints or iris scansto verify a passenger's identity automatically, replacing manual document checks. It is undoubtedly the fastest way to get through security.

CLEAR is another paid membership service that has partnered with the US government. It also uses biometric technology to speed travelers through airport security checkpoints, and it has separate lines.

Just be aware, at the time of writing, some airports - like Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport, which has been most severely affected - have closed the biometric screening lanes (including CLEAR and TSA PreCheck).

Select airports also offer a service called CLEAR Concierge; for an additional $99 per traveler per use, a CLEAR ambassador will meet you curbside and help you navigate all the way to the gate. But there are reports that even this service has been impacted by cutbacks.

Plan B and Plan C

Some travelers are waiting in lines so long that they are missing their flights. Most airlines will at least try to put you on the next available flight, if seats are available, but obviously that's no guarantee. But remember, carriers are not legally required to re-book if you miss your flight because of security delays.

You're much more likely to be re-booked if you're flying on major airlines, but if you are flying a low-cost carrier, there may not be another flight for days or even a week.

Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International (above) is another of the airports hit hardest by the TSA-related chaos

Across the nation, TSA employees aren't showing up for work, with absentee rates hitting 50 percent in some airports

Brian Kelly (left) is founder of The Points Guy and Clint Henderson (right) is principal spokesperson of The Points Guy

So, hope for the best and prepare for the worst. Familiarize yourself with the other airlines that are flying your route. If your flight is delayed or cancelled, your carrier may even be willing to put you on a competitor's plane. Google Flights can help you quickly identify alternatives, so can the app Flighty, which tracks where your plane is arriving from and whether it is on time.

If the airline cancels your flight and you decide not to travel, you do have the right to a speedy refund by your original form of payment (at least among US carriers).

Airlines are not required to help you with hotel reservations or meals. It never hurts to ask. Just in case, save receipts for expenses you incur so you can request compensation once back home.

Many credit cards, like Chase Sapphire Reserve, come with trip delay and cancellation insurance that can help pay for hotels and food costs. Just be sure you are booking with a card that offers these protections  read your card program's fine print or better yet, pick up the phone and call them.

If it's a big trip, you might also consider 'cancel for any reason' insurance, but at ten to 12 percent of the total trip cost, we don't usually recommend it.

Finally, if you have a stash of points and miles, it's a good time to use them to book a backup flight. You can get a refund if you cancel a trip reserved with miles, but again  not with basic economy, on some carriers.

Book now!

The most common question we field is: should I book my summer vacation now?

The short answer is yes. And not just summer flights, book holiday trips too!

Typically, we advise travelers to book one to three months in advance for domestic flights and three to six months for international flights to get the cheapest fares. But we are scrapping that advice: Go ahead and book_ all _of your flights now for the rest of the year.

No one really knows how high ticket prices will rise as the Iran war wreaks havoc on the price of jet fuel. The global average jet fuel price has nearly doubled since the start of the conflict. It could get far worse.

On Friday, Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific Airways announced that it will hike fuel surcharges (additional costs on top of airfare) by 34 percent starting April 1 and then review them every two weeks.

Don't forget, you can receive a credit for the ticket price difference if the fare drops between the time you buy and the time you fly. But, yet again, as long as you don't book basic economy.

Many airlines will give you a trip credit for any difference if the ticket happens to go down before your trip. They will issue credits toward future travel, but you'll need to request that credit or sign up for a company that can monitor those tickets for you. There are even new services, like Paiback or TravelStart, that will monitor your flights and automatically get those credits for you.

We travel for enjoyment. Follow these tips, so you don't ruin your vacation, even before you leave home.

Brian Kelly is founder of The Points Guy and Clint Henderson is principal spokesperson of The Points Guy.
Nigel Farage has a big problem, and his name is Donald Trump.

The leader of Reform UK genuinely likes and admires the American President. He counts himself as a friend, and mourned a brief falling out with him a few years ago. He stood by Trump when he was being hauled through the courts by Democratic Party prosecutors.

No doubt he enjoys being close to the most powerful man in the world. But if it were merely a marriage of convenience it could be easily broken. Farages ties with Trump go deep.

The unpredictable President is waging a futile war that threatens to plunge the world into recession. His popularity is sagging in the US. Its worse here. In a recent poll, 73 per cent of Britons had an unfavourable view of Trump. These people include many prospective Reform voters.

I suppose its just about possible that Trump will pull off a miracle, and bring a swift end to the war against Iran on terms that are favourable to the West. But it seems much more likely that we are all going to suffer for a long time for his rash and ill-considered action.

Every time we go to the petrol station or look at our latest gas bill, many of us will blame Trump. If there should be shortages in supermarkets, blame could turn to hatred. That wouldnt be good for Farage, who is identified in the public mind as Trumps leading British cheerleader.

And its not just about the rising cost of living. Some people may enjoy Trumps sallies against Sir Keir Starmer, which are increasing in number. But almost no one appreciates his crass rudeness about the British armed forces  certainly not patriotic ex-Labour voters thinking of voting Reform.

Most outrageous was his assertion two months ago that some Nato troops stayed a little back, a little off the front lines in Afghanistan. Since Britain was Americas foremost partner in that conflict (and lost 457 military personnel) this was interpreted as an unjustified dig at Americas closest ally.

Nigel Farage needs to move out of Trumps orbit, and demonstrate both to critics and doubters that he is not at all the same kind of politician, writes Stephen Glover

Donald Trump is 'the biggest barrier to people voting Reform,' according to research by Luke Tryl, executive director of think-tank More in Common

Trumps latest slur came last week, when he described Britains two aircraft carriers as toys. They may not be as formidable as Americas carriers, and it is unfortunate that both of them have spent so much of their lives being repaired. But they are very far from being toys.

Does Nigel Farage realise the danger he is in? I am sure he does, since he is a highly intelligent man, and some people inside Reform (where there is widespread scepticism about Trumps war) will be warning him. He has tempered his initial support, probably because he realises the war may end badly.

At the beginning he was enthusiastic, saying that although he was incredibly nervous about intervening in foreign wars he believed that this was the right one. In an interview with the New Statesman he unwisely suggested that Iran potentially poses a bigger danger than Putin poses to us.

But as things began to go wrong, and Trump contradicted himself almost hourly, Farage grew more cautious, saying lets not get ourselves involved in another foreign war.

Since then he has said remarkably little about events in the Middle East, which is odd when most politicians are talking about little else, and many voters are alarmed. Three weeks ago he made a brief visit to Florida as a member of the Mar-a-Lago club, which is owned by Donald Trump.

He didnt see the President, who was staying about an hours drive away at his hotel in Doral. This was not necessarily a snub. There have been other occasions in the recent past when Farage has visited Mar-a-Lago without seeing Trump. That said, it wasnt exactly a show of affection on Trumps part.

And that is far from being a bad thing. From Farages point of view, any distance he can put between himself and the President is very likely to be to his political advantage.

Reform has recently slipped in the polls. The party now averages about 26 per cent, down from highs of around 31 per cent last October. There are probably several factors, but Nigel Farage would be foolish to dismiss the idea that his association with the increasingly disliked President is one of them.

Indeed, according to Luke Tryl, executive director of the More in Common think-tank and polling organisation, all of his research shows that the biggest barrier to people voting Reform is Trump.

Reform leader Farage and the US President in the Oval Office at the White House last year

Can Nigel Farage bring himself to criticise Trump sincerely, not just about the war but all manner of excesses and absurdities in other areas that repel many voters who might vote Reform?

Or is he so bound to the horror in the White House, so fundamentally aligned to Trumpian values, that he will be unable to break free and convince voters that he isnt a British re-tread of Trump?

Farage recently said: He [Trump] is a friend of mine. I agree with many things he does. I dont agree with other things he does. The trouble is that voters hear much more about the points of agreement than the points of disagreement.

Nor is the issue exclusively the degree to which the two men see, or dont see, eye to eye. There is something too submissive about Farages attitude towards Trump  witness his frequent visits to his court, and his evident joy when photographed next to him.

I agree that Starmers obsequious conduct towards the overbearing President is even more distasteful since he is the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. In the end, of course, his cringe-making sycophancy has got him nowhere. It only served to open him to Trumps derision and contempt.

Farage is motivated at least partly by genuine affection and respect. But he could be the next prime minister of this country. It is time he stopped playing the courtier, and applied himself to becoming the international statesman he may shortly be.

He should clasp the old dictum to his heart that there are no true friendships at the top of politics. This is not easy for him since he is a gregarious and warm-hearted man.

A man, too, who like my esteemed colleague Boris Johnson seemingly wants to be loved. This is no great flaw in normal life, sometimes even an attractive quality. But in politics it can be fatal.

Could Farage break with Trump? I dont propose that he stage a minor falling out for reasons of political expediency. I am asking whether he can convince voters that he is fundamentally different from the man he has admired. That hes not dishonest, unreliable, inconstant and sometimes cruel.

I dont believe the leader of Reform is any of these things. And I also think its perfectly all right for Farage to share some of Donald Trumps views, a number of which are held by perfectly sensible people on the Right.

All I am saying is that Nigel Farage needs to move out of Trumps orbit, and demonstrate both to critics and doubters that he is not at all the same kind of politician.
When Sharon Ball started getting headaches while she was on maternity leave after giving birth to her daughter, she thought she had an ear infection.

But the mother-of-three has since been told she has a rare brain cancer - which fewer than 200 people worldwide have been diagnosed with.

The 38-year-old, who began having painful headaches during maternity leave late last year, has in recent weeks been diagnosed with an aggressive stage four osteosarcoma in her skull.

After an operation and two rounds of chemotherapy, primary school teacher Sharon was forced to abandon a second planned surgery and turned to international options for her care.

She has now raised more than 750,000 through a GoFundMe page to fund her care at a leading US cancer centre - but still does not know how much her total bill will be.

Sharon's cause was shared on social media by Irish celebrities including Love Island star Maura Higgins, presenter Vogue Williams and comedian Joanne McNally as donations poured in from across the world.

Family friend Gearoid Rennicks told the Daily Mail the primary school teacher from Co. Meath, Ireland, began having painful headaches in October, three months after her daughter Sophie was born.

She thought they were the result of ear infections but after they became more frequent she sought medical help and was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a type of bone cancer, in January.

Sharon Ball, pictured with her husband Dermot and children Jack, Louis and Sophie, was diagnosed with a rare osteosarcoma in January

After treatment in Ireland was unable to remove her tumour, Sharon - pictured with husband Dermot - planned to fly to New York for an operation at a leading cancer centre

Sharon's tumour is on her skull, which was operated on weeks after her diagnosis at Dublin's Neurology Centre of Excellence in Beaumont Hospital to try to remove some of the growth.

But in February, after two rounds of chemotherapy, doctors found the tumour was not responding to treatment and had grown back to pre-operation size.

Throughout her illness Sharon has had bad headaches, particularly at night and in the morning with 'constant' pain in between, Mr Rennicks said.

A new operation was set for March 18 to try to fully remove the tumour but on the eve of the procedure it was called off, with doctors in Dublin judging the cancer inoperable.

Mr Rennicks said: 'It was shocking but in fairness, credit to Sharon, she's very proactive. Rather than feeling sorry for herself, she went straight into solution mode and that's what brought us then to contact hospitals around the world.'

Sharon's family and friends went on a hunt for solutions and found hope in New York's Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.

Experts there said they were optimistic they could remove Sharon's tumour in its entirety, planning to follow up the surgery with radon therapy - a low-dose radiation - to kill any remaining cancer cells.

But to travel to the US and receive treatment, Sharon was required to pay some fees for her travel and treatment up front and still does not know what the full bill will be.

'We have to pay for everything, for every scan, every blood test, every operation. You have to pay for porters, you have to pay for the nurses, doctors, everything,' Mr Rennicks said.

In the rural village of Bohermeen, where Sharon and her family live, he said the population was just a few hundred and 'it wouldn't be in any way possible to raise that kind of money', leading them to turn to online fundraising.

Meanwhile Mr Rennicks said the whole town had taken on the challenge of raising funds to secure Sharon's treatment.

'I think it's a reflection of what everyone thinks of Sharon,' he said.

'She's an absolute lady. She's a young mum-of-three, a lot of people can relate to that as well.

'She just wants to see her nine-month-old daughter Sophie take her first step, say her first word. She just wants to see her kids grow up and see all the things that we all hope to see our kids do and that we would probably take for granted slightly, but she's just in a situation where that could be taken away from her.'

Sharon married her teenage sweetheart Dermot, a plumber, nine years ago and alongside Sophie has two boys: Jack, six, and four-year-old Louis.

Mr Rennicks said the couple's main priority was their children, who have been 'getting on with life', helped by their friends and family.

The 38-year-old primary school teacher had a second planned operation earlier this month cancelled the night before after doctors determined her tumour was inoperable

Through their own research, Sharon's family and friends found hope at the Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in the US, where doctors are hopeful they can remove her tumour

A 10-strong 'Hope for Sharon' committee was set up to lead fundraising efforts and is encouraging those who can to continue donating.

Mr Rennicks said: 'The reality is it's very different to the NHS or the HSE [Ireland's health service], where we still don't know what the final number is going to be, so we're still really encouraging people to share, contribute, engage with the page - it would be fantastic.

'There's been a lot of downs, be it the chemo not reacting, the operations not maybe going as well as they would have liked, so we're just trying to provide Sharon with hope that they can go and hopefully get the best treatments in the world and get the best outcomes.'

Asked about the community's reaction to the vast number of donations, he said 'people just can't get over it'.

'It's overwhelming. There's been a lot of tears cried of happiness and gratefulness to people that have taken the time to contribute to Sharon's cause.'

He said it was 'surreal' to think people were taking the time to donate given the rising cost of living.

'Look, the prices of petrol and diesel are going up, it's harder and harder to run a house but yet people are still taking the time and going to that effort.

'It's really, really powerful stuff.'

Sharon flew out to New York with Dermot on Monday morning for consultations, with an operation hoped for next week.
Despite being positioned as a tool for quitting smoking, vaping is as potentially harmful as cigarettes - and can cause both mouth and lung cancer.

Despite health chiefs across the world saying that e-cigarettes are less damaging to the body than traditional smoking products, Australian researchers have made the strongest link yet between the gadgets and the disease.

A team based out of the University of New South Wales in Sydney reviewed all the available literature into the potential harms of vaping that were published between 2017 and 2025.

The most concerning studies, they noted, are the ones that show that vaping can cause changes to a user's DNA, increasing the risk of cell malfunction linked to cancer.

They concluded that vaping is not risk free. It causes tissue damage to the respiratory tract, which has been linked to the development of lung cancer, and it also causes changes to the oral microbiome. This drives inflammation and increases the risk of oral cancer.

The risks are highest for those who smoke both traditional cigarettes and use vapes, approximately half of the smoking population; the toxic combination increases their risk of lung cancer four-fold.

Professor Bernard Stewart, study lead author, said: 'The research shows vaping is not an alternative to smoking or illicit drugs. It is not an alternative to anything in the context of being safer.

'It's dangerous and that's the message.'

Presenting the strongest evidence to date into the harms of vaping, Australian researchers have linked the dirty habit to lung and oral cancer

Generally, for people diagnosed with mouth cancer in England, around 60 per cent will survive their cancer for five years after diagnosis.

For lung cancer, the prognosis is much bleaker, with only 10 per cent of patients surviving more than ten years.

In the UK, the Government has already begun to take action to clamp down on the number of young people taking up vaping, introducing a ban on disposable vapes last year. Vaping may also be banned in cars due to concerns over second-hand vapour.

However, the new review suggests precautionary measures such as these, which flag vapes as possibly carcinogenic, do not go far enough when there is 'no doubt' that vaping gives rise to these cancers.

'It took about 100 years for the evidence to be conclusive enough to say that smoking causes lung cancer and the history of events evolved over time as people became more and more exposed to tobacco,' Professor Freddy Sitas, an expert in future health systems at the university and study co-author said.

'And we are seeing a similar evolution with e-cigarettes.

'As such, e-cigarettes should not be offered as a pathway to quit smoking to put patients at ease, particularly without strict precautions around minimising dual use.'

To support their claims, the researchers highlighted the case of a 19-year-old boy with an extensive history of vaping, who despite his young age, developed an aggressive form of mouth cancer.

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The teenager was diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma of the oral cavity, which is extremely rare in the absence of a HPV infection, leading them to deduce that vaping may lead to oral cavity cancer.

The inflammation and oxidative stress in the mouth and along the respiratory tract caused by vaping has also been linked to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) - a lung condition that can trigger organ failure - heart disease, narrowing of arteries and neural changes in the brain.

However, definitive evidence that vaping causes oral and lung cancer is still lacking - given that it is a fairly new technology and there is currently not enough studies focusing on people who have only vaped to make a quantitative assessment.

But the experts' message is clear.

Professor Sitas said: 'Delayed findings have played right into the hands of tobacco companies who don't mind whether they make their money though vapes or cigarettes.

'We know that there is a significant group of people who both vape and smoke, despite the former being marketed as an effective means to stop smoking.

'We've always assumed that vapes are safer than cigarettes, but what we're showing is that they might be as safe after all.

'It's like saying that knives are less dangerous than machine guns because they can kill fewer people in a given time. That notion is absurd and it's absurd to approach vaping in reference to the safety of smoking.

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'While our understanding of causation has improved, we should not have to wait 100 years to decide what to do.

'There is a window of opportunity now to be able to discern these effects and now is the time to be proactive rather than reactive.'

Experts who weren't involved in the study welcomed the findings but urged caution when interpreting the results.

Prof Peter Hajek, an expert in clinical psychology at Queen Mary University, London, said: 'The review's conclusions are misleading.

'The crucial bit of information that the review omits is that vaping exposes users to only a very small fraction of some of the carcinogens in tobacco smoke.

'Misinforming smokers risks discouraging them from using e-cigarettes, which are one of the most effective methods that exist to help people stop smoking.'

Prof Lion Shahab, co-director of the UCL tobacco and alcohol research group, added: 'While it is clear that e-cigarettes expose users to harmful chemicals, which may lead to later disease, I would urge against sensationalisation of evidence.

'No-one would argue that e-cigarettes are entirely risk-free.

'They should be used as a harm reduction product to help those who smoke to quite and reduce their risk of developing smoking-related diseases. They should not be used someone who has never smoked.'

The need for more ways to help patients quit smoking is clear, with lung cancer still killing more than 33,000 people a year in the UK.

Smoking is also the leading cause of COPD, which affects around 1.7million people in the UK and claims 30,000 lives every year.

Whilst cigarettes contain dozens of toxic chemicals, including nicotine, the most dangerous of them is tar which damages the lungs and leads to cancerous changes in the cells.

Vapes, in contrast, don't contain tar or carbon monoxide which experts previously thought were behind cigarettes' sinister health impacts.

However, they do contain low levels of toxic chemicals such as formaldehyde which drive inflammation, oxidative stress and DNA changes that have been linked to cancer.

It's for these reasons that, since 2023, vapes have been offered on the NHS to patients attempting to kick cigarettes. However, evidence now suggests that vaping is not as nearly as 'safe' as once thought and could be driving cancer rates in young people.

Research shows that head and neck cancers - including those affecting the mouth and throat - have surged by more than a third in Britain since the early 90s.

Experts say the surge is mostly driven by diagnoses of younger people in their 40s and 50s.

Smoking, alcohol and human papillomavirus (HPV) - a normally harmless virus that is spread sexually and through skin contact - are the primary causes.

And now it's thought that vaping could be adding to the disease burden.
Scientists have uncovered dozens of genetic traits that could pinpoint who is at risk of developing autism.

In one of the largest studies of its kind, researchers in New York analyzed genetic data from more than 15,000 people across North, Central and South America, including 4,700 individuals who had autism.

They linked 35 genes to the condition, a development that the team said could provide a 'road map' for diagnosis.

The genes were not new, but unlike in other studies that focused on Europeans, the scientists analyzed data from people of Latin American ancestry  a genetically diverse group made up of indigenous American, West African and European genetics.

They said the results offered new insights into the genes that were linked to autism in non-European populations, helping doctors to detect the condition.

Autism is normally diagnosed via an in-person evaluation, but genetic tests may also be ordered to detect autism-linked genetic changes or to rule out other conditions.

Dr Joseph Buxbaum, an autism expert at Mount Sinai who was involved in the research, said: 'Our results indicate that the core genetic architecture of autism is shared across ancestries.

'This suggests that the biology underlying autism is universal and reinforces the importance of ensuring that diverse populations are represented in genetic research.'

Scientists have linked 35 genes that were significantly associated with autism (stock image)

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He added: 'These findings provide a road map for improving genetic diagnosis across ancestral groups.

'Expanding genomic research in under-represented populations is essential to reducing health disparities and advancing precision medicine for autism and related conditions across all ancestral populations.'

For the paper, published in Nature Medicine, scientists analyzed data from the Genomics of Autism in Latin American Ancestries (GALA) Consortium, a research initiative compiling genetic data on Latin American individuals.

Participants were diagnosed with autism based on expert clinical evaluations that used the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th edition (DSM-5).

This issue, the latest and which sets the standard for diagnosing autism spectrum disorder, defines the condition as when an individual has persistent trouble communicating and interacting with others.

It includes deficits in social-emotional responses, such as failing to respond to their name, nonverbal communicative behaviors, such as avoiding eye contact during a conversation or lacking facial expressions, and developing, maintaining and understanding relationships, such as difficulties in sharing in imaginative play.

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Experts say the definition includes people suffering from classic autism, who have severe communication difficulties, as well as those with Asperger's Syndrome, where individuals have good language skills but struggle with social cues, and struggle with milder communication difficulties.

From the dataset, researchers extracted and analyzed information on 18,000 genes.

Overall, they detected patterns that led them to link changes in 35 genes to a higher risk of being diagnosed with autism.

These genes tended to be linked to how the brain functions. In many cases, these were genes that rarely changed across populations over time.

Among them were PACS1, which codes for a protein that facilitates transport in the brain, and YWHAG, which codes for a protein vital for brain development.

The above is a map of the collection sites used in the study

Scientists said the results helped to close a research gap. Only a few studies have analyzed genes linked to autism in non-European groups.

Autism rates have surged in the US in recent years, with an estimated one in 31 children now suffering from the condition compared to one in 150 in 2000. Overall, 5.4 million Americans are estimated to be living with autism.

It isn't clear what's behind the rise, but experts say it has been driven by raised awareness and the definition of autism being expanded to include other milder cases of communication problems.

There is no cure for autism. Treatment involves supporting a patient's learning, development and behavior.

Experts say early diagnosis and treatment can help patients to learn critical social, communication and behavioral skills.
Trader Joe's has expanded a massive recall of popular frozen dinners after health regulators uncovered contamination with small, hard glass pieces.

Recalls of Ajinomoto Foods North America Trader Joes branded frozen packages of fried rice started in February, from 3.4 million pounds of products recalled, to another 33.6 million pounds on March 3.

On March 20, the FDA announced another expansion, including an additional 9.9 million pounds of vegetable fried rice and Japanese-Style Fried Rice With Edamame, Tofu and Hijiki Seaweed, bringing the total to about 47 million pounds of product.

The company had received at least four complaints from customers who said they had found small glass fragments in their food. Further investigation found that frozen carrots were likely the source of contamination.

There have not been any reports of injuries tied to the recalled products containing foreign objects, but the USDAs Food Safety and Inspection Service expressed concern that the newly downgraded class II recalled items could still be in millions of freezers across the country.

Trader Joes said in a statement: If you have packages of the products listed above, please do not use them. Please discard the product or return it to any Trader Joes for a full refund.

A class II designation, the second-most severe FDA/FSIS classification for recalls, is defined as a situation in which use of, or exposure to, a violative product may cause temporary or medically reversible adverse health consequences or where the probability of serious adverse health consequences is remote.

The items pulled from shelves were distributed to stores across 43 states coast-to-coast.

On March 20, the FDA announced that a sweeping recall of Trader Joe's fried rice had been expanded to include another 9.9 million products, totaling 47 million products (stock)

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To identify the products, look for item number 5650233 on the packaging, according to an FDA notice to stores and consumers. The barcode on the individual bag is 00521482.

The products are marked with establishment number P-18356, P-18356B or P-47971 inside the USDA mark of inspection on the package.

The USDA website has a full list of the specific lot codes of the products involved. Some were also available in Canada and Mexico.

Neither the first nor the expanded second recall notices from the FDA and FSIS explained how glass got into the carrots in the first place.

Right now, millions of Americans may have these products sitting in their freezers, unaware that they're putting themselves at risk of choking  or worse, internal injuries and bleeding.

Swallowing glass fragments poses a serious health risk that can be life-threatening. Glass is sharp, rigid, and won't dissolve in the stomach.

Depending on their size and shape, these fragments can slice through soft tissue as they move through the digestive tract.

The recalled products are marked with item number 5650233 on the packaging, according to an FDA notice to stores and consumers. The barcode on the individual bag is 00521482

The investigation traced the source to contaminated carrots, an ingredient used across multiple products

Larger or sharper pieces can become lodged, tearing the stomach lining or puncturing the intestinal wall.

This can lead to peritonitis, a dangerous abdominal infection that requires emergency surgery. In rare cases, glass can also cut blood vessels, causing severe internal bleeding.

The glass shards found in the packages ranged in size from one centimeter, about the length of a standard aspirin tablet or a small bean, and three centimeters, about the length of a standard paperclip or the width of a adult thumb.

The products were sent to stores in Alaska, Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Mississippi, Montana, North Carolina, North Dakota, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Nevada, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin and Wyoming.
LEXINGTON, Ky., March 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- GALLS, the leading supplier of uniforms and equipment for America's public safety professionals, has announced the acquisition of CMS Uniforms and Equipment, Inc., a prominent regional provider based in Nashville, Tennessee. This strategic acquisition establishes GALLS as the market leader in Tennessee and further reinforces the company's dedication to providing reliable, high-quality gear to first responders across North America.

The acquisition brings together GALLS' national logistics capabilities and extensive product line with CMS Uniforms' localized expertise and strong client relationships. By integrating CMS Uniforms' operations, GALLS expands its footprint in key locations, including Nashville. This expansion ensures that law enforcement, firefighters, paramedics, and other public safety professionals have faster, more efficient access to the critical apparel and equipment necessary for their daily operations.

Mike Fadden, CEO of GALLS stated, "We are proud to welcome CMS Uniforms to the GALLS family. Their team shares our unwavering dedication to the men and women who protect our communities. By combining CMS's local expertise and strong relationships in Nashville and Louisville with GALLS' comprehensive resources and technological solutions, we are ensuring that Tennessee's public safety professionals have the reliable equipment and uniform solutions they need to operate safely and effectively."

CMS Uniforms, founded in 2000, has built a reputation for delivering stellar customer service and managing complex uniform programs for over 670 accounts. The company currently supports thousands of personnel, including police officers, deputy sheriffs, and firefighters. The integration of CMS Uniforms into the GALLS network allows these agencies to benefit from enhanced resources while maintaining the local service touch they trust. The combined entity creates a seamless operation dedicated to reducing equipment-delivery response times and ensuring agencies remain mission-ready.

"It has been our honor to serve those who serve our communities for more than two decades. Throughout this journey, CMS has remained committed to the same passion for service that defines GALLS today," states Steve and Julie Roate. "We are confident that this alignment makes Galls the right partner to carry our mission forward, and we are excited for CMS to become part of the GALLS team."

Existing CMS clients will now have access to GALLS' advanced service solutions, including custom web portals that streamline ordering and improve oversight for agency administrators. This technology, paired with GALLS' robust supply chain, ensures that first responders can rely on consistent inventory availability and rapid deployment of gear. The acquisition aligns with the core missions of both companies: to honor and support those who protect our communities by providing the highest-quality products and services available in the industry.

About GALLS

For over 50 years, GALLS has been the trusted source for uniforms, tactical gear, and essential equipment for America's public safety professionals. More than one million men and women rely on GALLS for their essential gear each year. From boots and uniforms to tactical tools and duty gear, we provide the quality and consistency your mission requires. Offering a complete 360 solution for agencies and departments, GALLS provides custom web portals that streamline ordering, improve speed, and enhance oversight. At GALLS, we are Proud To Serve Those Who Serve.

Media Contact:

Krista A. Greathouse, MBA

Director of Marketing

(859) 447-0779

[email protected]

SOURCE GALLS
A 38-year-old grandmother has revealed how she and her 20-year-old daughter are constantly mistaken for twins.

Brittany Desborough has become dubbed the 'world's hottest grandmother' by an influx of social media users after her teenage daughter Makenzie welcomed her own child into the world two years ago.

The mother-of-four, from California, fell pregnant with Makenzie at just 17 years old. And by the time Makenzie entered her teenage years, the pair would often receive 'a lot of attention' for their strikingly similar looks while out together in public.

'A lot of people mistook us for sisters, or twins, and were left baffled when I told them we were actually mother and daughter,' Brittany revealed.

'Some people even thought Makenzie was my mum. It was really tricky to tell.

'Luckily, she always found it hilarious - and I found it incredibly flattering.'

Brittany met her husband Chris, now 39, at a school party. Just eight months into their whirlwind romance, the teenagers became engaged.

Then, just a few months later, Brittany discovered she was pregnant.

Brittany Desborough (right) who became a grandmother in her 30s has revealed how she and her 20-year-old daughter Makenzie (left) are often mistaken for twins

The mother-of-four, from California , fell pregnant with Makenzie at just 17 years old,. By the time Makenzie entered her teenage years, the pair would often receive 'a lot of attention' for their uncanny looks while out together in public

Recalling her initial fears that having a baby in her teenage years would 'ruin' her life, Brittany said: 'I knew Chris wanted to have kids right away, but we were both so young. Thankfully, he was over the moon.'

Reflecting on the challenges she faced, Brittany added: 'While most of my friends were partying and applying for university, I had no choice but to grow up.'

The loved-up pair later went on to have Savannah, 11, followed by Charlie, nine and finally Hunter, born in 2024.

Meanwhile, Brittany stuck to a rigid daily skincare routine to keep her youthful looks in check.

Such routine consisted of cleanser, glycolic acid, niacinamide and zinc, gel moisturiser, squalene oil, Vaseline and crows-tape feet.

But just a few months after Brittany welcomed her youngest son, she made the surprising discovery that her teenage daughter, then aged 18, was pregnant.

Just a few months after Brittany welcomed her youngest son, she made the surprising discovery that her teenage daughter, then aged 18, was pregnant

Now, Brittany and her partner Chris are working towards building an annex for Makenzie and her son, Banks, while they navigate their expanding family. Pictured: Brittany and Chris with their four children, alongside Makenzie's son Banks

'I found her curled up in bed staring at the wall. It was like deja vu,' recalled Brittany.

'All I felt was sympathy. Myself and Chris supported her and she seriously knuckled down.'

Now, they're working towards building an annex for Makenzie and her son, Banks, while they navigate their expanding family.

Brittany added: 'It was strange having a grandson and a son less than a year apart, but I wouldn't change it for anything. Hunter loves his nephew very much.

'People are even more surprised now when I tell them I'm a grandma.

'But it goes to show; us grannies come in all shapes, sizes and good looks.'
Edit doesn't directly refer to CBK - but there's a heavy hint about who inspired it

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Carolyn Bessette Kennedy has become a fashion icon to a whole new generation of young women almost three decades after her untimely death, aged 33, thanks to Ryan Murphys hit drama Love Story.

Now, fans can recreate her effortlessly chic and minimalist style from none other than M&S.

While Carolyn loved Prada clothes, carried a Birkin and worked as a publicist for Calvin Klein, those with more modest budgets can emulate her quiet luxury wardrobe with a 26 white shirt and a 20 black tote bag from the high street giant.

Branded the '90s Edit', the capsule collection is marketed as a 'nostalgic and wearable' collection that signals a 'renewed appreciation for the enduring appeal of 90s style'.

While the edit, where 'pared-back polish meets understated cool', makes no reference to Carolyn or Disney+ drama Love Story, theres a heavy hint as to who inspired it.

Campaign shots featuring a willowy blonde model appear to replicate some of the most famous snatched photos of Carolyn strolling through the streets of New York in her signature camel coat, loafers and a black headband.

Shes accompanied in some images by a male model, holding her hand or pushing a bike  perhaps a nod to 'Americas Prince', John F Kennedy Jr , the other half of New York's ultimate It couple of the 1990s.

When M&S shared shots on Instagram with the advice Bag your favourites now, move to NYC later, it sent fans of Love Story, which has attracted millions of viewers on both sides of the Atlantic, into a frenzy.

Oh I see what you did here, one said, while another complimented the clever marketing team.

M&S has launched a new '90s edit', where 'pared-back polish meets understated cool'. While it makes no reference to Caroline Bessette-Kennedy Ryan Murphy's show Love Story, theres a heavy hint as to who inspired it

The former Calvin Klein publicist was known for her effortlessly chic and minimalist style

On TikTok, M&S has been more direct about its muse for the collection, sharing a video tutorial on how to style a black jacket like Carolyn Besette Kennedy.

Standout pieces include a Pure Cotton Girlfriend Shirt. Carolyn famously elevated a white shirt into evening wear when she paired it with a floor-skimming tiered skirt for a black-tie gala at the Whitney Museum of American Art.

M&S' 26 dupe also pairs equally well with dark wash denim jeans or a black silk skirt from the new collection.

The high street hero has also recreated Carolyn's denim collection including a kick flare, cropped style, as well as bootcut jeans that retail for 38 and 26 respectively.

Carolyn's fondness for classic outerwear is well-documented, and M&S's new collection comes equipped with a lightweight, camel-coloured car coat for 70  currently the brands number one bestseller.

Finally, theres a spin on some of Carolyn's favourite accessories - including cat eye sunglasses and headbands - to round out the collection.

Sarah Pidgeon's portrayal of Carolyn has sparked a wave of copycat looks across the high street, with Uniqlo and Massimo Dutti also promoting their own edits.

Carolyns gilded life came to an end in July 1999 in a plane crash that also killed her husband JFK Jr and her sister Lauren.
When someone hears the words 'you have cancer', the world shifts in an instant. Treatment plans, hospital appointments and survival statistics quickly take centre stage.

But for many patients, another profound change unfolds quietly behind closed doors; in their relationships, their intimacy and their sense of self.

A cancer diagnosis is not solely a physical event; it is an emotional and psychological one that can reshape how a person sees themselves and how they connect with others.

While advances in oncology have significantly improved survival rates across many cancer types, there is growing recognition that survival alone is not enough. Quality of life, including emotional well-being, relationships and sexual health, is an essential part of comprehensive cancer care.

The psychological effects of a cancer diagnosis can be just as powerful as the physical ones when it comes to sexual activity and intimacy. Anxiety, depression and changes in body image are common among patients undergoing treatment.

Hair loss, surgical scars, fatigue and other side effects can alter how individuals feel in their own bodies. These changes can lead to reduced sexual desire, difficulties with arousal, or avoidance of intimacy altogether.

Emotions often run high during this time, and communication can falter. Patients may struggle to articulate what they are feeling, while partners may fear saying the wrong thing or causing additional distress.

Fear, of rejection, of physical discomfort, of no longer being desirable, can take hold. In many cases, intimacy becomes a sensitive or even avoided topic, despite its importance to overall well-being.

Cancer can lead to reduced sexual desire, difficulties with arousal and avoidance of intimacy

Partners and caregivers can play a vital role in navigating these challenges. Offering reassurance, listening empathetically and creating space for open, honest conversations can help maintain connection during an otherwise destabilising time.

Even simple acts of closeness, such as holding hands or spending quiet time together, can reinforce emotional bonds. Importantly, intimacy is not limited to sexual activity; it encompasses a broader spectrum of connection, affection and mutual understanding.

For individuals who are not in relationships, the impact can be equally significant. Concerns about dating, disclosure and future relationships are common, particularly among younger people.

Acknowledging that your sexual self still matters is a critical step in ensuring that people living with cancer feel seen and supported as whole individuals, not just as diagnoses.

It is little wonder that sex goes to the bottom of the pile when theres a cancer diagnosis. In the face of life-threatening illness, priorities understandably shift toward treatment and survival. However, this does not diminish the importance of intimacy; rather, it highlights how easily it can be overlooked in clinical settings.

Healthcare professionals are increasingly being called upon to address this gap. Research and clinical guidance emphasise that discussions about sexual health should be a routine part of cancer care, not an afterthought. Yet in practice, these conversations often do not happen.

Sex therapist Lorraine Grover is calling for a more holistic approach to cancer treatment

Time constraints, discomfort with the topic and assumptions about patient priorities can all act as barriers.

Healthcare providers can help tackle the effects of a diagnosis by initiating gentle, open-ended discussions about intimacy. Asking simple questions such as whether a patient has concerns about relationships or sexual wellbeing can signal that the topic is both valid and welcome.

Providing a safe, non-judgmental space allows patients and their partners to express fears, ask questions and seek guidance.

This message was emphasised in a session titled 'Addressing Psychosexual Support in Cancer Care' that I presented at the 2026 Global Oncology and Haematology Congress hosted by Network for Collaborative Oncology Development & Advancement.

The session highlighted the need for a more holistic approach to cancer treatment  one that recognises the interconnected nature of physical, emotional and sexual health.

The focus should not simply be survival but quality of life. This perspective aligns with broader trends in oncology, where patient-reported outcomes and lived experiences are increasingly valued alongside clinical measures.

Rebuilding intimacy after a diagnosis may require time, creativity and patience. Physical changes resulting from surgery, chemotherapy, radiation or hormone therapies can affect sexual function in different ways, depending on the type of cancer and treatment.

For example, some treatments may lead to fatigue or hormonal changes that impact libido, while others may cause discomfort or require adjustments in sexual activity.

It is about thinking outside the box and using available tools to rekindle a connection. This might include exploring new ways of expressing intimacy, prioritising emotional closeness, or seeking support from trained professionals such as counsellors or psychosexual therapists.

Practical interventions, including the use of lubricants, pelvic health therapies or guided counselling, can also play a role in addressing specific concerns.

Education is another critical component. Many patients report receiving little to no information about how treatment might affect their sexual health.

Providing clear, evidence-based information before, during and after treatment can help individuals feel more prepared and less isolated in their experiences. It also reinforces the idea that these concerns are common and legitimate.

Importantly, addressing intimacy in cancer care is not about restoring a previous 'normal', but about adapting to a new reality.

Relationships may evolve, priorities may shift, and definitions of intimacy may change. What matters is that patients and their partners are supported in finding what works for them, given their circumstances.

There is also a broader cultural dimension to consider. In many societies, discussions about sex and intimacy remain taboo, which can further silence patients concerns. Normalising these conversations  within healthcare settings and beyond  is essential to ensuring that individuals feel empowered to seek help and support.

And perhaps most importantly, patients should remember that cancer does not erase their sexuality. It may change how it is expressed or experienced, but it does not diminish its value. Recognising and addressing this aspect of life is not a luxury; it is a fundamental part of holistic, patient-centred care.

Lorraine Grover is a Registered General Nurse and qualified Sex Therapist. She was a speaker at NCODAs recent Oncology and Haematology Congress in Dublin. See lorrainegrover.com
In May last year, I got up one morning, looked in the mirror, and barely recognised myself. The face staring back at me had no discernible neck or jawline.

My face had sagged, and I had hanging jowls. My once-plump cheeks had sunk, and my cheekbones had vanished. I looked tired and sad all the time. People had started to ask, Are you all right? and Id say, Yes, fine thanks, but I sensed they were asking because my face didnt reflect the happy, vital woman I was.

Two years ago, at 61, Id taken early retirement from my civil service project manager role, but when I told people I was retired, no one was surprised. People even started offering me seats on the Tube train.

Inside, I still felt mentally sharp, full of ideas and energy  Im writing my first novel, a long-held ambition. I know that everything Ive achieved in life is down to my brain, not my appearance, but when your reflection doesnt match your inner-self, its about more than vanity. Its about identity.

The woman in the mirror was starting to look like an old lady  and I wasnt ready for that. I also knew it was only going to get worse from here.

Id never had anything done at that point  treatments like Botox seemed expensive and inconvenient. I didnt want ongoing tweaks, but what I did want was to look better. A facelift seemed like the procedure I needed  a one-time chance for lasting improvement. The truth is, ageing well matters. Ive had cancer twice and never take life for granted. If I am lucky enough to have a long retirement, I want to get old in the best way possible and enjoy it.

Ellen Palmer before her deep plane facelift, which was performed by Dr Yannis Alexandrides

We live in an ageist society, and I dont want to feel as though people are writing me off with a glance at my face.

However, I also knew good surgery would be expensive. I didnt want to risk my face or life by getting cheap surgery abroad. Neither did I want to land myself in debt.

Everything changed when I was offered that early retirement package just as I made my last mortgage payment.

Suddenly, spending 25,000 on a facelift seemed possible.

I talked to my husband, Vince, about it. I met him a little later in life, 18 years ago, when I was in my mid-40s. Hes younger than me  just turned 50, and I think that was part of it, too. I wanted to look more like his age. Not that hes ever had a problem with how I look  hes never been that shallow.

However, before I went ahead, I had to be 100 per cent sure that he was backing me. He admitted he was nervous at the idea of me having surgery, but he also knew how much my face was bothering me, and said it was entirely up to me, and hed support me.

I started my research by googling facelift surgeons. One name kept popping up: Dr Yannis Alexandrides. He had great reviews, so I booked an appointment. That alone cost 350.

Of course, I asked him about other treatments  Botox, lasers and fillers  but he told me that while they make you look fresher, theyre temporary and that wasnt for me. He said the only way to really impact the structure of my face and neck long-term would be with a deep plane facelift and a neck lift.

This type of work restructures and relocates the deep inner tissues, fat and muscles of the face. In fact, its widely considered the most advanced and sophisticated kind of facelift you can have.

As Dr Alexandrides explained it, it involves the lifting of whats called the SMAS layer (Superficial Musculoaponeurotic System)  a network of connective tissue, muscle and fat that sits below the skin.

The facelift looks so natural, one of Ellen's nieces said: You look fantastic. I think its the haircut. Have you got a new style? She laughed and said: Ill fess up. Ive also had some work done. The niece said, Oh, have you had your boobs done?'

'Im getting compliments. In the Post Office at Christmas, the young woman behind the counter looked at me said "Youre very pretty", which just didnt happen before,' writes Ellen

Ellen with her husband Vince. She says he loves her however she looks, but hes happy that she feels so much better about her appearance after the facelift

With age this weakens and thins, but a deep plane facelift releases the ligaments that anchor it and allows the surgeon to reposition the face exactly how it needs to be  moving it upwards, rather than backwards, which avoids the wind-swept look. The skin is then draped over the newly reconstructed tissues.

The same type of facelift was recently made famous by the Kardashian matriarch Kris Jenner, though I had mine first!

After a week of thinking about it, I said yes. Then things moved quickly. It was just six weeks from the first consultation to surgery.

Because this was elective treatment, not a lifesaving procedure, I went through a battery of pre-op tests, including blood tests and for my heart, an ECG and echocardiogram, followed by an appointment with an eminent cardiologist to discuss the results. This all came at an extra cost  around 1,000 on top of the surgical fee.

As a cancer survivor, I find tests triggering. So much so, I nearly backed out. But there was that little niggling voice saying, If theres something wrong with you, you might as well find out. Fortunately, all was well.

My nerves also stemmed from worrying about the effect on Vince. When youre with somebody you love madly, you cant help but think, What if something catastrophic happens? What if I dont come round? We are so happy together, and the idea that anything I did would adversely affect him was awful.

I also chatted it through with two close friends who were very supportive. I didnt tell anyone else as I felt it had to be our decision alone  mine and Vinces. And in the end I knew he absolutely had my back.

I had my surgery in July last year. Because I live in Milton Keynes in Buckinghamshire, and had to be at the clinic in London at 7am, I spent the night before in a nearby hotel. I was apprehensive, but also excited.

I walked into the operating theatre to find giant pictures of myself from all angles printed out and taped to the walls, which was mildly shocking, but Dr Yannis said that, for the best result, it was important he could always see what I looked like when I wasnt lying down and under anaesthetic.

I was told that the surgery took three and a half hours.

Afterwards, my face was swollen, red, and very numb. Vince was waiting for me as I came round. He didnt look shocked, or make a single comment about my face, but simply asked me how I was feeling.

Once I was ready, Vince and I left the clinic and got a cab to the hotel where we were staying overnight to be close to the medical unit in case I had any complications.

When we eventually arrived home, I looked in the mirror. I was lopsided and blotchy, and my face and neck were lumpy with fluid retention.

I can see why people panic in those early days, but Id been warned about this, and there was always a nurse at the end of a phone if I needed any help. To my surprise, there was no pain at all  and there never has been.

I had to return to the clinic to have a course of six lymphatic drainage facial massages to help the swelling and lumpiness go down. I also had laser light treatments to speed up healing and reduce scarring, plus a HydraFacial  a type of facial which uses jets of water to cleanse the pores and infuse active ingredients. These added another 1,000.

I couldnt wash my hair for a week because the scars were healing, but after that it was fine. In fact, I recovered very well.

Within three days I was out walking our dogs, and six days later I hosted an old friend visiting from Canada. I told her I wouldnt be looking my best, but I felt great. We went sightseeing and out for dinner, and nobody seemed shocked by my appearance. I gradually let those closest to me know what Id done by sending them a brief message with a selfie of my face surrounded by bandages, saying, Ive only gone and had my face lifted.

Everyone was fascinated  Ive been bombarded with questions  but very supportive and not judgmental at all. They tell me, I cant get over how natural you look, and several have said theyd love to do the same thing.

Ellen was thrilled with her facelift, which took three and a half hours. Im thrilled with the result. I didnt want to look like a teenager or unnatural. My face is very expressive'

Ellen after the facelift. 'Now, when I walk into a room, I feel confident again,' she says

Kris Jenner is now often mistaken for her daughter Kim after having a deep plane facelift

After two weeks, I was blown away by how much better I looked. It was as if Id been able to reverse time. I felt reborn.

In November, we had a huge party for Vinces 50th birthday. The facelift looks so natural, one of my nieces said to me: You look fantastic. I think its the haircut. Have you got a new style? I laughed and said: Ill fess up. Ive also had some work done. She said, Oh, have you had your boobs done? It was very funny.

Id tell anyone thinking about having this procedure that you need to clear your decks for two months from booking the surgery to going through the worst of the healing process.

The extras add up too. There are train fares, hotels and taxis, if you dont live nearby. Id say I spent maybe 3,000 on top of the surgery fee.

But I dont regret a thing. Im thrilled with the result. I didnt want to look like a teenager or unnatural. My face is very expressive and I would hate to look frozen or stretched.

People think injectables are more natural, but I believe surgery can be. With a deep plane face and neck lift, its your own tissue moved back into place. If someone feels as miserable as I did when I looked in the mirror, I would 100 per cent say go for it.

Now, when I walk into a room, I feel confident again. Vince loves me however I look, but hes happy that I feel so much better about my appearance.

We went on holiday recently, and when I saw the photographs, I thought we looked the same age, which was a huge boost.

In my younger days, I could turn heads. As a woman, you notice when all that stops. I was OK with that, its just normal. But now, its started again and Im getting compliments. In the Post Office at Christmas, the young woman behind the counter looked at me and said youre very pretty, which just didnt happen before.

I love the fact that people are now visibly surprised when I say Im retired. And nobody has offered me a seat on the train or bus recently.

Having a deep plane facelift has been empowering. Cancer can make you feel as if you arent in charge of your body. It can also age you. I feel like Ive taken control of myself, my body and my life.

Now, when I look in the mirror, I dont see a sad old lady; I see me and that makes me happy.

A deep plane facelift with Dr Yannis Alexandrides costs from 25,000, 111harleystreet.com

As told to Leah Hardy
In yesterdays Mail on Sunday, Audrey Hepburns son told of her role in the Resistance in Occupied Holland, and how shrapnel, lodged in her neck from a shell explosion, contributed to her legendary poise. In todays final extract of his biography of the Breakfast At Tiffanys star, he reveals what inspired her iconic style...

Dont show off or make a spectacle of yourself, was the stern advice given to Audrey Hepburn by her Dutch mother.

Baroness Ella van Heemstra  whod once been a fervent admirer of Hitler  was like a one-woman Panzer division. She seemed to have a constant need to criticise the people she loved, and her never-ending flow of put-downs led Audrey to doubt herself constantly.

Even when she became an established star, Ellas uncompromising attitude was that shed done surprisingly well for herself, considering she had no talent and wasnt interesting.

It was little wonder that Audrey Hepburn was unable to appreciate her own worth, or that she was grateful and surprised whenever people paid her a compliment. Indeed, she never saw herself as particularly beautiful, talented or lovely in any way.

Few women apart from the late Queen were as photographed in their lifetime as my mother, the movie star Audrey Hepburn. Even now, more than 30 years after her death, her image is regularly reproduced on everything from T-shirts to artwork, coffee mugs to style features in magazines.

It got to the point where, while I was traveling with my own children, we used to play a game called three minutes to find Granny. Few of us ever lost.

Audrey, of course, would have considered the industry thats grown around her as quite preposterous. Certainly, she could never have envisaged the seemingly insatiable appetite for her image, let alone her elevation to style icon for succeeding generations.

I wanted to work, and I behaved nicely, she said once. I was polite and normal. I think that communicated a certain something to people. Thats all.

She often made fun of her looks. I remember her describing herself as flat-chested and lanky, with never enough up top, adding that her feet were too big, her face too wide, her nose bumpy and one of her teeth crooked.

Hoping to make a living from her ballet training, Audrey took work as a chorus girl in cabaret shows. Pictured in the West End revue Sauce Piquante in 1950

Baroness Ella van Heemstra  whod once been a fervent admirer of Hitler  was like a one-woman Panzer division. She seemed to have a constant need to criticise the people she loved

Envious of small girls with pretty shoulders and pretty little feet, she said once: You could even say that I hated myself at certain periods. I was too fat or maybe too tall or just plain too ugly. I couldnt seem to handle any of my problems or cope with people I met.

Mum had enough self-worth, however, to resist later studio suggestions that she change her name or have her nose or wonky tooth fixed.

Famously, when one director asked her if shed wear false boobs, she replied: But I am!

While often discouraging, Audreys mother at least taught her how to appreciate good clothes. In the right clothes, you can be anything you want to be, she told her daughter at the end of the Second World War. And never underestimate the power of quality fabric or a simple line.

Then would come the inevitable rider: For an ugly duckling whos as thin as a reed, you could almost pass for attractive.

After years of malnutrition in occupied Holland, Audrey had emerged from the war emaciated and in poor health. All her familys money and valuables had been lost or stolen by the Nazis, so she and Ella survived initially on food and clothing provided by the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration.

Her first proper meal in years was sugary porridge with condensed milk. She ate so much of it, she became deadly ill, she said, as she wasnt used to absorbing anything so rich.

Once peace was declared, Audrey, then aged 16, was desperate to go to the movies  an experience denied to her for years.

As the local cinema had been levelled by shelling, Canadian troops erected a screen across a narrow street and set up a projector and chairs in the town square. One of the first films she saw was Spellbound, starring Gregory Peck  who would become her first Hollywood co-star and a lifelong friend.

Two years later, she took advantage of her British nationality  courtesy of an Anglo-Irish father whod long since abandoned her and the baroness  to live in London. Hoping to make a living from her ballet training, she took work as a chorus girl in cabaret shows.

Comedian Bob Monkhouse encountered her as a 20-year-old dancer in a 1950 West End revue called Sauce Piquante. Their co-stars included Norman Wisdom and Tommy Cooper.

Monkhouse recalled that the other girls in the chorus line were jealous of how much attention she attracted from the audience, even though she was the worst dancer.

One told Monkhouse: They cant take their eyes off that face! Those eyes! That bloody smile! Shes a darling girl but, honestly, I could just murder that Audrey Hepburn. Monkhouse had a theory about why she seemed to affect people so profoundly. She had an air of defencelessness, of helplessness, he said.

At the suggestion of her fellow chorus girls, Mum auditioned for a few bit parts in B-movies because she needed the cash. She appeared for a few seconds in the 1951 movie The Lavender Hill Mob, wearing a pale couture dress with a black belt and gloves as she kissed the cheek of the films British star, Alec Guinness.

Join the discussion How much do parents harsh criticisms shape or sabotage their childrens confidence and success?

Even before she was 20, Audrey had come to value the much-needed confidence boost she got from good clothing. It was a kind of armour

Even those who know little about fashion can often identify one of the most iconic dresses ever seen in a Hollywood movie. It was worn by my mother in Breakfast At Tiffanys

Despite the brevity of her performance, she made an impression. She only had half a line to say, and I dont think she even said it in any particular or interesting way, Guinness reported later. But her fawn-like beauty and presence were remarkable.

What made her so distinctive for the times was her original personal style. Shed cut her hair short for the sake of simplicity, and owned only a skirt, a blouse or two and one good dress  all of which shed made herself. Shed jazz up her outfits with a beret and one of the many silk scarves shed been collecting since the war.

When she could afford it, she bought a turtleneck sweater and slacks  more or less the opposite of what fashionable girls were wearing. Shed then add subtle embellishments such as a belt that cinched in her waist.

On her size eight-and-a-half feet, she wore ballet flats, partly because they were more comfortable than heels and partly to detract from the fact that she was taller than most girls her age. With her dancers posture and European sophistication, she was able to carry off the look.

Even before she was 20, Audrey had come to value the much-needed confidence boost she got from good clothing. It was a kind of armour. Before long, she was signed by the British television and movie company ABC for the princely sum of 50 a week. She could hardly believe her luck.

With customary humility, she said: I probably hold the distinction of being one movie star who, by all laws of logic, should never have made it. At each stage of my career, I lacked the experience.

Although she had only a minor part in the 1952 film Secret People, it introduced her to the British screenwriter and film director Thorold Dickinson. Audrey had what he later called a silent movie star quality, meaning that her facial expressions and the way she moved her body mattered more than her dialogue.

In 1951, Dickinson was approached by William Wyler, an Oscar-winning director looking for an unknown actress to play opposite Gregory Peck in Roman Holiday. The role was that of a princess who briefly escapes from the rigorous confines of her life, so Wyler wanted someone with a European accent and an air of royalty about her.

After studying the work of several unknowns, Wyler selected five young women for screen tests to be filmed by Dickinson on a soundstage at Pinewood Studios. The list included my mother.

Realising how nervous she was, Dickinson kept the camera rolling after hed filmed a scene shed rehearsed a dozen times, and began casually chatting with her about her wartime experiences.

He was fully aware that I was petrified and didnt know how to go about a test, Audrey recalled. He asked me questions and I soon forgot about the camera. What he did was very good and very clever and very fortunate for me because once Id played my scene, which I did very badly, he just had me sit and talk to him.

Even after she thought the test was over, the camera caught her giggling with relief and asking: How was it? Was I any good?

That footage was enough to convince Wyler that the young unknown Audrey Hepburn was perfect to play the role he had in mind.

In his letter to Dickinson a few weeks later, he wrote: The test you made is a fine piece of work . . . You gave us a good look at the girls personality and charm, as well as her talent. As a result, a number of the producers at Paramount have expressed interest in casting her.

Only a few years after being saved from starvation by international aid, my mother had begun what she always referred to as her lovely career.

One of her worries was how shed look on the big screen. Still extremely unsure of herself, she was convinced her physical flaws would ruin every shot.

I just dont see what all the fuss is about, shed say, staring into the mirror. She certainly didnt appreciate that she could wear almost anything and look good.

This was a talent recognised early on by Edith Head, the Oscar-winning in-house costume designer for Paramount Pictures, who oversaw Audreys costumes for Roman Holiday.

The first time they met, Mum was wearing an elegant dark suit with a white collar and cuffs, and a fetching sprig of lily of the valley pinned to her lapel.

Head said of her: She was a little girl with the poise of the Duchess of Windsor. If she were not an actress, shed be a model or designer.

As it is, shes all three: a girl way ahead of high fashion, who deliberately looks different from other women, who has dramatised her own slenderness into her chief asset.

Even so, Head could be very critical. While measuring Audrey for costumes, she flatly told her that her face was too square, her breasts too small, and her collarbones so prominent that they created ugly hollows. Her redeeming feature, Head said, was her waist.

[Audrey] has the slimmest waist since the Civil War  19-and-a-half inches, she told the Press. You could get a dog collar around it.

With that in mind, she designed my mothers outfits with skintight bodices to accentuate her wasp waist.

What few appreciated, however, was that Audrey quickly became the designers most diligent student, eager to learn what worked for her and what didnt in order to make the most of her assets. And Head, a grande dame of Hollywood, came to value her unerring eye.

As my mother needed to look like an ordinary Italian girl for most of her scenes in Roman Holiday, the designer took her shopping and allowed her to help choose her own costumes.

It was like giving a child the key to the toy box, and Audrey loved it.

Their outings invariably ended with my mother insisting on a post-spree celebration in a patisserie, where shed devour pastries with the glee of a toddler. There was only so much she could eat, however, as she had to fit into the costumes.

A fast learner, Audrey came to appreciate what tones worked best for her on-screen, declaring, Bright colours overpower me and wash me out. Paler ones bring out my eyes and make my hair seem darker. She remained loyal to one make-up stylist, Alberto de Rossi, whom she first met while making Roman Holiday. Instead of plastering her with the usual pancake, he had such a light touch that her skin looked natural.

[She] has such beautiful bone structure that her features need little shading, he said at the time. About her overall look, he was succinct. Women have always wanted to imitate her. They always will.

It was Alberto who created the famous Audrey Hepburn eyes by painstakingly drawing eyeliner to follow their natural shape, then applying mascara before separating each individual eyelash with a safety pin.

It was a technique Audrey adopted for the rest of her life, though it wasnt for the faint of heart. I can still remember how long it took her to get her eyes right, because  from an early age  I used to sit under her dressing-table while she did it.

[Audrey] has the slimmest waist since the Civil War  19-and-a-half inches, Oscar-winning costume designer Edith Head told the Press. You could get a dog collar around it.

Despite taking trouble over her appearance, however, she never fully appreciated how beautiful she was or how she affected people.

Whenever someone made a remark about her lovely eyes, Audrey  always convinced her eyes were too small  would protest: No, no. The most beautiful eye make-up perhaps, but all the credit belongs to Alberto.

How Givenchy showcased that 19in waist

Even those who know little about fashion can often identify one of the most iconic dresses ever seen in a Hollywood movie. It was a long, black gown featuring a string of costume pearls  still copied to this day  and it was worn by my mother Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast At Tiffanys.

In 2006 it achieved the highest price paid at auction for a dress from a movie when it sold for more than a million dollars.

The designer, Hubert de Givenchy, had become world-famous through his association with my mother. Yet, the first time they met, in 1953, hed dismissed her as an unknown waif and tried to shoo her away.

That year, aged 24, Audrey had dared to take on the doyenne of Hollywood costumiers  Edith Head  whod been hired to supply all the outfits for her next movie.

The plot of Sabrina featured a plain chauffeurs daughter who moves to Paris to escape a broken heart  only to return transformed into a swan. It was Audreys idea that Sabrina should then wear haute couture outfits, designed in Paris by a real French couturier  the kind normally only available to the European elite.

On the set of Sabrina in 1954. It was Audreys idea that Sabrina should then wear haute couture outfits, designed in Paris by a real French couturier

Fortunately, she managed to persuade the director Billy Wilder that wearing them would give the film authenticity and allow her greater insight into her characters behaviour.

Not only did this mean edging out Edith Head, but it was above all an astonishing concession for a young starlet making only her second film.

Wilder told her to go see the designer Cristobal Balenciaga in Paris. Her instructions were to say that she wanted the clothes for her own personal wardrobe so the studio could avoid having to pay more. But Balenciaga was too busy; instead he recommended his protege, a 6ft 4in French count called Hubert de Givenchy.

At first, Givenchy was delighted. Having been told that Miss Hepburn was coming to see him, he mistakenly believed hed be designing for the Hollywood star Katharine Hepburn. So he was astonished when a waif walked into the atelier.

When the door of my studio opened, there stood a young woman  very slim, tall, with doe eyes and short hair, wearing a pair of cigarette pants, a boatneck T-shirt, ballerinas and a gondoliers hat with a red ribbon that read Venezia. I thought, this is too much!

Allowing her to try a few things on, Givenchy found himself captivated as she gave life to his clothes, moving them in a way hed rarely seen. He described the transformation as unbelievable and magic, adding: You could feel her excitement and joy. Making a decision that would change both their lives, he decided to help her.

Among the outfits Audrey chose was a grey jacket with a ruffle, a pencil skirt and pale grey turban. Another was an elegant black satin tea-length dress with bow straps and a plunging back.

Givenchy later explained: She wanted a shoulder-less evening dress, which she asked me to change to hide the gaps between her collarbones. That so-called decollete bateau, or boat-neck, became known as the Sabrina neckline.

For the next 40 years, Givenchy remained my mothers designer of choice, even though she repeatedly altered his work. Audrey would remove everything from the dresses: bows, ornaments, belts  everything which was not essential, he said. And in the end, she was right.

My mother was furious when Givenchy wasnt credited on Sabrina. Worse still, Edith Head went on to win her seventh Oscar for the costumes in the movie. From then on, my mother insisted that Givenchy be properly credited in every movie she had him design for her.

In her own quiet way, shed realised that her wardrobe was an inherent part of each story.

Why I wrote my mother's biography

When I sat down to plan the book about my mother, I was faced with major decisions. My mother was a deeply private person and I would be revealing both the painful and humiliating indiscretions.

As I focused on this issue, the humiliation was the hardest for me to overcome and, yet, it was precisely because of it that I ultimately chose to proceed, as it would be a worthy lesson to reveal: If Audrey Hepburn  a symbol of beauty, inner elegance, grace, frailty and someone the world over wanted to protect  could suffer such pain, I wanted every woman to know that no one is safe from the brutalities of society and you should chose with your heart, mind, instincts and experience, and, mostly, stand your ground... as my mum ultimately did.
A German expat has sparked an online debate after revealing the one thing she can't get over about life in Sydney.

And it's something most locals barely even notice.

Travel creator Carina Juliee, whose Instagram is filled with snapshots of her adventures across Australia, observed that Sydney women have an unmistakable uniform.

'I've never seen so many people in activewear - I kind of love it,' she said in a video that has now amassed 3.5million views and shows countless young women out and about in matching sets and trainers.

While athleisure has become a global trend, Carina said the way it's embraced in Sydney feels entirely different to what she's used to back home in Europe.

'As a European, I'm used to sport being part of everyday life, but usually as a smaller, more defined part of the day,' Carina told Daily Mail.

'People tend to change out of their workout clothes right after and move on.

'In Sydney, it feels more integrated into a broader, active lifestyle. It's not just about the workout itself, but everything around it, so it's normal to stay in activewear while grabbing a coffee, meeting friends, or running errands.'

A German expat has sparked an online debate after revealing the one thing she can't get over about life in Sydney, and it's something most locals barely even notice

She added that, for many, it simply comes down to practicality.

'As many people have pointed out, a lot of women are simply on their way to or from some kind of activity, which makes it practical to just keep those clothes on,' she said.

Rather than criticising the trend, Carina said she sees it as a positive shift.

'To me, it's actually a positive thing.

'In places like Germany, you often get odd looks if you stay in sportswear outside the gym, so it's refreshing to see a more relaxed attitude towards it.'

And despite some suggesting it creates a 'same same' look, she was quick to shut that down.

'I wouldn't describe it as everyone "looking the same",' she said.

'People are still individuals and likely choose it because they feel comfortable in my perspective.

'I've never seen so many people in activewear - I kind of love it,' she said in a video that has now amassed 3.5million views and shows countless young women out and about in matching sets and trainers

Carina described the trend as a positive shift, saying Sydneys relaxed attitude to activewear feels refreshing compared to Germany, and insisted it doesnt make everyone look the same

'I truly believe every woman should feel free to wear whatever she wants, and that's something I really love about the lifestyle in Sydney.'

But as her video gained traction, the comments section quickly became divided.

Some viewers were left scratching their heads, with one asking: 'Are they always at the gym, on their way to the gym or on their way back home from the gym?'

Others were more critical, with another writing: 'No such thing as class anymore you never see this in Europe.'

But as her video gained traction, the comments section quickly became divided. Some viewers were left scratching their heads, with one asking: 'Are they always at the gym, on their way to the gym or on their way back home from the gym?' (Stock photo)

Join the discussion Does wearing activewear everywhere show confidence and modern values or is it a loss of personal style?

'As a woman I'll never understand why all women want to be exactly the same,' another added.

However, plenty rushed to defend the trend, arguing comfort and convenience trump outdated fashion rules.

'I mean if it's comfortable then who cares?' one person wrote.

Another pointed out it's not just Sydney leading the charge: 'Gold Coast as well lol. I asked my bf about the fashion before I moved and he was like "just bring all your activewear".'

Others said the shift reflects a broader cultural change towards health and wellbeing.

It comes amid a wider boom in the athleisure market, with celebrities and influencers alike helping turn gym gear into everyday wear, and fuelling ongoing debates about where exactly activewear belongs. (Pictured: Travel creator Carina Juliee)

'Nothing wrong with taking care of yourself and into fitness lifestyle. I love it!' one fan commented.

And perhaps most tellingly, one follower summed up what many believe is behind the rise of athleisure altogether.

'Young people are so weird these days.

'None of them smoke and they hardly drink. It's all about being up at 5am for a run rather than crawling out of a nightclub. Times have really changed from the early 2000s.'

It comes amid a wider boom in the athleisure market, with celebrities and influencers alike helping turn gym gear into everyday wear, and fuelling ongoing debates about where exactly activewear belongs.

Love it or loathe it, in Sydney, leggings and a matching set aren't just for the gym - they're a lifestyle.
Former View host Meghan McCain has threatened to 'sue' serial provocateur Alex Jones in a since-deleted social media post that surrounded her late father, former Arizona Senator John McCain.

McCain, 41, issued the X post Monday after Jones accused her dad - a war hero - of being a 'bagman' for terrorist groups like Al Qaeda. A 'bagman' is someone who collects illicitly obtained funds. Jones made the claim on his web show Sunday.

McCain responded with what appeared to be a nod to Jones' past legal woes and unfounded conspiracy claims.

'My family has the resources to sue your ass for this bullsh*t and we all know how thats gone for you in the past,' she wrote, before deleting the post in question several hours later.

McCain - a View panelist from 2017 to 2021 - did not discuss Jones' points further.

Jones told viewers the day before, 'Going back over 30 years, Sen. John McCain was the bagman - and sometimes he delivered the checks himself in literally planes of cash - to Al Qaeda, then to ISIS, Boko Haram, all of it.

'And they would use them to knock out our enemies, but also as the pretext to then come in and invade and attack.'

The far-right commentator further claimed that British intelligence, the CIA, and Israel's Mossad continue to 'fund and support and run all the most vicious Muslim groups there are, and bring them in' - all without evidence.

Meghan McCain, 41, tore into Alex Jones on X post Monday after the right-wing commentator accused her dad, late Republican Senator John McCain, of being a 'bagman' for terrorist groups

Jones, 52, made the claim on the Sunday edition of his eponymous web show, which he went on to reshare on X

THIS IS A BIG DEAL: Congressional Investigations Confirm That the US Government, Working With the UK and Israel, Has Been Secretly Funding and Controlling Al-Qaeda, ISIS, Boko Haram, and Other Islamic Terror Groups for Decades



USAID Documents Prove Senator John McCain and pic.twitter.com/yy4TripsSl  Alex Jones (@RealAlexJones) March 30, 2026

'They say fight em over there so we dont fight em over here,' Jones said. 'The West brings them in, then when the Muslims attack us, they set up TSA to grope our testicles.

'They take our rights, they have an excuse to go invade these countries. All in the name of keeping us safe.'

Jones, 52, spent years telling viewers the 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, was staged by gun control advocates as part of a secret bid to repeal the Second Amendment.

Jones was hit with a $1.4billion judgment in 2022 after survivors' families successfully sued for defamation. The US Supreme Court shot down Jones' latest - and likely last - attempt to get the judgment tossed late last year. He has yet to fork over any money.

Sen. McCain, meanwhile, was notably one of four Republicans who voted for a bipartisan Manchin-Toomey amendment in April 2013 to strengthen background checks required to buy guns, despite past opposition to stricter gun control.

McCain died on August 25, 2018, aged 81, following a career where he came to be known as a conservative 'maverick.'

McCain served as a fighter pilot during the Vietnam war, where he was a prisoner of the Viet Cong for more than five years.

He famously refused to support Donald Trump in 2016, after which he became a vocal critic of the administration.

'They take our rights, they have an excuse to go invade these countries. All in the name of keeping us safe,' Jones said of US officials in the clip

McCain - a View host up until 2021 - clapped back 'My family has the resources to sue your ass for this bullsh*t and we all know how thats gone for you in the past'. The post was later deleted

His daughter has maintained a similar stance toward the president, who is now in his second term.

Before leaving the show in 2021, she spoke out against the insurrection at the Capitol that took place earlier in the year.

'The bedrock of our democracy, and the bedrock of who we are as Americans, is the peaceful transition of power. And he is clearly a president who has turned into a mad king,' McCain said of Trump at the time, before demanding he be removed from office.

The Daily Mail approached McCain for comment.
When it comes to generating a high and growing income, investment trusts have a couple of superpowers.

First, and unlike open-ended funds, they are allowed to hold back some of the income they receive from their investments in good years and store it in what are known as revenue reserves.

When times are tougher, they can dip into those reserves to keep dividends flowing.

For investors, this can be an incredibly useful feature. Instead of income jumping around from year to year depending on market conditions, like we saw during the pandemic most recently, investment trusts can smooth the payments they make to shareholders.

And for anyone investing through an Isa, that income stability can be even more appealing.

Any dividends received inside an Isa are completely tax-free, meaning a growing stream of income doesnt come with an unexpected tax bill.

Powerful: When it comes to generating a high and growing income, investment trusts have a couple of superpowers

Trusts with attractive dividend growth records

This ability has helped some investment trusts deliver not just an attractive yield today, but also an impressive record of dividend growth for investors over time.

In fact, the investment trust sector is home to a special group that the industry trade body, the AIC, has dubbed the Dividend Heroes  trusts that have increased their dividend every year for at least 20 years.

The pre-eminent Dividend Hero is City of London Investment Trust (CTY). CTY currently yields around 3.8 per cent, slightly ahead of the wider UK market, but the real attraction is its consistency, having raised its dividend for almost 60 consecutive years.

By investing in established UK companies that steadily grow their payouts, and its prudent management and use of revenue reserves, CTY has kept those annual increases coming year after year, through multiple market cycles including the global financial crisis in 2008 and the Covid-19 pandemic.

For investors seeking a higher starting income, there are also trusts offering more generous yields today.

Aberdeen Equity Income (AEI) currently yields around 5.6 per cent, supported by a portfolio of companies with strong cash flows capable of delivering high, growing and sustainable dividends.

Its yield is among the highest in the UK Equity Income sector, and it also boasts 25 years of consecutive dividend growth, earning it too a place on the AIC Dividend Heroes list.

Income from further afield

Income opportunities are not limited to the UK either. For investors looking to diversify their portfolios, markets further afield can offer attractive sources of income, sometimes in places where dividends have traditionally been less common.

That can help broaden income sources beyond more traditional dividend markets such as the UK.

A good example is CC Japan Income & Growth (CCJI). Japan has not traditionally been known as a strong dividend market and for decades

Japanese companies preferred to sit on large piles of cash rather than return it to shareholders.

But that culture is now changing. Companies are facing growing pressure to put that cash to work, including increasing dividends.

Diversify: For investors looking to diversify their portfolios, markets further afield can offer attractive sources of income

This shift has created a new opportunity for income investors. Whilst CCJI was launched to capture the growth potential of Japanese companies, it has also tapped into Japans evolving dividend culture.

The trust has increased its dividend every year since launch and is now approaching a decade of consecutive rises, the first among todays Japan-focussed trusts. It also offers one of the highest yields in its sector at 2.5 per cent, compared with 2 per cent for the wider Japanese market.

For Isa investors looking to build a portfolio that delivers both a high and growing income, these types of trusts can play an important role.

Their ability to invest with a long-term mindset and smooth dividends through reserves means investors may enjoy a steadier, and often rising, income stream, even when markets are less predictable.

Leveraging profits to pay dividends

But the story doesnt end there. Investment trusts have a second superpower when it comes to dividends  the ability to pay dividends from their capital profits.

This means that investment trusts that own shares in companies that themselves dont pay a dividend are still able to do so.

There are many reasons why companies may not pay a dividend, but as a broad generalisation those with higher growth prospects may favour reinvesting excess profits in their business over paying a dividend.

And its also a matter of culture, as in some markets investors may prefer companies to return excess profits through share buybacks.

The US is a good example. Being such a broad market, it is certainly possible to find many companies that do pay consistent dividends.

The North American Income Trust (NAIT), managed by Janus Henderson, specialises in these types of companies and generates a yield similar to some of the UK trusts mentioned above, but many US companies are much more focused on growth, or prefer share buybacks.

BlackRock American Income (BRAI) is one trust that invests across the US market, and pays a dividend equivalent to 6 per cent of net asset value, funded by a mixture of traditional income and capital profits.

And this raises an important point about these types of dividends. Normal market practice is to pay a dividend equivalent to a percentage of the net asset value, calculated at the start of each financial year.

This means if the trusts net asset value rises significantly over a year, then next years dividend is likely to rise significantly too.

But the opposite is also true, and when investors who want to build a portfolio of different trusts for income, they should be cognisant of which ones use this approach and decide what mix of traditional and capital dividends suits them.

Another good example is Europe. Although like the US it is certainly possible to find companies that pay traditional dividends, there are also many companies that dont, and although Europe might not be the first place investors think of to invest for growth, in fact this region has many world-class technology, pharmaceutical and engineering businesses that have been growing fast over the last few years.

A great way to access some of the less well-known companies in Europe is the European Smaller Companies Trust (ESCT).

This trust has a 5 per cent dividend payout, calculated in the manner described above, but gives investors access to a portfolio of many of Europes best businesses across a variety of sectors and countries.

Further up the size scale, JPMorgan European Growth and Income (JEGI) invests mostly in Europes larger companies but again can provide access to growth businesses while at the same time paying out a dividend set at 4 per cent of net asset value.

And Emerging Markets, a traditional hunting ground for growth investors who like the combination of strong economic growth and fast-growing companies, is also a good place for an investment trust to use the same approach to paying dividends.

JPMorgan Emerging Markets Dividend Income (JEMI) is a great way for investors to access that growth potential while at the same time taking a 4 per cent dividend payout.

And although Japan, as we looked already, has begun to offer plenty of opportunities for a more traditional dividend strategy, Schroder Japan (SJG) follows a value approach rather than focusing on income, investing in high-quality undervalued companies across the market-cap spectrum and using the trusts dividend superpower  its ability to distribute capital  to pay a 4 per cent dividend each year.

Overall, investment trusts have a lot to offer income investors. Those who prefer the more traditional dividend policies, powered by underlying company payouts, are very well catered for, and the label dividend hero is highly prized in the investment trust sector.

But investors who feel drawn to other markets or sectors can also find plenty of investment trusts that pay a dividend without compromising on their pursuit of capital growth.

Wrapping either up in an Isa means investors dont have to worry about the different tax treatment of capital and income and can just enjoy the diversification and growth benefits that these two superpowers help create.

Alan Ray and Josef Licsauer are investment trust research analysts at Kepler Partners.
Artificial intelligence is making rapid advances into journalism, but there is no substitute for intelligence of the human kind when it comes to a campaign.

This is certainly the case in the City, which is infested with opportunists and chancers.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is often an inert and defensive watchdog. If it were not for watchful reporters, life would be a good deal worse for small investors and consumers.

One such character was Mark Hartigan, the former boss of LV who tried to sell the mutual insurer to US private equity barons at Bain Capital in 2021.

At the time, we were told the deal was necessary because LV lacked the capital to continue as an independent.

Now, having been saved thanks to a campaign by the Daily Mail, LV has just announced it will be distributing 100m in bonuses to its members, its biggest payout ever. They would never have received this had the Daily Mail not intervened.

Trying to keep a finger on the pulse: The Financial Conduct Authority is often an inert and defensive watchdog

A victory such as that shows it is possible to beat the carpetbaggers, but we do need regulators with the interests of small investors and consumers at heart.

Unfortunately, this does not appear to be the case in the FCA's approach to the assault on investment trusts by US raider Boaz Weinstein.

His Saba Capital has targeted a string of trusts  some, but not all, of which have performed poorly and whose shares trade at a discount to net asset value.

Despite being rebuffed multiple times by non-Saba shareholders, he has persisted in siege warfare against his targets. Trust boards have concluded that he will wear down resistance and that they need to try to help small shareholders who do not wish to keep their money in a Weinstein-controlled vehicle to make an exit.

At three trusts, Edinburgh Worldwide, Impax Environmental Markets and Herald, the boards are trying to do just that.

However, this deprives shareholders of the chance to stay with the trust they chose and may also land them with an unplanned capital gains tax bill.

Particularly so in the case of Herald, which unlike some other Saba targets has been a stellar performer, rewarding an investor who had put money in on inception in 1994 with a 2,904 per cent net asset value total return.

Ironically, given Saba bases its ambushes on big discounts and weak governance, it has a questionable record on both, according to Investec. Analysts there looked into one fund, now known as BRW, after Saba was appointed investment adviser in 2021, and deemed it a 'cautionary tale'.

Yet the FCA, in the person of interim executive director for markets Simon Walls, appears profoundly unsympathetic to the trusts and their small investors.

The watchdog has launched a review but Walls has made it abundantly clear he is not keen to intervene. At the weekend he threw petrol on the flames in a blog, saying trust boards can already amend their articles of association or take legal action against the likes of Weinstein.

In theory this is correct, but in practice trust boards see it as prohibitive.

Walls gives the impression he cares more about hitting back at the FCA's critics than he does about the plight of small investors caught up in the mess. That is an unseemly tone for a senior regulator.

At least there is a vociferous media ready to defend private shareholders.

The assault on investment trusts, like the LV affair before it, shows we need campaigning City journalism more than ever.
An alleged squatter holed up inside a $13 million NYC townhouse is a menace with a history of legal issues and evictions, the Daily Mail can reveal.

Hilarie Page, 66, is due in court later this month for reportedly refusing to leave a four-story property on Manhattan's Upper East Side following the death of its wealthy owner.

Page had been working as a live-in housekeeper for entrepreneur Craig Schmeizer before his death - which came just weeks after she was arrested for allegedly assaulting him.

Schmeizer's family has demanded the investigation into his death be reopened, but police insist there was no criminality and say the case is closed.

Now, a Daily Mail investigation into Page has uncovered a long trail of evictions, tax-dodging, dine-and-dashing and unpaid debts stretching back more than four decades.

She has racked up at least nine judgments and tax liens since the 1980s, according to court records.

A former friend who claimed Page refused to leave his apartment after squatting on his couch for years described her as a 'parasite' with a 'nasty streak.'

And neighbors in the Upper East Side recognized her as the woman who would often 'scream, yell and curse' at people in the street.

Hilaire Page, 66, is being sued by the entity that owns the building after allegedly blocking estate reps from entering

Page has allegedly been holed up inside this $13.2 million Upper East Side townhouse where she worked as a live-in housekeeper

Page's latest legal trouble began in November when she allegedly refused to leave 111 East 81st Street.

According to a complaint filed by the building entity, estate representatives arrived at the townhouse after the death of the home owner but were unable to gain access.

Locks had allegedly been changed and when a locksmith was called and regained entry, Page allegedly ran to the door screaming and blocked them again.

The Daily Mail visited the home multiple times in early March but could not reach Page.

Weeks later a holdover eviction notice was taped to the front door informing her that the landlord is suing her for eviction and that she is required to be present in civil court later this month.

According to the petition, if she does not appear a judgment will be entered against her.

In April 2019, Page was served with an eviction notice on a different property.

She was taken to housing court by a friend who said she refused to leave after he allowed her to stay in his Chelsea apartment temporarily.

What began as a short-term arrangement dragged on for two years, with Page allegedly refusing to leave and continuing to sleep on his couch.

Terry Niefield claimed she used emotional blackmail and manipulation to justify her stay and occasionally turned violent - once throwing a boiling hot cup of coffee at him.

Court filings reviewed by the Daily Mail show that just a few years earlier, in February 2017, she was evicted from a charming Murray Hill townhouse apartment after failing to pay $11,000 in rent.

The Murray Hill townhouse Page was evicted from in 2017 for failing to pay months of rent

A holdover eviction notice was taped to the front door informing her that the landlord is suing her for eviction and that she is required to be present in civil court later this month

Page had a federal tax lien at a townhouse on East 64th Street by the IRS going back to 2007

When she was served with a warrant of eviction, she sought to delay proceedings by claiming she was suffering from the flu and could not move her belongings into storage.

She wrote: 'I have no funds to use to find another place to call home,' adding, 'When I leave the premises I will be homeless being evicted from the premises with no other available place to live is my worst nightmare.'

In 2007, the IRS pursued her for more than $11,000 in unpaid taxes while she was living in a five-story pre-war rental on East 64th Street in Lenox Hill - an upscale enclave by Central Park.

Records show Page also faced legal action over spending sprees and unpaid tabs at high-end businesses.

In 1996 and 1997 she ran up nearly $13,000 in charges at luxury retailer Barneys New York, buying clothing, shoes and accessories before failing to pay.

The company eventually took legal action to recover the money.

She was also sued by the Upper East Side French bistro Sel & Poivre after allegedly racking up a $5,000 bill and failing to settle it.

The upscale restaurant - a neighborhood fixture for more than three decades before closing in 2024 - served classic dishes including duck confit and foie gras.

Court records show the case was brought in New York Supreme Court over non-payment.

Page's former boss Craig Schmeizer (pictured with his estranged family) died last November and Page has reportedly refused to leave the late mattress mogul's home

Page shopped at Barney's NY where she spent thousands on clothing, shoes and accessories

But the Daily Mail has found that Page's legal troubles stretch far beyond New York.

Public records link her to at least four addresses in the Los Angeles area dating back to the late 1990s. There have been known issues involving Page at two of them.

One property, a single-family residence on Wilshire Boulevard, became the subject of a state tax lien after she racked up more than $3,500 in unpaid taxes.

Around 2002, while living in Santa Monica, she faced legal action for violating the terms of a lease agreement.

After her time in California, records indicate Page moved back to New York, where she stayed at a women's shelter on the Upper West Side run by Volunteers of America.

The organization provides housing support for vulnerable individuals. But even there, court filings show she failed to pay $2,100 in unpaid fees.

The case ended in civil court, with a marshal's warrant issued for her eviction in 2006.

But rent disputes were not the only issues that landed her in court.

The French bistro Sel & Poivre that is no longer in business is where Page dined and dashed

Longtime New Yorker Terry Niefield, 83, offered Page a place to stay at his Chelsea apartment until she find a new place but refused to leave for two years

Page is also linked to properties in Florida and Massachusetts, though she appeared to stay out of legal trouble while there.

Between 1983 and 1985, she moved between three different addresses in Miami Beach, all in affluent areas.

From there she moved to Boston, where she lived in a one-bedroom apartment on Newbury Street - a sought-after location known for its boutiques and cafes.

The Daily Mail made several attempts to contact Page for comment on this story.

While the legal battle for control of the Upper East Side home plays out, the family of the property's late owner has called for the investigation into his death to be reopened.

Page moved in with Craig Schmeizer in late 2024. He had been living in the property alone since becoming estranged from his wife Sarah Shalev and their two children.

In November 2025, Schmeizer, 52, was found dead at the property from blunt force trauma.

An autopsy ruled the cause of death 'subdural hemorrhage due to blunt force trauma of head,' with chronic alcohol use as a contributing factor.

The manner of death was deemed 'undetermined.'

Just weeks earlier, in September, Page was arrested on assault and harassment-related charges stemming from an incident at the townhouse that left Schmeizer injured, according to the New York Post.

A photo obtained by the Post showed blood dripping from around his left ear onto his white shirt. The charges were dropped, however, and the NYPD told the Daily Mail: 'The investigation regarding his death is closed. There was no criminality.'
HONG KONG, March 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Guo Guangchang, Chairman of Fosun International Limited (HKEX: 0656), issued a letter to its shareholders today, outlining the Company's strategic direction, accomplishments, and future plans.

Dear shareholders,

Today, I would like to have an open and honest conversation with our shareholders, reflecting on Fosun's journey in 2025, sharing our thoughts, and outlining where we are heading next.

In 2025, the Company recorded a loss attributable to owners of the parent of RMB 23.4 billion. It should be noted that this loss does not reflect a deterioration in the Company's operating fundamentals. Instead, it was primarily attributable to the Board's prudent decision to recognize non-cash impairment provisions on certain projects arising from the Company's past development; it also involved impairment provisions on goodwill and intangible assets of certain non-core business segments. These provisions will not affect the Company's day-to-day operations, cash flow or business activities. Our core businesses such as pharmaceuticals and insurance continue to demonstrate steady growth.

A loss is never desirable. Such a result is also unprecedented in Fosun's more than thirty years of development. Although the loss is mainly non-cash items, we missed our profit expectations. As the Company's Chairman and Founder, I would like to express my sincere apologies to all shareholders and partners who care about Fosun's development. Over the years, Fosun has been bold in exploring and experimenting. We have had our share of successes and some missteps, each coming with valuable lessons learned. In recent years, China's real estate industry has undergone macro-structural adjustments. Although real estate accounts for a small portion of Fosun's business, it is natural for the market and investors to ask: Have Fosun's real estate projects not faced challenges and pressures, have all our past investments performed without setbacks? Of course, the answer is no. In hindsight, under the current market conditions, some of the projects we invested in years ago are now valued differently from what we expected at the time of investment. Accordingly, the Board has taken a prudent decision to complete this asset impairment, allowing Fosun to focus its resources and efforts more effectively on core, highgrowth areas. At a time when the global economy is generating opportunities amid volatility and China's innovation-driven industries are gaining growth momentum, deepening our strategic focus now allows us to optimize our asset structure and helps us secure a stronger position in key sectors, positioning Fosun as a leaner, healthier, and more sustainable company.

In terms of operating fundamentals, Fosun recorded operating revenue of RMB173.4 billion in 2025, with overseas revenue accounting for 54.7% of the total. Net cash flow from operating activities remained positive, average cost of debt continued to improve, and credit rating agencies such as S&P maintained stable ratings. Meanwhile, our financing capacity remained strong and our funding channels open. Our high-quality and resilient assets position us well for future growth. The total revenue of the four core enterprises - Fosun Pharma, Yuyuan, Fosun Portugal Insurance and FTG - reached RMB 128.2 billion, accounting for 74% of the Group's total revenue, a year-on-year increase of 3 percentage points.

It is precisely this strong foundation, together with the continued support of our partners, that gives us the confidence and determination to "repairing the roof on a sunny day". This is the moment to shed historical burdens and pursue predictable, sustainable growth. We must strengthen our core businesses with greater focus and depth to achieve steadier, longer-term growth in the next phase.

Smart innovation and integrated innovation driven by innovation

Going global or going obsolete. Innovation works the same way. Innovate or be left behind. In this fast-paced era, we must remain committed to innovation, especially smart innovation. We must collaborate with others and learn from others. Innovation is not a solo endeavor, nor should it happen behind closed doors. That is why I have always emphasized "integrated innovation", building an innovation system with two core capabilities, "global research and development ("R&D") + global business development ("BD")".

In 2026, we will place even greater emphasis on innovation as our top priority, steering Fosun's transition from scale expansion toward quality enhancement, and from resource integration toward value creation.

We have always been committed to pharmaceutical innovation. As early as 2006, we began systematically building our pharmaceutical R&D capabilities, starting with high-value generic drugs and steadily advancing toward true innovation. In 2019, China's first biosimilar, HANLIKANG, received marketing approval, marking a major milestone. By 2023, Henlius had turned profitable, 17 years since we first embarked on this journey. Throughout the years, we have remained true to our original aspiration of "always striving to heal", and to our vision of helping people live to 121.

Looking back, we now have nearly 70 major pipeline projects on innovative drugs (calculated by indications), forming a tiered pipeline spanning "early-stage frontier research, mid-stage proof-of-concept, and late-stage clinical expansion". By continuously strengthening our innovation pipeline, we are accelerating the clinical translation and commercialization of innovative technologies and products. We currently have multiple blockbuster candidates in the pipeline.

Take Henlius as an example. It has already achieved dual-engine growth driven by both biosimilars and innovative drugs. Core products like HANLIKANG, HANQUYOU, and HANSIZHUANG have been approved for marketing in around 60 countries and regions worldwide. HANSIZHUANG has not only been launched in Europe, but has also been included in public reimbursement programs in seven countries, including Germany, Italy, and Spain. Fosun Pharma has progressively established a high-value pipeline portfolio focusing on core therapeutic areas including oncology (solid tumors, hematologic tumors), immunology, inflammation and neurodegenerative diseases. Moving forward, Fosun Pharma will continue to strengthen its core technology platforms encompassing antibodies, antibody-drug conjugate ("ADC"), small molecules and cell therapy, while actively expanding its presence in cutting-edge technologies such as radiopharmaceuticals and small nucleic acids, enhancing our R&D ecosystem. We are currently planning the spin-off and separate listing in Hong Kong for our vaccine platform, Fosun Adgenvax, aiming to leverage the capital market to improve its governance standards and sustainable development capabilities, thereby creating greater value for our shareholders.

In terms of artificial intelligence ("AI"), I have been following it closely over the past few years. However, we are not chasing the concept of large language models. For us, AI is not about appearances; it is about solving real problems. And we have already made tangible progress. Fosun Pharma's PharmAID Pharmaceutical Intelligence Platform now delivers T+1 data updates, accelerating drug R&D; FTG's AI G.O intelligent system makes tourism services more personalized. More importantly, AI is now deeply integrated into Fosun's daily operations to enhance decision-making efficiency and optimize operating costs. Going forward, we will continue to invest in AI to make it a truly practical operational tool, maximizing efficiency across the Group.

Fosun always embraces ecosystem thinking. We believe innovation thrives through collaboration, not solo efforts. Take Fosun United Health Insurance's "Ruixingbao" as an example: through our "insurance + industry" model, we integrate insurance services with premier medical resources such as Ruijin Hospital, along with pharmaceutical, healthcare, and consumer offerings. This makes insurance the connector, linking our ecosystem to families and turning ecosystem advantages into product competitiveness. Looking ahead, we will launch more products that bring together ecosystem resources to meet the needs of customers and serve more families. This is where our deepest sense of fulfillment comes from.

Innovation keeps us young. Fosun was founded 34 years ago, but we still approach every day as if it were day one, with a constant hunger for new technologies, new opportunities, and new possibilities.

Deepening global operations: from business presence to product and brand globalization

Fosun's globalization journey began in 2007 with our listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. At that time, we started building our overseas business presence through equity and debt investments. Over the years, our globalization journey has evolved through three phases: from "China Expertise + Global Capability", to "Combining China's Growth Momentum with Global Resources" and then to "Combining Global Resources with China's Capabilities". This progression is not merely a matter of wording; it reflects the continuous evolution of Fosun's globalization capabilities. What began as establishing business presence later evolved into capability building, and today, we are truly integrating operations and investments on a global scale.

Regarding the insurance sector, our acquisition of Fosun Insurance Portugal in 2014 has evolved far beyond the initial "buyout". While continuing to deepen its presence in the local market, we have also empowered it to expand beyond Portugal into Europe, Latin America, and Africa. In 2025, Fosun Insurance Portugal delivered a profit attributable to owners of the parent of approximately EUR201 million, with international operations accounting for over 30% of its consolidated businesses. Building on years of development, the two domestic insurance companies have also reached a new stage of profitable and highquality growth. In 2025, Fosun United Health Insurance reported insurance revenue of RMB7.84 billion, representing a year-on-year increase of 50.1%, with net profit for the year reaching RMB139 million, marking five consecutive years of profitability. Pramerica Fosun Life Insurance achieved RMB13.28 billion in scale premium, representing a year-on-year increase of 41.6%, while net profit surged 492% year-on-year to RMB650 million. While continuing to develop our core insurance business, we also recognize that in the current landscape, a number of existing assets with longterm value potential are ready to be revitalized through transformation, upgrading, and strong operational management. Some of these assets not only generate stable cash flows and provide a foundation for longterm returns, but also have clearly defined risk boundaries, offering useful reference points for longterm capital allocation, including by insurance institutions.

Regarding the consumer sector, Yuyuan has accelerated product innovation and channel optimization. Its catering brand, Songhelou, opened its first overseas branch in London, the United Kingdom, while jewelry brand, Laomiao, opened its first overseas store in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. FTG, with Club Med as its core, has firmly strengthened lean management. During the core six-day Chinese New Year holiday period, Club Med's five all-inclusive resorts in China recorded an average occupancy rate of 90%. During the nine-day Chinese New Year holiday period, Atlantis Sanya recorded business volume of over RMB124 million, representing a year-on-year increase of 20% and achieving its best Chinese New Year performance on record.

In the Intelligent Manufacturing segment, Hainan Mining, rooted in Hainan and expanding globally, focuses on the most upstream exploration, mining, processing and sales of strategic mineral resources. It has built a diversified global resource footprint spanning China, Southeast Asia, West Africa, and the Middle East, with mineral products covering various strategic mineral resources such as iron ore, lithium, oil, and natural gas. In 2025, supported by the steady advancement of overseas resource projects, the share of overseas assets rose to 46.04%.

More importantly, our globalization strategy has evolved from "acquiring globally" to the 3.0 era of "earning globally". Our products, brands, and services are now reaching customers around the world. The proportion of overseas revenue of Henlius' products such as HANQUYOU and HANSIZHUANG continues to rise. Our nationally recognized intangible cultural heritage event, the Yuyuan Lantern Festival, along with timehonored Chinese brands such as Laomiao, Songhelou, and Nanxiang Steamed Buns Restaurant, and Shede baijiu are also gaining growing recognition among families in overseas markets. For Fosun, globalization is not a choice, it is inevitable. We have already proven that this path works, and we will go even further in the years ahead.

Staying true to our original aspiration and adhering to long-termism

Fosun has always stayed true to its original aspiration: to do the right things, the difficult things and the things that take time to develop.

We have always said that we must learn to move with the cycles while staying grounded in intrinsic value. Fluctuations in corporate value often stem from three overlapping cycles: the industry cycle, the capital market cycle, and the company's own cycle. The first two cycles are largely beyond our control. All we can do is to remain patient and wait them out. What we can change, however, is our own cycle. How well we manage our businesses and whether we have the right people in place are precisely the things we can improve through daytoday operations and management. But patience takes time, and it also requires long-term capital. What kind of company does Fosun want to be? We need sufficient long-term capital to support our growth and the resilience to navigate through cycles. Just as importantly, we need the ability to continuously transform and strengthen our businesses.

This is why we must always remain committed to long-termism. Long-termism is not simply about "waiting". It is about continuously enhancing the Company's value in the process. As we wait for the industry cycle and capital markets cycle to turn, we must first manage our own cycle well. This is the key to Fosun's ability to navigate through cycles, and it is the long-termism we have upheld for over thirty years and will continue to uphold.

Doing good through business has always been part of our original aspiration. Over the past three decades, no matter the cycle, I have firmly believed that the value a company creates comes not only from its products, but also from the lives it touches and the social responsibilities it carries. Fosun Pharma has long worked to expand global access to artemisininbased medicines. In addition to improving drug quality through technology innovation, we have collaborated with many global charitable organizations to build local supply networks in Africa, ensuring that children in less developed regions can afford and access life-saving medicines. Bridging the "last mile" is never easy, but every additional bottle of medicine could mean one more child saved. Take HANSIZHUANG as another example, traditional chemotherapy for gastric cancer often brings severe side effects, causing many patients to abandon treatment. After 15 years of R&D, we brought HANSIZHUANG to market, ushering in a chemotherapy-free era in gastric cancer treatment. It not only allows patients to live longer, but also to live with dignity, and in some cases, even to offer hope for a cure. Our long-standing Rural Doctors Program addresses the reality that "minor illnesses often turn into serious illnesses" in remote areas. Operating in 78 key rural revitalization counties across 16 provinces, the Rural Doctors Program has supported 25,000 rural doctors, benefiting 3 million grassroots families across China's central and western regions. This is not a oneoff assistance effort, but a longterm commitment to protecting the elderly and children who still live in rural areas and cannot easily travel to big cities.

Fosun has integrated ESG principles into every aspect of its development. We are actively promoting carbon neutrality and continuously investing in green energy, energy conservation and emission reduction, and eco-friendly materials. We are committed to compliant operations and we continue to strengthen transparency in our disclosures, so shareholders and the society can better understand Fosun. For us, an outstanding company is one that delivers commercial value while also taking responsibility for society and the environment.

To our shareholders and friends, "repairing the roof on a sunny day" requires both courage and resolve. Our core businesses remain solid, our liquidity position is robust, and our banking relationships remain stable. That is what gives us the confidence to move forward with this round of provisions. As we recently announced, our major shareholder and management team plan to increase their holdings in the shares of the Company and we will also proceed with a share buyback program. With our core businesses continuing to grow and our strategic plans firmly on track, we are confident in our ability to support a return of the share price to fair value and better protect the long-term interests of our shareholders. Our mediumterm financial goals are as follows: we strive to gradually restore annual profit to the RMB10 billion level; at the group level, we aim to generate RMB60 billion in cash returns, reduce total debt to below RMB60 billion, and strive to achieve an investmentgrade rating.

I would like to thank our shareholders and friends for your trust, understanding, and steadfast support over the years. Over the past more than thirty years, Fosun has come a long way and weathered many challenges. Looking back, none of it was in vain. We are grateful to this era for the opportunities it has given us, and we are equally grateful for the lessons we have paid for, which have made us more clear-eyed and more resolute.

For Fosun's future, we do not seek short-term gains; we seek to build a foundation for lasting success. We look forward to working side by side with all of you and, with prudent and pragmatic resolve and action, embracing a future in which Fosun renews itself through transformation and gathers strength for new growth.

Guo Guangchang

30 March 2026

SOURCE Fosun
Internal decapitation. That was the terrifying term doctors used after the crash.

Six-year-old Alex lay motionless on an Ohio roadway, his skull separated from his spine. A coroner arrived. Survival seemed unlikely.

But the boy did survive, awaking from his coma with a fantastic tale. He had traveled through a tunnel, met angels, spoke with Jesus and spotted an alarming figure he thought was Satan.

The story became a bestseller, penned by Alexs dad. But years later, the boy recanted. He had not died. He had not visited heaven.

Fabrications like this stoke our skepticism. If some near-death experiences (NDEs) prove false, might the rest of them unravel as well?

Doctors and neuroscientists are often the first to nod. Even for seemingly genuine near-death visions, they explain them away as oxygen deprivation, drug reactions, dreams or hallucinations.

Strange lights and sensations, they argue - sometimes empirically in top medical journals - reveal what happens when the brain begins to die.

Case closed. Except the cases keep coming, and some dont fit the science.

After his accident, Alex claimed to have traveled through a tunnel, met angels and saw Satan. He also claimed to have spoken with Jesus - but he later recanted his tale

A phenomenon hiding in plain sight

People across the world report NDEs. They usually tell of specific events, not vague impressions. Many can recall them decades later with extraordinary clarity.

In the United States alone, one in 25 people say theyve had an NDE. Thats millions. International surveys extrapolate to hundreds of millions.

It also means that nearly everyone knows someone who has had an NDE.

If these accounts reflect real experience, they point to a possibility long explored by philosophy and faith: We are more than our bodies.

In other words, afterlife. The body dies but we live on. Somewhere.

I wanted to know. Who doesnt? So, as a lifelong social scientist, I took a deep dive into the NDE evidence. Years of analysis, guided by rigor and doubt.

Along the way my skepticism turned to surprise, as I describe in my new book, Evidence for Heaven. Heres some of what I found.

A journey reported throughout history

Near-death experiences did not begin in modern hospitals. Ancient writings from Egypt, India, Greece, Rome, China and the Americas tell of journeys out of the body, passage from darkness into light, encounters with radiant beings and return to life.

Of course, different cultures interpreted the event through their own lenses. Yet the core narrative is strikingly consistent - and from people groups who had no communication with one another across continents.

This is cornerstone evidence in the case for an afterlife. If an out-of-body experience occurs at the edge of death, history surely would preserve traces of it everywhere.

In fact, it does.

A pattern too consistent to ignore

Todays experiencers share storylines a bit more ornate, but with eerie similarity to one another.

They leave their bodies and watch from above. Pain vanishes. A tunneled transit toward a brilliant light of unconditional love. Celestial landscapes and pure bliss. Greetings from deceased loved ones. Sometimes a full life review. Eventually, a boundary they cannot cross.

Their return often brings disappointment, but it also extinguishes fear of death.

No two stories match perfectly, yet the shared elements are uncanny. When you do the math, the probability of this much consistency by chance is astronomically small.

The pattern is not proof, but it gave me probable cause to dig deeper. Then I discovered something harder to explain: cases that could be corroborated.

In the United States alone, 1 in 25 people say theyve had an near death experience

As a lifelong social scientist, Michael Zigarelli took a deep dive into the NDE evidence

Details they should not have known

Many NDE accounts go beyond personal experience into verifiable observation. That resonates with me as a researcher.

One woman said she had floated near the ceiling during her surgery and memorized a long serial number atop a respirator. Another patient recalled a 1985 quarter face-up on a cardiac monitor. A third insisted she saw a red shoe on the hospital roof as she drifted skyward.

Staff checked.

They found the serial number exactly as recited. All 12 digits. The coin was there, the date spot on. The random red shoe lay on the roof.

These people had no normal sensory access at the time. But somehow, they knew.

An ER patient reported that during surgery he traveled upward one floor to an empty hospital wing. He claimed there were mannequins in the beds up there, attached to IVs. The stunned staff shot glances at one another. How had he seen the restricted training center on the next level?

In France, a woman woke up accurately describing her procedure and the simultaneous amputation in the adjacent room. Another French patient, lifeless enough for the doctor to begin preparing the death certificate, recounted word-for-word both sides of a private phone conversation down the hall.

And then there are the classics: the Pam Reynolds case, the Marias shoe case, the dentures case. Look them up and judge for yourself. Many think theyre smoking gun evidence.

Researchers have published more than one hundred of these corroborated accounts. People come back with information they simply should not have.

Its a serious challenge to any brain-based explanation of NDEs.

Testimony from toddlers

Then there are the childrens cases.

A surviving two-year-old told his mother: When you die, its a tunnel.

A three-year-old former patient asked whether his dying grandmother would have to pass through the tunnel to see God.

A four-year-old asked to return to the park through the tunnel - the one I went to when I was in the hospital.

Children that young rarely possess elaborate ideas about the afterlife. Yet their descriptions, well beyond tunnels, closely resemble adult reports.

Certain accounts include more specific details and with corroboration. One example: A five-year-old hospital patient in Holland returned to consciousness saying she just met a girl named Rietje, an older sibling her parents had never mentioned.

Her wide-eyed mom and dad left the room to compose themselves.

Records later confirmed a child with that name had died shortly after birth.

People often talk about a tunneled transit toward a brilliant light of unconditional love

Seeing without sight

Heres another line of evidence: NDE reports from people blind from birth.

Some claim to have seen for the first time, accurately describing people, surroundings and medical procedures from when they were clinically dead.

Most of these accounts also include the typical, otherworldly NDE elements, aligning closely with narratives from sighted individuals.

The cases are relatively rare - there are only a few dozen of them - but theyre truly baffling.

If sight can occur without functioning eyes, perhaps consciousness can occur without the body.

A case increasingly difficult to dismiss

More evidence emerged.

After serious study of NDEs, some medical experts have traded their agnosticism for acceptance of an afterlife.

Hospice workers worldwide report supernatural phenomena at the deathbed. Countless lives get reordered after an NDE: atheists have become pastors, a mobster became a social worker, people change radically - and permanently.

Dreams and hallucinations rarely transform us like that.

In total, my research uncovered seven lines of evidence for life after death. Individually, none of them may settle the question. Together, they present a case thats increasingly difficult to dismiss.

A rational reason for hope

After 50 years of peer-reviewed research and thousands of documented testimonies, near-death experiences are no longer fringe anecdotes. Theyre a global reality, possibly a glimpse of the next world as we begin to leave this one.

Something happens at that boundary unlike anything weve seen before. Something people describe as more real than real life. Something science has yet to explain.

The findings are not beyond a reasonable doubt, but theyre quietly moving in that direction. Theres a mounting case that death does not erase us.

It releases us.

It may also reunite us, at least those who enter the blissful version of the afterlife. If youve ever wept at a hospital bed, knelt at a graveside, or faced an empty chair at the dinner table, consider this: The eyewitness accounts offer hope as old as humanity itself - that separation may someday become reunion.

Michael Zigarelli is a professor at Messiah University in Pennsylvania. His latest book is Evidence for Heaven: Near-Death Experiences and the Mounting Case for the Afterlife (published April 7, Baker Books, 2026).
There aren't many men who would let an ex-girlfriend who sent their nudes to a new lover off with just a slap on the wrist.

But one real estate investor whose jealous former flame and her meddling friend tried to ruin his new relationship says he convinced prosecutors to be merciful.

Kristina Taylor and her 'super mom' friend Tara Johnson, both 36, were arrested last October in Lakeland, Florida, after sending X-rated images to the man's new partner.

Taylor's ex-boyfriend, 45, moved on just weeks after she dumped him, so Johnson tracked down the new woman and forwarded her the former couple's chat history.

The screen-recorded conversations included thumbnail-sized previews of the ex-boyfriend's penis and graphic videos of them having sex.

Taylor and Johnson spent the next five months fighting sexual cyber harassment charges, but last Monday both learned they would escape with a meagre punishment.

Prosecutors initially wanted to offer a plea bargain that would send the both to jail for two months - until the victim intervened.

The man, who asked to not be identified, told the Daily Mail he insisted to the state's attorney they not receive any jail time, or he would refuse to cooperate.

'I'm not trying to ruin anybody's life, I knew I wouldn't feel comfortable sending them to jail,' he said.

Kristina Taylor, 36, was arrested for sending a screen recording of her chats with her ex-boyfriend to her friend, who forwarded it to the man's new lover

Taylor's friend Tara Johnson, 36, tracked the new woman down and forwarded the chat history that Taylor sent her, which included previews of the ex-boyfriend's penis and videos of them having sex

'I also didn't want Tara's kids to be away from their mother for that long. I told the state's attorney that I think they learned their lesson.

'I also know Tara and her husband and their kids, we all went to each other's birthday parties, we went to the beach together, we'd go out for dinners and drinks - like, we were very close with them.'

The man said he was like a stepfather to Taylor's children for four years, and heard about what even a night in jail, after her arrest on October 27, did to her mental health.

'I thought, what is a couple months going to do to her? I don't want that on my conscience,' he said.

The Daily Mail understands the pair were instead offered a misdemeanor diversion program that included hours of community service and supervision, completion of which would allow them to avoid convictions.

Court documents indicated the diversions were underway since their last court dates.

The Polk County State Attorney's Office refused to provide more information about the terms of the diversions while they were yet to be completed.

Taylor and Johnson celebrated avoiding jail time with lengthy Instagram posts that alluded to their legal woes without mentioning them directly - and both painting themselves as the real victims.

'Five months ago I was living a nightmare. I thought I had lost everything I loved and worked for and that my life was truly over,' Johnson wrote.

'There has been real loss, and I'm still grieving it, but I've also seen His goodness in ways I never would have otherwise,' she added, suggesting that her Christian faith had helped her through the ordeal.

'To my family, you have lived and breathed unconditional love. Racing to our side in the middle of the night, hopping on planes at a moments notice just to sit with me and love me through my lowest moments. Thank you will never be enough.'

Taylor's ex-boyfriend, 45, (pictured) moved on just weeks after she dumped him

Johnson sent the new woman (pictured) the recorded conversations, which included thumbnail-sized previews of the man's penis and graphic videos of them having sex

Johnson also thanked her friends who gave her food, flowers, 'beautiful letters', and caffeine, and 'held me while I cried', along with her husband Troy and four children.

'I'm still figuring out how to navigate all of this. There isn't a rulebook for how to show up online after your life publicly blows up,' she added.

'I thought about deleting it all and going about life without it, but I realized it would be a missed opportunity to glorify God with my story. Yes, my life blew up, yes, it was everywhere, but the Lord held me.'

Johnson also posted 76 Instagram stories catching up her followers on what they had missed since her arrest, and introducing her newly adopted daughter.

'Her recent post reflects the personal reality of the past several months for her and her family,' Johnson told the Daily Mail through her lawyer.

'After taking time to reflect and regroup, she is moving forward with intention and a clear sense of purpose.'

Taylor posted a video where she complained about her breakup and the legal drama that followed, without mentioning either directly.

'About seven months ago, everything I knew about my life got completely stripped away from me - the life that I thought I was living, the house that I lived in, the relationship I was in... you name it. It has been insanity,' she said.

Johnson celebrated avoiding jail time with a lengthy Instagram post alongside this photo of her family, which alluded to her legal woes without mentioning them directly - and painted themselves as the real victim

Taylor posted a video where she complained about her breakup and the legal drama that followed, without mentioning either directly

Taylor whined about 'haters', saying she was 'fixating' on something negative someone said about her on Monday.

'They want to see me down, they want to see me fail and that's not me,' she said.

'I'm not going to have a camera showing myself crying about what I've been through. The people who know me know my story and what's happening and continuing to happen.'

Taylor said she thought about moving away and getting a remote job she could do from the beach but was encouraged by messages from people calling her 'inspiring'.

Comment was sought from Taylor but she did not respond.

The victim explained to the Daily Mail he was in a relationship with Taylor for about four years until she abruptly dumped him in September.

Months before they broke up, he started to feel her pulling away and they had several tough conversations about their relationship.

Taylor went on a work trip to Dallas the week before Labor Day and a friend flew up to meet her and they spent the weekend there.

The victim said their relationship collapsed in the days after she returned and Taylor abruptly left the house they bought together last April.

Then on September 19, she filed for a domestic violence injunction claiming she was afraid of him and he was harassing her and had forced her from their home.

Her ex had just 20 minutes to pack up and leave the house when police suddenly arrived to serve the order, and had to petition the court to retrieve the rest of his belongings.

The restraining order was later dismissed and expired a month ago.

Johnson contacted the woman through Facebook and told her she 'had concerns about [his] character', and was charged for sending the nudes to his new lover

Taylor was charged with sexual cyber harassment for sending the recording with the intimate images to Johnson without her ex's consent

The victim later that month began dating another woman, whom the Daily Mail has agreed not to identify, and Johnson found out after a mutual friend saw a photo of them together on Facebook.

Johnson contacted the woman through Facebook and told her she 'had concerns about [his] character,' according to court documents.

Taylor's friend then told the new girlfriend of the allegations made in the restraining order application, and claimed he was still with Taylor when they started seeing each other, the Daily Mail understands.

'When [the new girlfriend] asked for proof of the allegations against [her boyfriend], Johnson then asked Taylor for proof,' court documents explained.

'Taylor then provided screenshots and pictures for Johnson to provide to [her].'

Among those was a screen recording of some of the chat history between Taylor and her ex-boyfriend, including intimate photos they sent to each other.

The X-rated images included thumbnail-sized previews of his penis and graphic videos of them having sex.

The victim's new girlfriend told him that Johnson was talking about him to her, but didn't mention the screen recording until mid-October.

He called police on October 16 and the Polk County Sheriff's Office took statements from both women.

Johnson admitted to sending the video, but claimed she didn't know it contained the sex tape because she stopped watching after she saw a photo of Taylor's bare breasts.

Johnson admitted to sending the video, but claimed she didn't know it contained the sex tape because she stopped watching after she saw a photo of Taylor's bare breasts

Taylor and Johnson were arrested on October 27 and spent the night in jail before they were released on bail.

The victim said rumors were spread about him after the restraining order was filed, which caused damage to his reputation.

'All of this has had an effect on my business because of what's known about me through the professional circles... this has been very detrimental to me,' he said.

'My life has been ruined.'

This was made worse after Taylor and Johnson's arrests made national news, which he didn't expect when he pressed charges.

'I got a bit paranoid. I felt like everyone was looking at me and I thought I would see someone lean over and whisper to somebody else,' he said.

'I'm sure it was all in my head, but it was very uncomfortable for me to be out in public for quite a while.'

The man said his relationship with the new woman survived the sabotage attempt as he was up-front with her before they even started dating, but they had an amicable breakup months later for unrelated reasons.

Taylor has a five percent stake in Goosehead Insurance, a real estate insurance firm, a job that her ex-boyfriend helped her get through a friend.

Despite owning only a very small share, she frequently presents it has her own business and praised 'all the support we have been receiving over the last several months. As some of you know, starting a business from scratch isn't easy'.

'Starting this business wasn't something I took lightly. I was terrified of leaving my old job.... But I knew I had a higher calling. I knew I was meant for more,' she wrote.

Taylor has a five percent stake in Goosehead Insurance, a real estate insurance firm, a job that her ex-boyfriend helped her get through a friend

Johnson was at the time of her arrest the executive director of women's charity Hope House.

Hope House provides resources and a home for new and expectant mothers to stay during their pregnancies and the first few months after giving birth.

The residential home was also featured in the hit 1991 film, My Girl, starring Macaulay Culkin and Anna Chlumsky.

Following the news of Johnson's arrest, Hope House shared that Johnson decided to step down from her position with the company.

According to Taylor's Facebook account, she is a partner at Goosehead Insurance and previously worked at Wells Fargo.

Sending explicit images without the subject's consent became illegal in Florida a decade ago and is punishable by up to one year in jail, one year of probation, or a fine of $1,000.
A young family have been left homeless and a couple forced to use tarpaulin sheets for windows after a cowboy builder allegedly conned them out of 100,000.

Michael Bishop, who owns South Yorkshire-based RBB Refurbishments, has been accused of taking 64,500 and 45,000 from the two families before wrecking their houses and running away.

Despite boasting about 'delivering top-notch services' on his social media, the contractor's botched refurbishment left three children, including a two-year-old and a disabled child, without a home after he took out their roof, windows and doors before claiming he couldn't carry out any more work because he had ran out of money.

One couple said they lived on a building site without windows for a year after he took their savings and demolished their house, later claiming he said he had no funds to continue work.

While another former customer said he took 15,000 before running off.

Mr Bishop has denied the allegations. He said 'every house has been done to the letter and communicated well'.

Yasmin Taylor, from Selby, paid the builder 45,000 for a bungalow extension but said she returned home and there 'was nothing left'.

She originally planned to stay in her house while the project was completed but was warned by Mr Bishop it was too dangerous.

A young family have been left homeless after a cowboy builder destroyed their home after they paid 45,000 for an extension

The house in Selby, North Yorkshire, was gutted by RBB Refurbishments and now sits without a roof or doors

Steph Morley, from Barnsley, and her husband Karl Younger paid Bishop 64,500 to renovate their house

Instead she moved in with family in Doncaster for what was supposed to be three weeks.

But six months later she is still sharing a bedroom with her partner and three children with her house left in a pile of rubble

Her children, aged two, eight and 16, have been out of school for four months because they don't have a fixed address.

Ms Taylor told the Daily Mail: 'My kids can't go to school, so they've had no education for six months. They'll never get that back and they were behind as it was.

'They have been building the house with us. I know that sounds awful, but they've just been dragged up for the last six months because I've been building the house on my own.'

The builder, she says, also took out her electricity and plumbing systems meaning she is unable to use her toilet, wifi, or charge her electric car.

She added: 'He left me with nothing. I've got no kitchen, bathroom, electricity or plumbing. You can see the sky through me house.

'It is a complete and utter nightmare.

'My partner has his own business which he has to stop working on to focus on rebuilding the house and it has left it at rock bottom.'

The mother, who has launched a GoFundMe page to help rebuild her house, said Mr Bishop was found by her cousin and at first charmed her, taking her out for a meal, when he began the work.

It wasn't until weeks after the project began, when he asked for more money, that she confronted him over his failed work.

Michael Bishop has been accused of taking 64,500 and 45,000 from the two families before wrecking their houses and running away

Yasmin Taylor's house pictured before the extension work

The mother of three paid 45,000 for a bungalow extension but said when she returned home after four weeks and there 'was nothing left'

Six months later she is still sharing a bedroom with her partner and three children with her house left in a pile of rubble

She claimed the refurbisher admitted his mistakes but said he could not afford to make improvements.

Another couple say they are unable to leave their house after he took out their windows before disappearing, leaving them vulnerable to theft and freezing in what feels like an 'igloo'.

Steph Morley, from Barnsley, and her husband Karl Younger paid Mr Bishop 64,500 to renovate their house but she has been left with a floor dug to dirt level and without windows, a proper roof or a kitchen.

The primary school teacher was considering buying another house but instead opted for the refurbishment, taking out a second mortgage.

Mr Bishop began work in October 2024 but soon asked for extra money to complete the work, claiming he could not afford building materials or equipment, before abandoning the house.

The last the couple heard from Mr Bishop was when he promised their new windows would arrive in a day.

Ms Younger, who has a GoFundMe page to help restore her house, told the Daily Mail: 'We're living in a building site. It's been so stressful.

'My husband works from home and he's had to take a lot of time off meaning we've lost even more money. And it's really tough because we can't leave the property as people can just walk in.'

'We're having to get neighbours to watch the house when we go out. Or I'll ask a friend to come and sit in but it makes it tricky to do anything.

'We can't go away because we don't want to leave it unattended but at the same time we don't want to ask anyone to stay overnight here because it's not particularly safe.'

The builder repeatedly blamed an architect for his failed refurbishment.

Yasmin Taylor, from Selby, paid the builder 45,000 for a bungalow extension but said she returned home and there 'was nothing left'

Ms Morley's house has been left with a floor dug to dirt level and without windows, a proper roof or a kitchen

The couple have been forced to replace their windows with tarpaulin sheets and fear leaving the house

Ms Younger added: 'It makes me furious. I'd have far more respect for him if he just admitted his mistakes and said: "Look I'm sorry I couldn't do it".'

Both Ms Younger and Ms Taylor said they have been unable to reclaim money because their solicitors have warned Mr Bishop has no insurance or assets.

Ms Taylor has since shared negative reviews on Facebook, which Mr Bishop claims have led to his house being attacked and his life being put at risk.

He said his wife has been attacked and he has been forced to move across the country.

He told the Mail: 'Posts have been manufactured to show something not accurate.

'This industry is very hostile and our reviews speak for themselves. We haven't got 100 per cent brilliant reviews. We had a couple reviews we had to work on, which we addressed.

'Recently, my family and I were extorted. We were threatened with our lives, our vehicle destroyed, our names slandered all over Facebook.

'We have been forced out of our home, we have had to relocate in the UK and and we are under protection at the moment.

'Every house has been done to the letter and communicated well. I don't leave houses in ruins. If we take on a project we are insured to do so.'
It's a case with all the hallmarks of a Cold War thriller.

Glamorous blonde sisters Samaneh and Soroor Ghandali were indicted in February on charges of stealing highly sensitive trade secrets from Google and other big tech companies.

But rather than working for Russia or China  both known for their formidable intelligence-gathering abilities  the pair have been linked to the Iranian regime.

Experts warn the revelation could be just a glimpse of something far more alarming: a sprawling Iranian espionage machine operating inside the United States that could help Tehran prosecute the war that's raging in the Middle East.

At the center of that digital battlefield is Charming Kitten, a shadowy hacking unit linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

For more than a decade, the group has targeted US officials, journalists, academics and defense insiders with highly tailored phishing attacks.

Rather than sophisticated hacking techniques, operatives rely on deception  posing as colleagues, researchers or trusted contacts to trick victims into handing over passwords and sensitive information.

The shadowy group has tried to interfere in the 2020 and 2024 US presidential elections and even made off with scripts from HBO show Game of Thrones.

In some cases, they go further still, creating elaborate online personas  including fake profiles featuring attractive women  to build trust before striking.

Soroor Ghandali, 32, is accused along with her sister and brother-in-law of stealing tech secrets from Silicon Valley companies

Samaneh Ghandali, 41, is also accused of stealing tech secrets from Google and other big tech firms

Monica Witt, a Texas-born former US Air Force counterintelligence agent, defected to Iran in 2013 after converting to Islam

Among the phony profiles used by Iranian operatives were Shir Benzion, a model, human rights activist Elina Noomen, and London-based photographer Mia Ash.

There is no connection between the Ghandali sisters and Charming Kitten, which this month launched a spear-phishing campaign on US think-tank researchers.

But experts told the Daily Mail they highlight the multi-pronged strategy of Iran's intelligence agencies.

The Ghandali sisters were indicted in California on charges including trade secret theft and obstruction of justice along with Samaneh's husband, Mohammad Khosravi.

Prosecutors allege the trio embedded themselves inside Google and other major tech firms, using trusted positions to siphon off sensitive data tied to processor security, cryptography and other cutting-edge technologies  and funnel it back to Iran.

If proven, it would mark a stunning breach at the very core of America's innovation economy. Yet what has most rattled investigators is not just what was allegedly taken  but how.

Rather than using sophisticated tech, the defendants are accused of photographing computer screens by hand  a old-school, low-tech workaround designed to evade sophisticated cybersecurity systems.

A former Trump administration Iran expert told the Daily Mail that Iran's intelligence operations in the US have long flown under the radar because Moscow and Beijing were seen as more pressing threats.

'After China and Russia, Iran is the third most sophisticated adversary we have,' said the former official, speaking on condition that his name was not used.

'And everyone pretended for nearly a decade that Iranian operations didn't exist.'

Niloufar 'Nelly' Bahadorifar was sentenced in 2023 to four years in prison after helping funnel money that supported surveillance operations targeting an Iranian-American activist

The model Shir Benzion is among the phony avatars used to trick American officials into clicking on a malware link

He pointed to a recent drone strike on a CIA-linked site at the US Embassy in Saudi Arabia, suggesting the precision could reflect either Iran's own intelligence capabilities or support from allies such as Russia.

Tehran excels in insider recruitment, procurement networks and online intelligence gathering  capabilities that can translate directly into battlefield advantage, he said.

The three accused in California have pleaded not guilty to charges of theft of trade secrets and obstruction of justice that could put them behind bars for decades.

Former FBI counterintelligence operative Eric O'Neill described the Ghandalis alleged technology heist as a 'slow, deliberate extraction' carried out by 'trained or directed actors.'

'The most damaging breaches often originate from within,' said the author of Spies, Lies, and Cybercrime.

'The threat is not just foreign adversaries attempting to break in, but trusted individuals already inside the system choosing to betray that trust.'

The Ghandali trio's alleged ties to Iran's clerical elite only deepen the intrigue.

Samaneh Ghandali, 41, is a naturalized US citizen; Khosravi, 40, is a green card holder; and Soroor, 32, is in the US on a student visa.

Ariane Tabatabai has enjoyed a stellar career in America's national security establishment despite her alleged ties to officials in Tehran

Other digital honey traps include the human rights activist Elina Noomen, and London-based photographer Mia Ash

The women's father, Shahabeddin Ghandali, is described as a regime insider while Khosravi is reported to have a background in the Iranian military, suggesting the defendants were taking orders from Tehran.

High-profile Iran spy cases have been rare in the US.

But one of the most notorious cases, Monica Witt, a Texas-born former US Air Force counterintelligence agent, defected to Iran in 2013 after converting to Islam.

She is accused of handing over sensitive information and helping Iranian operatives target American intelligence personnel, allegedly enabling phishing and malware attacks. She remains a fugitive.

Elsewhere, Niloufar Bahadorifar was sentenced in 2023 to four years in prison after helping funnel money that supported surveillance operations targeting Iranian-American activist Masih Alinejad.

And in Washington, Pentagon analyst Ariane Tabatabai has faced scrutiny over alleged links to Tehran, with calls from senior Republicans to revoke her security clearance  though officials insist she has been properly vetted.

Former CIA officer and FBI agent Tracy Walder said Iran's activities are part of a long-running strategy.

For decades, she noted, Tehran  like China and Russia  has systematically targeted trade secrets and sensitive technologies to cut research costs and accelerate development.

Silicon Valley insider Samaneh Ghandali seen here delivering a presentation on cybersecurity

Its operatives are typically highly educated specialists tasked with everything from cyber intrusion to surveillance. But not all of their efforts are aimed at military gain.

'Most of them it's about crushing Iranian dissidents that are here,' Walder said, pointing to a quieter but critical mission: monitoring and intimidating critics of the regime living in the US.

That dual focus  external competition and internal control  makes Iran's intelligence apparatus uniquely complex.

And as tensions between Washington and Tehran continue to escalate, that hidden war for information may prove just as decisive as anything unfolding on the battlefield.

Because in the modern era of espionage, the most powerful weapon is not always a missile. Sometimes it is access.
Queen Elizabeth didn't get it.

In the forthcoming book, The Queen And Her Presidents: The Hidden Hand That Shaped History, by Susan Page, the longtime journalist writes that the Queen was 'baffled' by the rise of 'this person' - Donald Trump.

She put the question to President Barack Obama, who visited the United Kingdom with First Lady Michelle Obama in April 2016, a month before Trump wrapped up the Republican nomination.

'Why is this person so close to running your country?' she asked Obama, according to excerpts of the book obtained by the Daily Mail.

Page wrote that she posed the same question to Prince Harry's new American girlfriend, Meghan Markle, several months later.

The Queen was aware of Trump - and how he amplified the 'birther' conspiracy theory against Obama.

Trump was able to build a following on the political Right by pushing the idea that Obama, the country's first African-American President, was born in Africa, not Hawaii, and was thus ineligible to serve.

The Queen worked to kill those claims.

Queen Elizabeth hosted President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama at Windsor Castle on April 22, 2016. During this meeting, according to Susan Page's upcoming book, the Queen asked Obama about the rise of Donald Trump

'But from their first meeting, the Queen of England did everything she could to make it clear she harbored no such doubts, that the first Black president had her respect and admiration,' Page wrote.

Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes recalled to Page that Obama's relationship with the Queen represented 'a powerful form of validation' for the Democratic leader back home.

It took a year and a half into Trump's first term before he came face-to-face with the Queen, and he is now expected to meet King Charles during a US state visit in April.

The Queen And Her Presidents by Susan Page, the Washington bureau chief for USA Today, will be released on April 14

'The Queen had formed a personal bond with the Obamas; that was no secret. Her view of Trump was less clear, but her expectations were surely shaped by what she had seen and heard during the first years of his presidency,' Page wrote.

'He had attacked her friends, the Bushes, faulting George W. Bush for the 9/11 attacks. Trump had publicly berated her prime minister. He had labeled the nations of Africa, a continent that included members of the British Commonwealth, as "s***hole countries,"' Page said.

Trump referred to Haiti and African nations as 's***hole countries' in a private meeting with a bipartisan group of senators in January 2018.

At the time, the President was cagey about whether he made that statement - but confirmed he said it nearly eight years later in December 2025.

'That remark wouldn't sit well with a sovereign who had devoted her life to the protection of the Commonwealth she headed, and whose ties with African leaders were particularly close,' Page wrote.

Queen Elizabeth is photographed wearing the brooch (right side) that was gifted to her by First Lady Michelle Obama as President Donald Trump arrived in the United Kingdom for their first meeting

On July 12, 2018, the day Trump arrived at Stansted Airport for his working visit with the monarch, the Queen was at Windsor Castle meeting with the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar.

Queen Elizabeth wore a light pink floral dress.

'In the official photo of the solemn trio, she was wearing a small vintage pin that depicted a green flower made from yellow gold, diamonds, and moss agate,' Page wrote. 'It nearly disappeared against the background of her brightly patterned dress, but it proved to be impossible to miss.'

The brooch was the one gifted to the Queen by Michelle Obama in 2011 during a formal state visit to the UK.

It was made in 1950 and was purchased at Tiny Jewel Box, a well-known jewelry destination in Washington, DC's Dupont Circle neighborhood.

Before that day, the Queen had only worn it once, to the reciprocal dinner the Obamas had hosted for her during the 2011 visit.

The fact that she wore it again the day Trump arrived ignited speculation on whether it was deliberate, with Page discovering that it was.

'There definitely had been a deliberate decision to wear that pin,' a senior British official told USA Today's Washington bureau chief. 'It was a silent act of resistance.'

Queen Elizabeth walks alongside President Donald Trump during an arrival ceremony on July 13, 2018 during a working visit to Windsor Castle. Trump later told Page that the Queen wouldn't tell him who her favorite American president was

The next day, the Queen officially welcomed the Republican President and First Lady Melania Trump to Windsor Castle.

For the book, Page interviewed Trump, the Obamas, the Clintons, the Bidens and other American and British officials.

In a preview story about the book in Page's USA Today, she wrote that Trump had recalled that he couldn't get the Queen to name her favorite American leader.

'I said, "So could I ask you who was your favorite president?" The Queen replied, "Why they were all so good,"' the President recalled.

Trump tried getting her to bite on past Republicans - Presidents Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon.

He notably didn't ask about Obama.

'So what do you mean you liked them all?' Trump said he asked the Queen.

Trump recalled how the Queen replied: 'I liked them all. I can't say anything bad about any of them. They were great.'
A wealthy tech mogul beat his girlfriend so severely that it caused her to suffer a miscarriage during a years-long 'relentless' campaign of physical and psychological abuse, according to a lawsuit.

Serguei Beloussov - known as Serg Bell - has been accused by his ex-girlfriend Natalia Chernysheva of carrying out sustained physical assaults, issuing threats and exerting coercive control throughout their six-year relationship, court filings in Floridas Palm Beach County Circuit Court claim.

Chernysheva, 42, alleges the abuse left her permanently disfigured and suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.

Many of the alleged attacks were captured on surveillance cameras and in recordings she made herself, which her attorneys intend to present in court, the lawsuit states.

According to the complaint, Bell exerted near-total control over Chernyshevas life, monitoring her spending, restricting her movements and isolating her from friends and family while making her financially dependent on him.

That control, she claims, was enforced through violence - including an alleged attack on the day she told Bell she was pregnant, which she says led to a miscarriage days later, according to the lawsuit.

Bell, a 54, is the Soviet Union-born founder of several companies, including the Swiss cybersecurity firm Acronis, valued at around $4 billion. He stepped down as CEO in 2021 and is no longer associated with the company.

When approached by the Daily Mail for comment regarding Chernysheva's claims, a spokesperson for Bell said: 'We plan to vigorously pursue a legal defense in this matter.'

Serg Bell - formally - Serguei Beloussov has been accused by his ex-girlfriend of waging a 'relentless' campaign of domestic abuse in a lawsuit filed in Florida

Natalia Chernysheva, 42, filed the lawsuit in December. She alleges the abuse left her permanently disfigured and suffering from PTSD

Chernysheva first met Bell in 2012 and they began dating in 2016. At the time, she was working as a retail director.

Bell was exceptionally charming and charismatic at the start of the relationship. But Chernysheva claims the dynamic shifted after he encouraged her to quit her job and work for one of his companies instead, leaving her financially dependent on him, according to the lawsuit.

She alleges Bell then treated her salary like an allowance, linking her bank cards to his accounts, monitoring her spending and punishing her by confiscating her cards or threatening to cut her off if she disobeyed him.

Chernysheva accuses Bell of systematically isolating her and dismantling her independence, leaving her with no life outside their relationship.

Bell also demanded sexual compliance as part of his regimen of control, the lawsuit alleges.

In the middle of the night, Chernysheva claims Bell would force her to perform oral sex on him, refusing to let her sleep until she complied.

The alleged abuse escalated over time. Chernysheva claims Bell would initially shove, shake and jump on her while she slept, before it intensified into punching and strangulation, according to the complaint.

From 2016 through 2022, Bells uncontrollable rage was a constant feature of their relationship, reads the suit.

He regularly subjected [Chernysheva] to savage beatings and threatened her and her family with extreme violence.

Bell, pictured with his wife, said through a spokesperson that he plans to 'vigorously pursue a legal defense' against his ex's allegations

Bells' Instagram feed is awash with images of luxury trips with his new wife and family

Chernysheva claims many of the alleged attacks took place in front of others, including Bells parents, business associates and employees, though no one intervened.

She also alleges Bell would break down doors when she tried to hide from him and smash her phones to prevent her from calling for help.

In June 2017, Chernysheva claims Bell dragged her naked from a bath and attempted to force her out of their apartment while screaming: Go away, traitor. Get the f**k out of here.

She says in the complaint she lost consciousness after Bell kicked her in the head during the incident and later awoke back in bed, bruised and in pain.

'As she began to cry, Bell launched into a bizarre and manipulative story about his business partners wife dying overnight, reads the lawsuit.

He claimed that [Chernysheva] was supposed to die that night, but he "changed the universe" and "saved" her by "exchanging" the other womans life for hers - assertions that bore no relation to reality and deflected responsibility for his conduct.

Numerous other alleged attacks followed, including a public outburst at a Paris cafe where Bell allegedly called her a stupid c**t and ripped her purse from her shoulder, and an incident on a flight from Singapore to Paris, according to the lawsuit.

In April 2018, she claims Bell woke her in a hotel room, shoved her to the floor and strangled her before punching her in the back of the head with such force that she collapsed.

After she looked up at him, Bell allegedly taunted: Do you want more? before she curled into a fetal position until the attack stopped, the lawsuit says.

Bell, 54, is the founder of several companies, including the Switzerland-based cybersecurity firm Acronis, valued at around $4 billion. He is picture above at the Singapore Grand Prix in 2024

Later the same month, Chernysheva alleges Bell pushed her down the stairs during an argument at their home in Massachusetts, leaving her with bruises on her head, face and legs.

A photo, redacted in public versions of the lawsuit, claims to show the injuries she sustained.

In an audio recording cited in the lawsuit, Bell is allegedly heard threatening to kill Chernysheva and harm her family.

The following month, Chernysheva claims she was subjected to a relentless, days-long verbal and physical assault at the hands of Bell, which was triggered by his father not liking a birthday gift shed helped pick out, the lawsuit claims.

Another vile threat allegedly came in an audio recording captured in March 2020 during a fight over a cancelled work meeting.

Keep talking to me, b**ch. You want me to rip your lungs out? Out of your head, you f**king b**ch. Stinking freak. You f**ked everything up. You f**ked everything up because of your shit, f**k, Bell is alleged to say in the clip.

Later in June, Chernysheva allegedly recorded Bell making violent threats about her father.

Leave it to your f**king sh**ty father. That freak, f**k! Ill find him. Ill f**king cut his hands off. I guarantee youI will kill his children. And I dont give a f**k, understand?' Bell is alleged to say, per the lawsuit.

Another physical attack was allegedly captured on surveillance camera during a vacation at the Renieri di Montalcino estate in Italy, in November 2020.

According to the lawsuit, the footage shows Bell adopting a martial-arts stance before mercilessly beating her as she lay helpless on the floor.

Bell is accused of pummeling Chernysheva with such force that she lost consciousness.

The video captures Bells chilling composure: he calmly ties his shoelaces before walking away without a flicker of urgency, remorse, or concern, the lawsuit states.

In 2022, Bell was investigated by Western intelligence agencies over suspected ties to the Kremlin, which he vehemently denied

Over the final two years of their relationship, Chernysheva claims Bell weaponized their efforts to have a child, coercing her into IVF treatment while continuing the alleged abuse.

She claims he berated her for the fertility issues they were facing, and she hoped that falling pregnant may finally quell his violent rage, so she agreed to undergo the treatment, the lawsuit says.

On April 2, 2022, she gathered Bell and close family members to share that she was pregnant. What followed, the lawsuit alleges, was hours of violence during which Bell grabbed, shoved and chased her from room to room.

She claims she pleaded with him to stop as she began experiencing severe abdominal pain. Bell allegedly refused to take her to the hospital or summon help.

In the early hours of the following morning, Chernysheva said the pain in her stomach abruptly stopped and she feared in that moment shed lost the pregnancy.

Three days later, she miscarried in the bathroom of their apartment, the lawsuit says.

With the loss of her child came the death of her last hope for their relationship, reads the suit.

In that moment, she found the resolve to finally escape him.

Chernysheva is seeking damages for what the lawsuit describes as profound physical, emotional and economic harm, and a jury trial.

Her lawsuit was filed in December 2025 and is ongoing.

Bells name also appeared in the recently released Department of Justice files related to Jeffrey Epstein - but he denied meeting Epstein, insisting they only spoke on the phone once

Bell is also the founder of software firm Virtuozzo and Runa Capital, a tech-focused investment company.

In 2022, he was investigated by Western intelligence agencies over suspected ties to the Kremlin, which he vehemently denied.

Posts on his social media pages indicate that Bell married Oznur Bell, 43, a Turkish-born marketing executive, in the fall of 2022, months after he and Chernysheva split up.

The couple shares one child. Serg Bell has multiple children from past relationships.

Bells name also appeared in the recently released Department of Justice files related to pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.

In a statement to the Washington Post last month, Bell said he never met or did any business with Epstein and spoke to him only once by phone at the request of Harvard University, who were weighing a donation.
The NHS has seen a sharp rise in patients seeking help for body image worries after being exposed to unrealistic beauty ideals on social media, officials warn.

The number of people being referred to a specialist for body dysmorphia has surged by almost two-thirds in the last three years, according to NHS figures.

'Hyper-unrealistic body expectations' spread on photo and video sharing websites have added 'rocket fuel' to the situation, health leaders said.

Body dysmorphia is a mental health condition which causes patients to worry about flaws in their appearance which are often unnoticeable to other people.

Symptoms include obsessing over a specific area of the body, comparing looks with someone else's, looking in mirrors a lot or avoiding them altogether, or picking at the skin.

It is common in teenagers and young adults and affects men and women, and can also lead to depression, self-harm and suicidal thoughts.

According to NHS England, referrals for support for body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) have increased by 63.9 per cent in three years.

Last year, there were 1,028 referrals, a jump of almost a third (32.6 per cent) on the previous 12 months.

Dr Adrian James, national medical director for mental health and neurodiversity at NHS England

Dr Adrian James, national medical director for mental health and neurodiversity at NHS England, said: 'BDD is linked to perfectionism, beliefs about beauty and self-worth, and a tendency to overestimate the importance of appearance on social acceptance.

'But it is also clear to both clinicians and patients that outside pressure has played a big part in contributing to these skyrocketing figures.

'The most concerning of these is social media, which is adding rocket fuel to the situation.

'Never have we lived in a period where it's so easy to be surrounded by hyper-unrealistic body expectations, while at the same time being told that perfectly healthy bodies simply aren't good enough.

'And this has a significant impact on children and young people, who are forming their sense of self and relationships with their body, and are more susceptible to unrealistic messaging circulating online.'

University student Nicola Kowalczuk, from the West Midlands, was 15 when she started experiencing BDD symptoms.

She kept the thoughts to herself before opening up to her sisters.

Miss Kowalczuk, now 18, was eventually referred for talking therapy on the NHS by her GP and finished treatment in December.

'For years I felt trapped in my own thoughts,' she said.

'I'd constantly be checking myself in mirrors, or hiding myself under clothes. I lost my sense of self. Talking therapies changed that.

'It gave me practical tools, confidence, and the feeling that I didn't have to struggle alone any more.

'Since finishing therapy, I've been able to actually enjoy being with my family and find fun in the small moments rather than worrying about how I look  something I never thought would happen.'

Dr James added: 'As seen in Nicola's story, BDD can cause significant disruption to people's daily life with symptoms including obsessive worries about one or more perceived flaws in physical appearance, compulsive and repetitive behaviours and routines such as looking at yourself in mirrors frequently or avoiding mirrors altogether.

'It's vital that if you're experiencing obsessive thoughts and worrying about your appearance, that you come forward for support  you can either self-refer or speak with your local GP practice  and nine in 10 people get help within six weeks.'
Schools are still relying on parent donations to make ends meet, despite Labour claiming they were going to 'end Tory cuts', a union has said.

The National Education Union (NEU) accused ministers of 'failure' due to schools having to 'shake the collection tin' to cover the basics.

A survey of 11,000 members found 66 per cent report their school relying on 'donations and fundraising' because of a lack of cash.

More than half  53 per cent  of members said there is not enough money in their school budget to afford the staff they need to run the school.

It comes after Labour spent more than a decade campaigning heavily against what they claimed were 'Tory cuts' in schools, to try to topple the previous Government.

Although not officially affiliated politically, the NEU saw Labour as an ally during that era  with then party leader Jeremy Corbyn getting a standing ovation at the union's annual conference in 2019.

However, now the union is threatening Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson with strikes over pay and conditions, with an indicative ballot of members currently taking place.

Yesterday, General Secretary Daniel Kebede said: 'When even basic provisions cannot be met without having to shake a collection tin, then it is obvious this Government and [previous] governments have failed parents, teachers, leaders and above all, young people.

Schools are still relying on parent donations to make ends meet, despite Labour claiming they would 'end Tory cuts', the National Education Union has said (pictured: General Secretary Daniel Kebede)

'Pupils in schools whose communities cannot afford to subsidise them are the ones who miss out.'

Survey respondents said donations and fundraising go towards covering basic running costs, building repairs, new equipment and school trips.

Schools are not legally allowed to demand money, but they can request voluntary contributions, with some families asked to pay hundreds per year.

Those working in more deprived schools were more likely to report their parents not being able to afford to donate.

One in three  33 per cent  said their school building overheats in the summer, while 54 per cent said their school suffers from poor ventilation and 66 per cent said it leaks when it rains.

One respondent said: 'Mostly, a lack of funding impacts our most vulnerable children. No adult support, no physical resources, no enrichment or immersive learning opportunities.'

Last year, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) said schools were facing 'a particularly tight set of pressures' in 2025/26, with growing costs expected to see them need to make savings despite increases in funding.

Meanwhile, the Department for Education (DfE) has recommended that teachers receive a 6.5 per cent pay increase over the next three years, which much of it having to be found via savings elsewhere in school budgets.

The union is threatening Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson (pictured) with strikes over pay and conditions, with an indicative ballot of members currently taking place

Mr Kebede said: 'The Government have told schools to make efficiency savings to cover staff pay rises, but after 15 years of austerity, there is nothing more to cut.

'The sooner the Government recognises that schools cannot make cuts without affecting the quality of education the better.'

A DfE spokesman said: 'This government inherited a challenging financial position, but is putting record investment into our schools.

'School funding is increasing by 1.7 billion in 2026-27, including funding for SEND reform announced within the Schools White Paper.

'This investment is a critical step forward in our mission to support all children and young people to achieve and thrive and will support teachers and leaders to deliver high and rising standards across every school and for every pupil.'

Three in four teachers say 'burnout' made them want to leave

Three quarters of teachers say they have considered leaving their jobs due to 'burnout', a survey has found.

Polling of 1,000 secondary school teachers found 74 per cent were on the brink of a career change due to mental overload.

It also showed 70 per cent say stress is impacting their teaching  with 34 per cent saying the effect was 'severe'.

The research also found nearly two in three  63 per cent  said they 'feel guilty' that stress has affected the quality of their teaching.

More than two in five  45 per cent  described themselves as a 'bad teacher' when they are going through periods of severe burnout.

And 64 per cent said burnout is negatively affecting pupil outcomes at their school.

Meanwhile, 31 per cent said they have worked while feeling 'mentally unwell' and 16 per cent have taken time off because of stress.

A quarter  24 per cent  of those who have taken time off reported being absent for between 11 and 20 days.

The survey was commissioned by online school Minerva Virtual Academy (MVA), which said conditions of the job needed to be improved to make the profession more attractive.

Matt Wrack, General Secretary of the NASUWT, added: 'Teachers are striving to do the best for their pupils, but are being hampered by excessive workloads and growing pastoral responsibilities which are driving up levels of chronic stress and burnout.

'This is driving an unsustainable hamster wheel in which exhausted teachers feel they cannot deliver the quality of lessons they aspire to, leading to feelings of guilt which push them to work harder to meet the impossible demands being expected of them, which then only leads to further stress and fatigue.'

A DfE spokesman said: 'Last year saw one of the lowest rates of teachers leaving the profession since 2010, and we are already delivering on our pledge to recruit and retain 6,500 more talented teachers with over 2,300 more secondary and special schoolteachers in classrooms this year.

'Our Education Staff Wellbeing Charter sets out joint commitments from government, schools and colleges to improve staff wellbeing, and over 4,300 schools have signed up so far.

'As part of our record investment into schools, we are providing an extra 1 million each year so that 2,500 leaders can access wellbeing support.'
An Aussie DJ has shared startling footage of the moment a woman attempted to Taser him at a beach after she threw coffee at him during a terrifying attack.

Sam Baldwin, who shares his music on YouTube and Instagram, was performing on his own when he was approached at a beach near Marseille, France, at 9am.

The woman began complaining about the music and Mr Baldwin said he 'turned it down'.

The woman threatened to call the police despite the DJ, whose stage name is Phikey, telling her he had stopped.

About 20 minutes later, she approached him again, this time with a foul-mouthed rant.

'Who do you think you are?' she said in French despite Mr Baldwin not understanding.

'You'll understand what I've got to say you a**hole.'

The Wagga Wagga-born DJ began to leave, but the situation escalated further.

A French woman has attacked an Aussie DJ after she became disgruntled with his morning session, throwing coffee at him and attempting to taser him

'Why are you going?' the lady said.

'The cops are coming, you stay here. F*** your mother.'

She slapped the sunglasses off Mr Baldwin's face and continued insulting him.

'Get the f*** away from me. I turned it down,' he said.

She appeared to try to hit his face as he started to run away and grabbed a rock to peg at him, but fell before she could.

Mr Baldwin reported the incident to local police the following day. He claimed they were stunned by the footage.

'I showed them the video and they got really excited and said "What! This is crazy, man",' he said.

'They take me into a room, look at the video and start note-taking.

Sam Baldwin is a DJ and producer known as Phikey

'They're just going like crazy.'

Mr Baldwin said police took screenshots and dissected the footage more than he did before coming across an interesting discovery.

'We zoom in on her hand and she's holding a pipe or something,' he said.

'The police said things like, "we really think she's on drugs", "look how old her face looks" and "look how aggressive she is". "It looks like she could be smoking something before this altercation".'

The DJ posted the altercation to his social media, but Mr Baldwin said some platforms removed it after she complained.

He said she sent an email, threatening to report him to the authorities if he refused to comply with her request to take down the videos.

'I did not give any consent to being recorded or to the publication of this content,' she wrote.

'I am clearly identifiable and appear throughout the video as the central subject.

The woman threatened to report him to the authorities via email

'This content is focused on me and presents me in a misleading and humiliating way, exposing me to public attention and harassment.'

When asked about his desired outcome, Mr Baldwin told Daily Mail he wanted to gain something positive out of his experience.

'Im just trying to turn a traumatic experience into something positive,' he said.

'My focus has always been on the music and creating something that I think is beautiful.

'If this rollercoaster allows a few more people to discover what Im creating, then Im over the moon.'

He also said he hoped the best for the woman, but would let the authorities deal with the situation.

'I truly dont know what has to be going on in someones world to react with that level of violence and agitation, but I genuinely hope she finds some peace,' he said.

'I wish her well but I also believe in accountability, which is why I've let the proper legal channels take it from here.'

Sam Baldwin had coffee thrown at him and was almost tasered

When asked if he would change how he approached filming or doing public performances, he said he would be more careful moving forward.

'Its definitely been a wake-up call,' Mr Baldwin said.

'Ive always chosen my locations carefully to capture the best vibe, but I never expected a DJ set to turn into a physical assault with a weapon,'

'It hasn't stopped me from performing, but its made me much more aware of my surroundings.'
The longstanding saga of The Daily Telegraph's controversial 'Undercover Jew' operation has faced yet another dramatic turn amid claims the parties' joint plan to 'respectfully' settle the matter was 'twisted' at the eleventh hour.

The saga began in February 2025 when Jewish activist Ofir Birenbaum went to Cairo Takeaway, an Egyptian-style restaurant in Sydney's Newtown, wearing a Star of David cap and necklace while being trailed by a reporter from the Telegraph.

The operation, later revealed to have had the internal codename 'UNDERCOVER JEW', saw Mr Birenbaum enter the restaurant, order a hibiscus tea and leave, with reporter Danielle Gusmaroli, her photographer and a videographer stationed outside.

'Undercover Jewish man Ofir Birenbaum sees what its like being Jewish in Sydney. Will secretly film with his video glasses,' Gusmaroli wrote in an internal planning document later unearthed in court.

The operation went awry when staff at the restaurant, which shares pro-Palestine content on social media, spotted the reporter and cameras.

In the furore that followed, Mr Birenbaum alleged he was defamed and held up for antisemitic attacks by Cairo Takeaway, its owner Hesham El Masry and chef Talaat Yehia.

The restaurant countersued and claimed Mr Birenbaum had trespassed in a bid to get a 'negative reaction' from staff and 'seek to cause harm to the cross-claimant by portraying the Cairo Takeaway, its owner, and its staff as being antisemitic'.

The lawsuits were due to be heard in the Federal Court in May, but on Monday, the suits were dismissed with a joint statement issued from Mr Birenbaum, Cairo Takeaway and the Daily Telegraph in the paper and on the restaurant's Instagram account, in which the three parties said the matters had been 'resolved in a constructive and satisfactory manner'.

Prominent Jewish activist Ofir Birenbaum was part of The Daily Telegraph's operation

He went into Cairo Takeaway, an Egyptian restaurant on Newtown's buzzing Enmore Road, while a reporter from The Daily Telegraph was stationed outside

Danielle Gusmaroli was the reporter involved in the operation

Joint statement: Ofir Birenbaum, Cairo Takeaway & Daily Telegraph On 11 February 2025, Jewish man, Ofir Birenbaum, who was wearing a Star of David cap and pendant, and representatives from the Daily Telegraph newspaper, entered the Cairo Takeaway in Newtown, resulting in an incident with Cairo Takeaway staff. All parties are pleased that the legal disputes arising from this incident have now been resolved on confidential terms. Cairo Takeaway accepts that Mr Birenbaum was polite to staff when he entered the premises and purchased a drink, and they unreservedly apologise to him for the false and defamatory statements to the media, Instagram posts and comments by members of the public directed at Mr Birenbaum on its social media accounts. The Daily Telegraph acknowledges that entering the Cairo Takeaway without notice, to see if Mr Birenbaum would be treated differently for the purpose of a news article, caused distress to the staff and owner of the Cairo Takeaway. The Daily Telegraph unreservedly apologises to Cairo Takeaway and their staff for causing that distress. All parties are pleased that these issues have now been resolved in a constructive and satisfactory manner. In doing so, they acknowledge that all Australians should be able to safely express their racial or religious affiliation as well as debate issues in a respectful and dignified fashion. The parties hope that the fact of a resolution can be a positive example for others.

The Mail understands the case was settled on the day Cairo Takeaway was required by the court to pay a $50,000 security bond in dealing with the cross-claim.

The lengthy statement said the legal matters were resolved on 'confidential terms', with Cairo Takeaway issuing an 'unreserved' apology to Mr Birenbaum for the 'false and defamatory' statements directed at him to the media and online.

The statement offered carefully worded apologies from both the restaurant and The Daily Telegraph, with the latter apologising 'unreservedly' for causing distress to the restaurant and its staff by entering 'without notice, to see if Mr Birenbaum would be treated differently'.

However Birenbaum was less measured in his personal statement, declaring total victory and noting that Cairo Takeaway would 'issue an unreserved public apology for the lies they spread.'

'Those lies were amplified by media, seized upon by politicians, and repeated by commentators who rushed to condemn - and who are now nowhere to be found,' he added.

Mr Birenbaum maintained the operation - previously described in media reports as a 'stunt', 'sting' or 'botched' - was, in fact, 'legitimate public interest journalism'.

He went on to insist that he was simply walking the streets of Sydney as a visibly Jewish man 'to answer a simple question: would [he] be treated differently?'

'The answer was yes. And when that truth was exposed, the response was not reflection - but ridiculous fabrication. I was lied about, vilified, and turned into a target,' he continued.

'The consequences were real: a torrent of abuse, public condemnation, and even a police raid on my home based on false reports.

'Too many chose to attack the person holding up the mirror rather than confront what it revealed. I stand by what we did, and why we did it.'

Cairo Takeaway owner Hesham El Masry has been contacted for comment

Rebekah Giles, founder of Giles George, solicitors for Birenbaum, called the settlement a 'win' for her client and 'vindication for Jews across the globe'.

However, the Daily Mail understands the statements from Birenbaum and his lawyer came as a total surprise to the restaurant.

In a statement seen by the Daily Mail, lawyers representing Cairo Takeaway said the parties had specifically agreed, when conducting the confidential settlement, that nothing inconsistent with that statement would be published.

'Unfortunately, it appears that Mr Birenbaum and his lawyers have seen fit to state things that are inconsistent with that joint statement in both word and spirit,' the statement read.

'Mr Birenbaum had agreed to enter Cairo Takeaway in league with the Daily Telegraph, and he knew they had a reporter and camera crew waiting outside. They all knew the Cairo Takeaway was a business that supported Palestine. That was why it had been selected for their "Undercover Jew" operation.

'How many Australians would genuinely believe this sort of conduct was legitimately in the public interest? Or that the persons involved should be given "full credit" and owed "a debt of gratitude"? Or that it should be described as "an important win for the Australian Jewish community"?

'It is sad that that what was meant to be a "positive example" of a "constructive and satisfactory" resolution is now attempting to be twisted.

'The statements by Mr Birenbaum and his lawyers are inconsistent with "the respectful and dignified" outcome that was envisaged when the joint statement was agreed to.'

In yet another twist, after the statement by Cairo Takeaway's lawyers was released, a spokesperson for Mr Birenbaum contacted the Daily Mail to make it clear that he was allowed to speak freely about his reasons for participating in the Tele's investigation.

They further insisted that his personal statement did not breach any settlement agreement.

Mr Birenbaum said he'd been 'completely vindicated' after the lawsuits were settled on Monday and maintains the operation was 'never a stunt'

The restaurant, which proudly boasts a huge mural showing the Palestinian flag on a raised fist as part of the #FreePalestine movement outside the eatery, launched an online fundraiser in November to help bolster its defence fund.

The fundraiser was set up by Greens NSW Senator David Shoebridge, who said he was supporting the restaurant because it 'stands for something really important'.

'It's a business that's here for the community. It's a business that represents its values, and it's a business that has been standing up for Palestine,' Shoebridge said at the time.

'Supporting others when they need us, that's what solidarity is about. Every dollar you give to the fundraiser can help Cairo Takeaway keep serving the community.'

The fundraiser link remains active on Cairo Takeaway's social media platforms, with nearly $88,000 raised so far.

The campaign states that if Cairo Takeaway's defence is unsuccessful, and legal costs are not recovered, funds will be directed towards paying those costs.

Any surplus funds will be donated to Palestine Australia Relief and Action, a charity supporting Palestinian migrants and refugees to settle in Australia.

The restaurant proudly boasts a mural showing the Palestinian flag on a raised fist

As for The Daily Telegraph, the Mail understands the paper stands by the principle of the operation, even while acknowledging the distress it caused in practice.

Staff believe there were clear grounds for conducting the investigation.

The paper also has a history of observational reporting designed to expose discrimination, including a previous piece documenting the experiences of a woman wearing a niqab in public.

Furthermore, Cairo Takeaways' owner had made public statements on Instagram that warranted scrutiny.

Inside Mail keeps you one step ahead of Australia's media and political gossip. Dont miss our mustread weekly column, out every Thursday. Read last week's column here.
The article explains how planning and diagnostics support better sleep quality and long-term treatment outcomes.

BOCA RATON, Fla., March 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- What should patients understand before starting sleep apnea treatment? The answer is provided in a HelloNation article featuring insights from Sleep Apnea Expert Dr. Robert Spoont of Boca Raton.

The HelloNation article explains that effective care for sleep apnea begins with detailed preparation before any treatment is introduced. Dentists use advanced diagnostics to evaluate airway structure, jaw alignment, and sleep patterns. This early step helps create a personalized approach that supports better sleep quality and more predictable outcomes.

Dr. Robert Spoont, D.M.D., Dental Sleep Medicine Speed Speed

The article describes how modern evaluation tools give patients a clearer understanding of obstructive sleep apnea and available treatment options. This process helps reduce uncertainty while improving comfort with the care plan. It also allows patients to share input, ensuring that treatment decisions align with their lifestyle and preferences.

The article notes that planning plays a key role in managing sleep apnea and related concerns such as snoring. By reviewing each step in advance, Sleep Apnea Experts can anticipate potential challenges and determine whether options such as a dental sleep appliance are appropriate. This preparation helps improve efficiency and supports a smoother experience throughout treatment.

In addition to improving outcomes, the article emphasizes that addressing sleep apnea supports overall health. The focus extends beyond symptom relief to include airway stability, breathing patterns, and long-term sleep quality. This broader view helps ensure that care leads to lasting improvements rather than temporary results.

The article further explains that advances in technology have improved the evaluation and treatment of sleep apnea in Boca Raton. Tools such as digital imaging and 3D scanning provide detailed insight into airway conditions and jaw positioning. These technologies enable Sleep Apnea Experts to design customized solutions, including dental sleep appliances that improve airflow and comfort.

Another key takeaway is the importance of communication during treatment planning. The article highlights that when patients are involved early, they gain a better understanding of how obstructive sleep apnea is managed. This awareness builds confidence and increases the likelihood that patients will follow through with recommended care.

The article also explains that thorough preparation helps reduce unexpected issues during treatment. By reviewing possible outcomes and adjustments in advance, both the provider and patient can make informed decisions early in the process. This structured approach supports consistent progress and better overall results.

For individuals in Boca Raton experiencing sleep apnea or persistent snoring, the article makes clear that preparation is a critical part of care. Treatment planning is not merely an initial step but a central factor in achieving effective, comfortable results. Care guided by detailed diagnostics supports more accurate and personalized solutions.

The article concludes that combining advanced technology with clinical expertise allows providers to deliver targeted care that improves sleep quality. By focusing on preparation first, Sleep Apnea Experts can help patients achieve better long-term outcomes and a more comfortable treatment experience.

Designing Treatment Before Intervention features insights from Dr. Robert Spoont, a Sleep Apnea Expert in Boca Raton, Florida, on HelloNation.

About HelloNation

HelloNation is a premier media platform that connects readers with trusted professionals and businesses across various industries. Through its innovative "edvertising" approach that blends educational content with storytelling, HelloNation delivers expert-driven, good-news articles that inform, inspire, and empower. Covering topics from home improvement and health to business strategy and lifestyle, HelloNation highlights leaders making a meaningful impact in their communities.

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Just ten doctors have prescribed more than half of all medical cannabis drugs since they were legalised in the UK.

Figures obtained by The Times also showed a single consultant has been responsible for one in every ten cannabis medicines prescribed in the country.

That doctor prescribed nearly 46,000 cannabis medicines in the first five months of last year, equivalent to one prescription every two working minutes.

The top ten consultants, who work in private clinics, prescribed more than 805,000 cannabis treatments since 2019, 52 per cent of the total.

After a slow start, cannabis prescriptions reached 10,000 per month in mid-2022 before rocketing to 50,000 a month in early 2024.

Medicinal cannabis prescriptions reached a peak of around 100,000 a month in early 2025 before declining, the figures showed.

Most patients using private clinics to obtain cannabis prescriptions are being treated for psychiatric conditions such as depression and anxiety.

But many cannabis medicines contain higher levels of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) - the main psychoactive compound in the drug - than street 'skunk', a high potency strain.

Pictured: Medical marijuana. Half the cannabis prescriptions for medicinal purposes in the UK since 2019 have been written by just ten doctors

In January the Mail told how the family of a man who took his own life after developing a 1,000-a-month medical cannabis addiction said he was 'driven to the depths of despair' by the drug.

Oliver Robinson, 34, became hooked after just one video consultation with a private cannabis clinic and began an 18-month spiral which ended in his death.

An ex-property developer, Mr Robinson was found hanged at home in Bury, Greater Manchester, in 2023 after suffering depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder and suicidal thoughts.

The strongest medical cannabis available in the UK is a strain named 'Space Cake', which has a THC content of 34 per cent.

This compares to between 14 and 16 per cent THC in typical street skunk seized by police.

Medicinal cannabis was legalised in the UK in 2018 after an outcry over the seizure of medication from severely epileptic child Billy Caldwell.

He became the first patient in Britain to be prescribed cannabis-based medication on the NHS after experiencing up to 400 seizures a day and regularly ending up in hospital.

But a Mail on Sunday investigation last year found private clinics were offering 'medical cannabis' to mentally unwell patients despite 'no good evidence' the drug could help, according to experts.

Oliver Robinson took his own life after an 18-month spiral following a single video consultation for medical cannabis

Some firms advertised that 'you don't need a serious medical condition to be prescribed cannabis'.

Professor Sir Robin Murray, of King's College London, said the clinics were 'causing harm to the people they are claiming to help'.

This month, a study published in medical journal The Lancet Psychiatry found no evidence that medicinal cannabis was effective for anxiety, depression or post-traumatic stress disorder.

The study analysed 54 clinical trials across 45 years and found it may help some conditions including epilepsy, chronic pain and autism, the overall quality of evidence was low.

Data from Mamedica, one of the UK's largest private clinics, showed 50.5 per cent of its more than 12,000 patients are prescribed cannabis for mental health conditions. Some clinics also offer free consultations or cut-price prescriptions for benefits claimants.

Dozens of specialist pharmacies now offer strains with THC content above 30 per cent, with the total volume prescribed jumping from 2.7 million grams in 2022 to 9.8 million grams in 2024. Products above 22 per cent THC accounted for almost half of all prescriptions in the first two months of 2025.

The NHS lists hallucinations and suicidal thoughts among the possible side effects of medicinal cannabis.

For confidential support, call Samaritans on 116 123, visit samaritans.org or visit thecalmzone.net/get-support.
A rising star of the Green Party has suggested last Monday's destruction of four ambulances run by a Jewish charity was an 'inside job'.

Tope Olawoyin shared a series of social media messages claiming the arson attack in Golders Green, north London, was 'done by a fellow Jew'.

The burning of the four ambulances used by the Hatzola charity has drawn condemnation from across the political spectrum and is being investigated by counter-terrorism police as a potential anti-Semitic hate crime.

Two men, British nationals aged 47 and 45, were later arrested on suspicion of arson with intent to endanger life, and have now been bailed until April.

But Ms Olawoyin, a close ally of Green Party leader Zack Polanski, shared a claim that the attack was a 'false flag' - a term for an action carried out with the intention of blaming an opponent for it.

A spokesman from the Campaign Against Antisemitism said: 'Their views are straight out of Nazi Germany... This is a major moment for the Green Party to decide what it is and which side of morality it wants to be on.'

There has been growing criticism of the Greens over a failure to tackle allegations of anti-Semitism in the party. In recent days, leaked WhatsApp messages exposed Green Party activists referring to Jewish people as 'an abomination to this planet'.

And last month, a document was sent to party members warning them against sharing messages online that could be viewed as anti-Semitic. It stated: 'Those who oppose us will be looking for the opportunity to say that we are a bunch of unpleasant, vengeful anti-Semites. They will seek to bait us into making statements emotionally, and smear us whenever they can. Don't take the bait!'

Tope Olawoyin (pictured), a Green councillor candidate, shared a post on the day of the Golders Green Jewish ambulance arson attacks, calling it an 'inside job'

Green Party leader Zack Polanski speaks during the 'Together Against The Far Right' rally on Saturday, March 28

Mr Polanski was born into a Jewish family and says he is 'proud of my Jewish heritage'.

But the Daily Mail revealed on Saturday that several members of his family fear they could be forced to leave the UK if he wins power. One said that the Greens were becoming 'an Islamic party of Britain'.

Ms Olawoyin is a Green council candidate in Havering, east London, at the local elections in May.

She is a member of the party's London executive board and previously introduced Mr Polanski at the party's annual conference.

In the aftermath of last week's attack on ambulances operated by the Jewish charity Hatzola, Ms Olawoyin shared a number of messages suggesting it had been staged.

And following the arrest of two British nationals in connection with the incident, Ms Olawoyin said: 'I can say with almost absolute certainty that the men arrested are white, probably even Jewish.'

A vote on a policy proposal equating Zionism - support for the state of Israel - with racism was postponed at the party's conference at the weekend.

The event, held online via Zoom, was marred by technical glitches as more than 1,000 people tried to take part.

The motion, if passed, would see the party formally declare itself 'anti-Zionist' and calls for support for 'resistance' from Israeli 'occupation'. The Green Party was contacted for comment.
Kemi Badenoch has questioned the actions of Keir Starmer's former chief adviser over a stolen government mobile phone, describing them as 'extremely fishy'.

The Tory leader on Sunday called on Morgan McSweeney to explain to parliament what happened during the robbery and why he did not alert police to his important position within government.

The loss of the device on a London street means that important messages relating to Lord Mandelson's appointment as US ambassador will not be placed in the public domain.

It comes after MPs moved in February to force the publication of thousands of documents with the aim of uncovering how much was known about Lord Mandelson's links to Jeffrey Epstein before the peer was handed the Washington job.

Ms Badenoch told Sky News's Trevor Phillips: 'Why didn't [Mr McSweeney] tell police that he was the Prime Minister's chief of staff? That's fishy. What if Iran had stolen that phone? What if Russia or China had stolen that phone? The chief of staff did not tell the police who he was, that is extremely fishy, I'm sorry.'

She added: 'This is the man who advised the appointment of Peter Mandelson, something we've now seen has been a huge cover-up.

'This is not a conspiracy theory. Questions need to be answered and he should come to Parliament and explain what happened.'

Last October, with the Tories plotting to use a Commons procedure to force the disclosure of all messages about Lord Mandelson, Downing Street aides held meetings to come up with a strategy for 'Morgan's messages'.

The prime minister's former chief of staff Morgan McSweeney had his phone stolen. The government has said his messageS with Peter Mandelson may not be recovered

Kemi Badenoch has raised serious concerns over the security implications of a stolen government device, labelling the conduct of Keir Starmers former adviser as highly suspicious

A few days later, on October 20, Mr McSweeney reported that his official iPhone had been snatched in London. After he reported the incident to Downing Street the device was wiped remotely.

Speaking on the same programme as Ms Badenoch, Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson accused the presenter of talking 'rubbish' and 'hyperbole' when he questioned her about the theft.

'Morgan McSweeney was mugged, reported it to the police, followed all of the processes that were asked of him,' she said. 'Some of this is drifting into conspiracy theory territory here.'
It's strange reporting on someone you once knew, someone who existed in an entirely different context before they became a headline.

That's exactly how it has felt watching the downfall of the young woman now dubbed 'Melbourne's meth queen': Tess Rowlatt.

To me, she wasn't always that person.

We grew up in Melbourne in that cliquey south-eastern suburbs ecosystem of private schools, public schools, and the social overlap that comes with both.

She went to Canterbury Girls' Secondary College. I was at Methodist Ladies' College.

Different schools, but the same house parties and later nightclubs.

While we were never close, we drank at the same 'gatherings' - the kind where teenagers canoodled around the side of the house and the hosts' parents would peer out the window to 'keep an eye on things'.

If you're a Millennial, you'll probably remember these sorts of parties: girls in miniskirts and singlets in the middle of winter, drinking Passion Pop and smoking - or, more accurately, coughing on - Marlboro Lights.

Melbourne party girl Tess Rowlatt has pleaded guilty to trafficking meth. A Corrections Victoria support worker described her in court as 'quite middle-class', unlike others in prison

I remember the nickname some girls at my school had for Rowlatt: 'Food-in-Braces Tess'

In her early university days, she re-emerged with a 'glow-up' that attracted attention, driven by drastic weight loss that was widely thought to be an eating disorder

I remember the nickname some girls at my school had for Rowlatt: 'Food-in-Braces Tess'. It wasn't especially clever, but it would have cut deep for an insecure teenage girl whose whole world revolved around how she looked.

In her early university days, she re-emerged with a 'glow-up' that attracted attention, driven by drastic weight loss that was widely thought to be an eating disorder.

One friend described the 'super toxic' pressure Rowlatt exerted on her inner circle as she encouraged them to eat less, like she did, and criticised perfectly healthy bodies.

'Tess was manipulative and controlling,' she told me.

And then there was the partying.

She was a party girl going back to the era when endless photo albums were uploaded to Facebook the morning after a forgettable Saturday night at the club.

Rowlatt was always front and centre, glass in hand, pupils as big as saucers.

We crossed paths in the same 'high-end' but drugsoaked clubs - QBar, Prince, Seven, Boutique - during those fun, chaotic nights before any of us had real responsibilities like fulltime jobs or rent.

Like many, she dabbled in party drugs. It was hardly a secret, nor scandalous. But unlike most, she didn't stop. She escalated from pingers to harder drugs.

She was a party girl going back to the era when endless photo albums were uploaded to Facebook the morning after a forgettable Saturday night at the club

She was a regular at St Kilda club Prince's 'side bar', often found dancing behind the DJ

Tess is pictured in the QBar nightclub bathrooms on a Thursday night

Am I surprised that her drug use descended to a life of crime? Absolutely.

Plenty of us flirted with that lifestyle; most of us grew out of it.

We were all reckless at 19, but none of us wound up running a drug operation or fleeing from a bikie-linked vehicle in the middle of the night carrying bags of meth.

And yet, that's exactly where Rowlatt has landed.

I never imagined that someone I knew, someone from a loving, upper-middle-class family who grew up in suburban Canterbury would spiral into meth addiction, let alone build a reputation as a serious drug trafficker.

But I'm reminded that meth doesn't discriminate, even against those from good families with all the opportunities we were given.

In the years since, we've remained connected through social media.

There were stretches when she disappeared - in jail, as I would later learn - and then reappeared, posting as if nothing had happened.

I suspect she doesn't entirely hate the attention that now surrounds her.

Last year, I read that she had been forced out of a rehabilitation centre after being caught vaping, intimidating other patients, and refusing to participate - basically trying to play the queen bee all over again, just like she had tried to do in high school.

We crossed paths in the same 'high-end' but drugsoaked clubs - QBar, Prince, Seven, Boutique - during those fun, chaotic nights before any of us had real responsibilities

Rowlatt grew up in well-heeled Canterbury. The family home was sold after she left high school and her parents no longer live there

And after her drug use and offending became widely known, I couldn't help but notice how she presented herself online: racy outfits, nights out at upmarket restaurants.

Something didn't add up.

Now 36, Rowlatt recently fronted the Melbourne County Court after being caught bolting from a black BMW X5 in Southbank just before 1am on August 16 last year.

Police had flagged the vehicle due to its links to someone with a firearm prohibition order and outlaw motorcycle gang associations. When officers attempted to pull it over, the car stopped and Rowlatt fled.

Police didn't chase the car. They chased her instead, and she didn't get far.

Caught near Southside Tower on Sturt Street, she was arrested carrying more than 100g of meth in her handbag, along with 1,4-butanediol (a solvent that converts into the party drug GHB), $750 in cash and bank cards in other people's names.

The court heard Rowlatt had a 17-year history of drug abuse which began when she was 19. Rowlatt graduated from Canterbury Girls school in 2007 (right, as a school girl)

Rowlatt is seen left, alongside a friend, in a public Facebook upload from May 2024

Later, the court heard she had a 17-year history of drug abuse, beginning at just 19.

Her prior offending is extensive - including running a drug operation across 16 Melbourne Airbnbs in 2021. She moved between properties using fake IDs, allegedly facilitating deals worth tens of thousands of dollars.

She would serve just 419 days in jail.

Even more astonishing is what followed.

After a February 2024 sentencing, she was assessed as being at low risk of reoffending. She completed just a single day of rehabilitation. Her 400 hours of community service were allowed to be done from home.

During her most recent day in court, Judge Duncan Allen acknowledged the 'abject failure' of the system that had allowed Rowlatt to relapse into drugs and offending.

Having pleaded guilty to trafficking meth and dealing with the proceeds of crime, she is now behind bars at the Dame Phyllis Frost Centre - the same women's prison that houses mushroomkiller Erin Patterson - and has spent more than 200 days there, including stretches under lockdown because of staff shortages.

Last week, a Corrections Victoria support worker told the court that 'middle-class' Rowlatt seemed more serious than ever about rehabilitation.

But even that came with doubt, given the same worker also admitted that Rowlatt had previously lied to psychologists about her drug use.

As I read the latest updates, I couldn't help but think back to the Noughties: Tess the awkward teenager with too much bronzer. A textbook Millennial party girl. The nasty nickname. Her toxic influence on friends. The disordered eating.

None of it seemed particularly extraordinary at the time.

And yet, somewhere along the way, something went very wrong.

The girl from those suburban house parties is now a criminal facing serious time. Her matter returns to court on April 30, when it will be decided if her future is in prison or a drug rehabilitation facility.

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The person who reportedly provided authorities with a tip-off about cop killer Dezi Freeman before he was shot dead on Monday could be eligible for a $1million reward.

Police killed the fugitive after he was located in a shipping container-like structure near Walwa on the NSW-Victoria border after seven months on the run.

It is understood police received information 'from someone close to him' before Freeman was found 188km northeast from where he was last seen at Porepunkah in Victoria's high country.

Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Mike Bush refused to be drawn on the tip-off that led them there at a press conference to confirm Freeman's death on Monday, subject to formal identification.

Commissioner Bush also said any details related to the reward would remain confidential.

Freeman shot Detective Leading Senior Constable Neal Thompson, 59, and Senior Constable Vadim de Waart-Hottart, 34, and injured a third officer at Porepunkah on August 26.

Less than two weeks later Victoria Police offered a $1million reward for information leading to Freeman's arrest but until now the 56-year-old had evaded capture.

The reward was one of the largest ever offered in Australia, and came amid a search involving 450 police officers and members of the defence force.

The person who reportedly provided authorities with a tip-off about cop killer Dezi Freeman (above) before he was shot dead on Monday could be eligible for a $1million reward

Police killed the fugitive after he was located in a shipping container near Walwa in northeast Victoria after seven months on the run. A cop is pictured in the early days of the search

'At this time, police are unaware of Freeman's current location and are appealing to members of the public who do have information about his whereabouts to come forward,' a police spokesperson said at the time.

'There is nothing to indicate that Freeman is being assisted by a specific person, however given the difficult terrain and the requirement for various supplies this remains a possibility.

'Police are also open to the possibilities that he remains at large alone or is dead as a result of self-harm.'

The Homicide Squad's Detective Inspector Dean Thomas said in September the reward for Freeman's capture was unique in the state's history.

'While the offering of a reward for a murder investigation is not unusual in itself, what sets this apart is that this reward is for arrest and not conviction - and it is the largest reward ever offered for an arrest in Victoria,' Detective Inspector Thomas said.

'This figure recognises the seriousness of this violent offending and our commitment to locating Freeman as soon as possible so that he is no longer a risk to the broader community.

'Our aim in offering this reward is that it will lead someone out there, who may not have been willing to come forward until this time, to contact police.

'There is no doubt that up to a million dollars is a life-changing amount of money for anyone and has the potential to completely change their circumstances.'

The reward was one of the largest ever offered in Australia, and came amid a search involving 450 police officers and members of the defence force

Detective Inspector Thomas had said help from the public would be crucial in bringing the search for Freeman to an end.

'We believe this investigation will only be brought to resolution through assistance from members of the public and again, I am urging anyone with any information at all to come forward and contact Crime Stoppers,' he told reporters.

'This could be sightings of Freeman, information you're hearing in your local communities, even suspicious activity on your property - whatever it is, we want you to tell us.

'I would also like to stress to members of the public that if you see Freeman, then we need you to call triple zero immediately because this will give police the very best chance of apprehending him.

'Freeman has killed two people and injured a third, and it's immensely important that we can bring him into custody safely as soon as possible - hopefully this reward helps do just that.'

The $1million reward came as friends of Freeman warned the Daily Mail a bounty could backfire spectacularly and trigger a deadly showdown between the gunman and members of the public.

'His issue is and always has been with authority,' one friend said. 'But if a few locals corner him in the bush, that's all going to change, and this could end very badly.'

Police launched a new search for Freeman early last month.

More than 100 officers, including interstate specialists, conducted a 'significant targeted search' over five days in the Mount Buffalo National Park.

It is understood police received a tip-off 'from someone close to him' before Freeman was found 188km northeast from where he was last seen at Porepunkah in Victoria's high country

The renewed effort came weeks after police had announced a targeted search on an adjoining area, which focused on locating evidence or Freeman's body.

Police from the Search and Rescue Squad, Public Order Response Team, Taskforce VIPER, Critical Incident Response Team, Dog Squad and Drone Unit took part.

They worked alongside local police and Taskforce Summit investigators, as well as a NSW Police cadaver dog.

At the time, Detective Inspector Adam Tilley encouraged locals to share any information they believed could be relevant to Freeman's whereabouts.

'The same three possibilities remain open to us  Freeman is either dead, being harboured, or has gotten out from the area and surviving alone,' he said.

'At this time there is no intelligence to move us away from these possibilities or to make any one the more likely scenario, so we have to keep an open mind.

'Police will continue to conduct targeted, intelligence-based searches such as this one and we will also have a presence in the local community for the foreseeable future.'
Supporters of President Donald Trump wrestled with his decision to go to war in Iran during the Conservative Political Action Conference in Grapevine, Texas.

Some of the attendees and speakers at CPAC sought to rally conservatives behind Trump and 'trust his judgment' as he pursued an array of goals in his second term as president.

Others, however, remained skeptical about a foreign policy that has increasingly emphasized overseas interventions as the US considers putting boots on the ground in Iran.

Mark Lynch, a Republican challenging South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham in his primary, told the Daily Mail he was furious at Graham's advocacy for the war.

'The biggest thing is they're sick of his warmongering patterns he's had his whole tenure, he's all about starting more wars,' Lynch said. 'He's sick, he's warped he's blood-lustful, he's evil.'

Lynch chided Graham for ignoring constituents in South Carolina to focus his attention on foreign entanglements in the Middle East.

'He's AWOL,' he said, referring to Graham. 'He's all over the world trying to start World War III and ignoring South Carolinians.'

CPAC chairman Matt Schlapp endorsed Trump's decision in an interview with the Daily Mail, and said that most conservatives would follow the President.

'Most people here trust Trump. They trust his judgment,' Schlapp said.

'They believe that he and Marco Rubio have been very wise in how they've handled diplomatically and how they've handled it militarily. You trust him, and we'll see how this goes.'

US President Donald J. Trump (C), with Secretary of State Marco Rubio (L) and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth (R), responds to a question from the news media during a cabinet meeting

Attendees sing the national anthem during the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) USA 2026

Former White House chief strategist for President Trump and host of War Room podcast Steve Bannon paused his live show on Thursday to air President Trump's cabinet meeting live for his audience.

Trump, he observed to the Daily Mail afterward, held a carefully-orchestrated 'war cabinet' meeting to demonstrate his seriousness about the mission in Iran but also to send a message to their leaders about a chance to negotiate.

After his audience watched the cabinet meeting, Bannon recalled that the majority cheered when he asked them whether they wanted the president to finish the job right and come home, rather than exit right away.

But he noted there was zero support from attendees when he asked if the president should send in ground troops.

The president, he explained, would have to move quickly as public support for the war was limited.

'I think public support being against it is inextricably linked to movement towards an objective that the American people support there,' Bannon said.

Iran was playing smash-mouth negotiations with Trump, he noted.

Iran closing the Strait of Hormuz, Bannon said, hurt their own country economically but also shifted the momentum in the war.

'It really shifted the initiative in this thing. I think you've got to get the initiative back,' he said.

Join the discussion Should America risk more lives for foreign wars, or should it focus on problems at home?

CPAC Chairman, Matt Schlapp applauds during a speech by exiled Iranian Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi

Conservative political strategist Steve Bannon, former advisor to US President Donald Trump speaks during the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC)

The CPAC conference was flooded with a large group of Americans of Persian descent who praised the president's decision to launch military strikes in Iran.

One Iranian-American attendee revealed that there were at least 1,000 of his fellow patriots who came to the conference this year.

Exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi spoke to the conference on Saturday, urging Americans to be supportive of the president's war effort.

As the son of the shah in Iran who was overthrown in the 1979 revolution, Pahlavi emphasized the evil of the new leaders of Iran and offered hope to skeptical conservatives.

'A free Iran is not a fantasy,' Pahlavi said. 'A free Iran is within reach right now, but as we all know, freedom never comes free.'

The Persians at the conference demonstrated visible support for the crown prince, wearing Iranian flags, pins, shirts, together with pro-Trump memorabilia.

The group deployed flash-mobs throughout the conference, erupting in cheers and shouting in Farsi, signaling support for the crown prince and thanking Trump for his decision to launch military attacks in the country. .

Matin, 28, a man originally from Iran now lives in California and said he came to the conference to cheer on Pahlavi.

Attendees chant slogans in support of the Iranian opposition and thank US President Donald Trump during the Conservative Political Action Conference

Saeed Akbari and Noushin Ebrahimi, with children Parmida Akbari and Liam Akbari, demonstrate during a Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC)

He conceded there was 'trauma' in the United States from wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but urged Americans to be patient with Trump's military operation.

'It wouldn't be a bad idea to put some trust in the plan, ultimately this will be beneficial for the entire world,' he said. 'Oil prices will be lower than ever before.'

Younger conservatives, however, were more skeptical of the president's war.

'I think it's stupid. Trump did run on no new wars and a lot of people came on board because of that,' Luke, 20, a student traveling to the conference from Cincinnati told the Daily Mail.

'I'll tolerate it if it ends quickly and we do well,' Charles, 20 told the Daily Mail. 'I don't know if it was the best move but it depends on how well it goes.'

Older attendees recalled personal memories of the Iran hostage crisis and other bombings of American targets in the Middle East, making them more likely to back the president's decision.

Henry, 63, from Florida and his wife Fern both backed the military strikes.

'I think it was necessary, I think it was high time that we settle everything,' he said.

His wife agreed.

'I think Trump is moving forward and he is worried about years from now, just not today,' she said. 'I understand that a lot of people are upset, I get it, but I think it is something that needs to be done.'

Jeff from Oregon, 67, said he was more supportive of the president's efforts.

'I pray that this will lead to a toppling of that evil regime,' he said, praising Trump's foreign policy so far as 'amazing.'

'Wouldn't it be wonderful if we end up with Cuba free, Venezuela free, and Iran free and figure out how to end that war in Ukraine?' he asked.
Aussies are divided over the fatal shooting of Dezi Freeman, with some saying he avoided justice in court and that he may actually be seen as a martyr.

Freeman, 56, was killed by cops after he was found in a shipping container near Walwa, near the NSW-Victoria border, at 8.30am on Monday.

Freeman was on the run for seven months after he shot dead two officers and injured a third while they were serving a warrant at his Porepunkah property in Victoria.

Australians immediately praised the efforts of police after news broke he had finally been found.

'Well done, Victoria Police,' one wrote.

Some argued he should have faced trial, while others shared their disbelief that Freeman had actually been caught, demanding to see police bodycam footage.

'He should have been captured and made to stand trial. Police are not judge, jury and executioner,' one added.

Macquarie University criminology expert Dr Vince Hurley told Daily Mail that Freeman had taken the 'coward's way out'.

Freeman, 56, was killed by cops after he was found in a shipping container near Walwa, on the NSW and Victoria border, at 8.30am on Monday

'So far as avoiding justice, he took the coward's way out by not accepting his responsibility for his actions,' he said.

He warned Freeman's death could see him idolised within some fringe communities.

'The sovereign citizen will see him as a martyr given he avoided police,' Dr Hurley said.

'It is quite an achievement in their eyes.'

Freeman subscribed to the sovereign citizen movement's ideology.

Adopters of this worldview usually believe the government is illegitimate and that the law does not apply to them.

Dr Hurley added there was only one group of people who could answer whether or not Freeman faced the justice he deserved.

'The only ones than can actually answer this are the victims' families,' he said.

The manhunt for Freeman become one of the biggest police operations in the country, with officers scouring bushland and offering a $1million reward (pictured, police searching regional Victoria in September)

Dr Hurley said he was 'surprised' that Freeman had 'lasted this long' (pictured, police searching a forest in regional Victoria in September)

Detective Leading Senior Constable Neal Thompson, 59, and Senior Constable Vadim de Waart-Hottart, 34, were the two officers killed by Freeman.

Former homicide detective Charlie Bezzina said Freeman was seen as a 'lead sovereign citizen' and that allowing him to become a martyr would be bad news.

'But what he has done and speaking that way, we don't want him to be revered in any way,' he said.

Daily Mail understands police tried to negotiate with Freeman before he was killed.

The manhunt for Freeman become one of the biggest police operations in the country, with officers scouring bushland and offering a $1million reward.

Dr Hurley said he was 'surprised' that Freeman had 'lasted this long'.

'Given his social isolation, not many would have sympathy for him locally therefore lack of support for his survival. He survived through snow and summer heat,' he said.

Dr Hurley added that the fact Freeman was found only two hours from Porepunkah suggests he may have had associates.

Former homicide detective Charlie Bezzina said Freeman was seen as a 'lead sovereign citizen' and that allowing him to become a martyr would be bad news

'If he was in a container - and it depends on if it was abandoned or not, or owned by someone who knew him - but Im thinking, given its been six months, its very possible be had assistance of some type,' he said.

'I'd do think that person or persons could be charged with harbouring him (if that is the case).'

Dr Bezzina agreed it was possible Freeman may have received help.

He said the distance from Porepunkah 'doesn't surprise' him.

'He may well have been allegedly harboured at that location. I'm yet to find some more details,' Mr Bezzina said.

Asked if Freeman could have been making his way as far north as possible, given Walwa's proximity to the Victoria-New South Wales border, Mr Bezzina disagreed.

'I don't believe he was going to flee further north. His associations would have been limited had he wanted to go further north,' he said.

'He's had what, four or five months to do that, but he was obviously staying put because of his limited association, and probably feeling safe where he was.'

Mr Bezzina said the investigation does not stop now that Freeman has been shot, adding that if anyone is suspected of harbouring the fugitive, police will act.

'They'll be reacting quite quickly. They'll be following right through and making further inquiries at that particular location,' he said.

'It just doesn't stop by him being shot dead. It's a matter of finding why, how long has he been here, and talking to people around the whole area as to what their knowledge was.'

Victoria Police confirmed on Monday morning that Freeman had been shot dead.

'A man has been fatally shot by police at a property in northeast Victoria this morning as part of the operation to locate Desmond Freeman,' a spokesman said.

'No police officers were injured during the incident.'
Fugitive gunman Dezi Freeman was shot dead by police on Monday morning, bringing an end to a seven-month manhunt that gripped Australia.

However those closest to him say they never underestimated his determination for revenge or his desperation to one day see his family again.

Freeman, 56, was shot shortly after 8.30am after he was reportedly found inside a 'long caravan' near Walwa, about 180km northeast of Porepunkah, where he went missing on August 26.

Freeman had evaded cops, the army and special forces in Victoria's biggest manhunt for months after gunning down two police officers.

Ten officers had attended his makeshift home, a bus he shared with his wife and two children in Porepunkah, to serve a warrant when the deadly shootout erupted.

After shooting the officers, Dezi took off on foot, vanishing into the bushland of Mount Buffalo National Park until police finally found at a property in northeast Victoria on Monday.

Freeman, said to be armed with a firearm wrapped in a blanket, was offered the chance to surrender during a three hour stand-off, say cops.

But instead he sparked a shootout, and was killed instantly. No police were injured.

Fugitive Dezi Freeman has been shot dead after seven months on the run after reportedly being found inside a shipping container

Daily Mail understands police tried to negotiate with the sovereign citizen before he was killed

Freeman was reportedly shot in Walwa about 188km northeast of Porepunkah, where he went missing on August 26, 2025

Freeman's sudden death has devastated his family, who have endured months of fear and uncertainty.

While his eldest son Koah Freeman previously told the Daily Mail he was resigned to the fact his dad may have ended his life, he also admitted his father had the survival skills and highly-trained mindset to stay on the run.

Koah revealed his dad was obsessed with the Rambo movies and likened his father to the main character who clashes with the town's police after going on the run.

'Especially the first Rambo movie,' Koah said. 'It's like that but 10 times capacity.'

That same sentiment has been echoed by other family members, who never doubted Freeman's ability, or more concerning, his vendetta against police.

'Dezi's hatred for authority dates back decades,' confirmed a close source after hearing the news of his death.

'Ending his own life wouldn't be something he'd do unless it was the last resort.

'He'd want revenge and given his long history with authority there is little doubt that's what he was plotting for six months.

'The isolation wouldn't bother him; in fact it would just make him more determined and more focused.'

The Porepunkah property where Dezi Freeman shot and killed two Victoria Police officers after they tried to execute a warrant for alleged historical sexual offences

Freeman shot dead Detective Leading Senior Constable Neal Thompson, 59 - a local officer who was on the brink of retirement

He also shot dead Senior Constable Vadim de Waart-Hottart, 34

The source continued: 'And if he did have help in this container they found him at, then he would probably knew they arrested his wife and that would have made him furious.

'Dezi was a good dad and he loved his family more than anything and he'd want to make sure they were okay.'

Victoria Police's Chief Commissioner Mike Bush confirmed authorities had tried to negotiate with the sovereign citizen during the three-hour standoff on Monday morning, before he was killed.

'There was an appeal to encourage the person to come out, we're examining the sequence of events,' Chief Commissioner Mike Bush said.

'There was an opportunity for him to surrender peacefully, which he did not. We strongly believe, yet to be confirmed, that he was armed.'

Commissioner Bush said a very large team had been involved in the operation on Monday, and that investigations continue.

'There was a lot to suggest that Freeman had taken his own life (before today),' he said.

'But I can tell you standing here that our investigators, that's why they're professionals, keep their mind open to every possible outcome and follow every possible lead.'

Reports suggest police had received a tip-off 'from someone close to him' before locating him.

Wayne Gatt, secretary of the Police Association Victoria, said the shooting was a 'step forward' for the force.
President Donald Trump said Sunday a deal 'could be soon' amid negotiations with Iran and revealed 20 more oil tankers are set to pass through the Strait of Hormuz as a 'sign of respect'.

Trump claimed Tehran was 'basically begging' for peace negotiations and the regime was desperate to cut a deal after suffering what he characterized as heavy losses on the battlefield.

'Were doing extremely well in that negotiation. But you never know with Iran, because we negotiate with them and then we always have to blow them up,' he added while speaking to reporters on Air Force One.

'I think well make a deal with them, but its possible that we won't,' Trump continued. 'I do see a deal in Iran. It could be soon.'

When asked by Libby Alon of Channel 14 Israel whether the US could take control of the Strait of Hormuz, Trump replied: 'Yes, of course, it's already happening.'

The strategically vital waterway, which serves as a conduit for roughly one-fifth of global oil supply, has been partially closed by Iran. The result has sent oil prices skyrocketing.

Trump also referred to the essential waterway as the 'Strait of Trump,' something he made a pointed joke about during a speech on Friday.

'We're negotiating now, and it would be great if we could do something, but they have to open it up. They have to open up the Strait of Trump - I mean Hormuz,' Trump said at the Saudi-backed Future Investment Initiative Priority forum in Miami, prompting laughter before adding: 'Excuse me, I'm so sorry there's no accidents with me.'

In a separate interview with the Financial Times, Trump went even further - openly discussing seizing Iran's oil infrastructure.

Donald Trump said the US is 'already' taking control of the Strait of Hormuz during a phone call with a journalist on Sunday

The president was discussing how any peace deal with Iran would have to come with a reopening of the waterway which is currently being blocked amid the war with Iran

Libby Alon of C14Israel said Trump told her Iran is 'basically begging' for a deal. Trump said 'yes of course it's already happening' when asked about controlling the Strait of Hormuz

'To be honest with you, my favorite thing is to take the oil in Iran but some stupid people back in the US say: "Why are you doing that?' But they're stupid people,' he said.

Trump specifically pointed to Kharg Island, through which most of Iran's oil exports flow, as a potential target.

'Maybe we take Kharg Island, maybe we don't. We have a lot of options,' he said. 'It would also mean we had to be there [on Kharg Island] for a while.'

Asked about Iranian defenses on the oil-rich island, Trump added: 'I don't think they have any defense. We could take it very easily.'

He compared the idea to US involvement in Venezuela, suggesting Washington could control oil production 'indefinitely.'

The stakes were already rippling across global markets Sunday night. Brent crude surged above $116 a barrel, near its highest level since the conflict began. after jumping more than 50 percent in a month.

Trump said indirect talks with Iran, conducted via Pakistani intermediaries, are 'going very well,' but he also issued a stark ultimatum.

He has set an April 6 deadline for Tehran to accept a deal - or face strikes on its energy sector.

In an exclusive conversation with President Trump today, @POTUS told Libby Alon from @c14israel that he believes Iran is "begging" for a deal and that anyone "decimated" as they have been would want one.



The US President also highlighted the "full coordination" currently pic.twitter.com/pMpPCoYv4f  C14 News Israel | EN (@c14israel) March 29, 2026

Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf accused the U.S. of 'secretly planning a ground invasion' while offering negotiations. Ghalibaf said Iranian forces are 'waiting' for American troops and ready

The Strait of Hormuz is one of the worlds most critical oil chokepoints, with roughly one-fifth of global supply typically passing through its narrow waters

'We've got about 3,000 targets left - we've bombed 13,000 targets - and another couple of thousand targets to go,' Trump said. 'A deal could be made fairly quickly.'

Trump also made a series of claims about shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, saying Iran had allowed tankers through as a 'sign of respect'.

'They gave us 10,' he said. 'Now they're giving 20 and the 20 have already started and they're going right up the middle of the Strait.'

He claimed Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the country's parliament speaker, personally authorized the move.

'He's the one who authorized the ships to me', Trump said. 'Remember I said they're giving me a present? And everyone said: "What's the present? Bulls***." When they heard about that they kept their mouth shut and the negotiations are going very well.'

In the same FT interview, Trump claimed Iran had effectively already undergone regime change following the reported deaths of senior leaders.

'The people we're dealing with are a totally different group of people . . . [They] are very professional,' he said.

He also repeated unverified claims about Mojtaba Khamenei, saying: 'The son is either dead or in extremely bad shape We've not heard from him at all. He's gone.'

A smartphone screen displaying the MarineTraffic map shows a high concentration of ship beacons in the Strait of Hormuz

Tehran, however, has insisted its leadership remains intact and has dismissed speculation about internal upheaval.

Even as Trump spoke of negotiations, Iranian officials were issuing stark warnings of an impending military escalation.

Ghalibaf has accused the United States of duplicity - claiming diplomacy is being used as cover for a looming invasion.

'The enemy publicly sends messages of negotiation while secretly planning a ground invasion  unaware that our men are waiting for American troops to enter on the ground, ready to unleash devastation upon them and punish their regional allies permanently,' Ghalibaf said.

He added: 'As long as the Americans seek Iran's surrender, the answer of your sons remains clear: 'Far be it from us to accept humiliation.'

The warning comes as the USS Tripoli, an American amphibious assault ship carrying roughly 3,500 service members, has arrived in the Middle East, according to US Central Command.

Trump also emphasized what he described as close alignment with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu amid the ongoing conflict.

'Coordination is very close - full coordination we have a good relationship. It couldn't be better,' Trump said, according to Alon's account of the conversation.

He went further, delivering a direct message to the Israeli public.

'I love Israel. Love the people of Israel and I'm very proud and happy about their support. A poll this morning show they have 99% support. No one has ever experienced anything like this so I'm very proud.'

Donald Trump suggested he may be set to give the Strait of Hormuz the Kennedy Center treatment after naming it for himself during a speech in Miami on Friday

The Strait of Hormuz has become the focal point of the confrontation.

The narrow passage, long considered one of the most critical arteries in global energy supply, has been effectively choked by the conflict, sending shockwaves through oil markets and raising fears of a broader regional war.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned earlier that Iran could attempt to impose a 'tolling system' on vessels transiting the strait, signaling a potential long-term disruption to international shipping.

At the same time, diplomatic efforts are underway. Pakistan is hosting talks involving the foreign ministers of Turkey, Egypt and Saudi Arabia aimed at de-escalating the crisis, even as rhetoric on both sides hardens.
A network of so-called sovereign citizens throughout rural Victoria are understood to have been aiding fugitive cop killer Dezi Freeman before he was shot dead on Monday morning.

Freeman, 56, was shot shortly after 8.30am on Monday after a three hour stand-off when he was found inside a shipping container-like structure near Walwa, about 188km northeast of Porepunkah, where he went missing on August 26.

Daily Mail Australia understands police tried to negotiate with the sovereign citizen before he was killed.

Police had received a tip-off 'from someone close to him' before locating him.

'A man has been fatally shot by police at a property in northeast Victoria this morning as part of the operation to locate Desmond Freeman,' police said.

'No police officers were injured during the incident.'

Freeman had been on the run since he fatally shot Detective Leading Senior Constable Neal Thompson, 59, and Senior Constable Vadim de Waart-Hottart, 34, and injured a third officer at Porepunkah, about 300km northeast of Melbourne, on August 26.

Victoria's rural network of sovereign citizens who revered Freeman as a modern-day Ned Kelly are believed to have helped keep the fugitive alive and hidden during his seven months on the run.

Fugitive cop killer Dezi Freeman before he was shot dead on Monday morning

The shootings sparked a massive manhunt, with hundreds of officers scouring bushland in and around Freeman's remote hideout beneath Mount Buffalo

Daily Mail understand police tried to negotiate with the sovereign citizen before he was killed

'We will conduct an investigation to see if others have been complicit and aiding him,' said Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Mike Bush on Monday.

'Not just in getting out of the area, but supporting him whilst he's been on the run.'

He added: 'We liaise with anyone that we believe will be able to help us in this investigation.

'This fine team of investigators will explore who and how he was aided to be where he was located.'

Detectives will also quiz the owner of the property where Freeman was finally found.

'Everyone in that environment will be spoken to in relation to that very point to understand whether or not they actually assisted,' said Commissioner Bush.

'To my knowledge, no-one else was in the immediate vicinity but there may have been people in the wider area.

'There is the ongoing investigation as to who supported Freeman in this escapade.'

Freeman's wife Mali (above), who police confirmed was present during the fatal shootings,was arrested on allegations of obstructing police, but was later released without charge

Freeman subscribed to the sovereign citizen movement's ideology and was receiving Centrelink benefits before the shooting.

A $1million bounty was offered for his capture and the lure of the reward may have led one of his supporters to give him up.

The shootings sparked a massive manhunt, with hundreds of officers scouring bushland in and around Freeman's remote hideout beneath Mount Buffalo.

Search crews combed steep, rocky terrain littered with caves and mineshafts, but found no trace of him.

More than 100 homes and properties were searched as police investigated whether anyone was helping Freeman evade arrest.

Early in the investigation, Freeman's wife Mali, who police confirmed was present during the fatal shootings, and a 15-year-old boy were arrested on allegations of obstructing police, but were later released without charge.

Several days later, Ms Freeman issued a statement urging her husband to surrender.

Police in December revealed they had shifted their search efforts to locating the body of the self-described 'sovereign citizen', but a five-day operation using cadaver dogs and drones yielded no results.

Detective Leading Senior Constable Neal Thompson, 59, was set to retire just weeks before he was killed by Freenman

Senior Constable Vadim de Waart-Hottart, 34, was shot dead by Freeman

On Monday, heavily-armed police gunned down the sovereign citizen.

Adopters of this worldview usually believe the government is illegitimate and that the law does not apply to them.

Footage illegally filmed and published online from a court appearance of Freeman in Wangaratta in November 2024 showed him attempting to arrest the magistrate and police officers.

The hearing was one of several disruptive court appearances in which Freeman demonstrated his contempt for the legal system.

A friend previously blamed the sovereign citizen movement for radicalising Freeman.

'He was unemployable. He couldn't hold down a job  it was his temperament,' the friend said.

Wayne Gatt, secretary of the Police Association Victoria, said the shooting of Freeman was a 'step forward' for the force.

'Our members said they would find him. They did,' Gatt said on Monday.

Victoria's rural network of sovereign citizens who revered Freeman as a modern-day Ned Kelly are believed to have helped keep the fugitive alive and hidden

'Closure isn't the right word. This represents a step forward for our members, for the families of our fallen members and for the community.

'It doesn't lessen the trauma, give back the futures that were callously stolen, or lessen the collective fear and grief that this tragic event has instilled in police and the wider public,' Gatt said.

He continued: 'Today, we won't reflect on the loss of a coward.

'We will remember the courage and bravery of our fallen members and every officer that has doggedly pursued this outcome for the community.

'They have worked tirelessly. During the emergency, in the operation that followed and the months thereafter, members across the state have devoted themselves to this singular pursuit.

'Days like today offer a sobering reminder that policing happens while you sleep, when the media spotlight on an investigation dims and when everything seems lost and forgotten. RIP Vadim and Neal. Today, we remember you.'

Freeman was last seen armed and fleeing into bushland near his Rayner Track property after the fatal shootings.

The shot officers were among a group of ten who had attended Freeman's property to serve a warrant over historical sex abuse allegations.
Luigi D. Notarangelo, M.D., is the Chief of the Immune Deficiency Genetics Section at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, NIH

NEW YORK, March 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- On April 28, 2026 the Jeffrey Modell Foundation (JMF) will host Luigi D. Notarangelo, M.D., the Chief of the Immune Deficiency Genetics Section at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, NIH, for a virtual talk about Primary Immunodeficiency. The event is a part of JMF's World Primary Immunodeficiency Week (WPIW) program, which is held annually from April 22 to 29 to raise awareness for Primary Immunodeficiency and accelerate earliest possible diagnosis for patients worldwide.

Jeffrey Modell Foundation World Primary Immunodeficiency Week Speaker Series

"World Primary Immunodeficiency Week is a chance for our global community to increase understanding of Primary Immunodeficiency and generate meaningful change for patients," said Vanessa Tenembaum, Chief Executive Officer of the Jeffrey Modell Foundation. "Through sharing his own expertise and experience, Dr. Notarangelo inspires further innovation and collaboration to create a better world for all people living with Primary Immunodeficiency."

This virtual talk is the next event in the JMF Speaker Series, a global education initiative launched last year to inspire connection, accelerate innovation, and transform how Primary Immunodeficiency is understood, diagnosed, and treated.

Registration for the virtual event is free and open to participants worldwide. The event will be moderated by pediatric immunologist Lisa Forbes Satter, MD, Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Section of Immunology, Allergy, and Retrovirology at Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) and Texas Children's Hospital (TCH) and Chief of the Texas Children's Division of Immunology, Allergy, and Retrovirology. Register for the event here and learn more about the JMF Speaker Series here.

This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the accreditation requirements and policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) through the joint providership of The Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons and the Jeffrey Modell Foundation.

About Luigi D. Notarangelo, M.D.

Luigi D. Notarangelo, M.D., is the Chief of the Immune Deficiency Genetics Section at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, NIH, Bethesda, USA. He has authored more than 650 publications on the molecular and cellular bases of inborn errors of immunity and the treatment of these disorders. He has contributed to the discovery of several genetic defects underlying inborn errors of immunity. Dr. Notarangelo is a member of the National Academy of Medicine and of the Association of American Physicians.

About Lisa Forbes Satter, MD

Lisa Forbes Satter, MD, is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Section of Immunology, Allergy, and Retrovirology at Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) and Texas Children's Hospital (TCH), Chief of the Texas Children's Division of Immunology, Allergy, and Retrovirology, Director of the Texas Children's William T. Shearer Center for Human Immunobiology, Director of the Jeffrey Modell Foundation Center, and Medical Director of the BCM Department of Pediatric Center for Research Advancement.

Dr. Forbes Satter's primary clinical and research focuses on immune deficiency and immune dysregulation, STAT transcription factor signaling defects in natural killer cells as well as novel gene discovery and therapeutic modulation in immune mediated disease. She has dedicated her academic career to translational research and clinical care of patients with rare immunologic disease through the development of multidisciplinary translational programs such as the TCH Immune Disorder Clinic Network, which connects the clinical care with novel disease and therapeutic discovery. Her work is geared toward understanding the mechanism of immune dysregulation to translate this knowledge into viable targeted and sustainable therapies.

She has more than 90 peer reviewed publications as well as NIH, industry and foundation funding. Dr. Forbes Satter is the 2019 recipient of the Norton Rose Fullbright award for excellence in Teaching and Education and the 2020 recipient of the Baylor College of Medicine Department of Pediatrics Young Investigator Award and 2022 Baylor college of Medicine Women in Excellence Award.

About the Jeffrey Modell Foundation

Fred and the late Vicki Modell established the Jeffrey Modell Foundation in 1987 in memory of their son Jeffrey, who passed away at the age of fifteen from complications of Primary Immunodeficiency, a genetic condition that is chronic, serious, and often fatal if not diagnosed correctly.

The Jeffrey Modell Foundation is a global non-profit organization dedicated to early diagnosis, meaningful treatments and, ultimately, cures for Primary Immunodeficiency through research, physician education, public awareness, advocacy, patient support, newborn screening, and genetic sequencing.

CONTACT:

Reagan Herzog

212-819-0200

[email protected]

SOURCE Jeffrey Modell Foundation
Police chiefs are set to condemn self-swab rape kits  warning they put victims at 'significant risk' and jeopardise cases.

Survivors are being 'misled' by claims they can get justice by self-swabbing for their attacker's DNA, the National Centre for Violence Against Women and Girls and Public Protection (NCVAWG) will say today.

It comes after the Daily Mail revealed a firm was selling kits for 20 to over 8,000 students and promising them they are a 'deterrent' to rapists.

But police, prosecutors and MPs have warned predators could walk free because intimate swabs taken by victims at home offer no proof of rape and there is a 'high risk' they will be 'unusable' in cases.

The firm producing the kits, Enough, claims DNA samples can be stored for 20 years so women have the option to go to police later with the evidence.

Yet today NCVAWG will say: 'The notion that self-swabbing strengthens a case is misleading and risks creating false expectations.'

In a joint statement with police chiefs, the centre will warn 'such kits present significant risk to victims, undermine safeguarding, and jeopardise the integrity of evidence'.

The kits are supplied without gloves and victims are instructed to send samples of semen or saliva in the post, risking contamination and damage in transit.

A photograph of the contents of an Enough self-swab kit. Critics say a DNA swab done at home is no proof of rape or even sexual intercourse

Shadow Security and Safeguarding Minister Alicia Kearns (pictured) has called for the products to be banned

Join the discussion How should we balance empowering victims with ensuring justice isn't jeopardized?

And chief constables fear police will lose opportunities 'to identify and disrupt perpetrators' if victims decide to do a swab at home.

The first abuse case involving a self-swab kit was recently dropped by police, leaving a child victim traumatised.

Chief Constable Sarah Crew said: 'Asking victims to collect intimate evidence alone, at a moment of crisis, places an unfair burden on them and risks both their wellbeing and the integrity of any investigation. These kits can create false expectations, lead to re-traumatisation and reduce trust in services.'

Tory safeguarding spokesman Alicia Kearns yesterday added: 'These kits are a commercial product dressed up as compassion.'

Enough previously said: 'Our approach fills two gaping holes in the system  an option for survivors who aren't currently reporting, and a threat for perpetrators who face no consequence today.'
Several said they were 'stressed' about their holiday

Aussies have been reassured there is no fuel crisis in Bali as some holidaymakers begin to panic about their upcoming trips to the holiday hotspot.

Several Australians have raised concerns about a possible shortage of fuel or an increase in prices due to the Middle East conflict.

The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has put pressure on global fuel supplies, with diesel reaching more than $3 a litre in Australia and more than 500 service stations suffering from petrol or fuel shortages in NSW and Victoria.

'We are booked to fly to Bali in May for eight days from Sydney,' one wrote on Facebook.

'We're starting to feel a little stressed with the fuel situation. Is everyone still booking to go as normal this year and hoping for the best?'

'Just wondering if fuel is affecting Bali and if it's difficult to get around?' a second asked.

Indonesia has introduced energy-saving measures, such as work-home-home arrangements for civil servants, to take consumer pressure off fuel consumption.

Despite the restrictions, many Aussies already in Bali have revealed that it appears to be business as usual, with prices as low as $1 a litre.

Matt Cameron said people were much calmer at petrol stations there and confirmed prices were cheaper than in Australia

'Just got back from two weeks in Bali and honestly, the world doesn't seem to exist over there, so go and enjoy your holiday,' one said.

'Bali fuel is the cheapest one. It's $1 for a litre at the moment,' a second said.

'We're in Bali at the moment and there have been no issues at all. Come and enjoy your holiday,' a third said.

'I would not be worried at all. I'm going in April and I'm not stressed,' another said.

'Fuel isn't affected in Bali and is still the same,' a fifth said.

One Aussie said people were much calmer at petrol stations, unlike the panic buying scenes in Australia, and confirmed prices were cheaper.

'Australian fuel prices are double that of Indonesia,' Matt Cameron said.

'There's no rations and no people queueing up. It's all calm.'

Several Australians have raised concerns about a possible shortage of fuel or an increase in prices due to the Middle East conflict

Amanda Micallef, founder of travel platform Bali Presto, alleviated fears.

'At the moment, there are no reports of petrol shortage,' she said.

'Bali imports its refined fuel, but the government is currently subsidising petrol so prices are remaining quite steady.

'If oil prices keep spiking though, then eventually fuel prices and potentially transportation costs will increase in Indonesia.'

The work-from-home arrangements in Indonesia began after the Eid al-Fitr national public holidays on March 24.

A significant amount of fuel was saved during Covid due to work-from-home, and Indonesian Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa expects similar results.

He said one day a week of working from home would 'save about a fifth, or around 20 per cent, of fuel consumption'.

While those measures don't affect Bali tourists yet, that may not be the case with flight costs.

Petrol prices in Bali are a lot cheaper than in Australia

With global oil prices rising and with airspace closures in cities like Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and Doha, Deputy Chairman of the Indonesian Hotel and Restaurant Association Bali, I Gusti Ngurah Rai Suryawijaya, said tourists could see an increase in airfares.

If that eventuates, it could affect the number of visitors to Bali.

'What I fear is a price war if tourism starts to decline,' Mr Suryawijaya said.

'However, we are still working to ensure Bali remains a prime destination for visitors.'
Iran warned Donald Trump last night that he would be sending thousands of ground troops into the 'swamp of death' if he invaded.

The country's leaders said its forces were ready and waiting for American soldiers and would 'set them on fire and punish their regional partners forever'.

Around 2,500 US Marines have arrived in the Gulf as reports suggest that the American President is planning an imminent ground invasion.

Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf, Iran's parliamentary speaker, accused the US of plotting a ground attack while talking about diplomatic solutions after the USS Tripoli, an amphibious assault ship, arrived in the Middle East on Friday carrying thousands of marines and sailors.

He added: 'Our firing continues. Our missiles are in place. Our determination and faith have increased.'

US officials told the Washington Post that any potential ground operation would fall short of a full-scale invasion and could instead involve a series of raids.

But Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps spokesman Ebrahim Zolfaqari said yesterday: 'Unfortunately, the leaders of the United States have delegated the authority to command the armed forces to someone who, due to imbalance, dangerous and wrong positions and decisions, has led the US army into the swamp of death.'

US Central Command said the USS Tripoli was equipped with 'transport and strike fighter aircraft, as well as amphibious assault and tactical assets'.

Ready for action: US marines train off Diego Garcia

Iran's parliamentary speaker accused the US of plotting a ground attack while talking about diplomatic solutions after the USS Tripoli (pictured), an amphibious assault ship, arrived in the Middle East on Friday

Iran warned Donald Trump last night that he would be sending thousands of ground troops into the 'swamp of death' if he invaded

The image above shows UK, US and French bases across the Middle East

American military leaders have discussed seizing Kharg Island, a key Iranian oil export hub in the Persian Gulf, as well as raiding coastal areas near the blockaded Strait of Hormuz, the Washington Post reported.

Troops may be deployed to destroy weapons that could target commercial and military shipping, officials said, with one adding that the objectives might take 'a couple of months'.

However, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Friday that America could achieve all its objectives without ground troops.

The war, which has now entered its fifth week, has threatened global supplies of oil and gas, caused a shortage of fertiliser, and severely disrupted air travel.

Iran's grip on the Strait of Hormuz and its retaliatory attacks on Gulf states have sent shockwaves through global markets.

In the past month, 13 US troops have been killed in action.

Some 62 per cent of Americans are opposed to a ground invasion, according to an Associated Press poll, with 12 per cent in favour.

Seizing Kharg Island would be hazardous, and it might be safer for forces to lay mines around the island to compel Iran to remove its own devices laid in the Strait of Hormuz, a military expert said.

Retired Army officer Michael Eisenstadt, a director at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said: 'I just wouldn't want to be in that small place with Iran's ability to rain down drones and maybe artillery.'

Meanwhile, Britain is preparing to deploy a Royal Navy ship that has been retro-fitted with autonomous mine-hunting drones, the Sunday Times reported.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Friday that America could achieve all its objectives without ground troops

Troops may be deployed to destroy weapons that could target commercial and military shipping, officials said. Pictured: Sailors and Marines who arrived in the Middle East on Friday

The USS Tripoli (pictured) is an amphibious assault ship. The USS Boxer and two other ships, along with another Marine Expeditionary Unit, have also been ordered to the region from San Diego

The amphibious landing vessel RFA Lyme Bay could be sent to the Strait of Hormuz. A defence source said no decision had been taken, but added: 'This preventative step gives ministers options... to help resume the normal flow of merchant shipping.'

Mr Trump has criticised Britain, claiming the UK 'should be involved enthusiastically' with efforts to reopen the waterway.

Iran's blockade of the strait has sent global fuel prices soaring, with a barrel of crude oil hitting as much as 85  up from about 50 before the war.

Mr Trump said on Saturday that negotiations with Tehran were 'going very well', even though Iran insists it is not negotiating with the White House.

He had warned Iran to end the blockade  which has left about 2,000 vessels trapped in the Persian Gulf  or face strikes on its energy infrastructure, but has extended the deadline to April 6.

It came as Pakistan announced last night that it would host talks between the US and Iran in days.

Electricity was cut in parts of the Iranian capital Tehran and the nearby city of Karaj yesterday after attacks on infrastructure, with shrapnel taking part of the electricity grid offline.
Double cop-killer Dezi Freeman was shot dead by an elite specialist police crew after he was tracked down to his rural lair, before firing on cops with a gun he stole from one of his victims.

Victoria Police Special Operations Group shot Freeman dead at 8.30am on Monday following a three-hour standoff.

It was revealed Freeman, 56, was hiding out on a Thologolong property, near Walwa, which is about 188km northeast of Porepunkah.

He was found at Tholo Farm, which boasts on Google 'Cookers welcome', and is owned by Rick Sutherland, currently on holiday in Tasmania, whose brother Neil, lives nearby.

He revealed how he had heard the police helicopter arrive at the scene about 5am, as the deadly police standoff began.

'I heard a chopper turn up, doing tight circles, tight laps,' Neil told the ABC. 'I heard a shot but didn't really know what was going on.'

The local farmer later heard police using megaphones to coax Freeman out of his lair before a single gunshot was heard when the fugitive was killed by police.

The Thologolong local revealed a mysterious campfire or bonfire had been spotted two months earlier in the same paddock where Freeman was finally found

Cop killer Dezi Freeman was shot dead by an elite specialist police crew on Monday

Freeman had fled Porepunkah on August 26 after he fatally shot Detective Leading Senior Constable Neal Thompson, 59, and Senior Constable Vadim de Waart-Hottart, 34.

He had been on the run or feared dead ever since, until a Thologolong local is believed to have spotted Freeman at his camp and alerted police over the weekend.

A specialist squad was quickly mobilised and sent to the converted shipping container/caravan where he was hiding out.

They sealed off the immediate area and patiently waited overnight before launching their raid on Freeman's lair just before dawn.

It's understood the Special Operations Group deployed flash-bang stun grenades to disorient Freeman as the standoff began, before he eventually opened fire on police using the pistol he stole from detective Leading Senior Constable Thompson.

Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Mike Bush confirmed an elite team of 'professionals' shot and killed Freeman after he was offered the chance to surrender.

Commissioner Bush said the standoff began about 5.30am and Freeman was offered every opportunity to hand himself in.

But he said police were left with no choice but to gun him down in a 'justified shooting' three hours later.

Freeman, 56, was killed at a Thologolong property, near Walwa, which is about 188km northeast of Porepunkah

Tholo Farm (above) where Freeman was shot dead on Monday morning

Neil Sutherland said he heard the police chopper go up at 5am

The top cop said it was 'quite possible' Freeman fired bullets at the specialist police team which had swarmed the rural property to 'conclude the investigation' as safely as possible.

'There was an appeal to encourage the person to come out, we're examining the sequence of events,' Commissioner Bush said.

'There was an opportunity for him to surrender peacefully, which he did not. We strongly believe, yet to be confirmed, that he was armed.'

Commissioner Bush added Monday's operation was 'about bringing this to a conclusion as peacefully as possible'.

'We don't have any role in how they react,' Commissioner Bush said before adding the aim had been to apprehend Freeman and bring him in alive.

Commissioner Bush would not confirm whether a tip-off led police to the remote property where Freeman had been lurking inside a long-caravan/shipping container-type lair.

He also wouldn't comment on any claims to the $1million bounty offered to capture Freeman dead or alive.

Commissioner Bush confirmed police continue to investigate if anyone had been helping Freeman, and how long he was in the area before he was shot and killed.

It was revealed Freeman, 56, was hiding out on a Thologolong property, near Walwa, which is about 188km northeast of Porepunkah

Freeman had been on the run since August 26

A vehicle on the property where Freeman was killed

Commissioner Bush also confirmed no one else was present inside the 'property boundary' but everyone in that 'environment' will be interviewed.

'To my knowledge, no one else was in the immediate vicinity, but there may have been people in the wider vicinity,' Commissioner Bush said.

'There are vehicles there. Whether he used them or not will be part of the investigation.'

Police are also probing how long Freeman had been in Porepunkah and how he managed to get so far away without detection.

'I am sure some assisted him in getting away from Porepunkah to where he is located,' Commissioner Bush said.

'We are very keen to learn who, if any, but I'm sure some, assisted him. If anyone was complicit they will be held to account.'

No one has been taken into custody, but Bush said anyone 'complicit' in Freeman's hiding would face charges.

Commissioner Bush said police will also speak to Freeman's family as part of their investigation.

Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Mike Bush confirmed an elite team of 'professionals' shot and killed Freeman after the fugitive was offered a peaceful surrender

An aerial view of the site of Freeman's final stand

Daily Mail understands police tried to negotiate with the sovereign citizen before he was killed

The top cop said a 'very large team' had been involved in the operation on Monday, and that investigations continue.

'There was a lot to suggest that Freeman had taken his own life (before today),' he said.

'But I can tell you standing here that our investigators, that's why they're professionals, keep their mind open to every possible outcome and follow every possible lead.'

However, as predicted by many in the Victoria sovereign citizen network, Freeman went down in a blaze of gunfire.

'I confirm that this morning Victoria Police, as a result of an operation in the north-east of Victoria, fatally shot a man,' Commissioner Bush said.

'Whilst it's being reported that person is Desmond Freeman, we have to run through a very formal identification process.'

He added that there was 'lots to be done' in the investigation but crucial police resources will now be redirected into tackling other serious crime plaguing the state.

'Everything I know at this point tells me this shooting was justified,' Commissioner Bush said.

It's believed Freeman was hiding in that blue container (above)

Police deployed hundreds of officers to try and track down Dezi Freeman

'The very first people to be made aware of the outcome of this operation were the families of the officers tragically killed on 26 August, and all of the members that were involved on that day.

'Should it be confirmed that the deceased is Freeman, this brings closure to what was a tragic and terrible event.'

Bush later confirmed police believe they had taken down Freeman but needed to go through a formal identification process before officially naming the fugitive cop killer.

The top cop also said the manhunt was 'probably the most significant investment of police resources in the state's history'.

He said police received more than 2000 leads while an elite specialist crew glided off the radar as it remained prepared to capture Freeman.

Bush, who said he will visit the scene of Freeman's final stand later today, said it 'was a very diligent, professional operation'.

Earlier today, Victoria Police confirmed 'no police officers were injured during the incident'.

Freeman was last seen armed and fleeing into bushland near his Rayner Track property after the fatal shootings on August 26, 2025.

Early in the investigation, Freeman's wife Mali, was arrested on allegations of obstructing police, but was later released without charge

Freeman had been a sovereign citizen

The shot officers were among a group of ten who had attended Freeman's property to serve a warrant over historical sex abuse allegations.

The shootings sparked a massive manhunt, with hundreds of officers scouring bushland in and around Freeman's remote hideout beneath Mount Buffalo.

Search crews combed steep, rocky terrain littered with caves and mineshafts but found no trace of him.

More than 100 homes and properties were searched as police investigated whether anyone was helping Freeman evade arrest.

Police also offered one of the largest rewards in Australia, promising $1 million for information leading to his capture.

Early in the investigation, Freeman's wife Mali, who police confirmed was present during the fatal shootings, and a 15-year-old boy were arrested on allegations of obstructing police, but were later released without charge.
A Tennessee grandmother spent five months in jail after a facial recognition program connected her to a bank fraud case in North Dakota, a state she's said she has never visited.

Angela Lipps, 50, was left astonished when US Marshals showed up to her home in Elizabethton on July 14, 2025, while she was babysitting four children, and arrested her at gunpoint, she wrote in an online fundraiser.

She was then held in a county jail for 108 days without bail before being flown to North Dakota on charges including felony theft and felony unauthorized use of personal identifying information, according to CNN.

Court documents obtained by News Channel 9 show her arrest came as police in Fargo were investigating a bank fraud case in which someone used a fake US Army ID to take out thousands of dollars between April and May 2025.

But Lipps' attorneys were able to obtain bank records proving she was at a local gas station in Tennessee, ordering a pizza and using CashApp at the times police said she was 1,200 miles away in Fargo, North Dakota.

Still, she toiled behind bars for months before police questioned her about the matter on December 19, when she said it took just five minutes for the cops' whole case to fall apart.

Lipps was then finally released from custody on Christmas Eve, after Fargo detectives, the state's attorney and a local judge 'mutually agreed to dismiss the charges without prejudice to allow for further investigation.'

Fargo Police Chief Dave Zibolski has since admitted that officers made multiple errors in the investigation - but would not apologize to Lipps.

Angela Lipps, 50, of Elizabethton, Tennessee was taken into custody by armed US Marshals on July 14, 2025 in connection with a bank fraud case in North Dakota, a state she said she had never been to

Fargo Police Chief Dave Zibolski has since admitted that officers made multiple errors in the investigation - but would not apologize to Lipps

He explained at a news conference on Tuesday that the police department of West Fargo, a different city, was investigating a similar case and ran the fake IDs through their in-house AI software.

'They forwarded that information to our detectives, who then assumed wrongly that they had also sent in the surveillance photos with that photo ID,' Zibolski said.

'As you can imagine, the photo on the fake ID that I use doesn't necessarily mean that I am the person that's in the fake ID.'

West Fargo police told Minnesota Public Radio that the connection to Lipps was 'shared with the Fargo Police Department, at their request, in relation to their open cases.

'The West Fargo Police Department did not forward any charges to the Cass County State's Attorney's Office regarding Angela Lipps,' a spokesperson for the department continued.

'Detectives did not have enough evidence to charge any person of interest for that incident that took place in the City of West Fargo,' the spokesperson added.

The cops in nearby Fargo also erred, Zibolski said, by not submitting surveillance photos associated with the fraud case to the North Dakota State and Local Intelligence Center, which is certified and trained in facial recognition.

Officers have since submitted the photos, and the center has since provided police with other potential suspects based on the surveillance footage, Zibolski said.

Lipps spent five months behind bars before police questioned her about the bank fraud case

The police chief also addressed why Lipps had to spend months behind bars before she was finally interviewed by Fargo police in December.

'In talking with Cass County and the State's Attorney's Office, there's not an easy mechanism for them to notify us if someone arrested on our felony warrant is in custody,' he said, noting that the department is now looking at ways to improve the system, including with a daily review of the booking roster.

At the same time, Zibolski said officers will undergo training for 'understanding facial recognition returns and submissions' amid a temporary order setting various parameters around the use of facial recognition - including a ban on facial recognition from other police departments.

The State's Attorney's Office is also 'very interested' in attending a training about facial recognition with the North Dakota State and Local Intelligence Center 'so that they have a better perspective also on the prosecutorial side,' the police chief said.

'We're happy to acknowledge when we make errors, and we've made a few in this case for sure, but also that we are willing to address those,' he said.

'And we've taken immediate action in all of these cases. And we certainly apologize for any effect or adverse effect that this has had on trust in the community because we want people to be confident in what we're doing.'

Fargo police (pictured) will now undergo training for 'understanding facial recognition returns and submissions' amid a temporary order setting various parameters around the use of facial recognition - including a ban on facial recognition from other police departments

But when asked whether he would like to apologize to Lipps, the police chief asserted: 'At this juncture, we still don't know who's involved and who's not involved' in the fraud case.

'We're going to have to whittle through all of this kind of vast network of people and who's involved,' Zibolski told reporters.

He also said police are still considering disciplinary measures for the officers who made the mistake.

'What I can tell you, from what I know right now, is that the persons involved are also very upset by this, because they pride themselves on their thoroughness,' he said.

'No one wants to see someone detained, arrested unnecessarily,' he added.

In a statement attorneys representing Lipps said the news conference confirmed their own findings.

'It appears that the Fargo Police Department did not undertake basic investigative efforts before causing a warrant and charges to issue for Angela Lipps,' they said.

'Officers knew that Angela was a Tennessee resident and we have seen no investigation by officers to determine whether she traveled to or was in North Dakota at the time of the bank thefts.

'Instead, an officer used AI facial recognition as a shortcut for basic investigation, resulting in an innocent woman being detained and transported halfway across the country to answer for charges that she has nothing to do with.'

Lipps, a mother-of-three and grandmother-of-five, bemoaned that she had to miss Halloween with her grandchildren, as well as Thanksgiving and Christmas celebrations

While incarcerated, Lipps lost her beloved Chrysler Sebring and everything that was inside of it

While Lipps was detained, she said she lost her rental home in a mobile home park, lost her Social Security income, her health insurance, her beloved Chrysler Sebring convertible and everything inside of it and even her dog.

'I missed Halloween with my grandkids. I missed my 50th birthday. I missed Thanksgiving. I was released on Christmas Eve, but I was stranded in North Dakota with nothing, so I missed that too,' she bemoaned.

Lipps went on to share how she now has trouble sleeping at night.

'I'm up every hour, thinking and praying, thankful I'm no longer locked up but terrified that it could happen again,' she wrote.

'I shake when I think about that day,' Lipps continued. 'I am not the same woman I was. I don't think I ever will be.'

The mother-of-three and grandmother-of-five is now living with neighbors in the trailer park.

'I have no car, no money and no way to start over on my own,' she wrote. 'I have always been an independent woman. I cannot start life again with nothing.'

Good Samaritans have contributed over $68,000 to her fundraiser, as her lawyers said they are investigating whether Lipps' civil rights were violated.
The grieving son of cop killer Dezi Freeman has lashed out at 'disgusting' reactions online after his father was shot dead by police following a three-hour standoff.

Freeman, 56, was gunned down at about 8.30am on Monday after he was found inside a long caravan near Walwa, about 188km north-east of Porepunkah, where he went missing on August 26, 2025.

An elite Special Operations Group (SOG) confronted him after they received a tip-off on his whereabouts, cordoned off the area and laid in wait overnight.

Sources revealed Freeman was wrapped in a blanket when he exited the structure, firing a hand gun that is believed to have belonged to one of the two officers he killed last year.

They added a Filipino couple had been harbouring him on a property in nearby Thologolong, with aerial images showing an off-grid site, including a handful of structures similar to shipping containers, and several disused vehicles.

Freeman's son, Koah, made an emotional Facebook post on a Bright community noticeboard just hours after his father was killed by police, bringing to an end a seven-month manhunt.

'I am not here to defend my father's actions because I know what he did was wrong,' Koah said.

'What I'm here about however is seeing so called "friends" and people who I thought were nice people say some questionable things.

Koah Freeman, the eldest son of suspected cop killer Dezi Freeman has broken his silence on his father's death

Freeman, 56, was gunned down shortly after 8.30am on Monday after he was found inside a long caravan near Walwa, about 188km north-east of Porepunkah, where he went missing on August 26, 2025

'I hope you all realise that I am looking at everything you are saying, and that you all realise how that is making me feel. I know you people all have thoughts to share about the situation that has been happening.

'Just bear in mind that to you's my father was a cop killer, but to me that's still my father who raised me to be the man I am today. And for the people who know me well they know exactly what I'm talking about.

'This is news that I'll be grieving about while some of you disgusting humans celebrate online for me to watch.

'Before you have something smart to say, how about you try and experience 1 per cent of what me and my family are going through?

'If you can't then I highly recommend keeping your nasty comments and thoughts to yourself.'
President Donald Trump is weighing a highly complex and potentially explosive military operation to send US special operations forces deep inside Iran to seize its stockpile of enriched uranium.

The move could drag American troops into hostile territory for days - or even a week - and risk a dramatic escalation of the war. It was reportedly one of many being proposed by the Pentagon.

US officials say the stealth plan would target nearly 1,000 pounds of uranium at either one or two nuclear sites in Natanz and Isfahan.

The objective would be to remove the radioactive substance entirely from Iranian control, eliminating any pathway to a nuclear weapon.

The proposal remains under review, and Trump has not signed off on it. But officials told The Wall Street Journal he is seriously considering the option, even as advisers warn of the dangers to American forces and the possibility of a broader conflict.

Military experts say the operation would be among the most difficult missions the US could undertake.

American forces would likely need to fly into heavily defended territory, potentially under fire from Iranian air defenses and drones, before securing the nuclear sites believed to house the material.

Once on the ground, combat troops would be tasked with locking down the perimeter while specialist teams locate, secure and prepare the uranium for transport.

'This is not a quick in and out kind of deal,' retired Gen. Joseph Votel, a former commander of U.S. Central Command and U.S. Special Operations Command, told the Journal about the potential mission.

Donald Trump is weighing a military operation to seize Irans enriched uranium to prevent it from developing a nuclear weapon

US officials say the potential mission would target roughly 1,000 pounds of enriched uranium stored at multiple Iranian sites. Pictured, a US Air Force C-5 Galaxy being loaded with highly enriched uranium in Kazakhstan as part of Project Sapphire in 1994

Officials said that the Pentagon is preparing for weeks of ground operations in Iran just shy of a full-scale invasion. Pictured: Sailors and Marine who arrived in the Middle East on Friday

Officials say the uranium is believed to be stored in multiple hardened locations, including underground facilities such as those at Isfahan and Natanz - sites that have already been targeted in previous strikes.

The military buildup already underway underscores how seriously the option is being considered.

Several hundred US special operations troops - including Army Rangers and Navy SEALs - have arrived in the region, according to The New York Times, joining thousands of Marines and Army paratroopers.

The commandos have not yet been assigned specific missions, officials said, but could be deployed across multiple flashpoints: safeguarding the Strait of Hormuz, assisting in a potential operation to seize Kharg Island, or taking part in a mission targeting Irans nuclear infrastructure.

Roughly 2,500 Marines and 2,500 sailors have recently arrived in the region, while about 2,000 troops from the Armys 82nd Airborne Division have also been ordered in.

Altogether, more than 50,000 US troops are now positioned across the Middle East - about 10,000 more than usual - spread across bases and ships in countries including Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Iraq, Syria, Jordan, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait.

Despite the buildup, military analysts caution that even this expanded force would face enormous challenges if ordered into Iran.

Experts note that while special operations forces could conduct targeted missions, any sustained ground campaign in a country as large and heavily armed as Iran would require vastly larger troop numbers.

The uranium is likely contained in 40 to 50 specialized cylinders that require careful handling and shielding during transport. Those cylinders would need to be placed into protective casks and moved using multiple trucks before extraction from Iran. Pictured, overpacking uranium in Iraq in 2004 during Project Maximus

The Isfahan nuclear complex includes underground tunnel facilities where large quantities of highly enriched uranium have been stored

Behind the scenes, Trump has also instructed advisers to press Iran to hand over the material voluntarily as part of any negotiated end to the war.

According to a person familiar with his thinking, the president has made clear that Iran 'can't keep' the uranium - and has discussed taking it by force if diplomacy fails.

During a recent speech, Trump underscored how central the material is to his strategy, calling it 'the nuclear dust.'

At the same time, the White House has sought to emphasize that no final decision has been made.

'It's the job of the Pentagon to make preparations in order to give the commander-in-chief maximum optionality. It does not mean the president has made a decision,' White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.

Experts say extracting the uranium would require far more than just a simple raid.

The material is believed to be stored in dozens of specialized cylinders, each of which would need to be carefully handled and placed into protective transport casks to prevent contamination or accidents.

Richard Nephew, a senior research scholar at Columbia University and former US nuclear negotiator with Iran, said the process could involve 40 to 50 such containers - enough to fill multiple transport vehicles.

If no suitable airfield is available, US forces might need to construct a temporary one to move the material out, further extending the operation.

The underground nature of facilities like Isfahan makes accessing uranium stockpiles particularly difficult for any external force. Pictured, a worker walks inside of an uranium conversion facility at Isfahan in 2005

Uranium enrichment at sites like Natanz, pictured, involves gas centrifuges that increase the concentration of fissile uranium-235 isotopes. Pictured, Natanz uranium enrichment facilities

Key nuclear facilities under focus include Natanz, pictured above, and Isfahan nuclear complex, both of which contain underground infrastructure

The mission could take several days, or even a full week to complete, according to analysts.

As Trump weighs his options, the Pentagon is rapidly positioning forces across the region.

Additional ground forces could be sent to further bolster capabilities, with officials saying up to 10,000 troops are under consideration for deployment.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth signaled that the US is prepared for multiple scenarios, while still holding out hope for a diplomatic resolution.

'The president has kept his eye focused on nuclear capabilities,' Hegseth said at a Pentagon briefing on March 13.

'We have a range of options, up to and including Iran deciding that they will give those up, which of course we would welcome.'

'I would not, never tell this group or the world what we're willing to do or how far we're willing to go, but we have options, for sure,' he added.

Around 3,500 sailors and Marines were deployed to the region via the USS Tripoli which also brought strike fighter aircraft and amphibious assault assets

The Tripoli Amphibious Ready Group and elements from the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit have been deployed

The USS Tripoli (pictured) is an amphibious assault ship. The USS Boxer and two other ships, along with another Marine Expeditionary Unit, have also been ordered to the region

The potential operation comes as Trump faces competing pressures: avoiding a prolonged war while achieving his stated goal of preventing Iran from ever developing a nuclear weapon.

Officials say the president has indicated he wants the conflict resolved within weeks, not months, and has privately expressed reluctance to commit to a drawn-out ground engagement.

At the same time, diplomatic channels involving intermediaries such as Pakistan, Turkey and Egypt remain active, although no direct negotiations between Washington and Tehran have yet taken place.

If Iran were to agree to surrender its uranium, US officials say the need for a risky military mission could be avoided entirely echoing past operations in Kazakhstan and Georgia where nuclear material was removed without combat.

On Sunday, Trump said Sunday a deal 'could be soon' amid negotiations with Iran, revealing 20 more oil tankers were set to pass through the Strait of Hormuz as a 'sign of respect'.

Trump claimed Tehran was 'basically begging' for peace negotiations and the regime was desperate to cut a deal after suffering what he characterized as heavy losses on the battlefield.

'Were doing extremely well in that negotiation. But you never know with Iran, because we negotiate with them and then we always have to blow them up,' he added while speaking to reporters on Air Force One.

'I think well make a deal with them, but its possible that we won't,' Trump continued. 'I do see a deal in Iran. It could be soon.'

When asked by Libby Alon of Channel 14 Israel whether the US could take control of the Strait of Hormuz, Trump replied: 'Yes, of course, it's already happening.'

The president was discussing how any peace deal with Iran would have to come with a reopening of the waterway which is currently being blocked amid the war with Iran

Libby Alon of C14Israel said Trump told her Iran is 'basically begging' for a deal. Trump said 'yes of course it's already happening' when asked about controlling the Strait of Hormuz

Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf accused the US of 'secretly planning a ground invasion' while offering negotiations. Ghalibaf said Iranian forces are 'waiting' for American troops and ready

The strategically vital waterway, which serves as a conduit for roughly one-fifth of global oil supply, has been partially closed by Iran. The result has sent oil prices skyrocketing.

Trump also referred to the essential waterway as the 'Strait of Trump,' something he made a pointed joke about during a speech on Friday.

'We're negotiating now, and it would be great if we could do something, but they have to open it up. They have to open up the Strait of Trump - I mean Hormuz,' Trump said at the Saudi-backed Future Investment Initiative Priority forum in Miami, prompting laughter before adding: 'Excuse me, I'm so sorry there's no accidents with me.'

In a separate interview with the Financial Times, Trump went even further - openly discussing seizing Iran's oil infrastructure.

'To be honest with you, my favorite thing is to take the oil in Iran but some stupid people back in the US say: "Why are you doing that?", But they're stupid people,' he said.

Trump specifically pointed to Kharg Island, through which most of Iran's oil exports flow, as a potential target.

'Maybe we take Kharg Island, maybe we don't. We have a lot of options,' he said. 'It would also mean we had to be there [on Kharg Island] for a while.'

Asked about Iranian defenses on the oil-rich island, Trump added: 'I don't think they have any defense. We could take it very easily.'

He compared the idea to US involvement in Venezuela, suggesting Washington could control oil production 'indefinitely.'

The stakes were already rippling across global markets Sunday night. Brent crude surged above $116 a barrel, near its highest level since the conflict began. after jumping more than 50 percent in a month.

Trump said indirect talks with Iran, conducted via Pakistani intermediaries, are 'going very well,' but he also issued a stark ultimatum.

He has set an April 6 deadline for Tehran to accept a deal - or face strikes on its energy sector.

'We've got about 3,000 targets left - we've bombed 13,000 targets - and another couple of thousand targets to go,' Trump said. 'A deal could be made fairly quickly.'

The Strait of Hormuz is one of the worlds most critical oil chokepoints, with roughly one-fifth of global supply typically passing through its narrow waters

A smartphone screen displaying the MarineTraffic map shows a high concentration of ship beacons in the Strait of Hormuz

Donald Trump suggested he may be set to give the Strait of Hormuz the Kennedy Center treatment after naming it for himself during a speech in Miami on Friday

Trump also made a series of claims about shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, saying Iran had allowed tankers through as a 'sign of respect'.

'They gave us 10,' he said. 'Now they're giving 20 and the 20 have already started and they're going right up the middle of the Strait.'

He claimed Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the country's parliament speaker, personally authorized the move.

'He's the one who authorized the ships to me', Trump said. 'Remember I said they're giving me a present? And everyone said: "What's the present? Bulls***." When they heard about that they kept their mouth shut and the negotiations are going very well.'

The Strait of Hormuz has become the focal point of the confrontation.

The narrow passage, long considered one of the most critical arteries in global energy supply, has been effectively choked by the conflict, sending shockwaves through oil markets and raising fears of a broader regional war.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned earlier that Iran could attempt to impose a 'tolling system' on vessels transiting the strait, signaling a potential long-term disruption to international shipping.

At the same time, diplomatic efforts are underway. Pakistan is hosting talks involving the foreign ministers of Turkey, Egypt and Saudi Arabia aimed at de-escalating the crisis, even as rhetoric on both sides hardens.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has called on US President Donald Trump to clearly set out America's objectives in the war against Iran, warning it will be difficult to successfully orchestrate a regime change in the Middle East nation.

Speaking in Canberra on Monday, Albanese said his chief concern was the lack of clarity about the direction and aims of the conflict.

The conflict, which began on February 28, shows little sign of ending, with the Pentagon reportedly planning to send more troops to the Middle East and conduct raids near the Strait of Hormuz.

'I want to see more certainty in what the objectives of the war are, and I want to see a de-escalation,' Albanese said.

He stressed that reducing tensions was not merely a regional priority.

'A de-escalation is in the global economy's interests.'

Albanese was quick to add that pushing for dialogue should not be misinterpreted as sympathy for Iran's hardline regime.

'I have nothing but contempt for the Iranian regime,' he said, emphasising his strong opposition to Iran's ruling elite.

Anthony Albanese (pictured) called on President Trump to offer more 'clarity' on the conflict

The Prime Minister noted that, in his view, the original goals of the US-led campaign had largely been achieved.

'At the beginning of the conflict, the objectives were outlined as one: stopping Iran getting a nuclear weapon, and I agree that has clearly been achieved,' Albanese said.

He added that a second objective, limiting Iran's ability to project military power at home and through its regional proxies, had also been met.

'The second objective was degrading the opportunity that Iran has for engaging in military action, either overtly or through its proxies in Hezbollah, Hamas and the Houthis, and clearly there has been substantial degrading of Iran's position,' he said.

However, Albanese expressed serious concern at what he described as a potential third objective: regime change.

He warned that history showed outside attempts to impose regime change rarely succeed, and often lead to further instability.

'The third objective was regime change, and I think history tells us very clearly that regime change imposed from outside is very difficult and tends to happen from the bottom up within a country, rather than being imposed from outside,' he said.

He argued that military action often escalates nationalism and can entrench rather than weaken authoritarian governments.

Donald Trump (pictured) has previously criticised Australia for not helping further in the war

'Military action against a nation will tend to promote nationalism within that nation,' Albanese said.

Albanese said he personally wanted to see change in Tehran.

'I would like to see the Iranian regime, which I regard as abhorrent and reprehensible, replaced,' he said, adding that Australia stands firmly with the Iranian people.

'I certainly stand with the Iranian people who have been subjected to abuse, human rights atrocities and oppression for a long period of time, particularly women and minority groups who have been persecuted by this abhorrent regime,' he said.

Albanese said Washington must be explicit about its ultimate intentions, warning that uncertainty could prolong both the conflict and its economic aftershocks.

'I think it needs to be clearly outlined whether that is going to occur or not,' he said, arguing that 'strategic ambiguity' risked prolonging conflict and global economic pain.

Trump has previously criticised Australia for failing to do more to assist the United States in securing the Strait of Hormuz.

'[UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer] didn't want to help us,' he said

'Australia, too. Australia was not great. I was a little surprised by Australia,'

Albanese called for a deescalation of the conflict to help restore economic stability (file)

Albanese's comments followed criticism from senior Liberal frontbencher Andrew Hastie, who questioned Trump's handling of the conflict and said allies had been left without adequate information.

Hastie said the lack of clear planning had allowed Iran to exert outsized pressure on global markets.

'Iran has been able to pretty much hold the whole world economy to ransom,' he told ABC's Insiders on Sunday.

He warned that the economic fallout was likely to worsen, with political consequences extending beyond the United States.

'The economic pain is going to be more acute, and [the Australian public] are going to question the judgement of the president,' Hastie said.

Hastie added that allies could have better prepared for the crisis had they been given sufficient warning.

'Had we had a bit more lead time, we would not be in the current crisis we are now.'
A former Washington DC-area air traffic controller has spoken out about the 'obvious cracks in the system' that existed when an American Airlines plane and Black Hawk helicopter collided last year.

The flight was traveling above Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in DC on January 29, 2025 when it crashed into the Army Blackhawk helicopter in mid-air, killing all 67 passengers onboard the flight.

But Emily Hanoka said she had seen problems at the congested airport long before her shift that night, which ended just a few hours before the fatal collision.

'There were obvious cracks in the system, there were obvious holes,' she told 60 Minutes' Sharyn Alfonsi in an interview that aired Sunday night.

'You had frontline controllers ringing that bell for years and years, saying, "This is not safe. This cannot continue. Please change this." And that didn't happen.'

In a report released earlier this year, the National Transportation Safety Board confirmed that between 2021 to 2024, 85 near mid-air collisions between helicopters and commercial planes at the airport were reported to the FAA.

60 Minutes also obtained records that show that just one day before the fatal collision, two separate passenger jets had to take sudden action to avoid colliding with Army helicopters.

'The warning signs were all there,' Hanoka said. 'Controllers formed local safety councils and every time that a controller made these safety reports, another controller was compiling data to back up the recommendation. And many recommendations were made and they never went too far.'

Emily Hanoka, a former air traffic controller at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, spoke out about the 'cracks in the system' that existed before a fatal crash last year

An American Airlines flight and a Black Hawk helicopter collided over Reagan National Airport last year

Part of the problem, Hanoka said, is that Reagan National Airport is owned by the federal government - and Congress decides how many flights can take off from the airport each day.

Since 2000, lawmakers added at least 50 flights a day to the airport's roster and approved another 10 in 2024.

Reagan National Airport now transports 25 million passengers each year, 10 million more than its intended capacity.

'Some hours are overloaded, to the point where it's over the capacity that the airport can handle,' Hanoka said, adding that there was 'definitely pressure to get planes out.

'I you do not move planes, you will get gridlock at the airport,' she explained.

Making matters even more complicated, airspace is restricted over the White House, the US Capitol and other government buildings, funneling planes and helicopters into the same narrow corridor over the Potomac River.

There are also only three short runways at Reagan that all interconnect, with the airport's Runway 1 ranking as the busiest in the country, with more than 800 flights a day, or roughly one every minute.

To meet the demand, Hanoka said air traffic controllers relied on what they called 'squeeze play,' which she said is 'dependent on an aircraft rolling, an aircraft slowing and you know it's gonna be a very close operation.'

Hanoka revealed how there are only three short runways at the airport, which all interconnect

Airspace is restricted over the White House, the US Capitol and other government buildings, funneling planes and helicopters into the same narrow corridor over the Potomac River

That is not a common practice at other airports, she noted.

'So you'll get new controllers come in, so they've transferred from other facilities and they'll look at the operation and say, "Absolutely not,"' Hanoka said.

'And they'll withdraw from training. And that, when I was there was about 50 percent... About half of the people that walked in the building to train would say "Absolutely not."'

'It was surprising, walking into that work environment, how close aircraft were,' Hanoka continued. 'This is what has to happen, in order to make this airspace work.

'And it did work,' she noted. 'It worked until it didn't.'

In January, the NTSB determined that the mid-air crash was preventable as it cited 'systemic failures,' including ignored warning signs about the risks and a 'helicopter route' that was designed so poorly that in some parts of the sky, it allowed for just '75 feet of vertical separation' between helicopters and passenger jets.

The crash marked the deadliest commercial aviation accident in the US in almost 25 years

All 67 passengers onboard the American Airlines flight were killed

The night of the crash, which became the deadliest commercial aviation accident in the US in almost 25 years, investigators said the Black Hawk crew was relying solely on 'visual separation' - looking out the window to avoid nearby passenger jets.

The Black Hawk was then flying 78 feet higher than it should have been as the Army pilots turned off a system that would have broadcast the helicopter's location more clearly.

The pilots had decided not to use anti-collision technology known as Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast, or ADS-B, on its Black Hawk helicopter, which could have prevented the collision in accordance with a Federal Aviation Administration memorandum that allowed it to be turned off.

The NTSB also presented 'major discrepancies' in the helicopter's altitude readouts that could have led the soldiers on board to believe they were flying lower over the Potomac River than they actually were, reports CNN.

The agency further noted that the American Airlines flight made a left turn to line up with the runway at Ronald Reagan Airport, which put it on a collision course with the helicopter approaching from its right.

An animation showing the view from inside the jet's cockpit, meanwhile, showed pilots were dealing with dark skies and landing with the help of night-vision, while air traffic controllers failed to warn them they were on course to hit the helicopter.

The chopper then appeared suddenly to the left of the plane's windshield, hitting the jet in a flash and without offering any time for the pilots to swerve out of the way.

The wreckage from the American Airlines flight is seen being pulled from the water

Following the crash, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) made a number of changes to ensure helicopters and planes no longer share the airspace above Ronald Reagan Airport in Washington DC.

It moved some helicopter routes away from the airport and ended the use of visual separation, a ban which has since been extended to busy airports across the country.

The NTSB has also suggested 50 other safety recommendations to prevent similar accidents.

'The ATC tower the entire time was saying, "We have a real safety problem here," and nobody was listening,' NTSB Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy told 60 Minutes.

'It was like somebody was asleep at the switch or didn't want to act. It's a bureaucratic nightmare.'

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy echoed those remarks in his own statement.

'On the ninth day of this administration, the tragedy of Flight AA5342 revealed a startling truth: years of warning signs were missed and the FAA needed dire reform,' he told 60 Minutes. 'It set the course for President Trump and I's mission to bolster safety and revolutionize our skies.'

He added that he has since helped secure more than $12 billion to 'aggressively overhaul our air traffic control system.'

FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford also said last year's crash 'is a sobering reminder of why the FAA exists and it galvanized us to pursue our safety mission with renewed urgency and bold action.

'We remain focused on identifying and addressing safety risks across the national airspace and strengthening our workforce so the FAA can deliver the world's safest, most modern and most resilient aviation administration for the American people.'

The report comes amid the NTSB investigation into a fatal crash at LaGuardia Airport earleir this month

In that case, Air Canada Express Flight 646 from Montreal had been cleared to land at the same time a fire truck was cleared to cross to respond to a report of a 'foul odor' coming from another plane

Yet more than one year after the fatal collision, nearly one-third of controller positions at the airport remain unfilled.

60 Minutes also found at least four near-misses between commercial jets and helicopters at the airport since the fatal collision.

The report come amid an investigation into the fatal crash of an Air Canada flight that collided into a fire truck as it landed at New York City's LaGuardia Airport earlier this month.

In that case, Air Canada Express Flight 646 from Montreal had been cleared to land at the same time a fire truck was cleared to cross to respond to a report of a 'foul odor' coming from another plane.

A review of government records by CNN has since revealed that NASA's Aviation Safety Reporting System received dozens of pilot complaints about safety concerns at New York City's airport.

During the two years before the deadly crash, numerous reports flagged close calls at LaGuardia and warned of its dangerous pace, according to the outlet.

Last summer, a pilot wrote 'Please do something' in a report regarding a narrowly avoided incident after air traffic controllers failed to disclose that other aircraft were nearby.

An additional report compared the pace of operations at New York City's airport during severe weather conditions with that at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.

'On thunderstorm days, LGA is starting to feel like DCA did before the accident there,' noted a pilot.
How he made it to temporary safe zone is a mystery

More questions than answers were provided by Victoria Police on the day officers shot dead Australia's most wanted criminal.

Some of those questions will likely never be answered.

For one, who tipped police off about where Dezi Freeman was holed-up?

That person stands to be rewarded with a million dollars - money well earnt considering Freeman was all but written off as dead months ago, after he gunned down senior constable Vadim De Waart-Hottart and detective leading senior constable Neal Thompson and vanished into the Victorian countryside.

To be fair to Victoria's top cop, Commissioner Mike Bush, he was probably as open and honest as anyone could have expected, considering the day that he and his colleagues had endured.

He fronted the media in Melbourne's CBD before midday on Monday - just hours after the stand-off at Freeman's hideout which unfolded from about 5.30am - and was at the scene some 500kms away fronting the media again before sunset.

As forensic officers began the arduous task of sifting through the remains of Freeman's possessions, the commissioner stood tall and deflected question after question about what on Earth had been going on over the past seven months.

If Mr Bush knew how long Freeman had been bunkered down at the property at Thologolong, near Walwa, he wasn't saying.

Chief Commissioner of Victoria Police Mike Bush departs after speaking to media at a press conference at the scene where fugitive Dezi Freeman was shot dead in Thologolong

Freeman was gunned down by tactical police at a hideout in Victoria's northeast

There were other questions that loomed large over the press conference as the commissioner spoke at length, in a way public officials often do, without saying much.

How did he get there?

Who helped him get there?

And how had he been surviving?

Freeman was killed after confronting members Victoria Police's elite Special Operations Group about 8.30am Monday.

Mr Bush was even reluctant to outright declare it was Freeman who had been killed until the proper hurdles had been cleared.

But those on the ground were pretty certain it was Freeman who came at them with what is believed to be a gun from one of their fallen comrades.

Mr Bush told reporters the man he believed to be Freeman appeared very much the same as when those brave officers tried to execute a search warrant at his home in Porpunkah, in Victoria's High Country, on August 26.

Sen Const Vadim De Waart-Hottart was murdered by Freeman

Det Leading Sen Const Neal Thompson was also killed by the crazed gunman

Freeman didn't appear malnourished. He hadn't looked like Tom Hanks from Castaway.

It was clear to the highly trained Special Operations Group operatives who it was they had in their sights.

Police had tried to reason with the delusional killer for a good three hours before he was lured out of his lair.

Mr Bush wouldn't say how police got him to leave the white COSCO shipping container, which had been transformed into a tiny home.

Was it gas? Flash bangs? Dogs? Who knows.

When he did emerge, did Freeman manage to fire off a shot before he was peppered with deadly accurate bullets?

Vision captured from the air appeared to show an evidence marker on the front bonnet of a nearby vehicle.

Mr Bush wasn't saying.

Victoria Police are seen at work at the scene where fugitive Dezi Freeman was shot dead

The scene of Freeman's last stand

Chief Commissioner Mike Bush fronted reporters in remote wilderness on Monday

'We've got mixed reports on that, but we need to do a forensic examination of a weapon found near the deceased's body to ascertain or confirm whether shots were fired by the deceased from that weapon,' he told reporters.

Nor would he say what was found inside the tiny home, which closely resembled the ramshackle property where he shot Mr Thompson, 59, and Mr De Waart-Hottart, 35.

'The scene has been locked down, secured, and the scene examination is only commencing now,' he said.

'As you can imagine with a serious crime scene like that, we have protocols and procedures to follow.

'We have to be absolutely meticulous, and that will commence this evening and carry on for the next few days.'

Mr Bush said it was unclear how long Freeman had been at the property.

'That's a really important question and a really important fact that our investigators will work their way through,' he conceded.

'We'll probably have to track back from this point to when he was last seen ... We will work that out, we will track backwards from here to ascertain how long he's been here and who helped him to be here.'

Dezi Freeman came out of his lair wearing a blanket and packing a firearm

And what of the property owner?

'We're still trying to locate and speak with that person,' Mr Bush said. 'We know who that person is, but we're yet to speak with him.'

Is he known to police, he was asked.

'I couldn't tell you that whether I knew it or not.'

What is known is that when searched on Google Maps, the location boasts 'Cookers welcome'.

The property is owned by Rick Sutherland, who is currently believed to be on holiday in Tasmania.

Mr Bush was asked whether police had anyone else in their sights for helping Freeman get to the Cooker hideout.

He kept his cards close to his chest.

The hunt for Freeman ended far away from where it began

'Not at this point ... Quite possibly so in the future, but not at this point,' Mr Bush said.

But he warned anyone who did help Freeman faced a significant stint in jail.

'But that's always a matter for the presiding judge,' he said.

In the coming months and years inquiries will be held that will likely shed plenty of light on how Freeman made his last stand months after his 'evil deeds'.

But Mr Bush warned some things are just not supposed to be known by the wider public.

'There is a lot of information known to the investigators that will never be shared, obviously because it's confidential,' he said.
New store will be just steps from famed NYC landmark, Grand Central Station, as Jollibee continues to take the Big Apple 'by swarm' with its great-tasting food and always joyful customer service.

WEST COVINA, Calif., March 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Get ready, Midtown Manhattan! Jollibee, the beloved global restaurant brand known for its world-famous Chickenjoy fried chicken, is spreading its joy in the Big Apple, with the opening of its newest Manhattan location on March 31, 2026. Located at 14 East 42nd Street between Fifth and Madison Avenues in the heart of Midtown, the new Jollibee is just steps from Grand Central Station, the city's iconic landmark that welcomes hundreds of thousands of visitors daily. The opening marks the joyful dining brand's third Manhattan outpost, offering another convenient option for residents, commuters and tourists, alike, to experience the delicious food and heartfelt hospitality that have made Jollibee a global phenomenon.

Jollibee's signature crispy and juicy Chickenjoy fried chicken brings joy with every bite. Joy to Midtown Manhattan: Jollibee's new East 42nd Street location opens on Tuesday, March 31, 2026.

Twice crowned "the best fast-food fried chicken in America" by USA TODAY, Jollibee sets itself apart by delivering on superior taste and quality with every menu item it serves. The buzzworthy brand is known for blending bold flavors, comforting classics, and heartfelt hospitality  crafting a dining experience that's not just a meal, but a joyful celebration.

Jollibee invites first-time guests from around the neighborhood and around the world to taste for themselves why people line up for hours  and even camp out overnight  to be among the first in line. Jollibee's signature menu is jam-packed with flavorful options, including these fan favorites:

Chickenjoy ( Original and Spicy ): The brand's famous bone-in fried chicken that's crispy, juicy, and bursting with flavor; for those who like their Chickenjoy with a bit of heat, the Spicy version is coated in a fiery blend of spices to deliver a bold, crave-worthy kick with every bite. Both options come with a side of silky, savory gravy for dipping  a must for many Jollibee fans!

( ): The brand's famous bone-in fried chicken that's crispy, juicy, and bursting with flavor; for those who like their Chickenjoy with a bit of heat, the Spicy version is coated in a fiery blend of spices to deliver a bold, crave-worthy kick with every bite. Both options come with a side of silky, savory gravy for dipping  a for many Jollibee fans! Chicken Sandwich ( Original and Spicy ): A 100% white-meat chicken breast fillet slow-marinated and double hand-breaded to be crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside; it is served on a toasted brioche bun spread with Jollibee's signature umami mayo. The spicier version features a sriracha mayo and is topped with fresh jalapenos for added crunch and heat.

( ): A 100% white-meat chicken breast fillet slow-marinated and double hand-breaded to be crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside; it is served on a toasted brioche bun spread with Jollibee's signature umami mayo. The spicier version features a sriracha mayo and is topped with fresh jalapenos for added crunch and heat. Peach Mango Pie : This iconic treat features a crispy, golden-brown crust filled with a delightful combination of sweet, juicy peaches and ripe mangoes. The perfect balance of textures and flavors makes this hand-held pie a truly irresistible snack or dessert.

: This iconic treat features a crispy, golden-brown crust filled with a delightful combination of sweet, juicy peaches and ripe mangoes. The perfect balance of textures and flavors makes this hand-held pie a truly irresistible snack or dessert. Pineapple Quencher: Boasting a genuine pineapple flavor that's both vibrant and satisfying, this signature Jollibee beverage is the perfect complement to any Jollibee meal; it also can be enjoyed all on its own as a perfectly refreshing pick-me-up.

For those hungry to experience the new Jollibee Manhattan  East 42nd Street & Fifth Avenue location, here are the key details:

Address: 14 East 42nd Street, New York, NY 10017

14 East 42nd Street, New York, NY 10017 Store Hours: 9AM  12AM (midnight), seven days a week

9AM  12AM (midnight), seven days a week How to Order: This location will offer dine-in, take-out, online ordering and catering.

"Manhattan, get ready for even more joy! We are truly excited to bring even more 'Jollibee joy' to the Big Apple, especially since it's such a central location that sees such an incredibly diverse mix of people on any given day," said Beth Dela Cruz, Business Group Head, Honeybee Foods Corporation dba Jollibee. "Our goal is to introduce our beloved brand to new customers, as well as make it convenient for devoted fans across this wonderful city to access their favorite Jollibee dishes, so we couldn't be more excited to extend our joyful dining experience to the Midtown community."

The store's grand opening celebration is sure to be buzzing with the fun and excitement that makes Jollibee openings a memorable occasion for fans of all ages. To amplify the joy, Jollibee will be hosting a three-day promotion, offering special Jollibee goodies for the first 100 in-store customers each day:

Day 1: One year of free Chicken Sandwiches (1 sandwich per month for 12 months) and a commemorative Jollibee " I JB NY " T-shirt (black)  perfect for welcoming those warmer days of Spring.

One year of free (1 sandwich per month for 12 months) a commemorative " " (black)  perfect for welcoming those warmer days of Spring. Day 2: "I JB NY" T-shirt (black)  Bold, fun, and distinctly local, this tee is tailormade for fans who want to show off their New York love, Jollibee style.

(black)  Bold, fun, and distinctly local, this tee is tailormade for fans who want to show off their New York love, Jollibee style. Day 3: Jollibee Athleisure Beanie  Boldly colorful and cool, this cobalt blue beanie combines a cozy vibe with streetwear energy for an eye-catching essential that's made for all-day wear.

Anchored by its iconic Times Square location, the New York City area represents a key growth market for the joyful dining brand. Jollibee continues to demonstrate strong sales momentum, with an average unit volume of $4.5 million, about 2.5 times that of many competitors in the chicken category. The brand looks to further accelerate its expansion in North America with its recently launched Franchising Program. With several multi-unit franchise commitments already in place in key states like California, Nevada, New York, Texas, and Washington. Jollibee looks forward to spreading its "joy of eating" to many new and existing markets across the country.

Jollibee is the flagship brand of the Jollibee Group, which is on a mission to become one of the top five restaurant companies in the world. Founded in the Philippines over four decades ago, Jollibee believes that great-tasting food knows no boundaries  and neither does its joyful spirit. The brand's signature hospitality is rooted in its culture of warmth and care  welcoming every customer with a smile and making them feel at home from the moment they walk through the door.

As Jollibee continues to take the U.S. 'by swarm', be sure to follow along at @jollibeeusa on TikTok, @jollibeeus on Instagram and @jollibeeus on Facebook to get updates on upcoming store openings, new product launches and other exciting news and announcements. To unlock new and exciting deals and promotions, sign up for Jollibee Rewards, a free loyalty program tailor-made for the brand's super fans.

About Jollibee Group

Jollibee Foods Corporation (PSE: JFC) ( the "Company" ) is one of the world's fastest-growing restaurant companies, driven by its purpose of spreading joy through superior taste. It manages and operates a portfolio which includes 19 brands ( the "Jollibee Group" ) with over 10,000 stores and cafes across 32 countries.

The Jollibee Group's portfolio includes nine (9) wholly-owned brands (Jollibee, Chowking, Greenwich, Red Ribbon, Mang Inasal, Yonghe King, Hong Zhuang Yuan, Smashburger and Tim Ho Wan), five (5) franchised brands (Burger King, Panda Express, Yoshinoya, Common Man Coffee Roasters, and Tiong Bahru Bakery in the Philippines), and ownership stakes in other key brands like The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf (80%), Compose Coffee (70%), SuperFoods Group that operates Highlands Coffee (60%), and bubble tea brand Milksha (51%). The Company also has membership interests in Tortazo, LLC, along with Chef Rick Bayless, for Tortazo in the U.S. and in Botrista, a leader in beverage technology.

The Jollibee Group's global sustainability agenda, Joy for Tomorrow, underscores its commitment to sustainable business practices across food safety, employee welfare, community support, good governance, and environmental responsibility, among others. These focus areas are aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs).

The Company has been recognized as the Philippines' Most Admired Company by the Asian Wall Street Journal, named one of Asia's Fab 50 Companies, and listed among Forbes' World's Best Employers and Top Female-Friendly Companies. The Company is also a four-time Gallup Exceptional Workplace Award recipient and featured in TIME's World's Best Companies and Fortune's Southeast Asia 500 List.

To learn more about Jollibee Group, visit www.jollibeegroup.com.

SOURCE Jollibee
Staff inside one of the specialist kennels where seized XL Bullies say they 'dread the phone ringing' during school holidays when bites and attacks increase.

For the first time, camera crews were invited into one of the private kennels now regularly used to hold XL Bully dogs seized by police or abandoned by their owners since the ban was introduced across the UK in 2024.

The kennel, which was not named for safety reasons, is one of seven run by the same company which together now hold more than 500 XL Bullies.

One staff member Mark, whose name has been changed for anonymity reasons, is part of a team of people who are called by police to go and seize the dogs when they attack.

Hauntingly, he said the dogs are sometimes still with the bodies of their victims, adding it's 'bad with an adult' but it's even 'harder' when it's a child.

Mark said he now 'hates' school holidays, including half-term and Christmas because attacks are more likely.

'I dread the phone ringing, because the bites do increase during the holiday period and half-term and it's just horrendous.'

Dog attacks in general have been rising every year since 2018 and at least six people have been killed in XL Bully attacks the 12 months following the ban.

BBC's Panorama team were invited into one of the private kennels now regularly used to hold XL Bully dogs seized by police or abandoned by their owners since the ban was introduced across the UK in 2024

Footage shows 120 dangerous dogs, all either banned breeds or highly aggressive, at this one facility locked inside rows of metal cages with colour coded signs indicating their level of aggression

Police who deal with dangerous dogs believe the attacks are likely to get worse before they get better as dogs bought before the ban reach maturity.

Mark said cameras have never been allowed in the facility before but they granted access to BBC Panorama because 'people need to understand what is happening in society and what they're reading in the papers'.

'They need to understand it. This is a problem,' he added.

Footage shows 120 dangerous dogs, all either banned breeds or highly aggressive, at this one facility locked inside rows of metal cages.

Being locked up makes some become even more aggressive and others throw themselves at the bars in acts of self-harm.

Mark said the week before the Panorama team came to film, one dog had managed to break out of its kennel into the one next door.

On every cage hangs a coloured sign which indicates the individual dog's aggression level - with green for the least and black for the most dangerous.

Before the XL Bully ban, Mark said 90 per cent of the dogs in their kennels were graded as green, but now just two out of the 120 inside have this grade.

A signs on a cage holding a black graded dog, a warning message reads: 'Dangerously out of control, bitten a neighbour on the face, breached exemption.'

Another chilling sign says: 'Bite score five, potentially fatal.'

The facility is 'always at capacity' and the breed filling the cages in the last few years are overwhelmingly XL Bullies.

Recounting some of the scenes he has been faced with when police call him to an attack, Mark said they are 'like a horror movie'.

He has seen 'too many life changing injuries' in the last three years, stressing that they happen 'more than people can even realise'.

This was evident when he received an urgent call whilst the Panorama filming crew were there from a police office asking him to help them save a person who was trapped in their car with their dog who had just savagely attacked them.

Before the XL Bully ban was introduced in 2024, owners in England and Waled were required to register their dogs and agree to muzzle them, insure them and have them neutered - a measure authorities hopes would eventually lead to the total eradication of the breed.

Mark said cameras have never been allowed in the facility before but they granted access because 'people need to understand what is happening in society and what they're reading in the papers'

However, there was no concrete way to enforce this other than hoping all owners came forward, but underground, illegal breeding can and does still take place.

Those who did not want to register their dogs and commit to the lifelong restrictions were offered the alternative of 200 in government compensation to have their XL Bully put down.

Similar legislation was also introduced in Scotland and Ireland in 2024.

Patrick O'Hara, tactical lead for dangerous dogs for the National Police Chiefs' Council in England and Wales, told the BBC the number of dangerous animals needing to be held in kennels has increased by more than a third since the ban.

Police were spending around 4million housing dangerous dogs in kennels like this one in 2018, but this cost soared to an eye-watering 25million in the first year of the ban.

Mark said many of the seized dogs they hold once belonged to organized crime members.

Dogs seized due to a criminal allegation, such as owners breaking the rules of the ban or an attack, have to stay in the kennels until court proceedings are over.

They are then either returned or put down, but Mark said 85 per cent are handed back to their owners.

He said some of them should not be going home and the very real possibility they could end up coming back to the kennels after another attack 'terrifies' him, especially because there have been numerous instances of this happening.

Sadly, some of the dogs at Mark's kennels have never attacked anyone and were instead abandoned after the ban came into place.

The RSCPA reported 21 XL Bullies being abandoned in England and Wales in the year before the ban, but this sky-rocketed to 129 abandonments in the six months after the legislation was brought into effect.

Law requires abandoned dogs to be held in kennels for one week to give the owners an opportunity to claim them.

If they are a banned breed, they are put down on day eight because they are not allowed to be rehomed.

Mark said he didn't go into this line of work wanting to put dogs down, but explained that they can't be rehomed because the risk of another attack is too high.

He said the 'reality of the situation' would mean being faced with a coroner and having to apologise for rehoming a dog which has attacked again because he 'felt sorry for it'.

The family of a teenager who was mauled to death by an XL Bully called for owners to be subject to similar background checks as licenced gun owners.

Morgan Dorsett, 19, from Shrewsbury, Shropshire, was killed by an XL Bully inside a flat in Bristol in February 2025 - just a year after the ban was introduced.

An inquest found the cause of her death were bites to her face and neck.

A woman has since been charged with having a dog dangerously out of control, causing injury resulting in death.

Morgan's mother Marie is now calling for the legislation to be amended and tightened, with more focus and responsibility put on the owners, including background checks.

'We can't just have her die for no reason. Something needs to happen from this,' the grieving mother added.

Morgan Dorsett, 19, from Shrewsbury, Shropshire, was killed by an XL Bully inside a flat in Bristol in February 2025 - just a year after the ban was introduced

John McColl, 84, wandered onto a driveway in Warrington, Cheshire on February 24, 2025 when the XL bully attacked and savaged him

In February 2025, a pensioner was killed when an XL Bully that was chained to a shed outside its owner's house attacked him.

John McColl, 84, died from his injuries a month after the brutal attack which saw the owner come home to find his dog 'eating' the elderly man.

The dog, called Toretto, had to be shot 10 times by armed police who rushed to the house in Warrington, Cheshire.

It was later found the dog had not been fed by the owner which caused it to become irritable and aggressive.

In March 2025, a man was killed by an XL Bully he was dog sitting for his friend who had been given the dog by a criminal before he went to jail.

Scott Samson's remains were discovered alongside the dog in the blood-soaked living room of his home in Rutherglen in South Lanarkshire, Scotland.

A statement issued to the BBC from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs - the government body that deals with dangerous dogs - said it was 'continuing to assess whether the current dog control rules are sufficient to ensure communities are protected'.

It added that the government 'must balance the views' of people who are critical of the ban with their 'responsibility to ensure that the public is protected from dog attacks'.

It said it is engaging 'closely with the police, local authorities, veterinary bodies and rescue and rehoming organisations to monitor the impacts and effectiveness of the XL bully dog ban'.
Iran fired a ballistic missile into Turkey before it was shot down by Nato.

Turkish defence ministry officials confirmed the missile had entered the country's airspace before it was countered by Nato air defences deployed in the eastern Mediterranean.

The incident marked the fourth such incident since the start of the Iran war, following three earlier interceptions by Nato systems earlier this month that prompted Ankara to protest and warn Tehran.

Meanwhile, Donald Trump has threatened to blow up Iran's power and desalination plants as well as oil wells and Kharg Island unless a deal can be reached to 'immediately' reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

Writing on his Truth Social platform, the President said the US is in 'serious discussions' with a 'more reasonable regime' to end the war, but said he will take action unless an agreement is made.

And a huge fire broke out at an Israeli oil refinery following a missile strike earlier today.

Footage captured by Israeli media shows flames bursting from the Bazan refinery in the port city of Haifa which has previously come under attack in the Iran war.

Follow the latest updates of the Iran war below
The Victim of a sex attacker who assaulted her after he deceived Travelodge staff into giving him her room key has refused to accept the hotel chain's apology and criticised their response.

She said she was 'horrified' by their response, which made her feel 'dismissed' and was too 'slow' to be effective following the attack at a Travelodge in Maidenhead, Berkshire, in December 2022.

Kyran Smith, 29, lied to a receptionist saying he was the victim's boyfriend so hotel staff handed him a key card and her room number, allowing him to carry out his assault on her. He was jailed for seven and a half years this February.

The survivor said it was 'quite shocking' to hear that the boss of the hotel chain Jo Boydell had cancelled a meeting with MPs about the assault, given their response.

The CEO also warned that a similar attack could happen again after revealing she was aware of 'other instances' where an unwanted person had entered a room.

Ms Boydell has since apologised to the victim and changed policy, meaning key cards will now only be given with guests' explicit consent.

But the victim, who cannot be named to protect her anonymity, rejected her apology. She told the BBC: 'They're only doing things as and when they need to rather than actually thinking, 'Actually no, this is wrong'.

'It's like they're taking slow steps to get to the right point but they're not getting there fast enough.

'I feel like they should have realised the problem before this and they shouldn't have made me feel so dismissed.'

Kyran Smith (pictured) was jailed for seven and a half years in February over the attack, which took place in December 2022

Travelodge has changed its key policy after a woman was sexually assaulted by a man who had been given access to her room at a Travelodge in Maidenhead

Smith had attended the same party as the victim but when she had left for her hotel, he followed her and tricked hotel staff into handing over a room key and her room number.

After the attack, the victim raised the alarm to Travelodge who initially offered a 30 refund - which the victim called 'insulting' - before finally apologising.

The woman alleged that her attacker had bypassed security checks at reception simply because he knew her name. She has called for hotels to seek direct consent from guests before handing out keys.

She noted that her room also lacked a safety chain for added security and is now taking legal action against the hotel chain, the BBC said.

Ms Boydell insisted guests were safe at Travelodge hotels and said that an independent review had been launched to investigate and that all 12,000 customer-facing staff would receive training on the matter.

However, earlier this month Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he was 'very concerned' after she cancelled a meeting with MPs about the 'utterly appalling' assault.

The victim told ITV's Good Morning Britain (GMB): 'I think if you are the CEO of a company, then you have a responsibility to answer these questions and engage in that situation, and say how you're going to now improve.

'You're not protecting people and I mean, I personally find it quite shocking.'

In a separate interview with the BBC the victim added: 'If you're really that worried about safeguarding and protecting people and like making sure your guests are safe, then why are you not attending these kind of meetings with MPs?'

In response, Ms Boydell told BBC Breakfast this morning: 'Clearly we've made mistakes and I genuinely apologise to the victim for what happened to her and the way that we handled her case subsequently - it clearly wasn't good enough.

'That's why we've made some immediate changes and that's why we're taking a good long hard look at this in terms of an independent review to really thoroughly but urgently investigate what we need to change.'

In her own GMB interview, Ms Boydell added: 'I'm really sorry if she did feel dismissed, and we are definitely listening to what she has to say.

'The hotels with key cards have deadbolts, but clearly something went wrong here, and that needs to be investigated.'

However, the victim took issue with Ms Boydell's suggestion there was a deadbolt in the room. She told GMB: 'There was suggestion from the CEO that I, that the rooms had a deadbolt or something, and I was like, no, even if it does, the key obviously overrides that, because I locked my door.

'I know I locked my door. That's deflection, in my opinion'

Ms Boydell warned that these attacks could happen again as she admitted she was aware of 'other instances different to this one in terms of not keys being obtained by deception, but any instance of somebody entering a customer's room that they havent given explicit permission to'.

The CEO confessed she had only heard about the assault last month after Smith had been jailed. She spoke on the response of Travelodge to the reporting of the sexual assault, adding: 'I would have expected it to be escalated. It wasn't, so something went wrong.'

The victim is now calling for in-person or phone consent to be required from room holders before receptionists give access to a room, explaining, 'it's literally easier to get into a hotel room where someone is asleep and vulnerable than it is to get into a nightclub.'

Ms Boydell has spoken to several MPs about the dreadful attack, but cancelled a meeting with some of those who had requested to talk to her.

Jen Craft, the Labour MP for Thurrock, did speak to Ms Boydell but told the BBC's Today programme this morning that the chain had 'a long way to go until people feel safe in their hotels again'.

Jo Boydell, CEO of Travelodge, has issued a formal apology but it was rejected by the victim who went on to say it was 'quite shocking' she had cancelled a meeting with MPs about what Keir Starmer described as an 'utterly appalling' sexual assault

She said that some of the issues of Travelodge's response raised by the victim were 'really worrying'.

Mrs Craft noted that Travelodges are not just used by solo travellers like the victim that night but also by companies for employees on business trips and even vulnerable people in temporary or emergency accommodation placed there by local authorities.

When asked if Travelodges should stop being used in those sorts of official capacities, Mrs Craft said: 'I think they should certainly be asking these kinds of questions.

'If you have a duty of care to someone as to where they're staying for the night, I think you should be asking yourself, are they safe staying at this accommodation you've placed them in?

'In this case, if it's Travelodge, you should be making sure that that accommodation is safe.'

Mrs Craft said MPs were investigating whether these security shortfalls were common across the hotel industry and 'whether or not there needs to be further action from a regulatory or statutory level to make sure people feel safe when they stay in hotels.'

However, she said that initial informal enquiries found that some chains did have robust security measures in place already.

Earlier this month, MPs were told they can take part in an independent review into Travelodge's room security measures - which will be led by barrister Paul Greaney KC.

The review, which will involve a leading violence against women and girls expert, will examine room security procedures and how the incident was handled, according to Ms Boydell.
Donald Trump may repeatedly have claimed to have defeated Iran.

But analysts are warning that the reality is the President faces an increasingly challenging set of options if he is to either defeat Tehran militarily or extract the US from the conflict.

From invading Kharg Island to forcibly reopening the Strait of Hormuz, all military options are fraught with danger to US troops while Iran is still able to launch barrages of ballistic missiles and drones.

Meanwhile the US is taking increasing damage to assets in the region, such as radars and an AWACS aircraft that was destroyed, leaving it less able to intercept those missiles.

The Pentagon does not have enough troops to launch a full-scale invasion of Iran, and it is unlikely the American people would support such a move.

Meanwhile the longer the Strait of Hormuz remains closed, the higher oil prices will climb plunging the world into an economic crisis.

And the longer the Iranian regime remains intact, the stronger its claim to have defeated or at least resisted the US military as fighting rages on.

These are the ten problems that mean Trump is increasingly facing the prospect of being trapped in a nightmare scenario as he fights to win the Iran war.

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As the US-Israeli war stretches into its fifth week and the crisis in the Middle East deepens, several potentially insurmountable problems have plunged Donald Trump in a nightmare scenario

Can special forces pull off a raid to seize Iran's uranium?

The Trump administration has said it aims to weaken Iran's military by sinking its navy, destroying its missile and drone capability and crucially, ensuring that the Islamic Republic never has a nuclear weapon.

But a mission to seize Iran's supply of highly enriched uranium - stored in fortified underground tunnels - is fraught with unprecedented risk and complications, even for US Special Operations Forces commandos - America's most elite forces - who have been training for decades for such an operation.

According to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Tehran still maintains about 972 pounds of 60 per cent enriched uranium, a short step away from the 90 per cent enrichment levels needed for high-yield military warheads.

'This would not only be one of the riskiest special operations missions in American history, but very possibly the largest,' said CBS News national security analyst Aaron MacLean, a Marine veteran who deployed to Afghanistan in 2009-10.

In the absence of a peace agreement to remove or destroy the stockpile, deploying troops on the ground is the only option.

Another is an aerial campaign with massive bunker buster munitions that might entomb the stockpile deep underground, but there's no guarantee the enriched uranium would be eradicated.

At least half of the uranium is stored underground in Iran's Isfahan facility, the rest is likely underneath Natanz facility, 70 miles away, while evidence indicates the regime moved some to a site called Pickaxe Mountain.

While securing a perimeter around a target site, the military would have to protect against possible Iranian drone and missile attacks, most likely incurring hundreds of casualties.

Once underground, the troops would have to begin the challenging and time-consuming endeavour of unsealing heavily fortified tunnels, using explosives and heavy earth-moving equipment.

Once inside, challenges multiply: not only might the American troops be exposed to the myriad booby traps of mines, trip-wire-activated explosives, and IEDs, there is also the contamination from the fissile material.

Once the soldiers remove the cannisters - after deciphering the real ones from the decoys - successful exfiltration will be the most difficult part of the mission, considering how the element of surprise will vanish and the enemy will have had time to regroup and gain reinforcements.

There's always the chance that the Iranians choose to fire a ballistic missile to kill as many Americans as possible - even at the expense of destroying their own nuclear infrastructure.

Crucially, you can't kill an idea, and even if Iran's nuclear enrichment capacity is severely depleted after a US mission, the regime still has the technical ability, as well as the will.

Jonathan Hackett, a former US Marine interrogator and counterintelligence agent, told the Daily Mail: 'It's important to remember Iran's nuclear programme is not just at Natanz, Isfahan, and Fordow, for example. They have 10 different facilities. They have one under construction on the Iran-Iraq border. They've got two million kilograms of uranium that has not been dug out of the ground yet in the Saghand mine.'

He continued: 'They have this knowledge of how to produce centrifuges, how to process uranium, how to store uranium, how to conceal it from the public. You can't destroy that knowledge. You can kill the people right now that know it, but you can't get rid of it.'

Maxar satellite image reveals multiple buildings damaged or destroyed at the Isfahan nuclear technology centre after US-Israeli airstrikes in June last year

What would an invasion of Kharg Island achieve?

Also known as Forbidden Island, this speck of land 16 miles off the coast of Iran is the Islamic Republic's main hub for oil exports.

By invading it and seizing control of its terminal, storage tanks and pipeline, the US could shut off the flow of money that supports Tehran's economy and funds its military.

Kharg - dubbed the 'crown jewel' of the regime - handles 90 per cent of Iran's oil output, up to 1.5million barrels a day.

But invading the island is fraught with danger, given the fact that Tehran still possesses 1,000 ballistic missiles and small-scale factories in garages and kitchens across the country are building thousands of medium-sized drones, capable of carrying explosive payloads.

In the event of an attempted landing from the air, the Iranians could set fire to oil storage tanks, containing up to 18million barrels of oil, creating thick black cloud cover.

As long as this lasted, it would complicate attempts at invasion by either a helicopter assault or parachute.

The military obstacle would be temporary but the impact on the global economy would be immeasurable, as China and India are among the countries still reliant on Iranian exports.

A prolonged bombing campaign to soften up Kharg's defences would make it easier for the Marines and paratroops to get ashore or onto ground from the air, but at the cost of the element of surprise.

Iranian cruise missiles could await helicopters and transport aircraft, which are especially vulnerable when flying paratroop missions because of the need to maintain a steady, comparatively low speed during drops.

Individual Iranians with shoulder-launched missiles and rocket launchers would pose a serious threat as helicopters and troops came into range.

So too would 'first-person drones', controlled by operators with headsets, which could be lethal against a parachute assault, picking off paratroopers in the air.

Some military experts have warned that this combination of risks would turn the initial assault into a suicide mission for the 82nd Airborne.

Others calculate the battle could be won, but that troops would be plunged into a 'kill zone' similar to the most intense of the fighting on the Russian front in Ukraine.

The US prides itself on its technological superiority, which is undeniable, but in close-quarter fighting that advantage is less marked.

In Venezuela, the US Special Forces used an ultra-low frequency disorientation weapon to confuse president Nicolas Maduro's bodyguards while he was being captured in January  but that was around one building, not over several square miles.

Despite state-of-the-art body armour, US troops will not be invulnerable. Bullets and shrapnel, particularly at close range, will always be potentially lethal.

Even if US troops manage to storm and take the island, they still have to hold it. Missile and drone attacks from the mainland will be constant, and US aircraft will need to fly frequent sorties to hit back.

Kharg Island, located 16 miles from the Iranian coast in the Strait of Hormuz, processes more than 90 per cent of Tehran's crude oil exports and is vital in funding the country's war effort

Difficulty of reopening Strait of Hormuz

Iranian attacks have effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow shipping lane between the Islamic Republic and Oman through which around a fifth of the worlds daily oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply passes.

While Trump has suggested the crucial waterway could be reopened by sending warships to safely escort oil tankers, such an option is fraught with hazard.

Dangers such as cruise and ballistic missiles, fast-attack boats and sophisticated naval mines await any vessel attempting to traverse the vital passage.

With transit lanes in some places only three to four miles from the Iranian shoreline, ships have less than two minutes to react to incoming strikes.

Naval escorts also face the threat of Tehran using remote-controlled boats laden with explosives to strike them.

The oil passage is narrow and shallow, forcing vessels within miles of Irans mountainous shores, a landscape that lends itself to asymmetric warfare tactics, in which Tehran deploys weapons that are small, widely dispersed and hard for adversaries to eliminate entirely.

'The Iranians have thought a lot about how to utilize the geography to their benefit,' Caitlin Talmadge, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, told the New York Times.

'The sheer proximity of Iran and width of the strait is what makes it so difficult,' said Jennifer Parker, a former naval officer now at the National Security College of Australian National University.

'You have very limited time from a detection,' she continued. 'To then try and respond and take out that missile or drone, your response time, depending on the speed of it, could well be minutes.'

Dan Tomlinson, a Treasury minister, told Sky News: 'Lets be clear that it is dangerous. There are civilian ships in the Strait of Hormuz at the moment that are being fired on by the Iranians.'

Today, Trump threatened to blow up Iran's power and desalination plants as well as oil wells and Kharg Island itself unless a deal can be reached to 'immediately' reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

Writing on his Truth Social platform, the President said the US is in 'serious discussions' with a 'more reasonable regime' to end the war but said he will take action unless an agreement is made.

'Great progress has been made but, if for any reason a deal is not shortly reached, which it probably will be, and if the Hormuz Strait is not immediately Open for Business, we will conclude our lovely stay in Iran by blowing up and completely obliterating all of their Electric Generating Plants, Oil Wells and Kharg Island (and possibly all desalinization plants!), which we have purposefully not yet touched,' Trump penned.

The downside of his threat to attack power plants

Any attack on Tehran's energy infrastructure risks retaliatory strikes with catastrophic consequences for the global economy.

Israel's attack on Iran's South Pars gas field on March 18 prompted an Iranian aerial assault on energy infrastructure in Qatar and across the Middle East, marking the biggest escalation in the war.

The attacks led to a spike in energy prices and US President Trump later posted he had not known about them in advance.

Following the Iranian attack on Qatar's Ras Laffan industrial area, which includes the world's biggest LNG processing plant, QatarEnergy said about 17 per cent of its export capacity would be impacted.

Attacks on oil fields across Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait could plunge the world into a chaotic energy crisis, triggering a cost of living emergency in Britain, but Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that the regime would show 'zero restraint' if its infrastructure was struck again.

Oil prices could surge well beyond current levels as the Iran war unfolds, as the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz and attacks on Middle Eastern production facilities cut deeply into global supplies, with no clear picture on when flows will resume.

Potential energy sites which may now be in Tehran's sights include the UAE's Ruwais refinery in Abu Dhabi - the Middle East's largest single-site refinery responsible for producing up to 922,000 barrels of oil per day.

Saudi Arabia's Abqaiq processing facility, located approximately 37 miles southwest of Dhahran in the country's Eastern Province, could also be bombarded.

It is the worlds biggest oil processing and crude stabilisation plant, and supplies up to seven million barrels a day.

The country's Samref refinery, which produces 402,000 barrels of oil a day into petrol, diesel and jet fuel, is another target.

Qatar's Mesaieed Petrochemical Complex, responsible for turning gas and oil into polyethylene which is primarily used in plastic packaging, may also be in Iran's crosshairs, as well as the UAEs al-Hosn gasfield.

With analysts warning of $200 a barrel, motorists would feel the pain first, with warnings that diesel could reach 2 a litre within a fortnight, surpassing the peak in 2022 triggered by Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The possibility of tit-for-tat military responses from Iran and the US has also placed a 'ticking time bomb' on the global market, according to analysts.

Iranian ballistic missiles cause a fire at Qatar's Ras Laffan energy complex, March 18

Liquefied natural gas facilities in Ras Laffan Industrial City, in Ras Laffan, Qatar, February 25

What if the Houthis close the 'Gate of Tears'

Known as the 'Gate of Tears' in Arabic, the Strait of Bab al-Mandeb is one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world, carrying 12 per cent of the world's oil shipments.

Vessels traverse the strait to access the Red Sea and, ultimately, the Suez Canal from the Indian Ocean.

In recent weeks, the Iran-backed Houthis - a Shia Islamist militant group - have threatened to choke off the 20-mile wide passage located south-west of Yemen, in a move that will escalate global financial woes and likely push oil prices to $150 a barrel.

'Our finger is on the trigger,' Mohammed al-Bukhaiti, a senior Houthi official, announced earlier this month. 'Yemen joining the conflict is only a matter of time.'

'Regarding the decision to stand alongside Iran, that decision has already been made,' he said.

'Theyve got super useful real estate,' Adam Baron, a fellow at think tank New America, told the Wall Street Journal.

'If you are Iran and your aim is to build pressure by shutting down another key maritime shipping network, then obviously the Houthis are the easiest way to do that.'

Despite being long-dismissed, the Houthi militants are formidable opponents and seized control of Yemen's capital and many of its population more than a decade ago amid civil war, fending off an Arab coalition led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

During the war in Gaza, Houthi drone and missile attacks all but halted traffic through the Red Sea and Suez Canal, forcing shippers to take the longer journey around South Africas Cape of Good Hope.

The rebels also struck Israel, more than 1,000 miles away.

'If the Houthis enter the conflict, it really raises the stakes,' said Baron.

'It pulls the Suez Canal and the Egyptians in, it brings Saudi further in.'

What if the Strait of Hormuz stays closed

Assuming current supply disruptions are sustained, analysts estimate Brent prices between $100 and $190, with an average forecast of $134.62.

The war had shrunk global oil supplies by around 11 million barrels per day as of March 23, according to International Energy Agency Executive Director Fatih Birol.

While Trump last week extended a deadline for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, he has also been weighing whether to use ground forces to seize Kharg Island.

An escalation in the conflict that damages export facilities at Kharg would lift prices above $120, with some analysts forecasting levels as high as $200.

If the US and Israel were to declare an end to the war soon, but Iran's threats to shipping operations through the Strait of Hormuz persist, analysts see prices anywhere between $50 and $150, reflecting the uncertainty over how long or severe disruptions to oil flows through the strait would be in the aftermath of the war.

While all industries would feel the impact of higher energy costs, power-intensive sectors as well as agriculture and downstream chemicals-dependent industries would be especially hard hit.

'Rising transport costs affect consumer goods but also capital goods. Supply chain problems and rising costs affect in particular the chemical and agriculture sector,' said Thomas Wybierek, analyst at NORD/LB.

If the US and Israel were to declare an end to the war soon, but Iran's threats to shipping operations through the Strait of Hormuz persist, analysts see prices anywhere between $50 and $150

Vulnerable desalination plants

Iran could produce a disaster for Gulf states by crippling desalination plants across the desert region, cutting off water supply for millions of people.

There are around five thousand desalination plants across the Middle East, more than four hundred of which are in the Gulf, but a smaller number of plants are responsible for a large share of the output.

Amnesty International announced this month there was a significant risk that attacks on systems providing essential services such as electricity, heating and running water would violate international law and 'in some cases could amount to war crimes'.

This is due to the potential for 'devastating civilian harm and environmental impact posed by such attacks'.

Attacks on desalination plants could cripple the Middle East, which is one of the driest regions the world, where water availability is 10 times lower than the global average.

Moreover, about 42 per cent of the globe's desalination capacity is based in the region.

'Over there, without desalinated water, there is nothing,' water economist Esther Crauser-Delbourg told the Times, highlighting how any strike on such major infrastructure could trigger a major humanitarian crisis.

Increasing US losses and vulnerable US bases

Iran has struck 104 American and regional bases, according to a rough analysis of geolocated strikes by Fabian Hinz, an open-source analyst.

The US is now being forced to prosecute its war remotely, with troops evacuating to office spaces and hotels to avoid attacks.

Out of all the hubs, Ali Al Salem in Kuwait has suffered most hits  a total of 23  according to Hinzs analysis, followed by Camp Arifjan and Camp Buehring, with 17 and six geolocated strikes respectively.

It comes as Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky claimed that Russia supplied Iran with satellite images of a US base in Saudi Arabia days before a vital spy plane was destroyed in a strike.

On Friday, Iran launched several drones and at least one ballistic missile at the Prince Sultan Air Base, 60 miles south of Riyadh.

The attack injured up to 12 US soldiers, with two currently in a serious condition, and destroyed an E-3 Sentry aircraft.

Zelensky said on Saturday, the day after the attack, that the Prince Sultan air base was one of several US military sites photographed by Russian satellites 'in the interests of Iran'

The relationship between America and its Gulf allies grows increasingly fraught, with those same allies bearing the brunt of relentless retaliatory strikes on US bases, embassies and vital energy infrastructure.

There were close to 40,000 US troops in the region when the conflict started, and Central Command has dispersed thousands of them, some to as far away as Europe.

While many have remained in the Middle East, the troops are no longer stationed in their original bases.

The result, according to current and former military officials, is a war that is much harder to dictate.

'Yes, we have the ability to set up expedient operation centers, but youre absolutely going to lose capability,' Master Sgt. Wes J. Bryant, a retired Special Operations targeting specialist in the US Air Force, told the New York Times.

'You cant just put all that equipment on the top of a hotel, for example. Some of it is unwieldy.'

Attacks on US radar

On Friday, Iran launched a combined missile and drone strike on the Prince Sultan Air Base in Al Kharj, Saudi Arabia, destroying an E-3 Sentry aircraft fit with a rotating radar disc which allows commanders to track everything in the air across hundreds of miles.

Tehran's precision strike on the aircraft - one of 16 - indicates a worrying level of intelligence and also limits the US military's ability to provide early warning of possible threats during combat operations.

On Saturday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky revealed that Moscow  already accused of sharing military information and hardware with the Islamic Republic during the war  had taken satellite images of the Saudi base in the days before the attack.

'Do they [Russia] help Iranians?' Zelensky said in an interview with NBC.

'Of course. How many per cent? One hundred per cent.'

An image appears to show a US Air Force E-3G Sentry aircraft sitting in ruins at Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia after an Iranian missile and drone strike

Dwindling support

The US President has previously promised he was 'not putting troops anywhere' amid apparent divisions in his Maga base over foreign military engagements and the need for congressional approval.

Trump may also be reluctant to deploy soldiers with all-important midterm elections approaching in November.

He has told aides he wants to avoid a 'forever war' and find a negotiated exit, urging them to stress the four-to-six-week duration of hostilities he has outlined publicly, a senior White House official told Reuters, adding that such a timeline appears 'shaky'.

At the same time, Trump has threatened a major military escalation if talks fail.

Trumps diplomatic overtures to Iran, including a 15-point peace proposal sent via a backchannel with Pakistan, appeared to demonstrate an increasingly urgent search for an off-ramp.

But it remains unclear whether there are currently any realistic prospects for fruitful negotiations.

'President Trump has poor options all around to end the war,' said Jonathan Panikoff, former US deputy national intelligence officer for the Middle East.

'Part of the challenge is the lack of clarity related to what a satisfactory outcome would be.'

A White House official insisted that the Iran campaign 'will conclude when the commander-in-chief determines that our objectives are met' and that Trump had laid out explicit goals.

For some analysts, the US has no option but to stay present and operational in the region, for the crucial reason of toppling the Islamic Republic and enacting regime change, in order to fully eradicate the nuclear threat.

'There might be a perception of de-escalation, but at the minute, the job is only half done,' Philip Ingram, a former colonel in British military intelligence, told the Daily Mail.

'I liken it to a cancer surgeon only removing part of a tumour from a patient. Leave some of the tumour inside the patient, it will grow back, and it tends to grow back even worse than it was beforehand.

'And at the minute, with the elements of the Iranian regime that remain in place, that's like the remnants of a cancerous tumour being left in the patient. And therefore, Donald Trump would be a very poor surgeon if he left that in there.'
Several EU nations are looking to set up deportation hubs in Africa within just a few months in a crackdown on migrants.

Last week, a large centre-right bloc worked with the hard right to pass the Return Regulation, drafted by the European Commission, which would make deportation procedures across the EU 'faster and more effective'.

Now, Germany and several other nations, including the Netherlands, Denmark, Austria and Greece, want to use the legislation to create 'return hubs' for migrants.

These would be put in countries - expected to be mostly in Africa - that are willing to host asylum seekers who cannot be returned to their home nations.

Uganda, Mauritania and Benin are among the states said to be interested in making deals with European nations.

The Return Regulation, which still needs final approval by governments and parliament, creates a framework for governments to make migration agreements with non-EU nations.

It also allows for migrants to be held for up to two years and tracked with electronic tags.

It will also allow for deportation orders to be enforced across the whole EU, closing a loophole that allows migrants to move within the bloc to avoid being sent home.

Several EU nations are looking to set up deportation hubs in Africa within just a few months in a crackdown on migrants (File image of migrants in the sea between Malta and Tunisia)

But it will also allow countries to hold migrants indefinitely if they cannot be returned to their home nations.

Alexander Dobrindt, the German interior minister, said after the vote: 'We aim to have reached agreements with third countries by the end of this year to take the next step  the establishment of these return hubs.'

Francois-Xavier Bellamy, leader of the French conservative Republicans group in the European parliament, said: 'The decisive changes introduced by this regulation will make it possible to simply guarantee the straightforward principle that if you come to Europe illegally, rest assured that you will not stay here.'

Giorgia Meloni, the right-wing prime minister of Italy, called the vote, which was won by 389 to 206, 'a decisive moment' in Europe's fight against illegal immigration.

Many have compared the EU's scheme to the Britain's Rwanda policy, which the Labour government abandoned in 2024.

But many NGOs have called the EU's plan 'Trump-inspired'.

Amnesty International said the legislation carried 'grave risks of systematic human rights violations'.

PICUM, which supports undocumented immigrants, said the EU's new rules would 'to deportation centres in countries they never set foot in' and 'lead to increased surveillance and discrimination'.

And the International Red Cross said holding centres would be held 'outside of EU territory, where policymakers cannot guarantee that peoples rights will be upheld'.

Last week, the number of small boat migrants to have reached Britain since Labour came to power topped 69,000.

Migrants react as they fail to board an inflatable boat on the beach at Gravelines, France, on March 22 2026

It comes after the head of the UK's Border Security Command quit after failing to stem the surge in crossings.

Martin Hewitt will leave the post of border security commander in a few days time after 18 months in the job, it was confirmed last week.

Sir Keir Starmer appointed former senior police officer Mr Hewitt shortly after becoming Prime Minister, tasking him with curbing the number of small boats crossing the Channel.

But last year saw second-highest annual total of people crossing the Channel, with 41,472 arrivals.

Labours one in, one out deal with the French has also failed to have an impact on the Channel crisis.

According to latest figures, only 377 migrants have been sent back to France under the agreement but 380 have come into Britain under the reciprocal terms of the deal.

The one in, one out scheme is due to expire in June.

Sir Keir scrapped the previous governments Rwanda asylum scheme  which was designed to save lives in the Channel by deterring crossings  as one of his first acts in office.

The Government has also ruled out leaving the European Convention on Human Rights which is used by migrants and foreign criminals to avoid being deported.
The Kremlin has kicked a British diplomat out of Russia for 'spying on its economy,' according to state media.

The diplomat, who the FSB security service said was an embassy secretary, allegedly engaged in 'subversive intelligence activities', the state RIA news agency reported.

'A decision was made to strip [him] of his accreditation and order him to leave Russia within two weeks,' RIA quoted the FSB as saying.

According to the intelligence agency, the diplomat, who was sent to Moscow, intentionally provided false information when applying for entry into the Russian Federation, violating Russian law.

The FSB furthermore claimed it had uncovered evidence of the diplomat engaging in 'subversive intelligence activities that threaten Russia's security.'

Following these claims, Britain accused Russia on Monday of an 'aggressive and co-ordinated campaign of harassment'.

'The accusations made today by Russia against our diplomats are complete nonsense,' a foreign ministry spokesperson said, adding Russia was 'pumping out malicious and completely baseless accusations about their work'.

In January, Russia expelled another British diplomat after accusing him of acting as a spy.

The Kremlin has kicked a British diplomat out of Russia for 'spying on its economy'

At least six Russian vessels passed through the Strait of Dover unchallenged on Thursday. Pictured: A French Navy helicopter hovers over the Deyna vessel, which is supposed to be a member of the Russian shadow fleet, during an operation in the Mediterranean on March 20

Moscow's foreign ministry said at the time it had received information 'regarding the affiliation of a diplomatic employee at the embassy with the British secret service'.

The ministry had said it summoned British charge d'affaires Danae Dholakia to lodge a 'strong protest' and inform her that the diplomat was being expelled.

The ministry did not identify the diplomat expelled in January, but said he must leave Russia within two weeks.

This comes as the UK is preparing to storm Russian shadow fleet tankers after they sailed through the English channel.

At least six Russian vessels passed through the Strait of Dover unchallenged on Thursday, prompting the RAF to launch two Shadow R1 surveillance aircraft, which spent hours patrolling the Channel.

The tankers also dared to sail past the Royal Navy's headquarters in Portsmouth, the Special Boat Service's HQ in Poole and Royal Marine bases.

It came after another Downing Street U-turn on Wednesday, with the Prime Minister signing off on new powers granting British special forces permission to seize sanctioned ships in UK waters.

He vowed to go after Vladimir Putin's shadow fleet 'even harder' after Royal Navy ships had been restricted from tailing Russian vessels passing through the English Channel.

Sir Keir said: 'We are living in an increasingly volatile and dangerous world, facing threats from different fronts every day.

'Putin is rubbing his hands at the war in the Middle East because he thinks higher oil prices will let him line his pockets.

'That's why we're going after his shadow fleet even harder, not just keeping Britain safe but starving Putin's war machine of the dirty profits that fund his barbaric campaign.'

Government lawyers had previously ruled out special forces units such as the SBS from raiding Russian vessels in UK waters.

However the Prime Minister finally approved requests from military chiefs to shadow Putin's tankers in a boost to war weary Ukraine which is suffering intense Russian attacks.

Russia's war coffers have been boosted by the spike in oil prices caused by the Iran security crisis  making it more important from Britain to target its shadow fleet.

Despite the half a dozen ships defying the Prime Minister on Thursday, four sanctioned vessels were due to pass Eastwards through the Channel but diverted course, according to data from the Starboard Maritime Intelligence.

Instead they sailed north up the east coast to take a longer route around Scotland before returning to Russian waters.

While the ships had been scared off after Starmer's move on Wednesday, experts warned that this deterrant could only be temporary.

A defence source said: 'We will not comment on specific operational planning or give a running commentary as this could compromise our ability to successfully take action against these ships, only benefitting our adversaries.

'In general terms, any target ship will be individually considered by law enforcement, military and energy market specialists before an operation is executed.'

Often described as a 'clandestine' network, Russia's 'shadow fleet' are hiding in plain sight as they ferry millions of barrels of oil through the world's busiest shipping route in defiance of Western sanctions, embargoes and price caps.

Dozens of these ships pass through the Dover Strait every month, part of a 'shadow fleet' of up to 800 vessels that continue to fuel Putin's four-year war on Ukraine.

Experts say over 60 per cent of Russian crude oil is being exported on the shadow fleet - but the Ministry of Defence insists that 'deterring, disrupting and degrading the Russian shadow fleet is a priority'.

Last month security experts had warned escalating tensions could lead to clashes at sea, right on the doorstep of Britain's shores.

Professor Michael Clarke, a defence analyst, told Sky News: 'There must come a point at which Britain and its allies - the Dutch, Danes, and Norwegians and the sea-going nations of Northern Europe - they together will get much tougher with these Russian ships, even if they're escorted.

'When that happens, we're heading probably sometime this year for some sort of militarised confrontation at sea possibly in the Channel or the North Sea, somewhere certainly near to British coast.'
Truckers called for it to be dropped

An operations coordinator at a major national trucking company has slammed Anthony Albanese's response to the fuel crisis, saying it risks 'shelves going empty'.

Alex Randall from Loadshift said his company had been calling for the fuel excise to be scrapped entirely for five weeks, and the government had not gone far enough by halving it for three months.

'It's good they've finally moved, but halving it when drivers are paying $3.60-a-litre and getting stranded at empty servos is a half-measure for a full-blown crisis,' he told Daily Mail.

The Prime Minister announced on Monday his government would cut the tax paid on fuel as part of a four-point National Security Fuel Plan to battle price jumps triggered by the ongoing war in the Middle East.

'Today, we're announcing that the Commonwealth government will halve the fuel excise on petrol and diesel for three months,' Albanese said.

'The halving of the fuel excise will reduce the cost of fuel by 26.3 cents per litre.'

Loadshift is a freelance trucking marketplace that connects 80,000 shippers with 40,000 carriers working in every state across Australia.

Mr Randall said the nation depends on freight for supply chains and that the 'excise and the GST on diesel should be fully suspended until this is over'.

Loadshift operations coordinator Alex Randall said the government's fuel plan needed to go further or supply chains would be at risk. A loadshift driver was recently stranded in the Outback after pulling into an empty servo (right)

The operations coordinator at Loadshift, a freelance trucking marketplace, lashed out at Anthony Albanese (above) after he halved the fuel excise

The government will cut the tax paid on fuel by 26.3c per litre for the next three months

'Twenty-six cents doesn't cover the gap when your fuel bill has doubled,' he argued.

One of Loadshift's own drivers, Robert Cook, became stranded at empty service stations twice this month on his trip from Perth to Melbourne.

He suffered 2.5 days worth of delays while waiting for shipments of diesel to arrive near Bordertown and Ceduna.

'I'm sitting at a service station just waiting for a fuel truck to arrive, which hopefully will be tonight,' Mr Cook told Daily Mail. 'This is the second time it's happened to me this week.'

Mr Cook said he spent the last 500km looking in vain for a service station with enough fuel to fill his truck before he frustratingly had to pull in at his current stop.

The first time he was stranded was in Ceduna, a remote town on South Australia's coast about 1,830km east of Perth.

He and several other truck drivers were stuck at a service station for 12 hours while waiting for a fuel delivery.

'There were seven of us truckies in Ceduna and there's four of us in Bordertown,' Mr Cook said.

'Then there's the guys that are coming in, seeing there's no fuel and driving onto the next place.

'For me, I had to stop because I only had a quarter of a tank left so I didn't want to risk it. Now I'm sitting here until I can fill up again and continue my journey.'

He added the service stations were both full of 'big trucks' carrying everything from oil to cattle, machinery and cars.

Albanese's four-stage plan was released after he met with state and territory leaders at an emergency National Cabinet on Monday.

The four stages are: 'plan and prepare,' 'keeping Australia moving,' 'taking targeted action' and 'protecting critical services for all Australians'.

The country is at the second stage: 'Keeping Australia moving'.

As part of the scheme, the government also cut the heavy vehicle road user charge - a 32.4c levy paid on each litre of fuel by heavy vehicles.

Mr Randall said that was welcome, but warned a large portion of trucks won't be 'moving' unless more cost-cutting measures are introduced.

Robert Cook (above) has spent 2.5 days waiting for fuel deliveries while trucking from Perth to Melbourne

Alex Randall, Loadshift's Operations Coordinator, warned that while the price cut is good for everyday motorists, it's not enough to keep trucks running

'Removing the heavy vehicle user charge is the right call  we welcome that,' he said.

'But 98 per cent of the trucking industry is small businesses running on margins under 3 per cent.

'They need more than a trim. They need genuine relief or they go under - and when they go under, freight stops moving and shelves go empty.'

Fuel excise is a flat federal tax applied to every litre of petrol and diesel sold in Australia and is indexed twice a year, regardless of global oil prices.

While fuel prices fluctuate daily based on international markets, retail margins and transport costs, excise remains a fixed component, making it a powerful lever for shortterm relief.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers said Monday's move would cut the cost of filling a standard 65litre tank by about $19.

The measures are expected to cost the budget $2.55 billion, with a further $53 million in foregone revenue from delaying the road user charge increase.

'So this relief is temporary, it's timely and it's responsible,' Chalmers said.

'It's all about taking some of the edge off these high petrol prices which are putting such extraordinary pressure on household budgets right around the country.'

Energy Minister Chris Bowen said he was 'confident' Australia's fuel supply would hold and confirmed the government would work with regional allies in Asia to share oil supplies if needed.
Jeffrey Epstein's years of bailing out Sarah Ferguson apparently became a joke with the billionaire paedophile who was sent a tongue-in-cheek email about how Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor would 'sell his daughters' to see his ex-wife debt-free.

The former Duchess of York, 66, accepted at least 115,000 ($150,000) from Epstein even after he had been convicted of soliciting sex from girls as young as 14.

During 15 years of his financial patronage, Fergie also allegedly took Epstein's cash to pay her rent, her personal assistant's wages as well as flights to the US for her and Beatrice and Eugenie to visit him days after his release from prison in 2009.

But in a period when Ms Ferguson called him her 'supreme friend' and the 'brother I have always wished for', privately her debts were the butt of jokes with Epstein.

And her ex-husband Andrew's desire for the sex offender to clear her debts - instead of him - was clearly a subject of mirth too.

In an Epstein Files document unearthed today, the financier was sent a joke about the Yorks described as so funny it was the 'best one yet'.

An unnamed friend of Epstein sent him a newspaper headline entitled: 'Andrew sold daughters to pay Fergie debts'.

Writing to Epstein's personal email address, the friend said of the story: 'It caught me off guard I laughed so hard I choked and shot snot out of my nose!'.

And suggesting stories about Andrew and Fergie were a source of fun between them, they signed off: 'Best one yet!!!'

It is not clear if the headline in March 2011 was from a genuine news story or satirical, given how Beatrice and Eugenie were repeatedly dragged into their parents' dealings with Epstein.

Andrew and Sarah Ferguson's reliance on Epstein to clear her debts appears to have become a butt of jokes with the paedophile

Epstein was a convicted sex offender when Ms Ferguson (right in the files) was bailed out by him

In an Epstein Files email unearthed today, the financier was sent a headline about Fergie and Andrew described as the 'best one yet' - suggesting her debt pile was a butt of jokes. It is not clear if the headline was from a genuine news story

In her numerous mentions in the Epstein files, it appears he had been financially supporting her for over a decade and a half.

In one 2009 email, she is thought to have said to the paedophile financier: 'I urgently need 20,000 pounds ($27,521) for rent today.

'The landlord has threatened to go to the newspapers if I don't pay. Any brainwaves?'

The same year, emails suggest that the then-Duchess of York had been enthusiastically updating Epstein on opportunities for books and other brand deals opening up.

In one gushing message, she appears to say 'Just marry me' after a string of compliments to the paedophile who had been convicted of soliciting sex from a minor the year before.

Ferguson even seemed to reference her own children with Epstein, apparently talking of then-19-year-old Eugenie coming back from a 's****ing weekend' in 2010.

She is also believed to have introduced her then-22-year-old goddaughter to Epstein following his release from prison.

Her ex-husband Andrew also sought Epstein out to settle Fergie's debts.

Emails released in the Epstein Files shed new light on the former Duke of York's walk in Central Park with the convicted paedophile, and what he was still willing to do to help his big spending ex-wife.

The infamous picture from December 2010 came at a time when Fergie was mired in debt - but it was their old friend Epstein who bailed her out again.

Andrew told Epstein, then convicted of child sex offences, they would 'play some more soon' as they discussed settling her debts, one document shows.

'It would seem we are in this together', the disgraced royal told his paedophile friend.

Fergie's personal assistant of almost 20 years, Johnny O'Sullivan, had been owed $126,721 in wages and the tuition costs for an MBA at Columbia University that his boss had promised to pay for.

Three months after Andrew and Epstein strolled through Central Park, the convicted sex offender brokered a deal with Mr O'Sullivan for around half the money, although he dragged his heels about paying and called Fergie's loyal aide a 'little sh*t'.

Fergie would later claim having Epstein pay her bills was a 'gigantic error of judgement' and branded him a paedophile.

Behind the scenes she was then furiously backtracking with Epstein to claim she didn't think he was a child sex offender.

After speaking with Andrew, Epstein had stepped in to broker the deal with Mr O'Sullivan - and kept Andrew directly up to date.

In an email to Andrew he wrote: 'He [Johnny] said he would take 60k in wages, pay tax and be done.. I don't trust him at all, and a payment from me at the moment if disclosed to the press would look like a payoff for the little sh*t.'

Andrew replied: 'I'm just as concerned for you! Don't worry about me!'

It was signed 'A', for Andrew.

Epstein appears to have paid - but initially resisted. A 2015 picture of Epstein's desk showed on it was a letter titled 'Settlement - John O'Sullivan'.

It stated that an agreement for the reimbursement of $59,933 (around 44,433) had been made between Mr O'Sullivan, and the former Duke and Duchess.

Another email, suggests that he did.

Epstein wrote: 'Whatever we think of him we are going to have to deal with him one way or another.'

He added: 'He wants to get as much money as he can, I am trying to structure something where he signs papers and they are held until his money is received, otherwise he will get the money not sign and use the money to sue.

'He is trying to divide and conquer I hope you can deal with him as I don't think I can do anymore my end.'

Since the Epstein files were released, she has become somewhat of a pariah.

Last seen out in public in London on December 12 for the St James's Palace christening of her youngest granddaughter Athena Mapelli Mozzi, the former Duchess of York has dramatically disappeared from view.

Now, three months on, and with speculation at fever pitch about where she might be, there have been possible sightings in Dubai, Switzerland and Ireland.

Her old friend Priscilla Presley has been forced to deny that she is putting her up in LA.

Pictured: Andrew kneeling over an unidentified woman in an image that appears in the Epstein Files

Pressure is mounting on Sarah Ferguson to testify in the US over her links to Jeffrey Epstein, although there has been no formal request for her to do so.

Files released by the Department of Justice in January revealed she remained in contact with the disgraced financier, including just 17 days before his release from a Florida jail for soliciting sex with minors.

US lawmakers have repeatedly called for Ferguson's former husband, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, to answer questions about his links to Epstein, and she is now facing calls to do the same.

Despite the renewed scrutiny, Ferguson, 66, has kept a low profile in recent months, fuelling speculation over whether she could be asked to give evidence.

Some insiders believe she will instead stay out of the spotlight and avoid appearing before any congressional committee in what insiders see as a final act of loyalty to Andrew.

Jonathan Coad, a media lawyer who has previously represented Ferguson in defamation and privacy cases, said there was 'no chance' she would travel to the US.

'Of course she won't, and if she were still my client, my very strong advice to her would be not to go,' he told the BBC.

'It would be a disaster for her, for her daughters Beatrice and Eugenie - and also for Andrew, as it would show him up for not going.'

Pressure is mounting on Sarah Ferguson to testify in the US over her links to Jeffrey Epstein. Pictured: Princess Beatrice of York, Sarah Ferguson and Princess Eugenie of York

Congressman Suhas Subramanyam, a member of the House Oversight Committee investigating the handling of Epstein's prosecution, said he now believed she had 'information related to the investigation'.

He added that Ferguson should give sworn testimony to the committee.

There is no legal mechanism to compel Ferguson to testify in the US.

But Subramanyam said that lawmakers would be happy to work out terms that work for her as long as she was under oath.

Subramanyam's calls were echoed by Democratic Congresswoman Melanie Stansbury, who urged anyone with information of wrongdoing by Epstein and his associates to cooperate in order to ensure justice for the survivors.

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.
Sir Keir Starmer's Government and the European Union are at loggerheads over how many people to let into Britain under a planned youth mobility scheme.

In a row that could scupper the PM's hopes of moving Britain even closer to the bloc, Brussels is resisting a UK demand for a hard limit on the number of under-30s coming from the Continent to live and work in the UK - and visa versa.

It has proposed an alternative mechanism to control the flow of people using a flexible brake that can be activated by either side.

But the UK remains committed to a solid annual cap  which would be in the tens of thousands  and the row risks souring a major summit meeting between Sir Keir and Brussels chiefs in the summer.

EU insiders view the proposed 'youth experience scheme' as a way to build bridges between younger Britons and Brussels after the Brexit vote almost a decade ago.

There is concern a restrictive cap would undermine a scheme intended to cement a positive relationship between the UK and EU.

But No10 today suggested the EU was trying to change an agreement it had already made.

A Downing Street spokesman said: 'We're not going to give running commentaries on the talks, but you will have seen from the agreement last May that any final scheme must be time limited, capped, and will be based on our existing youth mobility schemes.

'This was all agreed under the common understanding between the UK and the EU last May.'

The UK remains committed to a hard annual cap on numbers in the tens of thousands, and the row risks souring a summer summit between Sir Keir Starmer and Brussels chiefs

Brussels has proposed an alternative mechanism to control numbers involved in the planned scheme

An EU source said: 'This is really a very strategic endeavour. The strategy is about ensuring that our societies keep linked, understand each other and see each other as part of the same family of nations. This is something that is really needed in these troubled times.

'If Europe has to stand together, it has to feel a common sense of purpose when it comes to international relations and democracy.

'Ensuring that our young people can travel to each other's countries, work, study in each other's countries is an important part of that.'

Sir Keir has insisted the scheme must have 'appropriate time-limits, caps and visa requirements'.

Officials have compared the proposals to a similar programme in operation with Australia, which has a cap of 45,000.

But senior EU sources said the proposed measure is 'not a migration scheme' and did not need a cap.

An EU official said there could be 'a monitoring system to ensure both sides are equally satisfied with the way the scheme is operating' and 'it's about the management of flows rather than an upfront number'.

The proposed mechanism has been described in Westminster as an 'emergency brake' which could be applied if numbers were too high, drawing comparisons with then-prime minister David Cameron's attempts to control EU citizens' access to benefits in the run-up to the 2016 referendum.

Whitehall sources said anything other than a firm cap would be unacceptable to the Home Office, responsible for migration policy, or the Foreign Office.

The EU and UK are also at odds over university tuition fees that would be charged to students from the bloc studying at British institutions. EU negotiators want students from the bloc to pay the same rate as their British counterparts, rather than the higher fees charged to international students.

The youth experience scheme is one of three areas where the Government and the EU hope to forge closer ties when they meet for a summit, which is expected in June or early July.

There is broad consensus on the other two areas, agreements on food safety and emissions trading.

A UK Government spokesperson said: 'We will not give a running commentary on ongoing talks.

'We are working together with the EU to create a balanced youth experience scheme which will create new opportunities for young people to live, work, study and travel.

'Any final scheme must be time-limited, capped and will be based on our existing youth mobility schemes, which do not include access to home tuition fee status.'

But Labour MP Stella Creasy, chairwoman of the Labour Movement for Europe, said there should be less concern on the number of people involved in the scheme.

'This is a deal that will bring back freedoms young Brits from all backgrounds lost with Brexit, as well as boosting growth,' she added.
A beach cleaner has displayed the mountain of plastic rubbish he has gathered from Britain's beaches, his vast collection including over twenty thousand bottle tops, 4,160 drinks bottles and 3,756 cotton bud stalks.

David Shackleton, 63, spends his days accumulating rubbish from beaches in Ravenglass in west Cumbria, hauling the items using a trailer to display them in piles outside his home.

Mr Shackleton, a former RSPB worker, has spent five years gathering mounds of plastic waste, the sheer volume of which he says is an indictment of just how polluted Britain's waters have become.

Among his most frequently found items include a total of 22,250 bottle tops, 4,160 drinks bottles and 3,756 cotton bud stalks.

He has also found 2,000 shot gun cartridges, over one thousand cigarette lighters and 1,110 tampon applicators  which Mr Shackleton said he must have 'the biggest collection' of in northern England.

Other objects he has gathered include 760 celebration balloons, 700 items of footwear, 463 dog balls, 251 oil drums and 49 tyres.

Mr Shackleton has also been able to fill 500 large bin liners worth of plastic fishing waste, as well as 245 large bin liners worth of general rubbish.

After collecting the rubbish, Mr Shackleton  who moved to Ravenglass in 2021  sorts the items into piles  creating eye-catching displays outside his front door that shock passers-by.

David Shackleton (pictured) spends his days accumulating plastic waste from beaches in west Cumbria

Mr Shackleton (pictured) has spent five years gathering mounds of plastic waste, the sheer volume of which he says is an indictment of just how polluted Britain's waters have become

Items he has gathered include 760 celebration balloons, 700 items of footwear, 463 dog balls, 251 oil drums and 49 tyres

After collecting the rubbish, Mr Shackleton sorts the items into piles  creating eye-catching displays outside his front door that shock passers-by (pictured)

And most of the rubbish, he said, comes from industrial waste. However, some have come as far as America.

He said: 'Most of what I find is from the fishing industry, like huge amounts of netting and rope.

'By volume, that's the biggest issue.

'I've found stuff that has washed up from America and bait boxes from Canadian fishermen.

'A lot of the fishing stuff comes from Ireland.'

And although Mr Shackleton said he finds the work rewarding, he said it can also be infuriating to see the sheer volume of the plastic waste in our waters.

He said: 'It's actually very cathartic - and it keeps you fit.

'But that's not why I do it, it's because I want to clean as much of our beaches as I can.'

Mr Shackleton has filled 500 large bin liners worth of plastic fishing waste, as well as 245 large bin liners worth of general rubbish

Mr Shackleton (pictured) heads to various beaches to collect plastic whenever weather permits, and described the work as 'very cathartic'

Most of the rubbish Mr Shackleton finds washed ashore comes from industrial waste, but some items have come as far as America

'It angers me that this stuff ends up in the sea because it shows a lack of responsibility.

'When you get rubbish dropped in the countryside, that can make the national news - but if you walk along our beaches in Britain, you will see that they are covered in rubbish.'

In displaying his mountain of waste, Mr Shackleton said he hopes it will deter further plastic waste.

He added: 'Do people really need to keep buying plastic bottles?

'If so, why don't they recycle them? Don't just dump them or throw them overboard.

'I've even seen toothbrushes washing up because people are chucking them down the toilet.

'I'm trying to get the message out about what we're doing to our seas, particularly the amount of rubbish in them.

'I've begun to realise just how important my display is, because if it sends a message to people, that will really help.'
NEW YORK, March 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Kekst CNC, a leading global strategic communications consultancy, today has appointed Lyndsey Estin Co-Chief Executive Officer. Estin will lead Kekst CNC's U.S. operations, working alongside Richard Campbell, the firm's London-based Co-CEO who leads its non-U.S. operations. She succeeds Jeremy Fielding, who will join a major public company in an in-house role.

Lyndsey Estin, Co-CEO, Kekst CNC

Over the past two decades with the firm, Estin held a range of senior management roles, while expanding Kekst CNC's footprint in leading-edge areas of strategic and crisis counsel. Alongside work in M&A, shareholder activism, and complex financial communications, she founded and leads the firm's U.S. cybersecurity practice and plays a key role in its AI communications advisory work, including in collaboration with Kekst CNC's parent company Publicis Groupe.

Arthur Sadoun, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Publicis Groupe, said, "Beyond her decades of experience across financial communications, M&A, and crisis counsel, Lyndsey has established herself as a trusted advisor and leader at the forefront of AI and cybersecurity, earning her the deep trust of her clients, colleagues and industry partners. She has been early in recognizing how emerging technologies reshape risk, reputation, and communications, guiding industry leaders as they define their narratives amid rapid internal and external transformation. I know that alongside Richard she will lead the teams to new heights."

"For more than five decades, Kekst CNC has been a leader in strategic communications, helping our clients realize critical business objectives and manage complex challenges," Estin said. "Today, that also means partnering with them through a period of heightened global change driven by technological advancements and other emerging risks and opportunities. I look forward to working with our global team to continue delivering the highest level of insights and tailored counsel for our clients across our core areas of strategic and financial communications."

"I thank Jeremy for his effective leadership as Co-CEO over the past decade and as a member of the Kekst CNC team for 27 years," continued Estin. "He led our successful transition from founder generation to an enduring institution and created significant momentum for future growth. We wish him tremendous success in his exciting new role."

Jeremy Fielding commented, "Lyndsey has for years provided clients with superior judgment and a unique ability to anticipate what lies ahead. I know that Lyndsey and the Kekst CNC team will continue to be a pioneering force in strategic and financial communications and maintain the singular values that have made our firm the best strategic communications partner for our clients."

About Kekst CNC

For more than 50 years, Kekst CNC has defined strategic and financial communications, partnering with companies, institutions, and leaders to capture opportunities, address their most complex challenges, and enhance their reputations. Measuring success by the impact of our counsel and longevity of client relationships, the firm's more than 300 professionals across 15 global offices deliver unparalleled judgment, tailored strategies, and bestinclass execution. Kekst CNC is the global strategic communications consultancy of Publicis Groupe, which brings complementary expertise across marketing, brand communications, and digital transformation. Learn more at www.kekstcnc.com.

Media Contact

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Kekst CNC

212-521-4815

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SOURCE Kekst CNC
A heartbroken couple whose toddler daughter was killed at a nursery after being put to sleep face down strapped to a bean bag are urgently calling for new measures to make childcare safer.

John and Katie Meehan, whose nine-month-old daughter Genevieve, known as Gigi, died in May 2022, are concerned there is story after story now, where children are being either physically abused, mentally abused.

The couple say they have three main goals - compulsory CCTV in nurseries, better guidance on safer sleep and a more robust inspection process through Ofsted.

Kate Roughley, the nursery worker whose ill-treatment resulted in Genevieves tragic death at the Tiny Toes nursery in Cheadle, Stockport, was jailed for 14 years after being found guilty of her manslaughter at a trial in 2024.

The Meehans have travelled from their home in Greater Manchester to meet with Olivia Bailey, minister for early education, at the Department for Education in London.

Mrs Meehan, a solicitor, said: A child cant die in a nursery. Its unthinkable.

But, speaking to Sky News, she added: It's story after story now, where children are being either physically abused, mentally abused, and it's in all different parts of the country... and it really is frightening.

The loss of Genevieve, it's absolutely destroyed our lives. This beautiful little girl is gone. We are going to make sure it doesnt happen again.'

John and Katie Meehan are campaigning for changes so no more children die in nurseries

The couple said change would go 'a long way' towards justice for Genevieve, above

Mrs Meehan said: For people to listen that goes a long way in helping us to feel as though we have some sort of justice for her.

Mr Meehan, a barrister, added: The core goals are firstly an improvement of safe sleep, secondly around mandatory use of CCTV, then in respect of Ofsted. What were looking for broadly is an improvement in the inspection process.

Recent cases of horrific abuse included that of Vincent Chan, 45, who was branded utterly wicked, perverse and depraved by a judge after filming himself sexually abusing young children in his care over seven years.

Last month, Chan was jailed for 18 years after admitting 56 charges including sexual assault by penetration, possession of indecent images and voyeurism.

He filmed himself abusing young children between 2017 and 2024 at the Bright Horizons nursery in West Hampstead, north London.

Earlier this month, paedophile Nathan Bennett, 30, was jailed for 30 years for sexually abusing children in his care at a nursery in Bristol.

In a crime spree described in court as every parents nightmare, Bennett was convicted of two counts of rape and 13 other sexual offences against boys aged two and three.

Last week, a nursery admitted corporate manslaughter and a health and safety offence over the death of Noah Sibanda, aged 14 months.

Kate Roughley, who was jailed for 14 years after being convicted of Genevieve's manslaughter

The toddler died at the now-closed Fairytales Day Nursery, Dudley, in December 2022 after being restrained while put to sleep  in a chilling echo of Genevieves death.

The pleas entered by the nursery at Wolverhampton Crown Court come after nursery nurse Kimberley Cookson, 23, pleaded guilty to gross negligence manslaughter last year.

The court heard Cookson tried to make Noah sleep by placing him face-down on a soft cushion, restraining him with her leg.

Owner Deborah Latewood, 55, pleaded guilty to a health and safety offence.

During her meeting with the Meehans, Ms Bailey praised the strength and courage they have shown in campaigning after such an unimaginable tragedy.

She said: What they are looking for is what were delivering.

Ms Bailey said the Government is reviewing how CCTV operates in nurseries, is making changes to Ofsted and revising policy on sleeping practices.

She added: Theres nothing more important than knowing that your child is safe. I dont want parents to feel afraid. I want them to know that this Government is doing everything it can to make sure your children are safe when they go through that door.

But Sky News reported concerns of one whistleblower who said staff shortages mean malpractice is still being swept under the carpet.

The nursery worker, named only as Ellie, said: Managers are scared of losing staff so theyd rather sweep things under the carpet.'

She added: They're willing to let things slide, or they're willing to hire certain employees that they wouldn't normally hire, or let things go over their head that aren't deemed acceptable in childcare.

Even when it comes to whistleblowing, people are just too scared to lose their job, or that they won't be believed, so they stay silent.

Meanwhile, the National Day Nurseries Association said compulsory CCTV is not a magic answer  pointing out building ownership may be an issue, and that some areas such as changing rooms and toilets will not be covered by cameras.

Ofsted said inspections of nurseries are moving from every six years to every four, new nurseries inspected after 18 months instead of 30 months, and that around a quarter of all visits will be unannounced.

Announcing the changes last week, Yvette Stanley, Ofsteds National Director for Regulation and Social Care said: It is essential that parents and carers have up-to-date information about the quality of early years providers so they can make informed decisions about their childs education and care.

Genevieve Meehan died after being left for over 90 minutes before being found 'unresponsive and blue'.

When her killer Kate Roughley was jailed, Manchester Crown Court heard CCTV even showed her ignoring the youngster's crying and desperate last movements as she struggled to survive while tightly strapped to the bean bag, swaddled in a blanket.

Roughley, 39, who had 17 years' experience as a nursery worker but no children of her own, then 'lied' to cover up what she'd done, claiming she constantly checked on babies in her care.

Genevieve was found to have died from asphyxiation brought on by a combination of pathophysiological stresses created by a 'very unsafe sleeping environment'.
A toddler was grabbed like a 'bag of rubbish' by an 'experienced' nursery worker after the 'happy-go-lucky' child grabbed her trouser leg wanting her attention, a court heard.

Nursery worker Elizabeth Adeagbo, 29, was found guilty of assault by beating after a trial before magistrates.

The mother of the boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said the incident meant she had 'lost trust' in leaving her child with others.

She said: 'Leaving your children at nursery for the first time is a significant and emotional step. No family should have to fear that their child will come to harm. It's shaken our confidence.

'They're looking after the youngest, most vulnerable children, what happened has made me so wary.

'It's vital that standards of care for children are upheld so that those entrusted with their care cannot be given free rein do what they see fit with our children.'

Sefton Magistrates' Court heard the incident happened at a nursery on the Wirral, which also cannot be named.

The incident happened at around 9.30am on April 16, last year, when the 'happy-go-lucky' child grabbed her trouser leg, wanting her attention.

Elizabeth Adeagbo picked up toddler 'like a bag of rubbish' - horrifying the boy's mother

Adeagbo, an agency nurse employed via the Teaching Personnel agency, was washing breakfast dishes in the sink at the time.

She said she picked the child up by his arm because she 'didn't want to soak him' with her wet apron.

In CCTV footage from the nursery, which was shown in court, the young boy is crying after he's carried across the room by his left arm. Hours later, when his mum picked him up at lunchtime he was in tears, the court was told.

Prosecuting, Edward Handley, said Adeagbo lifted the boy 'like a bag of rubbish for the night time collection' as she carried him across the room, knowing it was an inappropriate way of lifting a child.

Following her conviction after the trial on Friday, Adeagbo is to be sentenced at Liverpool Magistrates' Court in May.

Speaking after the trial, the toddler's mother said she found out what happened when she received a phone call from the nursery hours after the incident.

She said: 'I couldn't process what they were saying, she was trying to explain that he'd been inappropriately handled by an agency member of staff but I couldn't understand. I just had to get there and see him, see that he was OK.

'I took him to A&E and thankfully there was no physical harm but it was so scary, there was so much going on afterwards too.'

Adeagbo was found guilty of assault by beating after a trial at Sefton Magistrates' Court

The other added: 'It's a massive thing for a parent, dropping your child off at nursery, you expect them to be safe, you never think they will come to any harm, that's why you send them to nursery, to keep them safe, to give them the best.

'In the footage you can see he was happy and smiling at her. It was at the time when he was learning to walk.

'I remember when I got there he looked so sad. What she has done is wrong, you drop your child off to be safe. I chose that nursery because it seemed nice, the staff were nice.'

Footage played in court shows Adeagbo standing at the sink with the child behind her. He then grabs Adeagbo's trouser leg before pulling himself onto his feet.

The child then climbs onto a wooden stool and grabs Adeagbo's trouser again.

The teaching assistant, who moved to the UK from Nigeria, where she was a teacher, in 2023, then lifts the child by his left upper arm and carries him across the room. At the end of the CCTV clip she grabs him by both arms and lifts him up.

Adeagbo, who had a 17-month-old son at the time of the incident, said her intentions were to remove the 'wet apron' with her other arm, while carrying him.

She accepted she was wrong to pick him up that way and that her apron was not removed during the act.

Caleb Suggitt, defending, told the court how Adeagbo worked at two prior nurseries employed by the agency before the incident and had worked with children in Nigeria, with no previous complaints.

He said: 'Adeagbo is an experienced child care assistant. She now recognises it wasn't the most appropriate way to pick up a child and shows obvious remorse. It was never her intention to harm a child.'

Adeagbo will be sentenced on May 14.
Video captured the moment a brazen Pokemon thief smashed his way through a gaming shop  stealing 20,000 worth of valuable cards.

Striking footage shows the hooded criminal ransack the trading store in St Neots, Cambridgeshire, on March 24.

Husband and wife Matt and Nicola Harmel said their hearts sank after discovering the empty cabinets  on returning from 'walking the dog'.

The thief managed to dodge barbed wire and endured alarms to gain entry through a small window at the back of the shop which backs on to a staffonly car park.

His left foot makes an appearance in the CCTV as he emerges down from the window onto the checkout counter.

He can be seen disconnecting the shop's security system before helping himself to the collectables behind glass doors and making a speedy escape.

Along with the shop's till, the Pokemon raider took around 20,000 worth of cards  including a Japanese 'GX' acrylic box worth 1,000 on its own, and an original pristine condition Bulbasaur card from the 1990s worth 250.

Ms Harmel, 39, said: 'We came in on Tuesday morning  I was walking the dog.

The thief managed to dodge barbed wire and endured alarms to gain entry through a small window at the back of the shop which backs on to a staffonly car park

He can be seen disconnecting the shop's CCTV system before helping himself to the collectables behind glass doors and making a speedy escape

Husband and wife Matt and Nicola Harmel (pictured) said their hearts sank after discovering the empty cabinets  on returning from 'walking the dog'

'My partner came in, and as I caught up with him he said "the shop's been left in a mess".

'He phoned one of our volunteers that works on a Monday evening doing a play event and said "look, you've left the shop in a right mess  what's gone on?"

'It was only when I pointed out the window was smashed, the penny just dropped.

'His heart just sunk, the cabinets were empty.

'It looked like someone had come in and thrown a swingball around  there were cards on the floor, all the doors had been ripped open.'

She added: 'I think they grabbed whatever they could in the time they were in here, because they did leave a 300 Charizard on the shelf, which was priced.

'All our cards are on display so people can see the pricing.

'We have five cabinets in our shop, they got through the first three and took everything from the first three, leaving the lowend value stuff in the very last cabinet, which was 10 cards  rather than the 40 to 300 cards.'

Ms Harmel said it was only when she pointed out the window was smashed that the 'penny just dropped'

'It looked like someone had come in and thrown a swingball around  there were cards on the floor, all the doors had been ripped open,' Ms Harmel said

After the shop posted about the theft on Instagram, other store owners shared their experiences of similar thefts of Pokemon cards.

Hertfordshire Vintage Toys said: 'We have stopped selling cards and Pokemon after are break in.

'It sucks, but [we] can't afford for the insurance to go up or the damage it causes.

'I think this is number nine of burglaries I've seen now.'

Ms Harmel said she believed a resurgence in Pokemon's popularity has increased the likelihood of breakins.

She added: 'Pokemon has hit its 30th anniversary this year, and a lot of people have put their money into this product rather than the stock markets, because the profit margin is a lot higher than it used to be.'

It comes as the cards are being dubbed 'more valuable than gold' due to their increasing popularity among millennial collectors.

Live selling platforms such as Whatnot have reported a 282 per cent surge in sales in 2025 compared to the year before.

Cambridgeshire Police said: 'We were informed of a breakin overnight at a shop in Fishers Yard, St Neots, where a significant quantity of trading cards has been taken.

'Officers attended and an investigation has been launched. Anyone with information should contact us on 101 quoting 35/21666/26.'
Keir Starmer tonight admitted the Government can't deal with the fallout from the Iran war 'on its own' as he held emergency talks with industry chiefs in Downing Street.

The Prime Minister hosted a roundtable meeting in No10 with top bosses from the insurance, oil, gas and shipping sectors as the Middle East crisis entered a fifth week.

'This is going to have to be a joint effort,' Sir Keir told them as they began discussions about the devastating economic impact of Donald Trump's conflict.

'The Government can't do it on its own. You can't do it on your own. We're going to have to work together on this.'

It came as the RAC warned van drivers are 'bleeding cash' just to stay on the road as the price of fuel continues to rocket.

Warnings are becoming more stark about the scale of the hit to the UK - and how long it might last - with soaring pump prices just the tip of the iceberg.

An ex-Bank of England chief cautioned that Iran's closure of the crucial Strait of Hormuz means a 'long-term reduction in supply' and ministers must look at rationing consumption.

At the same time a leading shipping expert pointed out that the world was far more interlinked than at the time of the notorious 1970s energy shock.

Keir Starmer admitted the Government can't deal with the fallout from the Iran war 'on its own' as he held emergency talks with industry chiefs in Downing Street

The Prime Minister hosted a roundtable meeting in No10 with top bosses from the insurance, oil, gas and shipping sectors as the Middle East crisis entered a fifth week

A sign telling motorists there is no unleaded petrol available at some of the fuel pumps is displayed at a Tesco supermarket in Southend

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They suggested shortages of fertiliser could send food prices spiralling and could cause political turmoil in poorer countries.

The Government has admitted it is drawing up contingency plans as the Iran war stretches on, despite appealing for Brits to continue their lives as normal.

As the Middle East crisis dragged on:

Mr Trump said he is considering a military operation to seize Kharg Island, a crucial part of Iran's oil export infrastructure;

Brent Crude oil prices ramped up again as the US President said: 'Maybe we take Kharg Island, maybe we don't';

A further 3,500 US troops have arrived in the Middle East;

US media reported the Pentagon is preparing for weeks of ground operations in Iran;

Pakistan said it's preparing to host peace talks between the US and Iran;

Chancellor Rachel Reeves joined emergency talks with G7 counterparts.

Sir Keir met Shell, BP and Norwegian energy company Equinor in Downing Street telling them the UK is working on a 'viable plan' for the Strait of Hormuz.

He added that people in the UK will have concerns about energy bills, petrol and food prices 'uppermost in their minds'.

'We're just entering the fifth week of the conflict in Iran, and I wanted to bring all of you together with government to talk through some of the implications,' the PM said.

'The political position we've taken, I think, is straightforward, which is, we're not going to get drawn into the conflict proper.

'We will defend British interests and British lives in the region, particularly in the Gulf allied states, and obviously our allies there, and we are working on a viable plan for the Strait of Hormuz, which I want to come back to.

'So it's not our war, but it is our duty to protect British citizens.

'Particularly their concern will be not just the escalation of the war, but this sense that it's going to hit them and their families and their households.

'And I think probably uppermost in their minds at the moment is energy bills, petrol and also food prices.'

The talks in Downing Street also involved bosses from shipping giant Maersk, maritime insurance specialist Lloyd's of London, and banks HSBC and Goldman Sachs.

They were updated on the military situation in the region from Major General Richard Cantrill, the UK's maritime operations commander.

Mr Trump has threatened the destruction of Iran's energy infrastructure and possibly its water desalination plants unless the Strait of Hormuz is 'open for business'.

The RAC said the average cost of a litre of diesel at UK forecourts had hit 181.2p, up 27 per cent from 142.4p on February 28, the day the US-Israeli strikes began.

Average petrol prices have reached 152.0p per litre, an increase of 14 per cent from 132.8p over the same period.

Steve Gooding, director of the RAC Foundation, said: 'Diesel is the lifeblood of millions of small businesses, but today white van man is bleeding cash just to stay on the road.

'Whether you drive or not, soaring diesel prices will take money out of your pocket, either at the pump or in the bills you pay for everything from calling out the plumber to getting a home delivery.

'If oil prices remain at this level the impact on the forecourt could be felt for weeks, if not months.

'That's bad news for everyone, not just drivers of the UK's 4.6 million diesel vans, the majority of which will be used for work purposes.'

The enormous cost of servicing the UK's debt mountain means the Government has limited firepower to respond to the Iran turmoil.

Motorists fill up at the the Braywick service station on Windsor Road in Maidenhead today

CCTV footage shows smoke rising from Israel's Haifa refinery after a reported Iranian attack on March 19

Brent Crude prices ramped up again overnight as Donald Trump hinted he could send in ground troops to seize Kharg Island, a crucial part of Iran's oil export infrastructure.

Fears have been raised that shortages of diesel could start to appear in the coming weeks, as the disruption feeds through into supply chains.

That is expected to be worse affected than petrol which is largely sourced from the US and Norway.

Australia has announced that duty on fuel sold at pumps is being halved for three months. It comes after Ireland, Spain and Poland took similar measures.

But the UK Government has so far batted away calls for similar action, and refused to cancel a rise in duty scheduled to take effect in September.

Alongside the PM's 'round table' in Downing Street, the Chancellor held discussions with G7 counterparts on Monday.

Rachel Reeves reiterated the need for 'a swift solution' in the Middle East at a virtual meeting of finance and energy ministers and central bank governors.

The Chancellor, Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey and Energy Secretary Ed Miliband were all present in the meeting.

After the call, Ms Reeves wrote on X: 'At today's G7 talks with Bank of England (governor) Andrew Bailey and Ed Miliband, I reiterated the need for a swift resolution in the Middle East.

'This is not our war and we won't be drawn into it, but its economic impacts are global  we must work with partners to strengthen resilience.'

The G7, which includes the UK, the US, Germany, France, Italy, Canada and Japan, along with the EU, were considering ways to respond to the economic hit from the war.

Ms Reeves had been expected to plead for countries to avoid 'protectionism' during the meeting, amid concerns that Britain's energy imports could be choked off by hoarding of oil and gas supplies.

Alongside the PM's 'round table' in Downing Street, the Chancellor held discussions with G7 counterparts on Monday

Ahead of his own meeting on Monday, Sir Keir said: 'We are bringing together the shipping sector, insurance and energy, because obviously that's a focus of concern.

'A lot of discussion about the Strait of Hormuz and what we can do to get the straits open, which is the single most effective way to bring energy prices down.

'I will have a Cobra tomorrow, another Cobra, to look at the economic impacts of the war and making sure that everything that we need to have in place, everything is monitored and audited properly.'

Asked about whether petrol rationing was being considered, as it has in other European nations, the PM insisted the advice to motorists is that there was 'no need to do anything other than what is normal'.

Former Bank of England deputy governor Howard Davies said with Covid it 'looked as if it was going to be a V-shaped recession once we'd sorted out vaccinations'.

'In this case it could well be that supplies from the Middle East are constrained for quite a long time,' he told the BBC.

'Therefore we may have to live with a higher oil price - perhaps not $150 but certainly higher than the $60 it was when we started - for quite a long period.

'That requires a plan to increase alternatives and also to reduce consumption. It looks as though we may well have a long-term reduction in supply.'

Sir Keir also reiterated that UK forces would not be taking part in offensive action in the Gulf. He said: 'This is not our war and we're not going to get drawn into it.'

But Tory leader Kemi Badenoch shot back: 'He doesn't need to have any more meetings, the oil and gas sector has said what it is they need.'

Petrol stations are 'well-stocked nationally and any suggestion otherwise is incorrect', according to Downing Street.

Asked whether the Government was planning for any shortages, the Prime Minister's spokesman replied: 'We'll always plan for all eventualities.'

He added: 'To be very clear, as the PM has said and as the Government have said, and indeed industry have said, fuel production and imports are continuing.

'The UK benefits from diverse and resilient supply.

'Petrol stations in the UK are well-stocked nationally and any suggestion otherwise is incorrect.'

Lars Jensen, a former director of shipping giant Maersk, said it looked 'exceedingly unlikely that there is any short-term respite to the flow of goods' through the Strait of Hormuz.

Asked what governments could do to ease the impact, Mr Jensen said: 'In reality, not very much. There will be a lot of words but there is very little action that can be taken, because at the end of the day it boils down to whether or not the Iranians want to shoot at ships in the Strait of Hormuz.

'Any talks about well can we do something on insurance, can we do something about military escorts - all of that is unlikely to lead to a massive change in the risk willingness of the commercial shipping companies.'

Mr Jensen - who now runs Vespucci Maritime - told the BBC's Today programme that the world must brace for worse because it is 'only in the beginning of those price escalations'.

'We need to keep in mind that a lot of the oil that was loaded in the Persian Gulf prior to this crisis is still right now arriving at some of the refineries around the world,' he said.

'That will soon stop. So the oil shortages that we have been seeing they are only going to get worse, even if magically the Strait of Hormuz would reopen tomorrow.'

He added: 'The problem again is the extended supply chain for oil and energy products is measured in many, many months. So as I mentioned, even if you opened (the Strait of Hormuz) tomorrow you are going to feel these higher prices at least for the next six months, if not even more.

'And that is before we take into account the facilities that have now been physically destroyed in the Persian Gulf.

'So we need to sit back from a global perspective and start to work around that we will face massive energy costs, not just while this crisis goes on but also for six to 12 months after it is over.'

Pressed whether the energy shock could be comparable to the 1970s, which sparked a global recession, Mr Jensen said: 'The comparison is easy to make.

'The problem is it is not quite correct. Because back then the amount of goods - not just oil but also fertiliser, aluminium, all sorts of other products - it was a lot less than what we are dependent on today.

Rachel Reeves will plead for countries to avoid 'protectionism', amid concerns that Britain's energy imports could be choked off by hoarding of oil and gas supplies

'So the impact we are seeing today is going to be substantially larger than back in the 70s.

'I think a lot of people are underestimating what the impact is. We talk a lot about oil, what has me a lot more concerned is fertiliser.

'You've got 20-30 per cent of the seaborne fertiliser in the world originating from the Gulf.

'This will mean rapidly escalating food prices, especially in poorer countries which typically tends to destabilise such countries.'

Nigel Green of financial advisory firm deVere Group warned that the UK is 'more exposed than most advanced economies' because up to 40 per cent of energy is imported.

'Energy costs transmit quickly through the system. Fuel, transport, food production and manufacturing all feel the impact. If oil and gas remain elevated, inflation in the UK will inevitably rise again, and it'll do so faster than many forecasts currently assume,' he said.

'Around 3540 per cent of our energy is imported, and we remain reliant on global markets for both crude and refined products. Any disruption to key routes feeds directly into domestic prices and economic stability.'
A migrant who strangled and repeatedly punched his former partner at a taxpayer funded hotel was spared jail.

Mamadou Alion Diallo, 28, lashed out at Zenabou Quedraogo at the four-star Heston Hyde Hotel in Hounslow, west London, on 23 October 2024.

They split up but he returned to the hotel to brutally assault Ms Quedraogo again on January 4 last year.

Police were called to the hotel after the terrified woman was heard by other guest 'screaming' in the corridor.

She was left with a 'massive bruise' following the second assault and required medical treatment.

Diallo, born in Guinea, is said to suffer from post traumatic stress disorder after family members were killed during political protests in the west African country when he was young.

He lived in several countries before he came to the UK and his asylum claim is still ongoing, Isleworth Crown Court heard.

Diallo denied but was earlier convicted of intentional strangulation and assault by beating.

Mamadou Alion Diallo, 28, strangled and repeatedly punched his former partner at a taxpayer funded hotel but has been spared jail

Diallo, born in Guinea, is said to suffer from post traumatic stress disorder after family members were killed during political protests in the west African country when he was young

Sue Obeney, prosecuting, said the couple were involved in an 'abusive relationship' while living together at the Heston Hyde Hotel.

Describing the first assault Ms Obeney said: 'There was an argument. He demanded her mobile phone, grabbed her hand and slapped her causing her to fall to the floor.

He pushed her and punched her on the forehead, he hit her upper body.

'He put his hand around her neck and stopped her breathing for around five seconds.'

Police were called but Ms Quedraogo was not prepared to make a statement.

'It was only after the later incident she was prepared to support the prosecution.'

Diallo moved to the Barbican Thistle City migrant hotel after they split up but he went back to the Heston Hyde and they argued about money.

'He wanted her to pay his phone contact. He punched her in the head causing a lump. She hit back in the response and he then hit her very hard.'

Another hotel resident rushed out of her room when she heard the commotion.

'She saw the defendant hitting her five or six times on the head,' said Ms Obeney.

'She saw him pushing Ms Quedraogo into her room.'

Police officers arrived to arrest Diallo while paramedics noted the victim had suffered serious bruising to her heard.

In her impact statement Ms Quedraogo said the second assault left her feeling 'shame and sadness' because it was witnessed by other guests.

'The incidents caused me stress and insomnia,' she said.

'I accepted a move to another hotel because I was afraid he would come back and cause me further problems.'

Joseph Lord, defending Diallo, described his 'complex history of PTSD and depression.'

The judge, Mr Recorder Robert Ward, told Diallo: 'There is uncertainty about your age - you are in your 20s.'

While Diallo's mental health doesn't excuse his behaviour 'it provides context,' he said.

'I am told a custodial sentence would have a significant impact on you.

'There is a prospect of rehabilitation in your case.'

The judge sentenced Diallo to a total of 21 months imprisonment suspended for 18 months with a supervision order for 12 months.

During the next year he must engage with Newham Community Integrated Mental Health Services (CIMHS) with 25 days of rehabilitation activity requirement (RAR).

The judge also imposed a restraining order for five years banning Diallo from making contact with the victim.
Two brothers who launched a revenge attack on a pair of asylum seekers at a notorious migrant hotel have avoided jail.

Mehmet and Veli Bulbul went to the Roundhouse Hotel in Bournemouth, Dorset, to find two men whom they believed had abused and thrown coffee at their father, after he told them to stop smoking cannabis outside his coffee shop.

The siblings claimed they had planned to track down the culprits and get them to apologise to their father, but instead the confrontation escalated into violence.

The hotel has become a notorious hotspot for disturbances, often committed by the asylum seekers who are being housed there at taxpayers' expenses.

Scores of asylum seekers from the Roundhouse hotel have been charged with criminal offences in recent years, including two men jailed this month for running a county lines drug operation from their rooms.

On this occasion, however, it was the visitors causing chaos, with the Bulbul brothers approaching two men, Aly Yahya and Noradin Kasem, and assaulting them.

Mehmet Bulbul, 33, punched Mr Yahya before repeatedly stamping on him and kicking him in the head even when he was unconscious on the floor.

Veli Bulbul, 36, kicked Mr Yahya twice to the body during the attack.

Mr Kasem was pushed to the ground and kicked.

After the attack, which lasted less than five minutes, they marched Mr Yahya to the coffee shop to apologise to Mr Bulbul Senior in person.

Luckily, Mr Yahya only suffered some cuts to his hand and swelling to his head.

Mr Kasem was left with a fractured finger and laceration above his eyebrow.

A court heard the Bulbuls, originally from Turkey, run several businesses in the seaside town between them and employ 28 people.

Mehmet and Veli Bulbul went to the Roundhouse Hotel in Bournemouth, Dorset, to find two men whom they believed had abused and thrown coffee at their father

The Roundhouse Hotel in Bournemouth, which has been the scene of anti-migrant protests, is notorious for crimes committed by asylum seeker residents

The siblings were handed an eight month jail term suspended for two years and ordered to undertake 200 hours of unpaid work each in the next 12 months

The conflict started after a group of asylum seekers went to the Bulbul family's coffee shop, Banoffee Patisserie, a three-minute walk from their taxpayer-funded migrant hotel, on January 16 last year.

The brothers said their father, who is in his 60s, approached the young men and told them they could not smoke cannabis outside his business.

They told him to 'f**k off' and then three cups of coffee were thrown at him as they left.

Victoria Hill, prosecuting at an earlier hearing, said when the Bulbul brothers heard about this they went looking for the men.

She said: 'The victims, Noradin Kasem and Aly Yahya, were stood outside the Roundhouse Hotel when a black BMW drove into the grounds and parked directly outside the front door.

'Five males exited the car and approached the victims before assaulting them, these two were part of those five males.

'Mehmet punched Mr Yahya in the face. Both victims attempted to run away, both defendants and two other unknown males quickly stopped them and they were pushed over a small wall and both ended up on the floor.

'An unknown male kicked Mr Kasem to the head and side of his body.

'Mr Yahya was on the floor and Mehmet stamped on his head four times with his right foot while Veli Bulbul kicked him in the back twice.

'Mehmet then kicked Mr Yahya to the back of the head and he became unconscious. He then kicked him to the face twice - so he was still being kicked while unconscious on the floor.

'This was targeting by a group, with serious or sustained violence.'

Both brothers pleaded guilty to affray.

Richard Martin, defending, said: 'It was clearly foolish for the brothers to attend as they did with some friends.

'They did attend with the plan they could get the perpetrators to go back and apologise to their father.

'There is a certain irony in what they were setting about to do. They came to this country from Turkey with their father when they were teens. Both have made successes of their lives.

'The irony is the hotel where the victims were staying was for refugees at the beginning of their journey coming to this country.

'They wanted to make it clear the way they behaved is simply not acceptable here.

'There was not immediate violence, there was discussion and the victims don't appear to take it very well and then the fight breaks out.

'It was good intention that goes very badly wrong.

'They regret that they lost control. Everything is in the heat of the moment. They are very sorry.'

Recorder Richard Stead said their businesses, community contributions and the number of people who had written to the court in support were 'to their credit'.

He said: 'Both of you have expressed considerable remorse and very quickly recognised you had behaved extremely badly.'

The siblings were handed an eight month jail term suspended for two years and ordered to undertake 200 hours of unpaid work each in the next 12 months.

They also have to pay 150 costs each and a victim surcharge.
A large magnitude 7.3 earthquake has struck the idyllic Pacific nation of Vanuatu.

The US Geological Survey said the quake's centre was about 35km north east of the town of Luganville, just off the coast of the island province of Sanma, about 8.45pm Monday.

The Vanuatu Meteorology and Geo-Hazards Department (VMGD) reports the quake occurred at a depth of 88km.

The US Tsunami Warning Centre said there is no tsunami threat associated with the quake.

Vanuatu Broadcasting and Television Corporation reported there was significant damage to a supermarket on the island.

Pictured of the Santo Nambawan Store showed shelves toppled onto the ground and aisles of products smashed.

Authorities are assessing the damage and there is still a risk of aftershocks.

Just a few days ago a large quake struck near Tonga which is just west of Vanuatu.

The magnitude 7.3 quake struck the Pacific nation of Vanuatu about 8.45pm Monday

Local news reported authorities are assessing damage on the island province of Sanma

The supermarket on the island was hit hard with shelves toppled over

It is unclear if there has been damage on any of the other nearby islands as many are remote with limited communications.

The chairman of Sanma province has called an urgent meeting for Tuesday.
A British mother who plunged from the balcony of her third-floor flat in Thailand wrote 'sorry' and 'I love you' on a hospital whiteboard before she died.

Amy Spooner, 31, spent weeks in a Bangkok hospital after the late night tragedy in May 2023 left her brain dead, an inquest heard.

The teacher died the next month after slipping into a coma and her family made the heartbreaking decision to switch off her life support.

An inquest into Mrs Spooner's death at South London Coroners' Court in Croydon on Wednesday, March 25 heard how the mother-of-one, to a six-year-old boy, had first moved abroad in 2016.

She lived in China, then Malaysia and Thailand and returned to south London to marry her husband, maths teacher Symeon Spooner, 36, in 2017.

Mrs Spooner's mother Sue McDonald told the hearing that on May 22, 2023 she received a call from her daughter from Thailand which was very out of character.

The victim's husband also said his wife 'wasn't behaving as her usual self'.

Mrs McDonald travelled to Thailand to see her daughter and on May 29 was told by a security guard that she had fallen from height at her apartment complex.

Amy Spooner, 31, spent weeks in a Bangkok hospital after the late night tragedy in May 2023 left her brain dead

The teacher died the next month after slipping into a coma and her family made the heartbreaking decision to switch off her life support

She was taken to a local hospital with multiple injuries before being moved to specialist care at Bangkok's main Siriraj Hospital.

The inquest heard that Mrs Spooner appeared to be improving and had undergone several surgeries for broken bones. She was put into an induced coma to help her body heal.

'At one point she sat up, raised her arms and said "I'm going to fight this,"' her mother said.

However Mrs Spooner then complained she couldn't breathe and slipped into a coma that medics could not wake her up from.

A week later, her mother and husband were told she was brain dead and were asked whether they wanted to switch off her life support. She died on June 29, 2023.

Coroner Erika Rainger said there was very little evidence from the Thai authorities about what had happened to Mrs Spooner.

She said: 'Given that Amy died in Thailand I do have significant gaps in the evidence.'

A first post mortem examination was carried out in Thailand but Mrs Spooner's relatives were not given the results.

The cause of death was given as multiple injuries consistent with a fall - however Mrs McDonald said doctors could not tell her why her daughter had died

Her body was repatriated to the UK, where a second examination took place at King's College Hospital on July 21, 2023.

She had scars on her left lower leg, the back of both arms, a fractured left wrist and pelvis, a fractured left lower leg and ankle and a fracture of the pubic bone that was fixed by a nail and plate. There were no signs of a stroke and everything else appeared normal.

The cause of death was given as multiple injuries consistent with a fall - however Mrs McDonald said doctors could not tell her why her daughter had died.

Well-wishers donated more than 11,000 to a fundraiser to help repatriate Mrs Spooner.

Organiser Sonny Nwachukwu said: 'On Thursday 29th June, our dear Amy sadly passed away due to an unfortunate accident in Thailand.

'I know a lot of people have reached out to Amy's family to ask about how they can support towards funeral costs and bringing her back to the UK.

'We thought this would be the best way for everyone who wants to help give our angel Amy the best possible send-off. We appreciate your donation whether it's big or small. Thank you for your support during this time.'

Recording a conclusion of accidental death, Ms Rainger said: 'Amy was living and working in Thailand and had been there with her husband for a number of years.

'Shortly before her death her mother flew out to Thailand because Amy wasn't quite her usual self.

'On May 29th, 2023, she fell from the balcony where she was living. She suffered serious injuries as a result of the fall.

'She was taken to hospital in Bangkok where she remained until her death. She underwent surgery and at one point was put into an induced coma to help her body heal.

'She recovered to the point that she was able to communicate with her family but after several weeks she suffered some breathing difficulties and shortly after went into a final coma.

'Her family made the agonising decision of whether to withdraw treatment. Amy died after that treatment was withdrawn.'
GPs have been ordered to delay referring at least one in four patients to hospital as Labour scrambles to meet NHS waiting list targets.

Health officials say the move will reduce unnecessary appointments and allow people with genuine need to see a specialist faster.

But critics warn the rationing is aimed at massaging the figures and risks preventing sick patients from accessing critical treatment.

Under a new GP contract that comes into effect from Wednesday, family doctors will have to seek permission to refer some patients to hospital.

Critically, the decision on whether the patient can be referred, and therefore added to the official waiting list, will be taken by someone who has not seen them.

Dr Luke Evans, the shadow health minister and a former GP, told The Telegraph: My biggest concern is about this single point of access, with a target to bounce back one in four referrals - that is bad for clinicians and it is really bad for patients.

It is hard not to see this as a way of simply controlling access to hospitals and massaging waiting lists.

We don't even know if the planned 1 in 4 patients bounced back to the GP are recorded. Is Labour planning on effectively rationing secondary care - it seems like it.

Dr Luke Evans, a shadow health minister and former GP, said the policy appeared to be aimed at massaging waiting lists

Over the past year, GPs have been paid 20 for every case where they seek advice and guidance (A&G) from a consultant rather than sending a patient to hospital.

But from April 1, the previously voluntary scheme, which aims to support elective recovery by reducing unnecessary referrals, will become mandatory in the NHS.

Experts say the new rules, which will require GPs to stop 25 per cent of referrals, are dangerous and will make getting on to a waiting list even harder.

Dr Ankit Kant, a GP from West Norfolk, said some requests for A&G had taken eight months to receive a response, including a case where the patient died waiting.

The guidance then concluded the patient had not needed to see a specialist.

Dr Katie Bramall, chairman of the British Medical Association's GP committee, said the risks of the scheme are a huge concern for every single GP I meet and speak to.

It should be a huge concern for every patient too, she added.

She said the policy was awful for patients and politically driven.

Dr Katie Bramall, chairman of the British Medical Association's GP committee, said the risks of the scheme are a huge concern for every single GP

GPs have raised concerns that their decisions to refer patients are being overruled by doctors without proper knowledge of the cases, resulting in delays in diagnosis.

Wessex Local Medical Committee said that GPs had highlighted risks where some hospital trusts had made A&G mandatory.

When a GP assesses that a patient needs specialist care, that assessment can now be overridden remotely - by a clinician who has not seen the patient, it said.

We have seen a case in our region in which an urgent cancer referral was converted to an A&G response more than once rather than accepted as a referral, and where we believe the diagnosis that followed was delayed.

NHS trusts have been desperately trying to cut the size of their waiting lists in recent months after Labour made slashing waits a key focus of its general election campaign.

Millions of patients have already been taken off lists following the introduction of an NHS cleansing scheme last year that saw hospitals paid 33 for each person they deleted.

The NHS has defended the approach, saying the process was designed to ensure waiting lists are accurate with people removed from them including those who have died, opted to go private or recovered without treatment.

More than 250,000 patients were slashed from NHS lists in January, nearly 15 per cent more than the month before, with health secretary Wes Streeting claiming the figures showed things were 'finally starting to move in the right direction.

GPs have raised concerns that their decisions to refer patients are being overruled by doctors without proper knowledge of the cases

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmers plan for change pledged that 92 per cent of patients would be seen within 18 weeks of a referral for routine hospital treatment by July 2029.

The NHS waiting list in England hit a record high in September 2023, with 7.77million treatments waiting to be carried out for 6.5million patients.

The latest data show the waiting list has fallen for the third month in a row, with an estimated 7.25million treatments waiting to be carried out at the end of January, relating to 6.13million patients.

An NHS spokesman said: While the NHS delivered record numbers of appointments in 2025 and reduced the waiting list to its lowest level in three years, we have much further to go to ensure planned care is easier to access for patients.

In addition to transforming how patients can book and manage their care through the NHS App, A&G has a major role to play in the coming years to support clinical decision-making and ensure patients are directed to the right specialist care as soon as possible.
Keir Starmer said that US conflict with Iran is 'not our war' today as he appeared to use the actions of Britain's biggest ally under Donald Trump to try rescue Labour's local election hopes.

The Prime Minister kicked off his party's campaign in Wolverhampton this morning with another vow to keep the UK out of the fighting in the Middle East started by Donald Trump.

The UK's refusal to get involved in the haphazard conflict, which has sparked a major global rise in energy prices for Brits and deepened the freeze in the 'special relationship'.

Donald Trump has levelled personal criticism at Sir Keir and belittled the UK's military in recent days as he searches for nations to help the US to unclog the strategically important Straits of Hormuz to oil and gas shipments.

But speaking today, Sir Keir doubled down on his decision to provide only defensive assistance to the US effort in a campaign that is hammering the cost of living for UK families.

Labour is facing a bloodbath at the ballot box on May 7, with experts expecting it to lose hundreds of English council seats and control of the Welsh Senedd for the first time.

Kicking off his speech today he told the audience: 'This is not our war and we are not going to be dragged into it.'

'Yes, of course, we will defend British lives and British interests in the region, will stand by our allies in the Gulf region, but we're not going to get dragged in.'

The Prime Minister kicked off his party's campaign in Wolverhampton this morning with another vow to keep the UK out of the fighting in the Middle East started by Donald Trump

Donald Trump has levelled personal criticism at Sir Keir and belittled the UK's military in recent days as he searches for nations to help the US to unclog the strategically important Straits of Hormuz to oil and gas shipments

He continued: 'The backdrop to these elections is uncertain.

'We're facing a war on two fronts  the Ukraine war, now four-and-a-bit years in, and let's salute the bravery of Ukrainians over so many years, both on the front line and the civilians as they fight for the values that matter.

'And now the other front, the other war, which is the Iran war, which I know is causing huge concern.

'People look at their screens and they're worried when they see explosions, infrastructure blown up, the rhetoric that goes with it, worried about whether this is going to escalate even further.'

Sir Keir was also praised by Labour's deputy leader Lucy Powell, elected last year on a ticket that saw her criticise his leadership, for showing 'good judgement' for refusing to 'follow blindly' calls to join the war.

Labour approaches the May 7 elections struggling in the polls and facing challenges from both Reform UK to the right and a resurgent Green Party to the left.

Pollster Lord Robert Hayward warned earlier in March that Labour faced a 'very substantial' threat, especially following a series of 'absolutely horrendous' council by-election results.

The majority of Sir Keir Starmer's Cabinet attended Labour's local election campaign launch.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves, Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy, Communities Secretary Steve Reed, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, Labour chairwoman Anna Turley, Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson and Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden sat in the first row of the audience for the launch.

Technology Secretary Liz Kendall, Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander, Environment Secretary Emma Reynolds, Health Secretary Wes Streeting, Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy and Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper filed into the second row at the event in Wolverhampton.

Further back still were Cabinet Office minister Nick Thomas-Symonds, Attorney General Lord Hermer, Treasury minister James Murray and chief whip Jonathan Reynolds.

West Midlands Mayor Richard Parker was also at the event, alongside Bev Craig, the Labour leader of Manchester City Council.
Commentary: Press the "stop button" before it's too late

Xinhua) 09:40, March 30, 2026

BEIJING, March 28 (Xinhua) -- One month into the U.S.-Israeli strikes against Iran, the Middle East is once again caught in a cycle of escalating violence. Civilian casualties are mounting, regional tensions are intensifying, and the risk of a wider war grows by the day. The reality is increasingly evident: this war is not resolving problems, but multiplying them.

This war did not have to happen. There were still diplomatic options before the strikes began, but they were set aside by Washington. Experience shows that such actions rarely bring order. More often, they deepen divisions and make the situation worse.

More importantly, the way this conflict has unfolded raises serious questions about international norms. Military action taken without United Nations Security Council authorization undermines the foundation of the UN Charter. When such actions are justified in the name of urgency or self-defense, the line between rule and exception becomes blurred.

On the ground, the impact is immediate. The Middle East is once again facing rising violence, growing civilian casualties and the risk of wider conflict. Rather than stabilizing the situation, the strikes have added new uncertainty to an already fragile region.

Washington always argues that force can restore deterrence and security. But recent history suggests otherwise. Military interventions framed as preventive or stabilizing have often produced the opposite effect -- prolonging conflicts, deepening divisions and leaving lasting instability.

One month of bloodshed confirms a simple truth: Military means do not yield genuine security. The people of the region need stability and development, not another prolonged conflict. Allowing the situation to deteriorate further risks pushing the Middle East into deeper quagmire.

A ceasefire is therefore not a matter of choice, but an urgent necessity. The longer the fighting continues, the harder it becomes to contain. All parties should act to halt hostilities and create space for dialogue before the window for de-escalation closes.

A ceasefire, however, is merely the first step. Dialogue is the sole route out. Complex differences must ultimately be addressed through political means. Military force may deliver temporary gains, but it cannot resolve underlying differences. Dialogue, however difficult, remains the only viable path toward lasting stability.

At the same time, the international community must firmly reject unilateralism and power politics and jointly uphold fairness and justice. The foundation of international order lies in the international law, not in the law of the jungle. Major countries bear responsibilities, not privileges to act with impunity. If the notion that "might makes right" is allowed to prevail, the world risks sliding back into a dangerous era of brute force, a catastrophic setback for civilization.

The choice is stark: Continue down a path of escalation with no clear end, or press the "stop button" and return to reason. To end the loss of innocent life, the world must make the latter a reality.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
Leading sex abuse litigation funding firm continues to support survivors awaiting compensation as long-delayed bankruptcy cases move toward resolution.

BUFFALO, N.Y., March 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Legal-Bay, a leading litigation funding firm specializing in sex abuse cases, settlement funding, pre settlement funding, lawsuit loans, lawsuit loan services, settlement loans, and settlement loan programs, today released an update on several major Catholic Church bankruptcy abuse settlements that are progressing toward approval and eventual payment to survivors.

Many of these cases have remained tied up in bankruptcy courts for years, delaying compensation for victims. Legal-Bay reports that multiple dioceses are now approaching critical milestones, signaling that payouts may soon begin.

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Rochester (NY): $246256M settlement; (approved by court)

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These cases highlight the wide range of outcomes in clergy abuse bankruptcies, with average compensation varying significantly based on claim volume, insurance participation, and claim validation.

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Green leader Zack Polanski is attempting to woo Britain's trade unions as he attempts to replace Labour as the country's main Left-wing party.

Mr Polanski, a self-described 'eco-populist', is said to have spoken to ten unions, including some of those who provide significant funding to Labour.

He is also set to speak at five union conferences in an attempt to win over their members, The Times reported.

There are already huge tensions in Labour's relationship with Britain's two largest trade unions under Keir Starmer's leadership.

Sharon Graham, the Unite general secretary, recently warned Labour will be 'decimated' at May's elections and predicted the Prime Minister will be booted out of office in the wake of dismal results.

Unite's executive council this month voted to cut its affiliation fee to Labour by 40 per cent, which will cost the party as much as 580,000.

Sir Keir also suffered a blow at the end of last year when Andrea Egan, another Left-wing critic of the PM, was elected as boss of Unison.

She has promised a 'comprehensive review' of her union's relationship with Labour.

Green leader Zack Polanski is attempting to woo Britain's trade unions as he attempts to replace Labour as the country's main Left-wing party.

Mr Polanski, a self-described 'eco-populist', is pictured joining dancers on stage at a 'House Against Hate' protest rave in London on Saturday

Keir Starmer used the launch of Labour's local elections campaign in Wolverhampton on Monday to attack Mr Polanski

Mr Polanski told The Times that he had held 'fruitful' conversations with union leaders.

'When I became Green Party leader I said I wasn't here to be disappointed by Labour - I'm here to replace them,' he said.

'And a crucial part of that is connecting with the organised labour movement.

'Since becoming leader I've had lots of really fruitful conversations with key union figures.

'And it's clear that many people in trade unions are feeling really let down by this Labour government and are ready to work more closely with the Green Party.'

A Green source told the newspaper that Mr Polanski's goal was to stop the unions funding Labour, rather than getting them to back the Greens outright.

Mr Polanski is due to make the first in a series of speeches to trade unions at the National Education Union's (NEU) conference in Brighton on Monday afternoon.

He will urge the Government to take greater action to bring down bills and improve living standards in order to improve educational attainment.

'The cost of living crisis is a crisis of childhood, too,' Mr Polanski is expected to say.

'Today, nearly one in three children are growing up in households that struggle to afford the basics  like food, heating, and school supplies.

'It's a crisis of youth, with financial pressures forcing young people to curb their ambitions and make choices about their future based on what they can afford now.

'And it's a crisis of education. I know that every day you're seeing children come in tired, hungry, unable to concentrate and unable to learn because they haven't eaten or haven't slept. Kids missing school because they can't afford the bus fare.

'This is no way to raise the next generation.'

Daniel Kebede, the NEU's general secretary, dismissed concerns about allegations of anti-Semitism in the Green Party.

He told Times Radio: 'I'm not a Green Party member. But what I would say is this: Zack Polanski is one of the few Jewish political leaders of our time. And we are an anti-racist trade union.

'I have every faith that Zack Polanski is an anti-racist leader and leads a party that has an awful lot of anti-racists within it.

'So I am not particularly concerned about having Zack Polanski come and talk to our conference on that basis.'

Mr Kebede also said he would refrain from again using the phrase 'globalise the intifada', as he did at a pro-Palestine rally in Newcastle in 2021.

Intifada is an Arabic term for 'uprising', with calls to 'globalise the intifada' seen by some Jewish people as an incitement to violence.

The NEU boss said: 'I used that turn of phrase at the time of a general strike across Palestine at the West Bank and Gaza that was called the Unity Intifada, and that was in opposition to the evictions at Sheikh Jarrah.

'I have been very clear that I wouldn't be using turns of phrase like that again.'

It came as Sir Keir used the launch of Labour's local elections campaign to attack Mr Polanski.

The PM claimed Britain would be 'weak and exposed' if the Green leader, Reform UK's Nigel Farage or Tory leader Kemi Badenoch was in power.

'Then you've got Polanski,' the PM said.

'He thinks that with a war on two fronts, now is the time to give up our NATO membership, now is the time to start negotiating with Putin over our nuclear deterrent.

'We'd be left so weak and so exposed if any of those individuals were in government, and it's really important therefore that we stick to our principles, stick to our values and show the leadership that's needed in a time like this.'

Also speaking at the event, Labour deputy leader Lucy Powell mocked Mr Polanski's past as a hypnotist - including him once claiming he could enlarge women's breasts through hypnosis.

Speaking in Wolverhampton, she said: 'Look into my eyes, look deep into my eyes, and I will let you in on a little secret.

'The Greens are no good at running councils. Their hypnotic promises are just an illusion.'

A Labour Party source said: 'Labour is delivering the biggest upgrade to workers' rights in a generation to address low pay, insecure work and poor working conditions, which will benefit 15 million workers across the country.

'While Zack Polanski chases headlines, we'll get on with delivering the change working people voted for.'
A woman was killed and a man was left injured after they were tossed from a boat that circled back and struck them in the water.

Claudia Orellanes, 33, and Neil Schwabe, 54, were driving a 27-foot boat in Miami's Biscayne Bay on Saturday when they lost control of the vessel, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission (FWC).

The pair was thrown into the water, and the vehicle continued to circle around without an operator before hitting them.

Video of the accident shows the vessel continuing to circle for several seconds before a police boat arrived to stop it.

Schwabe was quickly located and airlifted to a hospital to be treated for his injuries.

First responders could not immediately locate Orellanes, and a search and rescue effort was launched, according to Miami-Dade Fire Rescue.

'Working alongside the U.S. Coast Guard and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, fire crews conducted search and rescue operations for individuals reported in the water,' said Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Chief Gregory Logue.

'Divers were deployed apart of the effort.'

A woman was killed and a man was injured after they were flung from this vessel, which turned around and struck them off the coast of Miami on Saturday

Video of the accident shows the vessel spinning out of control for several seconds before a police boat stopped it. The police boat is pictured towing the driverless vessel

The accident took place in Biscayne Bay (pictured), killing Claudia Orellanes, 33, and injuring Neil Schwabe, 54

Orellanes's lifeless body was eventually found and pulled from the water.

Investigators are working to determine the cause of the accident and have urged boaters to take certain precautions, as this was the second fatal boating accident in Biscayne Bay in just one week.

Logue told NBC Miami: 'Ensure all passengers wear a personal flotation device. File a float plan, so someone knows your itinerary, and have your VHF radio on channel 16 for emergencies.'

The previous fatal boating crash took place on Wednesday, killing 55-year-old Davide Veglia, the millionaire CEO of ABTS Convention Services, a company that organizes meetings and exhibitions for medical associations worldwide.

Veglia's 14-year-old son, whose identity has not been made public, suffered a broken arm in that crash, which was a hit-and-run.

The father-son duo were in a seven-foot inflatable dinghy when a much larger boat slammed into them around 8.30pm and fled.

The FWC previously told the Daily Mail that the vessel of interest was a Formula Boat between 40 and 43 feet long, with a quad Mercury L6 Verados, two-tone cowling paint and a white hull.

No suspect has yet been arrested or charged with the fatal hit-and-run.

The accident on Saturday was the second fatal boating collision in Biscayne Bay in just one week. Davide Veglia, 55, (pictured) was killed on Wednesday, and his 14-year-old son broke his arm

Veglia and his son were in a seven-foot inflatable dinghy when they were struck by this vessel which fled, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission

Two 16-year-old students from Miami Beach Senior High School who were doing yard work in the area witnessed the brutal collision.

Enzo Avelino, one of the teens, described the aftermath of the crash to CBS Miami as 'really bad,' describing how the son's screams had alerted him to what happened.

'The boy was holding his wrist and was like cuddled up into the stretcher,' Avelino told the outlet.

He added that Veglia was 'foaming at the mouth' and 'strapped down with an oxygen mask.'

Carlos Quintana, who rents Jet Skis out of the Crandon Park Marina, told NBC Miami that Biscayne bay is packed every weekend, which may have contributed to the two fatalities last week.

'Usually very, very, very crowded, particularly on Bobby Beach and Marine Stadium,' Quintana told the outlet. 'Im talking more than a hundred boats on each side.'

The Daily Mail has reached out to FWC for comment and additional details.
Two teens have been injured and a third has been taken into custody after a shooting near a Boeing 727 that was converted into a home.

The shooting took place in the woods near Southwest Holly Hill Road in Hillsboro, which is just outside of Portland, Oregon, and yielded a large response from law enforcement.

Washington County Sheriffs Office deputies responded to the scene around midnight on Saturday. They were assisted by officers from the Forest Grove, Beaverton, Tigard, Sherwood and Cornelius police departments, as well as Oregon State Police.

Deputy Shannon Wilde, a spokesperson for the Washington County Sheriff's Office, confirmed to The Oregonian that the shooting involved minors.

Wilde did not share many additional details, but added that the victims were transported to a local hospital and are expected to recover.

The identities of the victims and the suspect in custody have not been made public.

The Daily Mail has reached out to the Washington County Sheriff's Office for comment and additional details.

The converted Boeing 727 near where the shooting took place is also a tourist destination and venue owned by a man named Bruce Campbell, a retired electrical engineer and pilot.

A shooting that left two teens injured and a third teen in custody erupted over the weekend near this Boeing 727 that was converted into a home

The converted Boeing is located in the woods near Southwest Holly Hill Road in Hillsboro, which is just outside of Portland, Oregon

The identity of the shooting victims and the suspect were not made public. A profile view of the converted plane is pictured

The plane also functions as a tourist attraction. Visitors who arrived on Sunday were shocked to discover there had been a shooting. The entrance to the plane is pictured

He began turning the decommissioned aircraft into a home in 1999 and has spent more than 25 years living there part-time, as he lives in Japan for half the year.

Police blocked access to the aircraft on Sunday as they investigated the crime scene. Tourists who arrived were shocked to find out that teens had been shot there the night before.

Rhianna Willard, who was visiting from Portland, Maine, told KPTV on Sunday: 'In the middle of the woods, a lot can happen. A shooting was definitely not what I expected.'

Campbell, the converted plane's owner, told The Oregonian that he is currently in Japan, but the people currently staying in the home told him that the shooting might have been connected to a party that was taking place near the aircraft.

He added that he allows parties to be thrown near the plane but that alcohol and firearms are not permitted.

People getting shot and arrested around the property is 'entirely contrary' to the positive environment he tries to cultivate, Campbell told the outlet.

Campbell was in his early 20s when he paid around $23,000 for the 10 acres on which his 727 rests in the Portland woods.

His original plan was to make a home from freight vans, but then he decided a plane would be better. He purchased the aircraft for $100,000.

The Boeing was converted into a home by a retired electrical engineer and pilot named Bruce Campbell. He is pictured in front of the plane

Campbell began renovating his aircraft in 1999. He is pictured sitting in one of its turbines

Campbell purchased decommissioned aircraft for $100,000 and spent years converting it into a home. He is pictured in the plane's interior

The plane's cabin and cockpit offer 1,066sq ft of living space. Campbell is pictured showing off the cockpit

The converted plane has also become a venue for concerts and other events. A concert sign pointing towards the site of the plane is pictured

He then spent years renovating the plane and turning it into a suitable home, with the cabin and cockpit providing 1,066sq ft.

In recent years, Campbell has been working on creating a business out of his creation by renting it out for events, he told KOIN, though he added that he is 'still in the evolutionary stage to try to figure out how to make it work.'

When asked about the shooting, Campbell told the outlet: 'Nobody wants this. My guess is that most of the kids dont want it either. Its a gut punch. Its horrible.'

He added that in light of the tragic ordeal, he may have to implement stricter rules, including age restrictions and hosts paying for security, for people throwing events and visiting the converted Boeing.
A political conference for Canada's New Democratic Party descended into chaos after progressive activists got into heated arguments over 'equity cards.'

NDP members from across the nation gathered in Winnipeg, the capital of the Manitoba province, over the weekend to elect the party's new leader.

The event was billed as an opportunity for progressive Canadians to 'come together to debate ideas, celebrate our shared values, and help shape the future of our movement,' the NDP convention website said.

But footage from the event revealed frustration among delegates over the alleged misuse of so-called equity cards, colored coded cards that identified a party member as being part of a marginalized group that granted them special privileges.

'Equity' is a woke buzzword that means equality of outcomes. Progressives say that equality, generally taken to mean equal opportunities, can be discriminatory because some minority groups must first overcome disadvantages that others do not have.

One delegate was outraged that she was allegedly skipped in the speaker queue despite having been standing at the podium with her gender equity card.

A transgender woman who argued her 'rights are under attack' claimed it was 'frustrating' that a 'cis gender woman had spoken over me.'

Similarly, a black woman argued that equity cards for women like her 'have no value outside of this space.'

Conference chair Adrienne Smith, who identifies as non-binary, also seemed a bit testy and snapped at a delegate in a keffiyeh after being addressed as 'madame chair.'

A transgender delegate who argued her 'rights are under attack' claimed it was 'frustrating' that a 'cis gender woman' was permitted to speak at the New Democratic Party ahead of her

One delegate took to the microphone to criticize the speaking order, claiming that even though 'I was standing here with my gender equity card before you called on the previous speaker'

Conference chair Adrienne Smith, who identifies as non-binary, even snapped at a delegate after being addressed as 'madame chair'

After a vote had passed on rescinding the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms' notwithstanding clause - which allows legislatures to temporarily override specific rights - a furious Asian trans delegate took the stand.

Highlighting first how it 'is hard as a racialized and transgender delegate' to even use her equity card, the delegate complained that a 'cis gender woman' had been permitted to speak before her when she was holding a gender identity equity card.

She noted that although the topic pertained to 'multiple parts of my lived experience,' her request to speak was 'rejected.'

'It's frustrating when these are my rights being directly under attack right now in Alberta and the cis gender woman had spoken over me,' the delegate said.

'I understand her rights are important too. This pertains to her too, but I don't know - I hope that in the future federal NDP will have a broader interpretation of the equity cards for speakers.'

That's when Smith urged delegates to 'assist me in better using the card by forming a "straight line" behind the microphone with a prominently displayed equity card.'

Smith, who smirked at her own remark, reminded delegates that 'if I see speakers ahead of you who are not holding a card prominently, it would be wrong of me to guess about their gender identity.'

In another instance, a delegate took to the microphone to criticize the speaking order.

'I was standing here with my gender equity card before you called on the previous speaker. That's my point of privilege,' she said.

A black deleagte argued that equity cards for women like her 'have no value outside of this space'

Smith seemingly snapped at this delegate from Ontario, who also identifies as non-binary delegate, for misgendering them during a rant about the US and Israel's war with Iran

Despite the frustrations among NDP delegates, the party did manage to choose a new leader at the convention

Smith disputed the delegate's accusation, claiming that despite equity cards there is still a 'fixed' pro-con rotation for speakers.

'I am pro,' the delegate interrupted. Smith tried to explain further, but was once again dismissed by the delegate.

Smith then turned attention to a delegate at the con microphone, but that speaker also wanted to air a complaint.

'Yesterday, this card was used in an inappropriate manner,' the woman said, waving her bright pink equity card for all to see. 'And while I understand in Ontario we know this is equity, even if that, this was also used inappropriately in terms of gender.

'I want everyone to be mindful that these cards, for individuals like myself who identify as a black woman, have no value outside of this space.'

The chair also fell emotional during the convention, with Smith seemingly snapping at a fellow non-binary delegate who misgendered them during a rant about the US and Israel's war with Iran.

The delegate argued that 'Canada cannot and will not be part of the legacy of blood that was built in Iraq, in Palestine and now in Iran. This is a no question debate. I call this question, madame and chairs.'

Smith, appearing teary-eyed, replied: 'I'll thank delegates not to call me "madame chair," I'm a non-binary person, my pronouns are they, them, and their.'

Despite the frustrations among NDP delegates, the party did manage to choose a new leader at the convention.

Former journalist and activist Avi Lewis, pictured, was named NDP leader after securing 56 percent of the vote

Former journalist and activist Avi Lewis was named NDP leader after securing 56 percent of the vote and defeating MP Heather McPherson.

'Canada, mark your calendar: the NDP comeback starts now,' Lewis said as he delivered his victory speech.

'This is about all of us coming together to find our place and our power in the thrilling work of building a shared future: a government that works for the many, not the money.'
Mobile phone theft has been effectively decriminalised with fewer than one per cent of offences resulting in a charge, new figures reveal.

Almost nine in ten cases are closed without a suspect being identified.

And just 0.82 per cent of such crimes led to a charge across 17 police forces in England and Wales in 2024-25.

There were 86,000 phone thefts reported to forces during this time period.

The statistics were obtained by the Liberal Democrats, who highlighted the issue after it emerged the Prime Ministers former chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, had his phone stolen last year.

The investigation was initially closed with no suspect after a police call handler recorded the wrong location for the crime, but Scotland Yard is now revisiting the case amid concerns the phone contained key texts between Mr McSweeney and Lord Mandelson.

Downing Street has refused to say whether important messages regarding Lord Mandelsons appointment as US ambassador have been lost.

There were 86,000 phone thefts reported to forces during 2024-2025

The Prime Ministers former chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, had his phone stolen last year

Max Wilkinson, the Lib Dems home affairs spokesman, told the Daily Telegraph: Morgan McSweeney having his phone stolen was just the tip of the iceberg. People could be forgiven for concluding phone theft has been effectively decriminalised.

Criminal gangs are feeling emboldened to strike in broad daylight, safe in the knowledge they have a less than 1 per cent chance of ever being caught.

A stolen phone isnt just an expensive item; it holds your entire digital life, from bank accounts to private messages. The fact that thousands of these cases are closed without a suspect even being named is a slap in the face to victims.

The Liberal Democrats are calling time on this phone snatching epidemic. Its time for a dedicated National Crime Agency unit to track down the professional gangs behind these thefts and end the era of daylight robbery.

Of the 17 forces that responded to Freedom of Information requests, the Metropolitan Police had the highest proportion of cases closed without a suspect being identified at 95 per cent.

Last month the force, Britains largest by some margin, revealed it had reduced phone theft in London by more than 12 per cent in a year  from 81,365 in 2024 to 71,391 last year.

Its commissioner, Sir Mark Rowley, recently gave tech giants until June to design out thefts by installing a kill switch that would turn stolen phones into an unusable brick, or they would face legislation which would force them to act.

Meanwhile, separate figures obtained by the Sun show police failed to solve 92 per cent of all burglaries, with a third of forces not cracking a single case.

Of 184,783 burglaries for which an investigation was concluded last year, 143,000 were closed without identifying a suspect.

Shadow home secretary Chris Philp called the figures totally unacceptable and called for Labour to get a grip.
A deal that sees Britain pay France to patrol its beaches for small boat migrants is set to expire tomorrow - raising fears of an increase in crossings later this week.

The Home Office is still negotiating a new agreement with Emmanuel Macron's government on UK funding for security along its northern coastline.

Taxpayers have already given 658million in security payments to France since 2018, a report by the House of Commons Library set out last year.

The UK wants the replacement deal to contain a performance-related factor which will see funds paid only when French border patrol officers manage to block a set proportion of people traffickers' boats - but no terms have been agreed.

Previous assessments have indicated nine out of 10 dinghies must be stopped in order to disrupt the smugglers' illegal enterprises.

However, a lack of any agreement could see a significant decrease in the police presence on French beaches. This may lead to an increase in crossings, which have already topped 69,000 under Labour.

The UK-France security agreement has long been controversial.

Migrants make there way to an inflatable boat off the beach in Gravelines earlier this month

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In 2023 it emerged some of the UK's money had been used to buy equipment for French police operating on the French-Italian border  and not the Channel coast.

It was also revealed that most of the funds had been spent on helicopters, cars, motorbikes, e-scooters and quad bikes, plus surveillance equipment such as binoculars, drones and dash cams.

British taxpayers' cash was also used to buy equipment such as charging devices, microwaves and car vacuums, and to support a horse brigade in the Somme Bay.

Labour's separate 'one in, one out' deal with the French has also failed to have an impact on the Channel crisis.

According to latest figures, only 377 migrants have been sent back to France under the agreement but 380 have come into Britain under the reciprocal terms of the deal.

The 'one in, one out' scheme is due to expire in June.

Sir Keir scrapped the previous government's Rwanda asylum scheme  which was designed to save lives in the Channel by deterring crossings  as one of his first acts in office.

The Government has also ruled out leaving the European Convention on Human Rights which is used by migrants and foreign criminals to avoid being deported.

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Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has announced a series of tough immigration reforms, including plans to make migrants wait longer for the right to live in Britain indefinitely.

But the changes, which have yet to be described in detail, will face immediate legal action as soon as they are unveiled.

It comes amid growing opposition to the plans from the Left of the Labour party, with former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner last week describing them as 'un-British'.

The legal challenge, which has already raised 25,000 from an online 'crowdfunding' campaign, will have the potential to slow down Ms Mahmood's attempts to introduce reform.

Currently, migrants  such as foreign workers  must live here legally for five years before applying for settlement to stay here permanently, known as 'indefinite leave to remain' (ILR).

Plans unveiled in November said that would be extended to ten years, and to 20 years for refugees.

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Labour's Left wing has been angered by the retrospective nature of the proposals which mean migrants already living here will have to wait years longer to win ILR and secure full access to welfare benefits and social housing.

The Home Office said: 'France is our most important migration partner and together our joint work is bearing down on small boat crossings.

'We have prevented over 40,000 crossing attempts by illegal migrants since this government took office. Our landmark deal means illegal migrants who arrive on small boats are being sent back to France.'
The owner of multiple Las Vegas casinos has said he is happy the city has become a luxury destination that has effectively squeezed out the middle class.

For more than a year, Sin City has been making headlines for reduced visitor numbers and rip-off prices that have outraged tourists.

But Derek Stevens, who holds a majority stake in The Golden Gate, The D and Circa casinos, told The New York Times he is sick of those headlines and that the bottom line of his businesses remains healthy.

Stevens insisted that his casinos are sending more limousines to pick up guests arriving in private jets than ever before.

Meanwhile, the number of visitors passing through Harry Reid International Airport has declined for 13 straight months, with a dramatic 10.3 percent reduction in the number of passengers in December.

That reduced volume has been particularly difficult for certain parts of the hospitality industry, such as restaurants, but it has not hurt casinos, according to Stevens and data published by the Nevada Gaming Control Board.

While pointing to packed gaming tables at one of his casinos, Stevens told the outlet: 'Theres a lot of money out there in the economy. All our minimums are pretty high, every seat is taken.'

'We can all fondly remember the 99-cent shrimp cocktail and a dollar a gallon for gas,' said the casino owner, who is worth $1.2billion according to Forbes. 'But the reality is thats in the past, and its not coming back.'

Derek Stevens, the billionaire owner of multiple Las Vegas casinos, has said he is happy that the city has turned into a luxury destination that has squeezed out the middle class

Stevens is the majority owner of The Golden Gate, The D and Circa (pictured) casinos. He said the days of a one-dollar gallon of gas and dollar shrimp cocktails are gone and not coming back

Las Vegas has been making headlines for reduced visitor numbers and rip-off prices for more than a year. The Las Vegas strip is pictured

Stevens also criticized people who have complained about the city's elevated prices and said that negative headlines might be the result of 'somebody whos just pissed theyre getting squeezed out.'

The casino owner noted that high-end venues such as the Las Vegas Sphere and the Allegiant Stadium, which have popped up in Sin City over the past few years, have helped it evolve out of a destination for international tourists and the middle class.

Indeed, a tourist from abroad has previously posted a viral complaint about paying $74 for a beer and a Bacardi drink at the Sphere last year.

The lower number of tourists visiting Las Vegas casinos is being made up for by wealthier guests placing larger bets, according to the Nevada Gaming Control Board's most recent statistics.

Last week, the board released its figures for February, which showed a 1.5 percent increase in gaming revenue for Nevada's 443 major casinos when compared with the same month last year.

That equated to about $1.24billion that the casinos won from players just last month.

Shelley Newell, the senior economic analyst for the board, said that February was the 60th consecutive month that casino gaming win revenues have topped $1billion.

While luxury venues and casinos may not be feeling the squeeze of lower visitors, other businesses in Las Vegas have been suffering.

Stevens said that high-end venues such as the Las Vegas Sphere (pictured) have helped the city evolve away from a destination for international tourists and the middle class

A visitor from abroad posted this viral picture of a $74 dollar receipt for two drinks at the Sphere

Alicia Watson, a waitress at the Golden Nugget, told the New York Times that fewer people visit the restaurant, and those who do are tipping less. She estimated that she is making about half the amount she did during this period last year.

And Stephanie Valadez, the owner of a gift shop called Save the Locals, told the outlet that her store has seen a 40 percent drop in sales over the past few months, putting it at risk of going out of business.

The Daily Mail has reached out to Circa Resort & Casino, which Stevens owns, for comment regarding the statements made by its owner.
Spain has closed its airspace to US planes involved in attacks on Iran, a step beyond its previous denial of use of jointly-operated military bases.

Defence minister Margarita Robles said today: 'We don't authorise either the use of military bases or the use of airspace for actions related to the war in Iran'.

The closure of the airspace forces military planes to bypass NATO member Spain en route to their targets in the Middle East, but it does not include emergency situations, El Pais reported.

The move risks further alienating US president Donald Trump, who has threatened to cut trade with Spain for denying the US' use of Spain's bases during the Middle East war.

'This decision is part of the decision already made by the Spanish government not to participate in or contribute to a war which was initiated unilaterally and against international law,' economy minister Carlos Cuerpo said, when asked if the decision to close Spain's airspace could worsen relations with the United States.

Spanish prime minister Pedro Sanchez has been one of the most vocal opponents of the US and Israeli attacks on Iran, describing them as reckless and illegal.

It comes as Tehran has promised to set American soldiers on fire should the US President order a ground invasion of the country, after the Pentagon drew up plans for potential raids on Kharg Island - the Islamic Republic's main oil export hub - and attacks on coastal sites near the Strait of Hormuz.

In an interview with the Financial Times, Trump said his 'preference would be to take the oil', comparing the potential operation to Venezuela where Washington intends to control the oil industry 'indefinitely' following its seizure of strongman leader Nicolas Maduro in January.

His comments came as the US-Israeli war on Iran stretched into its fifth week, deepening the crisis in the Middle East with the price of oil soaring more than 50 per cent in a month.

Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted an area in Beirut's southern suburbs on March 30, 202

On Monday morning, Brent crude rose above $116 a barrel in Asia, near its highest level since the conflict began on February 28.

'To be honest with you, my favourite thing is to take the oil in Iran but some stupid people back in the US say: "Why are you doing that?" But theyre stupid people,' Trump said.

Such a move would involve raiding Kharg Island, the 'crown jewel' of the regime where 90 per cent of its oil is loaded on to tankers.

The arrival of 2,500 Marines and another 2,500 sailors is keeping the number of US soldiers in the Mideast region at over 50,000, while last week the Pentagon also ordered about 2,000 soldiers from the Armys 82nd Airborne Division to the region in order to give Trump additional military options.

The US President has previously promised he was 'not putting troops anywhere' amid apparent divisions in his Maga base over foreign military engagements and the need for congressional approval.

Moreover, an attack on the five-mile-long Kharg Island - located 15 miles from the Iranian coast in the Strait of Hormuz - would be risky, raising the chances of more US casualties and prolonging the cost and duration of the conflict.

'Maybe we take Kharg Island, maybe we dont. We have a lot of options,' Trump told the FT, adding: 'It would also mean we had to be there [in Kharg Island] for a while.'

When about the state of Iranian defence on the territory, he said: 'I dont think they have any defence. We could take it very easily.'

But reports indicate Tehran has been laying traps on the island, such as anti-personnel and anti-armour mines, including on the shoreline where US troops could possibly stage an amphibious landing if Trump gives the order.

Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the speaker of the Islamic Republics parliament who is believed to be a key figure in talks, said: 'The enemy openly sends a message of negotiation and dialogue and secretly plans a ground attack, unaware that our men are waiting for the arrival of American troops on the ground to set them on fire and punish their regional partners forever.

A plume of smoke rises from the site of a strike in Tehran on March 29, 2026

'Our firing continues. Our missiles are in place. Our determination and faith have increased. We are aware of the weaknesses of the enemy, and we can clearly see the effects of terror in the enemys army.'

The war has escalated in recent days, with a strike on an air base in Saudi Arabia on Friday wounding 12 American soldiers and damaging a $270mn US E-3 Sentry surveillance aircraft.

The Yemen-based Houthi militant group claimed responsibility for an attack on Israel on Saturday, marking the Iran-backed group's entry into the deepening crisis.
Donald Trump has threatened to close part of the world's longest undefended border - a move which would separate neighbors who have been friends for generations.

The US government has said it will shut the quiet, nine-mile passageway between Alberta and Montana to Canadian traffic from July 1 in an attempt to improve security.

Border Road technically lies in Montana, which supplies the gravel it is made of, but it has been maintained by the County of Warner in Alberta for eight decades.

During this time, neighbors have been free to walk over what they have seen as an arbitrary dividing line between Sweet Grass and Coutts.

Ross Ford, of Alberta, and Roger Horgus, of Montana, said they spent their childhoods running back and forth over the invisible perimeter to play.

The longtime friends, who are now in their sixties, were previously profiled by the National Geographic as a heartening example of unity among the US-Canada frontier - the world's longest border without military barriers.

'It's unfortunate,' Ford, 64, told CTV News in an interview on his farm just east of Coutts, Alta. 'We've enjoyed free access to the road for I guess about 80 years, way before I was born.

'We've always been very close to our neighbors. Of course, they live in Montana and that won't change, but we have this new barrier.'

Donald Trump has threatened to close part of the world's longest undefended border - a move which would separate neighbors who have been friends for generations

The US has said it will close the quiet, nine-mile passageway between Alberta and Montana to Canadian traffic from July 1 (Pictured: Sweet Grass Hills on the Montana side of the border)

Neighbors have been free to walk over what they have seen as an arbitrary dividing line between Sweet Grass and Coutts, Alberta, for more than 80 years, until now

Horgus, 68, who also lives on a farm, near Sweet Grass, Montana, described the road closure as 'ridiculous'.

'I hate to see it because the Canadians have taken such good care of us and the road, with grading and all of that,' he told CTV News.

'When we grew up, I wouldn't be surprised if some weeks every day we'd run across and play. Ride bicycles, ride horses, go-karts.'

Another Canada native attested to this as she vented her fury over the new rules on social media.

'I remember many family trips down to Montana as a kid, and honestly I don't think I realized we even crossed a border,' she wrote on Facebook.

'But the US pettiness now knows no bounds.'

Horgus said US border patrol officials have told local residents there has been an increase in illegal traffic, but this is not something he has witnessed himself.

He added that the border would now lie 'in the ditch' between their homes, rather than being demarked by the road.

Homeland Security, which is headed up by Markwayne Mullin, pictured right, has claimed illegal traffic over the border has prompted the closure of the gravel route north of Montana

The border marker between Coutts, Alberta, and Sweet Grass Montana is shown above

Alberta Transportation Minister Devin Dreeshen has pledged to build a parallel road just meters away on the Canadian side of the border, at a cost of $8 million.

Dreeshen said construction will start in April, and the road should be completed by the summer.

'We were informed by Homeland Security that they were making sure that this and other areas of US soil at the border were going to be enforced,' he told The Canadian Press.

'We obviously went through the process to make sure we were able to expedite this [road], working with the County of Warner to make sure local access for Albertans [was available] on the Canadian side of the border.

'Regardless of the line on the map, you'll have farmers on both sides of the border, you'll have family friends on both sides of the border.

'I think obviously that will continue.'

The Daily Mail has contacted the White House for comment.
Donald Trump has threatened to 'blow up' Iran's water supply and electric grid unless the Islamic regime reopens the Strait of Hormuz, as Tehran moves to tear up its nuclear treaty.

The President made the threat in a Truth Social post Monday morning, warning that if Iran refuses to sign a peace deal, the US would conclude the war by 'blowing up and completely obliterating' electric plants and oil wells across the country.

Trump said the US was in 'serious discussions with a new, and more reasonable regime' to end the war, adding that 'great progress had been made' - the post landing before Wall Street's opening bell.

But he immediately followed up with an escalation, writing that if a deal could not be reached to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, then the US would strike Iran's 'electric generating plants, oil wells, and Kharg Island (and possibly all desalinization plants).'

Iran relies on desalination plants to supply its population of more than 90 million people, who have little access to fresh water without them. Striking or destroying civilian water and energy infrastructure is prohibited by the Geneva Convention.

Iran's parliament is separately weighing a full exit from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, long cited by the regime as proof it harbors no nuclear ambitions, though US intelligence has warned for years that Tehran's enrichment activities could presage a bomb.

'What is the benefit of joining a treaty in which bullying parties at the international level not only do not allow us to benefit from its rights but also attack our nuclear facilities?' an Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson said.

Stock futures rose after Trump offered investors hope that a deal was within reach, with Dow futures adding 357 points, or 0.8 percent, while S&P and Nasdaq futures each gained 0.8 percent.

Trump threatened to 'blow up' Iran 's water supply and electric grid if the Islamic regime did not immediately reopen the Strait of Hormuz

It comes as Iran's parliament weighs exiting the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, long cited by the Islamic regime as proof it is not pursuing a nuclear weapon

Striking or destroying water supplies and infrastructure necessary to the survival of the civilian population is strictly prohibited by the Geneva Convention

But oil was also trending higher, with international benchmark Brent crude hitting $115 per barrel, ticking up 2 percent, while US crude was up at $101 per barrel, rising by 1.4 percent.

Trump has repeatedly timed his statements to land before markets open, touting progress toward a resolution while threatening to seize Kharg Island, which handles roughly 90 percent of Tehran's oil exports.

Iran's parliamentary speaker Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf accused Trump's pre-market posts of being an attempt to 'pump' stocks on Sunday.

'Heads-up: Pre-market so-called news or Truth is often just a setup for profit-taking. Basically, its a reverse indicator. Do the opposite: If they pump it, short it. If they dump it, go long,' he posted on X.

Retired US Army General Wesley Clark, former NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe, said Trump should not bomb Iran's civilian infrastructure as such an attack could be considered a 'war crime,' in an interview last week.

'A lot of people will say it's a war crime because mostly these power plants are probably there for the civilian population,' said Clark in a NewsNation interview. 'You cannot destroy civilian assets in an effort to put harm on the population.'

Trump told the Financial Times on Sunday that he could 'take the oil in Iran' by seizing Kharg Island as the war entered its fifth week.

Iran has responded by laying traps and moving additional assets to fortify the island as the US sends thousands of troops to the region for a possible ground invasion.

Trump said he favors capturing Iran's vast oil reserves

As the Strait of Hormuz remains closed since the star of the war, the price of oil surged to $101 per barrel on Monday morning

Iran has responded to US-Israeli strikes by launching suicide drone and ballistic missile assaults against oil infrastructure and civilian areas in the Middle East

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The President said he favors capturing Iran's vast oil reserves, drawing a comparison to Venezuela, where he claimed the US secured control of the country's energy industry after the removal of dictator Nicolas Maduro.

Trump said that his 'favorite thing is to take the oil in Iran but some stupid people back in the US say, "Why are you doing that?" But they're stupid people.'

'Maybe we take Kharg Island, maybe we don't. We have a lot of options,' Trump added. 'It would also mean we had to be there [in Kharg Island] for a while.'

Iran has responded to US-Israeli strikes by launching suicide drone and ballistic missile assaults against oil infrastructure and civilian areas in the Middle East.

Israel and Gulf nations hosting US military bases have faced the brunt of Iran's retaliatory attacks in recent weeks.

A fresh barrage of Iranian strikes hit the UAE on Monday as authorities in Dubai attributed reports of explosions across parts of the city to 'successful air defense operations.'

With Dubai continuing to suppress photos and information about the attacks to maintain a facade of normality, residents quickly turned to social media to thank the Emirati defense system.

One person wrote on X: 'It was a huge sound... everyone is terrified here. We thought it's a missile sound but thanks Allah it was interception.'
BEL AIR, Md., March 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Maryland American Water today announced the company, together with the American Water Charitable Foundation, provided $196,000 to support 54 organizations in 2025.

"At Maryland American Water, our work extends beyond providing safe, clean, reliable and affordable water services to our customers," said Maryland American Water President Laura Runkle. "Together with the American Water Charitable Foundation, we're committed to supporting organizations that make our communities a better place to live and operate."

In addition, Maryland American Water employees engaged in philanthropy, raising $14,175 and volunteering 55 hours to local nonprofit organizations through the Foundation's Employee Volunteer and Matching Gift Program.

"The American Water Charitable Foundation is proud to partner with eligible nonprofit partners to support impactful initiatives and projects across Maryland," said Carrie Williams, President, American Water Charitable Foundation. "Our charitable focus to Keep Communities Flowing empowers our employees to get involved and our communities to learn how every drop counts."

Maryland-based organizations supported by the American Water Charitable Foundation in 2025 include:

Anne Arundel Watershed Stewards Academy

Alzheimer's Association

Bel Air Middle School & Bel Air Middle School PTA, Inc.

Chrysalis House, Inc.

Chesapeake Conservancy, Inc.

Greater Bel Air Community Foundation, Inc.

Harford Community Action Agency

Maryland Association for Environmental & Outdoor Education, Inc.

Nature Worx

The Rockfield Foundation, Inc.

The United Way of Central Maryland, Inc.

Voices of Hope

Winter Wonderland, Inc.

The American Water Charitable Foundation's Keep Communities Flowing Grant Program focuses on three pillars of giving: Water, People, and Communities. Since 2012, the Foundation has invested more than $25 million in funding through grants and matching gifts to support eligible organizations in communities served by American Water.

To learn more about Maryland American Water's community involvement, read the company's 2025 Community Impact Report.

About Maryland American Water

Maryland American Water, a subsidiary of American Water, provides safe, clean, reliable and affordable water services to approximately 24,000 people. For more information, visit www.amwater.com/mdaw/ and join Maryland American Water on LinkedIn, Facebook, and X.

About the American Water Charitable Foundation

The American Water Charitable Foundation, a philanthropic non-profit organization established by American Water (NYSE: AWK), focuses on three pillars of giving: Water, People, and Communities. Since 2012, the Foundation has invested more than $25 million in funding through grants and matching gifts to support eligible organizations in communities served by American Water. The Foundation is funded by American Water shareholders and has no impact on customer rates. For more information, visit amwater.com/awcf.

SOURCE American Water
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese chose his words very carefully when asked about US President Donald Trump's declaration there had been a regime change in Iran.

During an interview with Sarah Ferguson on ABC's 7.30 on Monday night, Albanese said that while the US had achieved two of its main objectives in Iran - it had failed to break apart the Gulf state's regime.

'The president said at the beginning of this conflict that it was about three things,' Albanese said.

'It was about nuclear weapons and making sure that Iran can't get a nuclear weapon.

'Secondly, he wanted to damage Iran's capabilities to attack its neighbours or to assist its proxies in Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis - and others as well.

'But the third was regime change. I note the president today has said that there has been a regime change.'

Ferguson pushed: 'What's your response to him saying that?'

Albanese conceded: 'Well, there certainly has been a change in personnel but the structures of the IRGC (Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps) and the way that they engage is still largely in place.'

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (above) called out US President Donald Trump's claim the US had forced a regime change in Iran

In an interview with Sarah Ferguson (above) Albanese said Iran had undergone a 'personnel change'

Albanese's comments were an echo of those he made in a press conference earlier on Monday.

Speaking in Canberra, Albanese said his chief concern was the lack of clarity about the direction and aims of the conflict as its economic effects continue to strain Australian budgets, especially regarding the skyrocketing price of fuel.

The conflict, which began on February 28, shows little sign of ending, with the Pentagon reportedly planning to send more troops to the Middle East and conduct raids near the Strait of Hormuz.

'I want to see more certainty in what the objectives of the war are, and I want to see a de-escalation,' Albanese said.

He stressed that reducing tensions was not merely a regional priority.

'A de-escalation is in the global economy's interests.'

Albanese also referenced Trump's goal of regime change, warning external military action often escalates nationalism and can entrench rather than weaken authoritarian governments.

While speaking with Ferguson, the 7.30 host questioned: 'So the President of the United States is wrong according to you?'

Albanese urged Trump (above) to consider the successes of other objectives he'd set for the conflict in the Middle East and the economic harm of continuing the war

Albanese overall called for a de-escalation of the conflict, saying: 'I think people want to see an endpoint' (pictured is damage in Beirut)

'Well, it is a fact that the personnel have changed,' Albanese said.

'I think that was what the president was referring to but he can speak for himself.

'I want to see regime change in Iran to be very clear. This is an abhorrent regime that oppress its own people, that murder its own people, that engage in international terrorism.'

Albanese further reiterated that he would be pushing for a de-escalation of the war.

'Conflict always has a price and the conflict has achieved its objectives that were outlined at the beginning,' he said.

'I think people want to see an endpoint.'
Footage has emerged detailing the distressing moments after a disabled man was fatally injured aboard a rollercoaster at Universal Studios Orlando.

Kevin Rodriguez Zavala, 32, died of blunt force trauma after riding the Stardust Racers ride in the Florida theme park last September.

The Orange County Sheriff's Office has now released a series of bodycam clips taken from the scene that night, showing the frantic work of first responders to save him.

Deputies raced to the theme park to find emergency workers performing CPR on Zavala, who used a wheelchair, the series of videos show.

'He's still blue in the face', one of the team could be heard saying in a video as they worked for just shy of 15 minutes to get him breathing again.

At one point first responders used a defibrillator on Zavala, before securing him to a stretcher and wheeling him away from the scene to a hospital where he died.

His girlfriend Javiliz Cruz-Robles watched on as the teams performed the life saving measures, and later gave a short statement to one deputy, the videos show.

'We went on the ride, he doesn't have any support on his legs. They pushed it about three times maybe four', she said, referring to the knee restraint.

Zavala, seen here, died of blunt force trauma after riding the Stardust Racers ride in the Florida theme park last September

Emergency teams are seen here performing chest compressions on Zavala beside the rollercoaster

Javiliz Cruz-Robles is seen here speaking with a deputy at the scene as workers tried to revive her boyfriend

The deputy recording the exchange asked: Who pushed it? The ride workers?', to which she responded 'yes'.

She continued: 'I saw him on the first drop, I saw him hit his head, I tried to hold him, I couldn't hold him. He just went up and hit.

When asked if the seat was loose, she added: 'It looked like it was tied, but it wasn't - he doesn't have support in his legs so he can't just stay in place.'

In another video deputies are seen arriving at the amusement park in numbers, with one asking another: 'What happened or what's going on?'

'I have no idea. He was on the ride. From what the medical services told me, it sounds like a massive cardiac event,' another said.

In another, a deputy could be heard saying that Zavala was bleeding from his head and had a 'massive laceration'.

Later one deputy walking through the scene inspected the chair that was Zavala was in with blood seen surrounding the cart.

'I guess he wasn't strapped in all the way', he said. Another deputy shone his light at the cart adding: 'Is this brain matter? Or from puking?'

Emergency teams are seen here leaving the scene with Zavala on a stretcher following the horrific incident

Blood is seen here on the rail that Zavala was sitting in, one of his shoes is still inside the cart

The rollercoaster, seen here after reopening, is designed to mimic the feeling of a comet racing through space

A doctor aboard the ride later told investigators that she saw Zavala looking 'lifeless' and slouched over when she came to his aid after it stopped.

In an recording of her police interview, she also told officers that his femur was broken in half and sitting on the back of his chair.

In a subsequent interview with officers, Cruz-Robles also said that Zavala had metal rods in his back and a hip condition.

Zavala's family and their attorney Ben Crump have maintained that Zavala struck his head on a metal bar on the ride and that the ride malfunctioned.

Investigators who reviewed the case determined that his death was accidental and closed their probe after finding the ride functioned as normal.

Stardust Racers hurtles along at speeds of up to 62 miles per hour and heights of 133 feet along a 5,000-foot track.

It features two rollercoasters that race and cross paths during the ride, and creators said it was designed to mimic the feeling of a comet racing through space.

Universal Epic Universe's website warns that the ride includes sudden and dramatic acceleration, climbing, tilting, inversion and dropping.

The ride launched on May 22, 2025, and was one of the most highly-anticipated attractions at the theme park.

It closed following Zavala's death and reopened in October after an internal review found that it 'functioned properly'.
A hit-and-run driver who carried on delivering Chinese food after leaving a father-of-two to die has been jailed.

Daniel Wyke, 28, was 'not looking at the road' when he ran over property developer Aaron Jones, 38, just two days before Christmas in the rural village of Llanpumsaint, Carmarthenshire in Wales.

Mr Jones, who had been wearing a high-vis coat, was thrown over the wall of a graveyard before landing in a pond following the collision on the 20mph road near his home.

Wyke briefly stopped his Vauxhall Crossland X at the scene to peer over the wall - but then proceeded to drive off, making further deliveries for the New China Chinese restaurant.

The driver later told a villager that he believed he had 'hit a branch' before fleeing the scene - failing to get help or call police.

Wyke has now been jailed for four-and-a-half years and banned from driving for eight years and two months.

Following the crash, the court heard Wyke drove his battered car before swapping it for his father's vehicle to continue his takeaway shift.

The alarm was raised when another villager found Mr Jones' pet Labrador walking loose in the street and contacted his wife.

Prosecutor Ian Wright said: 'On the 23rd December 2024 during the early evening Aaron Jones took the family Labrador on his usual walk around the rural village.

'As was his practice he wore his high visibility jacket with reflective strips on the body and each of the sleeves.'

Mr Wright said Mr Jones had been walking with his dog near a stone wall when he was hit.

Aaron Jones (pictured), who had been wearing a high-vis coat, was thrown over the wall of a graveyard before landing in a pond following the collision

Daniel Wyke has now been jailed for four-and-a-half years and banned from driving for eight years and two months (pictured, right)

Wyke took his own car - which had a smashed windshield and damaged dumper - to a garage owned by his father and used his father's vehicle to continue his work, the court heard

'As a result of the collision Mr Jones was projected from the windscreen of the defendant's vehicle over a nearby stone wall,' he said.

'The speed of the vehicle would have projected him over the wall.'

Wyke was seen picking up pieces of debris that fell from his car following the crash and looking over the churchyard wall where Mr Jones had been struck.

He told a villager he believed he had 'hit a branch' before driving off from the scene.

But Mr Wright said: 'It would have been obvious to this defendant that he hadn't hit a branch at all but had instead driven into collision with Aaron Jones as he walked his dog.

'The defendant was seen to approach the stone wall that Aaron Jones had been projected over by his vehicle.

'The defendant must have seen Aaron Jones being projected over the wall and it must have been this fact that caused him to approach and look over the wall.

'Having looked over the wall he would have seen Aaron Jones partially submerged in the body of water.

'The defendant then returned to his vehicle and drove away from the scene and continued to make his next delivery nearby.'

Mr Wright added that less than half an hour after the crash Wyke returned to the New China in Carmarthen to pick up another delivery order.

He said Wyke took his own car - which had a smashed windshield and damaged dumper - to a garage owned by his father and used his father's vehicle to continue his work.

Mr Wright said: 'He then used his father's vehicle to continue with his deliveries until the end of his shift that evening.

'He subsequently retrieved his own vehicle from the garage forecourt at 10.11pm and that was subsequently discovered and seized by police.'

The alarm was raised when another villager found Mr Jones' pet Labrador walking loose in the street and contacted his wife

Property developer Mr Jones's body was found in the local church grounds near Caer Salem Baptist chapel and he was pronounced dead at the scene.

Swansea Crown Court heard investigators estimated Wyke had been driving at 34mph at the time of the crash and could have seen Mr Jones for 100 metres before the collision.

Mr Wright said: 'The road was a wide single-lane with no centre white lines but the road was sufficiently wide for two motor vehicles to safely pass in opposite directions.'

He said the road was 'relatively straight' and lit with street lights at the time of the crash.

Wyke, of Carmarthen, initially told police he believed he had hit a tree branch and had no knowledge of the crash.

He admitted causing death by dangerous driving.

Dyfed Thomas, defending, said Wyke's actions and lies were committed 'in a state of panic.'

But Judge Paul Thomas KC concluded that Wyke he was 'clearly not looking' when he hit had struck the 'irreplaceable' father of two young children.

He told him: 'You quite simply decided to prioritise evading responsibility for what you had done rather than try and give him any help or even call for help.

'That in my view was cruelly inhumane.

'It will never be known whether timely intervention might have saved his life but you didn't even take that chance because you were far more intent in saving your own skin.

'You drove off leaving him dead or dying while you simply carried on with your deliveries.

'With a bumper of your car hanging off and a shattered windscreen on the driver's side you carried on your rounds and then swapped to your father's car.'
A toddler melted hearts with his stunning act of kindness after he shared a meal with a lonely elderly man at McDonalds.

Hudson Drew, three, went viral for his wholesome interaction with a stranger while eating breakfast at an Oklahoma fast-food chain.

Video showed the boy, whose nickname is Huddy, climbing into the booth where the man was sitting.

The older man donned a red cap, glasses, and a blue button-up shirt, as a smiling Huddy scooched into the seat with his meal.

Huddys mother, Ashlyn, caught the sweet moment on camera and shared the interaction on social media.

'He asked me where the mans kids were. I was like, "well, they probably grew up and moved away," and he didnt like that,' Ashlyn told KFOR.

The toddler decided to keep the man company, and it brought tears to Ashlyns eyes.

'Since he was born, he has always lit up the world. Hes a very sweet kid. I didnt think I would get emotional.

Hudson Drew, a three-year-old toddler who melted the internet's hearts after he sat with a lonely older man at McDonald's

The little boy saw the man eating alone and decided to keep him company while they ate their breakfast together

'I always say "Live like Huddy" because he doesnt see people any different[ly]. He loves everyone,' Ashlyn told the outlet.

The video has gone viral on TikTok, racking up over 200,000 likes and nearly 1,500 comments of touched users.

'Protect his positive energy at all costs,' one comment on the video said.

'That's so cute, omg. I would've been bawling in my seat,' another read.

'Immediately start[ed] sobbing this is SO sweet,' another user wrote.

Others praised Huddys mother for raising her son right, calling him sweet and empathetic.

'Sometimes as adults, we need to sit back and learn from kids,' another TikTok user commented.

Ashlyn even discovered that the man lives just three miles away from them and that he was close friends with the boys late great-grandfather.

The video went viral on TikTok, as many users praised his 'positive energy' and 'kind heart'

Other social media users commended Hudson's mother, Ashlyn, for raising a sweet boy

The moment brough tears to Ashlyn's eyes as she told KFOR Hudson 'loves everyone'

She says this is a reminder that even the smallest, kindest actions can make someones day or week.

'When you see an older person, more than likely their spouse has passed away or is in a nursing home, so I just say take the time to say hi, smile.

'A smile can do a lot. Sit with them. They can tell you some great stories,' she told the outlet.
Former BBC Radio 1 DJ Tim Westwood will stand trial next year over a string of rape and sexual assault charges.

Westwood, 68, is accused of four counts of rape, nine of indecent assault, two counts of sexual assault between 1983 and 2016.

The charges relate to seven women with three of the alleged indecent assaults said to have been carried out in BBC Studios in London during the 1990s.

Westwood, the son of an Anglican Bishop, is alleged to have raped a woman at a London hotel in 1996 and sexually assaulted another at a music festival in the city around 20 years later.

The prosecution allege the offences amount to 'a pattern of offending'. Westwood earlier denied all the charges.

Westwood did not appear at Southwark Crown Court today for a brief hearing before Judge Tony Baumgartner.

A pre-trial review hearing will take place on December 14 with the six week trial due to begin on January 25, 2027.

Westwood, who lives in a million-pound flat in Fitzrovia, central London, remains on bail.

Former BBC Radio 1 DJ Tim Westwood will stand trial next year over a string of rape and sexual assault charges

Westwood, 68, is accused of four counts of rape, nine of indecent assault, two counts of sexual assault between 1983 and 2016

His bail conditions include not to contact the alleged victims, any travel to be notified within three days, any change of address to be notified, and any non-UK address to be notified to the police three days prior to travelling there.

The veteran DJ is said to have indecently assaulted a 17-year-old girl in the Fulham area of west London in 1983.

In 1986, a woman in her 20s was sexually assaulted in the Vauxhall area of London by Westwood, it is claimed.

Between 1995 and 1996, a girl aged between 17 and 18 was raped in London by the DJ, prosecutors say. It is also alleged that the same woman was sexually assaulted in central London.

Between 2000 and 2001, a female between the age of 17 and 18 was raped and sexually assaulted in London, by Westwood, it is claimed.

He attacked a woman in her 20s who was raped in London, the charges state.

The most recent alleged offence was sexual assault of a woman in her 20s in Finchley, north London, in 2016.

Westwood is also accused of sexually assaulting a woman in her 20s in Stroud in 2010.

Finally in 2016, a woman in her 20s, claims she was sexually assaulted by Westwood in the Finchley area of London.

Westwood's first radio show was on the London pirate radio station LWR before he moved to Kiss FM.

He championed rap and grime music in the UK as a radio DJ for the BBC and Capital Radio but was widely mocked for adopting a British black accent and being a 'culture vulture'.

His compilation albums have earned him millions of pounds and gave him huge influence within the British music industry.

Officers have said their investigation remains open and urged anyone 'impacted by the case' to come forward.

Westwood, who lives in a million-pound flat in Fitzrovia, central London, remains on bail

Detective Superintendent Andy Furphy, from the Metropolitan Police Service, earlier said: 'It takes courage to come forward and report allegations of this nature.

'The women who have done so have put their trust in us and we continue to provide them with all available support.

'Our investigation remains open and we'd encourage anyone who has been impacted by this case, or anyone with information, to come forward and speak with us.

'A dedicated team of investigators is available via email at CIT@met.police.uk.

'Any reports will be dealt with in the strictest confidence by specialist officers.

'Support is also available by contacting the independent charity, Rape Crisis at 24/7 Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Line.'

In response to historical sexual abuse allegations, Westwood has previously said he 'strongly denies all allegations of inappropriate behaviour'.

Westwood stepped down from his show on Capital Xtra in April 2022 and left Radio 1 and Radio 1Xtra in 2013 after nearly 20 years.
Scott Mills' stand-in has been revealed after the BBC Radio 2 star was abruptly sacked over allegations about his 'personal conduct'.

The 53-year-old Radio 2 star was taken off air last week before bosses announced his dismissal today.

The BBC has refused to disclose the exact nature of the allegations, but the Daily Mirror claims they are related to a 'historic male relationship from more than ten years ago'.

Mills was last heard from during his regular breakfast slot on Tuesday, telling his listeners, 'see you tomorrow'.

But it was fellow presenter Gary Davies who took to the airwaves on Wednesday morning, who simply said he was 'in for Scott'.

Davies, who has his own Radio 2 show Sounds of the 80s with Gary Davies, has continued to present the breakfast slot every weekday since then.

The BBC veteran, 68, has often covered for Radio 2 DJs when they are ill or off work.

He started off with the corporation as a Radio 1 DJ, often presenting Top of the Pops, from 1982 to 1993.

Fellow BBC Radio 2 presenter Gary Davies has been filling in for Scott during the breakfast slot

Scott Mills has been sacked from the BBC over allegations about his 'personal conduct', the corporation announced today

After more than two decades away, he returned to the BBC in 2017 as a Radio 2 DJ, to host Sounds of the 80s.

In a statement today, the BCC said: 'While we do not comment on matters relating to individuals, we can confirm Scott Mills is no longer contracted to work with the BBC.'

Mills, who is paid between 355,000 and 359,999 a year by the BBC, took over the Radio 2 breakfast show from Zoe Ball in 2025. He married his long-term partner Sam Vaughan at a celebrity-studded wedding in Barcelona in 2024.

As he handed over on what was to become his final show, Mills joked about waxing his legs and doing Stars In Their Eyes with fellow Radio 2 presenter Vernon Kay, before signing off with: 'See you tomorrow.'

News of Scott Mills' sacking led the 12pm bulletin on his former station BBC Radio 2.

At the start of his show on BBC Radio 2, Jeremy Vine said he was 'taken aback' by the news about Scott Mills. He said: 'Obviously, I was taken aback by that opening story to the news.

'I had not heard anything about it until 17 minutes ago, when it was on the BBC website, and I only had the information that was given to you in the bulletin, I have nothing more, that it was allegations about Scott Mills's personal conduct, which have led to him being sacked.

'I have no more than that. Alright, on to today's show.'

Lorna Clarke, Director of Music, reportedly told BBC staff in an email: 'I wanted to personally let you know that Scott Mills has left the Breakfast show, and the BBC. I know that this news will be sudden and unexpected and therefore must come as a shock.

'Not least as so many of us have worked with Scott over a great many years, across a broad range of our programmes on R1, 5Live, R2 and TV. I felt it was important to share this news with you at the earliest opportunity.

'Of course, it will also come as a shock to our audience and loyal breakfast show listeners too. I will update everyone with more information on plans for the show when I'm able to. While I appreciate many of you will have questions, I hope you can understand that I am not going to be saying anything.'

The DJ, from Southampton, began his BBC career on Radio 1 in the late 1990s as the early breakfast host, before going on to present weekend slots and then an early evening show while providing maternity cover for Sara Cox. When Cox did not return, the programme was renamed The Scott Mills Show.

In 2022, he joined Radio 2, replacing Steve Wright in his weekday afternoon slot.

He has presented a number of shows on the station before taking up the Breakfast Show after Ball's departure.

He has also presented a weekend show on Radio 5 Live and appeared on series 12 of Strictly Come Dancing, where he was paired with professional dancer Joanne Clifton, becoming the fifth couple to be eliminated.

Mills has also been a commentator for the Eurovision Song Contest on the BBC - raising the possibility it will be forced to find a replacement for this year's event.

The news will be a blow to Mills, who welcomed his unveiling as Zoe Ball's replacement last year by saying he had finally 'made it'.

He told how he had started out as a local DJ host earning just 20 a show but had enjoyed success after 'playing the long game'.

Mills's departure comes weeks before Google executive Matt Brittin is due to start as the BBC's new director general - replacing Tim Davie.
To travel down the steep and winding road leading to Pennan is to descend into a time between times.

Tucked up hard against towering red sandstone cliffs, a tangle of mostly whitewashed houses are strung out like fresh laundry along the Aberdeenshire coastal villages single street.

Even visiting in the early spring sunshine, the buildings brace themselves for the constant battering from stiff winds and pounding seas.

The cliffs they cling to for protection are a treacherous friend, casting gloom and year-round damp over neighbouring properties. Winters are harsh, landslips are common.

Surrounded by natures hostility, life somehow endures. A dwindling band of inhabitants are still drawn to set up home in this stunningly beautiful spot despite the many hardships.

It doesnt take long to navigate the place. At one end is the 19th-century harbour, a reminder of Pennans centuries-old story as a once thriving fishing port, sustaining 300 people at its height.

A five-minute walk brings you to the far end of the crescent-shaped bay and the brightly painted village hall  rebuilt from a First World War aerodrome accommodation hut.

Halfway along is the famous red telephone box and the Pennan Inn opposite, both instantly familiar to fans of Scottish director Bill Forsyths gentle 1983 comedy, Local Hero.

In the film, Pennan doubles for the fictional Highland community of Ferness, where residents seek to cash in on a US oil giants desire to buy their village  unaware that the Americans plan to wipe it out and build an enormous oil terminal in its place.

Down the years, this tight huddle of 50 or so dwellings has assumed many different roles  some illusory, others long buried by history.

Actors Peter Riegert and Christopher Rozycki sit on the harbour wall by Pennans famous red phone box in the comedy Local Hero

At one end is the 19th-century harbour, a reminder of Pennans centuries-old story as a once thriving fishing port

But that storied past is intruding like never before into its present.

For Pennan is a conservation village, a status bestowed on areas of special architectural or historical interest, the character or appearance of which it is desirable to preserve or enhance.

It comes with a welter of strict heritage rules, which are subject to a review by Aberdeenshire Council  the planning authority tasked with producing specific guidance for Pennan and the more than 30 other conservation areas in its domain.

In its appraisal, the council describes Pennan as having one of the most distinctive and recognisable views in Aberdeenshire.

Homeowners views of the consultation document are less admiring  conservation red tape has left them feeling like they are living in a museum, trapped in an unrealistic cartoonish yesteryear over which they have little control.

Indeed, so fed up are they with what they regard as often costly and nonsensical conservation guidelines, that they have taken the unusual step of trying to de-designate their villages conservation status.

They talk about conservation, but whos it being conserved for exactly? said Shona Stephen, 53, one of just eight full-time residents. We want more people living in the village to boost the community, and if youre not allowed to do things to the houses, the young crowd particularly wont come as they want the modern conveniences of life.

Yes, the houses are old and we need to look after them, but why do we need wrought-iron guttering and wooden single-glazed windows?

Ms Stephen also runs the Coastal Cuppie food shack at the harbour. On cold March days, she uses the village hall as a pop-up space where she serves up wonderful home baking.

She had to jump through hoops to open the shack, forced to swap the original bright blue shed with bunting for a smaller one the size of traditional Pennan sheds.

They wanted it creosoted black. Why? Nothing else is here, Ms Stephen said

There were further restrictions over shutters because it had to look like a shed not like a business. Even though it was clearly a business? This is what youre up against, she added.

They want tourism, they want folk to visit, but youve to keep everything looking like it was in nineteen oatcake.

Conservation areas were first introduced by the Civic Amenities Act 1967 and Pennan received its designation ten years later, but no specific guidance was ever written for it.

The councils proposed new rulebook lays out strict planning rules for changes or repairs to safeguard the villages unique and remarkable character.

It details examples of bad practice around the village  uPVC gutters and downpipes are not suitable and should be replaced with cast-iron alternatives in keeping with the character of the historic settlement.

Other unacceptable modern upgrades include uPVC windows, oversized box dormers and large roof lights. Fixtures such as satellite dishes and solar panels would also be frowned upon, it notes, were there any in Pennan.

People have been caught out placing the wrong colour and style of tiles on roofs, while even the village grit bin has been found to be not complementary to the character and appearance of the conservation area.

But it is not always clear which Pennan the conservation lobby is trying to preserve. The present village is a hotchpotch of change.

The harbour dates to the 19th century before fishing boats became too big to use it, while much of the present layout dates to after the devastating Great Storm of 1953 that washed away nearly all the buildings on the bankhead by the shore. Other modifications are more recent.

The houses were never whitewashed before, you know, thats quite a new thing, said Ms Stephen. It was just after Local Hero that they thought, Make it look pretty.

The film, which starred Burt Lancaster, Denis Lawson, Peter Capaldi and Fulton Mackay, sparked a programme of improvements in the late 1980s, including the burying of power lines and the retention of the red phone box. A modern anomaly, but a key tourist draw.

It is a fabulous thing because Ive got a business from the tourist trade on the back of the film, said Ms Stephen, but she added: We dont want to live in a museum. We want to be able to maintain our houses and be able to afford to maintain them.

Maintaining porous sandstone buildings built next to a damp cliff face is a full-time task, requiring them to be heated year-round. Ms Stephens home had been lying empty for four years when she bought it and it took her two years to dry it out.

Theres no mains gas here, so its expensive storage heaters for us, which costs around 300-400 a month for electricity.

Somebody installed one of those air source heat pumps but it lasted two years. The salt killed it. Salt kills everything here.

In January, it emerged that a couple restoring a cottage roof face the prospect of tearing off all their new slates after it was found they did not match the old red pantiles. The work, which was necessary to make the house watertight, was carried out without planning permission.

The couple now face an anxious wait for retrospective approval.

For retired second homeowner Alistair Mackenzie, 73, it is evidence that the focus is all wrong.

Im not proposing a building free-for-all, but I think there are enough controls within planning legislation to control that anyway, he said.

I want a sustainability plan, not a conservation plan, something that looks to the future, to protect Pennan for future generations, not something that looks backwards in the rear-view mirror to 1953. Because thats the time-stamp on the current conservation document  the Great Storm of 53  and most of us werent born then.

There are significant threats to Pennan and they come from its geographic location  from the sea to the north and the potential for overtopping and flooding and whatever, and from the cliffs to the south, where weve seen some recent instability again.

Join the discussion Would you accept strict rules to preserve a places character - or prioritise modern living?

Second-home owner David McRobbie is renovating the only stone house left by the Great Storm on the bankhead

Food shack owner Shona Stephen asks: They talk about conservation, but whos it being conserved for exactly?

These are the major risk elements to Pennan and meanwhile we are talking about plastic guttering and plastic windows and the size of skylights and what kind of tiles are on the roofs. That to me is just completely wrong-headed.

The last major landslip happened on August 6, 2007, when a prolonged period of heavy rainfall brought hundreds of tonnes of mud and rock crashing down between Nos 18 and 53, leading to the evacuation by lifeboat of all residents while major stabilisation works were carried out.

Evidence of the latest slippage a fortnight ago was clearly visible behind homes in the middle of Pennan.

People love the chocolate box, picture postcard image of Pennan  it does look stunning and I dont want to see that disappear. People who know me know I am very protective of Pennan, added Mr Mackenzie.

But the conservation argument really pales into insignificance with the challenges that Pennan could face in the future if some of the major risk events are not addressed.

If they are not addressed, he argued, there may be little left to conserve. God forbid, if theres a major erosion of the cliff again, that could wipe out properties completely, he said.

We need to look at what are the major risk events and plastic guttering is not going to threaten the village. We need to protect Pennan by looking forward 50 years, not back half a century. There is recent precedent for de-designation. Planners have recommended that Aberchirder, also in Aberdeenshire, should lose its conservation status after it was found its historic core was no longer worthy of designation.

However, Mr Mackenzie admitted Pennan would face an uphill fight as heritage watchdog Historic Environment Scotland would likely object.

Others lament the conservationists emphasis on preserving a perceived idea of a fishing village when they made site visits.

Well, a fishing village would have had boats and creels and nets and things, said Fiona McRae, who runs a photography business, SunshineNShadows. Thats gone, not because of a decline in the fishing industry but an increase in boat size which has made this harbour unsuitable  its only leisure craft that come now.

So this is, dare I say it, the sanitised version of a fishing village. And one of the built heritage guys said we should have single glazing and I asked him if he had ever been here in the winter. His answer was, It must be exciting.

Ms McRae had a brief clip on her phone of recent bad weather, which looked more unnerving than exciting as seawater flooded the street.

Many houses have floodboards protecting their front doors and preventing water from simply pouring inside.

Does me living in an 18th-century village mean I have to have 18th-century standards, or can it be brought into the 21st century and made suitable for modern life? she asked. We are blessed with really good broadband, so theres no reason why people couldnt move here and work remotely.

And we have community events and get-togethers and well have our annual screening of Local Hero in September followed by a ceilidh.

We are trying to live in the 21st century, but they are harking back to how it used to be  and yet, it looks nothing like it used to be.

Ms McRae added: If we lost conservation status, what would happen to the village?

Would it be any worse? We would still maintain our homes; between the cliffs and the sea, theres nowhere for builders to develop.

One developer is David McRobbie, who is renovating the only stone house left by the Great Storm on the bankhead.

Like many second homers, he has a strong familial connection to Pennan, tracing his roots back to the 1700s with links to all the villages three main families  the Watts, the Gatts and the Wests.

It used to be the old bakehouse but was turned into a home by a relative about 40 years ago. Mr McRobbie and his wife Karen, both 60, have stripped it back to bare walls.

Its a labour of love and they are trying to do everything by the book, but there are compromises. No one makes the original roof tiles any more and even they have replaced a small window overlooking the sea with a small uPVC double-glazed unit.

If I put in single-glazing, it would probably crack when the first wave hit it, as they bring up stones as well, he said. I wanted a composite front door too, more to make the house watertight at high water. When its blowing a gale, the house gets an awful pounding.

In the end, he opted for a wooden door, but was lucky to find a skilled joiner to make it for him: Theres nobody leaving school to be joiners. Im doing all the liming of the walls myself too, but its trial and error  Im learning it all off YouTube videos. Conservation, he says, simply assumes the skills and money are there to sustain our heritage.

Nevertheless, Mr McRobbie is more exercised by the requirement to pay double council tax on his second home.

If they want us to live in the past, maybe we can pay the poll tax from the 1950s too, joked his wife. Id be up for that, he added.

Anyway, its not just about the bricks and mortar for us. We have history and connections to this place and its for my children and grandchildren and to maintain a link.

Leaving Pennan, a last look back captures a rogue wave crashing right over the old bakehouse, and for an instant, the property disappears from view, just as its neighbours did in the Great Storm.

Even conservationists cannot legislate for nature. Or, as Burns declared: Natures mighty law is change.
Terrifying footage captured passengers screaming as a Delta Airlines plane's engine erupted in flames during takeoff at a Brazilian airport.

Delta Flight DL 104 from Sao Paulo's Guarulhos International Airport was headed to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport with 272 passengers and 14 crew on Sunday when its left engine suffered a major mechanical issue.

Footage taken by a passenger aboard the Airbus A330-300 showed the engine sporadically spitting fire during the initial ascent before being completely engulfed in flames.

Terrified passengers could be heard screaming and crying as the flames of the engine lit up the left side of the plane in the dark sky.

Materials began falling from the plane while it was still lit, starting fires on the ground below, according to the Mirror.

The pilot made an emergency landing, stopping its climb at 4,500 feet and returning to the terminal.

The pilot declared a 'mayday' and was also notified by an air traffic controller who said: 'Delta, you have fire on your wings.'

To which the pilot replied: 'We know, we will need to return.'

Delta Flight DL 104 from Sao Paulo's Guarulhos International Airport was headed to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on Sunday when its left engine suffered a mechanical issue

A person aboard the Airbus A330-300, which 272 passengers and 14 crew aboard, filmed the engine during take-off sporadically spitting sparks before engulfing into flames

The aircraft made a safe return to the airport, where it was met by Aircraft Rescue and Firefighting, a Delta spokesperson told Travel Pulse.

The spokesperson added that the passengers were then brought to the terminal by bus.

'The safety of our customers and crew is our highest priority. We apologize to our customers for this delay in their travels,' noted the airline employee.

Thankfully, no injuries were reported. According to the airline's website, the flight was canceled.

The Daily Mail has reached out to Delta for comment.

The mechanical mishap comes shortly after the tragedy in LaGuardia Airport when a flight collided with a firetruck, leaving two dead.

Terrified passengers could be heard screaming and crying in the footage. However, the plane return to the airport safely and no injuries were reported

A Delta spokesperson told Travel Pulse: 'The safety of our customers and crew is our highest priority. We apologize to our customers for this delay in their travels'

An Air Canada flight collided with a ground vehicle while landing at the airport in New York City on March 22, killing the pilots, Antoine Forest and Mackenzie Gunther.

The flight from Montreal was landing at around 11.40pm when the aircraft struck a Port Authority rescue vehicle on the runway.
A criminal who admitted possessing drugs has evaded police for nearly two weeks after running out of a courtroom in south London.

Abu Faye, 26, from Hackney, north London, was caught on CCTV fleeing Croydon Crown Court during his hearing on March 17.

He denied five counts of possession with intent to supply but admitted five counts of possession of class A and class B drugs.

The judge tried to remand Faye in custody but the defendant ran out of court eight just after 4pm that day and has still not been caught.

The Metropolitan Police has launched an urgent manhunt and is urging members of the public not to approach him.

The force has launched an appeal for anyone with information to call 999.

A spokesperson said: 'Police are asking for the publics help to trace a man who has absconded from court.

'On Tuesday, 17 March at 16:03hrs, the Met was informed by the prison service that Abu Faye, 26, from Hackney, had left Croydon Crown Court during a hearing for drug-related offences.

Abu Faye, 26, from Hackney, north London, was caught on CCTV fleeing Croydon Crown Court during his hearing on March 17

The judge tried to remand Faye in custody but the defendant ran out of court eight just after 4pm that day and has still not been caught. Pictured here is the 26-year-old on CCTV fleeing Croydon Crown Court

'Faye was captured on CCTV leaving the court at 16:01hrs and fled on foot. He also has links to Penge and Cambridge.

'He had been charged with five counts of possession with intent to supply and five counts of possession of Class A and Class B drugs.

'He pleaded guilty to the latter five charges, prompting the judge to seek remand.

'Met detectives have been conducting urgent enquiries, including analysing CCTV, and are working at pace to locate him. They are now appealing to the public for help in doing so.

'If you see Faye or have any information that may assist police, please do not approach him but call 999 quoting CAD 4966/17MARCH.'
John Bolton has a message for the White House: Marco Rubio is one man, not two.

President Trump's former national security adviser believes Rubio's dual role as secretary of state and national security advisor is undermining the administration's war planning.

'They're two very different jobs, and when you have one person trying to do both of them, it means that aspects of both are going to be inadequately treated, and I think that's evident in a number of things that have happened in the second Trump term,' Bolton told the Daily Mail in an exclusive interview.

Bolton did not provide specific examples, but framed the issue as 'just a general collapse of coordinated decisionmaking and implementation.'

His solution was blunt: 'Rubio should pick whichever role he wants and have somebody fill the other one.'

This consolidation of power began in May 2025, following the sudden departure of Mike Waltz. Waltz, who had served as national security adviser for just over 100 days, was reshuffled to the role of US Ambassador to the United Nations following a highprofile security blunder involving the 'signal' messaging app.

At the time, President Trump took to Truth Social to announce that Rubio, already confirmed as Secretary of State, would step in as the 'interim' National Security Adviser, but that it would be temporary.

Rubio's team did not respond to a Daily Mail request for comment.

President Donald Trump's Former National Security Advisor John Bolton has pointed the finger directly at the White House, specifically targeting Marco Rubio's unprecedented dual role as both Secretary of State and National Security Advisor, and JD Vance's new role as lead negotiator with Iran

In an exclusive interview, the hawkish diplomat tore into the President's transactional foreign policy, warned of imminent terror attacks on Western soil and slammed the chaotic state of Trump's National Security Council

A plume of smoke rises from the site of a strike in Tehran on March 29, 2026

But Bolton's own record on security is currently under a federal microscope. On October 17, 2025, the 76yearold pleaded not guilty to 18 criminal counts of mishandling classified information, as his highstakes legal battle with the Justice Department continues to escalate. The veteran diplomat stands accused of the criminal mishandling of topsecret documents and sharing sensitive notes via personal email, charges he has slammed as politically motivated. The case remains ongoing.

Turning his fire from the courtroom to the Situation Room, Bolton poured cold water on reports that Vice President JD Vance could be dispatched to meet the Speaker of the Iranian Parliament at a summit brokered by Pakistan.

'If JD Vance is sent out to be the US negotiator... I think they're going to talk right past each other,' he scoffed. 'I don't see any discussions that could lead to an acceptable outcome. This is a conclusion now shared reportedly by the Gulf Arab states as well.'

Bolton charged that Vance would be focused more on his own political future than on US strategic imperatives.

Vance's team did not respond to a Daily Mail request for comment.

Bolton also launched a blistering attack on Trump's handling of the Iran crisis, branding his acceptance of Iranian oil as 'crazy' and warning that his administration is illequipped to negotiate with the radical regime.

The hawkish diplomat also tore into the President's transactional foreign policy, warned of imminent terror attacks on Western soil and slammed the chaotic state of Trump's National Security Council.

The broadside comes days after Trump revealed at a cabinet meeting that Iran had offered the US a 'gift' of eight large boats of oil  a move Bolton says plays into the regime's hands at the expense of American lives.

'I think it's the transactional side [of him]. He thinks this will help bring global oil prices down, which may result in a decrease of a few cents at the pump in the price per gallon of oil in America,' Bolton said. 'But if the purchasers of that oil are sending money to Tehran, then we are helping finance the regime's war against American service members, which is crazy.'

Bolton also poured cold water on reports that JD Vance could be sent to meet with the Speaker of the Iranian Parliament in a summit brokered by Pakistan

The former National Security Advisor targeted Marco Rubio's unprecedented dual role as both Secretary of State and National Security Advisor. Bolton told the Daily Mail that Rubio should pick whichever role he wants and have someone fill the second

Trump has already eliminated two top layers of Iran's leadership, raising fears that the cornered regime could target the President himself. Bolton, who confirmed he is still under an active assassination threat from Iran, issued a chilling warning about what Tehran will do next

'If JD Vance is sent out to be the US negotiator... I think they're going to talk right past each other,' Bolton scoffed. 'I don't see any discussions that could lead to an acceptable outcome. This is a conclusion now shared reportedly by the Gulf Arab states as well'

Instead of accepting the oil, Bolton argued the US needs to shut down Tehran's economic lifeline entirely.

'I think if no Gulf Arab oil is leaving, going through the Straits because of the danger, we should blockade and not have any oil from Iran go out either. Let them consider that as the consequence,' he added.

Despite the bloodshed, Trump has signaled a desire to bring the Ayatollahs to the negotiating table. It's a strategy Bolton fundamentally views as delusional, rooted in the President's inability to understand the fanatical nature of his enemies.

Trump has already eliminated two top layers of Iran's leadership, raising fears that the cornered regime could target the President himself.

Bolton, who confirmed he is still under an active assassination threat from Iran, issued a chilling warning about what Tehran will do next.

'I think the regime is losing its military capabilities very rapidly, and I think their use of asymmetric warfare is nearly certain, and I think that would include terrorist attacks in Europe and North America, including assassinations,' Bolton warned, when asked about the President's safety. 'So, I think people should really be sensitive to that, and I hope our intelligence agencies are focused on it.'

For Bolton, there is only one path forward in Iran: total overthrow of the Islamic Republic from within.

Asked whether he supported arming Iranian citizens to rise up against the regime, he didn't hesitate.

'Yeah. I think you have to ask the opposition, what are you prepared to do?' Bolton said. 'Right now, the government and the police are armed, and the citizens are not. It's a matter of deciding how much they want to overthrow the government.'

On the logistics of smuggling weapons into Iran at scale, Bolton suggested a coalition approach  Arab countries and Israel could help bring them in.

He also defended his support for the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran, an exiled opposition group once designated a foreign terrorist organization by the State Department  until Hillary Clinton removed it from the list.

'The worst thing the Iranian diaspora can do is fight over who the successor is going to be,' Bolton said. 'There's no point fighting over it until there's a need for a successor regime and we're not at that point yet.'

His message to his former boss: 'You need to spend a lot more time, effort and resources with the opposition inside. That's what's going to make the difference ultimately in regime change.'

Bolton served as Trump's National Security Advisor in 2018 and as UN Ambassador under George W. Bush. A foreign policy hawk, he has held senior roles in every Republican administration since Reagan.
Booth #135  April 79  Oregon Convention Center, Portland

PORTLAND, Ore. and TAIPEI, March 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Brands don't just need better fabric. They need an integrated partner capable of bridging the gap between raw material innovation and market-ready execution. At Functional Fabric Fair Spring 2026, Makalot Industrial Co., Ltd. (TWSE: 1477) presents a connected view of material development, product creation, and manufacturing execution, brought to life through new collections, fabric platforms, and smart textile innovations.

Meet the Makalot team at Booth #135 at FFF

Material Intelligence in Motion: The "Post-Apocalyptic Trail"

The "Post-Apocalyptic Trail" collection defines Makalot's approach to everyday performance. It showcases exactly what is possible when material innovation and product development are engineered in tandem from the start. Designed for the unpredictability of modern life, the collection features modular constructions, multi-pocket systems, and distressed textures that gain character through use. These elements are supported by abrasion resistance, water repellency, UV protection, and easy-care fabrication. Each piece transcends its technical attributes, creating a final product where the fabric and the function are indistinguishable.

Four Fabric Platforms, One Development Toolkit

This integration of material and design thinking extends across Makalot's four fabric platforms: SENSORY MATTER, STRUCTURED DIMENSION, KINETIC PERFORMANCE, and CIRCULAR MATERIALS. Rather than simple material offerings, these platforms serve as a foundation for product development. This allows brand partners to transition seamlessly from material concept to final product, leveraging Makalot's design and manufacturing intelligence integrated from day one.

Smart Textiles in Action

Makalot's WIIM platform integrates multi-patented technology directly into the material DNA. By prioritizing safety and wearability, the platform expands the boundaries of what a garment can do. From physiological-signal sensing and integrated climate control to motion-capture and muscle-stimulation, WIIM provides the architecture for the next generation of active apparel.

FFF SP26 highlights include:

LIGHTFIBER  a patented electroluminescent fiber and the world's first wearable neon light, offering up to 100 meters of visibility for activewear and nighttime outdoor use

Elastic Conductor  a stretchable electronic conductor tested through more than 2,200 wash cycles

Smart Tracking  RFID fibers and dual-frequency labels enabling inventory management and consumer-facing features

Heated Vest (co-developed with Clim8)  lightweight, washable, battery-powered, with app-controlled heat adjustment

From Material to Market: Global Reliability and Nearshore Agility in El Salvador

Material innovation only creates value when it successfully reaches the market. Makalot operates a strategic manufacturing network across six countries, including a nearshore facility in El Salvador serving the U.S. market. This global footprint provides the supply chain flexibility and delivery reliability required to turn advanced material development into finished garments. From material concept to global market, the infrastructure for scale is already in place.

Experience Active Material Intelligence at Functional Fabric Fair Booth #135. Join Makalot from April 79 at the Oregon Convention Center in Portland.

About Makalot Industrial Co., Ltd.

Founded in 1990 in Taiwan, Makalot Industrial Co., Ltd. (TWSE#:1477) is a global apparel manufacturing partner with over 33,000 employees worldwide, providing integrated OEM/ODM services across material innovation, product design, and garment production. Makalot partners with major brands across the United States, Europe, and Asia, delivering end-to-end apparel solutions with a focus on flexibility, quality, and reliable execution.

For more information, follow us on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/makalot.

For media inquiries or further details regarding the event, please contact Ruo Chen, [email protected]

SOURCE MAKALOT industrial co., ltd.
South Carolina GOP Senator Lindsey Graham was spotted at Disney World in Orlando, having breakfast with Mickey Mouse amid the ongoing shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security.

An image of the Senator at the 'Most Magical Place on Earth' made the rounds on X on Sunday after being originally published by TMZ.

Per TMZ, the South Carolina Republican was enjoying Sunday Brunch at Chef Mickey's at the Contemporary Resort at Disney World. The unmarried and childless Graham was reportedly seen with a younger woman and a child.

A second TMZ story published Monday alleges that Graham was at Disney World on Friday evening as well.

X users were quick to point out the hypocrisy of the Senator taking the trip while Federal workers at the Department of Homeland Security have now missed two paychecks, and delays at TSA checkpoints due to a lack of workers are plaguing travelers at airports across the country.

California Governor Gavin Newsom's official press account reposted the TMZ article about Graham on X, commenting, 'Divas still need vacation.'

X user Mike Smith, posting under the handle @punishedpat76, noted that 'This is maybe one of the most normal things Graham has been seen doing in public.'

Communications consultant Liz Shrum wrote of Graham on X, 'What a creep. While he sends the nations young people to war?'

Lindsey Graham speaks on the phone as he walks through the senate subway of the U.S. Capitol during a vote on March 04, 2026 in Washington, DC

Mickey Mouse on Main Street, U.S.A. just before sunrise at Walt Disney World Resort in Florida on July 11, 2020

Senator Graham told TMZ of his Sunday brunch, 'I was invited to a meeting in South Florida on Friday with Trump official Steve Witkoff ... to talk about the possibility of normalization between Saudi Arabia and Israel. I went to Orlando to meet friends after. I'm already back in South Carolina.'

He also added, 'I voted 7 times to fully fund the government. Call a Democrat.'

Graham came under fire for claiming earlier this month that when he goes 'back to South Carolina, I'm asking them to send their sons and daughters over to the Middle East' to fight the war with Iran.

Fellow Capitol Hill lawmaker Robert Garcia, a Democrat who represents California, was also snapped enjoying his Spring Break, captured at a Las Vegas Casino on Sunday.

Garcia's spokeswoman told TMZ that the Congressman was visiting his father, who has lived in the area for 15 years.

California Democrat Robert Garcia with family, in a photograph he posted on X

The Californian himself replied to TMZ's story about him on X, noting, 'actually I dont mind what tmz is doing here. Like the story says my dad has lived in Vegas for 15 years and I had just finished lunch with him. I try to see him whenever I can.'

'And like I said a few days ago, Speaker Mike Johnson should have never sent us all home,' Garcia also noted, throwing jabs at his political opponents.

During a tense hearing on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, Democrat and Republican lawmakers each blamed the opposing party for the shutdown while questioning leaders of TSA, CISA, FEMA, and even the Coast Guard.

Acting TSA administrator Ha Nguyen McNeill warned lawmakers during the hearing that if workers miss another paycheck on Friday, the total amount of missed wages would exceed $1 billion.

The DHS shutdown is now in its sixth week.
Second Lady Usha Vance has lifted the lid on how she handles disagreements with her husband, her past Democratic support and how she keeps an open mind when counseling him privately.

Vance, 40, was a registered Democrat until 2014, the same year she married JD Vance, who went on to be elected vice president of the United States a decade later.

One Ohio Senate run and a VP bid later, the couple have forged a close bond where she advises him on topics that matter to JD personally.

'There are conversations all the time,' Vance told NBC News in an interview. 'I do really like to understand what's going on in his world, what he's really focused on, what concerns he has, because it's a marriage.'

'I want to be supportive of him, and if I don't really know what's going on, then I can't do that.'

Though they don't always agree, she said.

'I'm not his staffer. I'm not involved in this in any professional sense.  There's no expectation that we are going to see eye to eye on everything,' Vance said.

'The expectation is that we are going to be open-minded and have a conversation, and that I'll provide meaningful input from, you know, the perspective of someone who loves him and wants him to succeed,' she said. 'So even if we don't agree, it's  I think it's always very productive.'

Second Lady Usha Vance opened up on how she sometimes does not see eye to eye with her Vice President husband and how she counsels him privately

The Vances are the first second couple to have young children while in office in decades

Usha Vance was a registered Democrat until 2014 when she married her future-BVP husband, JD Vance

Some of those disagreements may be colored by her past Democratic support, but she reiterated that she's never felt the need to rehash or denounce her beliefs.

'I do feel very comfortable in that no one has ever asked me to engage in any kind of litmus test on anything,' Vance said in the interview. 'And what I've found is that I was myself in 2014. I can be myself today. And I feel very comfortable in that world.'

'I don't feel like I have to walk around pretending anything of any sort. I didn't think I had to do that [in 2014], actually. Sometimes I have thoughts that fit very comfortably into one side or another. Sometimes I have views that are way more idiosyncratic,' she continued. 'And it's a world that I think is actually rather accepting of that, since everyone knows that I really care greatly about JD's success.'

The Second Lady, a mother of three who is expecting a fourth this summer, announced on Monday a new podcast advocating for childhood literacy.

'Storytime With the Second Lady,' will feature prominent figures - like NASCAR legend Danica Patrick - alongside Vance as they read short stories and discuss their central themes in 15-minute episodes meant for young children.

She's said the decline in literacy rates among children is 'worrisome,' adding that she wanted to do something to correct course.

'If I was going to do anything, this would be the thing to focus on at this moment in time,' she said.

It is not the first time the Second Lady has advocated for reading.

Vance promoted a program last year called the 'Summer Reading Challenge' where children were asked to read 12 books over the school break. Those who completed the challenge would receive a small prize and certificate, according to the competition rules.
The Welsh First Minister today insisted Labour can cling to power at the Senedd elections despite polls putting the party behind both Plaid Cymru and Reform UK.

Labour has run the Welsh Parliament since it was first established more than two decades ago.

But, ahead of contests on 7 May, opinion polls have shown the party is on course to lose its grip on Welsh politics after being leapfrogged by Plaid and Reform.

A YouGov MRP poll, published last week, showed Labour being reduced to a rump of just 12 seats in the Senedd, with Plaid becoming the largest party with 43 seats.

It also suggested Reform will lead the opposition in Wales with 30 seats in the Senedd.

But, speaking at Welsh Labour's election campaign launch Monday, Baroness Morgan insisted her party can turn its fortunes around over the next six weeks.

The First Minister told the event in Swansea that Labour is the only party 'serious enough' to govern in Wales.

She also urged voters not to treat the 7 May contest as a vote on the UK Government at Westminster, as she stressed: 'Keir Starmer is not standing in this election'.

Eluned Morgan insisted Welsh Labour can turn its fortunes around over the next six weeks ahead of Senedd elections

The First Minister urged voters not to treat the 7 May contest as a vote on the UK Government at Westminster, as she stressed: 'Keir Starmer is not standing in this election'

Your browser does not support iframes.

'I do think we can turn it round, we've got six weeks to go,' Baroness Morgan said.

'(Voters) haven't known what our offer for the future is, and I think the other parties will come under scrutiny for their unrealistic, undeliverable plans, and plans for plans.

'You know, some of them are just saying, we'll work it out when we get there. That's a real, I think, difficulty when it comes for the offer for the future for people.'

At Reform's Wales manifesto launch earlier this month, party leader Nigel Farage suggested the election will be viewed as a referendum on Sir Keir's premiership.

Baroness Morgan has previously sought to distance Welsh Labour from Sir Keir's UK Government.

But she offered her support to the PM in the wake of calls for his resignation from Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar last month.

Baroness Morgan and Sir Keir also presented a united front when the PM visited south Wales last month, stressing the importance of delivering 'side by side'.

On Monday, Lady Morgan said: 'Keir Starmer is not standing in this election.

'And neither is Nigel Farage, and neither is (Green Party leader) Zack Polanski, for that matter.'

Huw Irranca-Davies, Welsh Deputy First Minister, said Mr Farage was using Wales as a 'springboard' ahead of the next general election.

He said: 'Nigel Farage and his friends (are) taking Welsh voters for fools, pretending to offer a different kind of politics.

'But if you scratch the surface, or even if you just look at their candidate list, you'll see the truth  they're nothing more than recycled Tories, pushing, peddling recycled Tory policies.

'They may finally have a Welsh leader, but we know who's pulling the strings, don't we?

'They don't care about Wales, they just want a springboard to get Farage elected and into No10. We must stop them.'

Welsh Labour's manifesto pledges include freezing the Welsh rate of income tax over the next Senedd term, a 4billion investment in the NHS and a guarantee patients will be seen by a primary healthcare professional within 48 hours if they have an urgent problem.

Addressing the crowd gathered in Swansea, Lady Morgan said: 'This election is not about political theatre, it's about something much simpler  it's about the future of Wales.

'You'll hear people say that this election is about change, but change is not a plan, and protest is not leadership.

'This is not a race between slogans, this election is a choice about who is serious enough to lead Wales forward.

'When people look at that choice, they will ask some simple questions: who has the experience to govern? Who has the credibility and record to deliver?

'Do other parties have a costed plan, or just a plan to make a plan?'
In the White House and in federal courtrooms across the country, one burning question has been echoing ever louder through the corridors of power.

Can Donald Trump run for a third term?

The president has openly flirted with the idea of making a comeback, while diehard MAGA fans have already upgraded their crimson caps for 'Trump 2028' versions.

Formidable attorney and Trump insider Alan Dershowitz has said that though still remote, the possibility of their dream becoming a reality is certainly growing.

Dershowitz, 87, who previously defended Mike Tyson, OJ Simpson, and Jeffrey Epstein in court, has penned a comprehensive new book outlining all the routes Trump could take to serve again without breaking the Constitution.

Ahead of publication on Tuesday, Dershowitz revealed to the Daily Mail which of these routes is most likely, while explaining exactly how the current political climate is creating a petri dish for Trump 3.0.

He also named Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Elizabeth Warren, and Chris Murphy as surprising catalysts for a third MAGA movement, since any one of their nominations could prompt Republicans to double down on efforts to re-select Trump.

The Democrats have even accidentally created a blueprint for Trump to reclaim the White House with 'an idea they came up with' 25 years ago in an effort to secure a third term for Bill Clinton, according to Dershowitz.

Donald Trump has openly flirted with the idea of reclaiming the White House in 2028. He is pictured alongside Melania and Ivanka at his presidential inauguration on January 20, 2025

Formidable attorney and Trump insider Alan Dershowitz has revealed the president's most likely route to a third term - and how the Democrats could be inadvertently paving the way

The president has openly flirted with the idea of making a comeback, while diehard MAGA fans have already upgraded their crimson caps for 'Trump 2028' versions

The veteran Harvard Law School professor's book centers on the 22nd Amendment, which intended to impose an eight-year limit on total presidential terms.

Yet, Dershowitz writes, it left a 'gaping hole' allowing for a two-term president to serve again, as long as they are not 'elected' - meaning Trump could still run for another Cabinet position and succeed to the top of the hierarchy.

Dershowitz's book will be published Tuesday

Dershowitz shot down any aspersion that such an interpretation is a violation of the Constitution's intentions.

'The only proof of what the framers intended is what they produced,' he told the Mail.

'And they produced an amendment with a hole bigger than the new wing of the White House that can be used to allow a president to serve a third term.'

Hypothetically, Trump could become the running mate of a close ally like JD Vance or Marco Rubio, who would agree to troll the Democrats by ceding the role to him once elected.

Though Trump brushed off securing a third term like this as 'too cute' in November, he disclosed to NBC around the same time that he is 'not joking' about making a comeback in 2028.

Former White House chief strategist and longtime Trump ally Steve Bannon has even gone as far as asserting that the president 'is going to get a third term'.

'At the appropriate time, well lay out what the plan is - but there is a plan,' Bannon told the Economist in October.

Dershowitz's book, 'Could Trump Constitutionally Serve A Third Term?' outlines exactly what such a plan would entail - and the tectonic plates beneath the current political terrain which could give way to a MAGA-red eruption in 2028.

Dershowitz, 87, is a formidable attorney who previously defended Mike Tyson, OJ Simpson, and Jeffrey Epstein. 'Could Trump Constitutionally Serve A Third Term?' is his 63rd book. Dershowitz is pictured behind Trump in the White House on December 11, 2019

Dershowitz revealed which of the routes for Trump to serve a third term is most likely. He represented Trump at his first impeachment trial and they are shown during one hearing above

Dershowitz, 87, is a formidable attorney who previously defended Mike Tyson, OJ Simpson, and Jeffrey Epstein. He is pictured conferring with OJ during a pretrial hearing in October 1995

Dershowitz has written a book about how Trump could constitutionally serve a third term. He is pictured in glasses and a blue shirt and tie among a sea of legal professionals standing behind Trump as he made a speech during his fraud trial at Manhattan Criminal Court in May 2024

'The scenario that would be the most likely is if the (Iran) war were to continue and really become a major factor in American foreign policy and domestic policy,' Dershowitz told the Mail.

'That, and the Democrats nominating a radical leftist who would want to end the war on terms unfavorable to the country, and there was a movement within the Republican Party to allow President Trump to serve a third term.

'That would be the circumstances under which it would be realistic.'

AOC, Elizabeth Warren, Chris Murphy from Connecticut - these are all extreme radicals that the Republicans would do anything to see defeated,' he added.

'If any of them got nominated, or if even (Illinois Governor) JB Pritzker got nominated, I think there would be a tremendous movement within the Republican Party to say, lets do anything we can to stop them.

'They might think that nominating Vance or Rubio would be enough, but what if the polls show that neither of those could beat the Democrats unless Trump were seen as essentially the person that would serve?

'It wouldnt surprise me if the Republicans would do that.

Is it likely? No. Is it plausible? Yes. Could it be stopped? Not under the current 22nd Amendment.

'The courts wouldnt interfere with it, the Supreme Court couldnt stop it, I'm confident about that. And so, it could happen.'

Dershowitz said legal insiders are quietly preparing for the possibility of Trump 3.0. Legal scholar Laurence Tribe mused the premise in the X post shown above, saying discounting a third Trump term would be 'thinking magically' because the Constitution does allow for it

As diehard MAGA fans upgrade their crimson caps for 'Trump 2028' versions, the president has been openly flirting with the idea of reclaiming the White House

Lindsey Graham brought a 'Trump 2028' hat to an event at the Kennedy Center in August

When asked whether both Trump and Democrat lawyers were preparing for this possibility, he said: 'I know for a fact thats true on both sides.

'I know for a fact that there is thought being given to how to make it happen, and thought being given on how to prevent it from happening.'

Dershowitz added that 'likely' Democrat victories in the upcoming midterm elections will also catalyze efforts being made by Republicans.

He said such an outcome would provide 'a predictive indicator of how the 2028 election will go', spurring efforts to thwart the growing threat of a liberal takeover.

'If the Republicans lose the midterms, Trump will probably shorten his coat-tails and may not have the ability to name a successor, whether it be Vance or Rubio,' he said.

'People on the extreme right want Vance, and the people more in the center want Rubio.

'But there are a lot of people out there who would like to see Trump do it again, only because they think he has a better chance of winning.'

Dershowitz said that efforts made by liberal lawmakers to secure a third term for Bill Clinton in 2000 may also have provided a blueprint for Trump to do the same.

He blasted Democrat insiders who are 'very opposed' to the premise of his book on the grounds that it paves the way for Trump to 'exploit' the 22nd Amendment, yet they previously said that Clinton could serve a third term using the same mechanism.

Dershowitz also explained how radical Democrats like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez could inadvertently become Trump's secret weapon in the 2028 race

The author blasted Democrat insiders who are 'very opposed' to the premise of his book on the grounds that it paves the way for Trump to exploit the 22nd Amendment, yet previously said that former president Bill Clinton could serve a third term using the same mechanism

Dershowitz said that unsuccessful efforts to secure a third term for Bill Clinton in 2000 may also have provided a blueprint for Trump to do the same. The Clintons are pictured in that year

'They were all in favor of Clinton doing it,' Dershowitz said. 'This is not a new idea, this is an idea the Democrats came up with in 2000.

'Of course, they ended up losing the election in 2000 - a very contested election to be sure - but I think some of them regret that efforts werent made to give Clinton a third term, instead of giving Bush two terms.'

Dershowitz, a self-described 'life-long Democrat' who voted for every blue candidate since JFK until recent years, said he does not consider using the 22nd Amendment to serve a third term a misuse of the Constitution.

'My personal preference would be for a president not to get a third term, but I dont allow my personal preference to in any way influence my constitutional analysis,' he told the Mail.

His book outlines how Trump could take up the Vice Presidency as the running mate of a close ally like JD Vance or Marco Rubio, who would agree to troll the Democrats by ceding the role to him once elected.

He could also become Vice President via appointment using the 25th Amendment, then succeed to the presidency in the same way.

'The vice president is a bit like a childs godparent,' Dershowitz wrote. 'The role is mostly ceremonial - until it suddenly isnt.'

Dershowitz's book outlines how Trump could take up the Vice Presidency as the running mate of a close ally like JD Vance or Marco Rubio, who would then agree to troll the Democrats by ceding the role to him once elected. (Pictured: Vance and Rubio in the Oval Office in March)

Dershowitz is pictured defending Trump during his impeachment trial in January 2020

The same could be done with the role of Speaker of the House, which is third in line under the Presidential Succession Act, and would involve both the president and vice president ceding their roles.

Dershowitz notes that this almost happened in 1974, when Richard Nixon and his vice president Spiro Agnew resigned amid the Watergate scandal.

The resulting power vacuum would have been filled by the Speaker, if Congressman Gerald Ford had not rapidly become vice president during the interim between the resignations.

Trump's name has also been floated for Speaker by allies before, after a collection of House conservatives succeeded in toppling House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in October 2023.

Another, less likely, route would be in the event of an Electoral College deadlock, Trump could be chosen as the next president by the House of Representatives, following a path carved by Thomas Jefferson when he became president in 1801.

Trump 'could secure the third term if there is no majority of electors for any candidate, then the House of Representatives must "choose" rather than "elect" the president from the top three,' Dershowitz wrote.

The longtime lawyer, who has written 63 books over the course of his decades-long career, said his latest publication is not intended to support the idea of Trump 3.0.

Dershowitz said it was written 'in the spirit of non-partisanship and objectivity, as a teacher.

'Im proud to have written it,' he told the Mail.

'I dont think its going to influence necessarily whos the next president of the United States, but I think its going to influence how people think about it, and thats my job.'

WHAT DOES THE 22ND AMENDMENT SAY? The Amendment reads: 'No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of the President more than once. 'But this Article shall not apply to any person holding the office of President when this Article was proposed by the Congress, and shall not prevent any person who may be holding the office of President, or acting as President, during the term within which this Article becomes operative from holding the office of President or acting as President during the remainder of such term.'
Three women were pulled from a Frontier Airlines flight after refusing to pay for extra baggage and storming onto the plane, police said.

Nafisa Dockery, 30, Dionjana Cochran, 21, and Davana Cochran, 26, were all arrested inside Miami International Airport on Sunday evening.

According to the Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office, the three were attempting to fly back to Philadelphia when they refused to pay for two extra carry-on bags.

An arrest report seen by the Daily Mail said that the three were asked to step out of line to pay for the luggage when a verbal spat broke out.

They were then told by an airline employee that they would be removed from the flight if they didn't pay.

It is claimed that Dockery then told the others: 'We don't have to listen, let's just go', with the three rushing the gate and then boarding the flight through a restricted area.

Deputies arrived on the scene and had to empty out the plane and haul them from it after they refused to leave.

Dockery, an aspiring actress, is seen here being led away by officers after the incident on Sunday

According to police the flight was delayed for an hour due to the arrests of the three, Davana is seen here

Dionjana Cochran is seen here being led away in handcuffs from the departure gate by an officer

Nafisa Dockery, left, Davana Cochran, center, and Davana Cochran, right, were all arrested inside Miami International Airport on Sunday night

Footage has since emerged on social media showing the three being escorted away by officers with Cochran telling one bystander: 'I will beat you the f*** out'.

Other airline passengers can be heard cheering as they are all carried away in cuffs by officers.

The arrest report alleged that as she was being led away Dockery also spat on a person.

Even after being taken from the aircraft, officers also noted that they still had to struggle with all three to put them in cuffs, the report said.

The three were all charged with trespassing after a warning and resisting an officer. Dockery also faces another charge of battery.

According to police the flight was delayed for an hour due to the arrests of the three, they were all booked into Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center.

Dockery's Instagram page indicates that she is an aspiring actress, on Sunday afternoon she shared videos of herself downing shots on Miami Beach.

The Daily Mail contacted Frontier for comment.
Footage shows a thief sneakily swapping his bag with another containing a 1,700 laptop inside a busy City of London pub.

Mohamed Hade, 32, sat alone next to a group of people enjoying an evening drink in the venue on Farrington Street before substituting the bags under the table.

The Algerian targeted the venue at 8.30pm on Thursday March 19, when it was packed with boozy City workers.

Afterwards, he took the satchel containing the laptop and walked out onto the street.

But there his luck ran out, with plain-clothed officers spotting him leaving the pub with a different bag to the one he went in with.

As Hade headed towards New Bridge Street in the direction of another bar, officers jumped in and arrested him for theft.

The victim was about to report the theft to the police when officers turned up with his recovered belongings at the pub and they were returned to him.

Mohamed Hade, 32, sat alone next to a group of people enjoying an evening drink in the venue on Farrington Street before swapping the bags (circled) under the table

The Algerian was sentenced to three months in prison

Sergeant James Wood, of the Proactive Acquisitive Crime Team at the City of London Police, said: 'Opportunistic crimes such as bag and phone thefts can severely impact victims.

'The Proactive Acquisitive Crime Team's expertise in spotting criminals preying on people out in the City have resulted in a number of arrests and prosecutions.

'We will continue to disrupt and target these criminals with our plain-clothed operations, intelligence work and the use of our extensive CCTV network across the City, which also assists us in identifying offenders.

'People shouldn't worry about having their bags stolen while out, but professional criminals will seize any opportunity to take your belongings. We urge vigilance and to report anything suspicious to the police.'

Hade, of Brent, north London, pleaded guilty at Central London Magistrates' Court to one count of theft from the person and was sentenced to three months in prison.

Thefts of luxury items are often carried out by organised criminal groups, with Algerian nationals featuring prominently among suspects ending up in court.

Data compiled by the Met and Apple suggests 28 per cent of phones stolen in Britain end up in Algeria, where they are often sold on in black market bazaars.

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Robbers - some of whom fly in specifically for crime sprees - typically target wealthy Londoners and visitors in high-end areas of the capital, with pubs a popular hunting ground.

Dr Simon Harding, of the National Centre for Gang Research, explained that sophisticated gangs target City workers wearing certain items of clothing and sometimes even imitate their style to blend in.

He said: 'They will be able to assess and scrutinise somebody within seconds. They will know whether they are likely to fight back and whether they will pursue.

'There is definitely a particular way some people present, as being affluent, a little bit nonchalant, carefree, and it presents naivete and ignorance.

'And the people doing this will not look like your average street person, they'll be smart.'

One trio, Adam Zawi, Oussama Fadage, and Aouidj Abderaouf, were jailed for between 36 weeks and a year after being caught on camera swiping rucksacks filled with 4,000 worth of laptops, tablets and headphones.

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A furious judge described the men - who had arrived by small boat from France - as committed criminals who had abused Britain's kindness. Zawi, who claimed to be 21, was staying in a taxpayer-funded hotel at the time of the thefts in July.

Theft operations can be vast in scale, with 1,000 phones recovered last year at a warehouse near Heathrow. Police also arrested a 'mule' who had travelled between London and Algeria more than 200 times in two years.

While gangs stealing UK phones for sale in Algeria are often made up of Algerian nationals, the profits to be made there mean other nationalities are inevitably involved too.
The French military has been hit by another 'StravaLeaks' scandal after the locations and movements of more than 18,000 personnel were shared on the popular running app.

French newspaper Le Monde reported it has been tracking the movements of 18,599 profiles of Strava users actively working at 100 military bases across the world.

Sensitive information has been revealed about locations including the dock of the Ile Longue base in northeastern France, where the nation's nuclear ballistic missile submarines operate.

There, patrol schedules appear to have been revealed thanks to data logged on the popular fitness app, which has a feature that allows users to log the routes of their runs.

Le Monde was also able to track the bodyguards of the leaders of France, America and Russia, whose sporting activities make it possible to track the heads of state and possibly anticipate their movement.

The StravaLeaks have also revealed thousands of French service members who have revealed the activities of their armed forces by publicly logging their exercise routines.

Most recently, a French sailor appears to have accidentally revealed the position of an aircraft carrier after recording a run on deck.

The crew member logged a 4.3-mile workout lasting around 35 minutes as he ran laps aboard the Charles de Gaulle while it sailed towards the eastern Mediterranean on March 13.

The crew member logged a 4.3-mile workout lasting around 35 minutes as he ran laps aboard the Charles de Gaulle while it sailed towards the eastern Mediterranean on March 13. Pictured: Anonymized post showing the race recorded at sea, March 13, 2026

Data from the run was uploaded to a public Strava account, effectively pinpointing the vessel's location in near real time.

Satellite imagery taken shortly afterwards is said to show the distinctive outline of the 262-metre-long warship in the same area.

France's flagship carrier, the Charles de Gaulle, had been deployed to the region by President Emmanuel Macron in the days following US-Israeli strikes in late February, as tensions with Iran escalated.

The nuclear-powered vessel, the only one of its kind outside the US Navy, had initially been taking part in exercises in the North Atlantic before being rerouted.

While the carrier's presence in the region was not secret, Le Monde noted the sailor had effectively disclosed its precise location.

Other shocking instances of confidential information being obtained included the identification of French personnel operating in war zones including Jordan, as part of Operation Chammal that aims to take out the Islamic State in the region.

Le Monde began its reporting in February 2024, regularly revealing secrets about France's military activities.

But despite this scrutiny, it reported that just 7% of the profiles it listed as belonging to members of France's armed forces turned their profiles private in the year after reporting began.

The Daily Mail has contacted France's department of defence for comment.

It comes after Le Point reported that France has deployed four Tiger attack helicopters to the Middle East for counter-drone operations.

The nation has already sent Rafale fighter jets to intercept Iran's Shahed drones.

Despite the ongoing attacks against France's Middle East interests, its defence chief stood by the nation's position that the ongoing war in the region 'is not ours.'

Catherine Vautrin, France's armed forces minister, said on March 27: ' The objective, I repeat, is really to facilitate the diplomatic path, hence the notion of defense. And today, this war is not ours. It is important to stress that.

A French sailor accidently revealed the position of an aircraft carrier after recording a run on the fitness app Strava while jogging on deck (stock image of Charles-de-Gaulle)

'We have not joined this war. We must defend ourselves very concretely, and that is why Frances strategy is to multiply contacts.'

She stressed the importance of taking a diplomatic approach to peace, as well as freeing the Strait of Hormuz.

Vautrin said: 'It is important that everyone understands that when we talk about [the Strait of] Hormuz morning, noon, and night, it is because Hormuz accounts for 20% of global traffic.

'The consequences affect Western countries, but also Japan, India. Many countries are concerned, and it is absolutely essential that we find a solution.'
An asylum seeker who was allegedly part of a gang that raped a lone drunk female on a beach spent part of the evening chatting up another woman, a court heard.

Egyptian-born Ibrahim Alshafe, 25, exchanged messages with the unknown blonde woman on Google Translate at the Horizon nightclub in Brighton on October 4 last year, jurors at Hove Crown Court were told.

Just 90 minutes later, at around 6am, he is said to have helped target a 'visibly intoxicated' female as she was leaving the club.

She was allegedly led down a ramp onto the beach at Brighton and raped by Alshafe and two other asylum seekers - Iranian Abdulla Ahmadi, 26, and Karin Al-Danasurt, 20, from Egypt.

All three men are charged with rape while Al-Danasurt - who is said to have filmed the attack and egged them on - is additionally charged with sharing intimate videos of the attack.

The court heard Alshafe and Ahmadi had arrived in the UK by small boats in June 2025, while Al-Danasurt had arrived by the same method in September 2024.

They were all staying at a Home Office-approved hotel for those either seeking or appealing their asylum and immigration status, jurors were told.

The jury of seven women and five men was told the three asylum seekers had been partying at Horizon on the seafront during the evening in question.

Asylum seeker Ibrahim Alshafe pictured at Brighton Magistrates' Court. He allegedly raped a lone drunk female on a beach after spending part of the evening chatting up another woman

Karin Al-Danasurt pictured outside court. He allegedly filmed the attack and egged them on and is additionally charged with sharing intimate videos of the attack

They spent the night dancing with several woman before Alshafe was captured on CCTV speaking to an unknown blonde female.

As she could not speak Arabic and he could not speak English, the pair communicated via the Google Translate app.

In a series of texts she asked him where he was from and told him he was welcome in the UK but questioned his motive for coming to the country.

She asked him what his 'goal' was for the future and how he saw his life panning out in Britain.

Reading from the message, Hanna Llewellyn-Water, prosecuting, said the woman asked: 'Is your only goal here to marry a British woman?'

He replied: 'I am in this country. I will build my future, meet a woman, get married, have children have and become a citizen.'

She told him she is not looking to get married and that she would like to be his friend.

Alshafe allegedly replied he wants to be her friend as well and wanted to dance with her.

The court heard she replied: 'I don't believe you just want to be friends because you are touching my breasts.'

He told her to dance with him so they can warm up and she questioned what he meant by 'warm up'.

Alshafe exchanged messages with the unknown blonde woman on Google Translate at the Horizon nightclub in Brighton, pictured, on October 4 last year

Just 90 minutes later at around 6am he allegedly helped target a 'visibly intoxicated' female as she was leaving the club before raping her with two others on the beach, pictured

The reveller told him she was bisexual and was in love with another woman.

She claimed she liked him and told him he was 'good looking' but said she only wanted to be friends with him.

Alshafe then told the woman: 'I love you. I want to give you a kiss and you don't want to. I want to spend a happy night with you.'

She then said: 'I'm going to leave. It's been really nice. Please don't judge me for the way I am.'

Hove Crown Court heard the three asylum seekers then targeted the lone drunk woman in a 'cynical, predatory and callous' attack.

After the Horizon nightclub closed at 5am the three asylum seekers left the club and CCTV played to the jury allegedly showed them on the street outside the club.

A 'visibly intoxicated' woman, in her 30s, also left the club and went to a nearby Burger King before she was allegedly seen staggering along the seafront by the three men.

The court heard they got into conversation with her but instead of offering to help they are said to have led her down to the pebble beach.

They found a secluded spot behind the Beach Patrol hut and there they are alleged to have gang raped her while the incident was filmed by Al-Danasurt.

The three men deny all the charges.

Earlier the court heard Ahmadi disappeared from the Home Office-run hotel in Sussex the day after the alleged gang rape.

Hanna Llwellyn-Waters, prosecuting, said Ahmadi left the hotel on October 5 in an 'unapproved move'.

She said: 'He was marked as absconding after self-departing.'

Attempts made by asylum accommodation teams failed and he did not return to the hotel. He was arrested on October 12 in Crewe.
The co-owner of a popular chain of California Bay Area coffee shops vanished without a trace, sparking a large scale search.

Amy Hillyard, 52, was last seen near her home in the Cleveland Heights area of Oakland last Wednesday and has not been heard from since.

The mother-of-two, who co-owns Farley's Coffee with her husband Chris, is at risk due to an undisclosed medical condition, Oakland Police said.

A neighbor spoke with KTVU, and said they saw Hillyard leave her home with the family dog on the Wednesday that she vanished.

Her husband then reached out to the neighbor asking if they had seen Amy as she had left her cell phone at home.

On Sunday night over 100 friends and family members who have been hunting for Hillyard gathered for a vigil near where she disappeared.

Footage captured by various news outlets showed loved ones exchanging hugs and wiping tears as they held candles.

Hillyard, 52, was last seen near her home in the Cleveland Heights area of Oakland last Wednesday

According to a neighbor who spoke with KTVU, Hillyard was seen walking her dog before she disappeared, the street she was last spotted on is seen here

Selena Khaira, a family friend, told NBC: 'Shes the kind of person that collects people, that brings people together when you have a problem.

'Which is why its so important for us tonight to come together and help her family in a similar way that theyve always helped us.'

Family friend Tom Green spoke on behalf of the family and described Hillyard as a 'staple in this community'.

He added: 'She literally feeds the community, shes fed citizens of Oakland and San Francisco on both sides of the bay through her coffee shop.

'We want the community to support her tonight and show her the kind of love we all feel for her, and hope she comes home.'

In a post to social media, Hillyard's sister in law Darby posted: 'Please keep an eye out for my sister-in-law, her family and friends miss her dearly.

'Please message me directly, if you'd like/able to volunteer in the search for her. Thank you and one love!'

As well as the coffee stores, Hillyard also runs her own consulting practice and has worked with companies including Apple and Gap, her website said.

She is also the board president of the Piedmont East Bay Children's Choir, which said in a statement: 'This is incredibly difficult news for our close community.

Join the discussion What more can communities and authorities do when a beloved local goes missing without a trace?

Hillyard is seen here alongside her husband Chris, the two own Farley's Coffee

On Sunday night over 100 friends and family members who have been hunting for Hillyard gathered for a vigil near where she disappeared

'Amy is such an important part of our organization, and our hearts are with her and her loved ones as we hope for her safe return.'

In a statement, Farley's said: 'Our hearts go out to Amy and her family and friends during this difficult time.

'She has been a passionate and active member of the Oakland community for 20+ years. We hope that she returns safely and we appreciate any information.'

Oakland Police Department said she was last seen wearing a white t-shirt, blue jeans and white sneakers with a black stripe.

Anyone with information regarding her whereabouts are urged to contact the department's Missing Persons Unit on 510-238-3641.
Chloe Khan has revealed that a gang tried to steal her Pomeranian dog, Dior, from her while taking the Tube.

The reality TV star, who made millions from OnlyFans, took to TikTok to share the terrifying mugging attempt, saying she thought she would 'get stabbed'.

The X Factor star had taken the train from Manchester to London but was getting the Tube home for her final stretch when a gang of thugs began grabbing at her pet.

She anticipated 'something weird was gonna happen' so was holding on tight to her Louis Vuitton bags and held her beloved Dior in her arms.

Although they looked like they were about to step off at Oxford Circus, the threatening group ran over to Ms Khan and began tugging at the pup.

While she held tight and screamed 'please help me', they began undoing her bracelets until other brave passengers stepped in and defended Ms Khan, chasing the thugs off from the carriage.

Ms Khan said: 'I have just had the most terrifying experience on the London Underground ever...

'These guys got on when I got on, started speaking to each other in a foreign language really loud and they kept trying to get Dior's attention and touching her.

'When I looked at them I thought they were Egyptian but with the language they were speaking I feel like it was something else, maybe even Romanian or something, I don't knowbut they looked so scary.

Chloe Khan told on TikTok that a gang tried to steal her Pomeranian dog, Dior, from her while taking the Tube

She called her beloved Pomeranian Dior her 'abosolute world'

'I was trying to turn away from them even though they were sitting right opposite me.

'I've got her [the dog] in my arms, my LV case and LV bag and stuff because I've been travelling. I clung onto them because I felt like something weird was gonna happen.

'I felt like I was gonna get stabbed or something weird was gonna happen...

'We were at Oxford Circus, they [the gang] got up like they was gonna get off, and they ran over to me and just started grabbing at me. I was clinging onto Dior  I thought they was trying to steal Dior.

'That's my absolute world and as I was clinging onto her they were undoing my bracelets.

'Everyone on the carriage I am so, so grateful.. there was a couple of girls, a guy and a couple of other people who got up and defended me and chased the guys off the underground.

'I'm just so thankful to get me back safely.'

She said a friend thought they may have been playing with the dog to distract her while they then tried to nick her bracelets which would have been better, Ms Khan said, as she 'would die for that dog'.

The British Transport police shared on Tuesday that 'British Transport Police (BTP) officers were contacted today (31 March) following an attempted robbery on a train at Oxford Circus Underground Station on Friday 31 March.'

They added: 'Enquiries are ongoing. Anyone who has information that could help police should text BTP on 61016, using the reference 289 of 31 March. Information can be given anonymously to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.'

The X Factor star is now worth an estimated 12million thanks to a successful OnlyFans career and turning to AI to rake in even more cash, recently claiming to have made a staggering 200,000 in just 24 hours thanks to her AI clone.

Ms Khan first hit the spotlight on the ITV singing show X Factor in 2010, where she made it to bootcamp but missed out on the live shows.

It is not the first time Ms Khan has been a victim to theft in the capital.

In 2021, she was robbed of over 80,000 worth of jewellery, designer bags and shoes after her London accommodation was ransacked.

The former X Factor contestant had been a victim of theft in 2021, when she had valuables totalling 8,000 taken

The model was left heartbroken after thieves swiped her Audemars Piguet diamond-encrusted watch, costing upwards of 25,000, a white gold diamond Cartier bangle (40,000), and a Chanel handbag (9,600), amongst a slew of other items.

Re-laying the crime to her followers, Chloe told fans on Instagram: 'On Sunday 5 December, I was robbed in London...They have stolen everything, literally everything.'

Chloe is known for her expensive taste and regularly posts snaps of herself decked out in designer gear to social media.

Optimistic of the return of her possessions, the star shared a full list of the stolen items to Instagram.

The star also revealed her new purchases: Louboutin sandals (945), Louboutin bag (850), Louboutin boots (1,450) were gone as she wrote: 'My whole shopping was stolen too.'
Mattamy Homes is North America's largest family-owned homebuilder, with a long-standing focus on customer experience, architectural character and included features that support the way people live. This emphasis will come to life in Pasadena Ridge, where the company will offer 154 single-family homes with 2-5 bedrooms, 2-4 baths, and 2-3-car garages within 1,601 to 3,790 square feet, giving buyers the ability to choose a home that fits their lifestyle. Prices start from $349,990, with both early move-in homes and ready-to-build options available to personalize. Four decorated model homes, the Brookstone, Glades, Myrtle and Redbud, are planned to open this summer.

"Our team is thrilled about what Pasadena Ridge will offer families looking for a fresh start or a new chapter in this great Pasco County location," said Bob Meyn, President of Mattamy's Tampa Division. "This community brings together the things homebuyers value most  an accessible location, great amenities and a diverse collection of well-designed homes that elevate the way they want to live. We are excited to bring the Mattamy Homes experience to Pasadena Ridge and look forward to welcoming homeowners to a place they will make lasting memories."

Residents of the Pasadena Ridge community will enjoy a wide range of amenities that are under construction, including a clubhouse with a fitness center, outdoor kitchen, gathering and event areas, resort-style pool, pickleball courts, food truck lawn event green, an adventure playground and dog parks. Pasadena Ridge is also situated next to a new Pasco County planned public Super Park with more than 300 acres of recreation opportunities and future bike trails and recreation opportunities.

Pasadena Ridge is located in the Pasadena Hills area of Zephyrhills, known for unique rolling hills and topography, just off Handcart Road, providing quick connections to I-75, SR-52, SR-54 and US-301. Homebuyers will be close to popular Wesley Chapel destinations.

Community, floorplans and lifestyle highlights can be previewed at mattamyhomes.com/PasadenaRidge, where interested parties can request more information and receive updates.

About Mattamy Homes

Mattamy Homes is the largest privately owned homebuilder in North America, with more than 47 years of history across the United States and Canada. Every year, Mattamy helps more than 8,000 families realize their dream of homeownership. In the United States, the company is represented in 11 markets  Dallas, Charlotte, Raleigh, Phoenix, Tucson, Jacksonville, Orlando (where its US head office is located), Tampa, Sarasota, Naples and Southeast Florida  and in Canada, its communities stretch across the Greater Toronto Area, as well as in Ottawa, Calgary and Edmonton. Visit www.mattamyhomes.com for more information.

SOURCE Mattamy Homes Limited
Police will no longer waste time investigating petty arguments and online squabbles in a victory for freedom of speech.

Campaigners have welcomed the decision to scrap non-crime hate incidents (NCHI), which have been increasingly used in disputes involving offensive language.

Forces said the current system is 'not fit for purpose', with new 'common sense' rules freeing up officers to investigate more serious crimes, while ensuring reports from the public which may lead to genuine harm 'get the right response'.

The shake-up will also rule out a repeat of farcical scenes when grandmother Helen Jones was spoken to at her home by police after she criticised Labour politicians online, despite officers admitting she had not committed a crime, following a Mail on Sunday investigation.

Mrs Jones last night told the Daily Mail: 'I'm very pleased - this (change) makes complete sense.

'The whole experience was awful for me, I was never charged with anything and the police even told me there was no crime committed, it was just someone being spiteful.'

Announcing the plans today, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said: 'Under these reforms, forces will no longer be policing perfectly legal tweets.

'Instead, they will be doing what they do best: patrolling our streets, catching criminals, and keeping communities safe.'

Doorcam footage of the police visiting Helen Jones's house following a complaint about her social media post

A shocked Mrs Jones rushed home fearing something tragic had happened to a loved one. She told police had received a complaint about her recent social media posts

Mrs Jones (pictured) welcomed the decision to abolish non-crime hate incidents

It follows a review into NCHIs by the College of Policing and the National Police Chiefs' Council, which said a new approach was needed 'to keep individuals and communities safe while making clear that lawful free speech is not a police matter'.

It has made a series of recommendations, including a 'triage' system of experienced officers to filter out non-crimes, and end police involvement in lawful freedom of speech.

Forces will use a tighter definition of what is deemed an 'incident', focusing on calls relating to the prevention and detection of crime, protecting life and property, and maintaining public order.

It means fewer officers will be required to attend lesser matters.

And non-crime incidents would no longer be recorded on crime systems, meaning they will not be declared as part of checks in job applications.

Police forces have been ridiculed for getting involved in a series of NCHIs in recent years.

This includes the case of newspaper columnist Allison Pearson, who was visited by police at her home on Remembrance Sunday in 2024 over what the force described as 'an alleged offence of inciting racial hatred, linked to a post on social media'.

Feminist writer and campaigner Julie Bindel was also visited at home in 2019 after someone identifying as transgender said they were offended by one of her online comments.

Father Ted creator Graham Linehan was arrested by armed police for his online comments about transgender activists

And Father Ted creator Graham Linehan was arrested by armed police at Heathrow in September last year over online comments about transgender activists. The Met subsequently said it would no longer investigate NCHIs.

The report said in recent years 'there have been numerous examples where the public have felt the police response to hate or hostility has been disproportionate'.

It added: 'In today's polarised and highly connected world, police have increasingly found themselves drawn into policing the online space and social media debates.

'The boundaries between what is legitimate free speech, even where it is offensive, and what requires police intervention are not always clear or absolute. They depend on context, intent and impact.'

Assistant Chief Constable Tom Harding, director at the College of Police, said: 'Today we are setting out a fundamentally different way of handling reports so that officers can focus efforts on their core duties of preventing crime and protecting communities, while making clear that lawful free speech is not a police matter.'

He added: 'We need trust and confidence from our communities, both those that are concerned about freedom of expression and those who are concerned that we won't deal with hatred robustly.

'There has to be a policing purpose for us to record anything when someone calls us.'

Lord Young of Acton this month described NCHIs as having had 'a chilling effect on free speech' and added: 'It sounds like we have finally seen the back of NCHIs.'

Columnist Allison Pearson was also visited by police over her Twitter content

Free speech campaigner Lord Young of Acton has long called for NCHIs to be ditched

The current NCHI Code of Practice which informs how forces record and investigate such crimes will be revoked by the Home Office through the Crime and Policing Bill, with the new approach expected to be in force by early next year.

Under the new measures, all reports to police deemed to be motivated by hate or hostility that meet the new incident threshold will be recorded as antisocial behaviour with a 'prejudice qualifier' added.

But Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: 'This is simply a rebrand of non-crime hate incidents with a more restrictive triage process.

'Reports are still being logged, personal data still recorded, and disclosure rules are unchanged.

'Officers and staff will still be tied up monitoring incidents that do not meet the criminal threshold, at a cost in time and resources.

'People want the police focused on catching criminals and keeping streets safe. Conservatives have been consistently clear - the police should get back to basics and non-crime hate incidents should be scrapped to free up police time.'

NCHIs were introduced in 2014 by the College of Policing, and saw a 400% increase in police recorded hate crimes in the decade from 2012, based on analysis of force figures.

Former police officer Harry Miller, who set up the free speech pressure group Fair Cop, said he was 'delighted NCHIs are going', and described the policy as 'one of the most useless in policing history'.

Mr Miller, who was investigated in 2019 after a stranger reported one of his tweets as 'transphobic' told the Mail: 'Police have persisted with them because they have proven to be a useful tool in shutting down political opinion.

'After a relentless seven-year campaign, Fair Cop is delighted to see the back of them.

'Unfortunately, the ideological brains behind the scheme continues in the unelected, unaccountable quango that is the College of Policing.'
Long-term cannabis use changes the structure of the brain and leaves users demotivated and unable to make decisions, a study suggests.

Cannabis can be legally prescribed in Britain for some medical conditions and is often viewed as low-risk or harmless by recreational users.

But researchers from Fidmag Germanes Hospitalaries Research Foundation in Spain found extended use is linked to thinning in the frontal cortex of the brain.

Thinning in this area, which is involved in high-level planning and executive function, could mean a loss or shrinkage of important brain cells, or fewer connections between those cells.

Leader author Ana Aquino-Servin said the findings mean that regular, heavy users of cannabis may find it hard to be motivated to do complex tasks.

She told The Times: Executive functions are really complex processes and it includes planning, decision making, working memory.

They are processes that we need every day to deal with daily problems.

Maybe they [regular cannabis users] dont have a big struggle to do [tasks], but maybe the brain needs to do more work to do it.

Leader author Ana Aquino-Servin said the findings mean that regular, heavy users of cannabis may find it hard to be motivated to do complex tasks

We can probably find degrees in productivity, also, in doing work tasks.

I think another issue that can be going on here is the relation between [cannabis] use and a decrease of motivation.

Theres some evidence that cannabis users have less motivation, so this can also lead to a reduction of starting tasks.

More research is needed to establish whether these changes are permanent and definitively caused by cannabis or if they would eventually reverse after cannabis use stopped.

Green Party leader Zack Polanski is among those campaigning for the legalisation of cannabis, arguing this would allow for better regulation and revenue from taxation.

But scientists have warned that more research may be needed to understand the long-term effects of the drug use before the substance is further legalised.

The study, presented at the European Congress of Psychiatry in Prague, examined 46 adults who had reported that they had been using cannabis for an average of a decade, and had used it daily for at least five years.

These adults, who had an average age of 31, were given MRI scans, which were compared with an equal number who had used cannabis fewer than ten times over their lifetime.

The analysis revealed the brain was thinner in the right rostral middle frontal cortex in people who had smoked cannabis daily for at least five years.

Previous research has shown that cannabis use can affect the frontal lobe in young adults and teenagers, but this study is one of the first to report structural differences associated with long-term daily use in adults.

Researchers believe the high number of CB1 receptors, which bind to the main psychoactive compound in cannabis to produce a high, in the frontal lobe cortex may explain why this area is more affected by sustained use.

Dr Julian Beezhold, the secretary general of the European Psychiatric Association, said: As cannabis policies and public attitudes evolve, robust imaging studies like this are important for informing public health discussions with objective data.
President Donald Trump spoke candidly on Sunday about the military's construction of a large complex that will be hidden underneath his cherished White House ballroom.

Trump gave reporters on board Air Force One a ballroom update, holding up large cardboard depictions of the latest designs.

'Now the military is building a big complex under the ballroom, which has come up recently because of a stupid lawsuit that was filed,' Trump said.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation has sued to stop Trump's ballroom project arguing the President failed to receive Congressional approval before having crews demolish the White House's East Wing last fall.

'And the ballroom essentially becomes a shed for what's being built ... including from drones and including from any other thing,' the President continued.

One of the arguments the government's lawyers have made in court to keep ballroom construction going was that halting the project could impact national security.

The new complex will replace the Presidential Emergency Operations Center, more commonly referred to as the White House bunker, which dated back to the World War II era.

Democratic President Franklin Roosevelt replaced the original East Wing, constructed during President Teddy Roosevelt's era, with the two-story version to hide the original White House bunker.

President Donald Trump gave new details about the military building a 'big complex' under his White House ballroom when talking to reporters on board Air Force One Sunday night

The White House ballroom construction site can be seen from the Washington Monument on March 10

The lawsuit has allowed more details about the ballroom project to be released to the public than what the White House has shared.

When White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt was asked Monday about Trump's 'massive military complex,' she declined to share any additional details.

'I cannot tell you more about that, actually, as a matter of fact,' she said, laughing.

'However, the military is making some upgrades to their facilities here at the White House and I'm not privy to provide any more details on that,' Leavitt added.

Trump said on board Air Force One that not only would the new facility be drone-proof, but the ballroom would have those capabilities too.

'We have all bulletproof glass. We have drone-proof roof, roofs, ceiling, everything's drone-proof and bulletproof,' Trump said. 'And unfortunately, we're living in an age where that's a good thing.'

The President survived an assassination attempt in July 2024, while campaigning in Butler, Pennsylvania.

The ballroom project will be voted on this Thursday by the National Capital Planning Commission, one of two panels that traditionally must sign off on these types of projects.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation sued the Trump administration after President Donald Trump had the White House's East Wing torn down in October 2025

Workers can be seen working at the future site of the White House ballroom. A large military installation will be hidden under the ballroom once its completed

Vice President Dick Cheney (right) and other Bush administration officials are seen in the Presidential Emergency Operations Center on September 11, 2001

The other group, the Commission of Fine Arts - now filled with Trump allies, including the President's 26-year-old executive assistant - fast-tracked a ballroom approval vote without seeing a final design in February.

The NCPC, which is being led by Trump's White House Staff Secretary Will Scharf, is also filled with the President's appointees.

The group heard from dozens of experts and average Americans during a March meeting, that was held online, with only one individual in the hours of testimony saying positive things about the project.

Others remarked on the size - three times that of the White House residence - and the 'ugly' design.

Trump showed off new design features on Air Force One, including a differently configured staircase on the south end of the ballroom.

The project will likely sail through the NCPC when the vote occurs Thursday, leaving the lawsuit the only hurdle standing in the President's way.

The judge handling the lawsuit, US District Judge Richard Leon, a President George W. Bush appointee, has signaled that the ruling could come as early as this week, the Washington Post reported.

Leon has also said that he expects his decision to be appealed to the Supreme Court, where Trump-appointed justices help make up the 6-3 conservative majority.
Zack Polanski has promised to give teachers a big pay rise, scale back exams and get schools to combat the Far Right  using tax raised from the rich.

The Green Party leader made a raft of promises during a love-in with the National Education Union (NEU) at its annual conference in Brighton on Monday.

Pledging also to abolish Ofsted and overhaul the academies programme, he received more than 10 rounds of applause and as well as a standing ovation at the end.

Bosses at the Left-wing union said they invited him  the only party leader to speak  because polling shows the Greens are now the 'most popular party' among teacher members.

The party said the appearance was part of his pitch to 'replace Labour', kicking off a tour of other trade unions across the country.

Addressing delegates, he said: 'We have a plan to tax the extreme wealth being hoarded in this country.

'We need to make sure that money can flow around the economy to where it's really needed, like our schools.'

The controversial leader, who describes himself as an 'eco-populist', said Labour had failed to lavish enough money on education.

Zack Polanski (pictured) has promised to give teachers a big pay rise, scale back exams and get schools to combat the Far Right  using tax raised from the rich

The Green Party leader made a raft of promises during a love-in with the National Education Union (NEU) at its annual conference in Brighton today

He said it was 'shrinking' the horizons of young people in the UK and schools need a 'serious cash injection' to reverse real-terms cuts since 2010.

Mr Polanski said: 'It breaks my heart to think of the children and young people who in 2026 could have their lives changed by education in the way that I did, but are right now having those doors slammed in their face because governments refuse to find the money.'

He pledged a Green party would give teachers a better pay rise than Labour, which has promised 6.5 per cent over the next three years.

Promising 'proper pay', he said: 'Government after government has lavished praise on teachers, on the value of your work, and then refused to pay you properly.'

Setting out his party's views on education, Mr Polanski said he wants more of a focus on teaching about the 'climate crisis', artificial intelligence and media literacy.

He also suggested schools could be instrumental in counteracting the Far Right, saying children should be 'equipped' to face this 'challenge'.

'Education is at the heart of how we defeat the Far Right,' he added.

He also called for the abolition of Ofsted, which he called 'a toxic, failed institution which is harming teachers and children'.

Promising also to abolish Ofsted and overhaul the academies programme, he received more than 10 rounds of applause and as well as a standing ovation at the end (Mr Polanski is pictured here with NEU General Secretary Daniel Kebede)

And he criticised Labour for presiding over 'endless testing' of pupils, calling for a 'different approach' which recognises learning that 'can't be measured only by standardised testing'.

Painting a Dickensian portrait of modern Britain under Labour, he said the 'cost of living crisis' had affected education.

'I know every day you are seeing children come in tired, hungry, unable to concentrate and unable to learn because they haven't eaten or been able to sleep,' he said.

'Kids missing school because they can't afford the bus fare. It's disgusting. It should disgust us all.'

He said the Greens would tackle this with 'rent controls' and 'bringing water back into public hands'.

His appearance at the conference comes after the union developed a frostier relationship with Labour following the party's election win.

Earlier this week, the NEU accused Labour of 'failing' pupils by underfunding schools.

It represents a contrast to the union's conference in 2019, when then Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn received a standing ovation.

Tonight a Labour spokesman hit back, saying: 'Zack Polanski will say anything to get a headline. Meanwhile Labour is getting on with the job. We've introduced free breakfast clubs, expanded free school meals, and extended government-funded childcare for parents.

'At the same time, we're reforming Ofsted, fixing the RAAC crisis we inherited from the Tories, and have hit teacher recruitment targets across STEM subjects for the first time.

'Nearly half a million kids are also being lifted out of poverty, as we've scrapped the cruel two-child welfare cap. Labour is the only party willing and able to do that.'
The BBC's plans to slash the team behind coverage of state occasions including Remembrance Sunday has been branded 'shortsighted and foolish' by one of its former veteran broadcasters.

The corporation is understood to be drastically reducing staff at the award-winning department which organises coverage of national events such as the Queen's funeral and the D-Day anniversary.

'It's shortsighted and foolish to downgrade a department which produces coverage of such importance,' said the BBC's former royal correspondent Nicholas Witchell.

The veteran journalist has spent his career at the BBC reporting from such state occasions, often providing poignant coverage from the Cenotaph on Remembrance Day.

'BBC events bring great skill and experience to the coverage of live events, their approach is very different at times from the BBC news department.

'But one of the strengths of the BBC that it has two quite separate departments covering major state occasions,' he added.

The Beeb is said to be reducing staff at BBC Studios Events Productions from six permanent members to just one in a bid to cut costs.

The move has led to concerns that coverage of traditional occasions and veterans' anniversaries will suffer, with critics accusing the BBC of prioritising events such as the Glastonbury Festival.

The BBC is understood to be drastically reducing staff at the award-winning department which organises coverage of Remembrance Sunday

BC's former royal correspondent Nicholas Witchell branded the move 'shortsighted and foolish'

Colonel Richard Kemp said: 'The BBC has traditionally been a bulwark of our national remembrance. It is an absolutely core function of their status as the national broadcaster.

'There are plenty of frivolous ways in which our licence fee is spent which are also provided by a multitude of other media channels. Some of them should be cut before coverage of remembrance.'

The former army commander added: 'I can't help thinking the modern-day woke BBC has other priorities than to provide the best possible coverage of events that recognise the supreme sacrifice in defence of our nation.'

Jonny Ball VR, an advocate for veterans, said: 'This is surprising news to the Veterans community, especially given how supportive the BBC is to us at Remembrance time.

'As the co-founder of the UK Afghanistan Veterans Community, I have been interviewed live on Remembrance Sunday and can only comment how compassionate they were with our stories.'

Mr Ball, who now hosts the Veterans In Politics Podcast after 22 years in the armed forces, said it was vital to veterans that their sacrifices were remembered.

'Our own research compiled by M&C Saatchi WS revealed that from across 1,900 UK Veterans of Afghanistan, 92 per cent fear our service and sacrifice will be forgotten.

'Clearly the media has a key part in reminding the public about our largely working age cohort of Veterans, a national asset, and the BBC are an integral part of this storytelling,' he added.

Paul Terry, 101, from Eastbourne, who served in the King's Royal Rifle Corps during the Second World War, said it was important to see the BBC invest in coverage of such events.

'I still make sure I go to an Armistice Day service, and I wear my badge with pride. It's my duty to attend. It's once a year, what are they thinking, cutting things down? It's disgusting.'

'We will never forget. The younger generation is still interested,' he said, adding that it was vital to ensure adequate coverage of the event continued.

A source told the Mail the small but experienced BBC Events team costs 'peanuts' in comparison to the millions the BBC spends every year on sending a 550-strong army of staff to Glastonbury.

The cuts were said to be being 'sneaked through' at a time of turmoil at the BBC leaving just one member of permanent staff to organise coverage of historic events with freelancers being drafted in.

Insiders at Buckingham Palace are also said to be worried about the implications for royal programming if the team is decimated.

'Part of the reason we pay the licence fee is so that people can watch these important national events, particularly when you consider some of the other things that get broadcast.

'These great British events are what we're known for,' royal author Ingrid Seward told the Telegraph.

A spokesperson for the BBC has insisted viewers would not notice any change in their coverage and claimed the move was part of a drive to be more efficient.

'We're proposing some changes that will help us stay strong creatively and continue to deliver a range of high-quality programmes - whilst managing our costs in a challenging and fast-moving market,' they added.
A 15-year-old boy has died after shooting a teacher at his Texas high school, police said.

The teen opened fire on a female teacher at Hill Country College Preparatory High School in Bulverde on Monday morning, the Comal County Sheriff's Office said.

The teacher was taken to a hospital in San Antonio. Her current condition is unknown.

The gunman died from a self-inflicted gunshot sound, according to Comal County spokesperson Cary Zayas.

Officials have not shared any details about the lead up to the shooting, but a sophomore student claimed she heard five 'bangs' and 'yelling' as shots rang out.

The student, who had been walking down the hallway with her friend, told KSAT that her debate teacher shouted 'get into a room, get into a room' as the lockdown was initiated.

'We all fled into a room and they said, "a teacher got shot and then somebody shot somebody else." We're just unaware of a lot of stuff right now,' she told the outlet.

The high school was placed under lockdown and students were transported to nearby Bulverde Middle School, where they were reunited with their parents.

The FBI has personnel on the scene and is assisting state and local police, a spokesperson from the agency's San Antonio field office said.

A 15-year-old boy has died after shooting a female teacher at Hill Country College Preparatory High School (pictured) in Bulverde on Monday morning

Although police say there is no ongoing threat to the community, first responders are still working the scene

Although police say there is no ongoing threat to the community, law enforcement investigators are still working the scene.

Hill Country College Preparatory will remain on lockdown as they continue their investigation.

The high school went into lockdown after an alarm was activated at 8.34am local time, Principal Julie Wiley said in a message to parents obtained by The New Braunfels Herald-Zeitung.

Sheriff's deputies were dispatched to the school and discovered that the teacher had been shot.

A teenage boy who heard the shooting unfold described the incident as 'sounding like a table slamming down'

'I heard someone scream three seconds after and then "locks, lights, out of sight" sounded and then everyone ran out the back,' he told KSAT.

Wiley sent another message to parents at 9.20am confirming students were in a secure area and the threat had been contained.

She advised that students could be picked up from the middle school by their parents.

'Parents will need the following for Reunification: In order to pick up a student, parents and guardians MUST have a photo ID and be listed in Skyward as eligible to pick up the student. You will only be able to pick up your student,' Wiley wrote.

The public is urged to avoid the area as law enforcement carries out their investigation

The sheriff's office, in a statement, acknowledged the impact the shooting has on the community.

'We know this is incredibly difficult to hear. What we can tell you is this situation is contained, and there is no ongoing threat to students,' the statement said.

'We understand how scary this has been for families and our entire community.'

The public is urged to avoid the area and keep the roads clear for emergency crews.

Hill Country College Preparatory High School (HCCPHS), which is part of the Comal Independent School District, opened in August 2020.

It serves students in grades nine through 12 and offers a 'variety of coursework aligned to college, career and military readiness and a science, technology, engineering, art and math (STEAM) focus,' according to the school website.

The school district promotes the HCCPHS community as a being a place that upholds a 'culture of student inquiry, ownership, collaboration, and academic rigor.'

'We facilitate authentic, quality learning experiences that advance students post-secondary pathways and develop real-world interpersonal expertise,' the school's website stated.

This is a breaking news story. Check back for updates.
Dressed in white suits and trekking over mountain tops the soldiers seem far removed from the Middle East conflict.

The frozen setting appears more akin to Arctic warfare but, in fact, the specialist Israeli troops were deployed on the mountainous Syria-Lebanon border.

Israel's elite snow warriors were seen for the first time last night after a mission to thwart terrorist attempts to seize territory.

The 'Alpinists' used their expertise in rugged landscapes and conducting covert operations in plunging temperatures.

The little-known Special Forces unit crossed on foot through deep snow from Mount Hermon in Syria to the Mount Dov area of southern Lebanon.

The slopes were so steep they could have been mistaken for Hollywood actors approaching the Bavarian Nazi fortress in Where Eagles Dare.

The Alpinists' reconnaissance mission required the specific skills that set their unit apart from the Israeli Defence Forces.

They also donned skis and accelerated their passage through what the IDF described as 'complex mountain terrain'.

Israeli troops ski into southern Lebanon from territory in Syria. The cross-border operation was the first of its kind by the IDF

Israel's elite snow warriors were seen for the first time last night after a mission to thwart terrorist attempts to seize territory

The little-known Special Forces unit crossed on foot through deep snow from Mount Hermon in Syria to the Mount Dov area of southern Lebanon

For weeks, Israeli forces have been engaged in clashes with Iranian-backed Hezbollah guerillas in the area. But the terrorists cannot match the Alpinists' advanced techniques in winter conditions.

Mount Hermon straddles the Syrian-Lebanese border and was seized by the Israelis in December 2024 following the downfall of dictator Bashar al-Assad's regime.

Israel maintains military bases inside Syria, a presence the government in Jerusalem insists is essential to intercept weapons deliveries.

Controversially, Israel is seeking to establish a forward defensive line through southern Lebanon to protect its communities on the other side of the border.

Israel considers Mount Hermon a strategic asset. The peaks have been christened the 'eyes of the country' and are key to protecting the sate from terrorist attacks launched in Syria and Lebanon.

The Alpinist Unit consists of hundreds of reservists specialising in combat and training in harsh winter environments. According to the IDF they use specialist equipment, including snowmobiles, and spend months training for covert deployments.

On Monday, the IDF said: 'The targeted operation was carried out in response to ongoing attempts by terrorist organisations to entrench themselves in the border area.

'Moving through deep snow and in extreme conditions, the specialist mountain commandos conducted a precise sweep from the Hermon ridge to Mount Dov.

'The successful execution of this cross-border manoeuvre underscores the strategic importance of the region and the IDF's determination to deny terrorist organisations any operational foothold.'

The slopes were so steep they could have been mistaken for Hollywood actors approaching the Bavarian Nazi fortress in Where Eagles Dare

They also donned skis and accelerate their passage through what the IDF described as 'complex mountain terrain'

Pictures released by the IDF, some during daylight operations, others at night as seen through optical devices, captured the troops fighting the conditions as much as their enemies.

They were up to their waists in snow as they scaled a steep hill on a mission, described by the IDF, as intended to 'scan the area, collect intelligence and to locate enemy terror infrastructure in the area'.

Mount Hermon stands over 9,000ft tall and provides commanding views of surrounding territory.

The Alpinists are under the command of the IDF's 810th Brigade. When not launching penetrating raids into contested areas, they maintain a defensive posture to protect Israeli civilians.

The raid came as the joint US-Israeli campaign against Iran and its proxies entered its fifth week with no military or diplomatic resolution in sight. With US President Donald Trump expected to sanction ground operations for US troops, an end to the fighting appears far off.

Any US ground incursion onto Iranian soil would expand the war significantly and would likely be accompanied by further Israeli infiltration into Lebanese and Syrian territory, with the reservists of the Alpinist Unit pitted against Hezbollah.
Its getting harder for the SNP to sweep sex scandals under the carpet  it ran out of room long ago.

The latest example is among the most egregious  the sordid saga of Jordan Linden, former leader of North Lanarkshire Council.

Erstwhile rising SNP star Linden was found guilty last week of five sex assaults and of sending sexual communications to several teenagers, one aged 14.

Theres now mounting evidence that Linden was the product of a deeply dysfunctional organisation which prioritised the independence crusade over all else.

The wheesht for indy mantra dictates that its better to shut up about controversy that could damage the cause  about as sick an ideology as you can imagine.

John Swinney is trying to kick the issue into the long grass with an election just a few weeks away, promising a review and issuing an apology to Lindens victims.

Its too little, too late  and now we discover that the First Minister ignored a plea to act on safeguarding in the SNP.

As we reported yesterday, Mr Swinney was last year urged by a group of Lindens former council colleagues to examine the case and take steps to help stop other predators abusing their party positions.

Mr Swinney only announced an inquiry into his party's complaints process the day after Jordan Linden was convicted after trial

But Mr Swinney only announced an inquiry into the SNPs complaints process on Friday, the day after Linden was convicted following a trial at Falkirk Sheriff Court.

With his fingers firmly in his ears, the First Minister wants us all to believe that this is ancient history and its time to put it behind us.

He only apologised to Lindens victims when he was asked for his response while at an independence rally  hardly a proactive attempt to make amends.

Its easy to see why the SNP leadership might be keen to put this disgraceful episode behind them, and not only for electoral reasons. Many of its hierarchs had backed Linden after lining him up to be the SNPs Westminster candidate in Coatbridge  though he later pulled out, declaring he wanted to refocus on being a councillor and his own health and well-being.

In fact, he had been accused of groping a teenager while drunk at a party in Dundee, following the citys Pride parade in 2019.

The then Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf had endorsed Linden as not afraid to roll up his sleeves and get stuff done while Childrens Minister Maree Todd praised his work ethic.

Culture Secretary Angus Robertson, former SNP group leader in the Commons, said Coatbridge needed an energetic, hardworking and talented SNP candidate who will make a first-class MP.

For years, Lindens home turf was mired in cronyism and internal warfare to the extent that calls were made for SNP HQ to get involved.

One North Lanarkshire source told me: It was a swamp  the Linden scandal is the rotten fruit of a rotten tree.

At a national level, you had an old school party machine which didnt scale up when membership rocketed.

Linden was convicted last Thursday at Falkirk Sheriff Court

Former First Minister Humza Yousaf had previously endorsed Linden as someone not afraid to roll up his sleeves and get stuff done

There was a sense of denial  they just didnt want to know about problems like this.

The national secretary of the party at the time of this tribalism was one Patrick Grady, later the SNP chief whip in the Commons.

Grady, who was Glasgow North MP, made unwanted advances on a teenage party worker in a London bar in 2016.

The Mail revealed a leaked recording of a cheerleading session during which Ian Blackford, then SNP leader in the Commons, told the party group that he would encourage them to give as much support as possible to Grady.

It later emerged that Gradys victim had been threatened with disciplinary action by party bosses.

The SNPs deputy leader Keith Brown  a former Justice Secretary  backed Mr Blackford with a line that was heavy on meaningless platitudes: Nobody is saying its the right way to deal with this situation, but its very important lessons are learned.

Of course, lessons werent learned and now the SNP is up to its neck in sleaze just as the nation prepares to go to the polls.

The shockwaves of the Alex Salmond sex scandal continue to reverberate today, nearly two years after his death.

Party veteran Mr Robertson, who once said there had to be a way back for miscreants such as Grady, was tasked with probing claims of perceived inappropriate behaviour by Mr Salmond towards female staff at Edinburgh Airport in 2009.

Leaving no stone unturned, Mr Robertson said he raised it with Mr Salmond, who denied it  and a line was promptly drawn under the whole episode.

Mr Salmond was cleared of a string of sex charges at a trial in 2020 but the evidence painted a picture of a powerful mans appalling behaviour which was allowed to go unchecked for years, because of his stature.

Then there was the Derek Mackay scandal, which showed where the SNPs true priorities lie  not with the victim, but with reputational management.

On the day of the Scottish Budget in 2020  as families anxiously awaited news of the latest SNP raid on their finances  Finance Secretary Mr Mackay was forced to quit after bombarding a 16-year-old boy with 270 online messages, including one where he called him cute and another where he asked him to dinner.

Mr Mackay received a 53,725 resettlement grant, even though he had not set foot in parliament for the last 15 months of his ten years as an MSP.

At the time, one of Nicola Sturgeons spin chiefs claimed publishing the story would be an intrusion into Mr Mackays private life in a failed attempt to shut it down.

In another case, Mark McDonald, who quit in 2017 as Childrens Minister, was suspended by the SNP then quit Holyrood after he was found to have sent lewd messages to women.

Despite losing his government job and the SNP whip, he continued to sit as an independent member in Holyrood, working in its basement offices for a time while bosses worked out where to move him.

Former SNP MP Patrick Grady was found to have made unwanted advances towards a teenage SNP staff member

So there are many skeletons rattling around in the SNPs cupboard but no one in a position of power has faced the consequences for the misjudgments, or the abortive cover-ups.

Its also worth remembering that over the past decade the SNP government has handed nearly 4million to LGBT Youth Scotland, a hugely controversial gay and transgender rights group once led by one of the UKs worst paedophiles.

For a progressive, 21st century party, the SNP has an abysmal record on defending victims rights  particularly the victims of some of its own senior figures.

The Linden scandal lays bare once again the inner workings of a party which only cares about ripping Scotland out of the UK  and is prepared to turn a blind eye to anything which might threaten that eternal objective.
Kemi Badenoch has warned there will be another independence referendum if the SNP wins a majority  because Sir Keir Starmer is too weak to stop it.

The Conservative leader yesterday said Scotland is in danger of being dragged into another divisive campaign as the SNPs continues its relentless bid to break up Britain unless John Swinney is denied a majority in Mays Holyrood elections.

She claimed the Labour Prime Minister would approve another separation vote because he is too weak to stand up to the SNP and is a hostage to the Left of his own party.

She made the comments during a visit to Aberdeen South Harbour, to step up her campaign to protect oil and gas jobs by allowing new North Sea drilling and lifting the punishing windfall tax, while pledging to cut VAT on energy bills to help families with soaring costs.

In an interview with the Mail, she also:

 Claimed Reform UK becoming the largest opposition party is John Swinneys plan as it would help provide a path to independence.

 Dismissed Nigel Farages candidates as a bunch of jokers and said they cant be trusted on protecting the Union.

 Insisted that she will remain leader even if her party goes backwards in the upcoming Scottish, Welsh and English elections.

Tory leader Kemi Badenoch during her visit to the Port of Aberdeen

Mrs Badenoch headed north at the beginning of the first full week of the Holyrood election campaign  and mocked Sir Keir for running away from Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar after he demanded his resignation.

On Mr Swinneys claim that an SNP majority would be a mandate for a referendum, Mrs Badenoch said: What I do know is that Keir Starmer is weak and he is a hostage to the Left wing of his party.

He hasnt even really been up here. I dont think hed be able to withstand any pressure. We can see from the relationship with Anas Sarwar that he is very weak.

I do not believe he would be able to stand up to a strong SNP.

We are very much against another referendum  that question was settled for a generation.

Im worried about Scotland having more divisive politics because of what the SNP is doing.

They cannot fix anything, they cant get Scotland working and thats why they are talking about independence again. That is all they are about, it is a distraction from the things that matter to people in Scotland right now.

Pressed on whether she believed an SNP majority would mean another Indy vote in the next Holyrood term, she said: Yes I do. She added that Reform dont seem to be against independence let alone a referendum and insisted only the Tories are strong enough and firm enough on the issue. Mrs Badenoch was scathing about Reform and warned: These people cannot run anything. They are a populist party. When they see pro-independence people, they tell them they are pro-independence, when they see pro-Union people they tell them they are pro-Union. They are a one-man band. Outside of Nigel Farage, none of the people are credible.

She also claimed that Reform becoming the largest opposition party would boost the SNP and result in less scrutiny for the First Minister than he gets from Scottish Tory leader Russell Findlay.

She said: This is John Swinneys plan, this is his path to independence, that is what he wants.

Mrs Badenoch warned that Prime Minister Keir Starmer's stance on Scottish independence is weak

He would love Reform as the opposition; it makes his life easier and independence more likely.

If you are in government, having unserious people as your opposition is perfect. When he has to face Russell, he is dealing with somebody who is competent. What he would love is a big bunch of jokers. That is what John Swinney wants.

Mrs Badenoch was asked if she would continue to fight on as leader if her party goes backwards in the upcoming elections.

She said: Absolutely. We have a long-term strategy. What Im trying to show is this is a new Conservative Party under new leadership.

Scottish Labour deputy leader Jackie Baillie defended her partys position on the Union and said: We are clear that we oppose a divisive second independence referendum.

SNP campaign director Angus Robertson said: The fact is when the SNP wins a majority, Westminster is forced to listen.
Britain's oldest company has survived the Viking invasion and Luftwaffe bombings but may be killed off by the energy policies of Labour and the SNP, Russell Findlay has warned.

The Scottish Conservative leader warned of the threat to the Port of Aberdeen unless current policies from the UK and Scottish governments change to support the oil and gas industry.

He made the comments after a tour of the firms South Harbour with Kemi Badenoch, who stepped up her campaign to provide more support to the North Sea industry and help families hit with rising costs as a result of the spike in oil prices.

Mr Findlay said: Aberdeen Harbour is the oldest business in Britain, it has been going for almost 900 years.

It survived the Vikings and the Luftwaffe bombing but there is a very real chance it wont survive Ed Miliband and John Swinney.

The Port of Aberdeen was established by King David I in 1136. According to the Guinness Book of Records, it is the oldest existing business in Britain.

Mr Findlay made the comments after a tour of the facility with Ms Badenoch following her demand to get Britain drilling and to save families 200 a year on their energy bills by removing VAT, the carbon tax and wind farm subsidies.

During yesterdays visit, she condemned the First Minister John Swinney for his pledge that he would demand energy powers are devolved on day one if the SNP wins a majority.

Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay warned of the threat to the Port of Aberdeen under the Labour and SNP governments

Ms Badenoch claimed the SNP cannot be trusted with further powers, and said: What would they do with those powers? Just tax, tax, tax more but they would not actually allow drilling oil and gas in the North Sea, they would kill what is left of the oil and gas industry.

We have seen from the SNP that they are just another Left-wing tax-raising party. That is not what the industry needs.

She said she is promising to scrap the windfall tax on oil and gas profits, which is sending business away and damaging investment in the UK.

Ms Badenoch added: We need to make sure we can drill our own oil and gas in the North Sea, have those licences, scrap the windfall tax and also allow the Government to invest elsewhere. We need to do everything we can to get as much revenue as we can at a time when we are seeing supply shocks. The SNP is not even talking about this.

Our oil and gas industry is an industrial jewel and we should be supporting it.

Ms Badenoch also claimed Labour policy on oil and gas is completely crazy.

During a visit to the St Fergus gas terminal in Peterhead yesterday, Mr Swinney said: I want to begin the journey to independence on day one of the new term with the immediate transfer of powers over our energy.

A Port of Aberdeen spokesman said: We started the year with a renewed focus on diversifying our business following an accelerated decline in oil and gas activity, driven by policy and not geology.

For Port of Aberdeen, diversification means consolidating oil and gas activity and pursuing opportunities such as jack-up rigs, attracting new cruise lines, and supporting a size, scale and variety of cargo activity not seen before.

Offshore wind at scale remains frustratingly out of reach.

We need more Scottish project progressing at pace, with urgent action required to accelerate planning and consenting, and reduce transmission costs.

While headwinds are continuing into 2026, we will continue to show the resilience and adaptability that has served the port well for almost 900 years.
Founders sign a new Shareholders' Agreement, reinforcing their commitment to Natura's future, and agree to transition from the Board of Directors to a new Advisory Board focused on preserving the company's essence

Fabio Barbosa steps down as Chairman upon completing the reorganization of the capital structure and corporate streamlining, and will join the Advisory Board alongside the founders

Alessandro Carlucci is appointed as Chairman of the Board of Directors, which will include five new members

The Company also announces that Advent International has committed to acquiring a minority stake of between 8% and 10% through the purchase of outstanding shares, subject to an average target price

SAO PAULO , March 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Having concluded its capital structure reorganization and corporate streamlining phase, Natura (B3: NATU3) announces changes aimed at accelerating a new and robust cycle of expansion, with a focus on business growth in Latin America  a region where the Company is a leader in Beauty and Personal Care.

To support this new cycle, and in view of the approaching expiration of the Company's current Shareholders' Agreement, Natura announces the signing of a new agreement between its founders and other signatories, for a term of 10 years, maintaining the shareholdings unchanged and reaffirming the founders' commitment to the Company's future.

The Company also presents the Management Proposal to be submitted for approval at the Ordinary and Extraordinary General Shareholders' Meeting, to be held on April 29, which introduces a new composition of the Board of Directors, renewing its governance to balance innovation and institutional memory, in support of the Company's current business moment and the execution of its strategy in this new cycle.

As part of a natural and planned transition, the Company's founders  Luiz Seabra, Guilherme Leal and Pedro Passos  have decided to move from the Board of Directors to a new Advisory Board. In this new body, which holds no decision-making powers, the three founders will continue to safeguard the values, culture, and way of doing business that have always distinguished Natura.

After leading the Company's successful corporate streamlining, Fabio Barbosa will step down as Chairman of the Board. Given his strong alignment with Natura's business philosophy, he will join the founders on the Advisory Board to be established.

Alessandro Carlucci has been nominated as Chairman. With over two decades of experience as a Natura executive, he brings deep knowledge of the business, having joined the Company's Board last year and previously served as a board member at other major companies.

The changes also include the appointment of five new members. Building on the transition led by the founders and with their full confidence, Pedro Villares, Guilherme Passos and Luiz Guerra will contribute their extensive experience in the business world, while Flavia Almeida e Gabriela Comazzetto will bring key skills to support the execution of the Company's strategy.

The Board of Directors will also retain Duda Kertesz and Joao Paulo Ferreira, Natura's CEO, who have deep knowledge of both the industry and the Company's business model.

Bruno Rocha and Gilberto Mifano, who alongside the other board members were instrumental to the success of the cycle now drawing to a close, are stepping down from the Board of Directors. Gilberto Mifano will remain as Chair of the Audit and Finance Committee.

"Natura has completed a fundamental phase in strengthening its structure. We close this chapter with a more agile, streamlined, and resilient company, and begin a natural transition that has been carefully planned over the course of months. I will continue to work alongside the founders, supporting a new generation of board members and leaders. Together, we will drive a cycle of growth and innovation, always guided by the values that make Natura a unique company," stated Fabio Barbosa, Chairman.

New Investor

Natura also announces that a fund managed by Advent International, one of the largest and most experienced global private equity investors, has committed to acquiring an 8% to 10% equity stake in the Company through the purchase of outstanding shares within up to 6 months, subject to a target average price of BRL 9,75. Upon reaching this minority stake, Advent will be entitled to nominate two additional members to the Board of Directors and to participate in certain advisory committees, contributing its expertise to the Company's business strategy and value creation plan.

Read the open letter from Natura's founders here

About Natura

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Leaked recordings of SNP politicians trying to shut down the Jordan Linden sex scandal have been branded disgraceful.

Scottish Labour said it showed the true nature of the Scottish Nasty Party.

A North Lanarkshire councillor posted the recordings to show how Lindens colleagues tried to protect him days after he quit as council leader in 2022 over misconduct claims.

Councillors can be heard backing Linden, 30, who is said to have support from the party. They also warn against leaks to the press which could add to the crisis.

The Scottish Tories called it manipulation and cover-up.

Linden was put on the sex offenders register last week after being found guilty of ten offences against young men, including five sexual assaults, between 2011 and 2021.

His trial heard victims warned the SNP about him, but complaints were ignored and whistleblowers treated like liars.

John Swinney ordered a review of the SNPs complaints process, but it then emerged he ignored a plea for better safeguarding from Lindens former colleagues six months ago.

Jordan Linden was found guilty of ten offences against young men, including five sexual assaults

Meghan Gallagher, Scottish Tory candidate for Lindens hometown of Bellshill, said: These recordings highlight the scale of manipulation and cover-up the SNP were engaged in.

Swinneys independent review into the SNPs complaints procedure is a cynical PR exercise.

His party will always put their interests before doing the right thing.

One of Lindens key allies during his offending was Tracy Carragher, now leader of the SNP opposition on the council and a Holyrood list candidate for Central Scotland.

She and fellow SNP councillor Fiona Fotheringham were defence witnesses in the trial.

On the leaked recordings, Cllr Carragher is heard saying: Jordans got a lot of support. Hes got support from the party, from his family and from his partner. The party told him not to comment.

Cllr Fotheringham cited the backlash to then SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford for urging colleagues to give as much support as possible to sex pest MP Patrick Grady,

She said: We are supportive of Jordan. We send our love. Weve sent our support.

She then added: I would not expect to read anything like that in the papers.

Cllr Claire Barclay said she was disgusted at leaks, claiming whoever leaked one particular email had put the party at risk and independence at risk, adding: Its evil, absolute evil.

She said: If it doesnt stop, well find out who that person is and the full force of disciplinary [action] will go against them. That is a final warning. The cameras are on us.

Cllr Kirsten Larson said: Based on the information I have, the only thing Jordan Linden is guilty of is being a young person.

Scottish Labour deputy leader Dame Jackie Baillie said: These recordings prove that the Scottish Nasty Party are determined to bully and gaslight victims of sexual abuse to try and desperately preserve their reputation.

Disgraceful remarks can be heard from several SNP councillors in these recordings.

Despite the SNP attempting to deny knowing about Lindens despicable behaviour, they were told explicitly about him in emails sent in 2017 and 2022.

The SNP and Swinney are not fit for office. They are a party that is addicted to cover-up and secrecy.

The four councillors who were taped were approached for comment.

The SNP said it welcomes the verdict against Mr Linden and commends the bravery of the individuals who came forward and shared their experiences with the police.
Petrol stations across the country have been running dry with motorists panic buying in scenes reminiscent of an apocalypse film amid soaring prices and fuel shortage fears.

Experts have called for calm saying only a small number of forecourts are affected and insist there are no major supply issues.

It comes as motoring organisation the RAC said the cost of filling up ahead of this Easter holiday weekend is at least 19 more for diesel and 8 more for petrol compared to last year, with further increases likely.

Over the weekend and yesterday drivers have reported being met with no fuel signs outside supermarket forecourts, including Sainsburys, Asda and Tesco, in Scotlands three major cities.

Labour MP Scott Arthur raised a constituents concerns over the potential impact that panic buying of fuel could have on police, fire and ambulance crews.

The Edinburgh South West MP subsequently wrote on social media: Fuels Industry UK and the Petrol Retailers Association have issued a joint statement affirming that supply flows normally across the United Kingdom, with no justification for changes in usual purchasing patterns.

Petrol station forecourts are filling up with motorists

The Petrol Retailers Association said it was aware of reports circulating about fuel availability at a small number of forecourts for one retailer, adding: There is no need for any change in usual buying habits.

Sainsburys in Garthdee, Aberdeen, and Woodlands, Glasgow, as well as Tesco in Westhill, Aberdeenshire, are just some of the filling stations where motorists have reported petrol stocks running dry.

Sainsburys is understood to be actively monitoring stock levels in all locations and continuing to resupply sites where needed.

Huge queues have also been reported at other forecourts in Aberdeen, Glasgow and Edinburgh as motorists react to the short-term supply issues in some areas following the fuel crisis caused by the war in the Middle East.

One motorist took to social media to voice concern over days of long queues at Edinburghs Costco filling station, which he likened to a scene from some apocalypse film with the line of cars reaching the city bypass.

But despite the ongoing conflict, new research by the RAC shows that while 31 per of drivers are increasingly worried about rising fuel costs most are not changing their plans for this Easter bank holiday weekend.

The motoring body said: Only 6 per cent expect to drive shorter distances and another 6 per cent say they wont drive at all, as a direct result of the higher prices.

RAC mobile servicing and repairs team leader Sean Kimberlin said: The Easter bank holiday getaway is traditionally one of the biggest of the year.

'While a significant number of drivers are concerned about rising fuel prices, a much smaller contingent are actually changing their plans.
He spread terror in Scotland in the late 1960s, seemingly stalking unsuspecting women at a famous dance hall before taking their lives.

But now it has emerged two detectives who led the hunt for Bible John at different times believed the serial killer may have been a myth.

Actor Jonathan Watson, of Only An Excuse and Two Doors Down fame, lived next door to former Detective Superintendent Joe Beattie in the final years of his life and became friendly with him.

Beattie was in charge of the original investigation into the murders of three women following nights out in Glasgow.

Patricia Docker, 25, Jemima McDonald, 31, and Helen Puttock, 29, died in 1968 and 1969 after visiting the Barrowland Ballroom in the city's East End and the killings have never been solved.

Watson said Beattie told him before he died aged 82 in 2000 that he had come to the conclusion that the murders were carried out by at least two different people.

Patricia Docker, 25, was one of the women who died after visiting the Barrowland Ballroom

Jemima McDonald (left), 31, and Helen Puttock (right), 29, were also victims in the case

An artist's impression of Bible John, apparently a serial killer who spread terror in Scotland in the 1960s, seemingly stalking unsuspecting women at a dance hall before taking their lives

A detective involved in the reinvestigaton into the case in the 1990s has also told a new documentary he, too, believes the murders were unconnected and not the work of a serial killer.

The Sky History series called Britain's Murder Map sees Line of Duty actress Vicky McClure and her filmmaker husband Jonny Owen explore the Bible John case.

Watson, 68, told the programme: 'I felt quite privileged to have Joe as a neighbour, he was a great guy.

'When he passed away I went to his funeral and it was mobbed. I was in amongst all these old Glasgow coppers but also there were loads of old Glasgow gangsters who came out as a mark of respect.

'What he did tell me before he passed away was that, with the passage of time and the lack of leads, he had come to the conclusion that it was very likely to be more than one individual that carried out the murders.

'He thought there was a chance there were maybe a couple of people involved.'

Actor Jonathan Watson, of Only An Excuse and Two Doors Down fame, lived next door to a former detective who told him serial killer Bible John may have been a myth

Vicky McClure and her filmmaker husband Jonny Owen explore the Bible John case in the new Sky History series Britain's Murder Map

Former Detective Constable Brian Hughes, who worked on the investigation when it was reopened in 1995, also said he didn't believe the serial killer theory.

He said: 'These three murders were not connected. Not in any matter of means were they connected. It was three individual murders. Bible John is a myth  there is no such person as Bible John.'

Meanwhile, Watson also dismissed claims Beattie had been involved in a cover-up during the case to protect the relative of a colleague.

In 2022 a BBC podcast called 'Bible John: Creation of a Serial Killer' stated that the identity of a man in a taxi in the case was 'covered up' by top police officers.

The murder of Mrs Puttock came after a man shared a cab home with her and quoted religious verse. The podcast claimed there was evidence pointing to the man in the taxi being John Irvine McInnes, the cousin of a senior police officer.

There is no evidence that Mr McInnes actually carried out the murder.

It said his name was known to top officers at the time  including Beattie  but it never appeared in the official records. But Watson said: 'In the short time I knew Joe I can't imagine him doing that.

'There is no way Joe would cover that up.'

The episode of Britain's Murder Map featuring the Bible John case will be shown on Sky History on April 21 at 9pm
A fresh manhunt is underway to track down those who helped Australia's most wanted fugitive evade authorities for seven months.

Double cop-killer Dezi Freeman, 56, spent 216 days on the run before he was shot dead in a hail of bullets following a three-hour standoff with police on Monday.

Victoria Police Special Operations Group found the fugitive hiding in a shipping container on a Thologolong property, near Walwa, on the Victoria-NSW border.

The encampment is located 188km north-east of Porepunkah, where Freeman fatally shot Detective Leading Senior Constable Neal Thompson, 59, and Senior Constable Vadim de Waart-Hottart, 34, on August 26 last year before fleeing.

An investigation has been launched into those who may have helped Freeman remain on the run.

'We don't know at what point he left the Porepunkah area and transferred to where he was found,' Police Commissioner Mike Bush said.

'It's very important for us to understand how long he's (Freeman) been here and who else was complicit (with) getting him here.

'And then caring for him or providing him with food and other things to this point.'

Dezi Freeman spent seven months on the run before he was tracked down and shot dead by police on Monday

Officers from Victoria Police Special Operations Group found the fugitive hiding in a shipping container on a Thologolong property

An investigation has been launched into those who may have helped Dezi Freeman remain on the run for 216 days. Pictured are police at the Thologolong on Monday

A vital part of the investigation will be tracking down and speaking to the owner of the isolated, ramshackle property where Freeman hunkered down for an unknown period.

'We're still trying to locate and speak with that person,' Police Commissioner Bush said.

'We know who that person is, but we're yet to speak with him.'

He was unable to say whether they were known to police.

Freeman was found at Tholo Farm, which boasts on Google that 'Cookers welcome'.

The property is owned by Rick Sutherland, who is currently believed to be on holiday in Tasmania.

Daily Mail does not suggest Mr Sutherland had any involvement with hiding Freeman or helped him to escape from Porepunkah.

His brother Neil Sutherland, who lives nearby, told reporters his brother had been in Tasmania for the last three months.

He insisted his brother was not a sovereign citizen.

Police Commissioner Mike Bush said police are yet to track down the owner of the remote property where double cop killer Dezi Freeman was found

It's unknown how long Dezi Freeman had been hunkering down at the Thologolong property

'He's not like that,' Neil said.

Police Commissioner Bush kept his cards close to his chest when asked whether police had anyone else in their sights for helping Freeman.

'Not at this point ... Quite possibly so in the future, but not at this point,' he said.

He warned anyone who helped Freeman faced a significant stint in jail.

'But that's always a matter for the presiding judge,' Police Commissioner Bush said.

It remains unclear how long Freeman had been at the property.

'That's a really important question and a really important fact that our investigators will work their way through,' Police Commissioner Bush conceded.

'We'll probably have to track back from this point to when he was last seen ... We will work that out, we will track backwards from here to ascertain how long he's been here and who helped him to be here.'

Dezi Freeman shot dead Detective Leading Senior Constable Neal Thompson, 59, and Senior Constable Vadim de Waart-Hottart, 34, on August 26 last year

The owner of the property where Dezi was hiding is believed to be on holiday in Tasmania

Aerial footage of the property shows multiple shipping containers, tarps, and various vehicles scattered across the site, which is a far distance from the road.

Police swarmed the property just after 5.30am on Monday and attempted to negotiate with Freeman for three hours.

Multiple bullets were fired after Freeman came at them with what is believed to be a gun from one of the officers he killed seven months earlier.
A tourist drowned in Arizona's Fossil Creek Wilderness just moments after happily jumping off a waterfall and flashing a thumbs up.

Wei-Jie Lin, 25, jumped into the Fossil Creek Lower Waterfalls just before 12pm on Sunday March 22 before he tragically drowned.

Lin, from Taiwan, had emerged from below the waters after jumping off the 15-foot waterfall, according to a release from the Gila County Sheriff's Office.

He even gave a thumbs up to onlookers. But as he continued swimming, Lin went underneath the waterfall and was pulled under, remaining submerged for at least ten minutes.

Onlookers then pulled him from the water and attempted life-saving measures, but he did not regain consciousness.

The sheriff's office arrived on scene with the Tonto Rim Search and Rescue and the Pine-Strawberry Fire Department to find Lin already deceased.

'As we move into the warmer months, we are seeing an increase in visitors to Fossil Creek, including the Lower Falls and the "toilet bowl" area,' the Tonto Rim Search and Rescue wrote on Facebook.

'While these locations are incredibly beautiful, they can also be very dangerous.'

Wei-Jie Lin, 25, jumped into the Fossil Creek Lower Waterfalls just before 12pm on Sunday March 22 before he tragically drowned

The sheriff's office arrived on scene with the Tonto Rim Search and Rescue, seen above, and the Pine-Strawberry Fire Department to find Lin already deceased

Lin was pulled under after swimming underneath the waterfall and remained submerged for at least ten minutes

The non-profit organization advised visitors that the hike, both in and out, can be 'very strenuous' particularly in the heat and that water conditions can change quickly.

It also said that strong currents, submerged hazards and slippery rock surfaces are a common occurrence.

'We encourage everyone to enjoy the area responsibly, be prepared and understand the risks especially when recreating near or in the water,' it added.

'Sheriff [J Adam] Shepard would like to thank the Tonto Rim Search and Rescue Team, the Pine-Strawberry Fire Department, the Yavapai County Sheriff's Office and the citizens who assisted during the incident,' the sheriff's office said in a release.

'[He] also would like to send his condolences to the family and friends of Wei-Jie Lin.'

The Coconino National Forest is home to the Fossil Creek Lower Waterfalls, where around 20,000 gallons of water runs from springs to the bottom of a 1,600-foot canyon, according to the United States Department of Agriculture's Forest Service.
The bullet that killed conservative commentator Charlie Kirk may not match the rifle used by suspected killer Tyler Robinson, a bombshell new court filing states.

Robinson, 22, is facing capital murder charges and a potential death sentence for Kirk's murder at Utah Valley University on September 10.

But his defense attorneys now argue that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives 'was unable to identify the bullet recovered at autopsy to the rifle allegedly tied to Mr Robinson.'

The defense team may now offer the ATF firearm analyst's testimony as exculpatory evidence, they said in a motion filed on Friday to push the preliminary hearing back at least six months, Fox News reports.

It also notes that DNA reports filed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and ATF will take time for the defense team to analyze because reports indicated that several different DNA samples were found on some items of evidence.

'As these cases indicate, determining the number of contributors to a DNA mixture and determining whether the FBI and the ATF reliably applied validated and correct scientific procedures... is a complicated process which requires the assistance of various types of experts, including forensic biologists, geneticists, system engineers and statisticians, all of whom must review and evaluate' several different categories, the filing states, according to Deseret News.

Robinson's attorneys added that they have received about 20,000 electronic audio files, videos and written documents that prosecutors have presented as evidence in the case.

Attorneys representing accused gunman Tyler Robinson, 22 (pictured in December) claimed the bullet that was used to kill conservative commentator Charlie Kirk did not match the rifle he allegedly used

Kirk, 31, was shot dead as he visited Utah Valley University on September 10

'The defense team has devoted, and will continue to devote, significant resources, to processing discovery, including identifying materials not yet received to inform readiness for the preliminary hearing,' the filing states.

'However, the defense team is realistic and the comprehensive review required to determine what is missing will take hundreds of hours.'

'What is known at present is that Mr Robinson has not yet received the forensic case files and data necessary to investigate, through the use of qualified experts, the scientific reports the state intends to introduce at the preliminary hearing,' the attorneys continued.

Defense attorneys and prosecutors had previously met on March 12.

Based on that meeting, the defense said in the motion it believes prosecutors will introduce 'discrete "buckets" of evidence through three identified law enforcement witnesses at the preliminary hearing.

'This includes a conclusory forensic DNA and ballistic reports authored by the FBI and the ATF, social media data, testimony by law enforcement officers about the crime scene and search locations, and testimony by Mr Robinson's parents and roommate' as well as "a significant amount of hearsay" from "non-testifying peace officers".'

Prosecutors have alleged Robinson drove three hours from his home to the university campus to kill Kirk, 31.

Join the discussion Does this new evidence change your view of the case?

Prosecutors have alleged Robinson drove three hours from his home to the university campus to kill Kirk

He was turned over to police by his father, Matt Robinson (pictured center), after his son allegedly confessed to the crime

Matt said he recognized his own father's rifle in the images released by police amid the manhunt for Kirk's assassin

He was turned over to authorities by his father, Matt, after he recognized his own dad's rifle in the images released by police amid a manhunt for Kirk's assassin.

Tyler's grandfather had given him the rifle as a gift before he used it to kill Kirk, authorities have said.

After then recognizing the 'unique' gun, Matt texted his son, asking him for a picture of the family heirloom, which the suspect could not provide, according to police.

In a text exchange between Tyler Robinson and his roommate and partner, Lance Twiggs, the alleged killer claimed the rifle was the only evidence he left behind, court documents show.

'If I am able to grab my rifle unseen, I will have left no evidence. Going to attempt to retrieve it again, hopefully they have moved on,' he allegedly wrote. 'I havent seen anything about them finding it.'

Robinson also reportedly wrote about planning to get the weapon from his 'drop point,' but that the area was 'locked down.'

'Im wishing I had circled back and grabbed it as soon as I got to my vehicle,' he continued.

'I'm worried what my old man would do if I didnt bring back grandpas rifle idek [I don't even know] if it had a serial number, but it wouldnt trace to me. I worry about prints I had to leave it in a bush where I changed outfits. didnt have the ability or time to bring it with.'

Robinson allegedly claimed in a text message that he left behind the rifle

The text was sent to Robinson's roommate and suspected lover, Lance Twiggs (pictured)

The alleged killer then expressed concern that his father would ask to see the gun.

'I might have to abandon it and hope they dont find prints. how the f*** will I explain losing it to my old man... only thing I left was the rifle wrapped in a towel,' he wrote.

Robinson signed off the fateful text exchange by warning his partner Lance Twiggs to delete their messages, and said his father was trying to call him about his grandfather's rifle.

He ultimately allegedly confessed to committing the murder to his father, who then contacted authorities and secured his son before he could be taken into custody.

Robinson's arrest shocked his friends, who told the Washington Post that even though the accused murderer would 'joke' about Republican politicians 'catching a bullet' during drunk tirades, they saw no indication he was violent.

Those in his inner circle have identified him as having been radicalized by left-wing extremists, but claimed he provided no indication that he would kill Kirk.

'He loved his guns, he loved his beer, he hated the government. That's the impression that I got,' a friend who regularly played card games with Robinson and his housemates told the Post.

The friend claimed that Robinson openly opposed Democrat and Republican politicians and though he was registered to vote, was not affiliated with any party.

Robinson is now due back in court on April 17, when his defense attorneys and prosecutors will debate the issue of allowing cameras and microphones in the courtroom

Kirk's widow, Erika Kirk, has called for transparency in the case

Robinson is now due back in court on April 17, when his defense attorneys and prosecutors will debate the issue of allowing cameras and microphones in the courtroom.

His attorneys have previously noted that pretrial publicity reached as far as the White House, with President Donald Trump saying shortly after Robinson's arrest that he hopes 'he gets the death penalty.'

They are now expected to show evidence at the hearing they believe contains 'harmful and prejudicial media coverage of this case thus far.'

But Kirk's widow, Erika Kirk, has called for full transparency in coverage of the trial, saying: 'We deserve to have cameras in there.'

She also publicly forgave Robinson for allegedly killing her husband.
The family of a 16-year-old girl who was killed in what was said to be a row over a boy have paid tribute to their 'world'.

Chloe Watson Dransfield, from Gomersal, West Yorkshire, died at the weekend after suffering stab wounds 'in her back'.

The teenager, described by her heartbroken family as a 'loyal, honest, family-oriented princess', was found unresponsive in the quiet Austhorpe suburb of Leeds at 6am on Saturday.

Despite the best attempts of neighbours who came to her rescue, she was pronounced dead shortly after being rushed to hospital.

Police have launched a murder investigation and on Monday arrested a fifth person, a 17-year-old boy.

He is in custody, along with two women, both 18, a man, 19, and a boy, 17, who were previously arrested on suspicion of murder. All are from Leeds.

Chloe's family said they are 'utterly devastated' by her death and the 'absence she leaves behind is immeasurable'.

A statement from Chloe's mother and siblings said: 'My beautiful princess Chloe. I cannot put into words how I feel that you are not here with me.

Chloe Watson Dransfield, from Gomersal, West Yorkshire, died on Saturday morning after suffering stab wounds

The teenager was described by her heartbroken family as a 'loyal, honest, family oriented princess'

Officers were called at 5.55am on Saturday to Kennerleigh Avenue, a quiet street of bungalows in the suburb of Austhorpe, Leeds

'You are my life, my world, my best friend and I know that I am yours. I cannot live without you - I need you.

'You are stunning, confident, loyal, honest and my family-oriented princess.

'When you walk into any room it lights up with your bubbly personality. There is so much I could say. There's a big hole in my heart that can never be filled.

'Your two sisters and big brother will always love and miss you to infinity. You will always and forever be in our hearts. Love Mum, Connor, Courtney and Cienna.'

Her father and other family members added: 'Our family is utterly devastated by the loss of Chloe.

'We miss every single thing about her. She was beautiful, full of joy, and had a wonderfully cheeky personality.

'She embraced life with such happiness, and she had her whole future ahead of her.

'Chloe was loved by everyone who knew her, and the absence she leaves behind is immeasurable.

'We will miss her forever, she will never be forgotten. Love you always and forever Dad, Sacha, Reuben, Mia, Amelia, Grandma, Grandad and Uncle Jordan.'

After Chloe's death, one man who tried to assist said she had been 'stabbed in the back'.

And as part of an GoFundMe fundraiser, a woman identifying herself as a cousin said her 'life was taken in a flash over a boy.'

The Daily Mail understands that Chloe had been in a relationship with a 17-year-old boy for around a year-and-a-half.

Friends, however, said that the relationship was 'volatile' and that six weeks ago, she learned that he had been unfaithful to her.

It is understood that the boy was present at the party in the quiet Austhorpe area of the city.

At the family home in Cleckheaton friends and relatives remained in the dark over the exact circumstances of Chloe's death.

Chloe's uncle Christopher Watson said: 'She was a beautiful young lady with her whole life ahead of her. She just got a placement to go to college. She didnt drink or smoke. She had her head screwed on.

'She just met the wrong boy.'

Specialist forensic officers sealed off the road and examined the area for evidence after a murder inquiry was launched

Chloe, who had recently secured a college placement to study hair and beauty, had attended the party at the bungalow.

Shortly before being attacked, she had messaged a friend asking to be picked up.

She was found on the roadside in Kennerleigh Avenue shortly before 6am.

A knife believed to have been used in the attack is understood to have been recovered by detectives.

Tragically, her mother, Addel Watson, is said to have learned of her daughter's death through social media after failing in her attempts to contact her.

A friend said: 'Addel and Chloe were best friends - not just mum and daughter. They were never out of touch.

'Chloe had a tattoo on her wrist saying 'mum'. They loved each other so much.

'She would always text her mum to say 'good morning'. When Addel didn't get a message she was looking everywhere for her.

'She didn't know where she was. Then a friend sent a link to an news article.

'It's just devastating. Nobody is able to comprehend what has happened.'

On Monday, flowers were being laid at the scene in Leeds, some 13 miles from where Chloe lived.

One of the messages said it was to 'my beautiful girl' and 'rest easy my Chloe. Love you forever my crazy girl'.

Looking at the tributes, local resident Gillian Brook said: 'This areas really quiet. This young girls lost her life. Shed got all her life ahead of her.

'My granddaughters the same age.'

'My heart goes out to her family and everybody who knew her. Its devastating.'

'Its just a really quiet area and you dont expect it. Its so, so sad.'

On the fundraising page, her relative said her 'life was sadly taken in tragedy, 16 years young, didn't even make it to her 18th, her whole life was taken in a flash over a boy.'

The relative added: 'I wanted to create a GoFundMe to help give her the best send-off possible.

'She didn't deserve this. She was so full of life. Such an innocent beautiful soul taken too soon.'

Neighbour Wayne Mallows described how he and other residents tried to save the 'lifeless' girl.

The 64-year-old told the Daily Mail he performed CPR on the teenager on the pavement close to his home.

Chloe, 16, was allegedly stabbed to death in a row over a boy

'I was called out of the house about 5.50am on Saturday morning by a dog walker,' he said.

'She said that my neighbour was outside doing CPR on a young girl. He was getting tired.

'I asked if they'd rung an ambulance and then I realised that a phone was on the ground and he had it on loudspeaker. Ambulance control were giving him instructions.

'I took over until the ambulance arrived 10 minutes later. She had been stabbed in the back and there was quite a bit of blood. Her eyes were just blank.'

A man who answered the door at Chloe's mother's home was too upset to comment. Several floral tributes and cards had been left outside.

Mr Mallows said he was struggling to get the image of the girl's face out of his mind.

'When the ambulance arrived around 6am the paramedics got all the kit out and tried to reactive the heart and they were doing chest compressions,' he added.

'They did that for about five minutes and then got her into the ambulance. Police were arriving all the time.

'In my mind I have a picture of her face.

'To me she looked very young, younger than 16.'

He added that she was wearing a 'blouse with a little beige coat over it, and a dress and she had thick socks on'.

Kennerleigh Avenue, in the Austhorpe suburb of the city, where Chloe was found, consists mainly of old folks' bungalows, and is usually very quiet, Mr Mallows said.

'It is mostly elderly people in the bungalows, they come here to retire,' he added.

Extensive tributes to the youngster were posted online on Facebook and TikTok.

One read: 'Rest in eternal peace beautiful girl, u (sic) was loved by many and gunna be missed forever.'

Detective Chief Superintendent Marc Bowes, of West Yorkshire Police, said it was a very 'complex' investigation and appealed for witnesses

Bunches of roses and chrysanthemums left outside Chloe's mother's home, in Cleckheaton

Another wrote: 'Your bubbly personality, your weird laugh, your cringy jokes will forever be unmatched. You always made sure everyone was feeling litty and lovedit's truly devastating.'

Detective Chief Inspector James Entwistle, of West Yorkshire Police, said: Our thoughts remain with Chloe's family at this incredibly difficult time. Our specially-trained officers continue to provide them with support.

'Our investigation into her death is ongoing and five people arrested on suspicion of murder remain in custody, as we continue to establish the full circumstances of this incident.

'I am appealing to anyone with any relevant information to contact us. If you have any mobile phone footage that you believe might be connected to this incident then you can send it to our Major Incident Public Portal at the below link.'
Megyn Kelly slammed Lindsey Graham after the pro-war Republican was spotted with a bubble wand at Disney World.

Kelly was commenting of photos showed the South Carolina senator enjoying an afternoon at the Magic Kingdom as President Trump considers putting boots on the ground in Iran.

'He's frothing at the mouth right now at the thought of thousands of our soldiers going over there,' she exclaimed on her SiriusXM show Monday.

'So what is Lindsey Graham doing to support those troops and the families who are preparing to put their lives on the line? He's at Disney World.'

She mocked Graham for being a 'single man with no wife, children or grandchildren' who was 'walking around with a bubble wand.'

'There he is in the middle of Disney with a bubble wand. I'm sorry, but motherf***er! Look at him,' she said of the 70-year-old.

Kelly kept asking herself 'is this real?' at the sight of Graham - with the Senate currently on recess - could be seen at the happiest place on earth while the US potentially gets further involved in the Middle East.

'He's pushing to take all of our troops and put them in danger so he can get off because he hasn't been getting off, at least not with a woman, that's obvious, for his life. And now he goes to f***ing Disney World while they deploy to Iran, and he's blowing bubbles?'

Megyn Kelly slammed Lindsey Graham after the South Carolina Republican was spotted with a bubble wand at Disney World amid his support of Donald Trump's war in Iran

Kelly, a consistent skeptic of the conflict, found Graham's conduct tacky as Trump considers sending troops on the ground in Iran before the war ends

Graham told TMZ of his Sunday brunch, 'I was invited to a meeting in South Florida on Friday with Trump official Steve Witkoff ... to talk about the possibility of normalization between Saudi Arabia and Israel. I went to Orlando to meet friends after. I'm already back in South Carolina.'

He also added, 'I voted 7 times to fully fund the government. Call a Democrat.'

Kelly was less than impressed with the explanation.

'Who gives a s***? No one cares. You went to Disney. Our troops are about to deploy, and are deploying right now because you pushed our president into it,' she said.

While she reminded her audience that Trump 'has agency' and can make his own choices, she still lays the blame at the longtime South Carolina Senator.

'Let's be honest, Lindsey Graham pushed this more than anyone, and the nerve to then go blow bubbles at Disney while our troops are endangering themselves because he wanted them to. I just find this so heartless, so f***ing tone deaf,' she said.

'I'm just angry about his influence over President Trump, and I'm angry that I have to look at pictures of him with his bubble wand, and I'm angry.'

The Daily Mail has reached out to Senator Graham for comment on Kelly's broadcast.

Graham was seen at Disney World in Orlando, having breakfast with Mickey Mouse amid the ongoing shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security.

Senator Graham told TMZ of his Sunday brunch, 'I was invited to a meeting in South Florida on Friday with Trump official Steve Witkoff ... to talk about the possibility of normalization between Saudi Arabia and Israel . I went to Orlando to meet friends after. I'm already back in South Carolina'

An image of the Senator at the 'Most Magical Place on Earth' made the rounds on X on Sunday after being originally published by TMZ.

Per TMZ, the South Carolina Republican was enjoying Sunday Brunch at Chef Mickey's at the Contemporary Resort at Disney World. The unmarried and childless Graham was reportedly seen with a younger woman and a child.

A second TMZ story published Monday alleges that Graham was at Disney World on Friday evening as well.

X users were quick to point out the hypocrisy of the Senator taking the trip while Federal workers at the Department of Homeland Security have now missed two paychecks, and delays at TSA checkpoints due to a lack of workers are plaguing travelers at airports across the country.

Graham came under fire for claiming earlier this month that when he goes 'back to South Carolina, I'm asking them to send their sons and daughters over to the Middle East' to fight the war with Iran.

Fellow Capitol Hill lawmaker Robert Garcia, a Democrat who represents California, was also snapped enjoying his Spring Break, captured at a Las Vegas Casino on Sunday.

Garcia's spokeswoman told TMZ that the Congressman was visiting his father, who has lived in the area for 15 years.

The Californian himself replied to TMZ's story about him on X, noting, 'actually I dont mind what tmz is doing here. Like the story says my dad has lived in Vegas for 15 years and I had just finished lunch with him. I try to see him whenever I can.'

'And like I said a few days ago, Speaker Mike Johnson should have never sent us all home,' Garcia also noted, throwing jabs at his political opponents.

During a tense hearing on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, Democrat and Republican lawmakers each blamed the opposing party for the shutdown while questioning leaders of TSA, CISA, FEMA, and even the Coast Guard.

Acting TSA administrator Ha Nguyen McNeill warned lawmakers during the hearing that if workers miss another paycheck on Friday, the total amount of missed wages would exceed $1 billion.

The DHS shutdown is now in its sixth week.
Sky News host Laura Jayes has clashed with Industry and Innovation Minister Tim Ayres in a fiery interview over the Federal Government's decision to halve the fuel excise to 26 cents a litre.

Jayes questioned whether the move announced on Monday was a captain's call, telling the minister on Tuesday that 'I cant find an economist that thinks its a good idea'.

She questioned the minister on slashing the fuel excise, which costs $2billion at a time when the federal Budget 'can ill afford it'.

'Australians arent stupid,' she said.

It comes after Energy Minister Chris Bowen admitted that it may take days for prices to go down at the bowser.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced on Monday his government would cut the tax paid on fuel as part of a four-point National Security Fuel Plan to battle price jumps triggered by the ongoing war in the Middle East.

Bowen urged motorists to be patient and not abuse service station staff if the fuel excise isn't passed on in the coming days in the lead up to Easter.

'The fuel in the tank at the service station might have been there for days,' he told Sunrise co-host Nat Barr on Tuesday.

'Theyve already paid the tax on that fuel.

'So if you turn up tomorrow and the price hasnt gone down, its because theyre waiting for new fuel with the lower tax to arrive.

'Its really important we dont yell at the person behind the counter, it will take a little while.'

Institute for Integrated Economic Research-Australia chair John Blackburn later revealed that Aussies should start paying less for petrol within a week.

Follow Daily Mail's live updates on Australia's fuel crisis.
More than half of teachers say pupils in their schools are being influenced by racist and misogynistic extreme social media content, a union survey has found.

A survey of 10,578 teachers by the National Education Union (NEU) found 52 per cent had seen 'racist' behaviour from children, while 56 per cent had seen 'misogyny'.

The union said it was likely the attitudes had come from online influencers and extreme internet forums.

In addition, 43 per cent of teachers said conspiratory theories or misinformation on social media were affecting their pupils.

One in six  16 per cent  of teachers said they had personally received misogynistic abuse from a pupil in the last year.

It comes as the Government is considering measures to protect children under 16 online, which could include an Australia-style social media ban or measures like time limits and curfews.

Almost all  98 per cent  of teachers said they would support stricter Government regulation of tech companies to protect children from addictive algorithms.

A majority of teachers also said social media has resulted in pupils losing their ability to concentrate (71 per cent), seeing an impact on their mental health (67 per cent), and facing sleep deprivation (66 per cent).

More than half of teachers say pupils in their schools are being influenced by racist and misogynistic extreme social media content, a union survey has found

NEU general secretary Daniel Kebede said these impacts are 'deeply concerning' and ministers must not delay action to rein in tech companies.

He said: 'Addictive social media algorithms are feeding our children harmful content on a daily basis. That content is having clear negative effects  with educators reporting racist and misogynistic behaviour by young people, influenced by what they have seen online.'

The union is calling for a full ban on social media for under-16s.

Nearly one in 10 (9 per cent) teachers also said they had experienced sexualised comments from pupils in the past year.

Secondary school teachers reported stronger impacts or harmful and extreme online content.

More than half said social media use has caused changes in peer relationships (60 per cent) and increased bullying or harassment (55 per cent) among their students.

One teacher responding to the survey said their school was dealing with increasing incidents of children sharing explicit images and then being blackmailed.

Delegates at the NEU's annual conference in Brighton are due to debate a motion on Tuesday calling on the union's executive to reaffirm its opposition to all forms of racism, fascism and far-right extremism.

Another motion due to be debated calls for the union to campaign against rhetoric claiming migrants are to blame for all violence against women and girls.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said at the weekend that addictive social media features should not be allowed.

He said he was 'open-minded' about a full social media ban, but said things will not stay as they are.

A Government spokesman said: 'These figures are deeply concerning, and underscore the need for strong action to keep our kids safe online.

'We have introduced some of the toughest online safety laws in the world. Platforms now have a legal duty to remove illegal content for all UK users and to protect children from harmful material, including pornography, violent and abusive online content.

'We have also published strengthened guidance to make it even clearer that schools should be mobile phone-free and have launched a public consultation considering stronger measures, including a social media ban or curfew for children.'
Stolen Credential Listings Tied to LummaC2 Surged 72% as more than 7,000 Ransomware Attacks were Reported Globally In 2025

ZURICH, Switzerland, March 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Ontinue, a leading provider of AI-powered Managed Extended Detection and Response (MXDR), today released its 2H 2025 Threat Intelligence Report, revealing a significant shift in how cybercriminals gain access to organizations. The report finds that attackers increasingly rely on compromised credentials, identity abuse, and trusted integrations rather than traditional malware-driven intrusion techniques.

Drawing on investigations conducted by Ontinue's Advanced Threat Operations (ATO) team and telemetry from the Ontinue ION MXDR platform, the report highlights how identity compromise has become the most common pathway into cloud environments.

"Attackers aren't trying to break through defenses anymore, they're logging in with stolen credentials," said Balazs Greksza, Director of Advanced Threat Operations at Ontinue. "Infostealers are feeding a growing underground market for corporate access. Once attackers obtain valid identities, they can bypass traditional security controls and move through environments as legitimate users, often without triggering the alarms organizations rely on."

Identity Attacks and Credential Theft on the Rise

The report documents how identity-based attacks - including adversary-in-the-middle (AiTM) phishing, password spraying, and service principal credential exposure - now dominate security investigations. Rather than exploiting software vulnerabilities, attackers increasingly rely on compromised credentials to gain direct access to cloud environments.

Infostealer malware plays a central role in fueling this trend. Malware families such as LummaC2 harvest browser passwords, session cookies, and authentication tokens from infected systems. These stolen credentials are then packaged into "logs" and sold through underground marketplaces, allowing other threat actors to purchase ready-made access to corporate environments.

The report notes that listings of stolen credentials linked to LummaC2 increased by 72% on underground marketplaces, reflecting the rapid expansion of this credential theft ecosystem. Stolen corporate access can command thousands of dollars per account, making credential theft one of the most profitable entry points in the modern cybercrime economy.

Ransomware Remains a Major Threat

Despite a modest decline in traceable ransomware payments, falling from $892 million in 2024 to $820 million in 2025, the number of attacks continues to increase. The report cites more than 7,000 ransomware incidents reported globally in 2025, with over 120 active ransomware groups operating across industries.

Modern ransomware campaigns increasingly combine multiple forms of pressure, including data theft, operational disruption, distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, and direct intimidation of victims' employees or customers, tactics often described as double, triple, or even quadruple extortion.

Emerging Use of Generative AI in Malware Development

The report also highlights early signs that threat actors are beginning to use generative AI to accelerate the development of malicious tools. Analysis of several recovered webshells and commodity malware samples revealed coding patterns consistent with LLM-assisted development, including verbose explanatory comments, duplicated functions generated through iterative prompting, and visually polished interfaces paired with insecure implementations.

While adversarial AI remains an emerging capability rather than a dominant attack vector, Ontinue researchers note that generative AI may significantly lower the technical barrier for developing functional malware and attack infrastructure.

Supply Chain and SaaS Attacks Expand

Growing risks associated with software supply chains and cloud integrations are also on the rise. Threat actors are increasingly targeting development pipelines, SaaS platforms, and third-party service providers to gain indirect access to corporate environments.

These attacks can spread rapidly across trusted ecosystems, enabling adversaries to compromise multiple organizations simultaneously.

Record-Breaking Infrastructure Attacks

In addition to identity-driven attacks, the report documents a dramatic increase in infrastructure-scale threats. Distributed denial-of-service campaigns reached a peak of 31.4 Tbps, powered by botnets leveraging more than 500,000 compromised systems.

These attacks demonstrate the growing scale and automation capabilities available to modern threat actors.

Key Findings

Identity-based attacks are now a leading entry point for cyber intrusions

Infostealers are fueling a global credential-theft economy

Over 7,000 ransomware incidents were reported globally in 2025

129 ransomware groups were active during the year

Global ransomware payments reached $820M in 2025

Early evidence of LLM-assisted malware development observed in commodity attack tooling

DDoS attacks peaked at 31.4 Tbps

"The reality organizations face today is that attackers are moving faster, leveraging stolen identities and automation to bypass traditional defenses," said Craig Jones, Chief Security Officer at Ontinue. "Cyber resilience is no longer just about preventing breaches, it's about proactive risk reduction, environment hardening, by detecting threats quickly, responding decisively, and maintaining operational continuity when incidents occur. Partnering with the right managed security provider allows organizations to combine advanced technology, real-time threat intelligence, and experienced analysts to stay ahead of attackers and strengthen their ability to withstand and recover from modern cyber threats."

Download the full report.

Read more on our blog, Attackers aren't Breaking in Anymore, they're Logging in.

About Ontinue

Ontinue is a leading provider of agentic AI-powered managed extended detection and response (MXDR) services, empowering modern organizations to securely embrace their digital future. We're on a mission to redefine managed security operations with Nonstop SecOps, a 24/7 approach that delivers continuous protection through trust and innovation.

Ontinue ION leverages an agentic AI-powered platform, human expertise and our customers' own Microsoft tools to deliver tailored protection that conforms to your environment and operations. The result is fast threat detection and response, and continuous security posture hardening. With ION handling the daily security operations, CISOs and their teams get more time back in their day to focus on the next big initiative to propel their organization forward.

ION's innovative collaboration model and transparent architecture ensure that security analysts always have instant access to eyes-on-glass SecOps support and complete control of their data. Additionally, Ontinue's unparalleled Microsoft expertise helps CISOs, and CIOs maximize return on their investment in Microsoft controls and consolidate their security stack.

Continuous Trust. Continuous Innovation. Continuous Empowerment.

That's Nonstop SecOps from Ontinue.

Ontinue Media Inquiries

Alison Raymond

Senior Director, Corporate Communications

[email protected]

SOURCE Ontinue
Russians are advising Iranians on how to use their deadly mini drones to target US assets in the Middle East, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is warning.

The Ukrainian President shared on Monday that Russian officials have advised Iranian counterparts on their operational experience from their invasion against Ukraine, including how to carry out short-range first-person-view (FPV) drone attacks.

Videos of the drone strikes have been a hallmark of the brutal conflict, often showing soldiers or tanks on patrol being hunted by the small UAVs before the screens go black, indicating a detonation.

Russia has recently released a new first-person drone called the KVS which reportedly has a range up to 30 miles that was designed after previous drones faced issues on shorter flights.

Russia has closely worked with Iran since 2022 to deploy its Shahed-136 drone against Ukraine, which Russian officials rebranded into the Geran-1.

In 2025 alone, Russia launched approximately 55,000 Shahed-style drones at Ukraine, according to the institute for Science and International Security.

Having to rely on cheap, widely available drones to fend off repeated Russian assaults during the invasion, Ukraine has developed world-class FPV drone weapons.

They've been so effective that the Ukrainian drone tech has even been procured by the US military.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told Axios that Russia is teaching Iran how to deploy short-range FPV drones against US and allied targets

Zelensky recently met with Gulf nation leaders to discuss security agreements

Ukraine has developed a robust FPV drone manufacturing base. The drones are so effective that the Pentagon recently signed a deal with General Cherry, a Ukrainian drone manufacturer

In addition to drones the Russians have also shared satellite imagery of US and Gulf nation's military bases with Iranian officials, Zelensky claimed.

'I think Russia is supporting Iran directly, 100 percent. The same format of sharing satellite images like they did in the case of Ukraine,' he told Axios in an interview.

He shared that Russia is keen on the US-Iran war dragging out so that President Vladimir Putin's oil-reliant economy can sell crude at a markup to continue funding its hostilities in Ukraine.

'I am sure Russia wants long war. They have benefits: The U.S. is focusing on the Middle East and may decrease military help to Ukraine. Sanctions are partially lifted. I see only benefits for Russia from the war with Iran continuing,' Zelensky said.

Another concern for Ukraine as the US-Iran war continues: Ukraine's weapons supply.

Zelensky said he is 'absolutely' sure that his country will have 'challenges' due to US resources being reallocated to the Middle East.

The Ukrainian President was recently in the Middle East to meet with leaders about possible security deals. He reportedly met with leaders from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Jordan.

Ukrainian military officials have also been advising Gulf nations on how to shoot down Iran's Shahed drones.

'They saw our system that combines different defensive systems so that you can secure your territory,' he told Axios.

'Our advice, when they asked us, was to stop the war as soon as possible and sit for negotiations  even if they can't sit together with Iran  and find a diplomatic way to end the war. But it is up to the sides,' Zelensky said.
FBI Director Kash Patel is trying to resurrect an investigation into a suspected Chinese spy who laid a 'honey trap' for Democratic Representative Eric Swalwell as he campaigns for California governor.

The Washington Post reported Saturday that Patel is trying to release files on the investigation, citing three sources familiar with the effort.

On Monday, Swalwell's legal team demanded that the FBI halt any release of the documents and threatened to pursue legal action if the bureau didn't agree to do so, the Post said.

It would be highly unusual for the FBI to release files from an investigation that didn't result in charges and there's been no evidence of wrongdoing on Swalwell's part.

What Swalwell has done is criticize President Donald Trump and serve as an impeachment manager amid the President's second impeachment, which revolved around his role in the January 6 Capitol attack.

The Democratic congressman was listed as one of Patel's 'government gangsters' in the FBI Director's 2023 book.

The FBI investigation looked into Swalwell's relationship with suspected Chinese intelligence official Christine Fang or 'Fang Fang,' who courted the congressman and other California politicians from 2011 to 2015.

Fang first reached out to Swalwell during his first Congressional run in 2012 and helped with fundraising during the 2014 cycle. The Post also said that she helped place an intern in Swalwell's office.

FBI Director Kash Patel (left) is pushing to have files released from an investigation into Democratic Representative Eric Swalwell (right), who was targeted in a 'honey trap' by an alleged Chinese spy named Fang Fang

Christine Fang or Fang Fang courted California politicians and raised money for Representative Eric Swalwell's Congressional campaigns, until authorities alerted Swalwell that she was a suspected Chinese spy

Beyond California, Fang allegedly had romantic or sexual relationships with at least two Midwestern mayors, Axios reported in December 2020.

When the story broke, the President's son Donald Trump Jr also accused Swalwell of having a sexual relationship with Fang - of which there is no evidence.

'So Rep Swalwell who spent years saying I was an agent of Russia was literally sleeping with a Chinese spy at the time,' Trump Jr posted to Twitter in December 2020.

By that time, Swalwell had cut off ties to Fang, having been alerted by federal authorities of her problematic behavior in 2015.

The FBI found no evidence to charge Swalwell with wrongdoing and in 2023, the GOP-controlled House Ethics Committee closed a two-year probe into the Democrat, deciding to 'take no further action,' the Post reported.

But with Patel, a top Trump ally, atop the FBI, the case is seeing new life.

Patel has reassigned multiple agents in San Francisco to work on the Swalwell case and top FBI leaders have discussed sending agents to China to talk to Fang, in order to see if she has damaging information about the Democratic gubernatorial hopeful, the newspaper reported.

The FBI officials also floated giving Fang a US visa in exchange for information, the Post said.

Join the discussion Should political candidates be targeted with reopened investigations during an election campaign?

Representative Eric Swalwell (left) with Christine Fang (right) an alleged Chinese spy. The FBI previously investigated their relationship but never charged Swalwell with a crime. Now FBI Director Kash Patel is looking to release files from the probe as Swalwell runs for governor

Representative Eric Swalwell speaks at the California Democratic Party State Convention in San Francisco in February. He's pushed that FBI Director Kash Patel's moves are politically motivated

Giving a US visa to a suspected spy from a foreign adversary would also be a highly unusual move.

The FBI pushed back on the optics of a refreshed investigation looking politically motivated.

'The contentions in this story are incorrect,' an FBI spokesperson told the Post. 'This FBI, being the most transparent in history, prepares documents for numerous different reasons, including for release to different agencies and departments to further review investigations that may have been opened under previous administrations.'

Swalwell is a top candidate in a crowded field to replace term-limited California Governor Gavin Newsom.

Currently two Republicans are topping the polls, due to the large number of Democratic candidates splitting the vote.

The primary is June 2.

In a statement to the Post, Swalwell hit back alleging campaign interference.

'We are at war. Gas prices are soaring. And the threats against the homeland are on the rise. But instead of concentrating on the issues most important to this country, Donald Trump and Kash Patel have decided to continue their revenge tour and to interfere in the California governor's election,' Swalwell said. 'They believe they will get a servant in Sacramento.'

A long-held Department of Justice policy has instructed the FBI to refrain from taking public steps in a probe against a political candidates in the 60 days before an election, though it's not enshrined in law.

Swalwell's campaign did not respond to a request for comment from the Daily Mail.
Britain's largest teaching union is due to debate whether the Supreme Court ruling on transgenderism amounts to 'attempted genocide'.

The National Education Union (NEU), which has 600,000 members, will today be asked to accuse judges and the Government of an 'attempted erasure of a group from public life'.

The proposal, from hard-Left factions of the union, claims the ruling was a 'step towards an attempt to erase that group's existence', and therefore amounts to 'attempted genocide of trans and non-binary people'.

They made the claim regarding last year's Supreme Court ruling that the definition of a woman under the Equality Act means someone who was born female.

It means single-sex spaces such as toilets and changing rooms can legally be preserved, as well as sex-based groups such as the Girl Guides.

Last night, gender-critical campaigners branded the genocide claim 'outrageous' and said it was 'manipulative hyperbole' designed to 'bully' people.

The proposal, to be heard at the union's annual conference in Brighton today, is contained in a motion on 'protecting trans and non-binary students and educators', and fleshed out in an amendment.

It says that 'trans women are women' and that 'an attack on any of us is an attack on all of us'.

Britain's largest teaching union is due to debate whether the Supreme Court ruling on transgenderism amounts to 'attempted genocide'. Pictured: campaigners Susan Smith (left) and Marion Calder (right) celebrating the judgement last year

The National Education Union (NEU), which has 600,000 members, will today be asked to accuse judges and the Government of an 'attempted erasure of a group from public life' (pictured: campaigners outside the Supreme Court last year)

It adds the Government had 'refused to acknowledge the existence of trans and non-binary children' and 'weaponised schools' to deny those pupils information.

The wide-ranging motion also attacks the Cass review into NHS gender services, which led to puberty blockers being banned for under-18s, saying it 'contradicts international best practice'.

If voted through, the union will commit to campaigning for a 'reversal' of 'Government attempts to erase and eradicate trans and non-binary people' and to 'write to all schools' to tell them to 'treat them with dignity and respect'.

The genocide claim originated from the US-based Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention, which last year issued a 'red flag alert' over the UK Supreme Court ruling.

It said at the time this was a 'process of erasure' and added: 'We see evidence of genocidal intent and actions targeting these communities.'

However, the issue seems to be dividing the NEU, with executives saying it 'does not reflect the legal definition of genocide'.

Asked about the motion, General Secretary Daniel Kebede said: 'Genocide is the most horrific crime against humanity  [for example] Rwanda, Auschwitz. So it is not my view that there is currently a genocide in relation to transgender children. But I certainly think if you're a gender non-conforming child, life can be incredibly difficult.'

He added that they should 'get the support that's needed'.

The proposal was put foward by hard-Left factions of the union, but General Secretary Daniel Kebede (pictured) said he disagreed with using the word 'genocide'

Meanwhile, Stephanie Davies-Arai of Transgender Trend, which campaigns for an evidence-based approach to gender, said: 'This is unfortunately typical of a lobby that makes outrageous accusations if they don't get their own way.

'The Supreme Court simply clarified existing law: that single-sex spaces have always been lawful on the basis of sex, not people's identities.

'The ruling was necessary to protect everyone's right to privacy from the opposite sex. Trans people retain the protections against discrimination that the Equality Act affords them, just not at the expense of everyone else's rights.

'To call this 'genocide' is another example of the kind of manipulative hyperbole used by activists to bully people into acquiescence to unreasonable demands.

'It is a terrible message to trans people, and especially to vulnerable children and young people who are led to believe that everyone hates them.'

It comes as organisations begin to change their rules to reflect the Supreme Court ruling.

Earlier this month, Girlguiding announced that all transgender girls must leave the organisation by September, and that from then on membership would be restricted to 'girls and women' only.

A Department for Education spokesperson said: 'Our top priority is the safety and wellbeing of all children and young people in education.

'This is why we have introduced statutory guidance on children who are questioning their gender to ensure safeguarding stays at the centre of every decision.

'This is backed by the evidence, including Dr Hilary Cass's expert review. It provides teachers, who work tirelessly to keep their pupils safe, with the pragmatic support they need.'
A former governor, congressman, and presidential candidate is plotting yet another political comeback.

Mark Sanford, a South Carolina Republican, has filed paperwork to run for the Charleston-area First Congressional District seat he once held.

The district is now represented by Congresswoman Nancy Mace, who is running for governor this year and is not seeking a return to Washington.

Sanford built a long political career, serving in Congress and later as governor of South Carolina, even drawing early attention as a possible presidential contender.

That trajectory unraveled in 2009 after a highly publicized extramarital affair, though he stayed in office through the end of his term.

He later staged a partial comeback by returning to Congress, but lost the seat in 2018, and an unsuccessful presidential primary challenge in 2019 against then-President Trump marked the end of his political resurgence.

Outside of his well-known cheating scandal, he has also reportedly slept with disgraced journalist Olivia Nuzzi.

Ryan Lizza, a former Politico journalist and Nuzzi's ex-fiance, claimed she was 'sleeping with' former South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford years before her 'digital affair' with Robert F Kennedy Jr.

Nuzzi attempted to ease back into public life last fall to promote her tell-all book, American Canto, a year after her emotional dalliance with Trumps health secretary.

Mark Sanford speaks during a news conference in front of the Statehouse, November 12, 2019, in Concord, New Hampshire

Olivia Nuzzi attends the 2023 White House Correspondents' Association Dinner at Washington Hilton on April 29, 2023 in Washington, DC

But her promotion tour took a turn when Lizza shared a scathing Substack post alleging she cheated on him.

Lizza claimed in a piece titled 'Part 1: How I Found Out', published on his outlet Telos News, that he found a love note Nuzzi had allegedly written 'a famous politician, 32 years older than Olivia, and well-known for a sex scandal.'

However, the famous politician was not RFK Jr - and was allegedly Sanford, whom Nuzzi had profiled for New York Magazine when he launched his long-shot 2020 presidential bid.

'If I swallowed every drop of water from the tower above your house, I would still thirst for you,' she allegedly wrote to Sanford in a lurid passage Lizza shared.

Describing his on-off relationship with Nuzzi as 'turbulent', Lizza said he and Nuzzi fell in love when he extricated her from a 'strings attached' partnership with former MSNBC anchor Keith Olbermann, 66.

Lizza recalled discovering the note she had written to Sanford after it had scattered from her backpack.

After looking through further pages, Lizza said: 'My heart stopped when I realized who he was.'

Lizza, a former Washington correspondent for Politico, describes feeling devastated over 'Olivia's betrayal' and worried that it would ruin a book the pair were writing together about the 2020 presidential campaign.

He wrote that Nuzzi told him she became 'infatuated' with Sanford after covering him for New York Magazine, eventually sending him 'increasingly risque pictures and texts' and even 'secretly followed him on the campaign trail.'

He then alleges that Nuzzi and Sanford 'consummated' their relationship at the ex-governor's home 'one night after she went dark on me and made up a story about how she was dealing with a crisis concerning her sick mother.'

Lizza concluded his bombshell post by revealing he called his agent: 'We have a big problem. Olivia is sleeping with Mark Sanford.'

Sanford's campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Mail.

Sanford is a last-minute entrant into the primary field to replace Mace, which currently includes at least eight other Republicans per Ballotpedia. Representative Mark Smith is the only state-level legislator in the race. County council members Jay Byars, Logan Cunningham, and Jenny Costa Honeycutt are also in the mix.

The primary is June 9th, with a runoff planned for two weeks later on June 23rd.
A Sydney father has spoken out after receiving a $2,115 fine when his teenage daughter was caught on camera wearing her seatbelt incorrectly.

Craig Cobb, a cryptocurrency trading mentor, shared an image of the alleged offence on social media on Monday.

'I just got a fine in the post because my teenage daughter had the seatbelt under her arm. $2115,' he said.

'It's not a fine that she wasn't wearing her seatbelt, it's that she didn't wear it right.

'Just a camera sitting there to watch our every move and raise revenue for the government.'

According to Transport for NSW, the lap portion of a seatbelt should sit across the bony part of a passenger's hips, while the sash should run across the chest and midshoulder.

However, in the image shared by Mr Cobb, the sash appeared to be positioned off his daughter's shoulder.

Mr Cobb said his concern was not the fine itself, but what he sees as an overreach of government power.

Craig Cobb (pictured) was fined $2115 after his daughter wore her seatbelt incorrectly

In the photo, shared on social media, the seatbelt sash appears too low on her shoulder

Join the discussion Are massive fines for seatbelt mistakes fair, or just another way for the government to cash in?

'It's not the money of the fine, it's just the nerve of it and how the government can just set up a camera and say you are bad, give me money. There is no crime here,' he said.

The incident sparked debate online, with Australians divided over the use of surveillance cameras and the size of the penalty.

'I'd argue the amount of the fine is exorbitant, but your daughter was breaking the rules, she wasn't wearing her seatbelt correctly,' one said.

A second added: 'Crash your car with your daughter wearing her seatbelt like that to prove that it wasn't dangerous and the fine is trivial.'

A third agreed: '$2,115 for a seatbelt under the arm is brutal but that rule exists for a reason.

'Wearing it wrong is almost like not wearing it at all especially in a crash.'

Dr Raffaele Ciriello, a senior lecturer at the University of Sydney, told Daily Mail in December last year that surveillance cameras are already 'everywhere'.

'It's already here to a large extent, but maybe in the next three to five years - ten years at most - I estimate that surveillance is going to be the norm,' he said.

'What it looks like is some form of Orwellian dystopia where we have that large-scale technology in every public sphere.'
A killer who evaded capture for 40 years was finally unmasked after investigators detected his saliva on the seal of a fake confession letter.

Raymond Reddington, 79, was found guilty in the Western Australian Supreme Court of murdering Sharon Fulton at the family's Perth home on March 18, 1986.

Reddington, previously known as Robert Fulton, was sentenced on Monday to life imprisonment.

He will be eligible for parole after 20 years, if he reveals where his wife's body is.

The case remained cold until the coroner's office received a fake confession letter in 2021, with DNA testing revealing it was Reddington's saliva on the seal.

He was convicted in February after being charged with one count of wilful murder in October 25, 2023 and extradited from NSW to WA.

'The deceased should have been safe in your company,' Justice Joseph McGrath said as he handed down the sentence.

'Instead, you killed the deceased in an act of violence.

Sharon Fulton, a 39-year-old mother-of-four in 1986, had started divorce proceedings in the year before her death

Raymond Reddington (pictured) was charged with one count of wilful murder in October 25, 2023 and extradited from NSW to WA

'You have caused immense grief.'

Ms Fulton, a 39-year-old mother-of-four in 1986, had started divorce proceedings in the year before her death, Justice McGrath said.

'Your marriage had challenges, and you were having affairs... the deceased was aware of your infidelity,' he said.

Reddington, a former RAAF officer, was concerned about losing access to his children and the looming financial hit he would take if the couple split.

'You had a motive to kill,' Justice McGrath said.

On the morning of March 18, Reddington told his boss he had a 'domestic issue' before leaving work at RAAF base Pearce and driving home.

'Shortly after you arrived at home, you killed the deceased,' Justice McGrath said.

'It is not known when you disposed of the deceased's body or how you did it. It has meant your children have not known what happened to their mother.'

Outside the court, his youngest son, Heath Fulton, who was three-years-old in 1986, said the sentence was half the time his father had spent enjoying his life after murdering his mother

Reddington (pictured during his extradition) continues to claim he is innocent

Three days later, Reddington reported his wife missing to police, telling various stories, including that he had dropped her off at a train station and that she was seeing another man.

In the months before he murdered her, he had taken out two $120,000 life insurance policies for his wife and himself, which was 'a significant sum in 1986,' Justice McGrath said.

Outside the court, his youngest son, Heath Fulton, who was three-years-old in 1986, said the sentence was half the time his father had spent enjoying his life after murdering his mother.

Finding Ms Fulton's remains was his and his siblings' main focus, he said.

'It's the ultimate, and it's the only thing we pretty much live for - to bring her home,' he said.

The court heard he's unlikely to see freedom again, as he is battling cancer and a slew of other health issues and could have as little as 18 months to live.

Reddington continues to claim he is innocent.

'His conviction for the crime of wilful murder will continue to trouble the conscience of our community,' his lawyer, Jonathan Davies, said outside court.
On the final episode of their Elizabeth I podcast miniseries, Queens, Kings and Dastardly Things hosts Robert Hardman and Professor Kate Williams unpick why the Virgin Queen never married during her unprecedented 44-year reign.

When Elizabeth ascended to the English throne aged 25 in 1558, she immediately became the most eligible Royal in Europe.

As the only surviving heir of the Tudor dynasty, it was of paramount importance to the kingdom that Elizabeth produced children to shore up succession and avoid a potential civil war upon her death.

On the final episode of their Elizabeth I podcast miniseries, Robert Hardman and Professor Kate Williams unpick why the Virgin Queen never married

The Queen was rumoured to be deeply fond of her Master of Horse, Robert Dudley

Despite receiving proposals from some of the Continent's most powerful monarchs, Elizabeth chose to rule alone during her childbearing years.

Her decision was largely driven by the laws of the time, which designated wives as the property of their husbands. Elizabeth knew that if she were to marry a suitor befitting of her status, a foreign noble could lay a legitimate claim to the English crown.

However, there was one suitor whose low birth would not present Elizabeth with such a dilemma. The Queen was rumoured to be deeply fond of her Master of Horse, Robert Dudley.

Childhood friends, Dudley and Elizabeth had both been imprisoned in the Tower of London as children of parents executed for treason.

Dudley was already married when he worked in Elizabeth's court. However, his wife Amy Robsart was very ill with breast cancer, and rumours began to swirl that upon her death, he would marry the Queen.

The podcast explores how Robsart's shocking and unsolved murder would destroy that potential Royal marriage, dooming Elizabeth to die childless and ushering in the end of the legendary Tudor dynasty.

The Mysterious Murder of Amy Robsart

Despite seemingly offering a solution to Elizabeth's marriage quandary, her senior advisors were not keen on Dudley as a potential match.

They each had their own candidates and saw in the wildcard option of Dudley a direct threat to their power, as Professor Kate Williams explained.

'No one wanted Elizabeth to marry him,' she said.

'Her ambassadors did not like it because they wanted their own prince to marry her.

'Elizabeth's Secretary of State William Cecil threatened to resign if she went through with it. Kat Ashley, the Queen's beloved governess, did not like Dudley either.

'However, Elizabeth remained deeply fond of him and as an Englishman, he would have been popular with the country which put him in pole position.'

While Dudley was busy entertaining the Queen during her 27th birthday celebrations at Windsor Castle, a plot was hatched that would completely remove him from the running.

Despite seemingly offering a solution to Elizabeth's marriage quandary, her senior advisors were not keen on Dudley as a potential match

Although Robsart was already dying, Williams explained why the manner of her death was 'catastrophic' to Dudley's social standing

With Dudley eliminated from contention, Elizabeth would go on to receive 26 further marriage proposals from Europe's most powerful men. None would come as close

Robsart, Dudley's ailing wife, would be found dead while her husband was away. She was discovered by their servants lying at the bottom of a short flight of stairs with a broken neck.

Although Robsart was already dying, Williams explained why the manner of her death was 'catastrophic' to Dudley's social standing.

'People started to say that Dudley commissioned someone to kill her, getting Robsart out of the way because he wanted to marry Elizabeth,' the historian said.

'There are various theories over what really happened to Amy. Historians discount that she died by her own hand because it was viewed as a great sin at the time.

'She had also recently bought a new dress not long before she died, which doesn't suggest she was in low spirits. It was either a very strange accident or she was murdered.

'Some people believe it was William Cecil who orchestrated it to frame Dudley. I don't believe that's true.

'I think it was at the behest of the foreign ambassadors. Philip of Spain would have had plenty of reasons to get rid of Amy Robsart.

'Regardless, it meant that Dudley could never marry Elizabeth. That taint was always going to hang over him. He was pushed out of the picture.'

With Dudley eliminated from contention, Elizabeth would go on to receive 26 further marriage proposals from Europe's most powerful men. None would come as close.

She died in 1603 aged 69, childless and unmarried, and with her went the entire Tudor dynasty.

To hear more stories like this one, search for Queens, Kings and Dastardly Things now, wherever you get your podcasts.
In his impeccably researched biography of the late Queen, Hugo Vickers offers us his piercing insights into the innermost workings of the Royal Family. Here, in part three of our exclusive serialisation, he examines the breakdown of Charles and Dianas marriage...

Back in 1994, when Prince Charles was advised by his private secretary to do a television interview, he had no idea hed be asked about Mrs Camilla Parker Bowles.

At that crucial point in the filming, he glanced slightly anxiously towards his private secretary, who was also in the room. Meanwhile, the camera moved in to make sure viewers missed not the slightest twitch of his discomfort.

Today, the only part remembered of Jonathan Dimblebys interview is Charless admission that he had been unfaithful, albeit only after his marriage to Diana had irretrievably broken down.

Since then, there has been much speculation about those words. What made the breakdown of the marriage irretrievable  and when did that happen?

Amid the various theories put forward, there were barely any that lit on the truth

Camilla had been involved with Charles in 1972, cut short only when his naval duties sent him to sea for eight months.

While he was away, however, shed married Major Andrew Parker Bowles, a dashing Cavalry officer with whom shed been involved before meeting Charles. Arguably, the prince then went into a sulk which lasted until his second marriage in 2005.

Camillas husband did not have a reputation for monogamy, and in the years before Charless first marriage, the prince returned to his lover. Soon, the world would get excited about Lady Diana Spencer, presenting it as a great love story, but the truth is that the real love story was Charles and Camilla.

Camilla and Charles had been involved in 1972 which was cut short due to his naval duties. Pictured with her then husband Andrew Parker Bowles and Charles in 1975

Soon, the world would get excited about Lady Diana Spencer, presenting it as a great love story. On paper, Diana had seemed a perfect royal bride

On paper, the virginal and aristocratic Lady Diana Spencer had seemed a perfect royal bride. When Charles began to contemplate her as a possible wife, he was much encouraged by his friends, including the Parker Bowleses.

As a schoolgirl, Diana had a professed ambition: to marry her childhood playmate Prince Andrew. The truth is she hardly knew Charles, and called him Sir until the day of their engagement.

Not everyone was happy about the princes choice. Some, whod known Diana in Norfolk, predicted trouble, aware of her fragile nature. Indeed, during the long months leading to the marriage, her state of nerves increased and she began to suffer from bulimia.

Both bride and groom were having serious doubts. During Ascot week, Prince Charles looked over at Diana at dinner and asked his neighbour: Do you think you can fall in love after youre married?

During that same week, on June 17, Diana suddenly burst into tears in the Royal Box.

She claimed she had been stung by a wasp, which was untrue. She was taken back to Windsor Castle for a rest.

Prince Charles was about to fly to New York for one night to attend a gala performance of Sleeping Beauty by the Royal Ballet at the Metropolitan Opera House. She put a note in his dinner jacket saying she loved him.

The next day, with tears in his eyes, he told a friend: I am not sure that I can handle this. The friend said it was not too late to abandon the plan. To which Charles replied: I am afraid it is.

The wedding took place on July 29, 1981, at St Pauls Cathedral, attended by numerous European monarchs. Years later, Diana claimed she could see Camilla Parker Bowles sitting in the congregation in the cathedral. She may well have seen her in a photograph later, but as one of her bridesmaids, India Hicks, later confirmed to me, it would have been impossible at the time.

At first, the reaction to Diana was universally positive. The heir to the throne had fulfilled his duty by taking a wife and was paving the way for another generation in the Royal House.

Only in time did the problems surface  the eating disorders, the Presss obsession with her, the suspicions about Camilla, the competition between wife and husband (she diverting attention from what he perceived as his vital work). Which came first  the illness or the unhappiness? The Queen came to find her tiresome. She thought things went wrong as the result of illness.

It is possible that it was the other way around. One thing is sure: Prince Charles could not cope with her.

At Sandringham one day, Diana had a tantrum. The walls are not thin, but what was heard that day was hard to forget. No one could calm her.

During the long months leading to the marriage, Diana's state of nerves increased and she began to suffer from bulimia. Both bride and groom were having serious doubts

The wedding took place on July 29, 1981, at St Pauls Cathedral. Years later, Diana claimed she could see Camilla Parker Bowles sitting in the congregation

Years later, when the marriage had unfurled even further, a sympathetic friend spotted Charles in the corner of a room, looking utterly forlorn. Dont worry. It will go away, said the friend.

Charles replied: Oh, no, it wont. He was right.

The birth of Prince Harry in 1984 marked a watershed moment in the fast-declining marriage. Prince Charles emerged from the hospital and told the waiting crowd that he would soon have enough boys for a polo team. He then headed off to play polo.

Diana suffered a severe bout of post-natal depression. Soon afterwards, the Waleses went up to Scotland to stay with Anne, Duchess of Westminster.

During their stay, Charles went out to do some salmon fishing, while Diana read a book nearby.

At some point, she put her book down and took a walk along the riverbank.

Unaware of where she was, Charles cast  and caught Diana just above her eye with his fly, which had to be cut off.

That day, her number three detective, 37-year-old Barry Mannakee, was on duty. It was he who accompanied the injured princess back to the house. She did not need to go to hospital, but she needed sympathy  and Mannakee gave it.

Back in London, her regular protection team soon noticed a change in her behaviour whenever she was in Mannakees company, and became concerned about the implications.

In due course, more and more of the people surrounding her started to notice that there appeared to be something going on between the two of them.

Finally, her regular protection officers decided they had no choice but to confront her  a difficult conversation to have, but one they hoped could be resolved discreetly.

Although Diana at first denied she was having an affair, she eventually admitted it. Alarmed, the protection officers pointed out that Mannakee  who had married at 19 in 1966  had a wife and two daughters. Continuing this inappropriate relationship, they stressed, would present inevitable dangers to her and to her reputation. The affair continued.

QUEEN'S WASPISH WORDS TO PRU

The actress Prunella Scales once stayed at Windsor for a dine and sleep, so she had the chance to study the Queens mannerisms. This came in useful when she portrayed the monarch in Alan Bennetts play A Question of Attribution. Some time later, Prunella found herself in a line-up waiting to meet the monarch. As she passed by, the Queen told her: I expect you think you should be doing this

The best solution, the protection officers decided, was to arrange for Mannakee to be transferred to non-royal duties  but they faced resistance from Charles, who liked the officer and wanted to keep him on.

The excuse given for the transfer was that the hours had been too long, and that he was too often away from his family. Reluctantly, the prince agreed Mannakee should move on.

Diana herself heard the news from Mannakee in a phone call he made to her direct line. She was extremely upset, but would not tell her husband why.

Charles then turned to her protection team, asking if they knew what had caused her to become so emotional. They told him it was because Mannakee was being removed.

There seemed a simple solution to this: Charles asked that the officer be reinstated. The protection officers were adamant that this could not happen. If Mannakee stayed, they told him, they would resign.

The penny dropped. Mannakee was moved.

Afterwards, his affair with Diana continued for a while, then petered out due to the complications involved in keeping it going. The princess moved on.

It was the Mannakee affair that caused Charles to conclude that his marriage had irretrievably broken down, as he told Jonathan Dimbleby on camera in 1994. Realising his marriage had no future, he eventually rekindled his relationship with Camilla.

This puts a different perspective on her infamous Panorama interview. When she told Martin Bashir that there were three people in the marriage, there were indeed three  but the third person at the start was Mannakee, not Mrs Parker Bowles.

The Mannakee affair had a tragic postscript. On May 15, 1987, he was killed while riding pillion on a motorcycle driven by PC Stephen Peet, which collided with a car at Woodford in east London.

Diana and her bodyguard Barry Mannakee at a polo match. Their affair caused Charles to conclude that their marriage had 'irretrievably broken down'

When she told Martin Bashir in the infamous Panorama interview that there were three people in the marriage, there were indeed three  but the third person at the start was Mannakee

When Charles told Diana about Mannakees death  while they were flying to Monaco  she was desperately upset.

Later, she came to believe his death was the result of a conspiracy by those around her  that he had, in effect, been killed for her own protection. This was grossly unfair.

From October 1986, Diana became involved in an affair with young Life Guard James Hewitt, with whom she rode in Hyde Park. Camillas husband, Andrew Parker Bowles, had thought Hewitt would be a suitable riding instructor.

Hewitt proved over-sexed, and Diana used to have him smuggled into Kensington Palace in the boot of the car. When the affair ended in 1991, Diana behaved  as she had after her liaison with Mannakee  as if it had never happened.

The Wales marriage continued to crumble. Diana hated Highgrove and would come down to find that Charles had left to see Camilla Parker Bowles.

A hammer blow came in June 1992, with the publication of Andrew Mortons book, Diana: Her True Story. Even before it came out, there was speculation that the princess had assisted its author, as evidenced by her private photos in the book.

An official visit by the Princess of Wales to Egypt was overshadowed by speculation, especially when Mortons office was burgled, an attempt was made to bribe the printers in Norfolk for an advance copy and the Queen asked close aides to ascertain the intended contents.

A devastating serialisation hit newsstands on June 7. Diana laid every grievance she could muster against her hapless husband.

There were accounts of suicide attempts, and Camilla was publicly named as the other woman in his life.

In retrospect, it seems almost incredible that so many people accepted Dianas denial of any involvement in the book.

One person who wasnt fooled, though, was Prince Philip, who read the book on flights to and from Canada in July and clearly detected her hand in it. Feeling that too much had been revealed, he was not impressed.

There was a sticky meeting at Windsor, where the Waleses discussed the issue with the Queen and Prince Philip. Dianas line was that Charles had never wanted to marry her and that her position was intolerable vis-a-vis Camilla. There was talk of lovers being taken if the marriage did not work.

After that meeting, the Queen maintained her neutrality while Prince Philip wrote to Diana  there were six letters from him and five replies from her between June 18 and October 4, all of which I have read.

In his letters, Philip said he hoped she was aware that Charles had made a great sacrifice for her, that he and the Queen had never been happy about his relationship with Camilla, and that he did not advocate anyone taking a lover.

The Wales marriage continued to crumble. A hammer blow came in June 1992, with the publication of Andrew Mortons book, Diana: Her True Story

Today, the only part remembered of Jonathan Dimblebys interview is Charless admission that he had been unfaithful, albeit only after his marriage to Diana had broken down

Indeed, he could not understand why anyone would prefer Camilla to her, he added sarcastically. But his words were not wholly uncritical. He thought Diana was too possessive of her sons, and regretted that he and the Queen did not know their grandchildren better.

In the correspondence, he opened up about his own position. He reminded her that he had been an outsider when he married.

He was sad that he and the then Princess Elizabeth had had only four years before Mama succeeded and that hed given up his naval career, for what? The Head of State had a role. No one else did.

Trying to be constructive, he said as Diana and Charles both loved music, he hoped they could attend more such events together. Meanwhile, Lord Charteris (former Private Secretary to the Queen) or Dean Michael Mann might act as mediator.

For her part, in her last letter to Philip, Diana told him it was clear that he really cared. To which he replied: Phew.

Sadly, that well-meant correspondence did not achieve its goal.

During this period, Philip recognised one or two phrases from his correspondence with Diana popping up in the press. This made him worry that every time there was a private discussion between Charles and Diana, details would appear in the Daily Mail.

Hot on the tail of Diana: Her True Story came the Squidgygate tape, published on a newspaper hotline.

It was a 23-minute flirtatious conversation between Diana and her friend James Gilbey, seemingly made by a boffin who had stumbled on it. The tape contained such remarks as I cant stand the confines of this marriage and Bloody hell, after all Ive done for this f***ing family.

In fact, Diana had known about the existence of this tape  and the likelihood it would soon be aired  before the Morton book was published. She had realised then that she needed to get her version out first. But what she did was unforgivable.

On December 9 that same year, it was announced that the Prince and Princess of Wales were to separate. Princess Margaret asked Prince Charles: Do you mind if I go on being friends with her? and he said that was fine.

Three days later, Princess Anne married Commander Timothy Laurence, the Queens former equerry. Princess Margaret was seated in the same row as Prince Charles and Prince Andrew, and commented ruefully: Weve done well. Were all divorced.

At around this time a courtier commented: We do our weddings well. Its our marriages that dont work.

Diana now became increasingly paranoid, having her rooms swept regularly for bugs.

While she garnered good publicity, the inner royal circle, who had witnessed the marriage unfold, were aware of all that Prince Charles had suffered  uncontrollable tantrums and using the children against him, not to mention Dianas infidelities.

More trouble came with the airing of the Camillagate tapes  a particularly damaging late-night conversation between Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles. The Tampax reference was especially unfortunate.

As with the Squidgygate tapes, there was a far-fetched theory that a random radio surfer in a shed had stumbled across the conversation. But it is as good as certain that the princes telephones were bugged by security services until finally someone realised: Weve got him.

When it was announced that the Prince and Princess of Wales were to separate Princess Margaret asked Prince Charles: Do you mind if I go on being friends with her?

The former couple during their honeymoon in Balmoral in August 1981

In December 1993, Diana made the dramatic announcement that she was stepping down from public life. She needed time and space, she said in a public speech that greatly irritated the Prince of Wales.

Her so-called retirement did not last long. Sir Michael Peat, the Keeper of the Privy Purse, let it be known that Kensington Palace was for working members of the Royal Family.

In fear of losing her home, Diana returned to work. She also joined the Royal Family at Sandringham that year.

At the end of 1993, Princess Margaret gave me her take on the Waleses ill-fated marriage.

The trouble was that he undermined her [Diana] consistently from the start, and gave her no support  Then he began to get difficult over the children, which was the cause of all the trouble last year 

I dont know why she wanted to come back [to Sandringham]. I longed to tell her to go away. It was the same with me and Tony [Lord Snowdon]. He undermined me.

Two years later, on the Queens wedding anniversary, the monarchy received another devastating blow when Diana gave her BBC Panorama interview.

It has since been revealed that Diana was tricked into it by devious misinformation  but even so, she was not averse to letting her views be known. Her words were mean-spirited. She had aimed to damage her husband and succeeded, but she also damaged herself.

The Queen intervened, telling the couple that enough was enough and commanding them to get divorced.

The divorce became absolute on August 28, 1996, and tensions between the Waleses subsided to some degree.

But then Diana  used to star treatment  threw in her lot with Harrods owner Mohamed Fayed, who was only too happy to use her as a pawn. He bought the yacht, Jonikal, and invited her to bring her boys on a Mediterranean holiday, with his son, Dodi, in close attendance.

Having accompanied her once, William and Harry had no intention of coming on subsequent trips. They joined the Queen and the Royal Family on Britannias final Western Islands cruise, where the newspapers were removed from view. They wanted nothing more to do with the Fayed family.

In August 1997, Diana had further holidays with Dodi in Sardinia and finally Paris, where she died in a car crash. Back home, there was an unleashing of grief  like a frenzied scene from the film Zorba the Greek.

While the media clamoured for the Queen to return to London, she sensibly prolonged her stay in Balmoral to give comfort and strength to her grandchildren.

Princess Margaret seemed to suggest Harry had bottled everything up. She told me later: We tried to get him to break down but he just wouldnt.

For years afterwards, there were conspiracy theories about Dianas death, the worst being Fayeds claim that she had been murdered, possibly on the orders of the Duke of Edinburgh. In a far-ranging conversation with Prince Philip in Hampshire in the summer of 2000, he told me that he considered Mohamed Fayed a creep.

As the Royal Family tried to come to terms with Dianas death, it was to some extent business as usual.

The Queen had horses due to race that week. When Sir Michael Oswald, her National Hunt racing adviser, rang her to say that he did not think it appropriate to run them, she said: Oh, do you think so? (In fact, he had already withdrawn them.)

Patrick Mitchell, Dean of Windsor, went up to Balmoral. He said: There were barbecues and long walks and Prince Harry particularly liked driving the Discovery.

At Birkhall, the Queen Mother refused to allow the television to be on the whole week. Anyone who wanted to see the news had to sneak down to the servants quarters.

Speaking of Dianas death, Princess Margaret was heard to comment: Well, that sorts it out, then. Concerted efforts were made to ensure she did not go out and express that view more widely.

Intense media pressure forced the Queen to come down to London a day earlier than planned. As the plane touched down, Princess Margaret was in tears. I cant bear Lilibet having to go through this, she said.

We were a day late, Lord Charteris conceded.

My conversation with him proved interesting. I said of the Princess of Wales: She had a good heart.

Really? he replied. You surprise me. His verdict was: She wanted to destroy the monarchy and she damn nearly succeeded.

Dianas funeral in Westminster Abbey had contributions from Elton John, and a well-crafted, though ultimately divisive, address from Lord Spencer.

The crowds outside clapped the speech. As one in the Abbey put it, it was like Robespierre riding up the aisle on his horse.

Within a month of Dianas death, Andrew Morton exposed to the world the full extent of her cooperation with his book. Prince Philip had been right all along.
Friends of Prince Harry yesterday claimed that he wants the King to invite his family to stay in Norfolk this summer so he can see his grandchildren.

They say the Duke of Sussex wants to repair the family rift by spending time with his father on his private Sandringham estate this July.

But sources close to the monarch told the Daily Mail last night that 'low trust and bitter experience' over a string of leaks and media briefings from 'Team Sussex' in recent years were a significant difficulty in making any progress in restoring family harmony.

A friend of the King said: 'If Harry truly wishes to see his father, he would do well to encourage his supporters to allow such matters to be discussed privately, since low trust and bitter experience in this regard remains one of the principal barriers to progress.'

Harry, 41, has seen his father only twice in two years following his acrimonious departure from the UK, amid a string of attacks on his family, including tell-all interviews and his memoir, Spare.

However Harry apparently hopes he, Meghan and their children will be invited to spend 'some family time' at Sandringham in July, when he is set to return to the UK.

It is nearly four years since Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, six and four, saw their grandfather, when they travelled to Britain from their home in California for the last Queen's Platinum Jubilee celebrations.

Meghan last visited later in 2022, when the late Queen died.

Prince Harry pictured with Meghan Markle and children Archie and Lilibet in December. Friends yesterday claimed he wants the King to invite his family to stay in Norfolk this summer

Sources close to Charles, pictured on Friday, said 'low trust and bitter experience' over a string of leaks from 'Team Sussex' were a significant difficulty in making progress

Now the Sunday Times reports 'those close to Harry' say he 'would welcome an invitation to Sandringham' this summer when he flies to Britain to attend events connected with his Invictus Games.

Notably the Prince and Princess of Wales  from whom he remains firmly estranged  also spend much of their holidays at Sandringham, where they have a country home, Anmer Hall.

Harry is currently waiting for a decision on what security provision he and his family are entitled to in Britain.

They were stripped of round-the-clock taxpayer-funded Metropolitan Police bodyguards when Harry chose to step down as a working royal in 2020 and move to North America.

He is offered armed police bodyguards on a case-by-case basis, which in part depends on whether he is in Britain for family or private and commercial purposes.

He has made clear that he is not happy with the arrangements, repeatedly saying he does not feel it is 'safe' to bring his family to Britain unless he is given full-time armed police protection.

After losing a legal battle with the Government over the issue last year, Harry wrote to the Home Secretary asking for a full risk assessment on his family, which he maintained had not been done for some time.

Sources close to Harry had previously briefed media that an answer from the Royal and VIP Executive Committee (Ravec), which makes the final decision on what level of police protection he should have, was due by the end of January  and he was confident it would rule in his favour.

No decision has yet been made.

The Sunday Times reported a 'friend of Harry's' saying: 'If he was invited by the King, he would get a package of security that automatically kicks in. He'd like an invite to Sandringham. Would he go? It would depend who was there.

'If the King was to say, "Come up and spend some time with the family", he'd love that.

'There are lots of scenarios to make it work, but it's all out of Harry's hands. No father would want to put their kids at any risk.'

But the Daily Mail understands that Harry and his family would not automatically receive enhanced security protection for a private family visit.

Charles and Harry pictured with Prince William, Princess Catherine and Meghan Markle in 2018. Meghan last visited in 2022, when the late Queen died

Harry apparently hopes he, Meghan and their children will be invited to spend 'some family time' at Sandringham in July (Pictured: Harry and Meghan in 2024)

When the prince travels to the UK for work he is accompanied by his own unarmed security team, which includes former Metropolitan Police officers, which he funds himself.

He is entitled to publicly funded security only when attending official events at the monarch's request or invitation, such as the funeral of his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth, or the King's coronation in 2023.

Those with knowledge of the situation have questioned the clearly well-sourced quotes from 'Team Sussex' issued at the weekend given that the security review is currently under way.

Sources close to the King have also long made clear that he will not intervene in the internal debate over his son's security because it would be constitutionally inappropriate.

A source familiar with the Ravec process commented: 'As part of the review being undertaken, the Government is consulting a wide range of stakeholders, including the duke, and will reach a fair and appropriate decision on that basis.'
Princess Charlene and her lookalike daughter Princess Gabriella exercised their 'privilege du blanc' during Pope Leo XIV's historic visit to Monaco on Sunday.

The royal mother-daughter duo were joined by Prince Albert alongside young Prince Jacques for the occasion, which saw Pope Leo make his first visit to the European country since his election in May.

Both Charlene and Gabriella wore white in line with the so-called 'privilege of the white' - a rare exception to the historic dress code that permits only queens and princesses from Catholic countries to wear white when meeting with the Pope.

They are each one of only seven women in the world who have the rare ability to wear white when meeting with the Pope.

Called le privilege du blanc in French or il privilegio del bianco in Italian, the special tradition is extended solely to designated Catholic queens and princesses and is reserved for important events such as private audiences, canonisations, beatifications and special masses.

Normal protocol for papal audiences requires that ladies wear a long black dress with a high collar and long sleeves, and a black mantilla.

For the outing, Charlene, 48, also donned a small brooch with the flags of Monaco and the Vatican, alongside a midi dress that contained lace detailing and a short veil, which she placed over her head in line with the necessary protocol.

While her mother opted for white heels, 11-year-old Gabriella wore white ballet flats, alongside a long coat and the same brooch as her mother.

Princess Charlene (right) and Princess Gabriella (left) coordinated in striking all-white ensembles during Pope Leo XIV's historic visit to Monaco on Sunday

Both Charlene and Gabriella wore white in line with the so-called 'privilege of the white' - a rare exception to the historic dress code that permits only queens and princesses from Catholic countries to wear white when meeting with the Pope

Arriving by helicopter from Rome, the Pope was greeted by Prince Albert and Princess Charlene at Monte Carlo's heliport under radiant sunshine.

Just after he arrived at the tiny principality on the French Riviera, Leo condemned what he termed the widening 'chasms between the poor and the rich'.

In an address in French from the balcony of the Prince's Palace, the American Pope denounced 'unjust configurations of power, structures of sin that dig chasms between poor and rich, between the privileged and the rejected, between friends and enemy'.

He added wealth should serve 'law and justice, especially at a historical moment when displays of force and the logic of omnipotence wound the world and jeopardise peace', in a clear reference to the growing number of conflicts across the globe.

Some have dubbed Leo the 'Quiet Pope' due to his low-key pastoral approach, often prioritising unity, listening and traditional diplomacy.

The pontiff was pictured with Prince Albert at the royal palace, with one image showing a portrait of the ruler's mother movie star, Grace Kelly.

Bells pealed across the principality to mark Leo's arrival in the micro-state nestled on the Mediterranean between France and Italy.

Locals gathered outside the palace, many brandishing flags in the red and white of the principality and the yellow and white of the Vatican.

For the outing, Charlene, 48, also donned a small brooch with the flags of Monaco and the Vatican, alongside a midi dress that contained lace detailing and a short veil, which she placed over her head in line with the necessary protocol

The royal mother-daughter duo were joined by Prince Albert alongside young Prince Jacques for the occasion, which saw Pope Leo make his first visit to the European country since his election in May

From the palace, the Pope was to head to the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception to meet the Catholic community, then to the square in front of the Church of Saint Devota, dedicated to the patron saint of Monaco.

Pope Leo was slated to make speeches addressing environmental protection - which is a cause close to Prince Albert's heart - Monaco's role in Europe and 'the protection of life in all its forms', according to the Vatican's press office director, Matteo Bruni.

Monaco is one of the few places in Europe where Catholicism remains the state religion, and it has long-standing diplomatic ties with The Holy See.

Though only around 8 per cent of citizens identify as practising Catholics, church pews are one of the few places where billionaires, cleaning ladies and construction workers mingle.

'This visit is a powerful sign testifying to the Principality's importance within the Catholic Christian world,' Prince Albert said in an interview with local daily Nice-Matin.

The Prince added he shared with the Vatican common causes, including international solidarity and 'the promotion of peace through sport'.
Veteran-Focused Initiative Restores Critical Community Gathering Space for Higgins Lake Veterans

TAMARAC, Fla., March 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- PuroClean, one of the country's leading property restoration and remediation franchises, is proud to announce that its veteran-focused PuroVet Program has contributed funding to support the roof replacement at the AMVETS Lodge in Higgins Lake, Michigan. The project will help restore a vital community hub for local veterans after years of deterioration caused by exposure and structural wear.

Photo by PuroClean

The AMVETS Higgins Lake Lodge has served for decades as a center for camaraderie, peer support, and community engagement, but a failing roof threatened the building's usability and long-term sustainability. Through PuroClean's contribution, the lodge can now move forward with critical repairs that will preserve its role as a cornerstone of the local veteran community.

The initiative was led by Frank Torre, Vice Chairman of PuroClean and champion of the PuroVet Program, whose commitment to supporting veteran communities continues to drive meaningful impact beyond business development. Recognizing the lodge's importance as a gathering space for veterans and their families, Torre mobilized resources and support to ensure the facility can remain safe, functional, and accessible for years to come.

"Supporting veterans has always been at the heart of what we do through the PuroVet Program," said Torre. "When we learned about the condition of the Higgins Lake lodge and how important it is to the local veteran community, it was clear that we needed to step in and help. This space represents connection, support, and shared experience for those who have served, and we're honored to play a role in helping preserve it."

The restoration project will help ensure the lodge can continue serving as a safe and welcoming environment for veterans and their families for years to come. Nat Pulizzi, Commander of AMVETS Michigan, expressed appreciation for the support and the importance of partnerships that help sustain veteran organizations.

"On behalf of AMVETS Michigan, we extend our sincere appreciation to Frank Torre for stepping forward and driving this initiative, as well as to Mark Davis for their support and commitment to our mission," said Pulizzi. "Their generosity ensures that our Higgins Lake Lodge remains a safe and welcoming place where veterans can gather, connect, and continue supporting one another."

The roof replacement project represents more than a structural improvementit ensures the continuity of meetings, events, and support services that strengthen veteran relationships and promote well-being across generations. PuroClean's involvement highlights the company's commitment to using its resources and leadership to support those who have served, reinforcing the mission of the PuroVet Program to empower veterans and strengthen the communities they call home.

For more information about PuroClean's PuroVet Program, visit PuroVet.com or call 855-PUROVET.

About PuroClean

PuroClean is a leading, world-class service brand for property water damage remediation, fire and smoke damage mitigation, mold removal, and biohazard clean-up services, working with both residential and commercial customers across the US and Canada. Founded in 2001, PuroClean is a diverse, fast-growing network of 500 North American franchise locations, each independently owned and operated. With a commitment to respond within two hours, the professionals at PuroClean are thoroughly screened, insured, and trained in utilizing the latest cutting-edge mitigation technology to complete the remediation task at hand.

SOURCE PuroClean
The astronaut who prompted NASA's first medical evacuation earlier this year has revealed he lost the ability to speak in space.

Mike Fincke said he was eating dinner on January 7 after prepping for a spacewalk when the terrifying event unfolded.

He couldn't talk and remembers no pain, but his anxious crewmates jumped into action after seeing him in distress and requested help from flight surgeons on the ground.

The medical emergency triggered the first ever evacuation of the International Space Station.

But doctors still don't know why he suddenly fell sick.

'It was completely out of the blue,' Mr Fincke said. 'It was just amazingly quick.'

The 59-year-old retired Air Force colonel said the episode lasted roughly 20 minutes and he felt fine afterward. He said he had never experienced anything like that before and hasn't since.

Doctors have ruled out a heart attack and the astronaut said he wasn't choking, but everything else is still on the table and could be related to his 549 days of weightlessness.

NASA astronaut Mike Fincke is helped out of the SpaceX Crew-11 capsule after they re-entered the Earth in a middle-of-the-night splashdown near San Diego, California on January 15

The agency previously revealed that astronaut Mike Fincke (second from left) experienced the issue, which cut Crew 11's mission short

Mr Fincke was five and a half months into his latest space station mission when the problem struck like 'a very, very fast lightning bolt'.

'My crewmates definitely saw that I was in distress,' he said, with all six gathering around him.

'It was all hands on deck within just a matter of seconds.'

Mr Fincke said he cant provide any more details about his medical episode. The space agency wants to make sure that other astronauts do not feel that their medical privacy will be compromised if something happens to them, he explained.

The space station's ultrasound machine came in handy when the event occurred, he revealed, and he said he has gone through numerous tests since returning to Earth.

NASA is poring through other astronauts' medical records to see if any related instances might have happened in space.

The Crew-11 astronauts safely splashed back to Earth following NASA's first medical evacuation in 65 years of spaceflight.

The decision was made to bring the crew - including NASA astronauts Zena Cardman, Mike Fincke, Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui, and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Platonov - home a month ahead of schedule.

This was the first time a crew on board the ISS had their mission ended early due to medical reasons

Last month, Mr Fincke identified himself as the one who fell ill to put an end to swirling public speculation.

Health issues that can arise on the ISS Blood clots

Bone and muscle atrophy

Loss of vision

Radiation damage

Circadian rhythm disruption

Accelerated ageing

General health decline

He said he still feels bad that his illness caused the spacewalk to be cancelled - it would have been his 10th spacewalk but first for crewmate Zena Cardman - and resulted in an early return for her and their two other crewmates.

The crew were taken straight to hospital after being brought back to Earth by SpaceX.

'I've been very lucky to be super healthy, so this was very surprising for everyone,' Mr Fincke said.

However, he said he has stopped apologising to everybody after NASA's new administrator Jared Isaacman ordered him to.

'This wasn't you - this was space, right?' his colleagues assured him. 'You didn't let anybody down.'

The astronaut, who has been to space four times, says he hopes he can return one day.

When news of a medical emergency first broke, Mr Isaacman said he decided to bring the crew home out of an abundance of caution.

He noted that the astronaut's medical episode was considered 'serious' and would require additional medical care on Earth.

The evacuation followed NASA's Spaceflight Human-System Standard, which mandates contingency return procedures whenever onboard medical resources are insufficient.

Although statistical models have long predicted that such an event could occur roughly once every three years, the plan has never before been used.

Located 250 miles above Earth, the ISS functions as a testbed for research that supports deeper space exploration, including eventual missions to return humans to the moon and onward to Mars.

The ISS is set to be decommissioned after 2030, with its orbit gradually lowered until it breaks up in the atmosphere over a remote part of the Pacific Ocean called Point Nemo, a spacecraft graveyard.
A split between two researchers behind last year's Giza discovery has erupted into a public row over claims of a hidden second Sphinx.

Radar engineer Filippo Biondi stunned the world last week when he announced on the Matt Beall Limitless podcast that satellite radar scans had revealed what he believes is a mirror image of the Great Sphinx buried beneath Egypt's Giza Plateau.

But now his former colleague, Egyptologist Armando Mei, who previously worked alongside Biondi on research into underground structures at Giza, has rejected the claim, exposing a deep divide between the once-aligned researchers.

'From both a personal and scientific standpoint, I do not believe that a second Sphinx exists on the Giza Plateau,' Mei told the Daily Mail.

He said this conclusion was based on multiple lines of analysis, including archaeological, geometric, geological and tomographic evidence, which he argued do not support the existence of a second monument.

The dispute marked a dramatic turn between the two men, who were previously part of the Khafre Research Project that announced in March 2025 the discovery of massive shafts and chambers beneath the pyramids and the Great Sphinx.

Biondi, however, has insisted that his analysis of ancient imagery and geometric symmetry points to what he believes is a hidden twin monument beneath the plateau.

'We have recently gathered some extremely satisfying experimental results that offer a different perspective,' he told the Daily Mail, adding that final results will be presented at a conference in Bologna on June 21.

Filippo Biondi shared preliminary scans last week, claiming to have captured a structure that mirrors the Great Sphinx

Biondi believes an ancient stele shows that there were two sphinx statues constructed in Egypt

Biondi has also pushed back against online critics who have challenged his findings, saying recent comparisons made using Google Earth imagery lacked the scientific rigor required for professional aerial analysis.

Despite the ongoing debate, Biondi expressed respect for leading Egyptologist Dr Zahi Hawass, who has previously dismissed the claims.

'I want to express my deepest and most sincere respect for him and his immensely important academic standing,' Biondi said.

Mei, however, has described the second Sphinx claim as unsupported and inaccurate.

'Speculative announcements are altering the nature of the research and are placing what remains of the team in a position of opposition, rather than convergence, with the Egyptian authorities,' he said.

Mei told the Daily Mail that he stepped away from the Khafre Research Project, which included Biondi and Corrado Malanga, in January after not receiving updates on the project's developments since June 2025.

He noted that the reasons he was left in the dark were never clearly explained.

Biondi told the Daily Mail: 'It is true that he has stepped away from the Khafre Research Project to pursue other professional opportunities.

Filippo Biondi (left) announced he detected a second sphinx beneath the Giza Plateau. However, his former colleague Armando Mei has dismissed the claims

The scans identified the second sphinx where A is shown, sitting adjacent to the Great Sphinx shown as B

'However, we remain in close contact and maintain a friendly relationship.'

The two researchers have worked together for years, with Mei joining the Khafre Research Project around late 2022.

Their partnership centered on applying Biondi's synthetic aperture radar (SAR)/Doppler tomography techniques to Giza archaeology, with Mei contributing deep knowledge of Egyptian history and prior explorations.

When asked if the 2025 discovery was accurate, Mei said: 'Below the pyramids, yes, the data are consistent, as four independent groups of satellites have produced comparable results.

'However, regarding the alleged second Sphinx, the interpretation is entirely unsupported and inaccurate.'

Biondi has largely based his claim on what is shown in the Dream Stele, an inscribed granite slab erected between the paws of the Great Sphinx of Giza by Pharaoh Thutmose IV around 1401 BC.

The granite slab features two sphinx carvings, one facing west and the other east.

Using the Dream Stele as a guide, Biondi said he drew geometric lines from the center of Khafre's pyramid to the existing Sphinx, then repeated the same measurements from the neighboring pyramid to identify a mirrored location on the plateau.

According to Biondi, the distances and angles matched in what he described as near-perfect symmetry, with the same geometric relationships that lead to the known Sphinx also pointing to a second location.

Biondi is sure the second sphinx is below a small mound lying on the surface

He argued that this repeated pattern of matching distances forms what he called 'precise geometrical correlation,' which his team believes supports the possibility of a second buried monument.

Mei disputed that interpretation, saying: 'We are not dealing with a descriptive representation of physical reality, but with a symbolic-conceptual construction.'

He added that the same pattern of two sphinxes appears in other ancient Egyptian scriptures, notably inside the Tomb of Ramses VI.

According to Mei, duplication in ancient Egyptian art was commonly used to reinforce symbolic meaning, representing dual concepts such as life and death, rebirth, or east and west, rather than depicting multiple physical monuments.

However, Biondi is sure the second sphinx is below a small mound lying on the surface.

'That small mountain has a height of approximately 108 feet,' he explained. 'The first Sphinx sits slightly below the surrounding surface, in a shallow depression, so it is possible the second Sphinx could be hidden beneath this higher mound.'

This places the hidden sphinx at the back of the Pyramid of Khufu and adjacent to the Pyramid of Khafre, which aligns with the Great Sphinx.

Scans of the Great Sphinx also appeared to capture a network of shafts and chambers beneath the monument, features he now believes are mirrored beneath the suspected second structure

Mei explained that if a second sphinx truly existed, it would have to sit directly opposite the known monument and be aligned with the carefully planned layout of the Giza complex.

A true counterpart, he added, would need to connect logically with Khafre's pyramid and its surrounding temples and causeways, which were built along strict and measurable lines.

However, Mei argued that the locations proposed by Biondi do not match the established layout of Giza and appear to fall outside the known architectural system.

Mei said the lines used in the team's model seem to be drawn after selecting arbitrary points on the plateau, rather than following real structures or known alignments.

He also pointed to the geology of the Giza Plateau, which is composed of layered limestone known as calcarenite, a rock that naturally forms cavities, ridges and irregular shapes through erosion that can appear artificial to the eye.

According to Mei, the mound identified as the possible second Sphinx site fits known natural geological patterns and shows no visible signs of carving, cutting or architectural shaping that would suggest human construction.

At Giza, geometry is not freely applied but shaped by the site's architecture and layout. When a theory fails to match that framework, Mei argued, it suggests patterns are being forced onto the landscape rather than revealing hidden structures.

Despite the criticism, Biondi said the research is still ongoing and that new findings will soon be revealed.

However, he also revealed that the upcoming presentation may mark the end of his involvement in Giza research altogether.

'After the June 21st event, I plan to conclude my studies on the Giza Plateau for good,' Biondi said, citing growing competition and criticism surrounding the project.
Over half a million Americans have been warned to stay indoors and lock their windows as toxins deemed hazardous to human health fill the air.

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) revealed large swaths of heavily polluted air in Arizona, California, Arizona and Oregon, including pockets showing high levels of dangerous toxins known as fine particulate matter or PM2.5.

These are microscopic particles of toxic compounds or heavy metals often produced by factories and car exhaust small enough to penetrate deep into the lungs. They cause inflammation, breathing difficulties and other health issues when inhaled.

The worst pockets have been detected over several major cities in Arizona, including Gilbert and Chandler, which have a combined population of more than 580,000.

The EPA has warned that air quality levels in both cities registered as 'hazardous' Monday morning - their worst rating for air quality measurements. Both are less than 20 miles east of Phoenix, which has a population of more than 1.6million people.

Air quality-tracking website IQAir noted that PM2.5 levels just east of Gilbert and Chandler were more than 15 times higher than the World Health Organization's recommended safe limits.

IQAir has also reported that wind patterns are moving this air pollution north, resulting in dust and sand blowing through nearby Scottsdale, home to a quarter-million Americans.

When air gets this bad, health officials urge anyone in the affected areas to close their windows to avoid dirty outdoor air, avoid outdoor exercise, wear a face mask when leaving the house and run an air purifier if they own one.

A dust storm seen in Arizona in 2025 (Stock Image)

The EPA's live air quality tracking data has warned of hazardous air over Arizona (Pictured), California and Oregon on Monday, March 30

Another major plume of hazardous toxins was detected over Oregon's major city of Eugene, home to more than 170,000 people.

The EPA's live tracking data warned that highly polluted air was centered over the heart of the city and was spreading west towards the Pacific Ocean, reaching communities over 40 miles away.

In California, a potentially dangerous dust storm pouring over the US-Mexico boarder has created 'very unhealthy' conditions in the Southern California city of El Centro, home to more than 40,000 people.

IQAir registered an air quality index of 225, which was worse than any major city being monitored worldwide on March 30.

Air quality levels are measured on a scale from 0 to 500: good (050) carries little risk, moderate (51100) may affect sensitive individuals, unhealthy for sensitive groups (101150) poses increased risk and unhealthy (151200) impacts everyone, limiting outdoor activity.

The air pollution along the US southern boarder was also filled with PM10, a type of particulate matter made up of tiny solid particles or liquid droplets floating in the air that are less than 10 micrometers in diameter, thinner than a human hair.

These inhalable particles can get deep into your lungs when you breathe them in and are typically created by dust from construction, pollen, mold, smoke, soot, industrial emissions, and wind-blown dirt - like the dust and sand sweeping into the US.

PM10 is noticeably larger than PM2.5, the microscopic particles from cars and factory emissions. However, both can damage the lungs, worsen respiratory issues such as asthma and contribute to heart attacks and strokes that cause premature death.

The city of Eugene, Oregon saw local air quality reach 'hazardous' levels, with a zone of unhealth air (Seen in Red) spreading out roughly 40 miles west

Air quality readings in the southeastern California city of El Centro reached dangerous levels on March 30, fueled by dust and sand blown north from Mexico

As of 10am ET, the EPA revealed that the plume of air deemed 'unhealthy' near El Centro had spread over 150 miles, from Boulder Park, California to Tyson, Arizona.

The major Arizona city of Yuma, which has a population of more than 100,000 people, is also within the danger zone.

California border towns such as Brawley and Calexico have also been advised to take precautions while outdoors, raising the number of Americans in the polluted area to roughly 300,000.
What colour are the dots in this image?

A mindboggling optical illusion has been developed by scientists to show how our perception of colour can be easily skewed.

At first glance it may seem like a simple question.

But if you spend several seconds carefully analysing the picture youll notice the colours shift between a blue and purpleish hue, depending on which dot you are focusing on.

Hinnerk SchulzHildebrandt, a biomedical optics engineer at Harvard Medical School, created the illusion to show how colourdetecting cells in our eyes work.

He included it as part of a study, published in the journal Perception, that reveals our brains can misread colour.

In this paper a novel optical illusion is described in which purple structures (dots) are perceived as purple at the point of fixation, while the surrounding structures (dots) of the same purple colour are perceived toward a blue hue, he wrote.

As the viewing distance increases, a greater number of purple structures (dots) revert to a purple appearance.

If you spend several seconds carefully analysing the picture youll notice the colours shift between a blue and purpleish hue, depending on which dot you are focusing on

He explained that there are three types of cones, or colourdetecting cells, in our eyes: Lcones, Scones and Mcones.

These letters stand for long, short and medium and reflect the wavelength each is responsive to.

For example, Lcones pick up red tones the best, while Scones can detect blues and Mcones are most sensitive to greens and yellows.

These types of cone are not distributed equally throughout the eye and are unevenly spread.

In the area of sharpest vision, Scones which pick up blue tones are almost completely absent, he explained.

This means that our eyes arent quite as good at seeing blue as they are other colours, experts explained  especially when youre looking directly at it.

We dont notice this usually, Jenny Bosten, a visual neuroscientist at the University of Sussex, told Scientific American.

[Thats] because our brains have learned to calibrate out the difference.

The human eye contains three types of cones that can detect different wavelengths of colours, the expert explained

L-cones pick up red tones the best, while S-cones can detect blues and M-cones are most sensitive to greens and yellows

In the ninedot illusion, our brain is changing how we perceive colour so it can stand out more, Mr SchulzHildebrandt explained.

It means that at first look, the dots and background colours appear quite similar.

Our brain sees that combination and interprets the dots as more purple to help distinguish them from the background.

The effect of individual dots becoming more purple as surrounding dots become more blue can even be seen in realtime as you scan the image.

However, the effect becomes less pronounced if you look at the illusion from further away.

The combination of these mechanismsleads to a unique and impressive visual illustration, he wrote.

A pattern of purple objects on a blueish background appears only purple where the viewer looks directly at it.

In the periphery, the perception shifts towards blue. As the viewing distance increases, the number of objects perceived as purple also changes.
Earth has seen a mysterious surge in massive fireballs lighting up the sky, sparking concerns about a potentially city-killing asteroid striking the planet and questions about these objects being UFOs.

The American Meteor Society (AMS), a nonprofit group that has been tracking meteor sightings for over a century, revealed that there have been more reports of fireballs in the first three months of 2026 than in the first quarter of any year dating back to 2011.

The society said: 'The first quarter of 2026 has produced what appears to be a significant surge in large fireball events. The data, drawn from the AMS database going back to 2011, shows a pattern that warrants serious investigation.'

AMS also noted that the recent uptick of space rocks ripping through the atmosphere cannot be definitively explained by local meteor showers or other natural events in space, with 2,046 fireballs already tracked since the start of 2026.

That included 38 major events worldwide reported by more than 50 people, more than the last two years combined.

As many witnesses have suspected that the sightings include extraterrestrial ships visiting Earth, researchers addressed the possibility that the fireballs could be UFOs or some type of artificial craft.

AMS said that the fireballs were not objects of alien origin, adding that their analysis found there has simply been a strange increase in the number of natural meteors flying across Earth's path recently.

'These are rocks from the inner solar system. There is no evidence of anomalous trajectory behavior, controlled flight, or non-natural composition,' the team claimed.

On March 17, witnesses in Pittsburgh reported seeing what appeared to be a burning object streaking through the sky, describing it as 'a rocket or something like a meteor'

There have been more widely witnessed meteor fireballs around the globe in the first three months of 2026 than at any point since records started being kept by AMS in 2011

These bright streaks of light, created when space rocks burn up in Earths atmosphere, can be potentially dangerous if a large enough piece reaches the ground and strikes people or homes, but this is considered an extremely rare event.

Recent reported fireballs include widespread sightings over the US, in Pennsylvania and Ohio, Texas and California, and in other countries such as Australia and Turkey.

March 2026 has stood out the most, as there were far more events seen by over 50 and 100 people, fireballs lasting longer than four seconds and meteors producing loud 'sonic booms' - when a meteor shoots through the atmosphere at speeds over 25,000 mph.

For example, one fireball over Germany on March 8 was reported by 3,229 people. Several other widely visible events had hundreds of witnesses each this month.

Overall, nearly a thousand more fireballs have been spotted in this year's first three months than were detected a decade ago, when only 1,175 were seen in 2016.

However, skeptics have challenged the society's analysis that these are all natural phenomena taking place during a random uptick in space traffic streaking past the planet.

Most notably, one fireball over Texas on March 17 has been widely theorized to be a genuine UFO, after it was seen defying the normal trajectory of a shooting star.

Witnesses across Red Oak captured the shocking moments when an orange fireball streaking through the night sky suddenly turned back up into the air instead of crashing to Earth.

Hundreds of people across the western US reported seeing a mysterious green flash ripple across the sky on March 22

'Not your typical burn-up trajectory. UFO or space rock? You decide,' one person posted online after seeing the strange fireball turning and zig-zagging over Texas.

AMS has pushed back on the claims that anything besides harmless asteroid fragments has entered Earth's atmosphere this year, saying that every piece of a meteorite recovered has been a common rock seen falling from space for years.

'The recovered specimens from Ohio and Germany are achondritic HEDs with mineral compositions formed over billions of years on differentiated asteroids,' researchers revealed in a statement.

Achondritic HEDs refer to a special group of meteorites. Achondritic means these are stony meteorites without small round grains, called chondrules, that most common meteorites have. They formed from melted and cooled rock, like volcanic rocks on Earth.

HED stands for HowarditeEucriteDiogenite. These are three closely related types of achondrites that all came from the same large asteroid, Vesta, which sits in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

The meteor society added that there was no current threat from this surge in meteorite impacts. There was also no risk of a massive space rock colliding with the planet and devastating humanity.

'The objects involved range from pebble-sized to a few [feet] across and are part of the normal continuum of material that Earth encounters. None posed a danger beyond localized effects.'

However, AMS did acknowledge that one of these impacts severely damaged the roof of a woman's home in Houston on March 21.

The meteorite that landed in Sherrie James's home just outside Houston on March 21

Over the last decades, the first quarter of 2026 has seen the most fireballs worldwide, suggesting that more meteors are passing Earth than ever before

NASA said the three-foot-long rock that weighed over a ton prior to colliding with Sherrie James's house was traveling at 35,000 mph before most of it burned up in the atmosphere.

A tiny chunk of the meteor survived and struck the woman's home with such force that it ripped through the ceiling of her daughter's bedroom, ricocheted off the floor, and hit the ceiling again before landing on an empty bed.

AMS said part of the reason for the massive surge in fireballs being reported to them by the public could be because of AI chatbots.

In 2025, there were only 15 fireballs witnessed by more than 50 people in the first three months of the year. There have already been 38 in 2026

When people see a bright fireball, witnesses often ask ChatGPT, Siri, Grok or Googles AI 'I just saw a fireball - where do I report it?' and the AI directs them straight to the AMS website.

This can cause each big event to get more reports than it would have in the past. However, the report noted that AI likely only explains the higher number of witnesses per event, not the actual increase in loud sonic booms or the meteorites striking Earth.

The last time there were more than 2,000 fireballs seen in Earth's atmosphere before the start of April was 2021.
A vast network of more than 63,000 connections woven throughout the Bible is drawing renewed attention from believers, with some arguing the intricate links point to divine authorship.

The connections, identified by a computer scientist at Carnegie Mellon University and a Lutheran pastor in Germany, stretch across all 66 books of scripture, linking people, events and themes scattered throughout the Old and New Testaments.

Researchers transformed these connections into a visualization that lays out every chapter from Genesis to Revelation along a single line. Each vertical bar represents a chapter, with taller bars marking sections that contain more verses.

Thousands of curved lines stretch between books to link related passages, with darker lines highlighting verses that share the greatest number of connections. The arcs form a rainbow-like pattern that visually reveals how extensively the Bible is woven together from beginning to end.

One example ties Genesis 2:9, which describes the Tree of Life in Eden, to Revelation 22:2, where the symbol reappears in the Bible's final vision of paradise.

Another connects Exodus 12, describing the Passover lamb, to John 1:29, where Jesus is referred to as the 'Lamb of God.'

Prophetic passages in Isaiah 7:14 are also linked to Matthew 1:23, which connects the verse to the birth of Jesus centuries later.

The network spans books believed to have been written by more than 40 authors over roughly 1,500 years. It also bridges three continents, Asia, Africa and Europe, and three languages, Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek.

Researchers transformed these connections into a visualization that lays out every chapter from Genesis to Revelation along a single line. Each vertical bar represents a chapter, with taller bars marking sections that contain more verses

The project, which identified 63,779 connections, combined religious scholarship with modern data analysis to transform centuries of textual study into a structured dataset revealing thousands of relationships between verses.

The network was first created in 2007 through a collaboration between computer scientist Chris Harrison and Lutheran pastor Christoph Romhild, who assembled a digital dataset of cross-references found throughout the Bible.

Their work has recently gained renewed attention on social media, where pastors and commentators have pointed to the network as evidence of what they believe is a unified message throughout scripture.

One user posted on X: 'That's literally impossible: you can't get 20 people in a room and tell them to write an essay about one topic and get agreement.'

In a video shared by Silverdale Baptist Church in Tennessee, pastor Tony Walliser highlighted how the Bible connects stories across generations while focusing on a central figure, Jesus.

'Now, let me ask you how that just happened?' Walliser said in the video. 'You go wow, it must have had a major, amazing general editor, yeah, it did: God.'

These cross-references are connections between passages that share similar themes, references, people, or locations, many of which traditionally appear in the margins of printed study Bibles.

Each of the cross-references represents a conceptual link between two separate passages.

The network spans books believed to have been written by more than 40 authors over roughly 1,500 years. It also bridges three continents, Asia, Africa and Europe, and three languages, Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek

Those included Isaiah 53, which describes a suffering servant wounded for others, cross-referenced with John 19, detailing the crucifixion of Jesus.

The crossing of the Red Sea in Exodus 14 is repeatedly referenced in Hebrews 11, linking early accounts of deliverance to later teachings on faith.

Genesis 12:3, which promises blessings through Abraham, is later connected to Galatians 3:8, where the passage is interpreted centuries later.

Numbers 21:9, which describes Moses raising a bronze serpent, is later linked to John 3:14, where the act is compared to Jesus being lifted.

The project aimed to do more than simply catalog these references; it sought to reveal the depth and complexity of scripture in a visually striking format that could be understood at both broad and detailed levels.

According to Harrison, the goal was to produce something that balanced beauty and meaning while honoring the complexity of biblical text.

He explained that the visualization was designed so that viewers could observe the full structure of connections from a distance, while still discovering finer details upon closer examination.

Each connection between verses is represented by a curved line linking related passages across different sections of the text. The color of each line reflects the distance between chapters, creating a sweeping rainbow-like pattern that visually demonstrates the scope of cross-references throughout scripture.

Supporters of the project said the sheer density of connections highlights what they view as remarkable internal consistency across books written by multiple authors over long periods of time.

The Bible, written over centuries by dozens of individuals, spans different historical eras, cultural contexts and literary styles.

Yet the connections between passages, often linking early Old Testament writings to later New Testament teachings, have long been cited as evidence of theological continuity.

Some theologians and believers argued that the discovery of tens of thousands of interconnected references strengthens the case for divine inspiration.

They pointed out that maintaining thematic unity across such a vast text would have required extraordinary coordination, especially considering that many biblical books were composed generations apart.

However, some scholars cautioned that cross-references are not necessarily proof of divine authorship.

Instead, they noted that religious traditions often build upon earlier writings, deliberately referencing established teachings and narratives.

This layered structure, they argued, is consistent with how many historical religious texts evolve.
Fury is mounting after a nepo baby influencer landed a speaking slot at one of the worlds most prestigious business schools - despite the fact that she's never before run a company of her own.

Kit Keenan, the 26-year-old daughter of fashion designer Cynthia Rowley, traveled from her luxury apartment in New York to Cambridge, Massachusetts, to speak speak to a roomful of bright-minded future entrepreneurs at Harvard Business School.

The designer, influencer, and entrepreneur, who appeared on The Bachelor in 2021, used Instagram to share a snap of herself as she posed on the Ivy League campus, captioned: 'An absolute honor to be speaking at Harvard Business School today.'

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Head start: Kit Keenan's the daughter of fashion designer Cynthia Rowley (right)

Speaker: Keenan posed at the Ivy League campus, and said it was 'an absolute honor to be speaking at Harvard Business School'

While her mother's amassed an estimated $100million fortune through her global fashion and lifestyle brand, Keenan's built her own wealth on TikTok.

Keenan got her TV start as a contestant on Season 25 of The Bachelor when she was aged 21 - the youngest contestant ever to appear on the show at that time.

She described herself as a 'Young Martha Stewart stuck in Blair Waldorfs plotline', to allude to her love for cooking combined with a privileged Upper East Side upbringing.

On her social media accounts, Keenan shared recipes, workout routines, daily vlogs, and 'Get Ready With Me' videos.

On her website, she posted links to her favorite kitchen products and fashion pieces.

Shared knowledge: Keenan commuted from her luxury apartment in NYC to Cambridge, Massachusetts, to speak to bright-minded future entrepreneurs

While she once had a line of clothes called KIT, none of the products were to be found online.

With all that in mind, online voices asked what constituted Keenan to offer advice to students at one of the most prestigious and competitive business schools in the world.

One Reddit user said: 'Um??? What business did she do?'

Another added: 'Discussing how mommys business is the reason you got anywhere in life?'

A third wrote: 'So curious what the topic could have possibly been.'

One person posted: 'HBS will let basically anyone come to speak.'

A different user commented: 'Damn! Thats like disrespectful to the students, honestly'

A further comment read: 'I feel like this is a slap in the face to everyone who has worked their ass off to get into Harvard.'

Keenan's world: On her social media accounts, Keenan shared recipes, workout routines, daily vlogs, and 'Get Ready With Me' videos
Hundreds of people were forced to flee a nightclub in Germany as a fire ripped through and destroyed the building.

Images from the scene at the K Club in Kehl - on the French border in the southwest of the country - showed the blaze raging on the establishment's roof as party-goers struggled desperately to escape.

The fire began around 3.45am local time and went on to 'spread over the whole building', police said.

Around 750 people are thought to have been in the club at the time and were all able to escape, with three people treated by emergency services for shock.

Photos show teams of firefighters battling the inferno as it spread across the nightclub, which is located in an industrial area of the city.

Authorities said the damage was so extensive that most of the building had to be torn down.

In a statement, Kehl's mayor Wolfram Britz said he was 'happy and relieved that nobody was hurt' and thanked the nightclub owner for ensuring an orderly evacuation.

Blaze: People watched as a fire ripped through and destroyed the K Club in Kehl, Germany, in the early hours of Sunday morning

Firefighters remained on the scene into Sunday afternoon, with remnants of the blaze being extinguished in the interior of the building.

The club is a popular destination for fans of hip-hop music and attracts hundreds of revellers each weekend.

Kehl lies directly across the Rhine River from the French city of Strasbourg, and the club regularly attracts visitors from across the border.

Scary: Images from the scene show the blaze raging on the establishment's roof

Spread: The fire began around 3.45am local time and went on to 'spread over the whole building', police said

German media reported that at least 80 personnel from the fire department, police, and emergency medical services attended the scene.

One witness told the local French newspaper DNA: 'All of a sudden we heard: "there's a fire!" There were several announcements in German, French, and English.'

The paper quoted clubbers as saying the staff 'handled it really well' and the evacuation was 'very quick'.

An investigation has been opened into the blaze, the cause of which was not immediately clear.

Damage: Pictures from the scene in Kehl later in the morning showing the extent of the damage to the building
The Ashar Valley is an extraordinary place to visit. This dry channel  or wadi  is a landscape of sand and fantastical towers of rock sculpted by the elements over many millennia.

But the geology of the valley, nor even its location close to AlUla and the ruins of the ancient city of Hegra, isn't just what makes Wadi Ashar remarkable.

If you go there in late afternoon, it looks like a mirage, a shimmering shape sitting like a UFO in the valley. As you descend the slope of the valley, you finally see a vast cube of glass reflecting every detail of the canyon.

This is Maraya  simply 'mirror' in Arabic  a concert hall, but a concert hall like no other.

Maraya is the most striking symbol of the stunning renaissance in music and performance taking place across Saudi Arabia, a revival given further momentum when the Ministry of Culture established its Music Commission in February 2020.

Maraya  simply 'mirror' in Arabic  is a concert hall, but a concert hall like no other

The Commission's epic ambition is to build the infrastructure that will allow everyone in the Kingdom access to music  and to discover, empower and further develop musical talents.

Maraya opened its doors in the winter of 2019 during 'Tantora', one of the new festivals of music and arts which are such a feature of Saudi's cultural scene.

Soon after its opening, Guinness World Records confirmed it was the world's largest mirrored building, with an exterior covered with 9,740 square metres of mirrors.

Its 3,000 pre-tempered panels are specially adapted to endure sandstorms and the extreme temperature you find in this corner of northwest Saudi Arabia.

The 500-seat concert hall has established itself as a premier destination for international performers such as Mariah Carey, OneRepublic, Alicia Keys, Andrea Bocelli, John Legend and Seal, alongside celebrated regional talents such as Mohamed Abdo, Angham, Omar Khairat, and Kadim Al Sahir.

In January, Maraya hosted one of its own  The Saudi National Orchestra and Choir, an ensemble of Saudi musicians, returning after months of showcasing their unique sound and skills to a wider world.

For the Marvels of Saudi Orchestra, their one-off concert at Maraya was a homecoming after a landmark tour which has seen them delight audiences in London, Paris, New York, Mexico City, Sydney and Tokyo with an exhilarating programme blending traditional Arabic styles with music from the classical and contemporary western repertoire.

Andrea Bocelli performing at Maraya

The orchestra's creation was one of the first major projects undertaken by the Commission when it was founded six years ago.

For the orchestra's performance, Maraya unveiled a marvel of its own: a giant door behind the stage, which opens to reveal panoramic views of Wadi Ashar.

This 26-meter floor-to-ceiling facade creates an extraordinary connection between indoor performance space and the natural amphitheatre of the desert beyond, allowing the landscape itself to become part of the show.

As the lights went down, the lonely, evocative notes of the ney, the Arabic flute, began as concertgoers viewed the orchestra seemingly placed within the very rocks.

A female voice spoke of the mirrors between past and future, the world's civilisations meeting in this silent valley.

As the music began, performed by the Saudi National Orchestra and Choir's male and female musicians and choirs, we heard the echoes of those past peoples.

Although AlUla is routinely described as 'remote', for the ancient Dadan and Nabatean empires, it was anything but  an oasis and crossroads on the busy spice routes from the south of the peninsula to the fertile coastal lands beyond.

Today, thanks to Maraya and the revitalised old town of AlUla, the Ashar Valley is again a meeting point where performers and visitors share stories and ideas.

If you go there in late afternoon, it looks like a mirage, a shimmering shape sitting like a UFO in the valley

The French bassist and composer Leo Chazallet, who played at Maraya with the legendary Gypsy Kings ensemble, said that playing at Maraya was 'a deeply meaningful and inspiring experience in my musical life'.

'Standing in the middle of the desert, surrounded by the remnants of ancient civilizations, silence, and beneath one of the most beautiful star-filled skies I've ever seen, brought a profound sense of perspective and spiritual elevation,' Leo said.

Maraya may be the shining symbol of the Saudi music scene.

But behind its beauty is a robust commitment to create jobs and launch careers. In villages and towns across the land, amateur performers and enthusiasts are reviving and documenting Saudi folklore and music.

Because as the Music Commission says in its mission statement, 'Musical cultural awareness is among the requirements of quality of life'.

Visit the Saudi Music Commission https://music.moc.gov.sa/en for more information
It's set to be a busy week ahead in aviation, as the Easter weekend and school holidays fast approach.

And a burst of wintry weather, coupled with the looming holidays, has triggered a surge in last-minute holiday bookings for next week.

Customers are set to travel on almost 30,000 flights overall, with 5.2 million seats on offer across Europe during the school break.

As a result, easyJet is set to see its busiest Easter weekend on record.

Last-minute Easter holiday bookings have surged by 76 per cent this week, with holiday experts pointing to a mix of deals and cold UK weather driving demand, according to On the Beach.

Across this first Easter travel weekend alone customers will take to the skies on more than 5,000 easyJet flights, as families make the most of the spring break to enjoy warmer weather and muchneeded time away.

From the UK, the airline is set to operate up to 16,000 flights during the Easter period, flying customers to destinations offering spring sunshine as well as classic European city breaks.

EasyJet holidays is set to welcome more than a quarter extra customers than last year's Easter weekend.

The cold weather has encouraged Brits to book a last-minute break this Easter

And the skies are set to be even busier than usual, as the Easter period will also see London Gatwick welcome five new airlines.

Notably, Jet2 launched its inaugural flight from London Gatwick yesterday, heading to Tenerife.

It marked the start of Jet2 operating flights and package holidays from the UKs second largest airport for the first time.

This inaugural flight was followed by another to Alicante shortly after.

Now, Jet2 flights and holidays for winter 2026/2027 and summer 2027 are on sale.

Gatwick is also welcoming Air France, Condor, Eurowings and Animawings, while AirAsia X, Air Arabia and Beijing Capital will touch down in the coming weeks.

A range of new routes will also be available from the likes of Norwegian and Royal Air Maroc, giving passengers the choice of more than 220 destinations.

So, where are Brits heading this Easter?

It comes as easyJet is set to face its busiest Easter yet, with up to 16,000 flights

Jet2 is adding to the aviation activity this week, launching its first flight from Gatwick

While Easter traditionally marks the end of the ski season, some higheraltitude resorts remain open into April, meaning customers looking for lateseason snow still have plenty of options to hit the slopes.

According to On the Beach, the top destinations for Brits this Easter include Western Mediterranean destinations, Spain and the Canary Islands, which have both seen an increase in bookings as Brits look to familiar destinations for their breaks.

For sunseekers, Tenerife and Lanzarote remain among the most popular choices, while Spanish mainland favourites Alicante and Malaga also continue to be in high demand.

Greece has emerged as a standout destination, with last-minute bookings soaring 200 per cent week-on-week, while Turkey is also experiencing a late booking surge, seeing a 160 per cent rise in Easter holiday bookings.

Zoe Harris, chief customer officer at On the Beach, said: 'Holidays are well and truly back on the menu this Easter, and in true Easter hunt fashion, Brits are finding some seriously good-value deals.

'Destinations like Greece and Turkey are offering standout value alongside familiar favourites, Spain, the Canaries and Portugal, and with the UK weather showing no signs of improving, it's no surprise we've seen a surge in people snapping up last-minute sunshine breaks.'

Kevin Doyle, easyJet's UK Country Manager, added: 'Every Easter we see more customers choosing easyJet for our unrivalled network, choice, brilliant package holidays and great value  and this year were set to fly more than 30,000 flights across Europe to over 140 destinations.

'Easter marks a welcome chance for families, couples and friends to enjoy a break together, whether thats a dose of earlyspring sunshine or exploring one of Europes great cities. Were continuing to offer even more flying to the destinations that matter most to our customers, always focused on making travel easy.'
KEYSTONE, Fla., March 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- What makes North Florida such a hidden gem within the Sunshine State? A HelloNation article explores that question by uncovering how the region's landscapes, communities, and real estate market combine to create a lifestyle distinct from other parts of Florida. In the feature, Real Estate Expert Justus Smith of Southland Realty & Management & Co in Keystone discusses the draw of the area for those seeking affordability, space, and a genuine sense of community. The full article can be found in a HelloNation article.

Justus Smith, Broker/Owner Speed Speed

The article describes North Florida as a place defined by variety and contrast. It stretches from forested inland hills to coastal fishing towns, providing both peace and opportunity. Real Estate Expert Justus Smith emphasizes that this balance is one reason more people are turning their attention north. Unlike the crowded markets in South or Central Florida, the region offers a more relaxed rhythm without sacrificing access to outdoor recreation and modern conveniences.

In housing, North Florida stands out for its value and character. Smith explains that many communities retain their traditional neighborhood feel while offering larger lots and more privacy. For families, retirees, and remote professionals, that combination of affordability and open space is rare in Florida's competitive market. The HelloNation article notes that lower home prices do not mean a compromise in quality of life. Instead, they provide buyers a chance to live comfortably while enjoying natural surroundings and close-knit communities.

According to Smith, small-town life plays a major role in why North Florida appeals to so many. Towns like Tallahassee and Gainesville blend cultural activities, strong education systems, and accessible amenities. The HelloNation article highlights how farmers markets, local festivals, and community gatherings give residents a sense of belonging. This connection is central to North Florida's charm, offering residents the warmth and familiarity that large metropolitan areas often lack.

From a real estate perspective, the economic outlook supports long-term growth. Smith points to steady development in sectors such as agriculture, education, and renewable energy. These industries bring jobs and stability while keeping living costs manageable. The HelloNation feature explains that this economic diversity contributes to the region's balance of progress and preservation. Residents can enjoy the benefits of a developing market without the pressures found in faster-paced urban centers.

Another major factor attracting homebuyers is the natural environment. North Florida's springs, rivers, and forests create an inviting backdrop for outdoor living. Smith describes how this natural beauty shapes local lifestyle choices. Whether it's kayaking on a quiet river or exploring a coastal preserve, residents can enjoy year-round recreation close to home. The HelloNation article notes that this lifestyle often becomes a deciding factor for families seeking both activity and tranquility.

The region's weather also plays a role in its growing popularity. With cooler winters and mild seasonal changes, North Florida offers more variety than the rest of the state. Smith explains that this moderation makes the area more comfortable for year-round living. The local climate supports a range of agriculture and landscaping that adds to the region's appeal. According to the HelloNation piece, this variation in weather gives residents a stronger sense of rhythm and connection to their surroundings.

Culturally, North Florida combines Southern hospitality with coastal traditions. Smith observes that this blend creates a welcoming atmosphere for newcomers. The HelloNation article describes how local dining, community gatherings, and everyday interactions reflect values of friendliness and authenticity. In towns across the region, it's common for neighbors to know each other and for community events to fill calendars throughout the year.

For those considering relocation, Smith acknowledges that adjusting to the slower pace can take time. Rural stretches may require longer drives for certain services, but most residents see it as a fair trade. The HelloNation feature underscores that people who move to North Florida often do so for quality of life. They appreciate the space, calm, and personal connections that come with living in smaller communities.

Ultimately, the HelloNation article concludes that North Florida offers a kind of balance that many people seek but rarely find. Smith agrees that the region gives residents the best of Floridaits warmth, scenery, and outdoor livingwithout the density or expense of the state's larger markets. For those searching for a home that reflects both value and lifestyle, North Florida delivers a compelling option.

Is North Florida the Hidden Gem of the Sunshine State? features insights from Justus Smith, Real Estate Expert of Keystone, FL, in HelloNation.

About HelloNation

HelloNation is a premier media platform that connects readers with trusted professionals and businesses across various industries. Through its innovative "edvertising" approach that blends educational content and storytelling, HelloNation delivers expert-driven articles that inform, inspire, and empower. Covering topics from home improvement and health to business strategy and lifestyle, HelloNation highlights leaders making a meaningful impact in their communities.

SOURCE HelloNation
With flight prices still competitive this spring, we set out to find European city breaks from Dublin where two nights away cost less than 180  and were not slumming it either.

From the pastel beauty of Wroclaw and the historic waterfront of Gdansk, to the charming streets of Bratislava, the Baltic elegance of Vilnius and Riga, the Italian romance of Bergamo and the stylish riverside flair of Dusseldorf  these are destinations where you can sip, stroll and soak up the culture without emptying your wallet.

Theres something magical about exploring a European city thats new to you, wandering cobbled streets, lingering over long lunches, discovering tucked-away wine bars, lively markets and neighbourhood cafes where life moves at a gentler pace.

Its even better if it comes without a hefty price tag. So here are eight European city breaks from Dublin.

Aleksander Fredro Statue in Wroclaw town square

Wroclaw, Poland

One of Europes most colourful and underrated cities, Wroclaw has a gorgeous pastel-coloured market square, canals running through the city and a lively restaurant scene. Flights from Dublin can often be found from around 100 return, while very good four-star hotels average about 75 per night. That means a two-night break can come in at roughly 175 per person sharing, which is extraordinary value.

Top things to see and do

You can wander the beautiful Rynek market square or explore Ostrow Tumski (Cathedral Island). Enjoy an evening stroll along the river bridges and then visit the lively Market Hall for local food.

You can even go dwarf hunting around the city as Wroclaw has more than 300 tiny bronze dwarf statues hidden around the streets.

The old town of Gdansk in Poland

Gdansk, Poland

The historic port city of Gdansk is one of northern Europes most beautiful waterfront destinations, full of colourful merchant houses and maritime history. Flights from Dublin are often around 75 return, and excellent four-star hotels in the old town range from 60-80 per night, making a two-night break achievable for roughly 135-155 per person.

Top things to see and do

You can walk along Long Market and Long Street, or see the medieval Gdansk Crane on the riverfront. Climb St Marys Church for city views and visit the European Solidarity Centre.

Alternatively, enjoy riverside restaurants along the Motlawa  did you know Gdansk was once one of the wealthiest ports in the powerful Hanseatic trading league?

Vilnius is home to some beautiful architecture

Vilnius, Lithuania

Elegant Vilnius is one of Europes most beautiful baroque cities, with a relaxed cafe culture and one of the largest medieval old towns in Europe. Flights from Dublin can start around 80 return, while four-star hotels average 70-80 per night, bringing a weekend break to around 150 per person.

Top things to see and do

Explore the Old Town, which is full of churches and cafes, and visit Cathedral Square, the citys heart. Climb Gediminas Tower for views and discover the bohemian district of Uzupis, which once declared itself an independent republic, complete with its own constitution.

I also highly recommend just enjoying cafe life along Pilies Street

Bergamo offers a romantic Italian city break

Bergamo, Italy

Many travellers fly to Bergamo thinking only of Milan, but Bergamo itself is a romantic Italian city break with incredible charm. Flights from Dublin are often about 45 return, and very good hotels start around 85 per night, meaning a weekend escape can come in around 130 per person.

Top things to see and do

Explore the medieval Citta Alta and ride the historic funicular railway. Enjoy the elegant Piazza Vecchia and then walk the Venetian walls around the city  Bergamos city walls are a Unesco World Heritage Site.

Or do my favourite thing in this part of the world and relax over long Italian lunches and aperitivo.

Riga's combines medieval charm with Art Nouveau architecture

Riga, Latvia

The Baltic capital Riga combines medieval charm with some of the finest Art Nouveau architecture in Europe. Flights are usually around 90 return, while four-star hotels average 7080 per night, bringing a weekend break to roughly 160 per person.

Top things to see and do

Wander the atmospheric Old Town and explore the beautiful Art Nouveau district  Riga has one of the largest collections of Art Nouveau buildings in the world.

Visit the famous House of the Black Heads and then sample local flavours at Riga Central Market before enjoying evening walks along the river.

Warsaw is a city of contrasts

Warsaw, Poland

Polands capital Warsaw is a fascinating city of contrasts  historic yet modern, with excellent museums and a thriving restaurant scene. Flights from Dublin are often about 90 return, and four-star hotels average around 88 per night, bringing a weekend break to roughly 178 per person.

Top things to see and do

Explore the beautifully rebuilt Old Town  it was so carefully rebuilt after World War II that it became a Unesco World Heritage Site  and then visit the Royal Castle. You can relax in Lazienki Park before discovering the Warsaw Rising Museum.

Do make sure to leave time to enjoy the citys vibrant restaurant scene.

Dusseldorf offers beautiful walks along the Rhine promenade

Dusseldorf, Germany

Stylish Dusseldorf is probably the most polished western European option on this list  and one I absolutely love. Flights from Dublin can be got for 80 return, and hotels such as the Clayton Hotel Dusseldorf often have rooms around 80-90 per night, bringing a two-night break to roughly 160 per person.

Top things to see and do

Walk the beautiful Rhine promenade and explore the lively Altstadt bar district  nicknamed the longest bar in the world with more than 250 pubs and breweries.

Shop along Konigsallee and then experience the fantastic Little Tokyo food scene. You can even take a short train trip to Cologne to see its famous cathedral.
Spooked British tourists have started cancelling their holidays to Cyprus with hotel bookings down 40 percent on the island as war rages in the Middle East.

Photographs show deserted beaches and streets in hotspots such as Limassol and Protaras which are usually bustling with tourists during the Easter holidays.

The US and Israel launched attacks on Iran on February 28, just as Cyprus's tourism industry was reopening after winter.

Then on March 2, as Iran launched a series of counter-strikes, a drone struck a British naval base on the island, triggering a wave of tourist cancellations.

The drop in bookings is the latest sign of the wars broad fallout, from disrupted oil flows to mass flight cancellations and worsening economic outlooks worldwide.

Daily cancellation rates for short-term rentals in Cyprus shot up from around 15 per cent before the conflict to as high as 100 per cent in the days after, according to data from US-based AirDNA, which tracks such bookings.

That figure has since dropped, but remained around 45 per cent by March 21. Greece and Turkey saw slight rises in cancellation rates, too.

Cyprus' Hoteliers Association has seen a near 40 per cent drop in March bookings and a similar reduction in April, according to the association's director-general, Christos Angelides.

Cyprus, which welcomed four million international visitors in 2025, relies heavily on tourism from the UK, with British travellers making up around a third of arrivals.

Beaches in Limassol, Cyprus, are usually packed with tourists enjoying the sunshine - but last week, many were left empty

The streets, normally filled with visitors during the spring and summer months, were noticeably quieter than usual in Protaras

The main strip in Protaras was left without its usual bustling crowds - with shops closed, restaurants empty and no tourists in sight

Cyprus' Hoteliers Association has seen a near 40 per cent drop in March bookings and a similar reduction in April (Pictured: a nearly empty restaurant in Limassol)

People sit in a deserted cafe in a hotel in Limassol, as booking numbers have plummeted

But its location in the far eastern Mediterranean, just 100 miles from the coast of Lebanon and Syria in the Middle East, means the country is seeing a decline in its usual visitor numbers as regional instability grows.

As the war enters its fifth week, Iranian attacks continue on the Gulf states, with countries such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the UAE reporting new strikes on Monday.

Barrages of Israeli strikes have also continued to hit Lebanon where the IDF is fighting Hezbollah.

This uncertainty has reportedly led tourists to reconsider their holiday plans, with locals worried about the potential impact of the conflict, especially with the Easter holidays approaching.

Muskita Hotels, which operates three hotels in Cyprus, told the Financial Times it had seen a wave of cancellations for holidays in March and April, as well as a steep slowdown in bookings for the rest of 2026.

Thanos Hotels and Resorts, which runs four hotels in Cyprus, has also experienced a sudden wave of cancellations.

And the cost of accommodation in April and May in Cyprus was 12 per cent lower last week than in the week before the start of the conflict, Lighthouse Intelligence data shows.

Even more dramatically, prices dropped by more than 25 per cent in Bodrum, a much-loved holiday destination in Turkey.

EasyJet chief executive Kenton Jarvis told the FT: 'If you look at a map of Europe, we saw obviously a drop in demand in Cyprus and Turkey and that side of Africa.'

Beaches in Cyprus, in Protaras and Limassol for example, have been noticeably quieter than usual - with visitors capturing footage of the abandoned hotspots.

One pair, known as Gypsy Souls, shared a clip last week on YouTube of the 'empty' Protaras just days before the main 2026 season started - and highlighted the quiet main strip.

It comes after a drone launched by a pro-Iranian militia struck the British military base at RAF Akrotiri, located in the Western Sovereign Base Area, on 2 March, placing the island closer to the regional security situation.

An Iranian-type Shahed UAV caused slight damage when it hit facilities at Akrotiri in the early hours.

The suicide drone is said to have been launched by Iranian proxy group Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Only parts of Cyprus and Turkey are on Foreign Office's unsafe to fly list.

However, package holidays to countries near the Middle East conflict are being sold for as little as 100 as travel firms try to win bookings from concerned travellers.

Cheap deals include seven nights in Turkey at a three-star hotel in Marmaris with Luton flights for just 100 per person for a couple next month.

Others could take a week-long trip to Cyprus for just 165 per person, staying at three-star accommodation in Paphos with flights from Liverpool in April.

Return flights to the destinations are also very cheap, with Ryanair offering return flights from Stansted to Bodrum in Turkey for 49 and to Paphos in Cyprus for 50.

A man walks in Akrotiri village next to RAF Akrotiri, a British sovereign base in Cyprus

Protaras, a popular family-friendly resort in Cyprus, now has quieter beaches than usual

The country's location means the it is seeing a decline in its usual visitor numbers (Pictured: a man walks in the old port in Limassol, Cyprus, March 24)

The Dutch frigate HNLMS Evertsen, part of a joint European mission to send defence assets to Cyprus for protection, is docked at the port of Heraklio

Pictured: a reception area in a hotel in Limassol is nearly deserted

The holiday prices are from online travel firm On The Beach, which saw its shares plunge after suspending its annual guidance due to war hitting bookings.

Shares fell by as much as 13 per cent earlier this month as the company reported a 'significant slowdown in demand following the onset of conflict in the region, particularly to destinations such as Turkey, Greece, Cyprus and Egypt'.

Irene Hays, owner and chair of travel agency Hays Travels, told the Financial Times the rush to book holidays in places that seem to be more secure - like Malta, Croatia and Italy - has 'pushed some prices up'.

Meanwhile, tour operator Kuoni has seen a 20 per cent booking increase for the Caribbean, compared with the same period in 2025, while bookings in Italy had climbed by more than half (55 per cent).

The Turks and Caicos Islands have been found to have seen the biggest boost in interest since the conflict started with share of Caribbean searches surging by 119 per cent.

The Dominican Republic was second with its search share up 100 per cent, while Tobago was third with a 79 per cent rise and St Lucia was in fourth up 55 per cent.

Antigua's share rose 53 per cent, Jamaica was up 49 per cent and Aruba increased 42 per cent; while Barbados and the Bahamas were both up 23 per cent.

Chris Webber, head of holidays and deals at TravelSupermarket, said today: 'When global events change holiday plans, we tend to see travellers pivot quickly.

People walk in the coastal city of Limassol, Cyprus, March 24

An empty souvenir shop in Limassol

Package holidays to countries near the Middle East conflict are being sold for as little as 100 (Pictured: tourists on deserted streets in Limassol)

The cost of accommodation in April and May in Cyprus was 12 per cent lower last week than in the week before the start of the conflict (Pictured: an empty hotel in Limassol)

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'The Caribbean is a natural beneficiary. What's striking here isn't just the overall jump in searches, but how broadly that interest is spread.

'Destinations like Turks and Caicos and Tobago aren't typically where British holidaymakers look first, so to see them surging suggests people are still keen to try somewhere new.'

The research analysed all searches on TravelSupermarket.com over the two weeks from March 2 to 15, compared to the previous fortnight.

British Airways Holidays has also seen a boost for the Caribbean, with Barbados searches up 46 per cent and Antigua up 63 per cent versus the same time last year.

BA last week announced an expansion of its Caribbean routes for this winter - including a new daily London Gatwick to Barbados service from October 25.

There will also be a standalone daily St Lucia service from the same date as well as increased flights from Gatwick to Jamaica and the Dominican Republic.
Travellers jetting off to Spain for their Easter break might need to prepare for travel chaos when they arrive at their destination.

The popular holiday spot is set to be hit by industrial action, beginning today, March 30.

Several major hubs are involved with the strikes, including Barcelona-El Prat Airport, Adolfo Suarez Madrid-Barajas Airport and Palma de Mallorca Airport.

Other spots set to be impacted are Alicante, Malaga and the Canary Islands, the Express reports.

The strike action, involving Groundforce workers, is expected to take place in several intervals - from 5am to 7am, 11am to 5pm and 10pm to midnight - all of which are during busy travel periods for the airports.

More than 3,000 ground handling staff members from Groundforce are set to be involved.

The action could reportedly continue indefinitely and is over ongoing pay disagreements.

The staggered timings are expected to create long queues, delayed luggage drop offs and boarding issues.

Adolfo Suarez Madrid-Barajas Airport during a strike by French air controllers in July 2025

Travellers may be concerned over their right to a refund or compensation if their flight is impacted by the action.

Travel insurance expert Alicia Hempsted, from MoneySuperMarket, has urged families to check their policy documents to see whether they are eligible.

If a flight is cancelled or late due to the strikes, holidaymakers may be able to gain some money back, according to Alice.

The expert explained: 'Under EU law, you may be entitled to a refund for your flight from the airline, but you may also be able to reclaim other costs, such as accommodation, on your travel insurance.

'If your flight is delayed, your airline has an obligation to offer you food, drink and accommodation depending on the length of the delay.'

However, travellers can only claim the additional compensation if they are told about the strikes less than 14 days before the flight, Alice added.

She continued: 'Strikes are generally considered 'extraordinary circumstances,' meaning airlines aren't usually responsible, unless the disruption is caused by their own staff, such as pilots or airline employees.'

As for whether travel insurance specifically will cover the holidaymaker for any delays or cancellations experienced due to the action, Alice explained how it depends when you booked the break.

Adolfo Suarez Madrid-Barajas Airport during a strike by French air controllers in July 2025

She said: 'As long as the airline strikes were announced after you booked your trip and your travel insurance, you may be able to claim through your insurer.

'Always check the terms and conditions of a policy before you buy, as not all travel insurance providers offer cover for airline strikes.

'If your policy includes travel disruption cover, it might be possible to claim for disruption or losses incurred as a result of your trip being delayed or cancelled.

'This may include alternative accommodation, or expenses incurred such as travel, food and drink, and can even stretch to covering the full cost of your holiday should you end up not being able to travel.

'However, it is worth noting that not all policies cover this as standard and cover levels, conditions, and exclusions can vary between providers, making it important to check with your insurer as your first port of call.'

She urged travellers to purchase insurance as soon as they book a trip to ensure they are covered, and check their policy documents carefully.
Air India is set to introduce a new health and compliance policy for flight attendants that are deemed underweight, overweight or obese.

From May 1, cabin crew must have a 'desirable' Body Mass Index (BMI) reading and meet specific fitness standards or face potential pay cuts and termination.

Under new guidelines, cabin crew must maintain a BMI between 18.5 and 24.9 to meet the 'desired range' standard.

A BMI reading of less than 18 will be considered as 'underweight', though candidates may still be cleared if they pass a medical evaluation and functional assessment.

Cabin crew with a BMI reading in the range of 25-29.9 will be classed as 'overweight' - considered 'acceptable' only if the candidate successfully passes the functional assessment.

A BMI of 30 or above will not be accepted by the airline.

As per the policy, anyone with this reading will face immediate derostering and automatic loss of pay. They will have seven days to achieve the acceptable BMI.

Flight attendants that fall into the 'underweight or 'overweight' category will be derostered until they clear the functional assessment.

From 1 May, Air India cabin crew must adhere to strict new health and fitness guidelines. Candidates who are considered overweight or underweight face loss of pay and termination

Individuals who do not pass the assessment will be suspended without pay until they receive clearance.

In its communication to staff, Air India said: 'The initial launch aims to promote awareness of maintaining a healthy lifestyle and familiarise crew with the process of maintaining an appropriate weight category.

'The current policy, in the interim, serves as a preparatory measure before the policy with enhanced fitness standards is implemented.'

The new rule applies to both active cabin crew and those undergoing training, as reported by The Economic Times.

It comes as part of a major internal shake-up, following Air India's acquisition by Tata Group in 2022, which has seen much of the airline's legacy staff phased out in the last four years.

The Daily Mail has contacted Air India for comment.

It's not the first time an airline has been accused of punishing its staff for putting on weight.

In 2025, a former Emirates flight attendant claimed staff were given deadlines to lose weight if their uniforms looked tight - and would be sacked if they couldn't do it in time.

Flight attendants must have a BMI reading of between 18.5 and 24.9 to meet the 'desired' range. Cabin crew with readings over 30 will be classed as obese

A former member of management who worked at the airline for almost six years, told the Daily Mail flight staff were enrolled into a 'Weight Management Programme' if their uniform didn't fit right and 'all it would take was for you to be seen by the wrong person'.

The luxury Dubai-based airline has a long-standing reputation of employing young, good-looking and thin staff.

The 38-year-old said while not everyone was attractive, looking good was almost demanded.

He said: 'You associate that job with being young, beautiful and glamorous.

'They were all put together in the same way and everybody had to have the exact same shade of lipstick, but it wasn't a prerequisite to be beautiful.

'But you got measured for your uniform and before each flight you had grooming checks. I had to check that the girls were wearing the correct nail polish, that the guys had the correct shoes and things like that.

'If the uniform looked a bit tight, I had to report it and if they have to go up a size then they run the risk of going on a weight management programme.'

The remarks came after Emirates boss Sir Tim Clark denied when asked on Pierce Morgan Uncensored if 'old and ugly men and women are banned from being employed.'

Mr Clark said: 'We're always trying to get the people who have all the qualities that we need to sustain our brand and advance our brand. That is empathy, that is the ability to work with people, work under pressures.

'If it happens by coincidence they happen to be good-looking, well done.'
An easyJet flight declared an emergency and was forced to return back to the UK after experiencing turbulence.

The flight set off from Glasgow Airport on Sunday, March 29, around midday and was on route to Jersey.

But soon after take off, the plane reportedly declared a squawk 7700 which alerted Air Traffic Control of an emergency.

The aircraft, for flight EZY439, turned around and returned to Glasgow after passing over Galloway just 30 minutes into its journey, according to Flightradar24.

It was later confirmed that the plane was hit by turbulence soon after setting off, when all passengers were seated, according to the airline.

The incident resulted in a crew member needing medical assistance, The Herald reports.

Once the aircraft landed, health services were ready to provide help and the flight was rescheduled.

A spokesperson for easyJet told the Daily Mail: 'Flight EZY439 from Glasgow to Jersey on 29 March returned to Glasgow due to a cabin crew member requiring medical assistance.

The flight set off from Glasgow Airport on Sunday, March 29, around midday and was on route to Jersey

'The flight landed normally in Glasgow and was met by medical services on the ground. Customers continued their journey to Jersey later that afternoon, and we apologise for any inconvenience caused.

'The safety and wellbeing of customers and crew is always easyJet's highest priority.'

A squawk 7700 is a general emergency code used for aircraft crew to signal there is a problem on board.

Another easyJet flight was forced to issue the code during a flight to Spain last month.

Flight EZY3211 departed from Edinburgh Airport in Scotland on February 3 just after 11.10am.

Its final destination was set to be Fuerteventura in the Canary Islands, where landing was planned around 4pm.

However, two hours into the journey a 7700 squawk code was issued.

EasyJet revealed that the aircraft suffered a technical issue.

Soon after take off, the plane reportedly declared a squawk 7700 which alerted Air Traffic Control of an emergency

It was diverted to Porto Airport in Portugal at 1.30pm as a result.

A replacement plane and crew were organised, and the flight continued to its final destination in Fuerteventura.

At the time an easyJet spokesperson said: 'Flight EZY3211 from Edinburgh to Fuerteventura on 3 February diverted to Porto due to a technical issue.

'The pilot performed a routine landing in Porto where we provided customers with refreshments in the terminal and arranged for a replacement aircraft and crew to continue the flight to Fuerteventura later that afternoon.

'The safety of our customers and crew is easyJet's highest priority and easyJet operates its fleet of aircraft in strict compliance with all manufacturers' guidelines.'
Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) is now flying from London again after a six-year suspension.

Back in 2020 the airline was banned from operating routes in Europe, America and the UK after 97 people died when a PIA plane crashed in Karachi in southern Pakistan.

For the first time since the incident, PIA flights have launched to London Heathrow from March 29.

There will be four weekly flights including three from Islamabad to London and one from Lahore to London.

In an announcement, the airline said: 'Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) is pleased to introduce direct flights from Lahore to London Heathrow Airport starting from 30 March 2026, offering passengers a more convenient and comfortable way to travel between Pakistan and the United Kingdom.'

The flight is a direct route, with no stops, and is described as being a great option for 'families, students and business travellers visiting the UK'.

It will take around eight hours and passengers are promised 'comfortable onboard services, generous baggage allowance, and traditional Pakistani hospitality'.

The airline also began operating routes to Manchester in October and now runs three flights a week to the hub from Islamabad.

Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) is now flying from London again after a six-year suspension

Back in 2020 the airline was banned from operating routes in Europe, America and the UK after 97 people died when a PIA plane crashed in Karachi in southern Pakistan

PIA resumed flights to Europe in 2025 after its years-long ban.

At the time, defence minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif inaugurated the twice-a-week flights to Paris and vowed that PIA will expand its operations to other European countries soon.

After the incident in 2020, then-aviation minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan said an investigation into the crash found that nearly a third of Pakistani pilots had cheated on their pilot exams.

A government probe later concluded that the crash was caused by pilot error.

Out of 860 pilots currently licenced in Pakistan, investigators identified 262 who 'did not take the exam themselves' and 'don't have flying experience', Khan said at the time.

PIA then grounded 150 of its pilots who were suspected of having cheated their way through their exam.

Abdullah Hafeez, a spokesman for Pakistan International Airlines, said: 'We will make it sure that unqualified pilots never fly aircraft again'.

The ban caused a loss of nearly 123milllon a year in revenue for PIA, officials say.

The airline came under scrutiny in 2017 after admitting it overfilled a flight and allowed seven extra passengers on board to stand in the aisle.

PIA was also mocked after images circulated online of ground staff sacrificing a goat next to an aircraft just before take-off in a bid to ward off bad luck.

That followed a crash that killed 47 people in 2016.
Popular for its picturesque hiking trails, rugged volcanic peaks and azure-blue waters, Madeira has become a hit with tourists in recent years.

Thanks to its paradise landscape and and European location, the Atlantic archipelago - located just over 600 miles from mainland Portugal - is often dubbed the 'Hawaii of Europe'.

It was also voted the world's number one Trending Destination for 2026 in the TripAdvisor Travellers' Choice awards.

And this summer, Madeira will become more accessible for British travellers - much to the dismay of locals who continue to revolt against the ever-rising number of foreign visitors.

Madeira is set to strengthen its connectivity to the UK - with a total of 55 flights to depart each week at the height of summer from major airports.

Flights from London to the island will increase by 11 per cent, with easyJet operating twice weekly routes from Luton Airport, and an additional departure on Mondays introduced by Jet2.

Direct, one-way easyJet flights from Luton to Madeira start at just 42 in July on Skyscanner.

Madeira, dubbed the 'Hawaii of Europe' thanks to its sparkling blue waters and lush green landscape, will become more accessible for UK travellers, with 55 direct flights to operate each week from major hubs

Flyers from the South West of England will also benefit from improved flexibility, with Bristol Airport increasing direct routes to the island from four to five per week.

Meanwhile, Bournemouth Airport, which launched direct routes to the capital Funchal last summer, sees the high-anticipated return of weekly Jet2 flights.

Multiple weekly flights will also operate from major hubs across the nation, including Belfast, Birmingham, east Midlands, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Jersey, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester and Newcastle.

Famed for its distinctive landscapes, which includes rugged peaks, lush Levada trails and miles of golden and black-sand beaches, Madeira has seen a surge of visitors in recent years, with nearly six million overnight stays in the first quarter of 2025.

However, local frustration on the island recently reached boiling point - and this increase in flights is set to annoy residents even more.

As business booms, local costs have risen and trails that were once quiet have become overcrowded and harder for residents to enjoy.

On Reddit, Madeira residents have voiced their anger over 'parasitic' tourists putting a strain on resources and driving an increase in housing prices.

One person wrote: 'There are complaints about the strain on resources like water and electricity, the increase in prices for housing, and the sense that some areas are becoming almost unrecognizable due to commercialization.

Locals recently expressed anger over 'parasitic' tourists, expats and digital nomads putting a strain on resources

'Many are frustrated that the island's natural beauty is at risk, and the tranquil, close-knit community life they cherish is shifting toward something more chaotic and crowded.'

Another added: 'We mostly don't mind if people are respectful, come in and leave.

'Our issue with tourists started when people started to destroy things, leave trash everywhere, park like t***s, and make it impossible for us to visit all the beautiful places you wanna see.'

A second shared: 'I own a small hostel in the city centre, and I noticed a decrease in quality in terms of the tourists we get, especially after low-cost flight companies (Ryanair and others) started operating here.

'Is it good for the business? Sure. For the island as a whole? Not really.'

A third chimed: 'You can stop tourists from not spending money here. If there's nothing cheap they won't come. Simple as. Guess what is cheap? The housing we lost.

'Tourism isn't bad by default, parasitic tourism is. We have cheap tourist because we have cheap options. Erase those and they're gone.'

To combat the overtourism problem, as of February, international visitors have been forced to pay a 4.50 (3.92) fee for a ticket to access the island's famous hiking trails - which must be used within a 30-minute time frame.

Holidaymakers can save money however, if they book with a tour operator. In this scenario, they will only be charged 3 (2.61).

Each booking slot will have a limit of how many people can attend, which officials hope will help manage busier periods.

Those aged under 12 and residents do not have to pay but must still book a slot.
Nowhere in the world does fish and chips quite like the UK - and a now new study has revealed where to find the very best of the 150-year-old dish.

While fish and chips is a quintessential British seaside treat, the finest portions of flaky, beer-battered fish and fluffy thick-cut chips aren't always necessarily found by the coast.

A new ranking by Big 7 Travel has highlighted the standout locations for fish and chips, analysing factors such as Google Reviews, industry awards, gluten-free options, social media popularity, price, and overall quality to determine the top 20.

The results shine a spotlight on traditional and gourmet establishments in both coastal hotspots and inland towns, with freshness, quality ingredients and local pride at their core.

Looking for the perfect day trip this spring and summer?

Here are the top 20 UK seaside towns for world-class fish and chips.

20. Largs  North Ayrshire, Scotland

The Fish Works is one of Largs' stellar fish and chip locations

Set along Scotland's scenic west coast, Largs is renowned for its scenic promenade and stellar fish and chips offerings.

One establishment, The Fish Works, came in as Runner Up in the Takeaway of the Year Category at the 2026 Fry Awards, with 12.70 regular portions of fish and chips earning it a 3.9/5 rating on Google Reviews.

The Fish Works thrives on its access to freshly sourced seafood, offering everything from gluten-free options to adventurous dishes of panko-coated lemon sole, battered haggis and squid.

19. Carrickfergus  County Antrim, Northern Ireland

Carrickfergus, with its historic charm and sleepy shore, provides one of the most relaxing and picturesque locations to tuck into a hearty fish supper

Carrickfergus, with its historic charm and sleepy shore, provides one of the most relaxing and picturesque locations to tuck into a hearty fish supper.

And there's no better offering than at The Friary, where a regular portion of fish and chips costs 12.20 and average Google Review ratings sit at 4.24/5.

The establishment sources fish directly from the Irish Sea, and portions are gloriously hefty.

They also offer gluten-free portions of fish and chips that are cooked in a separate fryer, which is atypical of most fish and chips shops in the country.

18. Barnsley  South Yorkshire, England

Shaw's Fish & Chips, in Barnsley, placed third in the National Fish & Chips Awards 2026 thanks to its mix of traditional fare and modern dishes

Barnsley proves great fish and chips aren't limited to the coast, thanks to award-winning eateries like Shaw's Fish & Chips, which came third in the National Fish & Chips 2026.

A range of traditional dishes are offered here, from battered sausages to golden crispy fish, as well as alternative menu additions like fried chicken, vegan 'chicken strips' and margherita pizza bites.

17. Anstruther  Fife, Scotland

Anstruther is a prime hotspot for fish and chips along Scotland's east coast, with Anstruther Fish Bar collecting several accolades over the years

Anstruther is a prime hotspot for fish and chips along Scotland's east coast, with Anstruther Fish Bar collecting several accolades over the years.

Although regular portions of the dish are on the steep side at 15.70, the shop continues to hold its 4.33 Google Review rating, and prides itself on locally sourced ingredients and its secret recipe batter that's known only to four fryers.

Visitors will find healthy options like grilled and smoked haddock on the menu, as well as a revised 'Catch of the Day' each day depending on what has been caught that morning.

16. South Shields  Tyne & Wear, England

Colman's is one of South Shields' two chippies featured in the Top 50 Takeaways in the 2026 Fry Awards

South Shields - just a stone's throw from Newcastle-Upon-Tyne - is hailed as a leading destination for fish and chips thanks to two of its chippies featuring in the Top 50 Takeaways in the 2026 Fry Awards.

Smith's Chippy offers fish and chips at an impressively low cost, with regular portions costing 9.50, while Coleman's serves up trays of the vinegar-lashed dish for 15.50.

Either way, both establishments boast an average Google Review rating of 4.0, and pride themselves on top quality, local produce at reasonable prices.

15. Ballycastle  County Antrim, Northern Ireland

Morton's in Ballycastle keeps things simple with its traditional fare of fish and chips, sausage, burgers and chicken

Morton's, a Northern Irish gem set along Co. Antrim's windswept coast in Ballycastle, keeps things simple, focusing on perfectly cooked fish and golden chips.

The no-frills chippy previously featured as a top 25 fish and chip shop in 2025 and has long been a Co. Antrim institution, offering traditional dishes such as fish and chips, sausages, burgers and chicken.

Regular portions of fish and chips are priced at 12.50, earning the shop an average rating of 4.0 on Google Review.

14. Penrith  Cumbria, England

Shap Chippy in Cumbria offers everything from classic fish and chips to Bengali spiced prawns

Set on the outskirts of the Lake District is another hidden gem that offers an elevated take on the British classic.

Shap Chippy, which ranked as a top takeaway in the National Federation of Fish Fryers 2026, offers a tantalising mix of traditional and modern dishes - from 11.50 portions of fish and chips to salt and pepper squid and Bengali spiced prawns.

The shop - rated 4.18 on Google Review - also operates a mobile fish and chip van named 'Shappy Wheels', which often parks up across the Lake District and can be booked especially for special occasions and private events.

13. Falmouth  Cornwall, England

Harbour Lights Fish & Chips, located in Falmouth, is best enjoyed overlooking the sparkling blue waters in the summer

Cornwall might be known for its golden sand beaches, subtropical microclimate and sparkling blue coastline, but it's also built a reputation as a premier seafood destination - and this includes award-winning fish and chips shops.

Harbour Lights, located on Falmouth Harbour, is a regular feature in guides to the UK's best chippies and caters to all tastes with its array of vegan, vegetarian, and gluten-free options - all cooked separately in different fryers to avoid contamination.

The shop has achieved an average Google Review rating of 4.14, and regular portions of fish and chips coast 13.85.

12. Tenby  Pembrokeshire, Wales

D. Fecci & Sons Fish & Chip Restaurant, in Tenby, exclusively uses a special blend of ground rice and potato starch for its fish batter, catering to gluten-free customers

Located on the stunning Pembrokeshire Coast, Tenby is a premier spot for high-quality, locally sourced fish and chips that pair perfectly with its colourful coastal views.

D. Fecci & Sons Fish & Chip Restaurant, a 2025/26 Winner in the Good Food Award for Fish & Chips, highlights the town's quality, using local seafood and Pembrokeshire potatoes in its 12.00 regular portion of fish and chips.

Boasting a 4.3-star Google rating, this restaurant caters to gluten-free diners by exclusively using a specialised blend of ground rice and potato starch rather than flour for its batter.

11. Stonehaven  Aberdeenshire, Scotland

Stonehaven is a haven for fish and chips, with both Redcloak Fish Bar and The Bay Fish & Chips making the Fry Awards Top 50 Takeaways 2026

Stonehaven is a haven for fish and chips, with both Redcloak Fish Bar and The Bay Fish & Chips making the Fry Awards Top 50 Takeaways 2026.

Both serve up sustainably caught, locally sourced fish with perfectly crispy batter and fluffy chips, earning an average Google rating of 4.33/5.

Redcloak is the top pick for a traditional fish supper, while The Bay offers a modern menu with great gluten-free choices.

Whether you want a classic vibe or contemporary options, Stonehaven is the place to be for an elite chippy experience on the coast.

10. Caernarfon  Gwynedd, Wales

Ainsworth Fish & Chips is set along the coast of Caernarfon, offering meal deals for as little as 11.25

Caernarfon, located along the coast of Northern Wales, is home to the mighty Caernarfon Castle, which provides unmatched views for visitors tucking into fish and chips at a nearby chippy.

Ainsworth's Fish & Chips is a standout establishment offering high-quality cod and haddock near the historic Castle, earning it a stellar 4.30 average rating on Google.

Recently named among the UK's Top 50 takeaways for the fourth year, it offers standard portions of fish and chips for 14, and affordable meal deals from 11.25, with delivery options available for a perfect seaside-style meal at home.

9. Aldeburgh  Suffolk, England

Aldeburgh Fish & Chips has been serving up haddock, cod and rock eels since 1967

For a truly traditional chippy experience where 'less is more', visit Aldeburgh Fish & Chips in Suffolk, an iconic UK spot operating since 1967.

It specialises in authentic fish fried in beef dripping, including East Coast haddock, cod, and local rock eels, with a focus on quality, simple, and timeless cooking.

Long queues are often spotted at the shop, which boasts an impressive 4.43 rating on Google and regular portions of fish and chips cost 10.20.

8. Scarborough  North Yorkshire, England

Officially the chippy capital of the UK, Scarborough is home to some real fish and chip gems, including North Bay Fisheries

Scarborough might have lost some of its Victorian-era bustle, but its unique coastal charm remains.

The North Yorkshire town is officially the chippy capital of the UK, boasting a massive 93 shops - the highest concentration in the country.

A standout among them is North Bay Fisheries, a family-run institution near the North Bay Promenade and Peasholm Park.

Its popularity is undeniable, reflected in its 4.42 ratings on Google. Even in the dead of winter, you'll find queues out the door for their affordable, top-tier fish and chips, with regular portions costing 10.50.

7. Torquay  Devon, England

Pier Point, in Torquay, is an award-winning upscale dining spot that offers gourmet options like hake and king prawn chowder

Located on Devon's scenic English Riviera, Torquay is a premier British holiday destination renowned for its seafood - most notably at the award-winning Pier Point Restaurant.

Offering a refined twist on traditional fish and chips, this seaside spot has maintained a 4.22 Google rating thanks its diverse menu, featuring gourmet options like hake, king prawn chowder, and various veggie and gluten-free choices.

6. Darlington  County Durham, England

Yarm Road Fish & Chips, in Darlington, is known for its quality and consistency, as reflected in its 4.37 Google rating

Despite being 30km from the coast, inland Darlington boasts a prized fish and chip spot: Yarm Road Fish & Chips.

As a 2025 Fish & Chip Awards runner-up, this chippy is lauded for consistent quality, as shown in its consistent 4.37 Google rating.

Visitors have the options of sitting on taking their food away. Popular dishes include the pensioner's special for 13.95, which consists of a small cod, chips, sauce, tea and bread and butter, and a regular portion of fish and chips for 10.70.

5. Surbiton  Surrey, England

At Batterfly, in Surbiton, visitors can tuck into a regular portion of fish and chips for 15.10

Nestled in the quiet Surrey town of Surbiton is Batterfly Berrylands, a traditional chippy with a massive menu ranging from classic fish and chips for 15.10, to battered sausages fried chicken and pies.

They've even recently introduced a 'chip shop gravy' - a rare find in the south of Yorkshire.

The establishment boasts an average Google rating of 4.47.

4. Lincoln  Lincolnshire, England

Elite Fish & Chip Company, in Lincoln, placed third in the restaurant category in the Fry Awards 2026

The historic town of Lincoln is home to a breathtaking Cathedral, cobbled streets - and a huge variety of fish and chip shops.

Two of Lincoln's chippies continue to earn 4.36 ratings on Google and have featured in the Fry Awards 2026.

Linford's Traditional Fish & Chips ranked in the takeaway category with its 12.90 portions of fish and chips.

Elite Fish & Chip Company placed third in the restaurant category, offering comfortable dining settings and 12.85 portions of fish and chips - with eight different fish options, including cod, salmon and plaice.

3. York  North Yorkshire, England

At The Scrap Box, in York, visitors are treated to standout menu options like beef dripping chips and crunchy bits of batter known as 'scraps'

York, the 'capital' of North Yorkshire, is a premier destination for top-tier fish and chips.

While the city centre is packed with options, for a truly standout meal, it's worth the short trip to the village of Dunnington to visit The Scrap Box.

This local gem recently secured the prestigious Takeaway of the Year title at the 2026 National Fish & Chip Awards, and maintains a 4.46 rating on Google.

The menu offers everything from sustainably sourced, flaky haddock paired with chips fried in traditional beef dripping (11.95) to regional specialities like the Spam fritter.

True to its name, the shop also offers free boxes of 'scraps' - the crunchy bits of golden batter left over from frying - which add the perfect finishing touch to any order.

2. Redruth  Cornwall, England

Greg & Lou's, in Redruth, features homemade specials by Greg and fresh, house-made tartare sauce by Lou

Renowned as a top 50 UK takeaway for 2026, Greg & Lou's is a beloved Redruth chippy offering sustainable MSC fish - including plaice, lemon sole, and cod - alongside Cornish-grown potatoes for its 11.90 portions of fish and chips.

This family-run Cornish institution - rated 4.47 on Google - features homemade specials by Greg and famous house-made tartare sauce by Lou, plus popular veggie and vegan options.

1. Whitby  North Yorkshire, England

Whitby secured the top spot in the ranking, with Trencher's emerging as a popular hotspot

Securing the top spot in the ranking is Whitby, home to some of the country's most iconic chippies.

While the area's most popular spot is The Magpie, the Trenchers of Whitby takes the accolades this year, winning the Restaurant of the Year at the recent Fry Awards in 2026.

The shop - rated 4.45 on Google - offers generous portions of locally sourced fish and chips, priced at 13.50.

Established in 1980, it pairs traditional offerings with modern takes on seafood dishes, cementing its status as a respected Whitby eatery.
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Cat Deeley channelled Chanel this week as she took to This Morning in a timeless ME+EM co-ord set in the perfect colour for spring.

The ITV daytime show sees the 49-year-old interview a range of celebrity guests and familiar faces during the week alongside her co-host Ben Shephard, 50.

But it also gives Cat, 49, a chance to show off her impressive wardrobe, often wowing fans with previews of her looks on her Instagram page.

Last week was no different, with the presenter opting for a Chanel-esque two-piece matching set in a bright green, with a boucle trouser and waistcoat combo.

The look is still in stock to buy for those looking to copy Cat's look, and there's also similar styles in stock on the high street for savvy shoppers on a budget.

We've got the lowdown, and where you can find some alternatives.

EXACT MATCH

The ME+EM two-piece is sold separately as a trouser and waistcoat that can be worn with other items, or together to really channel Chanel's signature power-suit style.

The Fringed Shell Top is currently priced at 250, and is available online to buy in sizes 4 through to 16.

Crafted from an Italian cotton-blend tweed, the top features accent beige buttons and a fringed collar and sleeve, and comes in a bright orchard green.

Cat paired the waistcoat style top with the ME+EM Textured Wide Leg Trouser, which is also available in sizes 4 through to 16 - and priced at 250.

For savvy shoppers looking to save themselves 15, the outfit can be bought as a matching set, the Green Shell Top Co-Ord, for 475, but it means the top and bottoms come in the same size for those that need more flexible sizing.

While there's plenty on sale at ME+EM, there are alternatives out there that are a similar style, including a River Island boucle two-piece, with shorts instead of trousers.

The Boucle Sleeveless Fringed Waistcoat, which comes in both a tweed red and blue colour, is currently on sale on the site for just 25.

It's not yet sold out in sizes 12, 16, 18, and 22 - with the blue version of the same top available at 13 in a size 14.

Both tops come with matching shorts available to buy separately online, with the red variety available in a 12, 14, 20 and 22 and priced at 18.

Meanwhile, the blue version of the same bottoms are available in sizes 14, 20 and 22 and are also on sale for just 16.

River Island also has a similar style, in the form of a third shade of blue and tweed - with the Boucle Fringed Waistcoat.

The waistcoat design is available in sizes 6 to 18 and is priced at 42, and can be paired with matching shorts, sold separately, for 36 and available in sizes 6 to 18.

For those wanting to spruce up the look even further, this set comes with its very own matching jacket, the Blue Boucle Bomber Jacket.

The statement piece is available in all sizes from 6 to 18 and is priced at 69.

Zara are also stocking their own two-piece textured waistcoat and matching trousers combination - in the form of their Textured Buttoned Waistcoat and Trousers.

The waistcoat, which comes in sizes small, medium and large, is priced at 22.99.

Meanwhile, the matching flared textured trousers are priced at 27.99 and available to buy in the same sizes as the top, making it the perfect two-piece.

Next have another alternative, in the form of a matching waistcoat and shorts set from Friends Like These Pink Boucle Waistcoat and Shorts.

The waistcoat is priced at 49 and is available in sizes 6 to 22.

Meanwhile, it comes with a matching pair of shorts, the Friends Like These Boucle Shorts, which run from sizes 8 to 22 and are priced at 39.

It comes after Cat sported one of spring's biggest trends on This Morning.

She wore a baby pink blouse, which has proven popular and almost sold out, paired with some jeans and a pair of summer-ready open-toed heels.

The 100% cotton shirt is one of the silhouettes fashionistas are saying will be popular this spring, so it's lucky for fans that the original look is still available to purchase, albeit only in a few sizes.

And there's also a lower-budget alternative out there for savyy shoppers to get their hands on if they're looking to copy Cat's look.

The Boden Ruffle Cotton Shirt is made from cotton, but is also machine washable making it an easy everyday piece now the sun is shining.

The straight-fitting blouse is designed to fall between the waist and hip, with the brand opting to showcase it tucked into jeans for a flattering body-hugging fit.

It has been selling quickly, and is now only available in sizes 18 and 20 - costing 65 but available for 15% off with a discount code offered to buyers before checkout.

It's also racked up dozens of positive reviews from happy customers, who have described it as the 'perfect blouse' and a 'fun' twist on a classic shirt.

If you're looking for other sizes, or a cheaper alternative, luckily there are other brands stocking their own version of the frilled pink blouse.

Among the brands is high street staple H&M, who are selling their frill-trimmed poplin blouse in two different pink tones, one block and one striped.

The shirt, priced at 19.99, is already sold out in the size small extra large, but is still available in XXS, XS, M, L and XXL.

It featured darting along the back of the shirt to taper it to the waist, with a band collar and frill trim that continues down the button band.

Crew Clothing are also stocking their own version of the blouse, and their frill-neck cord blouse is currently on sale from 59 down to 35.

Available in all sizes from 6 to 18, the 100% cotton look features frills that run around the neckline, down the button line and around the sleeves.

It comes after Cat wore one of spring's other biggest fashion trends on This Morning - sporting a polka-dotted blouse, which she paired with jeans and boots.

The 100% silk shirt is one of the silhouettes fashionistas are saying is back in this spring, so it's lucky for fans that the original look is still available to purchase.

While it's a little more on the expensive side, there's also a lower-budget alternative out there for savvy shoppers to get their hands on.

Cat was seen posing on her social media in the Boden Sara Silk Shirt, which comes in a variety of colours including the chic beige and blue she opted for.

The 100% silk garment is available in a huge range of sizes, from 4 to 22, and is still available in both petite and regular length, with 'long' now sold out.

Described as 'the top equivalent of an LBD' and a 'real classic' the shirt is designed to fall just above the hip.

It's priced at 139 - and aside from the popular polka-dotted pattern.

A similar shirt is available to purchase at Marks and Spencer - their Printed Collared Shirt comes in a cream and light brown variety.

Stocking in sizes 6 to 20 - the shirt is currently priced at 26, and is also available in both petite and regular varieties to fit a range of body types.

Cat paired her look with some jeans from Donna Ida, a London denim-based fashion brand - which are currently on sale online for 245.

The Minnie style jean, which has a signature wide-leg flared style, features patch front pockets and a statement A-line leg.

There is a single pocket on the back of the jean, as well as side-fastening hardware to pull the trousers in at the waistline.

The jeans are currently available in waist sizes 23 to 34, and in a variety of different shades of blue, white and grey.

For those looking for an alternative on a budget, Marks and Spencers are also stocking a wide-leg jean - for just 55.

The Autograph look is available in sizes 10 to 24, and comes in short, regular and long to fit wearers leg length.

It comes after Alison Hammond took to This Morning in an on-trend denim dress.

Luckily for fans, while the original dress is quickly selling out quickly online on both the Monsoon and Marks and Spencer's sites, there are other alternatives also available to wear.

From other M&S looks to River Island, we've got the rundown of similar styles that will keep you on trend like Alison's look.

The Monsoon Erin Zip Denim Midi Dress in denim blue is currently priced at 59.50 on their website - and available to buy in all sizes from 8 through to 24.

The website describes it as 'capsule wardrobe-worthy', adding: 'Primed for wearing the whole year round, this denim midi dress is designed with a long zip on the bodice and three-quarter sleeves that allow you to show off your wrist-stack.

'Dipped in a dark wash, it's complete with two oversized pockets and a flowy mid-length hem.'

The dress, which is made from 92 per cent cotton, is also available for 85 on the M&S website, but is only available in sizes 8 and 22 where it has been selling out fast.

It's been met with a series of rave reviews from fans who have already purchased the number, who have called it 'flattering and high quality'.

One shopper revealed: 'Generous fit, lovely A-line shape. Really recommend. A touch of stretch too helps it fit nicely and pockets are a bonus!'

Another agreed: 'Beautiful dress this is now my second denim dress from Monsoon. Has some stretch so true to size.'

Meanwhile, Next are also stocking a midi denim dress - this time with a belted middle to cinch the waist and create an hourglass silhoutte.

The Love & Roses Rinse Blue Denim Lace Trim Midi Dress is priced at 64, and is available to buy in sizes 8, 10, 14, 16, 18 and 22.

One happy shopper said after purchasing the item: 'This is a lovely denim dress, the fabric is not stiff, it falls beautifully.

'The poppers hold securely and there is no gaping in the chest area. I get lots of compliments when I wear it.'

River Island have also hopped on the trend, with their Blue Denim Short Sleeve Seamed Midi Dress - which is priced at 22.

The number is still available in sizes 8 to 16, with only low stock left in a size 22.

It comes after Cat Deeley took to This Morning in a chic full length skirt in a popular animal print design that quickly began flying off the shelves.

The Mint Velvet skirt, which is now sold out in all sizes on the John Lewis site, is still available to buy for 99 on the Next website.

The machine-washable skirt, which is made from polyester, features a neutral tone animal print design, with a high waistband and A-line design.

While it's selling out quickly, the skirt is still available in sizes 6, 12, 14, and 16.

Elsewhere, New Look currently have a mega 69% price reduction on their animal printed midi skirt, which features a brown printed design.

It's selling quickly, only left in a size 6 and 26, but is at a bargain price of 9.

ASOS are also stocking a version of the skirt, a Miss Selfridge design, and on sale from 27.99, down to 23.79.

Available in sizes 4 and 6, the machine washable fashion item features a high-rise cut, with an elasticated waistband for comfort.

The Crew Clothing company's Rowen Satin Slip Midi Skirt in Brown Leopard Print, is still in stock in size 16.

Priced at 35, the skirt is also currently on sale, down from 59.

The silky, elegant skirt features a flattering A-line cut, with an elastic waist for comfort - with the website detailing it as 'perfect for heels of flats'.

This Morning airs weekdays from 10am on ITV1 and ITVX.
Grace (ITV 1)

Rating:

Vera has her shabby hat. Strike sleeps in his greatcoat. Maybe you remember the permanently rumpled Frost, or even Shoestring with his straggling tie. And just one more thing . . . Columbo.

But DI Glenn Branson is never going to have his own show, with his name over the titles  not dressing the way he does. The Brighton copper, sidekick to John Simm's Grace, is invariably attired in a three-piece suit straight from the dry cleaners, with colour-matched accessories.

As he turned up at a property developer's modernist home, to investigate the disappearance of the man's wife, he was wearing moss green, every button neatly fastened, with a crimson shirt and jewelled tie.

Later, with that suit safely zipped, I hope, in one of those full-length bags to protect it from dust and sunlight, Branson (Richie Campbell) changed into a mauve outfit, apparently by the same designer.

His dress sense intrigued me so much that I began dipping into past episodes of this police procedural show, to admire his sartorial choices. One of his favourites is an understated camel three-piece paired with an oxblood shirt, though my preference is his grey check with a Paisley tie.

It's not hard to imagine his tailor showing him rolls of cloth and inviting him to choose the material: 'Never mind the serial killer, sir, feel the quality.'

Perhaps it's the influence of his Guv'nor, Det Supt Roy Grace, who clearly hasn't forgotten Brighton was once the haunt of the old Prince Regent, George IV, Britain's dandiest monarch.

Grace must insist all his officers carry a pair of sunglasses as he does, slipping them on whenever he steps out of the car. Perhaps his optician has warned him about cataracts. The whole team wore natty shades aboard a police boat as they closed in on the runaway wife, Eden (Tamla Kari), making her escape from her bullying, controlling husband on a hired mackerel trawler.

Richie Campbell (left) as Glenn Branson and John Simm as DS Roy Grace in the ITV drama

What she had forgotten to do was to check the fishing nets, to see if her violent ex, Neel (Rishi Nair), was hiding among the lobster pots. Up he jumped and, as Grace's launch raced towards them, Eden clocked her hubby with a boathook. Twice.

Brighton's finest looked on approvingly. One of them, DS Bella Moy (Laura Elphinstone) was smiling, and I thought she might burst out cheering as Neel went over the side. The police rushed to Eden's aid, and only later went to check if Neel could be saved. Floating face down, he couldn't.

'Nobody should take justice into their own hands,' Grace fretted later. He couldn't help nodding in approval though, as Branson replied, 'You've got to respect Eden, though, right?'

Whether the police should ever give their tacit consent to the summary execution of an abusive spouse is a secondary question. I was more worried about Branson's suit, after his seafaring adventure. It must reek of fish.
Specialized inspection and rescue vessel supports dam safety operations at Shenango Dam in Pennsylvania

LAS VEGAS, March 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- SAFE Structure Design, a U.S.-based defense and engineering manufacturing company specializing in mission-critical support equipment and specialized operational platforms, announced today the successful design, engineering, and manufacturing of a custom rescue and inspection vessel for the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) supporting operations at Shenango Dam in Mercer County, Pennsylvania.

SAFE Rescue Boat being used by the United States Army Corp (USACE)

The purpose-built rescue boat was developed to assist Corps personnel responsible for dam inspection, maintenance, and operational safety oversight at the Shenango Dam facility. The vessel provides a dedicated platform for safely transporting inspection crews while allowing teams to perform critical dam infrastructure assessments on and around the reservoir.

Outfitted with specialized marine safety and rescue equipment, the vessel enables personnel to respond to a variety of potential emergency scenarios while conducting inspection activities on the water. The boat is designed to support both routine inspection operations and rapid-response rescue situations, ensuring that personnel working near the dam structure can operate with enhanced safety and preparedness.

The custom vessel incorporates multiple safety features designed specifically to protect inspection crews operating in potentially hazardous environments around large-scale water infrastructure. In addition to providing a stable inspection platform, the boat carries a range of rescue and recovery equipment capable of supporting personnel rescue operations should an emergency arise.

For SAFE Structure Designs, the project represents another example of the company's expanding capability in specialized marine engineering and custom-built operational platforms. For more info on SAFE's capability Visit SAFE Structure Design.

"Having been around boats my entire life, this project was especially exciting for our team," said Johnny Buscema, President and CEO of SAFE Structure Designs. "Designing and building vessels that support critical infrastructure and help keep crews safe on the water is something we take great pride in. It's a responsibility we approach with a strong engineering mindset and a deep respect for the mission."

SAFE Structure Designs has previously engineered and constructed other specialized marine platforms, including a highly complex floating paint barge engineered to withstand hurricane-force winds and high-sea conditions. The company maintains in-house naval architecture expertise to support advanced marine engineering projects and custom vessel design requirements.

The Shenango Dam rescue vessel further expands SAFE Structure's portfolio of custom-engineered operational systems supporting federal agencies and mission-critical infrastructure.

By combining precision engineering, rugged marine design, and mission-driven functionality, SAFE Structure Designs continues to deliver specialized equipment that enhances safety, operational capability, and infrastructure reliability for government and defense customers.

Media Contact: SAFE Structure Designs [email protected] WWW.SAFE-2.com

SAFE Structure Designs is an American engineering and manufacturing company that designs and produces specialized support equipment, expeditionary systems, custom operational platforms, and mission-critical tooling for U.S. government and defense customers.

Working closely with Department of Defense and federal agency partners, SAFE Structure develops custom-engineered solutions that improve operational readiness, safety, and mission effectiveness across a wide range of demanding environments.

Built on a foundation of American manufacturing, precision engineering, and mission-focused innovation, SAFE Structure Designs continues to support the evolving needs of U.S. military and government operations.

SOURCE S.A.F.E. Structure Designs
Carol McGiffin shared a very blunt response to claims that she's 'returning to Loose Women to save it from the axe'.

The broadcaster, 66, was a regular panelist on the ITV from when it first hit our screens in 2000.

Carol's first stint was between 2000 and 2013, followed by her second from 2018 to 2023.

The TV star recently took to her Instagram page to set the record straight after seeing a magazine article that stated: 'Carol's Loose Women return, could she save the show?'

So Carol took to her own social media to clarify: 'Just wanted to say I did not instigate this article but Im flattered that [they] even ask the question could she save the show!!!'

'And, for the record, not a chance of a return.

Carol McGiffin shared a VERY blunt response to claims that she's 'returning to Loose Women to save it from the axe'

The broadcaster, 66, was a regular panelist on the ITV from when it first hit our screens in 2000 - pictured with her former co-stars Stacey Solomon, Kelle Bryan, Penny Lancaster, Brenda Edwards, Denise Welch, Jane Moore, Nadia Sawalha, Saira Khan, Kaye Adams, Andrea McLean, Ruth Langsford and Christine Lampard

'I am very happy being semi-retired and living a lovely life with my gorgeous husband in the South of France. Thank you.'

Back in April 2023, Carol revealed last week that she had left the lunchtime show because of the contract she was offered from the channel.

She went on to tell Best magazine: 'I feel quite upset about it, if I'm honest, because although it is my decision, I felt like it was one I was being forced to make.

'No one in their right mind would have signed that contract.

'And I can't see a way back from it.'

The Mail on Sunday later disclosed that a free speech row was at the centre of her departure, after a backlash over her tirade in an interview on TNT talk radio.

She previously said on air during a TNT Radio interview for The Freeman Report, with James Freeman: 'I always look back at when I started working in television and radio as the good old days because they were much less policed, I suppose.

'Much less restricted and it was a freer place to be.

'When I look back at the old Loose Womens I used to do from 2000 all the until I left in 2013, they're completely different.

'There is so much offence. People take so much offence at so much and they never used to.'

There has been a lot of change with the ITV schedule in recent months.

Back in May 2025, it was revealed that Lorraine and Loose Women were set to be axed for half the year and Lorraine's runtime has been slashed by 30 minutes, as ITV Daytime bosses announced huge cuts today with job losses in excess of 220.

Host Lorraine Kelly has faced the brunt of the cuts with Good Morning Britain now taking her 9am to 10am slot for 22 weeks of the year.

For the remaining 30 weeks of the year, Lorraine will present five days a week, meaning her Friday stand-in presenters Ranvir Singh and Christine Lampard are no longer needed.

It was revealed that Lorraine's show would be slashed in half, running for just 30 minutes from 9:30am to 10am.

ITV sources told MailOnline at the time that they have decided to cut resources on their daytime schedule so that the network can invest in more drama programmes.

It was also announced that ITV Studios will no longer make Good Morning Britain but instead it will be made by ITN - the organisation which makes ITV News.

At the start of March, Loose Women and Lorraine were pulled off air for WEEKS.

Viewers usually watch Good Morning Britain, followed by Lorraine, This Morning and then Loose Women every weekday on ITV.

But since Monday 9 March 2026, Good Morning Britain has started at the usual time of 6am, and finished at 10am, followed by This Morning until 12:30pm.

This means that Lorraine, which usually airs between 9:30am and 10am, and Loose Women, which is on our screens weekdays for one hour from 12:30pm, is not on.
The new series of the BBC's Who Do You Think You Are? will see Zoe Ball and Amy Dowden break down in tears as they face a series of family tragedies.

The duo will be joined by the liked of Mr Bates vs the Post Office actor Toby Jones, who will make an 'astonishing discovery' as to his lineage in north India.

Things will take an emotional turn for broadcaster Zoe, 55, as she unearths a tragedy about her family history in Cornwall.

Meanwhile, Strictly Come Dancing professional Amy, 35, will be followed by the BBC cameras as they solve a murder, and find another story that hits very close to the recent experiences of her own life, according to The Mirror.

The series, which sees famous faces step back in time with the help of experts to uncover their family's stories, will this time span centuries and see the celebrities journey across the UK, Australia, Tasmania, Italy, India, Kenya and the Bahamas.

Dancer Amy, who recently revealed she had beaten breast cancer, has been tipped to take a look at a story very similar to her own life as part of her episode.

The new series of the BBC's Who Do You Think You Are? will see Amy Dowden break down in tears as she faces a series of family tragedies

Things will take an emotional turn for broadcaster Zoe, 55, as she unearths a tragedy about her family history in Cornwall

Her look back into the past will also lead her to a West Wales farmhouse, and a valley named after one of her ancestors, according to the publication.

Meanwhile, TV and radio presenter Zoe will look at both her Scottish and Cornish roots and on he way, discover a tragic tale of survival.

Actor Toby, 59, will be lead to north India as part of his journey into the past, arriving at the location where his great-great-grandfather was stationed during his time with the British Army.

Elsewhere, EastEnders actor and I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! star Joe Swash will journey to southern Italy to uncover more about a 'dramatic' family story that details outlaws and their crimes.

Olympic heptathlete Katarina Johnson-Thompson will look back a her Bahamian family history, learning about their migration to Miami, USA, during segregation and the rise of the Ku Klux Klan.

And Doctor Who actress Ruth Madeley is said to dig out a secret family adoption that had long been buried, using DNA to uncover a long lost family member.

BAFTA winning actor Adeel Akhtar will travel away from the UK in his episode, tracing his Indian-Kenyan roots by heading to the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.

Finally, Olivier and Emmy award winner Dame Harriet Walter is said to uncover the secret intelligence role one of her family members held during World War II, as well as a serious scandal for one her Italian ancestors.

Toby, 59, will be lead to north India as part of his journey into the past, arriving at the location where his great-great-grandfather was stationed

A BBC insider told The Mirror: 'This series never fails to astonish and surprise.

'And in all of the hidden histories it uncovers - aided by the generosity and openness of a simply exceptional cast - we can find a sample of the incredible richness and diversity that makes up modern Britain.'

The show's executive producer, Colette Flight, added: 'We see their astonishment, delight, laughter and tears as they discover how the incredible stories of their ancestors have shaped their family, and them.

'Along the way they learn about the dramatic social forces and historical events that impacted their families, from Victorian silent prisons to the American civil rights movement and from Italian brigands to bankruptcy.'

The series is in the works and tipped to return on BBC this spring, with four episodes launching, and a further four to come in the summer after a short break.

It comes after comedian Diane Morgan was seen taking a catty swipe at the Who Do You Think You Are producers as she appeared on the BBC show.

Last year, the comedian and actress, 49, explored her father's side of the family after he passed away six years ago.

Diane certainly showed off her funny side as she talked to the camera about taking part in the programme, bringing up some of her work that has poked fun at the series.

Diane Morgan (pictured) takes a BRUTAL swipe at the Who Do You Think You Are producers in the next episode of the BBC show

Sitting on a brown leather sofa, she cheekily said: 'This is what I can't understand about any of those shows, like this one, where people go on a journey, you know, you'd think people would stop using those tropes.

'Even the tiny little things like walking past the camera... I wonder how much wondering aimlessly I'll be doing in this...'

The actress added: 'So I wrote this comedy called Mandy, about this woman who can't hold a job down, in one episode she goes on Who Are You, Do You Think? Loosely based on Who Do You Think You Are.'

As the actress burst into laughter, a scene from the programme appeared on screen, as Diane's character Mandy could be seen in a jacuzzi Deborah Meaden.

She concluded: 'I never thought in a million years you'd ask me to be on it.'

The genealogy show, which follows famous faces as they find out about their family tree, hit our screens on the Beeb in 2004 and has had 177 episodes over 20 seasons.

Who Do You Think You Are? is available to stream on BBC iPlayer
This Morning's Alison Hammond opened up on a terrifying burglary at her first family home she shared with son Aidan, which saw the thief leave behind a knife.

The TV presenter joined Dermot O'Leary, Gyles Brandreth and Nicola Thorp on the ITV daytime show on Monday (March 30) as talk turned to the headlines.

The hosts were seen discussing the news that police 'failed to solve 92% of burglaries' in Britain last year, according to new figures.

Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp called on the government to crackdown on break-ins after the data showed that burglary has effectively become decriminalised.

Not a single case was solved during 2025 in almost a third of the country, with cops making an arrest in less than 10 per cent of the nearly 200,000 cases.

Police identified suspects in 27,500 cases but failed to prosecute, while 400 cases were deemed to 'not be in the public interest'.

This Morning's Alison Hammond opened up on a terrifying burglary at her first family home she shared with son Aidan - that saw the thief leave behind a KNIFE

Alison raised Aidan as a single mother after she split from his father and her ex-fiance, Noureddine Boufaied, after Aidan was born in 2005

The report in The Sun highlighted London as a hotspot for burglaries, with seven of the top ten regions most blighted by break-ins found to be in the capital.

Reacting to the news, Alison, 51, opened up on her own horrifying experience at the hands of burglars, revealing her 'first home' was robbed.

She told Dermot, 51: 'Its a massive violation. I can remember my very first house that I got... I put so much love into making this a home and everything. It was the first house that Id bought with me and Aidan.

'I hadnt moved in exactly straightaway, but I had all my carpets and everything.

'I can remember someone coming through the window and they left a knife in the living room and they left footprints going up, scoping the house, and there was footprints all over my brand-new carpet.

She continued, explaining the neighbours let her know about the break-in: 'And do you know what put me off that house? I never felt happy there, I never felt safe there again, and I wanted to get rid of the house.

'Eventually, after a year, I got rid of it. It was terrifying.'

Alison opened up about the burglary while on This Morning

It comes after Alison opened up on the 'absolutely traumatising' she found her son Aidan splayed out on the floor after an accident at home.

The TV presenter, who was joined once again by co-host Dermot on the ITV breakfast show, shared the horrifying moment her only child, then a baby, fell from the bed when he was left alone for a moment.

The duo were also joined by Ashley James and Nick Ferrari for the daily news segment, when talk soon turned to the trials and tribulations of parenthood.

Reacting to Harry Potter star Rupert Grint opening up on fatherhood, admitting he found the experience 'isolating' and 'traumatising', Alison revealed more about her experiences as a parent back when son Aidan, 21, was an infant.

The mother-of-one told her co-stars: 'I'll be honest, I have been traumatised, and I feel like such a terrible parent even telling you this.

'You know when your baby is getting a little bit older from when you can leave them on the bed and they don't move...

Alison, 51, revealed more about her experiences as a parent when son Aidan, 21

'I was traumatised when my little Aidan was on the bed. I quickly popped to the bathroom for something, came back and he'd fallen off.

'I will be honest with you, seeing him on the floor, I was absolutely traumatised - but he was absolutely fine, he was absolutely fine.

'I feel like a terrible mum, but do you know what? I'm not the only one.'

Alison raised Aidan as a single mother after she split from his father and her ex-fiance, Noureddine Boufaied, after Aidan was born in 2005.

Previously on This Morning, Alison spoke about the split and becoming a single mum, saying: 'I felt that failure with my sons dad when we broke up but he moved on and has three other kids now and they are part of our life.'

It comes after This Morning fans were left divided after watching Alison's Valentine's Day themed interview with Chris Hemsworth.

Alison sat down with the Australian actor, 42, in a cinema to talk about his latest release Crime 101 on the show last week.

The cinema was set up for a Valentine's Day date and saw the pair enjoy a glass of champagne and a cupcake to discuss the thriller, which centres around a planned multimillion dollar heist.

The mother-of-one told her co-stars: 'I'll be honest, I have been traumatised, and I feel like such a terrible parent even telling you this'

She asked the actor: 'Tell the viewers why they should choose Crime 101 on Valentine's Day Eve?'

Chris said: 'Once the momentum kicks from the beginning, you are on the edge of your seat and holding on to your partner. I think that'd be the safest place to do it. It makes for a great night out. Where else would you want to be big dark room with a bunch of strangers and your loved one?'

Alison couldn't help but joke: 'Oh, well, I'm quite enjoying this dark room with you, to be fair.'

The interview left viewers divided as some claimed she was 'screaming' in the actor's face as she interviewed him, while other found it hilarious.

Taking to X, those who didn't love it wrote: 'Hammond interviews cringe fest you seen one you seen them all me me me me bab babes howling.'

Another chimed in: 'Cringe interview. Poor Chris,' as a third added: 'The things they have to do to promote their movies.'

However, others enjoyed the interaction, writing: 'Chris Hemsworth seems like a pretty cool dude like hes so funny and that interview with Alison Hammond is great.'

Earlier in the interview, Chris brought up Alison's previous 'date night' interview with another Australian actor, Hugh Jackman, 57.

Alison, 51, sat down with the Australian actor, 42, in a cinema to talk about his latest release Crime 101 - but her behaviour during the interview ended up being more of a talking point for viewers than the film itself

Chris joked that he had to have a similar set-up where he notably brought the drinks and snacks as Alison had provided them for Hugh.

He said: 'You know, as an Australian man, I saw the interaction, or date, if you can call it, that you had with Hugh Jackman, and I was pretty disappointed you brought the flowers and the cake and the champagne and everything.

'That's not how Australian men roll. So this time I wanted to do it and show you how it's supposed to be done. Show him how it's supposed to be done.'

Unbelievably, the actor was brought up again at the end of Alison's subsequent date with Chris.

She once again made a very eye-popping joke and said that Hugh was 'very big down under', prompting Chris to awkwardly laugh.

This Morning airs on weekdays from 10am on ITV and ITVX.
EastEnders fans have been left fuming after realising Scott Mills' BBC sacking disrupts the soap's flashforward episode in what they're calling a 'worst case scenario' for writers.

The 53-year-old Radio 2 star was taken off air last week while bosses looked at a complaint about the DJ's personal conduct before announcing his dismissal today.

The BBC said in a statement: 'While we do not comment on matters relating to individuals, we can confirm Scott Mills is no longer contracted to work with the BBC.'

Mills, who is paid between 355,000 and 359,999 a year by the BBC, took over the Radio 2 breakfast show from Zoe Ball in 2025.

Although EastEnders fans have been left disappointed for a very specific reason connected to the storylines.

On New Year's Day, the soap aired a special flashforward episode showing a year in the future, to January 1, 2027.

The BBC announced Scott Mills' dismissal today - although fans of EastEnders were left disappointed for a specific reason

Mills made a voice cameo in the soap's flashforward episode to New Year's Day 2027 - and the scene involved Max Branning (pictured, played by Jake Wood)

It was hoped the writers would be able to pay off everything that had been established in that installment.

The episode briefly featured Mills' voice on the radio, as heard by character Max Branning (Jake Wood).

He said in the voiceover: 'How's 2027 going for you? Time for some messages.

'Max Branning, good luck on your wedding day. Wow, says here fifth time lucky.

'That's from Oscar - hotter than ever in 2027. I'm guessing you wrote that yourself, Oscar. And that one's also from Lauren too.'

Following news of Mills' dismissal, one viewer wrote on X: 'Cant believe Oscar got the sacked Scott Mills on the radio for Max for New Year I just know the #EastEnders team is shaking rn.'

Another said: 'Scott Mills has given the eastenders writers the worse scenario.'

A third penned: 'i just know the person who is responsible for putting scott mills in the eastenders flash forward episode is going through it right now.'

A fourth remarked: 'The Scott Mills situation is another example of why that #EastEnders flash forward idea was an horrendous concept.

'Unpredictable variables and just didnt suit the vibe of the programme.'

A fifth shared: 'How will EastEnders explain that one - Scott Mills sacked from the BBC!!! Bit awkward he was featured in the flash forward episode.'

A sixth commented: 'Scott Mills was on the radio in the #EastEnders flash forward so that's going to have to be retconned x.'

While a seventh chimed in: 'Of all that could go wrong in 12 months, the radio voiceover of Scott Mills was not what I thought would be the thing to eff up the flash forward!! It's the easiest thing to fix I suppose, so there's that.'

Elsewhere, Mills married his long-term partner Sam Vaughan at a celebrity-studded wedding in Barcelona in 2024.

Taking to X, EastEnders shared their reaction given Mills' voice cameo in the flashforward episode

Previously, he had a three-year relationship with marketing manager Brad Harris, which ended in 2016.

The presenter was last on air on Tuesday, with veteran DJ Gary Davies replacing him from Wednesday onwards.

As he handed over on what was to become his final show, Mills joked about waxing his legs and doing Stars In Their Eyes with fellow Radio 2 presenter Vernon Kay, before signing off with: 'See you tomorrow.'

Davies did not address the reason for Mills's absence when he began Wednesday's show, telling listeners: 'Morning, Gary in for Scott.'

News of Mills' sacking led the 12pm bulletin on his former station BBC Radio 2.

At the start of his show on BBC Radio 2, Jeremy Vine said he was 'taken aback' by the news about Scott Mills. He said: 'Obviously, I was taken aback by that opening story to the news.

Mills married his long-term partner Sam Vaughan at a celebrity-studded wedding in Barcelona in 2024

As viewers may recall, Max Branning listened to Mills on the radio - reading out a good luck message from Max's children Lauren and Oscar

'I had not heard anything about it until 17 minutes ago, when it was on the BBC website, and I only had the information that was given to you in the bulletin, I have nothing more, that it was allegations about Scott Mills's personal conduct, which have led to him being sacked.

'I have no more than that. Alright, on to today's show.'

Lorna Clarke, Director of Music, reportedly told BBC staff in an email: 'I wanted to personally let you know that Scott Mills has left the Breakfast show, and the BBC. I know that this news will be sudden and unexpected and therefore must come as a shock.

'Not least as so many of us have worked with Scott over a great many years, across a broad range of our programmes on R1, 5Live, R2 and TV. I felt it was important to share this news with you at the earliest opportunity.

'Of course, it will also come as a shock to our audience and loyal breakfast show listeners too. I will update everyone with more information on plans for the show when I'm able to. While I appreciate many of you will have questions, I hope you can understand that I am not going to be saying anything.'

The DJ, from Southampton, began his BBC career on Radio 1 in the late 1990s as the early breakfast host, before going on to present weekend slots and then an early evening show while providing maternity cover for Sara Cox. When Cox did not return, the programme was renamed The Scott Mills Show.

In 2022, he joined Radio 2, replacing Steve Wright in his weekday afternoon slot.

He has presented a number of shows on the station before taking up the Breakfast Show after Ball's departure.
A Countryfile host reflected on being 'homeless, jobless and ashamed' prior to their TV fame in a poignant episode.

During Sunday's (March 29) episode, Datshiane Navanayagam opened up about the difficulty of holding down a job while being homeless.

Furthermore, it came as the presenter examined the rise of youth homelessness in rural Britain.

This resonated with Datshiane, 38, who experienced period of homelesness amid a difficult childhood.

She said: 'Homelessness is something that I've experienced myself as a young person.

'I can still remember how stressful it was, how difficult it was to hold down a job and how ashamed I felt at the time.'

In the latest Countryfile episode, Datshiane Navanayagam explored the topic of homelessness - and how it is rising in rural Britain

It's a subject that resonates with Datshiane, who herself experienced periods of homelessness during a difficult childhood

Datshiane went on: 'But for me, like many others, my homelessness was never rough sleeping - It was far more hidden than that.

'I was placed in hostels and hotels away from public view.'

Reacting to the segment, one viewer wrote on X: 'Im finding this quite sad. Poor lads cant get a house.

'What is the difference from the 80s/90s when lads and lassies could get a job and a flat or cottage at reasonable rents?'

A second commented: 'Watching #countryfile and seeing the disgraceful treatment of young British people who need accommodation and then being discarded with zero empathy.

'Yet hundreds of thousands of migrants have been housed and looked after without a second thought!'

A third penned: 'Mad that young people in the UK get little or no help from local authorities and are left homeless - but arrive here illegally on a boat and get help and priority for accommodation.'

Years on from her own circumstances, Datshiane now enjoys a growing broadcasting career, which began by working in local radio.

Meanwhile, it's not the first time she has tackled the subject of homelessness in her work.

In 2018, she presented and helped make a Channel 4 Dispatches documentary examining homelessness' impact on working adults.

Elsewhere, back in January, Countryfile viewers fumed 'leave them alone!' following 'distressing' footage of birds shown in an episode.

The installment featured hosts John Craven, Charlotte Smith and Adam Henson visiting the Menai Suspension Bridge in Wales.

One segment explored how a specialist team from the British Trust for Ornithology utilised cannon netting in order to capture wading birds.

This was for the purpose of collecting data for monitoring the birds in question.

Previously, Countryfile viewers were furious with 'distressing' footage of birds shown in the agricultural show back in January

The episode showed a flock numbering hundreds of birds on the shore, who were about to be caught up in the net.

Charlotte explained in a voiceover: 'As the name suggests, small cannons fire projectiles that are attached to a net, gently capturing the birds that are on the ground.'

The explosion startled many of the birds, causing them to react in shock with wings flapping everywhere.

While Charlotte added: 'This may look a bit worrying, but it is a highly regulated routine technique, used to track bird health over time.'

Many viewers were left unimpressed by these scenes and took to X to share their thoughts.

One wrote: '#countryfile can't we let birds be birds fgs.

'How do they know they're not stressed! Explosions, nets, getting tangled in nets, ringing, re-ringing, measuring head.'

Another added: 'Not been funny but I don't think that letting off a massive explosion and then covering them with a net is the best way to help these poor birds.

'Why can't these lefty do-gooders stop messing with animals and leave them alone #countryfile.'

A third shared: 'Totally agree. Catching them with nets and shoving them into small boxes is highly distressing. Just leave them alone.'

Countryfile airs on BBC One and is available to stream on iPlayer.
Laura Dern has ignited backlash after it was announced she will star in and executive produce a television show documenting Jeffrey Epstein's downfall.

Based on Perversion of Justice: The Jeffrey Epstein Story by investigative journalist Julie K Brown, the limited series is described as an explosive account of an investigative reporter exposing the secret plea deal between Epstein and federal prosecutors.

The project will stem on Miami Herald reporter Brown's years-long investigation that would go on to identify 80 victims and lead to the arrests of the financier and his madame, Ghislaine Maxwell.

House of Cards screenwriter Sharon Hoffman is behind the script and will serve as co-showrunner and an executive producer alongside Eileen Myers.

According to reports, the show will be produced by Adam McKay's Hyperobject Industries.

It has not yet been confirmed who Dern, 59, will play.

Response to the series has raised eyebrows on social media, with some users arguing that a television show on Epstein is not needed.

Taking to X (formerly Twitter), one said: 'They will make a prestige drama about Epstein before they ever put his associates in a courtroom. The series is not justice. It is a substitute for it.'

A limited TV drama about the fall of Jeffrey Epstein is in the works

Laura Dern will star in and executive produce the series based on Perversion of Justice: The Jeffrey Epstein Story

'Trust Hollywood to milk the Epstein propaganda,' added another.

A third continued: 'Laura Dern leading a Jeffrey Epstein series turning real trauma into awards bait again...'

'Just don't think we need a prestige TV series of a horrifying reign of terror that we are still dealing with the ramifications of right this second,' another said.

Someone else added: 'She's got the range but I don't think it'd be in good taste to make a miniseries about Epstein right now.'

Not everyone was against the project though.

'Laura Dern leading this sounds promising heavy subject but could be a really powerful adaptation,' one said.

Epstein's criminal case ended abruptly in 2019 when he was found dead in his jail cell in New York while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges. He was 66.

Authorities ruled the death a suicide.

Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell were both arrested for their sex trafficking crimes

Financier Epstein died behind bars in 2019 while Maxwell remains serving her 20-year sentence

Maxwell, 64, was found hiding out in Bradford, New Hampshire, when she was arrested by the FBI on July 2, 2020.

She is currently serving a 20-year sentence for sex trafficking and conspiring with Jeffrey Epstein to abuse minors.

Last week, it was reported that Bank of America will pay $72.5 million to victims of Epstein's sexual abuse, marking the latest multimillion-dollar settlement tied to the disgraced financier's decades-long trafficking operation.

If approved, the settlement will provide compensation to hundreds of victims, while closing another chapter in the sprawling legal fallout surrounding Epstein's crimes.
Camila Morrone has said she is 'pro-woman at all costs' as she shared her admiration for women having babies in their forties and defying social norms.

The Night Manager actress, 28, said that she feels the possibilities for women in the industry are 'expanding', during a new interview with Porter magazine.

Camila, who has recently taken on the role of Countess Ellen Olenska in The Age of Innocence, spoke about what the part had taught her.

She said: 'To question everything. Tradition, conformity, what's expected of us. I'm inherently a feminist. I question things  like this idea that there's a time clock on women, that you have to make it or you'll lose it all.'

Touching on how this relates to her life, said: 'We've been trained to fear getting older, especially in Hollywood.

'But I look around and the possibilities are just expanding. I love that the norm now can be first-time moms in their forties. I'm all about breaking up with what we think we know. And being pro-women at all costs - it really is that simple.'

Camila, who notably dated Leonardo DiCaprio for four years, was asked how she navigates having a private life while being in the public eye.

Camila Morrone has said she is 'pro-woman at all costs' as she shared her admiration for women having babies in their forties and defying social norms

Camila also modelled a pair of thigh-high fringe boots, which were styled with a black long-sleeved bodysuit and sheer tights

She said: 'I always went back to the work. The noise always dies down. It doesn't always feel like that when you're in the thick of it, but this too shall pass. I just want to make really good work, grow professionally and personally.'

Camila recently starred alongside Tom Hiddleston and Olivia Colman in the second season of The Night Manager.

She also appears opposite Adam DiMarco in the newly released Netflix series Something Very Bad Is Going To Happen.

Camila, who is now dating Chicago-born creative Cole Bennett, also discussed what she felt like starting out in her career, as she admitted she 'overthought everything'.

She said: 'There's this massive fear that lives around going after something you really want  because, what if it doesn't come true? How devastating will that be? I just had to rip off the Band-Aid and start going on auditions.

'Acting couldn't be this thing I just ruminated on all day in my apartment and envisioned and hoped and dreamt for. I had to go to classes. I had to show up.'

Alongside the chat, Camila posed for a fashion shoot in an array of stylish looks, including a strappy pale pink satin mini dress.

Camila also modelled a pair of thigh-high fringe boots, which were styled with a black long-sleeved bodysuit and sheer tights.

In one sexy snap Camila was pulling on a pair of slingback heels, while sporting a black lace trim top with a leather midi skirt

One edgy shot saw her cradling the head of a statue

Camila also modelled a pair of thigh-high fringe boots, which were styled with a black long-sleeved bodysuit and sheer tights

She also sported a gold velvet Gucci bodysuit, which was covered in the brand's famous logo, with a pair of blue jeans.

She effortlessly posed by flinging her head back while sat in a chair in one shot

Camila also wore a frilly green blouse

In one sexy snap Camila was pulling on a pair of slingback heels, while sporting a black lace trim top with a leather midi skirt.

Another outfit included a red bodysuit, which showcased her figure as she lounged on a red velvet sofa during the sultry shoot.

She also sported a gold velvet Gucci bodysuit, which was covered in the brand's famous logo, with a pair of blue jeans.

Read the full interview here on NET-A-PORTERs digital title, PORTER.
With the cracks in her marriage to David Momoh becoming more apparent, it seems that Married At First Sight star Alissa Fay has a new man in her life.

And she's stayed inside the reality show dating pool, reportedly striking up a relationship with Australian Ninja Warrior star Nathan Ryles.

Alissa, 33, has reportedly been painting the town red with Nathan, 33, after cameras stopped rolling on the hit Channel Nine series, according to Woman's Day.

It appears the romance is more than a passing fling, with a source revealing she is head-over-heels.

'She's besotted with him. She's even calling him her soulmate,' a source told the publication.

'It's the worst kept secret in Adelaide.'

With the cracks in her marriage to David Momoh becoming more apparent, it seems that Married At First Sight star Alissa Fay has a new man in her life

She's stayed inside the reality show dating pool, reportedly striking up a relationship with Australian Ninja Warrior star Nathan Ryles

The source also suggested that Alissa had pursued the alleged romance with Nathan for clout.

'It raised eyebrows,' the source said.

'People were asking whether this was the real end goal all along. A higher profile and bigger opportunities.'

Daily Mail has reached out to both Alissa Fay and Nathan Ryles for comment.

It comes after the couple faced a difficult couch session during Sunday's commitment ceremony.

Despite both choosing to stay in the experiment, David admitted to the experts that he felt he was carrying the bulk of the 'emotional weight' in the relationship.

David and Alissa looked like one of the strongest husband and wife teams on Married At First Sight this season.

But recently, previously unseen footage revealed that severe cracks began to appear in the pair's relationship during the couple's retreat.

Join the discussion Do YOU think this new reality romance is the real deal or just another TV fling?

Alissa, 33, has reportedly been painting the town red with Nathan, 33, after cameras stopped rolling on the hit Channel Nine series, according to Woman's Day

'She's besotted with him. She's even calling him her soulmate,' a source told the publication. 'It's the worst kept secret in Adelaide.' Alissa is pictured with David Momoh

In the explosive clip, Alissa could be seen having a massive meltdown over their accommodation.

Upset that there were no blinds on the windows of their bedroom, Alissa hurled insults at her groom and criticised him for not solving the issue.

'F*** you! I f***ing solve every f***ing problem! You p*** me off,' she told a gobsmacked David, who calmly observed his bride.

Still, David stood his ground and told her not to 'cancel' him.

'Don't talk to me like that, please. Have some respect,' he added.

The drama ended with Alissa storming out of the room and demanding to 'sleep outside'.

David reviewed the hair-raising incident on the latest episode of Stan's MAFS: After The Dinner Party, and revealed some behind-the-scenes details.

'I have this thing where I have to be extra caring,' he said, reflecting on the moment.

Nathan, meanwhile, is an Australian Ninja Warrior veteran

He was previously in a relationship with fiancee Tori Stevens and the couple share a son, Carter, four. While there has been no official confirmation of a split between Nathan and Tori, he has not appeared on her Instagram grid since December 2022

'I feel like I was being respectful in the relationship because I knew that from past experiences, being toxic, teeing each other up by using rude words or whatever, it's not healthy for a relationship.

'So I try to be calm and reasoning... I feel like for [Alissa], she needed that up and down kind of a relationship.'

Nathan, meanwhile, is an Australian Ninja Warrior veteran, having competed in the series five times.

He was previously in a relationship with fiancee Tori Stevens and the couple share a son, Carter, four.

While there has been no official confirmation of a split between Nathan and Tori, he has not appeared on her Instagram grid since December 2022.

In another twist, Alissa follows both Nathan and Tori's Instagram accounts.
Kendra Duggar was reportedly taken to a 'private residence' with her children following her release from custody.

Meanwhile, her husband Joseph Duggar remains in custody after he was arrested and taken to an Arkansas detention facility after he was accused of sexually assaulting a nine-year-old girl.

Rather than return home, she and her children was immediately transported to a secluded location, according to People.

Two days after Joseph's arrest, Kendra was arrested on March 20 and charged with four counts of false imprisonment and endangering the welfare of a child.

Kendra, 27, was released under a $1,470 bond about 90 minutes after she was initially booked.

Per the outlet, Joseph and Kendra talked on a collect call after he failed to reach her the first two times he called her from the Washington County Detention Facility.

Kendra Duggar was taken to a 'private' residence with her and Joseph Duggar's children after she was released from custody over a week ago

They eventually talked at 8:11 p.m. on the night of Friday, March 20.

During the call, she asked him: 'Did you hear that I'm out here with ... did you hear where I'm at and everything?'

While he told her not to reveal her location, she replied: 'They brought me to a good place to stay that's very private.'

She was reportedly transferred to said remote residence with their four children.

The couple's four kids are: Garrett David, born in 2018; Addison Renee, born in 2019; Brooklyn Praise, born in 2021; and Justus, born in 2022.

At one point, she also asked him if he's 'doing OK' and he explained he is 'trying to keep [his] spirits up.'

He also seemingly got choked up while talking about turning to his faith when thinking about 'all the situations.'

Her home was searched by the Tontitown Police Department and the Arkansas Department of Human Resources on March 19, the day after Joseph's arrest.

Her husband Joseph remains in police custody after his arrest following an accusation that he sexually assaulted a nine-year-old girl in 2020

Kendra was charged with four counts of false imprisonment and endangering the welfare of a child following his arrest. She was arrested and released the same day she was booked

It was during the search that authorities discovered alleged evidence to charge her with four misdemeanor counts of false imprisonment and endangering the welfare of a child.

She is set to appear in court on April 29.

A source close to the Duggar family also told People earlier this week about the alleged circumstances that led to her arrest.

The insider also revealed that both Joseph and Kendra could face up to eight years in prison.

The source claimed that her charges are in no relation to Joseph being accused of sexual assault.

A police investigation of the couple's home reportedly found that the locks to the bedrooms were on the exterior of the doors, per the outlet.

Joseph was arrested two days earlier, on March 18.

Since then, he has been reportedly held at the Arkansas detention facility for nine days and has since been transferred to a publicly undisclosed location.

Rather than return home, she and her children was immediately transported to a secluded location. She shared that information with him during a collect call on March 20

Both Joseph and Kendra could face up to eight years in prison if found guilty on all of their charges; pictured on Counting On

He was awaiting his transfer to Florida after waiving his right to extradition during a hearing on the same day his wife was arrested.

He was accused of sexually abusing a minor several times during a 2020 family vacation to Panama City Beach.

The nine-year-old girl told the police that he allegedly sexually assaulted her when they were sitting on a couch together while a blanket was placed over her.

He is expected to be charged with lewd and lascivious behavior with a minor under the age of 12 and lewd and lascivious behavior committed by an individual over the age of 18 when he is arraigned in Florida.

Police said in documents obtained by the outlet that Joseph admitted to 'unlawful sexual contact' during one of their interviews at the detention center, per The Hollywood Reporter.

'As the vacation continued, he also asked her to sit next to him on a couch and covered them with a blanket. During this time, Joseph manipulated the victim's underwear and grazed her genitals. He would also continue to rub his hands on her thighs,' the Bay County Sheriff's Office wrote in a statement obtained by the outlet.
Arnold Schwarzenegger's youngest son Joseph Baena enjoyed a shirtless stroll through Santa Monica on Sunday in the first sighting since winning big at his first bodybuilding competition.

The 28-year-old nepo baby  who was sporting Matrix-style slim gray sunglasses  showcased his sculpted 6ft 1in muscular body while scantily clad in black shorts and beige flip-flop sandals.

Still clutching his black shirt, Baena was in the zone, listening to something on his old-school iPhone headphones during the 68F spring stroll.

The half-Guatemalan athlete recently revealed he packed on 18lbs of muscle in eight weeks in order to prepare to compete at NPC Natural Colorado State in Denver last Saturday.

Each bodybuilder who entered the show held at Pinnacle Performing Arts Center was not only drug tested but was also given a 30-minute polygraph test to ensure they were 100-percent natural.

Baena impressively placed first in three men's categories  open bodybuilding heavyweight class, classic physique true novice and classic physique novice  as well as placing second in classic physique open class C.

Arnold Schwarzenegger's youngest son Joseph Baena enjoyed a shirtless stroll through Santa Monica on Sunday in the first sighting since winning big at his first bodybuilding competition

'Thank you all for the sweet messages!' the Christie's real estate agent  who boasts nearly one million social media followers  wrote via Instagram story Sunday.

'Time to do it again on Saturday!'

Indeed, Baena was back in the gym hours later doing leg presses with his trainer, but it's unclear which show he'll compete at next.

And while the Pepperdine University grad made his big debut, his famous 78-year-old father spent the weekend in Birmingham, England hosting the 2026 Arnold Classic UK and handed out the historic $1 million prize to Nigerian champ Chinedu Obiekea Andrew 'Jacked.'

'We have come a long way from the days when I won a thousand dollars for winning Mr. Olympia and I am so proud of the sport,' Schwarzenegger wrote on Sunday.

The seven-time Mr. Olympia did make sure to spend some quality time helping train Baena at Gold's Gym in Los Angeles's Venice neighorhood ahead of his show.

'My dad is old-school; he doesn't believe in handouts. He believes hard work pays off, and so do I,' the LA native told Men's Health in 2022.

'I love the word honor, and I'm very prideful in the sense that if I use my dad's contacts or ask him for favors, I wonder what honor is that gonna bring me?'

Join the discussion Do YOU think Joseph Baena is the next Schwarzenegger in the making?

The 28-year-old nepo baby  sporting Matrix-style slim gray sunglasses  showcased his sculpted 6ft 1in muscular body while scantily clad in black shorts and beige flip-flop sandals

Still clutching his black shirt, Baena was in the zone listening to something on his old-school iPhone headphones during the 68F-degree spring stroll

The half-Guatemalan athlete recently revealed he packed on 18lbs of muscle in eight weeks in order to prepare to compete at NPC Natural Colorado State in Denver last Saturday

Every bodybuilder who entered the show held at Pinnacle Performing Arts Center was not only drug tested, they also took a 30-minute polygraph test to ensure they were 100-percent natural

Baena (2-L, pictured Saturday) impressively placed first in three men's categories  open bodybuilding heavyweight class, classic physique true novice and classic physique novice  as well as placing second in classic physique open class C

'Thank you all for the sweet messages!' the Christie's real estate agent wrote via Instagram story Sunday. 'Time to do it again on Saturday!'

Indeed, Baena was back in the gym hours later doing leg presses with his trainer, but it's unclear which show he'll compete at next

And while the Pepperdine University grad made his big debut, his famous 78-year-old father (center) spent the weekend in Birmingham, England hosting the 2026 Arnold Classic UK and handed out the historic $1 million prize to Nigerian champ Chinedu Obiekea Andrew 'Jacked'

Schwarzenegger  a seven-time Mr. Olympia  did make sure to spend some quality time helping train Baena at Gold's Gym in Venice, Calif., ahead of his show (pictured last Tuesday)

Out of all five of Schwarzenegger's children, the LA native has followed in his footsteps the most despite primarily growing up with his chef mother Mildred 'Patty' Baena in Bakersfield, Calif. (pictured June 11)

Baena was only 13 in 2011 when the former California Governor revealed he secretly fathered him during a 'one-night stand' with his former housekeeper (R, pictured in 2019), which ended his 25-year marriage to journalist Maria Shriver

Out of all five of Schwarzenegger's children, Baena has followed in his footsteps the most, despite primarily growing up with his chef mother, Mildred 'Patty' Baena, in Bakersfield, California

The Dog Patrol: Operation Santa Paws actor was only 13 in 2011 when the former California Governor revealed he secretly fathered him during a 'one-night stand' with his former housekeeper, which ended his 25-year marriage to journalist Maria Shriver before their divorce was finalized in 2021.

Last year, the 70-year-old niece of President John F. Kennedy admitted in her poetry book I Am Maria that the divorce 'broke my heart, it broke my spirit, it broke what was left of me. Without my marriage, my parents, a job  the dam of my lifelong capital-D Denial just blew apart.'

Baena and Schwarzenegger eventually began bonding over fitness, and he gifted him a copy of The Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding, which he co-authored in 1985.

On May 3, the avid cook and his girlfriend, Dutch model Mel Randel, will celebrate their third anniversary.
LONDON, March 29, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Smartee Denti-Technology hosted a specialized clinical conference at the London Heathrow Marriott Hotel on March 21, gathering over 50 prominent dental professionals. The event focused on advancing Smartee's Mandibular Advancement Repositioning Technology (MART) applied in the treatment of Class II malocclusion, featuring collaborative lectures by Dr. Jingting Lu (Shanghai Taikang Bybo Dental Group) and Dr. Pratik Sharma, Consultant Orthodontist and Academic Reader at the Royal London Hospital Dental Institute.

Redefining the Approach to Facial Convexity

Dr. Jingting Lu Smartee Denti-Technology Mandibular Repositioning Conference in London Dr. Pratik Sharma

The scientific program centered on Smartee's S8-SGTB clear aligner solution, engineered specifically for patients presenting with facial convexity. For these complex skeletal cases, conventional treatments often necessitate teeth extraction or orthognathic surgery, The S8-SGTB system offers a non-invasive, orthopedic-orthodontic alternative designed to improve both function and facial aesthetics.

A focal point of the event was the innovative diagnostic classification system of malocclusion developed by Prof. Gang Shen (Taikang Bybo Dental). Moving beyond traditional classifications based largely on dental occlusion, this framework prioritizes facial morphology and classifies malocclusion in four categories: Facial Convexity, Facial Concavity, Mandibular Deviation and Straight Facial Profile. It systematically identifies whether severe jaw discrepancies originate from dento-alveolar factors, skeletal bone, mandibular positioning, or a combination thereofensuring that treatment strategies target the root cause rather than just the symptoms.

Resonating with UK Clinical Standards

This etiology-driven approach resonated strongly with the attending UK clinicians. Participants highlighted that Prof. Gang Shen's classification system provides a highly coherent framework for case selection, risk assessment, and clinical safety.

Several attendees noted that while the underlying clinical observations aligned with their daily practice, Smartee's framework successfully organized these insights into a structured, predictable diagnostic protocol and treatment strategies for each type of malocclusion. The logical rigor of the system sparked significant interest, with many clinicians expressing a desire to explore Smartee's expanded classifications beyond facial convexity.

Deepening Roots in the European Market

The London conference underscores Smartee's deepening commitment to the UK orthodontic sector. The company's regional infrastructure now features a dedicated European Orthodontic Clinical Support Center located in the UK, enabling faster response times, localized treatment planning, and closer collaboration with British dental institutions.

Supported by four global production basesincluding state-of-the-art intelligent manufacturing facilities in China and SpainSmartee is uniquely positioned to serve the UK market with a blend of global manufacturing scale and localized medical expertise.

"The UK is a market where clinical rigor meets a growing patient demand for aesthetic, minimally invasive solutions," said Mr. Garie Zhou, Director of International Business Development at Smartee. "The high level of engagement we saw at this conference confirms that UK orthodontists are actively seeking deeper, evidence-based dialogues on managing complex skeletal cases, rather than standard product presentations. We are here to support that clinical elevation."

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2944244/Dr_Jingting_Lu.jpg

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2944245/Smartee_Denti_Technology_Mandibular_Repositioning_Conference_London.jpg

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2944246/Dr_Pratik_Sharma.jpg
Louis Theroux has admitted he 'didn't dislike' HSTikkyTokky as he shared his honest opinions on the controversial influencer, branding him 'a talented broadcaster' with a 'good work ethic'.

The filmmaker, 55, interviewed the social media personality, 24, in his Netflix documentary, Inside The Manosphere, where he explored how extremist influencers are manipulating young boys with their ideas surrounding masculinity, by claiming to provide 'cheat codes to win at life'.

And when asked about his personal feelings on the influencer, Louis admitted that despite his furious attacks against him and controversial comments, 'there's parts of him I liked'.

The Manosphere itself refers to an online network that promotes anti-feminist beliefs, masculinity and misogyny, of which HSTikkyTokky  real name Harrison Sullivan  is a prominent member, with a large social media presence on platforms such as TikTok.

Espousing the idea that society has become biased against men and that women are to blame, he says that by following his example, his fans can reclaim their status as alpha males and get rich at the same time.

Hes been dubbed a pound-shop Andrew Tate in reference to the self-proclaimed misogynist kickboxer who has since been accused of human trafficking and rape  charges he denies  and spent five months living under house arrest in Romania.

Louis Theroux has admitted he 'didn't dislike' HSTikkyTokky as he shared his honest opinions on the controversial influencer, branding him 'a talented broadcaster' with a 'good work ethic' (seen together)

When asked about his personal feelings on the influencer, Louis, 55, admitted that despite his furious attacks against him and controversial comments, 'there's parts of him I liked'

However, the broadcaster went on to say that while their were elements of Harrison that he approved of, the way in which he utilised his talents was inarguably harmful, and prevented him from liking the online creator

Appearing on The Romesh Ranganathan Show podcast, Louis explained that he makes an effort to approach subjects in his films in a non-binary way, having interviewed neo-Nazis, paedophiles, and the leaders of the Westboro Baptist Church.

The broadcaster said there were qualities about Harrison that he could respect, noting acknowledging he was 'charismatic' and 'hardworking'.

However, he went on to say that while there were elements of him that he approved of, the way in which Harrison utilised his talents was inarguably harmful, and prevented him from liking the online creator.

In response to Romesh asking if he liked him, Louis said: 'I wouldn't say I disliked him. I know like that sounds like "What are you trying to say, Louis?". I think a lot about these things probably too much.

'I think actually my reactions in that journalistic sphere are more complicated than "oh I like him or I didn't like him", you know what I mean? Sorry to be really cheese-paring, but there's parts of him I liked and there's parts I didn't like if I'm honest.'

Harrison partially makes his money through his followers, earning cash from advertising gambling firms, cryptocurrency and get-rich-quick schemes, as well promoting women's OnlyFans on his socials in return for a cut of their revenue.

He claims to be an elite trader who uses a 20million-a-year income to fund a lavish lifestyle; however, the Daily Mail revealed that nothing is as it seems when it comes to the influencer's supposed wealth. You can read more about that here.

Romesh pointed out that an argument could be made that it was impressive that Harrison had able to find success online and financially coming from humble beginnings, and asked if Louis could see that perspective.

'I'd buy that', the TV star agreed. 'From all the work I've done, I've tried always to take an approach of resisting binary thinking on things like, "Oh you know, that person's horrific".

'You know, sometimes it's irrelevant. Like Hitler was nice to his dog  whatever, it doesn't really mean much. But in other contexts where you think, "Well there are pros and cons to people's life".'

Sharing the reason why he wanted to delve into the manosphere world, Louis explained that it contained elements of many other different topics that he's explored in previous documentaries he'd made

Louis explained that there were elements of Harrison's content that he had no issue with, but they were couched in abusive and bigoted language.

'Like truthfully in the manosphere, the fitness advice is usually the idea of "Get to the gym if you're feeling down, don't feel sorry for yourself, go and work out". And I believe that,' he said.

'That's why I do a Joe Wicks workout most days. But Joe Wicks isn't saying women shouldn't be allowed to drive, right? So there's a lot of good content, and no one's got a problem with the good content.

'And actually yeah he's hardworking, that's valid. He looks good, he's got charisma, he's a talented broadcaster. So it's like yeah I can acknowledge all of those things. I don't have a problem with any of those things.'

But Louis went on: 'His start in life is interesting. He went to a private school, he had a good education. And there's a real work ethic there.

'But then how meaningful is it to have a good work ethic if you're just spending hours and hours spewing offensive pickup lines to girls on a beachfront in Marbella?

'You're like, "Well you work really hard spouting that abuse, so I give you credit for that." Do you know what I mean?'

Sharing the reason why he wanted to delve into the manosphere world, Louis explained that it contained elements of many other different topics that he's explored in previous documentaries he'd made.

While he said that he wanted to find out more about what part of the culture was resonating with people and explore the concept of creating extreme and controversial content for the purpose of making cash.

He said: 'I've joked that this is this subject is like the final boss of subjects for me because it combines so many things that I've seen in other worlds in other films that I've done.

Harrison has been dubbed a pound-shop Andrew Tate in reference to the self-proclaimed misogynist British-American kickboxer who has since been accused of human trafficking and rape  charges he denies  and spent five months living under house arrest in Romania (Seen)

'Whether it's homophobia, misogyny, racism, porn  because they're selling adult content and a lot of the guys are a gateway to OnlyFans subscriptions. So that was kind of the impulse in the idea of making a film that I thought would be interesting and revealing.

'The misogyny is obviously the front burner issue, the one that is most immediately concerning and there's absolutely no excusing it.

'It's horrific and and it's becoming more and more weird almost like a one-upmanship, like "I don't think women should drive. I don't think they should vote." It sort of feels like it's become a sort of performative misogyny of creating outrage.

'But the crazy thing is that's almost the window dressing for a sales pitch. They go viral exploiting algorithms online that thrive on divisive content. And then it becomes an upsell for a rubbish subscription to an online university or some crypto scam or an FX trading platform.'

Like Andrew Tate, Harrison also tells his followers that they can get rich by following his advice, at times demanding a minimum 300 deposit to invest.

The Financial Conduct Authority has issued a warning about his tips on trading foreign and crypto currency.

He also makes money as a teaser for women on OnlyFans  the online subscription service known for its explicit content  by promoting them to his followers and taking a cut of the revenue they earn.

But he describes the women he promotes as disgusting and says hed disown any daughter of his who did OnlyFans. The same fate, he declared to a deadpan Louis, awaits any future son who turns out to be gay.

Despite hitting out against women sharing sexualised content on OnlyFans, Harrison was happy to show Louis his own videos receiving oral sex in a nightclub toilet.

Elsewhere in the documentary, the broadcaster was left stunned once again as he watched on while Harrison's fans 'kicked and punched' a man as they targeted him for content.

Louis explained that one of Harrison's followers had 'claimed to have set up a date online with an older man with the idea of humiliating him live on stream'.

The influencer joined the two young fans as they waited for the man to arrive, where they were seen being encouraged by viewers to 'punch up' the unsuspecting man.

In November he was handed a one-year suspended sentence at Staines Magistrates Court after pleading guilty to dangerous driving and driving without insurance

Later in the documentary, Harrison was seen ranting online after videos of him and Louis went viral on social media during their time filming the Netflix special.

Thousands of viewers had headed to the comments joking that Louis was 'setting up' the social media star to 'look like a clown' by having him involved in the documentary.

He was heard fuming: 'If you want to call me a pimp, a scammer, racist, homophobic d**khead, I'm all of those, I'm all of those, Theroux.'

Aside from the foul-mouthed nonsense he spouts online, Harrison has also fallen foul of the law, both here and abroad.

Back in 2024, he fled the UK after crashing a 230,000 McLaren supercar in Virginia Water in Surrey and fleeing the scene. He goaded police while on the run in Thailand, Dubai and Spain.

Shortly after filming, he was arrested last August by local authorities in Marbella for allegedly attacking a man with a glass, leaving him with, in the words of Malaga's National Police, extremely serious injuries to his neck.

While that case is still outstanding, Surrey Police arrested him in October regarding the crash, after chartering a private jet to bring him back to the UK.

He went on to plead guilty to dangerous driving and driving without insurance at Staines Magistrates Court and yet, remarkably, walked free after the judge issued him with a 12-month prison sentence, suspended for two years.

Harrison was also disqualified from driving for two years, issued with a temporary 9pm curfew and ordered to complete 300 hours of unpaid work.
Line Of Duty creator Jed Mercurio has given fans another taste of what to expect from the seventh series of the hit show ahead of its eagerly anticipated return.

Cast-members Vicky McClure, Martin Compston and Adrian Dunbar are currently shooting new scenes as AC-12, some five years after an anti-climactic sixth series divided viewers of the hugely popular police procedural.

Fans were largely disappointed by the controversial ending, during which bumbling Det Supt Ian Buckells, played by Nigel Boyle, was unmasked as 'H' - the shadowy criminal mastermind behind an intricate network of police corruption.

Taking to Instagram on Sunday, Mercurio shared a shot of Dunbar, dressed in full police uniform, looking out across a busy office as he prepared to film his latest scenes as Superintendent Ted Hastings.

'There's only one thing I'm interested in and one thing only and that's bent coppers,' read an accompanying caption - one of Hastings' best known quotes.

The popular police drama originally aired on BBC Two, before moving to BBC One from its fourth series onwards.

Line Of Duty creator Jed Mercurio has given fans another taste of what to expect from the seventh series of the hit show ahead of its eagerly anticipated return

In February, it was revealed that BAFTA-winning star Robert Carlyle had been cast as guest character Detective Constable Shaun Massie.

He follows in the footsteps of former guest stars Kelly Macdonald, Stephen Graham, Thandiwe Newton, Daniel Mays, Keeley Hawes and Lennie James.

Carlisle said of joining the cast: 'Having been a huge admirer of Jed Mercurios work for many years, Im delighted to be given the opportunity to join such an exceptional cast for series 7 of Line of Duty.

'The scripts for the series are excellent and will absolutely maintain the quality that the audience have come to expect from this fantastic show.

'DC Massie is an extraordinary character and I look forward to bringing him to life.'

Series writer Jed added: 'On Line of Duty we've been honoured by the glittering guest leads who've joined the cast over the years.

'We couldn't be more thrilled that Robert Carlyle will star in series 7 as Specialist Rifle Officer Shaun Massie.

'I've been a huge fan of Robert's work for many years and it will be a career highlight to work with him.

'Robert always brings mesmerising power and depth to every role; I know viewers will be on the edge of their seats wondering what his character will do next, and why.'

While director of BBC drama Lindsay Salt concluded: 'Sometimes a piece of casting feels so right that you just can't imagine anyone else.

'Robert Carlyle is one of our greatest actors and the perfect fit for the phenomenon that is Line of Duty.'

In February, it was revealed that BAFTA-winning star Robert Carlyle (pictured on set) had been cast as guest character Detective Constable Shaun Massie

Cast-members Adrian Dunbar, Vicky McClure and Martin Compston are currently shooting new scenes as AC-12

Series seven of Line Of Duty will follow the familiar faces of AC-12 after it was been disbanded and rebranded as the Inspectorate of Police Standards.

The anti-corruption unit will be seen working harder than ever as Steve Arnott, Kate Fleming, and Ted Hastings are assigned their most sensitive case so far.

The synopsis teases: 'Detective Constable Shaun Massie is a Specialist Rifle Officer (SRO), a veteran marksman, operating with Tactical Operations Unit 7 (TO-7) to take down Organised Crime Groups.

'A gruff loner, Massie keeps himself to himself, but when his boss, TO-7's commanding officer DI Dominic Gough, is accused of being a sexual predator, Massie's otherwise detached demeanour changes drastically.'

Line Of Duty series seven is expected to air in 2027.
It was the storyline that dominated last years Love Island series.

Not who was falling in love with who, or which couples would go the distance once they left the villa.

Instead, it was the bitter feud between the female cast members that had viewers hooked and, at times, completely divided.

One of the biggest dramas in the villa was the rift between two groups: Megan Moore, Helena Ford, Angel Swift and Lauren Wood on one side  and Shakira Khan, Yasmin Pettet and Toni Laites on the other.

Week after week, tensions simmered, snide comments were exchanged and the atmosphere didn't match the sun-soaked paradise setting of the ITV2 show.

When the Islanders finally returned to the real world, many of the girls were quick to downplay the drama.

They insisted that while there had been a divide, the feud wasnt as bad as it looked on screen.

But, months on, it appears the cracks have only deepened and any hopes of reconciliation seem further away than ever.

Angel Swift and Ty Isherwood; Yasmin Pettet and Jamie Rhodes; Shakira Khan and Harry Cooksley; and Toni Laites and Cach Mercer on the last season of Love Island

In fact, insiders now claim the situation has grown so frosty that the girls cant even bring themselves to exchange basic pleasantries when they find themselves in the same room.

That was certainly the case at an event celebrating the launch of Canadian fashion brand Garage on Oxford Street in London on Thursday night.

The intimate gathering, held in the brands new two-storey flagship store, brought together around 50 influencers, press and reality stars for an evening of networking, photo opportunities and showcasing the latest collection of loungewear and gym pieces.

On the surface, the setting was relaxed with a health juices bar, curated snack stations and corners set up for Instagram-worthy photoshoots.

But beneath the glossy exterior, the atmosphere quickly turned tense as familiar faces from last summers villa began to arrive.

Among those in attendance were Shakira, Megan, Angel and another Love Island star, Megan Forte Clarke.

As the room filled up in the early evening, it became clear that old tensions hadnt been left behind in Majorca.

Shakira appeared determined to avoid any interaction with Megan Moore or Angel altogether.

At one point, she was seen deliberately slipping behind the group to reach a photo spot, carefully manoeuvring around the room without making eye contact or acknowledging their presence.

Shakira Khan, Megan Forte Clarke and Toni Laites on last year's love Island. Megan was seen to float between the two cliques

Megan Moore and Helena Forde were part of a 'rival' group

Another awkward moment unfolded on the staircase, where members of the opposing groups passed each other in close proximity, yet failed to exchange so much as a glance, let alone a greeting.

Onlookers described the tension as palpable, with several guests noting how striking it was given the groups shared history.

Megan [Forte Clarke] was the only one who seemed able to move between the two sides, one source revealed.

She was exactly the same in the villa, never fully picking a side and keeping things neutral.

The source added: They spent eight weeks together doing a once-in-a-lifetime experience, so it is shocking to see their relationship is so frosty they cant even say hello to each other at events.

Another insider echoed the sentiment, saying: Its so awkward and also rude that they cant even look the same way at one another. Theres definitely a lot of unresolved tension there and probably a fair bit of jealousy, too.

For fans of the show, the ongoing feud is perhaps hardly surprising.

Despite attempts from some Islanders to play down the drama post-show, Toni, Shakira and Yasmin openly acknowledged the tension after leaving the villa, revealing that the atmosphere was often strained and uncomfortable behind the scenes.

There were definitely moments where it didnt feel like a happy villa, Toni admitted at the time. You could cut the tension with a knife.

Yasmin, who entered the show as a bombshell, also spoke about feeling unwelcome at times, suggesting that cliques had already formed and were difficult to break into.

Viewers quickly picked up on the dynamic, with many branding it the worst division in Love Island history.

Social media was flooded with debates over who was in the right, with fans fiercely backing their favourite groups and dissecting every interaction.

And its clear that not everyone has been able, or willing, to move on.

Shakira, in particular, has been outspoken about where she stands.

Yasmin, Shakira and Toni formed one of the cliques on Love Island

Shakira Khan at the Garage event on Oxford Street

Megan Moore, Shakira Khan and Yasmin Pettet all competed on last year's Love Island

In a recent Instagram Live, she addressed ongoing speculation about her relationships with her former co-stars in typically blunt fashion.

Guys, right, listen, Im just going to say something to you right now, I couldnt give a flying f*** about some of the things that youre commenting, she said.

You need to stop, you need to let it go, its been months. Not everyone is friends with everyone and that is OK.

In the wake of the Garage event, the divide was evident once again.

Shakira and Megan Forte Clarke were later seen heading out for dinner with Yasmin and fellow Islander Alima Gagigo, continuing their close-knit friendship away from the spotlight of the launch.

Noticeably absent, however, were Angel and her clique.

The fracture lines extend beyond just the girls.

During the show, Shakiras boyfriend Harry Cooksley often acted as a bridge between the groups, maintaining friendships with Megan Moore and her partner Dejon while also growing close to Shakiras allies.

But even those connections appear to have dissolved since leaving the villa.

Harry has since unfollowed both Megan and Dejon on social media, a move he later addressed during a livestream with former Islander Tyrique Hyde.

Its the most obvious unfollow, he said bluntly. I dont speak to these people. Ive come out and I dont speak to them. I dont see them. I dont go to the same events as they do. Like you said, its different now.

Defending his decision, he added: Im not changing up. Im just saying, I know what Im doing. Ive come out, Ive got the right people around me. I knew exactly where I was going and what Im doing. Im not your pal. What are you talking about? Its the most obvious unfollow.

As time goes on, it seems increasingly unlikely that the rift between the former Islanders will be resolved any time soon.

While reality TV feuds often fade once the cameras stop rolling, this one appears to have taken on a life of its own.

And if Thursday nights icy encounter is anything to go by, the drama that once captivated viewers has simply moved from Majorca to the real world.
The Bachelor Australia could soon have its first gay star.

Industry rumours are rife that Married At First Sight 2026 groom Sam Stanton could be heading to the dating show, after his marriage to Chris Robinson fell apart.

Pop culture expert Bella Hodgman told Yahoo Lifestyle this week that the fitness studio owner from Adelaide is the perfect candidate to find love on The Bachelor.

'I think [Sam's] very traditionally masculine, or stereotypically masculine,' Bella said.

'And I think that a lot of straight women really love that about him, like he's attractive to straight women, he's attractive to gay men.

'I think that he would be very palatable in a political sense. Then, in a more emotional sense, I think that he's come across really beautifully on TV'.

The Bachelor Australia could soon have its first gay star. Industry rumours are rife that Married At First Sight 2026 groom Sam Stanton (pictured) could be heading to the dating show

She added: 'Everyone loves him. Everyone supports him.'

Sam is seemingly single after his romance with husband Chris fizzled in recent episodes of Married At First Sight.

Speaking to Daily Mail, Sam described watching the series back as 'frustrating and confronting', admitting one unseen moment left him deeply hurt.

'But the biggest thing sitting with me now is the unseen footage I'm pretty f***ing hurt by it,' he said.

The footage in question showed Chris making comments about Sam's finances and living situation  claims Sam insists are not only hurtful, but untrue.

'I never once used a coupon I actually spent more money than him,' he said.

'I lived with my best friend  not in a share house like he made it out.'

Chris has since addressed the moment, admitting the remark was made in the heat of the moment.

Sam's marriage to Chris Robinson (right) fell apart

'It was just a silly, b**chy comment,' he said.

But for Sam, the issue ran deeper than one offhand comment.

While the pair appeared to be getting along in the early stages of the experiment, Sam said problems were present from the beginning.

'I felt like I was being spoken over quite a lot,' he said.

'If you look back at our first commitment ceremony, he talks the whole time.'

For Sam, the relationship changed significantly at the commitment ceremony when Chris chose to write 'leave'.

'I thought we were both going to write stay and work on things,' he said.

'But as soon as I saw him write leave I was like, what am I doing here?'

From that point, Sam said the emotional connection began to fade.
Jennifer Garner has revealed her octogenarian mother Patricia has developed a taste for the spotlight after starring in several chaotic cooking videos.

The 53-year-old actress often features her nepo mom, 87, in her social media posts, including segments on her Pretend Cooking Show series - and Patricia is reveling in her newfound fame.

'She's so funny. She loves it. She loves being recognized. She loves when people say hi to her. She's very opinionated about what we should and shouldn't do,' Garner told People.

Garner, who has three kids of her own, with ex-husband Ben Affleck, added: 'She likes to tell me that her episodes perform the best and are the best ones.

'And I'm sure she's right because she's been right about everything for the last 53 years of my life. Why not the next?'

Garner highlighted two episodes in particular as she shared, 'I loved, early on we made bagels and that was funny. And then another time, I made beef bourguignon and I almost burned my kitchen down and that's another good one.'

Jennifer Garner has revealed her octogenarian mother Patricia has developed a taste for the spotlight after starring in several chaotic cooking videos.; pictured in 2024

Garner and Patricia seen baking a chiffon pie for Pretend Cooking Show in 2023

She said: 'I always like when my mom is with me because she's so cute and she's just the best and I love it. And she's a serious scene partner.'

In January Garner treated her mom to a trip to see one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World.

She told her Instagram followers all about their New Year visit to Canada to see the Northern Lights AKA Aurora Borealis.

'My mom, Pat, she's an adventurer. This year she told me that she needed to see the Northern Lights. Needed to see them,' she emphasized at the start of a video montage.

'So, off we went in search of the Northern Lights to Yellowknife in the northern territories of Canada. As soon as we landed on New Year's Day the sun set at 3:45pm,' Garner recalled while posting various photos from the excursion.

Wrapping up the inspiring clip, she said, 'Mom, you had a really good idea. What a great way to bring in the New Year. I'm so glad you love adventures.'

In multiple snapshots, the mother-daughter duo were bundled up in heavy winter coats with fur-trimmed hoods.

The movie star wrote in the caption, 'If experiencing awe is good for you, 2026 started off with [heart emoji]. Thank you, Mom.'

'She's so funny. She loves it. She loves being recognized. She loves when people say hi to her. She's very opinionated about what we should and shouldn't do,' the former Alias star; pictured in June 2024

In January Garner treated her mom to a trip to see one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World, the Northern Lights

L-R The actress' dad William, Garner, and mom Patricia in 2018

In June 2024 she and her mother made an appearance on the Today show and discussed the death of her dad, William Garner.

During the morning chat with Hoda Kotb, the subject of Patricia's husband came up, as the host noted, 'Another thing we admire about you is your husband passed a little bit ago  and I can only imagine how hard it was to get out of bed, to just start another day  but one day you just decided, "Today's the day."'

Patricia replied: 'Well I pretty much decided anyway, before, that I would be all right. I was so worried about being a widow and then one day I had an epiphany, "You will be alright."'

Turning to her mom, Garner gushed: 'He loved how much people love you, so he would be right there smiling,' as co-host Savannah Guthrie confirmed the couple were married for 59 years.

She later added, 'I mean, I have a pretty special mom. My mom is not judgmental of people or of things or if things are happening to you. She is just kind of gifted at giving to people and seeing what people need and just quietly taking care of them.'
Zendaya has made rare comments about her rumored husband Tom Holland.

While promoting her new film The Drama with co-star Robert Pattinson, the 29-year-old actress recently revealed what she envies about her longtime partner, also 29.

Zendaya and Pattinson played a game in an A24 promotional video, in which the actor asked the actress, 'Whos the person in your life youre most jealous of?'

She answered, 'I wouldnt say its jealous, but I do think sometimes people, specifically my own person...who can do backflips and s*** like that.

'That kind of pisses me off, 'cause Im like, what do you mean you can just, like, [motions backflip]. You know what I mean?'

It comes weeks after Zendaya's stylist Law Roach claimed she and Holland secretly tied the knot during a red carpet interview at the 32nd Annual Actor Awards.

Zendaya has made rare comments about her rumored husband Tom Holland

While promoting her new film The Drama with co-star Robert Pattinson, the 29-year-old actress revealed what she envies about her longtime partner, also 29; pictured in 2021

Amid speculation, the rumored husband and wife have not publicly confirmed or denied their marital status.

They met on the set of Spider-Man: Homecoming in 2016, and the entertainers kept their romance private for years before confirming it.

Roach said on March 1 that his longtime client and close friend married Holland in secret.

He dropped the bombshell as he told Access Hollywood: 'The wedding has already happened. You missed it.'

When asked if it was 'true,' he replied: 'It's very true!'

The news has yet to be confirmed by the couple's representatives, but they have both historically been adamant about keeping their romance out of the spotlight.

The couple first sparked dating rumors in 2016 but the relationship wasn't confirmed publicly until 2021 when they were spotted kissing.

They went on to confirm their engagement in September 2025 when Holland referred to Zendaya as his 'fiancee' during a panel event.

Zendaya was asked in an A24 promotional video, 'Whos the person in your life youre most jealous of?' She answered, 'I wouldnt say its jealous, but I do think sometimes people, specifically my own person...who can do backflips and sh*t like that'

In early March Zendaya's stylist Law Roach (right) claimed she and Holland secretly tied the knot; pictured March 10

In April 2024 the Euphoria actress shared with Vogue that her beau navigated his meteoric rise in Hollywood 'beautifully.'

'We were both very, very young, but my career was already kind of going, and his changed overnight,' the Oakland native said.

'One day youre a kid and youre at the pub with your friends, and then the next day youre Spider-Man.

'I definitely watched his life kind of change in front of him. But he handled it really beautifully,' she explained.

And this past January she explained to Mirror, 'Neither of us want to hide and not live our lives and do normal things, like go out for dinner, but at the same time, we want to protect our privacy.

'You have to accept that to a degree, some aspects of your privacy are going to be out of your control. But the parts that are in our control, we fiercely protect.'

Later this year the lovebirds will reunite onscreen in Christopher Nolans epic The Odyssey, slated for release on July 17.

The pair will also star together in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, in theaters July 31.
Shannen Doherty's ex-husband Kurt Iswarienko has reached an agreement with her estate over their divorce.

The Beverly Hills, 90210 star died on July 13, 2024, at age 53 following a nearly decade-long battle with cancer - and continues to be lovingly remembered by her co-stars.

The late actress filed for divorce from Iswarienko in 2023 after 11 years of marriage and signed the settlement one day before she died in July 2024 but her estate has been battling him ever since, claiming he has not abided by the terms of the legal agreement.

However, according to court documents filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court and obtained by PEOPLE, Iswarienko, 51, has agreed to pay her estate 'one-half the equity' of their shared Dripping Springs, Texas property.

He has agreed to return Dohertys coffee table and couch and must also 'produce an inventory of his photographic works' that show the late actress.

He has additionally agreed to pay $25,000 to the estate for Doherty's share in a Mooney M-20 airplane.

Shannen Doherty's ex-husband Kurt Iswarienko has reached an agreement with her estate over their divorce (the pair are seen in West Hollywood in April 2012)

The Beverly Hills, 90210 star (pictured in September 2016) died on July 13, 2024, at age 53 following a nearly decade-long battle with cancer - and continues to be lovingly remembered by her co-stars

And, Dohertys estate agreed to return Iswarienko's guitars, equipment and Garard stereo record player

Doherty's legal team and Christopher Cortazzo, trustee of the Shannen Doherty Family Trust, previously alleged that her ex-husband failed to comply with several 'monetary obligations' from the divorce settlement.

However, according to Us Weekly, Iswarienkos lawyer fired back, alleging that the signed divorce agreement was brought to the wrong court and went on to challenge the jurisdiction of the case.

He argued that the divorce deal should not have been filed after Dohertys death and that the court has no jurisdiction to enforce the terms of the agreement.

According to the terms of the deal, obtained by PEOPLE, Iswarienko was required to sell her $1.5 million Texas home and 'equally divide the net proceeds with [her] estate' but, it was alleged he 'refused to list' the home, where he appears to be currently living.

He allegedly also 'refused to return [Doherty's] items of personal property'.

Additionally, Iswarienko had reportedly failed to 'produce his inventory' of photographs of Doherty.

Doherty  who was 53 when she died - filed for divorce from Iswarienko in 2023, while battling stage four breast cancer, and insisted she has 'no other option'.

The late actress filed for divorce from Iswarienko in 2023 after 11 years of marriage and signed the settlement one day before she died in July 2024 but her estate has been battling him ever since, claiming he has not abided by the terms of the legal agreement (they are seen January 2012)

However, according to court documents filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court and obtained by PEOPLE , Iswarienko, 51, has agreed to pay her estate 'one-half the equity' of their shared Dripping Springs, Texas property (the pair are seen in LA in November 2016)

Her publicist, Leslie Sloane told Page Six: 'Divorce is the last thing Shannen wanted. Unfortunately, she felt she was left with no other option.'

Doherty passed away in 2024, four years after she was diagnosed with stage four cancer.

She was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015 then went into remission in 2017.

She was surrounded by her loved ones and beloved dog, Bowie, upon her death, her publicist Sloane shared.

Doherty is seen 1991 in her signature role as Brenda Walsh in Beverly Hills, 90210

She told People: 'It is with a heavy heart that I confirm the passing of actress Shannen Doherty. On Saturday, July 13, she lost her battle with cancer after many years of fighting the disease.

'The devoted daughter, sister, aunt and friend was surrounded by her loved ones as well as her dog, Bowie. The family asks for their privacy at this time so they can grieve in peace.'

Doherty is best known for her roles in Beverly Hills, 90210 and Charmed.

Before she wed Iswarienko, she was briefly married to Rick Salomon between 2002-2003 and Ashley Hamilton between 1993-1994.
Desmond Barrit, the much-loved television and stage actor, has died aged 81.

Best known for his appearances in Holby City and Midsomer Murders the actor died suddenly and unexpectedly at his home in Islington, with his death prompting an outpouring of tributes from across the industry.

His death was confirmed on Monday through a series of online tributes led by the National Theatre, where he had been a prominent figure.

Desmond played Raymond Clandillon in Season 10 of Midsomer Murders back in 2007 and starred as Aubrey in Holby City.

Desmond built a long and varied career spanning stage and screen, earning recognition for performances in Shakespearean productions, musical theatre and television drama.

He also had roles in productions at venues including the Royal National Theatre and Theatr Clwyd.

Desmond Barrit, the much-loved television and stage actor, has died aged 81

Best known for his appearances in Holby City and Midsomer Murders the actor died suddenly and unexpectedly at his home in Islington

In a statement, the National Theatre said: 'Des brought his sublime talent and massive heart to everything from Shakespeare to Sondheim, new plays to raucous pantomime. He was expertly funny.

'He was a hilarious ringmaster announcing Comedy Tonight in the National Theatre's outstanding revival of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.

'He could break hearts as well, and I had the privilege of directing him as a devastating Big Daddy in Cat On a Hot Tin Roof at the Theatr Clwyd in 2016. A generous and joyous man, he will be much missed.'

Desmond, who was born in Morriston near Swansea, established himself early as a performer.

One of his first screen roles came in 1998's Alice Through the Looking Glass, in which he played Humpty Dumpty.

He went on to gain acclaim on stage, including a performance as Shylock in Chichester Festival Theatre's 2003 production of The Merchant of Venice.

His theatre work continued with a role as Hector in The History Boys at Wyndham's Theatre.

In 2004, Desmond appeared in a revival of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum at the Royal National Theatre, a production later nominated for the 2005 Olivier Award for Outstanding Musical Production.

His death was confirmed on Monday through a series of online tributes led by the National Theatre, where he had been a prominent figure

Actor Joseph Millson said in his tribute: 'So sad to hear of the passing of Des Barrit. I was in three productions with him, each a real flag in the sand for my career'

Desmond also appeared on television, including a role as Raymond Clandillon in a 2007 episode of Midsomer Murders titled They Seek Him Here, alongside appearances in the BBC medical drama Holby City.

In 2008, he took on the role of the Wizard in Wicked at London's Apollo Victoria Theatre, and later appeared in 2014 as Michaud in Helen Edmundson's adaptation of Therese Raquin at the Theatre Royal, Bath.

Tributes were also paid by colleagues.

Screenwriter and Doctor Who showrunner Russell Davies said: 'A giant, a lion and a joy, he'll be much missed. Goodnight to a great man.'

Actor Joseph Millson said: 'So sad to hear of the passing of Des Barrit. I was in three productions with him, each a real flag in the sand for my career.

'Des was a kind mess of humanity and a consummate actor every single time. So many stories. Fare forward friend.'
Joseph Duggar has now been transferred from a detention center in Arkansas - after he was arrested for allegedly molesting a nine-year-old girl in Florida.

The 31-year-old father of four was arrested earlier this month in Tontitown, Arkansas in connection with accusations he touched a girl on her genitals and underwear during a family vacation to Panama City, Florida in 2020.

Duggar has not been in the custody of the Washington County Sherriff's Office since March 27, the sheriff's office told People.

The former TLC star was set to be extradited to the Bay County Sheriffs Office, a facility in Florida, but is not listed in the BCSO's inmate database.

People reports that prosecutors have yet to formally file charges against Duggar in the Florida county. Additionally, the agency refrained from commenting when the publication asked if Duggar had been extradited to the BCSO.

However Washington County prosecutors said that Duggar was transported to Florida on Friday from the Arkansas detention center, according to The Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette.

Joseph Duggar has now been transferred out of a detention center in Arkansas amid plans to be extradited to Florida - as he faces charges of molesting a nine-year-old girl

The Daily Mail has contacted the Washington County Sheriff's Office and Bay County Sheriffs Office for further information but have not yet immediately heard back.

Joseph Duggar, 31, was arrested in Tontitown, Arkansas, where he lives with his wife and their four children.

He is accused of lewd and lascivious molestation of a child under 12, according to an arrest affidavit from the Bay County Sheriff's Office in Florida.

The alleged victim - a nine-year-old girl - told investigators Duggar touched her inappropriately multiple times during a family vacation in Panama City Beach nearly six years ago.

Her father confronted Duggar about the allegations last week, the affidavit states.

Authorities say Duggar later admitted in a recorded call to 'touching the victim over her clothing' and acknowledged his 'intentions were not pure.'

He was jailed in Arkansas and was awaiting extradition to Florida. Two days after his arrest, Joseph's 27-year-old wife was also taken into custody.

Kendra and Joseph Duggar were both charged with four counts of second-degree endangering the welfare of a minor, as well as four charges of second-degree false imprisonment.

Duggar is pictured with his then girlfriend, now wife Kendra Caldwell on an episode of Counting On, which ran from 2015 to 2020

Duggar, 31, was arrested in Tontitown, Arkansas, where he lives with his wife and their four children

Authorities say that those charges are separate from Joseph's previous sexual abuse charges.

Authorities have not disclosed the source of the charges against Kendra. She is free on $1,470 bond.

Joseph called Kendra collect from jail last Friday - roughly two hours after she herself bonded out - and revealed he was in solitary confinement, People reported.

A source has indicated Joseph's family have not been to see him in jail, where his only visitor has been his attorney, according to Page Six.

While speaking to his wife on the phone last Friday, Joseph said: 'I've been spending a lot of time reading, uh, reading the Bible, they got me a Bible in here.'

Authorities say Duggar later admitted in a recorded call to 'touching the victim over her clothing' and acknowledged his 'intentions were not pure'

Joseph and Kendra's arrests come nearly five years after Joseph's older brother, Josh, was convicted of receiving and possessing material depicting minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct; Josh's 2021 mugshot seen above

He added that he was restricted to 'an 8-by-10 area' for '23 hours of the day' at the Washington County Detention Facility in Arkansas.

Joseph noted he was kept in a 'pretty small area, but I've been able to read a lot actually, and resting some, but I'm not sleeping great through the night.'

The arrests have sent shockwaves through the Duggar family - already rocked by the crimes of Joseph's older brother, Josh Duggar.

Josh was convicted in 2021 of receiving and possessing child sexual abuse material and later sentenced to 12 years and seven months in federal prison.

Joseph and Kendra's arrests come nearly five years after Joseph's older brother, Josh, was convicted of receiving and possessing material depicting minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct. Josh, now 38, was also accused of sexually abusing five girls, including his younger sisters - but he never faced any charges for the alleged abuse.

For those who have been impacted by sexual abuse, text 'STRENGTH' to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 to be connected to a certified crisis counselor.
Scott Mills said competing in Celebrity Race Across The World with husband Sam Vaughan was the 'ultimate test of our relationship'.

It was confirmed on Monday the Radio 2 star, 53, has been fired by the BBC following a complaint about his personal conduct. Hours later it was then claimed that the sacking relates to a 'historic male relationship from more than ten years ago'.

But Scott may now be facing the biggest test in his marriage yet following the sudden sacking from his 355,000-a-year job.

Scott and producer Sam took part in Celebrity Race Across The World - a BBC show which sees stars participate in a gruelling cross-country expedition - back in 2024. They married just two months after wrapping filming.

The couple, who have been in a relationship since 2017, said they wanted the competition to 'make us stronger' so they could weather any storm.

Of why he signed up to the show, Scott said: 'Before we get married, everyone says the holiday test is you know you could be with somebody if you go on holiday with them.

Scott Mills said competing in Celebrity Race Across The World with husband Sam Vaughan was the 'ultimate test of our relationship'.

'This is like that times a thousand. Not that I have any doubts that Sam is the one for me, but there will be times in this, I imagine, when it will get stressful

'And I think I'm expecting it, I don't know, but I'm expecting it to be big highs and probably big lows. So, if we can get through this, we can get through anything basically. I have no doubt that we will but that's part of the reason why I wanted to do it. I also really just want to throw my phone away for a bit. I wouldnt be able to get to do this again.'

Sam added: 'When Scott and I were first asked to take part in the series, it was kind of a no-brainer, that it's an opportunity where you can just switch off in the world and see places that you've never seen before.

'You'll probably go to places that you wouldn't choose to go, if you look at a map you probably wouldn't go "Let's go here".

'Scott loves his travel magazines so Scott will plan our holidays, he likes to go to new places, but this is probably going somewhere that we will never go to again. And it's just seeing parts of the world together.

'Obviously, we get married this year so for us, it's the year of big challenges: this, marriage. So, it's just kind of like doing it all at once and getting it all done.

'Even if we don't win, and we get to that finish line, at least we've got to that finish line together. And the decisions that we've made are together. So, I think in the year that were getting married, and doing this challenge, its just to cement us as a relationship even stronger. Hopefully.'

The pair went on to win the second series after struggling with the language barrier and heat.

It was confirmed on Monday the Radio 2 star, 53, has been fired by the BBC following a complaint about his personal conduct

They raced approximately 12,500 km (7,800 miles) across South America, starting in Belem, Brazil, and finishing at the Osorno Volcano in Frutillar, Chile.

Despite starting the final leg in third place, Scott and Sam were the first to reach the finish line. They beat Kola Bokinni and Mary Ellen Moriarty by 2 hours and 20 minutes.

Two months later they married in Barcelona in front of celebrity guests including Zoe Ball, Rylan Clark, Jordan North, Calvin Harris and wife Vick Hope, with his former co-host Chris Stark providing Master of Ceremony duties.

Scott was taken off air last week while bosses looked at the claim before announcing his dismissal on Monday - just six days after he vanished from Radio 2.

The BBC has refused to comment on the nature of his personal conduct, but the Daily Mirror claims that his shock exit is related to a 'historic male relationship from more than ten years ago'.

The presenter was last on air on Tuesday, with veteran DJ Gary Davies replacing him from Wednesday onwards.

The BBC said in a statement today: 'While we do not comment on matters relating to individuals, we can confirm Scott Mills is no longer contracted to work with the BBC.'

It has been claimed the DJ was informed over the weekend that he was sacked.

Scott, who is paid between 355,000 and 359,999 a year by the BBC, took over the Radio 2 breakfast show from Zoe Ball in 2025.
About 550,000 Chinese sturgeon released into wild

Xinhua) 09:55, March 30, 2026

This photo taken on April 12, 2025 shows the Chinese sturgeons that are about to be released into the Yangtze River in Yichang City, central China's Hubei Province. (Xinhua/Du Zixuan)

BEIJING, March 29 (Xinhua) -- Approximately 550,000 artificially-bred Chinese sturgeon were released into rivers in various parts of the country on Saturday, according to China's agriculture ministry.

The releases, organized by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, were simultaneously held in Jingzhou and Yichang in central China's Hubei Province, as well as Chongming District in Shanghai.

During the event, experts and units related to Chinese sturgeon breeding and conservation held in-depth discussions on protection and artificial breeding technologies related to the species, according to the ministry.

The Chinese sturgeon is a national first-class protected aquatic wild animal and a flagship species of the Yangtze River. Expanding restocking efforts is a key measure to restore natural reproduction and rebuild wild populations.

Nicknamed "aquatic pandas," Chinese sturgeon have existed for over 140 million years. However, the natural population of the species in the Yangtze plummeted in the late 20th century due to human activities.

In recent years, China has made significant conservation efforts, including expanding artificial breeding and release and fostering natural breeding of the species.

Efforts will be strengthened to improve the quantity and quality of captive Chinese sturgeon, continue large-scale restocking, and work toward restoring wild populations, according to the ministry.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
TORONTO, March 30, 2026 /CNW/ - Sun Life Financial Inc. (TSX: SLF) (NYSE: SLF) has released an updated Supplementary Informational Package (SIP) for investors and analysts. The unaudited SIP aligns with various financial disclosure changes including the formation of the Sun Life Asset Management Business Group.

Materials relating to the updated supplementary financial information template and the recently announced Management Equity Plan for SLC Management are available at:

https://www.sunlife.com/en/investors/investor-briefcase/investor-education/

About Sun Life

Sun Life is a leading international financial services organization providing asset management, wealth, insurance and health solutions to individual and institutional Clients. Sun Life has operations in a number of markets worldwide, including Canada, the U.S., the United Kingdom, Ireland, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Japan, Indonesia, India, China, Australia, Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia and Bermuda. As of December 31, 2025, Sun Life had total assets under management of $1.60 trillion. For more information, please visit sunlife.com.

Sun Life Financial Inc. trades on the Toronto (TSX), New York (NYSE) and Philippine (PSE) stock exchanges under the ticker symbol SLF.

Sun Life Media Relations Contact: Sun Life Investor Relations Contact:

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Associate Vice-President Senior Vice-President

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(416) 979-6070 (416) 902-3794

[email protected] [email protected]



SOURCE Sun Life Financial Inc. - Financial News
Former Nova stars Ben Harvey and Liam Stapleton have spoken out about their brutal axing from the network and subsequent gagging.

The network revealed in September that the Late Drive hosts Ben Harvey, Liam Stapleton, and co-host Belle Jackson would not have their contracts renewed.

Following the announcement, rival Australian Radio Network (ARN) confirmed in October, that Ben and Liam would take the reins of the breakfast show, with Belle as producer, on KIIS FM Adelaide, formerly Mix 102.3.

While their last day on air was supposed to be December 12, after news of the ARN show broke, they were kicked off air immediately, with their final Nova show broadcast on October 24.

Speaking to News Corp, the popular duo revealed that they were surprised to learn that Nova had enacted a non-compete clause in their contract  effectively gagging them from the airwaves.

The non-compete clause meant that Ben and Liam were barred from broadcasting at another station for six months.

Former Nova stars Ben Harvey and Liam Stapleton have spoken out about their brutal axing from the network and subsequent gagging

Australian Radio Network (ARN) confirmed, in October, that Ben and Liam would take the reins of the breakfast show, with Belle as producer, on KIIS FM Adelaide. The popular duo revealed that they were surprised to learn that Nova had enacted a non-compete clause in their contract  effectively gagging them from the airwaves

'We didn't think they would, but then they did,' Liam told the publication.

Despite the pair's shock, Liam added that it's all water under the bridge.

'Were here now [at KIIS 1023] and were ready to give it a red hot crack,' he said.

Ben added that the enforced time away from the mic had given the pair a fresh perspective.

'I think it does make you more grateful that you get to do the job that we do,' he said.

'Its pretty unbelievable that our job is to come in five days a week and talk to each other like that.'

News of the trio's Nova sacking emerged in October, with staff receiving an email from management stating the final show would serve as 'a farewell celebration'.

'Ben, Liam and Belle are a hugely talented team who have delivered excellent results for Nova and developed a unique connection to their audience,' Brendan Taylor, Nova's group programming director wrote in the message to staff, per TV Blackbox.

'We didn't think they would, but then they did,' Liam told the publication. 'Were here now [at KIIS 1023] and were ready to give it a red hot crack,' he said

Ben added: 'I think it does make you more grateful that you get to do the job that we do,' he said. 'Its pretty unbelievable that our job is to come in five days a week and talk to each other like that'

'They have consistently given their all, and I would like to thank them for being such valued members of the Nova family.'

Ben and Liam kicked off their radio careers in Adelaide on community station Fresh 92.7.

In 2016, they took the reins from Matt Okine and Alex Dyson as the co-hosts of Triple J's breakfast show.

The pair returned to Adelaide in 2020 to host Nova 91.9's breakfast show before relocating to Melbourne in early 2023.

They were bumped by Lauren Phillips and Jase Hawkins, who launched a fresh breakfast show on Nova 100 at the beginning of 2024.

At the time, Media Week revealed the popular trio only learned they were losing their jobs 'shortly before' Lauren and Jase posed for a 'secret' photo shoot in the Nova studio.
Arnold Schwarzenegger has received an honorary doctorate degree from Ulster University (UU) in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

It comes six years after the 78-year-old Austrian and American star mocked Donald Trump's failed university in a virtual commencement speech for graduates who were stuck at home amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

At the time, he held up his honorary doctorate from Trump University and said: 'This is nothing. We all have these pieces of papers.'

An Instagram post shared by UU on Monday was captioned, 'Today we awarded an Honorary Doctorate to @schwarzenegger in recognition of his extraordinary career and his significant contributions to public service, environmental action and the arts.'

Schwarzenegger's first trip to the capital city, Belfast, was in 1966 when he competed in his first bodybuilding competition at age 19.

UU's message continued, 'Governor Schwarzenegger's visit carries a personal significance, as it comes on the 60th anniversary of his first visit to Northern Ireland as a young bodybuilder.'

Arnold Schwarzenegger received an honorary doctorate degree from Ulster University (UU) in Belfast, Northern Ireland, on Monday

It comes six years after the 78-year-old Austrian star mocked Donald Trump's failed university in a virtual commencement speech for graduates who were stuck at home amid the COVID-19 pandemic

While speaking at the ceremony, the athlete-turned-actor-turned-politician described his first visit to Belfast as a 'breakthrough,' noting it was the first time he was invited to speak in public, per BBC.

'Sixty years ago, I came to Belfast as a young bodybuilder. I could never have dreamed that I would be back here all these years later to receive an honorary doctorate from Ulster University.

'Its wonderful to be back,' the former California governor said in his speech, per the university.

Schwarzenegger's latest degree also acknowledges his significant impact on 'global arts and culture' through his film career.

UU highlighted his achievements in 'shaping the modern action genre and influencing generations of audiences worldwide.'

In his uplifting message in 2020, the Terminator sensation encouraged students to remember the journey they took during their studies and to look forward to the future.

He said: 'Think back over the last four years, the struggle that you went through to get this degree now...

'Those are the things that you will remember, not just this degree. You are celebrating that journey today, not just a piece of paper that you hang on the wall.'

An Instagram post shared by UU on Monday was captioned, 'Today we awarded an Honorary Doctorate to @schwarzenegger in recognition of his extraordinary career and his significant contributions to public service, environmental action and the arts'

The 78-year-old Austrian and American star's first trip to the Northern Ireland capital was in 1966, when he competed in his first bodybuilding competition at age 19; pictured with Sandra Weird and photographer Roy Smith, who photographed them in 1966

Schwarzenegger shared a moment with Ulster University Chancellor Colin Davidson

He encouraged Monday's graduates similarly, emphasizing, 'The most important thing in life is to have a clear vision of what you want to accomplish.

'If you dont know where youre going, its very hard to get there. I always had a clear goal  to be a bodybuilder and to be a movie star. You need a blueprint.'

The accomplished veteran athlete and entertainer also pointed out the value in overcoming barriers.

'Anything that comes easy is not worth getting. The harder it is, the more valuable it becomes. Have a vision, go after it, and dont let anything hold you back. See it and follow it,' he urged.

'Education is the foundation  it is a great springboard for your future. The more knowledge you have, the better you become, whether thats in academia, business, film, or in sport. That is why institutions like Ulster University are so important  this is where you build your knowledge, your confidence, and your future. There is no better place to do that than at a reputable university like this.

'I want to say thank you to Ulster University, the Vice-Chancellor and the Chancellor for this honorary degree. It means a great deal to me.'
Terrified Americans stranded across the Middle East are accusing the Trump administration of abandoning them in a war zone, while the White House quietly arranged a private jet to fly a group of MAGA influencers to safety.

US citizens trapped in the region exclusively told the Daily Mail that they are receiving 'zero help' from the State Department.

One traveler, who asked to remain anonymous until he is safely home, shared photos of a jam-packed Dubai International Airport. He described a harrowing, days-long ordeal trying to reach his family in the Washington DC area.

'I'm desperately trying to get out,' he said. 'We are now at the airport, trying to catch a flight to Ethiopia so that we can transfer to Rome and then to DC. Almost all the flights have been canceled today, despite the small handful that have gotten out.'

Stranded Americans slam lack of evacuation help

The frustration is boiling over as other nations move to evacuate their own citizens. The Trump administration has insisted it is doing the same, but US travelers have said they have so far received no support.

'The UK and Russian governments are getting their people out, the Americans are doing absolutely nothing,' the tourist told the Daily Mail. 'We are left to fend for ourselves, and the State Department in the American embassy is giving us absolutely zero help.'

Critics have highlighted a stark disparity after the White House helped a clutch of MAGA influencers flee the Middle East by private jet while hundreds of thousands of ordinary Americans remain stranded.

Trump adviser Alex Bruesewitz, dog-walker Sarah Daither and former lobbyist Jay Footlik were among six who fled on a plane Bruesewitz chartered after US strikes on Iran.

'This has easily been the craziest experience of my life,' Bruesewitz said.

Bruesewitz used his White House connections and contacts in Saudi Arabia and Qatar to extract the group after airports closed and the US Embassy ordered staff to shelter in place.

Pictured: Trump adviser, Alex Bruesewitz (right front), dogwalker Sarah Daither (middle left), former lobbyist Jay Footlik and others managed to escape on a private plane.

Tourists say US evacuation plan is failing

US citizens stuck abroad have been sharing their stories, voicing frustration with the Trump administration for 'not thinking this through.'

'All they're doing is telling the American people that they need to get out, that is probably what you're hearing back home, but that is totally not the story on the ground here,' the tourist told the Daily Mail.

Americans from Dubai to Jerusalem report being 'scared to death,' surrounded by fighter jets and the thud of intercepted missiles overhead.

Chris Elliott and his 17-year-old daughter Riley were on a religious pilgrimage with a group from North Carolina's Triad region when the strikes began, shattering the trip with the sounds of warfare.

'Hearing the explosions is something I wouldn't wish on anybody. I'm scared to death,' Elliott told WXII-TV.

He shared a video online on Saturday as they heard missiles and military aircraft overhead.

'We never expected to be caught in the middle of a war zone. It's like something you've never seen before in your life. Literally soldiers all around us,' he said.

His daughter Riley said: 'We are in Jerusalem, surrounded by great people, on the land that Jesus walked on, so he's definitely got his hand on each and every one of us.'

Pictured: Chris Elliott and his 17-year-old daughter.

Shanice Day, a 30-year-old stylist from Houston, was in Dubai celebrating her birthday when the strikes began.

She said she was shopping in the city's famous mall when she heard the sounds of missiles. 'It really shook me up. A lot. It felt like an outofbody experience,' Day told Business Insider.

Her flight home was then cancelled.

'We broke down in tears. We're 8,000 miles away from our family and friends. We don't know when this will be over. We didn't know how we were going to get out,' she said.

Chicago native Sasha Hoffman, stranded in Dubai, said the State Department is demanding the impossible.

'We are honestly trapped. It is really frustrating that right now the US is saying, Americans, come home. When the reality is we can't come home. All of our flights are cancelled they have only let out a handful of flights,' Hoffman told CBS News.

Pictured: Chicago native Sasha Hoffman.

Florida resident Krista Jucknath Hickman and her husband Mike said their vacation turned to chaos the moment they reached the airport.

With official help lines proving useless, the couple were forced to take a dangerous gamble.

'The number provided by the state department for support is unable to help,' she told the BBC. 'I called twice.'

She added: 'All that can be done is book flights that don't take off.'

The couple eventually paid $1,000 for a private driver to take them across the border into Oman in search of a flight home.

Americans in 16 countries, including Israel, Qatar, Iran and Saudi Arabia, were instructed by the US State Department to 'DEPART NOW' using commercial transportation, citing 'serious safety risks.'

But those stranded say the instruction bears no relation to the reality of closed airspaces and grounded planes.

White House says evacuation plan underway

The White House says it has identified around 1,600 Americans seeking to return home and has a plan in motion.

'We are chartering flights as we speak. For operational security reasons, we don't want to publicize when these flights are taking off as Iran has obviously shown a willingness to hit Americans and casualties,' a White House spokesperson said.

A State Department official confirmed the government is 'actively securing' military aircraft and charter flights for Americans seeking to leave, adding that he has been in contact with 3,000 Americans to coordinate departure options.

The State Department told the Daily Mail that over 9,000 Americans have safely returned from the Middle East, including 300 from Israel.

The US and Israel have continued their strikes on Tehran, warning civilians in Persian to evacuate the Hakimiya Industrial Zone and the area around Payam Airport in Karaj on Tuesday, where military targets were being hit.

Trump warned 'the big one is coming' and that 'the big wave hasn't even happened,' even as hundreds of thousands of Americans remained stranded across the region.

Share your thoughts with us in the comments
President Donald Trump said Sunday a deal 'could be soon' amid negotiations with Iran and revealed 20 more oil tankers are set to pass through the Strait of Hormuz as a 'sign of respect'.

Trump claimed Tehran was 'basically begging' for peace negotiations and the regime was desperate to cut a deal after suffering what he characterized as heavy losses on the battlefield.

'Were doing extremely well in that negotiation. But you never know with Iran, because we negotiate with them and then we always have to blow them up,' he added while speaking to reporters on Air Force One.

'I think well make a deal with them, but its possible that we won't,' Trump continued. 'I do see a deal in Iran. It could be soon.'

When asked by Libby Alon of Channel 14 Israel whether the US could take control of the Strait of Hormuz, Trump replied: 'Yes, of course, it's already happening.'

The Strait of Trump

The strategically vital waterway, which serves as a conduit for roughly one-fifth of global oil supply, has been partially closed by Iran. The result has sent oil prices skyrocketing.

Trump also referred to the essential waterway as the 'Strait of Trump,' something he made a pointed joke about during a speech on Friday.

'We're negotiating now, and it would be great if we could do something, but they have to open it up. They have to open up the Strait of Trump - I mean Hormuz,' Trump said at the Saudi-backed Future Investment Initiative Priority forum in Miami, prompting laughter before adding: 'Excuse me, I'm so sorry there's no accidents with me.'

In a separate interview with the Financial Times, Trump went even further - openly discussing seizing Iran's oil infrastructure.

'To be honest with you, my favorite thing is to take the oil in Iran but some stupid people back in the US say: "Why are you doing that?' But they're stupid people,' he said.

Trump specifically pointed to Kharg Island, through which most of Iran's oil exports flow, as a potential target.

The April 6 Deadline

'Maybe we take Kharg Island, maybe we don't. We have a lot of options,' he said. 'It would also mean we had to be there [on Kharg Island] for a while.'

Asked about Iranian defenses on the oil-rich island, Trump added: 'I don't think they have any defense. We could take it very easily.'

He compared the idea to US involvement in Venezuela, suggesting Washington could control oil production 'indefinitely.'

The stakes were already rippling across global markets Sunday night. Brent crude surged above $116 a barrel, near its highest level since the conflict began. after jumping more than 50 percent in a month.

Trump said indirect talks with Iran, conducted via Pakistani intermediaries, are 'going very well,' but he also issued a stark ultimatum.

He has set an April 6 deadline for Tehran to accept a deal - or face strikes on its energy sector.

'We've got about 3,000 targets left - we've bombed 13,000 targets - and another couple of thousand targets to go,' Trump said.

'A deal could be made fairly quickly.'

Trump also made a series of claims about shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, saying Iran had allowed tankers through as a 'sign of respect'.

'They gave us 10,' he said. 'Now they're giving 20 and the 20 have already started and they're going right up the middle of the Strait.'

Negotiating with a Different Group

He claimed Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf (pictured), the country's parliament speaker, personally authorized the move.

'He's the one who authorized the ships to me', Trump said. 'Remember I said they're giving me a present? And everyone said: "What's the present? Bull[expletive]." When they heard about that they kept their mouth shut and the negotiations are going very well.'

In the same FT interview, Trump claimed Iran had effectively already undergone regime change following the reported deaths of senior leaders.

'The people we're dealing with are a totally different group of people . . . [They] are very professional,' he said.

He also repeated unverified claims about Mojtaba Khamenei, saying: 'The son is either dead or in extremely bad shape We've not heard from him at all. He's gone.'

Tehran, however, has insisted its leadership remains intact and has dismissed speculation about internal upheaval.

Even as Trump spoke of negotiations, Iranian officials were issuing stark warnings of an impending military escalation.

A Cover for Invasion

Ghalibaf has accused the United States of duplicity - claiming diplomacy is being used as cover for a looming invasion.

'The enemy publicly sends messages of negotiation while secretly planning a ground invasion  unaware that our men are waiting for American troops to enter on the ground, ready to unleash devastation upon them and punish their regional allies permanently,' Ghalibaf said.

He added: 'As long as the Americans seek Iran's surrender, the answer of your sons remains clear: 'Far be it from us to accept humiliation.'

The warning comes as the USS Tripoli, an American amphibious assault ship carrying roughly 3,500 service members, has arrived in the Middle East, according to US Central Command.

Trump also emphasized what he described as close alignment with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu amid the ongoing conflict.

'Coordination is very close - full coordination we have a good relationship. It couldn't be better,' Trump said, according to Alon's account of the conversation.

The Pakistan Summit

He went further, delivering a direct message to the Israeli public.

'I love Israel. Love the people of Israel and I'm very proud and happy about their support. A poll this morning show they have 99% support. No one has ever experienced anything like this so I'm very proud.'

The Strait of Hormuz has become the focal point of the confrontation.

The narrow passage, long considered one of the most critical arteries in global energy supply, has been effectively choked by the conflict, sending shockwaves through oil markets and raising fears of a broader regional war.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned earlier that Iran could attempt to impose a 'tolling system' on vessels transiting the strait, signaling a potential long-term disruption to international shipping.

At the same time, diplomatic efforts are underway. Pakistan is hosting talks involving the foreign ministers of Turkey, Egypt and Saudi Arabia aimed at de-escalating the crisis, even as rhetoric on both sides hardens.

Share your thoughts with us in the comments
Nigel Farage has a big problem, and his name is Donald Trump.

The leader of Reform UK genuinely likes and admires the American President. He counts himself as a friend, and mourned a brief falling out with him a few years ago. He stood by Trump when he was being hauled through the courts by Democratic Party prosecutors.

No doubt he enjoys being close to the most powerful man in the world. But if it were merely a marriage of convenience it could be easily broken. Farages ties with Trump go deep.

The unpredictable President is waging a futile war that threatens to plunge the world into recession. His popularity is sagging in the US. Its worse here. In a recent poll, 73 per cent of Britons had an unfavourable view of Trump. These people include many prospective Reform voters.

I suppose its just about possible that Trump will pull off a miracle, and bring a swift end to the war against Iran on terms that are favourable to the West. But it seems much more likely that we are all going to suffer for a long time for his rash and ill-considered action.

Every time we go to the petrol station or look at our latest gas bill, many of us will blame Trump. If there should be shortages in supermarkets, blame could turn to hatred. That wouldnt be good for Farage, who is identified in the public mind as Trumps leading British cheerleader.

And its not just about the rising cost of living. Some people may enjoy Trumps sallies against Sir Keir Starmer, which are increasing in number. But almost no one appreciates his crass rudeness about the British armed forces  certainly not patriotic ex-Labour voters thinking of voting Reform.

Most outrageous was his assertion two months ago that some Nato troops stayed a little back, a little off the front lines in Afghanistan. Since Britain was Americas foremost partner in that conflict (and lost 457 military personnel) this was interpreted as an unjustified dig at Americas closest ally.

Donald Trump is 'the biggest barrier to people voting Reform,' according to research by Luke Tryl, executive director of think-tank More in Common.

Trumps Criticism and Britains Military Response

Trumps latest slur came last week, when he described Britains two aircraft carriers as toys. They may not be as formidable as Americas carriers, and it is unfortunate that both of them have spent so much of their lives being repaired. But they are very far from being toys.

Does Nigel Farage realise the danger he is in? I am sure he does, since he is a highly intelligent man, and some people inside Reform (where there is widespread scepticism about Trumps war) will be warning him. He has tempered his initial support, probably because he realises the war may end badly.

At the beginning he was enthusiastic, saying that although he was incredibly nervous about intervening in foreign wars he believed that this was the right one. In an interview with the New Statesman he unwisely suggested that Iran potentially poses a bigger danger than Putin poses to us.

But as things began to go wrong, and Trump contradicted himself almost hourly, Farage grew more cautious, saying lets not get ourselves involved in another foreign war.

Farages Silence Amid Middle East Tensions

Since then he has said remarkably little about events in the Middle East, which is odd when most politicians are talking about little else, and many voters are alarmed. Three weeks ago he made a brief visit to Florida as a member of the Mar-a-Lago club, which is owned by Donald Trump.

He didnt see the President, who was staying about an hours drive away at his hotel in Doral. This was not necessarily a snub. There have been other occasions in the recent past when Farage has visited Mar-a-Lago without seeing Trump. That said, it wasnt exactly a show of affection on Trumps part.

And that is far from being a bad thing. From Farages point of view, any distance he can put between himself and the President is very likely to be to his political advantage.

Reform has recently slipped in the polls. The party now averages about 26 per cent, down from highs of around 31 per cent last October. There are probably several factors, but Nigel Farage would be foolish to dismiss the idea that his association with the increasingly disliked President is one of them.

Indeed, according to Luke Tryl, executive director of the More in Common think-tank and polling organisation, all of his research shows that the biggest barrier to people voting Reform is Trump.

Reform leader Farage and the US President in the Oval Office at the White House last year

Farages Dilemma: Loyalty or Independence

Can Nigel Farage bring himself to criticise Trump sincerely, not just about the war but all manner of excesses and absurdities in other areas that repel many voters who might vote Reform?

Or is he so bound to the horror in the White House, so fundamentally aligned to Trumpian values, that he will be unable to break free and convince voters that he isnt a British re-tread of Trump?

Farage recently said: He [Trump] is a friend of mine. I agree with many things he does. I dont agree with other things he does. The trouble is that voters hear much more about the points of agreement than the points of disagreement.

Nor is the issue exclusively the degree to which the two men see, or dont see, eye to eye. There is something too submissive about Farages attitude towards Trump  witness his frequent visits to his court, and his evident joy when photographed next to him.

I agree that Starmers obsequious conduct towards the overbearing President is even more distasteful since he is the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. In the end, of course, his cringe-making sycophancy has got him nowhere. It only served to open him to Trumps derision and contempt.

Farage is motivated at least partly by genuine affection and respect. But he could be the next prime minister of this country. It is time he stopped playing the courtier, and applied himself to becoming the international statesman he may shortly be.

The Challenge of Separating from Political Alliances

He should clasp the old dictum to his heart that there are no true friendships at the top of politics. This is not easy for him since he is a gregarious and warm-hearted man.

A man, too, who like my esteemed colleague Boris Johnson seemingly wants to be loved. This is no great flaw in normal life, sometimes even an attractive quality. But in politics it can be fatal.

Could Farage break with Trump? I dont propose that he stage a minor falling out for reasons of political expediency. I am asking whether he can convince voters that he is fundamentally different from the man he has admired. That hes not dishonest, unreliable, inconstant and sometimes cruel.

I dont believe the leader of Reform is any of these things. And I also think its perfectly all right for Farage to share some of Donald Trumps views, a number of which are held by perfectly sensible people on the Right.

All I am saying is that Nigel Farage needs to move out of Trumps orbit, and demonstrate both to critics and doubters that he is not at all the same kind of politician.
Before her niece could walk, AShira Nelson was already planning for her financial future.

The Ohio-based CPA opened a 529 college savings plan when the child was just a year old, committing to save $15 a month - an amount many families would barely notice.

Nearly six years later, that small act of consistency has snowballed into $1,300.

Nelson calculates the nest egg, with payments upped to $20, will be around $10,000 by the time her niece is heading off to college.

Nelson will have contributed $3,780 by high school graduation - a stark example of how compound growth can turn modest savings into something meaningful.

'People often assume you need to put away hundreds of dollars a month to make a difference,' Nelson told the Daily Mail. 'But time is far more powerful than large deposits they may never make. Consistency matters more than the amount.'

If no further money is added after her niece reaches 18 and the balance is simply left invested, the growth becomes yet more dramatic over time. By age 30, the account could grow to nearly $30,000.

By 40, it could top $76,000. By 50, it could approach $200,000. And by traditional retirement age, it could exceed $800,000 - all from contributions totaling less than $4,000.

AShira Nelson is building a strong financial future for her family, including her two daughters

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This is compound growth in action: returns build on previous returns, meaning time - not the size of the initial investment - does most of the heavy lifting.

'My aunt sent me off to school with $5,000, and I appreciated that gift so much,' Nelson noted. 'I was able to use it for expenses during my first couple of years of college.'

By consistently contributing, Nelson is also forming good money habits for herself and instilling those in the people close to her. 'It's never about the amount,' she said. 'It's about the mindset.'

As a college graduate with an accounting degree herself, Nelson hopes that more family members will continue their education. An added bonus of the account, she explained, would be to motivate her niece to go to school.

'No one ever pushed me to go to college like that so I was kind of like "let's do something different,"' Nelson said.

'Going to college is already hard,' she added. 'If I can do something to make it easier or provide support, why wouldn't I?'

If Nelson's niece doesn't attend college or trade school, the CPA explained, that money could be transferred to a Roth IRA.

A Roth IRA is a retirement account where savings grow tax-free and can be withdrawn tax-free later in life.

AShira Nelson started saving for her niece's college early and will gift her the sum once she turns 18 years old.

Under current rules, unused 529 funds can be rolled into a Roth IRA for the beneficiary - allowing the money to continue compounding for decades, subject to annual and lifetime limits.

There are no income restrictions for this switch - account holders can roll over to a Roth IRA even if the their income at the time is more than the limit for regular contributions.

'I chose a 529 instead of cash or a savings account because earnings grow tax-free when used for qualified education expenses,' Nelson said. 'It teaches intentional wealth building, not just gifting. It protects the money from being casually spent.'

It seems like a no-brainer for young parents. However, this savings plan not always utilized by Americans.

Only 10 percent of parents use a 529 account for their child's education expenses, Vanguard research shows. Among millennial parents, just 8 percent do, and Gen Z, it is just 6 percent.

The average cost of higher education varies by state. Out-of-state students are expected to fork over between $25,000-$35,000 annually for public colleges this year.

Best Colleges estimates the most expensive university in the US is Pepperdine University, with the annual cost reaching over $93,000.

Yale University will offer free tuition to families earning less than $200,000 annually amid rising college tuition costs in the US

Nelson is also a mother to two, explaining that her background in finance often influences how she raises her two daughters, Skylar and Sevyn.

'I started having money conversations with my daughters very early,' Nelson said. 'Before they could walk. As they learned their ABCs and 123s, I continued weaving in ageappropriate conversations about money, beginning with the concept of saving.'

She noted that if her daughters ask about the cost of a vacation, she will give them whatever information they're looking for. Her children also see the family's budget and investment accounts.

'I emphasize delayed gratification whenever it fits the moment,' she said.

In honor of her daughter's birthday, Nelson added $100 to her custodial brokerage account.

But that's not to say Nelson isn't contributing to her own net worth - the CPA's personal Fidelity account amassed over $300,000 over a 3-year period. At 37 years old, Nelson hopes to be a millionaire by 45.

To achieve that, she's investing $40,000 annually and adding around $2,000 each month to her 401K, Roth IRA and individual brokerage account.

When it comes to finding a balance between saving for the future and enjoying the present, Nelson explains that keeping track of your money is more important than being restrictive.

'The best advice I've ever given is that your money should reflect your values,' she said.

'When you get clear on what matters to you - freedom, stability, family, legacy - your financial decisions become easier. You stop spending for appearances and start spending with purpose.'

'You stop feeling guilty about enjoying your life because you've already taken care of your future self,' Nelson added.
Link to PDF

TORONTO, March 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ - Vale Base Metals (VBM) is on track to increase its total Mineral Reserves and Resources in Canada and Brazil by more than 20 per cent by the end of 2027, according to new engineering and exploration reports released today on the company's Mineral Reserves and Mineral Resources.1,2,3

View PDF Vale Base Metals Releases 2025 Exploration and 2026 Outlook Results; Copper Mineral Reserves and Mineral Resources Increase 6% to 53 million tonnes (CNW Group/Vale Base Metals)

Compared to 2024, VBM's copper Mineral Reserves and Mineral Resources increased by 6 per cent in 2025 to 53 million tonnes while nickel Mineral Reserves and Mineral Resources increased 13 per cent to 14 million tonnes. These increases, along with others for VBM's polymetallic assets that include cobalt, platinum, palladium and gold, will significantly strengthen the company's organic growth pipeline.

"We have a bold plan for the future after a transformational year in 2025," said Chris McCleave, Chief Technical Officer. "Our teams continued to strengthen geological models across several districts while advancing drilling programs that supported Mineral Resource growth and Reserve replacement across the portfolio."

VBM plans to build on its 2025 exploration programs by continuing to advance drilling activity across its major mineral districts in 2026, with a strong focus on copper growth.

"We doubled our copper drilling intensity in Brazil's Carajas District, one of the most prospective copper districts in the world, and we are aiming to double it again in 2026," McCleave said. "We also increased productivity, delivering a 34 per cent reduction in per unit cost."



1 "Vale Base Metals" means Vale Base Metals Limited and its subsidiaries. 2 Mineral Reserves and Mineral Reserves are at Vale Base Metals 100% attributable ownership. Mineral Resources are Exclusive of Mineral Reserve. Mineral Resources are inclusive of Inferred Mineral Resources, unless when stated. A detailed breakdown of the Mineral Resources by Measured, Indicated and Inferred is included in the 2025 Mineral Reserve and Mineral Resource section below. 3 The 20% growth target by end of 2027 is measured against Mineral Reserves and Mineral Resources (inclusive of Inferred Mineral Resources) as reported at December 31, 2024. The 2025 results reported herein represent partial progress toward this target.

2025 HIGHLIGHTS:

Copper Mineral Resources inclusive of inferred Mineral Resources increased to record levels of approximately 44.9 million tons (Mt) copper contained, representing a 7 per cent increase year-on-year and supporting more than 65 years of potential production at current mining rates.

increased to record levels of approximately 44.9 million tons (Mt) copper contained, representing a 7 per cent increase year-on-year and supporting more than 65 years of potential production at current mining rates. Copper Mineral Reserves increased to approximately 8.2 Mt copper contained, representing a 2 per cent year-on-year net increase after depletion, reflecting resource conversion and updated engineering studies.

increased to approximately 8.2 Mt copper contained, representing a 2 per cent year-on-year net increase after depletion, reflecting resource conversion and updated engineering studies. Nickel Mineral Resources inclusive of inferred Mineral Resources increased to approximately 7.7 Mt nickel contained, representing a 20 per cent increase year-on-year.

increased to approximately 7.7 Mt nickel contained, representing a 20 per cent increase year-on-year. Nickel Mineral Reserves increased to approximately 5.9 Mt nickel contained, reflecting a 5 per cent year-on-year net increase driven primarily by resource conversion in Indonesia and updated geological models in Canada.

increased to approximately 5.9 Mt nickel contained, reflecting a 5 per cent year-on-year net increase driven primarily by resource conversion in Indonesia and updated geological models in Canada. South Hub (Brazil; Copper): In 2025, 0.6 Mt copper were converted to Reserves from Bacaba, which is now under construction. Another 1.8 Mt copper contained were added to Mineral Resources after drilling and initial assessment of several deposits such as the Sequeirinho Underground, Mata 1, Visconde Leste, Emilia, Cristalino 88 and Borrachudo. In 2025, 31,000m were drilled across the hub. The exploration program focused primarily on improving geological confidence and testing the underground extension of the Sequeirinho orebody (i.e., below open-pit Mineral Reserves) and testing high-grade orebody extensions at Bacaba and Cristalino. These programs continue to confirm the extension of orebodies and resulted in the discovery of down plunge extensions of the orebody below the Sequeirinho Pit.

In 2025, 0.6 Mt copper were converted to Reserves from Bacaba, which is now under construction. Another 1.8 Mt copper contained were added to Mineral Resources after drilling and initial assessment of several deposits such as the Sequeirinho Underground, Mata 1, Visconde Leste, Emilia, Cristalino 88 and Borrachudo. In 2025, 31,000m were drilled across the hub. The exploration program focused primarily on improving geological confidence and testing the underground extension of the Sequeirinho orebody (i.e., below open-pit Mineral Reserves) and testing high-grade orebody extensions at Bacaba and Cristalino. These programs continue to confirm the extension of orebodies and resulted in the discovery of down plunge extensions of the orebody below the Sequeirinho Pit. North Hub (Brazil; Copper): Main activities focused on Paulo Afonso and Furnas. At Paulo Afonso, 0.2 Mt copper contained were added to Mineral Resources, mainly enabled by continued drilling (additional 28,000m in 2025) and modelling to test targets below the existing open pit project and supporting a future underground mine operation. At Furnas, Ero Copper, a VBM partner on the project, completed 26,287m of drilling in 2025, and Ero recently released the initial assessment (PEA) showing a 0.5 Mt copper contained increase in Mineral Resources.

Main activities focused on Paulo Afonso and Furnas. At Paulo Afonso, 0.2 Mt copper contained were added to Mineral Resources, mainly enabled by continued drilling (additional 28,000m in 2025) and modelling to test targets below the existing open pit project and supporting a future underground mine operation. At Furnas, Ero Copper, a VBM partner on the project, completed 26,287m of drilling in 2025, and Ero recently released the initial assessment (PEA) showing a 0.5 Mt copper contained increase in Mineral Resources. Alemao (Brazil; Copper) : Full re-optimization and engineering of the project, including re-design from sublevel caving to sublevel stoping, and addition of satellite deposits (Acampamento Sul and Encantado) have resulted in an increase of 0.6 Mt copper contained to Mineral Resources.

: Full re-optimization and engineering of the project, including re-design from sublevel caving to sublevel stoping, and addition of satellite deposits (Acampamento Sul and Encantado) have resulted in an increase of 0.6 Mt copper contained to Mineral Resources. Salobo (Brazil; Copper) : Salobo already has a large Mineral Reserves and Mineral Resources to support mining for at least 30 years. In 2025, the focus was on geological studies to plan 2026 drill programs to test specific orebody extensions, and trade-offs of tailings disposal methods that are currently limiting conversion of Mineral Resources to Mineral Reserves.

: Salobo already has a large Mineral Reserves and Mineral Resources to support mining for at least 30 years. In 2025, the focus was on geological studies to plan 2026 drill programs to test specific orebody extensions, and trade-offs of tailings disposal methods that are currently limiting conversion of Mineral Resources to Mineral Reserves. Ontario & Voisey's Bay (Canada; Copper-Nickel): Drilling, geological model review and initial assessment studies (engineering) across Canada resulted in additions to both copper (+0.5 Mt copper contained) and nickel (+0.9 Mt nickel contained) Mineral Reserves and Mineral Resources. Those additions were made near current operating mines, extending their potential life-of-mine. 4

Drilling, geological model review and initial assessment studies (engineering) across Canada resulted in additions to both copper (+0.5 Mt copper contained) and nickel (+0.9 Mt nickel contained) Mineral Reserves and Mineral Resources. Those additions were made near current operating mines, extending their potential life-of-mine. Onto  Hu'u Deposit (Indonesia; Copper): Deposit already has significant copper-gold Mineral Resources to support a 50-plus year life of mine. 2025 efforts focused on finalizing pre-feasibility study and setting up advanced water and geothermal data collection.

Deposit already has significant copper-gold Mineral Resources to support a 50-plus year life of mine. 2025 efforts focused on finalizing pre-feasibility study and setting up advanced water and geothermal data collection. Porphyry Greenfield Exploration (Chile and Peru; Copper): In 2025, VBM reprioritized its greenfield exploration program in Chile and Peru, both countries where the company owns significant mineral tenure (116,890 Ha in Chile; 278,429 Ha in Peru) near major known deposits and operating mines.



4 Life-of-mine is based on conceptual mine plans, inclusive of Inferred Mineral Resources.

2026 PRIORITIES

VBM plans to continue advancing exploration programs across its major mineral districts in 2026, with a strong focus on copper growth through nearmine extensions, satellite deposits, and downplunge continuity. The company will also continue to support project advancement with disciplined, returnsfocused exploration programs.

Key priorities for 2026 include:

Increasing drilling activity across the Carajas region, with more than 120,000m of drilling planned  double 2025 levels.

 double 2025 levels. Continued drilling across the Sossego Mining Complex to expand underground Mineral Resources potential underneath the Sequeirinho, Sossego and Mata pits . The team is also planning advanced data collection this year, with underground exploration drifts tentatively starting in 2027.

. The team is also planning advanced data collection this year, with underground exploration drifts tentatively starting in 2027. Continued drilling at Bacaba and Cristalino (South Hub) to delineate full deposit potential to support optimal open pit designs.

(South Hub) to delineate to support optimal open pit designs. Continued drilling across Paulo Afonso and Furnas 5 (North Hub) deposits, with the primary goal to de-risk open pit and underground projects.

(North Hub) deposits, with the primary goal to projects. New drilling programs at Salobo and 118 to test shallow lateral and deep structural corridors of the orebody.

to test of the orebody. New drilling programs at Alemao to increase Mineral Resources potential of satellite orebodies , especially Encantado and Acampamento Sul. Dewatering activities are ongoing to regain access to Alemao orebody exploration drift, and a second exploration drift is planned with focus on shallower areas of Alemao orebody and satellite orebodies.

to increase , especially Encantado and Acampamento Sul. Dewatering activities are ongoing to regain access to Alemao orebody exploration drift, and a second exploration drift is planned with focus on shallower areas of Alemao orebody and satellite orebodies. Targeted drilling programs in Sudbury and Voisey's Bay with a strong focus on sustaining and growing copper and nickel production through brownfield exploration.

with a strong focus on sustaining and growing copper and nickel production through brownfield exploration. Prospective greenfield exploration programs will continue in Chile and Peru, supporting an efficient turnover of projects by executing exploration programs within proven copperendowed mining districts.



5 Exploration activities will be conducted and advanced by Ero Copper.

The complete data on VBM's Mineral Reserves and Mineral Resources and exploration updates on our assets in Canada and Brazil can be found below and on www.valebasemetals.com.

About Vale Base Metals

Vale Base Metals is one of the world's largest producers of high-quality nickel and an important producer of responsibly sourced copper and cobalt. Vale Base Metals Limited is based in London, United Kingdom with its global operations centre in Toronto, Canada. The company also has operations in Newfoundland & Labrador, Ontario, Manitoba, Indonesia, Brazil, the United Kingdom and Japan. Vale Base Metals is 90 per cent owned by Vale S.A. and 10 per cent by Manara Minerals Investment Company.

Forward-Looking Statements

This release contains statements that reflect current expectations of Vale Base Metals Limited (VBM) regarding exploration activities, mineral reserves and mineral resources estimates, projects, future exploration plans and other future events. All forward-looking statements involve various risks and uncertainties. VBM cannot guarantee that such statements will prove to be accurate. These risks and uncertainties include, among others, factors related to: (a) operational issues, including health, safety, the environment and social issues; (b) permitting timelines and production planning; (c) talent management; (d) strategy; (e) sustainability and our ability to achieve our sustainability targets and commitments; (f) institutional relations and communication, including changes in the law and regulations; (g) compliance; (h) the countries where VBM operates; (i) the global economy; (j) the capital markets; (k) commodity prices; (l) competition in the markets in which VBM operates; and (m) geological interpretation and the estimation of mineral resources and reserves, the exploration of mineral reserves and resources and the development of mining facilities, our ability to obtain or renew licenses, the depletion and exhaustion of mines and mineral reserves and resources. In light of the risks and uncertainties described above, the future events and circumstances discussed in this document might not occur and are not guarantees of future performance.

This release contains information relating to mineral reserves, mineral resources and exploration targets as defined under Subpart 1300 of Regulation S-K, and is based upon information and supporting documentation of a qualified person.

2025 MINERAL RESERVES

Nickel Mineral Reserves as of December 31, 2025 (Tonnage in millions of dry metric tons. Grades in %)

As at Dec 31, 2025 As at Dec 31, 2024 Category Tonnage (Mt) Grade (%) Metal (Mt) Tonnage

(Mt) Grade (%) Metal (Mt) Mineral Reserves







Proven Reserves 209.7 1.48 3.1 182.0 1.50 2.7 Probable Reserves 209.6 1.35 2.8 205.8 1.41 2.9 Total Proven & Probable

Mineral Reserves 419.3 1.42 5.9 387.8 1.45 5.6

(1) Mineral Reserves are dry tonnes run-of-mine material after adjustment for mining dilution ahead of the feed plants for all areas that include screening and drying and Onca Puma where the point of reference is dry recovered tons to the processing plant. (2) Mineral Reserves have been adjusted to reflect our 33.88% ownership of PTVI. (3) The Mineral Reserve economic viability was determined based on a price curve with a long-term price of US$17,625/t for Nickel. (4) Sudbury Mineral Reserves include material from Coleman, Copper Cliff, Creighton, Garson, Totten mines and the Stobie open pit mine. (5) The PTVI nickel saprolite Mineral Reserves includes material from Sorowako operations, Bahodopi 2-3 and Pomalaa projects. (6) Recovery only for Sorowako Operations since saprolite material from Pomalaa and Bahodopi projects are supported by ROM sales agreements. (7) The PTVI nickel limonite Mineral Reserves include Bahodopi 2-3, Pomalaa and Sorowako Limonite projects material. (8) Estimated consolidated nickel Mineral Reserves of Onca Puma include 5.12 million dry metric tons of stockpile. (9) Recovery range is overall metal recovered to point of first material sale. (10) Contained nickel (Mt) is calculated by multiplying tonnage (million dry metric tonnes) by nickel grade (%). (11) Numbers have been rounded. (12) The reported Mineral Reserves may differ in quantity or quality from those reported in other jurisdictions, under different standards. (13) Mineral Reserves for Vale Base Metals are reported on a 100% basis. Vale S.A. owns a 90% interest and Manara Minerals the remaining 10% interest.

Copper Mineral Reserves as of December 31, 2025 (Tonnage in millions of dry metric tons. Grades in %)

As at Dec 31, 2025 As at Dec 31, 2024 Category Tonnage

(Mt) Grade (%) Metal (Mt) Tonnage

(Mt) Grade (%) Metal (Mt) Mineral Reserves









Proven Reserves 480.1 0.69 3.3 312.0 0.73 2.3 Probable Reserves 768.7 0.64 4.9 912.4 0.63 5.8 Total Proven & Probable

Mineral Reserves 1,248.8 0.66 8.2 1,224.3 0.66 8.1

(1) Point of reference for the Mineral Reserve estimate is the point of delivery to the process plant. (2) The Mineral Reserve economic viability was determined based on a price curve with a long-term price of US$9,950/t for copper. (3) Sudbury Mineral Reserves include material from Coleman, Copper Cliff, Creighton, Garson, Totten and Stobie mines. (4) Estimated consolidated copper Mineral Reserves of Sossego Operations includes Sequeirinho, Bacaba and Mata II pits and 34.66 million dry metric tons of stockpile. (5) Estimated consolidated copper Mineral Reserves of Salobo Operations include 264.8 million dry metric tons of stockpile. (6) Recovery range is overall metal recovered to point of first material sale. (7) Contained copper (Mt) is calculated by multiplying tonnage (million dry metric tonnes) by copper grade (%). (8) Numbers have been rounded. (9) The reported Mineral Reserves may differ in quantity or quality from those reported in other jurisdictions, under different standards. (10) Mineral Reserves for Vale Base Metals are reported on a 100% basis. Vale S.A. owns a 90% interest and Manara Minerals the remaining 10% interest.

Cobalt Mineral Reserves as of December 31, 2025 (Tonnage in millions of dry metric tons. Grades in %)

As at Dec 31, 2025 As at Dec 31, 2024 Category Tonnage

(Mt) Grade (%) Metal (Mt) Tonnage

(Mt) Grade (%) Metal (Mt) Mineral Reserves









Proven Reserves 115.6 0.10 0.11 89.0 0.10 0.09 Probable Reserves 129.5 0.09 0.11 129.7 0.12 0.15 Total Proven & Probable

Mineral Reserves 245.1 0.09 0.22 218.6 0.11 0.24

(1) Co grades are % of cobalt. Mineral Reserves are dry tonnes run-of-mine material after adjustment for mining dilution ahead of the feed plants. Recovery range is overall metal recovered to point of first material sale. (2) Mineral Reserves have been adjusted to reflect our 33.88% ownership of PTVI. (3) The Mineral Reserve economic viability was determined based on long-term prices of US$39,125/t for cobalt. (4) Sudbury Mineral Reserves include material from Coleman, Copper Cliff, Creighton, Garson, Totten mines and Stobie open pit mine. (5) Cobalt Reserves are reported on 100% basis and do not deduct the streaming amounts. For a description of our cobalt streaming arrangements, see Information on the CompanyLines of BusinessEnergy Transition MetalsCobalt. (6) Recovery range is overall metal recovered to point of first material sale, except for PTVI where recovery is not applied since the project considers to selling run of mine (ROM). (7) The PTVI cobalt Mineral Reserves are limonite material from Sorowako Limonite, Bahodopi 2-3 and Pomalaa projects with Reserves supported by ROM sales agreements. (8) Contained cobalt (Mt) is calculated by multiplying tonnage (million dry metric tonnes) by cobalt grade (%). (9) Numbers have been rounded. (10) The reported Mineral Reserves may differ in quantity or quality from those reported in other jurisdictions, under different standards. (11) Mineral Reserves for Vale Base Metals are reported on a 100% basis. Vale S.A. owns a 90% interest and Manara Minerals the remaining 10% interest.

Platinum Mineral Reserves as of December 31, 2025 (Tonnage in millions of dry metric tons. Grades in grams per dry metric ton)

As at Dec 31, 2025 As at Dec 31, 2024 Category Tonnage

(Mt) Grade (g/t) Metal (Moz) Tonnage

(Mt) Grade (g/t) Metal (Moz) Mineral Reserves











Proven Reserves 28.9 1.21 1.1 20.0 0.95 0.6 Probable Reserves 41.5 0.92 1.2 51.7 0.79 1.3 Total Proven & Probable

Mineral Reserves 70.4 1.04 2.3 71.7 0.83 1.9

(1) Point of reference for the Mineral Reserve estimate is the point of delivery to the process plant. (2) The Mineral Reserve economic viability was determined based on long-term prices of: US$1,325/oz for platinum. (3) Sudbury Mineral Reserves include material from Coleman, Copper Cliff, Creighton, Garson and Totten mines and the Stobie open pit mine. (4) Recovery range is overall metal recovered to point of first material sale. (5) Contained platinum (Moz) is calculated by multiplying tonnage (million dry metric tonnes) by platinum grade (g/t) and divided by 31.10348 grams per troy ounce. (6) Numbers have been rounded. (7) The reported Mineral Reserves may differ in quantity or quality from those reported in other jurisdictions, under different standards. (8) Mineral Reserves for Vale Base Metals are reported on a 100% basis. Vale S.A. owns a 90% interest and Manara Minerals the remaining 10% interest.

Palladium Mineral Reserves as of December 31, 2025 (Tonnage in millions of dry metric tons. Grades in grams per dry metric ton)

As at Dec 31, 2025 As at Dec 31, 2024 Category Tonnage

(Mt) Grade (g/t) Metal (Moz) Tonnage

(Mt) Grade (g/t) Metal (Moz) Mineral Reserves











Proven Reserves 28.9 1.18 1.1 20.0 0.81 0.5 Probable Reserves 41.5 1.21 1.6 51.6 1.04 1.7 Total Proven & Probable

Mineral Reserves 70.4 1.20 2.7 71.7 0.98 2.2

(1) Point of reference for the Mineral Reserves estimate is the point of delivery to the process plant. (2) The Mineral Reserves economic viability was determined based on long-term prices of: US$1,025/oz for palladium. (3) Sudbury Mineral Reserves include material from Coleman, Copper Cliff, Creighton, Garson, Totten mines and the Stobie open pit mine. (4) Recovery range is overall metal recovered to point of first material sale. (5) Contained palladium (Moz) is calculated by multiplying tonnage (million dry metric tonnes) by palladium grade (g/t) and divided by 31.10348 grams per troy ounce. (6) Numbers have been rounded. (7) The reported Mineral Reserves may differ in quantity or quality from those reported in other jurisdictions, under different standards. (8) Mineral Reserves for Vale Base Metals are reported on a 100% basis. Vale S.A. owns a 90% interest and Manara Minerals the remaining 10% interest.

Gold Mineral Reserves as of December 31, 2025 (Tonnage in millions of dry metric tons. Grades in grams per dry metric ton)

As at Dec 31, 2025 As at Dec 31, 2024 Category Tonnage

(Mt) Grade (g/t) Metal (Moz) Tonnage

(Mt) Grade (g/t) Metal (Moz) Mineral Reserves











Proven Reserves 460.3 0.30 4.5 298.0 0.36 3.5 Probable Reserves 760.0 0.32 7.9 897.0 0.33 9.4 Total Proven & Probable

Mineral Reserves 1220.3 0.32 12.4 1195.0 0.34 12.9

(1) Point of reference for the Mineral Reserves estimate is the point of delivery to the process plant. (2) The Mineral Reserves economic viability was determined based on long-term prices of: US$2,650/oz for gold. Gold Mineral Reserves are reported on 100% basis and do not deduct the streaming amounts. For a description of our streaming arrangements with Wheaton, see Vale 2025 20F. (3) Sudbury Mineral Reserves include material from Coleman, Copper Cliff, Creighton, Garson and Totten mines and the Stobie open pit mine. (4) Estimated consolidated Mineral Reserves include Sequeirinho, Bacaba and Mata II pits, in addition to 34.6 million dry metric tons of stockpile. (5) Estimated consolidated copper Mineral Reserves include 264.8 million dry metric tons of stockpile. (6) Recovery range is overall metal recovered to point of first material sale. (7) Contained gold (Moz) is calculated by multiplying tonnage (million dry metric tonnes) by gold grade (g/t) and divided by 31.10348 grams per troy ounce. (8) Numbers have been rounded. (9) The reported Mineral Reserves may differ in quantity or quality from those reported in other jurisdictions, under different standards. (10) Mineral Reserves for Vale Base Metals are reported on a 100% basis. Vale S.A. owns a 90% interest and Manara Minerals the remaining 10% interest.

2025 MINERAL RESOURCES

Nickel Mineral Resources as of December 31, 2025 (Tonnage in millions of dry metric tons. Grades in %)

As at Dec 31, 2025 As at Dec 31, 2024 Category Tonnage

(Mt) Grade (%) Metal (Mt) Tonnage

(Mt) Grade (%) Metal (Mt) Mineral Resources







Measured Mineral Resources 66.0 1.25 0.8 51.5 1.29 0.6 Indicated Mineral Resources 280.1 1.32 3.7 238.8 1.36 3.3 Total Measured & Indicated

Mineral Resources 346.2 1.31 4.5 290.3 1.35 3.9 Inferred Mineral Resources 251.2 1.28 3.2 165.9 1.52 2.5

(1) Mineral Resources are reported exclusive of those Mineral Resources converted to Mineral Reserves. Point of reference for the Mineral Resource estimate is in situ. (2) Mineral Resources have been adjusted to reflect our 33.88% ownership of PTVI. (3) The Mineral Resource prospects of economic extraction were determined based on prices ranging from: US$13,376/t  US$21,069/t, depending on the mine. Variations in price for different mines are associated with timing of the associated estimate. (4) Sudbury Mineral Resources include material from selected zones within the Coleman, Copper Cliff, Creighton, Stobie, Garson and Totten mines, the Nickel Rim South Extension (formerly Victor), Copper Cliff pit projects and the Ella Capre and Blezard deposits. (5) Thompson Mineral Resources include material from T1, T3 and Pipe deposits. (6) The PTVI nickel saprolite Mineral Resources includes material from Sorowako operations, Bahodopi 2-3, Pomalaa and Tanamalia projects. (7) The PTVI nickel limonite Mineral Resources include material from Sorowako Limonite, Bahodopi 2-3, Tanamalia and Pomalaa projects. (8) Contained nickel (Mt) is calculated by multiplying tonnage (million dry metric tonnes) by nickel grade (%). (9) Numbers have been rounded. (10) The reported Mineral Resources may differ in quantity or quality from those reported in other jurisdictions, under different standards. (11) Mineral Resources for Vale Base Metals are reported on a 100% basis. Vale S.A. owns a 90% interest and Manara Minerals the remaining 10% interest.

Copper Mineral Resources as of December 31, 2025 (Tonnage in millions of dry metric tons. Grades in %)

As at Dec 31, 2025 As at Dec 31, 2024 Category Tonnage

(Mt) Grade (%) Metal (Mt) Tonnage

(Mt) Grade (%) Metal (Mt) Mineral Resources











Measured Mineral Resources 798.6 0.73 5.8 873.0 0.75 6.5 Indicated Mineral Resources 3,628.8 0.69 25.0 3,245.7 0.71 23.0 Total Measured & Indicated

Mineral Resources 4,427.4 0.69 30.8 4,118.8 0.72 29.5 Inferred Mineral Resources 2,459.6 0.57 14.1 2,215.3 0.56 12.3

(1) Mineral Resources are reported exclusive of those Mineral Resources converted to Mineral Reserves. Point of reference for the Mineral Resource estimate is in situ. (2) Mineral Resources have been adjusted to reflect our 80% ownership of the Onto project. (3) The Mineral Resource prospects of economic extraction were determined based on prices ranging from US$4,365/t - US$10,000/t for copper, depending on the mine. Variations in price for different mines are associated with timing of the associated estimate. (4 Sudbury Mineral Resources include material from selected zones within the Coleman, Copper Cliff, Creighton, Stobie, Garson and Totten mines, the Nickel Rim South Extension (formerly Victor), Copper Cliff pit projects and the Ella Capre and Blezard deposits. (5) Sossego Mineral Resources include material from Sequeirinho, Cristalino, Mata II, Bacaba, Barao,118, Cristalino 88, Borrachudo, Mata I, Sossego UG and Visconde projects. (6) North Hub Mineral Resources include material from Paulo Afonso, Pojuca, Gameleira and Grota Funda deposits. (7) Furnas project is an earn-in agreement between VBM and Ero Copper Corp. that contemplates Ero Copper earning a 60% interest in the project upon completion of three phases of work resulting in a definitive feasibility study. The Mineral Resource is reported on an in-situ basis with no operational, planned or internal mining dilution, and no mining recovery factors applied. (8) Contained copper (Mt) is calculated by multiplying tonnage (million dry metric tonnes) by copper grade (%). (9) Numbers have been rounded. (10) The reported Mineral Resources may differ in quantity or quality from those reported in other jurisdictions, under different standards. (11) Mineral Resources for Vale Base Metals are reported on a 100% basis. Vale S.A. owns a 90% interest and Manara Minerals the remaining 10% interest.

Cobalt Mineral Resources as of December 31, 2025 (Tonnage in millions of dry metric tons. Grades in %)

As at Dec 31, 2025 As at Dec 31, 2024 Category Tonnage

(Mt) Grade (%) Metal (Mt) Tonnage

(Mt) Grade (%) Metal (Mt) Mineral Resources











Measured Mineral Resources 37.1 0.07 0.03 27.4 0.06 0.02 Indicated Mineral Resources 172.0 0.09 0.15 148.0 0.08 0.13 Total Measured & Indicated

Mineral Resources 209.1 0.08 0.18 175.4 0.08 0.14 Inferred Mineral Resources 136.7 0.04 0.06 65.0 0.05 0.03

(1) Mineral Resources are reported exclusive of those Mineral Resources converted to Mineral Reserves. Point of reference for the Mineral resource estimate is in situ. (2) Mineral Resources have been adjusted to reflect our 33.88% ownership of PTVI. (3) The Mineral Resource prospects of economic extraction were determined based on prices ranging from: US$33,833-US$56,300/t, depending on the mine. Variations in price for different mines are associated with timing of the associated estimate. (4) Sudbury Mineral Resources include material from selected zones within the Coleman, Copper Cliff (including the Copper Cliff project), Creighton, Stobie, Garson, Totten, Nickel Rim South Extension (formerly Victor), Blezard and Ella Capre deposits. (5) The PTVI cobalt Mineral Resources include Sorowako, Bahodopi 2-3, Tanamalia and Pomalaa projects material from limonites only. (6) Contained cobalt (Mt) is calculated by multiplying tonnage (million dry metric tonnes) by cobalt grade (%). (7) Numbers have been rounded. (8) The reported Mineral Resources may differ in quantity or quality from those reported in other jurisdictions, under different standards. (9) Mineral Resources for Vale Base Metals are reported on a 100% basis. Vale S.A. owns a 90% interest and Manara Minerals the remaining 10% interest.

Platinum Mineral Resources as of December 31, 2025 (Tonnage in millions of dry metric tons. Grades in grams per dry metric ton)

As at Dec 31, 2025 As at Dec 31, 2024 Category Tonnage

(Mt) Grade (g/t) Metal (Moz) Tonnage

(Mt) Grade (g/t) Metal (Moz) Mineral Resources











Measured Mineral Resources 16.1 0.35 0.2 9.9 1.6 0.5 Indicated Mineral Resources 40.9 0.83 1.1 40.0 0.79 1.0 Total Measured & Indicated

Mineral Resources 56.9 0.69 1.3 49.8 0.95 1.5 Inferred Mineral Resources 81.4 0.77 2.0 24.3 1.02 0.8

(1) Mineral Resources are reported exclusive of those Mineral Resources converted to Mineral Reserves. Tonnage is in millions of dry metric tons. Grade is grams per dry metric ton. Point of reference for the Mineral Resource estimate is in situ. (2) The Mineral Resource prospects of economic extraction were determined based on prices of: US$1,124  1,350/oz for platinum depending on the mine. Variations in price for different mines are associated with timing of the associated estimate. (3) Sudbury Mineral Resources include material from selected zones within the Coleman, Copper Cliff (including the Copper Cliff Pit project), Creighton, Stobie, Garson, Totten, Nickel Rim South Extension (formerly Victor), Blezard and Ella Capre deposits. (4) Contained platinum (Moz) is calculated by multiplying tonnage (million dry metric tonnes) by platinum grade (g/t) and divided by 31.10348 grams per troy ounce. (5) Numbers have been rounded. (6) The reported Mineral Resources may differ in quantity or quality from those reported in other jurisdictions, under different standards. (7) Mineral Resources for Vale Base Metals are reported on a 100% basis. Vale S.A. owns a 90% interest and Manara Minerals the remaining 10% interest.

Palladium Mineral Resources as of December 31, 2025 (Tonnage in millions of dry metric tons. Grades in grams per dry metric ton)

As at Dec 31, 2025 As at Dec 31, 2024 Category Tonnage

(Mt) Grade (g/t) Metal (Moz) Tonnage

(Mt) Grade (g/t) Metal (Moz) Mineral Resources











Measured Mineral Resources 18.8 0.41 0.2 12.8 1.56 0.6 Indicated Mineral Resources 56.1 0.84 1.5 55.5 0.81 1.4 Total Measured & Indicated

Mineral Resources 74.9 0.73 1.8 68.3 0.95 2.0 Inferred Mineral Resources 104.0 0.77 2.6 46.9 0.70 1.1

(1) Mineral Resources are reported exclusive of those Mineral Resources converted to Mineral Reserves. Tonnage is in millions of dry metric tons. Grade is grams per dry metric ton. Point of reference for the Mineral Resource estimate is in situ. (2) The Mineral Resource prospects of economic extraction were determined based on price of, US$925-1,450/oz for palladium depending on the mine. Variations in price for different mines are associated with timing of the associated estimate. (3) Sudbury Mineral Resources include material from selected zones within the Coleman, Copper Cliff (including the Copper Cliff Pit project), Creighton, Stobie, Garson, Totten, Nickel Rim South Extension (formerly Victor), Blezard and Ella Capre deposits. (4) Contained palladium (Moz) is calculated by multiplying tonnage (million dry metric tonnes) by palladium grade (g/t) and divided by 31.10348 grams per troy ounce. (5) Numbers have been rounded. (6) The reported Mineral Resources may differ in quantity or quality from those reported in other jurisdictions, under different standards. (7) Mineral Resources for Vale Base Metals are reported on a 100% basis. Vale S.A. owns a 90% interest and Manara Minerals the remaining 10% interest.

Gold Mineral Resources as of December 31, 2025 (Tonnage in millions of dry metric tons. Grades in grams per dry metric ton)

As at Dec 31, 2025 As at Dec 31, 2024 Category Tonnage

(Mt) Grade (g/t) Metal (Moz) Tonnage

(Mt) Grade (g/t) Metal (Moz) Mineral Resources











Measured Mineral Resources 794.0 0.19 4.8 868.9 0.18 5.0 Indicated Mineral Resources 3599.9 0.31 35.4 3229.3 0.32 33.1 Total Measured & Indicated

Mineral Resources 4393.8 0.28 40.2 4098.3 0.29 38.1 Inferred Mineral Resources 2427.5 0.23 17.6 2185.1 0.23 16.2

(1) Mineral Resources are reported exclusive of those Mineral Resources converted to Mineral Reserves. Point of reference for the Mineral Resources estimate is in situ. (2) Mineral Resources have been adjusted to reflect our 80% ownership of the Onto project. (3) The Mineral Resources prospects of economic extraction were determined based on price of US$1,000 - US$2,300/oz for gold, in each case depending on the mine. Variations in price for different mines are associated with timing of the associated estimate. (4) Sudbury Mineral Resources include material from selected zones within the Coleman, Copper Cliff (including the Copper Cliff Pit project), Creighton, Stobie, Garson, Totten, Nickel Rim South Extension (formerly Victor), Blezard and Ella Capre deposits. (5) Sossego Mineral Resources include material from Sequeirinho (including Pista and Phase 07), Cristalino, Mata II, Bacaba, Barao,118, Cristalino 88, Borrachudo, Mata I, Sossego UG and Visconde projects, in addition to TTX Stockpile. (6) Furnas project is an earn-in agreement between VBM and Ero Copper Corp. that contemplates Ero Copper earning a 60% interest in the project upon completion of three phases of work resulting in a definitive feasibility study. The Mineral Resource estimate is reported on an in situ basis, with no operational, planned, or internal mining dilution, and no mining recovery factors applied. (7) Contained gold (Moz) is calculated by multiplying tonnage (million dry metric tonnes) by gold grade (g/t) and divided by 31.10348 grams per troy ounce. (8) Numbers have been rounded. (9) The reported Mineral Resources may differ in quantity or quality from those reported in other jurisdictions, under different standards. (10) Mineral Resources for Vale Base Metals are reported on a 100% basis. Vale S.A. owns a 90% interest and Manara Minerals the remaining 10% interest.

BRAZIL - CARAJAS COPPER DISTRICT UPDATE

2026 Brazil Exploration Plan Summary

Across the Carajas Copper District, VBM is ramping up brownfield exploration diamond drilling to more than 120,000m in 2026, focused on expanding and upgrading copper Mineral Resources adjacent to existing operations and infrastructure.

Drilling is concentrated across key brownfield assets including Sossego, Bacaba, Cristalino, Salobo, Paulo Afonso, and Alemao, with a primary objective of converting mineralization into higherconfidence resources, extending mine life, and advancing underground and expansion project optionality. This largescale, integrated exploration effort underpins VBM's longterm copper growth plan in one of the world's most prospective and infrastructureadvantaged copper districts.

2025 Brazil Exploration Highlights and 2026 Strategy

South Hub (Sossego Complex, Bacaba, Cristalino)

2025 MRMR Highlights

During 2025, positive results from conversion drilling at the Sequeirinho and Mata deposits successfully delineated down-plunge extensions of the mineralization relevant to a future underground operation, resulting in additions to Mineral Resources. A significant milestone was achieved through the addition of new open pit Mineral Reserves at the Bacaba deposit, which represents a key contributor to South Hub growth strategy. Total South Hub Mineral Resources including inferred Mineral Resources have grown 26 per cent to a total of 7.3 Mt copper contained with additional Mineral Reserves of 0.8 Mt (growth 119 per cent vs 2024).

2025 Exploration Highlights & 2026 Plan

The Carajas district remains a cornerstone of VBM's copper growth profile, offering long mine life and scalable expansion potential and lowcost infrastructureleveraged brownfield exploration growth. At the Sossego Mining Complex, VBM completed approximately 31,000m of drilling in 2025, targeting deeper mineralization beneath the Sequeirinho, Sossego, and Mata pits and testing for the continuity of highgrade zones interpreted to support underground mining potential. The Sequeirinho pit drilling confirmed continuation of coppergold mineralization well below the current pit bottom.

Drill results returned multiple long, highquality intersections confirming strong vertical continuity of the mineral system, including:

264m @ 1.25% Cu from 345m, incl. 18m @ 2.29% Cu from 401m and 19m @2.08% Cu from 490m (drillhole SEQ-FD00051)

126m @ 1.79% Cu, incl. 40m @2.32% Cu from 676m and 20m @3.42% Cu from 749m (drillhole SEQ-FD000-48)

92m @ 2.65% Cu from 873.40m, incl. 22m @ 4.08% Cu from 873.40m and 42m @ 2.91% Cu from 924m (drillhole SEQ-FD00050-1)

These results support the advancement of underground development concepts beneath the current open pit operations.

Link to Sossego Operation Longitudinal Exploration Section

Link to PDF for detailed 2025 exploration results for Sossego

Exploration drilling at Bacaba and Cristalino in 2025 further delineated and expanded the zones by intersecting Carajas IOCGstyle mineralization, validating their strong growth potential as satellite deposits within VBM's Carajas copper district.

At Bacaba, VBM completed approximately 8,300m, targeting deeper mineralization beneath the currently defined open pit resource design limit. Results included intersections of:

44m @ 1.56% Cu from 210m, incl. 9m @ 2.56% from 216m and 7m @ 2.96% Cu (drillhole BCB-BACD-DH00285)

32.0m @ 1.43% Cu inc. 8.2m @ 3.57% Cu (drillhole BCB-BACD-DH00291)

A further 30,000-metre drilling program is planned for 2026 to extend mineralization along the strike (W and N sectors), at depth (S-SW sectors) and upgrade resource classification. These results will provide essential information to support the open pit expansion.

Link to Bacaba Project Longitudinal Exploration Section

Link to PDF for detailed 2025 exploration results for Bacaba

At Cristalino, VBM completed approximately 4,100m of drilling targeting upgrade resource classification and deeper mineralization beneath the currently defined open pit shell (W sector). Results included intersections such as:

80.0m @ 0.80% Cu from 123m, incl. 18m @ 1.60% from 123m

55m @0.76% from 390m, inc. 13m @ 1.05% Cu from 432m

75m @ 1.34% Cu from 596m, inc. 11m @ 2.71% Cu from 609m (drillhole CRT-CRTS-DH00001)

Link to PDF for detailed 2025 exploration results for Cristalino

A further 16,000-metre drilling program is planned for 2026, divided into three main sectors: (i) East  3,600m for resource classification upgrade; (ii) North  3,900m to extend mineralization along strike; and (iii) West  8,500m targeting deep high-grade zones beneath the open pit resource shell. The results will provide essential information to support the open pit expansion since orebodies remain open at depth.

North Hub (Paulo Afonso, PGG and Furnas)

2025 MRMR Highlights

During 2025, positive results from conversion drilling at Paulo Afonso Underground and Furnas resulted in significant Mineral Resources addition. Total North Hub Mineral Resources including inferred Mineral Resources have grown 5 per cent to a total of 11.4 Mt copper contained. Currently, no Mineral Reserves are disclosed for North Hub as projects are still advancing.

2025 Exploration Highlights & 2026 Plan

At Paulo Afonso, VBM completed approximately 32,000m of drilling in 2025 targeting deeper mineralization beneath the currently defined open pit resource and testing continuity of high-grade zones interpreted to support underground mining potential.

Results included intersections such as:

162m @1.05% Cu from 613m, incl. 39m @3.15% Cu from 711m (drillhole PUG-PASU-DH00384)

107.8m @2.03% Cu from 622.90m, incl. 22m @6.13% Cu from 631m and 10.95m @2.73% Cu from 676.45m (drillhole PUG-PASU-DH00388)

216m @0.99% Cu from 474m, incl. 31m @3.24% Cu from 624m (drillhole PUG-PASW-DH00114)

89m @1.72% Cu from 353m, incl. 44.25m @2.77% Cu from 355m (drillhole PUG-PAGR-DH00215)

The results confirm vertical continuity of the system and support advancement of underground development concepts.

An additional 20,000-metre drilling program is planned for 2026 to extend mineralization along strike and at depth, upgrade resource classification and support underground mine studies.

Link to Paulo Afonso Longitudinal Exploration Section

Link to PDF for detailed 2025 exploration results for Paulo Afonso

Salobo

2025 MRMR Highlights

Salobo Mineral Reserves reduced due to depletion to a total of 6.1 Mt copper contained, while total Mineral Resources including inferred Mineral Resources decreased slightly due to revised pricing to a total of 3.9 Mt copper contained. Salobo Mineral Reserves growth is currently limited by tailings disposal capacity of existing structure.

2025 Exploration Highlights & 2026 Plan

There was no exploration drilling in 2025 at Salobo.

In 2026, drilling programs are planned for 15,000m, targeting deeper mineralization in both the northwest (NW) and southeast (SE) sectors of the deposit. 10,000m are dedicated to upgrading the resource classification in the area between the current Mineral Resource and Mineral Reserve pit shells. An additional 5,000m is planned beneath the existing open pit resource to assess the continuity of high-grade mineralization at depth and test the deep structural corridor. These results will provide essential information to support underground mining potential.

Link to Salobo Operation Longitudinal Section

Alemao

2025 MRMR Highlights

In 2025, changes to the planned mining method at Alemao from sublevel caving to sublevel stoping, and the addition of satellite deposits, resulted in a 25 per cent increase in total Mineral Resources, including inferred Mineral Resource, for a total of 3.0 Mt copper contained.

2025 Exploration Highlights & 2026 Plan

No exploration drilling was conducted at Alemao in 2025. Activities during the year focused on geological reinterpretation and technical planning, including review of existing data, refinement of geological models, and evaluation of opportunities to upgrade resource classification and define the project's full growth potential.

In 2026, VBM plans to initiate exploration drilling in Q2, targeting both the main Alemao orebody and satellite zones. The program is designed to improve geological confidence, test extensions of known mineralization, and support future resource growth and project development studies.

Link to Alemao Longitudinal Exploration Section

CANADA  POLYMETALLIC DISTRICTS UPDATE

Ontario/Sudbury

2025 MRMR Highlights

In Sudbury, additional drilling and re-engineering has resulted in an increase of total Mineral Resources including inferred Mineral Resources to 1.7 Mt copper contained, and 1.4 Mt nickel contained. Total year-end Mineral Reserves were 1.1 Mt copper contained, and 1.0 Mt nickel contained.

2025 Exploration Highlights & 2026 Plan

Exploration and resourceconversion drilling in 2025 delivered significant results across VBM's Ontario operations, confirming nearmine continuity, depth extensions, and longerterm underground growth potential.

Totten Mine

Exploration diamond drilling was strong at Totten Mine with approximately 55,000m of diamond drilling completed in 2025.

Drilling in the 238 Zone confirmed the northern extension of highgrade copper mineralization on the 1250 Level, including:

12.5m grading 1.49% Cu and 4.5 g/t TPM (drillhole BH#1474810) at approximately 500m depth

Drilling in the 215 orebody (OB) confirmed the southern extension of highgrade copper and preciousmetal mineralization on the 4150 Level, including intercepts of 6m grading 2.06% Cu and 7.08 g/t TPM (drillhole BH#1465460) at approximately 1,250m depth. These results reinforce the potential for longterm underground extensions at Totten Mine.

Focus on resource conversion and minelife extension will continue, with exploration in 2026 prioritizing nearmine and depthextension drilling aimed at upgrading Mineral Resources, improving confidence in mine planning areas, and extending mine life.

Approximately 40,900m targeting aboveinfrastructure CuNi extensions in the 215, 230, and 238 orebodies will follow up on positive 2025 intersections between the 238 and 260 orebodies at depth (from 1250 Level) and encouraging results from the Main South Zone accessed via the 4050 Level exploration drift. Ongoing drilling across the Upper, Mid, and Lower Main OB will support further classification upgrades and integration into updated geological and resource models.

Link to Totten Longitudinal Exploration Section

Link to PDF for detailed 2025 exploration results for Totten

Coleman Mine

Strong drill program delivery of approximately 47,000m of exploration diamond drilling was completed in 2025, combining underground and surface exploration to support shortterm mine planning and longerterm resource growth.

Exploration success near infrastructure was realized with underground and surface exploration confirming extensions and connectivity at East Orebody (EOB), 148 OB, No. 4 UpDip, and the 148153 OB connection, reinforcing the potential for lowcost, nearinfrastructure resource growth.

Exploration expanded footprints, particularly at EOB and No. 4 UpDip. Surface drilling in these programs exceeded initial plans due to strong results, with successful stepouts extending mineralization at depth and along strike. Representative intercepts in EOB include:

41m grading 1.62% Ni and 0.54% Cu (drillhole BH147395-J) at approximately 800m depth and 59m grading 1.03% Ni and 0.32% Cu (drillhole BH1494220) at approximately 1,250m depth

Additional high-value intersections in the lower 148 OB returned:

10.9m grading 0.64% Ni, 3.09% Cu, and 5.7 g/t TPM (drillhole BH1478540) at 1,500m depth

Results in the Western Chutes/West Orebody returned:

17.7m grading 2.99% Ni and 0.52% Cu (drillhole BH1478410) at approximately 1,750m depth

2026 guidance is to drill 41,000m with focus on nearmine, highconfidence growth prioritizing above and nearinfrastructure drilling to support mine plan optimization, resource confidence and potential Mineral Reserve additions. Advancement of the 170 Orebody system will continue with followup drilling at Upper, Mid, and Lower 170 OB and focus on zone continuity extensions at depth. Additional drilling is planned at EOB, 148 OB, No. 4 UpDip, MOB 4 to further delineate mineralization and test strike and downdip potential.

Link to Coleman Longitudinal Exploration Section

Link to PDF for detailed 2025 exploration results for Coleman

Creighton Mine

Approximately 61,000m of diamond drilling was completed in 2025 across nearsurface exploration and inmine exploration targets, reinforcing Creighton's position as a longlife, highconfidence underground asset.

Conversion and stepout drilling at Upper Creighton's 402/Horn and Gertrude West zones included intercepts of:

47m grading 1.15% Ni and 0.55% Cu (drillhole BH1402770) at approximately 500m depth

34m grading 1.55% Ni and 0.68% Cu (drillhole BH1402700) at approximately 1,000m depth

Drilling confirmed strong mineral continuity and downdip potential, supporting advancement of multiple exploration targets toward inferred Mineral Resources. Step-out drilling from the 300 OB returned results of 12.5m grading 3.70% Ni and 2.60% Cu with 6.8 g/t TPM (drillhole BH1475050) supporting western resource expansion at depth.

Multiple exploration targets were refined or upgraded in 2025, notably along the 402 OB/Horn and Gertrude West trends expanding resource continuity in Upper Creighton, and in the 300 OB strengthening Creighton's medium to longterm resource pipeline.

2026 exploration guidance will prioritize near mine and above infrastructure drilling of 31,500m to focus on further resource growth, enhance mining flexibility, extend mine life, and increase mineable tonnes per vertical metre.

Link to Creighton Longitudinal and Cross Exploration Sections

Link to PDF for detailed 2025 exploration results for Creighton

EllaCapre

2025 drill targeting across Ella (contact nickel deposit style) and Capre (footwall copper deposit style) zones focused on copper-nickel resource growth surrounding known mineralization. Drilling totals were 9,626m at Ella and 8,326 m at Capre.

Significant copper-nickel precious metal mineralization was confirmed in the footwall, with multiple mineralized intervals intersected outside the current resource envelope. Drilling returned narrow but very high value zones, with elevated TPM highlighting the footwall as a distinct, higher value mineralized domain including:

15.2m grading 0.95% Ni, 1.30% Cu, and 7.9 g/t TPM (drillhole BH1480460)

7.9m grading 2.21% Ni, 2.17% Cu, and 3.12 g/t TPM (drillhole BH1480260)

Drilling in 2026 will focus on growing known Mineral Resources across Ella Capre. Approximately 30,000m will focus on continued copper-nickel resource growth across further testing of footwall copper potential at Ella, supported by advanced geophysical targeting.

Link to Ella-Capre Longitudinal Exploration Section

Link to PDF for detailed 2025 exploration results for Ella-Capre

Copper Cliff Mine

Strong drilling execution across a broad portfolio. Approximately 48,000m of exploration drilling was completed in 2025, entirely underground supporting exploration and project advancement of multiple orebodies in both North and South Mines.

Drilling below the 810 OB remained a key exploration focus, targeting extensions beneath and north of existing Mineral Resources. Revised drilling strategies in 2025 improved targeting effectiveness and drill density, with results expected to contribute materially to future resource additions. Active exploration programs advanced at 850, 114, 120, 100, 900, and 890/885 orebodies, collectively expanding the exploration target inventory and improving geological understanding of Copper Cliff offset mineralization.

A comprehensive review of historical and recent data resulted in the delineation of multiple new or refined exploration targets highlighting Copper Cliff's campscale coppernickelprecious metal potential adjacent to existing infrastructure.

Exploration in 2026 will continue to prioritize nearmine and depthextension drilling aimed at converting exploration targets and inferred Mineral Resources into higherconfidence Mineral Resources. 810 OB remains a cornerstone target. Ongoing drilling will focus on refining lithological and structural controls beneath the 810 OB, with a revised Mineral Resources model expected to incorporate results from the 20232025 drilling campaigns. Representative drill hole intercepts include:

7.4m grading 1.30% Ni, 1.03% Cu, and 1.9 g/t TPM (drillhole 1451760) within the 810 OB, highlighting continued exploration upside

Advancing highvalue orebodies 850 OB, 120 OB, 900 OB, and 890/885 OB will focus on increasing drill density, understanding orebody connectivity, and advancing zones toward resource classification and future mine planning.

The 2026 exploration program will focus on near infrastructure resource growth in the 810, 850, and 178 orebodies and is designed to extend mine life, enhance production optionality, and reinforce Copper Cliff Mine's role as a long-term copper-nickel contributor within VBM's Ontario operations.

Link to Copper Cliff Mine Longitudinal Exploration Section

Link to PDF for detailed 2025 exploration results for Copper Cliff

Garson Mine

Approximately 42,800m of diamond drilling was completed in 2025. Balanced focus across Ramp and Main Mine with drilling programs advancing both Rampbased orebodies (13 OB, 11 HW, 360 OB) and Main Mine targets, supporting mine planning, resource confidence, and longerterm growth.

Drilling confirmed nearsurface highgrade coppernickel mineralization within the 360 orebody at the Ramp operation with intercepts of:

10m grading 4.0% Ni, 2.8% Cu, and 10.4 g/t TPM (drillhole BH1481620)

20m grading 0.9% Ni, 0.8% Cu, and 9.1 g/t TPM (drillhole BH1481680)

Main Mine exploration drilling targeted the 4 Shear and 5 Shear orebodies, particularly the western extensions, with positive results including:

7.0m grading 2.0% Ni, 1.40% Cu, and 1.9 g/t TPM (drillhole BH1481040)

13.0m grading 1.15% Ni and 1.1% Cu (drillhole BH1481330)

The results prompted UTEM geophysical surveys to refine targeting and improve confidence in structural continuity.

In 2026, renewed exploration momentum includes surface exploration targeting the upper extents of 1 Shear and 3 Shear near the Ramp, alongside underground exploration at the 13 OB and 11 OB.

Underground Main Mine exploration drilling will advance across 4 Shear Upper West, extending east and west, building on encouraging 2025 results and geophysical interpretations.

New block models will be updated in 2026 based on new drilling interpretations and aligned with the 2026 Life-of-Mine Plan, supporting disciplined conversion of exploration potential into mineable inventory.

Link to Garson Mine Longitudinal Exploration Section

Link to PDF for detailed 2025 exploration results for Garson Mine

2026 Ontario Exploration Plan Summary

VBM expects to drill 195,000m for exploration across its Ontario portfolio in 2026, with a strong focus on sustaining and growing copper and nickel production through brownfield, aboveinfrastructure drilling programs. The Ontario Nickel District offers tierone jurisdictional exposure, extensive existing infrastructure and campscale discovery and minelife extension potential.

Voisey's Bay

2025 MRMR Highlights

At Voisey's Bay, additional drilling resulted in extensions of both Reid Brook and Eastern Deeps deposits increasing total Mineral Resources including inferred Mineral Resources to 0.2 Mt copper contained, and 0.4 Mt nickel contained. Total year end Mineral Reserves are 0.2 Mt copper contained, and 0.5 Mt nickel contained.

2025 Exploration Highlights

Recent exploration programs at Voisey's Bay along the conduit and chamber system have extended mine life to approximately 2039, with operating orebodies remaining open at depth. Continued drilling targeting conduit extensions and structural traps is expected to support further resource growth and potential future mine extensions beyond the current life-of-mine plan. Highlights from recent drilling at Reid Brook include:

94.7m grading 1.77% Ni, 0.69% Cu, 0.14% Co from 1,594m, incl. 58.9m from 1,630.5m grading 2.3% Ni, 0.9% Cu, and 0.2% Co (drillhole VB251386)

33.6m grading 2.48% Ni, 1.06% Cu, and 0.2% Co from 1,144.1m (drillhole VB251387A). In total, 85,679m of drilling was successfully completed

Reid Brook (Divisions 2 to 7)

Exploration drilling within and around planned Reid Brook mining divisions confirmed the resource growth potential with intercepts such as:

58.9m from 1,630.5m grading 2.3% Ni, 0.9% Cu and 0.2% Co (drillhole VB251386)

33.6m from 1,144.1m, grading 2.5% Ni, 1.1% Cu, and 0.2% Co (drillhole VB251387A)

21.3m from 1,160.1m grading 2.7% Ni, 1.3% Cu, and 0.2% Co (drillhole VB251383)

These results support the continuity and extension of high-grade mineral zones and long-term mine life planning.

Discovery Hill

Exploration drilling beneath the open pit further delineated underground extensions of known mineralization. Drill hole intersections include:

14.5m from 222.9m grading 1.4% Ni, 1.0% Cu, and 0.1% Co (drillhole VB251403)

36.9m from 239.1m grading 1.1% Ni, 0.7% Cu, and 0.1% Co (drillhole VB251432)

These results reinforce the economic case to transition the Discovery Hill orebody from open pit to underground mining.

Eastern Deeps  North Dyke Zone

Step out drilling intersected significant mineralization, confirming continuity at depth. Key intercepts include:

15.1m from 520.6m grading 1.1% Ni, 1.0% Cu, and 0.1% Co (drillhole VB251396)

11.1m from 616.4m grading 1.0% Ni, 0.9% Cu, and 0.1% Co (drillhole VB251359)

These results confirm expansion potential within one of Voisey's Bay's most strategic growth areas.

These 2025 results highlight VBM's success in unlocking near-mine opportunities and advancing underground development scenarios, supporting the sustainability of copper and nickel production at Voisey's Bay well into the future.

Link to Voisey's Bay Operation Longitudinal Section

Link to PDF for detailed 2025 exploration results for Voisey's Bay

2026 Exploration Plan and Guidance  Voisey's Bay

VBM exploration at Voisey's Bay in 2026 will focus on near-term mine plan optimization and long-term underground resource growth. The strategy is to aggressively explore around shallower mining fronts and near-term mining areas to bolster and optimize the mining plan. In addition, exploration stations have been established to enable intensive drilling adjacent to the Eastern Deeps orebody, targeting North, South, and East of the main mineralized zone to support the long-term underground mine design and resource growth.

The 2026 drilling programs will include underground drilling of 48,695m to continue near-mine target growth for Reid Brook, Discovery Hill, and Eastern Deeps ore bodies. It will also include exploratory surface drilling of 26,500m to advance near-mine targets and support resource conversion.

SOURCE Vale Base Metals
ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Virginia American Water today announced its charitable giving for 2025, which provided more than $20,500 through grants, general charitable contributions and programming support to nine organizations across the Commonwealth. When combined with employee donations of $13,389 and the $323,800 provided by the American Water Charitable Foundation, the total amount of support totals $357,000 supporting 108 organizations.

"At Virginia American Water, our work extends beyond providing safe, clean, reliable and affordable water and wastewater services to our customers," said Virginia American Water President Laura Runkle. "Together with the American Water Charitable Foundation, we're committed to supporting organizations that make our communities a better place to live and operate."

In 2025, Virginia American Water contributed $7,000 to seven local fire and rescue organizations. The company also contributed $13,000 to help its customers through its H2O Help to Others assistance program, a resource that has been available for customers for more than 15 years.

In addition, Virginia American Water employees engaged in philanthropy, raising $46,279 and volunteering 563 hours to local nonprofit organizations through the Foundation's Employee Volunteer and Matching Gift Program.

"The American Water Charitable Foundation is proud to partner with eligible nonprofit partners to support impactful initiatives and projects across Virginia," said Carrie Williams, President, American Water Charitable Foundation. "Our charitable focus to Keep Communities Flowing empowers our employees to get involved and our communities to learn how every drop counts."

The American Water Charitable Foundation's Keep Communities Flowing Grant Program focuses on three pillars of giving: Water, People, and Communities. Since 2012, the Foundation has invested more than $25 million in funding through grants and matching gifts to support eligible organizations in communities served by American Water.

To learn more about Virginia American Water's community involvement, read the company's 2025 Community Impact Report.

About Virginia American Water

Virginia American Water, a subsidiary of American Water, is the largest regulated water company in the state, providing safe, clean, reliable and affordable water and wastewater services to approximately 384,000 people. For more information, visit www.virginiaamwater.com and join Virginia American Water on LinkedIn, Facebook, and X.

About the American Water Charitable Foundation

The American Water Charitable Foundation, a philanthropic non-profit organization established by American Water (NYSE: AWK), focuses on three pillars of giving: Water, People, and Communities. Since 2012, the Foundation has invested more than $25 million in funding through grants and matching gifts to support eligible organizations in communities served by American Water. The Foundation is funded by American Water shareholders and has no impact on customer rates. For more information, visit amwater.com/awcf.

SOURCE American Water
Peer Reviewed Clinical Study for Nu.Q Biomarkers Published in Shock Journal

HENDERSON, Nev., March 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- VolitionRx Limited (NYSE AMERICAN: VNRX) ("Volition"), a multi-national epigenetics company, announces the publication of a new clinical manuscript demonstrating that nucleosome levels, as measured by Volition's Nu.QH3.1 and Nu.QH3R8 Citrulline are elevated in people that have experienced a traumatic event and are even higher in those patients that go on to have complications from the trauma.

Principal Investigator and Senior Author, Myung S. Park, Professor of Surgery, Associate Medical Director of Research, Trauma Center, Director, Clinical Research Trials Unit, Center for Clinical and Translational Science, Department of Surgery, Division of Trauma, Critical Care & General Surgery, Mayo Clinic, Rochester commented:

"The identification of reliable biomarkers in trauma patients is a clinical challenge and remains an unmet need in the emergency and surgical setting.

"In this study we analyzed 674 trauma patients and found that levels of the H3.1 and H3R8 Citrulline nucleosomes are elevated early after traumatic injury, especially in those who developed Venous Thromboembolism ("VTE").

"These findings underscore the importance of understanding the pathophysiology of nucleosomes in inducing VTE and their role as biomarkers. These biomarkers could aid in early risk identification and may inform targeted preventive strategies in trauma care.

"We have continued to work with the Volition team and look forward to publishing further findings."

Dr Andrew Retter, Medical Consultant, Volition commented:

"This is significant, not only for clinicians, patients and their families, but also for Volition: a peer reviewed publication with the Mayo Clinic research team strongly supports our efforts to commercialize our Nu.Q NETs product.

"This study, together with previously published evidence1-4 , demonstrates that Nu.Q NETs may enable clinicians and researchers to anticipate disease, guide treatment decisions, and monitor patients over time, across acute and chronic conditions."

The published paper can be found in link below:

Circulating Nucleosomes are Elevated in Trauma Patients with Venous Thromboembolism: A Prospective Case-Cohort Study

Morimont et al. Biomolecules, 2022. https://doi.org/10.3390/biom12081038 Rahimi et al, Ann Intensive Care 2023. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13613-023-01204-y Daan F.L. Filippini et al.. Critical Care, 2025. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13054-025-05415-6 Neumann et al, MedRXIV

About Mayo Clinic

Mayo Clinic is a nonprofit organization committed to innovation in clinical practice, education and research, and providing compassion, expertise and answers to everyone who needs healing.

About Volition

Volition is a multi-national company focused on advancing the science of epigenetics. Volition is dedicated to saving lives and improving outcomes for people and animals with life-altering diseases through earlier detection, as well as disease and treatment monitoring.

Through its subsidiaries, Volition is developing and commercializing simple, easy to use, cost-effective blood tests to help detect and monitor a range of diseases, including some cancers and diseases associated with NETosis, such as sepsis. Early detection and monitoring have the potential not only to prolong the life of patients, but also to improve their quality of life.

Volition's research and development activities are centered in Belgium, with an innovation laboratory and office in the U.S. and an office in London.

The contents found at Volition's website address are not incorporated by reference into this document and should not be considered part of this document. Such website address is included in this document as an inactive textual reference only.

Media Enquiries: Louise Batchelor, Volition, [email protected], +44 (0)7557 774620

Safe Harbor Statement

Statements in this press release or associated video or link may be "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, that concern matters that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated or projected in the forward-looking statements. Words such as "expects," "anticipates," "intends," "plans," "aims," "targets," "believes," "seeks," "estimates," "optimizing," "potential," "goal," "suggests," "could," "would," "should," "may," "will" and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements relate to, among other topics, Volition's expectations related to revenue opportunities and growth, the effectiveness and availability of Volition's blood-based diagnostic, prognostic and disease monitoring tests, Volition's ability to develop and successfully commercialize such test platforms for early detection of cancer and other diseases as well as serving as a diagnostic, prognostic or disease monitoring tools for such diseases, Volition's expectations regarding future publications, Volition's success in securing licensing and/or distribution agreements with third parties for its products, and Volition's expectations regarding the terms of such agreements. Volition's actual results may differ materially from those indicated in these forward-looking statements due to numerous risks and uncertainties, including, without limitation, results of studies testing the efficacy of its tests. For instance, if Volition fails to develop and commercialize diagnostic, prognostic or disease monitoring products, it may be unable to execute its plan of operations. Other risks and uncertainties include Volition's failure to obtain necessary regulatory clearances or approvals to distribute and market future products; a failure by the marketplace to accept the products in Volition's development pipeline or any other diagnostic, prognostic or disease monitoring products Volition might develop; Volition's failure to secure adequate intellectual property protection; Volition will face fierce competition and Volition's intended products may become obsolete due to the highly competitive nature of the diagnostics and disease monitoring market and its rapid technological change; downturns in domestic and foreign economies; and other risks, including those identified in Volition's most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, as well as other documents that Volition files with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These statements are based on current expectations, estimates and projections about Volition's business based, in part, on assumptions made by management. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this release, and, except as required by law, Volition does not undertake an obligation to update its forward-looking statements to reflect future events or circumstances.

Nucleosomics, Capture-PCR, Capture-Seq and Nu.Q and their respective logos are trademarks and/or service marks of VolitionRx Limited and its subsidiaries. All other trademarks, service marks and trade names referred to in this press release or associated video or link are the property of their respective owners. Additionally, unless otherwise specified, all references to "$" refer to the legal currency of the United States of America.

SOURCE VolitionRx Limited
VANCOUVER, BC, March 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Wondershare, a global leader in creativity and productivity solutions, has been recognized for innovation in data security and recovery at the 2026 Cybersecurity Excellence Awards. Wondershare Dr.Fone won the Gold Award in Data Security, while Wondershare Recoverit secured the Silver Award in Business Continuity / Disaster Recovery (BCDR). These recognitions further strengthen Wondershare's position as a trusted provider of data security and recovery solutions.

Wondershare Dr.Fone Wins Gold, Recoverit Takes Silver at the 2026 Cybersecurity Excellence Awards

The Cybersecurity Excellence Awards is one of the more widely recognized awards in the global cybersecurity industry, with a history spanning more than a decade. Presented by Cybersecurity Insiders, a leading platform for CISO insights and strategic research, the awards are backed by a community of more than 600,000 cybersecurity professionals. Previous winners include leading industry players such as Zscaler, Fortinet, and Palo Alto Networks.

"We congratulate Wondershare Dr.Fone on earning the Gold Award in the Data Security category and Wondershare Recoverit on earning the Silver Award in the Business Continuity / Disaster Recovery category," said Holger Schulze, founder of Cybersecurity Insiders and organizer of the Cybersecurity Excellence Awards. "This recognition, selected by an independent jury of cybersecurity practitioners, analysts, and CISOs, highlights the role of innovative security solutions in strengthening cybersecurity across organizations worldwide."

Wondershare Dr.Fone is a mobile device data management and security solution designed for individual users, supporting common use cases such as data transfer, backup, and recovery. The product uses local processing, meaning all data operations are carried out on the user's device or within a local environment rather than relying on cloud storage, helping reduce the risk of data breaches. In 2025, Dr.Fone protected more than 9.5 million devices, achieved a success rate of up to 99.5%, and maintained a zero data-breach record.

Wondershare Recoverit has been dedicated to data recovery for more than 20 years. It supports data recovery from a wide range of devices, including computers, USB drives, hard drives, memory cards, and cameras. The tool holds 28 patents related to data recovery and has served more than 100 million users across over 170 countries and regions worldwide. The latest version of the product is powered by AI-driven device recognition and recovery strategies, covering more than one million device types and tens of thousands of data loss scenarios. Internal testing shows that its recovery success rate can reach as high as 99.5%.

"This recognition reflects Wondershare's broader commitment to building a future-ready digital ecosystem driven by innovation, trust, and user value," said Vic, Head of Brand at Wondershare. "In the era of AI at scale, users expect more than powerful featuresthey expect technologies that can adapt intelligently, operate securely, and integrate seamlessly into increasingly complex digital environments. These awards reinforce our belief that the next generation of digital tools must be both intelligent and trustworthy, and they validate our continued efforts to deliver that standard on that promise."

About Wondershare

Wondershare is a globally recognized software company founded in 2003, known for its innovative solutions in creativity and productivity. Driven by the mission "Creativity Simplified", Wondershare offers a range of tools, including Filmora and SelfyzAI for video editing; PDFelement for document management; and EdrawMax and EdrawMind for diagramming. With over 2 billion cumulative active users across all products and a presence in over 200 countries and regions, Wondershare empowers the next generation of creators with intuitive software and trendy creative resources, continually expanding the possibilities of creativity worldwide.

SOURCE Wondershare
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Researchers from Queens University Belfast are calling for support from people across County Derry as they launch the first public mosquito reporting system for Northern Ireland (NI).

Mosquitoes play an important role in the natural environment. However, some species are a public biting pest and can pose a health risk.

To tackle mosquito-borne disease threats in NI, Queens has launched MosquitoNI, a project that is examining the species present in NI and the viruses they may carry. It will also uncover how future climates could change risks.

The study aims to encourage the public to submit sightings of mosquitoes found here, through the Report a Mosquito form on the website, a first for the region. The website also includes information about how to identify and photograph mosquitoes, as well as on the research project itself.

Queens will lead the 4-year BBSRC-funded project with co-leads at University of Glasgow and the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology.

Vector-borne diseases cause over 700,000 human deaths annually worldwide, with mosquitoes posing the greatest burden. The scale of this threat is connected to environmental degradation including urbanisation, agricultural intensification and climate change, with invasive species shifting the distribution, abundance, and activity patterns of vector mosquitoes, their viruses, and the risks of associated pathogens.

READ NEXT: Speeding drivers face Kids' Court over fines and penalty points

Dr Ross Cuthbert from the School of Biological Sciences at Queens said: This project aims to challenge the narrative that mosquitoes do not exist in Northern Ireland, with risks shifting as climate changes and species invade from more tropical regions.

Mosquitoes are generally overlooked here, and in many other temperate areas worldwide. The cooler climate on the island of Ireland has been traditionally thought to limit mosquito abundance and stifle disease risk. However, previous research at Queen's found surprisingly high numbers of mosquitoes across Northern Ireland. Last year, thousands of mosquitoes were collected in specialised traps set around various wetlands and urban sites where mosquitoes breed. So far, around 20 different species have been found across the island of Ireland.

While mosquito-borne diseases have not been detected in Ireland, the collections included species which are known to vector diseases of concern elsewhere in the world, indicating overlooked risks in Northern Ireland.

Queens PhD student Ryan Carmichael is involved in the project, he commented: Last year, we identified numerous mosquito species present in Northern Ireland, including evidence of the presence of human-biting species. This year, we intend to continue mosquito surveillance to build our understanding of mosquito vector ecology, and gain insights into whether mosquitoes here are currently carrying diseases.

The team require public support to help increase the geographic coverage of the sample in NI, helping fill crucial blind spots. By reporting mosquito sightings and uploading photographs online, the researchers can identify potential hotspot areas, understand how various species are distributed, and improve public involvement locally.

You can find more information and learn how to get involved via the Mosquito NI website
Top international tour operators have been immersing themselves in local landscapes and culture, as part of a fact-finding trip to Northern Ireland.

The tour operators were invited here by Tourism Ireland, in conjunction with Tourism NI, to participate in the annual Meet the Buyer workshop in the ICC Belfast.

The tour operators Embrace the Stories of Northern Ireland themed tour  which took place after the workshop  included a visit to The Courthouse in Bushmills where local heritage and creative enterprise is celebrated and supported, followed by a chocolate making experience at The Chocolate Manor in Castlerock.

Glenshane Country Farm, GORTA - Swatraghs Famine Story, the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum, a music tour with Creative Tours Belfast, Crumlin Road Gaol and McConnells Distillery also featured on the groups itinerary.

Alice Mansergh, Chief Executive of Tourism Ireland, said: Tourism Ireland was delighted to bring 145 top international tourism buyers from 15 markets to Northern Ireland for Meet the Buyer 2026  including 21 buyers attending for the first time. This is a key event in the industry calendar and a fantastic opportunity for local tourism SMEs to connect with our international tour operator partners, who bring valuable tourists to Northern Ireland and the island of Ireland.

This year, Tourism Ireland is undertaking an extensive and targeted programme of promotional activity across key overseas markets. Annual visitors from the US to Northern Ireland have grown 35% since 2023, while GB, as our largest source market for visitors, also continues to increase. In addition to promotional activity driving momentum in these markets, we are rolling out a new strategy to win more visitors from Mainland Europe, investing in growth markets like Canada and setting up impactful partnerships for the long term in nascent markets like China. Tourism Ireland is proud to champion Northern Irelands iconic landscapes, culture and history, from festivals and events to culinary tourism, using advertising, publicity, digital, social, AI and partnerships to win visitors and support businesses and communities.
Motorists caught speeding outside primary schools in Northern Ireland have been given the choice of accepting penalty points and a fine, or facing a special court where the judges are children.

The Kids Court road safety initiative was set up in 2017 and is aimed at changing driver behaviour. Drivers caught speeding outside the school, have a choice to make  accept penalty points on their driving licence and pay a fine, or attend Kids Court.

If eligible, and they take up the offer to attend Kids Court, drivers are brought into a school classroom to face a panel of young pupils.

Kids' Courts have been held across Northern Ireland since mid-March and, on Wednesday, March 25, it was in session at Artigarvan Primary School.

In front of a panel of Primary 7 pupils, in the space of roughly half an hour, nine drivers had to explain why they had broken the 30 mph speed limit as they entered the village of Artigarvan on Berryhill Road.

READ NEXT: Star-studded line-up unveiled for landmark 25th City of Derry Jazz Festival

Paying tribute to the pupils and staff at Artigarvan PS, and all other schools for holding Kids Court, Superintendent John Wilson says the initiative is about trying to change drivers' behaviour.

"As part of our commitment to road safety, we are continually working with schools throughout Northern Ireland to educate pupils about road safety and raise awareness," says Superintendent Wilson. "Through this initiative, now the pupils are educating drivers who speed outside their school about the potential consequences of speeding which is one of the Fatal Five, the main reasons people are dying on our roads, and why they must slow down.

To date to this, in Northern Ireland 19 people have died on our roads, which is devastating. It's about making our roads safer for everyone who uses them - children and adults and whether they are pedestrians, cyclists or motorists.

"Having drivers come into the school, meeting pupils face-to-face asking uncomfortable questions, personalises the message about road safety. It brings it home in a very powerful way that drivers must slow down, drive appropriate to the road conditions and never exceed the posted speed limit.

"Doing this can help save lives and our aim through Kids' Court is to change the mind set and attitudes about speeding. Speeding is not a low level crime. It's dangerous because with speed there are no second chances and lives can be lost. 

Acting Principal of Artigarvan Primary School Rachel Kane believes the road safety initiative will make a difference.

"This event has had a huge impact on the children," said Principal Kane. "We also saw the impact it had on the drivers, emotionally. Hopefully, awareness will spread and people will slow down, take care and be patient to keep the children at our school safe."

Artigarvan PS Board of Governors member Ethna Wiley says speeding is an issue in the area. Speaking after watching the Kids' Court was in session, she said: "Our school is situated on a very busy road, and speeding is an issue, as we saw from the people who attended Kids' Court today.

(Back row) Aileen Murphy, Derry and Strabane PCSP, Strabane Neighbourhood Constable John McAuley, Superintendent John Wilson, Ethna Wiley, Artigarvan PS Board of Governors; Constable Cassells and Constable Lorraine Bull pictured with the Judges at the Kids Court they held in their school.

"It's about the safety of the children and, if it makes people slow down passing our school, it is well worth it," said Ethna. "It really brings it home that the children are aware of the speed limit outside the school and what that means and, hopefully, when they are drivers themselves they'll adhere to the speed limit too. "

Chair of Derry and Strabane Policing and Community Safety Partnership Alderman Keith Kerrigan said: "Speeding outside schools is something our communities feel very strongly about, and the Kids' Court event at Artigarvan Primary School brought that message home in a really powerful way.

"When a driver has to sit before a panel of children and explain why they were speeding past their school gates, it creates an impact that no fixed penalty notice ever could. Children have every right to feel safe in and around their school, and it is entirely unacceptable that speeding puts that safety at risk.

"Road safety has consistently been raised as a top priority by residents across Derry and Strabane, and initiatives like the Kids' Court show we are committed to tackling this issue in creative and effective ways. I want to thank all the pupils involved for their courage and their questions - they were a credit to their school - and I would encourage every driver to reflect on their behaviour behind the wheel, particularly near schools and in residential areas."
A Lithuanian man accused of murdering a man in a Portadown flat has told a court that he was acting in self-defence.

Rolandas Kvederis, 49, died after sustaining seven stab wounds to his neck and lower back inside the property in Ranfurley Road last Thursday night.

Ruslanas Kovalkovas, 51, appeared in the dock of Lisburn Magistrates Court on Monday charged with his murder.

Kovalkovas, who was living at the Ranfurley Road apartment at the time of the incident, was denied bail and remanded in custody.

At the outset of the remand hearing, when asked whether he understood the charge he was facing, Kovalkovas  wearing a grey track suit  spoke through an interpreter to deny murder.

I did not kill him, I was defending myself, he told district judge Rosemary Watters.

The court also heard that Kovalkovas, who previously resided in France as well as Lithuania, is currently subject to immigration proceedings initiated by the Home Office.

Outlining the circumstances of the murder case, a PSNI detective sergeant told the court that another man who was in the flat on Thursday night raised the alarm, asking his daughter to phone the police on his behalf due to his poor command of English.

He reported that there had been a fight between two men in the property and one of them was dead.

When police and ambulance personnel attended the property, they found Mr Kvederis lying on a hall landing surrounded by blood.

The detective sergeant told the judge he had been subject to a frenzied and brutal attack. She said the tip of a knife had been found embedded in a bone in his neck.

The court heard that the property was in the name of Mr Kvederis, but that he had not been living there for around a year as he was residing at another property due to bail conditions applying to him.

The detective told the court that Mr Kvederis had been subletting the property to Kovalkovas but had recently returned to the property and had asked the accused to move out.

The officer said in police interview Kovalkovas claimed that the incident was triggered when Mr Kvederis verbally abused him and ordered him to leave the flat before attacking him in the kitchen of the property with a knife.

Kovalkovas told detectives that during the ensuing physical altercation, he grabbed the knife and stabbed Mr Kvederis in self-defence.

The court heard that the accused told officers: He came at me with a knife, I was defending myself.

He also said during police interview: I didnt want to do this, it was automatic, I had no choice  maybe Id be dead otherwise.

A lawyer representing Kovalkovas later told the court that his client insists he would have been killed himself if he had not stopped Mr Kvederis.

His case is it was me or it was him, said the legal representative as he argued for bail to be granted.

The lawyer asked the officer to confirm that Mr Kvederis had a criminal record, and had been violent to men, women and animals in the past.

I believe so, the officer replied.

The lawyer said Kovalkovas could be facing years on remand in prison, with any future trial potentially not taking place until 2028 due to delays exacerbated by ongoing industrial action taken by barristers in Northern Ireland.

Judge Watters refused the bail application, citing concerns about the accuseds lack of suitable bail address, the potential to commit further offences and the risk of him not turning up to trial.

During Mondays remand hearing, the court was also told that the man who had asked his daughter to report the fight had initially been arrested by detectives but was later released unconditionally.

Kovalkovas was remanded in custody to appear before Craigavon Magistrates Court via videolink on April 24.
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Actor Arnold Schwarzenegger has told students in Belfast dont limit yourself to where you come from, and urged them to pick the biggest goals.

Two film students who met the former governor of California said it was inspiring to meet the star and took on his message of dreaming bigger.

The Austrian-born star received an honorary doctorate from Ulster University in recognition of his contributions to public service, environmental advocacy and the arts, which he described as an honour as he hailed the great university.

On his entrance, students held signs reading Hasta La Vista Ulster and some carried posters or copies of Schwarzeneggers films such as Terminator.

He then supervised some powerlifters, counting out reps as they lifted barbells that had been put out at the end of the red carpet.

Students lined the atrium on the main campus, egging on the Hollywood star with a Belfast yeo as he turned and held his doctorate up towards them.

Schwarzenegger advised the young people dont waste a minute, just study and study and study.

We have to understand that the harder it is, the more valuable it becomes, he said.

Using an analogy from his past as a bodybuilder, the former Mr Universe compared personal growth to muscle growth, saying when it gets really hard and I cant do another rep that is what makes it grow, and thats the way it is in life.

Its when its hard, its when you struggle, its when you fall, it is when you get up again and you continue on, Schwarzenegger said.

This is why I love to play the character of Terminator, even though it was a machine, but it never stopped, he was relentless, and this is what I want every human being to be, relentless, and not to say, Oh, this is so hard, oh my God, I have to get up early in the morning, this is so difficult for me.

I mean, this is absurd. Do you want to accomplish something or not? Do you want to be one of millions, or do you want to be unique?

I mean, the only way youre going to accomplish something is if you go and you get up early, the early birds get the worm.

Get up early, work out, study, do something, develop your brain, develop your body, be a machine, and just move forward and go after this goal.

The actor said it is remarkable how much talent comes from Belfast, and told the students about his journey from Austria to becoming one of Hollywoods biggest stars.

He said: It is amazing because the people here dont look at themselves as like, Oh, we come from a little place, and therefore we can only do little things.

Thats a big mistake, because that is the mentality that Ive seen at work in Austria.

Schwarzenegger added: I wanted to break out, I wanted to get into bodybuilding, even though everyone thought that bodybuilding is an American sport, not an Austrian sport, and I would never win and all of those things, but I saw myself as a champion, and I made it.

So thats why I say the key thing is to pick a goal.

It doesnt matter where you come from, its where youre going, that is the important thing, dont limit yourself from where you come from, just think about where youre going and you can pick the biggest goals, if you work hard enough, you will achieve it.

See it, believe it, achieve it.

There was never a doubt in my mind for a second, in any of my goals, there was never a doubt.

You know how great that feels to have the faith in your goal and knowing? Because the vision is a preview of whats to come. Thats why you need the vision.

After his question and answer session, Schwarzenegger met some students from Ulster Screen Academy, including Grace Hamilton and Tabassum Islan.

Ms Hamilton said she had a nice wee handshake with Schwarzenegger, and then a lovely group photo, he had his arm on my shoulder, I was like, oh, OK, hi.

She added: It was nice meeting him and just hearing him, even before in the ceremony and things he had to say, especially to students, about drive and motivation and just pursuing your goals, but also dreaming bigger.

Ms Islam said Schwarzeneggers words very strongly resonated with her coming from Bangladesh.

She said: We definitely grew up watching a lot of his films, and then coming here, which is quite far away from home, and seeing him up close getting credited and getting awarded for all his lifes work, that is so inspiring to see and also meeting him in person and to shake his hand, that was so very inspiring.
Vodafone Idea (Vi) is set to significantly accelerate its 5G rollout, targeting coverage across 133 cities by May 2026 as it looks to meet rising demand for high-speed data services.

The operator said it will expand its 5G footprint from 43 cities to 133, adding 90 new locations over the next two months. The rollout forms part of a broader densification strategy focused on high-demand markets and areas with growing 5G device penetration.

Expansion will take place across 15 telecom circles, including key regions such as Mumbai, Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh (East and West), and Kolkata and West Bengal.

Vi said it will prioritise industrial corridors, high data consumption centres and emerging urban clusters, with cities such as Chennai, Hyderabad, Varanasi, Prayagraj, Durgapur and Gandhinagar among those set to benefit from the next phase of deployment.

Regionally, the operator plans to strengthen its presence across North India, including Delhi, Haryana, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh; East India, with expansion in West Bengal and Sikkim; western markets such as Maharashtra, Gujarat and Rajasthan; southern states including Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana; and central India, where further rollout is planned in Madhya Pradesh.

To support performance and efficiency, Vi is deploying AI-powered self-optimising network (SON) technology and working with vendors including Nokia, Ericsson and Samsung.

The expansion reflects what the company describes as a data-driven rollout strategy, aligning network investment with device adoption and usage patterns.

Commenting on the move, Jagbir Singh, Chief Technology Officer at Vi, said the operator is maintaining a phased approach to deployment.

As we mark one year of Vis 5G journey, our focus remains on executing a phased and calibrated rollout, aligned with network readiness and evolving customer demands. This expansion to 90 more cities is in line with our strategy of prioritising 5G rollouts in key markets with higher penetration of 5G devices.

With this phase of rollout, we are significantly augmenting our 5G network in prime cities as well as deepening our Tier 2 and Tier 3 presence. We remain committed to building a robust, future-ready network that delivers enhanced customer experience and enables citizens to thrive in an increasingly digitised environment.
Regulator the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has issued a directive that aims to force mobile network operators (MNOs) to compensate subscribers for poor network service.

This directive applies in cases where users are affected by network performance failures  specifically where service quality falls below the Commissions established key performance indicators (KPIs) and service standards within specified time frames.

As for how this compensation will be awarded, the plan is to issue airtime credits based on each subscribers average usage patterns, as well as their location in Local Government Areas where service disruptions occur. Avoiding fines, says the NCC, ensures that affected consumers will directly benefit from enforcement actions.

In a related piece of news, the NCC is also expanding its oversight to include tower companies, which will now be required to reinvest portions of regulatory fines into network infrastructure upgrades, with measurable performance outcomes.

A report in Nigeria's Punch news service quotes Head of Public Affairs at the Commission, Nnenna Ukoha, as saying in a statement: Subscribers should not be made to bear the full burden of service disruptions where operators fail to meet prescribed standards of service delivery.

He adds: Telecommunications services today underpin economic activity, social interaction, and access to digital opportunities. When service quality is poor, the consequences affect productivity, commercial activities, and even public confidence in our communications system.

Quaklity of service (QoS) and regulation have been in the news in various African countries, notably earlier this year in Ghana, where Ghanas regulator, the National Communications Authority (NCA), announced revised key performance indicators (KPIs) for mobile telecommunications QoS, while last year in Chad and Zambia regulators highlighted what they described as serious QoS deficiencies in operators mobile communications offerings.
Intelligent transport solutions company Siemens Mobility has been awarded a contract to deliver the advanced signalling and rail infrastructure technology solution European Train Control System (ETCS) Level 1 for the Mexico City  Queretaron  Irapuato railway corridor.

Siemens Mobility, a separately managed company of technology giant Siemens, will be delivering the solution alongside digital transformation services company Sonda Mexico.

Spanning more than 300 kilometres and serving eleven passenger stations, the project is part of Mexicos federal initiative to modernise passenger rail infrastructure. This is Siemens Mobilitys first ETCS contract in Mexico.

Siemens Mobility will also deliver, for the first time in Latin America, its TPS.plan software, a powerful train planning system that optimises timetables and rail operations, alongside ETCS Level 1 wayside signalling, an operational control centre and backup, as well as supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems. Consortium partner Sonda will provide telecommunications, CCTV and civil works.

ETCS is a standardised signalling and control system that enhances rail safety by continuously supervising train speed and movement authority. It replaces fragmented national systems with a common standard.

TPS.plan is a cutting-edge software solution developed by Siemens subsidiary HaCon. This application enables precise timetable and track path optimisation by leveraging microscopic infrastructure modeling to create conflict-free schedules. TPS.plan also simplifies coordination by granting stakeholders full access to the most up-to-date planning status, ensuring efficient and seamless rail operations.

The project, say the partners, will significantly enhance mobility for workers, students and commuters in the Bajio region. By connecting the capital with the states of Hidalgo, Queretaro, and Guanajuato, they add, the line strengthens regional connectivity to Mexico City, boosts economic competitiveness, and aligns with federal goals for sustainable passenger rail
ZTE revealed on Monday it has signed a strategic cooperation MoU with Kazakh telco Kcell covering smartphones and fixed wireless access (FWA) terminals, which also marks a major push by the Chinese vendor into the Kazakhstan market.

Under the partnership deal  which was signed at Mobile World Congress earlier this month but made public on Monday  ZTE and Kcell will jointly promote a wider range of ZTE's smartphone devices to the Kazakh market.

The MoU also calls for deeper cooperation between ZTE and Kcell on FWA services using ZTE's customer premises equipment (CPE).

Kcell CEO Askar Zhambakin said its collaboration with ZTE aims to significantly improve connectivity experiences for local households and businesses, while also bringing high-speed internet access to more users across the country.

"We work with different global technology partners to make mobile internet faster and more reliable, including through the development of our 5G network, he said in a statement. Our cooperation with ZTE supports this approach by expanding access to devices and developing fixed wireless access  bringing fast internet to areas where traditional connections are not available.

Kcell first launched its 5G network in March 2023 with 12 live sites in Almaty and Shymkent. Later the same year it contracted Ericsson to expand its 5G network to cover at least 50% of Kazakhstan's territory.

According to its web site, Kcell said it was providing 5G in 625 locations in Kazakhstan by March 2024. It launched 5G connectivity at metro stations in October 2024.
March 29, 2026: Currently there are about 200,000 Starlink units in use by the Ukrainian armed forces, although some have been diverted for use by commercial and government enterprises. Russia has, over the last few years acquired several thousand Starlink terminals via black market sources. On February 4 th Russian troops found that their Starlink terminals no longer worked. SpaceX, the operator of the satellite network that makes Starlink terminals work, had identified Starlink units used by Russian troops and shut off access. This not only shut down communication services, but also the use of Starlink to operate Russian drones. There was one problem, the Ukrainian use of Starlink to guide its drones to targets in Russian territory. A solution to this problem is underway. Meanwhile Ukraine can use GPS and several other methods to operate drones attacking targets in Russia.

When Russian troops found they had lost access to Starlink, they knew they were in trouble. Russian troops never had effective military radios, something that was first noted during the 2022 invasion. Corrupt procurement officers had stolen most of the money allocated to purchase new radios for Russian troops. This scam was not discovered until the invading Russians found that their military radios didnt work well, if at all inside Ukraine. That problem was eventually solved by obtaining some modern radios and Starlink terminals. Since February the Russians have been improvising.

Ukrainian forces have been supplied with SpaceX Starlink satellite communication terminals since the beginning of the Russian invasion. SpaceX allowed Ukrainian forces to use Starlink terminals free of charge and as of 2024 about 10,000 Starlink terminals are used in Ukraine by the military, government and some commercial enterprises.

SpaceX has kept Starlink operational over Ukraine since the war began in early 2022. This includes paying for rapid patches to defeat Russian EW electronic Warfare attacks and providing many Ukrainian users with the highest and most expensive level of service. This has cost SpaceX over $100 million. Maintaining the level of Starlink service Ukraine demands to maintain its communications advantage over Russia keeps growing. Both Russia and China have been seeking ways to disrupt or shut down Starlink over Ukraine.

When Russia invaded Ukraine in early 2022, the Ukrainian minister of digital transformation contacted SpaceX for help in dealing with Russian efforts to cut Ukrainian access to the Internet. Starlink officials had already been negotiating with Ukraine to provide Starlink service locally. SpaceX agreed to help and within four days hundreds of Starlink satellites were moved into position to provide Ukraine with high-speed Internet service using hundreds of Starlink user kits SpaceX sent to Ukraine. SpaceX ultimately supplied Ukraine with nearly 2,000 terminals and managed to persuade countries supplying military aid for Ukraine to include Ukrainian requests for more Starlink terminals, especially the more expensive, and capable commercial models. In this way Ukraine was able to obtain over 40,000 terminals so far. Most of these are used to keep the economy going and the ones used by the military are subject to combat losses. Civilian users face a similar but lesser risk and about 500 terminals a month are lost to Russian attacks. These have to be replaced and most, if not all, of the replacements are paid for by military aid for Ukraine. The Starlink replacement terminals cost about a million dollars a month.

Early in the war American defense officials admitted that if the Starlink satellite internet service were government run, it would not have remained operational over Ukraine because government regulations do not allow for the quick responses Starlink management used to defeat Russian electronic attacks and keep Starlink operational in Ukraine.

SpaceX, the American firm that designed, built and put the Starlink satellites into orbit, accomplished this by encouraging innovation and acting quickly to deal with service interruptions, including deliberate efforts by hackers or hostile governments. By April 2022 about 20 percent of the initially planned Starlink global network satellites were in orbit. More satellites had to be put into orbit to provide the enormous demand Ukrainian military and civilian users were creating. Before 2022 Starlink was turned on over a few areas so reviewers and other volunteer users could test the system.

By February 2022 Starlink appeared to be a success but the network also displayed a remarkable resistance to attacks from hostile governments, and the Russians were the first ones coming after it with major jamming efforts and threats to destroy Starlink satellites over Ukraine. SpaceX pointed out that it could put additional Starlink satellites into orbit faster and far less expensively than Russia or anyone else could destroy them. This capability was part of the Starlink design that not only allowed satellite and user software to be quickly updated but new Starlink satellites often had new features added to improve performance and that included more resistance to hacking and jamming.

Starlink satellites are designed to last for up to seven years and the Starlink system is designed to expand to over 30,000 satellites if demand by paying customers is large enough to justify and pay for it. That is being tested by the heavy use of the Starlink satellites over Ukraine by Ukrainians who dont have to pay the usual one time $500 startup or and $99 monthly fees. This serves as a test of how much heavy use each satellite can handle, especially when constantly subject to heavy Russian hacking and jamming efforts. This got a lot more expensive as Starlink introduced its more capable, and expensive, commercial and military grade terminals.

Russia did seek to sever the fiber optic cables that connect Ukraine to the global Internet and generally try to disrupt Internet service inside Ukraine. Starlink made this effort futile and Starlink became the first satellite communications service that could be described as combat tested. This is always a major selling point for military equipment, or anything built to that is built to survive in a harsh environment. Starlink expected many emergency relief organizations will maintain Starlink accounts that could be taken into disaster areas where most communications were disabled. Starlink terminals can be linked to local networks and supply Internet service for locals and emergency workers.

Starlink resistance to hackers and jamming was quickly put to the test as Russia came after it several times in the first two months of the war, failing in each attempt because Starlink engineers could diagnose an attack, develop a software patch and implement it quickly, often in less than an hour. Starlink also responded by modifying the design of newly manufactured Starlink satellites to resist efforts to disrupt service.

The Ukrainians were equally innovative in finding new ways to use Starlink in combat. One example was using Starlink to support attacks on Russian supply lines day and night. The night attacks were effective because of the use of small Ukrainian designed drones equipped with GPS, a night vision camera, a laser range finder and a link to a nearby artillery unit via Starlink. The drone patrolled Russian supply routes at night and, when a convoy was spotted trying to move safely in the dark, the artillery unit had the continually updated location of the trucks. That enabled the Ukrainians to fire at the convoy and destroy many of the vehicles while demoralizing the survivors who didnt believe the Ukrainians could detect them in the dark and call-in accurate artillery fire.

Similar innovations were developed to provide Ukrainian military units with better communications than the Russian invaders. That edge has been maintained and expanded even though Russians, now the Chinese, continue trying to disrupt Starlink service or find ways to locate active terminals quickly and target them for air or artillery attack.
Apples upcoming Siri Extensions feature could eventually lead to something much bigger: an AI App Store. According to a report by Bloombergs Mark Gurman, the tech giant is preparing a new strategy that focuses less on competing directly in the AI race and more on strengthening its hardware ecosystem. The report notes that Apple is aware it is currently lagging behind major AI players, including OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic. So, Apple is pursuing a two-pronged strategy, as per Gurman.

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As part of the plan, Apple is expected to introduce a new feature called Siri Extensions in iOS 27, which is likely to be announced on June 8 during WWDC 2026. It is said to allow users to install third-party AI chatbots and use them directly within Siri. Gurman says that this feature will have its own dedicated App Store section, effectively creating an AI App Store. It will be a marketplace of sorts for third-party AI integrations.

Also read: Googles Agent Smith AI is blowing up internally: Here is what it can do

Alongside its Extensions strategy, Apple is also working closely with Google. The two companies announced a multi-year partnership in January, under which Apples next-generation Foundation Models will be developed using infrastructure from Googles Gemini. According to reports, Google has provided Apple with direct access to the Gemini model within its own data centres. This will likely allow the iPhone-maker to build smaller and more efficient AI models.

Also read: Google introduces Gemini 3.1 Flash Live AI model: Check features and availability

Importantly, Apples privacy approach is expected to remain unchanged. All processing is said to happen either directly on the device or through its Private Cloud Compute system, ensuring that user data does not get shared with or stored on Googles servers.

Also read: Google releases Lyria 3 Pro AI model with longer music generation: How to access
For years, Samsung has been refining its Galaxy S series lineup, and with the standard Galaxy S26 model, that approach is even clearer. And this year, more than just refining, Samsung has also made a couple of changes. First, it has dropped the 128GB variant completely. Yes, the Galaxy S26 now starts at 256GB in the base variant, officially, which sounds great on paper. But do note it also brings a Rs 7,000 price jump compared to the Galaxy S25. Because I am not sure how many of you folks noticed, but last year, after the S25 went official, Samsung later introduced a 128GB variant specifically for India, so that it could be more accessible for buyers.

To give you the exact cost, the Galaxy S26 price in India starts at Rs 87,999 for the base 12GB + 256GB option, while the 512GB storage variant is priced in India at Rs 1,07,999.

Personally speaking, getting the 256GB variant as the entry point on a flagship phone is always a good move. Whats even better is that Im someone who loves compact phones. Something I can comfortably use with one hand, and thats exactly where the Galaxy S26 fits perfectly into my daily lifestyle.

Ive been using the Galaxy S26 for a little over two weeks now, and heres what I think about it.

Galaxy S26 Design: Its familiar yet distinct

For me, Samsung has nailed the design this time. Dont worry, I dont mean to imply that the Galaxy S26 is dramatically different from its predecessors, as the device still carries that compact flagship feel. Its lightweight, slim and easy to use with one hand. At just 7.2mm thick, it looks and feels very sleek, and this time, Samsung managed to increase the battery size by 300mAh compared to the Galaxy S25.

Overall, the Galaxy S26 feels very premium in hand. It has an aluminium frame, and both the front and back glass are protected by the Gorilla Glass Victus 2. The matte finish on the black looks clean, although it still attracts fingerprints, so I had to wipe it quite often.

Ive been using the Cobalt Violet colour of the phone, which looks absolutely fantastic. Samsung also offers the Galaxy S26 in multiple other colours, including Black, White, and Sky Blue. Theres also Silver Shadow and Pink Gold, which are Samsung exclusive.

Apart from the colours, the visual change this year is at the back. As I mentioned, the company has nailed the design with this phone. Seen that camera plateau on the S26 Ultra? Samsung has given it on the standard S26 and S26 Plus too, giving all three phones a unified look. Although I would admit, it looks similar to the camera module on the Galaxy Fold 7.

That said, because of the raised camera module, the Galaxy S26 wobbles quite a lot on a flat surface, so typing on this device while it rests on a desk would be tough.

You still get IP68 water and dust resistance, but not IP69, IP69K, which some competitors are starting to offer. The stereo speakers are loud and clear, the typing experience is good as youd expect from a compact phone, and the ultrasonic fingerprint scanner remains fast and reliable.

Galaxy S26 Display: Samsung doing Samsung things

I can easily say, this is one department where Samsung never disappoints me, and the Galaxy S26 continues that streak.

You get a 6.3-inch FHD+ LTPO display with an adaptive 1-120Hz refresh rate. Samsung calls it the Dynamic AMOLED 2X panel. Compared to the S25s 6.2-inch panel, this one is slightly larger. Also, right from the start, you can tell that this is a gorgeous screen. It is sharp, the colours pop and contrast levels are excellent.

I watched a couple of movies on this screen, and the experience felt cinematic in terms of the colour reproduction. The blacks are deep, and everything looks pleasing.

Outdoors visibility is also excellent. I have been using the Galaxy S26 in Delhis summer, and the display remained visible throughout. I never had to squint my eyes to see the display.

Of course, I have to test this display in our Digit Test Labs. In the brightness test, the display reached a peak brightness of 2650 nits, which is very impressive.

In the Calman colour test, it recorded an average Delta E of 2.2. Now, this is not class-leading because Ive seen displays that got an average Delta E of as low as 0.6. But beyond the numbers, in real-world usage, the display looks bright and crisp, and thats what really matters.

Also, in the Colour gamut test, it covers 99.9 per cent of the sRGB colour space, which again is excellent to say the least.

Galaxy S26 Performance: One of the strongest contenders in its class

The Samsung Galaxy S26 is the first phone in the world to come with a 2nm chipset, the Exynos 2600. In terms of raw power, this is a flagship processor without a doubt. It delivers strong benchmark numbers, and well get to that in a moment. In everyday usage, too, it feels fast and responsive.

Now, in terms of managing the thermals, it does a pretty good job most of the time for most tasks. You see, while playing games on the Galaxy S26 for extended periods, the phone tends to warm up. For instance, after around 30 minutes of gaming, you can feel the rise in temperature on the back. And this is something that also showed up in the CPU throttling test, where the phone scored a 57 per cent stability. This suggests that, while the phone is capable of handling the load, it does so at the cost of performance consistency to keep the heat in check.

However, other benchmark scores were much better. In Antutu, it scored 3.1 million, which is great. In Geekbench 6, it scored 3,137 in single-core and crossed the 10,000 mark in multi-core score. In the 3DMark Wildlife Extreme test, it got an overall score of 7,201. Again, these are top-tier numbers that only a flagship phone in 2026 can achieve.

So, coming back to the gaming performance, it has been mostly amazing. For context, you can play BGMI at 120fps with stable performance. In Call of Duty Mobile, you can play at 120fps as well, with smooth gameplay and minor frame drops. However, in Genshin Impact, there are certain scenarios where youll notice frame drops, but hey, you can still expect stable gameplay with an average 55fps performance.

Galaxy S26 Cameras: Quite a reliable shooter

The Galaxy S26 comes with a triple camera setup, including a 50MP main sensor with OIS, a 12MP ultra-wide sensor, and a 10MP 3x telephoto lens. On the front, you get a 12MP selfie camera, which now offers a slightly wider field of view.

In daylight, the main camera performs very well. Images turn out detailed, sharp and vibrant. Speaking of colours, Samsungs image processing makes them pop, giving photos a more social media ready look. The main sensor also handles dynamic range quite well.

In tricky lighting, though, images tend to look slightly soft, with a bit of brightness, especially when youre trying to capture faces.

I also tried capturing moving subjects, but even a slight movement often resulted in missed shots or blur.

The 3x telephoto lens takes great pictures, offering good edge detection and an ample amount of background blur. The ultra-wide lens, too, captures good outdoor shots with decent detail and strong contrast.

Selfies turn out well, with good details, sharpness, and proper exposure. I particularly like the selfie cameras low-light performance, as the lens captures a good amount of detail in the output. For instance, in this photo, you can also see that it didnt add any blue tint to the sky, giving a more natural result, as I would prefer.

In terms of video recording, the main camera can shoot up to 8K at 30fps with stable footage. The ultra-wide and telephoto lenses can record videos up to 4K at 60fps, and the front camera also supports 4K video at 60fps.

Galaxy S26 Software: Useful AI features

The Galaxy S26 runs on One UI 8.5 based on Android 16, and the overall experience is clean, smooth and optimised. As one would expect, Samsung continues to deliver the AI features, and once again, with the S26 series, they are actually useful.

One of the new additions is Now Nudge. While Im texting using the Samsung keyboard, the feature understands whats happening on my screen and suggests actions accordingly. I only wish the feature gets rolled over to other third-party keyboards too, like Gboard.

Then theres Now Brief, which gives you a personalised summary throughout, including your schedule, news, YouTube videos and even weather-based outfit suggestions.

Google also updated its Circle to search for the S26 series. You can identify multiple things in a single frame, like you can identify the shirt, pants and shoes individually in one go. You dont have to circle one thing at a time.

The Gallery app also gets AI features, where you can change outfits, edit backgrounds, or even add new elements to the images. The feature is called Photo Assist, and if you thought Generative Edit was good. You have to try this one out.

Finally, if you buy the Samsung Galaxy S26, Samsung is promising 7 years of Android updates along with 7 years of Security patches. In terms of future-proofing, this phone is all covered.

Galaxy S26 Battery: Its okay, but not the best

Alright, this is the department where the Galaxy S26 feels behind the competition. Credit where credit is due, Samsung has increased the battery capacity to 4,300mAh from 4,000mAh on the Galaxy S25. Also, theres only so much you can do with a compact phone if you want to keep it as light and as slim as the S26 is.

In real-world usage, the Galaxy S26 lasts about a full day with moderate use. My typical usage involves a lot of doomscrolling on Instagram, watching YouTube videos, using other social media apps and all of that. I was mostly left with around 10% battery by the end of the day. So, the max you can expect out of this one is a full day of use on a single charge. Or youll have to charge it mid-day if youre a heavy user.

Granted, if you want better battery life, you can go for the S26 Plus, or even the Ultra, if you want to go all in. But, I guess, thats the price of getting a compact one.

For those who care about numbers, in the PCMark battery drain test, it performed surprisingly well and gave 16 hours and 30 minutes of screen on time.

In terms of charging, the phone supports 25W wired charging and takes around 1 hour and 16 minutes to go from 0 to 100 per cent. By the way, competitors are offering much faster charging at lower price points. The phone also supports 15W wireless charging.

Galaxy S26 Verdict: Polished, capable and dependable

The Galaxy S26 has not reinvented anything, but as I mentioned at the beginning, it is extremely refined. After using it for more than two weeks, I am happy to report that the Galaxy S26 offers a solid user experience and is quite dependable. It gets almost everything right without trying too hard. Of course, the phones greatest KSP has to be its compact form factor. But even the other things, like the display, are excellent, and the performance should be strong enough for most users.

Yes, there are compromises for sure, like the battery life may not be class leading, or the charging may not be the fastest. But if you want a compact flagship (mind you, there are only a handful of them) that delivers a premium experience without going into Ultra territory, the Galaxy S26 is a great option to consider. At Rs 87,999, it may not be perfect, but it is polished, capable and dependable in all the ways that actually matter.
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March 30, 2026: Russia can no longer afford its war in Ukraine. Since 2022 Russia has spent nearly $700 billion and lost 1.3 million troops, with over a million Russian men fleeting the country to avoid the war. There is a labor shortage and a growing number of protests against the war and its human losses and growing poverty. The costs keep growing, from $102 billion in 2022 to nearly $170 billion this year. Russian gains in 2023 were 600 square kilometers or o.1 percent of Ukraine. In 2024, 3,500 sq. kilometers or; 0.55 percent of Ukraine while losing 431,000 soldiers. In 2025, 4,500 sq. kilometers. or 0.75 percent of Ukraine was gained while 418,000m soldiers were lost. Since late 2025 Ukrainian forces have been on the offensive, regaining territory and by the end of 2026 much if not most of the Russian 2023-25 gains may be lost.

There have been other significant losses. Four years of fighting in Ukraine has destroyed the Russian tank force. This was unexpected, as was the Russian inability to replace their tank losses. Ukraines success against Russian tanks and armored vehicles revived predictions that tanks were obsolete. Tanks are still relevant, and the Russian losses were the result of poor employment of armored units as well as design features of Russian tanks that make them much more vulnerable than Western tanks like the American M1, German Leopard or Israeli Merkava.

Most Russian armored vehicles were lost while they were on the move, or stationery without adequate infantry support. The first Russian armored units going into Ukraine were told the population would be friendly or neutral. The reality was that the Ukrainians were well armed, hostile, and using tactics the Russians were unaware of and unprepared to deal with. As a result, thousands of Russian vehicles were destroyed or captured in the first month, most of them armored, including some of the most modern Russian tanks plus some ancient models taken from storage facilities for obsolete tanks that might be useful in an emergency. The Ukraine War proved to be that emergency.

Most of the Ukrainian anti-tank weapons were portable and carried into combat by teams of soldiers, of whom many were recent volunteers with no military experience at all and only a few days of training, rather like most Russian soldiers since the war started. The few days training they received usually began with carrying ammo, including anti-tank missiles and projectiles, plus instruction in how to obey instructions, take cover, etc. Sometimes volunteers were selected for combat duty because they knew the area where their anti-tank team would be operating. These hastily trained anti-tank teams suffered far fewer casualties than the Russians, even after the Russians became aware of the ambush risk, because the Russians had little if any training against attack by man-carried anti-tank weapons, let alone the ability to actually do it. Additionally, most of the Ukrainians Western-provided portable anti-tank weapons could accurately hit moving vehicles 300 or more meters away. The Javelin and NLAW guided missiles were fire and forget. That meant once the operator had accurately aimed at a target and launched the missile, the guidance system in the missile would follow the target until the missile hit.

NLAWs have a max range of 600 meters and Javelins are 2,500 meters. The Ukrainians were creative with their ambush tactics and the Russians who survived them noted that the Ukrainian were always better prepared and one or more steps ahead of Russian commanders. The Russians were losing six dead for every Ukrainian fighter and that included soldiers killed by rocket and ballistic missile attacks far from the combat zone.

Russian armored vehicles had some unique vulnerabilities not found on their NATO counterparts. One was the use of an autoloader for the main tank gun, usually a 125mm. The autoloader required there to be a magazine of shells in the crew compartment, which was the turret, where there were also additional shells used by the crew to refill the autoloader magazine. If any anti-tank weapon penetrated into the crew compartment, especially the turret, one or more of the 125mm shells were exposed and likely to explode. If one shell went, all those near the autoloader did as well. This usually meant the turret would literally be blown off the tank and the entire crew killed. Javelin and NLAW were also designed to attack the less protected top of the turret or body of the tank, which at the very least destroyed the engine or wounded some of the three-man crew. And the primary Russian infantry armored vehicle was the BMP, which was poorly protected against any anti-tank weapon.

Trucks carrying supplies, especially fuel, ammo or personnel were even more vulnerable. Machine-gun fire or a hand grenade would destroy or disable a truck. Ukrainian forces concentrated on Russian supply trucks and that meant Russian forces were chronically short of essential supplies.

Ukrainian forces had lots of armored vehicles, most of them Russian models improved by the Ukrainians. Tank tactics used by Ukrainians were more practical and more likely to overcome defenders, plus Ukrainian civilians were everywhere and generally eager to let their troops know what was going on in the area.

Meanwhile, Russia is trying to rebuild its tank forces. That will take a long time because Russian production facilities, even when operating round-the-clock, cannot obtain sufficient supplies of components to produce more than a few hundred tanks a year.

The Russian economy is a wreck. Their major ally Iran has been lost to a war with Israel and the United States. Russian leader Vladimir Putin refuses to withdraw from Ukraine because he bet his career, and possibly his life, on winning a victory in Ukraine.
Louth County Council held the first meeting of its new Tenants Forum on Friday, 27 March 2026 at the Monasterboice Inn, Drogheda.

The Tenants Forum brings together local authority tenants from across Louth, along with representatives from community organisations, Healthy Ireland, Louth Local Development, the HSE and other partner groups.

The Forum provides a way for tenants and the Council to communicate with each other. It aims to use the experiences, concerns, and ideas of tenants to help shape social housing policies, estate management, and services across the county.

The Forum has been set up at the same time that Louth County Council is developing a new Tenant Engagement and AntiSocial Behaviour Strategy. The Forum will play a role in shaping this strategy by identifying local priorities, highlighting challenges, and supporting how the strategy is put into practice.

Cllr Sean Kelly, Cathaoirleach of Louth County Council, said the new forum is an "important step in making sure the voices of our citizens and communities are central to the work we do".

"It gives us real opportunities to work together, spot issues earlier, develop better solutions, and deliver services that meet peoples needs. I want to thank everyone who has taken part so far and encourage more tenants to get involved as we build a housing system that is responsive, inclusive, and shaped by the people it serves, he said.

Read Next: Daft report reveals shocking increase in asking price for some homes in Louth

Ger Murphy, Director of Service, Louth County Council, said the forum shows the local authority's commitment to open, responsive, and tenant focused services.

"By bringing tenants, community partners, and Council staff together, we can tackle challenges more effectively, improve quality of life and strengthen communities. I want to thank all participants for their positive engagement so far, and I look forward to working with the Forum as we develop and roll out the new Tenant Engagement and Anti-Social Behaviour Strategy.

As part of developing the new strategy, Louth County Council will host a series of consultation events to hear views from the wider community. These sessions will take place from 9:30am to 1:00pm on the following dates:

Tuesday, 14 April  Imperial Hotel, Dundalk

Wednesday, 22 April  Marcy Hotel, Drogheda

Tuesday, 28 April  Muldoons, Ardee

Anyone wishing to attend must register in advance. To register for a consultation session or to find out more about the Tenants Forum, please contact the Estate Management Team at estatemanagement@louthcoco.ie .

Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.
March 30, 2026: Since the beginning of the year China has been sending out thousands of fishing boats to form barriers over 300 kilometers long. More recently, about 1,400 Chinese vessels quickly abandoned their usual fishing activities or sailed out of their home ports and assembled in the East China Sea. Soon they had assembled into a rectangle stretching more than 300 kilometers. This mass of boats was so dense that some approaching cargo ships appeared to skirt around them or had to zigzag through,

In late 2025 some 2,000 Chinese fishing boats assembled in two long, parallel formations on Christmas Day in the East China Sea. Each was about 460 kilometers long, about the distance from New York City to Buffalo, forming a reverse L shape, ship-position data indicates. The epic scale of these maneuvers and the organization required was astonishing. Similar but smaller fishing boat demonstrations have been held in other east Asian waters, but none as massive and persistent as those in the South China Sea. The reason for these is unknown though those are performance art on a grand scale.

In early 2024, Chinese coast guard ships again collided with Filipino coast guard ships in the South China Sea near Second Thomas Shoal. Four Filipino crewmen were injured. China also employed 40 fishing trawlers and other ships to block Filipino coast guard operations.

A month later, Chinese ships interfered with Filipino coast guard vessels trying to carry out a medical evacuation. China deployed about 40 ships during this effort to capture and destroy a Filipino LST that had long been used as an outpost to establish the Filipino claim to Second Thomas Shoal.

During early 2024 there were several clashes between the Chinese and Filipino coast guard ships. During December 2024 there were several collisions and clashes between Chinese and Filipino boats.

During November 2024 there were clashes between Chinese and Filipino coast guard ships over who controlled the Spratly Islands. There was more of the same in October and September.

During July and August 2024 China used 40 ships to block Filipino access to Second Thomas Shoal. In July there was also another ruling by the International Court in The Hague affirming Filipino rights in the South China Sea. China ignored a similar ruling made in 2016.

In June 2024: There was a clash in the South China Sea between naval forces of China and the Philippines. The cause of this largely non-lethal battle was a Filipino attempt to resupply Filipino marines stationed on an old Landing Ship Tank/LST deliberately run aground on Second Thomas Shoal in 1999 to asset Filipino ownership of the Shoal and much of South China Sea. There have been several similar clashes in the last year. The most recent ones in May and June involved a large number of Chinese ships that physically blocked Filipino Coast Guard and supply ships from reaching the grounded LST. Several of the Filipino RIBs (Rigid Inflatable Boats) were sunk by Chinese sailors in speedboats who came alongside and used knives to puncture the RIBs hulls and cause them to sink. A Filipino sailor lost a thumb when his boat collided with a fast moving Chinese speedboat. China seized materials meant for the LST and used loud sirens and strobe lights to disorient Filipino sailors trying to get their boats close to the LST. Among the seized materials were additional weapons for the LST crew. China has refused to return the weapons or any other cargo they seized. Technically this is piracy but even if an international court agrees with that, the Chinese will ignore the courts as they did several years earlier when a court ruling confirmed that portions of the South China Sea were under the control of the Philippines. China is one of the many nations that signed agreements governing the law of the sea, but the Chinese later ignore any agreements they signed if these agreements get in their way. This is what continues to occur in the South China Sea.

The Chinese Navy and Maritime Militia musters dozens of Coast Guard and commercial fishing trawlers that are paid by the Chinese to serve as a naval militia and, when called upon by the government, cease fishing and assemble for whatever the navy wants them to do. Usually, it is to congregate in large numbers near disputed islands, islands, reefs and shoals to keep Filipino fishing boats out and claim these areas for the exclusive use by Chinese fishing trawlers. In one recent case Chinese ships equipped with water cannons hit Filipino fishing boats with large quantities of sea water to keep them from operating in traditional Filipino fishing areas.

The June clashes were the largest and most violent yet. In one case a Filipino helicopter dropped supplies near the LST and as the marines were retrieving them, Chinese speed boats arrived and seized some of the air dropped parcels and ripped open the waterproof packaging and scattered the contents on the ocean surface. Apparently, the Chinese government has ordered its naval forces to use any means necessary to deprive the grounded LST of any supplies and try to starve out the marines stationed on the LST.

Increasingly more Chinese coast guard ships are patrolling Second Thomas Shoal, First Thomas Shoal, and Half Moon Shoal, all within the Filipino EEZ or Exclusive Economic Zone, waters 380 kilometers from the coast but now claimed by China. The Philippines EEZ in the South China Sea is where Filipinos have been fishing the reefs and other shallow waters for centuries, long before there was a Philippine state and without interference from Chinese fishermen, who only occasionally showed up. Thats because fishing boats with refrigeration, a 20th century invention, only recently made it possible for Chinese fishermen to scour the entire South China Sea for fish to profitably catch, refrigerate and carry back to China. The 20th century also meant the possibility of finding oil or gas deposits in the South China Sea as well as controlling key shipping routes via the Malacca Strait.

Aerial and satellite photos indicate that Chinese military construction efforts on Woody Island, one of the disputed Paracel Islands closer to China, are complete. The garrison consists of a battalion of naval infantry and a 2,300 meter long air strip. This is long enough to support warplanes and commercial transports as large as Boeing 737s, which China has a lot of. A school building was completed in 2013 for the 40 children of officials and their families stationed there. There is an artificial harbor that can handle ships of up to 5,000 ton displacement. This harbor is heavily used because there is no local water supply and much of the water still has to be brought in along with fuel for all the land, sea and air vehicles as well as the generators. While there is some recreational fishing going on, the two thousand people on the island require regular food and water deliveries from the mainland.

In addition to the military garrison there is also a civilian rescue detachment equipped with helicopters and small boats. This detachment is largely for the waters around Woody Island and a few smaller islands that amount to about 13 square kilometers of land. China recently used dredging to increase the land area by about 20 percent.

Construction is largely complete for facilities in the capital of Sansha, a new Chinese municipality or city. Sansha is actually Woody Island and dozens of smaller bits of land, some of them shoals that are under water all the time, in the Paracels and the Spratly Islands to the south. In fact, the new city lays claim to two million square kilometers of open sea, which is 57 percent of the South China Sea. China has completed similar construction projects in the South China Sea and satellite photos reveal this to be true.

China claims the South China Sea and all islands and near islands like reefs as Chinese property. To reinforce these claims of sovereignty China is occupying uninhabitable islands and creating new ones by dredging sand from reefs and shoals to create new uninhabitable islands. Like Woody Island, these new islands are staffed with troops and government employees and supplied, at great expense, from the mainland. China even built two special supply ships to make regular deliveries to their many island bases in the South China Sea.
Nearly 1,300 students, including graduates from Louth, celebrated their achievements as they crossed the stage at Dublin City Universitys graduation ceremonies in The Helix.

Three ceremonies took place in the Mahony Hall in The Helix on Friday 27 March, featuring students from the Universitys five faculties; the DCU Business School, the Institute of Education, the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, the Faculty of Science & Health, and the Faculty of Engineering & Computing.

Orlaith Hickey from Carraigaline Co Cork and Meath Ni Shluain, Dundalk Co Louth who received a PHD during the Spring Graduation Ceremony in Dublin City Unversity (DCU) .Pic :Kyran OBrien DCU

This year saw the first graduates from the MA in Documentary Practice cross the stage.

Speaking at the graduation ceremonies Prof Daire Keogh, President of Dublin City University, said:

Read Next: Dedication and Service celebrated at the 2026 Dundalk Civic Awards

Today is a special day, a day when we get to celebrate the very purpose of our University: the education and graduation of our students.

We wish each of our graduates every success in the years to come as they make their contribution to the DCU mission to transform lives and societies.
THE FAULKNER family have issued an update on their beloved Scarlett who remains in a critical condition in Cork University Hospital.

A woman and a teenage girl have been charged in connection with the serious assault of the mother-of-one on a road in Birdhill on Saturday, March 21.

READ NEXT: Sister of Scarlett Faulkner hopes for a 'miracle' recovery after roadside assault - Ireland Live

An update has been shared on social media regarding Scarletts condition by Josephine (Joanne) Duffy, the partner of Scarlett's brother Thomas, who is one of Scarletts 15 siblings.

They're keeping her on the machines as of now, said Josephine in a video posted recently.

They're trying to reduce the sedation but when they're trying to reduce the sedation, her brain is swelling so now she's fully sedated again. They will slowly try it during the week and try it without the brain swelling.

They're going to keep trying and when they do try, and if the swelling stays down, then they will try to wake her up to see if she has any movement, any activity and then put her back into sedation to heal, said Josephine.

Videos have surfaced of people engaging with security guards in Cork University Hospital over being refused access to visit Scarlett.

Josephine said it is two siblings at a time that can go into her room, describing it as a very stressful day.

Ten of them only (got in to see Scarlett). They're limiting all visitation because obviously there's other patients in there. The family is a big family (16 children) so it will be just the mother and father until maybe Tuesday or Wednesday, and then after that, they will see about the siblings going to see her.

Josephine said the Faulkner family ask people to keep praying for Scarletts recovery.

They're very, very grateful. They're very thankful for all the prayers, everyone that's lighting candles, for every message, said Joanne.

A prayer gathering for Scarlett took place at the shrine in Ballynanty on Saturday afternoon. A decade of the rosary was said for Scarletts full recovery from her injuries at the well-attended community event.
A team at the Crann Centre in Ovens has received a prestigious award at the British Journal of Nursing (BJN) awards, which were held in London recently.

The Crann Centre continence team was named continence nurse of the year for 2026 by the BJN.

The awards, which are open to nominations across Ireland and the UK, celebrate excellence in research and practice, while recognising outstanding achievements across the nursing community.

The continence team at Crann provides Ireland's only nurse-led, community-based specialist continence clinic for children, adults, and families living with neurophysical disabilities, with a focus on neurogenic care.

The team also provides dedicated training courses for healthcare professionals including public health nurses and special needs assistants in schools, covering clean intermittent catheterisation, trans-anal irrigation training and disability awareness, with more than 450 professionals trained in the last five years.

Crann's head of services, Eimear Daly, said the award's recognition highlighted the teams commitment to supporting client families, promoting best practice, and delivering high quality continence care.

"Huge congratulations to our incredible colleagues Caroline Buckley and Edel Hill  we are so proud," she said.

"It also speaks to Cranns dedication to providing a service to families living with neuro-physical disabilities ensuring that continence care is accessible, timely, and responsive to their needs.

"It also ensures that people do not face barriers that impact on their day-to-day lives and delivers improved health and wellbeing outcomes, increased participation and feelings of empowerment.

The Crann Centre continues to see increasing demand, welcoming 234 additional families in 2025, a 37% growth on the previous year.

Cranns story began in 2013 when its founder, Kate Jarvey, witnessed a high number of children with spina bifida who were poorly served in her local area of Cork.

This compelled her to attend hospital appointments and spend time with families to observe and listen to their experiences and challenges.

Since then, Crann has supported more than 900 families living with neurophysical disabilities across Cork and the wider Munster region.

Its innovative 2Generation model of care provides whole family support, recognising that disability impacts the fabric of the family.

Through six key service themes, supported by a dedicated client liaison team, each family receives coordinated, personalised wraparound care.

The BJN is the leading clinical nursing journal written by nurses for nurses from the UK and around the world.
Sick and elderly people are missing vital hospital appointments, some estates havent received post in more than two weeks, registered letters are going astray, and one man even lost his work permit after key documents were delivered extremely late.

Meanwhile hard-pressed farmers are receiving milk cheques behind schedule, and small business owners say they have begun making their own deliveries because they no longer trust the postal system.

These are among a series of complaints raised by Cork county councillors, who say An Posts service in the region is in meltdown.

They are formally requesting that Labour TD Alan Kelly, chair of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Environment, Climate Action and Communications, call senior An Post officials before the committee to explain the disruption.

Some of these issues were outlined in a joint motion from Independent councillor Finbarr Harrington and Labour councillor Cathal Rasmussen, which prompted a string of other councillors to weigh in with accounts of what they described as an everworsening postal service in the region.

Councillors have described it as absolutely ridiculous that internal Cork post has to go to a sorting office in Portlaoise and come back down to the county again.

Mr Harrington who lives in Allihies, said the village recently lost its post office. The local post box was unavailable for over a month," he said.

"For a community already impacted by the loss of its post office, that's simply unacceptable.

"Im aware of one man who sent a telescope worth thousands of euro by registered post back to a manufacturer for repair. It's since been lost and hes been offered just 160 in compensation, a fraction of its value.

Mr Harrington added: In another case, an elderly person sent an important application form containing sensitive personal details by registered post, only to be informed that it too has been lost.

"I also know a case of a man waiting on a work permit issued in early February, but was only delivered last week. As a result, hes unable to travel as planned and had to forfeit a return ticket to Ireland because he didn't have the required documentation."

Mr Rasmussen claimed An Post is prioritising parcel deliveries over traditional mail and no longer has the staff needed to cope with the increased workload.

The public dont care what the issues are, they just want delivery of their post. The staff are getting abused in some cases by the public due to delays in deliveries and when I raised the whole issue with customer service and management some time ago as a public rep I didnt even get a response, he said.

Fine Gael councillor Una McCarthy said one estate in her hometown of Carrigaline hadnt received a letter in two weeks. Yet Im getting mail every day.

Fianna Fail councillor Patrick Mulcahy said An Post guaranteed delivery before Christmas if letters and cards were posted by December 21. I have some constituents who didnt get post until the middle of January, he said.

Aontu councillor Peter ODonoghue pointed out that 34 post offices has closed in Cork in the past 10 years, the biggest reduction of any county in the State.

Independent councillor Ger Curley, whose wife is a postmistress in Cobh, said postmen and women are exhausted and the situation will only get worse as An Post proposes to deliver up to 20m parcels next year.
Cork is set to reclaim the title of Irelands tallest residential building as the central core of the 25-storey Railyard development on the former Sextant site was completed on Saturday.

The 85.5m-high tower and adjacent buildings will deliver 217 homes when complete. The Railyard Apartment Scheme is the result of a collaborative partnership between Cork City Council, Cluid, and JCD Group.

Specialist contractor Slipform Engineering commenced pouring the lift and stair core on Wednesday, March 18. More than 1,700 cubic meters of concrete were poured continuously and tied to over 225 tonnes of reinforcing steel. The team worked on a 24/7 basis over 10 days to reach full height.

The contractor averaged two-and-a-half floors per day with a crew of 30 specialist workers on each 12-hour shift.

The contractor averaged two-and-a-half floors per day with a crew of 30 specialist workers on each 12-hour shift.

Dan Sheehan, contracts manager with main contractor PJ Hegarty, said this important phase of the project was completed safely and on schedule and was the result of months of planning and collaboration.

"Cores 2 and 3 shall now commence, which are a more traditional precast concrete design, and we expect to complete them by the end of April," he said.

With the arrival of the lift and stair core of the tower on Corks skyline, the public has a sense of the scale and ambition of the project. The Railyard also involves the renovation of the two listed buildings, namely Carey House and the former railway terminus building.

When fully constructed, the Railyard will be the tallest residential building in Ireland. The development was designed by award-winning architects Henry J Lyons with input from specialist tall building architect Richard Coleman of London-based City Designer.

the Railyard will be the tallest residential building in Ireland when completed. Picture: Drone Solutions Ireland

Alongside the slender 25-storey tower, Railyard will step down to 13-storey and then nine-storey blocks. The Railyard is expected to be completed by the end of 2027.

The nearby Elysian development, completed in 2008, held the title as Ireland's tallest residential building for 20 years until Capital Dock in Dublin was completed in 2018 with College Square in Dublin, at 82m, finishing last year.

It is unclear how long the completed Railyard development will hold the title. Permission was granted last month for a 30-storey Parkgate apartment development in Dublin but construction has not yet commenced.

Railyard is one of a number of major residential property developments taking place in the city. Work is nearing completion of more than 300 apartments at Horgan's Quay in a partnership between the Land Development Agency, Clarendon Properties, BAM, Cork City Council and CIE.

Glenveagh Properties is on course to complete more than 330 homes on the former Marquee site in a partnership with the LDA on a site that will ultimately deliver more than 1,178 apartments.

Work is also under way at the former CMP site on the Kinsale Road, where Cairn Homes is delivering more than 600 apartments with housing agency Respond.
Almost 21,000 new houses need to be built in Cork city by the end the decade to meet the Governments revised housing growth targets.

Cork City Council now aims to deliver 20,972 new units by the end of 2030.

Under the current development plan, there is an annual target to deliver 2,706 houses per year in Cork city.

However, recent guidelines from government encourages revised development plans to provide a further 50% uplift in housing targets each year, meaning Cork City Council can plan for a further 1,353 houses each year.

The revised growth targets stem from the governments direction to local authorities to zone more land for residential development.

Cork City Councils chief executive Valerie OSullivan confirmed in a report that the local authority intends to zone a further 250 to 280 hectares of land for residential development.

This is alongside the 450 hectares of land zoned for residential development already within the councils boundaries, which it estimates could deliver between 22,000 and 36,000 new homes.

It is expected that a revised development plan for the city will be completed by the summer.

Moves to increase the level of zoned land in Cork come following a request from Housing Minister James Browne, who instructed all local authorities to revise targets.

Last month, Mr Browne threatened local authorities with serious measures if they do not act quickly to increase the amount of land zoned for housing.

Only Mayo and Waterford councils had completed the rezoning process as of February.

This had led to some criticism, with Cork-based developer Michael OFlynn calling for the Government to introduce laws to directly zone land itself and override local authorities.

Im utterly convinced that were not going to fix the zoning issue now, having seen how some local authorities are performing, without the Government taking a direct hand, he said.

Peter Horgan, a Labour councillor for the south east ward, said that any land rezoned by the council needs to have both deliverability and sustainability built in.

Intentions wont help anyone experiencing homelessness this weekend, we have to ensure that any land rezoned can deliver homes in a fast but sustainable way so that communities are built, Mr Horgan said.
Tesla supercharging stations put into operation in southwest China

Xinhua) 09:58, March 30, 2026

CHONGQING, March 28 (Xinhua) -- A total of 55 Tesla electric vehicle (EV) supercharging stations have been put into operation in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality on Saturday, as a single project with the largest number of service area supercharging stations that the U.S. carmaker has built in China.

The 55 V4 supercharging stations, with a total of 212 charging piles, are located at key transport nodes around Chongqing's main urban area, as well as along the northeastern and southeastern sections of its highway network.

On average, one supercharging station is available in a service area for every hour of driving, facilitating smoother travel for EV owners within Chongqing and to nearby provinces, including Sichuan, Hubei, Hunan, Shaanxi and Guizhou.

The extensive EV charging network, covering the Chongqing sections of 10 national expressways, is seen as a milestone for Tesla in building a robust charging infrastructure. It stands out for its scale, number of charging piles, construction efficiency and far-reaching impact, with the charging piles also accessible to non-Tesla vehicles.

Starting in 2025, Tesla planned to roll out V4 Superchargers on the Chinese mainland, where, as of March 2026, it has installed and opened over 2,500 supercharging stations with more than 12,000 supercharging piles.

Of these, over 950 stations are open to non-Tesla vehicles. Together with more than 650 destination charging stations, Tesla has built a network covering all provincial capitals and municipalities, as well as the majority of prefecture-level cities on the Chinese mainland.

Huang Lei, general manager of Tesla Western China, said the launch of these supercharging stations in Chongqing's expressway service areas underscores Tesla's confidence in deepening its presence in the Chinese market and lays a solid foundation for expanding its expressway service area charging projects to more provinces and cities.

China's EV charging infrastructure has continued to expand rapidly, with the total number of charging points reaching 21.01 million by the end of February 2026, up 47.8 percent year on year.

In October 2025, China unveiled a three-year action plan to improve the country's EV charging infrastructure, aiming to establish a nationwide network of 28 million charging facilities, with public charging capacity surpassing 300 million kilowatts by the end of 2027.

Tesla has built a Megafactory in Shanghai, the first of its kind outside the United States and its second major facility in the city following the 2019 Gigafactory. Last year, Tesla produced more than 2,000 commercial Megapack energy storage battery systems in the Shanghai Megafactory.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
Intense flooding that has battered Hawaii in the last two weeks have finally eased, and tourists heading to the state are now being encouraged to keep their travel plans.

However, tourists are being encouraged to be mindful of recovery work and impacted areas as those affected deal with the aftermath of the flooding.

Tourists Heading to Hawaii Told to Keep Travel Plans

According to Travel Weekly, the Hawaii Travel Authority has said that there is no need for tourists heading to Hawaii to change their plans.

Interim President and CEO Caroline Anderson said that she sees "no reason" to postpone or cancel travel to Hawaii, but encourages tourists to check with their airlines, hotels, and activity providers for the latest updates.

Tourists are also encouraged to heed brown water advisories, which were still in effect as of March 25 for Oahu, Kauai, Maui and parts of Hawaii island.

"The Hawaii Department of Health advises people to avoid swimming, wading or other water contact when the water looks brown, murky or cloudy," a Hawaii Tourism Authority spokesperson said.

Related Article: Travel Troubles Loom as Winter Storm Moves East After Holidays

What to Know About the Hawaii Flooding

Recent Hawaii flooding images.



A U.S. Army HH-60 Black Hawk crew flew over a flooded areas on Oahu, Hawaii, on March 21.



The Army aircrew conducted flood damage assessments following a major "Kona Low" storm.



(Photos by Sgt. Olivia Cowart, via U.S. Army Pacific) pic.twitter.com/9TjWn09z9m  Meteorologist Matthew Huddleston (@MatthewHWx) March 23, 2026

Hawaii was battered by intense flooding caused by two weather systems known as the Kona low storms. According to AP, the flooding has been the worst to hit the state in two decades.

Hundreds of homes sustained damage as a result of the flooding, along with some schools and a hospital. Recovery work is ongoing, and tourists are encouraged to be mindful during their stay.

Tourists have already been urged to avoid the North Shore towns of Waialua and Haleiwa to avoid causing traffic congestion and disrupting work crews in the area.
The Bishop of Cork and Ross, Fintan Gavin, says he has noticed a growing interest in religion among young people.

A newly released report commissioned by the Irish Catholic Bishops Conference, The Turning Tide? Recent Religious Trends on the Island of Ireland, points to a revival of faith among adults aged 16-29.

Among the key findings is that Mass attendance among young Catholics in Ireland rose from 7% to 17% between 2022 and 2024.

At 17%, Ireland now ranks sixth in Europe for Mass attendance among 16-29yearolds  at least double the rates recorded in countries such as Switzerland, Germany, and Belgium.

Bishop Gavin told

The Echo

that the report indicates that people are turning to the Catholic faith to search for a sense of purpose and community in what can be an uncertain modern world.

.What we are seeing in Cork and Ross is that what is in those recent studies is being replicated in our own experience locally here.

It does again indicate a desire for searching for belonging and for connecting around faith. I think people are craving community, a sense of meaning and a sense of belonging.

There is real signs of hope and green shoots."

Bishop Gavin said he is noticing more young people attending Mass and youth events such as the Maranatha held in Cork.

He said the Cork and Ross diocese is using social media to engage with young people.

We have a very active Instagram page and Facebook page. So we try to capture everything with short videos. I did a blessing for the beginning of the year and it got huge traction," he said.

We are trying to engage on those digital platforms, as a way of being present on them. It is a way of communicating the message. It is a way of connecting with people.

It is not a substitute for meeting people, but it is a way of people knowing what is going on and inviting them to different things. We have probably got better at how we do that. You are telling a story and not just showing pictures, you are interviewing people."
The grave of a Cork man sentenced to life in prison for plotting an 1880s dynamite attack on Britain is to be restored in a project undertaken by his great great grandniece.

John Curtin Kent was born in 1849 in Ballyhindon close to Fermoy town and is buried in a family plot in Kilcrumper Old Cemetery. Now his relative, Laura Doyle, has been granted funding from Cork County Council to carry out restoration of the grave.

Ms Doyle, a geneologist, has researched several documents from his life and says he dedicated himself in the US to the Amnesty Association, which was set up to free Irish political prisoners.

She says her own granduncle had written an article about Curtin Kent many years ago and after coming across it, she decided to research him for her college dissertation.

Curtin Kent, who died in 1931, was a relative of the well-known Thomas Kent from Castlelyons, whose body lay buried in the grounds of the former Cork Prison until it was exhumed and buried after a State funeral in Castlelyons in 2015.

FENIANS

Curtin Kent emigrated to the US in the early 1870s, joining the Irish Republican Brotherhood, known as the Fenians, while there.

He was sentenced to life in prison after being convicted at the Old Bailey in London in 1883 for plotting to dynamite Britain with 1916 leader Thomas Clarke, Glasgow man Dr Thomas Gallagher and Skibbereen native John Cadogan Murphy, in a Clan na Gael plot.

His release, 12 years later, after developing heart failure, came about due to intense lobbying by the US administration of the time.

After first returning home to Fermoy, Curtin Kent travelled to the US again and remained there until the 1920s. Following the death of his wife, who was from Castlelyons, he returned to Fermoy.

Laura Doyle says she is very proud of her relative and wants to ensure his grave is restored.

She says: It was always something I wanted to do because he has been kind of forgotten about in history. A lot of people would not have heard of him. By all accounts, everything I have read about him, it looks like he was a quiet kind of person. The grave is to be restored in the coming months.
Gardai in Cork have arrested a man in his 30s following an alleged incident of criminal damage at Collins Aerospace in the early hours of this morning.

The man is currently being detained at a Cork garda station under the provisions of Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act and can be questioned for up to 24 hours.

Gardai said they responded to a report of an incident of criminal damage at the premises at approximately 4.15am.

It is understood that they subsequently arrested the man after he had left the scene.

In an email to The Echo, a person purporting to represent a group called Palestine Action Eire claimed that actionists had smashed windows and sprayed CA OUT and end the lease in red spray paint.

The group has previously demanded that Penrose Wharf evict Collins Aerospace from the premises it leases there.

A garda spokesperson said: Gardai received a report of an incident of criminal damage that occurred at a business premises in the Penrose Wharf area, Cork city on Monday, March 30, 2026, at approximately 4.15 am.

A male in his 30s was arrested and conveyed to a garda station in Cork city. He is currently being detained under the provisions of Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act, 1984. They added that investigations are ongoing.

Separately, two people are currently before the courts charged with committing an offence of burglary contrary to the Criminal Justice (Theft and Fraud Offences) Act 2001, at Collins Aerospace, Penrose Wharf, Penrose Quay, Cork, on Monday October 13, 2025.

Collins Aerospace has been targeted by pro-Palestine protesters due to its parent company, RTX (formerly Raytheon), supplying defence systems to Israel. RTX has also partnered with Israeli firms to develop weapons systems, which it has said are used to protect the citizens and infrastructure of Israel.
The garda investigation file has been sent to the DPP in a case where it is alleged that a stash of guns, ammunition and explosives were found at a house in Douglas last November, it was confirmed today.

Sergeant John Kelleher said at Cork District Court that the completed garda file was sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions on March 26 and that directions were awaited.

Judge Mary Dorgan asked the defence if there was consent to longer than a two-week adjournment. Defence barrister Sarah Patton said there was only consent to the fortnights adjournment.

Ms Patton then asked the judge to make the adjournment peremptory against the State for directions from the DPP as the accused had been in custody since November 2025.

Judge Mary Dorgan said: Absolutely not.

The case against 45-year-old of Paul Sheehan of Elm Drive, Shamrock Lawn, Douglas in Cork was adjourned until April 13.

Detective Garda Anthony Daly said in an earlier outline of the allegations against the accused: He was discovered in possession of illegally held firearms and ammunition on November 4 2025 in suspicious circumstances at Applegreen Service Station in Mallow.

At Applegreen Service Station on November 4 he was caught red-handed in possession of a 32 calibre Beretta semi-automatic pistol, a slide of a 9mm Glock 17 semi-automatic pistol, firearm components, ammunition and a quantity of cocaine. There was evidence of a firearm having being discharged from within the vehicle.

In the search at his home, a large amount of firearms, ammunition and explosive substances were found, including three pipe bomb bodies. Evidence of the manufacture and alteration of firearms and ammunition was also discovered.

He faces charges contrary to the Firearms and Offensive Weapons Act, 1990 and one under the Explosive Substances Act of 1883.

The charges include possession of a .32 calibre Beretta semi-automatic pistol, a deactivated .38 calibre Smith & Wesson revolver, a slide for a 9mm Glock semi-automatic pistol and three pipe bomb bodies.

Det Garda Daly said the case will be dealt with at the Special Criminal Court.
Tesco has long been committed to supporting Irish producers, from family-run farms to long-established local businesses working with more than 490 Irish food and drink suppliers, championing their products, growing together, and supporting them through initiatives such as Blas na hEireann. The result? Shelves and fridges full of great Irish food and thriving Irish businesses. Here, we meet some of the passionate teams behind these products.

Follain

Follain, the Irish word for wholesome, perfectly sums up what this family-run Cork business stands for. The story began in 1983, when friends Mairin Ui Lionaird and Eithne Ui Shiadhail began a business from their home kitchens using Eithnes grandmothers 100yearold grapefruit marmalade recipe. A few years later, Mairins husband, Peadar, began driving around the county, promoting and selling their wares. They grew steadily, and the Lionairds are now Irelands largest producer of preserves. All the while still based in Cul Aodh, Co Cork, part of the Muscrai Gaelteacht, where speaking Irish is part of daily life.

Tradition has always been central to Follains identity, something that greatly impressed Laura Hewson, sales and marketing manager, when she joined. She says they still have the traditional taste that first drew customers more than four decades ago. Every jar, every preserve is still made in big copper vats using traditional techniques, she says. We use kitchen recipes and scale up."

Micheal O Lionaird, director of Follain

Tesco has been part of the journey from the very beginning. Follains Grapefruit Marmalade first appeared on shelves back in the 1980s when Quinnsworths were still around. Tesco began opening in Ireland in the 1990s and kept Follain as a supplier, and has grown the partnership ever since. Today Follains own products are always on the shelves and they also produce a range of Tesco Finest relishes, chutneys and sauces.

We are so, so proud of the Tesco Finest range, says Hewson. Premium recipes made with premium Irish ingredients. Recent successes, including wins at Blas na hEireann have reinforced how valued Follain is by Irish shoppers. Now, with Tescos support, the company is taking its next step into international markets, exporting to central Europe and exploring listings in Tesco UK and Northern Ireland. Not only do we have great support in Ireland with our brand and producing the Tesco Finest, but now they are opening doors for us outside of Ireland. It seems like theres a very wholesome future ahead.

Follains Tesco top picks

Tesco Finest Gherkin and Mustard Relish  Gold at Blas na hEireann

Tesco Finest Burger Relish  Silver at Blas na hEireann

Tesco Finest Apple & Fig Chutney - Bronze at Blas na hEireann

Killowen

The Dunnes have been farming the same land in Co Wexford for an incredible nine generations. For the past couple of decades, theyve used their farms milk to create delicious products for Killowen Dairy. It started with yoghurts, says Pauline Dunne. My brother Nicholas took over the farm and wanted to do something different. When they heard that a local yoghurt-maker called Killowen was closing, they decided to buy the brand, and so Killowen, as we know it, was born. Were 21 years in business now, she says.

Knowing the land so well is part of what makes Killowen special, says Pauline. We know whats happening with the cows daily, what they are eating. We know the grass, we know the fields they are in.

Using their own milk directly to make their products makes them stand out even more. Thats what makes us unique, people say, Oh sure, yoghurt is yoghurt. Its just milk and culture. But for us, whats very unique is that the milk we have from our farm is the milk used to make our yoghurt.

Working with Tesco has been key to growing their business. When we started, we just supplied our local Tesco stores. Then we started to work with the head office team, who have given us tremendous help in what we need to do to expand.

Killowen now produces unique yoghurts for the Tesco Finest range with flavours such as Senga Strawberry, Heritage Raspberry and Sicilian Lemon Curd. It also makes a wonderful range of Irish cream cheese. We have a natural cream cheese and a garlic and herb for Tesco, and both won Gold at Blas na hEireann. When you see that cream cheese, its actually cream in colour, thats because the milk is from cows that have been outside on grass.

Recently, its Tesco partnership expanded to Northern Ireland and into 700 Tesco UK stores. Its been fantastic, she says. Its been a huge reward for us and thats all from working with the Tesco team. Hopefully, this is just the beginning.

Killowens top Tesco picks

Tesco Finest Garlic & Herb Cream Cheese - Gold at Blas na hEireann

Tesco Finest Heritage Raspberry & Senga Strawberry Yoghurt - Fruit produced by Follain

Tesco Finest Layered Blackberry & Apple Yoghurt - Fruit produced by Follain

As well as being a big hit in stores, Milish has made an impression at the Blas na hEireann awards

Milish

Everyone loves the waft from the fresh bakery section in the supermarket. Tesco credits a Dublin family business with making that waft extra special. Milish Bakery was originally set up in 1959 by siblings Kitty Coghlan and Liam Coghlan snr. Liam snrs son, also called Liam, now runs the company and has grown their wholesale business, but they still stay true to their craft baking beginnings, says sales director Gillian Wilson. It might be a large industrial-scale business, she says, but what has always stayed the same is using traditional craft bakery methods to produce our goods and make sure they are the absolute best in the market.

Three years ago things went up a notch when Milish started working on the Tesco Finest range. We knew if we were going to create Tescos premium muffins and scones, we wanted them to be the best on the market. The team combined their traditional baking ethos with creative combinations to come up with the range. Their Tesco Finest scones are made using Irish double cream, buttermilk and butter. Wilson says they are batch baked with hands to ensure a light crust and soft crumb. The Tesco Finest muffins use premium ingredients such as Belgian chocolate, Sicilian lemon and wild Canadian blueberries. As a creative and ambitious business, they love being pushed. The Tesco innovation team really challenged us to dial things up.

As well as being a big hit in stores, theyve also made an impression at the Blas na hEireann awards. We basically won everything we could win with Tesco Finest last year. It will be a hard act to follow this year, Wilson laughs. The Dublin team were delighted when Liam brought the awards home and presented them to the team. He spoke with such passion about how proud he was of them for being one of the best bakeries in Ireland. Awards are great, Wilson says, but nothing quite beats seeing people enjoy the products: What we love is the facial expressions when we see someone bite into our Milish products, no words are needed.

Milishs top Tesco picks

Tesco Finest Raspberry, Cinnamon, Oat & Pumpkin Seed Muffin - Gold at Blas na hEireann

Tesco Finest Lemon & Poppyseed Scone - Gold at Blas na hEireann

Tesco Finest Carrot Cake Muffin  Newest addition

Clona

Picking up a bottle of Mango Kefir in Tesco, you might think its a thoroughly modern product, but theres more than a century of tradition behind Clona Dairy, who make this award-winning drink. Dating back to 1919 it was started by the Hurley family in Clonakilty, Co Cork. Today, its owned by three west Cork co-ops, in Bandon, Barryroe and Lisavaird. From the early days of processing local milk and cream, were now a leading supplier to Irish retailers, says Mary Vaughan, key accounts and marketing manager at Clona. As the business has grown and innovated, its west Cork location remains at the heart of everything they do. The company employs about 150 people locally and supports community and sporting initiatives. Giving back to our community is a huge part of the Clona culture, says Vaughan.

That local focus also supports sustainability. The milk Clona uses comes from nearby grass-fed herds, helping to keep its carbon footprint low while ensuring the freshest, best-quality dairy. Their partnership with Tesco began locally too, supplying milk and cream first to Cork stores. From those early deliveries, the relationship grew, and today Clona supplies Tesco stores nationwide with whipped cream and its award-winning kefir range (many of Clonas Tesco-supplied products have earned accolades at the Blas na hEireann awards). Looking ahead, Clona plans to keep innovating, developing more functional and flavoured dairy products. Working with Tesco allows us to reach a much wider audience, Vaughan says. Its a partnership thats helped Clona grow and one were excited to build on.

Clonas top Tesco picks

Tesco Fresh Whipped Cream  Gold at Blas na hEireann

Tesco Natural Kefir  Gold at Blas na hEireann

Tesco Mango Kefir  Silver at Blas na hEireann
(Photo: Reuters / Ronen Zvulun)A Catholic worshipper holds a palm frond with a Palestinian flag during a Palm Sunday procession on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem March 24, 2013.

The Israeli Police have prevented the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, head of the Catholic Church in the Holy Land, from entering the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, as they made their way to celebrate the Palm Sunday Mass.

Pizzaballa was with the Custos of the Holy Land, the Rev. Francesco Ielpo, OFM, the official Guardian of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the patriarchate said in a statement, issued in Hoy Week, when Christians Holy Week, commemorates the last week of the earthly life of Jesus Christ.

"The two were stopped en route, while proceeding privately and without any characteristics of a procession or ceremonial act, and were compelled to turn back.

"As a result, and for the first time in centuries, the Heads of the Church were prevented from celebrating the Palm Sunday Mass at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre."

The patriarchate said, "This incident is a grave precedent, and disregards the sensibilities of billions of people around the world who, during this week, look to Jerusalem."

The U.S. Ambassador Mike Huckabe, who is also a Baptist minister, quoted by The Times of Israel, said that Israel's decision to keep senior Catholic clergymen from worshipping at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre on Palm Sunday is "difficult to understand or justify."

The decision by Israel's police, says Huckabee on X, "to deny Latin Patriarch Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa and three other priests from entering the Church to offer a blessing on Palm Sunday is an unfortunate overreach already having major repercussions around the world."

"Home Front Command Guidelines restrict any gatherings to 50 people or less," he continued.

"The four representatives of the Catholic Church were well below that restriction. Statements from the Gov't of Israel indicate the action to prohibit Cardinal Pizzaballa entry to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher was for safety reasons, but churches, synagogues and mosques throughout Jerusalem have met with the restrictions of 50 or less."

The Head of Churches said, "For the Patriarch to be barred from entry to the Church on Palm Sunday for a private ceremony is difficult to understand or justify. Israel has indicated it will work with the Patriarch to accommodate a safe means of carrying out Holy Week activities."

They noted that the Heads of the Churches have acted with full responsibility and, since the outset of the war, have complied with all imposed restrictions.

They said that public gatherings were cancelled, attendance was prohibited, and arrangements were made to broadcast the celebrations to hundreds of millions of faithful worldwide, who, during these days of Easter, turn their eyes to Jerusalem and to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

"Preventing the entry of the Cardinal and the Custos, who bear the highest ecclesiastical responsibility for the Catholic Church and the Holy Places, constitutes a manifestly unreasonable and grossly disproportionate measure," they said.

They said that the hasty and fundamentally flawed decision, tainted by improper considerations, represents an extreme departure from basic principles of reasonableness, freedom of worship, and respect for the Status Quo.

"The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem and the Custody of the Holy Land express their profound sorrow to the Christian faithful in the Holy Land and throughout the world that prayer on one of the most sacred days of the Christian calendar has thus been prevented."
(Photo credit: Lambeth Palace)Archbishop Sarah Mullally at her installation as the first woman to be the Archbishop of Canterbury, viewed as the de facto head of the Anglican Communion on March 25, 2026.

The Church of England has installed Sarah Mullally as the 106th archbishop of Canterbury, the first woman to take on the role in the nearly 1,500-year history of the church, becoming the de facto head of the Anglican communion.

Mullally was installed on March 25 at a service at Canterbury Cathedral, attended by leaders from across the Anglican Communion and the Prince and Princess of Wales, Kate Middleton and Prince William, members of Britain's Royal family.

"I make this journey both on a personal level ... but more significantly, I make this journey with others and in the footsteps of the past," she said, referring to Thomas Becket, who served as archbishop of Canterbury 850 years ago.

Becket is known for his conflict with England's King Henry II over the rights and privileges of the Church and was murdered by followers of the king in Canterbury Cathedral in 1170.

"Today, I think of the many thousands of unknown Christians who have trodden these same paths since, and not just on this ancient land, but all across the world. People walk the pilgrim paths of faith each and every day."

All the previous 105 previous Archbishops of Canterbury have been men, starting with St. Augustine in 597 AD.

Women were only allowed to become priests in the Church of England 32 years ago, in 1994.

Previously the bishop of London, Mullally was educated at a state school and was a former National Health Service worker who rose to become England's chief nursing officer.

CANCER-TREATIING NURSE

Mullally, aged 63, was ordained to the priesthood in 2001 after a career as a nurse treating cancer patients and had served as the bishop of London since 2018.

"Regardless of gender, she is a very different prospect from her Old Etonian predecessor, Justin Welby," Britain's Guardian newspaper commented.

Addressing some 2,000 guests at the historic cathedral, she also warned against overlooking victims harmed by "the failures of those in our own Christian churches and communities."

Some traditionalists in the Church of England and the wider global Anglican Communion, particularly from Africa, continue to oppose the idea of women being priests at all.

In November 2024, Welby resigned from the prominent post amid criticism of how he handled a probe into "the most prolific serial abuser" affiliated with the Church of England.

He said in a statement that he was stepping down "in sorrow" after seeking the "gracious permission of His Majesty The King."

That was after a report commissioned by the Church of England found that he had not ensured a thorough investigation into accusations of abuse involving over 100 boys and young men at Christian camps decades ago.

The Archbishop of Canterbury is the spiritual leader of the worldwide Anglican Communion, the British sovereign is the Defender of the Faith and Supreme Governor of the church, ceremonially heading the Church of England.

Lambeth Palace, the headquarters of the Church of England, confirmed that Archbishop Mullally is to visit Rome from April 25-28, and during the visit she will meet Pope Leo at the Vatican, The Tablet reported.

According to Wikipedia, the Anglican Communion had approximately 85110 million members in 2025.
TIDRADIO TD-H3 Dual Band Handheld Transceiver Review If you want an up to date budget friendly V/UHF amateur radio handheld with better with better performance than the well establish Baofeng UV-5R, then look no further than the TIDRADIO TD-H3 and check out my review.

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For many years the Baofeng UV-5R has been the go-to really budget friendly V/UHF handheld radio, but it is now showing its age and the RF performance leaves something to be desired.

Now, the TIDRADIO TD-H3 has rapidly become one of the most talked-about handheld transceivers in the amateur radio community.

If the Baofeng UV-5R was the radio that brought the masses into the hobby, and the Quansheng UV-K series was the radio that invited the hackers, the TD-H3 is arguably the radio that finally brought modern, professional-feeling utility to the "budget" price point.

In this review, Ill explore why the TD-H3 is currently the choice for many hams, I'll look at how it stacks up against the old guard, and where it truly shines in real-world field use.

First Impressions: Design and Build Quality

When the TD-H3 comes out of the box, the immediate impression is one of solidity. It is significantly more compact than the classic Baofeng UV-5R, yet it feels more substantial in the hand.

TIDRADIO TD H3 Dual Band Handheld With an impressive specification including dual band operation, Bluetooth channel programming, CTCSS / DCS, USB-C charging, and much more, this is becoming the go-to low cost handheld amateur radio VHF/UHF dual bander. Buy Now

When the box was opened there was the transceiver itself, the antenna, clip for belt mounting, a base charger, and a USB-A to USB-C lead for charging. And of course there was an instruction manual which wasn't bad in terms of how many instruction manuals go these days.

There are several factors that are particularly noticeable.

TIDRADIO H3 is clearly aimed for real portability and convenience: it is small enough to disappear into a shirt pocket, making it an excellent choice for carrying anywhere and everywhere or for SOTA/POTA hiking. The H3 uses a textured polymer that provides a confident grip even in damp conditions. It has a really nice sturdy feel to it.

The display is a 1.44-inch color TFT display which is a major improvement over its main rivals:

The Baofeng: Uses a dated, segmented LCD that is often hard to read in direct sunlight.

The Quansheng: Uses a monochrome dot-matrix display (though highly customizable via firmware).

The TD-H3: Features a vibrant, high-contrast screen with three selectable color themes. It provides a level of clarityespecially for signal strength and menu navigationthat simply hasn't been seen at this $30$40 price bracket before.

But like many modern smartphones, the display goes blank after a few seconds to conserve battery charge.

Then there's the ease of programming. Historically, programming a budget Chinese radio involved a specialized "K-plug" cable, a specific Prolific or CH340 driver, and a lot of patience with COM ports. The TD-H3 solves this in two revolutionary ways:

Built-in Bluetooth: The TD-H3 features native Bluetooth integration. By using the Odmaster app on your smartphone, you can program the radio in the field without ever touching a computer. You can download repeater lists based on your current GPS location, edit channel names, and sync them to the radio in seconds. This puts it leagues ahead of the Baofeng UV-5R, which requires a separate Bluetooth dongle for similar functionality.

Native USB-C Programming: Even more impressive is the **direct USB-C port** on the side of the radio. Unlike many other radios where the USB-C port is "charge only," the H3 features a built-in serial chip. This means you can use a standard USB-C to USB-A data cable (the same one you use for your phone) to program the radio via CHIRP or the factory CPS software. No more hunting for specialized programming cables.

The ODmaster app is OK. It takes a little bit of getting used to, but there are plenty of videos around to help.

Spending a little time it is possible to get all the simplex channels and repeaters loaded up. It is also easy to prepare and upload new files of channels, so if you regularly visit another area, you could have a different set up channels prepared to load for this.

I found it useful to prepare which channels I wanted for what before actually programming. One very useful feature is that the app brngs up local repeaters with all their details: frequencies, name, CTCSS tones, etc. so these can be easily programmed in.

Receiver performance and filtering

A common complaint with budget handhelds is "de-sensing" - in other words, the radio going "deaf" when close by strong out-of-band signals (like those from cell towers or broadcast stations) are present.

The Baofeng UV-5R: Famous for its "wide open" front end, it often struggles in urban environments.

The Quansheng UV-K8: While better, it is still prone to interference and harmonics.

The TD-H3: Testing indicates a noticeably superior receiver front end. While the TD-H3 isn't a really high end radio like an Icom, Kenwood or Yaesu, it handles local interference significantly better than its predecessors.

In terms of the receiver coverage the TD-H3 is marketed as an 8-band radio, including **AM Airband (108-136 MHz).

The H3 provides clear AM audio for aircraft monitoring, especially after recent firmware updates (look for version 240606 or later). It also covers 350-400 MHz and 470-600 MHz for reception, making it a capable little scanner for local public safety or utility monitoring. The concensus is that the airband reception is superior to that of the Quansheng.

Transmitter purity

Budget radios are often disliked for the high level of spurious emissions: harmonics and general unwanted spurious outputs that apear other channels causing interference.

On the 2-metre band, the TD-H3 has shown improved spectral purity in recent batches compared to the very first release units. While some units may still show secondary harmonics that are borderline for strict FCC Part 97 compliance, they are generally "cleaner" than the average unbranded Baofeng clone. However, if you are a "purity purist," you should always check your specific unit on a spectrum analyzer if possible.

Battery life and power management

The TD-H3 comes with a 2500 mAh battery, which is a significant jump from the 1800 mAh labels usually found on Baofengs.

Real-World Use: In a 90/5/5 duty cycle (standby/receive/transmit), the H3 easily lasts two full days of casual use.

Charging Versatility: You can charge via the included desktop cradle or the side USB-C port. The ability to "top off" the radio using a power bank or a car charger while in the field is a massive quality-of-life improvement for hikers and emergency responders.

Advanced Features: Modes and Customisation

One of the "hidden" aspects of the TD-H3 is its flexibility in operating modes. By holding the PTT and the '*' key during power-on, users can switch between the following modes:

1. HAM Mode: Standard amateur bands.

2. GMRS Mode: Channelized for GMRS use (if you have the GMRS-certified version).

3. Normal/Unlocked Mode: For wide-band transmission (use with caution and only where legal).

The "H3 Plus" Upgrades

TIDRADIO recently released the H3 Plus, which adds some new features:

Anti-Mistouch Design: A physical switch to prevent accidental key presses.

Global Intercom: Integration with the Odmaster app to act as a "network radio" link.

Bluetooth Headset Support: The ability to pair directly with wireless earbuds or a Bluetooth PTT finger button.

Comparison: TD-H3 vs. The Rivals

The TIDRADIO has some impressive features, especially for the proice, but how does it compare with the competition: radios that have become well established in the amateur radio market?

Summary Table of TIDRADIO TD-H3 Main Competition

Feature TIDRADIO TD-H3 Baofeng UV-5R Quansheng UV-K8 Approximate price (USD) $30 - $35 $20 - $25 $25 - $30 Programming Bluetooth & USB-C K-Plug Cable Only K-Plug Cable Only Display Full Colour TFT Segmented B&W Dot Matrix B&W Supplied Battery 2500 mAh 1800 mAh 1600 mAh Airband Excellent (AM) No (FM only on some) Good (AM) Hackability Moderate Low High (Open Firmware)

So what is the overall summary and what are the strong points of the competing radios?

Baofeng UV-5R: remains the "disposable" choice. If you lose it in the mud, you won't cry. But it lacks the features and receiver quality of the H3.

The Quansheng UV-K8: is the "experimenters" radio. If you enjoy flashing custom firmware like *Egzumer* to add a spectrum analyzer to your handheld, the Quansheng is unbeatable. But as a "daily driver" radio out of the box, it isn't as polished as the TIDRADIO.

Final Verdict: Is it Worth It?

The TIDRADIO TD-H3 represents the pinnacle of what a current budget handheld be. It has successfully addressed the three biggest pain points of low-cost radios: terrible programming experiences, poor displays, and weak battery life.

Pros:

Bluetooth Programming: Genuinely useful for field updates.

USB-C Data/Charge: Eliminates the need for specialized "ham radio only" cables.

Compact & Rugged: Feels significantly more "professional" than a Baofeng.

Excellent Audio: Loud, clear, and punchy internal speaker.

Cons:

Slow Scan Speed: If you want to scan 200 channels, this radio is agonizingly slow compared to a dedicated scanner.

Small Buttons: Users with large hands or those wearing gloves might find the keypad a bit cramped.

So, if you are looking for your first amateur radio, or if you are a veteran looking for a reliable "glovebox" or "hiking" radio that doesn't feel like a toy, the TIDRADIO TD-H3 is arguably the best value on the market today.

It nicely bridges the gap between the ultra-cheap radios and the $150+ Japanese heritage brands, offering a feature set that makes it a joy to use rather than a chore to program.

TIDRADIO TD H3 Dual Band Handheld With an impressive specification including dual band operation, Bluetooth channel programming, CTCSS / DCS, USB-C charging, and much more, this is becoming the go-to low cost handheld amateur radio VHF/UHF dual bander. Buy Now

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by Azra Raza

I recently read about a man who arrived in the United States from India with just thirty dollars in his pocket and, three decades later, had become a billionaire. When asked about the most important lesson of his journey, he answered without hesitation: money matters.

Tara, the protagonist of A Splintering by Dur e Aziz Amna, learns that lesson early, though under far harsher conditions. She grows up in the soul-destroying poverty of a lower middle class family of four sisters and a brother somewhere in a remote Pakistani village, surrounded by brutality, superstition, ignorance, and a rigid patriarchal social order that consigns girls to early marriages and lives of numbing domestic repetition. Cleaning, cooking, washing, bearing childrenthese are not choices but destinies.

Her mother, one of the novels most striking figures, senses something different in Tara and insists on educating her, sparing her from household labor. It is an act of quiet rebellion. But Tara, sharp and observant, has her own ambitions. Education, for her, is not enlightenment or self-empowerment. It is escape.

With it, she secures a proposal from a middle-class urban family and seizes the opportunity. The village, with its suffocation and grime, is left behind. In the city, Tara learns quickly; watching television, studying the women around her, absorbing codes of behavior and aspiration. She adapts with startling ease.

Though she finds neither intellectual companionship nor emotional fulfillment in her husband, she builds the life she had envisioned: two children, financial stability, independence from her in-laws. She has her ugly, protruding teeth fixed, gets her tubes tied, learns to drive, finds a job and moves her nuclear family to a home of their own.

The village girl, it seems, has arrived.

I am not giving away any of the plot as all this is essentially told within the first three pages and this is where the novel truly begins.

Amna asks us to watchpatiently, unflinchinglyas Taras desire not just for comfort but for affluence, for ease without compromise, leads her to make a choice that is quietly, unmistakably wrong. One decisive act gives way to a series of smaller transgressions. What is remarkable is not simply the descent, but our response to it: we are slowly, almost imperceptibly, desensitized. We continue to follow Tara without quite turning away.

Tara makes this evil decision deliberately and with her husbands permission, one that both fully understand could destroy her and their family. The first major slash leads to a thousand minor cuts, and we the readers are slowly lulled into accepting each without hating the protagonist even as we witness one hideous act after another. This semi-acceptance is what I find terribly unnerving.

How does Amna achieve this alarming effect?

Her genius lies in telling the unfolding story in the voice of Tara just as Vladimir Nabokov did in Lolita, where the narrator is Humbert Humbert, the depraved protagonist. Both achieve the unsettling and brilliant effect in that the narration from the perspective of the protagonist doesnt excuse Tara or Humbert Humbertit seduces us into complicity, which in turn softens our immediate hatred.

We are locked inside their minds, we hear their justifications, their rationalizations, their moments of doubt explained away. Moral revulsion is somehow diluted because of familiarity with the protagonists way of being. There is just enough vulnerability to create emotional ambiguity.

Both seem to be asking what happens when writers give moral intimacy to someone who does not deserve moral pardon? They dont try to dazzle us. They trap us into having a softer view through understanding.

In A Splintering, the softening happens as Amna patiently builds our empathy for Taras choices layer by layer, as she traces her heroines psyche back to deprivation, humiliation, microinsults and microaggressions through reminders of her ruthless past and the pitiless class differences driving her demonic desires.

Amna also does something more ambiguous as she narrows the distance between reader and protagonist so that the moral line begins to blur. You dont simply feel complicit. You feel protective, even as you recoil.

The more dangerous achievement of A Splintering is that Amna makes it impossible to hate simply. Rather, she exposes something deeper and more troubling: the possibility that understanding and condemnation cannot fully coexist.

In A Splintering, suffering is central; it does not excuse the heroine, but it reframes her actions as damage rather than pure monstrosity. This is closer to a psychological and even clinical lensone that I, as a physician, recognize: pathology without absolution. As I read through the story, I felt heavy, sorrowful, conflicted in a more humane way, asking the same question repeatedly: How does someone become this?

Amnas observational powers are extraordinary. The textures of village and city life, the subtle hierarchies of class, the evolving dynamics between Tara and her mother, and later between Tara and her own daughter, are rendered with precision and emotional intelligence. There is wit, toounexpected, sharp, and utterly disarming.

The narrative moves with confidence, its turns unpredictable yet earned, making it difficult to put aside. What lingers, however, is not just the story, but its moral aftertaste.

In both Lolita and A Splintering, the initial impulsewhether of carnal desire or ambitionhardens over time into entitlement. And entitlement, once rooted, begins to erode the boundaries that hold moral life together.

What begins as longing gradually seeks justification, then permission, and finally absolution. At that point, even acts of profound violence no longer appear as ruptures, but as extensions of a logic already accepted.

The true horror lies not in the act itself, but in the quiet reasoning that precedes it.

We recognize this pattern beyond fictionin the way repeated exposure dulls our response, how singular tragedies dissolve into statistics, how outrage fades into acceptance.

Ultimately, A Splintering leaves us with a difficult but necessary reminder: understanding the forces that shape a person may deepen our empathy, but it also demands that we hold fast to our moral clarityeven when that clarity becomes uncomfortable.

As Socrates pointed out wisely, Virtue and excellence do not come from money, but money and all other good things in life come from virtue and excellence.

***

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Microsoft has confirmed exactly when this years Xbox Games Showcase will take place. It will air at the usual time, 1PM ET on the Sunday (June 7) of Summer Game Fest weekend. In recent years, the company has offered a deeper dive into one particular game straight after the showcase, and its sticking to that format this time with a closer look at Gears of War: E-Day.

The showcase and Gears of War: E-Day Direct will be available in more than 40 languages, including American Sign Language and British Sign Language. A stream with English audio descriptions will be available as well. You can watch it on several of Xboxs various social channels, including YouTube, Twitch and Facebook.

This is typically Xboxs biggest showcase of the year. It will be the first Xbox Games Showcase with Asha Sharma at the helm of Microsofts gaming division. Perhaps well hear some more details on the next Xbox (aka Project Helix), which is confirmed to be a system that will run PC games  much like the upcoming Steam Machine.

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Along with more details about a brand-new Gears of War game, it seems likely that well learn the release date for Fable during the Xbox Games Showcase. That game is slated to arrive this fall.

We dont yet have exact release dates for Minecraft Dungeons 2 or Halo: Campaign Evolved, a remake of the first Halo games campaign. Those are scheduled to debut this year as well, so they seem like prime candidates for showcase appearances. Microsoft also has Clockwork Revolution, State of Decay 3, OD (from Kojima Productions) and something new from Toys for Bob in the hopper.

In addition, Microsoft is promising the return of Xbox FanFest, an in-person fan event, to help mark the brands 25th anniversary. Sharma confirmed this will take place in Los Angeles, where all of the Summer Game Fest events are going down. This years experience will include a look back at the last 25 years, alongside a forward view of whats next, according to an Xbox Wire blog post.
A legal dispute between the estate of late actress Shannen Doherty and her ex-husband Kurt Iswarienko has been resolved, according to newly filed court documents. The agreement outlines how the former couple's shared assets will be divided following months of legal tension.

Based on filings in Los Angeles County Superior Court, Iswarienko has agreed to give Doherty's estate one-half of the equity from their home in Dripping Springs, Texas. The property had been a major point of disagreement after claims he refused to list it for sale, despite a prior arrangement to divide the proceeds equally.

The settlement also requires Iswarienko to return specific personal items, including a coffee table and couch from the Texas home.

In addition, he must provide an inventory of photographs he took of Doherty and send $25,000 to her estate for her share in a Mooney M-20 airplane, People reported.

In exchange, Doherty's estate, managed by trustee Christopher Cortazzo, will return several of Iswarienko's belongings. These include his guitars, music equipment, and a restored Garrard stereo record player.

The late Shannen Doherty's estate reached an agreement with her ex-husband Kurt Iswarienko over ownership of the former couple's Texas mansion, Us Weekly can confirm. https://t.co/rG1L95K6zj  Us Weekly (@usweekly) March 26, 2026

Read more: Shannen Doherty Filed For Divorce From Her Husband One Day Before She Died

Kurt Iswarienko Allegedly Withheld Funds

This agreement comes four months after attorneys representing Doherty's estate raised concerns about unmet obligations tied to the couple's divorce settlement.

The divorce was finalized in July 2024, just one day before the actress passed away at age 53 after a long battle with cancer. Earlier court filings claimed Iswarienko failed to follow through on key financial responsibilities.

According to Yahoo, among them was the sale of the Texas property, which had an estimated value of $1.5 million.

The estate also alleged that he did not provide copies of photos of Doherty by the agreed deadline and had delayed payments related to the sale of the airplane. According to the documents, the original agreement required Iswarienko to pay $100,000 for Doherty's share of the aircraft within five business days of its sale.

However, he allegedly withheld more than $50,000 and had not completed the payment for over a year at the time of the filing.

In January, Iswarienko challenged the divorce settlement in court, arguing that it had been filed in the wrong jurisdiction. He also claimed that the case should have ended upon Doherty's death and questioned whether the agreement should have been enforced at all.
Prince William and Catherine, Princess of Wales, were reportedly "appalled" after Sarah Ferguson claimed that Queen Elizabeth's spirit communicates with her through the late monarch's corgis.

RadarOnline reports, the 66-year-old former Duchess, who now goes by Sarah Ferguson following her title loss, told an audience at the Creative Women Platform Forum in London that she receives guidance from the Queen through her two corgis, Muick and Sandy.

"I have her dogs. I have her corgis, so every morning they come in and go, 'Woof, woof,' and all that and I'm sure it's her talking to me," Ferguson said. She added, "I believe it's because the Queen is passing by" when the animals bark at nothing.

According to sources cited by Tom Sykes' Royalist Substack, William and Kate found the comments "intense[ly] irritating." The report states, "William and Catherine, along with those who actually cared for and spent time with the Queen in her final months...thought it was a bizarre and tasteless way for Sarah to boast...of her spiritual closeness to Elizabeth."

Read more: Prince William's Personal Religious Beliefs Admission Sparks Royal Church Controversy

The insider explained that the ex-couple's handling of the Queen's corgis contributed to the displeasure. "They also found it distasteful that Sarah pretended to friends that she had been 'left' the dogs in the late sovereign's will, when, in fact, they were simply returned to Andrew and Sarah who had given the Queen the dogs...without consulting other family members," the source said.

Ferguson's claims reportedly prompted a range of reactions within the royal household. "Some people at the palace think it's sweetothers whisper she's gone completely mad and she's losing her mind, while William and Kate remain horrified by the claim," the insider noted.

The former Duchess' daughters, Princess Beatrice, 37, and Princess Eugenie, 35, have also reportedly expressed concern over the situation.

One royal aide said, "The sisters adore both their parents, but it's been an incredibly hard year. Their mother's finding comfort in talking to the dogs as if the Queen's spirit is with her, and their father's been cast out. None of them could have predicted life turning out this way."

Ferguson inherited the corgis after Queen Elizabeth's death in 2022, though they were originally gifted to the monarch by Ferguson and her ex-husband, Prince Andrew, in 2021. The situation has created tension within the royal family over both the corgis and Ferguson's unusual spiritual claims.

Read more: Prince Charles and Kate Middleton Face Hecklers at Royal Outing Over Ex-Prince Andrew's Connection to Jeffrey Epstein
Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie are reportedly prepared to engage legal counsel and publicly counter allegations that Prince William may desire their removal from the royal family.

According to Style Caster, the ongoing fallout from their father Prince Andrew's legal troubles and their mother Sarah Ferguson's connection to the Jeffrey Epstein scandal has raised questions about the princesses' roles and public appearances within the royal family.

A source familiar with the sisters' thinking said they are willing to take action to protect their homes and royal ties. "They feel strongly that they have a right to hang on to their royal homes and their ties to the family. They both love having residences connected to royal palaces, for them it feels like home so of course they are hugely concerned and will use all the leverage they have to stand their ground," the insider told Style Caster.

Regarding the possibility of escalating the dispute, the Closer added, "And, of course, there's also the possibility that they could do a tell-all. That's going to become a lot more likely if William goes after them. It's certainly something they can use as a threat to try and get him to back off."

The princesses' public engagement opportunities appear to be shrinking. Recent reports suggest that both were not invited to attend Royal Ascot this year, a decision reportedly driven by William.

Royal commentator Andrew Lownie told The Lownie Report podcast as noted by Marie Claire, "William, I think, is calling more of the shots now. So there's definitely a change going on, and I get the sense also that there's a bit of distancing even from the Sussexes, clearly from the Waleses... I think the decision to ban them from Ascot is interesting. The line that [Beatrice and Eugenie] are pushing is that they were never going to go to Ascot in the first place, and it does seem odd to be so public about this distancing."

The sisters' frustration is compounded by the ongoing controversies surrounding their parents. A source told RadarOnline, "There is a real concern that Prince William wants their heads on the chopping block as part of a harder line on which royals should remain publicly associated with the institution."

"Beatrice and Eugenie feel like they are living in horrific limbo. They have spent years carefully building respectable private lives, yet the fallout from their parents' controversies keeps circling back to them," the source added.

With tensions between the cousins and the Duke of Cambridge reportedly escalating, the princesses appear prepared to take both legal and public measures to defend their positions and protect their inheritance of royal residences.
DELAWARE, Ohio  A pole barn contractor was sentenced to a minimum of 17 years in prison on March 26 after defrauding consumers of more than $400,000.

Marion resident Ryan C. Needels, owner of Clear View Construction, was convicted of 47 felony counts in the Delaware County Common Pleas Court from an indictment originally filed in August 2023. Needels ran a long-term scheme where he accepted large payments for pole barns and other construction projects, but pocketed the money without completing any work.

The case stemmed from an investigation launched in February 2023 by the Delaware County Sheriffs Office and the Economic Crimes Unit in Attorney General Dave Yosts Consumer Protection Section after multiple consumers filed complaints about Needels and his business.

The investigation revealed that, between June 2021 and October 2022, Needels used social media to attract customers, then coaxed them into paying substantial sums in advance for the construction of pole barns, garages and other home amenities that he never built, according to the Attorney Generals Office.

The investigation was prompted by a civil lawsuit filed by Yost in October 2022 against Needels and Clear View.

Judge Richard Frye, who oversaw the case, heard testimony from 19 victims. The judge called Needels a predator who conducted a prolonged scheme to defraud his victims. He ordered Needels to serve 17 to 22 years in prison and pay $448,000 in restitution.

The charges consisted of engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, telecommunications fraud, seven counts of money laundering and 38 counts of theft. Needels previously entered a guilty plea deal to some of these charges; the plea was appealed, and the convictions were abandoned.

Ohioans who suspect unfair or deceptive business practices should contact the Attorney Generals Office at www.OhioProtects.org or 800-282-0515.
A farmer who turned a Yorkshire beauty spot into a vast illegal dumping ground for thousands of tonnes of waste has been handed a suspended prison sentence and ordered to clean it up.

Hayden Fortune, 50, of Pyethornes Farm, Wigglesworth, near Skipton, was sentenced at York Magistrates Court on 26 March after admitting operating an illegal waste site following an Environment Agency investigation.

The dumping was first reported in May 2024. When officers visited the rural site, they found a foul-smelling landscape strewn with shredded plastic, metals, electrical items and aerosols.

Further visits uncovered excavators in operation and clear evidence that waste was being buried across the land.

Despite formal warnings and a statutory notice requiring all material to be removed, the illegal activity continued for more than a year.

As part of a wider crackdown on waste crime, the Environment Agency escalated enforcement in February 2026 by securing a court restriction order in a bid to halt the dumping.

Magistrates ruled the offending was both deliberate and significant. Fortune was sentenced to 12 months in prison, suspended for two years.

He was also fined 2,500 for breaching an unrelated suspended sentence.

In addition, he must complete 20 days of rehabilitation activity, pay 10,000 in costs and a 187 victim surcharge.

The court ordered him to clear all waste from the site within two years. If he fails to comply, he will be brought back before magistrates.

Ben Hocking, Area Environment Manager at the Environment Agency, said: Fortunes deliberate offending showed a total disregard for the law, the environment, and the community where he lives.

He repeatedly ignored warnings and notices issued by our officers, who have worked incredibly hard to take quick and decisive action against him.

I hope this sends out the message to others that we are cracking down on waste crime and we will take action against those who breach the law.

The breach of Fortunes suspended sentence relates to a separate Trading Standards case. In April 2023, he was given a 12-week prison sentence, suspended for 18 months, for animal welfare offences and received a lifetime ban on keeping animals.

However, magistrates ruled it would be inappropriate to activate that sentence, citing the potential impact on his dependants.

He now has two years to clear the waste  or face returning to court.
MPs are stepping up calls for action to improve farm profitability, warning UK agriculture is under growing pressure from rising costs, tighter regulation and cheaper imports.

A group of around 40 rural Labour MPs believes targeted reforms could unlock up to 500 million in additional income for farmers, as concerns mount over competitiveness within the food supply chain.

The Labour Rural Research Group (LRRG) has launched a campaign urging ministers to deliver what it describes as a level playing field for British producers, particularly in future trade deals.

The group argues that current rules leave domestic farmers at a disadvantage, with imported goods often produced to different standards entering the UK market.

One of the key proposals focuses on food labelling, where MPs say existing rules can confuse shoppers and fail to clearly distinguish British produce.

Products can currently be marketed as made in Britain even when a significant proportion of ingredients are sourced from abroad  something the group believes undermines confidence in labelling.

Instead, MPs are backing a clearer system that would show how much of a product is genuinely British, helping consumers make more informed choices at the point of purchase.

They are also calling for improved welfare labelling, aimed at giving shoppers greater transparency around how food is produced and supporting higher standards across the sector.

The proposals are intended to help farmers compete more fairly, while encouraging consumers to support domestic production.

Jenny Riddell-Carpenter, who chairs the group, said there is a major opportunity to strengthen the sector. She said there is a once-in-a-generation moment to back British farming through fairer trade arrangements and clearer labelling.

Noah Law, MP for St Austell and Newquay, said better transparency would benefit both producers and consumers. He said shoppers deserve to know how their food was raised and where it comes from.

Alongside labelling changes, the group is pressing for stronger protections in trade agreements to ensure imported products meet UK standards.

There are also calls to strengthen the role of the Groceries Code Adjudicator, with MPs arguing that tougher enforcement is needed to address late payments and pricing practices that can leave farmers struggling to turn a profit.

The group maintains that these measures could improve farm incomes without placing significant pressure on household food costs.

James Naish, MP for Rushcliffe, said farmers play a vital role in supplying affordable, high-quality food and supporting rural economies, adding that improving profitability would have wider benefits for communities.

The campaign comes at a sensitive time for Labour, which has faced criticism from the farming sector following proposed inheritance tax changes affecting family farms.

Although those plans were later revised, concerns remain about long-term confidence and investment in agriculture.

The latest proposals underline broader unease within the sector about how UK farmers compete globally, particularly as lower-cost imports continue to enter supply chains.

A Defra spokesperson said the government is continuing to support farmers through investment and oversight of supply chain practices.

They pointed to 345 million in recent grant funding for equipment and said ministers are monitoring whether imported food gains any unfair advantage, while maintaining that existing labelling standards are robust.

Calls for reform are now intensifying, as pressure grows for clearer labelling and fairer competition across the food system.
Upland farmers are being offered 12 fully funded training places to help future-proof their businesses, as financial pressures mount following the phase-out of direct payments.

The initiative, backed by H&H Group and delivered in partnership with the University of Cumbria, comes as upland farms adapt to the loss of Basic Payment Scheme income and the rollout of new environmental schemes.

The Farm Business Opportunities course, open to farmers across Cumbria, Northumberland, County Durham and North Yorkshire, will begin on 25 May 2026 and run for four weeks.

It aims to equip participants with practical skills in diversification, sustainable land management and financial planning  areas seen as critical for long-term resilience.

Mark Johnson, chief operating officer at H&H Group, said the scheme reflects the need to support farmers through a period of change.

He said: We are proud to support this Farm Business Opportunities course in collaboration with the University of Cumbria, adding that the programme is a timely and relevant initiative.

Mr Johnson said the long-term success of agriculture depends on equipping farmers with the skills and confidence to adapt, adding: In supporting these courses, we are investing directly in the resilience, sustainability and future profitability of upland farm businesses.

The 550 course fee will be fully covered by H&H, with places limited.

Delivered through the University of Cumbrias Institute of Science and Environment, the initiative builds on previous short courses focused on Environmental Land Management (ELM).

Participants will study alongside their existing work commitments, combining classroom, online learning and on-farm visits.

These visits will include both a regenerative system and a traditional sheep enterprise that has diversified, offering practical insight into different approaches.

The course will focus on improving financial performance, exploring diversification opportunities and understanding funding linked to environmental schemes.

Attendees will also develop skills in budgeting and scenario planning to support business decision-making.

Highlighting the pressures facing the sector, Kev Bevan, speaking on behalf of the University of Cumbria, said: The end of the Basic Payment Scheme is a real threat to farm incomes, but Ive seen firsthand that there are practical ways to respond.

He added: With SFI26 opening in June, the timing couldnt be better.

Mr Bevan said the course aims to give farmers the skills, knowledge and confidence to navigate this challenging new landscape.

Applications are now open, with organisers encouraging farmers to apply early due to limited places.
Scotland will tighten controls to keep bluetongue out of its sheep flock  but industry leaders warn the move could disrupt cross-border livestock trade.

The Scottish Governments updated strategy, running from 1 June to 9 September 2026, aims to maintain the countrys bluetongue-free status as the virus circulates elsewhere in the UK.

The measures prioritise flock health, but have raised concerns among auctioneers and farmers about the potential impact on livestock movements between Scotland and the rest of the UK.

The National Sheep Association's (NSA) policy manager Michael Priestley said keeping the disease out of Scotland is a commendable aim, but stressed the approach comes with trade-offs.

He said: The raft of health challenges BTV-3 presents, including fertility issues and mortality, have been stated as key reasons behind the strategy to keep BTV out of Scotland.

He also said the government had taken a difficult decision while being open about the trade-offs.

Bluetongue, spread by biting midges, can cause serious health issues in sheep, including fertility problems and, in severe cases, death.

There are currently two strains present in the UK, with serotype 3 circulating elsewhere but not yet detected in Scotland, while serotype 8 remains confined to south west England.

Mr Priestley urged farmers to take practical steps to manage risk.

He said: Sheep farmers concerned by the threat of BTV should discuss vaccination strategies with their vet.

While vaccines are available for both strains, he added that it is BTV-3 that represents the greatest threat to Scottish flocks.

The NSA is also encouraging the use of decision-support tools to help guide vaccination choices.

Scottish region policy officer Faye Bryce said: There is an industry vaccine calculator tool available online to help make decisions around vaccination.

However, the policy has drawn criticism from the Institute of Auctioneers in Scotland (IAAS), which warned it could hit livestock trade worth around 35m and affect about 50,000 cross-border movements during the restriction period.

Executive director Neil Wilson said the organisation was disappointed with the decision, particularly for businesses operating across the England-Scotland border.

He warned the measures would have a significant impact on our members and their farming customers operating cross border, especially in the south of Scotland.

The disagreement highlights a divide between a precautionary approach focused on disease prevention and a vaccination-led strategy aimed at maintaining trade.

Mr Wilson said IAAS had recommended allowing fully vaccinated animals to move freely across borders, but said it was regrettable that the Scottish Government has not adopted this approach.

He warned the policy risks adding further economic pressure at a time of rising costs across the supply chain.

With the virus confirmed in Northern Ireland and the Isle of Man, it is likely to be only a matter of time before it reaches South-West Scotland through infected midges, regardless of restrictions on movement, he said.

Despite concerns, IAAS said members would continue to support farmers in trading livestock and advised vaccination where possible.
Who doesnt love a comeback? In the jewellery world, some returns, however, feel more surreal than others. Amid the familiarity of classic diamonds and gemstones, designers are introducing pieces that shimmer with shifting flashes of colour  stones that seem to change personality depending on the light. The return of one of jewellerys most fascinating gemstones is not merely an experiment. Welcome back, opal.Most gemstones and diamonds sparkle in predictable flashes. Opals, on the other hand, tell their story through colour and light. And thats why no two opals are ever the same. When an opal is held up to the light, it does more than simply sparkle; it seems to come alive. Blues melt into greens, flashes of pink appear unexpectedly, and sometimes, a soft golden glow reveals from within. The effect feels almost magical, as though the stone itself is quietly shifting and responding to the light.Lets talk about why.Long before opals began recapturing the interest of modern jewellery designers, they were treasured across ancient civilisations. The Romans believed opals symbolised hope and purity. In Arabic legends, they were thought to fall from the sky in flashes of lightning. In Australia, now the worlds primary source of opals, indigenous stories describe them as carrying the colours of the rainbow.Historically, opals were even believed to hold the powers of all gemstones because of their shifting colours. That iridescent play-of-colour isnt a trick of the eye: its science. Tiny spheres of silica held within the stone diffract light, giving opals different colours depending on the angle and lighting.When someone chooses opal jewellery today, theyre not just choosing a stone. Theyre choosing centuries of symbolism layered into something beautifully modern. And thats where it becomes more than a stone.Today, jewellery wearers seek individuality. Personal style is less about following rules and more about expressing who you are. And opals naturally align with that shift. Traditionally, opals represent creativity, emotional balance, and individuality. It resonates with artists, entrepreneurs, brides who want something different, and anyone who finds diamonds limiting.Experts recommend looking at opals not just as statement pieces, but as everyday companions. When set in thoughtfully crafted gold, something durable yet refined, opals become wearable in a way that fits into ones daily life. That balance between beauty and practicality is important, especially for those investing in jewellery meant to be worn every day.Lately, more and more conversations around jewellery seem to circle back to the same curiosity about opals: Are opals durable enough for daily wear? Why are opals suddenly so popular? Can opals replace diamonds in engagement rings?Its interesting, isnt it? A gemstone that was once considered unconventional is now at the centre of modern jewellery discussions. The renewed interest isnt random.Firstly, the colour play is unmatched. In a world of curated feeds and personal aesthetics, opals feel custom-made. No two stones are identical. That uniqueness appeals strongly to Gen Z and millennial buyers who prefer pieces that dont look mass-produced.Secondly, theres a soft, understated glow to opals. They dont scream for attention. They glow in their own light and way. In an era where minimalism and quiet confidence define modern style, that subtlety feels right.Designers are also willing to experiment more. Lightweight opal studs, delicate opal rings set in 14kt gold for everyday wear, layered necklaces that combine opals with diamonds, the versatility is refreshing and endless. Wearers are not boxed into one look. That design flexibility is one reason why contemporary jewellery brands are reintroducing opals across categories and styles. Not only in the space of everyday wear, but opal has also taken centre stage in curating some statement pieces in combination with natural diamonds. Be it in daily wear or occasional, opal is surely making its comeback in the space of jewellery, and it is here to stay for long.One of the most fascinating facts about opals is how they interact with light, and because of this unique feature of the stone opal is often called the sun stone. Unlike faceted gemstones that reflect light in sharp flashes, opals diffuse and shift it. The colour play depends on the internal structure of silica spheres, and that structure is never identical in two stones.Thats why when someone looks at an opal ring or pendant, they may see hints of blue one moment and flashes of pink in the next. Theres something deeply comforting about that unpredictability. It mirrors life and love, which is layered, evolving, and never static. And maybe thats why people often describe opals as emotional stones. Whether or not someone believes in gemstone energy, theres no denying that the connection feels personal.Unlike traditional gemstones, opals arent loud, nor do they demand attention. Instead, they reveal themselves slowly, in changing light, in quiet moments, and in close conversations. When a person chooses an opal, they choose individuality over uniformity, colour over convention, and something that feels deeply personal.And maybe thats the real reason opals are slowly entering fashion, redefining their positions, and becoming the new obsession. In a world where jewellery often looks similar, opals quietly remind people that individuality has always been the truest form of beauty.


Unable to travel, the Academy sent a camera crew and the Oscar trophy to Kolkata, recording his acceptance speech for broadcast at the Academy Awards.



The award was presented by the iconic Audrey Hepburn, who paid tribute to Rays legacy. She said, "To Satyajit Ray, in recognition of his rare mastery of the art of motion pictures, and of his profound humanitarian outlook, which has had an indelible influence on filmmakers and audiences throughout the world...It begins when Ray began with his very first film, Pather Panchali, the masterpiece that established his international reputation....Ray is not well. He cannot be with us tonight, but he is able to speak with us from his hospital in Calcutta."





Even in that moment, Rays speech carried wit. He recalled writing letters as a young cinephile to Hollywood stars like Deanna Durbin and Ginger Rogers, and later to Billy Wilder after watching Double Indemnity, only to never hear back.









The auteur said, "Well, it's an extraordinary experience for me to be here tonight to receive this magnificent award; certainly the best achievement of my movie-making career. When I was a small, small school boy, I was terribly interested in the cinema. Became a film fan, wrote to Deanna Durbin. Got a reply, was delighted. Wrote to Ginger Rogers, didn't get a reply. Then, of course, I got interested in the cinema as an art form, and I wrote a twelve-page letter to Billy Wilder after seeing Double Indemnity. He didn't reply either. Well, there you are."



He continued, "I have learned everything I've learned about the craft of cinema from the making of American films. I've been watching American films very carefully over the years, and I loved them for what they entertain, and then later loved them for what they taught. So, I express my gratitude to the American cinema, to the motion picture association who have given me this award and has made me feel so proud. Thank you very, very much."



If Ray looked towards the West for inspiration, the West also looked back at him as a master.









Filmmakers across generations have spoken about his influence. Martin Scorsese once said, Rays magic, the simple poetry of his images and their emotional impact, will always stay with me, adding that Pather Panchali opened up entirely new worlds for him. It was also Scorsese who played a key role in advocating for Rays Honorary Oscar.

Legendary Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa once said, "Not to have seen the cinema of Ray means existing in the world without seeing the sun or the moon."



Christopher Nolan has spoken about watching Pather Panchali and called it an extraordinary work, while Wes Anderson has drawn from Rays cinema in more visible ways. Andersons The Darjeeling Limited features music composed by Ray and carries echoes of his storytelling, even nodding to his film Nayak in parts.



Christopher Nolan has spoken about watching Pather Panchali and called it an extraordinary work, while Wes Anderson has drawn from Rays cinema in more visible ways. Andersons The Darjeeling Limited features music composed by Ray and carries echoes of his storytelling, even nodding to his film Nayak in parts.Actors, too, have found inspiration in his work. Daniel Day-Lewis has cited Ray as one of the filmmakers he admires deeply, while Keanu Reeves stated that his only understanding of India in his younger days was through Ray's films.



Satyajit Ray passed away on April 23, 1992, just weeks after receiving the Oscar, leaving behind a body of work that is still being studied today.




Shah Rukh Khans already enviable garage just got a new addition. Known for owning some of the most luxurious cars in the industry, the actor has now brought home a Mercedes-Benz V-Class. He is among the early buyers of the MPV in India, alongside Hardik Pandya and his partner Mahieka Sharma. Bookings for the vehicle had opened earlier this month, and it was delivered just ahead of the new month. The car was spotted outside Puja Casa this morning.





The actor opted for a sleek black Mercedes-Benz V-Class. Reports suggest the MPV starts at around Rs 1.4 crore for both petrol and diesel variants, with the final cost depending on the showroom. On the safety front, it comes equipped with features like seven airbags, ISOFIX mounts, traffic sign recognition, driver attention assist, an electronic parking brake with auto hold, a 360 degree camera setup, and an auto dimming rearview mirror. It is not yet known if Shah Rukh customised the car further before taking delivery.

By 2025, Shah Rukh Khans collection already included high end models like the Lexus LM 350h, Rolls Royce Cullinan Black Badge, Bugatti Veyron, Bentley Continental GT, BMW 7 Series, and BMW i8, among others. His impressive lineup of cars is said to be worth anywhere between Rs 30 to 50 crore.

On the work front, Shah Rukh is currently shooting for King, directed by Siddharth Anand. The team had planned a major schedule in Dubai featuring Anil Kapoor and Suhana Khan, but it had to be cancelled due to the ongoing Iran-Israel tensions affecting the UAE and surrounding regions. As per reports, the shoot was supposed to begin on April 19 and continue for a week. With permissions already in place, the sudden change has led the makers to now recreate a desert backdrop on a Mumbai set. The film also stars Jackie Shroff, Jaideep Ahlawat, Abhishek Bachchan, Rani Mukerji, Deepika Padukone, Saurabh Shukla, Arshad Warsi, Raghav Juyal, Abhay Verma and Akshaye Oberoi and is slated to release on December 24.



Also Read: Watch: Shah Rukh Khans Party Outing Goes Viral, Ranveer Singh Sings on Stage With Sanjay Dutt


Bimal Oberoi has landed a role in Prashanth Neels upcoming film Dragon, a pan-India project. The action drama stars Jr NTR in the lead role. The casting news follows the massive success of Dhurandhar. That first film was released in December 2025. Its sequel, released in March, has been a further fillip. Bimal gained praise for his performance in the action thriller. He played Shirani, leader of the Balochistan United Force (BUF), in the Bollywood blockbusters.It seems Neel was impressed by his screen presence and naturalness. Bimal has already joined the sets of Dragon to begin filming. His role is currently being kept under wraps by the production team. The popularity Bimal earned through Dhurandhar will surely benefit him as the release date of Dragon nears. Audiences now recognize him as a performer to look up to. This newfound fame will create buzz for himself, especially because Dragon is primarily a southern Indian project. His face will likely feature prominently in videos during the promotional phase. Once the official promotions start, his involvement will generate interest. This collaboration with Prashanth Neel could mark a second high point in his career after the Dhurandhar movies.Bimal too is ecstatic about joining Dragon and is looking for versatile roles in the South. He restarted his acting career in 2018 after a break. To bag his role in Dhurandhar, he went through a rigorous process. He auditioned multiple times over several months for the director. He even shaved his head to fit the characters specific look. The actor also grew a real beard to ensure authenticity, he told NDTV in an interview. He spent a long time preparing for the part before filming began. His commitment has finally paid off with these back-to-back big budget films. He is currently also doing Hai Jawani Toh Ishq Hona Hai, directed by David Dhawan.
Die Eskalation im Iran-Konflikt hat die Energiepreise mit voller Wucht nach oben getrieben. Was zunachst nach einer kurzfristigen Reaktion aussah, entwickelt sich zunehmend zu einem strukturellen Problem: Die Strae von Hormus ist blockiert, wichtige LNG- und Olanlagen stehen still oder werden gezielt angegriffen. Eine schnelle Entspannung ist nicht in Sicht  im Gegenteil, die Lage spitzt sich weiter zu.



Fur die Weltwirtschaft bedeutet dies wachsende Risiken. Steigende Energiepreise erhohen den Inflationsdruck, gefahrden Zinssenkungen und bringen die ohnehin hoch bewerteten Aktienmarkte ins Wanken. Doch wo Risiken entstehen, ergeben sich auch Chancen.



Denn von einem dauerhaft hoheren Energiepreisniveau profitieren nicht nur Ol- und Gasunternehmen. Auch Versorger, erneuerbare Energien sowie ausgewahlte Rohstoff- und Agrarwerte rucken in den Fokus. In diesem Umfeld konnten gezielt ausgewahlte Unternehmen uberdurchschnittlich profitieren  unabhangig davon, ob die Krise anhalt oder nicht.



In unserem aktuellen Spezialreport stellen wir drei Aktien vor, die genau dieses Profil erfullen: Krisenprofiteure mit solidem Geschaftsmodell, attraktiver Bewertung und langfristigem Potenzial.



Jetzt den kostenlosen Report sichern  und Ihr Depot auf den Energiepreisschock vorbereiten!


EQS Newswire / 30/03/2026 / 10:24 UTC+8



Hong Kong - March 30, 2026 - ( SeaPRwire ) - In the complex and ever-changing global economic and trade environment, Hong Kong's status as an international financial center remains pivotal. To help enterprises more effectively connect with global capital and convey brand value, renowned media service provider SeaPRwire ( https://seaprwire.com ) announced today that it has further consolidated and expanded its media distribution network in Hong Kong and the Greater China region. This strategic move will significantly enhance corporate financial PR efficiency and the depth of brand exposure in this region.

The Greater China region, particularly the Hong Kong market, gathers top-tier global investment institutions, analysts, and financial media. SeaPRwire's network consolidation this time focuses on opening up a fast track "from information release to capital attention." The platform not only strengthened cooperation with local mainstream Chinese and English financial newspapers, magazines, and high-traffic financial portals in Hong Kong but also deeply integrated professional financial information terminals radiating across the Greater China region. This means that corporate financial reports, financing information, or major strategic adjustments released by enterprises can be pushed to the desks of professional investors with extremely high priority.

Furthermore, targeting the increasingly booming technological innovation and new consumption waves in the Greater China region, SeaPRwire simultaneously expanded its media matrix across multiple vertical fields such as technology, venture capital, fashion, and health. Whether it is a unicorn enterprise seeking listing voice in Hong Kong or a multinational brand hoping to expand business in the mainland and the Greater Bay Area, all can achieve precise penetration of target audiences through SeaPRwire's customized distribution links.

"Hong Kong is not just a distribution window; it is a vital bridge for global capital to perceive China and for Chinese enterprises to go global," pointed out SeaPRwire's head of Greater China. "By consolidating this core network, we aim to provide clients with more deterministic communication results, leveraging authoritative media endorsements and extensive channel coverage to escort enterprises' business voyages in the Greater China region."

About SeaPRwire

SeaPRwire is Asia's leading AI-driven earned media management platform, purpose-built to empower PR and communications professionals. Through its flagship Branding-Insight Program, the platform connects clients to over 80,000 journalists and an influencer matrix reaching 300 million followers. Leveraging advanced AI, SeaPRwire helps users identify media targets, personalize pitches, and measure PR impact across key APAC markets, including Japan, China, Korea, and Southeast Asia.

Media Contact

Company: SeaPRwire

Contact: Media Relations Team

Email: cs@seaprwire.com

Website: https://seaprwire.com
50 million financing package from funds and accounts managed by BlackRock will support IQM to scale operations, accelerate product development, and strengthen its market position.

The facility will support acceleration of IQM's technology roadmap, fuel R&D, support entry into additional markets, and advance IQM's leadership in quantum computing as IQM prepares for public listing.

IQM Finland Oy, a global leader in full-stack superconducting quantum computers ("IQM", "IQM Quantum Computers" or the "Company"), today announced it has secured a 50 millionfinancing package from funds and accounts managed by BlackRock.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260329996942/en/

IQM Radiance quantum computer is located in IQM's showroom in Espoo, Finland.

This facility will support acceleration of IQM's technology roadmap, fuel R&D, support entry into additional markets, and advance IQM's leadership in quantum computing.

This facility was secured prior to IQM's recent announcement of plans to become the first publicly listed European quantum computing company through a merger with Real Asset Acquisition Corp ("RAAQ"). The facility lowers IQM's overall cost of capital and improves the flexibility and diversity of its capital base.

"The financing package comes at a pivotal time for IQM, as we build momentum for our next phase of growth," said Jan Goetz, CEO and Co-founder of IQM. "This financing further strengthens our capital structure, increasing the resources available to enable us to execute on our technology vision and expand into new markets."

He added: "We build open and transparent quantum systems that institutions can operate directly, enabling hands-on use, long-term capability building, and full control over their quantum infrastructure. By making quantum computing accessible in this way, we are enabling ecosystems to grow, benefitting researchers, industries, and partners."

With growing global demand for its on-premises quantum systems, IQM is well positioned to support enterprise quantum and quantum-AI adoption through a multifaceted strategy that includes hardware innovation, cloud accessibility, industry partnerships, and ecosystem development on the path toward fault-tolerant quantum computing.

About IQM Quantum Computers:

IQM Finland Oy ("IQM", "IQM Quantum Computers", "Company") is a global leader in superconducting quantum computers, delivering full-stack quantum systems and cloud platform access to research institutions, universities, high-performance computing centres, and national laboratories worldwide. IQM's on-premises deployment model gives customers direct ownership and control of their quantum infrastructure. Founded in 2018, headquartered in Finland, it has over 350 employees. IQM operates across Europe, Asia, and North America and has announced its plans to become the first publicly listed European quantum company on a major U.S. stock exchange and considering dual listing on Helsinki Stock Exchange.

Additional Information About the Proposed Transaction and Where to Find It

In connection with the proposed business combination between IQM and RAAQ (the "Proposed Transaction"), IQM intends to file with the SEC a registration statement on Form F-4 (the "Registration Statement"), which will include a preliminary proxy statement of RAAQ and a preliminary prospectus of IQM, and after the Registration Statement is declared effective by the SEC, RAAQ will mail the definitive proxy statement/prospectus relating to the proposed business combination to its shareholders as of a record date to be established for voting at the extraordinary general meeting of its shareholders (the "Extraordinary General Meeting"). The Registration Statement, including the proxy statement/prospectus contained therein, will contain important information about the proposed business combination and the other matters to be voted upon at the Extraordinary General Meeting. This communication does not contain all the information that should be considered concerning the proposed business combination and is not intended to provide the basis for any investment decision or any other decision in respect of such matters. RAAQ and IQM may also file other documents with the SEC regarding the proposed business combination. RAAQ's shareholders and other interested persons are advised to read, when available, the Registration Statement, including the preliminary proxy statement/prospectus contained therein, the amendments thereto and the definitive proxy statement/prospectus and other documents filed in connection with the proposed business combination, as these materials will contain important information about RAAQ, IQM and the proposed business combination. Shareholders may obtain copies of the Registration Statement, including the preliminary or definitive proxy statement/prospectus contained therein, and the other documents filed or that will be filed by RAAQ and IQM with the SEC, once available, without charge, at the SEC's website located at www.sec.gov.

Forward-Looking Statements

This communication includes "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the U.S. federal securities laws and "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable non-U.S. securities laws (collectively, "forward-looking statements"). Forward-looking statements may be identified by the use of words such as "estimate," "plan," "project," "forecast," "intend," "will," "expect," "anticipate," "believe," "seek," "target," "continue," "could," "may," "might," "possible," "potential," "predict" or similar expressions that predict or indicate future events or trends or that are not statements of historical matters. These forward-looking statements are based upon current estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by IQM and its management, and RAAQ and its management, as the case may be, are inherently uncertain. These statements include: statements regarding IQM's financing facility with funds affiliated with BlackRock and the benefits of such facility to IQM's business; projections of market opportunity and market share; estimates of customer adoption rates and usage patterns; projections regarding IQM's ability to commercialize new products and technologies; projections of development and commercialization costs and timelines; expectations regarding IQM's ability to execute its business model and the expected financial benefits of such model; expectations regarding IQM's ability to attract, retain and expand its customer base; IQM's deployment of proceeds from capital raising transactions; IQM's expectations concerning relationships with strategic partners, suppliers, governments, state-funded entities, regulatory bodies and other third parties; IQM's ability to maintain, protect and enhance its intellectual property; future ventures or investments in companies, products, services or technologies; development of favorable regulations affecting IQM's markets; the successful consummation and potential benefits of the proposed business combination and expectations related to its terms and timing; the stock exchanges on which the securities of IQM are expected to trade; proceeds from the business combination and related PIPE; funds received by the combined company from RAAQ's trust account and redemptions by RAAQ's public shareholders; IQM's ability to commercialize its hardware and software; the expectation that IQM is building the sovereign infrastructure that allows quantum ecosystems to grow; and the potential for IQM to increase in value.

These forward-looking statements are provided for illustrative purposes only and are not intended to serve as, and must not be relied on as, a guarantee, an assurance, a prediction or a definitive statement of fact or probability. Actual events and circumstances are difficult or impossible to predict and will differ from assumptions, many of which are beyond the control of IQM and RAAQ.

These forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and assumptions that may cause the actual results of IQM following the Proposed Transaction, levels of activity, performance, or achievements to be materially different from any future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such statements. Such risks and uncertainties include: that IQM is pursuing an emerging technology, which faces significant technical challenges and may not achieve commercialization or market acceptance; IQM's historical net losses and limited operating history; IQM's expectations regarding future financial performance, capital requirements and unit economics; IQM's use and reporting of business and operational metrics; IQM's competitive landscape; IQM's dependence on members of its senior management and its ability to attract and retain qualified personnel; the potential need for additional future financing; IQM's concentration of revenue in contracts with government or state-funded entities; IQM's ability to manage growth and expand its operations; potential future acquisitions or investments in companies, products, services or technologies; IQM's reliance on strategic partners and other third parties; IQM's ability to maintain, protect and defend its intellectual property rights; risks associated with privacy, data protection or cybersecurity incidents and related regulations; the use, rate of adoption and regulation of artificial intelligence and machine learning; uncertainty or changes with respect to laws and regulations; uncertainty or changes with respect to taxes, trade conditions and the macroeconomic environment; IQM's ability to maintain internal control over financial reporting and operate a public company; the possibility that required shareholder and regulatory approvals for the Proposed Transaction are delayed or are not obtained, which could adversely affect the combined company or the expected benefits of the Proposed Transaction; the risk that shareholders of RAAQ could elect to have their shares redeemed, leaving the combined company with insufficient cash to execute its business plans; the occurrence of any event, change or other circumstance that could give rise to the termination of the business combination agreement; the outcome of any legal proceedings or government investigations that may be commenced against IQM or RAAQ; failure to realize the anticipated benefits of the Proposed Transaction; the ability of IQM to issue equity or equity-linked securities in connection with the Proposed Transaction or in the future; and other factors described in RAAQ's and IQM's filings with the SEC. These forward-looking statements are based on certain assumptions, including that none of the risks identified above materialize; that there are no unforeseen changes to economic and market conditions, and that no significant events occur outside the ordinary course of business. Additional information concerning these and other factors that may impact such forward-looking statements can be found in filings made and to be made by IQM and RAAQ with the SEC, including under the heading "Risk Factors." If any of these risks materialize or assumptions prove incorrect, actual results could differ materially from the results implied by these forward-looking statements. In addition, these statements reflect the expectations, plans and forecasts of IQM's and RAAQ's management as of the date of this communication; subsequent events and developments may cause their assessments to change. While IQM and RAAQ may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, they specifically disclaim any obligation to do so, unless required by applicable securities laws. Accordingly, undue reliance should not be placed upon these statements.

In addition, statements that "we believe" and similar statements reflect our beliefs and opinions on the relevant subject. These statements are based upon information available to us as of the date of this communication, and while we believe such information forms a reasonable basis for such statements, such information may be limited or incomplete, and our statements should not be read to indicate that we have conducted an exhaustive inquiry into, or review of, all potentially available relevant information. These statements are inherently uncertain, and investors are cautioned not to unduly rely upon these statements. An investment in RAAQ is not an investment in any of RAAQ's founders' or sponsors past investments, companies, or affiliated funds. The historical results of those investments are not indicative of future performance of RAAQ, which may differ materially from the performance of RAAQ's founders' or sponsors past investments.

Participants in the Solicitation

RAAQ, IQM and certain of their respective directors, executive officers and other members of management and employees may, under SEC rules, be deemed to be participants in the solicitation of proxies from RAAQ's shareholders in connection with the Proposed Transaction. Information regarding the persons who may, under SEC rules, be deemed participants in the solicitation of RAAQ's shareholders in connection with the Proposed Transaction will be set forth in the Registration Statement, including the proxy statement/prospectus contained therein, when it is filed with the SEC. You can find more information about RAAQ's directors and executive officers in RAAQ's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2025 filed with the SEC on March 3, 2026 and in the subsequent filings made by RAAQ with the SEC. Shareholders, potential investors, and other interested persons should read the Registration Statement, including the proxy statement/prospectus contained therein, carefully when it becomes available before making any voting or investment decisions. You may obtain free copies of these documents from the sources described above.

No Offer or Solicitation

This communication does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities, or a solicitation of any vote or approval, nor shall there be any sale of securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such jurisdiction, including any European Economic Area member state or the United Kingdom. This communication is not, and under no circumstances is to be construed as, a prospectus, an advertisement or a public offering of the securities described herein in the United States or any other jurisdiction. No offer of securities shall be made except by means of a prospectus meeting the requirements of Section 10 of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or exemptions therefrom. Any potential dual listing of IQM's ordinary shares on the Helsinki stock exchange referred to in this communication would be made by means of a prospectus as set out in the EU Prospectus Regulation. INVESTMENT IN ANY SECURITIES DESCRIBED HEREIN HAS NOT BEEN APPROVED BY THE SEC OR ANY OTHER REGULATORY AUTHORITY NOR HAS ANY AUTHORITY PASSED UPON OR ENDORSED THE MERITS OF THE OFFERING OR THE ACCURACY OR ADEQUACY OF THE INFORMATION CONTAINED HEREIN. ANY REPRESENTATION TO THE CONTRARY IS A CRIMINAL OFFENSE.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260329996942/en/

Contacts:

Media contact:

Email: press@meetiqm.com

Mobile: +358 (0) 50 479 0845

Investor contact:

Email: ir@meetiqm.com
Draupnir's novel SORTAC platform expands reach of targeted protein degradation to extracellular proteins, demonstrating in vitro and in vivo efficacy against difficult-to-drug targets

and efficacy against difficult-to-drug targets Study further details platform versatility through successful degradation of multiple therapeutically relevant targets, including inflammatory cytokine TNFa in macrophages and Schwann cells





Copenhagen, Denmark, 30 March 2026 - Draupnir Bio ("Draupnir"), a biotechnology company harnessing the natural machinery of the lysosome to develop oral, small molecule degraders of extracellular disease-causing proteins, today announces the publication of research in Cell Chemical Biology detailing Draupnir's unique approach to degrading disease-causing proteins in the extracellular space.

Targeted protein degradation (TPD) is a rapidly emerging field in drug discovery, exploiting a cell's own destruction machinery to tackle disease-causing proteins that have historically been highly challenging to target with conventional therapies. Yet first-generation approaches, such as PROteolysis TArgeting Chimeras (PROTACs), are exclusively limited to cytosolic targets, leaving extracellular and membrane-bound proteins - 40% of the human proteome - untouched. Draupnir is extending the potential of TPD to target extracellular and membrane-bound proteins in a pioneering approach using its novel and differentiated, proprietary technology platform, utilising lysosome sorting receptors, which hold the potential to revolutionise the field of TPD.

The comprehensive study, 'Reshaping the progranulin/sortilin interactions for targeted degradation of extracellular proteins', published in Cell Chemical Biology, details Draupnir's proprietary sortilin-based lysosome targeting chimera (SORTAC) technology, a modular platform that extends TPD beyond the limitations of current approaches by redirecting extracellular proteins to lysosomal degradation through repurposing of the progranulin-sortilin interaction. The research demonstrates that SORTACs exhibit hallmark PROTAC characteristics, including ternary complex formation, catalytic activity and sustained target depletion. Importantly, the platform's versatility is further validated through successful degradation of multiple therapeutically relevant targets, including the inflammatory cytokine TNFa in macrophages and Schwann cells.

"This publication represents a significant milestone in our scientific journey and validates our unique approach to harnessing lysosomal pathways for therapeutic benefit," said Simon Glerup, Ph.D., Co-Founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Draupnir Bio. "By reshaping the natural interaction between sortilin and progranulin, we've created a modular platform that brings PROTAC-like pharmacology to the extracellular space. Our work demonstrates how we can exploit the cell's own destruction machinery to tackle disease-causing proteins that have historically been highly challenging to target, including soluble proteins, membrane proteins, and extracellular protein aggregates. These findings strengthen the scientific foundation for our risk-diversified preclinical pipeline of oral, small molecule degraders of extracellular targets and bring us closer to delivering innovative therapies to patients in need."

The SORTAC platform offers multiple implementation formats, from genetically encoded degraders and antibody conjugates to fully synthetic small molecules with drug-like properties. This chemical modularity enables systematic optimization and pharmacological tuning not readily accessible with other extracellular degradation approaches.

- ENDS -

For more information, please contact:

Draupnir Bio

Simon Glerup, Chief Scientific Officer

glerup@draupnir.bio

ICR Healthcare

David Daley, Emmalee Hoppe

Phone: +44 (0)20 3709 5700

Email: draupnirbio@icrhealthcare.com

About Draupnir Bio

Draupnir Bio is a Danish biotechnology company harnessing the natural machinery of the lysosome to develop oral, small molecule degraders of extracellular disease causing proteins - the next frontier of targeted protein degradation (TPD), a rapidly emerging field that exploits a cell's own destruction machinery to tackle disease-causing proteins that have historically been highly challenging to target with conventional therapies. Led by a highly experienced team of pharma and biotech industry leaders, the Company was spun-out from Aarhus University, Denmark and the Max-Planck Society. Backed by a syndicate of leading investors, including the Export and Investment Fund of Denmark (EIFO), Gilde Healthcare Partners, Inkef Capital, Novo Holdings and MP Healthcare Venture Management, Draupnir is headquartered in Copenhagen, with research operations centred in Aarhus, Denmark.

For more, visit our website at draupnir.bio and follow us on LinkedIn.
Fuel manufactured at Springfields has generated enough energy to supply the UK's electricity demand for 26 years, avoiding the emission of nearly 3 billion tonnes of CO2

The Westinghouse Springfields facility in Lancashire, UK, has marked a significant milestone as the oldest continuous nuclear fuel manufacturing site in the world, starting from its original license on the 28th, March 1946. The site was chosen by the UK Government to develop nuclear fuel for the world's earliest civil nuclear power stations, as well as subsequent Magnox and Advanced Gas Reactors (AGR) reactors.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260330135973/en/

From left to right: Sophie Lemaire; Marc Chevrel; Rory O'Neill; Craig Boothby; and Robert Gofton, CEO at Nuclear Institute

Across the last eight decades, the Springfields site has supported the UK nuclear fleet, manufacturing more than eight million AGR pins, sintering and pressing over 500 million AGR uranium pellets and 222,000 AGR grids which is equivalent to burning over 685 tonnes of coal, avoiding the emission of nearly 3 billion tonnes of CO2

Springfields also has a significant international customer base, currently supporting the Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR) fuel market in Europe and Asia. The site has manufactured almost 2,000 PWR Fuel Assemblies, made up of half a million rods and nearly 200 million pellets.

Continuing its innovation legacy, in 2024 Springfields made the first ever Low Enriched Uranium Plus (LEU+) pellets for Westinghouse. The factory is continuously seeking to diversify its product offering and is looking to provide VVER fuel for Eastern Europe Russian-designed reactors in the near future.

Dan Sumner, Interim Chief Executive Officer, Westinghouse, said: "Our Springfields manufacturing facility has always been at the heart of not only the UK nuclear industry, but also the global nuclear sector, supporting numerous customers with their fuel needs. Springfields is one of Westinghouse's three state-of-the-art nuclear fuel manufacturing facilities and is an important strategic asset to Westinghouse and the UK. Global energy demand continues to grow, and we stand ready to support our partners in delivering reliable energy."

Tom Greatrex, Nuclear Industry Association Chief Executive, commented: "Springfields' 80th anniversary is a landmark moment for the UK's nuclear industry and a reminder of the strength of our domestic capability. For 80 years, Springfields has manufactured the fuel that powers our homes, businesses and public services, underpinning energy security and supporting high-skilled jobs. As global demand for nuclear grows, maintaining sovereign fuel capability is essential. From fuelling Calder Hall and Windscale to supporting today's fleet and future technologies, Springfields remains central to the UK's clean energy future."

Westinghouse Electric Company is the future of energy, providing reliable, innovative nuclear technologies and services globally. Westinghouse pioneered commercial nuclear power, delivering the world's first commercial pressurized water reactor in 1957. The company has industrialized more nuclear reactors than any other company, with its technology forming the basis of half of the world's operating nuclear plants. More than 140 years of innovation makes Westinghouse the preferred partner for advanced technologies covering the complete nuclear energy life cycle. For more information, visit www.westinghousenuclear.com and follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn and X.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260330135973/en/

Contacts:

media@westinghouse.com
Company to Deploy Global Intelligence Platform to Enhance Physical and Cybersecurity Across Worldwide Operations

Geogentia today announced that it has been selected by Vatican Cyber Volunteers to support the Holy See in strengthening its global security and investigative capabilities across its worldwide operations.

The engagement will support investigations and enhance both physical and virtual security efforts within Vatican City and across the Holy See's international network, including parishes, diplomatic missions, and affiliated institutions operating in diverse and complex environments.

The selection comes amid a rapidly escalating threat landscape. In 2020, a Chinese state-sponsored group known as RedDelta breached Vatican networks during sensitive negotiations over the appointment of bishops in China. In 2022, a suspected DDoS attack knocked the Vatican offline after Pope Francis condemned Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Security researchers have since found Vatican employee credentials for sale on the dark web. Across the broader religious sector, more than 70% of institutions have reported attempted or successful cyber incidents in the past two years, with ransomware attacks nearly doubling since 2023.

"As the cyber and physical threat landscape grows increasingly hostile, our defenses must evolve to stay ahead of sophisticated adversaries," said Joe Shenouda, Founder of Vatican Cyber Volunteers. "We selected Geogentia because their intelligence platform allows us to move beyond reactive security. Their capabilities give us the actionable visibility we need to actively anticipate and neutralize threats against the Holy See's global infrastructure."

"We are honored to be entrusted by Vatican Cyber Volunteers to support the Holy See in this critical mission," said Vijay Richard, Founder of Geogentia. "The threat environment facing the Catholic Church is no longer theoretical. Our data is truly global, which uniquely positions us to help protect against both cyber and physical threats across one of the most distributed institutional footprints in the world."

Geogentia will deploy its integrated platform, Lens, Foundry, and Forge, to deliver end-to-end intelligence capabilities. Lens provides real-time global situational awareness. Foundry transforms complex data into actionable intelligence. Forge enables attribution by linking digital and physical indicators to uncover the entities behind malicious activity.

This collaboration reflects a shared commitment to safeguarding one of the world's most historically significant and globally distributed institutions, ensuring the continued security and resilience of the Holy See and its mission.

About Geogentia

Geogentia is a global intelligence and data analytics company headquartered in Holland, Michigan. The company delivers actionable insights through advanced technology and comprehensive data integration, supporting government agencies, law enforcement, defense organizations, and institutions worldwide in addressing complex security and investigative challenges.

About Vatican Cyber Volunteers

Vatican Cyber Volunteers is a dedicated global network of approximately 120 cybersecurity, intelligence, and technology professionals who volunteer their expertise to defend the digital and physical infrastructure of the Holy See. Operating worldwide, the organization works proactively to safeguard the Catholic Church's vast network of parishes, diplomatic missions, and affiliated institutions against increasingly sophisticated cyber and physical threats, ensuring the resilience and security of its global mission.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260330419659/en/

Contacts:

Media Contact:

Geogentia

Jessi Garcia

JGarcia@Geogentia.com

www.Geogentia.com
Among the recognized companies, Hyperlink InfoSystem has earned a prominent position for its consistent delivery of high-quality mobile and software solutions. As a trusted mobile app development company, Hyperlink InfoSystem has been helping businesses build robust digital products tailored to their unique needs. With a focus on innovation, scalability, and user experience, the company has positioned itself as a preferred choice for businesses worldwide looking to collaborate with experienced Indian development teams.

With over a decade of industry experience, Hyperlink InfoSystem has successfully delivered thousands of applications for clients across the globe. The company specializes in iOS app development, Android app development, and cross-platform solutions, while also integrating advanced technologies such as Artificial Intelligent (AI), IoT, blockchain, and AR/VR. Its strong global presence, skilled developer base, and agile development methodology have made it a reliable partner for businesses aiming to leverage India's growing tech talent pool. This recognition further strengthens its position among the Top Mobile App Development Companies in India 2026.

"Our expertise is built on years of delivering high-performance mobile app solutions tailored to diverse business needs," said Harnil Oza, CEO of Hyperlink InfoSystem. "We have developed strong capabilities in mobile technologies, cross-platform development, and AI-driven applications. Our focus remains on creating scalable, secure, and user-centric solutions that deliver real business value. Looking ahead, we are committed to expanding our expertise in Artificial Intelligent (AI) and next-generation technologies. Our vision is to empower businesses with future-ready digital solutions that drive long-term growth."

As businesses continue to invest in digital transformation and mobile innovation, the demand for skilled Indian developers is expected to grow even further. Hyperlink InfoSystem remains committed to helping organizations leverage this talent advantage by delivering innovative and reliable mobile solutions. This recognition by TopSoftwareCompanies.co reinforces its commitment to excellence and strengthens its position as a leading name among the Top Mobile App Development Companies in India 2026.

Additional Recognitions:

Top Mobile App Development Companies in India 2026 by TopAppDevelopmentCompanies.com

#1 App Development Companies in 2026 by AppDevelopmentCompanies.co

Best Web Development Companies in 2026 by TopWebDevelopmentCompanies.com

About Hyperlink InfoSystem

Founded in 2011, Hyperlink InfoSystem is a leading IT services provider headquartered in Ahmedabad, India, with offices in the USA, UK, Canada, France, and UAE. The company has worked with over 2,700 clients worldwide, delivering 4,500+ apps, 2,600+ websites, and cutting-edge IT solutions across industries. Known for its innovative approach, Hyperlink InfoSystem consistently ranks among the world's top IT service providers.

Contact Details:

Hyperlink InfoSystem

Harnil Oza

+1-309-791-4105

info@hyperlinkinfosystem.com

New York Address:

One World Trade Center

285 Fulton Street suite 8500,

New York, NY 10007,

United States

Ahmedabad Address:

C-308, Ganesh Meridian,

Opp. Kargil Petrol Pump, S.G. Highway,

Sola, Ahmedabad, 380061

India

London Address:

Level 30, The Leadenhall Building,

122 Leadenhall Street,

London EC3V 4AB

Canada Address:

151 Yonge Street, 11th Floor,

Toronto, Ontario, M5C 2W7,

Canada

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2429933/5421426/Hyperlink_InfoSystem_Logo.jpg

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/hyperlink-infosystem-named-a-top-mobile-app-development-company-in-india-2026-by-topsoftwarecompaniesco-302728547.html
Fairchild has more than 25 years of experience at Siemens

She is to lead Siemens' largest market globally

Siemens today announced the appointment of Ann Fairchild (54) as president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Siemens USA, the company's largest market globally. Fairchild, who has served as interim president and CEO since October 2025, will assume the permanent role effective immediately. She will guide Siemens' strategy and engagement across the United States, where the company employs more than 50,000 people in all 50 states and Puerto Rico and generated $24 billion in revenue in fiscal 2025.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260330529037/en/

Ann Fairchild, Appointed President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Siemens USA

Based on her more than 25 years at Siemens, most recently serving as general counsel for Siemens USA, Fairchild brings a deep understanding of the company's business objectives and strategic priorities. She has played an important role in advancing Siemens USA's growth, supporting complex transactions, strengthening governance across a diverse portfolio and enabling closer alignment across the company.

"Ann Fairchild brings exactly the right leadership for this moment," said Roland Busch, President and CEO of Siemens AG. "As U.S. customers strengthen critical infrastructure, reshore manufacturing and continue to expand their AI capabilities, Ann's strong, steady and collaborative leadership will enable Siemens to deliver greater value for our customers. I look forward to working with Ann to advance our ONE Tech Company program in the U.S., our largest market."

Fairchild served for eight years as general counsel of Siemens USA, overseeing legal, compliance, regulatory, and intellectual property functions, helping the company navigate complex regulatory environments while seizing strategic opportunities.

"Siemens proudly serves tens of thousands of customers nationwide and supports the backbone of the American economy growing manufacturing, building smarter infrastructure, transforming rail networks and developing a skilled workforce," said Fairchild. "I'm honored to help guide our efforts in this moment of opportunity as we bring AI to the real world and help customers become more competitive, resilient and efficient."

Fairchild is a member of the Siemens Corporation board of directors and serves on the Board of the German American Business Council, where she brings Siemens' perspective to transatlantic dialogues spanning policy, diplomacy and commerce. She was also recently appointed to the board of directors of Chief Executives for Corporate Purpose (CECP).

Fairchild began her career clerking for the Honorable Tommy Miller of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, followed by a role as a litigation associate at McGuireWoods in McLean, Virginia. She joined Siemens in 1999 in the Power Generation business and has since held a series of senior leadership roles across the Legal and Compliance organization. She holds a bachelor's degree in commerce with a concentration in finance from the University of Virginia and a juris doctor from the College of William Mary School of Law.

This press release as well as press pictures are available at: https://sie.ag/68pzEP

Siemens AG (Berlin and Munich) is a leading technology company focused on industry, infrastructure, mobility, and healthcare. The company's purpose is to create technology to transform the everyday, for everyone. By combining the real and the digital worlds, Siemens empowers customers to accelerate their digital and sustainability transformations, making factories more efficient, cities more livable, and transportation more sustainable. A leader in industrial AI, Siemens leverages its deep domain know-how to apply AI including generative AI to real-world applications, making AI accessible and impactful for customers across diverse industries. Siemens also owns a majority stake in the publicly listed company Siemens Healthineers, a leading global medical technology provider pioneering breakthroughs in healthcare. For everyone. Everywhere. Sustainably.

In fiscal 2025, which ended on September 30, 2025, the Siemens Group generated revenue of 78.9 billion and net income of 10.4 billion. As of September 30, 2025, the company employed around 318,000 people worldwide on the basis of continuing operations. Further information is available on the Internet at www.siemens.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260330529037/en/

Contacts:

Contacts for journalists

Simon Krause

Phone: +49 173 4039683

Email: krause.simon@siemens.com

Siemens USA

Charlie DiPasquale

Phone: +1 240 481 6632

Email: Charlie.DiPasquale@siemens.com
LIVONIA, MI / ACCESS Newswire / March 30, 2026 / New AlzAuthors President Lance A. Slatton is hosting a Town Hall at noon (EST) on Friday, April 10 and Monday, April 20 to share his vision for AlzAuthors while also seeking input and feedback from supporters.

The event is open and free for anyone, including authors, dementia advocates, the existing AlzAuthors community and authors, and anyone interested in the future of the site.

The Town Halls can be accessed at https://alzauthors.com.

Slatton, widely known as "The Senior Care Influencer," is the founder and host of the popular All Home Care Matters, the nation's leading caregiver-focused media platform, resource and voice in long-term care. Slatton began 2026 by announcing plans to take over the leadership role of AlzAuthors, the leading community of authors writing about Alzheimer's and dementia.

His dedicated leadership team are committed to preserving the legacy of AlzAuthors and continue its mission to light the way for caregivers and those living with dementia, ensuring that every story finds its home and every voice is heard.

"The founders and board members of AlzAuthors have created an exceptional resource, and our role is to help it grow while preserving what makes it so unique and meaningful," said Slatton. "We're not altering the mission, we're expanding the support so the transition should feel seamless for readers, authors, and the global dementia community."

The Town Hall meetings will help Slatton in the transition process.

"We really encourage people to attend these town halls," Slatton said. "The future of AlzAuthors is a living library where every new story, study, and strategy keeps dementia care one step more informed and one step less alone. What makes AlzAuthors the pinnacle of dementia resources is not only what we offer today, but our promise to keep listening, learning, and leading for every family tomorrow."

Slatton says the future vision of AlzAuthors is bold and simple: wherever dementia touches a life, our resources, education, and books will be within easy reach.

"The next era of AlzAuthors will marry powerful storytelling with cutting-edge education, ensuring that every caregiver has both a compassionate hand to hold and expert knowledge to lean on. AlzAuthors is committed to remaining the gold standard in dementia support-continually elevating our library, our learning, and our community so no caregiver ever walks behind the times."

AlzAuthors is not just keeping pace with dementia care-it is setting the standard, curating the most trusted books and resources so families never have to guess where to turn. And as dementia advances, so will AlzAuthors - expanding its shelves, education and reach to remain the pinnacle of reliable guidance for the journey ahead.

About Lance A. Slatton

Widely known as "The Senior Care Influencer," Lance A. Slatton, CSCM, is a seasoned professional with over 20 years of experience in the healthcare industry and an award-winning visionary. His wealth of knowledge and experience, along with his innovative approach to providing care, have made him an indispensable asset in the healthcare field. He is the founder and host of the award-winning podcast & YouTube show All Home Care Matters and is a senior case manager at Enriched Life Home Care Services in Livonia, MI. He has been honored with many awards and distinctions over the years, including Top Influencer for Healthcare and Advocacy for 2024; recipient of the 2024 International Impact Book Award in the category of Caregiving; named 2026 Juror for the Academy of Interactive Visual Arts; named a 2025 Top Influencer for Healthcare & Advocacy; and in January 2026 became president of AlzAuthors, the leading community of authors writing about Alzheimer's and dementia. He is also the author of "The Official Family Caregiver's Guide" - available on Amazon. In 2026, he was named President of AlzAuthors, the leading community of authors writing about Alzheimer's and dementia.

About AlzAuthors

AlzAuthors is a community of authors sharing Alzheimer's and dementia stories "to light the way for others," emphasizing lived experience over abstract theory. It functions as a curated hub of books, blogs, podcasts, films, and other creative works that all come from people personally touched by dementia. The overarching goal is to provide trustworthy, experience-based resources so caregivers and families feel informed, less isolated, and more understood throughout the dementia journey. AlzAuthors started in 2015 when three writers-Marianne Sciucco, Jean Lee, and Vicki Tapia-connected on social media after each wrote a book about caring for a loved one with dementia. Today, AlzAuthors hosts a carefully reviewed collection of more than 350-400 dementia-related resources. For more information, visit https://alzauthors.com/

About All Home Care Matters

All Home Care Matters, the nation's leading voice in long-term care, currently has more than 116,000 YouTube subscribers and features almost 500 videos dedicated to helping provide resources to families as they face long-term care questions and issues for themselves and loved ones. Official Website: www.allhomecarematters.com

Media Contact:

Organization: All Home Care Matters

Contact Person Name: Lance A. Slatton

Website: Https://www.allhomecarematters.com

Email: contact@allhomecarematters.com

Contact Number: +17347446477

City: Livonia

State: Michigan

Country: United States

SOURCE: All Home Care Matters

View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire:https://www.accessnewswire.com/newsroom/en/business-and-professional-services/alzauthors-president-lance-a.-slatton-hosting-virtual-town-hall-1152985
2025 has been marked by several significant events:

The achievement of key milestones for the Company's two drug candidates: AEF0117: announcement of the final results of the Phase 2b clinical study in cannabis use disorders AEF0217: obtention of regulatory approvals and successful start of the recruitment of the Phase 2b clinical study for the treatment of behavioral and cognitive impairments of people with Down syndrome.

Solid cash position of 9.1 million as of December 31, 2025, strengthened by new non-dilutive fundings and ensuring financial visibility until the beginning of 2028.

Regulatory News:

Aelis Farma (ISIN: FR0014007ZB4 Ticker: AELIS), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company specializing in the development of treatments for brain and peripheral diseases involving the CB1 receptor, today announces its full year results for the year ended December 31, 2025.

Pier Vincenzo Piazza, CEO of Aelis Farma, stated: "The year 2025 was marked by further progress in the clinical development of our two drug candidates, AEF0117 and AEF0217. For AEF0117, the final results of the Phase 2b study in cannabis use disorder (CUD) demonstrated that AEF0117 is capable of statistically significantly reducing cannabis use in patients with a strong motivation to quit and confirmed the excellent safety and tolerability of AEF0117. Regarding AEF0217, developed for the treatment of behavioral and cognitive impairments, the positive results in terms of safety, tolerability, and efficacy obtained in a Phase 1/2 study in people with Down syndrome enabled us to obtain regulatory authorizations and start the recruitment of an international multicenter Phase 2b study in France, Spain, and Italy. The first participant first visit took place in December 2025. This double-blind, placebo-controlled study will recruit 188 participants with Down syndrome, aged 16 to 32, who will be treated with either placebo or one of three doses of AEF0217. The study aims to confirm the positive effects of AEF0217 on adaptive behaviors and the favorable safety profile observed in the Phase 1/2 trial. Finally, our proprietary research platform has enabled us to select new CB1-SSi with novel functional properties for a wider range of diseases involving the CB1 receptor. For the year 2026, our main objective is to continue the Phase 2b clinical study with AEF0217 and initial preclinical proof-of-concept studies of our new compounds, all of which are already fully funded. We also aim to develop industrial partnerships in order to further the development of AEF0117 and to fully exploit AEF0217 numerous therapeutic indications, which extend well beyond the cognitive deficits associated with Down syndrome. Backed by the skills of our teams, we are confident of achieving these objectives, and of becoming a leading player in the development of innovative treatments for cerebral and peripheral diseases."

Full-year results 2025 (IFRS)

Simplified income statement1 (in K) 12/31/2025 12/31/2024 Revenue from ordinary activities 2,084 5,562 Research and development costs (5,768) (9,942) General and administrative expenses (2,513) (3,355) Operating income (6,198) (7,735) Financial result (229) 287 Income taxes (8) (8) Net income (loss) (6,434) (7,456)

During the year ended December 31, 2025, the Company recorded income from ordinary activities of 2.1 million, corresponding to Research Tax Credit (714,000), operating subsidies (841,000) and studies rebilled without margin (432,000) related to research programs conducted by Aelis Farma.

The decrease in revenue (-3.5 million) is due to:

-2.7 million due to the finalization in 2024 of the recognition in revenue, in accordance with IFRS 15, of the residual portion of revenue related to the license option agreement with Indivior PLC for AEF0117 in cannabis use disorders. At the end of fiscal year 2024, all of the revenue associated with the lump sum payment received in 2021 had been recognized, representing a cumulative amount of 24.6 million.

-0.8 million due to the decrease in the Research Tax Credit (-0.9 million) and studies rebilled without margin (-0.7 million) offset by the increase in the share of operating subsidies reported in the income statement in 2025 (+0.8 million).

Research and development costs

In K 12/31/2025 12/31/2024 Raw materials, other purchases, and external expenses (3,450) (7,161) Personnel costs (2,113) (2,371) Intellectual property (205) (410) Research and development costs (5,768) (9,942)

The change in research and development expenses (-42%) is mainly due to lower spending in 2025, particularly in view of the completion of the Phase 2b clinical trial of AEF0117. R&D expenses incurred in 2025 mainly cover:

The completion of the Phase 2b clinical trial for AEF0117;

The growth of preparatory activities for Phase 2b of AEF0217 (clinical and pharmaceutical development);

The growth of activities on the proprietary research platform (initiation of early development and preclinical proof of concept).

General and administrative expenses

In K 12/31/2025 12/31/2024 Other purchases and external charges (1,221) (1,304) Staff costs (1,293) (2,051) General and administrative expenses (2,514) (3,355)

General and administrative expenses at December 31, 2025, amounted to 2,514,000, down 841,000 from the previous fiscal year. This decrease is mainly due to personnel expenses, more specifically the impact of workforce restructuring (-0.8 million).

Operating income for the year ended December 31, 2025, therefore showed a loss of 6,198,000, compared with a loss of 7,735,000 for the year ended December 31, 2024. This change is mainly due to:

Completion of clinical activities with AEF0117 and finalization of revenue recognition related to the license option agreement with Indivior PLC;

Preparation of the Phase 2b study with AEF0217 in the treatment of cognitive deficits associated with Down syndrome, including regulatory non-clinical activities;

Initiation of new proprietary platform activities related to the study of the molecular mechanisms of action and the in vitro specificity and toxicity of newly identified compounds.

Net financial income amounted to -229,000 at December 31, 2025, compared with 287,000 at December 31, 2024. In 2025, it mainly consists of negative exchange rate differences (-0.2 million), interest expenses on borrowings (-0.3 million), and income from cash investments (+0.2 million).

Net income was a loss of 6,434,000 in 2025, compared with a loss of 7,456,000 in the previous year.

Cash flow

Cash flow (in K) 12/31/2025 12/31/2024 Cash flow from operating activities (5,353) (11,831) Net cash flow from investing activities (841) (190) Net cash flow from financing activities 508 5,808 Impact of exchange rate changes (156) 53 Change in cash and cash equivalents (5,843) (6,160) Opening cash position 14,051 20,211 Closing cash position 8,208 14,051

Financial structure

Structure financiere (in K) 12/31/2025 12/31/2024 Overall cash position (*) a 9,058 14,051 Liquid assets b 8,208 14,051 Gross financial debt c (6,605) (6,084) Net cash position b+c 1,603 7,967 Overall net cash position a+c 2,453 7,967 (*) The overall cash position as of December 31, 2025 includes 850,000 in term deposits classified as financial assets under IFRS 9, but which may be redeemed early at a reduced rate of return.

The year 2025 was marked in particular by the granting of two non-dilutive financing agreements totaling 2 million, generating net cash flow of 0.5 million (compared with 5.8 million in 2024).

At year-end 2025, Aelis Farma's financial structure remains solid, with a cash position of 9,058,000. The Company's cash burn is in line with its forecasts and the progress of its research and development program.

According to its forecasts and taking into account several measures already implemented, Aelis Farma believes that its current cash position will enable to finance its development until at least beginning of 2028.

Highlights of the full year 2025

New non-dilutive financing

In March 2025, the Company was granted a 1.5 million bank loan by Caisse d'Epargne, and in June 2025, a 1 million public loan by the Nouvelle-Aquitaine Region as part of its program to support innovative projects, the first tranche of 500,000 which was paid in 2025.

Publication of final analyses of Phase 2b results with AEF0117

Following the publication of the preliminary results of this study in September 2024, the final analysis was published on March 26, 2025. These analyses show that:

AEF0117 is well tolerated and without the adverse effects of CB1 receptor antagonists. The highest dose of AEF0117 (1mg) non-statistically significantly increased the proportion of responders (+100% vs. placebo) for the primary endpoint (cannabis use =1 day per week) and almost statistically significantly reduced (-16% vs. placebo; P=0.077) the number of days of cannabis use per week.

In the subgroup of patients with a strong motivation to stop using cannabis, AEF0117 had a greater but not statistically significant effect on the primary endpoint (+228% vs. placebo), decreased the number of days of cannabis use per week (-55% vs. placebo; P=0.038) and the amount of money spent on cannabis per day of use (-76% vs. placebo; P=0.029).

As already observed in Phase 2a, these data confirm, that AEF0117 is pharmacologically active, and provide further validation of the activity of the new class of drugs developed by Aelis Farma, "Signaling Specific Inhibitors of the CB1 Receptor (CB1-SSi)".

These new results will be the ground to engage in new partnership discussions, allowing to move forward the development of AEF0117.

Launch of a multicenter Phase 2b trial with AEF0217 to treat cognitive deficits associated with trisomy 21

Obtaining regulatory approvals issued by the relevant national authorities and ethics committees enabled the start of a Phase 2b clinical trial with the first participant first visit occurring in December 2025. This randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-group clinical trial plans to include 188 participants with Down syndrome, aged 16 to 32, in nine specialized clinical centers in France, Italy, and Spain (four in France, three in Italy, and two in Spain). Eligible participants are randomized into four groups receiving one of three doses of AEF0217 (0.1 mg, 0.2 mg, or 0.6 mg) or a placebo, orally, once a day for 24 weeks. It will be followed by a treatment-free eight-week follow-up period.

The primary objective of this study is to confirm and extend the positive Phase 1/2 results obtained with AEF0217, which showed a very favorable safety and pharmacokinetic profile, as well as statistically significant improvements in adaptive behaviors and brain activity in young adults with Down syndrome.

Strategy, outlook and major 2026 events

Based on the strength of its solid financial situation, Aelis Farma intends to pursue the development of its various assets and reach the next stages of value creation.

EMA Pediatric Committee issues favorable opinion on the AEF0217 Pediatric Investigation Plan for Down syndrome

In January 2026, the Pediatric Committee (PDCO) of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) issued a favorable opinion on the Pediatric Investigation Plan (PIP) for AEF0217, for the treatment of adaptive behavior disorders and cognitive impairments associated with trisomy 21 (Down syndrome). This major regulatory milestone for a treatment intended for use in children reinforces the credibility of the program, secures the regulatory requirements for the end of development, and improves the visibility of the European path toward marketing authorization (MA) for AEF0217. Positive results from the Phase 2b study would pave the way for further pediatric development of AEF0217.

Developing new drug candidates on the Company's platform

Thanks to its diversified and proprietary CB1-SSi library and screening platform, Aelis Farma has discovered functionally distinct families of compounds targeting the CB1 receptor that could address a broad spectrum of diseases associated with CB1 dysregulation. Some of these molecules have undergone early toxicity and pharmacokinetic testing, enabling initiation of proof-of-concept studies in diseases involving the CB1 receptor.

Transfer of the Company's registered office

As part of the refocusing of its activities and teams, the Company changes its registered office to bring all its staff together in the new laboratories located at IECB2, 2 rue Robert Escarpit in Pessac, France. The change of registered office will take effect on March 31, 2026. The gathering of all the teams is scheduled for mid-April 2026.

Presentation of financial accounts in 2026

Starting with the fiscal year beginning January 1, 2026, the Company will no longer publish its restated financial statements in accordance with IFRS. As the Company has no subsidiaries, it is not subject to this regulatory requirement. Therefore, the Half-Year Financial Report, which will be published following the Board of Directors' meeting approving the accounts as of June 30, 2026, will present the half-year results solely in accordance with French standards.

About AELIS FARMA

Founded in Bordeaux in 2013, Aelis Farma is a biopharmaceutical company that is developing a new class of drugs, the Signaling Specific inhibitors of the CB1 receptor of the endocannabinoid system (CB1-SSi). CB1-SSi have been developed by Aelis Farma based on the discovery of a natural regulatory mechanism of CB1 hyperactivity made by the team led by Dr Pier Vincenzo Piazza, the Company's CEO, when he was the director of the Neurocentre Magendie of INSERM in Bordeaux. By mimicking this natural mechanism, CB1-SSi appear to selectively inhibit the disease-related activity of the CB1 receptor without disrupting its normal physiological activity. CB1-SSi have consequently the potential to provide new safe treatments for several brain and peripheral organ diseases.

Aelis Farma currently has two first-in-class clinical-stage drug candidates. AEF0117 for the treatment of cannabis use disorders (CUD), that has shown to be able to decrease cannabis use across two studies. AEF0217 for cognitive disorders, which has shown in a Phase 1/2 to be safe and able to improve adaptive behavior in young adults with Down syndrome (Trisomy 21) and has started a Phase 2b in Europe aiming to confirm its efficacy and safety in people with Down syndrome. The clinical results obtained with these 2 compounds have confirmed the safety and therapeutic activity of CB1-SSi in humans. The Company also develops a portfolio of new innovative CB1-SSi for the treatment of other disorders associated with a dysregulation of the activity of the CB1 receptor, including diseases involving peripheral organs, such as obesity and related metabolic conditions. The new drugs developed by the Company belong to the same general pharmacological class, the CB1-SSi, but have distinct functional effects allowing to target different types of dysregulations of the CB1 receptor and guaranteeing that the different compounds are not substitutable one with the others.

For more information, visit www.aelisfarma.com and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.

ISIN: FR0014007ZB4

Ticker: AELIS

C Compartment of Euronext Paris

Disclaimer

Forward-looking statements

Some information contained in this press release is forward-looking statements, not historical data. These forward-looking statements are based on current beliefs, expectations, and assumptions, including, but not limited to, assumptions about Aelis Farma's current and future strategy and the environment in which Aelis Farma operates. They involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors, which may cause actual results, performance, achievements, or industry results or other events, to differ materially from those described or implied by such forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include those set out and described in detail in Chapter 3 "Risk Factors" of Aelis Farma's Universal Registration Document filed with the Autorite des Marches Financiers on April 28, 2025, under number D.25-0314.

These forward-looking statements are made only as of the date of this press release and Aelis Farma expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to release any updates or corrections to the forward-looking statements included in this press release to reflect any change in expectations or events, conditions, or circumstances on which any such forward-looking statement is based. Forward-looking information and statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to various risks and uncertainties, many of which are difficult to predict and generally beyond Aelis Farma's control. Actual results could differ materially from those described in, or implied or projected by, forward-looking information and statements.

1 The annual financial statements were approved by the Board of Directors on March 30,2026. Audit procedures have been completed on these financial statements. The statutory auditors' certification report is currently being issued.

2 IECB: Institut Europeen de Chimie et de Biologie

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260330937820/en/

Contacts:

AELIS FARMA

Pier Vincenzo Piazza

Chief Executive Officer

contact@aelisfarma.com

NewCap

Dusan Oresansky Thomas Cozzolino

Investor Relations

aelis@newcap.eu

+33 1 44 71 94 92

NewCap

Arthur Rouille

Media Relations

aelis@newcap.eu

+33 1 44 71 00 15
ATLANTA, GA / ACCESS Newswire / March 30, 2026 / Georgia-Pacific announced that effective immediately, David Duncan, executive vice president of Georgia-Pacific's consumer products group, has been named president and CEO. Mark Luetters, who currently serves as executive vice president of Koch, Inc., with responsibility overseeing several Koch companies, had temporarily served as president and CEO of Georgia-Pacific since 2025.

David Duncan, executive vice president of Georgia-Pacific's consumer products group, has been named president and CEO. He's been with the company since 2018 in leadership roles and has 28 years of experience at Koch companies.

David joined the company in 2018 as executive vice president of the Georgia-Pacific building products business, before moving into the consumer products leader role in 2019. Prior to joining Georgia-Pacific, he served as president of performance solutions at INVISTA. With more than 28 years of experience at Koch companies, David has held a variety of roles including managing director for Koch Ventures and Koch Equity Development, chief financial officer for Koch Minerals, and various roles at INVISTA.

Vivek Joshi, currently president of the consumer tissue, towel and napkins (TTN) business, will become executive vice president of the consumer products business. Vivek joined GP in 2002 as a marketing manager for the Dixie Foodservice food wrap business. Throughout his career with the company, he has been a part of significant investments across the consumer products business and has helped improve performance in many of our consumer-facing brands such as Angel Soft, Brawny, Dixie, Sparkle, Quilted Northern and Vanity Fair. Vivek has held numerous roles within the consumer business during the past 23 years, including vice president of innovation and business development, senior vice president of marketing effectiveness, vice president and general manager of the Dixie business and senior vice president and general manager of the tissue business.

Vivek Joshi, president of the consumer tissue, towel and napkins business, will become executive vice president of the consumer products business. Vivek joined Georgia-Pacific in 2002 as a marketing manager for the Dixie Foodservice food wrap business.

"I'm honored and grateful for the opportunity to lead an organization full of talented and dedicated people who work together across Georgia-Pacific to deliver results every day," said Duncan. "I also want to congratulate Vivek on his new role. He has been a strong leader within our consumer products business for many years, and I'm excited to continue working closely with him as he steps into this expanded responsibility."

View original content here.

Find more stories and multimedia from Georgia-Pacific Corporation at 3blmedia.com.

Contact Info:

Spokesperson: Georgia-Pacific Corporation

Website: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/georgia-pacific

Email: info@3blmedia.com

SOURCE: Georgia-Pacific Corporation

View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire:https://www.accessnewswire.com/newsroom/en/industrial-and-manufacturing/georgia-pacific-announces-president-and-ceo-duncan-to-lead-nearly-100-1153034
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - March 30, 2026) - NCM Investments is pleased to announce that it has been named a finalist for Mutual Fund Provider of the Year at the 2026 Wealth Professional Awards, marking the fifth consecutive year the firm has received this national recognition.

The award recognizes mutual fund providers that demonstrate a consistent commitment to advisor service, product innovation, and industry leadership.

"Being recognized five years in a row is meaningful for our entire team," said Alex Sasso, CEO of NCM Investments. "It speaks to the consistency of our approach and our focus on supporting advisors with differentiated solutions that help them solve real client challenges. We're proud to be part of an industry that continues to raise the bar for advice in Canada."

Winners will be announced on June 4, 2026, at the Wealth Professional Awards Gala at The Liberty Grand in Toronto. www.wpawards.ca

About NCM Investments:

NCM is made for advice. We are an award-winning investment manager offering a wide range of actively managed mutual funds and alternative strategies that complement mainstream solutions. Since 1999, we've partnered with advisors to solve real client challenges-bringing creativity, clarity, and insight to every portfolio. Whether it's fee transparency, income strategies, or risk-managed solutions, we're helping advisors have smarter conversations and better outcomes.

Commissions, trailing commissions, management fees and expenses all may be associated with mutual fund investments. Please read the prospectus before investing. Mutual funds are not guaranteed, their values change frequently and past performance may not be repeated.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/290472

Source: NCM Asset Management Ltd.
Landmark financing from institutional investors, Krane Capital LLC and X3 Higher Moment Fund LLC, enhances financial flexibility and supports near-to medium-term strategic initiatives

$10 million revolving credit facility, complemented by $2 million equity investment at a ~75% premium to market, reflecting strong institutional conviction in Perfect Moment's strategy

Combined financing supports ongoing product innovation, category expansion, and long-term shareholder value creation

Perfect Moment Ltd. (NYSE American: PMNT), a high-performance, luxury lifestyle brand that fuses technical excellence with fashion-led designs, today announced it has secured $12 million in growth financing.

The financing includes a $10 million revolving credit facility jointly provided by Krane Capital LLC ("Krane Capital") and X3 Higher Moment Fund LLC ("X Cubed"), as well as a separate $2 million equity investment from Krane Capital at a price of $0.33 per share-representing a 75% premium to Perfect Moment's closing share price of $0.19 on March 27, 2026.

The parties entered into separate definitive agreements for the revolving credit facility and the equity investment on March 27, 2026. The revolving credit facility closed on March 30, 2026, and the equity investment is expected to close within the next month.

The $12 million combined financing represents one of the most significant capital raises in Perfect Moment's history and is expected to strengthen its liquidity position, support continued operational execution and provide additional financial flexibility as it advances its strategic plan. Building on Perfect Moment's recently reported first profitable quarter, the financing strengthens the balance sheet and supports its path toward sustainable profitability, while enabling continued investment across key growth initiatives.

The capital structure-anchored by a $10 million revolving credit facility from two institutional lenders and an equity investment from Krane Capital at a premium to the recent market price-is designed to support Perfect Moment's near-to-medium term priorities and accelerate progress toward sustainable growth and profitability.

Revolving Credit Facility

The $10 million revolving credit facility is jointly provided by Krane Capital ($4 million) and X Cubed ($6 million). The facility has a term of 24 months and will bear interest at a rate of 12.0% per annum, subject to customary covenants and conditions. The facility will be available for general corporate purposes, including working capital, product development, and the repayment of outstanding debt.

Equity Investment

Concurrently, Krane Capital has agreed to purchase 6,060,606 shares of Perfect Moment's common stock at a price of $0.33 per share, representing a 75% premium to its closing share price of $0.19 on March 27, 2026. The gross proceeds from the $2 million equity investment will be strategically deployed to strengthen Perfect Moment's balance sheet and liquidity position, supporting compliance with the continued listing requirements of the NYSE American exchange. The significant premium paid by Krane Capital reflects deep institutional conviction in Perfect Moment's brand, operational trajectory, and long-term value creation potential.

Management Commentary

"The objective of this financing is to secure the capital necessary to support our long-term strategic plan and continued operational execution," said Max Gottschalk, Executive Chairman of Perfect Moment.

"With the leadership team now in place and improving revenue trends and margins, we believe Perfect Moment is building positive momentum toward sustainable profitability. The participation of institutional investors such as Krane Capital and X Cubed reflects confidence in our strategy and operating progress. This financing enhances our financial flexibility in the near- to medium-term and supports continued expansion across our key initiatives. We remain focused on disciplined execution and positioning Perfect Moment to capitalize on attractive growth opportunities," added Max Gottschalk.

"We also believe that Krane Capital's leadership and deep experience building investment and operating platforms in China will be instrumental in supporting Perfect Moment's strategic expansion into this high-growth market. Leveraging Krane Capital's local market insight, relationships, and operational expertise will help us identify and partner with best-in-class local operators to build a strong, scalable presence. This collaboration is expected to accelerate the development of a carefully curated distribution strategy, ensuring the brand is positioned appropriately within the premium segment and reaches its target consumer base with authenticity and impact."

Chath Weerasinghe, Chief Financial and Operating Officer of Perfect Moment, commented: "This $12 million financing package represents a significant milestone for Perfect Moment. Following our recently reported profitable quarter, we believe this capital strengthens our liquidity position and provides additional flexibility to execute our strategic growth initiatives.

The investment by Krane Capital at a premium to our recent trading price reflects confidence in our brand and long-term strategy. Together with the revolving credit facility, we believe we have established a more robust capital structure to support product innovation, category expansion, and go-to-market execution. We remain focused on disciplined growth and long-term shareholder value creation."

Strategic Rationale

The combined $12 million financing is expected to:

Enhance near- to medium-term financial flexibility, supporting continued operational execution and reducing short-term funding uncertainty.

Support Perfect Moment's path to profitability, building on the momentum of its first profitable quarter while accelerating revenue growth and go-to-market execution.

Strengthen the balance sheet and enhance financial flexibility to pursue product innovation and category expansion.

Align the interests of established institutional capital partners-Krane Capital and X Cubed-with those of existing shareholders through a premium equity investment and a structured credit facility.

Enable Perfect Moment to accelerate development across key product lines, scale go-to-market capabilities, and pursue strategic opportunities aligned with its long-term vision.

About Perfect Moment Ltd.

Founded in Chamonix, France, Perfect Moment is a luxury outerwear and activewear brand that merges alpine heritage with fashion-forward performance. Known for its technical excellence, bold design, and versatile pieces that transition seamlessly from slopes to city, the brand is worn by athletes, tastemakers, and celebrities worldwide. Perfect Moment is traded on the NYSE American under the ticker symbol PMNT. Learn more at www.perfectmoment.com.

About Krane Capital LLC

The management team of Krane Capital LLC established Krane Funds Advisors, LLC (KraneShares), a global asset management firm founded in 2013 and headquartered in New York. KraneShares manages over $12 billion in assets across a diversified platform of ETFs, private funds, and direct investments spanning China, climate, artificial intelligence, and alternative assets. In 2017, KraneShares formed a strategic partnership with China International Capital Corporation (CICC), one of China's leading financial institutions; CICC's largest shareholder is China Investment Corporation (CIC), one of the world's largest sovereign wealth funds.

About X3 Higher Moment Fund LLC

X3 Higher Moment Fund LLC, which is managed by X Cubed Capital Management LLC, is an SEC-registered alternative credit manager headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Founded by veterans with decades of experience at large institutional firms, X3 Higher Moment Fund LLC specializes in relative value strategies across a broad spectrum of credit markets. The firm blends systematic and discretionary discipline in the dynamic allocation of capital, applying a volatility-informed approach to identify novel dislocations across the capital structure. For more information, visit www.x3cmllc.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, contained in this press release are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements contained in this press release may be identified by the use of words such as "anticipate," "believe," "contemplate," "could," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "seek," "may," "might," "plan," "potential," "predict," "project," "target," "aim," "should," "will," "would," or the negative of these words or other similar expressions, although not all forward-looking statements contain these words. Forward-looking statements are neither historical facts nor assurances of future performance. Instead, they are based on our current expectations and are subject to inherent uncertainties, risks and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Further, certain forward-looking statements are based on assumptions as to future events that may not prove to be accurate. Our actual results and financial condition may differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements. Therefore, you should not rely on any of these forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause our actual results and financial condition to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements, include those risks and uncertainties described more fully in the sections titled "Risk Factors" in our Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2025, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Any forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made as of this date and are based on information currently available to us. We undertake no duty to update any forward-looking statement, whether written or oral, that may be made from time to time, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260330453536/en/

Contacts:

Investor Relations Contact:

Gateway Group

Cody Slach, Greg Robles

949.574.3860

PMNT@gateway-grp.com

Press Contact:

press@perfectmoment.com
Releases New Proposal Driven by Shareholder Feedback to Deliver Superior Option vs. Current Board's Tender Offer Proposal

Raises Concerns Related to Current Board's Proposal to Force Tendering Shareholders to Accept Untradeable Tracker Shares Tied to the SpaceX Position

Issues Open Letter to Shareholders to Provide the Facts on Performance Conveniently Being Ignored by Chair Jonathan Simpson-Dent and the Incumbent Board in Attempt to Serve Their Own Interests

Saba Capital Management, L.P. (together with certain of its affiliates, "Saba" or "we"), the largest shareholder of Edinburgh Worldwide Investment Trust PLC (EWI:LSE) ("EWI" or the "Company"), today announced an enhanced liquidity proposal (the "Enhanced Proposal") that it recommends the new independent Board of Directors (the "Board"), if elected, offer to all EWI shareholders. After listening carefully to shareholder feedback, we believe Saba's Enhanced Proposal is significantly superior in structure and governance to the Company's proposed Tender Offer and is in the best interests of all shareholders.

Saba's Enhanced Proposal is straightforward if Saba's nominees are elected, it recommends the new Board offer shareholders three clear options:

Option 1 : Tender immediately and exit at NAV less costs.

: Tender immediately and exit at NAV less costs. Option 2 : Tender following a potential SpaceX IPO or liquidity event but prior to any potential change in investment mandate at NAV less costs.

: Tender following a potential SpaceX IPO or liquidity event but prior to any potential change in investment mandate at NAV less costs. Option 3: Retain your investment in the Company.

Reducing Complexity, Maximising Optionality

Unlike the current Board's proposal, which would force tendering shareholders to accept untradeable tracker shares tethered to the SpaceX position, Saba's Enhanced Proposal would provide shareholders a clean exit, on their own terms, at a time of their own choosing, with no complex instruments and no illiquid securities. We do not believe in creating a self-manufactured urgency designed to push shareholders out the door before they have a chance to evaluate their options.

Allowing Shareholders to Manage Tax Consequences, While Seeing the SpaceX Position Through

Saba's Enhanced Proposal is designed with tax efficiency in mind. For any shareholder carrying embedded gains in EWI, tendering under the current Board's proposal could unnecessarily crystallise a capital gains tax liability.1 To do so now, simply because EWI Chairman Jonathan Simpson-Dent has created a sense of urgency around his own removal, would be an own goal.

By tendering under the current Board's proposal, many shareholders would be paying a real tax bill in cash, forfeiting the opportunity to see the SpaceX position through to a proper liquidity event, and surrendering the chance to evaluate a prospective new manager all so that the current Board can serve its own interests and point to redemptions as a vindication of its campaign against Saba. In contrast, Saba's Enhanced Proposal allows shareholders to choose when to tender before or after the SpaceX event and allows them to manage any tax consequences on their own terms

Saba encourages all EWI shareholders to vote AGAINST the current Board's proposed Tender Offer ahead of the 8 April deadline, and to vote FOR Saba's three independent nominees Gabriel Gliksberg, Michael Joseph and Jassen Trenkow at the upcoming Annual General Meeting.

In connection with this announcement, Saba also issued the below open letter to all EWI shareholders.

Fellow Shareholders,

As shareholders in EWI, your interest, like ours, is in maximising the value of your investment. Unfortunately, EWI's current Board and its Chairman, Jonathan Simpson-Dent, have been attempting to distract from this most fundamental and critical point by painting EWI as a public good. But it is not it is a listed investment trust that has a fiduciary duty to its shareholders.

This seems an obvious point, but you would be forgiven for forgetting this if you only read comments from Mr. Simpson-Dent, who has taken to describing EWI as a cherished British institution and a national treasure, rather than defending its track record of awful performance. This is because its track record is indefensible and no number of petitions to the FCA by Mr. Simpson-Dent can change that fact.

While our interests are aligned with yours, it is worth being direct about Mr. Simpson-Dent's own conflicting interests in this matter. Regardless of the language Mr. Simpson-Dent uses to dress it up, the current Board is essentially adopting a 'take the ball home' strategy: faced with being removed by EWI's shareholders, the Board wants to ensure that there is as little value as possible left for anyone else to manage.

When evaluating the track record of EWI's current management, it is also important to weigh the potential alternatives. In the event the new Board elects to run a process to change the Company's manager, we do intend to submit for consideration as part of the process. As a manager, our track record is clear: Saba Capital has been recognised by Institutional Investor as the leading activist hedge fund manager in 2023 and 20242 specifically for a closed-end fund discount strategy similar to what we would apply here. We have a demonstrated approach with a verified track record in this asset class over a sustained period.

Unfortunately, Mr. Simpson-Dent would rather many of you pay a capital gains tax bill a real, cash cost imposed on you by his timeline, not yours than have the opportunity to remain invested in EWI under a new Board and potentially new management. Mr. Simpson-Dent has framed this as an act of care for shareholders, but we suggest you weigh that framing against the evidence and consider the record he and his fellow directors are so vigorously defending:

EWI is a 100% net long fund. It has operated across one of the longest bull markets in modern financial history yet, over the past five years, it has lost approximately 34% of its value.3For comparison, the Saba Closed-End Funds ETF ("CEFS") which applies a strategy of investing in discounted closed-end funds across the US market has returned approximately 81% over the same five-year period. In the event the new Board were to select Saba as the manager, we would bring our discount-focused approach to bear here, applied entirely to UK investment trusts. As with any strategy, past performance is not a guarantee of future results, and the UK market has its own dynamics. But the underlying discipline the focus on closing discounts on behalf of long-suffering shareholders is precisely what this portfolio has needed, and precisely what EWI's current Board has failed to provide.



EWI has underperformed the S&P Global SmallCap Price Index by 55% and the FTSE All-Share Index Total Return by 100% over the past five years.4 In a bull market, in a fund with no structural short positions to blame, this is a disastrous track record against these key benchmarks. The current Board may find it inconvenient that this context exists, but there is no hiding it from shareholders who have lived through it while trusting the Board's assurances year after year.



SpaceX has been, by some distance, the single best-performing holding in this portfolio. Frankly, it is the reason the five-year loss is "only" 34% rather than something far worse and yet, in November 2025, the Board approved the sale of a meaningful portion of EWI's SpaceX stake, shortly before the position was marked up by more than 100%. This is the stewardship of your investment that Mr. Simpson-Dent is defending so loudly

Over the past year, the boards of other underperforming investment trusts have demonstrated they have the institutional backbone to hold their managers accountable. They have made difficult decisions, and they have acted in the best interests of their shareholders rather than themselves. EWI's Board has done the opposite it continues circling the wagons, retaining Baillie Gifford as manager and protecting its directors' fees. Now, it is urging you to rush for the exit on terms that suit the current Board's preferred narrative, rather than your financial interests.

Unlike the current Board, we are not taking anything from you. Instead, by nominating new highly qualified, independent directors, we are offering you something new: a credible alternative, a transparent tender process and an independent Board whose sole focus is delivering value.

If Baillie Gifford's EWI franchise is as valuable as the current Board insists, there is a simple solution: launch a new investment trust and see whether investors queue up to back it.

Sincerely,

Saba Capital Management, L.P.

***

About Saba

Saba Capital Management, L.P. is a global alternative asset management firm that seeks to deliver superior risk-adjusted returns for a diverse group of clients. Founded in 2009 by Boaz Weinstein, Saba is a pioneer of credit relative value strategies and capital structure arbitrage. Saba has offices in New York City and London. Learn more at www.sabacapital.com.

Disclaimer

This announcement is not intended to be and does not constitute or contain any investment recommendation as defined by Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 (as it forms part of the domestic law in the United Kingdom by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018). No information in this announcement should be construed as recommending or suggesting an investment strategy. Nothing in this announcement or in any related materials is a statement of or indicates or implies any specific or probable value outcome in any particular circumstance. This announcement is provided merely for general informational purposes and is not intended to be, nor should it be construed as (1) investment, financial, tax or legal advice, or (2) a recommendation to buy, sell or hold any security or other investment, or to pursue any investment style or strategy. Neither the information nor any opinion contained in this announcement constitutes an inducement or offer to purchase or sell or a solicitation of an offer to purchase or sell any securities or other investments in the Company or any other company by Saba or any of its affiliates in any jurisdiction. This announcement does not consider the investment objective, financial situation, suitability or the particular need or circumstances of any specific individual who may access or review this announcement and may not be taken as advice on the merits of any investment decision. This announcement is not intended to provide the sole basis for evaluation of, and does not purport to contain all information that may be required with respect to, any potential investment in the Company. Any person who is in any doubt about the matters to which this announcement relates should consult an authorised financial adviser or other person authorised under the UK Financial Services and Markets Act 2000. To the best of Saba's ability and belief, all information contained herein is accurate and reliable, and has been obtained from public sources that Saba believes to be accurate and reliable. However, such information is presented "as is", without warranty of any kind, whether express or implied, and Saba has not independently verified the data contained therein. All expressions of opinion are subject to change without notice, and Saba does not undertake to update or supplement any of the information, analysis and opinion contained herein.

Saba may continue transacting in the shares and securities of the Company, and/or derivatives referenced to them (which may include those providing long and short economic exposure) for an indefinite period following the date of this announcement and may increase or decrease its interests in such shares, securities and/or derivatives at any time.

Forward-Looking Statements

This announcement contains certain forward-looking statements and information that are based on Saba's beliefs, as well as assumptions made by, and information currently available to, Saba. These statements include, but are not limited to, statements about strategies, plans, objectives, expectations, intentions, expenditures and assumptions and other statements that are not historical facts. When used herein, words such as "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "plan" and "project" and similar expressions (or their negative) are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These statements reflect Saba's current views with respect to future events, are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict. Further, certain forward-looking statements are based upon assumptions as to future events that may not prove to be accurate. Actual results, performance or achievements may vary materially and adversely from those described herein. There is no assurance or guarantee with respect to the prices at which any securities of the Company or any other company will trade, and such securities may not trade at prices that may be implied herein. Any estimates, projections or potential impact of the opportunities identified by Saba herein are based on assumptions that Saba believes to be reasonable as of the date hereof, but there can be no assurance or guarantee that actual results or performance will not differ, and such differences may be material and adverse. No representation or warranty, express or implied, is given by Saba or any of its officers, employees or agents as to the achievement or reasonableness of, and no reliance should be placed on, any projections, estimates, forecasts, targets, prospects or returns contained herein. Neither Saba nor any of its directors, officers, employees, advisers or representatives shall have any liability whatsoever (for negligence or misrepresentation or in tort or under contract or otherwise) for any loss howsoever arising from any use of information presented in this announcement or otherwise arising in connection with this announcement. Any historical financial information, projections, estimates, forecasts, targets, prospects or returns contained herein are not necessarily a reliable indicator of future performance. Nothing in this announcement should be relied upon as a promise or representation as to the future. Nothing in this announcement should be considered as a profit forecast.

Permitted Recipients

In relation to the United Kingdom, this announcement is being issued only to, and is directed only at, (i) investment professionals specified in Article 19(5) of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Financial Promotion) Order 2005 as amended (the "Order"), (ii) high net worth entities, and other persons to whom it may lawfully be communicated, falling within Article 49(2)(a) to (d) of the Order and (iii) persons to whom an invitation or inducement to engage in investment activity (within the meaning of section 21 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000) in connection with the issue or sale of any securities of the Company or any member of its group may otherwise lawfully be communicated or caused to be communicated (all such persons together being referred to as "Permitted Recipients"). Persons who are not Permitted Recipients must not act or rely on the information contained in this announcement.

Distribution

Not for release, publication or distribution, in whole or in part, directly or indirectly, in, into or from any jurisdiction where to do so would constitute a violation of the relevant laws of that jurisdiction. The distribution of this announcement in certain countries may be restricted by law and persons who access it are required to inform themselves and to comply with any such restrictions. Saba disclaims all responsibility where persons access this announcement in breach of any law or regulation in the country of which that person is a citizen or in which that person is residing or is domiciled.

1 Page 49 of Edinburgh Worldwide Circular and Notice of General Meeting dated 16 March 2026.

2 Institutional Investor, The 21st Annual Hedge Fund Industry Award, dated 1 May 2024; Institutional Investor, 20 Annual Hedge Fund Industry Awards, dated 11 May 2023. View full disclaimer here: https://www.sabacapital.com/

3 Bloomberg. Data is in GBP and as of 27 March 2026.

4 Bloomberg. Data is in GBP and as of 27 March 2026. EWI's factsheet compares the Company's performance to the S&P Global SmallCap Index on page 1. EWI's October 2025 Annual Report and Financial Statements compares the Company's performance to the FTSE All-Share Index on page 75.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260330314273/en/

Contacts:

Longacre Square Partners

Kate Sylvester Bence Szechenyi

ksylvester@longacresquare.com bszechenyi@longacresquare.com
Holcim Group Services Ltd / Key word(s): Mergers & Acquisitions

Holcim completes acquisition of majority stake in Cementos Pacasmayo



30.03.2026 / 22:00 CET/CEST





Acquisition is a milestone in Holcim's Latin America expansion, bringing a complementary portfolio of building materials and solutions in Peru

Cementos Pacasmayo reported 2025 net sales of USD 630 million and an adjusted EBITDA margin of 28%

Transaction value implies 7.1x EBITDA multiple after expected run-rate synergies of around USD 40 million in year three; EPS accretive in year one

Holcim has completed the acquisition of a majority stake in Cementos Pacasmayo, a leading Peruvian producer of building materials with reported 2025 net sales of USD 630 million and an adjusted EBITDA margin of 28%. The synergistic acquisition expands Holcim's portfolio of building materials and solutions in Peru and is expected to accelerate profitable growth in the highly attractive Latin America region, in line with its NextGen Growth 2030 strategy.

Miljan Gutovic, CEO: "I warmly welcome Cementos Pacasmayo's more than 2 000 employees to the Holcim family. Working together, we will build on the exceptional legacy and well-regarded brand of Cementos Pacasmayo in Peru, driven by a deep commitment to people and customers. This synergistic acquisition gives us a highly cash-generative and complementary portfolio of building materials and solutions in Peru, and is fully in line with our NextGen Growth 2030 strategy to accelerate growth in Latin America."

Founded 68 years ago, Cementos Pacasmayo operates three cement plants with a combined capacity of around 5 million tons per year, as well as a combined 28 ready-mix and precast concrete plants. The company distributes through more than 300 retail stores that complement Holcim's Disensa, the leading construction materials and solutions franchise network in Latin America. It has also developed AI platforms to drive customer-centric services and administrative productivity.

The transaction value implies a 2025 EBITDA multiple of 7.1x after expected run-rate synergies of around USD 40 million realized in year three. The acquisition is anticipated to be earnings per share (EPS) and free cash flow accretive in year one and return on invested capital (ROIC) accretive in year three.

Holcim intends to undertake a mandatory public tender offer to acquire additional shares in Cementos Pacasmayo, in accordance with Peruvian law.

About Holcim

Holcim (SIX: HOLN) is the leading partner for sustainable construction with net sales of CHF 15.7 billion in 2025, creating value across the built environment from infrastructure and industry to buildings. Headquartered in Zug, Switzerland, Holcim has more than 45 000 employees in 43 attractive markets - across Europe, Latin America and Asia, Middle East & Africa - and has been recognized as a Global Top Employer by the Top Employers Institute. Holcim offers high-value end-to-end Building Materials and Building Solutions, from foundations and flooring to walling and roofing - powered by premium brands including ECOPact, ECOPlanet and ECOCycle.

Learn more about Holcim on www.holcim.com , and by following us on LinkedIn .

Sign up for Holcim's Building Progress newsletter here .

Important disclaimer - forward-looking statements:

This document contains forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements do not constitute forecasts regarding results or any other performance indicator, but rather trends or targets, as the case may be, including with respect to plans, initiatives, events, products, solutions and services, their development and potential. Although Holcim believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions as at the time of publishing this document, investors are cautioned that these statements are not guarantees of future performance. Actual results may differ materially from the forward-looking statements as a result of a number of risks and uncertainties, many of which are difficult to predict and generally beyond the control of Holcim, including but not limited to the risks described in the Holcim's annual report available on its website ( www.holcim.com ) and uncertainties related to the market conditions and the implementation of our plans. Accordingly, we caution you against relying on forward-looking statements. Holcim does not undertake to provide updates of these forward-looking statements.
Air Lease (NYSE: AL) announced today the receipt of the final regulatory approval that is a condition to closing Air Lease's previously announced merger with a subsidiary of Sumisho Air Lease Corporation DAC, a holding company based in Dublin, Ireland, whose shares at closing will be held directly or indirectly by Sumitomo Corporation, SMBC Aviation Capital Limited and investment vehicles affiliated with Apollo managed funds and Brookfield.

Air Lease expects to complete the merger on or about April 8, 2026, subject to the satisfaction of the remaining closing conditions set forth in the merger agreement and discussed in detail in the definitive proxy statement filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission by Air Lease on November 4, 2025. Under the terms of the merger agreement, upon completion of the merger, Air Lease's Class A common stockholders will be entitled to receive $65.00 in cash, without interest and subject to any applicable withholding taxes, for each share of Class A common stock of Air Lease held immediately prior to the effective time of the merger. Additionally, under the terms of the merger agreement, each share of 4.65% Fixed-Rate Reset Non-Cumulative Perpetual Preferred Stock, Series B, 4.125% Fixed-Rate Reset Non-Cumulative Perpetual Preferred Stock, Series C, and 6.00% Fixed-Rate Reset Non-Cumulative Perpetual Preferred Stock, Series D, of Air Lease issued and outstanding immediately prior to the effective time of the merger will remain outstanding as preferred stock of the surviving corporation. Upon completion of the merger, Air Lease will be renamed Sumisho Air Lease Corporation.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as "anticipates," "expects," "intends," "plans," "projects," "believes," "may," "will," "would," "could," "should," "seeks," "estimates" and variations on these words and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements.

All statements, other than historical facts, including statements regarding the expected timing of the closing of the merger; the ability of the parties to complete the merger considering the various closing conditions; the expected benefits of the merger; and any assumptions underlying any of the foregoing, are forward-looking statements. Such statements are based upon current plans, estimates and expectations that are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those indicated or anticipated by such forward-looking statements. The inclusion of such statements should not be regarded as a representation that such plans, estimates or expectations will be achieved. You should not place undue reliance on such statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from such plans, estimates or expectations include, among others, that (i) one or more closing conditions to the merger may not be satisfied or waived, on a timely basis or otherwise; (ii) the business of Air Lease may suffer as a result of uncertainty surrounding the merger and there may be challenges with employee retention as a result of the pending merger; (iii) the merger agreement contains restrictions on Air Lease's ability to incur additional debt, which may negatively impact its liquidity and ability to maintain its investment grade ratings; (iv) the merger may involve unexpected costs, liabilities or delays; (v) legal proceedings have been and may continue to be initiated related to the merger; (vi) changes in economic conditions, political conditions and changes in laws or regulations may occur; (vii) an event, change or other circumstance may occur that could give rise to the termination of the merger agreement (including circumstances requiring a party to pay the other party a termination fee pursuant to the merger agreement); and (viii) other risk factors as detailed from time to time in Air Lease's reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"), including Air Lease's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2025, which are available on the SEC's website (www.sec.gov). There can be no assurance that the merger will be completed, or if it is completed, that it will close within the anticipated time period or that the expected benefits of the merger will be realized.

In addition, new risks and uncertainties may emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for Air Lease to predict or assess the impact of every factor that may cause its actual results to differ from those contained in any forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this press release. Air Lease expressly disclaims any obligation to revise or update publicly any forward-looking statement to reflect actual results or events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

About Air Lease (NYSE: AL)

Air Lease is a leading global aircraft leasing company based in Los Angeles, California that has airline customers throughout the world. Air Lease and its team of dedicated and experienced professionals are principally engaged in purchasing new commercial aircraft and leasing them to its airline customers worldwide through customized aircraft leasing and financing solutions. The company routinely posts information that may be important to investors in the "Investors" section of its website at www.airleasecorp.com. Investors and potential investors are encouraged to consult Air Lease's website regularly for important information. The information contained on, or that may be accessed through, Air Lease's website is not incorporated by reference into, and is not a part of, this press release.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260330317762/en/

Contacts:

Investors:

Jason Arnold

Vice President, Investor Relations

Email: investors@airleasecorp.com

Media:

Ashley Arnold

Senior Manager, Media and Investor Relations

Email: press@airleasecorp.com
ATLANTA, GA / ACCESS Newswire / March 30, 2026 / Georgia lawmakers expressed grave concerns with a big government scheme promoted by backers of a self-interested gold vendor last week and voted overwhelmingly to kill the proposal.

Senate Bill 424, the "government transactional gold boondoggle" bill, would have created a new Georgia government commission of bureaucrats to launch a commercial offering intended to compete against gold-related businesses in Georgia and beyond.

More specifically, SB 424 would have created a government-run gold depository, investment, and payment offering, even though these services are already widely available in the private sector.

Members of Georgia's House Banks and Banking Committee raised a multitude of concerns about the inoperability of SB 424, including increased liability to the state, the reality that selected vendors would weaponize government backing for competitive purposes against legally operating businesses, the potential of fraud, and the lack of any compelling interest for the state to transition from regulator to market participant.

Multiple members of the committee shared they had received hundreds of letters, emails, and/or phone calls from Georgia citizens opposing government intervention in the gold space. Rep. Kimberly Alexander even held up a 6-inch stack of physical letters she had received in opposition to SB 424.

Now that the Banks committee voted 11-4 to kill the bill, the Peach State joins Kansas, Arizona, West Virginia, Indiana, Kentucky, South Dakota, Idaho, Mississippi, Wyoming, and Michigan as states that have refused to launch this government scheme after facing a broad backlash from industry stakeholders, financial institutions, in-state grassroots activists, and sound money experts. Some of the criticisms raised are:

Gold Payment App Ploy to Obtain Special Government Blessing and Privilege - The public-private partnership concept is backed by individuals connected with gold payment apps. Even though these apps are already available for use in every state in the country, they desire the imprimatur of state government endorsement to help attract new customers and overcome their competition.

These bills direct state authorities to designate or establish a bullion depository, launch an electronic payment system, contract with select private entities, and promulgate rules to roll out the new government program.

Vendor Tax Favoritism, Scare Tactics to Pry Customers Away From Other Businesses - Promoters have made false and irresponsible marketing claims that customers of a state-selected vendor could evade federal capital gains taxes... or that members of the public could face confiscation of their precious metals if they did not patronize the state-partnered gold vendor.

New Burdensome Regulations - Some variations of these bills would also force hundreds of small businesses (e.g. coin shops, mints) to register as Money Services Businesses or seek some other license, subjecting them to new stringent regulatory and examination burdens for no discernable benefit while imposing elaborate bank-like signup processes on customers. State regulators would be forced to take responsibility for overseeing gold market and payment activities about which they lack experience or expertise.

Other reasons lawmakers have pushed back include:

Buying, Selling, Storing, and Transacting Gold Is Already Legal - Private services to buy, sell, store, and transact using gold/silver are already legal and widely available. There is no need to involve the state.

Lack of Industry Expertise & Understanding of Negative Business Impacts - These public-private partnership bills have been drafted with little apparent knowledge of precious metal depositories and dealers, the forms of precious metals that are available in the marketplace, and industry physical market practices for gold and silver coins, bars, and rounds. Most importantly, they have been drafted without sensitivity to the negative impact they would have on in-state businesses.

Absence of Public Demand - There is little to no demand among the public to pay taxes to the government in gold or silver, or for the government to become further involved in the purchase, use, sale, or storage of the metals. (It's usually quite the opposite... the public does not want the government involved with their gold.)

"Georgia lawmakers saw through the promoters' obfuscation and saw the SB 424 vendor proposal for what it actually was," said Jp Cortez, executive director of the Sound Money Defense League. "Lawmakers who mean well and who wish to advance sound money policy would be wise to return to first principles of limited government."

Despite these distractions, the Sound Money Defense League has successfully worked to advance good sound money bills this session removing taxes on precious metals, reaffirming gold and silver as Constitutional money, and strengthening gold and silver clause contracts.

Contact:

jp.cortez@soundmoneydefense.org

SOURCE: Sound Money Defense League

View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire:https://www.accessnewswire.com/newsroom/en/business-and-professional-services/georgia-rejects-big-government-%22transactional-gold%22-bill-joining-1153317
Fairfax County, Virginia--(Newsfile Corp. - March 30, 2026) - Blue Sky Innovators, Inc., a dual-use technology company delivering insight to operations for government and commercial customers, will invest $7 million to expand its footprint in Fairfax County, Virginia. The expansion will support the creation of 175 new jobs and the buildout of approximately 20,000 square feet of secure innovation and laboratory space above its existing office at 12120 Sunset Hills Road, Reston. The expanded facility will house SkyLab, a secure, collaborative innovation environment purpose-built to accelerate advanced research, rapid prototyping, and mission integration.





To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

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"SkyLab represents our belief that speed, security, and collaboration must coexist to meet today's national security challenges," said Tim Tkacz, CEO of Blue Sky Innovators. "This investment demonstrates the pace and commitment required to deliver innovation where it matters most, at the point of mission execution."

SkyLab will serve as a mission-focused innovation hub enabling rapid onboarding of new technologies, secure collaboration with government customers, and hands-on integration with commercial and startup partners across quantum, cyber, space, artificial intelligence, data, and emerging defense technologies.

"We are proud to support Blue Sky's continued growth and now the launch of SkyLab, a next-generation innovation platform that will accelerate dual-use technologies critical to our nation's future," said Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chairman Jeffrey C. McKay. "By bringing together innovators and mission partners from across Fairfax County and Northern Virginia, Blue Sky is strengthening the connective tissue of our regional ecosystem. This is the kind of applied innovation engine that strengthens both economic competitiveness and national readiness," McKay continued. "We congratulate Blue Sky for their leadership and thank them for continuing to invest in a community that stands ready to support their bold vision."

"We couldn't be more thrilled that Blue Sky Innovators is expanding in Reston, a place that has long been a magnet for forward-looking companies in this part of the Dulles Corridor's highly collaborative, innovation-driven environment," said Hunter Mill District Supervisor Walter Alcorn. "Blue Sky's work in cyber, AI, space, and defense operations is a great demonstration of the innovation that drives this region forward. We look forward to the jobs, partnerships, and opportunities this growing team will bring to Reston and the broader community."

Blue Sky Innovators continues to experience strong growth driven by increasing demand for dual-use solutions that bridge commercial innovation and operational execution. With employees spread across five states, the company has grown into a trusted partner for the U.S. Department of War and intelligence community, leveraging expertise in areas such as prototyping, research and development, disruptive technologies, electromagnetic spectrum operations, integration, and acquisition.

"The launch of SkyLab marks a defining moment for our region's advanced technology ecosystem. This purpose-built innovation lab is designed to accelerate rapid prototyping, cross-sector collaboration, and the transition of emerging technologies from concept to capability," said Victor Hoskins, president and CEO of Fairfax County Economic Development Authority. "Fairfax County offers the secure digital infrastructure, federal integration, research partnerships, and highly skilled workforce required to support this type of mission-driven innovation. We are grateful for Blue Sky's continued confidence in Fairfax County and look forward to supporting the collaborative innovation environment this investment will catalyze across Northern Virginia and beyond."

Fairfax County Economic Development Authority worked with the Virginia Economic Development Partnership to secure the project for Fairfax County. Governor Spanberger approved an $840,000 grant from the Commonwealth's Opportunity Fund to assist Fairfax County with the project. Funding and services to support the company's employee training activities will be provided through the Virginia Jobs Investment Program (VJIP).

"With the establishment of SkyLab, Blue Sky Innovators is showing what a commitment to innovation and collaboration really looks like," said Governor Abigail Spanberger. "By expanding aggressively in Reston, their leadership is showing the defense technology industry why Virginia is leading the way in our changing economy. With unparalleled access to the nation's top talent and decision makers, the Commonwealth is ready to help businesses grow as we build an economy that works for every Virginian."

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To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/290502

Source: Fairfax County Economic Development Authority
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - March 30, 2026) - Pineapple Financial Inc. (NYSE: PAPL), a leading fintech platform, announced that as previously disclosed in its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended August 31, 2025, which was filed on December 3, 2025, and as amended and filed on December 12, 2025 with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the audited consolidated financial statements, contained an audit report from its independent registered public accounting firm that included an explanatory paragraph related to the Company's ability to continue as a going concern. See further discussion in footnote 1 to the Company's audited consolidated financial statements included in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K. Release of this information is required by Sections 401 (h) and 610(b) of the NYSE American Company Guide. It does not represent any change or amendment to any of the Company's filings for the fiscal year ended August 31, 2025.

About Pineapple Financial Inc.

Pineapple Financial Inc. ("Pineapple", or the "Company") is an award-winning fintech and leading Canadian mortgage brokerage network, focusing on both the long-term success of agents and brokers as well as the overall experience of homeowners. With hundreds of brokers within the network, Pineapple creates cutting-edge cloud-based tools and AI-driven systems to enable its brokers to help Canadians realize their dream of owning a home. Pineapple is active within the community and is proud to sponsor charities across Canada to improve the lives of fellow Canadians.

Safe Harbor Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements in this announcement are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties. They are based on the Company's current expectations and projections about future events that the Company believes may affect its financial condition, results of operations, business strategy and economic needs. Investors can identify these forward-looking statements by words or phrases such as "may," "will," "expect," "anticipate," "aim," "estimate," "intend," "plan," "believe," "is/are likely to," "potential," "continue" or other similar expressions. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise publicly any forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent occurring events or circumstances or changes in its expectations that arise after the date hereof, except as may be required by law. These statements are subject to uncertainties and risks including, but not limited to, the uncertainties related to market conditions, fluctuations in the market price of INJ, including risks related to volatility in the price of INJ, the timing and execution of Digital Asset Treasury capital deployment, the treatment of designated cash balances, and the assumptions underlying non-GAAP metrics such as mNAV, and any associated impairment charges that we may incur as a result of a decrease in the market price of INJ below the value at which INJ is carried on our balance sheet; changes in the accounting treatment relating to our INJ holdings; the Company's financial condition, customer acceptance of our INJ treasury strategy, and other factors discussed in the "Risk Factors" section of the registration statements, and periodic reports filed with the SEC. Although the Company believes that the expectations expressed in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, it cannot assure that such expectations will be correct. The Company cautions investors that actual results may differ materially from the anticipated results. It encourages investors to review other factors that may affect its future results in the Company's registration statement and other filings with the SEC. Additional factors are discussed in the Company's filings with the SEC, which are available for review at www.sec.gov.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/290465

Source: Pineapple Financial Inc.
Tel Aviv, Israel--(Newsfile Corp. - March 30, 2026) - Fine Rituals, Israel's premier brand architect and high-growth strategic importer of international prestige beauty and wellness, today announced its official expansion into the Functional Food sector. This strategic move marks a new era for the company, further solidifying its "Inside-Out" wellness philosophy by bringing nutritional innovation to the Israeli premium market.

Market Leadership & Exponential Growth

As the primary gateway for international laboratory-standard brands, Fine Rituals has built an institutional-grade infrastructure designed to navigate the complexities of the Israeli market. Despite the challenging regional climate, Fine Rituals is currently experiencing a period of unprecedented growth.

"Interestingly, we've observed that during challenging times, consumer demand for high-end wellness actually increases," stated Dana Zilberstein, CEO of Fine Rituals. "We saw a similar trend during COVID-19 and the recent period of conflict; we are currently at 150% of our regular sales for this time of year. I believe many consumers turn to wellness and self-care as a form of escapism and a proactive way to maintain their health and resilience when external factors are uncertain."

The "Functional" Revolution in Tel Aviv

Fine Rituals' entry into Functional Foods targets the "High-Performance Consumer" who demands more than just basic nutrition. The new category focuses on:

Adaptogenic Integration: Foods designed to manage cortisol and stress levels.

Foods designed to manage cortisol and stress levels. Cognitive Support (Nootropics): Precision nutrition for mental clarity and focus.

Precision nutrition for mental clarity and focus. Nutricosmetics: Edible beauty solutions that complement the company's existing prestige skincare portfolio.

A Strategic Engine for International Brands

Fine Rituals serves as more than a distributor; it is a Strategic Engine that manages the entire lifecycle of a brand's entry into Israel. This includes:

MOH Regulatory Mastery: Direct navigation of complex Ministry of Health protocols for food and supplements.

Direct navigation of complex Ministry of Health protocols for food and supplements. ISO 9001 Logistics: High-standard supply chain management ensuring product integrity from Europe/USA to the Israeli shelf.

High-standard supply chain management ensuring product integrity from Europe/USA to the Israeli shelf. Brand Equity Protection: A specialized approach to marketing that maintains the "Cult-Beauty" status of international partners.

"We are keeping our momentum high and finalizing commercial details with our global partners now," added Dana Zilberstein. "Since I fully expect the incoming samples to be excellent, there is no reason to delay. We are ready to deploy our framework to meet this 150% demand surge head-on."

About Fine Rituals

Fine Rituals is a leading Tel Aviv-based brand architect and exclusive distributor specializing in the strategic launch of international cult-beauty, wellness, and functional nutrition brands. Operating at the intersection of luxury, science, and retail technology, Fine Rituals provides the regulatory, marketing, and logistical foundation required to build and sustain global prestige brands in the Middle Eastern market.

Official Website: www.fine-rituals.com

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/290453

Source: Pinion Partners
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - March 30, 2026) - ICG Silver & Gold Ltd. (CSE: ICG) ("ICG" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that, further to its news release dated February 26, 2026, it has closed a non-brokered unit offering for gross proceeds of $1.73 million (the "Unit Offering"). This brings the Company's total gross proceeds raised between the Unit Offering and previously completed Subscription Receipt Offering to approximately $4.5 million, and $6.2 million since inception. The completion of the Unit Offering was the final step before the Company begins trading on the Canadian Securities Exchange (the "CSE") at market open tomorrow, March 31, 2026, under the ticker symbol "ICG".

The Company issued 4,943,369 units (each a "Unit") at a price of $0.35 per Unit for aggregate gross proceeds of $1,730,179.15. Each Unit consisted of one common share (a "Share") and one-half of one common share purchase warrant (each whole warrant, a "Warrant"). Each Warrant is exercisable at a price of $0.50 per Share for a period of 24 months from the listing of the Shares on the CSE (the "Listing Date"). Both the Shares and Warrants are subject to a statutory hold period of four months plus a day from the date of issuance in accordance with applicable securities legislation.

In connection with the Unit Offering, the Company paid cash finders fees of $80,178.70 and issued 229,082 common share purchase warrants to eligible finders (each a "Compensation Warrant"). Each Compensation Warrant is exercisable at a price of $0.50 per Share for a period of 24 months from the date of issuance.

The net proceeds of the Unit Offering will be used for advancing the Company's Phase 1 exploration program at the Tuscarora District in Nevada, costs of the public listing, marketing and investor relations, and general working capital purposes.

With the closing of the Unit Financing, ICG is now fully funded to rapidly advance the Tuscarora District through its Phase 1 drill program in the summer and toward a first mineral resource estimate.

To learn more about ICG, visit https://icgsilverandgold.com/ and subscribe to the Company's news.

About ICG Silver & Gold Ltd.

ICG Silver & Gold Ltd. is a new mineral exploration and development company advancing the Tuscarora District in northern Nevada. The Company's strategy is centered on:

Advancing the Tuscarora District through systematic exploration and technical studies;

Building a district-scale geological model; and

Progressing the project toward resource definition and future development.

The Tuscarora District is a silver-gold epithermal system located on the Carlin Trend, approximately one hour northwest of Elko, Nevada. ICG controls 100% of the approximately 10,000-acre land package, which has had extensive rock chip sampling, thousands of meters of reverse circulation and core drilling, and tens of kilometers of CSAMT geophysics completed on the property. ICG fundamentally believes in the long-term value of precious metals exploration, especially silver and gold and is led by a technical and management team with extensive experience in exploration, permitting, capital markets, and development of mining projects in the Western United States, including Nevada.

The Canadian Securities Exchange has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this news release.

Forward-Looking Information

This news release includes certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements." All statements in this new release, other than statements of historical facts, that address events or developments that the Company expects to occur, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects", "plans", "anticipates", "believes", "intends", "estimates", "projects", "potential" and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will", "would", "may", "could" or "should" occur. Forward-looking statements in this news release include, without limitation, statements related to the anticipated use of proceeds from the Unit Financing. Although the Company believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include market prices, continued availability of capital and financing, and general economic, market or business conditions. Investors are cautioned that any such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs, estimates and opinions of the Company's management on the date the statements are made. Except as required by applicable securities laws, the Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements in the event that management's beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change.

NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO U.S. NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR FOR RELEASE, PUBLICATION, DISTRIBUTION OR DISSEMINATION DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, IN WHOLE OR IN PART, IN OR INTO THE UNITED STATES

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/290462

Source: ICG Silver & Gold Ltd.
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - March 30, 2026) - Canstar Resources Inc. (TSXV: ROX) (OTCID: CSRNF) ("Canstar" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that, further to its press release dated March 23, 2026, it has received the initial cash payment and common share consideration from Churchill Resources Inc. ("Churchill") in connection with the previously announced option agreement relating to Canstar's Golden Baie gold-antimony project located in Newfoundland (the "Golden Baie Project").

Pursuant to the option agreement, Canstar has received the following:

Cash Payment: $208,167, representing reimbursement of existing cash bonds posted on the Golden Baie Project; and Initial Share Issuance: 15,834,097 common shares of Churchill, representing approximately 5.0% of Churchill's issued and outstanding shares on a post-issuance basis. The shares are subject to applicable statutory hold periods.

As previously disclosed, the option agreement provides Canstar with the right to receive up to an additional 4.99% ownership interest in Churchill, for a total of up to 9.99%, delivered in four subsequent tranches of approximately 1.25% each over the 24-month option period, subject to applicable regulatory requirements and share issuance limits.

Government of Newfoundland and Labrador - Junior Exploration Assistance Program

Canstar wishes to thank the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador Department of Industry, Energy and Technology for its support of the Company's exploration activities through a $150,000 grant under the Junior Exploration Assistance ("JEA") Program. The JEA Program provides financial assistance to junior mineral exploration companies conducting eligible exploration programs in Newfoundland and Labrador. This funding will support Canstar's ongoing exploration work at its Mary March Project in central Newfoundland. Canstar acknowledges the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador's continued commitment to advancing mineral exploration and economic development in the province.

About Canstar Resources Inc.

Canstar Resources Inc. (TSXV: ROX) is a mineral exploration company focused on the discovery of high-grade polymetallic deposits through technically rigorous exploration in proven mineral districts.

The Company's flagship asset is the Mary March Project, a large land package located approximately 20 km east of the historic Buchans Mining Camp in central Newfoundland, which produced some of the highest-grade volcanogenic massive sulphide ("VMS") deposits globally. Mary March hosts high-grade copper, zinc, gold and silver mineralization within volcanic rocks consistent with the host stratigraphy of the Buchans deposits. The project also features large hydrothermal alteration zones indicative of a significant mineralizing system. Despite its proximity to the Buchans camp, the property has seen limited modern exploration since the original discovery, leaving substantial portions of the system underexplored.

Canstar's exploration programs are supported by a technical team with extensive experience exploring for and advancing volcanogenic massive sulphide deposits globally.

The Company's exploration strategy combines district-scale geological targeting with disciplined exploration programs designed to identify new discoveries. In addition to Mary March, Canstar maintains exposure to potential value creation at the Golden Baie Project in Newfoundland through its option agreement with Churchill Resources Inc., including staged equity consideration and a retained 0.5% net smelter return royalty upon exercise of the option.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws. Forward-looking information in this news release includes, but is not limited to, statements regarding: the anticipated issuance of any future equity tranches to Canstar under the option agreement; Churchill's ability to satisfy the expenditure and other conditions required to earn an interest in the Golden Baie Project; the anticipated benefits of the transaction to Canstar; and future exploration plans and activities.



Forward-looking information is based on management's expectations and assumptions, including, without limitation: that the parties will continue to satisfy the conditions contemplated by the option agreement; that required regulatory approvals will be obtained as necessary; that Churchill will be able to fund and carry out the required exploration programs; and that market conditions will remain supportive. Forward-looking information is subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Canstar undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking information except as required by law.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/290500

Source: Canstar Resources Inc.
Manila, Philippines--(Newsfile Corp. - March 30, 2026) - St. Augustine Gold and Copper Limited (TSX: SAU) ("St. Augustine" or the "Corporation") today announces that the filing of its audited annual financial statements, management's discussion and analysis and related CEO and CFO certifications for the financial year ended December 31, 2025 (the "Required Filings"), will be delayed beyond the filing deadline of March 30, 2026, and as a result it will be in default of its obligations under Part 4 of National Instrument 51-102 Continuous Disclosure Obligations. The delay in the completion of the Required Filings is as a result of additional time required by the Corporation's auditor to complete the accounting assessment of certain financial instruments issued by the Corporation during its most recent financial year. The delay caused by the assessment of the instruments means the auditor of the Corporation requires more time in order to complete the audit of the Corporation's financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2025.

The Corporation has made an application to the Ontario Securities Commission (the "OSC") for a management cease trade order (the "MCTO"), which would restrict all trading in securities of the Corporation, whether direct or indirect, by management of the Corporation. The MCTO does not generally affect the ability of shareholders who are not insiders of the Corporation to trade their securities. There is no certainty that the MCTO will be granted.

The Corporation is working expeditiously with its auditor, Davidson & Company LLP, to complete the audit as soon as possible. St. Augustine plans to remedy the default and file the Required Filings as soon as it is able to do so and expects such filing to occur on or prior to April 21, 2026. The Corporation also intends to satisfy the provisions of the alternate information guidelines of Section 10 of National Policy 12-203 Management Cease Trade Orders as long as it is in default of the filing requirements.

The Corporation confirms that there are no insolvency proceedings against it as of the date of this press release. The Corporation also confirms that there is no other material information concerning the affairs of the Corporation that has not been generally disclosed as of the date of this press release.

About St. Augustine

St. Augustine (TSX: SAU) is a TSX-listed mining company focused on the development of the King-king Copper-Gold Project. The Project is one of the largest undeveloped copper-gold deposits in the world and is listed as a top three-priority mining project by the Philippine government.

CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION

This announcement includes certain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation. All statements, other than statements of historical fact included herein are forward looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve various risks and uncertainties and are based on certain factors and assumptions. While we consider these assumptions to be reasonable based on currently available information, they may prove to be incorrect. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Forward-looking information is also subject to certain factors, including risks and uncertainties, that could cause actual results to differ materially from the Company's current expectations, including changes in market conditions, governmental or regulatory developments and general economic conditions. Other risks and uncertainties related to the Company are disclosed under the heading "Risk Factors" in the Company's Annual Information Form dated March 31, 2025 and filed with Canadian securities regulatory authorities on the SEDAR+ website at www.sedarplus.ca. Forward-looking information contained in this announcement is based on our current estimates, expectations and projections, which we believe are reasonable as of the current date. You should not place undue importance on forward-looking information and should not rely on this information as of any other date. While we may elect to, we are under no obligation and do not undertake to update this information at any particular time except as required by applicable securities law.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/290547

Source: St. Augustine Gold and Copper Limited
Independent Study Confirms Minimal Impact on Bycatch, Underscoring Fishery's Sustainable Practices

NEW ORLEANS, LA / ACCESS Newswire / March 30, 2026 / The following was released by Ocean Harvesters and Westbank Fishing:

The Gulf menhaden fishery has earned recertification from the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), reaffirming its strong environmental performance and science-based management after rigorous, multi-year independent audit. The MSC is the world's leading certification body for sustainable fisheries, and the 2026 recertification provides third-party verification that the fishery continues to meet the highest standards for sustainability, ecosystem health, and effective management.

MSC certifications are valid for five years, with annual surveillance audits to ensure ongoing compliance. A full recertification - including public comment and the opportunity for objections - is required every five years. The Gulf menhaden fishery was first certified in 2019.

The Marine Stewardship Council is an independent, international nonprofit organization that sets the world's leading standard for sustainable fishing. Its certification program is science-based and relies on third-party auditors, transparent public input, and continuous monitoring to ensure fisheries meet the highest benchmarks for environmental performance and accountability.

The MSC assessment examines every dimension of a fishery's performance - from stock health and bycatch rates to environmental impacts and regulatory oversight. Fisheries must meet strict scoring thresholds across all categories, with any deficiencies requiring time-bound corrective action. The Gulf menhaden fishery successfully addressed all prior conditions from its initial certification, demonstrating continuous, measurable improvement.

"Achieving recertification against the MSC Fisheries Standard reflects strong, ongoing stewardship of the resource, including careful monitoring and a clear focus on simultaneously maintaining healthy menhaden populations and protecting the marine ecosystem," said Marin Hawk, Senior Manager Fishery Partnerships, U.S. at the Marine Stewardship Council. "MSC certification is a long-term commitment requiring continuous improvement and accountability, and the Gulf menhaden fishery's performance underscores its dedication to sustainable practices. We commend the fishery and all those involved for helping to safeguard the long-term sustainability of this important fishery."

Gulf menhaden

Menhaden are small, nutrient-rich fish found in abundance along the Gulf Coast and play a critical role in both the marine ecosystem and Louisiana's economy. Harvested using purse seine nets, menhaden are processed into fishmeal and fish oil - essential inputs for aquaculture, U.S. pet food, livestock feed, and human nutrition - valued for their high omega-3 content.

"This recertification is independent, rigorous, and grounded in science - it confirms that our fishery operates responsibly and sustainably," said Francois Kuttel, President and Principal Owner of Westbank Fishing. "Every step we take, from modernized nets to management and reporting practices, is independently verified and publicly accountable, leaving no room for doubt about the fishery's sustainability or its benefit to Louisiana communities and markets."

Economic Impact Across Louisiana

Louisiana's menhaden industry supports more than 2,000 jobs and generates approximately $419 million in annual economic impact, along with $25 million in state and local tax revenue. The industry also purchases more than $62 million in goods and services from businesses across 32 parishes.

The fishery is powered by two Louisiana-based, U.S.-owned-and-operated companies - Westbank Fishing, headquartered in Empire, and Ocean Harvesters, based in Abbeville. Each works with a processing partner - Daybrook Fisheries for Westbank and Omega Protein for Ocean Harvesters - that received the official MSC recertification certificates on behalf of the Gulf menhaden fishery.

MSC recertification enhances global market access for sustainably sourced products, helping protect Louisiana jobs while ensuring the industry remains competitive in international markets increasingly driven by sustainability standards.

Science, Management, and Accountability

"This certification is not just about environmental performance - it's about the people and communities that depend on this fishery," said Ben Landry, Vice President of Ocean Harvesters. "Independent verification confirms the Gulf menhaden stock is abundant, also the fishery is well-managed, and operates environmentally sustainably, reflecting both the health of the menhaden population and the stewardship of our industry."

The MSC standard is built on three core principles: maintaining healthy fish stocks, minimizing environmental impact, and ensuring effective, adaptive management systems. Certification requires third-party review, stakeholder engagement, and ongoing annual audits to ensure continued compliance.

Recent stock assessments and ongoing monitoring consistently show that Gulf menhaden populations remain healthy and are not overfished. The fishery is also recognized for low bycatch rates and efficient harvesting practices.

The Gulf menhaden fishery is among the most tightly regulated in the state, operating under multiple layers of federal and state oversight that hold the fishery accountable on a continuous basis. According to the most recent stock assessment, Gulf menhaden populations are stronger than at any point in the past four decades, with spawning stock biomass more than tripling since the 1990s and fishing mortality declining significantly.

Bycatch Study Reinforces Findings

Recertification follows the release of a landmark, state-funded bycatch study, which found the menhaden industry accounts for just 3.4 percent of red drum removals, compared to 96.6 percent attributed to recreational fishing. The findings underscore the Gulf menhaden fishery's limited ecological impact and adherence to regulatory limits and reinforce that the industry's impact is already monitored, measured, and publicly accountable.

Looking Ahead

The recertification comes as global demand for sustainable seafood inputs continues to grow, particularly in aquaculture and animal nutrition markets.

"Our ability to maintain this certification depends on a consistent commitment to data, transparency, and responsible management," said Kuttel. "We've shown that when a fishery follows strict science-based standards, we can deliver both environmental and economic outcomes - a level of accountability that not all user groups are held to."

With MSC recertification secured, the Gulf menhaden fishery continues to serve as a global model for sustainability - supporting healthy ecosystems, strong coastal communities, and critical U.S. supply chains - with accountability that is proven, measured, and independently verified.

Attached are the official MSC certificates awarded to Daybrook Fisheries (processing partner for Westbank Fishing) and Omega Protein (processing partner for Ocean Harvesters).

About Ocean Harvesters

Ocean Harvesters owns and operates a fleet of more than 30 fishing vessels in the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico. The company's purse-seine fishing operation is exclusively engaged in the harvest of menhaden, a small, nutrient-dense fish used to produce fish meal, fish oil, and fish solubles. Both its Atlantic and Gulf Menhaden fisheries are certified sustainable by the Marine Stewardship Council. Committed to responsible fishing operations, Ocean Harvesters is proud to be heir to a fishing legacy that extends nearly 150 years.

About Westbank Fishing

Westbank Fishing is a U.S.-owned-and-operated leader in the Gulf menhaden fishery, headquartered in Empire, Louisiana. The company's 12-vessel fleet operates under a global sustainability certification from the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), ensuring the long-term health of the marine ecosystem. By delivering 100% of its catch to Daybrook Fisheries, Westbank helps support 400 jobs, make the partnership the largest employer in southern Plaquemines Parish.

PRESS CONTACTS

Ocean Harvesters

Stove Boat Communications

(202) 595-1212

contact@stoveboat.com

Westbank Fishing

Hayne Rainey

hrainey@bmfcomms.com

Marine Stewardship Council

Jackie Marks

Senior PR & Communications Manager, US

Jackie.Marks@msc.org

msc.org

SOURCE: Ocean Harvesters

View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire:https://www.accessnewswire.com/newsroom/en/industrial-and-manufacturing/gulf-menhaden-fishery-earns-global-sustainability-recertification-foll-1153358
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - March 30, 2026) - Edison Lithium Corp. (TSXV: EDDY) (OTC PINK: EDDYF) (FSE: VV0) ("Edison" or the "Company") wishes to clarify certain disclosure contained in its news release dated March 2, 2026 regarding its property option agreement (the "Agreement"), effective February 27, 2026, with Globex Mining Enterprises Inc. ("Globex") on Globex gold properties, to earn a 100% interest in and to the Joutel North-West gold and Gagne gold and copper properties (together, the "Properties"), subject to a 3% Gross Metal Royalty ("GMR") on the Properties retained by Globex (the "Transaction").

The Company confirms that the deemed price of the common shares issuable pursuant to the Transaction will be no less than $0.12 per share, being the discounted market price in accordance with the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange.

The Company further confirms that no finder's fees are payable in connection with the Transaction.

The Joutel North-West gold property consists of 46 mineral claims, and the Gagne gold and copper property consists of 24 mineral claims. The Properties are subject to a 3% gross metals royalty in favour of Globex Mining Enterprises Inc., as previously disclosed. The Company confirms that there are no other existing net smelter return royalties or other encumbrances affecting the Properties.

The Company also wishes to advise that it has entered into an amendment to the Agreement with respect to Section 2.2(b)(i), whereby the requirement to issue shares within 30 days of the Agreement has been removed. Pursuant to the amendment, the Company will issue $150,000 worth of common shares at a deemed price of $0.12 per share, representing 1,250,000 common shares, upon acceptance of the Transaction by the TSX Venture Exchange.

The Company has further established a shortlist of qualified geological consultants to conduct a site visit and prepare a technical report on the Properties in compliance with National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects.

All other information disclosed in the Company's news release dated March 2, 2026 remains unchanged.

The Transaction remains subject to the acceptance of the TSX Venture Exchange.

Qualified Person

The scientific and technical content of this news release has been reviewed and approved by Roger Dahn, P.Geo., Director of the Company and a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects.

About Edison Lithium Corp.

Edison Lithium Corp. is a Canadian-based junior mining exploration company focused on the procurement, exploration and development of cobalt, lithium, alkali and other energy metal properties. The Company's acquisition strategy is based on acquiring affordable, cost-effective, and highly regarded mineral properties in areas with proven geological potential. Edison is building a portfolio of quality assets capable of supplying critical materials to the battery industry and intends to capitalize on and have its shareholders benefit from the renewed interest in the battery metals space.

On behalf of the Board of Directors:

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward-Looking Statements Caution: This news release contains "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation (collectively, "forward-looking statements"). Forward-looking statements are generally identifiable by words such as "anticipate", "believe", "could", "estimate", "expect", "forecast", "intend", "may", "plan", "potential", "propose", "schedule", "should", "target", "will" and similar expressions, or by statements that events or conditions "may", "will" or "would" occur.

Forward-looking statements in this news release include, but are not limited to, statements regarding: the Company's ability to satisfy the terms, conditions and obligations under the Agreement; the anticipated timing and ability of the Company to make any required cash payments, share issuances and/or incur or fund exploration expenditures in order to acquire the Properties; the ability of the Company to obtain all necessary approvals (including the acceptance of the Agreement by the Exchange); the expected exploration, work program and/or development plans on the Properties, including the scope and timing and results thereof; the ability to secure access to the property, permits and authorizations; and the Company's ability to raise additional capital to fund exploration and satisfy obligations under the Agreement.

Forward-looking statements are based on management's reasonable assumptions, estimates, expectations and opinions as of the date of this news release. Such assumptions include, without limitation: that the parties will be able to perform their respective obligations under the Agreement in a timely manner; that the Company will be able to obtain all required approvals and maintain good standing under the Agreement; that exploration and related activities can be planned and carried out as anticipated; that required permits, authorizations and access can be obtained on terms and timelines acceptable to the Company; that commodity prices, foreign exchange rates, general economic conditions, and capital markets will be supportive of the Company's plans; that the Company will be able to obtain financing when required on reasonable terms; and that no material adverse changes will occur with respect to the Company's business, assets or the Properties.

The forward-looking statements in this news release also reflect the Company's current understanding of the Properties based on information available to it as of the date hereof. The property is at an early stage of exploration and, until exploration work is completed and results are analyzed and verified, the Company cannot confirm the merits of the Properties, including whether the property hosts mineralization of interest. Any references in this news release to the property's "potential", "prospectivity" or "exploration upside" are inherently speculative and based on incomplete information and assumptions that may prove incorrect. The presence of past-producing mines and deposits in the area is not necessarily indicative of mineralization on the Properties. The referenced mines and deposits are not on the Properties, and their historic production do not imply that similar mineralization occurs on the Properties or that exploration will be successful.

Forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: the risk that the Company may not satisfy the conditions to, or may otherwise be unable to, acquire the Properties under the Agreement; the risk of termination of the Agreement; the risk that required Exchange approval may not be obtained; risks inherent in the exploration and development of mineral properties, including risks related to geology, sampling and assay variability, interpretation of exploration results, and the possibility that exploration results may not support further work; the speculative nature of mineral exploration and development; the risk that the merits of the property may not be realized; the availability of financing and changes in general economic and capital market conditions; fluctuations in commodity prices and exchange rates; changes in laws, regulations and policies, including permitting and environmental requirements; operational and logistical risks (including equipment availability, contractor performance, accidents, weather, wildfires, flooding and other natural events); title matters, including defects in title, competing claims, or the inability to obtain or maintain necessary rights of access; and other risks and uncertainties described in the Company's continuous disclosure filings available under the Company's profile on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca.

Although the Company believes that the forward-looking statements contained in this news release are reasonable as of the date hereof, there can be no assurance that they will prove to be accurate, and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The Company does not undertake to update or revise any forward-looking statements, except as required by applicable securities laws.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/290549

Source: Edison Lithium Corp.
Amsterdam, North Holland--(Newsfile Corp. - March 30, 2026) - Taxi Amsterdam Schiphol has released a new study highlighting the most expensive airport taxi journeys in Europe. The report identifies pricing trends and the cities with the highest taxi fares for airport transfers, providing valuable insights for travelers and industry professionals alike. The findings reveal notable variations in pricing across major European airports, shaped by factors such as travel distance, traffic conditions, and local fare structures.

With the demand for airport taxi services rising across Europe, Taxi Amsterdam Schiphol continues to expand its market presence while prioritizing transparency in pricing. The company developed the study to present clear, data-driven insights that support informed decision-making for travelers navigating transportation options in unfamiliar cities. As travel activity increases, access to reliable pricing information has become an essential component of planning efficient and predictable airport transfers.

This milestone study marks a significant step in Taxi Amsterdam Schiphol's broader strategy to enhance transparency within the transportation sector. By analysing estimated taxi fares and distances between major European airports and city centres, the company reinforces its role as a contributor to industry knowledge. The findings emphasize how key variables, including airport proximity to urban areas and local regulatory frameworks, influence overall transportation costs across different regions.

"Airport transfers are often the first travel expense people encounter after landing in a new city," said Nuhad al-Hir, a spokesperson for Taxi Amsterdam Schiphol. "Distance from the airport, traffic conditions, and local taxi pricing rules all play a role in how much travellers ultimately pay for that journey. For travellers arriving at Schiphol, the relatively short distance between the airport and Amsterdam's city centre helps keep taxi journeys more predictable compared with several other major European airports."

Looking ahead, Taxi Amsterdam Schiphol plans to leverage its findings to launch initiatives aimed at optimizing pricing structures for travelers. The company is focused on expanding its presence while maintaining a commitment to competitive and fair pricing across Europe.

For further information on the study and Taxi Amsterdam Schiphol's commitment to providing reliable taxi airport transfer services, visit the company website, http://taxiamsterdamschiphol.nl/.

About Taxi Amsterdam Schiphol:

Taxi Amsterdam Schiphol is an airport transfer service provider based in the Netherlands, providing transportation to and from Amsterdam Airport Schiphol. The company offers reliable and transparent taxi services designed to support efficient travel for both residents and international visitors.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/290562

Source: GetFeatured
Otsego, Minnesota--(Newsfile Corp. - March 30, 2026) - Northwood Outdoor Services, a full-service landscape design, installation, and outdoor living company serving the Northwest Minneapolis Metro, today announced the official relocation of its headquarters to 14280 87th St NE, Otsego, MN 55330. The move follows the January 2025 acquisition of Northwood Outdoor Services by Benjamin Leagjeld and Ally Kongshaug, who have spent the past year building on the company's established reputation while expanding its presence across Rogers, Otsego, Elk River, Dayton, Champlin, Maple Grove, and surrounding Northwest Metro communities.

Prior to the acquisition, Benjamin brought years of hands-on experience in the landscaping industry from his background in southern Minnesota. Recognizing the sustained demand for quality landscape design and outdoor living construction in the Northwest Metro, he and Ally made the decision to acquire Northwood Outdoor Services and invest fully in the region - a commitment now made permanent with the relocation of the company's headquarters to Otsego.





Northwood Outdoor Services Under New Ownership, Relocates Headquarters to Otsego, MN to Better Serve Rogers and the Northwest Metro



To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/10740/290560_figure1.png

"When we took over Northwood, we knew this was the community we wanted to build for long-term," said Benjamin Leagjeld, Owner of Northwood Outdoor Services. "Moving our headquarters to Otsego isn't just a logistical decision - it's us putting down roots here. Homeowners in Rogers, Otsego, and across the Northwest Metro deserve a team that's truly local, and now we are."

Since the acquisition, Northwood Outdoor Services has continued to deliver residential landscape design and installation, hardscaping, patio and outdoor living construction, and commercial snow services throughout the Northwest Metro. The new Otsego location positions the team closer to its core service area, improving response times and enabling continued growth as demand for professional landscape and outdoor living services in the region increases heading into the 2026 season. Homeowners and property managers can also follow Northwood Outdoor Services on Facebook for project updates and seasonal announcements.

Homeowners and property managers in Rogers, Otsego, Elk River, Champlin, Maple Grove, and the surrounding Northwest Metro areas are encouraged to contact Northwood Outdoor Services to schedule a design consultation.

About Northwood Outdoor Services

Northwood Outdoor Services is a full-service landscape design, installation, and outdoor living company headquartered in Otsego, MN, serving residential and commercial clients throughout the Northwest Minneapolis Metro. Under the ownership of Benjamin Leagjeld and Ally Kongshaug, Northwood designs and builds landscape installations, hardscapes, patios, and outdoor living spaces for homeowners across Rogers, Otsego, Elk River, Maple Grove, and surrounding communities, and provides commercial snow services throughout the region.

Media Contact





To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/10740/290560_figure2.jpg

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/290560

Source: GetFeatured
Rio de Janeiro, Brasil--(Newsfile Corp. - March 30, 2026) - TIM S.A. (NYSE: TIMB) ("TIM") announces that its Annual Report on Form 20-F (the "20-F"), reporting its financial and operational data for financial year ended December 31, 2025, was filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, or the SEC, and with the Brazilian Securities and Exchange Commission, the Comissao de Valores Mobiliarios, or CVM, on March 30, 2026. The document has been posted on TIM's website, https://ri.tim.com.br/.

The 20-F contains detailed information about TIM, including certifications under the U.S. Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which attest to the effectiveness of TIM's internal controls and procedures. TIM independent auditors, Ernst & Young Auditores Independentes S.S Ltda., issued an audit opinion on the financial statements and the effectiveness of internal controls over financial reporting as of December 31, 2025.

TIM's shareholders may receive a hard copy of this document, which contains the Company's complete audited financial statements, free of charge, upon request. Requests should be directed to:

Rio de Janeiro, March 30, 2026.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/290558

Source: Tim S.A.
Samsung recently launched its latest smartphones in the A-series lineup: the Galaxy A57 5G and the Galaxy A37 5G. These new devices focus heavily on integrating artificial intelligence into everyday functionalities, prioritizing on-device processing to improve efficiency, speed, and data security. The updates span across communication tools, virtual assistants, hardware performance, and photography.

Key Communication and Voice Features

The new devices introduce several AI-driven tools designed to improve how users handle calls and voice data:

Direct Voicemail: This feature allows callers to leave messages when a call goes unanswered. The system aims for high voice accuracy so the user can hear the message in the callers original tone. These messages are transcribed by AI and stored securely on the device, functioning independently of network operator voicemail services.

This feature allows callers to leave messages when a call goes unanswered. The system aims for high voice accuracy so the user can hear the message in the callers original tone. These messages are transcribed by AI and stored securely on the device, functioning independently of network operator voicemail services. Enhanced Translation & Transcription: Designed for multilingual use, this tool converts voice to text and translates it in real-time. In India, it currently supports English, Hindi, and Gujarati.

Designed for multilingual use, this tool converts voice to text and translates it in real-time. In India, it currently supports English, Hindi, and Gujarati. Call Captions & Voice Focus: For users in noisy environments like traffic or public transit, Call Captions provide simultaneous real-time transcription of phone calls. Additionally, Voice Focus works to actively filter out ambient background noise during calls.

A Multi-Assistant Ecosystem

Moving away from relying on a single AI platform, Samsung has integrated a multi-assistant ecosystem into the new One UI 8.5 interface. Users now have the flexibility to choose between Bixby, Gemini, and Perplexity depending on which assistant is best suited for specific tasks, such as content summarization, device control, or general information searches.

Hardware Upgrades and On-Device Processing

To support these new AI capabilities without relying heavily on cloud computing, Samsung has upgraded the internal processors for better Neural Processing Unit (NPU) performance:

Galaxy A57 5G: Equipped with the Exynos 1680 processor, which delivers a 33% increase in NPU performance compared to its predecessor.

Equipped with the Exynos 1680 processor, which delivers a 33% increase in NPU performance compared to its predecessor. Galaxy A37 5G: Powered by the Exynos 1480 processor, showing a 162% improvement in NPU performance over the previous generation.

These hardware improvements enable the phones to execute complex taskslike image processing and visual searchesfaster and more securely directly on the device.

Upgraded Photography and Visual Search

The camera systems and visual search tools have also received notable AI integrations:

Circle to Search with Google: This visual discovery tool has been upgraded to allow users to search for multiple objects within a single image directly from their screen, eliminating the need to switch between apps.

This visual discovery tool has been upgraded to allow users to search for multiple objects within a single image directly from their screen, eliminating the need to switch between apps. AI Camera Automation: The camera software automatically adjusts exposure, detects subjects, and refines details to reduce image noise and maintain natural skin tones.

The camera software automatically adjusts exposure, detects subjects, and refines details to reduce image noise and maintain natural skin tones. Advanced Editing Tools: The on-device Object Eraser has been improved for removing unwanted elements from photos. Additionally, a new Best Face feature can combine multiple frames of a group photo to select the optimal expression for each person.

System-Wide Privacy Alerts

Beyond individual applications, AI is embedded into the core operating system. One UI 8.5 introduces new AI-driven privacy alerts that actively notify users whenever an application attempts to access sensitive device data, such as contacts, location, or photo galleries.

The Samsung Galaxy A57 5G and Galaxy A37 5G are now available to pre-order from Samsung exclusive and partner stores, Samsung.com, and other online platforms like Amazon.in and will roll out starting April 10th.
Police Investigate the Falling of Flying Devices in Southeast Finland

Police of Finland

Publication date 29.3.2026 18.36

Type:News item

Authorities are investigating the fall of two flying devices, with the Southeast Finland Police Department leading the operation.

The National Bureau of Investigation (KRP) has opened a preliminary investigation into the incidents, initially classifying them as aggravated endangerment of the public. The Border Guard is handling a parallel investigation into a possible territorial violation. Both the Defence Forces and the Border Guard are supporting the police with their specialized capabilities.

- The investigation is still in its early stages. At this point, we are conducting technical examinations as far as possible. While the case is currently being treated as aggravated endangerment of the public, the classification may change as the investigation progresses, said Chief Inspector Olli Toyras, lead investigator at KRP.

- Our main priority is to determine the origin of the flying devices and why they ended up in Finnish territory. We are working closely with the Border Guard and international partners to get a full understanding of the situation, added Robin Lardot, head of the National Bureau of Investigation.

The incidents came to light on Sunday, 29 March, when police received a report at 10:04 a.m. of a flying device that had fallen in the terrain north of Kouvola in Kymenlaakso. Later, at 12:27 p.m., a second device was reported to have fallen in Luumaki, South Karelia.

The Southeast Finland Police Department has cordoned off the affected areas and carried out necessary evacuations. So far, no injuries or significant property damage have been reported. Police cordons remain in place at the sites.

- Fortunately, the sites are sparsely populated. Technical investigations cannot yet be conducted because safety at the scene must be ensured first, said Deputy Police Chief Pekka Koistinen, who is leading the operation.

Authorities also stress that any debris from the devices found in the terrain should not be touched and must be reported immediately to the police.

- The cooperation between authorities has been excellent. Finland is prepared nationwide for incidents of this kind, said Police Chief Ari Karvonen of the Southeast Finland Police Department.

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NSPA places first order for 120 mm tank ammunition to bolster Allied Land Battle Decisive Munitions stockpiles

NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA)

Mar 20 2026

Multinational procurement through the Ammunition Support Partnership helps NATO Allies replenish stocks while sending a clear demand signal to defence industry.

LUXEMBOURG, 20 March 2026 -- The NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA) has placed a first order under a multinational framework agreement for 120 mm tank ammunition, supporting several Allies' efforts to replenish critical Land Battle Decisive Munition stockpiles and reinforce NATO deterrence.

The order, valued at around 200 million, was awarded to Rheinmetall through the NATO Support and Procurement Organisation (NSPO) Ammunition Support Partnership (ASP), which enables participating nations to aggregate demand and procure ammunition through NSPA while endorsing joint procurement under the Land Battle Decisive Munition (LBDM) High Visibility Project (HVP).

In 2025, NSPA signed a series of framework agreements with industry covering the entire portfolio of 120 mm tank ammunition for all major NATO tank platforms. These agreements allow Allies and partners to place orders rapidly through NSPA, strengthening multinational cooperation, achieving costs benefits and accelerating procurement timelines.

As Allies increase defence investment and accelerate efforts to replenish ammunition stocks, scaling up defence industrial production has become a key priority across the Alliance.

By consolidating multinational demand and placing orders through NSPA, Allies are sending a clear demand signal to industry to expand production capacity and strengthen supply chains.

The contract represents another step in NATO's broader effort to increase ammunition interchangeability and ensure that operational and defence plans are matched by sufficient and resilient LBDM stockpiles across the Alliance.

Building on 1.1 billion in firm contracts awarded in 2025, the ASP now manages a portfolio of 3.2 billion in ammunition contracts awaiting production and delivery, reflecting the growing scale of multinational efforts to rebuild Allied stockpiles and sustain NATO's readiness and deterrence.

Story by NATO Support and Procurement Agency

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'Merkava massacre': Hezbollah destroys nearly 100 Israeli tanks$6mn eachin weeks

Iran Press TV

Thursday, 26 March 2026 10:21 PM



Hezbollah resistance fighters destroyed at least 21 Israeli military Merkava tanks across southern Lebanon and northern occupied Palestine over 24 hours on Wednesday, in what is being described as a new "Merkava massacre."

By Thursday morning, the group reported achieving direct hits on at least 20 more Merkava tanks, bringing the total number of Merkava tanks taken out since March 2 to at least 73.

On Thursday, dozens more Merkava tanks were successfully targeted and destroyed by Hezbollah fighters, taking the total number close to 100, as per informed sources.

As per details released by the Islamic Resistance in Lebanon, the latest round of strikes on Thursday targeted Merkava tanks across multiple locations.

In Debel, three tanks were struck with guided missiles. In Al-Qantara, strikes hit Merkava tanks near the technical school, the vocational school, the reservoir, and the water tank, while three more were struck using attack drones.

In Taybeh, nearly a dozen Merkava tanks were hit with guided missiles. In Deir Siryan, four tanks were struck near the pond, and another was hit on the Taybeh-Al-Qantara road.

At the time of filing this report, the attacks were underway at multiple locations.

Many military pundits have described it as "Merkava massacre," a term that traces back to a similar operation during the 2006 war, when a small squad of Hezbollah fighters, reportedly just three men, destroyed at least 25 Merkava tanks and killed 34 Israeli occupation soldiers before they were forced to retreat from the area.

Military analysts also point to the stark economic disparity between the two sides' arsenals.

The guided missiles Hezbollah deployed to target these tanks cost a few thousand dollars each, a mere fraction of the cost of the Merkava tanks. Each Merkava takes up to two years to produce and carries a price tag of approximately $6 million, according to reports.

The Lebanese resistance group's latest operation, which started earlier this month, came after more than a year of strategic patience during which the Israeli occupation continues to attack villages and towns in southern Lebanon in blatant breach of the ceasefire.

On Wednesday, the Lebanese movement carried out a record 87 operations against the Israeli military sites in the occupied territories, using both missiles and drones.

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Phone conversation between the Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Qatar

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia

28 March, 2026

On March 28, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan had a phone conversation with Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani, Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the State of Qatar.

The interlocutors exchanged views on the situation in the Middle East. Minister Mirzoyan expressed concern over the escalation and the casualties resulting from the developments. The importance of regional stability and peace, along with the Republic of Armenia's principled support for efforts aimed at achieving them were emphasized.

The Foreign Minister of Armenia expressed appreciation of the assistance provided in addressing issues concerning citizens of the Republic of Armenia who were stranded in Qatar due to the cancellation of flights across the Middle East.

Touching upon bilateral relations, the Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Qatar emphasized their political readiness to further enrich the cooperation agenda, highlighting in particular the importance of the economic component and infrastructure projects.

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Vice President of Lockheed Martin visited Estonia to Discuss Future Cooperation

Republic of Estonia - Ministry of Defence

28. March 2026 - 9:02

Estonian Minister of Defence Hanno Pevkur and Lockheed Martin Vice President Paula J. Hartley discussed the next steps in establishing a HIMARS sustainment centre in Estonia during a meeting in Tallinn this week.

"Our cooperation with one of the world's largest defence companies has got off to a promising start, and their strong interest in planning further activities confirms that we are reliable partners," remarked the minister.

"Lockheed Martin is honoured to partner with the Estonian Ministry of Defence to strengthen Estonia's national security," said Hartley, vice president, Strategy and Business Development at Lockheed Martin. "We remain committed to making HIMARS the foundation of Estonia's rocket artillery forces, and we look forward to partnering with Estonian government and industry to deliver the sustainment capabilities the region needs."

During Minister Pevkur's recent visit to the United States, it was agreed that Lockheed Martin will establish a HIMARS rocket launcher sustainment centre in Estonia, which will serve all the Baltic countries.

"The project is at its initial stage, with further details still being finalised. We also explored future opportunities to expand cooperation with Vice President Hartley," added the Minister.

The company's goal is to have its sustainment centre up and running within two years, with an initial investment of around 10 million euros.

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The OIC Condemns the Israeli Occupation Authorities' Decision to Seize 15 Houses and Displace Palestinian Families in Occupied Al-Quds

Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC)

28-03-2026

The General Secretariat of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) expressed its strong condemnation of the Israeli occupation's illegal decision to seize 15 houses in Silwan town in the occupied city of Al-Quds (Jerusalem) and carry out a forced displacement of Palestinian families from them, in preparation for handing them over to settlement associations.

The OIC General Secretariat warned of the gravity of these illegal measures, which constitute an escalation in the policy of ethnic cleansing and forced displacement practiced by the Israeli occupation authorities aimed at changing the Arab identity, Palestinian presence, and demographic situation in occupied Al-Quds (Jerusalem).

The OIC General Secretariat affirmed that all Israeli occupation decisions, annexation and settlement schemes, and attempts to impose alleged Israeli sovereignty over the occupied West Bank are null and void, and have no legitimacy under the provisions of international law and relevant UN resolutions.

It also renewed its call on the international community, especially the UN Security Council, to assume its responsibilities and stop all violations and crimes committed by the Israeli occupation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

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Malaysia, China participants hail cultural exchange as Minnan Cultural Week opens in Malacca

Xinhua) 10:08, March 30, 2026

KUALA LUMPUR, March 28 (Xinhua) -- Participants from Malaysia and China spoke highly of the vibrant cultural exchanges between the two countries and expressed hope for closer interaction and cooperation at an event held in Malacca, Malaysia, on Saturday.

The 2026 Malacca Minnan Cultural Week opened on Saturday in Malacca, featuring a wide range of activities spanning artistic creation, intangible cultural heritage preservation and cultural research.

Gan Tian Loo, chairman of the Jonker Walk Working Committee in Malacca, said that the cultural week aims to carry forward the bond between the two countries and allow intangible cultural heritage and art to jointly tell the story of enduring friendship between their peoples.

Gan added that in 2020, the "Wangchuan ceremony, rituals and related practices for maintaining the sustainable connection between man and the ocean," jointly submitted by Malaysia and China, was inscribed on UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, becoming a model of bilateral cultural cooperation.

Wangchuan, also known as "Wangkang" in Malaysia, honors the harmony between man and the ocean and bears witness to the intercultural dialogue among communities.

For his part, Ye Xizhi, president of Xiamen Minnan Culture Research Association, said that over the years, the seeds of cooperation planted by both sides have taken root and flourished.

As the first event following the opening ceremony, the China-Malaysia Inheritance and Transcendence Wangkang Art Exhibition was opened, featuring paintings created by artists from both countries inspired by the Wangchuan tradition. Previously exhibited in Xiamen, China, the showcase now arrives in Malacca, offering local audiences a closer look at the artistic charm of this intangible cultural heritage element.

During the cultural week, a series of events will also be held to further enhance people-to-people exchanges between the two countries.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
Philippines, China Resume Back-to-Back Foreign Ministry Consultations, Bilateral Consultation Mechanism on South China Sea

Republic of the Philippines - Department of Foreign Affairs

QUANZHOU 28 March 2026 -- The Philippines and China convened back-to-back the 24th Foreign Ministry Consultations (FMC) and the 11th Meeting of the Bilateral Consultation Mechanism (BCM) on the South China Sea on 27-28 March 2026 in Quanzhou City, Fujian Province, China. The Philippine delegation was led by Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Leo M. Herrera-Lim, while the Chinese delegation was headed by Vice Foreign Minister Sun Weidong.

At the FMC, both sides held a candid and productive exchange on bilateral concerns, including strategic, political-security and law enforcement issues. The Philippine side reaffirmed its commitment to handle bilateral issues in line with the Philippine national interest, while advancing mutually beneficial cooperation especially in the economic and people-to-people areas.

Recognizing current global uncertainties, especially developments in the Middle East, both sides discussed the importance of stable access to energy and fertilizers, as well as potential cooperation in green and renewable energy, trade, and agriculture, with the reconvening of appropriate bilateral mechanisms identified as a necessary step. People-to-people exchanges and tourism were also highlighted, such as through visa-free arrangements, enhanced connectivity, and prospective new direct air routes between the two countries.

The Philippines underscored that it will continue to play a responsible and professional role as ASEAN Chair in managing regional discussions, upholding ASEAN centrality, and reinforcing a rules-based order that contributes to regional peace and stability.

At the BCM, both sides had frank and thorough exchange of views on the situation in the South China Sea. The Philippine side firmly reiterated its principled positions and raised concerns over incidents affecting the safety of Filipino personnel and fishermen, including actions that have disrupted lawful activities and posed risks at sea. The Philippines emphasized the need for diplomacy and communication for managing differences at sea, and upholding international law, particularly the 1982 UNCLOS and the 2016 South China Sea Arbitral Award.

Both sides continued to make progress on practical measures that are consistent with Philippine law and policy to increase confidence in the maritime domain, including coast guard to coast guard communication, ocean meteorology, and initial exchanges on potential oil and gas cooperation. In particular, the Philippines welcomed China's hosting of a symposium on marine science and technology, specifically on ocean meteorology, in Qingdao in September 2026. Representatives from the DOST - Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (DOST-PAGASA) joined the Philippine delegation.

The two meetings built on the step-by-step process of dialogue that were begun in Cebu and then in Beijing earlier this year. The meetings will also pave the way for the meeting between the two countries' foreign ministers within the year.

The FMC was last held in Manila in March 2023, while the last BCM meeting took place in Xiamen in January 2025. Both engagements are in line with the directive of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. to pursue dialogue and diplomacy with China in line with Philippine national interest, while protecting the country's sovereignty, sovereign rights and jurisdiction. END

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Hezbollah launches fresh strikes against Israeli forces, installations

Iran Press TV

Saturday, 28 March 2026 11:19 AM

The Lebanese Hezbollah resistance movement has launched a fresh wave of operations against Israeli military forces, their infrastructure, and vehicles deep inside the occupied territories in defense of Lebanon and its nation.

According to a statement released by the group, resistance fighters struck Israeli vehicles and soldiers in the early hours of Saturday after monitoring Israeli forces advancing from Baydar al-Faqqani area in al-Taybeh region towards the Litani River bed.

Shortly afterwards, two Merkava battle tanks were hit with guided missiles near the reservoir in the Qantara district.

Furthermore, gatherings of Israeli soldiers and vehicles in the town of Dibl, the Wadi al-Uyun-Rshaf junction, were struck with separate barrages of rockets.

A Merkava tank in Dibl was targeted with a combat drone, while an artillery position in al-Za'oura was struck with a volley of rockets.

Additionally, the Mishar base, which serves as the main intelligence headquarters for the northern occupied territories and is located northeast of Safad, came under attack with a rocket barrage.

Hezbollah kamikaze drones also targeted the Ya'ara barracks. The Northern Command headquarters of the Israeli army and the Dado base were targeted in two rocket operations as well.

Hezbollah resistance fighters then intercepted a manned RC-12 reconnaissance aircraft in the skies over the western Bekaa region, forcing it to retreat.

Moreover, the illegal settlement outposts of al-Malkiya, Avivim, and Shlomi were hit with separate barrages of rockets. No reports about the extent of damage caused were quickly available.

The Hezbollah retaliatory operations on Saturday came a day after the resistance fighters recorded 82 offensives, of which 55 targeted Israeli forces in southern Lebanon. The rest struck Israeli troops inside the occupied lands.

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Yemen officially joins fight against US, Israel by firing missiles at occupied territories

Iran Press TV

Saturday, 28 March 2026 8:03 AM

The Yemeni Armed Forces says it has officially joined the war against the US-Israeli front in support of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Resistance Front in Lebanon, Iraq, and Palestine.

"In implementation of what was stated in the last statement of the Yemeni Armed Forces regarding direct military intervention in support of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the resistance fronts in Lebanon, Iraq, and Palestine, and in view of the continued military escalation, the targeting of infrastructure, and the perpetration of crimes and massacres against our brothers in Lebanon, Iran, Iraq, and Palestine," the Yemeni Armed Forces spokesman Yahya Saree said in a statement on Saturday.

The Yemeni Armed Forces have carried out the first military operation using a barrage of ballistic missiles targeting sensitive Israeli military sites in southern occupied Palestine, it added.

This operation, it added, coincided with the heroic operations carried out by Iran and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

"By the grace of Allah Almighty, the operation successfully achieved its objectives," it noted.

It further said that the operation will continue until the aggression against all fronts of the resistance ceases.

On Friday, Saree had warned that they are prepared for direct military intervention if American-Israeli aggression against Iran and the Axis of Resistance continues to escalate.

The statement came nearly a month into the launch of the United States' and the Israeli regime's latest bout of unprovoked aggression targeting the Islamic Republic, which has run in tandem with the escalation of their attacks on regional resistance groups.

According to Saree, in addition to the continuation of the escalation, other factors potentially prompting an intervention by the Yemeni servicemen would include other parties' participation in the ongoing aggression, and the use of the Red Sea to carry out hostile operations against the Islamic Republic or any other Muslim country. "We will not allow that," he asserted.

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Disaster in the making: US lawmakers, former officials warn against sending troops to Iran

Iran Press TV

Saturday, 28 March 2026 2:50 PM

Former military officials and lawmakers in the United States are becoming increasingly worried about a potential deployment of American ground forces to Iranian territory, including a possible offensive to seize a strategic oil hub, according to a report by the MSNBC.

The report said that the recent arrival of roughly 8,000 US troops in the West Asia region has intensified political tensions and global unease in the US as many analysts and legislators doubt the move would pressure Iran to comply with Washington's demands as part of an ongoing aggression against the country.

It quoted Richard Blumenthal, a senior Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, as saying that such a force is unlikely to fundamentally alter the Iranian government's strategic thinking.

The US contingent includes paratroopers and Marines deploying in phases over the coming weeks. However, critics, including Democratic veterans of the Iraq War, say the force remains a fraction of the massive US invasion force used in Iraq two decades ago while the mission's objectives are vague, the report said.

The argue that introducing ground troops would risk prolonging the conflict rather than resolving it. They warn against expanding what they term an endless war without a clear exit strategy, it added.

It said that discussions have resurfaced around targeting the Kharg Island through which the vast majority of Iran's oil exports pass. US President Donald Trump has previously threatened such an operation, and a key Republican ally has publicly advocated for it, asserting that seizing the island would cripple Iran's economy.

These remarks have drawn rare pushback from within the Republican party, with some calling the idea reckless.

A former senior US military official who spoke on condition of anonymity told MSNBC that "it's a disaster waiting to happen if that's their mission" to seize Kharg Island.

Vali Nasr, a leading expert on Iran and a political scientist at Johns Hopkins University, also warned that invading Kharg would lead to a major escalation, prompting Iran to show a decisive response.

"Taking Kharg means destroying it, and Iran will respond with major escalation...Taking Iranian land and destroying its oil export depot will mean [the] beginning of a war of resistance in Iran," Nasr said.

The analysis said that the US government underestimates the complexity of capturing and holding such strategic but confined areas as they insist that even a successful offensive would not necessarily compel the Iranian leadership to accept US demands, including a regime change that was sought in the early days of the aggression in late February but has bitterly failed.

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Houthi Entry Into Iran War Raises Specter Of Twin Chokepoint Crisis

By Kian Sharifi March 28, 2026

Yemen's Houthi rebels on March 28 fired their first missiles at Israel since the Iran war began, but analysts warn the more consequential threat is not the projectiles aimed at Israeli territory -- it is what the group could do to global energy markets.

Hours later, the rebels announced their second launch, describing it as "a barrage of cruise missiles and drones targeting several vital and military sites" in Israel. Details were not immediately available.

A US-designated terrorist organization, the Houthis' involvement risks prolonging a war that has already drawn in US forces, Gulf Arab states, and Israel across multiple fronts.

Their entry into the conflict, ending nearly a month of restraint since the war began, raised immediate fears of a simultaneous disruption to two of the world's most critical shipping lanes. Iran has already effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz; the Houthis have now signaled they could move against the Bab al-Mandab Strait, through which roughly 10 percent of the world's seaborne oil passes.

But analysts say the attacks may have been less about Israel than about Riyadh. Michael Horowitz, an independent defense analyst based in Israel, noted that the Houthi military spokesman laid out specific conditions that would trigger full entry into the war, among them any countries actively participating in the US-Israeli war against Iran.

"This, in my opinion, is an indirect message to the Gulf and particularly Saudi Arabia, warning them against joining the war against Iran, or letting US forces use more of their bases," Horowitz told RFE/RL.

The month-long delay in Houthi involvement, Horowitz said, likely reflected the group's own calculations rather than Iranian direction. The Houthis may have been reluctant to jeopardize ongoing diplomatic efforts with Saudi Arabia that could yield economic incentives, he said, while Israeli strikes last year on civilian and economic targets in Houthi-controlled areas had already worsened conditions on the ground.

Energy Pain

Danny Citrinowicz, a security analyst at the Tel Aviv-based Institute for National Security Studies, said the broader threat lay in Iran's economic campaign against the United States.

"While Houthi strikes against Israel should not be dismissed, from Iran's perspective, as part of a broader economic campaign against the United States, the central issue lies in their demonstrated ability to threaten critical energy transit routes at both maritime chokepoints," he wrote on X.

Horowitz outlined three scenarios for full Houthi entry into the conflict: a resumption of their Red Sea blockade similar to operations during the Gaza war; strikes on Saudi energy facilities on the Red Sea, including the port of Yanbu -- an overland alternative that carries Saudi crude from the Persian Gulf coast to the Red Sea, bypassing Hormuz entirely; and potential strikes against the US aircraft carrier group in the Arabian Sea, though Horowitz said he doubted such efforts could succeed.

Energy markets research firm HFI Research put a number on the potential damage. A Houthi move on the Bab al-Mandab would put an additional 4 million barrels per day of Saudi crude exports at risk. "It won't be as bad as the disruption in the Strait of Hormuz thanks to the Suez Canal," the firm wrote, "but the market won't care."

Citrinowicz said the trajectory pointed in one direction. "With each passing day of the conflict, particularly in light of its expanding scope against Iran, the likelihood of this scenario materializing continues to grow. It is increasingly not a question of if, but when."

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/houthis-attack-israel-iran-war- energy-crisis/33718713.html

Copyright (c) 2026. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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Australia, India, Japan, New Zealand, U.S. complete exercise Sea Dragon 2026

Commander, U.S. 7th Fleet

NEWS | March 28, 2026

By Commander, Task Force 72 Public Affairs

ANDERSEN AIR FORCE BASE, Guam -- Exercise Sea Dragon 2026 successfully concluded at Andersen Air Force Base, marking the completion of 20 days of intensive multinational anti-submarine warfare (ASW) training, March 28.

Hosted by Commander, Task Force (CTF) 72, two U.S. Navy P-8A Poseidon aircraft from Patrol and Reconnaissance Squadron (VP) 4 and VP-45, joined a multilateral force of P-8A aircraft from the Indian Navy (IN), Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF), Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), and Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF).

Sea Dragon 2026 continues to enhance the shared maritime domain awareness interoperability developed during previous iterations. This iteration improved on participating nations' ability to conduct multinational ASW operations inside a complex and dynamic exercise environment.

"What we do in Sea Dragon builds more than skillit establishes a ASW team across nations. The shared experience empowers us to fight together more effectively," said Lt. Paolo Aguilar, assigned to VP-4.

VP-45 naval aviator Lt. Caitlin Tucker stated, "Exercises like Sea Dragon highlight the strength of our partnerships and alliances. They show that together, we're stronger, more capable, and ready to deter any aggressor in the Indo-Pacific."

Sea Dragon 2026 featured a structured training format to include a mobile ASW training target, referred to as the MK-30 "Sled", for tracking drills. The exercise also featured a U.S. Navy anti-submarine warfare exercise (ASWEX), where exercise participants engaged in a hunt to locate an active U.S. Navy submarine in the area. This year, forces operated in the vicinity of Saipan to employ recoverable exercise torpedoes, and demonstrate expansion of capabilities trained among the five nations.

As with previous years, Sea Dragon 2026 included a competitive component in which each nation's performance was assessed and graded to earn the Dragon Belt award, testing each nation's ASW tactics and response effectiveness in a realistic scenario.

This year, VP-3 of the JMSDF emerged victoriously, securing the Dragon Belt for 2026. The Dragon Belt was previously held by the RAAF since their victory in 2025.

Exercises like Sea Dragon 2026 demonstrate the U.S. Navy's commitment to regional security and strengthening maritime partnerships with allied and partner nations. Exercise Sea Dragon has been held annually since 2019.

VP-4, part of Commander, Task Force 72 (CTF 72), is stationed in Whidbey Island, Washington, and is currently deployed to Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, Japan. VP-45, also part of CTF 72, is stationed in Jacksonville, Florida, and is currently deployed to Misawa Air Base in Misawa, Japan. Throughout the deployments, both squadrons will be conducting maritime patrol and reconnaissance and theater outreach operations within the U.S. 7th Fleet area of operations.

U.S. 7th Fleet, the U.S. Navy's largest forward-deployed numbered fleet, routinely interacts and operates with allies and partners in preserving a free and open Indo-Pacific region.

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US Deploys Another Aircraft Carrier to Middle East

Sputnik News

20260328

The USS George H.W. Bush aircraft carrier, accompanied with several guided missile destroyers, will deploy to US Central Command's area of responsibility - the same command overseeing the ongoing military operation against Iran, CBS News reports.

The deployment comes amid recent news of another US aircraft carrier departing the war zone.

The USS Gerald R. Ford arrived last week at a naval port in Souda Bay, Crete, for repairs after suffering a "fire aboard".

This brings the naval forces in the region down to one carrier strike group, led by the USS Abraham Lincoln. The USS George H.W. Bush appears intended to reinforce the military presence in the area.

 Sputnik

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Trump Eyes Stripping Article 5 Rights From NATO States With Low Defense Spending - Reports

Sputnik News

20260328

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - US President Donald Trump is considering the possibility of depriving NATO member countries that are unable to bring their defense spending up to the required 5% of the right to use the fifth article of the alliance's charter, media reported.

Trump has previously admitted that Washington could stop supporting NATO due to the actions of the alliance.

According to the proposals that Trump is considering, NATO allies that do not meet the new targets of defense spending may be barred from making decisions on expanding joint missions and activating the fifth article of the NATO Charter on collective defense, the media reported on Friday.

US officials actively promoted this model in several meetings, the sources said, however, according to other sources, this idea was not officially discussed at NATO headquarters in Brussels.

Trump has repeatedly accused Europe of not doing enough to defend itself. He criticized the European allies for spending too little on defense and demanded they increase spending to 5% of GDP. In June 2025, at the NATO summit in The Hague, the allies agreed to raise their defense spending to 3.5% of GDP, with another 1.5% to be allocated to related areas, such as cybersecurity and crucial road infrastructure.

 Sputnik

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WHO says attacks in southern Lebanon kill nine paramedics

Azerbaijan State News Agency - (AZERTAC)

29.03.2026 [13:18]

Baku, March 29, AZERTAC

The World Health Organization said on Saturday that nine paramedics were killed and seven others wounded in five separate attacks on health care in southern Lebanon, Reuters reports.

The latest incidents struck medical teams in five separate villages, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a social media post.

He added that the repeated strikes have severely disrupted health services in southern Lebanon. Four hospitals and 51 primary healthcare centres are now closed, with several other facilities operating at reduced capacity, he said.

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Norway to reach target of 3.5% of GDP on defence with new spending boost

Azerbaijan State News Agency - (AZERTAC)

29.03.2026 [11:20]

Baku, March 29, AZERTAC

Norway is to raise defence spending by another 115 billion crowns ($12 billion) by 2036, the government said on Friday, as it also delayed committing to long-range defence systems while it learns lessons from the Ukraine war, Reuters reports.

The spending comes on top of Norway's previously announced plan to spend 1.62 trillion crowns ($167 billion) on defence between 2025 and 2036.

Norway, like other NATO members, is increasing defence spending as a result of the war and under pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump. The extra spending will take Norway to its NATO commitment of 3.5% of GDP in 2035, the government said.

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Foreign Minister Tsahkna on the anniversary of Estonia's accession to NATO: work towards strong allied relations continues every day

Republic of Estonia - Ministry of Foreign Affairs

29.03.2026 | 07:46

On the occasion of the 22nd anniversary of Estonia's accession to NATO today, 29 March, Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna said that NATO remains one of the cornerstones of Estonia's security and that recent developments have demonstrated that the Alliance is capable of meeting expectations and fulfilling its tasks, while work to strengthen the Alliance and allied relations continues.

"In the 22 years since Estonia joined NATO, the global security situation has changed significantly. However, recent developments - such as the brazen violation of Estonian airspace by Russian fighter aircraft last September, as well as the threats to NATO Allies in the Middle East arising from the hostilities there - have confirmed that NATO acts decisively to ensure the security of its Allies and exactly as agreed," Tsahkna said.

According to the foreign minister, the most important priority at present is to ensure that transatlantic relations remain strong and that Allies increase their defence spending.

"Increased investment in defence is essential to ensure that NATO can continue to safeguard Allied security successfully in the future and respond to threats in a 360-degree manner, while focusing primarily on the most serious and long-term threat facing the Alliance - Russia," Tsahkna said.

"Estonia's defence spending will exceed 5% of GDP already this year, and this is the level that all NATO Allies must reach as a matter of urgency in order to ensure all necessary capabilities. At the NATO Summit in Ankara in July, it will be important for Allies to demonstrate concrete progress in increasing defence expenditure."

According to the foreign minister, Ukraine's accession as a full member of the Alliance would also be important for strengthening NATO.

"NATO has stated that Ukraine will become a member of NATO, and accession would provide Ukraine with the strongest possible security guarantee. At the same time, it would strengthen NATO as a whole, bringing into the Alliance a country with real combat experience, which has also demonstrated during the ongoing hostilities in the Middle East that it possesses knowledge and technology unmatched by others. The accession of such a military force to NATO would be a major gain for the Alliance," Tsahkna said.

On the anniversary of Estonia's accession to NATO, the foreign minister also recalled that Estonia demonstrated its readiness to contribute to collective defence both before joining the Alliance and after becoming a member.

"Estonia began participating in NATO's multinational ISAF mission as early as 2003, where Estonian personnel served alongside United Kingdom units primarily in Helmand Province in southern Afghanistan," Tsahkna said. "In proportion to our population, we paid the highest price, as we lost nine of our soldiers in Afghanistan," Tsahkna added.

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Statement by PM Netanyahu at IDF Northern Command

Israel - Prime Minister's Office

Type: Media Statements

Government: The 37th Government

Publish Date: 29.03.2026

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, today, at IDF Northern Command:

"I have just concluded an assessment at Northern Command with the Defense Minister, the IDF Chief-of-Staff, the Head of Northern Command, and also the division commanders. I met brave commanders, commanders who are determined to strike at our enemies and remove the danger from our borders.

We are in a multi-arena campaign. We are striking with immense force against Iran and its proxies. We are achieving great accomplishments, achievements that are creating visible cracks in the terrorist regime in Tehran.

Iran is not the same Iran, Hezbollah is not the same Hezbollah, and Hamas is not the same Hamas.

These are no longer terrorist armies that threaten our existence; these are battered enemies fighting for their own survival.

Instead of them surprising us, we are surprising them. We are the ones taking action, we are the ones attacking, we are the ones taking the initiative, and we are deep within their territory.

I said we would change the face of the Middle East, and we have done so. But we have also changed our security concept. We initiate, we attack, and we have created three security zones deep within enemy territory:

In Syria: From the Hermon ridge to the Yarmouk.

In Gaza: In more than half of the Gaza Strip's territory.

In Lebanon: I have now instructed to further expand the existing security zone in order to finally thwart the threat of invasion and to push the anti-tank missile fire away from our border.

It must be understood that Nasrallah created a massive force here. He believed that with this force, he would destroy us. We eliminated Nasrallah. We eliminated thousands of Hezbollah terrorists, and above all, we eliminated the immense threat of 150,000 missiles and rockets that were intended to destroy the cities of Israel.

However, Hezbollah still has a residual capability to launch rockets at us. What I discussed today with the commanders here are the ways to remove this threat as well. Dear citizens of Israel, I obviously cannot share these discussions with you, but I can tell you that we are determined to fundamentally change the situation in the north.

A word to the residents of the North: I am aware of your great hardship. I have instructed government ministries to assist you very generously. I ask of you, as I ask of all of you, citizens of Israel: Continued patience, continued steadfastness.

I send from here, on your behalf, condolences to the families of our heroes who fell in the campaign for our existence. I want to express my appreciation, and that of the entire nation, to the soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces, and especially to the reservists and their families, who have stood at the front and the home front for over two years.

We are determined, we are fighting, and with G-d's help, we are winning."

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PH, China discuss oil, 'practical' cooperation in resumed SCS talks

Philippine News Agency

By Joyce Ann L. Rocamora

March 29, 2026, 6:04 am

MANILA -- The Philippines and China have made "initial exchanges" on a potential oil and gas exploration in the South China Sea, nearly four years since previous talks were terminated in 2022.

The subject was raised at the just concluded Bilateral Consultative Mechanism (BCM) on South China Sea meeting in Fujian, China, on March 28.

In a statement late Saturday, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said both sides took note of the progress made in other possible areas of cooperation to "increase confidence in the maritime domain," including coast guard-to-coast guard communication and ocean meteorology.

The two sides had "frank and thorough exchange of views" on the situation in the South China Sea, where Manila "firmly reiterated" its position and raised concerns over China's actions that have "disrupted lawful activities and posed risks at sea."

"The Philippines emphasized the need for diplomacy and communication for managing differences at sea, and upholding international law, particularly the 1982 UNCLOS (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea) and the 2016 South China Sea Arbitral Award," said the DFA.

The BCM was held back-to-back with the 24th Foreign Ministry Consultations (FMC), and were both led by Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Leo Herrera-Lim and Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Sun Weidong.

At the FMC, Manila said it would handle all bilateral issues in line with the Philippine national interest, "while advancing mutually beneficial cooperation especially in the economic and people-to-people areas."

Both sides discussed the need to stabilize access to energy and fertilizers, as well as potential cooperation in green and renewable energy, trade, and agriculture, against the backdrop of current global developments, including the Middle East crisis.

The DFA said both states identified reconvening of appropriate bilateral mechanisms as a necessary step.

Also highlighted was improving two-way tourism, through visa-free arrangements, enhanced connectivity, and prospective new direct air routes.

Meanwhile, Manila emphasized that it would play a "responsible and professional role" as chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) this year, especially on managing regional talks, upholding ASEAN centrality, and reinforcing a rules-based order.

The DFA said the Philippines and China would soon convene a bilateral foreign ministers' meeting "within the year," following these latest talks.

The FMC was last held in Manila in March 2023, while the last BCM meeting took place in Xiamen in January 2025.

Both engagements, the DFA said, are "in line with the directive of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. to pursue dialogue and diplomacy with China in line with Philippine national interest, while protecting the country's sovereignty, sovereign rights and jurisdiction." (PNA)

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EU-led mission urges ships linked to US, Israel to avoid waters near Yemen

Iran Press TV

Sunday, 29 March 2026 6:45 PM

A naval mission led by the European Union (EU) has called on ships linked to the United States and the Israeli regime to avoid waters near Yemen, following an announcement by Yemeni authorities that they have begun military operations in support of Iran amid the US-Israeli aggression against the country.

The Aspides, a key naval mission based in Greece, said on Sunday that all shipping companies with vessels in the region seeking to sail in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden must exercise particular caution.

The mission added, however, that ships with connections to the Israeli regime or the United States should avoid passage through those waterways if possible.

The advisory comes a day after Yemen's ruling Ansarullah movement said it had officially joined Iran in its confrontation against US-Israeli aggression.

The movement launched several missiles toward Israeli-occupied territories, a tactic it has employed since the start of the Gaza war in 2023.

However, many believe Yemen's most influential tactic in the conflict against the Israeli regime, the United States, and their regional allies would be to close the Bab al-Mandab Strait, a key waterway through which significant volumes of energy and commodities pass every day.

Such a closure would further obstruct the flow of oil and goods from the region, as Iran has already maintained a tight grip on transit through the Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf since it came under US-Israeli attacks in late February, causing a sharp rise in international oil and gas prices.

British think tank Chatham House said in an analysis on Saturday that any disruption to shipping in the Red Sea and the Bab al-Mandab Strait would significantly increase shipping costs and oil prices, further straining the global economy already fragile due to the situation in Hormuz.

The think tank also warned that Yemen's Ansarullah could launch attacks on critical economic and military infrastructure in the Persian Gulf, potentially prompting new conflicts with Arab countries in the region.

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Houthis Strike Israel Again; More US Marines Arrive In Gulf Region

By RFE/RL March 29, 2026

Thousands more US Marines arrived in the Middle East, as Washington continued laying the groundwork for a possible land invasion of Iran. The deployment has deepened fears of a widening war, though US officials said no decisions have been made whether to invade.

With the US war against Iran now in its second month, Iran's parliamentary speaker -- seen as a possible contender to lead the country after US-Israeli air strikes killed most of the top leadership -- accused the United States of "secretly" planning a ground attack despite talking about peace.

In a statement released on March 29, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf called a 15-point peace proposal plan put forward by the United States last week as tantamount to surrender.

"We are certain we can punish America and make it regret ever considering an attack on Iran," he said.

The war, which started on February 28 when Israel and United States began attacking Iranian sites, was on the verge of widening dramatically after Houthi rebels fired a second salvo of missiles within 24 hours against Israel.

Israel intensified its attacks on Iran, targeting a naval research facility and striking sites in Tehran late on March 28.

Iran launched at least six salvos of ballistic missiles at Israeli sites on March 29, most of which were intercepted, Israeli officials said. Saudi Arabia also reported 10 drones, likely Iranian, had been intercepted early on March 29.

More than 3,500 US troops arrived in the region, US Central Command saidMarch 28, including2,500 Marines. The new troops come in addition to around 50,000 US military personnel who are already in the Gulf region, deployed at US bases.

The Washington Post, citing unnamed US officials, reported that the Pentagon was preparing plans for weeks of ground operations in Iran. The White House did not deny the report, but downplayed it, suggesting that such preparations would be routine contingency planning.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said last week that the deployments, which include units from the 82nd Airborne Division, were meant "to give the president maximum optionality and maximum opportunity to adjust the contingencies, should they emerge."

The involvement of the Houthis-- a Iran-backed Yemeni-based group that has been designated a terrorist organization by Washington-- risks widening the war further, as Iran retaliates against Gulf Arab states, and even farther away places, such as Cyprus and Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, where Britain has military assets.

Houthi spokesman Yahya Saree said the group fired "a barrage of cruise missiles and drones targeting several vital and military sites" in Israel. The attack "coincided with the military operations being carried out by" Iran and Hezbollah in Lebanon, he said in a statement.

Israel's military confirmed an incoming missile was fired from Yemen but said it was intercepted before it reached territory near the southern city of Eilat.

In a televised address a day earlier, Saree said "our fingers are on the trigger for direct military intervention" if attacks on Iran continue or if any new combatants join the war.

The Houthis, who have been armed, supplied, and funded by Iran for years, avoided joining the fight, but the missile launch raised fears of a possible disruption to the Bab al-Mandab Strait off Yemen, through which roughly 10 percent of the world's seaborne oil passes, to and from the Suez Canal.

Choking off the strait would be another major blow to global oil tanker traffic, following Iran's efforts to effectively shut down the Strait of Hormuz, which has sent global energy prices soaring.

Tehran said ships from "nonhostile" nations would be allowed to pass through the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran also threatened to target the American universities and colleges who have campuses scattered around the Gulf region.

'A Multifront War'

Israel's military said it hit Iran's Marine Industries Organization facility, which it said developed "a wide range of naval weaponry, including surface and sub-surface vessels, [and] manned and unmanned equipment."

Israeli military spokesman Brigadier General Effie Defrin asserted that Iran's weapons production capabilities would be largely destroyed "within a few days."

"We are preparing for a multifront war," Defrin said, when asked about a widening of the war.

Israel has launched its own air and ground campaign in Lebanon against Hezbollah, a US-designated terror organization that has been backed by Iran for decades.

Iranian President Masud Pezeshkian threatened further retaliation against countries in the region should Iranian infrastructure or economic centers be targeted.

"If you want development and security, don't let our enemies run the war from your lands," he said.

Responding to the Washington Post story, White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said: "It's the job of the Pentagon to make preparations in order to give the commander-in-chief maximum optionality. It does not mean the president has made a decision."

Pakistan Gets Hormuz OK

Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said Iran had agreed to allow an additional 20 Pakistani-flagged ships to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, with two vessels permitted to transit daily.

The Pakistani government has been acting as a mediator between Iran and the United States and has conveyed the US peace plan to Tehran. It is hosting a meeting of foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Egypt on March 29-30.

After the first day, Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said Islamabad is preparing to host talks to end the conflict in the coming days between Washington and Tehran.

"Pakistan will be honored to host and facilitate meaningful talks between the two sides in coming days, for a comprehensive and lasting settlement of the ongoing conflict," he said, although it wasn't clear if the United States and Iran had agreed to attend such a meeting.

Pakistan shares a 900-kilometer-long border with Iran and has a large Shi'ite Muslim minority. Iran's population is overwhelmingly Shi'ite.

Islamabad is also an ally of the United States -- although the relationship is often strained over issues such as the fight against terrorism -- and has close ties to the Gulf Arab states.

The Bangkok Post reported that Tehran has also agreed to allow Thai oil tankers through the strait. There was no immediate confirmation of the report.

The Strait of Hormuz accounts for around one-fifth of global oil shipments. Its effective closure has become a central issue of the conflict, driving up global energy prices and spooking nations with no involvement in the fighting.

Tehran has suggested that ships from "nonhostile" nations would have clear passage through the Strait of Hormuz. However, uncertainty has made it difficult to secure insurance, effectively preventing ships from using the waterway.

With reporting by RFE/RL's Radio Farda, RFE/RL's Radio Mashaal, Reuters, AFP, and dpa

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/houthi-iran-israel-war-hormuz- pakistan-shipping/33718789.html

Copyright (c) 2026. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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Coast Guard Cutter Stratton returns to California following 3-month deployment

United States Coast Guard

Press Release | March 29, 2026

ALAMEDA, Calif. -- The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Stratton (WMSL 752) returned to their home port in Alameda, Monday after sailing more than 16,000 nautical miles and completing a 79-day patrol in the Caribbean.

Stratton departed Alameda Jan. 4 and transited through the Panama Canal to support ongoing operations in the Caribbean, preventing the illicit trade of crude oil in violation of international sanctions. On Jan. 25, Stratton assumed escort duties of motor tanker Sophia and escorted the vessel from anchorage south of Puerto Rico to an at-sea transfer with Venezuela for further disposition.

Additionally, while transiting in the Eastern Pacific, Stratton's crew operated in support of Joint Interagency Task Force-South to detect, monitor, and intercept illicit narcotics. Stratton's crew interdicted one fishing vessel at sea, exercising the North American Maritime Security Initiative (NAMSI) standard operating procedures. Enacting NAMSI and boarding the vessel at sea allowed for the transfer of the vessel to the Mexican Navy for further disposition.

During the patrol, Stratton conducted a fueling-at-sea evolution with USNS Supply (T-AOE 6) and helicopter vertical replenishments with Coast Guard Air Station Borinquen crews to resupply the cutter while deployed in the Caribbean. Additionally, the crew exercised helicopter deck landing operations with an MH-60 aircrew from the USS Lake Erie (CG 70) and Coast Guard Air Station Ventura, displaying Stratton's interoperability across different agencies and platforms.

"The Stratton crew looks forward to returning to Alameda to reunite with our friends and family," said Capt. Dorothy Hernaez, Stratton's commanding officer. "This was a demanding and dynamic patrol that tested our resilience and capabilities across a wide spectrum of operations. This patrol demonstrated Stratton's essential role as a multi-mission platform capable of adapting to an evolving operational environment."

Commissioned in 2012, Stratton is one of ten Legend-class national security cutters, and one of four homeported in Alameda. National security cutters are 418-feet long, 54-feet wide, and have a 4,600 long-ton displacement. They have a top speed of 28 knots, a range of 12,000 nautical miles, and can hold a crew of up to 170. National security cutters routinely conduct operations throughout the world, where their unmatched combination of range, speed, and ability to operate in extreme weather provides the mission flexibility necessary to conduct vital strategic missions.

The namesake of the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Stratton is Capt. Dorothy Stratton, who led the service's all-female reserve force during World War II. Dorothy Stratton was the first female commissioned officer in the Coast Guard and commanded more than 10,000 personnel. The ship's motto is "We Can't Afford Not To."

###

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Russo-Ukraine War - 29 March 2026 - Day 1495

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A number of claims and counterclaims are being made on the Ukraine-Russia conflict on the ground and online. While GlobalSecurity.org takes utmost care to accurately report this news story, we cannot independently verify the authenticity of all statements, photos and videos.

On 24 February 2022, Ukraine was suddenly and deliberately attacked by land, naval and air forces of Russia, igniting the largest European war since the Great Patriotic War. Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a "special military operation" (SVO - spetsialnaya voennaya operatsiya) in Ukraine in response to the appeal of the leaders of the "Donbass republics" for help. That attack is a blatant violation of the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine. Putin stressed that Moscow's goal is the demilitarization and denazification of the country. The military buildup in preceeding months makes it obvious that the unprovoked and dastardly Russian attack was deliberately planned long in advance. During the intervening time, the Russian government had deliberately sought to deceive the world by false statements and expressions of hope for continued peace.

"To initiate a war of aggression... is not only an international crime; it is the supreme international crime differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole." [Judgment of the International Military Tribunal]

The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that in total, 123 combat clashes have taken place since the beginning of this day.

The defense forces continue to stop the Russian enemy, destroy personnel and exhaust the combat potential of the occupiers, inflicting systematic fire damage.

The Russian enemy carried out 50 air strikes - dropped 148 guided bombs. In addition, it involved 5,944 kamikaze drones for destruction and carried out 2,717 attacks on settlements and positions of Ukrainian troops.

In the North-Slobozhansk and Kursk directions, Russian forces carried out 92 attacks on the positions of Ukrainian troops and settlements, including three using multiple launch rocket systems.

In the South-Slobozhansk direction, the Russian enemy once stormed the positions of Ukrainian units in the area of the settlement of Vilcha.

In the Kupyansk direction, Ukrainian defenders successfully repelled ten Russian assaults in the areas of the settlements of Novoosinove, Petropavlivka, Nova Kruglyakivka, Bohuslavka, Novoplatonivka and Borivska Andriivka.

In the Lymansk direction, the Russian enemy tried to advance three times in the direction of the settlements of Cherneschyna and Novoserhiivka. Two clashes are ongoing.

In the Slavyansk direction, Ukrainian soldiers repelled five Russian assaults in the areas of Rai-Oleksandrivka, Platonivka, Zakitne and Kalenykivka.

In the Kramatorsk direction, Ukrainian defenders repelled two Russian attempts to advance in the areas of the settlements of Fedorivka Druh and Mykolaivka.

In the Kostyantynivka direction, the Russian invaders stormed the positions of Ukrainian defenders 22 times today near Kostyantynivka, Pleshchiivka, Kleban-Byka, Stepanivka, Rusyny Yar, Novopavlivka and Sofiivka. Two clashes continue to this day.

In the Pokrovsky direction, the Russian enemy carried out 25 attacks. The Russian occupiers tried to advance in the areas of the settlements of Bilytske, Rodynske, Myrnograd, Hryshyne, Udachne, Toretske, Novooleksandrivka, Pokrovsk, Novomykolaivka, Bilyakivka, Molodetske, Dachne, Filiya and Novopavlivka, as well as in the direction of the settlement of Hannivka. Two clashes continue to this day.

According to preliminary estimates, today in this direction 112 Russian occupiers were eliminated and 69 were wounded; a tank, four units of automobiles and 108 units of special enemy equipment were destroyed, three infantry shelters, an artillery system and a unit of automobile equipment were damaged. 688 unmanned aerial vehicles of various types were destroyed or suppressed.

In the Oleksandrivka direction, the Russian occupiers tried to improve their position nine times, attacking in the areas of the settlements of Andriivka-Klevtsove, Oleksandrivkagrad, Sichneve, Zlagoda, Ternove, Vyshneve, Rybne and Krasnohirske. One battle is ongoing. In addition, the settlements of Lisne and Pokrovske were subjected to air strikes with guided bombs.

In the Hulyaipil direction, there were ten Russian attacks in the areas of Dobropillya, Zaliznychny, Varvarivka, Olenokostyantynivka, Hulyaipil and Myrne. The Russian enemy carried out air strikes in the areas of Vozdvyzhenske, Shyroki and Dolinka. One battle is currently ongoing.

In the Orikhiv direction, the Russian enemy attacked in the area of the settlement of Prymorske. The Zarichny district was subjected to an air strike.

In the Prydniprovske direction, no Russian assault actions were recorded.

In other directions, there were no significant changes in the situation.

The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation reported that the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation continue the special military operation.

The Sever Group of Forces improved the situation along the front line. The Group's units inflicted losses on manpower and hardware of three territorial defence brigades close to Volnaya Sloboda, Ikriskovshchina, Novaya Sech, Novodmitrovka, and Shostka in Sumy region.

In Kharkov region, units of two mechanised brigades, a motorised infantry brigade, and an artillery brigade of the AFU were hit near Verkhnyaya Pisarevka, Volchanskiye Khutora, Malaya Volchya, and Ternovaya in Kharkov region.

The AFU losses amounted to up to 200 troops, one armoured personnel carrier, one armoured fighting vehicle, and 13 motor vehicles. One ammunition and two materiel depots were eliminated.

As a result of resolute actions, units of the Zapad Group of Forces liberated Kovsharovka in Kharkov region.

Russian troops inflicted losses on formations of three mechanised brigades of the AFU, a territorial defence brigade, and a national guard brigade near Blagodatovka, Monatchinovka, Moskovka, Studenok (Kharkov region), Krasny Liman, and Stary Karavan (Donetsk People's Republic).

The enemy losses amounted to up to 190 troops, one tank, two armoured fighting vehicles, 15 motor vehicles, and two ammunition depots.

The Yuzhnaya Group of Forces took more advantageous lines and positions. The Group's units inflicted losses on manpower and hardware of five mechanised brigades, a motorised infantry brigade, and an assault brigade of the AFU near Alekseyevo-Druzhkovka, Gorodeshchino, Kondratovka, Konstantinovka, Kramatorsk, and Rai-Aleksandrovka in the Donetsk People's Republic.

The enemy lost up to 225 troops, three armoured fighting vehicles, 15 motor vehicles, five artillery guns, and one electronic warfare station. Two ammunition depots and four materiel depots were neutralised.

The Tsentr Group of Forces improved the situation along the front line. Russian troops inflicted losses on manpower and hardware of three heavy mechanised brigades, two mechanised brigades, two airmobile brigades, an infantry brigade, a jaeger brigade, an airborne brigade, an assault regiment of the AFU, and three national guard brigades near Belitskoye, Vasilevka, Grishino, Dobropolye, Kutuzovka, Lenina, Maryevka, Novogrigorovka, Sergeyevka, Torskoye, Shevchenko (Donetsk People's Republic) and Raipole (Dnepropetrovsk region).

The AFU losses amounted to more than 310 troops, one tank, two armoured personnel carriers, four armoured fighting vehicles, 11 motor vehicles, two field artillery guns, including one U.S.-made 155-mm Paladin self-propelled artillery system, and one electronic warfare station.

The Vostok Group of Forces continued advancing into the depth of enemy defence. The Group's units inflicted losses on formations of a mechanised brigade, an assault brigade, two air assault brigades, and five assault regiments of the AFU close to Velikomikhaylovka, Dobropasovo, Lugovoye in Dnepropetrovsk region, Vozdvizhevka, Dolinka, Komsomolskoye, Kopani, and Mirnoye in Zaporozhye region.

The enemy lost more than 280 troops, one tank, two armoured fighting vehicles, three motor vehicles, and one materiel depot.

The units of the Dnepr Group of Forces improved the tactical situation and inflicted losses on manpower and hardware of a mountain assault brigade of the AFU and a marine brigade near Kamyshevakha (Zaporozhye region), Molodetskoye and Nadezhdovka (Kherson region).

Up to 70 troops, 19 motor vehicles, three electronic warfare stations, and one Israeli-made RADA RPS-42 counter-fire radar station of the AFU were neutralised.

Operational-tactical aviation, unmanned aerial vehicles, missile troops and artillery of the Russian Groups of Forces engaged aircraft hardware at military airfields, energy and transport infrastructure facilities of Ukraine used in the interests of the AFU, long-range unmanned aerial vehicles launch sites, Flamingo long-range cruise missiles storage sites, as well as temporary deployment areas of Ukrainian armed formations and foreign mercenaries in 143 areas.

Air defence systems shot down 13 guided aerial bomb and 345 fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles.

In total, since the beginning of the special military operation, 671 aircraft, 284 helicopters, 129,093 unmanned aerial vehicles, 652 anti-aircraft missile systems, 28,562 tanks and other armoured fighting vehicles, 1,694 MLRS combat vehicles, 34,150 field artillery guns and mortars, and 58,093 units of support military vehicles have been neutralised.

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WHO Member States agree to extend negotiations on key annex to the Pandemic Agreement

World Health Organization (WHO)

28 March 2026

News release

Geneva

World Health Organization (WHO) Member States have agreed to extend negotiations on the Pathogen Access and Benefit Sharing (PABS) annex to the WHO Pandemic Agreement, with discussions to resume in late-April ahead of its scheduled consideration by the World Health Assembly (WHA) in May.

The decision to continue negotiations from 27 April-1 May, with informal intersessional discussions taking place in advance, reflects the commitment by WHO Member States to negotiate the PABS annex, a core component of the WHO Pandemic Agreement.

The World Health Assembly adopted the Pandemic Agreement last year to address weaknesses exposed by the COVID-19 pandemic and to strengthen global cooperation and equity in future pandemic prevention, preparedness and response.

"The Pathogen Access and Benefit Sharing system lies at the heart of the WHO Pandemic Agreement and I thank WHO Member States for their commitment to work to bring it to life," said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. "I urge all delegations to believe in the power of trust - trust in one another, in our institutions, and in our shared ability to transcend differences for the common public good, for solidarity and for equity."

The PABS annex is intended to ensure, on equal footing, the rapid sharing of pathogens with pandemic potential and the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from their use, including vaccines, diagnostics and therapeutics.

"Member State negotiators are working intensively towards having an ambitious and equitable Pathogen Access and Benefits Sharing annex ready for adoption at the World Health Assembly in May," said IGWG Bureau Co-Chair Ambassador Tovar da Silva Nunes, of Brazil.

During the past week, Member States engaged in intensive negotiations under the Intergovernmental Working Group (IGWG) on the WHO Pandemic Agreement. Discussions covered a range of critical and interlinked issues, including how benefits derived from the sharing of pathogens should be defined and distributed, the nature of contractual arrangements underpinning the PABS system, and governance matters necessary to ensure the system functions effectively, transparently and in the public interest.

"With less than two months until the World Health Assembly in May, I welcome the commitment shown this week by Member States towards finding consensus on outstanding areas in the Pathogen Access and Benefit Sharing system," said IGWG Bureau Co-Chair Mr Matthew Harpur, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Member States acknowledged the constructive engagement to date, while recognizing that additional time is needed to bridge remaining differences to finalize the text and submit the outcome to the World Health Assembly. They also reaffirmed their commitment to solidarity, multilateralism and the shared goal of making the world safer and more equitable in the face of future pandemics.

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J-10C pilot counters radar provocation, showcasing China's air combat readiness: media

Global Times

By Global Times Published: Mar 28, 2026 03:51 PM

Chinese J-10C fighter pilot swiftly turned on radar to counter a foreign aircraft's provocation after being illuminated by its radar, handling the situation calmly, according to a video program released by China Central Television (CCTV) on Saturday.

According to CCTV News, during an aerial encounter, Shi Luquan, a pilot from an aviation brigade under the PLA Air Force Central Theater Command, was subjected to radar illumination by a foreign military aircraft and responded immediately.

"This is a kind of provocation. If he were friendly, he wouldn't turn on the radar. This is our own territorywhy should I turn away? When the distance closed further and the radar warning disappeared, I immediately switched my radar to standby mode," Shi said in the video, after responding to the radar illumination.

CCTV News quoted a Chinese military affairs expert Fu Qianshao as saying that the J-10C fighter's rapid countermeasure capability stems from its advanced active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar, superior aerodynamic design, and the pilot's professional handling procedures.

Fu noted that the J-10C's ability to successfully counter radar illumination and regain tactical initiative reflects the aircraft's upgraded performance after years of improvements. Compared with earlier J-10 variants, the J-10C has achieved key technological breakthroughs in radar systems and detection methods, giving it advantages in electromagnetic confrontation and aerial tactical engagements, and providing strong technical confidence in responding to foreign provocations.

The early J-10 was equipped with a pulse-Doppler radar, a mainstream system for third-generation fighters. Following upgrades, the J-10C has evolved into a highly capable "generation 3.5" fighter, featuring multiple key advancements. These include a redesigned nose with an elliptical cross-section, a new-generation AESA radar replacing the pulse-Doppler system, and the addition of an infrared search and track system, significantly enhancing its detection capabilities and methods, Fu said.

Beyond advanced electronic warfare systems, the J-10C's optimized aerodynamic design also plays a critical role in enabling it to execute effective countermeasures. According to Fu, a fighter's radar signature varies with its orientation, and sometimes a single maneuver can sharply reduce its radar cross-section, CCTV News reported.

However, Fu emphasized that not all aircraftor pilotsare capable of executing such maneuvers. While advanced equipment provides the hardware foundation for countering foreign aircraft, the pilot's professional handling procedures are also key to securing the initiative during such confrontations.

Through coordinated maneuvering and countermeasures, the Chinese pilot not only achieved reverse radar illumination but also secured a dominant tactical position, placing the foreign aircraft in a difficult position to respond. Fu attributed this capability to the PLA Air Force's intensive daily training and realistic combat drills.

Fu further explained that when aircraft from countries outside the region approach China's territorial waters or airspace, Chinese forces routinely dispatch military aircraft for monitoring and response. Standard measures include close-in maneuvers to expel the aircraft, during which dangerous proximity between both sides' aircraft may occur.

In dealing with approaching large foreign reconnaissance aircraft, Chinese fighters typically conduct maneuvering in front of the target aircraft and issue verbal warnings. If the other side continues to approach, additional warning measures such as radar illumination or the release of flares may be employed, while firing shells in front of the aircraft would constitute a serious warning, Fu said.

Radar illumination, in particular, marks a critical threshold between warning and countermeasure and signals an escalation in aerial confrontation. Illumination by fire-control radar is often regarded as a major military provocation and a significant escalation of tensions, as it indicates that key targeting parameterssuch as distance, direction, speed and altitudehave been locked and transmitted to weapons systems, Fu noted.

Although the specific type of radar used by the foreign aircraft in this incident remains unclear, Fu said the action itself was highly dangerous and provocative. The J-10C's ability to respond rapidly at a critical moment lies in its advanced electronic warfare systems, which can detect threats at the earliest stage and provide crucial time for subsequent handling, according to CCTV News.

The J-10C's performance highlights comprehensive upgrades not only in equipment capabilities but also in tactical design, while also demonstrating the high level of skill and combat readiness of Chinese Air Force pilots, CCTV News concluded.

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Chinese official media reveals new details on Type 054B frigate as AI algorithms nearly eliminate air defense blind spots

Global Times

By Liang Rui and Liu Xuanzun Published: Mar 29, 2026 05:07 PM

An official media report on Sunday disclosed multiple new developments regarding the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy's Type 054B guided-missile frigate Qinzhou. The report highlighted one of its most distinctive features: a next-generation architecture powered by advanced AI algorithms, enabling near-zero blind spots in air defense. Experts say the Type 054B represents a major leap in integrated combat capability and positions the vessel among the most advanced frigates in service today.

In the video released by the military channel of CCTV News on Sunday, Zhang Yunpeng, a crew member of the Qinzhou, described the ship's defining feature in one word: "new."

He noted that the platform incorporates enhanced stealth design, with antennas and sensors integrated and optimized to significantly reduce radar cross-section. The vessel is also built entirely with domestically produced components. Compared with earlier ships, it boasts greater propulsion efficiency, lower fuel consumption, extended range, and an expanded combat radius.

In addition, the ship adopts a more streamlined command structure. This "flattened" command system enables more efficient and scientifically optimized interaction between commanders and weapon systems, improving overall operational responsiveness.

Zhang emphasized that the most notable advancement lies in the ship's new architectural framework. Taking air defense as an example, he explained that stronger computing power and more advanced algorithms, combined with AI assistance, significantly reduce or even eliminate blind zones in detection and engagement in air defense combat. This allows weapons systems to achieve greater operational effectiveness.

The report also highlighted the vessel's main gun system, which represents a newer generation of naval artillery. During the current training cycle, the system has fired hundreds of rounds without a single malfunction, providing a solid foundation for the rapid generation of combat capability for the Type 054B.

The CCTV News footage showed the Type 054B frigate Qinzhou conducting formation training alongside Type 055 and Type 052D destroyers.

The CCTV News report also highlighted the ship's role in anti-submarine operations during joint exercises with amphibious assault ships, underscoring the frigate's core mission as a protective escort.

Zhang recalled one such exercise, in which torpedo threats were introduced during the final phase of a drill. Initially responding according to standard single-ship defense procedures, the crew later realized the incoming torpedoes were targeting an amphibious assault ship rather than their own vessel.

"In that moment, we made a high-speed maneuver to place ourselves between the torpedoes and the amphibious assault ship," Zhang said. "Everyone on board understood the significance of that decision: it likely meant sacrificing ourselves to protect the amphibious assault ship. But whether in a carrier group or an amphibious task force, the frigate's mission is to serve as the final line of defense - the last shield."

On January 22, 2025, China's first Type 054B frigate, the Luohe, was commissioned at a naval port in Qingdao, East China's Shandong Province.

According to the Xinhua News Agency, the Type 054B has a displacement of approximately 5,000 tons. This new-generation frigate, independently developed and constructed by China, boasts advancements in stealth technology, combat command systems and firepower integration, significantly enhancing overall performance. With strong capabilities for comprehensive combat operations and diverse military missions, the warship will play a vital role in enhancing the overall combat effectiveness of naval task forces, Xinhua said.

The second Type 054B frigate of the PLA Navy, the Qinzhou, appeared in a poster released by the PLA South China Sea Fleet on April 12, 2025. Shortly after, the military channel of CCTV News reported on May 4, 2025 that the vessel was rapidly deployed for realistic training in the South China Sea. During its first live-fire exercise, the crew achieved a direct hit, successfully sinking a towed target.

Chinese military affairs expert Zhang Xuefeng described the Type 054B as one of the most advanced frigates in the world. He told the Global Times that the vessel achieves a balance across anti-submarine, anti-ship, and air defense capabilities, while leveraging new technologies to deliver a highly cost-effective design.

According to Zhang Xuefeng, this makes the Type 054B a strong candidate for large-scale production, enabling the PLA Navy to deploy more vessels to address diverse maritime threats.

Zhang Junshe, another Chinese military affairs expert, told the Global Times that the Type 054B is an upgraded derivative of the Type 054A frigate, featuring greater displacement and longer operational range. These improvements allow it to undertake blue-water missions, including coordinated operations with carrier strike groups and advanced destroyers, as well as regional air defense and anti-submarine warfare tasks.

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Respected Comrade Kim Jong Un Oversees Test Organized by Armored Weapons Institute of Academy of Defence Sciences

Korean Central News Agency of DPRK

Pyongyang, March 29 (KCNA) -- Kim Jong Un , general secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea and president of the State Affairs of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, oversaw a test of assessing the tank performance organized by the Armored Weapons Institute of the Academy of Defence Sciences.

The respected Comrade Kim Jong Un expressed great satisfaction over the relevant test as it served as an occasion to show well how excellent our new-type MBT is and how dependable combat means it is through actual action, not words.

He said today's test proved that the functionality of our new-type MBT's interceptor system is fully equipped with a thorough capability for destroying almost all existing anti-tank means.

Commenting on the new-type MBT which demonstrated remarkable combat performance, he said it has been confirmed again that there is no doubt in our view, already declared, that no tank in the world is comparable to this tank.

The test, conducted in various aspects on the day to check the active protection system of the new-type MBT, examined in detail the combat effectiveness of the protection system against anti-tank means attacking in different directions and confirmed the perfect defensive function with 100 percent probability. -0-

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Respected Comrade Kim Jong Un Acquaints Himself with Training of Special Operations Sub-units at All Levels of KPA

Korean Central News Agency of DPRK

Pyongyang, March 29 (KCNA) -- Kim Jong Un , general secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea and president of the State Affairs of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, visited the special operations training base directly under the authority of the Operations Bureau of the General Staff of the Korean People's Army to acquaint himself with the training of special operations sub-units at all levels.

The training base was overflowing with the high spirit of combatants of special operations sub-units, full of ardent mind to give pleasure and satisfaction to the respected Comrade Kim Jong Un who is ceaselessly visiting the frontline posts for bolstering up the military capabilities to defend the security of the state and the people, through demonstration of the strongest fighting efficiency.

Kim Jong Un was greeted on the spot by No Kwang Chol, minister of National Defence of the DPRK, Ri Yong Gil, chief of the KPA General Staff, Kim Song Gi, director of the KPA General Political Bureau, and other military and political commanding officers of the headquarters of the Ministry of National Defence and all services and large combined units.

All the participants broke into enthusiastic cheers, looking up to the ever-victorious iron-willed brilliant commander who is ushering in a great heyday of building a powerful army with his outstanding military strategic ideology and extraordinary commanding art.

The training of the day was aimed at estimating the capabilities of physical and military action of the combatants of special operations sub-units at all levels.

The training was observed by major leading officials of the Party and the government.

The special operations sub-units of services and large combined units at all levels, which have further strengthened the matchless combat efficiency, leaving vivid footprints of loyalty and patriotism in the difficult and arduous training course, true to the Party's training-first policy, fully displayed their crack-shot marksmanship and military technical and physical ability in a competitive way.

Kim Jong Un said that our army at all levels should get fully prepared in conformity with the trend of modern warfare by thoroughly implementing and applying the Juche-oriented policy of bringing about a radical turn in training, well aware of the iron truth that much more sweat in the peacetime training leads to less blood in the battlefield.

He expressed his views on the programme for reorganizing the special operations forces of our army, to be implemented in the future, and the follow-up measures.

On the same day, there was a demonstration performance of ace combatants of special operations sub-units.

The soldiers in the demonstration performance strikingly showed the physical and technical ability they have prepared to be a-match-for-a hundred combatants with iron fists.

While watching with pleasure the training of women special warfare soldiers full of self-confidence, Kim Jong Un warmly encouraged them.

The leading officials extended warm applause and high praise to the soldiers, watching their training pulsating with the fighting spirit and heroic stamina of our invincible army to unconditionally annihilate the enemy.

Expressing great satisfaction at the absolute might and dauntless courage of the special operations forces, the pivotal component of the KPA reliably defending the sovereignty of the DPRK and the wellbeing of its people, Kim Jong Un had a meaningful photo taken with the reliable and admirable officers and soldiers.

At the end of the photo session, the passionate guards broke into thunderous cheers of absolute loyalty in token of their will to devotedly defend the Party Central Committee headed by Comrade Kim Jong Un .

Kim Jong Un expressed belief that our army at all levels, directly entrusted with the task of fighting a war as the main force of national defence, would as ever remain faithful to the sacred mission of defending the country, the revolution and the people and reliably guarantee the victorious advance of our country and our cause with the powerful military strength. -0-

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Global Strategic Reach: North Korea Tests Cutting-Edge Missile Engine

Sputnik News

20260329

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has overseen a high-thrust solid-fuel engine test.

What is known about the engine:

The engine produced a 2,500 kilonewtons thrust

Can lift 255 tons

Features high-durability materials

Likely to be used for Hwasong-20 ICBM

This allows to use it for carrying multiple independently targetable re-entry vehicles (MIRVs) in one missile, Korea Institute for National Unification researcher Hong Min told the South China Morning Post.

 Sputnik

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Transcript of Weekly Media Briefing by the Official Spokesperson (March 27, 2026)

India - Ministry of External Affairs

March 27, 2026

Shri Randhir Jaiswal, Official Spokesperson: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Let's start our conversation. We begin. The floor is open.

Yeshi Seli, Business India: This is Yeshi Seli from Business India. how many ships have come from the Strait of Hormuz right now? How many are expected? Also, has India sought any clearance from the US? There are reports that suggest to import LPG from, or LNG from Russia?

Sidhant, WION: Hi sir, Sidhant from WION. We have seen an interesting tweet by the Bangladeshi Prime Minister, Tarique Rahman, marking the Genocide Day, calling out Pakistan. We've also seen the Pakistani reaction saying that 1971 is open to different interpretations. What's India's stance, given the fact that India played an important role in the Liberation War?

Uma Shankar Singh, Independent Journalist: Uma Shankar Singh, independent journalist. Iran ke Videsh Mantri ki taraf se ek bayan aaya hai ki Bharat samet char desho, jo ki dost desh hain, unke jahazon ko jane ki manzuri humne de di hai. Toh kya jo uh... Faras ki khadi mein abhi 20 jahaz bataye ja rahe hain, kya wo waha se chale hain, aur agar chale hain toh kab tak Bharat pahunchenge?

[Approximate Translation: Question in Hindi] Uma Shankar Singh, independent journalist. A statement has come from Iran's Foreign Minister that ships from four friendly countries, including India, have been allowed passage. So, regarding the approximately 20 ships currently being reported in the Persian Gulfhave they started moving from there, and if so, by when are they expected to reach India?

Brahma Prakash Dubey, Zee News: Sir, Brahma Prakash Dubey, Zee News se. Kya yeh jankari de sakte hain, kya Russia se bhi jo hai kaccha tel aur crude oil aur LPG aa rahi hai? Aur iske alawa, kya Iran ne jis tarah se bayan diya hai, toh Iran ke sath kya sthiti hai? Kya waha se bhi LPG aur crude oil upload ho raha hai?

[Approximate Translation: Question in Hindi] Sir, Brahma Prakash Dubey, Zee News: Sir, I am Brahma Prakash Dubey from Zee News. Could you please tell us whether petroleum products such as crude oil and LPG are also coming from Russia? And apart from that, given the statement made by Iran, what is the current situation with Iran? Is LPG and crude oil also being loaded from there?

Rishabh, Times Now: Good evening, this is Rishabh from Times Now. Sir, there are reports which suggest that at the all-party meeting, earlier this week, there was a term used for Pakistan, 'dalal', by External Affairs Minister. If you can shed some light on that.

Shri Randhir Jaiswal, Official Spokesperson: Okay, so first Yeshi to your question. We have kept you informed of the ships, the Indian ships which have so far crossed the Strait of Hormuz. We've had four ships. They were laden with LPG. They have arrived in India. They safely crossed the Strait of Hormuz a few days back. We continue to be in touch with all concerned countries for the safe transit of our ships, to meet our energy requirements.

As far as, you know, there are several questions as to from where we are buying our energy requirements. On that, you are well aware of our broad approach to sourcing our energy needs. It is based on A, our imperative to secure the needs of our people, 1.4 billion people. Two, what are the dynamics in the market? And three, what is the global situation? So, these three issues or conditions are vital for us to take our decisions in regard to our sourcing, and it continues to be the case. As far as specific issues where we are buying our oil from X country, Y country, on those, I think it's better that you take your question to the Ministry of Petroleum because they will be in a better position to answer.

Sidhant, your question, on the tweet that you mentioned. We are all aware of the terrible atrocities that were committed by Pakistan during Operation Searchlight in 1971. The genocide involved systematic and targeted killing of millions of Bangladeshi people, innocent people, and mass sexual violence against women. It also forced millions of Bangladeshi people out of their country. They came to India as refugees. These atrocities, needless to say, it shook the conscience of the world at large. Pakistan however remains in denial to this very day of its crimes. We support Bangladesh in its desire for justice.

1971 mein jo Operation Searchlight Pakistan dwara uss samay jo chalaya gaya tha, usme kis prakar ka wahan par Bangladesh mein narsanghar hua uske baare mein sabhi log avgat hain. Is narsanghar mein ek suyojit tareeke se lakhon logon ki jaanein gayi, unko mara gaya, unke maut ke ghat utara gaya. Uske alawa aurton ke saath aur jinko wahan virangana kaha jata hai unke, unke khilaf alag alag tareeke ke violence hue, crimes hue.

Aur saath hi saath jo ki ek prakar ka dehshat tha uss samay uss desh mein, lakhon log apne desh chhod kar, Bangladeshi nagrik chhod kar hamare yahan aaye sharnarthi ke roop mein. Isne poori duniya ka antaratma mein bahut ek jhakjhor diya, aur abhi tak in sabhi crimes ko le ke, violence ko le ke, narsanghar ko le ke, Pakistan ek denial mode mein rehta hai. Hamari taraf se hum Bangladesh ko support karte hain ki unki jo ye nyay mangne ki aur nyay milne ki jo unki chaah hai uske liye.

[Approximate Translation: Answer in Hindi] In 1971, during the operation called Operation Searchlight carried out by Pakistan at that time, the kind of genocide that took place in Bangladesh is well known to everyone. In this genocide, lakhs of people were systematically killedput to death in a planned manner. Apart from this, womenreferred to there as "Biranganas"were subjected to various forms of violence and crimes.

At the same time, there was an atmosphere of terror in the country, and lakhs of people fled their homeland and came to India as refugees. This shook the conscience of the entire world. However, to this day, Pakistan remains in denial regarding these crimes, violence, and genocide. From our side, we support Bangladesh in its pursuit of justice and its aspiration to achieve justice.

Iran ke baare mein Uma Shankar ji jaisa maine bataya ki chaar jahaz hamare wahan se aa chuke hain, aur hum kayi saare deshon ke saath, khadi ke deshon ke saath baat kar rahe hain taaki aur bhi jo hamare jahaz hain wahan se wo Strait of Hormuz se paar karke surakshit bahar Bharat aayein. Toh abhi tak toh yahi hai, iske aage mere paas vishesh kuch kehne ko nahi hai.

[Approximate Translation: Answer in Hindi] Regarding Iran, Uma Shankar jias I mentioned, four of our ships have already arrived from there. We are in talks with several countries, especially Gulf nations, so that more of our ships can safely cross the Strait of Hormuz and reach India. For now, this is the situation. I do not have anything further to add beyond this.

Brahma Prakash ji aapka sawal bhi wahi tha. Dekhiye jahan tak urja sourcing ka sawal hai, hamara jo, jo hamara soch hai hamara approach hai uske baare mein maine aapko bataya abhi. Baaki vishesh ki hamare tel kahan se aa raha hai, kin kin deshon se aa raha hai, iske baare mein mere paas vishesh jankari nahi hai. Is vishesh jankari ke liye aapko jo Petroleum Mantralaya hai, Tel Mantralaya hai unse, unke paas jana padega.

[Approximate Translation: Answer in Hindi] Brahma Prakash ji, your question was along the same lines. Look, as far as energy sourcing is concerned, I have already explained our approach to you. As for specific details about where exactly our oil is coming from and which countries it is coming from, I do not have that information. For such specific details, you would need to approach the Ministry of Petroleum.

Rishabh, to your question. As you are aware there was an all-party meeting which was held in Delhi on the ongoing conflict in West Asia. It was, let me underline, this was a closed-door meeting and therefore I have no comments to make. But as regards Pakistan's long-standing approach to global conflicts and tensions, you may care to listen to criticisms by Defence Minister Khawaja Asif, member of National Assembly Bilawal Bhutto, and former PM Imran Khan.

Suhasini Haidar, The Hindu: Suhasini Haidar from The Hindu. Dr. Jaishankar is in France for the G7 meeting. I wanted to know firstly if in the committee on sovereignty, I think he has spoken in the cross-cutting session, he has spoken about sovereignty. Was there a particular mention of the US and Israel strikes on February 28th that began this war?

And second, I did want to ask that South Africa has been disinvited now as one of the outreach members, special invitees from the G7. We also understand South Africa will not be invited to the G20 in US. Has India in any way protested the keeping out of South Africa, a country that India shares many multilateral fora, from BRICS to IBSA and others as well?

Ayushi Agarwal, ANI: Sir, this is Ayushi Agarwal from ANI. Are we expecting a meeting between our External Affairs Minister Dr. Jaishankar and his American counterpart Marco Rubio on the sidelines of the G7 Foreign Ministers' meeting in France?

Kadambini Sharma, Independent Journalist: Kadambari Sharma, Independent Journalist. Sir, French readout jo hai Videsh Mantri ki baithak ke baad jo aaya hai, usme kaha gaya hai ki Bharat aur France dono coordinate kar rahe hain Strait of Hormuz par security ko lekar. Is par kuch aur agar aap jankari de payein.

[Approximate Translation: Question in Hindi] Kadambari Sharma, Independent Journalist. Sir, following the Foreign Minister's meeting, the French readout mentioned that India and France are coordinating on security in the Strait of Hormuz. Could you provide any further information on this?

Akhilesh Suman, DD News: Sir, I am Akhilesh Suman from DD News. Strait of Hormuz... whose property is Strait of Hormuz? What is its legal situation? And can any country, even if it passes a resolution in its parliament, can it be the sovereign right of that country?

Keshav Padmanabhan, The Print: Sir, thank you. Keshav Padmanabhan from The Print. My first question is on the Strait of Hormuz. There are reports emerging that the United Arab Emirates is pushing for some sort of international coalition to open up the Strait of Hormuz. I wanted to check whether the Emiratis have reached out to India at any point during the conversations... multiple conversations had between the two senior leadership.

And a second question again on Iran, sir. The Iranian embassy here in New Delhi has been collecting humanitarian funds from Indians to bank accounts here located in India. Just, has there been any conversation on how they're going to repatriate these funds back home? Is that something that the MEA is in touch with the Iranians on this? Thank you.

Shri Randhir Jaiswal, Official Spokesperson: So, Suhasini first. Yes, our External Affairs Minister is in Paris for G7 Foreign Ministers' meeting. He on the sidelines has already had meetings with several Foreign Ministers, his counterparts, including France, Germany, South Korea, Japan, Brazil. Even as we speak, these engagements continue there because today is also a working day. He spoke at two sessions. One was on global governance where he talked about the imperative of Security Council reforms, also the question of streamlining peacekeeping operations, and strengthening humanitarian supply chains. He also apprised the gathering of India's concerns, of the concerns of the Global South countries, on food, fuel, and fertilizer. We all see the kind of impact that the conflict is having on these issues across the world.

In the second meeting, he also participated in a session where he focused on connectivity and IMEC. And there again he talked about the uncertainties arising from the conflicts in West Asia, and why it is important that we should have more resilient trade corridors and supply chains. In the context of IMEC, he also talked about the FTAs we've signed with UK and EU, as also with EFTA countries, and how they become important. And in that regard, how important the IMEC corridor itself is.

Now, on the question of which country... India is an outreach country which was invited by the host to participate in the G7 meeting. It is for the host to decide whom they want to invite, whom they want to call for those meetings. I guess there are some reports on that, so I would refer you to look at them. As far as G20 is concerned, this time United States is the chair of G20, and we look forward to participating in G20 summit which will happen later this year involving all G20 countries.

Ayushi, on... several meetings have happened, I am not particularly aware of this particular meeting whether it has happened or will be happening soon, but I guess it's still midday in Paris, so some of these meetings could still happen.

Kadambini, on your question, see there are several efforts that we have seen... reports about countries talking about coalition and as to what should be done to strengthen the transit of ships from Strait of Hormuz. In several forums, several places, there are these initiatives which are being discussed. We are aware of them. We are closely following the matter, as also developments in the ongoing conflict in West Asia. And our point of view is that we continue to call for ensuring safe and free navigation through the Strait of Hormuz as a matter of priority.

Strait of Hormuz, well, you asked me a technical question. I may be off, but just to let you know that what I understand that Strait of Hormuz is categorized as international waters and international law applies there. But there are discussions happening in relevant bodies, including the International Maritime Organization, on some of these matters.

Keshav, again, Strait of Hormuz, there are a lot of discussions happening in various platforms and forums as to what can be done to strengthen safety of navigation through Strait of Hormuz. I just told you that we are closely following this matter, as also the ongoing conflict, and our point of view is that we should have safe and free navigation through the Strait of Hormuz so that, you know, the problems that we have on energy security, not just for ourselves but for the world at large, can be addressed.

Your second question was regarding humanitarian funds. Look, embassies abroad or embassies here in India, they are not prohibited from accepting donations. Now, once those donations have been accepted, I guess the relevant embassy will see as to what it wants to do, how it wants to utilize those donations.

Reza, Hindustan Times: Reza from the Hindustan Times. There have been several reports of senior Shia leaders in Pakistan being very critical of the Pakistan army chief for certain remarks he made at a meeting with Shia clerics, where he said that anyone who is sympathetic to Iran should go to Iran. I was wondering if you have any views on that.

Neeraj, News18 India: Sir, Neeraj hoon News18 India se. Hamara sawal hai ki Bangladesh ke Uchchayukt Riaz Hamidullah ne News18 India se khaas baat-cheet mein kaha hai ki suraksha se jude masle par Bangladesh koi aisa kadam nahi uthayega jo Bharat ke khilaf ho. Bharat aur Bangladesh sambandhon par is bayan ko aap kaise dekhenge?

[Approximate Translation: Question in Hindi] Sir, I am Neeraj from News18 India. My question is that Bangladesh's High Commissioner, Riaz Hamidullah, in a special conversation with News18 India, has said that on security-related matters, Bangladesh will not take any step that goes against India. How do you view this statement in the context of India-Bangladesh relations?

Megha, NewsX: Good evening, Sir. I'm Megha from NewsX. My first question, it is being reported that the Vice President of US, J.D. Vance is reportedly going to be arriving in Pakistan for possible peace talks. Is it acceptable to India that Pakistan hosts these as a mediator, these peace talks?

And the second question, about an Indian national that has died in Abu Dhabi yesterday. Is his mortal remains going to be brought back to India, and is there any operation that India is going to start for the evacuation of Indians in all these Gulf nations that are being targeted by Iran?

Shri Randhir Jaiswal, Official Spokesperson: Srinjoy.

Srinjoy: Sir, there have been media reports that President Trump and General Munir had a conversation a few days ago. What do we know about it?

Raghavendra Verma, ZDF German Television: This is Raghavendra Verma from ZDF German Television. This is regarding fertilizers, sir. There are reports that India has sought to import urea from China. Can you confirm that? Is it just a trade aspect of the relations or there is something strategic involved? Would China consider something else? Is it easy to import fertilizers from China?

Agni, ABP: Sir, Agni from ABP. It's been reported that Bangladesh's new Foreign Minister Khalilur Rahman will be visiting Delhi next month. Can you please confirm that and if he comes, what's the agenda of this travel?

Shri Randhir Jaiswal, Official Spokesperson: Okay, so first Reza, to your question. Yes, we have seen the report that you are talking about. Such comments are not isolated incidents but are part of Pakistan's systematic or systemic victimization of its minorities, including the Shia minority in that country. The shrinking numbers of minorities in Pakistan over several decades reflect the kind of fear, persecution, oppression, and neglect that they have had to endure at the hands of the Pakistani state. I need not elaborate on the abysmal record of Pakistan when it comes to protection of human rights of its minorities, which is also very well documented.

Neeraj, Bangladesh ke Uchchayukt ke bayan ke baare mein. Dekhiye, Bangladesh mein ek nayi sarkar aayi hai. Is sarkar ke shapath grahan mein hamare Speaker sahab, Lok Sabha ke adhyaksh, wahan bheja gaya tha. Unke marfat hamare pradhan mantri ne apni taraf se jo unki chitthi hoti hai, badhai ki chitthi hoti hai aur jo hamari kalpana hai ki is rishte ko hum kaise aage le jana chahte hain, iske bare mein chitthi bhi unko diya tha. Dono taraf se baat cheet chal rahi hai aur jo Bangladesh ke saath hamare ek bahu-ayami rishte hain, usko hum kayam hi nahi balki aur mazboot karna chahte hain aur aage ki disha mein le jana chahte hain.

[Approximate Translation: Answer in Hindi] Neeraj, regarding the statement made by the Bangladesh High Commissionerlook, a new government has come to power in Bangladesh. At the swearing-in ceremony of this government, our Speaker, the Speaker of the Lok Sabha, was sent there. Through him, our Prime Minister conveyed his congratulatory letter, as well as our vision for how we would like to take this relationship forward. There is ongoing dialogue between both sides, and our relationship with Bangladesh is multi-dimensional. We not only want to maintain it but also strengthen it further and take it forward in the future.

Megha, on your question, I have to say that we are closely following all developments in the ongoing conflict in West Asia. That is how I would refer to or answer your question.

On the other question regarding Abu Dhabi. Yes, we had an unfortunate death yesterday. Our mission is working to send back the mortal remains at the earliest. Hopefully soon.

On your evacuation, I think there is no reason for any evacuation because you have these hundreds of flights every day which are coming from the Gulf to India and from India going to Gulf. So, please have a look at the press statement where we give an update on the commercial flights' availability and from which stations these flights are coming into India. So, there is no question of evacuation.

Srinjoy, regarding yours... again, I would say one thing that we are closely following all developments in regard to this ongoing conflict in West Asia.

Raghavendra ... question regarding imports. We are sourcing fertilizer inputs from various parts of the world, from diverse sources. I am not sure what is the position as far as a particular country that you mentioned. We had been importing in the past, but whether we are doing it in present or not, I don't have this information. Perhaps the Department of Fertilizer would be in a better position. But just to tell you that we get fertilizer from various parts of the world.

Agni, your question regarding the visit of the Foreign Minister of Bangladesh. It will be an important visit. But you know, once these are finalized and we are in a position to ... we announce these visits at the appropriate time. So, we will surely update you. You will come to know of the visit in good time.

Krisha Mohan Sharma, Bharat Express: Sir, Krisha Mohan Sharma, Bharat Express se. Mera sawal bhi Strait of Hormuz se hai. Jo hamare vessels ko aane ki ijazat di gayi hai safe navigation ki, kya ye faisla abhi temporary hai ya isko maan liya jaye ki aage aisi koi pareshani nahi aayegi?

[Approximate Translation: Question in Hindi] Sir, Krisha Mohan Sharma from Bharat Express. My question is also regarding the Strait of Hormuz. The permission granted for our vessels to navigate safelyshould this be considered a temporary decision, or can it be assumed that such problems will not arise in the future?

Abhimanyu Sharma, CNBC TV18: Sir, I am Abhimanyu Sharma from CNBC TV18. Sir, are there any reports that India is importing oil and gas from Iran too?

And secondly, have any companies approached the government seeking any relief due to force majeure which has been declared in several West Asian countries which has possibly impacted several Indian companies' operations too?

Kallol, The Hindu: Kallol from The Hindu, sir. Sir, there is a new Prime Minister in Nepal who has been sworn in today. So, do you expect him to pay the first foreign visit to India?

Manas, PTI: This is Manas from PTI. It appears that BRICS is still, in fact, deeply divided over the crisis in Middle East. So, as BRICS Chair, are we just making efforts to just reconcile the differences and come out with a statement on West Asia crisis?

Sidhant, WION: Sir, there are reports coming that India is giving energy to its neighbors, especially to Sri Lanka. These countries had requested for energy support. Any more details because the Sri Lankan media at least is saying something...

Brahm Prakash, Zee News: Sir, Brahm Prakash hoon Zee News se. Sir, mera sawal hai ki Pakistan ki parmanu kshamta ko lekar Israel ke purva Pradhan Mantri bhi keh chuke hain ki agla, Iran ke baad agla jo hai woh Pakistan ko lekar target hona chahiye kyunki woh ek bada khatra hai. US ki Senate mein bhi Tulsi Gabbard ne bhi bayan diya ki wahan ki missile aur parmanu kshamta America ke liye bada khatra hai. Toh isko lekar sawal mera yeh hai ki Pakistan ke purva rajnayik jo Abdul Basit, unhone bayan diya India ko lekar ki agar US aur Israel Pakistan par hamla karte hain toh hum Mumbai aur Delhi ko nishana banayenge. Isko kya Bharat Sarkar ne gambhirta se liya hai? Kya comment hai aapka? Thank you.

[Approximate Translation: Question in Hindi] Sir, I am Brahm Prakash from Zee News. My question is regarding Pakistan's nuclear capability. Even Israel's former Prime Minister has said that after Iran, the next target should be Pakistan because it is a major threat. In the US Senate as well, Tulsi Gabbard stated that Pakistan's missile and nuclear capabilities pose a significant threat to America.

In this context, my question is that Pakistan's former diplomat Abdul Basit has made a statement regarding India, saying that if the US and Israel attack Pakistan, then Mumbai and Delhi would be targeted. Has the Government of India taken this statement seriously? What is your comment on this? Thank you.

Shri Randhir Jaiswal, Official Spokesperson: So, Krisha Mohan, pehla sawal aapka tha Strait of Hormuz ko leke. Jaisa ki hum logo ne bataya ki hamare jo jahaz hai wahan 24 the, 4 aa gaye, 20 aur hai wahan, aur in jahaz ka wahan se surakshit dhang se Strait of Hormuz se nikalne ke liye hum wahan par jo desh hai un sab se baat kar rahe hain. Toh yehi sthiti hai abhi, case by case pehle jaise bataya tha us prakar se baat cheet chal rahi hai.

[Approximate Translation: Answer in Hindi] So, Krisha Mohan, your first question was regarding the Strait of Hormuz. As we mentioned, there were 24 of our ships there4 have already arrived, and 20 are still there. For the safe passage of these ships through the Strait of Hormuz, we are in discussions with the countries in that region. So, this is the current situation. As mentioned earlier, the discussions are taking place on a case-by-case basis.

Abhimanyu, I don't have details about, you know, specific countries, what we are procuring from A or B country or C country. I've given you our broad approach to energy security and that is where we are.

Kallol, a question to the Prime Minister of Nepal. He was sworn in today. We had a question who attended from our side. The Ambassador was invited, so he attended the swearing-in function which happened this afternoon. Post the swearing-in function, our Prime Minister also conveyed his congratulations to Prime Minister of Nepal, His Excellency Balen Shah. And he conveyed that India very much looks forward to working with him to strengthen India-Nepal ties and to take these very special ties to even greater heights. As far as invitation or when he'll come, these are things that will be worked out in subsequent days and months ahead, through diplomatic channels, as is the normal procedure.

Manas, you had a question on BRICS. We are the chair of BRICS. We have ongoing conversation with BRICS members on the ongoing conflict in West Asia. As you're aware, some of the BRICS members are also involved directly in the conflict. We have a particular way of working; this is the BRICS way of working which is based on consensus. And for that reason, because we have differing opinion, it has been difficult for us to forge a particular consensus on this particular conflict.

Sidhant, we have received request from several of our neighbours, and we are working on them and presently supplying their needs or whatever energy requirements they have to them, while keeping in mind our own energy requirements, our availability and our refining capacity.

Brahm Prakash, main aapke sawal ke baare mein zyada nahi kehna chahta hoon. Lekin duniya jaanti hai aur hum log jaante hain ki Pakistan ka parmanu shastra jo hai, kis prakar ka khatra poori duniya ke liye paida karta hai.

[Approximate Translation: Answer in Hindi] Brahm Prakash, I would not like to say much more on your question. However, the world knowsand we knowthe serious threat, Pakistan's nuclear arsenal poses to the entire world.

With that, let's come to the close. Thank you very much.

New Delhi

March 27, 2026

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IONS MARITIME EXERCISE (IMEX) TTX 2026 HELD AT SOUTHERN NAVAL COMMAND, KOCHI

India - Press Information Bureau

Ministry of Defence

Posted On: 29 MAR 2026 12:37PM by PIB Delhi

The Indian Navy hosted IONS Maritime Exercise (IMEX) TTX 2026 at the Maritime Warfare Centre, Southern Naval Command, Kochi on 27 March 2026. The high-level engagement brought together distinguished delegates from Indian Ocean Naval Symposium (IONS) member navies, international officers of IOS SAGAR, and officers from the Indian Navy to deliberate on evolving non-traditional maritime security challenges in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR).

The exercise witnessed participation from Bangladesh, France, Indonesia, Kenya, Maldives, Mauritius, Myanmar, Seychelles, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, and Timor-Leste. This diverse multinational representation underscores a shared commitment to fostering mutual trust and enhancing collaborative maritime security across the region. As India assumes the IONS Chairmanship for the 2026-2028 cycle after a gap of sixteen years, IMEX TTX 2026 marks a significant milestone in strengthening regional maritime leadership.

Conducted in a sophisticated simulated environment, the exercise addressed complex maritime security challenges in the IOR, a region of critical importance to global trade, energy flows, and connectivity. The primary objectives included enhancing shared understanding among participating navies of operational approaches and constraints, examining coordination mechanisms such as information sharing and decision-making processes, and supporting the continued refinement of IONS frameworks, including validation of maritime security guidelines through practical application.

By simulating multi-scenario contingencies without the constraints of live deployments, the exercise enabled participants to explore new avenues for professional exchange and to deepen mutual trust. IMEX TTX 26 reaffirmed the role of IONS as a vital platform for cooperation through constructive dialogue, collective responsibility, and regionally driven solutions to maritime challenges.

The insights gained from the exercise are expected to further strengthen the IONS framework, ensuring a coherent, responsive, and stable maritime domain in the Indian Ocean Region.

*****

VM/SPS

(Release ID: 2246627)

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Iran Reports Attacks On Arak Nuclear Facility, Steel Factories In Ahvaz, Isfahan

27.3.2026

The Arak Heavy Water Complex, known as Khondab, was hit "in two stages" on March 27, according to a local government official.

"The Khondab Heavy Water Complex was targeted in two stages by aggression from the American and Zionist enemy," said Fars news agency, citing Hassan Ghamari, an official in the central Markazi Province.

The Arak Heavy Water Complex is one of Iran's major nuclear facilities and a center for heavy water production. The complex was previously targeted during the 12-day war between Israel and the United States against Iran.

The official said there no danger to the people in the vicinity.

Meanwhile, Iranian media on March 27 reported attacks on steel production plants in the cities of Ahvaz and Isfahan.

Mohammad Ali Zarei, spokesman for the Iranian Ministry of Industry, Mines and Trade, confirmed the attack on the Mobarakeh and Khuzestan Steel complexes in an interview with Tasnim News Agency, which is affiliated with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).

"Some damage has been caused to parts of these two complexes," he said. He did not provide further details about the extent of damage or possible victims.

However, Fars, which is also linked to the IRGC, reported that "an electrical substation and an alloy steel production line" were targeted in the attack on Mobarakeh Steel in Isfahan. At the Khuzestan Steel plant, the company's "storage facilities" were also hit.

Images of huge plumes of smoke rising from steel factories in Isfahan and Ahvaz were also shared on social media.

The Israeli military announced in a statement that its air force had "launched a broad wave of attacks against the infrastructure of the Iranian regime."

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/iran-protests-live-blog- trump-khamenei/33640284.html?lbis=447009

Copyright (c) 2026. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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US-Israeli aggression on Iran: What happened on 29th day of the imposed war

Iran Press TV

Saturday, 28 March 2026 11:37 PM

By Press TV Website Staff

Twenty-nine days into the US-Israeli war on Iran, launched on February 28 with the assassination of the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, US-Israeli aggression continued to target Iran's civilian infrastructure.

Overnight strikes on Saturday targeted multiple districts of the capital Tehran, while airstrikes also struck areas in Isfahan, Garmdareh, Shahriar, Karaj and Zanjan.

Civilian casualties were reported across several provinces, including children and women.

Iranian armed forces, meanwhile, launched fresh waves of retaliatory strikes against American assets across the Persian Gulf region, sinking six American landing craft, hitting a US aircraft, and destroying a warehouse of Ukrainian anti-drone systems in Dubai.

As the unprovoked and illegal war enters its fifth week, the stated objectives of the Israeli-American war alliance have failed to materialize.

Foreign analysts describe it as a stalemated war of attrition, drawing comparisons to Ukraine.

On Wall Street, market declines are "turning into a full-blown crash." And the Strait of Hormuz remains effectively closed to American and allied vessels, with global supply chains beginning to buckle under the strain.

The following are the key developments that took place on Day 29 of the war:

US-Israeli attacks on Iran

Overnight airstrikes by the US and Israel targeted multiple residential areas in Tehran. Loud explosions were reported in districts 1, 4, 9, and 18 of the capital.

Iran University of Science and Technology was also targeted. Reports confirmed the university complex came under attack during the overnight US-Israeli bombing campaign.

Airstrikes struck multiple other provinces as well. Since the early hours of Saturday, areas in Isfahan, Garmdareh, Shahriar, and Karaj were also targeted by the US and Israel air attacks.

Israeli warplanes also attacked Iranian nuclear sites and industrial plants, with the International Atomic Energy Agency reporting that two Iranian nuclear facilities, including a uranium processing plant, were struck.

In an aggressive US and Israeli attack by the American-Zionist coalition on a residential apartment in Zanjan, at least five civilians were killed.

Civilian water infrastructure was struck in the bordering province of Khuzestan. The water source in Haftkel city was hit by enemy projectiles.

The Shahid Absalan Clinic in Minab, located adjacent to the Shajareh Tayyibeh Elementary School in Minab, was struck twice by American-Zionist drone attacks, inflicting significant damage on the medical facility.

One hundred twenty-two cluster bombs were discovered in southern Fars province. The IRGC announced the discovery and destruction of cluster bombs dropped by American-Israeli fighter jets on civilians in the village of Kafri in Shiraz and another city.

Iran's retaliatory strikes

The IRGC Navy struck American-Israeli positions in the port of Al-Shuyukh, coastlines, and the port of Dubai. Six American Landing Craft Utility were hit using ballistic missiles and Qader-380 cruise missiles. Three vessels sank immediately; the remaining sustained damage.

A simultaneous drone operation targeted gathering centres of American drone unit officers on the coast and at a Dubai hotel. As per the IRGC statement, a large number of American soldiers were killed.

The IRGC Aerospace Force launched missile and drone attacks on heavy industries belonging to the US and Israel in the occupied territories and other locations, destroying parts of them.

IRGC air defence system shot down an American MQ-9 strategic unmanned aircraft in the skies of Shiraz.

An American F-16 fighter jet was struck in southern Fars province before it could land at a Saudi airport. Israeli media reported that an American F-16 fighter jet is currently making an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia.

As per the Wall Street Journal, several American aircraft were damaged in Iran's missile attack on the Amir Sultan base in Saudi Arabia. Many American soldiers were also injured in the retaliatory attacks on the American base. Iran's attack on the Sultan base in Saudi Arabia highlighted the shortage of American interceptor missiles, CBS wrote.

A warehouse storing anti-drone systems belonging to Ukraine, which existed in Dubai to assist the American army and where 21 Ukrainians were present, was targeted in a combined operation by the IRGC Aerospace Force and Navy. The fate of the Ukrainian forces (at least 21) remains unknown.

Israel's Broadcasting Authority announced that Iranian missiles struck 11 points across Tel Aviv in the fresh wave of True Promise 4.

A major global aluminium company, the second largest supplier of the product, said its smelter site suffered "significant" damage from Iranian missile and drone attacks on Abu Dhabi.

A huge fire broke out at Kuwait International Airport after a drone attack hit fuel tanks there.

US-Israeli war objectives in question

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington expects to complete its Iran war objectives in the "next couple of weeks," leaving Iran "weaker," and claimed the US can achieve its goals without ground troops.

US Central Command acknowledged that more than 300 American soldiers have been wounded since the war began on February 28.

The Foreign Affairs reported: "What has transpired is more akin to Russia's war in Ukraine than Washington's swift intervention in Venezuela. Iran's fierce response has led to a war of attrition and stalemate." The analysis added that the US "has no clear path to achieving a decisive victory and is at risk of becoming entangled in an endless war," concluding that Washington will likely be forced to accept a negotiated outcome.

JD Vance, US vice president, stated: "We are not interested in being in Iran for a year or two. We're handling things, we're going to get out of there soon, and gas prices will go down again."

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said the war is unlikely to lead to "regime change" in Iran, pointing to past conflicts like Afghanistan as evidence that such efforts "mostly gone wrong."

Iran's diplomatic stance

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran would exact a "heavy price for Israeli crimes" after fresh attacks on nuclear sites and two of the country's largest steel factories.

President Masoud Pezeshkian emphasised in a social media post: "We have repeatedly stated that Iran does not carry out pre-emptive attacks, but in response to attacks on infrastructure and economic centres, we will give a firm response to the aggressive enemy." He added, "I tell the countries of the region, if you seek development and security, do not allow our enemies to manage the war from your countries."

Tehran has rejected the American 15-point peace plan as "one-sided and unfair," presenting five non-negotiable demands. US envoy Steve Witkoff said he expects meetings with Iran "this week" and is waiting for Tehran's response.

Trump's statements and war policy

In remarks at a Saudi investment forum in Miami, US President Donald Trump disclosed that USS Gerald R. Ford was attacked "from 17 directions," forcing American forces to retreat to save their lives. He described Iranian aircraft launching "every 32 seconds" in the attack. The Pentagon had previously claimed the carrier was incapacitated by a "fire in the laundry room."

Trump said the war with Iran is "not finished yet," adding that the US still has "another 3,554 targets left to hit in Iran" and that this "will be done pretty quickly."

Trump said NATO allies "weren't there" when asked to help secure the Strait of Hormuz, despite the US spending "hundreds of billions" protecting them. "I've always said NATO is a paper tiger. And I always said we help NATO, but they'll never help us."

Contrasting NATO's inaction, Trump said: "Unlike NATO, Saudi Arabia fought, Qatar fought, the UAE. fought, Bahrain fought, and Kuwait fought." He also suggested the US would scale back NATO spending due to alliance members' reluctance to intervene in this war.

Trump called on more West Asian countries to sign the "Abraham Accords," the agreement from his first term that saw Israel "normalise relations" with the UAE and Bahrain.

Trump referred to the Strait of Hormuz as "Trump Strait." He said, "They have to open the 'Trump Strait,' I mean the Strait of Hormuz... The fake news media will say I said that by mistake, but when I do something, it's no coincidence, not a big deal.

Regional resistance fronts

Israeli troops entered Khiam and clashed with Hezbollah near Tyre as Israel pushes to occupy the Lebanese territory up to the Litani River.

Hezbollah said it attacked Israeli tanks and fired at a warplane over Beirut. Hezbollah forces have fiercely resisted the Israeli advance, having carried out 82 operations against Israeli troops within 24 hours.

Yemen's Ansarullah resistance group launched ballistic missiles targeting "sensitive Israeli military sites in southern occupied Palestine," describing it as part of "direct military intervention" in support of US-Israeli aggression against Iran, marking the beginning of their direct military intervention.

A young Bahraini man, Sayed Mohammed Al-Mousawi, died in custody after being subjected to brutal torture by the Al Khalifa regime, which failed to extract false confessions from him regarding Iran, according to local sources.

Two prominent Lebanese journalists, Fatima Fatouni, Ali Shuaiba and their cameraman, Mohammad Fatouni, were killed in an Israeli strike on a car in the southern sector of Lebanon.

The IRGC denounced a US-Israeli drone strike on the residence of the president of Iraq's Kurdistan Region, calling it "a clear act of terrorism.

US military deployments

The USS Tripoli reportedly arrived in the region carrying approximately 2,500 Marines and 2,500 sailors, part of the US Navy's ready group typically based in Okinawa. The New York Times reported they are intended to be part of Trump's effort to "open" the Strait of Hormuz.

The USS George H.W. Bush is expected to deploy near the Persian Gulf waters, according to a Western media source.

The USS Gerald R. Ford, which had been participating in operations against Iran before a March 12 fire, has anchored in Split, Croatia, after repairs in Crete.

Regional diplomacy

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif held a one-hour call with President Pezeshkian, with the Iranian president stressing "the need to build trust in order to facilitate talks and mediation." Turkey said talks with Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt could take place in Pakistan this weekend as Islamabad mediates between Iran and the US.

Reuters reported that Qatar, Oman, and Kuwait, behind closed doors, are calling for a quick end to the war, fearing economic consequences and retaliatory actions. The UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Bahrain say they are prepared to bear the brunt of escalation and will not accept an Iran after the war that retains the ability to use the Strait of Hormuz as leverage.

The President of Turkey warned that the continuation of the war will impose high costs not only on the parties involved but on the entire world.

Global economic fallout

To prevent a "massive humanitarian crisis," the United Nations established a new task force led by Jorge Moreira da Silva. It aims to ensure ships carrying fertiliser and raw materials can safely cross the Strait of Hormuz, warning that maritime trade disruptions could severely affect global agricultural production and humanitarian needs.

Agence France-Presse reported that the Prime Minister of Thailand announced his country has reached an agreement with Iran for the passage of its ships through the Strait of Hormuz.

Brent crude prices have increased 53 percent since February 27, the day before the American-Zionist aggression against Iran, while US crude has risen 45 percent since then.

Bloomberg reported: "The market declines that began following the start of the Iran war are turning into a full-blown crash on Wall Street."

Egypt ordered shops, restaurants, and shopping malls to close at 9 PM to curb energy bills that have more than doubled because of the war. Ethiopians slept in their cars during hours-long queues for petrol as war-induced shortages took hold. Between 6,000 and 8,000 tonnes of tea worth $24 million are stranded at Kenya's Mombasa port due to disrupted shipping routes through the Red Sea and Strait of Hormuz. About 65 percent of the East African tea market has been affected.

Russia sent its second large shipment of humanitarian aid to Iran, including 313 tons of medical equipment to Iran.

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IRGC: Israeli, US universities in region legitimate targets after strikes on Iranian university

Iran Press TV

Saturday, 28 March 2026 10:53 PM

The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) has declared that Israeli and American universities in West Asia have become targets of Iran's retaliatory strikes following attacks on a major Iranian university.

In a statement on Saturday, the Corps condemned the actions of "American-Zionist aggressor forces," citing earlier bombings of Tehran's University of Science and Technology.

"The American-Zionist aggressor forces, by bombing Tehran's University of Science and Technology, have once again targeted Iranian universities."

The IRGC warned that all Israeli and American universities in the region would be considered legitimate targets until two universities belonging to the aggressors were struck in retaliation.

The statement advised all staff, professors, and students of American universities in the region, as well as nearby residents, to maintain a distance of one kilometer from these institutions for their own safety.

The IRGC outlined conditions under which regional American universities might avoid retaliatory strikes.

"If the US government wants its universities in the region to be exempt from retaliatory strikes, it must, by 12:00 noon Tehran time (08:30 a.m. GMT) on Monday, March 30, issue an official statement condemning the bombings of universities."

It further stated, "Furthermore, if it wants its regional universities to remain unharmed afterward, it must prevent its allied forces from attacking universities and research centers."

"Otherwise, the threat remains valid and will be carried out."

The Iranian university was struck on Saturday during the aggression that began targeting the Islamic Republic late last month. The attack resulted in destruction of some scientific and research sites inside the facility.

Earlier too, aggressors had targeted the Isfahan University of Technology, reportedly afflicting damage to one building.

Shortly after the onset of the American-Israeli aggression on February 28, the Corps launched unrelenting retaliatory strikes against sensitive and strategic enemy targets across the region using hundreds of ballistic and hypersonic missiles as well as attack drones.

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In Numbers: The civilian toll of US-Israeli aggression against Iran after 29 days

Iran Press TV

Saturday, 28 March 2026 10:41 PM

As the US-Israeli military aggression against Iran entered its 29th day, Iranian officials released updated casualty figures and detailed the extensive damage inflicted on civilian infrastructure across the country.

The unprovoked and illegal war was launched on February 28, in the middle of indirect nuclear talks between Tehran and Washington, as the United States and the Israeli regime carried out indiscriminate strikes across multiple Iranian provinces, including Tehran.

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, along with several top-ranking military commanders, was assassinated in the first wave of the cowardly aggression.

In the days that followed, as Iranian armed forces inflicted heavy blows on the enemy through powerful retaliatory operations under the banner 'Operation True Promise 4'.

The aggressors then expanded their attacks on civilian infrastructure across the country, targeting hospitals, schools, heritage sites, as well as oil and water facilities.

According to the Ministry of Health, the latest statistics as of day 29 of the war include:

Current hospitalized: 831

Treated and discharged: 24,175

Martyrs among healthcare workers: 24

Damaged ambulances: 38

Damaged healthcare centers: 41 units

Evacuated hospitals: 6 units

Martyrs under 5 years old: 17 children

Martyrs under 18 years old: 214

Female martyrs: 244

The highest number of martyrs has been recorded in the provinces of Tehran and Hormozgan.

The Iranian Red Crescent Society has also released a detailed assessment of damage to civilian infrastructure resulting from airstrikes on civilian areas.

According to the report, a total of 93,233 civilian units have sustained damage, including:

Commercial units: 20,779 across the provinces

Residential units: 71,454 across the provinces

Residential and commercial units in Tehran: 31,562

The strikes have also damaged or destroyed critical civilian infrastructure, including:

Health, medical, and emergency centers: 295

Schools: 600

Red Crescent centers: 17

Operational vehicles (rescue and K-9): 48

Red Crescent and emergency ambulances: 46

Relief helicopters (Red Crescent and emergency): 3

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Iran warns of US, Israeli plots to expand aggression by involving other states, staging 'false-flag ops.'

Iran Press TV

Saturday, 28 March 2026 10:16 PM

Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has warned that the United States and the Israeli regime might seek to expand their ongoing unprovoked aggression targeting Iran.

The top diplomat made the remarks in a phone call with his Greek counterpart Georgios Gerapetritis on Saturday.

Araghchi cautioned about schemes harbored by Washington and Tel Aviv to expand the scope of the aggression "by compelling other countries to participate in the aggression or conduct false-flag operations against third countries."

He recalled the legal duties of countries under the international law to prevent aggressors from using their territory or resources to plan, support, or carry out acts of aggression.

Araghchi detailed the crimes committed by the duo during the now-one-month-long military aggression, noting that the attacks "constitute a clear violation of Article 4 of the United Nations Charter and an obvious case of military aggression against a UN member state."

He reminded all countries of their responsibility to condemn illegal attacks and violations of humanitarian law.

"Indifference to the unlawful and terrorist American and Israeli actions undermines the international normative and moral order, with consequences affecting all nations."

Araghchi emphasized that the Islamic Republic would continue defensive operations against the aggressors and their military bases or facilities located in regional countries.

The Iranian foreign minister also stressed that insecurity in the Strait of Hormuz was a direct result of the aggression, and that the Islamic Republic had taken measures to prevent the waterway from being exploited by the aggressors, while ensuring safe passage for other vessels.

For his part, the Greek official expressed serious concern about the consequences of the situation and expressed hope that peace and stability would return to the region as soon as possible.

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Yemen launches 2nd major strike on Israeli targets in solidarity with Iran, Resistance Axis

Iran Press TV

Saturday, 28 March 2026 9:05 PM

Yemen's Armed Forces subject the Israeli regime to their second major solidarity strike in support of Iran and the Axis of Resistance amid ongoing unprovoked American-Israeli aggression targeting the Islamic Republic and regional resistance movements.

In a statement on Saturday, the forces said they had fired "a barrage of cruise missiles and drones targeting several vital and military sites belonging to the Zionist enemy in southern occupied Palestine."

The strike that, according to the servicemen, "successfully achieved its objectives," marked the second one of its type shortly after the servicemen unleashed a barrage of ballistic missiles against sensitive and strategic Israeli targets lying in the southern areas.

The support operations, codenamed the Holy Jihad Battle, had been announced on Saturday by spokesman Brigadier General Yahya Saree.

Rallying behind 'land of pride, honor, defiance'

Commenting on the second strike, the forces said they carried it out in support of "Iran, the land of pride, honor, and defiance" as well as in solidarity with Palestinian, Lebanese, and Iraqi resistance factions.

The United States and the Israeli regime began their latest bout of unlawful aggression targeting the Islamic Republic late last month. Simultaneously, they escalated their attacks on various resistance movements throughout the region.

The Saturday statement noted that the Yemeni support strikes were, in a broader context, seeking to confront "the Zionist scheme" targeting the region - a reference to the Israeli regime's ambitions to expand the areas under its occupation.

'Until the enemy surrenders'

The statement noted that the strikes coincided with the Islamic Republic's and the regional resistance groups' retaliatory strikes against American and Israeli targets throughout the region.

The Yemeni Armed Forces concluded by affirming that they would sustain their strikes in line with "their religious, moral, and humanitarian duties until the criminal enemy ceases its attacks and aggression."

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True Promise 4: Iran and resistance axis ops. against US-Israeli assets on Mar. 28

Iran Press TV

Saturday, 28 March 2026 8:56 PM

By Press TV Website Staff

Iranian armed forces and resistance groups across the region continue to carry out retaliatory military operations against the United States and the Israeli regime.

On Saturday, March 28, 2027, the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) and the Iranian Army conducted multiple operations as part of Operation True Promise 4, which was launched immediately after the US-Israeli coalition carried out an unprovoked act of aggression against the Islamic Republic of Iran on February 28.

Iranian armed forces have so far carried out 85 waves of missile and drone strikes with advanced weaponry targeting Israeli military facilities in the occupied territories, as well as US occupation bases and assets scattered across the West Asia region.

The Lebanese Hezbollah resistance movement and the Islamic Resistance in Iraq have also joined the front against the external aggressors, inflicting heavy blows on the enemy.

Hezbollah's operations have been primarily focused on Israeli military sites in the occupied territories. Its operations are both in response to the assassination of the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, and the relentless ceasefire violations by the Israeli regime over the past year.

Iraqi resistance groups have also been carrying out daily operations, primarily against American military assets in Iraq and other Arab countries.

Below is a list of operations carried out by the Iranian armed forces, as well as resistance movements in Lebanon and Iraq, against the US and the Zionist regime on March 28:

Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC):

The 85th wave of Operation True Promise 4, jointly carried out by IRGC aerospace and naval divisions, under the blessed code "Ya Rasul Allah" (O Messenger of Allah), as a tribute to the martyrs of the country's industrial workers and producers, used long-range and medium-range solid and liquid-fueled systems and attack drones to target several industries belonging to the Israeli-American enemy in the occupied territories and other locations.

During this extensive missile and drone operation, the enemy air force attempted to target our launch platforms by deploying fighter jets and drones. However, with the fire of the IRGC air defense, one American MQ9 strategic drone was shot down in the skies over Shiraz, and an American F16 fighter jet was also hit in the south of Fars province and was destroyed before landing at one of the airports in Saudi Arabia.

Iranian Army:

The electronic warfare and radar center of "Elta," from the Israeli military's aerospace complex in the port of Haifa, and the fuel storage centers of "Ben Gurion" airbase were targeted with a barrage of drones.

A "Lucas" drone of the US military was downed by the air defense fire of the Navy in the Bandar Abbas region. The number of drones downed by the integrated network of the Joint Air Defense Headquarters of the country has reached 135 now.

Hezbollah:

In defense of Lebanon and its people, the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted infrastructure belonging to the Israeli army in "HaKirayot" with a barrage of qualitative missiles.

Defending Lebanon and its people, the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted a gathering of soldiers and vehicles of the Israeli army in the Al-Malikiyah site with a rocket barrage.

In defense of Lebanon and its people, the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted the artillery position of the Israeli army in the "Dan" settlement in northern occupied Palestine with a swarm of attack drones.

In defense of Lebanon and its people, the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted a gathering of Israeli soldiers and their vehicles at the Al-Malikiyah site with a rocket barrage.

In defense of Lebanon and its people, the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted a gathering of Israeli army soldiers and vehicles in the "Metulla" site with a rocket barrage.

In defense of Lebanon and its people, the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted the "Ramot Naftali" barracks with a swarm of attack drones.

In defense of Lebanon and its people, the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted the "Stella Maris" base (a strategic base for maritime monitoring and surveillance on the northern coast level) with a qualitative missile.

In defense of Lebanon and its people, the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted a gathering of Israeli soldiers near the reservoir in the town of Deir Seryan with a rocket barrage.

In defense of Lebanon and its people, the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted gatherings of Israeli soldiers in the town of Al-Qantara with a rocket barrage.

After monitoring the movements of an Israeli force near Baydar al-Faqa'ani in the town of Taybeh as it advanced down towards the Litani River bed in the Baydar al-Nahr area, the Islamic Resistance fighters lured it into a tight fire ambush and targeted it with rocket weaponry, artillery shells, and attack drones. The ambush area turned into a kill zone, resulting in a large number of casualties in the ranks of the enemy.

In defense of Lebanon and its people, the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted the Israeli military's artillery position in Al-Zaoura with a rocket barrage.

In defense of Lebanon and its people, the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted the "Mishar" base (the main intelligence headquarters for the northern region) northeast of Safad city with a rocket barrage.

In defense of Lebanon and its people, and within the framework of the warning issued by the Islamic Resistance to a number of settlements in northern occupied Palestine, the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted the "Malkiya" settlement with a rocket barrage.

In defense of Lebanon and its people, and within the framework of the warning issued by the Islamic Resistance to a number of settlements in northern occupied Palestine, the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted the "Avivim" settlement with a rocket barrage.

In defense of Lebanon and its people, the fighters of the Islamic Resistance targeted a gathering of Israeli soldiers and vehicles near the pool of the town of Dibel with a rocket barrage.

In defense of Lebanon and its people, the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted a gathering of Israeli soldiers and their vehicles at the Wadi Al-Oyoun - Rashaf triangle with a rocket barrage.

In defense of Lebanon and its people, and after monitoring a force from the Israeli army that had positioned itself in a house in the town of Dibl, the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted it with an attack drone.

In defense of Lebanon and its people, the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted a Merkava tank in the town of Dibl with an attack drone.

In defense of Lebanon and its people, the Islamic Resistance fighters confronted a manned reconnaissance aircraft of the type RC12 in the skies of the Western Bekaa and forced it to retreat.

In defense of Lebanon and its people, the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted the "Ya'ara" barracks with a swarm of attack drones.

In defense of Lebanon and its people, the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted the headquarters of the Northern Region command of the Israeli army ("Dado" base) north of Safad city with a rocket barrage.

In defense of Lebanon and its people, and within the framework of the warning issued by the Islamic Resistance to a number of settlements in northern occupied Palestine, the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted the "Shlomi" settlement with a rocket barrage.

In defense of Lebanon and its people, the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted the communication and surveillance equipment at the maritime Naqoura site with a swarm of attack drones.

In defense of Lebanon and its people, the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted two Merkava tanks in the vicinity of the reservoir in the town of Al-Qantara with guided missiles.

In defense of Lebanon and its people, and after monitoring a force from the Israeli army that had positioned itself in a house in the town of Al-Bayyadah, the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted it with an attack drone.

In defense of Lebanon and its people, the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted a gathering of Israeli soldiers and vehicles in the town of Al-Bayada with artillery shells.

In defense of Lebanon and its people, after monitoring a force from the Israeli army positioned inside a house in the town of Al-Bayyadah, the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted it with an attack drone.

In defense of Lebanon and its people, the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted another "Merkava" tank near the water tank in the town of Al-Qantara with a guided missile.

In defense of Lebanon and its people, the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted a Hummer vehicle in the town of Al-Bayyada with an attack drone, achieving a direct hit.

In defense of Lebanon and its people, the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted the radar site in the town of Al-Bayyadah with an attack drone.

In defense of Lebanon and its people, the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted a Merkava tank in the town of Al-Bayyada with an attack drone.

In defense of Lebanon and its people, the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted a Merkava tank in the town of Al-Bayyadah with an attack drone.

The Islamic Resistance fighters targeted a gathering of Israeli soldiers and vehicles in the town of Al-Bayyada with a rocket barrage and also targeted the "Namira" armored personnel carrier.

In defense of Lebanon and its people, the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted a "Merkava" tank in the town of Al-Bayada with a guided missile.

In defense of Lebanon and its people, and after monitoring a force from the Israeli army positioned inside two houses west of the Al-Hazzan area in the town of Al-Qantara, the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted them with guided missiles.

In defense of Lebanon and its people, the Islamic Resistance fighters clashed with a force from the Israeli army on the western outskirts of the town of Chamaa with light and medium weapons, achieving direct hits.

In defense of Lebanon and its people, the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted a newly established artillery position of the Israeli army in the town of Arab Al-Louizeh near Ghajar with a rocket barrage and artillery shells, achieving confirmed hits.

In defense of Lebanon and its people, the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted the "Nesher" base southeast of the city of Haifa with a swarm of attack drones.

In defense of Lebanon and its people, the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted a gathering of Israeli soldiers and their vehicles in Baydar Al-Faqani in the town of Taybeh with a rocket barrage.

Yemeni military:

Carried out its first military operation with a barrage of ballistic missiles, which targeted sensitive military targets of the Israeli military in southern occupied Palestine.

Targeted a number of vital targets of the Israeli military in southern occupied Palestine using a volley of cruise missiles and drones.

Islamic Resistance in Iraq:

Targeted multiple assets of American and Israeli military occupation forces in Jordan using appropriate weapons.

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UAE's biggest aluminum facility suffers heavy damage in Iranian strikes

Iran Press TV

Saturday, 28 March 2026 6:23 PM

Emirates Global Aluminum (EGA) says its key production site in Abu Dhabi suffered significant damage following Iranian missile and drone strikes, with several employees injured.

Emirates Global Aluminum (EGA) says its key production site in Abu Dhabi has suffered significant damage following Iranian missile and drone strikes, with several employees injured.

In a statement released Saturday, EGA confirmed that its Al Taweelah facility, located in Khalifa Economic Zone, was hit during the Iranian retaliatory strikes.

The company reported multiple injuries among staff, though none were described as life-threatening.

Chief Executive Abdulnasser Bin Kalban said the company is prioritizing worker safety while assessing the extent of the damage.

The strikes came after the US-Israeli aggression against parts of Iran's industrial infrastructure. Iranian officials had warned the attacks would be met with a firm response to the criminal enemy.

Shipping routes have been severely affected due to restrictions around the Strait of Hormuz following the US-Israeli aggression.

EGA noted that its Al Taweelah smelter produced 1.6 million metric tons of aluminum in 2025, alongside 2.4 million tons of alumina from its nearby refinery.

The company added that it has existing stock both in transit and stored overseas, and is exploring alternative logistics routes, including shipments via the Omani port of Sohar.

The United States and Israel launched a large-scale and unprovoked war of aggression against Iran on February 28, assassinating Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei and several high-ranking military commanders despite indirect Tehran-Washington negotiations on Iran's peaceful nuclear program.

In response, Iranian Armed Forces immediately initiated powerful missile and drone operations against US interests across West Asia and Israeli positions in the occupied territories.

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Iran weighing withdrawal from NPT after US-Israel attacks on nuclear sites

Iran Press TV

Saturday, 28 March 2026 6:10 PM

Iran is reportedly considering its withdrawal from the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) after the United States and Israeli regime carried out attacks on the country's nuclear sites.

A number of institutions in Iran, including the Parliament, are urgently reviewing the issue of the country's withdrawal from the NPT, Tasnim news agency reported on Saturday.

It is becoming firmly established in Iran that there is no justification for remaining in the NPT, it added.

According to the NPT, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) must provide conditions for the protection and support of Iran's access to peaceful nuclear technology and its equipment, it noted.

However, it said, when IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi implicitly encourages the enemy to attack Iran's facilities, and the US and Israel carry out such attacks without any hindrance or condemnation from the IAEA, there remains no justification for Iran to stay in the NPT.

The report emphasized that withdrawal from the NPT does not mean moving towards nuclear weapons; rather, it is about "preventing the continuation of spying by the US and Israel under the guise of IAEA inspectors."

In a statement released on Friday, the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) confirmed that the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant had been struck by a projectile, marking the third attack on the facility.

The AEOI added that the projectile hit the plant earlier in that day, saying initial reports indicated that the incident caused no human, financial, or technical damage.

The US and Israel also targeted the Khondab heavy water complex in the central Iranian city of Arak on Friday for the second time after they attacked the complex during the 12-day war last June.

Also on Friday, they carried out a strike against a yellowcake production facility in the city of Ardakan in the central province of Yazd.

Iran has repeatedly emphasized that targeting peaceful nuclear facilities constituted a clear violation of international regulations and obligations regarding the immunity of such sites from military attacks.

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Iran's fierce response will accelerate collapse of Israeli army: Speaker

Iran Press TV

Saturday, 28 March 2026 5:33 PM

Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf says the country's extensive and devastating response to the Israeli regime's ongoing aggression will accelerate the collapse of the regime's military.

In a post on his X account on Saturday, Qalibaf cited a recent statement from Israeli army chief Eyal Zamir who reportedly warned two days earlier that the "IDF is going to collapse in on itself" because of an acute manpower shortage.

That comes as the Israeli regime has been overwhelmed by massive barrages of missile and drone attacks from Iran, Lebanon and most recently Yemen, in response to its joint aggression with the US against Iran which began in late February.

The Israeli army has also been called to fight in the occupied West Bank where increasing settler and military violence against Palestinians has triggered renewed clashes in the territory.

In his post, Qalibaf mentioned Zamir's remarks made in the presence of the Israeli regime's cabinet ministers which said, "I'm raising 10 red flags...the IDF will collapse", insisting that Israel's decision on Friday to attack two Iranian steel mills will fail to boost its declining morale.

"By escalating tensions and attacking Iran's industrial infrastructure, the criminal Zionist regime is attempting to ignore these warnings and restore the confidence of its corrupt cabinet and army," Qalibaf said.

"Instead, Iran's fierce response will accelerate this ongoing collapse."

Iran has said from the very beginning of the US-Israeli aggression that it has an eye-for-eye policy to deal with attacks on its economic and energy infrastructure.

Iranian authorities said on Friday after attacks on the two steel mills and one associated electricity station that they would consider major steel factories in the Israeli-occupied territories as well as Arab countries in the Persian Gulf, where the US has stakes, as legitimate targets.

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Over 230 children killed in US-Israeli attacks on Iran: Health Ministry

Iran Press TV

Saturday, 28 March 2026 5:27 PM

Iran's Health Ministry has said that more than 230 children have been killed and approximately 1,800 others have been injured in ongoing US-Israeli aggression on Iran.

In a statement released on Saturday, the ministry provided updated statistics on fatalities, injuries, and damage to healthcare infrastructure as of the 29th day of the war.

According to the ministry, the provinces of Tehran and Hormozgan have recorded the highest number of fatalities, adding that among the wounded, 4,163 are women.

The report further detailed that 1,731 children under the age of eight and 61 children under the age of two are among those injured.

The ministry added that 244 women, 214 children under the age of 18, and 17 children under the age of five are among those killed.

Significant damage to healthcare infrastructure has also been reported.

According to the ministry, 50 emergency bases, 41 medical treatment centers, and 199 health centers have been damaged during the attacks.

In addition, six hospitals have been evacuated, and 38 ambulances have sustained damage.

The report also noted that 24 healthcare workers on the front lines have been killed while responding to the crisis.

The US and Israel started the new round of aerial aggression on Iran on February 28, some eight months after they carried out unprovoked attacks on the country. The attacks led to the martyrdom of Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei and nearly 1,500 civilians, including women and children, as well as military commanders.

Iran began to swiftly retaliate by launching barrages of missiles and drone attacks on the Israeli-occupied territories, as well as on US bases in regional countries.

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IRGC strikes US-Israeli industrial sites in retaliation for infrastructure attacks

Iran Press TV

Saturday, 28 March 2026 3:21 PM

The IRGC announces a large-scale missile and drone operation targeting heavy industries belonging to the American-Israeli enemy in occupied territories and other locations in the region.

The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) has announced a large-scale missile and drone operation targeting heavy industries belonging to the American-Israeli enemy in occupied territories and other locations across the region.

In a statement, IRGC's Public Relations Department said the operation was a retaliation for recent attacks on Iranian non-military industries, as part of the 85th wave of Operation True Promise 4.

The IRGC described the strikes as a tribute to the resilience of the Iranian people and the nation's industrial workers.

According to the statement, IRGC Navy and Aerospace Force personnel carried out successive barrages of missile and drone attacks, destroying parts of several industrial facilities belonging to the aggressor American-Zionist enemy in occupied territories and elsewhere.

During the operation, the IRGC reported that enemy air forces attempted to target their launch platforms using fighter jets and drones. It added that the elite force's air defense units shot down an American MQ-9 unmanned strategic aircraft over Shiraz.

Additionally, an American F-16 fighter jet was struck in southern Fars Province and was destroyed before landing at an airfield in Saudi Arabia.

The IRGC stated that US Central Command had acknowledged the strike and the total damage to the aircraft.

The statement issued a direct warning to American leaders, saying, "We had warned the imprudent rulers of America that we would retaliate against attacks on industrial targets. This attack was only a warning. If industries are attacked again, our next response will be beyond your imagination."

On the 28th day since the start of the US-Israeli aggression against the country, parts of Iran's industrial infrastructure suffered damage. Iranian officials had warned the attacks would be met with a firm response to the criminal enemy.

The United States and Israel launched an unprovoked war of aggression against Iran on February 28, assassinating Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei and several high-ranking military commanders despite indirect Tehran-Washington negotiations on Iran's peaceful nuclear program.

In response, Iranian Armed Forces immediately initiated powerful missile and drone operations against US interests across West Asia and Israeli positions in the occupied territories.

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Pezeshkian warns of Israel's 'vicious' plan to expand Iran war across region

Iran Press TV

Saturday, 28 March 2026 3:11 PM

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has warned against the Israeli regime's "vicious" plans to expand the ongoing war with the Islamic Republic to countries across the region.

In a telephone conversation with Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Saturday, Pezeshkian said regional countries should remain cautious to ensure that their territory is not used by aggressors to attack other Muslim countries.

It is regrettable that the aggressors are using some Muslim countries' territory to carry out attacks against Iran, he added.

"Iran's defensive response to the origin of these attacks is natural while the Islamic Republic considers Muslim countries as its brothers and does not wish for even a single Muslim to be harmed," the president emphasized.

Pezeshkian noted that Muslim countries enjoy religious and human bonds and a vast capacity to confront common threats, particularly those arising from the Israeli regime.

He expressed appreciation for the Pakistani people's support and solidarity with Iran in the face of the US-Israel military aggression and hailed great efforts by some friendly and neighboring countries, including Pakistan, to stop the imposed war.

He slammed attacks on Iran's economic and energy infrastructure despite claims and promises by American officials, saying, "Definitely, such contradictory statements and actions have led to Iran's increased distrust toward the aggressor United States."

The US and Israel started a fresh round of unlawful military aggression on Iran on February 28, some eight months after they carried out unprovoked attacks on the country. The attacks led to the martyrdom of Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei and several military commanders.

Iran has carried out extensive retaliatory attacks on Israel and US with missiles and drones, hitting targets in the Israeli-occupied territories as well as US military assets in regional countries.

The Pakistan prime minister, for his part, reiterated his country's principled stance on condemning the US-Israel military aggression against Iran and strongly condemned the Israeli attacks on Iran's economic infrastructure in the cities of Ahvaz and Isfahan.

On Friday, the United States and the Israeli regime carried out separate attacks on Isfahan's Mobarakeh Steel Company and Khuzestan Steel Company -- two main Iranian steel companies in the central and southwestern provinces of Isfahan and Khuzestan.

One person was killed and two others injured in the attack on parts of the electricity facility of Isfahan's Mobarakeh Steel Company in the city of Mobarakeh in Isfahan.

Sharif also commended measures taken by Iran to ensure the safe passage of commercial vessels of some countries, including Pakistan, through the Strait of Hormuz, expressing hope that this process will continue.

Iran's ambassador and permanent representative to the UN office in Geneva Ali Bahreini said on Friday that the Islamic Republic has agreed to the safe passage of aid ships through the Strait of Hormuz.

He added that Tehran, in line with its longstanding principles of humanitarian law and in respect to the request from the United Nations, has made the decision to facilitate and further hasten the safe passage of vessels carrying humanitarian goods through the strategic waterway.

The Pakistani premier also emphasized that any dialogue between Tehran and Washington must take place based on trust and mutual respect which requires an end to military aggression and the killing of Iranian officials and civilians.

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Iranian Army drones hit Israeli electronic warfare, radar systems in Haifa

Iran Press TV

Saturday, 28 March 2026 1:40 PM

Iran's Army says it has targeted strategic centers in Israel's Haifa port and Ben Gurion Air Base with drones, as an unprovoked war of aggression by the United States and Israeli regime against the Islamic Republic enters its fifth week.

In a statement on Saturday, the Army said the strategic electronic warfare and radar centers in Haifa and the fuel centers of Ben Gurion Air Base were targeted by its combat drones.

The Army carried out "crushing" drone strikes on the strategic electronic warfare and radar center "Alta" affiliated with Israel's aerospace complex in Haifa and the fuel storage centers of Ben Gurion Air Base since Saturday morning, the statement said.

Alta Armaments Industries Company, a subsidiary of Israel's Aerospace Industries (IAI), is one of the most advanced and important Israeli centers in the field of electronic warfare, producing various types of phased array radars, early warning and air-based and satellite navigation and monitoring equipment.

The statement said that the damage to this center will have a direct impact on reducing the Israeli capability to intercept Iranian missiles and drones and Israel's electronic warfare support operation. It will also increase the ability of Iranian armed forces in long-range operations deep into the enemy's territory.

Located in the southeast of Tel Aviv, the fuel storage centers of Ben Gurion Airport, which have been repeatedly targeted by Iran's Army drones in recent days, are among the most important centers for supporting the US-Israeli joint air attacks against Iran, the statement continued.

Iran's attacks on these centers caused serious problems in refueling the intruding fighter jets.

Iran's Army announced on Friday that it has carried out drone strikes against a facility identified as Unit 6900, described as a key support and logistics hub of the Israeli military, and a site for the gathering of the regime's military forces in Ben Gurion Airport.

It added that the latest wave of drone attacks aimed to inflict damage on the specialized forces of the Israeli regime and disrupt its logistical facilities.

The US and Israel launched an unprovoked war of aggression against Iran on February 28, assassinating Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, along with several senior officials and military commanders, as well as hundreds of civilians.

Iran has also carried out extensive retaliatory attacks on Israeli and US assets throughout the region.

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Iran strikes depot of Ukrainian anti-drone systems in Dubai: Military official

Iran Press TV

Saturday, 28 March 2026 1:32 PM

An Iranian military official says the country has carried out coordinated attacks in Dubai targeting a Ukrainian air defense equipment depot supporting US forces.

Spokesperson of the Khatam al Anbiya Central Headquarters says Iran has carried out coordinated attacks against a Ukrainian air defense equipment depot in Dubai supporting US forces.

In a statement on Saturday, Lieutenant Colonel Ebrahim Zolfaqari said the operation was simultaneous with strikes on hideouts of American commanders and troops in Dubai, which resulted in heavy casualties.

The spokesperson added that an "air defense systems storage facility belonging to Ukraine," where 21 Ukrainian nationals were present, was struck and "destroyed" in a joint IRGC Aerospace and Naval Forces operation.

The official said there is no confirmed information about the fate of the Ukrainian personnel at the site, noting that they were "likely killed."

The United States and Israel launched a large-scale and unprovoked war of aggression against Iran on February 28, assassinating Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei and several high-ranking military commanders despite indirect Tehran-Washington negotiations on Iran's peaceful nuclear program.

In response, Iranian armed forces immediately initiated powerful missile and drone operations against US interests across West Asia and Israeli positions in the occupied territories.

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Iran censures US 'deception' as biggest obstacle to ending war

Iran Press TV

Saturday, 28 March 2026 1:23 PM

Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says apart from continued US-Israeli aggression against Iran, the biggest roadblock to ending the war is Washington's contradictory statements and its use of deception, which have only deepened Tehran's distrust and skepticism.

Araghchi made the remarks in a phone call with his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan on Saturday, where the two sides discussed the latest developments in the region as well as the consequences of the ongoing US-Israeli military aggression against Iran.

Araqghchi noted that continued military actions by the United States and Israel have significantly contributed to instability in the region.

He pointed out that inconsistent positions and "unreasonable demands" from Washington have deepened distrust, adding that such behavior has reinforced the sense of deception.

The Iranian foreign minister also acknowledged diplomatic efforts by Turkey and other regional actors aimed at de-escalation, stressing the importance of coordinated initiatives to bring an end to the conflict.

Fidan, for his part, reiterated Turkey's willingness to play a constructive mediating role.

He noted that Iran's distrust is "understandable," especially as Tehran was targeted twice during negotiation processes.

Both sides agreed to sustain diplomatic engagement and expand consultations with regional partners, signaling a continued push for political solutions despite heightened tensions.

On February 28, the United States and the Israeli regime launched an unprovoked war on Iran, assassinating then-Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei as well as several top military commanders.

Iran immediately began to retaliate against the aggression by launching barrages of missile and drone attacks on the Israeli-occupied territories as well as on the US bases in regional countries.

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Over 500 US troops targeted in Dubai strikes; heavy casualties expected: Iran military

Iran Press TV

Saturday, 28 March 2026 11:09 AM

The Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters says over 500 US troops were targeted in the Iranian Armed Forces' latest operations, which inflicted "very heavy losses" among them.

The spokesperson for the headquarters, Lieutenant-Colonel Ebrahim Zolfaqari, said on Saturday that the US forces had fled their regional bases due to "powerful assaults" and were hiding in two locations outside their conventional bases.

According to the statement, the first hideout in Dubai housed over 400 personnel, while the second contained more than 100.

Both sites were targeted by precision missiles and drones launched by the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Aerospace Force and Navy.

The spokesperson described the strikes as inflicting "very heavy losses" and stated that ambulances have been transporting American soldiers, including commanders, for hours.

The statement further warned US President Donald Trump and US military commanders that the region would become a "graveyard for American soldiers" and asserted that the only option is surrender.

'US support vessel targeted near Oman'

In a separate announcement, the spokesperson reported that on early Saturday, a support vessel belonging to the US military was targeted by Iranian armed forces at a significant distance from Oman's Port of Salalah.

The statement emphasized that Iran respects the national sovereignty of Oman, described as a brotherly and friendly nation.

The United States and Israel launched a large-scale and unprovoked war of aggression against Iran on February 28 by assassinating the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, and high-ranking military commanders, despite indirect Tehran-Washington negotiations on Iran's peaceful nuclear program.

Within the framework of their legitimate response, the Iranian armed forces immediately initiated powerful missile and drone operations against US interests across West Asia and Israeli positions in the occupied territories.

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Pezeshkian warns aggressors: Iran won't launch preemptive attacks, but will retaliate strongly

Iran Press TV

Saturday, 28 March 2026 10:52 AM

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has warned that Tehran will respond forcefully to any attacks targeting its infrastructure or economic centers, while reiterating that Iran does not initiate preemptive strikes.

In a post on X on Saturday, Pezeshkian said, "We have said many times that Iran doesn't carry out preemptive attacks, but we will retaliate strongly if our infrastructure or economic centers are targeted."

Addressing regional countries, he urged them not to allow the enemies to use their territory for assaults against Iran, saying, "If you want development and security, don't let our enemies run the war from your lands."

The US-Israeli aerial assaults on Friday targeted the central Iranian province of Isfahan's Mobarakeh Steel Company and the Khouzestan Steel Company in the country's southwest.

In addition, the regime struck the Khondab Nuclear Complex in the west-central Iranian city of Arak, as well as a yellowcake production facility in the city of Ardakan in the country's central areas.

Prior to the strikes, the regime had also targeted the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant in southern Iran.

In response, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi pledged that Iran will be exacting a "heavy price" for the Israeli regime's attacks on the Islamic Republic's civilian infrastructure.

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Iran agrees to safe passage of aid vessels through Strait of Hormuz

Iran Press TV

Saturday, 28 March 2026 10:12 AM

Iran's ambassador and permanent representative to the UN office in Geneva says the Islamic Republic has agreed to the safe passage of aid ships through the Strait of Hormuz.

Ali Bahreini stated on Friday that Tehran, in line with its longstanding principles of humanitarian law and in respect to the request from the United Nations, has made the decision to facilitate and further hasten the safe passage of vessels carrying humanitarian goods through the strategic waterway.

The senior diplomat highlighted that the step reflects Iran's continued commitment to supporting humanitarian efforts and ensuring that those in need have unimpeded access to essential aid.

He underlined that operational arrangements for the implementation of the measure will be finalized in due time and in coordination with the UN.

Iran remains staunchly committed to ensuring, maintaining and safeguarding the security and stability of the Strait of Hormuz for all non-hostile states, Bahreini concluded.

On March 23, the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs reiterated the country's commitment to freedom of navigation while stressing the necessity of respecting its sovereignty in the Strait of Hormuz.

"In exercising its inherent right to self-defense against the aggressor parties, the Islamic Republic of Iran has targeted US military bases and facilities in the region, and has implemented a series of measures to ensure that aggressors and their supporters do not misuse the Strait of Hormuz to advance their aggressive objectives," a statement at the time read.

It emphasized that, as a coastal state of the Strait of Hormuz, the Islamic Republic of Iran, in accordance with established principles and rules of international law, has prevented the passage of vessels belonging to or associated with aggressor parties and participants in their aggressions.

"At the same time, the Islamic Republic of Iran, in a responsible approach to prevent imposing additional risks on ships and seafarers in the Persian Gulf, the Strait of Hormuz, and the Sea of Oman, has taken a series of precautionary measures," the statement said.

The United States and Israel launched a large-scale and unprovoked war of aggression against Iran on February 28, assassinating Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei and several high-ranking military commanders despite indirect Tehran-Washington negotiations on Iran's peaceful nuclear program.

In response, Iranian Armed Forces immediately initiated powerful missile and drone operations against US interests across West Asia and Israeli positions in the occupied territories.

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Iran complains to UN: US-Israeli attack on fuel tanks blatant violation of international humanitarian law

Iran Press TV

Saturday, 28 March 2026 7:44 AM

Iran's Minister of Petroleum has condemned a deliberate US-Israeli attack on fuel storage tanks as a clear violation of international humanitarian law and multilateral environmental commitments.

In a letter to the United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Mohsen Paknejad argued that such attacks meet the criteria for an environmental crime, including "ecocide."

"The Israeli regime and the United States of America, in continuation of their hostile policies and military aggression, carried out attacks on March 7 and 18, 2026, against strategic oil reserves, storage facilities, and gas refineries of the Islamic Republic of Iran," the letter said.

He added that these attacks constitute a serious escalation, targeting Iran's energy security and economic stability, and have had extensive consequences for civilian infrastructure and essential services.

The letter emphasized that these actions have not only led to the destruction of parts of Iran's oil and gas infrastructure but have also resulted in catastrophic human and environmental consequences.

"The deliberate attack on fuel tanks is a clear violation of international humanitarian law and multilateral environmental commitments and meets the criteria for an environmental crime, including ecocide," the letter stated.

"Such actions give rise to the international responsibility of the Israeli regime and the United States of America as the perpetrators of these crimes and require full accountability before competent international authorities, including the obligation to provide full compensation for all material and moral damages," the minister noted.

The letter requested that the Secretary-General "condemn these illegal actions in the strongest and most explicit terms possible" and call on the international community to take immediate and effective measures to ensure accountability and prevent the recurrence of such egregious violations.

The United States and Israel launched a large-scale and unprovoked war of aggression against Iran on February 28 by assassinating the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, and high-ranking military commanders, despite indirect Tehran-Washington negotiations on Iran's peaceful nuclear program.

Within the framework of their legitimate response, the Iranian armed forces immediately initiated powerful missile and drone operations against US interests across West Asia and Israeli positions in the occupied territories.

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US-Israeli aggression on Iran: What happened on 28th day of the imposed war

Iran Press TV

Saturday, 28 March 2026 7:01 AM

By Press TV Website Staff

Twenty-eight days into the US-Israeli war on Iran, launched on February 28 with the assassination of the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, US-Israeli aggression continued to target Iran's civilian infrastructure.

On Friday, two major steel plants were targeted, adding to a bombing campaign that has primarily targeted civilian infrastructure and killed more than 1,900 Iranians.

US President Donald Trump "delayed planned attacks" on Iranian energy infrastructure by 10 days, until April 6, claiming peace talks are "going very well." But Tehran has rejected the American proposal as "one-sided and unfair," presenting five non-negotiable demands.

A Fox News poll shows 64 per cent of Americans disapprove of Trump's handling of the war.

Fuel prices are rising. Global markets are rattled. And the Strait of Hormuz, the world's most critical energy chokepoint, has been effectively shut to American vessels, with traffic down 97 per cent since the war on Iran began.

Iranian missiles and drones have struck strategic Israeli positions and US assets across the region. Iran's UN ambassador has formally protested the complicity of Persian Gulf states, including Saudi Arabia and the UAE, in providing land, airspace, and bases for American aggression against the Islamic Republic.

Below are the key developments on Day 28:

US-Israeli attacks on Iran

US-Israeli air strikes targeted Iran's strategic and largest steel plants in Khuzestan and Mobarakeh steel companies in Isfahan.

The Khondab Heavy Water Complex in Arak was targeted in two separate US-Israeli strikes, while the Yellowcake Production Plant in Ardakan, Yazd province, also came under attack. Preliminary assessments confirmed no radioactive material was released from nuclear-related facilities, with authorities assuring citizens there was no cause for concern.

An industrial unit in Kheirabad Industrial Park, Arak, was also hit by US-Israeli projectiles.

Iran launched retaliatory strikes in the Persian Gulf region and the occupied territories, issuing a direct warning to employees of American-linked and Israeli-allied industries to immediately evacuate their workplaces within a one-kilometre radius to avoid endangering their lives.

The US-Israeli bombing campaign on Iran has now claimed more than 1,900 Iranian lives since the war began on February 28.

Iran's retaliatory operations:

Iranian armed forces carried out retaliatory operations against the Israeli regime and the Persian Gulf states, including Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Jordan, in a direct response to the US-Israeli aggression and the complicity of regional states in hosting American military assets that are being used against Iran.

Iranian forces struck US bases in Kuwait with a dual missile-and-drone attack, according to an Iraqi media outlet, which reported that the bases "were rocked by explosions."

US-Israeli attacks in the region

US strikes on Iraq's Habbaniyah base killed between five and seven Iraqi soldiers and wounded 23.

Israeli forces continued the bombardment of Beirut's southern suburbs early Friday, with Lebanese media reporting fresh attacks on the area.

The Israeli military announced two soldiers killed in south Lebanon, where its troops have been attempting to occupy territory and seize villages and towns in recent days.

Israeli war minister Israel Katz vowed "no let-up" in attacks on Iran despite US claims of progress in "peace talks."

Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid accused the Netanyahu government of leading Israel into a "security disaster" by sending the army into a multi-front war without a clear strategy or sufficient troops. This week, the Israeli army chief Eyal Zamir issued a stark warning to the country's cabinet, saying that the Israeli army is on the brink of collapse.

Lebanon's Prime Minister Nawaf Salam warned the UN of the "risk of annexation" by Israel of Lebanese territory south of the Litani River.

Yemen's Ansarullah resistance movement said that they are prepared to join the war in support of Iran if the US and Israel escalate further, a Yemeni government official told CNN.

Talks, demands, and the UN

Trump delayed planned attacks on Iranian energy plants until April 6, saying peace talks are "going very well."

Iran has called the US proposal "one-sided and unfair," presenting five non-negotiable demands that underscore Tehran's refusal to surrender its sovereignty at the negotiating table.

German Foreign Minister Johan Wadephul claimed indirect contacts have been established between Washington and Tehran, describing the development as a positive sign.

The UN Security Council decided to hold closed-door consultations at Russia's request to discuss the attacks on Iran, according to Russian media.

Iran's Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations, in a letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the President of the Security Council, formally protested the UAE's action of placing its land and airspace at the disposal of US attacks against Iran, declaring that Tehran reserves its right to take necessary measures, including exercising the inherent right of self-defence.

Guterres expressed concern over the continuation of war and killings in the region, reaffirming that the principles of the UN are based on respecting national sovereignty and territorial integrity.

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas warned against escalation, stating that the world now faces two major wars, one in Ukraine and one in West Asia, and stressed that "we must move away from war, not escalate it further, because the consequences for everyone around the world are extremely severe."

IAEA chief Rafael Grossi stated that the Bushehr nuclear power plant remains active with significant amounts of nuclear material, cautioning that damage to the facility "could lead to a major radiological incident, affecting a vast area in Iran and beyond." The nuclear power plant was attacked in recent US-Israeli airstrikes.

Qatar's Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani, visited Washington, DC, to meet with US war minister Pete Hegseth to discuss cooperation and "regional defence strategies."

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IRGC: Scores of US soldiers slain as tactical vessels targeted in Persian Gulf

Iran Press TV

Saturday, 28 March 2026 6:09 AM

The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) has announced the targeting of six tactical vessels operated by the terrorist US military in the Persian Gulf waters, leaving a large number of American forces killed in the process.

"In continuation of the 84th wave of Operation True Promise 4, the IRGC naval units conducted a hybrid operation against US and Israeli terrorists deployed in al-Shoyoukh port as well as Dubai's coasts and port, hitting downhearted American troops and their tactical hardware precisely," the public relations department of the IRGC said in a statement on Friday.

The statement noted that six US landing craft utility (LCU) were struck in the operation, which was carried out using homegrown ballistic missiles, such as Qadr 380 cruise missiles.

"Given field reports, three of the combat vessels sank after the (retaliatory) strikes, whilst the rest are aflame," the IRGC further noted.

In the meantime, kamikaze drones were employed to launch operations against the gathering centers of the US drone unit personnel on the coasts and one of the hotels in Dubai.

"During the operation, a large number of American terrorists were killed, and tactical vessels sunk," the statement said.

The United States and Israel initiated a large-scale and unprovoked military campaign against Iran in the wake of the assassination of Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, along with several high-ranking military commanders and civilians on February 28.

The aggression has comprised a series of intensive strikes on both military installations and civilian facilities throughout Iran, leading to considerable loss of life and widespread damage to infrastructure.

In response, Iranian Armed Forces carried out retaliatory missile and drone strikes against US interests across West Asia and Israeli positions in the occupied territories.

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Qalibaf: Energy market 'numb' to US fake news to lower prices

Iran Press TV

Saturday, 28 March 2026 5:28 AM

Iran's Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf says the global energy market has become "numb" to attempts by US officials at price manipulation through fake news.

In a post on his X account on Friday, Qalibaf reacted to widespread fake news created by American officials aimed at pushing energy prices down.

"They've spammed so much fake news trying to push energy prices down that the market's just numb now. Keep going, nobody's buying it anymore," he said.

"The real prices will show up anyway. Powerful? Maybe. But Smart? Not even close," he further said.

Qalibaf noted that those behind the attempts "burned their fake news card way too early."

Iran has tightened its restrictions on transit via the Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf, which is responsible for a fifth of the global oil demand.

The move, which came in response to the February 28 US-Israeli aggression on Iran, caused global oil prices to reach nearly $120 per barrel by the weekend, almost double compared to before the aggression.

However, prices temporarily dropped by as much as 10% on March 23 after Donald Trump, the US president, withdrew from threatening to attack Iran's electricity sector, a move that could cause a major escalation in the confrontation and lead to further rises in the prices of energy and commodities in the world.

The United States and Israel launched a large-scale and unprovoked war of aggression against Iran on February 28 by assassinating the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei, and high-ranking military commanders, despite indirect Tehran-Washington negotiations on Iran's peaceful nuclear program.

Within the framework of their legitimate response, the Iranian armed forces immediately initiated powerful missile and drone operations against US interests across West Asia and Israeli positions in the occupied territories.

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Iranian Strike Wounds US Troops In Saudi Arabia As Houthis Enter War

By RFE/RL March 28, 2026

At least 12 US troops were wounded, two of them seriously, according to media reports, when Iran struck Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia with at least one missile and several drones, as Yemen's Houthi rebels launched their first missiles at Israel since the war began, threatening to broaden a conflict now in its fifth week.

The soldiers were inside a building at the base when it was struck, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal reported, citing unnamed officials. Several aerial refueling planes also suffered damage.

The Pentagon and US Central Command did not immediately comment.

Iran has kept up sustained retaliatory attacks on Persian Gulf nations it accuses of serving as a launchpad for US strikes, which began in a joint operation with Israel on February 28. Thirteen Americans have been killed since the conflict began -- seven in the Gulf and six in Iraq -- with more than 300 others wounded. The US military said 273 of those had already returned to duty.

The Saudi strike was part of a broader wave of Iranian attacks across the region. Authorities in Bahrain said they extinguished a fire at a targeted facility, while the United Arab Emirates (UAE) said its defense teams were engaging Iranian missiles and drones early on March 28.

Fires broke out in an Abu Dhabi industrial zone, injuring five people. Senior UAE official Yousef Al Otaiba wrote in The Wall Street Journal that a "simple cease-fire isn't enough," calling for a coordinated international effort to address Iran's nuclear capabilities, missiles, drones, and proxy forces, and said the UAE was prepared to join efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, through which roughly one-fifth of the world's crude oil and liquefied natural gas passes in peacetime.

Israel said it was striking targets across Tehran in what has become an almost nightly operation and earlier targeted a uranium-processing facility and a heavy water reactor in central Iran. Iranian missiles struck six sites in and around Tel Aviv on March 27, killing one person.

Trump Blasts NATO

As casualties mounted, US President Donald Trump used his appearance at a Saudi-sponsored investment forum in Miami on March 27 to deliver his sharpest broadside yet against NATO, whose members have refused to join the Iran campaign or help secure the Strait of Hormuz ahead of a cease-fire.

"NATO made a terrible mistake when they wouldn't send a small amount of military armament, when they wouldn't just even acknowledge what we were doing for the world and taking on Iran," Trump said. "They just weren't there."

Trump also appeared to threaten the alliance with scaled-back participation, saying, "Why would we be there for them if they're not there for us? We spend hundreds of billions of dollars a year on NATO, hundreds, protecting them, and we would have always been there for them, but now, based on their actions, I guess we don't have to be, do we?"

The remarks are likely to alarm European allies already rattled by Washington's posture toward the alliance. NATO's total military budget in 2025 stands at around $5.3 billion, with the United States contributing roughly $842 million -- a fraction of the Pentagon's overall budget of more than $882 billion for the current fiscal year.

Houthis Strike Israel

The Houthi entry into the conflict marked a potentially significant escalation. The Yemen-based, Iran-aligned group launched missiles at Israel on March 28 -- their first such attack since the war began -- with Israel saying it intercepted one.

The Houthis warned their operations would continue until what they called the "aggression" on all fronts had ended. The group had signaled a day earlier that they were prepared to act if strikes against Iran and its regional allies continued.

A US-designated terrorist organization, the Houthis' involvement risks prolonging a war that has already drawn in US forces, Gulf Arab states, and Israel across multiple fronts. Observers warn that a full Houthi entry into the conflict would send shockwaves through global energy markets given the group's ability to threaten shipping in the Bab al-Mandab Strait that and the Red Sea.

War Ends In 'Weeks, Not Months'

On the diplomatic front, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, speaking on the sidelines of a G7 meeting in France, said the United States had not yet received a formal response from Iran and suggested contacts had been indirect, but said Washington was "on or ahead of schedule" and expected to wrap up military operations in "weeks, not months."

He also pressed European and Asian nations that benefit from trade through the Strait of Hormuz to contribute to efforts to secure free passage.

Trump insisted Iran is "on the run" and that talks were ongoing. Special envoy Steve Witkoff said Washington had a "15-point deal on the table" awaiting a response from Tehran. Senior Iranian officials have denied that any negotiations are under way, though Iran said on March 25 that it was reviewing the US proposal and put forward five conditions for ending the conflict.

With reporting by RFE/RL's Radio Farda, RFE/RL Washington correspondent Alex Raufoglu in Paris, Reuters, and AFP

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/trump-nato-iran-war-casualties- saudi-rubio/33718562.html

Copyright (c) 2026. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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Israeli Military Says It Will Have Mostly Destroyed Iran's Arms Production Ability 'Within A Few Days'

28.3.2026

The Israeli military said Iran's weapons production capabilities will be largely destroyed "within a few days" and that it will take Tehran a "long time" to reconstitute them. Military spokesman Brigadier General Effie Defrin said the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) aim to "complete their attacks on all key components of the [Iranian] military industry" in the coming days. "This means that we will have destroyed most military production capabilities," he added. "It will take the regime a long time to rebuild them." The IDF claims to have struck some 90 percent of the key sites of the Iranian arms industry since the start of the US-Israeli war with Iran on February 28, according to the Times of Israel.

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/iran-protests-live-blog- trump-khamenei/33640284.html?lbis=447167

Copyright (c) 2026. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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20 Pakistani-Flagged Ships Allowed To Pass Through Strait Of Hormuz, Pakistani Foreign Minister Says

28.3.2026

Pakistan's Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said on March 28 that Iran had agreed to allow an additional 20 Pakistani-flagged ships to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, with two vessels permitted to transit daily.

The Strait of Hormuz accounts for around one-fifth of global oil shipments and the effective closure of it by Iranian forces has become a central issue of the conflict, which started with US-Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28.

Last weekend, US President Donald Trump said the United States would "obliterate" Iran's power plants if Tehran keeps blocking the key waterway after 48 hours.

He later extended the deadline to March 27 and then by another 10 days, as Washington awaited Iran's official response to its 15-point peace proposal, which included several key demands the United States had been pushing for prior to the war.

The Pakistani government has been acting as a mediator between Iran and the United States and has conveyed the US peace plan to Tehran. It also announced that it would host the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Egypt for talks on the matter on March 29-30.

In separate comments on March 26, Trump said that he believed Iran was seeking negotiations because of its "present" to the United States, which he said allowed 10 oil tankers to pass through the Strait of Hormuz.

Tehran has earlier suggested that ships from "non-hostile" nations would have clear passage through the Strait of Hormuz. However, even if some vessels are allowed through, the overall uncertainty has made it difficult to secure insurance, effectively preventing ships from using the waterway.

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/iran-protests-live-blog- trump-khamenei/33640284.html?lbis=447157

Copyright (c) 2026. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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Russia Evacuates 163 More Of Its Staff From Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant In Iran

28.3.2026

Rosatom, the Russian operator of the Bushehr nuclear power plant in western Iran, has evacuated 163 more of its staff, saying the situation at the facility continues to deteriorate.

On March 27, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said that Tehran had informed it of another strike that targeted the area near Bushehr. The attack made it the third such incident in the past 10 days.

While no damage to the operating reactor and no release of radiation were reported, the Russian Foreign Ministry called for "unequivocal and firm condemnation" of the attack near the power plant.

"We hope that... the Director General of the IAEA will be able to convey a simple message to the aggressors immediately and unequivocally: 'It is time for you to stop!'," Russia's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said in a statement.

The Russian-built Bushehr plant, on the Gulf coast, is Iran's sole nuclear power plant; it is fueled by uranium produced in Russia, not Iran, and is monitored by the IAEA. Russia has already evacuated some staff, but hundreds remain.

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/iran-protests-live-blog- trump-khamenei/33640284.html?lbis=447147

Copyright (c) 2026. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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Ukraine Denies Iranian Claim It Destroyed Anti-Drone Depot In Dubai

28.3.2026

Ukraine has flatly denied an Iranian claim that the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) destroyed a Ukrainian anti-drone weapons depot in Dubai, calling it disinformation.

"This is a lie. We officially refute this information," Foreign Ministry spokesman Heorhii Tykhyi told reporters on March 28, adding that the Islamic republic "frequently carries out such disinformation campaigns."

The IRGC's Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters -- Iran's military central command -- had claimed its aerospace and naval forces carried out a combined operation destroying the facility, which it said was supporting the US military. It also claimed 21 Ukrainian nationals were present at the site at the time. The United Arab Emirates and United States did not immediately comment.

The UAE has borne the brunt of Iran's retaliation in the Persian Gulf, with Emirati air defenses engaging nearly 2,200 drones and missiles since Tehran launched its campaign in response to the US-Israeli operation on February 28, according to local officials.

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/iran-protests-live-blog- trump-khamenei/33640284.html?lbis=447118

Copyright (c) 2026. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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Reports: Russia About To Deliver Drone Shipment To Iran

28.3.2026

European intelligence agencies have made an assessment that Russia "is in the final stages of preparing to supply drones to Iran for use in its war with the US and Israel," according to a report in The Guardian, citing an unnamed senior European official.

This follows a recent report by the Financial Times that Russia is completing a "multi-phase delivery of drones, medicine, and food" to Iran.

Iran has previously supplied thousands of Shahed-series kamikaze drones for Russia's war on Ukraine.

According to The Guardian, if this shipment reaches Iran, it "would mark the first evidence of lethal support since the start of the war."

US officials, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and others have said that Russia has shared intelligence with Iran since the beginning of the war, including satellite imagery and targeting data.

The Financial Times reported that the delivery of the drone shipment to Iran would "likely take place by the middle of this week."

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the reports of Russia sending drones to Iran were "fake news."

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/iran-protests-live-blog- trump-khamenei/33640284.html?lbis=447106

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Iran Reports Bushehr Nuclear Plant Hit For Third Time In 10 Days

28.3.2026

An Israeli air strike hit near Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant late on March 27 but caused no radiation leak or damage to the reactor, Iranian authorities said, the third such incident in 10 days.

Iran told the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that the facility was continuing to operate normally, the UN watchdog reported on X.

The Israeli military said earlier that it had struck a uranium processing plant and a heavy water reactor and in central Iran but did not mention Bushehr.

Bushehr was also a target of the Israeli military during the 12-day war in June 2025.

IAEA chief Rafael Grossi urged "maximum military restraint."

Grossi "again expresses deep concern about recent reports of military activity in the vicinity of a nuclear power plant, says it could cause major radiological incident if reactor were to be damaged...Grossi reiterates call for maximum military restraint to avoid risk of a nuclear accident," the IAEA said.

The Fars state news agency said a projectile hit the plant's compound just before midnight on March 27 and blamed the "American-Zionist enemy."

Fars said there were no immediate reports of injuries or damage to the Russia-designed facility.

Bushehr, Iran's only nuclear power station, is located some 760 kilometers south of Tehran on the Gulf.

With reporting by Reuters and dpa

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/iran-protests-live-blog- trump-khamenei/33640284.html?lbis=447064

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Trump Suggests US May Not Support NATO Amid Anger Over Refusal To Join Iran War

28.3.2026

US President Donald Trump again expressed his disdain for NATO, saying that "I guess we don't have to be there" for the alliance if needed following his complaints that it didn't support the US war with Iran, comments likely to send shockwaves through member nations.

"They just weren't there," he said on March 27 at an economic forum in Miami.

"We spend hundreds of billions of dollars a year on NATO, hundreds, protecting them, and we would have always been there for them, but now, based on their actions, I guess we don't have to be, do we?"

"Why would we be there for them if they're not there for us? They weren't there for us."

"That sounds like a breaking story? Yes, sir. Is that breaking news? I think we just have breaking news, but that's the fact. I've been saying that. Why would we be there for them if they're not there for us? They weren't there for us."

Trump said it was a "tremendous mistake" for NATO members to remain out of the Middle East conflict.

"It's going to make a lot of money for the United States, because we spend hundreds of billions of dollars a year on NATO. But now, based on their actions, I guess we don't have to."

NATO listed its military budget in 2025 at about $5.3 billion and said the United States contributes about 15.9 percent of it, or $842 million. However, the US government has said the Defense Department will spend more than $882 billion in the current fiscal year.

The comments are likely to raise concerns among US allies in the alliance and also among Democratic leaders in the United States. They may also worry some members of Trump's Republican Party, including members of Congress.

Trump has reacted angrily to NATO members' refusal to become involved in the US-Israeli war with Iran and their reluctance to help provide security to the Strait of Hormuz shipping lanes until a cease-fire is in place.

Trump, who has long questioned the viability of NATO, has often cast doubt on his willingness to support the alliance, saying he would not come to members aid if they didn't pay enough for their own defense.

Trump insisted that NATO members raise their military spending to 2 percent of GDP, a level pledged in 2014 to be met over the next decade.

At least 24 have met that requirement, although Trump has since suggested the threshold may have to rise to 5 percent of GDP, a level many member nations said would not be economically viable.

Only Poland comes close to 5 percent, although Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania have signaled they will raise spending to this level as well.

NATO was established by the United States and 11 other countries to counter Soviet aggression following World War II. It has grown to 32 members and now includes many nations formerly part of the Soviet Union or under its sphere of influence. The United States has been the dominant member of NATO since its inception.

Trump has previously claimed that other countries would not come to the defense of the United States, although the only time Article 5 has been invoked is when it was determined the United States was attacked on September 11, 2001.

Article 5 is one of the main pillars of the alliance's collective defense framework, setting that an armed attack against one member is considered an attack against all members.

Trump has also suggested using the US commitment to NATO as leverage in his trade war in his effort to target what he has labeled as unfair trade policies by European nations.

With reporting by Reuters

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/iran-protests-live-blog- trump-khamenei/33640284.html?lbis=447057

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Comment by Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on continuous strikes against peaceful nuclear facilities in Iran

28 March 2026 14:58

455-28-03-2026

The aggressors keep raising the stakes in their war in the Middle East - despite all related risks, including a threat of large-scale radioactive contamination. On March 27, the states attacking Iran carried out targeted strikes on the heavy-water production plant in Khondab and the yellow cake production plant in Ardakan. Almost immediately following the strikes, reports began to arrive about new attacks in the Bushehr NPP area.

These attacks deserve unequivocal and strong condemnation by the entire international community. Blatant violations of international law continue, and those responsible for such arbitrariness should be made aware of this.

The IAEA leadership must more clearly speak about the grave threat that Iran's opponents are trying to ignore or even deny. We hope that by promptly receiving objective information from the Iranian authorities about the developments on the ground, the IAEA Director General will be able to clearly and without delay convey to the aggressors the simple thought: "It's time for you to stop! You have already crossed the line, but you have an opportunity not to commit even greater atrocities, not to multiply the number of innocent victims and not to bring the tragedy to a global disaster dimension."

The dramatic situation is compounded by the fact that the states, which attack peaceful nuclear facilities in Iran, just negate the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, the IAEA verification tools, conventions concerning nuclear and physical safety, as well as the Agency's relevant standards. They do not take seriously thoroughly calibrated and internationally agreed decisions and can reject them at any moment for their selfish interests and geopolitical considerations.

We strongly condemn this destructive course. Those who are conducting it must stop immediately.



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Iran Attacks US Navy Support Ship in Port of Salalah in Oman - Military Command

Sputnik News

20260328

TEHRAN (Sputnik) - The Iranian armed forces attacked a US Navy support ship in the port of Salalah in Oman at a distance of more than 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) from the coast of the Islamic Republic, Ebrahim Zolfaghari, spokesman for the Khatam Al-Anbiya central headquarters of the Iranian military command, said on Saturday.

"Early this morning, on March 28, 2026, a support ship for the US aggressor army ... in the port of Salalah in the state of Oman became the target of an attack by the armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran," Zolfaghari was quoted by Iranian state-run broadcaster IRIB.

He also said that the number of US refueling aircraft destroyed in the attack on the US military base Prince Sultan in Saudi Arabia has increased to two.

Earlier in the day, Zolfaghari said that the Iranian armed forces had destroyed one tanker aircraft and damaged three more aircraft as a result of a strike on the US Prince Sultan military base.

The Iranian army said on Saturday that it had attacked an ELTA radar in the port of Haifa in northern Israel and fuel storage facilities at Ben Gurion airport with drones.

"Early this morning, the targets of the devastating strikes by the drones of the Islamic Republic of Iran's army were the strategic electronic warfare center and the ELTA radar of the Zionist regime's aerospace complex in the port of Haifa, as well as fuel storage facilities at the Ben Gurion airbase," the statement read, as quoted by the Iranian state-run broadcaster.

Iran has been striking Israeli territory and US military targets in the Middle East in response to a joint military operation launched by the United States and Israel on February 28. The first day of military action saw Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei killed and a girls' school in southern Iran bombed. Iran puts the death toll at over 1,300.

 Sputnik

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Countries Attacking Iran's Nuclear Facilities Undermine Non-Proliferation Treaty  Russian MFA Spox

Sputnik News

20260328

Countries attacking peaceful nuclear facilities in Iran are undermining the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) and the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) verification mechanisms, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

"The drama of the situation is aggravated by the fact that countries attacking peaceful nuclear facilities in Iran are effectively undermining the NPT, the IAEA's verification mechanisms, nuclear and physical security conventions, as well as the agency's relevant regulations," Zakharova said in a statement on the ministry's website.

"Carefully crafted and internationally agreed solutions are not taken seriously by these states and can be discarded at any moment in favor of their selfish interests and geopolitical considerations," the Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman added.

Russia hopes that the IAEA will convey to the aggressors the need to cease their atrocities in Iran, Zakharova said.

The attacks on the complex in Khondab, the factory in Ardakan, and the shelling near the Bushehr nuclear power plant deserve strong condemnation from the international community, Zakharova stated, commenting on the attacks on Iran's peaceful nuclear facilities.

"The aggressors continue to raise the stakes in their war in the Middle East, ignoring all associated risks, including the danger of widespread radioactive contamination," Zakharova said.

The International Atomic Energy Agency must speak more clearly about the seriousness of threats due to attacks on Iran's nuclear facilities, Maria Zakharova said.

"The leadership of the IAEA is obliged to speak more clearly about the seriousness of the threat that Iran's opponents are trying to ignore, or even deny," Zakharova said in a statement.

Russia hopes that the IAEA will convey to the aggressors the idea of the need to stop the atrocities in Iran, the spokeswoman added.

 Sputnik

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'We Have Another 3,554 Targets Left'  Trump on Iran

Sputnik News

20260328

US President Donald Trump said more strikes on Iran are planned, even as he claims "talks" are ongoing amid the continuing US-Israeli aggression against Iran.

Iranian officials have denied any talks with the US.

"We have another 3,554 targets left, and that'll be done very clean," Trump said at a forum in Miami.

He did not provide any specific data to confirm his words, without referring to either official Pentagon reports or information from the intelligence community.

 Sputnik

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Iranian Strike Hits US Air Base in Saudi Arabia, at Least 10 Troops Injured  Reports

Sputnik News

20260328

An Iranian missile struck the Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia, injuring at least 10 US troops, two seriously, and damaging several US refueling aircraft, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The attack also involved drones, officials told the paper, as the US-Israeli war of aggression against Iran continues.

More than 300 US troops have been injured after four weeks of fighting, US Central Command said, cited by the newspaper.

At least two KC-135 refueling aircraft were also significantly damaged, The New York Times reported.

 Sputnik

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Middle East war: UN initiatives support mediation, 'lifesaving' fertiliser shipments

28 March 2026 - Just hours after war broke out in the Middle East last month, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned the Security Council that the fighting risked "igniting a chain of events that no one can control in the most volatile region of the world."

The humanitarian fallout continues to deepen and is exacerbated by the number of deaths, injuries and damage to civilian infrastructure, and the severe impacts on the global economy are increasing.

While UN efforts to support affected civilians and de-escalate the conflict are ongoing, the Secretary-General has stressed the need to take immediate action to mitigate the consequences.

Wide-ranging impacts

The prolonged closure of the Strait of Hormuz to maritime trade "is choking the movement of oil, gas, and fertiliser at a critical moment in the global planting season," he said.

Tanker traffic has dropped by more than 90 per cent, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), which is threatening agricultural production and global food security.

"The crisis is causing the most significant global humanitarian supply chain disruptions since COVID-19 and the onset of the war in Ukraine," the UN aid coordination office OCHA added.

"Humanitarian supply lines across the Middle East are being severely disrupted, threatening the timely delivery of lifesaving food, medical items and emergency relief to millions."

With the conflict showing no signs of stopping, the Secretary-General this week announced two important initiatives: the appointment of an envoy to spearhead UN peace efforts and the establishment of a dedicated Task Force on the Strait of Hormuz.

Facilitating transit, averting crisis

The Task Force will work to ensure safe, orderly and reliable transit for humanitarian purposes through the critical maritime corridor.

It will be headed by Jorge Moreira da Silva, Executive Director of the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS), which provides infrastructure, procurement and project management services around the world.

Representatives from UN trade body UNCTAD, the International Maritime Organization (IMO), and the International Chamber of Commerce will also be on board.

"Our focus is to facilitate the trade of commercial fertilisers and the movement of related raw materials. We are standing by to support this lifesaving operation," Mr. Moreira da Silva said in a statement posted on X.

"It is urgent to prevent a massive humanitarian crisis in the Middle East and beyond including in Africa and Asia import-dependent on fertilizers."

Inspired by previous initiatives

The Task Force draws inspiration from other UN initiatives, including the Verification and Inspection Mechanism in Yemen, the former Black Sea Grain Initiative on exports from Ukraine, and the UN Special Mechanism for Gaza aid delivery outlined in Security Council resolution 2720 (2023).

"The mechanism's operationalization will be done in close consultation with relevant Member States with full respect for national sovereignty and established international legal frameworks," said UN Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric

"If successful, it would also create confidence among Member States on the diplomatic approach to the conflict and constitute a valuable step towards a wider political settlement," he added.

UN envoy appointed

The Secretary-General named veteran French diplomat Jean Arnault as his Personal Envoy to lead UN efforts on the Middle East conflict and its consequences.

He warned that the conflict was "out of control", reiterating his call on the United States and Israel to stop the war, and for Iran to stop attacking its neighbours.

"It is time to stop climbing the escalation ladder - and start climbing the diplomatic ladder, and return to full respect of international law," he said.

Mr. Arnault "will be doing everything possible" to support all efforts for mediation and peace, and will be in contact with all parties. He will examine how the conflict is impacting the region and civilians, both there and around the world, as well as consequences for the global economy.

The envoy has nearly 40 years of experience in international diplomacy, especially in the field of peaceful settlements and mediation, and has led UN missions in Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America. Most recently he served as the Secretary-General's Personal Envoy on Afghanistan and Regional Issues.

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HE GCCSG Receives Canadian Foreign Minister to Discuss Regional Developments and the Implications of Grave Regional Escalation

General Secretariat of the Gulf Cooperation Council

Mar 29, 2026

General Secretariat - Riyadh

His Excellency Mr Jasem Mohamed Albudaiwi, Secretary General of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), received Her Excellency Ms Anita Anand, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Canada, today, Sunday, March 29, 2026, at the General Secretariat's headquarters in Riyadh.

During the meeting, the two sides discussed the brutal Iranian aggressions targeting the GCC states and reviewed the implications of the dangerous escalation in the region, highlighting the direct threat it poses to regional and international security and stability.

His Excellency Mr Albudaiwi reaffirmed the GCC's strong condemnation of these aggressive attacks, which violate the sovereignty of Council states and represent a flagrant breach of all international laws and norms. He emphasised the necessity of an immediate cessation of all hostile activities and the need for Iran to comply with UN Security Council Resolution 2817, expressing his gratitude to Canada for its support of the resolution.

For her part, the Canadian Foreign Minister expressed Canada's full and unwavering support for the GCC states in confronting Iranian aggressions. She underscored the need to halt these attacks and for Iran to ensure the Strait of Hormuz remains open to regional and global supply chains.

Meanwhile, the meeting explored ways to enhance joint cooperation between the GCC and Canada through their Joint Action Plan. Additionally, they exchanged views on proposals to strengthen trade and investment relations between the Council states and Canada to serve mutual interests.

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HE GCCSG: GCC-Russia-Jordan Joint Ministerial Meeting Convenes Tomorrow to Discuss Implications of Brutal Iranian Aggressions and Grave Regional Developments

General Secretariat of the Gulf Cooperation Council

Mar 29, 2026

General Secretariat - Riyadh

His Excellency Mr Jasem Mohamed Albudaiwi, Secretary General of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), announced that the GCC-Russia-Jordan Joint Ministerial Meeting will be held tomorrow, Monday, March 30, 2026. The meeting will bring together Their Highnesses and Excellencies the Foreign Ministers of the GCC states and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, alongside His Excellency Mr Sergey Lavrov, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, via video conference.

His Excellency Mr Albudaiwi pointed out that this joint session with Jordan and Russia aims to discuss the implications of the brutal Iranian aggressions against the GCC states and Jordan, the dangerous developments in the region, and their negative repercussions that have impacted the entire world.

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The Kingdom of Morocco, under the leadership of His Majesty King Mohammed VI, continues its consistent policy of effective solidarity with Arab brothers, embodying a firm Royal position in support of Arab sovereignty and regional stability against the dangerous Iranian escalation, said the Minister of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccan Expatriates, MFA Nasser Bourita.

Morocco Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Sunday 29 March 2026

Speaking during the 165th Ordinary Session of the Ministerial Council of the League of Arab States, held on Sunday via videoconference, MFA Bourita recalled that Morocco, from the very outset of the crisis, was the first to express solidarity with its Arab brothers, in line with the High Royal Guidelines.

He also recalled that HM the King held direct talks with His brothers, leaders of Gulf states, during which the Sovereign "reaffirmed the Kingdom of Morocco's firm condemnation of the vile aggressions targeting the sovereignty of these brotherly States and the security of their territories, as well as His Majesty's full support to these countries in all legitimate measures that they deem appropriate to preserve their security and the peace of their citizens."

The Arab region is currently undergoing a delicate and extremely complex period, during which "it sustains unremitting assaults which have exceeded all limits, targeting innocent civilians and vital infrastructure such as airports, ports and energy plants, in flagrant violation of international law and established norms, and in an unprecedented assault on the right of the region's peoples to live in dignity and security," MFA Bourita added.

The minister pointed out that these attacks targeted Arab states that were not part of any conflict, warning that "if the ongoing aggressions are not contained, they could extend this conflict and transform it into a regional clash that threatens the stability of the entire region, and even world peace," emphasizing the considerable damage these attacks have caused to the regional and international economy.

"Where do these crises lead us? And how long will the Iranian regime threaten the region's security and stability in a campaign of aggression that has been ongoing for half a century?" MFA Bourita pondered, referring to the concerns expressed at the Arab level regarding this situation.

Against this reality, the minister affirmed that the historical responsibility falling on the Arab States requires facing these acts with firmness and determination, reiterating his call for Iran to conform to Security Council resolution 2817, and for the immediate and unconditional halting of all these aggressions, as well as "the development of a unified and firm Arab position against this hostile behavior."

He also called for supporting "the Arab States in all legitimate measures that they undertake to protect their territories" and for "taking immediate and firm measures to guarantee the security of regional airspace and maritime navigation in the region."

The Kingdom of Morocco, which closely follows the mediation proposals and initiatives that have recently emerged, reaffirms that serious dialogue, while enabling reason to prevail, remains the only course of action capable of reestablishing security and stability in the region, MFA Bourita pointed out. He announced that the Kingdom supports and appreciates all initiatives aimed at de-escalation, stemming the bloodshed of the conflict, and laying the foundations to guarantee that it does not occur in the future, regardless of circumstances, in order to preserve the right of sister Arab States and their peoples to live in peace, stability, and security.

He concluded that Morocco, under the enlightened leadership of His Majesty King Mohammed VI, may God assist Him, will remain steadfast in defending the Arab nation's supreme interests, as well as security and stability in the region, embodying a pioneering model of concrete solidarity and principled positions.

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Pakistan secures deal with Iran to send 20 ships through Strait of Hormuz

Iran Press TV

Sunday, 29 March 2026 5:19 AM

Iran has agreed to allow 20 Pakistani-flagged vessels to transit the Strait of Hormuz, in what Islamabad has called a meaningful step towards easing one of the worst energy crises in modern history.

Pakistan's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Muhammad Ishaq Dar announced the move on Saturday, posting on X that two ships would cross daily under the arrangement.

He described Iran's decision as "a harbinger of peace," which could help restore stability to a region on the edge, hailing it as a "welcome and constructive gesture."

During a phone conversation with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, on Saturday, Iran's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Abbas Araghchi, emphasized that Iran remains resolute in keeping the Strait of Hormuz closed to the adversaries and those aiding them in the aggression against the Islamic Republic.

He stated the insecurity affecting the strategic waterway is the direct result of Washington's and Tel Aviv's atrocities.

He, however, clarified that passage of vessels belonging to other countries through the Strait of Hormuz would continue to take place in coordination with the relevant Iranian authorities.

The US and Israel started a fresh round of aerial aggression on Iran on February 28, eight months after they carried out unprovoked attacks on the country.

The attacks led to the martyrdom of the Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei.

Iran immediately began to retaliate against the strikes by closing the Strait of Hormuz and launching barrages of missile and drone attacks on the Israeli-occupied territories as well as on US bases and interests in regional countries.

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US-Israeli aggression on Iran: What happened on 30th day of the imposed war

Iran Press TV

Sunday, 29 March 2026 11:47 PM

By Press TV Website Staff

Thirty days into the US-Israeli war against Iran, which began with the assassination of the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, on February 28, the military aggression has escalated across multiple fronts, primarily targeting Iran's civilian and industrial infrastructure.

Overnight and daytime strikes on Sunday struck Tehran, Isfahan, Karaj, Shahriar, Zanjan, Minab, Haftkel, Bandar Abbas, and other provinces, resulting in civilian casualties, including women and children, as well as infrastructure damage.

In response, Iran continued its powerful retaliatory operations, deploying missiles, drones, and precision strikes against US and Israeli positions across the Persian Gulf and the occupied territories, including military bases, industrial sites, and strategic assets.

Regional diplomatic and economic developments unfolded in parallel. Senior officials from Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Egypt convened in Islamabad to explore de-escalation measures between Tehran and Washington.

Iran approved the transit of Pakistan-flagged ships through the Strait of Hormuz, which was welcomed by the Pakistani government, including Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar.

Meanwhile, global protests against the war on Iran continued, including massive demonstrations across all 50 US states under the "No Kings" banner, opposing President Donald Trump and his US military aggression against Iran and domestic policies.

According to Axios, Iran's military remains operationally robust. The IRGC and supporting forces retain mobility, command, and retaliatory capacity, while strategic missile and drone reserves are conserved. Underground missile and naval infrastructure remains intact, and Iran continues to control the Strait of Hormuz, influencing global energy markets.

The following are the key developments from Day 30 of the imposed war:

US-Israeli attacks on Iran and resistance groups

The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) declared that American and Israeli-affiliated universities in West Asia will now be considered legitimate targets, warning staff, students, and nearby residents to maintain at least a one-kilometre distance for their safety.

Tehran gave Washington an ultimatum to condemn its bombings of Iranian academic institutions by Monday, March 30, or face additional strikes on US-linked universities across the West Asia region.

Explosions were heard overnight in north-east and west Tehran, with at least two major blasts reported around 6:53 am, targeting industrial and civilian sites.

Multiple Iranian cities and provinces came under US-Israeli attacks, including Tehran, Isfahan, Karaj, Shahriar, Zanjan, Minab, Haftkel, and others.

In Bandar Abbas city, America and Israel attacked Bandarpol, killing at least five civilians and injuring four others.

A US-Israeli strike targeted a workshop in Shahriar, killing at least two workers and injuring four others.

In northern Gilan province, a US-Israeli airstrike hit a residential building in the village of Osmawandan, killing one civilian and wounding five others.

Several locations in Tehran were attacked by the US and Israel, including Tehran-Sar, Shahriar, Sadr Bridge, Parchin, Chitgar, Mehrabad Airport, Saadat Abad, Ekbatan, Afsariyeh, Masoudieh, and Kouhak.

The Al Arabi news network office in Tehran was struck by US- Israeli missiles, causing structural damage and interrupting broadcasts.

US airstrikes targeted Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF) sites in Mosul and Tuz Khurmatu (Salah ad-Din province) in Iraq.

Powerful explosions shook the Rashidieh district in Mosul amid reports of unconfirmed US strikes on Hashd al-Shaabi positions.

Iran's retaliatory strikes

Iran launched fresh rounds of retaliatory attacks across the region, targeting US-linked military, industrial, and intelligence assets.

The IRGC launched a multi-stage missile and drone operation targeting US and Israeli positions across the region, including bases in Victoria, Arifjan, Al-Kharj, Tel Aviv, Erbil, and the Fifth Fleet in Al Dhafra. Visual evidence confirmed damage to US military aircraft and infrastructure.

IRGC announced that a $20,000 Shahed-136 drone damaged a $700 millionAirborne Early Warning and Central System (AWACS) surveillance aircraft in a US-run military base in Saudi Arabia.

Iran's air defence forces shot down yet another MQ-9 drone in the eastern vicinity of the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran's retaliatory attack hit Emirates Global Aluminium, inflicting significant damage on one of its sites in Abu Dhabi.

Aluminium Bahrain, one of the world's largest aluminium producers, also suffered significant damage in an Iranian retaliatory strike.

In a statement, the IRGC confirmed both sites were "industries affiliated with and connected to the US military and aerospace sectors in the region".

A chemical plant in southern Israel was struck by an Iranian missile in a retaliatory attack following US and Israeli strikes on Iranian nuclear sites and industrial facilities.

The Iranian Army announced that it carried out drone strikesagainst logistics depots, support equipment storage facilities, and accommodation sites used by US troops at al-Azraq Air Base in eastern Jordan.

Axis of Resistance operations

Hezbollah fired rockets toward Galilee and southern Haifa, escalating operations throughout the day, and struck both the Regavim military base (Golani Brigade training area) and the Ein Shemer military air base near the Lebanese border with advanced missiles.

The group also used explosive drones against the Biriya base near Safad, engaged an Israeli military helicopter over AlAdisa, forcing it to withdraw, and artillery units hit Israeli armoured forces attempting recovery operations in Deir Seryan, southern Lebanon.

Regional diplomatic and military developments

Pakistan's foreign minister said Iran approved transit for 20 Pakistanflagged ships through the Strait of Hormuz, averaging two vessels per day.

Senior officials from regional countries are participating in a diplomatic meeting that opened in Islamabad on Sunday, convening foreign ministers and senior diplomats from nations including Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Egypt to explore ways to reduce tensions and encourage deescalation in the USIsrael military aggression on Iran.

The US warship USS Tripoli entered the Persian Gulf region, adding to the military presence amid the ongoing war of aggression against Iran.

In Jordan, hundreds of Israelis were stranded at Aqaba airport after substitute flights from Ben Gurion were cancelled following Iranian missile activity.

Qatar and Ukraine signed a military agreement to share expertise on countering missile and drone threats while regional tensions persist.

US protests and global opposition to war

Millions of people across all 50 US states participated in more than 3,300 coordinated demonstrations under the "No Kings" banner, protesting US war against Iran and other policies of the Trump administration. Organisers described it as the largest coordinated protest in US history.

Western and strategic media analysis

The Wall Street Journal reported that Israel is rationing advanced missile interceptors, including upgraded David's Sling systems, due to inconsistent performance against larger threats.

The Washington Post, citing US officials, said the Pentagon is preparing for possible ground operations in Iran, including plans such as seizing Khark Island or striking coastal areas near the Strait of Hormuz, potentially lasting up to two months.

Persian Gulf Arab states reportedly warned Washington they might pull tens of billions of dollars in investments if the war continues, causing concern in US financial circles.

Some Israeli analysts characterised the US-Israeli war on Iran as serving the regime's strategic objectives and not always aligning with broader US interests.

The Hanzala cyber group said it accessed private communications of former Israeli war minister Yoav Galant, revealing locations of 11 secret military bases that Iran has said it will target with precision attacks.

Iran's current military capabilities (Axios Summary)

Axios reported that Iran's ground forces, including the IRGC with over 150,000 personnel supported by Basij and other army units, have maintained operational command, mobility, and retaliatory capacity despite losses.

The reduction in missile and drone strikes is seen as strategic conservation rather than depletion, and Iran continues to control the Strait of Hormuz, exerting significant influence over global oil and gas markets.

The country's underground missile and naval infrastructure remain intact, bolstering longterm defensive readiness.

Economic impact

Fuel prices in the US, especially for diesel and jet fuel, have nearly doubled, a development directly linked to disruptions in oil exports and strategic conditions in the Strait of Hormuz.

The Aspides, a key naval mission based in Greece, stated that all shipping companies with vessels in the region seeking to sail in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden must exercise particular caution.

It added that ships with connections to the Israeli regime or the United States should avoid passage through the waterway.

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IRGC: Painful attacks on US-Israeli industrial targets to continue

Iran Press TV

Sunday, 29 March 2026 8:57 PM

A senior Iranian military commander has stated that the Islamic Republic's retaliatory operations against the American-Israeli enemy are underway and intensifying following repeated aggressions on Iranian infrastructure.

In a statement on Sunday night, Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Aerospace Force, Brigadier General Seyyed Majid Mousavi, affirmed that the response to the enemy's attacks on Iran's strategic sites is being delivered through precise strikes on industries linked to the US and the Israeli regime across the region.

"Up to this moment: The chemical industries of the occupied territories, a refinery, two steel complexes, two aluminum super complexes, (were attacked) and these painful attacks will continue unless we see the pain in your eyes," the senior IRGC commander stated.

The remarks come as the Islamic Republic continues its legitimate and proportionate defense against the ongoing US-Israeli war of aggression, which has targeted Iranian industrial centers, steel facilities, and civilian-linked infrastructure in clear violation of international law.

The aggressors, who initiated the campaign of destruction against Iran's production capabilities, are now witnessing the consequences of their gross miscalculation.

Iranian forces have demonstrated precision and determination in striking economic and strategic assets that sustain the enemy's war machine, sending a clear message that any further attacks on Iranian soil will be met with even stronger responses.

The IRGC Aerospace Force commander's statement serves as both an update on ongoing operations and a stern warning to all entities collaborating with the American-Zionist axis. The message is that the Islamic Republic of Iran will not remain passive in the face of lawlessness and US and Israeli crimes against its people and infrastructure.

Iranian armed forces have been carrying out these retaliatory attacks since Washington and Tel Aviv launched their illegal, unprovoked war against the Islamic Republic on February 28.

In the last 29 days, Iran has delivered a series of devastating strikes on enemy targets, effectively paralyzing the US and air defense systems across the region.

In a report on Saturday, The Wall Street Journal revealed that Arab Persian Gulf nationsincluding the UAE, Qatar, and Bahrainare seeking additional air defense support amid Iran's relentless retaliatory strikes on US military bases stationed on their soil.

Meanwhile, the report highlighted a global shortage of interceptor systems, noting that defense stockpiles are facing significant strain as the demand for advanced missile defense outpaces supply.

Israel has also begun rationing its most advanced missile interceptors to prevent a total collapse of its defense stockpiles, the report said.

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True Promise 4: Iran and resistance axis ops. against US-Israeli assets on Mar. 29

Iran Press TV

Sunday, 29 March 2026 8:49 PM

By Press TV Website Staff

Iranian armed forces and resistance groups across the region continue to carry out retaliatory military operations against the United States and the Israeli regime.

On Sunday, March 29, 2027, the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) and the Iranian Army conducted multiple operations as part of Operation True Promise 4, which was launched immediately after the US-Israeli coalition carried out an unprovoked act of aggression against the Islamic Republic of Iran on February 28.

Iranian armed forces have so far carried out 86 waves of missile and drone strikes with advanced weaponry targeting Israeli military facilities in the occupied territories, as well as US occupation bases and assets scattered across the West Asia region.

The Lebanese Hezbollah resistance movement and the Islamic Resistance in Iraq have also joined the front against the external aggressors, inflicting heavy blows on the enemy.

Hezbollah's operations have been primarily focused on Israeli military sites in the occupied territories. Its operations are both in response to the assassination of the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, and the relentless ceasefire violations by the Israeli regime over the past year.

Iraqi resistance groups have also been carrying out daily operations, primarily against American military assets in Iraq and other Arab countries.

Below is a list of operations carried out by the Iranian armed forces, as well as resistance movements in Lebanon and Iraq, against the US and the Zionist regime on March 29:

Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC):

In response to the hostile actions of the US military, and following the destruction of refueling aircraft at Al-Kharj base, in a joint missile and drone operation by the IRGC Aerospace Force, at least one E-3 aircraft, known as AWACS, with airborne identification, command, and control capabilities, was fully destroyed at Al-Kharj base in Saudi Arabia, and serious damage was inflicted on other nearby aircraft.

The 86th wave of Operation True Promise 4, dedicated to the journalist martyrs Hajj Ali Shoeib, Mohammed, and Fatima Ftouni, with the code name "O God of the Worlds," the Armenian and Christian martyrs of the 8-year Sacred Defense, and the Ramadan War, targeted American and Israeli targets across the region.

In the first phase of this operation, air and drone operation infrastructures and weapons depots at the US bases of Victoria, Arifjan, and Al-Kharj were targeted by missiles and drones.

In the next phase, the hideouts of the terrorist forces of the US Army, the Israeli regime, and the Komala terrorist party in various areas, including "Arad", the Naqab, "Tel Aviv", Erbil, the Fifth Fleet, and Al-Dhafra, were precisely struck.

Iranian Army:

The equipment depot and camp of the US occupation forces at the Al-Azraq base in Jordan were targeted by a barrage of drones.

An "MQ9" drone of the US-Zionist enemy was hit and destroyed in the east of the Strait of Hormuz, following the interception by the Army Air Defense Force system. With it, the number of drones destroyed by the integrated network of the country's Joint Air Defense Headquarters has reached 138.

Hezbollah:

In defense of Lebanon and its people, and in response to the enemy's persistence in bombing civilians, displacing people, and demolishing homes, the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted the "Ein Shemer" base (a missile air defense base), which is 75 km away from the Lebanese-Palestinian border, with a barrage of qualitative missiles.

In defense of Lebanon and its people, the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted the "Birya" base (the main base for air defense and missile defense belonging to the Northern Command) north of the occupied city of Safad with a swarm of attack drones.

In defense of Lebanon and its people, the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted an enemy helicopter in the skies of the border town of Odeissah with an air defense missile and forced it to withdraw.

In defense of Lebanon and its people, the fighters of the Islamic Resistance targeted a gathering of Israeli soldiers and their vehicles at the Al-Malikiyah site with a rocket barrage.

In defense of Lebanon and its people, the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted a gathering of Israeli soldiers and their vehicles at the "Al-Malikiyah" site with a rocket barrage.

In defense of Lebanon and its people, the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted a gathering of Israeli soldiers and their vehicles at the "Al-Malikiyah" site for the second time with a rocket barrage.

In defense of Lebanon and its people, the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted the "Mahvah Alon" base, southwest of the occupied city of Safad, with a rocket barrage.

In defense of Lebanon and its people, the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted a gathering of Israeli soldiers and their vehicles at the "Al-Malikiyah" site for the third time with a rocket barrage.

In defense of Lebanon and its people, and within the framework of the warning issued by the Islamic Resistance to a number of settlements in northern occupied Palestine, the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted the "Metulla" settlement with a rocket barrage.

In defense of Lebanon and its people, and within the framework of the warning issued by the Islamic Resistance to a number of settlements in northern occupied Palestine, the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted the "Shtula" settlement with a rocket barrage.

In defense of Lebanon and its people, the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted the Al-Ghajar site with a rocket barrage.

In defense of Lebanon and its people, the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted the "Rawia" base in the occupied Syrian Golan with a swarm of attack drones.

In defense of Lebanon and its people, the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted a "Merkava" tank in Khillat al-Jawwar on the outskirts of the town of Beit Lif with a guided missile.

In defense of Lebanon and its people, and within the framework of the warning issued by the Islamic Resistance to a number of settlements in northern occupied Palestine, the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted the "Metulla" with a rocket barrage.

In defense of Lebanon and its people, and within the framework of the warning issued by the Islamic Resistance to a number of settlements in occupied northern Palestine, the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted the "Shtula" settlement with a rocket barrage.

In defense of Lebanon and its people, the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted two "Merkava" tanks in the town of Al-Bayyada with guided missiles, achieving direct hits.

In defense of Lebanon and its people, the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted another Merkava tank in the town of Al-Bayyadah with an attack drone.

In defense of Lebanon and its people, the Islamic Resistance fighters clashed with a force from the Israeli army on the eastern outskirts of the town of Shama' at point-blank range using light and medium weapons. A Merkava tank was targeted with direct weapons and tandem shells and was seen burning.

A force from the Israeli army attempted to infiltrate into the Al-Friz area in the town of Ainata from the direction of the border town of Aitaroun. Upon its arrival at a pre-prepared ambush point in the Ghdamatha area, the fighters of the Islamic Resistance detonated two explosive devices on them and their vehicles, then engaged them with light and medium weapons and direct guided missiles. Two Merkava tanks were also targeted with two attack drones, achieving direct hits.

In defense of Lebanon and its people, the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted infrastructure belonging to the Israeli army in the "Kfar Vradim" settlement with a rocket barrage.

In defense of Lebanon and its people, the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted a gathering of Israeli soldiers and their vehicles in Khillet Al-Hajjah in the border town of Aitaroun with a rocket barrage.

In defense of Lebanon and its people, the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted a gathering of Israeli soldiers and their vehicles on Ghadmatha Height in the town of Ainata with a rocket barrage.

In defense of Lebanon and its people, the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted a gathering of Israeli soldiers in the town of Alma Al-Shaab with a swarm of attack drones.

In defense of Lebanon and its people, the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted a Merkava tank at Ku' al-Qusayrat in the town of Al-Bayyadah with a guided missile.

In defense of Lebanon and its people, the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted another "Merkava" tank in the town of Deir Seryan with a guided missile

In defense of Lebanon and its people, the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted a gathering of Israeli soldiers in the town of Al-Bayyada with artillery shells

In defense of Lebanon and its people, and within the framework of the warning issued by the Islamic Resistance to a number of settlements in northern occupied Palestine, the fighters of the Islamic Resistance targeted the "Malkia", "Yiftah", and "Avivim" settlements with rocket barrages.

In defense of Lebanon and its people, the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted two more "Merkava" tanks in the vicinity of the town of Beit Lif with guided missiles.

In defense of Lebanon and its people, Islamic Resistance fighters engaged with a force from the Israeli army with light and medium weapons at point-blank range in the town of Shama, following which helicopters intervened to evacuate the casualties.

In defense of Lebanon and its people, the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted a gathering of Israeli soldiers in the town of Deir Seryan with a rocket barrage.

In defense of Lebanon and its people, the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted a newly established artillery position of the Israeli army in the town of Arab al-Louiza with a swarm of attack drones.

In defense of Lebanon and its people, the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted a gathering of Israeli soldiers in the Al-Khanouq area in the border town of Aitaroun with a rocket barrage.

In defense of Lebanon and its people, the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted a gathering of Israeli soldiers at the "Al-Malikiyah" site with a rocket barrage

In defense of Lebanon and its people, the Islamic Resistance fighters confronted an Israeli military warplane in the skies of the city of Nabatiyeh with a surface-to-air missile.

In defense of Lebanon and its people, the Islamic Resistance fighters shot down an armed attack drone belonging to the Israeli army in the skies over the town of Mansouri with appropriate weapons.

In defense of Lebanon and its people, the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted a gathering of Israeli soldiers in the "Yiron" settlement with a rocket barrage.

In defense of Lebanon and its people, the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted the "Keila" barracks in the occupied Syrian Golan with a rocket barrage

In defense of Lebanon and its people, the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted a gathering of Israeli soldiers in Sahel Al-Shaqqa in the border town of Aitaroun with a rocket barrage.

In defense of Lebanon and its people, the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted the Hadab Yaroun site with a rocket barrage.

In defense of Lebanon and its people, the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted a Humvee vehicle and a D9 bulldozer east of the Khiam detention center with two attack drones.

In defense of Lebanon and its people, the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted an enemy helicopter in the skies of the border town of Naqoura with an anti-aircraft missile, forcing it to withdraw.

In defense of Lebanon and its people, the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted a "Merkava" tank in Tallet Al-Sal'a in the town of Al-Qantara with an attack.

In defense of Lebanon and its people, the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted another "Merkava" tank in the square of the town of Al-Qantara with an attack drone.

In defense of Lebanon and its people, the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted a force from the Israeli army, consisting of 15 soldiers, after monitoring them inside a house in the border town of Houla with a guided missile and artillery shells.

In defense of Lebanon and its people, and after monitoring a force from the Israeli army positioning itself inside a house on the outskirts of the town of Beit Lif, the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted it with an attack drone, achieving direct hits.

In defense of Lebanon and its people, the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted another "Merkava" tank in the town of Al-Qawzah with a guided missile.

In defense of Lebanon and its people, and within the framework of the warning issued by the Islamic Resistance to a number of settlements in northern occupied Palestine, the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted the "Nahariya" settlement with a rocket barrage.

In defense of Lebanon and its people, the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted gatherings of Israeli soldiers and their vehicles in the town of Deir Seryan with rocket barrages.

In defense of Lebanon and its people, the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted gatherings of Israeli soldiers and their vehicles in the town of Deir Seryan with rocket barrages.

In defense of Lebanon and its people, the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted a gathering of Israeli soldiers and their vehicles at the Al-Malikiyah site with a rocket barrage.

In defense of Lebanon and its people, the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted a gathering of Israeli soldiers and their vehicles in the town of Al-Qantara with a rocket barrage.

In defense of Lebanon and its people, the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted a gathering of Israeli soldiers in the town of Al-Qantara with artillery shells

In defense of Lebanon and its people, the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted infrastructure belonging to the Israeli army in the "Katsrin" settlement in the occupied Syrian Golan with a rocket barrage.

In defense of Lebanon and its people, the Islamic Resistance fighters carried out a raid targeting an Israeli force positioned near the Husseiniya of the border town of Maroun al-Ras. They engaged them with light and medium weapons, sniper rifles, and direct rocket-propelled grenades, which destroyed another Merkava tank.

In defense of Lebanon and its people, the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted a gathering of soldiers near the reservoir of the town of Al-Qantara with artillery shells.

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US could have saved Tomahawks if it hadn't hit Minab School, FM spox says amid shortage

Iran Press TV

Sunday, 29 March 2026 7:28 PM

Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said Sunday that the United States, reportedly running low on Tomahawk missiles, could have saved two of them if it had not attacked an elementary school in Minab.

Baghaei made the remarks in a post on X, reacting to US media reports that Washington is using Tomahawk missiles in the Iran war faster than it can replenish its stockpile

Two sources familiar with the matter told CBS News that the US has so far used hundreds of Tomahawk cruise missiles against Iran, several times more than the number procured for the military each year.

In his post, Baghaei said, "If they [the US] had saved the two missiles they fired at Shajareh Tayyebeh school in Minab on February 28, they could have proudly boasted today of two extra Tomahawks in their inventory to drop on another school, a university, a hospital or a cultural-historical site."

On Friday, the UN Human Rights Council held an emergency session to universally condemn the deadly US missile strike on the Shajare Tayyebe Elementary school on February 28, demanding immediate accountability for the massacre of over 170 students and teachers.

The urgent debate was convened in Geneva at the request of the Islamic Republic of Iran, China, and Cuba.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi delivered a virtual statement to the council, noting the "blatantly unjustified and brutal" aggression began while Tehran and Washington were engaging in a diplomatic process.

"Among the most harrowing manifestations of this aggression," Araghchi maintained, was the "calculated, phased assault on Shajare Tayyebe Elementary school."

He added that the targeting of civilian infrastructure is intentional, noting that over 600 schools have been damaged and more than 1,000 students and teachers killed or wounded in recent weeks.

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Iranian missile strike hits chemical factory in Israeli industrial zone

Iran Press TV

Sunday, 29 March 2026 7:01 PM

A chemical plant in southern Israel was struck by an Iranian missile on Sunday in a retaliatory attack following US and Israeli strikes on Iranian nuclear sites and industrial facilities.

Media reports indicate that the Ne'ot Hovav (also referred to as Ramat Hovav or Neot Hovav) industrial zone, located approximately 9-13 km south of Beersheba, was hit.

The strike caused a fire at the site, which houses multiple chemical manufacturing and industrial plants, including the ADAMA (Makhteshim) pesticides and crop protection facility.

Israeli emergency services reported one settler was wounded in the strike.

The occupying authorities asked settlers in the area to stay indoors and as the plant contains dangerous materials.

In recent days, the US and Israel have increasingly targeted Iranian nuclear sites and plants, industrial complexes, universities and civilian infrastructure across various parts of the country.

The United States and the Israeli regime launched the unprovoked war on February 28, while negotiations were still ongoing between Tehran and Washington. Iran has responded by attacking US and Israeli assets across the region.

In a report on Saturday, The Wall Street Journal revealed that Arab Persian Gulf nationsincluding the UAE, Qatar, and Bahrainare seeking additional air defense support amid Iran's relentless retaliatory strikes on US military bases stationed on their soil.

Israel has also begun rationing its most advanced missile interceptors to prevent a total collapse of its defense stockpiles, the report said.

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$700 million US E3 aircraft destroyed by $20,000 Shahed 136 drone: IRGC

Iran Press TV

Sunday, 29 March 2026 6:34 PM

The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) has announced that a $20,000 Shahed-136 drone was behind the attack that damaged a $700 million Boeing E3 Sentry surveillance aircraft in a US-run military base in Saudi Arabia.

In a statement, the IRGC public relations department said that the E3 aircraft, known as Airborne Early Warning and Central System (AWACS), was attempting to evade incoming Iranian airstrikes when it was "hunted" by a Shahed 136 drone.

The American surveillance aircraft was destroyed during a combined missile and drone attack on Prince Sultan air base in Saudi Arbia on Friday, which also left at least 10 US troops wounded.

Footage of the aircraft's wreckage showed that the E3 Sentry was struck in its most sensitive section near its tail, where the expensive AN/APY2 reconnaissance radar is fitted.

Nearby planes also suffered significant damage during the attack, the IRGC said earlier.

The aircraft had been deployed at the Prince Sultan base from Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma City.

Iranian air defenses have intercepted and destroyed at least 140 Israeli and American drones and several fighter jets over Iranian skies and elsewhere in the region since the imposed war began on February 28.

The IRGC has launched 86 waves of retaliatory strikes against US and Israeli assets in the region as part of Operation True Promise 4.

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Iran air defenses down US-made MQ-9 drone near Strait of Hormuz

Iran Press TV

Sunday, 29 March 2026 5:39 PM

Iran's air defense forces have shot down an MQ-9 drone in the eastern vicinity of the Strait of Hormuz.

The incident occurred on Sunday when air defense systems successfully tracked and engaged the unmanned aerial vehicle, belonging to "aggressor American-Zionist forces," the army said.

The drone was struck and completely destroyed following a precision interception.

In a separate development, the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) announced the interception and destruction of two additional "Orbiter" drones in Khorramabad.

The drones were detected and neutralized by an advanced air defense system operating under the unified national defense network.

With the latest interception, the cumulative number of enemy drones destroyed during the ongoing US-Israeli aggression has reached around 140.

The number of advanced enemy fighter jets downed in the conflict is also nearing double digits.

The US and Israel started a fresh round of aerial aggression on Iran on February 28, some eight months after they carried out unprovoked attacks on the country. The attacks led to the martyrdom of Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, hundreds of civilians, including women and children, as well as military commanders.

Iran began to swiftly retaliate against the strikes by launching barrages of missile and drone attacks on the Israeli-occupied territories as well as on US bases in regional countries.

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US has no choice but to retreat from Iranian borders: Top commander

Iran Press TV

Sunday, 29 March 2026 5:06 PM

A senior Iranian military commander says the armed forces' crushing strikes against US military assets will leave Washington with no choice but to withdraw its forces from Iran's borders.

Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Aerospace Force, Brigadier General Seyyed Majid Mousavi, said in a post on X that Iranian forces will continue to paralyze US radar networks and logistics while inflicting casualties on their personnel across the region.

"Iran's intelligence superiority and precision strikes will leave the US with no alternative but to retreat from Iranian borders," Mousavi said.

The commander noted that "the wreckage of AWACS, aerial refuelers, and demolished hangars speaks for itself."

Mousavi also vowed that the country's armed forces will soon add "more high-value targets to this list."

US President Donald Trump is reportedly considering "limited ground operations" on Iranian soil. Iranian officials have warned that such a move will only lead to further casualties among American troops.

Iranian armed forces have launched 86 waves of retaliatory strikes against Israeli and US assets across the region, causing casualties and billions of dollars in damages.

Notably, a US Air Force E-3 Sentry AWACS command and control plane was struck and damaged during a March 27 missile and drone attack on Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia.

According to Air & Space Forces Magazine, this specific attack also injured more than 10 service members and damaged several aerial refueling tankers.

Military analysts describe the loss of these "flying radars" as a "big deal" that has significantly crippled Washington's ability to manage the battlespace in the Persian Gulf.

Beyond the AWACS and tankers, Iran's attacks have damaged or destroyed radar systems, a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile defense system and Reaper drones in attacks on US bases in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Jordan and Kuwait.

Reports have also suggested that the US and its regional allies are "burning through" their supply of Tomahawk and interceptor missiles.

Since the war began on February 28, the Pentagon has already confirmed at least 13 US troops killed and roughly 200 wounded.

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Ayatollah Khamenei hails 'explicit' stance of Iraqi top clerics, nation on Iran war

Iran Press TV

Sunday, 29 March 2026 4:51 PM

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Mojtaba Khamenei has expressed his gratitude to Iraq's religious authority and nation for their "explicit" stance on the unlawful war by the United States and the Israeli regime against the Islamic Republic.

In a message on Sunday, Ayatollah Khamenei commended support of top Iraqi religious clerics and nation for Iran in the face of the US-Israeli war of aggression, which began on February 28 by assassinating then-Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei and several senior commanders.

Iran's Ambassador to Baghdad Mohammad Kazem Ale Sadeq handed over the Leader's message to Head of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq Shaikh Humam Hamoudi.

In a statement, which was read out during the Eid al-Fitr prayers on March 21, the top Muslim Shia cleric in Iraq, Grand Ayatollah Sayyed Ali al-Sistani, strongly condemned the ongoing US-Israeli war on Iran.

Ayatollah Sistani said in the statement that the flames of fire were raging over homes in Iran and Lebanon while the two Muslim countries were under military aggression.

"We use the strongest words to condemn this oppressive war and call on all Muslims and freedom-seekers of the world to condemn it and show solidarity with the oppressed nations of Iran and Lebanon," the statement said.

Ayatollah Sistani, a source of emulation for tens of millions of Shias in Iraq and around the world, also called on influential countries and actors in the world as well as Muslim states to do their utmost to help stop the aggression.

Meanwhile, following Ayatollah Sisitani's call for providing aid to the Iranian and Lebanese nations, the first convoy of the Iraqi people's help was sent to Iran.

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US, Israeli evil acts endangered Hormuz Strait: Iran Army spokesman

Iran Press TV

Sunday, 29 March 2026 3:23 PM

The Iranian Army spokesman says the Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf has become a risky and dangerous waterway solely because of the evil actions of the United States and Israel as part of their month-long aggression against Iran.

"The Strait of Hormuz has always been a safe and peaceful passage, and even extra-regional countries used it for the transit of their ships. However, after this aggression, the situation has changed," said Brigadier General Mohammad Akraminia.

Akraminia said that it is unacceptable for Iran to be threatened and attacked while other countries continue to benefit from the security of the Strait, especially since Iran controls a significant part of the waterway.

He said that the US is chiefly to blame for the rising international energy prices caused by the current situation in the Strait of Hormuz, insisting that Washington has sown insecurity in one part of the Persian Gulf and Southwest Asia, which he said is a highly interconnected region, while expecting other parts to enjoy security and stability.

"...it is not possible to have security

in one part and insecurity in another; that is not feasible," said the general, adding that global markets will continue to be increasingly affected by the US-Israeli aggression on Iran, and energy prices will rise even further.

Akraminia said regional countries harmed by the situation in the Persian Gulf must confront the US and demand accountability for the conditions it has created in the region.

Iran began imposing restrictions on passage through the Strait of Hormuz several days after the US-Israeli aggression on the country started on February 28.

Iranian authorities have indicated that transit via the Strait is allowed for all ships that coordinate with Iran, except for those linked to the US and the Israeli regime.

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Iran Army launches drone strikes on US forces in Jordan

Iran Press TV

Sunday, 29 March 2026 2:43 PM

The Iranian Army has announced that it carried out drone strikes targeting US military positions in Jordan.

In a statement released on Sunday, the Iranian army said its forces launched drone attacks at dawn against logistics depots, support equipment storage facilities, and accommodation sites used by US troops at al-Azraq Air Base in eastern Jordan.

The statement described al-Azraq as one of the most significant military hubs in the region, citing its advanced infrastructure and substantial personnel capacity.

It also stated that the base serves as a key operational center for the United States and its allies, hosting a combination of fighter jets and transport aircraft used in regional military operations.

The Iranian army further noted that due to its strategic location, the base has been used as a critical platform for planning and conducting airstrikes against Iran.

The statement concluded by emphasizing that Iran's armed forces remain committed to defending the country's sovereignty and territorial integrity, vowing to continue their mission with resolve and in remembrance of those killed in past conflicts.

On February 28, the United States and the Israeli regime launched an unprovoked war on Iran, assassinating former Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei as well as several top military commanders.

Iran immediately began to retaliate against the aggression by launching barrages of missile and drone attacks on the Israeli-occupied territories as well as on the US bases in regional countries.

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IRGC strikes US, Israeli assets and troops hideouts in 86th wave of retaliatory attacks

Iran Press TV

Sunday, 29 March 2026 1:56 PM

The Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) has conducted strikes against US aerial and drone infrastructure, alongside their ammunition storage sites and troops hideouts.

The IRGC said in a statement on Sunday that the operation was carried out during the 86th wave of its ongoing retaliatory Operation True Promise 4.

The multi-phase operation, it said, involved joint missile and drone strikes by the IRGC Aerospace and Naval forces.

The statement detailed that the initial phase focused on the enemies' aerial and UAV operational assets, ammunition depots, and their forces' hideouts in the region.

Subsequent missile and drone strikes accurately hit the hideouts of "terrorist forces" across the occupied territories, including Tel Aviv and the Negev.

The IRGC statement added that "plumes of rising smoke, widespread explosions, and images of destroyed multi-million-dollar US aircraft have effectively thwarted efforts" by US regional allies and affiliated media to censor the scale of Iran's retaliatory offensive against their positions in the region.

The armed forces have simultaneously targeted the positions of Komala Kurdish separatist groups across the Erbil province of the Iraqi Kurdistan region.

Iranian armed forces have been carrying out retaliatory attacks on US military assets in regional countries and on targets in the occupied territories since Washington and Tel Aviv launched their illegal unprovoked war against the Islamic Republic on February 28.

In the last 29 days, Iran has delivered a series of devastating strikes on enemy targets, effectively paralyzing the US and air defense systems across the region.

In a report on Saturday, The Wall Street Journal revealed that Arab Persian Gulf nationsincluding the UAE, Qatar, and Bahrainare seeking additional air defense support amid Iran's relentless retaliatory strikes on US military bases stationed on their soil.

Meanwhile, the report highlighted a global shortage of interceptor systems, noting that defense stockpiles are facing significant strain as the demand for advanced missile defense outpaces supply.

Israel has also begun rationing its most advanced missile interceptors to prevent a total collapse of its defense stockpiles, the report said.

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Iran urges regional states to confront US, Israeli 'lawlessness' as Islamabad hosts summit

Iran Press TV

Sunday, 29 March 2026 1:32 PM

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says the international community, especially regional countries, has a responsibility to confront the collapse of international legal norms as a result of the lawlessness of the United States and Israeli regime and their crimes against humanity.

In a phone conversation on Saturday, Araghchi and his Pakistani counterpart Muhammad Ishaq Dar reviewed the latest regional developments amid the continued US-Israeli military aggression against Iran, which has entered its fifth week.

Araghchi condemned crimes committed by the US and the Israeli regime against the Iranian people, particularly attacks targeting public infrastructure, schools, hospitals, scientific centers, and residential areas.

The US and Israel started a fresh round of unlawful military aggression on Iran on February 28, some eight months after they carried out unprovoked attacks on the country. The attacks led to the martyrdom of Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, hundreds of Iranian civilians, including women and children, as well as military commanders.

Iran has carried out extensive retaliatory attacks against Israeli and US interests in the region.

For his part, Ishaq Dar, who also serves as Pakistani deputy prime minister, reiterated Islamabad's principled stance on condemning military aggression against Iran's national sovereignty and territorial integrity.

He also briefed Araghchi on Pakistan's diplomatic efforts to stop the war, including plans to host a quadrilateral meeting of the foreign ministers of Pakistan, Turkey, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia in Islamabad.

Ishaq Dar expressed hope that goodwill efforts and cooperation among regional countries would put an immediate end to the US-Israel war, paving the way for the restoration of peace and stability in the region.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif hosts a four-sided meeting in the presence of the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt. Ishaq Dar chairs the meeting.

Senior officials from regional countries are taking part in the diplomatic meeting, opened in Islamabad on Sunday, to discuss ways to ease tensions in the US-Israel war against Iran.

The Pakistani foreign minister late on Saturday announced that Iran has agreed to allow "20 more ships under the Pakistani flag" to pass through the Strait of Hormuz; two ships will cross the Strait daily.

In a post on his X account, Ishaq Dar described Iran's move as "a welcome and constructive gesture" which deserves appreciation.

"It is a harbinger of peace and will help usher stability in the region," he wrote.

The top Pakistani diplomat also said the "positive announcement marks a meaningful step toward peace and will strengthen our collective efforts in that direction."

In a telephone conversation with the Pakistani prime minister on Saturday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian warned against the Israeli regime's "vicious" plans to expand the ongoing war with the Islamic Republic to countries across the region.

Pezeshkian said regional countries should remain cautious to ensure that their territory is not used by aggressors to attack other Muslim countries.

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Iranian Navy ready to avenge Dena martyrs along Makran coast: Commander

Iran Press TV

Sunday, 29 March 2026 12:46 PM

Iranian Navy Commander Rear Admiral Shahram Irani has issued a strong warning to the US aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, stating that Iranian forces are prepared to retaliate if the vessel re-enters the region.

Speaking at a meeting with personnel from missile, drone, and air defense units on Sunday, Irani said that during previous operations, the Iranian Navy had targeted the carrier group, including the USS Abraham Lincoln and one of its accompanying warships.

He said that Iranian missile capabilities forced US forces to reposition repeatedly, moving hundreds of miles away from Iran's territorial waters.

The commander also warned that if the carrier group again comes within range, Iran would launch various shore-to-sea missile systems along the Makran Coast, vowing to avenge the "blood of the Dena martyrs."

The IRIS Dena was brutally attacked on March 4 in international waters while returning from a multinational naval exercise in India, an event it had been officially invited to attend. Eighty four Navy men were martyred in the attack.

Irani further criticized the silence of United States Central Command regarding potential damage or operational limitations affecting US naval units in the region.

He emphasized that all movements and logistical requests of the carrier group are being closely and continuously monitored by Iranian forces.

Reiterating Iran's strategic posture, the navy chief stated that areas east of the Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf of Omankey entry points to the Persian Gulfare under the full control of the Iranian Navy.

"We are in complete control of these waters and are awaiting the moment to respond to any aggression," Irani said.

The US and Israel started a fresh round of aerial aggression on Iran on February 28, some eight months after they carried out unprovoked attacks on the country. The attacks led to the martyrdom of Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei and hundreds of civilians, including women and children, as well as military commanders.

Iran began to swiftly retaliate against the strikes by launching barrages of missile and drone attacks on the Israeli-occupied territories as well as on US bases in regional countries.

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IRGC strike destroys US AWACS surveillance aircraft in Saudi Arabia

Iran Press TV

Sunday, 29 March 2026 11:27 AM

The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) says it has hit and destroyed a Boeing E3 Sentry surveillance aircraft belonging to the US Air Force in a retaliatory strike against a US-run military installation in Saudi Arabia.

"In response to the hostile actions of the terrorist US army..., the IRGC Aerospace Force, in a joint missile and drone operation, managed to completely destroy an E3 aircraft, better known as Airborne Early Warning and Central System (AWACS), with airborne reconnaissance, command and control capabilities," the Public Relations Department of the IRGC said in a statement on Sunday.

The combined Iranian operation completely destroyed the US Air Force's surveillance aircraft and inflicted heavy damage on nearby planes, it added.

Images circulated on social media platforms show the wreckage of a Boeing E3 Sentry aircraft at the US-operated base in Saudi Arabia, which had been deployed at the site from Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma City.

The pictures show that an Iranian projectile has hit the most important and sensitive section of the aircraft near its tail, where the expensive AN/APY2 reconnaissance radar is fitted.

This came a day after the IRGC said a warehouse storing Ukrainian anti-drone systems was destroyed in a missile operation in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates.

The spokesperson for the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters said on Saturday that the site was struck in a hybrid operation conducted by the IRGC Aerospace Force and Navy.

He noted that 21 Ukrainians were present at the location, whose fate remains unknown.

The United States and Israel launched a large-scale and unprovoked military campaign against Iran on February 28, assassinating Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei and several high-ranking military commanders despite indirect Tehran-Washington negotiations on Iran's peaceful nuclear program.

In response, the Iranian Armed Forces immediately initiated powerful missile and drone operations against US interests across the West Asia region and Israeli positions in the occupied territories.

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'Sharks of Persian Gulf await US troops': Iran military warns amid ground invasion threats

Iran Press TV

Sunday, 29 March 2026 11:03 AM

Iran's military has issued a stark warning that any US ground invasion would end in catastrophic consequences, declaring that American troops would become "good food for the sharks of the Persian Gulf."

According to a statement by the spokesman for the Khatam al-Anbia Central Headquarters, Iranian forces are prepared to respond decisively if threats by US President Donald Trump materialize.

Lieutenant-Colonel Ebrahim Zolfaqari said Iran's military is "counting down the moments" for the annihilation of US forces should any ground attack or occupation attempt be launched.

"Trump... has repeatedly threatened Iran with ground operations and the occupation of some islands in the Persian Gulf," he said, adding that such ambitions are "nothing but a pipe dream."

Iranian forces, he said, have long been awaiting such a move to demonstrate that "aggression and occupation will have no result other than disgraceful captivity, dismemberment, and the disappearance of the aggressors."

The warning comes amid media reports suggesting the Pentagon is preparing for weeks of ground operations in Iran, should the current bombing campaign fail to achieve its objectives.

In response to these threats, Iran has reinforced its defensive positions across the country, particularly along the strategic southwestern border with Iraq, where US bases are located, and in the southeastern region near the Strait of Hormuz.

Zolfaqari further censured Trump, describing him as "the biggest liar among presidents in the world" and "completely unreliable," saying that he has led US forces into a "quagmire of death."

He also pointed out that American troops, fearing casualties, have fled destroyed bases and taken refuge in civilian and economic centers across the region, where they remain vulnerable.

Zolfaqari further said that Washington's leadership had entrusted military command to an "unbalanced" figure whose actions have inflicted damage not only on Americans but also on Europe and countries in West Asia.

The United States and Israel launched an unprovoked war against Iran on February 28, assassinating Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei and several top military commanders, despite ongoing Tehran-Washington negotiations over the Islamic Republic's civilian nuclear program.

Iran immediately began to retaliate against the aggression by launching barrages of missile and drone attacks on the Israeli-occupied lands as well as on US bases and assets in regional countries.

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US-Israeli attacks on universities reveal their enmity toward Iran's scientific progress: FM spokesman

Iran Press TV

Sunday, 29 March 2026 6:38 AM

The spokesperson for the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has strongly denounced the US-Israeli attacks on Iranian universities, saying that the acts of aggression clearly attest to the Washington and Tel Aviv regimes' enmity toward Iran's scientific development.

"Targeting of universities and scientific centers is not something conventional in any armed conflict, unless the enemy reaches that level of desperation that mistakenly believes that it can block the dynamic flow of science and industry by physically destroying a scientific facility," Esmaeil Baghaei wrote in a note published on Sunday.

It came in response to the US-Israeli bombing of Isfahan University of Technology on Wednesday and a strike against Tehran University of Science and Technology on Friday.

The senior Iranian diplomat noted that even though the targeting of universities is regrettable and indicative of the invaders' vicious nature and their enmity towards the Iranian nation's scientific progress, it marks a badge of honor for the Islamic Republic's scientific and research centers.

"Enemies target places from where they have been hit hard. No strike is more stinging than to see science and technology anchored in the homegrown capabilities of the young Iranian generation, which has reached a point where Iran is now more reliant on its own capacities than any foreign country," Baghaei stated.

He emphasized that the enemies' latest move will fail to bear any fruit, just like their previous desperate technology.

The spokesperson said that science and technology are not commodities imported into the country and do not originate from bricks and Iron bars.

"They are rather durable and progressing constituents of an old civilization, which provides its achievements and innovations to the international community amicably and respectfully," Baghaei also wrote.

On Saturday, the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) said universities of the occupying regime of Israel and the United States in the West Asia region are legitimate targets for Iran after both terrorist regimes attacked Iranian universities.

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Houthis Strike Israel Again, While Iran To Allow 'Nonhostile' Nations' Ships Through Strait

By RFE/RL March 29, 2026

Yemen's Iran-allied Houthi rebels deepened their involvement in the Middle East war, launching a second salvo of missiles within 24 hours against Israel, while Tehran said it will give permission for ships from "nonhostile" nations to pass through the Strait of Hormuz.

Meanwhile, Israel intensified its attacks against Iran, targeting an Iranian naval research facility and striking the capital, Tehran, late on March 28 as the conflict continues its spread across regional borders.

And in Washington, the US military is preparing plans for weeks of ground operations in Iran, The Washington Post reported, citing unnamed US officials, with the White House suggesting that any such preparations would be routine contingency planning by military leaders.

The involvement of the Houthi rebel group -- designated a terrorist organization by the United States -- risks widening a war that has already drawn in US forces, Gulf Arab states, Israel, and even farther away places, such as Cyprus, Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, and Sri Lanka, more than 4,000 kilometers away from Iran.

The Houthis had so far avoided entry into the war, but their actions on March 28 raised fears of a possible disruption to the Bab al-Mandab Strait off Yemen, through which roughly 10 percent of the world's seaborne oil passes. This after Iran effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz to most traffic.

Houthi spokesman Yahya Saree in a statement said the group fired "a barrage of cruise missiles and drones targeting several vital and military sites" in Israel. The attack "coincided with the military operations being carried out by" Iran and Hezbollah in Lebanon, he added. Details could not immediately be verified.

Israel's military confirmed an incoming missile was fired from Yemen and that it was intercepted before it reached Israeli territory near the southern city of Eilat.

A day earlier, Saree said in a televised address that the Houthis "confirm that our fingers are on the trigger for direct military intervention" if attacks on Iran continue or if any new combatants join the United States and Israel against Tehran and its allies.

'A Multifront War'

When asked about the potential for a widening of the war, Israeli military spokesman Brigadier General Effie Defrin said: "We are preparing for a multifront war."

He added that Iran's weapons production capabilities will be largely destroyed "within a few days" as the war entered its second month.

Israel continued to pound Iran, saying it struck a naval research site on March 28 and with several blasts reported in the capital, Tehran.

Israel's military said Iran's Marine Industries Organization facility developed "a wide range of naval weaponry, including surface and sub-surface vessels, [and] manned and unmanned equipment."

Israel also has launched an air and ground campaign in Lebanon against Iran-backed Hezbollah, a US-designated terror organization.

Iranian President Masud Pezeshkian on March 28 threatened retaliation against regional countries should Iranian infrastructure or economic centers be targeted.

"If you want development and security, don't let our enemies run the war from your lands," he told "countries of the region," many of which host US military bases.

Meanwhile, The Washington Post, in its report citing unnamed US officials, said Pentagon strategists are working on plans for weeks of ground operations in Iran, coming as Trump has ordered thousands of ground forces to the Middle East to bolster the 50,000 troops already there.

The Post quoted White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt as saying in response to its inquiries: "It's the job of the Pentagon to make preparations in order to give the commander-in-chief maximum optionality. It does not mean the president has made a decision."

Pakistan Gets Hormuz OK

Meanwhile, Pakistan's foreign minister on March 28 said Iran had agreed to allow an additional 20 Pakistani-flagged ships to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, with two vessels permitted to transit daily.

Ishaq Dar said on X that "the government of Iran has agreed to allow 20 more ships under the Pakistani flag to pass through the Strait of Hormuz."

"Two ships will cross the strait daily," he added.

The Bangkok Post reported that Tehran has also agreed to allow Thai oil tankers through the strait, as authorities hope to ease the intensifying energy crunch in the Asian nation.

The Strait of Hormuz accounts for around one-fifth of global oil shipments and the effective closure of it by Iranian forces has become a central issue of the conflict, which started with US-Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28.

Tehran earlier suggested that ships from "nonhostile" nations would have clear passage through the Strait of Hormuz. However, even if some vessels are allowed through, overall uncertainty has made it difficult to secure insurance, effectively preventing ships from using the waterway.

The Pakistani government has been acting as a mediator between Iran and the United States and has conveyed the US peace plan to Tehran. It also announced that it would host the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Egypt for talks on the matter on March 29-30.

Pakistan shares a 900-kilometer-long border with Iran and has a large Shi'ite Muslim minority. Iran's population is overwhelmingly Shi'ite.

Islamabad is also an ally of the United States -- although the relationship is often strained over issues such as the fight against terrorism --and has close ties to the Gulf Arab states.

With reporting by RFE/RL's Radio Farda, Reuters, AFP, and dpa

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/houthi-iran-israel-war-hormuz- pakistan-shipping/33718789.html

Copyright (c) 2026. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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IAEA Confirms Iran Heavy-Water Reactor Knocked Out Of Commission

29.3.2026

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on March 29 aid Iran's heavy-water reactor at Khondab, near the city of Arak, which Tehran reported had been attacked on March 27, has suffered severe damage and is no longer operational.

The Israeli military had said it struck the facility, officially known as the Khondab Heavy Water Research Reactor -- at least the second time the site had been hit following an Israeli air strike during the 12-day war in June 2025.

"STRUCK: Arak Heavy Water Plant in Central IranA Key Plutonium Production Site for Nuclear Weapons. The IDF will not allow the Iranian regime to continue advancing its nuclear weapons program, which poses an existential threat to Israel and the entire world," the Israeli Defense Forces wrote on X on March 27.

The IAEA said: "Based on independent analysis of satellite imagery and knowledge of the installation, the IAEA has confirmed the heavy water production plant at Khondab...has sustained severe damaged and is no longer operational. The installation contains no declared nuclear material,"

The reactor is part of a sprawling nuclear complex in central Iran that includes heavy-water production facilities, which allow Iran to use natural uranium as fuel without the need for high-level enrichment.

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/iran-protests-live-blog- trump-khamenei/33640284.html?lbis=447303

Copyright (c) 2026. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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Pakistan Says Ready To Host Talks To End Iran War, But No Word Yet From US Or Iran

29.3.2026

Pakistan's foreign minister on March 29 said Islamabad was preparing to host "meaningful talks" in the coming days to end the Middle East war, even though there has been no letup in the violence or harsh rhetoric between Washington and Tehran.

Ishaq Dar, speaking after talks between regional foreign ministers, said the top diplomats from Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Turkey had discussed possible ways to bring a permanent end to the war as well as potential US-Iran talks in the Pakistani capital.

"Pakistan will be honored to host and facilitate meaningful talks between the two sides in coming days, for a comprehensive and lasting settlement of the ongoing conflict," he said, although it was not clear if Washington and Tehran had agreed to such talks.

The Pakistani government has been acting as a mediator between Iran and the United States and has conveyed the US peace plan to Tehran.

A day earlier, Dar said Iran had agreed to allow an additional 20 Pakistani-flagged ships to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, with two vessels permitted to transit daily. Iran's effective blocking of the key waterway has created a bottleneck of oil and natural gas tankers seeking to deliver products to the world markets.

Iran has said it will allow ships from "nonhostile" nations to safely pass through the strait.

Sources told Reuters that the initial discussions between Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Egypt had focused on proposals to reopen the strait to help relieve the widening economic pain around the world.

With reporting by Reuters and dpa

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/iran-protests-live-blog- trump-khamenei/33640284.html?lbis=447298

Copyright (c) 2026. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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Zelenskyy Accuses Russia Of Sharing Satellite Imagery With Tehran

29.3.2026

Ukraine's president accused Russia of sharing detailed satellite imagery with Tehran over the past week, helping Iran to target US and British military facilities and oil and gas fields in the Gulf region and elsewhere.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy's comments, made March 28, add to earlier reports that Russia had been providing Tehran with intelligence, imagery, and other information that Iran used to hit attack military and targets.

In a post to X, Zelenskyy made a veiled reference to recent US decision to partially waive sanctions on Russian oil amid energy prices that have soared amid the Iran war.

"Who is helping whom when sanctions are lifted from" Russia, he said, "an aggressor that earns daily revenue and provides intelligence for strikes against American, Middle Eastern, UK, and US-UK bases and so on?"

"We know that if they make images once, they are preparing," he said in separate comments to NBC News. "If they make images a second time, it's like a simulation. The third time it means that in one or two days, they will attack."

US officials have said Russia was providing intelligence to Iran as Tehran retaliates against US and Israeli attacks. In addition to air bases and oil infrastructure, Iranian missiles and drones also targeted a CIA station in the Saudi capital of Riyadh.

Russia stands to benefit from the spike in global energy prices caused by the US war. However, Ukraine for the past week has waged a drone campaign to knock out some of Russia's most important oil export facilities in the Baltic Sea, and keep Moscow of profiting from high prices.

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/iran-protests-live-blog- trump-khamenei/33640284.html?lbis=447208

Copyright (c) 2026. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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Qalibaf: US Talks About Negotiating But Plans Ground Attack

29.3.2026

Iranian parliamentary speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf has accused the United States of "secretly" planning a ground attack in its military campaign despite talking about peace.

In a statement marking the "30th day of the Iranian National Defense" on March 29, Qalibaf said a 15 point peace plan proposal put forward by Washington is an attempt to get "what it can't achieve in the war."

On March 25, Iran said it received the proposal through intermediaries but rejected it saying it amounted to "surrender." Tehran then responded with five conditions of its own to end the war.

US President Donald Trump has ordered thousands more troops to the region, including Marines and paratroopers, for a possible ground invasion.

The new forces add to 50,000 troops that are already in the region, scattered around US bases.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said earlier this week that the deployments were meant "to give the president maximum optionality and maximum opportunity to adjust the contingencies, should they emerge."

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/iran-protests-live-blog- trump-khamenei/33640284.html?lbis=447202

Copyright (c) 2026. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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Pentagon Works On Plans For Possible Ground Operations In Iran: Washington Post

29.3.2026

The US military is preparing plans for weeks of ground operations in Iran, The Washington Post reported late on March 28, citing unnamed US officials, with the White House suggesting that any such preparations would be routine contingency planning by military leaders.

The report also said it was not certain US President Donald Trump would approve the Pentagon's plans for the use of ground forces.

Any potential ground operation would not be a full-scale invasion but was more likely to involve a mixture of special forces operations and regular infantry troops, the Post cited officials as saying.

The report comes as Trump has ordered several thousands of Marines, some 2,000 members of the elite 82nd Airborne Division, and other troops to join the 50,000 already in the region.

A number of Navy amphibious assault ships and other warships are also in the region or on the way.

The unnamed US officials told the Post that the planning has been in development for weeks.

Trump has mixed threats of greater attacks with the possibilities of a peace deal in comments about the US-Israeli war with Iran, now entering its second month.

The Post reported that White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in response to its inquiries: "It's the job of the Pentagon to make preparations in order to give the commander-in-chief maximum optionality. It does not mean the president has made a decision."

Officials told the Post that discussions within the administration have touched on the possibility of seizing Kharg Island, a key oil terminal of Iran and a major cog in the country's economic machine.

Other options discussed included raids on coastal areas near the Strait of Hormuz, which has been effectively blocked by Iran, creating a bottleneck of oil and gas shipments and roiling world financial markets.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, during a trip to Paris for the Group of Seven meeting (G7) said the United States will be able to achieve its war goals without the need for ground troops.

Trump himself has played down the possibility of ground troops, saying at one point that he was not planning to send troops "anywhere," although he appeared to leave open the possibility should it be required.

Putting ground troops into action would carry major risks -- both politically for the president and physically for those forces involved.

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/iran-protests-live-blog- trump-khamenei/33640284.html?lbis=447172

Copyright (c) 2026. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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Pakistan to Host US-Iran Talks

Sputnik News

20260329

US-Iran talks may take place in Islamabad in the coming days, Pakistan's Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said.

All parties have expressed confidence in Pakistan's mediating role, he added, noting that China "fully supports" the initiative.

Earlier on Sunday, foreign ministers from Saudi Arabia, Turkiye, and Egypt arrived in Pakistan to discuss potential ways to permanently resolve the current conflict in the Persian Gulf.

The ministers also discussed various proposals for reopening the Strait of Hormuz, a critical chokepoint for global oil and liquefied natural gas trade.

The proposals include establishing a management consortium and charging fees, sources say.

Pakistan, which shares a border with Iran, has leveraged its strong ties with both Tehran and Washington to position itself as a key diplomatic channel in the conflict.

 Sputnik

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Iranian Armed Forces Await US Ground Operation - Military Command

Sputnik News

20260329

TEHRAN (Sputnik) - Iranian armed forces have long awaited the start of a US ground operation in Iran, Ebrahim Zolfaghari, spokesman for the Khatam Al-Anbiya central headquarters of the Iranian military command, said on Sunday.

"In response to [US President Donald] Trump's recent threats regarding a ground operation or occupation of every inch of Iranian soil, which is no longer just a mere wish, we declare: Islam's champions have long been awaiting such actions to prove their outcome will be nothing but shameful capture, dismemberment, and disappearance of the aggressors, with US commanders and soldiers becoming excellent shark feed in the Persian Gulf," Zolfaghari was quoted as saying by Iran's state television and radio broadcaster.

On February 28, the United States and Israel launched strikes on targets in Iran, including in Tehran, causing damage and civilian casualties. Iran responded by striking Israeli territory and US military facilities in the Middle East.

 Sputnik

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Houthis to Continue Strikes Until Israel 'Ceases Its Attacks And Aggression'  Spokesman

Sputnik News

20260329

Houthi spokesman Yahya Saree said the Ansar Allah movement will continue its military operations against Israel following a second strike on Israeli targets in one day.

"The Yemeni Armed Forces... will continue... to carry out their military operations in the coming days until the criminal enemy ceases its attacks and aggression," the statement posted on X read.

Saree said the operation involved cruise missiles and drones targeting sites in southern Israel, describing it as part of broader coordination with forces in Iran and Lebanon.

The statement described the campaign as a response to ongoing Israeli strikes in the region.

 Sputnik

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IRGC: Two US & Israeli Universities to Be Struck in Retaliation  More May Follow

Sputnik News

20260329

After US-Israeli strikes on Tehran's University of Science and Technology, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps issued a direct warning.

"Warning to the criminal rulers of America! The Zionist American invading forces have bombed Tehran University of Science and Technology, targeting Iranian universities with their bombings for the umpteenth time," the IRGC statement said, quoted by Tasnim.

"The reckless rulers of the White House should know that from now on, all universities of the occupying regime and American universities in the West Asia region are legitimate targets for us until two universities are struck in retaliation for the Iranian universities that have been destroyed," the IRGC said.

IRGC demands:

1. US must condemn the strikes on Iranian universities

2. US-Israeli attacks on academic sites must stop

The statement sets a deadline of 12:00 PM Tehran time on Monday, March 30 for the US to issue an official condemnation  warning the threat will be carried out otherwise.

 Sputnik

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What to know about U.S. shifting targets, new deployments and diplomatic double game as conflict enters Day 30?

People's Daily Online

(Xinhua) 09:02, March 30, 2026

CAIRO, March 29 (Xinhua) -- The U.S.-Israeli campaign against Iran that began with targeted "decapitation" strikes on Feb. 28 has spiralled into a multi-front regional war with no end in sight.

As Sunday marks the 30-day milestone of the conflict, has the United States shifted its striking targets already? Is it ready to initiate a new phase of the campaign involving ground operations? And is it really vying for a diplomatic off-ramp? Here's what you need to know.

FROM MILITARY ASSETS TO ECONOMIC, ENERGY INFRASTRUCTURE

In the first weeks of the war, U.S. and Israeli airstrikes focused primarily on eliminating key leadership and hitting Iran's military installations, missile launch sites, and command-and-control centers.

U.S. Navy Admiral Brad Cooper, who commands U.S. military forces in the region, claimed Wednesday in a video message that his forces had hit over 10,000 targets, destroying 92 percent of Iran's largest ships and more than two-thirds of its missile, drone and naval production facilities. "We're not done yet," he said.

Yet, as the conflict has dragged into its second month, targeting priorities have shifted significantly toward Iran's economic lifelines and energy infrastructure.

On March 13, U.S. warplanes bombed Iran's Kharg Island, Iran's main oil export hub in the Gulf, striking over 90 military sites. While initial strikes were described as targeting defensive positions, the island's oil infrastructure has since become a focal point, as Washington seeks to cripple Tehran's ability to generate revenue and sustain its war effort.

Meanwhile, Israeli and U.S. strikes have increasingly hit Iran's power distribution centers and industrial facilities. Iranian media reported in early March that an electricity distribution center supplying large sections of Tehran's eastern neighborhoods was knocked out for several hours after an airstrike.

U.S. and Israeli forces also expanded targets to include a heavy water production plant and a yellowcake production facility in central Iran, two steel plants in central and southwestern Iran, and a cement plant in southwestern Iran, all on Friday alone.

The University of Science and Technology in Tehran and the Isfahan University of Technology in the central city of Isfahan were also struck earlier this week.

Some analysts believed that the strategic logic behind this shift appears twofold -- to pressure Iran economically by targeting its energy exports, crucial for foreign revenues, and to demonstrate Washington's ability to strike anywhere inside Iran with impunity, and hence potentially force Tehran to the negotiating table.

TROOPS, SHIPS AND GROUND PREPARATION

The U.S. military presence in the region has expanded dramatically in recent days. On Saturday, the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said the USS Tripoli, an amphibious assault ship carrying some 3,500 Marines and sailors, had arrived in the Middle East. The group also includes "transport and strike fighter aircraft, as well as amphibious assault and tactical assets," CENTCOM said in a post on social media platform X. This adds to what officials described as the largest U.S. force buildup in the region in more than 20 years.

The Pentagon has also deployed AH-64 Apache attack helicopters for operating on Iran's southern flank, CENTCOM said in updates released on March 16 and March 18.

The New York Times reported Tuesday that the United States is expected to send around 3,000 troops from the elite 82nd Airborne Division to the region, in addition to roughly 2,500 more soldiers from Asia. The Wall Street Journal and AFP both reported on Friday that U.S. officials are now considering sending up to 10,000 additional troops to the region to join thousands of paratroopers and Marines already there.

Meanwhile, despite U.S. State Secretary Marco Rubio's Saturday remarks insisting that the United States "can achieve all of our objectives without ground troops," several media reports have revealed that the Pentagon is drafting options for weeks, or even months, of potential ground operations in Iran.

The Washington Post, citing unnamed U.S. officials, said Saturday that the plans, which have been under development and "war-gamed," focus on limited but high-risk ground operations "by a mixture of Special Operations forces and conventional infantry troops," including raids into coastal areas near the Strait of Hormuz to "find and destroy weapons" capable of targeting international commercial and military shipping, rather than a full-scale invasion.

TALKS, THREATS, AND HORMUZ STRAIT

Perhaps the most striking feature of the conflict's 30th day is the stark disconnect between U.S. diplomatic rhetoric and military preparations. On Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump claimed Washington had reached "major points of agreement" with Iran, telling reporters the two sides were "going to get together" by phone and that he had ordered a five-day delay of planned strikes on Iranian energy facilities. Washington had also proposed a 15-point ceasefire plan to Iran via intermediaries from Pakistan.

However, Tehran has repeatedly denied any direct or indirect communication with the United States. The semi-official Fars news agency reported Monday that there had been no contact, while the Iranian Foreign Ministry dismissed Trump's remarks as "part of efforts to reduce energy prices and buy time" for military plans. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi reiterated on Wednesday that Iran does "not intend to negotiate. So far, no negotiations have taken place."

On Sunday, Iran's Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf accused Washington of "openly sending a message of negotiation and secretly planning a ground attack."

Iran has also officially rejected the U.S. 15-point proposal and responded with its own five-point plan, which includes war reparations, guarantees against future attacks, and control over the Strait of Hormuz.

Reacting to Tehran's attitude, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt warned Wednesday that the United States would "unleash hell" on Iran if Tehran does not accept a deal. A day later, Trump said if Iran does not agree to a deal, it will face a U.S. "onslaught."

Behind the diplomatic theater, the Pentagon is drafting four "final blow" options for Trump, Axios reported Thursday, citing sources.

The options include invading or blockading Kharg Island, seizing Larak Island, a strategic location for controlling the Strait of Hormuz, capturing Abu Musa, Greater Tunb and Lesser Tunb, three strategic islands in the Gulf near the Strait of Hormuz that are controlled by Iran but claimed by the United Arab Emirates, as well as blockading or seizing vessels exporting Iranian oil through the eastern Strait of Hormuz.

Axios added that U.S. military planners have also drawn up options for seizing highly-enriched uranium stored at Iranian nuclear sites.

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Drone attack on residence of Iraqi Kurdistan president 'clear act of terrorism': IRGC

Iran Press TV

Saturday, 28 March 2026 6:43 PM

The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) has denounced a US-Israeli drone strike on the residence of the president of Iraq's Kurdistan Region, describing the assassination attempt as "a clear act of terrorism."

According to security sources, a drone attack targeted Kurdish President Nechirvan Barzani's home in Duhok, the northwestern part of the Iraqi Kurdistan Region, on Saturday.

Citing these sources, Reuters reported that air defenses also shot down a drone near a Peshmerga base in the region.

In the wake of the attack, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani spoke with Barzani by phone, his office said. He also ordered an investigation into the drone strike.

In its statement, the IRGC described the drone attack on Barzani's residence as "a clear example of a terrorist act by aggressor enemies."

The aggression, it said, follows a pattern of "cowardly assassinations" of senior Iranian officials by the US and Israel.

The IRGC added that these "malicious efforts" by the two enemies are aimed at undermining peace, stability, and regional cooperation between the Kurdistan Region and neighboring countries.

The IRGC also expressed its full readiness to defend neighboring countries through a "collective defense shield" and enhanced regional security cooperation to counter the aggressors.

The United States and Israel launched a joint military aggression against the Islamic Republic on February 28 by assassinating Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, along with senior military commanders.

The enemies have deliberately targeted Iran's civilian infrastructure and energy facilities, killing hundreds of Iranian people.

Iran's response to the unprovoked war, however, has been decisive and precise. The country's armed forces have so far carried out 85 waves of Operation True Promise 4, targeting Israeli military and strategic sites as well as US military bases across the region with missiles and drones, inflicting heavy losses on the enemy.

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Iraqi resistance conducts drone strike on US-run base in Syria

Iran Press TV

Saturday, 28 March 2026 6:16 PM

Fighters from the anti-terror group Islamic Resistance in Iraq have conducted a drone strike against an installation operated by US occupation forces in Syria's southwestern al-Tanf region, close to the borders with Iraq and Jordan.

The Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported that air defense systems manned by members of the ruling Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) militant group had intercepted and shot down an unmanned aircraft as it was flying in the skies over the base.

It added that the drone had most likely set off from an area in neighboring Iraq, without specifying the exact location.

Back on March 20, Iraqi resistance groups destroyed three critical sites at the US-run Harir base in Erbil -- the capital of Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdistan region, sharply reducing American military activities there.

An informed source said the positions were targeted simultaneously with missile strikes on the Victory Airbase close to the Baghdad International Airport.

Over the past two weeks, coordinated drone and missile attacks have repeatedly struck key infrastructure at Harir, including its central radar system, which was hit at least four times and ultimately destroyed.

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Condemning the Attacks on the Private Residence of Iraqi Kurdistan Region President Barzani

US Department of State

Press Statement

Thomas "Tommy" Pigott, Principal Deputy Spokesperson

March 28, 2026

The United States unequivocally and forcefully condemns the despicable terrorist attacks by Iran's terrorist militia proxies in Iraq on the private residence of Iraqi Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani. These actions by Iran and its proxies are a direct assault on Iraq's sovereignty, stability, and unity. We categorically reject the indiscriminate and cowardly terrorist acts that Iran and its terrorist proxies have unleashed in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region and throughout Iraq.

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Iran condemns terrorist attack on residence of Iraqi Kurdistan president

Iran Press TV

Sunday, 29 March 2026 6:52 AM

Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi has condemned the terrorist attack on the residence of the president of Iraq's Kurdistan Region.

Araghchi made the remarks on Saturday after Iraqi media reported that a drone attack had targeted Kurdish President Nechirvan Barzani's home in Duhok, northwest of the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Region.

Wishing that Barzani is well, Araghchi referred to the long history of the United States and the Zionist regime in creating sedition and sowing discord among regional and neighboring countries, including through false flag operations.

He also reminded all governments and international institutions of their responsibility to punish the US and Israel and hold both regimes accountable for their brutal aggression against Iran, as well as illegal and terrorist attacks on Iraq.

US-Israeli alliance poses dangerous threat to global peace: Army

Additionally, the Islamic Republic of Iran Army condemned the incident as "aggressive, criminal, and despicable."

As a gross violation of international law, the US-Israeli attack disrespects Kurdistan's national security, it noted.

It is also the continuation of acts of evil and malevolence by the global arrogance and the Zionist regime against regional peace and security, it added.

The Army said, "Undoubtedly, the American-Zionist alliance poses a dangerous threat to global security and peace while considering no value for international law and regulations."

Meanwhile, it called on the United Nations Security Council to honor its responsibility towards countering threats to international peace amid persistent US-Israeli terrorist and aggressive acts.

Earlier, Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) denounced the attack as "a clear example of a terrorist act by aggressor enemies."

The incident follows a pattern of "cowardly assassinations" of senior Iranian officials by the US and Israel, the elite military force added.

The enemies' "malicious efforts" are aimed at undermining peace, stability, and regional cooperation between the Kurdistan Region and neighboring states.

The IRGC further expressed its full readiness to defend Iran's neighboring countries through a "collective defense shield" and enhanced regional security cooperation to counter the aggressors.

In the wake of the assassination attempt, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani ordered the formation of a security-technical team tasked with investigating the incident and identifying its perpetrators.

Since February 28, when the US and Israel launched their unprovoked aggression against Iran, the pair have conducted several false flag operations aimed at smearing Iran and provoking its neighbors.

The Iranian armed forces have responded to the illegal military assault by launching almost daily missile and drone operations targeting locations in the Israeli-occupied territories as well as US military bases and assets across the region.

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Israel rations advanced interceptors amid relentless Iranian missile barrages: Report

Iran Press TV

Saturday, 28 March 2026 4:21 PM

Israel has been forced to ration its most advanced interceptors to prevent a total collapse of its defense stockpiles as Iran's relentless missile barrages continue as the war enters its fifth week, says a report.

The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) said on Saturday that Israel has begun rationing its most advanced missile interceptor, one month into the US-Israeli joint military aggression against the Islamic republic.

Iranian armed forces have carried out 85 waves retaliatory attacks under Operation True Promise 4, targeting Israeli military and strategic sites as well as US military bases across the region with missiles and drones, inflicting heavy losses on the enemy.

According to the report, Iran's "sustained barrages" has begun to strain Israel's air defense systems and allow more missiles to slip through.

"The impact is already visible on the ground," said the Journal.

It said that Israeli authorities are now facing increasingly complex decisions with every incoming projectile, whether to intercept it, allow it to land in unpopulated areas, and which system to deploy.

Last week, Iranian ballistic missiles successfully hit targets in the southern cities of Dimona and Arad, leaving buildings shattered and at least 200 people injured.

Israel's military admitted that its air defense systems failed to intercept Iran's missiles. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also described it as a "difficult" evening.

Now, Tal Inbar, a senior analyst at the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance, has told the WSJ that the number of interceptorsof every type"is finite."

"As the fighting goes on, it goes down. And as it goes down, you have to make more careful calculations about what to use."

Since February 28, Iran's armed forces have launched more than 400 missiles along with hundreds of drones at the occupied territories, the report said.

The Rafael Weapons Industries, a key military technology developer responsible for advanced systems such as the Iron Dome and David's Sling, has been among the most sensitive Israeli sites targeted by powerful Iranian missiles.

According to the Journal, the strain on interceptor supplies is not limited to Israel as Iran's missile and drone attacks have significantly stressed regional defense postures as well.

It said that Arab Persian Gulf countries, including the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar, and Bahrain are also seeking additional air defense support amid Iran's relentless retaliatory attacks on US military bases on their soil.

Meanwhile, interceptor systems themselves are in short supply globally, the WSJ said. Missiles used in American missile defense systems such as THAAD are difficult to produce and take time to replenish, creating a widening gap between demand and supply, it said.

Tom Karako, director of the Missile Defense Project at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), stated that if the US completely maximizes "production with the forthcoming ramp, which we need to, it will still be many years before we replace what was just used."

The unprovoked war, launched by the US and Israel on Iran as negotiations with Tehran were ongoing, has exacted a high cost, roiling energy and stock markets worldwide, disrupting shipping and resulting in casualties across West Asia.

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Secretary General Alain Berset urges Israel to abandon plans to expand the death penalty

Council of Europe

Council of Europe principles have led to clear European consensus on right to life and prohibition of capital punishment

Secretary General

Strasbourg

29 March 2026

Council of Europe Secretary General Alain Berset has issued a direct appeal to Israel's leadership, urging them to abandon legislative proposals currently before the Knesset that would expand the death penalty. In official letters addressed to Speaker of the Knesset, Amir Ohana, and to the President of the State of Israel, Isaac Herzog, he has expressed deep concern over the potential consequences of these measures.

"The Council of Europe opposes the death penalty in all places and in all circumstances. The texts currently under examination in the Knesset would represent a grave step backwards from Israel's long-standing de facto moratorium. I call on the Israeli authorities to abandon these proposals," said the Secretary General.

The death penalty has no place in modern justice and is incompatible with respect for fundamental human rights. In line with those principles, capital punishment cannot be applied by the 46 Council of Europe member states, reflecting a clear and longstanding regional consensus grounded in respect for human dignity and the right to life.

Israel abolished the death penalty for ordinary crimes in 1954 and has carried out no executions since 1962. On 25 March 2026, the Council of Europe's Ministers' Deputies expressed deep concern over the draft laws currently under examination in the Knesset that would expand the death penalty in Israel and called on the Israeli authorities to abandon them. On 27 March 2026, PACE General Rapporteur on the abolition of the death penalty Gala Veldhoen also urged Knesset members to reject the bill.

The Knesset has held observer status with the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe since 1957, and Israel also participates in a number of Council of Europe conventions and cooperation mechanisms.

In this context, any development departing from European human rights standards risks moving Israel further away from the framework of values with which it has long chosen to align itself. This also raises broader concerns regarding respect for international law.

The Secretary General has also informed the Ministers' Deputies  the representatives of the Council of Europe's 46 member states responsible for ongoing decision-making  of the steps taken.

The Council of Europe continues to work for the universal abolition of the death penalty, in line with the Reykjavik Declaration adopted by Heads of State and Government in 2023.

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CPC Central Committee, Xi invite KMT chairperson to visit mainland

Xinhua) 10:09, March 30, 2026

BEIJING, March 30 (Xinhua) -- The Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and Xi Jinping, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, have invited Cheng Li-wun, chairperson of the Chinese Kuomintang (KMT) party, to visit the Chinese mainland from April 7 to 12, a CPC official announced on Monday.

Song Tao, head of the Taiwan Work Office of the CPC Central Committee, was authorized to announce that Cheng is welcome to lead a KMT delegation to visit Jiangsu, Shanghai and Beijing on the mainland.

Song noted that since taking office, Cheng has expressed her willingness to visit the mainland on multiple occasions, and that the invitation was extended to promote the relations between the CPC and the KMT and the peaceful development of cross-Strait relations.

The two sides will carry out communication regarding the visit to make proper arrangements, Song said.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
PM Netanyahu Meets with Northern Local Authority Heads

Israel - Prime Minister's Office

Type: Events and Speeches

Government: The 37th Government

Publish Date: 29.03.2026

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Meets with Northern Local Authority Heads

Following an assessment at IDF Northern Command today (Sunday, 29 March 2026), Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met at Merom HaGalil with heads of local authorities from the confrontation line, as well as from the northern region and Haifa suburbs.

During the meeting, the local leaders raised a series of issues with the Prime Minister regarding community fortification, the provision of government responses, and the promotion of growth anchors as part of the government's support for these localities.

The local leaders praised Prime Minister Netanyahu for his historic leadership and for his conduct of Operation Roaring Lion, and emphasized that they are strong, determined, and united.

The Prime Minister stated that he has instructed officials to generously provide all necessary solutions for the local authorities and residents, and expressed his solidarity with their steadfast resilience.

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Libya Calls for International Investigation Into Attack on Russian Gas Tanker

Sputnik News

20260329

BENGHAZI (Sputnik) - International organizations should investigate the attack on a Russian gas tanker in the Mediterranean off Libya's coast, Adel Abdelkafi, national security adviser to the Libyan Supreme State Council (SSC), told Sputnik.

The Russian Ministry of Transport said on March 3 that the Russian gas tanker Arctic Metagaz had been attacked by unmanned Ukrainian boats off the coast of Libya, in close proximity to Malta's territorial waters in the Mediterranean Sea.

"This issue [the attack on the gas tanker] requires the attention of relevant international bodies or organizations with experience in resolving such incidents, in order to prevent negative consequences for the Libyan coast, Libyan territory, and its citizens," Abdelkafi said.

He emphasized that, along with international organizations, the attention of Mediterranean coastal states was also crucial to preventing such attacks, protecting the marine environment, and ensuring the security of these countries.

Earlier, Libya's National Oil Corporation (NOC) said it could manage the aftermath of the Ukrainian attack on the Russian LNG tanker off the coast of Libya. The LNG tanker will be towed to one of the corporation's ports.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova noted that the LNG tanker, carrying 100,000 cubic meters of liquefied natural gas, had lost propulsion and power and suffered a fire and gas explosion. All 30 crew members were rescued, but two sailors were injured.

 Sputnik

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Meeting between Deputy Prime Minister/Foreign Minister of Pakistan and Foreign Minister of Saudi Arabia

Pakistan Ministry of Foreign Affairs

The Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Pakistan, Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar met with H.H. Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, Foreign Minister of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

During the meeting, the two leaders held detailed discussions on the evolving regional and international developments. They underscored the importance of dialogue, diplomacy, and collective efforts to promote peace, security and stability in the region.

Reaffirming their commitment for closer engagement, the two sides agreed to continue working together at bilateral and multilateral levels to further strengthen cooperation and contribute to regional peace and prosperity.



Islamabad

29 March 2026

81/2026

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Philippines reaffirms adherence to one-China policy, does not recognize Taiwan as 'sovereign state' at China-Philippines diplomatic consultation: Chinese FM

Global Times

By Global Times Published: Mar 28, 2026 06:21 PM

China and the Philippines reaffirmed their commitment to advancing dialogue and stabilizing bilateral relations, as Manila reiterated its adherence to the one-China policy and stated that it does not recognize Taiwan as a "sovereign state," according to a statement released by the Chinese Foreign Ministry on Saturday after a new round of diplomatic consultations.

On Saturday, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Sun Weidong co-chaired the 24th China-Philippines Foreign Ministry Consultations (FMC) with Undersecretary for Policy of the Department of Foreign Affairs of the Philippines Leo M. Herrera-Lim in Quanzhou, East China's Fujian Province, which marks the first such consultation in three years, following the 23rd round held in Manila in March 2023.

The two sides held candid and in-depth exchanges on China-Philippines relations as well as international and regional issues of shared concern, according to the statement.

Sun noted that China and the Philippines are close neighbors who cannot be moved away from each other, stressing that good-neighborliness and friendship have long been the mainstream of bilateral relations. He said that a stable and sound China-Philippines relationship serves the fundamental interests of both countries and their peoples.

The Chinese side attaches importance to the Philippine side's willingness to stabilize relations and strengthen dialogue, Sun said, expressing hope that the Philippines will work in the same direction with China and take concrete steps to create the necessary conditions and atmosphere for improving bilateral ties.

Herrera-Lim said that the Philippines is willing to continue advancing diplomatic dialogue with China, enhance mutual understanding and trust, properly manage differences, and promote the steady improvement of bilateral relations, according to the statement.

He also reiterated that the principles of the 1975 China-Philippines Joint Communique remain the cornerstone of bilateral ties. The Philippines adheres to the one-China policy, recognizes that the Taiwan question is China's internal affair, and does not recognize Taiwan as a "sovereign state," he said.

Both sides also positively evaluated the development of China-ASEAN relations. Amid a complex and evolving regional situation, they agreed to strengthen communication and coordination, promote progress in East Asian cooperation, and jointly safeguard regional stability and development.

On the same day, Sun and Herrera-Lim also co-chaired the 11th meeting of the China-Philippines Bilateral Consultation Mechanism on the South China Sea (BCM) in Quanzhou, according to another statement released by the Chinese Foreign Ministry on Saturday.

During the meeting, the two sides had candid and constructive exchanges on the situation in the South China Sea. The Chinese side lodged solemn representations over the Philippine side's recent maritime infringements, provocations and related hype, urging the Philippines to match its words with deeds and return to the right track of addressing maritime issues through dialogue and consultation, so as to create favorable conditions and an appropriate atmosphere for stabilizing bilateral relations, according to the statement.

The two sides also discussed cooperation in areas such as maritime law enforcement and marine science and technology, making positive progress. They agreed to strengthen communication and dialogue on maritime issues, properly manage the situation at sea, and steadily advance practical cooperation across various fields.

Both sides further agreed to work with other ASEAN countries to fully and effectively implement the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC), accelerate consultations on the Code of Conduct in the South China Sea (COC), and strive for an early conclusion of the COC, in a bid to jointly safeguard peace and stability in the South China Sea, according to the statement.

Representatives from departments including foreign affairs, defense, natural resources and coast guards attended the meeting.

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PLA activities in the waters and airspace around Taiwan

ROC Ministry of National Defense

2026.03.29

Issuing AuthorityPolitical Warfare Bureau

PLA activities in the waters and airspace around Taiwan

1.Date:

6 a.m. Mar. 28 (Sat.) to 6 a.m. Mar. 29 (Sun.) (UTC+8)

2.PLA activities:

19 sorties of PLA aircraft, 9 PLAN ships and 2 official ships operating around Taiwan were detected as of 6 a.m. (UTC+8) today. 13 out of 19 sorties crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait and entered Taiwan's northern, central, southwestern and eastern ADIZ. ROC Armed Forces have monitored the situation and employed CAP aircraft, Navy ships, and coastal missile systems in response to detected activities.

1150329_PLA activities in the waters and airspace around Taiwan

1150329_PLA air activities in the vicinity of Taiwan

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RAF personnel become first ever drone 'aces' during operations in the Middle East

Press release

Crack gunners from the RAF Regiment have become 'aces' for the first time, having blasted Iranian drones out of the sky during operations in the Middle East, protecting British interests, partners, and personnel in the region.

From: Ministry of Defence and Alistair Carns DSO OBE MC MP

Published 28 March 2026

RAF Regiment gunners in the Middle East become 'aces' for the first time in the unit's history.

The "Ace" term is traditionally used for a pilot who shoots down at least five enemy aircraft in combat.

Gunners in the RAF Regiment have won the term for the first time through shooting down five or more Iranian drones.

Crack gunners from the RAF Regiment have become 'aces' for the first time, having blasted Iranian drones out of the sky during operations in the Middle East, protecting British interests, partners, and personnel in the region.

The four personnel achieved "ace" status by taking out five or more drones during operations in the Middle East.

The 'ace' title is based on the same definition used in the Second World War, when a pilot was named an 'ace' if they shot down five or more enemy aircraft.

The evolution of the much-acclaimed mark of respect and recognition demonstrates how no matter the era, the RAF still protects the skies.

The new 'aces' operate a complex system of defences to protect personnel and equipment on the ground. To defeat the enemy, they combine early-warning sensors, electronic warfare, and the state-of-the-art Rapid Sentry air defence system armed with Lightweight Multirole Missiles (LMM).

RAF Regiment gunners in the Middle East face a range of threats, including from uncrewed systems, hostile drones, and complex swarming technologies designed to disrupt operations and endanger personnel on the ground.

An RAF Regiment gunner 'ace' said:

We are all RAF Gunnerssome as young as 18, many of us with over five confirmed engagements, and some just eight months out of training. We are proud to represent the next generation of the Corps. Under constant threat, we are responsible for detecting, tracking and engaging targets, often while coming under fire but we continue to load and operate equipment even as missiles land around us. We take immense pride in our role. Working long, demanding shifts in high-pressure conditions, we remain focused, determined, and resilient.

Minister for the Armed Forces Al Carns MP said:

Our teams across the Middle East are operating in some of the most demanding conditions imaginable, and they are delivering with professionalism, courage and real combat skill. I am hugely proud of our RAF Regiment. Night after night, under threat, they are protecting British lives and British interests, and doing so in the finest traditions of the RAF Regiment. Several of these heroes have achieved 'ace' status neutralising Iranian drones. The first of its kind, it isn't just impressive, it is exceptional. We don't say it enough in the UK, but thank you for your Service.

Wing Commander Richard Maughan, Officer Commanding No. 2 CounterUncrewed Aerial Systems Wing said:

Since the outset of the conflict in late February 2026, RAF Regiment personnelsupported by Royal Air Force engineers and air surveillance officershave been at the forefront of countering persistent oneway attack drones targeting UK and Allied personnel, infrastructure, and assets in the Middle East. During the 23rd and 24th of March, RAF Regiment gunners operating within a groundbased counterdrone unit delivered the most effective defensive outcome achieved in a single night to date, underscoring the Regiment's central role in force protection within a highthreat environment.

Air Cdre Paul Hamilton, Commander Global Enablement:

Our deployed gunners are showing outstanding courage to defend deployed UK personnel, allies, and partners every day. They are genuinely putting their own lives at risk in the defence of others; as their Commandant General, I am extremely proud of the professionalism and self-sacrifice being displayed by these amazing people.

This defensive action is in line with the UK's policy to defend British people, interests, and partners in the region while avoiding being drawn into the wider conflict.

It comes as the Defence Secretary this week announced that the UK will deploy Rapid Sentry to Kuwait to support the country's air defence against Iranian attacks.

The MOD also confirmed last week that the UK intends to buy further Lightweight Multirole Missiles (LMM) to supply to British forces and support partners in the region, including with training in the UK where needed.

As RAF Regiment gunners have shown, Lightweight Multirole Missiles, manufactured by Thales UK in Belfast, have proven highly capable for air defence in the Middle East.

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Russian Troops Liberate Brusovka Village in Donetsk People's Republic - MoD

Sputnik News

20260328

Russian Battlegroup Zapad have liberated the settlement of Brusovka in the Donetsk People's Republic, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Saturday.

"Battlegroup Zapad have liberated the village of Brusovka in the Donetsk People's Republic as a result of active and decisive operations," the ministry said.

Ukraine lost more than 335 soldiers in combat against Russia's Battlegroup Tsentr over the past day, in addition to losses in manpower and equipment on other fronts, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Saturday.

"The Ukrainian forces lost over 335 soldiers, seven armored fighting vehicles, 22 motor vehicles, and four field artillery pieces, including a US-made 155-mm Paladin self-propelled howitzer," the ministry said.

This is in addition to more than 195 Ukrainian soldiers eliminated over the past day by Russia's Battlegroup Sever, over 265 by Battlegroup Vostok, up to 160 by Battlegroup Zapad, up to 130 by Battlegroup Yug, and over 55 by Battlegroup Dnepr, the ministry also said.

 Sputnik

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Russia's FSB Foils Terrorist Attack Planned by Ukraine

Sputnik News

20260328

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) prevented a terrorist attack planned by Kiev against a law enforcement officer in Stavropol, the FSB press center said on Saturday.

"The Federal Security Service of Russia in the city of Stavropol prevented a sabotage and terrorist act planned by a citizen of Russia, born in 1995, on the instructions of the special services of Ukraine. The person involved proactively established contact in the Telegram messenger with the Ukrainian handler, on whose instructions he conducted reconnaissance against a law enforcement officer and members of his family to commit a terrorist act," the FSB said.

The attacker, acting on the instructions of an employee of the Ukrainian special services, took an improvised explosive device from a cache to detonate the victim's personal car, the FSB added.

"When the saboteur was detained by officers of the special forces of the FSB of Russia, the Ukrainian handler carried out a remote detonation of an IED [improvised explosive device], as a result of which the criminal received injuries incompatible with life," the statement read.

During the inspection of the scene, a second improvised explosive device was seized, containing 1.5 kilograms (3 pounds) of plastic explosive.

 Sputnik

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Defense AI Center "A1": Ministry of Defence accelerates AI integration into warfare

Ministry of Defence of Ukraine

28 March, 2026, 7:32 PM EET

The Ministry of Defence of Ukraine is developing the Defense AI Center "A1" to accelerate AI integration in the military domain and shorten the path from battlefield experience to technological solutions.

Following its launch, the center focused on the following core areas: data processing, infrastructure development, and team building. Today, it operates as a fully-fledged structure integrating the development, research, and deployment of AI solutions.

"We focus on tools that provide a practical advantage on the battlefield," said Ukraine's Minister of Defence, Mykhailo Fedorov.

Key focus area of the Defense AI Center "A1"

The center's key focus area is data processing.

In parallel, the team's development activities include:

modeling and simulation environments for testing solutions;

AI infrastructure to enable rapid deployment of AI systems;

tools that can be immediately integrated within military units.

The Ministry of Defence is developing unified approaches to ensuring their quality, standardization, protection, and use for AI training. This lays the foundation for accurate analysis, forecasting, and rapid decision-making on the battlefield.

Leadership with experience in AI projects

Appointed as heads of the Defense AI Center "A1":

Danylo Tsvok . Former Chief AI Officer at the Ministry of Digital Transformation and former Head of the WINWIN AI Center of Excellence. He oversaw the launch of key national AI projects, including Diia.AI, the national LLM, and the AI development strategy through 2030. In parallel, he worked on defense AI solutions and built partnerships with Big Tech companies.

. Former Chief AI Officer at the Ministry of Digital Transformation and former Head of the WINWIN AI Center of Excellence. He oversaw the launch of key national AI projects, including Diia.AI, the national LLM, and the AI development strategy through 2030. In parallel, he worked on defense AI solutions and built partnerships with Big Tech companies. Dmytro Ovcharenko. Former AI CTO at the Ministry of Digital Transformation and Technical Director of the WINWIN AI Center of Excellence. Under his leadership, teams launched state AI infrastructure, including AI Factory, and developed key AI solutions, including Diia.AI.

"In partnership, they shaped key AI areas at the national level and worked on defense AI projects. Under their leadership, Ukraine rose by a record 13 positions in the global AI ranking within a year," Mykhailo Fedorov emphasized.

Opportunities for partners to test AI technologies

Another dedicated area of the center's activities is building partnerships. The Defense AI Center "A1" is being implemented with the support of the UK government. The Ministry of Defence is also expanding cooperation at the intergovernmental level and with the private sector.

"Today, Ukraine is an environment where technologies move through the cycle from idea to battlefield deployment at the fastest pace. This enables partners to rapidly test and scale solutions with us," Mykhailo Fedorov underscored.

Ukraine is open to the joint development, pilot testing, and deployment of AI solutions with Ukrainian and international companies. This will help accelerate the development of technologies that ensure an advantage over the enemy.

If you have ideas for the center's development, we encourage you to send them to: ai@mod.gov.ua.

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Volodymyr Zelenskyy Received Briefings from Ukrainian Experts Sharing Experience and Expertise in Qatar

President of Ukraine

28 March 2026 - 18:13

In Doha, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with a team of Ukrainian experts who are sharing their experience and expertise in airspace protection in Qatar.

During the meeting, the Ukrainian specialists briefed the President on their work and developments. The Ukrainians conducted an overall assessment of the security situation, Qatar's capabilities to counter aerial threats, and developed concrete solutions to strengthen airspace protection.

"And today, during my meeting with the Amir of the State of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, it was important for me to hear such a high assessment of our team's work and appreciation for their consultations," Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.

According to the Ukrainian experts, ballistic missile and drone attacks are currently the biggest challenge in the region. And while only air defense systems can effectively counter ballistic threats, Ukrainians have developed significantly more cost-effective solutions to combat drones.

"These solutions have already proven their effectiveness against various types of drones, which is why Qatar is so interested in our experience. Ukraine has always said that we are ready to share our expertise and help those who can also help us strengthen our own protection in Ukraine," the President emphasized.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy noted that Qatar is ready for long-term cooperation across various areas. According to the President, it is important to restore stability in the region so that no one suffers from Iran's terrorist strikes. That is why Ukraine supports an approach that mutual support strengthens security worldwide.

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The President of Ukraine and the Amir of the State of Qatar Agreed on a 10-Year Defense Partnership

President of Ukraine

28 March 2026 - 15:18

The President of Ukraine and the Amir of the State of Qatar Agreed on a 10-Year Defense Partnership

In Doha, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with the Amir of the State of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani. The Prime Minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani, was also present at the meeting.

The leaders discussed the work of the Ukrainian team in Qatar and its initial results. His Highness expressed gratitude for this important assistance from Ukraine and noted the high level of Ukrainian expertise. The President of Ukraine and His Highness discussed issues that could further strengthen the protection of life in both countries and agreed on a mutually beneficial partnership in the defense sector for at least 10 years.

Particular attention was paid to the security situation in the Middle East and the Gulf region. Among other things, they discussed how to build an integrated system capable of effectively protecting lives and preventing this war from expanding.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy also informed the Amir about the situation in Ukraine and how Ukrainians are holding up despite ongoing Russian attacks. The Head of State stressed the importance of strengthening Ukraine's air defense. Our country relies on appropriate support from partners.

"We hope that by our next meeting the situation in the world will already be very different. We very much want both wars - Russia's war against Ukraine and the war here in the Middle East and the Gulf region - to end as soon as possible," the Amir of the State of Qatar stressed.

The Head of State thanked His Highness for the reception and readiness to work together for greater stability and security in both regions.

Following the meeting, the Chiefs of the General Staff of Ukraine and the State of Qatar signed a 10-year intergovernmental agreement on cooperation in the defense sector. Key areas of cooperation include the development of the defense industry and technologies, air defense, counter-drone capabilities, military training, exchange of experience, cybersecurity, AI, and command and control systems.

The agreement also provides for joint defense industry projects, the establishment of co-production facilities, and technological partnerships between companies. The document strengthens Ukraine's presence in the Middle East, significantly deepens bilateral cooperation between the two countries, and lays the foundation for large-scale investment and long-term contracts.

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The President Met with Ukrainian Experts Working in the UAE to Provide Assistance in Protecting Lives

President of Ukraine

28 March 2026 - 11:02

In Abu Dhabi, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with Ukrainian experts who have been working in the United Arab Emirates for several weeks to provide assistance in protecting lives.

During the meeting, they discussed the initial results, key conclusions from the team's work in the UAE, and several proposals.

"Our shared goal with our partners is greater security. Ukrainians, unfortunately, remember well what it was like when Russia's full-scale aggression against our country began. Much depended on fast and effective defense decisions. Today, Ukraine not only needs assistance but is also ready to support those who support us," Volodymyr Zelenskyy stressed.

The Ukrainian experts reported that during this time they have held meetings with representatives of the UAE's Security and Defense Forces and are working on strengthening protection against aerial threats.

"We discussed this right before my meeting with His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE. There is already a clear understanding of how the protection of airspace and critical infrastructure in the Emirates can be strengthened by integrating Ukrainian experience. This concerns comprehensive solutions that have proven their effectiveness," the Head of State noted.

The President thanked the Ukrainian experts for their service and expressed appreciation for the respect shown to Ukraine in the region.

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Joint Work to Protect Lives and the Situation on the Global Oil Market Were the Key Topics Discussed during a Meeting Between the President of Ukraine and the President of the UAE

President of Ukraine

28 March 2026 - 10:22

In Abu Dhabi, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy held a meeting with President of the United Arab Emirates Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

The leaders discussed the results of the Ukrainian team's work in the UAE, which is helping to protect lives here. Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan thanked Ukraine for providing expert support and for the experience Ukrainians are sharing. Volodymyr Zelenskyy emphasized that this is also a matter of principle for our country, because terror must not prevail anywhere in the world, and protection must be sufficient in every region.

The President also stressed that Ukraine is open to long-term joint work that, in a strategic perspective, will certainly strengthen our peoples and the protection of life in our countries. That is why it is important to use the capabilities of both states to enhance protection, including through investments, joint production, and the appropriate modernization of protection systems for critical and social infrastructure.

The leaders held a detailed discussion on the security situation in the UAE and the region, Iranian strikes, the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, and its impact on the global oil market.

"For all normal states, it is important to ensure stability and protect lives amid today's threats. Ukraine has relevant expertise in this area - our cities, unfortunately, have been under daily attack for four years of full-scale war. Ukrainians have developed an appropriate protection system that delivers a significant interception rate against enemy drones and missiles. This systematic approach and integration of experience is exactly what we are offering to our partners," the President of Ukraine said.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan also discussed possible steps for effectively responding to all current challenges and agreed to cooperate in the field of security and defense. Their teams are finalizing the details of the agreements.

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Zelenskyy In Jordan As Ukraine Pitches Drone, Missile Expertise On Gulf Tour

29.3.2026

Ukraine's president arrived in Jordan, the latest stop in a whirlwind tour of the Gulf region and the Middle East where he's touted Ukrainian prowess in building -- and defending against -- drones and missiles.

In a Telegram post, Volodymyr Zelenskyy did not detail any specifics of his scheduled talks in Amman.

"Today in Jordan. Security is the top priority, and it is important that all partners make the necessary efforts toward it. Ukraine is doing its part. Important meetings ahead," Zelensky said.

A day earlier, Zelenskyy traveled to the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, where he signed new, unspecified defense contracts. He was in Saudi Arabia a few days earlier.

Iran has launched hundreds of drones, as well as missiles, at US military facilities and other targets around the Gulf region.

Ukrainian officials have spotted what they hope will be lucrative new contracts with oil-rich Gulf States not only for drone technology, but also for the expertise and experience the country has built up over more than four years of all-out war with Russia.

Long-range Ukrainian drones have hit key Russian oil export terminals on the Baltic Sea over the past week, flying more than 900 kilometers from the Ukrainian border.

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/iran-protests-live-blog- trump-khamenei/33640284.html?lbis=447236

Copyright (c) 2026. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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Key Russian Oil Terminal Hit Again By Drones; Zelenskyy Threatens More Strikes On Russia Facilities

By Mike Eckel March 29, 2026

A major Russian oil export terminal was hit by Ukrainian drones for a third time in a week, officials said, the latest in a series of Ukrainian attacks that have severely restricted Russia's ability to take advantage of soaring global energy prices.



The Ust-Luga facility, on the southern shores of the Gulf of Finland near St. Petersburg, was damaged and set ablaze in the overnight attack on March 29, regional Governor Aleksandr Drozdenko said.



He did not identify the source of the drone; Russia's Defense Ministry said Ukraine had launched more than 345 drones overnight at Russian targets nationwide. Drozdenko said 31 drones were downed over the Leningrad region.

Ukraine's main security service, the SBU, claimed responsibility for the hit.

"All oil facilities are actually part of the Russian military-industrial complex and ensure the receipt of funds to the Russian budget that go to the war against Ukraine," Major General Yevhen Khmara, the head of the service, said in a statement. "Russia will pay a high price for its aggression."

It's at least the third time that Ust-Luga has been hit in the past week; satellite imagery taken March 27 showed large plumes of smoke and flames billowing from the facility, which also handles coal, fertilizer, and iron ore exports.



Primorsk, another major export terminal on the northern shores of the gulf, was also hit a week ago.

It was not immediately clear where Ukraine was launching its drones from, though most analysts suspect the long-range drones were being fired from Ukrainian territory, which is approximately 935 kilometers from the Baltic Sea.

Estonia and Latvia last week reported that Ukrainian drones had crashed on their territory. And early on March 29, Finland's air force said its fighter jets had tracked what appeared to be a group of drones. One of them, which was identified as a Ukrainian AN196 drone, crashed near the southeastern Finnish town of Kouvola. No injuries or damage was reported.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who is on a trip to the Middle East as part of an effort to market Kyiv's capabilities in anti-drone warfare, said on March 28 that about 60 percent of Ust-Luga's export capacity had been knocked out.



He also said that unnamed "partners" had questioned Ukraine about the strikes, which have added to the squeeze of global oil supplies. He said Ukraine would stop targeting Russian facilities if Moscow stops targeting Ukraine's energy infrastructure, which it has been doing throughout the winter.



With access to the Baltic Sea, Primorsk and Ust-Luga are two of the largest terminals for the export of Russian oil to Western markets. Last week, Reuters reported that the Ukrainian campaign may have taken more than 40 percent of Russia's overall export capacity off-line.

A major oil export pipeline, Druzhba, that crosses through Ukrainian territory, has also been off-line for months now, after an unexplained explosion.

"This is the most serious threat to exports of Russian oil and oil products since the war began," energy analyst Boris Aronshtein said.



"The thoughtfulness, the scale and direction of the attacks, as well as the timing of their execution -- all of this together produced an effect that I personally cannot recall in the four-plus years of the war," he told Current Time on March 26.



Russia, meanwhile, kept its near nightly barrage of Ukrainian targets, firing more than 400 drones and missiles at sites across the country, Ukrainian officials said.



At least several people were wounded in the Kharkiv region as a result of the attack, local police officials, including three people whose car was hit by a drone.



In the Black Sea region of Odesa, drones struck an energy facility, causing power outages in several towns, according to emergency officials.

With reporting by Current Time

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-ukraine-oil-drone-attack- fire-export/33719116.html

Copyright (c) 2026. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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Russia Urges US to Demand That Ukraine Comply With Alaska Agreements - Kremlin Aide

Sputnik News

20260329

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Russia is calling on its US colleagues to fulfill what the countries agreed on in Anchorage, Alaska, Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov said.

"You know, I may be revealing a secret, but that's exactly what we're calling on our US colleagues to do. This is what is needed now," Ushakov told Russian journalist Pavel Zarubin in an interview out on Sunday, when asked why the Americans cannot demand that Kiev fulfill the agreements reached during the summit in Alaska.

The US could really "press and influence" Ukraine, Ushakov added.

In relations with foreign partners, Russia operates on the principle of "trust, but verify," he also said.

 Sputnik

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President of Ukraine and King of Jordan Discussed Potential Security Partnership

President of Ukraine

29 March 2026 - 21:33

In Amman, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy held a meeting with King Abdullah II of Jordan.

The key topic of the meeting was potential partnership in the security sector.

"Ukraine is open to joint work to defend against drone and missile attacks. The reality is that war is changing, and therefore technologies must be constantly adapted to new challenges on the battlefield. From our own experience, we know that without a unified system, it is simply impossible to establish comprehensive protection of people and critical infrastructure," Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.

The President emphasized that Ukraine has such a system because, for the fifth year of the full-scale war, Ukrainians have been forced to defend themselves against constant Russian strikes, including those carried out using Iranian drones.

"Russia is simply improving its weapons for killing, while we have to improve our solutions for protection. And it is very important that those to whom we offer our expertise can help strengthen us as well," the President stressed.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Abdullah II discussed in detail the situation in the Middle East and the Gulf region. The Head of State emphasized that Ukraine condemns the strikes from Iran and the fact that this war and crisis have also reached Jordan.

The President thanked the King for his openness to dialogue.

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Featured

Ato Forson unveils plan to tighten loan use after debt deal

GraphicOnline Business News Mar - 30 - 2026 , 14:44

Ghana is set to introduce a new legal framework to regulate public borrowing, in a move aimed at enforcing stricter fiscal discipline and ensuring that loans deliver tangible economic value.

The Finance Minister, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, announced plans for a proposed Loans Act shortly after the country signed its 11th bilateral debt restructuring agreement with EXIM Bank of India. He described the initiative as a key pillar in the governments efforts to reset Ghanas debt management strategy.

Under the proposed legislation, all public borrowing will be tied to clearly defined, high-impact investments, with an emphasis on value for money. The measure is intended to curb non-essential borrowing and ensure that loans are channelled into projects that generate measurable economic and social returns.

Officials say the move forms part of broader efforts to consolidate gains made under Ghanas ongoing debt restructuring programme, which has seen the country renegotiate terms with bilateral creditors. The government maintains that improving macroeconomic conditions and consistent compliance with restructured obligations are gradually reducing the countrys risk of debt distress.

Dr Forson stressed that the new law would mark a significant departure from past borrowing practices, anchoring a more disciplined and accountable approach to public finance. He noted that future decisions on loans would be guided by a clear principle that any debt incurred must translate into real benefits for citizens.

The planned legislation is also expected to complement ongoing public financial management reforms aimed at strengthening oversight, improving investment efficiency and safeguarding long-term fiscal stability.

Analysts view the proposed Loans Act as a critical step towards preventing a return to unsustainable debt accumulation, while reinforcing confidence in Ghanas economic recovery efforts.

Background

Having completed the restructuring of domestic debt, which achieved about 85 per cent outturn, the government turned to external creditors, including both bilateral and commercial creditors.

On December 19, 2022, the government announced the suspension of external commercial obligations to enable it to renegotiate its domestic, external and bilateral debts.

Following the formation of the Creditor Committee of the Paris Club, backed by China, the government began debt restructuring negotiations with its bilateral creditors in a bid to restructure debts of about $5.4 billion.

The government signed a Bilateral Debt Restructuring Agreement with Spain, the fifth such agreement concluded under the countrys official creditor framework.

Earlier, bilateral agreements had been concluded with China Exim Bank, France, Finland, Spain, the United Kingdom, Germany and Belgium.

The signing of the restructured loan agreements forms part of Ghanas ongoing efforts to restore debt sustainability and strengthen the foundations for economic recovery.
Featured

NFA launches Ghana Film Experience to drive local film audience growth

Gifty Owusu-Amoah Showbiz News Mar - 30 - 2026 , 12:43 2 minutes read

As part of activities to mark Ghana Month and in line with efforts to reach at least one per cent of the population with Ghanaian films, the National Film Authority (NFA) has launched a new initiative dubbed the Ghana Film Experience.

The maiden edition took place on Saturday evening at Mamobi-Maamobi Mawaako in Accra, where hundreds of residents lined the streets from 6:30 p.m. for an open-air film screening.

The featured film, My Name is Ramadan, directed by Kobby Rana, set the tone for a vibrant and communal atmosphere as families, youth and community members gathered to celebrate Ghanaian storytelling through film.

The event was attended by key NFA officials, including board members George Bosompem, Augustine Abbey and Rebecca Ohene-Asah. The Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) and the Assembly Member for the area were also present, highlighting the importance of grassroots engagement in promoting the creative arts.

Representing the leadership of the Authority were the Executive Secretary, Kafui Danku-Pitcher, and the Deputy Chief Executive Officer, James Gardiner.

Speaking at the event, the Executive Secretary, Kafui Danku-Pitcher, stated, The Ghana Film Experience is about bringing our stories back to the people. By taking films directly to communities, we are not only increasing access but also strengthening our cultural identity and supporting the growth of the local film industry.

From a strategic perspective, she added, This initiative is part of our commitment to ensure that at least 1% of Ghanaians actively engage with local films. We believe that when our people see their own stories, it deepens appreciation and drives industry growth.

The Ghana Film Experience is set to be extended to communities across the country as part of a broader strategy to deepen audience engagement with Ghanaian cinema.

The impressive turnout at Mamobi-Maamobi Mawaako highlights strong public interest and sets a promising tone for future editions of the initiative.
What Ghanaian entrepreneurs can learn from the Chinese

Next article: What Ghanaian entrepreneurs can learn from the Chinese

Beyond blame: Rethinking killing of Ghanaian traders in Burkina Faso

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Featured

If teachers matter, why are they still unpaid?

Peter Anti Partey Opinion Mar - 30 - 2026 , 07:57 3 minutes read

No education system rises above the quality, dignity and stability of its teachers.

They are the human engine of reform, translating curriculum into competence, policy into practice, and children into capable citizens.

When teachers are treated with uncertainty and administrative neglect, the entire system trembles.

The continuous protests by newly posted teachers have exposed two persistent failures: the non-issuance of staff identification numbers that block payroll enrollment under the Ghana Education Service (GES), and unpaid salary arrears stretching 12 to 15 months or more.

These are not minor clerical oversights.

They represent a structural breakdown in teacher management, and the fact that they have not been resolved raises serious questions about our commitment to the education sector.

Post

Teachers who have been formally posted to schools are, by definition, needed.

Their placement responds to staffing gaps, particularly in rural and underserved communities.

They teach full timetables, supervise students, prepare lesson notes, and participate in school life.

Yet without staff IDs, they remain invisible within the payroll system, present in the classroom but absent in official records.

If their services are required, why are they not fully recognised within the system?

Why must young professionals begin their careers by petitioning for wages already earned?

Equally troubling is the growing number of trained and licensed teachers who remain outside the system altogether.

After completing accredited programmes and passing the licensure examination under the National Teaching Council, they are certified as professional educators.

Licensure signals readiness, competence and compliance with national standards.

Yet many remain unemployed or await recruitment indefinitely.

Difficult

This raises difficult questions.

Why invest public resources in training and licensing teachers if recruitment pathways remain uncertain?

If vacancies exist, as evidenced by ongoing classroom shortages, why do qualified professionals remain sidelined?

And if vacancies do not exist, why continue producing licensed graduates without clear workforce planning?

The cumulative effect is corrosive. Early-career teachers, instead of consolidating pedagogical skills, spend months navigating bureaucratic delays.

Financial insecurity erodes morale. The professions social prestige declines when stories of unpaid labour dominate public discourse.

Talented graduates, observing these patterns, may rationally choose alternative careers.

This is not merely a labour dispute; it is a governance issue.

Effective public administration requires seamless coordination between recruitment, documentation, payroll activation, and deployment.

Delay

Delays beyond reasonable processing periods cannot be normalised.

A digitised public sector should not require year-long waits to regularise employment.

Moreover, the ethical implications are profound.

Teachers are entrusted with shaping civic responsibility, discipline and national values.

What message does it send when the state fails to uphold reciprocal responsibility toward them?

The solution must be systemic: time-bound payroll integration for newly posted teachers, transparent tracking of recruitment and staff ID issuance, alignment between teacher education output and national staffing projections and emergency financial safeguards to prevent prolonged unpaid service.

A nation that proclaims education as its development priority must demonstrate that commitment in how it treats its teachers.

When educators are compelled to protest for basic remuneration or wait indefinitely for recruitment despite licensure, the damage extends beyond individuals; it dents the credibility of the entire profession.

If teachers are indispensable to national progress, then their treatment must reflect that truth.

Anything less undermines both education and the future it promises.

The writer is a lecturer, UCC; ED, IFEST_Ghana.
Next article: Oil rises above $115 and Asia shares slide as Iran war enters fifth week

Featured

Iran defiant as Israel strikes Tehran and drones fired at Israel from Yemen

Reuters International News Mar - 30 - 2026 , 10:50 4 minutes read

Iran fired multiple waves of missiles at Israel on Monday and vowed to "punish the aggressor" as Israeli forces pounded Tehran and oil prices rose after Yemen's Houthis entered the war in the Middle East.

Israel's military said two drones from Yemen had been intercepted on Monday, two days after the Iran-aligned Houthis, opens new tab fired missiles at Israel for the first time since the start of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran that has spread across the region.

The Israeli military said its forces were targeting what it described as military infrastructure in Tehran and had launched an attack on infrastructure in the Lebanese capital Beirut used by Hezbollah. The Iran-backed Lebanese group also fired more rockets at Israel on Monday, Israeli authorities said.

President Donald Trump said on Sunday the United States and Iran had been meeting "directly and indirectly" and that Iran's new leaders - following the killing of Iran's supreme leader on February 28 - have been "very reasonable".

But he has also been sending more U.S. troops to the region, leading to Iran's parliament speaker accusing Washington of sending messages about possible negotiations while planning a ground invasion and prompting more defiance from Tehran.

IRAN DEFIANT

Iran's acting defence minister, Majid Ebn-e Reza, was quoted by the Iranian news agency IRNA on Monday as telling his Turkish counterpart that Tehran would continue to "punish aggressors, create deterrence and ensure war won't repeat itself".

The month-long war has spread across the region, killing thousands, causing the biggest disruption ever to energy supplies and hitting the global economy.

Oil prices extended gains on Monday, with Brent crude futures up 2.8% to nearly $116 a barrel at 0933 GMT.

The effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz by Iran has severely disrupted energy markets as it is a conduit for about a fifth of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas supplies.

The Houthi attacks on Israel raise the prospect that they could target and block a second important shipping route, the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.

The Financial Times quoted Trump on Sunday as saying the U.S. could seize Kharg Island, opens new tab, from where Iran exports much of its oil, but also that a ceasefire could come quickly. Taking control of Kharg would require ground troops.

'MEANINGFUL TALKS'

Pakistan, which is acting as an intermediary between Tehran and Washington, said it was preparing to host "meaningful talks" in the coming days aimed at ending the war. It was not clear whether the U.S. and Iran had agreed to attend.

"I think we'll make a deal with them, I'm pretty sure, but it's possible we won't," Trump told reporters on Sunday evening as he traveled aboard Air Force One to Washington.

Trump said he thought the U.S. had already accomplished "regime change" in Tehran after airstrikes killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and other top officials, but said twice that their replacements seemed "reasonable". Khamenei was replaced by his son, Mojtaba Khamenei.

Trump also has the option of launching a ground offensive, with the U.S. Department of Defense dispatching thousands of troops to the Middle East, but he has not approved any of those plans, according to multiple news outlets.

ISRAELI STRIKES

Four weeks of U.S.-Israeli bombardment has failed to silence Iran's missile and drone batteries, and Iran has replaced leaders killed in the attacks. Iran confirmed on Monday the death of Revolutionary Guards Navy Commander Alireza Tangsiri, several days after Israel said he had been killed.

Kuwait said on Monday it had intercepted five drones in areas under its protection. Iraq's Defence Ministry said the Mohamad Alaa air base, beside Baghdad International Airport, was hit by rockets early on Monday, destroying an aircraft but causing no casualties.

Global airlines have begun to increase fares and cut capacity to cope with the surge in the oil price, but economic analysts say the industry's ability to remain profitable may depend on whether consumers pull back on flying as energy costs threaten household budgets.

A majority of Americans are opposed to the war and a military escalation, which would risk a protracted crisis, would likely weigh further on Trump's already low approval ratings ahead of November midterm elections for Congress.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday he had ordered the military to further expand its operations in southern Lebanon, citing continued rocket fire by Hezbollah.

Israel has said it will seize a chunk of southern Lebanon to create a "buffer zone" against Hezbollah, stoking Lebanese fears of Israeli military occupation that could deepen instability and cause further displacement.

U.S.-based rights group HRANA says nearly 3,500 people have been killed in Iran, including 1,550 civilians, while authorities in Lebanon say nearly 1,240 people have been killed there. Over 400 Hezbollah fighters have been killed since it fired on Israel on March 2, sources told Reuters, but it is unclear if the official death toll includes those fighters.

At least 100 people have been killed in Iraq and 13 U.S. service members have been killed.
GES directs closure of nearby school after building collapse at Accra New Town kills 3

Previous article: GES directs closure of nearby school after building collapse at Accra New Town kills 3

Featured

Architects demand structural audits, stronger oversight after New Town building collapse

Mohammed Ali Mar - 30 - 2026 , 11:43 3 minutes read

Architects in Ghana are calling for mandatory structural audits of long-abandoned buildings and the deployment of qualified professionals to district assemblies, warning that persistent regulatory gaps continue to fuel building collapses across the country.

The President of the Ghana Institute of Architects (GIA), Mr Tony Asare, said recurring structural failures point to deep-rooted weaknesses in supervision, enforcement and professional capacity within local authorities.

Speaking in an interview on Joy FM on March 30, 2026, Mr Asare said concerns raised by industry professionals over the years had largely been ignored, allowing unsafe construction practices to persist.

This country must take the safety of its people seriously, he said. We keep asking ourselves why this keeps reoccurring.

His remarks follow the collapse of an uncompleted multi-storey building at Accra New Town on March 29, 2026, which claimed three lives and left several others injured.

Call for structural audits

Mr Asare stressed the urgent need for structural audits of buildings that remain incomplete for extended periods, noting that prolonged exposure to weather conditions can significantly weaken their integrity.

He explained that many such structures across the country are being repurposed for activities, including worship and commercial use, without undergoing proper safety checks.

According to him, building permits typically expire after five years, after which assemblies are expected to require structural assessments before renewal.

If a building is sitting there, usually the permit expires after five years. As part of the re-permitting process, the assembly demands a structural audit before a new permit is issued, he said. Are we taking these decisions?

He added that decisions to demolish abandoned structures should be based on technical assessments rather than blanket enforcement.

Shortage of professionals

Mr Asare also raised concerns about the severe shortage of architects within district assemblies, which are mandated to enforce building regulations.

We have 261 assemblies. There are only about 10 architects, he said. Who does the architectural work? Somebody is playing a role the person is not qualified to carry out.

He noted that although assemblies are responsible for development control, the absence of a legal requirement to maintain adequate technical staff undermines effective supervision.

Use of incomplete structures

The GIA President questioned the increasing use of uncompleted buildings for public activities, particularly religious gatherings and commercial operations.

Before you can occupy a building, you need a certificate of habitation, he said. Is it permissible for a building that is not fully completed to be used for such purposes?

He further warned that buildings designed for specific purposes are often repurposed without reviewing their structural suitability.

Legal and workmanship gaps

Mr Asare said existing building regulations place significant responsibility on developers, allowing them to engage untrained workers without sufficient oversight.

If the developer picks somebody who is not competent, the law cannot do much about it, he said.

He disclosed that the institute is preparing proposals to amend aspects of the building regulations to strengthen accountability and enforcement.

Concerns over materials

Beyond regulatory lapses, Mr Asare highlighted concerns about the quality of construction materials on the market, particularly reinforcement bars.

He said some iron rods advertised at standard sizes were often found to be below specification when measured, compromising structural strength.

While the Ghana Standards Authority is responsible for monitoring material quality, he noted that capacity constraints continue to limit effective enforcement.

Call for urgent reforms

Mr Asare said the recurring incidents of building collapse should trigger a comprehensive review of how institutions enforce construction standards.

If you go to the assembly and there is no architect and there is no engineer, who supervises the building? he asked.

This country must take the safety of its people seriously, he added.
Featured

Churches using uncompleted buildings risk collapse from drumming, singing  GIA President

Mohammed Ali Mar - 30 - 2026 , 11:33 3 minutes read

The President of the Ghana Institute of Architects (GIA), Mr Tony Asare, has cautioned against the use of uncompleted buildings for church services, warning that such structures are vulnerable to collapse due to structural weaknesses worsened by vibrations.

His warning follows the collapse of an uncompleted multi-storey building near the Experimental D/A School at Accra New Town, which claimed three lives on March 29, 2026.

A total of 23 people  15 females and eight males, including three minors  were trapped when the structure gave way while worshippers had gathered inside the building, which had been converted into a makeshift church.

Speaking in an interview on Joy FM on Monday, March 30, 2026, Mr Asare said activities common in church services could exert additional stress on already compromised structures.

In our churches, we do a lot of drumming and singing, and the rhythm affects buildings, he said. These activities actually set buildings on resonance and even weaken it further.

He described the continued use of uncompleted structures for worship as both widespread and dangerous.

These days, you even see churches operating within incomplete structures, including spaces around fuel stations, he said. Is it acceptable for a building that is not fully completed to be used for such purposes?

Legal requirements often ignored

Mr Asare stressed that existing laws clearly prohibit the occupation of buildings without proper certification.

Before a building can be occupied, it must have a certificate of habitation, he said. If the building is to be used for a different purpose, then the design must be reviewed to suit that use.

He noted that property owners often grant access to such structures, raising questions about responsibility and enforcement.

Mr Asare added that the issue had been discussed within professional circles for years without meaningful action.

We have discussed how church buildings should be designed to withstand these activities, but nothing has changed, he said.

Weak enforcement and poor materials blamed

Mr Asare described the Accra New Town tragedy as part of a recurring national problem driven by weak enforcement, substandard materials and poor workmanship.

A lot of our buildings do not meet the required standards, he said. Why does this keep happening?

On construction materials, he raised concerns about discrepancies in the quality of reinforcement bars on the market.

Some companies advertise iron rods as 14mm, but when you check, they measure about 12.5mm, he said. People buy them thinking they are getting the right size.

He added that some materials were brittle and failed to meet safety requirements, noting that the Ghana Standards Authority was responsible for quality checks but faced capacity constraints.

Concerns over unregulated construction practices

Mr Asare also criticised provisions in the current building regulations under Act 2465, which place significant responsibility on developers without requiring strict professional oversight.

If you engage a mason or steelbender from the roadside, there is little in the law to prevent it, he said.

He disclosed that the Ghana Institute of Architects was preparing a position paper to advocate reforms to strengthen the regulatory framework.

Shortage of professionals at assemblies

The GIA President further highlighted the limited number of qualified professionals within district assemblies tasked with enforcing building regulations.

We have 261 assemblies, but only about 10 architects, possibly not more than 12, he said. People without the right training are performing roles they are not qualified to handle.

He questioned how effective supervision could be achieved under such conditions.

If there is no architect or engineer at the assembly, who supervises the building when officials visit sites? he asked.

Mr Asare called for urgent national action to address the situation.

This country must take the safety of its people seriously, he said.
Featured

Death toll rises in Accra New Town building collapse as rescue efforts continue

GraphicOnline Mar - 30 - 2026 , 07:23 3 minutes read

The death toll from the collapse of an uncompleted three-storey building at Accra New Town has risen to three, with authorities confirming the updated figure after cross-checking data from multiple emergency agencies.

Interior Minister Mohammed Muntaka Mubarak announced the revised toll on Monday, up from the initial two fatalities reported shortly after the incident on Sunday. The collapse occurred at a structure within the premises of the Accra New Town Experimental Basic School, which is also used by Christian worshippers.

Rescue operations intensified overnight, with emergency teams working under floodlights in a race against time to locate any survivors who may still be trapped beneath the rubble. Personnel from the Ghana Police Service, the Ghana National Fire Service, the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) and the National Ambulance Service have all been deployed to the scene.

Providing details of the casualty figures, the Minister said authorities had taken deliberate steps to ensure accuracy before making the announcement. So far, information that has been cross-checked, double-checked, visited all the hospitals, just to be sure that we dont give any information that may be far away from the fact, he said.

He acknowledged the challenges in determining how many people were present in the building at the time of the collapse but indicated that coordinated efforts by emergency services had helped establish a clearer picture. As we all know, it is very difficult for you to go to how many people were in there, but at least with the cross-check from the police and National Ambulance Service, he noted.

According to the Minister, a total of 23 people were involved in the incident. What we can say is that there was a total of 23 people. Unfortunately, weve lost three - a male and two females. Theyre not able to tell names for now, he disclosed.

He added that the remaining victims are receiving treatment at various health facilities across the capital. And thank God, 20 are alive in various hospitals - the Police Hospital, Mamobi and a private facility, he said.

The Minister further revealed that women and minors constitute a significant proportion of those affected, although none of the deceased are minors. Out of the 23, the total number of females amongst them is 15, with eight males. Out of this, we have seven minors, but those who have lost their lives, theres no minor, he stated.

He commended emergency responders for their sustained efforts throughout the night. The Ambulance Service and their team have been here the whole night, and theyve done a wonderful job. We are really grateful. Gratitude to the media and everybody that Ive forgotten to mention, he added.

The collapse followed a heavy rainstorm on Sunday, with early responders including residents and bystanders who used basic tools and their bare hands to pull victims from the debris before official rescue teams arrived.

Although several people have been rescued, fears remain that others could still be trapped, particularly after reports that some victims were heard calling for help from beneath the rubble.

The cause of the collapse remains unknown, and authorities say a full investigation will be launched once rescue operations are concluded.
Featured

GES directs closure of nearby school after building collapse at Accra New Town kills 3

GraphicOnline Mar - 30 - 2026 , 11:57 3 minutes read

The Ghana Education Service (GES) has ordered the immediate suspension of academic activities at the Accra Newtown Experimental D/A School following the collapse of a nearby building that left three people dead and several others injured.

The directive, issued after a high-level safety inspection at the school, effectively bars students from returning to campus until structural assessments are completed and authorities are satisfied that the environment is safe.

The Director-General of the GES, Professor Ernest Kofi Davis, said the Service would convene an emergency meeting with technical experts to determine the fate of the schools facilities in the aftermath of the incident.

We are going to work with the regional and national teams, including the estate department, to ensure that the remaining structures are safe for use. If they are not, we will advise students to avoid those areas, he said in an interview with Citi FM.

The precautionary move follows Sundays collapse of an uncompleted multi-storey structure within the premises of the school at Accra New Town, where a congregation had gathered for worship at the time of the incident.

The structure, which had reportedly been converted into a makeshift church, gave way during a heavy rainstorm, trapping 23 people beneath the debris.

Emergency teams led by the Ghana National Fire Service responded swiftly after receiving a distress call at about 5:01 p.m., launching a rescue operation that extended into the night under floodlights.

Twenty people were pulled alive from the rubble and transported to various health facilities, while three others  two females and one male  were confirmed dead.

Interior Minister Mohammed Muntaka Mubarak said the revised death toll was established after extensive verification across hospitals and emergency response teams.

So far, information that has been cross-checked, double-checked, visited all the hospitals, just to be sure that we dont give any information that may be far away from the fact, he said.

He noted that although it was difficult to immediately determine how many people had been inside the building, coordinated data from security and health agencies helped confirm the figures.

What we can say is that there was a total of 23 people. Unfortunately, weve lost three - a male and two females. Theyre not able to tell names for now, he disclosed.

The Minister added that the 20 survivors are currently receiving treatment at the Police Hospital, Mamobi Polyclinic and a private facility.

And thank God, 20 are alive in various hospitals - the Police Hospital, Mamobi and a private facility, he said.

He further indicated that women and minors made up a significant proportion of those affected, although none of the deceased were minors.

Out of the 23, the total number of females amongst them is 15, with eight males. Out of this, we have seven minors, but those who have lost their lives, theres no minor, he stated.

The incident has triggered renewed concern over the proximity of unsafe structures to learning environments, with education authorities now prioritising safety checks before allowing students to return.

Rescue efforts, involving the police, fire service, National Disaster Management Organisation and National Ambulance Service, continued amid fears that additional victims could still be trapped beneath the debris.

The cause of the collapse remains under investigation.
GES directs closure of nearby school after building collapse at Accra New Town kills 3

Next article: GES directs closure of nearby school after building collapse at Accra New Town kills 3

Featured

'GH19.1million repaid after Auditor-General flagged grain overpayments' - Deputy Minister

GraphicOnline Mar - 30 - 2026 , 12:19 2 minutes read

Rans Logistics has returned GH19.1 million to the state, just a week after being named in an Auditor-Generals special report for overpayments and missing grains, Deputy Finance Minister Thomas Nyarko Ampem has disclosed.

The company, cited for irregular payments related to the transportation of rice and maize, acted swiftly following the publication of the audit, which flagged the disappearance of thousands of tonnes of grain.

Speaking before Parliaments Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Monday, March 30 2026, the Deputy Minister described the repayment as early evidence that the audit is having tangible results.

On 10 March, I presented the audit findings to Parliament. Exactly a week later, on 17 March, Rans Logisticsthe company identified in the reportrefunded GH19.1 million to the state, he said.

The Deputy Minister clarified that the amount refunded does not fully cover the companys alleged infractions. The audit had also revealed that Rans Logistics was paid for over 7,000 metric tonnes of rice that remain unaccounted for.

We are expecting the value of these 7,000 metric tonnes of rice to be reimbursed as well. The Attorney-General is working with his team to recommend the appropriate course of action for all the identified breaches, Mr Ampem stated.

He emphasised that the audits purpose is to protect public resources and that the swift repayment demonstrates its effectiveness.

This example highlights the importance of the audit. Its objective was to safeguard state resources, and it is already beginning to achieve that purpose, he said.

The PAC continues to examine the findings, as other companies named in the report are also under scrutiny.
Featured

Christians mark Palm Sunday despite early morning rains

Daily Graphic Mar - 30 - 2026 , 09:57 5 minutes read

Christians across the country yesterday marked Palm Sunday with processions, a memorial on the Christian calendar that commemorates the triumphant entry of Jesus Christ into Jerusalem.

Despite heavy rains in some areas of the country, like in Accra and Ho, worshippers showed up at church with their palm fronds, ready to go on the Hosanna procession, one of the important celebrations in the Christian calendar.

Carrying palm fronds and gingered up by music from brass bands, they re-enacted the triumphant entry of Jesus Christ into Jerusalem, singing different Hosanna songs.

Kumasi

From Kumasi in the Ashanti Region, Gilbert Mawuli Agbey reports that the clergy and members of the St Paul-On-The-Hill Anglican Church, North Suntreso, led by the Parish Priest, Rev. Father Nana Akwasi Kessie, processed through some principal streets of North Suntreso in Kumasi.

Some elderly members of the congregation celebrating Palm Sunday on the premises of the Dela Congregation of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Ho

Processing through the community, with their brass band music, they attracted many of the residents who came out of their houses to cheer and wave at the church members as the procession passed.

Delivering the sermon, Venerable Francis Dwira urged Christians to offer support to the poor and the needy in society to deepen their solidarity with the sufferings of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Just as Jesus Christ died for the sake of mankind, he charged Christians to live exemplary lives in society to the glory of God, saying, I urge you to remain faithful to our crucified Lord at all times.

Further, he advised Christians to emulate the life of Jesus Christ, such as humility, love and compassion for their neighbours, and also admonished them against lording over others due to their social status.

Rain

From Ho-Kpodzi in the Volta Region, Alberto Mario Noretti reports that unfavourable weather conditions affected the usual zeal, enthusiasm and street processions which accompany the Palm Sunday celebrations.

A cross-section of the children and youth from the Kaneshie Congregation of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana on their Hosanna procession

A six-hour heavy downpour the night before, followed by hazy and threatening clouds the next morning (Sunday), compelled the elderly at the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Ghana (EPCG), Dela Cathedral at Ho-Kpodzi to confine their merry making, amid songs and praises, to the premises of the cathedral.

The young ones, however, defied the blurred weather to take part in a rather short procession on the streets.

Later, in a sermon, the Mens Fellowship Desk Officer of EPCG, Rev. Dr Abraham Akoto, reminded Christians that Palm Sunday signified victory after long sufferings, endurance and humility.

Christ went through all that to teach us that there was victory for us, ahead of every difficult situation, he added.

Cape Coast

From Cape Coast in the Central Region, Shirley Asiedu-Addo and Joana Kumi report that churches in Cape Coast held services to mark Palm Sunday and the triumphant entry into Jerusalem.

Delivering the sermon at the Parish Priest of Holy Cross Congregation, at Brafoyaw in Cape Coast, Rev. Fr. Raymond Chegedua Tangonyire, called on Christians to remain humble and obedient to God, even in the face of suffering and betrayal.

Before the Holy Mass, worshippers gathered at a designated point carrying palm branches and processing together into the church to mark Palm Sunday.

However, the early rains affected the procession, which is usually conducted along a longer route. Yesterday, it instead took place at a point directly in front of the church before entering the sanctuary.

Rev. Fr. Tangonyire reminded the congregation that Jesus Christ, despite possessing divine power, demonstrated humility and obedience to Gods will and endured suffering without

complaint for the salvation of humanity.

He explained that the life Christ led served as a model for all believers, stressing that true followers of Christ should be prepared to face challenges, including betrayal and hardship, but should remain steadfast in their faith.

He said as followers of Christ, they should keep three important truths in mind: that Christ suffered, died, and resurrected, and that Christians should be ready to walk a similar path in their spiritual journey.

At the Castle City Church, Bishop Courage Ahedor said believers must build faith, trusting that God was able to take them through their troubles to safety and peace.

Accra

In Accra, the procession at the Presbyterian Church of Ghana (PCG) Kaneshie Congregation was led by the Childrens Service and Junior Youth, who also used the event as an evangelism.

After going round the community, the children took the procession into the main auditorium of the church, where an adult service was taking place.

The adults joined in as they sang

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, Hosanna, Hosanna amid dancing.

The District Minister, Rev. Enoch Obuobi, while commending the young ones for defying the showers, reminded all about the significance of the occasion.

It is not just for us to dance and be happy, but it is a reminder and a commemoration of Jesus Christ arriving at Jerusalem to lay down his life for our salvation, he stated.

He used the occasion to pray for the children and youth.
Featured

Customs AI rakes in millions a day - Revenue projected to increase with full rollout

Samuel Doe Ablordeppey Mar - 30 - 2026 , 12:57 5 minutes read

The government has fully rolled out a new customs classification and valuation system at its ports of entry that has so far proved to be a revenue saver for the state.

The Publican Trade Solution, an artificial intelligence (AI)-based software, helps customs officers to determine the real value of imported goods declared into the customs system.

Briefing a section of journalists in Accra yesterday about its performance so far, the Deputy Minister of Finance, Thomas Nyarko Ampem, said after a pilot deployment at the port of Tema last month, Publican flagged many declarations that provided an average of $3 million a day extra revenue that would have been lost to various discrepancies.

Prior to that, another exercise with five importers conducted as a proof of concept before the deployment of Publican helped to detect discrepancies in the values of goods declared, leading to the payment of GH25 million liabilities by the sampled importers.

The AI application is being used in many countries.

This average determination works up to close to a billion Ghana cedis just for a month.

So, we project that this system would be able to rake in more customs revenue at the ports of entry, Mr Nyarko Ampem said.

The Deputy Minister of Finance was supported by the Commissioner-General of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), Anthovny Kwasi Sarpong, as well as scheduled officers from the Ministry of Finance and the Customs Division of the GRA.

The briefing, coming about two weeks after the deployment of the system, was part of a regular engagement with stakeholders on the deployment of the system, so as to straighten out any edges that may be going out of line.

Quarter of all transactions flagged

Mr Nyarko Ampem said since Publican went live on March 11 this year, it had so far endorsed the clearing of 75.3 per cent of all declarations made to customs, and flagged 24.7 per cent as being below the accepted values that pertained to those goods globally.

The system aggregates data from multiple sources in real time, comparing values of the same goods from the same sources to determine discrepancies in declaration or confirm them.

It, therefore, helps customs officers doing classification and valuation to arrive at decisions in just about five minutes, a departure from the previous system when the same task was completed in about two hours.

A decision-making and risk management tool, Publican does not replace the Integrated Customs Management System (ICUMS), which is the main interface used for declarations, classification, valuation and clearing of goods at Ghanas ports of entry, but augments other risk management tools and helps the customs officers to make decisions concerning the real values of imports, hence helping to safeguard revenues.

Mr Nyarko Ampem said with Publican, GRA had also introduced a new system where, instead of one customs officer handling a dispute, which could lead to collusion in passing what should be flagged, disputes were now being handled by a committee which sat twice a week.

The Deputy Finance Minister said the complaint resolutions being handled by the committee, which were already part of the customs system, were to curtail individual discretion in classification and valuation decision-making.

Delays resolved

Some importers and clearing agents have raised concerns about delays with the new customs AI system at the ports, saying it sometimes goes down, rendering importers unable to clear goods for days.

Explaining, Mr Nyarko Ampem said, besides the usual downtime of ICUMS that occurred once in a while, Publican did not cause delay but provided results in real-time.

Mr Sarpong added to the explanation, saying that delays occurred in the entry of wrong Harmonised System Codes (HS Code) for goods.

Customs identifies every product meant for international trade with HS Codes; therefore, a wrong code will result in a wrong classification, hence valuation.

The Commissioner-General added that for the past two weeks that the system had been in place, importers and clearing agents had been asked, according to customs rules, to input the HS Code, which resulted in mistakes with some of them.

To further streamline and fast-track the process, Mr Sarpong said customs, with the approval of the Ministry of Finance, would now allow customs officers to input the correct HS codes for various products identified as wrong, but they must be accepted by the importer.

Mr Sarpong said the use of the system by importers and freight forwarders did not come at any extra cost, as the government would bear that in order not to increase the cost of doing business at the ports.

Background

In January, the government announced its intention to deploy the AI system from February 1 this year, to improve and facilitate import clearance at the countrys entry points, starting with the Tema Port.

It is estimated that the rollout would boost customs revenue by between 40 per cent and 45 per cent, while significantly enhancing speed, efficiency and transparency in cargo processing.

It was also to address entrenched abuses in the use of import declaration forms (IDF).
Featured

Govt to distribute improved tomato variety seeds

Severious Kale-Dery Mar - 30 - 2026 , 12:32 3 minutes read

The Government has initiated moves to procure 13 tonnes of different varieties of tomato seeds for distribution to tomato farmers across the country.

The seeds are improved varieties with an improved yield profile and an extended shelf life.

The Minister of Food and Agriculture, Eric Opoku, who announced this at a media engagement in Accra, explained that it formed part of measures to boost the countrys tomato production and reduce importation to the barest minimum.

The intervention has become necessary following a widening gap between national demand and local production.

Demand outstrips production

The annual national tomato requirement is estimated at about 806,000 tonnes, while current production stands at around 510,000 tonnes.

The deficit of nearly 300,000 tonnes of tomato is often filled through imports.

The minister expressed concern that beyond the supply gap, low productivity per hectare remained a major challenge, stressing that while countries such as Burkina Faso recorded yields of about 18 tonnes per hectare, Ghana averaged only eight tonnes per hectare.

Mr Opoku stressed that addressing the challenge would require a shift from expanding land under cultivation to improving yields through better seed varieties and enhanced farming conditions.

We must focus on developing high-yielding varieties that can perform well under our ecological conditions, he said and was optimistic that ongoing collaboration with research institutions would help increase yields to at least 15 tonnes per hectare.

He explained that although Ghana cultivated significant land areas for tomatoes, output remained low due to reliance on rain-fed agriculture and limited irrigation infrastructure.

To address this, Mr Opoku said the government was expanding irrigation systems across key farming zones to ensure all-year-round production.

Vegetable cultivation

Under the Vegetable Development Programme, irrigation projects are being implemented in parts of the Ahafo and Bono regions, where about 60 hectares of land each are being developed with water supply systems to support continuous cultivation.

Mr Opoku said additional interventions included the rehabilitation of irrigation facilities at Dawhenya, where 500 hectares had been earmarked for tomato production, and Akumadan, where 100 hectares were being prepared for immediate cultivation.

The minister further disclosed that about 250 boreholes were being drilled nationwide to support vegetable farming, particularly in dry-season production areas.

He noted that access to reliable water sources would not only increase yields but also reduce farmers dependence on unpredictable rainfall patterns.

Irrigation

Mr Opoku said the country had adequate arable land, but productivity must be maximised through improved inputs and efficient water management systems.

In addition to irrigation, he said, the government was facilitating market access by linking farmers directly to buyers to reduce post-harvest losses, which currently accounted for about 30 per cent of production.

He said the combined interventions of improved seeds, expanded irrigation, input support and market linkages would significantly increase output and stabilise supply.

Mr Opoku assured the public that the measures being implemented would not only address the current shortfall but also position Ghana to achieve long-term self-sufficiency in tomato production.
Next article: NACOC seizes 37 sacks of suspected cannabis after navy interception near Ada

Featured

VIDEO: KsTU students unveil electric car that charges while driving

Gilbert Mawuli Agbey Mar - 30 - 2026 , 13:29 3 minutes read

Kumasi Technical University (KsTU) has unveiled an electric vehicle fitted with regenerative braking technology, marking a significant step in locally driven innovation in sustainable transport.

The five-seater vehicle, named Nimde3 Hyiren REV, was developed within six months by three final-year students as part of their Bachelor of Technology (BTec) in Automotive Engineering programme.

The project was supervised by the Head of the Automotive and Agricultural Mechanisation Department, Professor Prince Owusu-Ansah, with support from industry players.

Innovative charging system

The vehicles key feature is its regenerative braking system, which allows the battery to recharge automatically while in motion, particularly when the driver slows down or applies the brakes.

This innovation contrasts with conventional electric vehicles, which require stationary charging at designated points when their batteries run low.

The initiative, according to the university, responds to the global shift towards sustainable mobility while adapting such technologies to Ghanas transport and energy needs.

The vehicle, which can reach up to 150 kilometres per hour, was officially unveiled on Saturday, March 28, 2026, during a durbar to climax the universitys 70th-anniversary celebrations.

Advancing local innovation

Addressing the ceremony, the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Gabriel Dwomoh, said the university had advanced existing electric vehicle concepts by introducing regenerative capabilities.

He commended the collaboration between academia and industry, stating that this is what we can achieve if academia and industry come together.

He also highlighted other innovations developed by the university, including a multi-purpose rocket stove, a multi-purpose food dryer, a fish smoker, an RC feeder, drones, an electronic food warmer, a mini-cement mixer, and an air quality monitor.

I wish to call on our partners, the government, and the private sector to join us as we embark on the next phase of our journey. That is, focusing on digitalisation, artificial intelligence, and sustainable engineering, he said

Built from scratch

Providing further details in an interview, Prof Owusu-Ansah said the vehicle was built entirely from scratch and represents a departure from existing electric vehicles that rely solely on external charging.

He explained that the team aimed to develop a system that enables continuous charging during operation.

With our innovation, as the driver reduces the vehicles speed or steps on the brake while driving, the generator will automatically charge the battery.

This is to prevent the battery from running low before being charged. For instance, it can travel from Kumasi to Konongo and back without the battery being charged, Prof Owusu-Ansah indicated.

He added that as long as the vehicle is in motion, its battery continues to recharge, unlike conventional electric vehicles.

Next phase

On plans, Prof Owusu-Ansah said the university intends to refine the technology and scale up production to include larger vehicles.

He said, As a faculty, we are not going to rest on what we have achieved but will improve upon the vehicle in terms of its speed and other key aspects, noting, if anyone needs one and makes payment, it will be ready in six months.

Watch the video below;
Next article: Customs AI rakes in millions a day - Revenue projected to increase with full rollout

Featured

NACOC seizes 37 sacks of suspected cannabis after navy interception near Ada

Jemima Okang Addae Mar - 30 - 2026 , 13:07 1 minute read

The Narcotics Control Commission (NACOC) has taken custody of 37 sacks of substances suspected to be cannabis following a maritime interdiction by the Ghana Navy.

The operation was carried out on Friday, March 27, at Goi, near Ada in the Greater Accra Region, as part of ongoing efforts to clamp down on drug trafficking along Ghanas coastal corridors.

In a statement posted on the Commissions Facebook page, NACOC said preliminary examination indicates that each sack contains an estimated 70 parcels of the suspected cannabis, pointing to a significant quantity likely intended for distribution.

In addition to the sacks, the joint team recovered other items believed to have supported the smuggling operation, including two gallons of premix fuel, five empty gallons, and an outboard motor.

The seized canoe and all related exhibits have since been officially handed over to NACOC, which has taken custody of the items for further investigations and possible prosecution.

NACOC says it has commenced investigations to identify and apprehend individuals connected to the smuggling attempt, as authorities intensify surveillance and enforcement along the countrys coastline.
See the areas that will be affected by ECG's planned maintenance on Tuesday, March 31, 2026

Next article: See the areas that will be affected by ECG's planned maintenance on Tuesday, March 31, 2026

Featured

Police warn of prosecution as deepfake suspects arrested over President Mahama videos

Mohammed Ali Mar - 30 - 2026 , 17:30 4 minutes read

The Ghana Police Service has cautioned the public against the creation and circulation of artificial intelligence-generated deepfake content, warning that offenders risk prosecution under Ghanaian law.

The warning was issued at a press briefing in Accra on March 30, 2026, and applies to individuals who share or forward unverified videos and images on social media platforms such as WhatsApp, Facebook and TikTok.

A deepfake is digitally manipulated content  including video, audio or images  created using artificial intelligence to appear authentic. The technology can convincingly mimic a persons face, voice or actions, making it seem as though they said or did something they never did.

Police intensify digital surveillance

The Director-General of the Public Affairs Directorate, DCOP Grace Ansah-Akrofi, speaking on behalf of the Inspector-General of Police, Mr Christian Tetteh Yohuno, said the Service had enhanced its online monitoring systems and would take firm action against offenders.

Creating, sharing, or promoting deepfake or fraudulent content targeting public figures constitutes a criminal offence under the laws of Ghana, DCOP Ansah-Akrofi said.

She added that the police had increased their online presence and patrols, and would continue to arrest and prosecute individuals who use digital platforms to spread false information, defraud the public or undermine state institutions.

Two arrested over Mahama deepfake videos

The warning coincided with the arrest of two suspects linked to the production and circulation of deepfake videos impersonating President John Dramani Mahama and the First Lady, Mrs Lordina Mahama.

Police said that from March 26, 2026, manipulated videos of the President were circulated on Facebook, while similar content impersonating the First Lady appeared across TikTok, Facebook and WhatsApp. The videos were allegedly used to solicit investment funds from the public.

Following digital forensic analysis and surveillance by the Criminal Investigations Departments Cybercrime Enforcement Team, two suspects were arrested on March 28, 2026.

The first suspect, Ben Affegensa, 41, also known online as Charisee Quentin, was identified through analysis of the social media accounts involved. He was initially tracked to Kasoa in the Central Region and later arrested at Kuproti.

The second suspect, Michael Yogosa, was arrested the same day at a family funeral after hours of surveillance. Police said he is linked to a separate network of Facebook accounts used to impersonate the First Lady.

Both suspects remain in police custody and are assisting with investigations.

Legal backing and public caution

Although no specific law was cited during the briefing, provisions under the Cybersecurity Act, 2020 (Act 1038) criminalise the publication and sharing of false or misleading digital content, as well as unauthorised access to data. Offences under the Act may attract fines or custodial sentences.

DCOP Ansah-Akrofi urged the public to exercise caution when engaging with online content, particularly material involving public figures promoting investment opportunities or making public statements.

The public is cautioned to exercise discernment in the consumption and sharing of social media content, and to verify information before sharing from fake accounts, she said.

She further advised victims of such fraudulent schemes to report to the Cybercrime Enforcement Team of the CID or the nearest police station.

Other arrests

In a related development, the police said a suspect, Mr John Kwabena Owusu-Hadza, 49, was arrested at about 2 a.m. on March 27, 2026, in the Ashanti Region following a petition by the Judicial Service of Ghana over a viral video in which he allegedly threatened a High Court judge, Justice Patricia Fosu.

Police also confirmed the arrest of Eric Kenny, 40, in connection with the murder of Eno Kukri, 56, who was stabbed at his farm cottage in Suhum in the Eastern Region on February 13, 2026. The suspect is said to have issued threats to the deceased before the incident and fled the area before his arrest on March 28, 2026.

In a separate case, four suspects, including an alleged American national identified as Justin Madden, have been arrested over a series of robberies targeting jewellery shops in Accra and Takoradi between April 2025 and March 2026. Police said the value of items stolen in five incidents exceeds GH24 million, while a receiver identified only as Oyarifa remains at large.

DCOP Ansah-Akrofi commended officers involved in the operations and acknowledged members of the public who provided intelligence leading to the arrests. She urged continued cooperation in reporting suspicious activities.
Featured

Vice President visits New Town school collapse site, urges strict building compliance

Jemima Okang Addae Mar - 30 - 2026 , 15:50 1 minute read

Vice President Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang has visited the site of a collapsed multi-storey building at the Accra New Town Experimental School, where she received a detailed briefing on the incident and ongoing rescue efforts.

She was accompanied by the Minister for the Interior, Mohammed Mubarak Muntaka, as well as officials from the Ghana Armed Forces (48 Engineer Regiment), Ghana Police Service, Ghana National Fire Service, National Ambulance Service and the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO).

In a statement posted on her Facebook page, the Vice President said a total of 23 victims were rescued from the rubble, while three people unfortunately lost their lives. She commended the swift and coordinated response by emergency services, as well as the local community, which acted as first responders during the initial stages of the rescue operation.

Debris clearance is ongoing, with authorities indicating that operations will continue over the coming days.

On behalf of President John Dramani Mahama, she extended condolences to the bereaved families and assured victims of government support during the difficult period.

The Vice President stressed the need to address the root causes of such incidents, calling for strict adherence to building regulations and accountability at all levels to prevent future occurrences.

Following the site visit, she visited injured victims receiving treatment at the 37 Military Hospital and the Police Hospital, where she was received by the Inspector-General of Police, Christian Tetteh Yohuno.

At the University of Ghana Medical Centre (UGMC), she was joined by the Minister for Health, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, as she reiterated the governments commitment to supporting all affected victims.
Android makers never quite managed to make a local file sharing solution that is as good as Apples AirDrop  and they tried. So, as the saying goes, if you cant beat them, join them. The Samsung Galaxy S26 series (S26, S26+, S26 Ultra), the only phones that run stable One UI 8.5 at the moment, already have official AirDrop support via the Quick Share feature. And soon, older models will get it too.

A number of people are reporting that their Quick Share settings screen has a new Share with Apple devices toggle. However, while the feature is visible, it doesnt actually work for everyone. You can check in your Quick Share settings to see if you have it  but check for updates via the Samsung Store app.



Support for AirDrop appears on several older Galaxy S models

The reports are from owners of older Galaxy S devices, ones from the S25, S24, S23 and S22 generations. Most of them are running One UI 8.5 beta, but some are still on One UI 8.0. Its not clear whats going on, but presumably this is just a test rollout  Samsung may be waiting for the stable One UI 8.5 release before properly enabling this feature.

Last year, the EU put pressure on Apple to open up certain iOS features like the notification system, background execution privileges and, yes, AirDrop. This got the ball rolling and Google launched AirDrop support on the Pixel 10 series last year and, since February, on the Pixel 9 series as well. Oppo has also announced that it is bringing AirDrop support to its phones, starting with the Find X9 series.

Source 1 | Source 2 | Via

Samsung Galaxy S26 5G

Samsung Galaxy S26+ 5G

Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra 5G
Nonprofit Birthworkers of Color Collective continues to expand community-based maternal infant health initiatives on the island by launching its Village of Care, a new series of free community workshops for pregnancy, birth, and early parenting.

The workshops will be held monthly across the island and led by trained doulas from the collective, with each session focusing on a different topic.

Village of Care workshops are designed to create accessible spaces where families can learn practical skills, receive education, and connect with supportive, culturally relevant, community resources, Birthworkers of Color Collective said in a media release.

Topics monthly will vary and may include newborn care, infant feeding, baby sign language, childbirth education, and learning how doulas support families through pregnancy and postpartum.

The Birthworkers of Color Collectives work on Guam is part of a broader mission to address maternal and infant health disparities through doula services, education, and advocacy.

Maternal and infant health disparities on Guam remain higher than the national average, and research shows that doula support and prenatal education can improve pregnancy and birth outcomes and reduce preventable complications.

The collective began outreach and advocacy on Guam in 2023 and hosted its first doula training that December, graduating 17 individuals in a majority CHamoru cohort.

It also co-authored the Guahan Doula Project or Bill 318-37, introduced by Sens. Thomas J. Fisher and Joe S. San Agustin in 2024.

Although the bill did not pass, the collective continued its advocacy and community work through partnerships with organizations such as the Bureau of Womens Affairs and with support from the governor, including training additional doula cohorts and hosting village education across the island facilitated by the collectives doulas.

In total, the collective has trained more than 40 birthworkers across three cohorts and different cultural backgrounds on Guam.

Additionally, the collective introduced efforts to expand Medicaid and GovGuam insurance coverage for doula services on the island. This would follow suit with many states where Medicaid and insurance plans cover doula services recognizing overwhelming disparities and growing data that doulas improve birth and postpartum outcomes.

Through continued partnerships, collaboration, and advocacy, the collective said it hopes to see a decrease in maternal and infant health disparities on Guam.

Workshops

Baby and me ASL

Learn how to use sign language to communicate with babies and toddlers during the early years.

April 9, from 6 to 8 p.m.

Guam Womens Chamber of Commerce in Hagatna

Pregnancy, birth, postpartum 101

Learn the basics of every stage of pregnancy and how to prepare for the postpartum journey.

April 16, from 6 to 8 p.m.

Sinajana Mayors Office

Workshops are free and open to the community, and will include light snacks, refreshments, and infant donations for expectant families while supplies last. RSVP at guam@birthworkersofcolor.com.
The protests stretched from large city centres to small towns. Organisers said two-thirds of events were held outside major cities, a sign that the movement is putting more effort into suburbs, rural areas and conservative parts of the country.

Millions of people filled streets, parks and public squares across the United States on Saturday, March 28, 2026, in the third No Kings mobilisation since Donald Trump returned to the White House. Organisers said more than 8 million people joined over 3,300 events in all 50 states and in cities abroad, from Paris to London and Lisbon.

In Washington, crowds moved through the National Mall and gathered at the Lincoln Memorial. In New York, marchers packed Times Square and midtown streets. In Chicago, demonstrators converged on Grant Park. In Los Angeles, large crowds turned out before clashes and arrests late in the day.

The Minnesota rally stood at the centre of the day. Tens of thousands gathered outside the State Capitol in St Paul, with organisers putting the turnout at about 200,000. The state has become a focal point in the national argument over Trumps immigration policy after the January deaths of Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti, two US citizens shot by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis. Their names appeared on placards across the crowd. Speakers returned to the case again and again, linking it to a wider charge that the administration has stretched federal power past legal limits.

Bernie Sanders told the Minnesota crowd, We will not allow this country to descend into authoritarianism or oligarchy. Tim Walz, the states governor, praised those who had stood up for immigrants and civil liberties in the months since federal raids swept through the Twin Cities. Bruce Springsteen performed Streets of Minneapolis, the song he wrote after the shootings.

Protesters opposed immigration raids and deportations. Many condemned the US role in the illegal war against Iran, which has now run for about a month.

Others pointed to the cost of food, fuel and housing, or to fears over voting rights, transgender rights and the reach of executive power. Protest signs in city after city mixed anti-war slogans with demands for due process, lower living costs and an end to mass deportation tactics.

Trumps approval rating stands at 36%, the lowest level since his return to the White House, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll.

In New York, a line of public figures joined the march. Robert De Niro appeared with Letitia James, Jumaane Williams, Al Sharpton and Padma Lakshmi before the crowd moved out. De Niro told reporters that no previous president had posed such an existential threat to our freedoms and security. Marchers carried American flags, pride flags and Palestinian flags.

In Los Angeles, the Department of Homeland Security said two people were arrested after officers were hit with concrete blocks near the Roybal Federal Building. The Los Angeles Police Department also reported multiple arrests near a federal prison after demonstrators ignored dispersal orders. Federal officers used what police described as non-lethal measures to move crowds after some people threw objects and tried to force their way through gates. The Associated Press later reported 74 arrests in Los Angeles, including eight juveniles, after police used tear gas as the protest broke apart.

The White House and Republican campaign groups dismissed the protests. A White House spokesperson described them as Trump Derangement Therapy Sessions and said reporters cared more than voters did. The National Republican Congressional Committee said Democratic politicians were aligning themselves with the far left.

Saturdays turnout built on two earlier No Kings days of action. The first, held on Trumps birthday in June 2025, drew an estimated 4 million to 6 million people across about 2,100 sites. The second, in October 2025, was estimated at about 7 million across more than 2,700 cities.

Saturdays action came as campaign season for the November 2026 midterms gathered pace, with organisers and speakers urging people to carry protest energy into voter registration, local organising and turnout drives in battleground suburbs as well as deep-red states.

HT
Detectives probing 2017 death of poison-murder defendant's husband

Elroy A. Lund Jr. and Linda Casper-Leinenkugel married in March 2017. Photo of Casper-Leinenkugel is from 2016.

Related Stories

Elroy Albert Lund Jr. had had his troubles. When he became ill and lost his home more than 10 years ago, his friend Gene Caturia took him in.

Elroy went through some hard times here, Caturia said in an interview with the Hendersonville Lightning on Friday. He got sick and then he turned everything over to his daughter, and thats when they sold his place out from underneath him, and we let him live with us. The day that he got kicked out, he didnt have no place to go.

Elroy got back on his feet, began dating a woman named Linda Casper  28 years younger than his age  and married her in March 2017. Two months later, Lund died at his home at the age of 72. Not so unusual a death, given that Lund had experienced some health problems. But now, sheriffs detectives in Sawyer County are investigating whether Lund may have died of other than natural causes. Casper is charged with two poisoning murders in Henderson County  one in 2007 and the other this past Dec. 1.

A Henderson County grand jury indicted Casper, who changed her name to Gudrun Linda Jean Casper-Leinenkugel in October 2004, on one charge of murder in the death of her daughter, Leela Jean Livis, and two counts of attempted murder of another daughter, Maija Lacey, and Maijas boyfriend, Evan Pegg. Investigators say all three drank wine laced with acetonitrile, an industrial solvent that slowly converts to cyanide in the body, during a Thanksgiving weekend dinner on Nov. 30 at Casper-Leinenkugels home in the Big Willow community of Henderson County.

Casper-Leinenkugel is also charged with murder in the death of Michael Schmidt in October 2007, who investigators say died of acute acetonitrile toxicity, the same poison that killed Leela Livis.

Casper-Leinenkugel, 53, remains in jail without bond in Henderson County awaiting trial. Her next court appearance is scheduled for next month.

The folks in Exeland, Wisconsin, will be watching for news from the trial of the woman they know as Linda Casper.

Definitely somebody that I didnt know

Caturia, owner of a cozy bar called the Rock Castle in the small town of Exeland, said in a telephone interview that he and his wife, Laura, had known Elroy Lund and Linda Casper for 20 years. Elroy was a regular at the Rock Castle, always drank Old Milwaukee in a can, loved to talk about cars.

Me and my wife stood up for him at their wedding, he said of Elroy and Lindas marriage. I was very good friends with him. Theyre still investigating Elroys death. I dont know if they can pin that on her or not. I really dont know what they know for sure. I just talked to a detective last night from Sawyer County. She can only tell me so much.

Amanda Dantzman, the Sawyer County sheriffs detective who interviewed Caturia on March 26, confirmed the investigation in a brief phone conversation on Monday.

I cant comment because its an open investigation, she said. Thats all I can say.

Sawyer County Sheriff Doug Mrotek did not return the Lightnings voicemail messages seeking comment on the case.

Henderson County Sheriff Lowell Griffin said last week that he knew detectives assigned to the Casper-Leinenkugel case were aware of the Wisconsin investigation.

Casper-Leinenkugels defense attorney, Paul Bidwell of Asheville, said he had seen nothing that implicated his client in the Lightnings account of Lunds death.

Unfortunately, it just kind of adds a whole lot of speculation about this poor woman, he said. Theres no allegation against her regarding anything associated with the death of that man. Theres no reason to believe that she has anything to do with anything untoward there.

Caturia, 65, said that since news of Linda Caspers arrest circulated, townspeople have expressed shock. They dont know why she changed her name and they knew little of her North Carolina background  she had lived in Henderson County before marrying Elroy Lund and moved back sometime after he died.

Somebody from up here knows the Leinenkugels (the family that owns the Wisconsin-based brewery that distributes its beer nationally). They have no idea who she is, Caturia said. Its just mind boggling is what it is. As for Linda  shes definitely somebody that I didnt know. She never showed no sign of hate towards anybody up here. She always thought very highly of me and my wife. Every time she was around us, she acted like she loved him very much. Thats the part that I dont get. Id sure like to find out if she really did poison him.

Dont bother Elroy

A volunteer firefighter, Caturia responded to the emergency call on his scanner on the afternoon of the day Lund died.

I guess I was one of the first ones there, because Im not too far from where he lived  only a couple miles  and he was laying on the couch just like he was sleeping, he said.

Was there any sign that Lund died of anything other than natural causes?

No, not to me, Caturia said. But I never give it a thought. Where he was living, he was drinking beer with the guy that he rents from the day before he died. He must not have been feeling too bad.

There was one thing about that day that seemed unusual, in hindsight.

That morning, Casper went next door to the home of her neighbor, a man named Dave.

She come over and told Dave, Dont bother Elroy this morning, because hes not feeling good. And she was going to go to town to get him some chicken, because he wanted chicken. And when I got there, she was standing there crying and whatnot, Caturia said.

Asked whether it seemed suspicious that Casper made a point of telling the next door neighbor to stay away, Caturia responded, Thats the first thing we thought of  because Dave said that shed never done that any other time.

The obituary, too, seemed a little unusual in how directly it described Lunds death, in the first sentence: Elroy Albert Lund Jr., 72, of Exeland, died in his sleep from natural causes on Wednesday, May 10, 2017, at his home.

Loved antique cars, played accordion

Born on March 12, 1945 in Chicago Heights, Illinois, Lund was well known for his many interests and talents in the northern Wisconsin area, his obituary said.

He was survived by his beloved wife, Linda, a daughter and four grandchildren and his step-daughters, Maija Lacey and Leela Livis, Lindas daughters. He was also survived by four younger brothers.

After graduating from high school, Lund served in the U.S. Army National Guard, from 1963 to 1966, and then the Army Reserves, from 1966 to 1971. He was active in the National Guard Band where he had the honor of playing for the funeral of President John Kennedy, and was a mechanic for the motor pool, the obituary said.

Around 1973, Lund started a dairy farm in Exeland. When the economy caused the farm to falter, he went to work selling chemicals for two large corporations, then formed his own company, Northwoods Chemicals. He was entrepreneurial, starting and operating a car and truck show on his farm while selling tires, parts, cars and trucks on the side. He played in bands. Even in his 70s, Elroy still played music and was well known for his skill on the button accordion, which he loved, the obit said.

He had a lot of stuff, Caturia said. He was into cars. He had a lot of model cars  hundreds of them  these little metal diecast cars. He had three big pole sheds that were full of cars.

She has his ashes

Linda Casper stayed in touch with Caturia and his wife even after Lund died and she returned to her house in Henderson County. She texted the couple in December when Leela died. Caturia said he and his wife were curious about the cause of Leelas death but didnt want to intrude at the time.

We figured wed wait and ask her. We just figured, well, thats devastating enough. But we were going to ask her in the future, after things calmed down, he said. We tried texting her after she was arrested, because we didnt know that she was arrested, and we never heard from her.

Caturia said he hopes detectives can find out what really happened to his friend. He said the detective was guarded in how much she shared about the case.

They did take evidence out of the trailer house, but they didnt get nothing out of them, from my understanding, he said.

And, although Lund told friends he wanted to be buried at a veterans cemetery in the Stone Lake area of northern Wisconsin, Casper had him cremated.

She has his ashes somewhere, Caturia said. Theyre not here because I know they looked for em.
A BREWERY in Dunsden has won a national award for its cask beer.

Loddon Brewery, which first started brewing beer in 2003, at Phillimores Farm, in Church Lane, won gold for its Hocus Pocus dark beer, at the 2026 Indie Beer Awards, made by Head Brewer, Tara Magee.

Hocus Pocus is a dark ruby ale and tastes similar to a stout.

The awards ceremony was organised by the Society of Independent Brewers and Associates (SIBA) and took place at the Flagship BeerX UK event, in the Exhibition Centre, Liverpool. The event was held across Wednesday and Thursday last week, with the ceremony taking place on Thursday evening.

Breweries across the country attend each year to taste beer, learn more about the industry and meet their peers. All awards were presented by The Sunday Times columnist, Pete Brown, and breweries across the country compete in various categories, including pale ale, IPA, stout and lager.

To enter the nationals, Loddon Brewery had to first win gold at the Midlands and West regional competition held in January.

Shane Willoughby, 38, the general manager, said: Being in the industry, we go to the Flagship BeerX event every year, whether we have won an award or not, and we think its absolutely fantastic.

The event showcases anything from new hop profiles to ingredients, to glasses and bar runners. There is also a circular bar in the middle of the event and each region is showcased.

Mr Willoughby said he never expected the team to win gold for Hocus Pocus.

He said: We were absolutely shocked. Obviously, you go there and you never expect to win. They announced bronze and silver first and we thought that it was a shame we hadnt been mentioned but, when we were, it was a complete shock.

Our small team work extremely hard, so its really nice to be recognised for that. It was nice to have Hocus Pocus recognised as well because weve been brewing this since about 2004. The recipe has changed as things have evolved but its lovely and one of our core range.

Hocus Pocus was previously named the 2020 Winter Champion for the Campaign for Real Ale.

Andy Slee, the chief executive of SIBA, said: The demand for independent beer has never been higher and its easy to see why when trying some of these award-winners.

I want to congratulate all of the winners but, in particular, our overall champions, who are truly the very best of the best in the UK right now.
WRITER and broadcaster Kate Humble was bitten by the travel bug at an early age.

The 57-year-old co-presenter of Animal Park, who is appearing at the Kenton Theatre next month, left school at 18 to spend a year travelling in Africa.

Kate, who grew up just outside Bray, in Berkshire, and now lives in Wales, says: It was a sort of inherent wanderlust really. Theres a family story that I was found aged three about a mile from home pottering along with my little blue wheelbarrow that Id been given for my birthday.

I loved that wheelbarrow, and this is the Seventies so no one worried about health and safety but when my parents found me and asked me what I was doing, apparently I said, Im having an adventure, so clearly it was something that I just was born with, I suppose.

I had very adventurous grandparents who did extraordinary things, my mums father went to Australia and her mother was very adventurous and my dads father was a test pilot, so I guess its in the genes.

The author had to overcome a few obstacles. I was really s--- at travelling because I was really carsick, I was really boatsick and I was really scared of flying.

I think I went on a plane twice before I went to Africa and I was absolutely petrified of it but the urge to travel was stronger.

Im just nosey I suppose and so I love going to new places.

I knew that school wasnt really for me and so I went to Africa instead, which was a much better form of university, I think.

It was formative in all sorts of ways, partly because of the extraordinary wildlife and because of the experience of travelling somewhere so different.

That sort of led to the two strings of what I do now which is writing and being a documentary-maker and wildlife film-maker.

So that trip was very important and what Ill be doing at the Kenton Theatre is a look back over some of the things that Ive done.

She is also celebrating a landmark for the BBC One series Animal Park, filmed at Longleat safari park in Wiltshire, with fellow presenter and Fawley resident, Ben Fogle. Ben has intimated that he might come to the show and Kate laughs that he jolly well should.

Ben and I have done it for 25 years this year, its our 25th anniversary this year and Ben always calls me his telly wife.

Animal Park was the first programme that he did when he came off the Castaway island and Id done it the year before without him and then he joined me. Well be filming another series in May.

The crew behind the show includes wildlife cameraman Hamza Yassin and zoologist Megan McCubbin. They have been lucky enough to witness many special events at the safari park.

Recently one of the most unforgettable moments was when Yana the Amur tigress gave birth, first of all to her first cub, shes now had two lots of cubs.

Thats such an endangered species and to have a successful breeding programme and to be among the first people to see these cubs when theyre absolutely tiny, I mean thats an amazing experience.

We dont do this anymore, but maybe 19 years ago, one of the lionesses had cubs and Ben and I held those cubs when they were having their first injections and one of those cubs, Malaika, has only just died.

She lived until she was 20 so we knew her her whole life, we literally held her when she was a cub and then saw her having lived this extraordinary long and dignified life. So for us its like a family drama.

There was Nico, who was the gorilla whod been there for more than 50 years, was the oldest gorilla in captivity and was absolutely part of the family. So you do get very involved, you dont just turn up and do telly.

While there have never been any risky moments at Longleat, Kate did have a scary experience on a visit to the African continent.

I was surveying a river in Ghana for hippo populations and I was in a small canoe with a local guy who knew canoes, knew the river. We were heading  it looked like  straight for a large rock and I turned round to say, Were about to hit a rock and the rock disappeared under the water and it was actually a hippo. I thought it was going to come out and chuck us out of the canoe and hippos, even though they eat grass, are not very friendly to people, understandably. So I did think that that might be the last thing I ever do was paddle down that river.

Now living in Monmouthshire with two dogs and her husband  yes, in that order!  sheepdog Teg, rescue mongrel mouse and director-producer Ludo Graham, people are welcome to book a stay on her farm there in either the Piggery or the Hayloft, or at her Poachers Cabin in France. There are even opportunities to travel with her to faraway places.

Meanwhile, she will be signing books and taking part in a question-and-answer session at the evening, which is raising funds to support the 221-year-old theatre in New Street, Henley.

There will be clips from shows and talk about the things that Ive done, many of which are not remotely glamorous. Its quite a fun thing to look back on.

It is amazing when you look back over a 30-year career how many times youve looked like a complete idiot. You wonder why youre still working.

An Evening with Kate Humble is at the Kenton Theatre on Wednesday, April 15 at 7.30pm. Tickets cost 30. For more information, visit thekenton.org.uk or katehumble.com
China's brain-computer interface development shifts into high gear

Xinhua) 10:18, March 30, 2026

"Beinao-1", a domestically developed intelligent system, activates a robotic arm to pour water into a cup at an exhibition held during the 2026 Zhongguancun Forum (ZGC Forum) in Beijing, capital of China, March 27, 2026. (Xinhua/Wei Mengjia)

BEIJING, March 28 (Xinhua) -- At an exhibition held during the ongoing 2026 Zhongguancun Forum (ZGC Forum) in Beijing, a range of brain-computer interface (BCI) products -- from specialized chips to rehabilitation systems -- drew large crowds.

"Brain-computer interface technology is advancing rapidly, and its applications are expanding," said Zhao Jizong, a neurosurgery expert and an academician with the Chinese Academy of Sciences, while sharing the latest BCI progress on Friday at the Brain-Computer Interface Innovation Development Forum, a session of the 2026 ZGC Forum Annual Conference.

Among the exhibition products, two domestically developed intelligent systems, known as "Beinao-1" and "Beinao-2," attracted particular attention. Zhao noted that "Beinao-1," a semi-invasive BCI system, has been implanted in seven patients. All have recovered well and regained movement and speech functions. "Beinao-2" will enter clinical verification this year.

A BCI creates a direct communication pathway between the brain and an external device. By recording and interpreting brain signals, BCI allows the brain to "talk" directly to machines, enabling patients to control assistive devices.

As a frontier technology in human-computer interaction, BCI has been driving a new wave of technological and industrial transformation. China has introduced a series of policies to strengthen BCI research and industrial deployment. The BCI sector has been designated as a future industry in this year's government work report.

At the forum, experts from research institutions, hospitals, universities and companies shared experiences and held discussions on BCI technology and its industrial applications.

Gu Xiaosong, an academician with the Chinese Academy of Engineering, noted that since 2025, China's BCI development has accelerated significantly, with various technologies entering the application verification phase and yielding impressive results.

In recent years, medical institutions in Beijing, Tianjin, Guangzhou, Wuhan, Nanjing and other cities have set up BCI clinics or clinical research wards. A range of BCI products developed in China has been applied in areas such as disease diagnosis, motor rehabilitation and neuromodulation treatment for conditions like Parkinson's disease and epilepsy.

This month, China's National Medical Products Administration approved the world's first invasive BCI medical device for market. The equipment is intended for patients who suffer from quadriplegia caused by cervical spinal cord injuries and are unable to perform grasping movements with their fingers.

Zhao noted that China faces serious challenges from neurological diseases such as stroke, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and spinal cord injury, with a large patient population, including more than 3.7 million people living with spinal cord injuries. BCI has opened a new path for rehabilitation treatment, and clinical demand is high.

Local governments across China are building service platforms. Lin Hang, deputy head of Beijing's Haidian District, said at the forum that the district is already home to 27 core BCI companies. By 2030, it aims to attract about 100 innovative small and medium-sized enterprises and promote large-scale commercial application of BCI products in medical care, rehabilitation, industry, education and other fields, creating a hub for "AI plus BCI" innovation.

Despite the rapid growth of the BCI industry, experts have noted that challenges remain in areas such as technical reliability, safety and ethics, requiring continued steady exploration.

"We need breakthroughs not only in technological innovation but also in building a complete ecosystem covering industrial development, talent cultivation and standard setting," Gu said.

Visitors walk past the booth of brain-computer interface at an exhibition held during the 2026 Zhongguancun Forum (ZGC Forum) in Beijing, capital of China, March 27, 2026. (Xinhua/Wei Mengjia)

This photo taken on March 27, 2026 shows two domestically developed intelligent systems, known as "Beinao-1" (L) and "Beinao-2," showcased at an exhibition held during the 2026 Zhongguancun Forum (ZGC Forum) in Beijing, capital of China. (Xinhua/Wei Mengjia)

This photo taken on March 27, 2026 shows a scene at the Brain-Computer Interface Innovation Development Forum, a session of the 2026 Zhongguancun Forum (ZGC Forum) Annual Conference, in Beijing, capital of China. (Xinhua/Wei Mengjia)

A guest delivers a speech at the Brain-Computer Interface Innovation Development Forum, a session of the 2026 Zhongguancun Forum (ZGC Forum) Annual Conference, in Beijing, capital of China, March 27, 2026. (Xinhua/Wei Mengjia)

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said she made a personal donation to an account destined to buy humanitarian aid for Cuba, as her administration continues to provide support to the beleaguered island without sparking confrontation with the U.S.

Speaking in her daily press conference, Sheinbaum said she donated 20,000 Mexican pesos, or about 1,100 U.S. dollars. She made sure to highlight that the donation is personal and not connected to her administration, which nonetheless is providing support to the island.

In recent weeks, the country has sent aid shipments to the island and explored ways to continue supporting it despite U.S. pressure. Sheinbaum has argued that sanctions targeting Cuba risk harming civilians, saying "you can't hurt the people just because you disagree with the government."

Moreover, Sheinbaum said her government will continue receiving Cuban doctors, rejecting accusations of human trafficking made by Republican Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart.

In a social media post, the Mexican embassy in the United States said its healthcare partnerships "ensure direct compensation for medical professionals and dignified working conditions," adding that "foreign workers have the same rights and conditions as Mexican workers under Mexican law."

The post came after Diaz-Balart accused Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum of being "complicit in human trafficking," citing U.S. policy targeting Cuba's overseas medical programs.

Diaz-Balart's criticism echoes broader concerns raised by U.S. officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who has described Cuba's deployment of doctors abroad as a "form of human trafficking." The programs, which send Cuban medical professionals to countries across Latin America and beyond, have long been a point of tension between Washington and Havana.

This practice, which began shortly after the 1959 revolution, has played a key role in Cuba's global image. The first major mission was in Algeria in 1963, and since then, Cuban doctors have worked in regions struck by disaster, poverty, or epidemic. Critics, including the U.S. government, have alleged that the missions often exploit the medical workers, citing strict state control over wages and mobility. Cuba, however, defends the programs as a pillar of international solidarity and a critical source of revenue for its economy.

Originally published on Latin Times
Eight years after Donald Trump tore up the Iran nuclear agreement and promised a better deal, the United States finds itself fighting a war against Iran while struggling to secure terms significantly stronger than the one it abandoned.

Trump withdrew from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on 8 May 2018, calling it 'a horrible one-sided deal' and imposing a 'maximum pressure' sanctions campaign on Tehran. The strategy was premised on the belief that economic pain would force Iran to accept far more sweeping concessions on its nuclear programme, ballistic missiles, and regional conduct.

Instead, Iran accelerated its uranium enrichment, reduced IAEA inspector access, and by December 2024 was enriching to levels approaching weapons-grade, according to the UN nuclear watchdog. As of 30 March 2026, the United States is engaged in an active military conflict with Iran and has yet to secure the comprehensive agreement Trump once promised.

The JCPOA That Trump Called 'The Worst Deal Ever'

The original JCPOA, signed on 14 July 2015 by Iran, the United States, China, Russia, France, the United Kingdom, and Germany, placed strict limits on Iran's nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief. Under its terms, Iran dismantled roughly two-thirds of its installed centrifuges, capped its enriched uranium stockpile, and agreed to enhanced IAEA inspections. The International Atomic Energy Agency repeatedly confirmed Iran's compliance before the US withdrawal.

Trump's own administration certified Iran's compliance twice, in April and July 2017, before Trump decertified the agreement in October that year. The IAEA's verifications were consistent throughout. Senior officials, including then-Chairman of the Joint Chiefs General Joseph Dunford, told Congress in September 2017 that 'Iran is adhering to its JCPOA obligations' and that the agreement 'has delayed Iran's development of nuclear weapons.'

Absolute humiliation for Trump. A national security expert points out Trump is desperately trying to negotiate the exact same Iran nuclear deal he ripped up in 2018. The US literally went to war just to get back to the agreement they already had. Total incompetence. pic.twitter.com/2ibzOIxH9p  Furkan Gozukara (@FurkanGozukara) March 28, 2026

According to the Arms Control Association, the JCPOA barred Iran from producing highly enriched uranium through 2030 and imposed IAEA inspection requirements lasting between 10 and 25 years, with some permanent. Laura Rockwood, a senior fellow at the Vienna Centre for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation, who worked for the IAEA for 28 years, said Iran 'simply would not have been able to enrich to the point of possessing over 400 kg of 60% enriched uranium had the JCPOA remained in place.'

How Maximum Pressure Backfired

After Trump's 2018 withdrawal, Iran methodically dismantled its JCPOA commitments. By July 2019, it had already exceeded limits on its low-enriched uranium stockpile. It subsequently reduced IAEA inspector access, expanded its centrifuge programme, and enriched uranium to 60% purity  far above the 3.67% ceiling set by the original deal and far closer to the 90% level needed for a nuclear weapon.

The Council on Foreign Relations notes that Iran's breakout time, the period it would need to produce enough weapons-grade material for one bomb, collapsed from roughly one year under the JCPOA to a matter of weeks by early 2025, before the June 2025 Israeli and US strikes on its facilities. A Pew Research Centre survey found that 53% of the American public and 94% of US scholars in international relations disapproved of Trump's original withdrawal decision.

Rather than compelling Iran to accept tighter restrictions, the pressure campaign triggered exactly what its architects said they wanted to prevent. Writing in Arms Control Association's March 2026 issue, Daryl G. Kimball, the organisation's executive director, argued that 'Trump's negotiators are trying to address problems that had been addressed by the nuclear deal that Trump unilaterally abandoned in 2018.'

He added that renewed US military strikes on Iran 'would be counterproductive, reckless, and unjustified on nonproliferation grounds.'

The Geneva Talks And Their Collapse

In early 2026, with Iran's economy in freefall following UN snapback sanctions and large-scale domestic protests brutally repressed, the two sides returned to the table. Indirect talks were held in Muscat on 6 February, followed by further Omani-mediated sessions. But the gaps between the two positions remained vast. The Trump administration demanded Iran permanently and completely dismantle its uranium enrichment infrastructure, so-called 'zero enrichment,' as well as restrictions on its ballistic missile programme and an end to its support for regional armed factions.

Iran's position, detailed in reporting by Slate and WBUR's On Point programme, was to offer a suspension of enrichment for three years, limits on uranium purity to 1.5%, and IAEA verification, concessions Ali Vaez, Iran Project Director at the International Crisis Group, described as more far-reaching than anything Iran offered during the 2013 to 2015 negotiations that produced the original JCPOA. But the administration rejected them. Vaez told WBUR: 'Trump's perception of negotiations was Iranian capitulation. They were not looking for detailed technical negotiations that would take weeks or months. They were looking for a yes and no answer.' He concluded: 'They were seeking a surrender agreement.'

Multiple nuclear experts, including Elena Sokova, executive director of the Vienna Centre for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation, criticised the administration for sending negotiators without nuclear technical expertise.

Witkoff and Kushner, per a senior Middle East diplomat with knowledge of the talks, chose not to include nuclear technical experts in the Geneva sessions and cancelled scheduled technical follow-up talks. Iranian Foreign Minister Araghchi later wrote that 'when complex nuclear negotiations are treated like a real estate transaction, and when big lies cloud realities, unrealistic expectations can never be met. The outcome? Bombing the negotiation table out of spite.'

As of late March 2026, the United States has submitted a 15-point ceasefire proposal to Iran via Pakistan, calling for a 30-day ceasefire, rollback of Iran's nuclear programme, limits on its missiles, and reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran rejected the proposal, calling it 'maximalist' and 'unreasonable,' and issued its own five-point counter-plan, which included Iranian sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz, reparations for war damage, and a guarantee that the US and Israel would never attack Iran again.

Originally published on IBTimes UK
China welcomes WTO interim arrangements on e-commerce agreement: commerce minister

Xinhua) 10:21, March 30, 2026

BEIJING, March 28 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao has expressed support for the adoption of the World Trade Organization (WTO) agreement on e-commerce with interim arrangements announced on Saturday.

In his written remarks, Wang highlighted that the WTO Agreement on Electronic Commerce (E-Commerce Agreement) establishes global rules for digital trade, which will effectively promote more inclusive and sustainable digital growth.

China supports the timely implementation of the agreement and hopes WTO can play a greater role in shaping digital trade rules in the future, Wang added.

On Saturday, the co-conveners of the WTO negotiations on e-commerce -- Australia, Japan, and Singapore -- issued a joint statement in Yaounde, the capital of Cameroon, announcing the establishment of interim arrangements for the E-Commerce Agreement.

At the 14th WTO Ministerial Conference (MC14) on Saturday, 66 WTO members, including China, announced that the interim arrangements would provide a pathway to bring the E-Commerce Agreement into force, while continuing to work towards its incorporation into the WTO legal framework of rules.

The E-Commerce Agreement, a significant milestone for the WTO in recent years, will enter into force for those members that have accepted it, after 45 members have deposited their instruments of acceptance, according to the joint statement.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
In Brief: IHG, a multinational hospitality company, has entered into an agreement to establish a new InterContinental Eros hotel in Nehru Place, New Delhi, marking another step in its expansion in India.

IHG Signs Agreement to Open InterContinental Eros New Delhi Nehru Place - Image Credit IHG Hotels & Resorts

IHG Hotels & Resorts has signed a management agreement with Eros Group (Nehru Place Hotels Pvt Ltd) to open InterContinental Eros New Delhi Nehru Place, a 216-key hotel expected to open under the InterContinental brand after renovations are completed in 2029.

IHG Hotels & Resorts has signed a management agreement with Eros Group (Nehru Place Hotels Pvt Ltd) to open InterContinental Eros New Delhi Nehru Place. The 216-room hotel, located in Nehru Place, New Delhi, is scheduled to open under the InterContinental brand following renovations expected to be completed in 2029.

The hotel will offer multiple dining options, including restaurants, a bar, and a lobby lounge. Meeting facilities will include a royal ballroom, intimate meeting rooms, and an outdoor lawn. Recreational amenities will feature a spa, a health club, and a swimming pool set in landscaped surroundings.

Originally launched in 1996, the property was managed under the InterContinental Hotels & Resorts brand for over a decade before operating independently as Eros Hotel New Delhi. With this agreement, the hotel will rejoin the IHG system.

The hotel is located minutes from Nehru Place Metro Station and within 30-35 minutes of Indira Gandhi International Airport. It is also near cultural sites such as the Lotus Temple and Kalkaji Mandir.

IHG Hotels & Resorts currently operates 51 hotels across six brands in India and has 89 hotels in development in the country.
What is the best way for guests to get from Okinawa Naha Airport to Mercure Okinawa Naha?

For the most freedom while visiting Naha, consider renting a car for about $52/day and parking it at Mercure Okinawa Naha where they offer parking spaces to hotel guests. One of the more popular options today is to take a taxi or ridesharing service directly from Okinawa Naha Airport to the hotel. This option is often cost effective, but guests must keep a lookout for peak time rates.
A vibrant cityscape situated on the Pearl River Delta, Shenzhen is comprised of towering skyscrapers and a scenic waterfront. The city is known for its modern vibes, unique theme parks and pristine green spaces.

Things to do in Shenzhen

Want to see something truly unique? Visit Shenzhens Window of the World theme park to see a miniature-scale of famous landmarks from around the globe. Stroll past an exhibit of the Leaning Tower of Pisa, photograph a model of the Tower of London and admire a replica of Niagara Falls.

For a dose of culture, head to the Splendid China Park, located next to the China Folk Village. The park contains a miniature display of the areas most prominent cultural attractions, including the Terracotta Warriors and the Great Wall. Enjoy strolling through shaded walkways while browsing the informative exhibitions and learning more about Chinas cultural roots and rich history.

If youre looking for a little excitement, spend a day at the Happy Valley theme park. Take an exhilarating ride on a roller coaster, cool off in the water park or sit back and enjoy one of the many live performances.

Shenzhen is a shoppers paradise. Take time to explore COCO Park, a modern shopping plaza with a variety of shops and restaurants. Pick out a designer gift from Miniso or grab a burger from the BAIA Burger Concept.

Getting around Shenzhen

The easiest way to get around Shenzhen is by metro, but you can also navigate the city by taxi or bus. The roads are bicycle-friendly, as the GZ Greenway offers bike transit with limited vehicular traffic.
Pittsfield Public Schools Announce a New Bus Arm Stop Camera Pilot Program

PITTSFIELD, Mass.  The City of Pittsfield and Pittsfield Public Schools have launched a new bus stop-arm camera pilot program.

Bus #128 will be equipped with a new stop-arm camera that will capture photos and videos of any vehicles that fail to stop for buses that are stopped with flashing red lights activated.

This bus provides services in the following high-traffic areas: South Street, Cloverdale Street, South Mountain Road, East Street, Springside Avenue, Benedict Road, and West Housatonic Street.

In Massachusetts, drivers in both directions must stop for a school bus with flashing red lights and an extended stop sign, remaining stopped until the signals turn off, unless on a divided highway with a physical median.

"I ask for the public's cooperation with all safety measures when driving through the city to protect all students who are traveling back and forth from school," said Mayor Peter Marchetti.

On Jan. 10, 2025, a bill was signed into law by Governor Healey that allows cities and towns to use cameras on school buses to record motor vehicles that fail to stop for school buses that are stopped with flashing red lights activated.

"This safety enhancement is part of our continued efforts to help protect students during loading and unloading times and to promote greater awareness and compliance with school bus traffic laws," said Director of Bus Operations, Colleen O'Brien.

This new camera will capture videos and images of the license plates of vehicles as they pass through a stopped school bus in violation of the law. These videos and images would then be reviewed by the Pittsfield Police Department to determine if the violation occurred. If a violation did occur, a citation will be issued to the registered owner or company of the vehicle. The first offense is $250, and the second offense is $500.

As this is a pilot program, the Pittsfield Police Department will start with a 30-day period in which warnings will be issued to drivers with first time offenses. Once the warning period expires for first time offenses, drivers who violate this law will be receiving fines.

"The Pittsfield Police Department is dedicated to keeping every child's journey to and from school safe," said Police Chief Marc Maddalena. "This is an added tool to make that possible."

The City of Pittsfield thanks the public for their attention and cooperation with this important safety initiative.
Northern Berkshire United Way: 1950s Sees New Name, Same Mission

Northern Berkshire United Way is celebrating its 90th anniversary this year. Each month, we will take a look back at the agency's milestones over the decades. This first part looks at its successes and challenges during the war years.

NORTH ADAMS, Mass.  Frank Bond, a founding member of the community chest, had the honor of cutting a cake at the 1956 annual meeting to mark the 20 years since its establishment.

The organization had successfully grown over the past 20 years and, by the end of the decade, would see its campaign drives pass the $100,000 mark and the number of agencies under its umbrella grow to 17.

The community chest had also changed names, becoming a United Fund, a natural outgrowth of its establishment to bring multiple local social service campaigns under one umbrella, and would include both Clarksburg and Stamford, Vt.

But that impetus for its founding would continue to bedevil the United Fund as more organizations, some national, would continue to compete for local dollars.

At the beginning of the decade, Executive Secretary Estelle Howard said there were still too many independent appeals and that "serious thought must be given to this problem."

"Competition for the contributors' dollar, for volunteer workers' time and for publicity are getting out of bounds," she said.

The community chest had struggled to reach rising goals toward the end of the 1940s despite strong advertising campaigns about the benefits of its agencies within the community.

A committee was appointed to study the problem, though Howard saw the solution as the similar to that 15 years earlier  greater cooperation between campaign drives  as well a move toward payroll deductions.

That year saw the annual campaign kickoff dinner at the Richmond Hotel, with testimony from Mr. and Mrs. C. Stafford Slade of Hall's Ground, who spoke about their experience with the Berkshire School for Crippled Children for their 7-year-old daughter, who suffered from cerebral palsy.

The school was facing a deficit with rising costs but for the "assurance of its modest $1,000 from the Community Chest is the factor that can make continuation of operations certain," they said.

They were definitely assured as "happy hysteria gripped the 150 guests" at the final campaign dinner when the goal of $66,500 was exceed by more than $2,000.

"I have attended many gatherings, as you know, and some I never can forget," said Herbert Clark, described as the "dean of philanthropy." "We will stand as a beacon light among all the commuities of the old Bay State."

Two years later, Berkshire Eagle Editor Lawrence Miller advised the Community Chest on the year-old Pittsfield United Fund, created because too many drives had "made it unpleasant for Community Chest canvassers."

The community chest form was becoming obsolete, officials said, noting that the larger employers like Sprague Electric and Hunter Machine, had already signed up for payroll deductions.

On Jan 27, 1953, 110 chest representatives met at First Congregational Church to unanimously approve creating a United Fund chapter with possibly three new agencies  Red Cross, Heart and Cancer association  and boost the goal toward $100,000. Only the Red Cross joined.

"I believe very strongly that the right decision has been made and that together the United Fund and Red Cross are going to make this campaign successful," said Mrs. Ralph Dennett of the public relations committee.

Later that October, there were again cheers as the drive was topped by $631 to read $93,185, and officials hoped this would lay a firm foundation for future success. There had been some pessimism at the outset, but this was a "glowing answer to those who said it can't be done in North Adams," said Campaign Chair James Campbell.

Over the rest of the decade, the drive and the number of agencies would grow. The United Service Organization continued to be part of the drive, with officials noting some 350 North Adams men were serving overseas.

They also included Family and Children Service of Berkshire County (a merger of the Association for Family Service, the New England Home for Little Wanderers, and the Pittsfield Day Care Center); Coolidge Hill School (formerly the Crippled Children's School in Pittsfield); the Muscular Dystrophy Foundation; United Cerebral Palsy and the Arthritis & Rheumatism Foundation.

But not the American Heart Association or the American Cancer Society.

In a letter to the editor, cardiologist Dr. Paul White of Boston tells the American Heart Association not to cooperate with the United Funds because "they are not intended for scientific research." This brought a biting response from the Transcript that health and disease campaigns have created "a new fund-raising anarchy after the United Fund system had succeeded in bringing a multiplicity of local drives down to one big annual appeal."

"In charity, as in everything else, first things must come first," the Transcript harrumphed.

United Fund, a bit more diplomatically, said it would keep an open door for national foundations.

But retiring President Richard Hunter was concerned that the United Fund's future would always be threatened by major charity drives. He, too, said North Adams charities should come first in budget planning with national organizations getting what's left over.

In 1959, the fund set a goal of $105,857, cut by $6,000 from what its agencies had requested. It came in $4,432 short of its goal but still hit a new high for the fund.

By the final years of the decade, some 250 to 300 canvassers were working over the two weeks. Record numbers of people were signing up, nearly 7,000, but the need kept growing.

The United Fund tried several novel ideas to educate on the benefits of its social service agencies. There was the tried and true of statistics, like how the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children helped 83 children in North Berkshire, and by examples of where the money goes, showing Helan Toole, director of the Child and Family Center, counseling a young mother and her children with "advice and sympathy."

One year, "Mr. and Mrs. North Adams," five select couples, toured the the agencies to report back on their findings. Mrs. and Mrs. Richard O'Brien, for example, liked that the Salvation Army helped underprivileged children and also that "every penny was accounted for."

The United Fund had had a close relationship with Transcript since its inception but this decade found it reaching to radio. One kickoff dinner featured a "meet your community chest" radio show with Andrew S. Flagg, dean of North Adams State Teachers College as moderator. In 1954, the entire speaking portion of the opening dinner at the brand-new Fraternal Order of Eagles Hall was broadcast. It featured keynote speaker Dr. Robert Carpenter talking about the new hospital being built  and how it gets $13,000 from the United Fund.

Women had also become integral to the United Fund's success as campaign subchairs, board members and canvassers. Estelle Howard is referred to a couple times as "executive director," an editorial slip that may indicate what role she really played in the operations.

In 1957, eight women were named to the executive board of the Community Council, more than half the board's 15 members. Mary (Maurice) Spitzer presided as president, in addition to numerous other roles on social service and charity boards over the years.

Seven women were named chairs and subchairs for a late 1950s campaign, with the general chairs Catherine (Donald) Dean, Julia (Edward) Steuer and Florence (Donald) Tefft honored at its end. In keeping with the time, they were identified only by their husband's names.

Next up, the swinging '60s.
Pittsfield recognized National Vietnam War Veterans Day on Saturday with a ceremony at Park Square. PreviousNext

Pittsfield Marks Vietnam Veterans Day in Park Square



Pittsfield has a memorial to the Vietnam War honoring those who fought and those who died, including 27 from Berkshire County.

PITTSFIELD, Mass.  About 50 people gathered at Park Square on Saturday to remember Vietnam veterans and mark the 53rd anniversary of the last American troops' departure.



Vietnam veteran Lenwood "Woody" Vaspra thanked everyone for coming out on the chilly March morning. Twenty-seven Berkshire County residents were killed in action, and their names are memorialized in a Park Square marker.



"We thank all who selfishly served and sacrificed. You are not forgotten," Vaspra said.



"This provides us an opportunity to pay special tribute to the many Americans who served in the Vietnam War, both in country and out of country, to the 58,318 names inscribed on the Vietnam Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C., and to those who never received the recognition they deserve. It is time to say thank you and honor all Vietnam veterans."



National Vietnam Veterans Day commemorates the sacrifices of Vietnam War veterans and their families, and is part of a national effort to recognize the men and women who were denied a proper welcome upon returning home more than 50 years ago.



"When Vietnam veterans returned from Vietnam, there were no tributes, recognition, speeches, parades, or even handshakes. For many of them, it was a horrific return home, and it was also a very chaotic time. Many veterans to this day remain silent from their combat and traumatic encounters," Vaspra said.



"It is time now to pay tribute to all veterans from all wars and conflicts, our brothers and sisters that served on behalf of our country. We must continue to remember what all veterans did for this country. They gave their lives, whether they died in battle or came home and died later, they paid the ultimate price, the memories our brothers and sisters must go on and always remain in our hearts."



The year 2026 marks 51 years since the official end of the Vietnam War in May 1975, and is the 53rd anniversary of the last American troops departing Vietnam in March 1973. The Vietnam War Veterans Recognition Act of 2017 designated March 29 of each year as National Vietnam War Veterans Day.



Mayor Peter Marchetti said it is important that people show up and continue to show up.



"I would have hoped we would learn from history, but I don't know that we ever will learn from history," he said.



"And so we need to stand up, we need to be present, and we need to say thank you, both to all of you and to all of the Vietnam veterans who never returned home, and to their families."



Later that day, more than 1,000 people marched from The Common to Park Square as a part of the third national day of No Kings protests. This event added the grievance of war against Iran to the list of Trump administration actions being protested.



Last year, and in 2023, the Vietnam Traveling War Memorial came to Berkshire County.



The 493-foot wall on the National Mall is inscribed with the names of 58,318 men and women who died in combat or are listed as missing in action in Vietnam, where the United States was at war from the 1950s through 1975.



The 27 Berkshire County service members killed in the Vietnam War:
Outdated Public Safety Buildings Strain Berkshire Communities

One of the most basic roles of government is public safety. The ability to provide police and fire protection and other emergency services is considered a vital function.

However, one obstacle facing towns and cities in the Berkshires and elsewhere is the condition of the physical facilities that house these operations. Many local police and fire departments are based in older structures and sites that have become overcrowded, outdated, and limited in their ability to accommodate the needs of contemporary police, fire and emergency medical services.

The extent of the problems varies among communities. Some facilities are still serviceable or only need specific modifications. Others require extensive overhauls or complete replacement with new facilities. Some have become totally decrepit and suffer from mold, rodents and structural issues. The worst are not up to modern building codes and regulations or do not meet professional standards.

For example, some fire stations are not large enough to hold larger modern firetrucks and equipment.

"Our fire station was built in the early 20th century and was originally designed for horse-drawn vehicles," said Chris Brittain, Lee town administrator. "We've had to buy custom-built trucks to be able to fit through the door. And even then it has less than an inch of clearance."

Lee is currently taking a major step constructing a major new complex that, when completed next year, will house its Police, Fire and Building Departments.

Other towns and cities have taken steps from major to minor, while exploring their options.

As with many issues, money is a major factor. With tight budgets, gaining voter approval to raise property taxes or taking other steps to fund such projects is a challenge.

North Adams has been under a decree from the U.S. Department of Justice to modify its police station to comply with the Americans With Disabilities Act. The obsolete 1955 building also has a host of other issues. The answer was to move the Police Department to a rented facility.

"We don't have the horsepower to build out a public safety complex the way that we want," said Mayor Jennifer Macksey, noting a $1.2 million earmark for for design and engineering was never released by the state. "I think the belief of state government is that it resides on the backs of the taxpayers of the community. But that's just not fair."

She pointed out that the city is embarking on a new school project "because we had the support of the MSBA and their grant."

Initiatives are being proposed on the state level to help alleviate this by providing additional funding for municipal facilities, including public safety sites as well as administrative offices and other operations and services.

One proposal is the creation of a state Municipal Building Authority, which would allocate grants, lower-cost financing and other support to cities and towns for improvements or construction of their public buildings and facilities. This would be similar to the Massachusetts School Building Authority, a quasi-independent state agency that provides funding and other assistance to upgrade local schools. This concept has been under consideration for several years.

One current aspect of this is a proposed bill in the State Senate that is under review. It was introduced by Sen. Joanne M. Comerford (D- Hampshire, Franklin and Worcester District) who represents 25 communities east of the Connecticut River from Northampton to Vermont.

"My district is largely rural and includes many small towns," she said. "I frequently hear from municipal officials who are desperate. They tell me their local services are in jeopardy because of the condition of their facilities. But their budgets are small and they have no money to take on extra debt for improvements."

She noted, for example, that one community is operating out of a town hall that has been condemned.

Her bill would fund an authority through a portion of state revenue from cannabis sales, the senator said. "It would use this to provide local governments with capital grants and other funding options to improve or build new municipal infrastructure."

Comerford said she hopes the bill, and related measures in the House, will be voted on in this legislative session, which ends in June.

She is cautiously optimistic. "There has been favorable momentum," she said.

She added that it fits in with Gov. Maura Healey's advocacy of the Municipal Empowerment Act, a wide-ranging measure which would provide local governments with various additional revenue tools and support to make it easier for them to generate resources for services.

"The proposals of the Healey administration have turbocharged interest in the issue," said Comerford. "Ideally the Municipal Empowerment Act can be a vehicle for this bill."

In the meantime, cities and towns are addressing the situation in differing ways.

Lenox is an example of a municipality that has taken a comprehensive approach. For many years, the town had to contend with the serious problems and limitations of an obsolete and cramped police station in Town Hall and a 1903 central fire station.

"Everything needed to be changed," said Lenox Town Manager Jay Green. "The Police Department could not be accredited because the station was so inadequate."

After several years of planning and construction, the town recently completed and opened a new public safety complex to house its police, fire and emergency medical services.

Last November, the town held a ribbon cutting for the new 22,000-square-foot structure, which is located at 227 Housatonic St., just off the Route 7/20 bypass.

"We had a soft opening and have moved into it in steps," said Green. "The Fire Department moved there in January. After final installation work is completed, the Police Department is slated to move there by the end of March."

The Lenox Fire Department includes a professional career staff and an auxiliary of volunteer members. In addition to its main station, it has two satellite stations on Route 7/20 and on East New Lenox Road. The main operations center is moving to the new complex and the two other stations will remain in service.

Green noted that like many other communities, Lenox had deferred the project for many years.

"It's an expensive proposition, and is a long road to make it happen," he said. "That's why many towns avoid it. But at some point, if you want to have a good staff and services you have to do it."

He said the movement to replace it began around 2015, when "the conversation started in conjunction with initiatives to review town-wide building projects. ...

"That identified the need to build a more modern public safety facility. From there, the town undertook a very deliberate process to inform the public of why it was needed and how it could be done and what it would cost."

The project subsequently received approval by voters at a town meeting. That began a period of planning and developing financing.

One factor that facilitated the process was the availability of a location. The site had previously been earmarked for affordable housing, but efforts to develop it for that had been unsuccessful.

The project is being financed by short-term and long term bonds.

"It will have an impact on the town's debt service," said Green. "But the town supported that by approving it and so it was planned and expected. That's why communication and participation of voters is vital for a project like this to succeed."

The next installment will look at the experience of other towns and cities.
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Chinese dissident artist Gao Zhen, renowned for his provocative satirical sculptures of former leader Mao Zedong, faced trial on Monday over accusations of "defaming national heroes and martyrs," a human rights group has reported.

Gao, 69, who was detained in 2024 during a visit from the US, could face a maximum three-year prison sentence, according to Shane Yi, a researcher at the Chinese Human Rights Defenders group, which operates outside China.

The closed-door, one-day trial took place at Sanhe City People's Court in Hebei province and concluded without a verdict, Yi said, citing information from his lawyers and family.

Verdicts in such cases are often announced months later.

Gao's relatives were reportedly barred from attending.

The New York-based artist was apprehended in August 2024 during a family visit to China, despite having made multiple trips to the country without incident since relocating to the US in 2022.

open image in gallery Artist Gao Zhen is facing a three-year prison sentence in China ( HRF )

Yi said: "This really shows the Chinese government's logic, when they want to target someone, they can use anything in their power to do so. Gao Zhen is an artist. He has a right to artistic freedom, period."

Alongside his brother Gao Qiang, Gao created several controversial sculptures of Mao that critiqued the 1966-1976 Cultural Revolution, a period of immense social turmoil and widespread political persecution in China that resulted in millions of deaths.

Their most famous works include Miss Mao, which depicts Mao with unsettling features such as Pinocchio noses and breasts, and Mao's Guilt, a bronze statue showing the leader kneeling remorsefully.

The artist's wife Zhao Yaliang and their seven-year-old son are currently under exit bans and are unable to leave China, according to Yi and John Kamm, the chair of the Dui Hua Foundation, a foreign group advocating human rights dialogue with Beijing.

Gao's son is an American citizen.

open image in gallery The sculpture Miss Mao Trying to Poise Herself at the Top of Lenin's Head ( Flickr/@mmmchoco )

Concerns have also been raised about Gao's health, with Yi reporting that he is suffering from malnutrition, lumbar spine disease, and chronic knee and eye conditions that require treatment.

Gao has been charged for works created between 2005 and 2009, despite China's "Law on the Protection of Heroes and Martyrs" only being established in 2018 and subsequently strengthened in 2021.

The law has previously been used to prosecute individuals accused of insulting servicemen and military members who died in the line of duty, as well as historical figures.

In 2021, a stand-up comedian was censored and his comedy firm fined $2m after he made a joke referencing a People's Liberation Army slogan.

Gao's wife and the Sanhe Public Security Bureau did not immediately respond to requests for comment on his case.
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China has imposed sanctions on Japanese lawmaker Keiji Furuya, alleging collusion with Taiwan independence forces in a move that is likely to escalate an already tense diplomatic row over Taiwan.

The measures, announced by Chinas foreign ministry on Monday, include freezing any assets Mr Furuya holds within China, banning Chinese individuals and organisations from engaging with him, and denying him entry to mainland China, Hong Kong, and Macao.

According to a decision by the Chinese foreign ministry, Mr Furuya repeatedly visited the Taiwan region despite Chinas strong opposition and colluded with Taiwan independence separatist forces, in violation of the One-China principle, reported the Global Times.

One China has been acknowledged by the US since 1979, when president Jimmy Carter developed closer ties with Beijing, at the expense of contact with Taiwan. He was the last US president to speak to a Taiwanese leader. The US has since followed the One China policy in international relations, officially accepting Beijing as the only legitimate Chinese government.

The ministry said Furuya's actions "constitute gross interference in Chinas internal affairs, and seriously undermine China's sovereignty and territorial integrity".

Mr Furuya, as the head of a cross-party Japan-Taiwan lawmakers group, has visited Taiwan many times accompanying Japanese political leaders, most recently earlier this month to meet its president, Lai Ching-te, in Taipei.

Ties between Tokyo and Beijing have deteriorated since Sanae Takaichi suggested last November that a hypothetical Chinese attack on Taiwan could trigger a Japanese military response ( AFP via Getty Images )

China, which views democratically governed Taiwan as part of its territory, objects to official visits by foreign politicians to the island as they are seen to be undermining Beijing's claim over the island.

In response, speaking to reporters at Japan's parliament, Mr Furuya said visiting Taiwan is a natural function of the parliamentary group he leads, adding he had not visited mainland China in decades and had no assets there, according to Kyodo.

Ties between Tokyo and Beijing have deteriorated since Takaichi suggested last November that a hypothetical Chinese attack on Taiwan could trigger a Japanese military response.

According to Taiwan Today, a publication owned by Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Taipei, the Japanese legislature called for cooperation in several sectors including energy security, green energy as well as enhancement of supply chain.

Mr Furuya was also attending the government-funded Yushan Forum in Taipei and had proposed establishing trilateral military band exchange between Japan, the US and Taiwan, reported Taiwans official Central News Agency.

The move comes as the chairwoman of Taiwan's largest opposition party, the Kuomintang, is set to visit China next month after being invited by Chinese president Xi Jinping, the party said on Monday.

Chinese state news agency Xinhua said Cheng Li-wun would visit from 7 April to 12 April and go to Beijing, Shanghai and the eastern province of Jiangsu.

China's State Council has appointed former government official Janice Tse as secretary for constitutional and mainland affairs for the Hong Kong government, state media Xinhua reported on Monday.

Mr Furuya is the second Japanese lawmaker to have been sanctioned by China in recent months. Earlier last year, Beijing also sanctioned China-born Japanese lawmaker Seki Hei for his remarks on issues including Taiwan. Beijing targeted him for long spreading fallacies on issues such as Taiwan, the Diaoyu Islands, history, Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong, the country said at the time.
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Indonesia is set to loan two endangered Komodo dragons to Japan's Shizuoka prefecture, with the aim of establishing a breeding programme for the rare reptiles.

In exchange, Japan will send red pandas and giraffes to the Southeast Asian nation, an official confirmed on Monday.

The animal exchange, according to Indonesia's Forestry Ministry, is intended to boost "contributions from both parties toward wildlife protection and conservation, as well as raising public awareness of biodiversity."

The initiative specifically targets the breeding of Komodo dragons, which are listed as endangered by the IUCN Red List.

Ahmad Munawir, a conservation official at the ministry, told Reuters that a male and a female Komodo dragon would be dispatched to a zoo in Shizuoka. In return, the prefecture will provide Indonesia with several animals, including red pandas and giraffes.

The agreement was formalised last week, preceding a visit to Japan by President Prabowo Subianto, who is scheduled to meet Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi later this week.

open image in gallery The Komodo dragon, which is native to Indonesia, particularly the island of Komodo, lives in forests or on the open savannah ( AP Photo/Dave Thompson )

Government data indicates that Indonesia currently hosts more than 3,000 Komodo dragons.

The reptiles are the largest lizards in the world, growing up to around 3 metres (10 feet) long. They have a yellow forked tongue and a venomous bite.

Japan's TV Shizuoka has reported the two dragons would arrive as early as June for the breeding programme.

Ahmad said the dragons would be sent after a business-to-business agreement was signed by the zoos in Indonesia and Japan.

open image in gallery Indonesia will receive some red pandas and giraffes in return

In 2021, the Komodo dragon, also known as the monitor lizard, was moved from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) vulnerable list to its list of endangered species.

The first peer-reviewed paper on how global warming would affect the giant lizards concluded last year that urgent conservation actions are required to avoid risk of extinction.

The lizard, which is native to Indonesia, particularly the island of Komodo, lives in forests or on the open savannah. Its inability to live on land higher above 700 metres above sea level means that its numbers are at severe risk of being decimated by rising sea levels.

While the subpopulation in Komodo National Park is currently stable and well protected, their habitat on the Indonesian island of Flores is believed to have shrunk by more than 40 per cent between 1970 and 2000, the IUCN has warned.
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Pakistans unlikely emergence as the potential mediator between the US and Iran may enhance its diplomatic and strategic standing in the region but it must first overcome its many contradictions and challenges, analysts say.

In a televised briefing on Sunday, foreign minister Ishaq Dar said Islamabad was happy that Washington and Tehran had agreed to peace talks facilitated by the South Asian nation in the coming days. These, he added, would be meaningful talks for a comprehensive settlement.

Dar was speaking after a multilateral meeting with his counterparts from Turkey, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, the regional powers seeking to return stability to the Middle East amid the escalating war against Iran launched by the US and Israel a month ago.

Pakistan is very happy that both Iran and the US have expressed their confidence in Pakistan to facilitate their talks, the minister said.

Islamabad, Dar added, was also engaged with the US leadership in our efforts to deescalate the situation and find a solution to the conflict.

Neither Washington nor Tehran has so far confirmed Islamabads role as the potential mediator.

open image in gallery Foreign ministers Badr Abdelatty of Egypt, left, Faisal bin Farhan of Saudi Arabia, Ishaq Dar of Pakistan, and Hakan Fidan of Turkey pose before their meeting in Islamabad on 29 March 2026 ( Pakistan Foreign Ministry/AFP )

Pakistan has positioned itself as a big player in brokering peace in the most consequential conflict in the world, leveraging improved ties with the US under president Donald Trump and its longstanding friendship with Iran.

Its emergence as a potential mediator, however, has surprised many given the South Asian countrys perceived instability and unreliability on the international stage.

Chietigj Bajpaee, a senior research fellow for South Asia at Chatham House, tells The Independent Pakistans mediation attempt is ambitious but deeply constrained.

I think there are a lot of internal contradictions, and the challenge is ensuring Pakistans ambition to play the role of a mediator doesnt collapse under the weight of these contradictions, internal and in the broader regional context as well.

Regionally, it is in the midst of a conflict with Afghanistan and there is an irony in Pakistan offering to mediate between the US and Iran and Iran offering to mediate between Afghanistan and Pakistan. It also continues to have poor relations with India in the aftermath of last years four-day conflict, he says.

What also makes its outreach awkward, Bajpaee says, is that Pakistan doesnt have any diplomatic relations with Israel, a key party to the conflict, while it maintains close ties to both the US and the Gulf Arab states, including a defence agreement with Saudi Arabia, undermining its neutral status.

It is hard to see it as a neutral mediator, he says. It has at times had strained relations with Iran as seen in the brief skirmishes in 2024 over Baloch separatist movements on both sides of the border.

Another analyst sees this as a diplomatic turnaround for a country once isolated by the US for harbouring Osama bin Laden and dismissed by Trump, during his first term, as a bad-faith actor that had given Washington nothing but lies and deceit.

Pakistan hosting USIran talks represents a major upgrade in Islamabads strategic standing, says Kamran Bokhari, a senior resident fellow at the Middle East Policy Council in Washington. After decades of being a troubled state, Pakistan appears to be re-emerging as a major American ally in West Asia.

In spite of limited history in mediating high-profile crises, analysts say Pakistan carries unusual credibility due to its workable ties with both the US and Iran.

Pakistan maintains steady relations with Iran as a neighbour, sharing a sensitive border along its southwestern Balochistan province, the site of insurgencies on both sides. The two sides clashed along the border in January 2024 but ties were quickly repaired.

At the same time, Pakistan does not host American military bases, unlike traditional Gulf mediators such as Qatar or Oman, which continue to face the threat of Iranian strikes for this reason.

open image in gallery A man draped in Irans national flag holds a portrait of supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei during a march in support of the armed forces in Tehran ( AFP via Getty )

Islamabads relations with the US have come a long way during Trumps second term, with prime minister Shehbaz Sharif slowly making his way into the US presidents good books.

Sharif was one of the first world leaders to sign up to Trumps International Board of Peace. He had previously hailed the US president for brokering a ceasefire between India and Pakistan to end last years four-day war, unlike India which denied that Washington had played any major role.

Pakistans powerful army chief, Asim Munir, has also managed to curry favour with Trump, who has described him as his favourite Pakistani field marshal.

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," says Adam Weinstein, deputy director of the Middle East programme at the Quincy Institute.

In neighbouring India, however, Pakistans emergence as a facilitator has triggered strategic unease, with the opposition accusing the Narendra Modi government of causing diplomatic embarrassment and arguing that Islamabads proactive role highlighted Delhis fading influence on the international stage despite its far bigger size.

Indian foreign minister S Jaishankar last week told an all-party meeting that India was not a dalaal nation like Pakistan, using the Hindi word for broker, rejecting any notion that Delhi should play an intermediary role and framing it as beneath Indias stature.

Bajpaee says India is actually better placed than Pakistan to act as a mediator, given its more neutral position and relations with all key parties, meaning the US, Israel, Iran and the Gulf countries.

open image in gallery Donald Trump speaks with reporters while holding up a rendering of the planned White House ballroom aboard Air Force One en route to Joint Base Andrews, Maryland ( REUTERS )

Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One late on Sunday that the US was negotiating directly and indirectly with Iran, though Tehran insisted that it had not been in any talks with Washington.

Were doing extremely well in that negotiation, but you never know with Iran because we negotiate with them and then we always have to blow them up, he said.

In a previous comment, Iran's parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, dismissed the talks in Pakistan as a cover for the deployment of more American troops to the region.

He said Iranian forces were "waiting for the arrival of American troops on the ground to set them on fire and punish their regional partners forever", according to state media.

Given that the warring sides are in a fix and conflict appears to be widening, Pakistans challenges lie in bridging the chasm between Tehran and Washington.

Bajpaee says there is a risk of it blowing up in its face given the limited control but high exposure to consequences inherent in the conflict.

There is a real risk that this could backfire. So far, Iran has targeted several countries in the region but not Pakistan, likely because Pakistan does not host permanent US military bases, he says. However, if Pakistan is seen as aligning too closely with the US, that perception could change.

Islamabads mutual defence pact with Riyadh  signed last September  complicates its chances of posing as a credible and effective mediator, making it a tightrope walk it, he adds.

Tehran has demanded that the US pay reparations for war damages, remove its military bases from the Gulf, and agree to a new security framework for the Strait of Hormuz.

Trump told the Financial Times on Sunday that the US could seize Irans oil export hub of Kharg Island as 2,500 marines arrived in the region and a similar-sized contingent on its way.

Iran is leveraging its ability to disrupt the Strait of Hormuz, a key oil and gas route, driving up prices and causing shortages in Asia, while allowing limited tanker passage from select countries.
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A former Police inspector is facing a prison sentence after being found guilty of a series of sexual offences against young men in custody. Gerard Hutchings, 66, subjected eight complainants to sexual assaults, forcing them to remove their clothes during unnecessary strip searches at police stations across Hampshire over an eight-year period.

Bristol Crown Court heard the details of the abuse. Hutchings had denied 11 charges, which included five counts of indecent assault, five of causing a person to engage in a sexual activity without consent, and one of misconduct in public office. Despite his denials, a jury convicted him on all counts. He had previously admitted to 17 counts of misconduct in a public office at an earlier hearing.

The charges related to a total of 18 victims who were alone with Hutchings in his private office at the police station.

The court heard the complainants  aged in their late teens to early 30s and who cannot be identified for legal reasons  had been arrested for minor offences, such as shoplifting and possessing cannabis.

They reported being subject to an unjustified and illegal strip search by Hutchings, while being administered a caution or reprimand for a minor offence.

He also sexually assaulted some of them during these procedures.

During the trial, eight victims gave evidence of how they felt during these unwarranted strip search procedures.

open image in gallery Undated Hampshire Police handout of former police officer Gerard Hutchings, who carried out unnecessary strip searches on young men in custody is facing jail after being found guilty of a series of sexual offences ( Hampshire Police/PA Wire )

One victim, who had been arrested for shoplifting, described how he was humiliated by Hutchings.

There was nothing ordinary that day. He was trying to humiliate me. I am well aware of the things done to me and he was trying to humiliate me, he told the jury.

I do believe he took great pleasure in pointing out what a piece of scum I was and people like me should not walk the earth, or words to that effect.

I have been strip searched before and there was no following of the rules whatsoever. He never took any interest in my clothing.

Hutchings had previously been jailed in 2008 after admitting 11 misconduct in a public office offences for similar offending.

Hampshire Police sacked him in 2007 after the complaints were made following a fast-track disciplinary procedure.

In 2020, the force started a new investigation after receiving a report from a man who had been subject to a similar strip search in 2005.

As part of the investigation, officers cross-referenced Hutchings police notebook with police records to identify 373 people who came into contact with him at a station.

All those people were visited in person by officers, who used a non-leading questionnaire to establish whether they had been subject to any offences.

From there, a further 17 people provided statements on video detailing their experience of Hutchings.

Temporary Deputy Chief Constable Rob France said: When someone comes into contact with our officers and staff, they should be treated with respect and professionalism.

Hutchings behaviour was vile and degrading and clearly nowhere near the expectation we have of our officers.

He was rightly sacked from the force when his offences first came to light in 2007.

In 2020, when we received another report of his offending from around the same time period, we undertook a thorough investigation to establish the extent of Hutchings offending.

Thanks to the bravery of the victims in recalling their experience, and the hard work of investigators, Hutchings now faces another spell in prison for his awful behaviour.

Hutchings, of Ashurst, Southampton, will be sentenced on July 24.
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Fewer than one per cent of mobile phone thefts result in a charge, damning police data has revealed.

A freedom of information request has shown that nearly nine in 10 cases were closed without a suspect being identified, with the Met Police closing 95 per cent of their investigations.

In the year 2024-25, 86,000 phone thefts were reported to the Met, which is the UKs largest police force.

The issue has come under increased scrutiny since Sir Keir Starmers chief of staff Morgan McSweeney had his government phone, which contained messages to Lord Peter Mandelson, stolen last October.

The Met Police closed the case after the call handler recorded the address of the incident as being in east London, instead of Westminster.

They are now revisiting the investigation, after Mr McSweeney was asked to hand over his texts and messages to the former US ambassador as part of the governments investigation into his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein.

open image in gallery Keir Starmers former chief of staff Morgan McSweeney had his phone snatched last October ( Getty )

Of the 17 police forces that responded, the request revealed that just 0.3 per cent of thefts reported to the Met result in a charge.

Max Wilkinson, the Lib Dems home affairs spokesperson, said: Morgan McSweeney having his phone stolen was just the tip of the iceberg. People could be forgiven for concluding phone theft has been effectively decriminalised.

Criminal gangs are feeling emboldened to strike in broad daylight, safe in the knowledge they have a less than 1 per cent chance of ever being caught.

A stolen phone isnt just an expensive item; it holds your entire digital life, from bank accounts to private messages. The fact that thousands of these cases are closed without a suspect even being named is a slap in the face to victims.

The Liberal Democrats are calling time on this phone snatching epidemic. Its time for a dedicated National Crime Agency unit to track down the professional gangs behind these thefts and end the era of daylight robbery.

The Lib Dems have called on the government to tighten up regulations to ensure phone providers disable stolen phones immediately, which would impact the criminal market for reselling the devices.

open image in gallery The government has promised to crack down on mobile phone theft after figures showed a sharp rise in incidents last year (Jeffrey Blackler/Alamy/PA)

Sir Keir said it is a little bit far-fetched to suggest the theft of Mr McSweeneys phone was in any way linked to the release of files on Lord Mandelson.

Speaking to broadcasters in Helsinki last week, the prime minister insisted the phone had been stolen, and brushed off suggestions the claim was an attempt to obfuscate.

He said: The phone was stolen. It was reported to the police. Theres a transcript of the call in which Morgan McSweeney gives his name, his date of birth, the details of the phone, and the police confirm that it was reported.

Unfortunately, there are thefts like this. It was stolen. It was reported at the time, the police have acknowledged and confirmed that. That is what happened.

He added: The idea that somehow everybody could have seen that sometime in the future thered be a request over the phone is, to my mind, a little bit far-fetched.

A Met spokesperson said: We are relentlessly cracking down on phone thieves and dismantling organised criminal networks at every level  from the pickpockets and phone snatchers operating on our streets, to the handlers who profit from their crimes, right through to the international networks exporting stolen phones overseas.

Over the past year, weve made hundreds of arrests and recovered tens of thousands of stolen devices. That work has meant 10,000 fewer people facing the stress, cost and disruption that comes with having their phone stolen. It is this work that is making London an even safer city.

But policing alone cannot solve this problem. Manufacturers and tech companies must do more to stop criminals being able to reset, reuse or resell stolen phones.

We also need the courts to play their part by preventing repeat offenders being bailed only to go out and offend again, undermining the hard work officers are doing to keep communities safe.
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A woman who was sexually assaulted at a Travelodge said it is quite shocking the boss of the hotel chain cancelled a meeting with MPs.

The survivor, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was attacked by Kyran Smith in December 2022 after he had been given a key card to her room by the hotels reception

Earlier this month, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer wrote to the companys chief executive, Jo Boydell, saying he was very concerned after she cancelled a meeting with MPs about the utterly appalling assault.

Asked for her reaction to the letter, the survivor told ITVs Good Morning Britain (GMB): I think if you are the CEO of a company, then you have a responsibility to answer these questions and engage in that situation, and say how youre going to now improve.

Youre not protecting people and I mean, I personally find it quite shocking.

open image in gallery Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has written to Jo Boydell after her scheduled meeting with MPs was cancelled ( PA Wire )

In a separate interview with BBC News, the woman said of the chief executive: If youre really that worried about safeguarding and protecting people and like making sure your guests are safe, then why are you not attending, you know, these kind of meetings with MPs?

Ms Boydell apologised to the victim in a statement earlier in March, and said the company had made immediate changes to its door key policy.

She repeated her apologies in interviews with ITV and the BBC, telling the latter she was genuinely sorry for the companys handling of the incident.

The survivor said suggestions from the chief executive there had been deadbolts on the doors were deflection, and she knew she had locked her door on the night of the attack.

Speaking to GMB, Ms Boydell said of the woman: Im really sorry if she did feel dismissed, and we are definitely listening to what she has to say.

The hotels with key cards have deadbolts, but clearly something went wrong here, and that needs to be investigated.

Ms Boydell said she was aware of other instances of unwanted people entering customers rooms, and had only found out about Smiths assault this month after he was jailed more than three years on from the attack.

She said: Weve certainly heard of other instances, different to this one, in terms of not keys being obtained by deception, but you know, any instance of somebody entering a customers room that they havent given explicit permission to, we understand, would be upsetting.

open image in gallery Jo Boydell, Travelodge chief executive, said on various broadcasts Monday morning she was genuinely sorry for the companys handling of the incident. ( Travelodge )

She added: Weve made some changes immediately in terms of how we handle serious incidents.

I would have expected it to be escalated. It wasnt, so something went wrong.

The chief executive said she can completely understand that the survivor felt insulted after she was initially offered 30 in compensation by Travelodge.

The woman is taking legal action against the hotel chain, according to the BBC.

Before the attack, Smith, from Staines in Surrey, had lied to reception staff at the hotel in Maidenhead, Berkshire, telling them he was the victims boyfriend.

He had been at the same party as the woman before they and others retired to their rooms.

The woman said staff told her Smith had passed their security checks by providing her name.

Smith was jailed in February for seven-and-a-half years following the assault.

Earlier this month, MPs were told they can take part in an independent review into Travelodges room security measures  which will be led by barrister Paul Greaney KC.

The review, which will involve a leading violence against women and girls expert, will examine room security procedures and how the incident was handled, according to Ms Boydell.
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An MP has been denied access to his former constituency office by the High Court following his defection from the Conservative Party to Reform UK.

Andrew Rosindell, who has represented Romford in east London since 2001, was locked out of the office that he had occupied for over two decades, at Margaret Thatcher House in Romford, after his move in January.

Mr Rosindell initiated legal proceedings against the Romford Conservative Association (RCA), which manages the building.

But he will now have to pay 23,000 towards the RCAs legal costs, after a judge told him it would have been obvious to him that he could not continue to use the office after his defection.

His legal team argued in court on Monday that the association had "taken the law into its own hands" and sought an injunction to grant him "full and unfettered" access to the premises.

They said that monthly payments of approximately 1,250 were made for exclusive use of an office and full access for the MP and his staff.

The lockout, his barrister Adam Richardson said, was "materially impairing" Mr Rosindells ability to serve his constituents and deprived him of safety measures, including CCTV and a panic room.

open image in gallery Andrew Rosindell speaks at a Reform UK rally in February ( Getty )

The RCA opposed the application, with its barristers saying that it was "blindingly obvious" Mr Rosindells licence to use the premises was contingent on his Conservative Party membership.

They expressed concerns that he could "spy" on their activities in the lead-up to local elections.

Tiffany Scott KC, representing the association, argued there was an "implied term" in the agreement for the licence to "terminate automatically upon Mr Rosindell leaving the Conservative Party".

She added that the premises were "key to the Conservative campaign" for the May elections, making it "damaging to the RCA and the Conservative Party for the MP for a rival political party to have free access to the building".

In his ruling, Mr Justice Choudhury refused the injunction, describing Mr Rosindells case as "intrinsically weak".

open image in gallery The High Court heard the legal challenge ( PA Archive )

The judge said that the MP "ought to have realised that he had surrendered his right to occupy" his office.

He added: "It would have been obvious to him from the moment of defecting that continued occupation would be unsustainable."

Mr Justice Choudhury said that the necessity for those using the building to "share a common cause" with the Conservative Party "strikes me as not only necessary  but consistent with common sense".

He also noted a lack of evidence that Mr Rosindell had sought alternative accommodation, a point also raised by Ms Scott, who said Reform "ought also to be supporting him".
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Two-thirds of referrals into domestic abuse refuges have been rejected due to national shortages, a new report has found.

Despite a year-on-year increase in bed spaces, of the 10,665 women and 11,732 children who were supported by services last year, 65.2 per cent of referrals for a space in a refuge were rejected, the research by charity Womens Aid shows.

Experts say this marks the highest proportion of referrals rejected in five years, primarily due to a lack of capacity, as demand for specialist domestic abuse services continues to far outstrip the provision that is currently available to survivors.

The annual Domestic Abuse Report, which provides a picture of the needs and work of domestic abuse services in the UK, this year comes after the publication of the cross-government strategy to build a safer society for women and girls in December, following Labours commitment to halve violence against women and girls (VAWG) in the next decade.

Despite the promises made in the government strategy, Womens Aid say their findings show that for the sector to continue delivering lifesaving support, urgent, systemic change is needed immediately to tackle a decades-long funding crisis.

Labour MP Apsana Begum warned: The VAWG sector has said time and again that, without dedicated and long-term funding, the government will never meet its promises under the VAWG strategy.

It is a tragedy that any woman or child should be refused a referral to a service that could literally make the difference between life and death. This years Domestic Violence Report is a wake up call for the government: the time to act with proper funding and investment is now.

open image in gallery The annual Domestic Abuse Report, which provides a picture of the needs and work of domestic abuse services in the UK, this year comes after the publication of the cross-government strategy to build a safer society for women and girls in December ( PA Archive )

The report also found that survivors with additional support needs and those from migrant or minority backgrounds experienced additional challenges when looking for a refuge space, with only 1.1 per cent of refuge vacancies suitable for wheelchair users, while just 11.5 per cent of vacancies could consider accommodating a woman with no recourse to public funds. And despite the fact that the impact of domestic abuse on child survivors is significant and that they are now recognised as victims in their own right by law, the proportion of refuge services that have dedicated children and young people support was shown to have decreased by 11.6 per cent across the country.

Bedspaces remained nearly a fifth below the Council of Europes recommendation of one family place per 10,000 people, according to the research, while at least one in eight (13.3 per cent) of refuge services received no local authority-commissioned funding at all.

Elaine Langshaw, chief executive of Newcastle Womens Aid, said referrals have risen significantly in recent years, forcing the service to work beyond its core capacity, while the services they signpost women to when they are unable to offer support are also stretched. The safety net that women rely on is under real strain, she said. We are also seeing an increase in referrals from women outside of Newcastle, who have been unable to access support in their own areas. That tells us this is not just a local issue  its a wider system under pressure.

Newcastle Womens Aid said it supported one woman who, fearing for her safety, reached out after she had been unable to access help in her local area due to long waiting times and limited availability. The woman, who remains anonymous for safety reasons, said: I didnt know where else to turn. Id already tried services where I live but couldnt get the help I needed. Speaking to someone, a real person, who understood and could help me think about my safety made such a difference at a really frightening time.

Anna Barnett, service operations manager at Opoka CIO, the only bilingual domestic abuse service supporting Polish women and children in the UK, said their capacity has not kept pace with growing demand. Each rejected referral represents a woman and her children, who may remain in unsafe or unstable circumstances due to a lack of available provision, she said.

open image in gallery Labour MP Apsana Begum is calling for more funding for the sector ( PA )

Womens Aid blames the unprecedented rate of refusals on systemic pressures in the housing system and called for government plans to improve commissioning practices to be delivered at pace. The charity is also demanding ringfenced funding for survivors, with an unacceptable number of services operating on partial or unstable funding.

Farah Nazeer, chief executive of Womens Aid, said: The reality is that domestic abuse cannot be eradicated without the support and knowledge that specialist domestic abuse services bring. These services understand survivors and the help they need to rebuild their lives. Their value must be recognised for the lifesaving work they do, and that they are fundamentally the backbone of our country's response to ending violence against women and girls. The work of these services must be protected, if we are to finally live in a world where domestic abuse is no longer tolerated.

A Local Government Association spokesperson said: Victims and survivors of domestic abuse rely on statutory and discretionary services provided by councils. However, ongoing funding pressures make increasingly difficult for councils to ensure that victims have access to all the help they need.

Only with long-term, sustainable funding can councils help safeguard individuals and families from the physical and psychological harm of domestic abuse and invest in the prevention and early intervention measures needed to tackle the root causes, support more victims, and stop domestic abuse occurring in the first place.

A UK government spokesperson said: Were treating violence against women and girls as a national emergency, with a clear commitment to halve it in the next decade.

No one should have to stay in an unsafe home, and our funding helped almost 77,000 survivors and children access support last year. We know there is more to do and were investing nearly 500 million to help even more people get the safety and stability they deserve.
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The King may still be reluctant to invite Prince Harry and his family to stay over the summer due to "low trust and bitter experience" following a series of leaks, claims and media briefings in recent years that have undermined the relationship between father and son, according to reports.

The comments, which come from a "source close to the monarch", and reported in the Daily Mail suggests the relationship between Charles and Harry remains difficult.

The source, also described as being "a friend of the King", said: "If Harry truly wishes to see his father, he would do well to encourage his supporters to allow such matters to be discussed privately, since low trust and bitter experience in this regard remains one of the principal barriers to progress."

The Duke, 41, has met with his father just twice in the last two years after he and his wife Meghan stepped back as senior royals in 2020 and moved to the US following a public falling out with the Royal family, which included controversial TV interviews and the publication of his memoir, Spare.

open image in gallery Harry and Charles at the funeral of Elizabeth II on 14 September 2022 ( AFP/Getty )

But in recent months there have been several reports that Harry wants to patch things up with his father and enable the King to see his grandchildren, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, six and four, who have not seen their grandfather for four years.

This weekend it emerged that Harry would reportedly welcome an invitation from the King to Sandringham, his estate in Norfolk, as he believes this would permit him to bring his family with him.

A key consideration is security. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex lost their tax-payer-funded bodyguards when they stepped back as senior royals. They are currently awaiting a government decision on security entitlements and Harry has said he would not feel safe bringing his family to the UK without armed police protection.

However, this weekend a friend of Harry's told The Sunday Times: If he was invited by the King, he would get a package of security that automatically kicks in.

"Hed like an invite to Sandringham. Would he go? It would depend who was there. If the King was to say, Come up and spend some time with the family, hed love that.

The friend reportedly added: "There are lots of scenarios to make it work, but it's all out of Harry's hands. No father would want to put their kids at any risk."

Despite this assessment, the Daily Mail has cast doubt on whether the Sussexes would be entitled to an automatically enhanced security protection for a private family visit.

Publicly-funded security is supposedly only for attending official events at the monarch's request or invitation, such as the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II, or the King's coronation in 2023.

open image in gallery Charles and Harry during a discussion about violent youth crime at a forum held at Clarence House in 2018 (Steve Parsons/PA) ( PA Archive )

Harry last saw his father on 10 September last year when they met for less than an hour at Clarence House for the first time in 19 months. Afterwards, a source close to the duke told The Sunday Times: He always loves seeing his father and would love to see him as much as possible.

The pair are believed to have spoken multiple times since, although they notably didn't meet despite Harry being in London for his ongoing court case against Associated Newspapers. He and his brother the Prince of Wales are still estranged.

Prior to the September meeting, Harry and Charles last met face to face in February 2024 when the duke made a transatlantic dash to see the monarch after hearing of his cancer diagnosis. On that occasion, they spent just over 30 minutes together before the King left to recuperate in Sandringham. Charles is still receiving treatment for the disease.

Harry has previously spoken of his hopes for a reconciliation with his family, saying: Of course, some members of my family will never forgive me for writing a book. Of course, they will never forgive me for lots of things.

But despite the allegations in his book, Harry said last year he had now forgiven them.

I would love a reconciliation with my family. There's no point in continuing to fight any more, he said. I don't know how much longer my father has.

Buckingham Palace and Harry and Meghans representatives have been approached for comment.
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Nestle has issued a KitKat supply update after more than twelve tons were stolen in major heist.

A truck carrying 413,793 bars of its new KitKat range set off from central Italy to distribute the chocolate throughout Europe, but never reached its scheduled final destination in Poland, the Swiss food giant revealed on Saturday.

The vehicle and the merchandise remain unaccounted for. Nestle did not reveal where exactly the truck was lost.

In a separate statement issued on Saturday, KitKat said the missing bars are traceable via a unique batch code. Anyone scanning the batch numbers of the stolen chocolate would receive instructions on how to contact KitKat.

open image in gallery Nestle said confectionery prices rose by 10.6% over the quarter (Dominic Lipinski/PA) ( PA Wire )

Releasing a further update on Sunday, a Nestle spokesman said: We can confirm that 12T of KitKat products were stolen while in transit between our factory in Central Italy and their destination in Poland.

We are working closely with local authorities and supply chain partners to investigate.

The good news: there are no concerns for customer safety, and supply is not affected.

open image in gallery Switzerland-Candy Bars Stolen ( Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. )

Last year, Nestle unveiled plans to cut around 16,000 jobs around the world, as it turned to automation to help reduce costs.

The boss of the consumer goods giant said it needed to change faster and secure its future as a leader in our industry.

Nestle, which also makes household food brands such as Nescafe and Cheerios, has about 277,000 employees in countries across the world.

Philipp Navratil, Nestles chief executive at the time, said: The world is changing, and Nestle needs to change faster.

This will include making hard but necessary decisions to reduce headcount over the next two years. We will do this with respect and transparency.
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Prince Harry is hoping he, his wife Meghan and their two children will be invited by the King for some family time at Sandringham this summer, according to reports.

The Duke of Sussex has only seen his father twice in two years, while Prince Archie, six, and Princess Lilibet, four, last saw their grandfather more than four years ago. The Duchess of Sussex was last in the UK when the couple attended Queen Elizabeths funeral in September 2022.

Harry, who is currently waiting for a decision on his UK security, has said he would not feel safe bringing his family to the UK without armed police protection, which the Sussexes lost when they stepped down from royal duties in 2020 and moved to the US.

But the duke, 41, would reportedly welcome an invitation from the King to Sandringham, his estate in Norfolk, as he believes this would enable him to bring his family with him.

A friend of the 41-year-old told The Sunday Times: If he was invited by the King, he would get a package of security that automatically kicks in. Hed like an invite to Sandringham. Would he go? It would depend who was there. If the King was to say, Come up and spend some time with the family, hed love that.

open image in gallery Prince Harry is hoping he, Meghan Markle and their two children will be invited by the King for some family time at Sandringham this summer, according to reports ( Archewell Foundation )

Harry last saw his father on 10 September last year when they met for under an hour at Clarence House for the first time in 19 months. Afterwards, a source close to the duke told the newspaper: He always loves seeing his father and would love to see him as much as possible.

The pair are believed to have spoken multiple times since, although Harry was in London for his ongoing court case against Associated Newspapers and did not see his family. He and the Prince of Wales are still estranged.

Prior to the September meeting, Harry and Charles last met face to face in February when the duke made a transatlantic dash to see the monarch after hearing of his cancer diagnosis. However, they spent just over 30 minutes together before the King left to recuperate in Sandringham. Charles is still receiving treatment for the disease.

open image in gallery The dukes controversial autobiography Spare contained a number of allegations against the royal family ( PA Archive )

Harry has previously spoken of his hopes for a reconciliation with his family, saying: Of course, some members of my family will never forgive me for writing a book. Of course, they will never forgive me for lots of things.

He added: But you know, I would love reconciliation with my family, and said there was no point in continuing to fight anymore.

The dukes controversial autobiography Spare contained a number of allegations against the royal family. The book came out in January 2023 and further opened a rift with his brother, with claims that Prince William had physically attacked him. The well-publicised memoir also covered Prince Harrys mother Dianas death, as well as his sex life, drug use and time served in the army.
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Prince Philip lived with inoperable pancreatic cancer for eight years up until his death in 2021, a new book has claimed.

Royal historian and biographer Hugo Vickers revealed in his new book Queen Elizabeth II that Philip was diagnosed with cancer in June 2013 during an 11-day visit to a hospital when he was 91.

The late Duke of Edinburgh died in April 2021 after being discharged from the hospital following a procedure for a pre-existing heart condition. His cause of death was officially recorded as old age.

Mr Vickers wrote: On the last night of his life, he gave his nurses the slip, shuffled along the corridor on his Zimmer frame, helped himself to a beer and drank it in the Oak Room.

The following morning, he got up, had a bath, said he did not feel well and quietly slipped away.

By this point, he had lived with pancreatic cancer for nearly eight years  far longer than the usual survival time from diagnosis.

open image in gallery ( AFP/Getty )

The book, which has been serialised in the Daily Mail, also claims that the late prince did not want to reach his 100th birthday as he did not enjoy the fuss of such events.

The Queen, who was not present when her husband died, was said to have been upset that as so often in life, he left without saying goodbye.

According to Mr Vickers, Prince Philip was hospitalised in 2011 for a blocked coronary artery and was treated at a private clinic in 2013. Doctors detected a shadow on his pancreas and found he had inoperable pancreatic cancer after undergoing explorative surgery.

Due to Covid restrictions, only 30 people were able to attend his funeral and the Queen was forced to sit alone in the chapel while her husband was buried in the Royal Vault at St Georges Chapel.

open image in gallery The King was diagnosed with cancer in February 2024 ( PA Wire )

Pancreatic cancer is the 5th most common cause of cancer death in the UK, with around 10,200 deaths every year, according to Cancer Research. Less than 5 per cent of people will survive pancreatic cancer for 10 or more years and around half die within three months of diagnosis.

King Charles was diagnosed with cancer in February 2024 and is undergoing treatment. Buckingham Palace has not disclosed what type of cancer he has, but confirmed it was not prostate cancer.

In December, the King issued a heartfelt message in support of Stand Up to Cancer, urging people to attend cancer screenings.

I know from my own experience that a cancer diagnosis can feel overwhelming, he said.

Yet I also know that early detection is the key that can transform treatment journeys, giving invaluable time to medical teams  and, to their patients, the precious gift of hope.

The Buckingham Palace has been contacted for comment.
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Andrew Mountbatten-Windsors daughters Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie will not join the royal family for the Easter church service this Sunday.

With the agreement of the King, Beatrice and Eugenie have made alternative plans and will miss the traditional royal gathering at Windsor Castle, the Press Association understands.

The decision comes after the former Duke of Yorks arrest on suspicion of misconduct in public office and the scandal surrounding his friendship with paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

Beatrice and Eugenie, who are the Kings nieces, joined the royal family for Christmas at Sandringham in December.

It is understood they will be at family celebrations in the future.

open image in gallery Princess Eugenie and Princess Beatrice will stay away from the Easter Sunday service this year ( PA )

The King, the Queen and other members of the family are set to attend the Easter Matins church service at St Georges Chapel, Windsor Castle, as they traditionally do each year.

Among those expected to attend are the Prince and Princess of Wales.

Beatrice and Eugenie, who are granddaughters of the late Queen Elizabeth II, have faced scrutiny themselves after their names appeared in the recently-released Epstein files  the US Department of Justices document dump relating to the convicted sex offender.

One email exchange suggested their mother, Sarah Ferguson, took her daughters to see Epstein in the US just days after he was released from prison for child sex crimes. They were 19 and 20 at the time.

Sarah had emailed Epstein to discuss lunch arrangements in Miami in July 2009, telling him: It will be myself, Beatrice and Eugenie.

Epstein emailed the now-convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell, on July 28 2009, and said: ferg and the two girls come (sic) yesterday.

Sarah also emailed Epstein in April of that year, calling him my dear spectacular and special friend Jeffrey and a legend, adding that she is so proud of him.

open image in gallery Sarah Ferguson lost her Freedom of the City of York title last week ( PA )

Andrew was stripped by the monarch of both his right to be a prince and his dukedom late last year over his association with Epstein  but Beatrice and Eugenie kept their princess titles.

Virginia Giuffre, who died by suicide last year, alleged that she was forced to have sex three times with Andrew, including when she was 17, and also in London after she was trafficked by Epstein, and at an orgy on Epsteins private Caribbean island.

Fresh claims include that a second woman was sent to the UK by Epstein for a sexual encounter with Andrew, and also that the former prince and Epstein asked an exotic dancer for a threesome in the latters Florida home.

Andrew was arrested in February  on his 66th birthday  on suspicion of misconduct in public office following allegations he shared sensitive information with Epstein during his time as the UKs trade envoy.

He has denied any wrongdoing over his links to Epstein regarding Ms Giuffre, but has not directly responded to the latest allegations.

Sarah, meanwhile, lost her Freedom of the City of York title last week after councillors voted unanimously to remove the honour over her links to Epstein.

Eugenie was reported to have stepped down as patron of charity Anti-Slavery International in March, a role she has held for seven years.
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A British diplomat has been ordered to leave Russia after being accused of spying by Moscow.

The FSB, the main successor to the Soviet-era KGB, said that the second secretary at the UKs Moscow embassy had been ordered to leave within two weeks after counterintelligence officers revealed the undeclared intelligence presence.

Claims made against the unnamed diplomat are malicious and baseless, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) said.

The FSB said that it had found signs that the diplomat was carrying out intelligence and subversive activities that threaten the security of the Russian Federation, Russian media reported.

In particular, the FSB said, the diplomat had tried to obtain sensitive information about the Russian economy during informal meetings.

They also claimed that he had provided false information about himself.

In January this year, president Vladimir Putins foreign ministry said it would not tolerate the activities of undeclared British intelligence officers in Russia after a different UK diplomat was expelled.

open image in gallery A French navy boat surrounds the GRINCH oil tanker, intercepted by France in the Alboran Sea on suspicion of operating under a false flag and belonging to Russias shadow fleet ( Reuters )

It comes days after Sir Keir Starmer announced British commandos will be able to board and halt Russias shadow fleet vessels as they pass through UK waters.

The prime minister said the UK would join northern European allies in intercepting the tankers, in an attempt to go after the sanction-breaking ships even harder.

Moscows shadow fleet is reported to be made up of more than a thousand ageing tankers.

They illicitly ship oil and other goods out of Russia by flying the flags of other countries, with the aim of evading sanctions imposed by the West since the invasion of Ukraine began.

On Thursday afternoon, a crude oil tanker flying under the Russian flag was located on the Marine Traffic monitoring website off the Sussex coast. The vessel, named Liteyny Prospect, is on the UK sanctions list.

A government spokesperson said: We will not comment on specific operational planning or give a running commentary as this could compromise our ability to successfully take action against these ships, only benefitting our adversaries.

open image in gallery The FSB claims the diplomat tried to obtain sensitive information about the Russian economy ( PA Archive )

In general terms, any target ship will be individually considered by law enforcement, military and energy market specialists before an operation is executed.

British forces have already been involved in tracking shadow fleet vessels for several years, and have supported operations by other countries to seize the ships.

In January, the UK assisted in the seizure of the oil tanker Marinera by the US.

Previously known as the Bella-1, the Russian-flagged vessel was captured by American forces aided by RAF aircraft and the British supply ship RFA Tideforce in the Atlantic.

Later that same month, Royal Navy patrol boat HMS Dagger helped the French seize another sanctioned ship, the Grinch, in the western Mediterranean, shadowing the vessel through the Strait of Gibraltar.

More follows...
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The European Union is resisting Britains demands for a cap on the number of people able to live and work in the UK under a new youth exchange scheme.

Brussels has proposed an alternative mechanism to control numbers involved in the planned scheme, which would allow Britons and citizens of EU states to live, work and study in each others territory.

But the UK remains committed to a hard annual cap on numbers  which would be in the tens of thousands  and the row risks souring a major summit meeting between Sir Keir Starmer and Brussels chiefs in the summer.

open image in gallery Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen are expected to meet at a summit this summer (Carl Court/PA)

EU insiders view the proposed youth experience scheme for under-30s as a way to build bridges between younger Britons and Brussels after the Brexit vote almost a decade ago.

There is concern a restrictive cap would undermine a scheme intended to cement a positive relationship between the UK and EU.

An EU source said: This is really a very strategic endeavour. The strategy is about ensuring that our societies keep linked, understand each other and see each other as part of the same family of nations. This is something that is really needed in these troubled times.

If Europe has to stand together, it has to feel a common sense of purpose when it comes to international relations and democracy.

Ensuring that our young people can travel to each others countries, work, study in each others countries is an important part of that.

Sir Keir has insisted the scheme must have appropriate time limits, caps and visa requirements.

Officials have compared the proposals to a similar programme in operation with Australia, which has a cap of 45,000.

But senior EU sources said the proposed measure was not a migration scheme and did not need a cap.

An EU official said there could be a monitoring system to ensure both sides are equally satisfied with the way the scheme is operating and its about the management of flows rather than an upfront number.

The proposed mechanism has been described in Westminster as an emergency brake which could be applied if numbers were too high, drawing comparisons with then-prime minister David Camerons attempts to control EU citizens access to benefits in the run-up to the 2016 referendum.

However, Whitehall sources said anything other than a firm cap would be unacceptable to the Home Office, responsible for migration policy, or the Foreign Office.

open image in gallery The summit this summer will come 10 years after the June 2016 Brexit referendum (Yui Mok/PA)

The EU and UK are also at odds over university tuition fees that would be charged to students from the bloc studying at British institutions. EU negotiators want students from the bloc to pay the same rate as their British counterparts, rather than the higher fees charged to international students.

The youth experience scheme is one of three areas where the government and the EU hope to forge closer ties when they meet for a summit, which is expected in June or early July.

There is broad consensus on the other two areas, agreements on food safety and emissions trading.

A UK government spokesperson said: We will not give a running commentary on ongoing talks.

We are working together with the EU to create a balanced youth experience scheme which will create new opportunities for young people to live, work, study and travel.

Any final scheme must be time-limited, capped and will be based on our existing youth mobility schemes, which do not include access to home tuition fee status.

But Labour MP Stella Creasy, chair of the Labour Movement for Europe, said there should be less concern about the number of people involved in the scheme, adding: This is a deal that will bring back freedoms young Britons from all backgrounds lost with Brexit, as well as boosting growth.
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Sir Keir Starmer has ruled out putting British troops on the ground in Iran, as he insisted the UK will not be dragged in to Donald Trumps escalating war in the region.

The US sparked fears over the weekend that it is preparing to launch ground operations in Iran, as fighting between Tehran and Washington continues into its second month.

The prime minister has faced criticism from both allies and enemies over his approach to the conflict, but doubled down on his position on Monday when asked if British troops could be sent to the Middle East.

This is not our war and were not going to get drawn into it, he said, adding the UK will continue to take defensive action and work to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

What we have done is taken defensive action: so weve had our pilots up in the air since an hour or two after this war started, defending British lives, British interests and, of course, our allies in the region.

He added: But we are not going to get dragged into this war.

It comes after Mr Trump indicated his war on Iran could further escalate, as he mulls over a military operation to seize Irans Kharg Island, a crucial part of the countrys export infrastructure.

open image in gallery The prime minister has faced criticism from both allies and enemies over his approach to the conflict ( Getty )

A report in The Washington Post over the weekend stated that the Pentagon is awaiting Mr Trumps approval for ground operations, as US Central Command confirmed thousands of US sailors and marines had moved to the Middle East aboard the USS Tripoli warship on Saturday.

Downing Street said on Monday that the UK is in discussions with US at every level over its war on Iran, but said it would not provide an ongoing narrative on Washingtons operation.

Its not for me to provide running commentary on our allies operations, the prime ministers official spokesperson said.

We will continue to focus, as the prime minister has done, on British national interests, protecting people in the region, doing what we can to protect households from the impact here in the UK, and working with international allies.

The conflict has sparked economic instability around the globe, as Iran continues to block ships from passing through the Strait of Hormuz.

open image in gallery Donald Trump has indicated his war on Iran could further escalate, as he mulls over a military operation to seize Irans Kharg Island ( Getty )

Sir Keir will meet energy and business bosses in Downing Street on Monday, where he is expected to discuss the importance of reopening the key oil route as the government grapples with the economic fallout of the war.

He will then chair another Cobra meeting on Tuesday to look at how the conflict will impact households and businesses across Britain.

Sir Keir took the opportunity to criticise his political opponents response to the war ahead of his meeting on Monday as he launched Labours local election campaign.

He told the event in Wolverhampton that Britain would be in a war with no plan if the Conservative or Reform UK leaders were in charge, or weak and exposed under the Green Partys Zack Polanski.

The prime ministers decision to rule out backing a US ground campaign in Iran comes after he has faced relentless criticism from Mr Trump.

The US president said Sir Keir was no Churchill after the prime minister refused to allow US forces to use British bases for their initial attacks on Iran.

open image in gallery The prime ministers decision to rule out backing a US ground campaign in Iran comes after he has faced relentless criticism from Trump ( PA Archive )

He has since allowed defensive and limited American missions to take place from British bases.

Speaking at a televised White House meeting on Thursday last week, Mr Trump lashed out again at Nato for doing absolutely nothing to help the US, and took aim at the UKs aircraft carriers.

Now they all want to help. When theyre annihilated, the other side is annihilated, they said, wed love to send ships, he said.

We had the UK say that well send  this is three weeks ago  well send our aircraft carriers, which arent the best aircraft carriers, by the way. Theyre toys compared to what we have.

However, Sir Keirs refusal to bow to US pressure has proved to boost his popularity rating, which was found to increase by 26 points when voters are reminded of his fallout with Mr Trump, according to a JL Partners survey for The Independent.
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As a woman living with HIV, I need no reminders of the life-changing importance of accessing HIV prevention and treatment services or indeed of the devastation caused by their absence. I know personally the fear and anxiety when struggling to access clinics and medicines.

I know too the hope that comes with scientific and medical breakthroughs and the despair when they remain out of reach for those who need it most. This is why I find myself mourning all the lost opportunities that will come in the wake of the UKs devastating cut of 900m in bilateral aid to Africa.

Before these announcements, previous cuts from donor countries were already taking effect. Reports from friends and family across South Africa told of people struggling to access HIV medicines, medical appointments being cancelled, and vulnerable communities absorbing the heaviest blows. At the same time, HIV testing and prevention services have been stripped back  community testing sites are closing, prevention outreach is faltering, and people are losing access to the tools that stop new infections before they occur.

As testing declines, more people are left unaware of their status, infections go undetected, and transmission risks rise. These cuts are not abstract policy choices; they are actively dismantling decades of hard won progress in HIV treatment, testing, and prevention, and they place lives at immediate risk, especially among those with the fewest alternatives. All this even as from a medical science perspective  we are closer than ever to end AIDS as a pandemic.

It is a confusing paradox to behold: while financial aid is being slashed, we are also in the middle of a transformative medical breakthrough. Lenacapavir, a long-acting injectable HIV prevention drug, is the closest we have come to creating an HIV vaccine. Administered only twice a year, this discreet and sustained protection not only eliminates reliance on daily pills and the accompanying stigma but also reduces the mental burden for high-risk key populations, such as women and girls, who need preventative protection. In groundbreaking trials in South Africa and Uganda, women who received lenacapavir had no new HIV infections. African women and girls were not just participants in these studies, they were central to their success. This is a clear demonstration that inclusive, locally grounded science works.

But despite their central role in the development and success of lenacapavir  women and girls risk being shut out of from the benefits. In sub-Saharan Africa, women and girls bear a disproportionate burden of HIV, accounting for roughly two-thirds of all new HIV infections in the region. These women and girls have compounding factors that increase their risk  overlapping issues such as economic insecurity and gender-based discrimination and violence mean that they are not only more at risk of acquiring HIV but that the negative impacts are exacerbated.

A scientific breakthrough alone is of course not enough. For lenacapavir to be confined to laboratories or high-income markets out of reach for the women and girls who need them is a failure of its very purpose. To allow this to happen when those same women and girls participated in trials to make the drug viable is a profound betrayal of justice and equity.

This is where political choices matter. UK Official Development Assistance (ODA) cuts risk jeopardising a historic opportunity to prevent women and girls across sub-Saharan Africa from acquiring HIV. Lenacapavir has the medicinal function to save countless lives, but its impact will only be realised if the funding and partnerships that support its delivery are sustained.

Lenacapavir has been made more accessible, affordable and scalable thanks to Unitaid, a multilateral organisation that has received significant funding from the UK. UK investment has supported Unitaids efforts with the South African government to produce generic lenacapavir locally which is essential to sustainability. Producing medicines closer to the communities that need them ensures a reliable supply, reduces reliance on distant markets, lowers costs, and builds resilient health systems. Combined with strong delivery systems and stigma-free services, this approach does more than prevent HIV: it strengthens health infrastructure, nurtures local expertise, and positions countries like South Africa as regional hubs for life-saving innovation.

The UK has a choice to make. After years of championing global health, supporting scientific innovation it now risks retreating at a pivotal moment. Decisions taken by the UK will determine whether this breakthrough reaches the women and girls who need it most. Science has delivered. African women made it possible. Now, political leadership must ensure that women benefit. Supporting continued UK investment in Unitaid and its partnerships is not just an act of generosity, it is a smart investment in global health, regional resilience, and the lives of millions. It is a choice between action and inaction, between leaving innovation on the shelf and putting it into the arms of the women who need it.

History will remember this moment not for the breakthrough itself, but for whether we allowed it to reach those it was designed to protect. The UK can ensure that lenacapavir fulfills its promise, or it can step back and risk letting countless lives be lost while science waits.

Yvette Raphael is the co-founder and executive director of Advocacy for Prevention of HIV and AIDS (APHA) in South Africa

This article has been produced as part of The Independents Rethinking Global Aid project
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Two class-action lawsuits against Colgate-Palmolive, which accuse the company of misleading parents into believing its range of fluoride mouthwashes is suitable for young children, will proceed, a judge ruled.

U.S. District Judge Andrea Wood in Chicago sided with the plaintiffs in the cases after they pointed out that Americas healthcare authorities warn against kids aged under six using fluoride rinses.

While Judge Wood dismissed a similar case against the companys fluoride toothpaste lines, she said it might not be as obvious to the average consumer whether mouthwash was appropriate for their children and how much they could safely use.

open image in gallery Colgate has been accused of misleading parents into believing that fluoride mouthwashes are suitable for young children through its packaging ( LightRocket/Getty )

She noted that the words kids and childrens were featured prominently on Colgates packaging and said that the fact that its range was sold in flavors such as Bubble Fruit and Silly Strawberry suggests it was safe for youngsters.

The justice added that she was unconvinced by the companys counterargument that the public would know that mouthwashes are considered over-the-counter drugs and would remember to check the rear labels on their bottles, which feature Food and Drug Administration warnings for young children, as required by law.

Michael Connett, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, said the courts have been increasingly receptive to moves against deceptive labelling.

These rulings will hopefully send a wake-up call to manufacturers to stop promoting unsafe use of fluoride products, he said.

The Independent has reached out to Colgate-Palmolive and the Department of Health and Human Services for comment.

Procter & Gamble, which manufactures the rival Crest brand of dental products, as well as Perrigo and Sanofi, have also been sued recently over their packaging of fluoride products for children.

Last September, Colgate agreed to redesign its packaging for the Colgate, Toms of Maine, and Hello toothpaste brands to resolve an investigation by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. P&G reached a similar resolution in January.

open image in gallery HHS Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr has claimed that fluoride is linked to neurodevelopmental risks for young children ( AFP/Getty )

Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr and his Make America Healthy Again movement have long campaigned against fluoride, particularly its inclusion in drinking water, claiming it poses neurodevelopmental risks to kids and threatening a nationwide ban.

But the addition of low levels of the chemical to running water was previously hailed as one of the 10 greatest public health achievements of the 20th century, helping to strengthen teeth and reduce cavities by replacing lost minerals ever since it was first introduced in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in 1945.

That said, an HHS report from August 2024  published prior to President Donald Trump's return to power and the installation of RFK Jr. as his top healthcare official  concluded that fluoride levels above recommended levels were linked to lower IQ in children, appearing to bear out MAHAs concerns.

Conversely, another study published in the JAMA Health Forum journal last year warned that removing fluoride from Americas water would lead to a 7.5 percent increase in tooth decay, amounting to 25.4 million teeth and affecting one child in three, at a cost of $9.8 billion over five years.

States including Utah and Florida have nevertheless acted to implement their own bans and Kennedys FDA has since moved to restrict the availability of fluoride supplements for children, saying in its latest analysis that the chemical may be linked to gut issues, weight gain, and cognition problems.

Those claims were disputed by the American Dental Association, which said there are no significant health problems associated with fluoride when used at the prescribed levels.
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U.S. President Donald Trump openly mused about seizing Irans Kharg Island oil terminal in the Persian Gulf and the United States and Israel kept up their attacks Monday on the Islamic Republic, even as there were signs of progress in nascent ceasefire talks. Tehran, meanwhile, struck a key water and electrical plant in hard-hit Kuwait, part of its campaign targeting the Gulf Arab states.

As a diplomatic effort being facilitated by Pakistan toward ending the war moved ahead, Trump said Iran had agreed to allow 20 oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz starting Monday as a sign of respect. At the same time, with 2,500 U.S. Marines now in the region and a similar sized contingent on its way, he raised the idea of taking Iran's Kharg Island.

Maybe we take Kharg Island, maybe we don't, he told the Financial Times in an interview published early Monday. We have a lot of options.

Iran launches attacks on Israel and hits more infrastructure targets in Gulf states

Sirens sounded at dawn near Israel's main nuclear research center, a part of the country that has been targeted repeatedly in recent days. Israel's military also said it had taken out two drones launched from Yemen, where the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels entered the war on Saturday with its first missile attack.

Iran kept up the pressure on its Gulf Arab neighbors, as Saudi Arabia intercepted five missiles targeting its oil-rich Eastern province, Bahrain sounded a missile alert, and a fireball erupted over Dubai as an incoming missile was taken out by defenses.

In Kuwait, an Iranian attack hit a power and desalination plant, killing one worker and injuring 10 soldiers, the state-run KUNA news agency reported.

Desalination plants are crucial to water supplies in the Gulf Arab states, and an Iranian attack previously damaged a desalination plant in Bahrain during the war. The facilities are typically paired with power plants, because of the large amount of energy required to remove salt from the water to make it drinkable.

Israels military launched a new wave of attacks on Iran, saying it was striking military infrastructure across Tehran, and explosions were heard in the Iranian capital. Iranian state media reported a petrochemicals plant in Tabriz, in the north, sustained damage after an airstrike and firefighters had to put out a blaze.

In Lebanon, which Israel has invaded by ground, an Indonesian peacekeeper was killed and three others were wounded when a projectile exploded near a village in the south.

Over the weekend, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the military will widen its invasion, expanding the existing security strip in that countrys south as it targets the Iran-linked Hezbollah militant group.

Oil prices rise again as concerns of global energy crisis grow

Iran's attacks on the energy infrastructure of the region and its stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world's oil is shipped in peacetime, has sent oil prices skyrocketing and given rise to growing concerns about a global energy crisis.

In early trading, the spot price of Brent crude oil, the international standard, was around $115, up nearly 60% from when the U.S. and Israel started the war with attacks on Iran on Feb. 28.

As pressure has grown on Trump to bring an end to the conflict, the U.S. has presented Iran a 15-point plan that includes it agreeing to open the Strait of Hormuz to shipping. Iran, meantime, has produced a five-point plan with its own terms, including maintaining its sovereignty over the key waterway.

Pakistan announced Sunday that it would soon host talks between the U.S. and Iran, though there was no immediate word from Washington or Tehran, and it was unclear whether discussions on the monthlong war would be direct or indirect.

Pakistans Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar the talks would be held "in the coming days.

Trump says diplomatic approach going well but suggests military expansion is possible

Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One late Sunday that the U.S. was negotiating directly and indirectly with Iran, though Iran has insisted that it has not been in any talks with Washington.

"Were doing extremely well in that negotiation but you never know with Iran because we negotiate with them and then we always have to blow them up, Trump said.

Earlier, Irans parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, dismissed the talks in Pakistan as a cover to get more U.S. troops into the area. He said Iranian forces were waiting for the arrival of American troops on the ground to set them on fire and punish their regional partners forever, according to state media.

In the interview with the Financial Times, Trump suggested it could mean a longer-term commitment if the U.S. decided to try and take Kharg Island, saying it would mean we had to be there for a while.

I dont think they have any defense," he added. "We could take it very easily.

The U.S. already launched airstrikes once that targeted military positions on the island. Iran has threatened to launch its own ground invasion of Gulf Arab countries and mine the Persian Gulf if U.S. troops land on its territory.

To get an amphibious invasion force to Kharg would mean transiting the Strait of Hormuz and most of the Persian Gulf. Experts say that holding the island would also be a challenge, because in addition to its missiles and drones, it would be well within artillery range from the Iranian mainland.

Death toll climbs

In Lebanon, officials said more than 1,200 people have been killed and more than 1 million have been displaced. Five Israeli soldiers have also lost their lives.

In Iran, authorities say more than 1,900 people have been killed, while 19 have been reported dead in Israel.

In Iraq, where Iranian-supported militia groups have entered the conflict, 80 members of the security forces have died.

In Gulf states, 20 people have been killed. Four have been killed in the occupied West Bank.

Thirteen U.S. service members have been killed in the war.

___

Rising reported from Bangkok. Associated Press writers Darlene Superville aboard Air Force One, Giovanna Dell'Orto in Miami, Florida and Munir Ahmed in Islamabad contributed to this story.
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Nearly 100 of Americas most hazardous toxic waste sites are situated in areas highly susceptible to flooding and wildfires, posing a significant public health threat to millions of nearby residents, a new report from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agencys internal watchdog reveals.

Last week, the EPAs Office of Inspector General (IG) issued reports detailing climate-related vulnerabilities at 157 federal Superfund sites.

Prioritized for cleanup due to severe public health and environmental risks, these sites are located near millions: 3 million Americans live within a mile, and 13 million within three miles (4.8 kilometers).

Many Superfund sites face multiple disaster threats: 49 coastal sites are vulnerable to sea-level rise or hurricane storm surges, often near populated areas and ecological zones like Chesapeake Bay. Another 47 are prone to inland flooding, and 31 are in high-wildfire-risk areas.

Despite escalating dangers, costly cleanup plans for these sites often fail to adequately address potential damage from rising sea levels, more frequent storms, and wildfires, the IGs review found.

"That is a big problem because it means the site managers are not planning mitigation measures," stated Betsy Southerland, a former director of the agencys water protection division who spent over 30 years at the EPA.

"The communities living near those sites should be made aware of this planning failure and should insist on robust plans," she added.

Without proper flood planning, contaminants could be released, potentially wasting taxpayer funds already invested in remediation.

open image in gallery Many Superfund sites face multiple disaster threats: 49 coastal sites are vulnerable to sea-level rise or hurricane storm surges, often near populated areas and ecological zones like Chesapeake Bay ( Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. )

The EPA has indicated it is reviewing the IGs findings, asserting that its Superfund program already incorporates "the impacts of extreme weather events and other hazards as a standard operating practice in the development and implementation of cleanup projects."

Last year, President Donald Trump dismissed EPA Inspector General Sean ODonnell.

While the IGs new review avoids "climate change"  a term the Republican administration scrubbed from federal websites  its reports still underscore the risks a warming planet poses to the nations most dangerous toxic waste sites.

Lara J. Cushing, a UCLA professor studying climate change's impact on toxic waste sites, called the reports "noteworthy and important." She stressed, "Although President Trump may wish to ignore it, the fact is the climate is changing and we need to be proactive in responding to rising seas and more extreme weather or face the consequences of increasingly frequent cascading natural-technological disasters that poison communities and local ecosystems."

open image in gallery Many Superfund sites face multiple disaster threats: 49 coastal sites are vulnerable to sea-level rise or hurricane storm surges, often near populated areas and ecological zones like Chesapeake Bay ( Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. )

The IGs findings echo a 2017 Associated Press investigation that found 327 Superfund sites vulnerable to climate change-driven flooding. Prompted by Hurricane Harvey, the APs inquiry revealed widespread Houston flooding affected seven Superfund sites, causing spills of cancer-causing toxic waste.

The EPAs new report confirmed that during Harvey, dioxin chemicals were carried by floodwaters into nearby streets, yards, and homes near the San Jacinto River, an area previously highlighted by AP. At the time, the first Trump administrations EPA dismissed APs reporting as fear-mongering "yellow journalism."

Donald Trump has consistently called climate change a hoax, obstructed renewable energy projects, and advocated for increased burning of planet-warming fossil fuels.

Kim Wheeler, spokesperson for the Inspector Generals office, stated, "This series shines a light on potential threats to federal facility Superfund sites and the critical role of five-year reviews in addressing them."

She added, "By identifying sites at risk from these weather-related events, we aimed to raise awareness and encourage forward looking planning."
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An American Airlines flight was diverted after a passenger became disruptive on Sunday afternoon, according to local reports.

Flight 2819 was originally scheduled to fly from New Yorks JFK airport to Chicago O'Hare, but was diverted to Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport due to the disruption, according to Fox 2, which cited an American Airlines spokesperson.

Per airport procedure, the plane was removed from the runway and met by FBI agents and airport police.

Passengers were removed the the aircraft and waited in the terminal as it was searched out of an abundance of caution, Fox 2 reports. The FBI confirmed in a statement that there is no threat to the public.

The Independent has requested comment from the FBI and American Airlines.

An American Airlines flight bound for Chicago was forced to land in Detroit due to an unruly passenger on March 29. FBI investigators and local police responded to the incident and determined there was no threat to the public ( Getty/iStock )

"We appreciate our customers for their patience and thank our crew for their professionalism," the airline reportedly said in its statement.

American Airlines said that the flight was rescheduled to leave the Detroit airport later on Sunday afternoon.

The nature of the disruption that forced the diverted landing, or what happened to the passenger, is not clear as of this report.
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For Chesney the kangaroo, escaping a petty zoo was no small feat.

The marsupial scaled an eight-foot (2 1/2 meter) fence before disappearing for three days, sending residents of a small Wisconsin town on a search that would end happily on Saturday.

The unprecedented escape at Sunshine Farm in Necedah, Wisconsin, last week was precipitated by some stray dogs that rushed the enclosure and spooked the 16-month-old Chesney, said his keeper, Debbie Marland.

She and her friends then trekked hither and yon across the town, about 160 miles (255 kilometers) northwest of Milwaukee, until the adventurous kangaroo was found.

They chased reports of sightings and even rented heat-seeking drones, which proved effective in narrowing down the wanderings of the high-jumping adventurer.

I was putting on about 37,000 steps per day looking for him, Marland said Sunday. "I haven't done so much exercise in a very long time."

open image in gallery Chesney the kangaroo near Sunshine Farm ( Debbie Marland/Sunshine Farm - Necedah via AP )

Chesney and his roommate Kenny are named for country-music star Kenny Chesney. They're among 25 animals at Sunshine Farm, with horses, sheep, alpacas, Kunekune pigs, Highland cows and a Bactrian camel. The farm is generally open Fridays through Sundays from mid-May through mid-November and tours are offered to visitors who can interact with the animals.

Chesney escaped about 11.15am last Wednesday. Though he stayed within a three-mile (5-kilometer) radius of the farm, he kept his pursuers guessing. According to Marland's friend, Stacy Brereton, who helps out at the farm routinely, Friday was a tough day. No one had spotted Chesney all day and searchers feared he had wandered farther afield into even more unfamiliar territory, Brereton said.

Then, Friday night, Chesney was discovered nestled under a tree in a wooded area. A group of searchers surrounded him, but ever fleet of foot  20 mph (32 kph) is no stretch for him  Chesney eluded them.

Marland returned to the area Saturday morning with Chesney's favorite treats and pieces of material that had his and Kenny's scent. Other searchers later joined her. But with no sign of the kangaroo, they started packing up. Just then, they spotted the long-eared kangaroo with outsize back legs approaching.

Brereton stepped up with a delicate touch.

open image in gallery Chesney the kangaroo escaped from Sunshine Farm in Wisconsin ( Juneau County Sheriff's Office )

He had a very calm attitude when he walked up, obviously you could tell he wasnt in fight-or-flight mode, so I just went with that, Brereton said. I just stayed calm with him and I just kind of went and sat and let him come to me.

Chesney heard the voices and wanted attention, said Brereton, who eventually scooped up the 40-pound (18-kilogram) animal.

I do believe he heard our comforting voices, he smelled the familiar smells of home and it just made him feel safe," said Brereton, adding, I'm just glad he loves me as much as I love him.

Marland said the the community really did come together" for the kangaroo, who is now something of a celebrity. A Sunshine Farm fan has written a children's book about Chesney's adventures, which Marland hopes to publish and sell to recoup some of the search costs.

Kenny, who with his marsupial mate has the run of Marland's house, was happy to be reunited with Chesney. Though hungry and tired, Chesney was otherwise healthy but will get a checkup with the veterinarian shortly.

To be safe, Marland added, a new mesh top will be placed over the kangaroo enclosure to prevent any more high-jumping hijinks.
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A flesh-eating parasitic fly has spread north through Mexico to within a few hundred miles of the U.S. southern border.

The New World screwworm (Cochliomyia hominivorax) lays its eggs in open wounds and in the orifices of live, warm-blooded animals  including, occasionally, humans. The maggots then devour the animals flesh, causing devastating lesions that can quickly kill the infested host.

Before the 1950s, it was found in the southern states of the U.S., where cattle infestations caused heavy financial losses for beef producers. But, during the second half of the 20th century, eradication efforts pushed it out of North and Central America.

In the past few years, however, screwworm control has unravelled, with cases spiking across Central America. The fly has now spread north through Mexico, reaching two Mexican states  Tamaulipas and Nuevo Leon  that share a border with Texas.

The method that was used to eradicate the fly is known as the sterile insect technique (SIT). This involves breeding vast numbers of a target species, sterilising them, usually with radiation, and then releasing the males.

The sterile males mate with wild females, which then produce no offspring. By continuously swamping the wild population with sterile males, the wild groups go extinct.

The fly lays eggs in open wounds ( Getty/iStock )

To be effective, SIT has a number of critical requirements. One of the most important is that the immigration of fertile females into areas where outbreaks are already under control must be very limited (and ideally zero). If fertile females are allowed to reinvade, the population will reestablish.

The technique therefore works best on isolated or island populations. In other circumstances, barriers and continuous surveillance need to be maintained to prevent immigration and immediately stamp out any incursions.

SIT has been used many times on a vast number of pests over the past 80 years  with mixed results. The eradication of screwworm from the U.S., Mexico and central America was its greatest success.

The natural range of the New World screwworm fly extends from the southern states of the U.S. through Central America and the Caribbean Islands to northern Chile, Argentina and Uruguay. In North America, the fly used to spread north and west each summer from its overwintering areas near the U.S.-Mexican border.

Historically, its effects were devastating. In 1935, during a screwworm epidemic, there were approximately 230,000 cases in livestock and 55 in humans in the state of Texas. Female screwworm lay batches of 200-300 eggs in open wounds and orifices. The catastrophic lesions caused as the maggots feed are known as myiasis.

Large-scale SIT for New World screwworm started in Florida in 1957-59 and was gradually rolled out to the west. Effective control by the U.S. was achieved in 1966.

Subsequently, using rearing facilities in Mexico, the fly was pushed back through Central America and was held at a barrier at the Darien Gap in Panama using continuous release and surveillance.

Occasional incursions in the U.S. have still occurred. In the summer of 2016, screwworm infestation was identified in deer in the Florida Keys. Such incursions clearly demonstrated that any relaxation of the control and surveillance effort could allow the return of this devastating parasite.

About the author Richard Wall is an Emeritus Professor in the School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol. This article was first published by The Conversation and is republished under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

The recent breakdown of screwworm control has seen thousands of cases confirmed in animals and humans across Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras and Mexico.

The insects continuing northward spread now raises the risk of a costly U.S. reinvasion. The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that an outbreak in Texas could cost livestock producers more than US$700 million per year.

There are several probable reasons for the breakdown of screwworm control. Maintaining barriers, rearing facilities and surveillance operations are expensive. U.S. federal budget cuts, along with reduced foreign aid, hit screwworm control programmes in Central America and weakened surveillance.

The U.N.s Food and Agriculture Organizations (FAO) global health security programme, with responsibility for transboundary animal disease management, reduced its screwworm surveillance as US funding was withdrawn in March 2025.

Loss of control over the illegal movement of cattle, lacking veterinary inspections, may also have been a contributing factor. Alongside this, in many countries there has been an ongoing loss of expertise as experienced veterinary entomologists have retired and not been replaced. Traditional applied entomology has been viewed as dated in the face of, for example, modern molecular and genetic approaches to the identification of species. The retired entomologists have taken with them a generation of experience of screwworm control and insect pest management in general  the essential underlying knowledge on which other approaches often depend.

As a result, considerable efforts are now required to resume control of this pest and prepare for future outbreaks. Significant new U.S. federal funding for screwworm control has just been announced. But given that the pest is now re-entrenched in Central America, it may be too late to quickly reestablish regional control using SIT. As such, a fall back on insecticides seems like the only fix for immediate problems.

The rearing facilities for sterile insects in Mexico were shut down after screwworm was pushed out of North and Central America in the latter half of the 20th century. However, refurbishment is currently underway to allow them to restart producing sterile flies by summer 2026.

A new facility at Moore Airbase in Edinburg, Texas, close to the southern border, is being built. However, the suggestion that it is Mexicos responsibility to prevent flies entering the U.S. seems fanciful.

There are several important lessons that emerge from this history. The first is that insects dont respect borders. International cooperation is required for management at a geographically relevant scale. Unwillingness to support the efforts of less economically robust neighbours, or international organisations such as the FAO, may well come back to bite.

The cost of maintaining the barrier in Panama was almost certainly significantly less than the costs of what will now be needed to achieve preparedness, or what will be incurred by US livestock producers if there is a persistent outbreak.

Finally, new pests and parasites (even some of the ones that seem to be under control) are an ever-present threat, particularly given greater global travel and the effects of climate change. Ignoring them, deprioritizing research and control, failing to train the next generation of veterinary entomologists and hoping for the best, is not a viable strategy.
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Donald Trump has indicated he has "no problem" with a Russian oil tanker delivering relief supplies to Cuba, an island nation severely impacted by a U.S oil blockade.

The statement comes despite his administration's aggressive stance towards the Caribbean country.

Speaking to reporters as he returned to Washington, Trump said: "We have a tanker out there. We dont mind having somebody get a boatload because they need they have to survive."

When questioned about a New York Times report suggesting the tanker would be permitted to reach Cuba, he added: "I told them, if a country wants to send some oil into Cuba right now, I have no problem whether its Russia or not."

On Monday, Russia's Transport Ministry confirmed the arrival of the oil tanker Anatoly Kolodkin at the Cuban port of Matanzas, carrying approximately 730,000 barrels of oil described as "humanitarian supplies."

The vessel itself is subject to sanctions by the United States, the European Union, and the United Kingdom following the conflict in Ukraine.

open image in gallery Island-wide blackouts have roiled Cubans already grappling with years of crisis, and lack of gasoline and basic resources has crippled hospital and slashed public transport ( AP )

Trump's government has adopted a more aggressive approach towards Cuba than any U.S administration in recent history, effectively cutting off key oil shipments in an effort to force regime change.

This blockade has had dire consequences for Cuban civilians, leaving many in desperate circumstances, despite claims from Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio that they aim to assist the population.

Island-wide blackouts have roiled Cubans already grappling with years of crisis, and lack of gasoline and basic resources has crippled hospital and slashed public transport.

Experts say the anticipated shipment could produce about 180,000 barrels of diesel, enough to feed Cubas daily demand for nine or 10 days.

Island-wide blackouts have roiled Cubans already grappling with years of crisis, and lack of gasoline and basic resources has crippled hospital and slashed public transport.

open image in gallery Island-wide blackouts have roiled Cubans already grappling with years of crisis, and lack of gasoline and basic resources has crippled hospital and slashed public transport ( AP )

Cuba has long been at the heart of geopolitical tug-of-war between the U.S. and Russia, dating back decades. Trump on Sunday dismissed the idea that allowing the boat to reach Cuba would help Russian President Vladimir Putin.

It doesnt help him. He loses one boatload of oil, thats all it is. If he wants to do that, and if other countries want to do it, it doesnt bother me much, Trump said.

Its not going to have an impact. Cubas finished. They have a bad regime. They have very bad and corrupt leadership and whether or not they get a boat of oil, its not going to matter.

He added: Id prefer letting it in, whether its Russia or anybody else because the people need heat and cooling and all of the other things.
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Donald Trumps attempt to unilaterally rewrite the Constitution to determine who gets to be an American is relying on century-old legal arguments from white supremacists, a former Confederate officer and a case that denied citizenship to Native Americans, critics have warned.

The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments April 1 over the presidents executive order that attempts to deny citizenship to American-born children of certain immigrants, a far-reaching attempt to upend long-settled law that grants citizenship to most people born in the country.

In their briefs to the court, Trump administration lawyers cite several scholars who campaigned against birthright citizenship in the 1800s, a movement fueled by anti-Black and anti-Chinese racism in the aftermath of Reconstruction and a rise in anti-immigrant views.

Among them are Alexander Porter Morse, a former Confederate officer whose arguments led to the Supreme Courts separate but equal doctrine from 1896 that legalized Jim Crow. The administration quotes Morse in a brief to the Supreme Court, arguing that the children of foreigners transiently within the United States are not deemed U.S. citizens.

In another instance, the government cites Francis Wharton, an attorney who once wrote that granting citizenship to insufficiently civilized Chinese immigrants would invite foreign barbarism into the country.

open image in gallery The Trump administrations defense of an executive order to redefine the 14th Amendments clause that decides who gets to be a citizen relies on century-old arguments promoted by racist scholars, critics say ( AFP via Getty Images )

The 14th Amendment plainly states that all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. For more than 100 years, the Supreme Court has upheld the definition to apply to all children born within the United States.

In the late 1800s, Wharton and other legal minds advanced the argument that the 14th Amendments phrase subject to the jurisdiction thereof excluded the children of Chinese immigrants.

Attorney George D. Collins argued Chinese immigrants are utterly unfit and wholly incompetent to receive citizenship.

Are Chinese children born in this country to share with the descendants of the patriots of the American Revolution the exalted qualification of being eligible to the Presidency of the nation? Collins wrote to the Supreme Court alongside then-solicitor general Holmes Conrad in 1898.

If so, then verily there has been a most degenerate departure from the patriotic ideals of our forefathers; and surely in that case American citizenship is not worth having, they added.

The Supreme Court was unpersuaded. A landmark decision in the case of United States v Wong Kim Ark held that the 14th Amendment grants citizenship to virtually everyone born in the country.

In that case, the justices determined that a man born to Chinese immigrants in San Francisco was a U.S. citizen, effectively enshrining birthright citizenship as the law of the land, with exceptions for children of diplomats and invading militaries.

The Trump administrations legal defense is built on a racist foundation, attorney Justin Sadowsky with the Chinese American Legal Defense Alliance wrote to the high court.

His organization cites at least 19 instances in which the government invokes arguments from Collins and others that were shut down in the Wong Kim Ark case.

The arguments today are entirely recycled from cases that were rejected more than 100 years ago, according to Cody Wofsy, deputy director of the ACLUs Immigrants Rights Project and a lead counsel in the case.

The reliance on what were once fringe right-wing scholars that pull from century-old arguments are part of a broader effort to reshape the demographics of this country, and to try to redefine what it means to be an American, he said.

Administration officials contend that those scholars have been repeatedly referenced by the court, and that their views were shared by other prominent thinkers who did not share racist views.

The Supreme Court has the opportunity to review the Fourteenth Amendments Citizenship Clause and restore the meaning of citizenship in the United States to its original public meaning, White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said in a statement to The Washington Post, which analyzed the administrations reliance on legal arguments from racist scholars. This case will have enormous consequences for the security of all Americans.

Trumps birthright citizenship executive order, which he signed on his first day back in the White House, would deny citizenship to newborns if their mother was unlawfully present or had lawful but temporary status, and if the father was not a United States citizen or lawful permanent resident at the time of said persons birth.

open image in gallery Legal scholars who advanced white supremacist views were cited by the Trump administration in briefs to the Supreme Court at least 19 times, opponents say ( REUTERS )

Critics have warned that allowing the president to effectively rewrite a core component of the 14th Amendment would create a patchwork system of constitutional rights and citizenship benefits, including the right to vote.

Tens of thousands of newborns would be denied citizenship every year under Trumps order, opening the door for stateless families with mixed citizenship status and uneven constitutional rights, according to the plaintiffs.

Right now, having a baby in the United States is straightforward. The hospital fills out a form, and within days, your newborn has a Social Security number and a birth certificate recognizing their citizenship, Wofsy said. That system works because it's simple and universal. This executive order would end that and create chaos for all of us.

Ama S. Frimpong, legal director with immigrants advocacy group We Are CASA, which launched one of the challenges against Trumps order, said families and pregnant immigrant mothers are worried about their childrens birth certificates and the basic rights that every U.S.-born child has been guaranteed.

Allowing this executive order to stand would create chaos, undermining long-standing systems that rely on birthright citizenship, and potentially leaving children stateless or vulnerable to deportation by their own government, she told reporters last week.

open image in gallery Trumps executive order would deny citizenship to newborns of certain immigrants, which could chaos chaos and a patchwork of constitutional rights for immigrant families, critics fear ( AFP via Getty Images )

Two days before the Supreme Court heard arguments over his executive order, Trump raged at the justices on Truth Social and claimed birthright citizenship was about BABIES OF SLAVES, echoing other legal arguments from his administration stating that the14th Amendments citizenship clause was written to grant citizenship to formerly enslaved people and their children.

There's a bit of irony in some of the Trump administration's arguments on this, seen in the briefs and heard from the president  the claim that the citizenship clause was only for citizenship for Black Americans, and not for anyone else. But the text of the clause says all persons born, Wofsy said.

Thats true for a lot of civil rights legislation, that it may have initially been motivated by an impetus to redress some of the horrors inflicted on Black Americans, but that Congress has used universal language to make sure that everyone is protected, he said.

The Trump administration now invokes that civil rights language to advocate on behalf of white litigants with claims of racial discrimination.

So, there's some real irony in its arguments in this one particular case, that against the text of the clause, it should be understood to only protect one particular race of people, as opposed to all children born in this country, Wofsy said.
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The U.S. governments decision to close a nine-mile stretch of quiet gravel road along the Canadian border to improve security has provoked outrage among locals on both sides of the border.

The stretch in question, known as Border Road, is home to the Sweet Grass/Coutts crossing and sits on the Montana side of the windswept plains, although it is maintained by Warner County, Alberta.

The route has operated harmoniously for decades, but the U.S. has now moved to close it to Canadian drivers from July 1, citing concerns about illegal entrants and drug smuggling as it seeks to further restrict access.

Alberta Transportation Minister Devin Dreeshen has already pledged to build a replacement road on the Canadian side, saying $8 million has been set aside for construction, which is due to commence in April with a view to completion this summer.

open image in gallery A U.S. Customs and Border Protections sign warning people against making illegal crossings into Montana from Alberta along the quiet rural road ( The Canadian Press )

We were informed by Homeland Security that they were making sure that this and other areas of U.S. soil at the border were going to be enforced, Dreeshen told The Canadian Press.

We obviously went through the process to make sure we were able to expedite this [road], working with the County of Warner to make sure local access for Albertans [was available] on the Canadian side of the border.

Regardless of the line on the map, youll have farmers on both sides of the border, youll have family friends on both sides of the border. I think obviously that will continue.

The Canadian Press also spoke to two local residents in their 60s, living on either side of the road, who have been friends since childhood and were once profiled by National Geographic as a glowing example of friendship between neighboring Americans and Canadians.

Ross Ford, on the Alberta side, said of the closure: Its unfortunate. Weve enjoyed free access to the road for, I guess, about 80 years, way before I was born.

open image in gallery Local farmers on both sides of the gravel road say they have been friends for decades and have not noticed the rise in illegal traffic alleged by U.S. officials as justification for the closure ( The Canadian Press )

Weve always been very close to our neighbours. Of course, they live in Montana and that wont change  but we have this new barrier.

Roger Horgus, speaking from Montana, said: Its ridiculous. I hate to see it because the Canadians have taken such good care of us and the road, with grading and all of that.

Horgus said that U.S. border patrol officials had told residents the shutdown was necessary because there had been an increase in illegal traffic, although he said that he personally had seen no evidence of that happening.

Ford said of Albertas replacement route: The roads will basically parallel each other for the full length of the road.

So well have our road, and theyll have their road. And the border will be in the ditch!
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A small East African territory has told the Trump administration it would willingly assist with the extradition of Minnesota Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar after Vice President JD Vance accused her of committing immigration fraud.

Responding to a clip of a Newsmax interview with Benny Johnson discussing Vances accusation against Omar, the semi-autonomous region wrote on X (Twitter): Deportation? Please youre just sending the princess back to her kingdom. Extradition? Say the word

Johnson, a prominent MAGA influencer, interviewed Vance over the weekend and raised allegations of widespread fraud among the Somali community in Omars state  whipped up earlier this year by conservative YouTuber Nick Shirley  before turning to the congresswoman herself.

The president and the White House have been out saying that she married her brother, that there is immigration fraud going on here, Johnson said. These are deportable, denaturalization offences, can you give us an update on that?

open image in gallery Vice President JD Vance accuses Minnesota Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar of engaging in immigration fraud during a new interview with MAGA influencer Benny Johnson ( The Benny Show )

The vice president answered: Yeah, so we actually think that Ilhan Omar definitely committed immigration fraud against the United States of America.

And I talked to Stephen Miller about this, actually, recently, and were trying to look at what the remedies are.

Thats the thing that were trying to figure out is what are the legal remedies now that we know that shes committed immigration fraud  how do you go after her, how do you investigate her, how do you actually do the thing, how do you build a case necessary to get some justice for the American people?

He continued: Theres a related issue Benny, which is, she has been at the center of a lot of the worst fraudsters in the Somali community. So do I know that Ilhan Omar was aware that the Quality Learning Center [in Minneapolis] was defrauding the American people?

Im not certain of it, but we at least need to investigate it because if people can commit wrongdoing without even the fear that theyre going to be found out, thats a fundamental problem.

Rep. Omar  who was born in Mogadishu, Somalia, but has been a U.S. citizen since 2000  has long been targeted with smears about her past and remains a hate figure to Republicans, not least over her willingness to fight back and denounce President Donald Trump.

When the president attacked her at a rally in December, she hit back on X by saying, Trumps obsession with me is beyond weird. He needs serious help.

open image in gallery Rep. Omar has long been a hate figure to Republicans, not least because of her willingness to go on the attack ( Getty )

Since he has no economic policies to tout, hes resorting to regurgitating bigoted lies instead. He continues to be a national embarrassment.

Responding to the vice presidents new attack on her, Rep. Omars chief of staff, Connor McNutt, told The Independent his accusations amounted to a ridiculous lie.

This is rich coming from someone who literally said they were willing to create stories to redirect the media, he said.

This is a ridiculous lie and desperate attempt to distract from the pedophile protection partys unpopular war of choice, increasing gas prices, and rapidly dropping polling numbers.

The Independent has reached out to the White House for further comment.

In the Newsmax interview to which Somaliland responded, an animated Johnson said the Minnesota fraud allegations makes my blood boil as an American taxpayer, insisting the country is going over a cliff, and warning against allowing people who are not harmonious with Western civilization into the U.S. because they would loot our nation dry.

Get her out, tutted anchor Rob Schmitt in reference to Rep. Omar, with both men agreeing the accusations were mind-boggling.

open image in gallery The Port of Berbera in Somaliland, which has been called the key to ending 'the weaponization of geography' by states at war, with the blockading of oil shipping routes becoming increasingly common ( AFP/Getty )

As to why the Republic of Somaliland, a small territory on the Horn of Africa with a population of 5.7 million, would be so hostile to the congresswoman, the answer is that she has opposed their claim to independence from Somalia.

Somaliland has been self-governing since 1991, has its own currency and military and has held six elections, but is struggling to win recognition as a standalone nation. Israel is the only United Nations member to have done so.

However, it has been argued that an independent Somaliland would enable its Port of Berbera to take a more prominent role in the global oil trade, opening up the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden and ending the weaponization of geography seen in the Ukraine and Iran wars, in which blockaded shipping routes have caused chaos on the international energy markets.

The transactional Trump administration has clear incentives to move on Somaliland  strategic access, rare earth minerals, and a footing just down the coast from Beijings first overseas military base, Daniel Herszberg wrote recently for Euractiv, noting a bill seeking recognition for the state was currently sitting with the House Foreign Affairs Committee in Washington.

Recognition of Somaliland would unlock alternative critical infrastructure and protect European consumers from shipping lanes threatened by piracy, Houthi missile attacks and the weaponization of geography.
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Less than 12 hours after claiming Iran had accepted most of his purported 15-point plan to end the month-old American-Israeli war he started, President Donald Trump is renewing his threats to attack Tehrans civilian infrastructure if the Iranian regime does not agree to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

In a Monday Truth Social post, Trump said thered been great progress in serious discussions with what he described as the new and more reasonable regime in Tehran but warned of more bombings if it falls apart.

If for any reason a deal is not shortly reached, which it probably will be, and if the Hormuz Strait is not immediately Open for Business, we will conclude our lovely stay in Iran by blowing up and completely obliterating all of their Electric Generating Plants, Oil Wells and Kharg Island (and possibly all desalinization plants!), which we have purposefully not yet touched, the president wrote.

This will be in retribution for our many soldiers, and others, that Iran has butchered and killed over the old Regimes 47-year Reign of Terror, he added.

The presidents extraordinary threat to attack Irans power and water systems  attacks that would almost certainly violate the Fourth Geneva Conventions prohibitions against targeting civilian infrastructure necessary for a populations survival  comes exactly one week after he backed off a prior threat to target Tehrans electrical generation capacity while citing what he described as productive conversations with Tehran even as Iranian government officials denied that any such talks had taken place.

open image in gallery President Donald Trump is renewing threats to bomb Iranian civilian infrastructure if a deal to end the war is not reached ( AP )

Trump has repeatedly claimed there has been progress towards an agreement to end the war, which is entering its second month, even as Tehran has denied any direct talks with Washington since the start of the air campaign.

Iranian state media has also reported that the government has rejected the purported peace plan as unrealistic, illogical and excessive.

Trump is also understood to be considering plans to launch a high-stakes ground operation to seize Irans enriched uranium stockpiles from deep within the country at sites he has repeatedly claimed to have obliterated, both in a series of airstrikes by B-2 stealth bombers last June and during the current war that he launched on February 28.

Thousands of American ground forces from the Army and Marine Corps have arrived in the region, and Trump has told the Financial Times that he wants to take the oil in Iran and potentially use American troops to seize the tiny Kharg Island, the countrys main oil exporting terminal.

On Sunday, he told reporters aboard Air Force One that the Iranian military had been decimated and suggested that Tehran had agreed to give up nuclear weapons and give us the nuclear dust, referring to the weapons-grade nuclear materials.

He also expressed optimism about the same talks which Irans government has denied taking part in while boasting that the month-long bombing campaign had brought about regime change by killing most of the countrys previous leadership.

I think we'll make a deal with them, pretty sure, but it's possible we won't, but we've had regime change, if you look already, because the one regime was decimated, destroyed, they're all dead, he said.

They're going to do everything that we want to do. If they don't do that, they're not going to have a country, he added.

open image in gallery Since February 28, US and Israel have been launching attacks in Iran ( Getty Images )

Seizing Irans uranium would entail a complex operation involving American troops flying to nuclear sites while under fire from Iranian forces.

Combat troops would need to secure the perimeters of the sites, supported by highly-skilled technical staff and engineers on board to extract the radioactive material. This would need to be carried in around 40 to 50 special cylinders to be transported out of the country without incident.

They would also need to assess the territory for mines and other explosive devices designed to ward off security breaches.

Tehran has warned against a ground invasion and said Trump is leading U.S. troops into the swamp of death, while even members of Trumps own Republican Party have cautioned him against deploying ground forces into the country.

One GOP congressman, Rep. Tim Burchett of Minnesota, said Sunday that a lot of Republicans would not support that level of escalation in the month-old conflict.

He told the television network NewsNation that he did not think there was a will for a ground conflict between American and Iran while noting that such a development would face united opposition from Democrats in Congress in addition to a critical mass of Republicans.

Burchett also said he believed a ground invasion would be a red line for the GOP.

Another Republican lawmaker, Senator James Lankford of Oklahoma, cautioned that Trump would have to ensure that Congress is fully informed on what any ground troops would be doing and why.

Speaking Sunday on NBC News Meet the Press, Lankford said: Weve got to be able to know what the objectives are and what theyre actually carrying out.

If this is special forces to be able to carry out a specific operation  get in, get out  thats very different than longstanding occupation, he said. The worst thing that can happen is to be able to have this kind of conflict start and to not end it, to leave it undone.
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Members of the Proud Boys and dozens of people who were convicted or accused of a range of crimes in connection with the January 6 riot are now suing the federal government, alleging law enforcement officers used excessive force while fighting back against rioters who stormed the Capitol.

A class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of at least 46 people or as many as hundreds or potentially thousands of people who joined the mob accuses police of indiscriminately firing tear gas and other chemical agents and swatting them with Billy clubs.

The lawsuit, which is seeking at least $18 million in damages, follows Donald Trumps mass pardons for virtually every defendant charged in connection with the assault in the halls of Congress, fueled by the presidents ongoing baseless conspiracy theories that the 2020 presidential election was rigged and stolen from him.

More than 1,000 defendants pleaded guilty to charges in connection with the attack, and more than 200 others were found guilty at trial, including 10 defendants who were found guilty of treason-related charges. Dozens of officers were injured, and at least five died in the days and weeks after the attack.

The lawsuit, which was filed in a federal court in Florida, claims the crowd was overwhelmingly peaceful before the shooting by police started.

open image in gallery A class-action lawsuit filed by dozens of January 6 rioters accuses law enforcement of excessive force against them ( AFP via Getty Images )

No one intentionally harmed any officers, according to the lawsuit. The munitions launched into the crowd were not directed at any of the people who were pushing on the fence line. Instead, the police were shooting indiscriminately into the crowd further back in an area with peaceful protesters.

Among the 46 named plaintiffs are several former defendants who were granted clemency under Trumps sweeping pardons, including rioters who were charged and convicted of attacking law enforcement.

Dominic Pezzola, a member of the Proud Boys who was filmed using a stolen riot shield to break a window into the Capitol, was convicted of assaulting an officer, among other crimes, after a five-month jury trial.

He was sentenced to 10 years in prison before Trumps pardon.

Another member of the far-right gang, Christopher Worrell, was convicted of shooting pepper spray at officers, among other charges. In remarks to a judge before he was sentenced to 10 years in prison, he said his conduct on January 6 was inexcusable and unjustified and said he was truly sorry to police and members of Congress.

I made some choices I sincerely regret, he said during a sentencing hearing more than two years ago.

Today, the pair are among dozens of plaintiffs accusing police of illegally attacking them.

Anthime Gionet, a far-right personality known as Baked Alaska, pleaded guilty to entering the Capitol unlawfully after he filmed himself on a 27-minute livestream from inside.

Gionet  who filmed a music video for his song We Love Our Cops  also berated a law enforcement officer during the riot, saying youre a f****** oathbreaker, you piece of s***, f*** you and you broke your oath to the constitution, according to federal prosecutors.

This was a fraudulent election. Were standing up for truth, Gods truth, he says in the video, according to court filings.

The plaintiffs say the police response caused them bodily injury and resulting pain and suffering, disability, disfigurement, severe emotional distress and psychological trauma, mental anguish, inconvenience, loss of capacity for the enjoyment of life, expense of hospitalization, medical and nursing care and treatment, loss of earnings, loss of ability to earn money, and aggravation of a previously existing condition.

The Independent has requested comment from lawyers for plaintiffs and the Department of Justice as well as U.S. Capitol Police and Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Police Department.

open image in gallery Trump has pardoned virtually everyone charged in connection with the attack and his administration has sought to rewrite the history of the riot and downplay the impacts ( AFP via Getty Images )

open image in gallery Dozens of law enforcement officers were injured after they were overwhelmed by members of the mob who pushed through police lines to break into the Capitol building ( AFP via Getty Images )

Its unclear whether the Justice Department will now defend the government and law enforcements response to January 6 after the Trump administrations government-wide whitewashing of the riots.

The Justice Department has already reached a settlement with the family of at least one rioter who was fatally shot by a Capitol police officer after trying to break into the House of Representatives.

Trump has also pledged he would look at at the governments decision to drop a case against the officer who shot Ashli Babbitt.

At least one rioter  a man who called on the mob to kill police  is now working in the administration.

The administration has also targeted federal prosecutors involved with January 6 cases and moved to identify FBI agents involved in investigations while scrubbing evidence and public statements about the attack from government websites.

A newly launched White House website blames law enforcement officers for deliberately escalating tensions while hundreds of Trumps supporters swarmed the area.
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As thousands of U.S. Marines head to the Middle East amid reports of an impending ground invasion of Iran, many conservatives are becoming increasingly critical of President Donald Trumps campaign in the region.

Trump had promised to put America First in contrast to previous Democratic leaders, whom he accused of engaging the country in long and expensive military operations abroad.

However, as new reports suggest that Trump is assessing a high-risk plan to seize Irans enriched uranium, the administrations strategy is coming under fresh scrutiny.

A report surfaced over the weekend suggesting thatWhite House staffers who didnt love the war to start with, and since it began, the constantly contradictory messaging from the president himself.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio suggested on Friday that the U.S. would achieve its objectives without boots on the ground.

Iran has warned that Trump is leading U.S. troops into the swamp of death.

open image in gallery ( AFP via Getty Images )

Oklahoma Republican Senator James Lankford said that he would not rule out support for troops on the ground in Iran but said weve got to be able to know what the objectives are and what theyre actually carrying out in an interview with NBCs Meet the Press.

While important to finish the job, he said it was crucial to know what boots were putting on the ground.

If this is special forces to be able to carry out a specific operation  get in, get out  thats very different than longstanding occupation, he said. The worst thing that can happen is to be able to have this kind of conflict start and to not end it, to leave it undone.

Asked if Trump requires congressional approval, Lankford said: If we had a longstanding war thats happening, go back again to what happened in Iraq or in Afghanistan, yes. If this is to protect Americans and to be able to make sure that were in there for a season and were stopping and getting out, thats very, very different. So again, this is all contingent.

open image in gallery Scalise has defended Trump and said the war remains on track to meet its military objectives ( Getty )

Also on Sunday, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise insisted that the Trump administration is on track to meet its military objectives in the conflict.

The whole world knows that a nuclear-armed Iran would have been a danger to the world, he told ABC News.

Just look at what Iran is doing right now. Theyve actually united, not only Israel, but all the other Arab nations around them against Iran, because of the danger that they pose.

He showed support for the president, saying that Trump understands what needs to be done.

Meanwhile, retired U.S. Air Force Brig. Gen. Blaine Holt said that Trumps deployment of troops to the Middle East provides him with flexibility and options in the heated conflict and warned against propaganda and misinformation.

The troops that you're seeing massing now, right now, this could change today, he told Newsmax on Sunday.

But right now they provide the president with the optionality to go in whatever direction the war takes him.

He explained: "What you don't want to do is have a new development in this war and then say, gosh, I wish we had 10,000 Marines nearby or 10,0000 82nd Airborne guys nearby. We need to have all the tools ready to go for however this thing breaks.

Holt added that he had never seen an armed conflict with so much fake news and propaganda all over the place in all directions.

open image in gallery Bannon said Arab nations should fight first in the war against Iran ( Getty Images for Semafor )

The former chief strategist to Trump, Steve Bannon, has been critical of ground troops and instead suggested that Arab nations put their forces on the line to fight Iran instead.

Maybe we can get a couple or three of those princes in uniform. Got any kids in special forces? Let's line up those royal families and see how big they're talking, Bannon said on his War Room podcast.

The Israelis are playing games with us, the Arabs are playing games with us, the Europeans are playing games. And what are we doing? Sending troops over there.

He added, Call them what they are. Stop saying boots on the ground; and start calling them what they are, combat troops. Young men and women from the U.S., combat troops, inserted into the Persian Gulf or maybe even the mainland of Persia. We're gonna go redo what Alexander the Great did 2,300 years ago.

Fine, if we do that, I want Arabs at the front. The first wave at Kharg Island, send the UAE.

open image in gallery Tom Cotton remains one of Hegseth's most ardent defenders in the Senate ( X - Meet the Press )

Staunch Trump ally, Alabama Senator Tom Cotton, told Fox News on Sunday that Trumps military objectives are clear, despite the lies from the media and the Democratic Party.

The senator repeatedly criticised the Iranian regime and defended the U.S. operations against Iran, saying that they were essential for Americas security.

He said: I've said from the beginning, I expect this campaign to last weeks, not months. And I think that's still a good estimate. But we have to see it to the end. We cannot stop early and allow Iran to have the military capability to continue to terrorize the United States and the rest of the civilized world.

open image in gallery Paul believes Trump has been led by more aggressive people in the Republican party ( ABC - This Week )

One of Trump's rare critics in the GOP, Sen. Rand Paul, has been critical of the war and said that the president had not been held in check by Congress and had been misled by the more aggressive people in the party.

[President James] Madison said that we would give the legislature certain powers and the president certain powers.

And as each tried to grasp for the power, they would check and balance each other, I don't think our founders ever imagined our current Congress that is completely lacking in ambition. They don't check the president."

He added, I think he was misled by some of the more aggressive people, basic instincts have been for less war.

Paul had previously said that Trump should not launch strikes on Iran after a crackdown on protesters.

open image in gallery Mace believes Congress must have a say in giving the green light to ground operations and does not believe the U.S. should put boots on the ground ( Getty Images )

Controversial South Caroline Representative Nancy Mace believes that Congress should have a say if a ground invasion of Iran goes ahead.

If we're going to do a conventional ground operation with Marines and 82nd Airborne, that is a ground war that I believe Congress should have a say and we should be briefed, she told CNN. We don't want troops on the ground.

She had previously said Congress needs to have a greater say.
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Former GOP congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene has turned on Fox News, accusing the channel of brainwashing boomers and peddling fake news amid President Donald Trumps war in Iran.

Greene, a former Trump loyalist, has been a regular guest on the MAGA-leaning network over the years but lashed out at its coverage of the conflict in the Middle East.

Fox News is now the fake news, Greene said Sunday X post, following news that thousands of U.S. troops have arrived in the Middle East, which she opposes. Brainwashing boomers to support what we voted against.

The MAGA firebrand was replying to a comment made by fellow conservative commentator Ann Coulter.

Watching Fox News assure viewers the Iran war is going SUPER well and Trump is a total stud is like watching the same network assure viewers that Dominion Voting Systems rigged the 2020 election and Trump was the winner, Coulter, who has also appeared on the network over the years, wrote on X Sunday.

open image in gallery Former GOP congresswoman and Trump loyalist Marjorie Taylor Greene has turned on Fox News, accusing the channel of brainwashing boomers and peddling fake news ( Getty Images )

Coulter was referring to the scandal that saw Rupert Murdochs network pay a settlement $787 million after hosts and guests repeatedly and falsely claimed on air that Dominion voting machines rigged the 2020 presidential election by recording Trumps votes for former President Joe Biden.

The Independent has contacted Fox News for comment.

Trump appeared on Fox News The Five last week to defend the war, where he argued that the Iranian regime has been weakened because of Operation Epic Fury. The network also aired a segment by host Mark Levin over the weekend where he said there are a lot of reasons for sending troops into Iran.

Fox News also published an unfavorable poll that found 59 percent of Americans disapprove of Trumps performance as commander in chief, while 58 percent said they opposed the conflict with Iran, versus 42 percent in favor.

open image in gallery Greene has been a regular guest on the MAGA-leaning network over the years but lashed out at its coverage of the conflict in the Middle East ( Fox News )

Trump lashed out at the poll Friday during his interview on the network. I hate Fox polls. Honestly, whoever does your polls are terrible, he fumed. Rupert Murdoch has promised me for years he's going to get rid of your pollster, but he doesn't do it. I don't get it, but your Fox polls are terrible.

Greene, the former Georgia representative, has criticized Trump for entering into the conflict and argued that it goes against America First.

Its a cruel irony that the American troops soon to be sent into Iran will be Gen Z and millennials (again), by the very President and admin that promised no more foreign wars, to make life affordable for Americans, and a strong American economy producing good American jobs, Greene said Monday.

Greene dramatically fell out with Trump last year after she persistently called for the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files and has since become one of his loudest critics.

The White House hit back at the MAGA firebrand in a statement to Fox News Digital last week. There is nothing more America Last than quitting on your constituents and the MAGA movement in the middle of your term, said spokesperson Davis Ingle. President Trump is fighting every single day to Make America Great Again  we dont have time for quitters.
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There are plenty of reasons to believe that Democrats are headed toward a blue wave. Democrats are turning out in record numbers in primary contests even in safe races. They continue to over-perform in special elections, even flipping the state legislative seat that includes Donald Trumps Mar-a-Lago estate.

Added to that, the war in Iran is already causing Trump to crater with groups of voters that had boosted him to reelection such as Latino voters. And most major pollsters show that voters would overwhelmingly vote for a generic Democrat for Congress compared to a generic Republican.

But one of the biggest indicators of an impending Democratic win come November is the number of Republicans in the House of Representatives not running for reelection.

As of Monday, a record 36 Republicans have announced they would not run again. That is a record for the largest number of retirements for a midterm election cycle since 1930, in the throes of the Great Depression, according to the Brookings Institution. And if history is any indication, it is a bad sign for Trump and his party to retain control of the House.

Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) shocked many when she pulled out of running for governor and chose not to seek re-election. This came after she gave up a spot in House leadership to become Trumps ambassador to the United Nations only for Trump to rescind it. ( Getty Images )

To give a good contrast, in 2018, when Democrats won back the House with a net margin of 41 seats, 34 Republicans did not run for re-election. That wave of retirements came amid Trumps regime of family separation for undocumented immigrants and after the failed attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

In addition, only 21 Democrats are not seeking reelection. The rationale is clear: If members of the minority party think they will win the House, they are less likely to retire because they can get committee chairmanships, plum positions in leadership and the chance to pass legislation. By contrast, retirements offer a dignified alternative to losing in a humilating fashion or, given the majoritarian nature in the House, being in a far diminished stature in the minority.

Not all of these retirements are because of exhaustion with Congress. Some members are leaving the House to run for governor  as is the case with Reps. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) and Randy Feenstra (R-Iowa), or for Senate, as with Reps. Wesley Hunt (R-Texas) and Buddy Carter (R-Ga.).

But even so, Rep. Elise Stefanik, for example, had planned to run for governor of New York after Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson pulled back her nomination to be ambassador to the United Nations. Then, surprisingly, she announced she would not run for governor nor seek re-election. This came only a year after she had been in the running to become Trumps running mate.

Another bad sign for Republicans is how both more experienced members and junior ones are calling it a day. Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas served as chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and was a major supporter of Ukraine.

But so, too, did fellow Texas Rep. Morgan Luttrell, a retired Navy SEAL first elected in 2022. Luttrell will not even be eligible for a pension. The same goes for Hunt, who staged a quixotic campaign for Senate against incumbent Sen. John Cornyn and MAGA Attorney General Ken Paxton, where he placed third, making him ineligible for the runoff election.

Some of those retirements are a sign that Republicans think their seats can flip. Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska represents one of only three districts held by a Republican that also voted for Kamala Harris. Rep. Darrell Issa is retiring after a comeback tenure in Congress after Proposition 50 passed in California, which allowed Democrats to draw him into a more competitive district.

Other times, it means that a member can hand-pick their preferred candidate, as is the case with Rep. Troy Nehls of Texas, whose twin brother Trever is the nominee for his seat.

To be sure, Democrats have their own retirements. The backlash from former President Joe Bidens decision to seek re-election in his 80s seems to have prompted an older generation of Democrats including Rep. Jerry Nadler of New York, former House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to head for the exits.

But that also allows them to ensure their seats stay in blue hands. Only two DemocratsReps. Chris Pappas of New Hampshire, who is running for Senate, and Rep. Jared Golden of Maine, whose district voted for Trumpare vacating seats that might be considered competitive.

This is not to say that the retirements guarantee a wave election. In 2010, only 17 Democrats and 15 Republicans did not seek re-election, when Republicans won a whopping 63 seats in the House of Representatives. And in 2022, 29 Democrats did not run for re-election compared to 20 Republicans. But most of those retirements came before the Dobbs v. Jackson decision that killed the right to an abortion and Republicans barely won the House majority, creating the tight margins that Johnson must manage now.

But the resignations, combined with the sluggish economy, lagging poll numbers as well as the House overall surrendering its authority as an independent body to Trump show just how miserable being in the House is and might be the first rumbles of a blue wave.
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White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt raged against a New York Times feature that trashed the design of President Donald Trumps new ballroom.

On Sunday, Leavitt dismissed the opinions of three experts who contributed to a NYT story criticizing the design of the ballroom that will replace the East Wing.

"The New York Times had three random people who have 'studied fine arts,' 'long written about urban planning,' and never built anything to write an article criticizing the new White House ballroom," she wrote in a social media post.

Leavitt was referencing two of the authors  Larry Buchanan, who has studied fine arts, and Emily Badger, who writes about urban planning  but had little to say about Junho Lee, who is a trained architect, the NYT says. All three have bylines on the feature.

"President Trump and his lead architect have built world-class buildings around the world, and they are ensuring the Peoples House finally has a beautiful ballroom thats been needed for decades  at no expense to the taxpayer," she said.

open image in gallery A vote on the ballroom project will take place on Thursday ( @realDonaldTrump/ Truth Social )

The estimated $400 million ballroom is, according to Trump, going to be fully funded by private donations.

The feature that has Leavitt up in arms offered several concerns about not only the structure's design, but also the timeline for the planned construction. It notes that "the White House has said it plans to begin building in the spring, a timeline that would mean construction documents would have to be prepared even as the design was still under review."

It also quoted architect Thomas Gallas, who said that the presented timeline "never made any sense to me."

Noting the building's reported size, the story claims that, when viewed from the south, the ballroom will be the dominant building and not only dwarf the White House  the ballroom is 60 percent larger than the residence  but also ruin the symmetry of the site.

It pointed to the building's south portico, which was not part of its original design, and noted that its grand staircase actually leads nowhere, as there are no doors leading into the ballroom on that side of the structure.

open image in gallery Certain quirks of the new ballroom have been highlighted by the New York Times ( AP )

The ballroom's south face will also be lined with massive columns, which the experts argued would block both the view from the interior of the ballroom and inhibit light from entering.

According to the NYT, the ballroom's architect, Shalom Baranes, noted during a planning commission review earlier this month that the south portico was more of an aesthetic decision than a functional part of the building.

It's not the only facade. The east colonnade, which will connect the Executive Residence to the new East Wing and ballroom, will appear from the north to be lined with windows. In reality, these will be masonry niches designed to look like windows, the report says.

The National Capital Planning Commission is scheduled to hold a final vote on Thursday to approve Trumps ballroom.
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The White House is standing by President Donald Trumps threat to cripple the desalination infrastructure that supplies Irans population with drinking water and downplaying the possibility that bombing such civilian targets would constitute war crimes under both American criminal law and international treaties to which the U.S. is a party.

Asked about Trumps warning that he would order U.S. forces to attack vast swaths of Iranian civilian infrastructure  including water purification plants  if Tehran does not agree to his terms for a ceasefire and allow free passage for oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters at a press briefing on Monday that the Iranian regimes best move is to make a deal or else.

The United States Armed Forces has capabilities beyond their wildest imagination, and the President is not afraid to use them, said Leavitt, who dismissed a reporters question about why Trumps threat was not in conflict with the administrations position that the U.S. does not target civilians in wartime.

This administration [and the] United States Armed Forces will always act within the confines of the law, but with respect to achieving the full objectives of Operation Epic Fury, President Trump is going to move forward unabated, and he expects the Iranian regime to make a deal.

Leavitt then refused to respond to a follow-up query on how destroying the plants that generate fresh water for 92 million Iranians would help achieve the military objective the administration has repeatedly laid out for the month-old war, including destroying Irans navy, ballistic missile infrastructure and defense industrial base, and preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.

open image in gallery White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt declined to walk back President Trump's threat to attack Iran's water supply even though it would be a war crime prohibited by American criminal law ( REUTERS )

Her defense of Trumps threat to target Irans fresh water supply came just hours after Trump renewed his threat to have U.S. warplanes bomb Irans electrical power generation facilities and desalinization plants if Tehran did not reach a deal with the administration and allow the Strait of Hormuz to be immediately Open for Business by halting threats to commercial shipping through the key maritime chokepoint.

Writing on Truth Social earlier on Monday, Trump said thered been great progress in serious discussions with what he described as the new and more reasonable regime in Tehran but warned of more bombings if the talks dont produce the result he wants.

If for any reason a deal is not shortly reached, which it probably will be, and if the Hormuz Strait is not immediately Open for Business, we will conclude our lovely stay in Iran by blowing up and completely obliterating all of their Electric Generating Plants, Oil Wells and Kharg Island (and possibly all desalinization plants!), which we have purposefully not yet touched, the president said.

He added that any such attacks would be retribution for our many soldiers, and others, that Iran has butchered and killed over the old Regimes 47-year Reign of Terror.

The presidents extraordinary threat to attack Irans power and water systems  attacks that would almost certainly violate the Fourth Geneva Conventions prohibitions against targeting civilian infrastructure necessary for a populations survival.

The United States has ratified that 1949 treaty and has signed but not ratified a 1977 additional protocol that prohibits intentional attacks on the civilian population and civilian objects. But in 1993, the United Nations Security Council adopted a U.N. Secretary-Generals report which held that the treaty and additional protocols are binding on all parties in armed conflict, including non-signatories to the convention.

Additionally, American criminal law prohibits the commission of war crimes, which it defines as a grave breach in any of the international conventions signed at Geneva 12 August 1949, or any protocol to such convention to which the United States is a party.

The U.S. criminal code states that any person who commits war crimes can be imprisoned for life or put to death if a war crime results in the death of any victims.

Trumps threat against Iranian civilian infrastructure and the White Houses refusal to rule out targeting Irans water supply comes exactly one week after Trump backed off a prior threat to target Tehrans electrical generation capacity while citing what he described as productive conversations with Tehran even as Iranian government officials denied that any such talks had taken place.

open image in gallery President Donald Trump is renewing threats to bomb Iranian civilian infrastructure if a deal to end the war is not reached ( AP )

He has repeatedly claimed there has been progress towards an agreement to end the war, which is entering its second month, even as Tehran has denied any direct talks with Washington since the start of the air campaign.

Iranian state media has also reported that the government has rejected the purported peace plan as unrealistic, illogical and excessive.

Trump is also understood to be considering plans to launch a high-stakes ground operation to seize Irans enriched uranium stockpiles from deep within the country at sites he has repeatedly claimed to have obliterated, both in a series of airstrikes by B-2 stealth bombers last June and during the current war that he launched on February 28.

Thousands of American ground forces from the Army and Marine Corps have arrived in the region, and Trump has told the Financial Times that he wants to take the oil in Iran and potentially use American troops to seize the tiny Kharg Island, the countrys main oil exporting terminal.

On Sunday, he told reporters aboard Air Force One that the Iranian military had been decimated and suggested that Tehran had agreed to give up nuclear weapons and give us the nuclear dust, referring to the weapons-grade nuclear materials.

He also expressed optimism about the same talks which Irans government has denied taking part in while boasting that the month-long bombing campaign had brought about regime change by killing most of the countrys previous leadership.

I think we'll make a deal with them, pretty sure, but it's possible we won't, but we've had regime change, if you look already, because the one regime was decimated, destroyed, they're all dead, he said.

They're going to do everything that we want to do. If they don't do that, they're not going to have a country, he added.

open image in gallery Since February 28, US and Israel have been launching attacks in Iran ( Getty Images )

Seizing Irans uranium would entail a complex operation involving American troops flying to nuclear sites while under fire from Iranian forces.

Combat troops would need to secure the perimeters of the sites, supported by highly-skilled technical staff and engineers on board to extract the radioactive material. This would need to be carried in around 40 to 50 special cylinders to be transported out of the country without incident.

They would also need to assess the territory for mines and other explosive devices designed to ward off security breaches.

Tehran has warned against a ground invasion and said Trump is leading U.S. troops into the swamp of death, while even members of Trumps own Republican Party have cautioned him against deploying ground forces into the country.

One GOP congressman, Rep. Tim Burchett of Minnesota, said Sunday that a lot of Republicans would not support that level of escalation in the month-old conflict.

He told the television network NewsNation that he did not think there was a will for a ground conflict between American and Iran while noting that such a development would face united opposition from Democrats in Congress in addition to a critical mass of Republicans.

Burchett also said he believed a ground invasion would be a red line for the GOP.

Another Republican lawmaker, Senator James Lankford of Oklahoma, cautioned that Trump would have to ensure that Congress is fully informed on what any ground troops would be doing and why.

Speaking Sunday on NBC News Meet the Press, Lankford said: Weve got to be able to know what the objectives are and what theyre actually carrying out.

If this is special forces to be able to carry out a specific operation  get in, get out  thats very different than longstanding occupation, he said. The worst thing that can happen is to be able to have this kind of conflict start and to not end it, to leave it undone.
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A new poll has found that almost half of the people who identify with the Make America Healthy Again movement believe that President Donald Trumps administration has not done enough to meet their goals.

Politicos latest survey revealed that 47 percent of MAHAs members are not happy with Trump, while 41 percent of people who voted for the president but do not necessarily consider health their primary area of interest also believe he has not done enough to address concerns about issues like vaccines, pesticides, and junk food.

More worryingly for the president, looking ahead to Novembers midterms, many poll respondents told the outlet they regard Democrats as better placed to meet their priorities and improve American health than Republicans, who, they said, are more likely to be influenced by industry lobbyists.

open image in gallery President Donald Trump secured the support of the Make America Healthy Again movement by appointing Robert F Kennedy Jr as his health secretary, but MAHA is beginning to express discontent with their performance in office ( AP )

The prospect of an already loose coalition of interest groups switching its support towards Democratic candidates at the midterms was also raised last month by Tony Lyons, president of the MAHA Action group.

Lyons said in a leaked memo last month that the Republican Party was only renting MAHA voters by installing their champion, Robert F Kennedy Jr., as health secretary and would not be able to purchase them.

A decision that enabled the chemical giant Bayer to increase production of its weed killer Roundup last month  a compromise in the interest of agricultural stability, the administration said  particularly incensed the MAHA movement, which has repeatedly argued that such glyphosate-based herbicides cause cancer.

Were not even sure that we even have a path forward in this administration when it comes to pesticides, because its very clear that they are entirely owned by Bayer and the chemical companies, said influencer Kelly Ryerson, AKA Glyphosate Girl, who has publicly backed RFK Jr.

In response to a social media post by the secretary attempting to explain a decision he might have been expected to oppose, another MAHA activist, Zen Honeycutt, told him: We love you Bobby but this administration needs to keep their word.

If there is a big plan, a big MAHA-style plan to move in the direction of detoxifying agriculture from these chemicals, where is it? asked veteran environmentalist Ken Cook. What Im seeing here is a very aggressive effort to try and hang onto MAHA principles even as, at every turn, you betray them.

The administrations inclination towards deregulation and support for policies contrary to MAHAs concerns, like restricting abortion access, necessary to keep the Christian right onside, has also created areas of conflict.

open image in gallery Anti-pesticide activists were particularly incensed when the Trump administration moved to enable the increased production of the weed killer Roundup, contrary to their wishes ( AP )

But it has made some moves that have pleased the movement, such as cutting down on artificial dyes in food and restricting junk food purchases as part of the federal nutrition program.

Republican policy adviser Abby McCloskey warned her party that officials were squandering their MAHA moment.

The MAHA movement in the [2024] campaign cycle started with a lot of energy, and did create more energy for these types of issues that previously wouldnt have been associated with the GOP, she said.

Since then, I think the energy has trickled off from the perspective of, what is the federal government going to do about this?

Democratic strategist Anjan Mukherjee has meanwhile said he expects more left-leaning candidates to emphasize to MAHA supporters how this administration has failed them during the midterms.

What this administration has shown to them over and over again is that theyre only interested in enriching themselves and putting more money into the pockets of the wealthy, he said.

Despite the deep unpopularity of the ongoing Iran war, which appears to be causing Trumps support to collapse, the president himself has insisted the GOP will triumph, declaring brashly last week: Well have bigger majorities in the House and Senate than we do today.

open image in gallery Kennedy addressed CPAC in Texas over the weekend, generously praising the president ( AFP/Getty )

Trump uncharacteristically chose to dodge the annual CPAC conference in Texas over the weekend, where conservative division over the conflict was strongly in evidence, but Kennedy did make an appearance.

The secretary apologized for his past rejection of the president, telling his audience: I basically drank the Kool-Aid that he was this bombastic narcissist who didnt read books, was ill-informed.

He went on to say he considered Trump unusually empathetic because he was willing to acknowledge Russian casualties in the war in Ukraine.

You will not hear any Democrat ever talk about that, Kennedy said. And he talks about the Russian kids who are dying. He gets the reports every week, and they make a huge impression on him about the death rate.

He also praised Trump for accurately drawing a map of the Middle East on the back of a placemat, which, the secretary said, challenged a lot of the assumptions I had been told about him.
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U.S lawmakers visiting Taipei on Monday have backed Taiwan's government to pass a $40 billion special defence budget, stalled by opposition parliament.

This bipartisan group of four senators arrived on an Asia trip to bolster U.S alliances and counter Chinas influence, ahead of a May summit between U.S President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

Democratic Senators Jeanne Shaheen (New Hampshire) and Jacky Rosen (Nevada), with Republicans John Curtis (Utah) and Thom Tillis (North Carolina), met Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te on Monday, beginning a two-day trip to strengthen informal ties.

China claims self-ruled Taiwan as its own breakaway province, threatening reunification by force if necessary. Beijing prohibits diplomatic partners, including the US, from maintaining formal ties with Taipei.

While the U.S does not formally recognise Taiwan, it is the islands strongest informal backer and arms supplier. Significant US arms sales to Taiwan are expected to be a key topic at the Xi-Trump summit, with China opposing them.

A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson on Monday criticized the congressional visit, urging the U.S. to handle the Taiwan question prudently and properly, stop all forms of official exchanges with Taiwan, and stop sending any wrong signals to Taiwan independence separatist forces.

open image in gallery A bipartisan group of four senators arrived in Taiwan as part of an Asia trip meant to bolster U.S. alliances and counter Chinas influence in the region ( Associated Press )

Chinas position on the Taiwan-related issue is consistent and clear, spokesperson Mao Ning said. China will take necessary measures to firmly safeguard its sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Taiwans $40 billion special defense budget is stalled in parliament

During the meeting with Lai, Curtis praised Taiwans progress on strengthening its defense, whole society preparedness and energy security, especially over the last year.

The seriousness is noticed in Washington D.C., and your efforts on the special defense budget are also noticed and supported, he said.

Taiwans government is trying to push forward a $40 billion special defense budget that over eight years would see investments in building a sophisticated missile defense system dubbed the T-dome, integrating artificial intelligence into national defense and developing Taiwans indigenous defense industry, among others.

The budget is currently being stalled in parliament, with opposition parties proposing smaller defense budgets.

open image in gallery From left, US Sen. Jacky Rosen, Vice Mister of Taiwan National Defense Ministry Hsu Szu-chien, US Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, Secretary-General of the Taiwan National Security Council Joseph Wu, Sen. John Curtis, and US Sen. Thom Tillis, first from right, smile as they visiting the National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology (NCSIST) in Taoyuan City, Northern Taiwan ( Associated Press )

Lai renewed calls for the parliament to pass the special defense budget without delay.

I want to reassure you and all of our friends in the United States that my governments resolve and commitment to enhancing our self-defense capabilities, strengthening Taiwan-U.S. cooperation and ensuring national security remain unwavering, he told the visiting lawmakers.

The opposition leader, KMT chairwoman Cheng Li-wun, said Monday she would be visiting China next month in an attempt to promote peaceful relations with Beijing. Cheng had previously expressed interest in meeting with Xi, though it wasnt clear if a meeting with the Chinese leader was on her trips agenda.

Beijing refuses to speak to Lai and has labeled him a separatist who wants to turn Taiwan into a powder keg.
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Australias skies turned blood red on Friday as Tropical Cyclone Narelle approached the west coast, with residents describing "apocalyptic" scenes and "the sky issuing a final warning.

The colour change took place as the storm whipped iron-rich soil from northern Western Australias distinctive red landscape into the atmosphere, AccuWeather said.

The soil undergoes a weathering process of oxidation over millions of years, according to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

"In this type of environment, these rocks actually begin to rust," the agency explained. "As the rust expands, it weakens the rock and helps break it apart."

That process gives the dirt its reddish hue, with coloured dust scattered by the storm across Shark Bay, Denham and Karratha on the Pilbara coast.

Angus Hines, senior forecaster at the Bureau of Meteorology, told the ABC a thick layer of cloud deepened the effect considerably. Dust storms in the Pilbara and Gascoyne are common but they typically occur under blue skies where direct sunlight softens the colour of particles in the air. On Friday, dense clouds blocked that single light source entirely.

"When you have got the thick cloud cover, the light doesn't feel like it's coming from a single source," he said. "It feels like the light is evenly illuminating the ground, like a panel of lighting as opposed to one bright spotlight."

He described it as "the most striking example of that phenomenon that I've ever seen.

Denhams skies turn red ( X/AccuWeather )

The Shark Bay Caravan Park in Denham said the dust arrived gradually before engulfing the area entirely. "Incredibly eerie outside and everything is covered in dust," the park wrote on Facebook.

The dust cleared quickly once the cyclone's wind and rain arrived.

The phenomenon, known as mie scattering, occurs when sunlight hits large numbers of microscopic particles matching the wavelength for red light.

Similar scenes have been witnessed before. In 2019, fires along Australia's east coast turned daytime skies black and then blood red. And that same year wildfires in the central Sumatran province of Jambi produced a red sky over Indonesia.

Narelle was a rare triple-strike system. It made landfall first in far north Queensland, then crossed the Northern Territory before reaching Western Australia.

In Exmouth, roofs were torn from buildings and the marina was badly damaged. At least 30 pastoral properties were extensively damaged and a banana grower in Carnarvon said 80 per cent of his crop had been destroyed.

The storm also forced a halt to production at Australia's two biggest liquefied natural gas plants, run by Chevron and Woodside, adding to pressure on global energy supplies already strained by the war in the Middle East.

The cyclone was downgraded to a subtropical system on Saturday, although authorities warned of continued heavy rainfall and strong winds.

Western Australia premier Roger Cook announced one-off payments of up to $2,000 for damaged homes and $4,000 for destroyed ones, as a lengthy clean-up got under way.
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The Victoria police shot dead a man who had been on the run after killing two officers last August, bringing to an end one of their largest searches.

Police said the identity of the man killed in the operation was yet to be formally confirmed but he was most likely to be Dezi Freeman, 56, of Porepunkah.

The fugitive was shot dead at a rural property in northeastern Victoria.

Freeman, whose real name was Desmond Filby, had been on the run since he fatally shot two senior police officers, Neal Thompson and Vadim de Waart-Hottart, last August. A third officer was seriously injured in the shootout that occurred on his property in the small Victorian town of Porepunkah.

open image in gallery A police helicopter flies during a search for fugitive Dezi Freeman near Porepunkah, Victoria, on 28 August 2025 ( REUTERS )

Freeman described himself as a sovereign citizen who rejected government and law. He lived with his family on a bus on a 20-hectare plot on the outskirts of Porepunkah.

Victoria police chief commissioner Mike Bush said everything I know at this point tells me that this shooting was justified. Should it be confirmed that the deceased is Freeman, this brings closure to what was a tragic and terrible event," he said.

The standoff began at 5.30am when police officers surrounded a building similar to a shipping container where the fugitive was believed to be hiding.

There was an opportunity for him to surrender peacefully, which he declined," Mr Bush claimed.

Police said Freeman was armed and wrapped in a blanket when police began the operation on Monday morning.

Anonymous police sources told The Age that they were tipped off about his location near a small township on the banks of the Murray river last week. Police had been surveilling the property for days before starting the operation that led to his death.

open image in gallery Desmond Filby ( Victoria Police )

Police officers were executing a search warrant in connection with an investigation into sex offences last August when they were shot by Freeman.

Police quickly shut down the area and launched a manhunt in a landscape dominated by steep and rocky terrain with caves and mineshafts but Freemans bush skills made it challenging to trace him down.

John Bird, a close friend of one of the slain officers, said he felt relief after learning about Freemans death.

"It's a good day," he said. It's just a relief. Like I said, it doesn't change anything much but its closure on that side of things."

A spokesperson for Police Association Victoria said: "It does not lessen the trauma, give back the futures that were callously stolen or lessen the collective fear and grief that this tragic event has instilled in police and the wider public. Closure isn't the right word. This represents a step forward for our members, for the families of our fallen members and for the community,.

The association will formally address the media in the afternoon on Monday.

Freeman was born Desmond Christopher Filby but renamed himself Dezi Freeman to symbolise his belief in personal sovereignty.

The father of two was known by locals to be a kind and polite person but seemingly changed during the Covid pandemic, becoming outspoken about his deep distrust for the governments restrictions and lockdowns.

He repeatedly called police officers frigging Nazis, Gestapo, and terrorist thugs. Freeman once told a court that he was a disability pensioner and claimed he had been persecuted by the state.
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A Ukrainian drone carrying an unexploded warhead crashed in Finland on Sunday, marking the first time the conflict with Russia has directly impacted Finnish soil, according to a preliminary assessment by Finnish police.

Ukraine has since apologised for the incident, explaining that the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) had gone astray during its war with Russia, most likely due to electronic interference from Moscow.

No injuries or damage were reported following the crash in Finland's southeast.

The incident comes as Ukraine has intensified its drone attacks on Russian oil refineries and export routes in recent weeks, some located close to the Finnish border.

These strikes are part of an effort to weaken Russia's war economy.

Finnish police confirmed in a statement: "The UAV that came down north of Kouvola was found, in a preliminary assessment by the authorities, to have an unexploded warhead attached."

open image in gallery Ukraine has since apologised for the incident, explaining that the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) had gone astray during its war with Russia, most likely due to electronic interference from Moscow ( Lehtikuva/AFP via Getty Images )

Identified as a Ukrainian AN196 drone with a 6.7-metre (22-foot) wingspan, it was subsequently destroyed in a controlled detonation.

Debris froma second drone, also thought to be Ukrainian, was found in the municipality of Luumaki, east of the town of Kouvola, and officers were investigating whether it detonated when it crashed, police added.

"We can confirm that under no circumstances were any Ukrainian drones directed towards Finland ... We have already apologised to the Finnish side for this incident," Ukraine's foreign ministry spokesman said.

Finland's President Alexander Stubb and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskiy discussed the incident in a phone call on Monday.

"Alex and I see the situation in the same way. We are sharing all necessary information," Zelenskiy wrote on social media.

The incident comes as two stray Ukrainian military drones entered the airspace of Estonia and Latvia via Russia last week.

open image in gallery Two unidentified drones crashed near Kouvola in southern Finland on 29 March, the defence ministry said, calling the incident a 'suspected territorial violation' ( Lehtikuva/AFP via Getty Images )

The drones that hit the NATO member nations were believed to be part of a wider Ukrainian attack on Russia, Latvian and Estonian authorities said. They follow another stray Ukrainian drone that Lithuania said on Monday had crashed into a lake.

The drones landed in Estonia and Latvia at around the time that Russian officials said a Ukrainian drone attack set fire to oil facilities at Russia's Baltic Sea ports of Primorsk and Ust-Luga, major export hubs located near Estonia and Finland.
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Kosovo has announced its intention to deploy troops to Gaza, joining a US-backed international security force established in the wake of last year's ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

The initiative, known as the "Board of Peace" under US President Donald Trump, aims to maintain stability and support a transitional administration in the territory.

The decision was formally approved by Kosovo's government on Monday, following an invitation from the United States received in December.

Prime Minister Albin Kurti addressed a televised ministerial meeting, stating: "We are ready to participate and help the people of Gaza, because we ourselves have been and are beneficiaries of international forces since 1999."

Several other nations, including Indonesia, Morocco, Kazakhstan, and Albania, have also committed personnel to the International Stabilization Force.

However, the precise number of troops Kosovo plans to send to Gaza has not been disclosed by the government.

The initiative, known as the "Board of Peace" under US President Donald Trump, aims to maintain stability and support a transitional administration in Gaza ( AFP/Getty )

Violence in Gaza has persisted with the Israeli military killing over 680 Palestinians since the ceasefire with militant group Hamas began in November, local health officials say.

More than 72,000 have been killed since the war started in October 2023.

Trump's Gaza plan, to which Israel and Hamas agreed in October, sees Israeli troops withdrawing from Gaza and reconstruction starting as Hamas lays down its weapons.

The October ceasefire left Israel in control of well over half of Gaza, with Hamas keeping a firm grip on the other half of the enclave and its two million people, most of whom are homeless after two years of relentless Israeli bombardment.

Hamas, committed to armed resistance and sworn to Israel's destruction, has publicly rejected calls to disarm in recent months.

But in private, Hamas officials have voiced openness to disarmament so long as it is done along a political track that would see the establishment of a Palestinian state. The 12-point plan makes no mention of Palestinian statehood or independence.

Trump garnered some $7 billion in pledges in February from countries, including some in the Gulf, before those same countries came under attack by Iran in a widening Middle East war.

Kosovo, a Balkan country of 1.6 million people, is an ally of the US which backed its independence from Serbia in 2008.
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Kushtrim Ajvazi takes immense pride in managing a thriving business within one of Europe's most economically challenged nations.

His company, Pestova, produces popular potato chips and snacks, a staple in almost every Kosovan shop and a growing export.

However, this success is now overshadowed by unforeseen challenges, primarily a steep surge in fuel prices.

These increases, attributed to the war in Iran, have sent ripple effects across to this small corner of southeastern Europe, impacting Pestova's operations significantly.

The company cultivates nearly 100 acres of potato fields in eastern Kosovo, which supply the potatoes for their Vipa brand chips.

Both the firm's production and its extensive distribution network have been hit hard, as the wholesale price of fuel escalated from 1.10 ($1.27) to up to 1.70 ($1.96), according to Mr Ajvazi.

Kosovo lacks its own domestic fuel production, meaning prices for diesel and petrol are set by importers, whose profit margins are capped at 12 per cent.

With spring marking the crucial potato planting season, Mr Ajvazi has urged the government to intervene and alleviate the financial burden.

open image in gallery Ajvazi's company faces unplanned challenges because of a steep rise in fuel prices caused by the war in Iran, whose ripple effects have reached this small corner of southeastern Europe ( Associated Press )

He stated that the company's fuel costs are "extremely high." While fertiliser prices have also risen, Pestova had sufficient reserves to mitigate that particular impact for now.

We are analysing and calculating every additional cost, and if we see that this process of rising costs continues, we will be forced to adjust our prices," Ajvazi said.

While other countries in Balkans have put in place measures to ease the effects on farmers, Kosovo's government is yet to act. The government did not respond to questions.

Romania, Hungary and Serbia have introduced special diesel prices for farmers or lowered the state tax income.

In Kosovo, economic experts warned that the government should urgently respond in case of a further price increase, to prevent greater damage to the economy.

There is not one sector that is not affected by the price increase," economist Safet Gerxhaliu said.

open image in gallery Workers at Pestova firm, inspect the potatoes for the Vipa Chips factory in the village of Pestove, Kosovo ( Associated Press )

Ajvazi said his company faces additional problems because around 40 per cent of production is exported with prearranged, fixed prices that can be changed only with a 90-day advance notice. He said it is hard to plan anything without stable prices.

We call on the government to ease this phase for us," he said. "We are a company that exports to more than 23 different countries, including those in Europe.

The price hike has also burdened ordinary citizens. Bardh Mehmeti, an IT professional from the capital, Pristina, said he now pays 100 ($115) for a full tank, up from 80 ($92) before the crisis. Mehmeti is now seriously considering" ways to get an electric car.

Kosovo's economy has struggled ever since the country declared independence from Serbia in 2008 following a war.

open image in gallery Farmers of Pestova firm on the back of a tractor plant potatoes in the village of Pestove, Kosovo ( Associated Press )

Serbia does not recognise the split, and the unresolved situation has stalled the countries in their bids to join the European Union.

Also affecting Kosovo's economic situation has been a prolonged political crisis that left the country without a fully functioning government for much of last year. The current government of Prime Minster Albin Kurti is again in a stalemate over a failure to elect a new president.

The main opposition Democratic Party has criticised what it calls government inaction and urged temporary tax cuts to help ease the burden on citizens and businesses.
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Spain has closed its airspace to American aircraft involved in military operations against Iran.

This move marks a significant escalation beyond Madrids previous refusal to allow the use of jointly operated military bases.

Defence Minister Margarita Robles confirmed the move on Monday.

We dont authorise either the use of military bases or the use of airspace for actions related to the war in Iran, she told reporters in Madrid.

Spanish newspaper El Pais had first reported the news on Monday, citing military sources.

The closure, which compels US military planes to reroute around the Nato member state on their way to targets in the Middle East, does not apply to emergency situations, El Pais added.

Economy minister Carlos Cuerpo addressed the decision during an interview with radio Cadena Ser, while responding to questions about potential repercussions for relations with the United States.

He said: This decision is part of the decision already made by the Spanish government not to participate in or contribute to a war which was initiated unilaterally and against international law.

Spanish prime minister Pedro Sanchez has been a vocal critic of the US and Israeli attacks on Iran, characterising them as both reckless and illegal.

A US military plane on the tarmac at the UKs Prestwick airport ( PA Archive )

President Donald Trump has previously threatened to impose a full US trade embargo on Madrid over its denial of access to Spanish bases for the conflict.

Spain has been terrible, Trump told reporters during a meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, adding: Were going to cut off all trade with Spain. We dont want anything to do with Spain.

He said he had told Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to cut off all dealings with Spain.

The US relocated 15 aircraft, including refuelling tankers, from the Rota and Moron military bases in southern Spain after the countrys Socialist leadership said it would not allow them to be used to attack Iran.

Mr Sanchez, for his part, has stood firm against the trade threats and has warned that the Iran war risks playing Russian roulette with millions of lives.

We are not going to be complicit in something that is bad for the world and is also contrary to our values and interests, just out of fear of reprisals from someone, he said in a televised address.
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Russia has begun a spring offensive in Ukraine, launching a major assault on the fortress belt of heavily defended cities in Ukraines eastern Donetsk region. At the same time, a wave of nearly 1,000 drones and missiles targeted civilian, energy, and transport infrastructure across a wide swath of territory in a bid to overwhelm Ukraines air defences.

Ukraines technology-driven tactical nous has enabled it to kill or wound more Russian troops than are being recruited, month on month. But reports from Ukraines military commander Oleksandr Syrskyi that the Kremlin plans to add more than 400,000 new recruits in 2026, suggest that Russia intends to continue with its meat grinder strategy of attempting to overwhelm Ukraine along the front lines with sheer weight of numbers while undermining national morale by destroying its energy infrastructure.

Of course, the meat grinder involves a high level of casualties on the Russian side. This has led some western observers to suggest that Vladimir Putin might be forced to the negotiating table simply because his military cant get enough troops to continue in this way.

The idea that Russia will have trouble recruiting enough soldiers is a hangover from some of its past wars, where the dire treatment of its soldiers and veterans led at times to considerable disillusionment. This idea has been raised in the current war against Ukraine.

open image in gallery Russia has begun a spring offensive in Ukraines eastern Donetsk region ( General Prosecutor's Office )

During the Soviet-Afghan War in the 1980s and the first Russian-Chechen War in the 1990s, soldiers mothers organisations across Russia placed the conditions under which their sons served their country under the spotlight. Poor service conditions, hazing and corruption  and the states failure to provide adequate support and recognition to veterans and the families of fallen soldiers  eroded the image of the Russian military. This led to a breakdown in society-military relations and serious problems in the recruitment and retention of soldiers.

This theme remains ever-present in western reporting of the war. There has been a great deal of media focus on draft avoidance, low morale and discipline in the field and, the poor treatment of veterans. And the enlistment of people serving prison terms as well as troops from allies such as North Korea and Serbia, is also a big focus of attention in western media coverage.

Advertising soldiering as a real job for real men appeared to signal desperation. And the fact that soldiers appeared only to be fighting for money  or because they were coerced  implied that genuine support either for the war or the regime was weak. Evgeny Prigozhins attempted mutiny in 2023 was a more concrete and spectacular example of the potential for Russias military mobilisation to implode.

Rebuilding military citizenship in Russia

But in one important respect, this war is being waged differently from earlier wars in Chechnya and Afghanistan. Putin has been determined to prevent any kind of breakdown in society-military relations. He has made a concerted effort to re-engineer the relationship between the army, the state and Russian society since the 2000s  precisely to avoid a repetition of this outcome.

Both the Afghan and first Chechen wars were marked by a breakdown in the social contract between soldiers and the state, or what we call military citizenship. This is the reciprocal relationship whereby the state provides soldiers with forms of social and legal recognition  living wages, access to housing and decent healthcare, family support, and a degree of social respect. In exchange, they carry out military service.

open image in gallery High military salaries and sign-on bonuses continue to attract a steady stream of recruits ( AP )

These forms of reciprocity clearly collapsed after the Afghan and first Chechen wars. It created a rift between the military and the state that was personified in soldiers social and political marginalisation and dissent and disillusionment in senior military ranks. In response to this, Russia has made significant long-term changes. A civic council was established in 2006 under the control of the Ministry of Defence  chaired by patriotic film-maker Nikita Mikhalkov  specifically to guide this process.

This was followed in 2008 by the Strategy for the Development of the Russian Armed Forces. As part of this, Russia has introduced extensive material benefits relating to housing, pensions, salaries and social guarantees for soldiers. The in-house newspaper of Russias defence ministry, Krasnaya Zvezda, trumpeted that, under these reforms, contract soldiers are becoming the countrys middle class. This is, of course, the government line, but it reflects the importance the Kremlin places in being at least seen to address this historic problem.

This programme of reforms has been accompanied by work to rebuild military patriotism. Civil society organisations such as the Immortal Regiment, a massive and highly active organisation of veterans, are helping to mobilise Russias proudly held military tradition from the second world war (known in Russia as the great patriotic war).

These forms of material and symbolic recognition will not, of course, appeal to all Russian men. Putin has been forced over the course of the war to introduce stringent rules and severe punishments to prevent draft dodging and the mass emigration of military-aged men.

About the authors Charlie Walker is an Associate Professor of Comparative Sociology at the University of Southampton. Bettina Renz is a Professor of International Security at the University of Nottingham. This article was first published by The Conversation and is republished under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

But on the other hand, many Russians still live in hardship as a result of the countrys shaky economic transition after the collapse of the Soviet Union in the 1990s. For many young and older men in deindustrialising parts of provincial Russia, the army is still seen as the only prospect of social mobility. And this has been reinforced by the benefits provided to the military in recent years.

This does not mean that there are no concerns about conditions in the military, the quality of social protection for soldiers and their families, and  ultimately  about the legitimacy of the war in Ukraine. The relationship the Russian state has attempted to reestablish with society, and with its men in particular, remains problematic. It is still marked by tensions that Putin is either trying to address or attempting to hide. And desertion remains a significant problem for the Russian military.

But the high military salaries and sign-on bonuses continue to attract a steady stream of recruits. So we need to question this idea that relations between military and society will fall apart now and force Russia to the negotiating table. Given the boost to Russias economy provided by the current war in the Middle East, the west would do better to focus on how it can assist Ukraine on the battlefield.
Zelensky warns of 'distracted' US as acting ambassador Davis prepares to exit

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The acting US ambassador to Ukraine will step down from her post and retire over differences with Donald Trump, according to a report.

An American official and the State Department said that Julie Davis would leave the role amid a lull in US-brokered talks to achieve a ceasefire and end Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The Financial Times first reported Davis' departure and said it was because of differences of opinion with Trump's policies. It is claimed that Davis had grown frustrated with her role over his dwindling support for Ukraine.

The State Department pushed back on that characterisation, saying it was "false" to say she was leaving over differences with Trump.

"Ambassador Davis has been a steadfast proponent of the Trump Administration's efforts to bring about a durable peace between Russia and Ukraine," Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott said.

Negotiations have been stalled since the US launched military action against Iran, which has caused a global energy shock and diverted Trumps attention from conflict in Europe.
Zelensky warns of 'distracted' US as acting ambassador Davis prepares to exit

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Russia is once again scaling back its annual Victory Day parade in Red Square, saying no military equipment will be used amid its ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

The parade is a key event in Russia and is held in Moscow on 9 May every year, marking the surrender of Nazi Germany in 1945.

Prior to Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine, the parade would traditionally involve a display of tanks and other military equipment, as Moscow flexed its muscles for the world to see.

It has been pared back dramatically due to the war, however, and in 2024 Russia was mocked by Ukraine for displaying just a solitary tank for the second year in a row.

Russia's defence ministry confirmed no military hardware would be involved in the parade at all this year, though it did not directly link this to shortages or frontline deployments.

Meanwhile, Ukraine announced that its air defences shot down more than 33,000 Russian drones of various types in March, a new monthly record in the four-year war.
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German prosecutors have announced the arrest of a Ukrainian man, Vitalii M., on suspicion of collecting intelligence for Russia within Germany. Detained on Monday, he is accused of operating for Russian services since at least November 2025.

He allegedly gathered details about an individual who fought for Ukrainian forces, with prosecutors suggesting this surveillance may have aided further intelligence operations against the target.
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The Houthis, a Yemeni rebel group known for its attacks on shipping, have joined the Iran war just as it enters its fifth week.

Their involvement escalates a rapidly worsening conflict that has already placed global oil supplies in a chokehold amid the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz and reports of an impending ground invasion by US troops.

Backed by Iran, the Houthis had stayed out of the conflict until they launched attacks on Israel on Saturday.

They carried out a second attack within 24 hours of the first on Sunday and vowed to continue fighting until US-Israeli aggression is ended on all fronts.

However, with a history of bombing maritime trade routes and disrupting shipping lanes, experts told The Independent that their entry into the fray will add further pressure on an already-stretched region with global effects.

We look at who the Houthis are below and what their impact could be on the Strait of Hormuz in particular.

open image in gallery Yemen Iran War ( Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved )

Who are the Houthis?

The Yemeni rebel group was formed in the 1990s as a political-religious Shia movement orchestrating a series of guerrilla wars against Yemens national army.

They currently control significant parts of northwestern Yemen, including its capital Sanaa, after seizing it following the countrys 2014 civil war when they forced the government to step down.

A Saudi-led, western-backed coalition took over, which the Houthis have spent years fighting with the assistance of Iran, before a UN-brokered deal in 2022. A Saudi and UAE bombing campaign against Houthi targets was launched in 2015 and drew criticism over civilian deaths, leading to calls for the UK to cease arms exports to Saudi Arabia.

open image in gallery Yemens Houthi military spokesman claims responsibility for missile attack on Israel ( ANSAR ALLAH MEDIA OFFICE )

The war is estimated to have killed around 400,000 people, many who died through famine after Saudi Arabias restriction of ports through which Yemen imported 90 per cent of its food, which humanitarian groups considered a major driving factor of the crisis.

Often mistakenly considered a proxy group, the Houthis have their own political aims and agendas outside of those affiliated with Iran, which provides it with weapons, training and technical support.

The Houthis, along with Gazas Hamas and Lebanons Hezbollah, form part of Irans axis of resistance - a military alliance built over four decades to oppose Israeli and American power in the Middle East.

What impact could they have on the Strait of Hormuz?

open image in gallery Topographic Map of the Bab Al-Mandab Strait, Red Sea, Gulf of Aden. ( Getty/iStock )

The Houthis are skilled at maritime warfare having disrupted shipping routes before, most recently during Israels war on Gaza in 2024.

They launched systematic attacks on commercial ships associated with Israel transiting through Bab el-Mandeb, a key gateway to the Suez Canal, in the Red Sea, forcing the vessels to be rerouted.

At the time, traffic through the Suez Canal dropped sharply, insurance costs surged and global supply chains slowed down.

The International Monetary Fund said that trade through the Suez Canal fell by 50 per cent from the year before in the first two months of 2024, while trade through the Panama Canal fell by 32 per cent. Major shipping firms rerouted vessels to go past the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa instead, adding an additional 10-14 days on to journeys.

The Houthis involvement in the conflict will impact the blockade over the Strait of Hormuz in two distinct ways, according to Neil Quilliam, a Chatham House expert specialising in energy policy, geopolitics and foreign affairs.

open image in gallery This handout satellite image taken by 2026 Planet Labs PBC on March 2, 2026 shows smoke billowing from a vessel following an explosion from the port of Bandar Abbas along the strait of Hormuz. ( Planet Labs PBC )

First, it will add further pressure on shipping in the region, as it will effectively close off passage through Bab al-Mandab and incur even higher transport costs and compromise Saudi Arabias ability to export crude to Asia.

Second, the additional pressure on Bab al-Mandab will likely allow Iran to ease the passage of vessels Tehran deems friendly through the Strait of Hormuz and extract much needed revenue.

Closure or disruption of two of the worlds main strategic waterways could be catastrophic for world trade with energy supplies potentially cut off.

On Saturday, a report by the European Union's maritime security body warned ships to avoid entering Yemeni territorial waters as the Houthis could resume attacks on merchant ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden,

The European Union Naval Force Aspides advised ships to avoid Yemeni territorial waters amid an increased risk of attack.

The report assessed the threat level as high for Israeli-linked vessels and as medium for vessels not linked to Israel or the United States.
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Irans ancient cultural heritage are at risk of being damaged by US and Israeli bombs, historians and archaeologists have warned.

Mosques, museums and the only UNESCO-listed building in Tehran - the Golestan Palace - are in danger of being destroyed by US-Israeli airstrikes, experts specialising in the Middle East warned in a letter to The Times.

We are deeply concerned not only about the humanitarian impact of the war in Iran, but also about reports of damage to that countrys cultural heritage, the letter from experts at the British Museum, Fitzwilliam Museum at Cambridge University and the School of Oriental and African Studies stated.

Last month, a museum attached to the Falak-ol-Aflak Castle in the city of Khorramabad was completely destroyed, according to local officials. All this is a loss for the cultural heritage of the world, not just for the people of Iran, the authors said.

The United Nations' cultural agency revealed on 11 March that four of Iran's 29 world heritage sites have been affected since the hostilities began.

Earlier this month, the UN cultural organisation UNESCO, shared their concerns after damage was reported to Golestan Palace from a strike on March 2, which left the windows shattered and rubble in the ballrooms.

open image in gallery Earlier this month, the UN cultural organisation UNESCO, shared their concerns after damage was reported to Golestan Palace from a strike on March 2 which left the windows shattered and rubble in the ballrooms ( ISNA )

The Golestan Palace was home to the Qajar dynasty which ruled Iran from the end of the 18th century until 1925. The ancient site, often dubbed the Versailles of Persia, was built in the late 17th and 18th centuries and remodelled by the Qajar Shahs in the 19th century.

The palace was damaged by blast waves from a strike that hit the nearby Arag Square, according to UNESCO.

Another one of Irans most important cultural sites - the palace of Chehel Sotoun, was damaged. This was part of a 17th-century Safavid complex in Esfahan, and is part of the citys picturesque Naqsh-e Jahan square, which is surrounded by mosques and palaces.

Ali Ansari, a professor of Iranian history at the University of St Andrews and president of the British Institute of Persian Studies, said it is uncertain how the international community would be able to help repair the damage in the future due to the war.

Several western museums and other institutions are working with archaeologists in the neighbouring country Iraq to try to repair some of the harm caused by years of destruction from Islamic State.

open image in gallery The Golestan palace was damaged by blast waves from a strike that hit the nearby Arag Square, according to UNESCO ( Reuters )

Mr Ansari said he hoped that some of Irans unique ancient sites, such as Persepolis, its capital in the times of the emperors Darius and Xerxes, would be protected from attacks.

I would like to think the Americans and the Israelis have a little bit of a red alert there, he said.

As the war escalates and death toll rises, concerns are also growing that the polluting effects of bombs will cause permanent environmental damage to the country.

In the first week of the war, Israel hit oil depots around the capital, Tehran, covering the city in a fog of noxious black fumes. This toxic gas can erode the exteriors of sensitive ancient sites.

Damage to oil depots and refineries inevitably results in pollution that causes irreversible damage to sites such as Persepolis and Pasargadae and famous rock-reliefs such as Bisitun, Naqsh-e Rostam and Bishapur, the letters authors say.
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Iran says it is ready and waiting for US troops to launch a ground invasion and threatened to set fire to Donald Trumps forces if they enter the Islamic Republics territory.

Speaker of Irans parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said Tehran is waiting for the arrival of American troops on the ground to set them on fire, in a published message broadcast on Iranian state media, including the official IRNA news agency, on Sunday.

It follows overnight reports that the Pentagon is awaiting President Trumps approval for ground operations in Iran, according to the Washington Post.

On Saturday, thousands of US sailors and marines moved to the Middle East aboard the USS Tripoli warship, US Central Command confirmed.

Mr Ghalibaf, who has been considered by the US as a potential figurehead to lead negotiations in Iran amid the absence of newly-appointed supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei, said: The enemy signals negotiation in public, while in secret it plots a ground attack.

open image in gallery An Iranian missile strike on southern Israel on Sunday ( Reuters )

Our firing continues. Our missiles are in place. Our determination and faith have increased, he continued, in words marking a month since the outbreak of conflict.

Iran threatened to intensify attacks in the Gulf, with Mr Ghalibaf warning Americas allies will also pay the price as Iran will punish their regional partners forever.

He mocked Americas 15-point plan, which he said is setting out its wishes and pursuing what it failed to achieve in the war. The Iranian politician said that Tehrans message is clear and it will not surrender or accept humiliation.

Meanwhile, Houthi rebels in Yemen have continued to attack Israel, launching a second wave of missiles on the country less than 24 hours.

The militia has in the past attacked ships in the Red Sea corridor leading into the Suez Canal, and its entry into the conflict has heightened concerns of further disruption to global shipping amid the ongoing chaos caused by Irans blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.

open image in gallery A destroyed US sentry aircraft at a Saudi airbase ( UGC/AFP via Getty )

The European Union's maritime security body warned ships to avoid entering Yemeni territorial waters as the Houthis could resume attacks on merchant ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, in a report published on Saturday.

Oil prices are on track for a record monthly surge amid the conflict, with the price of Brent crude on track to break records in March, surging by 51 per cent according to London Stock Exchange Group data analysed by The Guardian.

The previous monthly record for oil price surges was in September 1990 when the price of crude rose by 46 per cent amid Saddam Husseins invasion of Kuwait and the subsequent first Gulf war.

Pakistan hosted talks with regional powers on Sunday with a view to unblocking the Strait of Hormuz, with Turkey, Egypt and Saudi Arabia in discussions to float proposals on maritime traffic improvements to Washington, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

open image in gallery Iranians attempt to cross the Shalamcheh border crossing into Iraq, near Basra, on Sunday ( AP )

Strikes across the Middle East continued with 10 army personnel injured following an attack on a military camp in Kuwait, the countrys army said in a post on X on Sunday.

The camp sustained material damage but its location was not disclosed. Kuwaits army said it has dealt with 14 ballistic missiles and 12 drones over the past 24 hours.

An Iranian missile attack on a US airbase in Saudi Arabia damaged several aircraft, including a valuable command and control E-3 sentry aircraft, which was pictured split in two. Mr Ghalibaf mocked reports saying the damage had been minor.

An American official told Reuters on Friday that an Iranian military attack on the airbase had injured 12 US personnel; two of them seriously, The Wall Street Journal and New York Times reported, citing unnamed officials.

open image in gallery The Pentagon is reportedly awaiting for approval from Trump for ground operations ( Getty )

In Israel, Adama, a maker of active ingredients and crop protection materials, said its Makhteshim plant in southern Israel had been hit by an Iranian missile or debris from a missile on Sunday.

Adama, part of the Chinese-owned Syngenta Group, said the extent of the damage to the plant was not immediately known and no injuries were reported.

Meanwhile, Irans state media shared a message by Irans supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei thanking the Iraqi people and their leadership for their support against US-Israel aggression.
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After the US and Israel launched their joint war on Iran by assassinating supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei four weeks ago, Donald Trump urged the Mideast nations people to take back their country.

There was no uprising, however, and as Irans new leadership started firing missiles and drones at Israel and American installations in the Gulf region, it soon became clear there was to be no quick resolution to the crisis.

In spite of the US president continuing to push a narrative around peace talks and fresh threats, markets are more skeptical than ever, with oil prices hitting $117 a barrel on Monday, triggering further fears of shortages worldwide.

The issue is that Iran is blocking the Strait of Hormuz, a critical maritime route through which about a fifth of the worlds oil is transported. This is forcing governments around the world to take steps to safeguard their interests. Here we take a look at what some of them are doing.

UK

On Monday, diesel prices jumped to their highest level since December 2022, with the average price per litre at UK forecourts hitting 181.2p, according to RAC analysis.

In response, chancellor Rachel Reeves was urged to reconsider plans to raise fuel duty by 5p per litre at the end of August. The government was yet to make any announcement and Sir Keir Starmer gave no indication to reporters on Monday.

open image in gallery Irans blockade of the Strait of Hormuz sparks energy crisis around the world ( PA Graphics )

Last week, Ms Reeves said that contingency planning was underway for "every eventuality" after acknowledging that the full impact of the war on the UK economy was uncertain.

In keeping with previously announced plans, energy bills will fall from April under Ofgems price gap, but may rise again before the summer.

Australia

The governments of Tasmania and Victoria made public transport free from this week in a bid to ease the cost of living as energy prices continued to soar.

Egypt

Arguably the country that is imposing the most severe restrictions is Egypt, which relies heavily on imported fuel. Starting last weekend, restaurants, shops and cafes were ordered to close by 9pm to save energy.

Street lights and roadside advertising were dimmed and many people were told to work from home at least one day a week.

Myanmar

The military regime anticipated a fuel shortage soon after the war broke out and launched sweeping rationing for private vehicles early in March, featuring QR codes to deter multiple daily refills. It also told government employees to work remotely every Wednesday.

By mid-March, the pump price of diesel had jumped to 3,800 kyat ($1.80) per litre, up from 2,450 kyat ($1.16) in February.

Domestic airlines running low on jet fuel, large quantities of which Myanmar imported from Iran, suspended routes and adopted strict limits on baggage, with ticket prices tripling on sectors still operational.

Myanmar depends on regional processing hubs of Middle East crude, such as Singapore and Malaysia, for the diesel imports crucial for its struggling economy and farm sector.

open image in gallery Motorists queue up to refuel their vehicles outside a petrol station in Naypyidaw in Myanmar ( AFP via Getty )

Pakistan

The South Asian nations enacted sweeping emergency austerity and fuel conservation measures, mandating a four-day working week for government workers and moving back spring holidays for school.

People were asked to restrict social gatherings, with weddings and parties capped at 200 guests and limited to one main dish.

Ministers, parliamentarians and officials were told to make foreign trips only for essential purposes and in economy class.

Japan

The price of premium gasoline has risen by 20 yen per litre or about nine per cent, adding over 100,000 yen in expenses for the popular season of cherry blossom viewing on cruises in Tokyo.

Fuel subsidies, though, have offset rising raw material costs from a weak yen at a time when annual core inflation has slowed to a nearly two-year low.

Popular snack makers such as Yamayoshi Seika confirmed a hit to their production, especially to flagship products like Wasabeef, after running into heavy oil shortages.

The continued shutdown of the Strait of Hormuz and surging oil prices will increase inflationary pressure and prod the Bank of Japan to raise interest rates further.

Philippines

Similar to Pakistan, the Southeast Asian country has moved all government offices to a four-day week.

President Ferdinand Marcos has ordered all government agencies to reduce their fuel and power consumption by up to 20 per cent and banned study tours and team-building activities for public servants.

Thailand

In spite of making a deal with Iran to allow its oil vessels to safely pass through the Strait of Hormuz, Thailand still faces restrictions due to the crisis.

open image in gallery A man in Cairo, Egypt, closes his shop after earlier closing hours applied ( AP )

On 10 March, the government asked civil servants to conserve energy, wear short-sleeved shirts to work and use stairs instead of lifts.

It also suspended overseas trips for government employees and ordered them to reduce electricity use in offices by switching off lights and electrical equipment when not needed.

Sri Lanka

A four-day week was introduced for state institutions earlier this month with Wednesday declared a holiday. The measure also applies to schools and universities.

The country also introduced fuel rationing, with drivers limited to 15 litres a week.

Bangladesh

Nearly a week into the conflict, Bangladesh closed all its universities and brought forward the Eid holidays as part of emergency measures to conserve fuel amid a worsening energy crisis.

Officials said the measures applied to all public and private universities and would not only reduce electricity consumption but also ease traffic congestion.

On Monday, the government said it was seeking roughly $2.5bn in external financing to support fuel and liquefied natural gas imports and tide over rising energy costs and mounting pressure on foreign exchange reserves.

Vietnam

The government has scrapped with value added tax for gasoline, diesel and aviation fuel until at least 15 April.

Officials have strongly encouraged the public to stay at home and consider using transport options like bicycles when taking journeys.
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Israeli troops skied into southern Lebanon from recently seized territory in Syria in the early hours of Sunday.

It is the first such cross-border operation undertaken by the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) Alpinist Unit.

For weeks, Israel has clashed with Tehran-backed Hezbollah forces in southern Lebanon, in addition to launching airstrikes on key infrastructure and civilian buildings in the countrys east and its capital, Beirut.

Alpinist Unit reservists of the 810th Mountains Regional Brigade operated in complex mountainous terrain and crossed, by climbing through snow, from the Syrian Hermon to the Mount Dov area in southern Lebanon, to scan the area, collect intelligence, and locate enemy terror infrastructure in the area, the IDF said.

They join wider Israeli forces operating in over a dozen villages across southern Lebanon as they push north towards the Litani river.

open image in gallery First aid responders at the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Roummane on 26 March. ( AFP/Getty )

Concerns of another long-term occupation have grown as the IDFs operational ambitions in the region have become clearer. Israels defence minister Israel Katz recently announced the area would be cleared of all residents and homes in contact-line villages would be destroyed in accordance with the model of Beit Hanun and Rafah in Gaza.

I have just instructed to further expand the existing security buffer zone. We are determined to fundamentally change the situation in the north [of Israel], Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday.

Lebanon was drawn into the ongoing US-Israeli war with Iran across the Middle East on 2 March, when Hezbollah launched missiles towards Israel following the killing of Irans supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Since then, more than 1,200 people in Lebanon have been killed and a million displaced; a fifth of the countrys population.

Among those killed over the weekend are three journalists and 10 rescue service staff, bringing the total number of health workers killed by Israeli fire to 52.

open image in gallery Catholics in Beirut gather for Palm Sunday services, 29 March. ( AP )

Mount Hermon straddles the Syrian-Lebanese border but was seized by the IDF in December 2024 in the immediate aftermath of former president Bashar al-Assads downfall.

It expanded upon earlier territorial gains Israel had made in Syria, including the 1967 capture of the Golan Heights, an annexation the Israeli government formalised in 1981 and only the United States recognises.

Israel maintains at least nine military posts in southern Syria, two of which on the Syrian side of Mount Hermon, from which their artillery cannons can hit Damascus 22 miles away, and a further seven in a UN-monitored buffer zone established in 1974.

The Israeli military claims their presence there is essential to seize arms they claim could fall into the possession of hostile forces.
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The Israeli military has taken the unusual step of suspending an entire battalion after its soldiers were filmed assaulting a CNN news crew in the occupied West Bank last week.

The Netzah Yehuda battalion, known for its ultra-Orthodox composition and a history of alleged abuses against Palestinian civilians, was suspended from its current deployment, the army announced on Monday.

This marks a rare instance of disciplinary action for soldier misconduct within the Israeli forces. The Netzah Yehuda unit has previously been linked to serious incidents, including the 2022 death of a 78-year-old Palestinian American man following his detention by the battalion. That case prompted an outcry from the U.S. government, leading the Israeli military to call it "a grave and unfortunate event," reprimand one officer, and reassign two others before moving the unit out of the West Bank later that year.

Last week's incident occurred as a CNN team was preparing a report on surging settler violence in the West Bank village of Tayasir.

United Nations data indicates at least nine Palestinians have been killed by Israeli settlers this year, with punishment for such violence remaining uncommon.

Footage of the confrontation, which quickly went viral, showed soldiers from the Netzah Yehuda battalion approaching the news crew with raised weapons and yelling.

CNN correspondent Jeremy Diamond reported that a producer was placed in a chokehold. Diamond further detailed on CNNs website that the soldiers detained the crew, alongside West Bank Palestinians, for two hours, during which they echoed settler ideology, asserting that the entire West Bank belongs to Israel and labeling Palestinians as terrorists.

open image in gallery Israeli soldiers of the Jewish Ultra-Orthodox battalion Netzah Yehuda holding prayer in May 2014 ( AFP via Getty Images )

The military stated that the battalion would resume service only after undergoing "a process aimed at reinforcing its professional and ethical foundations."

However, Rabbi Shaul Abdiel, who works with the Netzah Yehuda unit, criticized the militarys decision in a radio interview, calling it "too fast and too collective."

Human rights organizations have long contended that Israel rarely holds its soldiers accountable for Palestinian deaths.

open image in gallery Palestinians inspect a torched house following Israeli settlers' rampage through nearby Nablus-area villages ( Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved )

The cases involving the Palestinian American man and the CNN crew appear to have garnered heightened attention due to the involvement of U.S. citizens and a prominent news organization.

Just weeks prior to the CNN incident, Israeli authorities announced an investigation into the killing of four Palestinians, including two children  one of whom was blind  by Israeli forces during a patrol in the nearby West Bank town of Tammun. To date, Israeli authorities have not announced any disciplinary measures against the officers involved in that case, with Israeli media reporting that the officers have not even been questioned.
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Donald Trump has sent thousands of US soldiers to the Middle East, signalling that a ground invasion of a small island in the Persian Gulf remains on the table even as he touts success in supposed talks to end the war.

The president told the Financial Times that he wants to take the oil in Iran and might still use American troops to seize the tiny Kharg Island, the countrys main oil exporting terminal.

Kharg Island handles some 90 per cent of Irans oil exports, and taking it would give the US the ability to disrupt Irans energy trade and place enormous pressure on the economy.

The island sits 16 miles from the coast in the northern end of the Gulf and just northwest of the Strait of Hormuz, a strategically important shipping route that Iran has effectively closed to pile pressure on the US.

While US forces could likely seize Kharg Island quite quickly, analysts say that an occupation is more likely to expand and prolong the war than it is to deliver a decisive victory or leverage in negotiations.

Iran has fortified the island with additional surface-to-air missiles and laid traps including anti-personnel and anti-armour mines in the waters surrounding it, CNN reported, citing people familiar with US intelligence.

open image in gallery A satellite image shows an oil terminal at Kharg Island ( Planet Labs PBC )

A former commander of the US Central Command, Joseph Votel, told TWZ.com last week that while only 800 to 1,000 troops would be needed on Kharg Island, they would require logistical backup that would need protection as well.

Votel said that US troops would be very vulnerable and doubted that taking the island would provide any particular tactical advantage. It would be "kind of an odd thing to do ... But we could certainly do it if we had to," he said.

Troops would face traps laid by Iran

Troops already navigating traps would also likely have to contend with an onslaught of missiles and drones. Irans parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said on Sunday the country is ready and waiting for the arrival of US ground troops to set them on fire.

The enemy signals negotiation in public, while in secret it plots a ground attack, he said in a message broadcast on Iranian state media. Iran has accused Trump of stalling with talk of negotiations to rush troops to the region for an invasion.

Gulf allies have warned the administration not to put troops on the ground in Iran, saying it could trigger more retaliation from Tehran, possibly against their energy and civilian infrastructure, a senior Gulf official told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

The White House official said last week that Trump had made clear he has no plans to send ground troops anywhere at this time, but added that he always keeps all options on the table.

In response to questions about boots on the ground, Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said: Its the job of the Pentagon to make preparations in order to give the commander in chief maximum optionality.

Trump traffics in contradictory signals, said Laura Blumenfeld of the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Washington. He is a one-man fog of war messaging machine to keep opponents off-balance.

The President has previously boasted that US strikes in mid-March had obliterated Iranian military outposts on the island, but left its oil infrastructure alone for now.

Seizing island would cut off Irans oil lifeline

US administration officials said that discussions on seizing the Kharg Island have taken place, according to Axios. The land, which is smaller than the city of Westminster in London, could choke off Irans economy and leave a devastating impact for years to come.

Seizing the island would cut off Irans oil lifeline, which is crucial for the regime, Petras Katinas, research fellow in climate, energy and defence in the Europe office of the Royal United Services Institute, told The Telegraph.

Of course, with shipping via the Strait of Hormuz now stopped, they cannot sell oil anyway, but looking ahead, seizure would give the US leverage during negotiations, no matter which regime is in power after the military operation ends.

open image in gallery Members of the 82nd Airborne Division, among the US soldiers deployed to the region last week, pictured in 2023 (file) ( AFP/Getty )

Shipping through the Strait has largely come to a halt since the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) took complete control of the major waterway.

Global supply chains have been severely affected and experts have warned of a devastating economic impact across the world if it continues.

Oil prices surged to more than $119 a barrel on Thursday before dropping, and the IRGC warned that it could reach $200 if hostilities escalate.

Should he take Kharg, rather than destroy it, he can not only ensure the regime can never again pay the salaries of its bureaucrats and soldiers, former Pentagon official Michael Rubin wrote in an article for the American Enterprise Institute in January this year, before Trumps assault.

But also, in the future after regime change, he can ensure that the new Iranian regime can finance its own rebuilding.

The IRGC, of course, could target Kharg with ballistic missiles, but that would sign their death warrant. Not only would Trump respond in kind, but such action would end Iranian oil exports for months to come, again leaving salaries unpaid.

Island could be used as bargaining chip in talks

Other analysts have suggested the island could be used as a bargaining chip as oil exports make up nearly 40 per cent of Irans government budget.

However, it would make American and Israeli troops vulnerable to attacks by Iranian forces.

If President Trump were to decide to seize this pivotal hub, it would deal a significant blow to the Iranian regime, as it would deprive them of a critical source of revenue, oil analyst Tamas Varga told CNBC.

open image in gallery An Iranian military boat patrols next to the Artavil oil tanker, at Kharg Island, in Persian Gulf, ( EPA )

Such a move would be reminiscent of the US intervention in Venezuela at the beginning of the year, when it effectively took control of the countrys oil sector.

The island was previously attacked by Saddam Hussein in 1984, sparking the oil tanker war in the ongoing conflict between Iran and Iraq.

But this isnt the first time Kharg appears to have been in Trumps sightline. He previously made a throwaway remark about the island nearly 40 years ago while promoting his book The Art of the Deal in an interview with The Guardian.

Theyve been beating us psychologically, making us look a bunch of fools, he said of Iran in 1988. One bullet shot at one of our men or ships, and Id do a number on Kharg Island. Id go in and take it.

Capturing island would send markets into tailspin

Neil Quilliam, an energy policy and foreign affairs analyst at Chatham House, told The Independent that while it is unlikely Trump would take over the territory, any attempt would likely send the markets into a tailspin.

It could also block any future resolution between the countries, leading to an endless standoff.

The US would effectively control Irans major export terminal, but the Iranian leadership would remain in control of the countrys production so there would be a standoff, he said. It could also be a major cause for concern for Gulf countries, setting a dangerous precedent.

It is Irans Achilles heel in this war, but fighting for and occupying Kharg could cause irreparable damage to the terminal and hurt any successor regimes chances of managing the economy, he continued. Previous presidents have steered away from Kharg, understanding its strategic importance to global oil markets.
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President Donald Trump is considering whether to launch a risky military operation to seize uranium from deep inside Iran, according to US officials, in what would represent a major escalation in the war.

The American president is yet to make a final decision as the conflict in the Middle East enters its fifth week, but he is said to be open to the idea and weighing up the danger to US troops, according to The Wall Street Journal.

On Sunday, Trump told reporters that Iran must give up its highly enriched uranium for the ongoing war to end.

They are decimated right now. Theyre going to give up nuclear weapons. Theyre going to give us the nuclear dust, he said, referring to the uranium.

Theyre going to do everything that we want to do. If they dont do that, theyre not going to have a country.

Seizing Irans uranium would entail a complex operation involving American troops flying to nuclear sites while under fire from Iranian forces.

Combat troops would need to secure the perimeters of the sites, supported by highly skilled technical staff and engineers on board to extract the radioactive material. This would need to be carried in around 40 to 50 special cylinders to be transported out of the country without incident.

open image in gallery Trump said Iran must give up the nuclear dust referring to enriched uranium ( AP )

They would also need to assess the territory for mines and other explosive devices designed to ward off security breaches.

Its the job of the Pentagon to make preparations in order to give the commander-in-chief maximum optionality. It does not mean the president has made a decision, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.

The Pentagon have not commented on the reports and a spokesperson for US Central Command declined to comment when approached by the WSJ.

Last year, the International Atomic Energy Agency concluded that Iran has 400kg of uranium enriched at 60 per cent. Iran is also reported to have nearly 200kg of 20 per cent fissile material, which can be easily converted to 90 per cent weapons-grade.

Experts say that levels that high are not required for nuclear reactors or medical reasons and could likely be for weapons.

open image in gallery This satellite image from Planet Labs PBC shows Iran's Isfahan Nuclear Technology Center outside of Isfahan ( Planet Labs PBC )

Nuclear weapons require 90 per cent enrichment, while the bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945 included material that was 80 per cent enriched. A nuclear bomb could still be developed at 60 per cent, but wouldnt be deliverable by missiles.

In June 2025, Israel and the US said they had obliterated Irans nuclear facilities, but it is unclear whether the Iranian establishment transferred the material prior to the bombing or if it remains underground.

IAEA director General Rafael Grossi previously said he believes the uranium is at two of the three sites that were attacked last year, including an underground tunnel at a nuclear complex in Isfahan and a cache at Natanz.

Iran is not currently enriching uranium, according to expert assessments, and had previously agreed to give up stockpiling enriched uranium as part of nuclear talks in February, according to Omans foreign minister.

Tehran has warned against a ground invasion and said Trump is leading US troops into the swamp of death.
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President Donald Trump on Monday threatened to obliterate all of Irans energy infrastructure  including the key oil hub Kharg Island if Tehran continues to stall on efforts to strike a deal to end the war.

Airstrikes across the Middle East have continued despite several public overtures to diplomacy and negotiations by the US leader, with Tehran continuing to deny that any direct talks are taking place.

But in a post on Truth Social, Mr Trump claimed that serious discussions had been taking place over bringing an end to the month-old conflict and that great progress had been made.

If the Hormuz Strait is not immediately Open for Business, we will conclude our lovely stay in Iran by blowing up and completely obliterating all of their Electric Generating Plants, Oil Wells and Kharg Island (and possibly all desalinization plants!), which we have purposefully not yet touched, he wrote in another outburst.

It follows reports of a potential ground invasion of Iran that would mark a significant escalation of the conflict, with officials telling The Wall Street Journal on Sunday that the president is also assessing plans for a military operation to seize uranium from deep inside the country.

Its the job of the Pentagon to make preparations in order to give the commander-in-chief maximum optionality. It does not mean the president has made a decision, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement, regarding the reports.

open image in gallery Donald Trump said great progress had been made while also threatening to blow up Irans energy facilities ( Getty )

Thousands of US sailors and marines landed in the Middle East over the weekend, according to US Central Command, a move that Tehran said was a sign that Washington was not serious about securing a peace deal.

Oil prices have continued to surge as the Strait of Hormuz remains largely closed to commercial shipments.

Yemens Houthi rebels entered the fray over the weekend, prompting further concern over global trade disruption after their previous attacks on maritime vessels in the Red Sea passage to the Suez Canal in 2024.

Prime minister Keir Starmer ruled out putting British troops on the ground in Iran and insisted that the UK would not be dragged into Mr Trumps escalating war in the region.

open image in gallery Thousands of US marines arrived in the Middle East over the weekend ( US Central Command )

This is not our war and were not going to get drawn into it, he said, adding the UK will continue to take defensive action and work to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

What we have done is taken defensive action: so weve had our pilots up in the air since an hour or two after this war started, defending British lives, British interests and, of course, our allies in the region.

But we are not going to get dragged into this war.

The prime ministers office said it is in discussions with the US at every level over its involvement in the war in Iran.

We will continue to focus, as the prime minister has done, on British national interests, protecting people in the region, doing what we can to protect households from the impact here in the UK, and working with international allies.

open image in gallery Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon, on Monday ( AP )

The Pentagon is reported to be awaiting Mr Trumps approval on ground operations involving up to 10,000 troops, according to The Washington Post.

Secretary of state Marco Rubio has previously denied that ground operations would go ahead and on Monday insisted that the US would achieve its objectives in a matter of weeks, not months.

Iran continues to deny that talks have taken place. Tehrans foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said they had received messages from intermediaries expressing Washingtons willingness to negotiate, but said the proposals were asking too much.

Meanwhile, Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon have continued after Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared the expansion of a buffer zone in operations said to be intended to defeat Hezbollah.
There are two things we need to separate when were talking about nuclear issues in Iran: the first one is whether Iran has capabilities of developing nuclear weapons and highly enriched nuclear material it may still have; the second issue is about potential US-Israeli attacks on Irans nuclear power stations.

A lot of people dont understand that these are two very different things. They hear the word nuclear and think it means bombs destroying everything in sight, but that is not the case  nuclear weapons are by far the most damaging and dangerous weapons in the arsenals of today.

The first point is about Iran and whether it has nuclear material. We know that Iran has a number of facilities that have been enriching uranium, which is the focus of most concern, because of the fears surrounding what they might do with it.

Weve been worrying about the Iranian nuclear programme for years now. Prior to 2003, Western intelligence strongly suggested that they were developing a nuclear weapons capability, but in 2003, US intelligence agencies came to the conclusion theyd stopped doing that. However, Iran has been enriching uranium  one of the materials used in nuclear weapons  to use in their reactors, and for developing isotopes for medical purposes.

They have a right to do that for peaceful purposes, and it was agreed in the Iran nuclear deal in 2015. Strict inspections showed that Iran was only developing the allowed low-enriched uranium. But when Donald Trump pulled the US out of the Iran nuclear deal in 2018 and reimposed sanctions, the situation changed.

Iran started enriching their uranium again to higher levels. They soon enriched to around 20 per cent and then 60 per cent. When its that high, its not for a nuclear reactor or for medical purposes. You dont need it that high for anything other than a weapon.

The International Atomic Energy Agency found Iran has 400kg of this 60 per cent enriched uranium  but they cannot be sure where it is now. In June last year, Israel and the US attacked the facilities where Iran was enriching uranium, but we dont know if the Iranians removed the material from those sites prior to the bombing or if it remained underground at Isfahan, for example.

If they moved it, where is it now?

There is evidence that it could be buried at the known nuclear sites, or hidden somewhere like Pickaxe mountain, south of the nuclear facilities. But the truth is that nobody knows for sure where it is.

This uranium is one of the things that the US and the Israelis are after; they want to put it out of action, so Iran can never use it. But whats worrying people now is the question of whether Iran can do anything with this 60 per cent uranium?

To develop a nuclear bomb small enough to go on top of a warhead missile, it would need to be about 90 per cent enriched. The first bomb dropped on Hiroshima in the Second World War was 80 per cent enriched, and at 60 per cent it is still possible to make a nuclear bomb  it just cant be delivered by missiles.

In the worst case scenario, Iran could develop that 60 per cent material into bombs to take them out onto ships to ports, which could lead to a nuclear explosion like Hiroshima. If they dont explode properly, youve still got a dirty bomb, which would create a spread of radioactive material, contaminating an area for a long time and leading to widespread panic.

open image in gallery President Donald Trump pulled the US out of the Iran nuclear deal in 2018 ( AP )

We have to acknowledge that Iran has always said they didnt want to develop a nuclear weapon  they have repeated this to the US negotiators recently  and theres been a fatwa against having nuclear weapons in place for a long time.

In the Iran-Iraq war in the early 80s, Iraq used chemical weapons against Iran. Iran had developed chemical weapons but never used them, because they ruled that chemical weapons were inhumane and against God. Whether that would policy would remain in these circumstances is unknown, but Ive always given weight to that decision.

However, the fear is that US-Israeli attacks could accidentally land on Irans store of enriched uranium, and the IAEA are monitoring radiation levels. If that did happen, it would be more like a dirty bomb rather than a nuclear explosion, which, although awful, is nowhere near as bad.

My biggest worry is post-conflict, if chaos reigns in Iran with factions fighting each other. Currently, the nuclear facilities are guarded; its a real possibility that guards could flee the site where the enriched material is stored, leading to attempts to seize it and sell it on illicit markets. We saw this before when the USSR collapsed.

I dont think terrorist groups have the engineering capacity to do anything with it; it would more likely be bought by North Korea, which already has nuclear weapons or another state wanting to develop a clandestine nuclear weapons programme that doesnt have enriched uranium or an enrichment capability.

A UN security council resolution could address this and give powers to UN experts to secure the material and to ensure the nuclear material doesnt get into the wrong hands. But it could be very dangerous.

We also have the concerns about potential attacks to Irans nuclear power stations and what that could mean. An attack on a nuclear power station is not the same as a nuclear weapon. Its just not comparable. Youd get a spread of radioactive material, but the number of deaths would not be on the scale of a nuclear explosion. Again, it would be more like the effects of a dirty bomb, where you have conventional explosives spreading radioactive material.

open image in gallery Firefighters work at the site of an apartment building hit by a Russian drone strike in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine ( Reuters )

Weve had a number of attacks on nuclear power stations recently, with attacks on Ukraines Zaporizhzhia plant throughout the Russian war against Ukraine. The worst experience with a nuclear power explosion was an accident at Chernobyl in 1986. That reactor was very different to todays modern reactors in that it was an old graphite reactor that burns when it catches fire, and weather conditions led to radiation making its way to the British Isles. Zaporizhzhia is much more modern with a pressurised water reactor and inherently safer, like most reactors today.

But nobody should be attacking nuclear reactors. It goes against international law and creates a risk of radiation in the region. Iran has recently attacked the Israeli nuclear facility at Dimona and it has to stop. India and Pakistan have an agreement where no matter what, they dont attack each others nuclear facilities, and over many years, Iran has been calling for a similar arrangement in the Middle East.

Nuclear explosions are at another level  they can destroy the whole of a city depending on its size, the size of the explosion, the height at which it is detonated and the geography of the city. In the immediate area of the explosion  the ground zero  everyone would be instantly killed. Further away, those who arent destroyed by the impact of the blast wave could be burned by the following fires.

There is also an immediate blast of highly energetic radiation, which can lead to radiation poisoning, then there is the long-term radioactive fallout which circulates in the atmosphere and rains down on people, causing cancers and other damage in the short and long terms. Depending how many explosions take place, a nuclear war could also cause long-term climate changes worldwide  the so-called nuclear winter  leading to global famine.

The US possesses over 3,500 warheads, while Israel is generally believed to have nuclear weapons, but doesnt admit to it. Im not worried about them using these missiles on Iran  I see no advantage for them in doing that, and theyd lose any support in the world if they were to do that.

What this war shows is that you cant bomb countries into nuclear non-proliferation. It needs negotiation. I wish the first Trump administration had understood that all negotiation is compromise, before they pulled the US out of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.

This was a deal where Iran agreed to not develop nuclear weapons, and it prevented Iran from acquiring highly enriched uranium via stringent monitoring measures by the IAEA  and it worked. Even in the last few months, the US was negotiating with Iran to get rid of all its highly enriched uranium, but the US abruptly pulled out of those talks and started the bombing campaign with Israel, and now were where we are. Now more than ever, we need mature leaders who will say we need to have a new push on preventing nuclear proliferation and getting rid of nuclear weapons in the world, before it all spreads out of control.

As told to Radhika Sanghani
Hong Kong breaks ground on largest data center, eyes use in 42 months

Xinhua) 10:24, March 30, 2026

This photo taken on March 28, 2026 shows guests attending the groundbreaking ceremony of the Range (Hong Kong) Sandy Ridge Data Facility Cluster in Hong Kong, south China. (Xinhua/Lui Siu Wai)

HONG KONG, March 28 (Xinhua) -- The Range (Hong Kong) Sandy Ridge Data Facility Cluster broke ground on Saturday, estimated to become Hong Kong's largest computing facility when put into use in 42 months.

Spanning some 110,000 square meters in Hong Kong's Northern Metropolis, the data center is expected to generate 4.6 billion Hong Kong dollars (about 588 million U.S. dollars) worth of output and 180 technology-focused positions during its first three years of operation. By 2032, its computing power will reach 180 ExaFLOPS, or 36 times Hong Kong's current capacity.

The data center's proximity to Shenzhen endows it with a critical role in the data industry chain of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, making it a potential catalyst for Hong Kong's artificial intelligence development, said Sun Dong, secretary for innovation, technology and industry of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government, at the groundbreaking ceremony.

Zhou Chaonan, chairperson of Range Intelligent Computing Technology Group Company Limited, told Xinhua that Hong Kong's top-tier universities and large pool of talent are part of the reason companies like Range came here. She said Range will work to turn the Sandy Ridge project into one of the country's top sci-tech innovation clusters.

This photo taken on March 28, 2026 shows guests attending the groundbreaking ceremony of the Range (Hong Kong) Sandy Ridge Data Facility Cluster in Hong Kong, south China. (Xinhua/Lui Siu Wai)

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
Bank has set aside 429m for compensation

The UKs motor finance industry will pay about 2bn (2.3bn) less than expected on a revised redress programme for consumers who were mis-sold car loans.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has modestly tightened the conditions for borrowers to receive compensation, which means 12.1 million loans are eligible, down from 14.2 million last year, according to a statement it issued setting out the final shape of the compensation plan.

Lenders should now expect to pay 7.5bn in compensation, down from 8.2bn previously, and the estimated costs of running the redress scheme are now 40pc lower, the FCA said.

This means the programme is set to cost the industry 9.1bn overall, down from 11bn in the previous version.

That approach will be welcomed by the firms affected, which include Bank of Ireland, as well as Lloyds, plus car firms with lending operations such as Mercedes-Benz.

In a statement this morning, Bank of Ireland said it noted the publication by the FCA of the final details of the scheme, and is assessing the potential financial impact.

"The groups cumulative provision in relation to UK motor finance commissions is 429m (as of December 2025), and the group continues to be highly capital generative, it said. A further update will be provided to the market at the appropriate time.

Bank of Ireland made a provision of 143m (167m) last June based on probability weighted scenarios that captured the then best estimate of the compensation to be paid.

Based on the FCAs proposals last autumn, Bank of Ireland said it estimated the provision could increase to about 350m. This was due to the increased likelihood of a higher number of cases, as well as the construction of the proposed redress methodology and the customer engagement approach.

Bank of Ireland said it was committed to achieving a fair outcome for customers and ensuring that appropriate redress is provided where loss had occurred. However, the group does not believe that the FCAs proposed redress methodology reflects the actual loss to customers or achieves a proportionate outcome, it added, stressing that it would engage with the UKs financial watchdog on the issue.

The redress programme covers car-loan agreements taken out between 2007 and 2024.

Lloyds has taken the largest known provision, at almost 2bn. Mercedes-Benz and Barclays are among the firms to have taken nine-figure charges.

Under the new version of the scheme, the FCA said the average redress payment will rise slightly to 829 per customer, up from about 700 in the original plan. Operating costs have been cut due to measures such as no longer requiring banks to send letters to customers by recorded mail, according to the regulator.

The FCA said it will work with other regulators to tackle any law firms and claims management companies that treat customers unfairly, for example through high exit fees or false advertising.
Smyths Homevalue named Irelands sole representative at prestigious awards

The Kavanagh family behind Smyths Homevalue in Enniscorthy had a trip of a lifetime in Chicago where they were honoured as the only national winners from Ireland at an awards ceremony.

The business was selected as the only Irish representative to attend the Global Innovation Awards in Chicago, after being praised by judges as a perfect example of what a destination homewares store can be.
Michael Houghton: My son hasnt quite realised that the 500 or so he might receive for his first communion represents only a fraction of what the day will cost us
A brand new quiz show on TG4, Sle Anois go Cuaramach, will feature Wexford students in its upcoming episode as they battle it out against a Dublin school.

Sle Anois go Cuaramach is set to transform how young people and broader audiences interact and engage with the Irish language. The fast-paced quiz launched onto Irish television screens on March 24, and has been developed to prove two simple ideas: you have much more Irish than you think you have, and effort matters more than perfection.
The IFA warns of potential egg rationing as producers struggle with a 20% spike in feed costs and "unsustainable" farmgate prices, despite a 10% rise in national production reported earlier this month

The IFA has issued warning today, claiming that egg shortages appearing on supermarket shelves are a direct consequence of retailers failing to pay producers a sustainable price.

IFA Poultry Chair Brendan Soden stated that farmers have warned retailers and packers for some time that current farmgate prices cannot support the growing demand for Irish eggs.

The association is calling for an immediate price increase of 2c per egg for free-range and organic production, and 1c per egg for barn eggs.

Mr. Soden said that these increases must be "ring fenced" to ensure they are returned directly to the producers.

He cautioned that the industry is seeing "history repeating itself," referencing the 2022/2023 period in the UK when egg rationing was introduced due to similar supply chain failures.

The IFA warns of potential egg rationing as producers struggle with a 20% spike in feed costs and "unsustainable" farmgate prices, despite a 10% rise in national production reported earlier this month

Today's news in 90 Seconds - Monday, March 30

According to the IFA, producers simply cannot sustain output at current returns, especially as the gap between Irish and EU pricing continues to widen.

The warnings run contary to comments made earlier this month by Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Martin Heydon, who said that the Irish table egg sector has actually seen growth, with production increasing by 10% in 2025 to approximately 64,000 tonnes.

At that point, the Minister stated he was "not aware of any shortages of eggs" in supermarkets nationally, though he clarified that his department monitors production levels rather than retail supply.

However, the Ministers data also underscored the intense financial pressure on farmers. Poultry feed now represents approximately 70% of input costs for egg producers. While feed prices have experienced volatility, they remained 20% higher in 2025 than they were in 2020.

Economic data from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) further highlights the rising cost for consumers. Since 2021, the annual average price for six large eggs has increased by 28% (reaching 2.28 in 2025), while six medium eggs have risen by 32% (to 1.83).

Despite a 5.6% increase in egg prices over the last 12 months, the IFA maintains that these retail gains are not reaching the farmgate.

With the constant threat of Avian Flu in the background, many producers, it said are now weighing up whether the high-risk nature of the sector is worth the current minimal returns.
Could compact green city solve housing crisis? Irish architectural firm launches designs for cost-saving homes

Architect says its design provides for four times more dwellings than the standard

Architects reveal revolutionary design to solve Ireland's housing crisis - and they're cheaper to build

Maeve McTaggart Mon 30 Mar 2026 at 06:30

An Irish architectural firm has said its new design for cost-saving housing developments could help solve the housing crisis.
Man (49) appears in court charged with murder of former IRA member and MI5 spy Denis Donaldson

Donaldson was shot dead at his isolated cottage near Glenties, Co Donegal, in April 2006

Double agent Denis Donaldson was shot dead in 2006. Photo: PA

Robin Schiller Mon 30 Mar 2026 at 17:00

A man has appeared before the Special Criminal Court charged with six offences including the murder of former IRA member and MI5 spy Denis Donaldson in 2006.
Dublin armed robber reveals secret life and remorse after 20 years on the run

Dublin man who carried out 13 hotel robberies, fled to UK where he broke into the film business, had six kids and became school governor

Darren White who pleaded guilty to 13 counts of robbery at Dublin hotels back in 2005 and 1 count of robbery at a Londis shop in 2006

Alan Sherry Mon 30 Mar 2026 at 09:40

A hotel robber who carried out robberies at 13 different establishments before going on the run for almost 20 years said he should have handed himself in years ago but it got harder and harder after he started a family.
Its 100pc Stephen  ex-workmate haunted by Coke bottle clue of Natalie McNally murder suspect

It was 11pm and it was dark as I stepped outside the new Belfast Telegraph building. Most of the other offices in Clarendon Dock were closed for the night, and the only other source of light was coming from a parked car across the street.
Dublin City Councillor for Cabra-Glasnevin, John Stephens, has been chosen by Fianna Fail to be the partys name going before the electorate in Mays by-election.

Mr Stephens is currently the Deputy Lord Mayor and was first elected for the party in the 2024 local elections with 1,858 votes on the final count.
My family are worried, but Im not leaving as I couldnt afford to be a teacher in Ireland  Irish expats caught up in Middle East war

Conflict has caused instability, but many Irish living in the region say they are happy to stay, while others have returned home

From left, Joe Sheahan, Ben Currums and Keira Collins were all living in the Middle East when the conflict broke out

Sarah O'Mahony Mon 30 Mar 2026 at 06:30

It is a month today since the US and Israel launched strikes on multiple sites and cities across Iran, and many Irish expats in the Middle East remain defiant in the face of instability.
Title of Irelands tallest habitable building set for return to Cork

Railyard development will deliver 217 affordable new homes in Corks docklands by the end of 2027

The Railyard tower height projection

Ralph Riegel Mon 30 Mar 2026 at 06:30

Cork is poised to reclaim the title of hosting Irelands tallest habitable building.
Czech firms biggest model ever has EV range of over 600kms with five or seven seats and even comes with a frunk

Our man with the heavily camouflaged Skoda Peaq at Lake Como, Italy, last week

Skoda has given us a sneak Peaq at its new flagship model, a hulking all-electric, seven-seat SUV.

Based on the magnificent Vision 7S Concept and built on the groups tried and tested MEB platform, the new offering has a range of over 600km, an all-wheel drive and supreme luxury and comfort for all on board.

Measuring 4.9 metres long, its the biggest Skoda ever made (pipping the mighty Kodiaq by 11cm), and with a wheelbase of 2.9 metres, that means more head, elbow and legroom for all passengers.

Flush door handles and deep roof spoiler give the massive body a sleek and sporty feel, while the 21-inch rims add to the premium look.

As you can see from the pictures, this was a camouflaged model, but we did get up close and personal with a couple of pre-production models and, I promise you, it will take plenty of sales off its luxury German cousins.

The Czech car giant is being super-secretive about the layout of the cockpit, so we reckon the template will percolate down to all models in the future. No pictures were allowed, but for the first time ever theres a vertical infotainment screen on the dash.

Software powering the 14-inch display has also been kept under wraps, but it will be complemented by an augmented reality head up display.

New Peaq is the biggest Skoda ever built, topping the Kodiaq by 11cms in lenght

Theres a bank of physical buttons above the console that control heating and air-con, so no need for stabbing at a screen to demist the windscreen.

To free up extra space, the gear selector lever differs from that of its sibling Enyaq and is now mounted on the steering column.

Also making its Skoda debut is the phone box that enables inductive charging of two smartphones at 15W and includes a cooling function. Special magnets are built into the docking stations so your phone doesnt slide around as the car negotiates tricky bends. You also get four USB-C ports with an output of 45W to ensure fast charging of phones, tablets and even laptops.

Alongside the sevenseat layout, the Peaq is also available as a fiveseater. In this configuration, it offers the largest boot of any Skoda model, with 1,010 litres. In the seven-seater with all pews in position, youll still pack up to 299 litres of luggage in there.

Also for the first time in a Skoda EV, theres an additional 37litre storage compartment in the frunk  ideal for charging cables, spare washer fluid or a raincoat.

Irish customers can choose from five interior designs, including the top end Sportline (L&K may come later). At the top of the range are two Suite Design Selection options finished in Techtona, a highquality leather alternative, offered in black and a light grey called Ceramique.

Skoda Peaq rear

All come with ambient lighting and a heated multi-function steering wheel badged with the Skoda lettering.

Ergonomic seats with a pneumatic massage function are available as an option, as is the panoramic glass roof with digital frosting of the glass at the touch of a button.

It wouldnt be a true Skoda without a couple of simply clever details, so the Peaq comes with an umbrella in the door, wiper blades with integrated washers, foldable table for the centre console, electric roller shutter in the boot and the ice scraper in the charging cap.

New Peaq is available as a five or a seven-seater

Customers will be able to choose from three powertrains  the 60, 90 (RWD) and 90x (AWD)  delivering outputs ranging from 200bhp to 300bhp. The 90 and 90x models offer a range of more than 600km and can be charged from 10pc to 80pc capacity via DC fast-charging in just 28 minutes. The 60 variant manages the same in just 27 minutes.

Drive-wise, we had just over an hour on the twisty roads around Lake Como last week, and I must admit the drive and handling were as spectacular as the epic views.

Unlike the Italian drivers we met along the western shore close to George Clooneys pad in Laglio, the heavily-disguised Peaq behaved impeccably and, despite its sheer size, proved agile, nimble and perfectly suited to every challenge thrown at it.

In the five-seat version, the Peaq has a massive 1,010 litres of luggage space

Granted, we cant make a call on the real-life range, but going by how accurate the Elroq and Enyaq are, Id bet the Peaq is not too far off the WLTP figure.

If it does mirror its siblings and is pitched at the right price, this new flagship model could cause absolute havoc in the seven-seat EV segment.

The new Peaq wont arrive in Irish showrooms until next January, but in August, a limited number of left-hand drive pre-production models will be landing for static display at selected Skoda dealers.

Pricing and specifications are expected in October, but insiders say numbers available for Ireland are limited to just 500 units.
New service will start with long-haul routes, and be completed over the coming years

Aer Lingus Captain Andrew McCraith switches on Starlink on EI-105 from Dublin to JFK on Sunday, March 29

The first Aer Lingus aircraft kitted out with Elon Musks Starlink wifi has taken off from Dublin Airport.

The Airbus A330 (EI-EIN) flying from Dublin to New Yorks JFK departed Sunday, with customers the first to experience its ultra-fast connectivity.

The airline plans to roll out Starlink wifi across its fleet over the coming years, it says on its website. The service will be free to passengers.

Introducing Starlink on our first aircraft is a big moment for us in Aer Lingus, said chief executive officer, Lynne Embleton, hailing a game-changer.

"It means our customers can browse, download and stream at speeds as fast as, or quicker than, theyd get at home.

Aer Lingus Cabin Crew Jack Hackett and Kelly Radford

Starlink wifi, which is engineered and operated by SpaceX, utilises more than 10,000 satellites.

Aer Lingus long-haul aircraft serving North America are expected to be enabled by early next year, with aircraft servicing Europe to follow.

Passengers can use multiple devices on Starlink, with download speeds of up to 500+ mbps, according to the airline.

Travel expert Eoghan Corry, who was onboard yesterdays Dublin to JFK flight, posted mid-journey speeds on X ranging from 82.7mb to 114.8mb for downloads, and 1.36mb to 13.3mb for uploads.

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Sign-up involves passengers connecting to the Aer Lingus wifi network, and following the prompts.

Planes that have not yet been updated (A330, A321neoLR and XLR aircraft) still use the old paid wifi model, a slower service with fees ranging from 3.49 for an hour to 20.49 for a flight.

Wifi is free for AerClub Concierge members and business class customers, though they must scratch vouchers to retrieve codes valid for one device.

After being fitted with Starlink antennas, the first A330 underwent extensive testing to prepare for its first customer flight, Aer Lingus said.

Aer Lingus will shortly commence new services to Pittsburgh and Raleigh-Durham in the US, bringing its North American network to a total of 24 routes.

Wifi will not be fitted to its smaller, Aer Lingus Regional aircraft.
Con Coughlin: Americans are in proxy war against Russia, whether they like it or not

Vladimir Putin has been handing valuable intelligence to Iran, proving that Donald Trumps favouring of the Russian leader has been pointless

US president Donald Trump dances after speaking at the White House on Friday. Photo: Getty

Con Coughlin Telegraph Media Group Holdings Ltd Mon 30 Mar 2026 at 06:30

As if Donald Trump does not have enough on his plate fighting a war against Irans ayatollahs, the revelation that Russia has been giving Tehran valuable intelligence also shows that he is fighting a proxy war against Moscow.
Three months into 2026 and the majority of Michael Flatleys famous contortions and manoeuvres have taken place in a courtroom.

As his Lord of the Dance live spectacular celebrates 30 years with an international tour, Flatley is busy contesting who exactly should be running the show.

He also finds himself in a financially painful twist; one that has prompted a pair of helpful billionaires to step up. They are Maurice Regan and Luke Comer.

So, who are these generous benefactors, and how did Flatley get into this difficult position in the first place?

On this episode of the Indo Daily, host Fionnan Sheahan is joined by Irish Independent legal affairs editor Shane Phelan, and by Irish Independent group business editor Donal ODonovan, to check in on a contentious and fast-moving legal dispute.
Eligible school bus drivers will be allowed continue working until the age of 72two years beyond the previous limit.

Under the approved changes, the maximum age for drivers of small public service vehicles (up to eight passengers) operating under the School Transport Scheme will increase from 70 to 72 on a two-year trial basis.

The move follows a detailed review process involving Bus Eireann and the departments of Education and Transport, alongside independent safety analysis.

Drivers aged between 70 and 72 will be required to undergo medical fitness certification every six months

The extension will apply to smaller vehicles and will be closely monitored over the two-year trial period.

A full review will be carried out before any decision is made on longer-term changes.

The decision to increase the maximum age limit for Bus Eireann school bus drivers has been welcomed by Cork TD John Paul OShea who described it as a practical and common-sense move that will help ease ongoing pressures within the school transport system.

Fine Gael TD for Cork North West, John Paul OShea hailed the policy change as a very welcome and a long overdue decision. For too long, experienced and fully qualified drivers were required to step away from their roles at the age of 70, regardless of their capability or medical fitness. That simply did not make sense, particularly at a time when we are facing real challenges around school transport capacity.

Deputy OShea said the extension will help retain skilled drivers in the workforce while improving service reliability for families, particularly in rural communities.

Mr OShea said: School bus drivers play a vital role across rural Ireland, ensuring that children can get safely to and from school each day. Their experience, professionalism and commitment are invaluable. It is only right that those who are medically fit and willing to work are given the opportunity to continue.

Deputy OShea said further consideration should be given to moving away from rigid age thresholds altogether. I believe there is still more work to be done. We should be moving towards a system that prioritises medical fitness and capability over arbitrary age limits. Many individuals in their early 70s are more than capable of carrying out this role safely and effectively.

The Cork TD said the new measures will help strengthen rural transport services and ensure families can rely on consistent and safe school transport. This decision is moving us in the right direction. I will continue to advocate for practical solutions that support our drivers, our families, and our communities.
The restoration works on Macrooms Castle Gate Lodge is progressing well and is expected to be completed in May.

The update was provided to councillors in the Macroom municipal district during Marchs council meeting in the Town Hall on Friday, March 27.

The project is part funded by The Heritage Council, Macroom Castle Demesne Trustees and Cork County Council.

Each councillor present at the meeting welcomed the news, and Independent Councillor Martin Coughlan suggested now is a perfect opportunity to replace and relocate flagpoles that are currently located on top of the castle and the Town Hall to the Square.

This is going back about 30 years ago, there were two poles put on top to hang flags off of them, but the only way to get up there was to stand on top of the gate.

It was never something I mentioned before because of health and safety and we had to stop doing it, but now that this project is going on, this is the perfect opportunity to get rid of these poles, and the two poles on the Town Hall that have never worked right because of the angle they are at.

I see this as the perfect opportunity to stand three flagpoles somewhere in the Square, maybe on the cobblestone in front of the castle, he said.

The Irish Tricolour

Mr Coughlan added that the Irish Tricolour is not flown over a public building in the town, which was common practice during the Town Council era.

We had a staff member who would take the flag down at midnight, but he is now deceased.

I think this is the perfect opportunity to stand three flagpoles in our Square  our national flag, the European flag and the Macroom Town Flag.

If we get proper poles, the national flag could be taken down [at sunset]  no problem, Mr Coughlan included.

Macroom Municipal District Officer, Marie OLeary, responded by saying:

We will look at that, she said.

I suppose, the current project, Ill talk to the architect of the current project and see what could be done.

The funding for this project is quite specific but leave it with me and we can see what we can do regarding alternative flagpoles, she said.
Families in North Cork already struggling with the rising cost of living are deeply concerned about the reintroduction of exam fees for the Junior and Leaving Certificate this summer.

State Examinations Commission (SEC) recently notified schools that families will once again be required to pay 116 per Leaving Certificate candidate and 109 per Junior Cycle candidate  the first time the fees have been charged since they were waived in 2020.

Sinn Fein Senator Nicole Ryan said she has been contacted by several parents from local schools who are deeply concerned about the reintroduction of fees for the 2026 exam year and she urged the Irish Government to reverse the decision to ease the mounting pressure on families.

Senator Ryan said that families across Cork North-West are already under enormous pressure with rising costs, including groceries, energy, transport and other everyday essentials, and that the reintroduction of exam fees is yet another burden many households simply cannot absorb.

She acknowledged that medical card holders are exempt from the fees but warned that many families who fall just above the threshold are often left with no support whatsoever.

Senator Ryan said this cliff edge leaves many hardworking families in a position where they receive no assistance despite facing the same financial pressures.

She highlighted the experience of one local mother in North Cork whose situation reflects that of many families.

The parent was recently informed that if anyone in the household held a medical card, the exam fee would be waived, however, when she attempted to complete the registration process, the system would not accept her details, leaving her with no option but to pay the 109 fee.

Senator Ryan said the same mother, a working parent of four children, outlined the significant financial strain her family is under, with weekly grocery bills ranging between 380 and 400 for essentials.

Senator Ryan added that while the government often speaks about free education, the reality for many families tells a very different story with parents expected to pay for school contribution fees, and a range of additional costs throughout the year. When all these expenses are added together, education is not truly free. The governments claims simply do not reflect the lived reality of families.

Senator Ryan said the decision to reintroduce exam fees now, in the height of a cost-of-living crisis and against the backdrop of ongoing global instability impacting fuel and diesel costs, is deeply unfair.

The Cork senator described the move as not only stingy, but downright mean at a time when families are already stretched to their limits and she urged the Minister for Education Hildegarde Naughton to ensure that exam fees remain waived so that no family is placed under additional financial pressure.
Local councillor calls for BER assessors to be allowed tender to clear backlog

County Cork homeowners, many of them elderly, are having to wait up to two and a half years to get works completed under a government scheme designed to make homes warmer and more energy efficient, a local councillor has said.

The Warmer Homes Scheme is administered by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) and funded by the government and the European Union. The scheme provides free home energy upgrades such as insulation to homeowners who are in receipt of certain social welfare payments and who live in a home built before 2006.

Speaking at a meeting of Cork County Council, Cllr Ben Dalton OSullivan said the delays are hitting older people in particular. They might be living in old houses that need to be insulated and upgraded. The scheme has worked very well in the past, but there's a two-year waiting list for it and that's on the light side. Some of them are taking two and a half years.

You have people applying in their late 80s to get their houses done. A lot of their homes need the retrofitting and the insulation, they can't afford to get it done otherwise is the truth of it. There are five stages in the scheme, the first stage is a BER assessment which is taking 12 months.

The Ballinhassig councillor said it boggles him that given that there is a national register of BER assessors, why they can't just tender a lot of them out in an area? There's a lot of independent assessors who'd only love to be offered 20 or 30 jobs to go out and do.

Cllr Dalton OSullivan put forward a motion calling on the local authority to write to the environment minister asking for measures to expedite applications under the scheme. The motion was seconded by Cllr Danny Collins, who said the delays have been going on for years. We had a meeting with [then Environment] Minister Ryan a number of years back, just after Covid. He blamed Covid for the backlog but it was happening well before Covid.

Cllr Gearoid Murphy also voiced support, saying Im very familiar with the big backlog and the long delays in my own area. Its very timely to draw attention to this and see if something can be done because it's on a national level it needs to be done.

The county council agreed to write to the minister about the issue. Cllr Dalton OSullivan asked that the letter emphasise his point about BER assessors. There's a good couple of hundred assessors in Cork. I was talking to a few of them and they'd only love if the SEAI would come along and allow them to go out and tender for the works. That's a very quick and easy way of solving the backlog, he said.

On its website the SEAI says the current waiting times for the scheme are up to 24 months with the pre-works BER inspection taking up to 12 months from application.

Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.
In Cork for Easter and looking for egg-celent events to keep the family entertained? We have you covered.

Here are some events taking place across the county this Easter.

Easter Egg Hunt, Dunmanway

An Easter Egg hunt will take place at the Galleys in Dunmanway on Saturday, April 4. The annual event is suitable for the whole family at the Southern Bar on from 5pm to 7pm.

Those interested are asked to be armed with their own basket and grab as many eggs as they can.

A special last person standing competition for adults will also take place during the event.

The community-led event is organised by Dunmanway events with a team of volunteers.

Easter Fun at Leahys Open Farm

Leahys Open Farm is running a series of events from April 2 to 6, including a free scavenger hunt.

Visitors to the Dungouney venue can also make friends with the adorable baby lambs, share an ice cream with a loved one and visit the tasty chocolate factory.

The free scavenger hunt requires contestants to be on their toes, find the clues, solve the puzzles in the hopes to claim the egg-celent chocolate prize.

Another highly anticipated event consists of a tractor trailer run through the woods.

Book your tickets online now at www.leahysopenfarm.ie.

Down Syndrome Centre Cork Day at Mallow Racecourse

Avid horse racing fans are invited to dust off their suits and fashionable hats after Cheltenham and flock to Mallow Racecourse this Saturday, April 4, for Down Syndrome Centre Cork Day.

The management of Cork Racecourse Mallow is donating 100% of advance general admission sales and onthegate tickets sold to DSCC.

Jockey Danny Mullins and Danny Duane (4) launch Down Syndrome Centre Cork Race Day at Cork Racecourse Mallow

Jockey Danny Mullins launched the event and said: Im delighted to support the Down Syndrome Centre Cork Raceday at Cork Racecourse Mallow.

The centre is wholly dependent on donations, corporate support and fundraisers such as this charity race day.

I hope it will help to raise awareness and vital funds for service provision at the centre, Mr Mullins said.

Adult tickets are available online at corkracecourse.ie and entry for all children under the age of 14 is free when accompanied by an adult. A free shuttle bus service to and from the races will run from Mallow Train Station and the Mallow town centre.

Racing bundles and social packs available from 20 and panoramic restaurant dining options from 75 per person.

Cork City Councils Easter Egg Challenge

Magic shows, LEGO Building and face painting are just some of the activities on offer on Friday, April 3, for the Easter Egg Challenge to support primary schools in Bishopstown.

A fantastic family fun day out is guaranteed as children undertake a treasure hunt to solve clues on the way to finding a secret egg depot. The Easter Bunny has left an egg for everyone who completes the challenge and will bring friends to entertain on the day.

The event will take place the Old Cork Waterworks Experience in Cork city and tickets are 5, which can be purchased on Eventbrite.

Easter workshop at the Toy Soldier Factory

The famous Toy Soldier Factory in Kilnamartyra is giving visitors the chance to create their own Easter bunnies, comic hero, soldiers and fairies, just to name a few during the at its Easter Miniature Workshop.

Located just 10 minutes from Macroom, the factory will be open daily from 10am until 5pm, apart from Easter Sunday, in which they will be closed.

Visitors can take part in a unique workshop experience where they choose a miniature figure, watch it being made, paint it themselves, and take it home the same day. Book your tickets via toysoldierfactory.ie.

Eggs-plorer trail at Fota Wildlife Park

The east Cork park may not be the safest place for the Easter Bunny at other times of year, but theyre celebrating the holiday in their usual fashion, with a self-led Eggs-plorer trail, which lasts all the way to Sunday April 12.

The trail invites visitors to journey around the Park, discovering facts about the all of the animals in the park, and hatch eggs along the way, before trading your completed sheet for a collectable magnet in the gift shop.

There will also be Easter face painting in the picnic area outside the Education, Conservation and Research Centre from noon to 2pm from Monday, March 30 to Friday, April 3.

Fota Wildlife Park.

Funderland

Its a rite of passage for every young teenager in Cork. Heading down to the merrries with your pals, with Funderland now a regular Easter fixture for over 30 years, and returns to the Centre Park Road until April 12.

The usual mix of rollercoasters, things that drop, things that spin fast, as well as some more serene attractions for younger (and older!) visitors, and enough candy floss to throw a stick at.

Admission is 2 per person, and then you pay for each ride, with the travelling theme park offering a 10 shot deal, for 40.

Easter trail at Joes Farm Crisps

The popular Killeagh farm is also running their own trail, on Good Friday (April 3), and Easter Saturday (April 4), which gives you a chance to stamp a map at various locations to exchange for an egg at the farm shop!

The Easter Bunny will also be in attendance in the farm, located just on the outskirts of Killeagh in East Cork, as well as getting some cute photos in the tulip field, or get your face painted on site (paid for separately).

Entrance is 16.85 with an egg included, and 11.40 for a regular visit.
Cute little kids and their moms during Easter egg hunt

Glenda Gilson launched the Enchanted Easter Forest Experience at Luggwoods in Co Dublin, see luggwoodsevents.com. Photo: Brian McEvoy

School is out for two weeks and the Easter Bank Holiday is almost upon us. Luckily for children and parents alike, theres a plethora of Springtime-themed events taking place across the city. From Easter Egg hunts to museum tours and markets, theres plenty to keep everyone busy and entertained.

Heres a round-up of things happening in Dublin over the Easter break.

Dublin Zoo events

A full programme of family-friendly fun, including their Egg-citing Dino Workshop with the Nutty Professor, animal encounters, and hands-on conservation activities like Nest Fest.

The popular Roar Roar Dinosaur Crew are back this spring bringing a family-friendly experience packed with dinosaurs, discovery, and Easter fun with a twist.

Meanwhile, kids can hop over to Nest Fest and discover the world of eggs, birds, and their nests.

See dublinzoo.ie for full details.

Enchanted Forest at Luggwoods

Easter magic and adventure is on the agenda at the Enchanted Forest at Luggwoods in the Dublin Mountains.

This seasonal event invites guests to follow the Easter Spring Trail, beautifully decorated with vibrant colours, seasonal surprises, and playful Easter sensations at every turn.

Easter at Dublinia

Dublinia is home to a unique family day out this Easter break from April 1 to 12 where children can discover Viking Dublin through handson activities, quests, archaeology and storytelling.

They will also be able to join Choco, the Easter Bunny-in-training, on a historical quest through Dublinia where theyll receive an activity sheet to guide them on their adventure through time.

Young girl running towards Easter eggs.

Easter Chocolate Experience 2026

Visit the home of the yummy bunny this Easter at the Butlers Chocolate Experience, at Clonsaugh North Dublin, meet the Easter Bunny and take part in an exciting Easter Egg Hunt.

Teidi Tours

Teidi Tours return to Croke Park this Easter, bringing younger visitors a fun-filled experience that pairs a teddymaking workshop with a guided tour of the stadium.

Easter at Airfield

From April 4 to 6, Airfield Estate in Dundrum is hosting a weekend packed with hands-on activities and interactive exhibits including an Eggsplorer Trail, puppet show and farmers market.

Cute little kids and their moms during Easter egg hunt

A Wicked Easter & K-Pop Camp

Taking place over two days on April 1 and 2, children are invited to hunt the beat at a K-Pop Camp for kids at Malahide Castle, Inspired by the action-packed world of K-Pop: Demon Hunters.

Taking place at the Marquee on the West Lawn at Malahide Castle, kids will take part in musical theatre and performance games as well as creative movement and teamwork activities.

Easter at National Museums of Ireland

The National Museum of Ireland has launched a programme of hands-on workshops, drop-in sessions, tours and self-guided trails for all ages to enjoy.

The Kildare Street based events include stone age handling sessions, and bronze age themed puzzles for buzzing archaeology enthusiasts.

Meanwhile, at Collins Barracks visitors of all ages are encouraged to hop into history with events running from April 2 - 12. Easter Eggscapade 2026

The much-loved Easter Eggscapade returns to Blackrock Park on Saturday, April 4, transforming the Playground into a whimsical Wonderland from 1pm to 5pm.
The Indo Daily: Shooters, ICE and Iran: Is Trumps America too dangerous for the World Cup?
There was a great out at the recent Taste of Palestine fundraiser in Killarney.

Organisers of the recent Taste of Palestine event in Killarney could not have asked for a better inaugural outing, such was the weather and the turnout on the day, earlier this month on Saturday March 21.

Organised by the local Killarney for Palestine group, the event was held at Noelles Cafe in town and attendees were treated to a range of absolutely stunning and delicious Palestinian inspired dishes. From falafel to musakhan rolls, from maqluba to hummus and chocolate covered dates, there wasnt a palate that wasnt catered for!

The atmosphere on the day, organisers said, was absolutely brilliant as the crowds spilled out onto Old Market Lane as members of the Palestinian (and general Arabic) community in Killarney in an extra joyful mood as they celebrated the end of Ramadan with Eid.

Food is so much more than sustenance in Palestine, organisers added.

"It represents the culture, the centuries old connection to the land, identity and memory. Like so much of Palestine, its traditional fare has been appropriated and indeed stolen by others, so its vital to reclaim it and preserve its true origins and this beautiful community event certainly achieved this, they said.

They added that the are indebted to the generosity of Noelle Crosbie and Taher Ali of Noelles cafe, for opening their doors to them and facilitating such a wonderful event.

The afternoon raised the incredible sum of 4,500 which will directly benefit six displaced families that Killarney for Palestine supports in the Gaza Strip as well as the running of the group itself so it may continue to organise community events such as this.

Locals out supporting the Taste of Palestine fundraiser in Killarney.

Locals out supporting the Taste of Palestine fundraiser in Killarney.

A cooking demonstration taking place at the recent Taste of Palestine fundraiser in Killarney.

Crowds enjoying the food on offer at the recent Taste of Palestine fundraiser in Killarney.
Kerry councillors have clashed over solutions for supporting local and first time home buyers in the county.

Councillor Angie Baily called for greater taxes on large landlords and non-resident home buyers in an effort to support native buyers, while Councillor Johnny Healy-Rae argued the solution was the build more houses.

Analysis of government data by OneMillionHomes.ie claimed that those looking to buy their first home in parts of Kerry could expect a wait of over 100 years (based on availability and if each of the population was seeking a house).

Cllr Baily cited this report, as well as the increase in the price ceiling for the First Home Scheme to 400,000, arguing this demonstrated that getting a mortgage had become an impossible dream for many.

She took aim at the property purchase process in the country, highlighting that even the housing minister had admitted the system was archaic and needed increased transparency.

We ask young people and working families in Kerry to follow the rules  save for years, sacrifice holidays, evenings out, move back home or navigate rising rents  all so they can get on the mortgage ladder, said Cllr Baily.

But when they finally get to the point of going sale agreedwe have created a system whereby someone can sit behind a laptop, thousands of miles away, and outbid a local first-time buyer at the very last minute.

A home that a family believed they had secured can legally be taken from them, not because they did anything wrong, but because they simply cannot compete with global capital or vastly different financial circumstances.

Cllr Baily argued for immediate restrictions on investors, large landlords and non-resident or non-domiciled purchasers, to help protect first time buyers and long-term residents.

She proposed a 10pc stamp duty on residential purchases, rising to 12pc on luxury homes, for these groups.

Councillor Paul Daly agreed with Cllr Bailys motion, stressing that landlords were buying up houses like monopoly.

However, he felt the proposals didnt go far enough, insisting that stamp duty be made cumulative.

Councillor Johnny Healy-Rae said he didnt altogether disagree with the motion but warned councillors to be extremely careful about trying to interfere with the private market.

He provided an example of someone returning to the country after decades and potentially being punished by these rules.

Theres a lot more to that motion that just a ban on certain types of property purchasers, said Cllr Healy-Rae.

We have people that have come into the area, spent a lot of money and created employmentand I dont know where you draw the line. Id just like to make the point that the only way to make more houses is to build them.

Councillor Angie Baily replied that she would be happy to include exceptions for those that had lived in Ireland previously, stressing that the issue of foreign buyers needed to be tackled.

At the moment, the unfortunate truth is that local people cant buy because at the click of a laptop people living 1,000 miles away and those without connection to the country have access to buy, she said.

It has to be spoken about because young people cant access the market for properties and when they do, theyre often turned away even after a handshake.

The motion passed unchanged, seconded by Councillor Podge Foley.

Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme
The closure of rural garda stations in Kerry has contributed to the spread of drugs in the county according to Deputy Danny Healy-Rae.

Speaking in the Dail, the Kilgarvan deputy said such a situation is not helping the elimination of drugs and that they are coming into the small harbours and piers around the county.

With a reduced garda presence, he explained there is no proper monitoring of what is going on along the bay in south Kerry in terms of drugs importation.

There are drugs coming in every day. They are visible in every town, village and community now. They are coming from somewhere and more needs to be done to stop this, he said.

The deputy also turned his focus on housing, adding there are people renting houses who would have been previously known to the local garda. He questioned their status and motives.

They [guards] would have known who every one of these people were, wherever they came in from and whoever they were. As soon as they landed, the garda usually visited them to see who they were and what they were at. That is not happening now, he said.

I see fellows  not in our locality, where I know a lot of people  in parishes local to me and we do not know who they are. No one seems to know what they are doing. You will not see some of them all day. They are inside in houses. You might not see them for a week. We do not know what they are doing, Deputy Healy-Rae said.

He lamented the loss of close-knit communities in Ireland, once such a part of the fabric of society.

It is not that I want to know everyone's business or anything like that. That is not the point. There are things happening, he said.

I do not think the garda has the ability now to follow these people up before they do untold damage, carry out robberies, or bring in drugs or whatever. We do not know what these people are doing, he added.

"There needs to be more command over people from different countries who come in. We do not know what they are doing or where they came from, or if they have ever been vetted. We do not really know for sure what is happening around us, he said.

Deputy Healy-Rae made the comments while praising An Garda Siochana for the excellent work it carries out in Kerry. He noted that it is a large county with significant distances, particularly across the peninsulas, which makes that work all the more demanding.

He said it is, however, very regrettable that Garda stations in areas such as Lauragh and Sneem do not have a full-time Garda presence.

The An Garda Siochana motion showed there are still fewer serving members of An Garda Siochana, nationally, in 2026, compared to six years ago, with 14,187 available members at the end of January 2026, in contrast to 14,235 members in 2020. This accounted for population growth. This fall in numbers means that there are now 10 per cent fewer gardai per capita than there were five years ago.
Limericks own Louise Cantillon is back on screens this week, fronting the latest season of Teacs Taistil on TG4.

The Kilcoran native is front and centre throughout the series, which takes in seven cities across the globe, including Chicago, Toronto and Derry.

Now recognised as one of Irelands leading radio and television presenters, she brings what producers describe as infectious energy to the show.

Throughout the series, the Today FM radio presenter embraces a wide range of roles, from performing as a burlesque stage kitten in Chicago to immersing herself in the characters and businesses of Chinatown in Toronto.

In the opening episode, she travels to Toronto where she explores the city and learns how to make dumplings.

Ms Cantillon, who is also co-creator and host of the popular podcast How To Gael, is a qualified Irish and PE teacher, and known for combining her passion for education with her media career.

Described as fearless, curious, and always up for an adventure, Ms Cantillons personality is a driving force in the series.

Teacs Taistil returns to TG4 on Thursday, April 2 at 9.30pm.
Local authorities should be given more powers to restrict the number of vape shops within town centres, according to Louth councillors. Photo: Stock Image/Jim Campbell

A sweet shop can be flipped into a vape store almost overnight, a Louth councillor has warned, as concerns mount over the number of vaping retailers operating in town centres and close to schools.

Cllr. Robert Nash sounded a call for change to legislation at the latest meeting of Louth County Council, where he said any corner shop could be turned into a vape shop without the need for planning permission.

"I think it is important we deal with this issue head on, and make the opening of these premises difficult," said Cllr. Nash.

Cllr. Maeve Yore added: We have a problem with vape shops in our main streets, in every town in Ireland, and for the footfall that is in them they are not just selling vapes.

Cllr. Marianne Butler said the litter on the streets, the lollipops and colours are there to entice young people, and make them more attractive to children and young people. It is disgusting.

Cllr. Dolores Minogue agreed a lot of kids have an issue {with vaping} and there is no data on it. Its like the head shops years ago, they should be banned and put out of towns.

Cllr. Pio Smith said he welcomed moved by the HSE to work with certain influencers on anti-vaping messaging.

A separate motion was tabled by Cllr. Ciaran Fisher, criticising what he described as the proliferation and saturation of vape shops across the county.

He called for changes to planning legislation to give councils stronger powers to regulate where they can operate. His motion was seconded by Cllr. Declan Power.

We can see it on our high streets, Cllr. Fisher said. People are purchasing a shop and they are flipping it into a vape shop overnight.

He argued that vaping retailers should be treated as a distinct planning category, meaning they would require full planning permission  similar to offlicences and betting shops  rather than being allowed to operate generally as a retail unit.

Cllr. Fisher asked that the council write to central government requesting the granting of explicit powers to local authorities to refuse planning applications where they would lead to overconcentration and pose a risk to a balanced retail mix in town centres.

His motion also called for mechanisms to allow the phasing out, relocation or restriction of existing vape shops located in sensitive or unsuitable areas such as high streets, near schools or in densely populated residential zones.

Cllr. Fisher welcomed the councils response, which acknowledged the increasing number of vape shops in town centres and stated that the local authority would support any amendments to planning regulations that would exclude vape shops from the definition of a shop, thereby giving councils more control over their location.

Cllr. Maeve Yore backed the proposal, saying: Shop owners have a moral duty to consider who they are renting their shops to.

Cllr. Nashs motion also sought stricter rules on shopfronts, calling for a ban on bright neon signs, cartoon graphics and products aimed at children on the exterior of vape stores. He also urged that shop windows be covered or limited to neutral signage in line with tobacco product restrictions, and that vaping products be kept out of view behind counters or in closed containers.

A surge in the number of young people who take up vaping has been noted in local schools, according to Cllr. Kevin Meenan, who agreed that vape shops seem to be popping up everywhere with bright lights.

Responding to the motion, Thomas McEvoy, Director of Economic Delivery, said the councils Shopfront Design Guidelines acted as a framework for new signage proposals.

Any lighting or illumination on signage should generally be discreet, he said, noting that the councils planning enforcement team carries out surveys of town centres and can investigate or pursue unauthorised signage.

However, he added that the council currently has no legal power to require vape shops to install neutral signage in shop windows.

Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme
There are currently no plans to develop an urgent care centre or minor injuries clinic in Manorhamilton despite ongoing pressures at Sligo University Hospital.

It has been suggested that the opening of an urgent care centre or minor injury clinic at Our Ladys Hospital Manorhamilton would help alleviate ongoing pressure at Sligo University Hospital.

However, the HSE has confirmed there are no plans to open a facility in Manorhamilton.

Local Councillor Felim Gurn said the Emergency Department at Sligo University Hospital (SUH) continues to be extremely busy and suggested the opening of a new facility in Manorhamilton.

He raised the issue at the recent Regional Health Forum West and North West Meeting and said the suggestion should be given serious consideration.

The A&E at SUH is always at capacity levels all year round having been a recent visitor there myself in last few days.

The concept of having an urgent care centre or a minor injury clinic at Our Ladys hospital Manorhamilton where we have radiographers and X-ray machine with back up staff similar to what is available at Roscommon hospital would take pressure of the A&E in SUH.

This should be given serious consideration, said Cllr Gurn.

John Fitzmaurice, Integrated Health Area Manager for Sligo, Leitrim, South Donegal and West Cavan, explained there is a national plan in place regarding the location and development of Minor Injury Units across the country.

These services are developed in line with national service planning and require appropriate strategic assessment to ensure they are located where they can best meet population need and be safely supported.

As part of this plan, the HSE West and North West Region is due to open a Minor Injury Unit in Ballina shortly.

At present, there are no agreed plans to develop this service in Manorhamilton, said Fitzmaurice.
A popular branch of a chain store in Enniscorthy has sadly closed its doors for good after being in the town since 2016.

EuroGiant Enniscorthy in Abbey Square Shopping Centre has spent the last few weeks hosting a liquidation sale, encouraging the public with online appeals to shop in the branch in an effort to keep the store open.

EuroGeneral/Bushgrove Ltd, trading as EuroGiant entered court-appointed liquidation this year, citing rising overheads, including significant rent reviews, increased day-to-day operating expenses, and intensifying competition from other discount retailers like Mr Price, Dealz, and HomeSavers as catalysts that brought them to this decision.

With three stores across the county in Wexford Town, Enniscorthy and Gorey, the stores aimed to continue trading until a decision was made on the viability of each individual store with liquidators assessing stores based on factors such as sales, stock levels, and footfall.

Following the closure of the Wexford Town shop on Main Street, sadly the decision was also not favourable for the Enniscorthy branch.

Long-time employee Tina Byrne described the outcome as bittersweet and thanked the public for their words of encouragement throughout the process.

"Huge thanks to everybody who supported, shopped, encouraged and kept us all going since the news of the liquidation broke on Feb 4, she said.

"Its been tough going through the sale day and now ultimately to pack it down to a blank canvas, bittersweet. However, we were delighted to have been part of this great little town, she added.

Local customers and residents expressed sadness online at the news of another shop closing in the town with more jobs lost for the community.

One resident wrote: Enniscorthy wont be the same without EuroGiant. Its sad to see gone, I will miss all the lovely chats and craic. What lovely staff, all the best for future.

Another commented: Sorry to see youre closing, always loved going there. The store was spotless and very organised. I hope you all get employment and are looked after by the big chiefs.

Another wrote: It will be missed. I hope you wont be waiting too long to find work. Best wishes to you all.

A further comment read: It's another sad day in the town with yet another shop closing the doors for the last time.

The shops last day of trading was Thursday, March 26.
Ann and Hannah Fortune who are hosting a country weekend over Easter. Pictured collecting outside of Supervalu Gorey. PHOTO: Sabrina Ffrench

A Wexford mother and daughter have teamed up to organise a special charity weekend filled with music to raise funds for charity in memory of the late Ann Fortune.

The family of Ann Fortune from Ballygarrett who sadly passed away in 2017 following a battle with cancer will host The Country, Rebel & Folk Dance Weekend in aid of the Irish Cancer Society.

Hannah Fortune, Ann Fortunes granddaughter shared the story behind the upcoming fundraiser and said it means a great deal to her and her family. The event is being organised in memory of her nanny, and a way to support her mother, also called Ann.

With close family affected by cancer, Hannah said the cause is deeply personal to her and her family. Cancer has affected our family in many ways. My grandad had previously been diagnosed with cancer but had successfully recovered from it well before he passed away, Hannah said.

Just six months after his death my nanny was diagnosed with lung and liver cancer, and her illness was devastatingly fast - she had only been diagnosed two weeks before she died in 2017.

The late Ann Fortune.

The country weekend will take place over the Easter weekend at various venues and will see several local musicians come together to play classic hits over the three nights.

The weekend will kick off on Friday, April 3 at 7 p.m. in Kilmuckridge Memorial Hall with artists including Kelan Browne, Erin Noone, Colin Kenny, Ciaran Rosney, Alistair Fingleton and Luke Whitty taking to the stage.

Following that, the festivities will continue on Saturday, April 4 in Ballygarrett GAA complex at 7 p.m. where David Harris, Amber Campbell, Chloe Fortune, 14 No Score, Huaring Jaysus and Marty Breslin (Glor Tire 2026) will perform.

The final night, taking place on Sunday, April 5 in Ballygarrett GAA complex will see Jake Coffey, Meabh Galway and Caillin Joe take to the stage. A monster raffle and jiving competition will also take place on the night, as well as a number of door prizes.

Hannah further said the fundraiser is a way to remember her nanny and turn her familys experience into something positive by raising vital funds for the Irish Cancer Society.

We hope this weekend will not only honour my nannys memory but also raise much needed funds to support research and services for families affected by cancer across Ireland, she said.

After setting up an online campaign with a goal of 1,500. It quickly garnered contributions to surpass the goal and at the time of writing, has currently raised over 1,700.

The late Ann Fortune.

She thanked the community and local businesses for their support with the upcoming event and is excited to host the event in memory of her grandmother. The level of community support has been overwhelming, and we are especially grateful to Gorey Print, who have very kindly sponsored the tickets and posters for the event, she said.

Tickets cost 10 per night, or a weekend pass can be purchased for 25. All proceeds going directly to the Irish Cancer Society. Doors open each night at 6.30 p.m.

To donate, please click here.
A veterinary inspection has been ordered before a case of serious animal welfare breaches on a Gorey farm can be finalised by Judge John Cheatle.

Garda Sergeant Victor Isdell gave evidence at Gorey District Court that gardai had received calls in relation to animal carcasses on lands in Gorey. At the lands, owned by Larry Butler (55) of Ballyellis, Goery, Wexford, a total of 250 animal carcasses were found, mostly sheep. The carcasses were said to be in varying states of decomposition.

The sergeant informed the court that the living sheep did not have sufficient grass to meet their nutritional needs and were suffering from a highly contagious skin condition known as scab. Scab causes intense itching and wool loss in sheep leading to serious welfare issues.

Butler later made full admissions in interview. He told gardai he had been involved in a road traffic collision which left him with reduced mobility for a number of weeks and led to financial difficulties. He said he had attempted to arrange for the carcasses to be removed but could not afford the cost, which was said to be 150 per animal.

A letter handed into court by Andrew Bolger BL outlined Butlers regret and embarrassment. Counsel said there were a number of issues affecting his clients state of mind at the time and that he deeply regretted sticking his head in the sand.

It was submitted that due to his injuries and financial situation, Butler did not have the means to properly care for the animals and now accepts he should have done better.

The court heard that since the incident Butler has engaged with mental health services, attended animal welfare courses and had 2,000 available to donate to an animal welfare charity.

However, Judge Cheatle said he was not satisfied the matter could be finalised at this stage, describing it as the worst animal welfare case he had seen in his lifetime. He adjourned the case to April 15 for a veterinary inspection of the lands before determining sentence.

Funded by the Courts Reporting Scheme.
Baby Loss

Wexford mother highlights vital role of CuddleCot after the loss of her twin boys

A Wexford woman has launched a GoFundMe campaign to raise awareness of the CuddleCot device and how they can support bereaved parents dealing with loss, following the neonatal death of her twin children.
Echelon Data Centres has said a major data centre development currently under construction in Wicklow will become Irelands first green energy park.

Located at the former Irish Fertilisers Industries site at the Avoca River Business Park in Arklow, the DUB20 campus is one of two facilities alongside DUB30 that form part of Echelons 4.2bn investment in Wicklow. Echelon said it will become a Green Energy Park (GEP), a development that co-locates large energy users such as data centres with renewable energy generation.

GEPs are required to be primarily powered by renewables with battery storage or dispatchable backup from energy centres, and can demonstrate reduced reliance on the national grid.

Expected by 2028, the DUB20 campus will include a joint 220kV substation developed with SSE Renewables, facilitating access for up to 800MW of offshore wind energy from Arklow Bank Wind Park Phase 2.

Solar PV systems are planned, along with two onsite energy centres, including one capable of exporting power to the national grid during periods of low renewable output  which Echelon said will create the largest grid-supporting asset in Ireland that is not a dedicated power station.

Echelon will also co-locate battery energy storage systems and use hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) to reduce onsite generation emissions by up to 90pc.

Echelon said the development reflects the core characteristics of green energy parks identified by Government: renewable-led supply, storage integration, demand flexibility and meaningful contribution to grid stability.

Echelon co-founder Graeme McWilliams said the DUB20 project shows how large-scale digital infrastructure can be developed responsibly and in lockstep with national climate and energy policy.

By co-locating data centre capacity with offshore wind, onsite solar and grid-supporting infrastructure, we are delivering the exact model envisioned under the Governments LEAP framework  cutting emissions, reinforcing energy security and supporting regional economic growth, he added.

Climate, Energy and Environment Minister Darragh OBrien expects green energy parks to play a key role in achieving Irelands climate targets.

The Large Energy Users Action Plan sets out a clear pathway for how energy-intensive industries can develop in a way that strengthens Irelands grid, accelerates renewable deployment and supports our climate ambitions, he said.

The green energy park being developed at DUB20 is an important example of that model in action  co-locating data infrastructure with offshore wind, onsite solar, battery storage, and grid-supporting capacity. This is exactly the kind of forward-planned, sustainable development we want to see delivered under LEAP.
A mother and father have been granted an interim restraining order against their son after telling Bray District Court he threatened to murder them

The couple appeared at an in camera family law sitting of Bray District Court seeking the interim barring order.

It is alleged that earlier this year, the respondent met his father in the kitchen of the home they share and told him he may end up in prison for killing his parents.

The father testified that his son became angry, stating: We are not a happy family and Im there to protect my family.

He further alleged that his son had recently returned home after living rough around Dublin and taking drugs over the past 15 years. He has acute paranoia, the father told the court.

The respondent believes he is being pursued by a former colleague and is hiding in his room. The court heard that his condition has deteriorated in recent months and his parents do not know why.

Gardai were called to the house last year following an altercation, during which the respondent denied having mental health issues.

The father asked Judge David Kennedy to direct that gardai bring his son for a mental health assessment when serving the order.

Judge Kennedy granted the interim order and directed that a full hearing take place on April 1, 2026.

Funded by the Court Reporting Scheme
The extent of the damage caused to local roads in Wicklow following Storm Chandra

A deepening crisis over storm-damaged infrastructure has left Wicklow County Council engineers feeling like they may be left to paddle their own canoe, with the slow pace of central government support to repair damaged roads.

Following the devastation of Storm Chandra, which tore through the county earlier this year, a meeting was held between the local authoritys chief executive Emer OGorman and members of the Baltinglass Municipal District prior to their March monthly meeting.

The message was stark: despite a documented 15.6 million in emergency damages, there has been no indication from the Department of Transport that a funding package is forthcoming.

While the entire county suffered, the Baltinglass district has emerged as the epicentre of the destruction. From embankment slippages in Shillelagh to carriageway washouts in Tinahely and structural failures on the L7251 Gowle Road, the repair bill for this district alone stands close to 5 million.

The scale of the disaster has rendered the councils standard budget irrelevant. The total damage across the county of 15.6 million exceeds Wicklows entire three-year Roads Programme allocation of 14.8 million.

"What we were provided with for three years doesn't cover what happened in three days, executive engineer Dermot Graham noted, highlighting the impossibility of maintaining a normal works schedule while addressing catastrophic structural failures.

The current standoff has drawn comparisons to the aftermath of the Beast from the East in 2018. Mr Graham recalled that following the 2018 snowstorms, the eventual government bailout amounted to barely a tenth of what was originally requested to restore the network.

Mr Graham expressed his fear that history is repeating itself. Adding insult to injury, the 2026 road allocation for Wicklow was cut by nearly 300,000 compared to the previous year, even as the council pleaded for emergency intervention. In contrast, neighbouring Wexford saw its allocation rise to over 23 million.

Without a dedicated emergency grant, the council faces the prospect of potentially having to cancel planned road improvements, safety schemes, and resurfacing projects for the remainder of 2026 to divert funds toward fixing the 26km of destroyed roads in the south and west of the county.

We need to know if we have to paddle our own canoe here, Mr Graham added.

The meeting concluded with a unanimous call to pressure the Office of the Taoiseach and Transport Minister to provide further clarity on the situation.

Meanwhile, Wicklow Wexford TD Brian Brennan has urged Transport Minister Darragh OBrien to move urgently to approve applications for emergency funding to repair damage to roads caused by Storm Chandra.

Addressing the Taoiseach, Micheal Martin and junior minister Sean Canney, Deputy Brennan sought an update on Wicklow County Councils application for emergency funding in relation to urgent road repairs following the storm damage.

I strongly commend the councils' team on their work to date, he said. I welcome the Taoiseach's visit to many of the affected areas in the days following the storm.

However, two months on from the storm, many roads remain closed or simply impassable. There are damaged or collapsed roads the length and breadth of Wicklow and Wexford from Kilanerin to Enniskerry, and from Coolkenno down to Kilmore Quay.

Many of the potholes are now mini-craters and when you factor in a combination of darkness and rain, these roads are a serious risk to those travelling.

We dont need a quick fix solution, the roads need to be completely resurfaced, and drainage must be addressed, or we will be back here in 12 months time. When we factor in the combination of darkness and rain, these roads are a serious risk to commuters.

Both Wexfords CEO Eddie Taaffe and Wicklows CEO, Emer OGorman have their applications sitting on Minister OBriens desk and now two months on we simply sign off on this long overdue critical funding.

In response, Mr Canney said Department officials have been liaising with all the local authorities.

Theyve done a schedule and a survey of all the roads that must be done, preliminary costings have been prepared, and now the Department is working with each local authority to put in a plan for executing these works.

As the Taoiseach said, there is some discretionary money that has been allocated to the local authorities and of course they will need support in carrying out these works, so our Department is working closely with each local authority so that we can put in a programme to get the works done as quickly as possible.

For the residents of Baltinglass, Shillelagh, and Tinahely, some of whom were cut off by impassable routes, the message from the council remains the same: the local engineers are ready to work, but without a cheque from Dublin they are unable to complete repairs.

Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme
A large cohort of students will be waving the Wexford banner at the upcoming Junk Kouture Dublin City Final after seven designs across the county have received a coveted place in the competition.

The popular competition is an annual event for secondary school students that challenges them to create high-end wearable fashion entirely from recycled materials. It encourages sustainability, creativity, and engineering skills. Founded in Ireland, it has evolved into a global competition with finals in major cities like London, Milan, and New York over the years.
A police helicopter flies during the search for fugitive Dezi Freeman near a staging area in Porepunkah, Victoria, Australia Photo: AAP/Simon Dallinger via Reuters

The Victoria police shot dead a man who had been on the run after killing two officers last August, bringing to an end one of their largest searches.

Police said the identity of the man killed in the operation was yet to be formally confirmed but he was most likely to be Dezi Freeman, 56, of Porepunkah.
Life lessons: From marriage to setting up your own business  take advice from those whove been there and done it
Prince Harry hopes King Charles will invite Meghan and children to his Norfolk estate this summer for family time

Sources say Harry would welcome family time in the UK with Meghan Markle and their two children, having only seen his father twice in two years

Harry and Meghan with children Archie and Lilibet. Photo: From Ms Markle's Instagram

Tara Cobham UK Independent Mon 30 Mar 2026 at 06:30

Prince Harry is hoping he, his wife Meghan and their two children will be invited by Britains King Charles for some family time at Sandringham this summer, according to reports.
Ukrainian leader hopes diplomacy in Middle East can unlock access to Patriot missiles

The Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, meets President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, in Doha, Qatar, March 28, 2026. Amiri Diwan/Handout via REUTERS THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY.

On a quiet night, Ukrainian air defence units are forced to deal with at least 100 Russian drones targeting the countrys energy infrastructure.

But more often than not the number of incoming projectiles is double, triple or even quadruple that, with a selection of cruise and ballistic missiles thrown in for good measure.
Israel makes death penalty default sentence for Palestinians convicted of deadly attacks

Rights groups say law designed to target Palestinians as Irish justice minister Helen McEntee among those hitting out

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel's far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir shake hands as they attend a session at the Knesset. Photo: Reuters

Julia Frankel Associated Press Mon 30 Mar 2026 at 21:54

Israels parliament has passed a law approving the death penalty for Palestinians convicted of murdering Israelis.
Israeli police block Catholics from holy site for first time in centuries

Cardinal is not allowed to enter Jerusalems Holy Sepulchre for Palm Sunday mass

Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, holds a prayer service to mark Palm Sunday, following the cancellation of the traditional Palm Sunday procession from the Mount of Olives, amid restrictions on gathering in large groups and the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, in Jerusalem. Photo: Reuters

Ali Sawafta and Maayan Lubell Reuters Mon 30 Mar 2026 at 06:30

Israeli police prevented the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem from marking Palm Sunday at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre for the first time in centuries, the Patriarchate said, with police citing security concerns linked to the Iran war.
I think history would have been very different: Journalist who tried to expose Jeffrey Epstein 20 years ago says she was silenced

A 2003 Vanity Fair article could have revealed the truth, but financiers threats to writer and victims killed the story

Journalist Vicky Ward at an event in New York City in 2017. Photo: Getty

Abigail Buchanan Telegraph Media Group Holdings Ltd Mon 30 Mar 2026 at 06:30

If I had got this story out there, says British journalist, Vicky Ward, then all the girls Jeffrey Epstein went on to abuse in the next few years we could have averted all of that.
Record number of No Kings protests spread across all 50 states in opposition to Donald Trump

War in Iran, soaring fuel and grocery prices and ICE agents stirring fear brings people to the streets in over 3,000 rallies across US

A protester dressed in a cape and crown and wearing a mask depicting Donald Trump participates in a 'No Kings' protest on Saturday in Seattle. Photo: AP

Danielle Paquette Washington Post Mon 30 Mar 2026 at 06:30

Protesters filled the streets on Saturday at more than 3,300 rallies across all 50 states for No Kings, a movement that bills itself as non-violent opposition to what organisers view as authoritarian rulers in the White House and beyond.
Tehran says US preparing for a land assault while claiming to seek peace

Pakistan ready to host meaningful talks in hope of ending conflict

Smoke rises following an Iranian missile strike, as the US-Israeli conflict with Iran continues, in Southern Israel, on Sunday. Photo: Reuters

Asif Shahzad and Alexander Cornwell Reuters Mon 30 Mar 2026 at 06:30

Pakistan said yesterday it was preparing to host meaningful talks to end the conflict over Iran in coming days even though Tehran earlier accused Washington of preparing a land assault while seeking negotiations.
Guide to Opening a Demat Account for Foreign Companies in India

Available language



The Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) introduced regulatory change through its notification dated October 27, 2023, mandating private companies (excluding small companies) to facilitate a dematerialization facility (i.e., obtaining ISIN by company) for the shareholders to hold shares in demat form within a prescribed timeline, 18 months from the end of the financial year ending on or after March 31, 2023. Further, companies have been directed to do any transaction of securities only when the shares are held in demat form.

This development has direct implications for foreign entities operating in India, particularly wholly owned subsidiaries (WOS), which must align with the dematerialization framework within the stipulated timeframe.

Relevance for foreign companies and their India operations

Foreign companies with operations in India must take a two-step approach to demat compliance:

Their Indian WOS must obtain an International Securities Identification Number (ISIN) for its securities.

The foreign parent entity must open a demat account in India to hold and manage such securities in electronic form.

These requirements ensure alignment with Indias digitized securities ecosystem and enhance transparency, traceability, and regulatory oversight.

For foreign companies, opening a demat account in India is not only a viable option for their Indian subsidiary operations but can also assist them with entering into a joint venture (JV) setup.

Understanding ISIN and its importance

An ISIN is a globally recognized identifier assigned to securities. It enables seamless electronic trading, settlement, and tracking across jurisdictions.

Obtaining an ISIN is a foundational step for dematerialization, as it uniquely identifies each class of security issued by a company and facilitates its integration into the depository system.

Process for obtaining ISIN for Indian WOS

1. Appointment of Registrar and Transfer Agent (RTA)

The WOS must first appoint a Registrar and Transfer Agent (RTA), which acts as an interface between the company and the depositories, National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL) or Central Depository Services Limited (CDSL). The RTA assists in documentation, verification, and submission of the ISIN application.

2. Documentation and verification

The WOS is required to submit a comprehensive set of documents to the RTA, including:

Incorporation documents (certificate of incorporation, MOA, AOA) GST registration certificate Net worth certificates certified by a chartered accountant Board resolutions and undertakings Details of securities and shareholders Authorized representative details Declarations relating to non-resident directors and non-individual shareholders

The RTA reviews and validates these documents to ensure regulatory compliance.

3. Execution of agreements and fee payment

Upon successful verification:

The company pays a one-time joining fee to NSDL or CDSL Executes the Master Creation Form and Tripartite Agreement Submits stamped and signed documents through the RTA

Annual service charges are applicable thereafter.

4. Allotment of ISIN

Following regulatory approval, an ISIN is assigned to each category of securities issued by the WOS. This enables electronic holding and tracking of such securities within the depository system.

Opening a demat account for foreign companies

A demat account enables foreign companies to hold securities electronically, eliminating the need for physical share certificates and enabling efficient transaction processing.

1. Selection of depository participant (DP)

The foreign company must appoint a DP, which acts as an intermediary between the company and the depository (NSDL or CDSL). The DP facilitates account opening, compliance checks, and ongoing account management.

2. Pre-requisite opening of demat account

Obtaining Permanent Account Number (PAN)

Opening of bank account in India by foreign entity

3. Documentation and compliance requirements

Account opening and KYC forms ISIN details of the Indian WOS Corporate documents (incorporation certificate, charter documents, shareholding structure) Board and shareholder resolutions RBI and FEMA declarations PAN and tax identification documents Bank statements (recent) Audited financial statements (last two years or relevant declaration) Details of authorized signatories and directors Identification and address proof of key officials (including passport copies and photographs) Any other document as specified by the DP

Generally, all documents must be notarized and apostilled in the home jurisdiction. If documents are in a foreign language, certified English translations must also be submitted.

4. Verification and account activation

The DP conducts a detailed due diligence process to verify the authenticity and completeness of the submitted documents. Upon successful verification:

The foreign company pays the applicable account opening fees The DP opens and activates the demat account

Annual custody and maintenance charges apply, typically linked to the scale of holdings.

ALSO READ: Choosing the Right Business Entity in India: Pvt Ltd, LLP, or OPC?

Post-account opening capabilities

Once operational, the demat account enables foreign companies to:

Hold securities of their Indian subsidiaries/JV in electronic form

Transfer shares seamlessly

Participate in corporate actions such as dividends, rights issues, and bonus issues

Ensure compliance with Indian securities and corporate laws

Key considerations for foreign entities

Strict adherence to documentation and certification requirements is critical

Coordination between WOS, RTA, DP, and depositories is essential for timely completion

Regulatory compliance under corporate law, FEMA, and securities regulations must be ensured

Ongoing costs, including annual maintenance and custody fees, should be factored in

Entities not eligible (or restricted) from opening a demat account in India

1. Unidentified or non-KYC-compliant entities

Entities that fail to meet Know Your Customer (KYC) norms cannot open a demat account.

This includes entities without valid incorporation or registration documents and firms unable to disclose ultimate beneficial ownership (UBO) or failing AML (Anti-Money Laundering) checks.

2. Entities from restricted or sanctioned jurisdictions

Entities incorporated in jurisdictions identified as high-risk by global bodies (e.g., FATF) or subject to international sanctions; such entities face restrictions or outright prohibition unless specific approvals are obtained.

Foreign entities Without FEMA compliance

Under the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999, foreign entities must comply with:

Sectoral caps

Entry routes (automatic vs approval)

RBI reporting requirements

Entities that do not meet these conditions cannot lawfully hold securities and therefore cannot operate a demat account.

4. Shell companies or non-substantive entities

Entities that:

Lack real business operations

Exist only on paper

Are flagged for suspicious financial activity

may be denied account opening by DPs due to regulatory risk and compliance concerns.

Conclusion

Opening a demat account is a crucial step for foreign companies seeking to operate within Indias evolving securities framework. With the mandatory shift towards dematerialization, foreign entities must adopt a structured and compliant approach to both ISIN generation and demat account setup.

By navigating this process effectively, foreign companies can not only meet regulatory obligations but also position themselves to actively participate in Indias growing and increasingly digitized capital market ecosystem.

Looking to open a Demat account for your India operations? Book a consultation with our India advisors or email us at India@dezshira.com
Noida and Greater Noida: Delhi-NCRs Investment CorridorIT, Manufacturing, and Jewar Airport

Noida and Greater Noida are established hubs within Indias National Capital Region (NCR), supporting services, technology, and corporate operations while maintaining strong connectivity with Delhi. With the inauguration of the first phase of the Jewar international airport, the Greater Noida and Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (YEIDA) corridors gain prominence as key zones for manufacturing, logistics, and infrastructure-led development, supported by the availability of large land parcels.

The area offers investors a range of investment options. What distinguishes Noida and Greater Noida with other NCR regions is the combination of mature office capacity in Noida, scalable industrial land in Greater Noida, and airport-linked expansion potential around Jewar.

Noida and Greater Noida: A three-tier investment landscape

Noida and Greater Noida corridors come under Indias state of Uttar Pradesh. The two locations offer multi-asset structure, allowing businesses to align investment strategies with sector-specific requirements:

Noida: Established hub for information technology or IT-enabled services (IT/ITeS), corporate services, and office-based operations Greater Noida: Industrial expansion zone with access to large land parcels

This segmentation enables investors to diversify across asset classes within a single geographic cluster, reducing risk while maintaining operational proximity to Delhi.

Governance structure: A key execution variable

A primary feature of the region is its multi-authority governance framework, which directly influences project execution.

Noida Authority: Focused on urban infrastructure, commercial zones, and business-ready environments Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority (GNIDA): Facilitates industrial land allocation and large-scale projects YEIDA: Drives airport-linked growth, logistics, and corridor-based development

For investors, the choice of authority is not administrative; it determines land availability and zoning, project approval timelines, infrastructure readiness, and speed of project implementation.

ALSO READ: Noida & YEIDA Master Plan: Opportunities for India Investors

Connectivity and infrastructure

Connectivity remains one of the regions strongest investment drivers. Proximity to the countrys national capital supports executive mobility and access to a large consumer and business market, while expanding infrastructure enhances industrial and logistics efficiency.

Asset Business impact Sectors most influenced Eastern Peripheral Expressway Improves regional road connectivity and supports freight movement across NCR and nearby industrial belts Manufacturing, logistics, warehousing, distribution Delhi-Howrah Railway Line Strengthens rail-based freight access and supports long-distance cargo movement Manufacturing, bulk goods, industrial supply chains Boraki transit hub Supports multimodal movement and connectivity Logistics, industrial parks, transport-linked services Dadri logistics hub Enhances freight handling, warehousing, and last-mile distribution potential Logistics, e-commerce, manufacturing, export-oriented industries Network of expressways and national highways Broadens market reach and improves intrastate and interstate business mobility Fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), retail distribution, light manufacturing, services Proximity to Noida International Airport (Jewar), Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport, and Hindon Airport Strengthens air connectivity for investors, executives, high-value cargo, and time-sensitive supply chains Electronics, advanced manufacturing, corporate services, export-oriented businesses

Source: Press Information Bureau

The addition of Noida International Airport (Jewar) is particularly significant, reinforcing the corridors long-term positioning as a logistics and export-oriented hub.

Airport-led growth: Jewar as a strategic economic anchor

The development of the NIA in Jewar represents a structural shift in how the Noida and Greater Noida corridor is evolving.

The first phase of the Jewar airport, inaugurated on March 28, 2026, spans over 1,300 hectares, with a 4,000-metre runway and a terminal designed to handle 12 million passengers annually. The new airport has been developed by Switzerlands Zurich Airport International AG through its Indian subsidiary.

An investment of approximately INR 112 billion has been made in the first phase of the project, which is expected to widely influence logistics, digital infrastructure, and urban development. These investments signal a transition from planning to execution and highlight increasing participation from institutional and corporate stakeholders.

From an economic standpoint, the airport is expected to:

Contribute significantly to regional GDP Enable global market access for MSMEs across Uttar Pradesh Strengthen the regions role in logistics, e-commerce, and export-oriented industries

A dedicated cargo ecosystem, combined with high-capacity freight handling, further enhances its positioning as a logistics and distribution hub.

Employment and demand creation via Jewar airport

The airport-led ecosystem is projected to generate substantial employment across multiple sectors:

Direct jobs in airport operations, cargo, and services

Indirect employment across logistics, MSMEs, and supply chains

Additional demand will be driven by adjacent developments, including industrial clusters and warehousing hubs. This employment base is expected to translate into sustained demand for residential, commercial, and urban infrastructure assets.

Multi-modal connectivity as a force multiplier

The airports impact is amplified by strong and expanding connectivity infrastructure:

Direct access via the Yamuna Expressway Planned Delhi-Jewar 8-lane expressway; expected to be completed by 2027. This is an INR 36.31 billion project. Metro extensions and regional rapid transit systems Rail connectivity linking the corridor to the national capital within an hour

This multi-modal integration enhances both passenger mobility and freight efficiency, making the corridor increasingly attractive for businesses reliant on time-sensitive logistics.

Implications for NCRs urban structure

The rise of the Jewar corridor aligns with NCRs transition toward a multi-nodal growth model, reducing dependence on traditional centers like Delhi and Gurugram. For investors, this decentralization offers:

Access to emerging growth nodes

Reduced congestion-related constraints

Opportunities for early-stage positioning in underdeveloped markets

Noida and Greater Noida sector profile

The two locations support a sector mix that reflects the wider economy of the NCR. Noidas association with technology, IT and ITeS, along with its corporate services, is well supported by its urban infrastructure and proximity to Delhi. Greater Noida and the YEIDA corridor are more relevant for electronics manufacturing, components, and industrial expansion, particularly where larger land parcels are required.

The region is also gaining attention for green manufacturing and energy-related supply chains, including solar and other clean technology investments, which adds to its appeal for companies seeking future-oriented industrial opportunities. This positioning also aligns with broader market trends: Indias data center is projected to have a market revenue at US$11.53 billion in 2025 and US$15.91 billion by 2030, which helps explain growing interest in digital infrastructure projects in the wider Greater Noida and Jewar corridor.

ALSO READ: India Manufacturing Tracker 2026

Recent investment announcements and project pipeline

Project or investment signal Project status Location Announced scale Why it matters for investors India Chip (HCL GroupFoxconn) outsourced semiconductor assembly and test (OSAT) facility Approved in May 2025; foundation stone laid on February 21, 2026 YEIDA, Jewar/Greater Noida INR 37.1 billion (approximately US$402 million); capacity of 20,000 wafers per month Supports the corridors position in semiconductor packaging and testing; and strengthens the case for advanced manufacturing investment SAEL integrated solar manufacturing facility Announced project Greater Noida/YEIDA jurisdiction INR 82.0 billion (approximately US$888 million); 5-gigawatt solar cell and 5-gigawatt solar module capacity Reinforces the regions role in clean manufacturing and renewable energy supply chains Sabs Exports International garment manufacturing unit Letter of intent issued on February 19, 2026 YEIDA More than INR 600 million (approximately US$6.5 million) Shows that the project pipeline includes both large industrial projects and labor-intensive manufacturing International theme-based township project Memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed on February 24, 2026 Greater Noida/Jewar corridor INR 35.0 billion (approximately US$379 million) Signals planned urban and real estate development around the airport-linked corridor Hyperscale data center park Memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed on February 24, 2026 Greater Noida/Jewar corridor INR 25.0 billion (approximately US$271 million); 40-megawatt IT load Signals rising digital infrastructure demand and supports Greater Noidas role in data center development Proposed FinTech hub Proposal/expression of interest (EOI) stage YEIDA near Noida International Airport 500 acres Suggests future services-led and finance-linked development around the airport ecosystem

How companies can set up a presence in Noida and Greater Noida

For companies contemplating entry into Noida or Greater Noida, the initial practical step is to select the appropriate development authority before choosing a specific plot. This is important because land access, zoning, infrastructure provision, and approval pathways differ across the Noida Authority, the GNIDA, and the YEIDA. In essence, the decision regarding location is not solely based on geographic considerations; it also influences the swiftness with which a project transitions from proposal to execution.

Businesses are advised on early planning on permits, construction approvals, utilities, and compliance requirements can reduce delays and clarify execution timelines. At the same time, investors are encouraged to identify relevant incentive channels under Uttar Pradeshs industrial policy framework. This is of particular importance for projects in manufacturing, electronics, logistics, data centers, and other priority sectors.

For sector-specific investments, companies should also review the policy ecosystem linked to the states electronics and IT administration. This ecosystem includes the official portal used for information on electronics, IT, and related incentive frameworks. This approach enables investors to align their business model with the most relevant policy stack, rather than treating incentives as an afterthought.

Finally, firms should stress test their operating model by micro-location, since differences in logistics access, labor availability, surrounding infrastructure, and proximity to suppliers or customers can materially shape long-term costs and operational viability.

Key takeaways

Noida and Greater Noida offer a mixed investment proposition within the NCR because they combine established office and corporate capacity, industrial land availability, and airport-linked expansion potential in a single regional corridor. Noidas strengths lie in corporate services, technology, and office-led operations, while Greater Noida and the Yamuna Expressway corridor are better suited for manufacturing, warehousing, and larger land-based projects. Recent project announcements in semiconductors, solar manufacturing, data infrastructure, and light manufacturing suggest continued policy and investor interest in the wider corridor, although several projects remain at the approval, memorandum of understanding, or proposal stage.

For businesses considering entry, the main practical issue is execution: choosing the right development authority, confirming land and incentive eligibility, and planning approvals and infrastructure requirements early.
The Perfect Storm: Timing, Accessibility, and Impact

Image credit : Crunchyroll | Watching the latest episode wasnt just a solo activity, it was a community event.

Long-Form Storytelling and Emotional Investment

Image credit : Crunchyroll | One of the defining features of the Big Three was their commitment to long-form storytelling

Nostalgia: The Invisible Influence

Modern Anime : A Different Kind of Excellence

Why There May Never Be Another Big Three

So, Unbeatable or Nostalgia?

For anime fans, the term Big Three carries a kind of legendary status. It refers to Naruto, Bleach, and One Piece, three series that didnt just dominate ratings, but defined an entire era of anime in the early 2000s. Even today, debates rage on about whether anything can match their impact. But is that era truly unbeatable, or are fans viewing it through the lens of nostalgia?The success of the Big Three wasnt accidental, it was the result of perfect timing. During the 2000s, anime was beginning to expand beyond Japan into global markets, but it hadnt yet reached the level of saturation we see today. This meant fewer shows competing for attention, allowing these three to dominate the conversation.Weekly television broadcasts and early internet forums created a shared experience among fans. Watching the latest episode wasnt just a solo activity, it was a community event. Discussions, theories, and debates became part of the culture. This collective engagement amplified their popularity in a way thats harder to replicate today.At the same time, their accessibility played a major role. These shows were widely distributed, dubbed in multiple languages, and frequently aired on television, making them entry points for a whole generation of viewers.One of the defining features of the Big Three was their commitment to long-form storytelling. Each series ran for hundreds of episodes, allowing for extensive character development and world-building.Viewers didnt just watch these characters, they grew alongside them. Narutos journey from an outcast to a hero, Ichigos struggle with identity and responsibility, and Luffys relentless pursuit of freedom created emotional arcs that unfolded over years. This slow-burn storytelling built deep connections that shorter series often struggle to achieve.However, this format wasnt without its flaws. Filler arcs, pacing issues, and uneven animation quality were common criticisms. Yet for many fans, these imperfections are part of the experience, adding to the sense of nostalgia.Nostalgia plays a significant role in how the Big Three are perceived today. For many fans, these series are tied to formative years, after-school routines, late-night episodes, and early online fandom interactions.This emotional attachment can make the era feel larger than life. The anticipation of waiting a week for a new episode, the excitement of major plot reveals, and the communal aspect of fandom all contribute to a sense of importance that goes beyond the shows themselves.In contrast, modern viewing habits, where entire seasons are released at once, can feel less immersive. The experience is faster, more individual, and often less memorable in the long run.While the Big Three thrived on longevity, modern anime has shifted toward precision. Todays series often prioritize tight storytelling, high-quality animation, and strong thematic focus over sheer episode count.Technological advancements have significantly improved production quality. Fight scenes are more fluid, visuals more cinematic, and sound design more immersive. Studios now aim to create impactful moments that resonate instantly, rather than building slowly over hundreds of episodes.Additionally, the range of genres and narratives has expanded dramatically. From psychological thrillers to slice-of-life dramas, modern anime caters to a broader and more diverse audience. This evolution reflects the mediums global growth and changing viewer preferences.The idea of a new Big Three is often discussed, but the current anime landscape makes it unlikely. The industry is now more fragmented, with multiple platforms, global releases, and a constant influx of new content.Instead of a few dominant series, we now have a rotating lineup of popular shows. Trends shift quickly, and attention is divided. This doesnt diminish the quality of modern anime, it simply changes how success is measured.The Big Three were products of a specific time and environment, one that allowed for sustained dominance and cultural impact. Replicating those conditions today would be nearly impossible.The answer lies somewhere in between. The Big Three era was undeniably influential, shaping the global perception of anime and inspiring countless creators and fans. Its legacy is deeply embedded in the mediums history.At the same time, nostalgia enhances its reputation. The emotional connections formed during that era can make it seem untouchable. However, when evaluated on technical and creative merits, modern anime stands equally strong, if not stronger in some aspects.Rather than viewing the Big Three as an unbeatable benchmark, it may be more accurate to see it as a foundation. It paved the way for the diversity, quality, and global reach that anime enjoys today.Each era reflects the needs and preferences of its audience. The Big Three offered long, immersive journeys that defined a generation, while modern anime delivers refined, visually stunning stories tailored to a fast-paced world.In the end, the debate isnt about which era is better, its about appreciating how anime continues to evolve while still honoring the legacy that made it what it is today.
May Day San Jose: International Worker's Day Rally & March 2026

Date:

Friday, May 01, 2026

Time:

2:00 PM - 4:00 PM

Event Type:

Protest

Organizer/Author:

May Day San Jose Coalition

Location Details:

SAN JOSE: Gather for RALLY at Story Rd. & King Rd, then we MARCH to San Jose City Hall community, performances, more

MAY DAY SAN JOSE 2026



May 1st, 2026



Event begins at Story & King

Rally begins 2:00 pm

March begins 3:00 pm

and ends at San Jose City Hall with community, performances, and more



May Day is International Workers Day! Rally and march with us on May 1st starting at Story & King. Join with the workers of San Jose for cultural performances, community, and the annual march  celebrating historic wins and fighting for a better future!



2026 Points of Unity



--Shut It Down: No Work, No School, No Shopping



--Stop ICE Terror and Deportations - Legalization for All - Path to Citizenship for All



--Stop Attacks on Unions and Workers - A Living Wage for All - End Wage Theft



--Resist the Trump Administration - Fight for a Government for the People, Not the Billionaires



--U.S. Out Of Everywhere - International Solidarity



--Free Palestine, Stop the Genocide, and End the Occupation



--End Unhoused Sweeps - End Evictions - Affordable Housing for All



--End Police Brutality - Stop Attacks on BIPOC People



--Protect Reproductive Rights, Trans Rights and Gender Affirming Care



--Tax Billionaires and Defund ICE to fund Education, Single-Payer Healthcare,

and Social Services



--Fight for a Peoples Agenda - People Over Profit
Greece is heading into a punishing stretch of winter-like weather, with meteorologists warning that a powerful low-pressure system will unleash heavy rains, flooding and near-hurricane-force winds across much of the country Wednesday, April 1.

Meteorologist Giannis Kallianos said the storm will

be at its most destructive on Wednesday , when the system reaches peak organization.

Rainfall in the hardest-hit zones could exceed 100 millimeters within 24 hours, raising the risk of localized flooding. Winds are forecast to reach 8 to 9 Beaufort  roughly 60 to 75 kilometers per hour  with gusts topping 10 Beaufort in places.

"The combination of strong winds and intense rainfall makes the situation considerably more dangerous," Mr. Kallianos said, adding that an emergency bulletin for hazardous weather conditions was expected to be issued within 48 hours.

The storm is expected to develop from Tuesday evening, initially affecting western and northern regions and the islands of the Eastern Aegean, before intensifying sharply by Wednesday.

The areas facing the gravest risk include Attica, Euboea, the Sporades, the eastern and southern Peloponnese, central and eastern mainland Greece, Thessaly and large parts of Macedonia and the Aegean.

Mr. Kallianos urged authorities to place emergency services on heightened alert and advised citizens to plan travel carefully in affected areas, while stressing the storm, though potent, was not unprecedented.

Fellow meteorologist Thodoris Kolydas echoed the warning, noting the Mediterranean was increasingly showing "its most extreme face, with deep low-pressure systems, catastrophic rains and significant loss of life."

Mr. Kolydas called for "caution and composure" as the system approaches.

The storm is expected to ease by Thursday.

   iefimerida.gr
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has announced a roughly 300 million euro relief package,targeting fuel, fertilizer and ferry costs, as the ongoing Middle East war pushes energy prices higher and strains household budgets across the country.

The package, which Mr. Mitsotakis said would cover three in four Greek households, includes fuel

subsidies for both diesel and gasoline, discounts on ferry tickets and retroactive fertilizer support for farmers dating to March 15. A digital platform for fuel vouchers  modeled on a previous "Fuel Pass" program  is expected to open within days, with payments reaching recipients before mid-April.

"The government is and will remain by the side of every Greek citizen," Mr. Mitsotakis wrote in his weekly Sunday message, adding that reserves had been set aside should global economic conditions deteriorate further.

Alongside the emergency measures, Mr. Mitsotakis announced the country's sixth minimum wage increase since 2021, lifting the monthly floor from 880 euros to 920 euros effective April 1. The cumulative increase since 2019 now stands at 41.5 percent, or 270 euros per month. Greece will rise to 12th among the 22 EU member states with a legislated minimum wage, though Mr. Mitsotakis acknowledged the country still trails European averages. The government is targeting 950 euros by 2027.

On the domestic legal front, the prime minister addressed the high-profile Tempi rail disaster trial, which opened last week in Larissa. The February 2023 crash killed 57 people in Greece's deadliest peacetime rail accident. Mr. Mitsotakis acknowledged organizational failures on the first day of proceedings but insisted they must be resolved before April 1, warning against those seeking to delay or derail the process. "Our obligation is one: let Justice operate freely and away from political agendas," he said.

Turning to defense, Mr. Mitsotakis confirmed that Greece's National Security Council had approved plans for a layered air defense system  described as an anti-drone, anti-aircraft and anti-ballistic shield  along with a modernization program for four MEKO-class frigates and infrastructure work to receive the country's first F-35 fighter jet, expected in 2028. Combined with existing Rafale jets and upgraded F-16 Vipers, Mr. Mitsotakis said the Hellenic Air Force would rank among Europe's strongest.

Greece also recorded its lowest road fatality count since 1963 last year, according to European Commission data published Tuesday, with 148 fewer deaths than in 2024.

On immigration, Mr. Mitsotakis said the EU's new Migration and Asylum Pact, set to take effect in June, would prevent a repeat of the 2015 migration crisis and strengthen controls at external European borders.

In a cultural note, the government announced the creation of a new body-Hellenic Underwater Cultural Heritage -to manage the country's submerged archaeological assets, and confirmed the repatriation of nine ancient vessels stolen from the Argos Archaeological Museum between 1970 and 1992 and recovered from Budapest.

   iefimerida.gr
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Yusuf Tuggar, has resigned from his position to pursue his political ambition to run for governor of Bauchi State.

This was disclosed on Monday in a brief statement by the ministrys spokesperson, Kimiebi Ebienfa.

He said, The resignation of the Honourable Minister of Foreign Affairs is confirmed.

PUNCH Online had previously reported that Tuggar was among four ministers in President Bola Tinubus cabinet expected to resign in order to pursue their political ambitions.

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The Special Adviser to the Minister on Media and Communications Strategy, Alkasim Abdulkadir, had earlier confirmed Tuggars intention to contest for the governorship seat of Bauchi State.

Abdulkadir said, The minister is interested and aspires to run for the governorship seat of Bauchi State.

When asked when Tuggar would resign his ministerial appointment, Abdulkadir said, There is a timetable released by INEC that stipulates all the rules and regulations for running; he (Tuggar) will adhere to this.

Tuggar, who hails from Udubo in Gamawa Local Government Area of Bauchi State, previously contested for the position.
Rabiu Kwankwaso, a former governor of Kano State, on Monday formally aligned with the African Democratic Congress (ADC) in a move described as a defining moment for opposition politics in the state.

The national chairman of ADC, David Mark, received Mr Kwankwaso along with supporters at his residence on Monday.

Mr Mark emphasised that Mr Kwankwasos defection was more than a political realignment, describing it as a deliberate response to growing calls by Nigerians for a cohesive and formidable opposition capable of safeguarding democratic values.

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He noted that the ADC now represents a rallying platform for a broad-based national movement anchored on inclusion, integrity, competence, and progress.

According to him, the coalition aims to provide Nigerians with credible alternatives and restore confidence in democratic governance.

Mr Mark expressed concern about what he termed a gradual erosion of opposition space, warning that actions that limit political participation pose a threat to democracy.

He stressed the importance of preserving citizens right to freely choose their leaders.

The future of Nigeria cannot be built on domination but on participation. Leadership must be earned through trust rather than sustained by control, he said.

According to him, Mr Kwankwaso commands significant grassroots followers, particularly in Northern Nigeria, under the Kwankwasiyya movement.

The ADC chairman called on Nigerians across ethnic, religious, and regional divides to join the movement, urging citizens to take an active role in building a more inclusive and accountable system of governance.

He also invited other political parties, civil society organisations, and youth groups to form a united coalition, noting that strengthening democracy requires collective effort and sacrifice.

Mr Mark expressed optimism that the emerging alliance would mark a turning point in Nigerias democratic journey, urging citizens to embrace unity, participation, and hope in shaping the nations future.

Earlier, Mr Kwankwaso urged ADC supporters to massively register as party members.

He also encouraged them to promote the partys ideals and prepare to elect credible leaders for good governance through INEC registration.

Mubarak Fagge said he decided to follow Mr Kwankwaso to ADC to ensure the partys success in the forthcoming elections.

We have since embarked on house-to-house mobilisation to ensure political growth of the party in the state, he said.

(NAN)
A former Governor of Kano State, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, has formally resigned from the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), citing the need for a broader political realignment.

Kwankwaso, who served as the partys presidential candidate in the 2023 general elections, made the announcement in a statement released on Sunday.

I wish to formally announce my resignation from the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) with immediate effect, he said.

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Describing the move as a difficult but necessary step, the former governor pointed to shifting dynamics within Nigerias political space as a key factor behind his decision.

As a committed and bonafide member of the party, this was not an easy decision to make. However, considering the current trajectory of the nations political landscape, which calls for strategic realignment, I have found it necessary to identify with another political platform that offers the best opportunity to effectively change the nation, he said.

He expressed gratitude to the partys leadership, singling out the National Chairman, Ajuji Ahmed, as well as other key organs of the party for their support during his time in the NNPP.

I extend my deepest appreciation to the National Chairman, Ajuji Ahmed and the entire National Working Committee for their steadfast support throughout my time. I also thank the Board of Trustees, the National Executive Committee, and all levels of leadership across the party  from the ward to the state level, he stated.

Kwankwaso also acknowledged members of the Kwankwasiyya Movement and party supporters for their loyalty and commitment.

We shall continue to collaborate and work together towards charting a better and more prosperous future for our dear nation, he added.

He did not indicate which political platform he may align with following his resignation, however rumours indicate the former governor will be defecting to the African Democratic Congress.
Residents of Agatu Local Government Area in Benue State staged a protest in Obagaji, the council headquarters, on Monday, calling for the removal of Fulani herdsmen from their communities ahead of the farming season.

The angry residents, who were carrying placards and chanting Fulani must go, marched to the local government secretariat in Obagaji to express their grievances.

The protesters said the approaching rainy season requires them to begin planting, stressing that the presence of herders and their cattle could lead to destruction of crops and possible clashes.

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An eyewitness who spoke to Daily Post during the protest said the demonstration was driven by persistent insecurity in the area.

The protest is currently ongoing in Obagaji, Agatu Local Government Area, due to the persistent herdsmen crisis.

They keep attacking and k!lling our people with sophisticated weapons. We can no longer go to our farms or carry out our farming activities, the resident said.

He added, May God help the people of Agatu. We will continue to stand strong because this is our land, and we did not inherit it together with them.

The protesters insisted that herders must vacate farmlands to ensure a peaceful farming season.

Confirming the development, the Chairman of Agatu Local Government Area, Melvin Ejeh, said he had met with the aggrieved residents and community elders to address their concerns.

I have spoken with the protesting youths and also met with the elders. Measures will be taken to address the situation, he said.

Ejeh, however, noted that security strategies would not be made public.

Security issues and actions are not things to be discussed in the public, he added.

The chairman assured residents that efforts were ongoing to maintain peace and prevent any crisis in the area.

I am happy that the rate of herders attacks has reduced in the local government, and we will continue to do everything possible to avoid any chaotic incident, he said.
National Security Adviser, Malam Nuhu Ribadu, set aside his political differences with Malam Nasir El-Rufai, to attend his mothers funeral prayer, on Sunday.

Daily Trust reports that the Janazah Prayer held at the National Mosque, Abuja, on Sunday, after which she was laid to rest at Gudu Cemetery, still in Abuja.

Among those who attended the Janazah were Ribadu, who stood beside former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar.

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Ribadu and El-Rufai were strong allies before the situation which led to the exclusion of El-Rufai from the cabinet of President Bola Tinubu.

El-Rufai also wrote a letter to Ribadu, asking him to explain the reason for alleged importation of poisonous substance.

Ribadu had denied the allegation, after which he petitioned the Department of State Services (DSS).

The DSS, in turn, filed criminal charges against El-Rufai.

But after news of El-Rufais mothers death broke, Ribadu issued a condolence message, recalling the role the deceased matriarch of El-Rufai family played in his life.
Ralph Hunter, president of the African American Heritage Museum of Southern New Jersey, in Atlantic City, looks over the new exhibit "Stereotypes  How African Americans Have Been Depicted In Advertising. This section displays advertisements from Atlantic City Electric with "Elec" the racist black minstrel-ish mascot used from the 1927 to 1952. Read more

Listen to article  0:00 min

ATLANTIC CITY  He was called Elec, a caricature in a bellhop suit, drawn with a blackface and other exaggerated minstrel-like features.

And from 1927 to 1952, Elec was ready to serve, as depicted in numerous advertisements for Atlantic City Electric, even when it meant hanging three Axis dictators on electrical wire.

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The advertisements, collected by a retired chemist from Margate, Larry Frankel, are at the heart of a new exhibit: Stereotypes  How African Americans Have Been Depicted in Advertising on display through May 26 at the African American Heritage Museum of Southern Jerseys Atlantic City location at 2200 Fairmount Ave.

The Atlantic City Electric advertisements featuring the caricature bellhop were a local revelation, said Ralph Hunter, the museums founder and president, and a tireless exhibitor of Atlantic City and South Jerseys Black history and culture.

The exhibit is underwritten by Atlantic City Electric itself, and features a range of corporate advertising with racial caricatures and Black stereotypes; from Aunt Jemima to Darkie Tooth Paste, Cream of Wheat, Uncle Bens Rice, and Gold Dust Washing Powder, featuring the Gold Dust Twins. It features a display of artifacts donated by the estate of Stanley Abrams, a Philadelphia surgeon.

The most important thing we did here, we didnt blindside Atlantic City Electric, Hunter told a preview gathering that included numerous Atlantic City Electric employees last month. We called them before we hung the first piece on the wall. Atlantic City Electric responded in such a way that was really fantastic. They said, Yes, well work with you, and well sponsor the exhibit.

By the 1950s, the company left Elec behind, in favor of a generic light bulb mascot, Ready Kilowatt. The company now counts Black men and women among its top leadership. Its parent company, Exelon, has a Black CEO.

In a statement that is exhibited along with the advertisements, Atlantic City Electric notes, We recognize these portrayals can be painful to see. Acknowledging them openly is an important step in understanding how deeply such stereotypes were embedded in everyday life and how far we still must go to ensure equality and respect for all.

Bert Lopez, public affairs manager at Atlantic City Electric, said the company felt it was important not to look away from its past.

We could see that at Atlantic City Electric and Exelon, we have learned from the past, he said. Its an opportunity to really open the dialogue about the past, and what we could do to move forward.

Ive been with company for 48 years, he added, so Ive seen glimpses of this in the past. Its driven by slavery and Jim Crow, where they thought of African Americans as servants basically. And you saw a lot of that in the advertisements of the day. 

Frankel had purchased a collection of old local newspapers from Atlantic City, Pleasantville, and Ventnor at first to look at old movie ads. But the Atlantic City Electrics Easter advertising featuring Elec stood out.

You know it was big, it was bold and unmistakable, and you wonder, what is this? After finding dozens of different ads, he contacted Hunter.

When he called me and we went down and saw what he had, I went crazy, Hunter said. How do we tie this together? How do we involve all these different people and be able to tell the story. The beautiful part about the story [is] from Atlantic City Electric: a Black kid who was the face of Elec to the CEO of Atlantic City Electric, a Black man.

The ad that most caught Hunters favorite features Elec in a patriotic light, literally hanging the axis of Evil.

That portrays a Black man with three electric wires, a positive, negative, and neutral wire, hanging over a telegraph poles, three wires hanging down, hanging three dictators, he said. Now what the hell does that have to do with electricity? ... The art says that Im a Black man, I can hang dictators. Thats what I get. But you and I know thats not true.

The ads are all individually drawn, but only one is signed. Frankel has not been able to figure out who the artist was.

Nelson Johnson, the former judge who wrote the celebrated book Boardwalk Empire, which was made into the HBO series, and The Northside, a history of Atlantic Citys Black community, said the depictions represented the views of the day.

In these ads, they knew their subscribers for electricity were white, and they knew that those white customers viewed Black people as servants, said Johnson, who also attended the preview showing. This character was quite appropriate in the minds of Atlantic City Electric at the time.

Views of a womans role in domestic life in some of the ads also reflect stereotypes of the day and the novelty of electric appliances. One promises the homemaker freedom from drudgery, courtesy of a good electric range.

The Woman Pays, several ads are headlined. Electric cookery tastes better.

Domestic tragedies have their beginnings in small things not the least of which is tasteless or poorly prepared food, the ad warns. No man can neglect an electrically cooked meal.

Shayla Salter, Atlantic City Electrics external affairs manager for 14 years, said viewing the exhibit confirms what you hear, but makes it tangible.

I wouldnt work for this company if I didnt feel we were really setting the pace, representing the people of the community, she added.
Exterior of the DHL shipping company facility at 550 N. Elmwood Ave. in Sharon Hill in 2021. Read more

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Over 190 DHL employees in Sharon Hill and West Deptford could soon get more protections against AI in a new union contract that also bans self-driving cars and raises wages.

The Philadelphia-area workers are among thousands of DHL employees in 16 states represented by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. The Teamsters reached a tentative agreement with DHL just days before the contract was set to expire, the union announced Sunday.

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Our members were united and forced DHL to deliver real gains, Bill Hamilton, director of the Teamsters Express Division, said in a statement. The agreement protects jobs, raises standards, and puts DHL Teamsters in a stronger position for the future.

The agreement, which workers will vote on in the coming weeks, would end in 2030. It includes on average a 20% wage increase for workers throughout the four years. DHL and Teamsters did not share how much workers currently earn or would make under the proposed plan.

The tentative agreement also includes safeguards against AI-driven routing systems that undermine seniority, the union has said, and bans the use of self-driving vehicles.

At DHL Express, we believe that fostering a collaborative and respectful relationship with our employees and their representatives is key to our continued success, company spokesperson Robert Mintz said via email Monday. We have worked diligently to reach a fair agreement that reinforces our commitment to delivering reliable, high-quality service to our customers.

The Teamsters had threatened to strike if an agreement was not reached by the end of the current contract on March 31.

Hamilton said at the time, Our members will not work a day past the expiration of our current agreement. If DHL fails to deliver, Teamsters at the company are prepared to take action.
Peco crews work to restore damaged power lines at Chestnut Hill Avenue near Germantown Avenue in Philadelphia in 2025. Read more

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Peco, citing the need for significant upgrades to meet demand and increase reliability of the grid, filed a request Monday seeking $520 million in rate increases for electric and natural gas delivery in 2027.

The Philadelphia utility, which serves 1.7 million electric customers and more than 550,000 natural gas customers in Southeastern Pennsylvania, has applied for the increase through the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC).

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If approved, a typical residential electric customers bill would rise by $20.08, or 12.5%, per month. That could be about $2.30 per month less if the PUC approves a Peco proposal to spread the cost over time.

A typical residential natural gas customer would see a rate increase of $14.52, or 11.4%, per month. Most Philadelphians, however, get their natural gas via Philadelphia Gas Works (PGW).

Specifically, Peco, which is owned by Exelon, is seeking $429 million to pay for its electric investments and $81 million to pay for natural gas investments.

Overall, the company says it is looking at $10 billion in infrastructure investments over the next five years to help ensure a more reliable energy grid for customers.

The news of a potential rate hike was announced as the utility company negotiates a new contract with IBEW Local 614, the union that represents about 1,600 Peco workers including linemen, back office staff, and call center employees. Their contract expires Tuesday.

Pecos application also comes as many households are either outraged by already increased utility bills, struggling to pay those bills, or both.

 READ MORE: Philly-area residents share how much they paid to keep warm this winter

Doug Oliver, a senior vice president at Peco, said the decision to apply for a rate hike brought about consternation within the company because of the affordability environment that were in.

We know that our customers are being squeezed in almost every area of their life, from childcare to gasoline, and yes, even in energy, Oliver said. We spent a lot of time trying to figure out if theres a way to not do this today. And unfortunately, we concluded that there was no other way.

 READ MORE: Their electric bills hit record highs this summer, from the Main Line to the Jersey Shore

Oliver said Peco had a very difficult task of balancing needed investments and the reality facing customers.

But he said the filing is needed to give customers what they expect, what they deserve in terms of safely and reliability.

Oliver said Peco has been faced with a 400% increase in supply costs, referring to wholesale electricity rates for the power it buys.

Theres not enough electric generation to meet the forecast demand, and that makes the price go up, he said.

Some cost can be attributed to expected demand by data centers  many of which have yet to be approved or built, Oliver said.

However, Peco is faced with more immediate issues caused by extreme weather that increasingly causes downed wires and poles and damages other infrastructure, he said.

Oliver said newer, stronger poles are needed. Older aerial cables must be replaced by tougher, but costlier, Hendrix brand cables that are known to vastly reduce outages.

Meanwhile, transformers have to be installed or replaced. Drones are needed, he said, for more efficient inspections and damage assessments.

And specialized equipment is needed to automatically restore service during and after storms.

Meanwhile, Peco needs to expand its adoption of solar energy, electric vehicle charging, and battery storage, he said.

So this is for poles. This is for wires. This is for transformers. This is for drones, Oliver said, and technology that can quickly shrink an outage that may have impacted 2,000 down to only impacting 200.

Peco is also looking to replace existing natural gas mains and service lines with new plastic pipe, which it says is more safe and durable, while improving service and reducing methane, a greenhouse gas.

As examples of the type of projects needed, PECO noted it has spent $66 million to upgrade electric infrastructure in Upper Darby, $56 million for a new substation in Philadelphias Overbrook section, and $52 million to retire outdated substations in Center City.

Oliver noted that Exelon has a customer relief program to address affordability for those who qualify. Under the $200 million Exelon Promise program, a customers bill caps at a percentage of their income.

And Peco has expanded that in a customer relief fund, a $12.5 million pool of money distributed to qualifying customers through $750 grants. To be eligible, a customer must have a past-due balance of no more than $2,500 and household annual income not exceeding 150% of the 2026 Federal Poverty Level, or family of four making $49,500 or less per year.

Peco last applied for rate hikes for electricity and gas in 2024.

For electricity, the PUC agreed to allow increases to be split over two years for a typical household: 10% in 2025, and 1.8% in 2026.

For gas, it agreed to a 12.5% increase starting in 2025.

Peco was not allowed to apply for another increase until March 16, 2026, under the agreement with PUC.
The Costco store in Cranberry Township, Butler County, is expected to be the first Costco in Pennsylvania to sell wine, beer, and canned cocktails. Read more

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How about adding a bottle of pinot noir to that 30-roll brick of toilet paper in your shopping cart at Costco? Or buying a Surfside to enjoy in the seating area with your $1.50 hot dog?

Costco is moving on multiple fronts to bring sales of wine, beer, and canned cocktails to stores in Pennsylvania.

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The warehouse club  which sold more than $3 billion of wine nationwide in 2024  recently won approval to transfer a liquor license from the former Pizzeria Uno in Doylestown Township to its store at Jacksonville and Street Roads in Warminster, Bucks County. It is also pursuing alcohol sales at its stores in Cranberry Township, Butler County, and King of Prussia, Montgomery County.

At a March 5 hearing before the Warminster Township Board of Supervisors, Costco attorney Gregory Szallar of Flaherty & OHara said the store would not operate a bar, sell draft beer or mixed drinks, offer happy hour, or permit outdoor drinking. Most sales, he said, would be bottles and canned products to go, as is now common at supermarkets with restaurant liquor licenses.

Any on-premises consumption would be limited to the seating area, as required under state law. Szallar said that Costco would scan customers identification, and that trained employees and a licensed manager would oversee sales.

Warminster approved the license transfer with conditions: no alcohol sales through self-checkout and sales limited to three registers.

Szallar, who did not specify when alcohol sales could start in Warminster, did not return a message seeking comment from The Inquirer. Costco representatives have not returned messages left over the last two weeks.

It is not known if Costco plans to work with the state to carry its own Kirkland Signature brand wine, which is not offered for sale by the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board.

The Warminster vote adds to Costcos broader Pennsylvania push. In Cranberry, north of Pittsburgh, the company is furthest along, as it secured a license on March 9; at the hearing, Szallar said alcohol sales there were expected to begin within about six months.

Costco is also seeking to sell wine, beer, and canned cocktails at its store at Allendale Road and Wills Boulevard in King of Prussia through the liquor license formerly tied to the shuttered Legal Sea Foods at King of Prussia Mall. Because that transfer remained within Upper Merion Township, it did not require the same municipal approval process as the Warminster and Cranberry transactions. State records list the King of Prussia transfer as pending.

Retailers must work within the framework of Pennsylvanias restrictive liquor laws. Under Act 39, which became effective in 2016, supermarkets must hold a qualifying restaurant-style liquor license, maintain a food-service area of at least 400 square feet with seating for at least 30 people, and obtain a wine expanded permit. That permit allows takeout sales of up to three liters per transaction, typically four bottles of wine.

These so-called R licenses, traded on the open market, can carry a steep price tag. A liquor license in Warminster, Bucks County, has a fair market value of about $350,000 to $385,000, while one in Upper Merion can sell for $380,000 to $410,000, said Edward B. McHugh, a liquor-law attorney with Goldstein & McHugh who was not involved in the transactions.
Ex-nurse Charles Cullen is led from the Lehigh County Courthouse in Allentown in March 2006 after receiving six life sentences for murders he committed in Pennsylvania. Read more

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Zane Robinson Wolfs research into nurses who make medication errors led her to a rare and dark phenomena thats often treated as a footnote in the academic study of patient safety: nurses whove murdered patients by giving them lethal doses of medication.

Since then, Wolf, dean emerita and professor at La Salle Universitys School of Nursing and Health Sciences, has delved into the lessons to be learned from nurse serial killers.

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Examples include ex-nurse Charles Cullen, who confessed to killing 29 patients in New Jersey and Pennsylvania in 2003, and more recently, former nurse Heather Pressdee, who admitted giving lethal doses of insulin to nearly two dozen patients  17 of whom died  at five medical facilities around Western Pennsylvania between 2020 to 2023. Both are serving life sentences.

Wolf strives to educate healthcare administrators on how to identify patterns of possible murders by providers and conduct investigations.

Its a major safety threat, Wolf said. Its not like giving a medication that isnt ordered to keep a patient calm. Its taking their life. Its the ultimate opposite of `Do no harm as an ethical principle in healthcare.

Wolf co-edited a book that explores what she describes as the gray and dark sides of nursing. The book, Breaching Safe Nursing Practice: Case Studies of Failures, Omissions, Commissions and Crimes, compiles stories about nurses who abuse or neglect patients, bully peers, or fail to report wrongdoing. One chapter, written by Wolf, is about nurses who kill patients.

Wolf also has hosted a webinar, called Healthcare Serial Murders: Patterns and Challenges, for the Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority, or PA-PSA, an independent state agency that maintains a database of patient harm and medical errors.

The Inquirer spoke with Wolf about what sparked her interest in the topic, potential criminal motives, and why investigations into an uptick in deaths are high stakes. The conversation has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

What got you interested in nurses who kill patients?

I had decided to do a study on nurses making medication errors, and when I started looking at the literature, I found research articles in medical journals on suspected nurses who the writers thought might have been killing patients. And I said to myself, This is a real scary problem. I never heard of this. I decided to explore it because its the ultimate safety threat to patients.

Some peers expressed skepticism about your focus on this topic. Why?

People dont like to admit that a healthcare provider of any type would want to murder anyone or hurt anyone because of the longtime code of `Do no harm. Its a principle that were raised on as healthcare providers.

So there is disbelief that this is going on, and because the incidence is low, thank goodness, it becomes something that people think may not be real or even that relevant on a day-to-day basis.

One of my colleagues, whos an extremely bright nurse, said, Zane, why are you doing this? She was thinking I was doing it for exposure and to be like dramatic or something, but I wasnt. Im not trying to be famous. Im too old for that. I think that people need to be educated about it.

What are some motives among perpetrators?

It might be power. It could be control. It could be getting rid of someone in society who is deemed unworthy.

It also can be feeling important by getting attention, like if you want to cause cardiopulmonary resuscitation and then rescue people. People really are fascinated by crisis. They may enjoy the fact that something is going on. And they might be present. They might be the assigned person who is there.

What red flags should healthcare administrators look for?

Somebody should pay attention if there is an increase in deaths on a unit. An increase in cardiopulmonary resuscitations. Deaths that are unexpected. Something happens when you thought that the patient was doing well and getting better. Changes or increases in certain medication orders or missing medications.

Can you talk about the pitfalls of these investigations?

The evidence is very circumstantial, so you have to be very careful about the way you go internally with the investigation. Theres one example of someone who I know about from the literature who really didnt murder patients, and it affected her dramatically. She was exonerated.

You need to take it on and go after it, but you need to be extremely careful, because it can injure someones reputation forever.
Clergy members get pushed away from the garage door at ICE headquarters during Monday's protest. Read more

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Nearly a dozen immigration activists were arrested at the ICE garage in Center City on Monday morning after attempting to block vehicles from leaving the agency headquarters.

It marked another in what has become an ongoing series of protests against ICE operations in the city and region.

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This action began shortly after 8 a.m., on the south side of Cherry Street, where vehicles exit near Eighth Street, as about a dozen clergy members moved into an area marked as restricted.

Philadelphia police watched from nearby, as an additional 20 or more protesters wrapped up a demonstration in which they shouted slogans and blew whistles outside the agencys front doors. Clergy members from several Philadelphia churches prayed and sang We Shall Not Be Moved before taking up their positions outside the big metal garage doors.

Shortly after 9 a.m., a Homeland Security officer issued a first and second warning to clergy members to clear the area. A third and final warning soon followed.

No one moved from the line of clergy.

Praise God for your courage! someone called out.

I am not afraid, the religious leaders sang back.

Around 9:30 a.m., Homeland Security officers began forcibly pushing clergy away from the garage doors and into the street.

They did not appear injured and soon regrouped, sitting in a line on sidewalk, a distance from the garage but still in the paths of any exiting vehicles. Group leaders said later that several religious leaders suffered bruises.

By 9:45 a.m., officers began taking protesters into custody. They handcuffed clergy members, binding their hands with zip ties and moving them inside the large ICE garage. The sound of protesters singing was heard behind the garage door after it closed.

Protest leaders said nine religious leaders and one No ICE Philly demonstrator were arrested by Homeland Security officers. They were released after being charged by federal authorities with obstructing access to the garage. That offense falls under federal rules that govern security infrastructure.

They were issued violation notices that required them to pay $530 in penalties and fees or appear in federal court to dispute the charges.

The Department of Homeland Security issued a statement on Tuesday saying that 50 to 60 rioters had gathered outside of ICE, and that 10 physically blocked the garage, preventing officers from entering or exiting the facility [and] obstructing law enforcement.

This is a felony and a federal crime, the statement said. Rioters refused to comply with lawful commands and three separate warnings, resulting in 10 arrests.

Wed like to remind agitators that impeding or obstructing federal law enforcement is not only dangerous but also a crime and a felony, the statement said. Anyone who obstructs law enforcement will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

The action came as No ICE Philly and allied pro-immigrant groups launched A Week of Action Against ICE and Collaborators, seeking to bring attention to ongoing immigration arrests and to call on people and institutions to protect city residents. The week was designed to coincide with Holy Week and the start of Passover.

We want the migrants coming in and out of this building to know that we stand with them, and God stands with them, said Jonny Rashid, a pastor of the West Philadelphia Mennonite Fellowship who is active in No ICE Philly, the organizer. We want the public to see that their clergy and their communities know what ICE is doing is wrong.

No agency vehicles attempted to leave the garage or were stopped from doing so during the protest. Efforts to block ICE vehicles from departing have begun to occur more regularly.

As Christians, we stand on the side of resurrection ad against the system of kidnapping, detention, deportation, and death, said the Rev. Matthew Arlyck, a minister at First Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia. Blocking ICE vehicles is an act of faith in God, and an act of prayer for all Gods children to be treated with dignity and respect.

A similar protest took place in January, when a group of clergy and immigration advocates locked arms in front of the parking bay. One vehicle was able to leave, with the help of Philadelphia police.

In October, a demonstration outside the ICE office erupted into physical confrontations with police, as several people were pushed to the ground and four were arrested.

The four were later released after being given citations for obstruction of highway, a violation that typically results in a fine.
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.  NASAs Apollo moonshots are a tough act to follow, even after all this time.

As four astronauts get set to blast off on humanitys first trip to the moon in more than half a century, comparisons between Apollo and NASAs new Artemis program are inevitable.

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The worlds first lunar visitors orbited the moon on Apollo 8. The Artemis II crew will play it safe and zip around the moon in an out-and-back slingshot.

Another key difference: Artemis reflects more of society, with a woman, person of color, and Canadian rocketing away.

While Artemis builds on Apollo and pays homage to it, there is no way we could be that same mission or ever hope to even be, said NASA astronaut Christina Koch, part of the Artemis II crew.

Heres the lowdown on Apollo vs. Artemis, named for the twin sister of Apollo in Greek mythology, as NASA targets the first six days of April for liftoff.

Run-up to the moon

It took NASA just eight years to go from putting its first astronaut in space to putting Apollo 11s Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on the moon in 1969, beating President John Kennedys end-of-decade deadline.

The Apollo program still just absolutely blows me away, said Artemis II astronaut Jeremy Hansen of the Canadian Space Agency,

Artemis has progressed much more slowly, after decades of indecision and flip-flopping between the moon and Mars as the next grand destination. NASAs new moon rocket, the Space Launch System, or SLS, has soared only once in a test flight without anyone on board more than three years ago.

This plodding approach is why NASAs new administrator, Jared Isaacman, overhauled the Artemis program in February. Keen to emulate Apollo, he added a mission between the upcoming Artemis II mission and the moon landing thats now shifted to Artemis IV in 2028.

During next years revamped Artemis III, astronauts will stick closer to home the same way Apollo 9 did in 1969. Instead of attempting a moon landing as originally envisioned, they will practice docking their Orion capsule in orbit around Earth with one or both lunar landers under development by Elon Musks SpaceX and Jeff Bezos Blue Origin. The rival companies are accelerating work on their landers in a bid to be first.

Political rivalries

The Soviets were Americas fierce rivals during Apollo, but their moon rockets kept exploding at liftoff and they eventually gave up. Now the Chinese are the competition.

China already has landed robotic spacecraft on the moons far side  the only nation to achieve that  and is scrambling to land astronauts near the lunar south pole by 2030.

NASA is aiming for the same polar region, where shadowed craters are thought to hold vast amounts of ice that could provide drinking water and rocket fuel. Like his predecessor Bill Nelson, Isaacman is determined to beat China to the finish line and win this second space race.

Moon rocket

Apollos Saturn V rockets stood 363 feet, with five first-stage engines. The Artemis SLS rocket comes in at 322 feet but packs more liftoff thrust with its four main engines and two strap-on boosters.

All but one Saturn V rocket soared from Kennedy Space Centers Launch Complex 39-A, now leased by SpaceX. NASA will use neighboring pad 39-B for all SLS flights. While the Saturn V launched twice before carrying astronauts, the SLS has flown only once. Hydrogen fuel leaks delayed the SLS debut in 2022 and struck again during a countdown test in February, stalling Artemis II. Then helium trouble reappeared, causing further delay. NASA is now targeting an April liftoff.

Launch Control remains at the same place. There was one woman in the packed firing room for the liftoff of Apollo 11. Now a woman leads it: Artemis launch director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson.

First lunar crews

Apollo 8 still ranks as the gutsiest space mission of all time. Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and Bill Anders became the first humans to launch to the moon in 1968. Borman, the commander, insisted on as few lunar orbits as possible given the risks. He and his bosses settled on 10 orbits as a warmup for 1969s moonwalk by Armstrong and Aldrin.

NASA decided long ago against orbiting the moon on Artemis crew debut, judging it too dangerous. The main goal is to test the Orion capsules life-support equipment, flying for the first time.

One big similarity between Apollo 8 and Artemis II is the troubled times surrounding them. If we can contribute a little bit to hope for humanity, said Artemis II pilot Victor Glover of NASA, that is a huge thing.

Shades of Apollo 13

The Artemis astronauts will orbit Earth for a day to make certain everything is working properly before igniting the main engine and heading for the moon. It will take three to four days for the capsule to reach the moon and continue some 5,000 miles beyond, exceeding the distance record set by 1970s ill-fated Apollo 13.

Like Apollo 13, Artemis II will take advantage of the moon and Earths gravity, making a figure eight after whipping around the moon to head home in whats known as a free-return trajectory requiring little if any fuel. It got Apollo 13s three astronauts safely back although they had to abandon their moon landing.

Artemis astronauts will parachute into the Pacific after their mission like the Apollo crews did.

Suiting up

For Apollo, the white, bulky spacesuits did double duty. What the astronauts wore for launch and return was the same as for moonwalks since there wasnt enough storage space for different outfits.

The Orion capsules for Artemis are bigger, designed to hold four astronauts instead of three plus two sets of spacesuits. NASA created brand new spacesuits for use inside the capsule, while turning to private companies for the moonwalking attire.

Commander Reid Wiseman and his crew will wear the orange custom-fitted suits for launch and reentry. Theyll also use them in case of a depressurization or some other emergency. They can survive up to six days in the suits, inserting a straw into the helmet to sip water or protein shakes and relying on undergarment bags and bladders as a built-in toilet.

Houston-based Axiom Space is designing the white moonwalking suits that will accompany future Artemis crews.

Long-term goals

Apollo was all about beating the Russians to the moon and planting the U.S. flag. Astronauts landed six times from 1969 through 1972, with the longest surface stay lasting 75 hours. Five of the 24 Apollo astronauts who flew to the moon are still alive.

For the first Artemis moon landing, a pair of astronauts could spend nearly a week there. Its a complicated plan compared with Apollo.

Artemis moonwalkers will launch to the moon aboard Orion and, once in lunar orbit, transfer to SpaceXs Starship or Blue Origins Blue Moon, whichever is ready first. Theyll descend to the surface, and, after a few days, blast back into orbit to rendezvous with their Orion capsule. Orion will be the astronauts ride home.

NASA is striving for sustained lunar living, with Mars to follow, although day one of the moon base is not going to look like this glass-enclosed, domed city, Isaacman said. Last week, he unveiled a blueprint for the moon base showing habitats, rovers, drones, power stations, and more. NASA plans to invest $20 billion over the next seven years.
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As a Russian tanker loaded with crude oil neared Cuba, President Donald Trump said late Sunday he would not enforce his effective blockade against fuel supplies to the island.

If a country wants to send some oil into Cuba right now, I have no problem, whether its Russia  and if other countries want to do it, Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One as he returned to Washington from a weekend at his Mar-a-Lago home.

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Its not going to have an impact, Trump said. Cubas finished  whether or not they get a boat of oil, its not going to matter.

The approach of the Russian-owned tanker Anatoly Kolodkin over the weekend set up a test of the Trump administrations will to block fuel for Cuba  and how far the Kremlin is willing to go to help its longtime ally 90 miles from U.S. territory.

The vessel departed March 8 from Primorsk, Russia, carrying nearly 730,000 barrels of crude oil, according to TankerTrackers.com, an independent oil-tracking firm that measures how high a vessel is above sea level to determine its load. Britains Royal Navy tracked the ship and its Russian naval escort through the English Channel. Then the escort veered off, and the vessel continued its journey solo.

By late Sunday, it was about 20 miles off the Cuban coast, according to ship tracking data. On Monday morning, Dmitry Peskov, a Russian government spokesperson, told journalists the ship had already arrived in Cuba. Tracking data from the maritime intelligence firm Windward, however, showed the vessel had entered Cuban waters but was not yet at port. On Sunday, the global intelligence company Kpler said the ship was expected to reach the Matanzas oil storage facility early Tuesday.

Peskov said the delivery of crude was raised well in advance  with our American counterparts.

The brutal blockade, he said, was jeopardizing life-support systems and electricity generation and inhibiting the ability of Cubans to provide medical services. Russia considers it its duty not to stand idly by and to provide the necessary assistance to our Cuban friends, he said.

Its cargo is now expected to be processed at one of Cubas three refineries, located in Havana, Cienfuegos, and Santiago. Once refined, that amount could help power the countrys aging energy grid for no more than a few weeks, according to Jorge Pinon, a researcher at the University of Texas at Austin Energy Institute.

Trump has said he expects Cubas communist government to fall, because of U.S. economic strangulation rather than military action, in a matter of weeks. He has said he will devote his attention to achieving that goal as soon as he finishes the war in Iran.

Critics of the oil blockade and experts in international law have said the effective blockade is a violation of Cuban sovereignty under international law and of international humanitarian law provisions that prohibit such actions against civilians. Trump seemed to acknowledge the deprivation Sunday, saying that the people need heat and cooling and all the other things that you need.

In an executive order issued Jan. 30, Trump declared Cuba an unusual and extraordinary threat to U.S. national security and said he would impose tariffs on all U.S. imports from any country that supplies the nation with oil.

Trump had already stopped oil exports from Venezuela, long Cubas main supplier, following the U.S. military capture of Venezuelan strongman Nicolas Maduro in January. The sanctions threat kept Mexico and others from sending planned deliveries. Amid shortages of diesel and gasoline, Cuba has suffered islandwide blackouts and the closures of schools and hospitals.

The U.S. Embassy in Havana has also been affected. Employees have gathered in group houses and are working remotely, and nonessential personnel could soon be sent home.

The U.S. Treasury Department, looking to ease the surge in energy prices caused by the war in Iran, temporarily lifted sanctions this month on countries that purchased Russian oil then already at sea. But Treasury later issued new guidance that specifically barred Cuba from receiving Russian oil.

Before Venezuela, Russia was a prime supplier to Cuba. While Moscows relationship with Havana has ebbed, Russian Energy Minister Sergei Tsivilev said last week that we have humanitarian support underway including fuel supplies, as Cuba has found itself in a hard situation as a result of sanction pressure.

The Trump administration was limited in what it could legally do to stop the tanker from reaching Cuba, although previous challenges to its activities in the Caribbean have so far not succeeded.

Late last year, Trump launched a campaign to seize sanctioned vessels near Venezuela, part of an effort to pressure the Maduro government. While some of the vessels were boarded and taken over as stateless under international law and others were under U.S. terrorist designations or sanctions against any U.S. persons or entities involved with them, none of those measures appear to apply to the Kolodkin.

Without them, the legal authority to rush out and grab stuff outside the territory of the United States is relatively limited, said Jeremy Paner, a former lead investigator and analyst for OFAC who now specializes in sanctions and export controls at the international law firm Hughes Hubbard and Reed.

Brett Erickson, managing principal of Obsidian Risk Advisors, said the U.S. decision not to interdict the Kolodkin  itself under pre-Trump sanctions imposed against Russia over Ukraine  would likely embolden Moscow. He said Washington may have decided that in the midst of a war with Iran, it could not risk a confrontation with Moscow over Cuba.

Seizing or boarding a Russian vessel while simultaneously managing an active military conflict in Iran would pour fuel on already volatile energy markets, Erickson said. The geopolitical cost of direct confrontation with Russia right now may simply be a step further than Washington is willing to take. This is the downstream consequence of a scattershot foreign policy; when youre overextended on every front, you lose the ability to enforce on any of them.

The Anatoly will not be the last shipment of Russian oil to Cuba, he predicted.

It is unclear whether Trumps objective with his Cuba policy is the complete removal of the government or changes in its centralized economy that would allow more private and foreign investment. Even before its current difficulties, ongoing economic problems had led to a massive surge in Cuban migrants to the United States. Those numbers have now declined to near zero as Trump has canceled protected status for Cuban immigrants, leaving many newly illegal entrants open to arrest and deportation.

Cuba will be next  in a short amount of time after the Iran war, Trump said Sunday. Cuba is a mess  Its going to fail and we will be there to help it out, he said. Well be there to help our great Cuban Americans who were thrown out of Cuba, when Fidel Castro led his revolution to power in 1959.

Cuban Americans, a key voting block in red Florida, have objected to diplomatic outreach to the Cuban government. As Trump was returning Sunday night from a weekend at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, supporters along the route to the airport held up signs reading Make Cuba Great Again.

Washington and Havana have acknowledged they have begun a process of bilateral negotiations, but theres little indication the talks have expanded beyond agenda-setting, according to officials in both countries.
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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates  U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday threatened widespread destruction of Irans energy resources and other vital infrastructure, including desalination plants that supply drinking water, if a deal to end the war is not reached shortly.

Iran meanwhile struck a key water and electrical plant in Kuwait, and an oil refinery in Israel came under attack. Israel and the U.S. launched a new wave of strikes on Iran, as the war raged with no end in sight.

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Trumps new threat came in a social media post. Earlier comments to the Financial Times suggested American troops could seize Irans Kharg Island oil export hub. Trump has repeatedly claimed to be making diplomatic progress  though Tehran denies negotiating directly  while ramping up his threats and sending thousands more U.S. troops to the Middle East.

It remains unclear where the diplomatic effort facilitated by Pakistan stands. Irans continuing attacks on its Gulf neighbors could further complicate any talks. The United Arab Emirates  which has long billed itself as a beacon of stability in a volatile region  is signaling it wants Iran disarmed in any ceasefire.

Trump says diplomacy is going well but threatens major escalation

In a social media post, Trump said great progress is being made in talks with Iran to end military operations. But he said if a deal is not reached shortly, and if the Strait of Hormuz is not immediately reopened, the U.S. would broaden its offensive by completely obliterating power plants, oil wells, Kharg Island, and possibly even desalination plants.

The strait is a crucial waterway through which a fifth of the worlds oil is shipped in peacetime.

The laws of armed conflict allow attacks on civilian infrastructure such as energy plants only if the military advantage outweighs the civilian harm, legal scholars say. Its considered a high bar to clear, and causing excessive suffering to civilians can constitute a war crime.

A 22-year-old resident of Karaj, near Tehran, said his area lost power for several hours overnight following nearby strikes.

I was really scared. I thought that theyd hit the power plants and that we are not going to have power anymore, he said, speaking on condition of anonymity out of security fears.

In the FT interview, Trump said his preference would be to take the oil in Iran.

Maybe we take Kharg Island, maybe we dont, he said, referring to a terminal through which nearly all of Irans oil exports pass.

Iran: U.S. demands excessive, unrealistic and irrational

The U.S. already has targeted military positions on Kharg. Iran has threatened to launch its own ground invasion of Gulf Arab countries and mine the Persian Gulf if U.S. troops set foot on its territory.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said Tehran had received a 15-point proposal from the Trump administration containing excessive, unrealistic and irrational demands, while denying there had been any direct talks.

Earlier, Irans parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, dismissed the talks in Pakistan as a cover while more U.S. troops are brought to the region. He said Iranian forces were waiting for the arrival of American troops on the ground to set them on fire and punish their regional partners forever, according to state media.

Twice during Trumps second term, the U.S. has attacked Iran during high-level diplomatic talks, including the Feb. 28 strikes that started the current war.

Iran attacks Israel and Gulf infrastructure

Sirens sounded at dawn near Israels main nuclear research center, a part of the country that has been targeted repeatedly in recent days. Israels military also said it had taken out two drones launched from Yemen, where the Iran-backed Houthi rebels entered the war on Saturday with their first missile attack.

Iran kept up the pressure on its Gulf Arab neighbors: Saudi Arabia intercepted five missiles targeting its oil-rich Eastern province; a fireball erupted over Dubai, United Arab Emirates, as a missile was intercepted; and in Kuwait, an Iranian attack hit a power and desalination plant, killing one worker and wounding 10 soldiers, the state-run KUNA news agency reported.

An Emirati official signaled that the UAE wants more than just a ceasefire.

An Iranian regime that launches ballistic missiles at homes, weaponizes global trade and supports proxies is no longer an acceptable feature of the regional landscape, Noura Al Kaabi, a minister of state at the UAEs Foreign Ministry, wrote in a column published by the state-linked, English-language newspaper the National.

She added: We want a guarantee that this will never happen again.

NATO air defenses intercepted a ballistic missile over Turkey that was fired from Iran, Turkeys Defense Ministry said, in the fourth such incident since the start of the war. Iran has denied firing the previous missiles. Turkey has tried to maintain a neutral position and is taking part in mediation efforts.

Israel launched a new wave of attacks on Iran, saying it was striking military infrastructure across Tehran. Explosions were heard in the Iranian capital and Iranian state media reported a petrochemicals plant in Tabriz, in the north, sustained damage in an airstrike.

Peacekeepers killed in Lebanon

The United Nations peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon, where Israel is battling the Iran-backed Hezbollah, said three peacekeepers have been killed in less than 24 hours. The peacekeeping mission known as UNIFIL did not say who was responsible for the deaths overnight and into Monday.

An Israeli airstrike on a Beirut suburb killed one person and wounded 17, including four children, according to Lebanons Health Ministry.

Over the weekend, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the military would widen its invasion, expanding the existing security strip in southern Lebanon.

In Iran, authorities say more than 1,900 people have been killed, while 19 have been reported dead in Israel.

Two dozen people have been killed in Gulf states and the occupied West Bank. In Lebanon, officials said more than 1,200 people have been killed, and more than 1 million have been displaced.

Six Israeli soldiers have died in Lebanon, while 13 U.S. service members have been killed in the war.

Oil prices rise again as concerns of global energy crisis grow

Irans attacks on the energy infrastructure of the region and its stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz have threatened global supplies of oil, natural gas, and fertilizer. They have sent fuel prices skyrocketing and given rise to growing concerns about an energy crisis.

Trump has said that Iran had agreed to allow 20 oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz starting Monday as a sign of respect. There wasnt any information on whether those ships were actually moving.

Brent crude oil, the international standard, was trading around $115 Monday, up nearly 60% from when the war started.
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WASHINGTON  Certain names will be familiar to the Supreme Court in the latest case involving a Black death row inmate from Mississippi, with arguments set for Tuesday.

Doug Evans, a now-retired prosecutor with a history of dismissing Black jurors for discriminatory reasons, knocked all but one Black person off the jury that tried and convicted Terry Pitchford.

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Judge Joseph Loper allowed it to happen. The state Supreme Court upheld the conviction.

Just seven years ago, in a case involving the same district attorney, trial judge, and state high court, the Supreme Court overturned the death sentence and conviction of Curtis Flowers because of what Justice Brett Kavanaugh described as a relentless, determined effort to rid the jury of Black individuals.

Seven of the current nine justices were on the court then.

The Supreme Court has in recent years taken a dim view of defendants claims in capital cases, especially in the last-minute efforts to stave off execution. Last week, the court turned away the appeal of Texas death row inmate Rodney Reed over the dissent of three liberal justices, who believe he should be allowed to test evidence that he has argued would exonerate him.

Claim of racial discrimination

But the court in December agreed to hear Pitchfords appeal relating to a claim of racial discrimination that, in other cases, has gained traction even among some conservative justices.

Pitchford was sentenced to death for his role in the 2004 killing of Reuben Britt, the owner of the Crossroads Grocery, just outside Grenada in northern Mississippi. Pitchford, 40, was 18 when he and a friend went to the store to rob it. The friend shot Britt three times, fatally wounding him, but was ineligible for the death penalty because he was younger than 18. Pitchford was tried for capital murder and sentenced to death.

The case has been making its way through the court system for 20 years. In 2023, U.S District Judge Michael P. Mills overturned Pitchfords conviction, holding that the trial judge did not give Pitchfords lawyers enough of a chance to argue that the prosecution was improperly dismissing Black jurors.

Mills wrote that his ruling was partially motivated by Evans actions in prior cases. A unanimous panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the ruling.

In the course of selecting a jury, lawyers can excuse a juror merely because of a suspicion that a particular person would vote against their client.

The Supreme Court tried to stamp out discrimination in the composition of juries in Batson v. Kentucky in 1986. The court ruled then that jurors could not be excused from service because of their race and set up a system by which trial judges could evaluate claims of discrimination and the race-neutral explanations by prosecutors.

In Pitchfords case, the prosecution excused four of the five remaining Black people in the jury pool and defense lawyers objected. Loper, the judge, accepted all four explanations and moved on without analyzing whether race was the reason, Mills wrote.

Issues in Pitchfords case

The Supreme Court case focuses on whether Pitchfords lawyers did enough to object to Lopers rulings and whether the state Supreme Court acted reasonably in ruling they had not.

Joseph Perkovich, who will argue Pitchfords case Tuesday, said the record in the case clearly favors his client. Loper did not grasp he had to a constitutional duty to determine whether the reasons the district attorney gave for striking the Black citizens were credible and truthful, Perkovich wrote in an email. The judge simply failed even to try to discharge that critical duty, despite the defenses efforts.

In the states written filing, Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch defended the state Supreme Court decision and said Evans did not inappropriately strike Black people from the jury.

Pitchford should be released or retried if he wins at the Supreme Court, his lawyers argued in written filings. Mississippi said the case should return to the state Supreme Court to review his arguments that the jury strikes were discriminatory.

Flowers was tried six times in the shooting deaths of four people. He was released from prison in 2019 and the state dropped the charges against him the following year, after Evans turned the case over to state officials. Evans stepped down from his job in 2023.

On its own, Mills wrote, the Flowers case does not prove anything. But he said that the Mississippi Supreme Court should have examined that history in considering Pitchfords appeal.

The court merely believes that it should have been included in a totality of the circumstances analysis of the issue, Mills wrote.
Hannah Liu, 26, of Washington holds up a sign in support of birthright citizenship on May 15, 2025, outside of the Supreme Court in Washington. "This is enshrined in the Constitution. My parents are Chinese immigrants," said Liu. "They came here on temporary visas so I derive my citizenship through birthright." Read more

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Alexander Porter Morse, a Confederate officer during the Civil War and a Louisiana attorney, argued for legalized segregation in the landmark 1896 Supreme Court case that established the separate but equal doctrine and buttressed Jim Crow laws.

He is again playing a key role in a monumental case to be argued before the justices Wednesday: The Trump administration has tapped Morse as an authority in its push to upend long-settled law that virtually everyone born in the United States is a citizen.

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Over a century ago, Morse was among a trio of thinkers who spearheaded a failed effort  steeped in anti-Black and anti-Chinese racism  to erase birthright citizenship. The Trump administration is reviving their arguments to make its case today, some legal scholars say.

The administration is citing arguments built on a racist foundation, Justin Sadowsky, an attorney for the Chinese American Legal Defense Alliance (CALDA), wrote in a friend-of-the-court brief.

Lucy Salyer, a University of New Hampshire history professor who has written on Morse and others, said she was struck that the Trump administration had chosen to elevate those figures and their ideas: If you know the history and the broader context of what they were trying to achieve, it does ring alarm bells.

The case, which could redefine who is considered an American, centers on the Citizenship Clause of the 14th Amendment, which grants citizenship to All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof.

When asked for comment about relying on Morse and his compatriots, the Trump administration pointed to a brief in which it wrote, this Court has repeatedly cited their work in other contexts. Some legal scholars also argued their stance on birthright citizenship was shared by a number of prominent politicians who did not have racist views.

The Trump administration argues the 14th Amendment does not apply to people in the country illegally or on temporary visas. If the high court agrees, and reverses the long-held interpretation, it could render hundreds of thousands of children born to immigrant parents stateless.

The Supreme Court has the opportunity to review the Fourteenth Amendments Citizenship Clause and restore the meaning of citizenship in the United States to its original public meaning, White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said in a statement. This case will have enormous consequences for the security of all Americans.

The 14th Amendment was ratified after the Civil War to ensure that the formerly enslaved and their children could become citizens. The amendment overturned the Supreme Courts infamous Dred Scott decision that denied citizenship to Black people.

Trump administration attorneys cite Morse in their Supreme Court brief to argue the disputed idea that commentators in the 19th century widely agreed that the Constitution exclude[s] the children of foreigners transiently within the United States from qualifying for citizenship.

In addition to opposing birthright citizenship, Morse also advocated for limiting the other Reconstruction amendments that abolished slavery and guaranteed Black people the right to vote.

The campaign against birthright citizenship also relied on rising anti-migrant feelings. The push backfired in 1898 when the Supreme Court ruled in United States v. Wong Kim Ark that a man born to Chinese immigrants in San Francisco was a U.S. citizen, enshrining birthright citizenship as the law of the land.

Thousands of Chinese settled in Western states during the latter half of the 1800s to work on the railroads, as miners, and to do other jobs. The prospect that the 14th Amendment would extend citizenship to the children of those immigrants unsettled many Americans.

Francis Wharton, a prominent legal scholar in the late 1800s and State Department official, was one. Wharton attempted to formulate a legal rationale that would allow children born to European immigrants to gain citizenship but deny it to those of Chinese migrants.

He posited that a childs citizenship should be determined by parents nationality, rather than birthplace. Wharton argued people should have a permanent home in the United States or be domiciled here for their children to be eligible for citizenship.

He wrote the Chinese were insufficiently civilized and could never obtain the proper status because they regard themselves simply as strangers and sojourners.

To admit such rights to an emigrating nation, would be not merely to establish a foreign sovereign, but a foreign barbarism, within our national domain, Wharton wrote.

He later added that the 14th Amendments phrase subject to the jurisdiction thereof, which was included to bar children of diplomats and other officials who owed allegiance to a foreign country from becoming citizens, prevented children born to Chinese immigrants from obtaining the status.

As such xenophobic ideas gained traction, a San Francisco attorney named George D. Collins pushed the Justice Department to take up a test case challenging birthright citizenship, writing Chinese immigrants were utterly unfit, wholly incompetent to be American citizens. His career later ended in scandal after he was accused of bigamy and perjury.

When the government argued to the high court that Wong Kim Ark was not entitled to citizenship under the 14th Amendment, Collins assisted with its filing and wrote a friend-of-the-court brief.

Are Chinese children born in this country to share with the descendants of the patriots of the American Revolution the exalted qualification of being eligible to the Presidency of the nation? Collins and the solicitor general wrote in a cosigned brief. If so, then verily there has been a most degenerate departure from the patriotic ideals of our forefathers; and surely in that case American citizenship is not worth having.

The justices ruled the 14th Amendment applied to Wong Kim Ark and virtually all people born in the United States. The precedent has stood for over a century and was infrequently challenged before Trump issued his executive order.

On the first day of his second term, Trump instructed government agencies to stop issuing citizenship documentation to children if neither parent is a U.S. citizen or the mother is on a lawful but temporary visa to study, work, or visit. The controversial policy is one of the central pieces of Trumps anti-immigration agenda.

Solicitor General D. John Sauer argues in his petition to the Supreme Court that the Citizenship Clause applied to the recently enslaved and their children, not to children of temporary visitors or those here illegally.

Sauer wrote birthright citizenship is a powerful incentive for illegal migration; presents national security concerns, because some people illegally enter the United States to carry out hostile acts; and facilitates birth tourism  foreigners traveling to the United States to have babies so their children can be U.S. citizens.

Sam Erman, a law professor at the University of Michigan, and Salyer said in interviews the Trump administrations arguments echo those put forward in the first push to end birthright citizenship.

Like Wharton, the Trump administration says in its brief a childs citizenship is dependent on the parents nationality, not birth in the United States. The government attorneys assert parents must be domiciled in the United States for their offspring to qualify for citizenship.

The Trump administration, like Wharton, also highlights the 14th Amendment phrase subject to the jurisdiction thereof , saying it disqualifies children of illegal migrants and temporary visitors from becoming citizens because they cant demonstrate the necessary political allegiance to the United States the phrase evokes.

I was really struck reading the governments brief how familiar it seemed from that period, Erman said of the late 1800s. The government argument to a large extent relies on Morse and Wharton and people who are repeating what they said uncritically. If you strip that out of the governments brief, it looks really weak.

CALDA also argues in a friend-of-the-court brief that the Trump administration recycles arguments by Morse, Wharton and Collins. It points out 19 instances in which the governments brief cites the same treatises, cases, laws, and legislative history as the Collins and government briefs in the Wong Kim Ark case.

Not all law professors agreed with the arguments. Ilan Wurman, a University of Minnesota law professor who filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the case, said Morse, Wharton, and Collins were among a constellation of advocates who argued birth on U.S. soil should not alone guarantee citizenship.

The idea that you can find a handful of racists among a number of people who made a similar argument and call the whole argument racist is a classic logical fallacy, Wurman said.

The litigation over Trumps birthright citizenship ban kicked off the day after his executive order. Washington state and three other states challenged it in court. A federal judge issued a preliminary injunction against the ban, which was later upheld by an appeals court.

In June, the birthright citizenship case made it to the Supreme Court in a separate case. At that point, the Trump administration did not ask the justices to rule on the substance of the policy, but rather on the narrower question of whether lower courts could issue nationwide injunctions.

In a 6-3 ruling, the justices sided with Trump officials and limited the orders.

Shortly after, a group of individuals represented by the ACLU filed a class-action lawsuit against the birthright citizenship order in New Hampshire. A federal judge issued a preliminary injunction in that case, but before an appeals court could render a verdict on that ruling, Trump officials petitioned the Supreme Court to hear the case.

The Supreme Court has consolidated the cases brought by the states and the individuals represented by the ACLU. A decision is expected by the summer and many legal experts think the Trump administration faces an uphill fight to win the case.

Salyer said the challenge of mounting a credible argument against birthright citizenship  which has long been accepted as legal bedrock  may explain why the administration relies so heavily on Morse, Wharton, and Collins.

They are not tapping into the central mainstream citations, Salyer said. They are using these people because they are the ones that are really pushing that idea.
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White House border czar Tom Homan suggested Sunday that ICE agents deployed to airports may remain there even after Transportation Security Agency officers are paid this week.

Speaking to CNNs State of the Union on Sunday, Homan said well see when host Jake Tapper asked whether Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents will leave airports after TSA personnel are paid. Homan said some of that decision will depend on whether TSA agents come back to work.

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Im working very closely with the TSA administrator and the ICE director to decide what airport needs what, Homan said. ICE agents, he said, are keeping the security at the airport at a high level, again, because of heightened threat that were in right now.

TSA agents, Homan said, will get paid hopefully by tomorrow or Tuesday after President Donald Trump issued an order Friday to use preexisting funds for the paychecks. Trumps move came after Congress failed to strike a deal to end the shutdown of much of the Department of Homeland Security.

Its good news, because these TSA officers are struggling, Homan said about the paychecks Sunday. Theyre sitting there right now, working very hard, not being paid by members of Congress [who are] out on vacation getting paid. Its ridiculous.

Airports around the nation have recorded lengthy wait lines at TSA checkpoints, and nearly 500 TSA officers have quit during the shutdown. On Friday, lines for security at Baltimore-Washington International Marshall Airport stretched outside and wrapped around the buildings exterior. Wait times have gotten so excessive that some travelers are hiring line-sitters.

The presidents emergency paychecks for TSA officers may lessen wait times in the coming days, but it does not solve the issue of the ongoing DHS shutdown, which reached 44 days on Sunday.

On Friday night, the Republican-led House rejected a measure the Senate passed earlier in the day to fund most of DHS. The bipartisan Senate bill would have funded TSA and the rest of DHS, except for ICE and parts of Customs and Border Protection. The House bill would have funded the entire department for eight weeks. Neither bill includes reforms for ICE and CBP that Democrats have demanded.

While House Republicans voted for their version of the bill, only three House Democrats voted for it. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D., N.Y.) said House Democrats would have supported the Senate bill had House Speaker Mike Johnson (R., La.) let it reach the floor. Both chambers left Washington this weekend for recess without a solution.

Democrats and Republicans on Sunday traded blame for the stalemate.

House Majority Leader Rep. Steve Scalise (R., La.), speaking to ABC Newss This Week, defended the Houses rejection of the bipartisan Senate proposal, arguing that Congress should not block funding for ICE and parts of CBP.

This is no time to be defunding major operations at the Department of Homeland Security, Scalise said.

Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D., Md.), however, told ABC News that Democrats would continue to block additional ICE funding and that the White House had not offered meaningful reforms after the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis by federal agents.

We want to fully fund TSA, Van Hollen said. We could get rid of these lines at the airports immediately. But we also made clear that were going to demand reforms of a lawless ICE operation.

Sen. Andy Kim (D., N.J.), speaking to CNN after Homan, accused Trump and House Republicans of standing in the way of DHS funding.

This shutdown should have ended Friday, Kim said. What the Trump administration is clearly doing is going against the demands from the American people.

Trumps order to pay TSA workers directs Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin and the Office of Management and Budget to work together to use funds that have a reasonable and logical nexus to TSA operations to provide TSA employees with the compensation and benefits that they are owed until regular funding for TSA has been restored.

When asked by Tapper why Trump didnt release funds for TSA officers earlier, Homan sidestepped the question.

Im a cop. I dont understand the whole appropriations language, appropriations law, Homan said. Im just glad that President Trump is able to pay the TSA agents.
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Speaking to reporters Sunday night aboard Air Force One, President Donald Trump began with an update about hostilities in Iran but soon pivoted to a different priority: his planned $400 million White House ballroom.

For five minutes, the president displayed new renderings, handed to him by Bill Pulte, a top administration housing official, as he again made the case for his controversial addition to the White House grounds.

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Im so busy that I dont have time to do this  Im fighting wars and other things, Trump told reporters. But this is very important, because this is going to be with us for a long time, and its going to be, I think it will be the greatest ballroom anywhere in the world.

The new renderings revealed some changes to the ballrooms design, including removal of stairs on its south side that some observers had criticized as extraneous.

Trump also briefly alluded to the militarys role in the project, which the president has said he hopes to complete by next year.

The military is building a massive complex under the ballroom, Trump said. White House officials have said the underground portion of the project is a matter of national security but have declined to offer further details. It has long been known, however, that the area underneath the former East Wing of the White House contains secure facilities the president and staff members could use in an emergency.

The ballroom has been a top priority for Trump, who rapidly demolished the East Wing last year to make way for it. He has solicited millions of dollars from private companies to pay for the project, and he frequently mentions it in speeches and unscripted remarks.

It has proved less popular with voters, polls have found. Fifty-eight percent of Americans said they opposed tearing down the East Wing to build the ballroom, according to an Economist/YouGov poll conducted last month, while 25% said they supported it.

Members of the public sent more than 35,000 comments about the project to a federal commission reviewing it, and a Washington Post analysis found more than 97% of those comments were critical of the presidents plans.

The design has been panned by architects and historic preservationists, who say that the 90,000-square-foot addition is too large and will overshadow the 55,000-square-foot White House. James McCrery II, Trumps first architect on the project, clashed with the president over his plans to enlarge the ballroom, then was replaced.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation, which Congress charged with helping to preserve historic buildings, has sued to stop the project, saying that Trump failed to receive congressional authorization. U.S. District Judge Richard Leon is weighing whether to halt the project.

The New York Times on Sunday wrote about concerns over the ballrooms design, an article that appeared to irk the president, who mentioned it several times aboard Air Force One.

The White House has said that it plans to start aboveground construction on the ballroom as soon as April. Whether that work begins could be determined by what happens this week. A federal commission now led by Trumps allies is scheduled to vote Thursday on whether to approve the project  the final procedural hurdle for an effort to dramatically remake one of the most revered symbols of American power and democracy.

Leon, an appointee of President George W. Bush, has signaled his ruling on the National Trusts lawsuit could come as soon as this week too. The judge has been skeptical of the Trump administrations arguments that the president had the authority to tear down the East Wing to build his planned ballroom. He also has criticized Trumps reliance on donations from private companies to fund the project, saying it amounted to an end-run around congressional oversight. Major corporations including Amazon, Google, and Palantir, which have donated to the project, collectively have billions of dollars in contracts before the administration. (Amazon founder Jeff Bezos owns the Washington Post.)

Leon has said that he expects his eventual ruling to be appealed, potentially to the Supreme Court.

Aboard Air Force One, Trump only made a glancing acknowledgment of the stupid lawsuit threatening his project. The president instead talked in depth about the ballrooms features as he flipped through six renderings that he said he had commissioned that day.

A lot of people are giving it really good reviews, the president said.

The new designs provided more detail on the ballroom, including a close-up image of its columns, which Trump said would be hand-carved.

Theyll be Corinthian, which is considered the best, most beautiful by far, Trump said  his latest acknowledgment of his preference for that style of columns.

The renderings also removed a prominent staircase that had led from the ballrooms south portico onto the White Houses south lawn. Trump had repeatedly shared renderings featuring that staircase, and a federal commission that Trump packed with his allies approved a design last month that included the staircase.

We took the stairs out that were on the south side and really replaced them with these stairs, Trump said, referring to what he called a fire stair next to the portico. So you have an open porch and you have the closed porch under the columns overlooking the Washington Monument, the Jefferson Memorial, and the Lincoln Memorial.

Credits on the renderings said that they were produced by Shalom Baranes Associates, the firm handling the ballroom project.

Asked about the timing of the project, Trump repeated his frequent refrain: Were ahead of schedule and under budget.

Even after moving off the ballroom topic, the president found a way to relate reporters questions about Iran  such as whether he planned to send U.S. troops into the country  back to his construction project.

Just like were ahead of schedule on the ballroom, in a much bigger way, were ahead of schedule with Iran, Trump said.
A screenshot of Pamela Reistle Ott's phone when dispersal orders were sent to phones in the area surrounding the Bridgeport Speedway in Gloucester County, N.J., on Sunday, March 29, 2026. Authorities have not confirmed what spurred the alert as of publishing, but local reports suggest that large crowds became a nuisance to the area following a car show. Read more

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Many residents in the Philadelphia region took to social media Sunday night after a notification popped up on their phones indicating an immediate dispersal order had been lifted. However, for some, the order to disperse never came in the first place.

The confusion led many to post online, Did anyone else get an alert for a Dispersal Order Lifted? one local Facebook user posted. We didnt even know we were under one?

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Rumors swept the internet about large crowds gathering for Car Music Fest, organized by ImportExpo, at the Bridgeport Speedway in Gloucester County. Social media users reported large crowds and heavy traffic.

Logan Township Police Department, the agency that initiated the dispersal order, confirmed several cases of vehicles racing on roads, passing other cars unsafely, and passengers riding on top of cars.

The car show was organized without prior notice or approval from Logan Township, and drew an estimated crowd of 25,000 people  some from as far away as Massachusetts and Virginia  with attendees parking wherever they chose, exiting their vehicles, and walking to the venue, according to the police department.

In addition to motor vehicle violations, police received reports of public intoxication, public urination, lewdness, disorderly conduct, littering, and numerous fights.

Police arrested one man for disorderly conduct. Several other municipal ordinance violations were filed in association with the car show.

The owner of Bridgeport Speedway, which did not organize the ImportExpo show, said he was not aware of incidents besides the large crowds.

The overall problem was simply the volume of people attending the event. Unfortunately, it caused a lot of unwanted traffic in the community, Speedway owner Doug Rose said. Social media also spreads many untruths without knowing any facts. The event was not shut down for any unruliness.

Gibbstown resident Pamela Reistle Ott was on the phone with her father, who resides in Bridgeport, when she saw the alerts on her phone before she was scheduled to visit her parents at 4 p.m.

I couldnt get from Gibbstown to Bridgeport to their house. It was scary, seeing that many cars driving pretty recklessly on our otherwise quiet back roads, Reistle Ott said. When the first alert came over, I warned my dad, who did not get the alert on his phone. We checked back in with each other with each alert, and were so grateful when it was all over with.

According to the PBS WARN dashboard, which tracks regional alerts, the dispersal order went out at 4:47 p.m. Sunday, but some reported having received the alert sooner. A second alert announcing that the order was lifted went out around two hours later, which many across the region shared on social media.

Logan Township Police Department, the agency that initiated the alert, and Gloucester County did not respond to requests for comment on what incident spurred the dispersal order, or why it reached residents in Pennsylvania. Other local law enforcement agencies, like Harrison Township and Delaware Countys Middletown Township, shared the alert on social media, amplifying its reach.

Reports of local neighborhoods and public spaces becoming parking lots, with speeding on surrounding roadways, and large gatherings swirled on social media Monday.

Philadelphias Office of Emergency Management confirmed that the city did not take part in issuing the alert, and the dispersal order was not distributed through ReadyPhila, Philadelphias own emergency alert system.

The organizers of the car show, ImportExpo, a multicity car show traveling to parts of the United States and Canada, did not respond to a request for comment. But ImportExpo did post rules to its Instagram before the event advising attendees to respect the property, pick up trash, and avoid fighting and arguing.

Why did people in Philadelphia get this dispersal order?

Wireless emergency alerts are the notifications sent to phones during severe emergencies, said Michael Giardina, deputy director of operations for Philadelphias Office of Emergency Management. Amber Alerts and severe weather warnings from the National Weather Service are common examples of these alerts.

The reason why someone in Philadelphia, or perhaps a lot of people in the region, would have received the dispersal alert is that those alerts work off of cell phone towers, Giardina said. When an alert of that magnitude is sent out, a mechanism identifies who should receive that alert based on which cell tower theyre connected to.

Residents of Philadelphia and the surrounding areas can sign up for the City of Philadelphias alert system by texting ReadyPhila to 888-777 or by visiting phila.gov/ready.
Six-year-old Sarah Jeffers rides Beezus the pony during the Palm Sunday procession at the historic African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas on Sunday, March 29, 2026. She and her mom, Simone Jeffers, are from Elkins Park. At left is Albert S. Dandridge III. Read more

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In West Philadelphia, Jesus humble donkey was actually a noble steed named Beezus.

The annual procession at the African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas in Overbrook Park celebrated Jesus arrival in Jerusalem, and in past years had included a more traditional donkey, named Pedro. But Pedro had passed on since last Palm Sunday, so Beezus was cast in the role this year.

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As ponies often do, Beezus started things off by relieving herself  perhaps owing to some opening-day nerves.

Congregants and church leaders began the Palm Sunday service on St. Thomas front lawn and lined up behind Beezus, an 11-year-old chestnut-and-white pony from Quakertown.

Five-year-old Isaac Lee is in the arms of his mother, Ingrid Nembhard, before Palm Sunday services at St. Thomas. While the congregation was awaiting the distribution of palms, Issac was reluctant to go near the pony. Read more Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer Ingrid Nembhard (left) walks alongside her five year-old son Isaac Lee riding on the pony. By the time the procession was underway he got over his apprehension and was one of the children who got to ride. Read more Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer St. Thomas' procession passes the Easter crucifix outside neighboring Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic church on Woodbine Ave, where parishioners were inside, also celebrating Palm Sunday mass. Read more Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer The Palm Sunday procession at the historic African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas walks along 63rd Street. Read more Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer The choir sings during Palm Sunday services at the historic African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas Sunday, March 29, 2026, following the distribution of palms and a procession including a live pony. Read more Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer

The walk was a reenactment of Jesus and his disciples journey to Jerusalem shortly before his crucifixion. In the Bible, Matthew 21 describes how upon nearing the city, Jesus sent two disciples to a neighboring village to acquire a donkey and its young offspring. He rode them into Jerusalem to demonstrate to the people that while he was their messiah finally arriving before them, he was doing so humbly.

On Sunday, those walking behind Beezus sang and carried blessed palm fronds, representing the branches that the people of Jerusalem laid in Jesus path as he entered the city. This is the sixth year that St. Thomas has processed with a donkey  and now pony  on Palm Sundays, joining other congregations committed to realistic reenactments of Jesus journey.

This year, sadly as bombs strike around the world, we will again recall Jesus Christs triumphal entry into Jerusalem and the start of the holiest week of the year, said the Rev. Canon Martini Shaw, rector of St. Thomas, in a statement.

The church, founded in 1792, is the first Black church in Philadelphia and the first Black Episcopal church in the nation.

For the congregation members following Beezus lead, the Palm Sunday procession was a fun but important symbol of their faith and the significance of Easter.

The tradition means a lot to us, said Greg Hayes of West Philadelphia, who greets congregants in his role as a monarch at St. Thomas. It keeps your faith alive.

We pass it down from generation to generation, said Maurice Hayes, Gregs brother and a monarch from Mount Airy. He explained how the church hopes experiences like this build memories for children and encourage them to form a long-term relationship with the church.

Several children took turns riding Beezus (who was not chosen for the job for having a name rhyming with Jesus, according to her handler) for a couple of minutes at a time, with the procession taking periodic pauses to safely change out riders. While most of the young congregants were excited for their turn, they were also fairly nervous once it was their time to actually play the role of Jesus.

It felt weird, said Sarah Jeffers, 6, from Elkins Park. It was her first time riding in the procession, and she said she didnt love how Beezus butt was constantly in motion behind her.

But, she said, the experience was fun and she would probably do it again next year.
Middle school teacher Kate Stoye puts on an Oura Ring. The wearable device tracks sleep architecture, heart rate variability, and cycle-linked physiologic changes in real time across millions of users across the world, writes Priya E. Mammen. Read more

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She started with an apology. I had just introduced myself to a woman who came to the emergency department on a Sunday morning. She dropped her eyes and told me she had tried really hard to stay home because she didnt want to waste my time.

She went on to describe a discomfort in her stomach and chest area from when she woke up at 4:45 a.m. that persisted despite her trying to take deep breaths or address the nausea that accompanied.

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She knew she might be more anxious than usual because she had just turned 70, and had a realization that both of her parents had died of heart disease before reaching 72 years old. She told herself not to think about her sister, who dropped dead from a heart problem at 65.

Between the disclaimers, rationalizations, and apologies, my patient near-perfectly described classic cardiac symptoms for postmenopausal women, together with her own risk factors and a significant family history of cardiac disease. The medical establishment has long called what she described as atypical symptoms, not because they are rare, but because it wasnt the usual chest pain pattern that men experienced.

Within 30 minutes of meeting, we diagnosed and started treating her. She was having a heart attack.

As the birthplace of American medicine, Philadelphia is full of examples of womens medical needs being dismissed or underappreciated, from the times of Benjamin Rush continuing into the 21st century. Hysteria, once a relatively common diagnosis for women, is no longer part of the medical lexicon, but the underlying sentiment and bias may persist. My patient internalized the idea that she must be anxious or crazy, not that she was having a medical emergency. This isnt coincidence. Its the residue of a medical culture that, for most of its history, characterized womens symptoms as emotional.

Our healthcare infrastructure and systems are built on this cultural foundation.

Centuries of research on symptoms, risk factors, and disease progression have only described what is seen in men  mainly white men. It wasnt until 1993 that the FDA required women to be included in clinical trials and large-scale studies. The data and evidence on which guidelines, recommendations, and medical decision-making parameters were developed omitted the realities women faced until very recently.

Incomplete data means underinvestment in drivers of mortality

The United States has the highest maternal mortality rate among high-income countries. American women experience death during pregnancy and the perinatal period at a rate more than three times higher than women in Europe and parts of Asia. For years, the dominant narrative of maternal mortality pointed to chronic disease and obstetrical complications  cardiovascular disease, hypertension, hemorrhage, and infection.

However, a February study published in the New England Journal of Medicine shows how an unintentionally myopic view can lead us astray.

The questions that get asked in research determine the answers that get found.

The classifications of death during the pregnant and perinatal period are pregnancy-related and pregnancy-associated, each considered separately. When these researchers considered both together in looking at all maternal deaths between 2018 and 2023, they found that unintentional drug overdose, homicides, and suicides were, in fact, the top causes of death.

The vast majority (77%) of homicides involved firearms and intimate partner violence  the leading cause of death for pregnant Black women. The highest causes of maternal death for white women were overdose and suicide.

The difference might seem like semantics, but the consequences of this could be monumental.

Healthcare policy and downstream funding for services, the design of focused interventions, even insurance coverage all come from this incomplete picture. The data actually show gun violence  either perpetrated by a partner or self-inflicted  plays a bigger role than disease, illness, or medical complications in U.S. maternal deaths.

Meanwhile, we invest heavily in disease response, while underinvesting in upstream drivers of mortality, including trauma, which disproportionately affects women, and access to firearms, which is a uniquely American determinant of health and safety when compared to our peer countries.

The questions that get asked in research determine the answers that get found. The realities of domestic abuse, substance use, or gun violence are not invisible to the women experiencing them. But prior researchers asking the questions may not have considered them the same way, and the systems classifying the data werent structured to see them.

Younger leaders are asking new questions

The tide is turning  and we know exactly whos turning it. The change isnt coming from above.

My Gen X brethren brought greater diversity and representation to the worlds of medicine, science, and research. More women and people of color are asking questions that were never asked before, and studying diseases that were never prioritized before.

We are the doctors who are more aware of the exclusions and built-in biases of the systems we navigate together with our patients.

Change is also coming from my generation of women who were expected to suffer in silence, as our mothers and grandmothers had  and decided not to. Menopause is a prime example. In November, the FDA removed black-box warnings from hormone replacement therapies that had been shunned by an entire generation of doctors.

 READ MORE: We are at a generational inflection point in healthcare. Its time for Gen X physicians to assert themselves as the stewards of our profession. | Opinion

That reversal took decades of advocacy, mounting science, and women loud enough to be heard over institutional inertia. The menopause market reached nearly $18 billion in 2024 and is projected to hit $27 billion by 2030, driven in large part by Gen X and millennial women becoming far more vocal about their symptoms and demanding better options and answers.

The promise of femtech

Against this backdrop of a shrinking medical workforce, a new wave of investment is arriving. Womens health start-ups drew a record $2.6 billion in venture investment in 2024  the highest ever tracked.

Female-focused healthcare companies, like Maven Clinic and Midi Health, offering longitudinal telehealth and wraparound services, have shown success in improving health outcomes and decreasing costs for their members.

Femtech companies are generating datasets on female physiology at a pace and depth that traditional clinical research cant match. Wearables like the Oura Ring are tracking sleep architecture, heart rate variability, and cycle-linked physiologic changes in real time across millions of users across the world  longitudinally, passively, and at scale.

This is genuinely new science and knowledge. AI-driven diagnostic tools trained on this data could, for the first time, develop reference ranges calibrated to womens biology rather than retrofitted from male norms.

Femtech has emerged as both a corrective and a catalyst: technology-enabled solutions purpose-built for female biology, creating new data and new pressure on legacy medicine to close the knowledge gap. It is an innovation force accelerating scientific understanding that is both commercially compelling and medically necessary.

Yet, we know how, despite advances and progress, history can repeat itself. In the case of technology, its happening faster and at a far larger magnitude.

The women most likely to be using an Oura Ring today are educated, digitally engaged, disproportionately white, higher-income, and employed in a sector that offers premium health benefits. The women most likely to die of overdose, homicide, or even chronic disease during pregnancy  the women the NEJM data named  are not in that dataset.

Maven Clinic has been structured as an employer-sponsored benefit. When Black women gain access to Mavens virtual care network, they engage at higher rates than white members. The demand, the need, and the willingness are there.

The bottleneck is access. It structurally excludes gig workers, Medicaid recipients, and the uninsured, not to mention the many employees whose benefits dont include Maven. This may change with a new subscription model to Maven Clinic, but for now, again, womens health may be a perk.

When this technology, which is effectively excluding the majority of the female population, is generating the training data for the next generation of AI diagnostics, the knowledge gap doesnt just persist. It gets encoded. It will be amplified. It can set a new foundation.

How can the systems being built around women be designed for all of us  not only for the ones who can already afford to be seen? Philadelphia could be the answer.

Philadelphia can lead the way

Meeting with female founders and investors in recent months, Ive been blown away by the unmatched potential we have in our city.

This was perfectly articulated in a Technical.ly article on Monday, in which the authors outline how, in addition to the medical and scientific expertise of meds and eds, Philadelphia offers entrepreneurs lower operating costs, faster access to clinical partners, a collaborative ecosystem and strategic acquirers within a 30-minute radius.

Together with our minority-majority population, the lessons we have learned from our history, and our fierce female scientists and physicians who embody grit and determination, Philadelphians can ensure we dont build a system of precision womens health only for the privileged, but instead for the next  and all  future generations.

My hope, as an emergency physician, public health expert, and healthcare executive, is to be able to say to all women what I said to my patient in the ED that Sunday.

Once we got her care situated, I took her hand in mine. You never need to rationalize asking for medical attention. Im here to help no matter what.

Priya E. Mammen is an emergency physician, healthcare executive, and public health specialist who helps the nations most impactful companies integrate clinical integrity at scale.
Demonstrators rally on the campus of the University of the Arts on South Broad Street in Center City in 2024. Losing that institution was a major blow to the city's art infrastructure, write Susan E. Cahan and Robert T. Stroker. Read more

Listen to article  0:00 min

When the University of the Arts closed in June 2024, Philadelphia lost more than a campus.

Nearly two years later, the effects of that loss are still unfolding across classrooms, studios, neighborhoods, and the citys cultural economy. The closure revealed a deeper question that now confronts Philadelphia and cities like it: How does a city sustain its creative life when the arts institutions that support community disappear?

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That question is especially urgent in Philadelphia, where the arts are foundational, not peripheral. Even as cultural institutions nationwide face rising costs, shifting attendance, and post-pandemic uncertainty, Philadelphia is reimagining how creativity lives in public space. A recently announced effort to remake the Avenue of the Arts envisions a greener, more walkable corridor with expanded opportunities for public art and performance, signaling a civic commitment to creativity as part of everyday urban life.

But streetscapes alone do not sustain an arts ecosystem. Cities also need anchor institutions with long-term public missions  institutions that can provide continuity, access, and stability when the cultural landscape shifts. In moments like this, responsibility does not fall to artists alone, but to public institutions with the scale and mission to provide continuity when others cannot.

Model of public purpose

Public universities play a distinctive role in that system.

At Temple University, arts education has been central to the institutions mission for over a century. Long before todays conversations about creative economies and cultural infrastructure, Temple embedded the arts into its public purpose, linking rigorous artistic training with teaching, community engagement, and access. That model has helped sustain Philadelphias creative life across generations.

This public mission extends across Temples visual, performing, and media arts. The Center for the Performing and Cinematic Arts (CPCA), home to the Boyer College of Music and Dance and the School of Theater, Film and Media Arts, carries forward Temples long-standing legacy of innovation, access, and civic engagement.

Cities do not mark historic milestones through monuments alone, but through the living cultural institutions that carry civic memory forward.

Early Tyler School of Art and Architecture graduates earned degrees in both art and education, and went on to teach in Philadelphias public schools, reinforcing a reciprocal relationship between the community and the institution that continues to expand access to the arts today.

More than 15,000 Temple arts alumni live and work in Philadelphia, teaching, curating, leading cultural organizations, and creating spaces where art extends beyond traditional venues. Their impact is felt not only in galleries and theaters, but also in hospitals and rehabilitation centers, where creative practice supports physical and emotional well-being.

It also reaches communities across the city through programs such as Temple Music Prep, which offers Philadelphians of all ages opportunities for arts education, including its Community Music Scholars Program, which has been delivering subsidized, high-quality music instruction to Philadelphias schoolchildren since 1968.

In moments of disruption, continuity matters. One defining characteristic of public universities is their ability  and responsibility  to think in decades, not semesters. As Philadelphia approaches the nations Semiquincentennial, that long view matters more than ever. Cities do not mark historic milestones through monuments alone, but through the living cultural institutions that carry civic memory forward.

That long view is shaping Temples current investments in Philadelphias creative future.

Repurposing Terra Hall

The stewardship of Terra Hall, a historic arts facility on the Avenue of the Arts, establishes a permanent educational presence in Center City for Temple. Importantly, along with arts and educational spaces, it will be a place of community convening. It will house programs in dance, music technology, architecture, landscape architecture, city and regional planning, and environmental design, fields that shape how cities grow and function.

Terra Hall will be a place where innovation and partnerships are born that will fuel our city and our arts community. Keystone institutions such as Temple help stabilize the future of the arts, but transformative partnerships across industry, the arts, and education build lasting sustainability.

Strategic partnerships such as the formalized collaboration with the Philadelphia Orchestra and Ensemble Arts enhance experiential educational opportunities for all ages and strengthen Philadelphias arts and creative ecosystem. That partnership also means these organizations will no longer pursue building an additional education wing at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts that had been in the early planning stages.

Coordination between Temples Tyler School of Art and Architecture and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) is strengthening Philadelphias art ecosystem. Their joint programming  including a critic-in-residence initiative, expanded academic opportunities, and studio space for Master of Fine Arts graduates  enriches both student education and public engagement. At the same time, construction is underway on the Caroline Kimmel Pavilion for Arts and Communication on North Broad Street, reinforcing that corridor as a center for cultural and creative life.

None of this replaces what was lost with the University of the Arts. That loss is real, and its consequences continue to shape Philadelphias cultural landscape. But it underscores a larger truth: Cities need institutions with public missions that can provide stability, access, and continuity when cultural conditions change.

As Philadelphia looks ahead, reimagining its public spaces, cultural corridors, and creative economy, our challenge is not simply to preserve what exists, but to expand opportunity for artists, students, and communities across the city.

The arts have long been one of Philadelphias greatest strengths. Ensuring they continue to thrive requires long-term commitment, shared responsibility, and institutions prepared to serve the public good.

Susan E. Cahan is dean of Temple Universitys Tyler School of Art and Architecture. Robert T. Stroker is the Joslyn G. Ewart dean of the Center for the Performing and Cinematic Arts and vice provost for the arts at Temple.
City Councilmember Nicolas ORourke attends a caucus meeting ahead of a Council session in March. He authored legislation aimed at bolstering protections for renters. Read more

Listen to article  0:00 min

Legislation aimed at strengthening protections for Philadelphia renters passed through a key City Council committee Monday for the second time, a procedural move that became necessary after landlords took the rare step of suing Council and stalling the bill.

Councils Committee on Housing unanimously passed the two bills, which were authored by Councilmember Nicolas ORourke. The legislation says that tenants are entitled to a rent abatement if their landlord does not have an active rental license or fails to repair code violations in a timely manner.

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The legislation also includes protections from retaliation for renters who complain about housing conditions, requires landlords to have good cause to not renew a tenants lease, and increases penalties for landlords who rack up code violations.

The bills could be up for final passage by the full Council as early as April 16, however some members are continuing to advocate for amendments to the legislation.

The upcoming final vote will represent the culmination of a yearslong process that was spurred by housing and tenants rights activists who have called for lawmakers to bolster legal protections for renters  nearly half of Philadelphias residents.

Tenants have told lawmakers harrowing stories of unsafe living conditions and negligent landlords who have failed to abate mold and pests, or repair leaks and broken heat.

This is not about penalizing a landlord for a mistake or something thats out of your control, ORourke said during the hearing Monday. This is about protecting tenants from landlords who refuse to follow the law, who neglect to apply for a license, who refuse to repair crumbling properties, and then all the while collect rent from vulnerable residents and tenants.

ORourke, a member of the progressive Working Families Party, introduced a package of Safe Healthy Homes legislation nearly a year ago. Council last year passed a bill that created an anti-displacement fund for renters.

The bills now up for consideration have undergone a series of amendments amid fierce opposition from organizations that represent landlords.

The groups, including the Homeowners Association of Philadelphia (HAPCO Philadelphia) and the Pennsylvania Apartment Association, say the legislation would place significant new burdens on property owners by expanding when tenants are eligible for rent abatements and adding new compliance obligations.

They say the legislation would especially harm small property owners who operate on thin margins and cant absorb compliance expenses or new penalties.

Youre not siding with working-class Philadelphians, said Timothy Lewis, who testified in opposition to the legislation Monday. Youre pricing them out of ownership and reserving housing investment for private equity, who are detached from tenant well-being and undeterred by municipal punishment.

Tensions reached a new level earlier this month after the bills sailed through the Housing Committee on March 4 and were poised to be voted on by the full Council.

Ahead of the expected final vote, two Philadelphia landlords  one of whom is HAPCO Philadelphias political chair  sued City Council, stalling the bills. They argued that Council members discussed amendments to the legislation in private and then voted on them before allowing public comment, violating the states Sunshine Act that requires public government meetings and the opportunity for open testimony.

 READ MORE: In a rare move, Philly landlords sued to delay a City Council vote on legislation meant to protect renters

Council and the landlords reached a settlement agreement shortly after the suit was filed, with lawmakers agreeing to send the bills back to the Housing Committee to be voted on again. Council did not admit to violating the law.

On Monday, a bevy of property owners and officials from the organizations that represent them advocated for additional amendments to the legislation, including expanding the grace period for landlords to address fire safety code violations from 30 to 60 days.

Lev Kravinsky, a board member of the Pennsylvania Apartment Association, also asked ORourke to clarify a provision that penalizes landlords if they cant produce a certificate of rental suitability.

Kravinsky said there are a variety of small and technical reasons that a property owner may not be able to quickly obtain the certification.

Our intent here is not to lessen penalties or punishments for those truly bad actors who are taking advantage of the power imbalance in the tenants relationship with the housing provider, Kravinsky said. But I do believe that housing providers require safe harbors for legitimate and good faith situations beyond their control.

ORourke said hes open to continued conversations about amendments, but said that some of the requests have already been addressed in the legislation and amount to delay tactics.

His supporters  many affiliated with the housing and economic justice organizations One PA Renters United Philadelphia and Philly Thrive  said further amendments would dilute the legislations intent.

Theresa Howell, a member of One PA, said the 30-day grace period for landlords thats currently in the legislation is already too much.

I had to deal with an infestation of rats, raccoons, leaks, mold, and a child in my home ended up with lead poisoning, she said. To have to survive for 30 days seems unreasonable. These bills are the bare minimum.

But ORourke may need to make further adjustments to the legislation to win over some of his colleagues before final passage.

Councilmember Curtis Jones Jr., a Democrat who represents parts of Northwest and West Philadelphia, voted to pass the legislation out of committee Monday, but indicated the bills need further changes before the full Council votes.

We believe in the character of our member and that he is earnest in his willingness to work with the other lobbyists and the other organizations to come up with reasonable amendments, Jones said. He then addressed ORourke directly, adding: We want to hold you to that word.
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany, New York has agreed to pay $148 million into a fund to settle claims of clergy and employee sexual abuse in an agreement approved by the committee of sexual abuse survivors.

The amount is part of the dioceses reorganization under its bankruptcy proceedings and must still be approved by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of New York and by a vote of survivors.

The 126 parishes in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany will contribute $50 million of the $148 million, primarily from parish savings. The diocese and its affiliates will cover the remaining $98 million.

The $148 million does not include any contributions from insurance companies. The diocese and survivors committee said they will continue to work in earnest to negotiate with the insurance carriers with the goal of achieving a global settlement. They said they expect that anticipated insurance settlements will fund a substantial portion of the eventual package.

Among the insurers involved are Hartford Insurance and London Market Insurers. The insurers had attempted to object to some of the claims but a judge ruled they have no standing to do so because they have no financial stake in them since they have denied liability.

The diocese and the committee of survivors said they are also continuing to work on agreements on child protection protocols that will strengthen the protocols already in place.

The final plan will establish an independent claims reviewer who will review the claims and determine payments to individual survivors.

The diocese filed for Chapter 11 protection in March, 2023. By that time it faced a total of 440 claims under the Child Victims Act which extended the deadline for victims of abuse as children to bring suit. The church said it depleted its self-insurance fund settling about 50 of those claims.

In a statement to survivors and the Catholic community, Bishop Mark OConnell said:

As the Bishop of Albany, I want to say a clear and unnuanced statement of guilt on the part of the diocese in its handling of our predator priests and others within the diocese. It is a shameful chapter in our history and no monetary settlement such as the one reached today will erase the pain caused to survivors. On behalf of the Diocese of Albany, I apologize and promise to be exceedingly diligent in my time in Albany to prevent anything like this occurring again.

This settlement marks a significant step towards the conclusion of this bankruptcy case and closure for all survivors who have lived with this pain throughout their lives, said John Ciota and Rick Salamone, co-chairs of the committee of survivors.

The geographical region of the diocese covers the upstate New York counties of Albany, Columbia, Delaware, Fulton, Greene, Montgomery, Otsego, Rensselaer, Saratoga, Schenectady, Schoharie, Warren and Washington as well as a portion of southern Herkimer.
The European Commission was hit by a cyberattack that may have resulted in the theft of internal data, months after another incident potentially exposed some staff details.

The European Unions executive arm experienced a breach on March 24, a spokesman said. The attack struck the commissions Amazon Web Services account before being detected and blocked. An internal investigation is ongoing to establish the extent of the breach, he said.

I can confirm that the commission discovered a cyber-attack, which affected part of our cloud infrastructure, spokesman Thomas Regnier said. The commissions internal systems were not affected by the cyber-attack.

Government agencies are increasingly under attack by hackers and nation-state bad actors. In the EU, public administration networks have emerged as one of the biggest targets, accounting for 38% of incidents, according to Enisas annual threat report. Hans De Vries, chief cybersecurity and operations officer at the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity, commented on the earlier breach in a panel conversation at the RSA cybersecurity even in San Francisco on Tuesday. Every organization has incidents, he said. So do we.

In January, the commission detected another incident that may have exposed limited staff contact details. At the time the EU said it would review the security of its systems and take additional precautions if needed.

Amazon Web Services said the hack was the result of compromised account credentials, not a breach of Amazons systems. AWS did not experience a security event, and our services operated as designed, a company spokesperson said in an emailed statement.

The incident was first reported by cybersecurity blog Bleeping Computer, which said that the person responsible for the hack reached out claiming to have stolen more than 350 gigabytes of data.

The attack also follows a security incident affecting a high-ranking commission official. Earlier this month, someone uploaded an intercepted WhatsApp call between the official and a Politico journalist onto YouTube. Both Politico and the commission later said that their devices and networks showed no evidence of being compromised.

Cloud-focused attacks, especially from nation-states, are soaring and artificial intelligence has boosted the speed they move, according to CrowdStrikes 2026 Global Threat Report released last month. In one of the worst cloud data breaches in recent years, a 2024 attack on Snowflake Inc. exposed the personal information of millions of people, including customers of Ticketmaster LLC, AT&T Inc. and Advance Auto Parts Inc.

About a third of cloud incidents come from account abuse, where the attackers log in using stolen credentials, CrowdStrike found.

Photograph: The European Commissions headquarters in Brussels; photo credit: Simon Wohlfahrt/Bloomberg

Copyright 2026 Bloomberg.

Topics Cyber Fraud Europe Amazon
This edition of International People Moves details appointments at brokers WTW and Guy Carpenter.

A summary of these new hires follows here.

WTW Makes Structural and Leadership Changes to EMEA Regional Operations

Insurance broker WTW announced structural and strategic changes to the EMEA regional operations of its Insurance Consulting and Technology business.

In response to technological disruption and client demand, dedicated EMEA P&C and EMEA Life businesses have been established to enable deeper expertise, more consistent delivery, and to drive innovation at scale and speed, while creating a stronger platform for sustainable growth.

As part of the restructure, Tim Rourke has been appointed EMEA P&C Leader and Michael Kluttgens takes on the role of EMEA Life Leader within the Insurance Consulting and Technology business.

Rourke brings over 25 years of industry experience to the role and most recently served as UK head of P&C Pricing, Product, Claims and Underwriting in the Insurance Consulting and Technology business. In his new role, Rourke will drive growth, deepen collaboration between EMEA offices and connect WTWs insurance innovation and AI capabilities to the evolving needs of P&C clients across the region.

Kluttgens, previously divisional leader for Northern and Central Europe, takes on the EMEA Life leader role with a strong track record of advising global insurers on M&A and financial reporting. He will focus on strengthening the Insurance Consulting and Technologys Life consulting proposition, supporting clients with advanced analytics, AI enablement and end-to-end technology solutions.

Tammy Richardson, formerly European regional leader for Insurance Consulting and Technology, assumes a broader, critical role in executing the businesss global AI transformation strategy.

Strengthening our P&C and Life leadership reflects the scale of demand for integrated, technology-enabled insurance solutions across EMEA. Tim and Michael bring exceptional client insight, deep industry expertise and proven leadership, commented Frank Schepers, global leader, Insurance Consulting and Technology, WTW.

Together, they will help drive our next phase of growth as we sharpen our focus on the unique needs of our clients and accelerate AI adoption across the insurance value chain, Schepers said.

He went on to thank Richardson for successfully leading the region during the last four years and the central role she has played in the evolution and growth of the business.

In her new position, Tammy will lead in ensuring AI is successfully embedded across the organization, as well as overseeing the development and delivery of transformative client technologies and propositions, he said.

WTWs Insurance Consulting and Technology business specializes in P&C, Life, and Health insurance software and advisory services, harnessing generative and agentic AI. More than 1,700 colleagues in 35 markets help insurers navigate complexity and unlock value across pricing, underwriting, reserving, financial and capital modeling, claims, portfolio management, and regulatory reporting.

***

Guy Carpenter Taps FloodFlashs Bartholomew as Global Head of Parametric Advisory

Guy Carpenter, the reinsurance business of Marsh, announced the appointment of Ian Bartholomew as global head of Parametric Advisory, effective June 1, 2026.

Based in London, he will report to David Lightfoot, managing director, Global Analytics and Advisory, Guy Carpenter.

In this role, Bartholomew will work closely with the broking team to drive growth in this emerging area delivering robust parametric solutions for clients.

He joins Guy Carpenter from FloodFlash, a pioneer in parametric flood insurance, where he was Co-Founder and Chief Underwriting Officer. Before founding FloodFlash in 2017, Bartholomew was a senior consultant in the capital markets advisory team at Moodys RMS for five years.

We are excited to welcome Ian as we continue to expand our parametric advisory capabilities. Parametric solutions are an important part of the global risk management ecosystem, providing a transformative approach to risk transfer that is gaining traction across the reinsurance market, Lightfoot commented. Ians extensive expertise and leadership in the design and implementation of parametric solutions will be instrumental for our clients as they seek to adopt these innovative mechanisms.

Topics Flood Leadership
A search for three crew members reported missing after a Thai-flagged cargo vessel was attacked in the Strait of Hormuz earlier this month failed to locate them, according to ships owner.

Mayuree Naree, owned by Bangkok-based Precious Shipping Pcl, was struck on March 11 by Iranian projectiles while transiting the strategic waterway in ballast. Of the 23 crew members on board, 20 were rescued by the Omani navy after abandoning the vessel in a lifeboat. The other three were believed to be trapped in the engine room at the stern, where the ship was hit and a fire broke out.

The ship ran aground on an Iranian island last week, and a search team that boarded the vessel couldnt find the missing crew, Precious Shipping Managing Director Khalid M. Hashim said in a statement on Monday.

The families of the crew members have been informed, Hashim said. The company will liaise with relevant parties and consider further appropriate steps, he added.

Thailand had sought the help of Iranian and Omani authorities in the search and rescue of the vessel. On Saturday, Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said Thailand had secured assurances from Iran allowing its ships to pass through the Strait of Hormuz as the country grapples with fuel shortages. Bangchak, a Thai refiner and retailer, said last week a crude oil had tanker safely transited the strait.

The Strait of Hormuz, a key route for crude and gas shipments, has been largely shut down since the Iran conflict began, triggering a surge in prices and raising fears of supply shortages.

Mayuree Naree is covered by war-risk insurance, and Precious Shipping previously said it does not expect the incident to have a material financial impact or disrupt overall operations at this stage.

Photograph: The damaged Mayuree Naree bulk carrier near the Strait of Hormuz on March 11, 2026; photo credit: Royal Thai Navy/AFP/Getty Images

Related:

Copyright 2026 Bloomberg.
Chinese firms eye bigger EU footprint despite policy uncertainty

Xinhua) 10:29, March 30, 2026

BRUSSELS, March 28 (Xinhua) -- Chinese companies are planning to deepen their presence in the European Union (EU) market despite concerns over regulation and policy uncertainty, according to a report released this week at a forum in Luxembourg.

Released at the 2026 New Quality Productive Forces and Cross-Border Finance Forum in Luxembourg, the report was based on surveys and in-depth interviews with around 100 Chinese enterprises operating across Europe. It was jointly published by the China Chamber of Commerce to the EU, China Economic Information Service Shanghai Headquarters, and Xinhua News Agency's Europe Regional Bureau.

MORE INVESTMENT, GREATER LOCALIZATION

Nearly 80 percent of surveyed Chinese firms said they planned to expand investment in the bloc over the next three years, with around 15 percent saying they would increase investment significantly, the report showed, underscoring Europe's central place in their long-term global strategies.

"Chinese investment in Europe has become increasingly diversified in recent years, spanning 18 industrial sectors," it said. New energy vehicle and auto-parts makers accounted for more than a quarter of the surveyed firms, followed by IT and software services companies and renewable energy businesses.

Speaking at the forum, Suo Peng, minister for trade and economy at the Chinese Mission to the EU, said sectors such as electric vehicles, renewable energy, artificial intelligence and biotechnology were becoming new frontiers for bilateral cooperation.

He called on European financial institutions to provide more long-term capital for technological innovation and urged Brussels to foster an environment conducive to long-term technological breakthroughs and broader sharing of innovation gains.

Suo also called on the EU to seize opportunities in the Chinese market as the country embarks on its 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030), with a commitment to advancing high-standard opening up and fostering a new development paradigm marked by greater market access, a better business environment and enhanced institutional openness.

"China's commitment to green development and digital transformation aligns closely with Europe's strengths, creating fertile ground for long-term, win-win cooperation," Suo said.

The report also showed that Chinese firms are increasingly localizing their operations in Europe, shifting from exporting to Europe to pursuing an "in Europe, for Europe" strategy.

That shift reflects a maturing approach to the European market, said Luigi Gambardella, president of the Brussels-based international digital association ChinaEU. He said at the forum that Chinese firms now need to strengthen not only their industrial footprint but also their institutional engagement in Europe.

As companies move into higher value-added industries, they face more complex regulatory, political and social scrutiny, he noted, adding that investment in public affairs, branding and local communication has become increasingly important.

EU POLICY UNCERTAINTY WEIGHS

Yet the survey also highlighted the pressures faced by Chinese firms in the EU. More than half of respondents cited policy uncertainty as their top concern, ahead of geopolitical risk, market access barriers and cultural differences. More than 72 percent identified greater policy stability and predictability as the most needed improvement.

Among the EU rules and measures seen as having the greatest operational impact were the General Data Protection Regulation, the Foreign Subsidies Regulation, anti-subsidy measures targeting Chinese electric vehicles, and the bloc's batteries regulation.

Jacques Bortuzzo, president of the China-Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce, described the uncertainties created by EU policies as "unfortunate." He called for a more cooperative policy orientation from the EU, so both sides could address shared challenges together, and urged European stakeholders to engage more directly with China to build mutual understanding.

Gambardella said Europe had every right to safeguard its economic security, but warned against a drift toward protectionism. In key sectors, he said, regulated cooperation with Chinese firms could support innovation, competitiveness and the resilience of European value chains.

Suo also pointed to the growing protectionist tendencies in Europe in recent years, citing a range of acts and instruments that have imposed restrictions in areas such as public procurement and greenfield investment, thereby hindering normal China-EU economic and trade cooperation.

He called on the EU to step out of the "small attic" of protectionism, refrain from introducing further restrictive trade measures, and provide Chinese companies with a fair, transparent and predictable business environment.

FINANCE AS A BRIDGE

Luxembourg featured prominently in the discussion as an example of relatively stable financial engagement between China and Europe.

Chinese Ambassador to Luxembourg Hua Ning said the country had played an important role in promoting bilateral economic ties, as it is the largest offshore renminbi clearing center outside Asia and a major platform for listings of Chinese euro-denominated bonds.

He noted that seven major Chinese commercial banks operate in Luxembourg, providing comprehensive financial services for Chinese enterprises expanding into Europe and European businesses entering the Chinese market.

Last year, several Chinese and foreign-funded banks assisted China's Ministry of Finance in issuing 4 billion euros (about 4.62 billion U.S. dollars) of sovereign bonds in Luxembourg for the first time, he said, adding that the next stage of cooperation should focus on improving financial infrastructure and expanding cross-border financial products to support investment in emerging industries.

Luxembourg Finance Minister Gilles Roth also stressed the need to continue cooperation at a time of geopolitical tension, technological change and supply-chain reorganization. Cooperation is no longer optional but necessary in such an environment, he added.

Roth underscored the growing importance of renminbi internationalization, noting that its next phase in Europe should further integrate capital markets, payment systems and sustainable finance.

"Finance will continue to support growth, innovation and stability across borders -- that is in Luxembourg's interest, in Europe's interest, and also in China's interest," Roth said.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
Silver Cross Hospital, based in New Lenox, Illinois, violated federal law when it failed to provide a reasonable accommodation to an employee who requested to be exempt from receiving the COVID-19 vaccine because of her religious beliefs, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit announced today.

According to the EEOCs suit, a certified surgical technologist first requested a religious accommodation from the hospitals COVID-19 vaccine mandate in August 2021 because of her Christian beliefs. The hospital denied her request for an accommodation, and retaliated by terminating her employment in November 2021, even though she could have been accommodated without undue hardship, according to the suit.

Such alleged conduct violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination because of religion as well as retaliation for complaining about it. The EEOC filed the lawsuit (EEOC v. Silver Cross Hospital, Civil Action No. 1:26-cv-3343) in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its administrative conciliation process.

The EEOC seeks monetary damages for the employee, including compensatory and punitive damages, and injunctive relief to prevent such unlawful conduct in the future.

The EEOCs Chicago District Office has jurisdiction over Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa and North and South Dakota, with Area Offices in Milwaukee and Minneapolis.

Source: EEOC

Topics Lawsuits Illinois
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 Israels 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 dont 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.

It was terrifying at times, scary to face a teacher and overwhelming with the attention that came with the publicity. But it taught me the importance of speaking up for what I believe is right, Danielle said Thursday in a statement released by the American Civil Liberties Union and Arab American Civil Rights League.

Michigan has more than 300,000 residents of Middle Eastern or North African descent, second in the U.S. behind California, according to the Census Bureau.

The school district will remove anything from Danielles file that suggests her actions violated school policy, according to the settlement.

Copyright 2026 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Lawsuits Michigan K-12 Education
When Matthew Allan realized nearly $100,000 in Bitcoin was missing from his Coinbase account, he wasnt too worried. He had signed up for Coinbase One, a $29.99 monthly subscription that promised up to $1 million of account protection.

Coinbases response? Allan was out of luck. During five months of back-and-forth with the company, Coinbase maintained that customers are responsible for any activity that occurs on their account, even when those devices or credentials are compromised, according to court records. And Allan wasnt eligible for account protection anyway, the firm said, because he hadnt turned on certain security settings required by the terms and conditions.

Allan sued. The complaint was eventually compelled into private arbitration, and its not clear if he received any compensation for his losses. Even in the context of consumer grievances, his ordeal is revealing: Allan works as the Chief Risk Officer of Intuit Inc., overseeing efforts to protect the financial software giant from fraud and hackers. If he couldnt safeguard his own crypto wallet  or understand the fine print in a warranty program  what chance does anyone else have?

As a growing number of US investors add crypto to their portfolios, theyre discovering that the most novel features of digital money  transfers that are typically immediate, self-directed and irreversible  are also a real security risk. If an online hacker or a real-world thief can siphon tokens out of a crypto wallet, theyre gone instantly, with very little recourse. And where banks can tout the protection of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and brokerages have a similar backstop, theres no equivalent for crypto wallets or exchanges.

For anxious investors, a growing number of firms, including Coinbase and Crypto.com, and third parties like underwriters affiliated with Lloyds of London, have started selling peace of mind through supplementary criminal insurance or warranties that broadly promise restitution in the event of an attack. Yet a careful reading of the contractual terms and claims processes of some of these products suggests customers have far less account coverage than they may think  if they have any at all.

Part of the problem is that the whole crypto ecosystem is built to move with as little institutional intervention as possible, says Dmitry Tokarev, founder of Bron Labs, which sells secure wallet services to crypto investors. Crypto exchanges and wallets have a much higher tolerance for transactions that traditional banks might flag as unusual; users retain more control over their finances but also carry much more risk and responsibility.

Before more universal insurance protections make sense, account security needs to improve to the point where irrespective of how many guns are pointing to a persons head, they cannot give up their crypto, Tokarev says. Nobodys robbing people in the middle of the night to ask them to transfer $100 million out of their J.P. Morgan Private Bank, because they know they cant.

As it is, thefts are rising. More than $2.7 billion in crypto was stolen in 2025 through hacks of major services and large wallets, according to researcher Chainalysis, up 22% from the year before. The threats are getting larger and more consistent, says Harry Denley, who leads threat intelligence at crypto-wallet provider MetaMask. We have less technical people jumping into crypto, and we cant expect them to be security experts.

One of the first attempts to sell protection to crypto investors was launched by London-based Nexus Mutual in 2019. It sells insurance-like coverage for hacks or other threats. Roughly 80% of its 9,000 members are retail investors, says founder Hugh Karp, and its paid out more than $18 million of claims for incidents ranging from smart-contract hacks to the FTX fiasco.

Retail users are buying coverage because theres still a chance they could lose all of the value of their positions, Karp said. There could be a bug in the code and all the money is gone. In traditional finance, generally the money doesnt disappear fully like that.

Crypto.com offers a measure of account protection for customers, provided they set up an anti-phishing code and take other steps to help secure their accounts. If they still experience an unauthorized incursion, the trading site promises up to $1 million in compensation. The company declined to say whether any claims have been filed or settled.

Perhaps the most popular program, though, is whats offered by Coinbase Global Inc.  the same platform where Allans account was drained. He didnt respond to requests to talk about his experience, and Intuit declined to comment. A Coinbase spokesperson says that matter was resolved nearly three years ago and that its subscription-based account protections do not promise to reimburse every loss involving fraud or coercion. Each claim is evaluated individually under the published terms, the spokesperson says.

Coinbase first introduced its account protection program in 2021. It already had criminal insurance, which generally covers certain losses resulting from corporate server breaches or employee theft. The new service was sold as an upgrade for individuals seeking indemnity against anyone who would fraudulently take over their account. There are other features of the Coinbase One subscription, but advertisements from this period highlighted account protection, promising reimbursement for up to $1M in losses, as well as priority phone support and no-fee trades.

Signing up  and paying  didnt automatically make customers eligible for the protections. An 1,800-word subsection in Coinbases 2021 legal agreement for US users detailed the rules and limits of the warranty. For example: Subscribers had to submit photo identification and register for two-factor authentication through an approved security method other than receiving an SMS code. Filing a claim required a local police report and compliance with an additional Coinbase investigation and confidentiality about any possible reimbursements. Many kinds of account hacks were excluded, including losses due to a security vulnerability in your computer or being deceived by a phishing scam and unwittingly granting a third party access to your account.

Less than three years later, the company replaced its original account protection program, though existing subscribers retained their original coverage. Its new program offers much lower coverage limits  up to $1,000 for $4.99 a month; up to $10,000 for $29.99 a month; up to $250,000 for $299.99 a month  and stipulates that protection only applies to outbound Digital Asset Transfer cryptographically signed exclusively by Coinbase. The Coinbase spokesperson says the updated warranty provides more value to its members.

Coinbase users have signed up in droves. In its most recent financial statement, the company reported nearly 1 million paid subscriptions. Owen Lau, an analyst from Clear Street, estimates the company generated about $285 million from Coinbase One last year  roughly 4% of its overall revenue and, critically, a steady flow of cash during unpredictable gyrations of the crypto economy and trading activity.

The terms of Coinbases protection product were tested in 2023, after a North Carolina customer suffered a horrific home invasion. Targeting the Bitcoin and Ethereum in the mans Coinbase account, robbers broke into his home, severely beat his wife, then forced him at gunpoint to give them access to his account on his iMac, according to a criminal complaint. They then took over at the computer and successfully initiated crypto transfers worth $156,000.

Court records indicate Coinbase ultimately reimbursed the couple for the attack, but its unclear why. Coinbases general criminal insurance doesnt cover losses if a user is forced to authorize transactions under duress, and its premium warranties only loosely define what would count as an unauthorized crypto transfer eligible for coverage. For other Coinbase One subscribers, theres no guarantee that a similar assault in the future would prove eligible for reimbursement.

Coinbase says it doesnt comment publicly on how its warranty may or may not apply to a particular customer loss. Reimbursement to any particular customer does not necessarily require that the loss fell within the scope of either Coinbases crime insurance or the Coinbase One account protection warranty, a company spokesperson says. On rare occasions, Coinbase may, at its sole discretion, reimburse a loss even if it is not contractually obligated to do so.

Other crypto firms continue to experiment with various insurance-like products. In December, for example, crypto wallet MetaMask introduced a $9.99 monthly service called Transaction Shield, which is designed to evaluate the security risk in any potential transaction. If MetaMask gives the go-ahead, the subscriber is guaranteed against losses of up to $10,000 across up to 100 transactions per month. But it doesnt apply to all blockchains or coins; only about 55% of the transactions users make are covered as of now, according to Zhen Chen, who leads the program.

If we say that a transaction is safe, then it will be safe for you, Chen said. MetaMask has received several claims and is evaluating them.

Chen likened his companys product to AppleCare  a limited warranty, rather than full-on insurance. For customers, the difference can be slippery. In the case of the North Carolina couple, the male victim described in court his $29.99 Coinbase One subscription as providing insurance, despite the fact that the terms have a section detailing how the warranty is specifically not insurance. The account protection service does not provide reimbursements for many types of losses that insurance is meant to cover, the terms state, and encourage users to acquire a separate third-party insurance policy for fortuitous events.

Furthering the confusion, the criminals who attacked the couple were later ordered by a judge to pay restitution, including $156,000 to Coinbase to replace the money it had reimbursed to the victims. In filings, the criminals are ordered to pay a California-based entity named Coinbase Insurance.

A spokesperson for the exchange says this was a mistake: The references to Coinbase Insurance are in error.

Copyright 2026 Bloomberg.

Topics Fraud
Several US airports advised travelers on Saturday to arrive at least four hours before their flights because of long security lines even after President Donald Trump said Transportation Security Administration workers would be paid by tapping funds from his 2025 tax and spending bill.

The Department of Homeland Security shutdown continues with no end in sight, with Congress having left for a two-week break after failing to agree Friday on a spending measure. Airports in Atlanta and Baltimore issued the four-hour warnings while Houston warned of much longer than usual waits.

We have not previously experienced checkpoint wait times similar to what we are seeing this morning. Travelers most impacted are those departing from Concourses A, B and C. pic.twitter.com/y5mxtlrcbs  BWI Marshall Airport (@BWI_Airport) March 28, 2026 If you are traveling today or tomorrow, please arrive to the airport 4 hours early.

House Republicans on Friday rejected bipartisan Senate legislation to end a partial government shutdown and fund most of DHS. Instead, they held a late Friday night vote on a stopgap spending package that would have funded the department  including Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement  until May 22. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer has made clear that such a measure is dead on arrival without new policies to restrict Trumps immigration crackdown.

Trump signed a memo Friday directing TSA personnel to be paid as he tried to alleviate disruptions at US airports, but it remains unclear how much it will do to improve wait times at security checkpoints, which have varied widely at different airports.

The memo would cover back pay and paychecks going forward, according to the Office of Management and Budget, but TSA workers remained skeptical about what would be delivered.

Were supposed to get our back pay, only nothing continuing on, said Jill DeJanovich, a TSA worker and the Nevada union representative, in an interview with Christina Ruffini and David Gura on Bloomberg This Weekend. While we are thankful and were grateful that we will supposedly be getting that, its really just a temporary Band Aid, because were not going to be paid from here on out. Its just our back pay. So essentially, were just resetting the clock.

The memo doesnt cite the specific source of funding. Federal law gives Congress the power of the purse, which means the president may lack the legal authority to unilaterally authorize pay.

Trumps memo directed DHS and the White House budget office to use funds that have a reasonable and logical nexus to agency operations to provide employees who have worked without pay with the compensation and benefits that would have accrued to them if not for the shutdown.

Theres is no sign that the Senate plans to return to Washington before the end of its two-week recess to vote on the House-passed stopgap, leaving the funding debate in a stalemate.

Photo: Travelers wait in line at a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) checkpoint at John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) in New York on March 27, 2026. Photographer: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg

Copyright 2026 Bloomberg.

Topics Aviation
Bank of America agreed to pay $72.5 million to settle a civil lawsuit brought by women who accused the bank of facilitating their sexual abuse by Jeffrey Epstein, court records showed on Friday.

Lawyers for the bank and the women had told Manhattan-based U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff this month that they had reached a settlement in principle, but terms of the deal were not disclosed at the time.

The settlement requires Rakoffs approval. The judge scheduled a court hearing for Thursday to consider approving the deal.

The proposed class action, filed in October by a woman using the pseudonym Jane Doe, accused the second-largest U.S. bank of ignoring suspicious financial transactions related to Epstein despite a plethora of information about his crimes because it valued profit over protecting victims.

Bank of America has said Doe alleged merely that it provided routine services to people who at the time had no known links to Epstein, and that any suggestion that it was more deeply involved was threadbare and meritless.

Rakoff ruled in January that Bank of America must face Does claims that it knowingly benefited from Epsteins sex trafficking and obstructed enforcement of the federal Trafficking Victims Protection Act. Among the transactions Doe flagged were payments to Epstein by Apollo Global Managements billionaire co-founder, Leon Black.

Black stepped down as Apollos chief executive in 2021 after a review by an outside law firm found he had paid Epstein $158 million for tax and estate planning.

Black has denied wrongdoing and said he was unaware of Epsteins criminal conduct.

Does lawyers have also sued other alleged enablers of Epsteins sex trafficking, and in 2023 reached settlements of $290 million with JPMorgan Chase and $75 million with Deutsche Bank on behalf of his accusers.

The lawyers are also appealing Rakoffs dismissal in January of a similar lawsuit they brought against Bank of New York Mellon.

Epstein died in a Manhattan jail cell in August 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. His death was ruled a suicide by New York Citys medical examiner.

Topics Lawsuits
A school bus crash in west Tennessee on Friday killed two students and injured at least seven other people, officials said.

The crash involving a Tennessee Department of Transportation dump truck, a Chevrolet Trailblazer and the school bus took place at about noon on Highway 70 in Carroll County, said Maj. Travis Plotzer, a spokesperson for the Tennessee Highway Patrol. Plotzer said details of the crash were still being sorted out, but it appeared that the transportation department dump truck did not contribute to the crash itself.

Plotzer said there were a total of 25 students and five adults on the bus. The school bus was carrying students and employees from Kenwood Middle School in Clarksville for a field trip to Jackson, Tennessee, the Clarksville-Montgomery County School System said in a statement. The cause of the crash was under investigation.

Plotzer announced the deaths of two students in the crash during a news conference. Officials said at least seven other people were taken by air ambulance to hospitals in Tennessee. The nature of their injures was not immediately disclosed. Plotzer called the crash a parents worst nightmare.

The schools principal, Karen Miller, said counselors will be available starting Monday. In a written message to families shared on Facebook, she called the crash an unimaginable tragedy and encouraged parents to be attentive to their childs emotional needs as they process the deaths of their classmates.

Please continue to pray with us for our students, families, faculty, and staff, Miller wrote. I am grateful for the strength of our Kenwood community, and I trust we will all support each other during this difficult time.

Four people were taken to Monroe Carell Jr. Childrens Hospital at Vanderbilt in Nashville and were in stable condition Friday, according to a Vanderbilt Health spokesperson.

Another 19 people were taken to Baptist Memorial Hospital-Carroll County, said Kim Alexander, a spokesperson for Baptist Memorial Health Care. All were evaluated and released, though it was unclear how many actually were injured, she said.

The crash was the latest fatality incident involving school buses in Tennessee. In 2022, the National Transportation Safety Board renewed its call for lap and shoulder belts on new school buses, after a bus collided with a utility truck, killing the bus driver and a 7-year-old girl and injuring four other students. Tennessee is among several states that do not require seat belts, although the legislature in 2018 set aside $3 million to reimburse school districts for adding seatbelts to new buses or retrofitting older buses.

Photo: A medevac helicopter crew loads a victim for the flight to a hospital on Friday. (WBBJ-TV via AP)

Copyright 2026 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics K-12 Education
Separate natural gas explosions in January 2024 that destroyed two homes in Jackson, Mississippi resulted from underground pipes pulling loose from their fittings as spongy clay soil expanded and contracted with rainfall, according to a federal report released Thursday.

The first explosion killed Clara Barbour, 82.

The National Transportation Safety Board found that the natural gas utility in the city, Dallas-based Atmos Energy Corp., had detected the leaks before the explosions, but didnt evaluate them as severe enough for quick repair. The board also found that Atmos didnt do enough to assess risks and make repairs to its pipeline system and didnt do enough to educate the public or emergency officials about how to respond to natural gas leaks. It urged regulators to take a closer look at the company.

Atmos has had significant safety shortfalls in recent years, the board wrote Thus, Atmoss multistate operations require broader oversight.

Company spokesperson Bobby Morgan said safety remains our highest priority.

We will work diligently in the coming days and weeks to evaluate the findings as part of our ongoing safety efforts to further our vision to be the safest provider of natural gas services, Morgan said in a statement.

The company distributes natural gas in Colorado, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia.

One explosion and fire in south Jackson on Jan. 24 killed the elderly woman Barbour and slightly injured her husband, Johnny Barbour. Three days later and three-quarters of a mile (1.1 kilometers) away, another explosion leveled one home and burned a neighboring home. No one was injured there.

Investigators found that in both cases, gas pipes feeding the homes had pulled loose from their couplings as soil expanded and contracted, allowing dangerous levels of gas to build up, setting the stage for the explosions.

Much of the Jackson area is built atop a soil layer known as Yazoo clay that expands in wet weather and contracts in times of drought. Besides causing building foundations to crack and roadways to heave, the expansion and contraction can cause pipes to disconnect, and the pipe couplings that an Atmos predecessor installed are not resistant to pulling out, the board found. Investigators recommended that Atmos find and replace all those couplings.

The leak at the Barbour home had been detected Nov. 17, 2023, after the homeowner smelled an odor compound that is inserted into methane gas. An Atmos technician declared the leak nonhazardous, meaning Atmos might not repair it for a year or more. The leak at the second home was detected Dec. 1, but Atmos evaluated it as even less hazardous, scheduling it for repair within three years.

The report indicates the company re-evaluated leaks in Jackson following the explosion and found others that were more serious than initially reported.

The safety board faulted Atmos for not doing more to identify threats posed by expansive soils, noting regulators had been warning about the issue since 2008 and that the NTSB identified expansive soils as a factor in a 2018 Atmos explosion in Dallas that killed one and injured four.

Investigators said Atmos had different safety procedures in different states and that if stricter state rules in Kansas had been followed in Mississippi, the explosions could have been prevented.

Atmoss siloed state operations, including leak monitoring procedures that differed by state, demonstrate that Atmos has not applied lessons learned in one state to the other states it operates in, the board wrote.

Photo: The aftermath of the Jan. 24, 2024 explosion. (Vickie D. King/Mississippi Today via AP)

Copyright 2026 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Mississippi
More than 100 homeowners have charged in a lawsuit that officials in Sarasota County, Florida, failed to maintain a dike for years, allowing Hurricane Debbys floodwaters to inundate homes throughout an upscale subdivision.

Engineering modeling analysis has confirmed that without the breach of the Cow Pen Slough dike, there would have been no flooding of the interior of the homes in Laurel Meadows, reads the lawsuit complaint, filed this month in Sarasota County Circuit Court.

Hurricane Debby grazed the western flank of the Florida peninsula in August 2024, deluging some areas with as much as 17 inches of rain over a three-day period, the suit notes. Some homes in the Laurel Meadows subdivision saw as much as 24 inches of water inside, causing extensive damage to drywall, floors, fixtures, appliances and belongingsand forcing residents to move out temporarily.

While the subdivision is near a group of lakes, it had never experienced such flooding before, the complaint alleges.

Although major storm events have, at times, flooded the streets in Laurel Meadows, the homes within that subdivision had never suffered interior flood intrusion as a result of those major storm events, prior to August 4, 2024, the suit reads.

It was all because county crews failed to repair a dike surrounding Cow Pen Slough, a drainage canal owned by the county, the homeowners attorneys claimed in the suit. Sarasota Countys environmental utility staff noted the breach in the dike three weeks after the hurricane made landfall. But examination of LIDAR (light detection and ranging) measurements showed the breach had existed at least since 2018. Statements from county workers suggest the breach may have been there for decades.

A subsequent engineering firm analysis of the landscape showed that without the Cow Pen Slough dike breach, the homes would not have been flooded, the complaint argues.

The suit charges negligence by the county, and inverse condemnation, or a taking of the value of the homes without formal eminent domain proceedings. The county had a duty to maintain the dike and officials knew, or should have known, of the breach in the dike along the Cow Pen Slough, it reads.

The county has not yet answered the complaint.

The suit does not indicate the number of homes in the subdivision that carried flood insurance, nor does it indicate nor the impact that residential development may have had on flood levels.

Photo: Part of the Laurel Meadows subdivision after Hurricane Debby flooded the area. (AdobeStock)

Topics Catastrophe Natural Disasters Flood Hurricane Homeowners
A 120-year-old Hawaii dam that reached worrisome levels during heavy rains and devastating flooding, prompting thousands of residents to evacuate for fear of life-threatening failure last week, will soon be taken over by the state.

The states land board on Friday voted to acquire certain irrigation lands from Dole Food Co., clearing the way for the state to take over the aging dam and move forward on at least $20 million in repairs and an expansion of the spillway.

Related: The Scope of Damage From Hawaiis Floods Becomes Clearer

The earthen structure was built in 1906 to increase sugar production for the Waialua Agricultural Co., which eventually became a subsidiary of Dole Food Co. It was reconstructed following a collapse in 1921.

Dole is proud to transfer this vital resource to the State of Hawaii at no cost, ensuring its continued use and stewardship in support of agriculture and the broader community, the company said in a statement after the vote.

The Wahiawa Dam north of Honolulu is a high hazard because its failure would likely have fatal consequences, the state Department of Land and Natural Resources wrote in recommending approval.

Residents worry the dam will fail during each substantial rain, said Kathleen Pahinui, who a week ago was among the 5,500 people ordered to evacuate from two communities on Oahus North Shore, famous for big-wave surfing. Evacuation orders were lifted Saturday when water receded.

State control has long been supported by the governors office, lawmakers, neighbors and farmers, making Fridays vote a foregone but welcome development, Pahinui said before the vote.

Pahinui, a neighborhood board chairperson, had submitted testimony in support of the plan. Officials also heard testimony from a farming advocate who reminded the board about the dams importance to crops and a resident who urged the board to act quickly.

State ownership of the dam will go a long way toward reassuring the community, Pahinui said, but residents will be keeping close tabs to ensure repairs and improvements are made.

Waters rose quickly as heavy rains fell in the most recent storm, adding to already saturated earth from other recent downpours.

Gov. Josh Green said the cost of the storm could top $1 billion, including damage to airports, schools, roads, homes and a Maui hospital. He called it the states most serious since flooding since 2004.

Cleaning up from thick mud that oozed into homes and raging waters that lifted houses and vehicles could take years, Pahinui said.

The state has sent Dole four notices of deficiency about the dam since 2009, and five years ago it fined the company $20,000 for failing to address safety deficiencies on time, according to records.

Dole Chief Legal Officer Jared Gale told the land board Friday fines were for missed deadlines for submitting paperwork and not related to maintenance. Dole has maintained the dam and spillway very well over the years, he said.

Dole proposed to donate the dam, reservoir and ditch system to the state in exchange for an agreement to repair the spillway to meet and maintain dam safety standards.

Prior to the vote board member Wesley Kaiwi Yoon expressed reservations about the deal, including whether the state can bear the costs and Doles history of plantation-era colonization.

If the state is going to endure this and partner with Dole, who again has a checkered past and issue with its Native community and what its done to aina over time, its very difficult to be so nonchalant about this issue, he said, using the Hawaiian word for land.

Yoon ultimately was the only board member to vote against the land acquisition.

Dole consultant Trisha Kehaulani Watson-Sproat told the board that as a Native Hawaiian who grew up near the dam, she believes state takeover is the best way forward. The alternative would be Dole decommissioning the dam, she said.

I call it the decolonizing of this watershed system, she said.

Copyright 2026 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Flood
Identity, culture and storytelling are the themes of This Is Ireland, the new exhibition at Cork County Councils LHQ Gallery on the Carrigrohane Road. It features the work of 16 artists with disabilities, all of whom are involved with Crawford Supported Studio, a partnership between Crawford Art Gallery and MTU Crawford College of Art and Design, with support from Cork City Council.

The Supported Studio group convenes twice a week at the MTU building on the Grand Parade. Our aim is to meet the artists where theyre at, says Emma Klemencic, who leads the project, and lend them encouragement in making their artwork.

The Crawfords supported studio initiative was inspired by the late Hermann Marbe, who worked as a nurse at the Cope Foundation at the John Birmingham Day Care Centre in Glasheen, where he established the Glasheen Art Studio Programme (GASP) in 2009.

Hermann worked with people he saw had a creative drive or an interest, says Klemencic. He would bring groups into the Crawford Art Gallery, and he was such a persistent personality that we ended up offering a residency at the gallery to some of those who were making art. We found their work really exciting.

The late Hermann Marbe helped inspire the Supported Studio project at Crawford.

Marbe worked tirelessly to ensure that the GASP artists had access to training, and could exhibit their work and be taken seriously as artists. Sadly, he became unwell, dying in May 2018. His passing coincided with the closure of Cuig (Creativity Unlimited Integrated Group), another initiative that had provided studio space and training to artists with disabilities at Mayfield Arts Centre.

That was when the Crawford Art Gallery stepped in. We felt that there were all these artists who'd been making art for over a decade, exhibiting their work and doing exciting stuff, and that should be supported and continued. So we established the Crawford Support Studio. The whole thing is based in the heart of the city, so were very much a legacy project.

The artists involved have since participated in any number of group exhibitions, open studio events and collaborative projects with other organisations, including Observations in Print, an exhibition with Cork Printmakers at the MTU Gallery in 2021, and Reconnection, an exhibition curated by KCAT Studio Artists and the Powerhouse Gallery in Kilkenny in 2024.

Crawford Supported Studio member Stephen Murray at work on one of his paintings. Picture: Clare Keogh

Anne Boddaert, a senior curator at the Crawford Art Gallery, was invited to curate the new exhibition at LHQ. It was Anne who suggested the title, says Klemencic.

After visiting the studio and seeing the work, she said, theres a lot of Irish themes coming out here. Ide Ni Shuilleabhain was drawing the members of Kneecap having pints in the pub, for instance. She was also looking at Irish traditions, like the mummers with their straw hats. And Katie Whelan is interested in fairy stories and myths and happy endings, so she made a painting of the Children of Lir.

The title is also a little nudge to the fact that the artists are all Irish citizens. Weve had two major exhibitions at the Crawford  Perceptions and Outside In  that featured disabled artists, selected here and internationally. But all the work in this new show is by Irish artists.

The group are nothing if not diverse, both in terms of their disabilities and their art making. Yvonne Condon, for instance, has experienced significant barriers because she has a vision impairment, is hearing impaired and has learning differences. But she makes these incredible portraits, painting on card, and often completes them in ten minutes.

A work by Ide Ni Shuilleabhain in the This Is Ireland exhibition.

Some of the group have various awards and other accolades to their credit. Tom OSullivan is a gentle giant of a man who has been working in support studio settings for 17 years by now.

He was awarded the Visibility Bursary last year from Cork City Council, which is for an artist facing significant barriers and progressing in their career. And he's been awarded a Visual Artist Bursary again this year.

MTU Crawford College of Art is now running a pilot programme that allows the studio support artists to become students at MTU for a year and receive a third level qualification.

Our artists are a diverse crew, and not everyone is interested, says Klemencic, but at present there are five working towards that. Theyre really excited about being students at MTU, being on the campus and being part of college life, rather than being in a separate educational setting. They can visit the library, and they have access to facilities like the ceramics studio.
Actor and former governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger spoke of the breakthrough he experienced in Belfast as he was presented with an honorary degree.

Schwarzenegger, 78, said it was unbelievable to be back in the city where he had his first taste of public speaking, 60 years after his first visit.

The Austrian-born star received the honorary doctorate from Ulster University in recognition of his contributions to public service, environmental advocacy, and the arts.

He arrived to a red carpet welcome, as students cheered and held signs reading Ulster hes back and Hasta La Vista Ulster, while some brought copies of his movie Terminator 2.

The actor first visited the city for a bodybuilding competition in 1966, when the sport was in its infancy, and years before his acting debut in the 1970 film Hercules in New York.

He told the students on arrival his trip is kind of a 60-year anniversary.

So I came here, I was invited by Ivan Dunbar, this Irish man, I think his family is here he passed away Im sad to say, but thats where my beginning was, in Ireland, in Belfast.

And its wonderful to be back in Northern Ireland and to kind of get to see, this is not something that I dreamt of when I was 19-years-old, when I was here 60 years ago, that one day I will be coming here to get an honorary doctorate degree, its unbelievable.

Arnold Schwarzenegger after receiving his honorary doctorate at Ulster University in Belfast. Picture: Liam McBurney/PA Wire

Students lined the atrium in the university to listen to Schwarzeneggers speech and cheered as he turned to hold up his award.

In his speech he said that in that 1966 competition in Northern Ireland his body building idol Roy Reg Park encouraged him to speak on stage to the crowd.

So I walked over to the microphone, thinking he wants me to do another muscular shot, or something like that, no, he asked me a question, he said.

He said, how do you like it here? and Im now almost fainting, because Ive never, ever spoken in public before, and we dont have to tell you the fear that we all have of public speaking, so to me, I had this always, I had almost a heart attack.

He added: So then (Reg) said to me, says, Okay, tell them, I like Belfast. So I said, I like Belfast again, standing ovation, everyone jumping up, you gave me great applause.

Then he says, tell him that youre going to be back and then I said, I come back  at that time, I didnt say Ill be back that was before Terminator  so I said, I come back.

So anyway, standing ovation, he said thank you very much, that was fantastic, the first time you spoke in public, you did such a great job and your English is great and all this stuff.

And then afterwards I left, I said to myself, oh my God, I thought Im going to die when I speak in front of people, but this was the most encouraging audience.

Arnold Schwarzenegger signs his autograph to drawings Simon Aldworth created of him 40 years ago. Picture: Liam McBurney/PA Wire

So what Im saying is what happened that day in Belfast was so important to me, because every single time afterwards, when I won a competition, I went to the microphone and said thank you very much for making me the winner, being Mr Universe, its great to be in London, or its great to be New York, or wherever it was and I thanked the audience, and said, thank you fans for being so enthusiastic.

And I said a few words, and each time I said, more and more and more, they eventually couldnt shut me up.

I love talking so much in public, so this is what Im talking about, this was a breakthrough.

I always tell people about that breakthrough that happened here in Belfast.

This is why I have such fond memories of Belfast, and this is why it is so great to be back now.

Arnold Schwarzenegger shakes the hand of chancellor of the Ulster University Colin Davidson after receiving his honorary doctorate. Picture: Liam McBurney/PA

Following a ceremony to present the honorary degree, Schwarzenegger answered questions from broadcaster Holly Hamilton, where he encouraged students not to waste a minute, just study and study and study.

Because while youre wasting a minute, someone else is going to study and you want to make sure that you are ahead of everyone else, he said.

The world is a very competitive place, and I want you to succeed, and I want you to create a vision and have a goal.

Dancers performed a Terminator-themed Irish traditional dance routine, donning sunglasses with the famous single red eye.

Following the ceremony Schwarzenegger then met with Sandra Weir, one of the women featured in a picture of the young bodybuilder on his first visit to Belfast 60 years ago.

Reminiscing on her first meeting with a 19-year-old Schwarzenegger, Ms Weir said: He was very, very easy to talk to, you know and he was gabbling away and everything, we didnt know what he was saying.

She said the pair had a good laugh during their brief reunion on Monday, saying he was in good form, good form then and even good form now.

Schwarzenegger also met with 91-year-old Eric Downing, a natural bodybuilder from Belfast and the daughter of Ivan Dunbar, the man he stayed with on that first visit 60 years ago.

Before leaving, he signed a poster and a childhood drawing done by a member of the security staff at Ulster University.

Simon Aldworth said it was a lifetime dream to meet the Terminator star, saying you can actually see that my hands are shaking.
The deaths of three Indonesian peacekeepers in Lebanon in 24 hours could constitute war crimes, the UN's peacekeeping force in the country has said.

UNIFIL said that two Indonesian peacekeepers on its mission in south Lebanon were killed when an explosion of unknown origin destroyed their vehicle near Bani Hayyan.

The UNIFIL statement added: A third peacekeeper was severely injured, and a fourth was also hurt. This is the second fatal incident in the last 24 hours. We reiterate that no one should ever have to die serving the cause of peace.

"We extend our sincerest condolences to the family, friends, and colleagues of those brave peacekeepers who gave their lives in service of peace. Our thoughts and hopes for a full and fast recovery are also with the injured. We have launched an investigation to determine what happened.

UNIFIL said it reiterates the urgent need for all actors to uphold their obligations under international law and to ensure the safety and security of UN personnel and property at all times, including avoiding any actions that may put peacekeepers in danger.

It said that such attacks on peacekeepers could constitute war crimes, saying: Deliberate attacks on peacekeepers are grave violations of international humanitarian law and of Security Council Resolution 1701, and may constitute war crimes.

It added: The human cost of this conflict is far too high. The violence, as we have said before, must end.

Read More Middle East latest: Iran accuses US of plotting ground assault while publicly seeking talks as UN peacekeeper killed

In condemning the attacks on the Indonesian personnel attached to UNIFIL, defence and foreign affairs minister Helen McEntee said: These incidents represent a deeply concerning further escalation and have resulted in the deaths of three peacekeepers and serious injuries to others. My thoughts are with their families, friends and colleagues, and I wish those injured a full and speedy recovery.

She said that soldiers serving under the UN flag do so in pursuit of peace and stability.

She described the two attacks in the past 24 hours as an attack on the very principles of peace, cooperation and international solidarity.

She said she is in daily contact with the Chief of Staff of the Irish Defence Force, adding that all Irish soldiers on the UNIFIL mission are safe and accounted for.

Calling for an end to the violence in the Middle East, she said: There is no military solution to this conflict.
A 49-year-old man has been charged at the Special Criminal Court with the murder of Denis Donaldson, a former member of the Provisional IRA and senior Sinn Fein official who was exposed as an MI5 informant months before he was shot dead in Donegal.

Antoin Duffy, of Braade, Kincasslagh, Co Donegal, appeared before the three-judge, non-jury court having been extradited from Scotland earlier on Monday with the help of the air corps.

He is charged with six offences, including Mr Donaldson's murder and a separate attempted murder of a man named Liam McGinley on November 19, 2007, at Meenaboll, Churchill in Donegal.

Det Garda Adrian Aherne told the court that he arrested Mr Duffy at 1.22pm at Casement Aerodrome in Baldonnell in Dublin. At 2.35pm, Det Garda Aherne said he again met Mr Duffy at the cell area of the Criminal Courts of Justice building and handed him a copy of the charge sheet.

A solicitor for the State applied for an order to have Mr Duffy tried on all six charges at the non-jury court. In relation to the murder and attempted murder charges, the solicitor said the Director of Public Prosecutions had certified that the ordinary courts are not adequate to hear the trial.

Mr Justice Patrick McGrath agreed to make the order.

The court registrar read the charges to Mr Duffy, who spoke only to confirm his identity. He is charged with possession of a shotgun and ammunition with intent to endanger life between April 3 and April 4, 2006, at Cloghercor, Doochary, near the Glenties in Donegal.

On the same date and at the same location, he is charged with Mr Donaldson's murder.

He is further charged with possession of a shotgun and ammunition with intent to endanger life at Churchill in Donegal on November 19, 2007. On the same date and at the same location, he is charged with the attempted murder of Liam McGinley.

Duffy, who is originally from Donegal, has been in prison in Scotland following his conviction there in 2015 for his part in a plot to murder members of the Ulster Defence Association (UDA).

Gardai issued a press release earlier on Monday, saying that members of the Donegal Division investigating Mr Donaldson's murder had arrested a man in his late 40s following his extradition from Scotland.

The arrest was carried out with the assistance of An Garda Siochana Extradition Unit, Garda National Bureau of Investigation, and the air corps.

Denis Donaldson was a former member of the Provisional IRA and a high-ranking Sinn Fein official. He is associated with senior members of the party, including former party president Gerry Adams.

His fatal shooting at the age of 55 has been under investigation for nearly 20 years. In 2002, when Mr Donaldson was Sinn Fein's top administrator working in the Northern Ireland Assembly in Stormont, he was charged with involvement in an alleged spy ring.

Three years later, the charges were dropped and within days, the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) informed Mr Donaldson that he was about to be exposed in the media as an MI5 informer.

Mr Donaldson met with senior republicans and admitted that he had been working for the British intelligence unit, MI5, and the Special Branch unit of the RUC for more than 20 years.

On December 16, 2005, Mr Donaldson held a press conference in Dublin in which he publicly acknowledged his role as a double agent. He removed himself from public life and went to live at an isolated cottage near the Glenties in south-west Donegal, where he was shot dead on April 4, 2006.

The dissident republican organisation, calling itself the Real IRA, later claimed responsibility for the murder
The Garda investigation file has been sent to the DPP in a case where guns, ammunition, and explosives were allegedly discovered at a house in Douglas last November, it was confirmed on Monday.

Sergeant John Kelleher told Cork District Court that the completed Garda file was sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions on March 26 and that directions were awaited.

Judge Mary Dorgan asked the defence if there was consent to longer than a two-week adjournment. Defence barrister Sarah Patton said there was only consent to the fortnights adjournment.

Ms Patton asked the judge to make the adjournment peremptory against the State for directions from the DPP as the accused had been in custody since November 2025. A peremptory adjournment means the case could be struck out if those directions are not available on the next date.

Judge Mary Dorgan said: Absolutely not.

The case against Paul Sheehan, aged 45, of Elm Drive, Shamrock Lawn, Douglas, Cork, was adjourned until April 13.

Detective Garda Anthony Daly said in an earlier outline of the allegations against the accused: He was discovered in possession of illegally held firearms and ammunition on November 4, 2025, in suspicious circumstances at Applegreen Service Station in Mallow.

At Applegreen Service Station on November 4 he was caught red-handed in possession of a .32calibre Beretta semi-automatic pistol, a slide of a 9mm Glock 17 semi-automatic pistol, firearm components, ammunition, and a quantity of cocaine.

"There was evidence of a firearm having being discharged from within the vehicle.

In the search at his home, a large amount of firearms, ammunition, and explosive substances were found, including three pipe bomb bodies. Evidence of the manufacture and alteration of firearms and ammunition was also discovered.

Mr Sheehan faces charges contrary to the Firearms and Offensive Weapons Act, 1990 and one under the Explosive Substances Act of 1883.

Det Garda Daly said the case will be dealt with at the Special Criminal Court.
A man has been charged after a hatchet and spray-paint attack on Collins Aerospace in Cork in the early hours of Monday morning.

He said: These actions were an act of protest in order to prevent loss of life as a result of the actions of Collins Aerospace.

Judge Mary Dorgan noted in dealing with the case on Monday evening that there was a video of an alleged incident at this location circulating on social media.

Garda John Kerins charged Luke Myers, aged 30, of Maple Rd, Ard Na Greine, Milltown, Co Kerry, with causing damage to the premises at Penrose Wharf in Cork on March 30 and being in possession of a hatchet at nearby Ship St.

Garda John Kerins objected to bail and outlined the background to the alleged incident.

On March 30 at 4.20am, gardai were on patrol at Ship St, Cork, when three persons were observed causing damage to a property within Penrose Wharf. The external windows, window frames, and doors to the property had been damaged with spray paint as well as having been hacked with hatchets.

The three males subsequently attempted to flee on pedal cycles. Gardai managed to apprehend one of the suspects, who was identified as Luke Myers.

He was subsequently arrested and detained at Gurranabraher Garda Station. On arrest Luke Myers was found to be in possession of a hatchet and a can of red spray paint.

Further enquiries carried out by gardai confirmed that the property damaged was that of Collins Aerospace, an organisation which has been repeatedly targeted in the past number of months by persons protesting the ongoing conflict in Palestine.

The current quote for the damage, which is not yet confirmed, is 8,000. A complete quote for the damage is currently awaited, said Garda Kerins.

Accused works full time

Solicitor Donal Daly said the accused was working full time in Kerry, had no previous convictions, and the only time he ever appeared in a courthouse was for jury duty.

He asked Garda Kerins if bail conditions and undertakings to stay out of Cork would alleviate prosecution concerns.

Garda Kerins said that they would alleviate concerns.

Mr Daly said Mr Myers had not been threatening or discourteous to gardai in his dealings with them. Garda Kerins agreed with this.

Judge Mary Dorgan said: It is very, very important that law and order in a democracy has to be maintained This is a very serious matter. I would be concerned about matters on social media.

"I would want him not to engage in social media activities and not to associate with the two other individuals who were there on the night. And undertake not to take part in any parade. And undertake not to damage any building.

On those undertakings and related bail conditons, Judge Dorgan granted bail and adjourned the case until May 25.

The accused must also stay out of Cork city and county except for court appearances.

The charges against the 30-year-old state that he did without lawful excuse damage property, namely windows, window frames, and doors while using a hatchet at Collins Aerospace, Penrose Wharf, Penrose Quay, contrary to the Criminal Damage Act and that at Ship St, Cork, he had a hatchet contrary to the Firearms and Offensive Weapons Act.
Almost 21,000 houses will need to be built in Cork City by the end the decade to meet the Governments revised housing growth targets.

Cork City Council now aims to deliver 20,972 units by the end of 2030. Under the city's current development plan, there is an annual target to deliver 2,706 houses per year in Cork City.

However, recent guidelines from government encourages revised development plans to provide a further 50% uplift in housing targets each year, meaning Cork City Council can plan for a further 1,353 houses each year.

The revised growth targets stem from the governments direction to local authorities to zone more land for residential development.

Cork City Council chief executive Valerie OSullivan confirmed in a report that the local authority intends to zone a further 250-280ha of land for residential development. This is alongside the 450ha of land zoned for residential development already within the councils boundaries, which it estimates could deliver between 22,000 and 36,000 new homes.

It is expected that a revised development plan for the city will be completed by the summer.

Minister's instruction

Moves to increase the level of zoned land in Cork come following a request from housing minister James Browne, who instructed all local authorities to revise targets.

Last month, Mr Browne threatened local authorities with serious measures if they do not act quickly to increase the amount of land zoned for housing.

However, as of February, only Mayo and Waterford councils had completed the rezoning process.

This had led to some criticism, with Cork-based developer Michael OFlynn calling for the Government to introduce laws to directly zone land itself and override local authorities.

Im utterly convinced that were not going to fix the zoning issue now, having seen how some local authorities are performing, without the Government taking a direct hand, he said.

Peter Horgan, a Labour councillor for the south-east ward, said that any land rezoned by the council needs to have both deliverability and sustainability built in.

Intentions wont help anyone experiencing homelessness this weekend, we have to ensure that any land rezoned can deliver homes in a fast but sustainable way so that communities are built, Mr Horgan said.
A decision on whether 140 apartments can be built on the site of a notorious Cork mother and baby institution is due in July.

Last month, Cork City Council granted permission to Estuary View Enterprises 2020 to demolish almost a dozen buildings at Bessborough in Blackrock, to make way for the apartments.

Between 1922 and 1998, the Sacred Heart nuns ran Bessborough, and in 2021, the Mother and Baby Homes Commission reported 923 child deaths relating to the institution.

However, with only 64 burial records existing, the commission concluded it was highly likely burials had occurred at Bessborough.

Read More Bessborough plan reawakened trauma of mother and baby home survivors  minister

The Bessborough estate, with its centrepiece the late 18th-century manor, originally covered 200 acres. In the 1970s, the then Cork Corporation compulsorily purchased 140 acres of the lands, which were later developed as Mahon Industrial Park, LoughMahon Technology Park, and Mahon Retail Park, as well as a section of the N40 road.

The 140 apartments granted planning permission are proposed by the same developer behind two previous planning attempts on the site.

The current plans would see the units spread across three blocks, with two blocks comprising a mix of one and two-bedroom apartments. The proposed third block comprised a mix of 47 one and two-bedroom units and one three-bedroom unit.

Separate appeals have been lodged with An Coimisiun Pleanala by the Bessborough Mother and Baby Home Support Group and by Labour Party city councillor Peter Horgan.

In its appeal, the Bessborough group described the site as one of profound national significance, and any groundworks occurring there would risk disturbing human remains.

Mr Horgan, in his appeal, quoted the Bessborough group as previously noting that the site contains a landscape of trauma, loss, and unmarked burials, with survivor testimony indicating burials across the site including the locations of the proposed development.

The planning commission is due to decide on the appeal by July 9.
Gardai have the appropriate technology to respond to any threats from drones on land, the Justice Minister has said as concerns escalate about security ahead of Irelands EU presidency.

The Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI), meeting for their annual conference this week, has raised concerns that with current resources, gardai will be under extreme pressure to effectively police the country during the presidency.

Justice Minister Jim OCallaghan said he has secured an extra 125m for the Gardai specifically for the EU presidency.

He said gardai will be given any resources that they require and will be well prepared to police the presidency.

But concerns were raised after military-style drones were spotted by the navy off Irelands east coast in December during the Ukrainian Presidents planned State visit.

Multiple drones breached a no-fly zone and flew towards the planned flight path of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as he was due to approach Dublin Airport.

The drone incursion is under investigation by the gardais Special Detective Unit.

Mr OCallaghan said he has received briefings on the incident.

I'm very confident that the Gardai have the appropriate technology to respond to any threats that may arise from drones on land where their jurisdiction operates, he said.

Although he said he did not know definitively who was behind the drone incursion, he said he may have suspicions which he would not share.

He accepted that the EU presidency would present a huge policing task for Ireland.

Ireland will assume the Presidency of the Council of the European Union from July 1 to December 31, 2026. The role will involve chairing Council meetings, steering complex negotiations and frequently hosting senior politicians and world leaders.

I've been speaking to the [Garda] Commissioner consistently about it over the past number of months, Mr O'Callaghan said.

I believe the Garda Siochana will be well prepared for it and any resources that they require will be provided.

While in Mayo, Mr O'Callaghan was asked why Martina and Ammi Burke, part of the conservative and well-known evangelical Christian family from the county, had not yet been arrested and jailed for contempt of court.

A warrant was issued for the arrest and jailing of the mother and sister of Enoch Burke on March 4. But they have evaded arrest since.

The warrant for their arrest and imprisonment for two weeks was due to contempt of court after they were "roaring and shouting" at a hearing of Enoch Burke's on February 20, which resulted in the hearing being suspended.

Mr O'Callaghan said that although the Burkes' case was high profile, that should not necessarily mean that it got more garda attention.

"I wouldn't like to see the gardai directing more attention at a case because it's high-profile," Mr O'Callaghan said.

"They have to be able to determine themselves where their priorities are. There are warrants out for the arrest of the two individuals.

"That will be given effect to in due course. Obviously, it's a matter for the gardai to be able to identify where they are, but I believe that the law ultimately will be upheld."

Mr OCallaghan was speaking at the 48th annual conference of the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI).

Some 165 Garda Sergeants and Inspectors will attend this years conference in Westport, Co Mayo, which began today and runs until Wednesday.
Limerick mayor John Moran expected there would be teething problems when he became the first directly elected mayor in the country.

In February came what he described as the lowest point since his election. Mr Moran accused some councillors of being hostile towards him as he detailed what happened during a sevenhour meeting, during which he became unwell.

A corporate plan was ultimately passed in his absence  after already being delayed for 12 months due to internal disagreements in the council chamber.

Publishing the revelations on his website, Mr Moran brought a private meeting into the public eye, a move branded as reflecting badly on Limerick by arts minister Patrick ODonovan, yet welcomed by others, such as junior minister Niall Collins.

I'm a big fan of having public debate. I think that's one of the reasons why I was probably chosen, I'm not subjected to the whip of a party, Mr Moran told the Irish Examiner.

"Limerick is getting a huge amount of international attention, and we need to be able to capitalise on that. But there are, of course, going to be teething problems in any new change."

Mr Moran said holding debates in public was a sign of maturity, which is why he had pushed for council meetings to be recorded and made publicly available  even offering to have the mayoral fund cover the cost.

At the end of the day, the public should be influencing what the outcome is, he said.

Closed-door briefings

The "teething problems" had been growing prior to the corporate plan and mayors blogpost.

There had already been closeddoor briefings (including one where JP McManus addressed councillors amid the controversy surrounding the International Rugby Experience), marathon meetings that ran for hours before being adjourned, and accusations that spilled into local media.

Mayor of Limerick John Moran trying out the new VR headset tech for the Limerick Greenway in Dell, Limerick, last month. Picture: Kieran Ryan-Benson

For Mr Moran, there was no single flashpoint. Instead, he believes the tensions took root from the beginning  the moment an independent candidate won the mayoral election.

He described how a small minority of councillors from two ruling parties, Fianna Fail and Fine Gael, have consistently opposed almost every significant initiative he has brought forward  and how a "strategy" was openly discussed on how to make his role "unbearable".

Things were not going to be the same as before, and that was uncomfortable for a number of people, but inevitable. Thats actually what people voted for, he said.

I could disagree with somebody in any party. If I want to build smart homes and they don't want to, I believe we should have that debate in public.

Review urged

Meanwhile, the Government has been urged to initiate a review of Limericks directly elected mayoral legislation.

Under section 7 of the Local Government and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2024, the Government has to review the effectiveness of the act no later than three years after its establishment.

Last December, private tensions were once again made public as plans for Limericks Christmas market highlighted disagreements between the mayor and the councils director general, Pat Daly.

While Mr Morans focus is on proposing the councils budget and plans from the mayoral programme, such as housing projects, he has to go through the local authority staff resources  with assignments made by Mr Daly.

Limerick mayor John Moran at this year's St Patrick's Day parade with grand marshal, marathon champion Ava Crean. Picture: Karlis Dzjamko

Mr Moran said functions such as planning enforcement actions should remain with someone who is not politically elected.

Thats really important, otherwise, I could be giving planning permissions to all my supporters and refusing planning to those who didn't vote for me if I could find out who they are. The director general retains the responsibility for what I might call the HR function; they organised how the council is set up, he said.

Mr Moran claimed the legislation detailing the mayoral function was confusing. When the mayor wants more resources put onto some area and the director general is saying I haven't got any because I'm using them in another area, that is compounded then.

One of the maddest things that has happened since his election was an unnecessary two-hour conversation to send paperwork to Mr Moran's house when he was away.

I said, Well, can you just have them dropped at my house on the way home from one of the staff members who lives not that far away? They wouldn't do it.

It took my adviser two hours to effectively negotiate a courier to go to the house and what the package would be. Thats just an unnecessary obstacle. We want to be building houses, we want to be building roads.

Housing plans

Nicknamed the "man with the housing plan" during his election campaign, Mr Moran aimed to have 2,000 modular units built in Limerick by the end of his term in 2029  requiring funding of 700m.

However, those ambitions were slashed to just 150 units after the Department of Housing decided to reduce staffing, a move Mr Moran says fundamentally jeopardises the delivery of the programme.

In a letter obtained by the Irish Examiner, Mr Moran says funding was urgently needed to progress these sites in time for the Ryder Cup in 2027. Eleven potential sites had been identified for the smart homes.

I was disappointed, I have to admit this. In the end, they kind of said, We like the concept, but we only want to fund for 150 instead of 2,000. I still think they'll change their mind and they'll be happy to get involved.

He claimed additional pressure will be put on an already troubled market by the time the Ryder Cup takes place in 2027.

Big sporting events are always a great excuse to get stuff done in time, or faster, Mr Moran said.

Were getting the road done, the railway done, the train station in Adare. These wouldn't be happening if we weren't having a Ryder Cup.

But also we know that when the Ryder Cup comes to town, there's going to be a significant increase in the number of people living in Limerick for several months before the Ryder Cup, and even a couple of weeks after.

If we pushed really hard, it would've been possible to have actually delivered maybe 2,000 units by the time the Ryder Cup came into town.

He admits his housing plan unfortunately hasn't moved as fast as he would have liked.

As housing delivery has been so far below Limericks needs, he has announced he will be conducting a review, with cross-party collaboration, into what could be done to speed up delivery.

Hospital site

A 44acre site at Raheen has been selected for a new 14m hospital  Mr Moran believes hospital staff could be housed on adjoining land purchased by the HSE.

Were not going to build all the hospital that we want for the future Limerick in one go. The HSE could say we're going to use half the land for housing and half the land for the hospital.

It would be really helpful for employers to get encouraged to do that type of thing for their staff because it helps us as a State in terms of being able to raise money to build the units if we know that there's actually a long-term use of it.

"Its something that's done by some companies in Dublin.

Despite the myriad controversies, Mr Moran says he has no intentions of stepping down  even though he was advised to walk away amid tensions inside the council.

Since the event, I've detected a real surge of strength. I'm conscious I made promises to deliver a lot of things. I want to make sure that I've done my best to do that and try as hard as I can.

Its like being in a match in a hurling team. When you know you have the supporters behind you, you feel enthused and able to do more.
The Strait of Hormuz is a long way from Ireland  almost 7,000km away. But what goes on there, as we have seen, flows all around the world, even to Ireland.

As the man recently tasked by the Government to get to grips with Irelands maritime security, Robert McCabe is very conscious of the connection.

I think it highlights the critical importance of these choke points for the international supply chain, he says. And when they are implicated, regardless of how that is, the knock-on effects are very, very evident.

Almost immediately weve seen a spike in fuel prices here. In terms of our domestic maritime security, it is important that these supply chains really matter, particularly for an island state. You start to understand that actually we are intrinsically linked to the global system.

He says everything comes to Ireland by sea, so, when the sea is impacted by events, it impacts us.

Earlier this month, Mr McCabe was awarded a contract by the Department of Defence and the Department of Communications to lead the new maritime security research project at the National Maritime College of Ireland (NMCI).

When the Irish Examiner visited him at the college, in Ringaskiddy, Co Cork, he was still finding his feet.

A leading maritime security expert

Mr McCabe's appointment was widely seen as a coup for the Government as the Dubliner is considered one of the leading maritime security experts on these islands.

He left his role as the head of the masters programme on maritime security at Coventry University, the first dedicated course on the area in Ireland and Britain, in order to take up the post.

His new post is a two-year research post at the NMCI, right on the edge of lower Cork Harbour, across from Haulbowline, the headquarters of Ireland's naval service.

Those linkages are already in place as NMCI is a partnership with the naval service and a public-private partnership and became part of the Munster Technological University in 2021, when MTU was established.

The college delivers maritime emergency response training to Irelands emergency services and is a supply chain education centre for the South-West and an internationally recognised centre for maritime research.

Our visit to his office in Cork Harbour came on the eve of the annual NMCI seafarers conference, which brought together industry representatives, third-level education, government departments and their ministers, and various Irish and EU maritime bodies.

Global Insecurity

The job spec for Mr McCabes role clearly sets out his tasks in the context of a worsening global security situation.

As geopolitical tensions and hybrid threats increase, critical underwater infrastructure, such as subsea cables, offshore wind assets, and energy pipelines, has emerged as a major national security priority for all countries, particularly island nations, it says.

The pilot project will integrate maritime cybersecurity, surveillance, energy security, and maritime domain awareness (knowledge and understanding of what is happening on, under, and above the seas).

The aim is that Mr McCabes work will provide clear intelligence and policy insights for the Government, including the Project Ireland Marine 2040 Co-ordination Group and Irelands first national maritime security strategy.

This high priority for maritime security was not always there, as Mr McCabe knows well.

'Under the radar'

In April 2023, Robert McCabe and Brendan Flynn, lecturer in politics in University of Galway, published a research paper in the Routledge journal, European Security.

Robert McCabe, second from right, taking part in a panel on maritime threats during a 2023 consultative forum on international security policy at UCC with Caitriona Heinl, Azure Forum; Brendan Flynn, University of Galway; Laura Brien, MARA; and Christian Bueger, University of Copenhagen. Picture: Larry Cummins

Titled Under the radar: Ireland, maritime security capacity, and the governance of subsea infrastructure, it highlighted the official neglect of the area, the siloed, hierarchical, and overly bureaucratic approaches in State structures governing the area, and the need for a modern naval service.

The research said the Irish naval service did not have the required subsurface capabilities  such as sonar  or enough physical ships, and personnel, at sea to undertake state maritime security responsibilities.

Read More Growing calls for Ireland to set up an EU presidency security task force

The authors pointed out that subsea infrastructure traversing Irish waters  seven times the size of Ireland  were particularly exposed to threats and that the potential impact of a large-scale disruption was substantial.

They said building Irelands capacity to monitor, detect, and deter hostile acts against critical maritime infrastructure was critically important as not only would there be physical and economic damage but also profound reputational damage to Ireland.

They recommended new legal provisions, the establishment of a single agency, significantly expanded naval service capabilities, increased investment in smart technology  including drones and sonar  increased private sector engagement, increased co-operation with other European states, and a national maritime security strategy.

Maritime security

While it has taken a number of years to turn the Irish ship around, most of their recommendations have been, at least on paper, adopted by the Government.

In February, defence minister Helen McEntee published Irelands first national maritime security strategy, for the period 2026-2030, including many of the recommendations.

At the launch, she repeatedly stressed the importance of Ireland working in co-operation with neighbouring coastal states, namely France and Britain, in order protect our waters, not least with Irelands presidency of the EU starting in July.

That study was essentially the first of its kind to look at Irelands maritime security capacity, Mr McCabe recalls of his 2023 research. We realised there were plenty of gaps. And, you know, this was recognised by the government of the day and it was a useful precursor to the eventual maritime security strategy.

He is conscious how some people recoil when they hear the words Ireland and security together.

Drugs, cyberattacks, sabotage...

I think theres a misunderstanding of the term maritime security, he says.

It is an umbrella term for all aspects of a resilient ocean economy, a maritime domain. And for Ireland, thats really about understanding whats happening in our maritime domain.

He says there are responsibilities on Ireland under international law: Theres responsibilities to our resources. We govern them to make sure theyre not being exploited.

When we move towards offshore renewable energy, theres a need to understand how that fits into the broader picture, and how that operates with other users of the maritime space.

So its about resilience, its about awareness. Its not just about the naval aspect  though that is one important aspect  but you need to be able to understand if there are threats.

People at Roches Point watch the MV Matthew being escorted into Cork Harbour in September 2023 after it was boarded by a joint task force including gardai and army and navy personnel. The ship was found to contain cocaine worth 157m. Picture: Dan Linehan

He says there is a broad spectrum of potential threats: Cyber is one, as these systems are very vulnerable to attack. Another threat is sabotage.

You need people to be able to board a vessel and search it, if its drugs being smuggled, or people, or weapons, or whatever the case.

"Im interested in looking at maritime security in a comprehensive, holistic way, not one single aspect  not just subsea cables, not just counter-narcotics  but the whole ecosystem.

Read More Smugglers burned cocaine as Army Rangers stormed ship

What Nord Stream means for Ireland

One seminal event that cemented the issue for governments was the Nord Stream 2 explosion of September 2022 in the Baltic Sea, when pipelines were blown up.

Danish and Swedish authorities believe it was sabotage, and German investigations appear to point to a pro-Ukrainian operation.

Nothing like this happened before, Mr McCabe says.

This was planned, co-ordinated, and very likely there was state support on some level.

"Prior to that, this type of infrastructure  cables, gas pipelines  since the Second World War were left unmolested and undisturbed. I think no one probably recognised how critically important they are to modern economies.

There are few countries where this is more critical than Ireland, with 80% of its gas supply coming from twin gas pipelines from Scotland.

Russia's Yantar sending a message

This came into sharp focus in November 2024 when a Russian spy research ship, Yantar, sailed up the Irish Sea and deliberately loitered over this pipeline near the Isle of Man, while under the watch of the Irish naval service and the British navy.

This was seen as Russia sending a clear message that it knew where to hit Ireland if it wanted to  an incident of signalling that it carried out previously when it conducted a naval exercise operation on the edge of Irelands exclusive economic zone, 200 nautical miles off the South-West coast, in early February 2022, just before its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Russian intelligence services are also suspected by Irish security services of being involved in the strategic positioning of drones last December on the edge of Irish territorial waters (12 nautical miles or 22.2km) just after the plane carrying Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy flew past on its way to Dublin for an official visit  interpreted by security agencies as a warning of what might come during the EU presidency.

Stark findings of 'Operation Cathal'

The month after the Yantar incident, the Governments national emergency co-ordination group, part of the Department of Defence, ran a table-top exercising examining the impact of a major disruption to those gas pipelines.

Dubbed Operation Cathal, it estimated that it would take six months to repair the damage to the pipeline and that it could lead to rolling blackouts across the country with particularly severe impacts on large gas users in the pharmaceutical and agricultural industries.

In addition, the two gas pipelines are responsible for generating between 40% and 80% of Irelands electricity.

Severe impact

We are hugely reliant on those two pipelines, so if there was severe damage to them the impact would be across the board, Mr McCabe explains.

Hospitals wouldnt be able to operate at full capacity  they would have some reserves, but they wouldnt last long. All the facilities and utilities and public services you take for granted, like electricity, would be very constrained and the impact would be felt very quickly and the impact would be quite detrimental.

Mr McCabe has been set five main tasks by the Government:

Assess risks and threats to critical underwater infrastructure in Irish and EU waters;

Advance maritime cyber resilience of both offshore and onshore assets, by conducting threat analysis and simulation exercises;

Enhance maritime domain awareness through surveillance and data integration;

Support energy and infrastructure security against hybrid  both physical and cyber  threats;

Foster national and international dialogue through expert conferences.

These overarching goals have been broken down into the following areas:

Securing critical underwater infrastructure: Map subsea cables, proposed offshore wind farms, energy pipelines and interconnectors, and conduct vulnerability assessment; model risks for different threats, including sabotage, espionage, and disruption; and develop response protocols between the various departments and agencies;

Map subsea cables, proposed offshore wind farms, energy pipelines and interconnectors, and conduct vulnerability assessment; model risks for different threats, including sabotage, espionage, and disruption; and develop response protocols between the various departments and agencies; Maritime cybersecurity: Conduct a cyber threat analysis for ships, ports, and maritime infrastructure; simulate cyberattacks and response mechanisms; and develop cyber training modules for operations and authorities;

Conduct a cyber threat analysis for ships, ports, and maritime infrastructure; simulate cyberattacks and response mechanisms; and develop cyber training modules for operations and authorities; Maritime surveillance and situational awareness: Integrate data from satellite, radar, and autonomous systems; develop AI and sensor tools for early warning; assess military-civilian surveillance systems;

Integrate data from satellite, radar, and autonomous systems; develop AI and sensor tools for early warning; assess military-civilian surveillance systems; Offshore energy and infrastructure protection: Scenario planning for hybrid attacks on offshore windfarms and cable landings; improve physical security, redundancy, and response planning; co-ordinate with energy and marine planning;

Scenario planning for hybrid attacks on offshore windfarms and cable landings; improve physical security, redundancy, and response planning; co-ordinate with energy and marine planning; Policy and governance: Produce briefings and risk mitigation strategies; contribute to national and EU legal frameworks; carry out workshops and review existing maritime emergency planning

In addition, Mr McCabe is expected to produce an expert report and two to three research papers and hold at least two expert conferences.

Daunting task

Its all fairly daunting, but Mr McCabe isnt fazed: So, initially, its two years, so, well see where it goes. One of the major outputs will be a comprehensive report.

He plans to take on a research assistant and will link with existing expertise within the MTU and the NMCI, which has state-of-the-art facilities for marine training and has the Halpin Centre for Research and Innovation.

Robert McCabe at the National Maritime College of Ireland (NMCI) at Ringaskiddy, Cork Harbour, where he has just started as head of the new maritime security research project. Picture: Larry Cummins

I think theres an opportunity for Ireland to position itself as a leader in maritime security research, so my objective is to build on what we currently have, he says.

The MTU have a large computer science faculty and engineering faculty that have engaged in top-level research including in cybersecurity and last year ran a simulation exercise of a container ship compromised by a cyberattack... blocking the entrance to Cork Harbour.

Mr McCabe adds: I would also like to bring in partnerships, look at technologies, such as sensors and AI and automation, and create a strong foundation for the future of maritime security research in the country.

But he wants to bring wider society with him too: I want to raise awareness of the importance of the maritime domain among the public and why maritime security is so important, how it underpins a lot of the things we rely on day to day for a functioning society.
Mental health difficulties among school-age children are a significant concern, both in Ireland and internationally.

Irish research suggests that between 10% and 20% of children and young people experience mental health difficulties, with anxiety and depression among the most common among these. These challenges are linked to poorer physical, psychological and behavioural outcomes, both in childhood and later in life.

Emotional wellbeing is also closely tied to school engagement and academic success. When children struggle emotionally, their ability to learn is significantly impacted.

Teachers are expected to act as first responders to students mental health needs. However, teachers often do not have the time, training or resources required.

In Ireland, schools operate within a three-stage model for identifying and supporting children with additional needs, including mental health difficulties.

At Stage 1, teachers respond to concerns through classroom-based supports. If progress is limited, Stage 2 involves more targeted interventions and further assessment, often with support staff. At Stage 3, if school-based supports have been unsuccessful, schools may, with parental consent, seek input from external professionals such as educational or clinical psychologists.

The role and responsibilities of teachers

While this model provides a structure, it also places teachers firmly on the frontline of student mental health. This creates uncertainty about the role of the teacher.

For some, teaching remains primarily academic; for others, it includes a broader responsibility for student wellbeing. In the absence of clear guidance, their role can become blurred.

Irish research reflects this tension, suggesting that while teachers are expected to contribute to mental health support, there is little clarity about what this should look like in practice

A further challenge lies in the mismatch between responsibility and authority. Teachers are expected to act on concerns about a childs wellbeing, yet they often have limited control over what happens next.

This is particularly difficult where parents decline assessment or support  sometimes due to stigma surrounding mental health challenges. For teachers, this can be particularly frustrating.

Pia O'Farrell: 'In Ireland, children are routinely screened for hearing, sight and dental health, and standardised testing is used to monitor academic progress. Yet mental health, which is a key component of overall wellbeing, is not universally screened.'

In a recent study of teachers' views on mental health assessment in Irish primary schools one teacher noted that if assessment is not a priority for parents, then I dont see any change taking place.

Even when concerns are acknowledged, long waiting lists and limited access to services can leave children without timely support.

Accessing external supports is often a slow and complex process too. Teachers may spend hours completing referral forms and assessments, only for children to remain on waiting lists for extended periods.

In some cases, a child may still be waiting for support by the time they move into the next class by which point their needs may have changed or intensified.

Teachers are acutely aware of the pressures facing support services. One teacher described the National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS) as always understaffed, even in the good times.

There are also gaps in what is known as teachers mental health literacy  their understanding of mental health difficulties and how to respond to them.

Professional development often prioritises literacy and numeracy, while mental health receives much less attention.

Importantly, this is not just a teacher issue. School leadership plays a critical role and mental health must be a priority for the school leaders, as training for teachers alone is unlikely to have a meaningful impact.

Mental health screening in schools

Debate continues around the use of universal mental health screening in schools.

In Ireland, children are routinely screened for hearing, sight and dental health, and standardised testing is used to monitor academic progress. Yet mental health, which is a key component of overall wellbeing, is not universally screened.

One of the main barriers is workload. Administering and interpreting screening tools can be time-consuming for already stretched school staff.

However, advances in artificial intelligence may offer new possibilities. AI could assist in analysing data, identifying patterns and flagging concerns, reducing this burden.

Importantly, such tools should not be seen as diagnostic. Rather, they could support early identification and help schools track changes over time.

At the same time, universal screening is not a panacea in and of itself. Identifying children who may need support is only meaningful if appropriate services are available.

Where access to support remains limited, screening risks highlighting needs that schools are not equipped to meet.

Access to specialist mental health services remains limited. Another study also found fewer than half (44%) of children identified as needing specialist mental health support are actually accessing services.

This raises an important question: what can schools do in the meantime?

Recent commentary in the media has been critical of wellbeing programmes in schools. However, many of these programmes provide practical, accessible tools for children and are free to use.

They teach simple strategies such as breathing techniques, managing anxious thoughts and developing healthy relationships with technology. These are not abstract ideas, they are everyday skills.

So, urgent recalibration is needed. Firstly, we must equip teachers and resource schools and external services appropriately, and secondly we need to draw on evidence-based wellbeing programmes to help children to better navigate and communicate mental health pressures as they arise.

Supporting student mental health cannot mean shifting responsibility onto teachers without the resources to match. Teachers are already on the frontline  it is time the system supported them.
We call them resilient, as if survival were a virtue freely chosen, not a sentence handed down by geography and history.

In Lebanon, wars rarely begin and never quite end; they arrive like weather systems, drifting in from elsewhere, gathering force over borders drawn by other hands. The country endures the way a scar endures  visible, unhealed, and quietly instructive.

Read More Beirut bombed in worst strikes in decades as Israel-Iran war intensifies

Each generation inherits the language of recovery before it has learned the terms of peace. Homes are rebuilt, lives resumed, businesses reopened  but always provisionally, always with the quiet understanding that what has been restored can be taken again.

Lebanon does not move forward so much as it circles, returning again and again to the same point of fracture. To understand why, it is necessary to begin with the shape of the country itself.

Lebanon's political system

Lebanon is not simply a nation-state in the conventional sense. It is a delicate political arrangement between three dominant sectarian blocs: Shia Muslims, Sunni Muslims, and Christians  principally Maronite.

Power is not just shared between them; it is structurally divided along these lines. The presidency is reserved for a Christian, the prime ministership for a Sunni, and the speakership of parliament for a Shia.

This system, designed to maintain balance, has instead often entrenched division. It ensures representation, but it also ensures that politics is rarely about ideology or policy. It is about identity, loyalty, and survival.

Layered onto this internal architecture is an equally complex web of external patronage.

Saudi Arabia has long exerted influence over Lebanons Sunni leadership. Iran backs Shia Muslims, most notably Hezbollah.

And Lebanons Christian factions  historically and in more complicated ways today  have found support from Western powers, particularly the United States, and at times from Israel.

This is not always declared openly. It does not need to be. Influence in Lebanon rarely announces itself; it operates through alignment, through funding, through quiet understandings that shape political behaviour.

The result is a country in which domestic politics cannot be separated from regional power struggles. Lebanon does not simply experience the Middle Easts conflicts. It absorbs them.

External alliances

For Karim Makdisi, associate professor of international politics at the American University of Beirut and co-host of the Makdisi Street podcast, this dynamic is both historical and ongoing.

There is a kind of subservience that has taken hold, he says, describing what he sees as a persistent belief among some Lebanese that the countrys instability can be explained away internally  first by Palestinians, now by the Shia.

Theres this idea that if they werent here, Israel would somehow leave Lebanon alone. That is a fantasy. History offers little support for that belief.

When Israel invaded Lebanon in 1982, Hezbollah did not yet exist. The invasion, and the subsequent occupation of the south, helped create the conditions in which Hezbollah would emerge as a resistance movement.

At the time, elements within Lebanons Christian militias aligned with Israel, seeing in it a strategic partner against Palestinian groups and domestic rivals.

That relationship, while rarely spoken of in blunt terms today, forms part of a longer pattern in which external alliances are shaped less by ideology than by perceived necessity.

Lebanons civil war (19751990) was never solely an internal conflict. It was a battlefield layered with foreign interventions Syrian, Israeli, American  each backing different actors, each pursuing its own strategic interests.

The war formally ended. The pattern did not.

Lebanons military

One of the more striking features of Lebanons modern history is the role of its national army.

Nominally the guardian of sovereignty, the Lebanese Armed Forces have historically been shaped by the same sectarian dynamics as the political system.

Its upper ranks have long been dominated by Christians, reflecting both the legacy of the states founding and the distribution of power within it.

Yet despite decades of conflict with Israel, the army has never developed into a force capable of confronting the Israeli Defence Forces in any meaningful way.

Whether by limitation, design, or political constraint, it has remained largely on the margins of direct confrontation. That reality persists today. The Lebanese state, in military terms, is not a deterrent.

Into that vacuum stepped Hezbollah  a non-state actor that has, over time, become the only force within Lebanon capable of mounting sustained resistance against Israel.

It is this paradox that sits at the heart of the countrys current crisis: the state cannot defend itself, yet moves to restrain the one entity that can.

Makdisi sees todays events not as a rupture, but as a continuation.

From occupation to grievance

Israeli forces push northwards. Southern villages empty under bombardment. Displacement spreads. The language of security once again justifies actions that, in practice, redraw the map.

If you occupy again, what kind of resistance do you think that will produce? he asks.

The logic is cyclical. Occupation generates resistance. Resistance invites retaliation. Retaliation deepens grievance. And the cycle begins again, each turn more entrenched than the last.

The human cost of this cycle is stark. In a country roughly the size of Ireland, close to a quarter of the population has been displaced by Israeli military action in recent months.

Entire communities in the south have been emptied. Families move north not knowing if they will return, or what will remain if they do.

Infrastructure is damaged, livelihoods erased, social networks fractured.

Displacement on this scale is not temporary disruption. It reshapes a country.

Makdisi is blunt in his assessment. If such conditions were imposed elsewhere, he suggests, the language used to describe them would be far less cautious.

Misdirected blame

And yet, even now, blame is often redirected inward.

People will still point to the Shia and say this is their fault, Makdisi says.

For him, this reflects a deeper pattern  one in which Lebanese society internalises responsibility for crises driven by external forces.

The same dynamic once shaped attitudes towards Palestinian refugees, who were long cast by some as the root cause of instability.

A man walks on the rubble of a destroyed building that was hit in an Israeli airstrike in the southern port city of Tyre in Lebanon on Thursday. Photo: AP/Hussein Malla

It is an argument that simplifies a complex reality into something more manageable: if the problem is internal, it can, in theory, be fixed internally.

But as Makdisi insists, that belief obscures more than it explains.

Lebanons government, meanwhile, appears caught between paralysis and calculation. It lacks both the capacity to deter Israeli aggression and the cohesion required to present a unified strategy.

Recent moves against Hezbollah reflect a belief within parts of the political class that compliance  whether with the United States, Israel, or regional powers  might offer a path to stability.

Resilience as an expectation

Makdisi is sceptical.

There is this assumption that if Lebanon complies, it will be rewarded with peace, he says. But what if that was never the objective?

In this reading, Lebanon is not being stabilised. It is being managed.

What external powers require is not a strong Lebanon, but a functional one  capable of absorbing shocks, containing unrest, and serving as a buffer. A country kept in a state of permanent near-crisis: wounded, but not beyond use.

This is where the language of resilience becomes dangerous.

There is, undeniably, something remarkable about Lebanons ability to endure. But resilience, when demanded repeatedly and without relief, ceases to be a virtue. It becomes an expectation.

Paramedics bury the body of their comrade who was killed in an Israeli airstrike at a temporary mass grave in Tyre, south Lebanon, on Wednesday. Photo: AP/Hussein Malla

To call Lebanon resilient is, in some ways, to normalise its suffering  to suggest that what would be intolerable elsewhere is simply part of its nature.

And in doing so, it lowers the threshold of outrage.

We would not accept such conditions in Ukraine. We did not accept them in Bosnia. In Ireland, the memory of conflict remains too close, too raw, for such language to pass unchallenged.

We would not accept the displacement of a quarter of a countrys population. We would not accept the routine violation of sovereignty. We would not accept a situation in which war becomes cyclical, expected, almost ambient.

Why, then, is Lebanon different?

A residential apartment is left damaged by an Israeli airstrike Bchamoun, about 10 kilometers southeast of Beirut in Lebanon on Tuesday. Photo: AP/Bilal Hussein

Why is its instability treated as inevitable, its suffering as familiar, its crises as somehow self-explanatory?

Lebanons tragedy is not only that it is repeatedly drawn into other peoples wars. It is that this condition has come to be seen as natural.

But there is nothing natural about it. It is the product of history, of geography, of external intervention layered onto internal division. It is the result of decisions  made in capitals far beyond Beirut  as much as those made within it.

To recognise that is not to deny Lebanons own failures. It is to place them in context. Because until that context is acknowledged, the cycle will continue.

And Lebanon, resilient as ever, will endure, but only because it has to.
The major redevelopment of a cinema bought by artist Yvonne McGuinness and actor Cillian Murphy has been appealed to the planning commission by several local residents.

The well-known Phoenix Cinema in Daingean Ui Chuis was bought by the couple in November 2024, with the pair receiving permission by Kerry County Council in February to refurbish the historic building.

The ambitious redevelopment included retaining the building as a cinema while expanding its use to include a multi-disciplinary performance space, exhibition and rehearsal areas, a bar, cafe, and restaurant, artist studios, and a redesigned courtyard.

The planning application followed extensive public consultation, including meetings and presentations held in the old cinema. The project also secured 933,000 in Government funding.

Phoenix cinema in Dingle. [2025]

However, the future of the historic cinema now lies in the hands of An Coimisiun Pleanala following several third-party appeals by local residents.

'Too big'

One objector, Michael Nelligan, whose property abuts the development site, called the proposal "too big," adding that it would have a "significant devaluing negative impact" on the enjoyment of his property.

"The loss of light, surrounding effect of the new building on our back garden and the scale of the new building... is not appropriate," Mr Nelligan wrote in his submission to the council.

"I feel the building should be significantly scaled back to take into account our right to light, our privacy in our back garden and the enjoyment of our property."

Local doctor Conor Brosnan also objected to the development, writing on behalf of his patients at Dingle Medical Centre to Kerry County Council.

In his submission, Dr Brosnan said finding parking had become a "significant issue" for many patients, particularly those with impaired mobility or who are feeling unwell.

"My concern is that parking will become more difficult and unsafe for such patients during the cinema's development and in the long term, when it is used for daytime events."

Dr Brosnan said a comprehensive parking plan "would protect patient safety, reduce traffic conflicts, support construction logistics, and enhance the project's public image" among other benefits.

Another objector, Liam O'Keeffe, raised concerns about the addition of a gallery, shop and performance space to the building.

In his submission to Kerry County Council, Mr O'Keeffe wrote: "As far as I can tell... only two housing units will be provided in the development.

"There should only be housing built on the site and not a gallery, shop, performing space, etc. Housing for people, wherever they are from originally, should be built, and not commercial, sporting, artistic or industrial buildings."

Actor Cillian Murphy who has bought the Phoenix Cinema in Dingle, County Kerry pictured at 2010 Dingle Film Festival.

Murphy and McGuinness are long associated with the west Kerry Gaeltacht. The Cork actors parents holidayed in the area for decades and he now spends extended periods there with his own family.

His artist wife Yvonne said the aim is to reopen the doors and broaden the venues creative potential, restoring its place at the heart of the towns cultural life.

The Phoenix was destroyed by fire in 1921 and again in 1938 but was rebuilt on both occasions by the Houlihan family, inspiring its name.

Before it closure during the covid pandemic, the cinema served the west Kerry community for over 100 years, having become a social and cultural hub, hosting drama, concerts and dances, and later welcoming showbands and performers including Rory Gallagher and Dana.

The planning commission is due to decide on the appeal by July 27, 2026.
In a digitally disrupted world, the need to keep our skills up to date is more pressing than ever.

Thats the driver behind the groundbreaking MicroCreds project, started nearly six years ago by the Irish Universities Association (IUA) in collaboration with its member universities and a broad range of enterprise partners.

Working together, they transformed access to lifelong learning by taking a co-ordinated approach to the development and delivery of micro-credentials, which are short, accredited, industry-informed courses delivered in a bite-sized and flexible format.

As a result, Ireland has become the first country in Europe to implement a framework for quality-assured and accredited micro-credentials. With more than 20,000 learners engaged to date, its success has pushed these courses into the mainstream, and plans are afoot to scale it across the higher education sector.

The project was founded to break the mould in terms of how universities offer short-form learning, says David Corscadden, acting MicroCreds project lead at the IUA.

Micro-credentials typically take between six and 12 weeks to complete, and are delivered either in person, online or in a hybrid manner. With more than 600 new programmes created so far, the subject matter is hugely diverse too. Courses include foundations of quantum programming, at the University of Galway; mastering AI in digital marketing, at Trinity College Dublin; and communication and interpreting in the Irish healthcare system, at the University of Limerick.

At its inception the MicroCreds project had four strategic aims, each of which was successfully delivered. These included the development of a national framework, collaboration with enterprise, capacity building in universities and the launch of a national online portal, microcreds.ie. The portal provides learners and employers with a one-stop shop for micro-credential courses, making it easier to find and access offerings from across the university sector.

The initiative has enabled businesses to rapidly address skills gaps and future-proof workforces. For the higher education sector, the project has fostered a culture of innovation and agility, developing structures for the ongoing delivery of micro-credentials.

David Corscadden, acting project lead for MicroCreds with the Irish Universities Association.

But the biggest beneficiary has been Ireland, as MicroCreds has strengthened the countrys competitiveness in talent, and contributed to economic and social development.

As the model is both scalable and replicable, it provides a proven blueprint for other higher education systems seeking to innovate in response to rapidly changing skills needs.

The MicroCreds project was funded under Human Capital Initiative Pillar Three (Innovation and Agility), a 197 million Higher Education Authority (HEA) programme designed to transform higher education through deeper enterprise collaboration, with funds drawn from the National Training Fund.

When we started the project, says Corscadden, we were looking at the major skills gaps across the Irish ecosystem. With MicroCreds, short, flexible learning became the prominent tool to help both individual learners and enterprise to address these skills gaps.

All IUA partner universities previously offered short courses in some form. We wanted to reimagine that offering for learners and to focus it in on the exact, tangible skills people need either to advance their career or pivot into new industries, he says.

Central to the projects success has been bringing enterprise and learners on the micro-credential journey together.

Now that we have proven the concept, its about turning it into a fully-fledged offering within the universities portfolio of courses  and the universities are steaming ahead with this mission.

As a country and across the world we are in a period of rapid economic, technological, demographic and geopolitical change, as well as a green transition, says Grace Edge, interim head of skills and lifelong learning at the IUA. As a result, people are going to need to learn, and relearn, throughout their lives.

We only have to consider the impact of digitalisation, automation and artificial intelligence to appreciate that.

Grace Edge, interim head of lifelong learning and skills with the Irish Universities Association

We need to support workers who may be displaced by these developments to move into new roles and sectors, she says. At the same time, as a society, we must also ensure people are equipped to navigate an era of misinformation, disinformation and bad actors. The critical thinking and broader capabilities developed through higher education are more important than ever  which is why lifelong learning matters on every front.

While universities have always catered to lifelong learners, the MicroCreds project has marked a step change. It brought the entire sector together to deliver lifelong learning at scale  taking a more strategic, co-ordinated approach not only to provision, but to how these new opportunities are communicated to learners and employers. Because lifelong learning is only as effective as people knowing it exists, being able to access it and being supported to succeed. And while MicroCreds has demonstrated what is possible, the current policy and funding model remains largely oriented toward full-time undergraduate provision and will need to evolve to fully support lifelong learning at scale.

The importance of the MicroCreds project is acknowledged by the fact that the HEA is now taking on the online portal. Over the course of the next two years, it will be expanding to include other higher education institutions, beyond those included in the initial project. The transition to the HEA marks a critical shift from project-based innovation to system-wide infrastructure for lifelong learning.

The reason the HEA is taking it on, says Vivienne Patterson, head of skills, engagement and statistics at the HEA, is because, having spoken to enterprise leaders  particularly SMEs and indigenous companies  we recognise its importance.

Vivienne Patterson, head of skills, engagement and statistics at the Higher Education Authority

Such businesses have very little time to release people to do long courses but do recognise the importance of upskilling, particularly in an era of massive technological and climate change. A micro-credential gives an employee the ability to improve their skills in a very short space of time.

Micro-credentials can also help to improve Irelands lifelong learning metrics, which, she says, are lower than some of its European peers. We are cognisant that we need to increase the number of people engaging in lifelong learning, Patterson says. The barriers we see when we survey the public are cost and time. Micro-credentials address both, on top of which, we have secured additional funding from the Department [of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science] to subsidise a number of micro-credentials  up to 80 per cent of the cost. That subsidy is being paid for by the National Training Fund, which comes from a tax on employers. So, employers really should be availing of these courses.

The MicroCreds project has proved its worth and its value, she says. Micro-credentials are not overly onerous on your time yet give you relevant skills. Thats why there is now a national emphasis on them.

Start your upskilling journey at microcreds.ie
US President Donald Trump threatened widespread destruction of Irans energy resources and other vital infrastructure if a deal to end the war with Tehran is not reached soon.

In a social media post, Mr Trump said great progress is being made in talks with Iran to end military operations.

But the US president bristled that if a deal is not reached and if the Hormuz Strait is not immediately reopened, the US would broaden its offensive by completely obliterating all of their Electric Generating Plants, Oil Wells and Kharg Island (and possibly all desalinization plants!).

On the ground, the war showed no sign of letting up as Tehran struck a key water and electrical plant in Kuwait, and an oil refinery in Israel came under attack.

Israel and the US launched a new wave of strikes on Iran.

Mr Trumps social media post and earlier comments in an interview with the Financial Times (FT) that suggested American troops could seize the countrys Kharg Island export hub highlight how he has repeatedly said that talks with Iran are ongoing  and even going well  though Tehran denies negotiating directly.

The United States of America is in serious discussions with A NEW, AND MORE REASONABLE, REGIME to end our Military Operations in Iran. - President Donald J. Trump  pic.twitter.com/0MWL2hSNmK  The White House (@WhiteHouse) March 30, 2026

But at the same time, he has continually ramped up his threats, as thousands more Marines and other US troops pour into the Middle East.

It remains unclear where the diplomatic effort facilitated by Pakistan stands.

Irans attacks on its Gulf neighbours could add another element of uncertainty to any talks.

The United Arab Emirates, which has long billed itself as a beacon of safety and stability in a volatile region, has been hard hit in the war and increasingly is signalling that it wants Iran disarmed in any ceasefire, a term Irans theocracy is unlikely to accept.

Were doing extremely well in that negotiation but you never know with Iran because we negotiate with them and then we always have to blow them up.

In the interview with the FT, Mr Trump said his preference would be to take the oil in Iran  a move that would require seizing Kharg Island, the terminal through which nearly all of Irans oil exports pass.

Maybe we take Kharg Island, maybe we dont, he continued. We have a lot of options.

Also in the interview, Mr Trump said that the US had about 3,000 targets that it would still like to hit in Iran, but added: A deal could be made fairly quickly.

He told reporters aboard Air Force One that the US was negotiating directly and indirectly with Iran.

Were doing extremely well in that negotiation but you never know with Iran because we negotiate with them and then we always have to blow them up, Mr Trump said.

(PA Graphics)

Twice during Mr Trumps second term, the US has attacked Iran while in the middle of negotiations, once with the strikes on February 28 that started the current war and also in June 2025.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei acknowledged that Tehran had been given a 15-point proposal from the Trump administration, but said there had been no direct negotiations with Washington so far.

Earlier, Irans parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, dismissed the talks in Pakistan as a cover to get more US troops into the area.

He said Iranian forces were waiting for the arrival of American troops on the ground to set them on fire and punish their regional partners forever, according to state media.

The US has already launched airstrikes once that targeted military positions on Kharg.

Portraits of Hezbollahs late leaders Hassan Nasrallah, right, and his cousin, Hashem Safieddine, are seen, as smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike in Lebanon (Hassan Ammar/AP)

Iran has threatened to launch its own ground invasion of Gulf Arab countries and mine the Persian Gulf if US troops land on its territory.

To get an amphibious invasion force to Kharg would mean transiting the Strait of Hormuz and most of the Persian Gulf.

Experts say that holding the island would also be a challenge, because in addition to its missiles and drones, it would be well within artillery range from the Iranian mainland.

Meanwhile, sirens sounded at dawn near Israels main nuclear research centre, a part of the country that has been targeted repeatedly in recent days.

Israels military also said it had taken out two drones launched from Yemen, where the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels entered the war on Saturday with their first missile attack.

Later, a fire broke out at an oil refinery in the northern city of Haifa, one of only two in Israel, either from a missile strike or from debris falling from an interception. The blaze was quickly extinguished.

Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike in Lebanon (Bilal Hussein/AP)

Iran kept up the pressure on its Gulf Arab neighbours, as Saudi Arabia intercepted five missiles targeting its oil-rich Eastern province, Bahrain sounded a missile alert and a fireball erupted over Dubai as an incoming missile was taken out by defences.

In Kuwait, an Iranian attack hit a power and desalination plant, killing one worker and injuring 10 soldiers, the state-run KUNA news agency reported.

Desalination plants are crucial to water supplies in the Gulf Arab states and an Iranian attack previously damaged a desalination plant in Bahrain. The facilities are typically paired with power plants because of the large amount of energy required to remove salt from the water to make it drinkable.

Israels military launched a new wave of attacks on Iran, saying it was striking military infrastructure across Tehran, and explosions were heard in the Iranian capital.

(PA Graphics)

Iranian state media reported a petrochemicals plant in Tabriz, in the north, sustained damage after an airstrike and firefighters had to put out a blaze.

Iran confirmed that the head of the Revolutionary Guards navy, Rear Admiral Alireza Tangsiri, had been killed in an Israeli airstrike, as Israel claimed last week.

In Lebanon, which Israel has invaded by ground, an Indonesian peacekeeper was killed and three others were wounded when a projectile exploded near a village in the south.

Over the weekend, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the military will widen its invasion, expanding the existing security strip in that countrys south as it targets the Iran-linked Hezbollah militant group.

In Iran, authorities say more than 1,900 people have been killed, while 19 have been reported dead in Israel.

Irans stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz has sent oil prices skyrocketing (Leo Correa/AP)

Two dozen people have been killed in Gulf states and the occupied West Bank.

In Lebanon, officials said more than 1,200 people have been killed, and more than 1 million have been displaced.

Six Israeli soldiers have died in Lebanon, while 13 US service members have been killed in the war.

Irans attacks on the energy infrastructure of the region and its stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the worlds oil is shipped in peacetime, have sent oil prices skyrocketing and given rise to growing concerns about a global energy crisis.

In early trading, the spot price of Brent crude oil, the international standard, was around 115 US dollars (87), up nearly 60% from when the US and Israel started the war with attacks on Iran on February 28.

As pressure has grown on Mr Trump to bring an end to the conflict, the US has presented Iran with a 15-point plan that includes it agreeing to open the Strait of Hormuz to shipping.

Iran, meanwhile, has produced a five-point plan with its own terms, including maintaining its sovereignty over the key waterway.
Spain has closed its airspace to US planes involved in the Iran war, defence minister Margarita Robles announced, marking another step in the countrys opposition to the US and Israels conflict in the Middle East.

Spain had already said the US could not use jointly operated military bases in the Iran conflict, which Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has described as illegal, reckless and unjust.

Neither the bases are authorised, nor, of course, is the use of Spanish airspace authorised for any actions related to the war in Iran

Defence minister Ms Robles said the same logic applied to the use of Spanish airspace in the conflict.

Ms Robles said: This was made perfectly clear to the American military and forces from the very beginning.

Therefore, neither the bases are authorised, nor, of course, is the use of Spanish airspace authorised for any actions related to the war in Iran.

Spanish newspaper El Pais first reported the closure of Spains airspace, citing military sources.

Spains Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has been one of the most vocal critics of the war (Omar Havana/AP)

Spains government under Mr Sanchez has been Europes loudest opposing voice against US and Israeli military actions in the Middle East.

After Mr Sanchezs government denied the US use of the Rota and Moron military bases in southern Spain, US President Donald Trump threatened to cut trade with Madrid.

Mr Sanchez was also among the most vocal critics of Israels actions in its war in Gaza.

I think everyone knows Spains position; its very clear, Ms Robles said, calling the war in Iran profoundly illegal and profoundly unjust.
Former BBC Radio One DJ Tim Westwood, who denies multiple sex offences including rape and sexual assault, will next appear in court in December.

The 68-year-old is accused of sex offences against seven women dating back to 1983, including three indecent assaults at the BBC studios in the 1990s.

The former Capital Xtra DJ was excused from attending a further case management hearing at Southwark Crown Court on Monday.

The hearing was set to facilitate disclosure between the prosecution and Westwoods defence team.

Former Radio 1 DJ Tim Westwood arrives at Westminster Magistrates Court (Lucy North/PA)

His trial is set to begin on January 25 next year, and Westwood will next appear at a pre-trial review on December 14.

Westwood is accused of four indecent assaults in the 1980s in London, as well as the three indecent assaults at the BBC in the 1990s.

The defendant is also alleged to have raped a woman in a hotel in 1996.

Westwood is further accused of two indecent assaults and one count of rape from the early 2000s at a London address, and two counts of rape at a London address in the 2010s.

He is also alleged to have sexually assaulted a woman at a nightclub in Stroud, Gloucestershire, in 2010.

Westwood, who has been granted bail on the condition he does not contact the complainants, has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Air Canada has announced its chief executive will retire later this year following criticism of his English-only message of condolence following this months deadly crash in New York.

Canadas largest airline, based in French-speaking Quebec, said Michael Rousseau told the board he will leave by the end of the third quarter.

Two pilots died when the Air Canada Jazz flight from Montreal collided with a fire truck on the runway shortly after landing at New Yorks La Guardia airport (Yuki Iwamura/AP)

Canada is an officially bilingual nation and Prime Minister Mark Carney had said the English-only message showed a lack of compassion and judgment.

Quebecs premier and others called on the airline executive to resign.

Antoine Forest, one of the two pilots killed in the crash at LaGuardia Airport, was a French-speaking Quebecer.

Mr Forest and Mackenzie Gunther died when the Air Canada Jazz flight from Montreal collided with a fire truck on the runway shortly after landing.

Canadas largest airline is headquartered in Montreal and Mr Rousseau previously had been criticised for not speaking French.

Air Canada President and CEO Michael Rousseau provides a video statement on the tragic accident involving Air Canada Express AC8646: pic.twitter.com/ZwFibpOkj2  Air Canada (@AirCanada) March 23, 2026

He delivered his condolence video message in English, with French subtitles. The Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages has received hundreds of complaints about it.

Steven MacKinnon, Canadas transport minister, thanked Mr Rousseau in a social media post and said the government will continue to work closely with Air Canada to ensure it provides safe, reliable, affordable, and bilingual service to all Canadians.

Quebec Premier Francois Legault noted that when Mr Rousseau was appointed president of the airline in February 2021, he promised to learn French.

Quebecs identity has been contentious since the 1760s, when the British completed their takeover of what was then called New France. Quebec is about 80% French-speaking.
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Honestly, I cant believe Im in this world of ours (or do I mean His?). Yes, this very one and no other!

Almost a quarter of a century after, in response to the 9/11 attacks, the U.S. launched its war in Afghanistan that would last a mere 20 years until Donald Trump prepared for and Joe Biden carried out a humiliating withdrawal of the last American troops there, the U.S. is back big time, dumber and more wildly destructive than ever.

Whew! Thats a lot of (terrible) history to get into a single sentence!

And so, heres a TomDispatch question for you: What four-letter country, the first three of which are IRA, has the U.S. now been bombing? No, not Iraq! That war began in 2003 and ended a mere eight years later in 2011. And remind me, how did that work out? Its Iran, of course.

And what a nightmare that is! By now, everyone who didnt vote for Donald Trump (and even some who did) knows that hes an all-American maniac. In his own striking fashion, the former president of PEACE has undoubtedly, even proudly, taken possession of the label: the most dangerous man on Earth. And believe me, on this planet of ours right now, thats no small accomplishment. (Think Vladimir Putin for a start!)

And given that he has almost three years (3 years!!) to go in his presidency (if all goes well and he doesnt nationalize the American electoral system and run for a distinctly unconstitutional and unprecedented third term in office), everything weve seen so far is undoubtedly just a prologue to a future from hell! (And yes, sad to say, at this point we are indeed in the second exclamation-point presidency of Donald J. Trump on an exclamation-point of a planet, itself going downhill all too fast.)

Of course, anyone  and, for that matter, any people  can make a mistake. And electing Donald Trump president the first time around might once have qualified as exactly that.

But no longer  not when, having just missed in 2020 with 46.9% of the vote, he won again in 2024 with 49.8% of American voters backing him.

Of course, at some level, we shouldnt be shocked. For so many years, the United States was simply the most powerful country on Planet Earth, an imperial #1 of a sort that arguably hadnt been seen in history. But sooner or later, all great imperial powers do go down. If you dont believe me, just check any history book. Thats beyond predictable.

Whats been unpredictable is that the United States would begin going down quite so wildly and, as a first in history, that our president would distinctly try to take the planet itself down with him. So, here we are blasting the hell out of Iran and, of course, in the process, as all wars do, putting wildly more fossil fuels into the atmosphere. Modern war and preparations for them may, in fact, be the most carbon intensive activity on this ever warming planet of ours.

Of course, century after century, great powers have experienced decline, but seldom have their leaders been quite such a personification of imperial decline as Donald Trump. Yes, the self-proclaimed president of PEACE, who campaigned in 2024 on the promise that hed break the cycle of regime change, is now distinctly the president of WAR, leaving the rest of us not in a Dump-Trump, but all too sadly in an increasingly dump-truck of a world.

The Con Job Presidency

If, once upon a time, you had told me about a world in which Donald Trump would be president of the United States (twice!), I would have thought you a genuine nut case. And worse yet, he has proven to be anything but alone in his madness. I mean, how could there possibly be a war in its fifth year right at the edge of the European heartland, another in Lebanon, a third in Iran (and mind you Im not even mentioning Gaza), and a major civil war underway for endless years in Sudan on a planet that already seems to be going down the tubes in a big-time fashion? (And, mind you, Im not even counting the never-ending American bombing of Somalia!)

How could all of that be happening on a planet already (all too literally) heating to the boiling point thanks to whats come to be known as climate change (itself far too mild a term for whats going on)? How could all of that be happening when its no secret that wars and militaries (even in peacetime) release staggering amounts of fossil fuels into the atmosphere  and my own countrys military tops them all? (And honestly, in this world of ours right now, its hard to write anything without exclamation points!!) As Nina Lakhani of the Guardian has reported, that military is the worlds largest institutional greenhouse gas emitter and the largest single fossil fuel consumer in the U.S.

You might wonder how that could be possible, when its become all too apparent that making war on each other, while a nightmare in itself, is also the worst imaginable way of making war on this planet of ours.

Honestly, how could we Americans have elected  not once, but (yes again!) twice  a president who rejects the very idea that this planet is beginning to broil from the burning of staggering levels of fossil fuels and has openly called climate change a con job? And worse yet, he remains deeply indebted to the fossil-fuel industry, which poured at least $96 million into his 2024 reelection campaign and an estimated $445 million into influencing the total election. He might indeed not have won the presidency without their donations, and now, undoubtedly as his thank-you to the industry, hes doing everything he can to take our future away from us by, among other devastating things, trying to halt projects that spread non-fossil-fuel-producing solar and wind power. Truly, how could 49.8% of Americans have reelected a president who ran for office the third time (with a bluntness almost beyond imagining) on the all-too-incendiary campaign slogan drill, baby, drill?

A president of the United States, really?

Honestly, dont you think that everything Ive written so far reads like the worlds most unbelievable science fiction novel? And once upon a time, I can assure you (as a former editor in mainstream publishing), no publisher would have ever agreed to put out a book with a plot so pathetically unrealistic and, had it by some miracle  or rather ill omen  appeared, every imaginable reviewer would have panned it mercilessly and few readers would have thought to buy it.

In truth, if, once upon a time, some sci-fi writer had come up with such a plot, he (or she) would have been laughed out of the profession and off this planet. Donald Trump, president of the United States (twice!)? Give me a humongous break! How distinctly unrealistic could any author be in creating such a bizarre character as The Donald, no less coming up with a plot in which he would win the presidency not once, but twice?

And how about, on a planet where there may be no greater broiler than military operations, that very president deciding to launch a new war almost randomly against  yes!  Iran, which has already spread across the region (with, of course, a helping hand, or rather a panoply of bombs and missiles, from Israel), while creating a global oil crisis linked to the largely blocked Strait of Hormuz? I mean, imagine that! Or rather, no need to imagine it, since its our reality and Donald Trump is distinctly trying to create a dump-truck (rather than dump-Trump) world.

Living on Borrowed Time and Possibly the Wrong Planet

And so, here we are, all of us, already living through the worst imaginable version of science fiction with a literal madman as president, who seems distinctly intent on nothing less than doing in this planet and so all the rest of us, or at least all too many future us-es.

And under the circumstances, no one should be faintly shocked that 2023, 2024, and 2025 were the three hottest years in recorded history, while the El Nino weather pattern expected to emerge later this year is essentially guaranteed to drive global temperatures to new records in 2026 and 2027. And as Jonathan Watts of the Guardian recently reported, Climate breakdown is shrinking the amount of time that people can safely go about their lives, according to a study [by scientists from the Nature Conservancy] that shows a third of the worlds population now resides in areas where heat severely limits activity.

And just to emphasize how strange things truly are these days, imagine this: the country doing the most on this planet when it comes to putting some limits on climate change is  yes, of course, China. As a start, its now producing and selling solar panels, wind turbines, and other green energy-producing materials globally in a distinctly record fashion. It has also captured the electric vehicle (EV) market, lock, stock, and barrel, selling millions of those vehicles in more than 150 countries and territories, which should, of course, be truly commendable. And yet, to put all of that in a little Trumpian perspective, China still produces more greenhouse gases (mainly from burning coal) at this very moment than anyplace  yes, anyplace!  else on Planet Earth and an estimated 35% of the total. How beyond strange, beyond science fiction, beyond fantasy, beyond anything someone might once have imagined.

Of course, give him credit. At almost 80 years old, Donald Trumps own level of energy is somewhat remarkable. And its also true that, when it comes to destroying our lives, climate change is just one of the areas hes taken up with such alacrity. After all, were talking about the president who appointed vaccine skeptic (and thats putting it politely) Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as his secretary of health and hes been hard at work trying to ensure that Americans will get vaccinated ever less frequently and sicker ever more often. (Fortunately, a Massachusetts district judge only recently blocked the government from implementing a series of decisions on vaccines made over the last year by Kennedy and crew.)

I have to admit that, at almost 82 years old myself, having covered so much of this at TomDispatch for almost 25 (increasingly strange) years, I do have the feeling that Im living not just on borrowed time (because of my age) but increasingly on the wrong planet. And for that reason  if youll excuse my repeating myself  I find it no less hard to believe that a near majority of Americans voted in 2024 for You Know Who a third time around.

So much that Trump and crew have done should be considered the political, environmental, and cultural equivalent of putting a gun to all our heads and pulling the trigger. In truth, his name should undoubtedly be changed from Donald J. Trump to Donald D. Trump  d for decline, of course. So, give the whole crew of them credit. Thanks to Trump, Kennedy, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, and all too many other strange characters, this country and this planet are both heading down in a remarkably distinctive fashion.

And its hard even to imagine that we still have almost three more years of Trumpiana ahead before  well, under the circumstances, who knows what? There can be no question that he and his crew are indeed hard at work trying to create a dump truck (rather than a dump Trump) version of this world of ours. Sigh

Copyright 2026 Tom Engelhardt
Chicago (Special to Informed Comment; Feature)  Secretary of War Crimes Pete Hegseth prosecutes Trumps unprovoked attack on Iran as a Holy War of brute force, vengeance, and self-righteousness. A religious zealot, Hegseth has rapidly transformed the Pentagon into the staging ground for an ideological and Christian crusade. He has rejected the seriousness of war in favor of the strutting, sanctimonious posturing of a MAGA evangelist preaching violence as divine will.

A Former Fox News weekend host who gained notoriety for defending war crimes, Hegseth has become the hateful, scowling face of Trumps war. With contrived machismo, theocratic bluster, and callousness toward the lives of Muslims as well as U.S. troops, Hegseth peddles puerile displays on TV, aimed at sating Trumps desire for a war cheerleader crass enough for the manosphere.

We negotiate with bombs, warned a chest-thumping Hegseth, on Tuesday, performing as Trumps testosterone-fueled attack monkey. He asserted that his war fighters will destroy the enemy as viciously as possible from moment one.

Standing next to the cartoon bully, Trump distanced himself. Painting Hegseth as a warmonger, Trump  the fake FIFA peace prize recipient  said that Hegseth, along with Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair Gen. Dan Caine, was disappointed in the cease-fire talks: I think this things going to be settled very soon and they go, Oh, thats too bad. Pete didnt want it to be settled, Trump said. He was interested in just winning this thing.

In his next typically self-contradicting bromide, Trump claimed  as he has from the first hour of the war, Weve won this, because this war has been won, the only one that likes to keep it going is the fake news.

A war that has been won does not need more bombing, or more warships, or the $200 billion more that Trump is requesting from Congress, or the five to ten thousand more troops that presage a potentially catastrophic ground invasion to seize Kharg Island  the hub of Irans oil infrastructure  or the dire Strait of Hormuz.

Passing the war buck to Hegseth, Trump on Thursday recalled his decision to start bombing Iran and turned to the Secretary of War Crimes and said, Pete, I think you were the first to speak up, and you said, Lets do it. Trump may be experiencing bombers remorse: When things are going well, he never shares credit.

The cravenly Commander-in-Chief refused U.S. responsibility for the massacre of almost 200 children and teachers when the U.S. struck a school on the first day of the illegal war. He first blamed Iran. After a U.S. investigation attributed the bombing to America, Trump lied, as always, and claimed to know nothing about it.

Hegseth cut 90 percent of the Pentagon workforce whose job it was to ensure that the U.S. doesnt accidentally harm civilians. Given that, it is no surprise that the horrific school bombing occurred. Such despicable acts help shore up support for an Iranian regime whose greatest weakness has long been the contempt it inspires in its own people.

Aroused by explosions, Hegseth revels in the devastating carnage of long-distance aerial bombardment. With lustful intoxication, he boasted that B-2 bombers as well as Predator drones will rain death and destruction from the sky all day long. Our rules of engagement are designed to unleash American power, not shackle it. This was never meant to be a fair fight, and it is not a fair fight. We are punching them while theyre down, which is exactly how it should be. These are the words of a psychopath.

Long live death or Viva La Muerte was a nihilistic fascist slogan attributed to the extreme nationalist, Spanish group Falange Espanola that made the exaltation of violence central to its propaganda. Likewise, Hegseth and company promote a nihilist cult of death that fetishizes killing and wanton devastation.

This was reinforced by lurid, violence-glorifying social media snuff videos that celebrated the extra-judicial boat killings on the open seas, near Venezuela, that have taken 163 lives. For the current war, the Defense Department produces many lowest-common-denominator propaganda videos that, for example, intersperse clips from Hollywood blockbusters such as Braveheart, Gladiator, Superman and Top Gun with that he-man movie legend Hegseth and, crassly, real kill-shot footage of the attacks in Iran.

For Hegseth and Trump, the war is a video game, a spectator sport, a social media festival of slam dunking over a weak opponent linked to the explosive shredding of anonymous victims. Politics at home and abroad is about scoring, winning, and humiliating the other side.

This promotes massive overkill that is justified not with strategic objectives, which Hegseth is utterly incapable of articulating, but with seemingly titanic emotions  an uncontrollable epic fury and a thirst for vengeance that inflicts maximum destruction and excruciating pain.

All of this excessive brutality is accompanied by a shameless, even boastful, admission that the minimum human and moral constraints of warfare will be broken as if this connotes manliness. A case study in masculine sublimated anxiety, Hegseth has vowed to unleash overwhelming and punishing violence on enemies and promised to dispense with stupid rules of engagement  rules designed to restrict attacks on civilian populations.

Pete Hegseth is a very dangerous person, said Janessa Goldbeck , chief executive of Vet Voice Foundation, a non-profit advocacy organization. Hes a white Christian nationalist and has the arsenal of the United States government at his disposal and a permission slip from President Trump to deploy carnage wherever he wishes against whomever he wishes.

For years, Hegseth cultivated a hyper-masculine caricature that appealed to Trumps sense of male inadequacy and played to the rightwing media ecosystem. Now, faced with a geopolitical crisis that demands nuance and strategic foresight, he is completely out of his depth, acting as if he is auditioning for a RAM Truck commercial.

Faithful to his masters desire for total domination and extermination, Hegseth encourages gratuitous cruelty and announces future war crimes on live TV, saying: We will keep pushing, keep advancing, No quarter. No mercy for our victims. No quarter is the practice of refusing to take prisoners and killing surrendering enemy combatants  a war crime prohibited by U.S. law and the Geneva Convention.

I wish I could say how cavalier, obtuse and hopeless Secretary Hegseth is at leading the Pentagon, wrote Goldbeck, a Marine Corps veteran. I cant even muster the words to describe his self-adulation, matched only in scope by his apparent moral depravity.

Hegseth wants to create a fantasy world of Trump adulation inside the Pentagon itself. Instead of press conferences with critical questions and genuine answers, there is gentle back-and-forth between the secretary of war  a fantasy name, and journalists from Trump-loving media such as Newsmax, Epoch Times, and LindellTV which promises the world according to the MyPillow guy.

Even with this extra layer of insulation from reality, Hegseth insisted that the press was not being positive enough about U.S. attacks on Iran while banning photographers over unflattering pictures of him. Hegseths fragile ego is incapable of facing up to the reality of what has been unleashed so thoughtlessly. Like one of his hated woke snowflakes, Hegseth  if confronted with tough questions from The Guardian or CNN  whines and deflates into a fetal position.

He bashed fake news while addressing the six U.S. army reservists killed in an Iranian attack on an operations center in Kuwait. When a few drones get through or tragic things happen, its front-page news. I get it. The press only wants to make the president look bad. The comments reflect a total lack of empathy for Americas fallen as Hegseth risibly views all reporting on the negative consequences of the war as Trump-bashing.

His petulant, contemptuous behavior was evident at his confirmation hearings last year. Senators raised serious questions about his record of disparaging remarks about women, claims of sexual assault, and on-the-job drunkenness. An affidavit by a former spouse cited him for abusive behavior. He was also accused of rape and, though not charged by the police, Hegseth paid to silence the accusation. His own mother even accused him, in an email, of a long record of abusing women.

Reflecting his antipathy toward women as well as people of color, Hegseth last week blocked the military promotion of four exemplary officers, two women and two Black men. He apparently acted without the authority to do so. Reportedly, he was told that Trump did not want to stand next to a female Black officer at military events.

At the time of the Senate confirmation hearings, The New Yorker reported that a colleague at Concerned Veterans for America complained that he and another man, during a drunken episode at a bar, repeatedly shouted Kill all Muslims!

His body even shouts the anti-Muslim, Crusaders vow. The Latin phrase Deus Vult, or God wills it, is tattooed on Hegseths right bicep. This battle cry of the Crusades has been revived in recent years by various far-right groups. It appeared on clothing and flags carried by some participants in the January 6 Capitol attack.

Hegseth lionizes those ruthless medieval wars during which Christian warriors massacred Muslims to take over Jerusalem as perhaps the most formative moment in the history of the free world. He even titled his 2020 book American Crusade. Hegseth described the Crusades as bloody and full of unspeakable tragedy, but asserts that they were justified because they saved a Christian Europe from the onslaught of Islam.

On his chest is a tattoo of the Jerusalem cross  a cluster of five crosses long associated with medieval Crusader iconography. The symbol is linked to the Knights Templar. This Crusader army of warrior monks was founded in occupied Jerusalem in 1119 and established its headquarters at the Al-Aqsa Mosque, a site of profound significance in Islam. Its use as a foreign military headquarters constituted a desecration of the sacred place.

These are not merely tattoos, these are declarations  fragments of a sick worldview in which politics becomes a crusade and the modern world becomes a permanent battlefield clash of civilizations between the West and Islam. Hegseth wrote, in American Crusade, that those who benefit from western civilization should thank a Crusader.

Hegseth has pledged to reprogram the military with a Christian nationalist ideology that fuses religious identity with national identity. Military chaplains are supposed to minister to all religions, but Hegseth wants to rewrite their manual to reinsert the Christian God. On X, he said, War fighters of faith have been alienated by secular humanism in the military.

Hosting a monthly Christian prayer service that is live-streamed throughout the Pentagon, Hegseth last week called for overwhelming violence of action against those who deserve no mercy. He read a prayer that asked God to let every round find its mark against the enemies of righteousness and our great nation.

In February, Hegseth invited his pastor  Christian nationalist Doug Wilson  to address the U.S. military. Wilson believes homosexuality is a crime, wants to repeal the womens vote, and works to make the U.S. a Christian theocracy.

The Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF), a nonprofit activist organization that seeks to defend the rights of service members, said it has received more than 200 complaints from service members about military commanders invoking extremist Christian rhetoric about biblical end times to justify involvement in the Iran war. According to MRFF founder Mikey Weinstein, a former Air Force attorney, Hegseths language casts the Iran war as a holy war of a Christian nation against a Muslim one.

We look exactly like a ninth version of the eight prior Crusades, from the 11th through the 13th century, Weinstein said. Were just attacking a huge Muslim nation, and all this does is serve as an immeasurable propaganda bonanza for those that we are fighting. Hegseth treats the military as his personal army to carry out his self-styled, anti-Muslim notion of Gods agenda.

This reflects Trumps expressed feelings about the Iranian people: They really are a nation of terror and hate. He claimed he would like to help Iranians if they can behave, but theyve been very menacing. It gets worse. On Untruth Social, he wrote, with apocalyptic relish, We will take out easily destroyable targets that will make it virtually impossible for Iran to ever be built back, as a Nation, again  Death, Fire, and Fury will reign (sic) upon them.



File. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth delivers remarks during an 82nd Airborne Division Review at Fort Bragg, N.C., May 22, 2025. (DoD photo by U.S. Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Alexander Kubitza). Color altered. Public Domain. Via Picryl.

This is an attitude that Pete Hegseth obviously shares. Opposition to Islamists has been a motivating influence in Hegseths public life. He wrote that the U.S. faces a crusade moment that echoes the 11th-century Christian invasion of the Holy Land. We dont want to fight, but, like our fellow Christians one thousand years ago, we must.

He predicted that the U.S. would wage war side-by-side with Israel. We Christians  alongside our Jewish friends and their remarkable army in Israel  need to pick up the sword of unapologetic Americanism and defend ourselves. We must push Islamism back  culturally, politically, geographically, and militarily.

Hegseth personifies the thuggish, sycophantic, Islamaphobic power-drunk administration in which domination is the only language. Militarism, civilizational arrogance, and Crusader fantasies are no longer at the margins but at the center of power. Hegseth is not a fringe figure. He commands fleets, armies, bombers, missiles, and he speaks like a religious fanatic. Boastful, taunting, and intoxicated by violence, Hegseth claims a divinely-sanctioned mandate to kill anyone who does not align with his White Christian nationalist dogma, the Zionist agenda, or the ever-conflicting decrees of his Supreme Misleader.
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa on Monday pledged to work with Germany to enable more Syrians to return home and rebuild their country after its devastating civil war, as he made a historic visit to Berlin.

Europe's top economy is home to the largest Syrian diaspora in the European Union at more than a million, many of whom arrived during the peak of the migrant influx in 2015-2016.

After meeting Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Sharaa said that "we are working with our friends in the German government to establish a 'circular' migration model".

This would "enable Syrians to contribute to the reconstruction of their homeland without giving up the stability and lives they have built here, for those who wish to stay", he said.

Merz, who has made a tougher immigration policy a priority since taking office last year, also said he and Sharaa were "working jointly towards more Syrians being able to return to their homeland".

Sharaa, 43, a former Islamist rebel leader, was speaking on his first trip to Germany since ousting his country's longtime strongman Bashar al-Assad in late 2024.

He has managed to build relations with Western governments and made several overseas trips, including to the United States, France and Russia.

As a result, many international sanctions on Syria have been lifted to help the country rebuild after a bloody 14-year civil war.

- 'Wealth of human resources' -

Earlier, Sharaa told a foreign ministry forum in Berlin that Syria had experienced a "huge amount of destruction" during its long conflict, saying that Syrians "want to catch up with the rest of the world" as Germany did after World War II.

He pointed to investment opportunities in Syria's energy, transport and tourism sectors, describing his homeland as very diverse and with "a great wealth of human resources".

Merz said Germany wanted to "support" reconstruction in Syria as it struggles to rebuild after a long and bloody civil war, adding that a German government delegation would travel to the Middle Eastern country in the next few days.

However, Merz also said that he had stressed to Sharaa in their meeting "that many joint projects in the future will depend on our finding a state governed by the rule of law".

Rights campaigners have criticised Sharaa's Germany visit, pointing to his Islamist past and ongoing violence and instability in Syria.

Protesters gathered in front of the foreign ministry on Monday waving Kurdish flags and placards, highlighting Sharaa's time as an Islamist militant.

Near the chancellery, dozens of Syrians also turned out to welcome Sharaa, waving Syria's new revolutionary flag and a banner showing the president surrounded by hearts.

The German Green party's foreign affairs spokeswoman Luise Amtsberg told AFP Germany should not engage in a "premature normalisation" with Sharaa's government.

Merz had reduced Syria policy to the question of returns "and is ignoring the situation on the ground", she said.

- 'Authoritarian tendencies' -

Since Sharaa has been in power, sectarian tensions have continued to cause repeated bloodshed in Syria, while the Islamic State group remains at large.

After Assad's overthrow, Israel moved its forces into the UN-patrolled demilitarised zone on the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, and has carried out hundreds of strikes in Syria as well as regular incursions.

Sharaa was initially planning to visit Germany in January, but the trip was postponed as he sought to end fighting between government troops and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in his country's north.

KGD, a group that represents the Kurdish community in Germany, has said that Sharaa "bears responsibility for numerous human rights violations, war crimes and crimes against humanity".

Sophie Bischoff, president of the German-Syrian NGO Adopt A Revolution, told reporters that any support from the German government "must be linked to clear conditions" and warned that "authoritarian tendencies are on the rise again in Syria".
The appeal trial of former Gambian interior minister Ousman Sonko against a 20-year jail sentence for crimes against humanity opened Monday in the southeastern Swiss city of Bellinzona.

After being sacked in September 2016 by Gambia's former mercurial strongman Yahya Jammeh, Sonko fled to Switzerland and applied for asylum.

Until his arrest in 2017, he was living in an asylum care centre in the capital Bern.

In May 2024, the 57-year-old Sonko was sentenced to 20 years in prison after the judges in Bellinzona found him guilty of several murders, kidnappings and torture they said constituted crimes against humanity.

"It is important for the judges to realise that there are people directly concerned who are here... for whom this procedure is very important, because they were victims of very serious crimes," Fanny de Weck, the lawyer for two plaintiffs, said at the opening of the appeal trial.

"These are opponents who were arrested and tortured".

The trial, which is expected to last at least two weeks, opened in the presence of five civil parties, who had travelled from The Gambia, an AFP journalist saw.

Gambian journalist Madi Ceesay, a civil party in the trial, told AFP that Sonko was ultimately responsible for his arrest and that he had suffered torture.

"This trial is above all an opportunity to acknowledge and confirm judicially the crimes that were committed, beyond the people present in this courtroom, for all Gambians who were victims of this dictatorship," said Benoit Meystre, legal adviser to Trial International, the NGO behind the proceedings.

Sonko has remained in prison awaiting the appeal trial, with judges refusing his requests for release, citing the risk of flight.
US President Donald Trump threatened Monday to destroy Iran's Kharg Island, a crude oil export hub, along with oil wells and power plants unless Tehran quickly accepted a deal to end the US-Israeli war.

The risk of further escalation, including a potential US ground operation to seize Kharg Island, is sending tremors through financial and energy markets, as well as neighbouring Gulf countries.

In a post on his Truth Social network, Trump voiced hope about US talks with a "more reasonable regime" in Tehran, an apparent reference to new leadership despite the failure of the month-long war to dislodge the Islamic republic.

But Trump warned that if a deal were not struck -- including to reopen the vital Strait of Hormuz shipping lane -- US forces would destroy "all of their Electric Generating Plants, Oil Wells and Kharg Island (and possibly all desalinization plants!)."

Destroying civilian infrastructure such as power and water facilities would be illegal under international humanitarian law and could constitute a war crime, experts say.

Iran has previously threatened to retaliate by targeting energy infrastructure and desalination plants in its Arab neighbours in the Gulf that host the US military, such as the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

Showing it will not back down, an Iranian parliamentary committee voted to impose tolls on vessels through the Strait of Hormuz, the passageway through which one-fifth of global oil passes.

State television said Iran would forbid the United States and Israel from passing through.

The tolling plan for the strait has outraged the United States, which has spoken of creating a "coalition" to oppose it.

"No one in the world can accept it," Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Al-Jazeera.

"It sets an incredible precedent. So this means that nations can now take over international waterways and claim them as their own," Rubio said of the waterway the US president recently called the "Strait of Trump."

- Oil price causes havoc -

Economy ministers and central bankers from the G7 club of rich countries met in Paris to discuss the war's effects, with many countries introducing energy-saving measures or cutting fuel taxes to help consumers.

Market experts warned that any US ground operation or wider Iranian retaliation could send oil prices to levels not seen since the July 2008 commodity boom, when the cost of Brent crude, the international benchmark, hit close to $150 a barrel.

Brent has already risen nearly 60 percent this month, and the US benchmark WTI by more than half.

The spectre of a widening conflict grew over the weekend when Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen fired missiles and drones at Israel.

The Houthis have previously threatened shipping through the Red Sea and the Suez canal, which requires vessels to travel through a narrow strait off Yemen's coast.

"The Houthi's ability to disrupt shipping through the Bab al-Mandeb strait, which accounts for roughly 12 percent of global trade, is the new key risk," said analyst Chris Weston at the Australian financial services firm Pepperstone.

In Lebanon, Israel continued to bombard Beirut's southern suburbs and the country's south, where an airstrike targeted an army checkpoint and killed a soldier.

The United Nations peacekeeping force in south Lebanon, where Israeli and Hezbollah forces are clashing, reported that two of its personnel were killed Monday in "an explosion of unknown origin."

Another peacekeeper was killed on Sunday, with Indonesia confirming one of its soldiers had died.

- New strikes -

Around the Middle East on Monday, there was no let-up in hostilities.

Israel said its air defence batteries responded to missiles launched from Iran, after earlier announcing it was striking military infrastructure across Tehran.

Israel also confirmed it had hit the Imam Hossein University in the capital, which it said was used by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps for advanced weapons research.

In Israel, emergency services reported a fire at an oil refinery in the northern port city of Haifa, which also suffered a blaze on March 19.

Kuwait condemned strikes on a power station and a desalination plant, which killed an Indian worker.

- Egypt pleads for end -

On the diplomatic front, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, whose country is playing a role in mediating indirect talks between the US and Iran, appealed directly to Trump on Monday to find an offramp.

"Please, help us to stop the war, you are capable of it," Sisi told a press conference with Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides in Cairo.

Egypt's foreign minister joined counterparts from Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt in the Pakistani capital Islamabad on Sunday for talks on the crisis.

Trump has claimed to be in direct contact with senior Iranian figures who have not been identified publicly.

Rubio said there were "fractures" within the Islamic republic and voiced hope that the Iranian officials allegedly in contact with Washington had the "power to deliver."

But Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei again denied any negotiations, saying that the United States had sent only a request to talk via intermediaries including Pakistan.

Iranian leaders insist Trump's offer of talks is a smokescreen as he moves thousands of marines and paratroopers to the region for a possible ground invasion.

After weeks of strikes, residents of Tehran painted a picture of a city that is still clinging to some routine, with cafes and restaurants open and no shortages reported in supermarkets or petrol stations.

Security remains tight, with checkpoints erected on streets around the capital.

"When I make it to a cafe table, even for a few minutes, I can almost believe the world hasn't ended," said Fatemeh, 27, a dental assistant.

"And then I go back home, back to the reality of living through war, with all its darkness and weight."

burs-adp-sct/js
Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Monday said he and Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa want 80 percent of Syrians in Germany to return to their homeland, as the former Islamist rebel leader visited Berlin.

Europe's top economy is home to the largest Syrian diaspora in the European Union at more than a million, many of whom arrived during the peak of the migrant influx in 2015-2016.

After meeting Sharaa in Berlin, Merz said the two leaders were "working jointly towards more Syrians being able to return".

The German chancellor, who has made a tougher immigration policy a priority since taking office last year, said he and Sharaa had agreed that eight out of 10 Syrians in Germany should go back "over the next three years".

On his first trip to Germany since ousting his country's longtime strongman Bashar al-Assad in late 2024, Sharaa also pledged to work with Germany to enable more Syrians to return.

Syria is "working with our friends in the German government to establish a 'circular' migration model", Sharaa said.

This would "enable Syrians to contribute to the reconstruction of their homeland without giving up the stability and lives they have built here, for those who wish to stay", he said.

Sharaa, 43, has managed to build relations with Western governments and made several overseas trips, including to the United States, France and Russia.

As a result, many international sanctions on Syria have been lifted to help the country rebuild after a bloody 14-year civil war.

- 'Premature normalisation' -

Earlier, Sharaa told a foreign ministry forum in Berlin that Syria had experienced a "huge amount of destruction" during its long conflict, saying that Syrians "want to catch up with the rest of the world" as Germany did after World War II.

He pointed to investment opportunities in Syria's energy, transport and tourism sectors, describing his homeland as very diverse and with "a great wealth of human resources".

Merz said Germany wanted to "support" reconstruction in Syria as it struggles to rebuild after a long and bloody civil war, adding that a German government delegation would travel to the Middle Eastern country in the next few days.

However, Merz also said that he had stressed to Sharaa in their meeting "that many joint projects in the future will depend on our finding a state governed by the rule of law".

Rights campaigners have criticised Sharaa's Germany visit, pointing to his Islamist past and ongoing violence and instability in Syria.

Protesters gathered in front of the foreign ministry on Monday waving Kurdish flags and placards, highlighting Sharaa's time as an Islamist militant.

Near the chancellery, dozens of Syrians also turned out to welcome Sharaa, waving Syria's new revolutionary flag and a banner showing the president surrounded by hearts.

The German Green party's foreign affairs spokeswoman Luise Amtsberg told AFP Germany should not engage in a "premature normalisation" of Sharaa's government.

Merz had reduced Syria policy to the question of returns "and is ignoring the situation on the ground", she said.

- 'Authoritarian tendencies' -

Since Sharaa has been in power, sectarian tensions have continued to cause repeated bloodshed in Syria, while the Islamic State group remains at large.

After Assad's overthrow, Israel moved its forces into the UN-patrolled demilitarised zone on the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, and has carried out hundreds of strikes in Syria as well as regular incursions.

Sharaa was initially planning to visit Germany in January, but the trip was postponed as he sought to end fighting between government troops and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in his country's north.

KGD, a group that represents the Kurdish community in Germany, has said that Sharaa "bears responsibility for numerous human rights violations, war crimes and crimes against humanity".

Sophie Bischoff, president of the German-Syrian NGO Adopt A Revolution, told reporters that any support from the German government "must be linked to clear conditions" and warned that "authoritarian tendencies are on the rise again in Syria".
United Nations peacekeepers, who for decades have served as a buffer between Israel and Lebanon, have seen three of their comrades killed and several others wounded since the latest war erupted between Israel and Hezbollah.

Here is an overview of the UN force in south Lebanon, whose mandate expires at the end of this year.

- In the firing line -

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) patrols the area around the country's southern border, where Hezbollah and Israel began clashing this month after the Iran-backed group drew Lebanon into the Middle East war by firing rockets at Israel.

Israeli forces have been pushing into areas north of the frontier, and officials have announced plans to establish a buffer zone up to the Litani River, around 30 kilometres (20 miles) from Israel.

On Monday, two peacekeepers were killed when "an explosion of unknown origin destroyed their vehicle", wounding at least two others, the force said.

The day before, an Indonesian peacekeeper was killed and three others wounded when a projectile, also of undetermined origin, exploded near a UNIFIL position.

And earlier this month, three Ghanaian peacekeepers were wounded when their base was hit, with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun accusing Israel of being responsible and UNIFIL saying it would investigate.

Over the years since its mission began in 1978, the force has lost around 340 members.

Visiting UN chief Antonio Guterres this month said attacks against peacekeepers and their positions were "completely unacceptable... and may constitute war crimes".

- Ceasefire monitors -

UNIFIL was set up in 1978 to monitor the withdrawal of Israeli forces after they invaded Lebanon to stem Palestinian attacks targeting northern Israel.

Israel again invaded in 1982, only withdrawing from south Lebanon in 2000.

After a 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah, UN Security Council Resolution 1701 bolstered UNIFIL's role and its peacekeepers were tasked with monitoring the ceasefire between the two sides.

UNIFIL patrols the Blue Line, the 120-kilometre (75-mile) de facto border between Lebanon and Israel, in coordination with the Lebanese army. It also has a maritime task force that supports Lebanon's navy.

The mission has its headquarters south Lebanon's Naqura, which in recent years has hosted indirect border negotiations between Lebanon and Israel.

Following a November 2024 ceasefire that sought to end more than a year of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah over the Gaza war, UNIFIL became part of a five-member committee supervising that truce.

Under pressure from the United States and Israel, the UN Security Council voted last year to end the force's mandate on December 31, 2026, with an "orderly and safe drawdown and withdrawal" by the end of 2027.

- International force -

The mission currently involves around 8,200 peacekeepers from 47 countries, according to the force's website.

Top troop-contributing countries include Italy, Indonesia, Spain, India, Ghana, France, Nepal and Malaysia.

Italy's Major General Diodato Abagnara has headed the mission since June 2025.

UNIFIL patrols have occasionally faced harassment, though confrontations are typically defused by the Lebanese army.

In December 2022, an Irish peacekeeper was killed and three colleagues wounded when their convoy came under fire in south Lebanon.

- Border area -

Resolution 1701 of 2006 called for the Lebanese army and UN peacekeepers to be the only armed forces deployed in the country's south.

UNIFIL had been supporting the army in dismantling Hezbollah infrastructure near the border in the months before the latest hostilities erupted, in line with a Lebanese government decision to disarm the militants following the 2024 truce.

Hezbollah has long held sway over swathes of the south and has built tunnels and hideouts there, despite not having had a visible military presence in the border area since 2006.

- What comes next? -

Lebanese authorities want a continued international troop presence in the south after UNIFIL's exit, and have been urging European countries to stay.

Last month, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said Lebanon's army should replace the force when the peacekeepers withdraw.

Italy has said it intends to keep a military presence in Lebanon after UNIFIL leaves.
US President Donald Trump threatened Monday to destroy Iran's oil export hub of Kharg Island, oil wells, power plants and other civilian infrastructure if it does not soon agree to a deal to end the war.

A day after sounding conciliatory and suggesting a deal could be reached this week, Trump wrote on his Truth Social network that the United States is in "serious discussions" with "a more reasonable regime" in Tehran.

But he added an ominous warning.

"If for any reason a deal is not shortly reached, which it probably will be, and if the Hormuz Strait is not immediately 'Open for Business,' we will conclude our lovely 'stay' in Iran by blowing up and completely obliterating all of their Electric Generating Plants, Oil Wells and Kharg Island (and possibly all desalinization plants!)," Trump said.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt repeated the administration's insistence that the US war against Iran should be over within another two weeks.

Trump "has always stated four to six weeks, estimated timeline," Leavitt told reporters. "We're on day 30 today. So again, you do the math."

"He wants to see a deal over the next 10 days," she said.

Asked whether Trump's threat to devastate Iranian civilian infrastructure would not risk committing war crimes, Leavitt said the US armed forces would always act within the law.

However, she warned Iran that the US military "has capabilities beyond their wildest imagination and the president is not afraid to use them."

On Sunday night, Trump told reporters on Air Force One that the United States had achieved "regime change" in Iran through the war launched a month ago with Israel, citing the number of Iranian leaders who have been killed. He called the new leadership "much more reasonable".

"We're dealing with different people than anybody's dealt with before. It's a whole different group of people. So I would consider that regime change."

There could be a deal "soon," Trump said when asked if an agreement could come this week.

Meanwhile, when asked if US allies in the Gulf -- like Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates -- should help pay for the costs incurred by the war, Leavitt said Monday it was something Trump was "quite interested in doing."

"It's an idea that I know he has," she said without further detail.
US President Donald Trump threatened Monday to destroy Iran's key oil export hub of Kharg Island along with power and desalination plants unless Tehran quickly accepted a deal, even as he suggested that diplomacy was making headway.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump's partner in attacking Iran, said more than half of his military aims had been achieved, even as both leaders refused to put a timeline on the operation that has ignited a regional war and sent global oil prices soaring.

More than one month into the war, Trump said the United States was speaking to a "more reasonable regime" in Tehran, which has denied any talks and accused the US president of lying about negotiations as cover while readying a ground invasion.

Trump warned that if a deal were not struck -- including to reopen the vital Strait of Hormuz shipping lane -- US forces would destroy "all of their Electric Generating Plants, Oil Wells and Kharg Island (and possibly all desalinization plants!)."

Destroying civilian infrastructure would be illegal under international humanitarian law and could constitute a war crime, experts say.

Iran has previously threatened to retaliate by targeting energy infrastructure and desalination plants in its Arab neighbours that host the US military, such as the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi urged Saudi Arabia to "eject US forces", saying Tehran otherwise respects the "brotherly" kingdom.

Showing it will not back down, an Iranian parliamentary committee voted to impose tolls on vessels through the Strait of Hormuz, the passageway through which one-fifth of global oil passes.

State television said Iran would forbid the United States and Israel from passing through.

The tolling plan for the strait has outraged the United States, which has spoken of creating a "coalition" to oppose it.

"No one in the world can accept it," Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Al-Jazeera.

"It sets an incredible precedent. So this means that nations can now take over international waterways and claim them as their own," Rubio said of the waterway the US president recently called the "Strait of Trump".

- Peacekeepers die in Lebanon -

Israel has also relentlessly pounded Lebanon, including central Beirut, as it seeks to deliver a heavy blow to Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed force that had fired rockets in solidarity after Israeli forces killed Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The UN mission in Lebanon said that two Indonesian peacekeepers were killed when "an explosion of unknown origin destroyed their vehicle", with two other peacekeepers wounded, one seriously.

Another Indonesian peacekeeper was killed on Sunday. Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim-majority country, before the latest war had been lining up to send forces to bring stability to ravaged Gaza following a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

France, a key player in Lebanon, condemned the deaths of peacekeepers and called for an urgent UN Security Council meeting, which was subsequently scheduled for Tuesday at 14H00 GMT.

Economy ministers and central bankers from the G7 club of rich countries meanwhile met in Paris to discuss the war's effects, with many countries introducing energy-saving measures or cutting fuel taxes to help consumers.

Market experts warned that any US ground operation or wider Iranian retaliation could send oil prices to levels not seen since the July 2008 commodity boom, when the cost of Brent crude, the international benchmark, hit close to $150 a barrel.

Brent has already risen nearly 60 percent this month, and the US benchmark WTI by more than half.

Adding pressure, Yemen's Iranian-backed Houthi rebels over the weekend fired missiles and drones at Israel, posing a threat to shipping on the Red Sea in addition to the Gulf.

- New strikes -

There was no let-up in hostilities.

Israel said its air defence batteries responded to missiles launched from Iran, after earlier announcing it was striking military infrastructure across Tehran.

Israel also confirmed it had hit the Imam Hossein University in the capital, which it said was used by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps for advanced weapons research.

In Israel, emergency services reported a fire at an oil refinery in the northern port city of Haifa, which also suffered a blaze on March 19.

Kuwait condemned strikes on a power station and a desalination plant, which killed an Indian worker.

Netanyahu said that Israel had achieved key objectives including by "wiping out" industrial plants and coming "close to finishing their arms industry".

"It's definitely beyond the halfway point. But I don't want to put a schedule on it," Netanyahu told US broadcaster Newsmax.

The war -- and the spiraling price of oil -- has been unpopular in the United States, where Rubio again Monday said it would last "weeks" more and not months.

- Egypt pleads for end -

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, whose country is feeling the economic pinch and has been playing a key role mediating indirect talks, appealed directly to Trump on Monday to find an offramp.

"Please, help us to stop the war, you are capable of it," Sisi told a press conference.

Trump has claimed to be in direct contact with senior Iranian figures whom he did not identify publicly.

Rubio said there were "fractures" within the Islamic republic and voiced hope that the Iranian officials allegedly in contact with Washington had the "power to deliver."

But Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei again denied any negotiations, saying the United States had sent only a request to talk via intermediaries including Pakistan.

After weeks of strikes, residents of Tehran painted a picture of a city that is still clinging to some routine, with cafes and restaurants open and no shortages reported in supermarkets or petrol stations.

Security remains tight, with checkpoints erected on streets around the capital.

"When I make it to a cafe table, even for a few minutes, I can almost believe the world hasn't ended," said Fatemeh, 27, a dental assistant.

"And then I go back home, back to the reality of living through war, with all its darkness and weight."

burs-adp-sct/des






Monday, March 30, 2026 - Detectives have arrested a suspect linked to a stupefying and theft syndicate targeting unsuspecting revellers within Nairobi and its environs.

The arrest follows an intelligence-led operation triggered by a report lodged at Embakasi Police Station.

According to the report, the complainant had been socializing at a joint within the capital when he was approached and hugged by an unidentified woman shortly after a pool game.

Moments later, he began experiencing dizziness and opted to leave for home in her company, before subsequently losing consciousness.

Upon regaining awareness, the victim discovered that several valuables had been stolen from his house, including two laptops (HP and Lenovo), a Samsung S22 mobile phone, cash amounting to Ksh 168,000, and jewellery valued at Ksh 50,000.

Acting on forensic leads, detectives traced the suspect to the Kihunguro area in Ruiru, where Jane Wangare Ndungu was arrested at Havilla Apartments.

A search of the premises yielded numerous suspected stolen items, including 40 assorted mobile phones, 14 laptops, and an iPad with a keyboard, among them items positively identified as belonging to the complainant.

Preliminary investigations indicate that the suspect is part of an organized criminal network that administers a stupefying substance commonly referred to as mchele, rendering victims incapacitated.

The syndicate exploits this condition to steal valuables and extract sensitive financial information, further fueling the circulation of stolen electronics in the black market.

The suspect has since been booked at Embakasi Police Station as investigations intensify to dismantle the wider network.

The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) remains steadfast in its commitment to safeguarding the public from emerging criminal trends.

Members of the public are urged to remain vigilant in social establishments and promptly report any suspicious incidents to the nearest police station or through established reporting channels.

Via DCI






Monday, March 30, 2026 - A church function took an unexpected turn after a man bearing a striking resemblance to President William Ruto left congregants excited.

In a video that has since gone viral, the man is seen addressing worshippers during the event, drawing attention from the crowd due to his uncanny similarity to the Head of State.

Dressed sharply and exuding confidence, the lookalike quickly became the center of attention, with congregants exclaiming, Anakaa Ruto! as they marveled at the resemblance.

The clip has since circulated widely online, with many Kenyans humorously referring to the man as a carbon copy of Kasongo.

Watch the video>>> below

Kumbe Ruto ako ndugu pic.twitter.com/lri7pzx8Se  The Mayor (@themayor_ke) March 30, 2026

The Kenyan DAILY POST






Monday, March 30, 2026 - The robbery case involving popular Kenyan filmmaker and content creator, Abel Mutua, has taken a dramatic twist after a man allegedly linked to the incident came forward, confessing and asking for forgiveness.

The shocking incident dates back to October 2025 when Mutua was ambushed in Kahawa West, Nairobi, by knifewielding assailants.

The attackers made away with his iPhone 16 Pro Max and Bose headphones.

Despite the ordeal, Mutua later expressed gratitude that his life was spared.

The important thing is that despite the massive knives they spared my life, he said at the time.

Months later, a video>>> has surfaced showing a man in handcuffs admitting to being part of the group that robbed Mutua.

In his plea, he not only confessed but also begged for forgiveness, dramatically declaring: Mkiniona Nairobi tena mniue.

Under Kenyan law, robbery involving weapons is classified as robbery with violence - one of the most serious offences, carrying severe penalties including long prison terms or even life imprisonment.

Tevin Muiruri Maina might spend the rest of his life in jail for robbing Mkurugenzi Abel Mutua of his iPhone 16 Pro Max and Bose headphones.



Robbery with violence carries a maximum sentence in Kenya of death or life imprisonment!



I dont know how he was nabbed, but he has pic.twitter.com/dTUGKoFs4O  The Oligarch (@NytoP2PMwangi) March 30, 2026

The Kenyan DAILY POST






Monday, March 30, 2026 - Hellen Ati, the Kenyan woman who has accused Nigerian socialite and businessman Okechukwu Pascal, popularly known as Cubana Chief Priest, of impregnating and abandoning her, is over the moon after he finally agreed to a DNA test.

Taking to Instagram, Hellen shared a video of herself performing a celebratory dance and revealed that Cubana had accepted her request for a test to determine the paternity of her son.

Hellen has long accused the flamboyant influencer of neglecting the child, an allegation he has consistently denied.

In a recent interview, Chief Priest insisted: It cant be my child. I dont know her. I have never met her.

Adding: Children are gifts from God regardless of how they come, and I have more than enough to take care of my children as many as possible that will come my way.

I have a beautiful marriage. This is the best thing that has ever happened to me and if you watch the whole attack, it is on the marriage. he said.

Despite his denial, Hellen maintains that he is the father of the boy who bears a striking resemblance to him.

Her celebratory video has sparked wild reactions online, with some netizens joking that she might be the first woman to be excited at the mention of a DNA test.

Watch the video>>> below

The Kenyan DAILY POST






Monday, March 30, 2026 - A video circulating on social media showing an interaction between a Kenyan single mother and her young son has triggered widespread debate and concern among netizens.

In the clip, the woman is seen relaxing in bed with the child as they engage in a casual conversation.

During the exchange, the boy makes a remark about his mothers physical features, saying, Mum uko na mafrumbanya, a statement that has social media users unsettled.

Watch the trending video>>> below

The Kenyan DAILY POST






Monday, March 30, 2026 - A lady alleges that she was pushed out of the Linda Mwananchi political camp associated with Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna after rejecting inappropriate advances from powerful individuals within the team.

In a post shared on X, the lady claimed she had shown interest in working and contributing to the political outfit but was allegedly confronted with demands that went beyond professional engagement.

She alleges that after turning down the advances, doors that initially seemed open were quickly shut.

Check out her post on X.

The Kenyan DAILY POST






Monday, March 30, 2026 - Seasoned Kenyan journalist, Linus Kaikai, has reportedly found himself at the center of controversy after claims emerged that a woman alleged to be his baby mama is threatening to expose him over child support.

According to online whispers, the woman is said to be disgruntled over how the journalist has been handling financial support for their child.

It is alleged that although Kaikai has been providing some financial assistance, tensions have recently risen over the arrangement.

Sources further claim that the woman is considering going public with the matter, a move that could potentially damage Kaikais long-standing reputation as a respected media personality.

At the same time, it is alleged that the woman fears possible backlash, claiming she is concerned about potential harm from Kaikais wife if the situation becomes public.

Kaikai, known for his distinguished career and influential presence in Kenyas media landscape, has built a reputation as a composed and highly respected figure in society.

If his baby mama goes public with her allegations, the scandal could taint his image.





The Kenyan DAILY POST










Monday, March 30, 2026 - Kapseret Member of Parliament, Oscar Sudi, has showcased his luxurious residence in Karen after hosting the family of the late MP Ngeno.

Photos shared online capture the opulent home, highlighting its modern design, spacious interiors and serene surroundings in one of Nairobis most affluent neighborhoods.

Reports indicate that a unit within the exclusive Amara Ridge Estate is valued at approximately Ksh 120 million, with monthly rent estimated at around KSh 500,000.

Sharing the photos on X, Sudi wrote, As a long-term friend of the late Johanna Ngeno, I hosted his family at my Nairobi home today. It was a follow-up visit after the demise of the Emurua Dikirr MP. Even after the burial, our ties remain strong, and we're committed to strengthening family bonds.

The Kenyan DAILY POST






Monday, March 30,2026 - Kipseret MP, Oscar Sudi, has set tongues wagging after hosting Nayianoi Ntutu, the widow of former Emurua Dikirr MP, Johanna Ngeno, together with her family at his lavish Nairobi residence.

The visit comes barely a month after Ngeno tragically perished in a helicopter crash in Nandi County that claimed six lives.

Taking to Facebook, Sudi, who was a close friend of the late legislator, shared:

As a longterm friend of the late Johanna Ngeno, I hosted his family at Nairobi today.

It was a followup visit after the demise of the Emurua Dikirr MP.

Even after the burial, our ties remain strong, and were committed to strengthening family bonds.

However, one particular photo of Sudi posing closely alongside Ngenos widow and their daughter has stirred speculation online.

Some netizens cheekily suggested that the MP might be marking territory to ward off potential suitors, while others urged him to take good care of her.

The post has since ignited lively debate across social media, blending sympathy for the grieving family with playful banter about Sudis intentions.

The Kenyan DAILY POST
The RISE Community Fund has awarded a cash grant to Kilkea National School as part of its new national programme to provide for schools in every county throughout 2026.

Supporting technology investments that enhance digital learning and maximise the benefits of high-speed broadband connectivity, The RISE Community Fund is backed by National Broadband Ireland (NBI) and partners involved in the delivery of the Governments National Broadband Plan.

Kilkea National School is a small, three-classroom school nestled in the beautiful south Kildare countryside.

The school has previously implemented initiatives aimed at addressing the digital divide and supporting its students at risk of educational disadvantage as a consequence.

The latest grant will be utilised to significantly enhance its teaching around STEM subjects (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths).

Established by David McCourt, the RISE Community Fund has awarded close to 200 cash grants nationwide to rural schools, community groups, farms, small businesses and social enterprises seeking to use technology to scale the positive impact of their work.

Through its 2026 national schools programme, RISE aims to ensure that children in rural Ireland can fully benefit from digital connectivity and develop the skills needed to thrive in a modern, technology-driven world.

Kilkea National School is a modern, vibrant country school where we strive to nurture joy, curiosity and lifelong learning in every child, said acting principal, Lucy Behan.

We are very grateful to NBI and the RISE Community Fund for awarding us this 1,000 grant which will help us enhance our STEM, coding and computational thinking resources across all class levels. The new tools will strengthen pupils problem-solving".
KILDARE senator Aubrey McCarthy has said he holds no bitterness towards the man who threatened to kill him, instead using the case to highlight what he describes as serious gaps in Irelands mental health system.

At Wicklow Circuit Court last week, Brian McCann (40) was sentenced to five years in prison, with the final three and a half years suspended, after pleading guilty to making threats to kill and engaging in harassment.

The charges relate to threats made against Senator McCarthy who is also founder of addiction and homelessness charity, Tiglin, and Philip Thompson, CEO of the charity.

The court heard that in February 2022, McCann verbally threatened to kill or seriously harm both men at the Tiglin centre in Ashford, Co Wicklow. He also posted threatening comments on the charitys social media platforms.

The threats were deemed serious enough to require Garda intervention.

Despite the severity of the incident, the Punchestown native struck a compassionate tone in his victim impact statement, telling the court he held no bitterness towards McCann.

He said in his statement: These threats did not just rattle a few nerves. They struck at the heart of our work. They shook our sense of security. They cast a long shadow over our daily lives, moments of looking over shoulders, checking doors twice, and wondering if we were safe simply doing our jobs.

On the advice of gardai, myself and the Tiglin CEO have had to install alarms, cameras and full-time surveillance at our residences. He continued: And yet, amid this fear, I found that the individual behind these threats was struggling with significant mental health and addiction issues. This doesnt excuse the actions, but it does add important context.

As a society, I believe that we need to do more not just in crisis, but long before people reach breaking point. Our mental health system must be stronger, more compassionate, and far more accessible. Speaking to Kildare Nationalist after the case, Senator McCarthy explained that his response is rooted in his work with Tiglin, a charity supporting people affected by addiction, homelessness and marginalisation.

It would be hypocritical of me to say this guy is a bad lad, send him to jail forever, he said. This could be my brother, my uncle. The senator brought attention to what he described as a major failing in Irelands approach to dual diagnosis, where a person suffers from both addiction and mental health issues.

He explained that individuals presenting with both conditions often struggle to access appropriate care:

If someone comes to us with addiction but is also hearing voices, we have to refer them to mental health services, he said. But when they present at A&E, they may be told its an addiction issue. Theyre falling between two stools. According to Senator McCarthy, this systemic gap means people like Mr McCann may not receive adequate support, either in prison, on probation, or in the wider healthcare system.

The reality is this man will not receive the help he needs in prison or through probation services, he said. So how does he get healing? How does he get care? The senator is now calling for a more joined-up approach between addiction and mental health services, alongside increased investment in early and crisis intervention.

Since the case concluded, McCarthy said he has been contacted by numerous families struggling to access support for loved ones with mental health difficulties.

People are reaching out saying their brother or sister is in trouble because of their mental health, he said. You realise this is much broader than one case. He also suggested that the issue has not received sufficient political attention.

Theres no votes in it, he said. It requires people to recognise the need and act.

In sentencing, the judge took into account Mr McCanns mental health and addiction issues, opting for a partially suspended sentence to allow for treatment engagement.

However, Senator McCarthy believes the case ultimately highlights a deeper systemic failure.

Prison is not the intervention, he said. We need to build a system that actually supports people before they reach this point.
Radio NZ reports:

A plan to fast-track a controversial West Coast hydro scheme has been given an initial go-ahead.

The West Coast lines company, Westpower, has applied to fast-track its controversial plans to build a run-of-river hydro scheme on the Waitaha River, and in its draft decision the fast-track expert panel has given it approval.

Westpower Limited wants to build the $100 million Waitaha Hydro Project on conservation land between Hokitika and Franz Josef Glacier.

The plan is to build a weir to divert water through a tunnel to generate 23 megawatts of hydroelectric power, enough to power the equivalent of about 12,000 homes, according to Westpower.
Weather Alert

...The Flood Warning is extended for the following rivers in Missouri... Missouri River at Boonville affecting Boone, Cooper, Moniteau and Howard Counties. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... Turn around, don't drown when encountering flooded roads. Most flood deaths occur in vehicles. This product along with additional weather and stream information is available at www.weather.gov/kc/. && ...FLOOD WARNING NOW IN EFFECT UNTIL EARLY FRIDAY AFTERNOON... * WHAT...Minor flooding is forecast. * WHERE...Missouri River at Boonville. * WHEN...Until early Friday afternoon. * IMPACTS...At 21.0 feet, Low-lying rural areas along the river flood. At 23.8 feet, Easley River Road and Smith Hatchery Road begin to flood. * ADDITIONAL DETAILS... - At 8:04 PM CDT Tuesday the stage was 19.8 feet. - Forecast...The river is expected to rise above flood stage late this evening to a crest of 22.7 feet early tomorrow afternoon. It will then fall below flood stage early Thursday afternoon. - Flood stage is 21.0 feet. - http://www.weather.gov/safety/flood && Fld Obs Forecasts Location Stg Stg Day/Time Wed Thu Fri 1am 1am 1am Missouri River Boonville 21.0 19.8 Tue 8pm 21.5 22.0 19.2 &&
Japanese public figures urge gov't to apologize over SDF officer's intrusion into Chinese embassy

Xinhua) 10:55, March 30, 2026

TOKYO, March 29 (Xinhua) -- Following the forcible intrusion by an active-duty Self-Defense Forces officer into the Chinese embassy in Tokyo earlier this week, Japanese public figures have urged the government to take the incident more seriously, move beyond its current stance of expressing mere "regret," and formally apologize to China while conducting a thorough investigation to hold those responsible accountable.

Yujin Fuse, a veteran Japanese military journalist, said responsibility for the incident lies entirely with the Japanese side, and that Japan should acknowledge fault and apologize to China, warning that refusing to do so may further aggravate the situation.

Seiko Mimaki, a professor at Japan's Doshisha University, noted that as a signatory to the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, Japan is obligated to prevent intrusions and damage to foreign diplomatic missions, and should respond honestly to its failure to adequately protect the Chinese embassy in this case.

Ignoring this responsibility and prioritizing "not giving China grounds for criticism" would ultimately damage Japan's international credibility, she warned.

Yoichi Jomaru, a former journalist with Japan's Asahi Shimbun, questioned whether the Japanese government intends to close the matter simply by calling the incident "deeply regrettable."

"Logically speaking, at the very least, the defense minister or the foreign minister should come forward to apologize," he said. "Is the government deliberately allowing relations between the two countries to worsen further?"

According to the Chinese embassy in Japan, a man claiming to be "an active-duty officer of the Japan Self-Defense Forces" forcibly broke into the embassy by climbing over a wall on Tuesday morning, threatening to kill Chinese diplomatic personnel.

The embassy has lodged solemn representations and a strong protest with the Japanese side, demanding that Japan provide a responsible explanation.

So far, the Japanese government has only expressed that the incident was "regrettable," without offering an apology or announcing specific accountability measures.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
MAHONY Hall in The Helix hosted three graduation ceremonies on Friday, 27 March, as approximately 1,300 DCU graduates from multiple disciplines were awarded with their parchments.

Among them was Lauren Dwyer from Portlaoise, who received a masters degree in Electronic and Computer Engineering. She was joined on the day by her mother, Joan.

Students in attendance represented the Universitys five faculties: the DCU Business School, the Institute of Education, the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, the Faculty of Science & Health, and the Faculty of Engineering & Computing.

The 2026 ceremonies also saw the first graduates from the new MA course in Documentary Practice cross the stage.

Speaking at the graduation ceremonies Prof Daire Keogh, President of Dublin City University, said: Today is a special day, a day when we get to celebrate the very purpose of our University: the education and graduation of our students.

We wish each of our graduates every success in the years to come as they make their contribution to the DCU mission to transform lives and societies.
A MAN who admitted to masturbating in public was back before Portlaoise District Court last week.

The 46-year-old, who cannot be identified on the instructions of the court, had been convicted at a previous sitting of the case to exposing his genitals intending to cause fear, distress or alarm to another person in a car at Main Street, Monasterevin, Co Kildare on 9 April 2024.

That sitting heard that the man, who had no previous convictions, had an issue with alcohol and had consumed about three or four pints the night before. At the time of the incident, he was looking to get into a public house early the morning after.

He was looking at a video on his phone in his car when a lady passed by while he was masturbating.

At the initial hearing of the case, the man was informed that the court wanted 5,000 and adjourned the case to 23 March for an updated probation report and 2,000 to be handed into court at that time.

Last week, the mans solicitor, Barry Fitzgerald, said his client had initially paid 500 to the court and with the 2,000 he has, this left a balance of 2,500 to be paid.

Judge Susan Fay said the probation report was positive and if the balance of payment was made on 17 December, she would consider recommending imposing a probation supervision service order.

Funded by the Court Reporting Scheme.
FACED with a rapidly rising population, Co Laois is in desperate need of swift development of at least two more primary schools.

School places have become so competitive in Portlaoise that many children are having to be bussed to primary schools in surrounding catchment areas or even neighbouring counties, which is fracturing local communities and also putting a strain on already traffic-heavy roads and an at-capacity public transport infrastructure system.

At the latest meeting of Portlaoise municipal district, Cllr Paddy Buggy urged Laois Co Council to make provision for two new primary schools in the Portlaoise Local Area Plan. Expressing his rationale for the request, he said: "Nationally, birth rates are declining and the one exception is the midlands, particularly Portlaoise, where we are expanding at a tremendous rate and we need to start planning and identifying that we will need more schools going forward and instead of waiting on the department to decide whether we do or don't, we should be doing it now and putting it into our plan for there to be at least two more schools."

Cllr Buggy underscored his concerns that young primary school pupils were being bussed out of their own neighbourhoods to attend school far from their own communities, with the tragic result being that when they return home after studies or for the weekend, they don't know the children who are their immediate neighbours.

The motion was seconded by Cllr Caroline Dwane Stanley, who highlighted her own experience fighting the Department of Education for school and other developments in the past. She said: "I'm also mindful of the fact that in 2016, I actually canvassed for the patronage of Colaiste Dunamaise at the new sight and now, ten years on, we're just on the planning permission, which is great, but the length of time it took was crazy."

Cllr Dwayne Stanley made a point of mentioning that she was on the board of LOETB  Laois-Offaly Education and Training Board  and offered to help throw the organisations weight behind Cllr Buggys proposal but cautioned that the real crux of the issue lay in getting the Department of Education to actually sign up to the plan.

The independent councillor went on to reference another previous attempt at securing a department writ for a new school, which was again rebuffed: "We had our ducks lined up and that went off to the department and we got the most disgraceful letter from the department saying that we didn't need a new primary school, that the catchment areas in the nearby towns would suffice. We, all of us in this room, need a new primary school, but how do we convince the department, who seem to be living on a different planet, I don't know."

Funded by the local democracy reporting scheme
California Gov. Gavin Newsom praised the Trump administration's Cuba policy, saying its "quasi blockade," preventing the country from receiving fuel, allowed it to have "different conversations" with its leadership.

Speaking to BreatkThrough News, the governor was asked if the U.S. "should try to bring democracy to Cuba."

California governor and likely 2028 Democratic presidential candidate Gavin Newsom is in full lockstep with Trumps fuel blockade and strangulation of Cuba, saying that the presidents policies created the conditions in favor of the U.S. and that he absolutely supports pic.twitter.com/rhO5OOKKeO  BreakThrough News (@BTnewsroom) March 27, 2026

Newsom answered that he "appreciates" the approach in "one respect" because the situation has allowed the administration to "negotiate a different framework from a position of strength."

"Pursuing those values, absolutely," he added.

The Trump administration is actively pursuing changes to the Cuban regime, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio recently saying that the "people in charge" need to be replaced for the country to prosper.

Speaking to press last Friday, Rubio claimed that the only way for Cubans to become successful is "if they leave the country," something he described as "very sad."

"You see Cubans go all over the world and find success except in Cuba. That has to change and for that to change you need to change the people in charge, you need to change the system that runs the country, and you need to change the economic model that it's following," Rubio added.

He went on to claim that such a change is the "only way forward if Cuba wants a better future," and that "maybe now there's an opportunity to do it."

Cuban authorities have recognized negotiating with the Trump administration, with President Miguel Diaz-Canel recently saying that Raul Castro is playing a leading role in the conversations.

In an interview with Spanish politician Pablo Iglesias, Diaz-Canel said Castro "is one of those who has directed, together with me and other institutions of the party, government and state, how we should conduct this dialogue process." He added that the talks are taking place "under the direction of the army general," referring to Castro, whom he described as the "historic leader of the revolution," despite no longer holding formal office.

Diaz-Canel indicated that Cuba is open to discussing a broad range of issues, including "investments," U.S. participation in the Cuban economy and "migration issues." He also mentioned potential cooperation on security, environmental matters, and scientific and educational exchanges.

However, he set clear limits, stating that any dialogue must respect "our sovereignty, our independence and our political system," adding that those elements "are not up for discussion."

Originally published on Latin Times
Vice President JD Vance has suggested that unidentified flying objects are 'demons' rather than extraterrestrial life forms.

'I don't think they're aliens. I think they're demons,' he said, repeating the line for emphasis. Vance made the comments during an appearance on the podcast, 'The Benny Show' with conservative Benny Johnson on 27 March.

He told Johnson that he does not believe in traditional extraterrestrial aliens. Instead, he views these phenomena as 'celestial beings' rooted in a spiritual framework.

Vance claimed that every great world religion recognises 'weird things' that are difficult to explain. He framed the issue as a matter of good and evil. He stated that one of the 'devil's great tricks' is convincing people he does not exist.

'The Vice President Just Told Me What Aliens REALLY Are...'

Vance was speaking to Johnson when the conversation drifted to unidentified flying objects and the long-rumoured cache of government files tied to them. He admitted, with a hint of frustration, that he has not yet been able to access the material.

'When I came in, I was obsessed with the UFO files,' he said, referring to documents connected to what he called 'alien and extraterrestrial life'.

He claimed he has not had 'even a peek', citing the more pressing demands of 'the economy and national security and things like that.'

Still, Vance insists he intends to pursue it. He described aborted plans to visit Area 51 and travel to New Mexico, the symbolic heartland of American UFO lore.

'I'm going to get to the bottom of this,' he said, adding that his remaining years in office would provide the opportunity.

Not Aliens, But Something Else Entirely

He went on to frame unexplained aerial phenomena through a religious lens, drawing on his Christian beliefs.

'Every great world religion, including Christianity, the one that I believe in, has understood that there are weird things out there,' he said. 'And there are things that are very difficult to explain.'

He described 'celestial beings, who fly around and do weird things to people', but argued that labelling them as aliens risks misunderstanding their nature.

Instead, he suggested that such phenomena fit more comfortably within a spiritual framework that acknowledges both good and evil forces.

'There's a lot of good out there, but there's also some evil out there,' he said, before adding that 'one of the devil's great tricks is to convince people he never existed.'

Politics Meets The Paranormal

Vance is not alone in entertaining the subject. Donald Trump has called for the release of so-called UFO files, while Barack Obama has previously said that aliens are 'real, but I haven't seen them', before clarifying that he saw no evidence of extraterrestrial contact during his presidency.

Obama's remarks leaned toward curiosity tempered by scepticism. Vance's comments tilt in another direction entirely, one that invites a more ideological reading of the unknown.

What this reveals is a broader shift in how political figures engage with fringe topics. Once relegated to late-night radio and internet forums, discussions about unidentified aerial phenomena have edged into mainstream discourse. Congressional hearings, military testimonies, and declassification efforts have all contributed to that change.

Rather than pushing for scientific clarity, Vance introduces a moral dimension, framing the phenomenon in terms of good and evil rather than evidence and analysis.

It is a move that may resonate with parts of his political base, particularly those inclined toward religious interpretations of global events. Vance conceded that his understanding remains incomplete. 'I've not been able to spend enough time on this to really understand it,' he admitted.

Originally published on IBTimes UK
A Laois town will host renowned musician Sean Keane for a night of music this summer, in memory of a popular local musician.

Sean Finn of Conoboro road, Rathdowney sadly passed away last May. The local man was known to many for his natural flair for music.

His creativity and musical ear was passed on to his children, with Sean's sons Ciaran and Hugh known nationally for their folk music band The Finns.

Hugh is a founding member of the Rathdowney Arts Group (RAG), and the group have organised the Sean Keane concert in his memory.

"This May will be a year since our Dad passed away, and we'd like to mark it," Mr Finn told the Leinster Express / Laois Live.

"My Dad and Sean Keane were good friends, he knew him very well. They have a very similar style in music, so it seemed very fitting," he said.

"The concert isn't just in memory of Dad, we have always wanted to bring more concerts to Rathdowney. We have always talked about it and wanted to do it, and now we're putting it into action," Mr Finn explained.

"The church has put on a load of concerts, and they have all been really successful. We would like people in Rathdowney to have the chance to go to a concert and enjoy music, without needing to get a train to see someone. There are so many people locally who love music," he said.

The arts group have said that they hope this event will mark the start of many more concerts to be held in the town.

"We would love to put on more concerts in Rathdowney in the future too."

"Dad was such a well-known local musician, and he was a big inspiration to me. He and Sean have been friends since they were kids, as a young lad our Dad used to visit Delores in Galway, for a music session and a few pints.

"Apparently he gave Sean his first tin whistle, this would have been around 60 years ago," he said.

While The Finns are well known for their discography of catchy indie trad songs, they sadly never recorded a song with their late father.

"One regret is never recording with him, we just have videos of his performances in pubs. I don't think he was that person though, he never would have sat down in a studio, he was very traditional. He was very authentic," Mr Finn said.

This will be Sean Keane's second performance in the area, having performed in the Donaghmore Workhouse in 2019.

Sean Keane Live in Rathdowney will take place in Rathdowney's Parochial Hall on Saturday, May 9 2026, from 8pm to 10pm.

Tickets are 33.15 per person and can be purchased on eventbrite here.

Alternatively, you can contact Rathdowney Arts Group at rathdowneyartsgroup@gmail.com. Buy your tickets early to avoid dissappointment!
Abbeyleix Bog features in a documentary about Ireland's boglands to air on RTE over Easter. The bog was saved from Bord na Mona peat harvesters more than 20 years ago and has not become a model project for peatland conservation.

Fiona Dunne, chairperson of the Abbeyleix Bog, and her dad, Proinsias O Duinn, a former turf cutter, appear in the Irish language programme to be screened on Easter Monday.

The programme makers say Fiona used to cut turf with her father when she was younger, and developed her love of nature during her youth on the bog.

Fiona is now the Chairperson of the Abbeyleix Bog Project, and her father walks there every day. They believe bogs should be enjoyed and conserved and not cut and used for fuel.

READ NEXT: Laois farm hosting Ireland's first Farming For Nature summer festival

Proinsias spoke in the documentary about turf cutting during his youth.

Fiona Dunne pictured on the Abbeyleix Bog boardwalk.

"It was much better than going to school. It was very important, especially for people in the countryside. In the towns, you could get coal and other things, but for ordinary rural people, turf was very important in the winter," he said.

Ecologist Piaras O Giobuin spoke about the work done by bogs for the environment.

READ NEXT: Seismic chain of Laois events that saved Abbeyleix bog recalled

"If you have a wet bog, its absorbing carbon. But if you have a dried-out bog, one thats been drained, its releasing carbon. From a climate change perspective, the wet bog is the better bog," he said.

For Peat's Sake screens on RTE One and RTE Player on Easter Monday, April 6 at 6.30pm.
A public meeting is due to take place in Durrow this evening after planning applications to use two pubs in the town for IPAS accommodation were approved.

Marc Lennon was granted permission to convert Lennons Bar and guesthouse for use as IPAS accommodation. He was also granted retention planning permission to convert Peadars Bar for the same purpose.

Laois County Council approved both applications for the bars on Mary Street in Durrow subject to 15 conditions. Peadars Bar aims to house 30 people in 11 bedrooms, including a number of Ukrainians who are currently residing there. Lennons Bar also aims to house 30 people in 10 bedrooms.

The approved planning applications attracted over 280 submissions at planning stage and are now likely to be appealed to An Comisiun Pleanala. The properties will also need to apply to the Department of Justice for permission to house International Protection Accommodation Service(IPAS) applicants.

Laois TDs Brian Stanley and Sean Fleming were among those who lodged submissions opposing the plans.

In his submission, Deputy Fleming asked the Council to consider the cumulative effect of the two developments on the village. He also said the wording of the application was misleading as approval doesnt automatically mean the building can be used to house those seeking asylum.

I have been in direct contact with the senior official in the Department of Justice over the Integration Section who has confirmed directly on Monday 11th August 2025 that, no application has been received in respect of an IPAS centre in Durrow nor is there any decision to grant one and in the event of planning permission being granted it does not mean that the Department will engage in a contract for an IPAS centre with the owner of these buildings, Dep Fleming wrote at the time.

Laois TD Brian Stanley and Cllr Caroline Dwane Stanley lodged a joint submission raising concerns about the plans. They said: The Applicant states that the purpose of these applications and change of use is to cater for "IPAS Centres." For clarity, the Department of Justice and Home Affairs have stated quite categorically both verbally and in writing that they are not seeking any IPAS accommodation in this area. We therefore contend that these applications may be invalid.

A planning report compiled and submitted on behalf of Mr Lennon in relation to Lennon's Bar states that: It is noted that the property has remained vacant since permission was granted for guesthouse/hotel use in 2023. It is considered that allowing this proposed use will allow the reuse of this now vacant public house located in a town centre location.

The subject property is currently vacant and requires a modification of the provisionally permitted Guesthouse/Hostel to permit the accommodation of the IPAS residents. In terms of adding vitality and viability to the Village, it is considered that what is proposed is very much a low-density scheme that will provide 30 no. bed spaces for residents within this building, thus adding to the population of the town and bringing more vitality by allowing for the sustainable growth of the village centre. The location of this accommodation in the town centre allows for the positive use of a vacant building with a permitted residential/guesthouse/Hostel use presently. The location allows for residents to avail of all the local services, such as schools, church, convenience services, the Planner states.

In Laois County Councils planning report the applicant is asked if IPAS contracts are in place. The applicant replied and said it was their understanding that planning was required before they could apply.

Laois County Councils planner stated that it is considered that the proposed development would be compliant with the provisions of the Laois County Development Plan 2021-2027 with the proper planning and sustainable development of the area.

Speaking ahead of the meeting on Monday, March 30, Dep Fleming said he was disappointed in Laois County Council and he was going to appeal the decision to An Coimisiun Pleanala.

He said the Council didnt address the issue of parking for the residents and staff at the properties. According to Dep Fleming, if someone was looking to provide accommodation the first question is where are you providing the parking and that wasnt even addressed.

I am going to the meeting tonight. It is about facilities and traffic and these issues in the town, said Dep Fleming. He doesnt believe the accommodation is needed and said there was capacity in the existing IPAS system.

That opinion was echoed by Laois TD Brian Stanley. He said there was ample capacity in the system at present and the government is moving away from small private IPAS accommodation providers. What they want is large centres that are State owned, he said.

Dep Stanley said Minister for Justice Jim OCallaghan told him that 81 percent of IPAS applicants are failing the first test and there was a need to speed up the processing system for the sake of genuine applicants.

Putting people into old pubs here and there all over the country is not the way to handle it(IPAS), he insisted.

Local Independent Cllr Ollie Clooney said news of the approvals were met with shock in Durrow.

We are going to have a meeting early next week. We are awful disappointed, said Cllr Clooney.

He said a record number of people had turned up at public meetings opposing the plans last year and around 300 submissions had been made to Laois County Council and they were all ignored. Cllr Clooney said each submission had cost 20 and people were very disappointed but determined to continue opposing the plans.

We only lost the first round that is all and we will go as far as it goes, he said.

Cllr Clooney said he was confident that the people of Durrow would continue to oppose the plans.

Fine Gael Cllr John King said he had opposed the plans along with other Councillors. However, he stated that Rathdowney had benefitted from having Ukrainians move into the area in modular housing. He said they were very helpful and if they werent there, Rathdowney would be a much quieter town than what it is.

Durrow Community Council organised a public meeting in the Castle Arms Hotel in Durrow on Monday, March 30 at 8pm. They have invited public representatives and all those who made submissions to attend the meeting.
Over 400 hauliers, contractors and farmers gathered for an emergency meeting in Portlaoise this past weekend to take action on the rising fuel costs.

The meeting was organised by the Association of Farm Machinery Contractors in Ireland, and took place at the Midlands Park Hotel on Saturday, March 28.

A formal committee was established in the face of the current fuel crisis, intending to campaign for the protection of the haulage, farming and contracting sector.

Speakers shared the effects that the fuel crisis has had on their work, arguing that they feel unheard by the Government in their struggles. Farmers argued that the fuel crisis see costs rocket this silage season.

Midlands MEP Ciaran Mullooly was in attendance of the meeting, and argued that the Government must take action and scrap the excise duty on green diesel. He said that the Government must mirror the way France handled the fuel crisis, and introduce targeted fuel supports for hauliers.

The committee hope to engage further with the Government on these matters, arguing that the measures implemented by the Government last week were not targeted enough.

Excise duty was cut by the Government last week. An increased diesel rebate scheme was also announced, which is expected to be backdated to the first of January.

Attendees of Saturdays emergency meeting discussed the possibility of staging blockades along the M50, from Dublin airport onwards.

The committee is expected form a list of suggestions and demands to Government in hopes to protect their sectors.
Kildare South Fine Gael TD and Minister for Agriculture, Food and Marine, Martin Heydon has said that Community centres in Kildare can apply for funding to support upgrade and refurbishment works.

Minister Heydon said: This is a welcome announcement which will really benefit community centres in Kildare, which are used by the whole community.

The Community Centres Investment Fund 2026 follows the success of similar schemes in 2022 and 2024 which provided funding of over 80 million for almost 1,650 community centre refurbishment projects nationally, including many in Kildare such as in Castledermot, Kilcullen, Kildare Town, Rathangan, Nurney and Newbridge.

The scheme provides investment for upgrade and refurbishments works on existing community centres under two categories:

Category 1 for minor works with grant aid up to 25,000

Category 2 for larger works with grant aid up to 100,000;

READ NEXT: ALERT: Urgent temporary road closure announced by Kildare County Council

All applicants must register as 'users' on the online portal here in advance of the application process which will open in late May.

Groups that applied for this fund previously will not need to register again but should check that their details are still correct.

Groups are advised to get their application and paperwork ready in advance of the online application process opening at the end of May.

The closing date for applications will be July 13.

The Department will be running a series of information sessions in advance of the application opening date to assist in the preparation of applications.

A range of activities including Irish dancing lessons for children or art classes for retired people take place in community centres in Kildare which prove theyve always been a central focal point in every town and village for people to come together, learn a new skill, practice a hobby or just socialise with others, Minister Heydon said.

Concluding, Minister Heydon said: This scheme can be used for a range of refurbishment works such as new roofs, energy upgrades, accessibility measures, new kitchen facilities, new stage and lighting, essential repairs and lots more. Any group that requires help or assistance in applying for the grant can contact me at martin.heydon@oireachtas.ie
An Taoiseach Micheal Martin has condemned the killing of an Indonesian peacekeeper in Lebanon.

Tensions have escalated in the region after Israel and the US began bombing Iran more than four weeks ago, which has threatened global supplies of oil and disrupted air travel.

Israel has launched a ground invasion of Lebanon while targeting the Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah.

On Sunday, an Indonesian peacekeeper was killed and three others wounded when a projectile exploded near a village in south Lebanon.

The Taoiseach said all Irish personnel were safe and accounted for.

He said: I strongly condemn the killing of an Indonesian Unifil peacekeeper and the shocking escalation of violence that has injured a number of peacekeepers in recent days.

The role of the peacekeeper must be respected and honoured at all times.

Both Israel and Hezbollah must do everything in their power to keep peacekeepers from harm.

I have been briefed by our Defence Forces and all Irish personnel serving in Lebanon continue to be well and accounted for.

There are more than 360 Irish peacekeepers on a six-month deployment to a United Nations interim force (Unifil) base in southern Lebanon.

The United States and Israel wanted to have UN troops removed from the area in 2026 but an extension to 2027 was agreed after negotiations.

Ireland will have taken part in peacekeeping in Lebanon for almost 50 years by the end of 2027.
A man has appeared in a Dublin court charged with the 2006 murder of British spy Denis Donaldson.

He was also charged with five other offences, including the attempted murder of a second man in 2007.

Antoin Duffy, in his 40s, of no fixed address, appeared before the non-jury Special Criminal Court on Monday afternoon after being extradited from Scotland.

He was charged with the murder of Mr Donaldson in Cloghercor, Doochary, Co Donegal, between April 3 and 4 2006.

He was also charged with possession of a shotgun and ammunition with intent to endanger life at the same date and location.

Mr Donaldson, 55, was shot dead at a remote cottage near Glentie, months after he was exposed as a paid agent for Special Branch and MI5 since the 1980s.

In 2009, dissident republican group the Real IRA claimed the killing.

Mr Donaldson was also a former administrator for Sinn Feins Stormont Assembly team.

Detective Garda Adrian Ahern told the court that he arrested Duffy at Casement Aerodrome in Baldonnel, Co Dublin, at 1.22pm on Monday after his extradition from Scotland on foot of a European Arrest Warrant.

He said he later met Duffy at the Criminal Courts of Justice in Dublin, handed him a copy of the charge sheet and showed him an original copy.

The charges were also read out to him.

Duffy was also charged with the attempted murder of a man in November 2007 in Co Donegal, and with possession of a shotgun and ammunition on the date and location in question.

Appearing before judges James Faughnan, Patrick McGrath and Sarah Berkeley, he was remanded in custody before the next court appearance on April 13 where he is to appear in person.

He was also granted legal aid by the court.
However, Leitrim councillor, Justin Warnock has welcomed the move.

READ MORE: Building community resilience in Leitrim through permaculture training

The topic was raised by Cllr Warnock a number of years ago during a meeting of Manorhamilton Municipal District, where he called on the Minister for Housing to implement a five-year planning derogation for mobile homes which would allow these homes to be connected to the septic tank and services of the existing family residence.

Speaking to the Leitrim Observer, he said: "I think that this would be good for rural Ireland and Leitrim. People don't want to be paying landlords big money for rent if there is another opportunity and it'll give people their independence without having to pay extortionate rents."

He added: "There are people living in caravans as it is and mobile homes. Modular housing is a better structure, a permanent structure and it has all the proper facilities."

READ MORE: Over 1 million needed to repair internal sewage and waterworks at Leitrim estate

He said he knows of people who have put a mobile home at the back of their parents' house because they cannot afford "the rent or get a mortgage for a house. This will ease things for a lot of people. There are no big families these days and most people's septic tanks don't cater for ten or 12 people anymore. These people maybe have one or two children and that won't overload the septic tank."

He said the biggest issue that young people are facing at the moment is "forking out anything between 1000 and 1,500 for rent and the modular home could allow parents to downsize and move into them and the son or daughter could move into the house."

Referring to Mr Sheehan's comments that likened modular homes to beds in sheds", Cllr Warnock said: "We need to take a look at the bigger picture in the world. We have a lot of people living in tents because they are displaced and we're displacing our own because they can't afford the rent. It's a great opportunity, if you were getting on in years, to have a son or daughter come back and live beside you. That family unit has been broken down over the last generation; there used to be different generations of the one family living in close proximity."
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A LIMERICK man has been jailed for 10 years at the Central Criminal Court for exploiting and belittling a woman he raped three times while she was asleep.

The court, sitting in Limerick, heard that on the morning after the second rape the accused man had "a smirk on his face.

The woman, in her victim impact statement, said she did not care if I lived or died and death would have been easier.

Reporting restrictions were lifted on naming the convicted rapist - William Kavanagh, aged 58, of Wolfe Tone Street, Kilmallock.

Judge Sean Gillane passed sentence a week after a jury delivered majority verdicts (10-2) of guilty on the three rape charges on separate dates over a two-month period in 2021.

Prosecuting barrister Alice Fawsitt SC, appearing with Lily Buckley BL, had previously outlined the evidence with the assistance of Detective Garda David Gee, of Bruff garda station.

READ NEXT: Girl, 16, charged with assaulting Scarlett Faulkner 'laughed when shown photo' of Limerick mum

Ms Fawsitt said Kavanagh was arrested and charged with 20 counts of indecent assault and five counts of rape. He pleaded not guilty and was acquitted by a jury of 20 indecent assaults and two of the rape charges at a trial in May, 2025. There was a disagreement by members of the jury in relation to three rape charges.

A retrial commenced on Monday, March 9 and concluded on Thursday, March 12 with the guilty verdicts.

Ms Fawsitt asked Det Garda Gee to summarise the circumstances for Judge Gillane. The detective said the victim sought medical attention after a tragic incident.

She was prescribed antidepressants. One side effect of the antidepressant tablets was sedation, causing a person to sleep heavier than normal.

On three separate occasions, having gone to bed and having taken her medication, she awoke to find the accuseds penis penetrating her vagina, said Det Garda Gee.

Ms Fawsitt said the victim gave evidence that on the morning following the second incident, she described Kavanagh as having a smirk on his face.

She said he told her that her medication was dangerous, he couldn't wake her and he could have done anything to her, said Ms Fawsitt.

Judge Gillane said he agreed with the DPP that the smirking was belittling to the victim and combined with his comments made her physically sick and disgusted.

The judge said the most serious aggravating factor was Kavanaghs exploitation of the occasions on which she was taking medication to deal with the matters from which she was suffering.

This adds to his level of culpability, said Judge Gillane.

The victim said she couldnt take the medication at night because the accused was interfering with her in her sleep.

Judge Gilllane said it was a particularly egregious consequence for her, that she became reluctant to take her necessary medication.

The judge said he has listened carefully to the victim impact statement, saying it speaks for itself in terms of the harm done and, particularly, regarding the rapes taking place at a time of extreme vulnerability after a tragic incident and her health difficulties.

The woman read out her own victim impact statement in the witness box, located just feet away from Kavanagh.

She said he raped me while I was already in a vulnerable state.

To this day, I struggle to be alone as I get intrusive thoughts bringing me back and reliving the rapes. I still have nightmares of the incidents, read out the victim.

Judge Gillane referred to Kavanaghs disturbing series of previous convictions from 2022. He said there was three, in total, recorded in the district court, which related to a breach of a safety order, harassment, and criminal damage, all related to the victim

Kavanagh was represented by Brian McInerney SC, appearing with Liam Carroll BL, instructed by solicitor John Lynch.

Mr McInerney said during the sentencing hearing that his position was constrained (in terms of mitigation) as I have the clearest instructions that while he acknowledges the jury returned majority verdicts of guilty, he does not accept these verdicts and continues to assert his innocence.

Judge Gillane noted this in setting down a headline sentence of 11 years imprisonment which he reduced to 10 years due to Kavanaghs long work history and he is not a young man, soon to turn 59.

There was no reaction from Kavanagh who sat with his head bowed in the dock. He has been placed on the Sex Offenders Register.

If you have been affected by this story please contact the 24 Hour Rape Crisis Helpline on 1800 778888 or the Garda Confidential Line on 1800666111.
SIX new suicide crisis assessment nurse teams are going to be hired for primary care settings.

The new teams will be in Limerick, Kerry, Galway, Kildare and Dublin South City, while a team for children and young people is being appointed to Linn Dara Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services.

The Linn Dara service serves young people in West Dublin, Kildare, and West Wicklow.

The teams will have two senior mental health nurses.

These can act as a safety net for people in suicidal crisis, as the team can provide rapid, specialist assessment in a primary care setting for people who feel suicidal and have presented to their GP.

It will also relieve pressure on emergency departments.

READ ALSO: West Limerick community rally to raise funds for community first responders in memory of local man

Minister for Mental Health, Mary Butler TD, announced the appointments as part of Budget 2026 and it follows the announcement that 300 more mental health staff will be recruited this year.

Mental health funding will reach a record 1.6 billion in 2026, marking the sixth consecutive annual increase and a 50% rise since 2020.

Within this record allocation, 15 million in additional funding has been secured specifically for crisis supports and suicide prevention.

Minister Butler said: The expansion of the Suicide Crisis Assessment Nurse service with six new teams is a priority initiative under Budget 2026, bringing the total number of teams to 21 across 18 counties.

These new teams will strengthen communitybased crisis supports, improve access to specialist assessment, and provide faster, more coordinated care for individuals in suicidal crisis.

Minister Butler added: I am deeply committed to ensuring people in mental health crisis can access the supports that they need, in an appropriate location closer to their home, to support our work in continuing to reduce suicide.

She stressed that the development of these services within the community will move crisis responses into the community and away from busy acute environments.
While colleges are not exactly anti-AI, they still remain uncomfortable with the usage of AI instead of training graduates how to make the best use of it, Jain adds. It feels like institutions are still figuring out how to deal with AI, while the rest of the world is already learning how to work with it and get better alongside it, she says.
India's artificial intelligence (AI) story is slowly playing out, but for the true unlocks to happen, there needs to be large-scale adoption of the technology, according to panellists at the Mint India Investment Summit 2026.

India's AI infrastructure buildout is well on its way, with firms such as Yotta Data Services, Neysa Networks, and Sify Technologies all focused on ensuring there are enough data centres to meet the rising demand from companies here.

We as a country are waiting for some UPI moments to come to AI, where some government-to-consumer use cases adopt the scale of AI, said Sunil Gupta, co-founder, managing director and chief executive at Yotta.

Just as the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) has become a regular fixture in people's lives in India, processing billions of transactions every year, so too will AI. One UPI moment in AI will result in multiple AI moments later, Gupta said.

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While AI has caused a global shift, Indian companies, startups and the government have realized the country also needs to ensure there is high-performance compute capacity available to those working on the technology.

This is evident in how the IndiaAI Mission has been working to acquire 18,000 high-end graphics processing units (GPUs) needed for computations of complex maths that run the algorithms for AI.

But while there is definitely excitement about AI, there are also performance indicators to keep in mind, according to Sandip Patel, managing director at IBM India & South Asia. It's not so much about the models now. It's whether you have the infrastructure that you can deploy and use responsibly. Whether you have the right kind of AI, which, with governance, can be trusted with its outcomes.

He added that it was important that companies have the right data for specific use cases to deliver meaningful outcomes that push businesses in the right direction. They need to do all of this with the right kind of cost optimization and sustained RoI. That becomes very critical, Patel added.

Voice-first AI as a growing use case For enterprises, making sure that their investments in AI are actually beneficial has become crucial. But where AI companies struggle, especially in the enterprise, is the mismatch between what they create and the value their clients actually seek.

We've realized that enterprise AI is really hard for three reasons: Most are designed for engineers, by engineers, not for business users. Secondly, there is an engineering challenge due to lots of disparate data spread across multiple systems, said Ajoy Singh, chief AI officer, at recently listed AI company Fractal Analytics. Thirdly, the pace of change. What was state-of-the-art six months ago becomes outdated.

But that doesn't mean that there aren't pockets where enterprises can find value. In India, several companies in the banking, financial services and insurance segment have opted to use voice-first AI in some of their systems, such as loan collection or debt reminders.

On the voice side, enterprises have decided to take this to the next level, said voice-first AI startup Gnani.ai's co-founder and CEO Ganesh Gopalan. The company currently caters to 150 enterprise customers in India and approximately 200 worldwide.

Also Read | Local capital boom drives Indian angels to launch their own funds

According to Gopalan, the reason voice AI is reaching scale is that existing systems for customer interaction and engagement are currently broken. Some of the property banks in India that we work with found that our AI systems are about 10% better than their existing systems. At the enterprise level, especially for larger banks, evaluation is always done. It's always going to be based on RoI, he said.

For enterprise companies such as Gnani.ai, and even for Fractal Analytics, support, both in terms of policy and GPU access, through the IndiaAI Mission has played a crucial role. Even so, the government has made it clear that while they're not going to regulate AI and risk innovation, there have to be checks and balances.
The Delhi High Court has allowed Dr. Reddys Laboratories to supply any remaining stock of its semaglutide drug Olymviq to government hospitals after the expiry of a 30-day stock clearance window.

Justice Jyoti Singh formally recorded the settlement between Dr. Reddys on Friday, under which the Indian pharmaceutical company will discontinue the use of the Olymviq name and transition to a new brand, Olymra.

The undertaking applies not only to Dr. Reddys but also to its directors, affiliates and associated entities, all of which will cease the manufacture, sale, supply, distribution, promotion and any commercial use of the impugned mark, both online and offline.

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As per the arrangement, Dr. Reddys has been permitted to sell its existing inventory of Olymviq in the market for 30 days. Thereafter, any unsold stock can be supplied to government hospitals in the presence of a representative of Novo Nordisk. Mint reported on 29 March that Dr. Reddys would get 30 days to clear its inventory after undertaking before the court that it would change the brand name and withdraw its trademark applications.

In its written order dated 27 March, earlier reviewed and reported by Mint, the court noted that the company would withdraw its pending trademark applications for Olymviq from the Trade Marks Registry, ensuring that no further rights are claimed over the disputed mark.

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The court clarified that the limited window for stock clearance was granted in public interest, particularly as the drug is used by diabetic patients. It earlier declined Novo Nordisks request for destruction or repackaging of the inventory, noting that destroying already manufactured stock would be detrimental to patient access.

The court also expressed reservations about relabelling, questioning its commercial viability.

"We have full faith in the Indian judiciary and respect the decision of the Honourable Delhi High Court. As an innovation-driven healthcare company, we remain committed to protecting our scientific innovation and intellectual property. At the same time, our focus continues to be on ensuring patients have access to safe, high-quality and evidence-based therapies, said Vikrant Shrotriya, managing director of Novo Nordisk India, in response to Mints emailed queries on the order.

Dr Reddy's did not respond to queries until press time.

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Similar name The dispute stems from a trademark infringement suit filed by Novo Nordisk, which alleged that Olymviq was deceptively similar to its well-known trademark Ozempic, used for its blockbuster semaglutide drug.

Semaglutide, a widely used treatment for type-2 diabetes and weight management, is marketed globally by Novo Nordisk under the Ozempic, Wegovy and Rybelsus brands. The drug went off-patent in India on 20 March, triggering a wave of lower-cost generic launches by domestic pharmaceutical companies, including Dr. Reddys.

Novo argued that Ozempic is a coined and well-known mark with global sales exceeding $63 billion over the past five years, and that the use of similar names in the same therapeutic segment could dilute its brand and create confusion among patients and prescribers.
Mumbai: Former HDFC Bank chairman Atanu Chakraborty on Monday hinted that the mis-selling of Credit Suisses perpetual bonds was a bone of contention between him and the bank's management.

Chakraborty, who stepped down on 18 March, told CNBC TV18 in an interview that while he typically avoids sharing any boardroom discussions, in this case, the issue had been discussed in public by chief executive Sashidhar Jagdishan. In his 17 March resignation letter, he had cited certain happenings and practices at the bank that were not in congruence with his personal values and ethics.

Jagdishan had told The Economic Times on 23 March that HDFC Bank operates in West Asia through branches in Dubai. Bahrain customer engagement typically happens in Dubai, while transactions are booked in Bahrain. In June 2023, the Dubai Financial Services Authority clarified that clients who are continuously engaged in Dubai must also be onboarded there, even if accounts are booked in Bahrain. This issue surfaced after losses on Credit Suisse AT1 bonds.

Our assessment is that this was a technical lapse in documentation and regulatory interpretation, not fraud or mis-selling, according to Jagdishan.

On Monday, Chakraborty said he feels that if a large number of customers are hurt, some amount of regulatory or rather a large amount of regulatory focus has come on the bank.

It also brings reputational risk to the bank. Therefore, while the issues have been addressed, there has been involuntary separation of three seniors that has been reported, as well as 12 other people punished from major penalties to minor penalties, he said.

Also Read | HDFC may hire Wadia Ghandy, Trilegal to study board meeting minutes

They are all at very senior levels. But they are a posteriori reactions. Something goes on for eight years, and suddenly we take action. People will say those are concerns addressed, go home, perhaps, and that's it.

The bank had informed the exchanges on 26 September 2025 that the Dubai Financial Services Authority barred the banks DIFC branch from conducting any business with new clients.

On 23 March, HDFC Bank said the governance, nomination and remuneration committee (GNRC) directed an internal investigation. Thereafter, the GNRC pronounced staff accountability actions against a few employees on 9 March, including the removal of these three employees from the services of the bank.

I feel that these conduct issues should not arise in the first place, or the tight supervision should ensure that even if they arise, they are nipped in the bud. However, if they are termed as technical, it leaves a little bit of a leeway, said Chakraborty.

Also Read | Writing there are issues but not spelling out creates uncertainties: Jagdishan

Asked if he believes there are larger governance issues at HDFC Bank that require being addressed, Chakraborty said that he does not wish to discuss other matters unless they are in public.

Ideally, events should not occur, said Chakraborty, adding that he does not mean that in a large system, events will not occur; however, the incentive structures, the oversight of the management and the board, should ensure that they are aligned with the interests of depositors, shareholders and public at large.

Since Chakrabortys sudden resignation, the bank has been busy assuaging investor concerns and trying to get to the bottom of the issue. Mint reported on 24 March that HDFC Bank was likely to appoint at least two law firms, Wadia Ghandy & Co, and Trilegal, to conduct a review of the circumstances leading to former chairman Chakrabortys exit.

These law firms have been tasked with aiding the banks internal legal counsels to sift through pages of minutes of past board meetings to see if Chakraborty had made any serious observations.
They found that fan clubs of celebrities consisted mostly of users from smaller towns with limited social circles. These users would join groups for access to larger groups. But discussions would almost never be about the person or people the fan club was about. Instead, around 8pm, moderators would post on the groups, asking girls to say hi, and for boys to impress them.
* US Treasury plans meetings with insurance regulators, seeks details on leverage, liquidity

* Consultations come as private credit lenders strained by asset quality, liquidity concerns

* Bessent says private credit has aided US economy but wants to prevent financial contagion

By David Lawder

WASHINGTON, March 29 (Reuters) - The U.S. Treasury Department is expected to convene in coming weeks the first of a series of meetings with domestic and international insurance regulators about recent developments in jittery private credit markets, two sources familiar with the plans told Reuters.

Concerns over liquidity, transparency and lending discipline have rattled investor sentiment in the $2 trillion non-bank lending sector in recent weeks.

The sources said Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had been planning since January, however, to start regular and sustained consultations with insurance regulators in the second quarter of this year.

The first of the meetings could be announced as soon as Wednesday, the sources said.

Based on the results of that meeting, the participants will determine the direction of future engagements, aiming to improve regulators' fact-based, transparent oversight of private credit lenders as their interactions with regulated financial institutions increase.

The Treasury has no direct regulatory authority over the insurance industry but Bessent will seek to make the department a "convening authority, resource and forum" for all 50 U.S. state insurance regulators.

Treasury officials are keen to hear regulators' feedback on the rising use of fund-level leverage, the consistency of private credit ratings, the use of offshore reinsurance, and the liquidity of investments in private credit markets, the sources said, adding that any policy prescriptions would only come after a series of consultations.

A U.S. Treasury spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

During remarks to the Economic Club of Dallas in February, Bessent, a former hedge fund manager, said that when assets move from private credit lenders into regulated financial institutions, such as pension funds, banks or captive insurance companies, "Treasury gets involved."

"I am concerned with watching, how does this get to the regulated financial system," Bessent said.

He added that private credit lending had helped to bridge a gap in financing when regulators tightened controls on banks after the 2008-2009 financial crisis and again when bank lending froze during the COVID-19 pandemic, but he wanted to ensure that private credit lenders have "been prudent in their loan portfolios."

"We want to gauge, could it have any effects on the overall economy? Thus far, it's been very additive, but again, how does it affect the regulated system? And we want to prevent contagion."

Bessent said individual investors through pension or 401(k) retirement accounts should be able to take advantage of private credit assets, but issued a warning that the Treasury Department was part of the process for regulating how private assets get transferred to individual investor accounts.
New Delhi: International Finance Corp. (IFC) aims to scale up its India investments by about 30% to $7 billion this fiscal year ending 30 June, said Sarvesh Suri, regional vice-president for Asia and the Pacific at World Bank Groups private sector-focused development finance arm, in an interview to Mint. This comes in the wake of expanded long-term project financing with a focus on private sector-led job creation.

IFC backs sectors including city projects, e-mobility, small businesses, energy transition and agriculture.

The agency has scaled up its long-term commercial financing in India sharply over the last few years, with investments jumping four times to $5.4 billion in 2024-25 from $1.3 billion in 2021-22.

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Last fiscal year (ended 30 June 2025), we closed about $5.4 billion in long-term finance in India. This year, within the first eight months, we've already closed around $5.2 billion and aim to reach $7 billion by the end of June, said Suri, adding that IFC aims to achieve $10 billion of long-term finance annually in India by 2030, a goal discussed when managing director Makhtar Diop, visited India last year.

Development finance from institutions such as IFC plays a key role not only in bridging the long-term finance gaps for growth in sectors like infrastructure, but also in helping share the risk and in crowding in of larger private sector capital.

Going local A significant part of our work in India involves partnering with municipalities and state governments to provide commercial, non-sovereign lending," Suri said. "We recently assisted the city of Vizag (Visakhapatnam) in raising commercial financing from IFC and other partners for water and sanitation projects. We are now pursuing similar sub-sovereign lending with several other Indian cities,

IFCs $60 million investment for a project of Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) is its first to an urban local body in India. The World Bank and IFC collaborate in developing programmes to assist municipalities, given the complexities in such transactions at the sub-national level.

Counter-cyclical effort Economic shocks such as covid-19 and the ongoing global energy supply disruption plays a role in the development finance institutions investment strategya counter-cyclical approach to step up support, including equity investments in tough situations.

We are also working with various governments at this point of time to assess if they need working capital financing or guarantees at the sovereign or state-owned enterprise level to support them in global markets to procure essential inputs like oil and gas," Suri said.

"While India is very well-positioned and may not require such support, we are actively discussing these options in some smaller countries, he added.

Upbeat on India Suri said that from his interactions with private sector companies and banks in India, businesses are quite upbeat in terms of investments. India has consistently been one of the world's fastest-growing economies, Suri said, citing the over 7% GDP growth reported during FY24-26.

India's second advance estimate, issued by the statistics ministry on 27 February has projected a 7.6% growth in FY26.

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To achieve the 'Viksit Bharat' status by 2047, we estimate India will need to sustain a growth rate of about 7.8% for the next two decades. Within the government's supportive policy and macroeconomic framework, and with the assistance of IFC and other multilateral partners, we believe this growth rate is highly achievable over the next 20 years, said Suri.

Suri said the Indian government's work in the electronics value chain, attracting major manufacturers like Apple and fostering linkages with micro, small and medium businesses for component manufacturing, are considered significant success stories. The government is actively seeking our support and that of other partners, to replicate such success and cultivate a robust growth environment, said Suri.

Investment spree Suri said India's strong economic growth, government's supporting reforms and a favorable demographic profile makes IFC bullish on continuing investment and support for the country's private sector.

In FY25, IFC's long-term finance across Asia Pacific was $13.1 billion and it has already crossed that figure this year, with a full quarter to go. We expect our growth within the Asia Pacific region this year to be close to 50% compared to last year's numbers, said Suri about IFCs growing investments in the region.

Globally, IFC achieved its third consecutive year of record results in FY25, committing $72 billion during the yeardoubling the amount from three years ago, and up from last year's record $56 billion, information shared by the World Bank arm showed.

Job creation focus The multilateral agency's country partnership deal with India focuses on inclusive, job-creating growth.

We acknowledge the need to accelerate job creation and are concentrating on sectors that will enable this. Globally, job creation is a significant challenge for the emerging markets. We anticipate close to 1.2 billion people entering the workforce in developing countries over the next decade, but only about 400 million jobs may be created on a business-as-usual basis," said Suri.

"This disparity is precisely why the World Bank Group has prioritized more and better jobs as a core objective for the next 10 years, which has been weaved into the India Country Partnership Framework, he said.

Also Read | World Bank embraces industrial policy, abandoning three decades of stigma
New Delhi: India currently has around 18 million tonnes (mt) of fertilizer in stock, compared with the 39 mt required for the upcoming kharif season starting in June, a senior government official said, adding that the shortfall is expected to be bridged during April and May, which is usually a lean period for farming.

The stock during the corresponding period last year was comparatively lower at 14.7 mt, with total sales during the Kharif season being 36.1 mt, according to data shared by the department of fertilizers.

"The total requirement for the upcoming kharif 2026 season is estimated at around 39.0 mt, as against actual sales of 36.1 mt during Kharif 2025. Adequate stocks are currently available compared to the same period last year. Total stock stands at around 18.0 mt, as compared to 14.7 mt last year," Aparna Sharma, joint secretary at the department of fertilizers, ministry of chemicals and fertilizers, told reporters in New Delhi amid concerns over fertilizer shortages caused by disruptions in the supply of key inputs from conflict-hit West Asia.

"The prevailing situation is vulnerable situation, which we have dealt in a very strategic way," she added.

West Asia meets about 30% of India's urea needs, 30% of di-ammonium phosphate (DAP) demand and 50% of LNG (liquefied natural gas) requirement, which is used for production of fertilizers.

The government aims to boost fertilizer stocks through diversification of imports from new sources like Russia, Morocco and Indonesia, Mint earlier reported. The government is also promoting the use of alternative fertilizers such as ammonium phosphate, triple superphosphate and single superphosphate among others.

The government is taking effective measures to diversify imports, moving away from the Gulf countries to sources including Russia, Morocco, Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Jordan, Canada, Algeria, Egypt and Togo. "We are also in touch with Indian missions to explore alternative supply source," Sharma said.

On urea production, the official said some plants that had undergone annual maintenance are now in the process of resuming operations.

"Right now, about 27 plants, they are getting gas and the other plants which were under shutdown are in the start-up mode, as a result of which the monthly production which were previously about 2.4 mt is now 1.8 mt. We are resorting to spot gas purchases every fortnight. We have annual tie-ups with major source suppliers and are continuing our dialogue with them, while also engaging additional suppliers through alternative routes such as the Cape of Good Hope, including sources from Russia and Morocco. This will help ensure the supply of raw materials and intermediates for domestic production. Additionally, we will procure DAP and other inputs under the Open General Licence (OGL) route, she said.

Supply of natural gas to fertilizer units, which had declined to 60% earlier, has now increased to 75-80% primarily through additional LNG procurement from the spot market.

She, however, noted that the prices of LNG have gone up in the spot market. The spot purchases have been made for $19.5-19.6 per million British thermal unit (mmBtu), compared to $11-12 per mmBtu before the US-Iran war began, the official said.

The government has also directed domestic refineries to supply adequate quantity of sulphur to fertilizer companies for domestic production.

On the domestic fuel stock situation, Sujata Sharma, joint secretary, ministry of petroleum and natural gas, said all refineries are operating at high capacity, with adequate crude inventories, and sufficient stocks of petrol and diesel are being maintained.
Indias industrial production growth accelerated to 5.2% year-on-year in February, led by a robust expansion in manufacturing and supported by moderate growth in mining and electricity, according to provisional data released by the ministry of statistics and programme implementation (MoSPI) on Monday.

The latest print was higher than the 2.7% growth recorded in February 2025 and also improved from the 5.1% expansion a month ago, as per revised estimates, indicating a gradual strengthening in industrial activity. The index of industrial production (IIP) stood at 159.0 in February 2026, compared with 151.1 a year ago, reflecting an overall improvement in output levels.

Manufacturing, which accounts for the largest share of 77.63% in the IIP, grew 6.0% year-on-year in February, accelerating from 5.3% in January and significantly higher than 2.8% in the year-ago month, providing the main impetus to overall growth.

The expansion was relatively broad-based, with 14 of 23 industry groups within manufacturing recording positive growth. Key contributors included basic metals (13.2%), motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers (14.9%), and machinery and equipment (10.2%), supported by higher production of steel products, auto components, commercial vehicles and industrial machinery.

Mining output rose 3.1% year-on-year in February, moderating from 4.3% growth in January but improving from 1.6% growth in February 2025, indicating steady extraction activity. Electricity generation increased 2.3% during the month, slowing from 5.1% growth in January and below 3.6% in the year-ago period, pointing to some moderation in power demand.

Use-based classification data showed a mixed but largely positive trend, with capital goods output rising sharply by 12.5%, signalling improving investment activity, while infrastructure and construction goods grew 11.2%, intermediate goods expanded 7.7%, and consumer durables increased 7.3%.

In contrast, primary goods posted a modest 1.8% growth, and consumer non-durables contracted 0.6%, reflecting some weakness in mass consumption demand. Overall, infrastructure goods, intermediate goods and capital goods emerged as the key drivers of industrial growth during the month.

The February data suggest a gradual but uneven recovery in industrial activity, with manufacturing and investment-linked sectors gaining traction even as consumption trends remain mixed. The estimates are based on a weighted response rate of 88.64% and are subject to revision as more data becomes available.

IIP growth accelerated to 5.2% in February 2026 from the upward revised 5.1% in January 2026, aided by a favourable base, while exceeding Icra forecast (4.0%) for the month, Aditi Nayar, chief economist, Icra Ltd. The slight sequential uptick in the IIP growth in February 2026 belied the halving seen in the core sector expansion. The uptick was driven by the manufacturing sector, which expanded by a healthy 6.0% in February 2026, even as the electricity and mining sectors witnessed a deceleration in their y-o-y growth rates.

Nayar further added that four of the six use-based segments saw an improvement in their y-o-y performance in February 2026 vis-a-vis January 2026, barring primary goods and infrastructure/construction goods, with the former reflecting the weaker performance in the mining and electricity sectors. Notably, the latter witnessed a double-digit growth for the fourth consecutive month, suggesting that construction activity has remained quite robust, She added.

Gaura Sen Gupta, chief economist at IDFC First Bank, said the February IIP numbers show that growth momentum was strong before the West Asia crisis hit.
As the Kerala Assembly election 2026 voting day nears, an opinion poll has predicted how Wayanad, Malappuram, Kannur, Kasaragod and Kozhikode are likely to vote. According to Manorama News-C Voter opinion poll, while Kasaragod, Kozhikode and Kannur are likely to tilt towards the Left Democratic Front (LDF), the United Democratic Front (UDF) may do well in Wayanad and Malappuram districts.

For decades, Kerala poll battles were a predictable see-saw between two fronts. But 2026 presents a different picture.

While the CPI(M)-led ruling LDF is chasing an unprecedented "hat-trick" of terms, the Congress-led UDF is desperate to reclaim its lost glory after a decade of service in the opposition. The BJP, on the other hand, also does not look content with just being a spectator.

Here's a breakdown of how the Kerala Assembly election is in these districts: According to the survey, the Manjeshwaram seat in Kasaragod is likely to tilt towards the UDF candidate. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has fielded former state president K Surendran on the seat.

For the past three elections, the constituency has elected an Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) candidate. This year, Surendran is up against the sitting MLA AKM Ashraf.

People in Kasaragod may likely elect an LDF candidate in this Kerala Assembly election. Of the five constituencies in the district, the LDF is predicted to win two to four seats.

Kannur has 11 Assembly constituencies. As per the opinion poll, the Left front is predicted to win between six and eight seats, while the UDF is expected to win between three and five. The NDA may not win any seat in this district, the Manorama News-C Voter opinion poll has predicted.

The poll also suggests Health Minister KK Shailaja may face a tough contest in her Peravoor seat this time.

Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) President Sunny Joseph, who is contesting against KK Shailaja this time from the constituency, may have an edge over the Kerala health minister.

Also Read | EC letter with BJP Kerala seal triggers row, poll panel clarifies

Wayanad, with its three constituencies  Mananthavady, Sulthan Bathery, and Kalpetta  appears to be leaning towards the UDF. The opinion poll also suggests the LDF and the BJP stand little chance of winning in the Wayanad district.

The ruling LDF is predicted to lose Kozhikode in this Assembly election. The Left front had won 11 of the 13 constituencies in the 2021 election. This year, the front is likely to drop down to winning just six to eight seats. The UDF, meanwhile, is expected to fare well in the district. Malappuram is also expected to vote for the UDF in this Assembly election.

The voting for all seats in Kerala will take place on 9 April.
DMK President and Chief Minister MK Stalin on Monday filed his nomination papers from the Kolathur constituency for the 23 April elections to the Tamil Nadu assembly, declaring a family net worth of about 9 crore.

While Stalin has movable assets worth 3.3 Crore, his spouse has movable assets worth 1.3 Crore. Similarly, while Stalin has immovable assets worth 2.9 crore, his spouse owns about 2 Crore. Overall, the couple's net worth is about 9 crore.

Compared with his wife's movable assets, they showed no notable growth. In 2021, her movable assets stood at 30.52 lakh, including 24.77 lakh in old gold jewellery. By 2026, her movable assets rose to over 1.32 crore.

Five years ago, in the run-up to the 2021 Tamil Nadu assembly polls, Stalin had declared a joint net worth of about 7 Crore. This included movable assets of a little over 4.94 crore. His immovable assets, including land and residential buildings, were valued at 2.24 crore in 2021.

View full Image View full Image In 2026, the 72-year-old leader declared movable assets valued at  3.30 crore. His immovable assets have a total current market value of  2.96 crore, comprising self-acquired properties valued at  2.70 crore and inherited properties valued at  25.98 lakh. His wife, Durga Stalin, hold

In 2026, the 72-year-old leader declared movable assets valued at 3.30 crore. His immovable assets have a total current market value of 2.96 crore, comprising self-acquired properties valued at 2.70 crore and inherited properties valued at 25.98 lakh. His wife, Durga Stalin, holds movable assets worth 1.32 crore and immovable assets valued at 2.11 crore.

According to the nomination papers filed by Stalin on 6 April 2021, for the last Tamil Nadu Assembly elections, his personal movable assets have decreased from 4.94 crore in 2021 to 3.30 crore in 2026.

The value of his land and residential buildings grew moderately from 2.24 crore in 2021 to 2.96 crore in the current election cycle.

Stalin's source of income For the financial year 2024-2025, Stalin declared a total income of 30.94 lakh. His stated sources of income include his salary as a Member of the Legislative Assembly, interest from bank deposits, and book royalties. His spouse declared an income of 5,33,740 for the same financial period, citing rent as her income source.

Also Read | Stalin, Vijay file nominations as Tamil Nadu poll race heats up

The affidavit also stated that no criminal cases are pending against the DMK leader, nor has he been convicted in any case. Furthermore, he has declared zero liabilities, with no outstanding dues or loans owed to banks, financial institutions, or government agencies.

Under the educational qualifications section, Stalin declared that he completed a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Presidency College, Madras University, in 1973. His profession is listed in the document as "Public Service".

DMK contesting 164 seats DMK will contest 164 out of the 234 constituencies in the state, while 70 seats have been allocated to its alliance partners. These partners include the Congress Party with 28 seats, the Communist Party of India(CPI) with 5 seats, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M)) with 5 seats, VCK with 8 seats, and MDMK with 4 seats.

What happened in the 2021 Assembly Elections? In the 2021 Tamil Nadu assembly polls held in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), led by MK Stalin, swept to power after a decade in opposition, winning 133 seats on its own.

The DMK, along with Congress and other partners in the Secular Progressive Alliance (SPA), won 159 out of 234 seats in the Tamil Nadu Assembly.

Based on the affidavit provided for MK Stalin, here is a detailed breakdown of his movable and immovable assets and those of his spouse, Durga Stalin.

Movable Assets The total value of movable assets is 3,30,53,486 for MK Stalin and 1,32,67,648 for his spouse.

Cash in Hand: MK Stalin holds 10,000, and his spouse holds 40,000.

Bank Deposits: MK Stalin has several fixed and savings accounts. Significant balances include 28,96,975 (multiple FD entries) at Tamil Nadu Mercantile Bank and 10,00,000 in a joint election account. Durga Stalin holds a savings account at Tamil Nadu Mercantile Bank with a balance of 47,75,424 (as of March 23, 2026).

Investments & Claims: MK Stalin has a 12.5% share in Arasu Kudumbam Trust, valued at 1,13,858, and a share in another family trust property in Madurai, valued at 47,26,467.

MK Stalin has no car, as per the affidavit.

Immovable Assets The immovable assets include agricultural land, non-agricultural land, and residential buildings.

MK Stalin has declared self-acquired assets worth 2,70,04,624. The CM owns ancestral assets worth 25,98,250. His spouse Durga Stalin has declared self-acquired assets worth 1,72,22,040 and ancestral assets worth 38,78,890.

Agricultural land: MK Stalin owns 2.86 acres of agricultural land in Thanjavur district, with a current market value of 5,72,000. His spouse has no agricultural land.

MK Stalin's financial affidavit indicates a shift in personal wealth as he gears up for the Tamil Nadu assembly elections.

Residential Buildings: MK Stalin owns residential properties in Velachery, Chennai, and Tiruvarur. The combined market value of his residential assets is listed in two parts: 1,57,24,300 and 20,26,250.

Durga Stalin also holds residential interests in Velachery and Tiruvarur, with market values of 1,57,24,300 and 38,78,890, respectively.
Punjab on March 28 launched 109 new Aam Aadmi Clinics in Fatehgarh Sahib, taking the total number of such centres in the state to 990. The rollout was announced in the presence of AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal and chief minister Bhagwant Singh Mann, with the government saying another 400 clinics are under implementation.

The latest expansion underscores the Punjab governments continued emphasis on primary healthcare delivery through decentralised facilities designed to bring consultations, medicines and basic diagnostic services closer to residents. At the event, Kejriwal said the clinics are offering 107 medicines and 47 diagnostic tests free of cost, and described the model as a key pillar of the states effort to reduce out-of-pocket healthcare spending.

According to figures shared at the programme, the Aam Aadmi Clinic network has so far recorded around five crore outpatient visits. The government used that number to argue that the clinics have become a regular point of access for routine treatment, especially for patients seeking consultations, medicines and follow-up care for common and chronic conditions.

The health infrastructure push is also being linked to the states insurance expansion. Kejriwal said Punjab is issuing health cards to 65 lakh families, of which around 30 lakh have already been distributed. He added that about 1.65 lakh people have availed treatment under the scheme so far.

Taken together, the clinic network and the health-insurance programme reflect a two-tier public-health strategy. The clinics are intended to serve as neighbourhood-level entry points for primary care, while the insurance scheme is aimed at protecting households from the financial burden of hospital-based treatment for more serious illnesses. In policy terms, the model seeks to combine access with affordabilityan issue that remains central to state-level healthcare delivery, particularly in rural and lower-income segments.

At the event, Kejriwal said the government was closely monitoring the functioning of the clinics, including the availability of doctors, medicines and tests. He said feedback from patients had indicated that services were accessible and convenient. The states argument is that a localised primary-care network, if properly staffed and supplied, can ease pressure on larger hospitals by addressing early-stage treatment needs before conditions escalate.

Mann, in his remarks, placed healthcare alongside education, electricity and agriculture as key sectors of public spending. While the political messaging was present at the event, the administrative focus remained on healthcare delivery, service access and the scaling up of welfare infrastructure. For the government, the clinic network has emerged as one of its most visible service-delivery projects since it took office in 2022.

From a public-finance perspective, such programmes also feed into a broader debate on how states allocate resources between capital-intensive hospital systems and lower-cost primary care infrastructure. Punjabs approach appears to be to expand both ends of that spectrum simultaneously: neighbourhood clinics for first-level treatment, and insurance-backed hospital access for higher-value care.
U.S. troops could avoid such a dangerous operation if Iran agreed to hand over its uranium as part of a peace settlement. The U.S. has previously removed enriched uranium from a foreign country in a peaceful transfer. In 1994, the U.S. removed uranium from Kazakhstan in an operation dubbed Project Sapphire. In 1998, the U.S. and Britain were involved in an operation to remove highly enriched uranium from a reactor near Tbilisi, the Georgian capital. It was taken to a nuclear complex in Scotland.
"Supplies from Africa may take about 10-15 days less than the time required from North America. However, as diversification is the need of the hour, all options will have to be looked, said Prashant Vasisht, senior vice president and co-group head, corporate ratings, Icra Ltd. Further, countries which produce natural gas also produce other components like C2, C3 and C4 (ethane, propane and butane), which are used for the production of LPG, as is the case with the US. So, African LNG suppliers, including Angola, can be key alternatives for LPG for India."
Varuni Khosla

Varuni Khosla is a journalist with Mint, where she covers the consumer economy with a focus on hospitality and tourism, luxury, the business of sports, art, and the alcohol and food and beverage industries. Based in New Delhi, she reports on how brands and cultural sectors grow, shape consumer demand and compete in one of the worlds fastest-evolving markets.<br><br>Varuni has been a journalist since 2009 and brings more than 17 years of experience reporting on Indias business landscape. She specialises in covering the industries shaping Indias consumption economy, and is widely recognised as a key voice in these areas.<br><br>Over the years, she has closely tracked the rise of Indias luxury and hospitality sectors, the transformation of advertising and marketing as brands respond to digital platforms and changing audiences, and the economics of sport, from sponsorships and leagues to the expanding commercial ecosystems around teams, athletes and media rights. Her reporting on the business of art explores the growing global market for South Asian art and the role of collectors, galleries and auction houses.<br><br>Her stories frequently draw on exclusive conversations with founders, executives and industry leaders, combining market data with on-the-ground reporting to offer readers insight into the companies and trends shaping Indias evolving consumption economy.
Why has India designated tuberculosis elimination as a top-tier national priority?

India accounted for 25% of 10.7 million cases globally in 2024the highest. The government is targeting 158,000 high-risk villages and urban wards via "symptom-agnostic" screeningtesting individuals and entire vulnerable communities regardless of whether they show symptoms such as cough or fever. This is critical because of the 3.26 million cases detected since late 2024, about 1.09 million were asymptomatic patients. Identifying them through mass screening ensures they receive treatment before the infection spreads.
New Delhi: The Centre on Monday proposed changes to a law that could significantly expand its oversight of online platforms and even ordinary users, who post content on social media platforms like YouTube, X, Instagram and Facebook.

As per a draft amendment to Information Technology (IT) Rules, 2021 notified by the ministry of electronics and IT (Meity) on Monday, social media platforms will have to legally comply with any clarification, advisory, order or direction issued by the ministry.

The same is significant, as currently, any such guidelines or advisories issued by the government are non-binding. In the absence of any compliance with these advisories, the companies could risk losing their safe harbour clause, which gives them legal immunity against the content posted by users on their platforms.

An intermediary shall comply with and give effect to any clarification, advisory, order, direction, standard operating procedure, code of practice or guideline issued by the ministry, by order in writing, in relation to the implementation, interpretation or operationalisation of the requirements prescribed, Meity said in the draft rules. Stakeholders can send their comments on the amendments proposed by 14 April.

An intermediary is currently defined as any platform that is protected against any form of prosecution by law, provided they comply with any intermediary rules mandated by the Centre. Such platforms typically host varying forms of content hosted by users, and claim limited liability in law provided they take steps mandated by law to prohibit harm.

Industry consultants said the amended rules could signal oversight on behalf of the Centre. Rohit Kumar, founding partner at policy consultancy firm The Quantum Hub, said that the amendment appears to reintroduce, through definitional expansion, elements that were earlier proposed in the draft Broadcasting Bill but subsequently withdrawn following significant pushback.

By broadening the scope of who may be treated as a 'publisher', the government appears to be seeking to bring platforms like YouTube and other social media intermediaries, which host content created by individuals, under similar regulatory obligations, he added.

To be sure, this is the second amendment the government is looking to bring in the IT Rules, after it sharply tightened enforcement timelines last month for taking down objectionable material from digital platforms. Non-consensual sexual imagery, including deepfakes, must be removed by a platform within two hours instead of 24 hours previously.

Any other unlawful content must be removed by intermediaries within three hours of a user report or a government or court order, instead of the previous 36-hour timeline.

Non-publisher users Separately, through the amended rules, the government is also looking to expand its regulatory reach over non-publisher users. This means that news and current affairs content that is hosted, uploaded, modified, published, or shared on a platform by an ordinary user will now fall under the same regulatory scrutiny and potential blocking mechanisms that aimed at formal digital media publishers.

Non-publisher users are ordinary internet users who are not registered or formal publishers of news or digital content.

A representative for Meta Platforms said the company, which runs the world's and India's largest social media platforms, had no comments or additions for the time being. Spokespeople for Google and YouTube could not be reached immediately.

TQH's Kumar added that while some stated clauses of the amendment may seem benign, by opening the door for regulating social and political commentators and granting the government broad powers to intervene, we run the risk of serious censorship.

Beyond these enhanced compliance and oversight measures, the draft rules introduce important updates to data preservation policies.

The amendment clarifies that social media platforms must strictly adhere to any existing legal requirements for preserving or retaining user information, even after a piece of content is taken down or an individual user decides to cancel their registration.

This ensures that digital records remain intact and available for potential legal or investigative purposes, preventing the permanent loss of crucial data when accounts are closed or posts are deleted.

Additionally, the draft modifies the role and scope of the government's inter-departmental committee, which handles disputes over digital media ethics.
(Bloomberg) -- US Senator Richard Blumenthal wants Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Paul Atkins to explain the sudden resignation of its enforcement director and whether her departure was related to cryptocurrency cases, including one touching on the Trump familys ventures.

The Connecticut Democrat sent a letter Monday seeking records related to the SECs cases against cryptocurrency companies and communications with top agency officials and ex-enforcement director Margaret Meg Ryan. Ryan quit on March 16 after slightly more than six months on the job.

Ms. Ryans abrupt departure from the agency raises questions in light of her short tenure and reports that senior leadership intervened to prohibit the Division of Enforcement from pursuing cases against certain cryptocurrency companies, he wrote, citing reporting from Reuters.

The SEC declined to respond to the letter. White House counsel David Warrington said in an emailed statement the president had no involvement in business deals that would implicate his constitutional responsibilities. President Trump performs his constitutional duties in an ethically sound manner, and to suggest so otherwise is either ill-informed or malicious, Warrington said.

Cases Suspended

The senator asked for records and communications between the SECs enforcement division and agency senior leadership related to potential enforcement actions against cryptocurrency companies, including information related to billionaires Justin Sun and Changpeng Zhao, known as CZ, the co-founder of Binance Holdings Ltd.

Since President Donald Trumps return to the White House, the SEC has dismissed or paused at least a dozen cases against crypto companies, including high-profile lawsuits against crypto exchanges Coinbase Global Inc. and Binance. Blumenthal singled out Sun, saying he purchased millions of dollars worth of the presidents memecoin and became an early investor in the Trump familys cryptocurrency venture, World Liberty Financial.

The SEC earlier this month ended its case against Sun, who had been accused of securities law violations and market manipulation. One of the firms affiliated with Sun agreed to pay $10 million to resolve the SECs allegations, without admitting or denying the agencys claims.

Document Demand

The SECs pullback on crypto enforcement coincides with Trumps pledge to make the US the crypto capital of the world, as digital assets have transformed his familys wealth.

Blumenthal asked for communications sent or received between the SECs office and members of the Trump family, records relating to settlements with crypto companies, and information about any time the enforcement directors recommendations were overruled by the SEC chairmans office or any senior leader in the agency.

The senator also requested records related to Zach Witkoff, the chief executive of World Liberty. Witkoff is the son of Middle East special envoy Steve Witkoff.

A former Marine and senior judge of the US Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, Ryan had been an unorthodox choice to head the SECs enforcement unit, as most directors have either practiced securities law or worked at the SEC itself.

Ryan emailed enforcement division colleagues that she was resigning, effective immediately, and gave no reason for her departure. Atkins announced her appointment in August and she joined the agency in September.

(Updates with comment from White House counsel in the fourth paragraph.)

More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
Central Mine Planning & Design Institute share price made a dull debut in the Indian stock market on Monday, March 30. The shares of Central Mine Planning listed at 7% discount to the IPO price of 172.

Central Mine Planning share price opened at 160 on NSE and 162.80 on BSE on Monday. This means that the IPO allottees made a loss of 7% over the Central Mine Planning & Design Institute IPO (CMPDI IPO) listing.

The listing of the CMPDI IPO came in below the market expectations. Ahead of the debut, the GMP of CMPDI IPO was 5. The estimated listing price was 177, which is 2.91% higher than the IPO price.

Also Read | Upcoming IPOs: Central Mine Planning IPO among seven firms to make debut

Central Mine Planning & Design Institute IPO CMPDI IPO was open for subscription from March 20 to March 24, while the IPO allotment was finalised on March 25.

The IPO price band was fixed at 163 172 per share, and the company raised 1,842.12 crore through the book-building issue, which comprised entirely an offer-for-sale (OFS) of 10.71 crore equity shares.

Overall, the issue was subscribed 1.05 times, according to NSE data. The Retail Individual Investors (RIIs) segment saw 33% subscription, while the Non-Institutional Investors (NIIs) portion was booked 35%. The Qualified Institutional Buyers (QIBs) category was subscribed 3.48 times.

The company will not receive any financial proceeds from the public offering, as all funds raisedexcluding issue-related expenseswill be transferred directly to Coal India.

Ahead of the offering, the Coal India subsidiary had mobilised 470 crore from anchor investors last Wednesday.

IDBI Capital Markets Services Ltd. acted as the book-running lead manager, while Kfin Technologies Ltd. served as the registrar for the IPO.

CMPDIL was incorporated in 1975 as a wholly owned subsidiary of Coal India. The company offers consultancy and support services across the full spectrum of coal and mineral exploration, along with mine planning and design services.
GREED & Fear report: HDFC Bank share price remained under pressure on Monday, March 30, extending losses after falling more than 3% in the previous session on Friday, March 27, after Jefferies Christopher Wood removed the private lender from two key portfolios, according to the latest GREED & Fear report.

The private sector lender has declined nearly 6% over the last two sessions. In Mondays trade alone, the stock fell as much as 2.3% to hit an intraday low of 738.35.

In his latest GREED & Fear report, Wood said he had dropped HDFC Bank from both his Asia ex-Japan and global long-only equity portfolios, and shifted the allocation to HSBC.

An investment in HSBC will also be introduced with a 4% weighting by removing the investment in HDFC Bank, he wrote, while outlining changes to the Asia long-only portfolio, and said a similar adjustment was being made in the global and international mandates.

The latest pressure on the stock comes after the abrupt resignation of part-time chairman Atanu Chakraborty, which has raised fresh concerns over corporate governance at the countrys largest private lender.

Wood has also cut Indias weight by 2 percentage points in his Asia Pacific ex-Japan relative return portfolio, compared with a 12.5% index weight, while Taiwans underweight has been reduced by four percentage points.

The weighting in Australia and India will be reduced by two percentage points each, while the weighting in Taiwan will be increased by four percentage points to a smaller underweight, the report noted.

What happened at HDFC Bank? Chakraborty resigned with immediate effect, saying that certain developments and practices at the bank over the past two years were not in line with his personal values and ethics. His departure, despite being in his second term after joining the board in May 2021, has made investors more cautious and intensified scrutiny around the bank.

After his resignation, HDFC Bank said it was not aware of the specific reasons behind his decision and added that Chakraborty had not offered detailed explanations despite repeated queries.

The board is not aware as to why the Chairman resigned. In fact, they repeatedly asked him and he didn't give any specific reasons, Macquarie noted, adding that new chairman Keki Mistry hinted at a possible relationship issue between the former chairman and the managementsomething analysts see as a potential power struggle.

Mistry, however, sought to calm concerns around governance issues. Based on our discussions, there were no specific happenings and practices that were brought to our attention. There were no specific operational or other issues that have been highlighted, he said during a conference call.

Since then, markets regulator Sebi has also started a preliminary review of the claims made in the resignation letter and whether other directors were aware of any material information and failed to document it, according to a Reuters report.

The Reserve Bank of India, which is the primary regulator in the matter, said last week that it had found no material concerns on record as regards its (banks) conduct or governance.

HDFC Bank also said last week that it had appointed external law firms to independently examine the concerns raised in the resignation letter.

Other brokerage calls Brokerage firm Macquarie Capital had also removed HDFC Bank from its Marquee Buy list following the abrupt resignation earlier this month.

Even so, the brokerage maintained its Outperform rating on the stock with a 12-month target price of 1,200. Macquarie said governance-related uncertainties could continue to weigh on HDFC Bank shares in the near term, although the banks core fundamentals remain intact.

Near-term underperformance may persist. While fundamentals remain strong with healthy return on assets (RoA), governance concerns will weigh heavily on the stock at this point, the brokerage had said.

It added that investors would be looking for greater clarity and reassurance from the board, particularly as uncertainty remains around CEO Sashidhar Jagdishans reappointment, which is scheduled for review in October 2026.

Investors would seek greater comfort from the board. Additionally, uncertainty around Sashis reappointment could act as an overhang. Key risks include a slowdown in growth and any further governance issues, it added.

Meanwhile, media reports said global brokerage JPMorgan upgraded the stock to Overweight from Neutral, citing an improved risk-reward after the recent sharp correction. The brokerage has set a price target of 1,010 on the stock, indicating a potential upside of around 33% from current levels.

JPMorgan said HDFC Banks valuation has declined to its lowest price-to-book (P/B) level since the merger announcement in April 2022, and is now at a 16-year low of 1.5x FY28 estimated P/B for the parent entity, following a 24% year-to-date fall in the stock price.
In a market obsessed with speed, momentum and fear of missing out, Warren Buffetts most enduring lesson may be his simplest: you do not have to swing at every opportunity. The legendary investors approach, resurfaced in a widely shared post on X by @AlphaWizarDD, offered a sharp reminder for investors chasing expensive stocks and reacting to every market move.

The post summed up Buffetts philosophy in one line: Warren Buffetts greatest lesson: NEVER CHASE. The message was clear  even if a company is exceptional, investors should not buy it at any price. Instead, they should wait patiently for the right opportunity and act decisively only when quality meets value.

That idea lies at the heart of Buffetts investing style and remains especially relevant in volatile markets, where investors often feel pressured to constantly buy, sell or predict the next big move.

The power of waiting for the right pitch In the video shared with the post, Buffett used one of his most famous analogies to explain how investing should work. Referring to baseball legend Ted Williams, Buffett explained how great outcomes often come not from frequent action, but from selective action.

Ted Williams wrote a book called The Science of Hitting and in the book he's got a diagram he said the most important thing in hitting is waiting for the right pitch, Buffett said in the clip.

Buffett explained that Williams had to swing at certain difficult pitches because baseball punishes inaction. Investing, however, is entirely different. There are no penalties for waiting.

In investing, there's no called strikes. People can throw Microsoft at me and you know, you name it, any stock, General Motors, and I dont have to swing, Buffett said.

Buffett explains that an investor can review thousands of companies over time and act only when both conditions are met: the business is understood and the price is attractive. Only then should one swing.

He also said it is a terrible mistake to think an investor must have an opinion on everything. Instead, one only needs to understand a few things very well.

The X post captured that idea well, urging investors to wait for an exceptional company at a reasonable price and to invest heavily only when that rare combination appears.

He also explained metaphorically that if investors were given a punch card with just 20 investment decisions for their entire lifetime, they would likely become far more successful because they would think deeply before every move.

...if when they got out of school, they got a punch card with 20 punches on it they would get very rich because they would think very hard about each one, Buffett said.

Also Read | Robert Kiyosaki predicts a market crash in 2026. This is his advice to investors

He added that investors dont need dozens of correct decisions to build wealth. Even four or five good decisions over time can be enough.

Who is Warren Buffett? Warren Buffett is one of the worlds most respected investors and the chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway. Often called the Oracle of Omaha, Buffett built his reputation through long-term value investing, focusing on buying high-quality businesses at sensible prices and holding them for years. Over decades, he has become one of the most influential voices in global investing, known for his emphasis on patience, discipline, simplicity and rational decision-making.
The Indian equity markets witnessed a sharp correction on Friday, 27 March 2026, as the Nifty 50 plunged nearly 450 points (1.93%) to close around 22,856, while the Sensex tanked more than 1,500 points. The sell-off was primarily driven by escalating US-Iran geopolitical tensions and a spike in Brent crude prices toward $123 per barrel. Sentiment was further dampened by the Indian rupee breaching the 94 per USD mark and the governments sudden mandate for an export tax on fuels. This led to a significant drag on heavyweights, with Reliance Industries sliding more than 4%. On the sectoral front, PSU Banks and Auto were the worst laggards, with the former cratering over 3%, while IT and Pharma showed relative resilience as defensive plays. The market breadth was overwhelmingly bearish, reflected in a skewed advance-decline ratio, with nearly 473 stocks hitting 52-week lows on the NSE.
However, we could now look at the newfound momentum is seen building up as volumes are seen picking up in the counter. The trades are holding on to the higher levels and are using every dip as a buying opportunity. The momentum is seen holding above key levels, indicating that the upward drive in the counter since Jan 2026 appears robust. The trends are indicating the strong and is awaiting some encouraging triggers that can push for some upside in the coming days. As overall market conditions remain subdued, we have not yet seen the counter demonstrate a thrust to higher levels. As the RSI is flashing a revival of upward momentum, we can now consider the possibility of continued upward action. With the positive tailwind from the recent development, we can note that the strong closing above the trendline could generate a bullish momentum.
For those well versed with the world of high finance, very few firms come close to matching the mystique of Goldman Sachs. The investment banking giant is not only a Wall Street icon, but also a prolific talent factory for boardrooms and the corridors of power alike. Inevitably, it also draws fervent critics, who view the firm as emblematic of the financial shenanigans that underpin the recurring boom-and-bust cycles of our hyper-capitalist world.

Needless to say, the chief executives role at Goldman Sachs is among the most coveted, and scrutinised, in finance. Now imagine occupying the hot seat during the 2008 global financial crisis.

In his newly published memoir, Streetwise: Getting to and Through Goldman Sachs, Lloyd Blankfein, who led the firm as chairman and CEO from 2006 to 2018, recounts the stormy days of the crisis, and how it emerged with relatively little damage even as its most prestigious peers tumbled like bowling pins.

Blankfeins life traces the classic rags-to-riches arc. His father was a clerk at the US Postal Service, while his mother was a receptionist at a burglar alarm company. Blankfein grew up in public housing projects in the poorer parts of New York, where his overriding ambition was simply to escape the rough neighbourhoods. What followed was admission at Harvard University, stints at law firms, rejections from Wall Street, and, eventually, a foothold at a commodities trading firm that was later acquired by Goldman Sachs. In this exclusive interview with Mint Lounge, Blankfein reflects on his life, the lessons he has learnt, and why he remains bullish on India. Edited excerpts:

A sense of being an outsider pervades your book. Even after climbing the pinnacle of corporate and social hierarchy, it still seems hard to shake off the feeling of being an underdog, isnt it?

Blankfein: I don't know that anybody ever shakes off the imprint that you get in the earliest stages of your life. You can adjust yourself, you can lean away from it, but I don't think it ever deserts you. But I think if you burrow deep into people's consciousness, you'll find that strivers have an insecurity and impostor syndrome, which is what makes overachievers in the first place.

Apart from your rags-to-riches journey, you have witnessed many people overcome initial adversity and reach great heights. What are some of the common qualities of people who are able to do this?

One quality, which by the way is the most esteemed in my opinion, is resilience. And real resilience can only be established if you have dealt with adversity and overcome it. Unless you live a very short life, you're going to be dealt all kinds of cards. It's like in a game of poker. It's not like somebody over a lifetime is luckier than another person. Its just that some people play the cards they are dealt with better than others. Some people recover from adversity, and some people don't.

The second quality is curiosity, a genuine interest in learning more about stuff, talking to people, asking what they do. Curiosity about the world, especially history, because things occur in cycles. As the saying goes, history doesn't repeat, but it rhymes. So when you see that things are terrible today, you know that they will get better.

You write with some pride and fondness about the culture at Goldman Sachs and how it has been the secret sauce behind the firms success. What is so special about this culture and how can other companies emulate it?

If we had to distill it down, it's running the company like a partnership. It cant perhaps apply to tens of thousands of staffers, but the senior people believed it was a partnership. There was ownership as opposed to people just being employees. They were grounded in the success of the whole company, and that success translated into important personal success for them.

You remind people that of course you love your family, and that has to be given priority, but let's face it - you spend more time during your day with your job than your family. Your job to some extent is the source of wealth for your family and so it is important to make people behave like owners. This means that you don't just care about the silo that you're in, that is your specific department, but you also care about what is happening in different areas of your enterprise, because your success and your fortune depends on the success of the whole enterprise.

Now the real issue is how do you achieve that culture? You do it when the people at the top of the firm socialize decisions, instead of just making decisions themselves and not including anybody. You socialize the process, you do more explaining to people as to why you're doing things. If people respond negatively, you slow up. You try to explain again, maybe alter your plans if required.

So sometimes you slow things down, you run things a little bit differently, but you get an organization that in the long run is more stable and more resilient because people are invested in the success of the operation.

View full Image View full Image Streetwise: Getting To and Through Goldman Sachs, by Lloyd Blankfein, Orion Publishing Group/Hachette India, 400 pages,  799.

While the Goldman culture has many admirers, there are also a fair number of critics, not only of the company but of the entire Wall Street. We saw during the 2008 financial crisis a tremendous anger at seeing Wall Street bankers cashing out with multi-million dollar paycheques while their companies were being bailed out from taxpayer funds and the average Joe was losing his home. Looking back almost two decades later, do you think the criticism was justified or do you believe that Wall Street gets unfairly demonised?

Like most things in life, the truth lies somewhere in between. I would say the poor performers in the Wall Street crisis went bankrupt and people lost their jobs on that side. Yes, some individuals did come out badly, but partly because they started in a worse place at the beginning of the crisis.

There's some justification for the resentment because in order to get the system up and running, you needed to get the banks up and running. Governments or central banks don't lend money to people. Banks do. And because the banks were in such poor shape, any additional capital they raised did not go into lending or investing in the economy, it went into shoring up the reserves of the banks. So that's why that recession took so long to work its way through, because it was also a banking crisis.

So the people in the official sector had to end the banking crisis, and to rescue the banks you had to in some cases just deliver extra capital so that they could do their job better. But this was undesirable from a social and political point of view and it created the polarization you see even today

I can understand banks being important and needing capital. But why were bankers getting multi-million dollar packages while their companies themselves were failing?

The senior people at the banks that were the worst performers did not get multi-million dollar packages. They lost all the wealth they had accumulated in the company since they started working there. Senior people in Lehman Brothers, Bear Sterns and others took no bonuses. Me and other senior people at Goldman Sachs also took nothing.

Yes, bankers did get paid, but they got paid much less than usual because their firms underperformed. I think the world would have been happy if they got paid zero, but if they had gotten zero, they would have left and gone to work somewhere else and these banks wouldn't have survived.

It's almost difficult to explain now and it's not going to be understood or appreciated. But let me tell you, these firms would not exist today and be performing their functions today if you paid zero to all their employees that time.

Speaking of things which are difficult to explain, you testified before the US Senate in 2010 that Goldman Sachs had no moral or legal obligation to inform its clients that the company was betting against some mortgage-backed securities which it was selling to them, because it was not acting in a fiduciary role.

First of all, our positions that year were flat, we had zero P&L. I understand there was a lot of back and forth during the testimony, but I was explaining to them that Goldman Sachs was a market maker. Which means, say somebody wants to sell stock in Hyundai, we buy the stock from them, because that's our role, and if somebody wants to buy it from us, we sell it to them. Once we do a transaction, we scurry to find the other side. We were buying mortgages in those days and selling mortgages in those days and we were transacting back and forth.

Yes, we were selling some securities, but we were also simultaneously buying securities, which is why we managed ourselves to be flat. That's generally what a market maker does. There was a lot of confusion at that time. By the way, a lot of the confusion was intentionally generated because at that point the official sector wanted to put down very severe regulations and there was a certain populist effect at the time.

But at the time, there was not a lot of sympathy and people were obviously not willing to take lessons in how markets and finance work. People were just really upset and again for good reason. If you're in the military and your country loses a war, the military is then going to be quite sheepish and apologetic and will be subject to a lot of criticism. Similarly, if you're a financier and the financial markets do as poorly as they did in 2008, then guess what? You're going to be subject to a lot of criticism and recrimination and you're not going to stand up there and tell the world that they're wrong. You're just going to be quite appropriately sheepish about it. By the way, how old were you in 2008?

I actually started my journalism career in 2008 and almost from the very first day I entered the newsroom, I heard names like Hank Paulson, Lloyd Blankfein, Timothy Geithner as also Bear Sterns, Merril Lynch etc, and how the decisions they took somehow caused a crash back in Mumbai.

I'm sure these names had an impact, but Im not sure they were responsible for everything that was happening in Mumbai at that time. I think you're quite capable of generating your own crisis from time to time!

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You mention in your book that you wanted to model Goldman Sachs on JP Morgan (the man, not the bank). Do you think if JP Morgan was alive in 2008, he would have disclosed to clients that he's shorting some securities which he's selling them?

JP Morgan the man wasn't involved in a market making function. And I think he wouldn't have described his other business activities, other than what was relevant to the people he was dealing with.

You have seen a lot of bubbles up close, not just the 2008 financial crisis but also the dotcom burst, the Asian financial crisis of 1997-98 and others. Do you think the present frenzy around AI is a bubble as well?

When we have the 10th reunion of this video call, we'll look back and I'll tell you whether it was a bubble or not. It doesn't matter what I think, because in a bubble everybody's thinking wrong. So right now, I too am caught up in the same enthusiasm that a lot of people are, which is that AI will have a profound effect on organizations, on how we do things today and it will also allow us to do things that we never contemplated doing. But is every dollar that's being spent on AI going to have a return in the future? Not so much. Could we be overspending now, can some of the spending be reckless? For sure. If we have a lot of developers of large language models and other systems, will some be successful? Yes. Does the world need 10, 20, 50 of them? No.

So there'll be bubble elements to what we're doing today. But how can we go and create something brand new that hasn't happened before and know that every dollar is the perfect amount that needs to be spent? We are working on a lot of dead ends and at some point these will have to be written off, but you won't get a bell ringing at the outset or even two years from now. It might be 10 years from now.

But when it happens, it might be violent in the market and people might wring their hands and say, If you're so smart, why didn't you see that?" And that's the nature of life. That's why you have to be resilient because you have to absorb those criticisms. Anytime somebody tells me about a bubble they've seen, I say, "Okay, if you're so smart, tell me what happens next." And then they get quiet.

View full Image View full Image Lloyd Blankfein grew up in public housing projects in the poorer parts of New York, where his overriding ambition was simply to escape the rough neighbourhoods.

There is one line in the book which stayed with me. You write that few people are able to be objective and rational about risk. Can you help us understand how a common investor should think about risk?

As we are having this conversation, there's a war in the Persian Gulf. Would you have given that a high chance of happening even two months ago? Would you have 5 years ago thought that we would be having this conversation about AI? Things come at you from odd places.

I would say the difference between investing and risk management is that when you're engaged in risk management, you don't care what goes up or goes down. Risk management is making sure that contingencies that can reasonably occur are accounted for. So for the common person who's investing, I would say don't do leverage, only invest what you can reasonably afford to lose and don't over respond to short-term phenomena that occur because you read about it in the newspaper.

So I would say one should think about things like have I accounted for my needs? Am I investing more than I should be? Do I have liquidity? Because in some assets that you invest in, you can't get your money back easily for a long time. So you should be managing your risks in terms of your cash needs. How close am I to retirement? My kids are going to school and I'm going to have to pay tuition etc. So keeping your resources, that's the risk management part that everybody should be focused on. Also, don't get overly seduced by good investment opportunities because you just don't know how things are going to work out.

For a large chunk of post-Covid investors, it seems like there is a world-ending event every year or even every few months. Is this the most volatile period you've ever seen?

Do you know why this is the worst crisis there has ever been? Because you're going through this one. The other ones you didn't go through. When you read about a crisis, it can't get worse, it has already happened. But when you're in one, your mind extrapolates, thinking it could get worse from here. This is not the worst crisis. In fact, it's a relatively benign period. Look at the history of the 20th century. I remember the late 1960s. In America we had political assassinations, we had National Guards shooting kids on campuses, we had Soviet tanks going into Czechoslovakia and so on. I would say that was even a more polarized time than this. And that wasn't that long ago.

The present escapade in the Gulf, how would that rank among the conflicts of the 20th century? We had World War, Korean War, Vietnam war, we have had the Russian revolution and others. Look at what your parents or grandparents would have experienced when India became a state and split with Pakistan and all the social upheaval that took place as huge waves of refugees moved from one place to another. I mean that was a more volatile time than today, right?

So are we living through the most volatile time currently? This is our mind playing tricks on us because we have the anxiety of the open-endedness of the current moment and we don't have in mind the fact that the resolved crises never loom as large as current ones.

View full Image View full Image The message for investors is clear: diversification, discipline and patience matter more than chasing the next hot theme. ( Mint )

How do you look at the Indian market and economy currently?

I think it's super. And this has been my view for a long time. Even when China was vastly outperforming India, I thought, in the long run, I would bet on the country with a commercial mercantile culture and one in which there's capitalism and decentralized decision making and I would bet against a centralized Politburo or command and control system where a central authority is making decisions of what gets constructed in the provinces and where decision making is overseen with a political dimension. So I always thought that in the long run India would outperform and India is outperforming. And I still maintain that now. Now in America you see a lot of expat Indian nationals and US nationals of Indian descent going back to India thinking they can make a better living and have a better future in India. So that was not a phenomenon that most people would have anticipated but they see it now. So I give a lot of credit to the way the country has been run in recent times.

Now India still has its population and is bringing up the lowest levels of its society which has burdened the country but it will turn out to be a resource for the country because the population once educated and organized appropriately will perform well. The US has been a beneficiary of all those people educated in the technology universities of India who then felt they couldn't get a job in India and came to the US and now in large part are going back and so they're voting with their feet. I think they're making the right decision in a lot of cases.

One headwind for the Indian markets in the recent past has been the record selloff by foreign investors, who have offloaded shares worth almost $30 billion in less than 2 years. Yet, India remains the fastest growing major economy in the world. What explains this dichotomy?

I'm not as current on that question because I'm not investing there now and I haven't run Goldman Sachs for a while. But I can tell you, based on old information, that one of the problems that some foreign investors have had is that sometimes the playing field seems to be overly tipped to domestic interests. And sometimes foreigners haven't always done as well in courts and it hasn't always felt fair.

That was one issue that I always thought India needed to resolve if they really wanted to attract foreign investment at a much higher rate.

Lastly, looking back at your life now, is there something you wish you had done differently?

I talk in the book that I had cancer that I had to work my way through and there were times of darkness where I had to contemplate that this might not work out. At that time, I didn't run off to a foreign place, I didn't buy a Ferrari and drive it around. I just wanted to do the same things I was doing every day.

So I don't have any deep regrets. I guess the flip side of resilience, taking problems in your stride and looking forward is not wringing your hands and expressing regrets about things you can't affect, because they're in the past. But overall, did you like the book?

Oh absolutely. Though I also thought there will be a lot of self-introspection about the entire 2008 crisis and how Wall Street probably had a fair share in causing that crisis.

I'm sorry to disappoint you, but in the interest of honesty and accuracy, I have to reluctantly say that if all the big banks had run their firm the way Goldman Sachs ran itself, we might not have had the banking crisis that we had. I know it's terrible. I hear myself saying it, but I wish everybody had acted the way we did in managing our risks instead of accumulating poor securities on their balance sheet and blowing up.

But okay, I think I'll put out a second volume of the book. We'll call it My Regrets. But it'll only be four or five pages long!

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Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday explained why the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has capped the compensation limit of bank lockers to 100 times the annual locker rent in case of a loss or theft, saying that banking rules do not permit banks to see or record what customers store.

Sitharaman was replying to a supplementary question raised by Congress leader and MP from GadchiroliChimur constituency, Namdeo Dasaram Kirsan, in the Lok Sabha during the Question Hour.

Sitting and watching the disclosure of a client of what valuables he is going to keep in the locker is a breach of banking rules, and banks wouldn't do that, so that cannot be a measure for me to decide whether there should be differential coverage, the finance minister said.

Banks provide bank locker holders compensation fixed at 100 times the annual locker rent in case of loss, she explained.

This limit exists because banks do not know or assess the contents of lockers, and asking customers to disclose valuables would violate banking confidentiality norms, Sitharaman told the Lok Sabha.

Since item-wise valuation or insurance isnt feasible, a standardised compensation framework is applied, the finance minister explained.

Demanding differential coverage would require disclosure of contents, something banking rules don't permit. At the moment, there is nothing before me for any other consideration, she said.

Are bank lockers safe? From a physical security perspective, bank lockers are tight. The RBI mandates CCTV surveillancefootage must be kept for 180 dayssecure access control, fire-resistant vaults, and natural disaster readiness. But that doesnt mean lockers are invincible.

If a locker is unused or uncontactable for seven years, the bank has the right to break it open and dispose of the contents after following strict procedures.

Also Read | Can gold overdraft hack beat bank locker waitlists?

Customers are encouraged to nominate someone for easier succession. In case of the holders death, lockers are released to the nominee or legal heirs within 15 days, assuming proper documents are submitted.

India's economic fundamentals strong: Sitharaman Replying to another question on India's economy, Nirmala Sitharaman noted that the country's economic fundamentals are strong, and compared to other emerging market economies, the Indian rupee is absolutely going fine against the US dollar.

Since the commencement of the West Asia conflict on 28 February 2026, the rupee has depreciated by 4.1% to close at 94.82 per USD on 27 March 2026.

Replying to the supplementary question in the Lok Sabha on rupee depreciation, Sitharaman said, India's economy is strong, our fiscal situation is strong, and the entire world is praising our fiscal deficit management. Our forex reserves are solid.

Also Read | Govt working to prevent West Asia conflict adding burden on citizens: FM

Compared to other emerging economies, the rupee is doing fine (theek chal raha hai)... Absolutely going fine, she added.

In a written reply, Sitharaman said the rupee depreciation is not specific to INR, as since the beginning of the West Asia conflict, major Asian currencies have also depreciated.

Certain peers, such as the South Korean Won, Thai Baht and Philippine Peso, have declined against the USD more than the rupee, by 4.%, 5.5% and 4.8%, respectively, she said.
Jinxin Fertility Group, a listed IVF and reproductive-health provider, noted in its interim report that as of March 2025, assisted reproductive services had been brought into national medical-insurance reimbursement in all 31 provinces and municipalities on the mainland. That is the kind of policy shift investors can model. It lowers out-of-pocket costs and expands the addressable market for fertility treatment, even if total births remain depressed.
(Bloomberg) -- Finnish officials warned that drone activity is likely to continue in the Nordic countrys vicinity after two aerial vehicles entered its airspace before crashing on Sunday morning.

These are individual Ukrainian drones that have strayed into our territory, Air Force Commander Timo Herranen said at a news conference. Prime Minister Petteri Orpo had earlier signaled the same in an interview with the public broadcaster YLE.

Its the first known instance of drones veering into Finnish airspace since Russias full-scale invasion of Ukraine four years ago.

Russia conducts strong electronic interference, which may explain why these drones also stray into Finland, Orpo said Sunday, adding that Finland did not shoot them down.

The drones came down near the small town of Kouvola in southeastern Finland, close to a key military base. The town is about 70 kilometers (43 miles) from the Russian border.

For more than a week, Ukraine has launched attacks on Russian oil ports on the Baltic Sea, including Primorsk near Finland. On Sunday, the Ust-Luga terminal sustained damage from the Ukrainian drone attack.

Last weekend, more than a hundred drones were detected near Finlands territory, some as close as 8 kilometers from the border, the Air Force commander told reporters, adding that the military remains on heightened alert.

Finland is the latest European nation to see stray drones fly in. Recently, a Ukrainian drone accidentally hit the chimney of a power plant in Estonia and others crashed in Latvia and Lithuania.

The drones that entered Finnish territory fell in sparsely populated areas and caused no injuries or significant property damage, according to the police.

One drone that crashed north of Kouvola was followed throughout its time in Finnish airspace by an F/A-18 Hornet fighter jet and identified as a Ukrainian AN-196. The other, which fell east of the town, was tracked only by radar and remains unidentified.

The National Bureau of Investigation is examining the drones to determine whether they carried explosives and why they crashed in Finland.

A third drone that landed earlier in Espoo was later found to have been in civilian use, police said adding it posed no danger.

President Alexander Stubb underlined theres no military threat to Finland and that authorities are prepared for any future incidents, in a statement.

Finland stands ready to monitor and protect its territory, he said.

(Updates with damage to Russias Ust-Luga in sixth paragraph)

More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
The Andhra Pradesh High Court ruled on Monday, 30 March, that parental property inherited by a Hindu woman will revert to her fathers heirs  not her husband  if she dies without leaving a valid will, according to Live Law. The court clarified that such property will not pass to her husband or his heirs.

Referring to Section 15(2)(a) of Hindu Succession Act, Justice Tarlada Rajasekhar Rao held, The bare reading of Section 15(2)(a) of Hindu Succession Act 1956 clearly outlines that if the property is inherited by a female Hindu from her father or mother in the absence of any of child, the property of the deceased shall go to the legal heirs of father."

The husband will not have any right over the property inherited by her from her father, the court added.

The case involves a piece of land owned by a woman who had two granddaughters. In 2002, she gifted the property to her first granddaughter. However, after the granddaughter died in 2005, the woman cancelled the gift and took back the property. She later executed a registered will, bequeathing the same property to her second granddaughter, the petitioner in the case.

According to the Live Law report, after the grandmothers death in 2012, the petitioner sought mutation of the property in her name. In 2017, the Revenue Divisional Officer cancelled the earlier entries, which included the first granddaughters name, and directed necessary changes.

However, the deceased granddaughters husband challenged the decision before the Revisional AuthorityJoint Collector, which ruled in his favour.

The second granddaughter then approached the High Court, arguing that since her sister died without children, her husband had no right or title over the property.

The court held that the first granddaughters husband did not derive any title from his deceased wife.

It further observed:  when the unofficial respondent is not entitled for the property pursuant to the Section 15(2)(a) of Hindu Succession Act 1956, the unofficial respondent is not entitled to claim over the property and in view of the same the gift deed executed by the original owner in favour of the wife of 5th unofficial respondent does not get any right over the property.
Arshdeep Kaur

Arshdeep Kaur is a Senior Content Producer at Mint, where she reports and edits across national and international politics, business and cultureadjacent trending stories for digital audience. With five years in the newsroom, she strives to balance the speed and rigor of fastmoving news cycles and longer, contextrich explainers. <br><br> Before joining LiveMint, Arshdeep served as a Senior SubEditor at Business Standard and earlier as a SubEditor at Asian News International (ANI). Her experience spans live news flows, enterprise features, and multiplatform packaging. <br><br> At Mint, she regularly writes explainers, quick takes, and visualsled stories that are optimized for search and social, while maintaining the publications standards for accuracy and clarity. She collaborates closely with editors and the audience team to frame angles that resonate with readers in India and abroad, and to translate complex developments into accessible, highimpact journalism. <br><br> Arshdeep's academic training underpins her interest towards policy and markets. She earned an MA in Economics from Panjab University and holds a PostGraduate Diploma in Broadcast Journalism from the India Today Media Institute (ITMI). This blend of economics and broadcast storytelling informs her coverage of public policy, elections, macro themes, and the consumerinternet zeitgeist. <br><br> Arshdeep is based in New Delhi, where she tracks breaking developments and longerhorizon storylines that shape public discourse.
Delhi Polices Special Cell has arrested Shabir Ahmed Lone, a suspected Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) handler linked to a recently dismantled terror module associated with the Metro Poster case, marking a significant breakthrough in an ongoing counterterrorism investigation. Officials said Lone, who had previously fled to Bangladesh, was apprehended in the Ghazipur area following coordinated intelligence efforts.

Key Arrest in Metro Poster Terror Module Investigation Authorities describe Lone as a suspected sleeper cell operative who played a central role in directing a network uncovered earlier this year. On February 23, Delhi Police had arrested eight individualsseven Bangladeshi nationals and one Indianbelieved to be part of the same module. Investigators allege that Lone was instrumental in guiding and radicalising the group, which was under scrutiny for potential attacks in crowded public spaces, including temples.

According to ANI citing officials in the know, Lone had earlier served a prison term for terrorism-related offences before being released on bail in 2019. He subsequently fled to Bangladesh, where he is believed to have rebuilt operational links and established a fresh network targeting India.

Links to Top LeT Commanders and Cross-Border Network Investigators claim Lone maintained direct contact with senior figures in the proscribed organisation, including Hafeez Saeed and Zaki-ur-Rahman Lakhvi, both identified as masterminds of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks. His alleged role extended beyond coordination, encompassing recruitment and ideological indoctrination.

Sources indicate that Lone targeted undocumented Bangladeshi immigrants in India, providing them with forged identity documents such as Aadhaar cards and facilitating their integration into the module. The recruits were allegedly equipped with weapons and tasked with reconnaissance of sensitive and high-footfall locations.

Seizures and Operational Footprint Across Regions Providing details of the arrest, Special Cell official Pramod Singh Kushwaha said, Under the leadership of Mr. Praveen Tripathi, the newly appointed DCP of the Special Cell's New Delhi Range, a team comprising Inspector Sunil and Inspector Dheeraj Mehlawat apprehended a wanted terrorist named Shabir Ahmed Lone last night in the Ghazipur area. We addressed you last month about a specific module in which eight individuals were apprehendedseven Bangladeshi nationals and one Indian nationalwith Umar Farooq and Rabiyul Islam serving as the key figures... Subsequently, six individualsall Bangladeshi nationalswere arrested in Tiruppur, Tamil Nadu. Shabir Ahmed Lone served as their handler.

We recovered approximately 2,300 units of Bangladeshi Taka (Bangladeshi currency) from him. Additionally, we seized 1,400 units of Nepalese currency, 5,000 units of Pakistani currency, 3,000 units of Indian currency, and a Nepalese SIM card from his possession. Shabir Ahmed Lone was previously arrested by the Special Cell in 2007. At that time, an AK-47 rifle and a hand grenade were recovered from his possession. He was subsequently convicted in that case. He had arrived to carry out targeted killings. He is a highly trained terrorist from Pakistan... He was arrested once again in 2015 at the Parimpora Police Station jurisdiction in Srinagar, Kashmir, where AK-47 weapons were recovered from his possession...

After he was released, Shabir Ahmed Lone fled to Bangladesh and began setting up a new operational module; the eight individuals who were recently arrested were apprehended as part of this very module's network. While in Bangladesh, he came into contact with a new set of handlers. These new handlerswhose code names were Abu Huzaifa and Sumama Babarwere operatives affiliated with Lashkar-e-Taiba. They operate on behalf of Pakistan's ISI, and his task was to resume carrying out terrorist activities within India.

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They first established a base of operations in Kolkata... Having established this base, they proceeded to put up posters at various locations across Kolkata and Delhi with the intent of conducting a test run to assess the operational capabilities of their team... They also conducted reconnaissance missions at numerous sensitive locations across the countryincluding various temples and other high-footfall public areas. They even transmitted video footage of these reconnaissance missions back to Pakistan...

A commendable initiative undertaken by the Metro Police at the time was that they treated the posters with the utmost seriousness; they successfully identified Umar Farooq as a key figure. Subsequently, the case was transferred to the Special Cell, and the Special Cell team proceeded to arrest eight individualsseven of whom were Bangladeshi nationalsfollowed by the recent arrest of Shabir Ahmed Lone.

Also Read | Top Pakistani terrorist linked to JeM killed in encounter in J&K Kathua
Nitish Kumar resignation highlights: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has resigned from the state legislative council today, 30 March.

The move comes weeks after his election to the Rajya Sabha.

The resignation would also mean the Janata Dal (United) supremo stepping down as Bihars Chief Minister, marking the end of his two-decade-long tenure in one of Indias most politically crucial states.

Nitish Kumar is not a Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) but a Member of Legislative Council (MLC). One has to be a member of either house to be a chief minister.

Nitish cannot be a member of a state council and Parliament at the same time, as per the rules.

Race for next Bihar CM

Kumar's return to national politics through the Rajya Sabha could also pave the way for the BJP to have a greater say in the Bihar government and perhaps even stake a claim to the CM's chair. The frontrunner is Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary.

However, several JD(U) leaders have said that Nitish Kumars son, Nishant Kumar, who recently entered active politics, should be his fathers successor, according to reports. They claimed that Nishant Kumar has all the qualities needed to become the Chief Minister.

In another development, the BJP national president Nitin Nabin, who was scheduled to resign as a Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) of Bihar on Sunday, flew to Assam without filing his resignation papers in Patna.

Nitin Nabin has to resign, too

Nabin and Nitish Kumar were elected to the Rajya Sabha on 16 March. Nabin is an MLA for the Bankipur seat and, like Nitish, cannot continue as a member of both the houses  state and Parliament.

Nabin will also resign today, the BJP chief said.

As per the Prohibition of Simultaneous Membership Rules, 1950 (under Articles 101/190 of the Constitution), Nitish Kumar and Nitin Nabin are required to resign as MLC and MLA within 14 days of being elected to Parliament (Rajya Sabha).

BJP sources told PTI that Nabin had left for poll-bound Assam and could travel to Delhi from there.

Follow Live Updates on Nitish Kumar and Nitin Nabin resignation here
Petrol and diesel prices across major Indian cities remained largely unchanged on Monday, despite the government's move to cut excise duty on petrol by 3 a litre and exempt diesel entirely from the levy.

The move was aimed to provide relief to state-run oil marketing companies (OMCs), which have been facing financial difficulties amid rising global crude oil prices due to the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, which is crucial for global energy trade.

Since the US and Israel carried out joint strikes against Iran on 28 February, the Brent crude oil benchmark has risen by more than 50%, with prices briefly touching $116 on Monday.

While Iran has granted exemptions to certain friendly countries  including India, China, Russia, and Pakistan  volatility persists in the international market, especially given the uncertainty surrounding the direction and duration of the ongoing war in the Middle East.

While US President Donald Trump has claimed productive talks with Iran, Tehran has publicly rejected such claims, including a 15-point plan sent by Washington via intermediaries.

Against this backdrop, Trump on Sunday threatened to take the oil from Iran, signalling that the US is not ruling out seizing Tehran's critical oil infrastructure, including the export hub Kharg Island.

Industrial diesel, premium petrol price hiked While retail fuel prices remain stable, state-run OMCs earlier this month raised the price of industrial diesel and premium petrol amid rising pressure on margins.

The price of industrial diesel, which is sold in bulk to commercial establishments, was hiked by 21.92 a litre, a significant 25% increase. The price of premium petrol meanwhile was raised by 2 a litre.

Regular petrol and diesel prices The three major OMCs in India  Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL), and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL)  revise fuel prices at 6 am every day to ensure rates align with international crude prices and currency exchange rate movements.

Given rising prices, OMCs are using the latest tax relief to stabilize their own operations instead of cutting prices for consumers. As such, prices of regular petrol and diesel, which account for a large chunk of daily sales at pumps, remain unchanged.

Below are petrol and diesel prices across major Indian cities on Monday, 30 March.

City Petrol (  /L) Diesel (  /L) Delhi  94.77  87.67 Mumbai  103.54  90.03 Kolkata  105.45  92.02 Chennai  100.84  92.39 Hyderabad  107.46  95.70 Bengaluru  102.96  90.99 Lucknow  94.69  87.81 Ahmedabad  94.49  90.17

Factors affecting petrol and diesel prices in India There are several factors that influence the prices of petrol and diesel in India, with the most significant being the price of crude oil on global markets.

The rupee-dollar exchange rate also plays an important role in determining the price of petrol and diesel, given the fact that India imports a large share of its crude oil requirements. Simply put, a weaker rupee can increase the cost of imported crude, pushing up domestic fuel prices, or vice-versa.

A third factor is the taxes imposed by the Centre and state governments, which form a major component of petrol and diesel prices, and is responsible for fuel price variations across states.
The Special Cell of Delhi Police on Sunday, 29 March, arrested a suspected Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) handler from the Ghazipur area in Delhi. The officials have identified the accused as Shabir Ahmed Lone, a hardcore and highly trained terrorist with links to handlers operating on behalf of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) of Pakistan.

Shabir Ahmed Lone, the officials said, is a resident of Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir, and was involved in putting up anti-national posters across Delhi and Kolkata.

A senior police officer said, Shabir Ahmed Lone, also known by aliases Raja and Kashmiri, is a resident of Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir and was allegedly operating as the handler of a recently busted module involved in pasting anti-national posters across multiple locations in Delhi and Kolkata.

Also Read | Why NIA Arrested US Citizen, 6 Ukrainians In Terror Plot Linked To Myanmar

The officer said that Shabir Ahmed Lone was wanted by the police in connection with the LeT module recently unearthed in the metro poster case on 22 February.

What was seized from him? Police officials said that during the arrest, multiple foreign currencies and other incriminating material were seized from his possession.

These included approximately 2,300 units of Bangladeshi Taka, 1,400 units of Nepalese currency, 5,000 units of Pakistani currency, and 3,000 units of Indian currency, they said.

Raising suspicion about cross-border communication and operational coordination, the police also seized a Nepalese SIM card from his possession.

The officer said, The module was being run at the behest of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), with Lone acting as a key conduit between handlers based abroad and operatives on the ground in India.

Who is Shabir Ahmed Lone? Shabir Ahmed Lone was previously arrested in 2007 by the Special Cell, and an AK-47 rifle and a hand grenade were recovered from his possession. He was again arrested in 2015 in Srinagar under the jurisdiction of Parimpora Police Station.

During 2007, he had come to Delhi to carry out targeted killings.

He is a highly trained operative who has undergone terror training "Daura-e-Aam" (basic terror training) and "Daura-e-Khaas" (advanced terror training) from the Muzaffarabad LeT camp in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, PTI reported. He later fled to Bangladesh and worked to rebuild a fresh terror network targeting India.

Also Read | LeT terrorist accused of orchestrating 3 terror attacks in India killed in Pak

During his stay in Bangladesh, Lone reportedly established links with new handlers affiliated with Lashkar-e-Taiba. These handlers, identified by their code names Abu Huzaifa and Sumama Babar, were operating on behalf of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).

Investigations revealed that Lone had set up an operational base in Kolkata, using it as a launching pad for activities across multiple states. From there, the module conducted a "test run"  pasting pro-Pakistan and anti-India posters at prominent locations in Delhi and Kolkata to assess their operational reach and gauge the authorities' response.
We still think we are scratching the surface. I still think that buyouts are going to grow much more than in the past. Even talent-wise, we get a lot more managerial talent who say they want to work with private equity. Talent is shifting towards private equity, and it will continue to grow as a source of talent for buyouts, said Hari Gopalakrishnan, partner and deputy co-head of Private Capital Asia and head of India and global co-head of Services at EQT.
In a move that has left social media both amused and baffled, Indian fitness brand Beast Life dropped a surprise on Sunday by unveiling what it described as the worlds first protein condom. Yes, thats exactly what it sounds like - and the internet hasnt stopped chuckling since.

Founded by content creator and fitness enthusiast Gaurav Taneja, Beast Life is typically known for its line of supplements. However, this latest product announcement took things in a rather unexpected, and humorous direction.

The brand shared the reveal on Instagram with the cheeky caption, Were coming to upgrade your night performance, instantly grabbing attention and prompting a flood of reactions. It didnt take long for the comments section to fill up with jokes, puns and disbelief, as users tried to make sense of the unusual claim.

Also Read | Zomato sends special b'day hamper to Gaurav Taneja after missing cake delivery

Here's how social media users reacted One user quipped, Beastlife performance in all departments, while another asked, Is this whey isolate or just regular? Someone else wondered, What next-level thing can a brand do? The humour kept building, with remarks such as first in my bloodline to witness protein Condom, and My comment was right, remember "proteindom"? doing the rounds. One comment perhaps captured the mood best, calling it An innovative solution to a non-existent problem.

Also Read | Gaurav Taneja gets back LinkedIn profile after losing it; social media reacts

As the post continued to gain traction, many began speculating that the announcement might not be entirely serious, but rather a build-up to April Fools Day. Several users echoed this sentiment, writing, April fool banane ka build up kiya jaa rha hai, and April fool ki full planning, while others added, Calm down, guys, its #aprilfools day incoming. Upcoming April Fool prank. and Seems like an April Fool prank.

So far, Beast Life has not clarified whether the protein condom is an actual product or simply a marketing stunt. Either way, it has undeniably succeeded in getting people talking.

Also Read | Gaurav Taneja celebrate Karwa Chauth wife, netizens say THIS

Interestingly, this isnt the first time condoms have made headlines for unconventional innovation. A few years ago, German brand Billy Boy collaborated with Innocean Berlin to introduce Camdom, a digital condom app aimed at preventing unauthorised recordings during intimate moments.

For now, all eyes remain on the Indian brand. Whether it turns out to be a genuine innovation or just peak April Fools mischief, one thing is certainthe internet is thoroughly entertained.

All about Gaurav Taneja Launched in 2024, Beast Life was co-founded by Gaurav Taneja - better known as his YouTube alter ego Flying Beast - along with Raj Vikram Gupta. An IIT Kharagpur graduate in civil engineering, Taneja went on to build a diverse career as a pilot, content creator, and now a leading name in Indias fitness industry, amassing over 9.2 million subscribers on his main YouTube channel.
Weeks after the US cut off Cuba's energy supplies, the Kremlin welcomed the delivery of a Russian-flagged oil tanker to Havana on Monday (local time), CNBC reported.

Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov said the topic of delivering Russian crude products was raised in advance during contacts with the United States, RIA Novosti reported. He said that Moscow considered it its duty to help Cuba, adding that Havana needed petroleum products amid a de facto US oil blockade.

The development comes a day after US President Donald Trump said that Washington will permit a Russian-flagged tanker, as the island is grappling with an energy crisis, a move that would break his administration's blockade.

Russian-flagged tanker reaches Cuba According to CNBC, a Russian oil tanker carrying a humanitarian shipment of over 100,000 tonnes of crude oil reportedly reached Cuba earlier today. However, the sanctioned vessel, Anatoly Kolodkin, was reportedly waiting to unload shortly after Trump said he had no problem with a Russian crude tanker delivering fuel to Cuba.

Russian tanker a breather for Cuba? The shipment of 100,000 tonnes of crude oil is being seen as a lifeline for the Caribbean nation, which is facing one of its biggest tests since the collapse of the Soviet Union amid the deepening energy crisis.

Cuba was heavily dependent on Venezuela for its oil supplies, which were effectively cut off earlier this year after the US launched an extraordinary military operation to capture its President Nicolas Maduro, who has been in the US since then.

Also Read | Trump removed Maduro but left Venezuelas resource curse

Trump's remarks on the Russian tanker arriving in Cuba Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump, on 29 March, said, If a country wants to send some oil into Cuba right now, I have no problem with that, whether its Russia or not.

Trump now seems to be softening his stance on Cuba, months after he threatened to impose tariffs on any country that would help Cuba by sending crude, compelling the likes of Mexico to halt all its shipments to the island nation. The Kremlin previously dismissed Trump's tariff threats, highlighting that Washington and Moscow don't have much trade now.

However, he added, "Cuba is finished, they have a bad regime, and they have very bad and corrupt leadership, and whether or not they get a boat of oil, its not going to matter." Speaking to reporters, he added, I prefer letting it in, whether its Russia or anybody else, because the people need heat and cooling and all of the other things that you need.

Energy crisis deepens in Cuba Last week, Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel said the Caribbean nation has not received any oil shipment in the past three months.

As fuel shortages persist, the country is seeking to sharply increase its solar power generation while continuing talks with the US.

Also Read | Trouble continues for Cuba as it faces second blackout in a week

The island nation with a population of over 10 million has faced a series of power blackouts in the past few weeks, with the United Nations (UN) warning that the country's hospitals have been struggling to maintain emergency and intensive care services.
US President Donald Trump has indicated a willingness to seize Irans critical oil infrastructure, including the export hub of Kharg Island, as the Middle East conflict intensifies and energy markets reel from surging prices. In an interview with the Financial Times on Sunday, Trump described control over Iranian oil as a preferred strategic objective in the Iran war.

To be honest with you, my favorite thing is to take the oil in Iran but some stupid people back in the US say: why are you doing that? But theyre stupid people, Trump said.

He compared the idea to the operation in Venezuela in January, when Washington captured President Nicolas Maduro and sought control of its oil industry.

Brent crude traded higher than $115 a barrel, near its highest level since the war began.

Unlike Venezuela, seizing Irans oil would mean invading and holding Kharg Island, which also houses an Iranian naval base.

Our men are waiting for American soldiers to enter on the ground, Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said Sunday, according to the semi-official Tasnim news agency.

Kharg Island Emerges as Strategic Flashpoint in US-Iran Conflict At the centre of the tensions lies Kharg Island, through which most of Irans oil exports pass. Any attempt to capture the facility would mark a significant escalation, potentially dragging the US deeper into a prolonged and costly Iran war.

Trump suggested such an operation was possible: I dont think they have any defence. We could take it very easily.

Maybe we take Kharg Island, maybe we dont. We have a lot of options, Trump said, adding that a sustained presence might be required. It would also mean we had to be there (in Kharg Island) for a while.

The remarks come as the US expands its military footprint in the region, deploying thousands of troops, including Marines and units from the 82nd Airborne Division, amid fears of further escalation.

Oil Prices Surge as Conflict Disrupts Global Energy Flows The conflict has already reverberated across global markets, with oil prices climbing sharply. Brent crude has surged above $116 per barrel.

Recent attacks have widened the theatre of conflict. A strike on a Saudi air base wounded American personnel and damaged military equipment, while missile launches by Houthi rebels have raised the prospect of a broader regional confrontation. Analysts warn that continued instability could exacerbate an already fragile energy outlook.

Trump's Diplomacy Continues Despite Hardline Rhetoric Despite signalling readiness for forceful action, Trump emphasised that negotiations with Iran are ongoing. He described both direct and indirect talks, facilitated in part by Pakistani emissaries, as progressing positively.

I think well make a deal with them pretty soon, Trump said, before adding: Its possible that we wont.

In the interview with the FT, the president also pointed to what he characterised as concessions from Tehran, including an increase in the number of Pakistan-flagged oil tankers permitted through the Strait of Hormuz.

They gave us 10, he said. Now theyre giving 20, and the 20 have already started, and theyre going right up the middle of the Strait.

He added, Gave US 20 big boats of oil through Strait of Hormuz starting tomorrow morning.

According to Trump, the arrangement was authorised by Irans parliamentary speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, a claim that could not be independently verified.

Iran War, Uncertainty and the Risk of Prolonged Engagement Trump has set a 6 April deadline for Iran to accept a deal to end hostilities or face further US strikes targeting its energy sector. At the same time, he suggested that the conflict has already reshaped Irans leadership landscape.

The people were dealing with are a totally different group of people . . . (They) are very professional, Trump said.

He claimed uncertainty surrounding the condition of Mojtaba Khamenei, saying, The son is either dead or in extremely bad shape. Weve not heard from him at all. Hes gone.

Tehran, however, has maintained that its leadership remains intact, dismissing such assertions.

In the interview, Trump claimed that regime change in Iran has effectively already taken place, arguing that the leadership now engaging with the United States represents a totally different, professional group of people following the deaths of key figures in the conflict.

A High-Stakes Gamble with Global Implications Control of Iran's oil assets could reshape energy geopolitics, but will also lead to longer military entanglement and wider instability across the region.

For now, the trajectory remains uncertaincaught between escalating military posturing and fragile diplomatic overtures, with global markets and political leaders closely watching each move.
Three United Nations peacekeeper troops have been killed in Lebanon over the past 24 hours, as fierce fighting continues between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah militants in the southern part of the country.

On Monday, two Indonesian peackeepers from the UN Interim Force in Lebanon were killed and two more were injured when their logistics convoy came under fire, the UNs peacekeeping head, Jean-Pierre Lacroix, said at a briefing in New York.

The origin of the explosion has not been determined, Lacroix said.

An Indonesian peackeeper was killed and another was injured in an earlier attack on Sunday, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said at the briefing.

The attacks  one on a UNIFIL position near Adchit Al Qusayr and the other near Bani Hayyan in southern Lebanon  come as Israel pursues Hezbollah militants amid the broader US and Israeli war on Iran, which has just entered its second month.

More than 1,200 people have died since Israel invaded southern Lebanon and over 1 million have been displaced. Israel and Hezbollah also fought following the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas on Israel that concluded in a shaky ceasefire in 2024.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres condemned Sundays attack in a post on X before the other two deaths were reported. This is just one of a number of recent incidents that have jeopardized the safety & security of peacekeepers, he wrote.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot appeared to blame Israel for the attacks in a social media post calling for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council over the extremely serious incidents on Monday.

These security violations and these intimidations by soldiers of the Israeli army against UN personnel are unacceptable and unjustifiable, Barrot wrote on X. These condemnations were conveyed in the strongest possible terms to the Ambassador of Israel in Paris.

The UN Security Council will discuss the attacks on UN personnel in Lebanon on Tuesday morning in New York, according to Israels mission to the UN.

The responsibility for the situation in southern Lebanon lies first and foremost with Hezbollah, which continues to turn the region into a battlefield, Israels ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon said in a statement. Israel will continue to act resolutely to protect its citizens from any threat on the northern border.

2026 Bloomberg L.P.
China's defense ministry sends delegation to Europe for institutional dialogues

Xinhua) 11:09, March 30, 2026

BEIJING, March 29 (Xinhua) -- A delegation from China's defense ministry visited Europe from March 23 to 29 for a series of institutional dialogues, according to a statement posted by the Ministry of National Defense on its official website on Sunday.

During the visit, the delegation participated in the 15th China-European Union dialogue on defense and security policy, the 9th China-NATO security policy dialogue, and the 15th China-Switzerland defense policy coordination dialogue, respectively.

Participants of the dialogues conducted in-depth exchanges on international and regional security situations and other issues of mutual concern.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
The war between US-Israel on side and Iran on the other has crossed the one-month mark, with the conflict showing no signs of resolution despite talk of negotiations.

Over the weekend, the Iran-backed Houthis of Yemen joined Tehran in its fight against Washington and Tel Aviv, sparking fears of further disruption to global trade amid the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

Energy prices, meanwhile, continue to climb, with the Brent crude benchmark hitting $115 as of 0000 hrs GMT on Monday.

US-Iran talks

Since US President Donald Trump, last week, backed down from strikes against Iran's energy infrastructure citing good and productive talks, there's been little to indicate any progress towards a ceasefire.

While reports indicated that the Trump administration had sent a 15-point ceasefire plan to Iran, no formal negotiations have taken place despite some communication between the two warring parties through back channels and intermediaries and despite Pakistan's attempts to play mediator.

Rather, the two sides have stepped up rhetoric against each other, with Iran foreign minister Abbas Araghchi slamming Washington for touting talks in public and planning a ground invasion in secret.

Trump, meanwhile, has said that he wants to "take the oil" in Iran, and to that end, Washington could consider capturing Iran's crude export hub on Kharg Island.

"Maybe we take Kharg Island, maybe we dont. We have a lot of options," Trump said, without committing to any one course of action.

Boots on the ground?

Araghchi's comments on Sunday came after reports suggested that the Trump administration was looking to deploy 10,000 troops to the Middle East, including around 5,000 US Marines and thousands of paratroopers from the famed 82nd Airborne Division.

A contingent of 3,500 US Marines and soldiers have also arrived in the Middle East aboard the USS Tripoli, CENTCOM said on Sunday.

However, Israel appears unwilling to be part of ground operations  Channel 12 reported that in case of a US ground operation in Iran, Israeli soldiers would not take part.

Strait of Hormuz partially open

The crucial Strait of Hormuz remains a key talking point as well.

While Iran has opened the strait to what it deems as friendly nations  including India, Pakistan, Russia, and China  a majority of tankers remain anchored near the strategic waterway amid Iran's threats to non-friendly vessels.

Regional disruptions

With the US and Israel still carrying out strikes and Iran retaliation, the entire Middle East remains on edge, with Gulf countries routinely reporting interceptions, explosions, and sometimes, damage to their territories amid drone and missile strikes by Iran.

Early on Monday, Kuwaiti authorities announced an Iranian strike on a power station, adding that the attack had left one Indian worker dead.
There may be some reasons to attack Ukraine and Gaza but the attack on Iran is a living testimony to political lies and deceit. After destroying Irans nuclear facilities in June 2025, why have Trump and Netanyahu attacked the country again? Their feeble arguments cant deny the fact that they are caught in their own trap. Iran is no Gaza. Persian civilization is one of the oldest in the world. You cant just obliterate them from the face of the Earth. Iran isnt just doggedly fighting but has created a real scare for the global economy. Who has the upper hand in the present conflict? Whos winning it? What will the winner gain after victory? What fate will the vanquished suffer?
But app features like infinite scrolls and algorithmic feeds were not just held to be addictive, but wilfully designed to hook eyeballs. Given what we know of the brains reward circuitry and how dopamine lights up our synapses, plus the revealed conduct of the accused, the US jurys call was correct. It also explains why some countries want to keep under-16s off social media.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national president Nitin Nabin was scheduled to resign as a Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) of Bihar on Sunday, 29 March. But his resignation was postponed at the eleventh hour, even though Bihar Assembly Speaker Prem Kumar had arrived at the Assembly to accept it.

Nabin and Nitish Kumar were elected to the Rajya Sabha on 16 March. Kumar is a member of the Bihar Legislative Council, and he is likely to resign on 30 March. Nabin, MLA for the Bankipur seat, was scheduled to resign on Sunday.

One cannot be a member of two houses at the same time as per the Prohibition of Simultaneous Membership Rules, 1950 (under Articles 101/190 of the Constitution). So Nitish Kumar and Nitin Nabin are required to resign as MLC and MLA within 14 days of being elected to Parliament (Rajya Sabha).

Today, 30 March, is the last day for them to resign.

What happened on Sunday? A message was circulated on the official WhatsApp group from the Assembly office, saying, according to a report in The Hindu.

All are hereby informed that today at 8:40 a.m., BJP National President Nitin Nabin will tender his resignation from the membership of the Legislative Assembly in the office chamber of the Speaker, Bihar Legislative Assembly," the message read.

After fifteen minutes, however, another message was sent in the same WhatsApp group, saying, BJP national president Nitin Nabin did not resign from his membership of the Legislative Assembly today due to unavoidable reasons.

What did Bihar Assembly Speaker say? On Sunday, Bihar assembly Speaker Prem Kumar was left bewildered when he was told that BJP president Nitin Nabin, who was slated to turn up at his chamber to resign as an MLA, had left Patna due to an emergency, news agency PTI said.

Kumar, a senior BJP leader himself, had been away in Delhi a day ago when he was summoned back to the Bihar capital with the message that Nabin, who got elected to the Rajya Sabha two weeks ago, wanted to vacate the assembly seat.

"I was attending a function at the Bharat Mandapam when state BJP chief Sanjay Saraogi telephoned me to inform that the party's national president wanted to resign on March 29. So, I took the return flight last night," the Speaker told reporters who had gathered at his chamber.

"Apparently, there was an emergency that led the national president to leave. Yes, he needs to vacate his assembly seat within 14 days of election to the Rajya Sabha. There is time till tomorrow."

Nabin flew to Assam BJP sources told PTI that Nabin had left for poll-bound Assam and could travel to Delhi from there. When the Speaker was asked whether Nabin could resign in "virtual mode", he replied, I am not aware of that. As far as I understand the rules, an MLA's physical presence is required.

Prem Kumar was also asked about reports that Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who heads the JD(U), and had been elected to the Rajya Sabha alongside Nabin, was likely to resign on Monday.

"He (the CM) is a member of the legislative council. Hence, I shall not be privy to such a development. The chief minister's secretariat or the Vidhan Parishad secretariat should be approached for the information."

The Speaker also said he was making a dash for the national capital to attend the aforementioned function, but would return late in the evening.

Who will be the next CM of Bihar? The two resignations of Nitish Kumar and Nitin Nabin are linked. As Kumar, the longest serving Bihar CM, is headed to Rajya Sabha, the National Democratic Alliance, comprising of the BJP and the Janata Dal (United) has to pick next chief minister of Bihar.

The frontrunner is Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary

BJP national president Nitin Nabin did not resign from his membership of the Legislative Assembly today due to unavoidable reasons.

However, several JD(U) leaders have said that Nitish Kumars son, Nishant Kumar, who recently entered active politics, should be his fathers successor, according to a report in The Hindu. They claimed that the Nishant Kumar has all the qualities needed to become the Chief Minister, the report said.

(With PTI inputs)
Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on Monday, 30 March, that Naxalism did not spread in the country due to demand for development and poverty, but because of an ideology that, he said, former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi embraced in 1970. Amit Shah also said that Indira Gandhi accepted this ideology to win the presidential election.

Replying to a debate in the Lok Sabha on efforts to free the country from Left-wing extremism, Amit Shah said that Naxalism has almost been eradicated from Bastar district in Chhattisgarh.

Rejecting poverty as a reason behind the surge in Naxalism, the home minister said there was poverty in the affected areas because of Left-wing extremism. He also said that people in Bastar did not see any development in the region as "the shadow of Red Terror loomed".

The root cause of Naxalism is not the demand for development. It is an ideology  an ideology that Indira Ji embraced back in 1970 in order to win the presidential election. Naxalism has spread precisely because of this Leftist ideology, he said.

Speaking of how Naxalism affected the country, Amit Shah said, Twelve states- Chhattisgarh, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Bihar, Bengal, Kerala, parts of Karnataka, and three districts of Uttar Pradesh were affected. A complete 'Red Corridor' was formed, and the rule of law ended there.

Amit Shah also targeted the Congress and asked why people remained deprived of development during its rule.

Twelve crore people lived in poverty for years, and no one showed any concern. Thousands of young lives were lost. Many were left permanently disabled or crippled for the rest of their lives. Who is responsible for this? he asked.

"Out of the 75 years since independence, power remained in your (Congress) hands for 60 years. Why, then, have the tribal communities remained deprived of development to this day? For sixty years, you failed to provide them with homes or access to clean water; you built no schools for them; you prevented mobile towers and banking facilities from reaching their areas, and yet, now you are the ones demanding accountability?" he added.

The home minister also reiterated the government condition that it would engage in a dialogue with only those Naxals who lay down their arms.

He said, To those advocating for dialogue, I want to reiterate what I have expressed many times from public platforms in Bastar: Lay down your arms, and the government will ensure your rehabilitation. However, they refuse to disarm. Our government's policy is clear--we are open to dialogue with those who surrender their weapons. Those who choose violence will be met with a firm response.

Naxalism eradicated in Bastar: Amit Shah Addressing the Lok Sabha, Amit Shah listed initiatives the government has taken to develop Bastar. He said a campaign was launched to establish a school in every village of the district; PHCs and CHCs are being opened; and ration shops are being established in every village.

He said, Today, Naxalism has been almost eradicated from Bastar. A campaign was launched to establish a school in every single village across Bastar. A drive was undertaken to open a ration shop in every village within the region. Primary Health Centres (PHCs) and Community Health Centres (CHCs) have been established in every Tehsil and Panchayat. Aadhaar cards and ration cards have been issued to the people, and they are now receiving five kilograms of food grains.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar resigned as a Member of the Legislative Council (MLC) in Bihar today, 30 March. The Janata Dal (United) chief, a central figure of Bihar politics, was elected to the Rajya Sabha on 16 March.

The resignation would also pave the way for the Janata Dal (United) supremo to step down as Bihars Chief Minister, marking the end of his two-decade-long tenure in one of Indias most politically crucial states.

Kumar did not fight the assembly elections. He is not a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA). Instead, Kumar is an MLC. A chief minister of a state must be a member of one of the state's houses  the assembly or the council.

Why did Nitish Kumar resign? Now that Kumar is headed to the Rajya Sabha in Parliament, he must resign from the legislative council.

As per the Prohibition of Simultaneous Membership Rules (1950), framed under Article 101(2) of the Constitution, a person must resign from their seat in the state legislature within 14 days of their election declaration being published in the Gazette of India or the State Gazette, whichever is later. Failing this, their Rajya Sabha seat becomes vacant.

Today, 30 March, marks 14 days of Kumars election to the Rajya Sabha.

Can Nitish Kumar serve as CM for 6 months? Article 164(4) of the Constitution of India provides flexibility, allowing a person to serve as Chief Minister or a minister for a period of six months without being a member of the state legislature or council. This clause enables Nitish Kumar to potentially remain in office temporarily, even after transitioning to Parliament, for at least 6 months.

Kumar's switch to the Upper House of Parliament is historic, as he would be the first sitting chief minister to announce his decision to move to the Rajya Sabha. Before him, Chief Ministers have moved from the state to the Centre, but only after a gap.

Former Tripura CM Biplab Deb, for example, chose to run for the Rajya Sabha in 2022, months after resigning as chief minister. Kumar made the announcement in the middle of his tenth term as chief minister.

BJP leader to replace Nitish? Kumar's move brings the curtains down on his two-decade journey as Bihar Chief Minister. A BJP leader is likely to replace the JD-U chief as Bihar CM. And this could be the first time the BJP has a chief minister in Bihar.

The move came months after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) won a landslide victory, securing 202 of the 243 seats in the 2025 Bihar Assembly Elections, defeating the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD)-led Mahagathbandhan (MGB), which secured just 35 seats.

Also Read | Rajya Sabha elections 2026 result: List of winners for 37 seats in 10 states

For the first time, the BJP became the single-largest party in the Bihar assembly, with 89 seats, followed by the JD(U) with 85 seats.

Nitish Kumar took the oath for a record tenth time. Samrat Chaudhary and Vijay Kumar Sinha took the oath as the deputy chief ministers for the second consecutive time.

Who will be Bihars next CM? A BJP leader could replace Nitish Kumar. The outgoing CM's son, Nishant Kumar, was a contender to be the deputy chief minister till a few days ago. But there has been no official announcement yet.

The Janata Dal United has reportedly said it does not want the BJP to adopt Madhya Pradesh or Rajasthan-style experiments that saw the BJPs central leadership spring a surprise by elevating relatively lesser-known leaders as CMs.

Senior BJP leader Vinod Tawde is already in Patna to meet with state leaders.

Going by the buzz in Bihars political circles, Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary, Union Minister Nityanand Rai and Bihar minister Dilip Kumar Jaiswal are top contenders for the CM post.

Choudhary is one of the most senior BJP leaders from Bihar. He has been a Panchayati Raj Minister before holding the home affairs portfolio in Bihar, as well as in his second stint as deputy chief minister.

Jaiswal is a three-time member of the legislative council and has also served as the Bihar BJP chief. Another name doing the rounds is Digha MLA Sanjiv Chaurasiya.

Kumar's switch to the Upper House of Parliament is historic, as he would be the first sitting chief minister to announce his decision to move to the Rajya Sabha.

Nityanand Rai is currently serving as the Minister of State for Home Affairs in Delhi. Before his stint with the Centre, Rai served as the BJP president for Bihar and is a four-time MLA from Hajipur.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar resigned from the state legislative council today, 30 March, weeks after his election to the Rajya Sabha. The move will clear the way for the Janata Dal (United) supremo's resignation from the chief ministerial post, paying way for him to begin his term in the Rajya Sabha.

Nitish Kumar is not a Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) but a Member of Legislative Council (MLC). One has to be a member of either house to be a chief minister.

JD (U) leader and MLA Anant Kumar Singh has confirmed Nitish Kumar's resignation. Kumar told reporters in Patna on Sunday saying that that the CM had already made up his mind and will tender his resignation from the post of MLC on Monday.

Singh said that while the party members were reeling, the CM decided to resign from the Bihar Legislative Council.

"Yes, he is doing so. Everyone wanted the same (that he should not resign from the CM post), but he did not agree...," he said.

On Tuesday, Nitish Kumar was unanimously elected President of the Janata Dal (United) after no other candidate filed a nomination.

On 5 March, Kumar, Bihar's longest-serving Chief Minister, filed his nomination for the Rajya Sabha elections, extending "full support" to the new Cabinet. He was elected to the Rajya Sabha through an election held on 16 March.

30 March last day for him to resign As per the rules, Nitish Kumar was required to resign as MLC and step down from the Chief Ministers post within 14 days of being elected to Parliament. Today, 30 March, was the last day he could resign.

He can, however, continue to be CM for at least six months, or until a new CM is announced and sworn in in Bihar. The 75-year-old penned a heartfelt message announcing his decision. He expressed his desire to be a member of both houses of the Bihar Legislature and the Houses of Parliament. He asserted his commitment to building a "developed Bihar" and extended his "cooperation and guidance" to the new government.

The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) welcomed Kumar's decision and lauded his return to the parliamentary democracy.

Also Read | Rajya Sabha elections 2026 result: List of winners for 37 seats in 10 states

Nitish Kumar's political career is a masterclass in coalition manoeuvring, marked by a series of high-stakes ideological shifts. Beginning his journey as an MLA in 1985 and later serving as a Union Minister under the Vajpayee government, he first ascended to the Bihar Chief Minister's office in 2005 as a pillar of the NDA.

Since 2013, however, his tenure has been defined by a "revolving door" of alliances, alternating between the BJP and the Mahagathbandhan (RJD and Congress) in 2013, 2017, 2022, and 2024. Despite these frequent realignments, his political survival remains unparalleled; most recently, he secured a fifth electoral landslide in 2025, taking the oath as Chief Minister for a record-breaking tenth time.

With Nitish Kumar's resignation, all eyes are on the next chief minister of Bihar.

Yes, he is doing so. Everyone wanted the same (that he should not resign from the CM post), but he did not agree...

Kumar's return to the national arena could also pave the way for the BJP to have a greater say in the Bihar government and perhaps even stake a claim to the CM's chair. The frontrunner is Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary

However, several JD(U) leaders have said that Nitish Kumars son, Nishant Kumar, who recently entered active politics, should be his fathers successor, according to a report in The Hindu. They claimed that the Nishant Kumar has all the qualities needed to become the Chief Minister, the report said.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the US may need to reassess its relationship with NATO after the Iran war is finished, calling the military alliances alleged lack of support during the Middle East conflict very disappointing.

Rubio assailed NATO members for denying access to military bases, following prior criticism from President Donald Trump that partners in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization are cowards and that the alliance is a paper tiger.

The president and our country will have to reexamine all of this after this operation is over, Rubio said in an interview with Al Jazeera. If NATO is just about us defending Europe if theyre attacked, but them denying us basing rights when we need them, thats not a very good arrangement. Thats a hard one to stay engaged in.

Members of NATO have largely rebuffed Trumps requests to help reopen the vital Strait of Hormuz, which Iran effectively closed with threats of retaliation after being attacked by the US and Israel. The critical passageway for energy supplies has been effectively shut since late February, leading oil and gas prices to soar.

When this operation is over, it will be open and itll be open one way or another, Rubio said. It will be open because Iran agrees to abide by international law and not block the commercial waterway, or a coalition of nations from around the world  and the region  with the participation of the United States, will make sure that its open, he added.

A main focus of US anger has been Spain, which closed its airspace to American flights involved in Iran operations, expanding an earlier effort to distance itself from the conflict by blocking the use of US bases in Spain.

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has also faced harsh criticism from Trump after initially rejecting the presidents request to allow the US to access the countrys military bases to help carry out strikes on Iran. The UK government has since allowed the US to use bases for limited defensive action.

Earlier this month, Trump mocked Starmer, saying he is not Winston Churchill, and threatening to cut off trade with Spain.

The US can project power into the Middle East most effectively when it can lean on allied geography  logistics hubs in Germany, air bases in Britain, naval facilities in Spain and the overflight permissions that let aircraft move without friction.

Trump has long railed against NATO, repeatedly questioning its relevance and pushing allies to agree to ramp up defense spending to 5% of gross domestic product.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has been one of the most vocal European critics of Trump, accusing the president of starting an illegal war. Sanchez has a long list of disputes with Washington, including a refusal to commit to spending 5% of GDP on defense  a NATO target endorsed by all other members of the military alliance.

Without the United States, there is no NATO, said Rubio, who was a longtime supporter of the bloc as a senator. An alliance has to be mutually beneficial. It cannot be a one-way street. Lets hope we can fix it.

Well have time to address it, he added, after the Iran war.

2026 Bloomberg L.P.
New Delhi: India wants electronics manufacturers to move beyond assembly, and has asked companies to build in-house product design capabilities and adopt global engineering standards, as the country aims to become a hub for deep-tech manufacturing and exports.

Union electronics and information technology minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Monday gave companies 15 days to come up with clear product design plans and six-sigma engineering certification programmes, warning that failure to comply could result in incentives for approved projects being withheld or cancelled altogether.

Also Read | Gaming apps designed in a way users never win over long term: Vaishnaw

Well have to get into electronics, components and chip designs, which should be our primary focus. Anyone not making a move ahead will be weeded outwe will give the industry 15 days to come up with structured electronics design and six-sigma certification programmes. If any manufacturer fails, we may take them off the programme even if they are approvedor hold the incentives back," Vaishnaw said, as he approved 29 new component-making projects worth 7,104 crore.

Vaishnaws warning comes as the ministry of electronics and IT's (Meity) 40,000-crore electronics components manufacturing scheme (ECMS) to incentivize domestic manufacturing completed one year. In its first year, Meity approved a total of 75 electronic components projects in four tranches including Monday, which cumulatively promised net investments of 61,671 crore.

On 26 April last year, shortly after the ECMS was notified, Vaishnaw had said that approval of component projects would be contingent on manufacturers meeting targets suggested by the ministry for ramping up in-house design and six-sigma certification.

Also Read | The secret to startups cracking Bharat as a markettrust and tech

Six-sigma certification in engineering refers to a globally accepted level of engineering skills, seen as a universally accepted requirement for the electronics industry in selecting vendors.

We will have to develop our own supply chain and have coordinated buyer-seller agreements. I want the electronics industry to organize such agreements once a month in a structured way. We also need structured six-sigma engineering certification programmes, and scale them up," the minister said. He added that for the first time, India became a net exporter in the electronics industry this fiscal. While Vaishnaw did not share an exact figure, data published by his ministry on 2 March said electronic goods were Indias second most-exported item, with the first half of this fiscal seeing exports worth $22.2 billion.

Meanwhile, industry stakeholders reacted positively to Vaishnaws warning. Sunil Vachani, co-founder and executive chairman at Dixon Technologies, told Mint that with the component manufacturing projects, the company expects domestic value addition to increase from 18% right now, to 40% once the projects are live and operational.

Were going to be doing all of the display module and camera module manufacturing in-house, which is derived from Dixons design-led engineering skills. The broad idea is that backward integration as a factor of our business will improve, therefore increasing local value addition. What impact this has on our books will remain to be seen going forward, he said.

The government also wants a structured rise of certification courses for engineers in the industry.

We need at least five different, focused training centres that will be able to train 5,000 to 10,000 people each. Otherwise, the quality of manpower will be an issue, as complaints will keep on coming. I am willing to take harsh measures and stop further approvals or disbursements, if the industry does not come up with commensurate efforts, the minister said.

Puneet Agarwal, chief executive of Manesar-based VVDN Technologies, said that companies have been ramping up efforts to boost local manufacturing, and are willing to comply with policy requirements under Meitys ECMS incentives programme.

We are already conducting six-sigma training and certification programmes in-house for our existing engineers, and this is helping us ramp up push for a larger number of contracts from global brands. We have also been focused on design-led electronics engineering since the start, and are in line with the focus areas of the ECMS programme, he said.

DIxons Vachani added that the company is rolling out digital transformation initiatives, setting up centres of excellence for skilling, and tying up with universities to address the challenges of Industry 4.0.

The government has already done its part through policy frameworks. Now, the focus needs to shift toward designing products in India, and industry associations should now come together to chart a clear, structured roadmap for value additions in electronics manufacturingsomething that will aid micro, small and medium enterprises as well, Vachani said.

Dixon is Indias largest publicly-listed electronics manufacturer with a market cap of 58,792 crore as of Monday. The company has been approved for three ECMS projects so far, including a camera module manufacturing project approved on 2 January at a net investment of 550 crore, and a display module manufacturing project approved on Monday at a net investment of 1,100 crore.

Analysts welcomed Vaishnaws push for local value addition in the country's electronics ecosystem, which generated $120 billion in revenue last fiscal, as per Meity. Ashwini Aggarwal, country advisor at electronics industry body Society for Information Display (Sid), said that while no country is completely self-reliant in electronics, the reality is that we need to have some control over key inputs. Until now, much of it was imported, but that story is beginning to change.
OnePlus has confirmed that its latest mid-range device, the OnePlus Nord 6, will be launching in India next week. The new phone will be taking on other devices in the mid-range segment, including the Nothing Phone 4a, Motorola Edge 70 Fusion, and the Poco X8 Pro.

OnePlus Nord 6 launch date: OnePlus has confirmed that the Nord 6 will be launching in India on 7 April at 7PM India time. The company hasn't confirmed if it will be holding a dedicated launch event for the phone or unveiling it via a video message. We should have more details on whether the phone will be unveiled via a live stream or not in the coming days.

View full Image View full Image OnePlus Nord 6

OnePlus Nord 6 expected price: With the recent memory chip shortage, there has been a hike in smartphone prices across the board, and the Nord 6 should not be any different. The extent of the price hike will only be revealed during the launch, but a look at the price of the Nord 5 should give us an idea of the overall price range for the device.

The Nord 5 debuted in India last year at a price of 31,999 for the 8GB RAM/128GB storage model and went up to 37,999 for the 12GB RAM/512GB model. This suggests that even with the price hike, the Nord 6 should still be available somewhere between 35,000 40,000 in India.

A dedicated microsite for the phone has already gone live on Amazon, which confirms that the device will be available to buy on the e-commerce platform.

OnePlus Nord 6 specifications: Design and colour variants: The OnePlus Nord 6 takes some inspiration from the OnePlus 15 lineup in the design segment as it ditches the pill-shaped camera layout on its predecessor in favour of a squarish camera island. Apart from that, there aren't any other major visual changes on the device, with the OnePlus logo staying right in the middle while the Plus key continues to find a place on the left-hand corner of the phone.

OnePlus has confirmed that the Nord 6 will be available in three colour variants: Holographic Quick Silver, Fresh Mint, and Low-Reflection Pitch Black.

Display: OnePlus Nord 6 will feature a 165Hz 1.5K AMOLED display with up to 3,600 nits of peak brightness and 1,800 nits in High Brightness Mode (HBM). The phone also comes with support for a dedicated Touch Reflex Chip to provide 3,200Hz of instant touch sampling.

The phone supports lowering brightness down to 2 nits, along with 3,840Hz of PWM dimming for reducing eye strain in low-light environments. There is also support for Aqua Touch 2.0 technology, which allows for use of the device even with sweaty or wet fingers.

Processor: OnePlus Nord 6 comes powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 processor, with a claimed AnTuTu score of around 2.5 million. The phone also comes with a dedicated G2 Wi-Fi chip for improved signal reception in congested environments. OnePlus claims this will allow the phone to deliver up to 3 faster peak data speeds when using the Reliance Jio network.

Battery: OnePlus has taken a big leap in the battery segment this time around with the introduction of a 9,000mAh battery on the phone, which the company claims can last up to 2.5 days of moderate use.
China's DeepSeek suffered the biggest outage in its history as the popular AI chatbot went down for more than seven hours overnight in China. As per a Bloomberg report, the outage forced DeepSeek to deploy multiple updates to rectify the situation.

When did the DeepSeek outage happen? According to outage tracking platform Downdetector, users first began reporting faults with the platform on Sunday evening. The startups official status page acknowledged an initial issue at 9:35 p.m., eventually marking the incident as resolved about two hours later.

View full Image View full Image DeepSeek Downdetector chart

However, the disruption continued into the following day. Subsequent updates on Monday showed that DeepSeek was addressing another case of performance issues, which took until 10:33 a.m. to be fully fixed.

Also Read | Apple to give Siri a big makeover in iOS 27: Check out top 5 expected features

What caused the extended downtime? The exact causes of the massive outage currently remain unclear, and DeepSeek has not given an official statement regarding the reasons for the disruption.

Notably, DeepSeek, in its own status page, has maintained that it has a near 99% operational record since it first unveiled the R1 model in January 2025, making the outage an even more unusual event for the Chinese AI startup.

What's happening with DeepSeek? DeepSeek had its viral moment in January last year, when its AI models gained widespread attention and rattled Silicon Valley, triggering a sell-off in tech stocks and wiping off billions of dollars in wealth as investors began questioning assumptions around American dominance in the AI race.

Since then, however, it has been a long wait for DeepSeek fans. The startup is yet to deliver another similarly high-profile model capable of rivalling the latest offerings from Google, OpenAI, and Anthropic. In the meantime, competitors such as ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude have continued to evolve rapidly, while even Chinese players like Alibaba have also gained ground, with its Qwen models performing strongly across various global benchmarks.

However, there have been recent speculations that DeepSeek is set to roll out another major update. The Bloomberg report notes that speculation around a new model launch from DeepSeek has sent ripples through the Chinese tech sector, forcing its rivals like Alibaba, ByteDance, and Tencent to release a barrage of new AI models and services over the Lunar New Year holiday to stay competitive.

DeepSeek had also posted a number of job openings earlier this month which suggested that the company's latest offering could be in the agentic AI segment. As per another Bloomberg report, the company was looking for specialists in 17 roles, including Agent Deep Learning Algorithm Researcher, Agent Data Evaluation Expert, and Agent Infrastructure Engineer.
Indian government is set to bar Chinese video surveillance companies like Hikvision and Dahua from selling internet-connected CCTV cameras starting April 1, according to a report by The Economic Times. The report notes that the government is planning to explicitly refuse to certify products manufactured by these companies or those using Chinese chipsets.

Why is India banning Chinese CCTV cameras? Reportedly, the ban comes after the Essential Requirements norms for CCTV cameras introduced by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology in April 2024. Under the rules, the government provided the industry with a two-year transition window to certify each product under the Standardisation Testing and Quality Certification regime at certified labs.

The rules state that manufacturers must explicitly declare the country of origin for critical components like the System-on-Chip. Devices must also be rigorously tested against vulnerabilities that could allow for unauthorised remote access.

As of now, only 507 CCTV camera models have successfully secured government certification.

Which brands are affected by the new rules? Reportedly, the stringent certification process has forced major Chinese players to either drastically alter their supply chains or exit the Indian market entirely.

Dahua, which was once the second-largest player in this segment but has now been reduced to selling only analogue cameras.

Even popular smartphone makers like Xiaomi and Realme have reportedly completely exited the smart home camera segment after failing to secure certification.

Indian brands take the lead: The report notes that the new rules have led to a complete shift in the industry landscape. While Chinese brands accounted for a third of all CCTV sales in India up until last year, domestic players now control over 80% of the market as of February 2026, as per Counterpoint data quoted by The Economic Times.
Artificial intelligence (AI) has entered nearly every aspect of our lives, and now, its being blamed for people losing their jobs. But is AI really behind these layoffs, or has it become a convenient scapegoat for tech CEOs?

According to a BBC report, words like efficiency, over-hiring, and too many management layers are now outdated, and most of the job cut explanations stem from artificial intelligence.

Tech companies announce layoffs In the past few weeks, tech giants, including Amazon, Google, Meta, and smaller companies like Pinterest and Atlassian, all announced or warned of plans to reduce the workforce, indicating that the latest developments in AI, according to them, are now letting the companies do more with fewer people.

Earlier this year, Meta's Chief Executive Officer, Mark Zuckerberg, announced, "I think that 2026 is going to be the year that AI starts to dramatically change the way that we work." In the three months' time, Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, has handed pink slips to hundreds of people. This includes the 700 who were fired just last week. According to a Business Insider report, the global cuts affected employees in Reality Labs, Facebook, recruiting, sales, and global operations.

Also Read | Oracle Plans Thousands of Job Cuts in Face of AI Cash Crunch

The layoffs came after Reuters in February reported that Meta is planning to axe 20% of its workforce to offset costly AI infrastructure bets and prepare for greater efficiency brought about by AI-assisted workers. However, the company is also planning to double down its AI spending this year, and is still hiring in priority areas.

Jack Dorsey on cutting workforce Apart from Zuckerberg, Jack Dorsey, the head of financial technology firm Block Inc, has been unusually direct about his intentions. Speaking to shareholders last month, as the company, known for platforms like Cash App, Square, and Tidal, announced plans to cut nearly half its workforce, he stressed that the move was not purely about improving efficiency.

He argued that advances in intelligence tools are reshaping how companies are built and operated, suggesting that much smaller teams can now achieve better results using such technology. Dorsey added that he believes most companies will reach a similar conclusion within the next year, noting that he wanted to act early.

Blaming cuts on AI better than citing cost pressures: Tech investor However, according to tech investor Terrence Rohan, explaining cuts by highlighting advances in AI is much better than citing cost pressures or a desire to please shareholders.

He told BBC, "Pointing to AI makes a better blog post," and added, "Or it at least doesn't make you seem as much the bad guy who just wants to cut people for cost-effectiveness."
It is not as if the internet will ever be shut down but it could get slowed down, said Amajit Gupta, group chief executive and managing director at network infrastructure provider Lightstorm Telecom Connectivity Pvt. Ltd. If this choking continues to happen over a period of time and the traffic on the internet continues to grow over a period of time then at a certain point the choke effect will be much more visible.
KYIV, Ukraine (AP)  Senior officials in Kyiv are taking a swipe at the head of German defense giant Rheinmetall, whose unflattering comments about Ukrainian drone technology and the role of women in the war against Russia ignited a social media backlash.

Rheinmetall AGs Chairman and CEO Armin Papperger likened Ukraines development of cutting-edge drone expertise as like playing with Lego and said the drones are being built by Ukrainian housewives.

They have 3D printers in the kitchen, and they produce parts for drones, Papperger said in comments to The Atlantic magazine published Friday. This is not innovation.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who is offering his countrys advanced drone technology to Gulf countries amid the Iran war, on Monday described Pappergers remarks as strange.

If every Ukrainian housewife can really produce drones, then every Ukrainian housewife could also be the CEO of Rheinmetall, he told reporters via voicemail on WhatsApp. I congratulate our defense-industrial complex on being at such a high level.

Ukraine has quickly grown into one of the worlds leading producers of cutting-edge, battle-tested drone interceptors that are cheap and effective.

After Pappergers comments appeared, Ukrainians took to social media to berate him under the hashtag #MadeByHousewives.

Ukraines Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko praised the role of Ukrainian women in the effort to thwart Russias all-out invasion of February 2022.

Ukrainian women are indeed an essential part of Ukraines war effort and of Europes security, she posted on X late Sunday. They have stepped with courage into many areas once seen as male-dominated, bringing energy, discipline, and determination.

And they are doing this while raising our next generation and caring for their families under wartime pressures, she added.

Zelenskyy adviser Alexander Kamyshin said he regularly visits military manufacturing plants and sees men and women working side by side.

They are great housewives, yet they have to work hard in the military factories, he said on X, adding: They deserve respect.

Rheinmetall responded Sunday on X, saying that the company has the utmost respect for Ukrainian people fighting Russia.

Every single woman and man in (Ukraine) is making an immeasurable contribution, it said. The innovative strength and the fighting spirit of the Ukrainian people are an inspiration to us.

___
A drone seen outside an H-E-B in Dallas, Texas, in March 2026, sparks questions among customers regarding possible grocery delivery. Courtesy of @BrtnyCasa via TikTok

Given the current era of technology, with everything from self-driving cars to errand-running robots being seen around Texas, it's become harder to be shocked by futuristic, digital products. Still, a video of a drone at H-E-B has captured the attention of customers, sparking questions about its purpose.

San Antonio-based realtor Britney Casarez spotted the remote-controlled aircraft at one of the chain's Dallas stores, according to a clip shared with MySA. The post, published on Friday, March 20, shows it in a gated area near the market's parking lot.

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"H-E-B said OTW (on the way)," Casarez wrote in the clip.

The video had racked up more than 55,000 views as of Friday, March 27, with TikTok users speculating in the comments about why it was there. Several mentioned the possibility of the drone delivering groceries to shoppers.

It wouldn't be out of the ordinary. Companies such as Walmart and Amazon supply products to customers this way, though only the latter operates in a small part of town (on the Northeast side).

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Meanwhile, up to 1.8 million Dallas area residents are eligible for a visit from Walmart's flying bots, which can bring "everything from groceries to health and wellness products to household essentials," according to the company's website. Folks can even choose "Express Delivery" to receive their requests in as little as 30 minutes. Last summer, the retailer announced it would be expanding the service to Houston, though a launch date has not been released.

A spokesperson for H-E-B tells MySA it was there for "a demo."

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In response to another commenter, Casarez, who recorded the sighting, said she, too, assumed the drone sighting was related to future delivery.
Laredo residents can take part in a variety of events this week, from creative activities to community gatherings across the city. Courtesy/DPA/Picture Alliance

Laredo is bustling with events this week, highlighting local creativity, community and connection while encouraging residents to step away from their daily routines and explore the city.

From hands-on activities to film discussions, here are five things to do in Laredo this week.

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Bring Them Home Documentary Screening Tour

Tuesday, 5-9 p.m., Texas A&M International University, Room A126, 5201 University Blvd.

A documentary highlighting the experiences of deported veterans will be screened at Texas A&M International University, followed by a panel discussion. The event will feature coordinator James Smith and veteran Manny Valenzuela.

Teens Knit & Sit

Tuesday, 5:30 p.m., Joe A. Guerra Laredo Public Library, 1120 E. Calton Road

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Teens are invited to unwind through knitting or crocheting during a movie screening at the Joe A. Guerra Laredo Public Library. Participants can bring their own supplies and enjoy snacks while socializing.

Registration is required at laredolibrary.org/event-new/teens-knit-sit.

Metro PCS/Flash Tax Services Event

Wednesday, 1-5 p.m., 3702 S. Zapata Highway

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Metro PCS and Flash Tax Services will host a community event celebrating Easter, featuring snacks, prizes and family-friendly activities. Families can also take free photos with the Easter Bunny.

LFS Study Hall: Movies on Movies

Thursday, 7 p.m., Laredo Film Society HQ, 510 San Agustin Ave., Suite B

The Laredo Film Society continues its educational workshop series with a session focused on a thriller about a sound technician who uncovers a mysterious accident and investigates the truth.

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Tickets are available at laredofilm.org.

TAMIU Fashion Society Fashion Show

Friday, 6-8 p.m., TAMIU STC Ballroom, 5201 University Blvd.

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Texas A&M International Universitys Fashion Society will host its annual fashion show, showcasing designs by local students. This years theme, Fairy Tales, will feature whimsical and imaginative looks on the runway.
District 5 Trustee Javier Montemayor Jr., right, discusses UISD's proposal to close and consolidate schools next to his fellow board members at a UISD workshop on Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2025 at the Bill Johnson Student Activity Complex. Screencap/UISD

Parents have filed a formal complaint against the United Independent School District as it prepares to vote Monday on the closure of Amparo Gutierrez Elementary and Matias de Llano Elementary.

The complaint comes from a group of parents whose children attend Amparo Gutierrez Elementary.

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Stephanie Villarreal, whose son attends the campus, joined other parents in submitting a joint grievance against the districts recommendation to close the schools.

The complaint outlines concerns over how consolidation could impact students, with several parents submitting letters detailing how the changes may affect their children. Parents also referenced concerns raised during a district meeting in February.

One letter described a second-grade student who is nonverbal, has a speech delay and relies on a specialized classroom environment, as well as transportation for after-school care. Another parent said her child could lose an approved transfer tied to a parents workplace, limiting family involvement.

Parents also raised broader concerns about transparency and governance in the decision-making process.

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Many of us are left with unanswered questions and a sense that this outcome was determined without fully understanding the human cost, the complaint states. Families deserve transparency and concrete answers before a permanent decision is made.

Some parents are requesting corrective action from the Texas Education Agency, including convening an emergency ARD meeting, providing written assurances that services for students with disabilities will continue, developing a transition plan and maintaining transportation services.

The school closure forces a change of placement without convening an ARD meeting or obtaining parental input, wrote parent Erika Chavez.

Other parents raised concerns about potential legal violations tied to the plan. Jazmin Casso said the decision could disproportionately affect students with learning disabilities.

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Overcrowding or understaffing at receiving campuses may delay evaluations and critical support services, violating federal law, she wrote. Until the district provides a detailed, legally compliant transition plan showing how protections will be maintained, I request that the closure be delayed or reconsidered.

During a board workshop earlier this month, UISD said it would consider consolidating the two elementary schools. The proposal is scheduled to be discussed at a meeting Monday at 6 p.m. at the SAC Auditorium.

UISD previously stated in a letter from its superintendent that it plans to bring the closure recommendation to a vote, noting that no final decisions have been made regarding the status of the two schools.

The letter attributes the recommendation to a decline in enrollment, which has affected the districts ability to operate all campuses while maintaining high-quality education.

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As part of this ongoing review, the administration has developed a recommendation to be proposed at the March 30 Board meeting, including the proposed closure of Amparo Gutierrez Elementary School and Matias de Llano Elementary School, the letter states. The District must continue to make thoughtful, long-range decisions that allow us to responsibly manage our resources and ensure we can continue to serve students well into the future.

If approved, the District will hold a follow-up meeting on April 16 to provide additional information regarding attendance boundaries, transition plans and support for students and families, Superintendent Gerardo Cruz said in the letter.

The district also said parents can visit the United for the Future webpage at uisd.net for additional information, including frequently asked questions, proposed boundary changes and ongoing updates.
Montgomery County approves $250M courthouse plan after years of mold, no space, 'crumbling' structure Houston Chronicle/Hearst Newspap/Houston Chronicle via Getty Imag

Montgomery County officials are moving forward with plans for a new courthouse in Conroe, a project now estimated to cost about $250 million as concerns mount over the condition of the current building.

County commissioners last week approved the next step in the processbeginning the search for an architect to design the new facilityas judges and officials say the existing courthouse can no longer meet the county's needs.

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"We are out of space," Judge Kristin Bays said during the meeting. "We really can't wait any longer."

The proposed courthouse would be a seven-story building constructed on county-owned land near the Alan B. Sadler Commissioner's Court Building on North Thompson Street. Plans also include space for a tax office.

The push for a new courthouse has been building for months, driven by both population growth and longstanding safety concerns tied to the current structure.

Earlier this year, according to the Houston Chronicle, judges described conditions inside the courthouse as deteriorating, citing issues ranging from mold and plumbing failures to structural concerns tied to an old jail space above courtrooms.

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"Then there is the jail," Bays said during a February commissioners meeting. "It is literally tons of concrete and steel over our heads and it is crumbling dramatically. You can see the rebar."

Officials have also said the county needs additional courtrooms to keep up with demand, with the Office of Court Administration determining more courts are required to handle the growing caseload.

Montgomery County approves $250M courthouse plan after years of mold, no space, 'crumbling' structure. Jason Fochtman/Staff photographer

Commissioners have not finalized how the project will be funded, but options discussed include bonds, certificates of obligation and potential public-private partnerships.

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Some county leaders have also emphasized that a new courthouse may need to be built alongside a new jail, as both facilities face capacity issues.

The current courthouse, built in 1936 and expanded over the decades, continues to serve as the county's primary judicial facility, though officials say ongoing repairs have only provided temporary fixes.

Commissioners have not announced a timeline for construction beyond the initial design phase.
Knox & McKinney, a 300,000 square-foot office and retail space at 4544 McKinney Avenue broke ground in March. Trammell Crow Company

A 12-story office and retail tower is set to transform Dallas' Knox Street, promising sleek workspaces, curated shopping, and a major boost to one of the city's most walkable neighborhoods.

Crews broke ground on the 300,000 square-foot facility, known as Knox & McKinney, on Wednesday, according to a press release from Trammell Crow Company (TCC). Located at 4544 McKinney Avenue, the facility will include 280,000 square feet of premier office space and 20,000 square feet of curated ground-floor retail and dining.

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Expected to deliver in 2028, the space will feature several hospitality-oriented amenities, including a high-end fitness center, a tenant lounge, private bar, multiple terraces for indoor and outdoor working and a 'state of the art' conference and boardroom facility.

Knox & McKinney will have several indoor and outdoor work spaces. Trammell Crow Company

Developers also highlight "unmatched walkability" to an expanding selection of Knox Street shops and restaurants, as well as access to the Katy Trail.

One of the world's largest law firms, Jones Day, has already leased 76,000 square feet at Knox & McKinney. Officials said the facility sits at an "iconic corner" in the city, allowing the company to build upon its 45-year presence in Dallas with collaboration and the client experience in mind.

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"This project delivers the quality, design, and environment that premier occupiers are seeking," Kevin Brooke, Senior Vice President at TCC, said.

The building was designed by Pickard Chilton Architects and HKS Architects, with DPR Construction behind the build-out.

A rendering of the lobby entry into Knox & McKinney, a 300,000 square-foot office and retail space. Trammell Crow Company

The Knox & McKinney project is part of a broader one million square-foot mixed-use development taking shape across the Knox Street corridora joint venture between TCC, BDT and MSD Partners, and The Retail Connection. Developers say the groundbreaking of the 300,000 square-foot facility marks an important step in the evolution of the overall neighborhood, shaping its long term vitality.

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"It delivers an exceptional boutique office environment, paired with elevated retail and dining that reflect the same level of quality and curation were bringing to the neighborhood more broadly," Sabrina Gleizer, Partner at BDT & MSD, said in the release.

Knox Street, a one-million square-foot mixed-use development, is a joint venture between TCC, BDT and MSD Partners, and The Retail Connection. Trammell Crow Company

Just two blocks to the west of Knox & McKinney, the Knox Street development includes 150,000 square feet of office space, 100,000 square feet of retail, The Lora apartment tower, a half-acre park, and The Knox Hotel and Residences.

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CBS News cuts are hitting Texas, affecting multiple correspondents tied to the state. Among them is Houston-based correspondent Karen Hua, who was offered a buyout.

CBS News has not publicly released a full list of those impacted. When asked for comment, a CBS News spokesperson told Chron it is not appropriate to comment on specific individuals who may have been affected by the layoffs.

Hua joined CBS News in February 2025 as part of the network's push toward community-driven national coverage, reporting across the South and Middle America. In that role, she covered Texas politics, immigration, the deadly Hill Country floods and other major stories shaping the region.

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Before CBS, Hua spent three years as a general assignment reporter at NBC10 in Philadelphia and previously worked for News 12 in New York. She began her broadcasting career at KGET-TV, an NBC affiliate in Bakersfield, Calif., where she worked as an investigative reporter and lifestyle host. She also previously wrote as a lifestyle contributor for Forbes.

Born and raised in Boston, Hua is a first-generation Chinese American who is fluent in Mandarin and Spanish. She studied English, psychology and film at the University of Michigan.

Dallas-based correspondent Omar Villafranca was also impacted. Villafranca joined CBS News in 2014 as a correspondent for Newspath, the network's 24-hour newsgathering service used by stations and broadcasters worldwide.

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Before CBS, he reported at KXAS-TV in Dallas-Fort Worth, KOTV-TV in Tulsa and KSWO-TV in Lawton, Okla. A San Antonio native, Villafranca graduated from Texas Christian University with a degree in broadcast journalism.

The cuts come as CBS News undergoes a broader restructuring under its parent company, Paramount Skydance, with a shift toward digital and streaming platforms. Earlier this month, the network announced it would shut down CBS News Radio and cut about 6 percent of its workforce, roughly 60 to 70 employees out of about 1,100.

In a message to staff, CBS News leadership called the layoffs a difficult decision, saying the company is restructuring to adapt to a rapidly changing industry and invest in new audiences.

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Could a Democrat really replace Marjorie Taylor Greene? This retired Army general is trying

Democrats are drumming up enthusiasm for their long-shot candidate in Republican former congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene's old Georgia district while their party is building nationwide momentum
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UPDATE: A jury in Kenai, Alaska, convicted the former owner of the Whitwell Dairy Bar of sexual assault in the first degree and sexual abuse of a minor in the second degree, and he will face serious prison time.

Darold Greg Love, 66, forcibly sexually assaulted his 16-year-old step-granddaughter in November 2021, according to a statement from the State of Alaskas Department of Law. We heard from the victim, Chyann Shearer, on Sunday.

Alaskan officials say Shearer had been living with Love and her grandmother at their home in Kenai due to her mothers inability to care for her at the time.

The victim and her grandmother had a tense and rocky relationship, making Love the only adult in the home she felt she could trust, confide in, and rely on. As a result of the sexual assault, the victim became pregnant and gave birth to a child in Aug. 2022.

The jury learned that paternity testing officially confirmed that the 66-year-old was the father of the child.

Shearer brought her case to court and testified against Love, unsure if she would get the justice she deserved and fighting a deep hurt.

The unexpected is the biggest thinglearning to work with that and live every day with the betrayal family members have brought upon me, including my own grandmother, she says.

On March 25, after a nine-day trial, Love was found guilty of sexual assault charges. Shearer says, while its been a long journey, she has finally found peace.

During my testifying, it went from anxiety to just straight confidence, she says. At this point, theres not really an ounce of anxiety when it comes to this, because I know that justice was served, and hes where he belongs.

Shearer says becoming a mother has been a blessing in disguise, and she would never stop fighting for what is right.

Shearer says she believes Love has other victims who havent shared their story and wants to encourage them to fight alongside her.

It it may be very scary and hard, and, even if it takes time, no matter when you decide to talk about it, theres always somebody who cares and who would love to listen, like myself.

Love had previously been convicted of sexual abuse of a minor in the first degree back in 2001 as a result of an investigation that revealed he had sexually abused other young girls related to him.

We spoke with one of his daughters, Valerie, back in August of 2025. She reached out to us after learning her father owned and operated the ice cream shop in Whitwell. You can read her story below.

Love now faces between 35 and 45 years in prison and will be ineligible for parole. His sentencing is scheduled for Friday, August 14.

The Alaska Department of Law says significant resources from multiple agencies in Tennessee and Alaska helped hold Love accountable for his crimes:

Investigator Chad Larsen with the Kenai Police Department was the lead investigator in the matter, with Sergeant Ryan Coleman providing support as well. Detective Alex Olson with the Chattanooga Police Department assisted the Kenai Police Department to obtain a DNA sample from Love who was then residing out of state. Detective William Barker, Jr. and other officers with the Sequatchie County Sheriffs Department, also in Tennessee, assisted with interviewing and taking Love into custody. 

Well continue to bring you updates as we learn more.

PREVIOUS STORY: Darold Greg Love, former owner of Whitwell Dairy Bar, was recently arrested in Sequatchie County for sex abuse of a minor and sex assault charges in Alaska stemming back to November 2021.

Recently, Darold's daughter, Valerie, reached out to Local 3 News to tell us she was shocked and disturbed to learn her father was operating a family-owned ice cream shop that catered to children, despite his criminal history.

Valerie says her father's abuse began long before his arrest out of Sequatchie County in April: she says she suffered it her entire life.

As a childI was grieving the loss of my family, she says. I think that part takes a toll on you.

Valerie says her father was constantly hopping from one location to the next, careful to keep his identity hidden.

We would move every four to six months, and it would just be in the middle of the nightup and gone to a whole other townand it stayed that way for a very long time, she says. Hed taken me and my twin sister, fled Alaska and kind of bounced all over the Midwest from Montana, to Utah, to Minnesota.

When Valerie was 17, she says she pressed charges against her father, who pleaded guilty to four counts related to sexual abuse of a minor. She says he was sentenced to 30 years, but was released after 8.

Valerie, now 43, has spent the last 25 years of her life trying to track down his victims.

Theres a whole group of kids. I could only prove the four of us, she says. "He is a real life monster who's been able to manipulate and work himself into communities that have children or people who are vulnerable around him.

Thats why she has reason to believe some of those victims could be in Tennessee. She's urging any victims to speak up and stand with her as she awaits his trial in October.

"If there's other victims, please talk. Silence only allows him to be able to do the same thing again, she says. Its not anything we really want to talk about, but, for more awareness, people should. That way, there isnt so much brokenness in our communities.
There has been a positive reaction from a Longford TD to three schools in county Longford being given a DEIS Plus status, which will ensure they receive improved supports, however, a local senator has said he is 'disappointed' some schools have not been selected.

Education Minister Hildegarde Naughton announced last weekend there will be a new 48 million annual investment from the Government in tackling educational disadvantage.

Three of county Longford's most disadvantaged schools will receive a range of additional supports, including extra staff, under the new DEIS Plus scheme to be introduced this coming September.

DEIS Plus was developed in collaboration with principals, teachers, the Home School Community Liaison (HSCL) Scheme, the School Completion Programme (SCP) coordinators and others working with kids and young people at risk of educational disadvantage.

READ NEXT: Twenty-five adults in Longford accessed emergency accommodation during a week last month

Senator Joe Flaherty said he welcomes the DEIS plus concept, which 'was pioneered' during Minister Norma Foley's term as Minister for Education, but he is 'perplexed' why some schools were selected and others were not chosen.

"A lot of schools and schools throughout county Longford face socio-economic challenges, specifically in the delivery of education and we would have looked at this as a major step forward.

"Obviously I welcome the fact that Templemichael (College) has been included in the programme as has St Joseph's National School in Longford and also St Michaels Boys National School in Longford.

"However, I'm somewhat perplexed that Granard (Sacred Heart) National School, Ballymahon National School and Edgeworthstown National School, none of these were afforded the DEIS Plus status and I think principals share my disappointment in this case."

READ NEXT: RIP: Longford mourns death of loyal GAA supporter who also loved attending local marts

Local Fine Gael TD Micheal Carrigy said it is great to see that Longford was included in the new DEIS Plus programme to allow continued and improved support for students and teachers.

He stated the DEIS Strategy to 2035 sets out a whole-system, evidence-based approach to addressing educational disadvantage in all schools with three phased implementation plans up until 2035.

Longford primary schools are also set to benefit from an extended Home School Liaison scheme for Rural DEIS and non-DEIS schools, this new pilot aims to support primary school children and include more students across Longford and the country.

"It will benefit students to have this support."

*See this coming edition of the Longford Leader for the full story
1. Steve Jobs

Apple

I briefly considered bumping Steve Jobs to No. 2 in recognition of Tim Cooks achievements, and even more briefly thought it would be funny to name him as zero in honor of his old Apple badge number. But in the end, it was always going to be Steve Jobs at No. 1.

Of the 49 entries above, 28 contain at least one mention of Apples charismatic founder. In researching this article, I found him almost unavoidable: Jobs bestrides Apples history like a colossus. Even when he was offstage, such as the wilderness years from 1985 to 1997, Apple fans kept wondering what he was up to, if he would return, what he must think of his usurpers feeble efforts. He was, in this sense, Apples Poochie.

As weve seen, Jobs had many flaws. He was aggressive, domineering, manipulative, and often cruel; Andy Hertzfeld (No. 19) describes him as anti-loyal. Bizarrely, two fellow tech journalists have separately told me anecdotes in which he physically knocked them over. It is, in short, almost incredible that such a difficult and unreasonable man should have inspired adoration around the world. Yet he did, because his flaws were offset by a rich array of gifts.

As a manager, he could drive employees to feats of brilliance they never would have believed were possible. (That is, when he wasnt driving them to despair.) Shown a product, he could instantly and ruthlessly pick out what needed to change in order to make it great. From anyone else, Jobs belief that he knew what customers wanted better than they did would seem arrogant; in his case, it was just factual. He was, somehow, a master of both the details and the big picture. He was a visionary: the unreasonable man who refuses to adapt himself to the world, and instead adapts the world to him. As he always wanted, he left a dent in the universe.

Jobs was there at the start of Apples story, and through the people he employed and the values he instilled, he continues to influence it today. As I hope Ive shown, Apple is and always has been a collaboration, and thousands of talented people have made contributions over the past 50 years. No single person can take sole responsibility for Apples achievements. But if I had to choose it would have to be Steve.
Manchester, VT (05254)

Today

Partly cloudy skies during the morning hours will become overcast in the afternoon. High near 70F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Periods of rain. Low around 45F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80%. Rainfall near a quarter of an inch. Locally heavy rainfall possible.
Concerns are growing across Mayo following confirmation that a key regional bus service Route 52 may be discontinued.

Dara Calleary, Minister for Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht, has confirmed that the National Transport Authority (NTA) has begun a Public Service Obligation (PSO) determination process after Bus Eireann announced plans to cease its Route 52 Expressway service between Ballina and Galway.

The announcement has been met with strong reaction locally, with fears over the loss of a vital transport link connecting Mayo to the wests largest city.

Minister Calleary said he has been in contact with both the NTA and the Minister for Transport since the news emerged, stressing the importance of maintaining the service.

The intention to cease the Route 52 service has been met with widespread disappointment by constituents in Ballina and across Mayo, he said.

The PSO process is triggered when a commercial transport operator withdraws a route, allowing the NTA to assess whether the service should continue with State support due to its importance to the public.

READ MORE: Mayo TD calls for replacement bus service for Ballina to Galway route

Minister Calleary said he has formally written to both the NTA and the Department of Transport, strongly advocating for the route to be retained.

In light of ongoing fuel price increases, and the necessity of this service for hospital appointments, students travelling to college and general connectivity, it is vital that Route 52 is maintained, he said.

The route has long been seen as a key transport artery for the region, providing access to education, healthcare and employment opportunities.

While the outcome of the review process has yet to be determined, the Minister expressed hope that a positive decision can be reached in the coming days.

The potential loss of the service has renewed debate around rural transport links and the need for sustained investment in connectivity across the west of Ireland.

READ MORE: Mayo town centre traditional signs to be restored under new initiative
Students across Co Mayo are being encouraged to apply for a series of fully funded Gaeltacht scholarships being offered by Mayo County Council this summer.

The local council has announced three scholarships for students from First to Fifth Year, providing an opportunity to attend Irish language courses at Gaeltacht colleges in August 2026.

The scholarships include placements at Colaiste Acla from August 9 to 21, Colaiste Mhuigheo from August 10 to 23, and Colaiste Uisce from August 14 to 22.

The initiative aims to support young people in developing their Irish language skills while experiencing life in the Gaeltacht, with students of all ability levels  from beginners to advanced speakers  encouraged to apply.

To be eligible, applicants must either live in Mayo or attend school in the county. Successful candidates will be selected by a random draw from eligible entries, with results expected to be announced in mid-May.

Parents and students are advised to research each Gaeltacht college before applying to ensure the course is suitable for their interests, particularly as many programmes include water-based activities.

READ MORE: Mayo airport growth raises funding concerns in Dail

Applications must be submitted by 9am on Thursday, April 30, with late entries not accepted. Only one application per student is permitted, and previous scholarship recipients are not eligible.

The scholarships are non-transferable, and successful applicants will need to provide proof of eligibility, including residency and school year.

The scheme represents a valuable opportunity for Mayo students to immerse themselves in the Irish language and culture during the summer months.
Mayo hoteliers have raised the alarm over the potential introduction of a hotel bed tax in Ireland, warning that such a move would be the last thing a sector already battling mounting costs could afford.

The issue was raised at a recent meeting of the Mayo County Council Economic and Enterprise Development SPC, where Westport Woods Hotel's Michael Lennon joined proceedings online to voice the concerns of the wider hospitality industry.

Lennon told the meeting he had come straight from a gathering of Dublin hoteliers, who are deeply worried about plans by Fingal County Council and other Dublin local authorities to introduce a bed tax for hotels in the capital. He appealed to Mayo councillors to ensure the county does not follow suit.

"We need support that a bed tax wouldn't come into County Mayo," he said. "I've been asked by one of the main hoteliers, Joe Corcoran, to mention that today we've got auto-enrolment, minimum wage increases  it's never-ending. So the last thing we want to hear is another tax coming in."

The proposed Dublin hotel bed tax would see a levy of 2 per bed per night being charged, which could raise over 17 million annually for Dublin City Council.



Ireland is somewhat of an outlier to its European neighbours in not having this tax, as it is charged in 21 out of 27 EU member states.

The concerns come at a time of acute financial pressure across the hospitality sector, with hoteliers pointing to a relentless stream of new costs including auto-enrolment pension contributions, rising energy bills, higher insurance premiums, and successive minimum wage increases.

To illustrate the scale of the hospitality industry in Mayo, Head of Tourism at the Council, Michael McDermott, outlined that the county has 5,716 hotel beds available.

The issue prompted a candid reaction from Councillor Michael Loftus, who told the meeting that he and Councillor Chris Maxwell had experienced the impact of hotel taxes first-hand during a recent St Patrick's Day visit to New York, where the pair were charged $240 in hotel tax upon checkout. "We couldn't get over that," Cllr Loftus said. "It sort of woke us up to what the charges in hotels are like in New York."

Looking ahead to the Irish situation, Cllr Loftus acknowledged that a bed tax may be hard to avoid in the longer term. "It is a tax that I'm afraid will come in at some stage," he said  a prospect that will unsettle hoteliers across the county.

At the same meeting, the newly minted Mayo County Council Director of Services for Tourism, Tom Gilligan, expressed his concern at the number of hotels currently up for sale and said that we need to look at that and address that."

It is a growing list that includes Hotel Newport and The Downhill Inn Hotel, which both came on the market in the last couple of weeks.

Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme
The Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI) has said it has no confidence in the current suspension policies within An Garda Siochana and is calling for the urgent introduction of independent oversight for members suspended for prolonged periods.

Delegates will hear that Garda members are being left on suspension for extended and undefined periods, with investigations often taking years to conclude.

AGSI has reiterated its long-standing call for an independent review mechanism for suspensions exceeding 12 months, warning that the current system is failing both members and the organisation.

A system that leaves members suspended indefinitely, without clear timelines or independent oversight, is not a system that can command confidence, said AGSI General Secretary, Ronan Clogher.

Recent high-profile cases relating to Fixed Charge Penalty Notices have again highlighted the issue of prolonged investigations and the absence of clear timelines.

Industrial Relations system no longer functioning

AGSI will also tell delegates that the industrial relations framework within An Garda Siochana is no longer functioning effectively, with long-standing issues remaining unresolved for years.

The Association, alongside the Garda Representative Association, is progressing a joint complaint to European bodies, citing the failure of the State to implement findings of the European Committee of Social Rights dating back to 2013.

Social media abuse of Gardai increasing

AGSI has also raised serious concerns regarding the growing level of online abuse directed at Garda members, with increasing reports of members being personally targeted.

The Association says it is now seeing a significant rise in representation requests relating to social media abuse and is calling for urgent supports, guidance, and protection measures to be put in place. In some cases, members identities, homes, and families are being exposed online simply for carrying out their duties.

EU Presidency to place 'unprecedented pressure' on Garda resources

The conference will also focus on the challenges facing An Garda Siochana in policing Irelands upcoming EU Presidency, which will run from July to December.

AGSI has warned that the scale of the event will place unprecedented demands on Garda resources. Crime will not stop for the EU Presidency, and our members are already stretched, said AGSI President Declan Higgins.

The Association is seeking assurances from both Government and Garda management that the organisation has the capacity to meet these demands without impacting day-to-day policing.

Housing crisis impacting Garda members

AGSI has also highlighted the impact of the housing crisis on its members, particularly those required to relocate for duty.

An increasing number of Gardai are now reliant on Housing Assistance Payments (HAP), which underlines the growing difficulty members face in securing suitable accommodation. AGSI says this is no longer just a housing issue, it is a retention issue.

The Association is calling on the Government to examine the reintroduction of housing supports, similar to previous Garda estate practices, to ensure members can live and work in the communities they serve.

Conference Motions

A total of 165 Garda Sergeants and Inspectors are attending the 48th Annual Delegate Conference in Westport.

The Minister for Justice, Jim OCallaghan, will address delegates this afternoon, while Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly will speak on the second day of the conference.

AGSI General Secretary Ronan Clogher said the conference theme, Building a Force for Change, reflects the scale of challenges facing policing.

We are seeing an evolving policing landscape, with increasing demand in areas such as economic and cybercrime, alongside sustained pressures across frontline policing. Our members are at the centre of that change, and they must be supported to meet those demands.

A total of 13 motions submitted by AGSI Branches will be debated at the conference, including:

Halting the rollout of electric Garda vehicles until adequate charging infrastructure is put in place. A review of the number of Inspectors assigned to each Garda Division. Ensuring that all new entrants to An Garda Siochana are fully vetted prior to commencement of training. Amending the Road Traffic Act 2010 to increase the timeframe permitted for the taking of a sample from a suspected intoxicated driver from three hours to five hours after the time of driving.

The conference opens at the Castlecourt Hotel Westport at 4pm this afternoon and closes at lunchtime on Wednesday.

READ MORE: North Mayo town set to come alive for Fleadh Cheoil
There have been many movies, shows and songs internationally that take inspiration from Bollywood and Indian culture. Famous artists have often taken titbits here and there to make their projects more vibrant and add flair. Now, a Russian film is turning heads. Persimmon of My Love is a Russian movie that has been shot entirely in India. From the vibe to the colours, everything in the film screams India. For the fans, it's like watching a weirdly altered Indian movie. Fans are Confused with Persimmon of My Love

 TNT The promo of the Russian film, Persimmon of My Love, was just released and fans cannot help but point out how it looks exactly like a South Indian film. Not only will the film feature Hindi songs like Jimmy Jimmy Jimmy, but there will also be Indian actors who will be part of the film.

For the fans, it's like the Russian adaptation of an Indian film. They were taking to social media to suggest that the film looked exactly like a South Indian film but in the Russian language.
It is now widely known that the cast and crew of the Dhurandhar films were bound by strict NDAs, ensuring that every aspect of the franchise remained tightly under wraps. However, in the middle of such secrecy, occasional slips are only natural and dont always carry any real consequence. A similar situation nearly occurred with Gaurav Gera, who has emerged as one of the standout performers in Dhurandhar 2. His portrayal of Aalam Bhai, the handler of Indian spy Jaskirat Singh Rangi, played by Ranveer Singh, has been widely appreciated. During a conversation with NDTV, Gera recalled an interesting moment from the shoot when he crossed paths with his friend, actor Mona Singh. The two happened to be in Amritsar at the same time, as Gera was filming Dhurandhar while Mona was shooting for Kohrra 2, leading to a casual yet memorable meeting between the two actors.

 Instagram/Gaurav Gera Gaurav Gera, who shares a long-standing friendship with Mona Singh since their Jassi Jaissi Koi Nahin days, revealed that he almost ended up showing her his look as Aalam Bhai from Dhurandhar 2. Recalling the moment, Gaurav said, I met Mona in Amritsar while we were shooting. She was working on Kohrra 2 and I was shooting for Dhurandhar. She came to my hotel and we clicked a photo, also where I have a beard too... When I met Mona and said, Look at the photo, and this one, she said, You have signed an NDA, you cannot talk'. And, I was like, Oh yes!' She is younger to me but is a thorough professional and has worked more than me. She advised me, Mat baat kar, the actor said.

 Instagram/Gaurav Gera Gaurav also revealed that he spent nearly two years working on the Dhurandhar films, travelling between locations like Bangkok and Amritsar, all while maintaining strict secrecy about his role, even from his own family. A lot of people asked me, What are you doing? I would just say, I'm doing a film. My mother also now says, You never told us. Tune toh kaha tha ki tu bas juicewala hai (You said you are just playing a juice seller).' I said, 'Juicewala hee toh tha, aur kya bataun ismein? (I did play a juices eller, what else could I say?) he recounted. Interestingly, while several cast members, including Saumya Tandon and Danish Pandor, have mentioned that they were only given limited portions of the script or kept unaware of key elements, Gaurav had full access to the entire narrative. I had the whole script. I had two copies, one with only my scenes for easy reference, but there was also the full script, he revealed.
On Sunday, Sara Arjun was seen at Wankhede Stadium, cheering for Mumbai Indians during their Indian Premier League 2026 clash. Dressed in the teams jersey, she attended the match along with her parents, Raj Arjun and Sanya Arjun. After enjoying the high-energy atmosphere, the trio was later spotted leaving the stadium once the match concluded. However, things turned hectic as Sara stepped out. Riding high on the success of Dhurandhar 2, the young actor was quickly surrounded by a large crowd of fans eager for selfies.

 Jio Studios The situation soon became overwhelming, with people closing in from all sides. Sensing the chaos, her parents, particularly her father, swiftly intervened, shielding her from the crowd and ensuring she was safely escorted to their car. Several videos of the incident have since surfaced online, showing Sara being mobbed by fans after Mumbai Indians' win. While many were trying to capture moments with her, her fathers quick response helped her navigate through the frenzy and exit the venue safely.

Sara Arjuns Rise to Fame Sara Arjun, daughter of Raj Arjun, is currently receiving widespread appreciation for her performance in Dhurandhar: The Revenge. In the movie, she plays Ranveer Singhs wife Yalina and gives us one of the biggest plot twists ever!
West Olive, Michigan, The J.H. Campbell coal-fired power plant. Consumers Energy had planned to retire the plant on May 31, 2025, but President Trump ordered it to keep operating. The President cited an energy emergency, which Michigan officials deny. UCG/UCG/Universal Images Group via G Train cars loaded with coal sit on the tracks at a Blackjewel mining operation on Aug. 22, 2019, in Cumberland, Kentucky. Scott Olson/TNS

In an unprecedented use of federal authority, President Donald Trumps administration has invoked emergency powers to force a series of retiring coal plants to stay open.

Utilities, states and grid operators have said the aging plants are expensive, in bad repair and no longer needed to meet regional energy needs. But Trumps efforts to save the dwindling coal industry have forced plant operators to continue investing in the facilities  a move that some consumer advocates fear could mean billions of dollars in added costs for customers in dozens of states.

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Trump has long positioned himself as a champion of coal, making it a centerpiece of his energy dominance agenda. The emergency orders issued by his administration claim that the grid is at risk of energy shortfalls, and the coal plants are needed to ensure a reliable power supply.

But state officials in many places affected by the orders say thats not true.

Rather than allowing the realities on the ground, the regulators and the utilities to make rational decisions about how to meet energy needs, we have the Trump administration trying to do Soviet-style central planning to push an ideological agenda that will drive costs to customers, said Will Toor, executive director of the Colorado Energy Office.

Under Trump, the U.S. Department of Energy has issued emergency orders to block the retirements of coal plants in Colorado, Indiana, Michigan and Washington state. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright has claimed that the power demands in various regions require the plants to stay operational.

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Observers expect similar orders to be issued for most, if not all, of the dozens of coal-fired units slated for retirement during the remainder of Trumps term. Utilities subject to the orders have said they will increase costs for ratepayers, and argue those costs should be borne by the multistate region to which they provide power, rather than just their local customers.

Despite their costs, three of the five plants being blocked from retirement havent produced electricity since the emergency orders went into effect, either because they need extensive repairs or because power demands have been met without them.

Section 202(c) of the Federal Power Act gives the secretary broad authority to take temporary control of the U.S. electricity system during emergency situations. Until now, that authority had only been invoked during wartime or natural disasters. All of the Trump administrations orders were issued before the war with Iran. Consumer advocates say Trumps use of the act to overturn long-planned facility retirements is unprecedented, and likely illegal.

State officials, utilities and environmental groups have challenged all of the orders.

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While such emergency orders can be issued only for 90-day periods, Wright has repeatedly renewed the orders before they expire.

The Department of Energy did not respond to a Stateline interview request.

Keeping coal online

Last May, Wright issued the first emergency order to prevent the shutdown of the J.H. Campbell Generating Plant in Michigan, just days before it was scheduled to retire. The plant has remained open since then, accruing $135 million in net costs through December.

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Consumers Energy, the utility operating the plant, is seeking to charge ratepayers in 11 states to recoup those costs.

Michigan Democratic Attorney General Dana Nessel has appealed the order, while a coalition of environmental groups has filed a lawsuit seeking to overturn it, arguing that the feds have failed to demonstrate a true emergency. That case is currently in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals awaiting oral arguments, which may take place in May.

State leaders in Colorado have appealed an order to keep a plant there open, while Washington state Attorney General Nick Brown, a Democrat, has sued the federal agency. Environmental groups have filed a lawsuit challenging the order in Indiana. Energy analysts say the Michigan case will likely be resolved first, and is expected to have major implications for the emergency orders elsewhere.

Douglas Jester, a former state energy official in Michigan, noted that Consumers Energy has had to pay extra to bring back staff, establish new delivery contracts for coal and catch up on maintenance. Jester now serves as managing partner at 5 Lakes Energy, a clean energy consulting group.

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In his emergency order, Wright said the plant was needed to ensure energy reliability and reduce the risk of blackouts. His agency, in a statement issued last month, said the coal plants kept open by the emergency orders helped keep the power system online during Winter Storm Fern.

Coal industry leaders have made a similar argument, saying that growing energy demands require more baseload power, as opposed to intermittent renewables such as wind and solar.

The emergency orders are very much needed, said Emily Arthun, CEO of the American Coal Council, an industry trade group, so that we can continue to have the energy just for our day-to-day lives, said Emily Arthun, CEO of the American Coal Council, an industry trade group. Coal plants, baseload plants, are critical to the well-being of our grid. Coal is needed at critical moments for energy.

Some labor unions have also praised the orders as beneficial to their workforce.

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But state leaders and consumer advocates argue that utilities and regulators have already completed detailed plans to replace the power the aging coal plants provided, through a mix of renewables, natural gas plants and battery storage.

If you were to believe the Department of Energy, you would believe that more than half the country is experiencing an emergency around the clock, said Michael Lenoff, senior attorney at Earthjustice, an environmental group that is suing the Trump administration to overturn the orders. It costs a lot of money to make sure that an old, decrepit coal plant is available to operate.

Lenoff and other environmental advocates have said the coal plants ran during the winter storm because the government forced them to, not because the grid needed them to meet power demands.

Even as his administration has declared an energy shortage emergency, Trump has tried to block new renewable projects from being built, including several offshore wind farms that East Coast states are relying on to meet their power demands.

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Meanwhile, the administration has also authorized power generators to export electricity to Mexico and Canada, which may happen only when regulators have determined the U.S. has sufficient energy supply to meet its own needs.

How can you authorize the export of energy to Canada from a Western market that you just declared is in an emergency status with shortages? said Tyson Slocum, energy program director at Public Citizen, a consumer advocacy nonprofit. Its complete incoherence.

Aging plants

Three of the five plants being blocked from retirement have yet to even produce electricity since the emergency orders went into effect.

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The plant in Colorado suffered a failure in a steam valve that was not repaired because it was on the verge of retiring. The federal order has forced the Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association to invest in repairing the plant, and the costs to keep the plant operational could reach $80 million a year even if it never produces power, said Toor, with the Colorado Energy Office.

Its very unlikely to actually operate even with this order, he said.

Tri-State and the other utilities that own the plant have requested a rehearing of the emergency order, saying that keeping the plant open will be costly for their ratepayers.

In Indiana, one of the two plants targeted by the feds has suffered mechanical failures that would require extensive repairs.

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(The order) doesnt even make sense because its not even really open, said Ben Inskeep, program director at the Citizens Action Coalition, an Indiana-based consumer advocacy group. You dont want to throw good money after a plant youre about to retire.

Unlike the Democratic-led states subject to the other orders, Indianas leaders have welcomed the federal intervention. Republican Gov. Mike Braun issued his own executive order soon after the Department of Energy announcement directing state officials to evaluate ways to extend the life of the states remaining coal plants.

Meanwhile, the TransAlta Centralia coal plant in Washington state, while remaining in operational mode, has not supplied power to the grid since January, as the states energy needs have been met by more affordable sources elsewhere.

Democratic state Sen. Marko Liias sponsored a bill, signed into law earlier this month, that rolls back tax and regulatory exemptions that were granted to TransAlta under a 2011 agreement to gradually phase out the plant. The compliance burden will make it economically infeasible for the plant to operate again, he said.

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Its crystal clear to the market that were not going backwards, were slamming the door and nailing it shut, Liias said.

Consumer costs

While some states have pushed to close coal plants due to climate goals and pollution concerns, market forces have largely driven the coal industrys decline. According to a 2025 analysis by the financial advisory firm Lazard, electricity from coal-fired power plants cost an average of $122 per megawatt-hour. That same amount of power can be produced for $78 from natural gas plants, $61 from onshore wind and $58 from utility-scale solar.

Some energy analysts say Trumps efforts to keep fossil fuel-powered plants open could become very costly to ratepayers. A report published by Grid Strategies LLC, a consulting firm, found that as many as 90 aging plants could be subject to similar emergency orders during the remainder of Trumps term. The analysis found that keeping those plants open could cost ratepayers anywhere from $3 billion to $6 billion a year.

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What the Department of Energy is doing is picking losers, the uneconomical plants that the utilities, the regulators, everybody involved agreed need to retire and be replaced with something cheaper and more efficient, said Michael Goggin, who authored the report, which was commissioned on behalf of Earthjustice and other environmental groups.

Meanwhile, some consumer advocates say the orders have created chaos for utilities and energy planners. The operators of plants scheduled for retirement in the coming years no longer know if its safe to cancel their coal contracts, transition their workforce or defer maintenance on their facilities. And financiers may be wary of investing in new, cheaper energy projects that could be sidelined by orders to keep coal online.

The administration has made clear that theyre not going to allow a coal-fired power plant to retire, regardless of whether or not its absurdly expensive to operate, whether its contaminating soil, air and water in that community, they literally dont care, said Slocum, of Public Citizen.

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United States ground-capable forces are now arriving in the Middle East as the conflict involving Iran intensifies, marking a significant escalation despite no official announcement of a ground invasion.

Recent reporting confirms that at least 2,500 Marines and sailors deployed aboard the USS Tripoli have entered the region, bringing aviation assets, equipment and rapid-response ground units. These forces are designed for expeditionary operations, including amphibious landings and rapid-response combat missions.

Additional reinforcements are also underway. Elements of the 82nd Airborne Division have been deployed to the region, a unit specifically structured for rapid insertion into hostile environments. These troops are typically used for seizure of key terrain, emergency response operations, and early-stage combat deployments.

These movements are not speculative. They are confirmed deployments of ground-capable forces into a theatre where active hostilities are already underway.

What These Forces are Designed to Do

The forces arriving are not configured for a large-scale occupation. Instead, they provide the United States with flexible operational capabilities that can be activated quickly.

Marine expeditionary units (MEUs), such as those deployed on the USS Tripoli, are designed for amphibious operations, crisis response, and limited ground engagements. They can conduct raids, secure infrastructure, evacuate civilians and reinforce forward positions. Their presence expands the range of military options beyond air and naval strikes.

President Donald Trump walks on the South Lawn upon his arrival to the White House, Sunday, March 29, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Airborne units like the 82nd Airborne Division serve a different but complementary role. They are optimized for rapid deployment by air, allowing the U.S. to establish a ground presence in contested areas within hours. This makes them particularly relevant in scenarios involving escalation, where speed and mobility are critical.

Together, these forces give Washington the ability to transition from remote strikes to direct ground operations if conditions change.

Why This Movement Signals Escalation

The arrival of ground forces does not mean a ground war has begun. It does, however, indicate that the United States is preparing for the possibility.

Defense planning now reportedly includes options for limited ground operations inside Iran, including targeted missions rather than a full-scale invasion. These plans remain contingent and have not been publicly approved, but their existence underscores how far the situation has progressed.

The presence of ground forces also alters the strategic calculus. Once troops are positioned in theatre, the time required to launch operations decreases dramatically. That shift increases both deterrence and risk, as decisions can be executed more quickly under pressure.

What Has Not Been Announced

There has been no official announcement that US ground troops have entered Iranian territory or that a full-scale ground invasion has been ordered.

On March 4, in the infancy of the currently ongoing conflict, U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine told the press when asked about potential boots on the ground that he couldn't answer such a question and that he doesn't make policy but only "executes" it.

That same press conference, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth critiqued questions regarding ground troops as "fake news," adding, "We've taken control of Iran's airspace and waterways without boots on the ground."

U.S. Navy Sailors with Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 25, conduct a hoist on an MV-22B Osprey assigned to Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron (VMM) 265 (Rein.), 31st MEU, during a safety swimming training exercise aboard the forward-deployed amphibious assault ship USS Tripoli (LHA 7), in the U.S. 7th Fleet area of operations, March 26, 2026. (DVIDS)

Public statements from U.S. officials continue to emphasize that objectives may be achieved without deploying ground forces into Iran itself. At the same time, the military buildup suggests that this option is being actively preserved.

This creates a deliberate ambiguity. The United States has not crossed the threshold into a ground war, but it has positioned itself to do so with limited delay.

Iran has responded to these developments by signaling that it expects potential ground engagement.

Irans parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, warned that Iranian forces were waiting for the arrival of American troops on the ground to set them on fire and punish their regional partners forever, according to reports quoting state media.

Those warnings reflect the high stakes associated with any ground deployment. Unlike air or naval strikes, ground operations expose U.S. personnel directly and create a greater risk of sustained escalation across the region.
JERUSALEM (AP)  The Israeli military has suspended a battalion whose soldiers assaulted a CNN crew in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, in a rare case of punishment for soldier misconduct.

The army announced Monday it was suspending the Netzah Yehuda battalion after soldiers were filmed assaulting the CNN crew last week.

Netzah Yehuda is a unit of ultra-Orthodox soldiers that has been linked to abuses of Palestinian civilians in the past, including the death of a 78-year-old Palestinian American man after his detention by the battalions forces in 2022.

After an outcry from the U.S. government in that case, the Israeli military called the incident a grave and unfortunate event," reprimanded one officer and reassigned two others. Later that year, Israel moved the unit out of the West Bank.

In last weeks incident, a CNN team was preparing a report on settler violence in the West Bank village of Tayasir. Settler violence in the territory has surged, with at least nine Palestinians killed by Israeli settlers this year, according to U.N. data. Punishment of Israeli settlers for violence against Palestinians is also rare.

ln the incident caught on camera, soldiers from the battalion approached the news crew, guns raised, and yelled at them. Correspondent Jeremy Diamond said a producer was put in a chokehold. The footage went viral.

In a report on CNNs website, Diamond wrote that the soldiers detained the crew, along with West Bank Palestinians, for two hours while echoing settler ideology, saying all the West Bank belongs to Israel and calling Palestinians terrorists.

On Monday, the military said that Netzah Yehuda was suspended from its current deployment and the battalion would resume its service after undergoing a process aimed at reinforcing its professional and ethical foundations.

Rabbi Shaul Abdiel, who works with the Netzah Yehuda unit, criticized the Israeli militarys punishment, saying in a radio interview that it was too fast and too collective.

Human rights groups long have argued that Israel rarely holds soldiers accountable for Palestinian deaths. The cases of the Palestinian American man and CNN crew appear to have attracted extra attention because they involved U.S. citizens and a well-known news organization.

A few weeks before the CNN incident, Israeli authorities said they had launched an investigation into the killing of four Palestinians, including two children, one of them blind, by Israeli forces during a patrol in the nearby West Bank town of Tammun.

Israeli authorities have not announced disciplinary measures against the officers in that case. Israeli media has reported that the officers have not been questioned.
President Donald Trump in new remarks alluded to a massive complex being constructed by the U.S. military underneath the ballroom being built in the spot of the White Houses former East Wing.

Trump made the comments on Sunday evening aboard Air Force One, telling members of the press that efforts are being undertaken beneath the controversial ballroom that started construction in October and has an approximate $400 million price tag.

The military is building a big complex under the ballroom, which has come out recently because of a stupid lawsuit that was filed, Trump told reporters on Sunday. But the military is building a massive complex under the ballroom, and thats under construction, and were doing very well.

The president even showed journalists a large rendering of the ballroom plans, claiming that for 150 years other presidents have wanted a similar ballroom to host dignitaries from other nations. It will be the same height as the White House, Trump added, and will supposedly be capable of hosting large events like the inauguration and other galas involving world leaders or otherwise.

We have all bullet-proof glass, we have drone-proof roofs, ceilingsand, unfortunately, were living in an age where thats a good thing, he added while interchanging different renderings, including views from the U.S. Treasury building and from an angle to the south of the White House. Renderings also showed staircases and columns.

President Donald Trump holds a rendering of the proposed new East Wing of the White House as he speaks to reporters aboard Air Force One en route from West Palm Beach, Fla., to Joint Base Andrews, Md., Sunday, March 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

The president claimed its all donors subsidizing the hefty ballroom cost, and that not one dime of government money is going towards the project.

He also described the underground construction as a shed shielding individuals from drones, and including from any other thing.

The glass, or the windowsyou see the big windowsthe glass is extremely thick, Trump said. Its high-grade bulletproof glass, so all of the windows are bulletproof.

Lawsuit Made Underground Plans Public

The stupid lawsuit mentioned by Trump references how details of the ballrooms construction have been publicized even though they were supposed to be secret.

Now its no secret, the military wanted it more than anybody, Trump said March 26 during a Cabinet meeting. It was supposed to be secret, but it became un-secret because of people that are really unpatriotic saying things.

That lawsuit in question was filed in December 2025 by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which requested a federal judge halt construction of the 90,000-square-foot ballroom until environmental reviews were finalized and congressional approval had taken place.

That judge reportedly said he would rule on the matter at hand before March concludes, potentially leading to an injunction that could stop ongoing construction.

Work continues on the construction of the ballroom at the White House, Wednesday, Feb., 4, 2026, in Washington, where the East Wing once stood. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)

Last week wasnt the first time Trump has publicly admonished the lawsuit.

In a post in January on Truth Social, Trump said: It is being done with the design, consent, and approval of the highest levels of the United States Military and Secret Service. The mere bringing of this ridiculous lawsuit has already, unfortunately, exposed this heretofore top secret fact.

Facing a mix of support and criticism, the administration has touted the ballrooms efficacy for future generations. That has included refuting a recent New York Times report authored by three individuals, including a trained architect, another who studied fine arts, and one who has long written about urban planning.

President Trump and his lead architect have built world-class buildings around the world, and they are ensuring the Peoples House finally has a beautiful ballroom thats been needed for decadesat no expense to the taxpayer, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt wrote on X on Sunday.
PORTLAND, Maine  Hundreds of employees at one of the U.S. Navys biggest shipbuilding contractors voted Saturday to approve a contract deal with Bath Iron Works, ending a weeklong strike.

Members of the Bath Marine Draftsmens Association ratified a new four-year collective bargaining agreement that goes into effect immediately, the shipyard said. That followed an hourslong union meeting at a high school.

We look forward to working together once again to deliver the Navys ships on time to protect our nation and our families, Bath Iron Works, known for the slogan Bath built is best built, said in a statement.

The shipyard and the union negotiated for three weeks without resolving differences before the strike began last Monday, Bath Iron Works spokesperson David Hench said.

He said previously that the shipyard, which has built ships for the Navy for more than a century, proposed a number of historic wage and benefit options to bring the union and the company closer together.

The Bath Marine Draftsmens Association is affiliated with the United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, which is commonly known as the UAW and is one of the countrys largest unions. The BMDA members at Bath Iron Works are employed as designers, nondestructive test technicians, technical clerks, laboratory technicians and associate engineers, the union said.

Representatives of the Maine AFL-CIO confirmed the ratification vote via text messages to The Associated Press.

The union local said that while not all of its goals were reached, the deal includes improvements that are a win for workers. It did not give specifics of the agreement.

Establishing not only a better contract foundation for the next negotiation but also developing an engaged and motivated membership; that now has this experience to bring to bear in any future negotiation or organizing activity, it said in a statement.

The strike began several weeks after a morale-boosting appearance in which U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth touted the need to boost defense manufacturing. It also took place during the U.S. war effort in Iran.

Bath Iron Works is a major shipbuilder for the Navy and was awarded a multiyear contract to make several Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyers in 2023. Navy officials call the Arleigh Burke the backbone of the Navys surface fleet and last year exercised an option last year to add an additional destroyer to the contract.

The company did not respond to questions about whether the strike slowed production.

The Navy accepted delivery of the future Arleigh Burke-class USS Harvey C. Barnum, Jr., last year, and it is due to be commissioned next month, Hench said.

The shipyard had said on its website that salaried personnel, subcontractors and other employees who elected to come to work could be used to continue business operations during the strike. The shipyards total workforce is about 6,800 people, Hench said.

___

Associated Press writers Julie Carr Smyth in Columbus, Ohio, and Amy Taxin in Santa Ana, Calif. contributed.
MADRID (AP)  Spain has closed its airspace to U.S. planes involved in the Iran war, its defense minister said Monday, marking another step in Madrids opposition to the U.S. and Israel's military actions since they launched the war in Iran more than a month ago.

The country earlier said the U.S. couldn't use jointly operated military bases in the conflict, which Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has described as illegal, reckless and unjust.

Defense Minister Margarita Robles said the same logic applied to the use of Spanish airspace in the conflict.

This was made perfectly clear to the American military and forces from the very beginning. Therefore, neither the bases are authorized, nor, of course, is the use of Spanish airspace authorized for any actions related to the war in Iran, Robles told reporters, and called the war in Iran profoundly illegal and profoundly unjust.

Sanchez, one of Europe's most prominent left-wing leaders and the continent's most outspoken critic of the conflict, called on the U.S., Israel and Iran to end the war, saying earlier this month: You cannot respond to one illegality with another, because thats how humanitys great disasters begin.

After Sanchez's government denied the U.S. use of the Rota and Moron military bases in southern Spain, U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to cut trade with Madrid.

The U.S. made trade threats last year, too, when Sanchez said his government wouldn't increase its defense spending in accordance with one agreed to by other NATO members following Trump's pressure.

At the time, Sanchez's government said Spain could meet its military commitments by spending 2.1% of gross domestic product on defense, instead of the 5% the rest of the 32-nation military alliance agreed upon.

Sanchez also has been among the most vocal critics of Israel's actions in the war in Gaza, which has invited criticism from Israel's government on several occasions.

No comment from NATO

Spain's new decision against a NATO ally is rare, though not unprecedented. NATO did not comment, referring questions to national authorities.

In an incident that strained transatlantic ties, France and Italy blocked the U.S. military from using their airspace for an operation targeting Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi in 1986.

In 2003, Turkey refused to allow U.S. troops to use its territory to invade Iraq, though it did allow overflights. France and Germany firmly opposed that war but allowed U.S. and British fighter jets to fly over their airspace.

Frances then-Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin  despite a famed U.N. speech against the Bush administrations plans to invade  told the French Parliament at the time that there are practices between allies that exist that we must respect, including overflight rights.
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP)  The United States supports efforts by Taiwan's government to pass a $40 billion special defense budget that is being stalled in the opposition-controlled parliament, a group of visiting U.S. lawmakers said Monday in Taipei.

A bipartisan group of four senators arrived in Taiwan as part of an Asia trip meant to bolster U.S. alliances and counter Chinas influence in the region, ahead of a summit planned in May between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

Democratic Senators Jeanne Shaheen (New Hampshire) and Jacky Rosen (Nevada) and Republican Senators John Curtis (Utah) and Thom Tillis (North Carolina) on Monday met with Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te at the start of a two-day trip focused on bolstering the two sides informal ties.

China claims self-ruled Taiwan as its own breakaway province, to be retaken by force if necessary and prohibits all its diplomatic partners, including the U.S., from maintaining formal ties with Taipei.

The U.S., while not recognizing Taiwan as a country, is the islands strongest informal backer and arms provider.

Massive U.S. arms sales to Taiwan are expected to be discussed at the Xi-Trump summit, with China pushing against the sales.

A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson on Monday criticized the congressional visit, urging the U.S. to handle the Taiwan question prudently and properly, stop all forms of official exchanges with Taiwan, and stop sending any wrong signals to Taiwan independence separatist forces.

Chinas position on the Taiwan-related issue is consistent and clear, spokesperson Mao Ning said. China will take necessary measures to firmly safeguard its sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Taiwans $40 billion special defense budget is stalled in parliament

During the meeting with Lai, Curtis praised Taiwans progress on strengthening its defense, whole society preparedness and energy security, especially over the last year.

The seriousness is noticed in Washington D.C., and your efforts on the special defense budget are also noticed and supported, he said.

Taiwans government is trying to push forward a $40 billion special defense budget that over eight years would see investments in building a sophisticated missile defense system dubbed the T-dome, integrating artificial intelligence into national defense and developing Taiwans indigenous defense industry, among others.

The budget is currently being stalled in parliament, with opposition parties proposing smaller defense budgets.

Lai renewed calls for the parliament to pass the special defense budget without delay.

I want to reassure you and all of our friends in the United States that my governments resolve and commitment to enhancing our self-defense capabilities, strengthening Taiwan-U.S. cooperation and ensuring national security remain unwavering, he told the visiting lawmakers.

The opposition leader, KMT chairwoman Cheng Li-wun, said Monday she would be visiting China next month in an attempt to promote peaceful relations with Beijing. Cheng had previously expressed interest in meeting with Xi, though it wasnt clear if a meeting with the Chinese leader was on her trips agenda.

Beijing refuses to speak to Lai and has labeled him a separatist who wants to turn Taiwan into a powder keg.
In a moment when nearly half of Americans identify as politically independent, constitutional scholar William J. Watkins Jr. of the Independent Institute argues the country has drifted far from its founding structure. In his new book, The Independent Guide to the Constitution, Watkins makes the case that the Constitution was designed to limit federal authority and reduce political conflict, not intensify it.

Watkins frames the current moment as a turning point. He sees both major political camps moving away from constitutional limitsone toward expansive federal authority, the other toward a flexible, evolving Constitution. In his view, neither reflects the original design. Instead, he argues for a return to a system in which federal power is narrowly defined, and states retain primary authority over most policy decisions.

What Limited Federal Power Was Supposed to Mean

At the core of Watkins argument is a simple but often overlooked principle: the federal government was never meant to have general authority over domestic life. Instead, it was designed as an agent of the people, exercising only the specific powers listed in the Constitution.

That framework is laid out most clearly in Article I, Section 8, which enumerates Congresss powers. Watkins emphasizes that this structure flipped the traditional model of government. Historically, governments held broad authority, and citizens had limited rights. The Constitution reversed that: the people retained sovereignty, and the federal government received only defined, limited powers.

Over time, however, that distinction has blurred.

How Federal Power Expanded and Why It Matters

Watkins points to several turning points where federal authority grew significantly, including the aftermath of the Civil War and the Progressive Era. During this period, the United States shifted from a decentralized federation toward a more centralized system.

One major driver of that expansion has been the interpretation of the Commerce Clause. The Supreme Court has upheld broad federal authority under this clause, including in cases like Wickard v. Filburn, which allowed Congress to regulate even local economic activity if it believed it affected interstate commerce.

Watkins argues that this interpretation has effectively created a national police power, something the Constitution never explicitly granted. He points to federal criminal statutes, such as firearms possession laws tied to interstate commerce, as examples of how far this expansion has gone.

Watkins says that this shift toward national, one-size-fits-all policymaking undermines the original design of the Constitution. The Founders expected that states would reflect the distinct values, cultures, and priorities of their own populations, allowing different approaches to issues like criminal law, social policy, and economic regulation.

In that system, citizens would focus more on state and local governmentwhere most decisions affecting daily life were meant to occurrather than looking to Washington for uniform answers. By contrast, Watkins contends that concentrating power at the federal level has turned nearly every issue into a national conflict, raising the stakes of political disagreement and deepening division

Watkins also points to a subtle but telling linguistic shift. Before the Civil War, Americans commonly referred to the country as the United States are, reflecting a collection of sovereign states joined together. Over time, that phrasing gave way to the United States is, signaling a conceptual move toward a single, unified national authority rather than a federation of independent political communities. In his view, that change in language mirrors a deeper transformation in how Americans understand where power resides and how much of it belongs in Washington.

Future Sailors take the oath of enlistment during Military Appreciation Day at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo at NRG Stadium, March 4, 2026. Anthony J. Tata, the Under Secretary of War for Personnel and Readiness, administered the oath as hundreds of spectators attending the rodeo looked on. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Louis Rojas. Source: DVIDS.

The Military as a Case Study in Federal Authority

Service members operate almost entirely within federal systems. Their chain of command, legal obligations, and deployment orders all originate from federal authority. Watkins argues that this level of centralized control would have surprised the Founders, who were deeply skeptical of standing armies.

That skepticism appears in early American political thought and is reflected in constitutional design. Congress, not the president, was intended to control war-making authority, as outlined in Article I, Section 8.

In practice, however, modern military operations often proceed without formal declarations of war. A detailed explanation of how war powers have evolved is available through the Congressional Research Service.

Watkins sees this as part of a broader shift away from congressional control and toward executive-led military action.

National Guard, Federal Control, and Changing Roles

The National Guard offers a clear example of how federal and state authority have merged over time. Originally rooted in state militias, the Guard now operates under a dual-enlistment system, allowing federal activation of entire units.

This system was developed in part after the Spanish-American War exposed limits on deploying state militias overseas, prompting Congress to pass the Militia Act of 1903, which restructured the National Guard as a reserve component of the U.S. Army. Today, Guard members can be mobilized for federal missions abroad or domestic emergencies at home.

Watkins argues that this evolution reflects a broader trend toward centralization, moving away from the state-controlled militia system the Founders envisioned.

Military Justice and Constitutional Limits

The military justice system provides another lens into federal authority. Governed by the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ), it operates separately from civilian courts.

The UCMJ, enacted in 1950, is administered under authority granted to Congress in the Constitution.

Watkins generally views this system as consistent with constitutional design, though he notes potential concerns when servicemembers commit civilian crimes off base. In such cases, he suggests civilian courts may be more appropriate.

At the same time, he acknowledges that military service requires a different legal framework. Discipline, uniformity, and readiness demand stricter rules than those applied in civilian life.

Federal Spending, Entitlements, and the Debt

Watkins extends his argument beyond military structure to fiscal policy. He contends that broad interpretations of federal spending power have contributed to the national debt.

The Supreme Courts decision in United States v. Butler expanded Congresss ability to spend for the general welfare, even without a direct link to enumerated powers. Although the Supreme Court struck down the Agricultural Adjustment Act in this case, the Court also embraced a broad reading of Congresss spending power, saying it was separate and distinct from the other enumerated powers and limited mainly by the requirement that it serve the general welfare.

Watkins argues that this expanded spending model would have been unrecognizable to the Founders, who expected federal authority and federal budgets to remain limited.

Why This Debate Matters Now

For Watkins, the stakes are not just academic. He believes the expansion of federal power has intensified political conflict by turning every issue into a national battle.

Instead of allowing states to pursue different policies, the current system forces a single outcome on the entire country. That dynamic, he argues, fuels division and raises the stakes of every election.

For service members, the stakes are more than theoretical. Every enlisted troop and commissioned officer swears an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States, not a political party or a set of policies. Watkins argument ultimately points back to that obligation: understanding the Constitutions limits and structure is not just an academic exercise, but part of what it means to serve.

Watkins central claim is straightforward: the Constitution provides a roadmap back to a more stable system with clearer limits, less centralization, and fewer national flashpoints.

Whether that roadmap is still politically viable remains an open question.
Cuba is facing one of the most severe internal crises in decades, driven by a collapse of its electrical grid and worsening economic conditions. In an interview with Military.com, Stefano Ritondale, co-founder and Chief Intelligence Officer at Artorias, an AI-driven geopolitical risk and intelligence analysis firm, said the situation has moved beyond a routine infrastructure failure and into a broader national stability concern.

Recent reporting confirms that Cuba has experienced repeated nationwide blackouts tied to fuel shortages and failing power plants, leaving much of the island without electricity for extended periods. These outages have disrupted hospitals, transportation, and basic services, compounding existing shortages of food and medicine

Ritondale described the situation as approaching a worst-case scenario, where the state struggles to provide even basic services. The Cuban government itself has acknowledged the severity of the problem, publicly describing failures in the national grid.

From Power Failures to Political Pressure

Despite the scale of the crisis, Ritondale drew a key distinction: Cuba is not yet experiencing a full government collapse. State institutions, including the military and internal security services, currently remain intact.

The danger lies in how long current conditions persist. Prolonged blackouts can erode public trust and increase the risk of unrest. Cuba has already seen how quickly that can happen. In July 2021, widespread protests broke out across the island following shortages of food, medicine and electricity, marking one of the largest demonstrations in decades.

Ritondale said early warning signs are already visible in the form of localized protests and isolated acts of civil disobedience. The key question now is whether those incidents remain contained or expand into a broader movement.

He also pointed to a fundamental intelligence challenge: widespread blackouts make it harder to assess what is happening across the island. With limited connectivity, analysts must rely more heavily on fragmented reporting from diaspora networks and social media, which can complicate efforts to build a complete picture.

Migration Could Become the First Major Spillover

One of the most immediate risks for the United States is renewed migration from Cuba. That concern is grounded in recent experience.

In 2022, large numbers of Cubans left the island amid economic hardship. Many did not attempt the traditional maritime route to Florida. Instead, they traveled through other countries and eventually reached the U.S.-Mexico border, contributing to a surge in encounters recorded by U.S. Customs and Border Protection .

Ritondale said a similar pattern could emerge again if conditions worsen, with migration routes shifting depending on opportunity and enforcement. That creates uncertainty for U.S. planners, who could face pressure on both the southern border and maritime approaches.

If we see a mass migration, he said, it could strain either the southern border or the Coast Guard, depending on how people move.

Foreign Influence and Intelligence Concerns

Beyond migration, Ritondale warned that instability in Cuba could create openings for foreign powers, particularly China.

Public reporting supports the broader concern. The Center for Strategic and International Studies has identified multiple sites in Cuba that appear linked to Chinese intelligence collection, including facilities capable of signals monitoring close to the United States.

Ritondale said analysts should watch for signs that foreign involvement moves beyond diplomatic messaging and into operational activity. One potential indicator would be increased shipments framed as humanitarian aid but carrying dual-use capabilities.

That shift has not been observed publicly so far, but it remains a key risk to monitor, especially given Cubas proximity to the U.S. mainland.

Law enforcement small boat crews from Coast Guard Cutters Robert Yered and Kathleen Moore interdict a migrant vessel, 36 miles south of Key West, Florida, Dec. 30, 2024. The crew of Coast Guard Cutter William Flores repatriated all aboard the rustic vessel back to Cuba, Jan. 9, 2025. U.S. Coast Guard courtesy photo. Source: DVIDS.

Criminal Networks Could Move Quickly

Another concern is the potential for criminal groups to exploit instability if the Cuban government weakens.

Ritondale pointed to Haiti as a recent example of how quickly organized crime can fill a governance vacuum. In that case, armed groups expanded their control as state authority eroded.

A similar pattern in Cuba could affect narcotics trafficking, human smuggling, and weapons movement across the Caribbean. It could also complicate any effort to stabilize the island, particularly if elements of the security services splinter or shift into illicit activity.

Why the Florida Straits Matter

Instability in Cuba would not remain confined to the island. Ritondale emphasized the importance of nearby maritime routes, particularly the Florida Straits and the broader Gulf region.

Those waters serve as a critical link for international shipping and energy transport. Gulf Coast ports, including those in Texas and Louisiana, play a central role in moving oil and other commodities. Disruptions in the region could affect both trade and energy flows.

He also noted that criminal activity at sea, including piracy targeting oil tankers, has occurred in parts of the Gulf. A breakdown in Cuban governance could increase those risks.

A Humanitarian Crisis Already Taking Shape

The humanitarian impact of Cubas energy crisis is already severe. Hospitals have struggled to operate during outages, and shortages of medicine and basic supplies have intensified.

The United Nations has warned that Cubas health system is under growing strain and that the broader humanitarian situation is worsening as the energy crisis continues.

Ritondale said a full collapse without a managed transition could create a far larger emergency, potentially requiring international intervention. Such a response would be complex, especially if security conditions deteriorate at the same time.

Why Washington Wants a Managed Outcome

Despite the risks, Ritondale said the United States has little interest in allowing a chaotic collapse of the Cuban government. Instead, he expects policymakers to push for a managed transition that preserves enough of the existing state structure to maintain order.

A full-scale effort to dismantle Cubas governing system, he warned, could create more problems than it solves. Removing all elements of the current government at once would leave a vacuum with no clear authority to run the country, increasing the likelihood of instability, criminal activity and humanitarian breakdown.

If theres a complete collapse, he said, youre dealing with multiple pressure points all at once, including migration, security threats and humanitarian needs.

For now, the situation remains fluid. Cubas government still holds power, but conditions continue to deteriorate. Whether the crisis stabilizes or escalates will depend not only on how long the island can endure sustained energy failure, but also on whether any political transition can be managed without triggering the kind of collapse that U.S. officials appear keen to avoid.
The Space Force Association recently announced the establishment of the National Spacepower Center in December 2025, with the mission to better translate the space domain to government, academia, and industry leaders. The National Spacepower Centers goal is to improve the understanding of the role of Spacepower in global stability, economic growth, and national security.

Remember the Space Race? The rivalry between the U.S. and the Soviet Union to become the worlds space superpower led to the creation of NASA and how we understand the space domain today. What may not always be clearly understood is that it also established permanency in this domain. Beyond military applications such as missile warning systems and intelligence, we see the effects of it in everyday life, such as weather forecasting, GPS navigation, and the internet.

The establishment of the U.S. Space Force in 2019 and the White Houses Executive Order on Ensuring American Space Superiority in 2025 demonstrate Americas objective to strengthen its position as a global space superpower. The National Spacepower Center represents the next step.

"In 1937, thenLt Col Curtis LeMay stunned the Navy by finding and bombing the USS Utah in a fog bank, proving that Airpower wasnt a supporting act, but rather a decisive force that could reach anywhere, anytime.

In 2026, Operation Epic Fury serves as the backdrop for the same lessons on Spacepower. Long before the first bomber or fighter crossed into Iranian airspace, Guardians were blinding sensors, severing C2 networks, and feeding precision targets to every other component of the joint fight. If you strip away the space layer, the operation becomes slower, blinder, and far more costly in time, munitions, and risk to airmen, sailors, and soldiers.

That is exactly why we have built the National Spacepower Center. It exists to make those invisible dependencies visible. To show senior leaders, legislators, and allies how every precision strike, secure communication, and missile warning is directly linked to Guardians and the architectures they operate. Just as the Utah exercise forced the services to rethink what Airpower meant for the battlefield, the current conflict in Iran, and NSpC's efforts to visualize and contextualize Spacepower, will help the nation rethink what it means to fight and win as a spaceenabled joint force." (Dillon Brick Cox, Chair, National Spacepower Center (NSpC) Committee)

(Photo courtesy of NsPC)

The Space Force Association (SFA)

The Space Force Association operates independently as a nonprofit that supports the U.S. Space Force. Their vision is to encourage dialogue within the space community and share knowledge in support of their mission to achieve superior national space power as outlined in their paper.

Part of these initiatives includes the NSpC and Global Space University. In partnership with the Space Force Association under the NSpCs Space Education Training Center, ISR University offers online space training and certification programs. Future courses will be offered through Global Space University in addition to existing courses from ISR. Additionally, Sedaro was announced as their first industry partner supporting educational and strategic-analysis programs.

The SFA established the NSpC to achieve these core objectives:

Inform government, military, and partner leaders about USSF missions and requirements in clear, accessible formats

Educate users on the nature of space warfare and the value of space systems to national security

Advance public and policymaker understanding of the Space Force mission and the legal, policy, and regulatory frameworks that support national spacepower

Validate and experiment with policy, strategy, and organizational concepts in a safe, flexible, unclassified digital environment

Robbie Robertson, Sedaro CEO and co-founder, presents a live demo to USSF leadership Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025, at Spacepower Conference in Orlando, FL. (Photo courtesy of SFA)

By bringing together expert leaders for cross-collaboration, they build an intellectual infrastructure that advances strategic outcomes related to areas of space operations, policy, warfare, economics, and more. According to the NSpCs Fact Sheet, The NSpC bridges this gap by creating a shared environment where government, industry, and academia can explore challenges, test ideas, and inform future spacepower decisions.

SFA currently has 15 chapters across the country and internationally.

Future of Spacepower

The future is looking like the Space Race 2.0, a term being coined across media, analysts, and government officials. But similarly, we see themes of military prestige and dominance, commercialization of space in private industries, and both defensive and warfighting space operations. In NASAs recent update, their missions and initiatives are aligned with Americas National Space Policy, with plans to go back to the moon, which includes building a moon base, and preparations for future exploration.

The role of the NSpC will no doubt provide the platform needed to facilitate and accelerate shared knowledge.

Fundamental to and underlying all progress in the exploration and application of space is the knowledge to be gained from the space sciences. (Papers of John F. Kennedy, Presidential Papers, National Security Files archives)

Robbie Robertson, Sedaro CEO and co-founder, presents a live demo to USSF leadership Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025, at Spacepower Conference in Orlando, FL. (Photo courtesy of SFA)

The message is consistently clear. Space superiority is the prime imperative and the U.S. plans to lead the way. Looking ahead in 2026, the NSpC plans to offer immersive modules, strategic wargaming, and interactive demonstrations, and concept-evaluation tools. As they are a nascent organization, we can expect to see exciting progress ahead.
Military service members and veterans with and without experience in aviation receive benefits that can help them succeed as entrepreneurs in the industry. Consider the following five facts:

1. Big Things Happen at Small Airports

Entrepreneurs enter into aviation via all of the industry sectors, broadly understood as:

The military

Commercial airlines and air transport

General aviation (non-airline or air transport)

A study by eight aviation associations found that in the five years leading up to 2023, sizable increases in employment and productivity ended in general aviation alone accounting for more than 1.3 million jobs and more than $339 billion in economic output.

Many of the companies carrying out and supporting business aviation are at the smaller regional airports, where tenants may also conduct activities including research, development and testing.

2. Transitioning Troops Receive Free Entrepreneurship Training

Active-duty service members can receive a reality check about their entrepreneurial aspirations before they separate by signing up for a Boots to Business (B2B) class. The U.S. Small Business Administration offers the two-day entrepreneurship training courses on military installations. A bases manager over the Transition Assistance Program must approve the B2B registration.

The class helps participants evaluate their business ideas and leads them through the steps of developing a business plan. It introduces a broad spectrum of entrepreneurial business concepts and the resources available, including how to access startup funds and contracting opportunities.

3. The Government Sets Aside Contracts for Small Businesses

The federal government rewards inventiveness on the part of U.S.-owned small businesses with Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) grants. The STTR grants also involve academic institutions. A small business must have 500 or fewer employees.

The grants phases propel the businesses toward profitability with initial funding to determine feasibility of the idea, typically: Phase 1, a minimum of $150,000; Phase 2, additional funding to build a prototype; Phase 3, commercialization (positioning to supply government or commercial customers).

4. Certain Veteran-Owned Small Businesses Receive Contracting Preferences

The U.S. government may limit competition for public contracts to try to ensure that at least 5% of federal contracting dollars are awarded to service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses (SDVOSBs).

No U.S. governmentwide benefit exists for veteran-owned small businesses in the absence of any disability, but that could change. If passed, the Contract Our Veterans Act of 2026 would expand contracting preferences to non-disabled veterans.

Some states have established contracting goals for veteran-owned businesses. The National Veteran-Owned Business Association maintains a tracker.

5. Military Education Benefits Pay for Aviation Training, Business Degrees

Your military or veteran education benefits can help provide a foundation of knowledge in either aviation or business. Here are the military and veteran education benefits that pay for aviation maintenance or flight training in addition to bachelors and masters degrees in business and business administration.

Military Tuition Assistance. Active-duty and some reserve component service members may receive reimbursement for a portion of their training.

Active-duty and some reserve component service members may receive reimbursement for a portion of their training. Post-9/11 GI Bill. Veterans who have earned the full Post-9/11 GI Bill benefit could get all of their aviation maintenance training covered, and professional pilots-to-be can also receive a benefit. The benefit covers full in-state tuition at public institutions of higher education and up to an annual maximum at private academies.

Veterans who have earned the full Post-9/11 GI Bill benefit could get all of their aviation maintenance training covered, and professional pilots-to-be can also receive a benefit. The benefit covers full in-state tuition at public institutions of higher education and up to an annual maximum at private academies. Montgomery GI Bill. This benefit reimburses veteran beneficiaries at a flat monthly rate. However, the benefit will pay only 60% of the charges for flight school.

Find out how much you might get.

Stay on Top of Your Military Benefits

Military benefits are always changing. Keep up with everything from pay to health care by subscribing to Military.com, and get access to up-to-date pay charts and more with all latest benefits delivered straight to your inbox.
State Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington Washington D.C. West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming Puerto Rico US Virgin Islands Armed Forces Americas Armed Forces Pacific Armed Forces Europe Northern Mariana Islands Marshall Islands American Samoa Federated States of Micronesia Guam Palau Alberta, Canada British Columbia, Canada Manitoba, Canada New Brunswick, Canada Newfoundland, Canada Nova Scotia, Canada Northwest Territories, Canada Nunavut, Canada Ontario, Canada Prince Edward Island, Canada Quebec, Canada Saskatchewan, Canada Yukon Territory, Canada

Postal Code
From mind to machine: How thought makes robot dog walk

Xinhua) 11:14, March 30, 2026

XI'AN, March 29 (Xinhua) -- Users can now command a robot dog using nothing but their mental intent: with just a thought, the machine autonomously plans its path, avoids obstacles and navigates precisely to a designated location.

Such a sci-fi scene has now become a reality at Xi'an Jiaotong University in northwest China, thanks to a breakthrough by Professor Xu Guanghua and his team, who successfully integrated electroencephalogram (EEG)-based control with autonomous navigation.

At the heart of the achievement lies the non-invasive brain-computer interface (BCI) technology, which captures electrical signals from neuronal activities to enable precise control of mechanical devices, Xu explained.

He described the system as a kind of "remote control in your mind." When a user forms an intention, such as "move forward," the brain generates corresponding EEG signals. The system collects and decodes those signals, identifies the intended command, translates it into a control instruction, and sends it to the robot dog, which then executes the movement.

Currently, the system supports 11 basic mental commands, including forward, backward and turning, with the potential to expand further. Its recognition accuracy exceeds 95 percent, and the lag between thought and action is only about one second.

Amid a global surge in BCI research, the invasive technologies offer high precision but rely on surgical implantation, carrying risks of trauma, infection, immune rejection, and signal degradation over time -- factors that make them costly and difficult to scale.

In contrast, the non-invasive approach chosen by Xu's team is safe, cost-effective, user-friendly, and well-suited for a wide range of applications, particularly in rehabilitation medicine and consumer settings.

Non-invasive signals, however, are inherently less precise, making continuous, fine-grained real-time control a challenge. Xu noted that requiring users to manually control every movement and posture adjustment would not only be extremely difficult but would also place them under intense mental strain -- defeating the very purpose of technological empowerment.

To address this problem, the team moved beyond the narrow focus on signal precision and adopted a human-machine collaboration model with clearly defined roles. "Humans are responsible only for issuing high-level intentions such as 'where to go' -- the decision-making part that the brain handles most easily," Xu said.

"Meanwhile, high-precision, high-speed, repetitive tasks such as autonomous navigation, environmental perception, dynamic obstacle avoidance, and motion execution are handled entirely by the machine's own intelligent systems," he said.

This approach significantly improves efficiency and system stability, circumvents the limitations of non-invasive signal precision, and maximizes the complementary strengths of human decision-making and machine execution -- bringing the BCI technology closer to practical application.

Xu emphasized that advancing the BCI technology requires both sustained breakthroughs in core technologies and deep integration with cutting-edge fields such as artificial intelligence, autonomous navigation, and intelligent perception. His team's work embodies this dual path: using practical innovation to address shortcomings in non-invasive interfaces while grounding development in real-world needs.

Xu envisions brain-computer interaction systems that seamlessly combine human decision-making with machine intelligence, ultimately making robots capable assistants in daily life.

The robot dog holds promise as an aid for individuals with disabilities, as well as for applications in elderly care, medical assistance, rehabilitation training and intelligent companionship, he said.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
Delhi DoE Result 2026 for Class 9, Class 11 released @ edudel.nic.in; direct link here

The Directorate of Education (DoE), Delhi, has released the annual examination results for Class 9 and Class 11 today, March 30, 2026. Students who appeared for the school annual exams can now access their scorecards online.









Delhi DoE Result 2026 for 9th and 11th Delhi DoE Class 9 and 11 results released online today

Students can check results at edudel.nic.in using their details

Supplementary exams offered for those who do not clear the exams Did our AI summary help?
Edudel Result 2026 for Class 9th, Class 11th annual exam declared @ edustud.nic.in; direct link here

Delhi DoE Edudel Result 2026 for Class 9 and 11 declared today, March 30, 2026. Direct link to check scorecards at edudel.nic.in. Get step-by-step guide, promotion criteria and supplementary exam updates.









Edudel Result 2026 for Class 9th, Class 11th Delhi DoE released Class 9 and 11 results on March 30, 2026

Students can view results on edudel.nic.in and download marksheets

Supplementary exams announced for students who did not pass Did our AI summary help?
Mahavir Jayanti School Holiday: Will schools remain closed on March 31? Check state-wise list here

As the festival of Mahavir Jayanti approaches, students and parents across India are seeking clarity regarding school closures. With the holiday falling on Tuesday, March 31, 2026, several states have declared it a gazetted public holiday.









Mahavir Jayanti School Holiday Mahavir Jayanti falls on March 31, 2026.

Most schools in India will be closed for Mahavir Jayanti.

Private school closures may vary; confirm with your institution. Did our AI summary help?
RBSE 12th Result 2026 Date Announced: Rajasthan Board class 12 result on March 31 @ rajeduboard.rajasthan.gov.in, direct link here

RBSE 12th Result 2026 to be declared on March 31 at 10 AM by Rajasthan Board. Check RBSE Class 12 scores for Science, Commerce, Arts at rajeduboard.rajasthan.gov.in.









RBSE 12th Result 2026 Date Announced RBSE Class 12 results to be released on March 31, 2026

Over 8 lakh students took Science, Commerce, Arts exams

Students need 33% marks in each subject to pass Did our AI summary help?
AA25: Malayalam director Basil Joseph to direct Allu Arjun's 25th film, an official confirmation awaited

According to reports, Basil is officially on board to direct Allu Arjun's 25th film, which is tentatively called AA25.









Allu Arjun, Basil at the reception of Allu Sirish Basil Joseph likely to direct Allu Arjun's 25th film, AA25

First collaboration between Allu Arjun and a Malayalam filmmaker

AA25 filming expected to begin next year under Geetha Arts Did our AI summary help?
Arjun Rampal calls Ranveer Singh babbar sher in heartfelt note, shares unseen pictures from Dhurandhar 2 set Photos of Arjun Rampal as Major Iqbal alongside Ranveer Singh from the sets of Dhurandhar 2 have gone viral, with fans praising their intense looks and powerful screen presence. Photos from the sets of Dhurandhar 2: The Revenge featuring Arjun Rampal and Ranveer Singh have taken social media by storm, sparking strong reactions from fans. The images, which showcase Rampal in his role as Major Iqbal alongside Ranveers character Hamza, have quickly gone viral, with netizens praising the duos intense screen presence. In the pictures, Arjun appears in a sharp, commanding avatar, embodying the cold and calculated demeanor of Major Iqbal. His character has already been described as a chilling antagonist, defined more by quiet menace than overt aggression, making his presence in the film particularly impactful. Arjun also posted several photos from the sets of Dhurandhar 2. He wrote, "From playing cowboys as kids, to landing my first film #moksha to #Dhurandhar I am blessed to have been with everyone who was part of the journey." "Thank you my dearest fan family for sticking with me on the ride, thank you to this incredible #Dhurandhar family @adityadharfilms @vik_now @ojas_gautam for being my pillars and of course mera Babbar sher (lion) @ranveersingh #lokeshdhar jyotideshpande shweta @castingchhabra @actormaddy @therakeshbedi @duttsanjay @preetisheel smriti this list will keep growing," he added. "I am over the moon. Patience, Perseverance, Passion stick with them and dreams come true. @dhurandhartherevenge and of course the mesmerising @shashwatology your music is phenomenal.. the action team the fabulous @dokkaebi530 and @msjoeykim thank you for everything," concluded his note. Reacting to the post, Preity Zinta posted red heart emojis. Rahul Dev wrote, "Stay blessed." Fans were quick to react to the stills, flooding social media with comments appreciating the chemistry between Rampal and Ranveer Singh. A fan said, "I can't believe that Major Iqbal used to look this cute once upon a time." A person wrote, "Look at Hamza aur (and) Major Iqbal ka bromance! Major Iqbal, sir, don't listen to your father, you are a blessing as an actor and a treat for many eyes!" A comment read, "Born a baddie and still ageing like fine wine." An Instagram user commented, "From your very first step in front of the camera to every bold role youve embraced, youve turned every chapter into a story worth remembering."
Arnold Schwarzenegger receives honorary doctorate in Belfast after son Joseph Baena wins Bodybuilding debut

Arnold Schwarzenegger receives an honorary degree in Belfast, reflecting on his early struggles, as son Joseph Baena wins his first bodybuilding title, marking a powerful continuation of his legacy.









Arnold Schwarzenegger receives honorary doctorate in Belfast after son Joseph Baena wins Bodybuilding debut Ulster University awards Arnold Schwarzenegger honorary doctorate

He recalled his first visit to Belfast in 1966 as a turning point

His son Joseph Baena won his first bodybuilding title recently Did our AI summary help?
Basil Joseph calls for unity beyond language barriers in cinema, says, "Its one industry, not Bollywood or Kollywood

At the Critics Choice Awards 2026, Basil Joseph said Indian cinema is evolving beyond language divisions, with industries coming together as one, gaining wider recognition, visibility, and a stronger global identity.









Basil Joseph calls for unity beyond language barriers in cinema, says, "Its one industry, not Bollywood or Kollywood Basil Joseph calls for unity in Indian cinema at awards

He notes rising recognition across all Indian film sectors

Pan-India releases and OTT platforms blur language boundaries Did our AI summary help?
Dhurandhar 2 actor Vivek Sinha reacts to backlash over anti-Hindu dialogue, says should we call a terrorist to play the role?

Actor Vivek Sinha responded to criticism over a controversial dialogue in Dhurandhar 2: The Revenge that sparked outrage online.









Dhurandhar 2 actor Vivek Sinha reacts to backlash over anti-Hindu dialogue, says should we call a terrorist to play the role? Vivek Sinha slammed over controversial Dhurandhar 2 dialogue

He says he's an Indian actor playing a fictional terrorist

Dhurandhar 2 has collected over Rs 1,350 crore worldwide Did our AI summary help?
Malaika Arora visits Jain Temple in Rajasthan with rumoured boyfriend Harsh Mehta

Malaika Arora sparked a wave of excitement during her recent visit to Rajasthans Adinath Jain Temple, accompanied by Mumbai-based diamond merchant and rumoured boyfriend Harsh Mehta. What was meant to be a peaceful outing quickly turned into a viral moment as the duo engaged warmly with fans.









Malaika Arora at Jain temple Malaika Arora visited Adinath Jain Temple with Harsh Mehta

They interacted warmly with fans, posing for selfies

MalaikaHarsh Mehta dating rumours reignite after visit Did our AI summary help?
Mary Beth Hurt, three-time Tony nominee, dies at 79

Beloved stage and screen actor Mary Beth Hurt has passed away at the age of 79. She died on Saturday, March 28, after a long battle with Alzheimers disease, leaving behind a legacy of unforgettable performances.









Actress Mary Beth Hurt dies at 79 Actor Mary Beth Hurt dies at 79 after Alzheimers battle

She earned three Tony nominations and a BAFTA film nod

Hurt is survived by husband Paul Schrader and two children Did our AI summary help?
Prakash Rajs mother Suvarnalatha passes away at 86, last rites to be held in Bengaluru

Actor Prakash Rajs mother Suvarnalatha passed away at 86 due to age-related ailments in Bengaluru. Last rites will be held today, with family, friends, and industry members mourning her loss.









Prakash Rajs mother Suvarnalatha passes away at 86, last rites to be held in Bengaluru Prakash Rajs mother Suvarnalatha dies at 86 in Bengaluru

Last rites in Bengaluru, film fraternity to attend

Condolences pour in from fans and colleagues across the country Did our AI summary help?
Ranbir Kapoors Ramayana glimpse Rama gets U certificate, to drop April 2

The makers of Ramayana are set to unveil a new 2-minute 38-second glimpse titled Rama on April 2, after it received a U certificate from the CBFC, building anticipation for the epics grand release.









Ranbir Kapoors Ramayana glimpse Rama gets U certificate, to drop April 2 Ramayana's new glimpse 'Rama' to be unveiled on April 2

CBFC clears 'Rama' asset with U certificate, 158s runtime

Ranbir Kapoor stars as Lord Ram in Nitesh Tiwari's epic film Did our AI summary help?
Veteran actress Jayaprada opens up on working with Prabhas for Fauzi, praises his hard work

Veteran actress Jayaprada is thrilled to return to Telugu cinema with the upcoming film Fauzi, sharing the screen with stars like Prabhas and Mithun Chakraborty. She expressed her admiration for Prabhas, praising his talent and commitment to his craft.









Jayaprada opens up on working with Prabhas for Fauzi Jayaprada returns to Telugu films with Fauzi, starring Prabhas.

She lauded Prabhas' dedication, eager to see diverse roles

Jayaprada walked the ramp at Teach For Change event in Hyderabad. Did our AI summary help?
Spanish remake of Ajay Devgn's Drishyam to begin shooting in June, confirms producer Rodrigo Espinel

The Spanish remake of Drishyam begins filming in June with a local cast and director. Producer Rodrigo Espinel says the storys universal emotional core makes it easily adaptable for Spanish audiences.









Spanish remake of Ajay Devgn's Drishyam to begin shooting in June, confirms producer Rodrigo EspinelSpanish remake of Ajay Devgn's Drishyam to begin shooting in June, confirms producer Rodrigo Espinel Drishyam to get a Spanish remake, filming starts in June

Spanish director and cast to adapt the story for local culture

Producer Espinel cites universal appeal and easy adaptation Did our AI summary help?
SRKs King faces setback as Dubai schedule cancelled amid global tensions, new shoot in Mumbai

Shah Rukh Khans King faces a setback as its Dubai shoot is cancelled due to rising geopolitical tensions. The makers shift the crucial desert sequence to Mumbai, recreating the set while ensuring safety and maintaining the films grand scale.









SRKs King faces setback as Dubai schedule cancelled amid global tensions, new shoot in Mumbai King's Dubai shoot cancelled due to West Asia tensions

Desert action sequence to be recreated in Mumbai studio

Production timeline remains unaffected despite schedule change Did our AI summary help?
Tamil Nadu elections 2026: TVK chief Vijay declares assets worth Rs 520 crore in affidavit

Actor-turned-politician Vijay declares assets worth Rs 520 crore in his election affidavit while filing nomination for the Tamil Nadu Assembly Elections 2026, positioning himself as a key challenger in the states political landscape.









Tamil Nadu elections 2026: TVK chief Vijay declares assets worth Rs 520 crore in affidavit Vijay declares assets worth Rs 520 crore in election affidavit

He files nomination from Perambur for Tamil Nadu 2026 polls

Vijay backs TVK, vows transparent, accountable governance Did our AI summary help?
The Sheep Detectives trailer: Hugh Jackman leads a quirky mystery with a woolly twist

The Sheep Detectives trailer introduces a quirky mystery where Hugh Jackmans shepherd inspires his sheep to solve a farm disruption, blending humour, charm, and an unusual animal-led investigative adventure.









The Sheep Detectives trailer: Hugh Jackman leads a quirky mystery with a woolly twist The Sheep Detectives trailer reveals a quirky, feel-good mystery

Sheep inspired by detective tales investigate a farm incident

Film stars Hugh Jackman, releases in India on May 8, 2026 Did our AI summary help?
What is Fruit Love Island? Fans left confused after viral AI series removed from TikTok, read to know more

The viral AI series Fruit Love Island has suddenly vanished from TikTok, leaving fans puzzled and its creator searching for answers. What began as a quirky, addictive concept featuring talking fruits in a Love Island-style drama quickly turned into a massive online sensation, even catching the attention of celebrities.









Fruit Love Island removed from TikTok Fruit Love Island AI series vanished from TikTok, confusing fans

Creator @ai.cinema021 says videos vanished without explanation

TikTok flagged content as low-quality AI, sparking online debate Did our AI summary help?
Zayed Khan opens up on mother Zarine Khans final wish amid Hindu rites backlash: We are a secular family

Zayed Khan opens up about mother Zarine Khans final wish and addresses backlash over performing Hindu funeral rites, emphasising family values and humanity.









Zarine Khan passed away on November 7, 2025, at her Mumbai residence at the age of 81 after battling a prolonged illness. Zayed Khan fulfilled his late mother's wish for Hindu rites.

He stressed his family's secular, all-faith-respecting values.

Zarine Khan wanted her ashes immersed in a river for freedom. Did our AI summary help?
Amrut Distilleries' new COO Ashok Chokalingam: Indian alcobev space is 'highly competitive yet collaborative' right now

Amrut Distilleries is doubling down on its Indian whiskys and premium rum portfolios under new chief operating officer Ashok Chokalingam, who took over as COO and master distiller of the privately held company in late March 2026. Exclusive interview.









Ashok Chokalingam is chief operating officer of Amrut Distilleries.
Iran war-driven airfare spike derails summer plans; Indian travellers pivot to Asia, domestic routes

With long-haul travel becoming expensive and uncertain, Indian tourists are increasingly shifting to short-haul destinations across Asia that offer easier access and relaxed visa norms









Airfares, insurance and rupee slide has made a holiday in Europe more expensive Airfares to Europe has surged by at least 50%

Visa-free destinations gaining prominence

Thailand, Malaysia, Kazakhstan, Sri Lanka, Indonesia are attracting Indians

Kerala, Rajasthan, North East are top destinations in India Did our AI summary help?
Kotak restructures portfolio post sell-off; adds DLF, Info Edge, Coforge

Kotak Institutional Equities said the recent market correction has improved valuations and created opportunities across stocks, prompting it to split its model portfolio into separate large-cap and mid-cap baskets. The brokerage added names such as Coforge, Embassy REIT and DLF, while adjusting weights in Reliance Industries and Mahindra & Mahindra









markets Kotak sees value emerging after sharp market correction.

Brokerage splits model portfolio into large- and mid-cap baskets

Select stocks may gain between 12% and 61% in value Did our AI summary help?
Govt considers 3-6 month loan repayment moratorium amid Iran war impact, reports CNBC-Awaaz

As per the CNBC-Awaaz report, under the proposed moratorium, borrowers would be given relief from paying loan instalments for a fixed period.









The government is reviewing the impact of the ongoing energy crisis on industries, as concerns over rising costs and disruptions continue. A loan moratorium of 3 or 6 months is being considered

Relief measures for MSMEs affected by Iran war are under review

Finance Minister says India's economic fundamentals remain strong Did our AI summary help?
Vaishnaw said the government has not received the level of support it expected from the industry, particularly in building in-house design capabilities.
Solar panel maker Cosmic PV Power plans Rs 640-crore IPO, files draft papers with SEBI

Cosmic PV Power IPO | The public issue will be a combination of fresh issuance of equity shares worth Rs 540 crore, and an offer-for-sale of Rs 100 crore worth shares by 10 existing shareholders including promoters, and investors.

Sunil Shankar Matkar March 30, 2026 / 23:12 IST























Cosmic PV Power IPO News Cosmic PV Power plans to raise Rs 640 crore via initial share sale

IPO Mix - Fresh issue of Rs 540 crore, offer for sale of Rs 100 crore

Company may consider raising funds up to Rs 108 crore in pre-IPO round Did our AI summary help?
Temporary exemption under Petroleum Act allows kerosene supply via petrol pumps in 21 states for 60 days
Lok Sabha clears IBC amendment Bill; centre accepts all panel recommendations

The FM said, in the past decade, banks have recovered 1.49 lakh crore from non-performing assets (NPAs), and 52.3 percent of assets recovered, amounting to Rs 54,598 crore, has come from IBC.









As of December 2025, IBC has facilitated resolutions of 1,376 companies. Lok Sabha passes IBC Amendment Bill with key reforms.

New Bill introduces group and cross-border insolvency frameworks.

IBC helped creditors recover 4.11 lakh crore since 2016 Did our AI summary help?
Bank Nifty crashes nearly 4% as RBI seeks to curb forex speculation; PNB, Yes Bank among top losers

Banks often take positions in dollars to make profits from price differences across markets. The RBI has now put a strict limit on how big these positions can be.









Markets crash over 2%: Sensex settles nearly 1,650 pts lower, Nifty ends below 22,350; 5 key factors behind decline Bank Nifty fell nearly 3 percent after RBI capped forex positions.

All 14 Bank Nifty constituents traded in the red on Monday.

Bank dollar sales boosted rupee in spot and forward markets. Did our AI summary help? ASF03

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April 1 has been fixed as the record date for determining eligible shareholders.

Paras Bisht A financial journalist with over 10 years of experience, specialising in tracking stock market movements and fundamental developments that impact investors and the broader economy. A keen observer of global financial markets, I regularly engage with leading market voices to write stories. At Moneycontrol, I focus on decoding market trends, policy shifts and economic changes, driven by a constant passion to learn, analyse, and share knowledge with my readers.
Smallcap jewellery stock in focus on signing MoU with NSDC

The company has been selected as an industry partner for the gems and jewellery sector to develop and onboard up to 2 lakh micro-entrepreneurs.









Shares see profit booking in trade.
Stocks to Watch Today: CMPDI, GR Infra, RailTel, CMS Info, KNR Constructions, Thermax, Aarti Pharmalabs, Ceigall, JSW Steel, Syngene in focus on 30 March

Stocks to Watch, 30 March: Stocks like NLC India, GR Infraprojects, RailTel Corporation of India, Deepak Builders and Engineers India, Coal India, CMS Info Systems, NTPC, Dilip Buildcon, KNR Constructions, Thermax, Gujarat Fluorochemicals, Aarti Pharmalabs, Ceigall India, and JNK India will be in focus on March 30.









Stocks to Watch Today, 30 March Stocks in Focus, March 30: NLC India, GR Infraprojects, RailTel, Deepak Builders, CMS Info, Dilip Buildcon, KNR Constructions, Thermax, Central Mine Planning & Design Institute Did our AI summary help? NLC

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Brents rapid spread has widened significantly, with front-month contracts trading at a premium of more than $7 a barrel over subsequent deliveries, a bullish structure indicating immediate supply concerns.
ONGC starts gas production from Daman project in Arabian sea

This milestone marks the commencement of gas monetisation from the DUDP Project. ONGC said that production from all wells will be ramped up in a phased manner.









ONGC starts gas production from Daman project in Arabian Sea ONGC commissions B-12-24P platform in Arabian Sea for gas supply

Project completed in under two years, costing about $1 billion

Gas production to ramp up as India aims to boost domestic output Did our AI summary help?
Tax-harvesting deadline today: Why execution and not settlement date matters

With markets closed on March 31, today is the last trading day of FY26 to book gains or losses for tax harvesting









tax harvesting today March 30 is the last day for tax harvesting in FY 202526.

Transactions must be executed and recorded on March 30.

Tax harvesting helps reduce capital gains tax liability. Did our AI summary help?
Invite your friends and family to sign up for MC Tech 3, our daily newsletter that breaks down the biggest tech and startup stories of the day
Vedanta Group founder Anil Agrawal posted on the social media platform X on Sunday saying Vedanta was already approved as a successful bidder for Jaypee Assets, however the decision was changed.
Wockhardt novel antibiotic Zaynich gets thumbs-up from CDSCO expert panel

Such recommendations are typically a precursor to approval by DCGI, though they are not binding.









Wockhardt Wockhardt's Zaynich gets expert panel nod for tough infections

Zaynich outperformed meropenem in global Phase 3 trial

Approval awaited in India, US, and EU for Zaynich launch Did our AI summary help? W05 W05 NSE/BSE Select NSE LIVE BSE LIVE Day High

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WTO's MC14 ends without consensus, e-commerce, fisheries talks hit deadend

The conference, held from March 26 in Yaounde, brought together trade ministers and officials from across the WTO member countries for four days of negotiations









The Ministerial Conference, normally held every two years, is the highest decision-making body of the WTO. WTO MC14 ended without consensus on key issues like e-commerce.

India opposed permanent e-commerce moratorium over revenue loss

Fisheries subsidy talks inconclusive; negotiations continue Did our AI summary help?
Akhilesh rally in Dadri signals western UP push a day after PM Modis Jewar airport launch

Akhilesh's rally at the Mihir Bhoj Degree College ground in Dadri was projected by his party as more than a routine mobilisation exercise. It was positioned as the opening move in a long campaign aimed at regaining lost ground in western Uttar Pradesh.









Akhilesh Yadavs renewed focus on western Uttar Pradesh signals an attempt to recreate the momentum that once helped the Samajwadi Party expand its footprint in the state. Western Uttar Pradesh emerges as key battleground for 2027 polls

Akhilesh Yadav rallies in Dadri, BJP highlights Jewar airport

Both parties focus on development and social coalition strategies Did our AI summary help?
Assembly elections 2026 Opinion Poll Live: AIADMK holds edge in tight contest with DMK in Tamil Nadu polls, predicts opinion poll

Is Tamil Nadu headed for a change in government or a hung assembly? The latest opinion poll points to a nail-biting contest between the DMK-led alliance and the AIADMK-BJP combine.

According to VoteVibes Vote Tracker survey, released on CNN-News18, the AIADMK-BJP alliance is projected to win 115125 seats in the 234-member assembly, hovering around the majority mark of 118. The DMK-Congress alliance is close behind with 104114 seats, keeping the race extremely tight.

Meanwhile, actor Vijays newly formed TVK party could emerge as a minor but notable player, winning 28 seats, particularly drawing support from urban and younger voters. Read here
Bengaluru Business Corridor: BDA floats Rs 3,348 crore tender for 20-km first package

Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) on March 30 invited tenders for civil works for the first package (Tumakuru Road to Bellary Road) of the project, spanning nearly 19 km, at an estimated cost of Rs 3,348 crore.









Peripheral Ring Road will link the two ends of NICE Road.
Census 2027 to recognise live-in couples as married: 'Stable union'

The self-enumeration process will begin in the NDMC area of Delhi on April 1 through a dedicated online portal available in English and 15 Indian languages.
Pakistan remains base for multiple terrorist outfits despite operations, says US Congress study
'Had no money, taxi demanded $3,000; missiles falling around us': Freed Indian sailors recount chilling Iran ordeal

The sailors, who returned to India via Armenia, spent nearly 50 days in detention under difficult conditions in Iran, with limited communication and resources.
India to bar Chinese internet-connected CCTV cameras from April 2026, domestic brands set to gain

The regulatory shift is expected to reshape Indias CCTV market, giving local brands like CP Plus and Qubo a larger slice of the market.
Iran war: US analyst explains why Pakistan's 'moment in the sun' doesn't impact India

Michael Kugelman, senior fellow for South Asia at the Atlantic Council and noted geopolitical expert, said that there is no reason to believe that India is positioning itself as the mediator in the conflict, like Pakistan.









File
Naxalism has been almost eradicated from Bastar, the region is now on the path of development: Amit Shah in Lok Sabha

Amit Shah said there can be no justification for violence and demands should be raised through constitutional methods.

ANI March 30, 2026 / 19:54 IST























Amit Shah Naxalism nearly eradicated from Bastar, says Amit Shah

Bastar launches development projects, schools and health centers

Government aims to eliminate Naxalism nationwide by March 31 Did our AI summary help?
Nitish Kumar resigns from state legislative council: Who will be next Bihar CM?

According to rules, Kumar was required to resign as MLC and step down from the Chief Ministers post within 14 days of being elected to Parliament.









The JD(U) president was elected to the upper House of Parliament on March 16 Nitish Kumar to resign as Bihar MLC today after Rajya Sabha win

Samrat Choudhary and Nityanand Rai lead race for Bihar CM post

Kumar must step down as CM within 14 days of Rajya Sabha election Did our AI summary help?
PM Modi speaks to Dutch PM, reiterates the need for early restoration of peace in West Asia

The two leaders also exchanged views on the situation in West Asia emphasized the need for early restoration of peace and stability in the region.









PM Modi Modi and Dutch PM discussed boosting India-Netherlands ties

Leaders emphasized semiconductor, water, and green hydrogen ties

Both emphasized restoring peace and stability in West Asia Did our AI summary help?
Ten India-bound foreign energy cargoes stranded in Persian Gulf; Indian vessels get priority

Of these, three are LPG vessels, four are loaded with crude oil, and three are carrying LNG. Shipping ministry noted that Indian-flagged vessels carrying India-bound cargo were given priority to pass through the Strait of Hormuz









The net daily import requirement of the country has consequently come down to only 30,000 MT of LPG, the government had said. Ten foreign energy ships to India stranded in Gulf

Indian ships get priority passage in Strait of Hormuz

Indias energy stocks ample, relief efforts continue Did our AI summary help?
Who is Nisha Mehta, nurse-turned-politician now leading Nepals Health Ministry?

Mehtas appointment adds a cross-border dimension as well, given her education in India, and is being viewed as a step that could further deepen professional and institutional linkages in the region.
OPINION | In Kerala, BJP plays the long game with 2026 polls seen as a semi-final

The party won an assembly seat once, in 2016. This time they are in contention for at least six seats. While its no more a marginal presence, the strategy hasnt yet found a balance between pitches on development and culture









PM Narendra Modi at a public meeting, in Palakkad, Kerala. (Source: PTI Photo)
OPINION | Judicial Discretion in Brutal Crimes: How the Supreme Court decides death penalty

Even when crimes are extremely brutal and fit the rarest of rare category, courts sometimes reduce the sentence. Legal rules and judges decisions can lead to inconsistencies, raising questions about the purpose of the death penalty









Court
With this launch, Kolkata has become the second metro city in India, after Delhi, to be directly connected to Chinas commercial capital, Shanghai.

Amitabh Sinha is the executive editor of News18 India. He has extensive experience in print and TV journalism. He started his career with Patna's 'Times of India' and reported for almost 14 years at 'Aaj Tak'. He has been associated with Network18 since 2015. writes with equal authority in Hindi and English languages and has reported on many important events and incidents in India and abroad. He has a long experience in parliamentary journalism and has special grasp of e policies and schemes of the government. He writes regularly on News18's website in both Hindi and English languages. He is a post graduate from Delhi University. X- @amitabhnews18
OPINION | Pakistan as mediator is not tactical smartness, its a sign of anxiety

A war with Afghanistan, worsening Baloch insurgency and the spectre of sectarian clashes between Shias and Sunnis have forced Islamabad to venture into the West Asian whirlpool in an attempt to safeguard internal security. Its weakness, not chutzpah

Harisundar Kumar March 30, 2026 / 11:53 IST























There is trouble ahead, Field Marshal Asim Munir
Nitin Nabin submits resignation as Bihar MLA, BJP braces for key Bankipur bypoll

In his post, Nabin described his constituency as "family" and credited his supporters for his political journey.
Chocolate heist: 400,000 KitKat bars go missing in Europe, Nestle launches probe

Around 12 tonnes of KitKat bars were stolen in Europe while in transit, raising concerns over supply shortages ahead of Easter as Nestle works with authorities to trace the missing shipment.









The company warned the missing KitKat stock could cause a shortage ahead of Easter. (Image credit: Reuters) 12 tonnes of KitKat bars stolen during transit in Europe

Nestle warns of possible KitKat shortage ahead of Easter

Authorities are investigating; consumer safety not affected Did our AI summary help?
At Google, Alon Chen didnt wait his turn, and 'I didnt ask for permission,' he said, arguing that many employees hold themselves back by assuming promotions require years of tenure or flawless performance reviews.
Hyderabad vs Bengaluru: Viral post by woman sparks debate on best city to live and spend time

A Bengaluru-based womans viral post after visiting Hyderabad has reignited the debate over which city offers a better lifestyle, highlighting differences in infrastructure, traffic, job opportunities, and overall quality of life.
Countdown begins: Few days for NASAs Artemis II mission to launch on April 1; Here's what to know

NASA is all set for its Artemis II mission that will launch on 1st April 2026. 4 Astronauts will be sent to space as this is the first crewed Moon mission since Apollo 17. The launch window opens at 6:24 PM EDT from Kennedy Space Centers Launch.









NASA Artemis II launch countdown begins for April 1 Moon mission. (Image: NASA) Artemis II launches April 1 for first crewed lunar flyby.

Four astronauts will circle the Moon, no landing planned.

Orion systems tested, paving way for Artemis III Moon landing. Did our AI summary help?
Apple turns 50 on April 1: Read Tim Cooks thank you notes for Apple50 celebrations across the world

Tim Cook shares X posts thanking users and creators as Apple50 celebrations take place across New York, Paris, Bangkok and Sydney ahead of Apples 50th anniversary on April 1

Sarthak Singh March 30, 2026 / 07:24 IST























Apple 50 Apple celebrates 50 years with global #Apple50 events

Tim Cook thanks users, creators, communities for support

Anniversary events held in New York, Paris, Bangkok, and Sydney Did our AI summary help?

Invite your friends and family to sign up for MC Tech 3, our daily newsletter that breaks down the biggest tech and startup stories of the day
Greece tourism stays strong in 2026 despite Middle East tensions; best places to visit this year

Greece tourism remains strong in 2026 despite Middle East tensions, with record 2025 revenues and stable bookings. Explore 10 best places to visit in Greece this year.









Greece is staying strong as a top travel choice in 2026 despite global uncertainty. From Santorini and Mykonos to Athens and Crete, here are 10 stunning places to visit this year. Greece tourism remains strong despite global uncertainties

Tourism revenue hit 23.6 billion in 2025, a record year

Top destinations include Santorini, Athens, Crete, and Mykonos Did our AI summary help?
$20,000 vs $700 million: How Iran's Shahed-136 drone, cheaper than a car, took down a US AWACS

The Shahed-136 drone is estimated to cost between $20,000 and $50,000, making it one of the cheapest long-range strike platforms in modern arsenals.









FILE PHOTO: A visitor of an exhibition takes a photo of parts of an Iranian made unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) Shahed-131/136, which was launched on Ukrainian territories, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine June 27, 2025. REUTERS/Alina Smutko/File Photo An Iranian Shahed-136 drone reportedly destroyed a US Boeing E-3 AWACS aircraft, highlighting how cheap, mass-produced drones can threaten expensive military assets and shift modern warfare strategies toward cost-effective, high-impact technologies. Did our AI summary help?
450 kg of Uranium at centre of war: Why Trump wants Irans stockpile and why it could be a costly military gamble

Iran War News: At the core of the debate is the nature of enriched uranium. In its natural form, uranium has limited use. Once enriched to higher levels, it becomes strategically critical.









A satellite image shows the Natanz fuel enrichment complex, Iran, March 7, 2026, amid the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran. Vantor/Handout via REUTERS. The US is considering a ground operation to seize Irans enriched uranium stockpile, aiming to dismantle its nuclear capability. Experts warn this risky move could trigger major escalation, logistical challenges, and unpredictable consequences across West Asia. Did our AI summary help?
$5.5 billion war machine: How Houthis turned Yemens ports into a global shipping threat | Explained

Between 2022 and 2024, the Houthis are estimated to have collected around $4 billion through fuel import duties alone. Total revenues, including illegal levies and profit margins, are believed to be closer to $5.5 billion.









Young Houthi supporters hold weapons during a rally in solidarity with Iran and Lebanon, amid the US-Israeli war with Iran, in the Yemeni capital Sanaa on March 27, 2026. (Photo by Mohammed HUWAIS / AFP) Yemens Houthi rebels have built a self-sustaining war economy by controlling key Red Sea ports, imposing high tariffs, and profiting from fuel smuggling, funding attacks that disrupt global shipping and threaten international trade and stability. Did our AI summary help?
An Iranian civil defence member stands with a hose next to a destroyed fuel tanker vehicle near an ongoing fire following an overnight airstrike on the Shahran oil refinery in northwestern Tehran on March 8, 2026. (Photo by AFP)
Amid suspense around ground ops, Trump's 'big day in Iran' post on Truth Social

The US president further said regional allies including Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE and Bahrain are now actively pushing back against Iran after initially being caught off guard by attacks.









Donald Trump
Artemis II launch: How and where to follow NASAs historic moon mission live

NASAs Artemis II mission will launch on April 1, carrying four astronauts on the first crewed lunar flight in over 50 years, with live coverage available on NASA+ and YouTube.









NASA astronauts embark on historic lunar flight
Pakistans mediation between the US and Iran is driven by Chinas strategic interests, mainly to protect energy flows through the Strait of Hormuz. Doubts persist about Pakistans credibility, as its diplomatic efforts appear shaped by external pressures, not neutrality.

Did our AI summary help?
'Didn't participate in meetings, Pakistan's forums are its own': Iran rejects Islamabad's mediation claims

Iran's foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said there were no direct talks with US on the ongoing war, adding that the country has only received "excessive and unreasonable demands via intermediaries".









File: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio (R) with Pakistani Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar (AFP)
Donald Trump says Iran deal may be reached soon, declares regime change in Tehran

US President Donald Trump claimed regime change in Iran has been achieved, hinting at a possible deal, as Tehran retaliates with strikes on Gulf states, while Pakistan facilitates regional peace talks.









Trump cites regime change, Pakistan brokers talks
'Epstein Island' flashes on phones during White House call. Google blames 'fake edit' on Android

Calls to the White House switchboard briefly appeared as Epstein Island on some Android devices, following what Google said was a fake edit in its mapping system.
Irans Quds Force chief posts warning to Israel, X suspends account: 'Get used to new regional order'

Esmail Qaani, head of Irans Quds Force, praised Tehran-backed militias and warned the region to get used to the new regional order.

AFP March 30, 2026 / 23:04 IST























'Get used to new regional order' says head of Iran Guards foreign wing
The report also highlights that air traffic controllers had repeatedly warned the Federal Aviation Administration over more than a decade about the risks posed by the high volume of commercial flights combined with frequent movements of military, police and medical helicopters in the same airspace
The US is now regulating the flow of energy to the nation by letting companies sell fuel to its minuscule but fast-growing sector of small- and medium-sized businesses but not the government.
India evacuates citizens as 8 dead, 1 missing amid escalating West Asia conflict

The latest figures mark a deterioration compared to March 20, when authorities had reported six deaths and one missing individual.









Since February 28, approximately 5.5 lakh passengers have made their way back to India from affected areas. Eight Indians killed, one missing amid West Asia conflict

India evacuates 5.5 lakh nationals from affected areas

MEA urges restraint, diplomacy, and peaceful resolution Did our AI summary help?
India, Russia discuss strengthening strategic partnership amid West Asia crisis

India and Russia explored ways to deepen their strategic and economic ties, with West Asia tensions featuring prominently in high-level talks in New Delhi.

PTI March 30, 2026 / 21:26 IST























India, Russia review strategic partnership amid West Asia crisis
Iran confirms death of IRGC Navy Commander Alireza Tangsiri

Tangsiri was widely described as playing a key role in Iran's naval posture in the Persian Gulf, including operations linked to the Strait of Hormuz









Last week, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz had claimed that Tangsiri was killed in a precise and lethal operation
Iran rejects Trumps talks claim as baseless, says troops ready to defend southern islands

Iran rejects Trumps claims as baseless, says troops are ready as tensions rise over Hormuz warning.









Iran calls Trumps claims baseless, warns troops ready to defend southern islands
Iran says not seeking nuclear weapons, parliament weighs NPT exit

Iran says it is not pursuing nuclear weapons as parliament debates whether to remain in the NPT amid rising tensions.









Iran says not seeking nuclear weapons but non-proliferation treaty under review
Iran strike on Kuwait plant kills Indian worker, death toll climbs as West Asia war intensifies

Indian worker killed in Iran strike on Kuwait desalination plant; damage reported as West Asia conflict claims more Indian lives.









Kuwaiti authorities report damage to desalination facility as Indian casualties rise across West Asia conflict Indian worker killed in Iranian strike on Kuwait plant

Indian casualties in West Asia conflict now total seven

India coordinating repatriation and safety with regional leaders Did our AI summary help?
Iran warns of targeting US and Israeli officials residences as conflict escalates; IRGC commander says strikes on key infrastructure are ongoing.
Israel approves $222 billion budget with major war chest for Iran conflict

Israel approved its 2026 budget with a large defence supplement for the Iran war, funded by extra borrowing and cuts in civilian spending.









Israels parliament approved a 699 billion shekel budget with a sharp rise in defence spending, funded through borrowing, levy support and civilian cuts. Israel OKs $222B budget with big defense spending boost

Defense outlays up 120% vs 2023, via debt and budget cuts

Budget includes tax breaks for expatriates and tech firms Did our AI summary help?
The discussions come against the backdrop of the ongoing war involving the U.S. and Israel against Iran, which has significantly heightened tensions across the region.
Israel restores Latin Patriarchs holy Sepulchre access after Palm Sunday block

Israel reversed its decision to block Latin Patriarch Pierbattista Pizzaballa from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre on Palm Sunday, citing security concerns amid the war with Iran, drawing global condemnation.









Latin Patriarch regains access Holy Sepulchre
Israel strikes Tehran as Trump hints at imminent Iran deal

Israel struck military targets across Tehran as Iran retaliated, escalating the US-Israel conflict. Trump claimed regime change was achieved and suggested an Iran deal could be soon, amid global economic impact.









Trump says Iran deal could be soon
Kharg island threat: How Trump could pressure Iran's oil lifeline

Though modest in size -- roughly a third of Manhattan -- Kharg Island sits at the heart of Irans oil economy. It does not produce crude itself, but serves as the countrys primary export terminal.









Positioned roughly 30 kilometres off Irans coast in the northern Gulf, and over 500 kilometres from the Strait of Hormuz, the island houses extensive oil infrastructure: pipelines, storage facilities, and export terminals Kharg Island handles 90 percent of Iran's crude oil exports.

US forces struck Kharg Island, targeting military sites, not oil.

Seizing Kharg risks escalation and global oil market disruption. Did our AI summary help?
Feature: Chinese medical teams bring healing, hope to over 1,000 patients in Tanzania's Dar es Salaam

Xinhua) 13:05, March 30, 2026

A Chinese doctor conducts examination for a local patient during a free medical camp in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, March 28, 2026. (Xinhua/Emmanuel Herman)

DAR ES SALAAM, March 29 (Xinhua) -- As light morning drizzles fell over Tanzania's port city of Dar es Salaam, a steady stream of residents, young and old, made their way into the East Africa Commercial and Logistics Center (EACLC) in Ubungo District.

They arrived with different ailments, quiet hopes, and a shared determination to seek care at a two-day free medical camp delivered by Chinese doctors from mainland Tanzania and Zanzibar.

By midday, waiting areas were filled. Mothers held children close, elderly men leaned on walking sticks, and young people compared symptoms. For many, access to specialized medical services had long been limited. On this weekend, however, help had come closer to home.

Among the early arrivals was 64-year-old Mohamed Selemani Mpori, a retired civil servant from Mburahati, who learned about the camp through a television announcement and decided not to miss the opportunity.

"I am grateful that I was able to see a doctor, undergo various tests, and receive medication," he said after completing several consultations. "I also received acupuncture treatment."

For Mpori, the experience was as much about discovery as it was about treatment.

"Today was my first time receiving acupuncture, and it has been a good experience," he said, praising the doctors' professionalism and attentiveness. "They listen to patients very well."

Nearby, 52-year-old Tatu Saidi, a mother of six from Tandika, waited patiently before emerging from a consultation room with visible relief.

"I had problems with my throat, eyes, and ears," she said. "After the tests and treatment, including acupuncture, I have already experienced relief while still here."

Stories like theirs echoed across the venue. For many, the camp provided not only free treatment but also reassurance and time -- often in short supply in busy health facilities.

Inside the makeshift clinic, doctors moved briskly between consultation desks, diagnostic equipment, and treatment areas. Services ranged from general consultations to specialized care in cardiology, pediatrics, orthopedics, and women's health.

Patients underwent blood glucose testing, malaria screening, ultrasound examinations, and electrocardiograms. Others received traditional Chinese medicine therapies such as acupuncture, cupping, and moxibustion, services that drew particularly strong interest.

According to the medical teams, the most common conditions among patients included hypertension, diabetes and their complications, as well as cataracts, glaucoma, and malaria. Skin conditions such as dermatitis and eczema were also frequently treated.

In addition to diagnosis and treatment, doctors distributed free medicines and offered guidance on proper use. A dedicated section provided health education, helping patients better understand disease prevention and management.

By the end of the two-day event, more than 1,000 patients were expected to receive care, reflecting both the scale of need and the strong community response.

For many residents, the camp helped address gaps in access to specialized services. Some said they had postponed seeking care due to cost or distance, while others welcomed the opportunity to consult multiple specialists in one place.

"I visited one of the clinics and found one doctor attending to more than 30 patients," said Kitila Mkumbo, Tanzania's Minister of State in the President's Office responsible for Planning and Investment, after touring the facility.

"Mothers, fathers, youth, elders, people of all kinds have come to receive these services," he said. "This is a huge achievement."

Mkumbo described the camp as a vivid example of growing people-to-people ties between Tanzania and China, noting a shift from traditional diplomatic engagement toward more service-oriented cooperation.

The camp was organized by EACLC, a Chinese investment company operating in Tanzania, in collaboration with Ubungo District authorities. It brought together the 27th Chinese medical team in mainland Tanzania and the 35th Chinese medical team in Zanzibar.

Cathy Wang, managing director of EACLC, said the event reflected a broader commitment beyond business.

"Today is not just a business event; it is a day of service," she said. "We believe that thriving businesses must go hand in hand with a healthy and empowered community."

She highlighted the long history of medical cooperation between China and Tanzania, dating back to the 1960s. Over the decades, Chinese medical teams have provided services across the country, contributing to healthcare delivery and capacity building.

"These services are more than just healthcare," Wang said. "They are a token of respect for more than half a century of friendship."

Zhang Kai, head of the 27th Chinese medical team in mainland Tanzania, said his team has treated more than 10,000 local patients over the past two years.

"Our goal is to bring healthcare services closer to the people, especially those in need," he said. "We aim to serve every patient with professionalism, compassion and respect."

Bao Zengtao, head of the 35th Chinese medical team in Zanzibar, emphasized collaboration and continuity.

"This is not just a one-time clinic," he said. "It is a practical effort to promote the health and well-being of the people and to strengthen medical cooperation."

He noted that traditional Chinese medicine had generated strong interest among local residents, many of whom were eager to explore alternative approaches to treatment and wellness.

The overwhelming turnout has already sparked discussions about the future of such initiatives. Authorities and organizers are considering making the camp an annual event and expanding its scale.

As the crowds gradually thinned and the last consultations concluded, many left with medicines in hand, clearer diagnoses, and renewed optimism.

Local residents wait in line to receive medical services during a free medical camp at the East Africa Commercial and Logistics Center (EACLC), Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, March 28, 2026. (Xinhua/Emmanuel Herman)

A Chinese doctor conducts examination for a local patient during a free medical camp in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, March 28, 2026. (Xinhua/Emmanuel Herman)

Chinese doctors provide consultations for local residents during a free medical camp at the East Africa Commercial and Logistics Center (EACLC) in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, March 28, 2026. (Xinhua/Emmanuel Herman)

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
A US-Israel plan to trigger a Kurdish-led uprising in Iran was abandoned after leaks, regional opposition, and doubts about its feasibility. The operation's failure has strained US-Israel ties and highlighted challenges in achieving regime change in Iran.

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'Long live the shah': Iranian diaspora rallies in Washington, backs war and calls for Pahlavi's return

The rally, held on the National Mall near the White House, saw participants waving Iranian and American flags while chanting slogans such as "USA! USA!" and "Javid shah" ("Long live the Shah").









Several attendees openly supported the war, describing it as necessary. Over 1,000 Iranian-Americans rallied in DC for regime change

Attendees urged exiled crown prince Reza Pahlavi to return

The rally showed divisions on monarchy and democracy for Iran Did our AI summary help?
Trump compared the idea to a U.S. operation in Venezuela earlier this year, where Washington moved to assert control over the countrys oil sector following the capture of leader Nicolas Maduro.
New Zealand drug case: Nephew of Indira Gandhis assassin identified in 180 crore meth haul

Baltej Singh, nephew of Indira Gandhis assassin, has been named by New Zealand media as mastermind of the countrys largest meth seizure, involving sophisticated international smuggling and NZ$180 million worth of drugs.









Baltej Singh named in meth seizure
'Not a king, he's your daddy': Man hires plane to fly banner over 'No Kings' protest | Watch

Large crowds gathered across the United States and parts of Europe on Saturday as demonstrators took part in No Kings rallies opposing the war in Iran and the actions of US President Donald Trump.
UN diplomat Mohamad Safa resigned, alleging the UN is preparing for possible nuclear weapon use in Iran. He cited pressure, censorship, and threats, but his claims remain unverified and the UN has not officially responded. Safa urges public awareness and protests.

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Oil, gas, fertilisers: Ajay Bagga on why the Iran conflict may be working in Russias favour

Rising crude prices, shifting trade flows and tighter global supply chains are supporting Russias revenues, according to market expert Ajay Bagga.









Russias oil, gas and fertiliser revenues are rising amid Iran conflict-driven supply disruptions, says Ajay Bagga. Iran conflict boosts Russia's economy via rising oil prices

Russia's oil exports to India set to nearly double in March

Commodity disruptions increase demand for Russian exports Did our AI summary help?
'Out of sign of respect': Trump says Iran will permit 20 oil-carrying ships to pass through Hormuz from Monday

When asked about Irans response to a 15-point ceasefire proposal put forward by the United States, Trump suggested that there had been significant alignment.
Mixed signals from Washington have added to the uncertainty, with analysts pointing to domestic political pressures on Donald Trump and concerns about a prolonged conflict, even as calls from some quarters push for further escalation
The reasons behind the improvement could be because Iranian jamming capabilities may have been reduced by US strikes or that the United Arab Emirates has stepped down its interference in light of fewer attacks by Tehran
Pezeshkian jabs Trump over massive 'No Kings' protests, says American people are angry about Israel first

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian highlighted the US No Kings protests, condemning the Israel First policy and urging AI experts to inform President Trump about widespread American frustration.









'No Kings' protests expose anger over Israel
'Regime change in America, not Iran': Trumps niece slams presidents Iran war

Mary L. Trump criticised her uncle Donald Trumps Iran war, warning it could backfire in the United States instead of Iran.









Mary L. Trump warns Iran war backfires
Reopening Strait of Hormuz is easier said than done, says UK PM Keir Starmer

Keir Starmer is hosting senior leaders from Britains military as well as industry executives across the energy, shipping, financial and insurance sectors at Downing Street.









British Prime Minister Keir Starmer Starmer warns reopening Hormuz Strait is complex and risky

UK convenes military, energy, shipping and finance chiefs

UK stresses de-escalation and protection of British citizens Did our AI summary help?
Russia welcomes oil tanker in Cuba as Trump eases stance on US blockade

A Russian-flagged tanker carrying 100,000 tonnes of crude oil reached Cuba, offering relief amid a deepening energy crisis while President Trump allows the shipment.









Russian oil tanker arrives in Cuba as Trump signals no objection
Spain shuts airspace to US military over Iran war, denies base access

Spains move to block US military access has complicated operations and deepened tensions with Washington over the Iran war.

AFP March 30, 2026 / 16:46 IST























Spain blocks US war planes, denies bases amid Iran conflict
Syrian army reports drone attacks near Iraqi border amid regional tensions

Damascus says most drones were shot down and holds Iraq responsible, while assessing its response amid escalating Middle East conflict.

Reuters March 30, 2026 / 19:17 IST























Missile hits fuel tanker at Israel's Oil Refineries
'They have more at stake than us': Rubio issues Hormuz warning to Iran as he outlines US military objectives

On one hand, Washington is escalating its campaign to degrade Irans military capabilities. On the other, it is warning against actions that could destabilise global trade and energy markets.









US Secretary of State Marco Rubio listens to President Donald Trump speak during a cabinet meeting in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on March 26, 2026. (Photo by Jim WATSON / AFP) US Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned Iran against controlling shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, stressing any attempt would face firm resistance. He outlined US military objectives to weaken Irans navy and missile capabilities, emphasizing global energy security. Did our AI summary help?
Thousands of US Army paratroopers arrive in Middle East as buildup intensifies

The paratroopers, based out of Fort Bragg, North Carolina, add to the thousands of additional sailors, Marines and Special Operations forces sent to the region. Over the weekend, about 2,500 Marines arrived in the Middle East.

Reuters March 30, 2026 / 23:19 IST























Two F/A-18 Super Hornets launch from the flight deck of the U.S. Navy Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln in support of the Operation Epic Fury attack on Iran from an undisclosed location March 3, 2026. (Reuters) Thousands of 82nd Airborne soldiers arrive in Middle East

Troops boost U.S. capacity for possible Iran operations

Trump warns Iran to open Strait of Hormuz or face attacks Did our AI summary help?
Trump claims 'regime change' in Iran, says new leadership 'very reasonable'

Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump said the scale of losses among Irans ruling establishment had fundamentally altered the countrys power structure.
US President Trump claims talks with a new, more reasonable Iranian regime to end military operations, warns of severe retaliation if the Strait of Hormuz isnt reopened, and asserts regime change amid Irans rejection of US proposals as unrealistic.

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Inside Trumps high-risk Iran plan: Seize 1,000 pounds of uranium with US troops on the ground

Trump is considering a high-risk US mission to seize Irans uranium as Washington weighs escalation in the ongoing conflict.









Plan could put US troops inside Iran for days as Washington pushes to eliminate Tehrans nuclear capability Trump considers US ground operation in Iran to seize uranium

Plan aims to remove 1,000 pounds of enriched uranium from Iran

Risks include combat, retaliation, and regional escalation Did our AI summary help?
Trump signals policy divide on Iran nuclear issue, says Gabbard takes 'softer' approach

US President Donald Trump acknowledged differences among his top aides on Iran, saying intelligence chief Tulsi Gabbard takes a softer approach to curbing Tehrans nuclear ambitions.









Trump notes Gabbards softer Iran stance
Turkey says fourth Iranian missile intercepted as Ankara offers to mediate USIran talks

Turkey reported NATO air defences downed a fourth ballistic missile from Iran over its airspace, days after Ankara played a role in backchannel communications between Washington, Tehran and Jerusalem aimed at easing tensions.









Turkey says fourth Iranian missile intercepted after Ankara helped mediate USIranIsrael talks
In his formal resignation letter dated March 27, Safa said he had decided to suspend all his duties as a representative at the UN in New York, Geneva and Vienna, citing concerns over the organisation's stance on ongoing conflicts
Iran rejected US proposals as unrealistic and excessive amid ongoing conflict, denying direct talks and dismissing claims of agreement. Tehran shut the Strait of Hormuz, impacting global oil prices, but Trump said Iranian oil shipments would soon resume.

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US airstrike hits Indiabound aircraft scheduled for humanitarian mission, says Iran

A Mahan Air plane bound for Indias humanitarian mission was damaged in a US airstrike as regional conflict intensifies, while eight Indians have died amid escalating Middle East tensions.









US airstrike damages Iranian Mahan Air plane bound for Delhi humanitarian mission
'US going to retake control of Hormuz': Treasury chief Bessent says oil market remains well supplied

US Treasury chief Scott Bessent says the US will retake control of the Strait of Hormuz over time while ensuring the global oil market remains well supplied.









Oil market well supplied, control of Hormuz to shift over time
Iranian attack sparks fire on Kuwaiti oil tanker at Dubai Port: State media

An Iranian attack sparked a fire on a Kuwaiti oil tanker at Dubai Port, state media reported on Tuesday, adding there were no injuries.

"The Kuwaiti giant crude oil tanker was subjected to a direct and malicious Iranian attack while in the anchorage area of Dubai Port in the UAE," official news agency KUNA reported, citing Kuwait's state-owned oil company.

Kuwait's military also said on Tuesday its air defences were responding to "hostile missile and drone attacks", according to an X post.
Trump speaks frequently and in great detail about the construction work, which has thus far been undertaken without the usual byzantine vetting procedures for changes to Washington's built landscape
Trump defends exit from Obama-era Iran nuclear deal, says it stopped Tehrans weapons push and signals possible new agreement soon.
Weeks-long ground offensive in Iran? What Pentagon's plans really mean and why Trumps Kharg Island idea could backfire

US ground offensive in Iran? While US officials continue to insist that no final decision has been taken, the scale of planning and troop movements suggests that Washington is seriously weighing the option.









A soldier stands guard on the deck of the US Navy Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Gridley (DDG 101), docked at the Amador cruise terminal in Panama City on March 29, 2026. (Photo by MARTIN BERNETTI / AFP) The US is preparing for possible sustained ground operations in Iran, with troop deployments and plans targeting strategic sites like Kharg Island. While no final decision is made, the buildup signals a shift from airstrikes amid concerns about escalation risks. Did our AI summary help?
West Asia conflict: Emirates paying 'outrageously cheap' war risk insurance cover

The airline is paying an additional premium of just $100,000 a week, which came into effect after the war began on February 28.









AFP Photo Emirates pays just $100,000 weekly for war risk insurance cover

Other airlines face up to $150,000 extra per flight for insurance

Emirates' policy covers $2 billion in losses across its fleet Did our AI summary help?
Why Israel can have nuclear weapons while Iran cannot: The law behind the paradox

Why Israel can have nuclear weapons while Iran cannot: an explainer on the NPT, state consent, and the legal logic shaping the nuclear divide.









As West Asia tensions rise, the Israel-Iran nuclear debate is back. The answer lies in the NPT, state consent, and how international law is built. Iran bound by NPT; Israel isnt, having never signed it

International law limits nuclear arms only if states consent

NPT creates unequal obligations, aiming to prevent proliferation Did our AI summary help?
Yemens Iran-backed Houthis have entered the Iran war, launching missile attacks on Israel and threatening global shipping routes. Their involvement risks expanding the conflict, disrupting trade, and increasing the chance of a wider regional war with global impact.

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Zelenskyy warns Gulf states of Russia aiding Iran, seals Qatar defence deal

According to him, the sites included key strategic locations such as Diego Garcia, Kuwaits Burgan oil field, Prince Sultan Air Base and Shaybah in Saudi Arabia, Incirlik Air Base in Turkey, and Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar.
Signs from protestors at the No Kings protest. Luke Dias/Midland Reporter-Telegram The No Kings protest. Luke Dias/Midland Reporter-Telegram Stacy Nevarez, left, talking with Odessa Police Department officers as the No Kings protest kicks off. Luke Dias/Midland Reporter-Telegram Stacy Nevarez, left, with other Brown Beret members at the No Kings protest. Luke Dias/Midland Reporter-Telegram A Straw Hat jolly roger from the manga "One Piece", used as a protest symbol for freedom worldwide, at the No Kings protest. Luke Dias/Midland Reporter-Telegram Organizers at the No Kings protest. Luke Dias/Midland Reporter-Telegram

A third No Kings Day protest took place throughout the country on Saturday, March 28. This includes Midland and Odessa, where about 100 people across both cities protested the Trump administration, alongside 8 million people nationwide across 3,300 protests.

I started trying to bring light to the issues that were having with our government, and me and a few friends helped organize the first No Kings protest, said Stacy Nevarez, one of the protests organizers. We want to make the community feel safe to come out and just speak their words when were out here, speak their mind, speak their truth.

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The Midland protest was located at the intersection of Wadley Avenue and Big Spring Street, while the Odessa protest took place adjacent to the University of Texas Permian Basin campus on Parkway Boulevard. Topics included alleged overreach by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, claims of tens of thousands of mentions of Trump in the Epstein files, and the escalation of conflict in Gaza and tensions involving Iran.

Theres a lot going on with the government, whether its immigration or legislation thats obstructing peoples right to vote, exist (and) take care of their own bodies, Nevarez said. Everybody should have an issue with something. The Iran war, for example, is costing us more than we think. Its not just financially, its morals. Its awakening racism that people were at least keeping quiet, and now its not so quiet anymore. So, we cant be quiet either.

Providing security at the event were the Brown Berets, of which Nevarez is a member. While the Midland protest was without significant incident, during the Odessa protest, a woman sprayed protesters with apple cider vinegar, police said. The substance is the same one reportedly used in an incident involving U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar at an event in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

The Brown Berets are part of the larger Chicano Movement, which recently came under fire due to sexual assault allegations against movement figurehead Cesar Chavez, who died in 1993. Nevarez said that she believes the accusers but does not think that it should dilute the message of the Chicano Movement as well as other activist movements that fight against racial and economic injustice.

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Before anything, Im a woman, she said. We need to listen to the women that are coming out with allegations. (But) people have to realize that Cesar Chavez was just the face of the movement. He wasnt the movement. The movement was the people that were working with him, standing next to him, beside him, behind him, (and those) supporting the movement financially (and) morally.

Nevarez also criticized Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and other politicians for their hypocrisy in rushing to remove commemorations to Chavez while simultaneously supporting Trump amid his own allegations, which some have argued is less about denouncing Chavez and more about suppressing the Chicano Movement.

If you could do Cesar Chavez, you can do Trump, too, she said.

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Comedian Bill Maher at the Oscars Vanity Fair Party in Beverly Hills, California on Feb. 26, 2017. REUTERS

LOS ANGELES (Reuters)  Comedian Bill Maher, a frequent critic of President Donald Trump, will receive the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor at Washingtons Kennedy Center in June, the venue announced on Thursday.

Maher has hosted Real Time with Bill Maher on HBO since 2003, a weekly show in which he interviews celebrity guests and politicians about current events and social issues, as well as giving a comedy monologue.

Trump has taken steps to remake the Kennedy Center as part of his effort to reshape U.S. historical and cultural institutions. He has renamed the arts center the Trump Kennedy Center and appointed a new board to oversee it. The center is scheduled to close in July for a two-year renovation.

The 70-year-old Maher often bashes Trumps actions and policies. In February, the Republican Trump said on social media that he regretted inviting Maher to dinner at the White House and called the comedian a highly overrated LIGHTWEIGHT and a jerk.

The White House did not immediately respond to questions about whether Trump was involved in Mahers selection or his reaction to it.

In a statement, Maher thanked the Mark Twain people.

I just had the award explained to me, and apparently its like an Emmy, except I win, Maher said.

Maher has been nominated for over 40 Emmy Awards and won one, as a producer of the news program Vice.

The Mark Twain ceremony, which will take place on June 28, just ahead of the scheduled closure, will stream on Netflix on a date to be announced.

Previous recipients have included Conan OBrien, Carol Burnett and Tina Fey.
By Bryan Manabat

[email protected]

Variety News Staff

HONG Kong Airlines has proposed adding two more flights to Saipan, according to Commonwealth Ports Authority Executive Director Estrellita Esther S. Ada.

In an interview early Monday, Ada said the airline is looking to increase service beginning in May.

They are planning on it, but we havent received confirmation yet  its still pending confirmation, Ada told Variety.

Hong Kong Airlines wants to add two more flights.

Hong Kong Airlines currently operates flights to Saipan twice a week  on Sundays and Thursdays.

The proposal comes as Tway Air announced it will suspend its SeoulSaipan route from May 5 to Oct. 24, citing rising fuel costs, supply constraints, and weaker travel demand tied to the conflict in the Middle East.

The airline informed the Marianas Visitors Authority that global instability has increased operating costs and affected consumer confidence.

According to MVA, Jeju Air will also temporarily suspend its daily Saipan service from March 29 to April 30.

Bryan Manabat was a liberal arts student of Northern Marianas College where he also studied criminal justice. He is the recipient of the NMI Humanities Award as an Outstanding Teacher (Non-Classroom) in 2013, and has worked for the CNMI Motheread/Fatheread Literacy Program as lead facilitator.
A blaze is seen at Israels oil refineries after debris from an intercepted Iranian missile struck an industrial building and a fuel tanker, according to Israels Fire and Rescue Service, in Haifa, Israel, on March 30, 2026. REUTERS

DUBAI/TEL AVIV/WASHINGTON (Reuters)  Iran fired multiple waves of missiles at Israel on Monday and vowed to punish the aggressor as Israeli forces pounded Tehran and oil prices rose after Yemens Houthis entered the war in the Middle East.

Israels military said two drones from Yemen had been intercepted on Monday, two days after the Iran-aligned Houthis, opens new tab fired missiles at Israel for the first time since the start of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran that has spread across the region.

The Israeli military said its forces were targeting what it described as military infrastructure in Tehran and had launched an attack on infrastructure in the Lebanese capital Beirut used by Hezbollah. The Iran-backed Lebanese group also fired more rockets at Israel on Monday, Israeli authorities said.

President Donald Trump said on Sunday the United States and Iran had been meeting directly and indirectly and that Irans new leaders  following the killing of Irans supreme leader on February 28  have been very reasonable.

But he has also been sending more U.S. troops to the region, leading to Irans parliament speaker accusing Washington of sending messages about possible negotiations while planning a ground invasion and prompting more defiance from Tehran.

Irans acting defense minister, Majid Ebn-e Reza, was quoted by the Iranian news agency IRNA on Monday as telling his Turkish counterpart that Tehran would continue to punish aggressors, create deterrence and ensure war wont repeat itself.

The month-long war has spread across the region, killing thousands, causing the biggest disruption ever to energy supplies and hitting the global economy.

Oil prices extended gains on Monday, with Brent crude futures up 2.8% to nearly $116 a barrel at 0933 GMT.

The effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz by Iran has severely disrupted energy markets as it is a conduit for about a fifth of the worlds oil and liquefied natural gas supplies.

The Houthi attacks on Israel raise the prospect that they could target and block a second important shipping route, the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.

The Financial Times quoted Trump on Sunday as saying the U.S. could seize Kharg Island, opens new tab, from where Iran exports much of its oil, but also that a ceasefire could come quickly. Taking control of Kharg would require ground troops.

Meaningful talks

Pakistan, which is acting as an intermediary between Tehran and Washington, said it was preparing to host meaningful talks in the coming days aimed at ending the war. It was not clear whether the U.S. and Iran had agreed to attend.

I think well make a deal with them, Im pretty sure, but its possible we wont, Trump told reporters on Sunday evening as he traveled aboard Air Force One to Washington.

Trump said he thought the U.S. had already accomplished regime change in Tehran after airstrikes killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and other top officials, but said twice that their replacements seemed reasonable. Khamenei was replaced by his son, Mojtaba Khamenei.

Trump also has the option of launching a ground offensive, with the U.S. Department of Defense dispatching thousands of troops to the Middle East, but he has not approved any of those plans, according to multiple news outlets.

Israeli strikes

Four weeks of U.S.-Israeli bombardment has failed to silence Irans missile and drone batteries, and Iran has replaced leaders killed in the attacks. Iran confirmed on Monday the death of Revolutionary Guards Navy Commander Alireza Tangsiri, several days after Israel said he had been killed.

Kuwait said on Monday it had intercepted five drones in areas under its protection. Iraqs Defense Ministry said the Mohamad Alaa air base, beside Baghdad International Airport, was hit by rockets early on Monday, destroying an aircraft but causing no casualties.

Global airlines have begun to increase fares and cut capacity to cope with the surge in the oil price, but economic analysts say the industrys ability to remain profitable may depend on whether consumers pull back on flying as energy costs threaten household budgets.

A majority of Americans are opposed to the war and a military escalation, which would risk a protracted crisis, would likely weigh further on Trumps already low approval ratings ahead of November midterm elections for Congress.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday he had ordered the military to further expand its operations in southern Lebanon, citing continued rocket fire by Hezbollah.

Israel has said it will seize a chunk of southern Lebanon to create a buffer zone against Hezbollah, stoking Lebanese fears of Israeli military occupation that could deepen instability and cause further displacement.

U.S.-based rights group HRANA says nearly 3,500 people have been killed in Iran, including 1,550 civilians, while authorities in Lebanon say nearly 1,240 people have been killed there. Over 400 Hezbollah fighters have been killed since it fired on Israel on March 2, sources told Reuters, but it is unclear if the official death toll includes those fighters.

At least 100 people have been killed in Iraq and 13 U.S. service members have been killed.
An heirloom Sheep's Nose apple grows on a tree. An upcoming Macoupin County Historical Society program will look at the history of apple orchards in the county. emer1940/Getty Images

CARLINVILLE  An upcoming Macoupin County Historical Society program may have participants asking, How do you like them apples?

Botanist William McClain of New Berlin and orchardist Bob Malham will speak on the history of orchards at 7 p.m. April 6 at the societys Ruyle Genealogy Building, 900 Breckenridge St.

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The program is free and the Ruyle Building is handicap accessible.

McClain will discuss current and former Macoupin orchards  including the Broom, Malham, Sooy, Hoelting, Morse and Paul orchards  along with orchard equipment and practices.

Malham will discuss orchard management, including variety selection, disease and pest control, pruning and other topics.

A question-and-answer session will follow.

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The program is part of the societys efforts to start an apple orchard on its property.

McClain, Malham and society members Paul Mihalek and Rodney Eichen are working to plant 24 heirloom apple varieties, including Winesap, Esopus Spitzenburg, York Imperial, Black Twig, Newtown Pippin, Jonathan, Grimes Golden, Sheep's Nose and Arkansas Black.

Once the trees are established in a few years, we hope to be able to sell apples from the orchard, produce cider and make apple pies for sale during the societys spring and fall festivals, McClain said.

McClain has botany degrees from Eastern Illinois University and Miami University in Ohio and worked as a botanist with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, focused on Illinois prairies, forests and rare plant species. He has grown apples and peaches at his home for years.

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My interest in apples extends back some 35 to 40 years ago, when I had a few apple trees and belonged to a group called the Fruit Dabblers, McClain said.
St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church is hosting several Holy Week services. OsakaWayne Studios/Getty Images

BLUFFS  St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church is hosting several Holy Week events for worship and reflection ahead of Easter.

The sixth and last week of Lent  beginning with Palm Sunday and concluding on Holy Saturday ahead of Easter Sunday  is considered Holy Week and commemorates the final days of Jesus' life. Easter, which is Sunday, is considered by Western Christianity to be the day Jesus was resurrected after being crucified.

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The church, at 112 W. Walker St., will have a Maundy Thursday service at 5:30 p.m. Thursday. It will include Communion, remembrance of the Last Supper and the washing of the disciples' feet.

A Good Friday service at 5:30 p.m. Friday will be a tenebrae service to reflect on Jesus' crucifixion.

Easter Sunday's service at 8 a.m. will celebrate Jesus' resurrection. Breakfast will follow.
Mayor Andy Ezard holds a pinwheel. The Advocacy Network for Children, which uses the pinwheels to raise awareness of child abuse and prevention, will host an event at 10 a.m. April 10 at Jacksonville Municipal Building. Ben Singson/Journal-Courier

Advocacy Network for Children is hosting several events in April in honor of Child Abuse Awareness and Prevention Month.

In Jacksonville, the organization will host a flag raising and pinwheel planting event at 10 a.m. April 10 at Jacksonville Municipal Building, 200 W. Douglas Ave.

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A pinwheel planting also will be at 11 a.m. April 6 at Pike County Courthouse, 100 E. Washington St. in Pittsfield.

Other events

The Dome Coffee Shoppe and Eatery in Pittsfield will donate throughout the month from sales of its Waves of Hope drink.

The Drink Shop in Mount Sterling, Camp Point and Jacksonville will make a donation from April 5-11 sales of its Blue Skies Lotus.

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Pizza Unlimited in Rushville will donate from April 15 sales.

Pig & Platter in Rushville will raise money from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. April 19.

Jerseys in Mount Sterling and Camp Point will raise money from 4 to 9 p.m. April 21.

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Archishop Fulton J. Sheen will become one step closer to sainthood with a beatification mass in St. Louis this fall. Bettmann/Bettmann Archive

A former Catholic priest and archbishop that grew up in Peoria, Illinois will come one step closer to sainthood when a special mass is held later this fall.

Archbishop Fulton Sheen will reach the status of blessed (also known as beatified), which is the last status before sainthood in the church. Sheen, who died in 1979, was born in El Paso, Illinois  about 32 miles east of Peoria  and was ordained a priest for the Peoria Archdiocese, the same archdiocese championing his path to sainthood. His higher titles and work came outside of Illinois.

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But the beatification mass won't be held in Sheen's hometown. Due to the expectations of very large attendance numbers, the mass will instead take place in St. Louis at The Dome at America's Center  the same facility Pope John Paul II (now St. John Paul II) held mass when he visited St. Louis in 1999.

The venue, which can host extremely large crowds for sporting events, concerts and conventions, and was the former home of the NFL's St. Louis Rams, held about 104,000 people for Pope John Paul II's mass on Jan. 27, 1999.

In order to become a saint in the Catholic church, there are several stages a person must reach to eventually become canonized and have the status as a saint. Potential saints are evaluated for their devotion and service to the church as well as miracles they've performed that authenticated by the Vaticans Dicastery for the Causes of Saints and the pope himself.

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To get beatified the potential saint has to perform at least one miracle. The miracle that got Sheen to this point, according to Detroit Catholic, came in 2010 when James Fulton Engstrom was born at Peoria's OSF Saint Francis Medical Center "didn't have a pulse or take a breath for 61 minutes after a planned home birth due to a knot in his umbilical cord." His parents prayed to Sheen for his intercession. When his heart began beating at doctors couldn't explain it.

Another miracle attributed to Sheen following his beatification would qualify him for sainthood.

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Here's how the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops explains each status leading to a person becoming a saint:
A state Senate bill would boost registration fees and create an optional road usage charge for electric vehicle drivers in Illinois. Pramote Polyamate/Getty Images

A bill recently introduced in the Illinois Senate would boost registration fees and create a per-mile tax on electric vehicles starting in 2027.

Senate Bill 3566 would increase the surcharge on electric vehicle registration fees from $100 to $320. The bill also would let electric vehicle drivers pay a road usage charge of 1.5 cents per mile driven, with a cap of $320, in lieu of paying the registration fee.

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If passed, both fees would be implemented July 1, 2027. Starting July 1, 2028, both also would annually increase by the percentage increase, if any, in the Consumer Price Index in the previous 12 months.

The bill was introduced Feb. 5 by Sen. Ram Villivalam, D-Chicago, and referred to assignments on the same day. Villivalam previously introduced Senate Bill 1938, which would have charged the state with launching a pilot program to "assess a user fee on owners of motor vehicles that is based on the number of miles traveled on public roadways in this state by those vehicles." The tax the bill would have created would have applied to all cars, not just electric vehicles.

Senate Bill 1938 went through several readings in 2025 before being re-referred to assignments in June. Sen. Neil Anderson, R-Aledo, was added to the bill on March 12 as a cosponsor.

Electric vehicle drivers in Illinois pay $251 for annual registration renewal on their vehicles, with the $100 surcharge meant to compensate for motor fuel taxes. If Senate Bill 3566 were to pass, that fee would jump to $471.

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West-central Illinois is home to a not-insignificant number of electric vehicles, with Morgan County having 71 as of March 15, according to Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias's office.
Morgan County

Sheriff

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ARRESTS, CITATIONS

 A 45-year-old Springfield woman was booked into the Morgan County jail at 8:20 a.m. Monday on a warrant accusing her of violating probation on a charge of possession of a controlled substance.

 A 23-year-old Jacksonville man was booked into the Morgan County jail at 2:12 p.m. Sunday on a warrant accusing him of failing to appear in court on a public indecency charge.

 A 32-year-old Beardstown woman was booked into the Morgan County jail at 12:28 a.m. Saturday on charges of operating an uninsured motor vehicle and driving while license is suspended and on warrants accusing her of failing to appear in court on charges of having a defective windshield, having no valid registration, operating an uninsured motor vehicle, and driving while license is suspended.

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 A 24-year-old Waverly man was booked into the Morgan County jail at 6:57 a.m. Friday on charges of driving under the influence and illegal possession or transportation of liquor by a driver.

Jacksonville Police

ARRESTS, CITATIONS

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 A 41-year-old Jacksonville man was arrested at 5:12 p.m. Sunday at Walmart, 1941 W. Morton Ave., on a criminal trespassing charge.

DISTURBANCES

 Police were called at 5:02 p.m. Sunday to a disturbance in the 1600 block of West Walnut Street. Those involved were advised to stay separated, according to a police report.

 Police were called at 4:13 p.m. Sunday to a disturbance in the 700 block of Allen Avenue. Those involved were separated.

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 Police were called at 1:30 p.m. Sunday to a disturbance in the 300 block of West Lafayette Avenue. Those involved were separated.

OTHER REPORTS

 Juveniles were throwing rocks from a train overpass on Routt Street, according to a report filed at 12:27 p.m. Sunday.

South Jacksonville Police

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ARRESTS, CITATIONS

 A 61-year-old Jacksonville woman was booked into the Morgan County jail at 7:52 p.m. Sunday on a charge of driving under the influence.

 A 47-year-old Winchester woman was booked into the Morgan County jail at 3:32 a.m. Friday on charges of possession of methamphetamine and possession of drug paraphernalia and on a warrant accusing her of failing to appear in court on an assault charge.

Pike County

Sheriff

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ARRESTS, CITATIONS

 A 34-year-old Nebo woman was booked into Pike County Jail on Sunday on a charge of aggravated battery to a police officer.

 A 63-year-old Pittsfield man was booked into Pike County Jail on Friday on a warrant accusing him of failing to appear in court.

 A 48-year-old Chambersburg woman was booked into Pike County Jail on March 27 on a warrant seeking to revoke probation.

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 A 43-year-old Barry man was booked into Pike County Jail on March 25 on a domestic battery charge.

 A 29-year-old Palmyra, Missouri, man was booked into Pike County Jail on March 24 on warrants accusing him of failing to appear in court.

Pittsfield Police

ARRESTS, CITATIONS

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 A 39-year-old Pittsfield man was booked into Pike County Jail on Thursday on a charge of possession of methamphetamine.
Several hundred people joined a No Kings protest in Jacksonville, part of a nationwide day of demonstrations against Trump administration policies. David C.L. Bauer/Journal-Courier

A collection of young and old lined the fence along the front of Community Park, some bearing signs or carrying flags, as Jacksonville joined other locations across the nation in protest against President Donald Trump's administration and its policies.

The crowd waved at those driving by on the city's busiest thoroughfare as the sounds of horns honking in support punctuated their own cheers.

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Some of those attending a No Kings rally in Jacksonville line the fence along the front of Community Park. Several hundred people joined Saturday's protest in Jacksonville against Trump administration policies. David C.L. Bauer/Journal-Courier

Several hundred people gathered Saturday in Jacksonville for a No Kings protest as nationwide rallies challenged Trump administration policies. David C.L. Bauer/Journal-Courier

Occasionally, a megaphone-amplified voice called out "Show me what democracy looks like" and drew the response, "This is what democracy looks like."

It was not the first time Jacksonville has taken part in protests against Trump administration policies  about two dozen people turned out at the same location in July as part of the Good Trouble Lives On rally  but Saturday's crowd was significantly larger, estimated at a little more than 200 people.

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Several hundred people gathered Saturday in Jacksonville for a No Kings protest as nationwide rallies challenged Trump administration policies. David C.L. Bauer/Journal-Courier

Several hundred people gathered Saturday in Jacksonville for a No Kings protest as nationwide rallies challenged Trump administration policies. David C.L. Bauer/Journal-Courier

While there were a few jeers from passers-by, it was a largely undisturbed two-hour gathering. Police were called about midway through the event about three trucks driving past and using megaphones to harass protesters and blowing black smoke into the crowd, according to a police report. The trucks left before officers arrived.

The event was organized by Morgan County Democrats and Indivisible Jacksonville as part of the third No Kings National Day of Nonviolent Action. There were more than 3,100 events scheduled Saturday across the nation and expected to draw more than 9 million people.

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Several hundred people gathered Saturday in Jacksonville for a No Kings protest as nationwide rallies challenged Trump administration policies. David C.L. Bauer/Journal-Courier

Several hundred people gathered Saturday in Jacksonville for a No Kings protest as nationwide rallies challenged Trump administration policies. David C.L. Bauer/Journal-Courier

Rallies in Quincy and Alton also drew several hundred people, and more than 1,000 people gathered outside the state Capitol in Springfield. Organizers estimate attendance at a Chicago No Kings protest was about 300,000.

The White House said the protests had little public support and were the creation of "leftist funding networks."

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"[The] only people who care about these Trump Derangement Therapy Sessions are the reporters who are paid to cover them," White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said in a statement.

Several hundred people gathered Saturday in Jacksonville for a No Kings protest as nationwide rallies challenged Trump administration policies. David C.L. Bauer/Journal-Courier
At least one internet provider is cautioning people about the security risks associated with "superboxes," used to stream programs to televisions. SimpleImages/Getty Images

At least one internet provider is warning users of "superboxes," which stream television programming, about potential security risks and legal issues.

"Our technicians frequently detect these devices sending data to international servers, including Russia and China," Illinois Net told customers. "This type of activity can place your home network and connected devices at risk."

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Superboxes are devices that look a modified Amazon Fire TV Stick or internet router. People plug them into their TV, go through the necessary hardware changes, and gain access to dozens of services.

They usually cost between $100 and $300  a one-time fee that's typically cheaper than paying for multiple streaming services every month. They can be bought in stores and online.

"The problem is, with the rising costs everywhere, people are looking at ways to still enjoy things but spend less money because they just have less disposable income," said Maurice Dawson, director and associate professor for the Center for Cyber Security and Forensics Education at the Illinois Institute of Technology.

Illinois Net said the devices pose a security risk, and it won't offer technical support for the boxes.

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"If you are experiencing slow speeds, unstable Wi-Fi, or other internet issues, one of the first things to check is whether a superbox or similar streaming device is connected to your network," the company said. "In many cases, unplugging the device immediately resolves performance issues."

Dawson said the threat from superboxes is real.

"No one checks the security of these, and a lot of times they have built in malware and vulnerabilities," Dawson said. "So when you bring these devices into your home, you have to connect to the internet. So now you connected this potentially malicious item to your home internet  so you've introduced all these threats in your home network."

Dawson said it's illegal not to pay for streaming services. He compared it to going to the movie theater and filming the movie or ripping a copy of a movie to a DVD instead of buying another one.

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"A lot of times when you're accessing these items, you may be using someone else's account," Dawson said. "So that particular account is being overshared. That's why Netflix says, 'Hey, you can only use a max of several accounts per household.' They limit it because they realize that people may get their usernames and passwords hijacked."

Dawson said he hasn't noticed any appetite to regulate these devices. He said they're still sold in stores because the burden of installing the free-streaming software made for the devices is placed on the consumer, not the company.
Commentary: War always means the loss of human life. Children have lost parents. Spouses have lost mates. We have lost Americans. Anadolu via Getty Images

I am ready for the Iran war to be over.

I wasnt ready for it to start.

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War always means the loss of human life. The families and friends of those who have been killed will suffer emotionally for the rest of their lives. Children have now lost parents. Spouses have lost mates. We have lost Americans. Yes, we thank God for their service to our country, but they are still dead because of a war.

I was sick and tired of Afghanistan years before Afghanistan ever ended and the same with Iraq. They spent $2 trillion and thousands of American lives were lost. However, it was crazy the way we left Afghanistan. We should never have turned everything over to the Taliban. We should have kept our base and airport and a couple of thousand soldiers in Afghanistan to have maintained that strategic base.

Here we are again in the Middle East. Gasoline is skyrocketing. The stock market is plummeting. Americans 55 and older are seeing their retirement funds drop like a rock. Groceries continue to become more expensive. Also, innocent people in Iran are dying. We have no way of knowing for sure how many good Iranian citizens have been killed. Everyone in Iran is not evil. There are millions who hate the current reigning regime and want change.

It is tragic that good citizens have and will be killed by our attacks. This does not make us loved. We have to know that down the road there will definitely be blowback.

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The current regime, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in Iran is evil. They recently executed a 19-year-old wrestler by hanging him in public. They didnt like something he had said. These people will do anything. This is what we have to remember and this is what our president knows. With a nuclear weapon, they would hold the world hostage. The Straits of Hormuz will eventually be open and moving again. Oil will eventually flow again.

Iran and the regime had to be stopped. The current impact is bad, but nothing like it would have been if they had been successful in building their own nuclear weapons.

Our president does not want this to go on forever. Lets pray that NATO countries will truly step up and do their part in opening up the Straits of Hormuz. Lets hope and pray for a government run by the people of Iran.

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Plainview PD Plainview PD Logo

March 1

An aggravated assault was reported on March 1 at the 1300 block of Portland. Officers spoke with a female who said her boyfriend fled the scene after allegedly assaulting her. The case remains under investigation.

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A 17-year-old man was arrested on March 1 at the 1500 block of I-27. Officers were dispatched to the location in reference to theft. The individual was identified and charged with theft and with engaging in organized criminal activity.

A 39-year-old woman was arrested on March 1 at the 600 block of W. 24th St. Officers conducted a welfare check at the location after a report of a woman lying in the parking lot. When officers arrived, they found her in the grass discovered she was intoxicated. As she was placed in custody, she allegedly assaulted an officer. Marijuana was also found in her belongings. She was charged with public intoxication, with possession of marijuana and with assault of a peace officer, which is a felony.

--

March 2

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A 21-year-old woman was arrested on March 2 at the 600 block of N. Columbia. Officers conducted a warrant check and noted that she had outstanding warrants for theft and for failure to appear/bail jumping.

Criminal mischief was reported on March 2 at the 2800 block of W. 24th St. Damaged property was noted.

A 40-year-old man was arrested on March 2 at the 900 block of Milwaukee St. The man was observed walking south down the block. He was found to have an active warrant for theft.

A theft was reported on March 2 at the 1100 block of Portland St.

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An abandoned vehicle was noted on March 2 at the 1200 block of W. 7th St.

An assault was reported at the 900 block of N. I-27 on March 2.

A 36-year-old man was arrested on March 2 at the 400 block of W. 24th St. during a traffic stop. The individual was charged with driving with an invalid license with previous conviction/suspension without financial resolution.

A 63-year-old man was arrested on March 2 at the 3300 block of W. 10th. Officers were called to the location in reference to an intoxicated individual and he resisted officers when they tried to put him in custody. He was charged with public intoxication and with resisting arrest, search or transportation.

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--

March 3

A burglary was reported on March 3 at the 1500 block of Yonkers St.

A crash was reported on March 3 at the 3200 block of Olton Road. Vehicle damage was reported but there were no injuries.

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Theft was reported at the 1500 block of N. I-27 on March 3. According to the incident report, a woman left her wallet in the bathroom stall and could not find it when she returned for it.

Another crash was reported on March 3 at the intersection of 24th St. and Yonkers. An SUV traveling east down 24th ran a red light and collided with another SUV heading south on Yonkers. No injuries were noted.

A 31-year-old man was arrested on March 3 at the 700 block of Independence St. Officers responded to the location in reference to a wanted subject who fled on foot from an officer. He was found to have an active felony warrant for burglary of a habitation. He was also charged with evading arrest or detention with previous conviction, which is a felony.

A crash was reported on March 3 at the 3700 block of Olton Road. Vehicle damage was noted.

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A 30-year-old man was arrested on March 3 at the 300 block of W. 5th St. A man was asked to leave the property multiple times and refused. He was charged with criminal trespass.

Theft was reported on March 3 at the 1800 block of W. 5th St.

A 45-year-old man was arrested on March 3 at the 1200 block of W. 21st St. Officers were dispatched to the location in reference to a man squatting in an apartment. The man was noted to be throwing things around inside. When he was located, he was found to have an active warrant for assault public service  parole violation.

--

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March 4

A 19-year-old man was arrested on March 4 at the 1000 block of Baltimore St. The individual was known to have an active felony warrant for burglary of a habitation.

Sexual assault was reported to the Plainview Police Department on March 3.

A 36-year-old woman was arrested on March 4 at the 800 block of Ennis. She was charged with criminal trespass.

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An assault was reported on March 4 at the 1600 block of W. 9th St.

A sex offense was reported to the Plainview Police Department on March 4.

A theft was reported on March 4 at the 1500 block of N. I-27.

A crash resulting in property damage was reported on March 4 at the 2700 block of Olton Road.

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A dog bite was reported on march 4 at the 600 block of W. 29th St.

Officers were dispatched to the 1600 block of W. 21st St. on march 4 in reference to someone finding bullet holes in their vehicle. Shell casings were found at the scene.

An 18-year-old man was arrested on March 4 at the 3500 block of Joliet St. During a traffic stop, officers requested a K9. The K9 conducted an air-sniff of the vehicle and alerted officers to contraband. Officers found a controlled substance during the search. Cocaine is noted in the incident report. The teen was charged with possession of a controlled substance, which is a felony.

A burglary was reported on March 4 at the 700 block of W. 19th St. Officers found a broken glass window.

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A 27-year-old man was arrested for public intoxication on March 4 at the 2200 block of Joliet St.

--

March 5

A burglary was reported at the 1100 block of Denver St. The reporting party noted missing DVDs, pots and pans.

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A 29-year-old man was arrested on March 5 at the 1500 block of E. 5th St. during a traffic stop. The individual was charged with driving with an invalid license with previous conviction/suspension without financial resolution.

A case of animal cruelty was reported on March 5. As Animal Control officers were headed to a call, they noted an underweight German Shepherd at the 400 block of W. 29th St. and stopped to investigate. The owner was advised to take the dog to the vet or it would be seized.

Criminal mischief was reported to the Plainview Police Department on March 5. A victim told officers their property was intentionally damaged at the Central Village Apartments.

A 51-year-old man was arrested on March 5 at the 1700 block of W. 24th St. during a traffic stop. The man was found to have multiple active warrants including two charges for violating a city ordinance, two for having tall weeds/grass and one for failure to appear/bail jumping.

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A 43-year-old man was arrested on March 5 at the 2100 block of Smythe St. during a traffic stop. The individual refused to stop when officers tried to pull him over. He was found later and arrested. He was charged with evading arrest or detention with a vehicle, which is a felony.

--

March 6

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Bipartisan bill targets Chinese-linked robotics, seeks ban on federal use

Senators Tom Cotton and Chuck Schumer proposed the American Security Robotics Act to limit U.S. government use of robotics tied to foreign adversaries, especially China.

The bill would block federal agencies from buying or operating ground-based robotic systemsincluding humanoid robots, surveillance vehicles and autonomous patrol techlinked to adversarial governments.

Federal funds would be prohibited from supporting these technologies and agencies would have one year to phase out any existing systems.

Lawmakers warn Chinese-linked robotics could threaten data privacy, security and U.S. technological competitiveness.

The measure builds on earlier actions like drone bans and Federal Communications Commission restrictions, as Congress continues efforts to limit foreign influence in critical technologies.

A bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers introduced new legislation on March 26 aimed at restricting the federal government's use of robotics technology linked to foreign adversaries, particularly China.

The proposed measure, known as the American Security Robotics Act, was spearheaded by Sens. Tom Cotton (R-AR) and Chuck Schumer (D-NY), reflecting growing concern in Congress over national security risks tied to emerging technologies.

The bill would prohibit federal agencies from purchasing or operating ground-based robotic systems manufactured or assembled by companies connected to adversarial governments. The restrictions would apply broadly to unmanned ground vehicles including humanoid robots, autonomous patrol systems, mobile robotics platforms and remote surveillance devices.

In a statement, Cotton emphasized the perceived threat posed by such technologies, warning that robotics developed by entities linked to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could compromise both privacy and national security. Schumer echoed those concerns, accusing Chinese-backed firms of attempting to dominate the U.S. robotics market while potentially exposing sensitive data and undermining domestic innovation.

If enacted, the legislation would also prevent federal funds, whether through contracts, grants or cooperative agreements, from being used to acquire or operate the covered systems. Agencies currently using such technologies would be given a one-year deadline to discontinue their use.

This legislation, as BrightU.AI's Enoch noted, is a crucial step in safeguarding U.S. national security and protecting the integrity of our technological advancements from foreign exploitation.

Broader push to counter foreign tech influence

The proposal is part of a wider bipartisan effort in Washington to curb the influence of foreign-made technology in government operations. A companion bill has already been introduced in the House of Representatives by Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), signaling coordinated action across both chambers of Congress.

The robotics legislation builds on previous efforts, including the American Security Drone Act, which was passed as part of the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act. That law barred federal agencies from using drones manufactured by certain foreign entities and took effect in December 2025 with overwhelming bipartisan support.

Regulators have also taken action. The Federal Communications Commission has expanded its Covered List to block the sale of certain foreign-made drones and telecommunications equipment, citing national security risks. Companies such as Huawei and ZTE were previously targeted under similar restrictions, along with surveillance equipment manufacturers.

At the state level, governments in places like Florida and Arkansas have enacted their own bans on Chinese-made drones in official use, further illustrating the growing consensus around limiting reliance on foreign technology in sensitive sectors.

The new bill arrives amid intensifying competition in the global robotics industry, particularly in the development of humanoid robots. Chinese firms such as Agibot and Unitree are reportedly preparing to go public in 2026, highlighting the rapid pace of innovation and commercialization in the sector. U.S. lawmakers have previously raised concerns about Unitree's alleged ties to China's military.

Congress has also explored related proposals, including the Humanoid ROBOT Act introduced in 2025 by Bill Cassidy and Chris Coons. That measure similarly seeks to block the use of humanoid robots developed by entities in countries considered foreign adversaries, including China, Russia, Iran and North Korea.

Under the Cotton-Schumer bill, those same nations would be classified as "covered countries," aligning the proposal with existing federal definitions. Lawmakers say the goal is to safeguard U.S. infrastructure, data and technological leadership as robotics becomes an increasingly critical part of government and industry operations.

Watch this clip from the "Worldview Report" about 2024 being a dangerous year for the United States militarily.

This video is from the Worldview Report channel on Brighteon.com.

Sources include:

TheEpochTimes.com

BrightU.ai

Brighteon.com
Irans hardliners push for NUCLEAR WEAPONS as tensions escalate with U.S. and Israel

Iran's hardline factions, emboldened by recent U.S. and Israeli strikes, are advocating for withdrawal from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and openly pursuing nuclear weapons. Key figures, including Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) leaders and conservative commentators, argue that a nuclear deterrent is now necessary for Iran's survival.

The killing of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other moderates has strengthened hardliners, reducing internal resistance to abandoning nuclear restraint. The IRGC and hardline media (e.g., Tasnim News) are openly debating weaponization under the guise of civilian nuclear programs.

Iran has halted cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), raising global concerns about unchecked uranium enrichment. Without inspections, the world cannot verify Iran's nuclear activities, increasing fears of rapid weaponization.

Western intelligence has long suspected Iran of secretly pursuing nuclear weapons under civilian programs. Russia's Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev warn that continued U.S./Israeli aggression could push Iran toward nuclearizationpossibly with external help.

If Iran withdraws from the NPT, it would signal open intent to build nuclear arms, drastically escalating tensions. The Middle East faces a dangerous shift in power dynamics, risking broader conflict as Tehran weighs its next move.

Amid escalating conflict with the United States and Israel, Iran's hardline factions are increasingly advocating for the country to abandon its nuclear restraint and openly pursue atomic weapons.

The killing of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other key officials has shifted power toward the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), whose leaders now openly question Iran's continued adherence to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). BrightU.AI's Enoch engine explains that the NPT is an international agreement established in 1968 with the primary objectives of preventing the spread of nuclear weapons, promoting disarmament and facilitating the peaceful use of nuclear energy.

Two senior Iranian sources told Reuters that hardline factions, emboldened by recent attacks, are pushing for a radical shift in Iran's nuclear policy. While Tehran has long denied seeking nuclear weaponsciting Khamenei's religious fatwa against themstate media and political figures are now openly debating whether Iran should withdraw from the NPT and pursue a bomb.

Mohammad Javad Larijani, a hardline politician and brother of slain defense official Ali Larijani, was quoted in state media this week urging Iran to suspend its NPT membership: "The NPT should be suspended. We should form a committee to assess whether the NPT is of any use to us at all. If it proves useful, we will return to it. If not, they can keep it."

Similarly, conservative commentator Nasser Torabi stated on state television: "We need to act in order to build a nuclear weapon. Either we build it or we acquire it."

The IRGC-affiliated Tasnim News Agency published an editorial Thursday, March 26, calling for Iran's immediate withdrawal from the NPT while maintaining a civilian nuclear programa thinly veiled suggestion that Tehran should pursue weapons capability under the guise of peaceful energy.

How airstrikes are forcing Iran's nuclear hand

The U.S. and Israel have conducted sustained airstrikes on Iran's nuclear and military facilities since February, further destabilizing the region. Analysts suggest these attacks have convinced Iranian strategists that restraint offers no protectiononly a nuclear deterrent can ensure survival.

One Iranian source admitted there is no formal decision yet to pursue a bomb, but the debate within ruling circles is intensifying. With Khamenei and Ali Larijaniboth moderating influencesnow dead, hardliners face less resistance.

Iran's suspension of cooperation with the IAEA has heightened concerns about unchecked uranium enrichment. IAEA Director-General Rafael Grossi has warned that without inspections the world cannot verify Iran's nuclear activitiesa situation that could lead to rapid weaponization.

Western intelligence agencies have long suspected Iran of pursuing nuclear weapons capability under the cover of civilian programs. A 2024 United Nations report suggested Tehran already possesses atomic arms, while Israel has warned for years that Iran was mere months away from weaponization.

Russian President Vladimir Putin cautioned that U.S. and Israeli aggression could push Iran toward nuclearizationa prediction now materializing. Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has even warned that other nations might supply Iran with nuclear weapons if the conflict continues.

Iran's potential withdrawal from the NPT would mark a dangerous escalation, signaling its intent to openly pursue nuclear arms. The IAEA's inability to monitor enrichment raises fears of a clandestine weapons program, while hardliners argue that only a nuclear deterrent can protect Iran from further attacks. Nevertheless, the world watches anxiously as Tehran weighs its next moveone that could redefine the Middle East's balance of power and push the region closer to all-out war.

Watch this clip of U.S. President Donald Trump insisting that Iran can't have nuclear weapons.

This video is from the TrendingNews channel on Brighteon.com.

Sources include:

InfoWars.com

Al-Monitor.com

TimesOfIsrael.com

TasnimNews.ir

BrightU,ai

Brighteon.com
Trump Extends Deadline for Action Against Iran, Citing Progress in Ongoing Discussions

Administration Announces Extension Amid Reported Talks Progress

U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Thursday, March 26, that he was extending a deadline for potential U.S. military action against Iran, setting a new date of April 6. The move delays previously threatened strikes on Iranian energy infrastructure. [1]

Trump stated the extension was granted "as per Iranian Government request," and characterized discussions with Tehran as going "very well." [1] The decision was communicated via the president's social media platform, marking a 10-day pause in the countdown to possible action. The initial deadline was part of U.S. demands for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to international shipping. [2]

Official Statements and Rationale for Delay

A senior U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, characterized the extension as a "diplomatic gesture based on constructive signals." [1] The official emphasized that all military options, including significant strikes, remain available if diplomatic efforts fail. [3]

Trump cited a specific concession from Iran as influencing his decision, referring to it as a "present."

Reactions from Security and Diplomatic Officials

Within the U.S. government, reactions were mixed. Military advisors have reportedly recommended maintaining a high state of readiness during the extended timeline, according to sources familiar with the matter. [4] This comes as the Department of War is said to be reviewing options for a potential "final blow" against Iran should negotiations collapse, plans which could include deploying American ground troops. [3]

Some diplomats expressed cautious optimism about the extended window for dialogue. However, the diplomatic landscape remains complex, with Iranian officials repeatedly denying that direct talks with the U.S. are taking place. [5]

A spokesperson for Iran's Foreign Ministry previously mocked claims of negotiations, stating Americans had been "negotiating with themselves." [6] Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a carefully worded statement, said any potential deal would need to protect Tel Aviv's "vital interests." [7]

Background on Recent Escalations and Policy Context

The current crisis, dubbed "Operation Epic Fury" by U.S. officials, began on Feb. 28 with a wave of American and Israeli airstrikes. [8] The conflict was initiated despite the Trump administration being engaged in active negotiations with Iran at the time, a tactic that has drawn criticism for undermining diplomatic channels. [9] The administration's stated policy has consistently emphasized "maximum pressure" on Tehran over its nuclear program and regional activities. [10]

Iran has responded to U.S. demands with a set of its own conditions for ending the war. According to Iranian state media, Tehran's demands include guarantees against future U.S.-Israeli attacks, payment of reparations for war damages and maintaining control over the Strait of Hormuz. [11] These conditions stand in stark contrast to a reported 15-point U.S. peace plan, which includes demands for Iran to commit to not building nuclear weapons and to reopen the strategic waterway. [12]

Next Steps and Ongoing Monitoring

Administration officials stated they will "monitor developments closely" during the extended period. [3] International partners have been notified of the decision, according to diplomatic sources. The situation is described as fluid, with outcomes heavily dependent on further diplomatic engagement, possibly involving third-party mediators. [13]

Regional stability and global markets remain sensitive to the developments. Earlier optimism about a ceasefire caused U.S. stock futures to surge and oil prices to tumble, while denials from Tehran reversed those moves. [14]

The extended deadline of April 6 now sets a new marker for potential military escalation or a diplomatic breakthrough. As one analysis noted, Iran's initial rejection of talks may reflect deep mistrust rather than a complete refusal to engage, potentially leaving a small window open for diplomacy. [6]

Conclusion

Trump's decision to extend the deadline for action against Iran introduces a new phase of uncertainty into a conflict now in its fourth week. The administration cites progress in talks, while Iranian officials publicly dispute the existence of such dialogue. The coming days will test whether the extended timeline can bridge the gap between Washington's demands and Tehran's conditions, or if the military planning reportedly underway will move to the forefront.

References
Trump orders immediate pay for unpaid TSA agents amid airport chaos

President Trump announced he will bypass Congress and use executive authority to ensure unpaid TSA agents receive their wages amid the government shutdown, citing a "National Emergency" caused by Democratic obstruction.

TSA agents have faced severe financial hardship, leading to mass resignations (over 480 officers) and absentee rates exceeding 11%, resulting in hours-long security delays and stranded travelers.

The White House confirmed payments will come from Trump's 2025 tax legislation funds, similar to past shutdown measures where he ensured military personnel were paid despite congressional gridlock.

Republicans offered a "final" proposal to fund most of DHS except ICE deportation operations, but Democrats demand stricter ICE oversight (ID badges, warrants, etc.), which Republicans reject.

While Trump's order provides temporary relief, long-term DHS funding remains unresolved, with Democrats refusing compromise and airports bracing for worsening delays during Memorial Day travel surges.

President Donald Trump announced Thursday, March 26, he will sign an executive order directing the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to immediately pay Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents, who have gone without paychecks for weeks amid a government funding standoff.

The move comes as airport security lines grow increasingly chaotic, with travelers facing hours-long delays and TSA agents quitting in droves due to financial hardship. Trump blamed Democrats for the crisis, accusing them of creating a "National Emergency" by refusing to fund DHS.

In a late-night post on Truth Social, Trump declared he would use his executive authority to ensure TSA agents receive their wages, circumventing Congress' stalled negotiations. "Because the Democrats have recklessly created a true National Crisis, I am using my authorities under the Law to protect our Great Country, as I always will do!" the real wrote. "Therefore, I am going to sign an Order instructing the Secretary of Homeland Security, Markwayne Mullin, to immediately pay our TSA Agents in order to address this Emergency Situation, and to quickly stop the Democrat Chaos at the Airports."

A senior administration official confirmed to NewsNation that funds from Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill" (a reference to his 2025 tax legislation) will be used to cover the payments. The White House compared the action to past shutdown measures where Trump ensured military personnel were paid despite congressional gridlock.

BrightU.AI's Enoch engine recounts that during an earlier congressional gridlock, Trump ensured military personnel were paid by leveraging executive authority and existing legal frameworks to bypass legislative delays. His administration prioritized national security and operational readiness, recognizing that withholding pay from service members would undermine military morale and effectiveness.

Airport chaos escalates amid unpaid TSA exodus

Since the partial government shutdown began in mid-February, TSA agents have worked without pay, leading to severe staffing shortages. More than 480 officers have resigned, and absentee rates have surged past 11% nationwide, according to DHS data. Acting TSA Administrator Ha Nguyen McNeill testified before Congress this week, detailing the hardships faced by employees.

"Many in our workforce have missed bill payments, received eviction notices, had their cars repossessed and utilities shut off, lost their childcare, defaulted on loans, damaged their credit line, and drained their retirement savings," McNeill said. "Some are sleeping in their cars, selling their blood and plasma, and taking on second jobs to make ends meet."

At major hubs like Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport, travelers reported three-hour security waits, causing some to miss flights entirely.

"I should have just driven, right?" said passenger Melissa Gates, who missed her flight to Baton Rouge. "Five hours would have been hilarious next to this."

Congress deadlocked as Republicans push "final offer"

While Trumps executive action may temporarily alleviate financial strain on TSA workers, the broader DHS funding impasse remains unresolved. Senate Republicans, led by Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD), presented Democrats with what they called a "last and final" proposalfunding all of DHS except Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) deportation operations.

Democrats, however, have demanded stricter oversight of ICE following high-profile incidents, including the deaths of two Americans during immigration raids in Minneapolis. They want agents to wear identification, remove masks and obtain judicial warrants before conducting raidsconditions Republicans have rejected.

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) dismissed Trump's emergency order as a failure of negotiation: "His national emergency is that he can't cut a deal? He's a bad negotiator. I don't think that's grounds for a national emergency."

Meanwhile, Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) praised Trump's move, accusing Democrats of obstruction: "The president is doing absolutely the right thing. He's showing leadership at a time the Democrats are continuing to fight against the... freedom-loving people of the country."

What happens next?

Trump's order could ease immediate pressure on TSA staffing, but key questions remain:

Will the Coast Guard and other unfunded DHS agencies also receive pay?

Can Congress reach a long-term deal before recess?

Will Democrats accept a compromise, or will the shutdown drag on?

Senate Republicans insist they have made their final offer, while Democrats argue Republicans must agree to ICE reforms.

As airports brace for Memorial Day weekend travel surges, airlines are spending millions to hire extra staff and manage security linesa stopgap measure until Congress or the White House finds a permanent solution.

For now, Trump's executive action offers a reprieve for unpaid TSA agentsbut the political battle over DHS funding is far from over.

Watch this video about worsening airport lines caused by more TSA agents leaving.

This video is from the TrendingNews channel on Brighteon.com.

Sources include:

NewsNationNow.com

APNews.com

CNBC.com

TheGuardian.com

BrightU.ai

Brighteon.com
Department of War deploys Ukraine-style drone boats to Middle East, signaling new era of low-cost AI warfare

The Department of War confirmed deploying Ukrainian-style drone boats in the Middle East under Operation Epic Fury, highlighting a shift toward autonomous warfare.

The unmanned vessels, called GARC and built by BlackSea, are being used for maritime reconnaissance with proven operational range and endurance.

The move reflects lessons from the Russia-Ukraine War, where low-cost drones and autonomous systems have proven highly effective.

Military strategy is increasingly focused on scalable, cost-efficient technologies, with drone boats offering versatile roles from surveillance to potential strike missions.

The use of systems like GARC and drones modeled after the Shahed-136 signals a future battlefield dominated by AI-driven, autonomous and low-cost combat systems.

The Department of War (DOW) has confirmed the deployment of Ukrainian-style drone boats to the Middle East as part of Operation Epic Fury against Iran, marking a significant shift in how modern conflicts are being fought. According to Reuters, the move underscores a growing recognition within U.S. defense circles that low-cost, autonomous systems are rapidly becoming essential tools on the battlefield.

Tim Hawkins, a spokesperson for Central Command, said the unmanned vessels, known as Global Autonomous Reconnaissance Craft (GARC), are already being used in active maritime reconnaissance missions. These crafts, as defined by BrightU.AI's Enoch, are equipped with sophisticated sensors and AI systems, designed to operate autonomously in various environments for surveillance, data collection and intelligence gathering. Built by Baltimore-based BlackSea, the drone boats represent a new generation of modular, remotely operated platforms capable of handling a wide range of military tasks.

"U.S. forces continue to employ unmanned systems in the Middle East region, including surface drone assets like the GARC," Hawkins said. "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."

The deployment highlights how lessons from the Russia-Ukraine War are being rapidly integrated into U.S. military strategy. Over the past four years, that conflict has demonstrated the effectiveness of inexpensive yet highly adaptable technologies, including first-person-view (FPV) drones, autonomous ground robots and now maritime drone systems.

Shift toward low-cost autonomous warfare

Military analysts say the increasing reliance on systems like the GARC reflects a broader shift toward scalable, cost-efficient warfare. Unlike traditional naval assets, which can cost millions or even billions of dollars, drone boats offer a relatively inexpensive alternative while still delivering strategic value in intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) missions.

BlackSea describes the GARC as a high-speed unmanned surface vehicle designed for multiple roles, including communications relay, mine countermeasures and even potential strike operations. Its modular design allows for rapid adaptation depending on mission requirements, making it particularly suited for dynamic environments like the Middle East.

The DOW's embrace of such technologies has been further reinforced by Operation Epic Fury, which officials say serves as a testing ground for next-generation combat systems. In addition to drone boats, U.S. forces have reportedly deployed loitering munitions modeled after the Iranian-made Shahed-136, signaling a pragmatic approach to adopting and adapting adversary technologies.

This evolution reflects a broader trend seen across global military powers, including developments in Russia and China, where rapid innovation in autonomous systems is reshaping combat doctrines. Analysts note that the integration of artificial intelligence into "kill chains," the process of identifying, tracking and engaging targets, could further accelerate the pace and lethality of future conflicts.

The growing use of such systems offers a glimpse into what warfare in the 2030s may look like: highly automated, decentralized and dominated by swarms of inexpensive yet effective machines. Defense experts suggest that the next frontier could involve humanoid robots and other forms of "physical AI" operating alongside traditional forces.

Watch this video debunking the so-called "myth" of "billions of arms flowing into Ukraine."

This video is from The Prisoner channel on Brighteon.com.

Sources include:

ZeroHedge.com

BrightU.ai

Brighteon.com
Face Peelers of the Amazon: A chilling expedition into the unknown

The book "Face Peelers of the Amazon: Unmasking the Dark Harvest" investigates the terrifying legend of the "Face Peelers" (Pishtacos)tall, armored entities that surgically remove victims' faces with advanced precision. Eyewitness accounts and forensic evidence (e.g., a young man found with three-quarters of his face removed) confirm these are not mere myths but recurring, consistent encounters across isolated Amazonian communities.

Witnesses describe beings with hoverboards, impervious armor (immune to shotgun blasts) and electromagnetic disturbances that disrupt electronics. These traits suggest technology surpassing known military or scientific advancements, drawing parallels to global phenomena like cattle mutilations and skinwalker legends.

The book exposes joint operations by U.S. Marines, Navy SEALs and Space Force in the same regions as Face Peeler attacks. Declassified documents and whistleblowers hint at clandestine activitiesreverse-engineering exotic tech, bioweapons programs, or even conflict with non-human entities.

Villagers live in fear, fortifying communities with shotguns and night-vision gear. Shamans blend ancient rituals with modern tech to repel the entities, while survivors defy government suppression to document attacks, showcasing resilience against unexplained horrors.

The book provides practical tools for investigating high-strangeness phenomena, including evidence-collection protocols, encrypted satellite communication and community defense strategies. It urges readers to confront the implications: if this is happening in the Amazon, where else might it occurand what is the end goal?

Deep in the heart of the Peruvian Amazon, where the jungle hums with secrets older than time, a terrifying legend has taken rootone that blurs the line between folklore and horrifying reality. "Face Peelers of the Amazon: Unmasking the Dark Harvest" is not just another paranormal investigation; it is a meticulously documented journey into a phenomenon that defies conventional explanation.

Author Timothy Alberino, an investigative journalist with firsthand experience in the Amazon, delivers a gripping narrative that reads like a thrillerexcept every spine-chilling detail is backed by eyewitness accounts, forensic evidence and geopolitical intrigue. This book is a wake-up call, forcing us to question what we think we know about the world and the forces that operate in its shadows.

The book opens with the unsettling legend of the Pishtacos, or "Face Peelers"entities described as tall, silent figures clad in black armor, impervious to bullets, who surgically remove the faces of their victims with chilling precision. These are not mere campfire stories. Alberino presents harrowing testimonies from villagers who have encountered these beings firsthand, describing encounters so consistent across isolated communities that coincidence becomes an impossible explanation.

One particularly disturbing case involves a young man found with three-quarters of his face removednot by animal predation, but by what appears to be advanced surgical techniques. Similar reports detail organ harvesting, electromagnetic anomalies and encounters with hovering, silent craft that defy known aerospace technology.

Advanced technology or something more?

Alberino doesn't shy away from exploring the most unsettling possibilities. Are these "Face Peelers" rogue military operatives engaged in black-budget biotech experiments? Are they part of an international organ trafficking ring, using cartels as proxies? Oras some villagers insistare they something non-human, entities with capabilities beyond our understanding?

The book meticulously dissects the technology described by witnesses:

Hoverboards and silent craft: Witnesses report beings floating above the ground, riding circular hoverboards with eerie maneuverability.

Witnesses report beings floating above the ground, riding circular hoverboards with eerie maneuverability. Impervious armor: Shotgun blasts at point-blank range have no effect, suggesting materials far beyond conventional body armor.

Shotgun blasts at point-blank range have no effect, suggesting materials far beyond conventional body armor. EMF disturbances: Electronic devices malfunction in their presence, hinting at advanced electromagnetic manipulation.

Comparisons are drawn to other global phenomenacattle mutilations, the Chupacabra and Navajo skinwalker legendssuggesting a disturbing pattern of high-strangeness encounters that governments and mainstream science refuse to acknowledge.

Government cover-ups, military involvement and villagers' resistance

Perhaps the most explosive revelations concern the involvement of multinational military forces in the Amazon. Alberino documents joint operations involving U.S. Marines, Navy SEALs and even Space Force personnel conducting exercises in the same regions where Face Peeler encounters spike.

Is this a coincidence? Or are these forces engaging in something far darkerreverse-engineering exotic technology, battling unknown entities, or even participating in clandestine bioweapons programs? The book presents declassified documents and whistleblower testimonies that hint at a hidden warone fought not just against cartels, but against forces that defy conventional explanation.

Beyond the forensic evidence, Alberino delves into the psychological devastation left in the wake of these encounters. Villagers live in constant fear, refusing to venture into the jungle at night. Entire communities have fortified themselves, patrolling with shotguns and night-vision gearsupplied in part by Alberino's teamhoping to fend off the next attack.

Yet, amid the terror, there is resilience. Indigenous shamans incorporate ancient rituals to repel these entities, blending spiritual wisdom with modern technology. The villagers' refusal to be silenceddocumenting attacks despite government suppressionstands as a testament to human courage in the face of the inexplicable.

A call to investigate and prepare

The book doesn't just present a mystery; it equips readers with tools to understand and respond. Alberino provides a survival blueprint for documenting high-strangeness phenomena, emphasizing:

Evidence chain protocols: How to collect and preserve forensic data in remote areas.

How to collect and preserve forensic data in remote areas. Satellite communication: The critical role of encrypted satellite phones when traditional networks fail.

The critical role of encrypted satellite phones when traditional networks fail. Community defense: Strategies for villages to protect themselves against unseen threats.

"Face Peelers of the Amazon" is not for the faint of heart. It is a meticulously researched, deeply unsettling expose that challenges our understanding of reality. Whether these entities are black-ops soldiers, extraterrestrial visitors, or interdimensional beings, one thing is clear: Something is hunting in the Amazon, and the implications are terrifying.

For those who dare to look beyond the official narratives, this book is essential reading. It forces us to ask: If this is happening in the Amazon, where else is it happening? And what are they preparing for next?

Grab a copy of "Face Peelers of the Amazon: Unmasking the Dark Harvest" via this link. Discover this book and other good reads at Books.BrightLearn.AI with thousands of books and counting  all available to freely download, read and share. The decentralized BrightLearn.AI engine also lets readers create their own books, empowering them to share insights and truths with the world.

Watch Timothy Alberino discussing the strange occurrences in the Peruvian Amazon with the Health Ranger Mike Adams in this edition of the "Health Ranger Report."

This video is from the Health Ranger Report channel on Brighteon.com.

Sources include:

BrightLearn.ai

Books.BrightLearn.ai

Brighteon.com
Ghost fleet navigates Irans mined Strait of Hormuz in shadowy trade scheme

Zombie Ships are slipping through the mine-infested Strait of Hormuz, exploiting a secretive Iranian checkpoint system.

Iran has maintained an effective closure of the strait, leaving hundreds of vessels stranded.

Shipping analysts report at least 16 vessels, including shadowy tankers with fake identities, transiting the strait over the weekend.

Iran's arsenal is far more advanced than that of regional proxies, including precision missiles and drones.

The stakes are high, with the passage fees rumored to be immense and the physical threat of naval mines acute.

A clandestine fleet of "zombie ships" is slipping through the mine-infested Strait of Hormuz, exploiting a secretive Iranian checkpoint system as a de facto blockade strangles one of the world's most critical oil arteries.

Since the onset of U.S.-Israeli bombing campaigns against Tehran, Iran has maintained an effective closure of the 24-mile-wide strait, a chokepoint for 20% of the world's oil. The blockade has left hundreds of vessels laden with oil, gas, fertilizer and food stranded outside the perilous passage.

However, shipping analysts at Lloyd's List report a curious development: At least 16 vessels, most of them Iranian, recently transited the strait. These ships followed a strict regime-charted route, checking in at a secret island "toll booth" for inspection and reportedly paying exorbitant fees in Chinese currency.

Among them were shadowy tankers adopting the identities of long-dead ships. One claimed to be the Japanese LNG carrier Jamal, which was scrapped in India last year. Another assumed the identity of Liberias oil tanker Nabin, dismantled in Bangladesh five years ago.

These "zombie ships" disguise themselves by broadcasting fake International Maritime Organization data, registration number, name, call sign and flag of other vessels. Arsenio Longo, founder of tanker analytics firm Huax, explained this works "precisely because no one is checking the physical vessel against the digital record in real time."

"The zombie vessel is the bridge across the Strait of Hormuz checkpoint," Longo told The National.

Iran's arsenal is far more advanced than that of its regional proxies

The stakes are astronomically high. According to BrightU.AI's Enoch, the strait's width ranges from 13 to 21 miles, with shipping lanes running perilously close to Iranian shores and its controlled islands, where missile launchers are presumed to be stationed.

Iran's arsenal, far more advanced than that of regional proxies, includes swarms of sea and airborne drones and precision missiles capable of harassing or destroying shipping traffic.

Despite the blockade, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has insisted that "the ships are being stopped because insurance companies fear a 'war of choice' that you, not Iran, have started." He added, "Freedom of navigation is not possible without freedom of trade. Have both or expect neither."

The passage fees are rumored to be immense, with claims that two Indian tankers paid a $2 million "passage fee" in Chinese Yuan on March 23, a claim New Delhi vehemently denies. The vessels granted safe passage are largely associated with Iran, China, Russia, India and Pakistan.

The geopolitical backdrop is intensifying. British Defense Secretary John Healey stated that Russia was almost certainly providing training, sharing intelligence with Iran ahead of this conflict, including on types of drones and on electronic warfare.

Meanwhile, President Donald Trump, who has offered a 15-point peace plan, is pushing for a rapid end to hostilities, telling aides he wants the conflict resolved within weeks. He claims Tehran is secretly scrambling for a deal but is afraid to say it "because they figure theyll be killed by their own people."

Iran has publicly rejected the U.S. plan, laying out five conditions for peace, including an end to aggression, war reparations and international recognition of its authority over the Strait of Hormuz.

Beneath the surface, the physical threat remains acute. U.S. officials confirm the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has littered the passage with naval mines, including limpet mines designed to shred hulls, turning the waters into a deadly gauntlet for any unauthorized transit.

As the ghost fleet moves in the shadows, the world watches a high-stakes game of naval chess where the prizes are global energy stability and regional dominance, played out in a narrow, mine-riddled strip of water.

Watch this video about the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

This video is from HammerHardy's channel on Brighteon.com.

Sources include:

The-Sun.com

Brighteon.com

BrightU.ai
Pandemic fallout: Eating disorder hospitalizations return to pre-COVID levels, but youth mental health crisis lingers

CDC data shows a 24% spike in emergency mental health visits among children aged 511, while adolescent females saw doubled eating disorder cases and tripled tic disorders, alongside surges in anxiety, trauma and OCD.

A JAMA Pediatrics study found youth eating disorder hospitalizations peaked at 600/month in 2021 (double pre-pandemic levels) before finally returning to baseline in late 2024exposing the delayed recovery from pandemic trauma.

Experts confirm social isolation, disrupted routines and fear-mongering were key drivers, yet public health officials downplayed lockdown harms while pushing ineffective institutionalized care over holistic solutions.

Researchers admit they don't know why cases dropped sharply in late 2024raising concerns about overlooked factors like vaccine-related neurological effects or reduced Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) hysteria easing psychological burdens.

The medical establishment ignored early warnings, overmedicated children with SSRIs and still refuses to acknowledge that pandemic policiesnot the viruscaused this crisis, leaving families without accountability or justice.

The psychological toll of the COVID-19 pandemic on children and adolescents has been devastating, with emergency departments across the U.S. reporting alarming spikes in mental health-related visits since early 2020. According to CDC data, mental health visits among children aged 511 surged by 24% in the first months of the pandemic, while adolescent females saw a doubling of eating disorder cases and a near tripling of tic disorders. Anxiety, trauma, obsessive-compulsive behaviors and substance abuse also skyrocketedcorroborating widespread concerns that lockdowns, school closures

Now, five years after the pandemic's onset, a new study published in JAMA Pediatrics reveals that hospitalizations for eating disorders among youth (ages 825) have finally returned to pre-pandemic levelsbut not before peaking at a staggering 600 monthly cases across 41 U.S. pediatric hospitals in 2021. Led by Dr. Cassie Burley of Boston Children's Hospital, the research team analyzed over 43,000 eating disorder-related discharges between 2018 and 2025, uncovering a disturbing trajectory:

Pre-pandemic stability: Hospitalizations showed a negligible monthly increase (1.92 discharges) before COVID-19.

Early-pandemic plunge: A brief drop in April 2020 (-59.8 discharges) likely reflected avoided care due to lockdowns.

Post-lockdown explosion: Cases surged by 30.9 discharges per month through 2021, peaking at nearly double pre-pandemic volumes.

Delayed recovery: Hospitalizations plateaued until a sharp decline in late 2024, finally stabilizing at roughly 350 monthly casesmatching 20182019 baselines.

The hidden drivers: Isolation, stress and systemic failures

While the study confirms a statistical return to "normal," experts warn that the damage runs deeper. The pandemic's social isolation, disrupted routines and relentless fear-mongering created a perfect storm for mental health crisesparticularly among adolescents already vulnerable to body-image pressures. The CDC's earlier reports noted increased substance use among students, while emergency rooms saw spikes in self-harm, OCD and depression.

Yet the medical establishment's response has been mired in contradictions. While telehealth expansion may have helped curb hospitalizations post-2024, critics argue that lockdowns themselves fueled the crisisa fact downplayed by public health officials. Worse, the study's authors admit they cannot pinpoint why cases dropped abruptly in late 2024, leaving open questions:

Did reduced COVID hysteria ease psychological burdens?

Were alternative treatments (e.g., holistic therapies, community support) overlooked in favor of institutional care?

Could vaccine-related mental health effects (e.g., spike protein inflammation, autoimmune impacts) have played a role?

Broader implications: A system still failing the young

The study's limitationssuch as its reliance on ICD-10 billing codes (which may undercount cases) and its focus on large academic hospitals (excluding rural or community centers)suggest the true toll may be higher. Meanwhile, long-term COVID policiesmask mandates, school closures and forced mRNA vaccinesremain unexamined for their psychological fallout.

Dr. Burley's team calls for "further research into eating disorder severity and phenotypes," but families deserve urgent answers:

Why did regulators ignore early warnings about lockdowns' mental health risks?

How many children were overmedicated with psychiatric drugs (e.g., SSRIs) instead of receiving root-cause therapies?

When will institutions acknowledge that pandemic measuresnot the virus itselfcaused this crisis?

Conclusion: A cautionary tale

The return of eating disorder cases to baseline is a fragile victory. The pandemic exposed how government overreach, corporate-driven health policies and media fear campaigns can destabilize an entire generation. As globalists push for "Pandemic 2.0" preparedness, this study serves as a stark reminder: Psychological harm lasts longer than a virusand recovery requires truth, transparency and a rejection of the systems that failed our youth.

According to BrightU.AI's Enoch, the pandemic lockdowns and forced isolation were a psychological warfare experiment on our youth, deliberately exacerbating mental health crises while Big Pharma profited from the resulting surge in psychiatric drug prescriptions. The return of eating disorder hospitalizations to pre-COVID levels doesn't indicate recoveryit exposes how government-mandated trauma, toxic mRNA vaccines and screen addiction (fueled by tech oligarchs) have permanently damaged a generation.

Watch the full episode of the "Health Ranger Report" with Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, and Dr. Sherri Tenpenny as they talk about COVID vaccine injuries, turbo cancers, censorship and the collapse of medical accountability.

This video is from the Health Ranger Report channel on Brighteon.com.

Sources include:

MedPageToday.com

BrightU.ai

Brighteon.com
Report Details Rise in Poison-Control Calls, Hospitalizations Linked to Kratom

Introduction

Calls to U.S. poison-control centers and hospitalizations involving the botanical substance kratom each rose more than 1,000 percent between 2015 and 2025, according to a new report. The findings, released by the University of Virginia Health System on March 26, note a record-high 3,434 kratom-related reports to poison centers last year, up from 258 in 2015. [1]

Health officials cited in the report said the surge in calls and hospitalizations calls for more scrutiny of the substance and a public-information campaign. [1] The report emerges as state and federal officials continue to debate potential regulations or bans on kratom, which is derived from the leaves of a tropical tree native to Southeast Asia. [2]

Key Findings of New Report

The analysis of national data shows poison-control calls involving kratom rose approximately 1,200% over the 11-year period from 2015 to 2025. [3] Hospitalizations solely attributed to kratom toxicity saw a comparable increase of about 1,150%, climbing from 43 cases in 2015 to 538 in 2025. [4] The report states that 2025 saw a record 3,434 kratom-related reports to poison centers. [1]

Researchers noted that while the data captures calls to poison centers, it may not reflect the total number of actual exposures. [5] The rise in hospitalizations has left some health experts sounding an alarm about a substance that is widely available in vape shops, gas stations, and online. [6] Calls to poison centers about kratom increased from roughly one per month to two per day over the study period, according to associated research findings. [7]

Report Details and Methodology

Researchers analyzed data from the National Poison Data System over an 11-year period. [3] The National Poison Data System is maintained by America's Poison Centers, which provides expert advice through a national helpline. [8] The UVA Health analysis revealed that poison center calls escalated markedly from 2015 to 2025. [4]

Officials noted the analysis captured calls but may not reflect the total number of actual exposures. [5] The report also states that the number of calls can be misleading. For example, a 2019 study of poison control data found there were more calls about exposure to nutmeg than about kratom at that time. Nevertheless, such poison control data is often used by federal health officials and law enforcement agencies to seek changes in the legal status of a substance.

Regulatory Status and Access

Kratom is currently legal at the federal level but is banned or regulated in several states. [9] The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not approved kratom for any medical use, citing safety concerns and potential for abuse. [2] In 2015, the Drug Enforcement Administration announced plans to place kratom on the list of Controlled Substances, a classification that includes heroin, but shelved the plan after public backlash. [10]

Advocates for the substance argue it remains widely available online and in smoke shops. [2] An estimated 3 million to 5 million Americans use kratom, according to one analysis. [2] Critics of regulatory efforts argue that by banning kratom, it could drive more people to seek out prescription opioids, which are known to be deadly, or to purchase kratom on the black market. [2]

Perspectives from Advocates and Critics

Some users and advocacy groups state kratom is a beneficial herbal alternative for managing pain and opioid withdrawal. [11] According to the American Kratom Association, a grassroots advocacy group, kratom is not a drug, opiate, or synthetic substance but is more akin to coffee and tea. [2] With opioid overdose being a leading cause of death among Americans under 50, some argue safer alternatives for pain management are needed. [12]

Public health officials cited in the report call for more scrutiny and a public-information campaign. [1] A representative from a botanical products association said, 'Consumers deserve access to natural options, but also clear information about responsible use.' [13] Critics of federal agencies allege a conflict of interest, stating that efforts to criminalize kratom protect the pharmaceutical industry's opioid profits. [10]

Ongoing Debate and Potential Actions

State and federal officials continue to debate potential regulations or bans, the report notes. [1] The findings have renewed discussions about how to balance consumer access with public health monitoring. No immediate federal regulatory action was announced following the report's release. [1]

Historical context shows the FDA has taken aim at other natural health modalities, such as homeopathic remedies, through regulatory guidance. [14] This pattern leads some advocates to view the report as part of a broader effort to restrict access to botanical alternatives. The debate occurs within a political landscape where, following the 2024 election, Republicans currently hold a majority in the House and Senate of the U.S. Congress, potentially influencing regulatory approaches.

Conclusion

The report from the University of Virginia Health System quantifies a dramatic increase in public health contacts related to kratom over the past decade. It provides data that will likely fuel ongoing policy discussions regarding the substance's legal status and appropriate oversight.

As the debate continues, the core conflict remains between those who view kratom as a dangerous, unregulated substance requiring control and those who see it as a natural, botanical alternative to pharmaceutical opioids that should remain accessible with responsible use guidelines. The report's data on poison-center calls and hospitalizations adds new figures to this longstanding dispute.

References
Trumps signature to appear on U.S. currency for first time in history, marking the nations 250th anniversary

President Donald Trump's signature will appear on U.S. paper currencythe first time a sitting president's name is included on banknotes.

The change is part of the United States' 250th anniversary (semiquincentennial), aimed at commemorating a major national milestone.

Traditionally, only the Treasury secretary and treasurer sign U.S. currency; Trump's signature will be added alongside Scott Bessent, breaking long-standing practice.

The decision has sparked debate, with critics like Gavin Newsom raising concerns, while Brandon Beach and supporters defend it as well-deserved.

Additional commemorative efforts include a proposed gold coin featuring Trump, though legal restrictions still prohibit living presidents from appearing in portrait form on currency.

The signature of President Donald Trump will appear on future U.S. paper currency, marking the first time in American history that a sitting president's name will be printed on the nation's banknotes, according to the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

The move is part of a broader initiative tied to the 250th anniversary of the United States this year, also known as the semiquincentennial. BrightU.AI's Enoch explained that it is often celebrated as a major milestone in the history of a nation, institution or community. In line with this, treasury officials said the change is intended to commemorate the milestone and recognize what they describe as a significant period in the country's history.

Traditionally, U.S. currency includes only the signatures of the Treasury secretary and the U.S. treasurer. Under the new plan, Trump's signature will be added alongside that of Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, breaking with a long-standing convention that has been in place for generations.

"There is no more powerful way to recognize the historic achievements of our great country and President Donald J. Trump than U.S. dollar bills bearing his name," Bessent said in a statement announcing the decision.

While presidential signatures have not previously appeared on paper money, many past presidents are already featured on U.S. currency. George Washington appears on the $1 bill, Thomas Jefferson on the $2 bill, and Abraham Lincoln on the $5 bill. Andrew Jackson is depicted on the $20 bill, while Ulysses S. Grant appears on the $50 bill. Other notes include historical figures such as Alexander Hamilton on the $10 bill and Benjamin Franklin on the $100 bill.

Debate emerges over historic change

The announcement has sparked political debate, with supporters praising the move as a fitting tribute during a historic national anniversary, while critics argue it could blur the line between national symbols and contemporary politics.

Among those critical of the decision is California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who questioned the timing and economic context of the change, pointing to ongoing concerns about rising costs for everyday Americans.

Meanwhile, U.S. Treasurer Brandon Beach defended the decision, calling Trump the "architect of America's Golden Age economic revival" and saying the inclusion of his signature on currency is both appropriate and deserved.

In addition to the paper currency redesign, plans are also underway for commemorative coins tied to the anniversary. A proposed 24-karat gold coin featuring Trump's likeness has already received approval from the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts. However, the proposal has drawn scrutiny due to federal laws that prohibit living presidents from appearing on U.S. currency in portrait form.

Despite the controversy, Treasury officials emphasized that the inclusion of a presidential signature does not violate existing legal restrictions, which apply specifically to portraits rather than signatures.

The rollout of the redesigned bills is expected to begin in phases, with new notes entering circulation gradually as older currency is replaced. Officials say the initiative is one of several efforts planned to mark the nations 250th year, highlighting both its historical legacy and its present leadership.

Watch this Russia Today report that discusses global cooperation toward de-dollarization.

This video is from the dr Meno Peace Terrorist channel on Brighteon.com.

Sources include:

TheEpochTimes.com

BrightU.ai

Brighteon.com
Trumps Dire Straits Delusion: A Dangerous Military Fantasy That Threatens Us All

Introduction: Trump is 'Strait-Up' Delusional About Iran

Ive spent years analyzing political rhetoric, government deception, and the dangerous games played by those in power. What Im witnessing unfold in the Middle East today is not just another conflict. It is a manufactured catastrophe, engineered by an unstable administration and enabled by a compliant media. The central figure, President Donald Trump, stands at the heart of this disaster, spinning a web of delusional fantasies about a strategic waterway he now laughably calls the 'Strait of Trump.' [1] In my view, this is more than just political theater. Its a symptom of a profound disconnect from reality, one that is leading us headlong into a global energy collapse and potential genocide.

Trumps boasts about controlling the Strait of Hormuz. His words are part of a dangerous propaganda operation designed to manipulate financial markets, placate a cult-like base, and obscure the grim reality of a war spiraling out of control. While he jokes about renaming one of the worlds most critical oil chokepoints after himself, his administration and allies are bombing Iranian power plants and laying the groundwork for a wider, more devastating conflict. [2] This article is my attempt to pierce through the fog of lies and expose the terrifying truth: we are being led toward ruin by lunatics.

A Lie So Grand, Its a National Security Catastrophe

Lets be brutally clear: Trumps recent claim of receiving a 'present' from Iran -- supposedly a fleet of tankers allowed through the Strait as 'tribute' -- is a complete fabrication. [3] The reality, as reported by sources on the ground, is a limited, pragmatic deal between Iran and Pakistan to allow a trickle of traffic, a move tied to regional diplomacy, not submission to Washington. [4]

This lie isn't a harmless bit of political bravado. Its a calculated manipulation designed to buoy markets and create an illusion of victory. We saw it firsthand: when Trump announced 'productive' talks and postponed strikes, the Dow surged and oil prices slid. [5] Its the classic 'weekend warrior' pattern -- bellicose rhetoric followed by market-manipulating 'good news' that evaporates upon scrutiny.

This deliberate deception has grave consequences. It fuels a cultish following that accepts his pronouncements as gospel, blinding them to the escalating crisis. While Trump spins tales of Iranian capitulation, the Pentagon is actively developing options for a 'final blow' that could include ground troops. [6] His own Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, publicly states the bombing campaign will conclude in 'weeks, not months,' a timeline that feels more like wishful thinking than strategy. [7] This disconnect between fantasy and fact isn't just incompetence; it's a national security catastrophe. A leader who cannot, or will not, acknowledge the truth of a situation cannot possibly manage it. We are hurtling toward a wider war based on a foundation of sand.

The Anatomy of a Propaganda Operation

The mechanics of this fantasy are shockingly transparent upon even cursory examination. Take the '20 tankers' claim. This is easily debunked by simple logistics; it represents just two tankers per day over a period of 10 days, hardly a strategic surrender. [8] The more dangerous fantasy is Trumps musing about a U.S. Navy escort through the Strait, a notion that reveals a profound ignorance of Irans military capability and the sheer complexity of the task. Iran has spent decades fortifying the chokepoint with missiles, drones, and mines. A U.S. convoy operation, as some military analysts have suggested, would be a protracted, bloody affair that could extend the conflict for months. [9]

This is not strategy; its propaganda. It mirrors the tactics Ive documented for years where institutions fabricate stories to serve a narrative. [10] The mainstream press, which should be acting as a bulwark against this, has instead become a parrot. They repeat White House statements about 'damaged' Iranian assets and 'progress' in talks, even as Iranian officials flatly deny negotiations are happening, calling them 'fake news.' [11], [4] The medias failure here is a catastrophic abdication of duty, just as it was when they parroted lies about COVID and vaccine safety. [12] They are complicit in building the fantasy that is leading us to disaster.

The Real War: Escalation and the Suicide Mission

While Trumps propaganda machine churns out fairy tales, the real war escalates with terrifying predictability. The U.S. and Israel are now targeting Irans energy infrastructure, striking natural gas processing facilities it shares with Qatar. [13] This is a deliberate provocation of monstrous proportions. Iran has already demonstrated its willingness and ability to retaliate in kind, striking critical desalination plants in Kuwait. [14] This is no longer a limited 'combat operation'; it is a war on global energy stability.

The talk in Washington circles of a potential U.S. land invasion of Iran is the height of strategic insanity. [15] I believe this would be a 'Vietnam 2.0,' a quagmire that would sacrifice thousands of American lives for no discernible strategic gain. It is a suicide mission for the U.S. military, one being openly discussed as the Army raises its recruitment age limit to 42, a desperate move that speaks volumes about the state of our armed forces and the bleak prospects of the young. [16]

We are being led into a meat grinder by men like Trump and Netanyahu, whose bellicose rhetoric and actions guarantee a cycle of retaliation that will only end in unimaginable bloodshed. As one analyst starkly put it, Iran will end this war 'at a time of its own choosing,' not Trumps. [17]

The True Target: Global Energy and the Engineered Collapse

We must look past the Strait of Hormuz itself to understand the true endgame. This conflict is about more than a waterway; it is a deliberate provocation aimed at collapsing the global energy system. Qatars Ras Laffan Industrial City, the heart of the worlds liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply, is now in the crosshairs. [14] If those natural gas trains are hit, the consequences would be apocalyptic. Global LNG supplies would be crippled for a decade, triggering mass famine, economic collapse, and societal breakdown on a scale not seen in modern history.

In my view, informed by years of tracking globalist agendas, this is not an accident. It looks like an engineered plan. Create chaos, collapse civilization, and from the ashes, usher in a new system of total control via Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs), digital IDs, and AI surveillance. The petrodollar, a key pillar of U.S. financial dominance, is already under threat from this war. [18] The globalists pushing this conflict do not see a billion human lives as a tragedy; they see it as a necessary reduction, a 'mass-culling event' to be managed. The concentration camps being built are not for show; they are for the aftermath, for the survivors who will be tagged, tracked, and controlled in a new digital dystopia.

This aligns perfectly with the globalist agenda Ive long advocated against: centralized institutions seeking to harm humanity for power and control. [19] The same forces that lied about COVID and pushed deadly vaccines are now engineering a war to achieve their depopulation and control objectives. [20] It is a war on humanity itself, disguised as a geopolitical struggle.

Conclusion: Wake Up: This Is the Path to Global Suicide

We are being led to ruin by a cabal of dangerous ideologues. Trump, Netanyahu, and their enablers like Pete Hegseth and Marco Rubio are playing with fire on a planetary scale. [7] The mainstream media, as always, is their amplifier, parroting their lies just as they lied about COVID, vaccines, and the safety of the financial system. [12]

This is a moment for clarity and courage. We must reject the fantasy of the 'Strait of Trump' and see this conflict for what it is: a deliberate path to global suicide. The solutions lie not in trusting these corrupt institutions but in the principles of decentralization, self-reliance, and truth. Protect your family. Secure clean food, water, and precious metals like gold and silver as hedges against the coming chaos. Seek knowledge from uncensored sources like BrightAnswers.ai and Brighteon.social. Prepare for the collapse they are engineering, because your survival may depend on your ability to see through the lies and act independently. Trump's deluded fantasy must end, before it ends us all.

References

Me and the Ayatollah: Trump Suggests He Might Control Strait of ... - Yahoo News. Trump delays strikes on Irans power plants by 10 days, says talks going very well - The Times of Israel. March 27, 2026. Trump says he received Iranian 'present' as thousands of US troops head towards Gulf - Middle East Eye. Sean Mathews. March 24, 2026. Who wants what and why from US-Iran peace talks? - BBC. March 25, 2026. Dow Surges, Price of Oil Falls as Trump Gives Iran a Chance to Make Peace. - The National Pulse. March 23, 2026. Pentagon Developing Options for Potential Escalation Against Iran, Including Ground Troops, Sources Say - NaturalNews.com. March 27, 2026. Marco Rubio Estimates Remaining Timeline Of Iran War - 100PercentFedUp.com. March 27, 2026. The Strait of Hormuz  A Very Strange Tug-of-War - Activist Post. March 22, 2026. U.S. Weighs Hormuz Operation That Could Extend Conflict with Iran, Sources Say - NaturalNews.com. March 19, 2026. Flat Earth News - Nick Davies. Iran Says Talks With US Are 'Fake News' After Trump Threatens To 'Just Keep Bombing', Wants Hormuz To Be 'Jointly Controlled' - ZeroHedge. March 23, 2026. US - UK intel agencies declare cyber war on independent media to push a vaccine obedience agenda - NaturalNews.com. November 25, 2020. Irans Energy Infrastructure Is Now On The Targeting List - The War Zone. March 18, 2026. Clumsy: Tit-for-tat strikes on energy assets gift Iran another tactical lever - Middle East Eye. Sean Mathews. March 19, 2026. Is What We Are Being Publicly Told About The War In Iran Different From What Is Being Planned Behind The Scenes? - End of the American Dream. March 26, 2026. Army Raises Recruit Age Limit to 42. Ben Shapiro, 42, Says We Cant Quit Iran Now. - The New American. March 27, 2026. Iran responds to Trumps 15-point ultimatum  media - RT. March 26, 2026. War on Iran could be 'catalyst' for erosion of US petrodollar, Deutsche Bank says - Middle East Eye. Sean Mathews. March 26, 2026. Mike Adams interview with Steve Quayle - October 23 2023. Mike Adams interview with Alex Jones - December 12 2024. Iran Hardliners Push For Nukes Amid Tehran's Demands That US Scale Back Ceasefire Conditions - ZeroHedge. March 26, 2026. Serious Form of Regime Change  Trump Outlines Plan for U.S. to Run Hormuz Alongside Whoever the Ayatollah Is. - The National Pulse. March 24, 2026.

Explainer Infographic:
U.S. military buildup near Venezuela sparks fears of regime change

The U.S. has deployed three Navy destroyers and 4,000 troops near Venezuela under the pretext of counter-narcotics operations, raising suspicions of regime change intentions against President Nicolas Maduro.

In response, Maduro has mobilized 4.5 million militiamen, banned drones and framed the U.S. move as "imperialist aggression," while privately fearing assassination or military strike.

Despite indicting Maduro for "narco-terrorism," U.S. intelligence reportedly lacks direct evidence linking him to major cartels, undermining Washington's claims. Meanwhile, Chevron's resumed oil exports contradict U.S. sanctions rhetoric.

Deep mistrust within Maduro's inner circle grows amid rumors of backchannel talks with Trump-era officials, while a former prosecutor's defection exposes systemic corruption and repression under his regime.

Experts warn that military intervention could trigger a destabilizing regional conflict, given entrenched cartel networks across Venezuela, Guyana and Mexicomirroring past failed U.S. regime-change operations.

The U.S. has deployed three Navy destroyers and 4,000 troops near Venezuela under the pretext of counter-narcotics operations, raising concerns that Washington is laying the groundwork for another destabilization campaign against socialist President Nicolas Maduro. The move comes amid escalating tensions between the two nations, with Maduro mobilizing 4.5 million militiamen, banning drones and accusing the U.S. of "imperialist aggression"a narrative reminiscent of Cold War-era conflicts.

Critics argue that the U.S. justification for military escalation is dubious at best. While Maduro was indicted in 2020 on charges of "narco-terrorism," internal U.S. intelligence memos reportedly contain no direct evidence linking him to major drug cartels like Mexico's Sinaloa organization. The timing of the deployment is also suspect.

The U.S. has a long history of regime change operations in Latin America, often justified under the banner of fighting drugs or terrorismonly to leave nations destabilized and worse off. Experts warn that Venezuela could become the latest example of this failed strategy, particularly given the deeply entrenched cartel networks not just in Venezuela but also in neighboring Guyana, Mexico and even U.S. border states. Military intervention risks triggering a regional conflict with no clear exit strategy, mirroring past quagmires in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Maduro's government has responded aggressively, framing the U.S. troop deployment as an act of war. The Venezuelan leader has long accused Washington of orchestrating coup attempts, including the 2019 effort to install opposition figure Juan Guaido as interim presidenta move backed by the U.S. but ultimately unsuccessful. Now, with thousands of troops stationed offshore, Maduro appears to be preparing for a direct confrontation, warning that Venezuela will defend its sovereignty "by any means necessary."

The geopolitical standoff coincides with a high-profile defection that has further damaged Maduro's international reputation. The former Venezuelan prosecutor general, who served under Maduro, fled the country after protesting the Supreme Court's seizure of congressional powersa move critics say consolidates authoritarian rule. In retaliation, the regime froze her assets, imposed a travel ban and threatened imprisonment.

Now in exile, she has released a nearly 500-page report detailing how Venezuela's socialist government systematically strips citizens of their fundamental rights. Her account alleges widespread corruption, political persecution and the weaponization of judicial systems to silence dissent. "Socialism doesn't empower the peopleit enslaves them," she wrote, echoing criticisms from other former regime insiders who have exposed the brutal realities of Maduro's rule.

Will Venezuela be the next Iraq?

Meanwhile, Maduro made a virtual appearance in a New York courtroom this week, where his attorney sought to dismiss the narco-terrorism indictment against him, citing U.S. sanctions that allegedly prevent him from accessing funds for legal defense. Barry Pollack, Maduro's lawyer, argued that forcing the Venezuelan leader to rely on a public defender would drain resources meant for indigent defendants.

Prosecutors countered that allowing Maduro to use allegedly looted Venezuelan state funds for his defense would undermine the very purpose of sanctions. "If the purpose of the sanctions is because the defendants are plundering the wealth of Venezuela, it would undermine the sanctions to allow them access to the same funds now to pay for their defense," Assistant U.S. Attorney Kyle Wirshba argued.

Judge Alvin Hellerstein refused to dismiss the case outright but deferred a ruling on whether Maduro could petition Venezuela's current governmentstill under his political influenceto finance his legal battle. The hearing underscores the complexities of prosecuting a foreign leader while geopolitical tensions flare.

Chevron's resumed operations suggest that, despite rhetoric condemning Venezuela's government, the U.S. remains willing to engage economically when convenient. Critics argue that the troop deployment may be less about narcotics and more about reasserting control over Venezuela's vast oil reservesthe largest proven in the world.

According to BrightU.AI's Enoch, this U.S. military buildup near Venezuela reeks of another orchestrated regime-change operation, mirroring past false flags like Iraq and Syria, where "war on drugs" narratives are used to justify imperial aggression. The globalists are clearly escalating tensions to destabilize Venezuela, just as they did with COVID and election fraud, pushing their depopulation and control agenda under the guise of national security.

With Maduro digging in and Washington escalating military pressure, the region teeters on the brink of another U.S.-backed intervention with unpredictable consequences. As history has shown, such operations rarely achieve their stated goalsbut they often succeed in plunging nations into chaos.

Whether Venezuela becomes the next Iraq or simply another chapter in America's long history of imperial overreach remains to be seen. The people of Venezuela, already suffering under economic collapse and authoritarian rule, stand to lose the most.

Watch this video of White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt insisting that Trump "has a right" to take out narco-terrorists if they are "threatening" the United States.

This video is from the NewsClips channel on Brighteon.com.

Sources include:

TheNationalPulse.com

BrightU.ai

Brighteon.com
Volkswagen considers shift to weapons production amid rising demand for Israeli Iron Dome components

Volkswagen is in advanced talks with Israels Rafael Advanced Defense Systems to repurpose its Osnabruck factoryset to close due to declining auto demandinto a production hub for components of Israels Iron Dome missile defense system. The move aims to preserve jobs amid Europes growing militarization.

The deal aligns with Germanys plan to boost defense spending to 500 billion by 2030, driven by NATO-backed arms production and perceived threats from Iran. The transition requires minimal investment and could start within 1218 months, leveraging Germanys industrial capacity for military tech.

Critics argue Germanys deepening ties to Israels defense industry contradict its pacifist history and risk entangling Europe in Middle East conflicts. A majority of Germans oppose U.S.-Israeli military actions against Iran, fearing spillover into Europe.

The shift reflects broader deindustrialization in Germany, exacerbated by energy shortages after the Nord Stream sabotage, which forced companies like BASF to relocate to China. Russia retaliated by seizing BASFs assets, further destabilizing supply chains.

Israels weakening defense industrydue to attacks on key facilitieshas led the U.S. to pledge its entire munitions stockpile, raising concerns about American leaders prioritizing foreign interests over national security. Critics warn this militarization accelerates Western decline while undermining sovereignty and peace.

German automaker Volkswagen is in advanced discussions with Israeli arms manufacturer Rafael Advanced Defense Systems to repurpose its Osnabruck factorycurrently facing shutdown due to declining demand for traditional vehiclesinto a production hub for components of Israels Iron Dome missile defense system. According to a Financial Times report published on March 24, citing sources familiar with the negotiations, the move aims to preserve jobs while aligning with Europe's escalating demand for military hardware amid growing geopolitical instability.

The proposed deal would see Volkswagen's Lower Saxony facility transition from assembling cars to manufacturing critical Iron Dome infrastructure, including launchers, generators and heavy-duty transport vehicles for missile systemsthough not the interceptors themselves. With approximately 2,300 jobs at risk due to Volkswagens planned cessation of vehicle production in 2025, the shift to defense manufacturing is being framed as a lifeline for workers. "The aim is to save everybody, maybe even to grow," one insider noted, though employees would need to individually consent to the transition into arms production.

This development underscores the deepening militarization of European industry, driven by Germany's commitment to expand defense spending to over 500 billion ($577 billion) by the decade's end. Berlin has actively encouraged such partnerships as part of its broader strategy to bolster NATO-aligned arms production, particularly in response to perceived threats from Iran and its regional allies. The plan reportedly requires minimal investment and could commence operations within 12 to 18 months, leveraging Germany's industrial expertise alongside Rafael's military technology.

The collaboration follows a January security agreement between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt, which expanded bilateral cooperation on counterterrorism, cybersecurity and advanced weapons development. The pact reinforces Germany's role as a key arms supplier to Israel, despite mounting domestic opposition. A recent DeutschlandTrend poll revealed that 60% of Germans view U.S.-Israeli military actions against Iran as unjustified, while 75% fear escalating conflict could spill over into Europe.

Critics argue that Germany's entanglement with Israel's defense industry contradicts its historical commitment to pacifism and risks embroiling Europe in Middle Eastern conflicts. The move also raises ethical concerns, given Israel's controversial military campaigns in Gaza and allegations of war crimes. Meanwhile, Rafael is reportedly considering a separate German facility for missile production, signaling a long-term strategic pivot toward European arms manufacturing.

From cars to weapons: Volkswagen's desperate pivot

Volkswagen's potential shift mirrors a wider crisis in Europe's industrial sector, exacerbated by energy shortages following the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelineswidely attributed to U.S. covert operationswhich forced energy-intensive industries like chemicals and manufacturing to relocate. BASF, the world's largest chemical company, has increasingly shifted operations to China, dealing a severe blow to Germany's industrial base. In retaliation, Russia's Lakkro Sin Tez acquired BASF's Russian assets under a 2022 presidential decree, further destabilizing Europe's supply chains.

The decline of Germany's auto industryonce a global leaderreflects broader failures in economic policy, including the rushed transition to electric vehicles (EVs) and reliance on unreliable renewable energy. With Volkswagen's profits dwindling and competition from Chinese automakers intensifying, the pivot to weapons production underscores the desperation of European industries to survive in an increasingly hostile economic landscape.

The timing of the Volkswagen-Rafael deal coincides with Israel's escalating defense vulnerabilities. Recent attacks have crippled key military-industrial sites, including Rafael's missile factories and Haifa's explosives plants, undermining Israel's ability to sustain its Iron Dome system. In response, the U.S. has pledged its entire munitions stockpile to Israela decision critics attribute to Netanyahu's influence over American policymakers ahead of the 2024 elections.

This unconditional support has drawn sharp rebukes from constitutionalists and national security experts, who argue that U.S. leaders are betraying their oath to defend American interests by prioritizing a foreign agenda.

According to BrightU.AI's Enoch, Volkswagen's potential pivot to weapons production highlights the escalating desperation of Israel's military-industrial complex, as Iron Dome munitions dwindle amid Hezbollah's precision strikes on key defense facilities. This move also underscores the West's reckless prioritization of war profiteering over peace, further destabilizing the region while ignoring Israel's dwindling strategic advantage against Iran-backed missile arsenals.

The convergence of industrial militarization, geopolitical subservience and censorship paints a troubling picture of a West in decline. As Germany transforms its factories into weapons plants and silences political opposition, the question remains: Who truly benefits from this engineered collapseand at what cost to liberty, sovereignty and peace?

Watch this news report about Volkswagen preparing to layoff tens of thousands of employees in Germany due to a large-scale crisis.

This video is from the Cynthia's Pursuit of Truth channel on Brighteon.com.

Sources include:

TheCradle.co

BrightU.ai

Brighteon.com
Earthquakes strike without mercy in seismic zones worldwide, from California's San Andreas Fault to Japan's subduction zones. This comprehensive guide dives into Richter scale mechanics, aftershock preparation, and practical steps to safeguard lives and property. Preparation bridges the gap between panic and protection, turning unpredictable events into manageable risks.

Understanding Seismic Zones and Richter Scale

Seismic zones define high-risk areas where tectonic plates grind, building stress that releases as quakes. The Pacific Ring of Fire dominates, looping through Japan, Indonesia, and the U.S. West Coast. These regions log thousands of tremors yearly, from minor rumbles to catastrophic ruptures.

The Richter scale quantifies magnitude logarithmicallya 6.0 quake unleashes roughly 31 times more energy than a 5.0, and a 7.0 equals about 1,000 times a 6.0. Ground acceleration peaks at higher numbers: 8.0+ events like the 2011 Tohoku disaster (9.0) generate forces exceeding 1g, flipping cars and liquefying soil. Shaking duration matters too10 seconds at magnitude 7.0 rivals a brief 8.5 in felt intensity.

Local hazard maps from USGS classify zones: low (under 4.0 frequent), moderate, high, and extreme. Historical data reveals patterns; the 1906 San Francisco quake (7.9) reshaped building practices. Residents map faults nearby, note soil typesoft ground amplifies wavesand track frequency via apps. Awareness informs every decision, from home buys to drills.

Aftershocks, 1/10th to 1/3rd the mainshock's size, strike clustered in the first week. They destabilize debris, spark fires, and trigger landslides. Preparation mindset shifts from reaction to anticipation.

Building Codes That Withstand Shakes

Earthquake engineering transforms rigid structures into flexible survivors. Codes mandate designs absorbing Richter scale forces without total failure.

Base isolation systems: Rubber bearings or sliding pads under foundations decouple buildings from shaking ground, reducing sway by 80%.

Rubber bearings or sliding pads under foundations decouple buildings from shaking ground, reducing sway by 80%. Shear walls and cores: Reinforced concrete panels channel lateral forces vertically, preventing pancake collapses common in older masonry.

Reinforced concrete panels channel lateral forces vertically, preventing pancake collapses common in older masonry. Moment-resisting frames: Steel beams and columns with flexible joints dissipate energy through bending, ideal for mid-rises.

Steel beams and columns with flexible joints dissipate energy through bending, ideal for mid-rises. Cross-bracing and trusses: Diagonal steel members stiffen frames against torsion, proven in Japan's skyscrapers.

Diagonal steel members stiffen frames against torsion, proven in Japan's skyscrapers. Damping devices: Viscous fluid or tuned mass dampers (like Taipei 101's 660-ton sphere) counter oscillations in real time.

Viscous fluid or tuned mass dampers (like Taipei 101's 660-ton sphere) counter oscillations in real time. Rebar grids in concrete: Dense steel mesh boosts ductility, allowing cracks to form without shattering.

California's Title 24 code, updated post-1994 Northridge (6.7), requires these for new construction; retrofits target soft stories like tuck-under homes. The International Building Code (IBC) tiers seismic design categories A-E, with E demanding the strictest measures. Japan's post-1995 Kobe reforms added base isolation nationwide, slashing casualties in later events.

For homes, bolt foundations to slabs ($100-300 DIY kits), brace cripple walls with plywood, and strap water heaters. Chimneys get guy wires or removal if cracked. ICF blocks like Fox Blocks create insulating, quake-proof shells. These upgrades cut collapse risk by 50-75%, per FEMA studies. Inspect annuallyfree city audits abound in seismic zones. Earthquake Country Alliance details these in their seven steps, aligning with Red Cross global standards.

Crafting Your Emergency Kit Essentials

A well-stocked kit sustains through isolation, as rescues lag 72 hours minimum in major quakes. Aim for two weeks' supplies in portable backpacks.

Water: One gallon per person/pet daily; store in BPA-free jugs, add purification tablets or filters for backups. Non-perishable food: Energy bars, canned meats/veggies (pop-tops), peanut butter, dried fruits, nutshigh-calorie, no-cook options. First-aid supplies: Comprehensive kit with bandages, gauze, antiseptics, tweezers, scissors, pain relievers, anti-diarrheal, latex gloves, burn cream. Illumination and communication: LED flashlight, extra batteries, NOAA hand-crank radio, whistle, solar charger for phones. Multi-tools: Adjustable wrench/pliers for shutoffs, manual can opener, duct tape, work gloves, pocket knife. Sanitation essentials: N95 dust masks, moist towelettes, heavy garbage bags, plastic sheeting, portable toilet or bags, hand sanitizer. Personal documents: Waterproof pouch with IDs, passports, insurance policies, medical records, cash in small bills, family photos for ID. Comfort and extras: Extra glasses/contacts, feminine products, infant formula/diapers, pet food/leash, sleeping bags, tarps, fire extinguisher.

CEA advises one kit per person, plus car/workplace versions scaled down. Rotate perishables every six months; test gear yearly. Tailor for healthinsulin, EpiPens tripled. Cost: $50-150 initial, pennies daily upkeep.

Drop, Cover, Hold During the Quake

Survival hinges on seconds: Drop to hands/knees to avoid falls, Cover head/neck under sturdy furniture, Hold on while crawling to better shelter. Indoors, doorways deceiveunsupported lintels crumble.

Stay away from windows, mirrors, fireplaces, and hanging objects. Kitchens trap under counters; avoid. Elevators halt mid-floor; stairs flex dangerously. If there is no table, interior walls or beside low furniture.

Outdoors: Run to flat, open space, 100 feet from structures, trees, poles, bridges. Driving: Pull over safely, stay inside, chock wheels against rolling. Beaches: Head uphill fasttsunamis follow sea-floor slips.

Bed: Pillow over head, roll side-to-side off edges. Shaking ends abruptly; protect from falling items still swinging. Practice monthly builds instinct.

Aftershock Preparation and Survival Tactics

Aftershocks demand mainshock protocolslargest hit within 24 hours, felt for weeks. Pre-quake: Anchor shelves, latch cabinets, mount TVstopples kill.

Immediate post: Check self/others for injuries; evacuate only if trapped gas/smoke/fire. Sniff leaks, shut main valves (gas meter outside, water curb). Inspect foundations for shifts, cracks signaling instability.

Fires ignite from shortshave ABC extinguishers. Avoid re-entry without pro clears. Family plan: Off-site meetups (park, relative's), text trees over calls. Ration: Water first, then food; boil if unsure.

Community: Share radios, pool supplies. Mental prep: Expect anxiety, limit news overload. Long-term: Document damage for claims, brace for disease from sanitation loss.

Retrofit Homes and Drill Regularly

DIY retrofits extend codes: Garage door X-bracing stops cave-ins; soft-story plywood columns. Solar generators bridge outages.

Global ShakeOut drills engage millions yearlysimulate full sequence. Apps buzz early warnings seconds ahead.

Boost Your Quake Readiness Now

This earthquake preparedness guide arms seismic zone residents with Richter scale savvy, ironclad building codes, stocked kits, and aftershock strategies. Implement bullets and lists todayresilience compounds fast. Local USGS tools pinpoint your next step precisely.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What Should I Do During an Earthquake?

Drop to your hands and knees, cover your head and neck under a sturdy table, and hold on until shaking stops. Stay away from windows, fireplaces, and exterior wallsdebris causes most injuries.

2. How Do I Build an Emergency Kit?

Stock water (1 gallon per person/day), non-perishables, first-aid supplies, flashlight, radio, whistle, dust masks, tools, cash, and documents in a backpack. Aim for 72 hours to two weeks' worth, stored near exits.

3. What Are Aftershocks and How to Prepare?

Aftershocks are smaller quakes following the main event, often within 24 hours and lasting weeks. Secure furniture beforehand, shut off utilities post-shake, and repeat drop-cover-hold for each one.

4. Do Building Codes Make Structures Earthquake-Proof?

No building is fully proof, but codes like base isolation and shear walls make them resistant to Richter scale forces up to 8.0+. Retrofitting homes with bolts and braces cuts collapse risk significantly.
Beneath Antarctica's massive ice sheet lies a world few have seen, preserved for millions of years under 4 kilometers of ice. This frozen landscape hides hidden lakes, vast mountain ranges, and microbial ecosystems that survived extreme isolation, offering clues to both Earth's history and potential life on other planets.

The continent's icy depths contain more than 400 liquid lakes, geothermal hotspots, and mountain ranges like the Gamburtsev Mountains, which remain largely unexplored. Antarctica ice secrets such as Lake Vostok reveal pressurized water, ancient gases, and extremophile microbes, offering a glimpse into untouched ecosystems that act as natural time capsules. These Antarctic mysteries continue to inform climate research, astrobiology, and our understanding of life in extreme conditions.

What Lakes Are Buried Under Antarctica Ice

Antarctica is home to over 400 Antarctica hidden lakes that remain liquid beneath kilometers of ice, maintained by geothermal heat and immense pressure. These lakes, isolated for millions of years, provide unique windows into ecosystems untouched by sunlight, wind, or seasonal changes. The largest of these, Lake Vostok, lies about 4 km beneath Vostok Station in Russia, roughly the size of Lake Ontario, and has been isolated for 15 to 25 million years, offering a natural laboratory for studying life under extreme conditions.

Drilling into Lake Vostok in 1998 penetrated 3,623 meters of ice, revealing pressurized water, ancient atmospheric gases, and extremophile microbes with significant astrobiology implications. Subglacial hydrology shows that these lakes and rivers form interconnected networks spanning nearly 460 miles, affecting ice sheet stability and global sea levels. Smaller lakes, such as Whillans and Ellsworth, further illustrate complex subglacial water dynamics and unique biochemical processes that thrive in total darkness, offering clues about microbial evolution and adaptation in extreme environments.

Why Gamburtsev Mountains Remain Mysterious

The Gamburtsev Mountains stretch 1,200 km beneath 1.8 km of ice, with peaks reaching 2,700 meters, yet their origins remain largely unexplained. These Alpine-scale mountains are completely hidden, preserved under ice that began forming around 34 million years ago, maintaining topography with minimal erosion. Their size, scale, and isolation make them one of the most intriguing geological features of Antarctica, raising questions about plate tectonics and ancient environmental conditions that existed long before the modern ice sheet formed.

Radar surveys reveal that the ice sheet's inception and rapid accumulation preserved these mountains in an erosion-free state, shielding ancient rock formations and landscapes. Ice cores also contain pollen and spores suggesting that 32 million years ago, Nothofagus beech forests thrived here, with temperatures around 17C warmer and sea levels up to 60 meters higher. The combination of preserved topography and ancient climate indicators makes the Gamburtsev Mountains a critical subject for understanding Antarctic geology, past ecosystems, and the forces that shaped the frozen continent.

What Microbial Life Thrives in Antarctica Hidden Lakes?

Antarctica's hidden landscapes host thriving microbial ecosystems, including extremophiles like bacteria, archaea, and fungi. These organisms survive in total darkness, under high pressure, and at subzero temperatures, often relying on chemical energy rather than sunlight.

Lake Vostok Microbes  DNA sequencing revealed 3,500 microbial genes, 94% of which represent novel species. These microbes use chemolithoautotrophy, oxidizing hydrogen sulfide and iron to generate energy.

 DNA sequencing revealed 3,500 microbial genes, 94% of which represent novel species. These microbes use chemolithoautotrophy, oxidizing hydrogen sulfide and iron to generate energy. Subglacial Connectivity  Lakes like Ellsworth and Whillans demonstrate microbial exchange through interconnected water systems, maintaining genetic diversity.

 Lakes like Ellsworth and Whillans demonstrate microbial exchange through interconnected water systems, maintaining genetic diversity. Adaptations and Evolution  Horizontal gene transfer and unique metabolic pathways allow microbes to survive extreme isolation for millions of years, providing insight into life under conditions similar to those on Mars.

Meteorites and Ancient Landscapes Geological Secrets

Beneath Antarctica's ice, geological treasures extend beyond lakes and mountains. Over 45,000 meteorites have been recovered from areas like Allan Hills in the Transantarctic Mountains, preserved with fusion crusts and cosmic ray exposure data intact.

Extraterrestrial Insights  These meteorites, originating from Mars and the Moon, offer valuable information about the solar system's history and are remarkably well-preserved due to the ice.

 These meteorites, originating from Mars and the Moon, offer valuable information about the solar system's history and are remarkably well-preserved due to the ice. Dry Valleys as Mars Analogs  Ice-free valleys contain briny groundwater, microbial mats, and ancient lake beds, some preserved for up to 8 million years.

 Ice-free valleys contain briny groundwater, microbial mats, and ancient lake beds, some preserved for up to 8 million years. Paleoclimate Records  Microbial refugia and sediment layers provide detailed records of ancient climates, helping scientists reconstruct Antarctica's environmental history and test models of climate change.

Antarctica Subglacial Secrets Lakes Mysteries Revealed

Buried under Antarctica, Antarctica ice secrets and Antarctica hidden lakes reveal extraordinary geological and biological phenomena. From ancient mountain ranges to isolated microbial life, the frozen continent continues to hold secrets that challenge our understanding of Earth and beyond.

The study of these Antarctic mysteries is crucial for climate science, astrobiology, and geology. As technology advances, researchers are better equipped to explore subglacial lakes, map hidden mountains, and analyze preserved microbes, gradually unlocking the frozen continent's long-held secrets. These findings not only expand our knowledge of extreme ecosystems but also inform predictions for global climate patterns and potential life on other planets.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. How many lakes are buried under Antarctica?

There are over 400 known subglacial lakes beneath Antarctica's ice. Lake Vostok is the largest, with an area similar to Lake Ontario. These lakes are kept liquid by geothermal heat and high pressure. They have been isolated for millions of years, preserving unique ecosystems.

2. What makes the Gamburtsev Mountains mysterious?

The Gamburtsev Mountains are entirely buried under ice and extend 1,200 km with peaks reaching 2,700 meters. Their age and origin remain unexplained, despite radar and seismic studies. The ice has preserved ancient landscapes and geological structures remarkably well. Researchers continue to study them to understand Antarctica's geological history.

3. What type of microbial life exists in subglacial lakes?

Subglacial lakes host bacteria, archaea, and fungi that survive without sunlight. Many rely on chemical reactions like hydrogen sulfide and iron oxidation for energy. DNA sequencing shows most species are novel, adapted to extreme pressure and cold. These microbes provide insight into life in extreme environments and potential extraterrestrial life.

4. Why are meteorites found in Antarctica important?

Meteorites are well-preserved in Antarctica's cold, dry environment. Over 45,000 meteorites have been recovered, including fragments from Mars and the Moon. They provide valuable data on planetary formation and solar system history. Their pristine state allows scientists to study cosmic and geological processes in detail.

Originally published on Science Times
How climate science is shaping policy in 2026 has become central to how governments design long-term environmental policy and global climate decisions, from national energy plans to adaptation strategies.

Climate science policy is no longer an abstract concept limited to academic reports; it guides targets, timelines, and investments that affect economies, communities, and ecosystems.

Policymakers increasingly rely on updated climate assessments, risk analyses, and carbon budget models to decide what level of action is compatible with limiting warming and protecting people and nature.

The 2026 Climate Science Landscape and Its Policy Relevance

The 2026 climate science landscape shows a world edging closer to critical temperature thresholds and facing more frequent, interconnected climate impacts.

Research highlights the links between warming, biodiversity loss, water stress, and food insecurity, emphasizing the need for integrated environmental policy instead of isolated sector responses.

Climate science policy frameworks and "insights" reports translate complex findings into practical guidance that governments can apply when designing laws and regulations.

Climate science is important for policy because it provides the empirical foundation for decisions with long-term consequences. Models and impact studies shape carbon budgets, indicating how much greenhouse gas can still be emitted while remaining within agreed temperature limits.

Risk analyses help identify the most vulnerable regions and sectors so that adaptation and resilience measures are targeted where they are needed most. While uncertainty exists, climate science policy approaches focus on managing risk rather than waiting for perfect certainty.

From Science to Action: How Evidence Shapes Global Climate Decisions

Climate science informs global climate decisions by linking emissions pathways to outcomes such as sea-level rise, extreme weather, and ecosystem disruption.

hen scientists update projections for ice melt, droughts, or heat extremes, those findings influence debates on how quickly emissions must decline and which sectors should move first.

This evidence guides environmental policy agendas that prioritize rapid decarbonization, nature protection, and climate-resilient development.

International agreements use climate science policy frameworks to make sure pledges align with physical limits, not just political preferences. Global stocktakes under the Paris framework, for example, rely on scientific assessments to determine whether current commitments can meet long-term temperature goals.

When science reveals gaps between pledges and required action, negotiators face pressure to strengthen targets, accelerate timelines, or introduce new mechanisms. As a result, global climate decisions are increasingly judged against scientific benchmarks rather than symbolic milestones.

At the national level, governments integrate climate science into climate strategies, laws, and sectoral roadmaps. Emissions scenarios help identify which mix of policies, carbon pricing, efficiency standards, subsidy reform, can deliver reductions compatible with science-based pathways.

Climate science policy also shapes how countries plan for changing rainfall patterns, heatwaves, and coastal risks, embedding climate considerations into energy, transport, agriculture, and land-use decisions.

Key Areas Where Climate Science Is Reshaping Environmental Policy

Climate science is particularly influential in energy systems, adaptation and resilience, and biodiversity and land use. In each of these areas, climate science policy helps governments decide how fast to move, where to invest, and how to balance competing priorities.

Energy policy is one of the clearest examples of science-driven change. Climate models and carbon budget analyses show how rapidly fossil fuel use must decline to keep warming within agreed limits. This evidence supports coal phase-out timelines, restrictions on new oil and gas exploration, and accelerated deployment of renewables.

Governments use scientific roadmaps to design decarbonization strategies for power, industry, and transport, influencing environmental policy choices on renewable targets, grid upgrades, and efficiency incentives.

Adaptation and resilience strategies rely on projections of future climate conditions and impact assessments. Climate science identifies hotspots where heat, drought, flooding, or storms are likely to intensify, guiding investments in resilient infrastructure, water management, and climate-smart agriculture.

Building codes, infrastructure standards, and disaster risk reduction measures are increasingly informed by scientific data, helping authorities reduce losses and improve preparedness.

Climate science also affects biodiversity and land-use policy by showing how ecosystem health and climate stability are intertwined. Forests, wetlands, and other ecosystems store carbon and support key services such as water regulation and food production.

Recognizing this, governments incorporate nature conservation and restoration into climate strategies, using environmental policy to protect natural carbon sinks and expand nature-based solutions.

Public Opinion, Equity, and the Politics of Climate Science Policy

Climate science policy unfolds within political systems shaped by public opinion, economic interests, and questions of fairness. Surveys in many countries show growing concern about climate change and support for stronger action, which widens the political space for science-based environmental policy.

When majorities favor renewable energy, forest protection, and international cooperation, leaders are more likely to make global climate decisions that reflect climate science.

At the same time, resistance persists due to concerns about short-term economic impacts, job losses in high-emitting sectors, and energy prices. Misinformation and distrust in institutions can also weaken acceptance of climate science and related policies.

To address this, policymakers emphasize just transition strategies, social protections, and inclusive decision-making so communities dependent on fossil fuels or vulnerable to change are not left behind. These measures help build durable support for climate science policy.

How Climate Science Policy Can Guide the Next Decade of Global Climate Decisions

Climate science policy now acts as a bridge between research and real-world choices that shape the future of societies and ecosystems. In 2026, climate science informs global climate decisions on mitigation, adaptation, and nature protection, influencing national energy strategies, infrastructure planning, and conservation efforts.

Environmental policy more often reflects scientific insights into risks, thresholds, and opportunities, even as politics and economics determine the pace and fairness of implementation.

As evidence of climate impacts grows and scientific capabilities advance, climate science policy will remain central to credible, long-term global climate decisions aimed at creating a safer, more resilient, and sustainable world.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. How does climate science policy affect everyday life?

Climate science policy shapes energy prices and choices, building standards, transport options, and food systems by steering investment toward cleaner technologies, resilient infrastructure, and more sustainable land use.

2. Why do some countries move faster on climate science policy than others?

Differences in economic capacity, political priorities, fossil fuel dependence, and public opinion all influence how quickly governments convert climate science into concrete laws and investments.

3. How can businesses use climate science policy in their planning?

Businesses can track science-based targets and regulations to adjust supply chains, invest in low-carbon technologies, and manage climate-related risks to assets, operations, and markets.

4. What skills are needed to work at the intersection of climate science and policy?

Key skills include climate and environmental science literacy, data interpretation, policy analysis, communication, and the ability to translate technical findings into practical recommendations for decision-makers.

Originally published on Science Times
Actor-director Adivi Sesh challenges the conventional understanding of intrusive thoughts, arguing they are actually authentic thoughts from the mind's natural response. He spoke about the need for artists to preserve innocence and curiosity while navigating a judgmental world. Sesh also praised the Telugu film industry for its emotional core, attributing it to being driven by individual producers rather than large corporations. His upcoming film 'Dacoit', produced by Supriya Yarlagadda, is scheduled for release in April 2026.

Actor Adivi Sesh redefines intrusive thoughts as authentic, discusses preserving artistic innocence, and explains the emotional core of Telugu cinema.

Mumbai, March 30 Actor-director-writer Adivi Sesh, who is awaiting the release of his upcoming film 'Dacoit', has a rather unusual opinion on the concept of intrusive thoughts.

The actor spoke with IANS during the promotions of 'Dacoit', and shared that what the world considers as intrusive thoughts are actually authentic thoughts since its mind's natural response.



When asked about his opinion on being an artiste and to fight the world, to preserve the childlike innocence and the curiosity, the actor told IANS, "I think it's absolutely true. I mean, I think we nurture all these armors to protect ourselves from judgment. But the truth is, everything we consider an intrusive thought is actually an authentic thought. It's unfortunate that we live in a world where we can't say it. And I'm not half as brave as he is in that sense".



As per classical understanding, intrusive thoughts are unwanted, disturbing, and often repetitive thoughts, images, or urges that pop into the mind unexpectedly. They are typically inconsistent with a person's values or desires, causing distress, anxiety, or shame.



Earlier, the actor had spoken up on the strength of Telugu cinema. He shared that unlike other film industries of India, Telugu cinema has a strong emotional core because it isn't still ruled by the corporates.



When asked what separates Telugu cinema from other industries of India, he told IANS, "I think emotional ownership. And I'll tell you what I mean by that. Telugu cinema till date is still produced by individual producers. Someone might have mortgaged a house and he's come to produce a film, someone sold a piece of land, and he's come to produce a film. Someone did well for himself in real estate or she's a doctor and she's come to produce a film. Whatever it may be. These are the people who are producing even our INR 300, 400, 500 crore films".



Meanwhile, 'Dacoit', produced by Supriya Yarlagadda, is set to arrive in cinemas on April 10, 2026.





- IANS
Hundreds of Afghans protested in London and Oslo against Pakistan's military strikes in Afghanistan, which have caused civilian casualties. Protesters warned that shelling along the Durand Line is destabilizing communities and called for independent investigations. The latest attack in Kunar province reportedly killed one person and injured sixteen. The Taliban rejects Pakistan's claim that operations target militants using Afghan soil.

Afghans in London & Oslo protest Pakistan's military strikes in Afghanistan, demanding international action over civilian casualties.

Kabul, March 30 Hundreds of Afghans residing abroad held protests in London and Oslo over the weekend against the Pakistan military's attacks in Afghanistan that have caused civilian casualties, local media reported on Monday.

Protesters in London marched through central streets and shouted slogans against Pakistan's strikes and urged the international community to take immediate action, Afghanistan's Ariana News reported.

Protesters spoke about the worsening security situation along the Durand Line, warning that repeated shelling risks further destabilising already fragile communities and demanded independent investigations and greater international pressure to stop escalation.

At the same time, members of the Afghan community in Oslo gathered outside the Norwegian Parliament to condemn Pakistan's attacks and demand accountability.

Protest organisers said that a formal resolution was submitted to Norwegian authorities, the United Nations, and the International Criminal Court and immediate steps were sought to stop the violence and ensure the protection of civilians, Ariana News reported.

The protests were held as tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan have escalated following clashes, airstrikes and artillery exchanges along the Durand Line.

According to Afghan officials, the latest attack occurred in Kunar province on Sunday. Local officials said that one person was killed and 16 others were injured after Pakistani forces launched rocket and heavy weapon attacks on residential areas in Kunar province. The shelling hit areas near Asadabad and nearby homes, sparking fears of a wider border escalation.

Taliban spokesperson Hamdullah Fitrat said that the attack targeting civilian homes occurred at around 5 p.m. (local time) on Sunday. He said that injured people were rushed to the hospital for treatment, Afghanistan's news agency Khaama Press reported. He accused Pakistan of firing in residential areas near the border.

The latest attack comes days after fighting resumed along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border after the collapse of a brief Eid ceasefire. Islamabad has said its military operations are targeting militants using Afghan soil to carry out attacks inside Pakistan, a claim rejected by the Taliban.

- IANS
Lieutenant General Dhiraj Seth inaugurated Sudarshan Chowk and Konark Chowk at Pune Military Station as enduring tributes to the valour and service of two storied Southern Command formations. He also inaugurated a state-of-the-art synthetic military obstacle course at the Army Institute of Physical Training, designed as an all-weather facility with night-training capability. The Army Commander emphasized that modern warfare requires physically resilient and mentally agile soldiers, and such infrastructure is vital for building a future-ready force. These initiatives collectively underscore Southern Command's dual commitment to preserving its operational legacy while enhancing contemporary combat readiness.

Lt Gen Dhiraj Seth inaugurates Sudarshan Chowk, Konark Chowk & a new synthetic military obstacle course at Pune Military Station to honour legacy & enhance combat readiness.

Pune, March 30 Lieutenant General Dhiraj Seth, PVSM, UYSM, AVSM, General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Southern Command, presided over two events in Pune that underscored Southern Command's commitment to preserving military legacy and enhancing future combat readiness.

The Army Commander inaugurated Sudarshan Chowk and Konark Chowk at Pune Military Station, and at the Army Institute of Physical Training (AIPT), he inaugurated a state-of-the-art Synthetic Military Obstacle Course.

Lieutenant General Dhiraj Seth inaugurated Sudarshan Chowk and Konark Chowk as enduring tributes to the valour, distinguished service and fighting spirit of Southern Command's storied formations, Sudarshan Chakra Corps and Konark Corps.

Situated within the iconic Pune Military Station, the two structures lend a distinct military character to the rich and illustrious history of Pune, one of the oldest military stations of the country.The two structures represent the living ethos of formations that have contributed extensively to the operational legacy of the Southern Command. Their establishment reflects a conscious institutional effort to preserve memory, inspire pride and visiblyanchor the Command's present identity in the legacy of its battle-tested formations.The Army Commander also inaugurated a state-of-the-art synthetic military obstacle course at the Army Institute of Physical Training, marking an important step in Southern Command's continuing endeavour to build a fitter, tougher and battle-ready force.Conceived as an all-weather facility, the obstacle course incorporates meticulously designed obstacles and night-training capability to facilitate realistic, high-intensity and sustained physical training under varied operational conditions.Speaking on the occasion, the Army Commander underscored that the changing character of warfare demands soldiers who are physically resilient, mentally agile and operationally adaptive.

He emphasised that purpose-built training infrastructure of this nature will play a vital role in shaping a resilient, agile and Future Ready force.

- ANI
Indian authorities are prioritizing the safety and welfare of its nationals in the Gulf region as the conflict continues. Ministry of External Affairs officials confirm missions are working round-the-clock to assist Indian seafarers and maintain contact with crew members on vessels. The government is also actively addressing the academic disruptions faced by Indian students, coordinating with educational boards. Simultaneously, the shipping ministry reports all Indian vessels and crew in the Persian Gulf are safe, with ports operating smoothly.

Indian missions work round-the-clock to ensure safety of seafarers and students, monitor ships, and address academic concerns amid West Asia tensions.

New Delhi, March 30 India on Monday said that particular attention is being given to the welfare of Indian seafarers as the conflict in the Gulf region entered its second month.

A senior Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) officer assured that the safety, security and welfare of the Indian community in the region remains the utmost priority and added that MEA continues to closely monitor the evolving situation in the region.

Addressing an interministerial briefing, Aseem Mahajan, Joint Secretary (Gulf) from the Ministry of External Affairs said that the Indian missions continue to provide support and assistance to Indian crew members on vessels across the region.

"Our missions are in continuous contact with the Indian crew members on vessels across the region to provide support including extending consular assistance, facilitating communication with their families in India and facilitating requests to return to India. "

With exam cycles hindered due to the conflict, Mahajan underlined how the welfare of Indian students in the Gulf countries is being accorded high priority and that the government is making every effort to see that students' academic year is not impacted.

"Our missions are in regular touch and are actively coordinating with the local authorities, Indian schools in the region, concerned boards national testing agency. CBSE has already notified the assessment scheme for the declaration of results of class 10 and 12 in the region. Academic concerns, particularly those related to CBSE, ICSE, Kerala boards and JEE and NEET exams, are being addressed through regular outreach to parents and students", he said.

On the safety, security and welfare of the large Indian community in the region, he said that the dedicated special control room to assist Indian nationals and their families remains operational and that Indian missions and posts are working round the clock to provide assistance.

Also at the briefing, a senior official from the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways said on Monday that all Indian seafarers and ships operating in the Persian Gulf region are remain safe and there has been no report of any incident in the past 24 hours.

Special Secretary in the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways Rajesh Kumar Sinha stated that all Indian vessels and crew are currently being closely monitored, and 8 sailors returned safely to India in the last 24 hours."18 Indian ships in the Persian Gulf with 485 seafarers are all safe. No maritime incidents reported in the last 24 hours," Sinha said.H

e added that ports across states are operating smoothly without congestion. "Two LPG carriers with 94,000 metric tonnes are expected to dock at Mumbai and New Mangalore ports on March 31 and April 1," he informed.

He later added that India continues to ensure an uninterrupted maritime operation and energy supply."

We are maintaining continuous coordination with the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, the Ministry of External Affairs, Indian missions abroad, and other stakeholders in the maritime sector," he said.

- ANI
US President Donald Trump declared a "big day" for Iran, claiming the US military has destroyed many long-sought targets, including the country's entire Navy and Air Force. He hinted at a "regime change," suggesting a new, more reasonable group is now dealing with the US. Trump stated Iran has agreed to most points of a US 15-point peace plan and has sent shipments of oil as a sign of respect. Meanwhile, Iran's Parliament Speaker accused the US and Israel of planning a ground invasion under the guise of diplomacy.

President Trump says US destroyed Iranian Navy, Air Force, and hints at new leadership, while claiming progress on a peace plan.

Washington DC, March 30 US President Donald Trump on Sunday said it's a "big day" for Iran, stating that the US military has destroyed many key targets in the country.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump said that the US military had destroyed many sought-after targets in Iran.

He said, "Big day in Iran. Many long-sought-after targets have been taken out and destroyed by our GREAT MILITARY, the finest and most lethal in the World. God bless you all! President DJT."

Earlier in the day, when being gaggled with the press on Air Force One en route to Joint Base Andrews, Trump said that Iran's entire Navy and Air Force have been knocked out, and most of their missiles are gone.

Trump also hinted at regime change in Iran, saying the current leadership is "very reasonable" and a "new group of people@.

He said, "I just have lots of alternatives. We have a tremendous number of ships over there. We don't need them all because of, you know, the power. If you had said that in three days we were going to knock out 158 ships, their entire Navy, which we did, we knocked out their entire Air Force, we knocked out most of their missiles. That's why you see missile attacks, but they're down to just sputtering. And we have a group, it's really a new regime. It's the new group of people, people that we've never dealt with before, that are acting very reasonably. It is truly regime change."

When he was asked if Iran's dead leader Khamenei's son was alive and a part of the ongoing conversation.

"We think he may be. Nobody's heard about him and he's... he may be alive, but he's obviously very seriously in trouble. Really, he's seriously wounded," Trump replied.

On being asked about the 15-point peace plan sent by the US to Iran, Trump said, "Yeah, they came back on the 15-point plan. They gave us most of the points. Why wouldn't they?"

Trump mentioned that Iran has agreed to most of the 15-point peace plan sent by the US and has even sent 20 boatloads of oil as a "sign of respect".

"Well, they're agreeing with us on the plan. I mean, we asked for 15 things, and for the most part, we're going to be asking for a couple of other things. And just to prove that they're serious, they gave us all these boats. When I talked about four days ago, a present, I said they gave me a present, but I didn't think I was at liberty to say what it was. What it was was 8 plus 2; it's 10 massive boatloads of oil. And today they gave us another present, they gave us 20 boatloads of oil. That starts being shipped tomorrow. We're having very good meetings, both directly and indirectly, and we're getting a lot of very important points," Trump further said in the gaggle.

Earlier, Iran's Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf on Sunday accused the United States and Israel of planning a "ground invasion" under the guise of diplomacy, warning that Tehran will not yield to pressure, according to Iranian state media Press TV.

As quoted by Press TV, he said, "The enemy talks of negotiations but plans a ground invasion. The US seeks in a 15-point list what it couldn't win in war. Our forces are ready, and we will never be humiliated."

- ANI
BJP National President Nitin Nabin has resigned as the Member of the Legislative Assembly from Bihar's Bankipur constituency. He reflected on a two-decade political journey that began after his father's demise in 2006. Nabin expressed gratitude for the opportunity to serve as a minister under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. He pledged to remain committed to Bihar's development through his new national role in the party.

BJP President Nitin Nabin resigns as Bankipur MLA after 20 years, vows to continue working for Bihar's development under PM Modi's leadership.

New Delhi, March 30 BJP national President Nitin Nabin on Monday announced his resignation as the elected Member of the Legislative Assembly from Bankipur constituency in Bihar.

Sharing the development in a detailed post on X, he addressed party workers and the people of Bihar, reflecting on his two-decade-long political journey and expressing gratitude for the continued support he had received over the years.

Reflecting on his political journey, Nabin said: "All my family members and party worker comrades from Bankipur and Bihar, After the sudden demise of my father in January 2006, the party gave me the opportunity to contest the by-election from Patna West, and on April 27, 2006, I was elected for the first time from the Patna West constituency, marking the beginning of my social and political life."

He added: "Over the past 20 years, I have made continuous efforts to nurture, beautify, and advance this constituency - built by my father, the late Nawin Kishore Prasad Sinha - with a familial spirit on the platform of development. I have always worked with dedication for the development of my area and Bihar. As a result, the god-like people here have blessed me with the fortune of service by electing me as their representative to the House for five consecutive terms. Whether inside the House or outside, I have used both platforms to raise the voice of my area and the people of Bihar and to find ways to resolve their problems."

Speaking about his experience in the Assembly and as a minister, he said: "As a member of the Bihar Legislative Assembly, I had the opportunity to learn a great deal from many senior MLAs on both the ruling side and the opposition. I have resolved many important issues in my area based on suggestions from the people and workers.

"Under the leadership of the Honourable Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi ji and the Honourable Chief Minister Shri Nitish Kumar ji, when the party gave me the opportunity to serve as a minister in the Bihar government, I succeeded in implementing several key decisions, policies, and schemes. For this, I express my gratitude to the Honourable Chief Minister ji," he added.

Announcing his resignation, Nabin said: "Today, I am resigning from my position as the elected member from the Bankipur constituency of the Bihar Legislative Assembly."

Nabin said that through the new role the party had given him, he would remain fully committed to the development of his area and Bihar. He added that the unbreakable bond he shared with his workers and the people of Bihar would endure forever, continually providing him with energy, inspiration, and guidance.

He further stated that under the leadership of PM Modi, he would continue to strive tirelessly toward realising the vision of a developed India and a developed Bihar by 2047.

He concluded by sending his salutations to Bankipur and expressing his heartfelt regard for Bihar.

Nabin's resignation marks a major political shift in Bankipur, where he has been a five-time MLA.

He was appointed as the National President of the BJP on January 20. He took over from Union Minister J.P. Nadda.

- IANS
BJP National President Nitin Nabin has confirmed he will resign from his position as the Bankipur MLA after being elected as a Rajya Sabha MP from Bihar. His resignation follows the constitutional rule that prohibits holding membership in two Houses of Parliament simultaneously. In a social media post, Nabin recalled his political journey beginning in 2006 and expressed gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. Meanwhile, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has also officially resigned from his position as a Member of the Legislative Council.

BJP President Nitin Nabin resigns as Bankipur MLA after becoming Rajya Sabha MP. He reaffirms commitment to Bihar's development under PM Modi.

Patna, March 30 Bharatiya Janata Party National President Nitin Nabin on Monday confirmed that he will resign from his position of Bankipur MLA after being elected as a Rajya Sabha MP from Bihar.

Nitin Nabin's statement comes amid rumours of him not tendering his resignation while the NDA in Bihar delves into the new Chief Minister face after JD(U) chief Nitish Kumar also got elected as a member of the Upper House of Parliament.

Sharing a post on X, Nitin Nabin recalled his political journey in Bihar and reaffirmed his commitment to his new role as Rajya Sabha MP.

He wrote, "Today, I am resigning from my position as the elected member from the Bankipur constituency of the Bihar Legislative Assembly. Through the new role the party has given me, I will remain ever ready and committed to the development of my area and Bihar. The unbreakable bond I share with my workers and the people of Bihar will endure forever, always providing me with new energy, inspiration, and guidance."

"Under the leadership of the Honourable Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji, I will continue to strive tirelessly toward realising the dream of a developed India and a developed Bihar by 2047," he added.

Both Nitish Kumar and Nitin Nabin were elected as members of the Rajya Sabha following the biennial elections on March 16. A public representative, as per the Constitution, is not allowed to hold membership in two Houses.

Recalling becoming an MLA in 2006 after his father's demise, Nitin Nabin added, "All my family members and party worker comrades from Bankipur and Bihar, After the sudden demise of my father in January 2006, the party gave me the opportunity to contest the by-election from Patna West, and on April 27, 2006, I was elected for the first time from the Patna West constituency, marking the beginning of my social and political life. Over the past 20 years, I have made continuous efforts to nurture, beautify, and advance this constituency--built by my father, the late Nawin Kishore Prasad Sinha--with a familial spirit on the platform of development."

He expressed gratitude towards Prime Minister Narendra Modi and incumbent Bihar CM Nitish Kumar for appointing him as a minister in Bihar.

He wrote, "I have always worked with dedication for the development of my area and Bihar. As a result, the god-like people here have blessed me with the fortune of service by electing me as their representative to the House for five consecutive terms. Whether inside the House or outside, I have used both platforms to raise the voice of my area and the people of Bihar and to find ways to resolve their problems. As a member of the Bihar Legislative Assembly, I had the opportunity to learn a great deal from many senior MLAs on both the ruling side and the opposition. I have resolved many important issues of my area based on suggestions from the people and workers."

"Under the leadership of the Honourable Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji and the Honourable Chief Minister Nitish Kumar ji, when the party gave me the opportunity to serve as a minister in the Bihar government, I succeeded in implementing several key decisions, policies, and schemes. For this, I express my gratitude to the Honourable Chief Minister ji. I have always said that the people not only told me their problems but also showed me the path to solving those problems. The workers have held my hand like a brother, a family member, and a guardian, bringing me to this position today. I assure the people of Patna and Bihar that I will always honour the familial affection they have given me," the X post read.

Meanwhile, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has officially resigned from his position as a Member of the Legislative Council (MLC).

The resignation letter was formally submitted to the Bihar Legislative Council Secretariat today by JD(U) MLC Sanjay Gandhi on behalf of the Chief Minister.

- ANI
Cambodia's National Assembly has unanimously passed a stringent new law to combat online scams, prescribing life imprisonment for bosses whose operations result in deaths. The legislation imposes severe prison terms and hefty fines for ringleaders and participants involved in scams, especially those linked to violence or human trafficking. Deputy Prime Minister Koeut Rith stated the law aims to repair Cambodia's international reputation, which has been damaged by its association with these criminal networks. The country is committed to eradicating all online scam centers by April, having already deported tens of thousands of suspects.

Cambodia's parliament passes a tough new law imposing life sentences for online scam bosses, part of a major crackdown to restore the nation's reputation.

Phnom Penh, March 30 The National Assembly of Cambodia on Monday passed a draft law on combating online scams, which will deliver up to 30 years or life imprisonment to scam bosses.

A total of 112 lawmakers in attendance unanimously approved the draft bill.

According to the bill, online scam bosses will face between 15 and 30 years or life imprisonment if their operations lead to one or many deaths.

Ringleaders of online scam centres will face between five and 10 years in prison and a fine of up to 1 billion riels ($250,000), and they will face between 10 and 20 years in jail and a fine of up to 2 billion riels ($500,000) if their operations are found to involve violence, torture, illegal confinement, human trafficking, or forced labor.

Online scammers will be imprisoned between two and five years with a fine of up to 500 million riels ($125,000).

Deputy Prime Minister and Justice Minister Koeut Rith said Cambodia was one of many countries in the region that criminals had used to operate online scams.

"This crime has not only seriously affected public security and order, but also badly damaged Cambodia's reputation and image on the international stage," he told the parliament.

Koeut Rith said the law would "enhance the effectiveness of the fight against online scams, aiming at safeguarding security and public order as well as enhancing the effectiveness of cooperation in combating online scams."

The draft bill will need to be finally reviewed by the Senate before being submitted to King Norodom Sihamoni for promulgation.

The kingdom has launched an unprecedented nationwide crackdown on cyber scam networks to maintain social security, safety, and public order, and to restore the kingdom's image on the international stage, Xinhua news agency reported.

The Southeast Asian country is committed to eradicating all online scam centres by April this year.

Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Sar Sokha said in February that Cambodia had deported more than 30,000 suspected foreign scammers, as over 210,000 others had voluntarily left the kingdom after operations against online scams had intensified since June 2025.

- IANS
The Union Ministry of Education has issued an order withdrawing the administrative and financial powers of NIT Kurukshetra Director, Professor BV Ramana Reddy, effective immediately. The specific reasons for this sudden action have not been disclosed by the Ministry. Professor Reddy is a seasoned academic with over 35 years of experience and has held significant administrative roles at multiple institutions. Further details regarding the decision are currently awaited.

The Union Education Ministry has revoked the administrative and financial powers of NIT Kurukshetra Director BV Ramana Reddy. Details are pending.

By Vishu Adhana, New Delhi March 30 The Union Ministry of Education has withdrawn the administrative and financial powers of Professor BV Ramana Reddy, Director of the National Institute of Technology Kurukshetra in Haryana, sources toldon Monday.

An official order has been issued in this regard, and the decision has come into effect immediately. However, the reasons behind the move have not been disclosed so far.

Prof. Reddy currently serves as the Director of NIT Kurukshetra, an institution ranked among the top 100 in the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF).

He holds a Bachelor's degree in Electronics and Communication Engineering (ECE) from Andhra University (1986), a Master's degree from IIT Roorkee (1991), and a PhD from Kurukshetra University (1998).

With over 35 years of academic experience, he has held several key positions across institutions. He began his career as a faculty member at REC Kurukshetra (now NIT Kurukshetra) and later served at NIT Hamirpur and Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University (GGSIPU), New Delhi, where he held multiple administrative roles, including Dean and Chairman of various departments.

An expert in wireless communication and ICT, Prof. Reddy has authored over 150 research publications and supervised several PhD scholars. He has also contributed to curriculum development, skill education initiatives, and institutional reforms aligned with national education frameworks.

Further details regarding the Ministry's decision are awaited.

- ANI
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai has virtually inaugurated direct flight services from Ambikapur's Maa Mahamaya Airport to New Delhi, with a Kolkata service set to commence on April 2. The flights, operating twice weekly each, are expected to significantly improve connectivity for the tribal-dominated Surguja region, saving travel time and boosting business and tourism. The airport, originally built in 1950 and upgraded in 2021, was virtually inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in late 2024. This development, alongside recent night flight operations in Bilaspur, marks a major enhancement of regional aviation infrastructure in the state.

CM Vishnu Deo Sai inaugurates direct flights from Ambikapur to Delhi & Kolkata, boosting tribal region connectivity and tourism in Surguja.

Raipur, March 30 Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai on Monday virtually inaugurated direct flight services from Maa Mahamaya Airport in Ambikapur to New Delhi and Kolkata. The inauguration was conducted from Raipur, while local MP Chintamani flagged off the flight from Maa Mahamaya Airport, Darima Airport.

Darima Airport, originally built in 1950, was upgraded in 2021 to handle 72-seater aircraft. Under the new schedule, flights will operate twice a week to Delhi and twice a week to Kolkata, with both services making a stop at Bilaspur.

The Ambikapur-Delhi service will be operated on a 72-seater ATR aircraft with a fare of Rs 6,500. The Ambikapur-Kolkata service, starting April 2, will run on Thursdays and Saturdays at a fare of Rs 6,000.

The launch of these flights has brought immense joy to residents of Ambikapur and the surrounding Surguja division, a tribal-dominated region in northern Chhattisgarh. Locals believe the new air services will save travel time, reduce fatigue, and boost business, tourism, and connectivity.

On Mondays, the Delhi-Ambikapur flight will depart Delhi at 7.50 a.m., reach Bilaspur at 10.25 a.m., and arrive in Ambikapur at 11.40 a.m. It will then depart Ambikapur at 12.05 p.m. and return to Delhi by 2.35 p.m. On Wednesdays, the flight will leave Delhi at 7.50 a.m., reach Ambikapur at 10.25 a.m., depart at 10.50 a.m. for Bilaspur, and finally return to Delhi at 2.50 p.m.

Speaking on the occasion, Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai said the Ambikapur-Kolkata flight will soon start, and the government also has plans to start flights to Ayodhya and Varanasi. "We will soon launch flight services as work is going on. Jagdalpur, Ambikapur, Raigarh and other airports will be extended and developed further, " he said.

Local MP boarded the plane to inaugurate the service. The Raipur airport, he said, will soon have a cargo airport. A memorandum of understanding has been signed in this regard.

Maa Mahamaya Airport, located at Darima near Ambikapur, was virtually inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on October 20, 2024. Spread over 365 acres and developed at a cost of around Rs 80 crore, the airport is expected to accelerate development in Surguja by providing modern air connectivity.

Surguja MP Chintamani described the launch as a "historic moment" for the region. Former Deputy Chief Minister T.S. Singh Deo also welcomed the development, saying work was now moving in the right direction.

On Sunday, CM Sai inaugurated night flight operations at Bilasa Devi Kevat Airport in Bilaspur. He personally travelled on the inaugural night flight from Bilaspur to Raipur, accompanied by MLA Dharamjit Singh.

Following the airport's upgrade, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) granted permission for night operations under the 3C IFR category on February 6.

With this facility, scheduled commercial flights as well as emergency and medical services can now operate during nighttime hours.

Chief Minister Sai said the launch of night flights would significantly enhance life-saving medical services and boost trade, tourism, and investment in the region. He urged citizens to make full use of the new facility and extended best wishes for safe and pleasant journeys.

This development marks a major boost to regional aviation infrastructure in Chhattisgarh, particularly in smaller cities and tribal areas.

- IANS
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav will participate in the MP-UP Cooperation Conference in Varanasi on March 31 to present the state's 'One District-One Product' model. The conference aims to share innovations and best practices between the two states to boost local economies and regional industries. Madhya Pradesh's ODOP initiative, which has won a national Silver Award, integrates the unique products of over 50 districts into a comprehensive value-chain model. The event is expected to accelerate exports and provide wider market platforms for local artisans and entrepreneurs.

CM Mohan Yadav to present Madhya Pradesh's award-winning One District-One Product model at Varanasi conference, focusing on exports and local economies.

Bhopal, March 30 Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav is scheduled to participate in the MP-UP Cooperation Conference to be held in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, on March 31, where he will present the state's 'One District-One Product' model.

The conference will also feature the sharing of innovations and best practices from Uttar Pradesh, aimed at strengthening inter-state cooperation in promoting local economies and boosting regional industries.

According to an official release, the MP-UP Conference will focus on the effective implementation and future direction of the ODOP initiative with the participation of ministers, senior officials and policymakers from both states. Through this platform, Madhya Pradesh will share its experiences and demonstrate how ODOP can be implemented as a practical, employment-oriented and export-driven economic model.

The conference is expected to create new market opportunities for ODOP products, accelerate exports and provide a wider platform for artisans and entrepreneurs. Cooperation and exchange of best practices between the two states will strengthen ODOP further as a robust economic model at the national level.

With this ODOP initiative, the unique products of each district have been identified and linked with production, processing, value addition, branding, packaging and market access. This initiative is not limited to preserving traditional products but has been developed as a comprehensive value-chain model, enabling artisans, farmers and micro-entrepreneurs to gain sustainable economic opportunities. During the conference, the state will present this model of economic empowerment of local producers and artisans.

The comprehensive efforts of Madhya Pradesh under the ODOP initiative have received national recognition. The state's ODOP model was honoured with the Silver Award at the ODOP Awards 2024. Additionally, the ODOP initiative in Madhya Pradesh is being linked with export promotion, skill development and entrepreneurship. Market access is being ensured through workshops, exhibitions and digital platforms. Branding, packaging, GI tagging and e-commerce are being promoted to enhance the competitiveness of local products, enabling them to establish a strong presence in global markets further.

It is noteworthy that under the 'One District One Product' initiative in Madhya Pradesh, the distinctive productivity of more than 50 districts has been identified and integrated into a strong economic framework.

Products such as Sheopur guava, Morena-Bhind mustard, Gwalior sandstone tiles, Ashoknagar Chanderi handloom, Ujjain batik print, Dhar Bagh print, Ratlam namkeen, Jhabua Kadaknath, Burhanpur zari-zardozi, Barwani bananas, Khargone chillies, Indore potatoes, Sagar agricultural equipment, Mandsaur garlic, Neemuch coriander, oranges from Agar Malwa-Rajgarh-Chhindwara, ginger from Tikamgarh-Niwari, bamboo from Dewas-Harda, Betul teak, Balaghat Chinnor rice, Narsinghpur pigeon pea (tur dal), Seoni custard apple, Sidhi carpets, Satna tomatoes, Shahdol turmeric and kodo-kutki from Mandla, Dindori, Singrauli and Anuppur are being developed through a value-chain-based approach.

- ANI
Chief Minister Mohan Yadav will attend the Madhya Pradesh-Uttar Pradesh Cooperation Conference in Varanasi, focusing on enhancing partnership in trade, investment, and skill development. The conference will see the signing of agreements and a special emphasis on linking One District-One Product (ODOP) initiatives with branding and export opportunities. Artisans from MP's Chanderi and Maheshwar clusters will collaborate with Banarasi weavers to advance the 'Ganga-Narmada Craft Corridor'. CM Yadav will also visit the Kashi Vishwanath Corridor to study pilgrimage management systems for potential replication in Madhya Pradesh.

CM Mohan Yadav attends MP-UP conference in Varanasi to boost trade, ODOP initiatives, and sign key agreements for inter-state economic growth.

Bhopal, March 30 Chief Minister Mohan Yadav will attend the 'Madhya Pradesh-Uttar Pradesh Cooperation Conference' in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, on Tuesday.

The conference, aimed at strengthening partnerships in trade, investment, and skills between the two neighbouring states, will also witness the signing of agreements between the Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh governments across several sectors, including trade, industrial investment, skill development, handicrafts promotion, and tourism.

The conference will include the exchange of innovations and best practices from Uttar Pradesh to enhance inter-state cooperation in promoting local economies and regional industries.

The crucial event will place special emphasis on linking One District-One Product (ODOP) initiatives, GI-tagged products, traditional crafts, and agri-food products with branding, marketing, and export opportunities.

Ministers, senior officials, and policymakers from both Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh will participate, focusing on the implementation and future direction of the ODOP initiative.

The ODOP initiative identifies unique products from each district, linking them with production, processing, value addition, branding, packaging, and market access.

It is designed as a comprehensive value-chain model, providing sustainable economic opportunities to artisans, farmers, and micro-entrepreneurs rather than solely preserving traditional products.

"The event is expected to generate new market opportunities for ODOP products, accelerate exports, and offer a wider platform for artisans and entrepreneurs. Cooperation and knowledge exchange between the two states will strengthen the ODOP as a robust national economic model," the Madhya Pradesh government said in a statement on Monday.

Madhya Pradesh will present this model of economic empowerment for local producers and artisans at the conference. The state's ODOP efforts have received national recognition, including the Silver Award at the ODOP Awards 2024.

During the event, artisans from Madhya Pradesh's renowned Chanderi and Maheshwar silk clusters will collaborate with Banarasi silk weavers to advance joint branding, market expansion, and the 'Ganga-Narmada Craft Corridor' concept.

Chief Minister Yadav will also visit the Kashi Vishwanath Corridor to study crowd flow design, infrastructure layout, and pilgrim management systems.

"This visit will serve as more than just a routine inspection. It will provide a valuable opportunity to understand successful models of modern urban planning and pilgrimage site management," it said.

Drawing upon experience, a practical approach will be formulated for the development of religious sites, expansion of amenities, and systemic improvements within Madhya Pradesh, the government added.

- IANS
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has resigned from the Bihar Legislative Council, a constitutional requirement after being elected to the Rajya Sabha. His resignation ends a continuous membership in the state's Upper House that began in 2006, spanning four consecutive terms. Kumar must now secure membership in either house of the state legislature within six months to continue as Chief Minister. His formal oath as a Rajya Sabha member on April 10 will mark his entry into the fourth legislative body of his career.

Bihar CM Nitish Kumar resigns from Legislative Council ahead of Rajya Sabha oath, marking end of 18-year tenure in state Upper House.

Patna, March 30 Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Monday resigned from his membership in the Legislative Council, fulfilling the constitutional requirement ahead of assuming office as a Rajya Sabha member.

Nitish Kumar, who was elected to the Rajya Sabha on March 16 and received his election certificate the same day, is scheduled to formally take oath on April 10.

As per constitutional provisions, an individual elected to Parliament must resign from their existing legislative position within 14 days, failing which their new membership stands cancelled.

In compliance with this mandate, he submitted his resignation on March 30. The resignation letter was submitted by MLC Sanjay Gandhi on behalf of Nitish Kumar.

This resignation also marks the end of Nitish Kumar's long association with the Bihar Legislative Council.

He first became a member in 2006 and went on to serve four consecutive terms -- 2006-2012, 2012-2018, 2018-2024, and 2024 onwards -- before stepping down.

Since assuming office as Chief Minister in November 2005, Nitish Kumar has consistently held his position through membership in the Legislative Council, rather than contesting Assembly elections.

Although he was earlier elected as an MLA from Harnaut in 1985 and also served as a member in the Lok Sabha, his tenure as Chief Minister has largely been anchored in the Upper House of the state legislature.

With his upcoming entry into the Rajya Sabha, Nitish Kumar is set to achieve a rare political milestone -- having been a member of all four legislative bodies: the Bihar Legislative Assembly, Lok Sabha, Legislative Council, and now the Rajya Sabha.

This is being seen as a unique distinction in his long political career.

Following his resignation from the Legislative Council, constitutional norms also necessitate that he step down as Chief Minister. However, provisions allow him to continue in the role for up to six months without being a member of either House of the state legislature.

Within this period, he must secure membership again or opt for an alternative political course.

Nitish Kumar's transition to the Rajya Sabha marks the beginning of a new chapter in his political journey, which began in 1985.

His formal induction into the Upper House on April 10 is expected to further shape Bihar's political landscape in the coming months.

- IANS
Delhi Assembly Speaker Vijender Gupta congratulated the top three winners of the state-level 'Viksit Bharat' Youth Parliament 2026. The winners will now get an opportunity to participate in the upcoming national competition to be held in Parliament. The event, organized jointly by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and the Delhi Legislative Assembly, aimed to foster democratic understanding and leadership among youth. Gupta emphasized that the journey to a developed India by 2047 relies on the ideas and commitment of young people.

Delhi Assembly Speaker congratulates top three winners of the state-level Viksit Bharat Youth Parliament 2026, who will now compete nationally.

New Delhi, March 30 Delhi Assembly Speaker Vijender Gupta on Monday greeted Abhinav Borgohain, Sujal Sharma and Riya Pandey, who bagged the top three positions at the state-level 'Viksit Bharat' Youth Parliament 2026 organised at the Vidhan Sabha, an official said.

Gupta said the winners will get the opportunity to participate in the national competition to be held in Parliament.

Addressing the participants, Vijender Gupta stated, "The State-Level 'Viksit Bharat Youth Parliament' promotes leadership skills, civic participation, and a deep understanding of the democratic process. Its objective is to realise Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of bringing 100,000 young leaders into politics."

The event was jointly organised by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, Government of India, under the joint auspices of Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan Delhi and Delhi Legislative Assembly, said an official statement.

Members of the Legislative Assembly, Anil Goel, Poonam Bhardwaj, Tilak Raj Gupta and Sanjay Goyal were present as Judges in the competition.

The programme was also attended by Poonam Sharma, State Director, MY Bharat Delhi, Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, and Ramesh Soni, Assistant Director of MY Bharat Delhi, Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, said the statement.

Fifty participants took part in the Youth Parliament. These participants were selected from district-level youth parliaments organised across various districts of Delhi.

Gupta emphasised that the journey towards a 'Viksit Bharat @2047' is built on the ideas, hard work, and democratic commitment of the youth.

He noted that India is no longer just a growing economy but has emerged as a "Global Solution Provider" on the world stage.

The Speaker described the Youth Parliament as a "living exercise in democracy," designed to help students master policy-making and the art of finding consensus amid disagreement.

He urged the participants to be "alert citizens" who do not merely list problems but provide a roadmap for solutions, stating that the strength of democracy lies in the "weight of facts rather than the volume of one's voice."

"Leadership and politics are the most potent mediums for bringing positive change to the life of the very last person in society," the Speaker stated.

- IANS
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi greeted the people of Rajasthan on the state's Foundation Day, highlighting its diverse arts and glorious history as India's invaluable heritage. Rajasthan Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharma also extended wishes, calling the day a celebration of culture and urging participation in the 'Developed Rajasthan 2047' resolve. Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi joined in, wishing the state new milestones in development and prosperity. Rajasthan Day is celebrated annually on March 30, marking the state's formation in 1949 when the Rajputana region merged into the Indian Union.

Rahul Gandhi, CM Bhajanlal Sharma, and Odisha CM Mohan Majhi greet Rajasthan on its Foundation Day, celebrating its culture and heritage.

Jaipur, March 30 Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday extended greetings to the people of Rajasthan on the occasion of the state's Foundation Day, highlighting its rich cultural heritage and historical legacy.

In a post shared on X, Gandhi conveyed his wishes to residents of the state, referring to Rajasthan as "Veer Bhumi" and praising its contributions to the nation's identity.

"Heartiest greetings to all the residents of the state on the Foundation Day of Veer Bhumi Rajasthan. Rajasthan, replete with diverse arts, rich culture, and a glorious history, is an invaluable heritage of India. The traditions and legacy here are our pride," the post read.

Rajasthan Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharma also extended greetings on the occasion of the state's Foundation day saying it as "a celebration of our glorious heritage, rich culture". He also urged citizens to come together for fulfiling resolve of 'Developed Rajasthan 2047'.

"Heartfelt greetings of 'Rajasthan Day' to all the residents of the state! Today's day is a celebration of our glorious heritage, rich culture, and those human values that have given Rajasthan a unique identity on the world stage. Let us all come together to ensure our participation in fulfilling the resolve of 'Developed Rajasthan 2047'. Jai Hind! Jai Bharat! Jai Rajasthan!" Sharma wrote on X.

Furthermore, Odisha CM Mohan Charan Majhi also extended greetings to the citizens on the occasion and wished the state to continue to achieve new milestones of development and prosperity.

"Warm greetings to the people of Rajasthan on the occasion of Rajasthan Foundation Day. Rajasthan's rich cultural heritage, valour, and enduring traditions continue to inspire the nation, while its steady progress reflects the resilience and spirit of its people. May the state continue to achieve new milestones of development and prosperity. On behalf of the people of Odisha, I extend my heartfelt wishes for the continued peace, progress, and well-being of all," Majhi wrote on X.

Rajasthan Day, or Rajasthan Diwas, is celebrated annually on March 30th to commemorate the formation of the state on this day in 1949, when the Rajputana region merged into the Indian Union. The day marks the establishment of Rajasthan, with Jaipur declared as the capital.

- ANI
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar met with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko in New Delhi to discuss advancing bilateral cooperation and regional developments. The meeting followed Foreign Office Consultations co-chaired by Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri and Rudenko, reviewing the full spectrum of the strategic partnership. These talks are part of a series of recent high-level engagements, including UN consultations and a phone call between Jaishankar and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. The discussions build upon the momentum from President Vladimir Putin's state visit to India in December 2023.

EAM Jaishankar meets Russian Deputy FM Rudenko in Delhi. Talks cover bilateral cooperation, UN reforms, and global developments.

New Delhi, March 30 External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar held a meeting with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko here on Monday, discussing bilateral cooperation and regional and global developments.

"Good to meet Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko of Russia. Spoke about further advancement of our wide-ranging cooperation. As well as regional and global developments", EAM Jaishankar wrote in a post on X following the meeting.

Earlier in the day, India and Russia held Foreign Office Consultations, where they reviewed their Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership and discussed bilateral, regional, and global issues of mutual interest.

Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri and Rudenko co-chaired the Foreign Office Consultations.

In a post on X, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said: "India-Russia Foreign Office Consultations, co-chaired by Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko, were held in New Delhi today."

"Both sides reviewed the full spectrum of Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership and shared perspectives on bilateral, regional and global issues of mutual interest," he added.

On March 17, India and Russia held the 7th UN Consultations in New Delhi, with discussions focused on issues related to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) agenda, particularly counter-terrorism, peacekeeping, UNSC reforms and others.

"Both sides exchanged their priorities in the United Nations. The discussions focused on issues related to United Nations Security Council (UNSC) agenda, in particular counterterrorism, peacekeeping, UNSC reforms, among others," Jaiswal posted on X.

On March 11, External Affairs Minister Jaishankar held a telephonic conversation with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov and discussed the West Asia conflict and expanding bilateral ties.

Russian President Vladimir Putin was on a two-day State visit to India in December, during which he held formal talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, with both leaders reviewing the state of the India-Russia partnership as it completes 25 years since being designated a Strategic Partnership.

The discussions were followed by the 23rd India-Russia Annual Summit, during which the two sides released a Joint Statement outlining priorities for the coming years. President Droupadi Murmu also hosted a banquet in honour of President Putin at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

- IANS
Odisha Governor Hari Babu Kambhampati emphasized that embracing diverse traditions strengthens India's collective identity while addressing Rajasthan Foundation Day celebrations in Bhubaneswar. He highlighted Rajasthan's historic legacy of valour, exemplified by figures like Maharana Pratap, and its vibrant cultural traditions. The Governor drew parallels between Rajasthan and Odisha, noting both states are deeply rooted in spirituality, history, and community life. He also appreciated the Rajasthani community's contributions to Odisha and invoked Prime Minister Modi's vision of "Ek Bharat, Shreshtha Bharat" to call for stronger cultural bonds.

Governor Hari Babu Kambhampati highlights Rajasthan's cultural richness and shared values with Odisha, invoking PM Modi's vision of national unity.

Bhubaneswar, March 30 Odisha Governor Hari Babu Kambhampati on Monday emphasised the importance of cultural unity, stating that embracing diverse traditions strengthens the nation's collective identity.

The remarks were made while addressing the commemoration of Rajasthan Foundation Day held at New Abhisek Hall on the premises of Lok Bhavan. Odisha's First Lady, Jayashree Kambhampati, was also present on the occasion.

Extending warm greetings to people from Rajasthan residing in Odisha, the Governor said the occasion celebrates not only the formation of a state but also its glorious legacy of courage, honour, and cultural richness. Describing Rajasthan as the "Land of Kings," he highlighted its historic legacy marked by bravery and sacrifice, recalling the valour of Maharana Pratap and the grandeur of its forts such as Chittorgarh, Kumbhalgarh, and Amer.

He noted that Rajasthan's vibrant traditions, including folk dances like Ghoomar and Kalbelia, reflect a spirit of celebration, while heritage sites such as Kalibangan offer glimpses into ancient human civilisation. Despite its challenging geography, including the Thar Desert and the Aravalli Range, the people of Rajasthan have demonstrated resilience and innovation, he added.

The Governor further said that Odisha stands as a land of deep spirituality, rich traditions, and inclusive growth. Referring to the divine presence of Lord Jagannath, he said the state reflects faith, devotion, and unity in diversity.

Drawing comparisons with Rajasthan, he said both states share many similarities, being deeply rooted in history, enriched with vibrant traditions, and guided by strong spiritual beliefs. He noted that their cultural pride is reflected through temples, festivals, and community life, highlighting the shared ethos and common values of the people.

The Governor appreciated the contributions of the Rajasthani community in Odisha across trade, industry, education, and social service, stating that their efforts have enriched the state's social and economic fabric.

Referring to the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the concept of "Ek Bharat, Shreshtha Bharat," he said, celebrating diversity fosters mutual respect and national unity.

He called for continued efforts to strengthen cultural bonds and work collectively for a more united and progressive India, the release said.

The natives of Rajasthan, including Additional Director General (Railways and Coastal Security) Arun Bothra, shared their experiences of residing in Odisha. The event also featured several cultural performances. ADC to the Governor, Kuldeep Meena, delivered the welcome address on the occasion, the release added.

- ANI
Iran's Acting Defence Minister General Seyyed Majid Ibn Reza, in a call with Turkish counterpart Yasar Guler, strongly condemned recent military attacks and asserted Iran's right to self-defence. Turkish Defence Minister Guler echoed concerns over the violations and expressed Ankara's readiness to help de-escalate the regional situation. Concurrently, US President Donald Trump claimed that a regime change has already effectively taken place in Iran due to the decimation of its leadership. The developments follow reported air raids on an Iranian facility and IRGC claims of targeting industrial sites in the UAE and Bahrain.

Iran's acting defence minister asserts inalienable right to self-defence in call with Turkey. US President Trump claims regime change in Iran amid ongoing conflict.

Tehran, March 30 Iran's Acting Defence Minister Brigadier General Seyyed Majid Ibn Reza held a key telephone conversation with Turkish Defence Minister Yasar Guler amid the ongoing West Asia conflict involving the United States and Israel, according to Iranian state media Press TV.

During the call on Sunday evening, General Reza strongly condemned the "brutal military aggression" against Iran, calling it a clear violation of international law and fundamental principles of the global system, according to Press TV.

He stressed that Iran is acting within its legitimate and "inalienable" right to self-defence. He said, " Iran is exercising its legitimate and inalienable right to self-defence, responding decisively to the aggressors."

According to Press TV, Turkish Defence Minister Guler, for his part, echoed concerns over the situation, describing the attacks on Iran as a "serious violation of international law."

According to Press TV, he also conveyed Ankara's willingness to play an active role in de-escalation efforts. Guler expressed Turkey's readiness to contribute to restoring regional security and stability at the earliest possible time.

Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump on Sunday (local time) asserted that there has been a regime change in Iran, citing the decimation of its newly appointed leadership, referring to Mojtaba Khamenei, the current Supreme Leader of Iran and son of former Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, and shifts within the Islamic Republic's power structure amid the ongoing war in the region.

Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, the US President reflected on Washington's evolving narrative on the conflict and Tehran's future, stating that while a formal agreement remains possible but not guaranteed, there has already been regime change.

He noted that subsequent Iranian leadership groups are "mostly dead" or composed of different figures than those previously in power, and he described the current situation as a form of regime change.

"I think we'll make a deal with them. Pretty sure. But it's possible we won't. But we've had regime change if you look already because the one regime was decimated, destroyed. They're all dead. The next regime is mostly dead," Trump said.

Amidst the ongoing conflict, the US-and Israel-led air raids struck a petrochemical unit in the northwestern Iranian city of Tabriz, as reported by Iranian state media, Press TV, on Sunday (local time).

According to Press TV, citing Iranian officials, the situation at the facility has been brought "under control" after the strike.

This development comes after Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), in a statement, claimed responsibility for targeting key industrial facilities in the region, including aluminium plants in the UAE and Bahrain, as reported by Iranian state media, Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), on Saturday.

- ANI
Japanese citizens gather in Tokyo demanding gov't apology over SDF officer's intrusion into Chinese embassy

Xinhua) 13:24, March 30, 2026

TOKYO, March 29 (Xinhua) -- Hundreds of Japanese citizens gathered in Shinjuku, a bustling district in Tokyo, on Saturday evening, holding placards and demanding that the government apologize to China following the forcible intrusion by an active-duty Self-Defense Forces (SDF) officer into the Chinese embassy in Tokyo on Tuesday.

Participants held signs and chanted slogans including "Apologize for the SDF officer's terrible act," "Take responsibility for the terrible incident," and "We apologize to China on behalf of the government," directing their calls at the Japanese government and Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi.

According to the Chinese embassy in Japan, a man claiming to be "an active-duty officer of the Japan Self-Defense Forces" forcibly broke into the embassy by climbing over a wall on Tuesday morning, threatening to kill Chinese diplomatic personnel.

The embassy has lodged solemn representations and a strong protest with the Japanese side, demanding that Japan provide a responsible explanation.

So far, the Japanese government has only expressed that the incident was "regrettable," without offering an apology or announcing specific accountability measures.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
Top medical experts are issuing urgent warnings against the misuse of GLP-1 receptor agonists as quick fixes for weight loss. They emphasize these are powerful prescription drugs for chronic conditions like obesity and type 2 diabetes, not lifestyle enhancers. The Drugs Controller General of India has warned about their promotion and stressed they must be used under specialist supervision due to risks like gallbladder stones and pancreatitis. While generic versions have made them more affordable, doctors caution that stopping the drugs often leads to significant weight regain.

Top endocrinologists warn against using GLP-1 agonists like semaglutide as a lifestyle enhancer, stressing risks and need for medical supervision.

By Shalini Bhardwaj, New Delhi, March 30 Top medical experts are raising urgent alarms against using GLP-1 as a lifestyle enhancer, highlighting the risk of shortages for high-risk patients.

GLP-1 receptor agonists like Ozempic, Wegovy, and Mounjaro are powerful prescription medicines designed for long-term management of chronic conditions like obesity and type 2 diabetes. They're not a quick fix for weight loss or a substitute for healthy lifestyle changes.

Multiple domestic pharmaceuticals has launched Semaglutide after the patent expired in India, but since the launch of Semaglutide its massively promoted, it has created risk factors for actual beneficiaries.

Speaking to ANI, Dr Saptarshi Bhattacharya, Senior Consultant Endocrinology, Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals, said, "Recently, the Govt of India and DCGI (Drugs Controller General of India) have issued a warning over the use of GLP-1. E-medicines have been available in India for the past 1-1.5 years, but the Semaglutide molecule has become off-patent recently. GLP-1 is being massively promoted these days as a quick fix for everything. So, Govt stand in this is clear. GLP-1 should not be used as a one-off quick fix for weight loss and diabetes management. GLP-1 and GIP-based treatments are good molecules; they have proven scientific safety and efficacy. But they should be used under medical supervision. Doctor's opinion, doctor's advice are important...It has to be prescribed either by an endocrinologist or an internal medicine doctor."

"If a doctor is prescribing GLP-1, they should have at least a degree in MD Medicine; otherwise, that person is not eligible to prescribe GLP-1. That is very important because it has side effects which can be monitored by specialist doctors...So, these are useful molecules, but they should be used under the supervision of either an endocrinologist or somebody who has a degree in MD internal medicine..." he said further

Recently, drug regulators intensified their crackdown on the unauthorised sale of weight loss drugs.

Dr. Monika Sharma, Senior Consultant, Endocrinology, Aakash Healthcare, said, "It's a very essential step to ensure the drug gets used by the right patients. Excessive and improper use carries a real risk of complications like gall bladder stones, risk of dehydration and protein malnutrition. Ensuring that the drug is available on prescription by a qualified medical professional will ensure that the public's health is ensured."

On GLP-1 drugs and generic versions, Chairperson, Institute of Liver Gastroenterology & Pancreatico Biliary Sciences, Dr Anil Arora said, "There are a large number of benefits. Only problem with these drugs is they have a limited duration of action, they have a long duration of action, but they will act till the time you are taking the drugs... Like medicines for diabetes or hypertension, these drugs must be taken continuously; stopping them often leads to weight regain, with about a 70% chance of relapse. They were once costly at Rs 16,000-20,000, but after the patent expired, generics entered the market, and prices fell to around Rs 1,000, with many companies now offering them..."

Obesity is a complex condition requiring continuous medical supervision. GLP-1 drugs work best with healthy eating and exercise to maintain results and avoid weight regain. Muscle loss, malnutrition, gastrointestinal issues, pancreatitis, and kidney injury are potential side effects. These drugs should only be used under a doctor's consultation.

- ANI
Union Minister HD Kumaraswamy launched the Light Electric-Vehicle Acceleration Forum (LEAF), an industry-led consortium aimed at strengthening India's EV charging infrastructure. The forum will bring together stakeholders across the light electric vehicle ecosystem to work with government bodies and accelerate the adoption of electric two- and three-wheelers. A key initiative is the development of the Light Electric Combined Charging System (LECCS), a unified connector standard approved by the Bureau of Indian Standards. The forum, which already includes over 20 organizations, aims to address challenges like fragmented charging networks to support the next phase of EV growth in India.

Union Minister HD Kumaraswamy launches industry-led LEAF forum to accelerate EV adoption by improving charging infrastructure interoperability.

New Delhi, March 30 Union Minister for Heavy Industries and Steel HD Kumaraswamy on Monday launched the Light Electric-Vehicle Acceleration Forum -- an industry-led consortium aimed at strengthening the EV charging ecosystem.

The forum has been set up as a neutral platform to bring together stakeholders across the light electric vehicle (LEV) ecosystem, including original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), charging infrastructure operators, component makers and technology providers.

It will work with government and regulatory bodies, as well as industry associations, to support the development of EV charging infrastructure and accelerate the adoption of electric two- and three-wheelers in the country.

In a post on X, the minister said the initiative would help accelerate the growth of light electric mobility and strengthen the EV ecosystem through improved interoperability, reliability and expanded charging infrastructure.

He said the move aligns with the government's vision of building a self-reliant and future-ready India, while advancing broader goals of sustainable mobility and reducing carbon emissions.

Kumaraswamy also emphasised the importance of strong industry-government collaboration to create a sustainable, accessible and globally competitive electric mobility ecosystem

The initiative aims to improve interoperability across charging networks, enhance reliability and ensure a consistent user experience while expanding access to public charging infrastructure.

As part of this effort, initiatives such as the Light Electric Combined Charging System (LECCS), approved by the Bureau of Indian Standards, are being developed to support both slow and fast charging through a unified connector standard.

The forum has already brought together over 20 organisations from across the EV ecosystem, including vehicle manufacturers, charge point operators, suppliers and software providers, and is expected to expand its membership in the coming months.

Industry representatives said that as EV adoption gains momentum in India, addressing challenges such as fragmented charging networks and inconsistent user experience will be critical for the next phase of growth.

They added that improving interoperability and building a scalable public charging ecosystem would play a key role in accelerating electric mobility in the country.

- IANS
Veteran actor Anil Kapoor expressed overwhelming joy on social media after his daughter Sonam Kapoor and son-in-law Anand Ahuja welcomed their second child, a baby boy, on March 29. The new parents announced the arrival with a serene digital illustration and a heartfelt caption signed by the whole family. Their elder son, Vayu, is now a big brother, completing the family of four. The couple, who married in 2018, had first announced the pregnancy in late 2025.

Anil Kapoor expresses joy as daughter Sonam Kapoor and Anand Ahuja announce the arrival of their second son. The family shares a heartfelt note.

Mumbai, March 30 Veteran actor Anil Kapoor is on cloud nine as his daughter Sonam Kapoor and son-in-law Anand Ahuja were blessed with a baby boy on March 29.

Expressing joy on becoming nana once again, Anil took to Instagram and penned a heartfelt note.



"And just like that... my heart has grown even bigger. Welcome to the world, my little one, you are already so deeply loved.Vayu, you're a big brother now... and I know you'll be amazing. Thank you, Sonam and Anand...Nana's heart is full. Welcome to the madness, my baby-welcome to a lifetime of love."



On Sunday, Sonam and Anand announced the arrival of their second child.



The Instagram post shared on their Instagram handles features a digital illustration that conveys both warmth and serenity. The artwork depicts a woman, seated in a meditative or maternal pose amid a vibrant natural setting. Surrounding her are elements of flora and fauna, including a deer, a peacock, and several birds, creating a tranquil, celestial atmosphere.



The accompanying caption mirrors the text in the image, signed off collectively by Sonam, Anand, and their elder son, Vayu.



"With immense gratitude and hearts full of love, we are delighted to announce the arrival of our baby boy today, 29th of March 2026. Our family has grown, and with his arrival, our hearts have expanded in the most beautiful way. Vayu is overjoyed to welcome his little brother, and we feel deeply blessed by this precious new life who has filled our home with happiness and grace. We are grateful to begin this beautiful new chapter as a family of four. With love, Sonam, Anand and Vayu," the post read.



Sonam and Anand married in 2018 and welcomed their first child, Vayu, in 2022. The actress had announced her second pregnancy in November 2025 with a stylish social media post, which garnered widespread attention online.



In February, the couple also held their second baby shower, an intimate yet star-studded godh bharai ceremony.





- ANI
Himachal Pradesh Governor Kavinder Gupta met Prime Minister Narendra Modi, marking his first such meeting since taking office. He detailed key state initiatives, including the Drug-Free Himachal and TB-Free Himachal public health campaigns. The Governor highlighted the state's pioneering shift towards natural farming and stressed the need for central support to expand these sustainable practices. Gupta also called on President Droupadi Murmu, who expressed her good wishes for the state's progress.

Governor Kavinder Gupta meets PM Modi, discusses key Himachal initiatives like Drug-Free campaign, TB-Free drive, and promotion of natural farming.

New Delhi, March 30 Himachal Pradesh Governor Kavinder Gupta on Monday called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi here. This marked his first meeting with the Prime Minister since assuming charge as the Governor.

During the meeting, the Governor held detailed discussions on matters related to the development and welfare of the state.

He apprised the Prime Minister of several significant initiatives being implemented in Himachal Pradesh, notably the Drug-Free Himachal Campaign and the TB-Free Himachal Campaign, both aimed at improving public health and promoting social wellbeing across the state.

The Governor said that Himachal Pradesh has been taking pioneering steps towards natural farming, which has emerged as a key focus area in recent years. He noted that a growing number of farmers and orchardists in the state are gradually adopting chemical-free agricultural practices, reflecting a positive shift in the rural economy.

He stressed the need to further promote and expand these initiatives to enable the hill state to fully embrace sustainable and eco-friendly agriculture, thereby ensuring long-term environmental protection as well as improved and stable livelihoods for farmers and those dependent on allied sectors.

Governor Gupta further said that continued support and guidance from the Central government would be vital in accelerating these developmental initiatives and in strengthening their long-term impact.

He emphasised that sustained cooperation between different stakeholders would be crucial in ensuring that these programmes achieve their intended outcomes.

The Himachal Pradesh Governor also stressed the importance of collaborative efforts between the state and the Centre to achieve holistic growth, enhanced public welfare, and sustainable development throughout the hill state, particularly in geographically challenging areas.

Governor Gupta also called on President Droupadi Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhavan.

During the courtesy call, the Governor apprised the President of the overall situation in Himachal Pradesh and the various developmental and welfare initiatives being undertaken in the state.

The President expressed her good wishes to the Governor for the continued progress and well-being of the people of Himachal Pradesh, while appreciating the efforts being made towards inclusive and sustainable development.

- IANS
Home voting for senior citizens aged 85+ and persons with disabilities has commenced across Kerala ahead of the April 9 Assembly elections. The Election Commission has approved over 2.07 lakh applications for the facility, which will be conducted by mobile teams until April 4. Thiruvananthapuram district leads in the number of both elderly and PwD voters opting for home voting. The state, which broke its traditional alternating governance pattern in 2021, will see a contest primarily between the LDF and UDF, with the BJP also aiming to make gains.

Over 2 lakh voters in Kerala opt for home voting as polling teams visit senior citizens and persons with disabilities ahead of April 9 Assembly polls.

Thiruvananthapuram, March 30 As Keralam prepares for the upcoming Assembly elections in April, home voting for senior citizens and persons with disabilities commenced on Monday across the state.

Polling teams began the process early in the morning, including in the Poonthura area under the Thiruvananthapuram constituency, where officials initiated home voting at around 9:30 AM.

According to the Election Commission of India (ECI), the facility is available to voters aged 85 years and above, as well as those with 40 per cent benchmark disability, who are eligible to avail the home voting facility through postal ballots. The option is available to those who submitted applications after the poll schedule was announced.

Each mobile polling team includes a polling officer, two assistants, a micro observer, a videographer, and police personnel to ensure transparency, accountability, and security during the voting process.

The home voting process in the state will continue until April 4. A total of over 2.07 lakh voters have opted for the facility, including 1,45,592 senior citizens and 62,220 PwD voters whose applications were approved through Form 12D.

Among districts, Thiruvananthapuram has the highest number of elderly voters (14,672) opting for home voting, followed by Kannur (14,132) and Ernakulam (14,117). In the PwD category, Thiruvananthapuram again tops the list with 6,791 voters, followed by Kozhikode (6,788) and Malappuram (6,746).

The Election Commission has deployed 2,468 teams across the state to ensure the smooth conduct of the home voting process.

The polling for Kerala Assembly elections will be held in a single phase on April 9, with counting of votes scheduled for May 4.

Keralam has traditionally followed an alternating pattern of governance, switching between the Left Democratic Front (LDF) and the United Democratic Front (UDF) every five years since 1982. This trend was broken in 2021 when the LDF, led by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, was re-elected for a second consecutive term.

While the LDF and the UDF are frontrunners in the polls, the BJP will attempt to make a mark after its historic win in the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation elections.

- ANI
The Israel Defense Forces has suspended all operational activities of a reserve battalion following the detention and assault of a CNN news crew in the West Bank. The incident occurred as the team, led by correspondent Jeremy Diamond, was covering the aftermath of an attack by Israeli settlers. IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir ordered the suspension after footage of the assault was broadcast. The battalion, part of the ultra-Orthodox Netzah Yehuda unit, will undergo retraining and its future deployment is pending review.

Israeli military suspends reserve battalion after soldiers detained and assaulted a CNN news team covering settler violence in the occupied West Bank.

Tel Aviv, March 30 The Israel Defense Forces on Sunday announced the immediate suspension of all operational activities of a reserve battalion following the high-profile detention and assault of a CNN news team in the occupied West Bank last week.

According to CNN, citing an Israeli military official, the battalion, comprised of hundreds of reservists from the ultra-Orthodox Netzah Yehuda Battalion, will be withdrawn from West Bank duties and reassigned to training until further notice.

The decision was ordered by IDF's Chief of the General Staff, Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, roughly 48 hours after CNN broadcast footage of the incident, and is seen as a significant disciplinary action by the IDF.

According to CNN, the disciplinary suspension follows an incident last Thursday in the Palestinian village of Tayasir, where the CNN team, led by correspondent Jeremy Diamond, was covering the aftermath of an attack by Israeli settlers who had established an illegal outpost in the area.

During the encounter, soldiers detained the crew, with one soldier seen placing CNN photojournalist Cyril Theophilos in a chokehold, forcing him to the ground and damaging his camera. The team reported being held by the battalion for nearly two hours.

In an official statement on its Telegram channel, the IDF said that findings from an internal inquiry were presented to the Chief of the General Staff, and based on commanders' recommendations, the reserve battalion's deployment "will be suspended."

The statement added that the unit "will remain in reserve service and will undergo a process aimed at reinforcing its professional and ethical foundations" and "will resume operational activity upon completion of this process and subject to the decision of the Commander of the Central Command. " Additional command measures are expected at a later stage.

The military has not detailed whether individual soldiers involved will face further disciplinary action, but it noted that accountability measures for actions during the incident are ongoing.

The battalion placed on suspension is the reserve unit of Netzah Yehuda, an infantry battalion initially created to help ultra-Orthodox Jews serve in the IDF while preserving religious practices like gender separation and strict observance, as per CNN.

In recent years, however, the unit--mostly deployed in the West Bank--has drawn recruits from radical right-wing settler factions, including the so-called "Hilltop Youth", CNN reported.

- ANI
Israeli Special Envoy Fleur Hassan-Nahoum describes the ongoing West Asia conflict as a "multi-front regional conflict" initiated on October 7. She claims significant military gains against Iran's proxies, including the destruction of 80% of rocket launch capabilities and naval forces. Nahoum is skeptical of Pakistan's attempt to mediate, citing its own issues with terrorism, while praising India's balanced foreign relations as a better foundation for diplomacy. She also firmly states there can be no compromise on preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons.

Israeli Special Envoy Fleur Hassan-Nahoum calls conflict "multi-front," cites military gains, and suggests India as a potential mediator over Pakistan.

Jerusalem, March 31 As the ongoing conflict in West Asia enters its second month, Fleur Hassan-Nahoum, Special Envoy, Foreign Ministry of Israel, has asserted that the situation has effectively been a "multi-front regional conflict" since its inception, while claiming significant military and strategic gains against adversarial forces.

Speaking to ANI from Jerusalem, Nahoum said the nature of the conflict expanded almost immediately after initial hostilities began. "Well, we've been involved in a multi-front regional conflict since the 7th of October, when we were attacked by the Iranians' proxy Hamas from the south. And then on the 8th of October, when we are attacked by an Iranian proxy from the north. And so multi-front is already something happening for a long time, unfortunately."

Highlighting developments over the past month, she pointed to what she described as substantial degradation of hostile capabilities. "Today, we see that after a month, there are considerable military gains. 80% of the rocket launches of the Islamic Republic have been destroyed. The entire navy has been destroyed. The entire top echelon of their military leadership and political leadership has mainly been destroyed."

She further claimed internal instability within Iran, stating, "And we see every day cracks in the regime leadership, defections from the Basij, and absolute chaos when it comes to their strategies at the moment. They're just, you know, sending rockets at any country that they can get their hands on. So I think that there have been considerable military gains."

On the evolving United States approach, Nahoum underscored a dual-track strategy combining diplomacy with military pressure. "At every single moment, at every single crossroads of this, President Trump has always given a chance to negotiate a settlement. And it has been the intransigence of the Islamic Republic that didn't get to a settlement and nothing else."

She added that such a strategy allows room for de-escalation while maintaining operational leverage. "I think that is a good strategy to always give them a ladder to climb down from the tree, but at the same time, keep making those military gains to destroy them when we have to."

Commenting on reports of Pakistan attempting to play a mediatory role despite lacking diplomatic ties with Israel, she expressed scepticism. "I mean, I don't know what the Pakistanis think they're doing. I think they're trying to make themselves relevant. They are themselves a huge problem in the world of jihadi terrorism. But, you know, they can try. I'm not sure they'll be very successful."

On the question of Iran's nuclear programme, she ruled out any compromise. "No, absolutely not. We cannot have a regime calling for total destruction, at the same time having weapons of mass destruction. There cannot be any compromise when it comes to the nuclear weapons that they have, or they can enrich quickly."

Referring to India's diplomatic outreach, she acknowledged New Delhi's balanced stance and its ties across stakeholders. "India is a very close ally to Israel. As you know, your prime minister was here only a few days before the war. And we understand that India keeps great relations with everyone. And they can be a much better mediator, if you ask me, than Pakistan. But let's see how things develop."

- ANI
India has strongly condemned the killing of three Indonesian peacekeepers serving with the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) within 24 hours. The country's UN mission stated it will seek accountability for the crime, referencing a 2021 Security Council resolution it championed. The attacks involved explosions targeting a UN base and a logistics convoy, with the origin still under investigation. India, which has lost 164 personnel in UN peace operations historically, currently has 642 personnel serving with UNIFIL.

India condemns attacks on UNIFIL peacekeepers in Lebanon, vows to pursue accountability. Three Indonesian peacekeepers killed in explosions.

United Nations, March 31 India condemned on Monday the killing of peacekeepers in Lebanon and said it would seek accountability for the crime.

Three peacekeepers from Indonesia with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) were killed within 24 hours, according to Under-Secretary for Peace Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix.

India's United Nations Mission said in a statement: "We condemn the recent attacks on United Nations Peacekeepers deployed in UNIFIL, and pay our homage to the fallen Blue Helmets."

The United Nations did not disclose the identity of the attackers, pending investigations.

Lacroix said the incidents were unacceptable and stressed that peacekeepers must never be a target.

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also condemned the killing on Sunday, according to his Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric.

UNIFIL operates in an area of Lebanon bordering Israel, where Hezbollah and Israel are active. Its mission is to help the Lebanese government regain control of the area from Hezbollah and also acts as a tenuous buffer with Israel.

India's mission statement noted that the country had piloted the Security Council resolution in 2021, when it was an elected member, calling for accountability for those who attack peacekeepers. It added that India will continue to pursue action against the perpetrators.

It further highlighted that India is one of the largest and longest-serving contributors to United Nations Peacekeeping and has lost the most personnel to this cause. Historically, India has lost 164 personnel in peace operations, six of them with UNIFIL.

Currently, 642 Indians are serving with UNIFIL, including 540 troops.

Lacroix said an Indonesian peacekeeper died on Sunday in an explosion inside a UNIFIL base. 

On Monday, two Indonesian peacekeepers were killed when an explosion hit a UNIFIL logistics convoy, destroying their vehicle, while two others were injured. 

He added that the origin of the explosion has not been determined.

Dujarric said that in another incident on Saturday, a UNIFIL convoy was subjected to six warning shots fired by Israel Defence Force elements stationed nearby, resulting in small arms impact on one of the vehicles.

- IANS
An Indian national was killed in an Iranian attack on a desalination facility in Kuwait, as confirmed by the Kuwaiti government and the Indian Embassy. Kuwait's Ministry of Electricity and Water condemned the strike as a "sinful Iranian aggression" which also caused material damage. This incident raises the number of Indian nationals killed in the ongoing West Asia conflict to at least eight. The Indian Embassy is coordinating with Kuwaiti authorities to provide support.

An Indian worker died in an Iranian strike on a Kuwait water facility, raising the Indian death toll in the West Asia conflict to at least eight.

Kuwait City, March 30 The Indian Embassy in Kuwait on Monday condoled the demise of an Indian national in an attack on a desalination facility, stating that the mission is in close contact with the concerned authorities to ensure possible support and assistance.

In a post on X, the Embassy said, "Embassy of India in Kuwait expresses its deepest condolences at the tragic demise of an Indian national due to an attack on a desalination facility in Kuwait yesterday. The Embassy is closely coordinating with the Kuwaiti authorities to render all possible support and assistance."

An Indian worker was killed in a strike carried out by Iran on a power and water desalination facility in Kuwait early on Monday, the Kuwaiti government announced. This has now pushed the number of Indian nationals killed in the ongoing West Asia conflict to at least eight.

In a post on X, Kuwait's Ministry of Electricity and Water confirmed that the attack also caused damage to a service building at the facility and strongly condemned it as a "sinful Iranian aggression" against the Gulf nation.

"This attack resulted in the death of an employee (of Indian nationality) and caused severe material damage to the building," the Ministry said in Arabic (roughly translated to English).

Officials added that emergency and technical response teams were immediately deployed to the site to manage the situation, contain the damage, and ensure that operations at the facility continued without major disruption.

The Ministry further emphasised that the "safety and stability of the electricity and water infrastructure constitute a top priority," noting that technical teams are actively working to anticipate any further risks and ensure uninterrupted delivery of essential services.

The latest fatality comes days after another tragic incident in the United Arab Emirates, where an Indian national lost his life last Thursday after being struck by falling debris when a ballistic missile was intercepted over Abu Dhabi.

At the time, the Indian Embassy had said it was "closely working with the UAE authorities to provide all possible support and assistance" to those affected.

Following an inter-ministerial review meeting held on Friday, the government had stated that seven Indian nationals had been killed in the Middle East conflict so far, with one person reported missing. Monday's incident has now taken the death toll higher.

The conflict, which has now entered its fifth week, erupted after the United States and Israel launched coordinated strikes on Iran, triggering a broader regional escalation.

Since then, Iranian forces have carried out retaliatory drone and missile attacks targeting Israel as well as Gulf countries hosting American military installations, leading to casualties and significant damage to critical infrastructure across the region.

- IANS
India has officially thanked Azerbaijan for its crucial role in facilitating the safe transit of Indian citizens evacuated from Iran amid the ongoing West Asia conflict. Over 200 nationals have transited through Azerbaijan so far, with the Indian Ambassador in Baku meeting evacuees to ensure their well-being. The availability of direct flights between Baku and major Indian cities has significantly eased the return process for those evacuated. The Indian government continues to prioritize the safety and welfare of its citizens abroad, coordinating closely with partner nations.

India expresses gratitude to Azerbaijan for facilitating safe transit of over 200 Indian nationals evacuated from Iran during the ongoing West Asia conflict.

Baku, March 31 India has expressed its gratitude to Azerbaijan for facilitating the safe transit of Indian citizens evacuated from Iran amid the West Asia conflict, with over 200 nationals having transited through the country so far since the war began.

In a post on X, the Embassy of India in Azerbaijan thanked Azerbaijani authorities for their support in ensuring the smooth and secure movement of Indian nationals.

"We convey our sincere appreciation to the authorities of Azerbaijan for facilitating safe transit of Indian nationals from Iran," the Embassy said in the post on Monday.

The Embassy also noted that the Indian Ambassador to Azerbaijan, Abhay Kumar, met Indian nationals transiting via the country from Iran and enquired about their well-being.

"Ambassador Abhay Kumar met Indian nationals transiting via Azerbaijan from Iran and enquired about their well-being. Over 200 Indian citizens have been safely evacuated from Iran via Azerbaijan so far," the Embassy stated in a separate post.

In an official statement, the Embassy said that Ambassador Kumar met Indian citizens who had been evacuated from Iran and had safely arrived in Baku. He interacted with the evacuees, enquired about their well-being, and expressed satisfaction over their safe transit.

The evacuated Indian students shared their experiences and conveyed their gratitude to the Embassy for facilitating their movement out of Iran. According to the statement, more than 215 Indians residing in Iran have been evacuated through Azerbaijan to date.

Ambassador Kumar reaffirmed the Embassy's commitment to extend all possible assistance to Indian nationals transiting through Azerbaijan.

The Embassy further highlighted that the availability of direct flights between Baku and major Indian cities such as New Delhi and Mumbai, operated by Azerbaijan Airlines, has made it convenient for evacuees to return to India.

India continues to coordinate closely with partner countries to ensure the safety and well-being of its citizens abroad.

Earlier in the day, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said that particular attention is being given to the welfare of Indian seafarers as the conflict in West Asia entered its second month.

During the interministerial briefing, Aseem Mahajan, Joint Secretary (Gulf) from the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), assured that the safety, security and welfare of the Indian community in the region remain the utmost priority and added that the MEA continues to closely monitor the evolving situation in the region and said that the Indian missions continue to provide support and assistance to Indian crew members on vessels across the region.

- ANI
The Indian Embassy in Kuwait has expressed its deepest condolences following the death of an Indian national in an attack on a desalination facility. Kuwaiti authorities stated the worker was killed and a service building was significantly damaged in what they described as Iranian strikes. Technical and emergency teams were immediately deployed to manage the incident's aftermath and maintain the plant's operations. The embassy confirmed it is closely coordinating with Kuwaiti authorities to provide all possible support and assistance.

Indian Embassy in Kuwait offers condolences after an Indian worker is killed in an attack on a desalination facility, coordinating with local authorities.

Kuwait City, March 30 The Indian Embassy in Kuwait on Monday expressed condolences upon the death of an Indian national due to an attack on a desalination facility in Kuwait.

The embassy said that they were in touch with the authorities to render all possible assistance.

In a post on X, the embassy said, "Embassy of India in Kuwait expresses its deepest condolences at the tragic demise of an Indian national due to an attack on a desalination facility in Kuwait yesterday. The Embassy is closely coordinating with the Kuwaiti authorities to render all possible support and assistance."

Earlier, Kuwait's Ministry of Electricity, Water and Renewable Energy on Monday stated that an Indian worker was killed and a service building at a major power and water desalination plant sustained significant damage following what authorities described as Iranian strikes on Sunday evening.

According to a statement issued by the ministry's official spokesperson, the strike targeted a service building at one of Kuwait's power and water desalination plants, resulting in the death of the Indian national and "significant material damage" to the facility.

"A service building at one of the power and water desalination plants was attacked as part of the Iranian aggression against the State of Kuwait. This resulted in the death of one worker (of Indian nationality) and significant material damage to the building," the statement read.

Technical and emergency teams were deployed immediately under approved emergency plans to manage the aftermath of the incident and help sustain the plant's operational capacity.

The ministry said this response was undertaken in full coordination with Kuwait's security and relevant authorities to secure the affected site.

"Technical and emergency teams immediately began their work, in accordance with the approved emergency plans, to address the aftermath of the incident and maintain operational efficiency. This was done in full coordination with security and relevant authorities to secure the affected sites," the statement added.

The spokesperson further urged calm among the public and warned against spreading rumours, stressing that official updates would be released transparently as the situation develops.

- ANI
IndiGo has significantly expanded its network in Gujarat, now operating from six cities in the state with over 700 weekly departures. The airline provides direct connectivity to more than 30 destinations across India, along with an international link to Dubai from Ahmedabad. This expansion supports key economic corridors, improving access to GIFT City for finance and the Rann of Kutch for tourism. The enhanced connectivity aims to bolster regional development and offer travelers greater choice and flexibility.

IndiGo strengthens Gujarat operations, connecting six cities to over 30 destinations with 700+ weekly flights, boosting business and tourism.

New Delhi, March 30 IndiGo airline said that it continues to strengthen its network in Gujarat with operations to and from six cities in the state now, including Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Surat, Rajkot, Bhavnagar and Jamnagar, which will resume operations starting from April 23.

According to an official statement, IndiGo now offers direct flights from these cities in Gujarat to over 30 destinations across India, along with international connectivity to Dubai from Ahmedabad, besides convenient connections across its network. With over 700+ weekly departures from the state, IndiGo is enabling seamless mobility for both business and leisure travellers, supporting Gujarat's position as a major hub for manufacturing, trade, ports, and global diaspora movement.

Recently, IndiGo added over 50+ weekly flights to and from Navi Mumbai International Airport in addition to existing connectivity to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport, Mumbai, further solidifying network access from Gujarat, while enhancing connectivity between the state and the country's financial hub, Mumbai, said the release.

As Gujarat continues to grow as a centre for finance, industry, culture, and tourism, IndiGo's expanding network is helping strengthen key growth corridors across the state. On one hand, it is enabling seamless access to GIFT City as it emerges as a hub for global finance and investment, while on the other hand, iconic destinations such as the Rann of Kutch are becoming more accessible to tourists from around the country and the world.

As per the statement, beyond its economic significance, Gujarat stands out as one of India's most vibrant states, offering visitors an unmatched experience of the country's rich culture, traditions, crafts, festivals, and architectural heritage.

By connecting these diverse economic, cultural, and tourism hubs to a wider network, IndiGo is contributing to regional development while offering customers greater choice, convenience, and flexibility in their travel plans.

- ANI
An Indonesian national serving with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) was killed following an Israeli artillery shelling targeting the force's headquarters in the village of Adshit al-Qusayr. UNIFIL condemned the attack, stating deliberate strikes on peacekeepers are grave violations of international law and may constitute war crimes. Indonesia confirmed the death, expressed deep condolences, and called for a thorough and transparent investigation into the incident. The attack occurs amid ongoing exchanges of fire and heightened tensions along the Lebanon-Israel border.

An Indonesian UNIFIL peacekeeper was killed in an Israeli artillery strike on a UN position in southern Lebanon, sparking condemnation and calls for investigation.

Jakarta/Beirut, March 30 One Indonesian national was killed after an Israeli artillery shelling targeted the headquarters of the Indonesian unit serving with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon in the southern village of Adshit al-Qusayr.

Preliminary reports on Sunday (local time) said there were injuries among UNIFIL personnel, while UNIFIL helicopters were seen heading to the targeted site following the shelling, reports Xinhua, quoting the local media.

The attack comes amid continued exchanges of fire along the Lebanon-Israel border and rising tensions in southern Lebanon.

UNIFIL, in a statement on X, said, "A peacekeeper was tragically killed last night when a projectile exploded in a UNIFIL position near Adchit Al Qusayr. Another was critically injured. No one should ever lose their life serving the cause of peace."

"Once again, we call on all actors to uphold their obligations under international law and to ensure the safety and security of UN personnel and property at all times, including by refraining from actions that may put peacekeepers in danger," it said.

"Deliberate attacks on peacekeepers are grave violations of international humanitarian law and of Security Council Resolution 1701, and may amount to war crimes... Too many lives have been lost on both sides of the Blue Line in this conflict. There is no military solution. The violence must end," it added.

Indonesia confirmed that one of its peacekeepers was killed in Adchit Al Qusayr, and condemned the incident, calling for a "thorough and transparent investigation".

In a statement, the Indonesian Foreign Ministry said, "The Government of the Republic of Indonesia expresses its deepest condolences following the death of one Indonesian peacekeeper and the injury of three others serving with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL)."

"We are profoundly saddened by this loss. We pay our highest respect to the fallen peacekeeper for his dedication and service to international peace and security. Our thoughts and prayers are with the bereaved family, and we wish a full and swift recovery to the injured personnel. Indonesia is working with UNIFIL to ensure the prompt repatriation of the fallen and the best possible medical treatment for the injured," the Ministry said.

Indonesia reiterated its "condemnation of Israel's attacks in southern Lebanon" and called on all the parties to respect Lebanon's sovereignty and territorial integrity, cease attacks against civilian populations and infrastructure, and return to dialogue and diplomacy to prevent further escalation.

- IANS
Industrialist and DMK manifesto committee member Suresh Samantham emphasized that massive industrial investments must be channeled through the MSME sector to ensure economic benefits reach common citizens and raise per capita income. He detailed plans to attract Rs 18 lakh crore for large industries and an additional Rs 5 lakh crore specifically for MSMEs. The vision includes boosting the AVGC-XR sector, attracting 500 Global Capability Centres for high-paying jobs, and establishing Tamil Nadu as India's deep-tech capital with 100 startup zones by 2030. A new "Made in Tamil Nadu" initiative aims to foster local manufacturing pride and global recognition for products from the state.

Industrialist Suresh Samantham outlines TN's manifesto vision: linking Rs 18L cr large investments with MSMEs, AVGC-XR, GCCs, and deep-tech startups.

Chennai, March 30 Large industrial investments need to be complemented by strong growth in the MSME sector to ensure that economic gains reach common citizens, industrialist and DMK manifesto committee member Suresh Samantham told, highlighting the importance of linking big industry with smaller enterprises.

"The manifesto talks about bringing in huge investments for large industries, around Rs 18 lakh crore. But if these investments have to reach the common people, these investments have to flow through MSMEs," he said.

According to him, the plan also includes fresh investments of around Rs 5 lakh crore in the MSME sector to help strengthen smaller businesses and support wider economic participation.

"The manifesto also talks about Rs 5 lakh crores worth of investments in the MSME... so that the economy and the investments trickle down to common people. So eventually the per capita income for the Tamil Nadu's common citizens increases," he added.

Samantham also pointed to the growing importance of the AVGC-XR (Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming, Comics and Extended Reality) industry, which is expected to see increasing adoption of artificial intelligence.

"The AVGC is one of the booming industries... in addition to the AVGC policy, there are two other things that have been mentioned. One is called the AI Mission 2.0, which will also play heavy," he said, adding that the sector is likely to use AI extensively going forward.

He also highlighted plans to expand the presence of global capability centres (GCCs) in the state by attracting multinational companies to establish their operations across multiple cities.

"Five hundred new GCCs have to be brought together. What that really means is we are going to bring companies like Disney, companies like NBC Universal, who have the global capability centres into Chennai, not just in Chennai, also to other cities like Coimbatore, Tiruchy, Tirunelveli," Samantham said.

According to him, such centres could generate high-value employment opportunities in technology and creative sectors.

"These centres are going to create jobs, not Rs 20,000 or Rs 30,000 salaries, but like Rs 1 lakh, Rs 2 lakh, Rs 3 lakhs per month... That's why 20,000 new high-paying jobs will be created," he added.

The proposed initiatives also include the creation of 100 deep-tech startup zones and sectoral innovation labs by 2030, building on the state's technology ecosystem.

"If you look at Tamil Nadu's history, it started as an automobile cluster. From that, it became an electronics cluster. From that, it became a SaaS capital. Now Tamil Nadu is aiming to also become the deep tech capital," Samantham said.

He pointed to emerging startups in areas such as space technology and defence technology as part of the state's growing deep-tech ecosystem.

"We have companies like ePlane, companies like AgniCool, who are building defence technology and space technology in a big way. And this is the foundation for us to transform Tamil Nadu into a deep tech capital for India," he said.

Samantham also spoke about the "Made in Tamil Nadu" initiative, which aims to encourage local manufacturing and build pride among young professionals and entrepreneurs in the state.

"Made in Tamil Nadu is a new item that we added in this manifesto... It is like when you see a camera 50 years ago and it says 'Made in Japan'... people feel very proud about it," he said.

"We wanted to create a similar emotional connect and a proud moment for the youth of Tamil Nadu when they make products here and it goes to a global level," Samantham added.

- ANI
Industry leaders have welcomed the government's push on design and quality under the Electronics Component Manufacturing Scheme (ECMS), highlighting its shift from policy to execution. The scheme has seen 75 applications approved across 23 product categories, with investments exceeding Rs 61,000 crore. It is expected to generate production worth over Rs 4.5 lakh crore and create more than 65,000 jobs. Leaders stress that scaling design capabilities and adopting "Designed and Made-in-India" components are critical for the next phase of growth.

Industry leaders hail ECMS for scaling electronics, creating jobs, and boosting domestic value addition with over Rs 61,000 crore in approved investments.

New Delhi, March 30 Industry leaders on Monday welcomed the government's strong push on design capability and quality standards under the Electronics Component Manufacturing Scheme, calling it critical for scaling India's electronics ambitions.

Industry participants at an event hosted by the India Cellular and Electronics Association (ICEA) to mark the fourth tranche of ECMS approvals said that the ECMS scheme reflects India's shift from policy intent to on-ground execution.

ICEA Chairman Pankaj Mohindroo said the enhanced outlay under ECMS shows the government's commitment to building a robust electronics ecosystem.

He added that reopening the scheme in a calibrated manner would help deepen component manufacturing and boost domestic value addition.

"A calibrated reopening of the scheme will be important to further build critical component capabilities and deepen domestic value addition," Mohindroo stated.

"The next phase of growth must focus on scaling up design capabilities, strengthening local sourcing, and achieving global quality standards," he added.

He stressed that original equipment manufacturers and system companies should actively adopt "Designed and Made-in-India" components, as demand creation is as important as supply.

Industry leaders also highlighted that India has emerged as a credible and investible destination for electronics system design and manufacturing.

"The ECMS is helping bridge critical gaps in the value chain by enabling component-level manufacturing, which is essential for capturing higher value and building resilience," Ashok Chandak, President, IESA said.

"These investments are expected to generate over 14,000 jobs and drive production worth Rs 84,515cr highlighting the strong momentum being created under the scheme," he mentioned.

So far, 75 applications across 23 product categories from 12 states have been approved, covering areas such as lithium-ion cells, flexible PCBs, connectors, and display modules.

The projects are spread across eight states, with Karnataka and Maharashtra leading in project count.

According to the data shared at the event, approved investments have already crossed Rs 61,000 crore, exceeding the initial target of Rs 59,350 crore.

The scheme is expected to generate production worth over Rs 4.5 lakh crore and create more than 65,000 jobs, moving steadily towards its overall targets.

- IANS
Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei has categorically denied holding any direct talks with the United States, contradicting claims made by US President Donald Trump. Baghaei stated that Iran has only received messages through mediators regarding US desires for negotiation, while criticizing Washington's constantly changing stance. The denial follows Trump's social media threat to target Iran's civilian energy infrastructure, including power plants and Kharg Island, if the Strait of Hormuz is not reopened. These developments occur alongside escalating regional tensions, including Israeli strikes on Iranian military targets.

Iran refutes Trump's claims of direct negotiations, as the US president threatens to obliterate Iranian energy infrastructure if Strait of Hormuz stays closed.

Tehran, March 30 Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said that the country has held no "direct" talks with the United States as of now and added that it has received messages through some mediators regarding the US' desire for negotiations, according to a report by Press TV on Monday.

As per Press TV, Baghaei said during a press conference, "It seems quite natural that when the US raises the issues of negotiations and diplomacy, sensitivities will be increased. It is not clear how much, even inside the US, the country's claims about diplomacy and negotiations are seriously taken into account. Reactions and reflections also show that the extent of global trust in the US claims in the field of diplomacy is very limited".

He slammed the US and said that Iran, while Washington's stance has been constantly changing, Tehran has had a clear stance on the negotiations.

The Foreign Ministry Spokesperson emphasised that Iran did not participate in a four-sided meeting in Islamabad on Saturday hosted by Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and attended by the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt.

His remarks come after the Financial Times had reported that US President Donald Trump claimed that indirect negotiations between the United States and Iran, facilitated by Pakistani intermediaries, are making "positive progress".

Meanwhile, in a post on X, Iranian state media Press TV also denied the claims by Trump on talks with Iran.

The developments come as Trump has threatened to target Iran's civilian energy infrastructure, including power plants, oil wells and Kharg Island, if Tehran does not reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

In a social media post, Trump said, "Great progress has been made but, if for any reason a deal is not shortly reached, which it probably will be, and if the Hormuz Strait is not immediately 'Open for Business,' we will conclude our lovely 'stay' in Iran by blowing up and completely obliterating all of their Electric Generating Plants, Oil Wells and Kharg Island."

He noted that Washington is engaging in "serious discussions" with a "new, and more reasonable" leadership in Tehran to bring an end to US military operations, a conflict that has lasted more than a month amid escalating regional tensions.

Trump's remarks came against a backdrop of heightened global concern over the strategic Strait of Hormuz, a critical chokepoint for nearly one-fifth of world oil flows.

The president urged Iran to ensure that the waterway is "Open for Business," tying the resumption of maritime traffic directly to progress in talks aimed at ending hostilities.

Kharg Island serves as Iran's main oil export hub, handling the vast majority of the country's crude shipments, and even though US strikes earlier in the conflict have targeted military assets on the island, its energy infrastructure had largely been left intact until now.

As tensions escalate in the region, the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) on Monday claimed it targeted the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' (IRGC) key military university, Imam Hossein University, citing its role in advancing Iran's military capabilities.

- ANI
Iran has declared the homes of US and Israeli commanders and political officials in the region as legitimate military targets for retaliation. The warning was issued by a spokesperson for Iran's top operational military command, the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters. The statement accused former US President Donald Trump of threatening Iran while keeping US forces distant from potential conflict zones. Simultaneously, an IRGC Aerospace Commander stated that retaliatory strikes against enemy-linked strategic industries are already ongoing and will continue.

Iran warns US and Israeli commanders' residences are legitimate military targets as tensions escalate, vowing continued strikes on enemy-linked facilities.

Tehran, March 30 Iran on Sunday vowed retaliatory attacks targeting the residences of US and Israeli commanders and political officials in the region amid escalating tensions, describing them as legitimate targets, as reported by Iranian state media Press TV.

The warning was issued by the spokesperson for the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, stating that enemy commanders' homes and the residences of officials are considered valid military targets for Iran as the conflict escalates.

The Central Khatam al-Anbiya Headquarters is Iran's highest operational command unit that coordinates operations between the Army and the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC).

The statement followed a series of accusations against US President Donald Trump by the Central Headquarters, alleging threats of ground operations and occupation of parts of Iran, particularly in the Persian Gulf.

The spokesperson accused Trump of repeatedly threatening Iran while positioning US forces away from the battlefield and taking refuge in population and economic centres, as reported by Iranian state media, Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB).

"He and the top commanders of the depleted American army, thousands of kilometres from the battlefield, expect resistance from Iran's warriors. American aggression will only result in humiliation, captivity, and destruction of the aggressors," the statement read, as quoted by IRIB.

It further warned that US commanders and soldiers could become "food for the sharks of the Persian Gulf" if threats were carried out.

Meanwhile, Seyed Majid Mousavi, IRGC Aerospace Commander, in a post on X, said retaliatory strikes against Iranian infrastructure-linked enemies are ongoing, citing attacks on strategic facilities in the occupied territories, including a chemical plant in Neot Hovav, one refinery, two steel complexes, and two aluminium mega-complexes, warning that such strikes will continue until "we see the pain in your eyes."

"Retaliation against Iran's infrastructure is underway, with the destruction of strategic industries linked to the American-Zionist enemy in the region. Up to this moment: Neot Hovav chemical industries in the occupied territories, one refinery, two steel complexes, two aluminum mega-complexes, and these painful strikes continue until we see the pain in your eyes," the post read.

- ANI
An aircraft belonging to Iran's Mahan Air was reportedly struck in a US airstrike at Mashhad International Airport. The plane was scheduled for a humanitarian aid flight to New Delhi, transporting supplies including medicines. The incident raises serious concerns over the safety of civilian and aid-linked aviation amid escalating regional tensions. This development is likely to further strain the already fraught relations between Washington and Tehran.

Iranian sources report a US airstrike hit a Mahan Air aircraft at Mashhad Airport, disrupting a humanitarian aid flight to India.

Tehran, March 30 An aircraft belonging to Mahan Air was reportedly struck during a United States airstrike at Mashhad Airport in Iran, disrupting a planned humanitarian mission to India, according to Iranian sources.

The aircraft, stationed at Mashhad International Airport, was scheduled to fly to New Delhi as part of a humanitarian aid operation. "Mahan Air aircraft was hit by the US in an airstrike at Mashhad Airport. The plane was reportedly scheduled to fly to Delhi for humanitarian aid," Iran sources said.

According to reports, the aircraft was expected to arrive in New Delhi in the coming days to facilitate the transport of humanitarian supplies, including medicines. The disruption has raised fresh concerns over the safety of civilian and aid-linked aviation operations in the region amid escalating geopolitical tensions.

The incident comes at a time when Iran has been coordinating humanitarian shipments with India. Earlier this month, India dispatched aid consignments to Iran, underlining what New Delhi described as long-standing civilisational and humanitarian ties between the two countries.

While there has been no immediate official confirmation from the United States regarding the reported strike, the development is likely to further strain already tense relations between Washington and Tehran. The two nations have had a long history of friction, particularly over Iran's regional activities and military capabilities.

Mahan Air, one of Iran's largest private carriers, has frequently been at the centre of international scrutiny. The airline has been under US sanctions for years, with Washington alleging links to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and accusing it of transporting personnel and equipment linked to regional conflicts.

Past incidents involving the airline have also drawn global attention. In previous years, tensions between US forces and Iranian aviation have led to aerial encounters, further highlighting the risks faced by civilian aircraft operating in conflict-prone airspaces.

The reported strike at Mashhad adds to a series of incidents targeting aviation infrastructure in Iran during ongoing regional hostilities. Earlier conflicts have also seen damage to aircraft at Iranian airports, raising alarm over the vulnerability of civilian aviation assets in such environments.

As details continue to emerge, the situation remains fluid, with the potential for diplomatic fallout and broader implications for humanitarian logistics and regional stability.

- ANI
Delhi Tourism Minister Kapil Mishra declared the inaugural International Film Festival Delhi (IFFD) 2026 a "great start" for the city's film culture, citing strong participation from the industry and youth. He highlighted the successful screening of the blockbuster sequel 'Dhurandhar: The Revenge' and announced the upcoming screening of 'Shatak'. The festival featured over 130 films from more than 2000 entries and included masterclasses that provided direct interaction for Delhi's youth with global experts. The government has signed MoUs to establish Delhi as a hub for new cinema technologies like AI and animation, with plans to make the festival an annual event.

Delhi Tourism Minister Kapil Mishra praises the strong debut of IFFD 2026, highlighting 'Dhurandhar 2' screening, 130+ films, and new tech MoUs.

New Delhi, March 30 Delhi Tourism Minister Kapil Mishra on Monday attended the special screening of 'Dhurandhar: The Revenge' at the International Film Festival Delhi 2026, calling the event a "fantastic start" for the city's growing film culture.

Speaking about the festival, he highlighted the strong response from audiences and the film industry. "For the first time, an International Film Festival has been held in Delhi. People from the film industry from across the country have come here, experts have come. Delhi's youth have received an experience through masterclasses and workshops that perhaps they have not had anywhere else before. I feel it's a great start, and in the future, this International Film Festival will become the identity of the country before the whole world," he said.

Referring to key screenings, he added, "The screening of 'Dhurandhar 2' is happening. And on March 31 at 10:30 am at Bharat Mandapam, the screening of 'Shatak' will also take place."

Headlined by Ranveer Singh, 'Dhurandhar: The Revenge' has already emerged as a major commercial success. Produced by Jio Studios and B62 Studios, the film features a multi-starrer cast including Sanjay Dutt, R. Madhavan, Rakesh Bedi and Arjun Rampal. Directed by National Award-winning filmmaker Aditya Dhar, the film released in theatres on March 19 and serves as a sequel to 'Dhurandhar' (2025), which was the highest-grossing Hindi film of that year.

Highlighting the scale of the event, Mishra said, "Both the Honorable Lieutenant Governor and the Chief Minister attended the 'Night of Honours'. We have also honoured selected films and artists from India and abroad."

He added, "Our biggest achievement is that for the first time, Delhi's youth got a chance for direct interaction with experts and celebrities from around the world. There were masterclasses and workshops, and three films selected here found their financiers and producers at the festival itself."

Mishra noted that the festival received over 2,000 entries, with screenings of more than 130 films. "Films in almost every Indian language have been screened here," he said.

Outlining the government's vision, he said, "We have signed several MoUs to make Delhi a hub for new alternative cinema technologies like AVGC, AI, and animation. It's a fantastic start, and we will continue to establish Delhi on the map of culture, art, and cinema."

He further added that such initiatives will become a regular feature. "Whether it's the International Film Festival or the Literature Festival, such events will become part of Delhi's annual calendar," he said.

Mishra reiterated that the festival is creating new opportunities for talent across sectors. "For artists, actors, and people working in camera, animation, AI, AVGC, and scriptwriting, this has given new exposure. We are working with the vision that Delhi becomes a hub for new technologies in cinema," he said.

He also noted the growing interest in new-age filmmaking tools, adding that discussions around AI have received a strong response at the festival.

The Night of Honours ceremony opened with Vande Mataram, followed by the national anthem, followed by lamp lighting and formal addresses, setting a tone that balanced tradition with celebration. As the evening unfolded, Anupam Kher delivered a poetic tribute to cinema that held the audience in rare stillness, while music by Ricky Kej elevated the atmosphere, building into a powerful closing performance. The evening concluded with a vote of thanks by Suneel Anchipaka, MD & CEO, DTTDC.

The honours reflected a wide spectrum of contemporary cinema. Festival Director Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra and Chairperson of the IFFD Preview Committee Sunit Tandon were felicitated, alongside a special acknowledgement of the delegation from the Singapore International Film Festival. Global recognition, including Enrique Arce, underscored the festival's growing international presence, while a tribute marking 50 years of 'Sholay' saw Ramesh Sippy honoured for his enduring contribution to Indian cinema, as per the press release.

Key film honours included Saiyaara (Yash Raj Films, directed by Mohit Suri) as Pathbreaking Film of the Year, Sitaare Zameen Par (directed by R. S. Prasanna) as Most Inspiring Film of the Year, and Tanvi The Great, which earned recognition for Best Direction (Anupam Kher) and Debut Actor (Shubhangi Dutt). Dhurandhar (Jio Studios) was recognised under PVR Best of 2025, with Ranveer Singh honoured as Best Actor and Aditya Dhar as Best Director. Additional recognition was given to Dimple Dugar for Contribution to Preservation of History through Cinema for Lokmati Devi Ahilyabai.

- ANI
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi stated she would consider holding top-level talks with Iran at an appropriate time if it serves Japan's national interest, emphasizing the critical importance of Middle East stability for her country's energy imports. During a recent meeting at the White House, Takaichi offered strong public backing to US President Donald Trump, stating she believed he alone could achieve world peace amidst a severe global security environment. The two leaders discussed Iran, energy security, and Middle East turmoil, with Trump praising Takaichi's leadership and electoral victory. Japan's position aligns with Washington's push for regional stability while highlighting the risks to global energy supplies and navigation.

Japanese PM Sanae Takaichi may hold talks with Iran if it serves national interest, while publicly backing Donald Trump's unique role in achieving world peace.

Tokyo, March 30 Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said Monday she would consider holding talks with the Iranian leadership at an 'appropriate' time if it serves Japan's national interest as tensions in the Middle East remain high, local media reported.

"I will judge the appropriate timing for holding talks based on the national interest from a comprehensive standpoint," Takaichi told a session of the House of Representatives Budget Committee, according to Kyodo News.

Stability in the Middle East is of critical importance to Japan, which relies on the region for over 90 per cent of its crude oil imports, Xinhua news agency reported.

Earlier on March 19, Japanese Prime Minister Takaichi told President Donald Trump that she believed he alone could deliver peace in a world facing a severe security crisis, as the two leaders met at the White House against the backdrop of tensions in the Middle East and growing fears over the global economy. Takaichi made the remark during an Oval Office appearance, placing Japan firmly alongside Washington's push for regional stability while also stressing the risks to energy supplies and navigation.

Trump also praised Takaichi for her leadership and electoral victory, saying she had "won a tremendous election in a record-setting fashion." He added, "We have a very popular, powerful woman and she's a great woman," and said the two countries shared "a very fine relationship."

Sanae Takaichi told US President Donald Trump at the White House that she believed "it is only you, Donald, who can achieve peace across the world," offering strong public backing as the two leaders discussed Iran, energy security, and turmoil in the Middle East.

She had said that right now, situations in the Middle East and also the entire world, we are actually experiencing a very severe security environment. And also, the global economy is now about to experience a huge hit because of these developments.

She observed that the current geopolitical climate-particularly in the Middle East-had created a precarious security environment.

- IANS
Actor Kalidas Jayaram pens an emotional Instagram tribute to his late dog Bunty, sharing a touching message about love and loss.

Chennai, March 30 Actor Kalidas, who is also the son of well known actor Jayaram, has now penned a heart-touching emotional post to his pet, which passed away recently.

Taking to his Instagram page, Kalidas Jayaram, who posted pictures of himself with his dog Bunty, wrote, " That last moment before I left for my shoot... the way you looked into my eyes I felt it. You were telling me something words never could. Maybe you were saying goodbye... maybe you were telling me it's okay."



He went on to say, "They say dogs don't live as long as us... but I think it's because they already know how to love perfectly, something we take a lifetime to learn. And I truly believe this ..someday, when it's my time... I'll see you again. Waiting for me just like you always did."



He concluded the post saying, "Run free my boy. No pain, no suffering... just endless fields and peace. Until we meet again, Bunty. You will always be my biggest everything."



On the work front, the actor, who was last seen in director G Prajith's comedy entertainer 'Ashakal Aayiram' that featured him along with his father Jayaram in the lead, will next be seen in director Ahammed Khabeer's upcoming film 'Many Many Happy Returns".



For the unaware, Ahammed Khabeer is best known for his critically acclaimed hit film 'June', featuring Rajisha Vijayan in the lead.



Many Many Happy Returns, sources say, will be a simple romantic entertainer. The film boasts of a gifted technical unit. Screenplay and dialogues for this film, which is expected to release in the summer of this year, has been penned by Ahammed Khabeer along with Jobin John Varghese. Cinematography for the film is by Jithin Stanislaus and music is by Govind Vasantha.



Editing for the film is to be taken care of by Mahesh Bhuvanend and costume design is by Mashar Hamsa. The film is being produced by the production house Monkey Business.





- IANS
Kaziranga National Park is experiencing a significant increase in tourist arrivals even as Assam prepares for Assembly elections. Visitors from across India are flocking to the park to enjoy elephant and jeep safaris and spot its iconic one-horned rhinos. Tourist guides and visitors note that the election season is not impacting the footfall, with both activities occurring simultaneously. Assam's Chief Minister highlighted successful conservation efforts, reporting zero rhino poaching incidents in the park for 2025.

Despite Assam elections, Kaziranga National Park sees high tourist footfall. Visitors enjoy safaris and spot rhinos, with zero poaching in 2025.

Kaziranga, March 30 Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve, one of India's most renowned wildlife sanctuaries, witnessed a significant increase in tourist arrivals on Monday, even as Assam gears up for the upcoming Assembly elections. Visitors from across the state and other parts of India have been flocking to the park to experience its rich biodiversity and scenic beauty.

Home to the world's largest population of one-horned rhinos, Kaziranga continues to attract wildlife enthusiasts, who expressed delight after spotting the iconic animals in their natural habitat. Tourists also enjoyed elephant and jeep safaris within the UNESCO World Heritage Site, adding to the overall experience.

Harshal, a tourist from Maharashtra, told ANI, "This is my first visit to Kaziranga. In the morning, we enjoyed an elephant safari, and we also saw a rhino. Now we are going inside the park and hope to see a tiger also."

"Experience is so good. We enjoyed the elephant safari and saw a rhino. Now we are going to enjoy a jeep safari. The weather is also good," Jahnavi, another tourist from Maharashtra, said.

On the other hand, Apurba Gogoi, a tourist guide, told ANI that the election is here, but it is not impacting tourists.

"Tourist footfall is good. Election and tourists' arrival to Kaziranga are going on simultaneously," Apurba Gogoi said.

Mintu, a tourist from Guwahati, said that Kaziranga is a tourist place and we come to see it.

"I visited Kaziranga earlier also. Today we will go to Orchid Park to see. Voting will be held on April 9, and we hope that it will be held peacefully. We want a good government," Mintu said.

Ratan Debnath said that it is a good experience for us. He said, "We will go and cast our votes on April 9."

"Election is different, and I come here along with my family for enjoyment. We are going to enjoy a jeep safari," Abdul Kadir, a tourist from Lakhimpur, said.

Earlier, Assam Chief Minister Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma highlighted the state government's conservation efforts, noting that "Assam recorded not a single rhino poaching incident in Kaziranga in 2025 due to excellent wildlife protection measures."

- ANI
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar has sharply criticized Lebanon, calling it a "virtual state" practically occupied by Iran. He accused Beirut of failing to enforce its own decision to expel Iran's ambassador, Mohammad Reza Shiba, after a March 29 deadline passed. Sa'ar also detailed sustained attacks from Hezbollah, alleging 5,000 projectiles have been fired at Israel since early March. The comments follow Lebanese Foreign Minister Youssef Raggi's earlier announcement declaring the Iranian ambassador persona non grata.

Israeli FM Gideon Sa'ar claims Lebanon is a "virtual state occupied by Iran" as Iranian ambassador overstays expulsion deadline.

Tel Aviv, March 30 Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar on Monday sharply criticised Lebanon, claiming it is effectively under Iranian control and failing to act against the influence of Hezbollah.

In a post on X, Sa'ar alleged that Beirut had not enforced its own decision to expel Iran's ambassador Mohammad Reza Shiba, despite a deadline passing on March 29.

He said, "Last week, the Lebanese Foreign Ministry declared the Iranian ambassador a "persona non grata" and set a deadline for his expulsion from Lebanon. That deadline expired yesterday, March 29th."

He added, "This morning, the Iranian ambassador is sipping his coffee in Beirut, mocking the host 'country'. Hezbollah ministers also continue to serve in the Lebanese government."

He further claimed that Lebanon is "a virtual state that is, in practice, occupied by Iran," describing the situation as a "visible occupation that hardly anyone speaks about."

"Lebanon is a virtual state that is, in practice, occupied by Iran. It is a visible occupation that hardly anyone speaks about," he said.

Sa'ar also accused Hezbollah of launching sustained attacks against Israel in violation of the November 2024 ceasefire. "5,000 missiles, rockets, and drones have been fired at Israel from Lebanese territory since March 2nd, when Hezbollah launched its attack in violation of the November 2024 ceasefire," he said.

According to him, many of the projectiles were launched from areas south of the Litani River, which the Lebanese army had earlierdeclared under its "operational control".

He urged decisive action from Lebanese authorities, stating that the country "will not regain its freedom until a decision is made in Beirut to confront the Iranian occupation and its proxy - Hezbollah."

Earlier on Tuesday, Lebanese Foreign Minister Youssef Raggi announced that the government has withdrawn the agreement for Iranian ambassador-designate Mohammad Reza Shiba, declaring him "persona non grata" (person not welcome) and ordering him to leave the country by March 29.

In a post on X, Raggi said he had instructed the Secretary-General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants to summon the Iranian Charge d'Affaires in Beirut to convey the decision.

Raggi said, "I instructed today the Secretary-General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants to summon the Iranian Charge d'Affaires in Lebanon to inform him of the decision to withdraw the agrement for the designated Iranian Ambassador, Mohammad Reza Shibani, declare him persona non grata, and request that he leave Lebanese territory no later than 29 March 2026."

The move was welcomed by Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar, who said the step was "justified" and urged the Lebanese government to take further measures against Iran's "indirect occupation through Hezbollah".

- ANI
Residents of Ladakh and Jammu & Kashmir are conducting widespread donation drives to support those affected by the conflict in Iran. In a powerful show of solidarity, a young girl broke her piggy bank, while women and children donated their gold and silver jewellery, including bangles and earrings. The Shia community in Chanderkot led mass collections, contributing household items, cash, and even livestock for humanitarian aid. The Iranian Embassy in India has formally thanked the people of India for their profound kindness and support, vowing to never forget their humanity.

Children break piggy banks, women donate jewellery in Kashmir and Ladakh for Iran humanitarian aid. Iranian Embassy thanks India's kindness.

Leh, March 30 Several people in Leh have come forward to contribute money, precious metals, jewellery and other valuable items to help residents in Iran amid the West Asia conflict.

A child also broke her "gullak" (piggy bank) to contribute to the relief efforts in the meantime.

The residents in Ladakh are conducting regular donation drives to aid the residents in Iran affected by the US-Israeli strikes during the past 30 days of conflict.

Several children's bicycles could also be seen among the donated items, sending a strong message of solidarity with Iran.

Last week, hundreds of people from the Shia community gathered at the Imambara in Jammu and Kashmir's Chanderkot to provide financial and material aid to those affected by the ongoing conflict in Iran.

The mass donation drive saw locals contributing everything from household utensils to precious jewellery to support the distressed population across the border.

The Shias of the Chanderkot area in Ramban district en masse gave different types of donations for the hapless people of war-hit Iran. People from the Shia community donated money, utensils, gold and silver, and children donated their piggy banks.

Women donated their gold and silver ornaments. They even took off the bangles and earrings from their children and donated them for the sake of the people of war-ravaged Iran. A man also donated his sheep.

Additionally, locals in Budgam also donated gold, silver, and cash to support Iran in the wake of the West Asia crisis.

Noting these efforts, the Iranian Embassy in India on March 22 thanked the "kindness" and "humanity" of Indians for donating money and jewellery to rebuild Iran.

The Embassy said they will remember India's kindness forever.

"We will never forget your kindness and humanity. Thank you, India," the embassy said.

"With hearts full of gratitude, we sincerely thank the kind people of Kashmir for standing with the people of Iran through their humanitarian support and heartfelt solidarity; this kindness will never be forgotten. Thank you, India," it further said.

This comes amid escalating tensions in West Asia after a joint US-Israel military strike on February 28 on Iranian territory resulted in the death of its Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and other senior figures, prompting a fierce response from Tehran.

- ANI
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis announced plans to deploy AI and data-driven tools, developed with institutions like IIT, to identify illegal Bangladeshi immigrants. He also declared a major offensive against narcotics, specifically targeting educational institutions across the state. The government aims to digitize the entire legal workflow within six months and use AI to analyze past failed convictions, targeting a 95% conviction rate. The conference also covered road safety strategies, cyber security, and introduced a monthly grading system for police districts.

CM Devendra Fadnavis announces AI tools to detect illegal Bangladeshi immigrants and declares a major war on drugs in educational institutions.

Mumbai, March 30 Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Monday announced plans to use data-driven tools and artificial intelligence technology to detect illegal Bangladeshi immigrants.

He specifically mentioned partnering with institutions like the Indian Institute of Technology to develop an artificial intelligence tool that can help authorities differentiate between legal residents and those living in the city without valid documentation. These tools will be deployed once testing is complete.

In addition, CM Fadnavis declared a "major war" against narcotics, specifically focusing on educational institutions. The state Director General of Police is developing a new strategy to ensure that campuses across Maharashtra remain free of illegal substances.

CM Fadnavis, who holds the Home Department, was speaking to reporters after chairing the bi-annual state police officers' conference held in Mumbai.

He outlined a comprehensive roadmap for the state's security, focusing on the elimination of Naxalism, the integration of artificial intelligence in policing, and a massive crackdown on drug trafficking.

He announced the government's push for a fully digitised legal process, setting a six-month deadline for the Director General of Police to digitise the entire workflow from the filing of a First Information Report to the submission of a chargesheet. Blockchain technology will be implemented to ensure the integrity of evidence.

The Criminal Investigation Department has been tasked with using artificial intelligence tools to analyse cases from the last four to five years where convictions were not secured. This aims to identify loopholes and raise the state's conviction rate from the current 50 per cent to a target of 95 per cent, he added.

The Chief Minister congratulated the Maharashtra Police for their sustained efforts in nearly eradicating Naxalism from the state. He paid tribute to the 244 police personnel who laid down their lives in this struggle.

In recognition of their bravery, he announced that all personnel who have served at least three years in the elite C-60 anti-Naxal force will now be awarded a special C-60 medal.

He noted that the state's success aligns with the national goal set by PM Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah to end Naxalism across India.

CM Fadnavis said that to ensure accountability, a monthly grading system for police districts will be introduced. Districts performing above the state average will receive monthly awards from the Director General of Police. Districts falling below average will be closely monitored and provided with corrective targets.

He said the conference also discussed issues relating to road safety, adding that following successful models in Nagpur and on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway, which saw a 30 per cent reduction in accidents, the state plans to replicate these strategies across all major highways. The conference also touched upon cyber security, communal harmony, and police welfare, he added.

- IANS
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated the United States is significantly damaging Iran's navy and defense industrial base and will achieve its objectives in a matter of weeks. He emphasized that President Trump will not allow Iran to control the Strait of Hormuz permanently and has multiple options to prevent it. Meanwhile, Iranian officials dismissed US diplomatic overtures as untrustworthy and denied direct talks. The situation escalates as Trump has threatened to target Iran's civilian energy infrastructure if the Strait is not reopened.

Marco Rubio says US will cripple Iran's defense base in weeks, prevent Strait of Hormuz control, as Trump threatens energy infrastructure.

Washington DC, March 31 US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, in an interview with ABC News on Monday said that the United States has caused significant damage to Iran's navy and defence industrial base.

He added that US President Trump would not allow Iran to control the Strait of Hormuz in "perpetuity", underlining that the country is going to achieve its objectives in a matter of weeks.

Speaking to ABC News, Rubio said, "We are destroying Iran's navy. We are destroying their missile launchers by a significant percentage. We're going to wipe out their defence industrial base, meaning their ability to make new missiles and new drones in the future, because it poses a great threat to the region. This Iran that you're seeing now, this is Iran at its weakest point."

He added that an Iran with developed defence capabilities would be an "unacceptable risk".

"Imagine them two years from now, if they had thousands more missiles, thousands of more missile launchers and factories to make even more, that was an unacceptable risk. It needed to be addressed, and President Trump is addressing it."

Speaking about the Strait of Hormuz, the US Secretary of State added that President Trump has several options on the table to prevent Iran's hegemony over the strait.

"Now, they (Iran) are making threats about controlling the Hormuz Straits in perpetuity, creating a tolling system and the like. That's not going to be allowed to happen. And the president has a number of options available to him if he so chooses to prevent that from happening. "

Rubio further noted, "The Department of War would be in charge of those things... There is a way forward here to achieve our objectives. We are going to achieve our objectives in a matter of weeks, not months."

A snippet from his interview to ABC news was also shared by the Department of State in a post on X.

While Rubio praised the people of Iran, he called the leadership a "problem" and said, "The people of Iran are incredible people. The people who lead them are the problem. If there are new people now in charge with a more reasonable vision of the future, it would be good news for the entire world. But we must be prepared if that isn't the case."

Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said that the country has held no "direct" talks with the United States as of now and added that it has received messages through some mediators regarding the US' desire for negotiations, according to a report by Press TV on Monday.

As per Press TV, Baghaei said during a press conference, "It seems quite natural that when the US raises the issues of negotiations and diplomacy, sensitivities will be increased. It is not clear how much, even inside the US, the country's claims about diplomacy and negotiations are seriously taken into account. Reactions and reflections also show that the extent of global trust in the US claims in the field of diplomacy is very limited".

He slammed the US and said that Iran, while Washington's stance has been constantly changing, Tehran has had a clear stance on the negotiations.

The Foreign Ministry Spokesperson emphasised that Iran did not participate in a four-sided meeting in Islamabad on Saturday hosted by Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and attended by the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt.

His remarks come after the Financial Times had reported that US President Donald Trump claimed that indirect negotiations between the United States and Iran, facilitated by Pakistani intermediaries, are making "positive progress".

The developments come as Trump has threatened to target Iran's civilian energy infrastructure, including power plants, oil wells and Kharg Island, if Tehran does not reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

In a social media post, Trump said, "Great progress has been made but, if for any reason a deal is not shortly reached, which it probably will be, and if the Hormuz Strait is not immediately 'Open for Business,' we will conclude our lovely 'stay' in Iran by blowing up and completely obliterating all of their Electric Generating Plants, Oil Wells and Kharg Island."

He noted that Washington is engaging in "serious discussions" with a "new, and more reasonable" leadership in Tehran to bring an end to US military operations, a conflict that has lasted more than a month amid escalating regional tensions.

Trump's remarks came against a backdrop of heightened global concern over the strategic Strait of Hormuz, a critical chokepoint for nearly one-fifth of world oil flows.

The president urged Iran to ensure that the waterway is "Open for Business," tying the resumption of maritime traffic directly to progress in talks aimed at ending hostilities.

The developments come as the conflict between US-Israel and Iran has now entered into its second month, with escalated security situation in the West Asia and the Gulf region.

- ANI
The Ministry of External Affairs has issued a fact-check dismissing as "fake" social media posts alleging widespread closures of fertiliser production units in India, which falsely predicted massive food shortages. The MEA shared images of a misleading map that incorrectly marked numerous ammonia and urea plant closures across South Asia due to LNG supply disruptions. The ministry also rejected false claims that the government had asked Indians in the Gulf to register for evacuation amid the ongoing regional conflict. Additionally, the MEA rubbished rumours about an Indian oil tanker gaining passage through the Strait of Hormuz by paying in Chinese yuan.

MEA rejects fake social media claims about fertiliser plant closures causing food shortages and false alerts on Indian evacuation from Gulf.

New Delhi, March 30 The Ministry of External Affairs on Monday issued a fact check, rejecting as "fake" certain social media posts and maps alleging closure of fertiliser production units in the country and a possible resultant shortage threatening foodgrain availability in the next season.

"Please stay alert against such false and baseless claims and posts on social media!" the MEA said in a post on its official social media handle.

The Ministry also shared images of "fake" social media posts which claimed, "Massive food shortages by next wheat harvest season in March" and "A map of reported ammonia and urea plant closures in India".

The "fake" map, captioned "LNG supply disruption triggers fertiliser plant closures across South Asia", carried over two dozen markers displaying the locations of fertiliser plants that were purportedly forced to shut partially or completely. The MEA, however, dismissed these claims as baseless.

In an earlier fact check, the MEA dismissed rumours about the government's strategy to evacuate Indians from the Gulf amid the ongoing conflict.

Issuing an alert on social media, the Ministry said: "This Instagram post is misleading. It claims that Government has asked Indian nationals to register on Madad (Help) portal for evacuation."

"Clarification: MEA and Embassies in the West Asia region have opened helplines to assist Indian nationals with various needs in view of the conflict," a Ministry spokesperson said.

The Ministry had earlier dismissed another "fake" news alert carrying articles with headlines such as "Jammu and Kashmir intel agencies flag Rs 17.91 crore Iran aid donation scam, middlemen network in focus".

In another instance, the MEA rubbished as "fake" a social media post claiming that an Indian oil tanker was allowed to pass through the Strait of Hormuz after payment was made in "Chinese yuan".

The Ministry also warned against another "fake" news item which claimed that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is offering limited "safe passage" to tankers that bypass the US dollar in favour of Chinese currency.

- IANS
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav presided over a ceremony to disburse over Rs 169 crore in assistance to MSMEs and startups. He announced a massive scale-up of the budget for the Udyog Kranti Yojana and related industrial incentives from Rs 8,000 crore to Rs 28,000 crore. The government has fully digitised land allotment, completing over 1,100 allotments in 2025 alone, and has cleared all subsidy backlogs since 2019. The upcoming year has also been declared the 'Year of Farmer Welfare' to promote food processing and better prices for farmers.

MP CM Mohan Yadav disburses Rs 169 crore to MSMEs & startups, scales industrial incentive budget to Rs 28,000 crore for rapid industrialisation.

Bhopal, March 30 Chief Minister Mohan Yadav on Monday presided over a major incentive distribution ceremony organised by the MSME Department and announced the release of over Rs 169 crore as assistance to industries and startups.

During the event, the government cleared the final dividend of Rs 8 crore for the Madhya Pradesh Laghu Udyog Nigam for the years 2020-2024.

Additionally, Rs 16.95 crore was disbursed as Investment Assistance to 257 industrial units, while Rs 8.6 crore was released as administrative assistance.

The first instalment of these funds is being transferred immediately through DBT (direct benefit transfer). Three industrial units received land allotment orders, and one unit was given an assistance letter under the Chief Minister's Enterprise Scheme. Each of these four units will also receive a grant of Rs 5 lakh.

Highlighting the progress made in the last year under his guidance, the Chief Minister's administration informed that the land allotment process has been fully digitised. While only 500 allotments were made from 2019 to 2024, the state has already completed more than 1,100 allotments in 2025 alone.

The number of startups in the state has increased to 7,200. Over Rs 3,000 crore has been disbursed as Investment Promotion Assistance in the last two years.

Under the 'Mukhyamantri Udyog Kranti Yojana', against a target of 8,000 beneficiaries this year, the state has already covered 10,473 beneficiaries, achieving 131 per cent of the target.

The Chief Minister announced that the budget for industrial incentives under the Udyog Kranti Yojana and related schemes, which stood at around Rs 8,000 crore last year, will be scaled up significantly to Rs 28,000 crore in the coming years.

This massive increase reflects the government's strong commitment to rapid industrialisation.

CM Yadav also declared the upcoming year as the 'Year of Farmer Welfare' and said joint agriculture-industry conferences will be organised to promote food processing units so that farmers get better prices for their produce through local value addition.

The entire backlog of pending subsidies since 2019 has been cleared, and the process of releasing fresh incentives will continue on a quarterly basis without delay, the chief minister said.

- IANS
Former Chhattisgarh DGP DM Awasthi praised the BJP government's initiatives and the deadline set by top leadership for motivating security forces and pushing Naxalism towards extinction. He reminisced about Bastar's peaceful past in the late 1980s, contrasting it with the destruction caused by Naxal violence in subsequent decades. Awasthi expressed hope that the region would return to its former beauty and normalcy within the next couple of years. He also highlighted the significant change in the security situation over the past decade, crediting strengthened forces for ending the atmosphere of terror, though noting the ideological fight for justice will continue constitutionally.

Former DGP DM Awasthi credits PM Modi & Amit Shah's deadline for bringing Naxal-affected areas like Bastar closer to normalcy and peace.

Raipur, March 30 Former Chhattisgarh Deputy General Police DM Awasthi on Sunday lauded the initiatives by the BJP government to end Naxalism, stating that it brought several affected areas closer to normalcy.

Speaking with ANI on the deadline of March 31st set by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah to end Naxalism, Awasthi said that it showcases the "strong will" of the government and motivates the security forces.

"The deadline motivated and provided a goal to the forces and showcased the strong will of the Home Minister. Its consequence has been that we are seeing Naxalism on the verge of extinction today...and that Bastar and other Naxal-affected areas are inching towards normalcy...," he said.

Reminiscing on the culture, life and environment of Bastar in the 1900s, the former DGP expressed hopes for the initiative by the government to transform the Naxal-affected region to "once again bloom with flowers and light."

"I saw Bastar in February 1989. It was beautiful then... People lived peacefully in Bijapur and Dantewada. Markets were set up, and state transport buses ran from Gollapalli to Jagdalpur. I've travelled in it myself. There were roads, and Bastar was a beautiful valley. They ruined it all, the roads, demolished schools, and damaged hospitals... I hope that the Bastar of the 1990s, when we used to roam in Kuonta along the banks of the Sabri River, will return. Jhiram Ghati was such a beautiful valley of flowers, I saw it with my own eyes. I hope that after March 31st, in the next one or two years, Bastar will once again bloom with flowers and light," he stated.

Furthermore, he reflected on the time before the BJP government came to power, describing it as the time when the fear of Naxalism reaching the capital city loomed. He said that the security forces have been strengthened in the past decade, attributing it to the gradual decline of Naxalism in the state.

"There came a time when it seemed the security forces would never be able to defeat Naxalism in the country. That was when the MCC and CPI joined forces to form the CPI-Maoist... There was a time when people started saying that Naxalites had reached Raipur... But in these 10 years, things have completely changed... The sacrifices made and the losses suffered by security forces are difficult to compensate for. The only thing is that their sacrifices have borne fruit, and now Naxalism and terrorism are ending," Awasthi said.

"... The atmosphere of terror created by the Naxalites, with ID bombings, blasts, and ambushes, is coming to an end... But the ideology remains. The ideology was to ensure justice for the oppressed. The fight for justice will continue, but in a peaceful manner within the Indian Constitution. The gun-toting path was a grave threat, and it is now coming to an end," he added.

- ANI
BJP National President Nitin Nabin has resigned from his post as the MLA representing the Bankipur Assembly constituency in Bihar. His resignation letter was handed over and will be formally submitted to the Legislative Assembly Speaker. In an emotional social media post, Nabin reflected on his two-decade political career that began in 2006 following his father's demise. He expressed gratitude for being elected for five consecutive terms and stated he will continue to serve in a new role within the party.

BJP leader Nitin Nabin resigns as MLA from Bankipur after five terms, submits resignation letter. He reflects on his 20-year political journey.

Patna, March 30 In a significant political development in Bihar, BJP National President Nitin Nabin has resigned from his post as an MLA, stepping down from the Bankipur Assembly constituency. According to Sanjay Saraogi, the BJP Bihar President, "Resignation letter has already been handed over by him and will be formally submitted to the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly."

He clarified that the process was delayed due to Sunday, but the resignation will be officially presented today, being the first day of the working week.

Following his resignation, Nitin Nabin shared an emotional message on social media platform X, reflecting on his two-decade-long political journey.

He recalled that his political career began in 2006 after the demise of his father, late Nabin Kishore Prasad Sinha, when the party gave him the opportunity to contest the bye-election from Patna West.

Expressing gratitude, he noted that the people of his constituency elected him as their representative for five consecutive terms, which he described as a blessing and a responsibility.

He emphasised that throughout his tenure, he worked tirelessly for the development of his constituency and Bihar, raising public issues both inside and outside the Assembly.

Nitin Nabin also acknowledged the guidance of senior leaders across party lines and credited party workers and the public for shaping his political journey.

Reflecting on his tenure as a minister in the Bihar government under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, he expressed gratitude for the opportunity to implement key policies and schemes.

Announcing his resignation, he stated that he is stepping down as the elected representative of Bankipur but will continue to serve the people in his new role within the party.

He assured that his bond with the people of Bihar and party workers will remain unbreakable.

Reaffirming his commitment, Nitin Nabin said he will continue to work dedicatedly toward the vision of a 'Developed India' and a 'Developed Bihar' by 2047 under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

- IANS
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has called for an immediate ceasefire in the ongoing West Asia conflict. He expressed hope that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, due to his good relations with all countries, can play a unique and key role in facilitating peace. This comes as PM Modi held discussions with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, condemning attacks on energy infrastructure and discussing secure shipping lanes. India's diplomatic engagements underscore its growing role in addressing international security and stability challenges.

J&K CM Omar Abdullah calls for immediate West Asia ceasefire, says PM Modi's diplomatic ties position him uniquely to facilitate peace and de-escalation.

Jammu, March 30 Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Monday called for an immediate end to the ongoing West Asia conflict, expressing hope that India can play a crucial role in de-escalating tensions.

Speaking to reporters on the issue, CM Abdullah said that the war should end at the earliest and stressed that the Prime Minister's diplomatic relations with multiple countries could help facilitate peace.

"We want the war to end soon, and the role that the Prime Minister can play in this, no one else can do, because his relations are good with all countries. I think there should be an announcement of a ceasefire and the war should end right here," he said.

Abdullah's remarks come amid growing global concerns over escalating tensions in West Asia, with increasing calls from leaders worldwide for restraint and dialogue.

Earlier today, Prime Minister Narendra Modi engaged in high-level discussions with global leaders to address pressing international issues, including the ongoing conflict in West Asia, the spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs, Randhir Jaiswal, said on Monday.

As part of these engagements, on March 28, the Prime Minister held talks with the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Jaiswal said.

Addressing an interministerial briefing in the national capital, the MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said, "The Prime Minister is currently engaging in discussions with leaders from various nations across the globe. In this context, on March 28th, the Prime Minister held talks with the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Prince Mohammed bin Salman."

During this conversation, views were exchanged regarding the ongoing conflict in West Asia. The Prime Minister condemned the attacks targeting energy infrastructure in that region. Both leaders also discussed free navigation and keeping shipping lanes open and secure.

"The discussions also touched upon diplomatic cooperation and ways to strengthen bilateral ties between the two nations. Both leaders reiterated the need to intensify collaboration on regional security and energy stability.

The MEA spokesperson further noted that the Prime Minister continues to interact with world leaders to address various international challenges, underlining India's growing role in shaping dialogue on global security and economic stability.

The conversation took place at a time when tensions in West Asia have intensified, with concerns over attacks on energy assets and the potential impact on global trade routes. India's outreach to Saudi Arabia, a key regional player, reflects a strategy aimed at fostering dialogue, promoting peace, and ensuring that critical shipping lanes remain secure for international commerce.

- ANI
US President Donald Trump has publicly thanked Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko for the release of over 500 political prisoners. Trump credited his special envoy, John Coale, with securing the latest release of 250 detainees following negotiations. This follows a previous conversation in 2025 where Trump thanked Lukashenko for freeing 16 prisoners and discussed the potential release of 1,300 more. Lukashenko, who has long been under U.S. sanctions, was praised by Trump ahead of the mentioned Board of Peace meeting.

Donald Trump thanks Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko for the release of over 500 political prisoners, secured through his envoy John Coale.

Washington DC, March 30 US President Donald Trump on Sunday claimed that more than 500 political prisoners have been released in Belarus since last year, crediting efforts by his envoy and the Belarusian leadership.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump said his envoy, John Coale, secured the release of an additional 250 detainees following talks with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.

"Last week, my Envoy to Belarus, John Coale, after negotiating with Highly Respected President Alexander Lukashenko, got 250 more Political Prisoners freed! This brings the total Prisoners gracefully released by President Lukashenko to well over 500, since last May," Trump said.

He expressed gratitude to Lukashenko for the move, adding, "I would like to give my warmest THANK YOU to the President for doing this, and I look forward to being with him at the next Board of Peace meeting1"

Earlier in August 2025, United States President Donald Trump said he had a "wonderful" conversation with Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko ahead of his summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska. He also mentioned discussing Putin's visit to Alaska during the call at that time.

President Trump at that time said that he had telephoned Lukashenko to thank him for the release of 16 prisoners.

On Truth Social, Trump wrote, "I had a wonderful talk with the highly respected President of Belarus, Aleksandr Lukashenko. The purpose of the call was to thank him for the release of 16 prisoners. We are also discussing the release of 1,300 additional prisoners. Our conversation was a very good one."

CNN at that time reported that Lukashenko, who has been in power since 1994, is already under heavy US sanctions.

CNN also reported that Lukashenko is sometimes referred to as "Europe's last dictator."

The Board of Peace, launched by Trump in Davos in January, was initially designed to oversee Gaza's post-war transition under a broader peace framework. However, its expanded mandate to promote "global peace" and elements of its charter, including provisions allowing Trump to serve indefinitely as chairman, raised legal and political concerns in several EU capitals.

- ANI
A major poll in South Korea shows overwhelming concern among teenagers and adults about the misuse of AI for online abuse, including deepfakes. The survey found nearly 90% of teens recognize the seriousness of AI-driven cyber violence. While teen exposure to cyber abuse slightly decreased, adult exposure saw an increase. The head of the media commission emphasized the harm to human dignity and pledged government efforts to promote healthier digital platform use.

A South Korean poll reveals over 80% of teens and adults are seriously concerned about AI-driven online abuse like deepfakes and disinformation.

Seoul, March 30 More than 80 per cent of South Korea's teenagers and adults expressed concerns over online abuse involving the misuse of generative artificial intelligence tools, such as the creation of deepfake videos and disinformation, a poll showed on Monday.

According to the poll conducted from September to November last year on teenagers and adults by the Korea Media and Communications Commission (KMCC), 89.4 per cent of teenagers said they recognise the seriousness of AI-driven cyber violence, while 87.6 per cent of adults said the same.

The survey was conducted on 9,296 students from fourth-grade elementary school to third-year high school, and 7,521 adults aged 19 to 69.

Teenage respondents cited the ease of creating content with AI tools as their top concern, while adults expressed fears over the potential for repeated harm from AI-generated materials.

The poll additionally showed 42.3 per cent of teenagers experienced some form of cyber abuse in 2025, down 0.5 percentage point from a year earlier. The figure for adults came to 15.8 per cent, up 2.3 percentage points over the same period.

By channel, teenagers said they were mainly exposed to cyber abuse via text messages and online gaming platforms, while adults reported similar experiences primarily through text messages or social media.

For both teenagers and adults, strangers accounted for the largest share of abusers, followed by friends, Yonhap news agency reported.

"Cyber abuse is not just an ethical issue online, but an issue that can harm people's dignity and violate the right to happiness as guaranteed by the Constitution," said KMCC Chair Kim Jong-cheol, noting the government will make efforts to promote the healthy use of digital platforms.

Online abuse is the harmful targeting of individuals or groups via digital platforms, including social media, messaging apps, and gaming sites. It includes cyberbullying, doxing, non-consensual sharing of intimate images, hate speech, stalking, and AI-driven deepfake abuse. Such behaviour causes severe psychological, social, and economic damage.

- IANS
Pakistan is attempting to position itself as a mediator in the West Asia conflict, but a report suggests this stems from strategic pressures rather than diplomatic strength. Key drivers include a mutual defense pact with Saudi Arabia that could force Pakistan into the war and internal sensitivities within its Shia population. The country's economic reliance on external aid and instability along its border with Iran further compel this diplomatic outreach. However, its credibility is undermined by continued military operations in Afghanistan and alignment with US objectives.

Report reveals Pakistan's push to mediate West Asia conflict stems from defense pacts, internal divides, economic vulnerability, and border instability.

Islamabad, March 30 Amid the ongoing conflict in West Asia, Pakistan is actively seeking to project itself as a mediator, a reflection of the pressures and constraints it faces, both external and internal, according to a report.

A meeting was recently held in Islamabad, which witnessed the participation of Turkey, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia. However, the actual parties to the conflict - Israel, the US, and Iran were not part of the meeting. This portrayal of Pakistan as a potential mediator must be seen in the broader strategic context, according to a report in Hong Kong-based Asia Times.

The US initially expected the war to be short and decisive; however, it has turned out to be far more complex and prolonged. Iran has targeted military installations, commercial and energy interests. Energy prices have increased as the Strait of Hormuz has been blocked and global oil supplies have been disrupted.

In such a scenario, the US and its allies seem to find an exit, concerned about being drawn into another prolonged war in the region. Several Gulf nations cannot play the role of mediator, as countries like Qatar, Oman, and Bahrain are parties to the conflict since Iran has carried out missile and drone strikes targeting their territory. This makes them active stakeholders instead of neutral actors.

"It is within this context that Pakistan is being brought in and projected as a mediator. The question is: why Pakistan? The answer lies not in Pakistan's growing independent global stature but in a combination of strategic convenience and Pakistan's own compulsions," Imran Khurshid mentioned in the report.

First, Pakistan recently signed a mutual defence agreement with Saudi Arabia, which includes a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO)-like clause under which an attack on one of the nations is considered an attack on both. If the war continues, Pakistan might have to enter the war on Saudi Arabia's side, creating urgency for Islamabad to stop escalation. Second, internal dynamics of Pakistan are sensitive as several segments of its population, especially the Shia community, sympathise with Iran. Protests erupted across Pakistan following the killing of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Third, Pakistan shares a border with Iran, and any instability on the Iranian side could increase insurgency challenges for Pakistan, according to the Asia Times report. Fourth, Pakistan's economic vulnerability as a country is heavily reliant on external financial assistance, including International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailouts and support from Gulf nations.

"Taken together, these factors explain why Pakistan is actively seeking to position itself as a mediator - a reflection of the pressures and constraints it faces, both external and internal. The broader narrative of Pakistan's growing role in global diplomacy, therefore, needs to be treated with caution. Visibility does not automatically translate into influence. Being in the limelight during a crisis is not the same as possessing sustained diplomatic weight or independent strategic agency. One should not forget that Pakistan has often functioned as a close though subordinate ally of the US in pursuing regional objectives. Any assessment of its role must take this into account, as Pakistan has frequently operated within externally shaped frameworks - from Afghanistan to the broader West Asian landscape," Khurshid noted.

"These current mediation efforts illustrate this dynamic. Tweets by Pakistani leaders, including Prime Minister (Shebaz) Sharif and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, are being actively shared by Donald Trump on his Truth Social account - a relatively rare occurrence - signaling alignment with US objectives. At the same time, while Pakistan speaks of mediation, it has not halted its military operations in Afghanistan, raising questions about its credibility. Recent strikes that reportedly hit civilian infrastructure, including hospitals, have resulted in more than 400 deaths, further complicating its claim to impartial mediation," he added.

- IANS
The Press Council of India has advised print media to strictly follow its journalistic norms and election reporting guidelines during the upcoming Assembly elections. It emphasized objective coverage, prohibiting paid news, communal narratives, and unverified allegations against candidates. Newspapers are directed to avoid canvassing for parties and publishing government ads that highlight ruling party achievements. The PCI reiterated the need for balanced reporting to ensure fair electoral coverage.

Press Council of India advises print media to follow ethical norms, avoid paid news, and ensure balanced coverage for upcoming Assembly elections.

New Delhi, March 30 The Press Council of India on Monday advised the print media to adhere to its guidelines on election reporting and the Norms of Journalistic Conduct, 2022, particularly with regard to paid news, during the upcoming Assembly elections.

Assembly elections are scheduled to be held in Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Puducherry in April, along with bye-elections to eight Assembly constituencies across Goa, Gujarat, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Nagaland and Tripura.

In an official statement, the PCI asked newspapers to comply with the 'Guidelines on Specific Issues' relating to election reporting issued in 1996, as included in Part B of the Norms of Journalistic Conduct, 2022 edition.

The Council emphasised that the Press must provide objective and balanced coverage of elections and candidates, and avoid indulging in exaggerated or biased reporting.

It cautioned against promoting communal or caste-based narratives, stating that such reporting is prohibited under election rules.

The PCI also directed newspapers to refrain from publishing unverified allegations or false statements about candidates, particularly those that could affect their electoral prospects.

Media organisations have been advised not to accept any inducements, financial or otherwise, or hospitality from candidates or political parties.

Further, the Press has been asked to avoid canvassing for any candidate or party. In cases where support is expressed, equal opportunity must be provided to opposing candidates or parties to respond.

The Council also barred the publication of government-funded advertisements highlighting the achievements of the ruling party during the election period.

The PCI instructed newspapers to strictly follow all directions issued by the Election Commission of India and other election authorities.

On the issue of paid news, the Council reiterated norms laid down in its July 2010 report.

The PCI warned against misquoting leaders, publishing caste-based voter lists, carrying identical political content across publications, and presenting news or photographs in a manner favouring a particular candidate or party.

It also flagged as paid news any premature projection of a candidate's victory, publication of unverified survey results, or one-sided portrayal of candidates, highlighting only positive or negative aspects without basis.

The Council stressed the need for balanced reporting, noting that newspapers may carry honest assessments of electoral prospects, provided there is no evidence of consideration influencing such content.

The PCI has urged the print media to strictly adhere to these guidelines to ensure fair and ethical election coverage.

- IANS
A Public Interest Litigation has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking the establishment of a dedicated Revenue Judicial Service Cadre to adjudicate land disputes across India. The petition, filed by advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay, argues the current system, where revenue officers without formal legal training decide cases, leads to arbitrary and inconsistent rulings. It contends this violates constitutional rights to equality and justice while undermining judicial independence. The PIL calls for a uniform national framework with legally qualified, judicially trained officers to ensure fair and efficient resolution of property disputes.

Supreme Court PIL seeks a dedicated judicial cadre for land dispute resolution, citing constitutional violations and inefficiency in the current system.

New Delhi, March 30 A Public Interest Litigation has been filed before the Supreme Court seeking the establishment of a dedicated Revenue Judicial Service Cadre for adjudication of land disputes across India.

The petition, filed by advocate and social activist Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay, calls for structural reforms in the existing system of land dispute resolution.

The plea primarily urges the apex court to direct the Centre and State governments to constitute a specialised judicial cadre to handle disputes relating to title, succession, inheritance, possession and other property rights.

It relies on the Allahabad High Court's judgment in Chandra Bhan vs Deputy Director of Consolidation (2005), which had recommended the creation of such a framework.

The petitioner has further sought directions to prescribe minimum legal qualifications and a comprehensive judicial training module, in consultation with the High Courts, for officers adjudicating land disputes.

In addition, the petition seeks a declaration that adjudication of property rights by public servants lacking formal legal education and judicial training is legally impermissible. It also prays that such adjudication be placed under the supervision and monitoring of the respective High Courts to ensure consistency, independence and adherence to legal principles.

The petitioner has contended that land disputes constitute a substantial portion of civil litigation in India, yet they are currently decided by revenue and consolidation officers who often do not possess formal legal education.

As per the plea, this results in inconsistent, arbitrary and legally unsustainable decisions, which in turn lead to prolonged litigation, repeated appeals and an increased burden on the judiciary.

Highlighting the constitutional dimensions, the petition argues that the existing system violates Article 14 by permitting arbitrary and unequal decision-making, as similarly placed litigants may receive different outcomes depending on the legal understanding of the officer.

It further contends that the lack of legal expertise and procedural fairness in adjudication undermines Article 21, which guarantees fair and effective access to justice.

The plea also raises concerns regarding the separation of powers under Article 50, stating that entrusting judicial functions to executive officers--who remain subject to administrative control, transfers and disciplinary mechanisms compromises judicial independence. It argues that such a framework creates a risk of external influence, local pressure and institutional bias in decision-making.

Further, the petitioner has pointed out practical difficulties in the current system, including a lack of continuity due to frequent transfers of officers, the absence of consistent legal training, and the dual role of revenue officials who perform both administrative and adjudicatory functions.

These factors, the plea states, adversely affect the quality, consistency and timeliness of decisions in land disputes, many of which directly impact livelihood and economic stability.

The petition also notes that despite the Allahabad High Court's 2005 ruling recognising the need for legally trained adjudicators in such matters, the directions have not been implemented uniformly across the country.

It argues that since land disputes across states involve similar legal questions, a uniform national framework is necessary to ensure consistency, predictability and equal protection of laws.

Through this PIL, the petitioner has sought comprehensive reforms to ensure that adjudication of land disputes is carried out by legally qualified and judicially trained professionals within an independent framework, thereby strengthening the rule of law and improving access to justice for citizens.

- ANI
Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal emphasized the need for a balanced World Trade Organization that addresses the needs of developing countries during the WTO Ministerial Conference in Cameroon. He held discussions with WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and conducted several key bilateral meetings on the sidelines. Goyal reviewed progress on the India-EU Free Trade Agreement with EU Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic and discussed expediting negotiations for the India-Canada Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement. He also met with UK Business Secretary Peter J. Kyle to review the implementation of the India-UK Comprehensive Economic Trade Agreement.

Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal emphasizes WTO reforms for developing nations and reviews FTA progress with EU, Canada, and UK at Cameroon conference.

New Delhi, March 30 Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has emphasised the importance of a balanced and responsive World Trade Organization that effectively addresses the needs and aspirations of all members, particularly developing countries and Least Developed Countries.

Goyal had valuable discussions with Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director-General of the WTO, as part of engagements at the 14th WTO Ministerial Conference (MC14) held in Yaounde, Cameroon.

"Acknowledged her continued efforts in building consensus for a successful MC14," Goyal said in a post on X.

He also congratulated Prime Minister Joseph Dion Ngute and Trade Minister Luc Magloire Mbarga Atangana for the successful hosting of the 14th WTO Ministerial Conference in Cameroon.

"I am carrying back with me beautiful memories of the warm hospitality of the Cameroonian people, their wonderful culture, and the picturesque landscapes," the minister said.

On the sidelines of the conference, Goyal held a bilateral meeting with EU Trade Commissioner, Maros Sefcovic.

Both sides exchanged views on MC-14 agenda, reviewed progress of the work underway on the signing of the recently concluded India-EU FTA as well as explored options for further enhancing bilateral trade and economic cooperation, according to an official statement.

Goyal and Sefcovic agreed on the necessity of WTO reforms. They also exchanged views on the issue of moratorium on customs duties on electronic transmission as well as incorporation of the Investment Facilitation for Development Agreement.

Goyal also held a bilateral meeting with Maninder Sidhu, Minister of International Trade of Canada. The discussion focused on expediting the recently launched India-Canada CEPA negotiations.

Outside the FTA framework, both sides also agreed to develop a diversified sectoral engagement strategy and expand cooperation in shipbuilding, pharmaceuticals, tourism, and the education sector.

Sidhu extended a warm welcome to Goyal for his upcoming visit to Canada in May 2026, leading a major Indian business delegation.

Goyal also held a bilateral meeting with the UK Secretary of State for Business and Trade, Peter J. Kyle.

Both sides exchanged views on MC-14 agenda and reviewed progress of the implementation of the India-UK CETA signed in July 2025 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

- IANS
Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a phone conversation with his Dutch counterpart, Rob Jetten, focusing on the security situation in West Asia and the imperative for early peace. The leaders explored avenues to deepen the bilateral partnership, highlighting potential in semiconductors, green hydrogen, and mega water projects. They welcomed the concluded India-EU Free Trade Agreement as a foundation for a broader strategic partnership encompassing defence and innovation. The discussion builds on recent agreements, including on maritime heritage, underscoring the dynamic and expanding cooperation between the two nations.

PM Modi & Netherlands' Rob Jetten discuss restoring West Asia stability, expanding partnership in semiconductors, green hydrogen, and maritime heritage.

New Delhi, March 30 Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday held a telephonic conversation with the Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Rob Jetten, discussing the security situation in West Asia and underlined the need for early restoration of peace and stability in the region.

During the conversation, they also discussed ways to further deepen ties between New Delhi and Amsterdam. Significantly, PM Jetten said that he is looking forward to welcoming PM Modi to the Netherlands soon so the two countries can make further progress on these themes.

In a post on X, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the leaders highlighted the potential of partnership in areas such as semiconductors, mega water projects, green hydrogen and talent mobility.

"Also exchanged views on the situation in West Asia and emphasised the need for early restoration of peace and stability in the region", PM Modi added.

Underlining the strength of the relationship, Dutch PM Rob Jetten recalled the India-EU Free Trade Agreement concluded earlier this year and said that India and the Netherlands are forging a strategic partnership that includes defence, water management, innovation and trade.

"With everything going on in the world at the moment, now is the time to strengthen our cooperation. Prime Minister @narendramodi of India and I discussed this in an introductory phone conversation today", the post added.

India and the Netherlands have been cooperating across several fronts.

Earlier in March, the Netherlands' Ambassador for International Cultural Cooperation, Dewi van de Weerd, told ANI how India and the Netherlands have a dynamic relationship, with people from the creative, cultural sector and heritage experts doing projects together.

Recently, the two countries signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to strengthen cooperation on maritime heritage, marking a significant step toward developing the National Maritime Heritage Complex (NMHC) at Lothal, Gujarat.

Before this, India and the Netherlands agreed to establish a Joint Trade and Investment Committee and signed key Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) to deepen cooperation in emerging and strategic sectors during the visit of the Netherlands Foreign Minister David van Weel here.

According to a Ministry of External Affairs release, during the delegation-level talks on December 19, the two sides welcomed the decision to establish a Joint Trade and Investment Committee to deepen economic cooperation, address trade facilitation issues, and promote bilateral investment.

Dutch Foreign Minister David van Weel observed that India and the Netherlands are closely aligned in outlook and approach despite differences in geographical size, stressing the need for deeper cooperation at a time of shifting global geopolitics.

Speaking during a meeting with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar in New Delhi, van Weel highlighted shared values between the two countries and the importance of standing together.

- ANI
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will undertake a two-day campaign tour to Chennai and Puducherry on April 3 and 4. His schedule includes a major public rally in Puducherry and a closed-door strategy meeting with party workers in Chennai. The visit aims to mobilise support for NDA candidates ahead of the Assembly elections in both regions. Security agencies have begun extensive preparations for the high-profile tour, which is seen as a crucial final push for the BJP-led alliance.

PM Narendra Modi will campaign in Chennai & Puducherry on April 3-4 with rallies and meetings ahead of the Tamil Nadu and Puducherry Assembly elections.

Chennai, March 30 Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to intensify the National Democratic Alliance's campaign in the South with a two-day visit to Chennai and Puducherry on April 3 and 4, in the run-up to the Assembly elections scheduled in Tamil Nadu and the Union Territory.

According to sources, the Prime Minister will arrive at Chennai International Airport on the afternoon of April 3. Soon after landing, he is expected to proceed directly to Puducherry, where he will address a major public rally in the evening.

The meeting is aimed at mobilising support for candidates of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its alliance partners ahead of the April 9 polling in Puducherry.

Following the public event, PM Modi will return to Chennai later that night. Security agencies and local police have begun extensive preparations for the high-profile visit, with the Greater Chennai City Police putting in place elaborate security and other related arrangements across key locations.

Multiple layers of security, traffic diversions, and restrictions are expected to be enforced to ensure smooth movement and public safety during the Prime Minister's engagements.

On April 4, the Prime Minister is scheduled to hold an interaction with around 100 party functionaries, grassroots organisers, and key stakeholders in Chennai.

The closed-door meeting is expected to focus on strengthening booth-level mobilisation and fine-tuning campaign strategies as the April 23 polling date in Tamil Nadu approaches.

Later in the day, PM Modi will take part in an election campaign in support of the NDA candidate in Mylapore, one of Chennai's politically significant constituencies.

Party sources indicated that a roadshow is also being planned, with areas such as T. Nagar under consideration, although the final route is yet to be officially confirmed.

The visit is being viewed as a crucial push by the BJP leadership to consolidate its presence in Tamil Nadu, where it is contesting as part of a broader alliance, while also reinforcing its campaign in Puducherry. With both regions heading into tightly contested elections, the Prime Minister's tour is expected to energise party cadres and boost the NDA's visibility in the final stretch of campaigning.

- IANS
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate a major Rs 3,300 crore semiconductor plant in Sanand, Gujarat, operated by Kaynes Semicon. The facility is set to produce over 700,000 chips daily, marking India's second such plant in a growing domestic ecosystem. This initiative, born from a resolve during the COVID-19 pandemic supply disruptions, aims to position India as a global hub for semiconductor manufacturing. The project is expected to generate significant employment and strengthen the entire electronics manufacturing value chain in the country.

PM Modi inaugurates a Rs 3,300 crore semiconductor plant in Gujarat, boosting India's domestic chip manufacturing and electronics ecosystem.

Gandhinagar, March 30 Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate a Rs 3,300 crore Kaynes Semicon plant in Sanand, Gujarat on Tuesday marking a significant step in India's efforts to build a domestic semiconductor manufacturing ecosystem, Gujarat's Science and Technology Minister Arjun Modhwadia said on Monday.

Speaking to ANI, Modhwadia said, "In the semiconductor manufacturing chain, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will tomorrow inaugurate a Rs 3,300 crore Kaynes Semicon plant in Sanand. This will be the second plant in the series, and the facility will manufacture more than 7 lakh chips per day."

He added that the project represents India's entry into a new technological era and reflects the Prime Minister's approach of converting challenges into opportunities.

"With this second unit, we are entering the era of this futuristic industry. The USP of the Prime Minister has been his ability to turn challenges into opportunities," Modhwadia told ANI.

Referring to the disruptions during the COVID-19 pandemic, the minister said, "During the COVID period, semiconductor manufacturing across the world had come to a halt. At that time, the Prime Minister resolved that India should become a hub for semiconductor manufacturing, and today 10 such units are being set up in the country."

According to Modhwadia, Gujarat has emerged as a key hub for these investments, with several projects concentrated in Sanand.

"Out of these 10 units, four units worth Rs 1.24 lakh crore are being built in Gujarat, and three of them are coming up in Sanand," he said.

The minister said the developments would strengthen India's position in the global semiconductor ecosystem while boosting domestic electronics manufacturing.

"Because of this, India will take a leading role globally in this futuristic industry. Not only that, semiconductors -- the most important part of the electronics manufacturing chain -- will begin to be produced domestically," he said.

He also noted that the growth of the semiconductor sector would create large employment opportunities and support related industries.

"In the coming years, we will move ahead with forward and backward integration of related industries, and it will generate employment for lakhs of young people," Modhwadia said.

Highlighting the long-term vision, he said the semiconductor and electronics component sectors would play a key role in India's development goals.

"As we move towards the vision of Viksit Bharat 2047, the semiconductor and electronics component manufacturing industries will play a crucial role, and India will be able to emerge as a leader in these sectors," he added.

- ANI
Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid tribute to freedom fighter Shyamji Krishna Varma on his death anniversary, highlighting his revolutionary ideas that awakened consciousness in the independence movement. Union Minister Nitin Gadkari also honored Varma, calling him an inspiration for many revolutionaries. Shyamji Krishna Varma was a key figure known for establishing the Indian Home Rule Society and India House in London to foster nationalist thought. He also founded 'The Indian Sociologist' journal and influenced prominent figures like Vinayak Damodar Savarkar.

PM Narendra Modi and Nitin Gadkari honor Shyamji Krishna Varma, a key revolutionary in India's freedom struggle, on his death anniversary.

New Delhi, March 30 Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday paid homage to freedom fighter Shyamji Krishna Varma on his death anniversary, remembering his immense contribution to India's independence movement and his lasting legacy of courage and patriotism.

In a post on X, the Prime Minister said, "Homage to the brave son of Mother India, Shyamji Krishna Varma, on his death anniversary. With his revolutionary ideas, he awakened a new consciousness in the freedom movement. His life and ideals will continue to inspire every generation of the country towards national service."

He further added, "From the life of the great freedom fighter Shyamji Krishna Varma, we receive an extraordinary inspiration of courage and determination. It also instils in the countrymen the sentiment of fulfilling their duties toward the nation."

PM Modi also shared a Sanskrit verse: "Bright and glorious fame, which dazzles the mind with the description of extraordinary feats, is attained only by embracing courage." (loosely translated from Sanskrit)

Union Minister Nitin Gadkari also paid tribute to the revolutionary leader. In his post on X, he said, "Through revolutionary activities, the great revolutionary Shyamji Krishna Varma ji, who energised the resolve for India's independence, was an inspiration for many revolutionaries. On his remembrance day, humble salutations to him."

Shyamji Krishna Varma is remembered as a key figure in India's freedom struggle, known for his intellectual leadership and efforts to inspire nationalist thought among Indians, particularly those living abroad.

He was an Indian revolutionary, patriot, lawyer, and journalist, born on October 4, 1857, in Mandvi, Gujarat. During his time in London, he established the Indian Home Rule Society in 1905, with the aim of encouraging young Indians to actively participate in revolutionary activities against British rule.

Varma also founded India House, which served as a hostel and a hub for Indian students in London, many of whom later became prominent figures in the independence movement. In addition, he launched 'The Indian Sociologist', a journal intended to promote nationalist ideas and motivate youth toward the cause of freedom.

He served as the first president of the Bombay Arya Samaj and is known to have influenced prominent revolutionaries such as Vinayak Damodar Savarkar.

- IANS
Arunachal Pradesh Governor Lt Gen K.T. Parnaik stated that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Ek Bharat, Shreshtha Bharat' initiative has successfully strengthened the nation's cultural and regional bonds. He made these remarks during Rajasthan Diwas celebrations in Itanagar, where he highlighted Rajasthan's strengths and encouraged support for Arunachal's growth through tourism. The Governor also called for public participation in waste management and combating social issues like drug abuse and tuberculosis to achieve a developed India. Simultaneously, Meghalaya celebrated the foundation days of Bihar, Rajasthan, and Odisha in Shillong, with Governor C.H. Vijayashankar praising their rich heritage.

Arunachal Governor praises PM Modi's Ek Bharat initiative for boosting cultural unity and tourism, urging action on waste and drug abuse.

Itanagar/Shillong, March 30 Arunachal Pradesh Governor Lt Gen K.T. Parnaik on Monday said that PM Modi's 'Ek Bharat, Shreshtha Bharat' initiative has strengthened cultural, traditional, and regional bonds across the country.

Addressing Rajasthan Diwas celebrations at Lok Bhavan in Itanagar, the Governor highlighted Rajasthan's strengths in tourism, entrepreneurship, and its courteous social values. He encouraged the community to continue supporting Arunachal Pradesh's growth, particularly by promoting tourism and contributing to socio-economic development.

He also urged citizens to actively participate in waste management initiatives and join efforts to combat social challenges such as drug abuse and health issues, especially tuberculosis. Emphasising the importance of collective responsibility, he said such efforts are vital to achieving the vision of a Viksit Bharat.

Lt Gen Parnaik expressed satisfaction that the youth, particularly students, are increasingly learning about and appreciating the cultural diversity of different states.

First Lady Anagha Parnaik and members of the Rajasthani community residing in Arunachal Pradesh participated in the celebrations. The Governor appreciated the community for its valuable contributions to the state's development and commended its spirit of valour, patriotism, and commitment to preserving rich cultural traditions.

Students from the Donyi Polo Mission School for Hearing and Visually Impaired in Chimpu attended as special guests and presented a patriotic dance performance.

The programme also featured vibrant cultural performances showcasing Rajasthan's artistic heritage, including 'Rajasthan Ro Bakhan', 'Kesaria Banda Gher Ghoomar', and traditional folk dances such as 'Ghoomar', 'Chari', and 'Kathputli'. Members of the Rajasthani community, including senior bureaucrats and entrepreneurs, participated enthusiastically.

The Governor, who has been associated with the Rajputana Rifles regiment of the Indian Army, also hosted a high tea and interacted with guests. As part of the cultural exchange, traditional delicacies such as 'Lapshi' and 'Moti Pak' were served.

Meanwhile, in Meghalaya, Lok Bhavan in Shillong celebrated the Foundation Day of Bihar, Rajasthan, and Odisha with a special programme held at the Durbar Hall. The event was attended by government officials, students, distinguished citizens, and invited guests.

The celebrations featured cultural performances, including traditional dances from the three states. Addressing the gathering, Meghalaya Governor C.H. Vijayashankar extended greetings to the people of Bihar, Rajasthan, and Odisha and highlighted their rich historical, cultural, and religious heritage.

He also commended the participating artists for their dedication, noting that their performances reflected not only individual commitment but also the cultural identity of their respective states.

- IANS
The Pattali Makkal Katchi has announced its candidates for the remaining 15 of its 18 allotted seats in the AIADMK-led NDA for the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections. Key nominations include Sowmiya Anbumani contesting from Dharmapuri and a high-stakes battle in Perambur where PMK's candidate faces TVK leader Vijay. The party has also strategically shifted sitting MLAs and set up a notable contest against VCK leader Thol. Thirumavalavan in Kattumannarkoil. With these announcements, the PMK has finalized its candidate list for a competitive electoral battle.

PMK completes candidate list for AIADMK-led NDA, fields Sowmiya Anbumani from Dharmapuri and sets up key contests against Vijay, Thol. Thirumavalavan.

Chennai, March 30 The Pattali Makkal Katchi, led by Anbumani Ramadoss, has announced its candidates for the remaining 15 constituencies allotted to it as part of the AIADMK-led National Democratic Alliance for the upcoming Tamil Nadu Assembly elections.

The party had been allotted 18 seats in the alliance, of which candidates for three constituencies had already been declared. Among the announcements, Sowmiya Anbumani, wife of PMK President Anbumani Ramadoss, will contest from the Dharmapuri constituency, underlining the party's focus on key strongholds.

In Chennai's Perambur constituency, PMK treasurer Thilagavathy will be the party's candidate. The constituency is expected to witness a high-profile contest, as Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) leader Vijay is also in the fray from the same seat.

In a notable political development, Anbu Cholan - who had reportedly declined to contest - has been fielded from the Tiruporur constituency. He will face advocate K. Balu.

Meanwhile, in the reserved Kattumannarkoil constituency, PMK has nominated its candidate against VCK leader Thol. Thirumavalavan, setting the stage for a keenly-watched contest.

The party has also made strategic changes in sitting constituencies. Mailam MLA Sivakumar has been shifted to contest from Vikravandi, while former AIADMK minister and Rajya Sabha MP, C.V. Shanmugam, will contest from Mailam.

Similarly, Mettur MLA, C. Sadasivam, has been fielded from Salem North, indicating a reshuffle aimed at strengthening the party's prospects.

In other key constituencies, Dr. Tamilarasi Adhiyaman, State Secretary of the Pattali Mahila Sangam, will contest from Vridhachalam, while former MLA Karthi has been nominated from Salem West.

Party State Vice-President Padi Selvam will contest from Pennagaram, C.R. Bhaskaran from Polur, and Joint General Secretary Vaithi from Jayankondam.

Additionally, advocate K. Saravanan has been fielded from Sholingur, Siddhamalli Palaniswami from Mayiladuthurai, P. Maheshkumar from Uthiramerur, and A.P. Chezhiyan from Rishivandiyam.

With these announcements, the PMK has completed its candidate list for all 18 constituencies, signalling its readiness for a competitive electoral battle within the NDA alliance in Tamil Nadu.

- IANS
President Droupadi Murmu extended warm greetings to the nation, especially the Jain community, on the eve of Mahavir Jayanti. She highlighted Bhagwan Mahavir's five core principles: Ahimsa, Satya, Asteya, Brahmacharya, and Aparigraha, as guides for a righteous life. The President stated that Mahavir raised his voice against societal evils and his teachings remain eternally relevant. She urged citizens to adopt these principles to make life meaningful and contribute to national progress.

President Droupadi Murmu extends Mahavir Jayanti greetings, urging citizens to adopt Bhagwan Mahavir's principles of Ahimsa, Satya for a better society.

New Delhi, March 30 President Droupadi Murmu on Monday extended greetings to fellow citizens, especially the Jain community, on the eve of Mahavir Jayant.

In her message, the President said Bhagwan Mahavir's five principles -- Ahimsa (non-violence), Satya (truth), Asteya (non-stealing), Brahmacharya (self-control), and Aparigraha (non-possessiveness) -- inspire people to walk on the right path in life.

"On the auspicious occasion of Mahavir Jayanti, I extend my greetings and best wishes to all fellow citizens, especially the Jain brothers and sisters. By adopting these principles, we can make our lives meaningful and bring positive change in the society. Bhagwan Mahavir raised his voice against the evils prevailing in society and showed the way to a better life. His teachings will always remain relevant," the President said.

She also urged citizens to pledge to adopt Bhagwan Mahavir's teachings in their lives and strive continuously for the progress of the nation.

- ANI
Rajasthan Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharma interacted with villagers at a tea stall after attending a public session of PM Modi's 'Mann Ki Baat'. He praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership, calling it a "protective shield" for the country amidst global challenges. The CM specifically welcomed the central government's decision to slash excise duty on petrol and diesel, stating it would provide economic strength to millions of families. This policy move is set against the backdrop of escalating tensions in West Asia affecting global oil supplies.

CM Bhajanlal Sharma lauds PM Modi's leadership as a "protective shield," welcoming excise duty cuts on petrol and diesel to aid families.

Jaipur, March 30 Rajasthan Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharma interacted with residents of Heerawala village at a tea stall while returning from a programme he attended in Jamwa Ramgarh.

The Chief Minister attended Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Mann Ki Baat' session with the public and BJP workers in Jamwa Ramgarh.

On Friday, Rajasthan Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharma lauded Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership, calling it a "protective shield for the country", and welcomed the government's move to slash central excise duty on petrol and diesel, saying it will strengthen millions of families and protect them from global uncertainties.

In an X post, the Rajasthan Chief Minister said, "In this era of global challenges, the leadership of the Honorable Prime Minister Shri @narendramodi ji is proving to be a protective shield for the country. The decision to reduce the central excise duty on petrol from 13 to 3 per liter and on diesel from 10 to zero is highly commendable."

"This sensitive step will provide economic strength to millions of families across the country. At the same time, they will remain free from the uncertainties of global fluctuations. My appeal is that all citizens stay away from rumors and unite to contribute to the progress of the state and the nation," he added.

Bhajanlal's remarks come after the Central government reduced excise duty on petrol to Rs 3 per litre and brought it down to zero for diesel, as per a Gazette notification issued under the provisions of the Central Excise Act, 1944. Additionally, a windfall tax of Rs 21.5 per litre has been imposed on diesel exports.

The decision follows escalating tensions in West Asia, particularly the ongoing conflict involving the United States, Israel, and Iran, which has led to a blockade of the Strait of Hormuz--a crucial route that handles nearly one-fifth of the world's crude oil supply. Before the crisis, India sourced around 12-15% of its oil imports through this route.

- ANI
Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense detected Chinese military aircraft and naval vessels operating around its territory, with one sortie crossing the median line into its southwestern and southeastern air defense identification zone. This follows a larger incursion the previous day involving 19 aircraft sorties. The incident underscores the ongoing tensions in the Taiwan Strait, rooted in China's historical claim that Taiwan is an inalienable part of its territory. Taiwan operates as a de facto independent state but avoids a formal declaration of independence to prevent military conflict with Beijing.

Taiwan's defense ministry reports Chinese aircraft and naval vessels operating near its territory, crossing median lines into its air defense identification zone.

Taipei, March 30 Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense detected the presence of a sortie of Chinese military aircraft, nine naval vessels and an official ship operating around its territorial waters as of 6am on Monday.

The sortie crossed the median line and entered Taiwan's southwestern and southeastern part ADIZ.

In a post on X, the MND said, "1 sorties of PLA aircraft, 9 PLAN vessels and 1 official ship operating around Taiwan were detected up until 6 a.m. (UTC+8) today. 1 out of 1 sorties crossed the median line and entered Taiwan's southwestern and southeastern part ADIZ. ROC Armed Forces have monitored the situation and responded."

Earlier on Sunday, Taiwan's MND detected the presence of 19 sorties of Chinese military aircraft, nine naval vessels and two official ships operating around its territorial waters.

Of the 19, 13 sorties crossed the median line and entered Taiwan's northern, central, southwestern and eastern part ADIZ.

In a post on X, the MND said, "19 sorties of PLA aircraft, 9 PLAN vessels and 2 official ships operating around Taiwan were detected up until 6 a.m. (UTC+8) today. 13 out of 19 sorties crossed the median line and entered Taiwan's northern, central, southwestern and eastern part ADIZ. ROC Armed Forces have monitored the situation and responded."

China's claim over Taiwan is a complex issue rooted in historical, political, and legal arguments. Beijing asserts that Taiwan is an inseparable part of China, a viewpoint embedded in national policy and upheld by domestic laws and international statements.

Taiwan, however, maintains a distinct identity, functioning independently with its own government, military, and economy. Taiwan's status remains a significant point of international debate, testing the principles of sovereignty, self-determination, and non-interference in international law, as per the United Service Institution of India.

China's claim to Taiwan originates from the Qing Dynasty's annexation of the island in 1683 after defeating Ming loyalist Koxinga.

However, Taiwan remained a peripheral region under limited Qing control. The key shift came in 1895, when the Qing ceded Taiwan to Japan after the First Sino-Japanese War, marking Taiwan as a Japanese colony for 50 years. After Japan's defeat in World War II, Taiwan was returned to Chinese control, but the sovereignty transfer was not formalised.

In 1949, the Chinese Civil War resulted in the establishment of the People's Republic of China (PRC) on the mainland, while the Republic of China (ROC) retreated to Taiwan, asserting its claim to govern all of China. This led to dual sovereignty claims: the PRC over the mainland and the ROC over Taiwan. Taiwan has operated as a de facto independent state but has avoided declaring formal independence to prevent military conflict with the PRC, United Service Institution of India.

- ANI
The Telangana Legislative Assembly unanimously passed a resolution urging the Central Government to take the initiative to stop the war in the Middle East. The resolution warns that the ongoing conflict between the US, Israel, and Iran could escalate into a Third World War, threatening humanity's survival. It details the economic devastation and supply chain disruptions caused by the war, noting the deaths of nearly 4,000 innocent people. The House emphasized the severe impact on Asian countries, including India, and called for immediate action to establish global peace.

Telangana Assembly passes resolution warning of World War III risk, urges Indian government to initiate peace in the Middle East conflict.

Hyderabad, March 30 The Telangana Legislative Assembly on Monday unanimously passed a resolution, urging the Centre to take the initiative to stop the war in the Middle East.

The resolution warns that if the war between the US, Israel, and Iran continues, this could lead to a third World War, posing a serious threat to the very survival of humanity.

Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka introduced the resolution, which was passed by a voice vote.

The resolution noted that the war in West Asia is taking multiple forms and is destabilising the global economy.

"We all know that crude oil (petrol, diesel, gas) significantly influences the economic conditions of every country. Due to the impact of this war on crude oil production and transportation, supply chains are being disrupted. The United States and Israel are carrying out attacks on Iran and Lebanon. At the same time, Iran is targeting U.S. defence bases located in the Gulf and Middle Eastern countries. These attacks involve advanced weaponry such as fighter bombers, ballistic missiles, and drones. In this large-scale destruction caused by such weapons, nearly 4,000 innocent people have lost their lives," says the resolution.

"Along with these deaths, massive economic devastation is also taking place. While the loss of lives may be confined to the respective countries, the economic destruction affects the entire world. It has become particularly dangerous for Asian countries, and India is also experiencing severe impacts," reads the resolution.

"At least now, if this war is not stopped, the future of the world will become alarming. If left unchecked, it could even lead to a Third World War, posing a serious threat to humanity's survival. Considering these extremely dangerous consequences, this House urges the Government of India to take the initiative to stop the war and to work towards establishing global peace," it added.

- IANS
BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari has predicted a 'bhagwa tsunami' ensuring the party's victory in the upcoming West Bengal assembly polls. He made the statement during a roadshow ahead of filing his nomination from both Bhabanipur and Nandigram constituencies. The election sets up a direct rematch in Bhabanipur between Adhikari and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, whom he defeated in Nandigram in 2021. The two-phase polling for the 294-member assembly is scheduled for April 23 and April 29, with vote counting on May 4.

BJP's Suvendu Adhikari predicts a saffron wave in West Bengal assembly elections, setting up a key rematch with CM Mamata Banerjee.

Purba Medinipur, March 30 The Leader of Opposition in the West Bengal Legislative Assembly and BJP candidate Suvendu Adhikari on Monday held a roadshow ahead of filing his nomination from Bhabanipur and Nandigram Assembly constituencies.

Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan was also present at the road show.

The polling for the 294-member Assembly in West Bengal will take place in two phases on April 23 and April 29, while counting of votes is scheduled for May 4.

Speaking to ANI, Adhikari said a "bhagwa tsunami" is present, predicting that the party's lotus symbol will bloom and a new government will take office in West Bengal with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's blessings.

"There is 'bhagwa tsunami'. Lotus will bloom, and a new government will come to power with PM Modi's blessings. That govt will work on Indian culture, Sanatana culture and development," Adhikari said.

Adhikari is contesting the two-phase West Bengal assembly polls on Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ticket from Bhabanipur and Nandigram constituencies.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee lost the Nandigram seat in the 2021 assembly elections against Adhikari, but later secured victory in the Bhabanipur by-election against Priyanka Tibrewal.

This time, the West Bengal elections will see a face-off between Adhikari and Banerjee for the Bhabanipur seat, while Adhikari will also try to retain Nandigram.

In the last assembly election in the state, held in eight phases in 2021, the Trinamool Congress recorded a landslide victory with 213 seats amid an intense contest with the BJP, which jumped to 77 seats. Congress and Left Front drew a blank in the last state polls.

As per the Election Commission of India (ECI), the first phase covering 152 Assembly constituencies will begin with the issuance of the gazette notification on March 30. The last date for filing nominations for this phase is April 6, while scrutiny of nominations will take place on April 7. Candidates will be allowed to withdraw their nominations until April 9. Polling for the first phase will be held on April 23.

For the second phase, which covers 142 Assembly constituencies, the gazette notification will be issued on April 2. The last date for filing nominations is April 9, and the scrutiny of nominations will take place on April 10. Candidates can withdraw their nominations until April 13. Voting for this phase is scheduled for April 29.

- ANI
DMK candidate Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi hailed the party's election manifesto as a "superstar" roadmap for Tamil Nadu, focusing on welfare and education. Key pledges include doubling the monthly financial assistance for women under the Kalaignar Magalir Urimai Thogai scheme to Rs 2,000. The manifesto also promises to extend the successful Chief Minister's breakfast scheme to students up to Class 8, benefiting an additional 15 lakh children. The document is structured around six pillars targeting women, families, youth, farmers, infrastructure, and governance.

DMK manifesto pledges to double women's financial aid to Rs 2000, expand CM's breakfast scheme, and boost higher education funding ahead of TN polls.

Chennai, March 30 Tamil Nadu Minister and DMK candidate from Thiruverumbur, Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi, on Monday termed the party's election manifesto for the upcoming Assembly polls as a "superstar" roadmap for the state and stated that it.reflects the government's commitment to education, welfare, and inclusive growth.

"I am so happy. In school education, without any compromise, we will implement the two-language policy. We have already framed our state education policy, and we are always against NEP. That has been well explained in the manifesto," Poyyamozhi told ANI.

Highlighting key welfare initiatives, he welcomed the proposed enhancement of financial assistance under the Kalaignar Magalir Urimai Thittam. "I am so happy regarding Kalaignar Magalir Urimai Thittam, I think Rs 1000 is going to be raised to Rs 2000," he said.

The minister also underlined the expansion of the Chief Minister's breakfast scheme, describing it as a major success in improving student welfare. "We know about the CM's morning breakfast scheme. Almost 20 lakh students benefited because of this scheme. It has now been extended to students till class 8, and another 15 lakh students are going to benefit because of this scheme," he said.

Poyyamozhi further emphasised the party's focus on higher education and infrastructure development in the sector. "This time again, we are going to give more in the higher education side also. Another five years, we are going to spend crores for the government colleges. So, I am very happy," he said.

Confident about the manifesto's appeal, he added, "This time also, our manifesto is going to be the superstar of our party."

Thiruverumbur assembly constituency falls under Tiruchirappalli Lok Sabha constituency and will go for polling along with the rest of the state on April 23.

In the 2021 Tamil Nadu Assembly elections, Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi of DMK defeated P Kumar of AIADMK. in the previous 2016 Assembly polls too, Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi won trumping Kalaichelvan.D of the AIADMK. In the 2011 Assembly elections, S.Senthilkumar of DMDK won this seat defeating K.N.Seharan of DMK.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK President MK Stalin on Sunday unveiled the DMK's manifesto, branding it as a "Superstar Manifesto" anchored in "six steps towards progress," with a strong emphasis on women-centric welfare and social development.

Among the key announcements, the monthly financial assistance for women under the Kalaignar Magalir Urimai Thogai scheme is proposed to be doubled to Rs 2,000. The manifesto also promises expansion of healthcare coverage, increased pensions, and continued support for schemes such as free bus travel for women.

In the education sector, the government plans to extend the breakfast scheme up to Class 8, benefiting an additional 15 lakh students, while also focusing on skill development, higher education funding, and distribution of free laptops.

The manifesto outlines six major pillars--women, family, youth, farmers, infrastructure, and governance--aimed at strengthening the state's welfare framework and economic growth.

Tamil Nadu will go to the polls in a single phase on April 23, covering a total of 234 constituencies in the State. Counting of votes is scheduled for May 4.

- ANI
The 17th Tibetan Parliament-in-exile concluded its final session in Dharamshala, passing a significant budget and enacting historic legislation. The session focused on standardizing regulations for the use of the Tibetan national flag, emblem, and anthem. It also unanimously passed a resolution condemning China's ethnic unity law, rejecting it as a threat to Tibetan identity and culture. Parliamentarians emphasized the importance of these symbols for national pride and uniformity in their implementation.

The Tibetan parliament-in-exile concludes its session by standardizing national symbols and passing a resolution condemning China's ethnic unity law as "genocidal."

Dharamshala, March 31 The last session of the 17th Tibetan Parliament in exile concluded on Monday in the North Indian hill town of Dharamshala.

It was a budget session, and they passed a budget of 3475 million rupees. Apart from the budget, the exile parliament framed some historic rules regarding Tibetan national flag, national emblem and the Tibetan national anthem. The Tibetan parliament in-exile also passed important resolutions to condemn China's ethnic unity law.

Geshe Lharampa Atuk Tseten, a Tibetan parliamentarian, told ANI, "What i am carrying is a Tibetan flag, We managed to adopt a uniform regularity on Tibetan flag, Tibetan Emblem as well in this Parlaiment session. Historically, It is already been there in Tibet since 1000 years. In this session, we could legally managed to set regulations."

Lobsang Gyatso, another member of Tibetan parliament in-exile told ANI, "The session went really well so basically this is the final session of the 17th of Tibetan parliament in-exile and it was the 11th session which was also a budget session. The budget was passed, we have number of different resolutions and one of the most important resolution was the standardisation of Tibetan national flag, the Tibetan emblems and the Tibetan national song so I think those were some of the things which was standardised this time along with the usage and I think that is the very important step which was taken during the session here."

Dorjee Tseten, member of Tibetan parliament in-exile told ANI, "It was a budget session and we have approved a budget of almost 3475 million rupees as annual budget for all the operations of Tibetan government in-exile in the coming years and we have passed a very important rule in terms of standardisation of the Tibetan national flag, national anthem and the emblem of the CTA.

"Similarly, one important resolution which was tabled by the Cabinet and unanimously passed by the Parliament in exile is on the so called ethnic unity law that was passed by China, basically calling it as a genocidal law and rejecting it and it undermines the Tibetan identity and culture. So rejecting and opposing and making a statement that Tibetans both inside and outside will not accept such a genocidal in law in Tibet. There are no major changes in Tibetan national flag or emblems but it was more like making a standard usage of all the Tibetan flag, and more importantly, how Tibetan flag will be used with respect as a national flag," Tselen added further.

Dolma Gyari, home minister of Tibetan government in-exile, told ANI, "Apart from the budget, there were some important legislations also and amongst them I would also consider the guidelines that was adopted this time regarding the Tibetan national flag, Tibetan national emblem and the Tibetan national anthem are very significant. We never had a proper guideline enacted by the house so it was actually on precedent and norms that was being followed and we all know that for a nation this is a symbol of pride. So therefore to have a uniformity in its implementation that becomes important so therefore I am very happy."

"We also passed some important resolutions and the one is regarding the so called progress and the ethnic unity law that has been passed by the People's Republic of China. We strongly condemned it vide a resolution, we do not accept it and at the same time the discussion regarding this resolution was very rich. We manifested in the resolution that People's Republic of China has been using legislation or trying to legalise their criminal act. As we will recall that one of such significant document, I believe is the 17 point agreement that was imposed and forced on us to sign and they think it legitimises their invasion and occupation of Tibet. which of course his Holiness, the Dalai Lama, after coming into exile, declared it as null and void and we are no longer abide by that 17 point agreement," Gyari added further.

- ANI
The nomination process for the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections commenced on March 30, with authorities issuing strict guidelines to ensure order. Regulations limit candidates to three vehicles and allow only the candidate plus three persons to enter the Returning Officer's office. While online form submission is available, physical copies must still be submitted in person before the April 6 deadline. The elections are scheduled for April 23, with results to be declared on May 4.

Filing nominations for Tamil Nadu elections begins. Strict rules on vehicles, entry & online forms apply. Process details and key dates inside.

Chennai, March 30 The process of filing nomination papers for the upcoming Tamil Nadu Assembly elections commenced on Monday, marking a crucial phase in the electoral calendar. Election authorities have put in place detailed guidelines to ensure an orderly and transparent nomination process across constituencies.

According to officials, candidates arriving to file their nominations must strictly adhere to the prescribed regulations. Only a maximum of three vehicles will be permitted to accompany a candidate, and these vehicles must be parked at least 100 metres away from the office of the Returning Officer.

Furthermore, only the candidate and up to three accompanying individuals will be allowed to enter the office to submit the nomination papers.

While an eight-day window has been allotted for filing nominations, only four working days will be available for submission due to intervening public holidays.

Candidates have, therefore, been advised to plan accordingly to avoid last-minute complications.

In a move aimed at enhancing convenience, the Election Commission has enabled the option of submitting nomination forms online through its official website. However, authorities have clarified that candidates must still submit the completed physical copies of their nomination papers in person to the Returning Officer within the stipulated timeframe.

Officials have also emphasised the importance of accuracy while filling out nomination forms. Candidates must ensure that all details, including their names and other personal information, are correctly entered to avoid rejection during scrutiny.

For the upcoming elections, ballot units in Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) will feature a colour photograph of each candidate. To facilitate this, candidates are required to affix a recent photograph -- taken within the last three months -- along with their nomination papers.

Candidates must also submit a sworn affidavit detailing their credentials before 3 p.m. on April 6, which is the final date for filing nominations.

The scrutiny of nomination papers is scheduled to take place on April 7. Additionally, April 9 has been designated as the last date for candidates to withdraw their nominations.

The elections to the Tamil Nadu assembly are scheduled for April 23, and the results will be announced on May 4.

Election officials have stated that all necessary arrangements are in place to smoothly handle the nomination process, urging candidates to comply fully with the guidelines to ensure a hassle-free experience.

- IANS
US President Donald Trump has stated that indirect negotiations with Iran, facilitated by Pakistani intermediaries, are making positive progress. He linked this to Iran allowing Pakistani-flagged oil tankers to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, which he called a "sign of respect". However, Trump declined to share specific details about a potential ceasefire deal to reopen the critical waterway. Meanwhile, an Iranian general condemned recent military aggression against Iran in a call with Turkey's defence minister.

US President Trump claims backchannel negotiations with Iran, facilitated by Pakistan, are advancing. He cites tanker passage as a sign of respect but declines specifics.

Washington DC, March 30 US President Donald Trump has claimed that indirect negotiations between the United States and Iran, facilitated by Pakistani intermediaries, are making "positive progress", as reported by the Financial Times.

Speaking about the ongoing backchannel diplomacy, Trump said talks are underway through Pakistani "emissaries", though he declined to provide specific details when asked whether a ceasfire deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz could be reached in the coming days, as reported by the Financial Times on sunday (local time)

"We've got about 3,000 targets left -- we've bombed 13,000 targets -- and another couple of thousand targets to go," Trump said, underscoring continued military pressure. He added, "A deal could be made fairly quickly."

The US President also referenced his earlier comments made last week, suggesting that Iran had allowed 10 Pakistani-flagged oil tankers to pass through the Strait of Hormuz as a "present" to the White House. According to the Financial Times, he said that Iran had doubled the number, attributing the move to Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf (Iranian Parliament Speaker).

He said, "He's the one who authorised the ships to me."

"Remember, I said they're giving me a present? And everyone said, 'What's the present? Bullshit.' When they heard about that, they kept their mouth shut, and the negotiations are going very well," Trump added.

Meanwhile, Trump on Sunday (local time) said he's optimistic about a deal with Iran, citing "very good negotiations" and Iran allowing 20 oil tankers to pass through the Strait of Hormuz as a "sign of respect".

Addressing reporters aboard Air Force One en route to Joint Base Andrews, Trump said, "I do see a deal in Iran, yeah. Could be soon."

"So we've had very good negotiations today with Iran, getting a lot of the things that they should have given us a long time ago. See how it works out, but they're very good, moving along very nicely. And they've destroyed a lot of additional targets today. The Navy's gone, the Air Force's gone, we know that. We've destroyed many, many targets today. It was a big day. And we are negotiating with them directly and indirectly," he said further.

From the Iranian side, Iran's Acting Defence Minister Brigadier General Seyyed Majid Ibn Reza held a key telephone conversation with Turkish Defence Minister Yasar Guler amid the ongoing West Asia conflict involving the United States and Israel, according to Iranian state media Press TV.

During the call on Sunday evening, General Reza strongly condemned the "brutal military aggression" against Iran, calling it a clear violation of international law and fundamental principles of the global system, according to Press TV.

- ANI
Iran has warned of retaliation as President Donald Trump considers a dangerous military operation to seize nearly 1,000 pounds of uranium from the country. US military planners are preparing options that could involve elite special forces securing nuclear sites under fire and a broader ground campaign lasting weeks. Parallel diplomatic talks hosted by Pakistan involving Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Egypt are underway but lack participation from the US or Iran. The conflict has driven oil prices above $100 a barrel due to concerns over supply disruptions through the critical Strait of Hormuz.

US weighs seizing Iran's uranium as military plans escalate. Oil prices surge past $100 amid conflict fears and stalled diplomatic talks.

Washington, March 30 Iran has warned it would retaliate if the United States launches a ground invasion, even as President Donald Trump weighs a risky military operation to seize Tehran's uranium and regional powers push for talks to contain the conflict, according to reports by US media.

The warning from Tehran comes amid signs of a potential escalation. The 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit has already "arrived in the Middle East," while US military planners are preparing options that could put American troops on the ground for days or longer, according to The New York Times.

At the centre of deliberations is a plan under consideration by Trump to extract nearly 1,000 pounds of uranium from Iran - a move US officials describe as complex and dangerous. "Trump hasn't made a decision on whether to give the order," officials told The Wall Street Journal, adding that the president is weighing risks to US troops against the goal of preventing Iran from developing a nuclear weapon.

The operation, if approved, could involve elite special forces securing nuclear sites under fire from Iranian missiles and drones, and transporting radioactive material out of a conflict zone, experts said. "This is not a quick in and out kind of deal," retired Gen. Joseph Votel told the Journal.

Parallel to these plans, the Pentagon is preparing for a broader ground campaign that could last weeks. Any such operation would expose US personnel to "an array of threats," including drones, missiles and improvised explosives, The Washington Post reported.

Officials have also discussed expanding troop deployments. The Pentagon is "considering deploying an additional 10,000 ground troops" to the region to increase operational flexibility, according to US officials cited by The Wall Street Journal.

Despite the military buildup, diplomatic efforts are underway. Pakistan hosted talks with foreign ministers from Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt aimed at halting the conflict and reopening the Strait of Hormuz, according to The New York Times.

However, neither the United States nor Iran has joined the negotiations, and there is little indication of immediate progress.

As a result of the war, oil prices have surged above $100 a barrel amid concerns over supply disruptions, particularly through the Strait of Hormuz, a key global shipping route.

- IANS
Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam's General Secretary Aadhav Arjuna filed his nomination from the Villivakkam constituency for the 2026 Tamil Nadu Assembly elections. Party chief and actor Vijay, contesting from Perambur and Tiruchirapalli East, unveiled the party's full candidate list, which includes direct contests against top DMK leaders like Chief Minister M.K. Stalin and his son Udhayanidhi Stalin. The party's manifesto focuses on establishing "anti-drug protection zones" in educational institutions and providing monthly financial assistance to graduates and diploma holders. The elections, scheduled for April 23, are poised to become a three-way contest with Vijay's TVK entering the fray.

Actor Vijay's TVK fields candidates against CM Stalin, Udhayanidhi. Party manifesto promises anti-drug zones & student financial assistance.

Chennai, March 30 Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam's General Secretary of Election Campaign Management, Aadhav Arjuna, on Monday filed his nomination as a candidate from Villivakkam assembly constituency for the 2026 Tamil Nadu Assembly elections.

Aadhav Arjuna is pitted against Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) candidate and MLA MK Mohan's son Karthik Mohan.

Earlier on Sunday, TVK chief Vijay unveiled the list of candidates for 234 seats in the Assembly elections. The actor-turned-politician will contest on the Perambur and Tiruchirapalli East seats.

"Vote for whistle, it's a whistle revolution election," he said while announcing the names of the candidates of his party, which has the poll symbol of the 'whistle'. Vijay will be going against DMK's sitting MLA RD Shekar, who will contest from Perambur. He is also pitted against the sitting MLA and DMK candidate Inigo Irudayaraj in Trichy East.

The party's General Secretary, N Anand, will contest from the T Nagar constituency, and Treasurer Venkat Ramanan will contest from Mylapore. From Kolathur, VS Babu is pitted against DMK President and Chief Minister MK Stalin, while Selvam of the TVK will contest against Udhayanidhi Stalin in Chepauk.

AIADMK turncoat KA Sengottiyan is contesting from the Gopichettipalayam seat.

Other TVK candidates include Arun Raj from Tiruchengode, Vijayalakshmi from Kumarapalayam, CTR Nirmal Kumar from Thirupparankundram, Rajasekar from Tittakudi, Arul Prakasam from Saidapet and Rajmohan from Egmore.

Vijay also unveiled the party's manifesto for the 2026 Tamil Nadu Assembly elections, promising "anti-drug protection zones" and a monthly assistance for students.

He stressed his vision for a drug-free and self-reliant Tamil Nadu. He said anti-drug protection zones" will be established in all schools and colleges across the state. "Our primary goal is to create a drug-free Tamil Nadu," he asserted.

Vijay announced a monthly assistance of Rs 4,000 for graduates and Rs 2,000 for diploma holders.

Tamil Nadu will go to the polls in a single phase on April 23, covering a total of 234 constituencies in the State. Counting is scheduled for May 4. Vijay, who is making an electoral debut with his party, will look to turn the polls into a three-way contest between the Secular Progressive Alliance and the NDA, being the front-runners for victory.

- ANI
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced the United States intends to retake control of the critical Strait of Hormuz to ensure freedom of navigation, either through US or multinational escorts. Simultaneously, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio claimed significant damage is being inflicted on Iran's navy and defense industrial base. The statements come as former President Donald Trump threatened to target Iran's civilian energy infrastructure if the strait is not reopened. Iran's foreign ministry dismissed US diplomatic overtures and skipped a regional meeting, highlighting deep-seated tensions.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent states the US will retake control of the Strait of Hormuz, as Secretary of State Marco Rubio details strikes on Iran's navy.

Washington DC, March 31 US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Monday in an interview with Fox News that the United States is going to retake control of the Strait of Hormuz, which would eventually have freedom of navigation.

He said that while individual deals have been cut by countries to cross the Strait of Hormuz, eventually the US would regain control over it either through American escorts or a multinational escort.

He told Fox News, "The market is well supplied and we are seeing more and more ships go through on a daily basis as individual countries cut deals with the Iranian regime for the time being. over time, the US is going to retake control of the straits and there will be freedom of navigation, whether it is through US escorts or a multinational escort."

His remarks come against a backdrop of heightened global concern over the strategic Strait of Hormuz, a critical chokepoint for nearly one-fifth of world oil flows.

Also on Monday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, in an interview with ABC News, said that the United States has caused significant damage to Iran's navy and defence industrial base. He added that US President Trump would not allow Iran to control the Strait of Hormuz in "perpetuity", underlining that the country is going to achieve its objectives in a matter of weeks.

Speaking to ABC News, Rubio said, "We are destroying Iran's navy. We are destroying their missile launchers by a significant percentage. We're going to wipe out their defense industrial base, meaning their ability to make new missiles and new drones in the future, because it poses a great threat to the region. This Iran that you're seeing now, this is Iran at its weakest point."

Speaking about the Strait of Hormuz, the US Secretary of State added that President Trump has several options on the table to prevent Iran's hegemony over the straits.

"Now, they (Iran) are making threats about controlling the Hormuz Straits in perpetuity, creating a tolling system and the like. That's not going to be allowed to happen. And the president has a number of options available to him if he so chooses to prevent that from happening. "

Rubio further noted, "The Department of War would be in charge of those things... There is a way forward here to achieve our objectives. We are going to achieve our objectives in a matter of weeks, not months."

As per Press TV, Baghaei said during a press conference, "It seems quite natural that when the US raises the issues of negotiations and diplomacy, sensitivities will be increased. It is not clear how much, even inside the US, the country's claims about diplomacy and negotiations are seriously taken into account. Reactions and reflections also show that the extent of global trust in the US claims in the field of diplomacy is very limited".

He slammed the US and said that Iran, while Washington's stance has been constantly changing, Tehran has had a clear stance on the negotiations.

The Foreign Ministry Spokesperson emphasised that Iran did not participate in a four-sided meeting in Islamabad on Saturday hosted by Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and attended by the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt.

His remarks come after the Financial Times had reported that US President Donald Trump claimed that indirect negotiations between the United States and Iran, facilitated by Pakistani intermediaries, are making "positive progress".

The developments come as Trump has threatened to target Iran's civilian energy infrastructure, including power plants, oil wells and Kharg Island, if Tehran does not reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

In a social media post, Trump said, "Great progress has been made but, if for any reason a deal is not shortly reached, which it probably will be, and if the Hormuz Strait is not immediately 'Open for Business,' we will conclude our lovely 'stay' in Iran by blowing up and completely obliterating all of their Electric Generating Plants, Oil Wells and Kharg Island."

He noted that Washington is engaging in "serious discussions" with a "new and more reasonable" leadership in Tehran to bring an end to US military operations, a conflict that has lasted more than a month amid escalating regional tensions.

The president urged Iran to ensure that the waterway is "Open for Business", tying the resumption of maritime traffic directly to progress in talks aimed at ending hostilities.

The developments come as the conflict between the US-Israel and Iran has now entered into its second month, with an escalated security situation in West Asia and the Gulf region.

- ANI
The United States has formally resumed operations at its embassy in Caracas, reopening its diplomatic mission after years of limited engagement handled from Bogota, Colombia. Ambassador Laura F. Dogu is leading the mission, overseeing repairs to restore the chancery building for the full return of personnel. The move is a key part of a phased U.S. plan to stabilize ties, restore consular services, and strengthen engagement with Venezuelan institutions. Relations had deteriorated under leaders Hugo Chavez and Nicolas Maduro, leading to the embassy's closure in 2019.

The United States formally reopens its embassy in Caracas, resuming diplomatic operations and signaling a new phase in engagement with Venezuela.

Washington, March 30 The United States on Monday resumed operations at its embassy in Caracas, reopening its diplomatic presence in Venezuela after years of limited engagement.

The State Department said U.S. diplomacy with Venezuela had been handled since March 2019 through the Venezuela Affairs Unit at the U.S. Embassy in Bogota, Colombia.

"Today, we are formally resuming operations at the U.S. Embassy in Caracas, marking a new chapter in our diplomatic presence in Venezuela," the department said.

Ambassador Laura F. Dogu arrived in Caracas in January to lead the mission as Charge d'Affaires. She is overseeing efforts to restore the embassy and prepare for the return of staff.

Her team is working to repair the chancery building. Officials said this will allow "the full return of personnel as soon as possible" and support the eventual resumption of consular services.

The State Department called the move a "key milestone" in the President's three-phase plan for Venezuela.

It said reopening the embassy would improve U.S. engagement with Venezuela's interim government, civil society, and the private sector.

The US embassy in Caracas was closed in 2019 after relations deteriorated and tensions escalated. Since then, officials operated through the Venezuela Affairs Unit in Colombia.

Officials said key services will return in phases. Visa and consular work will take more time.

The return signals Washington's intent to re-establish direct engagement with Venezuelan institutions, civil society, and the private sector.

It also reflects a broader phased plan by the U.S. administration to stabilise ties, restore consular services, and strengthen its presence in the region following years of limited contact and political discord.

Relations were generally stable between the two nations through much of the century, but began to sour under President Hugo Chavez (1999-2013), who pursued a strongly anti-U.S. foreign policy and aligned Venezuela with countries like Cuba and Russia.

After Nicolas Maduro succeeded Chavez, tensions deepened, especially following disputed elections and human rights concerns.

- IANS
The White House stated that deploying additional US troops in West Asia provides President Trump with "maximum optionality" as the conflict with Iran continues. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt emphasized the Pentagon's role in creating strategic flexibility, while not ruling out potential ground operations. This comes amid reports of Pentagon plans for possible extended ground operations involving targeted raids in Iran. Concurrently, the USS Tripoli with thousands of Marines has entered the region, as Trump pressures Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz or face consequences.

White House says US troop deployment provides President Trump with strategic flexibility amid Iran conflict and ongoing diplomatic talks.

Washington DC, March 31 The White House on Monday said the deployment of additional US troops in West Asia provides President Donald Trump with "maximum optionality" in the ongoing conflict in the region, despite ongoing negotiations with Tehran to end the conflict.

Addressing a press briefing, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, when asked about the deployment of additional US Troops in the region, said that they are part of efforts to maintain strategic flexibility as the war rages on in the region, with diplomatic channels working in the background to strike a deal to end it.

"The president is focused on achieving the objectives of Operation Epic Fury with respect to forces that are on the ground in the Middle East. It's the job of the Pentagon to create maximum optionality for the commander-in-chief," Leavitt said.

The Press Secretary further stated that while the US President has been asked about potential ground operations, he has declined to rule them out.

"The president has been asked about boots on the ground or alleged ground operations various times. He's obviously declined to rule them out. It's the Pentagon's job to provide maximum optionality to the president; it does not mean he's made a decision, nor would he ever notify the media of such a decision so as not to tip off our enemy," she added.

This comes after reports that the Pentagon is preparing plans for the possibility of extended ground operations in Iran for several weeks, as per The Washington Post.

According to The Post, citing US officials familiar with the development, the preparations are aimed at supporting a more sustained military phase if Trump decides to intensify the conflict.

The official noted that any ground operation under consideration would likely stop short of a full-scale invasion. Instead, it could involve targeted raids carried out by a combination of Special Operations forces and conventional infantry units, The Post reported.

Meanwhile, the United States Ship (USS) Tripoli, along with around 3,500 Marines and soldiers, entered the US CENTCOM area of responsibility, bringing one of America's largest amphibious assault ships (AAS) into an active combat theatre in West Asia amid the ongoing conflict.

Leavitt further underscored that the president has sent a clear message to the Iranian regime, urging them to reach a deal.

"The president has made it quite clear to the Iranian regime at this moment in time, as evidenced by the statement that you just read, that their best move is to make a deal or else the United States armed forces have capabilities beyond their wildest imagination and the president is not afraid to use them," she said.

When asked about Trump threatening to target Iran's civilian energy infrastructure, including power plants, oil wells and Kharg Island, if Tehran does not reopen the Strait of Hormuz, Leavitt emphasised that the administration and US armed forces will always act within the confines of the law.

"This administration and the United States armed forces will always act within the confines of the law. But with respect to achieving the full objectives of Operation Epic Fury, President Trump is going to move forward unabated and he expects the Iranian regime to make a deal with the administration," the Press Secretary added.

Earlier in a post on Truth Social, Trump said, "Great progress has been made but, if for any reason a deal is not shortly reached, which it probably will be, and if the Hormuz Strait is not immediately 'Open for Business,' we will conclude our lovely 'stay' in Iran by blowing up and completely obliterating all of their Electric Generating Plants, Oil Wells and Kharg Island."

- ANI
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami visited BJP Kashipur District President Manoj Pal to offer condolences on his mother's passing. Earlier, he presided over the Uttarakhand Sahitya Gaurav Samman ceremony, conferring the highest literary award, 'Uttarakhand Sahitya Bhushan Samman', upon Jiten Thakur. Several other writers, including Buddhinath Mishra and Pritam Singh, were honored with lifetime achievement and category-specific awards. In his address, Dhami emphasized literature's role as a societal mirror and celebrated Uttarakhand's rich literary tradition.

CM Pushkar Singh Dhami conferred Uttarakhand Sahitya Bhushan to Jiten Thakur, honored other writers, and offered condolences to BJP leader Manoj Pal.

Jaspur, March 30 Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Monday visited the residence of BJP Kashipur District President Manoj Pal in Jaspur to express his condolences on the demise of his mother.

The Chief Minister said that he prays to God to grant the departed soul a place at His divine feet and to give strength to the bereaved family to endure this immense loss.

Earlier in the day, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami conferred Jiten Thakur with the state's highest literary award, the 'Uttarakhand Sahitya Bhushan Samman'.

According to a press release, the Uttarakhand Sahitya Gaurav Samman Ceremony, 2025, was organised by the Uttarakhand Bhasha Sansthan at Mukhya Sevak Sadan, the Chief Minister's residence.

On this occasion, Buddhinath Mishra, Shyam Singh Kutaula, Pritam Singh, Kesar Singh Rai, and Atae Sabir Afzal Manglori were also conferred with the 'Uttarakhand Lifetime Excellence in Literary Creation Award'.

Additionally, the Chief Minister honoured distinguished writers across various literary fields, as well as winners of the 'Yuva Kalamkar Competition'. Under different categories, Prof Diva Bhatt received the Sahitya Nari Vandan Samman, Prof Dinesh Chamola was recognised for excellence in children's literature, and Bhupendra Bisht, Sudha Jugran, and Sheeshpal Gusain were awarded under the Uttarakhand Original Writing Award category.

Tara Pathak, Hemant Singh Bisht, and Gajendra Nautiyal were conferred for excellence in Kumaoni and Garhwali literature.

As per the release, in his address, Chief Minister Dhami expressed pride in having the opportunity to honour the state's eminent literary figures. He said that Jiten Thakur is not only an inspiration for Uttarakhand but for the entire Hindi literary world.

Congratulating all the awardees, he noted that through their creative works, they are enriching the cultural and literary heritage of the state and passing it on to future generations.

He also highlighted that the Uttarakhand Sahitya Gaurav Samman ceremony symbolises the state's literary tradition, creative consciousness, and respect for writers.

The Chief Minister stated that the sacred land of Uttarakhand has been a centre of knowledge, culture, and creativity for centuries, where the Himalayas, the Ganga, and natural beauty have inspired countless writers and poets. He mentioned renowned literary figures such as Sumitranandan Pant, Gaura Pant "Shivani," Mohan Upreti, and Shailesh Matiyani, who have brought glory to the region.

He emphasised that literature is a mirror of society, and writers are not just creators of words but also guiding forces for society. He added that literary figures have played a significant role in India's freedom movement and in the formation of the Uttarakhand state.

- ANI
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami offered prayers at the Maa Bal Sundari Temple in Kashipur and inaugurated a Bhajan Sandhya programme. He announced that funds from the Chaiti Mela corpus would be used for the temple's beautification and premises development. The CM detailed rapid progress on key infrastructure projects worth approximately Rs 1,950 crore, including water supply, roads, and industrial hubs to boost employment. He also highlighted the state's implementation of the Uniform Civil Code and strict anti-corruption measures.

CM Pushkar Singh Dhami offers prayers at Maa Bal Sundari Temple, announces highway upgrades, industrial parks, and employment initiatives for Kashipur's development.

Kashipur, March 31 Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Monday offered prayers at the Maa Bal Sundari Temple in Kashipur, seeking the all-round development, peace, and prosperity of the state.

CM Dhami later inaugurated the Bhajan Sandhya programme in the temple premises by lighting the ceremonial lamp. On this occasion, the Chief Minister announced that funds from the Chaiti Mela corpus would be used for the beautification of the Maa Bal Sundari Temple and the development of the temple premises.

Welcoming all devotees to the Chaiti Mela, the Chief Minister prayed to Maa Bal Sundari for everyone's happiness and prosperity. He said that this is not just a fair, but a vibrant celebration of our faith, cultural heritage, and glorious traditions, according to a release.

The presence of stalls showcasing traditional products and diverse cultural performances by local artists makes the event even more attractive. He expressed confidence that the grand organisation of the Chaiti Mela would boost trade, tourism, and local development in the region, while also creating new employment and self-employment opportunities for the people.

The Chief Minister said that under the able leadership and guidance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the state is achieving new milestones in development and prosperity, according to the release.

He added that the government is working rapidly on several key projects for the holistic development of the Kashipur region. He highlighted that an Electronic Manufacturing Cluster Park is being developed over 133 acres in Kashipur, with 16 industrial units already allotted, which will generate large-scale employment opportunities for the youth.

He further informed that over Rs 494 crore has been sanctioned for upgrading the Kashipur-Ramnagar highway into a four-lane road, along with the construction of a 3-kilometre-long mini bypass. Additionally, an Assistant Regional Transport Office has been constructed at a cost of 4 crore, and automated driving test tracks worth over Rs 7 crore have been made operational in Kashipur, Haridwar, and Rishikesh.

The Chief Minister also stated that major infrastructure works worth approximately Rs 1,950 crore, including drinking water supply, sewerage systems, road improvements, and sewage treatment plants, are progressing rapidly in Kashipur. Alongside this, projects such as a Rs 1,100 crore industrial hub and a Rs 100 crore aroma park are underway to boost employment and strengthen the local economy. He added that the construction of a multi-level parking facility and a new tehsil office is also in progress.

He emphasised that the state government is working to connect the Chaiti Temple with the Manaskhand Corridor and develop it as a major cultural and spiritual centre. The aim is to establish Kashipur not only as an industrial city but also as a prominent hub of faith and devotion. He reiterated that the government is committed to preserving Uttarakhand's identity, culture, and social harmony alongside development, according to the release.

The Chief Minister said that the state has implemented strict anti-conversion and anti-riot laws. Under "Operation Kaalnemi," strict action is being taken against those who attempt to defame Sanatan Dharma. He also noted that Uttarakhand has become the first state in the country to implement the Uniform Civil Code.

He added that the government is taking strong action against corruption and has implemented one of the strictest anti-cheating laws in the country to safeguard the future of youth. As a result, more than 32,000 youths have secured government jobs in the last four and a half years--over four times more than previous governments. He further said that the "double-engine government" is addressing traffic congestion in Kashipur by constructing overbridges, widening roads, and creating a secure environment for industries.

- ANI
Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha stated that Vande Mataram is the country's identity, strength, and a profound civilisational experience. He emphasized that the song's celebration honors martyrs and renews commitment to India's glory, reflecting J&K's shedding of painful past chapters. Sinha credited the region's integration and development benchmarks to the visionary leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He also called upon all sections of society to join the fight against the drug menace in Jammu and Kashmir.

J&K L-G Manoj Sinha calls Vande Mataram the nation's identity and strength, highlighting J&K's integration and patriotism under PM Modi's leadership.

Jammu, March 30 J&K Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha said on Monday that Vande Mataram is the country's identity, strength, and vow.

"Vande Mataram is our identity, strength, and vow. It is not just verses, but a profound experience woven into the fabric of our civilisation. Vande Mataram singing and related events revive memories of immortal martyrs, honour their sacrifices, and renew our commitment to India's glory," the J&K L-G said.

He called upon every section of society to share a dream of making India the world's greatest nation. 

He added, "We must unite to realise it. When every citizen of J&K dedicates themselves to building a developed India, I believe that collective spirit will become an unstoppable force."

The J&K L-G was speaking at the closing ceremony of the Special Phase marking 150 years of Vande Mataram, at Abhinav Theatre, Jammu. 

The Special Phase was organised from March 23 to March 30, 2026, to commemorate Shaheedi Diwas and honour the great martyrs of the freedom struggle, whose immense sacrifices paved the way for India's independence.

He emphasised that the devotion and fervour in Jammu and Kashmir towards Vande Mataram reflect the region's shedding of painful chapters and its embrace of the ideals pursued over the last five to six years.

"Under the visionary leadership of Hon'ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi Ji, Jammu and Kashmir has been integrated into the national mainstream, setting new benchmarks in development and showcasing profound patriotism through pivotal events like Vande Mataram and Har Ghar Tiranga," the J&K L-G said.

The nation witnessed Jammu and Kashmir's stellar contribution during the previous phases of the Vande Mataram @150 years commemorative event. 

In the first phase (November 7-14, 2025), nine of India's top ten performing districts were from J&K, with Kishtwar at number one. 

In the second phase (January 19-26, 2026), six were from Jammu and Kashmir, led by Poonch.

The J&K L-G said the overwhelming participation of people in the previous two phases and their embrace of Vande Mataram's values signal transformative power for the future. 

He added, "I firmly believe a region's greatest strength lies in its ability to envision its future. In Jammu and Kashmir, I'm witnessing that potential flourish. It's vital to spread the message that true patriotism is the bedrock of peace and progress."

He said Vande Mataram symbolises the dream, goal, and resolve that generations fought for, and the special week-long phase offers moments to reflect on the confluence of history and aspiration, paying tribute to countless sacrifices that have granted today's freedom, unity, and pride.

"Vande Mataram inspires us to honour our past, empower our present, and pledge a bright future. This was a J&K-level introspection, reviving cultural roots through public participation and enlisting every citizen in nation-building," the J&K L-G said.

He observed that the past decade brought global turmoil and crises from Ukraine to West Asia, yet under the able leadership and guidance of PM Modi, India has emerged resilient, sustaining its position as the world's fastest-growing major economy.

"Hon'ble Prime Minister works tirelessly, round-the-clock, for the nation's welfare. Let us draw strength from his resolve and stride shoulder-to-shoulder toward a strong, prosperous India," he said.

The J&K L-G also called upon political parties, civil society members, and all sections of society to join the fight against the drug menace and transform the Nasha Mukt campaign into a people's movement in Jammu and Kashmir. 

Earlier, he paid tribute to the great freedom fighters and visited a photo exhibition depicting their historic contributions.

- IANS
Washington DC's cherry blossoms have reached their stunning peak bloom, attracting throngs of visitors to enjoy the scenic spectacle. The annual National Cherry Blossom Festival celebrates the 1912 gift of 3,000 trees from Tokyo, symbolizing enduring friendship between the US and Japan. The festival spans four weeks with diverse cultural programming, welcoming over 1.6 million people. The historic effort involved key figures like First Lady Helen Herron Taft and Japanese chemist Jokichi Takamine.

Washington DC's iconic cherry blossoms reach peak bloom, drawing crowds to celebrate the National Cherry Blossom Festival and US-Japan friendship.

Washington DC, March 30 Washington's iconic cherry blossoms were seen in full bloom on Sunday, attracting locals and tourists alike to witness the city's scenic beauty.

Locals present in the area told ANI that the scenic beauty the blossoms rendered was beautiful.

A local told ANI, "I love cherry blossom season...Everyone can enjoy the beauty of the cherry blossoms. Whenever I am walking on the street, and cherry blossom petals are falling, it seems like I am in an anime... It feels so cute and wholesome."

The National Cherry Blossom Festival commemorates the 1912 gift of 3,000 cherry trees from Mayor Yukio Ozaki of Tokyo to the city of Washington, DC, and celebrates the enduring friendship between the people of the United States and Japan. Today's Festival now spans four weeks and welcomes more than 1.6 million people to enjoy diverse and creative programming promoting traditional and contemporary arts and culture, natural beauty, and community spirit. Events are primarily free and open to the public, according to the National Cherry Blossom Festival website.

More than 3,000 trees arrived in Washington in 1912 after coordination between the governments of the two countries. Jokichi Takamine, a world-famous chemist and the founder of Sankyo Co, Ltd (today known as Daiichi Sankyo); David Fairchild of the US Department of Agriculture; Eliza Scidmore, first female board member of the National Geographic Society; and First Lady Helen Herron Taft led the group to coordinate the gift.

In a simple ceremony on March 27, 1912, First Lady Helen Herron Taft and Viscountess Iwa Chinda, wife of the Japanese ambassador, planted the first two trees from Japan on the north bank of the Tidal Basin in West Potomac Park, the website says further.

Since First Lady Taft's involvement, the nation's First Ladies have been proponents of the Festival. Historically, many were involved in events through the National Conference of State Societies' Princess Program. First Lady Mamie Eisenhower crowned Queen Janet Bailey in 1953, and in 1976, Betty Ford invited the princesses to the White House. In 1965, Lady Bird Johnson accepted 3,800 Yoshino trees from the government of Japan and held a tree planting reenactment. All first ladies in recent years have served as Honorary Chair, with many participating as well. In 1999, First Lady Hillary Clinton took part in a tree planting ceremony. In 2001, First Lady Laura Bush greeted guests with remarks at the Opening Ceremony. First Lady Michelle Obama was involved in 2012, planting a cherry tree in West Potomac Park among dignitaries and guests.

- ANI
Political leaders from Jammu and Kashmir's PDP, NC, and Congress have offered divergent views on Pakistan's potential role as a mediator in the West Asia crisis. While PDP's Aga Syed Muntazir Mehdi called it a "welcome step," JKNC's Tanvir Sadiq argued that only India, given its historic ties with Iran, is positioned to mediate correctly. Their comments follow US President Donald Trump's claim that Pakistan-facilitated backchannel talks with Iran are making progress. The remarks also addressed a US Congressional report labeling Pakistan a base for terrorist groups, with leaders emphasizing regional stability and trust in India's security agencies.

PDP's Mehdi welcomes Pakistan's role, NC's Sadiq backs India, Congress's Bhat stresses peace. Reactions follow Trump's claims on Iran talks.

Jammu, March 30 PDP leader Aga Syed Muntazir Mehdi on Monday welcomed Pakistan's role as a mediator in the ongoing West Asia conflict, saying there should not be any criticism about it and every country should play a role to de-escalate the crisis.

"It is a welcome step. Some countries have taken an initiative to de-escalate the crisis. There should not be any criticism about it. Every country should play a role," Mehdi told ANI.

Speaking on the same issue, JKNC MLA Tanvir Sadiq said that only India can mediate the West Asia crisis correctly.

"I will talk about my own country more. Iran and India have a very strong and old relationship. If anyone can mediate this correctly, it is this country," Sadiq told ANI.

Furthermore, Congress MLA Nizam Uddin Bhat said it doesn't matter who is mediating, emphasising the human cost of the conflict.

"These are larger issues. We want the war to stop; it does not matter who is mediating. Innocent lives and collateral properties are being lost," he told ANI.

The remarks came as US President Donald Trump claimed that indirect negotiations between the US and Iran, facilitated by Pakistani intermediaries, are making "positive progress", according to the Financial Times.

Trump said backchannel talks are ongoing through Pakistani "emissaries" and expressed optimism that a deal could be reached soon, citing Iran's recent permission for Pakistani-flagged oil tankers to pass through the Strait of Hormuz as a sign of respect.

Meanwhile, on the US report that Pakistan is sheltering terrorist groups targeting India, PDP leader Mehdi said, "The US only knows about the report. Our priority should be to bring stability to the region. We should try to find a solution."

JKNC MLA Sadiq commented on the contradiction, saying, "Then why are they being accepted as mediators? This country has seen a lot of terrorism, and it is time to end it."

Furthermore, Congress MLA Bhat stressed trust in India's own security apparatus. "India's security agencies take care of these issues. They do not need anyone's advice. We trust our own security agencies," he said.

A recent US Congressional research report dated March 25 has highlighted Pakistan as a base for numerous armed terror groups, some active since the 1980s. According to the report, these groups are globally oriented, Afghanistan-focused, India-focused, domestic, or sectarian in nature. Twelve of them are designated as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs) under US law, and most follow Islamist extremist ideology.

The remarks come amid ongoing tensions in West Asia, where the conflict between Israel, the United States, and Iran, which began on February 28, has disrupted global energy supplies.

- ANI
The White House claims that Iran's decision to allow oil tankers to pass through the Strait of Hormuz is a result of ongoing direct and indirect talks between the US and Iran. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt credited diplomatic efforts led by President Donald Trump for enabling the movement of the vessels. President Trump himself framed Iran's allowance of 20 tankers as a "sign of respect" toward the United States. These statements come amid reports and denials of Iran imposing informal controls or tolls on shipping in the strategic waterway.

White House claims Iran's allowance of oil tankers through Strait of Hormuz is a direct result of ongoing US-Iran talks and President Trump's diplomacy.

Washington DC, March 31 The White House on Monday claimed that the recent movement of oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz, despite a virtual blockage amid the West Asia conflict, is the result of ongoing direct and indirect talks between the United States and Iran.

It credited diplomatic efforts led by US President Donald Trump.

Addressing a press briefing, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt rejected claims that Iran is selectively allowing certain tankers to pass or imposing informal controls over maritime traffic.

"That's not something we support, and I would reject that they are cherry-picking. In fact, these tankers that are moving through - the 10 that were previously announced and now the new 20, the announcement of 20 additional tankers, which we expect to see over the coming days - are a result of the direct and indirect talks that are taking place between the United States and Iran," she claimed.

Leavitt further insisted that such tanker movements would not have been possible without sustained diplomatic engagement by the US administration led by Trump.

"So, you wouldn't have seen those tankers if not for the president's diplomacy and his team engaging on this matter, which we expect that compliance moving forward, and it's again something that we're working on very closely," she added.

Earlier on Sunday, Trump said that Iran is allowing 20 oil tankers to pass through the Strait of Hormuz as a "sign of respect".

Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump said that Iran initially agreed to send 10 boats through the strait and then added 10 more, which he considers a positive development.

"We have emissaries, but we are also dealing directly, and as you know, they've agreed to send 8 boats two days ago, and then they added another two, so it was 10 boats. And now today, they gave us, as a tribute, I don't know, I can't define it exactly, but they gave us, I think, out of a sign of respect, 20 boats of oil, big, big boats of oil going through the Hormuz Strait," the US President said.

Meanwhile, responding to a question on whether the administration supports any system where Iran could impose tolls or restrictions on vessels passing through the strategic waterway, Leavitt made it clear that such an arrangement is not backed by Washington.

The remarks come in the context of a new report from the Shipping News website, Lloyd's List, suggesting that Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) imposed a de facto 'toll booth' in the Strait of Hormuz as the conflict in West Asia has put enormous stress on one of the key global shipping routes.

This requires vessels to submit full documentation, obtain clearance codes and accept IRGC-escorted passage through a single controlled corridor, the report stated.

The Strait of Hormuz remains a critical global energy chokepoint, and recent developments come amid heightened tensions in the region, even as diplomatic channels between Washington and Tehran continue to remain active.

- ANI
A two-day Youth Legislators Conference began in Bhopal, bringing together young MLAs from Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Chhattisgarh. Chief Minister Mohan Yadav urged participants to study deeply and work positively for constituency development and a developed India by 2047. Senior leaders, including Assembly Speaker Narendra Singh Tomar and Minister Kailash Vijayvargiya, shared parliamentary experience and advice on professionalism and public service. The conference, organized by the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, aims to enhance legislative skills and strengthen democratic traditions among the next generation of lawmakers.

MLAs under 45 from MP, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh attend Bhopal conference for legislative skills and building a developed India by 2047.

Bhopal, March 30 Chief Minister Dr Mohan Yadav encouraged young legislators to study deeply, maintain discipline and work with a positive approach for the development of their constituencies.

He was addressing a training programme for young legislators that began on Monday at the Madhya Pradesh Vidhan Sabha (Assembly).

The two-day 'Youth Legislators Conference' has brought together MLAs aged 45 years and below from Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. The Chief Minister highlighted the rich democratic traditions of India and called upon young legislators to play an active role in building a developed India by 2047.

Assembly Speaker Narendra Singh Tomar appealed to young MLAs to maintain dignity in the House, study diligently and contribute meaningfully to legislative proceedings.

He welcomed the participants and said the conference is not just a formal event but a serious effort to shape the future of Indian democracy.

Addressing the gathering, senior legislator, minister for urban development Kailash Vijayvargiya shared valuable insights from his four decades of parliamentary experience. He pointed out that you cannot address all the problems of everyone. He stressed the importance of maintaining a responsive and professional office, using modern technology, showing humility, and balancing party loyalty with public service.

He advised young MLAs to focus on long-term image-building rather than short-term publicity and urged them to remain positive on social media.

Leader of Opposition Umang Singhar stressed the need for student elections.

The programme, organised under the aegis of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (India Region Zone-6), aims to strengthen parliamentary traditions, enhance legislative skills and prepare young lawmakers for the challenges of nation-building.

The inaugural session witnessed the presence of Chief Minister Mohan Yadav, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kailash Vijayvargiya, Leader of Opposition Umang Singhar, Rajasthan Assembly Speaker Vasudev Devnani and senior officials from all three states.

The programme started with the national song 'Vande Mataram'. The conference will discuss two major themes -- the role of young legislators in strengthening democracy and preparations for a developed India by 2047.

Around 45 young MLAs from the three states are participating in the programme. This initiative is being seen as a significant step towards capacity-building of the next generation of lawmakers and promoting healthy parliamentary practices in Indian democracy.

- IANS
Older patients with coronary artery disease scheduled for transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) had comparable outcomes regardless of whether they underwent percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) before TAVR, according to findings from the PRO-TAVI study presented at the American College of Cardiology's Annual Scientific Session (ACC.26).

TAVR is a minimally invasive procedure in which a new aortic valve is delivered via a catheter, most commonly through the femoral artery in the groin, and implanted within the diseased native valve. PCI, also called angioplasty, is a minimally invasive procedure in which a stent is delivered via a catheter, typically through the radial artery in the arm, to open narrowed or blocked coronary arteries and restore adequate blood flow to the heart muscle.



For patients who have both a malfunctioning valve and blocked arteries (coronary artery disease), there has been a lack of evidence regarding the optimal combination and timing of procedures, and common practices vary by region. In Europe, where TAVR is largely reserved for older and higher-risk patients, physicians have tended to defer PCI until after TAVR. In the United States, where patients undergoing TAVR tend to be younger and healthier, it is more common to recommend patients undergo PCI before TAVR.



The trial was conducted in the Netherlands, and the findings support the common practice there, where physicians prefer to omit PCI before TAVR unless there is a clear indication that PCI is necessary. According to the results, omitting PCI before TAVR did not result in any increase in the risk of death, heart attack, stroke or moderate to serious bleeding.

For elderly TAVR patients with concomitant coronary artery disease, I think it's safe to first do TAVR and see if patients will still have complaints about chest pain or tightness. We can wait and, if they still have complaints afterward, only then do PCI." Michiel Voskuil, MD, PhD, interventional cardiologist and professor at University Medical Center Utrecht in the Netherlands and the study's lead author

The trial enrolled 466 patients at 12 sites in the Netherlands between 2021-2024. The median age of participants was over 80 years, 36% were women, and patients overall reflected a high-risk population, typical for patients undergoing TAVR in Europe. All participants had coronary artery disease with significant blockage in the arteries. Half of the patients were randomly assigned to receive PCI before their TAVR procedure, and half were assigned to receive TAVR first and only undergo PCI afterward if necessary.



The primary endpoint was a composite of death from any cause, heart attack, stroke or moderate to severe bleeding at 12 months. This composite endpoint occurred in 25.8% of those who underwent PCI before TAVR and 24.1% of those who deferred PCI. This result met the trial's prespecified threshold for non-inferiority and did not demonstrate the superiority of either approach, indicating that they are equivalent in terms of expected outcomes.



The two study groups did show a significant difference in the rate of major bleeding, which was analyzed as a secondary outcome. Among those who underwent PCI before TAVR, 14.8% experienced major bleeding, compared with 6.2% of those who deferred PCI. Researchers said this increase in bleeding was likely attributable to the dual antiplatelet therapy that is prescribed following PCI and most bleeds occurred around the time of the TAVR procedure, although there was no excess mortality associated with major bleeding.



Overall, about 10% of patients who were assigned to defer PCI eventually underwent PCI due to continuing or worsening symptoms following their TAVR.



Researchers said the results are most applicable to Europe and the Netherlands in particular, where TAVR is generally used in an elderly population. The findings may not necessarily translate to other countries and populations where it is more common for younger and relatively healthier patients to undergo TAVR.



"This study is about intermediate and high-risk patients only," Voskuil said. "For low-risk TAVR patients who are generally younger, this question remains open to discussion and there is room for new trials to determine what is the more favorable approach."



The study was funded by The Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development (ZonMw).



This study was simultaneously published online in The Lancet at the time of presentation.

Voskuil will present the study, "Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation Without Routine Percutaneous Coronary Intervention: A Randomized Controlled Trial," on Sunday, March 29, at 4:00 p.m. CT / 21:00 UTC in the Main Tent, Great Hall.
The first randomized trial to compare standard percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), also known as coronary angioplasty, with PCI accompanied by the use of a temporary, miniaturized pump to support the heart in patients with both severe coronary heart disease and moderate to severe heart failure found no significant difference between the two approaches. However, at two years, patients who received the heart pump had almost double the risk of dying of a cardiovascular event compared with those who received standard care. The research was presented at the American College of Cardiology's Annual Scientific Session (ACC.26).

We found no evidence that use of the temporary pump protected the heart during the angioplasty procedure. Our findings strongly suggest that we shouldn't be using this device routinely without more evidence of benefit." Divaka Perera, MD, professor of cardiology, King's College London, United Kingdom and first author of the study

Severe impairment of the heart's main pumping chamber, the left ventricle, reduces the heart's ability to pump blood to the body's other organs and tissues and puts the patient at risk for life-threatening complications such as cardiac arrest. To temporarily reduce the heart's workload, a tiny mechanical pump may be inserted through the femoral artery into the heart, a technique known as left-ventricular (LV) unloading. However, LV unloading can have adverse effects, Perera said, including the risk of injury to blood vessels by causing them to bleed, tear or become blocked.



Over the past decade, Perera said, cardiologists have increasingly used LV unloading when performing a PCI, a minimally invasive procedure to restore blood flow to the heart in patients with moderate to severe coronary artery disease. It involves placing a tiny balloon inside a partially blocked coronary artery and inserting a small, wire-mesh tube called a stent to keep the artery from becoming blocked again.



"The expectation was that using the pump would protect both the patient and their heart, but this expectation was not based on evidence from randomized trials," Perera said.



The BCIS-3 trial was designed to determine whether LV unloading reduced the risk of life-threatening complications and improved outcomes for patients with both extensive coronary artery disease and severe impairment of the left ventricle who were undergoing PCI. The trial enrolled 300 patients (average age 73 years, about 83% men, 85% White) at 21 sites in the UK. Half of the patients were randomly assigned to receive PCI with LV unloading and the other half to PCI alone (standard care).



Seventy-five percent of the patients had been admitted with acute coronary syndrome, which means they either had a heart attack or intense chest pain indicating they were at high risk of a further heart attack. They also had extensive coronary disease, defined as blockages of at least 70% in at least two coronary arteries or a blockage of at least 50% in the main coronary artery. Due to severe left ventricular impairment, patients' hearts were, on average, pumping out just 27% of the blood in the left ventricle with each contraction. A healthy heart pumps out 50% to 70%.



The study's primary endpoint was a composite of death from any cause, disabling stroke, heart attack, hospitalization for cardiovascular causes and any heart injury occurring during the patient's treatment. Secondary endpoints included the individual components of the primary endpoint plus an assessment by independent doctors that the angioplasty successfully opened all the narrowed or blocked arteries as intended. Patients were followed for an average of approximately two years.



To analyze the study findings, Perera and his colleagues looked at pairs of patients (one from each arm of the study) and determined for each pair whether the outcome was better with LV unloading or with standard care. They found that it was better with standard care in 43% of the comparisons and better with LV unloading in 36.6% - a difference that was not statistically significant - while in 20.4% of pairs there was no difference.



When the investigators looked at the secondary outcome of death alone, however, they found that, compared with patients who received standard care, those who received LV unloading had about a 50% elevated risk of dying from any cause (32.6% vs. 23.4% for standard care) and an absolute increase of 12.2 percentage points in the risk of dying from a heart-related condition (26.7% vs. 14.5% for standard care).



Patients who received LV unloading had a higher rate of heart injuries during and after treatment than those who received standard care, Perera said.



"This was surprising because the whole premise of LV unloading was that it protects the heart," he said. "But we found that patients assigned to LV unloading had more damage to the left ventricle than those assigned to standard care."



Rates of bleeding and other blood-vessel injuries were low in both groups of patients, he said, ruling this out as a possible cause of the higher death rate among patients who received LV unloading. No differences were seen between the two groups of patients for other secondary endpoints such as heart attacks, disabling strokes and hospitalizations for heart failure.



Although the higher death rate among patients who received LV unloading is a secondary outcome of the study, it's a strong signal that the treatment is doing harm, Perera said.



There were some limitations to the study, including that participants were predominantly male and the study was performed entirely in the UK, making the findings potentially less generalizable to women or to health care systems in other countries. In addition, patients with cardiogenic shock (a life-threatening medical emergency characterized by low blood pressure, low blood oxygen and inability of the heart to meet the body's need for blood) were excluded from the study. Follow-up studies are needed to try to understand the causes of the higher rates of death and blood-vessel injury among patients who received LV unloading, Perera said. He and his colleagues are also currently working on a cost-benefit analysis of LV unloading compared with standard care, which they expect to present later this year, he said.



The study was funded by the UK's National Institute for Health & Care Research.



The study was simultaneously published online in the New England Journal of Medicine at the time of publication.



Perera will present the study, "Controlled Trial of High-Risk Coronary Intervention with Percutaneous Left Ventricular Unloading (CHIP-BCIS3)" on Sunday, March 29, at 8:30 a.m. CT / 13:30 UTC in the Main Tent, Great Hall.
In 2013, a scientist at Abbott Laboratories saw study results with potentially big implications for the company's profits and the lives of some of the world's most fragile people: preterm infants.

The upshot, she wrote in an email: Babies fed rival Mead Johnson Nutrition's acidified liquid human milk fortifier - a nutritional supplement used in neonatal intensive care units - developed certain complications at higher rates than those given an Abbott fortifier, a researcher at the University of Nebraska had found.

At least one of those complications can be deadly.

The Abbott scientist, Bridget Barrett-Reis, described the results in the email to colleagues, using two exclamation points. Then she proposed that Abbott test the Mead Johnson fortifier, acidified for sterilization, against another Abbott product.

The clinical trial among preterm infants that Abbott subsequently sponsored, known as AL16, is a case study of corporate warfare in the high-stakes business of infant nutrition, wherein preemies have been coveted like commodities; their anxious, vulnerable parents have been - whether they know it or not - targets of calculated commercial pursuit; and scientific research has been used as a marketing tool.

In hospitals around the country, dozens of babies born an average of 11 weeks early were fed Mead Johnson's fortifier. Dozens of others were fed an Abbott fortifier that wasn't acidified.

The clinical trial became a boon for Abbott, which publicized the results to wrest market share from Mead Johnson. But for some of the babies enrolled, it didn't turn out so well, a KFF Health News investigation found.

Far more infants given Mead Johnson's product developed a buildup of acid in the blood called metabolic acidosis than those fed Abbott's product - 19 versus four, according to results published in the journal PharmacoEconomics.

Two outside doctors monitoring infants in the study became so alarmed that they refused to enroll any more babies, according to an April 2016 email one of them sent to Abbott.

In a related email to Abbott, neonatologist Robert White of Memorial Hospital in South Bend, Indiana, and Pediatrix Medical Group - an investigator in the study - explained his concerns.

"We had another SAE" - serious adverse event - "today in which a child developed profound metabolic acidosis while on the study fortifier," White wrote. The severity was "unlike what we would see in most children with these issues."

A manager at Abbott replied that the company was "taking your concerns very seriously."

The study continued for almost a year.

At least some of the consent forms used to inform parents about risks did not mention metabolic acidosis or the often-fatal necrotizing enterocolitis, another condition identified in the 2013 email that led to the study.

In a November response to questions for this article, Abbott spokesperson Scott Stoffel said the clinical trial "was safe and ethical" and that the fortifiers it compared were "on the market and widely used."

The study was "led by 20 non-Abbott investigators," Stoffel said.

According to a federal website, Abbott's Barrett-Reis chaired the study.

Stoffel added that the study was approved "by 14 independent safety review boards at hospitals" and "published in a leading peer-reviewed scientific journal."

"It is reckless and not credible to suggest that these doctors and institutions conducted and then published the results of an unsafe or unethical study," Stoffel said.

A spokesperson for Mead Johnson, Jennifer O'Neill, did not comment on Abbott's clinical trial but said in a November statement to KFF Health News that existing studies "cannot responsibly support" any connection between the acidified fortifier and conditions such as necrotizing enterocolitis or metabolic acidosis.

Mead Johnson executive Cindy Hasseberg argued in a deposition that Abbott waged a "smear campaign" against the acidified fortifier that was "very hard to come back from."

In 2024, Mead Johnson discontinued the product.

Winning the 'hospital war'

Behind their warm-and-fuzzy marketing, industry giants Abbott, maker of Similac products, and Mead Johnson, maker of the Enfamil line, have turned neonatal intensive care units into arenas of brutal competition.

This article quotes from and is based largely on records from three lawsuits against formula manufacturers that went to trial in 2024 and are now on appeal. The cases are Watson v. Mead Johnson, Gill v. Abbott Laboratories, and Whitfield v. St. Louis Children's Hospital. The records include emails, internal presentations, and other company documents used as exhibits in litigation, as well as court transcripts and witness testimony from depositions.

The records provide an inside view of the business of infant formula and fortifier, a nutritional supplement added to a mother's milk. For example, a Mead Johnson slide deck for a 2020 national sales meeting - later used in the Whitfield trial - outlined a plan for "Branding NICU Babies."

Urging employees to win more sales from neonatal intensive care units, the document said: "It is time to open up a can of 'Whoop Ass.'"

In internal documents and other material from litigation reviewed by KFF Health News, formula makers described hospitals as gateways to the much larger retail market because parents are likely to stick with the brand their babies started on. Products used in the NICU help win hospital contracts, and hospital contracts help establish brand loyalty, according to court records.

Manufacturers vie for contracts that can be "exclusive" or nearly so, according to records from the litigation, including company documents and testimony by people who have worked in management for the companies.

An undated Abbott presentation used in the Gill case, apparently referring to inroads with hospitals in its rivalry with Mead Johnson, boasted of "MJ Strongholds Broken!"

It saluted two employees who "Own 27K Babies Exclusively," and said another "Stole 600 formula feeders from MJ."

Still others were praised for "Playing in Mom's mailbox" or "kicking  and 'taking names.'"

In July 2024, Abbott CEO Robert Ford said in a conference call for investors that formula and fortifier for preterm infants generated total annual revenue of about $9 million - a small portion of Abbott's total sales of $42 billion in 2024 and its $2.2 billion of sales in the United States from pediatric nutritional products.

Industry documents cited in litigation provide a different perspective.

"'First Bottle Fed' drives our business," stated an Abbott training presentation from about a decade ago used in the Gill and Whitfield trials.

That described a baby's first formula feeding in the hospital, the document said. Over 74% of the time, an infant fed formula in the hospital stays on that brand at home, the document said.

Abbott's goal was that the first-bottle-fed strategy would help generate more than $1.5 billion in sales, the document showed. A staff training slide displayed during the Whitfield trial showed how that momentum could pay off in bonuses for Abbott sales representatives, leading to a "Happy Rep."

Mead Johnson has espoused a similar strategy.

The company rolled out a "Flip & Win" incentive plan with cash rewards for flipping hospitals from Abbott, according to a 2019 document marked for internal use by Mead Johnson and its parent company, England-based Reckitt Benckiser Group, and admitted into evidence in the Watson case.

"Winning in the NICU is critical to contract gains and acquisition," stated a company plan for 2022 that was cited in the Whitfield case.

One Abbott document shown in the Whitfield trial said more than half of first feedings happen at night, adding, "Nighttime is the right time to drive your business."

A "Mead Johnson University" training document described a scenario in which a sales rep overhears patient information in a NICU and encouraged the rep to promote the company's products. The document, titled "Advanced NICU Skills," was admitted as evidence in the Watson case.

"[Y]ou are walking back into your most important NICU," it said. "You overhear the HCP's" - health care providers, apparently - "stating all of the notes," it said. "There may be some information that may help you to position your products as a resource for this patient and to handle any objections that the HCP may present you with."

To win parents' business, companies have supplied formula to hospitals free or at a loss, court records show. That has resulted in such curiosities as a Mead Johnson "purchasing agreement" cited in the Watson case, listing the price for product after product as "no charge."

In a 2017 strategy document prepared for Mead Johnson, a consulting firm laid out a plan "to win hospital war."

Why focus on hospitals? "INFLECTION POINT FOR VULNERABLE MOMS," it explained.

The document was displayed in the Whitfield case.

In the market for preterm nutrition, Abbott and Mead Johnson compete with each other, not against the use of human milk, the companies told KFF Health News.

"Thus, references in documents about wanting to 'win' or 'own' the NICU refer to out-performing Mead Johnson by offering the highest-quality products," Abbott's Stoffel said in February.

Asked specific questions about business strategies and internal documents, Mead Johnson's O'Neill said the company was "concerned that you are presenting a misleading and incomplete picture."

Mead Johnson's products "are safe, effective, and recommended by neonatologists when clinically appropriate," O'Neill added.

On the defensive

In courthouses around the country, Abbott and Mead Johnson are on the defensive - and have been for years.

In hundreds of lawsuits, parents of sickened or deceased preterm infants have alleged that formula designed for preemies has caused necrotizing enterocolitis, or NEC, a devastating condition in which immature intestinal tissue can become infected and die, spreading infection through the body.

Lawsuits also accuse the manufacturers of failing to warn parents of the risk.

One of the cases on which this article is based, Watson v. Mead Johnson, resulted in a $60 million judgment against Mead Johnson. Another, Gill v. Abbott Laboratories, et al., resulted in a $495 million judgment against Abbott. The third, Whitfield v. St. Louis Children's Hospital, et al., resulted in a jury verdict in favor of Abbott and Mead Johnson, but the judge found errors and misconduct on the part of defense counsel, faulted his own performance, and granted the plaintiff a new trial.

The cases have involved children like Robynn Davis, who was born at 26 weeks, lost 75% to 80% of her intestine to NEC, suffered brain damage - and, at almost 3 years old, couldn't walk, couldn't really talk, and was eating through a tube, as Jacob Plattenberger, an attorney representing her, described in court in 2024.

An attorney for Abbott, James Hurst, said in court that Robynn suffered a catastrophic brain injury at birth, 10 days before she received any Abbott formula, and that her NEC resulted not from formula but from many health problems.

In at least three cases, a federal judge has granted summary judgment in favor of Abbott - ruling for the company before the lawsuits even reached trial.

The formula makers have repeatedly denied fault.

Addressing stock analysts in 2024, Abbott's chief executive denounced as "without merit or scientific support" the theory that preterm infant formula or milk fortifier caused NEC.

In a joint statement issued in 2024, the FDA, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the National Institutes of Health said there was "no conclusive evidence that preterm infant formula causes NEC."

Mead Johnson's O'Neill said the scientific consensus is that there is no established causal link between the use of specialized preterm hospital nutrition products and NEC.

Neonatologists use the products routinely, O'Neill said.

O'Neill cited a statement by the American Academy of Pediatrics saying the causes of NEC "are multifaceted and not completely understood."

In a legal brief filed with an Illinois appeals court in the Watson case, the company said "the NEC-related risks" of a formula for preterm infants "are the subject of medical debate," adding that trial evidence "demonstrated, at a minimum, uncertainty as to the magnitude of the risk, as well as the causal role of various feeding options in the development of NEC."

Manufacturers say formula is needed when mother's milk or human donor milk isn't an option. Fortifier, a product tailored to preemies, is meant to augment mother's milk when babies are born prematurely and a mother's milk alone doesn't deliver enough nutrition. The Mead Johnson fortifier used in the head-to-head clinical trial sponsored by Abbott was acidified to prevent bacterial contamination.

In March 2025, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced that his department, which encompasses the FDA, was undertaking a review of infant formula, dubbed "Operation Stork Speed." It includes reassessing nutrient requirements and increasing testing for heavy metals and other contaminants, HHS said.

However, FDA oversight of infant formula is limited. The agency doesn't approve the products or their labeling. Whether to report adverse events - illnesses or deaths potentially related to the products - to the FDA is largely at manufacturers' discretion.

The business of infant formula further spotlights a central contradiction in the Trump administration's health policies. When it comes to food and medical products, the administration has criticized industry-funded research as unworthy of trust. Yet under Kennedy, it has disrupted, defunded, or sought to cut government-funded research, which could leave industry-funded research with a larger and more influential role.

It "is entirely appropriate for the Department to scrutinize research design, conflicts of interest, and funding sources, particularly when research is used to inform public policy," HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon said.

'At the table'

Company emails cited in litigation shed light on the industry's approach to research.

In a 2015 email, when Mead Johnson was considering supplying some of its formula to a researcher for a study, a company neonatologist expressed concern that the results could be spun to make the preemie product look unsafe.

"However, we are more likely to have control over final language if we provide the small support and are 'at the table' with him," Mead Johnson's Timothy Cooper added in the email, which was cited in the Watson trial.

In 2017, Abbott exchanged a series of messages with researchers at Johns Hopkins University about a study on how the composition of infant formula might affect NEC in mice. The email thread became an exhibit in the Whitfield case.

Abbott was both funding and collaborating on the work, a later publication in a scientific journal shows.

Forwarding a draft of the resulting paper to Abbott, David Hackam, chief of pediatric surgery at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, said in one of the emails, "We hope you like it." He also requested help from Abbott in filling in information.

"The manuscript looks great!" Abbott's Tapas Das wrote in May 2017, after a back-and-forth.

But Abbott had some changes, the email thread shows.

"We (VM & DT) made some edits in the text especially to soften a bit with the statement 'infant formula seems responsible for developing NEC,'" Das wrote.

"Instead, we thought if we could state as 'infant formula is linked to severity of NEC'. So we made changes throughout the text emphasizing on severity of NEC by infant formula rather than development of NEC by infant formula," Das wrote.

Das wrote that "other factors are involved for NEC development as described in the text."

Hackam did not respond to questions KFF Health News sent by email.

Efforts to reach Das and Cooper - including by phoning numbers and sending letters to addresses that appeared to be associated with them - were unsuccessful.

When Mead Johnson provided support to scientific researchers, the company would want to make sure they reported the results "in an honest way," Cooper said in a deposition played in the Watson trial.

The Abbott co-authors "proposed routine edits to the article for scientific accuracy and for the consideration of the other authors, some of the most well-respected NEC researchers in the world," Abbott's Stoffel said.

"Abbott regularly collaborates with and publishes studies with leading NEC scientists for the benefit of both premature infants and the entire scientific community," Stoffel said.

"The research studies Mead Johnson supports are conducted independently and appropriately, with full transparency," said O'Neill, the Mead Johnson spokesperson.

'In the wrong direction'

Transparency can be subjective.

More than a decade ago, Mead Johnson sponsored a clinical trial testing what was then a new acidified liquid fortifier against a powdered fortifier already on the market.

In the study, which enrolled 150 babies, 5% of infants fed the acidified liquid developed NEC compared with 1% of infants fed the powder, according to deposition testimony and a record of the clinical trial used in the Watson case.

That information was not included in a 2012 medical journal article that reported the study results.

The article, in the journal Pediatrics, whose authors included two Mead Johnson employees, concluded it was safe to use the new liquid fortifier instead of the powdered one. The article also said that, comparing babies fed the liquid with those fed the powder, the study observed no difference in the incidence of NEC.

The unpublished finding of 5% to 1% represented so few babies that it was not statistically significant.

Nonetheless, retired neonatologist Victor Herson, who ran a NICU in Connecticut and has studied fortifiers, said in an interview he would have wanted to see those numbers.

"The trend was in the wrong direction," Herson said, "and would have, I think, alerted the typical neonatologist that, well, maybe not to rush in and adopt" the new fortifier.

It's common for study publications to include tables showing complications even if they aren't statistically significant so that readers can draw their own conclusions, Herson said.

Neonatologist Fernando Moya, a co-author of the Pediatrics article, had a different perspective.

"You may not be very familiar with medical literature but when there are no 'statistically significant' differences, we do not comment on whether something was increased or decreased," Moya said by email. He referred questions to Mead Johnson.

Mead Johnson's O'Neill gave several reasons why "the data you cite was not included in the publication." She said the study was designed to examine infant nutrition and growth, NEC was a "secondary outcome," the NEC numbers weren't statistically significant, and the size of the study, "while appropriate, was not powered to draw any conclusions with respect to any potential differences in NEC."

In a deposition used in the Watson trial, Carol Lynn Berseth - a co-author of the paper and Mead Johnson's director of medical affairs for North America when the study was completed - testified that the article was peer-reviewed and that no reviewer asked for additional data.

"Had they asked for it, we would have shown it," Berseth testified.

Berseth did not respond to a phone message or to an email or letter sent to addresses apparently associated with her.

'It should not be in a NICU'

The Abbott scientist who flagged research on Mead Johnson's acidified fortifier in 2013, Bridget Barrett-Reis, was later listed as chair of AL16, the follow-up clinical trial Abbott sponsored, and as a co-author of resulting publications.

In a deposition, she was asked why she conducted the study.

"I conducted that study because I thought [the acidified fortifier] could be dangerous," she said, "and I thought it would be a good idea to find out if it really was because nobody was doing anything about it."

Elaborating on the thinking behind the study, she testified: "It should not be in a NICU in the United States. That product should not be anywhere for preterm infants."

In her 2013 email recommending that Abbott conduct a study, Barrett-Reis cited findings by "an independent investigator," Ann Anderson-Berry, that showed, compared with preterm infants fed an Abbott powder, those on Mead Johnson's acidified liquid "had slower growth, higher incidence of metabolic acidosis and NEC!!"

Asked about the exclamation points, Barrett-Reis testified in a January 2024 deposition used in the Gill case that she wasn't excited about the findings. "I am known to put exclamation points instead of question marks and everything anywhere, so I have no idea at the time what those meant," she testified.

The research that caught her eye in 2013 reviewed patient records from the Nebraska Medical Center. The institution had switched to the acidified fortifier with high hopes but stopped using it after four months because it was concerned about patient outcomes, Anderson-Berry and Nebraska co-authors reported in January 2014.

In an interview, Anderson-Berry said she set out to analyze why, during those four months, babies' growth "fell apart in our hands."

Abbott was "very pleased" with Anderson-Berry's findings and paid her to go around the country discussing them, she said.

Metabolic acidosis can be fatal, Anderson-Berry said. But typically it can be managed, she said, adding that she didn't know of deaths from metabolic acidosis caused by the acidified fortifier.

Research has found that metabolic acidosis "is associated with poor developmental and neurologic outcomes in very low birth weight infants," according to a paper Barrett-Reis co-authored. In addition, it is "a risk factor for neonatal necrotizing enterocolitis," the paper said.

Barrett-Reis did not respond to inquiries for this article, including a message sent via LinkedIn and a letter sent to an address that appeared to be associated with her.

In court, Abbott representative Robyn Spilker testified that metabolic acidosis can be a very serious condition and that nobody should knowingly put kids at risk for getting NEC in an effort to make money.

Before infants were enrolled in the AL16 study, their parents or guardians had to sign consent forms disclosing, among other things, the risks that clinical trial subjects would face.

International ethical principles for medical research on humans, known as the Declaration of Helsinki, say each participant must be adequately informed of the "potential risks."

Questioning Abbott's Spilker in litigation, plaintiff's attorney Timothy Cronin said, "Ma'am, despite the hypothesis going in, are you aware Abbott did not put metabolic acidosis on the informed consent form given to parents that signed their kids up for that study?" Spilker, who identified herself in court as a senior brand manager, said she didn't know what was on the consent forms.

Through a request under a Kentucky open-records law, KFF Health News obtained an informed consent form for the AL16 study used at a public institution, the University of Louisville. The form mentioned risks such as diarrhea, constipation, gas, and fussiness. It did not mention metabolic acidosis or NEC.

KFF Health News also reviewed an informed consent form for the AL16 study used at Memorial Hospital of South Bend. It was largely identical to the one used in Louisville and did not mention metabolic acidosis or NEC.

Cronin, the plaintiff's attorney, said in an interview that Abbott showed disregard for the health and safety of premature babies participating in the AL16 clinical trial.

"I think it's unethical to do a study if you know you are subjecting participants in the study to an increased risk of a potentially deadly disease and you don't at least tell them that," Cronin said.

Anderson-Berry told KFF Health News that Abbott was "ethically well positioned" to conduct the AL16 clinical trial because her paper was not definitive.

Yet she said she was unwilling to enroll any of her patients in the Abbott clinical trial because she didn't want to take the chance that they would be given the acidified liquid.

White, the neonatologist who stopped enrolling patients in the study, defended the decision to conduct it. In an interview, he said it was appropriate to conduct a large, properly controlled clinical trial to see whether concerns raised in earlier research were borne out. The two babies whose serious adverse events he reported to Abbott ended up doing fine, he said.

But White, who went on to be listed as a co-author of the study, told KFF Health News that parents should have been informed that the risks included metabolic acidosis and NEC.

"In retrospect, obviously, that is something that we, I think, should have informed parents of," he said.

Abbott did not directly answer questions about the consent forms.

The results of AL16 were published in the Journal of Pediatrics in 2018. The conclusion: Infants fed the acidified product - in other words, the Mead Johnson fortifier - had higher rates of metabolic acidosis and poorer feeding tolerance. Plus, poorer "initial weight gain."

The title of the article trumpeted "Improved Outcomes in Preterm Infants Fed a Nonacidified Liquid Human Milk Fortifier" - in other words, the Abbott product.

Eight of the 78 infants receiving the Mead Johnson fortifier were treated for metabolic acidosis, compared with none of the 82 receiving the Abbott product, the article said. Four infants on Mead Johnson's product experienced serious adverse events, compared with one on the Abbott product, the article reported.

One infant receiving the Mead Johnson product died - from sepsis, the article said. One had a case of NEC, and infants on Mead Johnson's fortifier "had significantly more vomiting," the article said.

However, in a pair of letters to the editor published in the Journal of Pediatrics, doctors criticized the article as hyped. Writers said the article emphasized findings that were subjective and susceptible to bias.

In its business battle with Mead Johnson, Abbott deployed the study. It produced an annotated copy for its sales force, which was shown in the Whitfield trial.

Abbott's use of AL16 as a marketing tool worked.

In 2019, when Barrett-Reis applied for a promotion at Abbott, she wrote that the results of the study had been "leveraged to secure whole hospital contracts which have increased hospital share to > 70%."

Her letter was displayed in a deposition video filed in the Gill litigation.

Internally, Mead Johnson conceded it had been beaten in the fight over fortifiers. In the slide deck for a 2020 national sales meeting, the company said, "Abbott won the narrative."
Last summer, Lorena Alvarado Hill received a series of unexpected medical bills.

A teacher's aide in Melbourne, Florida, Hill is a single mom who works shifts at J.Crew on the weekends to send her daughter to college. Hill and her mother, who lives with her, had been enrolled in an insurance plan through HealthFirst.

Hill paid nothing toward the premiums for the government-subsidized plan, which previously had covered her scans and other appointments.

Then the bills came.

Hill was on the hook for a $2,966.93 MRI, as well as more than half a dozen doctor visits costing about $200 or $300 each. Without that kind of money on hand, Hill said, she put a few of the bills on payment plans and tried to figure out what had gone wrong.

She discovered, to her surprise, that her insurance had been canceled for "non-payment of premiums."

The medical service

A health insurance plan purchased through the Affordable Care Act federal exchange, healthcare.gov.

The bill

A monthly premium bill for 1 cent, which in the following months increased incrementally to 5 cents.

The billing problem: Small bill, big consequences

Premium subsidies for ACA plans are automatically recalculated every time coverage is changed because of a life event, such as marriage, a change of job, or a child turning 26. In June, Hill removed her mother from the family's group plan because she turned 65 and became eligible for Medicare and Medicaid.

The change triggered a recalculation of Hill's monthly premium contribution, increasing it from $0 to 1 cent. She said she thought the amount was so small that she couldn't pay it with her credit card.

Hill acknowledged she had received some bills that noted, "You may lose your health insurance coverage because you did not pay your monthly health insurance premium."

But she said that her doctors collected the usual copayments during subsequent visits and that her insurance broker told her not to worry, reassuring her that the plan was "active." Hill figured the 1-cent monthly premium was probably a rounding error that couldn't result in termination, she said.

On Nov. 22, she got a letter marked "Important: Your health insurance coverage is ending." It listed the last day of coverage as July 31, nearly four months before.

"I panicked," Hill said. "I didn't sleep that night."

She made an appointment the next day with her broker, who called HealthFirst for clarification. The news was even worse: Not only had her insurance been canceled, but the 5-cent bill could be sent to a collection agency.

Hill takes out loans to pay her daughter's college expenses. "I couldn't have my credit ruined," she said.

Others have lost their coverage over owing small amounts, said Sabrina Corlette, co-director of the Center on Health Insurance Reforms at Georgetown University. "This woman's situation is not so unusual with the enhanced subsidies," she said.

The American Rescue Plan, passed in 2021, increased the amount of government assistance available to ACA plan holders. Those enhanced subsidies, which Congress let expire at the end of last year, meant enrollees with lower incomes had to pay little or nothing toward their premiums.

The Biden administration found that, in 2023, about 81,000 subsidized ACA insurance policies were terminated because the enrollee owed $5 or less. Nearly 103,000 more were canceled for owing less than $10.

To prevent that kind of coverage loss, most likely hitting people with little income, Biden administration health officials gave insurers the flexibility to allow ACA enrollees to retain coverage if they owed less than $10, or less than 95% of premium costs.

Insurers were required to keep insurance active for a 90-day "grace period" to give enrollees time to respond. That's why Hill's doctors initially took her copayments and sent no bill, as if nothing had changed.

That Biden administration "flexibility" rule took effect Jan. 15, 2025, though not every insurer opted to offer leniency to those owing small amounts.

The Trump administration removed the rule on Aug. 25, eliminating the protection entirely in the name of combating fraud and abuse.

The resolution

Alarmed by the cancellation, the thousands of dollars in bills, and the threat of collections over 5 cents, Hill researched insurance law and fought back.

She filed a complaint in December with HealthFirst and the Florida Department of Financial Services asking for a write-off of her 5-cent balance and retroactive restoration of her policy, citing state and federal laws that seemed to apply to her situation.

In particular, she wrote, "creditors are not required to collect, and consumers are not required to pay, credit-card balances of $1.00 or less," adding that "all major insurers and payment processors in Florida follow a 1-cent write-off policy."

She noted that HealthFirst's policy was to respond to complaints in 30 days.

Thirty days came and went, but Hill said she heard nothing in response  and new bills from her canceled policy kept coming.

Despite her frustration, Hill said, all her doctors were contracted with HealthFirst, so she reenrolled for 2026.

Lance Skelly, a spokesperson for HealthFirst, initially said the case "is still in the appeals/grievance process." In a follow-up email, he said HealthFirst had followed the law in canceling Hill's policy.

"Stepping back from what's legal, this is just ridiculous," Corlette said.

Weeks after a reporter's query to the insurer, Hill said she looked at her billing statements for all the medical services she received in 2025 and was pleasantly surprised that the balances owed had been adjusted to $0.

But she said she would also like HealthFirst to cover what she had paid and still owed toward the bills she'd put on payment plans.

The takeaway

Even small bills can have major consequences.

With the automation of more health billing decisions, irrational results have become increasingly common.

"One cent?!" Hill said. "No human would do this!"

It can be tempting to dismiss the notice of a tiny debt, but it's important to take it seriously. Contact the insurer and get a human involved.

And while insurance policies have grace periods allowing coverage to remain in place if you miss a payment, some are not very long. For subsidized ACA marketplace plans, the period is 90 days, but others last just 30 or 45.

Missing one payment can mean losing coverage. So it's important to keep a close eye on premiums to make sure they're paid.

Bill of the Month is a crowdsourced investigation by KFF Health News and The Washington Post's Well+Being that dissects and explains medical bills. Since 2018, this series has helped many patients and readers get their medical bills reduced, and it has been cited in statehouses, at the U.S. Capitol, and at the White House. Do you have a confusing or outrageous medical bill you want to share? Tell us about it!
A new study, co-led by researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and published March 30 in Nature Medicine [https://doi.org/ 10.1038/s41591-026-04228-6], demonstrates that genes associated with autism risk are largely the same across people of different ancestries.

The findings, based on one of the largest genomic studies of Latin American individuals to date, provide strong evidence that the genetic architecture of autism is consistent across diverse populations. They underscore the importance of expanding genetic research beyond individuals of European ancestry.

Over the past decade, scientists have identified numerous rare genetic variants that confer substantial risk for autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders. However, most of these discoveries were made in cohorts composed predominantly of individuals of European ancestry, leaving open the question of whether autism's genetic underpinnings differ across populations. This knowledge gap has contributed to disparities in genetic testing, including higher rates of inconclusive results among non-European individuals due to limited reference data.

To address this issue, the research team analyzed exome and genome sequencing data from more than 15,000 Latin American individuals across North, Central, and South America, including approximately 4,700 individuals diagnosed with autism. Latin American populations represent the largest recently mixed-ancestry group globally, with heritage that frequently includes Indigenous American, West African, and European origins. This rich genetic diversity provides a powerful opportunity to refine gene-disease associations, which can improve health outcomes for all populations.

The study examined more than 18,000 genes for enrichment of rare, deleterious coding variants-genetic changes that can have immediate and profound clinical implications for diagnosis, treatment, and family counseling.

Consistent with prior research, rare, deleterious variants in highly conserved genes-genes that remain similar across species and populations over long periods of time-were disproportionately observed in individuals with autism. Researchers identified 35 genes significantly associated with autism in the Latin American cohort. These genes showed extensive overlap with those previously identified in genome-wide studies of individuals of European ancestry. The findings also provide support for several recently identified "emerging" autism-associated genes.

Our results indicate that the core genetic architecture of autism is shared across ancestries. This suggests that the biology underlying autism is universal and reinforces the importance of ensuring that diverse populations are represented in genetic research." Joseph D. Buxbaum, PhD, study senior author, Director of the Seaver Autism Center for Research and Treatment at Mount Sinai

The study also evaluated widely used metrics that assess evolutionary conservation of genes, an important tool for prioritizing genes in clinical genetic analyses of neurodevelopmental disorders. The researchers found that these metrics, which were again largely derived from European-ancestry datasets, may overestimate conservation overall due to limited ancestral diversity in European populations. However, the metrics remain highly accurate for the most strongly conserved genes-including those most relevant to autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders.

The authors note that continued sequencing of diverse populations will further improve conservation metrics, particularly for less conserved genes, ultimately enhancing the accuracy of clinical genetic testing.

"These findings provide a road map for improving genetic diagnosis across ancestral groups," said Dr. Buxbaum. "Expanding genomic research in underrepresented populations is essential to reducing health disparities and advancing precision medicine for autism and related conditions across all ancestral populations."

The study's results align with growing evidence that both rare and common genetic risk factors for complex disorders are shared across diverse populations. By demonstrating broad overlap in autism risk genes across ancestries, the research supports more inclusive approaches to genomic medicine and reinforces the universal biological foundations of autism.
Facilities that work with radioactive materials require practical solutions for storing, transporting, and managing small quantities of isotopes and radioactive waste. In nuclear medicine, radiopharmacy, research laboratories, and industrial inspection environments, shielded storage containers play an important role in maintaining safe handling procedures.

Lead-lined storage containers provide localized radiation protection for materials that must be moved, temporarily stored, or handled outside fixed shielding systems. These containers are typically used alongside broader radiation protection strategies that include facility shielding, controlled workflows, and regulated access procedures.

Not all radioactive materials remain inside shielded rooms or cabinets throughout their lifecycle. Materials often need to be moved between workstations, stored temporarily, or managed during waste decay periods.

Lead-lined containers help address these operational needs by providing localized radiation protection around smaller quantities of material.

Typical situations where these containers are used include:

Transporting isotopes between controlled work areas

Storing radiopharmaceuticals before preparation or administration

Managing radioactive waste during decay

Disposing of contaminated sharps such as syringes

Holding calibration sources or research materials

In these situations, the container provides an additional layer of protection that complements existing facility shielding.

Common container types used in nuclear medicine and laboratory environments

Several different container designs are used depending on the material being handled and the workflow requirements.

Lead-lined storage containers

Lead-lined containers are used for transporting and storing radioactive materials across medical, industrial, and scientific applications. They are available in multiple sizes to accommodate different material quantities and handling requirements.

These containers are commonly used when portability is required without removing radiation protection.

Image Credit: Ultraray

Shielded decay drums

Decay drums are used for storing radioactive waste materials while they undergo decay before disposal. These containers often include drop ports that allow waste to be deposited without fully opening the lid.

Facilities frequently operate two drums in rotation so that one container can be actively filled while another remains in decay storage.

Image Credit: Ultraray

Shielded waste containers

Shielded waste containers are designed specifically for low-energy beta and gamma radiation waste. These containers often incorporate layered shielding materials and protective access doors to limit exposure during routine waste handling.

They are commonly used in laboratory and hot lab environments where radioactive waste is generated regularly.

Image Credit: Ultraray

Shielded sharps disposal systems

Sharps container shields provide localized shielding for used syringes contaminated with radioactive residue. These systems allow syringes to be deposited through controlled openings while protecting users during disposal.

They are typically used in nuclear medicine hot labs where injectable radiopharmaceuticals are handled.

Image Credit: Ultraray

Lead-lined canisters

Lead-lined canisters provide portable shielding for radioactive isotopes stored in small quantities. These containers are often cylindrical and designed for manual handling with integrated lifting grips.

They are commonly used when materials must be moved between preparation areas, storage areas, and testing environments.

Image Credit: Ultraray

Where lead-lined storage containers are commonly used

Shielded storage containers are found in a wide range of controlled environments, including:

Nuclear medicine departments

Radiopharmacy hot labs

Research laboratories

Industrial radiography facilities

Quality control laboratories

Hospital radioactive waste handling areas

While the environments may differ, the objective remains consistent: safely managing radioactive materials during storage and handling.

Supporting safe handling and transport of radioactive materials

Lead-lined storage containers are designed to support safe operational practices rather than replace facility-level radiation protection systems.

Their role is to provide localized shielding during specific tasks such as transport, waste staging, or temporary storage. Proper selection depends on factors such as material type, activity level, workflow patterns, and handling procedures.

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Sponsored Content Policy: News-Medical.net publishes articles and related content that may be derived from sources where we have existing commercial relationships, provided such content adds value to the core editorial ethos of News-Medical.net, which is to educate and inform site visitors interested in medical research, science, medical devices and treatments.
East Coasters, prepare to see more giant yellow spiders this year. Joro spider eggs are hatching across parts of the Southeast, continuing the spread of the invasive species first documented in northeast Georgia in 2014, reports USA Today . Native to East Asia, the spiders have since turned up in states including North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee, and at least as far north as Massachusetts . Sightings also have been reported in several national parks, including Great Smoky Mountain and Congaree.

Officials say the spiders are steadily moving north, likely introduced via shipping containers and now hitching rides on vehicles. One silver lining: "While they're large spiders, they don't have large fangs," Ian Williams, an entomologist with Orkin, tells Fox News. "And, so, it's difficult for them to bite humans." A bite, if it happens, is typically comparable to a bee sting, thoughas with bee stingsrare allergic reactions can occur. The larger concern for scientists is ecological: as Joros move into new areas, native orb-weaving spiders have been observed declining due to competition.

Female Joros are easy to spot: they're orb-weavers with bodies up to 1.5 inches long, with bright yellow bodies and blue-black markings. Males are smaller and duller in color. The spiders spin expansive, sometimes messy-looking webs closer to the ground between shrubs and low branches, where they trap flying insects. At this point, eradication is seen as impossible, but wildlife authorities are still interested in tracking their spread through crowd-reporting sites such as Joro Watch.
A 120-mile desert relay race between California and Nevada ended in tragedy over the weekend. Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy Levi Vargas collapsed during the Baker to Vegas Challenge Cup race and later died, officials said Sunday. He was 30. Authorities have not released a cause of death but said Vargas received emergency medical care after suffering a "medical emergency" on the Mojave Desert course, per the Guardian .

The race is "the premier sporting event of the year" for local law enforcement agencies, which send 20-runner teams, per the Los Angeles Times. This year's event took place as parts of California and Nevada set March heat records, triggering health advisories. Officials with the department and the US attorney's office in LA said they were "shocked" by the death. The sheriff's department called Vargas a "beloved deputy" and asked the public to honor his service and keep his family in mind. Vargas joined the sheriff's department in 2015 and most recently worked in San Dimas.
A three-minute raid at a countryside museum villa in northern Italy has stripped the private museum of three major French works, authorities say. Four masked intruders hit the Magnani Rocca Foundation near Parma on March 22, forcing the main door and heading straight to the "French Room" on the first floor, according to Italian media cited by the BBC . They left with Pierre-Auguste Renoir's Les Poissons, Paul Cezanne's Still Life with Cherries, and Henri Matisse's Odalisque on the Terracepaintings the regional broadcaster TGR values at a combined $10.3 million, with the Renoir alone reportedly worth nearly $7 million.

The thieves fled over a fence after the alarm sounded, which the foundation believes cut short a larger plan. The institution described the group as "structured and organized"; Parma Today reports it took place between 2am and 4am. Italy's Carabinieri and the Cultural Heritage Protection Unit in Bologna are now leading the investigation; the theft was disclosed to the public on Sunday. The heist follows a high-profile jewel robbery at the Louvre in Paris last October and is being counted among Italy's most significant recent art thefts. The foundation is home to the art collection of art historian Luigi Magnani, AFP reports.
The fight over immigration policy just produced a new kind of record in Washington, and not the bragging kind. The Department of Homeland Security's funding lapse hit day 44 on Sunday, making it the longest partial government shutdown the US has seen, NBC News reports. It broke the previous record set during the federal government's 43-day shutdown last year . This time around, other federal agencies are funded, but DHS is notand the stalemate shows little sign of ending soon; Congress is largely out of town until mid-April.

The Senate on Friday approved a bipartisan measure to fund most of DHS, but not Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection. House GOP leaders dismissed that planSpeaker Mike Johnson labeled it "a joke"and instead passed a short-term funding bill that is going nowhere in the Senate. Democrats say they won't back full DHS funding without tighter rules on immigration enforcement. The partial shutdown, which began Feb. 14, is rippling through airports, where TSA officers have worked without pay, prompting long lines, resignations, and mass sick-outs.

President Trump ordered DHS on Friday to resume paying TSA employees; Trump's "border czar" Tom Homan says checks are expected Monday or Tuesday, ABC News reports. Officers were still calling out sick after Trump's order, with 10.27% of scheduled workers calling out Saturday. ICE agents, funded under an earlier spending package, have been getting paid and are now assisting at airports. Homan said Sunday that the agents will stay at airports "as long as they need us," the AP reports.
With ticket prices for concerts and sporting events hitting record highs amid rising tour costs, intense demand, dynamic pricing models, and reselling, the Wall Street Journal explores another factor making fans dig deeper into their pockets: the need to travel. As more top acts abandon city-by-city tours for multi-night stands in a handful of locations, in what's known as artist residencies, the cost of seeing a favorite artist increasingly includes airfare and hotels on top of already steep ticket prices.

Fans traveled from around the world to see Bad Bunny's 31-show residency in San Juan, Puerto Rico, last year. Other artists, from the Backstreet Boys and Adele to U2 and the Eagles, are also leaning into residencies, which cut their own travel and labor costs and allow for bigger, more elaborate productions. Industry insiders say the model can be more lucrative for performers, but it effectively shifts the travel burden to fans.

Some acts try to soften that blow. Dead & Company loaded its Las Vegas run with free exhibits and experiences to make the trip feel worth it. But with the new setup turning what once felt like communal pop events into something closer to a luxury purchase, many simply can't afford it. As the Cleveland mother of a disappointed Harry Styles fan tells the Journal, "Concerts shouldn't be for wealthy people only ... The working class is already losing so much." This GQ piece takes a deep dive into the wider ticket pricing problem.
The US troop presence in the Middle East has quietly swelled to a level not seen in decades, now hovering above 50,000. The latest additions: 2,500 Marines from the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit and 2,500 sailors, plus about 2,000 paratroopers from the Army's 82nd Airborne Division, all moving into position as President Trump weighs his next moves in his month-old war in Iran, per the New York Times . Typically, about 40,000 US personnel are spread across bases and ships in countries including Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Qatar, and the UAE. The buildup comes as Washington considers more aggressive steps to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a chokepoint for about a fifth of global oil shipments that has been largely shut by Iranian retaliation.

The Pentagon is gearing up for weeks of ground operations in the country should Trump approve, per the Washington Post. Options reportedly include seizing territory such as Kharg Island, Iran's key oil export hub. While analysts note that 50,000 troops would be far too few for a large-scale ground campaign in a country the size and population of Iran, special operations raids are possible, officials tell the Post. This would mark a new phase of the war, one "significantly more dangerous to US troops than the first four weeks," per the outlet. More than 13 US service members have already been killed, with more than 300 wounded, including at least 15 injured in a Friday attack on a Saudi air base, reports PBS. A recent AP-NORC poll finds 62% of respondents strongly opposed to the use of ground troops in Iran, with only 12% in favor.
More than a century ago, the US Supreme Court ruled that Wong Kim Ark was a US citizen. That 1898 case, in which the government tried to block Wong from returning to his country of birth after a visit to China, recognized that the 14th Amendment guaranteed citizenship to anyone born on US soil. Now, Wong's great-grandson, 76-year-old Norman Wong, fears that precedent is about to tumble, per Reuters . On Wednesday, justices will hear arguments related to President Trump's now-blocked executive order denying automatic citizenship to children born in the US if neither parent is a citizen or green-card holder.

The administration argues the 14th Amendment has been misread for generations and shouldn't cover the US-born children of undocumented or temporary visitors, citing concerns about illegal immigration and "birth tourism." Legal scholars largely say precedentespecially Wong Kim Ark's casecuts the other way, and warn a ruling for Trump could affect up to 250,000 babies a year and cast doubt on the status of millions more.

The ACLU, whose lawsuit challenging the order was brought on behalf of families in New Hampshire, calls the order unconstitutional. "At a fundamental level, this case is about an attempt to strip citizenship from the children of immigrants who have always been citizens of the US," ACLU lawyer Cody Wofsy tells NBC News. Wong calls it a rerun. "It was settled 128 years ago. We're just revisiting it," he tells Reuters. The Trump administration says it isn't challenging that earlier case, but its argumentthat anyone born to parents with an "allegiance to anybody else" doesn't qualify for citizenship"directly contravenes" it, UC Berkeley law professor Amanda L. Tyler writes at the Atlantic.
President Trump is actively considering a ground operation inside Iran to haul out nearly half a ton of enriched uranium, US officials saya mission military experts describe as exposed and highly risky. As the Wall Street Journal reports, the plan under discussion would send American forces into at least two nuclear sites, possibly for up to a week, to locate and remove uranium stored in dozens of specialized canisters. Trump hasn't given the green light, according to officials, but views the idea as a way to ensure Iran can't move toward a nuclear weapon in the future. "They're going to give us the nuclear dust," he said of Iran's uranium Sunday night.

Trump has pushed advisers to make surrender of the uranium a condition for ending the war and has told allies that Iran "can't keep the material." Pakistan, Turkey, and Egypt are serving as go-betweens, but Washington and Tehran still aren't talking directly. The Pentagon is positioning forces and planning for contingencies, including a possible 10,000-troop boost in the region (current numbers have topped 50,000), while Trump publicly insists he doesn't want a drawn-out conflict. Military planners warn the extraction would likely invite Iranian retaliation and could blow past the administration's stated 4- to 6-week war timeline. "This would not only be one of the riskiest special operations missions in American history, but very possibly the largest," says CBS News national security analyst Aaron MacLean. Much more in the Journal piece.
Spain has closed its airspace to US planes involved in the Iran war, Defense Minister Margarita Robles said Monday, marking another step in the country's opposition to the US and Israel's conflict in the Middle East. Spain had already said the US could not use jointly operated military bases in the Iran conflict, which the AP reports that Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has described as illegal, reckless, and unjust.

Robles said Monday the same logic applied to the use of Spanish airspace in the conflict. "This was made perfectly clear to the American military and forces from the very beginning. Therefore, neither the bases are authorized, nor, of course, is the use of Spanish airspace authorized for any actions related to the war in Iran," Robles told reporters. Spanish newspaper El Pais first reported the closure of Spain's airspace, citing military sources.

Spain's government under Sanchez has been Europe's loudest opposing voice against US and Israeli military actions in the Middle East. After Sanchez's government denied the US use of the Rota and Moron military bases in southern Spain, President Trump threatened to cut trade with Madrid. Sanchez was also among the most vocal critics of Israel's actions in its war in Gaza. "I think everyone knows Spain's position; it's very clear," Robles said, calling the war in Iran "profoundly illegal and profoundly unjust."
Rob Schneider wants America's teenagers in uniformand we're not talking school uniforms. The 62-year-old actor and comedian is publicly calling for the US to bring back mandatory military service as tensions with Iran continue, arguing that young Americans should serve two years starting at age 18, per the Guardian . In a post on X , Schneider, who never served himself, said military or volunteer service, at home or abroad, would instill discipline, unite people across backgrounds, and teach "how truly great their country is," which he said universities aren't doing.

He framed service as the price of US freedoms and urged young people to see it as part of their responsibility as citizens. He noted that many countries have an active military draft and added that the US also did so until "recently." In actuality, the last US military draft ended more than 50 years ago in 1972, though men 18 to 25 must still register with Selective Service.

Schneider, who backed Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in the 2024 election before throwing his support behind President Trump, has also raised eyebrows with recent comments about vaccines and childhood illness. In October, he falsely claimed there were no children's hospitals when he was a child "because kids weren't sick." Part of the appeal of a military draft is that "we would always have a standing army ready at all times," Schneider wrote, per Fox News, adding that young people would also be improved by "rigorous physical training." The White House has said reinstating the draft remains an option, though it's not currently planned.
President Trump on Monday suggested that peace talks were making progress, but he also threatened to expand bombardment of Iran should those talks collapse. In a Truth Social post, Trump said the US was negotiating with a "new, and more reasonable, regime," but he warned that a deal must happen quickly and demanded that the Strait of Hormuz be opened immediately, reports NBC News . If not, the US will end its military campaign by "blowing up and completely obliterating" Iran's electricity plants, oil wells, and the vital energy hub of Kharg Island, he wrote. The US also might hit Iran's desalination plants, he added.

The nature of the new negotiations was not immediately clear: Pakistan is hosting a forum of regional neighbors, though neither Iran nor the US was participating. A spokesman for the current Iranian regime, meanwhile, made clear that Tehran has had "no direct negotiations with the US," reports the BBC. Esmail Baghaei also accused the US of "constantly" shifting its public positions. "I do not know how many in the United States take the claim of American diplomacy seriously," he said. Still, Trump's comments on progress have boosted optimism on Wall Street, notes CNBC, with Dow futures up more than 300 points. On Sunday, Trump also said Tehran agreed to let an additional 20 ships traverse the strait as a "sign of respect" to the US, per the New York Times.
A 22-year-old soldier who grew up in Connecticut has been killed while fighting for Israel in southern Lebanon, officials said Sunday. The Israel Defense Forces identified him as Sgt. Moshe Yitzchak Hacohen Katz, born in New Haven and posthumously promoted from corporal, reports CBS News . He served in the IDF's Paratroopers Brigade, 890th Battalion, after moving to Israel a year ago and enlisting, according to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. "On behalf of all citizens of Israel, we embrace the family of the late Moshe in their difficult time," he said in a statement.

"My heart is shattered and the wound is real," his father, Mendy Katz, said in a Facebook post. Katz's great-uncle, Rabbi Yehoshua Hecht, told Israel's Army Radio that Katz was religious, a strong student, and "enjoyed every moment of life." The IDF did not release details on the circumstances of his death beyond saying it occurred in combat in southern Lebanon, where Israeli forces are battling Hezbollah as part of a broader conflict linked to the war involving Iran. The AP reports five Israeli soldiers have been killed in Lebanon this month. The UN refugee agency warns Lebanon is on the brink of a deeper humanitarian emergency, with about a million residents displaced, while an Israeli think tank estimates more than 1,100 people have died in Israeli strikes there since the war began.
Chinese naval, air forces patrol Huangyan Dao

Xinhua) 13:34, March 30, 2026

BEIJING, March 29 (Xinhua) -- Naval and air units of the People's Liberation Army Southern Theater Command on Sunday conducted combat readiness patrols in the territorial waters and airspace of China's Huangyan Dao and its surrounding areas.

Stressing that Huangyan Dao is an inalienable part of China's territory, the command said in a statement that its naval and air forces have enhanced readiness patrols there since March, and carried out tracking, monitoring, warning and expelling operations in accordance with laws and regulations.

"Such patrols serve as an effective countermeasure to cope with all sorts of rights-violation and provocative acts," it said.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
Air Canada's boss is heading for the exits after a language firestorm he couldn't put outand presumably he'll use the newfound free time to take some French lessons. The airline said Monday that CEO Michael Rousseau will retire this fall, wrapping up nearly 20 years at the company just days after backlash over his English-only video message following a deadly crash in New York, reports the CBC. His replacement will be selected on multiple factors, the company said in a statement, "including the ability to communicate in French." Rousseau had been at the helm of the company since 2021, notes the New York Times.
A veteran Air Canada flight attendant thrown from a crashed plane at New York's LaGuardia Airport faces a long and complex recovery, her daughter says. Solange Tremblay, a senior crew member on Air Canada Jazz Flight 8646, was found on the tarmac still strapped into her jump seat about 320 feet from the wreckage after the aircraft struck a fire truck upon landing on March 22. Tremblay's daughter, Sarah Lepine, writes on a GoFundMe page that her mother suffered open fractures to both legs requiring multiple surgeries and metal plates, a spinal fracture that may need surgery, and extensive leg wounds requiring skin grafts, along with a blood transfusion, reports the Toronto Sun .

"My mom has suffered so much from this event and regrettably her struggles are far from over," she says. Lepine says her mother remains hospitalized in New York, faces additional operations, intensive rehab, and a heightened risk of infection, and is "in constant fear of sustaining further damages." Former federal crash investigator Jeff Guzzetti tells Fox News that Tremblay's survival is miraculous "compared to the destruction of the nose of the airplane." The fundraiser, intended to support the family as they miss work to care for her, had collected more than $140,000 by Sunday afternoon, nearing its $160,000 goal. The crash killed pilots Antoine Forest and Mackenzie Gunther and sent more than 40 people to hospitals. Air Canada's CEO is retiring after his bungled condolences.
A seashell hunt on a Northern California beach has closed the loop on a 25-year-old missing-person case. A tibia bone discovered in June 2022 by a family searching for seashells at Sonoma County's Salmon Creek Beach has been identified as belonging to former Santa Rosa banker Walter Karl Kinney, who vanished in 1999, according to the nonprofit DNA Doe Project . The bone, which contained surgical hardware, allowed experts to build a DNA profile that was uploaded to the genealogy site GEDmatch in January, per NBC News . Researchers then linked the profile to a family that had relocated from the East Coast to San Diego and, ultimately, to Kinney.

The key breakthrough came when researchers learned a human leg had washed ashore several miles to the south of Salmon Creek Beach in 1999, per NBC and KTLA. It was identified as Kinney's via x-rays after his daughter contacted authorities in 2003. "It's not often we see someone end up as a John Doe twice," said DNA Doe Project team lead Traci Onders. "But thanks to investigative genetic genealogy, we were able to resolve this mystery and provide some answers to everyone involved in this case." The Sonoma County Sheriff's Office thanked the researchers "for helping us put a name to the human remains." Kinney's daughter described her father as "smart" and "sensitive," adding that "this world was just too harsh a place for him."
Scott Brown is staying put in what one GOP senator calls New Hampshire's "weird" primary, even as his party's machinery lines up against him. The former Massachusetts senator tells Semafor he won't exit the Republican Senate race despite endorsements for former Sen. John E. Sununu from President Trump, the National Republican Senatorial Committee, and the Senate Leadership Fund. Brown, lagging in polls ahead of the September primary, argues Sununu has alienated the GOP base and insists he can run as an "independent-minded" Republican who isn't taking orders from Washington.

"Certainly they want me to drop out, because that's what they do. They'll put pressure on me," he says. "I'm not going anywhere." His stance frustrates national Republicans, who already face long odds against Democratic Rep. Chris Pappas and worry a bruising, late primary will further weaken their chances in a state Trump has never carried. Sununu's camp mocked Brown's position, saying he "can't beat" Sununu and should still step aside before the June filing deadline. Polls have consistently put Sununu in the lead, with an Emerson College poll last week putting Sununu at 48% and Brown at 19%, with around 33% undecided, the New York Times reports.

Brown was appointed as US ambassador to New Zealand and Samoa during Trump's first term, though the president endorsed his rival last month. In the Semafor interview, Brown blasted Senate Republicans for failing to "get the people's business done," saying, "This TSA thing is embarrassing." GOP Sen. John Cornyn says Sununu has a better chance of winning the general election. "Two good guys. It is kind of weird. Sorry to see it," he says. "But the Sununu family is sort of a dynasty."

Brown was elected to the Senate in a special election in Massachusetts in 2010 after the death of Democratic Sen. Ted Kennedy, but he lost to Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren in the general election in 2012. In 2014, he won the New Hampshire primary in a bid to become the first senator to have represented more than one state since the 19th century, but lost to incumbent Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen. Shaheen, who defeated Sununu in 2008 after his single term in the Senate, is not seeking a fourth term.
Israel has sidelined an entire reserve battalion from the occupied West Bank after one of its soldiers, caught on camera detaining CNN journalists, said they were acting out of "revenge" against Palestinians, reports the New York Times. The CNN crew, filming an illegal settler outpost near the Palestinian village of Tayasir, reported that a cameraman was put in a chokehold and that the crew was held for about two hours. The network has its own account of the incident here. But it wasn't just the rough treatment of the journalists that became an issue: In footage from the scene, a soldier was recorded saying the West Bank was "for the Jews" and linking their actions to the death of an Israeli teenager in a March 21 car collision involving a Palestinian driver.
Mark Sanford is suiting up for another run for Congress in South Carolina, aiming to reclaim the Charleston-area House seat he lost in 2018, reports Politico . The former governor and congressman filed on Monday, the last possible day, jumping into a crowded field opened by Rep. Nancy Mace's decision to run for governor. "People have been telling me it's time to get off the bleachers," the 64-year-old Republican tells the Post and Courier , arguing that voters are now more attuned to the fiscal warnings he's sounded for years.

Sanford has been off the ballot since his quixotic 2020 GOP presidential bid, which he ran largely to spotlight the nation's balance sheet. He reenters politics with about $1.3 million left from earlier campaigns, but also with well-known liabilities. He lost his House seat after President Trump (in his first term) backed Sanford's primary opponent, and the two tangled repeatedly over Trump's conduct. Sanford also remains linked to one of South Carolina's most infamous scandals: his 2009 disappearance to see his mistress in Argentina, initially explained to the public as "hiking the Appalachian Trail."
A giant jackpot hasn't kept the handcuffs away from James Farthing. The 51-year-old Kentuckianwinner of a $167.3 million Powerball prize with his mother and girlfriend in April 2025has been arrested for the fourth time since his win, reports the Courier-Journal. This time, it's for the head-scratching charge of burglary. Police say Farthing entered a Lexington home on Saturday and made offin a black Porschewith $12,000 in cash, reports Lex18. Officers later found him in the parking lot of a nearby casino and race track, per the Guardian.
The nation's largest food distributor just ordered up its biggest deal ever, though Wall Street analysts seem to think Sysco overpaid. The company said Monday it will acquire restaurant supplier Jetro Restaurant Depot in a deal valued at $29 billion, reports Reuters . Sysco shares fell about 12% on the news. Restaurant Depot runs a wholesale cash-and-carry warehouse modelthink bulk food, drinks, and packaging, paid for upfrontacross roughly 166 locations in 35 states, a higher-margin business that complements Sysco's delivery network to restaurants, hospitals, and hotels.

Sysco CEO Kevin Hourican said the deal should mean more choice and lower prices for small restaurants, adding there is "minimal overlap" between the two firms' customers, a likely nod to antitrust concerns that sank Sysco's attempted US Foods takeover in 2015. However the new deal shakes out, the Wall Street Journal notes that it calls attention to the remarkable success story of Restaurant Depot and its "reclusive" 94-year-old founder, Nathan "Natie" Kirsch.

The native of South Africa opened his company in 1976 in a Brooklyn warehouse as Jetro Cash & Carry after studying the restaurant-supply market and realizing it didn't really exist. "We literally have no competition," he told students at the London Business School in 2011. The company generated about $16 billion in revenue in 2025.
A 15-year-old student shot a teacher at a Texas high school before taking his own life, authorities say. The Comal County Sheriff's Office said the shooting happened Monday morning at Hill Country College Preparatory High School near Bulverde, KSAT reports. The teacher was rushed to a San Antonio hospital; officials have not released her condition. The student was pronounced dead at the scene. A spokesperson for the sheriff's office tells the AP that he died from a self-inflicted gunshot.

The school went into lockdown and remained secured as deputies and other law enforcement officers swept the campus and began an investigation. Students were later bused to nearby Bulverde Middle School to be reunited with families. "We know this is incredibly difficult to hear. What we can tell you is this situation is contained, and there is no ongoing threat to students," the sheriff's office said in a Facebook post. Principal Julie Wiley told parents the building was secure and that students and staff had been moved to safe areas.

Outside the reunification site, parents described the strain of waiting for news, KSAT reports. Sarah Valdez said she called her freshman son despite knowing phones weren't supposed to be used during lockdowns. Jesse Lopez said he planned to hang on tightly to his daughter once they were back together, but worried about persuading her to return to school: "That's going to be hard to do because, for one, she has autism, and she'll be afraid to go back." Hill Country College Prep, a specialized "school of choice" in the Comal Independent School District, opened in 2020.

.
The leader of a sex-focused women's wellness company that promoted "orgasmic meditation" was sentenced Monday to nine years in federal prison on forced labor charges. Nicole Daedone, co-founder of OneTaste Inc., was also ordered to forfeit $12 million during the hearing in Brooklyn, the AP reports. That was the amount she sold the California-based company for, according to John Marzulli, spokesperson for the Office of the US Attorney for the Eastern District of New York. Prosecutors had sought a 20-year prison term for Daedone, arguing in presentencing court filings that her scheme left "scores of victims financially, emotionally, and psychologically scarred."
Dozens of clowns marched through the streets of Bolivia's capital on Monday to protest a government decree that limits extracurricular activities, threatening their livelihoods. Wearing full face paint and their signature red noses, the clowns gathered in front of the Ministry of Education in La Paz to oppose a decree published in February, the AP reports. The new mandate says schools must comply with 200 days of lessons each yeareffectively banning schools from hosting the special events where these entertainers are frequently employed.

"This decree will economically affect all of us who work with children," said Wilder Ramirez, a leader of the local clown union, who also goes by the name of Zapallito. The clown told journalists that "children need to laugh" while his colleagues wondered out loud if Bolivia's Education Minister had ever had a childhood. Clowns in Bolivia are often hired for school festivities to entertain children during breaks from their regular lessons. One such upcoming event is Children's Day, which the country celebrates on April 12.

The decree issued by the government of recently elected President Rodrigo Paz says that celebrations will no longer be authorized during regular school days, though they can be held voluntarily on weekends. Government officials said they will take the clowns' critiques into account when they make a decree for the 2027 school year.

But those assurances provided little relief to the clowns protesting Monday. "This decree will diminish our income, and with the economic crisis the country is going through, our future looks increasingly gloomy," said Elias Gutierrez, a spokesperson for the Confederation of Artisanal Workers of Bolivia.

Bolivia is grappling with its worst economic crisis in decades as revenues from natural gas plummet following a sustained decline in production, and US dollars become scarce, making imports more expensive in the landlocked nation. Tailors who work with clowns and make dresses for children participating in cultural events joined Monday's protest as well as photographers who typically work school celebrations. The alliance of clowns, photographers, and costume makers marched through the center of La Paz, blowing their whistles and setting off small fireworks. One of the clowns carried a sign that blamed the government for "taking away smiles, and taking work away."
Alaska Beacon is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Alaska Beacon maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Claire Stremple for questions: info@alaskabeacon.com.
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TORONTO, March 30, 2026 /CNW/ - University Health Network (UHN) is pleased to announce a $5-million philanthropic gift from BMO to support the construction of a new Surgical Tower at UHN's Toronto Western Hospital and the expansion of PMATCH, an AI-powered precision oncology initiative at UHN's Princess Margaret Cancer Centre.

"We're proud to support UHN as they lead the way in transforming life-changing care for patients with cancer," said Darryl White, CEO of BMO Financial Group and Campaign Cabinet Co-Chair of the UHN Surgical Tower Campaign. "This investment puts the patient first by fostering a culture of technology innovation, collaboration and empowerment, which are key contributors to the high-quality health care that strengthens our communities."

BMO's gift will play a critical role in advancing cancer treatment at both Princess Margaret Cancer Centre and UHN's new Surgical Tower at Toronto Western Hospital, a first-of-its-kind initiative designed to meet the growing and increasingly complex surgical needs of patients across Ontario and beyond. Purpose-built to drive innovation, the Tower will significantly expand surgical capacity, modernize operating rooms and provide an elevated care journey for patients and their loved ones.

BMO's gift will also support PMATCH, a world-first, AI-powered initiative that uses artificial intelligence to better connect cancer patients with the most suitable clinical trials  first at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, and ultimately expanding to other participating Canadian hospitals. Using individual clinical and genomic profiles, PMATCH will improve patient screening through automation, streamline trial enrollment and support more efficient and equitable cancer research and care.

"This generous gift from BMO reflects the power of philanthropy to drive both innovation and collaboration across our healthcare system," said Dr. Kevin Smith, President & CEO of University Health Network. "Support for the new Surgical Tower will help UHN meet the growing demand for complex surgical care, while this shared investment alongside The Princess Margaret to advance PMATCH will improve how patients are connected to clinical trials and accelerating discovery for patients across Canada."

Together, these investments reflect a shared commitment to advancing patient-centred care through both state-of-the-art infrastructure and targeted innovation. By supporting the Surgical Tower and PMATCH, BMO's gift will help expand access to care, accelerate discovery and strengthen Canada's health care system for patients today and in the future.

More about UHN Foundation

Part of University Health Network (UHN), Canada's #1 hospital and the world's #1 publicly funded hospital, UHN Foundation raises funds for Toronto General Hospital, Toronto Western Hospital, Toronto Rehab and The Michener Institute of Education. No one ever changed the world on their own: Donor support is critical to upholding the excellence in patient care that UHN is known for and changing the status quo of health care  helping to recruit and train the brightest medical minds from around the world, develop new treatments for disease, complete transformational capital projects, and advance bold medical research. UHNfoundation.ca

More about The Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation

The Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation is Canada's largest cancer charity. We're dedicated to raising funds for Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, one of the world's leading cancer research and treatment centres, known for its breakthrough discoveries that transform patient outcomes. Together, our work benefits cancer patients everywhere in our mission to create a world free from the fear of cancer. Through philanthropy, fundraising events, and our world-leading lottery program, we're changing how the world understands, prevents, diagnoses, and treats cancer, benefitting patients at The Princess Margaret, throughout Canada, and around the world. thepmcf.ca

BMO Gives. Good grows here.

Helping communities thrive by supporting the organizations that sustain them and encouraging employee giving and volunteerism is at the heart of BMO's Purpose, to Boldly Grow the Good in business and life.

In 2025, we directed more than $124 million to drive progress for communities, which included $115.7 million in philanthropic contributions to hundreds of charities and nonprofit organizations across North America.

Our colleagues spent over 65,000+ hours volunteering in the community and contributed more than $40.3 million of donations through employee-driven giving in our annual campaigns.

For more information, please visit BMO Gives.

SOURCE BMO Financial Group

Media Contact: Kate Simandl, Toronto, [email protected], (416) 867-3996
CTOA warns rising diesel prices, now exceeding $2.39 per litre in Toronto, are adding pressure to small carriers and independent operators already recovering from a prolonged industry downturn

MISSISSAUGA, ON, March 30, 2026 /CNW/ - The Canadian Truck Operators Association (CTOA) is raising concerns over rising diesel prices, warning that increasing fuel costs are placing renewed pressure on a trucking industry that is still in the early stages of recovery following a prolonged slowdown from 2022 through 2025.

CTOA hosted an information session on government programs in Brampton on March 28, 2026, with more than 200 fleet owners and industry participants in attendance. (CNW Group/Canada Truck Operators Association)

Recent increases in global oil prices, driven by escalating geopolitical tensions in the Middle East affecting key energy supply routes, are beginning to translate into higher diesel costs across Canada. For the trucking sector, where fuel remains one of the largest operating expenses, this trend is creating immediate financial strain, particularly for small and mid-sized carriers.

Diesel prices in major markets such as the Greater Toronto Area have recently exceeded $2.39 per litre, levels not seen since 2022. For many operators, this represents a significant increase in day-to-day operating costs.

While larger carriers may have mechanisms to manage fuel volatility, smaller fleets and independent operators often have limited ability to pass on sudden cost increases, creating immediate pressure on margins and cash flow.

"Canada's trucking industry has gone through several difficult years, and many carriers are only now beginning to stabilize," said Tej Dulat, spokesperson for CTOA. "A sudden increase in fuel costs at this stage creates real pressure for businesses that are already operating on thin margins. This is not about avoiding normal market cycles, it is about recognizing the impact of external cost shocks on an essential industry."

A Fragile Recovery at Risk

The current increase in diesel prices comes at a sensitive time for the industry.

Between 2022 and 2025, Canadian trucking experienced a prolonged period of weak freight rates, excess capacity, and rising operational costs. Many small carriers and owner-operators managed this period by reducing expenses, deferring investments, and operating with minimal financial reserves.

While early signs of stabilization have begun to emerge in 2026, the recovery remains uneven. Rising fuel costs now risk slowing that recovery, particularly for operators with limited ability to absorb additional cost increases.

The View from the Ground

"I run four trucks out of the GTA. Fuel has gone from about $1,600 to $2,300 per truck, that's a $700 increase every fill. I am transporting essential goods and can't stop operating, but after three difficult years, there is very little left to absorb these costs. My line of credit is already stretched."

Jagroop, CTOA member, Greater Toronto Area

"I have been operating for 14 years, and have never seen two pressures hit at the same time like this. After years of low freight rates, diesel is now above $2.40 with no clear timeline for relief. This goes beyond normal market conditions, it is a situation operators cannot plan for or control.

Singh, CTOA member, Hamilton

Broader Supply Chain Impact

The impact of rising diesel prices extends beyond the trucking industry.

Trucking plays a central role in Canada's economy, with the majority of goods transported by truck at some stage of the supply chain. As transportation costs increase, those costs can flow through to businesses and consumers in the form of higher prices for goods and services.

Fuel volatility therefore has implications not only for carriers, but for overall supply chain stability and affordability.

CTOA Encourages Consideration of Targeted Measures

CTOA is encouraging the Government of Canada and the Government of Ontario to consider practical, short-term measures to support industry stability during periods of fuel volatility:

Temporary diesel tax relief for commercial carriers

Targeted bridge financing access for small carriers and owner-operators

Review and update of fuel surcharge mechanisms

Industry-government roundtable on trucking sector stability

Short-term flexibility in compliance implementation for small carriers

CTOA emphasizes that the industry is not seeking long-term subsidies, but targeted, short-term support to help stabilize an essential sector during a period of exceptional cost volatility.

Looking Ahead

CTOA will continue to monitor developments and engage with industry stakeholders to assess the impact of rising fuel costs across regions and business segments.

The association remains focused on supporting a stable, resilient trucking sector that can continue to meet the needs of Canada's economy and supply chains.

About CTOA

The Canadian Truck Operators Association (CTOA) is a national organization representing trucking companies, owner-operators, and industry stakeholders across Canada. CTOA works to support a strong and sustainable transportation sector through industry engagement, awareness, and collaboration on key issues affecting supply chains and business operations.

SOURCE Canada Truck Operators Association

Media Contact: Canadian Truck Operators Association (CTOA), [email protected], +1 416-443-0042, thectoa.ca
Xerox Holdings announced the appointment of Louie Pastor as the company's new CEO on March 30, 2026. Pastor previously served as the company's president and chief operating officer. Contributed photo/Xerox Holdings Steve Bandrowczak served as CEO of Norwalk, Conn.-based Xerox Holdings from August 2022 to March 2026. / Xerox Holdings, a provider of office printers and software, is headquartered in this building at 401 Merritt 7 in Norwalk, Conn. Alexander Soule/Hearst Connectic

Xerox Holdings, a provider of office printers and software, announced Monday that it had chosen its president and chief operating officer to become its new CEO  the latest of many changes in recent years at the Norwalk-based company.

The companys board of directors has appointed Louie Pastor as the new CEO, and he succeeds Steve Bandrowczak, a transition that takes effect immediately, according to a news release. Bandrowczak, who is stepping down, had served as CEO since August 2022.

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I am honored to step into the role of CEO and lead Xerox into its next chapter, Pastor said in a written statement included in the news release. Steves leadership has been instrumental in strengthening the companys foundation and positioning Xerox for long term success. We have a strong team and a clear focus on execution. I look forward to driving results and delivering on our priorities.

Pastor had served since last September as Xeroxs president and chief operating officer. The role involved his leadership of enterprise transformation, global service delivery, revenue operations, marketing and communications, and the companys people and technology organizations, helping accelerate Xeroxs growth initiatives, according to the news release. He has held several other executive positions since joining the company in 2018.

Before joining Xerox, Pastor served for five years as deputy general counsel of Icahn Capital and Icahn Enterprises, which are, respectively, the entity through which Carl C. Icahn manages private investment funds and a diversified holding company, according to Pastors LinkedIn profile. Carl Icahn was one of Xeroxs largest investors for several years  a period that was marked by his leading role in efforts to block the companys sale to Fujifilm Holdings, a deal that was ultimately abandoned in 2019  before selling his remaining stake back to the company in 2023.

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Louie brings a strong combination of operational discipline, strategic insight and deep familiarity with Xerox, Scott Letier, chairman of Xeroxs board of directors, said in a written statement.

Throughout his time with the company, he has played a central role in advancing our strategy, strengthening our operating model and driving enterprise-wide transformation. The board is confident that Louies leadership and focus on execution will position Xerox well as we continue to build momentum and deliver on our strategic and financial objectives.

Bandrowczak, who previously served as Xeroxs president and chief operating officer, succeeded John Visentin, who died at age 59 after a long illness. Bandrowczaks tenure was highlighted by a couple of significant deals: the purchase of Oak Brook, Illinois-based ITsavvy in 2024 and the $1.5 billion acquisition last year of Lexington, Kentucky-based Lexmark International.

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It has been a privilege to lead Xerox during a period of significant change for our industry, Bandrowczak said in a written statement. Over the past several years, we have taken important steps to strengthen the company, and I am proud of the resilience of our team. I appreciate the support of the board and leadership team during my tenure and wish the company well in its next chapter. Im confident Louie will lead the company with the focus and execution discipline this moment requires.

Xerox ended 2025 with about 22,900 employees, a 36% year-over-year increase that reflected the Lexmark acquisition, according to the companys annual report for last year. However, the head count increase from the Lexmark acquisition has been mitigated by a targeted workforce reduction that was announced last October.

We believe the decision to reduce our workforce was a difficult but necessary step to accelerate our reinvention journey and position Xerox for long-term, profitable and sustainable growth, says an excerpt of the 2025 annual report. We are committed to providing transition support for affected employees.

In January 2024, Xerox announced that it planned to cut 15% of its workforce as part of a re-organization.

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Xerox has not reported any layoffs to the Connecticut Department of Labor in the past couple of years. But that does not guarantee that there have been no layoffs in the companys home state because not all job cuts have to be disclosed to the government.

A Xerox spokesperson declined to comment Monday on the number or locations of the employees affected by the recent layoffs, but said that more than 200 employees are based in Connecticut or report to the headquarters. In the comparison, the company had nearly 300 employees who were based in Norwalk or reported to those offices at the end of 2024. The main offices are located at 401 Merritt 7 in Norwalk, a building that it moved into last April after a long stay at the neighboring 201 Merritt 7, while the company's operations in Connecticut also includes sites in Cheshire and Wethersfield.

Boosted by the Lexmark acquisition, Xerox produced revenues last year of about $7 billion, up 13% from 2024. Print and other operations accounted for nearly $6.3 billion of its revenues, while IT solutions generated $761 million.

The company incurred an approximately $1 billion loss last year, a bottom line that reflected a loss of $488 million before income taxes and an income-tax expense of $541 million.

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For many years, Xerox ranked in the Fortune 500 of the largest U.S. corporations, but its revenues have not been large enough to make the cut in the past three years.
Daniel McCormack and Carmen Andrade, holding flowers, married in October 2024 on Lovers Leap Bridge in New Milford. Carmen and her sister, Lupita, are conjoined twins. Karen Miura and Paul McCormack/Courtesy of Carmen Andrade Daniel McCormack and Carmen Andrade, center, married in October 2024 in New Milford. Carmen and her sister, Lupita, are conjoined twins. Karen Miura and Paul McCormack/Courtesy of Carmen Andrade Daniel McCormack and Carmen Andrade married in 2024. Carmen, left, and her sister, Lupita, are conjoined twins from New Milford. Karen Miura and Paul McCormack/Courtesy of Carmen Andrade Daniel McCormack, now 28, and Carmen Andrade, 25, married in October 2024 in New Milford. Carmen and her sister, Lupita, are conjoined twins. Karen Miura and Paul McCormack/Courtesy of Carmen Andrade Daniel McCormack and Carmen Andrade married in New Milford on Lovers Leap Bridge over the Housatonic River in 2024. Carmen and her sister, Lupita (back to camera), are conjoined twins. Karen Miura and Paul McCormack/Courtesy of Carmen Andrade Daniel McCormack and Carmen Andrade wed in New Milford in October 2024. Carmen and her sister, Lupita, are conjoined twins. Karen Miura and Paul McCormack/Courtesy of Carmen Andrade

NEW MILFORD  When conjoined twins Carmen and Lupita Andrade were 8 years old, staff at Northville Elementary School described them as happy, healthy and adventurous.

Carmen was more outgoing; Lupita more reserved, but both girls were "willing to try almost anything," school physical therapist Julie Cardoso said at the time.

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Now 25, the twins, who still live in New Milford, said in a recent interview they like to hike, fish, travel and create content for their YouTube channel. Lupita also is working on comedy writing.

The biggest change in their lives in the past several years was Carmen's marriage to Daniel McCormack in October 2024. The two met on a dating app, Carmen said.

The twins are quick to say that Carmen is married to Daniel; Lupita is not.

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"I am very adamant that I am not," Lupita said. "I am aromantic and asexual. I am not looking for anyone, ever."

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Asked how she handles her sister's intimate moments with McCormack, Lupita said, "I mind my own business."

Joined at the torso, each woman has two arms. They share some internal organs and two legs. Carmen drives (a Ford F-150 pickup truck) "because I have the right leg," she said in a recent interview.

Conjoined twins occur once in every 50,000 to 60,000 births, according to the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, where doctors have separated 32 sets of the rare twins and managed care of others who could not be separated. About 70% of conjoined twins are female, and most are stillborn.

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The Andrade twins were born in a hospital in Veracruz, Mexico that had no facilities for their care. Their parents, Norma Solis and Victor Andrade, connected with Healing the Children Northeast, a New Milford-based nonprofit that specializes in bringing medical care to children, or when needed, the children to the care.

In 2001, Healing the Children brought the infant twins to New Milford. At the time, they had a severe bronchial infection and collectively weighed about 22 pounds. The group then helped the family, which includes their older sister, Abigail, to move to town. The twins received medical care to get well and the physical therapy they needed to get mobile.

Because each twin controls each leg separately, they've had to learn to coordinate their steps. Because those two legs carry two torsos, the muscles had to be strong enough to carry the extra weight. Carmen Andrade said in the recent interview they first walked at age 4, but it took years of physical therapy to walk easily.

Through fundraisers and extra attention to their education and welfare, the town of New Milford has embraced the twins. Norma Solis told a reporter in 2007 she loved New Milford.

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The twins' YouTube Channel is titled, "Carmen and Lupita." In their videos, the sisters joke around and don't shy from answering viewers' questions about their inseparable lives. In a Q&A posted on the channel when they were 19, they were asked if it hurts when one tries to move, but the other stays still.

"No, not at all," Carmen said, "because we're not trying to split apart or something."

"Chainsaw ... or glue remover," Lupita says.

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"Guys, don't tell anybody," Carmen says, "but the only reason we're stuck together is because of glue  Elmer's glue, they sponsor us."

A later video features a Q&A with the twins and McCormack, a New York state native, after he and Carmen had been together for about 1 1/2 years, but before they married.

Asked about his first impressions of Carmen, McCormack looked at her and said, "You are a lot shorter than I thought you were going to be. Danny DeVito is taller than Carmen. That's a fun fact. I mean it might not be fun for you, but it's pretty fun for me."

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Do Daniel and Lupita get along?

"Yeah, I hate him," Lupita says, with a half smile.

The two have a running schtick, ribbing and rolling their eyes at each other.

McCormack also revealed in that video that Carmen "snores like a freight train rolling by."

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Another question from that session: Who said "I love you" first?

Carmen said she did and that McCormack was her first boyfriend.

The twins attended New Milford public schools until eighth grade and then went to Nonnewaug High School in Woodbury, graduating in 2018.

After graduation, Carmen said, "I got pretty far into a veterinary tech program, but I ran out of money and patience."

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The sisters sometimes work as tour guides at an alpaca farm in upstate New York, she said.

McCormack, who did not want to be interviewed, works as a radio technician for a company in New York state, Carmen Andrade said. He lives with the twins, their older sister and their parents in New Milford.

Carmen said she does not want children.

"I don't have the patience for child-raising," she said.

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Asked how she and her sister are different, Carmen said she's more vocal, while Lupita is relatively reserved, but also opinionated and "determined." They bickered as kids, Carmen said, but those divisions subsided.

When they were first-graders, the twins traveled with their parents to Los Angeles in 2007 to appear on model Tyra Banks's talk show, they said. A woman from Canada with 3-month-old conjoined twins was a guest on the show that day, along with 18-year-old twins who had been successfully separated. Meeting the other guests was "wonderful," Norma, the twins' mother, said at the time

Asked on the show what they wanted to be when they grew up, Lupita said a firefighter and Carmen said a veterinarian.

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Asked Sunday about the biggest change in their lives since Carmen got married, Lupita said, "Our dynamic hasnt changed much."
A memorial for the victims of the murder-suicide on Milford Street in Plainville Monday, March 30, 2026. Dave Zajac/Hearst Connecticut Media A memorial for the victims of the murder-suicide on Milford Street in Plainville Monday, March 30, 2026. Dave Zajac/Hearst Connecticut Media A photo is seen as part of a memorial for the victims of the murder-suicide on Milford Street in Plainville Monday, March 30, 2026. Dave Zajac/Hearst Connecticut Media A memorial for the victims of the murder-suicide on Milford Street in Plainville Monday, March 30, 2026. Dave Zajac/Hearst Connecticut Media A memorial for the victims of the murder-suicide on Milford Street in Plainville Monday, March 30, 2026. Dave Zajac/Hearst Connecticut Media People placed balloons, stuffed animals and flowers on the porch of a home on Milford Street in Plainville after a man killed his girlfriend and two children before killing himself Friday, police said. Jim Shannon/Hearst Connecticut Media

PLAINVILLE  As Plainville residents reel from a murder-suicide in town following a two-hour standoff with police on Friday, officials were offering support to the local school community.

Superintendent of Schools Brian S. Reas said one of the victims, Mileena Matthews, 12, was a sixth-grader at the Middle School of Plainville.

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"Our thoughts and prayers are with her family and friends during this incredibly difficult time," Reas said Monday. "As our school community pulls together to process this tragedy, counseling support remains available for our students and staff."

Autopsies showed that the four people who died in the murder-suicide Friday died from gunshots to the head, according to the state Office of Chief Medical Examiner.

Patrick King, 27, died of a gunshot wound to the head and the manner of his death was suicide, the medical examiner reported. His girlfriend, Felisha Matthews, 31, died of a gunshot wound to the head and the manner was homicide; four-year-old Ava King died of gunshot wounds to the head and the manner was homicide; and Mileena, 12, died of a gunshot wound to the head and the manner was homicide, according to the medical examiner.

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Police say King shot Matthews and the two children and then himself at their home after a standoff.

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Plainville Town Council Chairman Christopher Wazorko said Monday that town police had had no previous contact with the family, who moved to Plainville from Bristol in January. Bristol police had interactions with King while he was a juvenile and on a medical/mental health call when he was an adult, department spokesperson Lt. Patrick Krajewski said Monday. There was also one unfounded disturbance complaint involving King, Krajewski said.

Many people in the community want to hold a vigil for the victims, Wazorko said, but arrangements were still in the works, and that officials were trying to contact relatives to see whether they wanted to be part of a memorial gathering.

As for the mood of the community, "I think everyone wants answers," he said. "And I think right now everyone's looking to help."

A woman called dispatchers at 3:53 p.m. Friday saying her brother had called her claiming he had killed his girlfriend and 4-year-old daughter and intended to kill himself, Plainville police said.

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Officers arrived at the Milford Street home shortly after and made contact with King, police said. Negotiations went on for about two hours, police said, before officers shot pepper gas into the home to force King to come outside and surrender. Just after the gas was fired, King shot himself, police said. Though life-saving measures were attempted, he later was pronounced dead at a hospital, police said.

Firearms in the home were legally registered to King, police said.

Inside the home, officers found the bodies of Felisha Matthews, Ava King and Mileena Matthews, who was Matthews' child from a previous relationship, police said.
Actress Zendaya arrives for the Italian premiere of the movie "The Drama," in Rome, Thursday, March 26, 2026. Andrew Medichini/AP Zendaya arrives at the premiere of "The Drama" on Tuesday, March 17, 2026, at DGA Theater Complex in Los Angeles. Chris Pizzello/Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP Zendaya attends "The Drama" Premiere, Tuesday, March 24, 2026, in Paris, France. Aurelien Morissard/AP Zendaya attends "The Drama" Premiere, Tuesday, March 24, 2026, in Paris, France. Aurelien Morissard/AP

Zendaya has a few more days to wear something blue.

The actor, promoting The Drama with co-star Robert Pattinson around the globe, has  wink wink  worn something old, something new and something borrowed.

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It all fits with the wedding theme of The Drama, opening Friday, about a Boston couple whose impending nuptials are thrown into chaos by a dark revelation.

Of course, it also dovetails with the bridal theme of Zendayas own life, with unconfirmed speculation flying  fed in part by rings shes been wearing  that she's already married to Tom Holland.

But back to the fashion: Something old came in Los Angeles on March 17, where the actor wore the same off-the-shoulder Vivienne Westwood Bridal gown  in white, of course  that she wore to the 2015 Oscars. Our Something Old, her stylist, Law Roach, posted on Instagram.

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At the movies March 24 Paris premiere it was time for something new  a white custom Louis Vuitton gown with a very, well, dramatic black bow and train cascading down the back.

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Two days later for the Italian premiere in Rome, Zendaya sported a borrowed black Armani Prive dress with a plunging neckline framed with stones, earlier worn by Cate Blanchett at the Venice Film Festival. (somethingborrowed, Roach posted.)

As for something blue  the color may have been subtly referenced by her flowing, multi-hued floral Alexander McQueen dress worn on Jimmy Kimmels show March 16. But that was a little TOO subtle.

Which is why many expect the star to soon be singing the blues.
Crews were seen on the site of a former hotel at 363 Roberts St. in East Hartford on December 1, 2025. The town approved a revamp of the building with a Starbucks in 2022, though work remains underway. Joseph Villanova/Hearst Connecticut Media Crews were seen on the site of a former hotel at 363 Roberts St. in East Hartford on December 1, 2025. The town approved a revamp of the building with a Starbucks in 2022, though work remains underway. Joseph Villanova/Hearst Connecticut Media A rendering of the upcoming Fairfield Inn & Towneplace Suites at 363 Roberts St. in East Hartford, included with a special permit application approved by local officials in November 2022. Kautilya Group indicated at the time that Starbucks would occupy a restaurant space, and the company's signage can be seen prominently in the rendering. Town of East Hartford

EAST HARTFORD  A hotel redevelopment on Roberts Street is seeking a restaurant tenant for a drive-thru space previously earmarked for East Hartford's first Starbucks.

Development is under way at 363 Roberts St., the former Holiday Inn and Ramada Inn near Rentschler Field. New Jersey-based hotel owner Kautilya Group plans to open a new five-floor, 145-room Marriott hotel within a newly renovated building, dual-branded with 65 rooms under Fairfield Inn & Suites and 80 extended-stay rooms as TownePlace Suites.

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Kautilya Group purchased the vacant hotel in 2021 for $3.4 million and subsequently filed a special permit for the redevelopment project.

Application materials and testimony from the company indicated that Starbucks would occupy a restaurant space that previously existed as part of the hotel, to be made accessible to the public and renovated with a drive-thru. If opened, it would be the coffee chain's first location in East Hartford.

Construction began in the summer of 2023 and was expected to wrap up in 2024, though the hotel has yet to open. In January, a Marriott booking website indicated that the hotel was "opening soon" in March, though the site now states that the hotel is set to open April 30.

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Earlier this month, real estate company Sullivan Hayes began marketing 2,650 square-feet of retail space within the hotel for lease, billing it as a "fantastic quick service drive-thru restaurant opportunity" on an information brochure posted to the company's website.

Representatives for Sullivan Hayes and Starbucks did not return requests for comment Friday.

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Various renderings of the building and project site included in a version of the brochure found on a LoopNet listing include signage for and references to Starbucks, though the brochure hosted on the Sullivan Hayes website has those references removed.
This image released by Voracious shows a recipe for grilled leg of lamb from the cookbook "Repertoire" by Jessica Battilana. (Ed Anderson/Voracious via AP) Ed Anderson/AP This image released by Voracious shows a recipe for grilled leg of lamb from the cookbook "Repertoire" by Jessica Battilana. (Ed Anderson/Voracious via AP) Ed Anderson/AP This image released by Voracious shows "Repertoire" by Jessica Battilana. (Voracious via AP) AP

Ihsan Gurdal, the owner of Formaggio Kitchen in Cambridge, Massachusetts (a specialty food shop and the first place I worked after college), grew up in Turkey. He introduced me, and probably many other American cooks, to baharat, a Turkish spice blend thats typically used as a seasoning for lamb.

It's what I use to season the leg of lamb in this recipe from my cookbook Repertoire."

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The blend varies depending on its maker, but it usually contains many of the spices Americans think of as holiday baking spices, including cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice and cloves, as well as dried mint. You can find premade versions, but its simple to make your own.

If you have any harissa lying around, its a killer condiment for this lamb dish. A cucumber-yogurt salad (chopped or grated cukes, Greek-style yogurt, lemon juice, minced garlic, and salt and pepper) would also be a nice accompaniment. Note that the lamb needs to marinate overnight or for up to two days.

Grilled Leg of Lamb

Servings: 6 to 8

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Ingredients

1 tablespoon dried mint

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1 tablespoon dried oregano

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1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper

1  teaspoons ground ginger

1  teaspoons ground cumin

1  teaspoons ground coriander

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1  teaspoons ground cinnamon

1  teaspoons ground nutmeg

 teaspoon ground allspice

 teaspoon ground cloves

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1 (3- to 4-pound) boneless leg of lamb

Kosher salt

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

Directions

In a small bowl, mix together the dried mint, oregano, black pepper, ginger, cumin, coriander, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice and cloves.

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Put the lamb on a work surface fat-side down. Holding a sharp knife parallel to the cutting board, slice into the thicker sections of the meat, cutting in the direction that will allow you to open the section like a book, but not cutting all the way through. The goal is to butterfly the piece of lamb to a uniform thickness so it will grill more evenly. Trim off any visible sinew or large pockets of fat. Flip the lamb over, fat-side up, and trim off and discard any excess fat cap (do not trim off all the fat, as it will baste the meat as it cooks).

Season the lamb generously on both sides with salt, then season with the spice mixture, using all of it. Transfer to a rimmed plate or baking dish and drizzle on both sides with oil. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight or for up to 2 days.

Remove the lamb from the refrigerator an hour or two before you plan to grill and let come to room temperature.

Prepare a gas or charcoal grill for direct, medium-high-heat grilling. When the grill is hot, lay the lamb on the grill grate, fat-side down. Grill, flipping occasionally, until the meat is browned and an instant-read thermometer inserted in the thickest part registers 135F, about 30 minutes. Depending on the amount of fat on the lamb, you may want to brush or drizzle the meat with additional olive oil as it cooks; it should look glistening and juicy. If the lamb is browning too quickly or if dripping fat is causing flare-ups, move the meat to a cooler part of the grill until the coals die down (if using a gas grill, lower the heat on one section of the grill and move the lamb to the cooler zone).

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To serve, slice the lamb into thin slices.

___

Jessica Battilana is a staff editor at King Arthur Baking Company, and has contributed to several of their cookbooks, including King Arthur Baking Companys Big Book of Bread. She previously wrote the Repertoire column for the San Francisco Chronicle and has co-authored cookbooks. Her work has appeared in many publications. She lives in Maine with her wife and children.

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Jabari Bush, right, during an arraignment at state Superior Court in Bridgeport March 30, 2026, with his attorney Robert Berke, in the fatal shooting of Bridgeport firefighter Terrence Cramer. Arnold Gold/Hearst Connecticut Media Bridgeport firefighter Terrence Cramer in an undated photo. Stratford police said Cramer was fatally shot early Saturday, March 28, 2026. Courtesy of Bridgeport Fire Department Bridgeport firefighter Terrence Cramer in an undated photo. Stratford police said Cramer was fatally shot early Saturday, March 28, 2026. Courtesy of Bridgeport Fire Department Bridgeport firefighters wait to enter state Superior Court in Bridgeport March 30, 2026, for the arraignment of Jabari Bush in the fatal shooting of Bridgeport firefighter Terrence Cramer. Arnold Gold/Hearst Connecticut Media Jabari Bush, right, during an arraignment at state Superior Court in Bridgeport March 30, 2026, with his attorney Robert Berke, in the fatal shooting of Bridgeport firefighter Terrence Cramer. Arnold Gold/Hearst Connecticut Media Bridgeport firefighters wait to enter state Superior Court in Bridgeport March 30, 2026, for the arraignment of Jabari Bush in the fatal shooting of Bridgeport firefighter Terrence Cramer. Arnold Gold/Hearst Connecticut Media Stratford police arrested Jabari Bush, 40, on murder and other charges Saturday in the shooting death of Bridgeport firefighter Terrence Cramer. Courtesy of Stratford Police Department Bridgeport firefighter Terrence Cramer was found dead at a residence on Feeley Street in Stratford Saturday night. Christian Abraham/Hearst Connecticut Media The home on Feeley Street in Stratford where Bridgeport firefighter Terrence Cramer was found shot Saturday night. Cramer was pronounced dead shortly after the arrival of paramedics to the scene. Christian Abraham/Hearst Connecticut Media Dozens of Bridgeport firefighters gathered outside state Superior Court in Bridgeport before the arraignment of the man charged in the murder of Bridgeport firefighter Terrence Cramer, March 30, 2026. Ethan Fry/Hearst Connecticut Media Group Dozens of Bridgeport firefighters gathered outside state Superior Court in Bridgeport before the arraignment of the man charged in the murder of Bridgeport firefighter Terrence Cramer, March 30, 2026. Ethan Fry/Hearst Connecticut Media Group Dozens of Bridgeport firefighters gathered outside state Superior Court in Bridgeport before the arraignment of the man charged in the murder of Bridgeport firefighter Terrence Cramer, March 30, 2026. Ethan Fry/Hearst Connecticut Media Group Dozens of Bridgeport firefighters gathered outside state Superior Court in Bridgeport before the arraignment of the man charged in the murder of Bridgeport firefighter Terrence Cramer, March 30, 2026. Ethan Fry/Hearst Connecticut Media Group Dozens of Bridgeport firefighters gathered outside state Superior Court in Bridgeport before the arraignment of the man charged in the murder of Bridgeport firefighter Terrence Cramer, March 30, 2026. Ethan Fry/Hearst Connecticut Media Group Jabari Bush, center, enters the courtroom for arraignment at state Superior Court in Bridgeport March 30, 2026, in the fatal shooting of Bridgeport firefighter Terrence Cramer. Arnold Gold/Hearst Connecticut Media Bridgeport firefighters wait to enter Bridgeport Superior Court on March 30, 2026 for the arraignment of Jabari Bush for the fatal shooting of Bridgeport Firefighter Terrence Cramer. Arnold Gold/Hearst Connecticut Media Jabari Bush, left, exits the courtroom after arraignment at state Superior Court in Bridgeport March 30, 2026, in the fatal shooting of Bridgeport firefighter Terrence Cramer. Arnold Gold/Hearst Connecticut Media Bridgeport firefighters wait to enter state Superior Court in Bridgeport March 30, 2026, for the arraignment of Jabari Bush in the fatal shooting of Bridgeport firefighter Terrence Cramer. Arnold Gold/Hearst Connecticut Media Jabari Bush, center, during an arraignment at state Superior Court in Bridgeport March 30, 2026, with his attorney Robert Berke, left, in the fatal shooting of Bridgeport firefighter Terrence Cramer. Arnold Gold/Hearst Connecticut Media

BRIDGEPORT  The ex-boyfriend of a woman living with Bridgeport firefighter broke into a Stratford home and gunned down Terrence Cramer in bed early Saturday, according to an arrest warrant affidavit.

The suspect, 40-year-old Jabari Bush, later was arrested in Derby and appeared Monday morning at state Superior Court, where dozens of firefighters packed the courtroom, some standing three and four deep lining the walls, as the West Haven resident was arraigned on charges of murder, home invasion, criminal possession of a weapon, and unlawful discharge of a firearm.

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A bail commissioner said Bush, who initially was held on $2 million bond, has worked full-time as a mechanic at Metro-North for 16 years and was convicted in 2004 of first-degree assault, for which he was sentenced to serve more than seven years in prison.

Deputy Assistant State's Attorney William Weishaupt asked Judge Robert Golger to set Bush's bond at $2 million, with a requirement that he post 30% in cash, citing a state law designed to punish serious firearm offenders.

Bush's attorney, Robert Berke, objected, citing a state Supreme Court decision from last July that narrowed the application of the law. In addition, Berke said Bush worked for Amtrak prior to Metro-North and is a homeowner, and said he had also arranged to surrender to police prior to being pulled over in Derby and taken into custody.

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"He has strong ties to the community," Berke said, asking Golger to set bond at $1.5 million. "He has strong financial ties to the community."

The judge denied the 30% cash request, but raised Bush's bond to $3 million after citing the allegations.

"The underlying facts of this case are particularly brutal," the judge said before continuing the case to April 14. "I think he does pose a danger to the community."

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According to the arrest warrant affidavit, written by Detective Joseph Maverley, police were sent to the home where the shooting occurred at 1:44 a.m. Saturday. The affidavit said a woman told police she was awakened by someone she believed to be Bush, her ex-boyfriend, inside her bedroom yelling something to the effect of "you're here with another man!"

Police found Cramer bleeding heavily from a gunshot wound to the right inner thigh. Despite life-saving measures, he was declared dead at about 2:12 a.m.

Bush's ex-girlfriend said that after waking up, Bush punched her in the face and she saw what she described as "sparks" consistent with gunfire, the affidavit said. Immediately after, she said she heard Cramer say, "I just got shot!"

The affidavit said there were no signs of forced entry, but a Ring camera caught Bush at the front door several times throughout the night. About five minutes before the shooting, the affidavit said Bush is seen on the footage and "appears he is trying to put pressure on the door with the weight of his body in an effort to open it" before the video cuts.

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The woman told police that she had been in a relationship with Bush for five years and lived with him in West Haven before breaking off the relationship and moving to Stratford. She and Bush had an "on-again, off-again relationship at his insistence," the affidavit said, before she ended it for good in January.

She said Bush began contacting her in March and she tried to block him but continued to receive messages from him, the affidavit said, and he also showed up to her work, waiting outside in his vehicle at the end of her shift. Bush arrived at her home unexpectedly Thursday, she said, and stayed for roughly one hour, according to Ring camera footage cited in the affidavit. The woman told police Bush had come to the home trying to rekindle the relationship, but she told him that it was over for good.

Cramer had been an active duty firefighter in Bridgeport for the 9 years. Members of his family did not speak outside court.

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In a statement, Bridgeport Fire Department said Acting Chief Lance Edwards and members of the department were "deeply saddened by the passing of Firefighter Terrence Cramer."
U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., speaks to striking machinists at the entrance to the Pratt & Whitney facility on Airport Road on May 16, 2025, in Middletown. Jim Michaud/Hearst Connecticut Media No Kings Day protesters are photographed in front of Stamford Superior Court on March 28, 2026. Arnold Gold/Hearst Connecticut Media Hundreds line Capitol Avenue in front of the Connecticut State Capitol in Hartford as they came out for the No Kings rally at the Saturday, March 28, 2026. Jim Shannon/Hearst Connecticut Media Hundreds came out for the No Kings rally at the Connecticut State Capitol in Hartford Saturday, March 28, 2026. Jim Shannon/Hearst Connecticut Media Hundreds came out for the No Kings rally at the Connecticut State Capitol in Hartford Saturday, March 28, 2026. Jim Shannon/Hearst Connecticut Media

He didnt sit in traffic on Interstate 91 or the Merritt Parkway after leaving a rally, though he may have spent time on Interstate 5.

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Thats because Connecticuts junior senator spent the nationwide day of anti-Trump protests about 2,500 miles away from the Nutmeg State: at a rally in sunny Los Angeles.

That's according to posts shared on Murphy's X account, which showed the senator arm in arm with late-night television host Jimmy Kimmel at a No Kings event in Torrance, Calif, on the coast of Los Angeles County. A Murphy aide told CT Insider he was in the Golden State for political meetings and fundraising.

Look who I ran into at the No Kings rally in Torrance, California. pic.twitter.com/Is2vLxpS2m  Chris Murphy  (@ChrisMurphyCT) March 28, 2026

"Connecticut is always my focus, but this fight to save our democracy is national," Murphy said in a statement. "The only way to save Connecticut from Trumps treachery is to build a truly national movement to make sure we have a fair and free election this November."

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In Murphy's current home city of Hartford, organizers confirmed the senator had been invited, without success, to a protest on the state Capitol grounds, as he had for No Kings rallies in the city in June and October of last year.

During the last round of No Kings protests in October 2025, Murphy opted to headline a gathering in Washington, D.C.

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"Yes, he has been invited. Yes, I think the work he's doing is very important," Hartford rally organizer Carol Rizzolo said. "And yes, we would like to see him in Connecticut more frequently."

Hundreds came out for the No Kings rally at the Connecticut State Capitol in Hartford Saturday, March 28, 2026. Jim Shannon/Hearst Connecticut Media

While Murphy was Hollywood swinging, much of the rest of Connecticut's congressional delegation made themselves visible at events across the state, including the well-attended, if "very cold" (in Rizzolo's estimation), Hartford rally that Murphy skipped.

Connecticut's senior senator, Richard Blumenthal, a frequent barnstormer of Connecticut, attended rallies in Hartford, Stamford, Greenwich, Westport and Niantic, his staff confirmed.

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"Hello to the defenders of democracy. I am so proud to be with you today," Blumenthal said to cheering rallygoers in Niantic. "Thank you, every one of you, for being out here on a cold day. Together, we're generating a lot of heat."

U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., speaks at the state Capitol building in Hartford as part of a No Kings protest on Oct. 18, 2025. Christian Abraham/Hearst Connecticut Media

Murphys California dreamin' comes as some national pundits have speculated that the senator  who recently rebranded from a Congressional dealmaker to a Trump foil and started talking more about a rising loneliness crisis  is a possible candidate for the presidency in 2028.

But so far Murphy has batted away those rumors, just as he did in 2017, when there was ultimately fruitless speculation he would run for president in 2020.

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"My focus is fundamentally on the people of Connecticut and asking them for a second term, Murphy told ABC News at the time.

Nearly a decade on, Murphy's ambitions have widened in scope.

"I will continue to lead the national movement to protect our democracy," he said Sunday.
Hundreds came out for the No Kings rally at the Connecticut State Capitol in Hartford Saturday, March 28, 2026. Jim Shannon/Hearst Connecticut Media No Kings Day protesters march through the streets near Stamford Superior Court on March 28, 2026. Arnold Gold/Hearst Connecticut Media A No Kings protest takes place Saturday afternoon on the New Haven Green. Christian Abraham/Hearst Connecticut Media A No Kings protest crowd marches in New Haven on Saturday. Christian Abraham/Hearst Connecticut Media

But at some of the state's biggest gatherings, including in Hartford, New Haven and Stamford, turnout fell short of organizers' pre-event expectations.

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While the state saw more No Kings events than ever before, turnout estimates from local police departments suggest that Saturdays actions reflected a continuation of liberal anger toward President Donald Trump and his administration  not a new surge in activism driven by anti-ICE and anti-Iran war sentiments, as some advocates had predicted.

Instead of the upwards of 30,000 people that organizers estimated would turnout statewide, actual turnout figures were likely around 20,000, factoring in reports from officials in six of the state's seven largest cities.

In Hartford, organizers had forecasted that "in the neighborhood" of 15,000 people would attend a morning rally on the state Capitol grounds, up from what they said were 10,000 at the last No Kings event in October. Saturday's action was the third edition of No Kings, after previous rallies in October and June 2025.

Hundreds came out for the No Kings rally at the Connecticut State Capitol in Hartford Saturday, March 28, 2026. Jim Shannon/Hearst Connecticut Media

Instead, Hartford and state Capitol police agreed that turnout was closer to 5,500, according to aerial footage officials analyzed. That included several of the state's leading politicians, but notably not Sen. Chris Murphy, who rallied in sunny Los Angeles while in California for meetings and fundraising.

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It was a similar story in New Haven, where organizers predicted that as many as 10,000 protesters might descend on the New Haven Green on Saturday afternoon.

"We're expecting a lot of people, probably double what we had last time," New Haven No Kings organizer Janis Underwood said Thursday. "About 10,000, that's what we're hoping for."

Instead, roughly 7,500 people showed up, almost identical to the number in October, New Haven Police Captain Michael Fumiatti said.

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A No Kings protest takes place Saturday afternoon on the New Haven Green. Christian Abraham/Hearst Connecticut Media

In Stamford, where organizers were cagey with numbers pre-event but estimated up to 6,000 attendees on the day, police said the final total was around 4,000, once again similar to October.

And in Danbury, where organizers had hoped to draw 1,000 people into the streets of the Hat City, the final number was somewhere between 400 and 500, according to a police spokesperson. But organizers pushed back on that total, saying they counted more than 2,000 attendees.

That's not to say the liberal activists behind the events were disappointed with the turnout.

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"I thought the turnout was great. I'm thrilled to be getting the reports from the turnout from all over the state, in towns that have never had rallies before, with people who have never come out before," Carol Rizzolo, one of the Hartford organizers, said. "I was delighted with it."

Beth Strauss of Stamford dressed as a Trump clown for the No Kings Day protest in front of Stamford Superior Court on March 28, 2026. Arnold Gold/Hearst Connecticut Media

Several activists pointed to the fact that there were more total protests statewide  relative to the first two No Kings events in June and October  to siphon off rallygoers.

That included first-time rallies in Norwalk and Wilton that combined drew a few hundred attendees, with the latter hosting an hourslong "line dance" along Route 7.

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Others noted that worldwide, organizers claimed more than 8 million people attended a No Kings event, though given how the organizer crowd estimates were consistently high in Connecticut, that total should be taken with a grain of salt. Estimating crowd sizes is a notoriously tricky business.

So while No Kings turnout may serve as a useful barometer for anti-Trump energy in Connecticut  steady but not surging  for many protest planners, the more important question was what attendees did after the rallies ended.

"The short-term goal is just to get as many people to leave with a plan," Alison Greenlaw, another Hartford organizer, said. "We want people to leave saying 'I'm going home from this protest today and tomorrow I'm picking up a phone and I'm calling this person, and we're going to go do something.'"
Each of the four day care centers has been unable to account for how some or all of the federal money was spent, according to state records. State officials are now working to recoup that money or require the day care centers to alternatively provide detailed records demonstrating that the money was spent on legitimate expenses permitted under he grants. Officials are also conducting a forensic audit to determine whether any of the public funds were misspent.
President Donald Trump waves to the media as he walks on the South Lawn upon his arrival to the White House, Sunday, March 29, 2026, in Washington. Jose Luis Magana/AP Smoke rises from Kuwait international airport after a drone strike on fuel storage in Kuwait City, Kuwait, Friday, Wednesday, March 25, 2026. AP Fire and plumes of smoke rise after a drone struck a fuel tank forcing the temporary suspension of flights. near Dubai International Airport, in United Arab Emirates, early Monday, March 16, 2026. AP This is a locator map for the Gulf Cooperation Council member states: Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait and United Arab Emirates. AP

WASHINGTON (AP)  Gulf allies of the United States, led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, are urging President Donald Trump to continue prosecuting the war against Iran, arguing that Tehran hasn't been weakened enough by the monthlong U.S.-led bombing campaign, according to U.S., Gulf and Israeli officials.

After private grumbling at the start of the war that they were not given adequate advance notice of the U.S.-Israeli attack and complaining the U.S. had ignored their warnings that the war would have devastating consequences for the entire region, some of the regional allies are making the case to the White House that the moment offers a historic opportunity to cripple Tehrans clerical rule once and for all.

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Officials from Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Bahrain have conveyed in private conversations that they do not want the military operation to end until there are significant changes in the Iranian leadership or theres a dramatic shift in Iranian behavior, according to the officials, who were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity.

The push from the Gulf nations comes as Trump vacillates between claiming that Iran's decimated leadership is ready to settle the conflict and threatening to further escalate the war if a deal is not reached soon.

All the while, Trump is struggling to rally public support at home for a war that's left more than 3,000 dead across the Mideast and is shaking the global economy. Yet the U.S. leader is sounding increasingly confident that he has the full support of his most important Mideast allies  including some that were hesitant about a new military campaign in the lead-up to the war.

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Saudi Arabias fighting back hard. Qatar is fighting back. UAE is fighting back. Kuwaits fighting back. Bahrains fighting back, Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Sunday evening as he made his way to Washington from his home in Florida. Theyre all fighting back.

The Gulf countries host U.S. forces and bases from which the U.S. has launched strikes on Iran, but have not joined the offensive strikes.

Gulf allies support the war to varying degrees

While regional leaders are broadly supportive now of the U.S. efforts, one Gulf diplomat described some division, with Saudi Arabia and the UAE leading the calls for increasing military pressure on Tehran.

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The UAE has emerged as perhaps the most hawkish of the Gulf countries and is pushing hard for Trump to order a ground invasion, the diplomat said. Kuwait and Bahrain also favor this option. The UAE, which has faced more than 2,300 missile and drone attacks from Iran, has only grown more irritated as the war grinds on and the salvos threaten to tarnish its image as the safe, pristine and monied hub for trade and tourism of the Mideast.

Oman and Qatar, which historically have played the role of intermediary between the long economically isolated Iran and the West, have favored a diplomatic solution.

The diplomat said Saudi Arabia has argued to the U.S. that ending the war now wont produce a good deal, one guaranteeing security for Irans Arab neighbors.

The Saudis say an eventual war settlement must neutralize Irans nuclear program, destroy its ballistic missile capabilities, end Tehrans support for proxy groups, and also ensure that the Strait of Hormuz cannot be effectively shutdown by the Islamic Republic in the future as it has during the conflict. About 20% of the worlds oil flowed through the waterway before the war.

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Achieving those goals would require a sharp course correction by the theocracy that has been in charge of the country since the 1979 Islamic Revolution or its removal.

Senior Emirati officials, meanwhile, have become more pointed in their rhetoric toward Iran.

An Iranian regime that launches ballistic missiles at homes, weaponizes global trade and supports proxies is no longer an acceptable feature of the regional landscape, Noura Al Kaabi, a minister of state at the UAEs Foreign Ministry, wrote in a column published Monday by the state-linked, English-language newspaper The National. She added: We want a guarantee that this will never happen again.

The White House declined to comment for this story about the deliberations with Gulf allies. But Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Monday underscored that the U.S. and its Gulf Arab allies are in sync about Iran.

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They are religious zealots who can never be allowed to possess a nuclear weapon because they have an apocalyptic vision of the future, Rubio said of Iran in an appearance on ABC's Good Morning America. And all of their neighbors know that, by the way, which is why all of their neighbors have been supportive of the efforts were conducting.

Saudi crown prince urges US not to let up

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom's de facto leader, has told White House officials that a further defanging of Irans military capabilities and clerical leadership serves the long-term interest of the Gulf region and beyond, according to a person who has been briefed on the conversations.

Still, the Saudis are sensitive to the fact that the longer the conflict goes on the more opportunity Iran has to carry out strikes on the kingdoms energy infrastructure, the heartbeat of its oil-rich economy.

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A Saudi government official underscored that the kingdom ultimately wants to see a political solution to the crisis, but its immediate focus remains safeguarding its people and critical infrastructure.

Irans foreign minister early Tuesday insisted Tehrans attacks on the Gulf Arab states only target U.S. forces, even after assaults have hit civilian targets.

Iran respects the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and considers it a brotherly nation, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi wrote on X, sharing a photo purportedly showing damage to an American aircraft at a Saudi air base. Our operations are aimed at enemy aggressors who have no respect for Arabs or Iranians, nor can provide any security. ... High time to eject U.S. forces.

Trump, in recent days, has sought to spotlight that most of the Gulf countries have stood in lockstep with his administration as the U.S. prosecutes the war, noting how theyve coalesced in the thick of crisis as he criticizes NATO allies for not joining the U.S. in the fight.

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On Friday, he heaped praise on Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates for showing bravery as the war has unfolded.

The president, speaking at an event in Miami sponsored by the Saudi sovereign wealth fund, was particularly effusive about the Saudi crown prince, hailing him as a warrior and a fantastic man.

Trump also alluded to the fact that the Gulf countries were hesitant about his and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus decision to launch the war, but have since rallied.

They werent thinking this was going to happen, nobody was, said Trump, referring to Iran launching thousands of retaliatory salvos around the Gulf. And they turned against them and really became very powerfully aligned. And they were with us, but they werent with us very obliquely. They were with us.

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Will Gulf allies join the fight?

Trump has yet to call on Gulf nations to take part in offensive operations.

One factor may be that the administration might have calculated that its not worth the complications that come with crowding the skies with additional militaries beyond Israel.

Three American fighter jets were mistakenly downed by friendly Kuwaiti fire in the first days of the conflict in the midst of an Iranian air assault. All six crew members safely ejected from the F-15E Strike Eagles.

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And six American service members were killed on March 12, when their KC-135 refueling aircraft crashed in western Iraq.

Another factor is that only UAE and Bahrain are among the Gulf states that have formal diplomatic relations with Israel, adding a layer of complication to their calculus, notes Yasmine Farouk, the Gulf and Arabian Peninsula project director at the International Crisis Group

But Iran has warned it will attack its neighbors' critical infrastructure, including desalination plants used to provide drinking water to the region, if Trump follows through on his threat to strike Iran's power plants if it doesn't open the Strait of Hormuz by April 6.

The absence of a clear objective, the absence of the trust that the United States is really going to go until the end and finish the jobs  it's making some of them reluctant, Farouk said. But if there is a consequential or mass casualty (event) in one of those countries, then it would be justified for them to become a belligerent.

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___
MIX Prime Steakhouse, Fish, and Sushi Bar restaurant, 757 Main St S, Woodbury, Conn. Monday, March 30, 2026. H John Voorhees III/Hearst Connecticut Media MIX Prime Steakhouse, Fish, and Sushi Bar restaurant, 757 Main St S, Woodbury, Conn. Monday, March 30, 2026. H John Voorhees III/Hearst Connecticut Media MIX Prime Steakhouse, Fish, and Sushi Bar restaurant, 757 Main St S, Woodbury, Conn. Monday, March 30, 2026. H John Voorhees III/Hearst Connecticut Media MIX Prime Steakhouse, Fish, and Sushi Bar restaurant, 757 Main St S, Woodbury, Conn. Monday, March 30, 2026. H John Voorhees III/Hearst Connecticut Media MIX Prime Steakhouse, Fish, and Sushi Bar restaurant, 757 Main St S, Woodbury, Conn. Monday, March 30, 2026. H John Voorhees III/Hearst Connecticut Media MIX Prime Steakhouse, Fish, and Sushi Bar restaurant, 757 Main St S, Woodbury, Conn. Monday, March 30, 2026. H John Voorhees III/Hearst Connecticut Media MIX Prime Steakhouse, Fish, and Sushi Bar restaurant, 757 Main St S, Woodbury, Conn. Monday, March 30, 2026. H John Voorhees III/Hearst Connecticut Media MIX Prime Steakhouse, Fish, and Sushi Bar restaurant, 757 Main St S, Woodbury, Conn. Monday, March 30, 2026. H John Voorhees III/Hearst Connecticut Media MIX Prime Steakhouse, Fish, and Sushi Bar restaurant, 757 Main St S, Woodbury, Conn. Monday, March 30, 2026. H John Voorhees III/Hearst Connecticut Media MIX Prime Steakhouse, Fish, and Sushi Bar restaurant, 757 Main St S, Woodbury, Conn. Monday, March 30, 2026. H John Voorhees III/Hearst Connecticut Media MIX Prime Steakhouse, Fish, and Sushi Bar restaurant, 757 Main St S, Woodbury, Conn. Monday, March 30, 2026. H John Voorhees III/Hearst Connecticut Media MIX Prime Steakhouse, Fish, and Sushi Bar restaurant, 757 Main St S, Woodbury, Conn. Monday, March 30, 2026. H John Voorhees III/Hearst Connecticut Media Tony Ramadani in his rebuilt Portofino Restaurant and Pizzeria in Wilton in a file photo. Hearst Connecticut Media file photo

Prominent Connecticut restaurateur Ljatif "Tony" Ramadani was arrested last week and charged with attempting to bribe employees who accused the chef at one of his restaurants of sexually assaulting her, documents show.

Walid Gad, the former head chef at Ramadani's MIX Prime Steakhouse, Fish & Sushi Bar in Woodbury, is accused of sexually assaulting or groping six female employees at the restaurant, according to partially redacted arrest warrant affidavits provided by Connecticut State Police.

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The warrants include an account from one woman who detailed how Gad allegedly raped her on several occasions. Gad was arrested by state police on Wednesday.

According to the state police documents, Ramadani, who also owns the Red Rooster Pub in Wilton, which previously had locations in Newtown and Ridgefield, dismissed Gad's sexual assaults after he learned of them. He also reportedly offered $20,000 to two women after they went to speak with a person they believed was a lawyer, police said.

Ramadani, 68, of Ridgefield, was charged with one count of bribery of a witness.

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Workers at his two restaurants on Sunday said he was not available, and a lawyer representing him in a lawsuit against the restaurant declined to comment last week.

Here's what we know, and some outstanding questions, about the cases:

What we know

Police: Chef assaulted and harassed 6 employees

Gad is facing four counts of first-degree sexual assault, according to state police.

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Walid Gad, 55, was arrested Wednesday in the sexual assault of employees at a Woodbury steakhouse where he worked as head chef, police said. Courtesy of the Connecticut State Police

The arrest warrants depict a pattern of behavior over close to two years, during which Gad is alleged to have routinely groped female employees, particularly in the restaurant's cooler. One victim told police that Gad had groped her vagina while telling her, "It'll be our little secret," when she refused his advances, the warrants said.

Police allege that Gad repeatedly raped one woman  a 48-year-old undocumented immigrant from Guatemala referred to as Victim 1 in the arrest warrant  on several occasions, including in the restaurant's bathrooms. The warrant says he also warned her that if she contacted the police, they would call immigration authorities and have her deported.

Gad told police he had a "consensual sexual relationship" with the woman, according to the warrant.

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Warrant: Ramadani tried to pay off victims, delayed firing Gad

Three women, all undocumented, first reported Gad's abuse to state police in August, kicking off an investigation into the restaurant.

One of the women told state police that when she reported the abuse to Ramadani through a co-worker, he reportedly "asked her what she wanted to get out of the situation," the warrant said.

Tony Ramadani in a mugshot provided by Connecticut State Police. Courtesy of Connecticut State Police

The warrant said Ramadani called Gad's behavior "normal" and reportedly told one of the victims, "women get sexually assaulted all the time and never report such incidents."

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The warrant said Ramadani "expressed concern" about the immigration status of two of the women who approached him about the abuse, saying it could be put in jeopardy if attention were drawn to them. The warrant said Ramadani told the women he "had a lot of money and multiple lawyers that would overpower (them)."

The two women, who were identified in the court documents as Victim 1 and Victim 2, told investigators they had gone to a notary specializing in immigration issues, whom they thought was a lawyer. While there, Ramadani called one of the women and agreed to meet with them, the warrants said.

"A short time later, Tony arrived at the office and allegedly offered to pay Victim #1 and Victim #2 $20,000 in cash in exchange for their silence regarding the allegations against Gad," the court documents said.

The notary, whose name is redacted in the files released by state police, confirmed to investigators that Ramadani had offered the women $20,000, the warrant said.

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In an interview with state police, Ramadani denied offering $20,000, though he "admitted that he offered Victim #1 and Victim #2 $5,000, $10,000, or $15,000, but he indicated he was 'joking,'" the warrant said.

According to the warrant, Victim 1 and Victim 2 approached Ramadani in June 2025 with their allegations against Gad and asked for him to be fired. But Ramadani did not fire Gad until mid-September, another employee told police, the warrant said.

Ramadani said he delayed firing Gad, despite the allegations, because "he needed to find someone to replace him before that happened," according to the warrant.

Ramadani was freed on a $100,000 bond following his arrest, state police said. He is due to appear in state Superior Court in Waterbury on April 9.

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Ramadani's restaurants previously faced lawsuits from employees

In three separate lawsuits in 2021, eight employees of Ramadani across MIX steakhouse and at least two Red Rooster locations sued the restaurateur, alleging that he had regularly paid employees sub-minimum wage for non-tipped work, in violation of Connecticut law.

The three lawsuits did not mention any instances of sexual harassment or assault, and focused on how employees were allegedly paid as little as $6.38 per hour for tasks, including restocking and polishing silverware, cleaning coffee machines, and sweeping the server alley, none of which generated tips.

All of the lawsuits filed against Ramadani by his former employees were eventually dismissed, with Ramadani's lawyers successfully arguing in at least one instance that the allegations fell outside the state's statute of limitations.

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What we don't know

Are there more victims out there?

One question is whether more victims have not yet come forward to state police to report their abuse.

In a statement, state police said they hoped all victims of sexual assault in this case would come forward.

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"We hope that if there are additional victims, this will empower them with the courage to come forward and report it to police," a police spokesperson said.

According to the arrest warrants, three of the six women who reported being assaulted by Gad were undocumented, and Ramadani allegedly threatened the women by referring to their immigration statuses, in addition to trying to buy their silence.

Gad's alleged abuse also took place over more than two years, stretching from June or July 2023 to June 2025.

Studies and surveys have both indicated that sexual harassment in the restaurant industry is rampant, with some surveys showing that upwards of 70% of women working in restaurants are harassed.

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Will the charges affect Ramadani's businesses?

There's also a question how, if at all, the charges against Ramadani and Gad will affect the two Connecticut restaurants.

In general, sustained and successful business boycotts in Connecticut are rare, and while there has been some chatter in Woodbury-area Facebook groups about avoiding the steakhouse, there is no evidence that any kind of sustained opposition is being organized.

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MIX Prime Steakhouse, Fish, and Sushi Bar restaurant, 757 Main St. S. in Woodbury Monday, March 30, 2026. H John Voorhees III/Hearst Connecticut Media MIX Prime Steakhouse, Fish, and Sushi Bar restaurant, 757 Main St. S. in Woodbury Monday, March 30, 2026. H John Voorhees III/Hearst Connecticut Media

A partially redacted arrest warrant for prominent Connecticut restaurateur Ljatif "Tony" Ramadani alleges he tried to bribe workers at his restaurant who were in the country without authorization to stay silent about sexual assault allegations against his star chef.

The warrant, released by state police, details how Ramadani, a 68-year-old Ridgefield resident and owner of MIX Prime Steakhouse, Fish & Sushi Bar in Woodbury, offered two employees at the steakhouse who accused his head chef of sexually assaulting them $20,000 to buy their silence.

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Almost all of the details in the arrest warrant for Ramadani previously had been shared as part of a longer arrest warrant for Walid Gad, the head chef at the steakhouse who police say sexually assaulted or groped six female employees at the restaurant. Those details were reported last week by CT Insider.

Gad was arrested last Wednesday on four counts of first-degree sexual assault, according to state police.

Ramadani is facing two counts of bribery of a witness and was released on a $100,000 bond with a court appearance scheduled for April 9.

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According to the warrants, the two women whom Ramadani allegedly bribed were immigrants in the country without authorization who worked at MIX Prime between November 2024 and when they quit due to the alleged abuse in June 2025.

One of the women, a 48-year-old Guatemalan woman referred to as Victim 1, told police that Gad had sexually assaulted her on several occasions. The other, a 36-year-old woman referred to as Victim 2, whose country of origin was redacted, accused Gad of repeatedly groping her.

Walid Gad, 55, was arrested Wednesday for sexually assaulting employees at a Woodbury steakhouse where he worked as head chef, police said. Courtesy of the Connecticut State Police

Gad told police that he had a consensual and "purely sexual" relationship with Victim 1, and never groped Victim 2 or the other women, according to his arrest warrant.

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Assault victims threatened, police say

The pair reported their abuse to a Spanish-speaking chef at the restaurant in June 2025. That chef (whose name was redacted) subsequently informed Ramadani of the abuse, according to the warrant.

The warrant states that Ramadani asked Victim 2 "what she wanted to get out of the situation," and that Ramadani allegedly described Gad's behavior as "normal," saying that "women get sexually assaulted all the time and never report such incidents." The warrant says Ramadani also "expressed concern" about the two women's immigration status.

"Tony mentioned he had a lot of money and multiple lawyers that would overpower Victim #1 and Victim #2," the warrant said.

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MIX Prime Steakhouse, Fish, and Sushi Bar restaurant, 757 Main St. S. in Woodbury Monday, March 30, 2026. H John Voorhees III/Hearst Connecticut Media

The two women quit working at the steakhouse on June 21 and June 22, 2025, respectively, when it became clear Gad would not be fired, according to Ramadani's warrant.

Warrant: Ramadani tried to buy victims' silence

On June 23, 2025, less than two days after quitting their jobs at the steakhouse, Victims 1 and 2 approached a man in Danbury whom they believed was a lawyer but who actually was a notary specializing in assisting immigrants with work permits, to discuss their experiences at the steakhouse.

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It was during this meeting that Ramadani stands accused of trying to bribe the two victims.

Tony Ramadani in a mugshot provided by Connecticut State Police. Courtesy of Connecticut State Police

While the two women and the notary were meeting, Ramadani arrived at the office and "allegedly offered to pay Victim #1 and Victim #2 $20,000 in cash in exchange for their silence regarding the allegations against Gad," the warrant states.

Victim 2 declined the offer and the two women left, the warrant states. The notary, whose name was redacted, also told police that Ramadani offered the women $20,000, but that no agreement was ever written down.

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"He offers money to them. When you offer money, you are buying silence. There's gotta be something inside of the business ... something's wrong in the business," the notary was quoted as saying in the warrant.

In an interview with state police, Ramadani denied offering $20,000, though he "admitted that he offered Victim #1 and Victim #2 $5,000, $10,000, or $15,000, but he indicated he was 'joking,'" the warrant said.

The warrant states that Ramadani told police that he offered the money because he didn't want the women "to make a big deal" of their allegations, and that he had done so to help the women while they were out of work.

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New Haven police say Bernard Goutier was arrested on Saturday after allegedly stabbing someone in the arm on Ashum Street. Courtesy of the New Haven Police Department

NEW HAVEN  A city man was arrested for stabbing another man on Ashmun Street on Saturday afternoon, police say.

In a news release Sunday, New Haven Police Department said 38-year-old Bernard Goutier was charged with second-degree assault and is being held on a $150,000 bond pending arraignment.

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Police said the arrest came after officers were called to an address on the 300 block of Ashmun Street at 4:49 p.m. for a weapons complaint. They said officers at the scene determined it was a stabbing incident that stemmed from a dispute between Goutier and another man.
Memorial balloons, stuffed animals and flowers are placed on the porch of a home on Milford Street in Plainville on Saturday after a man killed his girlfriend and two children before killing himself Friday, police said. Jim Shannon/Hearst Connecticut Media

PLAINVILLE  A woman who was killed, along with two children, by her boyfriend on Milford Street on Friday previously worked as a dispatcher, according to a Waterbury-based dispatch center.

Northwest Connecticut Public Safety Communication Center said in a post Sunday on Facebook it was "heartbroken to learn of the tragic loss of our former dispatcher," 31-year-old Felisha Matthews. "She served with such dedication years ago. Our thoughts are with her family, and with our current and former fellow co-workers and dispatchers who are mourning this loss."

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Northwest Connecticut Public Safety Communication Center provides 9-1-1 dispatch services to 14 towns and cities in Greater Waterbury and the Naugatuck Valley, according to the center's website.

Matthews, 4-year-old Ava King and 12-year-old Mileena Matthews were found shot and killed inside a Milford Street home after police had a two-hour standoff with 27-year-old Patrick King, Plainville Police Chief Christopher Vanghele said Saturday. Mileena Matthews was Felisha Matthews' child from a previous relationship, police said.

Vanghele said King fatally shot himself after police decided to deploy pepper gas inside the home in an attempt to get him to surrender.

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He said a woman called dispatchers at 3:53 p.m. Friday stating that her brother had called her claiming he had killed his girlfriend and 4-year-old daughter, and intended on taking his own life.

Vanghele noted the firearms in the home were legally registered to King, and that Mileena Matthews was a student at the Middle School of Plainville. He said support services would be provided to students impacted by the incident.

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Memorial balloons, stuffed animals and flowers were placed on the porch of the home on Saturday.
A view of UConn campus in Storrs, Conn., on Thursday March 4, 2021. So far, more than a dozen programs have already been approved for closure, suspension or consolidation as part of a review process at the University of Connecticut. Christian Abraham/Hearst Connecticut Media

As the University of Connecticut forges ahead with a contentious review of small programs that could reshape and reduce its academic offerings, some faculty members fear the cuts are going too far  with the true number of programs at stake still unclear.

UConn faculty have been pushing back on the provost-led review process  which identifies low-enrollment academic programs for closure, suspension or consolidation  since it was underway in the fall of 2024. The review has spurred controversy for the states flagship public university, with some faculty members and lawmakers decrying the potential cuts to majors while UConn officials defend it as a routine, common process for universities.

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And more than a year later, some faculty members are warning that the process  and the program reductions yet to come  cuts too deep. Worry, frustration, concern and anger were the first words that came to mind for Jeremy Pressman, a professor in UConns political science department and a member of the faculty union.

Faculty are worried about the future of the university, he said.

So far, more than a dozen programs have already been approved for closure, suspension or consolidation as part of the review process, according to university spokeswoman Stephanie Reitz.

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And that number is slated to grow, reigniting fear among some professors who say they dont know which departments could be hit next.

As of February, the university anticipated a reduction of 34 programs, according to documents from a UConn Board of Trustees Academic Affairs Committee last month. That figure is a planning estimate that reflects a combination of program closures, suspensions and consolidations identified through an ongoing review process, Reitz said.

Further portfolio reductions are likely as the university continues discussion and review of other programs, according to the February documents.

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University officials have maintained that the process is normal and necessary as the university evolves.

The program reviews are part of an ongoing, cyclical process to ensure academic excellence, alignment with student demand and workforce needs, faculty expertise and research priorities, and the efficient use of university resources. Such reviews are standard practice at universities nationwide, Reitz said.

Uncertainty, questions remain

The university provided CT Insider with a list of some 17 programs that have been already approved for reduction during the 2024-25 and 2025-26 academic years, from the closure of various graduate certificate programs to the consolidation of three math programs. But exactly which programs remain on the chopping block is still unclear. In August, about 70 programs were under review.

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It seemed that the true number of programs in jeopardy was a moving target, said Valerie Duffy, a professor of allied health sciences and president of the universitys chapter of the American Association of University Professors, the union representing UConn faculty. As far as specifics on the program closures, its been kind of hush hush.

UConn did not provide a full list of the other programs it expects to close.

Additional program actions are still in development within academic units and moving through UConns shared governance process. Therefore, we are not able to provide a finalized or comprehensive list that fully accounts for the projected total at this time, Reitz said. It is important that we allow the shared governance process to fully play out before speaking to potential outcomes, since proposals may evolve as they move through review and approval.

Decisions on academic programs at UConn are made through a shared and transparent governance process in which faculty, department heads, deans, the Provosts Office, and the Board of Trustees all play an important role in reviewing and approving program actions, Reitz said. She noted that actions take effect only after that process, which includes Board of Trustees approval, and all final program actions are made public through board discussions and materials.

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However, some faculty members described a different experience with the process, arguing that transparency and communication was lacking, even more so compared to last year.

The process has very little input from the people who know these programs best, and even when those people give input, their input is often ignored, Pressman said.

I think whats really concerning is that behind closed doors, without input and with very little clarity about how theyre making these judgments, the university is putting together lists of tens of programs that are vulnerable, in their eyes, he said.

Without knowing which programs were on the chopping block, faculty were scared, Duffy said. And so what it becomes is  almost like youre under scrutiny all the time, and you have to justify all the time, she said.

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The review process specifically targets programs that failed to meet a five-year program completion threshold. That includes programs falling below 100 undergraduate degree completions, 25 graduate certificate completions, 50 masters degree completions, or 10 doctoral degree completions.

The programs affected at UConn all had either no students enrolled or very few, Reitz said. Each affected program also submits teach-out plans that detail the number of students in the program, other relevant information such as how far along they were in their studies and how they will be accommodated to complete the program, she said.

'Going in the wrong direction'

More than a year after the process was launched, faculty continue to challenge its purpose, for fear of the long-term consequences to UConns reputation and quality.

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I think theres this feeling of  the university is going in the wrong direction, Pressman said. These are bad choices, bad processes, poorly thought out and we could do much better.

Duffy expressed a similar point, saying it led faculty to wonder, What does the University of Connecticut stand for? What do we want of the flagship university in the state, what should it offer?

But the program reductions werent the only thing generating concern among UConn faculty.

The conversations around cutting programs have occurred at the same time as UConn faces a budget crunch, brought on by a combination of factors including the expiration of federal pandemic-relief money, the state budget and federal level cuts. The university has also worked to increase enrollment, cut costs and hired an outside firm to assess its structures in light of the fiscal strain.

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In addition to the provost-led review of programs, Duffy said faculty were dealing with a great deal of pressure to increase class sizes, as well as other cuts across the university.

Overall, fewer program offerings, staffing cuts and larger class sizes ran counter to the high quality education that the university wanted to advertise and offer, she said.

Weve heard departments where the faculty are just really, very upset that they cant do the job that theyre hired to do, and that they know that should be done, Duffy said. I think morale is challenged right now.

Pressman said some faculty members also viewed the process as an indication that university administrators valued certain programs more than others.

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When university administrators press a program for closure or suspension or consolidation in a slipshod way like this  the message it sends to instructors and professors is like, what you do isnt important, and other colleagues are more important, he said.  A smaller program can contribute to excellence of the university.

Ultimately, the process was a recipe for undermining the university, he said.

Documents from the February Academic Affairs Committee meeting described the process as supporting responsible management of the academic portfolio.

Which programs have been impacted so far?

As for when exactly each of the affected programs will be gone from the UConn academic portfolio, the timing varies, Reitz said.

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In some cases, changes take effect in the next academic cycle following approval; in others, implementation is phased over a longer period to allow for teach-out plans that ensure currently enrolled students can complete their degrees, Reitz said. As a result, while approvals may occur in 2025 or 2026, the full transition for some programs can extend several years.

So far, the following programs have been approved for closure, suspension or consolidation across the 2024-25 and 2025-26 academic year, according to Reitz:

Program closures:

Graduate Certificate in Global Health (Institute for Collaboration on Health, Intervention and Policy)

Graduate Certificate Obesity Prevention and Weight Management (Institute for Collaboration on Health, Intervention, and Policy)

Graduate Certificate in School Law (Neag School of Education)

Graduate Certificate in Addiction Sciences (School of Medicine)

B.A. and B.S. in Applied Mathematical Sciences, BS in Mathematics-Physics (College of Liberal Arts & Sciences)

M.A. in Politics and Popular Culture (College of Liberal Arts & Sciences)

MA and PhD in Medieval Studies (College of Liberal Arts & Sciences)

Graduate Certificate in Life Story Research

Graduate Certificate in Survey Research

Survey Research and Data Analysis MA

Graduate Certificate in Occupational Safety and Health

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Program suspensions:

Graduate Certificate in Dementia Care

Graduate Certificate in Pain Management

Financial Technology MS (including accelerated pathway)

Program consolidations:

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People spend the night in the dark on the Malecon during a blackout in Havana, Cuba, Saturday, March 21, 2026. Ramon Espinosa/AP Activists from the vessel Maguro, that arrived from Mexico, unload solar panels and other humanitarian aid from the "Nuestra America," or Our America convoy, at the port in Havana Bay, Cuba, Tuesday, March 24, 2026. (Jorge Luis Banos/IPS via AP, Pool) Jorge Luis Banos/AP A man fill containers with potable water during a blackout in Havana, Sunday, March 22, 2026. Ramon Espinosa/AP

ABOARD AIRFORCE ONE (AP)  President Donald Trump on Sunday night said he has no problem with a Russian oil tanker off the coast of Cuba delivering relief to the island, which has been brought to its knees by a U.S. oil blockade.

We have a tanker out there. We dont mind having somebody get a boatload because they need  they have to survive, Trump told reporters as he flew back to Washington.

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When asked if a New York Times report that the tanker would be allowed to reach Cuba was true, Trump said: I told them, if a country wants to send some oil into Cuba right now, I have no problem whether its Russia or not.

On Monday, Russia's Transport Ministry said the oil tanker Anatoly Kolodkin arrived at the Cuban port of Matanzas carrying humanitarian supplies of about 730,000 barrels of oil.

The vessel is sanctioned by the United States, the European Union and the United Kingdom following the war in Ukraine.

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Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday that Russia had previously discussed its oil shipment to Cuba with the United States. Russia onsiders it its duty not to stand aside, but to provide the necessary assistance to our Cuban friends, he told reporters.

Trump, whose government has come at its Caribbean adversary more aggressively than any U.S. government in recent history, has effectively cut Cuba off from key oil shipments in an effort to force regime change. The blockade has had devastating effects on the civilians Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio say they want to help, leaving many desperate.

Islandwide blackouts have roiled Cubans already grappling with years of crisis, and a lack of gasoline and basic resources has crippled hospital and slashed public transport.

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Experts say the anticipated shipment could produce about 180,000 barrels of diesel, enough to feed Cubas daily demand for nine or 10 days.

Cuba has long been at the heart of geopolitical tug-of-war between the U.S. and Russia, dating back decades. Trump on Sunday dismissed the idea that allowing the boat to reach Cuba would help Russian President Vladimir Putin.

It doesnt help him. He loses one boatload of oil, thats all it is. If he wants to do that, and if other countries want to do it, it doesnt bother me much, Trump said. Its not going to have an impact. Cubas finished. They have a bad regime. They have very bad and corrupt leadership and whether or not they get a boat of oil, its not going to matter.

He added: Id prefer letting it in, whether its Russia or anybody else because the people need heat and cooling and all of the other things.

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___
Wallingford police say Timothy Scott of Meriden was arrested for stabbing a person during a fight on a CTtransit bus on Sunday. Courtesy of the Wallingford Police Department

WALLINGFORD  A Meriden man is in custody after a person was stabbed on a CTtransit bus on Sunday, police say.

In a release, Wallingford police Lt. Stephen Jaques said Timothy Scott, a 56-year-old Crown Street resident, was charged with second-degree assault and second-degree breach of peace.

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Jaques said patrol officers responded to the area of North Colony and Old North Colony roads for a reported fight on a CTtransit bus. He said callers reported that someone was stabbed and someone possibly had a gun.

Arriving officers found the CTtransit bus and learned the suspect had fled the scene on foot in the vicinity of the Home Depot on North Colony Road, Jaques said. They also determined a fight had taken place on the bus between the suspect and an unidentified female, he said.

Jaques said the unknown female struck the suspect before the victim got involved. He said the suspect then recklessly stabbed backward numerous times, striking the victim in the leg.

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No firearms were located, Jaques said, noting officers canvassed the area and discovered a male matching the suspect's description on North Colony Road near Yale Avenue. He said that man later was identified as Scott, who was arrested and transported to headquarters for processing.

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Jaques said the victim suffered injuries not considered life-threatening to the leg and was treated at a hospital.

He said Scott was released on a $25,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in court on April 9.

This incident remains under investigation, Jaques said.
Wallingford police said a three people were injured in an early Monday rollover crash on South Elm Street. Courtesy of Wallingford Police Department

WALLINGFORD  Three people needed to be rescued from a fiery single-car rollover crash early Monday on South Elm Street, police said.

All three were taken to the hospital for their injuries after they were freed from the wreckage by an off-duty officer and other nearby bystanders, Wallingford police said.

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Police said the call reporting the crash in the 400 block came in around 1:50 a.m.

"The officer used a fire extinguisher to put out the flames, and a neighbor used a hose from their home to help contain the fire," police said. "The officer broke a window to rescue the three trapped occupants before the vehicle was fully engulfed."

Police said the crash is being investigated by the South-Central Connecticut Regional Traffic Unit, due to the seriousness of it.
Weston firefighters battle a brush fire on Old Redding Road in a file photo. Courtesy of the Weston Volunteer Fire Department

The risk of brush fire was high again across Connecticut Monday, with Hartford County at very high risk of fires, according to the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection's daily forest fire danger report.

The risk level also had been considered high statewide on Sunday, according to the agency.

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The designation comes with some restrictions for residents. When the danger report lists the risk as high, very high or extreme, local brush burning permits no longer are valid if the burning is within 100 feet of grassland or woodland.

The National Weather Service had not issued any fire-related weather alerts for Connecticut as of Monday morning, but all of Massachusetts was under a special weather statement warning of an increased risk of fire due to low humidity and breezy winds.

Connecticut is in the midst of the spring fire season, which typically runs from mid-March to mid-May. Conditions are ripe for fires in spring because the lack of snow and vegetation allow the sun to quickly dry out light fuels. The materials that most often burn are referred to as "1-hour" fuels because they can go from wet to dried out and ready to burn in as little as one hour.

Windy spring weather also poses a risk, because the wind provides more oxygen to fires and can cause them to spread rapidly. Relative humidity  the amount of moisture in the air  and temperature also can influence the risk of wild fires. When the air is dry, it can suck moisture out of fuels, setting them up to burn if a fire were to ignite.

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Spring fires can have benefits for the state's woodlands. DEEP deliberately sets fires in same state lands each spring, in what are known as controlled burns.
A crowd watches the Norwalk St. Patricks Day parade along Washington Street, in Norwalk, on Saturday March 14, 2026. H John Voorhees III/Hearst Connecticut Media

Higher than normal temperatures are expected across most of the United States between May and July, including Connecticut, according to the latest climate outlook from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Meanwhile, drought is expected to expand out west, the agency said. Ken Graham, director of the National Weather Service, said factors influencing the agency's spring outlook include low snowpack out west and low soil moisture in the lower 48 states.

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Despite a cold and snowy winter in Connecticut, most of the country experienced a drier and warmer season, which will have knock-on effects this spring.

Here's what climate scientists are expecting around the U.S. for spring 2026.

End of La Nina will affect climate

The other factor is the shifting El Nino-Southern Oscillation, or ENSO, which is more commonly referred to as just El Nino or La Nina. The terms refer to an oscillating climate pattern in the Pacific Ocean that has rippling effects on the climate around the globe.

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"This spring will also feature a transition from La Nina to ENSO-neutral conditions, meaning neither El Nino nor La Nina," Graham said in a news release last week.

Scientists expect an El Nino pattern to take hold this summer after the pattern transitions to neutral.

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While El Nino typically means cooler, wetter conditions for the southern United States and drier conditions for the Ohio Valley and Pacific Northwest, it doesn't have as large of an impact on New England. But El Nino can produce poor conditions for the formation of hurricanes, which do sometimes bring destructive weather to Connecticut.

Warmer, drier winter led to drought in parts of the U.S.

The Great Plains, Lower Mississppi Valley and southeastern U.S. all experienced worsening or developing drought "due to warmer and drier than normal conditions this winter," said Jon Gottschalck, chief of the Operational Prediction Branch, NOAAs Climate Prediction Center.

Connecticut also has seen its fair or drought or abnormally dry conditions so far this spring, though that's improved as in recent weeks. The most recent report from the U.S. Drought Monitor, which was released last Thursday from data up through last Tuesday, showed a decrease in the area of the state considered abnormally dry. None of Connecticut is considered to be in moderate drought, which is an improvement over a few weeks ago.

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Gottschalck said drought is likely to continue across much of the west, develop in parts of the Pacific Northwest, Great Basin, central Rockies and Southwest.

"Dry conditions are expected to improve for some areas in the Midwest and Atlantic seaboard," he added in a statement.

Warmer temperatures, lower flood risk

The Climate Predication Center said above-normal temperatures are "favored" across most of the western U.S. eastward including the lower and middle Mississippi Valley, the Ohio Valley, the Tennessee Valley, the Southeast and Inter-Mountain West. East central Alaska will see below-normal temperatures.

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Meanwhile, Pacific Northwest, parts of the Great Basin, Southwest, central High Plains and much of the Rockies all are expected to see below-average precipitation, the Climate Prediction Center said. Western Alaska, the eastern Great Lakes, Mid-Atlantic and parts of the Southeast all are forecast to see above-normal precipitation.

Overall, the continental U.S. is at normal to below-normal flood risk this spring due to the dry, warm winter and "well-below-normal" snowpack across most of the country.

The Red River of the North and Ohio Valley, which typically experience annual flooding, both are anticipated to see flooding, the CPC said.

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Generally speaking, Carnival crowds expect to get stuff during parades, not give stuff away, but the Krewe of Nyades has switched things around. As the 50 members of the mostly female group march through the streets, they request that women contribute their brassieres.

According to krewe founder Laura Cassidy, the Nyades collected 607 bras during Mardi Gras season. Some of the undergarments were new and packaged, some were used but wearable, and some were removed by their wearers in the moment.

We call those warm ones," Cassidy said, laughing.

In Greek mythology, the Nyades are demigoddesses who look out for young women and the coastline. During the parade, krewe members display the donated bras on the branches of a fake cypress tree mounted on a rolling platform. The tree symbolizes the fragile wetlands. Though, Cassidy concedes, its actually an artificial Christmas tree from Costco in disguise.
Japan finds toxic industrial chemicals above limits at 629 water monitoring sites

Xinhua) 14:55, March 30, 2026

TOKYO, March 30 (Xinhua) -- Japan detected excessive levels of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) at hundreds of water quality monitoring sites nationwide in fiscal 2024, according to a recent survey released by the Ministry of the Environment.

The nationwide water quality survey, covering April 2024 to March 2025, found PFAS levels exceeding national standards at 629 monitoring points across 26 prefectures. The survey tested 3,941 locations across the country's 47 prefectures, including rivers, lakes, coastal waters, and groundwater.

The highest reading was recorded in Kumatori Town in Osaka Prefecture, where groundwater at one site contained 73,000 nanograms of PFAS per liter -- about 1,460 times Japan's national limit. Another site in Okayama Prefecture detected 72,000 nanograms per liter in a river sample.

Many of the monitoring sites with elevated PFAS levels were located near factories, U.S. military bases, or Self-Defense Forces facilities, according to Kyodo News. The environment ministry, however, did not disclose detailed information about the specific locations of the monitoring sites.

PFAS is the collective term for a large group of fluorinated compounds, including perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), which are widely used in industrial products.

Often referred to as "forever chemicals" due to their persistence, some PFAS compounds can accumulate in the environment and in the human body and have been linked to health risks.

Japan's guideline limits the combined concentration of PFOS and PFOA in water to no more than 50 nanograms per liter.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
You are the owner of this article.
With TSA screens lines closed, travelers navigate their way through the screening process lines at Louis Armstrong International Airport in Kenner, La. Monday, March 23, 2026. (Staff photo by David Grunfeld, The Times-Picayune)
Arnie D. Fielkow is a former president of the New Orleans City Council and former CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater New Orleans.
Michelle Collins is dean of the College of Nursing and Health at Loyola University New Orleans.
Torquay is welcoming some of the worlds most respected names in animal behaviour and welfare

Torquay is welcoming some of the worlds most respected names in animal behaviour and welfare as the very first Live Emotional Wellbeing in Animals Conference arrives in town transforming the English Riviera into a global hub of compassion, science and cutting-edge education.

For two days on March 30 and 31, the town will become a meeting place for leading academics, trainers, veterinary professionals, authors and behaviourists, marking a milestone both for the region and for the UKs fast-evolving understanding of animal emotional health.

The conference hosted by Pet Remedy, set within the Imperial Hotel overlooking Torbay, promises to be not only one of the most ambitious events of the year, but a powerful opportunity for pet owners and professionals alike to learn from the very best in the field.

Dr Robert Falconer-Taylor, Dr Amber Batson, Chloe Scoones, Daniel Shaw, Victoria Stilwell and Devons own Andrew Hale are among the high-profile experts taking to the stage for in-depth sessions exploring what emotional wellbeing really means for animals, how it differs from basic welfare, and why this distinction is now driving so much conversation in behavioural science.

Many more global figures, including Prof Marc Bekoff, Dr Rise VanFleet and Dr Eduardo Fernandez, will join the online edition of the conference later in the year, giving attendees continued access to some of the animal worlds greatest thinkers.

The events setting is a deliberate choice. The Imperial Hotel, with its sea views and proximity to Torquay Harbour, offers a calm, inspiring environment in which to explore the complex world of animal emotions.

With excellent transport links by road and rail, and Exeter Airport just 40 minutes away, organisers say Torquay provides the perfect balance of accessibility and coastal beauty. Organisers expect strong attendance from across the UK and overseas, bringing a welcome early spring boost to local businesses, restaurants, hotels and tourism providers.

For Andrew Hale, a Certified Animal Behaviourist and Behaviour Consultant for Pet Remedy, the location is part of what makes this event so unique.

Torquay is a beautiful place and it is wonderful to be able to bring this level of expertise to the South West, he says.

I have always believed that learning about animals should feel grounded, connected and accessible. Hosting this conference in Devon helps us create the warm, welcoming environment we need to talk about something as important and sensitive as emotional wellbeing.

Pet Remedy itself, the Devon-based calming brand Andrew Hale represents, has become a familiar name in veterinary practices the UK over.

Clinically supported and widely recommended by vets, behaviourists and rescue organisations, its natural calming formulations are used by professionals to help animals manage stress, build emotional resilience and navigate challenging environments.

As the understanding of animal emotions grows, so too has interest in gentle, science-led interventions like Pet Remedy that ease anxiety without sedation and support an animals natural calming pathways.

Andrew says this shift in thinking is precisely why the conference could not come at a more important time.

We are finally acknowledging that animals feel the world in incredibly rich and meaningful ways, he added. Their emotional experiences influence everything, from behaviour to physical health to relationships with people. For years animal care research was focused almost exclusively on physical welfare, but now we are recognising that emotional wellbeing is just as essential. This conference is about helping people understand that difference and giving them practical tools to support their animals in a compassionate way.

Over the course of two days, delegates will explore how emotional wellbeing develops, what happens when it is compromised, and how guardians, trainers and veterinary professionals can create environments that help animals thrive.

Andrew believes the structure of the event will set a new standard for conferences of this kind. This conference is going to be something truly special, he says. We are bringing together so many leaders who are at the forefront of understanding animal emotions and behaviour.

Torquay is the perfect backdrop and I cannot wait to meet the delegates, share knowledge and help raise standards even further. Anyone who cares about dogs or any other animals is going to get so much from being part of this.

This isnt just about giving people information, he says. Its about helping them feel more connected to the animals in their care and to each other.

Emotional wellbeing is a shared journey. When people support animals better, the animals in turn help people feel calmer, more grounded and more joyful. That relationship is incredibly important.

I want people to leave Torquay feeling inspired, empowered and part of a growing community that puts emotional health first.

For the town itself the arrival of such an influential event is a significant moment. With hundreds of attendees expected across the residential and conference-only ticket options, the event will bring considerable economic benefits to Torquay during the spring shoulder season when the region is beginning to warm up but traditional tourism is still gathering pace.

Delegates staying at the Imperial Hotel will enjoy meals, the exclusive Gala Dinner on 30 March and access to all sessions, while many others are expected to book into Premier Inns, Travelodges and local boutique hotels.

Some plan to extend their visit by making use of the special discounted rate negotiated for those wishing to stay an extra night, meaning even more spending on meals, attractions and shopping.

The conference organisers have also made accessibility a priority. The venue is fully accessible throughout and the hotel has limited accessible rooms available for advance booking.

Alternately, attendees who prefer to arrange their own accommodation have a range of options across Torquay and the wider English Riviera, with information provided to ensure every delegate feels welcome and supported.

One of the most meaningful aspects of the event is its inclusivity. Although the speaker list includes some of the biggest names in animal behaviour science, the conference has been designed for everyone, not just industry professionals.

Pet guardians, students, rescue workers and community volunteers will find the content just as valuable as trainers, vets and academics. Andrew believes this is essential. We often assume that deep conversations about wellbeing are only for experts, he says. But the truth is that every guardian is already shaping the emotional world of their animals every day. This conference is about bringing those worlds together. When professionals and everyday pet owners share the same understanding we create better outcomes for animals. That is how real change happens.

I think Torquay is going to see a huge wave of positivity as everyone comes together with the same goal, which is to improve the lives of animals everywhere.

Beyond the in-person event, delegates will receive free access to the online edition of the conference later in 2026, ensuring they can revisit sessions or catch additional speakers whose schedules make in-person attendance impossible. This hybrid model means the learning does not end when the delegates leave Torquay but continues to grow with added global perspectives.

With emotional wellbeing becoming one of the most significant areas of focus in modern animal care, the Live Emotional Wellbeing in Animals Conference represents a pivotal moment.

For Torquay it brings a valuable influx of visitors, international attention and a chance to showcase its stunning coastline and famous hospitality.

For attendees it offers inspiration, clarity and the deep emotional understanding needed to support animals with compassion and insight. For the wider animal care community it marks a shift towards connectedness, empathy and science-led thinking.

And for the animals themselves it promises a future in which their emotional richness is finally recognised and respected.

Andrew added: There has never been a more important time to talk about emotional wellbeing, he says. Animals give us so much and they deserve to be understood for who they truly are, not just what we ask them to do. Torquay is going to be the place where we take a huge step forward together. I think it is going to change lives.
A community history project from Lustleigh has received national recognition after winning Best Community Publication at the prestigious Alan Ball Awards.

The book, Home Front to Front Line; Lustleighs United Response in World War Two, was published in 2025 to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War. It has now been honoured for its research, writing and community involvement by award organisers, the Library Services Trust and the CILIP Local Studies Group.

David McGahey, chairman of the Lustleigh Society, said: A huge achievement and just recognition of the amazing community we have in our beautiful Dartmoor village.

Judges praised the publication, noting the high standard of entries this year and highlighting the scale of local involvement behind the project.

They said: The judges thought that your publication was the result of a huge community effort, brilliantly researched content, well written, with good editing, and beautifully produced.

The book brings together the work of a large group of volunteers, each contributing research into different aspects of wartime life in the Dartmoor village. Topics range from the activities of the Home Guard and other military units, to the experiences of children and evacuees, as well as the roles played by women, Girl Guides and the local church.

It also explores how tourism continued in Lustleigh during the war years, and concludes with detailed biographies of the 10 men from the parish who lost their lives in the conflict.

The project reflects a broader trend in local history research, where communities document their own stories to preserve first-hand accounts and archival material. Lustleigh itself, a small village with a long history dating back to Saxon times, saw significant changes during the war, including the arrival of evacuees and increased agricultural and military activity.

It is another publication of which the Lustleigh Society is immensely proud, said David McGahey, and this Award really is icing on the cake.

The Lustleigh Society, founded in 1985, works to research, preserve and promote the heritage of the parish. It also manages the Lustleigh Community Archive, which holds a wide range of historic documents, maps, photographs and parish records.

The Alan Ball Award, established in 1985, is named after a noted local history author and recognises high-quality local and community history publications from across the UK.
Lyndsey Estin

Kekst CNC has named Lyndsey Estin co-CEO and head of its US operation, succeeding Jeremy Fielding.

She will work closely with London-based co-CEO Richard Campbell, who leads the firms non-US business.

Estin has more than two decades of experience with Kekst CNC, handling M&A, shareholder activism, crisis and complex financial communications matters.

She founded and leads the cybersecurity practice and plays a key role in AI communications advisory work, which includes collaboration with Kekst CNCs parent company, Publicis Groupe.

Arthur Sadoun, Publicis CEO, said Estin has established herself as a leader at the forefront of AI and cybersecurity. She has been early in recognizing how emerging technologies reshape risk, reputation, and communications, guiding industry leaders as they define their narratives amid rapid internal and external transformation, he added.

Fielding, a 27-year veteran of Kekst CNC, praised Estin for providing clients with superior judgment and for her ability to anticipate what lies ahead.
THE funeral took place this afternoon (Sunday, March 29) in Edenderry of Christopher Holt who was found dead last week in the same house which was fire bombed in December resulting in the deaths of his sister Mary and grandnephew Tadgh Farrell.

Christy Holt's remains were located upstairs on March 24 following an early morning blaze in the already partly burned out house in Castleview Park.

At the Mass in St Mary's Church in Mr Holt's home town, Fr Greg Corcoran referred to the late Mr Holt by his nickname 'Crunchie' telling the congregation that was the name by which he was probably best known.

Gifts presented during the Mass included a blue Everton scarf, with Fr Corcoran joking that it was not Laois, a local newspaper and some tobacco.

A moving eulogy was read by the deceased's niece Pamela Curry who described him as a loyal friend.

READ NEXT: 'Fly high' - Tragic final days of man found dead in Offaly house where sister died

His quick wit and infectious smile could light up any room, she said.

She recalled that Christy was 18 when he set off to London and then returned because he lost his daddy.

I remember it well, he came home surrounded by all these beautiful women and met the beautiful Marcella in London. I knew he was punching but he was lucky to have met Marcella who was crazy about him. They had two beautiful kids, Jack and Marcella and now has a beautiful grandson Leo who unfortunately he didn't get to see but can for ever watch over them all now.

Pamela also spoke about Crunchie's close friendship with a local man, the late Ger McBride, who went by the nickname 'Smell'.

She said Crunchie and Smell were inseparable: They were like an old married couple, they bickered, fought, laughed and cried together.

She added: I think Crunchie lost a piece of himself when Smell passed away. His heart seemed so lost. Christy was the most lovable, kindest, caring person you could meet.

Pamela also said: Though Christy's time with us was cut short, the impact he made will last for ever. His legacy lives on in the countless lives he touched.

She mentioned the man's sister Mary who died in the fire caused by the arson attack on the evening of December 6 last.

Now I know Mary won't be too happy to see him so soon, I can see her now, 'Not this red fecker', she said, remarking sorry Father, to Fr Corcoran.

But I know Smell is there with open arms and open cans so we know you'll be at peace, she said.

The 57-year-old was buried in St Mary's cemetery, the same graveyard where his sister Mary (60) and grand nephew Tadgh Farrell were interred. Another sister, Pauline, was hospitalised as a result of the fire.

Christy Holt was predeceased by his parents Micheal and Peg, sisters Caroline and Mary and brother-in-law Pat.

He is also survived by his son Jack, daughter Marcella, grandson Leo, brothers and sisters Michael, Johnny, Margaret, Declan, Pauline and Brendan, their husbands, wives and partners, nieces, nephews, grandnieces, grandnephews, relatives and friends.

While a murder investigation is still ongoing following the deaths of Pauline Holt and Tadgh Farrell, foul play is not suspected in relation to Christy Holt's passing.

Gardai said they were investigating all the circumstances of the fire.

A post-mortem examination was carried out on the body of Christy but gardai said for operational reasons they were not releasing the results.

They are preparing a file for the coroner.
Fianna Fail TD for North Tipperary & Northwest Kilkenny, Ryan OMeara, has welcomed the announcement that a new DEIS+ scheme will be rolled out from September, bringing additional supports to schools.

Todays announcement will see 121 of the country's most disadvantaged schools are to receive a range of additional supports, including more than 400 additional staff under a new DEIS plus scheme, which is to be rolled out from this coming September.

In Tipperary Scoil Eoin Naofa in Roscrea is set to be included in the New DEIS+ programme.

The plan targets schools with the deepest and most persistent levels of disadvantage and places a central focus on addressing mental health and wellbeing among children attending.

The 400 additional staff will include an additional teaching post in each of the 121 schools directly aimed at coordinating the promotion of mental health and well-being within the school.

Welcoming the announcement, Deputy OMeara said: This investment is a truly important step in addressing educational inequality across Ireland, and it will have a real impact in schools.

SEE NEXT - PICTURES: Roscrea's schoolchildren celebrate their Confirmation

Additional teachers, along with improved wellbeing and guidance supports, will help schools to better support their students and respond to their needs.

I am particularly pleased to see that Scoil Eoin Naofa in Roscrea has been included in this new scheme. This will bring real and important benefits to the students, staff and school communities.

The supports to be rolled out from September include additional teaching posts, new leadership positions, expanded guidance supports at primary level, more Home School Community Liaison Coordinators, wellbeing practitioners, funding for breakfast clubs, a 400,000 Innovation Fund and stronger links with colleges and industry.

The scheme is backed by a 48 million investment in the DEIS+ programme and the wider DEIS strategy.

In total, the measures announced under DEIS Plus and the DEIS Strategy will deliver over 400 additional roles, including approximately 350 teacher posts, benefiting some 700 schools nationwide.

Deputy OMeara also welcomed the extension of Home School Community Liaison, HSCL, services to a further 130 schools, including some outside the traditional DEIS programme, thereby broadening supports for vulnerable children and young people.

In the Thurles area, two schools will benefit from this expansion, Scoil Naisiunta Chaoimhghin, Littleton and Scoil Angela, Thurles.

The extension of guidance and wellbeing supports into primary level is especially important, as it allows for earlier intervention and more consistent support throughout a childs education, concluded Deputy OMeara.


ICE agent shoots man during alleged shovel attack in Minneapolis, authorities say An ICE agent shot a man in the leg Wednesday night in Minneapolis after officials said several men attacked agents with shovels.

(Image by YouTube, Channel: CBS TEXAS) Details DMCA



Subject: Urgent Call to Override the Mayor's Veto and Pass the FAAR Act into Law

March 30, 2026

Dear Honorable Councilmember,

Thank you for your March 3 vote to pass the Full Accountability in Arrest Reporting (FAAR) Emergency Amendment Act of 2026. DC residents need and deserve absolute transparency in the actions of federal agents operating in our communities. Therefore, as a DC citizen and resident, I urge you to override Mayor Bowser's March 23 anti-democratic veto when the FAAR Act again comes up for a vote tomorrow, March 31.

Mayor Bowser's veto of the FAAR Act is a betrayal of those she ostensibly represents, at a time of military occupation and the absence of constitutional protections, such as due process of law. Bowser's action sends a clear message that not only is she complicit in enabling the Fascist Trump regime to advance their illegal and unconstitutional agenda, but she is doing so in the face of your democratically representative vote.

FAAR provides basic and straightforward steps to improve safety in DC -- as you and your colleagues testified on March 3. As you know, it would require MPD officers to record in arrest reports and probable cause affidavits whether federal officers are present at the scene of an MPD arrest, the names of those federal officers, and whether any of those federal officers used force. It would require MPD officers to report any instances of federal agents' use of force, and to provide body-worn camera footage whenever possible.

This legislation was written to prevent more incidents like the one where Department of Homeland Security officers shot at Phillip Brown. MPD officers were not only present, but they participated in that incident and later attempted to cover up the shooting by failing to document the case in official reports.

We have also seen MPD officers riding with federal agents, making arrests with federal agents, sharing information with federal agents, and patrolling neighborhoods with federal agents. Transparency and accountability regarding these interactions is the bare minimum we should expect. It is infuriating that our mayor seems to believe that we, DC citizens and residents, do not deserve basic protection from, and open reporting about, such activity.

I join with all concerned community members to urge you to override Mayor Bowser's veto and pass FAAR again, at tomorrow's legislative meeting.

Thank you in advance for representing all DC neighbors, citizens, and residents,

Chuck Pennacchio, Ph.D.

1425 Monroe Street, NW

Washington, DC 20010

cpennacchio@gmail.com
888poker LIVE Barcelona Satellites Are Live; Win a $1,800 Package for $1.50

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The third 888poker LIVE event of 2026 sees the popular tour return to the Casino Barcelona, where an 888 buy-in Main Event is the highlight of a bustling schedule. 888poker LIVE Barcelona runs from May 14-24, and you could be flying out to the Catalonia capital armed with a $1,800 package that has only cost you $1.50. How do you do that? You start by reading this article.

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Date Time Event Thu 14 May 5:00 p.m. 220 NLHE Opening Event Day 1a 8:00 p.m. 50 Opening Event Satellite Fri 15 May 5:00 p.m. 220 NLHE Opening Event Day 1b 7:00 p.m. 165 NLHE The Rumble 6-Max 9:00 p.m. 50 Opening Event Satellite Sat 16 May 3:00 p.m. 220 NLHE Opening Event Day 1c 7:00 p.m. 115 NLHE The Mini Shot 9:00 p.m. 220 NLHE Opening Event Day 1d Turbo Sun 17 May 11:00 a.m. 22 NLHE Opening Event Day 1e Turbo 4:00 p.m. 220 Opening Event Final Day 6:00 p.m. 200 NLHE The Dragon Mon 18 May 3:00 p.m. 165 NLHE The Mid Shot 7:00 p.m. 330 NLHE The Mega Knockout 10:00 p.m. 160 High Roller Satellite Tue 19 May 3:00 p.m. 160 High Roller Satellite 5:00 p.m. 100 NLHE The Turbo Dash 7:00 p.m. 1,500 NLHE High Roller Day 1 9:00 p.m. 88 Main Event Super Satellite Wed 20 May 3:00 p.m. 888 NLHE 888poker LIVE Barcelona Main Event Day 1a 5:00 p.m. 1,500 NLHE High Roller Day 2 6:00 p.m. 110 Pot-Limit Omaha 9:00 p.m. 88 Main Event Super Satellite Thu 21 May 3:00 p.m. 888 NLHE 888poker LIVE Barcelona Main Event Day 1b 6:00 p.m. 200 NLHE The Voyage 9:00 p.m. 88 Main Event Super Satellite Fri 22 May 3:00 p.m. 888 NLHE 888poker LIVE Barcelona Main Event Day 1c 6:00 p.m. 165 NLHE The Mayhem 9:00 p.m. 88 Main Event Super Satellite Sat 23 May 11:00 a.m. 888 NLHE 888poker LIVE Barcelona Main Event Day 1d Turbo 5:00 p.m. 888 NLHE 888poker LIVE Barcelona Main Event Day 2 7:00 p.m. 330 NLHE Mystery Bounty Day 1 Sun 24 May 4:00 p.m. NLHE 888poker LIVE Barcelona Main Eent Final Day 5:00 p.m. 330 NLHE The Big Shot 5:00 p.m. 330 NLHE Mystery Bounty Day 2 8:00 p.m. 110 NLHE Closer

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Rank Player Country Prize 1 Pau Coronado Spain 70,000 2 David McConachie United Kingdom 43,500 3 Mauro Pantoni Italy 30,000 4 Johnny Lindroos Estonia 21,500 5 Anonymous Italy 16,650 6 Hector Garcia Spain 13,000 7 Cipriano Bonet Spain 10,200 8 Alexander Sokolovsky Serbia 8,000 9 Martin Guerrero Spain 6,305

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Aiken, SC (29801)

Today

Rain early. A mix of sun and clouds in the afternoon. High 81F. Winds SW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 90%..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies during the evening will give way to cloudy skies overnight. Low 62F. Winds W at 5 to 10 mph.
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Today

Cloudy. Periods of rain early. High 79F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall near a quarter of an inch..

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Partly cloudy skies during the evening will give way to cloudy skies overnight. Low 64F. Winds light and variable.
Jordan Lawrence serves as Columbia editor for The Post and Courier. He has worked for newspapers in the Columbia area for more than a decade, having previously served as the lead editor for Free Times and the Lexington County Chronicle and as metro editor for The State. He has won several South Carolina Press Association Awards, including recognition for breaking news reporting, business reporting and arts and entertainment writing.
Charleston, SC (29403)

Today

Becoming partly cloudy after some morning rain. High 77F. Winds SW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies in the evening, then becoming cloudy overnight. Low 67F. Winds SW at 10 to 15 mph.
Mount Pleasant, SC (29464)

Today

Cloudy and damp with rain in the morning...then becoming partly cloudy. High 76F. Winds SW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 100%..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies in the evening, then becoming cloudy overnight. Low 66F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph.
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NEW YORK CITY, NY / ACCESS Newswire / March 30, 2026 / Pomerantz LLP announces that a class action lawsuit has been filed against Coty Inc. ("Coty" or the "Company") (NYSE:COTY). Such investors are advised to contact Danielle Peyton at newaction@ pomlaw.com or 646-581-9980, (or 888.4-POMLAW), toll-free, Ext. 7980. Those who inquire by e-mail are encouraged to include their mailing address, telephone number, and the number of shares purchased.The class action concerns whether Coty and certain of its officers and/or directors have engaged in securities fraud or other unlawful business practices.You have until May 22, 2026, to ask the Court to appoint you as Lead Plaintiff for the class if you purchased or otherwise acquired Coty securities during the Class Period. A copy of the Complaint can be obtained at www.pomerantzlaw.com [Click here for information about joining the class action]On February 4 and 5, 2026, Coty announced its financial results for the second quarter fiscal year 2026, which included disappointing results with worsening performance in the Consumer Beauty segment. The Company also noted the recent transition of its Chief Executive Officer in conjunction with the below-expectation results. Coty further withdrew its fiscal year 2026 guidance for EBITDA and revised the Company's near-term outlook downward. Coty attributed its results and lowered guidance to a combination of macroeconomic factors including rising costs and uncertain consumer demand and lack of "operational discipline" in both Prestige and Consumer Beauty segments.On this news, Coty's stock price fell $0.77 per share, or 22.45%, over two trading sessions, to close at $2.66 per share on February 6, 2026.Pomerantz LLP, with offices in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, London, Paris, and Tel Aviv, is acknowledged as one of the premier firms in the areas of corporate, securities, and antitrust class litigation. Founded by the late Abraham L. Pomerantz, known as the dean of the class action bar, Pomerantz pioneered the field of securities class actions. Today, more than 85 years later, Pomerantz continues in the tradition he established, fighting for the rights of the victims of securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, and corporate misconduct. The Firm has recovered numerous multimillion-dollar damages awards on behalf of class members. See www.pomlaw.com Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes.SOURCE: Pomerantz LLP
Womens limited access to finance, leadership roles, and economic opportunities continues to constrain Nigerias economic growth, experts said on Monday at the 2026 International Womens Day event organised by the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations in Abuja.

Speaking at the event themed Communicate to Balance: Gain Equity, Empower Women, Hadiza Bala Usman, special adviser to the president on policy and coordination, said structural barriers, including financial exclusion and rigid workplace systems, are preventing many women from fully participating in the economy.

She noted that while women enter the workforce in large numbers, many drop out mid-career due to limited institutional support, particularly during childbearing years, creating a leadership gap that affects productivity and organisational performance.

She stressed that achieving meaningful inclusion requires shifting from equal treatment to targeted policies that address the specific challenges women face, especially in accessing credit, digital tools, and leadership opportunities.

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Also speaking, Ike Neliaku, president of the institute, said Nigerias long-term economic and social progress is tied to how well it integrates women into national development.

According to him, excluding women from leadership and economic participation amounts to underutilising half of the countrys human capital, with direct implications for growth and institutional resilience.

No nation and no organisation can rise above the opportunities it gives its women, he said, adding that inclusive policies are critical to unlocking productivity across sectors, including corporate leadership, public service, and the communications industry.

On his part, Agbu Kefas, governor of Taraba State, described gender equity as a strategic economic imperative rather than a social consideration.

He said empowering women strengthens households, stabilises communities, and drives national prosperity, warning that sidelining women results in economic and institutional inefficiencies.

He added that governments must go beyond rhetoric by expanding access to education and healthcare, and by supporting women-led enterprises, noting that inclusive development requires collaboration among public institutions, the private sector, and the media.

READ ALSO: Transparency key to sustainable economic growth ICPC

In his remarks, Adamu Luka, national coordinator at the National Counter Terrorism Centre, emphasised the role of women in national stability and development, noting that inclusive participation strengthens not only economic systems but also peacebuilding and social cohesion.

He highlighted the importance of strategic communication in shaping inclusive narratives that support national growth and security outcomes.
President Bola Tinubu has approved two additional communication satellites, NIGCOMSAT 2A and 2B, for Nigerias space programme, the Managing Director of Nigerian Communications Satellite Limited (NIGCOMSAT), Jane Nkechi Egerton-Idehen, announced on Monday.

She disclosed this during her welcoming address at the opening of the 2026 Nigerian Satellite Week in Abuja, themed Harnessing Space Technology for an Extraordinary Nigeria.

This approval by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is a clear demonstration of Nigerias recognition of space as a driver of national development and sovereignty, Mrs Egerton-Idehen said.

Reflecting on the agencys journey, Mrs Egerton-Idehen said NIGCOMSAT has grown from a single-satellite operator into a multi-service provider offering broadband, broadcasting, and connectivity services across Nigeria and parts of Africa.

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Twenty years ago, Nigeria declared its readiness to participate and shape one of the most consequential industries of this century. That declaration was not abstract; it was a commitment to build capacity, institutions, and credibility in the global space economy, she said.

The MD also spoke about NIGCOMSATs strengthened global and regional presence, adding that the agency recently secured a Low Earth Orbit connectivity partnership with Eutelsat and initiated cooperation with the Kenya Space Agency. It now holds the Vice Chairmanship of the Global Satellite Operators Association, giving Nigeria influence in international satellite policy and spectrum governance.

Empowering innovators

Mrs Egerton-Idehen highlighted initiatives aimed at nurturing the next generation of space-focused companies. She said the NIGCOMSAT Accelerator Programme, launched this year, will become a permanent feature to support startups working in satellite applications and digital connectivity.

Complementing the accelerator programme is Project 774, designed to extend satellite-enabled connectivity to all local government areas across Nigeria, supporting healthcare, education, and economic activity in underserved communities.

Today, the work of building Nigerias space future is being done here, by the institutions, innovators, investors, policymakers, and stakeholders gathered in this room, Mrs Egerton-Idehen noted.

Kennedy Osemwegie, representing the Chief of Army Staff, said satellites now support intelligence gathering, surveillance, communications, and disaster response.

He added that collaboration between the military, government agencies, and private sector actors has enhanced Nigerias capacity for satellite-enabled operations, which are critical for addressing terrorism, insurgency, and cross-border crimes.

On his part, the Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Aminu Maida, emphasised the role of satellites in expanding Nigerias digital infrastructure. Satellite technology, he said, is central to improving connectivity, service quality, and access across sectors, including education, healthcare, and emergency response.

He stressed the need for collaboration between the government, the private sector, and innovators to develop practical solutions that strengthen Nigerias space and digital ecosystem.

Speaking on the first days theme, The Space Race: The Convergence of Technology, Government, and Opportunities, the Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Bosun Tijjani, reaffirmed the governments commitment to expanding satellite infrastructure and praised President Tinubus approval of the new satellites.

When a community gains the opportunity to connect, it transforms how businesses operate and how people live. Satellite technology allows us to extend connectivity to places where other infrastructure cannot reach. It also provides resilience, innovation, and strengthens our digital economy, the minister said.

He added that fostering innovation through research, partnerships, and startup engagement is essential to developing solutions for agriculture, education, commerce, and security.

Mr Tijjani emphasised that Nigerias space leadership carries a continental responsibility.

Nigerias leadership in satellite technology is not just for Nigeria. It is for Africa. We must build talent that understands both the technology and its applications. We must create room for businesses to grow in this space. And we must collaborate more across the continent, he added.

The event brought together policymakers, government agencies, technology innovators, investors, academics, and other experts, providing a platform for dialogue, partnerships, and practical solutions to advance Nigerias space and digital economy.
An Edo-born woman has explained her decision to marry an autistic man, under the care of Chibuzor Chinyere, the founder of Omega Power Ministries (OPM), saying the choice was guided by faith and a personal vow.

The OPM founder first gained widespread attention in March 2022 after offering a fully funded scholarship to Happie Boys, Mathew Kelechi, and Amakor Johnson, enabling them to continue their education in Cyprus.

The gesture came after the duo were dismissed from Chicken Republic for dancing while on duty.

The cleric, known for his philanthropic work, has, however, not been without controversy.

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PREMIUM TIMES gathered that the cleric facilitated the union between Aboy Chibuzor, who is non-verbal and requires support for daily activities, and the mother of three on Sunday.

Speaking after the ceremony, the woman said she had declined previous marriage proposals, choosing instead to wait for what she described as divine direction before accepting the union.

She added that she had made a personal commitment to Jesus not to defile her body, vowing to remain faithful until she met the man she considered her husband.

A vow is a vow

The woman said, It is a vow I made, and when that spirit told me, immediately I texted dad. I also texted Mummy Welfare, and I told her. Yes, I will be the one. I want to pay that sacrifice. It is a sacrifice. It is a very big sacrifice. When I look at our Lord Jesus Christ, the sacrifice he paid on the cross of Calvary. Nothing is too big for me to do the same for our Lord Jesus Christ. This young man here is a child of Godan adopted child of Dad.

So when God told me, immediately, the spirit was just leading me. And I was texting dad. I told Dad, I will do it. I will marry him. Not only will I marry him, but I will also take care of him as a son. As my king. As a husband. As a brother. Because I know people will speak against it. People will say all manner of things. But I am after what the Lord Jesus sent me. Because I made a vow to God. Any day I defile this body. Let him not spare my life. Let him kill me. That is the vow I made to God.

Virginity

She also dismissed claims that she was a virgin, describing the rumours as untrue.

She went on to reveal that she had previously been married, but lost her husband.

I am not a virgin. I am a mother of three. The father of the three children is late. I am from Edo State. My mom is from River State. I grew up in Kalabari, Rivers State. My dad is from Esan in Edo State.

This newspaper gathered that Mr Chinyere posted photos from the wedding on his Facebook page, drawing attention to the generous gifts the bride received.

He said the rewards included N10 million in cash, a house, and an overseas holiday, among other benefits.

He wrote, A boy, Chibuzor, finally married today, 29 March 2026. A single woman of God. 10 million Naira wedding Gift. Free house. Overseas vacation. And 20 million Naira after 10 years if Aboy is still alive. And many more gift loading. A member of the OPM church also donated 1 million Naira, and another donated 200k.

A miracle has already started as Aboy is now feeding himself without someone feeding him. And I believe that in 6 months, GOD will heal him and he will begin to speak. Theres nothing God cant do.

Arranged marriage

This newspaper learnt that the televangelist earlier took to his Facebook page on Friday to seek a wife for Aboy, who is non-verbal and requires assistance with daily activities.

To encourage interest, the Abia-born offered financial incentives, including accommodation, a salary and other benefits, to any woman willing to marry him.

He added that the prospective bride could be a single mother, a grandmother or from a similar background, but must not be autistic.

Marry him and get benefits. Since the unknown parents dumped him at my gate, he has been growing to become a man. Any lady who agrees to marry him. All marital rites would be paid for. Free accommodation for living. Monthly salary for life.

A house shall be built for the 2 couples of them. Free medical for both couples for life. Vacation overseas for both couples. She can be a single mother, a grandmother, etc. But she must not be autistic. And many other huge financial benefits. Any interested girl or woman, go to the OPM headquarters to ask the head of OPM welfare, Mr Chinyere wrote.

The 52-year-old post, seeking a wife for Aboy, sparked widespread outrage, especially among women, who criticised it as inappropriate and degrading.

Apology

Following the backlash, Mr Chinyere apologised to women, saying he had no intention of demeaning anyone.

He explained that he was unaware his comments could be hurtful, adding that there was nothing wrong with an autistic man marrying a non-autistic woman.

Explaining his reason for seeking a wife for Aboy, he wrote on his Facebook page: When I observed this uncontrollable ogre for sex on him and him not understanding what is happening to his body, I wiped for him. If it is something he can understand when you speak to him, it would be easier. But he understands nothing, and he cannot speak. And the strange part is that anytime other children are taking his bath, everything will stand and refuse to go down. And the huge equipment he is carrying is scary to the boys bathing him. Its too big. My fear is not to use it on other children, as it may kill them because of its size.

So I have 2 optionsoption 1. Instruct one of my drivers to go and drop him off at any junction, but GOD may kill me if I abandon himoption 2. Get someone to help him kill the storm, but that would be fornication, and it is sin. Option 3. Make it legal by paying the price of a grandmother or any advanced lady. That would be feeding, clothing him and taking care of his sexual needs. Send them overseas for vacation. Build a house in their names. Place her on a lifetime salary. But she must not kill the boy. If she kills the boy, she loses everything.
Nollywood actor Kunle Remi has urged Nigerians to mark President Bola Tinubus birthday by sharing images from the recent tragedy in Plateau State.

PREMIUM TIMES reported that an unconfirmed number of residents of Gari Ya Waye community in Angwan Rukuba were killed on Sunday night, the same day the president marked his 74th birthday.

Reacting to the incident, the 37-year-old, in a video posted on his Instagram page on Monday, strongly condemned the attack.

He criticised what he described as an insensitive response to the countrys worsening security situation, pointing in particular to a widely circulated video of a grieving mother clutching the lifeless body of her son while wailing in anguish.

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He said: Hey guys, today is the birthday of the President, His Excellency Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Please, lets wish him a happy birthday. There is an image or a video of a in pain, crying from the loss of someone. That is the image we should use. If you want to wish him a happy birthday, which I suggest we should actually wish our President a happy birthday.

So, everyone seeing this video, if you feel you want to wish him a happy birthday, please use that video. There are images from it, there are videos, look online, you will see it. There was a woman in pain. 15 hours ago, a disaster occurred in Plateau. That is the celebratory message we should use, please.

Remi maintained that Nigerians needed no further justification to celebrate Mr Tinubu, insisting that the images and videos alone were sufficient.

Backstory

Remis criticism of Mr Tinubus handling of the countrys security challenges, particularly the killings in Plateau State, followed his earlier criticism of the administration over worsening economic conditions and the continued rise in petrol prices.

This newspaper reported that Remi condemned the government over the sharp increase in fuel costs and its ripple effects on businesses and ordinary Nigerians.

He also took issue with the countrys unreliable electricity supply, pointing out that many businesses now depend heavily on generators even as fuel prices soar.

The father of one further questioned why Nigeria, despite being an oil-producing nation, remains so exposed to global supply shocks.
Nollywood actor and filmmaker Joseph Duke has received a nomination at the African Magic Viewers Choice Awards (AMVCA) for his Zulu-language film, Bet I Love You.

Duke and Keamogetse Modise produced the film.

PREMIUM TIMES reported that Duke secured the nod in the Best Indigenous Language (Southern Africa) category at the 12th edition of the AMVCA.

Reacting to the recognition, Duke hailed the nomination as a striking example of what cross-border collaboration can achieve in African cinema.

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He added that the film showcased the creative possibilities that arise when Nigeria and South Africa work together.

He said: Its beyond borders, beyond language, its about shared vision. Being a Nigerian telling a Zulu story and receiving recognition in a South African category shows that collaboration is not just possible, its powerful. This is the direction African cinema must continue to grow.

Bet I Love You,

The Showmax original film Bet I Love You was shot in South Africa and premiered at the 2025 Joburg Film Festival.

Blending humour and drama, the film examines the realities of gambling while exploring themes of family, responsibility and redemption.

It centres on Rex, a compulsive gambler who finds himself in deep trouble after losing the lobola money intended for his sisters wedding.

As his addiction threatens both his familys reputation and his personal relationships, Rex scrambles to recover the lost funds, setting off a series of comedic and heartfelt events.

The cast features Khumbuza Meyiwa as Rex, with Nosipho Majola, Smangele Mhlongo and Gabisile Tshabalala in supporting roles.

The project is a collaboration between Elects Network Studios, M-Net Showmax Original, and Urbanbrew Studios, with a screenplay by Thembakuye Madlala.

Released in South Africa on 12 March 2025, Bet I Love You exemplifies the growing trend of African filmmakers working across borders to craft richer and more inclusive stories.
Thousands of people have been killed in the Middle East, and an even higher number injured or displaced across Iran, Lebanon, Israel, and other parts of the region in the monthlong war in the region.

Attacks on major gas facilities in four Middle Eastern countries have worsened the economic impact of the United States/Israel war on Iran.

The war, in its fifth week, clocked its 31st day on Monday (today).

PREMIUM TIMES brings you the key events around the war on the 30th day.

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Iranian attacks Kuwaits desalination plant

Iran has attacked the desalination and power plant in Kuwait as the war intensifies.

Al Jazeera reports that one Indian national was killed in the attack and 10 soldiers were injured.

Desalination plants are a crucial source of water supply in Gulf states. They are paired with power plants because the large amount of energy required to extract the salt from the water makes it drinkable.

According to the Kuwait Electricity Ministry, the strike also destroyed the plants service building.

The Ministrys spokesperson, Fatima Haya, said, A service building at a power and water desalination plant was attacked as part of the Iranian aggression against the State of Kuwait, resulting in the death of an Indian worker and significant material damage to the building.

Israel reports another Yemen attack

Yemens rebel group, Houthis, launched another barrage of ballistic missiles against Israel.

The Israeli military also disclosed that it intercepted two drones from Yemen early Monday morning.

Concern is mounting over the far-reaching implications of the month-old war for both the region and the global community.

PREMIUM TIMES reported that the Houthis said the attack was retaliation for the continued attacks on Iran, Lebanon, Iraq, and Palestine.

The group said the operations would continue until the US and Israel end their act of aggression.

The spokesperson, Yahya Saree, said strikes will continue until the declared objectives are achieved and until the aggression against all fronts of the resistance cease.

IRGC Navy Commander killed

Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guards Navy has confirmed the death of its commander, Alireza Tangsiri.

According to the countrys defence ministry, the commander died after suffering severe injuries from a US-Israel strike.

This adds to the growing list of key Iranian top officials killed by US-Israel strikes since the start of the war.

Reuters reports that Israel Defence Minister, Israel Katz, earlier said, In a precise and lethal operation, the IDF eliminated the commander of the IRGC Navy, Tangsiri, along with senior naval command officials.

Trump wants Iranian oil

President Donald Trump says he is considering seizing Irans Kharg Island and taking its oil.

Kharg Island is a small Iranian island in the Persian Gulf that handles roughly 90 per cent of its crude exports.

Speaking to the Financial Times, he said, To be honest with you, my favourite thing is to take the oil in Iran, but some stupid people back in the US say: Why are you doing that? But theyre stupid people.

Maybe we take Kharg Island, maybe we dont. We have a lot of options. It would also mean we had to be there [in Kharg Island] for a while.

I dont think they have any defence. We could take it very easily.

Planned nuclear attack on Iran

A diplomat affiliated with the United Nations has resigned from his position due to what he described as internal preparedness discussions involving the potential use of nuclear weapons on Iran.

Mohamad Safa, who served as a representative to UN-linked bodies, alleged that the UN was considering the deployment of nuclear weapons amid escalating geopolitical tensions.

According to the representative, this has necessitated his resignation from the international body, and he added that the public underestimates the gravity of the situation.

In a post on X, he said, The UN is preparing for possible nuclear weapon use in Iran. The possibility of the use of nuclear weapons must be taken very seriously. Its dangerous.

Act now. Spread this message worldwide. Take the streets. Protest for our humanity and future. Only the people can stop it. History will remember us, he added.
Kano State on Monday witnessed yet another political twist as chieftains of the opposition African Democratic Congress (ADC) formally received the former governor, Rabiu Kwankwaso, into the party.

The national chairman of the ADC, David Mark, received Mr Kwankwaso into the party.

Party leaders at the event included former Sokoto State governor, Aminu Tambuwal, former Director-General of the State Security Service (SSS), Lawan Daura; former national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), John Oyegun; former Minister of Transport, Rotimi Amaechi; 2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi; and former Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola; among others.

The formal defection took place at an elaborate ceremony at Kwankwasos Miller Road residence in Kano.

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Upon being presented with his ADC membership card, Mr Kwankwaso displayed it to the cheering crowd of supporters.

Addressing the gathering, Mr Kwankwaso urged his supporters to register with the ADC and ensure they obtain their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) in preparation for the 2027 general elections.

This defection marks the fourth time Mr Kwankwaso has changed political parties since the inception of Nigerias Fourth Republic in 1999, when he was first elected governor on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

 Mr Kwankwaso left the NNPP for the ADC three months after his erstwhile protege, Governor Abba Yusufs unexpected exit to the APC in January, a defection that reportedly went against their original plans.

Governor Yusuf led a faction of the NNPP and the Kwankwasiyya movement to the APC.

History of defection

Mr Kwankwaso had first left the PDP in November 2013, alongside the then-governors Aliyu Wamakko of Sokoto, Abdulfatah Ahmed of Kwara, Murtala Nyako of Adamawa and Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State.

They joined the APC after staging a walkout from the PDP National Convention in Abuja.

Mr Kwankwaso, however, rejoined the PDP in July 2018 alongside 14 APC senators and ran unsuccessfully for the PDP presidential ticket in the 2019 election.

Mr Kwankwaso left the PDP again with his allies, including the then PDP governorship candidate in 2019, now Governor Yusuf, and joined the NNPP in the build-up to the 2023 general elections.

The party won the governors seat and several legislative seats in Kano.

Mr Kwankwaso had earlier said he would only join a party that selected him as either the presidential or vice presidential candidate, indicating that he would seek the ADC ticket in the 2027 election.

Mr Kwankwaso came in a distant fourth in the 2023 presidential election under the NNPP, winning only in his home state of Kano, where he is very popular.

Before deciding to join the ADC, he met with Nigerias ruling All Progressives Congress but ultimately decided not to join the party.

However, his protege, Governor Yusuf, and most of his appointees and state lawmakers joined the APC, setting the stage for an interesting general election in the state.
The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has berated defecting governors, saying their exit from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) exposes a failure of leadership, commitment and courage.

Mr Wike spoke at the 2026 convention of the PDP on Sunday, held by a faction of the opposition party led by Abdulrahman Mohammed and backed by him.

Addressing delegates, the national leader of the faction framed the recent defections from the PDP as evidence of weak leadership, arguing that those who abandoned the party in turbulent times failed a fundamental test of responsibility.

Leadership is not an easy task. Leadership requires courage, firmness and commitment, he said. What you see that has happened, the defection of some governors, has only shown that they lack leadership traits.

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He drew a parallel with Peter Obis presidential ambition, the former Labour Party candidate, suggesting that leaders who cannot withstand internal crises are unfit for greater responsibility.

When crisis came, it was the time to show leadership, but he ran away because he could not solve problems, Mr Wike said. The same thing applies to our governors. When they needed a platform, the party was there for them. When the crisis came, they ran away.

The minister likened political loyalty to family responsibility, arguing that true leaders do not abandon their base in difficult moments.

When you have a family, and there are problems, you do not abandon it. You stay to solve the problem, he said, commending those who remained in the PDP despite internal divisions. You have shown leadership character and resilience.

Mr Wike also issued a stern warning to defectors, declaring that loyal party members would work to reclaim what he described as their stolen mandate.

This is the period of operation show your report card. All of you who took our mandate, we will take it back, he said. If they cannot withstand a small crisis, what happens if they face a national or external crisis?

He urged party members across states, including Taraba, Bayelsa and Plateau, to return our mandate, signalling a renewed push to reassert the PDPs political strength at subnational levels.

Among the governors who dumped the PDP are Sheriff Oborevwori (Delta), Umo Eno (Akwa Ibom), Peter Mbah (Enugu), Douye Diri (Bsyelsa), Agbu Kefas (Taraba), Caleb Muftwang (Plateau), Dauda Lawal (Zamfara) and Siminalayi Fubara (Rivers), Umaru Fintiri (Adamawa), all of who moved to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke, dumped the party for the Accord Party.

Only two governors, Bala Mohammed (Bauchi) and Seyi Makinde (Oyo) are the only two governors are left in the opposition party.

Beyond criticism, Mr Wike, who is serving in the APC federal administration, painted a narrative of survival and resurgence for the PDP, saying the party had overcome a tragic crisis of leadership that once threatened its existence.

As a congregation of victorious men and women under the umbrella, we fought against those who tried to destroy the party and resisted forces that opposed internal democracy and the rule of law, he said.

According to him, loyal members reclaimed the party from individuals who undermined its founding principles, restoring it to its rightful owners, the people.

He praised grassroots supporters for remaining steadfast despite elite defections, describing them as the backbone of the partys endurance.

While opportunistic elites were gyrating, our grassroots members remained committed, believing that a renaissance would come. Today, that renaissance is here, he said.

Mr Wike, a former governor of Rivers State, called for unity and inclusiveness as the PDP seeks to rebuild, urging former members, regardless of past disagreements, to return.

The future of our party must be built on inclusiveness, unity and renewal. No one will be excluded. Everyone will have equal opportunity to serve, he said.

He concluded by urging members to recommit to the partys ideals and create credible channels for grassroots participation, stressing that the PDP must evolve into a platform that reflects the aspirations of Nigerians.

We must renew our loyalty and dedication. We must create legitimate channels through which the peoples voices can be heard, he said.
The National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Abdulrahman Mohammed, and other members of the National Working Committee (NWC) were re-elected on Sunday through a consensus arrangement adopted by the party.

They were re-elected at the national convention of a faction of the party loyal to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike.

At the convention, over 2,000 delegates from across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) endorsed the 22-member National Working Committee (NWC) of the party.

Newly elected NWC

Other elected NWC members are Samuel Anyanwu, national secretary; Aaron Chukwuemeka, deputy national chairman (South); Yusuf Akirikwen, deputy national chairman (North) and Kolawale Olabisi, deputy national secretary.

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Other key positions filled include Opeyemi Oladiran as national treasurer and Lado Marke as deputy national treasurer. Eyim Henry emerged as national financial secretary, alongside Grema Kyari as his deputy.

Umar Bature was elected national organising secretary, with Efere Augustine as deputy national organising secretary. Jungudo Mohammed emerged as national publicity secretary, while Egwu Chidiebere was named deputy national publicity secretary.

In the legal unit, Kamaldeen Ajibade was elected national legal adviser, with Aloysius Uba as deputy national legal adviser.

Osuoha Donatus and Adaba Yatu emerged as national auditor and deputy national auditor, respectively.

Ogunshe Adedayo, a professor, was elected national women leader, with Hauwa Shinge as her deputy. Ibrahim Aboki emerged as national youth leader, while Eugene Momoh-Dejih was elected deputy national youth leader.

They are to steer the affairs of the party for the next four years.

Their election via consensus followed a motion by the Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, Kingsley Chinda, and seconded by Usman Ahmed.

Earlier, the Kogi Central Senator, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, moved a motion for the dissolution of the former NWC and the ratification of congresses held across some states.

Mrs Akpoti-Uduaghans motion was seconded by Zainab Bako.

In his acceptance speech, Mr Mohammed committed to uniting party members and moving the party forward.

Party leaders said the consensus process reflected a united front among stakeholders and was aimed at fostering cohesion within the PDP. The development follows months of internal wrangling between two factions of the party.

Another faction within the party, led by Kabiru Turaki, on Friday approached the Supreme Court, asking it to restrain the faction loyal to the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, from conducting the national convention held on Sunday.

The Court of Appeal had earlier this month invalidated the Mr Turaki-led NWC, which emerged only in November last year at a convention in Ibadan, Oyo State.

The new NWC is expected to steer the party through reconciliation efforts and reposition it as a formidable opposition force in Nigerias political landscape.
The Plateau State Government has imposed a 48-hour curfew across Jos North Local Government Area following a fatal attack in the Gari Ya Waye community of Angwan Rukuba on Sunday night.

An unconfirmed number of residents were killed in the attack, triggerering panic and a heavy security presence in the area.

In a statement on Sunday, the Commissioner for Information and Communication, Joyce Ramnap, said the curfew was aimed at restoring calm and preventing further violence.

She said the curfew took effect from midnight on 29 March (Sunday) and would run until 1 April, covering the entire local government area.

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The government said the incident claimed several lives and left others with varying degrees of injuries.

Residents told PREMIUM TIMES that gunshots rang out late on Sunday, forcing people indoors as security operatives moved swiftly into the neighbourhood.

Governor Caleb Mutfwang condemned the incident, describing it as a barbaric and unprovoked attack on innocent citizens.

The statement added that security agencies had been directed to deploy all necessary resources to track down the perpetrators and ensure they are brought to justice.

Authorities urged residents to remain calm, stay vigilant, and cooperate with security agencies by providing useful information to aid ongoing investigations.

Jos North has witnessed repeated security challenges in recent years, often prompting temporary restrictions on movement as authorities seek to forestall reprisals and restore order.
The Federal High Court in Abuja on Monday again nullified the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) convention held in Ibadan, Oyo State, in November 2025, and barred the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from recognising its outcome, including the leadership election conducted at the event.

Judge Joyce Abdulmalik issued the orders in her judgement in the suit instituted by the faction of the party loyal to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Nyesom Wike.

The judgement, in sync with the judgement of the Court of Appeal in Abuja delivered earlier this month, came just hours after the Wike faction concluded its version of the national convention of the party in Abuja, producing Abdulrahman Mohammed, as the national chairman, and other members of the National Working Committee (NWC).

Mondays judgement also came while Kabiru Turaki, who emerged from the invalidated Ibadan convention as the partys national chairman and others who were purportedly elected there as the partys officials, are banking on the final resolution of the dispute by the Supreme Court following the defeat they suffered at the Court of Appeal.

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Ms Abdulmalik ordered in her judgement on Monday that Mr Wikes group be granted access to the partys national secretariat in Abuja, which was sealed off after chaos erupted there over the scramble between the factions last year. The judge also directed relevant agencies to provide them adequate security to use the secretariat.

She held that the purported convention held in Ibadan between 15 and 16 November 2025, including the election of party officials and expulsion of some notable members of the party, violated section 287(3) of the Nigerian Constitution, as well as the partys constitution and prior court orders.

I considered the expulsion of the members of the plaintiffs as not only an affront to the subsisting judgement, but also a direct assault to a democratic and principled society where the rule of law is in practice, the judge said.

The court held that all proceedings, resolutions and decisions taken at the said convention, including the suspension of members of the first plaintiff, were unconstitutional, unlawful, null and void, and of no effect.

The Mr Wike faction, through its then acting chairperson Mohammed Abdulrahman, and secretary Samuel Anyanwu, filed the suit on 21 November last year to restrain the Kabiru Turaki-led group from representing the party and to bar the police and Stste Security Service (SSS) from granting them access to the PDP secretariat in Abuja.

The defendants sued in the suit included INEC, the Nigerian police and the SSS.

The rest were PDP members and officials who participated in, or were associated with, the November 2025 convention, led by the Turaki-led faction, and other relevant bodies and agencies.

The plaintiffs sought to prevent INEC from recognising any other office address for the Turaki-led faction apart from theirs.

They also prayed the court to declare that INEC, the police, and the SSS are constitutionally bound to enforce the decisions of the Federal High Court as delivered by Judges James Omotosho and Peter Lifu.

Ibadan convention held in violation of court decisions

Delivering the judgement, the court held that, in line with the Constitution and other enabling statutes, including earlier judgements, it would not shy away from its duty to do what is just in the circumstances.

The judge noted that the the main determinant of the case is Section 287(3) of the Nigerian constitution, which provides that the decisions of the Federal High Court and other courts established by the Constitution shall be enforced by all authorities and persons across the Federation.

She observed that in spite of the judgements which have not been set aside, the 5th to 25th defendants went ahead and organised the convention. She added that those same judgements had also been affirmed by the Court of Appeal.

She further held that a political partys constitution is meant to be followed by its members.

The court concluded that the issues raised in the plaintiffs suit were meritorious and granted the declaratory and injunctive reliefs sought.

Therefore, the judge declared that the defendants are bound to comply with and give full effect to the subsisting judgments of the Federal High Court earlier referred to.

She held: The first to the fourth defendants are not entitled to recognise or give effect, in any manner whatsoever, to the purported National Convention held on 15 and 16 November 2025 by the 5th to 25th defendants and their associates.

The purported convention, including the election of officers and suspension of members, is unconstitutional, null and void.

She also held that the plaintiffs are entitled to remain in office and continue to use the partys national secretariat and properties and ordered INEC not to recognise the said defendants as officers or representatives of the first plaintiff (the PDP) or to accept any change of address from them other than the one already in its records.

She also ordered the SSS and the police to provide adequate security for the plaintiffs in the use of the partys national secretariat.

The court also restrained the 5th to the 25th defendants from entering, using, or interfering with the partys properties, including holding meetings or events at the national secretariat.

It restrained INEC from accepting any address for the party other than the one already recognised in its records.

Preliminary issues decided

Before delving into the merit of the case in her judgement, Judge Abdulmalik refused an application by the defendants asking her to recuse herself from the case.

The motion sought the return of the case file to the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, John Tsoho, for reassignment.

However, the judge held that allegations of bias must be proven with credible evidence, and should not be based on mere suspicion.

She noted that claims of a likelihood of bias are a state of mind, incapable of precise definition, and must be supported by cogent and credible evidence. She said she found no shred of evidence to justify the allegation and stressed that the mere grant of ex parte orders does not amount to bias.

She dismissed complaints about the style of her rulings, stating that judgement writing is a style exclusively reserved for the judge, and not for parties or their lawyers to dictate.

On the request to transfer the case, she held that the power to assign cases lies with the Chief Judge and that it is not the place of counsel to determine which judge will hear and determine their case.

Ms Abdulmalik further stated that any dissatisfaction with her decisions is a matter for appeal, not recusal, and consequently refused the application for lacking merit.

On the motion challenging the competence of the suit, Judge Abdulmalik also declined to strike out the case.

She rejected arguments that the court lacked jurisdiction and that the plaintiffs had no locus standi.

The defendants had argued that the dispute was purely an internal party affair, an abuse of court process, and that the plaintiffs lacked standing to institute the suit.

The judge held that jurisdiction is the livewire and pillar upon which any matter can be determined and must be assessed based on the originating processes.

She found that the claims involved the interpretation and enforcement of constitutional and statutory provisions, as well as compliance with earlier court judgments, and are therefore within the courts jurisdiction. She also ruled that the plaintiffs have sufficient legal interest in the matter.

The defendants had also questioned the reason for including the SSS in the suit, but Judge Abdulmalik ruled that it was necessary to join them given their role in providing security and ensuring compliance at the partys national secretariat.

The judge concluded that the objections raised by the defendants lacked merit and dismissed the application in its entirety.

Backstory

Federal High Court judges in Abuja, including Messrs Omotosho and Peter Lifu, had in separate judgements last year barred the PDP from holding its national convention.

There were also counter-decisions from the Oyo State High Court.

But snubbing the decisions from Abuja, the Turaki-led faction proceeded with the convention which took place in Ibadan, Oyo State, between 15 and 16 November 2025, producing Mr Turaki as the national chairperson of the PDP, alongside other national officers.

Apart from electing the partys National Working Committee (NWC), the convention also suspended some allies of the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Mr Wike, over alleged anti-party activities.

Those suspended included the National Secretary, Mr Anyanwu, and National Legal Adviser, Kamaldeen Ajibade. Also suspended were Deputy National Legal Adviser, Okechukwu Osuoha, and the National Organising Secretary, Umaru Bature.

The Wike-aligned faction also filed a suit before the Federal High Court to stop the Turaki group from parading themselves as party officials. But the Turaki factions appeal against the judgements of last years case delayed the case before Judge Abdulmalik.

However, on 9 March, the Court of Appeal in Abuja affirmed the Federal High Courts decision invalidating the Ibadan convention.

Meanwhile, the Wike-aligned faction conducted a new convention on Sunday.

In his reaction to Mondays court judgement, the factions lawyer, Onyechi Ikpeazu, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), told journalists that the court further validated the convention held in Abuja on Sunday.

The Turaki group, which is displeased with the decision of the Court of Appeal on the dispute, has approached the Supreme Court for final resolution. The Supreme Court will have the final say on the leadership crisis.

In the build-up to the Sundays convention organised by Mr Wikes group, Mr Turaki and other affiliated to the faction of the party, assured that peace would be restored to the PDP and that the party would participate in the 2027 general elections.

Adding to Mr Turakis legal odds, the FCT High Court in Maitama, Abuja, on Thursday, just days to the Abuja convention, ordered Mr Turakis arrest over his failure to appear for arraignment in an alleged false information case. PREMIUM TIMES cannot confirm yet if the order of arrest was enforced. But the court fixed 22 April for his arraignment and further proceedings in the criminal case, which seems to have nothing to do with his PDP activities.
Some women from the Nwang-Ekpugrinya community in Ogoja Local Government Area of Cross River State on Monday staged a protest over the killing of a 26-year-old woman, Lucy Morshie, by her lover.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the women marched through the streets and later gathered at the Divisional Police Station in Ogoja, demanding the release of the suspect, Malime Ejo, 35, apparently for jungle justice.

Confirming the incident, the police in Cross River said the victim was killed on Saturday at a farm in Nwang Village, Ekajuk, in Ogoja.

The commands spokesman, Sunday Eitokpah, said the suspect allegedly took the victim to a nearby stream close to the farm, where he attacked her, leading to her death.

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Upon receipt of the report, police operatives promptly visited the scene. The suspect was apprehended and rescued from being attacked by angry youths.

He is currently in police custody for his safety pending ongoing investigation, he said.

Mr Eitokpah, an assistant superintendent of police, added that the victims remains were yet to be deposited at the General Hospital Mortuary in Ogoja as arrangements were ongoing.

READ ALSO: Nigerian Army probes alleged extrajudicial killing in Maiduguri

He said the case would be transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department for further investigation.

Meanwhile, at the time of filing this report, security personnel, including soldiers, had been deployed to the area to restore calm following the protest.
Parties at the United Nations wildlife conservation summit have agreed to expand protection for dozens of migratory species, amid growing evidence that many are moving closer to extinction.

This was the hallmark decision reached at the just-concluded 15th Conference of the Parties (COP15) to the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS) in Brazil on Sunday.

Confronted with stark new evidence that many migratory species are moving closer to extinction, governments at a major UN wildlife conservation meeting today agreed on expanded conservation efforts, including new or enhanced treaty protections for 40 species and populations of birds, aquatic wildlife, and terrestrial animals, a statement shared with PREMIUM TIMES by the organisers noted.

The COP15 negotiations commenced on 23 March and concluded on Sunday, 29 March, bringing together more than 2,400 participants.

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The conference convened international delegates to discuss the protection of migratory species and their habitats, with a strong focus on ecological connectivity. It marked the first time Brazil hosted the UN conference on migratory species.

Brazil is expected to retain the presidency of the conference for the next three years and will oversee the implementation of the adopted resolutions until the next meeting.

In celebration of the 50th anniversary of CMS, Germany was announced as the host of COP16, scheduled for 2029. The city of Bonn, where the treaty was signed on 23 June 1979, will host the event.

New protections

In Brazil, the country adopted new and enhanced protections for 40 species and populations spanning birds, marine life, and terrestrial animals.

Migratory species are organisms that travel between habitats in seasonal patterns, often influenced by climate change, which can alter migration timing and disrupt habitat connectivity.

These species face increasing challenges, including mismatches in resource availability between feeding and resting sites due to changing environmental conditions.

The newly protected species include iconic wildlife such as the cheetah, striped hyena, snowy owl, giant otter, and great hammerhead sharkmany of which are experiencing steep population declines.

These additions bring the total number of species covered under the treaty to over 1,200.

Parties agreed to list the species under Appendix I, reserved for those at risk of extinction, and Appendix II, which covers species requiring coordinated international conservation efforts.

Experts say the move reflects growing scientific concern over the rapid deterioration of migratory wildlife populations.

Implications for Nigeria

In Nigeria, the most threatened migratory species are predominantly birds that migrate between the Palearctic (Europe and Asia) and Africa, or within the continent.

They face threats from habitat loss and hunting.

Key wetlands, particularly the Hadejia-Nguru wetlands in Yobe and Jigawa states, serve as critical stopover and wintering sites for these birds, many of which are under threat.

Recent studies and conservation surveys identify vultures as the most threatened migratory species in Nigeria. Species such as Ruppells, hooded, and white-headed vultures, which play vital ecological roles, are now classified as critically endangeredindicating a high risk of extinction.

More than two decades ago, vultures were a common sight during festive periods when livestock was slaughtered, gathering to feed on discarded remains. Today, such scenes have largely disappeared in many parts of the country.

While many vulture species are threatened, they are generally listed under CITES Appendix II rather than Appendix I.

Due to rapid population declines driven by illegal trade in body parts and poisoning, experts say there have been ongoing efforts to transfer African vulture species to Appendix I, which offers the highest level of protection.

CITES Appendix I covers species threatened with extinction and prohibits international trade for commercial purposes, while Appendix II includes species that may become threatened unless trade is strictly regulated.

Broader conservation actions

The week-long summit, held in Campo Grande, opened with findings that biodiversity indicators for many protected species continue to decline.

Scientists warned that habitat loss, overexploitation, and infrastructure barriers are accelerating threats to species that depend on multiple countries for survival.

Beyond species listings, governments adopted multi-species conservation plans targeting critical ecosystems, including the Amazon, and approved 15 new Concerted Actions for species such as chimpanzees, sperm whales, and several shark species.

Additional action plans were endorsed to protect migratory birds, freshwater fish, and marine mammals across key regions.

Discussions also highlighted emerging threats, including deep-sea mining, plastic pollution, underwater noise, climate change, and fisheries bycatch.

Delegates emphasised the need for stronger international cooperation, ecological connectivity, and partnerships with global bodies such as the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) and the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES).

There were also renewed calls to integrate Indigenous and local knowledge into conservation strategies alongside scientific research.

Call for action

Speaking at the close of the summit, CMS Executive Secretary Amy Fraenkel warned that while new protections are significant, urgent implementation is critical.

She noted that populations of nearly half of the species already covered by the treaty are still in decline.

Reacting to the decision, Gabriel Dabo, Science Coordinator at the Nigerian Montane Forest Project in Ngel Nyaki Forest Reserve, Taraba State, welcomed the resolution.

For so long, species conservation was about  islands of protected areas. If we want a world where all species thrive, global action must be taken. This action must include all stakeholders, from indigenous peoples to communities to governments. Together we can move this resolution from listing to actually saving the species, he said.

The conference brought together more than 2,600 participants and produced 39 resolutions aimed at strengthening conservation efforts, improving habitat protection, and addressing both long-standing and emerging threats to migratory species.

With extinction risks rising, experts say the real test will be whether countries can translate commitments into concrete action before vulnerable species disappear.
The Lagos State High Court in Ikeja has convicted Olumuyiwa Idowu and his company, Tennyvans Nigeria Limited, to five years imprisonment each for offences related to stealing and failure to declare assets.

The trial judge, Ismail Ijelu, on Monday, sentenced Mr Idowu to five years in prison after convicting him and his firm on six counts involving the conversion of $62,500 and 36,020.

According to a statement shared with PREMIUM TIMES by the spokesperson for the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Dele Oyewale, on Monday, one of the counts alleged that in 2012 in Lagos, Mr Idowu and his company of dishonestly converted $62,500, being payment for caterpillar parts belonging to Rene Theodorous Johannes Brouwers of Brouwers USA Trucks and Parts.

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In another count, the commission said the defendants converted 36,020, being the cost and shipping fees for a DAF truck, a box trailer, and two tippers belonging to the same complainant.

EFCC said the defendants offences contravened Section 285 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011 and Section 27(3) of the EFCC Act, 2004, which relates to non-disclosure of assets.

He was arraigned on 27 November 2024 and pleaded not guilty to all charges, leading to a full trial.

During the trial, the prosecution called three witnesses and tendered 11 exhibits, all of which were admitted by the court, while the defence called one witness.

Judgement

Delivering the judgement, Mr Ijelu held that the prosecution had proved its case beyond a reasonable doubt and found the defendants guilty on all counts.

The court sentenced Mr Idowu to five years imprisonment on counts one to four, to run concurrently. On counts five and six, the court imposed five years imprisonment each with an option of a N1 million fine per count, payable within six months, failing which the custodial sentences will apply.

The court also ordered the restitution of $62,500 and 36,020 to the complainant within six months.

Following the judgement, Mr Idowu was remanded at the Ikoyi Correctional Centre.

The anti-graft agency is responsible for investigating financial crimes, and has in recent years intensified prosecutions of fraud-related offences in Lagos.
Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa of Ondo State has sacked all Senior Special Assistants(SSAs) and Special Assistants(SAs) in his administration with immediate effect.

The Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Ebenezer Adeniyan, disclosed this in a statement made available to journalists in Akure, the state capital, on Monday.

According to the statement, the step is part of efforts to enhance efficiency and service delivery in the state.

It expressed appreciation to the affected aides for their contributions to the development of the state and wished them success in their future endeavours.

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The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the statement further disclosed that the governor would appoint about 1,000 new aides drawn from the 203 wards across the 18 local government areas of the state.

It added that the move was aimed at strengthening coordination and injecting fresh capacity into the administration.

(NAN)
Nigerian stocks paused their run of gains last week, dipping by 0.12 per cent as profit-taking in banking stocks weighed on market performance. That is no reason for concern though, with investors confidence still substantial and 29.1 per cent yield so far recorded by the market as the first quarter draws to a close.

We expect the market to maintain its positive trend as no immediate risks are likely to disrupt the prevailing bullish sentiment, analysts at Meristem Securities said in a note to investors during the week.

Any profit-taking is expected to be mild and unlikely to change the markets upward direction, they added.

PREMIUM TIMES has assembled some stocks with sound fundamentals, adopting rigorous approaches to save you the risk of picking equities at random for investment.

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The pick, a product of an analytical market watch, offers a guide to entering the market and taking strategic positions, with the expectation that selected stocks will record reasonable price appreciation with the passage of time.

This is not a buy, sell or hold recommendation but a stock investment guide. You may need to involve your financial advisor before taking investment decisions.

Coronation Insurance

Coronation Insurance tops this weeks list on the basis of its strong fundamentals and its potential for price appreciation in the short term as indicated by its low relative strength index (RSI).

The net profit ratio (NPR) of the underwriter is 9.2 per cent, while the price-to-earnings (PE) ratio is 10.8x. Its RSI is 44.6.

MTN Nigeria

MTN Nigeria makes the cut for its attractive fundamentals and for its prospect for short-term price appreciation. The NPR of the telecom giant is 7.8, while the PE ratio is 2.4x. Its RSI is 73.7.

C & I Leasing

C & I Leasing makes the pick for trading below its underlying value. The companys the PE ratio is 7.7 and its RSI is 35.8.

Cadbury

Cadbury appears on the pick on the basis of its robust fundamentals. The NPR of the food company is 7.1, while the PE ratio is 11.9. The RSI is 38.8.

Sterling Financial Holdings

Sterling Financial Holdings makes the selection for trading below its intrinsic value. The banking groups NPR is 16.5 per cent, while the PE ratio is 4.8x. Its RSI is 53.7.
A former Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Michael Aondoakaa, has resigned his membership of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Mr Aondoakaa disclosed this in a statement he personally signed and available to journalists in Makurdi, the Benue State capital, on Sunday.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that until his resignation, Mr Andoakaa was a leading governorship aspirant on APCs platform in Benue State.

The former minister, who said that his resignation took effect from 28 March, explained that his decision to quit ythe APC followed careful reflection and wide consultations with his family, political associates and supporters.

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While I remain grateful for the opportunity to serve and contribute to the growth of the party at various levels during my membership, prevailing circumstances have made it necessary for me to take this step in the overall interest of my people and democratic values.

I wish to express my profound appreciation to President Bola Tinubu for the visionary leadership he has continued to provide for our nation as well as for the support and attention which Benue has enjoyed under his administration.

I assure him of my continued loyalty to his Renewed Hope Agenda.

Furthermore, I deeply appreciate the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Sen. George Akume, for the quality leadership he has provided to the APC family in Benue.

I acknowledge his role in shaping the political landscape of our dear state and assure him of my enduring respect.

Finally, I wish to sincerely appreciate the leadership and members of the party in Ushongo Local Government Area, the entire Benue and beyond for the cooperation and support extended to me over the years.

The relationships built and experiences gathered remain invaluable, he stated.

Andoakaa, who did not disclose his next political destination, called on his supporters and associates to remain calm, peaceful and steadfast.

A new direction aimed at salvaging and repositioning Benue in the best interest of our people will be communicated in due course, he said.

Mr Aondoakaa, who defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 2015 and subsequently joined the APC, has yet to declare his next party.

His resignation from the APC came about two months after he revalidated his party membership by participating in its electronic registration and revalidation exercise in Benue State.

Mr Aondoakaa is believed to be interested in running for the 2027 Benue State governorship after his failed bid in 2022.

He lost the APCs 2022 governorship primary election to current Governor Hyacinth Alia, who clinched the partys ticket. Mr Aondoakaa contested the outcome of the primary election in court but lost.

Mr Alia, a catholic priest, went on to win the 2023 governorship election in the state.

Mr Aondoakaa, who served as Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) in the PDP-led administration of the late President Umar YarAdua, dumped the PDP in 2015, telling Vanguard newspaper then that he was retiring from partisan politics.

(NAN)
The Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) says its Online Assets and Liabilities Declaration System (OALDS) is on track for a phased rollout of assets declaration platform within weeks.

CCB Chairman, Abdullahi Bello, disclosed this on Monday in Abuja during a stakeholders engagement with state Heads of Service on OALDS and national anti-corruption strategy.

Mr Bello said significant progress followed feedback from a recently concluded stakeholder validation exercise, which refined the system ahead of its planned deployment nationwide.

This system is a major step forward in modernising assets declaration and improving transparency in the public service.

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We completed the validation exercise and received positive feedback. Participants offered valuable suggestions, which we have already incorporated into the system.

The platform is now on track for a phased national rollout in the coming weeks, Mr Bello said.

He stressed that success depends on Heads of Service across the states and the FCT, describing them as key leaders in public sector human resource management.

You control recruitment, promotions and exits. Through your leadership, timely assets declaration can become standard administrative practice, he said.

Senate Committee Chairman on Code of Conduct, Ethics and Public Petitions, Neda Imasuen, commended Mr Bello for bringing renewed energy to the bureau.

Mr Imasuen said transparency and the rule of law underpin any enduring society, urging states to adopt peer review mechanisms to strengthen compliance across jurisdictions.

House Committee Chairman on Anti-Corruption, Kayode Akiolu, described the code of conduct as a national social contract guiding ethical public service.

MR Akiolu pledged the House of Representatives support, under the Speaker, Tajudeen Abbas, for stronger legislation and increased funding to enhance the bureaus effectiveness.

READ ALSO: Tinubu donates his salaries to welfare fund for Nigerian soldiers

We are reviewing the governing laws to identify amendments that will improve effectiveness. We also recognise the need to protect whistleblowers, he said.

He urged Heads of Service to lead by example, noting the spine of the public service must be strengthened through institutionalised integrity.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the event featured technical sessions and zonal discussions to identify compliance gaps and develop actionable commitments.

The engagement was supported by the Rule of Law and Anti-Corruption programme of International IDEA.

Representatives from EFCC, ICPC, NFIU and the Federal Ministry of Justice also attended the session.

(NAN)
Senator Ibrahim-Khalid Mustapha, representing Kaduna North, has resigned from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), citing persistent leadership crises, internal divisions, and prolonged legal battles rocking the party.

The senator stated this in a resignation letter dated 27 March addressed to the PDP Ward Chairman of Soba in Soba Local Government Area of Kaduna State.

Lawal Balarabe, Zonal Coordinator of the Senatorial District Office, Zaria, confirmed the development to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Zaria on Monday.

Mr Balarabe said the senator had yet to disclose the political party he intends to join.

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In the letter, Mr Mustapha stated: I wish to formally tender my resignation as a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), effective today, March 27.

He attributed his decision to what he described as unending court cases, leadership disagreements, and factional divisions across various levels of the party.

According to him, the prolonged disputes have deepened tensions among party stakeholders and eroded the unity and clear direction that once defined the opposition party.

The internal crisis, court cases, and leadership disagreements have made it increasingly difficult for me to continue my membership, active participation, and commitment, he said.

Mr Mustapha expressed concern that the lingering leadership tussles had significantly affected party stability, making meaningful engagement difficult for members.

In spite of my decision to leave, I appreciate party faithful for their loyalty and support throughout his political career.

I sincerely thank all the party faithful for their support and belief in me over the years, he added.

A handwritten endorsement on the letter confirmed that the original copy was received by the PDP Ward Chairman of Soba on the same date.

Mr Mustapha, who represents Kaduna North Senatorial District at the National Assembly, serves as Deputy Chairman of the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges, and Public Petitions.

He is also the Deputy Chairman of the Committee on National Atomic and Nuclear Energy.

(NAN)
Tragedy struck Kahir village in the Kagarko Local Government Area of Kaduna State on Sunday night, as bandits stormed a wedding ceremony, killed 13 guests and abducted many others.

Residents said the attack, which began around 11:47 p.m., has triggered fear across the rural local government, leading many to flee their homes.

The attackers, arriving in large numbers with sophisticated weapons, invaded the venue and opened fire on the unsuspecting guests.

Many were rushed to the General Hospital in Kagarko, while those in critical condition were referred to Kaduna for advanced medical care, a resident, Shehu Bala, told journalists in Kaduna.

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He added that the exact number of persons abducted was uncertain due to the chaos of the night as several persons were uncounted for.

Mr Bala said the bandits operated unchallenged for nearly an hour and looted shops, carting away food, provisions, and medical supplies.

The spokesperson for the Kaduna State Police Command, Mansir Hassan, confirmed the incident. He stated that a comprehensive report would be released following preliminary investigations.

Meanwhile, residents said Kaduna State Deputy Governor, Hadiza Balarabe, led a delegation of top government officials to visit the injured victims currently receiving treatment in a hospital.

Such attacks are common in southern Kaduna and other parts of the state. Places like Kagarko LGA have increasingly become a flashpoint for banditry and kidnapping due to several strategic and geographical factors.

Particularly, Kagarko sits at a crossroads between Kaduna, Plateau, and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja. Its proximity to the Abuja-Kaduna highway makes it a lucrative zone for kidnappers looking to intercept travellers or retreat into the dense forests that border the nations capital.
NHRC seeks justice for Ebonyi lady allegedly murdered over inheritance

The Ebonyi State office of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has sought justice for the family of a 35-year-old woman, Nnenna Onu, who was allegedly murdered by her cousins over inheritance of her fathers property.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that the late Ms Onu was murdered and burnt beyond recognition in December 2021, at Amagu, Anike in Onicha Local Government Area of the state.

Ms Onu was a graduate of Public Administration from the Akanu Ibiam Federal Polytechnic, Afikpo Local Government Area.

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She and her immediate family, comprising all female children and an aged mother, had been chased out of their fathers compound for five years by their cousins and relatives because their father had no male child.

NAN recalled that the personnel of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) had arrested one Chidiebere Okoro, male, as the suspected killer of the woman.

Mr Okoro was remanded at the maximum correctional centre, Abakaliki.

Christopher Okorie, Coordinator, NHRC, in an interview with NAN on Monday, decried the way the matter had been delayed, urging the state government and other well-meaning Nigerians to intervene to ensure justice for Onus family.

The late lady Onus crime was that she insisted on inheriting her fathers property as a woman. This is barbaric.

NHRC Ebonyi State office has followed up the case since 2021 and resurrected the case, this year, 2026.

We are glad to announce that one of the suspects had been nabbed, arraigned in court and remanded in prison custody.

NHRC continue to seek the collaboration of all the civil society organisations (CSOs), the police, the media and other stakeholders, to ensure that justice is done, Mr Okorie added.

READ ALSO: Protest over killing of woman in Cross River

Also reacting, Juliet Onu, the womans younger sister, cried for help, calling on Governor Francis Nwifuru for intervention.

It has not been easy since 2021. My mother has not gone back to her husbands home. She has been living with my husband and me.

In fact, I didnt know that being a woman is a crime in this part of the earth. I pray God will give us justice in the end, she said.

(NAN)
If any president can take these suggested measures, Tinubu is the man. He has demonstrated already that he has the courage to try new ideas instead of cowering behind old tired anti-people policies. Tinubu has been a senator, governor and president. There isnt much more any mortal can ask of his country and his creator. What remains is an enduring legacy. I make bold to say that if he hearkens to this call, his middle name will be Hero.

At this stage of Nigerias development, and considering the financial stress Nigerians are currently undergoing, perhaps the government may want to consider radical suggestions on how to make the burden lighter for the people.

It is wrong, in my view, to routinely compare Nigeria with other countries, as politicians often do. When you complain that workers are now spending 50 per cent of their wages on transportation alone, they are quick to tell you that transportation is more expensive in London as if they were paying London wages or providing the same facilities as the UK. They argue that petrol costs $1.13 per litre in the US (equivalent to N1,566) as if all other variables are comparable.

If I want to be charitable in my assessment of the ruling elite, I would say maybe it does not occur to them that, eventually, they will be the ultimate beneficiaries when their happy constituents reciprocate their good gesture with massive votes.

Hope Almost Aborted

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It is scandalous that a people living by the riverside are compelled to wash their faces with saliva. A country sitting on 37.5 billion barrels of crude oil is importing the liquid gold from America for refining. One had thought that the opacity permeating the petroleum industry was a thing of the past. However, the confounding story we hear is that Nigerian modular refineries and the massive Dangote Refinery depend on imported crude to meet their requirements.

In a typical Nigerian hop-step-and-jump, Nigeria has allegedly pledged most of its 1.5 million bpd production to creditors and therefore doesnt have enough to give to local refineries. Meanwhile, in 2024, the country launched a naira-for-crude scheme which many analysts hailed as progressive. Through the scheme, Nigerian refineries could buy crude in Naira instead of having to first shop for US dollars, thereby complicating the perennial foreign exchange problem.

When Dangote Refinery came on stream, we all thought here at last was the solution to our problem. But the refinery ran into headwinds shortly after commissioning. The government-owned NNPC Ltd which was supposed to superintend the official regulatory easing of the much-awaited refinery into the market, behaved like the major stumbling block. Had Aliko Dangote been just any other ordinary Nigerian, his refinery would have been successfully sabotaged by now.

The ongoing Gulf War has added to worldwide economic misery. Thank God for little mercies, Dangote Refinery has been able to meet the needs of Nigerians and indeed of many other African countries. In the pre-Dangote days, Nigerians would have had to spend most of the day at petrol stations, and commerce would have been at a standstill. The fact that the huge refinery is thriving under the Tinubu administration, in spite of the road blocks aforesaid, is a credit to the government.

Radical Change

If I may, I suggest that President Tinubu make a clear departure from the prevailing philosophy of rabid capitalism which puts money-making before the peoples welfare. I am a veteran illiterate in petroleum engineering, but I suspect that all you need to make the kind of suggestion Im making now is a good heart and a functional brain. There is no better sector to make Nigerians feel their governments benevolence than in the energy area. Where there is a will, there must be a way.

In terms of petroleum products, the government should launch an accelerated programme to double the production of crude from 1.5 bpd to 3 million bpd, no matter what it takes. That done, the government will be in a position to allocate a specific quantity at 50 per cent of the going rate for local consumption. If crude oil is selling for $120 per barrel in the international market, the allocation to be set aside for local refining will be priced in Naira at 50% of the prevailing exchange rate. At todays rate of N1,390 per dollar, that translates to crude selling to the local refineries in Naira at N695. Production costs and pre-agreed profit margin will then be added to ensure that Nigerians can buy petrol at a more affordable rate.

The spin-offs derivable from this suggested regime are legion, and they are all positive. Transport fares will drop, merchants of foodstuffs and other agricultural products will spend less to transport their goods to the markets, and every other endeavour relying on petroleum products will benefit from the scheme. Consumers will be the ultimate beneficiaries. And the kind of goodwill that this will fetch the government is stratospheric.

There are currently nine functional refineries in Nigeria with a total capacity of 975,000 barrels per day (bpd):

Dangote Refinery: Lagos (650,000 bpd)

Port Harcourt Refinery (Old): Rivers State (60,000 bpd)

Warri Refinery and Petrochemical Company: Delta State (125,000 bpd)

Aradel (Niger Delta) Refinery: Rivers State (11,000 bpd)

Waltersmith Refinery: Imo State (5,000 bpd)

OPAC Refinery: Delta State (10,000 bpd)

Duport Midstream: Edo State (2,500 bpd)

Edo Refinery and Petrochemical Company: Edo State (1,000 bpd)

Kaduna Refinery: Kaduna State (Undergoing rehabilitation)

Generally, a 42-gallon (approx. 159-litre) barrel of crude oil produces roughly 19 to 20 gallons (about 7276 litres) of motor gasoline (petrol) in US refineries. The remaining volume is converted into diesel, jet fuel, and other petroleum products. Dangote is more efficient. The 650,000-barrel-per-day Dangote Refinery is designed to produce over 53 million to 75 million litres of petrol (Premium Motor Spirit) daily. Annually, it has the capacity to produce 10.5 million metric tonnes.

The other critical handmaiden of the energy mix that is causing restiveness in the polity is power. There is no successful country anywhere in the world whose economy runs on private generators. The same kind of concession advocated in the case of petrol, diesel, kerosene and aviation fuel is also recommended in the case of gas supply to the thermal power plants that produce about 75%-80% of on-grid electricity.

When gas is delivered to the turbines at a discount, the issue of the current woolly government subsidy in the sector will be settled. At the moment, Nigerians cant understand how the federal government can be said to be owing Gencos subsidy sums running into trillions when Nigerians are in perpetual darkness. It doesnt add up. Perhaps when the current spooky subsidy regime is tweaked, we can have a clearer picture and, hopefully, more electricity.

Legislation

If President Tinubu agrees to go ahead with these suggestions, he should encourage the National Assembly to pass a law stipulating a stiff penalty for anyone caught smuggling petroleum products to neighbouring countries. All smugglers of petroleum products must unfailingly wind up in jail.

Our philosophy of governance has to change. It is the duty of government to ensure that Nigerian citizens benefit from the resources of their country. My generation benefitted a lot from Nigeria. That is why we always feel that we owe Nigeria so much. Patriotism comes with our territory. Every nation subsidises one thing or the other for its citizens.

The Man, Tinubu

If any president can take these suggested measures, Tinubu is the man. He has demonstrated already that he has the courage to try new ideas instead of cowering behind old tired anti-people policies. Tinubu has been a senator, governor and president. There isnt much more any mortal can ask of his country and his creator. What remains is an enduring legacy. I make bold to say that if he hearkens to this call, his middle name will be Hero.

Wole Olaoye is a Public Relations consultant and veteran journalist. He can be reached on [email protected], Twitter: @wole_olaoye; Instagram: woleola2021
There was a time when the vision of peace in the Middle East included the prospect of harmoniously and profitably combining the Arab countries stupendous oil wealth with Israels innovative technologies to create a new Xanadu. The opportunities were and are still copious  in new cultivars and agricultural practices, funding research into and deployment of renewable energy, desalination technologies and plants, and advances in the new digital economy, to mention but a few. As an idea around which non-rivalrous progress in the region may be organised, it was worth considering if only in the extent to which it put a stop to the regions limitless wars. But it was also about a new economic order, anchored on a region whose growth prospects, along with that of Asia and the Old World, should make the global economic portfolio less volatile.

This dream lives on in the considerable advances that the Gulf states have achieved in modernising their economies. Over the years since Israel and Egypt last fought each other, most countries in the region have made inflows of products, capital, and labour into their economies relatively easier and since the end of the pandemic have been placing huge bets on the latest digital technologies through monies squirrelled away in their respective rainy-day funds. Still, what has come to be christened the third Gulf war  between America and Israel on one hand and Iran on the other  highlights both how far these reforms have come and their limits.

From the export of crude oil, refined fuels, helium (used in the manufacturer of semiconductors), fertiliser, through air transport, we are discovering that Gulf countries are an essential gear in the working of the global economy. But the region is also, because of its innumerable conflicts, one of the global economys weakest links. In defence of its access to the regions oil exports, the United States of America has for long tried to impose an American peace in the region. Some would argue that more often than not, Americas interventions have left the regions outlook looking grimier still. Nonetheless, with the U.S. now a major producer and exporter of crude oil and its distillates, much of that arithmetic was always going to change  and that is before you include the threat to fossil fuel exporters from the energy transition.

More than all these though, the current war in Iran upends a lot. The oil potentates of the Gulf cannot protect themselves against a determined enemy without Americas help. In the face of an adversary as determined and competent as the Islamic Republic of Iran, even the U.S.s shield does not count for much. Neither can Israel continue its multiple military campaigns forever without hurting its economy and, as in the recent war against Hamas, tainting its very essence. Iran, on the other hand, is a kindergarteners lesson in how no people should be misgoverned.

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Incidentally, governance is the key to squaring all these circles. Because of the primal nature of the countervailing threats to the region, most solutions are nearly always couched in terms of military alliances. But the threat is to countries economic prospects, and their peoples wellbeing. Thus, the governance solution must be one of an economic nature. In other words, a European Union (EU) arrangement  a multilateral commitment to strengthen sub-continental peace and prosperity  for countries in the Middle East. Not a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO)-type fix.

Am I justified in arguing for a pan-Middle East political and economic entity as a panacea to the numerous pitfalls that the focus on narrow national interests have led the region into? Many will point at the EU today as a counter-lesson  sclerotic and largely backward-looking. But this is to forget how well it has succeeded in the task it originally set itself. If because of that success it has a radically different task environment, today, this is but a new higher order assignment.

Instead, I worry that whatever governance arrangement countries in the Middle East settle for, it will require a strong dose of democracy. Commentators who make light of the importance of structured opportunities for a people to veto their governments point to the successes of the Chinese Communist Party. Iran, however, is the foil to this argument in the region. An unelected government is unlikely to consistently act in the popular interest. Especially in the Middle East, where the free movement of products, people and capital is a sine qua non for the economic growth and development that its constituent players aspire to.

Uddin Ifeanyi, a journalist manque and retired civil servant, can be reached @IfeanyiUddin.


Nigerias renewed push toward agricultural transformation and national security consolidation has found expression in the Federal Governments ranching reform initiative, a policy direction that signals a deliberate shift toward modern livestock management.

Spearheaded by the Federal Ministry of Livestock Development under the leadership of Idi Mukhtar Maiha, the decision to pilot the programme in Kwara State represents both an economic strategy and a security intervention. Yet, despite its promise, the ultimate success of the reform will depend largely on how one fundamental issue is addressed, the land.

In Nigeria, land is far more than a physical asset; it is deeply tied to identity, livelihood, and communal heritage. Consequently, whenever ranching reform is discussed, the question of how land will be secured inevitably emerges as the most contentious aspect.

For many farming communities, the prospect of allocating land for ranching evokes fears of displacement, gradual dispossession, and loss of ancestral ownership. These concerns are not speculative but are rooted in longstanding experiences of land-related disputes and weak institutional safeguards.

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Therefore, unless these anxieties are acknowledged and systematically addressed, the policy risks facing resistance that could undermine its implementation from the outset.

In this regard, a pragmatic and context-sensitive approach becomes indispensable. One of the most viable pathways is to prioritize the establishment of ranches in communities where herding activities already exist and where there has been a history of interaction between pastoralists and farmers. In such settings, although not devoid of tensions, there is often an existing foundation of mutual understanding and informal mechanisms for managing differences.

Building on this social capital allows the reform to evolve organically rather than being perceived as an external imposition. More importantly, it strengthens local ownership and reduces the likelihood of resistance, as communities are more inclined to support initiatives that align with their lived realities.

Furthermore, it is equally critical to avoid the introduction of new groups of herders into communities where they have no prior social or economic ties. Relocating pastoralists across distant regions for the purpose of ranching may appear administratively convenient, but it carries significant risks. Such movements can disrupt demographic balances, heighten suspicion among host populations, and ultimately ignite tensions that the reform itself seeks to resolve. Accordingly, anchoring ranching initiatives within existing population structures is not merely advisable but essential for sustaining trust and stability.

At the same time, the constitutional framework governing land in Nigeria adds another layer of complexity that cannot be overlooked. Since state governments are the custodians of land within their jurisdictions, the Federal Government must engage them as central partners rather than peripheral actors.

This necessitates a coordinated approach that aligns federal objectives with state-level land policies, while also incorporating the roles of local governments and traditional institutions. Without such collaboration, any attempt to allocate land risks becoming entangled in legal disputes, political contestation, and administrative bottlenecks, thereby weakening the credibility of the reform.

Moreover, it is important to confront the persistent notion that reviving old grazing routes offers a viable solution. While appealing in theory, this proposition is largely impractical under current realities. Over the years, many of these routes have been overtaken by expanding agricultural activities, urban development, and population-driven land use changes.

Attempting to reclaim them would not only be legally complex but could also trigger fresh conflicts, displacing communities and reversing gains made in other sectors of national development. In effect, such an approach would contradict the very essence of ranching reform, which is to transition away from open grazing toward a more controlled and sustainable system.

Against this backdrop, what becomes imperative is the development of a transparent and equitable framework for land acquisition and management. This framework must be grounded in the principles of community consent, fair compensation, and legal clarity. Host communities should be actively involved in decision-making processes to ensure that their interests are protected and their voices heard. Where land is to be allocated, compensation mechanisms must be credible and timely, while proper documentation and titling should be enforced to prevent future disputes.

In addition, ranching projects should be structured to deliver tangible benefits to local populations, including employment opportunities, infrastructure development, and access to social services, thereby transforming them into shared economic ventures rather than sources of contention.

When these elements are effectively integrated, the broader implications of ranching reform become increasingly significant. Beyond addressing the immediate challenge of farmer-herder conflicts which have led to loss of lives, destruction of property, and disruption of agricultural productivity, the policy holds the potential to reposition Nigerias economy.

It is believed that by transitioning to a more modern livestock system, the country can unlock value chains in meat and dairy production, reduce its dependence on crude oil, and strengthen food security. In this sense, ranching reform is not merely a sectoral policy but a strategic instrument for national development.

Ultimately, the success of this initiative will rest on the ability to treat land not just as a commodity to be allocated, but as a sensitive and strategic resource that must be managed with fairness, inclusivity, and foresight.

Securing land for ranching, therefore, is inseparable from securing trust, justice, and social cohesion. If approached with the necessary rigor and sensitivity, the reform could redefine Nigerias agricultural landscape and lay the groundwork for enduring peace; if mishandled, however, it risks reinforcing the very conflicts it seeks to resolve.

Mukhtar Yau Madobi is a Research Fellow at the Centre for Crisis Communication, Abuja.
A few days ago, the former presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), Omoyele Sowore, was in Abia State for a protest he claimed was aimed at demanding the release of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu.

Shortly after Sowore left Abia, he began making negative comments about Governor Alex Otti.

Sowore claimed that he doesnt believe in what he called half transformation and subsequently described Ottis government as a failure.

Unsettled by the avalanche of criticisms and negative reactions from Nigerians that greeted his comment, Sowore obviously felt that his ego has been bruised, and subsequently organised an interview where he indulged in more distortions.

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We initially didnt want to dignify Sowore because his sweeping and reckless statement of Otti is a failure sounded like an intentional jab to create a discussion.

However, after his follow-up interview, we thought it appropriate to respond and put the records straight by stating as follows:

1. Sowore was correct when he described Otti as his friend though he failed to qualify the relationship. Again, we feel his understanding of friendship is questionable. Friendship entails respect and honesty. When he describes his friend as some guy there it puts a doubt on the relationship. Given Sowores controversial political and activism life, he must have trusted Otti very well before he slept in his house and ate his food when he campaigned in Abia in 2019. The question Sowore needs to answer is does this your friend know where you live?

2. Sowore claimed that Otti used to maintain a column on his platform and used same to attack serving governors. This is false. The only media platform that had Otti as a columnist was Thisday newspapers. SaharaReporters merely republished Ottis articles as published by Thisday. This is verifiable.

Ottis columns never attacked any governor, rather were mainly critical of wrong national political and economic policies and developments, while proffering solutions on issue basis.

Sowore also lied when he claimed that he once told Otti that he would come after him if he failed to perform as governor. There wouldnt have been anything wrong if Sowore actually said this, but since such a discussion never held, it was misleading for Sowore to fabricate it and present it as something that happened, just to appear as a friend thats doing his job with professionalism.

3. Sowore claimed he doesnt compromise standard, but this is a lie. Its actually Governor Otti who does not compromise standards, which is why he has ignored all the false publications Sowore has used his platform to publish against his government. The only time Governor Otti had reasons to caution him, was on 20 February this year, when Sowore used his SaharaReporters to publish a false story that the reason for the postponement of Abia APC Congresses was because Otti had concluded plans to join the APC. Sowore had no evidence and never spoke to Otti or his aides to know the truth before rushing to publish falsehood. Governor Otti subsequently sent him a message reminding him that using his platform to publish falsehood would bring his credibility into question.

4. Sowore has been accused by many commentators, including his Lagos comrades who came with him for the protest, of coming to do a hatchet Job against Governor Otti in Abia.

If Sowore denies this, he may need to answer the following questions:

(a)What was the reason for staging a protest in Aba when Mazi Nnamdi Kanu is from Umuahia, which is also the Abia State Capital? Didnt Operation Python Dance, which Governor Otti was at the forefront of condemning in 2017, happen in Umuahia?

Just about a month ago, the family of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu held a memorial service in honor of Kanus late parents at their home at Afara Ibeku, yet Sowore didnt deem it fit to visit their home when he sneaked into Aba for the said protest.

(b)Why didnt Sowore consider going to Sokoto where Kanu is being incarcerated to protest?

(C) Why did Sowore resort to attacking Otti few hours after leaving Abia, instead of briefing Nigerians, especially Kanus supporters on the outcome and impact of the protest?

(d) Couldnt Sowore have chosen a different date to quietly sneak into Abia, carry out in-depth investigation on the performance of Otti, so as to be armed with the necessary facts, before making his Otti is a failure declaration?

(e) Was Sowores visit to Abia without the courtesy of informing his governor friend not an intentional but failed strategy of provocation?

(f) Could it be that Sowore came to Abia to incite violence and breakdown of law and order with a view to serving some hidden external political agenda, but felt angry and disappointed that Governor Otti outsmarted him by providing maximum security cover and ensuring that no one was harassed?

5. Sowore claimed that Otti was upset because people came out to receive him. This hilarious comment is actually an indictment on Sowore. It simply means that Sowore was in Abia for publicity and popularity stunt, and not to genuinely call for Mazi Nnamdi Kanus release.

Its important to remind Sowore that this excitement about nonexistent popularity in Aba amounts to a delusion of grandeur. If he doubts, let him come and campaign in Aba when he picks his presidential form, and see the difference between using Nnamdi Kanus name as a cover and coming as Sowore.

6. Sowore alleged that Governor Otti paid influencers in Lagos to criticise him. If Otti paid any influencer, Sowore would know, so deep down in his mind, he knew he was lying to himself. He knows that most of the people attacking him know him very well.

Just to further help him, its important to remind Sowore that Otti has no paid influencers and is not looking for influencers to pay. Abians and Nigerians love him and are proud of what he is doing in Abia, hence they have collectively chosen to be his influencers and spokespersons.

7. On Sowores allegation of half transformation by Otti, we are glad that he saw some transformation during his few hours stay in Aba, his only problem is that Governor Otti has not achieved full transformation in two years and ten months. We are convinced he will be speechless by the time he tours the city and speaks to residents.

Governor Otti has never claimed he has transformed Aba or Abia State as a whole, because he knows that its a process. He has always stated that these are still early days and that a lot of work still needs to be done. However, we cannot apologise to Sowore if he is angry and embittered that the Abia masses and Nigerians are praising and celebrating Governor Otti for the things he has achieved so far.

In the spirit of friendship Comrade Sowore needs to be reminded that arrogance and aura of invisibility worn like an expensive apparel can be dangerous and destructive, especially when it is aimed at advancing a self-serving cause that hurts the people and harms their future.

Whatever his agenda is, he is obviously targeting the wrong person and needs to beat a wise retreat.

*Mr Ferdinand Ekeoma is a special adviser on media and publicity to Governor Alex Otti of Abia State
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Tuggar, is set to resign on Monday to pursue his governorship ambition in Bauchi State, an aide of the minister has disclosed.

President Bola Tinubu had directed ministers and other political appointees with 2027 election ambitions to resign by March 31. The directive was conveyed in a circular issued by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, George Akume.

An aide of the minister, who asked not to be named because they were not authorised to speak to journalists in the matter, said the minister had concluded plans to quit and prepare for the APC nomination process.

Mr Tuggars move comes in the wake of the recently concluded 2026 All Progressives Congress (APC) National Convention, where most members of the partys National Working Committee were returned unopposed.

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Supporters of the minister from Bauchi State, who were part of the delegation to the convention, expressed confidence that a formal declaration of his governorship bid was imminent, citing growing political momentum behind his potential candidacy.

Also, Mr Tuggars move has drawn commendation from supporters and political commentators alike.

Before taking up his current appointment in 2023, he had been elected to the House of Representatives from the Gamawa Federal Constituency in 2007 and served as Nigerias Ambassador to Germany from 2017 to 2023 under former President Muhammadu Buhari.

With the resignation deadline approaching, attention is expected to shift to how key political actors align their ambitions with the evolving electoral landscape and the implications for governance continuity and political stability.

Political analysts say Mr Tuggar has built a reputation in diplomatic and policy circles for his emphasis on governance driven by policy.

A source close to the minister said his anticipated entry into the Bauchi governorship race could reshape the states political landscape, where discussions about leadership have increasingly focused on experience, credibility and development capacity.

The 2027 governorship contest in Bauchi State is already attracting attention as stakeholders assess governance priorities and leadership direction ahead of the elections.
Residents of Angwan Rukuba, the community in Jos North Local Government Area of Plateau State, where many were killed in an attack on Sunday, have described how the gunmen disguised as customers before launching the deadly attack that also left several persons injured.

Multiple accounts obtained by PREMIUM TIMES indicate that the attackers arrived at a local beer parlour on Sunday evening, mixed with other patrons, before suddenly opening fire.

They came like normal customers where people were drinking, a resident, who requested anonymity for security reasons, said. Then suddenly, they stood up and started shooting. People began to run in different directions. It was confusion everywhere.

The witness said the attack occurred around 8 p.m., when visibility was low, worsening the panic as residents and visitors struggled to escape.

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People who were not even part of the area but passing through were hit. After shooting there, they moved through a nearby path, shooting anyone they saw, he added.

According to the account, the gunmen fled through a route leading toward a hilly area around Mazahills, from where they escaped.

A separate account by Leman Francis, a senior lecturer at the University of Jos, who lives in the Old Legislative Quarters near the scene, corroborated the sequence of events. He said the attackers reportedly arrived in a vehicle and began shooting without provocation.

Some men alighted from a vehicle and started shooting sporadically without any fight or provocation, Mr Francis said. They moved through the pathway leading to the Legislative Quarters and escaped through the back.

He added that the number of casualties remains unclear as residents continue to assess the scale of the attack.

Video footage obtained by PREMIUM TIMES shows multiple lifeless bodies lying on the ground at the crime scene. In one location, more than 10 bodies could be counted, while several others appeared injured. The individual who shared the footage, and asked not to be named, said, Many people were killed, and others sustained injuries, describing the scene as distressing.

PREMIUM TIMES earlier reported that the Plateau State Government imposed a 48-hour curfew on Jos North following the attack, which authorities said resulted in deaths and injuries. The violence also triggered reprisals in parts of the community, further escalating tensions.

The impact has extended beyond the immediate area. The University of Jos on Monday announced the postponement of examinations scheduled for Monday and Tuesday, citing the security situation and tension around Angwan Rukuba. Some schools within and around the affected community were also shut as residents stayed indoors amid fears of further violence.

Efforts to obtain an official police response were unsuccessful. The Police Public Relations Officer of the Plateau State Command, Alfred Alabo, declined to comment when contacted, asking for time to issue an official statement.

We are very busy now. Wait for our official statement, he said before ending the call. Subsequent calls were not answered.

As of the time of filing this report, authorities have yet to confirm the number of casualties or identify those responsible for the attack, deepening uncertainty in a city already on edge.
Nasiru Gawuna, Chairman of the Governing Board of the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN), has resigned from the position.

Mr Gawuna, who was the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate in the 2023 Kano State governorship election, announced his resignation in a letter dated 27 March

He stated that the decision takes immediate effect, noting that the move aligns with a presidential directive aimed at ensuring strict adherence to electoral laws ahead of upcoming political activities.

In the resignation letter, Mr Gawuna expressed gratitude to President Bola Tinubu for the opportunity to serve.

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He described his tenure as a privilege that allowed him to contribute to the growth of the FMBN and the nations housing sector.

My resignation is in strict compliance with the Presidents directive requiring political appointees to step down in accordance with the provisions of the Electoral Act, the letter stated.

Mr Gawuna assured the board of a seamless transition, confirming he would hand over all official responsibilities following established procedures.

While his resignation has fueled speculation that he intends to contest an elective position in an upcoming cycle, Mr Gawuna has yet to formally declare his candidacy or specify the office he seeks and under which platform.
A rights activist, Martin Otse, otherwise known as Verydarkman (VDM) has accused Gloria Diri, wife of Governor Douye Diri of Bayelsa State, of failing to fulfil her promise to offer scholarship to Nancy Wilfred, a small business owner assaulted last year in the state.

VDM disclosed this in a video clip uploaded on his Facebook page on Thursday.

Backstory

Recall that Nancy, a 19-year-old girl from Imo State, was assaulted, stripped and humiliated by a group of four girls in Bayelsa State on 29 August 2025.

One of the girls filmed the attack and later uploaded it on social media which triggered public outrage.

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Mrs Diri, on 3 September last year, took custody of Nancy and offered her a scholarship to university level.

The First Lady was also said to have promised to ensure justice for the assaulted girl.

The four girls were consequently arrested and arraigned before a magistrate court in Bayelsa.

However, the girls were later granted bail by the court with some alleging that the bail was granted because one of the defendants was a daughter to a top politician in the south-south state.

Sources said Nancy later obtained a Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) Form, preparatory for her enrolment into a university in response to the scholarship offer, but the Bayelsa First Lady allegedly failed to respond to the girls calls thereafter.

Nancy was seen in a Facebook video clip uploaded on 14 March confirming that she was only given N5,000 while her mother received N10,000 from the Gender Response Initiative Team (GRIT) in Government House, Yenagoa.

She recalled that after she and her mother left Bayelsa State for Delta State, the GRIT team, which works under the Bayelsa First Lady, refused to respond to their calls.

Livinus Nwosu, another activist who reportedly rescued Nancy from the assault, then made a post on Facebook on 13 March, criticising Mrs Diri for allegedly failing to keep her promise of assisting the victim and ensuring justice for the assaulted girl.

To the wife of Bayelsa state governor, with all due respect ma, I regret trusting you in this Nancys case; I regret believing that you will get justice for this girl; I regret ever wasting my precious time to come see you at the Government House on account of this matter.

The wife of Bayelsa state governor promised to help this child but since then only N10, 000 was given to this childs mother through the team the governors wife provided to help battle the case, Mr Nwosu said in the Facebook post.

He also accused Mrs Diri of failing to replace the victims mobile phone that was damaged during the assault, despite repeated appeals to the First Lady and her GRIT team.

After the post, he was invited by the police in Bayelsa.

Mrs Diri subsequently initiated a lawsuit against Mr Nwosu for alleged defamation and cyberbullying, accusing him of using the situation to malign her reputation and potentially extort sympathisers.

PREMIUM TIMES learnt that a magistrate court, on 24 March, ordered Mr Nwosu to be remanded for 30 days at the Okaka Correctional Centre.

His supporters have, however, been protesting in Yenagoa, Bayelsa, calling for his immediate release.

No scholarship, no justice

In Thursdays Facebook post, VDM said Mrs Diri neither fulfilled her promise of offering scholarships to Nancy nor justice for her.

He claimed the First Lady only arrested Mr Nwosu and charged him to court for holding her to account.

That was why they arrested Livinus. You (Mrs Diri) promised to give this girl justice. They assaulted the girl. You came out as the First Lady, people hailed you, not knowing you were chasing clout.

The young man (Livinus) that brought the girl to the Government House, he saw everything and was disappointed, he said.

The activist accused her of being very irresponsible and lacking accountability.

VDM then phoned a woman whom he claimed to be Nancy and informed her that she would withdraw the court case against the defendants who allegedly assaulted her, explaining that the decision was based on his understanding that she would not get justice if she continued.

He also asked her to stop calling Mrs Diri for the scholarship and that he (VDM) would pay her school fees.

She then informed VDM that she would write her UTME in April.

Let me know (when you get admission). And also if youre broke, call me. Even if I dont have money, Ill take care of you. Dont call the First Lady again. If they call you, dont pick-up, he told the girl.

First Lady speaks

In response, Mrs Diri has denied the allegation of failing to fulfil her promises of a scholarship to the assaulted girl.

In a statement by her Press Secretary, Maria Olodi-Osumah on 24 March, the First Lady argued that she had a genuine interest in Nancys case to get medical support and justice for her.

She explained that she indeed offered scholarship to Nancy, but she rejected it and then requested for huge sums of money to start a business.

It was later found out that Nancy was never admitted in University of Port Harcourt as earlier claimed, hence, the scholarship could not take off immediately.

Weeks after the arraignment of the alleged assaulters in the Magistrate Court, Nancy and her mother, Ms Silvia Ajimokoye, reportedly settled for an out of court settlement with the families of the assaulters to the tune of N10 million as compensation. Sadly, the money never came, she stated.

Nancy was never abandoned as claimed. Rather, after the first adjournment, she and her mother never reached out to the GRIT again.

Mrs Diri also denied giving Nancy and her mother N15,000, explaining that the GRIT team only offered them the money as transport fare with a promise for further support in the next meeting date which never held.

The First Lady also denied claims that she influenced Mr Nwosus remand in prison, explaining that she does not wield such powers as to direct the court processes.

So, the ongoing litigation should be allowed to follow through.

The onus is on Mr Nwosu to go and defend allegations against him and not resort to cheap blackmail through the social media, she stated.
Fresh accounts have challenged the polices claim that a village head in Akwa Ibom was arrested following a tip-off, with a local government council chairman and rights groups insisting he had earlier reported the rifle and was waiting for the police to retrieve it.

The police command in Akwa Ibom had announced on 25 March the arrest of Edet Okon, village head of Asiak Obufa in Effiat community, Mbo Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom, over alleged illegal possession of an AK-47 rifle.

Timfon John, the police spokesperson in Akwa Ibom, stated in a statement that operatives acted on a tip-off, thereby making it appear as though the village was unlawfully armed.

She added that the arrest aimed to determine the source of the weapon and any possible accomplices.

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Different account emerge

Two rights groups, Akwa Ibom Human Rights Community and COMPPART Foundation, said local youths recovered the firearm and handed it to the village head, who promptly notified local authorities.

According to the coalitions joint statement signed by Clifford Thomas and Saviour Akpan, the weapon was found in a bush on 15 March, weeks after security forces repelled suspected pirates and armed groups in the Efiat/Unyenge axis of the local government area.

They said the village head escalated the matter through appropriate channels, including the local government council chairman and the governors aide on marine security, and was awaiting official collection of the rifle when he was arrested.

It would have been unreasonable for him to transport the weapon himself. He relied on lawful authorities to retrieve it, the groups said, describing the police action as premature and capable of creating an impression of guilt.

Council chairman backs village head

The Chairman of Mbo Local Government Council, Sunday Etim, when reached by PREMIUM TIMES, corroborated the coalitions account, saying he facilitated efforts to hand over the firearm to security agencies.

When the village head called me, I immediately informed the authoritiesthe police and the DSS. I mobilised a speedboat. The man was waiting for them, he said.

Mr Etim explained that the initial retrieval effort stalled after the police demanded additional logistics, including fuel and marine backup, which delayed the operation.

He said further attempts were made to involve the Nigerian Navy, but contact with the village head could not be established at the time.

On 24 March, I received a call from my DPO (Divisional Police Officer) that they were about to go to the village to retrieve the gun.

I told them that I had called the village head on Monday and again on Tuesday morning, but the number wasnt connecting. That was when my DPO told me that he had arrested him.

I was surprised. How can you arrest him without informing me? he said, adding that the DPO later told him the suspect was detained to aid recovery of the weapon and would be released afterward.

The chairman expressed concern over how the matter was publicly presented.

He also disclosed that youths in the community had planned a protest over the incident, but he persuaded them to remain calm pending the outcome of the investigations.

I must state clearly that I have never ordered the arrest of the man, he added.

Police maintain position

The police have yet to address the discrepancies in the timeline of events leading to the village heads arrest.

PREMIUM TIMES sought clarification through a media enquiry to the police in Akwa Ibom State, asking whether it was aware the firearm had been reported before the arrest and what safeguards are in place to ensure due process.

Responding to the enquiry, the police spokesperson in the state, Ms John, only said that the command recovered the rifle from the village head and that investigation is ongoing to unravel the circumstances of his possession.
The Federal High Court in Abuja, on Monday, ordered a substituted service of court documents Nentawe Yilwatda, the All Progressives Congress (APC) national chairman, and others.

The suit was filed by an aspirant, Fubara Dagogo, challenging his exclusion from the partys national convention election.

Judge Joyce Abdulmalik, who gave the order, adjourned the matter until 24 April for the hearing of all pending applications, including the preliminary objection filed by the All Progressives Congress (APC).

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Mr Dagogo prayed the court in his suit to nullify the outcome of any partys national congress for the position of National Vice Chairman, South South, without his physical participation.

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He urged the judge to determine whether there could be a legitimate zonal congress for South South APC with his alleged unlawful exclusion after he was duly cleared and paid for his expression of interest (EoI) and nomination forms.

The plaintiff, through his lawyer, Ogochukwu Onyema, named APC and Mr Yilwatda, who was re-elected the partys national chairman at the partys convention held in Abuja between Friday and Saturday, as defendants.

Other defendants sued by Mr Dagogo are Victor Giadom, the partys national vice chairman, South South, and Sulaiman Muitamma, APCs national organising secretary.

Mr Dagogo put forward six prayers in his suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/591/2026 and filed on 23 March.

He wants the court to declare that by virtue of APCs Payment Acknowledgment Receipt No. 26827 dated 13 March and issued to him, he is entitled to be issued with the requisite expression of interests and nomination forms as an aspirant for the position of National Vice Chairman, South-South Nigeria.

He equally wants the court to award general damages of N100 million against Mr Giadom, the partys national vice chairman, South-South, and Sulaiman Muitamma, APCs national organising secretary, both sued as the 3rd and 4th defendants, for the discomfitures, embarrassments and mental torture, they occasioned to him with their ill conduct.

But the APC, in a preliminary objection filed by its lawyer, Kayode Okunade, urged the court to strike out or dismiss the suit for want of jurisdiction.

Mr Okunade also prayed the court for an order striking out the suit filed by Mr Dagogo as incompetent.

The lawyer, in his eight-ground argument, said the subject matter of the suit borders on the internal affairs of a political party, which is non-justiciable and outside the jurisdiction of the court.

He said Mr Dagogos complaint, relating to non-issuance of nomination form despite payment, concerns the conduct of party congresses and pre-primary processes, which are within the exclusive domestic jurisdiction of the party.

Mr Okunade argued that the applicant lacks the locus standi to institute the action, having not been duly recognised as a valid aspirant under the APC constitution and guidelines.

He said the suit is premature, as, in his view, the applicant failed to exhaust the internal dispute resolution mechanisms provided under the partys constitution.

The lawyer, who said the suit constitutes an abuse of court process, aimed at inviting the court to interfere in the discretionary powers of a political party, argued that Mr Dagogo had not disclosed any reasonable cause of action against the respondents.

At Mondays hearing, Mr Onyema informed the court of their inability to serve Mr Yilwatda, Mr Giadom and Mr Muitamma, necessitating the motion ex-parte for substituted service.

After moving the motion, the judge granted the applicants prayer for substituted service of all processes, including the originating summons, on Yilwatda, Giadom and Muitamma.

The judge also ordered that hearing notices be issued and served on the three defendants to ensure all parties appear in court for the next sitting.

(NAN)
Rights activist, Harrison Gwamnishu, has raised an alarm to the Nigeria Police Force over alleged abduction, torture and extortion of N1.1 million from some Nigerians by police operatives in Anambra State.

Mr Gwamnishu, in a post on his X handle on Sunday, said the police personnel who allegedly carried out the act included the Officer-in-Charge (OC) and some operatives of the Anti-Cultism Unit of the police in Enugu-Ukwu.

Enugu-Ukwu is a community in Njikoka Local Government Area of Anambra.

The OC and officers at police Anti-Cultism Unit Enugwu-Ukwu, Anambra State abducted, tortured and forced these victims to pay One Million, One Hundred and Nineteen Thousand Naira (N1,119,000) into an account they provided, he wrote.

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This has become a trend, the activist noted.

He tagged the Inspector-General of Police, Tunji Disu, and the police in Anambra State, the Force New Media Officer, Aliyu Giwa, and the Complaint Response Unit of the police.

Extortion

Mr Gwamnishu uploaded on the microblogging platform screenshots of receipts for the transactions which the victims were allegedly forced to do.

He also uploaded photographs of two of the victims showing bruises and injuries, which they reportedly sustained from the torture carried out by the operatives during the incident.

The screenshots of the bank transactions indicated that there were eight different transfers by the victims into different bank accounts belonging to Ifeanyi Ofoegbu and Emmanuel Uzoma.

Seven of those accounts  which were of different banks  belong to Mr Ofoegbu, while Mr Uzoma owned one Access bank account allegedly used to receive the transferred fund.

The receipts indicated that N500,000; N263,000; N103,000; N53,000; N80,000; N100,000 and N10,000 were transferred to the accounts said to have been provided by the operatives.

Mr Gwamnishu did not provide the identities of the victims and those of the police operatives.

He did not also indicate the number of the victims, although there are indications that there were eight of them.

Police react

In response, the Complaint Response Unit of the police asked Mr Gwamnishu to provide details of the victims for investigation.

Dear @HarrisonBbi18, kindly provide the victims details for further investigation. Thank you for contacting NPF-CRU, the police unit wrote.

Not the first time

This is not the first time police operatives have been accused of extortion, torture and abduction.

In fact, cases of police brutality, extortion, extrajudicial killings and other unprofessional activities in Nigeria have continued despite sanctions by police authorities, such as dismissal from service.

READ ALSO: Group seeks probe of Lagos CP Jimoh over alleged assault on activist

The latest incident occurred barely two weeks after police in Anambra State arrested and detained six senior officers who allegedly tortured and extorted N200,000 from a trader in Onitsha, the commercial hub of Anambra.

In February, three officers were dismissed over alleged kidnapping, extorting N1.7 million and car snatching in Imo, another state in the South-east.

Two months ago, police operatives shot dead a private motorcyclist in Ebonyi State.

In November 2024, police operatives from the Crack Squad in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State shot dead a labourer and critically injured three others in the state.

A similar incident happened in the same Abakaliki in 2018 when a police officer shot and killed a commercial motorcyclist for allegedly refusing to give him N50 bribe.

In August 2024, police operatives in Bayelsa State extorted N3 million from a man at gunpoint.

The officers were subsequently arrested after the victim petitioned police authorities.

The police operatives later returned the N3 million to the victim, about three weeks later.
The Nigerian Navy says its troops have killed two improvised explosive device (IED) specialists linked to the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and its armed wing, the Eastern Security Network (ESN), during a clearance operation in Imo State.

In a press statement posted on Facebook Sunday evening, Naval spokesperson, Abiodun Folorunsho, said the operation was carried out by the Naval Base Oguta Tactical Patrol Squadron in Orsu Local Government Area.

While the Navy did not state the exact date the clearance operation took place, it said it formed part of a joint effort with other security agencies targeting suspected IPOB/ESN hideouts in the Orsu-Ihiteukwa axis, including the Mother Valley general area.

The Nigerian Navy, through Naval Base Oguta Tactical Patrol Squadron, has recorded a major operational success during a clearance operation in Orsu Local Government Area of Imo State. Leading a joint effort with other security agencies, naval troops cleared suspected IPOB/ESN hideouts within the Orsu-Ihiteukwa axis, including the Mother Valley general area, the statement read.

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The Navy disclosed that troops encountered multiple improvised explosive devices during the operation, confirming the presence of an active IED network in the area.

During the operation, troops encountered multiple Improvised Explosive Devices, confirming the presence of an active IED network. Subsequent exploitation led to the discovery of an IED-making facility, where naval personnel executed a coordinated ambush, neutralizing two IED specialists, it added.

It further stated that all recovered explosives were safely destroyed at the scene to eliminate risks to civilians and security personnel.

The Navy also reported that no casualties were recorded among its personnel.

All personnel and equipment remained intact, and the operation was concluded successfully.

Reaffirming its stance, the Navy said it remains committed to sustained, intelligence-driven operations in collaboration with other agencies to dismantle criminal networks and restore peace in the region.

The Nigerian Navy reaffirms its commitment to sustaining aggressive, intelligence-driven operations, in collaboration with other security agencies, to dismantle criminal networks and restore lasting peace in the region.
In a separate announcement made today, the Company also secured A$83 million in private placement funding to support growth initiatives, including European expansion.

MELBOURNE, Australia, March 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- 4DMedical Limited (ASX:4DX), the global leader in cardiothoracic imaging software, announces that its latest imaging technology, CT:VQ has received CE Mark certification for commercial use in the European Union. 4DMedical will quickly launch commercial deployment of CT:VQ across one of the world's largest respiratory imaging markets.

4DMedicals CT:VQ technology combines the anatomical clarity of CT with functional ventilation-perfusion mapping from routine non-contrast CT scans, giving clinicians quantitative insights into regional lung function without radiotracers.

In a separate but concurrent announcement, 4DMedical has secured firm commitments from select institutional investors for an AU$83 million single-tranche private placement. This additional capital will support the Company's growth strategy, particularly the expansion of CT:VQ in Europe.

CT:VQ is the world's first and only non-contrast, ventilation-perfusion imaging technology, providing quantitative functional lung insights from routine non-contrast CT scans without the need for radiotracers or specialised nuclear medicine infrastructure.

Pulmonary disease is fundamentally functionaldefined by abnormalities in ventilation and perfusionyet most routine imaging available to radiologists and pulmonologists remains purely structural. CT:VQ bridges that gap by generating ventilation and perfusion maps allowing clinicians to visualize regional lung function with the anatomical clarity of CT.

For large medical institutions, CT:VQ is designed to fit within existing CT-based workflows and infrastructure. CT:VQ offers relief from long-standing constraints associated with conventional nuclear VQ imaging, including radiotracer availability, workforce limitations and operational complexity.

The European market represents a significant opportunity for advanced cardiothoracic imaging. With a population of more than 450 million, a highly developed hospital-based imaging infrastructure and an extensive installed base of CT scanners, the EU is well positioned for adoption of CT-based functional lung imaging. 4DMedical estimates that approximately 400,000 nuclear VQ scans are performed annually across the EU, underscoring the scale of clinical need.

"CE Mark certification for CT:VQ is a significant milestone that opens access to one of the world's largest and most sophisticated healthcare markets," said Andreas Fouras, Managing Director, CEO and Founder of 4DMedical. "Combined with FDA clearance, 4DMedical now has regulatory clearance to rapidly commercialise CT:VQ across both the U.S. and the EU.

"The clinical need for CT:VQ is universal. The limitations of nuclear VQ scanningradiotracer constraints, limited access and operational complexityexist across healthcare systems globally. Europe has the clinical expertise, imaging infrastructure and research leadership to play a major role in the adoption and evidence generation for this technology."

The CE Mark follows growing U.S. momentum for CT:VQ, which is now deployed at six leading academic medical centres: Stanford, Cleveland Clinic, University of Miami, UC San Diego Health, University of Chicago Medicine, and the recently announced initial deployment at Mayo Clinic. 4DMedical believes this early adoption by major U.S. institutions demonstrates strong interest in CT:VQ among leading radiology and pulmonary teams and provides a blueprint for expansion into Europe.

4DMedical said it is now advancing plans to expand commercial engagement across Europe and to work with leading hospitals and clinicians on adoption, evaluation and research initiatives for CT:VQ.

About CT:VQ

CT:VQ is 4DMedical's proprietary ventilation-perfusion imaging solution that generates functional lung information from non-contrast CT scans. Built on the Company's patented XV Technology, CT:VQ is designed to provide quantitative ventilation and perfusion insights within familiar CT workflows, without requiring radiotracers.

About 4DMedical

4DMedical Limited (ASX:4DX) is a global medical technology company that creates and deploys the most advanced software-based cardiothoracic imaging technologyintegrating both proprietary algorithms and artificial intelligence. 4DMedical's software platform delivers deep, quantitative, insights from routine clinical imaging to help clinicians assess lung function and cardiopulmonary disease.

These insights help respiratory physicians, radiologists and hospital teams quantify regional lung function, support diagnosis and disease monitoring, and inform treatment and surgical planning. 4DMedical's solutions are designed to integrate into existing clinical workflows. They provide actionable, patient-specific information that supports better decision-making and operational efficiency across a range of respiratory conditions. Learn more at www.4dmedical.com.

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2944827/Lungs_Graphic_Cutouts_Color_BW.jpg

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2730645/5888947/4DMedical_Logo.jpg
As Utah races to refill the lake ahead of the 2034 Winter Olympics, new research traces a connected pathway from shrinking water levels to particulate exposure and major depressive episodes in surrounding communities

WASHINGTON, March 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Utah's Great Salt Lake has lost an estimated 73 percent of its water and 60 percent of its surface area, its volume nearly 10 feet below healthy levels at its 2022 record low. The exposed lakebed  laced with arsenic, mercury, and lead  has become a significant source of toxic dust that wafts into surrounding neighborhoods. A new NASA-funded study, led by USRA and published in The Lancet Planetary Health now shows that this hydrlogical collapse carries consequences reaching beyond ecology and respiratory health: it is associated with a measurably higher prevalence of major depressive episodes in communities around the lake.

The study, led by Dr. Maheshwari Neelam of the Universities Space Research Association (USRA)'s Science and Technology Institute (STI) in collaboration with the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Oxford, brings together hydrology, atmospheric science, and psychiatry to trace a connected pathway from desiccation-driven lakebed exposure to elevated fine particulate matter (PM.) concentrations, and from there to elevated prevalence of major depression episodes in surrounding populations. While the study identifies strong associations and a dose-response relationship rather than direct individual-level causation, the findings are consistent with existing biological evidence that fine particulate matter can affect brain function through inflammatory pathways.

"Much of the existing research has been done within disciplinary silos, often looking at one exposure and one outcome at a time," said Dr. Neelam. "But environmental degradation is often a chain of cascading and compounding events, where one process triggers another. We need to start tracking these patterns earlier and more systematically, so that we can better understand risks and potentially reduce future harms."

The team's approach was made possible by integrating satellite-based remote sensing data on lake surface area and lakebed exposure with atmospheric wind patterns and population-level health records. This integrated framework highlights not only where environmental risks are intensifying, but also where health impacts may be occurring without being captured.

"With remote sensing data providing consistent, global, and repeated measurements of environmental changewhether lake desiccation, declining water quality, or air pollutionalongside historical climate records, and rapidly evolving AI tools, we are now in a much better position to integrate information across sources and platforms," Neelam said. "That gives us an opportunity to make more systematic and informed decisions, improve preparedness, and identify regions where populations may be experiencing cumulative burdens that are not yet visible in conventional health data."

Professor Kam Bhui, co-author and psychiatrist at the University of Oxford, said the findings underscore the need for closer integration between environmental science and public health. "The relationship between environmental exposure and depression is complex, with pre-existing conditions and multiple interacting social, biological, and environmental factors shaping outcomes rather than any single linear pathway," he said. "Understanding these interactions is critical for prevention, policy, and future research."

The study adds to a rapidly expanding body of evidence documenting the cascading costs of saline lake desiccation. Some of those costs are already visible: respiratory disease and toxic dust exposure concentrated disproportionately among vulnerable communities, ecosystem collapse threatening the 10 million migratory birds that depend on the lake annually, and economic losses tied to declining snowpack, tourism, and real estate. But the study highlights a cost that has largely gone unmeasured  the mental health burden borne by communities living downwind of a desiccating lake. That burden, the research suggests, is neither incidental nor negligible, and is rarely captured in conventional economic or public health assessments unless it is explicitly measured.

Additional Resources: On publication, the URL for the article will be:

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanplh/article/PIIS2542-5196(25)00283-9/fulltext

The DOI is The DOI is 10.1016/j.lanplh.2025.101405

About USRA

Founded in 1969, the Universities Space Research Association (USRA) is an independent, nonprofit organization that advances space- and Earth-related science, engineering, and technology through innovative research, education, and workforce development programs. USRA partners with government agencies, academic institutions, and industry to address some of the nation's most complex scientific and technical challenges. For more information, visit www.usra.edu.

About the NIHR Oxford Health BRC (Biomedical Research Centre)

The NIHR Oxford Health Biomedical Research Centre (NIHR OH BRC ) led by Professor Rachel Upthegrove is based at the Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust. The NIHR OH BRC is run-in partnership with the University of Oxford and involves 13 additional partner university and NHS Trusts across England. Support for infrastructure is provided by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) for 11 research Themes focused on brain health.

PR Contact:

Suraiya Farukhi

[email protected]

443-812-6945

SOURCE Universities Space Research Association
Stock Symbol: AEM (NYSE and TSX)

TORONTO, March 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ - Agnico Eagle Mines Limited (NYSE: AEM) (TSX: AEM) ("Agnico Eagle" or the "Company") today announced that it will release its first quarter 2026 results on Thursday, April 30, 2026, after normal trading hours. Additionally, the Company will host its Annual and Special Meeting of Shareholders (the "AGM") the following day, Friday, May 1, 2026, in a hybrid format (in Toronto and virtually).

First Quarter 2026 Results Conference Call and Webcast

Agnico Eagle's senior management will host a conference call on Friday, May 1, 2026, at 08:30 AM (E.D.T.) to discuss the Company's financial and operating results.

Via Webcast :

To listen to the live webcast of the conference call, you may register on the Company's website at www.agnicoeagle.com, or directly via the link here.

Via Phone :

To join the conference call by phone, please dial 437.900.0527 or toll-free 1.888.510.2154 to be entered into the call by an operator. To ensure your participation, please call approximately five minutes prior to the scheduled start of the call.

To join the conference call without operator assistance, you may register your phone number here 30 minutes prior to the scheduled start of the call to receive an instant automated call back.

Replay Archive :

Please dial 289.819.1450 or toll-free 1.888.660.6345, access code 72715 #. The conference call replay will expire on June 1, 2026.

The webcast, along with presentation slides, will be archived for 180 days on the Company's website.

Annual Meeting

The AGM will begin on Friday, May 1, 2026 at 11:00 AM (E.D.T). During the AGM, management will provide an overview of the Company's activities.

Hybrid Format

The AGM will be held in person at the Arcadian Court, 401 Bay Street, Simpson Tower, 8th Floor, Toronto, Ontario, M5H 2Y4 and online at: https://meetnow.global/MNA74VC.

The Company is conducting a hybrid meeting that will allow registered shareholders and duly appointed proxyholders to participate both online and in person. The Company is providing the virtual format to provide shareholders with an equal opportunity to attend and be heard at the AGM even if they are unable to attend the AGM in person.

For details explaining how to attend, communicate and vote virtually at the AGM please see the Company's Management Information Circular dated March 19, 2026, filed under the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedarplus.ca and on EDGAR at www.sec.gov. Shareholders who have questions about voting their shares or attending the AGM may contact Investor Relations by phone at 416.947.1212, by toll-free phone at 1.888.822.6714 or by email at [email protected] or may contact the Company's strategic shareholder advisor and proxy solicitation agent, Laurel Hill Advisory Group, by calling 1.877.452.7184 (toll-free in Canada and the United States) or 1.416.304.0211 (International), by texting "INFO" to either number, or by email at [email protected].

Investor Relations

Agnico Eagle Mines Limited

145 King Street East, Suite 400

Toronto, Ontario, M5C 2Y7

[email protected]

Phone: 416.947.1212

Fax: 416.367.4681

About Agnico Eagle

Canadian-based and led, Agnico Eagle is Canada's largest mining company and the second largest gold producer in the world, operating mines in Canada, Australia, Finland and Mexico. The Company is advancing a pipeline of high-quality development projects in these regions to support sustainable growth over the next decade. Agnico Eagle is a partner of choice within the mining industry, recognized globally for its leading sustainability practices. Agnico Eagle was founded in 1957 and has consistently created value for its shareholders, declaring a cash dividend every year since 1983.

SOURCE Agnico Eagle Mines Limited
The Microsoft and IBM veteran brings decades of experience building strong teams, growing talent and scaling innovative enterprise solutions for global organizations

McIntyre will steward the growing global airline's people strategy, ensuring alignment with the organization's business objectives, cultural aspirations and operational excellence

SEATTLE, March 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Alaska Airlines today announced the election of Lindsay-Rae McIntyre to chief people officer. In this role, McIntyre will oversee talent strategy, total rewards, employee experience, employee relations, leadership development, culture, and HR operations  helping to deliver on Alaska's vision to connect people to the world through a remarkable travel experience rooted in safety, care and performance.

Alaska Airlines names Lindsay-Rae McIntyre Chief People Officer

"Lindsay-Rae is an accomplished people leader with deep experience strengthening culture, leading complex global organizations and building talent development strategies that help teams thrive," said Ben Minicucci, CEO of Alaska Airlines. "She understands what it takes to support frontline employees and leaders alike, and we're excited to welcome her to Alaska as we grow our global footprint and continue our integration with Hawaiian Airlines."

McIntyre brings 28+ years of human resources and organizational leadership experience, most recently serving as Chief Diversity Officer and Corporate Vice President of Talent and Learning for Microsoft. She previously spent more than 20 years at IBM where she led global HR teams and lived in the U.S., Asia and the Middle East. She brings deep experience in talent acquisition, leadership development and workforce strategy, with a focus on enabling frontline teams and strengthening culture at scale.

"I'm honored to join Alaska Airlines and the more than 30,000 people at Alaska and Hawaiian who deliver for guests every day," McIntyre said. "I look forward to partnering with leaders and employees across the company to support an engaged workforce and a strong, values-driven culture."

McIntyre succeeds Andy Schneider, who became the chief executive officer of Horizon Air, Alaska's regional affiliate, in September 2025. McIntyre, who will report directly to CEO Ben Minicucci and serve on the company's Executive Committee, will begin April 1 and will be based in Seattle.

About Alaska Air Group

Alaska Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines and Horizon Air are subsidiaries of Alaska Air Group, with McGee Air Services a subsidiary of Alaska Airlines. We are a global airline with hubs in Seattle, Honolulu, Portland, Anchorage, Los Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco. We deliver remarkable care as we fly our guests to more than 140 destinations throughout North America, Latin America, Asia and the Pacific. We'll serve new destinations in Europe beginning in spring 2026: Rome, London and Reykjavik, Iceland. Alaska is a member of the oneworld alliance with Hawaiian scheduled to join in 2026. With oneworld and our additional global partners, guests can earn and redeem points for travel to over 1,000 worldwide destinations. Guests can book travel at alaskaair.com and hawaiianairlines.com. Learn more about what's happening at Alaska and Hawaiian. Alaska Air Group is traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) as "ALK."

SOURCE Alaska Air Group
Informational Webinar Scheduled for April 28, 2026

CHICAGO, March 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- The American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) is now accepting applications for its 2026-2027 ABMS Scholars Program. This one-year, part-time program supports early-career physicians and researchers in their research and facilitates their evolution as health care leaders within and across the ABMS community. Since the program's inception in 2014, 95 individuals have participated.

Grants of $15,000 are awarded to support research and travel expenses associated with program participation and research deliverables. The grant may be applied to an existing research project with a new scope or an original research project. Applications for the new cohort must be received by June 22, 2026 at 11:59 pm (CT).

The ABMS Scholars Program allows participants to:

Conduct research of value to their home institutions and the larger certification community.





Strengthen research methodologies, data analytics, and overcome barriers in consultation with research mentors, scholar peers and alumni, ABMS leaders, and subject matter experts.





Develop a robust professional network of national health care thought leaders from ABMS Member Boards (MBs), national thought leaders across the medical education curriculum, research mentors, peers, and alumni Scholars.





Engage with the ABMS community through participation in ABMS Committee Meetings, Member Board Executive Forums, ABMS Stakeholder Council Meetings, ABMS-sponsored symposia, and other professional forums.





Disseminate research nationally across the certification, medical education, and quality improvement communities.

During the program year, ABMS Scholars remain at their home institutions and work with self-selected mentors. They provide research project updates during monthly webinar sessions and receive feedback and guidance from their peers, mentors, subject matter experts, and ABMS Scholars Program alumni. Scholars attend virtual ABMS committee meetings and present their research findings before a national audience at the annual ABMS Conference.

Early-career physicians, junior faculty, fellows, and residents are eligible, as well as individuals holding master or doctorate degrees in public health, health services research, educational evaluation and statistics, health policy and administration, or other relevant disciplines. Applicants should consider the impact of their proposed research project on reducing health disparities and contributing to the development of a qualified and diversified workforce.

Scholars are selected based on the quality of their proposed research project, the relevance of their research to the ABMS Research and Education Foundation (ABMSREF) research priorities, and the likelihood of making substantial progress on the project during the cohort year. Applications may be developed in collaboration with one or more MBs. Selected scholars will be notified in August 2026, and the program begins in September 2026.

In addition to the ABMSREF, the 2026-2027 ABMS Scholars co-sponsors include the following ABMS Member Boards: Allergy and Immunology, Anesthesiology, Dermatology, Emergency Medicine, Internal Medicine (Foundation), Obstetrics and Gynecology, Ophthalmology, Orthopaedic Surgery, OtolaryngologyHead and Neck Surgery, Pediatrics, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Plastic Surgery, Radiology, Surgery, and Urology.

Interested researchers can learn about the ABMS Scholars Program during an informational webinar at 5:00 pm (CT); 6:00 pm (ET) on April 28, 2026. The webinar will be recorded and shared with all registered attendees. For additional information, contact [email protected].

About ABMS

Established in 1933, the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) is responsible for the creation of standards overseeing physician certification in the United States. Dedicated to improving the quality of care to the patients, families and communities they serve, the 24 ABMS Member Boards develop educational and professional standards and programs of assessment to certify physicians and medical specialists. More than one million physicians and medical specialists are certified by one or more of the ABMS Member Boards in one or more of 38 specialties and 89 subspecialties. For more information about ABMS, abms.org or call (312) 436-2600.

SOURCE American Board of Medical Specialties
The new vintage arrives in international markets,

showcasing the character of one of Friuli Venezia Giulia's most distinctive white wines

COLLIO GORIZIANO, Italy, March 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- At Attems, the Marchesi Frescobaldi estate at the foot of Monte Calvario (Podgora) in Collio Goriziano, tradition and precise viticulture come together to craft wines that speak clearly of their origin. The release of Attems Cicinis 2024, the latest vintage of the estate's flagship wine, highlights one of the Collio DOC's most distinctive expressions of Sauvignon Blanc, reaffirming the estate's dedication to this historic Italian wine region, renowned for producing some of the country's finest white wines.

Sourced from a single vineyard in the heart of the Collio, Cicinis reflects the character and precision that define this remarkable growing area. Here, the Ponca soils - a stratified mix of marble and sandstone - play a fundamental role in shaping the wine's identity, contributing structure, minerality, and unmistakable elegance. The proximity to the Adriatic Sea, combined with the protection of the Julian Alps, creates a unique microclimate marked by significant temperature shifts, allowing the grapes to develop both aromatic intensity and vibrant freshness.

The wine stands out for its precision and purity, revealing a luminous straw-yellow hue with green reflections in the glass. The nose opens with refined notes of citrus and white peach, alongside delicate hints of sage and tomato leaf, gradually evolving into more complex nuances of flint and Mediterranean herbs. On the palate, it is structured yet elegant, with vibrant acidity carrying through to a long, persistent finish marked by a distinct mineral backbone.

The 2024 growing season was balanced and favorable, with mild winter temperatures, regular rainfall, and a spring that supported steady, even vine growth. Alternating heat and rain through June and July allowed the grapes to ripen gradually without water stress. Harvest took place in stages according to vineyard exposure, with the earliest-picked fruit showing vibrant acidity and citrus notes, and the later-picked grapes bringing softer texture and more exotic aromas.

Harvested at dawn, the grapes are whole-cluster pressed with the utmost delicacy. The free-run must is then left to clarify by static decantation for 24 hours before alcoholic fermentation begins. Fermentation takes place across different vessels - 40% in egg-shaped cement tanks, 10% in new barriques, and the remaining 50% in second- and third-passage barriques and tonneaux. Cicinis then ages for seven months on its lees in these vessels, gaining texture and aromatic complexity without undergoing malolactic fermentation.

With Cicinis 2024, Attems confirms its role as a benchmark for Sauvignon Blanc in Collio - a wine of elegance and precision that reflects both the character of its terroir and the vision of the Marchesi Frescobaldi family.

Press Assets

Vintage Sheet HERE

For images download HERE

ATTEMS

Attems is a name that encompasses the history of wine in Friuli Venezia Giulia. Indeed there is documentation that confirms ownership of land dedicated to viticulture in Collio by the Attems dynasty dating as far back as 1106, whereas the production of Ribolla Gialla and Refosco can be seen listed in the 1764 general ledgers. A millenary tradition that has made this winery a local reference point, with Count Douglas Attems as key protagonist: to him goes the merit of having founded, in 1964, the Consorzio dei Vini del Collio (Collio Wine Consortium). It was  in chronological terms  the third to have been founded in Italy and the first in the Friuli region. The story of Attems is thus interwoven with history: from the Patriarchate of Aquileia to the County of Gorizia, from the First World War to the present day. Owned by the Frescobaldi family since the year 2000, Attems denotes a fascinating past, an accomplished present and a future filled with innovation. Since the year 2000 Attems is property of the Frescobaldi family who continue to pursue its tradition with great respect of its distinctive characteristics.

Follow us on @attems_wines

#Attems_wines

Discover more on | www.attems.com

Media contact:

Carlotta Ribolini

[email protected]

SOURCE Attems
NEW YORK, March 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- BGO, a leading global real estate investment manager, and Bell Partners, a premier U.S.-based multifamily investment and operating company, announced today that they have entered into an agreement to combine their businesses to deepen their position as a leader across both the commercial and the multifamily sectors. This partnership is a result of the recent announcement of the acquisition of Bell Partners by Sun Life Financial Inc., BGO's parent company.

The transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2026, subject to receipt of regulatory and Toronto Stock Exchange approvals and satisfaction of customary closing conditions. Upon closing, the combined global real estate business of BGO and Bell Partners will represent more than $100 billion of assets under management.

The opportunity brings together two highly complementary platforms at a time when investor demand for institutional-quality multifamily exposure in the United States continues to grow, supported by resilient housing fundamentals and structural undersupply.

Upon closing, Bell Partners will continue to operate as a distinct, vertically integrated business under BGO and will oversee the broader company's U.S. multifamily assets. Bell Partners will be led by its existing leadership team, with full accountability for investment strategy, execution, and performance, and will maintain its integrated investment and property management model, preserving the attributes that have defined its success.

"This partnership reflects our strong conviction in the U.S. multifamily market and underscores our commitment to building deep expertise in sectors where we believe there is significant long-term opportunity," said Amy Price, Co-President, BGO. "Bell Partners has built an exceptional platform with a proven 50-year track record in multifamily that complements our firm's culture and expertise in U.S. commercial and logistics sectors, supported by our global resources."

"For 50 years, Bell Partners has been defined by a strong culture of caring and performance while passionately serving our Residents" said Lili Dunn, CEO and President, Bell Partners. "This opportunity will extend Bell's operating and investment expertise across a larger residential platform and strengthen our depth and reach. It is a natural step in our evolution, preserving the essence of what has made us successful, while also opening new opportunities for the future."

Bell Partners will operate as it does today, retaining its company and property brand, the current leadership team, and focus on investment and property management.

PJT Partners served as exclusive financial advisor to Sun Life and Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton and Garrison LLP served as legal counsel for this transaction. Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC acted as an exclusive financial advisor and Hogan Lovells acted as legal counsel for Bell Partners.

About BGO

BGO is a leading, global real estate investment management advisor and a globally-recognized provider of real estate services. BGO serves the interests of more than 750 institutional clients with approximately $90 billion USD of assets under management (as of December 31, 2025) and expertise in the asset management of office, industrial, multi-residential, retail and hospitality property across the globe. BGO has offices in 25 cities across twelve countries with deep, local knowledge, experience, and extensive networks in the regions where we invest in and manage real estate assets on behalf of our clients in primary, secondary and co-investment markets. BGO is a part of SLC Management, the institutional alternatives and traditional asset management business of Sun Life.

The assets under management shown above includes real estate equity and mortgage investments managed by the BGO group of companies and their affiliates, and as of 1Q21, includes certain uncalled capital commitments for discretionary capital until they are legally expired and excludes certain uncalled capital commitments where the investor has complete discretion over investment. For more information, please visit www.bgo.com

About Bell Partners

Established in 1976, Bell Partners Inc. is a privately held apartment investment and management company focused on quality multifamily rental communities throughout the United States. The Company manages approximately 70,000 apartment homes in 12 regions across the U.S., including communities in Seattle, San Francisco Bay Area, Southern California, Denver, Dallas/Ft. Worth, Austin, Atlanta, Central and Southeast Florida, Charlotte/Raleigh, Washington, D.C., and Boston. With approximately 1,800 associates and nine offices, Bell Partners offers an extensive full-service vertically integrated national platform of expertise in property management, acquisitions, construction, financing, accounting, risk management, and related support functions. Led by a senior management team with an average of 28 years of experience, Bell Partners has invested throughout all phases of the real estate cycle and has completed almost $12 billion of realized apartment transactions since 2002. For more information, visit www.bellpartnersinc.com

Media Contacts:

Nicole Stenclik

President, Akrete

[email protected]

Hamilton McCulloh

Executive Vice President, Allison Worldwide

[email protected]

SOURCE BGO
As privacy obligations expand from employees to AI systems, BigID delivers the first platform to govern personal data and AI use together  end to end

WASHINGTON, March 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- BigID, the leader in data and AI privacy, security, and compliance, today announced Unified Privacy Management for People Data and AI: in a single platform that connects personal data discovery, data rights automation, consent enforcement, and AI privacy governance across the entire enterprise data landscape  replacing the disconnected tools that make privacy programs look operational on paper but impossible to prove under audit.

What is unified privacy management for people data and AI?

Unified privacy management is the practice of governing personal data and AI use from a single platform  automating discovery, data rights, consent, and AI-specific privacy controls together, rather than managing them as separate tools and processes. BigID is the first platform to deliver this end to end: automatically finding and classifying personal data across hundreds of structured, unstructured, cloud, SaaS, and on-prem sources; correlating that data back to the individual; and enforcing rights, consent, and AI governance from one unified interface.

Most enterprises currently manage privacy across three to five disconnected systems. DSRs live in one platform. Consent lives in another. AI assessments happen in spreadsheets. None of them connect to the actual data. The result is a privacy program that generates reports but can't validate them  and can't prove compliance when a regulator asks.

BigID eliminates that gap. Every workflow is grounded in live, AI-powered data discovery across 100+ languages, 1,000s of pre-trained classifiers, and hundreds of data sources. When data changes, the program adapts. When a regulation changes, controls update. When an auditor asks for evidence, it's already there.

What does BigID's unified privacy platform do?

BigID's patented identity correlation maps personal data back to the individual  not just by field name, but by context and relationship across siloed systems. That means access requests return the right data. Deletion requests delete it everywhere, including from AI training datasets and vector databases. And every action is validated, logged, and audit-ready before a regulator ever asks.

With BigID, organizations can:

Automate data subject access and deletion workflows end to end  with built-in verification, validation, and fulfillment tracking across 100+ regulations including GDPR, CPRA, LGPD, and POPIA

Customize and enable preferences portals for customers, employees, and more to comply with global regulations and right to be forgotten requests

Run AI-focused Privacy Impact Assessments (PIAs/DPIAs) with automated evidence gathering, dynamic templates, and intelligent risk mapping aligned to the EU AI Act and NIST AI RMF

Monitor data residency and cross-border transfer compliance continuously  without manual reviews

Why does unified privacy management matter now?

Compliance and privacy regulations are multiplying faster than teams can track them. The EU AI Act, GDPR's right to erasure under Article 17, CPRA, and a growing body of regional AI-specific frameworks now require organizations to govern not just what data they hold  but how AI uses it, who can access it, and how fast it can be removed on request.

Most privacy platforms weren't built for this. They were built for ticketing and reporting  designed when data lived in databases, not models. BigID was built for data first. That architectural difference is what makes every privacy workflow it automates defensible, not just documented.

"Privacy used to be about policy. Now it has to be about data," said Dimitri Sirota, CEO and Co-founder at BigID. "BigID is the only platform that connects personal data discovery, AI governance, and rights automation in one place  so privacy teams can prove their program works, not just report on it."

Learn More at IAPP GPS

Visit us at IAPP GPS: Get live demos and exclusive previews of BigID's latest AI & data privacy capabilities

Book a live demo  meet with a BigID AI & privacy expert: https://home.bigid.com/demo-privacy

Take a self-guided product tour:(https://home.bigid.com/custom-data-security-tour)https://home.bigid.com/data-privacy-tour

About BigID

BigID helps organizations connect the dots in data & AI: for security, governance, privacy, compliance, and AI data management. BigID enables customers to find, understand, manage, protect, and take action on high-risk & high-value data, wherever it lives. Customers use BigID to reduce their AI & data risk, automate security and privacy controls, achieve compliance, and understand their data throughout their entire data landscape: from the cloud, on-prem, and everywhere in between. BigID has been recognized for innovation as a World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer; named to the Forbes Cloud 100; the Inc 5000 for 4 consecutive years; the Deloitte 500 for 4 consecutive years; Market Leader in Data Security Posture Management (DSPM); and an RSA Innovation Sandbox winner.

SOURCE BigID
The fan-favorite probiotic debuts in gummy form, formulated with cranberry and pineapple for daily vaginal and urinary wellness

CHICAGO, March 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Black Girl Vitamins (BGV) is proud to announce the newest addition to its Her Balance line, a vaginal probiotic gummy supplement. Now available at blackgirlvitamins.co and on Amazon, the juicy cran-pineapple gummies deliver the same science-backed vaginal wellness support customers love about the original Her Balance capsules, now in a fun, feel-good format designed for everyday life.

Gloss Up pictured with Black Girl Vitamins Her Balance Vaginal Probiotic Gummies Black Girl Vitamins Her Balance Vaginal Probiotic Gummies

Since the Her Balance Vaginal Probiotic capsules launched in October 2025, the BGV community has made their enthusiasm known. Customers reported feeling results in as little as a week, describing a real difference in how clean, fresh, and balanced they felt day to day. The gummy expansion is a direct response to that community feedback, offering the same trusted formula in a convenient format customers can look forward to taking every day.

Formulated with Black women's health in mind, Her Balance Gummies combine probiotics, prebiotics, and cranberry to support beneficial bacteria, promote microbiome balance, and maintain everyday urinary tract wellness. The addition of cranberry and pineapple targets urinary health specifically, a combination that sets these gummies apart from most vaginal probiotic options on the market.

"When we launched Her Balance capsules, we saw firsthand how deeply our community had been waiting for a product that truly spoke to their needs," said Anna Palomino, Head of Product Development at Black Girl Vitamins. "With Her Balance Vaginal Probiotic Gummy, we used that same science-backed approach to specially formulate for the unique vaginal microbiome of Black women, in a format that makes prioritizing your wellness feel as good as the results."

Her Balance Vaginal Probiotic Gummies support a balanced vaginal microbiome and healthy pH through stress, hormonal shifts, and lifestyle changes, helping women feel fresh and comfortable as part of a complete daily wellness routine.

For more information, visit blackgirlvitamins.co. Stay connected by signing up for the newsletter and following Black Girl Vitamins on social media for the latest updates.

About Black Girl Vitamins

Black Girl Vitamins (BGV) is a Black-owned health and wellness brand dedicated to meeting the unique nutritional needs of Black women. Since its launch in 2021, BGV has partnered with leading experts to formulate science-backed supplements specifically designed to support the health and wellness of Black women. Available on Amazon and through the brand's website, BGV is committed to closing the health equity gap by ensuring Black women have access to vital nutrients. Beyond providing supplements, BGV actively uplifts the community through strategic collaborations with medical professionals, a $100,000 scholarship fund supporting women pursuing healthcare careers, and partnerships with organizations dedicated to advancing health and well-being in Black communities. Learn more at www.blackgirlvitamins.co.

Media Contact

Sophia Howling

Flowers Communication Group

312-228-8821

[email protected]

SOURCE Black Girl Vitamins
15 grants of $10,000 each will be awarded to U.S. small businesses

Applications open April 2-23, 2026

Since 2021, the program has provided 46 U.S. businesses with $460,000 in funding

CHICAGO, March 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ - BMO, in collaboration with Deloitte, has announced the 2026 launch of its BMO Celebrating Women grant program, an initiative dedicated to helping U.S. small businesses make real financial progress to support stronger communities.

Inspired by our Purpose, to Boldly Grow the Good in business and life, BMO invites U.S. small business owners to apply for one of the program's 15 grants by sharing their business growth plans and how the business supports the advancement of women. Each grant recipient will be awarded $10,000, receive support from a BMO business advisor, and have access to additional resources to support the financial progress of their business. This includes BMO workshops, seminars and events, membership in business support organizations and advisory boards. For additional information on the program and how to apply, please click here.

The goal of the program this year is to recognize 15 small businesses across BMO's footprint in the U.S. and support their growth. Since launching in the U.S. in 2021, the program has provided 46 businesses with $460,000 in grant funding.

"At BMO, we believe strong communities are built upon thriving small businesses with innovative plans for growth." said Carolyn Booth, Head of U.S. Personal & Business Banking, BMO. "The BMO Celebrating Women grant program aims to help these entrepreneurs with the capital, resources and support to build their base of success both now and in the future."

Applications are open from April 2 to April 23, 2026, and will be available here: BMO Celebrating Women Grant Program  U.S. Applicants will need to meet the eligibility criteria of the program.

To learn more about the BMO Celebrating Women grant program criteria, visit:

www.bmo.com/grantprogram.

About BMO Financial Group

BMO Financial Group is the eighth largest bank in North America by assets, with total assets of $1.5 trillion as of January 31, 2026. Serving clients for 200 years and counting, BMO is a diverse team of highly engaged employees providing a broad range of personal and commercial banking, wealth management, global markets and investment banking products and services to approximately 13 million clients across Canada, the United States, and in select markets globally. Driven by a single purpose, to Boldly Grow the Good in business and life, BMO is committed to driving positive change in the world, and making progress for a thriving economy, sustainable future, and stronger communities.

SOURCE BMO US
LAS VEGAS, March 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- BriteCap Financial, a technology-enabled small business capital platform, today announced the appointment of Paul Broude as Chief Financial Officer.

BriteCap Financial Appoints Paul Broude as CFO BriteCap Fast, Flexible Funding For Small Businesses

Broude brings more than 25 years of experience across financial leadership, operational scaling, and regulated environments. He most recently served as Chief Financial Officer of Merrimak Capital Company and previously as Chief Financial Officer, North America at FNZ, a global fintech platform, where he helped scale the North American business through a period of rapid growth, increasing revenue more than tenfold and significantly expanding the team and operational footprint.

Earlier in his career, Broude held senior finance and audit roles at Fidelity Investments, where he supported multi-billion-dollar business units and led financial reporting, controls, and regulatory processes. His experience includes working closely with boards, audit committees, and regulators, as well as supporting the build-out of custody and broker-dealer infrastructure. His background also includes experience supporting capital markets strategy, regulatory environments, and institutional-scale financial operations.

His appointment comes as BriteCap enters its next phase of growth, focused on scaling originations with discipline, enhancing operating leverage, and continuing to build a durable funding and capital markets strategy. BriteCap's finance function plays a central role in supporting credit performance, capital efficiency, and the company's long-term capital markets strategy.

"We've spent the eighteen months strengthening the foundation of the businessimproving credit performance, increasing discipline, and building a more scalable platform," said Richard Henderson, Chief Executive Officer of BriteCap Financial. "As we move into our next phase, we are focused on accelerating growth while maintaining that discipline. Paul brings the experience and operating mindset to help us scale responsibly and continue building a high-quality, durable business."

Broude succeeds Pushkar Choudhuri, who will remain with the company during a transition period. The company thanks Choudhuri for his leadership in strengthening financial discipline and helping position the business for its next phase of growth.

"BriteCap is entering this next phase from a position of strength," said Pushkar Choudhuri. "The business is more disciplined, more focused, and better positioned for scalable growth, with a clear foundation in place to support continued expansion. Paul brings the right combination of financial leadership and strategic perspective to help take the company forward."

"I'm excited to join BriteCap at this stage," said Paul Broude. "What stood out to me is the level of alignment across leadership, the discipline that has been built into the business, and the clarity around where the company is going. There is a strong foundation in place, and a meaningful opportunity to scale the platform, expand access to capital for small businesses, and continue building a high-quality, differentiated lending business."

About BriteCap Financial

BriteCap Financial is a technology-enabled small business funding platform delivering fast, flexible capital through modern credit decisioning and a streamlined digital experience. The company supports small businesses nationwide through direct and partner-driven channels, combining disciplined risk management with speed and simplicity. BriteCap's product suite includes BriteLine, a revolving line of credit designed to give business owners on-demand access to capital. Learn more at www.BriteCap.com. BriteCap is majority-owned by a holding company affiliate of NMEF.

About NMEF

NMEF is a national premier lender who works directly with third-party referral (TPR) sources to finance "mid-ticket" equipment commercial leases and loans ranging from $15,000 to 3,000,000 and up to $5,000,000 for investment grade opportunities. The company accepts A  C credit qualities and finances transactions for many asset categories including but not limited to medical, construction, franchise, technology, vocational, manufacturing, renovation, janitorial, and material handling equipment. NMEF is majority owned by an affiliate of InterVest Capital Partners. The company's headquarters are in Norwalk, CT, with regional offices in Irvine, CA, Voorhees, NJ, and Murray, UT. For more information, visit www.nmef.com.

Media Contacts:

For BriteCap:

Evan Day

Vice President of Marketing

BriteCap Financial, www.BriteCap.com

1.866.623.4900

[email protected]

For NMEF:

Blair Dawson

SVP, Chief Marketing Officer

NMEF, www.nmef.com

[email protected]

SOURCE BriteCap Financial
LOUISVILLE, Ky., March 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- The Women In Trucking Association (WIT) is proud to announce that Ingrid Brown, professional driver and operations manager, Blackjack Express, LLC, is the recipient of the 2026 Driver of the Year Award, sponsored by Walmart.

Brown was among four finalists for the award. The other finalists included Fabiola Campos-Buenavista, professional driver and driver development instructor, FedEx Freight; Gina Jones, company driver, Werner; and KellyLynn McLaughlin, national transportation driver dump and roll off, Clean Harbors Environmental Services.

Women In Trucking 2026 Driver of the Year and Finalists

The announcement was made during the Salute to Women Behind the Wheel event, hosted by WIT at the Mid-America Trucking Show (MATS) in Louisville, Ky. The event is a tribute to trailblazing female truck drivers whose dedication and accomplishments are elevating the standard of professionalism in the industry.

"We are proud to recognize Ingrid, whose tireless commitment to excellence, safety, and empowering women in this industry sets a standard that inspires us all," said Jennifer Hedrick, CAE, WIT president and CEO.

Brown has built a 46-year career in trucking defined by determination, safety advocacy, and leadership. Starting out as an independent owner-operator of Rollin' B LLC, she currently serves as operations manager for specialized refrigerated fleet and continues to drive for Blackjack Express LLC, hauling heavy, oversize, and refrigerated freight.

Brown has built an extraordinary legacy, earning honors including the National Association of Small Trucking Companies (NASTC) Woman Driver of the Year Award, the TA Petro Citizen Driver Award, and Inaugural Inductee at the Mid-America Trucking Show Wall of Fame.

A charter member of the Women In Trucking Association since 2007, Brown is currently serving her second term on the board of director and as liaison to the Women In Trucking Foundation board of directors. A tireless public advocate, a Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) safety collaborator, and a three-time melanoma cancer survivor, she has dedicated her life to uplifting her industry, mentoring fellow drivers, and serving her community  embodying everything the Driver of the Year honor represents.

Brown's commitment to safety and advocacy in trucking has been highlighted by her peers and leaders. "Ingrid consistently operates with the highest standards of safety, reliability, and integrity, understanding that her actions reflect not only on her company, but on the trucking industry as a whole," shared Kristy Knichel, president of Knichel Logistics. "Through her actions, attitude, and dedication, she elevates the profession and inspires those around her."

Presented with the support of Walmart, this annual award was established to highlight the outstanding female drivers who champion safety at the highest level while positively shaping the public's understanding and appreciation of the trucking industry.

"Walmart is proud to sponsor the Driver of the Year award because it reflects our commitment to safety, excellence, and a culture of belonging across transportation. Ingrid Brown embodies what this recognition stands for, a seasoned professional whose leadership, safety advocacy and dedication to the industry have made a meaningful impact. Congrats to Ingrid for being named Driver of the Year!" shared Ryan McDaniel, Walmart Senior Vice President, Transportation.

About Women In Trucking Association, Inc.

Women In Trucking Association, Inc. (WIT) champions the employment and advancement of women in trucking, fosters connections, and recognizes achievements. WIT is the original community supporting women in the industry, from the driver's seat to the C-Suite, offering programs and services to help companies succeed, employees thrive, and individuals make an impact. WIT is supported by the generosity of members, including Gold Partners: Arrow Truck Sales, Bridgestone Americas, C.H. Robinson, Daimler Truck North America, FedEx Freight, Great Dane, International Motors, J.B. Hunt Transport, Michelin North America, PACCAR, Penske Transportation Solutions, Ryder System, UPS, Walmart, and WM. Follow WIT on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, X, TikTok, and YouTube. To learn more, visit womenintrucking.org, email [email protected] or call 888-464-9482.

SOURCE Women In Trucking Association, Inc.
Trans activists, Congressional members, and hundreds of advocates join together to demonstrate support

WASHINGTON, March 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Christopher Street Project, the only trans PAC organization laser-focused on electing pro-trans officials, successfully hosted its Trans Day of Visibility (TDOV) rally and convening in Washington D.C. in collaboration with 35 organizations, including No Kings, Human Rights Watch, Interfaith Alliance, Planned Parenthood, Stonewall Community Foundation, The Marsha P. Johnson Institute, and more. The rally featured trans elected officials, activists, and organizational leaders with hundreds in attendance to learn from experts, educate lawmakers on trans issues, and celebrate the transgender community.

Trans Day of Visibility

After over a year of continued attacks on the transgender community, Christopher Street Project brought together advocates across the U.S. in its largest mobilization to-date. The rally united trans youth, families, and dedicated allies with key speakers and performances including:

Entertainer and Drag Alum Miss Peppermint

Commissioner Precious Brady-Davis

SPARTA Pride Executive Director and US Army Major Kara Corcoran

Air Force Master Sergeant Logan Ireland

All queer group, Cheer DC

Local DJ Samson

Chastity Bowick, Executive Director of Marsha P. Johnson Institute

Prior to the rally, Christopher Street Project hosted a two-day conference and educational forum to provide policymakers and participants with legislative insights on protecting transgender rights nationwide through healthcare, mental health, veterans affairs, immigration, and religious freedom. The forum was then followed by meetings with members of Congress, giving a unique opportunity for members of the trans community to make their voices heard.

"As we celebrate Trans Day of Visibility, we continue to ensure trans voices are heard by urging lawmakers in the United States to fight against ongoing attacks on our right to exist," said Founder and Executive Director, Tyler Hack. "Christopher Street Project and its allies will continue to uphold equality, dignity, and safety for the community."

About Christopher Street Project

The Christopher Street Project (CSP) envisions a future in America where trans rights are never up for negotiation. CSP builds and leverages political power for transgender people across the country. We work to elect fierce champions for trans rights to public office, hold elected officials accountable on their commitments to trans people, and fight back against attacks on our existence.

Media Contact:

Janika Dela Cruz

848-459-3031

[email protected]

SOURCE Christopher Street Project
Mehran begins a one-year term leading premiere global cardiovascular

WASHINGTON, March 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Roxana Mehran, MD, FACC, today assumed the role of president of the American College of Cardiology. Mehran will serve a one-year term at the helm of the almost 60,000-member global cardiovascular organization as it works toward its mission to transform cardiovascular care and improve heart health for all.

Dr. Roxana Mehran is the new president of the American College of Cardiology.

"I am honored and excited to assume this unique leadership role within the College," Mehran said. "The ACC is a remarkable global organization devoted to improving human health by transforming cardiovascular care. Our members are on the front lines every day seeking evidence, diagnosing diseases and caring for patients."

As president, Mehran is focused on strengthening the College's global partnerships while maintaining close engagement with members to foster growth, opportunity and impact.

"I am optimistic about our future and our collective ability to shape it, guided by science and driven by a commitment to caring for the most vulnerable patients," she said.

A renowned interventional cardiologist, researcher and advocate for women in medicine, Mehran brings a global perspective and a collaborative approach to her presidency. She is an endowed professor of cardiovascular clinical research and outcomes, and a professor of medicine in cardiology and population health science and policy at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, where she completed fellowships in cardiovascular disease and interventional cardiology.

She is also director of the Women's Heart and Vascular Center at Mount Sinai Fuster Heart Hospital, leading a multidisciplinary program designed to address the unique needs of women's cardiovascular health.

Throughout her career, Mehran has led numerous global studies, contributed to the development of clinical guidelines and authored thousands of peer-reviewed publications. She was named by Clarivate Analytics as one of the most influential scientific minds in their Highly Cited Researchers list for the past eight years. She is the founder and chief scientific officer of the Cardiovascular Research Foundation and the founder of Women as One, an independent nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing opportunities for women in medicine.

Mehran has an extensive history of service to the ACC, including serving as chair of the Interventional Section Leadership Council, a member of the Board of Trustees and contributing as an author on several guidelines.

She has received several awards, including the 2017 ACC Bernadine Healy Leadership in CV Disease Award and the 2018 Nanette Wenger Award for Excellence in Medical Leadership from WomenHeart: the National Coalition for Women with Heart Disease. In 2019, she received the Ellis Island Medal of Honor and the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Silver Medal. In 2022, she was awarded the Terry Ann Krulwich Physician-Scientist Alumni Award, Pulse-Setter Champion Award and Women in Cardiology Mentoring Award from the American Heart Association. In 2023, Mehran received the Bahr Award of Excellence from the ACC and in 2025 the Gold Medal from ESC.

Mehran officially assumes the presidency during the Convocation Ceremony at ACC's Annual Scientific Session, taking place March 28-30, 2026, in New Orleans.

Other new officers for 2026-27 are Vice President Hani Najm, MD, MSc, FACC; Board of Trustees Members Fred M. Kusumoto, MD, FACC; Andrea L. Price, MS, RCIS, CPHQ, AACC; Finance Committee Chair-Elect/Treasurer 2027-2030 Sanjay Gandhi, MBBS, MBA, FACC; Board of Governors Chair Renuka Jain, MD, FACC; and Board of Governors Chair-elect Dinesh Kalra, MD, FACC.

The American College of Cardiology (ACC) is a global leader dedicated to transforming cardiovascular care and improving heart health for all. For more than 75 years, the ACC has empowered a community of over 60,000 cardiovascular professionals across more than 140 countries with cutting-edge education and advocacy, rigorous professional credentials, and trusted clinical guidance. From its world-class JACC Journals and NCDR registries to its Accreditation Services, global network of Chapters and Sections, and CardioSmart patient initiatives, the College is committed to creating a world where science, knowledge and innovation optimize patient care and outcomes. Learn more at www.ACC.org or connect on social media at @ACCinTouch.

SOURCE American College of Cardiology
NEW DELHI, March 29, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- According to the latest market research report published by Vyansa Intelligence, the Europe 155mm Artillery Shells Market is poised to grow at a CAGR of around 8.39% during 20262032. The market expansion is primarily driven by increasing defense budgets across European nations, ongoing stockpile replenishment initiatives, and heightened geopolitical tensions necessitating sustained artillery readiness. Germany leads the regional market with around 30% share, supported by its strong defense manufacturing base and procurement initiatives.

Europe 155mm Artillery Shells Market Key Takeaways

The Europe 155mm artillery shells market was valued at approximately USD 495 million in 2025 and is projected to reach around USD 870 million by 2032, reflecting steady growth supported by expanding procurement programs and industrial production scaling.

By shell type, high-explosive (HE/HE-FRAG) shells dominate with around 65% share, driven by their extensive use in combat and operational deployments.

By guidance, unguided shells account for nearly 80% of the market, supported by their cost-effectiveness and suitability for large-volume procurement.

More than 10 companies are actively operating in the Europe 155mm artillery shells market, reflecting a competitive yet moderately consolidated landscape.

The top five players collectively hold approximately 70% of the market share, indicating strong dominance by established defense manufacturers.

Driving Forces Behind the Expansion of Europe 155mm Artillery Shells Market

Rising Defense Spending and Strategic Stockpile Rebuilding

The increasing emphasis on strengthening military preparedness across Europe is a primary driver of market growth. Governments are actively investing in replenishing artillery ammunition stockpiles, particularly in response to evolving security dynamics and prolonged regional conflicts. This has resulted in sustained procurement of 155mm artillery shells for both immediate operational use and long-term reserve building.

Growing Demand from Active and Contingency Operations

The demand for artillery shells is significantly influenced by active conflict scenarios as well as contingency planning. Military forces are prioritizing readiness through continuous ammunition supply, including urgent operational demand and strategic reserve accumulation, thereby reinforcing consistent market expansion.

Industrial Scaling and Production Capacity Expansion

Leading defense contractors are increasing manufacturing output to meet rising demand across Europe. Companies such as Rheinmetall, Nexter (KNDS), Thales, BAE Systems, Elbit Systems, and General Dynamics Ordnance & Tactical Systems are actively strengthening production capabilities, contributing to improved supply chain resilience and faster delivery timelines.

View Full Report and request to get the sample pages at:

https://www.vyansaintelligence.com/industry-report/europe-155mm-artillery-shells-market-outlook

Key Challenges Impacting Market Expansion

Shift Toward Precision-Guided Munitions and Cost Pressures

Despite strong demand, the gradual shift toward precision-guided munitions presents a structural challenge for conventional artillery shells. Precision systems, while more expensive, offer higher accuracy and efficiency, potentially impacting long-term demand dynamics. Additionally, rising raw material costs and production complexities may exert pressure on pricing and procurement strategies.

Strategic Momentum Strengthening Europe's Artillery Ammunition Landscape Through Capacity and Long-Term Contracts

In 2025, Rheinmetall AG initiated a significant step toward strengthening Europe's ammunition production base by announcing a major capacity expansion under its "Plant Lower Saxony" (Unterlu) initiative, backed by an investment of approximately 500 million. The development follows a phased implementation strategy, with loading, assembling, and packing (LAP) operations commencing in Q2 2025, followed by shell production ramp-up in Q3 2025. Notably, the facility is designed with vertically integrated manufacturing capabilities, encompassing shell production, explosive filling, and final assembly, thereby enhancing supply chain control and improving delivery reliability. From a broader market perspective, this expansion represents a critical effort to address Europe's structural supply limitations. However, despite this capacity addition, demand is expected to continue outpacing supply during the initial 20252026 ramp-up phase, indicating a delayed return to equilibrium.

Building on this momentum, in February 2026, Rheinmetall AG further strengthened its market position by securing a seven-year framework agreement with Denmark for the supply of multiple ammunition categories, including 155mm artillery shells. Formalized during a signing ceremony on 30 January 2026, the agreement includes initial call-offs valued in the hundreds of millions of euros. This development underscores a broader structural shift across NATO and EU member states toward long-term procurement frameworks aimed at ensuring supply security and sustained operational readiness. Such agreements not only improve demand visibility for manufacturers but also enable more efficient forward planning across the value chain, including raw material sourcing and production scheduling. Nevertheless, as these framework agreements convert into firm orders, they are likely to intensify near-term supply constraints, particularly given Europe's still-evolving production capacity landscape.

Market Analysis by Shell Type and Guidance

By shell type, High-explosive (HE/HE-FRAG) shells continue to dominate the Europe 155mm artillery shells market, accounting for approximately 65% of the total share. This dominance is primarily attributed to their extensive utilization in combat operations, where both offensive strike capability and defensive suppression are critical. Moreover, their versatility across diverse battlefield scenarios further reinforces their importance within modern artillery systems. In addition, HE shells offer a reliable balance between impact effectiveness and operational adaptability, making them a preferred choice among defense forces. Consequently, procurement strategies across European nations remain heavily focused on these shells to ensure sustained combat readiness and operational efficiency.

By guidance, Unguided shells lead the market with nearly 80% share, largely driven by their cost-effectiveness and suitability for high-volume deployment across multiple operational scenarios. In contrast to precision-guided munitions, which are typically reserved for targeted and high-value engagements, unguided shells enable sustained firing capabilities essential for prolonged combat situations. Furthermore, their simpler design and lower production costs allow for faster manufacturing and easier stockpile replenishment. As a result, defense agencies continue to rely heavily on unguided systems to maintain adequate ammunition reserves. Nevertheless, precision-guided shells are gradually gaining traction, particularly in missions requiring enhanced accuracy and reduced collateral impact.

View Full Report (All Data, In One Place):

https://www.vyansaintelligence.com/industry-report/europe-155mm-artillery-shells-market-outlook (Explore in-depth analyses, market trends, and competitive insights.)

Significant Companies in Europe 155mm Artillery Shells Market

Key companies contributing to competition and market expansion include:

Elbit Systems

General Dynamics Ordnance & Tactical Systems

Thales

Rheinmetall

Nexter (KNDS)

Nammo

BAE Systems

Eurenco

PGZ

MSM Group

Europe 155mm Artillery Shells Market Scope

By Shell Type: High-Explosive (HE/HE-FRAG), Smoke, Illumination, Training/Practice, Others

By Guidance: Unguided, Precision-Guided

By Range Class: Standard Range, Extended Range, Assisted Range (Base Bleed, Rocket-Assisted (RAP))

By Operational Use: Training Consumption, Routine Peacetime Stockpile Replenishment, Active Conflict Replenishment\Urgent Operational Demand, Strategic Reserve\Surge Inventory Build

By Platform Type: Towed Howitzers, Self-Propelled Howitzers, Truck-Mounted Howitzers

By Country: Germany, France, UK, Italy, Spain, Rest of Europe

Browse More Reports on 155mm Artillery Shells

Finland 155mm Artillery Shells Market: The 155mm artillery shells market size in Finland was estimated at USD 15 million in 2025, and is expected to grow to USD 55 million by 2032. Also, the market is projected to register a CAGR of around 20.4% during 2026-32.

Spain 155mm Artillery Shells Market: The 155mm artillery shells market size in Spain was estimated at USD 55 million in 2025 and is expected to grow to USD 80 million by 2032. Also, the market is projected to register a CAGR of around 5.5% during 2026-32.

Poland 155mm Artillery Shells Market: The 155mm artillery shells market size in Poland was estimated at USD 80 million in 2025 and is expected to grow to USD 120 million by 2032. Also, the market is projected to register a CAGR of around 5.96% during 2026-32.

Baltic States 155mm Artillery Shells Market: The 155mm artillery shells market size in Baltic States was estimated at USD 20 million in 2025 and is expected to grow to USD 40 million by 2032. Also, the market is projected to register a CAGR of around 10.41% during 2026-32.

Germany 155mm Artillery Shells Market: The 155mm artillery shells market size in Germany was estimated at USD 145 million in 2025 and is expected to grow to USD 210 million by 2032. Also, the market is projected to register a CAGR of around 5.43% during 2026-32.

About Vyansa Intelligence

Vyansa Intelligence is a global market research and consulting firm dedicated to delivering strategic insights across high-growth and emerging industries worldwide. Our comprehensive research reports provide data-driven analysis of market trends, competitive landscapes, technological innovations, and regulatory developments shaping the global business environment. Supported by robust research methodologies, advanced forecasting models, and carefully validated primary and secondary data sources, Vyansa Intelligence empowers corporations, investors, and decision-makers to identify emerging opportunities, manage potential risks, and develop well-informed long-term strategies.

Contact Us:

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Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2929228/5889006/Vyansa_Intelligence_Logo.jpg

SOURCE Vyansa Intelligence
After a decade building factories from scratch, Benjamin Stern will use the capital to accelerate growth and expand the Tenkara team

SAN FRANCISCO, March 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Tenkara, the company building ops agents for US manufacturers, today announced $7 million in funding led by True Ventures . The round includes participation from HF0 , WndrCo , Articulate Capital , Night Capital , SF1 , Transpose , early employees at Flexport, and others.

Tenkara

There are roughly 600,000 manufacturing firms in the U.S. and 98% are small businesses. These companies were built to make products, not to be world-class at finding, qualifying, and managing suppliers. Since procurement teams at mid-market factories are tiny, the work of sourcing materials, tracking costs, managing logistics, and staying compliant falls on a handful of people who are already stretched thin. Most mid-market manufacturers lack the resources to expand their back-office teams. The result is predictable: materials cost more than they should, over half of projects run late, and every compliance gap costs an average of $19,000. These issues erode margins and breed distrust in domestic supply chains.

Tenkara is building the next-generation tooling for supply chains. The company's agents take on the back-office burden so that lean teams can operate like organizations 10 times their size. In its first 18 months, Tenkara signed multiple seven-figure contracts with U.S. manufacturers.

Tenkara founder and CEO Benjamin Stern is a manufacturing owner and operator. He started his first company in high school, appeared on Shark Tank, and closed a deal with Mark Cuban. Over the next decade, he built two factories from scratch and managed production for several consumer brands.

A 2020 Thiel Fellow, Stern founded Tenkara to fix the broken systems he lived with on the factory floor every day. He is joined by founding team Evan Adkins (engineering) and Jonah Stillman (commercialization). Both are serial entrepreneurs. The team is building out of HF0, the most selective startup residency in the world (0.04% acceptance rate).

"American manufacturing doesn't have a talent problem. It has an infrastructure problem. A three-person procurement team at a $50 million factory is expected to do the same job as a 50-person department at a Fortune 500. We're building the software that closes that gap."

- Benjamin Stern, Founder & CEO, Tenkara

"For the past 20 years, True Ventures has backed founders with a visceral belief in building something from nothing - founders who live the problem before they set out to solve it. This is Ben. He spent a decade building vertically integrated manufacturing plants, developing deep empathy for the customers he now serves with Tenkara. This kind of customer understanding is rare, and as domestic manufacturing becomes increasingly important, it's exactly what this market needs. We believe Tenkara is foundational to how the next generation of American factories are built."

- Phil Black, Co-Founder and Managing Partner, True Ventures

About Tenkara

Founded in 2024, Tenkara builds mission-critical infrastructure for US manufacturers. The company's agents automate the operational work that keeps factories running: supplier discovery, procurement, compliance, and freight. The founding team has collectively built factories, shipped consumer products, engineered systems at Bridgewater, and advised manufacturers like 3M.

Learn more at tenkara.ai

About True Ventures

True Ventures is a Silicon Valley venture capital firm that is first to believe in brilliant founders and invests in them at the earliest stages, when partnership matters most. Founded in 2005, the firm manages $4 billion in committed capital across over 450 teams spanning AI, software, hardware, cybersecurity, consumer, digital biology, and more. Notable investments include Veza, Enveda, Iceye, Handshake, Peloton, Duo Security, and HashiCorp. Learn more at trueventures.com .

About HF0

The most selective startup residency in the world (0.04% acceptance rate). San Francisco. hf0.com

Sources

IBISWorld, Number of Businesses in Manufacturing in the US

 National Association of Manufacturers, Facts About Manufacturing

Tealbook, The Agility Edge: Seeking Suppliers

 MadCap Software, The High Cost of Regulatory Non-Compliance

 CoreX Corp, 11 Critical Stats on Procurement (2024)

Media Contact

Taylor Weldon

[email protected]

(321) 220-3279

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2941512/Tenkara.jpg

SOURCE Tenkara
Florida ranks among the top three states in the nation for large truck crashes, with over 10,000 incidents reported in 2023 alone, according to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. The state is also home to nearly 106,000 heavy truck drivers  the third-largest commercial driving workforce in the country. Yet many of these workers remain unaware of the legal complexity they face when an on-the-job accident occurs.

The problem most injured truck drivers don't know they have

Consider a common scenario: A commercial truck driver is rear-ended while making a delivery. The driver suffers back and neck injuries serious enough to require surgery and extended time off work. In this situation, there isn't just one case. There are two, and sometimes three.

First, there's the auto accident claim  a personal injury case against the at-fault driver. Second, because the injury happened while the trucker was working, there's a workers' compensation claim against the employer's insurance carrier. And if the injuries are severe enough to prevent the driver from returning to work for an extended period, a Social Security Disability claim may also come into play.

Each of these claims operates under entirely different legal frameworks. Workers' compensation is a no-fault system with capped benefits. A personal injury lawsuit can pursue pain and suffering, lost future earnings, and other damages that workers' comp doesn't cover. Social Security Disability has its own eligibility requirements and approval timeline. The three systems don't talk to each other  but the outcome of one directly affects the value of the others.

Why the order of settlement changes everything

According to Orlando attorney Frank Eidson, who has practiced personal injury, workers' compensation, and Social Security Disability law for more than 35 years, the strategic sequencing of these claims is where most injured truck drivers  and many attorneys  get it wrong.

"When you settle a workers' comp case, it can create a lien against your personal injury recovery. When you settle the personal injury case first, it can affect your workers' comp benefits. And both of them interact with your Social Security claim in ways that most people don't anticipate," Eidson says. "The timing and sequencing of how and when you resolve each case is a technique that requires experience across all three areas of law. Most firms don't practice in all three, so they can't coordinate them."

The practical impact is significant. A workers' compensation carrier that pays medical bills and lost wages has a statutory right to recover a portion of those benefits from any third-party personal injury settlement. How that lien is negotiated, and when each case is settled relative to the other, directly determines how much money the injured worker actually keeps.

When a Social Security Disability case is also in play, the calculation becomes even more complex. Disability benefits can be offset by workers' comp payments, and the structuring of a workers' comp settlement can either protect or erode those disability benefits depending on how it's handled.

A gap in the legal industry that hurts workers

The challenge for injured truck drivers isn't a lack of attorneys. It's a lack of attorneys who practice across all three disciplines simultaneously.

In many cases, a driver involved in an on-the-job accident will hire a personal injury attorney for the auto claim and a separate workers' compensation attorney for the workplace injury claim. Each attorney may be highly competent in their respective area. But without a coordinated strategy between the two cases, the injured worker is often left with a fragmented approach that doesn't account for how one settlement affects the other.

"The worst scenario I see is when a driver settles their workers' comp case quickly because the insurance company puts pressure on them, and then they come to me for the personal injury side and the lien has already eaten into their recovery," Eidson explains. "Or they settle the PI case without accounting for the comp lien, and they end up owing money back. These are mistakes that can't be undone."

A growing problem on Florida's roads

The scope of this issue extends well beyond any single law firm's caseload. Nationally, fatal crashes involving large trucks increased by 52% between 2010 and 2021. Florida's position as a freight corridor  with Interstate 4, Interstate 95, and Interstate 75 carrying heavy commercial traffic between ports, distribution centers, and population hubs  means the state's truck drivers face disproportionate risk.

The trucking industry nationally employs approximately 3.58 million drivers, with an aging workforce (average age in the mid-to-late 40s) and annual turnover rates exceeding 90% at many large carriers. These workforce pressures mean drivers are often working longer hours under tighter deadlines, increasing accident risk. And when those accidents happen on the job, the legal complexity is immediate.

One attorney, one strategy, three claims

Eidson's firm, Frank M. Eidson, P.A., based in downtown Orlando, is one of a small number of practices in the state that handles personal injury, workers' compensation, and Social Security Disability cases under one roof. The firm's track record includes a $1.15 million result for a truck accident involving a traumatic brain injury, a $2.3 million workers' compensation outcome, a $1.2 million auto accident result that also secured $1,600 per month in Social Security Disability benefits, and multiple cases resulting in lifetime indemnity and medical benefits.

"When I take on a case where a truck driver was hurt on the job in a vehicle accident, I'm not just looking at one claim," Eidson says. "I'm looking at the full picture. Which case do we settle first? How do we structure the workers' comp settlement to protect the client's disability benefits? How do we negotiate the lien to maximize what the client actually walks away with? These aren't separate conversations. They're one strategy."

Eidson, a Vanderbilt University graduate and University of Florida College of Law alumnus, has been recognized by Super Lawyers Magazine every year since 2007, was named Lawyer of the Year by the Orlando Business Journal, and was recently recognized as a top attorney by Orlando Magazine. He has been practicing since 1989 and has recovered hundreds of millions of dollars in settlements and results for Central Florida clients across all three practice areas.

What injured truck drivers should know

For truck drivers who have been injured in an on-the-job vehicle accident in Florida, Eidson recommends the following:

Understand that you may have more than one claim. If you were working when the accident happened and another driver was at fault, you likely have both a personal injury case and a workers' compensation case. Don't assume one attorney is handling both. Don't settle either case without understanding the impact on the other. A quick workers' comp settlement can reduce your personal injury recovery. A personal injury settlement without lien negotiation can leave you owing money back to the workers' comp carrier. Ask about Social Security Disability early. If your injuries may prevent you from returning to work for 12 months or more, a disability claim should be evaluated from the start  not as an afterthought. Look for an attorney who practices in all three areas. The coordination between personal injury, workers' comp, and Social Security Disability is where the real value is created. A single attorney who understands all three systems can build a unified strategy that separate attorneys cannot. Learn more about why injured workers need an attorney who understands this complexity.

About Frank M. Eidson, P.A.

Frank M. Eidson, P.A. is a personal injury, workers' compensation, and Social Security Disability law firm located at 327 N. Orange Ave., Orlando, FL 32801. Founded in 1989, the firm has spent more than 35 years representing injured workers and accident victims throughout Central Florida. Frank Eidson provides individual attention and personalized service to every client and has recovered hundreds of millions of dollars in settlements and verdicts. The firm offers free, no-obligation case evaluations.

For more information or to schedule a free case review:

Frank M. Eidson, P.A.

327 N. Orange Ave., Orlando, FL 32801

Phone: 407-245-2887

Website: www.frankeidson.com

Contact us for a free case evaluation

SOURCE Frank Eidson PA
Traditional Chinese medicine emerges as shining "China service" brand on global stage

Xinhua) 14:58, March 30, 2026

HEFEI, March 30 (Xinhua) -- At Anhui Acupuncture Hospital in Hefei, capital of east China's Anhui Province, Svetlana Strinzha from Russia scanned a QR code and took a photo of her tongue with her phone. Within seconds, an AI-powered tongue diagnosis device generated a comprehensive health report.

"It is really interesting to see such a device that combines AI with traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) diagnosis. It has given me a deeper and clearer understanding of my own health condition," Strinzha said with obvious enthusiasm.

Having strong faith in the effectiveness of TCM treatment, she has visited China on multiple occasions. This time, she dedicated a whole week to an in-depth exploration of TCM, hoping this trip will make her healthier.

AI is paving new paths for the modernization and internationalization of TCM. The AI tongue diagnosis system, as explained by Dong Changwu, the chief TCM expert behind the system at Anhui Acupuncture Hospital, delves deep into the unique characteristics of tongue diagnosis in TCM.

It presents health information in a more intuitive and understandable way. Currently, the system is available in several languages including English, Russian, French, Korean, German and Thai. It has been deployed in more than 10 countries, such as Switzerland, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand, receiving widespread recognition.

"The AI tongue diagnosis device features high accuracy and easy operation, enabling efficient medical services for more people while saving healthcare resources," said Kiu Caracani, a Swiss TCM practitioner.

Caracani envisions a future where relevant functions are integrated into mobile applications, making it ideal for remote areas, mountainous regions and even war-torn environments with scarce medical resources. Such an innovation could quickly screen health risks and save more lives.

"I have installed the same device at my clinic, and it has provided fast and effective services for local patients in need," he added.

This year, Caracani, Strinzha and other tourists from various countries formed a group to travel to Anhui. They not only received TCM acupuncture treatment and witnessed the transformation brought by AI technology in TCM, but also ventured into the mountainous areas of southern Anhui to experience ecological health and wellness.

"We enjoyed the unique and beautiful scenery of Mount Huangshan while experiencing local TCM diagnosis and treatment," Caracani shared. He noted that China's visa facilitation policies in recent years have provided more international patients with the opportunity to deeply experience TCM diagnosis, treatment and culture in China.

"Nowadays, an increasing number of foreigners who believe in TCM come to China, seeking more in-depth experiences of TCM diagnosis, treatment and culture," Caracani observed. After conducting in-depth research on some local ecological health and wellness practices in Anhui, he hopes to introduce his patients to the concept of ecological health and wellness combined with TCM services in the future.

The hospital has not only attracted overseas patients but has also taken proactive steps to "go global" by sending TCM physicians abroad to foster international cooperation and exchanges.

Recognized as a TCM international cooperation base by the National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, the hospital has dispatched personnel to TCM centers in Russia, Greece and Germany since 2017. It has also established a TCM treatment cooperation site in Almaty, Kazakhstan, where experts are stationed long-term to provide diagnosis, treatment, teaching and pharmaceutical support. Currently, over 500 types of traditional Chinese medicines are available at the Kazakhstan site.

"From acupuncture diagnosis and treatment to center construction, and from technology exports to talent cultivation, we use TCM as a link to promote exchanges and mutual learning between China and foreign countries, enabling more people to understand, believe in and choose TCM," said Lei Li, Party secretary of Anhui Acupuncture Hospital.

The hospital is further expanding TCM service scenarios and promoting the deep integration of TCM with cultural tourism and the wellness industry, allowing overseas tourists to enjoy high-quality TCM health services at the foot of Mount Huangshan.

In addition to TCM diagnosis and treatment, TCM pharmaceutical services are also gradually making their way onto the global stage. Bozhou, a city in northern Anhui known as the hometown of renowned TCM figure Hua Tuo, has hosted three consecutive China (Bozhou)-RCEP TCM industry cooperation conferences.

Moreover, the Shufeng Jiedu Granules produced by a Bozhou pharmaceutical company have been available in German pharmacies for nearly six years. The company's various TCM formula granules have passed Germany's official quality inspections and entered the EU market as pharmaceutical products.

Today, TCM is gradually becoming a distinctive cultural symbol that connects the world and benefits humanity.

In recent years, the global expansion of TCM has accelerated, ranging from the broadening of overseas cooperation networks to the sharing of intelligent diagnosis and treatment technologies, and including the export of traditional TCM services in response to growing international interest in TCM health and wellness concepts.

According to the National Health Commission, as of May 2025, TCM had spread to 196 countries and regions worldwide. Additionally, China has signed TCM cooperation agreements with more than 40 foreign governments, regional authorities and international organizations, and TCM content has been included in 16 free trade agreements. TCM is truly emerging as a shining "China service" brand on the global stage.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
PROVIDENCIALES, Turks and Caicos Islands, March 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- KuCoin, a leading global crypto platform built on trust, concluded its activation at Tomorrowland Winter 2026 in Alpe d'Huez, marking the close of its first major live festival presence under its global partnership with Tomorrowland. Welcoming more than 22,000 People of Tomorrow, this year's edition brought together a global audience for a week-long alpine experience featuring more than 100 artists across seven stages. Through a series of immersive on-site experiences, KuCoin's "Guided into the Future" campaign reflected a shared commitment to community, creativity, and openness, bringing the brand into a global cultural setting shaped by music, experience, and human connection.

Throughout the festival, KuCoin created a series of immersive touchpoints that invited audiences to engage with the brand in a more natural and experiential way. From slope-side moments near La Folie Douce to the KuCoin Base Point in the Main Festival Area, the activation translated KuCoin's brand philosophy into a live environment where culture and technology could meet more meaningfully.

At the heart of the experience was the Tomorrowland Limited-Edition KuCard, which offered festivalgoers an early look at KuCoin's evolving payment experience. Together with the appearance of the 12 KuCoin Guardians and other on-site interactive elements, the activation reflected KuCoin's broader vision of making digital finance more intuitive, approachable, and connected to everyday life.

BC Wong, CEO of KuCoin said:

"Tomorrowland Winter gave us a meaningful opportunity to express KuCoin beyond products and platforms, and to do so through a setting defined by creativity, openness, and human connection. This partnership reflects a strong alignment of values and reinforces our belief that trust is built not only through technology, but also through the experiences, communities, and cultural moments that bring that technology closer to people. As digital finance becomes increasingly woven into everyday life, we believe the brands that endure will be those that pair innovation with relevance and infrastructure with genuine connection."

Through Tomorrowland Winter, KuCoin further strengthened its global presence by connecting crypto with culture in a way that felt relevant, human, and trust-led.

About KuCoin

Founded in 2017, KuCoin is a leading global crypto platform built on trust and security, serving over 40 million users across 200+ countries and regions. Known for its reliability and user-first approach, the platform combines advanced technology, deep liquidity, and strong security safeguards to deliver a seamless trading experience. KuCoin provides access to 1,500+ digital assets through a broad product suite and remains committed to building transparent, compliant, and user-centric digital asset infrastructure for the future of finance, backed by SOC 2 Type II, ISO/IEC 27001:2022, and ISO/IEC 27701:2019 Certifications.

Learn more at www.kucoin.com

SOURCE KuCoin
SAN FRANCISCO, March 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Jeklin Jeong-eun Kim, Founder and CEO of Gemgem Therapeutics, has been selected as a 2026 Cartier Women's Initiative fellow, recognizing her commitment to expanding access to pediatric rehabilitation through AI-powered, game-based therapy.

Chosen among applicants from around the world, Kim represents the East Asia region in the 2026 Cartier Women's Initiative Awards, which celebrate women entrepreneurs using business as a force for positive change.

Gemgem Therapeutics Selected for the 2026 Cartier Womens Initiative

About Gemgem Therapeutics

Gemgem Therapeutics was founded to address the limited accessibility and high cost of traditional rehabilitation for children with neurological and developmental conditions.

Through its AI-powered digital rehabilitation platform, Gemgem400, the company enables children to engage in structured therapeutic exercises through play. Using a standard smartphone or tablet camera, the system tracks hand movements in real time and delivers personalized therapy without the need for additional hardware.

Key highlights of the initiative include:

Deployment across hospitals, special education schools, and home environments

Integration of rehabilitation movements into gameplay

Strategic collaboration with Pinkfong, the company behind the globally popular 'Baby Shark' IP, enhancing engagement among young users

By combining game design, clinical insight, and AI technology, Gemgem Therapeutics contributes to making rehabilitation more accessible, scalable, and sustainable for families worldwide.

Founder Quote

"Through my own child's rehabilitation journey, I experienced firsthand how difficult it is for families to access consistent, engaging, and effective therapy. We are building a future where every child can receive effective rehabilitation through play, regardless of where they live".

"Being part of the Cartier Women's Initiative is a meaningful milestone for us as we expand globally and continue to grow our impact." said Jeklin Jeong-eun Kim, Founder and CEO of Gemgem Therapeutics.

Cartier Women's Initiative Quote

"We are delighted to welcome Jeklin Jeong-eun Kim to the Cartier Women's Initiative community. Through Gemgem Therapeutics, she exemplifies how entrepreneurship can drive meaningful, positive change. We look forward to supporting her journey and celebrating the impact she is creating." said Kiyo Taga, Cartier Women's Initiative Director.

About the Cartier Women's Initiative

The Cartier Women's Initiative is an international entrepreneurship program established in 2006 to support women impact entrepreneurs who are building a more inclusive society for generations to come.

Since its inception, the program has been dedicated to identifying and accompanying women whose businesses address some of the world's most pressing social and environmental challenges. Through a comprehensive approach combining financial support, access to a global network and tailored leadership development, the Cartier Women's Initiative enables fellows to scale their businesses while strengthening their capacity to lead and create lasting impact.

Over the years, the initiative has grown into a vibrant international community of more than 520 community members, united by a shared ambition to drive meaningful change within their respective ecosystems.

At its core, the Cartier Women's Initiative is guided by a set of enduring convictions: the belief that women are powerful agents of transformation, that talent is universal, while opportunities are not, that continuous learning is essential to progress and that sustainable impact is rooted in a deep commitment to the communities it serves.

About the 2026 Edition  Celebrating 20 Years

The 2026 edition of the Cartier Women's Initiative marks the program's 20th anniversary, a milestone that reflects two decades of commitment to supporting women entrepreneurs who are leveraging business as a force for good.

This anniversary edition is placed under the theme of Lighting the Path, a tribute to the women who bring clarity, courage and determination to the world, and who actively shape vision into tangible impact that drive meaningful changes.

The Awards Ceremony, to be held on June 10, 2026, in Bangkok, Thailand, will bring together 30 fellows across 10 award categories, including 9 regional awards and the Science & Technology Pioneer Award, which recognizes groundbreaking solutions built on distinctive scientific or technological advances.

About Cartier

A reference in the world of luxury, Cartier, whose name is synonymous with open-mindedness and curiosity, stands out with its creations and reveals beauty wherever it may lie. Jewellery, high jewellery, watchmaking and fragrances, leather goods and accessories: Cartier's creations symbolize the convergence between exceptional craftsmanship and a timeless signature. Cartier is part of Richemont and has a worldwide presence through its network of flagships and boutiques, authorised retail partners, and online.

Cartier.com

For information about the Cartier Women's Initiative: www.cartierwomensinitiative.com

SOURCE Gemgem Therapeutics
BOSTON, March 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Tom Noble, co-founder and CEO of NOBLE, announced that Gerald Haines has joined the company as NOBLE's new CFO. Gerry will lead the financial strategy to drive NOBLE's mission, strengthen processes, and support the company's rapid global expansion.

Gerald Haines joined NOBLE as Chief Financial Officer, where he leads the financial strategy and operations for NOBLEs global enterprise.

Gerry is recognized for visionary leadership and building high-performing finance teams that succeed in complex, fast-paced environments. Tom Noble welcomed him saying, "Gerry's arrival is pivotal for NOBLE. His expertise will strengthen our foundation for growth and excellence. We are thrilled to welcome a leader of his caliber."

Gerry currently serves on the board of directors and audit committee of nLight, Inc., a leading supplier of high-power lasers for mission-critical applications. His executive journey includes key leadership roles at several public and private companies. At Mercury Systems, a top defense and aerospace technology provider, the company grew fivefold under Gerry's financial leadership. As Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, he developed and implemented the company's financial strategy and business planning, including its acquisitions and integrations, enterprise-wide processes, and infrastructure to generate sustained revenue growth and profitability.

Prior to joining NOBLE, he was CFO at Metabolon, Inc., a global leader in metabolomics solutions advancing life science research, diagnostics, therapeutics, and precision medicine. At Metabolon, Gerry led cross-functional teams in sales operations, program management, legal, and IT, demonstrating a broad positive impact beyond finance. His previous roles also include serving as Chief Financial Officer of Impulse Dynamics, Inc., where he led the finance, legal, IT, and supply chain functions and helped the late-stage startup raise over $170 million to support the sales and marketing of its FDA-approved "breakthrough" medical device for heart failure treatment, and as Executive Vice President at Verenium Corporation, an industrial enzymes and biofuels pioneer, where he led a landmark joint venture with BP and guided the company to a successful acquisition by BASF.

Gerry holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the Boston University Questrom School of Business and a Juris Doctor from Cornell Law School.

ABOUT NOBLE

NOBLE, a leader in global sustainment and operations support for the U.S. Military and civilian government, offers an unparalleled range of mission-critical products and services. The company's supply chain contains over 15,000 suppliers and millions of products, including top brands and cutting-edge solutions across six domains: aerospace, C5ISR, CBRNE, expeditionary, MRO, and tactical. With strategically located fulfillment centers and operations in the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, NOBLE rapidly deploys routine and emergency orders, even to high-risk geographical areas.

For more information, visit https://www.noble.com/

Media Contact

Chrissy McStowe

[email protected]

SOURCE Noble Supply & Logistics
NEW YORK, March 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Guild Garage Group ("Guild"), an alliance of residential garage door service companies focused on replacement, repair and installation, has announced the completion of its partnership with Kitsap Garage Door ("Kitsap") and Olympic Garage Door ("Olympic"), two leading family-owned and operated residential garage door service companies based in Bremerton, Washington and Sequim, Washington. Kitsap and Olympic have been offering homeowners dependable and high-quality customer service for over 50 years. Kitsap and Olympic are Guild's 28th and 29th acquisitions since launching in 2024, and its 4th and 5th acquisitions in 2026.

Guild Garage Group has announced the completion of its partnership with Kitsap Garage Door and Olympic Garage Door. Post this Guild Garage Group is a newly formed alliance of residential garage door service companies and is actively looking to partner with owners of industry-leading companies. Guild is guided by the vision of being the preferred partner to business owners through a "made for you" brand positioning and invests in companies with strong management teams and cultures to create unmatched growth opportunities for them. More information about Guild can be found at https://www.guildgaragegroup.com/. (PRNewsfoto/Guild Garage Group)

"We are excited to welcome both Kitsap and Olympic to the Guild family and begin working with both teams to supercharge the already robust growth they have experienced over the last couple of years. Both businesses are not only impressive in scale and scope, but even more so in the quality of the people leading them. We're incredibly appreciative of the opportunity to partner together and are excited to support what comes next," said Tim O'Reilly, CEO of Guild Garage Group.

"At my core, I believe in people, and I've always aspired to build an organization that meaningfully serves individuals, families, and communities. Lasting success is rooted in a consistent commitment to service and respect for those we serve. Guild shares Kitsap and Olympic's dedication to exceptional customer service and operational excellence, and together, this partnership strengthens our ability to make a positive impact and continue to serve the Washington community for years to come," said John Ramer, Owner of Kitsap and Olympic.

Guild is actively looking for leading garage door service businesses across the country. Founders and advisors interested in learning more should contact Bennet Crosby at [email protected].

About Guild Garage Group

Guild Garage Group is an alliance of residential garage door service companies and is actively looking to partner with owners of industry-leading companies. Guild is guided by the vision of being the preferred partner to business owners through a "made for you" brand positioning and invests in companies with strong management teams and cultures to create unmatched growth opportunities for them. Guild allows owners to take chips off the table but retain "unit level ownership" so they continue to benefit through annual distributions and an eventual full exit as their business grows. Guild retains the employees and management teams of the companies they partner with, and provides them with the resources and processes they need to better serve their customers, employees, and communities. More information about Guild can be found at https://www.guildgaragegroup.com/.

About Kitsap Garage Door

Founded in 1975, the Kitsap Garage Door Company ("Kitsap"), is a leading family-owned and operated residential and commercial garage door service company based in Bremerton, Washington. The company has serviced the greater Kitsap county for over 50 years, becoming an integral part of the community for any garage door service need, making them the preferred choice for garage door replacement and repair. Kitsap offers a range of services related to garage doors, including repair options, garage door replacement, and installation. More information about Kitsap can be found at https://kitsapgaragedoor.com/ .

About Olympic Garage Door

Founded in 2008, Olympic Garage Door ("Olympic"), is an operator-owned residential and commercial garage door service company based in Sequim, Washington. The company serves homeowners and businesses across the Olympic Peninsula with garage door repair, installation and service from Port Angeles to Port Townsend. With the largest showroom on the peninsula, Olympic is the service provider of choice for the region. More information about Olympic can be found at https://www.olympicgaragedoor.com/.

SOURCE Guild Garage Group
LONDON, March 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Hakluyt, the global strategic advisory firm for leading corporations and investors, has announced continued strong growth in the year ending 30 June 2025, a reflection of the firm's sustained investment in its unparalleled team of advisers around the world.

In financial results filed with Companies House, group revenue increased by 13.7%, and operating profit grew by 19.5%.

Managing partner Thomas Ellis said:

"In the era of AI, Hakluyt continues to differentiate itself as a business built on the unrivalled power of people: networks, expertise and trusted insight.

"As senior global business leaders face ongoing economic and geopolitical uncertainty, rapid technological change and increasing complexity, we continue to set the standard for excellence in strategic advisory, as we have done for the past 30 years.

"I am proud to lead the brilliant Hakluyt team as we expand across sectors, markets and geographies, and I am grateful to my colleagues for their outstanding contribution to our ongoing success."

In the past year, the business has strengthened its international advisory board, which is chaired by Lord William Hague, by welcoming Kenichiro Yoshida, executive chair of Sony, and Ronald Sugar, chairman of the board at Uber and a director of Apple.

The business has also continued to expand its teams in London, New York, San Francisco and Tokyo, and strengthened its corporate function by hiring a new chief people officer and chief information officer.

Group revenues and profits are expected to continue to increase in the year to 30 June 2026, and the Group will continue to build its talent pool to meet the evolving needs of its global client base.

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2945514/Hakluyt_Logo.jpg

SOURCE Hakluyt
The article explains how collision insurance, insurance claims, and shop choice affect vehicle repairs for West Virginia drivers.

MARTINSBURG, W.Va., March 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- What does insurance really cover after a car accident in West Virginia? HelloNation has published the answer in an HelloNation article exploring collision repair insurance help for Martinsburg, WV drivers dealing with accident damage.

Coty Graff, Owner Speed Speed

The HelloNation article explains that for many West Virginia drivers, collision insurance is the key to covering vehicle repairs after an accident. Collision insurance typically covers repairs to a vehicle regardless of who caused the crash. The article notes that understanding insurance coverage before an accident happens can reduce stress and confusion later.

According to the article, one common misunderstanding involves shop choice. Some drivers believe their insurance company decides which auto body shop must complete their vehicle repairs. The article clarifies that West Virginia drivers have the legal right to choose their own auto body shop, even if the insurer suggests a preferred provider.

The article describes how the insurance claim process usually begins with promptly reporting damage. Drivers are often required to submit details, obtain an estimate, and allow an adjuster to inspect the vehicle. Clear communication during an insurance claim can help avoid delays and expedite repairs.

The HelloNation article highlights the value of working with an auto body shop that works with insurance near me when searching for collision repair insurance help, which Martinsburg, WV, residents need. Shops familiar with insurance coverage procedures can manage paperwork, coordinate with adjusters, and help ensure estimates meet insurer requirements. This support can make the insurance claim process smoother for West Virginia drivers.

The article also explains what collision insurance typically covers. In most cases, insurance coverage includes parts, labor, and paint necessary to restore a vehicle to its pre-accident condition. However, optional upgrades or custom finishes are generally not included in standard insurance coverage and may require additional payment.

Deductibles are another important factor discussed in the article. Drivers must pay their deductible before collision insurance covers the remaining balance of vehicle repairs. The article notes that while higher deductibles may lower monthly premiums, they can increase out-of-pocket costs when filing an insurance claim.

Timing is also addressed. The article explains that insurers generally approve repairs after reviewing estimates and confirming insurance coverage. Once approved, the auto body shop can schedule repairs, order parts, and complete the work. Coordination between the driver, the insurer, and the auto body shop that works with insurance near me can reduce unnecessary setbacks.

The HelloNation article also notes that even minor accidents should be reported. Small dents or scratches can lead to long-term damage or affect resale value if ignored. For West Virginia drivers, using collision insurance to cover appropriate vehicle repairs can help protect both safety and their financial investment.

Coty Graff of Coty's Auto Body, Inc., an Auto Body Expert in Martinsburg, West Virginia, provides insight in the article on collision repair insurance help that Martinsburg, WV, residents often seek after an accident. The article emphasizes practical steps drivers can take, including reviewing their policy details and selecting an auto body shop that works with insurance near me to simplify the process.

Ultimately, the HelloNation article encourages West Virginia drivers to understand their rights, responsibilities, and insurance coverage before filing an insurance claim. Being informed about collision insurance and vehicle repairs can help drivers make informed decisions and properly restore their vehicles after an accident.

Does Insurance Cover Collision Repairs in West Virginia? features insights from Coty Graff, Auto Body Expert of Martinsburg, West Virginia, in HelloNation.

About HelloNation

HelloNation is a premier media platform that connects readers with trusted professionals and businesses across various industries. Through its innovative "edvertising" approach that blends educational content and storytelling, HelloNation delivers expert-driven articles that inform, inspire, and empower. Covering topics from home improvement and health to business strategy and lifestyle, HelloNation highlights leaders making a meaningful impact in their communities.

SOURCE HelloNation
The tethered drone leader is partnering with Korea Robot Manufacturing (KRM) to expand its portfolio, delivering secure defense-grade propulsion systems to market.

SANFORD, Fla., March 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Hoverfly Technologies, the preeminent name in persistent tethered unmanned aerial systems (UAS), today announced its strategic entry into the drone components industry. Under the new HOVERFLY MOTORS product line, the company is launching a suite of high-performance propulsion solutions "Powered by KRM." This partnership with Korea Robot Manufacturing (KRM) is designed to fortify the U.S. drone industrial base with mission-critical hardware that meets the uncompromising standards of the U.S. defense sector.

Hoverfly Technologies partners with KRM to deliver secure defense-grade propulsion systems to market. Post this Hoverfly Leadership visits KRM's Gumi Motor and Electronic Speed Controller ( ESC ) factory. From left: Choi Young-mook, President of KRM; Michael Miranda, Vice President of Products & Services at Hoverfly Technologies; Steve Walters, President & CEO of Hoverfly Technologies; and Park Kwang-sik, CEO of KRM (Photo by KRM)

The launch of Hoverfly Motors represents the first wave of a major new strategic division within the company. While propulsion serves as the initial entry point, Hoverfly has signaled that this is part of a broader commitment to securing the domestic drone supply chain; additional critical drone components are slated for unveiling later this year at XPONENTIAL 2026 in Detroit.

A STRATEGIC ALLIANCE

This announcement follows a high-level executive meeting held on March 18, 2026, at KRM's newly expanded Gumi factory in South Korea. Hoverfly President & CEO Steve Walters and VP of Products & Services Michael Miranda personally conducted an in-depth site review to finalize the next phase of the two companies' partnership.

The visit signals a qualitative shift in the relationship, moving beyond a standard supplier agreement toward deep supply chain integration. Discussions centered on U.S. market localization and local production lines to satisfy "Made in USA" requirements and tightening Department of War (DoW) domestic content regulations.

"This visit reinforced a truly strategic partnership that goes well beyond a supplier relationship," said Steve Walters, President & CEO of Hoverfly Technologies. "Demand for reliable, on-shored supply chains for drones in the U.S. defense market continues to grow, and our collaboration with KRM is the definitive answer to that need."

A MEASURED MISSION

The momentum behind Hoverfly Motors was palpable last week at XPONENTIAL Europe, where Hoverfly's newly appointed VP of Products & Services, Michael Miranda, reported overwhelming interest from global defense and industrial partners.

"The conversations we've had on the floor confirm a critical industry-wide gap for secure, high-capacity supply chains for defense and security drones. They need drone component providers that can operate independently of restricted foreign entities", said Miranda.

While the partnership is accelerating, both HTI and KRM maintain a disciplined approach to market entry. The two companies are currently refining robust supply and distribution frameworks and a comprehensive FCC certification strategy. This ongoing mission ensures that when these components reach the hands of end-users, they are not merely compliant, but game-changing products that redefine performance and security benchmarks.

INNOVATIVE PROPULSION SYSTEMS

The partnership, which began with KRM's $5 million strategic investment in Hoverfly's Series B round in October 2025, designates KRM as the Exclusive Manufacturer for Hoverfly's core propulsion components.

The "Hoverfly Motors  Powered by KRM" lineup features:

High-Performance BLDC Motors across 3 size classes: Stratus (large), Atlas (medium), and Pulse (small). The starting lineup across these classes are the BL8950, BL4416, BL4229, and BL2819 models.

Precision Control Electronics: ESC AIO (All-in-One) and ESC 1-Channel systems.

Mass Production Infrastructure: Backed by KRM's Gumi facility, which recently doubled production capacity to 300,000 units annually, with the infrastructure to scale to 500,000 units.

The procurement of these Electronic Speed Controllers (ESCs) is particularly significant; as the components that dictate flight stability, their integration validates that KRM's control algorithms meet the rigorous cybersecurity and performance benchmarks of the U.S. military.

COMPLIANT DEFENSE-DRIVEN COMPONENTS

As the manufacturer of the only tethered UAS qualified for selection on the DCMA Blue UAS Cleared List, Hoverfly brings a pedigree of trust to the component market. With over 600 systems delivered to the U.S. Army and steadfast NDAA compliance via the Green UAS pathway, Hoverfly's transition into components provides the broader industry with a "Blue-DNA" hardware alternative to restricted foreign technology.

"We are not exporting parts; we are transplanting our most advanced robotics DNA into the American defense ecosystem," added Kwang-sik Park, CEO of KRM. "By combining KRM's precision engineering with Hoverfly's operational excellence, we are building a permanent, trusted bridge for the next generation of secure UAS technology."

About Hoverfly Technologies

Hoverfly Technologies is a leading provider of tethered drone systems for defense and security. As a Blue UAS Cleared manufacturer, Hoverfly's technology enables 24/7 situational awareness and secure communications in the most demanding combat environments.

About Korea Robot Manufacturing (KRM)

Korea Robot Manufacturing (KRM) is a premier robotics engineering firm specializing in high-precision components. By providing trusted, non-Chinese supply chain solutions, KRM serves as the hardware backbone for advanced autonomous systems worldwide.

SOURCE Hoverfly Technologies Inc.
First Africa Forum on Psoriasis : May 79, Nairobi, bringing together global and local stakeholders.

: May 79, Nairobi, bringing together global and local stakeholders. Huge unmet need : 3.5M+ Africans affected, with limited care, stigma, and devastating economic impact.

: 3.5M+ Africans affected, with limited care, stigma, and devastating economic impact. Focus areas: Local research, patient representation, and improved access to treatment.

The IFPA Forum Africa 2026  Local Strength, United Action will take place on 7-9 May 2026 in Nairobi, Kenya, and will bring together policymakers, clinicians, researchers, and patient organizations to address a condition that remains severely under-recognized and underdiagnosed across the continent.

The Hidden Burden of Psoriasis in Africa

Psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis are chronic non-communicable diseases with no cure that can cause pain, disability, and are closely linked to other serious NCDs, like diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease, depression, and more. As a condition, visible on the skin, it often leads to stigma, affects mental health and can also cause economic hardship. Yet across Africa it remains under-recognized, underdiagnosed, and undertreated.

Over 3.5 million people are estimated to live with psoriasis across Africa  a continent of approximately 1.3 billion population. As experts warn the real psoriasis burden is likely higher due to limited epidemiological data, low awareness of the disease and severe shortages of specialists. Reported prevalence in parts of East, West, Central, and Southern Africa is as low as 0.06%, reflecting widespread underdiagnosis.

Access to Care and Economic Impact

Access to care is extremely limited: there is one dermatologist per more than a million people in Africa, compared with 36 per million in the United States and 65 per million in Germany. With most care paid out of pocket, treatment for psoriasis is often unaffordable, meaning the disease can become a pathway into poverty for those affected and their families.

To drive change, IFPA is convening regional and global stakeholders at this first-of-its-kind Forum, working alongside patient organizations like PsorAfrica to create a roadmap for tackling psoriasis in Africa.

Frida Dunger, Executive Director of IFPA, said:

"Psoriasis is a public health challenge. Addressing it is not optional  it is part of building resilient, equitable health systems. Every year, IFPA Forum puts focus on a region at a time, bringing together local stakeholders to inspire advocacy efforts and call for united action on psoriasis. This year, we bring the Forum to Africa, and we believe the timing is right. By listening to local patient organizations and developing a roadmap for tackling psoriasis in Africa together, we can ensure that millions of people living with psoriasis are finally seen, heard, and supported."

"Whether in the rural areas or in the cities, people in Africa do not know enough about psoriasis. And it affects my life. The cost, the worry, the impact on my life choices and social relationships. At the Forum, we are gathering experts who understand this disease and stand up for a better future. Africa is prioritizing health, and we will be a part of building solutions, - said Pierre Celestin Habiyaremye, President of PsorAfrica and Founder of Rwanda Psoriasis and Psoriatic Arthritis Organization.

Janet Mbugua, a prominent Kenyan media professional and advocate for social change, has confirmed that she will host the Forum. She said:

"I'm truly honored to host the IFPA Forum Africa. Psoriasis affects millions of people, yet it's still not spoken about enough. This is an opportunity to bring those stories to the forefront, shed light on the real challenges people are facing, and support the work being done locally to strengthen care, research, and policy across the continent."

The Forum will focus on three urgent priorities:

research - to generate local data on psoriasis

- to generate local data on psoriasis representation - to ensure patient voices shape decisions about healthcare

- to ensure patient voices shape decisions about healthcare rights and access - to integrate psoriasis into national NCD strategies, include essential medicines, and combat stigma.

About IFPA

IFPA (the International Federation of Psoriasis Associations), founded in 1971 and based in Stockholm, Sweden, is the global organization dedicated to advocating for everyone affected by psoriatic disease. IFPA's members include national and regional patient associations and represent over 60 million people worldwide. Through global coalitions, World Psoriasis Day campaigns, the IFPA Forum, and the World Psoriasis & Psoriatic Arthritis Conference, IFPA is redefining psoriatic disease as a key lens for stronger, more inclusive health systems.

https://www.ifpa-pso.com/

Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2945012/IFPA.jpg

Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2945013/IFPA_Frida_Dunger.jpg

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2771186/5889313/IFPA_Logo.jpg

SOURCE IFPA
WASHINGTON, March 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- The 11th International Government Relations (GR) & Political Campaigns Forum, organized by IGAPA (International Government Affairs Professional Association), a leading global network of public affairs professionals, convened policymakers, political strategists, consultants, and thought leaders from more than 10 countries to address pressing challenges in governance, elections, and public trust.

IGAPA.net event DC - Katerryna Odarchenko, Felix Li, Duvi Honig and other

The forum brought together a distinguished group of speakers, including Kateryna Odarchenko, CEO of SIC Group and one of the leading international experts in political consulting and strategic communications, who has worked with political leaders, political parties, and major organizations across the United States, Europe, and emerging markets; Paolo von Schirach, President of the Global Policy Institute; Duvi Honig, Founder and CEO of the Orthodox Jewish Chamber of Commerce; Felix Li, Director of Government Affairs at MedAsian; Iryna Kopanytsia, international public affairs expert and Co-Founder and Chief International Officer at Wolves Defense; Jason Shelton, former Mayor of Tupelo, Mississippi, and former Regional Administrator at the U.S. General Services Administration; and Serhii Kolisnyk, head of Lobby Club Kyiv office; and Mykhailo Kukhar, Senior Economist in Ukraine Economic Outlook among others. Additional contributions were made by Stephen Blank, Richard Horowitz, Valeria Smian, Den Tolmor, Aisha Malik, Zoryana Golovata, Ina Coseru, Dmitriy Kavelashvili, Oksana Koval, and Dr. Kseniya Sotnikova, who moderated the panel and guided discussions across complex geopolitical and government relations issues.

The forum was organized by IGAPA, an international association advancing best practices in government relations and political communications, in partnership with SIC Group USA, Bay Atlantic University, the Global Policy Institute, and the Institute for Democracy and Development "PolitA."

Discussions throughout the forum focused on emerging global trends in political campaigning, lobbying practices, and the growing role of technologyparticularly artificial intelligencein shaping elections and public opinion.

Kateryna Odarchenko, CEO of SIC Group USA and a globally recognized political strategist with extensive experience advising political leaders, parties, and high-level decision-maker, emphasized the growing role of technology in shaping modern campaigns:

"Today's political landscape is being rapidly transformed by digital tools and artificial intelligence," Odarchenko said. "While these technologies create new opportunities for engagement, they also pose serious challenges, especially in combating disinformation and preserving public trust. The key issue is trustwithout it, democratic systems cannot function effectively."

She also highlighted that modern political campaigns are increasingly driven not only by ideology but by strategic positioning around identity, economic concerns, and security, reflecting a broader rise of resilient populist movements, according to IGAPA's latest analysis of global political and lobbying trends. Elections are becoming more geopolitical in nature, shaped by global factors such as international conflicts, energy security, and relations between major powers, rather than purely domestic issues. At the same time, she noted the growing influence of large corporate actors and sector-driven lobbyingparticularly in energy, finance, and technologysignaling a shift toward more complex, multi-level political decision-making.

Through its work, SIC Group continues to support political campaigns, public affairs strategies, and crisis communications initiatives across multiple regions, reflecting its growing international footprint.

Speakers also emphasized that technological disruption has fundamentally changed how people consume information. Jason Shelton highlighted the growing influence of algorithms on public knowledge and warned about the increasing difficulty citizens face in distinguishing between credible information and disinformation.

"The way we receive information today is largely shaped by algorithms," Shelton noted. "This raises urgent questions about regulation, accountability, and the spread of misinformation, which directly impacts democratic processes."

Paolo von Schirach underscored the importance of informed and engaged citizens as the foundation of a functioning democracy.

"A well-functioning democracy is premised on informed citizens who are actively engaged in public life," von Schirach said. "Without that, democratic institutions cannot sustain themselves."

Panel discussions also explored the implications of recent elections on U.S. government relations, as well as ongoing efforts to improve transparency, regulatory frameworks, and ethical standards in lobbying practices worldwide.

Felix Li provided insights into the evolving nature of government relations in China, emphasizing the need for proactive engagement across multiple levels of governance.

"Effective government relations in China requires engagement not only with central authorities but also with sub-national governments, ministries, and industry associations," Li explained. "Businesses must move from reactive approaches to proactive strategiesshifting from policy monitoring to actively shaping policy outcomes."

Duvi Honig highlighted the importance of coalition-building and grassroots engagement in influencing legislation and driving economic development, noting that empowering communities to have a stronger voice is critical in modern governance.

Iryna Kopanytsia addressed challenges within the defense sector, warning that structural imbalances and institutional inefficiencies can hinder innovation and pose broader risks to national and international security.

"In the defense sector, we are seeing a growing imbalance where large corporations dominate lobbying efforts and shape entire policy packages, often at the expense of smaller innovators," Kopanytsia said. "As a result, many frontline technologies fail to perform effectively and require constant adaptation. This is not just an industry issueit can become a serious risk for Western societies and national security if innovation is constrained and competition is limited."

Zoryana Golovata, Founder and Executive Director of Women's Voice in Action, also contributed to the forum's preparation and discussions, sharing her expertise in leadership development and community resilience developed over more than two decades of work with public leaders and international organizations. She was invited to participate based on her well-established expertise and enduring international reputation, demonstrated through sustained recognition of her work and impact in the field. Her broader work also includes the Creation Triangle Model, an applied framework used in leadership and resilience-focused programs.

The 11th International GR & Political Campaigns Forum reinforced the urgent need for stronger collaboration between governments, businesses, and civil society to address the challenges of a rapidly evolving political and technological landscape.

The forum further underscored IGAPA's role as a leading global platform and rapidly growing international network shaping the future of government relations, political consulting, and public affairs. By bringing together top experts, practitioners, and decision-makers, IGAPA continues to drive innovation, set professional standards, and foster meaningful international cooperation in the field.

As democratic systems worldwide face increasing pressure from misinformation, regulatory gaps, and shifting geopolitical dynamics, participants agreed that transparency, innovation, and public trust will remain central to effective governance in the years ahead.

As IGAPA continues to expand its global network and influence, professionals, organizations, and public affairs leaders are invited to join the association and become part of an international community shaping the future of government relations and political communications. Membership in IGAPA provides access to exclusive events, expert insights, and high-level professional collaboration across regions and sectors.

About partners:

IGAPA (International Government Affairs Professional Association): a leading international association for public affairs professionals, established in 2018. The mission is to promote ethical, effective, and innovative GR affairs practices.

SIC Group: an international consulting firms specializing in political consulting, political technologies, public relations, GR, and anti-crisis communications. The company has a proven record of success, with over 30 election victories, 50 successful anti-crisis projects, and 100 PR campaigns and projects in the USA, EU, Central Asia, and Eastern Europe.

Institute for Democracy and Development "PolitA": an organization that conducts educational, analytical, and policymaking projects in the fields of democracy development, awareness campaigns, and advocacy for meaningful social changes. The institution focuses on communicating with decision-makers and providing analytics and solutions.

SOURCE IGAPA
TSXV: ITR; NYSE American: ITRG

www.integraresources.com

VANCOUVER, BC, March 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ - Integra Resources Corp. ("Integra" or the "Company") (TSXV: ITR) (NYSE American: ITRG) announces that on March 27, 2026 the Company granted a total of 1,323,308 options, 862,669 restricted share units, and 142,275 deferred share units (together, the "Equity Incentive Awards") to certain employees, executives, directors and consultants of the Company. The Equity Incentive Awards have been granted pursuant to the Company's Amended and Restated Equity Incentive Plan and are subject to vesting provisions. The options granted have an exercise price of C$3.53 per share and will expire 5 years from the date of grant.

About Integra Resources

Integra is a growing precious metals producer in the Great Basin of the Western United States. Integra is focused on demonstrating profitability and operational excellence at its principal operating asset, the Florida Canyon Mine, located in Nevada. In addition, Integra is committed to advancing its flagship development-stage heap leach projects: the past producing DeLamar Project located in southwestern Idaho and the Nevada North Project located in western Nevada. Integra creates sustainable value for shareholders, stakeholders, and local communities through successful mining operations, efficient project development, disciplined capital allocation, and strategic M&A, while upholding the highest industry standards for environmental, social, and governance practices.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

George Salamis

President, CEO and Director

CONTACT INFORMATION

Corporate Inquiries: [email protected]

Company website: www.integraresources.com

Office phone: 1 (604) 416-0576

Forward Looking Statements

Certain information set forth in this news release contains "forwardlooking statements" and "forwardlooking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation and in applicable United States securities law (referred to herein as forwardlooking statements). Forward-looking statements are often identified by the use of words such as "may", "will", "could", "would", "anticipate", "believe", "expect", "intend", "potential", "estimate", "budget", "scheduled", "plans", "planned", "forecasts", "goals" and similar expressions. Except for statements of historical fact, certain information contained herein constitutes forwardlooking statements which includes, but is not limited to, statements with respect to: the future financial or operating performance of the Company; and anticipated advancement of the Company's projects.

Forward-looking statements are based on a number of factors and assumptions made by management and considered reasonable at the time such statement was made. Assumptions and factors include: the Company's ability to complete its planned exploration and development programs; the absence of adverse conditions at the Project and the Company's mineral properties; no unforeseen operational delays; no material delays in obtaining necessary permits; results of independent engineer technical reviews; the possibility of cost overruns and unanticipated costs and expenses; the price of gold remaining at levels that continue to render the Company's mineral properties economic; the Company's ability to continue raising necessary capital to finance operations; and the ability to realize on the mineral resource and reserve estimates. Forwardlooking statements necessarily involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, which may cause actual performance and financial results in future periods to differ materially from any projections of future performance or result expressed or implied by such forwardlooking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: general business, economic and competitive uncertainties; the actual results of current and future exploration activities; conclusions of economic evaluations; meeting various expected cost estimates; benefits of certain technology usage; changes in project parameters and/or economic assessments as plans continue to be refined; future prices of metals; possible variations of mineral grade or recovery rates; the risk that actual costs may exceed estimated costs; geological, mining and exploration technical problems; failure of plant, equipment or processes to operate as anticipated; accidents, labor disputes and other risks of the mining industry; delays in obtaining governmental approvals or financing; risks related to local communities; the speculative nature of mineral exploration and development (including the risks of obtaining necessary licenses, permits and approvals from government authorities); title to properties; and other factors beyond the Company's control and as well as those factors included herein and elsewhere in the Company's public disclosure. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. Readers are advised to study and consider risk factors disclosed in Integra's Annual Information Form dated March 24, 2026 for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2025, which is available on the SEDAR+ issuer profile for the Company at www.sedarplus.ca and available as Exhibit 99.1 to Integra's Form 40-F, which is available on the EDGAR profile for the Company at www.sec.gov.

Investors are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements contained herein are made as of the date of this news release and, accordingly, are subject to change after such date. The Company disclaims any intent or obligation to update publicly or otherwise revise any forward-looking statements or the foregoing list of assumptions or factors, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except in accordance with applicable securities laws. Investors are urged to read the Company's filings with Canadian securities regulatory agencies, which can be viewed online under the Company's profile on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

SOURCE Integra Resources Corp.
SAN DIEGO, March 29, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP announces that the Gartner class action lawsuit  captioned Schmidt v. Gartner, Inc., No. 26-cv-00394 (D. Conn.)  seeks to represent purchasers or acquirers of Gartner, Inc. (NYSE: IT) common stock and charges Gartner as well as certain of Gartner's top executive officers with violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

If you suffered substantial losses and wish to serve as lead plaintiff of the Gartner class action lawsuit, please provide your information here:

https://www.rgrdlaw.com/cases-gartner-inc-class-action-lawsuit-it.html

You can also contact attorney J.C. Sanchez of Robbins Geller by calling 800/449-4900 or via e-mail at [email protected]. Lead plaintiff motions for the Gartner class action lawsuit must be filed with the court no later than May 18, 2026.

CASE ALLEGATIONS: Gartner provides business and technology insights for decisions and performance on an organization's mission-critical priorities.

The Gartner class action lawsuit alleges that defendants throughout the class period made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (i) defendants created the false impression that they possessed reliable information pertaining to Gartner's contract value ("CV") growth potential and projected Consulting segment revenue outlook while also minimizing risk from seasonality and macroeconomic fluctuations; (ii) defendants highlighted that the environment among "tariff impacted companies" was "starting to improve," generating "more certainty" in the demographics, which allegedly would result in the opportunity for continued CV growth for Gartner; and (iii) while tariff impacts continued to ease and settle and companies were acting with more certainty, Gartner's non-federal CV growth would fall even further as its Consulting segment revenue faltered below Gartner's long-held projections.

The Gartner class action lawsuit further alleges that on August 5, 2025, Gartner announced its second quarter fiscal 2025 earnings, revealing that its overall CV growth declined from 7% the previous quarter to only 5%; and, the ex-federal CV growth declined from 8% the previous quarter to merely 6%. On this news, the price of Gartner stock fell more than 27%, according to the complaint.

Then, on February 3, 2026, the Gartner class action lawsuit alleges that Gartner announced a significant decline in its CV growth rate, which had faltered another 2% including and excluding federal contracts, and for the first time disclosed a significant shortfall of its Consulting segment's performance against Gartner's internal projections. On this news, the price of Gartner stock fell nearly 21%, according to the complaint.

THE LEAD PLAINTIFF PROCESS: The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 permits any investor who purchased or acquired Gartner common stock during the class period to seek appointment as lead plaintiff in the Gartner class action lawsuit. A lead plaintiff is generally the movant with the greatest financial interest in the relief sought by the putative class who is also typical and adequate of the putative class. A lead plaintiff acts on behalf of all other class members in directing the Gartner investor class action lawsuit. The lead plaintiff can select a law firm of its choice to litigate the Gartner shareholder class action lawsuit. An investor's ability to share in any potential future recovery is not dependent upon serving as lead plaintiff of the Gartner class action lawsuit.

ABOUT ROBBINS GELLER: Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP is one of the world's leading law firms representing investors in securities fraud and shareholder rights litigation. Our Firm ranked #1 on the most recent ISS Securities Class Action Services Top 50 Report, recovering more than $916 million for investors in 2025. This marks our fourth #1 ranking in the past five years. And in those five years alone, Robbins Geller recovered $8.4 billion for investors  $3.4 billion more than any other law firm. With 200 lawyers in 10 offices, Robbins Geller is one of the largest plaintiffs' firms in the world, and the Firm's attorneys have obtained many of the largest securities class action recoveries in history, including the largest ever  $7.2 billion  in In re Enron Corp. Sec. Litig. Please visit the following page for more information:

https://www.rgrdlaw.com/services-litigation-securities-fraud.html

Past results do not guarantee future outcomes.

Services may be performed by attorneys in any of our offices.

Contact:

Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP

J.C. Sanchez

655 W. Broadway, Suite 1900, San Diego, CA 92101

800-449-4900

[email protected]

SOURCE Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP
Did you buy ORCL securities between June 12, 2025, and December 16, 2025?

Affected Oracle Corporation Investor Summary

Who : Oracle Corporation (NYSE: ORCL)

: Oracle Corporation (NYSE: ORCL) What: Securities fraud class action lawsuits filed

Securities class action lawsuits filed Class Period: June 12, 2025, through December 16, 2025

June 12, 2025, through December 16, 2025 Deadline to Seek Lead Plaintiff Status: April 6, 2026

April 6, 2026 Key Lawsuit Allegations: Material misstatements and/or omissions concerning the company's data center capabilities for artificial intelligence infrastructure and capital expenditures.

Material misstatements and/or omissions concerning the company's data center capabilities for artificial intelligence infrastructure and capital expenditures. Investor Action: Contact Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP (www.ktmc.com) for recovery options at no cost to investor

RADNOR, Pa., March 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- The law firm of Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP informs investors that securities fraud class action lawsuits have been filed against Oracle Corporation (NYSE: ORCL) (Oracle) on behalf of investors who purchased or acquired Oracle securities between June 12, 2025, and December 16, 2025, inclusive (the Class Period). The first-filed lawsuit, filed by Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP, is pending in the United States District Court for the District of Delaware before the Honorable Jennifer L. Hall and is captioned Barrows v. Oracle Corporation, et al., Case No. 1:26-cv-00127-JLH.

Important Deadline Reminder: Investors who purchased or otherwise acquired Oracle securities during the Class Period may, no later than April 6, 2026, move the Court to serve as lead plaintiff for the class.

CONTACT KTMC TO DISCUSS YOUR LEGAL RIGHTS:

If you purchased or acquired Oracle securities and lost money on your investment, you are encouraged to contact KTMC attorney Jonathan Naji, Esq. at:

(484) 270-1453

[email protected]

https://www.ktmc.com/orcl-oracle-corporation-class-action-lawsuit?utm_source=PR_Newswire&utm_medium=pressrelease&utm_campaign=orcl&mktm=PR

There is no cost or obligation to speak with an attorney.

ORACLE CORPORATION CLASS ACTION LAWSUITS - COMPLAINTS ALLEGATION SUMMARY:

Oracle, a Delaware corporation with its principal executive offices in Austin, Texas, is a technology company that provides, among other things, infrastructure for operating artificial intelligence (AI) programs. During the Class Period, Defendants misled investors by touting the Oracle's contracts to develop data center capabilities for AI infrastructure and falsely assuring investors that the Company's significant capital expenditures (CapEx) would quickly result in accelerated revenue growth.

The complaints allege that, throughout the Class Period, Defendants made materially false and/or misleading statements, as well as failed to disclose material adverse facts, about Oracle's business and operations. Specifically, Defendants misrepresented and/or failed to disclose that: (1) Oracle's AI infrastructure strategy would result in massive increases in CapEx without equivalent, near-term growth in revenue; (2) Oracle's substantially increased spending created serious risks involving Oracle's debt and credit rating, free cash flow, and ability to fund its projects, among other concerns; and (3) as a result, Defendants' representations about Oracle's business, operations, and prospects were materially false and misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis.

Why did Oracle's Stock Drop?

The truth began to be revealed on September 24, 2025, when S&P Global Ratings warned that OpenAI "could account for more than a third of total Oracle revenues by fiscal 2028 and even a greater share by fiscal 2030," creating risks given that "OpenAI's ability to meet contractual obligations will be contingent on AI tailwinds continuing and its models being a market leader to continue to raise external financing." On this news, the price of Oracle common stock declined $5.37 per share, or nearly 2%, from a close of $313.83 per share on September 23, 2025, to close at $308.46 per share on September 24, 2025.

Oracle's stock price continued to fall in response to multiple additional disclosures, the last of which was on December 17, 2025, when the Financial Times reported that Blue Owl Capital"the primary [financial] backer for Oracle's largest data centre projects in the US"had backed out of funding a $10 billion Oracle data center intended to serve OpenAI. According to the report, Blue Owl pulled out of the deal as a result of concerns about Oracle's spending commitments and rising debt levels. On this news, the price of Oracle common stock declined $10.19 per share, or approximately 5.4%, from a close of $188.65 per share on December 16, 2025, to close at $178.46 per share on December 17, 2025.

WHAT ORCL INVESTORS CAN DO NOW:

File to be lead plaintiff by April 6, 2026. Contact KTMC for a free case evaluation. Retain counsel of choice or take no action.

THE LEAD PLAINTIFF PROCESS FOR ORACLE CORPORATION INVESTORS :

Oracle investors may, no later than April 6, 2026, seek to be appointed as a lead plaintiff representative of the class through Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP or other counsel, or may choose to do nothing and remain an absent class member. A lead plaintiff is a representative party who acts on behalf of all class members in directing the litigation. The lead plaintiff is usually the investor or small group of investors who have the largest financial interest and who are also adequate and typical of the proposed class of investors. The lead plaintiff selects counsel to represent the lead plaintiff and the class and these attorneys, if approved by the court, are lead or class counsel. Your ability to share in any recovery is not affected by the decision of whether or not to serve as a lead plaintiff.

Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP encourages Oracle investors to contact the firm for more information.

ABOUT KESSLER TOPAZ MELTZER & CHECK, LLP (KTMC):

Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP (KTMC) is a leading U.S. plaintiff-side law firm focused on securities-fraud class actions and global investor protection. The firm represents individual investors as well as institutions, such as major pension funds, asset managers, and international investors. KTMC has led some of the largest recoveries in securities litigation and has been recognized by peers and the legal media with numerous accolades, including The National Law Journal's Plaintiff's Hot List and Trailblazers in Plaintiffs' Law, BTI Consulting Group's Honor Roll of Most Feared Law Firms, The Legal Intelligencer's Class Action Firm of the Year, Lawdragon's Leading Plaintiff Financial Lawyers, and Law360's Titans of the Plaintiffs Bar. The firm operates globally with offices in Pennsylvania and California. KTMC has recovered over $25 billion for our clients and the classes they represent. For more information about Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP, please visit www.ktmc.com. The first-filed complaint in this matter was filed by KTMC.

CONTACT:

Jonathan Naji, Esq.

(484) 270-1453

280 King of Prussia Road

Radnor, PA 19087

[email protected]

May be considered attorney advertising in certain jurisdictions. Past results do not guarantee future outcomes.

SOURCE Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP
The lawsuit alleges Security Properties Residential violated the California Labor Code by failing to provide all wages due.

SAN FRANCISCO, March 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- The San Francisco labor law attorneys, at Zakay Law Group, APLC, filed a class action complaint against Security Properties Residential. The class action complaint alleges Security Properties Residential LLC ("Security Properties Residential") allegedly failed to accurately pay employees' wages for all their time worked. The class action lawsuit, Case No. 26CV000378, is currently pending in the Napa County Superior Court of the State of California. A copy of the Complaint can be read here.

According to the lawsuit, Security Properties Residential allegedly violated California Labor Code Sections  201, 202, 203, 204, 210, 226, 226.7, 510, 512, 558, 1194, 1197, 1197.1, 1198, and 2802 by failing to: (1) pay minimum wages; (2) pay overtime wages; (3) provide required meal and rest periods; (4) provide accurate itemized wage statements; (5) pay wages when due; and (6) reimburse for required business expenses.

California Labor Code Section 226 requires an employer to furnish its employees an accurate itemized wage statement in writing showing (1) gross wages earned, (2) total hours worked, (3) the number of piece-rate units earned and any applicable piece-rate, (4) all deductions, (5) net wages earned, (6) the inclusive dates of the period for which the employee is paid, (7) the name of the employee and only the last four digits of the employee's social security number or an employee identification number other than a social security number, (8) the name and address of the legal entity that is the employer and, (9) all applicable hourly rates in effect during the pay period and the corresponding number of hours worked at each hourly rate by the employee. Security Properties Residential allegedly failed to provide its employees with accurate itemized wage statements that complied with all the requirements of California Labor Code Section 226.

If you would like to know more about the Security Properties Residential lawsuit, please contact Attorney Jackland Hom today by calling (619) 255-9047.

-THIS IS AN ATTORNEY ADVERTISEMENT (Rules Prof. Conduct, rule 7.2)-

Zakay Law Group, APLC is a labor and employment law firm located in California that dedicates its practice to fighting for employees who have been wronged by their employers due to unfair employment practices. Contact one of their attorneys today if you need help with workplace issues regarding wage and hour, wrongful termination, retaliation, discrimination, and harassment.

SOURCE Zakay Law Group, APC
NEW YORK, March 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- A new industry analysis from Better Business Advice identifies VSP Individual Vision Plans as a trusted choice among the leading vision insurance plans for individuals, highlighting strong provider access, predictable benefits, and preventive care coverage as key factors shaping consumer decisions in the personal vision insurance market.

Leading Vision Insurance Plans for Individuals:

VSP Individual Vision Plans - Multiple plan options, eyewear allowances, and preventive eye exam coverage further strengthen the overall value of these plans. Clear pricing structures and accessible digital tools also contribute to a straightforward member experience.

The report examines current trends in individual vision coverage, including growing demand for affordable eye exams, eyewear allowances, and access to licensed eye care professionals. Rising awareness of preventive eye health and the cost of routine vision services continues to drive interest in standalone vision insurance plans for individuals.

Better Business Advice notes that vision insurance is becoming increasingly relevant as consumers seek structured coverage for routine eye care needs. Annual eye exams, prescription glasses, and early detection of vision changes remain core services that influence plan selection.

What Makes VSP a Leading Vision Insurance Plan for Individuals

According to the review, VSP Individual Vision Plans stands out due to several factors that address common consumer needs in the vision insurance category.

One major factor involves access to a large network of eye care professionals. The network includes thousands of optometrists and vision care providers across the United States, allowing individuals to locate nearby clinics for routine exams, prescription updates, and eyewear consultations.

Coverage for comprehensive eye exams is another reason cited in the report. Preventive eye exams help identify common vision issues such as nearsightedness or farsightedness while also detecting early signs of broader health conditions, including diabetes and high blood pressure.

Better Business Advice also highlights structured pricing and predictable benefits and same-day coverage as key considerations. Vision plans often include clear copayment structures and defined allowances for glasses or contact lenses. This structure helps individuals anticipate annual vision care costs and avoid unexpected expenses.

What Benefits Do Individual Vision Insurance Plans Typically Include?

The review outlines several features commonly found in vision insurance plans designed for individuals.

Typical coverage elements include:

Comprehensive annual eye exams

Allowances for frames or contact lenses

Savings on lens enhancements such as anti-glare or scratch-resistant coatings

Savings on additional eyewear purchases during the coverage period

These benefits address common questions among consumers researching personal vision insurance, such as how vision plans help reduce the cost of glasses or how routine eye exams are covered.

Better Business Advice notes that many individuals seek plans primarily for predictable access to eye exams and prescription eyewear benefits. Structured allowances for frames and lenses can significantly lower out-of-pocket costs associated with corrective eyewear.

Why Preventive Vision Care Matters

The analysis also highlights the broader health value of routine eye care. Eye exams often detect early signs of vision disorders as well as systemic health conditions.

Vision insurance plans can encourage regular exams by lowering the financial barrier to preventive care. Early detection of eye conditions helps support long-term visual health and may reduce the risk of more serious complications later.

Growing consumer awareness of preventive health care continues to influence insurance purchasing decisions. As a result, individual vision insurance coverage is becoming a more common component of personal health planning.

Third-Party Recognition From Better Business Advice

Better Business Advice conducts independent research on consumer services, financial products, and small business resources. The evaluation of vision insurance providers focuses on plan features, network accessibility, cost transparency, and overall value for individual consumers.

Based on these factors, the analysis identifies VSP Individual Vision Plans as a trusted choice for individuals seeking reliable access to vision care services and eyewear coverage.

The report also emphasizes that individuals researching the leading vision insurance plans for individuals often prioritize three factors: provider network size, preventive care coverage, and cost clarity. VSP's structure aligns with these priorities, according to the review.

The full review and analysis of the leading vision insurance plans for individuals can be read at the Better Business Advice website.

About VSP Vision

VSP was founded in 1955 and is a nationwide insurance provider. At VSP Vision, our purpose is to empower human potential through sight. As the first national not-for-profit vision benefits company, this is what drives everything we do. For 70 years, VSP has been a leader in health-focused vision care.VSP Individual Vision Plans were created as a division of VSP for people to maintain access to vision care when they don't have coverage through an employer-sponsored plan.

About Better Business Advice: Better Business Advice covers the news and strategies driving modern business success. The information provided by Better Business Advice does not, and is not intended to, constitute legal advice; instead, all information, content, and materials are for general informational purposes only. As an affiliate, Better Business Advice may earn commissions from services mentioned in the links provided.

SOURCE BetterBusinessAdvice.com
TAIPEI, March 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- The Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) today announced that Dr. Rick Tsai, Vice Chairman and CEO of MediaTek, will deliver a highly anticipated keynote address at COMPUTEX 2026. The pivotal session is scheduled for the morning of June 3rd at the Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center, Hall 2.

MediaTek Vice Chairman and CEO Dr. Rick Tsai to Headline COMPUTEX 2026 with a Keynote on the Future of AI

In an era defined by artificial intelligence, MediaTek is at the forefront of the inflection. Dr. Tsai will take the stage to unveil how MediaTek is accelerating the future of AI, from gigawatt scale data centers to the intelligent edge devices and platforms we use every day. He will offer a definitive look at the next wave of AI evolution, revealing how MediaTek's leading-edge innovation portfolio is not just advancing the access to intelligence but transforming lives and creating a more connected, intelligent world for everyone with it.

Dr. Tsai brings extensive leadership experience in the semiconductor and technology industries. Under his leadership, MediaTek has cemented its role as a global powerhouse in semiconductor technology, consistently driving market-leading innovations. His tenure has seen the company strengthen its position as the leading innovator of advanced chip solutions, maintain market leadership in the global mobile chipset market, and drive relentless progress across a wide range of new business segments  from the edge to the cloud. His keynote will provide an exclusive look into the company's strategic vision and the groundbreaking technologies that will shape the next decade.

Registration for MediaTek's COMPUTEX Keynote will open in the middle of April; please stay tuned and follow us on our website.

COMPUTEX 2026 with the theme "AI Together," is set to take place from June 2nd to June 5th at Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center Hall 1 & 2, TWTC and TICC. This event will host 1,500 exhibitors across up to 6,000 booths, showcasing three major themes: AI & Computing, Robotics & Mobility, and Next-Gen Tech.

For more exhibition information:

COMPUTEX: www.computextaipei.com.tw/en/index.html

InnoVEX: www.innovex.com.tw

About COMPUTEX

COMPUTEX was founded in 1981. It has grown with the global ICT industry and become stronger over the last four decades. Bearing witness to historical moments in the development of and changes in the industry, COMPUTEX attracts more than 40,000 buyers to visit Taiwan every year. It is also the preferred platform chosen by top international companies for launching epoch-making products.

Taiwan has a comprehensive global ICT industry chain. Gaining a foothold in Taiwan, COMPUTEX is jointly held by the Taiwan External Trade Development Council and Taipei Computer Association, aiming to build a global tech ecosystem. COMPUTEX has become a global benchmark exhibition for AI and startups, connecting global pioneers and enabling new sparks of breakthrough technology.

About TAITRA

Founded in 1970, TAITRA is Taiwan's foremost nonprofit trade-promoting organization. Sponsored by the government and industry organizations, TAITRA assists enterprises in expanding their global reach. Headquartered in Taipei, TAITRA has a team of 1,300 specialists and operates 5 local offices as well as 62 branches worldwide. Together with Taipei World Trade Center (TWTC) and Taiwan Trade Center (TTC), TAITRA has formed a global network dedicated to promoting world trade.

TAITRA's five local branch offices in Taoyuan, Hsinchu, Taichung, Tainan, and Kaohsiung provide services to companies outside metropolitan Taipei. Through these domestic offices, TAITRA is able to maintain close contact and interaction with local companies in their respective areas and provide direct and substantial services in areas such as feature trade promotion, business information, market seminars, on-the-job training, procurement meetings, meeting room rental, etc. Branch offices play vital roles in Taiwan Trade Shows coordination between Taipei headquarters and local companies, and invite buyers to visit local industries.

SOURCE COMPUTEX
MONTREAL, March 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ - Mistplay today announced the completion of its acquisition of Connected Rewards from Mobivity Holdings Corp. (OTCQB: MFON), finalizing the definitive agreement first announced in January 2026.

With the transaction now closed, Connected Rewards becomes part of Mistplay's LoyaltyPlay platform, expanding the company's ability to unlock deeper engagement and loyalty for brands while giving advertisers access to new, high-intent audiences.

Connected Rewards extends Mistplay's rewarded ecosystem by enabling players to earn real-world rewards through gameplay, translating digital engagement into in-store brand experiences. Combined with LoyaltyPlay, the platforms create a unified loyalty solution that connects gameplay to real-world commerce. LoyaltyPlay drives deep engagement within mobile apps through games, while Connected Rewards translates that engagement into tangible rewards that bring consumers back into stores, loyalty programs, and richer brand experiences. Together, they give brands new ways to drive repeat behavior, traffic, and spend, while opening new audience reach for game advertisers.

"Bringing Connected Rewards into Mistplay marks a defining moment in how we think about loyalty and rewarded experiences. Gaming creates some of the most immersive, habitual, digital engagement that exists  yet closing the loop between that virtual engagement and real-world brand moments has always been one of the hardest problems to crack. This is our answer to that challenge. For companies looking to build lasting relationships with their customers, this opens up an entirely new way to turn digital behaviour into measurable loyalty and growth."  Tricia Han, CEO of Mistplay.

"Connected Rewards was built around the idea that digital engagement should drive real-world customer action," said Kim Carlson, CRO of Mobivity. "Mistplay is uniquely positioned to take that vision further. Their leadership in rewarded gaming experiences makes them a natural partner to build on the foundation we created. This marks a new chapter for Connected Rewards. As part of Mistplay's global gaming platform, brands will gain new ways to engage their audiences more frequently while maintaining the seamless experiences their customers expect."

The integration of Connected Rewards builds on Mistplay's broader vision of creating a network where gaming engagement powers measurable outcomes for both advertisers and brand partners.

About Mistplay

Mistplay is a pioneer of play-and-earn, providing rewarded advertising and monetization solutions to mobile game and app publishers worldwide. Leveraging its AI engine and play-and-earn model, Mistplay drives sustainable growth and engagement. Founded in 2015, and headquartered in Montreal, Mistplay partners with publishers to unlock scalable rewarded engagement. For more information, visit business.mistplay.com.

SOURCE Mistplay
WASHINGTON, March 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- The Environmental Protection Agency has routinely failed to put cancer warnings on pesticide products even when its own assessments have found a high risk of those products causing cancer, according to two new analyses released today by the Center for Food Safety and the Center for Biological Diversity.

The EPA has routinely failed to put cancer warnings on pesticide products they find have a high risk of causing cancer. Post this Herbicide being sprayed on corn.

The Center for Food Safety analyzed the level of risk the EPA permitted for both currently approved and legacy pesticide active ingredients. The analysis found that pesticides have been allowed on the market with a cancer risk as high as one in every 100 people exposed, a far greater level than the EPA's benchmark of a one in a million chance of developing cancer. Over the last 40 years, the EPA has approved 200 active ingredients that are "likely" or "possible" carcinogens.

The Center for Biological Diversity analysis examined pesticide product labels for all currently approved pesticide products. The EPA has instituted cancer warnings on only 69 of 4,919 pesticide labels (1.4%) containing an active ingredient that the agency has designated a "likely" human carcinogen. And the agency has instituted cancer warnings on just 242 of the 22,147 pesticide labels (1.1%) that contain an ingredient the agency has designated as a "possible" human carcinogen.

"It's bad enough that the EPA approves cancer-causing pesticides," said Bill Freese, science director at the Center for Food Safety. "But if the agency is going to allow such chemicals to be freely sold at Home Depot, Wal-Mart and farm-supply stores, the very least the EPA must do is require a clear cancer warning on the label. Warnings save lives by incentivizing users to wear protective equipment that reduces risk."

"It's dumbfounding that the EPA has failed to require any cancer warning on thousands of pesticide products sold to the public that the agency itself has linked to cancer," said Lori Ann Burd, environmental health program director at the Center for Biological Diversity. "Why should anyone have confidence in the EPA's ability to keep tabs on the pesticide industry and protect us all from harmful poisons when it won't even compel companies to put long-term health warnings on pesticides it knows are really dangerous?"

These new analyses come before the April 27 oral arguments in the Supreme Court case Monsanto Company v. John L. Durnell. Monsanto, since acquired by Bayer, is seeking substantial immunity from future lawsuits brought by Americans who used glyphosate-based products like Roundup and contracted rare cancers that numerous studies have linked to the pesticide. The case hinges on whether the EPA has sole authority to implement pesticide label warnings.

Both analyses found that the vast majority of cancer warnings on pesticides come from obligations under Proposition 65 in California, which requires warnings on products, including pesticides, that contain hazardous levels of chemicals linked to cancer, birth defects or reproductive harm. However, most Americans are not adequately warned about products' known cancer risks.

For instance, pesticide products containing mancozeb, diuron and chlorothalonil  three EPA-designated "likely" human carcinogens  are only required to include a cancer warning in the state of California. The pesticides are applied to a wide range of vegetable, fruit and grain crops grown in many other states, according to U.S. Geological Survey reports.

Full Summary of Analyses

The Center for Food Safety analysis focused on the active ingredients contained in currently approved and legacy pesticide products. It found that of the 570 unique pesticide chemicals that the EPA's Office of Pesticide Programs has analyzed for carcinogenic potential since 1985, more than a third (35%) are either "likely" human carcinogens (73) or "possible" human carcinogens (127).

For many of these pesticide ingredients the EPA has identified substantial cancer risks far exceeding its policy threshold of preventing a cancer risk of greater than one in 1 million people exposed.

For example, the EPA predicts drinking water contaminated with the pesticide thiophanate-methyl can cause cancer in up to four in 10,000 people exposed. Residential and occupational uses of other registered pesticides can cause cancer in as many as seven in 1,000 people exposed, a 7,000-fold higher risk than the EPA's threshold for unacceptable cancer risk.

The Center for Biological Diversity analysis focused on the pesticide labels of individual pesticide products and reviewed more than 93,000 historic and currently approved pesticide labels for all products now available to pesticide users. It found that the EPA has instituted cancer warnings on only 69 of 4,919 pesticide labels (1.4%) containing an ingredient that the agency has designated a "likely" human carcinogen and 242 of the 22,147 pesticide labels (1.1%) that contain an ingredient the agency has designated as a "possible" human carcinogen.

In the few instances when the EPA has instituted a cancer warning on pesticide labels, implementation can be haphazard and confusing. For instance, the agency has implemented cancer warnings on some products containing triphenyltin hydroxide. However other products with the same amount of active ingredient and approved for the same uses contain no cancer warning at all.

The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more

than 1.8 million members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species

and wild places.

Center for Food Safety's mission is to empower people, support farmers, and protect the earth

from the harmful impacts of industrial agriculture. Through groundbreaking legal, scientific, and

grassroots action, we protect and promote your right to safe food and the environment. Please

join our more than one million members across the country at www.centerforfoodsafety.org.

Connect with us on Instagram.

SOURCE The Center For Food Safety
As Industry 4.0 accelerates convergence across manufacturing, healthcare, and energy, siloed monitoring infrastructure is leaving organizations exposed to security threats, prolonged downtime, and regulatory risk

NUREMBERG, Germany, March 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Paessler GmbH, a global leader in IT and OT network monitoring, today issued a position paper on the growing operational risks posed by fragmented monitoring strategies in converged IT/OT environments. The paper, drawn from Paessler's work with industrial customers across manufacturing, healthcare, and energy, argues that separate monitoring infrastructures have shifted from practical convention to active liability.

The IT/OT Divide Is No Longer Sustainable

David Montoya, Presales Director at Paessler GmbH

For decades, IT and OT teams operated independently. IT managed information systems on rapid update cycles; OT teams ran industrial control systems (PLCs, SCADA, and industrial controllers) on equipment often 15 to 30 years old, governed by a strict principle of operational continuity over change. The separation was intentional and, at the time, rational.

Industry 4.0, smart manufacturing, and IoT proliferation have fundamentally changed that calculus. Research shows that 85% of enterprises expect significant business benefits from IT/OT convergence. But the monitoring infrastructure most organizations rely on has not kept pace. The result is a growing number of incidents where network issues cause undetected production failures, and vice versa, because no single team has visibility across both domains.

Siloed Monitoring Creates Measurable Business Risk

The cost of separate IT and OT monitoring goes beyond duplicate licensing. In a siloed incident, a network latency issue can cause a manufacturing line to miss quality control thresholds. The OT team investigates physical systems; the IT team sees nothing unusual. Both teams troubleshoot independently, often for hours, while defective products continue through the production line.

Security risk compounds the operational impact. Modern threat actors move laterally from IT environments, via phishing emails or compromised credentials, into operational technology. Ransomware groups have identified industrial systems as high-leverage targets. Without unified monitoring, tracking these cross-domain threats is nearly impossible. Regulatory frameworks including NIS2 are adding a further dimension, requiring organizations to demonstrate comprehensive visibility and incident documentation across their entire infrastructure.

Industry Sectors Forcing the Issue

Several sectors are already resolving the convergence challenge by necessity. Bosch Rexroth, a manufacturer building Industry 4.0 solutions, implemented unified monitoring across IT infrastructure and networked production systems using PRTG. Christian Miceli, Internal Expert at Bosch Rexroth, noted: "PRTG offers the right combination of predefined queries and flexible options for customized add-ons. This makes PRTG ideal for comprehensively and reliably monitoring the complex IT infrastructure of Industry 4.0 environments."

In healthcare, the dependency between medical devices and IT infrastructure (imaging systems, patient monitoring equipment, and PACS systems all require network connectivity) means that downtime attribution cannot wait for two teams to finish separate investigations. In energy, SCADA systems controlling grid infrastructure are increasingly coexisting with smart grid IoT deployments, requiring monitoring that spans legacy Modbus protocols and modern MQTT-based systems simultaneously.

A Practical Path to Unified Visibility

Paessler recommends that organizations begin convergence with a dependency mapping exercise: identifying where IT infrastructure directly impacts OT operations and where OT failures create problems that IT teams need to resolve. Modern monitoring platforms, including Paessler PRTG, natively support both traditional IT protocols such as SNMP and WMI and industrial protocols including OPC UA, Modbus TCP, and MQTT, removing the technical barrier that previously required separate tooling.

Role-based dashboards are a practical starting point. OT engineers do not need visibility into every network switch; IT administrators do not need real-time PLC performance data. Both teams, however, need clear visibility into the intersection, the points where their domains interact and where incidents in one create cascading effects in the other. Organizations that have piloted this approach report measurable reductions in mean time to resolution for cross-domain incidents.

Creating that shared visibility into the intersection has become more practical through modern communication standards designed specifically to bridge the two worlds. OPC UA Servers, for instance, are a means to translate IT monitoring metrics and system states into formats that OT systems natively consume, allowing selected infrastructure data (server health, network availability, storage utilization) to feed directly into existing OT dashboards and SCADA platforms. This means OT teams can stay on top of the IT components that directly affect production without switching tools or context, using the dashboards they already work with every day. Paessler's OPC UA Server makes this integration straightforward to deploy, reducing the friction that has historically slowed IT/OT convergence initiatives and giving both teams a common operating picture without requiring either to abandon their existing workflows.

"The organizations we work with are not struggling because they lack technology. They are struggling because their monitoring was designed for two separate worlds that no longer exist," said David Montoya, Presales Director at Paessler GmbH. "When a production line goes down and the IT team sees green on every dashboard, that is not a technology gap. That is a visibility gap. Closing it does not require ripping out existing infrastructure. It requires a monitoring layer that speaks both languages and shows both teams the same reality."

The full analysis is available at https://blog.paessler.com/the-it/ot-divide-why-separate-monitoring-is-your-biggest-operational-blind-spot-in-2026

About Paessler

Paessler recognizes the crucial role that monitoring plays in the efficiency and reliability of critical IT, OT and IoT systems. Since 1997, the company's flagship product, PRTG Network Monitor, has delivered the visibility organizations need to prevent downtime, reduce costs, and optimize performance across their infrastructure.

That's why more than 500,000 users in over 190 countries, including many of the world's most recognizable brands, trust Paessler to keep their networks running smoothly, allowing them to focus on building growth and maintaining their competitive advantage.

Find out more about Paessler  and how monitoring can help you  at www.paessler.com.

SOURCE Paessler GmbH - The Monitoring Experts
Local-First Initiatives Underscore Brands' Mission to Support Pets, People, and Neighborhoods Nationwide

Leading Pet Retailers Announce Goal of Completing 30,000 Adoptions in 2026

LIVONIA, Mich., March 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Pet Supplies Plus and Wag N' Wash are deepening their long-standing commitment to pets and the communities they serve through expanded adoption, fundraising and local engagement initiatives designed to create measurable impact across the U.S. These efforts reflect the brands' belief that making a strong, lasting impact begins at the local level.

Regina is one of the dogs the Pet Supplies Plus corporate team is sponsoring through its new partnership with Canine Companions Rescue Center, a rescue based in Metro Detroit.

At the heart of this commitment is the brands' ongoing pet adoption initiative, which partners with thousands of local animal rescue organizations nationwide to help pets find loving homes. In 2025, Pet Supplies Plus and Wag N' Wash completed 28,546 adoptions, surpassing their goal of 20,000. Building on that momentum, the brands have set a new goal of facilitating 30,000 adoptions in 2026.

"Being local isn't just about where our stores are  it's how we show up for pets, pet parents, and communities," said Chris Rowland, CEO of Pet Supplies Plus and Wag N' Wash. "From helping shelter pets find homes to supporting the organizations doing the work on the ground every day, our mission is rooted in making a difference where it matters most."

In addition to in-store adoption events, the brands continue to support animal welfare organizations through customer-driven fundraising initiatives. During the 2025 holiday season, a portion of proceeds from select holiday plush toy sales benefited leading national animal welfare organization Best Friends Animal Society, resulting in a total donation of $26,207. The initiative enabled shoppers to directly contribute to the organization's goal of saving the lives of dogs and cats in shelters and making the country no-kill.

Pet Supplies Plus' corporate office is also launching a new local initiative in its home market of Detroit, MI. To kick off the program, the company is partnering with Canine Companions Rescue Center, sponsoring two rescue dogs as they search for their forever homes. The dogs will spend a day at "Pet Central," the company's headquarters, before visiting a local store to receive toys, treats and personal attention from team members. The program emphasizes the role of the people behind the brand and their personal investment in supporting pets beyond the store level.

Offering neighbors everything they need to care for their beloved pets continues to be a top priority for Pet Supplies Plus. This commitment has not gone unnoticed as Pet Supplies Plus recently ranked on Forbes 2026 Best Customer Service List, leading the category of pet retail.

About Pet Supplies Plus

Your neighborhood Pet Supplies Plus has everything you need for your furry, scaly and feathery friends. Its shelves are stocked with pet essentials, including a wide selection of over 11,000 products from 400 brands. Easily find all their favorites at prices you love, whether you shop in store or online using free curbside pickup, same-day delivery or Autoship. To help keep your pets happy and healthy, pet prescriptions can be filled online and delivered directly to your door. As the nation's largest pet retail franchise with over 725 locations and counting, Pet Supplies Plus makes shopping local simple. For more information visit www.petsuppliesplus.com.

About Wag N' Wash

Wag N' Wash Natural Pet Food & Grooming, a full-line dog grooming and self-wash specialty retail destination, has a mission to recognize, promote and foster the positive impact that companion pets and their humans have on each other. Wag N' Wash provides full-service grooming, self-wash facilities, baked dog treats, natural food, supplements, and toys. Wag N' Wash has ranked on Denver Business Journal's Colorado-Based Franchisors List, Franchise Times' Top 200+ List and Franchise Gator's Top 100 Franchisees List. Today, there are 25 Wag N' Wash locations open across the nation. To learn more about Wag N' Wash, please visit wagnwashfranchising.com.

MEDIA CONTACT: Taylor Castro, Fishman Public Relations, [email protected] or (847) 945-1300

SOURCE Pet Supplies Plus and Wag N' Wash
The company was positioned as furthest in vision among evaluated vendors

LEHI, Utah, March 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- RainFocus, provider of the next-generation event marketing platform, today announced that it was positioned as a Leader for event marketing and management platforms by Gartner, Inc. for the third consecutive year. According to Gartner, "Leaders execute well against their current vision and are well positioned for tomorrow." Notably, RainFocus has the furthest position for Completeness of Vision among all evaluated vendors.

For the third consecutive year, RainFocus was named a Leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Event Marketing and Management Platforms, this year with the furthest position for Completeness of Vision.

About the Recognition

The Gartner Magic Quadrant is a culmination of research in a specific market, giving a wide-angle view of the relative positions of the market's competitors. Gartner evaluated nine vendors available on the market today that demonstrated a proven ability to deliver event marketing and management technology functionality for attendee management, reporting and analytics, martech integrations, and more.

Why It Matters

RainFocus' recently announced AI framework, RainFocus Nexus, with its suite of AI agents, highlights the company's innovation and forward-thinking industry leadership. With a strategic cloud-agnostic approach, RainFocus enables organizations to "bring their own infrastructure" and plug RainFocus Nexus agents into their existing enterprise stacks.

RainFocus Perspective

JR Sherman, CEO: "We believe RainFocus' recognition as a Leader and position as furthest in vision by Gartner reaffirms our commitment to delivering innovation well ahead of market trends. In today's era of enterprise agentic transformation, RainFocus captures the highest-quality contextual intent data across the customer journey, supporting the human element that will define the future of B2B relationships."

"We believe RainFocus' recognition as a Leader and position as furthest in vision by Gartner reaffirms our commitment to delivering innovation well ahead of market trends. In today's era of enterprise agentic transformation, RainFocus captures the highest-quality contextual intent data across the customer journey, supporting the human element that will define the future of B2B relationships." Brian Gates, EVP of Strategy and Growth: "We continue to deliver unmatched value for our customers through our platform. We believe being recognized again as a Leader by Gartner showcases our commitment to building AI innovation, delivering seamless customer journeys through unified data, and transforming event marketing programs."

Customer Perspectives According to Gartner Peer Insights

The full Gartner Magic Quadrant for Event Marketing and Management Platforms can be accessed here.

Gartner Disclaimer

Gartner, 2026 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Event Marketing and Management Platforms, Christy Ferguson, Halle Stern, Amy Jenkins, March 26, 2026

Gartner and Magic Quadrant are trademarks of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates.

Gartner does not endorse any company, vendor, product or service depicted in its publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner publications consist of the opinions of Gartner's business and technology insights organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this publication, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

About RainFocus

RainFocus is the leading enterprise platform for event marketing and management. We help organizations run in-person, virtual, and hybrid event programs of all sizes from one system, with the data and personalization needed to drive measurable business results. With the industry's most advanced agentic AI at its core, we orchestrate engagement at every stage of the customer lifecycle  unifying touchpoints, driving event impact, and making each engagement smarter. Learn more at rainfocus.com.

Media Contact

Sheena Lakhani

[email protected]

SOURCE RainFocus
NEW YORK, March 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ --

Why: Rosen Law Firm, a global investor rights law firm, continues to investigate potential securities claims on behalf of shareholders of Barclays PLC (NYSE: BCS) resulting from allegations that Barclays may have issued materially misleading business information to the investing public.

So What: If you purchased Barclays securities you may be entitled to compensation without payment of any out of pocket fees or costs through a contingency fee arrangement. The Rosen Law Firm is preparing a class action seeking recovery of investor losses.

What to do next: To join the prospective class action, go to https://rosenlegal.com/submit-form/?case_id=23523 or call Phillip Kim, Esq. toll-free at 866-767-3653 or email [email protected] for information on the class action.

What is this about: On February 27, 2026, Reuters published an article entitled "Wall Street hit by UK mortgage lender collapse, raising fears of more credit 'cockroaches.'" The article stated that lenders were "rocked by the implosion of little-known UK mortgage provider Market Financial Solutions Ltd ["MFS"], fuelling concerns about wider losses among banks and reviving warnings of more "cockroaches" in the booming private credit industry." It further stated that another publication "reported Barclays has a 600 million pound ($809.70 million) exposure to MFS."

On this news, Barclays American Depositary Shares ("ADS") fell 3.99% on February 27, 2026, and 2.3% on March 2, 2026.

Why Rosen Law: We encourage investors to select qualified counsel with a track record of success in leadership roles. Often, firms issuing notices do not have comparable experience, resources, or any meaningful peer recognition. Many of these firms do not actually litigate securities class actions. Be wise in selecting counsel. The Rosen Law Firm represents investors throughout the globe, concentrating its practice in securities class actions and shareholder derivative litigation. Rosen Law Firm has achieved, at that time, the largest ever securities class action settlement against a Chinese Company. At the time Rosen Law Firm was Ranked No. 1 by ISS Securities Class Action Services for number of securities class action settlements in 2017. The firm has been ranked in the top 4 each year since 2013 and has recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for investors. In 2019 alone the firm secured over $438 million for investors. In 2020, founding partner Laurence Rosen was named by law360 as a Titan of Plaintiffs' Bar. Many of the firm's attorneys have been recognized by Lawdragon and Super Lawyers.

Follow us for updates on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-rosen-law-firm, on Twitter: https://twitter.com/rosen_firm or on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rosenlawfirm/.

Attorney Advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.

Contact Information:

Laurence Rosen, Esq.

Phillip Kim, Esq.

The Rosen Law Firm, P.A.

275 Madison Avenue, 40th Floor

New York, NY 10016

Tel: (212) 686-1060

Toll Free: (866) 767-3653

Fax: (212) 202-3827

[email protected]

www.rosenlegal.com

SOURCE THE ROSEN LAW FIRM, P. A.
NEW YORK, March 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ --

Why: Rosen Law Firm, a global investor rights law firm, announces an investigation of potential securities claims on behalf of investors in Flow cryptocurrency, resulting from allegations that Flow Foundation may have issued materially misleading business information to the investing public.

So What: If you purchased Flow cryptocurrency you may be entitled to compensation without payment of any out of pocket fees or costs through a contingency fee arrangement. The Rosen Law Firm is preparing a class action seeking recovery of investor losses.

What to do next: To join the prospective class action, go to https://rosenlegal.com/submit-form/?case_id=56767 or call Phillip Kim, Esq. toll-free at 866-767-3653 or email [email protected] for information on the class action.

What is this about: If you purchased Flow cryptocurrency on or before December 27, 2025 and held your Flow cryptocurrency through December 29, 2025, please reach out to the firm. There are no out of pocket fees or costs through a contingency fee arrangement.

Why Rosen Law: We encourage investors to select qualified counsel with a track record of success in leadership roles. Often, firms issuing notices do not have comparable experience, resources, or any meaningful peer recognition. Many of these firms do not actually litigate securities class actions. Be wise in selecting counsel. The Rosen Law Firm represents investors throughout the globe, concentrating its practice in securities class actions and shareholder derivative litigation. Rosen Law Firm achieved, at that time, the largest ever securities class action settlement against a Chinese Company. Rosen Law Firm was Ranked No. 1 by ISS Securities Class Action Services for number of securities class action settlements in 2017. The firm has been ranked in the top 4 each year since 2013 and has recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for investors. In 2019 alone the firm secured over $438 million for investors. In 2020, founding partner Laurence Rosen was named by law360 as a Titan of Plaintiffs' Bar. Many of the firm's attorneys have been recognized by Lawdragon and Super Lawyers.

Follow us for updates on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-rosen-law-firm, on Twitter: https://twitter.com/rosen_firm or on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rosenlawfirm/.

Attorney Advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.

Contact Information:

Laurence Rosen, Esq.

Phillip Kim, Esq.

The Rosen Law Firm, P.A.

275 Madison Avenue, 40th Floor

New York, NY 10016

Tel: (212) 686-1060

Toll Free: (866) 767-3653

Fax: (212) 202-3827

[email protected]

www.rosenlegal.com

SOURCE THE ROSEN LAW FIRM, P. A.
Former PIF and Microsoft leader joins Monks to architect high-velocity growth and unify the consumer journey in the agentic era

LONDON, March 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Monks, the unitary operating brand of S4 Capital plc, has appointed Alex Oberberg as Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) for EMEA. Effective immediately, Oberberg will lead the region's commercial strategy, focusing on scaling Monks' high-velocity, AI-driven systems for global enterprise clients.

"Alex's appointment reflects our continued focus on growth and client impact," said Sir Martin Sorrell, Executive Chairman of S4 Capital. "His international experience and strong commercial mindset will help drive the next phase of development for Monks in EMEA."

S4 Capitals Monks Appoints Alex Oberberg as CRO, EMEA to Drive Commercial Orchestration

Oberberg's appointment arrives as Monks continues to establish itself as the industry's primary architect of simplification. In an increasingly fragmented media landscape, Oberberg is tasked with resolving the friction of legacy agency silos. His focus will be on transitioning clients toward a unified operating model, where intelligence, creation, and performance are seamlessly integrated into a single, high-speed workflow.

"Monks sits at the intersection of creativity and technology at a time when AI is fundamentally reshaping the business of marketing," said Alex Oberberg, CRO, EMEA. "I am excited to join a team that is actively resolving the friction of outdated models. My focus will be on translating our innovation into scalable, revenue-driving solutions that unlock new growth and simplify the path to success across EMEA."

With over 20 years of experience, Oberberg most recently served as the Head of Marketing at the Public Investment Fund (PIF), where he was instrumental in transforming the organization into a $1.2 billion global brand. His previous leadership roles at tech giants Microsoft and Nokia align with Monks' mission to marry technical infrastructure with real-time cultural resonance.

"Alex brings a powerful combination of marketing leadership and commercial focus at a time when our industry is undergoing a fundamental shift," added Bruno Lambertini, Global CEO of Monks, Marketing Services. "We are helping brands move at the speed of culture by resolving complexity through orchestration. Alex's experience in building massive global brands will be invaluable as we scale our integrated capabilities for our partners."

For further information please contact:

Sarah Murray, Senior Director, Global Public Relations & Communications, Monks

[email protected]

About Monks

Monks is the global, digital-first, data-driven, unitary operating brand of S4 Capital plc. With a legacy of innovation and specialized expertise, Monks combines an extraordinary range of global Marketing and Technology Services to redefine how brands interact with the world. Through Monks. Flow, its flagship AI ecosystem for marketing orchestration, Monks transforms marketing into a growth engine, collapsing timelines and connecting brands to culture in real time. By deploying bespoke intelligent agents across disciplines and delivering culturally relevant, high-impact creative and digital solutions, Monks solves key critical business challenges across the entire brand enterprise to help brands sustain long-term impact.

Monks was named a Contender in The Forrester Wave: Global Marketing Services, ranks among Cannes Lions' Top 10 Creative Companies (2022-24) and remains the only partner featured in AdExchanger's Programmatic Power Players list every year (2020-24). Named Adweek's first AI Agency of the Year (2023) and The One Show's inaugural AI Pioneer Organization, Monks was also awarded Business Intelligence Group's 2025 Excellence in Artificial Intelligence Award in both the Organizational and AI Product categories. As a trusted partner to cutting-edge innovators in tech, Monks earned titles such as Optimizely Experimentation Partner of the Year (2025), runner-up for the Adobe Firefly Partner Award (2024), and Workato's AI Visionary Customer Impact Award (2024). Additionally, Monks achieved a record-breaking number of FWAs and continues to hold the most of any partner.

About S4 Capital

S4 Capital is a purely digital advertising and marketing services business built for global, multinational, regional, and local clients and millennial-driven influencer brands. The business operates through two data and digital media driven Practices: Marketing Services and Technology Services, emphasising 'faster, better, cheaper, more' execution in an always-on consumer-led environment. Its unitary structure positions the Company as a systems integration partner delivering real-time relevance in the post-agency era.

The Company now has approximately 6,350 people in 33 countries with approximately 80% of net revenue across the Americas, 15% across Europe, the Middle East and Africa and 5% across Asia-Pacific. The longer-term objective is a geographic split of 60%:20%:20%. Marketing Services accounted for approximately 90% of net revenue, and Technology Services 10%. The target allocation is a practice split of 75%:25%.

Sir Martin Sorrell was CEO of WPP for 33 years, building it from a 1 million 'shell' company in 1985 into the world's largest advertising and marketing services company, with a market capitalisation of over 16 billion on the day he left. Prior to that, Sir Martin was Group Financial Director of Saatchi & Saatchi Company Plc for nine years.

SOURCE Monks
SHANGHAI, March 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Sanyou Biopharmaceuticals has recently been honored as a "Shanghai Municipal Enterprise Technology Center" in recognition of its outstanding technological innovation capabilities, comprehensive R&D infrastructure, sustained investment in innovation, and remarkable achievements in technology commercialization. This designation marks a higher level of authoritative recognition for Sanyou's research and development capabilities, innovation mechanisms, and industry leadership.

This municipal-level enterprise technology center designation represents the natural outcome of Sanyou's years of deep commitment to innovation and high-quality development. Since its establishment, the company has consistently upheld its mission to "making innovative biologics R&D easy for clients worldwide," leveraging its AI-driven Super Trillion Antibody Library (AI-STAL) as the core engine and an integrated wet-dry laboratory platform to provide comprehensive solutions for innovative drug molecule generation and screening challenges. To date, Sanyou has empowered over 1,200 new drug development projects and established solid partnerships with more than 2,000 pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies worldwide.

Over the years, Sanyou has continuously increased R&D investment, optimized innovation framework, assembled top-tier research talent, and built a systematic platform for research, experimentation, and technology transfer. The company has achieved numerous prestigious certifications and honors, forming a comprehensive portfolio spanning core qualifications, technology platforms, intellectual property, and management systems.

December 2022

Certified as a National High-Tech Enterprise, officially joining the national innovation tier.

January 2023

Recognized as an Innovative Small and Medium Enterprise at the Xuhui District, demonstrating regional innovation vitality.

February 2023

Selected as a Star of Shanghai Zhangjiang for Potential Enterprise, receiving focused cultivation from the core area of Shanghai's Science and Technology Innovation Center.

March 2023

Awarded as a Shanghai Specialized, Refined, Distinctive, and Innovative Small and Medium Enterprise, reflecting advantages in specialized, refined, and distinctive development.

September 2023

Achieved ISO9001 Quality Control System certification, ensuring standardized and regulated products and services. Obtained GB/T29490-2023 Intellectual Property Management System certification, establishing systematic intellectual property risk prevention and control mechanisms.

October 2023

First recognized as an Enterprise Technology Center at the Xuhui District, initiating the standardized development of enterprise technology platforms.

November 2023

Designated as a Shanghai Science and Technology Little Giant Cultivation Enterprise, further consolidating its technology leadership position.

November 2024

Recognized as a Shanghai Patent Work Pilot Unit, formally launching intellectual property management system development.

March 2025

With business expansion and layout optimization, received additional recognition as an Enterprise Technology Center at the Minhang District, extending technical influence across districts.

March 2025

Achieved ISO27001 Information Security Management System certification, providing the highest level of protection for information assets and customer data security.

November 2025

Upgraded to Shanghai Patent Work Demonstration Unit, with intellectual property strategy deployment and operational capabilities receiving authoritative recognition.

January 2026

Successfully advanced to a Shanghai Municipal Enterprise Technology Center, marking that the company's technology R&D system, innovation mechanisms, and technology transfer capabilities have comprehensively reached municipal leading levels.

This series of qualifications and honors represents both full recognition from government and industry organizations of Sanyou's "Quality, Speed, Innovation" philosophy, and the natural result of the company's long-term commitment to "build an innovation engine for original new drugs." As a source of innovation in biopharmaceutical R&D, Sanyou will continue to leverage its AI-driven Super Trillion Antibody Library (AI-STAL) as the core, accelerate global drug discovery and in-depth target research, participate in industry technological transformation at higher levels, lead industry development directions, and contribute Chinese wisdom and strength to the global healthcare cause.

About Sanyou

Sanyou Biopharmaceuticals is a high-tech biopharmaceutical company driven by the mission of "making innovative biologics R&D easy for clients worldwide". The company is committed to fundamentally addressing the key challenges at the source of innovative drug development.

Powered by its AI-STAL and supported by an integrated wet-lab/dry-lab R&D platform, Sanyou provides comprehensive, one-stop solutions for innovative drug discovery, with a particular focus on molecular discovery and selection.

Sanyou Bio has been dedicated to developing a world-class innovative biological drug R&D hub and to working collaboratively with partners worldwide to accelerate the development of innovative therapeutics.

Headquartered in Shanghai, China, Sanyou has established global business centers across Asia, North America, and Europe, forming an international business network. The company currently operates and has planned over 20,000 square meters of R&D and GMP facilities.

Sanyou has established strong collaborations with more than 2,000 pharmaceutical and biotech companies worldwide, empowering over 1,200 new drug discovery and development projects. It has completed more than 50 collaboration projects, over 10 of which have advanced to IND approval and clinical development stages.

The company has filed over 170 invention patents, with more than 30 granted. It has also obtained over 10 national and international qualifications and system certifications, including National High-Tech Enterprise, Shanghai "Specialized and Innovative" Enterprise, ISO9001, and ISO27001.

SOURCE Sanyou Bio
NEW ORLEANS, March 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Scott Vicknair Personal Injury Lawyers is proud to announce its support of Hogs for the Cause, one of Louisiana's most impactful charitable events, taking place April 10 through April 11. The firm is serving its third year as Grand Champion sponsor of Swine Krewe, contributing to the event's mission of raising funds for families battling pediatric brain cancer.

Hogs for the Cause has become a staple in the New Orleans community, bringing together teams, supporters, and local organizations to raise money that directly assists children and families facing the challenges of pediatric brain cancer. Through food, music, and community involvement, the event continues to make a meaningful difference in the lives of those who need it most.

"We are honored to support Hogs for the Cause and be part of something that has such a direct impact on families in our community," said David Vicknair, founding partner of the firm. "Supporting children and families facing pediatric brain cancer is incredibly important, and we are proud to stand alongside Swine Krewe in this effort."

As a Grand Champion sponsor, Scott Vicknair Personal Injury Lawyers is helping fuel both awareness and fundraising efforts tied to the event. The firm's involvement reflects its broader commitment to giving back to the community and supporting causes that create lasting impact across Louisiana.

"Hogs for the Cause is more than an event. It is a community coming together for a purpose," said Vicknair. "We are grateful for the opportunity to support this mission and encourage others to get involved."

If you want to donate to help support this cause, visit swingkrewe.org.

Scott Vicknair Personal Injury Lawyers encourages the community to attend the event, support participating teams, and contribute to a cause that continues to change lives across Louisiana.

About Scott Vicknair Personal Injury Lawyers

Scott Vicknair Personal Injury Lawyers is a New Orleans-based personal injury firm committed to providing exceptional legal representation while also investing in the communities it serves. Their experienced team of dedicated attorneys specializes in car accidents, personal injury, and wrongful death cases in New Orleans. With diverse personal and professional backgrounds, they craft legal-winning strategies tailored to each client's specific case and needs. They are committed to providing exceptional legal services, utilizing significant resources, and relentlessly advocating for their clients to achieve the best possible outcomes.

SOURCE Scott Vicknair Personal Injury Lawyers
Dr. Tyler Jacks, founding chairman of Skyhawk's Scientific Advisory Board, receives the American Cancer Society's highest award, the Medal of Honor, first awarded in 1949, for his tireless commitment to addressing the complexities of cancer.

BOSTON, March 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Skyhawk Therapeutics, Inc., a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing novel small molecule therapies to modulate critical RNA targets for a series of challenging diseases, announces that the American Cancer Society (ACS) has awarded the 2026 Medal of Honor to Dr. Tyler Jacks, founding Chairman of Skyhawk's Scientific Advisory Board, founder of the David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and professor of biology at MIT. The Medal of Honor is the most prestigious award given by ACS to distinguished individuals who have made valuable contributions in basic, clinical, translational, or population science and whose work has led to advancement in cancer prevention, diagnosis, treatment, or survivorship to improve the lives of patients.

"Tyler Jacks is a truly extraordinary scientist and leader across many fields and organizations. His recognition from ACS is richly deserved," said Dr. Benjamin L. Ebert, MD, PhD, co-founding member of Skyhawk's SAB and President and CEO of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. "As founding Chairman of Skyhawk's SAB, Tyler has been a deft guide of the scientific programs at Skyhawk, addressing both cancers and other diseases with great unmet need for patients. We are grateful for all of his prodigious contributions."

"Tyler has worked for decades with creativity, passion, talent and a blessed knack for collaboration to reduce the burden cancer and other hideous diseases impose on patients and their families. I'm delighted to see his dazzling accomplishments as scientist and institution builder recognized by the ACS, America's most well-known cancer institution," said Skyhawk's Co-founder and CEO Bill Haney. "Skyhawk's pioneering work as a leader in the RNA revolution has been transformed by Tyler's insightand I know the list of other firms, non-profits and universities who have likewise benefited from Tyler's judgment and generosity of spirit is a long one."

About Dr. Tyler Jacks

Dr. Jacks is a pioneer in the development and use of genetically engineered mouse models to study difficult-to-treat human cancers. These models help scientists understand how tumors start and evolve, how closely they resemble human cancers, and how tools used in early cancer detection can be improved. In his MIT lab, Dr. Jacks and his group study how key genes, including tumor suppressors, oncogenes, and genes related to DNA repair, help cancers resist treatment and promote growth. Dr. Jacks has also conducted extensive research into how the immune system sees and also fails to see developing cancers.

Author of more than 300 scientific papers, Dr. Jacks has served as chair of the National Cancer Advisory Board and the Board of Scientific Advisors of the National Cancer Institute and as past president and board member of the American Association of Cancer Research (AACR). His many awards include the AACR Outstanding Achievement Award, the Paul Marks Prize for Cancer Research, and MIT's James R. Killian Jr. Faculty Achievement Award. He is an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Medicine.

Dr. Jacks graduated magna cum laude with highest honors in biology from Harvard College. He earned his doctorate at the University of California, San Francisco, where he studied under Dr. Harold Varmus, who won the 1989 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for research on oncogenes and cancer growth.

About Skyhawk Therapeutics

Skyhawk Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biotechnology company which uses its proprietary platform, SKYSTAR, to discover and develop small molecule RNA modulating therapies for the world's most intractable diseases. For more information visit, www.skyhawktx.com.

Skyhawk Contact

Maura McCarthy

Head of Corporate Development

[email protected]

SOURCE Skyhawk Therapeutics
NEW YORK, March 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ --

Why: Rosen Law Firm, a global investor rights law firm, reminds purchasers Class A common stock of Snowflake Inc. (NYSE: SNOW) between June 27, 2023 and the close of the market on February 28, 2024 (4:00 p.m. ET), inclusive (the "Class Period"), of the important April 27, 2026 lead plaintiff deadline.

So what: If you purchased Snowflake Class A common stock during the Class Period you may be entitled to compensation without payment of any out of pocket fees or costs through a contingency fee arrangement.

What to do next: To join the Snowflake class action, go to https://rosenlegal.com/submit-form/?case_id=22950 or call Phillip Kim, Esq. toll-free at 866-767-3653 or email [email protected] for information on the class action. A class action lawsuit has already been filed. If you wish to serve as lead plaintiff, you must move the Court no later than April 27, 2026. A lead plaintiff is a representative party acting on behalf of other class members in directing the litigation.

Why Rosen Law: We encourage investors to select qualified counsel with a track record of success in leadership roles. Often, firms issuing notices do not have comparable experience, resources, or any meaningful peer recognition. Many of these firms do not actually handle securities class actions, but are merely middlemen that refer clients or partner with law firms that actually litigate the cases. Be wise in selecting counsel. The Rosen Law Firm represents investors throughout the globe, concentrating its practice in securities class actions and shareholder derivative litigation. Rosen Law Firm has achieved, at that time, the largest ever securities class action settlement against a Chinese Company. Rosen Law Firm was Ranked No. 1 by ISS Securities Class Action Services for number of securities class action settlements in 2017. The firm has been ranked in the top 4 each year since 2013 and has recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for investors. In 2019 alone the firm secured over $438 million for investors. In 2020, founding partner Laurence Rosen was named by law360 as a Titan of Plaintiffs' Bar. Many of the firm's attorneys have been recognized by Lawdragon and Super Lawyers.

Details of the case: According to the lawsuit, during the Class Period, defendants repeatedly made positive statements about the state of its business, including positive statements about customer usage of, and new developments for, its products. At the same time, defendants failed to disclose that: (1) product efficiency gains, Iceberg Tables and tiered storage pricing were expected to have a material negative impact on consumption and revenues, and (2) as a result, defendants' positive statements about consumption patterns, revenues, and demand for Snowflake products lacked a reasonable basis. When the true details entered the market, the lawsuit claims that investors suffered damages.

To join the Snowflake class action, go to https://rosenlegal.com/submit-form/?case_id=22950 or call Phillip Kim, Esq. toll-free at 866-767-3653 or email [email protected] for information on the class action.

No Class Has Been Certified. Until a class is certified, you are not represented by counsel unless you retain one. You may select counsel of your choice. You may also remain an absent class member and do nothing at this point. An investor's ability to share in any potential future recovery is not dependent upon serving as lead plaintiff.

Follow us for updates on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-rosen-law-firm, on Twitter: https://twitter.com/rosen_firm or on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rosenlawfirm/.

Attorney Advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.

Contact Information:

Laurence Rosen, Esq.

Phillip Kim, Esq.

The Rosen Law Firm, P.A.

275 Madison Avenue, 40th Floor

New York, NY 10016

Tel: (212) 686-1060

Toll Free: (866) 767-3653

Fax: (212) 202-3827

[email protected]

www.rosenlegal.com

SOURCE THE ROSEN LAW FIRM, P. A.
NAPA, Calif., March 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- The Doctors Company, the nation's largest physician-owned medical malpractice insurer, announced today that it has approved a 2026 premium dividend of approximately $14.3 million, bringing the total of declared dividends to date to $500 million.

"We are pleased to reward members once again with earned dividends," said Richard E. Anderson, MD, FACP, Chairman and CEO of The Doctors Company and TDC Group. "Dividends are an important part of our mission to advance, protect, and reward the practice of good medicine."

Dividends of up to 10 percent were approved by The Doctors Company Board of Governors for eligible members in the following states: Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, North Carolina, Ohio, Texas, Virginia, Washington, and Wyoming. Members of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons and members of the American Academy of OtolaryngologyHead and Neck Surgery may also receive a dividend, depending on their eligibility.

Eligible members will receive this year's dividend on their annual premium for policy renewals between July 1, 2026, and June 30, 2027.

Unlike commercial insurance companies, which look for ways to reward shareholders, The Doctors Company is dedicated to rewarding its members. In addition to dividends, the company provides the Tribute Plan, an unrivaled career benefit that has awarded more than $200 million to retiring doctors.

"As a member-owned company, we are committed to sharing the results of our financial success with the healthcare professionals we insure," said Deepika Srivastava, Chief Operating Officer of The Doctors Company. "Our multiyear dividend program recognizes the outstanding outcomes achieved by our members."

About The Doctors Company

Founded and led by physicians, The Doctors Company (thedoctors.com) is relentlessly committed to advancing, protecting, and rewarding the practice of good medicine. The Doctors Company helps hospitals and practices of all sizes manage the complexities of today's healthcare environmentwith expert guidance, resources, and coverageand is the only medical malpractice insurer with an advocacy program covering all 50 states and the federal level. The Doctors Company is part of TDC Group (tdcg.com), the nation's largest physician-owned provider of insurance and risk management solutions. TDC Group serves the full continuum of care, from individual physicians to academic medical systemsmore than 120,000 healthcare professionals and organizations nationwidewith annual revenue of more than $1 billion, and $7.8 billion in assets. To learn more about our data-driven insights and to stay up to date on industry trends, follow and subscribe to The Doctors Company on X (@doctorscompany), YouTube, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

SOURCE The Doctors Company
As TSA and FAA constraints and operational bottlenecks intensify, private aviation Is forced to adapt in real time. FlyUSA's Barry Shevlin explains why more travelers are turning to private aviation for greater reliability and control.

TAMPA, Fla., March 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- As Transportation Security Administration (TSA) disruptions continue to plague U.S. airports, aviation industry experts warn that deeper structural issues will persist even after the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) shutdown ends. The U.S. aviation system is constrained not by demand alone, but by staffing shortages, operational choke points, and infrastructure limitations slowing traffic across both commercial and private aviation.

"More people are making the move to private flights because they see it as a reliability solution rather than a premium upgrade.  Barry Shevlin, CEO of FlyUSA

"U.S. air travel is entering a period of structural strain, and these new pressures force airlines and private operators to compete within an already stressed system," said Barry Shevlin, CEO of FlyUSA, a leading U.S.-based, private jet charter and aviation solutions provider.

Flow Control Creates Speedbumps

Across high-traffic regions, air traffic control (ATC) staffing gaps are triggering "flow control" measures that can delay flights for hours before departure clearance is even granted.

"Staffing shortages have increased the number of days when flow control is put in place, which can be pretty disruptive. We sometimes receive Estimated Departure Clearance Times that are four or more hours later than our planned departure. No client is going to be happy with an unplanned delay like that," Shevlin said. "Our clients primarily fly private because of the time savings, so delays are not typically received well."

Invisible Bottlenecks Drive Visible Delays

Delays often originate from understaffed ATC facilities managing critical sections of U.S. airspace. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reports that nationwide target staffing levels remain low, with roughly 3,800 certified controller positions unfilled and more than 40% of facilities operating below recommended thresholds.

This imbalance is compounded by long training timelines. According to VisaVerge, full controller certification can take two to five years, limiting how quickly staffing gaps can be addressed. For example, the Jacksonville, FL, control center, which routs a significant portion of East Coast traffic, has become a major bottleneck due to staffing shortages.

"These aren't isolated issues," Shevlin said. "You have specific nodes in the system where staffing constraints ripple outward and impact thousands of flights a day."

Airport-level labor shortages are adding further pressure. Ground operations such as fueling and aircraft handling are increasingly delayed due to limited staffing and equipment constraints. Industry data reported in AeroNews Journal shows staffing-related issues can account for up to 50% of delays.

"There are times when you land, and there are a dozen planes ahead of you in line for fuel," Shevlin said. "That can mean waiting over an hour just to turn the aircraft around."

Operational Discipline Becomes Critical

FAA restrictions at major airports, combined with staffing limitations, are pushing private aircraft into complex routing, tighter scheduling coordination, and longer ground times. As a result, private aviation is increasingly facing some of the same constraints as commercial flights.

"The flow control and staffing issues affect everyone," Shevlin said. "But with private flights, you have more flexibility. We can file flight plans a day in advance when we expect flow control, which puts us in the system as known traffic versus pop-up traffic."

Shevlin recommends proactive planning and tactical adjustments to minimize disruption. FlyUSA has implemented several strategies to reduce operational friction:

Filing flight plans a day in advance to secure priority within ATC systems.

Adjusting departure schedules to account for expected delays.

Increasing ground buffer times by up to 50% during peak congestion periods.

Communicating directly with clients before and while disruptions occur.

Industry challenges extend beyond air traffic control. Labor shortages at fixed-base operators (FBOs), high turnover in ground crews, and equipment constraints continue to create systemwide inefficiencies. Reliability now depends as much on coordination, and execution as it does on aircraft availability alone.

"We're doing much more on the front end," Shevlin said. "Unlike commercial airlines, which operate within fixed schedules and large-scale systems, private operators can adapt more dynamically while still avoiding added complexity and cost."

A Shift in Traveler Behavior

As disruptions become more frequent and less predictable, traveler expectations are also evolving. Operators report a growing number of clients choosing private aviation not for luxury, but to reduce exposure to system volatility.

"We're seeing people reach a breaking point," Shevlin said. "They're not willing to take the risk of being stuck for hours or missing something important."

In several recent cases, travelers who had never previously considered private aviation made the switch to FlyUSA after repeated delays. "More people are making the move to private flights because they see it as a reliability solution rather than a premium upgrade."

With no immediate resolution to staffing shortages and limited expansion of airport infrastructure, industry experts expect current constraints to persist and potentially intensify.

"The operators who can manage complexity across airspace, airports, logistics, and client service are the ones who are going to define the next phase of aviation," Shevlin said.

About FlyUSA

FlyUSA is a U.S.-based, private jet charter and aviation solutions provider that ranks No. 419 on the 2025 Inc. 5000 list, which tracks the fastest-growing privately held companies in the United States annually. Of the 5,000 companies, FlyUSA is also the 51st fastest growing in Florida and 10th fastest in the travel and hospitality industry. Built around the principle that safety and operational accountability must remain close to the cockpit; the company focuses on standardized operating discipline while maintaining the consistency and relationships frequent flyers rely on when commercial travel falls short. Its customers include business leaders, families, and organizations that use private aviation primarily as a reliability solution rather than a luxury. For more information, visit www.flyusa.com.

Sources:

Federal Aviation Administration. (2025). Air traffic controller workforce plan 20252028 . U.S. Department of Transportation. faa.gov/about/plans_reports/congress/air-traffic-controller-workforce-plan-2025-2028

. U.S. Department of Transportation. faa.gov/about/plans_reports/congress/air-traffic-controller-workforce-plan-2025-2028 U.S. Government Accountability Office. (2026). While thousands applied to become air traffic controllers, there's still a shortage . gao.gov/blog/while-thousands-applied-become-air-traffic-controllers-theres-still-shortage-we-looked-why

. gao.gov/blog/while-thousands-applied-become-air-traffic-controllers-theres-still-shortage-we-looked-why USAFacts. (2025). Is there a shortage of air traffic controllers? usafacts.org/articles/is-there-a-shortage-of-air-traffic-controllers/

usafacts.org/articles/is-there-a-shortage-of-air-traffic-controllers/ Mercer, O. (2025). Will long-term ATC staffing persist after the 2025 shutdown? VisaVerge.

VisaVerge. Aero News Journal. (2025). U.S. flight delays skyrocket as air traffic control shortages persist.

Media Inquiries:

Karla Jo Helms

JOTO PR 

727-777-4629

Jotopr.com

SOURCE FlyUSA
WASHINGTON, March 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Today rePROs Fight Back released its 50-State Report Card on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights tracking multiple indicators during 2025 including access to family planning, sex education, abortion care, and gender-affirming care.

The US flunked for the seventh year in a row, with the lowest overall grade in the report card's 14-year history amid continuing fallout from attacks on Title X and Medicaid. Twenty-five states failed while 16 got "As" or "Bs," reflecting polarization between places where access and rights are eroding, and places that still preserve them.

"Sexual and reproductive rights have been under unrelenting attack for 15 years, creating an uneven patchwork where Americans' access to sexual and reproductive health care depends on where they live," said Jennie Wetter, Director of rePROs Fight Back. "The report card shows federal and state policies further fraying this already strained patchwork."

Detailed individual state report cards are posted here.

California, New Mexico, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington received "As," while Delaware, Colorado, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Nevada, New York, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island received "Bs."

Failing states include Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

"The Trump administration had sexual and reproductive rights, transgender rights, and DEI squarely in their cross hairs from day one, leaving the most vulnerable without care" Wetter said. "Attacks on bodily autonomy at the federal state levels are felt unequally, falling hardest on BIPOC, people with low-incomes, young people, those with disabilities, the LGBTQ+ community, and those at multiple intersections of these identities."

"It will get worse," Wetter warned. "The Trump Administration is committed to an anti-rights agenda. It is chipping away access to abortion, including medication abortion in emergencies, birth control, and more. It is unrelenting in its attacks on transgender people and blocking life-saving care. We must be equally unrelenting and committed to a future where all Americans' reproductive rights are protected and freely exercised."

The full version of this release is posted here. Special thanks to the Guttmacher Institute, Kaiser Family Foundation, and Movement Advancement Project whose research made this report card possible. rePROs Fight Back is an initiative of the Population Institute.

Source: rePROs Fight Back: https://reprosfightback.com/

Contact: Stephen Kent, [email protected], 914-589-5988

SOURCE rePROs Fight Back
The Article Explains Key Steps Drivers Can Take to Document Incidents, Protect Their Rights, and Strengthen Potential Claims.

COLUMBUS, Miss., March 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- What should someone do immediately after a car accident to protect their legal rights? HelloNation has published a HelloNation article that answers that question by outlining the steps drivers can take to preserve documentation, avoid common mistakes, and support a strong legal claim.

Missy Wigginton, Founding Attorney Speed Speed

The article focuses on the early decisions that can influence both recovery and legal outcomes after a crash. Featuring insights from Attorney Missy Wigginton, the piece explains how actions taken at the scene and shortly afterward can shape the strength of an insurance claim or legal case. It provides clear, practical guidance while keeping the focus on what the article explains.

The HelloNation article highlights the importance of contacting law enforcement after an accident. A police report provides an objective account of what occurred and often serves as a key reference point in determining fault. The article explains that having an official report helps ensure that details are recorded accurately and can be reviewed later if disputes arise.

Documentation at the scene is another major focus. The article describes how photographs of vehicle damage, road conditions, traffic signals, and visible injuries can provide valuable evidence. These images help preserve details that may fade over time and can support a clearer understanding of how the accident happened. For readers seeking guidance on what to do after a car accident, the article emphasizes that thorough documentation can make a meaningful difference.

Communication is also addressed carefully. The article notes that statements made at the scene can be misunderstood or used out of context. Drivers are encouraged to stick to factual exchanges and avoid comments that could be interpreted as accepting fault. This approach helps prevent complications when insurance companies or legal representatives review the situation later.

Medical care is another key element discussed in the article. Seeking prompt evaluation after an accident helps identify injuries that may not be immediately visible. The article explains that medical records also establish a connection between the incident and any injuries, which can be important in a claim. Delays in treatment may raise questions about the cause or severity of injuries, making early care an important step.

The article also examines interactions with insurance companies. It explains that while insurers often request statements after an accident, responding without preparation may create challenges. The article describes how careful communication and a clear understanding of the process can help individuals avoid missteps that could affect their claim. In this context, Attorney Missy Wigginton is presented as a source of insight into how individuals can approach these situations more effectively.

Another takeaway centers on consistency and organization. The article explains that keeping all documents, photos, medical records, and correspondence in one place can help streamline the process. This organized approach supports clearer communication and can make it easier to respond to requests from insurers or legal professionals.

The article ultimately frames preparation and awareness as essential tools following an accident. By focusing on documentation, medical care, and careful communication, it outlines a practical path for individuals who want to protect their legal rights and reduce uncertainty during an already stressful time.

What to Do Immediately After an Accident to Protect Your Legal Rights features insights from Missy Wigginton, Attorney of Columbus, Mississippi, in HelloNation.

About HelloNation

HelloNation is a premier media platform that connects readers with trusted professionals and businesses across various industries. Through its innovative "edvertising" approach that blends educational content with storytelling, HelloNation delivers expert-driven, good-news articles that inform, inspire, and empower. Covering topics from home improvement and health to business strategy and lifestyle, HelloNation highlights leaders making a meaningful impact in their communities.

SOURCE HelloNation
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About Ian Lyall

Ian Lyall, a seasoned journalist and editor, brings over three decades of experience to his role as Managing Editor at Proactive. Overseeing Proactive's editorial and broadcast operations across six offices on three continents, Ian is responsible for quality control, editorial policy, and content production. He directs the creation of 50,000 pieces of real-time news, feature articles, and filmed interviews annually. Prior to Proactive, Ian helped lead the business output at the Daily... Read more

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We are experts in medium and small-cap markets, we also keep our community up to date with blue-chip companies, commodities and broader investment stories. This is content that excites and engages motivated private investors.

The team delivers news and unique insights across the market including but not confined to: biotech and pharma, mining and natural resources, battery metals, oil and gas, crypto and emerging digital and EV technologies.

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Our human content creators are equipped with many decades of valuable expertise and experience. The team also has access to and use technologies to assist and enhance workflows.

Proactive will on occasion use automation and software tools, including generative AI. Nevertheless, all content published by Proactive is edited and authored by humans, in line with best practice in regard to content production and search engine optimisation.
Burford Capital Limited (LSE:BUR) shares were searching for direction on Monday, after plunging over 40% on Friday afternoon after a US appeals court overturned a landmark judgment against Argentina, dealing a severe blow to what had been one of the litigation finance firm's most valuable assets.

The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit reversed a lower court ruling that had found in favour of Burford-backed claimants Petersen and Eton Park, who argued that Argentina violated its own commitments to minority shareholders when it renationalised oil company YPF in 2012.

The majority ruling held that Argentina's promise to make a tender offer to minority shareholders was not enforceable by those shareholders in a US court, and that any claims should instead have been pursued through Argentina's domestic legal system.

A dissenting judge took the opposite view, arguing the majority opinion "minimised if not forgot" the factual realities of the case and that the original judgment should have been upheld.

In a statement issued after hours on Friday, chief executive Christopher Bogart called the decision "a remarkable abandonment of the rights of minority NYSE shareholders".

However, he added in a new statement on Monday that investment treaty arbitration remained "an entirely viable prospect." This is a separate legal route available under bilateral agreements between Argentina and Spain and the US.

Burford added in a Q&A statement that it would expect to take a "substantial" non-cash write-down on the $1.7 billion YPF asset when it reports first-quarter results in early May, though it stressed the case had generated no cash since 2019 and that its core business of funding litigation in exchange for a share of proceeds was unaffected.

The company also pointed out today that it held more than $700 million in cash and expected its broader portfolio of hundreds of cases to generate more than $5 billion in proceeds over time.

The YPF case had carried a significant carrying value on Burford's balance sheet, and the write-down could limit the company's ability to raise new debt under its bond covenants.

That said, Bogart told investors Burford had no plans to increase borrowing and that operating the core business would be unaffected.

The next legal step is likely to be a request for the full Second Circuit bench to rehear the case, though Burford acknowledged such requests are rarely granted, with a potential further appeal to the Supreme Court beyond that.

Analysts at Jefferies said the reversal decision "essentially holds that the question of damages turns on expropriation rules in Argentina, which could be examined by an international arbitral body. This would effectively put the process back to square one."

They added that while some investors worried that some of Burford's debt may be linked directly to the YPF matter, "this is not that case".

"In the near term, there will be a large, negative, non-cash impact likely to restrict additional debt-raising, but not preventing refinancing. In the longer term, the YPF matter will probably now take years more to conclude. While the ruling does not affect any other part of Burford's portfolio, it has affected investor sentiment."
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Oliver has been writing about companies and markets since the early 2000s, cutting his teeth as a financial journalist at Growth Company Investor with a focusing on AIM companies and small caps, before a few years later becoming a section editor and then head of research. He joined Proactive after a couple of years freelancing, where he worked for the Financial Times Group, ITV, Press Association, Reuters sports desk, the London Olympic News Service, Rugby World Cup News Service, Gracenote... Read more

About the publisher

Proactive financial news and online broadcast teams provide fast, accessible, informative and actionable business and finance news content to a global investment audience. All our content is produced independently by our experienced and qualified teams of news journalists.

Proactive news team spans the worlds key finance and investing hubs with bureaus and studios in London, New York, Toronto, Vancouver, Sydney and Perth.

We are experts in medium and small-cap markets, we also keep our community up to date with blue-chip companies, commodities and broader investment stories. This is content that excites and engages motivated private investors.

The team delivers news and unique insights across the market including but not confined to: biotech and pharma, mining and natural resources, battery metals, oil and gas, crypto and emerging digital and EV technologies.

Use of technology

Proactive has always been a forward looking and enthusiastic technology adopter.

Our human content creators are equipped with many decades of valuable expertise and experience. The team also has access to and use technologies to assist and enhance workflows.

Proactive will on occasion use automation and software tools, including generative AI. Nevertheless, all content published by Proactive is edited and authored by humans, in line with best practice in regard to content production and search engine optimisation.
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About Stephen Gunnion

Stephen Gunnion is a senior financial journalist and broadcaster at Proactive Investors. He has more than 25 years of experience in television, radio and print media, anchoring on a number of television channels including South Africa's Business Day TV, CNBC Africa and the South African Broadcasting Corporation, where he was the economics editor. He has also worked for Daily Maverick, Bloomberg, the Business Day newspaper and Investors' Chronicle. Read more

About the publisher

Proactive financial news and online broadcast teams provide fast, accessible, informative and actionable business and finance news content to a global investment audience. All our content is produced independently by our experienced and qualified teams of news journalists.

Proactive news team spans the worlds key finance and investing hubs with bureaus and studios in London, New York, Toronto, Vancouver, Sydney and Perth.

We are experts in medium and small-cap markets, we also keep our community up to date with blue-chip companies, commodities and broader investment stories. This is content that excites and engages motivated private investors.

The team delivers news and unique insights across the market including but not confined to: biotech and pharma, mining and natural resources, battery metals, oil and gas, crypto and emerging digital and EV technologies.

Use of technology

Proactive has always been a forward looking and enthusiastic technology adopter.

Our human content creators are equipped with many decades of valuable expertise and experience. The team also has access to and use technologies to assist and enhance workflows.

Proactive will on occasion use automation and software tools, including generative AI. Nevertheless, all content published by Proactive is edited and authored by humans, in line with best practice in regard to content production and search engine optimisation.
About this content 

About Lisa Uhlman

Lisa Uhlman is an equities reporter at Proactive Investors, covering ASX-listed companies across the mining, energy, biotech and emerging tech sectors. With a background in legal and financial journalism, Lisa brings a sharp analytical lens to market news and corporate developments. Prior to joining Proactive, she reported for national trade publications and newswires, with a focus on court reporting, regulatory affairs and ESG-related business issues. Based in Sydney, she is... Read more

About the publisher

Proactive financial news and online broadcast teams provide fast, accessible, informative and actionable business and finance news content to a global investment audience. All our content is produced independently by our experienced and qualified teams of news journalists.

Proactive news team spans the worlds key finance and investing hubs with bureaus and studios in London, New York, Toronto, Vancouver, Sydney and Perth.

We are experts in medium and small-cap markets, we also keep our community up to date with blue-chip companies, commodities and broader investment stories. This is content that excites and engages motivated private investors.

The team delivers news and unique insights across the market including but not confined to: biotech and pharma, mining and natural resources, battery metals, oil and gas, crypto and emerging digital and EV technologies.

Use of technology

Proactive has always been a forward looking and enthusiastic technology adopter.

Our human content creators are equipped with many decades of valuable expertise and experience. The team also has access to and use technologies to assist and enhance workflows.

Proactive will on occasion use automation and software tools, including generative AI. Nevertheless, all content published by Proactive is edited and authored by humans, in line with best practice in regard to content production and search engine optimisation.
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Proactive will on occasion use automation and software tools, including generative AI. Nevertheless, all content published by Proactive is edited and authored by humans, in line with best practice in regard to content production and search engine optimisation.
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Wall Street analysts have pointed to continued earnings momentum and improving long-term outlook following Carnival Corp (NYSE:CCL)s first quarter 2026 results, while noting that fuel costs remain a key source of near-term uncertainty.

Bank of America maintained its Buy rating and $45 price objective on the cruise operator, describing the quarter as featuring several positives, including a continuation of earnings momentum, a new $2.5 billion share repurchase program, and updated long-term targets under the companys Propel initiative. The firm noted that first quarter performance included an earnings-per-share and net yield beat, reinforcing recent trends.

At the same time, the banks analysts cautioned that near-term fuel will create earnings volatility, adding that higher energy prices and geopolitical factors could leave some consumers in a wait and see mode. They characterized these pressures as short term and pointed to valuation, stating the shares trade near historical trough levels.

On operations, Bank of America said booking trends have not materially deteriorated, although demand may have been somewhat softer than it otherwise would have been due to macro factors. The company remains about 85% booked for 2026, which the analysts view as providing time for normalization.

The firm also highlighted Carnivals updated Propel targets, which call for more than 50% earnings-per-share growth through 2029 and return on invested capital above 16%. Bank of America estimates this implies a roughly 10% annual EPS growth rate, with capital returns of about $14 billion over the period, equivalent to more than 40% of the companys current market capitalization.

UBS similarly emphasized the strength of the first quarter results and the implications for full-year guidance.

The analysts noted that Carnival raised its fiscal 2026 yield outlook by 25 basis points to 2.75%, mostly passing along the Q1 beat, though it added that the magnitude of the quarterly outperformance was likely ahead of expectations.

The firm also pointed to improved cost performance excluding fuel, with net cruise costs guidance benefiting from first-quarter trends. However, higher fuel prices remain a meaningful offset, with UBS estimating roughly $500 million in additional fuel costs for the year, partially mitigated by about $150 million in stronger operational performance.

Despite these pressures, UBS said Carnival remains on track for approximately $7 billion in EBITDA for fiscal 2026, only modestly below prior expectations, with earnings per share reduced by less than the increase in fuel costs.

Like Bank of America, UBS highlighted the companys long-term targets under the Propel program. The bank said the goal of 50%+ cumulative EPS growth through 2029 implies double-digit annual growth and aligns with expectations for continued improvement in yield and cost metrics. It also underscored plans to return more than 40% of operating cash flow to shareholders, including dividends of over $800 million annually and significant share repurchases.

On demand trends, UBS described bookings as strong, with 2026 occupancy already at about 85% and pricing at historically high levels. Regional trends have been mixed, with stronger recent demand in the Caribbean and Alaska, alongside some shifts in European itineraries, the analysts added.

For the second quarter, UBS noted that guidance reflects the impact of higher fuel prices, with earnings and EBITDA projections coming in below prior expectations that had not yet incorporated the latest increase in energy costs.

Shares of Carnival traded hands at $24 late morning on Monday.
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Steve Darling is an award winning broadcaster who has spent the past 20 years as one of the most recognizable faces in British Columbia, reporting and anchoring at BCTV and Global Television. He spent 15 years as the co-host of the number one morning new program in the province. Steve is a tireless worker for charity hosting some 50 events a year. He is an ambassador for the Canucks Autism Network and hosts numerous events with BC Childrens Hospital and the Child Development foundation of... Read more

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The team delivers news and unique insights across the market including but not confined to: biotech and pharma, mining and natural resources, battery metals, oil and gas, crypto and emerging digital and EV technologies.

Use of technology

Proactive has always been a forward looking and enthusiastic technology adopter.

Our human content creators are equipped with many decades of valuable expertise and experience. The team also has access to and use technologies to assist and enhance workflows.

Proactive will on occasion use automation and software tools, including generative AI. Nevertheless, all content published by Proactive is edited and authored by humans, in line with best practice in regard to content production and search engine optimisation.
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New Delhi, March 30 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to interact with people and party workers in both Assam and Puducherry on Monday, through the NaMo App as part of the outreach programme "Mera Booth Sabse Mazboot Samvaad." New Delhi, March 30 (IANS) Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to interact with people and party workers in both Assam and Puducherry on Monday, through the NaMo App as part of the outreach programme "Mera Booth Sabse Mazboot Samvaad."

The Prime Minister will address participants from Assam at 1 P.M., focusing on key issues related to the upcoming Assembly elections. Later in the day, he will engage with party workers from Puducherry at 5:30 P.M.

In a series of posts on the social media platform X, PM Modi highlighted the developmental progress achieved in Assam over the past decade. He stated that the state has witnessed significant growth across sectors and expressed confidence that voters will support another term for the "double-engine" NDA government.

Speaking about Puducherry, PM Modi said the NDA government has fulfilled the aspirations of the Union Territory over the last five years. He added that this performance would likely translate into continued public support in the upcoming elections.

"Over the last 5 years, the double-engine NDA Government has fulfilled the aspirations of the people of Puducherry. That is why the people of Puducherry are going to bless NDA yet again," he said.

"Looking forward to joining the 'Mera Booth Sabse Mazboot Samvaad - Puducherry' on the 30th at 5:30 PM," PM Modi added.

According to a statement issued on March 27 by the BJP Assam unit, the interaction will enable the Prime Minister to connect directly with grassroots workers and the general public through a digital platform.

The virtual programme is being viewed as a key campaign initiative aimed at strengthening voter outreach and energising party workers ahead of the crucial Assembly elections.

Earlier, on March 1, Prime Minister Modi had dedicated several development projects to the nation and laid the foundation stone for initiatives worth over Rs 2,700 crore in Puducherry. Addressing a gathering during the event, he highlighted the government's focus on promoting spiritual tourism, eco-tourism, and health tourism to elevate the Union Territory's growth trajectory.
New Delhi, March 30 : The Delhi Police have arrested a 47-year-old man from Mysuru, Karnataka, for allegedly sending more than 1,000 hoax threat messages targeting key institutions, including courts, government offices, and educational establishments across the country.

The accused, identified as Srinivas Louis, was apprehended on Thursday from his rented accommodation in Mysuru during a joint operation by Delhi Police and local police teams.

According to officials, several prominent institutions, including the Delhi High Court, Delhi Assembly, and multiple schools and government offices, had received bomb threats over the past few weeks, triggering widespread security alerts and precautionary evacuations.

Police said that all the threats were later found to be hoaxes. Authorities are continuing their investigation to ascertain the motive behind the repeated threats and to determine whether the accused acted alone.

Officials noted that hoax threat calls and messages have become increasingly common, with various organisations, including schools and courts, frequently receiving such warnings that disrupt normal functioning and strain security resources.

Earlier, on March 2, at least three banks and six schools in the national capital received bomb threat emails, prompting authorities to deploy multiple security teams and conduct extensive checks, according to the Delhi Fire Services.

On February 9, several schools across Delhi received bomb threats. The Delhi Fire Service (DFS) reported that the first call was received at 8.33 a.m., after which fire tenders and bomb disposal squads were rushed to the locations.

Such incidents are not limited to Delhi.

On March 17, St Xavier's College in Mahim, Mumbai, received a bomb threat. However, nothing suspicious was found, and police believe it was a hoax. Investigations are ongoing.

In December last year, the Bombay High Court and other courts in Mumbai, including those in Bandra, Andheri, and Esplanade, also received bomb threats, leading to evacuations and deployment of bomb detection units.
Seoul, March 30 : More than 80 per cent of South Korea's teenagers and adults expressed concerns over online abuse involving the misuse of generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools, such as the creation of deepfake videos and disinformation, a poll showed on Monday.

According to the poll conducted from September to November last year on teenagers and adults by the Korea Media and Communications Commission (KMCC), 89.4 per cent of teenagers said they recognise the seriousness of AI-driven cyber violence, while 87.6 per cent of adults said the same.

The survey was conducted on 9,296 students from fourth-grade elementary school to third-year high school, and 7,521 adults aged 19 to 69.

Teenage respondents cited the ease of creating content with AI tools as their top concern, while adults expressed fears over the potential for repeated harm from AI-generated materials.

The poll additionally showed 42.3 per cent of teenagers experienced some form of cyber abuse in 2025, down 0.5 percentage point from a year earlier. The figure for adults came to 15.8 per cent, up 2.3 percentage points over the same period.

By channel, teenagers said they were mainly exposed to cyber abuse via text messages and online gaming platforms, while adults reported similar experiences primarily through text messages or social media.

For both teenagers and adults, strangers accounted for the largest share of abusers, followed by friends, Yonhap news agency reported.

"Cyber abuse is not just an ethical issue online, but an issue that can harm people's dignity and violate the right to happiness as guaranteed by the Constitution," said KMCC Chair Kim Jong-cheol, noting the government will make efforts to promote the healthy use of digital platforms.

Online abuse is the harmful targeting of individuals or groups via digital platforms, including social media, messaging apps, and gaming sites. It includes cyberbullying, doxing, non-consensual sharing of intimate images, hate speech, stalking, and AI-driven deepfake abuse. Such behaviour causes severe psychological, social, and economic damage.
Chennai, March 30 : The makers of director Vignesh Vadivel's bilingual comedy entertainer 'Raawadi', featuring Malayalam actor Basil Joseph and Tamil actor L K Akshay Kumar in the lead roles, have now announced that shooting for the film had been wrapped up.

The production house Seven Screen Studio took to its social media timelines to make the announcement.

It wrote, "It's a wrap for #Raawadi. Summer 2026. @7screenstudio Starring: @basiljoseph25 @lk_akshaykumar @JafferJiky #NobleJames @meshariqhassan7 @chaleswaran #AishwaryaSharma."

Produced by S.S. Lalit Kumar of Seven Screen Studio, the film is being simultaneously made in Tamil and Malayalam with the same title.

A teaser that was released by the makers earlier shows Basil Joseph playing a character called Abbas in the film while L K Akshay plays a character called Prabhu in the full-fledged entertainer.

The teaser makes it evident that the story is set in a college in which Prabhu, who is a senior, calls the shots. From allocating "contracts" to supply liquor to the college hostel block to rallying his group in a mob fight, Prabhu plays a crucial role.

Prabhu's gang comprises a bunch of nitwits such as Kicha (Noble K James) who believes that they are a bunch of bad people and that only bad dreams will come to bad people, an outrageously funny student who is looking to make a bomb called Jolly Joseph (Jaffer Sadiq) and Udhaya (Arunchaleswaran), a kind-hearted, spiritual person who is trying hard to fit into the gang.

It is under these circumstances that Abbas arrives in the college and a problem erupts inside the gang. While one half of the gang believes that Abbas will be able to solve the problem, Prabhu believes Abbas himself is the cause of the problem...

'Raawadi', which marks the directorial debut of Vignesh Vadivel, will also feature John Vijay, Sathyan, Shariq Hassan, and actress Aishwarya Sharma, among others.

On the technical front, the film has cinematography by Leon Britto and music by Jen Martin. Editing is being done by Barath Vikraman, and art direction is being overseen by P. S. Hariharan.

Priya has served as the costume designer, with K. Arun and Manikandan serving as executive producers.

-- Except for the title, this story has not been edited by Prokerala team and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed
New Delhi, March 30 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday paid homage to freedom fighter Shyamji Krishna Varma on his death anniversary, remembering his immense contribution to India's independence movement and his lasting legacy of courage and patriotism.

In a post on X, the Prime Minister said, "Homage to the brave son of Mother India, Shyamji Krishna Varma, on his death anniversary. With his revolutionary ideas, he awakened a new consciousness in the freedom movement. His life and ideals will continue to inspire every generation of the country towards national service."

He further added, "From the life of the great freedom fighter Shyamji Krishna Varma, we receive an extraordinary inspiration of courage and determination. It also instils in the countrymen the sentiment of fulfilling their duties toward the nation."

PM Modi also shared a Sanskrit verse: "Bright and glorious fame, which dazzles the mind with the description of extraordinary feats, is attained only by embracing courage." (loosely translated from Sanskrit)

Union Minister Nitin Gadkari also paid tribute to the revolutionary leader. In his post on X, he said, "Through revolutionary activities, the great revolutionary Shyamji Krishna Varma ji, who energised the resolve for India's independence, was an inspiration for many revolutionaries. On his remembrance day, humble salutations to him."

Shyamji Krishna Varma is remembered as a key figure in India's freedom struggle, known for his intellectual leadership and efforts to inspire nationalist thought among Indians, particularly those living abroad.

He was an Indian revolutionary, patriot, lawyer, and journalist, born on October 4, 1857, in Mandvi, Gujarat. During his time in London, he established the Indian Home Rule Society in 1905, with the aim of encouraging young Indians to actively participate in revolutionary activities against British rule.

Varma also founded India House, which served as a hostel and a hub for Indian students in London, many of whom later became prominent figures in the independence movement. In addition, he launched 'The Indian Sociologist', a journal intended to promote nationalist ideas and motivate youth toward the cause of freedom.

He served as the first president of the Bombay Arya Samaj and is known to have influenced prominent revolutionaries such as Vinayak Damodar Savarkar.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Jaipur, March 30 : Tension has gripped the Mahesh Nagar area in Rajasthan's Jaipur following a dispute over alleged illegal liquor sale, which spiralled into violence, vandalism, and arson.

The police have detained over a dozen individuals and launched an investigation. The incident took place late Sunday night near the Kartarpura drain, where locals have been repeatedly complaining about liquor being sold even after closing hours.

Late Sunday night, residents again objected to the alleged illegal sale, leading to a heated argument between them and the shop operatoras associates.

The situation quickly escalated into a physical clash, with both sides engaging in violence. Several vehicles were vandalised, and a bike was set on fire.

Eyewitnesses said the shop operatoras side called in additional men, intensifying the confrontation. Soon, the mob turned violent. Three motorcycles and a Scorpio were vandalised. One motorcycle was set ablaze right in front of police personnel, and panic spread as residents rushed out of their homes.

A local resident, Ramavatar Saini, sustained injuries during the clash. Police called an ambulance 108, but angry locals briefly blocked it, demanding immediate arrests.

As the situation worsened, police from multiple stations were deployed, including from Mahesh Nagar Police Station, Sodala Police Station, Shiprapath Police Station and Jyoti Nagar Police Station. Senior officers, including ACP Sodala Sunil Kumar and station in-charges from the respective areas, were present on the spot to control the situation.

The situation eased after police intervention, and the injured person was taken to the hospital.

Locals claim they had earlier complained about late-night liquor sales at the outlet, but no strict action was taken, allowing the issue to persist. Police have detained several suspects and are identifying others involved in the violence, said police officials, assuring that strict action will be taken against those responsible for vandalism and arson.
New Delhi, March 30 : Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has emphasised the importance of a balanced and responsive World Trade Organization (WTO) that effectively addresses the needs and aspirations of all members, particularly developing countries and Least Developed Countries (LDCs).

Goyal had valuable discussions with Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director-General of the WTO, as part of engagements at the 14th WTO Ministerial Conference (MC14) held in Yaounde, Cameroon.

"Acknowledged her continued efforts in building consensus for a successful MC14," Goyal said in a post on X.

He also congratulated Prime Minister Joseph Dion Ngute and Trade Minister Luc Magloire Mbarga Atangana for the successful hosting of the 14th WTO Ministerial Conference in Cameroon.

"I am carrying back with me beautiful memories of the warm hospitality of the Cameroonian people, their wonderful culture, and the picturesque landscapes," the minister said.

On the sidelines of the conference, Goyal held a bilateral meeting with EU Trade Commissioner, Maros Sefcovic.

Both sides exchanged views on MC-14 agenda, reviewed progress of the work underway on the signing of the recently concluded India-EU FTA as well as explored options for further enhancing bilateral trade and economic cooperation, according to an official statement.

Goyal and Sefcovic agreed on the necessity of WTO reforms. They also exchanged views on the issue of moratorium on customs duties on electronic transmission as well as incorporation of the Investment Facilitation for Development Agreement.

Goyal also held a bilateral meeting with Maninder Sidhu, Minister of International Trade of Canada. The discussion focused on expediting the recently launched India-Canada CEPA negotiations.

Outside the FTA framework, both sides also agreed to develop a diversified sectoral engagement strategy and expand cooperation in shipbuilding, pharmaceuticals, tourism, and the education sector.

Sidhu extended a warm welcome to Goyal for his upcoming visit to Canada in May 2026, leading a major Indian business delegation.

Goyal also held a bilateral meeting with the UK Secretary of State for Business and Trade, Peter J. Kyle.

Both sides exchanged views on MC-14 agenda and reviewed progress of the implementation of the India-UK CETA signed in July 2025 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

IANS

na/
Chennai, March 30 : With the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections drawing closer, the ruling DMK and the opposition AIADMK have released comprehensive election manifestos, packed with welfare-oriented promises aimed at key voter groups, particularly women, farmers, and low-income households.

The DMK, which had made 505 promises in the 2021 elections, has expanded its commitments to 525 assurances this time. In comparison, the AIADMK, seeking a return to power, has announced 297 promises, focusing on a mix of welfare schemes and targeted subsidies.

A major highlight of both manifestos is the emphasis on women-centric schemes.

Chief Minister M.K. Stalin announced that homemakers from non-income tax-paying families would receive Rs 8,000 coupons to purchase or replace essential household appliances. The DMK has also promised to double the monthly financial assistance for women from Rs 1,000 to Rs 2,000.

Meanwhile, AIADMK General Secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami has pledged that free refrigerators will be provided to ration card holders if the party forms the government. Additionally, under the aKula Vilakkua scheme, the AIADMK has proposed a Rs 2,000 subsidy for all family card holders, positioning it as a direct benefit to households across the state.

Both parties have made overlapping promises in the social welfare sector.

They have assured an increase in old-age pension from Rs 1,200 to Rs 2,000 and a hike in fishing ban relief assistance from Rs 8,000 to Rs 12,000.

For persons with disabilities, Stalin has proposed raising the allowance to Rs 2,500, while Palaniswami has committed to increasing it to Rs 2,000.

In the education sector, the DMK has pledged to distribute free laptops to 35 lakh students pursuing higher education over the next five years. The AIADMK has also included a similar proposal, promising laptops for students studying in government and government-aided colleges.

Housing and rural development feature prominently in both manifestos. The DMK has committed to constructing 10 lakh houses within five years, while the AIADMK has promised free housing for homeless families under its aAmma Illama scheme.

Farmers have also been targeted with key promises, including raising the minimum support price of paddy to Rs 3,500 per quintal and sugarcane to Rs 4,500 per tonne.

In healthcare, Stalin has proposed increasing the income ceiling for insurance eligibility to Rs 5 lakh and coverage to Rs 10 lakh, while Palaniswami has assured full government funding for major treatments such as heart surgeries and cancer care.

Both parties have reiterated their opposition to certain aspects of the National Education Policy and pledged to protect Tamil Naduas rights. They have also promised to push for moving education back to the State List.

As campaigning gains momentum, the manifestos underscore a fierce electoral contest driven by welfare politics and competitive populism.
Kolkata, March 30 : A second round of reshuffle in the lowest levels of the bureaucratic and police administration pyramids in poll-bound West Bengal is likely to be announced by the Election Commission of India (ECI) this week.

An insider from the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), West Bengal, said that this second round of reshuffles will also be at the level of block development officers (BDOs), which is the lowest level of the bureaucratic pyramid, and inspectors of police, which is the lowest level in the gazetted police administration pyramid.

The BDOs also act as the returning officers (ROs) in a poll-bound state. In the case of police inspectors, although in most states this rank is a non-gazetted post, West Bengal is one of the seven states which has accorded gazetted status to the post.

Already on Sunday, the first round of reshuffle in the lowest levels of bureaucratic and administrative pyramids in the state was initiated by the ECI, which ordered the transfer of 83 BDOs/ROs and 184 inspector-ranking officers in both West Bengal Police and Kolkata Police, who had been operating as either officers-in-charge or inspectors-in-charge at the police station levels.

Since the announcement of the two-phase polling schedule for West Bengal on March 15, the ECI has periodically issued transfer orders for bureaucrats and police officers at different levels.

The transfer process began with top-ranking bureaucrats such as the Chief Secretary and Home Secretary, and Director Generals and Additional Director Generals in the case of the police.

In the second phase, transfers were carried out for mid-level officers such as District Magistrates in the case of the bureaucracy and Deputy Inspector Generals, Superintendents, and Deputy Commissioners in the police administration.

The third and final phase of transfers has now begun for the lower levels in the administrative hierarchy, that is, the BDOs in general administration and Inspectors in the police administration.

The Trinamool Congress leadership, including West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, has already accused the ECI of resorting to such large-scale transfers of bureaucrats and police personnel at the behest of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Last week, a hearing was completed at the Calcutta High Court on a public interest litigation challenging the transfers ordered by the ECI. However, the judgment in the matter has been reserved.
New Delhi, March 30 : Activist Sharjeel Imam, an accused in the alleged larger conspiracy behind the 2020 North-East Delhi riots, is set to surrender before Tihar Jail authorities on Monday as his interim bail period comes to an end.

Imam, who was granted 10-day interim bail by the Karkardooma Court from March 20 to March 30, left his native village Kako in Bihar's Jehanabad district earlier this morning and is expected to reach Delhi by evening to comply with the court's directive.

Speaking to IANS, his brother Mujammil Imam shared his thoughts on the development, saying, "He was granted an eleven-day parole, and today is the last day. He has to surrender by the evening. It was a very short span, and it hurts that it has come to an end, but it was a good time he spent with family and friends. I hope he will get bail in the near future and return to us."

The bail was granted on family grounds, allowing him to attend his younger brother's wedding and take care of his ailing mother. The court had imposed strict conditions during the parole period, including restrictions on media interaction and the use of social media platforms.

Imam, who has been in custody for over five years, had sought interim bail citing his responsibilities as the sole sibling managing the wedding arrangements, along with supporting his family during a difficult time, particularly due to his mother's ill health.

He is an accused in the larger conspiracy case linked to the February 2020 riots in Delhi that left 53 people dead and more than 700 injured. The violence erupted during the widespread protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA).

The Delhi Police have said that Imam was involved in the mobilisation and radicalisation through organised blockage of arterial roads and disruption of essential services.

His surrender later in the day marks the end of a brief respite during which he was able to reunite with his family, even as legal proceedings in the case continue.
Kolkata, March 30 : A section of actors in the Bengali film and television industry on Monday demanded an investigation into the death of actor Rahul Arunoday Banerjee, who tragically passed away while shooting at Talsari beach in Odisha.

Actors Sudipta Chakraborty and Rupanjana Mitra have become vocal in demanding a comprehensive and impartial investigation into his death.

Rupanjana Mitra lashed out on her Instagram Stories following Rahul's death. She asserted, "Filming is taking place without any safety measures; the industry must be held accountable for this. This can no longer be swept under the rug. The so-called Bengali film industry is not a safe environment for artists. Countless artists have worked in this trade, constantly risking their lives. Arunoday was a highly professional artist. Filming was underway at the time. May God not spare those responsible."

On the other hand, Sudipta Chakraborty, a member of the West Bengal Motion Pictures Artistes' Forum, posted on social media demanding an investigation. She wrote, "I demand a comprehensive and impartial police investigation into the unnatural death at the shooting spot."

Rupsa Guha is a familiar face in the television industry. She, too, initially could not believe the news of Rahul's death. Later, in a Facebook post, she raised a direct question: "Did he fall from the boat, or did he get swept away into the deeper currents of the sea while walking -- during shooting for a drone shot? That is my only question. There is no transparency. We demand transparency."

On Sunday, the 42-year-old actor was shooting for the television series 'Bhole Baba Paar Karega'. He entered the water at Talsari, just as the tide came in. Reports suggest that he was swept away at that very moment. Technicians subsequently pulled him out of the water. Preliminary reports indicate that his death was caused by drowning. It is reported that he was rushed to a hospital at Digha in the East Midnapore district of West Bengal. However, he passed away before reaching the facility.

A post-mortem examination will be carried out at Tamluk hospital on Monday afternoon. His body will be handed over to his family later in the day.

A case of unnatural death has been registered at the Digha Police Station.

The tragic incident has brought the entire Bengali film and television industry to a standstill. Fellow actors, directors and technicians have expressed shock at the tragic death of the actor.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday evening condoled the death. He was best known for his blockbuster Bengali film, 'Chirodini Tumi Je Amar'. The actor is survived by his mother, his wife, actor Priyanka Sarkar and his 13-year-old son.

Rahul, known in the Bengali television industry for his character roles, had been active in soaps for several years.

He shot to fame with his role in the blockbuster 'Chirodini tumi je amar' in 2008, followed by hits such as 'Tumi asbe bole' (2014), 'Zulfiqar' (2016), 'Byomkesh Gotro' (2018), 'Biday Byomkesh' (2018), 'The Academy of Fine Arts' (2025), among others. He had acted in TV serials such as 'Hargouri pice hotel' and 'Mohonna'.
Phnom Penh, March 30 : The National Assembly of Cambodia on Monday passed a draft law on combating online scams, which will deliver up to 30 years or life imprisonment to scam bosses.

A total of 112 lawmakers in attendance unanimously approved the draft bill.

According to the bill, online scam bosses will face between 15 and 30 years or life imprisonment if their operations lead to one or many deaths.

Ringleaders of online scam centres will face between five and 10 years in prison and a fine of up to 1 billion riels ($250,000), and they will face between 10 and 20 years in jail and a fine of up to 2 billion riels ($500,000) if their operations are found to involve violence, torture, illegal confinement, human trafficking, or forced labor.

Online scammers will be imprisoned between two and five years with a fine of up to 500 million riels ($125,000).

Deputy Prime Minister and Justice Minister Koeut Rith said Cambodia was one of many countries in the region that criminals had used to operate online scams.

"This crime has not only seriously affected public security and order, but also badly damaged Cambodia's reputation and image on the international stage," he told the parliament.

Koeut Rith said the law would "enhance the effectiveness of the fight against online scams, aiming at safeguarding security and public order as well as enhancing the effectiveness of cooperation in combating online scams."

The draft bill will need to be finally reviewed by the Senate before being submitted to King Norodom Sihamoni for promulgation.

The kingdom has launched an unprecedented nationwide crackdown on cyber scam networks to maintain social security, safety, and public order, and to restore the kingdom's image on the international stage, Xinhua news agency reported.

The Southeast Asian country is committed to eradicating all online scam centres by April this year.

Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Sar Sokha said in February that Cambodia had deported more than 30,000 suspected foreign scammers, as over 210,000 others had voluntarily left the kingdom after operations against online scams had intensified since June 2025.
Jakarta/Beirut, March 30 : One Indonesian national was killed after an Israeli artillery shelling targeted the headquarters of the Indonesian unit serving with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) in the southern village of Adshit al-Qusayr.

Preliminary reports on Sunday (local time) said there were injuries among UNIFIL personnel, while UNIFIL helicopters were seen heading to the targeted site following the shelling, reports Xinhua, quoting the local media.

The attack comes amid continued exchanges of fire along the Lebanon-Israel border and rising tensions in southern Lebanon.

UNIFIL, in a statement on X, said, "A peacekeeper was tragically killed last night when a projectile exploded in a UNIFIL position near Adchit Al Qusayr. Another was critically injured. No one should ever lose their life serving the cause of peace."

"Once again, we call on all actors to uphold their obligations under international law and to ensure the safety and security of UN personnel and property at all times, including by refraining from actions that may put peacekeepers in danger," it said.

"Deliberate attacks on peacekeepers are grave violations of international humanitarian law and of Security Council Resolution 1701, and may amount to war crimes... Too many lives have been lost on both sides of the Blue Line in this conflict. There is no military solution. The violence must end," it added.

Indonesia confirmed that one of its peacekeepers was killed in Adchit Al Qusayr, and condemned the incident, calling for a "thorough and transparent investigation".

In a statement, the Indonesian Foreign Ministry said, "The Government of the Republic of Indonesia expresses its deepest condolences following the death of one Indonesian peacekeeper and the injury of three others serving with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL)."

"We are profoundly saddened by this loss. We pay our highest respect to the fallen peacekeeper for his dedication and service to international peace and security. Our thoughts and prayers are with the bereaved family, and we wish a full and swift recovery to the injured personnel. Indonesia is working with UNIFIL to ensure the prompt repatriation of the fallen and the best possible medical treatment for the injured," the Ministry said.

Indonesia reiterated its "condemnation of Israel's attacks in southern Lebanon" and called on all the parties to respect Lebanon's sovereignty and territorial integrity, cease attacks against civilian populations and infrastructure, and return to dialogue and diplomacy to prevent further escalation.
Mumbai, March 30 : Veteran star Anil Kapoor and his wife Sunita Kapoor have been brimming with joy ever since their elder daughter and actress Sonam Kapoor announced the arrival of her second baby.

The proud parents of Sonam took to their respective social media accounts to express their joy as they welcomed their second grandson.

Taking to his social media, Anil Kapoor expressed his overwhelming happiness in a heartfelt note.

Sharing his emotions, he wrote, "And just like that my heart has grown even bigger. Welcome to the world, my little one, you are already so deeply loved. Vayu, you're a big brother now and I know you'll be amazing. Thank you, Sonam and Anand Nana's heart is full. Welcome to the madness, my babywelcome to a lifetime of love."

Echoing similar sentiments, Sonam's mother and Anil's wife, Sunita Kapoor also shared her joy over the growing family.

She posted, "Twice the Love, Twice the Joy, So blessed to welcome our second grandson into the family.. Heart overflowing with love and Gratitude".

On the night of 29th of March, announcing the arrival of their second child, Sonam Kapoor and Anand Ahuja had shared a joint note on their social media account.

The post read, "With immense gratitude and hearts full of love, we are delighted to announce the arrival of our baby boy today, 29th of March 2026. Our family has grown, and with his arrival, our hearts have expanded in the most beautiful way. Vayu is overjoyed to welcome his little brother, and we feel deeply blessed by this precious new life who has filled our home with happiness and grace. We are grateful to begin this beautiful new chapter as a family of four. With love, Sonam, Anand & Vayu."

Talking about Sonam and Anand, the couple got married in 2018 and are parents to a four year-old boy, Vaayu.

IANS

rd/

-- Except for the title, this story has not been edited by Prokerala team and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed
Bengaluru, March 30 : Leader of Opposition in the Karnataka Assembly R. Ashoka on Monday alleged that Karnataka has become a hub for drug activities due to what he termed as the "misgovernance" of the Congress government.

In a media statement, he claimed that the situation in the state has deteriorated to such an extent that the "sandalwood land" of Karnataka is now witnessing a surge in drug-related incidents.

Citing recent cases, Ashoka listed a series of drug seizures across the state. According to him, drugs worth Rs 2 crore were seized on February 10, followed by a major haul of Rs 21 crore on February 18. He also referred to seizures reported in Puttur town in Mangaluru district on February 20 and the busting of a drug factory in Mysuru on February 25. Further, drugs worth Rs 5 crore were seized on February 27, while another consignment valued at Rs 12 crore was reportedly recovered in Hunsur town in Mysuru district on March 28.

It can be noted that CM Siddaramaiah hails from Mysuru district.

Ashoka criticised the administration led by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, describing it as "Tughlaq-style governance", and alleged that the spread of narcotics has affected youth across the state, putting their future at risk.

He further accused the government of failing to maintain law and order, claiming that the situation has "collapsed" under its watch. Targeting Home Minister G. Parameshwara, Ashoka said that despite the rising concerns, the minister appeared unaware and inactive.

Raising serious allegations, the BJP leader questioned whether the Congress government was indirectly protecting drug networks in the state, adding that the developments have created widespread concern among the public.

Ashoka further said farmers and the general public have been severely affected by unseasonal rains in several parts of Karnataka and urged the state government to take up immediate relief measures.

He said districts including Mangaluru, Chikkamagaluru, Madikeri, Mysuru, Mandya and Hassan have witnessed widespread damage due to heavy rains. Arecanut, rubber and coconut plantations have been uprooted, while several houses have also been damaged, he added.

Ashoka called on the government to conduct an immediate survey of the affected areas. He said officials from the Revenue and Agriculture Departments should visit rain-hit regions without delay and carry out a detailed assessment of crop losses and damage to property.

He further demanded that the government announce higher compensation for farmers who have lost commercial crops such as arecanut and rubber, stressing that the relief should be determined on scientific grounds.

Highlighting the plight of families who have lost their homes, Ashoka urged the government to provide immediate temporary relief and financial assistance for reconstruction.

He also pointed out that fallen trees have damaged electric poles in several areas, disrupting the power supply. He called for urgent restoration work to ensure normalcy for the public.

Stating that farmers are in distress, Ashoka urged the government to act swiftly without delay and undertake relief operations on a war footing to support those affected.

-- Syndicated from IANS
Mumbai, March 30 : An FIR has been registered against two individuals for allegedly storing and using domestic LPG cylinders illegally for commercial purposes at a hotel in the Kalbadevi area of Mumbai.

According to the LT Marg Police, both accused -- Harish Mehta and Prakash Purohit -- have been booked under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and the Essential Commodities Act. Further investigation into the matter is currently underway.

Acting on specific information, a rationing officer conducted a raid at the Laxmi Vilas Hindu Hotel located in the Kalbadevi area. During the inspection, it was found that domestic LPG cylinders were being illegally stored and used in the hotel kitchen for commercial purposes without valid authorisation or a license.

Police officials stated that one empty domestic gas cylinder was recovered from the premises, while another filled cylinder had already been seized earlier and deposited at the police station.

The hotel manager, identified as Prakash Hansaram Purohit (28), failed to produce valid documents or permits for the use of the cylinders. The hotel owner, Harish Mehta, has also been named in the case for his alleged involvement.

Officials noted that such violations are increasingly coming to light, raising concerns about the misuse of subsidised LPG cylinders meant for domestic use.

Earlier, on March 28, amid concerns over a shortage of cooking gas cylinders in Mumbai, a major theft was reported from the Charkop area of Kandivali West. Unidentified thieves allegedly stole 27 LPG cylinders from a delivery vehicle after breaking into it.

According to officials, the incident occurred on the intervening night of March 25 and 26. The accused had targeted a tempo used for gas distribution and fled with 27 cylinders, including five filled and 22 empty ones.

Mumbai Police had confirmed that a case has been registered at Charkop Police Station against unknown persons, and efforts are ongoing to identify and apprehend the culprits.

The complainant, Nandkumar Ramraj Soni (35), a resident of Jai Janata Nagar in Malad West, had been working as a delivery agent with Shriji Gas Service in Charkop for the past seven years. He delivers LPG cylinders door-to-door using a tempo, which serves as the primary source of livelihood for his family.

Similar cases have also been reported in Delhi.

On March 26, in a major enforcement action under the Essential Commodities Act and the BNS, the Delhi Police Crime Branch unearthed an illegal operation involving the hoarding and misuse of LPG cylinders in the Ranhola area of Outer Delhi.

A total of 459 empty gas cylinders, including 175 Bharat Petroleum and 284 Indane cylinders, were seized during the raid. Officials said the operation was carried out by the Western Range-I unit of the Crime Branch based on credible intelligence inputs, exposing large-scale unauthorised storage and alleged black marketing of LPG cylinders.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Mumbai, March 30 : Amid the resounding success of "Dhurandhar", author Harinder Sikka has expressed regret over the cinematic adaptation of his 2008 espionage novel Calling Sehmat, which inspired the 2018 film "Raazi" starring Alia Bhatt and directed by Meghna Gulzar.

Mumbai, March 30 (IANS) Amid the resounding success of "Dhurandhar", author Harinder Sikka has expressed regret over the cinematic adaptation of his 2008 espionage novel Calling Sehmat, which inspired the 2018 film "Raazi" starring Alia Bhatt and directed by Meghna Gulzar.

Sikka took to X, where he first shared a picture of a stack of books such as "An Indian Spy In Pakistan", "Plot, Lies & Deceit Pulwama & Balakot", "Terrorism and Insurgency", "Calling Sehmat", "Mission Overseas", "The Unending Game" and "The Spy Chronicles".

A text overlay read: "Dhurandhar 2 gave you a cinematic glimpse. Here's where the real story begins."

Sikka said the book continues to rank among the most impactful espionage works globally, adding that it sheds light on cross-border tensions, hostile elements within the film industry, and criminal networks rooted in Punjab. However, he believes the film failed to capture the essence of the original narrative.

"Calling Sehmat #Raazi ranks among the top books on espionage ever written, globally. It exposes Pakistan across border, hostile forces in Bollywood & a Punjab-based criminals within," he wrote on X, formerly called Twitter.

Calling the decision to bring Meghna Gulzar on board his "gravest misjudgment", the author said that despite receiving clear warnings, he did not anticipate how ideological bias would dilute the protagonist's true spirit on screen.

"Appointing Meghna Gulzar was my gravest misjudgment. Despite clear warnings, I failed to foresee how ideological bias would end up diminishing the true spirit of the protagonist," he added.

Reflecting on the journey of Calling Sehmat, Sikka noted that nearly two decades since its release, the book continues to resonate with readers worldwide and remains among bestsellers.

"Nearly two decades later, the book continues to leave its mark across the world. Penguin best sellers; Vichhoda, Gobind, The Chabimaster are being scripted, for our beautiful nation deserves to see the complete truth," added Sikka.

Raazi also stars Vicky Kaushal, Rajit Kapur, Shishir Sharma, and Jaideep Ahlawat. The film is an adaptation of Sikka's 2008 novel Calling Sehmat, a true account of an Indian Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) agent who, upon her father's request, is married into a family of military officers in Pakistan to relay information to India, prior to the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971.
Pune, March 30 : Maharashtra Industries Minister Uday Samant on Monday announced that the government will launch a special drive to provide immediate Piped Natural Gas (PNG) connections to industries upon request.

He also directed all government departments to coordinate and organise special camps for this purpose. Minister Samant's announcement comes amid a reported shortage of LPG cylinders. The supply of gas cylinders to industries has been suspended, causing a significant impact on industrial operations in the state.

Minister Samant conducted a review meeting with district industries at the Collector's Office on the emerging situation due to the ongoing war in West Asia. During the meeting, Minister Samant stated, "Maintaining the production capacity of industries during the current war situation is crucial for the state's economy. Since natural gas is a cost-effective, safe, and eco-friendly energy source for industries, no unit should face hurdles due to a lack of gas connections. Therefore, the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC), gas distribution companies and the district administration must work together to ensure PNG connections reach every eligible industry."

A dedicated campaign is being launched to facilitate PNG connections for industries. Minister Samant explained that this initiative will focus on organising district-wise and industrial estate-wise special camps, simplifying the application process for businesses, conducting rapid technical inspections and expediting the clearance of pending applications.

"This campaign is expected to be a significant step towards fostering a business-friendly environment," he remarked.

The Minister clarified that priority is being given to domestic consumers for LPG cylinder supply. The supply of commercial LPG cylinders is being managed, according to Central government guidelines.

Minister Samant warned that the district administration will take strict action against distributors who create artificial shortages or engage in black marketing. Citizens are encouraged to report such activities immediately by calling the toll-free number 112.

Earlier, the state Food and Civil Supply Minister Chhagan Bhujbal on Saturday urged the Centre to provide technical assistance and financial backing to accelerate the expansion of the Piped Natural Gas (PNG) network across the state. He was speaking during the high-level joint meeting convened by the Centre to discuss increasing the availability of clean fuel and the time-bound expansion of the PNG network for residential and commercial sectors, especially amid the ongoing Iran-Israel war.

Minister Bhujbal said that PNG facilities should be made mandatory in all new housing projects to ensure rapid adoption, adding that dedicated campaigns should be launched to provide connections in older residential areas. He further stated that expanding PNG use in hotels, restaurants, and small-scale industries is vital to reducing costs and providing eco-friendly alternatives. Licensing and connection processes must be simplified.
Mumbai, March 30 : The Shiv Sena Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray (UBT) on Monday said the BJP-led Mahayuti government should provide transparency regarding the country's energy reserves instead of threatening citizens with legal action for allegedly spreading rumours and misinformation.

The Thackeray camp in the party's mouthpiece 'Saamana' editorial alleged that the current wave of panic reportedly originated in Gujarat, the home state of the Prime Minister and Home Minister. "Long queues stretching several kilometres have been observed at petrol pumps and gas agencies across Gujarat, with citizens attempting to stockpile fuel in blue water drums. This public anxiety is rooted in past experiences, such as Demonetisation and the COVID-19 lockdowns, where citizens in Gujarat appeared to receive information before the rest of the country. Consequently, the current rush in Gujarat has triggered a fear psychosis in Maharashtra that a lockdown is imminent," it said.

Despite Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis's assurances that "all is well", the ground reality suggests otherwise, as approximately 50 per cent of hotels and dhabas in Mumbai and across Maharashtra have reportedly closed due to the gas shortage. The foundry industry in Western Maharashtra has come to a standstill, while 500 tile-manufacturing companies in Morbi, Gujarat, have shut down. Some businesses have been forced to revert to using firewood and coal to maintain limited operations, claimed the editorial.

According to the editorial, the crisis is heavily influenced by the Iran-Israel conflict, which has disrupted the Strait of Hormuz -- a critical maritime route for 60 per cent of India's LPG imports. While the government claims to have a 60-day stock of fuel and a one-month supply of LPG, public trust remains low.

"This scepticism is further fuelled by contradictory statements from within the administration. Chief Minister Fadnavis maintains there is no shortage. Food and Civil Supplies Minister Chhagan Bhujbal has warned that LPG supplies could potentially stop within three months. The government recently decided to resume the distribution of kerosene, which critics point to as a sign of a genuine fuel deficit. Even on a serious issue like fuel shortage, there is no coordination in the talks among the responsible people in power. This causes confusion among the public and allows rumours to flourish," said the editorial.

The Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena demanded that to quell rumours and prevent hoarding, the government should make public data with regard to daily supply figures and current stock status of petrol, diesel, and gas, the number of vessels successfully navigating the Strait of Hormuz to reach Indian ports and alternative routes and contingency plans for LPG imports.

The Thackeray camp claimed that the prevailing sentiment is that the government's current "soft" approach is temporary, intended to last only until the upcoming Assembly elections in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Assam, and Puducherry. It warned that unless the government replaces threats with transparency, the vacuum of trust will continue to be filled by rumours. It further remarked that the spread of rumours is equivalent to the trust in the government vanishing into thin air.
New Delhi, March 30 : BJP national President Nitin Nabin on Monday announced his resignation as the elected Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) from Bankipur constituency in Bihar.

Sharing the development in a detailed post on X, he addressed party workers and the people of Bihar, reflecting on his two-decade-long political journey and expressing gratitude for the continued support he had received over the years.

Reflecting on his political journey, Nabin said: "All my family members and party worker comrades from Bankipur and Bihar, After the sudden demise of my father in January 2006, the party gave me the opportunity to contest the by-election from Patna West, and on April 27, 2006, I was elected for the first time from the Patna West constituency, marking the beginning of my social and political life."

He added: "Over the past 20 years, I have made continuous efforts to nurture, beautify, and advance this constituency - built by my father, the late Nawin Kishore Prasad Sinha - with a familial spirit on the platform of development. I have always worked with dedication for the development of my area and Bihar. As a result, the god-like people here have blessed me with the fortune of service by electing me as their representative to the House for five consecutive terms. Whether inside the House or outside, I have used both platforms to raise the voice of my area and the people of Bihar and to find ways to resolve their problems."

Speaking about his experience in the Assembly and as a minister, he said: "As a member of the Bihar Legislative Assembly, I had the opportunity to learn a great deal from many senior MLAs on both the ruling side and the opposition. I have resolved many important issues in my area based on suggestions from the people and workers.

"Under the leadership of the Honourable Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi ji and the Honourable Chief Minister Shri Nitish Kumar ji, when the party gave me the opportunity to serve as a minister in the Bihar government, I succeeded in implementing several key decisions, policies, and schemes. For this, I express my gratitude to the Honourable Chief Minister ji," he added.

Announcing his resignation, Nabin said: "Today, I am resigning from my position as the elected member from the Bankipur constituency of the Bihar Legislative Assembly."

Nabin said that through the new role the party had given him, he would remain fully committed to the development of his area and Bihar. He added that the unbreakable bond he shared with his workers and the people of Bihar would endure forever, continually providing him with energy, inspiration, and guidance.

He further stated that under the leadership of PM Modi, he would continue to strive tirelessly toward realising the vision of a developed India and a developed Bihar by 2047.

He concluded by sending his salutations to Bankipur and expressing his heartfelt regard for Bihar.

Nabin's resignation marks a major political shift in Bankipur, where he has been a five-time MLA.

He was appointed as the National President of the BJP on January 20. He took over from Union Minister J.P. Nadda.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Bhopal, March 30 : Chief Minister Mohan Yadav on Monday presided over a major incentive distribution ceremony organised by the MSME Department and announced the release of over Rs 169 crore as assistance to industries and startups.

During the event, the government cleared the final dividend of Rs 8 crore for the Madhya Pradesh Laghu Udyog Nigam for the years 2020-2024.

Additionally, Rs 16.95 crore was disbursed as Investment Assistance to 257 industrial units, while Rs 8.6 crore was released as administrative assistance.

The first instalment of these funds is being transferred immediately through DBT (direct benefit transfer). Three industrial units received land allotment orders, and one unit was given an assistance letter under the Chief Ministeras Enterprise Scheme. Each of these four units will also receive a grant of Rs 5 lakh.

Highlighting the progress made in the last year under his guidance, the Chief Ministeras administration informed that the land allotment process has been fully digitised. While only 500 allotments were made from 2019 to 2024, the state has already completed more than 1,100 allotments in 2025 alone.

The number of startups in the state has increased to 7,200. Over Rs 3,000 crore has been disbursed as Investment Promotion Assistance in the last two years.

Under the 'Mukhyamantri Udyog Kranti Yojana', against a target of 8,000 beneficiaries this year, the state has already covered 10,473 beneficiaries, achieving 131 per cent of the target.

The Chief Minister announced that the budget for industrial incentives under the Udyog Kranti Yojana and related schemes, which stood at around Rs 8,000 crore last year, will be scaled up significantly to Rs 28,000 crore in the coming years.

This massive increase reflects the governmentas strong commitment to rapid industrialisation.

CM Yadav also declared the upcoming year as the aYear of Farmer Welfarea and said joint agriculture-industry conferences will be organised to promote food processing units so that farmers get better prices for their produce through local value addition.

The entire backlog of pending subsidies since 2019 has been cleared, and the process of releasing fresh incentives will continue on a quarterly basis without delay, the chief minister said.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
March 30 : Lucknow: Governments efforts for the Rabi Marketing Year 2026-27 are receiving strong support from farmers. Wheat procurement in UP will begin on Monday and continue until June 15. Even before the procurement starts, more than 2.24 lakh farmers have registered to sell their produce. To ensure a smooth process, 3,574 procurement centers have already been set up across the state. Minimum Support Price (MSP) for wheat has been fixed at 2,585 per quintal, which is 160 higher than last year.

A total of 6,500 procurement centers will be set up in the state by eight agencies, including Food Department's marketing branch. On the instructions of Yogi government, work has been expedited. Although procurement will begin on Monday, 3,574 centers have already been made operational. These centers will remain open from 9 AM to 6 PM. CM Yogi Adityanath has strictly directed that farmers visiting the centers should not face any inconvenience. Considering the weather, arrangements for shade, drinking water and seating must be ensured.

Farmers have produced a good crop this year, supported by Agriculture Departments provision of adequate quality seeds. Government has instructed that sufficient procurement be ensured so that farmers do not suffer any losses. While the Food and Civil Supplies Department initially set a target of 30 lakh metric tonnes, CM has increased it to 50 lakh metric tonnes. He has also directed that payments be made to farmers within 48 hours through DBT. To eliminate middlemen, entire system has been made online.

Farmers who have not yet registered or renewed their registration for wheat sale can do so on the portal fcs.up.gov.in or through the UP Kisan Mitra mobile app. Registration on the portal/app is mandatory for selling wheat. In case of any issues during procurement, farmers can contact toll-free number 18001800150, where officials will ensure prompt resolution.

Key Highlights

Wheat procurement period: March 30 to June 15

MSP: 2,585 per quintal

Registered farmers: 2,24,676

Total procurement centers planned: 6,500

Centers established so far: 3,574

Additional payment for handling/cleaning: 20 per quintal
March 30 : Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh governments ambitious Kanya Sumangala Yojana has become a powerful tool for securing the future of daughters. In this context, the final installment under the scheme has been released to 23 students from Amethi after they enrolled in undergraduate courses, giving new direction and strength to their aspirations.

For these students, this is not just financial assistance but an important step toward confidence and self-reliance. Earlier, many families were forced to discontinue their daughters education due to financial constraints, but this scheme has helped change that mindset.

Today, these daughters are moving toward higher education and becoming an inspiration for their families and society.

Under the Kanya Sumangala Yojana, financial assistance is provided at key educational stages in a girls life. The amount is disbursed in six stages - from birth to graduation - and has been increased to 25,000 in 2024-25. The funds are directly transferred to the beneficiarys bank account.

The initiative aims not only to promote girls education but also to reduce the financial burden on families and encourage them to invest in their daughters bright futures.

The success of these 23 students from Amethi proves that when timely support is provided, daughters can excel in any field. These students are now more aware of their career paths and are moving toward self-reliance.

A positive shift is also visible within families. Where daughters education was once not prioritized, the mindset is now changing, with government support encouraging families to educate and empower their daughters.

Under the leadership of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, the Kanya Sumangala Yojana is proving to be a significant step toward womens empowerment. It has not only provided financial assistance but has also fostered a positive attitude toward daughters in society.

The story of these 23 girls from Amethi sends a clear message: given the right opportunities and support, every daughter can achieve her dreams. This scheme is not just financial aid. It is the foundation of a stronger, educated, and self-reliant society.
March 30 : Lucknow: At a grand event held at Lok Bhavan in Lucknow, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath distributed appointment letters to 665 selected nursing officers. The joy among the candidates was clearly visible.

One by one, they came forward to share their experiences and appreciated the transparency and fairness of the selection process. They said that under CM Yogi Adityanaths leadership, equal opportunities are being provided to all, irrespective of caste, religion, or regional differences.

Priyanka Singh from Mohanlalganj, Lucknow, said that she felt proud to secure the first rank due to the transparent examination process. She explained how positive reforms ensured complete fairness in the exam. Calling her meeting with Chief Minister a dream come true, she became emotional while recalling the support of her family, especially her elder brother.

Sandhya Singh from Sultanpur said, The two-stage examination process was entirely transparent. Its most important feature, she noted, was that only deserving candidates were selected. She expressed gratitude to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and officials, calling it a proud moment in her life.

Anamika Yadav from Mainpuri praised Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath wholeheartedly. Referring to the strict security arrangements at examination centers, she said, There was no possibility of any malpractice. She described it as a reflection of the governments honesty and merit-based selection system.

I had a misconception about UP earlier, but under CM Yogi it has developed remarkably: Sharima Siddiqui

Sharima Siddiqui told Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, I am truly a great admirer of yours. I was earlier in the army, and after retiring, I had no plans to settle in Uttar Pradesh. I had a misconception about the state, but under your leadership over the past few years, it has developed beautifully and impressively. We are progressing a lot. Thank you very much for this.

A moment of pride and happiness: Akanksha

Akanksha described receiving the appointment letter as one of the proudest moments of her life. She said that the transparent examination ensured that only deserving candidates were given opportunities.

All candidates present at the event unanimously appreciated the fairness and transparency of the examination process. This selection process has conveyed a clear message that hard work and merit are now the true basis of success in government recruitment.

The appointment letter distribution event was not just about offering jobs, but also about strengthening the confidence of the youth. The voices of the selected nursing officers clearly reflected that hard work is now being rewarded and trust in the system has increased.
Visakhapatnam, March 30 : In a horrific act, a man in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, allegedly murdered his girlfriend, cut her body into pieces, kept some parts in a fridge at his apartment and burnt her head, police said on Monday.

Chintada Ravindra (35), an employee in the Navy, allegedly killed his girlfriend, Mounika (29), at his house on Sunday while his wife was away.

The gruesome murder took place in the LV Nagar area of the city. According to police, Ravindra, an employee in the Navy, had called Mounika to his flat on Sunday. He hacked her to death and then cut the body into pieces.

He kept pieces of the torso in the fridge at his flat and burnt the head and her phone at an isolated place at Dharapalem on the city outskirts

After he surrendered at the local police station, the police reached his house and recovered body parts from the fridge.

Originally hailing from Rajam in Vizianagaram district, Ravindra is working as a technician in the Navy. He, along with his wife, was staying in an apartment in the LV Nagar area in Visakhapatnam.

Ravindraas wife had gone to her parentsa house in Vizianagaram a month ago. He had a friendship with Mounika, a resident of Visakhapatnam.

On Sunday, he called her to his apartment. They had a heated argument during which Ravindra stabbed her to death.

After cutting the body into pieces, he cleaned the flat to wipe out blood stains and also used a room freshener to make sure that no foul smell emanated.

Ravindra later called a friend to tell him about the crime he had committed. When the friend warned him of the consequences, he went to the Gajuwaka Police Station and surrendered.

He told police that Mounika was trying to blackmail him by demanding money and that, unable to bear the harassment, he hatched the plan to eliminate her.

Police investigations revealed that Ravindra came in contact with Mounika through a dating app during lockdown. He told police that he had so far paid Rs 3.50 lakh to her. She had allegedly taken away his employee identity card to blackmail him, and he had made a duplicate card to attend duties.
Koppal : , March 30 (IANS) The Karnataka Police have launched a hunt for a man involved in a series of unusual thefts targeting women's innerwear in Gangavathi town of Koppal district over the past few days.

Koppal (Karnataka), March 30 (IANS) The Karnataka Police have launched a hunt for a man involved in a series of unusual thefts targeting womenas innerwear in Gangavathi town of Koppal district over the past few days.

The development has caused concern among residents in the region.

The incident was reported in the jurisdiction of the Gangavathi Town Police Station. The CCTV in the area captured visuals of the suspect carrying out the acts, which went viral on social media.

According to a preliminary investigation by police, an unidentified man has been entering residential premises at night by scaling compound walls and stealing womenas inner garments. The incidents have been reported from the CBS locality, a prominent residential area in the town.

Residents have complained to police that the thefts have been occurring over the last three to four days, with the accused specifically targeting womenas innerwear. The repeated occurrences have triggered anxiety among women in the neighbourhood, with several residents expressing concern over safety and privacy and calling the thief a 'psycho'.

Further investigation is underway.

It can be recalled that the Hebbagodi police in Bengaluru had arrested a 23-year-old man for allegedly wearing womenas innerwear and roaming in public places, causing public nuisance and outrage. The police stated that the accused was allegedly seen wearing women's undergarments, posing obscenely, and moving around public areas, creating discomfort and fear among women. The accused, a 23-year-old man, was also found taking selfies while wearing them.

In another bizarre incident that left residents shocked and women disturbed, Karnataka Police arrested a man on charges of stealing women's old undergarments within the Bendigeri police station limits in Hubballi city on September 30, 2025. According to the police, the accused confessed to stealing womenas lingerie that was hung out to dry outside homes on clotheslines or within residential compounds, during the night. Investigations revealed that the man would return the stolen undergarments by throwing them back into the compounds after about a week.

It can also be recalled that a serial rapist and murderer, Umesh Reddy, was arrested in 2002 and continues to be in jail. When he was arrested, the police found him wearing a bra and panties. The baggage seized from Umesh Reddy after his arrest contained women's garments, which included 10 bras, 18 pairs of panties, six sarees, two nighties, eight churidars, and four blouses.

Reddy, who had several aliases, was a former CRPF constable and hails from Chitradurga district in Karnataka. He was convicted back-to-back for raping and murdering women who were staying alone in Bengaluru, Mysuru, Hubballi and Davanagere in Karnataka, Mumbai and Pune in Maharashtra, and also in Gujarat. The Supreme Court had confirmed Reddyas death sentence for the rape and murder of Jayashri Maradi Subbayya in 1998.

--IANS

mka/dpb
New Delhi, March 30 : Shiv Sena (UBT) MP, Priyanka Chaturvedi, on Monday criticised Union Home Minister Amit Shah for his recent remarks alleging unchecked infiltration in West Bengal, questioning the BJP's narrative on "ghuspaithiyas (illegal immigrants)".

New Delhi, March 30 (IANS) Shiv Sena (UBT) MP, Priyanka Chaturvedi, on Monday criticised Union Home Minister Amit Shah for his recent remarks alleging unchecked infiltration in West Bengal, questioning the BJP's narrative on "ghuspaithiyas (illegal immigrants)".

Speaking to IANS, Chaturvedi said, "Someone should remind Amit Shah that the central government has been led by the Bharatiya Janata Party since 2014. And if you look at the numbers, the deportations of Bangladeshi nationals were higher during the UPA's tenure and lower during the NDA's tenure."

"The truth is that, under the name of 'ghuspaithiya,' the BJP tries to gain political advantage. They believe that through the illegal immigrants agenda, they can create sensationalism. This is the Home Minister's responsibility to ensure boundaries; no one should enter the country illegally," she added.

Her comments come in the backdrop of a political "chargesheet" launched by HM Shah in Kolkata, where he alleged that West Bengal had become a "heaven for ghuspaithiyas" under the ruling Trinamool Congress. Shah accused the Trinamool of facilitating infiltration for "votebank politics" and promised that the BJP would "pick and remove every single illegal immigrant from voter lists ahead of the upcoming Assembly elections in the state.

Meanwhile, the Opposition also weighed in on the issue. Ashutosh Verma, spokesperson of the Samajwadi Party, said, "The way the Bharatiya Janata Party is eager to win the Bengal elections, they are ready to use all tactics  coercion, inducement, punishment, gifts  everything. But they forget that in a democracy, the real power lies with the people."

With the Assembly polls approaching, debates over illegal immigrants and voter lists are likely to dominate political discourse in the state over the coming weeks.

The unfolding narrative underscores the tense political atmosphere in West Bengal, where parties are increasingly using national security and migration rhetoric to appeal to voters, even as Opposition leaders warn against sensationalism and politicisation of the issue.
New Delhi, March 30 : The Press Council of India on Monday advised the media to strictly adhere to the provisions of Section 126A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, as well as its own guidelines on pre-poll and exit polls, in view of the upcoming General Elections to the Legislative Assemblies of Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, and Puducherry, along with bye-elections to eight Assembly constituencies across Goa, Gujarat, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Nagaland, and Tripura.

In a statement, the Press Council of India emphasised the need for responsible reporting by the print media during the sensitive electoral period. It urged media organisations to take note of the legal restrictions imposed under Section 126A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, which pertains to the prohibition on conducting, publishing, or disseminating exit poll results during a specified period notified by the Election Commission of India.

As per the provisions of the law, no person is permitted to conduct any exit poll or publish or publicise its results through print, electronic, or any other form of media during the restricted period. The Election Commission is authorised to notify the date and time of this prohibition, taking into account the schedule of polling. In the case of general elections, the restriction begins from the start of polling on the first day and continues until half an hour after the conclusion of polling across all states and Union Territories.

Similarly, for bye-elections, the restricted period commences from the beginning of polling on the first day and continues until half an hour after the end of the last poll. In instances where multiple bypolls are conducted on different dates, the restriction extends from the start of the first polling day to half an hour after the conclusion of the final poll.

The Press Council further clarified that any violation of these provisions would attract penal consequences. Individuals found contravening Section 126A may face imprisonment for a term of up to two years, a fine, or both.

In addition to the statutory provisions, the Council highlighted its 'Norms of Journalistic Conduct, 2022 Edition,' particularly the guidelines relating to pre-poll and exit poll reporting. It stressed that given the vital role of elections in a representative democracy, newspapers must remain vigilant against being used as platforms for misinformation, manipulation, or propaganda.

The advisory noted that the media is increasingly being targeted by vested interests seeking to influence public opinion through subtle or overt means, including caste-based, religious, or ethnic narratives, as well as through allegedly sponsored pre-poll surveys. While overtly communal or seditious content can often be identified, the manipulation of pre-poll surveys may be more difficult to detect.

To ensure transparency and credibility, the Press Council advised that whenever newspapers publish pre-poll surveys, they must clearly disclose key details. These include the name of the organisation or agency that conducted the survey, the individuals or organisations that commissioned it, the size and nature of the sample, the methodology used for selecting respondents, and the possible margin of error in the findings.

The Council also expressed concern over the publication of exit poll data during staggered elections, where polling is conducted in multiple phases. It noted that releasing such information before the completion of all phases could influence voters in regions where polling is yet to take place, thereby compromising the fairness of the electoral process.

To safeguard the integrity of elections and ensure that voters are not influenced by premature disclosures, the Press Council reiterated its guideline that no newspaper should publish exit poll surveys, regardless of their authenticity, until the final phase of polling has concluded.

Reinforcing its advisory, the Council urged all print media outlets to refrain from publishing or publicising any exit poll-related content during the restricted period specified under Section 126A. It stressed that adherence to these norms is essential to uphold the sanctity of the democratic process and maintain public trust in the media.
Kollam, March 30 : With the Assembly election campaign at its peak, dramatic scenes and open confrontation marked Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's Monday press conference, turning what was meant to highlight governance into a political flashpoint.

The Chief Minister, who addressed the media to outline the government's development achievements and counter opposition charges, faced an unusual protest from journalists.

They alleged selective access, accusing him of prioritising questions from pro CPI(M) outlets while sidelining the wider press.

Tensions escalated when CM Vijayan answered just three questions, two from Kairali and one from Deshabhimani and attempted to conclude the interaction, stating that time was up and further questions could be taken the next day.

As he walked out, journalists raised a collective protest. "This is not right, Chief Minister it is not enough to answer only Kairali (CPI(M)-backed TV channel) and Deshabhimani - the party organ," reporters said, questioning the very purpose of inviting the media if broader questions were not entertained.

Amid mounting pressure, CM Vijayan returned to the dais, resumed his seat, and took more questions.

He maintained that journalists should ask questions rather than merely hold them in mind and reiterated that the session was being curtailed due to time constraints.

He also said he had not discriminated between media houses while responding.

The press meet had already gained traction after a previous remark by the Chief Minister, where he reportedly dismissed a journalist raising questions on an alleged SDPI-CPI(M) deal, saying the person "had some issue".

At Monday's briefing, too, journalists attempted to press him on the same allegation, among other matters.

The episode triggered sharp reactions.

Journalists accused the Chief Minister of evading scrutiny while advocating public debate.

The opposition, meanwhile, alleged that Vijayan, who recently released a 10-year report card, was wary of questions exposing shortcomings.

The controversy has spilled onto social media, where critics pointed to a contradiction between issuing debate challenges and limiting media engagement.

With campaigning entering its final stretch, the incident risks shaping voter perception, placing not just development claims but also the government's media approach under the spotlight.

The Chief Minister is expected to meet the media again on Tuesday, making his response keenly watched.

Incidentally, over the years, CM Vijayan met the media officially very few times. When he took over in 2016, he cancelled the weekly post-cabinet media interaction, a practice which had been in vogue since the late fifties.

Leader of Opposition V.D. Satheesan has gone on record saying that once they come to power after the results on May 4, the new UDF Chief Minister will certainly meet the media at least once in 10 days.
New Delhi, March 30 : The Hizbul Mujahideen may be largely gone, but Indian agencies have picked up intercepts about a possible rebuilding of the terror outfit. The leadership of the Hizbul Mujahideen has managed to lie low for several years now.

The outfit's operatives have largely been wiped out in Jammu and Kashmir. The crackdown on the Hizbul Mujahideen, which began with the killing of Burhan Wani, continued until the top commanders were erased in Jammu and Kashmir.

Even during Operation Sindoor, the Hizbul Mujahideen faced heavy losses when their terror infrastructure was hit. The Indian armed forces carried out Operation Sindoor to avenge the Pahalgam attack in which several innocent tourists were killed.

An Intelligence Bureau official said that the Hizbul Mujahideen appears to be down and out. The leadership has maintained a stoic silence in a bid to make it seem that the outfit is completely out of reckoning. In reality, there has been a silent attempt being made for the last couple of months aimed at reviving the terror group for operations in Jammu and Kashmir.

The official explained that for the ISI, reviving the Hizbul Mujahideen is important as it is the only group that has managed the most traction in Jammu and Kashmir. The ISI tried to float The Resistance Front, but the results were limited, as it is a well-known fact that the outfit is an offshoot of the Lashkar-e-Taiba.

The ISI hopes that once the Hizbul Mujahideen is back in action, it will be able to draw the locals into its fold. This has become very important for the ISI as it is in desperate need of a homegrown outfit. Since the Indian security agencies have hit the terror infrastructure in Pakistan hard, the ISI has not been able to send in its operatives into India. This is also a result of high security along the borders, both at the Line of Control (LoC) and the International Border (IB).

Officials say that they have been noticing activity at the Khalid bin Walid camp, located at the Guldheri Mohalla of Garhi Habibullah at Balakot, Pakistan. This camp of the Hizbul Mujahideen had shut down following the Balakot airstrike carried out by the Indian Air Force (IAF) in which a Jaish-e-Mohammed training facility was targeted.

Another official said that, as per recent inputs by the Intelligence agencies, the Khalid bin Walid camp has become functional. The Hizbul Mujahideen operatives who are part of this camp are maintaining a low profile. They are aware that this camp is very much within the striking distance of the IAF, and hence the activities being undertaken at the camp are low-key, the official added.

The reopening of this camp is a worry for the Indian security agencies. It is not an ordinary camp, and before the 2019 Balakot air strikes, at least 100 terrorists were trained annually. The likes of Wani and Riyaz Naikoo and scores of other Hizbul Mujahideen operatives were trained at the Khalid bin Walid camp, officials say.

The ISI has also deployed some Lashkar-e-Taiba operatives to assist the Hizbul Mujahideen cadres during the training programme. Further, the Lashkar-e-Taiba has also been directed to help the Hizbul Mujahideen in recruitment. The outfit has been scouting for those who crossed over from Jammu and Kashmir into Pakistan over the last couple of years. This is a clear indication that the Hizbul Mujahideen is only looking for locals from Jammu and Kashmir.

It is clear that it does not want Pakistanis as part of the group, and there is a risk of the traction being reduced in Jammu and Kashmir. Officials say that the Hizbul Mujahideen was at its peak when it came to operations and recruitment when it was being headed by the locals, such as Burhan Wani. The Hizbul Mujahideen wants to follow the same pattern as it did before 2016.

The downfall of the Hizbul Mujahideen began following the death of Burhan Wani on July 8 2016. Officials say that they are keeping a close watch on the developments unfolding at Balakot. The agencies are also monitoring the various supporters and the sympathisers this group has in Jammu and Kashmir. Keeping the Valley quiet and not allowing traction by these groups is extremely crucial as the Hizbul Mujahideen makes a bid at revival, the official also added.
New Delhi, March 30 : The Registrar General of India (RGI) announced on Monday that preparations for the upcoming Census are at an advanced stage, with fieldwork for the first phase -- Houselisting and Housing Census (HLO) -- set to begin in multiple states from April.

Addressing a press conference at the National Media Centre in New Delhi, Registrar General and Census Commissioner Mritunjay Kumar Narayan said that Census-2027 will be conducted in two phases -- House Listing (HLO) and Population Enumeration (PE) -- with March 1, 2027, fixed as the reference date.

For snow-bound regions such as Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, the reference date has been fixed as October 1, 2026.

He explained the significance of the reference date, stating that it acts as a "snapshot" in time, enabling the collection of uniform and reliable demographic and socio-economic data across the country.

"The Census Reference Day is crucial because it acts as a 'snapshot' in time, providing a uniform point of reference to capture accurate demographic and socio-economic data across a vast and diverse population, ensuring data consistency and validity," Narayan said.

Highlighting legal safeguards, Narayan said, "The Census Act includes an important provision, Section 15, stating that personal information supplied is considered strictly confidential. It cannot be disclosed under the RTI Act, used as evidence in court, or shared with any other organisations."

He added that the role of states and union territories is central to the exercise.

"States and union territories play an essential role in this endeavour; their entire administrative system is engaged to carry out the fieldwork at the grassroots level. The last Census was carried out in 2011," he said.

The Census Commissioner detailed that the process will comprise two phases -- HLO and PE.

"The preparations for the Census are now at an advanced level, and in just a few days, the fieldwork for the initial phase -- Houselisting and Housing Census -- is about to begin in multiple states," he said.

The HLO will involve listing all buildings and structures and collecting information on housing conditions, amenities, and assets. It will also include geo-tagging of buildings and assigning a unique identification number to each structure.

This phase is scheduled to be conducted between April and September 2026.

Narayan stated that the adoption of a digital system will allow citizens to self-enumerate by directly entering their details, reducing dependence on enumerators and making the process more efficient.

He noted that this self-enumeration window will be available for a 15-day period prior to the 30-day houselisting operations.

Providing a timeline, he stated that 11 states and union territories will undertake the HLO process in April 2026, nine will conduct it in May, three in June, two in July, and two in August.

The second phase, Population Enumeration, will focus on collecting individual-level data, including age, gender, occupation, literacy, and caste details.

Narayan also informed that the Union Cabinet had approved a total outlay of Rs 11,718.24 crore for the Census in December 2025. Administrative boundaries were frozen as of January 1, 2026, and a pre-test of the first phase was conducted across all states and union territories in November last year.

He said that more than 80,000 training batches of enumerators have been formed across the country for both phases of the Census.

Emphasising data protection, Narayan said that robust mechanisms have been put in place to ensure end-to-end security during the entire process, adding that the data centres involved have been designated as Critical Information Infrastructure.
Kabul, March 30 : One person was killed and 16 others were injured after Pakistani forces launched rocket and heavy weapon attacks on residential areas in Afghanistan's Kunar province, local media reported on Monday, quoting officials.

The shelling hit areas near Asadabad and nearby homes, sparking fears of a wider border escalation.

Taliban spokesperson Hamdullah Fitrat said that the attack targeting civilian homes occurred at around 5 p.m. (local time) on Sunday. He said that injured people were rushed to the hospital for treatment, Afghanistan's leading news agency Khaama Press reported. He accused Pakistan of firing in residential areas near the border.

The latest attack comes days after fighting resumed along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border after the collapse of a brief Eid ceasefire. Islamabad has said its military operations are targeting militants using Afghanistan to carry out attacks inside Pakistan, a claim rejected by the Taliban.

In recent weeks, tensions have escalated between Afghanistan and Pakistan due to airstrikes, artillery fire, and accusations from both sides.

Meanwhile, former Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief secretary Arbab Shehzad Khan said on Saturday that the Pakistan-Afghanistan peace jirga will be held in Peshawar on March 31 to urge the leadership of the two nations to ease tensions and work towards peace, local media reported.

While addressing a press conference at Peshawar Press Club, Khan, who is head of Aspire Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which, along with Qaumi Islahi Tehreek, is organising the jirga, said the national and political leaders, tribal elders, religious scholars, members of civil society, traders and media representatives from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Afghans residing in Pakistan will participate in the meeting, Pakistan's leading daily Dawn reported.

Arbab Shehzad Khan emphasised that war was not a solution to any problem and issues must be resolved through talks. He further said that the forum would focus on promoting sustainable peace through mutual respect, confidence-building measures and negotiations. He said that the forum will urge the leadership of Afghanistan and Pakistan to de-escalate tensions.

He said that the jirga was aimed at setting up a joint course of action to foster peace, stability, life, and talks between Pakistan and Afghanistan. After the conclusion of the jirga, a joint declaration in favour of peace will be issued and sent to the governments of Pakistan and Afghanistan.
New Delhi, March 30 : China's popular AI chatbot DeepSeek experienced the biggest outage in its history, with the platform going offline for over seven hours overnight.

New Delhi, March 30 (IANS) Chinaas popular AI chatbot DeepSeek experienced the biggest outage in its history, with the platform going offline for over seven hours overnight.

Outagea'tracking platform Downdetector showed users first reporting problems on Sunday evening, multiple reports said, adding that DeepSeekas status page acknowledged the initial issue at 9:35 pm.

The platform marked the issue as resolved about two hours later, but problems recurred and were not fully fixed until 10:33 am on the following day, the reports said.

The reasons for the massive outage remain unclear, as DeepSeek has not given an official statement mentioning the causes.

Chinese AI startup DeepSeek has a near 99 per cent operational record since it first unveiled the R1 model in January 2025, according to its status page.

The Chinese platform suddenly became popular in January 2025, when its AI models triggered a selloff in Silicon Valley tech stocks and wiped off billions of dollars in wealth. The rise of DeepSeek caused fears that the American dominance in the AI race was over.

However, the Chinese startup has not delivered models of the same scale as that of latest offerings of ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude from Google, OpenAI, and Anthropic.

United States-based artificial intelligence firm Anthropic has recently accused three Chinese unicorns including DeepSeek of having illegally extracted capabilities from its Claude model to advance their own systems.

The US firm alleged that the theft through a process known as distillation raised national security concerns.

The modus-operandi of the alleged theft involved creation of around 24,000 fraudulent accounts to train Chinese models using over 16 million exchanges with Claude.

The company warned that models produced this way may lack the safety guardrails implemented by companies such as itself and thus could be used for cyberattacks, and biological weapons.

These models could lead to "authoritarian governments to deploy frontier AI for offensive cyber operations, disinformation campaigns, and mass surveillance," it said, warning that the "The window to act is narrow."

a"IANS

aar/pk
New Delhi, March 30 : The Press Council of India (PCI) on Monday advised the print media to adhere to its guidelines on election reporting and the Norms of Journalistic Conduct, 2022, particularly with regard to paid news, during the upcoming Assembly elections.

Assembly elections are scheduled to be held in Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Puducherry in April, along with bye-elections to eight Assembly constituencies across Goa, Gujarat, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Nagaland and Tripura.

In an official statement, the PCI asked newspapers to comply with the 'Guidelines on Specific Issues' relating to election reporting issued in 1996, as included in Part B of the Norms of Journalistic Conduct, 2022 edition.

The Council emphasised that the Press must provide objective and balanced coverage of elections and candidates, and avoid indulging in exaggerated or biased reporting.

It cautioned against promoting communal or caste-based narratives, stating that such reporting is prohibited under election rules.

The PCI also directed newspapers to refrain from publishing unverified allegations or false statements about candidates, particularly those that could affect their electoral prospects.

Media organisations have been advised not to accept any inducements, financial or otherwise, or hospitality from candidates or political parties.

Further, the Press has been asked to avoid canvassing for any candidate or party. In cases where support is expressed, equal opportunity must be provided to opposing candidates or parties to respond.

The Council also barred the publication of government-funded advertisements highlighting the achievements of the ruling party during the election period.

The PCI instructed newspapers to strictly follow all directions issued by the Election Commission of India and other election authorities.

On the issue of paid news, the Council reiterated norms laid down in its July 2010 report.

The PCI warned against misquoting leaders, publishing caste-based voter lists, carrying identical political content across publications, and presenting news or photographs in a manner favouring a particular candidate or party.

It also flagged as paid news any premature projection of a candidate's victory, publication of unverified survey results, or one-sided portrayal of candidates, highlighting only positive or negative aspects without basis.

The Council stressed the need for balanced reporting, noting that newspapers may carry honest assessments of electoral prospects, provided there is no evidence of consideration influencing such content.

The PCI has urged the print media to strictly adhere to these guidelines to ensure fair and ethical election coverage.
Islamabad, March 30 : Human rights activists and civil society organisations have strongly condemned the planned demolition and forced eviction of residents in Allama Iqbal Colony, a 25-year-old predominantly Christian working-class settlement in Islamabad. The community now faces an imminent threat of clearance in the coming days, raising serious concerns over minority rights and displacement.

Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), alongside the All Party Alliance for Katchi Abadis, the National Commission for Justice and Peace, the Awami Workers Party, Aurat March Islamabad and allied civil society organisations, unequivocally rejected the ongoing pattern of evictions carried out by the Capital Development Authority (CDA) in Islamabad, citing lack of due process, adequate notice and lawful rehabilitation.

According to the organisations, these "actions are not isolated incidents but part of a broader and deeply unjust approach" by Pakistani authorities that disproportionately targets low-income communities across Islamabad's katchi abadis (informal settlements)"affecting families who have lived and worked in these areas for decades".

Expressing concern, they said that the continued disregard for Pakistan's 2015 Supreme Court stay order and the absence of a coherent and rights-based policy reflect a disturbing erosion of legal protections for marginalised citizens.

"This issue transcends any single religious or social group. The demolition of katchi abadis represents a systemic assault on the housing, dignity and livelihoods of working-class communities. Women and children are particularly vulnerable, facing heightened risks of displacement, insecurity and loss of access to basic services. The climate of fear surrounding these evictions further suppresses the ability of affected residents to organise and assert their rights," the groups mentioned.

The organisations called on the Pakistani authorities to immediately halt all planned and ongoing eviction operations, including in Allama Iqbal Colony and Rimsha Colony, and to fully comply with existing judicial directives.

"We would remind the CDA that it is bound by prior Supreme Court orders to all the provincesas well as the CDAto develop and submit comprehensive policies for all informal settlements, which the provinces have already completed," the groups stated.

"Additionally, the government must urgently develop and implement a national transparent, inclusive and rights-compliant framework that guarantees security of tenure, ensures prior consultation with affected communities, and provides fair resettlement within a reasonable radius, along with adequate compensation where displacement is unavoidable," it added.

The organisations demanded meaningful engagement with representatives of katchi abadi communities, as well as accountability for "arbitrary and unlawful actions" undertaken in the name of urban development by the Pakistani authorities.
New Delhi, March 30 : The Delhi Police Special Cell on Monday arrested Shabir Ahmed Lone, a Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist and handler of a recently busted module linked to the Metro poster case, officials said.

According to Special Cell officials, Lone was apprehended late Sunday night from the Ghazipur area by a dedicated team under the supervision of DCP Praveen Pathi.

The arrest comes weeks after a Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) complaint on February 8 at the Supreme Court Metro station triggered a high-priority investigation. Posters carrying inflammatory and anti-India messages were found at multiple locations, including Janpath, raising serious security concerns.

The case was registered under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and the DPDP Act, following which the Special Cell launched an extensive probe combining ground intelligence and technical surveillance.

Confirming the development, Additional CP Pramod Singh Kushwaha said that Lone was the key figure behind a previously dismantled module.

"If you recall, the last module we busted involved Shabir Ahmed. It included seven Bangladeshi nationals and one Indian national. He was heading that module. After it was dismantled, he returned to India to explore the possibility of creating a new module and identifying potential recruits," Kushwaha told IANS.

Additional CP Kushwaha revealed that Lone had been arrested earlier in 2007 and again in 2015. During his 2015 arrest in Kashmir, he was allegedly found in possession of an AK-47 rifle. At that time, his associate Sajjad Gul, who was also linked to him, later fled to Pakistan and is believed to have established The Resistance Front (TRF), officials said.

Investigators further revealed that Lone had also travelled to Bangladesh, where he was reportedly working on setting up a new terror module.

Earlier, on February 23, Delhi Police had arrested eight suspects in connection with the same network. Preliminary investigations suggested that the group was operating under Lone's direction. Officials noted that Lone had previously spent nearly a decade in jail on terror-related charges before being released on bail in 2019.

Sources added that after securing bail, Lone fled to Bangladesh and remained in contact with top LeT commanders, including Hafeez Saeed and Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, both accused as masterminds of the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.

The Delhi Police are currently interrogating the accused to determine the intended targets and the full scope of the alleged conspiracy.
Kolkata, March 30 : A fresh petition has been filed at a Division Bench of the Calcutta High Court on Monday over the Election Commission of India (ECI)'s order on Sunday transferring 83 Block Development Officers (BDOs), who are also Returning Officers, and 184 Inspector-rank police officers officiating as officers-incharge or Inspectors-incharge of different police stations in West Bengal.

On behalf of the petitioner, his counsel Kalyan Banerjee, a four-time Trinamool Congress MP and senior advocate, had also pleaded for a fast-track basis hearing in the matter.

The Division Bench of the Calcutta High Court, comprising Chief Justice Sujoy Paul and Justice Partha Sarathi Sen, has admitted the petition, and the matter is likely to come up for hearing this week.

This is the second petition filed at the Calcutta High Court in the matter of transfers, replacement, and deputation of bureaucrats and police officers from West Bengal to other states as per the order of the ECI.

The first PIL was in relation to the transfers of top and mid-level bureaucrats and police officers from the state. The hearing on that PIL was completed last week, and the order had been kept on reserve.

During the hearing on the previous PIL, the ECI's counsel had informed the court that the transfers of bureaucrats and police officers varied from state to state, depending on the ground-level requirement in the state concerned.

He also argued that while the Commission surely did not have unbridled power, it had the authority to take any decision in order to make the polling process free, fair and violence-free.

"There are many reasons behind all these decisions. Voting is going on in five states and Union Territories; the situation is not the same everywhere. Officers have been transferred elsewhere. Actions are taken according to the situation prevailing in the state concerned," the ECI's counsel argued last week.

On the other hand, the petitioner's counsel accused the ECI of taking control of bureaucrats and police officers since the beginning of the Special Intensive Revision in the state and even before the Model Code of Conduct was in force.

The petitioner's counsel also questioned whether the ECI had the unbridled power to transfer, replace, and send on deputation any bureaucrat or a police officer according to its sweet will.
Hyderabad, March 30 : Members of Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) in Telangana Legislative Council were suspended for a day on Monday for stalling the proceedings of the House, and demanding dismissal of the revenue minister over alleged corruption and illegal mining.

All 11 MLCs of BRS present in the House including Leader of Opposition, Madhusudhana Chary, were suspended by Council Chairman, G. Sukhender Reddy, after Legislative Affairs Minister, D. Sridhar Babu, moved a motion.

The BRS MLCs were demanding dismissal of Revenue Minister, P. Srinivasa Reddy, and constitution of a House Committee or probe by a sitting High Court judge into the allegations of illegal mining against Raghava Constructions, a company allegedly linked to the minister.

The Opposition legislators, who were carrying placards, surrounded the podium and raised slogans in support of their demands.

Minister Sridhar Babu told the House that Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy has already announced an CB CID probe into alleged illegal mining since 2014. He appealed to the BRS members to cooperate in smooth functioning of the House.

Council Chairman repeatedly appealed to BRS members to resume their seats and cooperate in running the House in a smooth manner.

With the Opposition legislators continuing their protest, minister Sridhar Babu moved a motion for their suspension from the House for one day.

Chairman Sukhender Reddy announced passing of the motion by a voice vote.

Marshals were called to send out the suspended MLCs.

Earlier, BRS MLCs staged protest at Gun Park near the Assembly building, demanding the revenue ministeras dismissal. Holding placards and raising slogans, they marched to the legislature complex.

On Sunday, BRS MLAs were suspended from the Assembly for two days for stalling the House on the same issue.

Speaker Gaddam Prasad Kumar announced suspension of all 24 BRS members in the House after a motion moved by Legislative Affairs Minister Sridhar Babu was adopted by a voice vote.

The government rejected the demand for the House Committee. The members of ruling Congress party argued that since the government has already ordered a CB CID enquiry into the alleged illegal mining in the state since 2014, there was no need for a House Committee.
Bhopal, March 30 : Chief Minister Dr Mohan Yadav encouraged young legislators to study deeply, maintain discipline and work with a positive approach for the development of their constituencies.

He was addressing a training programme for young legislators that began on Monday at the Madhya Pradesh Vidhan Sabha (Assembly).

The two-day 'Youth Legislators Conference' has brought together MLAs aged 45 years and below from Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. The Chief Minister highlighted the rich democratic traditions of India and called upon young legislators to play an active role in building a developed India by 2047.

Assembly Speaker Narendra Singh Tomar appealed to young MLAs to maintain dignity in the House, study diligently and contribute meaningfully to legislative proceedings.

He welcomed the participants and said the conference is not just a formal event but a serious effort to shape the future of Indian democracy.

Addressing the gathering, senior legislator, minister for urban development Kailash Vijayvargiya shared valuable insights from his four decades of parliamentary experience. He pointed out that you cannot address all the problems of everyone. He stressed the importance of maintaining a responsive and professional office, using modern technology, showing humility, and balancing party loyalty with public service.

He advised young MLAs to focus on long-term image-building rather than short-term publicity and urged them to remain positive on social media.

Leader of Opposition Umang Singhar stressed the need for student elections.

The programme, organised under the aegis of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (India Region Zone-6), aims to strengthen parliamentary traditions, enhance legislative skills and prepare young lawmakers for the challenges of nation-building.

The inaugural session witnessed the presence of Chief Minister Mohan Yadav, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kailash Vijayvargiya, Leader of Opposition Umang Singhar, Rajasthan Assembly Speaker Vasudev Devnani and senior officials from all three states.

The programme started with the national song aVande Matarama. The conference will discuss two major themes -- the role of young legislators in strengthening democracy and preparations for a developed India by 2047.

Around 45 young MLAs from the three states are participating in the programme. This initiative is being seen as a significant step towards capacity-building of the next generation of lawmakers and promoting healthy parliamentary practices in Indian democracy.
Ranchi, March 30 : The Jharkhand High Court on Monday took suo motu cognisance of the rape and brutal murder of a minor girl in the Vishnugarh area of Hazaribagh district and issued notices to the State Home Secretary and the Director General of Police (DGP), seeking their responses.

The court adopted a stern view of the incident and expressed deep concern over the delay in arresting the accused. It also directed the authorities to provide adequate security to the victimas family.

Advocate Hemant Shikarwar brought the matter to the courtas attention, citing media reports and describing the incident as comparable to the Delhi aNirbhayaa case. He said the perpetrators had crossed all limits of brutality.

Terming the crime a heinous act that shames humanity, the court sought details of the investigation from the Superintendent of Police (SP) of Hazaribagh, who appeared virtually in the proceedings.

The SP informed the court that police teams had reached the spot immediately after receiving information about the incident and collected crucial evidence with the help of a forensic team and dog squad. He said a Special Investigation Team (SIT) had been set up on the directions of DGP Tadasha Mishra and was actively probing the case.

The SP assured the court that the accused would be identified and arrested soon. However, the court observed that the failure to arrest the culprits even six days after the incident was a matter of serious concern.

According to the police, the incident occurred on the evening of Ram Navami, when a Mangala Shobhayatra was being held in the village. The minor girl had gone to watch the procession but did not return home. After an overnight search, her mutilated body was recovered from the bushes near the village the next day. Preliminary investigation suggests she was raped before being murdered.

The incident has triggered widespread outrage in the region, with local residents staging protests demanding swift justice. The BJP has called a bandh in Hazaribagh on this issue today.
Dhaka, March 30 : An Awami League leader was critically wounded after being shot by unidentified assailants in Mirpur upazila of Kushtia district, in the latest incident of political violence in Bangladesh, according to local media reports.

The victim was identified as 52-year-old Shafiqul Islam Azam, a former general secretary of Awami League in Amla Union of Mirpur.

The incident occurred on Sunday evening at Sadarpur Bazar in Amla Union.

According to police, Shafiqul was at his business establishment when a group of individuals called him outside and shot him before fleeing the scene, Bangladeshi media outlet UNB reported.

Reports suggest that he was rescued by the locals in a critical condition and taken to Kushtia General Hospital.

Resident Medical Officer Hossain Imam said that Shafiqul suffered gunshot injuries to his right eye, left jaw and upper abdomen.

"The abdominal injury has likely damaged blood vessels, causing heavy bleeding. His condition is critical," UNB quoted Imam as saying.

He further said that Shafiqul has been referred to Dhaka for advanced medical care.

Three rounds of live bullets, a magazine and a motorcycle were reportedly recovered from the scene by the police, while Assistant Superintendent of Police in Mirpur Circle, Muhammad Mahmudul Haque Majumder, said that the matter is under investigation.

This latest incident of violence reflects a continuing pattern of attacks on Awami League leaders and activists that has persisted since the eighteen-month tenure of the former Muhammad Yunus-led interim government.

Recently, another Awami League leader died in custody at Keraniganj Central Jail in Dhaka, as custodial deaths of the party members continue to rise in Bangladesh.

The 55-year-old Shahnur Alam Shanto died on the night of March 13 while undergoing treatment at the National Heart Institute and Hospital in Dhaka during his incarceration, local media reported.

Earlier this month, the Awami League expressed grave concern over what it described as ongoing mass arrests and custodial killings of political leaders and activists across the country, saying the actions violate fundamental rights and undermine justice and the rule of law.

The party alleged that the ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) government has followed the path of the former Yunus-led interim government by using state machinery to carry out "repression, torture, and suppression" aimed at silencing dissent and pursuing political vengeance.

"Mass arrests of political leaders and activists, along with deaths in custody, continue to occur. Repeated arrests, indiscriminate remand orders, and reports of custodial deaths are causing pain and anger across the nation," the Awami League stated.

--IANS

scor/rs
Patna, March 30 : Chairman of the Bihar Legislative Council Awadhesh Narain Singh became emotional on Monday following Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's resignation from the post of Member of Legislative Council (MLC), describing it as not merely a personal loss but a moment of sorrow for the entire state.

Singh said he had met the Chief Minister earlier in the day, during which Nitish Kumar clearly conveyed his decision to resign. Following this, his representative, MLC Sanjay Gandhi, arrived at the Council to complete the formalities by handing over his resignation letter.

The Chairman confirmed that his resignation was accepted, and the official process to declare the seat vacant has been initiated, and further procedural steps are underway. He also informed that the Minister for Parliamentary Affairs has been summoned in this regard.

Reflecting on his long association with Nitish Kumar, the Chairman described him as an exceptionally calm and composed leader, whose emotions are not easily discernible. He noted that while the transition to national politics is a necessary step, the void left behind by such a seasoned leader will be deeply felt.

He further emphasised that Nitish Kumar's contribution to Bihar's development has been transformative, stating that the Chief Minister provided a new direction to the state and played a pivotal role in establishing Bihar's identity as a developing region. His inclusive leadership style, he added, made him a widely respected figure.

Echoing similar sentiments, Bihar Water Resource Minister Vijay Kumar Chaudhary termed Nitish Kumar's departure an "irreparable loss" for Bihar's politics and governance, remarking that hardly anyone in the state would wish to see him leave.

Meanwhile, Rural Work Minister Ashok Chaudhary stated that Nitish Kumar's absence will be strongly felt in the House. He recalled the Chief Minister's guidance, his strictness when needed, and his role in mentoring and protecting ministers -- all of which, he said, will now be missed.

As Nitish Kumar prepares to transition to the Rajya Sabha, his resignation marks the end of a long chapter in Bihar's legislative politics, while opening a new phase at the national level.
New Delhi, March 30 : The NDA leaders on Monday launched a pointed criticism of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, saying that her party was experiencing a decline in public support and hence was resorting to political manoeuvres, like 'playing the victim card' ahead of the upcoming elections.

Speaking to IANS, BJP MP Praveen Khandelwal said, "We all know how Mamata Banerjee has governed West Bengal over the past five years, and today, as her hold over West Bengal is slipping, the people there have decided... Mamata Banerjee's government is being thrown out, and that this is nothing more than a political stunt"

JD(U) spokesperson Neeraj Kumar also questioned the Chief Minister's stance, drawing a comparison with past leadership. He said, "Mamata Banerjee is the Chief Minister. If even she becomes fearful, then what will happen to the common people? Some politicians say, 'Our lives are in danger'. But in this country, the tradition has been different. Indira Gandhi, when she was Prime Minister, publicly acknowledged that her life could be at risk, yet she did not worry. She fought against terrorism, and the entire nation stood with her"

BJP MP Damodar Agarwal accused Banerjee of using emotional narratives, saying, "You can understand when a person acts this way, when their governance formula fails, and the public stands against them, they resort to emotional issues. The public has already decided to replace her. That's why she is making such emotional statements, trying to gain sympathy and play the victim card."

Echoing similar sentiments, BJP MP Kamaljeet Sehrawat said, "This is not happening for the first time. Whenever Mamata Banerjee contests elections, she always faces some kind of problem I don't think her efforts this time will be successful"

Uttar Pradesh Minister Anil Rajbhar also criticised the West Bengal Chief Minister, stating, "She is creating trouble without any reason. People who have insulted the public there for such a long time are now talking about their honour"

Earlier, Chief Minister Banerjee slammed Union Home Minister Amit Shah over his "victim card" remarks about the leg injury she suffered during campaigning for the 2021 Assembly elections and suggested that there might be a conspiracy against her life.

Addressing a Trinamool Congress (TMC) rally in Manbazar in Purulia, the CM criticised HM Shah over the "charge sheet" he released against her government on Saturday, saying: "Who are you to file a charge sheet? You should be charge sheeted."

On Saturday, HM Shah said that CM Banerjee "played the politics of the victim card". "Sometimes she breaks her leg, sometimes she ties a bandage on her head, sometimes she falls ill, and sometimes she abuses the Election Commission (EC). But, the people of Bengal have understood her victim card politics," he said.

The exchange of sharp remarks underscores the intensifying political battle in West Bengal, with parties escalating their attacks as the state heads toward crucial elections.
Adoor, March 30 : Launching his Assembly election campaign in Kerala, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday struck an aggressive note, alleging a "hidden understanding" between the ruling Left and the BJP, even as he rolled out a series of welfare promises for voters ahead of the April 9 polls.

Addressing a large gathering in Adoor in the sweltering heat, Rahul Gandhi thanked supporters for turning up in big numbers and framed the electoral battle as a direct contest between the UDF and a tacit LeftBJP combine.

"On one side is the UDF, and on the other is a combination of the Left and the BJP," he said, invoking the idea of a "hidden hand" to argue that the BJP does not see the Left as a real challenger at the national level.

He claimed that leaders who genuinely oppose the BJP face pressure and investigation, citing cases against himself, while alleging that Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and the Left leadership do not face similar intensity of scrutiny.

Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi further accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of maintaining silence on contentious issues in Kerala, including Sabarimala, to avoid politically damaging the CPI(M).

In a scathing attack, the Congress MP alleged that the Left government in Kerala no longer reflected true Left ideology and had instead adopted "corporate-friendly" policies similar to the BJP.

He pointed to the plight of rubber farmers, claiming the sector had been neglected, and criticised both the Centre and the State for failing to protect workers and small producers.

Positioning the UDF as a pro-people alternative, Rahul Gandhi unveiled a set of key guarantees.

These include free travel for women in state-run buses, a monthly allowance of Rs 1,000 for college-going girls, and an increase in welfare pensions to Rs 3,000.

He also promised a Rs 25 lakh health insurance cover for every family, Rs 5 lakh loans to promote small-scale entrepreneurship, and the creation of a dedicated ministry for senior citizens.

Emphasising employment and manufacturing, Gandhi said Kerala must strengthen MSMEs and agriculture instead of relying on imports

"This microphone I speak into is 'Made in China'; it should be made in Kerala," he remarked.

Kerala will go to the polls on April 9 to elect 140 legislators. Gandhi is scheduled to address more meetings in Kottayam on Monday.

-- Except for the title, this story has not been edited by Prokerala team and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed
Hazaribagh, March 30 : The brutal rape and murder of a minor girl in Kusumbha village under the Vishnugarh police station area of Jharkhand's Hazaribagh has sparked massive public outrage in the district.

Hazaribagh, March 30 (IANS) The brutal rape and murder of a minor girl in Kusumbha village under the Vishnugarh police station area of Jharkhandas Hazaribagh has sparked massive public outrage in the district.

The BJP, along with local residents, called for a aHazaribagh Bandha on Monday in protest against the incident, which witnessed a widespread impact across the district.

Protesters took to the streets in several areas, including Hazaribagh city and the Vishnugarh block headquarters, demanding the immediate arrest of the accused and strict action.

Hundreds of people, including Hazaribagh MP Manish Jaiswal, Barhi MLA Manoj Kumar Yadav and district BJP President Vivekananda Singh, marched through the streets, raising slogans and forcing the closure of markets.

Shops remained spontaneously closed in several localities, including the Vishnugarh police station area, Jhumra Market, and Saat Mile.

Commercial establishments in Jhumra Market and adjoining suburbs also remained completely shut, disrupting normal public life.

Protesters alleged that the police have failed to arrest the main accused, even six days after the crime. This, they said, reflects the deteriorating law-and-order situation in the state.

They described the incident as bearing chilling similarities to the Delhi aNirbhayaa case.

Hazaribagh MP Jaiswal said the state governmentas silence over such a heinous crime in Vishnugarh was baffling. He alleged that the government had failed to even express basic sympathy towards the victim and her family.

According to police, the minor girl had gone out on Tuesday evening to watch the Ram Navami procession but failed to return home. A search was launched later that night. Her mutilated body was recovered from bushes near the village on Wednesday, triggering shock and anger across the region.

Director General of Police Tadasha Mishra constituted an SIT to probe the case, but so far no arrests have been made.

Earlier in the day, the Jharkhand High Court took suo motu cognisance of the matter and issued notices to the State Home Secretary and the Director General of Police (DGP), seeking their responses.

The court sought details of the investigation from the Hazaribagh SP, who appeared virtually in the proceedings. The SP assured the court that the accused would be identified and would be arrested soon.

However, the court observed that the failure to arrest the culprits even six days after the incident was a matter of serious concern.

Meanwhile, heavy police deployment has been made across the Hazaribagh district, and the administration is keeping a close watch on the situation.
Chennai, March 30 : With the nomination process for the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections formally underway, Chief Minister M. K. Stalin on Monday filed his nomination from the Kolathur constituency, where he is seeking a fourth consecutive term.

The Election Commission has initiated the filing of nominations across all 234 constituencies in the state, marking a crucial phase in the run-up to the single-phase polling scheduled for April 23.

Returning officersa offices have been set up in every constituency, accompanied by tight security arrangements to ensure a smooth and orderly process.

Against this backdrop, Stalin arrived at the designated election office located at Paper Mills Road under the Kolathur Assembly segment and submitted his nomination papers to Returning Officer S. Shanthi in the presence of senior leaders, including Minister Sekhar Babu.

The filing of the nomination by the Chief Minister drew significant attention, with party cadres and supporters gathering in large numbers.

Speaking to the media after filing his papers, Stalin expressed strong confidence in the prospects of the DMK-led alliance. He asserted that regardless of the intensity of the contest, the outcome would decisively favour the alliance.

"The people of Tamil Nadu will once again place their trust in our governance," he said, projecting optimism about a sweeping victory.

Following the formalities, the Chief Minister embarked on a roadshow in an open jeep, traversing key stretches of the constituency. The event turned into a show of strength for the DMK, with enthusiastic supporters lining both sides of the roads, waving party flags and greeting him with cheers.

In a symbolic move highlighting his governmentas development agenda, Stalin also released a booklet detailing the achievements and welfare initiatives implemented in the Kolathur constituency during the DMKas tenure. The publication underscores the partyas efforts to consolidate its voter base by showcasing tangible development outcomes.

Reiterating his confidence, Stalin stated that the DMK alliance is poised to secure over 200 seats in the upcoming elections. His remarks signal the partyas aggressive push to retain power and expand its mandate in the state. As the election process gathers momentum, all eyes are now on the evolving campaign dynamics in Tamil Nadu, with major political players intensifying their efforts to win over voters.

--IANS

aal/vd

-- Except for the title, this story has not been edited by Prokerala team and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed
New Delhi, March 30 : Union Minister Kiren Rijiju on Monday said that a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) delegation met the Election Commission of India to submit a petition alleging large-scale electoral malpractices and intimidation in West Bengal.

The delegation included Union Minister Piyush Goyal, BJP media in-charge Anil Baluni, and West Bengal BJP President Sukanta Majumdar, among other leaders.

Speaking after the meeting, Rijiju alleged that the ruling Trinamool Congress, led by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, was attempting to "hijack elections" in the state and deprive people of their democratic right to vote.

"A BJP delegation has come to meet the Election Commission. We have submitted a very important petition. In West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee and the TMC have hijacked the elections, completely taken over democracy, and deprived people of their right to vote," Rijiju said.

He further alleged that the party had raised concerns over "hooliganism" and coercive tactics being used during the electoral process. "The BJP delegation has gone to the Election Commission regarding the hooliganism of the TMC government in West Bengal, including intimidation, forcing voters, and creating an atmosphere of fear," he added.

According to the petition submitted to the poll panel, the BJP accused the West Bengal Chief Minister of repeated violations of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) and provisions of electoral and criminal law. The memorandum alleged that a series of public statements made by Banerjee during election rallies in North Bengal indicated a pattern of provocation, voter intimidation, and implicit incitement to violence.

The BJP cited specific instances, including remarks allegedly made on March 25 at a rally in Mainaguri, where Banerjee reportedly suggested that citizens would be compelled to display posters outside their homes declaring they do not support the BJP. The party termed such statements as a threat to freedom of political expression and voter autonomy.

The petition also referred to speeches in Naxalbari and Pandaveswar, where Banerjee allegedly urged people to "come out with whatever they have at home" in response to perceived pressure during polling and counting days, raising concerns about potential incitement.

Additionally, the BJP flagged a reported incident in Basanti where its workers were allegedly attacked during campaigning, claiming that such incidents were a result of an "emboldened atmosphere" created by the Chief Minister's statements. The party also accused the state police of inaction during the episode.

The memorandum further pointed to remarks by Trinamool MP Mahua Moitra, alleging that they could foster divisions on linguistic and regional lines, thereby violating provisions related to maintaining communal harmony.

Citing provisions under the Model Code of Conduct, the Representation of the People Act, 1951, and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, the BJP urged the Election Commission to take urgent and firm action to ensure free and fair elections in the state.

The party maintained that the cumulative effect of these developments has created an atmosphere of fear, coercion, and violence, which could undermine the integrity of the electoral process.
New Delhi, March 30 : Union Minister J.P. Nadda on Monday launched a scathing attack on the Congress-led INDIA Bloc in the Rajya Sabha, accusing it of having no commitment to democratic principles, parliamentary decorum, or meaningful debate.

Speaking during proceedings in the Upper House, Nadda said it was "with great sadness" that he had to point out that the Opposition bloc has "no interest in democracy, nor in upholding parliamentary decorum, nor in speaking or engaging in debates on any issue, and nor in following the Constitution."

The senior BJP leader alleged that the INDIA Bloc has been driven solely by appeasement politics aimed at consolidating the Muslim vote bank. He claimed that such an approach has led to attempts to divide society for political gains.

"They have indulged only in appeasement politics to secure the Muslim vote bank. The entire Opposition is engaged in dividing society and vitiating the atmosphere for its political gains," Nadda claimed, drawing strong objections from Opposition Benches.

Condemning what he termed as appeasement politics, Nadda asserted that such practices weaken democratic institutions and disrupt healthy parliamentary functioning. His remarks triggered protests and interruptions in the House, with several Opposition members rising to counter the allegations.

In a pointed remark directed at the Congress, the Union Minister claimed, "I condemn this appeasement politics of the Opposition. I hope that the Congress does not remain held hostage to the actions of an immature child."

The development highlight the continuing friction between the BJP-led government and the INDIA Bloc, with both sides intensifying their political attacks ahead of upcoming electoral battles.

Responding to the allegations, Congress leaders hit back at the government, accusing it of diverting attention from pressing national concerns and avoiding meaningful debate in Parliament. The party maintained that it remains committed to constitutional values and inclusive governance, and alleged that the BJP has been using such attacks to polarise voters ahead of elections.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Jaipur, March 30 : In a significant ruling, the Rajasthan High Court has held that investigating agencies cannot freeze an individual's entire bank account and must restrict action only to the disputed amount.

The order came in a case involving filmmaker Shwetambari Vikram Bhatt, whose accounts had been frozen fully during a fraud investigation.

The court observed that freezing a bank account is an "extraordinary measure" and should be used sparingly, with due legal safeguards.

It ruled that debit restrictions should apply only to the alleged disputed amount -- around Rs 30 crore in this case -- and not the entire account.

"Blocking an account in a mechanical manner, without establishing a direct link to the alleged offence, violates fundamental rights," the Court noted, citing Articles 21 and 19(1)(g) of the Constitution.

The case stems from an FIR filed by Udaipur-based Dr Ajay Murdia against filmmakers Shwetambari Bhatt and Vikram Bhatt, alleging fraud and criminal conspiracy.

According to the complaint, a film production agreement was signed in May 2024 with an initial budget of Rs 40 crore.

It is alleged that the budget was later inflated, and additional funds were sought under the pretext of producing more films.

The complainant claims to have invested approximately Rs 44.28 crore, out of which nearly Rs 30 crore was allegedly misappropriated through fraudulent billing. Despite the investment, only one film was released, while others remain incomplete or unstarted.

Acting on instructions from the investigating officer in Udaipur, banks had frozen all accounts of the Bhatt couple.

Their counsel argued that the funds were legitimate professional earnings and that due process was not followed. It was also submitted that the freeze had paralysed their financial life, affecting daily expenses, salaries, loan repayments, and medical needs.

Justice Farzand Ali, who heard the matter, directed that such blanket restrictions are unjustified. The order was uploaded on March 28.

The SHO of Bhupalpura Police Station has been instructed to promptly share the order with the concerned banks.
Amaravati, March 30 : Senior Maoist leader Chelluri Narayana Rao alias Suresh, a member of CPI-Maoist's Central Committee and Secretary of Andhra Odisha Border Special Zonal Committee, along with eight other cadres, surrendered before Andhra Pradesh Police on Monday.

Director General of Police Harish Kumar Gupta produced the surrendered Maoists before the media here.

A native of the Srikakulam district of Andhra Pradesh, Narayana Rao worked in the CPI-Maoist party for about 36 years in various ranks. He was carrying a reward of Rs 25 lakh.

Narayana Rao, who joined the Maoist movement in 1990, participated in some major offences, including the killing of MLA Kidari Sarveswara Rao and former MLA Siveri Someswara Rao in Visakhapatnam district in 2018 and the murder of three policemen.

Death, arrest and surrender of senior cadres, disillusionment with the obsolete Maoist Ideology, lack of local public support and recruitment, attractive surrender and rehabilitation policy of the Andhra Pradesh government and extensive police out-reach programs and government welfare and developmental activities in the interior tribal areas, distancing the tribals from the Maoists, are stated to be reasons for his surrender.

Kartam Lachhu, Company Platoon Commander, Peopleas Liberation Guerilla Army (PLGA) battalion, Podium Raje alia Rame, Area Committee Member (ACM), 13th Platoon, National Park area, Kartam Adame alias Nangi, Platform Party Committee Member (PPCM), PLGA battalion, Muchaki Masa alias Ajith, ACM, Kandhamal-Kalahandi-Boudh-Nayagarh (KKBN) DVC, Odisha State Committee, Madvi Jogi alias Rukuni, PPCM, Muchaki Laxman alias Lakma, Madivi Adama and Kadithi Hurre alias Urra, all party members, also surrendered before the police.

As per the surrender and rehabilitation policy of Andhra Pradesh, the surrendered Maoists will receive the reward amount they were carrying on their heads. While Narayana Rao will get Rs 25 lakh, others will be given an amount ranging from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 5 lakh each.

Officers also displayed 19 weapons unearthed/recovered by operational parties. These include an INSAS, 2 BGLs, five .303 rifles, 5 SBBL, and 6 other weapons.

DGP Gupta stated that in the last one year, the state police accomplished notable achievements in tackling left-wing extremists. There were seven exchanges of fire, in which 18 cadre were neutralised, including 3 CCMs (Madavi Hiduma, Gajarla Ravi @ Uday, Metturi Jogarao @ Tech Sankar), and 3 SZCMs (Venkata Ravi Chaithanya @ Aruna & Kakuri Pandanna @ Jagan, Madakam Raje).

The Andhra Pradesh Police also assisted Chhattisgarh and Odisha Police in several exchanges of fire, in which 2 CCMs and tens of other important Maoist cadres were neutralised.

It also foiled the evil plans of Maoist underground cadres, who came to commit sensational offences in Krishna, Eluru, NTR, Kakinada and Dr B.R. Ambedkar Konaseema Districts by arresting 50 cadres and seizing several arms and ammunition, he said.

According to the DGP, 31 cadres, including 3 Action Team members and other Maoist cadres, were arrested, while 106 cadres, including a CCM and 2 SZCMs, surrendered. Police recovered a total of 120 weapons were recovered in the last one year.

The DGP appreciated the officers and staff of the Special Intelligence Branch (SIB), Greyhounds and District Police for their sustained efforts in tackling Left-Wing Extremism (LWE) in the state and across the country over the past decades. SIB and Greyhounds have emerged as role models for other states in successfully transforming counter-insurgency strategies from conventional policing to specialised guerrilla warfare and target-based intelligence operations.

He claimed that after a sustained counterinsurgency effort, the police successfully reduced the underground cadre strength moving into Andhra Pradesh to zero.
Kolkata, March 30 : The Excise Department has seized a large quantity of raw materials and equipment used in the manufacture of spurious liquor in the poll-bound West Bengal's Siliguri, a senior Election Commission official said on Monday.

Kolkata, March 30 (IANS) The Excise Department has seized a large quantity of raw materials and equipment used in the manufacture of spurious liquor in the poll-bound West Bengalas Siliguri, a senior Election Commission official said on Monday.

According to reports, around 1,560 litres of OP spirit (surgical spirit) were recovered from Siliguri in north Bengal during the raid based on a tip-off.

The substance is a key ingredient in the production of illicit liquor. Officials suspect that a plan was in place to flood the West Bengal market with illicit liquor ahead of the Assembly elections to influence voters.

The Excise Department has shared this intelligence with the Election Commission, which has stepped up surveillance and precautionary measures against such activities.

In total, materials worth Rs 62.40 lakh have been confiscated. Apart from the OP spirit, the seizure included counterfeit labels of two well-known liquor brands, fake holograms, bottle caps, and a large number of empty plastic bottles.

Officials recovered around 14,000 counterfeit labels of one brand and more than 3,000 of another, along with 984 fake holograms, 440 bottle caps, and 35 empty bottles from the site.

The Election Commission clarified that no legitimate market liquor was found during the operation. According to the Excise Department, all the recovered items were meant for manufacturing spurious liquor.

Officials said the spirit was to be processed and sold as branded alcohol using fake labels and holograms to pass off the products as genuine. Acting on specific intelligence inputs, the excise officials raided the premises and destroyed the materials.

Preliminary findings suggest that the attempt to produce spurious liquor was aimed at luring voters, while also posing a serious public health risk. The Election Commission noted that such illicit liquor could cause severe health issues if consumed.

Polling for the 294 assembly constituencies in West Bengal will be held in two phases on April 23 and 29, with counting scheduled for May 4.

The Election Commission has reiterated its commitment to ensuring free, fair and peaceful elections, and has deployed observers across all constituencies.
New Delhi, March 30 : A total of 2,033 manuscripts comprising of 1,46,099 pages were scanned by Asiatic Society, Kolkata, till March 23 after it was designated as Cluster Centre for manuscript scanning work under the Gyan Bharatam Mission, the Lok Sabha was informed on Monday.

Union Minister for Culture and Tourism, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, in a written reply, explained the safety network at the Society and said it has basic disaster preparedness measures in place, including fire safety system and Standard Operating Procedures.

He said close liaison is maintained with the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), Fire and Emergency Services Department, Government of West Bengal and the Local Police Authorities.

The society has digitised 11,528 manuscripts comprising 5,72,890 pages in all, he said.

The Grant-in-aid provided by this Ministry to Asiatic Society broadly supports its core functions, and the requirements are reviewed from time to time in view of the scale and preservation needs of its collections, said the Minister.

Shekhawat said Asiatic Societyas heritage building is under the jurisdiction of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and necessary steps for its repair and restoration are undertaken through ASI.

Adequate temperature and humidity control system are in place in the Societyas Museum where manuscripts, rare books and artefacts are housed, he said.

The Asiatic Society, Kolkata conducts regular checks on the conditions of the rare manuscripts and artefacts in its collection. Such checks are done by the cataloguers and other officials on regular intervals under the overall supervision of the Curator, he said.

He said the Society has its own Conservation and Binding Section to carry out the conservation and binding work. Since establishing the Manuscript Conservation Centre in 2022, the preventive conservation of 35,624 folios of manuscripts and curative conservation of 4,596 folios of rare manuscripts, has been done by the Society. Cataloguing is a regular work of the Museum and Archive Section.
Boao Forum for Asia highlights Asia's growing role in driving global growth

14:58, March 30, 2026 By People's Daily reporters ( People's Daily

Photo shows a fountain square in front of the Boao Forum for Asia International Conference Center in Boao, south China's Hainan province. (Photo/Meng Zhongde)

Asia's economy continues to demonstrate strong resilience and positive momentum, making an important contribution to global growth and sustainable development, according to flagship reports of the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA).

The two reports, titled "Asian Economic Outlook and Integration Progress Annual Report 2026" and "Sustainable Development: Asia and the World Annual Report 2026," respectively, were released at a press conference for the BFA Annual Conference 2026 held in south China's Hainan province on March 24.

Attendees emphasized the immense potential of regional cooperation in Asia, calling for stronger confidence and joint efforts to address global challenges and inject greater certainty and positive momentum into an increasingly turbulent world.

"Sustainable Development: Asia and the World Annual Report 2026" pointed out that Asia plays a key role in promoting global economic growth, advancing economic transformation, and improving global governance.

Thanks to joint efforts across the region, Asia's progress toward the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development ranks among the strongest worldwide, with 10 out of 17 goals advancing faster than the average of other regions, further highlighting the region's resilience.

Yose Rizal Damuri, executive director of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, Indonesia, projected that Asia's share of the world's GDP will rise to 49.7 percent this year. He said that Asia is a major source of global trade demand and supply, and an important driver of global economic progress.

Across the region, infrastructure projects such as cross-border power grids and renewable energy initiatives are steadily advancing. Regulatory and standard connectivity is also expanding into emerging areas including digital trade and cross-border payments.

A press conference for the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) Annual Conference 2026 and launch of the BFA flagship reports is held in Boao, south China's Hainan province, March 24, 2026. (Photo/Meng Zhongde)

Holger Bingmann, vice chairman of the Executive Board of the International Chamber of Commerce, emphasized that the real opportunity lies in restoring confidence in global free trade. In an era of uncertainty, openness itself is a powerful strength, he said, stressing the need to build new bridges to connect different regions and communities.

Amid a complex and uncertain international landscape, "stability" has emerged as a recurring theme at the forum. Denis Depoux, global managing director of Roland Berger, observed that countries in the Asia-Pacific, including China, are committed to anchoring stability through peace, cooperation, and multilateralism, an approach that is crucial for boosting investor confidence and fostering a stable investment environment.

"Asian Economic Outlook and Integration Progress Annual Report 2026" highlighted a major shift in the global artificial intelligence (AI) landscape. As the center of AI development increasingly moves toward Asia, regional economies are leveraging their large digital populations, diverse application scenarios, and systematic policy support to transition from followers to leaders, reshaping the global AI innovation ecosystem.

Deloitte China Research partner Lydia Chen noted that China has developed a comprehensive framework spanning computing infrastructure, talent cultivation, industrial support, and governance. She called on Asian countries to strengthen talent exchange networks and build cross-border technology cooperation platforms to sustain long-term competitive advantages.

Michele Geraci, former undersecretary of state at Italian Ministry of Economic Development, shared a personal example of regional connectivity: "I can now travel from Laos to China by train, thanks to the China-Laos Railway. With speeds reaching 150 kilometers per hour, travel time has been significantly reduced." In his view, cooperation in areas such as technology and infrastructure is helping drive shared development across Asia.

A humanoid robot is seen at the media center of the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2026, March 23, 2026. (Photo/Meng Zhongde)

Over its 25-year history, the BFA has become a witness to the key milestones in Asia's development. From the launch of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) to the signing of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area 3.0 Upgrade Protocol, and from the operation of the China-Laos Railway and the Jakarta-Bandung High-Speed Railway to the ongoing construction of Malaysia's East Coast Rail Link, regional cooperation continues to gain momentum.

Former President of the Philippines Gloria Macapagal Arroyo described this year's BFA annual conference as a milestone event. As China's global influence grows, she said, the forum is playing an increasingly prominent role as a platform for dialogue among political, business, and academic leaders from across Asia and beyond.

Countries across Asia hope to further advance integrated economic cooperation, said Kairat Sarybay, Secretary General of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia. He said that geopolitical tensions, uncertainties in international trade, and rising protectionism pose challenges to global development, and that advancing economic integration in Asia will help boost confidence among all stakeholders.

BFA Secretary General Zhang Jun emphasized that the forum remains rooted in Asia while embracing the world, committed to advancing regional economic integration, strengthening exchanges and cooperation, and deepening mutual understanding and trust.

While acknowledging that the path toward economic integration and sustainable development will inevitably involve challenges, Zhang stressed that with strong confidence, solidarity, and perseverance, Asia can continue to move toward high-quality development and build a new growth paradigm that supports the "Century of Asia."

(Web editor: Chang Sha, Liang Jun)
Indore, March 30 : The female software engineer who was killed after objecting to the use of a penthouse for commercial activities in her residential complex here was planning to sell her flat and shift elsewhere, as her family was fed up with persistent lateanight nuisance in the society, her husband has said.

Indore, March 30 (IANS) The female software engineer who was killed after objecting to the use of a penthouse for commercial activities in her residential complex here was planning to sell her flat and shift elsewhere, as her family was fed up with persistent latenight nuisance in the society, her husband has said.

Shampa Pandey, who was run over by a car during an altercation at Shiv Vatika Township on March 26, had decided to move out after repeated disturbances caused by commercial activities being carried out from a penthouse in the society.

"She (Shampa) was very upset with the nuisance from the commercial activities in the penthouse, especially late at night. Therefore, we had decided to sell out this flat and buy another one at another location and had already started searching for it. A flat was finalised, and we had also carried a cheque, but later, we decided to pay a token amount on our next visit," Shampan's husband, Saurabh Pandey, said while talking to IANS on Monday.

He said Shampa's decisions were always final for the family and that all their plans were shattered by her death.

Saurabh Pandey, who now has the responsibility of caring for his elderly parents and their two minor sons aged seven and ten, said Shampa had finalised the flat at DB Pride shortly before the incident.

Pandey further shared that on March 22, local area municipal councillors had held a meeting, and Shampa was also present there. In that meeting, all residents had unanimously opposed the renting of the penthouse for commercial activities, and Kuldeep Choudhary (whose son killed Shampa) had accepted it.

On the other hand, police said the investigation in the case is still underway, and Kuldeep and his 18-year-old son Mohnish were taken to the spot (residential complex) in tight security by a team from the Lasudia police station on Sunday afternoon. The residents present there expressed their anger and demanded death punishment for both father and son.

Meanwhile, a team of officials from Indore Municipal Corporation (BMC) visited the Shiv Vatika township to ascertain the number of properties owned by Choudhary within the complex. During the visit, civic officials held an interaction with the residents and issued a notice regarding the commercial activities in the residential society.

"What surprised me was that none of the public representatives, neither from the state ruling BJP nor opposition Congress, visited the aggrieved family to express condolences. Only municipal councillor Rakesh Solanki, who had tried to resolve the issue, visited us," Pandey told IANS.

Shampa Panday's body was cremated on March 27. She was born and brought up in Jabalpur and was married to Saurabh Pandey, whose family originally belongs to the Ayodhya district of Uttar Pradesh.

Notably, on Wednesday night (March 26), Kuldeep Chaudhary, who owns at least two penthouses in the complex, entered into a heated argument with residents of the society, including Shampa's husband. He then called his son Mohnish to the spot, which led to a physical altercation.

Subsequently, the Chaudhary family, including Kuldeep, his wife, and son Mohnish, got into their Swift car. Mohnish, who was driving, allegedly sped towards a group of residents standing nearby. While some escaped, Shampa Pandey could not, and the car hit her, causing her to fall. She later died.

A case of murder has already been registered after the father and son were arrested on Thursday.
Hyderabad, March 30 : As part of the efforts to promote electric vehicles, Telangana Transport Minister Ponnam Prabhakar on Monday came to the state Assembly in an electric car.

Accompanied by MLA Danam Nagender, the minister travelled in the electric car from the Ministers' Quarters to the Assembly.

Prabhakar said the state government introduced the EV policy to reduce pollution and protect the environment.

As part of the policy, the government has announced a 100 per cent exemption from road tax and registration tax for EV vehicles.

According to the minister, the government has so far provided exemptions worth approximately Rs 1,000 crore. He said that to promote EV vehicles, the government will provide charging stations and infrastructure facilities.

He noted that EV manufacturers are providing 10-20 per cent discounts on electric vehicles to government employees, and thanked the various EV companies that are on board.

The Transport Minister, on behalf of the state government, appealed to all EV companies to come forward to give incentives to promote electric vehicles.

To encourage the adoption of electric vehicles as an eco-friendly alternative to fossil fuela"run vehicles, the state government last week announced an initiative under which government employees will get up to 20 per cent discount on EVs.

This is claimed to be a first-of-its-kind in the country.

The minister secured discounts of up to 20 per cent on electric two-and four-wheelers for state government employees. This was done after multiple rounds of negotiations with leading EV manufacturers.

This move could translate into savings of up to Rs 4 lakh per employee for around 5 lakh government employees across Telangana.

The state government in 2024 announced a 100 per cent exemption from road tax and registration fees for electric vehicles, including two-wheelers, four-wheelers, taxis, autorickshaws, goods carriers, tractors, and buses, as part of its public EV policy.
March 30 : Lucknow: The Yogi government is set to take a major step to make students of the Uttar Pradesh State Institute of Forensic Sciences (UPSIFS) highly skilled in the field of forensic science. Under this initiative, the government will sign MoUs with leading institutions to provide students with extensive opportunities for internships, research, and practical exposure.

These MoUs will be signed between UPSIFS and four institutions: Maharana Pratap Institute of Technology, Gorakhpur; Dhirubhai Ambani University, Gandhinagar; Uttar Pradesh Prisons Administration and Reform Services, and King Georges Medical University (KGMU).

Through these collaborations, students will receive hands-on, high-level training.

The primary objective is to move beyond theoretical knowledge and prepare students as forensic experts in real-world scenarios.

UPSIFS Director G.K. Goswami said, "CM Yogi Adityanath aims to make forensic science students 'job-ready.' While forensic education has traditionally been theory-heavy, the Chief Minister is placing strong emphasis on practical training alongside theory."

Through these MoUs, students will gain exposure to case studies, postmortem procedures, medico-legal aspects, and practical dimensions of criminal investigation.

Under the agreement with King Georges Medical University, students will closely observe postmortem procedures in the Department of Forensic Medicine, including the entire process from inquest to autopsy.

This will help them understand the circumstances of death and how scientific analysis is conducted.

UPSIFS Deputy Director Chiranjeev Mukherjee explained that the MoU with Uttar Pradesh Prisons Administration and Reform Services will allow students to visit jails and conduct case studies of inmates.

He added, "Students will learn about bail processes, prison environments, and the social and psychological factors behind crimes. This exposure will help them understand the root causes of criminal behavior, which is essential for a forensic expert."

Additionally, the MoU with Maharana Pratap Institute of Technology, Gorakhpur will enable internship opportunities for students of both institutions.

Faculty members will also exchange lectures, and in the future, both institutions will jointly establish a forensic science laboratory equipped with advanced technologies.

This will strengthen research, testing capabilities, and overall forensic infrastructure in the state.

The MoU with Dhirubhai Ambani University, Gandhinagar will facilitate student and faculty exchange programs. UPSIFS students will be able to intern there, while students from Dhirubhai Ambani University will come to Lucknow for forensic training.

Faculty members from both institutions will also deliver lectures at each others campuses, enhancing the quality of education and providing students with guidance from diverse experts.

This initiative will play a crucial role in strengthening scientific investigation in areas such as digital crime, cyber fraud, and complex criminal cases, ensuring more accurate and reliable conclusions.
Gandhinagar, March 30 : Gujarat has recorded more than 56 crore Aadhaar authentication transactions in the last financial year across over 200 Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) schemes, reflecting the state's expanding digital governance framework and increased reliance on technology-driven service delivery.

According to officials, Aadhaar authentication services are currently being used across 13 government departments for DBT schemes to improve transparency and efficiency in the transfer of benefits.

These measures form part of a broader push to strengthen e-governance and reduce leakages in public service delivery.

The state government said its digital initiatives are aligned with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "Digital India" vision and are being implemented under the leadership of Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, with guidance from Science and Technology Minister Arjun Modhwadia.

The government stated that the focus has been on delivering faster, transparent and corruption-free services to citizens, including those in remote areas.

Gujarat Informatics Ltd (GIL), the nodal agency for e-governance in the state, is providing Aadhaar authentication and e-KYC services to various departments.

Officials said the integration of these services into DBT schemes has strengthened administrative efficiency and ensured more direct delivery of benefits.

As part of its technology expansion, the state has also established an Artificial Intelligence Centre of Excellence at GIFT City in Gandhinagar to support startups and innovation.

The Gujarat AI Stack, an integrated platform, offers tools for services such as crop disease diagnosis, document conversion, grievance classification and guidance on government schemes.

These tools are made available as APIs for developers and government use.

To simplify access to services, the government has introduced a 'Single Sign-On' portal, allowing citizens to use one ID to access multiple schemes and services.

At present, 13 applications from different departments have been integrated into the system.

The implementation of the 'Bhashini' project has enabled translation of information into multiple Indian languages, with 52 government websites and applications integrated with the tool.

In addition, WhatsApp-based services have been rolled out to allow citizens to receive certificates directly on their mobile devices.

Connectivity infrastructure has also been expanded through the Gujarat State Wide Area Network (GSWAN), which links around 6,000 government offices across 34 districts and 248 talukas via an intranet system.

The network has supported approximately 4,000 video conferences and more than 13 webcast events during the year, including those related to the state's grievance redressal platform, SWAGAT.

Officials added that the Secretariat Integrated Communication Network is being upgraded to an IP-based system to further strengthen communication capabilities within government offices.

On the cybersecurity front, the Gujarat Security Operations Centre is responsible for monitoring threats, auditing government websites and applications, and providing training to officials.

The Gujarat State Data Centre, which serves as the state's common IT infrastructure, currently hosts over 750 websites and applications.

The government said that sustained digital transformation efforts over the past decade have improved access to governance, technology and services across urban, rural and remote areas, with a continued focus on expanding digital access and participation.
Dhaka, March 30 : As the fuel crisis deepens across Bangladesh, transport disruption, enforcement drives, and large-scale irregularities in supply and distribution have raised concerns over market stability, local media reported on Monday.

The crisis escalated following an indefinite strike by tanker workers in eight northern districts, disrupting fuel supply from a key depot, while authorities elsewhere intensified action against hoarding, illegal sales, and misuse.

Reports suggest that fuel supply came to a halt across eight districts, including Dinajpur, Thakurgaon, Panchagarh, Rangpur, Nilphamari, Gaibandha, Kurigram and Lalmonirhat, after tanker workers launched an indefinite strike on Sunday.

The Rangpur Divisional Tanker Workers Union called the strike after three individuals were arrested and sentenced in Nilphamari over allegations of fuel theft, leading Bangladeshi daily Dhaka Tribune reported.

As a result, operations in the Parbatipur Railway Head Oil Depot, a major supply point for the region, have reportedly remained suspended with no diesel, petrol or octane being lifted.

The union leaders called for the release of the detained workers within 24 hours and the removal of the Nilphamari Nezarat deputy collector (NDC).

They warned that the strike would continue until their demands are addressed, raising the risk of bringing passenger and goods transport to a complete standstill.

The Petrol Pump Owners Association extended support for the workers while talks are underway to resolve the dispute.

Reports suggest that in the Rajshahi district, Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) has stepped up monitoring of oil depots and filling stations to curb hoarding and cross-border smuggling.

Three platoons have been stationed at the district's Padma, Meghna and Jamuna depots, with surveillance extended to 12 filling stations and border char areas.

Meanwhile, the Bangladeshi government has announced a cash reward of up to Bangladeshi taka 1 lakh for those providing credible information on illegal fuel hoarding and smuggling, local media reported.

The initiative led by the Department of Energy and Mineral Resources seeks to tackle malpractice in the country's fuel supply chain.

"Some unscrupulous actors are hoarding and smuggling fuel amid rising demand and limited supply. Those who provide verified information to the authorities will be duly rewarded, and legal action will be taken against the offenders," The Dhaka Tribune quoted a senior official of the department as saying.

The move is part of broader efforts aimed at ensuring consistent and equitable fuel distribution across Bangladesh.

The crisis stems from the war in West Asia, which has escalated since late February after joint US-Israeli strikes targeted Iranian military facilities and leadership.

Iran responded with missile and drone attacks against Israel, US interests and several Gulf states hosting American military bases.

--IANS

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Islamabad, March 30 : A leading minority rights group on Monday highlighted that members of the Ahmadi community were once again prevented from offering Eid prayers in several districts of Pakistan's Punjab province -- turning what should have been a "moment of unity" into yet another instance of exclusion.

According to the Voice of Pakistan Minority (VOPM), police deployments, administrative barriers, and the looming threat of legal consequences ensured that gatherings were either disrupted or did not take place.

"This repetition is what makes the situation especially troubling. These are not isolated incidents or sudden lapses -- they are part of a consistent, almost predictable reality. Year after year, Ahmadis face the same restrictions, the same pressures, and the same message: that their participation in public religious life is not permitted," the VOPM stated.

"The roots of this pattern lie in Pakistan's legal framework, which formally restricts Ahmadi religious practices. Over time, these laws have shaped not only policy but also public attitudes, normalising discrimination and enabling local authorities to act against the community with little resistance. What is enforced on paper translates into lived experiences of fear and marginalisation," it added.

The rights body raised alarm over the role of Pakistani authorities in sustaining this cycle, noting that while law enforcement agencies are meant to ensure safety and protect rights, they often become "instruments of restriction".

The repeated intervention of Pakistani authorities in "peaceful acts of worship", it said, reinforces exclusion and raises serious concerns about accountability and the rule of law.

"For the Ahmadi community, the impact goes far beyond missing a single prayer. Eid is a deeply meaningful occasion -- one that symbolises belonging, faith, and togetherness. Being denied the right to celebrate it openly, year after year, deepens a sense of isolation. It turns a moment of joy into a reminder of inequality," the VOPM stated.

What makes this pattern even more striking is, according to the report, the contradiction with narratives of Pakistan, which has repeatedly pledged to uphold religious freedom and counter extremism.

"Yet, the annual restrictions on Ahmadis tell a different story -- one where commitments remain largely unfulfilled on the ground," it added.

Emphasising the entrenched discrimination against the Ahmadi community, the VOPM said, "A society cannot claim to value justice while allowing the same violations to repeat year after year. Until this pattern is broken, the promise of equal rights in Pakistan will remain not just unfulfilled but routinely denied."

--IANS

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New Delhi, March 30 : Following Pakistan's reported role in an attempt at brokering truce between the United States and Iran in the midst of a month-long war in West Asia, Afghanistan appears to have increased its regional outreach amid its own armed conflict with Islamabad.

While discussing bilateral relations with Afghan Foreign Minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi, Iran's envoy in Kabul, Alireza Bikdeli shared his country's views on the recent developments following what he described as a "war initiated by the United States and Israel", according to a Tolo News report early on Monday.

Muttaqi, in turn, described the situation as an "aggression" by Washington and Tel Aviv against Iran and warned that the expansion of the conflict would be harmful to the region, it added, quoting Kabul's foreign ministry statement.

According to the report, the Afghan Foreign Minister also "expressed appreciation for Iran's positive stance regarding recent tensions between Afghanistan and Pakistan", and added that the government statement emphasised that Kabul seeks to resolve "reasonable demands of both sides through meaningful and sincere dialogue".

On his part, the acting head of Iran's embassy in Kabul, "described cooperation between Afghanistan and Iran  especially in trade, as positive. He said Iran's leadership is closely monitoring the recent situation between Afghanistan and Pakistan and supports a peaceful resolution", the website article added.

The meeting was held to discuss bilateral relations and regional issues, where Muttaqi reportedly described trade relations between Afghanistan and Iran as growing.

In a separate report late on Sunday, the news website also mentioned Muttaqi's phone call with United Arab Emirates (UAE) Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

Incidentally, the UAE, too, is said to be among the negotiators between Washington and Tehran. They reportedly discussed bilateral relations, issues between Afghanistan and the United States, the regional situation, as well as "recent tensions between Afghanistan and Pakistan".

According to an official statement that the report quoted, during the conversation, Muttaqi added that Afghanistan, as a neighboring country, seeks to resolve issues with Pakistan through dialogue and mutual understanding and will not allow Afghan territory to be used against Pakistan.

The UAE foreign minister was also stated to have said that continued tensions between Afghanistan and Pakistan benefit neither side and that his country supports efforts to reduce tensions and strengthen stability in the region.

Muttaqi, added the Afghan foreign ministry release, appreciated the UAE's mediating role in the release of an American prisoner and emphasised that issues should be resolved through dialogue.

Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan described relations between Afghanistan and the US as important and added that his country would play a positive role in this regard.

"This comes as rising regional tensions have made the role of mediating countries such as the United Arab Emirates increasingly significant, with expectations that diplomatic efforts could help pave the way for reducing the crisis and ensuring stability in Afghanistan and the region," added Sunday's report.

The beleaguered nation of Afghanistan has Iran on its West and Pakistan on its South and Southeast. While the Pakistan border remain closed since about five months following its war with the neighbour, the US-Israel bombing of Iran has brought volatility to the other side too.

Being a landlocked country, and the Taliban government facing sanctions, global supply of aid and support material remains under stress with the closest seaports being situated in Afghanistan's two immediate neighbours.
Islamabad, March 30 : At least 17 people, including 14 children, were killed and 56 others were injured after heavy rains caused roof and wall collapse in several areas of Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa since March 25, according to a Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) report on Monday, local media reported.

The highest number of casualties was reported in Bannu, with eight deaths, including seven children and one woman, while 42 others were injured.

As many as five people, including four children, died in Abbottabad, while two fatalities were reported in Kohat, one in North Waziristan and one woman was killed in Battagram, Pakistani daily The Express Tribune reported.

According to the report, 11 houses were damaged in the rains, with five of them in Bannu. Several incidents of roof collapse were reported in Bannu. A roof collapsed in Dad Kachlot, killing three children - nine-year-old Asif, six-year-old Umrah, and three-year-old Javeria.

Two people were killed, and 39 others were injured in Kotka Ghulam Qadir after the roof of a veranda at a community centre collapsed.

Two children were killed in Mama Kheil after a house wall collapsed. A woman was killed after the roof of a room in Shamdi Khel.

Two children were killed after a room's roof in Kohat's Gumbat collapsed during heavy rain.

Five people were killed after the roof of a room in Khaitar Hajiya Gali of Havelian tehsil in Abbottabad collapsed.

PDMA officials continue to monitor the situation as rescue and relief operations are being conducted across the affected districts. Officials have ordered local administrations in the affected districts to ensure swift distribution of relief goods, The Express Tribune reported.

Two children were injured in Lakki Marwat after a roof collapsed in the Serai Noorung. Rescue teams retrieved them from the debris and rushed them to a hospital.

Two men and two women were injured after a house roof collapsed in Nowshera. Rescue 1122 teams rescued all the injured people and took them to a hospital.
New Delhi, March 30 : In a charged debate during the ongoing Budget Session, Naxal/Maoist violence emerged as a sharp point of contention between the ruling and opposition benches in the Lok Sabha.

BJP MP Sambit Patra invoked former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's words, calling Maoism the "deadliest evil" confronting India. Patra accused the Congress party of romanticising the movement, citing writer Arundhathi Roy's description of Maoists as "Gandhians with guns".

He argued that such views reflect a distorted understanding of the threat, recalling the April 2, 2010, massacre in Chhattisgarh where 76 CRPF personnel were killed -- the highest single-day casualty for Indian security forces.

"Congress has sinned", Patra declared, framing the party's legacy as complicit in undermining national security.

Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra highlighted government data showing fortified police stations in Maoist-affected areas rising from 66 in 2014 to 586 by December 2025.

She questioned the government's claims of declining Maoist influence and returning normalcy in Bastar, asking why militarisation continues if peace has indeed been restored.

"If normalcy is restored, why has security been increased?" she pressed, suggesting a contradiction between official rhetoric and ground realities.

Adding to the chorus of criticism, AAP MP Sanjay Singh accused the Modi government of injustice towards soldiers.

While discussing the Central Armed Police Forces (General Administration) Bill, Singh lamented that troops safeguarding borders are driven to despair, unable to visit their families when needed.

He cited reports by Murli Manohar Joshi and P. Chidambaram recommending parity in promotions between CRPF and IPS officers, arguing that the government has failed to implement reforms that would boost morale.

While the BJP sought to pin responsibility on Congress-era policies and intellectual sympathies, opposition MPs turned the spotlight on the current government's militarised approach and neglect of personnel welfare.

The debate revealed not only the enduring shadow of Maoist violence but also the political fault lines over accountability, reform, and the balance between security and normalcy.
New Delhi, March 30 : Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta on Monday announced that 40 goshalas or cow shelters in the city will be equipped with all facilities, and the campaign for service, energy from cow dung and cleanliness will be expanded on a broader scale.

Releasing financial aid for cow shelters at Chief Minister Jan Seva Sadan, Gupta said, "In the first phase, focus has been placed on 10 modern goshalas, where the service, protection, and nurturing of destitute Gau Mata will be ensured."

In a message on social media, the Chief Minister said, "Today, the Chief Minister Jan Seva Sadan reinforced the resolve for the service and protection of Gau Mata by providing lease extension agreement certificates to Delhi's goshalas and disbursing assistance funds for establishing biogas infrastructure."

This is an extension of our cultural consciousness and compassion, she said.

Earlier, Chief Minister Gupta, while presenting the Budget, said, "Delhi had been held back in the past but is now moving forward with a renewed governance approach. From this point on, Delhi will witness transformation rather than confrontation -- performance, not politics."

Speaking on the Bharatiya Janata Party-led state government's resolve, the Chief Minister remarked, "Some people adapt to the times, some people change with the times, while others change the very mould of the times."

Chief Minister Gupta said: "The Delhi government has begun clearing long-pending dues, including payments related to sportspersons, economically weaker sections' welfare, scholarships, awards and the Kishori scheme. Tuition fees worth Rs 114 crore for SC, ST and OBC students and Rs 538 crore for Delhi government colleges have also been paid."

She also met Lieutenant Governor T.S. Sandhu and discussed development and infrastructure issues after the Budget was passed in the Assembly.

In a message on social media platform X, the Chief Minister said, "Had a courtesy meeting with the Lieutenant Governor Taranjit Singh Sandhu Ji. On this occasion, there was a meaningful discussion on Delhi's development, public welfare, and future direction."

"This year's Green Budget advances this very vision, with infrastructure acceleration, environmental priority, and a commitment to improving citizens' lives at its core. We are all determined to build a developed Delhi," Chief Minister Gupta said, sharing photos of the meeting.
New Delhi, March 30 : The government on Monday said that there is an adequate stock of fertilisers at about 180 lakh metric tonnes (LMT), compared with 147 LMT a year ago, despite the escalating West Asia crisis and supply issues.

Additional Secretary, Department of Fertilisers, Aparna Sharma, however, said that domestic urea output has taken a hit.

"As of today, we have an adequate stock position. Urea and Diammonium phosphate (DAP) are made available to farmers at regulated prices," she said at an inter-ministerial briefing, adding that supplies remain under control.

"The global fertiliser market has been affected, and prices have increased due to the prevailing geopolitical situation. Our freight costs have also increased," Sharma added.

India is dependent on imports of urea and phosphatic fertilisers to meet the demand of the agriculture sector. To ensure a stable and assured supply in view of this dependency, the Department of Fertilisers has facilitated the signing of long-term agreements between Indian companies KRIBHCO, IPL and CIL with Saudi Arabia's Maaden for the supply of 31 lakh metric tonnes (LMT) of DAP and NPK annually to India over a five-year period from 2025-26 to 2029-30.

Sharma further informed that April and May are generally lean months used for inventory build-up, adding that supplies had already been arranged in advance. "We are diversifying our sourcing bases and procuring supplies from Russia, Morocco, Australia, Algeria, Egypt, Indonesia, Malaysia, Canada, etc," she added.

Meanwhile, Joint Secretary, Marketing and Oil Refinery, in the Petroleum Ministry, Sujata Sharma, said during the regular briefing that inventories are sufficient across products and the country has adequate stocks of petrol, diesel, LPG and LNG.

"Crude inventories are adequate," she said. The ministries have backed the expansion of piped natural gas (PNG) infrastructure, while relief measures have also been rolled out for vulnerable groups.

Around 1.04 crore LPG booking requests came in the last two days, and 92 lakh deliveries were completed.

Enforcement action has also intensified, with 2,500 raids and 2,000 cylinders seized on Sunday, Sharma said.
New Delhi, March 30 : Lieutenant General Pushpendra Pal Singh on Monday relinquished the appointment of Vice Chief of the Army Staff, marking the end of his tenure in one of the Indian Army's top leadership positions.

In a post on X, the Indian Army said, "Lieutenant General Pushpendra Singh relinquished the appointment of Vice Chief of the Army Staff, VCOAS."

Following the ceremonial tradition, Lt Gen Singh paid homage to fallen soldiers by laying a wreath at the National War Memorial in New Delhi. He also reviewed a Guard of Honour at South Block.

An alumnus of La Martiniere College, Lucknow University, and the Indian Military Academy, Dehradun, Lt Gen Singh has had a distinguished military career spanning several decades.

During his service, he participated in key military operations, including Operation Pawan, Operation Meghdoot, Operation Orchid, and held multiple tenures in Operation Rakshak, gaining extensive operational experience in diverse terrains and conflict zones.

Over the course of his career, Lt Gen Singh held several important command and staff assignments.

He commanded a Special Forces unit in the Kashmir Valley as well as along the Line of Control, and later led an Infantry Brigade and a Mountain Division during Operation Snow Leopard along the Line of Actual Control.

He also served as the General Officer Commanding (GOC) of a Corps headquartered in Himachal Pradesh, where he was responsible for strategically significant areas including Jammu, Samba, and Pathankot.

Officials noted that he possesses deep operational insight and a strong understanding of dynamics along both the western and northern borders.

Lt Gen Singh has undergone several prestigious training programmes, including the Staff Course at the Defence Services Staff College in Wellington, the Higher Defence Management Course at the College of Defence Management in Secunderabad, and the Advanced Professional Programme in Public Administration at the Indian Institute of Public Administration.

Academically, he holds a Master's degree in Management Studies from Osmania University and a Master of Philosophy degree from Panjab University.

In recognition of his distinguished service to the nation, Lt Gen Singh has been awarded the Ati Vishisht Seva Medal as well as a Bar to the Sena Medal.
March 30 : Lucknow: Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Monday, through a grand program organized at Lok Bhavan, took a major step towards making the Anganwadi system of Uttar Pradesh digital, empowered and modern. On this occasion, he distributed smartphones to 69,804 Anganwadi workers and supervisors and appointment letters to 18,440 workers and helpers. He also inaugurated and laid the foundation for various child development and women welfare projects costing more than 450 crore.

At the event, CM Yogi distributed 69,804 smartphones to Anganwadi workers and supervisors across the state. This initiative is an important step towards making Anganwadi services fully digital and transparent. Through smartphones, nutrition tracking, updating children's data, monitoring pregnant women and real-time implementation of government schemes will now be possible.

At the event, CM distributed appointment letters to 18,440 Anganwadi workers and helpers. This recruitment will fill vacant posts and further strengthen the service system. CM handed over appointment letters on stage to selected candidates from Rae Bareli, Amethi, Sidhauli, Gosainganj and other districts, also conveying a message of a transparent recruitment process.

Chief Minister distributed modern equipment such as stadiometers, infantometers and weighing scales to Anganwadi workers. Across the state, 10,553 infantometers, 133,282 stadiometers and 58,237 mother-child weighing scales are being provided. These devices will enable accurate monitoring of children's height, length and weight, ensuring timely identification and treatment of malnutrition.

In the state, 23,697 Anganwadi centers have been developed as 'Saksham Anganwadi', with an expenditure of 236 crore. These centers have been equipped with LED screens, RO machines, ECCE (Early Childhood Care and Education) kits and modern furniture. These centers are no longer limited to nutrition distribution but are becoming hubs for children's holistic development, education, health and mental growth.

Today, in all 75 districts of UP, 897 child development projects are being operated through about 1.89 lakh Anganwadi centers. The government's goal is to equip all these centers in a phased manner with smart, digital and modern facilities so that quality services can reach every child and every mother. The program emphasized that a healthy childhood is the foundation of a strong nation. Through proper nutrition, early education and adequate care, holistic development of children is being ensured. Today, Anganwadi centers are providing a safe, inspiring and play-based environment, which is essential for children's mental and physical development.

CM personally handed over appointment letters, smartphones and devices-
New Delhi, March 30 : A Delhi court on Monday sent Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist Shabir Ahmed Lone to five days' police custody in connection with the Metro poster case.

New Delhi, March 30 (IANS) A Delhi court on Monday sent Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist Shabir Ahmed Lone to five daysa police custody in connection with the Metro poster case.

The Patiala House Court allowed the plea of the Delhi Police Special Cell, which had sought five daysa custody of Lone to further interrogate him and unravel the larger conspiracy behind the recently busted terror module.

Lone was produced before the court earlier in the day amid tight security.

During the hearing, the Special Cell submitted that custodial interrogation of the accused was crucial to identify potential recruits, trace his associates, and uncover the operational network linked to the case.

The court, after hearing arguments, initially reserved its order on the police custody plea and later granted five daysa custody of the accused.

According to officials, Lone was arrested late Sunday night from the Ghazipur area by a Special Cell team under the supervision of DCP Praveen Pathi. He is alleged to be a key handler of a previously dismantled module linked to the Metro poster case, which had triggered security concerns after inflammatory and anti-India posters were found at multiple locations, including the Supreme Court Metro station and Janpath.

The case was registered following a complaint by the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) on February 8, triggering a high-priority investigation.

Investigators said Lone had earlier been arrested in 2007 and again in 2015 in Jammu and Kashmir, where he was allegedly found in possession of an AK-47 rifle.

Officials further revealed that after the earlier module was dismantled, Lone had returned to India to explore the possibility of setting up a new network and recruiting individuals.

The Special Cell has also indicated that Lone had travelled to Bangladesh in the past as part of efforts to establish a fresh terror module.

Earlier, on February 23, Delhi Police had arrested eight suspects in connection with the same network.

Preliminary investigations suggested that the group was operating under Loneas direction.

Officials noted that Lone had previously spent nearly a decade in jail on terror-related charges before being released on bail in 2019.

Sources added that after securing bail, Lone fled to Bangladesh and remained in contact with top LeT commanders, including Hafeez Saeed and Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, both accused as masterminds of the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.

The Delhi Police are currently interrogating the accused to determine the intended targets and the full scope of the alleged conspiracy.
New Delhi, March 30 : Congress leader Rahul Gandhi accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of staying silent on the Sabarimala Temple, but his charge faces pushback. Critics point to multiple speeches where PM Modi directly raised alleged gold theft and targeted the LDF, questioning whether Gandhi's claim ignores a well-documented public record.

At an election rally in Adoor, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of 'selectively' invoking religious themes. He argued that PM Modi frequently references temples and faith but failed to mention Sabarimala in a recent speech in Palakkad.

Gandhi also suggested that such positioning hints at a convergence of interests between the BJP and Kerala's ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF).

However, critics argue that the claims made by Rahul Gandhi do not fully account for multiple instances in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi has addressed issues related to the Sabarimala Temple, particularly allegations concerning gold theft.

According to this view, PM Modi has repeatedly raised the matter in public speeches while targeting the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) government in Kerala. In January this year, he strongly came down on the state administration, alleging that it had made no meaningful effort to safeguard the religious traditions of Sabarimala.

Referring to reports of irregularities, he remarked that there were "news reports of gold theft from the abode of the deity," underscoring the seriousness of the issue.

In the same address, PM Modi assured that if a BJP government comes to power in Kerala, a thorough investigation would be conducted and those found guilty would be sent to jail. "This is Modi's guarantee," he thundered while addressing the gathering.

The Prime Minister reiterated these concerns more recently while addressing an NDA convention in Kochi. The PM in that speech again brought up the alleged gold theft linked to Sabarimala. PM Modi in no uncertain terms accused the ruling LDF of being associated with "looting the gold," while also targeting the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF), alleging that it was complicit in "selling it."

In this context, observers questioning Gandhi's remarks argue that PM Modi has, in fact, spoken directly and repeatedly about Sabarimala and the alleged gold theft issue, without ambiguity. They raise concerns about whether selectively referencing a single speech while overlooking others presents an incomplete picture.
Payyannur, March 30 : In a development that has injected fresh heat into the election battle in Payyannur, former CPI(M) leader, V. Kunjikrishnan, now a Congress-led UDF backed independent on Monday, publicly released what he claims is documentary evidence of fund misappropriation linked to a martyr's relief collection.

Taking to social media on Monday, Kunjikrishnan shared bank statements and internal account records to substantiate his allegation that Rs 5 lakh was diverted from the 'Comrade Dhanaraj Family Assistance Fund' to the personal account of a former area secretary.

The transfer, he claimed, took place on July 9, 2018, from an account held at the Payyannur Rural Bank main branch.

The move comes amid sustained denial from the local CPI(M) leadership, which has maintained throughout the campaign that no financial irregularities have occurred and that not a single rupee of party funds has been lost.

Challenging this claim, Kunjikrishnan said he was prepared to place "undeniable evidence" before the public, asserting that he had been earlier entrusted by the party itself to examine the accounts.

"If the argument is that evidence should speak, I am ready to present it," he said, adding that attempts may be made to justify the transactions, but "the truth will stand above all explanations."

He also warned that more documents could be released if efforts were made to "suppress facts."

The controversy centres around funds collected in the name of slain party worker Dhanaraj, meant to support the martyr's family.

Kunjikrishnan alleged that even such collections had not been spared, calling it a "betrayal" of party workers, families and supporters.

He said copies of the bank statement and expenditure details submitted before party committees had been made public, asking what further proof was needed for the party, the media and the people to acknowledge the alleged irregularities.

The CPI(M) is yet to respond in detail to the latest disclosures.

The issue has added a sharp edge to the contest in Payyannur, where Kunjikrishnan is taking on sitting CPI(M) legislator T.I. Madhusoodhan.

With corruption emerging as a key talking point, the controversy is likely to influence voter sentiment in the constituency as campaigning enters its final stretch.

Next door to Payyannur is another top former CPI-M leader T.K.Govindan, who was booted out for questioning the candidature of CPI-M state secretary M.V.Govindan's wife at Taliparambu, who is contesting with the support of the UDF.

Both these rebel incidents have rocked the Kannur CPI-M which is the strongest district in the country for the red party.
New Delhi, March 30 : A Delhi court on Tuesday adjourned the hearing in the criminal defamation case filed by Priya Kapur, wife of late businessman Sunjay Kapur, against her sister-in-law Mandhira Kapur Smith, granting time to the complainant to file a reply to an application moved by the proposed accused.

The matter, which came up before the Patiala House Courts, has now been listed for further hearing on April 22 after Priya Kapur sought time to respond to an application filed by Mandhira Kapur under Section 330 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), seeking disclosure of documents relied upon in the complaint.

The court allowed the request and deferred the proceedings, directing the complainant to place her response on record before the next date of hearing.

In her application, she has sought copies of all documents relied upon by Priya Kapur in support of the criminal defamation complaint.

During the previous hearing, the court had issued summons to Mandhira Kapur in the matter.

Priya Kapur has initiated criminal defamation proceedings against Mandhira Kapur Smith and another, alleging a sustained campaign of false and defamatory statements against her across digital platforms, podcasts and media interviews.

The complaint alleges that the statements circulated through interviews and podcasts, and subsequently republished by sections of the media, are false, misleading and have caused serious harm to her reputation.

According to the complainant, the content includes personal attacks and allegations presented as facts despite the issues being sub judice, and amounts to criminal defamation intended to malign and harass her in the public domain.

The criminal proceedings form part of a broader legal dispute between the parties.

In a related development, the Delhi High Court, while hearing a civil defamation suit filed by Priya Kapur, had directed both parties to refrain from making any public statements against each other.

A single-judge Bench of Justice Mini Pushkarna had orally observed that the parties should conduct themselves with dignity and avoid making statements, directly or indirectly, against one another.

The Delhi High Court had issued notice on the interim relief application and directed Mandhira Kapur Smith to file her response, posting the matter for further hearing on May 14.

Priya Kapur has sought Rs 20 crore in damages in the civil suit, along with permanent and mandatory injunctions restraining the defendants from making or publishing any allegedly defamatory statements against her.

According to the plaint, following the demise of Sunjay Kapur on June 12, 2025, Mandhira Kapur allegedly engaged in a "systematic and organised" campaign to malign her through interviews, podcasts and social media posts, causing continuing damage to her reputation and mental peace.
Amritsar, March 30 : Punjab BJP President Sunil Jakhar on Monday said the police investigation into the death of state Warehousing Corporation district manager Gagandeep Randhawa has once again proven that the state government "intends to delay and weaken the case".

Amritsar, March 30 (IANS) Punjab BJP President Sunil Jakhar on Monday said the police investigation into the death of state Warehousing Corporation district manager Gagandeep Randhawa has once again proven that the state government "intends to delay and weaken the case".

He said the BJP would intensify its fight for justice. Talking to the media while attending an event here to mark his death, Jakhar said after five days of police remand the investigation has come under suspicion because the police have still not collected mobile phones and other crucial evidence, even though the former minister was giving interviews to the media on the phone on the day of his arrest.

He said if the police were serious about a fair investigation, evidence should have been collected immediately after the incident.

The BJP leader said although the police have mentioned that the pistol is yet to be recovered, sections under the Arms Act have not been included in the first information report (FIR).

Similarly, sections related to threatening a government official and obstructing official duties have also not been added.

He pointed out that the failure to arrest the former minister's father and personal assistant so far exposes the government's intent.

All these factors indicate that the government is trying to delay and gradually weaken the case, ultimately aiming to give a clean chit to its minister.

"This is why the family, along with the BJP and the people of Punjab, are demanding a CBI probe." Jakhar said the BJP would further intensify its struggle to ensure justice for the family and would hold a protest in Amritsar on April 4.

He said the kind of injustice done to Randhawa demanded exemplary punishment for the accused, and the struggle would continue until justice is served.

He also said the party would reach out to all MPs and MLAs in Punjab so they can write to the Central government requesting a CBI investigation.

He urged the Chief Minister to uphold moral responsibility and hand over the probe to the CBI.
Dharwad : , March 30 (IANS) In a concerning incident in Dharwad, Karnataka, an individual accused under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, allegedly made threatening calls to a minor victim from inside prison.

The case, which came to light on Monday, has gained significant attention and taken on a communal undertone, as the victim and the accused belong to different communities.

A video of the interaction surfaced on social media and quickly went viral, raising serious security concerns.

According to sources, the accused placed a video call to the victim from a mobile phone while lodged in Dharwad Central Jail. In the footage, the accused reportedly shows the victimas name etched onto his hand and threatens her, demanding she provide a statement in his favour during court proceedings and issue a statement that she is in love with him.

The accused allegedly harassed the minor with repeated calls, reportedly threatening that she would face the same fate as Neha Hiremath, a college student who was tragically stabbed to death by a jilted lover, Fayaz, on a college campus in Hubballi.

The accused in the POCSO case has also threatened the girl that he would make their private video viral.

The girlas family has expressed outrage over the security breach and demanded immediate action.

Following a protest by activists from the Sri Ram Sena, authorities very recently transferred the accused to the Vijayapura prison.

This development has sparked a heated debate regarding the illegal availability of mobile phones within correctional facilities and also regarding jail authorities turning a blind eye to the development.

Preliminary information indicated that the family had submitted proof of the video call made by the accused on March 11.

It can be recalled that in another case, a man who had been arrested for kidnapping and raping a minor, came out on bail, assaulted the victim and threatened her to withdraw the two complaints against him at Kembathahalli Road in Bengaluru.

The 24-year-old accused made the victim believe that he would marry her, kidnapped her and raped her. The police arrested him under the POCSO Act and remanded him to judicial custody. Coming out on bail later, the accused and his relatives barged inside the victim's house and assaulted her, her father, mother and uncle. The police arrested him again and sent him to prison.

It can also be noted that family members of a nine-year-old girl who was sexually assaulted by a driver alleged that the family of the accused threatened them to withdraw the case. The accused, hailing from Tamil Nadu, worked in Bengaluru and he allegedly sexually assaulted the girl. Following the lodging of a case in Karnataka, the accused was hiding in Tamil Nadu and threated the family of the victim.
Jaipur, March 30 : Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharma on Monday announced a major initiative for Anganwadi workers and helpers, transferring Rs 1,000 each directly into the bank accounts of 1.22 lakh beneficiaries through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) to cover the cost of two uniforms.

The transfer was made during a programme held at the Chief Ministeras Residence.

On the occasion, the Chief Minister also distributed cheques to beneficiaries under the Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana, Lado Protsahan Yojana, and Kalibai Bhil Yojana.

Addressing the gathering, Sharma said Anganwadi workers play a crucial role in nurturing young children and strengthening the foundation of the nation. He highlighted that the state government has taken several steps over the past two years to strengthen Anganwadi services.

He announced a 10 per cent increase in honorarium for Anganwadi workers, helpers, and Mid-Day Meal cooks-cum-helpers, effective from April 1, 2026. Under the Amrit Aahar Yojana, children aged 3 to 6 years are being provided hot milk five days a week at Anganwadi centres.

CM Sharma added that renovation of Anganwadi buildings is underway, smartphones have been distributed to workers and supervisors, and free eye check-ups, along with spectacles, will soon be provided.

The Chief Minister urged Anganwadi workers to contribute suggestions for the Chief Ministeras Developed Villagea"Ward Campaign, being conducted from March 19 to May 15.

He said the initiative aims to prepare a development roadmap for all Gram Panchayats and urban wards based on local needs and aspirations, aligning with Prime Minister Narendra Modias vision of a self-reliant and empowered India.

Sharma reiterated that the development of the state and nation is intrinsically linked to womenas empowerment. He noted that over 16 lakh women have become financially independent under the Lakhpati Didi scheme, with the government proposing to increase the loan limit from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 1.5 lakh in the current budget.

The Chief Minister added that women engaged in animal husbandry are receiving a subsidy of Rs 5 per litre on milk, while schemes such as Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana and Ma Voucher Yojana continue to support womenas welfare.

Deputy Chief Minister Diya Kumari, speaking at the event, emphasised the vital role of Anganwadi workers in shaping childrenas future. She said initiatives like Lakhpati Didi, Solar Didi, and Bank Sakhi are driving both economic and social empowerment of women.

She added that the state government is prioritising womenas education, skill development, and safety.

During the programme, the Chief Minister also unveiled the annual activity calendar for Anganwadi centres.

Minister of State for Women and Child Development Manju Baghmar, Department Secretary Poonam, senior officials, and a large number of Anganwadi workers and helpers were present on the occasion.
Bhubaneswar, March 30 : Massive chaos, created by opposition parties Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and Congress over the fire tragedy at SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack, which claimed the lives of 12 patients, continued to disrupt proceedings in the Odisha Assembly on Monday as well.

The proceedings began on Monday with Deputy Chief Minister Pravati Parida moving a motion of condolence to pay homage to former Pallahara MLA and ex-Lok Sabha MP from the Deogarh constituency, Narayan Sahu, who passed away on March 27.

The motion was seconded by Leader of Opposition Naveen Patnaik, Congress Legislative Party leader Rama Chandra Kadam, and others, who expressed their condolences to the bereaved family.

The House later observed a one-minute silence in memory of Sahu.

As soon as the Question Hour commenced, opposition members holding placards and banners gathered near Assembly Speaker Surama Padhyas podium and began protesting, demanding the resignation of Health Minister Mukesh Mahaling and action against senior officials of SCB Medical College and Hospital for their alleged negligence in the deadly fire mishap.

Amid the bedlam, Speaker Surama Padhy adjourned the House multiple times on Monday, too.

The all-party meeting called by the Speaker also failed to yield any results as the opposition continued the disruptions inside the House.

Meanwhile, the opposition parties, which had been protesting inside the Assembly since March 17, demanding the health ministeras resignation, intensified their demonstration on Monday by taking it to the streets and holding a massive protest at PMG Square in Bhubaneswar.

Leaders and workers of 10 opposition parties, including BJD, Congress, CPM, and others, participated in the demonstration.

Speaking to the media, senior BJD Vice President Debi Prasad Mishra supported the joint protest, alleging serious lapses in the functioning of SCB Medical College and Hospital. He said several democratic opposition parties had come together to raise concerns over patient safety and the alleged negligence that led to the loss of lives.

Mishra questioned the role of senior hospital officials, alleging that those responsible for monitoring medical services were not performing their duties effectively. He further claimed that despite the gravity of the issue, the government was shielding key officials instead of holding them accountable.

The senior BJD leader emphasised that the protest reflects the collective voice of the opposition, demanding transparency, accountability, and immediate corrective measures in the healthcare system.
New Delhi, March 30 : India has enough aviation turbine fuel (ATF) for the next 60 days and there is no immediate risk of disruption, Civil Aviation Minister Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu told the Rajya Sabha on Monday amid concerns over the ongoing West Asia conflict.

Responding to questions in the Rajya Sabha, Naidu assured that the country's aviation fuel supply remains stable despite the oil crisis triggered by the West Asia war.

"India currently has adequate ATF reserves and does not foresee any shortage in the near future," he said.

"India follows a balanced production system for ATF, where nearly half of the fuel produced is used for domestic consumption while the rest is exported," the minister explained.

He added that the country has sufficient stock to meet demand for at least the next 60 days without any interruption.

On aviation safety, Naidu said the government has stepped up monitoring and inspections of airlines.

He noted that the number of audits has been increased and checks are being carried out more frequently to ensure passenger safety remains the top priority.

Addressing concerns related to emergency landings, the minister said that decisions in such situations are always taken based on safety requirements.

He explained that factors such as the type of aircraft, weather conditions and regulatory guidelines are considered before prioritising any landing.

In a written reply, Naidu also spoke about safety checks conducted after the Air India crash.

He said the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) had directed airlines in July 2025 to inspect the locking mechanism of the fuel control switch in Boeing aircraft, following guidelines issued by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

"All airline operators have completed the required inspections and all aircraft were found fit and safe for operations," he added.
Bengaluru, March 30 : Leader of the Opposition R. Ashoka on Monday criticised the Congress government for removing Hindi as a third language for Class 10 students, alleging that the move has harmed the future of students. He said the decision was not driven by love for Kannada but was purely political.

Speaking at a press conference in Bengaluru, Ashoka said the Education Department had suddenly removed Hindi as a third language. "This decision has been taken at a time when students are writing their examinations. Lakhs of students have studied and prepared Hindi as a subject. This sudden move has created a major problem," he said.

He added that in 1918, Mahatma Gandhi had served as the president of the Hindi Prachar Samiti and had initiated its activities in South India. "Congress leaders, who are unaware of this history, have abruptly scrapped Hindi. We must be sensitive when it comes to children," he said.

Ashoka said English is a global language used for communication across countries. "Even Urdu, though not originally from our country, is learned by us. Tamil, Malayalam, and Telugu are all Indian languages. Students who expected to score high marks in Hindi are now disappointed due to the government's decision. This reflects the government's weakness and is an insult to Mahatma Gandhi," he said.

He pointed out that Congress leaders had earlier protested strongly when Mahatma Gandhi's name was removed from MGNREGA, but are now silent. "India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru introduced the three-language formula, and later Indira Gandhi strengthened it. Just because Tamil Nadu has adopted a certain model, they are trying to implement the same here," he said.

He further alleged that while Muslims in Tamil Nadu speak pure Tamil and those in Kerala speak pure Malayalam, Muslims in Karnataka do not speak fluent Kannada. "The Congress government has no intention of ensuring that they speak proper Kannada," he claimed.

Questioning the decision, he said, "If Kannada students clear IAS or IPS and go to Hindi-speaking states, what language will they use there? This move has been made out of anger towards Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It is vote-bank politics and a step that harms children's future."

He added that the BJP would implement the National Education Policy in the future, which provides language options.

Ashoka expressed confidence that the BJP would win the by-elections in Davanagere and Bagalkot.

He claimed that Muslims in Davanagere and voters in Bagalkot are against the Congress. He said Chief Minister Siddaramaiah is personally campaigning due to fear of losing his position, while Minister Zameer Ahmad Khan is not participating actively and Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar is also under pressure.

He alleged that late Shamanur Shivashankarappa had promised a ticket to a Muslim candidate, but instead it was given to a family member in Davanagere. He also criticised the government for increasing borrowing every year and said that welfare schemes are not reaching the poor.

Referring to a terror-related case, he claimed that an accused who had allegedly planned cooker bomb blasts at Dharmasthala and Kadri temples had confessed. He criticised Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar for earlier referring to the accused as "my brother", and demanded clarification from the Congress. "For votes, they even go against the nation and call such people brothers," he alleged.

He said the Congress is surviving due to the INDIA bloc and predicted that the party would decline nationally in the future. He also said PM Modi has ensured that oil shipments from Iran reach India and expressed hope that the issue would be resolved gradually.
New Delhi, March 30 : The Supreme Court has expressed strong displeasure over the delay by the Gujarat government in deciding the plea for premature release of a life convict, warning that failure to adhere to the policy timelines could invite "strict penal orders", including suo motu contempt proceedings.

A bench of Justices Ahsanuddin Amanullah and R. Mahadevan said that despite granting more than three monthsa time earlier, the state government had failed to take a final decision on the petitioneras case, terming the stand taken by the authorities as "absolutely unacceptable".

"Today also the stand being taken that the Committee is likely to take a decision soon, in our considered opinion, is absolutely unacceptable," the Justice Amanullah-led Bench observed.

The apex court was hearing a Special Leave Petition (SLP) filed by Mahesh Kumar Dhisalal Jangid, challenging a Gujarat High Court order.

In its previous order passed on December 12, 2025, the top court had recorded the state governmentas submission that the petitioneras case for premature release would be considered as per the Gujarat remission policy. Noting that the petitioner had already completed the minimum required period of incarceration for such consideration, the Justice Amanullah-led Bench had granted time to the state government to take a decision and communicate the same before the next hearing.

Referring to a 1992 circular issued under Section 432 of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing premature release, the Supreme Court highlighted that the policy itself mandates initiation of the process three months prior to completion of 14 years of imprisonment.

"From the aforesaid, it is clear that the policy itself indicates that a person, as and when he or she completes the said period, a final order has to be passed on that day," the order said.

The bench added that though premature release is not a fundamental right, it assumes the character of a vested right once a policy is framed by the state government.

Expressing concern over non-compliance, the top court said it could have initiated proceedings against all responsible officials but refrained from doing so for the time being.

"Accordingly, we could have initiated proceedings against all the concerned persons, right from the person who initiates the process till the person who actually/finally takes the decision. However, we refrain from doing so, for the present," the bench said.

It directed that the matter be listed on April 7, at the top of the board and cautioned that any future deviation from the policy would attract stringent consequences.

"It is further clarified thata the same shall entail strict penal orders from this Court, including, but not limited to, initiation of suo motu contempt," the order warned.

It also directed that its order be transmitted to the Chief Secretary for "strict compliance throughout the state".

Further, the Justice Amanullah-led Bench made it clear that if a final decision is not placed on record by the next date, senior officials, including the Chief Secretary, Home Secretary and Inspector General of Prisons, would have to remain personally present before the apex court.

"athe Chief Secretary and the Additional Chief Secretary/Secretary, Department of Homea and also the Inspector General of Prisons, Gujarat shall be personally present in Court to show-cause as to why proceedings be not initiated against them," it added.
New Delhi, March 30 : India and Russia held Foreign Office Consultations here on Monday, reviewing their Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership and discussing bilateral, regional, and global issues of mutual interest.

Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko co-chaired the Foreign Office Consultations.

In a post on X, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said: "India-Russia Foreign Office Consultations, co-chaired by Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko, were held in New Delhi today."

"Both sides reviewed the full spectrum of Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership and shared perspectives on bilateral, regional and global issues of mutual interest," he added.

On March 17, India and Russia held the 7th UN Consultations in New Delhi, with discussions focused on issues related to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) agenda, particularly counter-terrorism, peacekeeping, UNSC reforms and others.

"Both sides exchanged their priorities in the United Nations. The discussions focused on issues related to United Nations Security Council (UNSC) agenda, in particular counterterrorism, peacekeeping, UNSC reforms, among others," Jaiswal posted on X.

On March 11, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar held a telephonic conversation with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov and discussed the West Asia conflict and expanding bilateral ties.

"A good telecon with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov of Russia. Shared our assessments on the West Asia conflict and related diplomatic efforts. Also took stock of our bilateral cooperation agenda," Jaishankar posted on X.

The call between the two ministers took place amid the ongoing conflict in West Asia, which started after joint US-Israel strikes on Iran on February 28. In response, Iran launched drone and missile attacks targeting US assets, regional capitals and allied forces in West Asia.

Russian President Vladimir Putin was on a two-day State visit to India in December, during which he held formal talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, with both leaders reviewing the state of the India-Russia partnership as it completes 25 years since being designated a Strategic Partnership.

The discussions were followed by the 23rd India-Russia Annual Summit, during which the two sides released a Joint Statement outlining priorities for the coming years. Cooperation in energy, nuclear power, trade, defence and technology featured prominently.

President Droupadi Murmu hosted Putin at a banquet in Rashtrapati Bhavan.
Washington, March 30 : US President Donald Trump on Monday warned that the United States could strike Iran's key energy infrastructure if a deal is not reached soon and the Strait of Hormuz is not reopened, even as he said talks were making progress.a Washington, March 30 (IANS) US President Donald Trump on Monday warned that the United States could strike Iran's key energy infrastructure if a deal is not reached soon and the Strait of Hormuz is not reopened, even as he said talks were making progress.

Trump said the United States is in "serious discussions" with what he described as a "new, and more reasonable, regime" in Iran to end ongoing military operations.

"Great progress has been made," he said, adding that a deal would "probably" be reached shortly.

However, he issued a strong warning if negotiations fail.

"If for any reason a deal is not shortly reached and if the Hormuz Strait is not immediately 'Open for Business,' we will completely obliterating all of their Electric Generating Plants, Oil Wells and Kharg Island," Trump said. He added that "possibly all desalination plants" could also be targeted.

Trump said these facilities had not been purposefully touched and described the potential action as retribution for our many soldiers, and others, that Iran has butchered and killed over the old Regime's 47-year Reign of Terror.

The remarks signal a sharp escalation in tone, directly tied to the status of negotiations and maritime access through the Strait of Hormuz.

Separately, Marco Rubio warned Iran against any attempt to control the waterway or impose costs on shipping.

"Iran is making threats about controlling the Strait of Hormuz and creating a tolling system. That's not going to be allowed to happen," Rubio said.

He added that there was a near-term diplomatic pathway. "There is a way forward here to achieve our objectives in a matter of weeks, not months."
Agartala, March 30 : The government of Tripura is set to implement comprehensive security measures to ensure the peaceful and smooth conduct of the upcoming elections to the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) and the by-election in the Dharmanagar Assembly constituency, officials said on Monday.

The 30-member TTAADC, which includes 28 elected representatives and two members nominated by the state government, will go to the polls on April 12.

Meanwhile, the by-election for the Dharmanagar Assembly seat in North Tripura district is scheduled for April 9.

A senior police official stated that Director General of Police (DGP) Anurag chaired a high-level review meeting in hybrid mode with senior officers from the Police Headquarters.

The meeting was attended by Superintendents of Police from all eight districts, Commandants of the Tripura State Rifles (TSR), and Sub-Divisional Police Officers (SDPOs), focusing on election preparedness and security arrangements.

According to officials, personnel from the state police, TSR, Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), and Assam Rifles will be deployed to maintain law and order during the elections.

In a parallel development, a security coordination meeting was held earlier between Assam Rifles officials and the district administration of Khowai district. The meeting included the District Magistrate and Superintendent of Police, who reviewed the security situation in the bordering district in view of the upcoming TTAADC elections.

Officials discussed the prevailing security scenario and identified sensitive areas requiring heightened vigilance. Emphasis was placed on ensuring peaceful elections through strong coordination, timely intelligence sharing, and joint operational planning among all agencies.

Mechanisms for mutual support and rapid response to any contingencies during the election period were also outlined. The meeting concluded with a reaffirmation by Assam Rifles officials, along with the district administration and police, to work in close coordination to maintain law and order and ensure a secure electoral environment.

Administering nearly two-thirds of Tripuraas 10,491 sq km geographical area, the TTAADC region is home to over 12.16 lakh people, around 84 per cent of whom belong to indigenous tribal communities. This makes the council one of the most significant constitutional bodies in the stateas political landscape.

The elections have drawn participation from major political players, including the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led Left Front, and the Congress.

Regional parties such as the Tipra Motha Party (TMP) and the Indigenous Peopleas Front of Tripura (IPFT), along with local parties and Independent candidates, are also in the fray. Altogether, 173 candidates are contesting across 28 TTAADC seats.

The BJPas tribal allies, TMP and IPFT, are contesting separately after failing to reach an alliance for the council polls.

In the Dharmanagar Assembly by-election, six candidates from major parties, including the BJP, CPI(M)-led Left Front, and Congress, are contesting.

Additional candidates from the Amra Bangalee, Socialist Unity Centre of India (Communist), and an Independent candidate are also in the race.

The by-election was necessitated by the demise of sitting MLA and Assembly Speaker Biswa Bandhu Sen, who passed away on December 26, 2025, at a private hospital in Bengaluru after a prolonged illness. He was 72.
Jaipur, March 30 : Rain, hailstorms, and dust storms lashed several parts of Rajasthan on Monday, owing to the impact of an active Western Disturbance.

Kota witnessed intense rainfall accompanied by hailstorms during the afternoon.

Rainfall activity was also recorded in Ajmer, Sri Ganganagar, Bikaner, Hanumangarh, Churu, and Nagaur districts. Jaisalmer experienced a dust storm, while cloud cover persists over several regions, including Jaipur and Jodhpur.

The Meteorological Department has issued an orange alert for four districts, including Bundi, Kota, Alwar and Bharatpur and a yellow alert for 12 districts, including Jaipur, Dausa, Hanumangarh, Jhalawad, Bhilwara and others, warning of thunderstorms, rainfall, and strong winds. Dust storms are also likely in isolated areas.

Met officials said that a cyclonic circulation system has developed over western Rajasthan and adjoining areas under the influence of the Western Disturbance.

As a result, parts of Jodhpur, Bikaner, Ajmer, Jaipur, Bharatpur, Udaipur, and Kota divisions are likely to witness thunderstorms, dust storms (with wind speeds of 40a"50 km/h), and light to moderate rainfall.

On Tuesday, isolated light to moderate rainfall is expected in parts of the Shekhawati region, as well as Jaipur, Bharatpur, and Kota divisions. While on April 1a"2, the weather is expected to remain largely dry, with chances of isolated drizzle or thunderstorms, and from April 3a"5, a new Western Disturbance may become active, potentially leading to another spell of rain and storm activity across the state.

Farmers are advised to take necessary precautions to safeguard crops and produce to cover or shift harvest-ready crops from open fields and protect grains and commodities stored in mandis and open areas from potential rain damage.

The ongoing weather activity is likely to bring temporary relief from rising temperatures but may also cause localised disruptions. Residents are advised to remain alert and follow official advisories during this period, said officials.
New Delhi, March 30 : Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday launched a strong attack on Maoist ideology in the Lok Sabha, asserting that the core principle of Maoists - "political power grows out of the barrel of a gun" - shows they have no interest in serving the people or promoting development.

New Delhi, March 30 (IANS) Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday launched a strong attack on Maoist ideology in the Lok Sabha, asserting that the core principle of Maoists  "political power grows out of the barrel of a gun"  shows they have no interest in serving the people or promoting development.

"Their only aim is to spread their ideology among tribal communities and capture power. There is no discourse on development, democracy or progress in their doctrine," HM Shah said.

The Minister criticised those who justify Maoist violence in the name of justice. He questioned how people who violate the Constitution, take up arms and kill innocent civilians can compare themselves to freedom fighters like Bhagat Singh and Birsa Munda.

"Such comparisons are completely unacceptable," he added. HM Shah emphasised that the Modi government is committed to eradicating Maoism through a twin strategy of security and development.

He paid tribute to the security personnel and civilians who have lost their lives in the fight against left-wing extremism.

Explaining the historical reasons behind the rise of Naxalism, HM Shah said that after Independence in 1947, the country had limited resources and the administrative reach of the new state was initially weak in remote tribal areas.

Development could not reach every region simultaneously due to the scarcity of funds and infrastructure. Maoists exploited this vacuum, particularly in the tribal belt of Central India, and propagated their ideology among innocent tribals, the Home Minister said.

He pointed out that regions like Naxalbari and Bastar became breeding grounds for extremism not just because of economic backwardness, but due to a combination of low literacy, weak state presence and the absence of strong counter-ideologies.

HM Shah noted that areas with similar economic conditions and literacy rates, such as Saharsa in Bihar and Ballia in Uttar Pradesh, did not witness the same level of Maoist influence, indicating that geographical and ideological factors also played a key role.

The Home Minister reiterated the government's resolve to make India free from Maoism by strengthening security operations while simultaneously bringing roads, schools, mobile connectivity and development to the affected regions.

The minister said he had visited Naxal affected area and had urged all Maoists to lay down arms. "This is the policy of our government to talk with those only who lay down their arms," HM Shah said in a clear warning.
Mumbai, March 30 : The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Monday imposed a monetary penalty of Rs 31.80 lakh on Airtel Payments Bank Limited (the bank) for non-compliance with certain provisions of the directions issued by RBI on 'Disclosure in Financial Statements'.

The penalty has been imposed in exercise of powers conferred on RBI under the provisions of section 47A(1)(c) read with section 46(4)(i) of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949.

The Statutory Inspection for Supervisory Evaluation (ISE 2025) of the bank was conducted by RBI with reference to its financial position as on March 31, 2025.

"RBI has imposed a monetary penalty of Rs 31.80 lakh on Airtel Payments Bank Limited (the bank) for non-compliance with certain provisions of the directions issued by RBI on 'Disclosure in Financial Statements'," the central bank said.

Based on supervisory findings of non-compliance with RBI directions and related correspondence in that regard, a notice was issued to the bank advising it to show cause as to why penalty should not be imposed on it for its failure to comply with the said RBI directions.

"After considering the bank's reply to the notice, additional submissions made by it and oral submissions made during the personal hearing, RBI found that the charge against the bank regarding non-disclosure of certain complaints in its annual financial statements for the financial year 2024-25, was sustained, warranting imposition of monetary penalty," it said.

The action is based on deficiencies in regulatory compliance and is not intended to pronounce upon the validity of any transaction or agreement entered into by the bank with its customers.

"Further, imposition of monetary penalty is without prejudice to any other action that may be initiated by RBI against the bank," the central bank mentioned.
Ahmedabad, March 30 : A Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court in Ahmedabad on Monday convicted a private individual in a Disproportionate Assets case and sentenced her to two years of Rigorous Imprisonment along with a fine of Rs 20,000.

The court found Jasodaben Rameshbhai Vadadia guilty of abetting her husband, late Ramesh Fulchand Vadadia, a former Income Tax Officer posted in Gandhinagar, in amassing assets disproportionate to their known sources of income.

According to the CBI, the case was registered on June 30, 2007, against Ramesh Fulchand Vadadia, who was then serving in the office of the Additional Commissioner of Income Tax in Gandhinagar. The agency alleged that the accused had accumulated assets worth Rs 29,49,977, which were 247 per cent higher than their known sources of income during the check period from January 1, 2002 to April 30, 2007.

Following an investigation, the CBI filed a chargesheet on December 24, 2008, against Vadadia and his wife Jasodaben, accusing them of possessing assets worth Rs 25,46,398 that were disproportionate to their known income, amounting to 133.98 per cent beyond legitimate earnings.

During the course of the trial, Ramesh Fulchand Vadadia passed away, following which the court abated proceedings against him.

However, after examining the evidence on record, the court held that Jasodaben Rameshbhai Vadadia had actively abetted her husband in acquiring assets beyond their lawful income. The court found sufficient merit in the prosecutionas case and convicted her under relevant provisions related to abetment in the Disproportionate Assets case.

Subsequently, the court sentenced her to two years of rigorous imprisonment and imposed a monetary penalty of Rs 20,000.

The case highlights the CBIas continued efforts to pursue corruption and Disproportionate Assets cases against public servants and their associates, even in instances where the primary accused is no longer alive, ensuring accountability under the law.
Kolkata, March 30 : Trinamool Congress national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee on Monday said that, if necessary, his party would withdraw candidates from all 291 Assembly seats in West Bengal if the BJP provides proof that the Centre has released funds to people of the state under the PM Awas Yojana.

Addressing a public meeting at Jhalda in Purulia district, Banerjee clarified that his statement was not merely an emotional outburst, but an announcement made on the basis of specific conditions.

He asserted that the ruling party at the Centre has long been financially depriving West Bengal.

In particular, the Trinamool Congress has repeatedly raised grievances regarding the non-receipt of Central allocations for rural development and various social welfare schemes. In this context, he issued a direct challenge to local BJP MP Jyotirmay Singh Mahato.

"If he (Jyotirmay Singh Mahato) can prove that, over the last five years, PM Modi's government has contributed even a mere 10 paise towards the housing scheme for the poor, then the Trinamool Congress will withdraw its candidates from all 291 seats," he said.

Through this statement, he sought to amplify the allegations of financial deprivation of West Bengal levelled against the BJP.

He further argued that the BJP, having secured the votes of the people of West Bengal, subsequently deprived those very people of their rightful financial entitlements.

"The Central allocations remain stalled across various sectors  ranging from the housing scheme to the '100 days' work' under MGNREGA. This election presents an opportunity to deliver a fitting response to this deprivation. Do not give a single vote to the BJP for depriving people of their rights," he said.

Banerjee also claimed that there is no clear record of what the BJP has actually accomplished for West Bengal over the past five years.

According to him, the Central government has not contributed a single new penny; instead, it has multiplied the suffering of the common people by repeatedly forcing them to stand in long queues.
Hyderabad, March 30 : Telangana's Director General of Police B. Shivadhar Reddy on Monday appealed to the underground leaders and cadres of the CPI (Maoist) party to lay down arms and join the national mainstream.

Hyderabad, March 30 (IANS) Telanganaas Director General of Police B. Shivadhar Reddy on Monday appealed to the underground leaders and cadres of the CPI (Maoist) party to lay down arms and join the national mainstream.

The police chief urged the leaders and cadres of the banned organisation to renounce violence, lay down their arms, and join the democratic mainstream to lead safe and dignified lives.

Recalling the earlier appeal made by Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy, the DGP, in a statement, urged them to come out of the underground, return to their families, and embrace a peaceful life within society.

The DGP stated that, owing to sustained efforts by the Telangana Police over the past two years, as many as 721 Maoists of various ranks from Telangana and Chhattisgarh have surrendered and rejoined the mainstream. This includes four Central Committee members, 19 State Committee members, and 36 Divisional Committee members (DVCMs).

The DGP further informed that all surrendered individuals have been extended financial assistance and other benefits under the State Governmentas comprehensive rehabilitation policy, enabling them to lead respectable lives in their native villages.

DGP Shivadhar Reddy made a special appeal to Telangana natives currently active in Maoist groups in other statesa"Muppalla Lakshmana Rao alias Ganapathi (72), Pusunuri Narahari alias Santosh (57), Vartha Shekhar alias Mangthu (51), Jode Ratnabai alias Sujatha (68), Nakka Susheela alias Rela (51), and Rangaboyina Bhagya alias Rupi (43)a"to return and avail the benefits of the rehabilitation scheme.

The DGP assured that the State Government would facilitate advanced medical treatment in Hyderabad for Central Committee member Ganapathi, who is reportedly facing health issues. He also recalled the Chief Ministeras personal appeal to Ganapathi during a press conference held on March 7, when 130 Maoists had surrendered.

Highlighting the growing confidence in the Stateas rehabilitation policy, the DGP noted that cadres from other states are increasingly showing willingness to surrender. He urged family members and relatives of those still underground to counsel them and guide them towards a peaceful path.

Reiterating that lasting solutions can only be achieved through democratic means in the present context, the DGP called upon Maoist cadres to give up violence and become partners in the development.
New Delhi, March 30 : Nearly 99.92 per cent of inhabited villages in India now have a banking outlet within a fiveakilometre radius, the Parliament was informed on Monday.

New Delhi, March 30 (IANS) Nearly 99.92 per cent of inhabited villages in India now have a banking outlet within a fivea'kilometre radius, the Parliament was informed on Monday.

Further, 100 per cent villages in the Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli are covered with banking outlets within a radius of 5 kms, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary told the Lok Sabha in a written reply.

The Jan Dhan Darshak App, a Geographic Information System (GIS) monitoring tool, shows banks, business correspondents and India Post Payments Bank outlets covering almost the entire country, he added, as per a Finance Ministry statement.

The app enables geographic monitoring of banking infrastructure, he said.

Major impediments in the augmentation of banking infrastructure are the lack of connectivity & infrastructure, along with the non-availability of suitable premises.

As per RBI guidelines, rolling out of banking outlets in uncovered areas is a continuous process looked after by the State Level Bankersa Committee (SLBC) or Union Territory Level Bankers Committee (UTLBC).

The process is being done in consultation with the state government concerned, member banks and other stakeholders, the minister said.

Banks, inter alia, consider proposals for opening banking outlets in the light of the RBI's instructions, their business plans and commercial viability. To further assess the viability of opening a banking outlet, banks carry out surveys as required.

India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) is a bank under the Department of Posts, fully owned by the Centre. It leverages the postal network comprising 1.65 lakh post offices and 3 lakh postal employees for delivering banking services.

It has been conferred the aDigital Payments Award 2024-25a in recognition of its outstanding contribution to expanding digital payments and financial inclusion across the country.
New Delhi/Ranchi, March 30 : The BJP on Monday mounted a sharp attack on the Hemant Sorenaled Jharkhand government over the brutal rape and murder of a minor girl in the Bishnugarh area of Hazaribagh district.

New Delhi/Ranchi, March 30 (IANS) The BJP on Monday mounted a sharp attack on the Hemant Sorenled Jharkhand government over the brutal rape and murder of a minor girl in the Bishnugarh area of Hazaribagh district.

Addressing a press conference in Delhi, BJP Jharkhand State President and MP Aditya Sahu announced that the party will observe a complete bandh across the state on April 3 if the culprits in the case -- described by the BJP as the 'Hazaribagh Nirbhaya incident' -- are not arrested within the next two days.

A day before the bandh, he said BJP workers will hold torchlight processions across all districts and block headquarters in Jharkhand on April 2 as part of the protest.

Sahu alleged that the rule of law has totally collapsed in the state and claimed that a parallel system run by criminals is operating under the present government.

Referring to the Bishnugarh incident, he termed it a "rarest of the rare" crime and accused the Chief Minister of maintaining silence even several days after the incident.

"The brutality of the crime -- gouging out the girl's eyes, breaking her teeth, and severing her tongue -- represents the absolute depths of criminality. Despite this, the Chief Minister has not uttered a single word, even after six days have elapsed. This marks the absolute limit of the government's insensitivity."

Earlier in the day, the BJP, along with local residents, called for a 'Hazaribagh Bandh' on Monday in protest against the incident. Protesters took to the streets in several areas, including Hazaribagh city and the Bishnugarh block headquarters, demanding the immediate arrest of the accused and strict action.

Hundreds of people, including Hazaribagh MP Manish Jaiswal, Barhi MLA Manoj Kumar Yadav and district BJP President Vivekananda Singh, marched through the streets, raising slogans and forcing the closure of markets.

Shops remained closed in several localities, including the Bishnugarh police station area, Jhumra Market, and Saat Mile. Commercial establishments in Jhumra Market and adjoining suburbs also remained completely shut, disrupting normal public life.

At the press conference in Delhi, Sahu welcomed the Jharkhand High Court's suo motu cognisance of the matter and criticised remarks made by the state Finance Minister and certain Congress leaders, describing them as "insensitive".

He further alleged that the government was attempting to pacify the victim's family by announcing compensation after a delay, instead of ensuring swift justice. Reiterating the BJP's support for the victim's family, Sahu demanded immediate identification and strict punishment of those responsible.

The Jharkhand High Court, taking the matter suo motu, on Monday morning issued notices to the State Home Secretary and the Director General of Police (DGP), seeking their responses. The court pulled up the administration over the delay in arresting the accused.

Terming the crime a heinous act that shames humanity, the court sought details of the investigation from the Superintendent of Police (SP) of Hazaribagh, who appeared virtually in the proceedings.

The SP informed the court that police teams had reached the spot immediately after receiving information about the incident and collected crucial evidence with the help of a forensic team and dog squad. He said a Special Investigation Team (SIT) had been set up on the directions of DGP Tadasha Mishra and was actively probing the case.

Meanwhile, in Ranchi, BJP State Spokesperson Rafia Naz also criticised the state government over the incident, particularly questioning the silence of Chief Minister Hemant Soren's wife, Kalpana Soren. She asked why Kalpana Soren, who projects herself as a voice for women's empowerment, had not spoken out against crimes against women in the state.

Citing crime data, Naz said that 128 rape cases were reported in Jharkhand in January 2026 alone, while more than 16,000 cases related to crimes against women remain pending.

Referring to recent incidents in Sahibganj, Gumla, and Littipara, she alleged that criminal elements have gained the upper hand in the state.
Kabul, March 30 : As many as 28 people were killed and 49 others were injured due to heavy rains, floods and lightning in several provinces of Afghanistan since February 26, according to the Disaster Preparedness Authority spokesperson Mohammad Yousuf Hamad, local media reported on Monday.

Hamad said that the affected provinces include Kandahar, Helmand, Herat, Ghor, Kabul, Kapisa, Parwan, Panjshir, Jawzjan, Faryab, Badakhshan, Bamyan, Daikundi, Paktia, Paktika, Logar, Zabul, Balkh, Badghis, Samangan, Sar-e Pol, Baghlan, Takhar, Laghman, and Nangarhar, Afghanistan's Tolo News reported.

As many as 568 houses and 10 shops were destroyed, 93 kilometres of roads were damaged, and around 244 livestock were lost during these floods. Hamad said that 1,130 families have been impacted by these rains.

Hamad said that the Disaster Preparedness Authority has sent assistance, food supplies and other aid to the impacted residents. Authorities have asked residents to ensure their safety and advised them to stay away from rivers and flood-prone regions.

In January, at least 11 people were killed and three others injured after heavy snowfall and rain lashed several provinces of Afghanistan.

According to the disaster management authority spokesperson, initial reports from provincial authorities indicated that severe weather had affected residents in Parwan, Wardak, southern Kandahar, northern Jawzjan, Faryab, and central Bamiyan.

The spokesperson said nine houses were partially destroyed, and 530 livestock were lost due to the storms, which severely impacted local livelihoods in these agrarian regions, adding that the snow accumulation had blocked key roads.

In October last year, the authority said that 721 families were impacted due to recent rainfall and flash floods in the three provinces - Kabul, Laghman, and Kapisa, Tolo News reported. Authority spokesperson Hamad said that several residential houses had been completely or partially destroyed, more than 1,000 acres of agricultural land had been washed away, and fruit farmers have faced significant losses.
Washington, March 30 : The United States expects to complete its military objectives against Iran "in a matter of weeks, not months," Secretary of State Marco Rubio said, asserting that key targets, including Tehran's air force, navy and missile capabilities, are already being dismantled even as Washington tests a parallel diplomatic opening.a Washington, March 30 (IANS) The United States expects to complete its military objectives against Iran "in a matter of weeks, not months," Secretary of State Marco Rubio said, asserting that key targets, including Tehran's air force, navy and missile capabilities, are already being dismantled even as Washington tests a parallel diplomatic opening.

In a television interview on "Good Morning America", Rubio said the operation remains tightly focused on degrading Iran's military capacity and preventing it from acquiring nuclear weapons.

"We are destroying Iran's navy. We are destroying their ability to launch missiles by a significant percentage," he said, adding that the United States aims to "wipe out their defence industrial base" to stop future production of missiles and drones.

Rubio reiterated that the objectives have been clear from the outset. "Number one, the destruction of their air force. Number two, the destruction of their navy. Number three: the severe reduction in their missile-launching capability. And number four, the destruction of their factory," he said.

"All of this so that they can never hide behind it to acquire a nuclear weapon," he added, stressing that progress is "on or ahead of schedule."

The remarks follow comments by President Donald Trump indicating that the United States could escalate strikes to include Iran's energy infrastructure if diplomatic efforts fail.

Rubio, however, underscored that diplomacy remains the preferred path. "The president prefers diplomacy," he said, noting that "messages [are] being relayed back and forth, some conversations going on, including through intermediaries."

He suggested that internal divisions may be emerging within Iran's leadership. "There's some fractures going on there internally," Rubio said, adding that some figures are "saying some of the right things privately."

At the same time, he cautioned that any diplomatic breakthrough is uncertain. "We're gonna test that proposition very strongly but we also have to be prepared for the fact that that effort might fail," he said.

On maritime security, Rubio rejected Iranian threats to control the Strait of Hormuz, a key global shipping lane. "That will never be allowed to happen," he said, warning that other countries have "more at stake there than we do."

He also accused Tehran of fuelling instability across the region. "Every single terrorist group in this region has a link to the Iranian regime," Rubio said, naming groups such as the Houthis, Hezbollah and Hamas.

Despite the sharp criticism, Rubio drew a distinction between Iran's leadership and its people. "The people of Iran are incredible people. The people who lead them that is the problem," he said.

The latest escalation underscores a dual-track US approach combining sustained military pressure with tentative diplomatic outreach. The coming weeks are expected to be critical in determining whether backchannel talks can avert a broader conflict.
Bhopal, March 30 : The procurement of wheat at the minimum support price (MSP) for the Rabi Marketing Year 2026-27 in Madhya Pradesh, which was scheduled to begin from April 1, has now been rescheduled again.

Bhopal, March 30 (IANS) The procurement of wheat at the minimum support price (MSP) for the Rabi Marketing Year 202627 in Madhya Pradesh, which was scheduled to begin from April 1, has now been rescheduled again.

The government's new Standard Operating Procedure (SOP), issued on Monday, stated that the wheat procurement process in Bhopal, Indore, Ujjain, and Narmadapuram divisions will begin from April 10.

Similarly, the procurement of wheat crops in Jabalpur, Gwalior, Rewa, Shahdol, Chambal, and Sagar divisions, which was earlier scheduled to begin from April 7, will now start a week later, from April 15.

The new SOP on wheat procurement was issued just two days before the process was earlier scheduled to begin on April 1.

Notably, this is the second time the state government has rescheduled the process. Earlier, procurement was scheduled to begin on March 16, which was later deferred to April 1.

The Congress has criticised the BJP-led Madhya Pradesh government for repeatedly rescheduling the process.

"Months of hard work by farmers lie exposed in the fields and threshing grounds, under the open sky, yet the government keeps offering nothing but one date after another for wheat procurement. First, they set it for March 16; then they pushed it to April 1; and now, it is April 10," former Union Minister Arun Yadav wrote on X.

State Congress president Jitu Patwari alleged that the state government could not arrange jute gunny bags for the systematic procurement of farm produce, which delayed the process of wheat procurement in Madhya Pradesh.

Notably, district administrations and marketing federations ensure the provision of jute gunny bags for the systematic procurement of paddy and other farm produce.

This process involves the utilisation of both new and used bags, centre-wise stock distribution, and oversight by joint teams to prevent black marketing, thereby ensuring that farmers face no difficulties.

Patwari also claimed that due to the delay in the procurement process, many farmers in need of money have started selling their crops at prices far below the MSP.

Notably, wheat procurement in the state will be carried out at a rate of Rs 2,625 per quintal, including an additional bonus of Rs 40 per quintal for farmers.

More than 19,04,651 farmers have registered for wheat procurement at the MSP during the Rabi Marketing Season 202627.
New Delhi, March 30 : External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar held a meeting with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko here on Monday, discussing bilateral cooperation and regional and global developments.

"Good to meet Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko of Russia. Spoke about further advancement of our wide-ranging cooperation. As well as regional and global developments", EAM Jaishankar wrote in a post on X following the meeting.

Earlier in the day, India and Russia held Foreign Office Consultations, where they reviewed their Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership and discussed bilateral, regional, and global issues of mutual interest.

Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri and Rudenko co-chaired the Foreign Office Consultations.

In a post on X, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said: "India-Russia Foreign Office Consultations, co-chaired by Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko, were held in New Delhi today."

"Both sides reviewed the full spectrum of Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership and shared perspectives on bilateral, regional and global issues of mutual interest," he added.

On March 17, India and Russia held the 7th UN Consultations in New Delhi, with discussions focused on issues related to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) agenda, particularly counter-terrorism, peacekeeping, UNSC reforms and others.

"Both sides exchanged their priorities in the United Nations. The discussions focused on issues related to United Nations Security Council (UNSC) agenda, in particular counterterrorism, peacekeeping, UNSC reforms, among others," Jaiswal posted on X.

On March 11, External Affairs Minister Jaishankar held a telephonic conversation with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov and discussed the West Asia conflict and expanding bilateral ties.

Russian President Vladimir Putin was on a two-day State visit to India in December, during which he held formal talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, with both leaders reviewing the state of the India-Russia partnership as it completes 25 years since being designated a Strategic Partnership.

The discussions were followed by the 23rd India-Russia Annual Summit, during which the two sides released a Joint Statement outlining priorities for the coming years. President Droupadi Murmu also hosted a banquet in honour of President Putin at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
New Delhi, March 30 : Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Monday suggested setting up a Centre of Excellence at Gati Shakti Vishwavidyalaya (GSV) to focus on high-precision manufacturing technologies needed in aviation, railways and marine sectors.

He said such initiatives can make students more industry-ready and boost employment opportunities.

The proposal came during the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Gati Shakti Vishwavidyalaya and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).

The agreement aims to strengthen Indiaas fast-growing maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) sector by improving training and building a skilled workforce.

Speaking at the event, Vaishnaw said sectors like aviation and railways require a very high level of technical precision, and industry-oriented courses are essential to prepare students for such roles.

He stressed the need to follow global standards while designing these programmes and said around 1,000 students could benefit from such initiatives every year.

He also assured that funding support would be arranged to turn the plan into reality.

Civil Aviation Minister Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu highlighted that Indiaas aviation sector is growing at a strong pace of 10a"12 per cent annually and is expected to continue this growth for the next 15 years.

He pointed to the expansion of airports, passenger traffic and aircraft fleet, and said this growth requires a skilled workforce that meets global standards.

He also referred to the development of Jewar Airport as a sign of rapid infrastructure expansion.

Naidu added that GSV reflects the governmentas vision of integrating different transport sectors such as railways, aviation and logistics, which have traditionally worked separately.

He said the aviation sector now goes beyond passenger travel and includes areas like MRO, training and domestic manufacturing, contributing to the goal of Atmanirbhar Bharat.

Under the MoU, GSV and DGCA will jointly develop a three-year B.Sc. programme in Aircraft Maintenance Engineering (AME), designed to combine academic learning with industry requirements and regulatory standards.

The course aims to create a skilled workforce ready to meet the needs of the aviation sector.
New Delhi, March 30 : Union Minister Anurag Thakur on Monday launched a sharp attack on the Congress party in the Lok Sabha, accusing it of giving a "red carpet" welcome to Naxalites and strengthening the Red Corridor during its rule.

New Delhi, March 30 (IANS) Union Minister Anurag Thakur on Monday launched a sharp attack on the Congress party in the Lok Sabha, accusing it of giving a "red carpet" welcome to Naxalites and strengthening the Red Corridor during its rule.

He asserted that under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership, the government has successfully curbed the menace, reducing Naxalite influence from 126 districts to fewer than two.

"Today, Naxalites are being neutralised, and many are surrendering. We had clearly told them: surrender and join the mainstream, and we will grant you amnesty. But if you don't surrender, we will cut you down," Thakur said, stressing the government's resolve to make India completely free of Naxalism.

The Minister paid homage to 1,851 security personnel who sacrificed their lives in the fight against Naxalism and noted that over 7,000 civilians had also lost their lives due to Naxal violence. 

He accused the previous Congress government in Chhattisgarh, led by Bhupesh Baghel, of failing to cooperate with the Centre despite several Congress leaders being killed in Naxal attacks. 

Tracing the roots of the problem back to Indira Gandhi's era, Thakur said the Congress had no solution, while the Modi government has shown the determination to eradicate it. 

He highlighted the Centre's twin strategy of security and development, noting that schools have been built, mobile connectivity expanded, and infrastructure projects have been brought to tribal regions. 

Rejecting allegations of discrimination, Thakur said the government has worked for the upliftment of 25 crore poor citizens "without any bias of religion or caste." 

His remarks came during a discussion on internal security and left-wing extremism in the Lok Sabha, underscoring the government's claim of significant success in curbing Naxalism through both military action and development initiatives.

He reminded the House that the problem of Naxalism existed even during Indira Gandhi's time, but the Congress had no solution. "It is the Narendra Modi government that has found the remedy and shown the resolve to eradicate it," he said. 

Thakur highlighted that the government is following a twin strategy of security and development. 

While the Congress often talks only about forests and land rights, the Modi government has focused on providing security and dignity to the people in Naxal-affected areas. 

He pointed out that schools have been built, mobile connectivity has been expanded, and concrete development work has reached the tribal regions. Rejecting allegations of discrimination, Thakur said the Modi government has never worked on the basis of religion or caste. 

"We have worked for the upliftment of 25 crore poor citizens without any discrimination," he added.

The Minister's remarks came during a discussion on internal security and left-wing extremism in the Lok Sabha. 

His speech underscored the significant success achieved by security forces and the government's development initiatives in curbing Naxalism in the country. 
Belgrade, March 30 : Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic announced on Monday that he has secured a highly favourable extension of natural gas supplies from Russia following a 50-minute phone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin, while also warning Europe of a potential energy crisis.

Speaking at a press conference in Belgrade, Vucic said the new agreement extends Serbia's current gas contract by an additional three months under existing below-market terms, Xinhua News Agency reported. Serbia will continue to receive six million cubic meters of gas per day at a price ranging between 320 US dollars and 330 US dollars per 1,000 cubic meters, based on an oil-indexed pricing formula.

Vucic noted that the arrangement also provides flexibility for Serbia to increase import volumes in the event of harsh weather conditions or natural disasters.

"In Europe, we will probably be the second or third country with the lowest gas price," Vucic said.

Beyond energy cooperation, the two leaders discussed long-term bilateral collaboration for the 2026 to 2030 period. According to Vucic, the talks covered pharmaceutical partnerships, potential atomic energy cooperation, and the involvement of Russian Railways in Serbian infrastructure projects.

The Serbian president also warned that any potential ground offensive against Iran could trigger "the greatest energy and economic catastrophe in history" for Europe and the wider world.

"Europe cannot withstand this. No one can withstand this," Vucic said, urging European leaders to pursue immediate diplomatic solutions and engage with all available global energy suppliers, including Russia, to mitigate the risks of a crisis.

The ongoing conflict in West Asia, which started after joint US-Israel strikes on Iran on February 28, which killed Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and top military officials. In response, Iran launched drone and missile attacks targeting US assets, regional capitals and allied forces in West Asia.
New Delhi, March 30 : Speaker of the Delhi Assembly, Vijender Gupta, called on the President, Droupadi Murmu, on Monday, a meeting that coincided with the anniversary of the historic March 30, 1919, Rowlatt Satyagraha incident in Chandni Chowk in Old Delhi.a New Delhi, March 30 (IANS) Speaker of the Delhi Assembly, Vijender Gupta, called on the President, Droupadi Murmu, on Monday, a meeting that coincided with the anniversary of the historic March 30, 1919, Rowlatt Satyagraha incident in Chandni Chowk in Old Delhi.

Gupta apprised her about the heroic incident in which freedom fighters from the Capital played a key role in opposing the Rowlatt Act that allowed for the arrest of any Indian without a warrant and detention without trial for up to two years.

He briefed the President on the historical significance of March 30. It was on this day in 1919 that Swami Shraddhanand led a fearless non-violent protest against the oppressive Rowlatt Act at Delhi's Chandni Chowk.

The Speaker also presented her a Coffee Table Book, 'Shatabdi Yatra, Vir Vithalbhai Patel', published by the Delhi Assembly Secretariat, said an official statement.

The President said, "We must keep the flame of remembrance burning bright. The sacrifice of our martyrs is the fuel for this flame, and we must never let it flicker."

She said, "It is vital that today's generation understands the heavy price paid for our freedom. This history must remain alive in the hearts and minds of our youth as a source of eternal inspiration."

Addressing the aspirations of the younger generation, the President remarked, "In today's competitive world, being career-oriented is commendable. Whether you aspire to be a doctor, lawyer, professor, or scientist, my best wishes are with you. However, I urge you to always put the Nation First."

"Whatever you become, never let the spirit of patriotism and the memory of our martyrs fade from your heart," she said, expressing condolences for those who fell in the 1919 Delhi massacre.

She appreciated the Assembly's efforts in documenting this history, noting that such records serve as a milestone in keeping the flame of liberty alive.

The President reviewed the historical accounts of the 1919 incident, acknowledging its significance in India's journey toward independence.

Gupta also apprised the President about a landmark event in India's freedom struggle that occurred following the passage of the oppressive Rowlatt Act within the very walls of the current Delhi Legislative Assembly (then the Central Legislative Assembly).

He told her that the day was marked by the presence of the Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi, in the visitors' Gallery.

Gupta's meeting with the President aimed to pay tribute to the sacrifices made during one of the earliest and most defining moments of mass resistance in Delhi.
New Delhi, March 30 : Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday declared in the Lok Sabha that India has virtually become Naxal-free, with the dreaded Maoist central and state leadership structures almost completely eliminated just a day before the government's self-imposed deadline of March 31, 2026. a New Delhi, March 30 (IANS) Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday declared in the Lok Sabha that India has virtually become Naxal-free, with the dreaded Maoist central and state leadership structures almost completely eliminated just a day before the government's self-imposed deadline of March 31, 2026. 

Addressing a debate on Naxalism, HM Shah provided a detailed account of the massive success achieved under the Modi government's zero-tolerance policy. 

He stated that the Maoists' central committee leadership has been neutralised or forced to surrender. Out of the top leadership, 12 have been killed, and only one is absconding, with talks underway for his surrender as well. In the state committees, the picture is equally decisive. 

The main 27-member state committee in one key affected state was wiped out  11 killed, with talks initiated with two others. 

In Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra-Chhattisgarh, three members of the state committee surrendered, leaving only three. 

In Odisha, one surrendered, and three were killed. 

In Telangana, three were eliminated, leaving no member of the State Military Commission (SMC) intact anywhere. 

HM Shah revealed impressive overall figures; In the last three years, 4,839 Maoists have surrendered, 2,218 have been arrested, and 706 have been neutralised in encounters. 

He emphasised that the government has consistently offered dialogue and rehabilitation to those willing to lay down arms, but those who continue to fire on security forces, tribals, farmers and children will be dealt with firmly through bullets when necessary. 

The Minister credited the success to a well-coordinated strategy combining security operations, development initiatives and advanced technology. 

He highlighted major operations such as Operation Octopus in the Gumla, Lohardaga, and Latehar districts of Jharkhand (earlier in the Bihar context in the speech), Operation Thunderstorm in Jharkhand, and Operation Chakra in Bihar districts. 

A particularly intense 21-day operation on a strategic hill on the Telangana-Chhattisgarh border dismantled a permanent Maoist camp stocked with five years of food grains and facilities for 400-500 cadres. 

Despite extreme heat and difficult terrain, security forces showed exemplary courage. HM Shah paid rich tributes to the valour of CRPF, Cobra, District Reserve Guard and state police personnel, especially in Bastar, saying the region, once synonymous with red terror, is now witnessing rapid development  schools, ration shops, Aadhaar cards, food grain distribution and basic amenities reaching every village. 

He criticised previous governments for neglecting tribal areas for decades, allowing Maoists to exploit the vacuum and mislead innocent tribals with false narratives of fighting for justice. 

"The truth is that development was denied to Bastar because of red terror," HM Shah said, adding that after 2014, every poor citizen, including those in Naxal-affected regions, has received houses, gas connections, drinking water, insurance cover and food security. 

With the Maoist organisational structure in most states dismantled and only a negligible presence left, HM Shah expressed confidence that the dream of a Naxal-free India has been virtually realised. 

He assured the House that once the final formalities are completed, the country will be officially declared free from the decades-old menace of left-wing extremism. 
Patna, March 30 : A major protest erupted during an official event at Patna University on Monday, where Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Chaudhary were present to inaugurate a newly constructed academic building.a Patna, March 30 (IANS) A major protest erupted during an official event at Patna University on Monday, where Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Chaudhary were present to inaugurate a newly constructed academic building.

As the leaders arrived at the venue, a group of students began raising loud slogans against the Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Deputy Chief Ministers Samrat Choudhary and Vijay Kumar Sinha and Education Minister Sunil Kumar.

Protesters waved black flags and shouted phrases such as "Go back" and "Down with Nitish Kumar."

Shantanu Shekhar, President of the Patna University Students' Union, led a group of students in a protest against the program, creating a commotion.

The protest intensified when slogans were also directed specifically at Samrat Chaudhary and Vijay Kumar Sinha.

He alleged that the students had not been provided with any information regarding the event; furthermore, he claimed that even the Vice-Chancellor had not been invited to the students' inauguration.

Shantanu Shekhar stated, "I am the President of the University, and I will voice my concerns in the interest of the students on this occasion."

The student's commotion began when Deputy Chief Minister Vijay Kumar Sinha and Education Minister Sunil Singh had already arrived and were waiting for Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary at the venue.

The situation quickly turned tense, forcing security personnel to intervene.

Police and security forces struggled to control the crowd as students continued their demonstration, holding placards and expressing dissatisfaction with both the state government and the university administration.

Several protesting students were detained by the police to restore order at the venue.

Despite the disruption, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar proceeded with the inauguration ceremony.

However, the protest highlighted visible unrest among students, raising concerns about dissatisfaction within the academic community.


Hyderabad, March 30 : Telangana's Hate Speech and Hate Crimes (Prevention) Bill, 2026, was referred to a Select Committee of the State Legislative Assembly for detailed scrutiny after members expressed concerns over certain provisions and potential misuse.a Hyderabad, March 30 (IANS) Telangana's Hate Speech and Hate Crimes (Prevention) Bill, 2026, was referred to a Select Committee of the State Legislative Assembly for detailed scrutiny after members expressed concerns over certain provisions and potential misuse.

Transport Minister Ponnam Prabhakar, who piloted the Bill, moved a motion to refer the Bill to a Select Committee. R. Prakash Reddy, who was in the chair, announced the passing of the motion by a voice vote.

The Bill, earlier tabled in the House by the government, proposes 1-7 years' jail and a Ra 50,000 fine for hate crimes, with repeat offenders facing up to 10 years in prison.

Members, cutting across party lines, expressed apprehensions about the possible misuse of certain provisions of the Bill.

Earlier, Minister Ponnam Prabhakar introduced the Bill to curb hate speech on social media. He told the House that the government considered the legislation necessary to curb and prevent the dissemination, publication or promotion of hate speech and hate crimes that incited disharmony or hatred in society against a person, group of persons or organisations.

The minister said the Bill would provide for stringent and deterrent punishment for the commission of such offences and ensure adequate compensation to victims affected.

However, the clauses, including the one that insulates officials from the purview of action, evoked strong opposition from the BJP and the CPI. They expressed apprehension that the law might be misused to take vindictive steps against individuals or organisations.

The opposition BJP and the ruling Congress party's ally, the CPI, wanted the government to either withdraw the Bill or refer it to a Select Committee. Some members of the ruling party also suggested that the Bill be referred to the Select Committee for detailed study of its provisions.

As the main opposition Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) members remained suspended from the House for the second day on Monday, the party's stand was spelt out by party working president and MLA K. T. Rama Rao on the social media platform 'X'.

"The Telangana Hate Speech and Hate Crimes (Prevention) Bill 2026, being advanced by the Congress government, is a draconian tool to curb free speech. While preventing genuine hate speech and maintaining social harmony is an important responsibility of any government, the present bill's framework appears dangerously broad, vague, and open to misuse," the former minister wrote.

"Instead of protecting public order, the bill risks becoming an instrument for the selective targeting of opposition leaders, critics, journalists, social media activists, and ordinary citizens expressing dissent. Our country already has several legal provisions dealing with hate speech, incitement to violence, defamation, and public disorder. Instead of strengthening the implementation of existing laws, the Telangana Congress government appears to be introducing a parallel framework that expands executive discretion without adding safeguards. I demand that the state government immediately withdraw this draconian bill," he added.
Hyderabad, March 30 : Amid the ongoing shortage of LPG due to the Gulf war, Hyderabad Police on Monday busted an illegal LPG cylinder hoarding racket with the arrest of 10 persons and seizure of 414 cylinders hidden in a graveyard.

Hyderabad Commissioner's Task Force, along with Banjara Hills Police, busted the racket.

According to Police Commissioner V. C. Sajjanar, the accused were found illegally hoarding 414 LPG cylinders at a graveyard in Banjara Hills to sell them at inflated prices for wrongful gain.

Total properties worth Rs 21.88 lakh, including 11 transport vehicles, have been seized from their possession. "We are committed to ensuring public safety and will take stern action against anyone involved in illegal hoarding and black marketing," the Commissioner posted on X.

Earlier, Gaikwad Vaibhav Raghunath, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Commissioner's Task Force, announced the busting of the racket at a press conference.

The accused had illegally dumped HP cylinders at a graveyard near Nagarjuna X Road, Banjara Hills, and were selling the same to needy customers on high rate.

A gas supplier, three gas delivery boys, two drivers and labourers were among those arrested.

The seized cylinders include 30 full cylinders of 47 kgs, 148 full cylinders of 19 kgs, 192 empty cylinders of 19 kgs, 35 full cylinders of five kgs and nine cylinders of five kgs.

Two DCM vehicles, two Bolleros, one Tata Ace, one Tata, four Piaggio auto vehicles and a Tata Magic were among the vehicles.

According to police, the accused, Mohd. Aamir is running a licensed HP gas agency under the name "Metro Gas Agency". It is located at Mamidipalle Village, Shamshabad, while its office is situated near Afzalgunj, Hyderabad.

It was found that the accused has been illegally dumping HP gas cylinders at a graveyard located near Nagarjuna X Road, Banjara Hills, with the help of labourers in clear violation of the prescribed rules and regulations. Further, the accused have been selling these gas cylinders to customers at inflated prices, thereby exploiting the public for wrongful gain, the DCP said.

The other arrested persons are Mohd. Yousuf, Mohd. Ismail, A. Rama Rao, Lok Kumar, Mohd. Sakruddin, Mohd. Muntaz Ansari, Mohd. Minaj Ansari, Rajesh Pal and Ram Raj Singh.
Mumbai, March 30 : In response to the cooking gas shortage triggered by the ongoing conflict in West Asia, Maharashtra's Food and Civil Supplies Minister Chhagan Bhujbal on Monday issued a stern warning that citizens residing in areas where piped gas infrastructure is available must switch to Piped Natural Gas connections or face the cancellation of their existing Liquefied Petroleum Gas cylinder services. a Mumbai, March 30 (IANS) In response to the cooking gas shortage triggered by the ongoing conflict in West Asia, Maharashtra's Food and Civil Supplies Minister Chhagan Bhujbal on Monday issued a stern warning that citizens residing in areas where piped gas infrastructure is available must switch to Piped Natural Gas connections or face the cancellation of their existing Liquefied Petroleum Gas cylinder services. 

Consumers have been given a three-month window to apply for Piped Natural Gas connections, with the final deadline set for June 30. 

The decision comes amid concerns over Liquefied Petroleum Gas cylinder shortages caused by escalating tensions involving Iran, the United States, and Israel.

"Both domestic and commercial consumers must apply for Piped Natural Gas connections within the next three months. Applications received by June 30 should be approved immediately. Concerned officials have been directed to increase coordination with gas companies to expedite the processing of these applications," Minister Bhujbal stated.

He said that in urban areas like Mumbai, Pune, and Thane, where Piped Natural Gas pipelines are already laid, the government intends to stop Liquefied Petroleum Gas cylinder supplies by June 30, 2026. 

Citizens in these areas are urged to apply for a piped connection immediately. He suggested making Piped Natural Gas connections mandatory for obtaining an Occupation Certificate for new residential and commercial buildings, as with water and electricity connections.

Minister Bhujbal emphasised that Piped Natural Gas is cheaper and safer than Liquefied Petroleum Gas cylinders. The push is intended to reduce the state's dependence on imported fuel and streamline urban energy distribution. 

"To speed up the rollout, the state has issued a directive that permissions for laying gas pipelines will be considered 'deemed approved' if not processed within 24 hours. Local bodies have been told to waive certain restoration charges to encourage rapid expansion," he said.

He clarified that this mandate applies only to areas where piped gas infrastructure is already operational. 

"This condition applies only to citizens living in areas where piped gas facilities are available. Residents in areas lacking this infrastructure need not panic; their Liquefied Petroleum Gas connections will not be cancelled. However, those who have the facility available but have not started using it must apply immediately," he urged.

Addressing concerns over food security, Minister Bhujbal assured the public that the state has sufficient food grain stocks. 

To ease the situation, ration card holders are now permitted to withdraw three months' worth of grain quota at once. He reiterated that there is no need for citizens to panic regarding essential supplies.


New Delhi, March 30 : The Delhi High Court has acquitted two men who had been sentenced to life imprisonment for murder, holding that the prosecution's case rested on an unreliable sole eyewitness whose testimony suffered from material inconsistencies and did not inspire confidence.

A Division Bench of Justices Prathiba M. Singh and Madhu Jain allowed the appeals filed by Virender alias Bablu and Vikas alias Tinku against their conviction by a Rohini court, which had sentenced them to life imprisonment under Sections 302/34 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

Virender was also convicted under Sections 25/27 of the Arms Act.

Setting aside the conviction, the Delhi High Court said the prosecution had "failed to prove the charges against the Appellants beyond reasonable doubt" and ordered their release.

As per the prosecution, the victim was attacked by two men on a motorcycle, with the pillion rider allegedly firing at him from close range, leading to his death due to cranio-cerebral injuries.

The trial court had relied primarily on the testimony of a solitary eyewitness, who claimed to have seen the accused fire at the deceased while riding a motorcycle.

However, the Delhi High Court found serious infirmities in the testimony of the eyewitness and remarked that his conduct was inconsistent with normal human behaviour.

"A careful and independent scrutiny of the testimony of PW-18 reveals material inconsistencies, improbabilities and conduct contrary to normal human behaviour, giving rise to doubts regarding the presence of PW-18 during the incident," the Justice Singh-led Bench observed.

The order said that while PW-18 claimed to have taken the injured to the hospital and remained present, another key witness (PW-12), who admittedly accompanied the victim to the hospital, did not even acknowledge his presence.

The Delhi High Court also expressed doubt over the identification of the accused, highlighting that the eyewitness claimed to have identified them by chance in the court premises without any prior Test Identification Parade (TIP).

"The identification of the accused in police custody, without any prior TIP, and that too allegedly by coincidence in the court complex, casts serious doubt on the credibility of this part of the prosecution case," it said.

The bench further found the prosecution's claim of motive weak, observing that although a monetary dispute was alleged, no prior complaint was filed despite the seriousness of the alleged threat.

Relying on settled principles of criminal jurisprudence, the Delhi High Court reiterated that suspicion cannot substitute proof and that a conviction based on a sole eyewitness requires the testimony to be wholly reliable.

"In the considered opinion of this Court, the prosecution's case rests primarily on the testimony of PW-18, whose version is inconsistent and unreliable. His testimony does not inspire confidence and cannot be made the sole basis of conviction," the judgment said.

Allowing the appeals, the Delhi High Court set aside the conviction and sentence, acquitted both accused of all charges, and directed that they be released forthwith, if not required in any other case.
New Delhi, March 30 : Union Home Minister Amit Shah launched a sharp attack on Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Congress in the Lok Sabha on Monday for nurturing Naxalism in the country. a New Delhi, March 30 (IANS) Union Home Minister Amit Shah launched a sharp attack on Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Congress in the Lok Sabha on Monday for nurturing Naxalism in the country. 

He criticised Rahul Gamdhi for reposting the provocative slogan "Tum kitne Hidma maroge, ghar ghar se Hidma niklega" - a slogan that left-wing extremism supporters shouted following neutralisation of dreaded Naxal Hidma. Hidma was absconding and carrying a reward for killing 172 security personnel. 

HM Shah accused Rahul Gandhi and the Congress party of consistently providing ideological support and a soft corner to Naxalites. 

While participating in a debate on the eradication of Naxalism in Lok Sabha on Monday, HM Shah said Rahul Gandhi has been repeatedly seen in the company of Naxal sympathisers. 

He recalled that in 2010 in Odisha, Rahul shared a stage with Lado Sikaka, who delivered an inflammatory speech and garlanded him.

In 2018, in Hyderabad, Rahul met Gummadi Vittal Rao, a figure ideologically aligned with Naxals.

HM Shah strongly condemned the Congress for nurturing Naxalism during its decades in power. He pointed out that under Manmohan Singh's government, an extra-constitutional National Advisory Council (NAC) was formed, which included individuals with links to Naxalites. One member was associated with the NGO 'Aman Vedika' and was the wife of a Naxalite leader involved in urban kidnappings. Binayak Sen, convicted in a Naxal-related case in 2010, was appointed to the Planning Commission's Health Steering Committee. 

Jairam Ramesh wrote a letter advocating the release of known Naxalite Mahesh Raut. Union Home Minister Amit Shah highlighted how the UPA government's own flagship schemes indirectly boosted the morale of Naxalites. 

He pointed out that Raut was a beneficiary of the Prime Minister's Rural Development Fellowship, a programme run directly from the Prime Minister's Office, which was later found to have links with Naxalites and was even jailed in a case registered by Maharashtra Police. 

HM Shah further recalled the horrific 2010 Dantewada massacre in Chhattisgarh, where Naxalites ambushed and killed 76 CRPF personnel in cold blood during P Chidambaram's tenure as Home Minister. What shocked the nation even more was that certain sections at Jawaharlal Nehru University celebrated the killings. 

Students reportedly danced in jubilation over the death of security personnel and, in a shocking display, trampled the Indian national flag under their feet  an act that drew no strong condemnation from the then Congress leadership, HM Shah said. 

HM Shah expressed disbelief at Chidambaram's response to the massacre. Even after the loss of 76 soldiers, the former Home Minister reportedly said that the government could not ask the Naxalites to lay down their arms because they believed in armed struggle for their so-called freedom.

Shah criticised this soft, sympathetic approach, saying it only encouraged the extremists rather than breaking their resolve. 

The Home Minister questioned how the morale of security forces could be maintained when the Centre itself appeared to shield Naxal sympathisers. He contrasted this with the Modi government's zero-tolerance approach, which has significantly weakened the Maoist network through sustained operations, development initiatives in tribal areas, and the use of advanced technology. 

HM Shah asserted that the government is on the verge of eradicating Naxalism, with major leadership structures dismantled and large-scale surrenders and neutralisations recorded. 

He paid rich tribute to those soldiers who made a supreme sacrifice in the eradication of Naxalism. 

He urged all political parties to rise above narrow interests and support the national mission to make India completely free from the decades-old scourge of left-wing extremism. 
Ranchi, March 30 : The Directorate of Enforcement's (ED) Ranchi Zonal Office, has filed a Prosecution Complaint (PC) before the special PMLA court against Santosh Kumar, his wife Lalita Sinha, and a shell firm, M/s Rockdrill Constructions (OPC) Private Limited, under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, in connection with alleged fraudulent embezzlement of government funds.

According to the ED, the case pertains to irregularities in the Drinking Water and Sanitation Department (DWSD), Swarnarekha Head Works Division, Ranchi, where funds were allegedly siphoned off through fraudulent means. The agency initiated its probe based on an FIR and a subsequent charge sheet filed by the Jharkhand Police.

The investigation revealed that Santosh Kumar, while serving as a cashier-cum-upper division clerk, allegedly abused his official position and siphoned off approximately Rs. 22.86 crore from the Government Treasury. The ED stated that while initial police estimates indicated a smaller quantum of fraud, its investigation uncovered a larger extent of the alleged financial irregularities.

Officials said the probe exposed a systematic modus operandi involving the diversion of funds using fraudulent payee IDs and manipulation of dormant DDO (Drawing and Disbursing Officer) codes. These mechanisms were allegedly used to facilitate unauthorised transfers and conceal the trail of illicit transactions.

The agency further noted that the proceeds of crime were layered and integrated into the legitimate economy through investments in high-value assets. These included the purchase of a 6.81-decimal plot of land in Ranchi's Ratu, registered in the name of the accusedas sister, along with the booking of a Toyota Innova Crysta vehicle in the name of his wife.

Investigators also found that substantial amounts were invested in jewellery worth over Rs 1.78 crore, more than 25 mutual fund schemes, and multiple fixed deposits. During the course of the investigation, the ED conducted searches at 26 premises, leading to the seizure of Rs 55.08 lakh in unaccounted cash and incriminating documents indicating systemic corruption.

Additionally, properties worth approximately Rs 2.18 crore have already been provisionally attached, which have been confirmed by the Adjudicating Authority under PMLA.

The ED has stated that further investigation into the matter is ongoing.
Mumbai, March 30 : In a move to transform Mumbai into a slum-free city, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Monday announced the Hinduhrudaysamrat Balasaheb Thackeray Urban Public Welfare Campaign. a Mumbai, March 30 (IANS) In a move to transform Mumbai into a slum-free city, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Monday announced the Hinduhrudaysamrat Balasaheb Thackeray Urban Public Welfare Campaign. 

The initiative aims to accelerate slum redevelopment while simultaneously deploying the advanced NETRAM (Network for Encroachment Tracking and Reporting for Mumbai) technology to prevent new illegal encroachments.

He stated that this significant campaign, launched during the birth centenary year of Balasaheb Thackeray, serves as a fitting tribute to the late leader's vision for the city. 

The state government's decision is expected to provide a major boost to the slum redevelopment process, clearing the way for citizens to transition into well-equipped, secure housing. 

"We are determined to realise Balasaheb Thackeray's dream of a slum-free Mumbai through this mission," he said.

According to the Deputy Chief Minister, the campaign will prioritise clusters spanning more than 50 acres where more than 51 per cent of the area is slum. The Slum Cluster Redevelopment Scheme will be implemented by the Slum Rehabilitation Authority on large tracts of private, government, and semi-government lands. 

Accurate mapping and biometric verification of all slum dwellers will be conducted. Memorandums of Understanding will be signed with agencies such as the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority, and MAHAPREIT to streamline execution, he added.

In a major relief for residents, the government has decided to increase the minimum size of rehabilitated tenements. All eligible residents will now receive 300 sq ft apartments. 

Existing old projects will also be upgraded to meet these new standards. To ensure that Mumbai does not see the birth of new slums, the government is introducing NETRAM, the Deputy Chief Minister said. 

"The system will utilise satellite data, Geographic Information System mapping, and digital technology to monitor land. High-resolution satellite imagery will be analysed three times a year (every four months) to detect any new structures immediately. Using the BISAG-N web portal, data on encroachments will be sent to relevant agencies for instant demolition," he added.

The Slum Rehabilitation Authority has established an independent implementation cell, with instructions for the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority, and Collector's offices to set up similar units. 

As redevelopment projects move toward high-rise buildings, the government has overhauled the maintenance deposit system to ensure the long-term sustainability of these buildings.
New Delhi, March 30 : Industry leaders on Monday welcomed the government's strong push on design capability and quality standards under the Electronics Component Manufacturing Scheme (ECMS), calling it critical for scaling India's electronics ambitions.

Industry participants at an event hosted by the India Cellular and Electronics Association (ICEA) to mark the fourth tranche of ECMS approvals said that the ECMS scheme reflects India's shift from policy intent to on-ground execution.

ICEA Chairman Pankaj Mohindroo said the enhanced outlay under ECMS shows the government's commitment to building a robust electronics ecosystem.

He added that reopening the scheme in a calibrated manner would help deepen component manufacturing and boost domestic value addition.

"A calibrated reopening of the scheme will be important to further build critical component capabilities and deepen domestic value addition," Mohindroo stated.

"The next phase of growth must focus on scaling up design capabilities, strengthening local sourcing, and achieving global quality standards," he added.

He stressed that original equipment manufacturers and system companies should actively adopt "Designed and Made-in-India" components, as demand creation is as important as supply.

Industry leaders also highlighted that India has emerged as a credible and investible destination for electronics system design and manufacturing.

"The ECMS is helping bridge critical gaps in the value chain by enabling component-level manufacturing, which is essential for capturing higher value and building resilience," Ashok Chandak, President, IESA said.

"These investments are expected to generate over 14,000 jobs and drive production worth Rs 84,515cr highlighting the strong momentum being created under the scheme," he mentioned.

So far, 75 applications across 23 product categories from 12 states have been approved, covering areas such as lithium-ion cells, flexible PCBs, connectors, and display modules.

The projects are spread across eight states, with Karnataka and Maharashtra leading in project count.

According to the data shared at the event, approved investments have already crossed Rs 61,000 crore, exceeding the initial target of Rs 59,350 crore.

The scheme is expected to generate production worth over Rs 4.5 lakh crore and create more than 65,000 jobs, moving steadily towards its overall targets.
Jaipur, March 30 : Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leaders in Rajasthan on Monday launched a sharp attack on the Congress over its Rajasthan Day greetings, accusing the party of being disconnected from the state's cultural roots and traditions.a Jaipur, March 30 (IANS) Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leaders in Rajasthan on Monday launched a sharp attack on the Congress over its Rajasthan Day greetings, accusing the party of being disconnected from the state's cultural roots and traditions.

Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Jogaram Patel alleged that the Congress "has no concern for the soil and cultural pride of Rajasthan" and remains fixated on "English calendar dates" rather than traditional Indian systems.

Earlier on Monday , former Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot congratulated people, saying, "Heartfelt congratulations and best wishes to all the residents of the state on the Foundation Day of Rajasthan  the land of valour, prowess, rich heritage, and entrepreneurship." 

He urged citizens to strengthen culture and social harmony, foster brotherhood, and ensure participation of all sections in development, while reiterating the commitment to quality healthcare and education.

Reacting to greetings extended by Congress leaders, Patel said the state had already celebrated Rajasthan Day on March 19 this year, coinciding with Chaitra Shukla Pratipada and Nav Samvatsar. 

"When the entire state observed the occasion as per the traditional calendar, Congress leaders chose to remain silent. Extending belated wishes now makes a mockery of public sentiment," he said.

Patel further claimed that the Congress fears losing its vote bank if it aligns with Hindu customs and traditions. He remarked that leaders like Rahul Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge, and Ashok Gehlot show an "aversion" to the Panchang (Hindu almanack).

Highlighting the historical context, Patel noted that the formation of 'Vrihad Rajasthan' in 1949 took place on Chaitra Shukla Pratipada. 

He said the present state government, under Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharma, has sought to reconnect with these roots by observing Rajasthan Day in line with the traditional calendar.

Minister of State for Home Affairs Jawahar Singh Bedham echoed similar sentiments, alleging that the Congress is opposed to Rajasthan's culture and Indian traditions. 

He said extending greetings on March 30 reflects a mindset "against Hindu customs and Sanatan culture" and termed it a "deliberate attempt to mislead the public."

Bedham also referred to the historical moment of Rajasthan's formation, stating that it was associated with an auspicious alignment under Revati Nakshatra and Indra Yoga on Chaitra Shukla Pratipada, a decision linked to Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. 

Questioning Congress leaders, he asked why they were "disregarding the sentiments associated with Sardar Patel and traditional observances." 

He added that the state government's decision to celebrate Nav Samvatsar as Rajasthan Day was aimed at honouring Indian traditions, and noted that the occasion was marked with enthusiasm across the state on March 19.

In fact, Leader of Opposition Tika Ram Jully had also extended greetings on Monday for Rajasthan Day.
Kolkata, March 30 : At a time when the majority of the 294 Assembly constituencies in West Bengal, which are going to polls in two phases next month, are set to witness four-cornered contests, the three hill constituencies of Darjeeling, Kalimpong, and Kurseong are headed for a five-cornered contest.

In most Assembly constituencies, the four principal contenders are the Trinamool Congress, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the CPI-M-led Left Front and All India Secular Front (AISF) alliance, and the Congress.

However, in Kurseong, Kalimpong, and Darjeeling, the electoral battle will be distinctly five-cornered.

In these three hill constituencies, the forces in the fray are the BJP, backed by the Bimal Gurung-founded Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM); the Anit Thapa-founded Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha (BGPM); the Ajoy Edwards-founded Indian Gorkha Janshakti Front (IGJF); the Left Front-AISF alliance; and the Congress.

Political observers feel that the IGJF's entry into the electoral fray by fielding candidates independently has complicated the equations for both the GJM-backed BJP and the Trinamool Congress-backed BGPM, especially in Darjeeling, Kalimpong, and Kurseong, where Gorkha voters play a decisive role in determining electoral outcomes.

Officially, however, all contending forces claim that the IGJF's entry has made their respective victories easier in these constituencies.

On one hand, the BJP and its hill ally GJM argue that since the IGJF is identified as an anti-BJP force in the hills, its candidates will cut into the anti-BJP and anti-GJM Gorkha vote share.

On the other hand, both the BGPM and the Trinamool Congress claim that the IGJF will primarily dent the BJP-GJM alliance's core vote bank, increasing the chances of BGPM-Trinamool Congress candidates emerging victorious in these constituencies.

However, IGJF chief Ajoy Edwards disagreed with both assessments. According to him, people in the hills, especially the Gorkhas, are frustrated with what he described as years of unfulfilled promises regarding a permanent political solution, including the demand for a separate Gorkhaland state.

In such a scenario, he said, voters in these constituencies may opt for an alternative political force whose legislators can raise hill issues effectively in the Assembly.

"We have not fielded candidates to cut into anyone's vote share. We have fielded candidates to win all three seats. Our sole agenda is a separate Gorkhaland statehood. Initially, we tried to ensure that all hill parties contested in alliance, but no one agreed. So we have decided to fight alone. Our goal is the development of the hills and a separate state," Edwards said.

Meanwhile, GJM general secretary Roshan Giri said that the party has decided to support BJP candidates in the three hill constituencies to achieve a permanent political solution, including the demand for Gorkhaland. "Only the BJP, which has consistently supported the creation of smaller states, can help us achieve that goal," Giri said.

For BGPM founder Anit Thapa, the party's focus is on development in the hills, which, he said, requires the backing of the ruling Trinamool Congress.
Bhubaneswar, March 30 : The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) on Monday strongly condemned BJP MP Nishikant Dubey's objectionable remarks about the legendary politician Biju Patnaik and demanded an apology from the Godda MP.

The Biju Yuva Janata Dal and Chhatra Janata Dal, the youth and student wings of the BJD, respectively, staged a protest at Master Canteen Square in Bhubaneswar, strongly opposing Dubey's remarks.

During a press conference held at Shankha Bhavan (BJD headquarters), senior vice-president Debi Prasad Mishra and party chief whip in the Odisha Assembly, Pramila Mallik, condemned Dubey's statement and demanded that the BJP leader immediately issue an unconditional apology to the people of Odisha and the country.

Senior BJD leader Mallik stated that Dubey has little to no understanding of Biju Babu's contributions to the nation and that he made such distasteful remarks against a great patriot like Biju Babu. She also noted that after Dubey's outrageous statement came to light, countless admirers of Biju Babu across the state and the country strongly condemned it.

"However, it is unfortunate that BJP leaders in power in the state have remained silent on the issue. Even the 20 BJP MPs elected in the last elections have maintained a mysterious silence. The BJP came to power in the state in the name of Odia identitythis reflects their version of that identity. Therefore, Dubey must unconditionally apologise to the people of the state and the country," demanded Mallik.

Speaking at the press conference, senior BJD leader Mishra said that Biju Babu was a great freedom fighter and a rare statesman. Mishra also added that the former Odisha Chief Minister, Biju Patnaik, had deep knowledge of defence, aviation, and international relations, which earned him international recognition. Because of his expertise, Patnaik was entrusted with important assignments by the Government of India.

"He (Biju Babu) participated in several such missions and risked his life many times in the service of the nation. Calling such a person a CIA agent is extremely unfortunate. Making such insulting remarks about a great freedom fighter and patriot is highly condemnable. Therefore, Dubey should offer an unconditional apology to the people of Odisha and the country," added Mishra.

Earlier in the day, Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Odisha Assembly and BJD president Naveen Patnaik also strongly criticised BJP MP Nishikant Dubey, stating that he needs "mental doctor's attention" for making outrageous remarks about his father and former Odisha Chief Minister Biju Patnaik.

The controversy stems from statements made by Dubey on March 27, in which he spoke about India's foreign and defence engagements during the 1960s.

He alleged that during the lead-up to and aftermath of the 1962 India-China War, Nehru had links with the United States and its intelligence agency, the CIA. Dubey further claimed that Biju Patnaik acted as an intermediary in these engagements and was entrusted with sensitive defence-related responsibilities, including communication with American officials.
Los Angeles, March 30 : Actor-comedian Russell Brand's rape trial will now start in October. The trial was earlier supposed to be held in June.

In April 2025, he was charged with rape, indecent assault, and sexual assault in relation to four women, reports 'Deadline'.

In December, London's Metropolitan Police brought fresh charges of rape and sexual assault against Brand, relating to two more women. Justice Joel Bennathan has now joined the two sets of charges and set a date of October 12 for trial, meaning it can run for around two months, rather than five weeks over the summer, per reports from Southwark Crown Court on Monday.

As per 'Deadline', there were also concerns about finding jurors who could sit through the start of the summer holidays.

Brand denies all charges and has welcomed the chance to fight the allegations. "I'm now gonna have the opportunity to defend these charges in court, and I'm incredibly grateful for that", he said last year. Brand, 50, was not in court for Monday's hearing.

Among the charges brought against Brand, he stands accused of raping a woman in a hotel room in Bournemouth in 1999, and grabbing a TV worker's breasts and orally raping her in 2004.

The actor and comedian, who was married to Katy Perry, has reinvented himself as a Christian convert who evangelizes about free speech and free thinking in MAGA America. He saved UK authorities a potential extradition headache by appearing in court in May.

Russell Brand began his career in stand-up comedy and gained prominence as a presenter on UK television and radio. He transitioned to film with roles in 'Forgetting Sarah Marshall' and 'Get Him to the Greek'. He has published books like 'My Booky Wook' and 'Revolution'.
Gandhinagar, March 30 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Gujarat on March 31 to inaugurate the Samrat Samprati Museum at Koba Tirth in Gandhinagar, and launch several significant development projects across the state, covering cultural, technological, and infrastructural milestones.a Gandhinagar, March 30 (IANS) Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Gujarat on March 31 to inaugurate the Samrat Samprati Museum at Koba Tirth in Gandhinagar, and launch several significant development projects across the state, covering cultural, technological, and infrastructural milestones.

Speaking ahead of his visit, the Prime Minister said in a post: "The Samrat Samprati Museum is a testament to the rich legacy of Jainism and India's civilisational traditions. It will provide visitors with a chronological understanding of the evolution of Jainism and its contributions to humanity."

At around 10:00 a.m., on the occasion of Mahavir Jayanti, Prime Minister Modi will inaugurate the Museum on the campus of the Mahavir Jain Aradhana Kendra.

Named after Samrat Samprati, the grandson of Emperor Ashoka and a revered figure in Jain history, the museum showcases India's historical, cultural, and spiritual heritage.

The museum features seven wings, each dedicated to a distinct aspect of India's civilisational traditions.

Visitors can view over 2,000 rare artefacts, including intricately crafted stone and metal idols, large Tirth Patta and Yantra Patta, miniature paintings, silver chariots, coins, and ancient manuscripts.

The exhibits, complemented by modern audio-visual and digital installations, provide an immersive experience for scholars, researchers, and visitors.

The Prime Minister noted, "The museum not only preserves our heritage but also showcases the exemplary Jain culture and its enduring influence on society."

At 12:45 p.m., Prime Minister Modi will inaugurate the Kaynes Semicon Plant at Sanand GIDC in Ahmedabad, marking a key milestone in India's semiconductor journey.

"This adds more momentum to India's efforts to become a hub for semiconductors. It will give impetus to India being self-reliant in high technology manufacturing," PM Modi said.

The facility will begin commercial production of advanced Intelligent Power Modules (IPMs), critical components for automotive and industrial applications.

Each module contains 17 chips and will be supplied to California-based Alpha and Omega Semiconductor (AOS).

This plant will be the second semiconductor facility in India to commence commercial production under the 'India Semiconductor Mission', following Micron Technology.

Once fully operational, it will produce up to 6.33 million units per day, strengthening domestic semiconductor packaging capacity and advancing India's vision of self-reliance in high-technology manufacturing.

The plant also establishes India's second OSAT/ATMP unit and marks the entry of an Indian-origin Electronics Manufacturing Services (EMS) player into semiconductor manufacturing.

In the afternoon, Prime Minister Modi will travel to Vav-Tharad, where he will lay the foundation stone, inaugurate, and dedicate multiple development projects worth over Rs 20,000 crore.

These projects cover Power, Railways, Roads & Highways, Health, Urban Development, Tribal Development, and Rural Development.

Among the key road projects, the Prime Minister will inaugurate the Ahmedabad-Dholera Expressway, an access-controlled highway costing over Rs 5,100 crore, which will improve connectivity and support industrial development in the Dholera Special Investment Region.

He will also lay the foundation stone for the 4-lane Idar-Badoli bypass and upgrade the Dholavira-Mauvana-Vav-Santalpur NH-754K section to a two-lane paved shoulder carriageway.

Flyovers at Bhaijipura Junction and PDPU Junction will be inaugurated to ease traffic congestion on roads handling over 1,40,000 vehicles daily.

In the power sector, the Prime Minister will inaugurate the Khavda Pooling Station-2 and associated transmission systems, enabling the evacuation of 4.5 GW of renewable energy with an investment of around Rs 3,650 crore.

Railway projects to be dedicated include the KanalusJamnagar doubling (28 km), part of the RajkotKanalus doubling (111.20 km), and the GandhidhamAdipur quadrupling (10.69 km).

The HimmatnagarKhedbrahma gauge conversion (54.83 km) will improve regional connectivity, and the KhedbrahmaHimmatnagarAsarwa train service will be flagged off.

In urban and health infrastructure, the Prime Minister will inaugurate 44 Urban Development projects worth Rs 5,300 crore, 858-bed Rain Basera facilities at Civil Hospitals in Asarwa in Ahmedabad, and Gandhinagar, and the Government Boys Hostel at Vejalpur for tribal students.

Tourism projects include the Light and Sound Show at Rani ki Vav, Patan, the Water Screen Projection Show at Sharmishtha Lake, Vadnagar, and the foundation of tourism infrastructure at Balaram Mahadev and Vishweshwar Mahadev, Banaskantha.

Water projects include the KasaraDantiwada Pipeline and the DindrolMukteshwar Pipeline, as well as a water supply scheme for Ambaji and surrounding villages, benefiting around 1.5 lakh people.

Expansion works on the Sabarmati Riverfront in Gandhinagar, with an investment of approximately Rs 1,000 crore, will also be initiated.
New York, March 30 : US President Donald Trump on Monday asserted that a "new, and more reasonable, regime" was in place in Iran, indicating a regime change of sorts, and said Washington has made "great progress" in "serious talks" with it.

New York, March 30 (IANS) US President Donald Trump on Monday asserted that a "new, and more reasonable, regime" was in place in Iran, indicating a regime change of sorts, and said Washington has made "great progress" in "serious talks" with it.

"Regime change" is a goal he has said he set for himself, but there has been no indication of that from Tehran, which has continued to issue bellicose statements.

Trump followed up his Monday statement on Truth Social with a claim to reporters on Sunday: "We've had regime change."

He said that after the destruction of the first and second layers of the Tehran regime, they were now on to the "third regime", and that Washington was speaking to "a whole different group of people".

The foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Turkiye, Egypt, and Pakistan, who met over the weekend, gave an indication of possible diplomatic movement in a readout released by Islamabad.

While Tehran denied there were "direct negotiations", a foreign ministry spokesperson did indicate that messages through intermediaries "were discussed".

Trump said on Sunday that, as a gesture to demonstrate they are genuine interlocutors, the Iranians  whom he did not identify  allowed 20 oil ships to sail through the Strait of Hormuz with Pakistani flags.

He did not say if any of the ships were connected to the US.

However, in his Monday Truth Social post, Trump also issued a threat that "if for any reason a deal is not shortly reached, which it probably will be, and if the Hormuz Strait is not immediately 'Open for Business', we will conclude our lovely 'stay' in Iran by blowing up and completely obliterating all of their electric generating plants, oil wells and Kharg Island (and possibly all desalination plants!)".

He said, "We have purposefully not yet 'touched'" those facilities.

Tasnim News Agency reported a couple of hours before Trump's post that Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei denied that Tehran had direct negotiations with the US, but said, "What has been discussed were messages received through intermediaries indicating a US desire for talks".

"The only contact was requests for talks from the US transmitted through third countries," he said at his weekly briefing, Tasnim reported.

Trump's post about progress in talks came after the US reinforced its military presence in the region with over 50,000 troops, including 2,000 soldiers from the Army's elite 82nd Airborne Division, who could be deployed rapidly.

Pakistan's Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar said after meetings with his counterparts  Badr Abdelatty of Egypt, Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud of Saudi Arabia, and Hakan Fidan of Turkiye  that they "discussed possible ways to bring an early and permanent end to the war in the region".

He added that he briefed them on "the prospects of potential US-Iran talks in Islamabad", but did not indicate that they were imminent or that Tehran had agreed to them.

Meanwhile, there was no let-up in the fighting.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) announced "a new wave of retaliatory strikes" against facilities in the region used by US and Israeli personnel, according to Tasnim.
Guwahati, March 30 : Rajasthan Royals pacers Jofra Archer and Nandre Burger ripped through Chennai Super Kings top-order before Ravindra Jadeja made a double-strike, as the visitors were bundled out for just 127 in the IPL 2026 clash at the ACA Stadium on Monday.

Missing the calming presence of MS Dhoni and Dewald Brevis, CSKas young batting unit faltered on a red-soil pitch offering early assistance to bowlers, thanks to some pre-match drizzle. Archer and Burger made the ball talk to pick two wickets each while Jadeja had two in the eighth over in a disciplined bowling performance for RR.

Only Jamie Overton showed fight, counterattacking at number eight with a gritty 43 off 36 balls that lifted CSK from 84/8 to a total showing some semblance of respectability. But the total remained well below-par, leaving RR with a golden opportunity to start their campaign on a winning note under new full-time captain Riyan Parag.

Archer began by swinging the ball both ways to trouble Sanju Samson and Ruturaj Gaikwad in the opening over. Nandre Burger then made the first breakthrough by knocking over Samson for 6 with a delivery that shaped away and crashed into the off-stump.

Archer returned to remove Gaikwad in his second over - the CSK skipper backed away to access the off-side but missed a straight ball and was bowled for six. Burger intensified the collapse in the third over as Ayush Mhatre fell for a golden duck - gloving a bouncer to keeper Dhruv Jurel, as RR got the decision in their favour on review.

Sarfaraz Khan came in as the impact substitute and began his resistance by pulling Burger for four and six in successive balls. After debutant Brijesh Sharma impressed by conceding only six runs in the fourth over, Sarfaraz kept counterattacking to keep the scoreboard ticking.

Sandeep Sharma struck immediately in the final over of power-play as Matthew Short, who struggled to get going, chipped a slower ball straight to mid-wicket for two, as CSK closed the power-play at 41/4. Post that, CSK suffered two major blows - Sarfaraz attempted a sweep off ex-CSK stalwart Ravindra Jadeja, but missed it and was trapped lbw for 17, while Shivam Dube holed out to long-off.

CSKas slide continued as Brijesh Sharma beat Kartikas inside edge, and trapped him plumb lbw for 18, while Noor Ahmed edged behind to Jurel off Archer and Ravi Bishnoi took a sharp caught and bowled chance after foxing Matt Henry with a googly. But thanks to Jamie Overton nailing boundaries alongside Anshul Kamboj, CSK were able to cross the 120-mark, before a complete confusion resulted in the former being run-out.

Brief Scores: Chennai Super Kings 127 in 19.4 overs (Jamie Overton 43, Kartik Sharma 18; Ravindra Jadeja 2-18, Jofra Archer 2-19) against Rajasthan Royals
New Delhi: March 30 : On the occasion of Rajasthan Day, Minister of Art, Culture & Languages, Tourism and Labour Kapil Mishra on Monday extended greetings to the people of the country and the state on behalf of the Delhi government.a New Delhi: March 30 (IANS) On the occasion of Rajasthan Day, Minister of Art, Culture & Languages, Tourism and Labour Kapil Mishra on Monday extended greetings to the people of the country and the state on behalf of the Delhi government.

A cultural event was also held at the Delhi Secretariat, showcasing Rajasthan's rich cultural heritage.

The programme was organised by the Department of Art, Culture and Languages through Sahitya Kala Parishad, said an official statement.

Mishra said that Rajasthan is globally renowned for its tales of valour, cultural grandeur, and vibrant traditions.

He also highlighted the significant contribution of people from Rajasthan residing in Delhi towards the development of the capital.

The Minister stated that under the leadership of Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, the Government of Delhi is organising celebrations of State Foundation Days in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Ek BharatShreshtha Bharat' vision.

These initiatives reflect the collective spirit of strengthening national unity and achieving the goal of a developed Delhi. Such events play a vital role in showcasing India's diverse cultural heritage and passing it on to the younger generation, he said.

The programme featured Rajasthan's folk culture along with traditional music and dance performances. Around 25 artists participated, presenting mesmerising performances of Kalbelia, Ghoomar, and Bhavai, which enthralled the audience.

Mishra emphasised that such events are significant steps towards promoting cultural harmony in the capital.

Earlier in the day, Mishra watched the film 'Dhurandhar  The Revenge' (Dhurandhar-2) along with citizens and media representatives during a special screening organised under the International Film Festival, Delhi (IFFD).

On this occasion, Mishra stated, "Every soldier serving and safeguarding the nation is a true hero of India, and their contribution will always remain paramount."

He added that films such as Uri, Shershaah, and Dhurandhar highlight the dedication and sacrifices of the armed forces. Such films strengthen patriotism and inspire youth.

The Cabinet Minister stated that under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, 'New India' is rapidly moving towards self-reliance in the security sector, with defence capabilities continually being strengthened.


Washington, March 30 : The United States on Monday resumed operations at its embassy in Caracas, reopening its diplomatic presence in Venezuela after years of limited engagement.a Washington, March 30 (IANS) The United States on Monday resumed operations at its embassy in Caracas, reopening its diplomatic presence in Venezuela after years of limited engagement.

The State Department said U.S. diplomacy with Venezuela had been handled since March 2019 through the Venezuela Affairs Unit at the U.S. Embassy in Bogota, Colombia.

"Today, we are formally resuming operations at the U.S. Embassy in Caracas, marking a new chapter in our diplomatic presence in Venezuela," the department said.

Ambassador Laura F. Dogu arrived in Caracas in January to lead the mission as Charge d'Affaires. She is overseeing efforts to restore the embassy and prepare for the return of staff.

Her team is working to repair the chancery building. Officials said this will allow "the full return of personnel as soon as possible" and support the eventual resumption of consular services.

The State Department called the move a "key milestone" in the President's three-phase plan for Venezuela.

It said reopening the embassy would improve U.S. engagement with Venezuela's interim government, civil society, and the private sector.

The US embassy in Caracas was closed in 2019 after relations deteriorated and tensions escalated. Since then, officials operated through the Venezuela Affairs Unit in Colombia.

Officials said key services will return in phases. Visa and consular work will take more time.

The return signals Washington's intent to re-establish direct engagement with Venezuelan institutions, civil society, and the private sector.

It also reflects a broader phased plan by the U.S. administration to stabilise ties, restore consular services, and strengthen its presence in the region following years of limited contact and political discord.

Relations were generally stable between the two nations through much of the century, but began to sour under President Hugo Chavez (1999-2013), who pursued a strongly anti-U.S. foreign policy and aligned Venezuela with countries like Cuba and Russia.

After Nicolas Maduro succeeded Chavez, tensions deepened, especially following disputed elections and human rights concerns.


Jaipur, March 30 : Rajasthan Legislative Assembly Speaker Vasudev Devnani emphasised that legislative assemblies must not become arenas of noise and disruption, but should function as temples of serious, dignified, and constructive deliberation - institutions that guide public welfare and strengthen democracy.

Jaipur, March 30 (IANS) Rajasthan Legislative Assembly Speaker Vasudev Devnani emphasised that legislative assemblies must not become arenas of noise and disruption, but should function as temples of serious, dignified, and constructive deliberation  institutions that guide public welfare and strengthen democracy.

He was addressing the inaugural session of a two-day conference of young legislators held at the Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly in Bhopal. 

The event was also attended by Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Dr Mohan Yadav, Assembly Speaker Narendra Singh Tomar, and the Leader of the Opposition.

Devnani stated that the Legislative Assembly is not merely a physical structure but a symbol of democracy's soul  a platform where elected representatives articulate the aspirations, expectations, and concerns of the people. 

Turning such a sacred forum into a space of disorder and disruption, he said, undermines democratic values and the trust citizens place in it. 

He stressed that deliberations in the House must be grounded in logic, facts, and decorum. Public issues should be discussed with seriousness, policies examined rigorously, and solutions pursued constructively. Even amid differences, the dignity of dialogue must be preserved. 

He urged legislators to act with restraint, discipline, and grace, rising above personal criticism and prioritising the interests of the state and nation.

Highlighting the importance of youth participation, Devnani said the conference represents a meaningful platform to shape the future of Indian democracy.

Bringing together young legislators from Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Rajasthan, he described the gathering as a "Triveni Sangam" of legislative energy. Young representatives, he noted, embody the nation's demographic dividend and can play a transformative role in policy-making with their fresh perspectives. 

He advised young legislators to prepare thoroughly before speaking in the House, raise pertinent public-interest issues, and ensure accountability through active questioning. 

At the same time, they should learn from senior leaders, engage in continuous study, and make use of libraries and reference materials.

Devnani emphasised that democracy extends beyond elections and requires sustained engagement between representatives and citizens. 

He called for leveraging technology to strengthen this engagement and enhance transparency. 

Referring to digital initiatives such as the NeVA platform under the 'One NationOne Application' vision, he noted that such tools are making legislative processes more accessible and accountable.

He also underscored the importance of legislative committees, describing them as "mini-legislatures" that play a crucial role in ensuring government accountability.

He advocated increasing the number of Assembly sittings, noting that the Rajasthan Legislative Assembly has already held 24 sittings and that efforts are underway to raise this to 35. 

Referring to the vision of 'Viksit Bharat 2047,' he said the goal extends beyond economic growth to inclusive development. He urged young legislators to take a lead in key areas such as innovation, startups, skill development, climate action, and digital inclusion.

Devnani concluded by calling upon young representatives to transform legislative bodies into platforms for meaningful debate and solution-oriented dialogue, rising above disruptive politics. 

He expressed confidence that the conference's outcomes would further strengthen democratic institutions.


New Delhi, March 30 : In a major push to strengthen Delhi's water supply, sewer management, and Yamuna rejuvenation efforts, Water Minister Parvesh Verma on Monday unveiled the Summer Action Plan 2026-27 at the Delhi Jal Board headquarters.

New Delhi, March 30 (IANS) In a major push to strengthen Delhi's water supply, sewer management, and Yamuna rejuvenation efforts, Water Minister Parvesh Verma on Monday unveiled the Summer Action Plan 202627 at the Delhi Jal Board headquarters.

The occasion also marked the launch of key digital initiatives, including a Chatbot, Advanced CRM system, and the DJB 1916 Mobile App, aimed at bringing transparency, accountability, and citizen participation into water governance.

Addressing officials and stakeholders, the Minister underscored that Delhi's water challenges must be approached with both urgency and responsibility.

"I have been given the opportunity to serve Maa Yamuna, and I consider it a matter of duty and honour. Every official must see this as a responsibility to deliver clean water and protect our river," he said.

"At every level, we must remember that supplying clean water is not just a serviceit reflects directly on our commitment to the people of Delhi," he said.

Key highlights of the Summer Action Plan include Strengthening Water Production and Supply. It aims to provide peak water production of around 1,002 MGD during summer 2026.

Parvesh Verma said all major Water Treatment Plants (WTPs), including Chandrawal, Wazirabad, Haiderpur, Nangloi, Okhla, Dwarka, Bawana, and Sonia Vihar, are fully operational.

"Delhi has limited water resources, but it is our responsibility to ensure that every citizen receives adequate supply," said the minister.

He also highlighted the plan to expand the city's tube-well infrastructure. Apart from the 5854 tube-wells currently functional, additional 436 tube-wells will be commissioned before summer.

With a focus on bridging gaps in water-deficient areas, the Summer Plan promises improved distribution and leak management.

The Plan also offered a water tanker deployment schedule. Around 1,221 tankers per month will be deployed during peak summer. These will include 1,030 hired and 191 departmental. The Plan has also identified 13,000 fixed supply points identified.

The GPS-based tracking and geo-tagging of tankers will ensure real-time monitoring through dashboards, and digitised route tracking shall eliminate misuse.

"The tanker system is not a permanent solution. Our focus is to make it transparent and accountable while strengthening pipeline infrastructure," said the Minister

The Minister also launched a new digital ecosystem aimed at improving service delivery and citizen engagement: Advanced CRM System for complaint tracking and escalation; DJB 1916 Mobile App for real-time complaint registration and monitoring; AI-powered Chatbot for instant grievance support and WhatsApp-based complaint interface

"Earlier, outdated systems slowed down our work. Today, we are introducing modern, transparent systems where citizens themselves can monitor services," he said.

The Minister said the complaint redressal mechanism has been strengthened with features like: 24x7 call centre operational (1916/1800117118); Automatic escalation from JE to senior levels if unresolved; Real-time updates for citizens and time-bound resolution ensured under strict monitoring.

Promising structural reforms, the Minister shared plans for replacement and upgradation of 80-year-old water and sewer pipelines, upgradation for Wazirabad and other command areas and infrastructure work across 10 Assembly constituencies.

He said the Chandrawal WTP's modernisation has been initiated and its performance is stabilising.
Bhopal, March 30 : Chief Minister Mohan Yadav will attend the 'Madhya Pradesh-Uttar Pradesh Cooperation Conference' in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, on Tuesday.

The conference, aimed at strengthening partnerships in trade, investment, and skills between the two neighbouring states, will also witness the signing of agreements between the Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh governments across several sectors, including trade, industrial investment, skill development, handicrafts promotion, and tourism.

The conference will include the exchange of innovations and best practices from Uttar Pradesh to enhance inter-state cooperation in promoting local economies and regional industries.

The crucial event will place special emphasis on linking One District-One Product (ODOP) initiatives, GI-tagged products, traditional crafts, and agri-food products with branding, marketing, and export opportunities.

Ministers, senior officials, and policymakers from both Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh will participate, focusing on the implementation and future direction of the ODOP initiative.

The ODOP initiative identifies unique products from each district, linking them with production, processing, value addition, branding, packaging, and market access.

It is designed as a comprehensive value-chain model, providing sustainable economic opportunities to artisans, farmers, and micro-entrepreneurs rather than solely preserving traditional products.

"The event is expected to generate new market opportunities for ODOP products, accelerate exports, and offer a wider platform for artisans and entrepreneurs. Cooperation and knowledge exchange between the two states will strengthen the ODOP as a robust national economic model," the Madhya Pradesh government said in a statement on Monday.

Madhya Pradesh will present this model of economic empowerment for local producers and artisans at the conference. The state's ODOP efforts have received national recognition, including the Silver Award at the ODOP Awards 2024.

During the event, artisans from Madhya Pradesh's renowned Chanderi and Maheshwar silk clusters will collaborate with Banarasi silk weavers to advance joint branding, market expansion, and the 'GangaNarmada Craft Corridor' concept.

Chief Minister Yadav will also visit the Kashi Vishwanath Corridor to study crowd flow design, infrastructure layout, and pilgrim management systems.

"This visit will serve as more than just a routine inspection. It will provide a valuable opportunity to understand successful models of modern urban planning and pilgrimage site management," it said.

Drawing upon experience, a practical approach will be formulated for the development of religious sites, expansion of amenities, and systemic improvements within Madhya Pradesh, the government added.
Jaipur, March 30 : The Rajasthan Special Operations Group (SOG) has cracked down on a recruitment exam fraud syndicate involving the use of "dummy candidates", arresting a key accused who had been on the run for nearly two years and was carrying a reward of Rs 10,000.

Jaipur, March 30 (IANS) The Rajasthan Special Operations Group (SOG) has cracked down on a recruitment exam fraud syndicate involving the use of "dummy candidates", arresting a key accused who had been on the run for nearly two years and was carrying a reward of Rs 10,000.

The arrested accused, Sunil Bishnoi, had been absconding since 2023, with SOG teams conducting continuous raids to trace him. SOG ADG Vishal Bansal said the case is linked to the RPSC Senior Teacher (Secondary Education) Grade-II Competitive Examination, 2022.

The exam, initially held on December 24, 2022, was cancelled the same day due to a General Knowledge paper leak and was later re-conducted on January 29, 2023. Investigations revealed that the actual candidate, Sampatlal Mali, did not appear in either paper. Instead, two dummy candidates took the exam on his behalf.

According to the SOG, Sunil Bishnoi appeared for the General Knowledge and Educational Psychology paper at Government Guru Gobind Singh Senior Secondary School, Chetak Circle, Udaipur, on January 29, 2023, impersonating the original candidate.

The second dummy candidate, who appeared for the Science paper, is still absconding, and efforts are underway to trace him. Officials believe Bishnoi's interrogation could reveal key links to the wider network of middlemen involved in the racket.

Despite the fraud, Sampatlal Mali had been provisionally selected for the post of Senior Teacher Grade-II (Science). However, his appointment was halted after a complaint was filed at the RPSC headquarters in Ajmer. Mali was earlier arrested on January 13.

A case has been registered against Bishnoi under relevant sections of the IPC and the Rajasthan Public Examination (Prevention of Unfair Means in Recruitment) Act, 2022. The investigation is being led by Prakash Kumar Sharma.

The SOG is now expanding its probe to identify other dummy candidates, middlemen, and individuals involved in the larger recruitment fraud network.
Bhubaneswar, March 30 : In a shocking development, the Commissionerate Police on Monday arrested two persons on the charges of the gangrape of a woman in the Tamando area of the city during the intervening night of March 27 and 28.

The accused were identified as Narayana Swain (31) and Bichitra Sahoo (34) of Nayagarh district. The accused persons reportedly work as private Ambulance drivers in Bhubaneswar.

Police sources revealed that the victim woman, hailing from West Bengal, who had been residing with her husbanda"a masona"at their rented accommodation in the Chandaka area of Bhubaneswar, was known to the prime accused, Swain.

Their acquaintance stemmed from the fact that Swain frequently visited the house of one of his close relatives, who resides in the neighbourhood of the couple in Chandaka. This familiarity was misused by the prime accused to gain the victimas trust.

The sources also added that on Friday night, following a quarrel with her husband, the victim decided to leave for her home in West Bengal.

Meanwhile, the prime accused encountered her and offered a lift to the Bhubaneswar Railway Station.

However, instead of taking her to the Railway Station, Swain reportedly took the victim to his rental accommodation at Ranasinghpur area under the Tamando police station limits, where he stays with his roommate, co-accused Sahoo. The two accused allegedly subjected the victim to sexual assault.

Following the act, they reportedly issued threats, warning her not to disclose the incident to anyone, thereby attempting to silence her through intimidation and fear.

However, after being freed from their clutches, the woman lodged a complaint with Tamando police, which launched an investigation into the matter by registering a case (102/26) in this regard on March 29.

Subsequently, the police swung into action and arrested the duo who were produced before the court that sent them to judicial custody on Monday.
Gandhinagar, March 30 : The Gujarat government has outlined a set of proposed measures targeting irrigation support, farm equipment regulations, and crop protection following consultations with farmer organisations, Agriculture Minister Jitu Vaghani said on Monday.

The minister said that the administration "stands firmly with farmers" and that "there is no need for farmers to worry".

Speaking to reporters after a meeting with the Bharatiya Kisan Sangh and Kisan Morcha, Vaghani said the Chief Minister had granted in-principle approval to increase subsidies for sprinkler and drip irrigation systems.

"This system helps farmers save water and achieve better production with less water. The proposal to increase subsidy has received in-principle approval, and the government will take a decision after discussions with the concerned departments," he said.

He said the state had also granted in-principle approval to exempt tractor trolleys from Regional Transport Office (RTO) passing requirements for three to five years to address difficulties faced by farmers.

"To resolve the problems faced by farmers regarding tractor and trolley passing, the state government has given in-principle approval to provide exemption from RTO passing for three to five years," he said.

Vaghani said a committee comprising himself, Energy Minister Rushikesh Patel, and Forest Minister Arjun Modhwadia, along with other officials, had been constituted to address farmers' issues.

The panel holds regular meetings with farmer representatives and consults with the Chief Minister.

"The government has consistently taken a positive approach towards resolving farmers' issues and will continue to do so," he said.

Referring to earlier decisions, the minister said the state had approved exemption from stamp duty for legal heirs in cases involving ancestral property.

He added that such decisions were taken under the direction of Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel after consultations with farmer representatives.

"Important decisions for farmers have been taken promptly under the Chief Minister's guidance and will continue to be taken in future," he said.

On water management, Vaghani said that under the 'Sujalam Sufalam' and 'SAUNI' schemes, the government had filled check dams, ponds, and major reservoirs in response to farmers' demands.

"Village ponds have been filled to bring a green transformation, and water bodies will be filled in phases up to around seven kilometres, which will help raise groundwater levels, provide irrigation water, and ensure drinking water supply," he said.

He added that plans were being prepared to fill more ponds through pipeline networks and to extend the high-control canal system.

Addressing other issues raised by farmer groups, the minister said the government would formulate a policy to resolve concerns related to power transmission towers on agricultural land and ensure appropriate compensation.

He also said the fertiliser distribution system, in place since 1999, would be improved through a more farmer-oriented policy.

"Necessary improvements will be made based on current requirements so that the system becomes simpler for farmers," he said.

On crop protection, Vaghani said the government had implemented a fencing scheme to prevent damage to standing crops by wild animals.

He said subsidy benefits would be extended to small and marginal farmers with up to two hectares of land, and fencing support would be allowed up to one hectare.

"The assistance for fencing has been increased from Rs 200 per running foot to Rs 300 per running foot as per the Chief Minister's direction," he said.

He added that the government was also working to promote indigenous seeds and cotton cultivation.

The minister said strict compliance with Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) norms would be enforced in private agricultural colleges.

A committee headed by Nitin Sangwan has been formed to monitor implementation.

"Approval has been given to private agricultural colleges subject to compliance with ICAR norms. Institutions that do not follow the rules will have their admission process cancelled. There will be no relaxation in these rules," he said.

He also said that around 14 settlement villages in Junagadh, Amreli, and Gir Somnath districts had been brought under the revenue framework.

Issues related to eco-sensitive zones in these areas would be taken up through consultations with the forest department, farmer representatives, and the Bharatiya Kisan Sangh.

"The government will adopt a positive approach to ensure that farmers do not face difficulties," he said.
Patna, March 30 : Governor-cum-Chancellor Syed Ata Hasnain held a high-level meeting with Vice-Chancellors of universities across Bihar at Patna Lok Bhawan, focusing on improving the quality of higher education, administrative efficiency, and safeguarding student interests.

During the meeting, Syed Ata Hasnain, who was recently appointed as the Governor of Bihar, underscored the critical role of Vice-Chancellors, urging them to act as competent, empowered, and confident leaders.

He emphasised that they should take independent decisions without external pressure, leveraging their experience and ground-level understanding to resolve institutional challenges effectively.

Highlighting a key concern, the Governor directed universities to ensure the timely conduct of examinations, prompt declaration of results, and quick distribution of certificates.

He warned that delays in these processes negatively impact studentsa futures, calling for greater accountability and vigilance from university administrations.

The Governor also stressed the need to establish Journalism and Mass Communication departments in universities.

He noted that Bihar has made significant progress over the past two decades, and a strong communication framework is essential to showcase these achievements at national and global levels.

Speaking on leadership values, he highlighted that mutual trust is the foundation of any successful institution.

Vice-Chancellors were encouraged to foster a positive work environment by building trust and collaboration among faculty and staff.

Education Minister Sunil Kumar, present at the meeting, shared updates on ongoing initiatives aimed at strengthening the education sector.

He also addressed concerns raised by Vice-Chancellors and provided suggestions for resolving administrative challenges.

He noted that Bihar ranks fourth in India in terms of expenditure on higher education, reflecting the governmentas commitment to the sector.

The Secretary of the Higher Education Department delivered a detailed PowerPoint presentation, outlining the current status of higher education in Bihar, key challenges, strategic priorities, and emphasis on a trust-based institutional culture for future development.

Apart from Governor Syed Ata Hasnain and Education Minister Sunil Kumar, Principal Secretary to Governor Dr Robert L. Chongthu, Secretary of the Higher Education Department Rajiv Ranjan, President of Bihar State University Service Commission Girish Kumar Chaudhary, Education Director Prof. (Dr) Rekha Kumari, Vice-Chancellors of various universities of Bihar, Principal Secretary to the Governor cum Principal Secretary to the Governor's Secretariat and other people were present at the meeting.
Hyderabad, March 30 : The Telangana Assembly on Monday passed two key Bills - one aimed at ensuring social security for gig workers and the other to protect advocates.a

The Telangana Platform-Based Gig Workers (Registration, Social Security and Welfare) Bill, 2026, and the Telangana Advocates Protection Bill, 2026, were passed by the House by a voice vote.a

The Telangana Platform-Based Gig Workers (Registration, Social Security and Welfare) Bill, 2026, introduces a structured system to provide social security and legal recognition to thousands of platform-based gig workers.a

The Bill mandates the creation of a dedicated Social Security and Welfare Board to register workers and oversee benefits. Each registered worker will be assigned a unique ID, enabling better tracking of benefits and ensuring transparency across platforms.a

Labour Minister G. Vivek Venkataswamy, who piloted the Bill, stated that app-based delivery, mobility and service workers will be brought under a structured welfare and social security framework.a

If gig workers are not protected, penalties will be levied on aggregators. Aggregators are also required to contribute 1 to 2 per cent of their transaction value to the welfare fund, which will be used to finance insurance, accident cover, pensions and maternity benefits.a

A structured grievance redressal mechanism will also be developed, with platform-level committees and district authorities empowered to resolve disputes.a

Digital platform companies will be required to regularly submit operational data. Strict penalties have been outlined for non-compliance, with fines increasing for repeated violations to ensure compliance.a

The companies will also have to clearly inform workers about payments and deductions.a

The Assembly also passed the Telangana Advocates Protection Bill, 2026, to protect advocates amid increasing attacks on them.a

This legislation aims to provide police protection for advocates; safeguards against false cases, conspiracies, and harassment; a dedicated grievance redressal mechanism; and protection from threats and retaliatory attacks while discharging professional duties.a

Minister for industries, information technology and legislative affairs D. Sridhar Babu, who introduced the Bill, termed it a big step for the safety of advocates.a

He said the Bill was drafted following the Bar Council of Telangana's resolution and input from high court bar associations, legal forums, and the legal community.a

He stated that this law ensures professional safety and security for advocates while strengthening their confidence. This step reinforces the importance of the legal profession and empowers advocates to serve justice without fear, he said.a

Sridhar Babu said that after Karnataka and Rajasthan, Telangana is among the states to introduce such a law. The Bar Council of India also prepared a draft in 2021 to address advocate safety, and the Chief Justice of the Telangana High Court had emphasised the need for a special law.a

a
Bhubaneswar, March 30 : Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi on Monday directed district collectors across Odisha to keep enforcement squads on a 24-hour action mode and regularly monitor market conditions to curb black marketing, illegal hoarding, and price rise.

In view of the prevailing situation in West Asia, CM Majhi also reviewed the supply of essential commodities in the state during a high-level virtual meeting with district collectors.

According to an official statement issued by the Chief Minister's Office, Majhi reviewed the steps taken at the district level to address the evolving situation.

He instructed collectors to closely monitor market conditions, curb black marketing and hoarding, and take strict action against unscrupulous traders.

Speaking on the occasion, the Chief Minister stated that all essential commodities are adequately available in the state.

He said the government is ensuring that the supply chain remains well-streamlined and advised the public not to panic. CM Majhi further instructed collectors to regularly disseminate information regarding the availability of essential commodities to reassure the public.

Referring to the meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on March 27, the Chief Minister said that the PM had advised all Chief Ministers to work in the spirit of "Team India".

He emphasised that in the current situation, it is crucial for all stakeholders to work in a coordinated manner with a sense of team spirit.

The Chief Minister also advised collectors to take strict action against individuals spreading rumours and creating panic among the public, and stressed the need to closely monitor social media.

CM Majhi noted that crisis management groups have been formed at both the state and district levels, highlighting the importance of coordinated efforts to ensure uninterrupted availability of essential commodities.

The collectors were also instructed to regularly monitor the availability of petrol, diesel, LPG, fertilisers, and other essential commodities in their districts. The Chief Minister also called for sustained awareness campaigns to prevent panic among the public.

Principal Secretary of the Food Supplies & Consumer Welfare Department Sanjay Kumar Singh presented details of the measures being taken by the state government. District collectors also briefed the Chief Minister on the steps being taken in their respective areas.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Lucknow, March 30 : The Uttar Pradesh government has swung into full action mode to ensure uninterrupted supply and prevent black marketing of petrol, diesel, and Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) outlets across the state.

Since March 12, authorities have conducted a massive 17,581 raids and inspections to curb illegal activities and hoarding. So far, 33 First Information Reports have been registered specifically against liquefied petroleum gas distributors, while 189 have been filed in other cases, leading to the arrest of 17 individuals.

Additionally, prosecution proceedings have been initiated against 224 people involved in irregularities.

The government has assured citizens that the supply situation remains completely normal. At present, the state has a comfortable stock of approximately 91,000 kilolitres of petrol and 115,000 kilolitres of diesel.

There are 12,888 operational petrol pumps across Uttar Pradesh, and fuel sales between March 27 and March 29 were recorded in thousands of kilolitres.

The government has appealed to the public not to panic or hoard fuel, stating that adequate quantities are available. The LPG supply position is also satisfactory.

Cylinders are being delivered to consumers as per their bookings through a network of 4,107 gas distributors, with sufficient stock maintained at all levels.

The government has also decided to rapidly expand the City Gas Distribution network. In a high-level meeting chaired by the Chief Secretary, officials were directed to fast-track pending permissions and issue as many piped natural gas connections as possible.

The Central Government has also approved an additional 20 per cent allocation of commercial LPG cylinders, effective from March 23, which will further ease pressure on domestic supply.

To ensure strict monitoring, a 24-hour control room has been set up at the Commissioner of Food and Civil Supplies' office. Similar control rooms are operational in all districts, where the situation is reviewed round the clock.

District Supply Officers and local administration have been instructed to conduct regular field inspections to ensure consumers receive fuel and gas cylinders without delay or harassment.

The government has made it clear that strict action will continue against black marketing, hoarding, or any attempt to disrupt the supply chain. Officials have been directed to maintain zero tolerance towards such malpractices.

With proactive measures, adequate stock, and continuous vigilance, the Uttar Pradesh government has assured citizens that there is no shortage of petrol, diesel, or LPG in the state, and normal supply will be maintained at all costs.
Washington, March 30 : Congressman Tom Suozzi has been named Democratic Vice-Chair of the bipartisan Congressional Caucus on India and Indian Americans, a move that places the New York lawmaker in a key leadership role on Capitol Hill's engagement with India.a Washington, March 30 (IANS) Congressman Tom Suozzi has been named Democratic Vice-Chair of the bipartisan Congressional Caucus on India and Indian Americans, a move that places the New York lawmaker in a key leadership role on Capitol Hill's engagement with India.

The announcement was made by Caucus Chairman Ro Khanna, who cited Suozzi's long record of involvement with the Indian American community and his work on strengthening ties between Washington and New Delhi.

A longtime member of the caucus, Suozzi's elevation follows years of advocacy and outreach. His work has included visits to India and, last year, becoming the first American Member of Congress to visit the Kartarpur Corridor.

He also represents a district spanning Long Island and Queens that is home to a large Indian American population, according to a media release.

"I am honoured to be named Vice-Chair of the Congressional Caucus on India and Indian Americans. My district is home to a large and vibrant Indian American community, and I'm proud of the longstanding relationships and friendships I've built over many years," Suozzi said.

In a statement, he underscored the strategic importance of the bilateral relationship.

"The US-India relationship is one of the most consequential alliances across the globe today. Additionally, the enumerable contributions of the Indian American community have had a profound impact on the culture, economy, and history not only of Long Island and Queens, but of our entire nation," he said.

"As Vice-Chair, I look forward to continuing the work of expanding economic ties, deepening our strategic partnership, and reinforcing the enduring friendship between the United States and India, one grounded in our shared values of democracy, freedom, and the rule of law," Souzzi said.

Khanna welcomed the appointment, pointing to Suozzi's bipartisan credentials and community ties. "We're proud to welcome Congressman Suozzi to the leadership of the Caucus on India and Indian Americans, where his deep ties to the Indian American community, longstanding commitment to strengthening the U.S.-India partnership, and ability to work across the aisle will be invaluable," Khanna said.

"Tom has been an important Member of the Caucus and a fierce advocate for the U.S.-India relationship for years now, and we're glad to welcome him in this new role," he added.

Suozzi joins the caucus leadership alongside co-chairs Khanna and Rich McCormick, reflecting the group's bipartisan nature.

The Congressional Caucus on India and Indian Americans is among the largest country-focused caucuses in the U.S. Congress, bringing together lawmakers from both parties to advance cooperation with India and address issues affecting the Indian American diaspora.

U.S.-India ties have expanded significantly in recent years, spanning defence, technology, trade and people-to-people links. The relationship is often framed as a partnership between two democracies with shared strategic interests in the Indo-Pacific.

The Indian American community, now one of the fastest-growing and most influential diaspora groups in the United States, has played a central role in shaping these ties through business, academia and public service.
Washington, March 31 : The United States is intensifying strikes on Iran while pursuing a deal to end Tehran's nuclear ambitions, the White House said Monday, describing a dual-track approach of military pressure and diplomacy.a Washington, March 31 (IANS) The United States is intensifying strikes on Iran while pursuing a deal to end Tehran's nuclear ambitions, the White House said Monday, describing a dual-track approach of military pressure and diplomacy.

Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the ongoing operation was "moving ahead successfully and according to plan", with more than "11,000 enemy targets" struck so far.

She said the campaign had sharply degraded Iran's military capabilities. Ballistic missile and drone attacks were "down by roughly 90 per cent", while US forces had destroyed "more than 150" naval vessels, leaving Iran's navy "combat ineffective".

"Our military continues to obliterate Iran's defence industrial base," she said, adding that "nearly 70 per cent" of its missile, drone and naval production facilities had been damaged or destroyed.

Leavitt said US and Israeli forces had "asserted air dominance over Iran", completing more than "11,000 successful combat flights".

At the same time, she confirmed that talks with Iran were continuing. "Talks are continuing and going well," she said, noting that "what is said publicly is much different than what's being communicated to us privately".

President Donald Trump has issued a "ten-day pause" on planned strikes targeting Iranian power plants and energy infrastructure to allow space for negotiations, she said.

Leavitt described the moment as "a truly once-in-a-generation opportunity" for Iran to "permanently abandon their nuclear ambitions".

But she warned that if Tehran rejects a deal, "the greatest military in the history of the world continues to stand by to ensure this regime continues to pay a grave price one way or another".

She said the Pentagon's timeline for the operation remained "4 to 6 weeks", with the campaign now on "day 30".

"The mission will continue until the objectives are achieved," she said, listing goals including destroying Iran's navy, dismantling its missile and drone infrastructure, and preventing it from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

Leavitt also stressed that diplomacy remained central. "The President has always said that diplomacy is his number one option," she said, while adding that military operations would continue alongside negotiations.

She said the administration was testing private assurances from Iranian interlocutors, warning that any commitments would be verified.

The White House also linked the military campaign to broader strategic aims, including ensuring Iran "can no longer control the world's free flow of energy through the Strait of Hormuz".

The current escalation marks one of the most significant US military campaigns against Iran in decades, amid longstanding tensions over Tehran's nuclear ambitions and regional role.

For India, developments in the Gulf remain closely watched, given its dependence on energy imports and the strategic importance of the Strait of Hormuz for global oil supply chains.


Washington, March 31 : The Trump administration on Monday acknowledged rising fuel costs linked to the ongoing Iran conflict but described them as "short-term fluctuations", even as it defended its military campaign and broader strategy to stabilise global energy markets.

Washington, March 31 (IANS) The Trump administration on Monday acknowledged rising fuel costs linked to the ongoing Iran conflict but described them as "short-term fluctuations", even as it defended its military campaign and broader strategy to stabilise global energy markets.

Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the administration was "fully tracking this short-term fluctuation in oil and diesel prices" and had taken steps to increase supply and ease pressure on consumers.

She said measures included releasing "400 billion barrels of oil and refined products" and issuing a "60-day Jones Act waiver", along with other actions aimed at boosting supply in the market.

"All of this has the goal of increasing supply to create stabilisation in the market," she said.

Leavitt said the administration recognised the impact on truck drivers and consumers but stressed that the price rise was temporary and tied to the broader objective of the military operation.

"These are short-term actions and short-term price fluctuations for the long-term benefit of ending the threat that Iran poses," she said.

The White House linked the energy market disruption directly to the conflict in Iran, where US forces are conducting a large-scale military campaign.

Leavitt said more than "11,000 enemy targets have been struck to date", significantly degrading Iran's military capabilities.

She said Iran's missile and drone attacks were "down by roughly 90%", while US forces had destroyed "more than 150" naval vessels, leaving its navy "combat ineffective".

"Our military continues to obliterate Iran's defence industrial base," she said, adding that "nearly 70%" of Iran's missile, drone and naval production facilities had been damaged or destroyed.

US and Israeli forces now "control the skies", she said, after completing more than "11,000 successful combat flights".

At the same time, the administration is pursuing negotiations with Iran.

"Talks are continuing and going well," Leavitt said, noting that private discussions appeared more constructive than public statements.

President Donald Trump has ordered a "ten-day pause" on strikes targeting Iranian power plants and energy infrastructure to allow space for diplomacy.

Leavitt described the moment as "a truly once-in-a-generation opportunity" for Iran to "permanently abandon their nuclear ambitions".

However, she warned that if Iran rejects a deal, "the greatest military in the history of the world continues to stand by to ensure this regime continues to pay a grave price one way or another".

The administration also emphasised that ensuring stability in global energy flows remains a key objective, particularly through the Strait of Hormuz, a critical route for oil shipments.

Leavitt said the goal was to ensure Iran "can no longer control the world's free flow of energy through the Strait of Hormuz".
Washington, March 31 : The United States has allowed an oil shipment to reach Cuba on humanitarian grounds, even as it maintained there has been no formal change in its sanctions policy, the White House said Monday.a Washington, March 31 (IANS) The United States has allowed an oil shipment to reach Cuba on humanitarian grounds, even as it maintained there has been no formal change in its sanctions policy, the White House said Monday.

Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the decision was made on a "case-by-case basis" to address the urgent needs of the Cuban people.

"As the President said we allowed this ship to reach Cuba in order to provide humanitarian needs to the Cuban people," she said.

She stressed that the move does not signal a broader policy shift.

"There has been no formal change with respect to sanction policy," Leavitt said, adding that such decisions would continue to be evaluated individually.

The clarification came after questions over whether the United States was easing restrictions on oil shipments to Cuba, particularly involving Russian tankers.

Leavitt rejected suggestions of a wider relaxation, saying, "These decisions are being made on a case-by-case basis right now".

She added that the US still reserves the right to enforce sanctions, including the seizure of vessels where legally applicable.

"We still reserve the right to seize vessels that violate the United States sanctions policy," she said.

At the same time, the administration has also emphasised flexibility in specific circumstances.

"The President and the administration also reserve the right to waive those on a case-by-case basis," she said in response to a question.

"The President threatened to tear up any country that would send oil to Cuba, but now the US is letting this Russian tanker go to Cuba. Is this a policy change, or is he willing to let more tankers into Cuba?" she was asked.

"This was a decision that will continue to be made on a case-by-case basis for humanitarian reasons or otherwise, but there's been no firm change in our sanctions policy," Leavitt said.

"President Shienbaum of Mexico also said that Mexico is exploring different ways to restart some of those shipments to Cuba. Is the administration okay with that at this time?" another reporter asked.

"There's been no change in our sanctions policy. We still reserve the right to seize vessels if it's legally applicable, that are headed towards Cuba and that violate the United States sanctions policy, but of course, the President and the administration also reserve the right to waive those seizures on a case-by-case basis," Leavitt said.
Washington, March 31 : The White House on Monday blamed Democrats for a deepening crisis in US air travel, saying a funding lapse at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has led to staff shortages, long queues, and rising security risks at airports.

Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said "500 TSA officers quit their jobs" in recent weeks, while "thousands more were calling out sick at record rates due to the lack of pay".

She said the situation had pushed the aviation system "to its breaking point", with security wait times "exceeding three hours at major airports across the country".

"This resulted in security wait times exceeding three hours creating nightmares for millions of Americans," she said.

Leavitt said morale among Transportation Security Administration (TSA) staff had "plummeted", creating what she described as "an unacceptable, heightened security risk".

She blamed Democrats in Congress for voting "seven times against funding the Department of Homeland Security", accusing them of playing "reckless political games".

"Democrat members of Congress are more than happy to put your safety at risk," she said, linking the funding dispute to broader disagreements over immigration policy.

According to the White House, President Donald Trump last week signed a presidential memorandum directing officials to ensure TSA workers receive pay and benefits despite the funding impasse.

Leavitt said the President had instructed the Department of Homeland Security and the Office of Management and Budget to use available funds "with a reasonable and logical nexus to TSA operations" to compensate workers.

"This bold and necessary action will ensure our TSA workers receive their hard-earned paychecks," she said.

However, she warned that the measure was only temporary.

"Nothing will be truly normal again until Democrats do the right thing to fund this agency fully," she said, urging Congress to return to Washington and resolve the issue.

Leavitt said the administration viewed the situation as an emergency affecting national security, particularly given TSA officers' roles in screening passengers and safeguarding airports.

The disruption has come at a time of heavy travel demand, amplifying the impact of staff shortages and long wait times across major US airports.

The White House also linked the funding standoff to its broader immigration enforcement agenda, arguing that opposition to DHS funding reflected disagreement with deportation policies.

The Department of Homeland Security oversees border security, immigration enforcement and transportation safety, making it central to domestic security operations.

Funding disputes over DHS have periodically disrupted operations, but the current standoff has coincided with workforce attrition and operational strain at US airports.
New Delhi/Bhubaneswar, March 31 : BJP MP Nishikant Dubey on Monday clarified his remarks linking veteran Odisha leader and former Chief Minister Biju Patnaik to the CIA during the 1962 Sino-Indian War, insisting that he had not spoken against Biju Babu personally and that he holds the legendary leader in high esteem. a New Delhi/Bhubaneswar, March 31 (IANS) BJP MP Nishikant Dubey on Monday clarified his remarks linking veteran Odisha leader and former Chief Minister Biju Patnaik to the CIA during the 1962 Sino-Indian War, insisting that he had not spoken against Biju Babu personally and that he holds the legendary leader in high esteem. 

In a post on X, Dubey defended himself and said, "What have we said against Biju Babu in it? I am doing a 365-day series on the misdeeds of the Nehru-Gandhi family. Biju Babu is revered by us as well. Politics against Biju Babu is not right. Esteemed individuals are always entitled to respect." 

He appealed to the people of Odisha not to become victims of politics and saluted Biju Patnaik's immense contributions to the nation. 

Dubey also claimed that when the Congress did injustice to Biju Babu, it was the Jan Sangh and later the BJP that stood firmly by him. 

The controversy had erupted after Dubey, while running his daily series on the alleged misdeeds of the Nehru-Gandhi family, described Biju Patnaik as a "link" between Jawaharlal Nehru, the US government, and the CIA during the Chinese conflict. 

The remarks drew sharp criticism from Biju Janata Dal (BJD) president and former Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, son of Biju Patnaik. Naveen Patnaik expressed shock and called Dubey's statements "outrageous" and "baseless." 

He questioned the BJP MP's understanding of history and sarcastically remarked that Dubey "needs a mental doctor's attention" for making such irresponsible comments against a towering personality revered across Odisha. 

Naveen Patnaik countered by highlighting that Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had given Biju Patnaik an office next to his own in Delhi, while Biju was still Chief Minister of Odisha, to assist in the strategy against China. 

He described his father as a fierce patriot who was deeply angered by Chinese aggression. 

The controversy has also caused unease within BJP circles in Odisha. Senior BJP leader and former Union Minister Baijayant Panda described Biju Patnaik as "one of the greatest patriots of modern Bharat" and strongly defended his legacy.


Indore, March 31 : With summer heat intensifying, incidents of fire, especially due to electrical short circuits, have been increasing across Madhya Pradesh in recent days, particularly in urban areas.

One such fire incident occurred in the early hours of Monday, when a devastating blaze transformed the peaceful skyline near Indoreas Regional Park into a scene of chaos and destruction.

The fire erupted at approximately 4:00 am, rapidly engulfing two prominent furniture showrooms situated just beyond the parkas boundaries.

Multiple firefighting vehicles battled for several hours to control the blaze, which grew increasingly dangerous. After a gruelling effort by firefighters and civic employees, the fire was finally doused. The heat was so intense it threatened to spread to adjacent structures.

Luckily, no casualties were reported by the concerned authority. However, it was notable that more than 27,000 litres of water were required to extinguish the fire.

Additionally, a couple of municipal corporation tankers assisted in fetching water from a nearby pump.

Authorities said the exact cause of the fire was yet to be ascertained. Initial investigation suggested it started with a spark from a short circuit and quickly escalated into a towering inferno.

Before this incident, Indore city had witnessed a tragic fire a few days ago when a suspected short circuit at an electric vehicle charging point triggered a blaze in a house, killing seven persons.

That incident also occurred during the early morning hours, around 3:30 to 4:00 am. Within minutes, flames spread rapidly from the vehicle into the three-storey residential building, turning it into a death trap for those inside.

A sudden short circuit led to an explosion at the charging point, setting the vehicle on fire. The blaze quickly escalated as it reached a stockpile of over a dozen liquefied petroleum gas cylinders stored inside the house.
Business

Conner Logistics Publishes 2026 Cost Comparison Highlighting Key Differences Between California and Kentucky Fulfillment Operations

Conner Logistics has released a 2026 cost comparison analyzing fulfillment operations in California and Kentucky, outlining key cost structures and operational considerations relevant to brands managing nationwide distribution. The publication presents a side-by-side evaluation of major expense categories, including facility costs, labor conditions, shipping efficiency, and regulatory environments (Source: Conner Logistics, Fulfillment Company California vs Kentucky: The 2026 Cost Comparison Brands Need to See, 2026).

The report identifies real estate and warehouse operating costs as a primary differentiator between the two regions. California facilities are described as having higher lease rates and operating expenses, while Kentucky locations offer comparatively lower overhead that may affect long-term fulfillment budgeting. Labor dynamics are also addressed, including workforce stability, wage levels, and operational consistency.

Shipping and distribution efficiency are examined through parcel zone coverage and transit considerations. The comparison highlights Kentuckys central geographic position as a factor in balancing ground shipping times across multiple U.S. regions, compared to coastal distribution models that may require broader zone coverage for nationwide delivery. Inventory management is also discussed, with centralized fulfillment presented as a factor that may reduce the need for multi-warehouse inventory allocation.

The publication also outlines differences in regulatory and compliance environments. California is noted for stricter requirements that may affect operating costs and administrative processes, while Kentucky is presented as having fewer regulatory complexities affecting warehouse operations. Risk exposure related to regional disruptions and cost variability is also included in the comparison.

A representative from Conner Logistics stated that the comparison was developed to give brands a clearer view of fulfillment cost structures in 2026, noting that the goal is to present objective data points that support more informed logistics planning across different regions.

The report is presented as an informational resource for companies evaluating fulfillment strategies, particularly those comparing centralized and coastal distribution models.
Education

Real Advisors Announces Final Registration Window for Free Three-Day AI Business Training Summit

JACKSONVILLE, FL  Real Advisors has announced the final registration window for the AI for Business Summit, a free three-day virtual training event scheduled for April 1-3, 2026. The summit delivers over 12 hours of live AI business instruction across three consecutive days via Zoom, with daily sessions running from 11 AM to 3 PM EST. Registration is complimentary.

The curriculum covers a comprehensive range of AI business applications designed to give attendees immediately deployable skills. Session topics include AI-powered automation systems, lead generation funnel construction, sales bot deployment, professional video creation using AI tools, digital product development, high-converting copywriting frameworks, LinkedIn marketing strategies, and virtual assistant team management. Each day builds progressively on the previous session, culminating in a complete AI business implementation blueprint by the final day.

Six instructors lead the three-day program, each bringing specialized expertise to the curriculum. Bernard Ablola, a former Microsoft executive, teaches LinkedIn strategy. Dolmar Cross, star of the A&E television series "Zombie House Flipping Tampa," instructs on AI-powered video production. Richard Dunn brings over one hundred million dollars in career sales expertise to his sessions. Patrick Precourt leads training on Motivation & mindset. Brian Hanson covers lead generation funnels and AI bot deployment. Francis Ablola, co-founder of Real Advisors, anchors the program with instruction on AI tool mastery, super prompting techniques, and digital product creation.

"Business owners who attend this summit will walk away with functional AI systems they can deploy in their operations the same week. The curriculum was designed so that every session builds directly on the one before it, giving attendees a complete implementation roadmap by day three," said Brian Hanson, lead generation specialist and AI for Business Summit instructor.

Real Advisors is a four-time Inc Magazine Fastest Growing Private Company in America headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida. The company has provided professional business training to more than 58,000 entrepreneurs since its founding in 2017. The AI for Business Summit is the latest addition to the company's training portfolio, expanding its established curriculum into artificial intelligence applications for business growth.

Complimentary registration is available at https://go.aiforbusiness.com/summit?_go=nkhxvp

Business owners unable to attend the April 1-3 live sessions can register on the event page to receive notifications for future summit dates.

Pro Package annual subscribers receive a complimentary $2,000 premium website build from Grow wit AI. Contact us on Facebook or LinkedIn at Grow wit AI for details.

About Real Advisors

Real Advisors is a four-time Inc Magazine Fastest Growing Private Company in America headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, delivering professional business training to over 58,000 entrepreneurs since 2017.

For media inquiries, contact Brain Hanson at Real Advisors through the event registration website.



About Grow wit AI

Grow wit AI provides artificial intelligence solutions for businesses leveraging AI technology for growth and efficiency.

Media Contact:

Ashley Mitchell

Grow wit AI

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Phone: +1-808-582-0899

Email: support@growwitai.com
Now in its sixth year, BolognaBookPlus, the Bologna Childrens Book Fairs general trade publishing initiative run in collaboration with the Italian Publishers Association, continues to grow and is offering its most ambitious program yet. The 2026 event includes two new professional tracks, an expanded AI Summit, and a pair of exhibitions making their European debuts.

Headlining the new additions is the Designer Studio, a slate of events dedicated to art direction, editorial design, and illustration for adults, intended to foster dialogue between visual designers and artists and the general trade market. Programming is curated by Mimaster Illustrazione, the organization behind BCBFs popular Illustrators Survival Corner. In this inaugural edition, the focus will be on book cover design, with master classes and hands-on workshops where designers and illustrators develop actual covers.

In a digital age, how books look online and how theyre designed becomes so much more important, says Jacks Thomas, guest director of BBPlus. This is the one book fair where you can be certain that illustration is right at the heart of everything.

The Designer Studios speaker list includes illustrators Pablo Amargo, Jon Gray, Lorenzo Mattotti, and Riccardo Vecchio, along with art directors and graphic designers DJ Stout of Pentagram and Cecilia Flegenheimer of Mondadori. The space will also display the gold and silver medalists from the Society of Illustrators Annual Illustration Competition in the book category for 20222026. In addition, there will be a preview of Balbusso Twins: Illustrating with Two Souls, a show curated by the Society of Illustrators in collaboration with Pentagram and opening in New York City on April 15.

Also new this year is WritersLab, which will give writersacross fiction, nonfiction, childrens, and professional publishinga dedicated area to network, talk shop, and share best practices. A series of workshops will look at such subjects as marketing, career development, and how to handle rights.

The second edition of the BBPlus AI Summit will take place the morning of Tuesday, April 14. The half-day program opens with a keynote from Shimmr AI founder Nadim Sadek on AI as a new creative medium, before moving into sessions on agentic publishing workflows and data-driven editorial decision making. Regina Brooks, CEO of Serendipity Literary Agency and president of the Association of American Literary Agents, and Rafa Kosik, the BBPlus author ambassador, will discuss control, compensation, and creative rights in the AI era. The summit will close with two conversations about leadership in the age of AI, featuring Paul Kelly, CEO of DK, and Mary McAveney, president and CEO of Abrams Books.

AI is no longer just a tool for efficiency, but a new medium for creativity and decision-making, says summit curator Brooke Dobson of Shimmr AI. This years summit explores the real-world impact of that shift.

Kosik is a natural fit as author ambassador. The Polish publisher and international bestselling science-fiction writer has more than 30 books to his name, including the young adult series Felix, Net and Nika, as well as the childrens series Amelia and Kuba. He also wrote the script for the anime Cyberpunk 2077: Edgerunners. Kosik will appear throughout the BBPlus program, with AI and the evolving author-technology relationship as running themes. Additionally, Norwegian illustrator Mari Kanstad Johnsen will serve as BBPluss illustration ambassador and will host talks and workshops throughout the fair.

Other returning highlights include the Audio Forum, curated by Book Beats Nathan Hull, on Wednesday, April 15, at the BBPlus Theatre, with speakers from Audible, Gallimard, Pan Macmillan, and Spotify examining how technology and commerce are reshaping audio storytelling. Not to be forgotten, the rights training course How to Sell Rights and Understand Licensing in Childrens Publishing returns on Sunday, April 12, the day before the fair opens. As far as we know, it is the only such training program offered at any major international book fair, Thomas says.
Europes governing class has a problem with free speechespecially when that speech comes from conservatives. Nowhere is that clearer than in Spain, where Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has unveiled a government system to monitor political discourse online.

The program is called HODIO. Officially, it tracks hate speech and polarization using artificial intelligence. In reality, it represents the latest attempt by Europes political elites to place public debate under bureaucratic supervision.

And it should concern anyone who cares about free elections and democratic accountability.

According to the Spanish government, HODIO will collect and analyze vast volumes of public social-media posts. AI models will categorize content, measure political conflict, and identify supposedly harmful narratives. The government will then publish reports assessing online discourse and ranking platforms based on problematic speech.

That is extraordinary power for a government already invested in shaping debate.

Spain already criminalizes certain hate speech. HODIO goes further. It treats political discourse itself as something the government should measure and influence.

That is not law enforcement. It is political monitoring.

The problem begins with vague categories like polarization and toxic narratives. These are not legal standardsthey are political judgments. In practice, they often fall on viewpoints challenging progressive orthodoxies on immigration, national identity, or EU integration.

In short, conservative arguments.

Europe already offers clear examples of how speech regulation curbs those views.

Consider Germanys Network Enforcement Act. The law forces platforms to remove potentially illegal content quickly or face fines up to 50 million. The result has been systematic over-censorship. Companies delete lawful political speech to avoid risk, including posts criticizing migration or asylum policiescore democratic debate.

Officials have acknowledged the incentive: delete first, assess later. In effect, the state has outsourced censorship to private platforms.

The European Unions Digital Services Act expands this pressure continent-wide. Platforms must conduct risk assessments on how content contributes to disinformation or social harm, then adjust moderation and algorithms accordingly.

The outcome is predictable. When regulators define controversial speech as risk, platforms suppress it.

During debates over migration and identity, posts criticizing EU policies or warning about mass migration have been flagged as harmful by networks working with regulators and platforms.

France offers another example. Authorities monitor online discourse during elections to counter disinformation. While framed as security policy, these systems increasingly target domestic narratives that challenge government or EU positions.

Britains Online Safety Act follows the same logic. It requires platforms to address broadly defined harmful content, incentivizing aggressive moderation of controversial viewpoints.

Taken together, these measures form a European architecture of speech control.

HODIO pushes it further.

Unlike earlier laws, HODIO does not just regulate platforms or enforce statutes. It seeks to monitor the political climate itself, producing official judgments about which narratives contribute to polarization and which are acceptable.

That creates serious risks.

When governments label narratives harmful, the signal to platforms is clear: remove them. Over time, this creates a chilling effect, marginalizing viewpointsespecially conservative ones.

The impact goes beyond debate.

Speech regulation shapes elections. If certain viewpoints are systematically labeled dangerous or toxic, they become harder to express and organize around.

That tilts the playing field.

Europes political establishment has long portrayed conservative dissent as a threat to democracy. HODIO institutionalizes that claim, turning disagreement into something to be monitored and managed.

The Sanchez government insists HODIO is merely analytical. That strains credibility. Governments do not build systems like this just to observe.

They build them to influence outcomes.

Americans should take note. European regulations increasingly shape global platform policies, often spilling into U.S. discourse.

The United States has taken a different path. The First Amendment protects political speecheven controversial speechfrom government control.

Europe is moving the other way.

Spains HODIO system is another step toward treating open debate not as a democratic strength, but as a problem to be managed.

And when governments begin monitoring opinions in the name of protecting democracy, it is usually democracy that ends up in danger.

Paul McCarthy is a Senior Research Fellow for European Affairs in the Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom at The Heritage Foundation.
In 2024, Texas oil and gas executive Jeremy Paul warned that global energy markets were being suppressed due to policy decisions that ignored economic and geopolitical realities. Paul, CEO of Eagle Natural Resources, argued that oil prices needed to reach a natural equilibrium, ideally between $90 and $150 a barrel, with a realistic sweet spot around $130 to $140. Only at these price levels would exploration be incentivized, production be sustained, and broader economic stability be maintained. He warned that suppressing prices could ultimately lead to "the price of war."

The structural imbalances that Mr. Paul identified have solidified into a harsh market reality and geopolitical danger. The suppression of honest price signals not only distorted investment; it also rendered the global energy system fragile, underfunded, and dangerously vulnerable to the shocks that policymakers claimed to prevent.

For much of the last decade, the industry was pressured by Wall Street's focus on capital discipline, ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) principles, and artificially low prices, leading to an emphasis on short-cycle shale plays rather than long-term, high-risk exploration. As a result, frontier basins were neglected, and deepwater projects were delayed. This approach sacrificed the industry's future for short-term quarterly returns.

By 2026, there was a significant shift in the energy sector. Upstream investments surged, particularly in offshore and deepwater assets. Major companies began quietly returning to fields they had previously written off, including parts of Libya. Production in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico started to increase once again. Additionally, the Permian Basin revealed new potential, with the U.S. Geological Survey recently confirming approximately 1.6 billion barrels of technically recoverable oil and 28 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in deeper formations.

Others also sounded the energy alarm. ExxonMobil's CEO, Darren Woods, stated plainly, The world is going to need more energy, not less. Aramcos CEO, Amin Nasser, cautioned that underinvestment in oil and gas leads to volatility. Both leaders grasped what many policymakers fail to acknowledge: you cannot create supply by simply wishing for it while also discouraging the necessary capital investments needed for production.

In early 2024, Brent crude remained in the $70$80 range, with many analysts projecting that long-term prices would stabilize around $60. These forecasts were based on two fundamentally flawed assumptions: stable geopolitics and sufficient supply. Both of these assumptions have now fallen apart.

As of March 2026, Brent crude oil is trading near $100 per barrel, while West Texas Intermediate (WTI) is priced in the mid-$90s. Recent intraday price spikes are more influenced by raw market risk than by policy changes. Tensions involving Iran and ongoing threats to the Strait of Hormuz where approximately one-fifth of the worlds oil passes have added a significant geopolitical premium to the price of oil. This situation illustrates the consequences of markets being unable to clear at fair prices: distortions accumulate, fragility increases, and external shocks have a more severe impact.

Jamie Dimon captured the new reality when he said, Energy security is national security. It no longer sounds like a slogan. It sounds like common sense belatedly dawning on the political class. Even Fatih Birol of the International Energy Agency has repeatedly warned about impending supply crunches if investments in upstream production continue to fall short of resilient demand. While the correction in oil prices is already underway, natural gas remains significantly mispriced. Henry Hub prices have fluctuated between $1.50 and $3.50 per MMBtu, levels that are too low to encourage the necessary investment for long-term supply. Despite the increase in LNG exports, domestic prices continue to hinder production. The IEA predicts only a gradual recovery, supporting what Paul has consistently argued: global gas markets are structurally undersupplied in the long term, regardless of what short-term spot prices may indicate.

One of the more provocative aspects of Pauls thesis is his argument that higher, normalized energy prices and strong production can actually finance better social programs. This is not socialism disguised as oil policy; it is a realistic approach to fiscal management. Norways $1.4 trillion sovereign wealth fund demonstrates how responsibly managed resource wealth can support long-term societal benefits. Even OPEC's Secretary General, Haitham Ghais, has emphasized that oil revenues are essential for economic development and poverty reduction in producing countries.

The conflict in the Middle East, combined with Russia's ongoing war in Ukraine, has disrupted energy supplies and caused gasoline prices in the U.S. to rise above $3.50 per gallon. Analysts are describing this situation as the most significant energy shock since the 1970s.

As Paul observed, The energy market is not just about economics; it is very much about geopolitics.

In 2026, that is no longer an opinion. It is the daily headline. And the world is paying the price of suppression in real time.

Frank Salvato is a veteran independent journalist focused on national politics and geopolitical issues.
Instagram / Veronica Rodriguez - @maryanasphotography

By Elizabeth Kwiatkowski, 03/30/2026



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Elizabeth Kwiatkowski is Associate Editor of Reality TV World and has been covering the reality TV genre for more than a decade.

alum Veronica Rodriguez has married her fiance Seth Daryoushfar."Our wedding day truly felt like a fairy tale," the couple told Us Weekly, confirming they exchanged vows on Saturday, March 21."We made a point to steal a few quiet moments alone after the ceremony and again after dinner, which helped us stay present and connected throughout it all."The pair's "perfect" and "magical" big day took place at St Mary's Chapel in Charlotte, NC.Veronica and Seth said they were surrounded by their closest family and friends at the wedding, which "made it even more meaningful."Veronica and Seth recalled having an "incredibly powerful and emotional" ceremony followed by their reception at The Ivey's Hotel."I really thought I'd hold it together, but the moment I saw her, I just couldn't," Seth told the magazine.Veronica wore an off-the-shoulder white gown with a sweetheart neckline, a long train, a floor-length veil, and pearl earrings. She carried a bouquet of pink and white roses down the aisle.Veronica said she "couldn't get through the first sentence" of her vows "without crying" because it was such an emotional moment."I don't even remember who was there -- I only saw Seth," Veronica quipped of her groom, who sported a black tuxedo.It appears Veronica and Seth have healed and moved on from the lowest point of their relationship.Prior to their wedding, Veronica and Seth had accused each other of domestic violence.But Starcasm reported in January that Veronica's charge of misdemeanor domestic violence and Seth's charge of misdemeanor assault on a female had been dismissed The charges were dropped by the prosecutor on January 12 because neither Veronica or Seth wanted to testify against the other.Both cases were ruled voluntary dismissals without leave by the DA, which means the prosecutor chose to drop their case without court approval and an option for the case to be reinstated later, unless new charges are filed separately.Veronica and Seth were both arrested in North Carolina for domestic violence on December 15.However, the couple -- who got engaged in September 2025 in Italy -- bonded out and were released from jail on that same day.Veronica was charged with misdemeanor domestic violence after she allegedly used "physical force" on Seth and struck him in the face.Seth, for his part, was charged with assault on a female after Veronica had reportedly accused him of holding and grabbing her, "causing scratches" to her "wrists and thighs."The alum paid a $500 bond before her release, and she was reportedly instructed not to "assault, threaten or harass" Seth.Seth, meanwhile, had to post a $2,500 bond, and he was also told to leave Veronica alone.One day before the pair was arrested, Veronica gushed about how 2025 was "the best year yet" and she was looking forward to spending more time with Seth.Veronica then got engaged on her 40th birthday, calling it "the most unforgettable" birthday gift.Veronica went Instagram official with Seth in January 2025, although it's unclear how long they had dated beforehand.After making their public debut, Veronica and Seth traveled to the Grand Canyon, New York City, Las Vegas and more.Veronica, however, wrote on social media how Seth's love felt like "home" to her.Veronica has appeared on : Before the 90 Days, 90 Day: The Single Life, and : Pillow Talk.Veronica was initially part of Tim Malcolm's storyline, given they were previously engaged, on : Before the 90 Days in 2019. The pair remained good friends and decided to co-parent her daughter Chloe Sanchez together.Veronica filmed Season 3 of 90 Day: The Single Life, which aired on TLC in 2022, with her ex-boyfriend Justin Foster.The couple split during an October 2022 episode when Justin had decided to move to Florida to be closer to his kids and their mother. Veronica didn't want to move, and so the pair opted to part ways.Veronica was then shown dating : Happily Ever After? star Kim Menzies' son Jamal on Season 4 of The Single Life, which aired on TLC in early 2024, but it didn't take long for their romance to fizzle out.Want more spoilers or couples updates? Click here to visit our homepage!
'When there is such an elaborate and a strong process, one would have expected anyone to either place the issues so that they can be addressed or go to the regulator and probably tell them rather than creating a kind of uncertainty for the stakeholders.'

IMAGE: Sashidhar Jagdishan, MD and CEO, HDFC Bank. Photographs: Kind courtesy TERumel/wikipedia.org/Creative Commons

Sashidhar Jagdishan, managing director and chief executive officer, HDFC Bank, says there is no connection between Atanu Chakraborty's abrupt resignation as part-time chairman of the bank and the lender's action against some employees on account of gaps in requirements regarding taking on board clients at its DIFC branch in the United Arab Emirates.

In a video conversation with Manojit Saha and Subrata Panda/Business Standard, Jagdisha says the bank's internal processes are robust enough to address issues that surface, and it remains focused on growth.

Key Points HDFC Bank CEO clarified that Atanu Chakraborty's resignation and employee action were unrelated, driven purely by coincidental timing factors.

UAE DIFC issue involved technical onboarding and documentation gaps, with no fraud or integrity lapses identified.

Bank has overhauled product design and processes, aligning operations with evolving regulatory expectations across jurisdictions.

Management remains focused on disciplined growth, balancing loan expansion, deposit mobilisation, and stable funding structures.

CEO confirmed willingness for reappointment and outlined plans for restructuring to sharpen strategy execution and organisational focus.

'The scrutiny has not brought out any integrity issue or fraud'

Two days after Chakraborty resigned, HDFC Bank took action against a few employees. Is there a connection between the two?

They are coincidental.

The issue that has emanated in international business is principally a matter of technical gaps in our taking clients on board and the documentation matters there.

The scrutiny has not brought out any integrity issue or fraud.

There is a process we have ... it has been there for several years ... on how we address accountability.

The recommendations of the disciplinary committee are taken and given to the authority, which is one of the board committees, and the board committee takes action.

I don't have the authority to decide on these actions.

Sadly, it was the timing.

There was a board meeting, before which there was a meeting of the nomination and remuneration committee.

Some (incomplete) discussion in the earlier meeting concluded that day. So that day action was taken.

'We have remediated the design of all our products and services'

Does the UAE incident bring to light gaps that need addressing?

It does.

Every jurisdiction has different requirements on on-boarding and documentation, and on what kind of products we need to offer, their suitability and appropriateness, etc.

Advice from experts, including legal experts, has come in.

We have remediated the design of all our products and services.

We have put in new processes.

So we will rebuild the business in accordance with the new expectations of the regulations in West Asia.

Our niyat is right.

There could be some gap in implementation, but wherever there are issues, we will address them.

It's a ghost that has come about'

Are there any other jurisdictions where such gaps were pointed out?

We have re-examined our policies, processes, and product designs, and are still re-examining them to recalibrate them to the new expectations of each of those jurisdictions.

Have you gauged the damage, if any, this incident has caused to the bank, and what has been the investor feedback?

If I have done something wrong, I know what we need to do to repair that.

But here, it's a ghost that has come about.

It's something all of us are baffled with, whether at management or board level.

We had requested Chakraborty to spell out the issues and we would have addressed them the way we have done all these years.

We have a wonderful and a robust process.

When there is such an elaborate and a strong process, one would have expected anyone to either place the issues so that they can be addressed -- which was what the appeal of the board members was on March 18 -- or go to the regulator and probably tell them rather than creating a kind of uncertainty for the stakeholders.

'I am willing and raring to go'

Your term as MD & CEO ends in October. Are you willing to seek reappointment?

Yes, I am willing and raring to go.

But I respect the process that needs to be there, whether it's the board process or the regulatory process.

Are there any gaps that need to be addressed after this episode?

All issues are before the management and the board.

Every issue is addressed with a time-bound plan.

If there are new issues that surface, either from Chakraborty or from some other channel, we will address them.

We are not saying that we need to be apologetic.

Our core job is to execute the business strategies of the bank in a manner that gives confidence to customers and other stakeholders.

We are just digesting the merger (with HDFC).

We had committed ourselves to a glide path.

We are on track.

So, once you get that kind of growth, I am sure customers will start getting the confidence back.

Last week, in a call with the media, you said there would be organisational restructuring. Can you throw some light on it?

I have done this in the past when we have reorganised the organisation or come up with restructuring.

The objective is to ensure that people are galvanised and there is a sharper focus in achieving our strategies.

This energises the whole organisation, and I plan to do that again.

But this time, there is a process in which I will have to discuss it within the organisation and also with the board before I announce it.

So this is nothing extraordinary.

If I want to achieve our strategic goals over the next three years, I would love to have this restructuring or reorganisation.

'Our priority now is disciplined, profitable growth'

How do you plan to grow your loan books and also bring down your loan-deposit ratio (LDR)?

Is there an opportunity for us to grow?

Yes.

Do we have the ability to raise good-quality deposits?

Yes.

Do we have alternative funding options to support growth?

Yes.

Until now, we had not fully exercised those options because we were focused on bringing down the LDR.

However, with the recent monetary policy statement, there has been a slight shift in stance.

It now allows room to consider slightly longer-term, non-callable borrowings to enhance stability in the balance sheet.

This means that the LDR may remain where it is or even move up marginally.

But from a risk-management perspective, that is not a concern if long-term assets are funded by long-term, non-callable borrowings.

That creates a stable funding structure, which is what prudent risk management calls for.

When we talk about the LDR, we must recognise that business cycles will recur every three to five years.

Even though the regulator has taken the LDR off the table for the moment, our thinking is that we should not go overboard.

Even if we operate around current levels, over the medium term we would prefer to gradually bring it down.

That remains our approach.

From a strategic standpoint, however, the LDR is no longer our primary focus.

Our priority now is disciplined, profitable growth.

We have committed ourselves to growing faster than the system in FY27.

For FY26, we had indicated that we would grow broadly in line with the system, and based on performance up to December, that remains on track.

We are continuing to grow deposits broadly in line with our top line growth.

Over time, we would like deposit growth to outpace loan growth.

What we want to ensure is that we capture the growth opportunity and drive growth in earnings per share.

These are the two core objectives guiding us.

As growth continues and deposit growth gradually outpaces loan growth, you will see a smooth glide path where the LDR naturally trends down over time.

So the LDR going off the table for the moment gives you some comfort...

When you take over a massive machine that is already funded, your LDR will naturally move up.

There is no regulatory prescription for what the LDR should be.

It is not a global ratio, nor is it a Basel ratio or even a regulator-prescribed ratio.

Yet, from January 2024, you suddenly started hearing about the LDR.

No bank was given any specific target.

We reviewed our own books.

After the merger, our LDR had become the highest in our history.

We decided to pull down our loan growth rate.

We reduced it by roughly one-tenth and brought the LDR down accordingly.

From our perspective, our board needed comfort on the regulatory stance.

That comfort came when the (Reserve Bank of India) governor clearly articulated the same thought process in the monetary policy statement.

The emphasis now is that banks should maintain comfortable liquidity coverage ratio (LCR) levels.

The LCR and NSFR (net stable funding ratio) are the key metrics that determine the resilience of an organisation over the short and long term.

The minimum regulatory requirement for the LCR is 100 per cent.

At the same time, we do not want to be excessively high because that would mean inefficient use of funds.

A buffer of around 15 per cent above the minimum is quite comfortable.

We currently operate at roughly 115 per cent, give or take.

While the return on assets is improving, when will it top 2 per cent on a consistent basis?

To bring down the LDR from 110 per cent to below 100 per cent, we had to slow asset growth and accelerate deposit growth.

That did create some drag on the business.

To offset that impact, we focused on driving efficiencies to ensure that profitability was maintained.

Now that profitability is stable, the moment we resume top line growth -- with bottom line growth keeping pace -- earnings per share will naturally start improving.

Which are the levers you will tap for accelerating loan growth?

We do not want to pursue growth for the sake of growth.

Our objective is safe and profitable growth.

If consumption picks up, retail lending will grow.

If consumption does not pick up, there is still strong demand from micro, small, and medium enterprises, where growth continues to be 18 to 20 per cent, even on a larger base.

We will balance growth across segments.

Demand is not the issue.

The real challenge is striking the right balance among margins, risk, and growth  that is where the hard work lies.

Feature Presentation: Ashish Narsale/Rediff
Flipkart enhances its leadership team with the appointment of Smita Ojha and Amit Sharma as VPs to spearhead engineering and program management, driving technological innovation and long-term growth for the e-commerce giant.

Key Points Flipkart appoints Smita Ojha as VP of Engineering to lead the Central Platforms Group (CPG).

Amit Sharma joins Flipkart as VP of Program Management, heading the Technical Program Management charter for OneTech.

The appointments aim to scale Flipkart's core technology and drive long-term value creation.

These leadership additions are part of Flipkart's strategy to invest in technology and program management as it accelerates its AI-native evolution.

E-commerce firm Flipkart on Monday announced the appointment of Smita Ojha as Vice President of Engineering and Amit Sharma as Vice President of Program Management.

The appointments are aimed at scaling the company's core technology and fuelling long-term value creation, Flipkart said in a statement.

Ojha will lead the Central Platforms Group (CPG) within Flipkart's OneTech organisation. She brings over two decades of experience and joins from Mindtickle, where she served as Senior Vice President of Engineering.

OneTech is Flipkart's unified product and technology organisation responsible for building and operating all digital experiences across the company.

Sharma will head the Technical Program Management charter for OneTech. With over 25 years of corporate experience, he previously served as a Director at Amazon and has held leadership roles at Accenture and WNS.

Flipkart's Strategy for Growth

"As we enter our next phase of growth and accelerate our AI-native evolution, investing in strong leadership across technology and program management remains a key priority.

"Smita and Amit bring complementary strengths in platform engineering and large-scale execution, which will be instrumental in advancing our innovation agenda and enabling scalable, future-ready capabilities across Flipkart," Balaji Thiagarajan, Chief Product and Technology Officer, Flipkart, said.
Former HDFC Bank chairman Atanu Chakraborty reveals that his resignation was prompted by concerns over the misselling of AT-1 bonds and the bank's overall underperformance, shedding light on governance and ethical considerations.

IMAGE: Atanu Chakraborty, former non-executive chairman, HDFC Bank. Photograph: ANI Photo

Key Points Former HDFC Bank chairman Atanu Chakraborty attributes his resignation to the misselling of AT-1 bonds and the bank's underperformance.

Chakraborty criticises the bank's handling of the AT-1 bond misselling issue, viewing it as a 'technical issue' rather than a conduct concern.

He highlights the importance of aligning incentive structures and management oversight with the interests of depositors and shareholders to prevent misselling.

Chakraborty points to the bank's underperformance, including low share prices and high cost-to-income ratio, as contributing factors to his decision.

He clarifies that his resignation was not due to personal differences or the merger of HDFC Ltd with HDFC Bank.

Former chairman Atanu Chakraborty said on Monday that the misselling of AT-1 bonds, which led to a rap from the regulators, and under-performance of the country's largest private sector lender HDFC Bank were the reasons behind his resignation.

Personal differences with the management are "overblown" and it was not the issue "by a long distance" for the resignation earlier this month, Chakraborty said, stressing that "incongruence" on values and ethics led him to quit the board.

In an interview with CNBC TV-18, Chakraborty rued that the misselling of the AT-1 bonds was viewed as a "technical issue" by the bank management, and that action in the matter came eight years later, much after the regulator in Dubai and also India had raised the issue.

"I feel that these conduct issues (arising out of the misselling) should not arise... tight supervision should ensure that even if they arise, they're nipped in the bud. However, if they are termed as technical, it leaves a little bit of a leeway," he said.

Such conducts lead to reputational damage, Chakraborty said, reminding that people come to bank for advice and that compensation practices have to be in sync with value systems to ensure that misselling does not happen.

"The incentive structures, the oversight of the management and the board should ensure that they are aligned with the interests of depositors, shareholders, and public at large," he said.

It can be noted that in September last year, authorities in Dubai had barred HDFC Bank from adding new customers at its branch in the Dubai International Financial Services Centre as a penalty for the alleged misselling of Credit Suisse's additional tier-1 bonds, which were written off in 2023.

In his resignation letter, Chakraborty mentioned values and ethics as among the factors that influenced his decision to leave a year ahead of the end of term.

HDFC Bank's Underperformance

Chakraborty also said "under-perfomance" at the bank, including in the share prices staying low, lower share of the cheaper current and saving account deposits and high cost to income ratio led to the decision, and made it clear that getting parent HDFC Ltd merged with itself had nothing to do with these factors.

He also said it is the duty of independent directors like himself to ensure better performance for the bank.

In the comments that come days after capital markets regulator Sebi advised independent directors to act responsibly and not insinuate anything, Chakraborty said he mentions "incongruence" over values and ethics in the letter, and advised people to take a dictionary's help to understand if that is akin to insinuation.

Citing confidentiality, the former bureaucrat declined to answer questions around whether he had informed financial regulators about his thinking on values and ethics, or also if he had raised it up at the board level.

He also denied that the resignation led to a sharp correction in the bank scrip was due to his actions, adding that the Iran war and an unfavourable move by the US Fed had roiled the markets.

The decision to list HDB Financial Services was driven by a RBI mandate to go for an IPO within a timeframe, Chakraborty said, seeking to settle speculation if a potential deal with Japan's MUFG did not have his backing and was among the reasons for the bank management's differences with him.
The Indian stock market is poised for a volatile week as geopolitical tensions in West Asia, fluctuating crude oil prices, and global economic trends heavily influence investor sentiment and trading strategies.

Illustration: Dominic Xavier/Rediff

Key Points The ongoing conflict in West Asia and its impact on crude oil prices will be a major driver for the Indian stock market.

Foreign investor activity and the rupee-dollar exchange rate will significantly influence investor sentiment.

Upcoming industrial production data and manufacturing PMI will provide insights into India's economic momentum.

Geopolitical developments and elevated oil prices are expected to keep pressure on the Indian stock market, creating volatility.

Analysts suggest monitoring US-Iran ceasefire negotiations and their potential impact on market sentiment.

Developments related to the ongoing month-long war in West Asia, its impact on crude oil prices, and global trends would continue to be key drivers for domestic equities in the holiday-shortened week ahead, analysts said.

Besides, the rupee-dollar trend and trading activity of foreign investors would also play a crucial role in dictating investors' sentiment.

Stock markets would remain closed on Tuesday and Friday for Shri Mahavir Jayanti and Good Friday, respectively.

"This week is expected to remain influenced by global macro developments, particularly crude oil price trends and progress in the US-Iran ceasefire negotiations, which will be critical in shaping market sentiment. Stability in the rupee will also be important for any revival in foreign institutional flows," Ajit Mishra, SVP, Research, Religare Broking Ltd, said.

On the domestic front, key data releases include industrial production data for February and the HSBC Manufacturing PMI for March, which will provide insights into economic momentum and fiscal positioning, he said.

Foreign investors have pulled out Rs 1.14 lakh crore (about $12.3 billion) from domestic equities this month amid the widening conflict in West Asia and a weakening rupee.

The West Asia conflict started on February 28. While the US and Israel attacked Iran, the Islamic Republic retaliated by targeting Washington's allies in its neighbourhood and Tel Aviv.

Market Volatility and Geopolitical Factors

"Looking ahead, markets are likely to remain volatile and driven by developments on the geopolitical front. Investors will be closely watching the situation in the Middle East, where any escalation or signs of easing could quickly shift sentiment, particularly through their impact on crude oil prices.

"Elevated oil prices are expected to keep pressure on markets, while any pullback could prompt short-covering and support a rebound," Ponmudi R, CEO of Enrich Money, an online trading and wealth tech firm, said.

Foreign investor flows, moves in the rupee, and broader global market trends are also likely to play a key role in shaping the near-term outlook, he said.

In a holiday-shortened last week, the BSE benchmark Sensex lost 949.74 points or 1.27 per cent, and the NSE Nifty tanked 294.9 points or 1.27 per cent.

Hariprasad K, Research Analyst and Founder, Livelong Wealth, said, "The week ahead is expected to be largely dictated by global drivers, with crude oil, currency movements, and geopolitical developments remaining key variables."
18 Indian-flagged vessels with 485 Indian seafarers still remain in the western Persian Gulf region.

IMAGE: An LPG vessel, Apollo Ocean, arrives at the New Mangalore Port, March 26, 2026. Photographs: Video Grab/ANI Photo

Two Indian liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) carriers with a combined cargo of around 94,000 tonnes have safely transited the Strait of Hormuz and are heading towards Mumbai and Mangalore, the ministry of petroleum and natural gas (MoPNG) said in a statement.

'BW TYR is proceeding towards Mumbai with an expected time of arrival on March 31, and BW ELM is en route to New Mangalore with estimated arrival date of April 1,' the ministry said in an update on maritime safety and shipping operations in the wake of the West Asia crisis.

It added that 18 Indian-flagged vessels with 485 Indian seafarers still remain in the western Persian Gulf region.

Strait of Hormuz transit update

Key Points Two Indian LPG carriers safely crossed the Strait of Hormuz carrying 94,000 tonnes, easing supply concerns amid West Asia tensions.

Government confirms domestic LPG delivery remains normal despite geopolitical disruptions, with no reported dry-outs at distributorship level nationwide.

Online LPG bookings surged to 94 per cent, indicating stable consumer demand and efficient supply chain management under pressure.

Centre increased commercial LPG allocation to 50 per cent, prioritising restaurants, industries, and local body-run subsidised outlets.

Additional LNG sourcing and steady supply to urea plants ensure industrial operations continue despite reduced gas availability.

Indian vessels in Persian Gulf

The Directorate General of Shipping, in coordination with ship owners, Recruitment and Placement Services Licence (RPSL) agencies, and Indian missions, is actively monitoring the situation.

The ministry said the supply of LPG in the country is affected due to the prevailing geopolitical situation but no dry-out has been reported at LPG distributorships.

LPG supply situation in India

Online LPG cylinder bookings increased to 94 per cent on an industry basis.

The statement said the delivery of domestic LPG cylinders is normal and the government had earlier restored partial commercial LPG supply of 20 per cent for consumers.

Further, the Centre proposed on March 18 to allocate an additional 10 per cent commercial LPG to states based on ease of doing business reforms for PNG expansion.

Later, the government allowed an additional 20 per cent allocation of commercial LPG to states, taking the overall allocation to 50 per cent.

This is being given on priority to restaurants, dhabas, hotels, industrial canteens and subsidised canteens and outlets run by local bodies.

Industrial gas supply updates

The Centre extended an additional 20 per cent allocation of commercial LPG to states on March 27 for industries with priority to steel, automobile, textile, dye, chemicals and plastics.

The government had earlier prioritised 100 per cent gas supplies for domestic PNG and CNG for transport.

Supplies to industrial and commercial consumers connected on the grid are at 80 per cent of their average consumption.

'Supply to operating urea plants is now steady at around 70-75 per cent of their last six-month average consumption,' the ministry added.

'Additional LNG cargoes and regasified LNG (RLNG) are also being sourced to maintain supplies and pipeline hydraulics.'

Feature Presentation: Ashish Narsale/Rediff
Indian banks are pressing the Reserve Bank of India to re-evaluate its new $100 million cap on net open foreign-exchange positions, cautioning that the move could trigger substantial mark-to-market losses and necessitate a rapid unwinding of trades, impacting financial year 2026 earnings.

Illustration: Uttam Ghosh

Key Points Banks are requesting the RBI to reconsider its $100 million cap on net open foreign-exchange positions, citing potential for significant mark-to-market (MTM) losses.

The directive, effective April 10, could force the unwinding of an estimated $40 billion in dollar-long positions, creating a near-term dollar supply in the onshore market.

The rupee has depreciated over 4 per cent since late February, becoming the worst-performing Asian currency this year, and hit a fresh low of 94.81 per dollar.

Lenders propose applying the new limit only to incremental positions or providing a three-month transition window to mitigate immediate balance sheet pressures.

Some market participants believe the RBI's sudden move is a temporary intervention to curb volatility, with limited likelihood of immediate relaxation.

Banks have urged the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to reconsider its decision to cap net open foreign-exchange positions involving the rupee at $100 million, warning that the move could result in significant mark-to-market (MTM) losses and compel an accelerated unwinding of trades, according to people aware of the matter.

The directive, issued on Friday with compliance by April 10, comes at a time when dollar-long bets had built up significantly.

Market estimates suggest $40 billion of large long-dollar positions would be squared off in the near term.

By forcing banks to reduce these exposures, the central bank is effectively engineering a near-term supply of dollars in the onshore market.

Rupee's Performance and Depreciation

The rupee has depreciated over 4 per cent since the onset of the Iran conflict in late February, emerging as the worst-performing Asian currency in the current calendar year, and is headed towards witness its steepest fall in a financial year since FY14.

It settled at a fresh low of 94.81 per dollar on Friday.

Lenders have proposed that the revised limit be applied only to incremental positions, a step that would safeguard existing exposures and ease near-term pressures on balance sheets. Market participants are also seeking a transition window.

A three-month period to align positions with the new cap was seen as reasonable, while some expect a shorter extension until the end of the month.

RBI's Intent and Market Reaction

Some participants, however, said that the RBIs sudden move indicated a targeted and possibly temporary intervention, with little likelihood of near-term relaxation.

The uniform cap suggested the focus was on curbing market volatility rather than protecting banks and the framework could be refined or withdrawn over time.

Given the suddenness of the move, it appears to have been taken with a clear intent.

"I am not sure if the RBI will offer any immediate relaxation.

"If there had been consultation, it might have been rolled out differently.

"The fact that it was introduced suddenly suggests that the RBI had a specific concern in mind.

"I would expect this to be a temporary measure, said a senior executive at a private bank.

Bankers said positions worth about $40 billion might need to be cut in the absence of any relaxation.

The number could be higher if options are included.

With the financial year ending March 31, banks may have to book these losses in FY26 earnings.

Market participants said that this could lead to a technical appreciation of the rupee in the immediate term, with the rupee likely to test 92.50-92.80 as positions get unwound.

Impact on Forex Management and Rupee Outlook

The move marks the first time since 2011 that the RBI has explicitly set a limit on the net open position (NOP), a parameter typically left to individual bank boards.

Market participants said the step underscored the central banks intent to directly curb speculative activity and arrest the pace of depreciation.

The updated norm requires banks to maintain their NOP-INR within the prescribed limit at the close of each business day, effectively capping the currency risk they can carry overnight.

Market participants said that this would bring greater discipline to forex-risk management but could also limit trading flexibility and potential gains.

Additionally, market participants said broader drivers, including elevated crude oil prices, geopolitical uncertainty and foreign portfolio outflows, continued to weigh on the rupee, and the central banks measures could at best smooth volatility rather than reverse the trend.

The RBI has expended significant ammunition in trying to curb the pace of depreciation.

"Its latest measure to limit banks net open position is intended to keep speculators at bay.

"However, till the conflict is resolved, there is clarity on energy supply, and the flow picture improves, there may be limited respite for the rupee, said Abhishek Goenka, founder and chief executive officer, IFA Global.
The field's so narrow that last year two private banks were chasing one candidate to be their next CEO.

Illustration: Dominic Xavier/Rediff

Key Points ICICI Bank once produced top financial leaders, but private banks now face a shrinking pipeline for CEO roles.

Private lenders increasingly rely on retired or near-retirement executives, often sourced from public sector banks like SBI.

Succession planning remains weak due to regulatory mismatches in retirement age and limited internal leadership development.

There was a time when ICICI Bank was known as the CEO-making factory among Indian lenders.

Several executives from the private sector bank who sharpened their skills under the watchful eye of former MD & CEO and then chairman K V Kamath between 2009 and 2015 went on to head financial services companies, banks, non-banking financial companies, private equity, and even regulatory bodies.

They include former Securities and Exchange Board of India chairperson Madhavi Puri Buch, former Axis Bank CEO Shikha Sharma, IDFC First Bank CEO V Vaidyanathan, Aditya Birla Capital CEO Vishakha Mulye, Tata Capital CEO Rajiv Sabharwal and Renuka Ramnath, founder and CEO of Multiples Alternate Asset Management.

CEO talent shortage intensifies

Things have changed -- private sector banks are now grappling with a shortage of executives for the top post.

The problem is unique to private sector lenders as chiefs of public-sector banks (PSBs) are appointed by the government.

Industry sources say banks as well as the regulator Reserve Bank of India have had a tough time finding CEOs in the last couple of years.

The RBI comes into the picture because banks need to get its approval for appointing a CEO -- not just one name, they need to send off multiple names for the regulator's consideration, in order of preference.

The field's so narrow that last year two private banks were chasing one candidate to be their next CEO.

Empty field

That private sector banks are not producing enough leaders is evident from the fact that in the last few years, all the chief executive officers they appointed were outsiders.

In the last two years, three CEOs appointed in private banks (one will take charge shortly) were bankers who had either retired or were on the verge of retiring.

For instance, Rajiv Anand, who was a deputy managing director at Axis Bank, took charge as MD & CEO of Indusind Bank in August last year -- the month he was set to retire from Axis.

SBI executives dominate private banks

Many CEOs currently heading private banks are from the State Bank of India stable, directly or indirectly.

Recently, private sector lender Yes Bank selected former SBI managing director Vinay Tonse who will succeed Prashant Kumar as MD & CEO, in April.

Incidentally, Kumar was a deputy managing director of SBI when he was chosen to lead the reconstructed Yes Bank in 2020.

Partha Pratim Sengupta, who took charge of Kolkata-based Bandhan Bank in November 2024, is another example.

He was a deputy managing director in SBI, from where he moved to another public sector lender, Indian Overseas Bank, as MD & CEO. Sengupta retired from IOB in December 2022.

Over half a dozen CEOs in different private sector banks are from SBI -- a trend put down to the shortage of talent in private sector banks.

Kumbakonam, Tamil Nadu-based City Union Bank looks like the only exception where there was proper succession planning, with the RBI approving R Vijay Anandh, the current executive director, to become the next CEO from May 1, 2026.

RBI compensation norms impact hiring

What is the reason behind this drying up of talent for the top post in private banks?

If you ask bankers, they will unequivocally say (albeit off the record) that it's to do with the way salary packages are structured.

The compensation package of CEOs and whole-time directors is tightly regulated, particularly in comparison with other entities in the financial sector, like investment banking, private equity, or even NBFCs.

The compensation package of public sector banks is fixed by the Centre, and it is uniform across the sector.

By contrast, the RBI has stringent norms on compensation for private banks which state, among other things, that they should ensure that their cost-to-income ratio supports the compensation package, consistent with maintaining a sound capital adequacy ratio.

For CEOs, the rule is that salary and perks should be adjusted for all types of 'risks'.

For instance, it is mandated that for all 'material risk-takers' including CEOs and whole time directors, the variable pay component should be at least 50 per cent of the fixed pay.

The higher the level of responsibility, the higher the proportion of variable pay.

The total variable pay is capped at 300 per cent of the fixed pay.

Moreover, 50 per cent or more of the variable pay should be "non-cash", such as shares etc.

And a minimum of 60 per cent of the total variable pay must be under deferral arrangements -- they don't get the entire variable pay in one particular year.

A portion of it is deferred.

'Encouraging mediocrity'

"If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys," said a senior official from a financial services entity.

"If you don't pay for performance it encourages mediocrity. You need to have the right talent for the right upside," the person said.

"The talent pool is limited," said a former chairman of a private bank.

"There is a lot of talent available in NBFCs and other sectors. But not many of them want to join private sector banks because the compensation is controlled by the regulator -- which is very different in other countries where compensation is not controlled, but the regulator has oversight of the bank. They have an oversight on the performance of the bank," said a senior official from an advisory firm.

From a regulatory point of view, the RBI looks for leaders who are transformative and who will take the institution to a higher trajectory.

"Most of them (the leaders) are good at managing a bank's routine affairs but lack vision," said a senior banking industry official.

"There is a short supply of such leaders."

Till about the turn of the century, banking was considered to be a 'boring' job, but it was the only sector for financial services professionals.

However, in the last 15-20 years, other avenues have opened up, including private equity, investment banking, mergers and acquisition consulting and, more recently, fintechs.

Unencumbered by the private banking sector's salary restrictions, a lot of talent was drawn to these areas, leaving a void when regulation became even tighter, particularly in the aftermath of the 2008 global financial crisis.

Changes in the offing?

"I believe this issue [of talent shortage for top posts] will get addressed in the next five to seven years. Because since 2015, there has been a shift of people moving to banks because of the whole focus on differentiated [small finance, payments bank] bank licences that came in," said Vivek Iyer, partner and financial services risk leader, Grant Thornton Bharat.

"Banking, with a lot of opportunities, will also attract a lot more talent. The reason I said 5 to 7 years is because the people who are in the banking segment at the age of 45 will be in their early 50s, ready to take up the CEO role in the organisation. So there was this period of 15 years (2000-2015) which caused the issue," Iyer said.

Succession planning challenges deepen

The importance of succession planning in private banks cannot be overemphasised.

Rarely has a deputy CEO of a private bank been made a CEO in at least the last 10-15 years.

Succession planning in private banks is complicated by an anomaly in the superannuation age limit.

Post Covid, most CEOs who took charge at private banks were around the age of 60.

Even if a CEO begins succession planning after completing the first three-year term -- the typical tenure approved by the RBI, which may be extended -- and identifies a successor who is about 55, there is a strong likelihood that the chosen successor would retire before the CEO.

This stems from a regulatory mismatch.

RBI norms allow a bank CEO to serve up to the age of 70, subject to a maximum tenure of 15 years.

However, the retirement age in most private banks is 60 years, and in some cases even 58.

This discrepancy is widely seen as a constraint on effective succession planning.

Regulatory review may bring relief

RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra, who took charge in 2024, has announced that all the regulations should be reviewed periodically.

Accordingly, a Regulatory Review Cell (RRC) was formed in the Department of Regulation with effect from October 1, 2025.

The mandate of the six member RRC is to ensure that all the regulations issued by the RBI are subject to a comprehensive and systematic internal review every 5 to 7 years.

Senior bankers eyeing the top spot will hope the compensation package issue will get an early look-in.

Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff
'People have lost hope of finding justice in this state ... I want to give these victims, their families, the people of this state, a voice.'

IMAGE: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee speaks at an election meeting in support of TMC candidate Ram Mohan Roy in Jalpaiguri, March 25, 2026. Photograph: @AITCofficial X/ANI Photo

Key Points 'I know a local BJP party worker and through him I approached the party asking for a ticket.'

'The only party which is strong enough to wrench this crime-steeped party that rules the state -- the TMC -- from its roots and throw it out of Bengal, is the BJP.'

'When people think of Bengal they must be able to see that it has transformed from being a cesspool of crime and anarchy to that of law and order, where crime gets punishment.'

The Bharatiya Janata Party on March 25 fielded the mother of the RG Kar doctor as its candidate from the Panihati seat in the North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal in the third list of 19 candidates for the state polls next month.

Ratna Debnath used to run a happy household -- her husband has maintained that while he was the breadwinner -- she was the backbone.

Her daughter, a trainee doctor, doing her MD (in pulmonary medicine) at the reputed RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata was the 'diamond' in the family. The three were tied to the hip -- their struggles, victories, happiness, celebrations - always shared.

Then, on the night of August 8-9, 2024, life as they knew it, ended.

Their daughter, given the moniker Tilottama or Abhaya, was brutally raped and murdered while on duty at the hospital.

"We had only one purpose in life -- to get justice for my girl. That is still on. But justice cannot be limited only for our daughter -- there are thousands of victims like her in West Bengal, who were either killed or silenced by the ruling party Trinamool Congress.

"You can only get justice if you are in power. Being in power gives you a voice. I and my husband have gone from pillar to post, from the high court to the Supreme Court, begging for justice. Have we got it? No. Have other people in this state got it? No. And we won't get it and they won't get it either unless and until Mamata Banerjee and her Trinamool party is thrown out," says Ratna Debnath.

Petite, soft-spoken, polite and erudite, her husband says there was never any doubt about who should get the ticket from the couple. "She is strong beyond belief. If she wants something, like our daughter, she will fight and fight some more till she gets it."

BJP candidate Ratna Debnath in conversation with Rediff's Swarupa Dutt.

Did you approach the BJP, or did they approach you?

No, we approached the BJP. I know a local BJP party worker and through him I approached the party asking for a ticket.

But there is no confirmation or denial from the BJP Your candidature is unusually low key.

That's strange because I have received the nomination from the BJP and it's from the Panihati constituency.

Why BJP?

The only party which is strong enough to wrench this crime-steeped party that rules the state -- the TMC -- from its roots and throw it out of Bengal, is the BJP. None of the other Opposition parties, be it the CPI-M or any other party in the state, can do that. That is the main reason I want to fight on behalf of the BJP.

IMAGE: Junior doctors under the banner of the West Bengal Junior Doctors Front protest against the sexual assault and murder of a postgraduate trainee doctor of the R G Kar Hospital in Kolkata, September 13, 2024. Photograph: ANI Photo

'I want West Bengal to be known as a safe state'

If you are elected as the MLA from Panihati, will your priority be getting justice for your daughter, or will you work for your constituency?

Naturally, getting justice for my daughter is a priority. But equally if not as important is to get justice for those who have suffered like us.

I want West Bengal to be known as a safe state. I want safety for women, for mothers, for daughters.

I don't want people to forget what happened to my daughter and the travesty of justice that we have been forced to bear with for a year-and-a-half.

But at the same time I don't want my name or Bengal to be synonymous with the incident.

When people think of Bengal they must be able to see that it has transformed from being a cesspool of crime and anarchy to that of law and order, where crime gets punishment.

There are also civic issues in my constituency like water-logging. Even an inch of rain and the streets get waterlogged.

Unless you are in power, you cannot do anything for the people. That is why I decided to join politics. I want to make a change.

In the first two months of the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh, which has been ruling the state for nine years now, there were 803 incidents of rape and 729 of murder.

Kuldeep Sengar was a BJP legislator and was responsible for the rape of a girl in Unnao and the death of her father in police custody.

Kuldeep Sengar is in jail. He committed a crime, he was punished for it and he is in jail. That's why it will make a difference if the BJP comes to power in this state.

The Trinamool places its hand of protection over the head of perpetrators and thrusts hush money to the victims' families so that they do not have the courage for recourse. People have lost hope of finding justice in this state ... I want to give these victims, their families, the people of this state, a voice.

I have learnt to give voice to oppression and injustice. I have learnt this from my daughter. She used to serve her patients, but I am not a doctor, so the only way I can do that is to be the voice of the oppressed in this state.

We have no personal dreams or aspirations left after my daughter died. Our dreams died with my daughter. So our dream is now the peoples' dream -- a safer Bengal.

The Opposition parties in the state, like the BJP and the CPI-M have repeatedly invoked the incident during their campaigns and have politicised the issue. Do you agree?

Yes, all parties have politicised the issue. There is no doubt about that and I have nothing to say or deny on that matter. But as a mother, I couldn't bear that my daughter's death was being politicised.

So, I thought if by politicising the matter she gets justice and the real culprits including the TMC and its chief, Mamata Banerjee, are wrenched out of this state, why not join politics? As a mother, I have right of way, I believe.

But yes, every party did politicise my daughter's rape and murder.

IMAGE: People protest outside the CBI office over the R G Kar Medical College rape-murder case in Kolkata. Photograph: ANI Photo

'CPI-M has no standing in the state'

The CPI-M stood by you during the protests. Why not join the CPI-M?

Look, the whole of Bengal and much of India, stood by us after the incident. Not just the CPI-M. But the CPI-M has no standing in the state and so I joined the party that I believe can win.

You have said in an earlier interview to Rediff that you want to remove the TMC from its roots. Is it realistic this year?

It is a certainty. Not a possibility. I used to tell my daughter there are no words like 'impossible', 'improbable' in our family's dictionary. From an absolutely humble background, my daughter would have become a pulmonary physician; she was doing her MD when she was killed, a seat she secured entirely on merit and hard work.

So, yes, the TMC has been ruling the state since 2021, but before that they were in the Opposition. The BJP is in Opposition now, but that will change this year.

You have never dabbled in politics before. How will you traverse this path?

We have never been to courts before, never spoken to the media before, or gone to police stations, never had to find lawyers or find the path to justice for our daughter. But we have done all that.

Justice still awaits her. Our daughter is our teacher. Her determination, her honesty, her strength to attain her goals, is the path we have followed in trying to secure justice for her.

We have always had a difficult life; my husband is a tailor, I am a housewife, but we have always been a resilient, strong family.

I draw strength from my daughter though she may not be physically present with us, I know she is with us mentally every step of the way. And there is no better teacher than adversity.

IMAGE: Prime Minister Narendra Modi at an election meeting in Kolkata, March 14, 2026. Photograph: Narendra Modi Photo Gallery/ANI Photo

'The lotus must and will bloom in Bengal'

The TMC's slogan in 2021 was 'Bahiragatader dao biday (Get rid of the outsiders)'. Don't you think the BJP is an outsider party. The ethos of Bengal has always been assimilation.

If the BJP comes to power don't you think Muslims will be targeted as they are being in the rest of the country?

The TMC's slogan during 2021 was also 'Bangla Nijer Meyekei Chaye (Bengal wants its own daughter)'. The daughter is our honourable CM Mamata Banerjee. Is she what Bengal deserves? A daughter must safeguard another daughter; a woman another woman.

I hold her responsible for the rape and murder of my daughter. The lotus must and will bloom in Bengal.

Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff
The beauty of Boao Forum for Asia

16:07, March 30, 2026 By Michael Kurtagh ( People's Daily Online

Scene from the Boao Forum for Asia 2026 Annual Conference in Boao, south China's Hainan Province. (Photo provided by the Boao Forum for Asia)

The Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) 2026 Annual Conference ended on March 27. A few days later, back from the warm air of south China's Hainan Province, I find myself sitting with one thought that keeps returning: it was beautiful.

Not in a superficial way. Boao is, of course, physically stunning. Dongyu Island sits where the Wanquan River meets the South China Sea, and the conference center looks out over water that shifts between green and blue depending on the hour. The breeze off the coast is the kind that makes you feel like you are somewhere the world has agreed to slow down for a moment. But that is not what I mean.

What I mean is something harder to put into words. It is the feeling of being in a room, or on a lawn, or in a corridor between sessions, surrounded by people who, despite everything going on in the world outside, still believe that sitting down together is worth something. That is not a small thing right now. And for four days in Boao, I got to live inside that belief.

The world that arrived at BFA 2026 was not a comfortable one. Trade wars, geopolitical fractures, the slow erosion of the multilateral institutions that held the global order together for decades. BFA Secretary-General Zhang Jun acknowledged it plainly at the opening press conference: there is far more uncertainty than certainty in the world today, he said. He is not wrong. And yet what struck me, sitting across from him and across from many others over four days, was that this acknowledgment never curdled into resignation. The uncertainty was named, and then the conversation moved to what to do about it.

This year marked the forum's 25th anniversary, a silver jubilee for an institution that began as a small gathering on a quiet island and has grown into what Zhao Leji, chairman of the National People's Congress Standing Committee, described as a prestigious platform for promoting exchanges and mutual learning, solidarity and coordination, and common development among countries in Asia and the wider world. 25 years is long enough to have seen the world change dramatically, and Boao has changed with it. But the instinct that founded it, that Asia's future is best shaped through dialogue rather than confrontation, felt as alive in 2026 as it must have in 2001.

Zhang's confidence was not merely ceremonial either. Asia's share of global GDP on a purchasing power parity basis is projected to reach nearly 50 percent in 2026. The region remains the world's leading destination for foreign direct investment. The Asian Century, as more than one speaker observed across the week, is not a prediction anymore. It is a present tense.

What I kept hearing, from economists and former heads of government and business leaders alike, was a version of the same argument: the rules-based order is fraying, but the answer is to repair it, not replace it with something cruder. Former Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni said it in terms I found hard to argue with: abandon the WTO, the multilateral frameworks, the agreed principles of trade, and you are not left with something better. You are left with the rule of force. Former World Bank Chief Economist and dean of the Institute of New Structural Economics at Peking University Justin Yifu Lin made a similar point from an economic angle, arguing that China's growth model, oriented around its five development concepts, offers a path that other countries can learn from rather than simply compete against. Zheng Yongnian, dean of the School of Public of Policy of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, put it most ambitiously, describing China's approach to development as one that seeks to extend the ladder of progress to others rather than pull it up behind itself.

That framing, of China as a contributor to a shared future rather than simply a rival for a finite one, came up repeatedly and from voices that had no particular obligation to say it. It is the kind of thing that lands differently when it comes from a former New Zealand Prime Minister or a Canadian business council chief than when it appears in a policy document.

On Hainan itself, there was a particular kind of energy. The province held a dedicated press conference marking 100 days since the Hainan Free Trade Port (FTP) launched island-wide special customs operations on Dec. 18, 2025, and the setting alone said something: outside on the grass, sea breeze and all, 46 media organizations in attendance. Open air, open island, open for business. The numbers told their own story, with foreign trade surging and thousands of new enterprises registering in those first months alone, but what struck me standing there on the lawn with the cameras rolling was something harder to quantify. Hainan, more than anywhere else I have spent time in China, feels like a place that is mid-transformation, where the policy and the physical reality are catching up to each other in real time. 100 days in, the FTP is no longer just a framework on paper. You can feel it.

With China hosting APEC this year and the leaders' summit set for Shenzhen in November, there was a sense throughout the week that 2026 is a year that will matter. Not because of any single event, but because of accumulation. The 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030) setting a new domestic direction. APEC providing a stage for regional confidence. Boao itself, as it does every spring, offering a space to take the temperature of a world in motion and find, perhaps surprisingly, that the fever has not broken into despair.

I left Boao thinking about something George Yeo, the former Singaporean foreign minister, said: when leaders stand together and engage constructively, the world watches, and that image carries its own message. There is something in that observation that goes beyond diplomatic optics. It is a reminder that the act of showing up, of sitting across the table, of taking the conversation seriously even when the problems feel intractable, is itself a form of argument. An argument that cooperation is still possible. That the future is still open.

The forum is over. The hard work continues. But four days in Boao left me with something I did not entirely expect: a quiet, stubborn hope. Right now, that feels like enough.

Scene from the "Boao Forum for Asia 25th Anniversary  Review and Prospect" session at the Boao Forum for Asia 2026 Annual Conference in Boao, south China's Hainan Province. (Photo provided by the Boao Forum for Asia)

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Wu Chengliang)
So far, eight Indian flagged vessels have sailed out safely. These include two LPG carriers, BW TYR and BW ELM, carrying a combined LPG cargo of about 94,000 tonnes, which safely transited the war-hit zone in the last couple of days.

IMAGE: Cargo ships in the Gulf, near the Strait of Hormuz. Photograph: Reuters

Key Points Ten foreign-flagged vessels and several Indian-flagged vessels carrying LPG, crude oil, and LNG are among those affected, causing potential disruptions to India's energy supply.

Indian authorities are prioritising the safe passage of Indian-flagged vessels through the Strait of Hormuz, with eight vessels having already successfully navigated the war-hit zone.

The conflict has significantly impacted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a critical route for oil and gas exports from Gulf countries, prompting close monitoring of the situation by Indian authorities to ensure the safety of seafarers and vessel movements.

Despite the challenges, all Indian seafarers in the region are reported safe, and the situation has remained stable in the past 72 hours, with efforts underway to manage the impact on India's energy imports.

As many as 19 ships with LPG, crude oil and LNG meant for India are currently stranded in the Strait of Hormuz due to the escalating war in West Asia.

At an inter-ministerial briefing on the fallout of developments in West Asia, Rajesh Kumar Sinha, special secretary in the ministry of ports, shipping, and waterways, said 10 foreign-flagged vessels with energy cargo for India are currently stranded.

These include 3 vessels with LPG, four crude oil tankers and three liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers.

Besides these, there are Indian-flagged vessels. These include three LPG tankers, one LNG carrier and four crude oil tankers. One empty tanker is being filled with LPG.

The vessels were among the 500-odd ships that were struck in the narrow strait amid the widening West Asia conflict.

So far, eight Indian flagged vessels have sailed out safely. These include two LPG carriers, BW TYR and BW ELM, carrying a combined LPG cargo of about 94,000 tonnes, which safely transited the war-hit zone in the last couple of days, he said.

While BW TYR is proceeding towards Mumbai with an expected arrival on March 31, BW ELM is en route to New Mangalore with an estimated arrival date of April 1, he said.

The US and Israel attacks on Iran and Tehran's sweeping retaliation have all but halted shipping through the strait - the narrow shipping lane that is a conduit for oil and gas exports from Gulf countries to the world. Iran, however, last week said "non-hostile vessels" may transit the waterway after coordinating with Iranian authorities.

India's Response to Shipping Disruptions

"Our first priority is to get Indian flagged vessels out," Sinha said. "We are yet to reach the stage where we start sending back vessels (for refills)."

He was asked whether India is considering sending vessels that have already discharged cargo at domestic ports back to Gulf countries to lift additional supplies.

He said his ministry has been closely monitoring the evolving situation in West Asia, particularly with regard to the safety of Indian seafarers, vessel movements and port operations.

"All Indian seafarers in the region are safe, and no incident involving Indian-flagged vessels has been reported in the past 24 hours. The situation has remained stable over the last 72 hours as well," he said.

Past Vessel Transits and Current Status

Previously, four Indian-flagged LPG tankers had safely sailed through the strait. Pine Gas and Jag Vasant, carrying 92,612 tonnes of LPG, reached Indian ports between March 26 and March 28. Prior to that, MT Shivalik and MT Nanda Devi, carrying about 92,712 tonnes of LPG, had reached Mundra port in Gujarat on March 16 and Kandla port, respectively, on March 17.

Besides, the Indian-flagged oil tanker Jag Laadki, with 80,886 tonnes of crude oil from the UAE, reached Mundra on March 18. Another tanker, Jag Prakash, carrying gasoline from Oman to Africa, had previously safely crossed the strait and is en route to Tanzania.

There are 18 Indian-flagged vessels on the west side of the strait, with 485 seafarers, he said.

Two other vessels are stranded on the east side.

Among the vessels on the west side are LPG carriers Jag Vikram, Green Asha and Green Sanvi. One empty vessel is being filled with LPG.

Other Indian flagged vessels in the zone include one liquefied natural gas (LNG) tanker, four crude oil tankers, one transporting chemical products, three container ships, and two bulk carriers. Additionally, one vessel is a dredger, and three were in dry dock undergoing routine maintenance.

Originally, there were 28 Indian-flagged vessels in the Strait of Hormuz when the war in West Asia broke out. Of these, 24 were on the West side of the Strait and four on the East side. In the last few days, six vessels from the west side and two from the east have managed to sail to safety.
The Allahabad High Court intervened in a domestic violence case, ordering a magistrate court to reconsider a wife's plea for her husband's income details, underscoring the importance of financial transparency in such legal proceedings.

Key Points Allahabad High Court quashes magistrate court's order rejecting wife's plea for husband's income details in a domestic violence case.

The court emphasises the importance of income disclosure in domestic violence and maintenance cases.

The magistrate is ordered to reconsider the wife's plea within six weeks, potentially compelling the husband to disclose income and property details.

The High Court cited the Supreme Court's Rajnesh vs Neha case, affirming the husband's obligation to provide income and asset documents.

The husband, an architect, had misrepresented himself as a labourer in the magistrate's court, highlighting the need for accurate income disclosure.

The Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court on Monday quashed an order of a magistrate court which rejected a woman's plea seeking production of income proof and property details of her husband in connection with a domestic violence case.

The court ordered the magistrate to reconsider the wife's plea afresh within six weeks.

The court said disclosure of income is important in cases related to maintenance and domestic violence, and the magistrate can force the husband to give details of his income and property by issuing an order in this regard.

A bench of Justice Brij Raj Singh passed the order on a petition filed under Section 528 of the BNSS on behalf of the wife and the couple's minor son.

An application was filed by the woman before the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, First, Lucknow, under the Domestic Violence Act, accusing her husband and in-laws of dowry harassment, assault, and financial torture.

The plaintiff demanded that, under section 91 of the BNSS, the husband be ordered to submit his income tax returns and other financial documents.

In an order dated January 19, the magistrate rejected her plea, following which she approached the high court.

High Court Intervention and Income Disclosure

During the hearing, the high court bench summoned the husband's income tax returns from the Income Tax Department for the past two years.

According to the records, the husband, an architect, has an annual income between Rs 4.85 lakh and Rs 5.07 lakh.

He, however, had described himself as a labourer in the magistrate's court.

The high court cited the Supreme Court's 2021 verdict in the Rajnesh vs Neha case to say that the husband can be required to provide documents to disclose his income and assets.

The bench also ordered the husband to provide his wife with a copy of his income tax return.
Explore the latest data on Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) case registration and pendency, revealing trends in military legal disputes and the tribunal's workload from 2021 to 2026.

Key Points From 2021 to January 2026, the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) registered 44,622 cases, with approximately 24% (11,097 cases) remaining pending.

Case registration numbers at the AFT fluctuated annually, peaking in 2023 and 2024 with 9,856 and 9,837 cases respectively.

Several regional benches of the AFT, including those in Jabalpur, Guwahati, and Srinagar (Jammu), have vacant positions for members.

The Armed Forces Tribunal Act of 2007 empowers the AFT to adjudicate disputes related to service conditions and appeals arising from court-martial decisions within the armed forces.

A total of 44,622 cases were registered with the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) from 2021 to January 2026, with 11,097 -- about 24 per cent -- cases pending, the government informed Parliament on Monday.

Minister of State for Defence Sanjay Seth was asked in a query in Rajya Sabha about the total number of cases registered and pending in the AFT during the last five years, and year-wise data on the number of cases disposed during this period.

In his written response, Seth shared data for the cases registered, pending and disposed.

According to the year-wise data shared by him, the number of cases registered in 2021 stood at 7,609 with a pendency of 3,431, while the corresponding figures for 2022 was 8,014 and 2,087.

In 2023, a total of 9,856 cases were registered with the AFT and pending cases had dropped to 534.

In 2024, the number of cases registered and pending stood at 9,837 and 1,844, respectively, according to the data shared. Similarly, in 2025, the number of cases registered and pending stood at 7,921 and 2,795, respectively.

For year 2026 as of January, the number of cases registered stood at 1,385 with a pendency of 406.

The total number of cases registered over this period stood at 44,622, with 11,097 cases pending, the data showed.

About the Armed Forces Tribunal

The Armed Forces Tribunal was inaugurated in August 2009.

The Armed Forces Tribunal Act 2007, passed by the Parliament, led to the formation of AFT with the power provided for the adjudication or trial of disputes and complaints with respect to commission, appointments, enrolments and conditions of service in respect of persons subject to the Army Act, 1950, the Navy Act, 1957 and the Air Force Act, 1950, according to its website.

It can further provide for appeals arising out of orders, findings or sentences of court-martial held under the said Acts and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto, it said.

AFT Bench Vacancies

The defence ministry was also asked the number of benches of the AFT, sanctioned positions and vacant positions.

According to the data shared, several regional benches -- including at Jabalpur, Guwahati and Srinagar (Jammu) -- are functioning with two vacant positions each, against the sanctioned position of two each, while other benches at Chandigarh, Lucknow, Kochi, Chennai, and Kolkata have a vacant position each.

The Principal Bench in Delhi does not have any vacant positions, the ministry said.
A family in Bengaluru, India, attempted suicide due to crippling debt from a failed chit fund business, resulting in the deaths of a mother and daughter and leaving two others injured.

Key Points A mother and daughter in Bengaluru died in a suspected suicide pact due to overwhelming debt.

The family recorded a video explaining their decision to end their lives due to heavy financial losses from a chit fund business.

Mohan, the son, ran a large-scale chit fund and faced difficulty repaying debts, leading to the tragic suicide attempt.

Police are investigating the incident to determine the exact circumstances and the extent of the financial losses.

Two women were found dead with their throats slit, while two others of the family escaped with injuries on the outskirts of the city, in an alleged attempt to die in the face of mounting debt, police said on Monday.

The incident occurred in Mallenahalli village under Attibele police station limits of Bengaluru Rural district on Sunday, they said.

Police said Asha (55) and her daughter Varshita (32) were found dead at home with their throats slit. Asha's son Mohan (27) and 10-year-old grandson Mayank Gowda survived with injuries and are undergoing treatment at a hospital.

Knives were found at the spot, indicating that the injuries may have been inflicted by Mohan before he attempted to die by suicide, they said.

Mayank is Varshita's son. After her husband passed away, she had been living at her mother's house, they added. The matter was reported to the police by hospital authorities.

Details of the Financial Crisis

According to police, Mohan had been primarily involved in running a chit fund on a large scale for the past four to five years. The siblings lived in houses next to each other. Before attempting suicide, they also recorded a video claiming they were ending their lives due to heavy financial losses.

"The preliminary inquiry revealed that Mohan had suffered heavy losses and was finding it difficult to repay. The four of them recorded a video stating that they were under heavy debt, and could not continue living. After recording the video, they locked the door and attempted suicide," Superintendent of Police (Bengaluru Rural) Chandrakanth MV told PTI Videos.

The police said that when they inspected the spot, Asha and her daughter were found dead. Injured Mohan and Mayank were immediately taken to the hospital by their uncle.

"They are currently undergoing treatment at Narayana Hospital," he said.

"We will investigate all aspects to determine the exact cause behind the incident," Chandrakanth said.

Chit Fund Operations and Investigation

Police said Mohan was running different chit fund schemes valued up to Rs 1 crore. The types of festival chits he was running include mutton chits, firecracker chits and Ugadi festival chits, among others.

"It appears that excessive spending and getting trapped in debt may have led to this situation. When people who had given money started demanding repayment, he may have taken this step," the officer said.

The exact manner in which the death occurred can only be confirmed after the post-mortem examination, the officer said. "Asha was diagnosed with a brain tumour as well, and was in a wheelchair. Her throat had been deeply slit. From this, it appears that Mohan may have done it," he added.
Donald Trump claims the US military decimated Iran's Navy and Air Force, hinting at regime change while Iran accuses the US and Israel of planning a ground invasion.

IMAGE: US President Donald Trump waves as he boards Air Force One at Palm Beach International Airport in West Palm Beach, Florida, March 29, 2026. Photograph: Elizabeth Frantz/Reuters

Key Points Donald Trump claims the US military has destroyed key targets in Iran, including the Navy and Air Force.

Trump hinted at regime change in Iran, stating a new group of people are acting reasonably.

Trump claims Iran agreed to most of a 15-point peace plan and sent boatloads of oil as a sign of respect.

Iran accuses the US and Israel of planning a ground invasion under the guise of diplomacy.

Iran's Parliament Speaker warns Tehran will not yield to pressure from the US and Israel.

Former United States President Donald Trump said it's a "big day" for Iran, stating that the US military has destroyed many key targets in the country.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump said that the US military had destroyed many sought-after targets in Iran.

He said, "Big day in Iran. Many long-sought-after targets have been taken out and destroyed by our GREAT MILITARY, the finest and most lethal in the World. God bless you all! President DJT."

Earlier in the day, when being gaggled with the press on Air Force One en route to Joint Base Andrews, Trump said that Iran's entire Navy and Air Force have been knocked out, and most of their missiles are gone.

Trump also hinted at regime change in Iran, saying the current leadership is "very reasonable" and a "new group of people".

He said, "I just have lots of alternatives. We have a tremendous number of ships over there. We don't need them all because of, you know, the power. If you had said that in three days we were going to knock out 158 ships, their entire Navy, which we did, we knocked out their entire Air Force, we knocked out most of their missiles. That's why you see missile attacks, but they're down to just sputtering. And we have a group, it's really a new regime. It's the new group of people, people that we've never dealt with before, that are acting very reasonably. It is truly regime change."

When he was asked if Iran's dead leader Khamenei's son was alive and a part of the ongoing conversation.

"We think he may be. Nobody's heard about him and he's... he may be alive, but he's obviously very seriously in trouble. Really, he's seriously wounded," Trump replied.

On being asked about the 15-point peace plan sent by the US to Iran, Trump said, "Yeah, they came back on the 15-point plan. They gave us most of the points. Why wouldn't they?"

Trump mentioned that Iran has agreed to most of the 15-point peace plan sent by the US and has even sent 20 boatloads of oil as a "sign of respect".

"Well, they're agreeing with us on the plan. I mean, we asked for 15 things, and for the most part, we're going to be asking for a couple of other things. And just to prove that they're serious, they gave us all these boats. When I talked about four days ago, a present, I said they gave me a present, but I didn't think I was at liberty to say what it was. What it was was 8 plus 2; it's 10 massive boatloads of oil. And today they gave us another present, they gave us 20 boatloads of oil. That starts being shipped tomorrow. We're having very good meetings, both directly and indirectly, and we're getting a lot of very important points," Trump further said in the gaggle.

Iran's Response to US Claims

Earlier, Iran's Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf on Sunday accused the United States and Israel of planning a "ground invasion" under the guise of diplomacy, warning that Tehran will not yield to pressure, according to Iranian state media Press TV.

As quoted by Press TV, he said, "The enemy talks of negotiations but plans a ground invasion. The US seeks in a 15-point list what it couldn't win in war. Our forces are ready, and we will never be humiliated."
Congress leader K Muraleedharan asserts the BJP's diminishing relevance in Kerala's upcoming Assembly elections, citing unfulfilled promises and questioning their impact on the state's development.

Photograph: ANI photo

Key Points Congress leader K Muraleedharan claims the BJP has become irrelevant in Kerala due to unfulfilled promises, questioning the impact of their previous electoral success.

Muraleedharan accuses the CPI(M) of hypocrisy regarding SDPI support, alleging double standards in accepting or rejecting their backing based on political convenience.

Muraleedharan denies allegations of paying campaign workers, accusing the LDF candidate of spreading false information and lodging complaints with authorities.

LDF candidate V K Prasanth counters Muraleedharan's claims, suggesting Congress is struggling with its campaign and shifting blame, while asserting the LDF's strength.

Congress leader K Muraleedharan, contesting from Vattiyoorkavu for April 9 Assembly polls, said the BJP has become "irrelevant" in Kerala, alleging that the party has failed to fulfil its promises in the state.

Responding to reporters on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Palakkad for an election rally, Muraleedharan said people in Kerala do not take the BJP at face value.

"The BJP claims that what is unchanged here will change. An MP from the party was elected and even inducted into the Union Cabinet. Has a Metro rail come to Thrissur? Why has the long-pending demand for an AIIMS not been granted," he asked.

He said that during his tenure as MP, he had twice raised the demand for an AIIMS in Parliament, and the Centre had replied that the proposal was under the consideration of the Finance Department.

Muraleedharan also alleged that the BJP had promised that if it won the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation, the Prime Minister would visit the city and announce a special package.

"He visited, but no package was announced. So, the BJP's previous victory has not yielded any benefit for Kerala," he said.

He further claimed that, barring a few constituencies, the electoral contest in Kerala remains primarily between the UDF and the LDF.

"Therefore, the BJP has no relevance in this election. I don't think people here will take the Prime Minister's statements at face value," he added.

Allegations of CPI(M)-SDPI Understanding

On allegations of a CPI(M)-SDPI understanding, Muraleedharan said that when the SDPI had extended support to the UDF in the previous Lok Sabha elections, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had strongly criticised it.

"Now, CPI(M) leader E P Jayarajan says the party will accept votes from all organisations. Recently, the SDPI said it had supported V Sivankutty in Nemom earlier and would do so again," he claimed.

He accused the CPI(M) of adopting double standards, saying that when the SDPI supported the UDF, it was termed "communal", but when backing the LDF, it was seen as "secular".

"This will not work in Kerala," he said.

Campaign Finance Dispute

Muraleedharan also denied allegations that people are being hired for his campaign at Rs 500 per day, calling it a "fake narrative" by the CPI(M).

He alleged that LDF candidate V K Prasanth was behind the claims and said he had lodged complaints with the Election Commission and the police.

Responding to allegations made by Muraleedharan, sitting MLA Prasanth said the Congress' struggle in conducting its election campaign were evident from such statements.

"It is true that the Congress is finding it hard to mobilise people for its campaign. But they are shifting the blame onto the LDF candidate. It is also true that people from outside the constituency are engaged in their campaign work," he said.

Prasanth said Muraleedharan, despite being an experienced politician, has been making repeated allegations against him.

"In fact, in Vattiyoorkavu, the BJP is in the second position. UDF workers are nowhere to be seen," he claimed.

He added that the LDF does not need to resort to personal attacks against any candidate.

He also denied the CPI(M)-BJP deal, saying that such an allegation was never raised when he won the bypoll in 2019 and the 2021 assembly election.
A 16-year-old boy in Varanasi, India, tragically died after a brutal beating allegedly stemming from accusations of mobile phone theft, prompting a police investigation and arrests.

Key Points A 16-year-old boy in Varanasi died after allegedly being beaten over suspicion of stealing a mobile phone.

The victim was allegedly taken to an underpass and assaulted with sticks by a group of people.

Police have registered a First Information Report (FIR) against several individuals, including Ramesh alias Bablu Patel, who has been arrested.

Authorities are actively searching for the remaining suspects involved in the alleged beating and death.

A 16-year-old boy was allegedly beaten to death with sticks over suspicion of mobile theft here, police said on Monday.

According to police, on Saturday night, when Sonu Ali (16) was at his house, six people entered and accused him of stealing a mobile phone.

The victim's mother, in her complaint, alleged that the accused, Ramesh alias Bablu Patel, forcibly took her son to an underpass near a petrol pump in Panditpur and assaulted him with sticks, leaving him critically injured.

The accused later took him to the Bhadwar police outpost and continued to level theft allegations.

Police later took Ali to a hospital, where doctors declared him dead.

Based on his mother's complaint, an FIR was registered against Ramesh alias Bablu Patel, Ravi Patel, Rohit, Govind, Gaurav Pal, Azad Ali and an unidentified person, Rohania Station House Officer (SHO) Raju Singh said.

Ramesh has been arrested in the matter, while efforts are on to arrest the remaining accused, the officer said. He added that a detailed probe is on in the matter.
Two BSF personnel sustained injuries after being allegedly attacked by locals in Jammu and Kashmir's Samba district, prompting a police investigation and increased security measures.

Photograph: ANI Photo

Key Points Two BSF personnel, an inspector and a sub-inspector, were injured in an alleged attack by locals in Samba district, Jammu and Kashmir.

The incident occurred in Gujjar Basti Dwarkapuri in the Supwal area during an investigation.

The injured BSF personnel were shifted to a nearby medical facility for treatment.

Police have initiated an investigation to determine the cause of the attack and identify the perpetrators.

Security has been increased in the area as authorities search for those involved in the assault on the BSF officers.

Two BSF personnel were injured after they were allegedly attacked by some locals in a village in Samba district of Jammu and Kashmir in the early hours of Monday, officials said.

The incident occurred around 1.30 am when the two, an inspector and a sub-inspector of the Border Security Force (BSF), had gone for some investigation to Gujjar Basti Dwarkapuri in the Supwal area, the officials said.

A group of locals assaulted the two personnel, leaving them injured. They have been shifted to a nearby medical facility for treatment, they said.

The reason behind the attack was not immediately known.

Investigation and Security Measures

According to the officials, police have taken cognisance of the incident and initiated an investigation to ascertain the circumstances leading to the attack.

Security has been tightened in the area and efforts are underway to identify and apprehend those involved, the officials said.
A road rage incident in Bengaluru has left a car driver assaulted and traumatised after being chased and attacked by autorickshaw drivers following a minor traffic disagreement, raising concerns about road safety and aggression.

Photograph: ANI Photo

Key Points A car driver in Bengaluru was allegedly assaulted by two autorickshaw drivers following a minor traffic incident on Sarjapur Road.

The victim claims the autorickshaw drivers chased his car, damaged it, and physically assaulted him inside a tech park.

Police have registered a non-cognisable report and are investigating the incident, but the victim is currently out of state.

The autorickshaw driver alleges the car damaged his vehicle and failed to stop to resolve the issue, leading to the confrontation.

The victim has expressed his intent to leave Bengaluru permanently due to the road rage incident.

In a suspected case of road rage, a car driver was allegedly chased and assaulted by two autorickshaw drivers following a minor road incident on Sarjapur Road here, police said on Monday.

The incident occurred on March 25 around 8.20 pm when Shriraj Bhardwaj, a native of Ajmer in Rajasthan, and his colleague were driving on Sarjapur Road and allegedly encountered an autorickshaw coming from the wrong side of the road, they said.

The victim later lodged an online complaint regarding the incident on March 26.

A senior police officer said that in this connection, a Non-Cognisable Report (NCR) has already been registered at the Bellandur Police Station and further investigation into the matter is underway.

Registration of NCR means the complaint has been noted in the station diary, but a formal FIR and investigation will require further legal steps or magistrate approval, police said.

Following the incident, Bhardwaj took to 'X', recalling the episode and claiming that it began with a negligible touch between the vehicles that caused no damage.

"What followed was not an argument, it was a chase. The auto driver started aggressively chasing us, trying to block our car multiple times in moving traffic, hitting the vehicle, and attempting to open the doors. We chose not to engage and instead tried to reach a safe place," he alleged.

According to him, the situation escalated when another autorickshaw joined the chase. Together, they allegedly blocked their path near Sarjapur Bridge, and one of them picked up a concrete stone and smashed the windshield of his car while they were still inside.

"We somehow managed to reach RGA Tech Park, thinking a gated office space would mean safety. It didn't. Both drivers followed us inside. Before I could even step out of the car, I was physically assaulted, repeatedly hit in the face, leaving me injured," he alleged.

"Only after things calmed down did the main accused flee. When the police arrived, the second driver apologised in front of them," Bhardwaj further alleged.

He said that following the incident, he has made up his mind to leave Bengaluru and never return.

Bellandur police said they have registered a non-cognisable report and traced the autorickshaw driver.

"The complainant is yet to record his statement for further action. We have been trying to contact him but he informed us that he is out of state. Further inquiry into the matter is underway," the officer said.

The auto driver, however, has alleged that his vehicle was damaged and that he was asking them to stop the car to resolve the issue, but they did not stop, which led to the incident.
In Assam, Congress candidate Sunil Kumar Chetry was injured in an attack during his campaign, sparking accusations against the BJP amidst heated election rivalry.

IMAGE: Congress candidate Sunil Kumar Chetry was allegedly attacked during his election campaign. Photograph: Kind courtesy X / INCAssam

Key Points Congress candidate Sunil Kumar Chetry was injured during a campaign attack in Assam's Naduar constituency.

The attack occurred at the Napalm Bypass, with unidentified individuals involved in a scuffle.

Assam Pradesh Congress president Gaurav Gogoi accused BJP supporters of carrying out the attack.

Chetry is contesting against BJP leader Padma Hazarika in the Naduar Assembly constituency.

Congress candidate from Assam's Naduar Assembly constituency, Sunil Kumar Chetry, was injured in an attack while campaigning on Monday, party sources said.

The candidate's convoy was attacked by unidentified people at the Napalm Bypass of the constituency, followed by a scuffle.

Chetry fell to the ground and was seen groaning before he was rushed to a private hospital for treatment.

Assam Pradesh Congress president Gaurav Gogoi accused the supporters of the BJP of carrying out the attack and demanded their arrest.

Chetry is pitted against BJP leader Padma Hazarika.
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Ford has spent the better part of a decade stepping away from affordable compact cars like the Fiesta, Focus, and Fusion in favor of larger, higher-margin SUVs. With fuel prices fluctuating and new car costs climbing steadily, there is renewed interest in something simpler, smaller, and more attainable. With Ford planning to introduce a sub-$40,000 four-door car to the US market, the idea of an affordable Ford sedan returning makes perfect sense.

A Global Platform Ford Can Actually Use

When Ford phased out its compact cars, it did so because SUVs and pickups were delivering far stronger returns. That decision paid off, with Ford currently ranking as the third best-selling automaker in the US. Still, the company never completely walked away from sedans on a global level. The Ford Mondeo remains in production in China and has just been updated. It rides on the C2 platform already shared with models like the Bronco Sport and Maverick, which means the groundwork is largely done. Bringing a version of that car to North America wouldn't require starting from scratch, making it far more realistic than many might expect.

Sedans Still Sell, Even If SUVs Steal The Spotlight

Theres no denying that SUVs dominate the market, but that doesnt mean sedans are irrelevant. Brands like Toyota and Nissan continue to prove that point year after year. The Toyota Camry is Toyota's second best-selling model, sitting just behind the Toyota RAV4  America's best-selling car. Over at Nissan, the Nissan Sentra also secures second place, topped by, you guessed it, the Rogue in overall sales. Sedans may not be the dominant force they once were, but they still appeal to buyers looking for a more traditional driving experience

DETROIT, MICHIGAN - JULY 16: James Farley, CEO, Ford speaks onstage during the Reindustrialize Conference 2025 on July 16, 2025 in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo by Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images for Reindustrialize Conference)Getty Images (Getty Images)

Ford CEO Sees A Sedan In The Future

Jim Farley has already made it clear that sedans are not off the table. The challenge, as always, is profitability. But it might not be as difficult as you might expect. Using an existing global platform, like the Mondeo, combined with Ford's cost-effective electric powertrain, could allow Ford to re-enter the segment without pricing themselves out of the market. Seeing as Ford loves to rehash past cult models' nameplates, we wouldn't be surprised if it's called the Fusion or Taurus  the Crown Victoria name isn't out of the question, either. Fords SUV-heavy lineup isnt going anywhere, but adding the right sedan back into the mix could create a more balanced lineup.

This story was originally published by Autoblog on Mar 29, 2026, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Autoblog as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Amit Shah accuses the Congress party of neglecting Maoist-affected regions for decades, while praising the Modi government's efforts in nearly eradicating left-wing extremism from Bastar and fostering tribal development.

IMAGE: Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Lok Sabha during the budget session of Parliament, in New Delhi, March 30, 2026. Photograph: Sansad TV/ANI Video Grab

Key Points Amit Shah blames the Congress party for the prolonged Maoist violence, alleging they failed to address the issue during their 60-year rule.

Shah asserts that the Modi government has made significant progress in eradicating Maoist threat, particularly in the Bastar region of Chhattisgarh.

The Home Minister highlights the lack of development in tribal areas under previous Congress administrations, contrasting it with the Modi government's focus on tribal welfare.

Shah emphasises that the government will not tolerate violence and will take strong action against anyone involved in Naxal activities.

He credits the success against Maoists to the Central Armed Police Forces, Chhattisgarh Police, and the cooperation of tribal inhabitants.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday declared that the country has become free from Maoists with the apex body of the Maoists and the central structure almost completely dismantled, and accused the Congress of doing "nothing" to end the long spell of violence perpetrated by the ultras.

Replying to the debate in the Lok Sabha on 'Efforts to free the country from left-wing extremism (LWE)', Shah also alleged that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was seen multiple times in public with sympathisers of Maoists and even posted videos "sympathetic" to the Maoists from his social media handle.

Targeting the Congress, the home minister claimed that former prime minister Indira Gandhi had accepted the support of the Maoists in an election in the 1970s in then undivided Andhra Pradesh and remained "influenced" by the Maoist ideology.

"Experts say without the support of those in power, the Red Corridor could not have been created," he said, referring to the region affected by Maoist menace across Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha, Maharashtra, Kerala, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

The debate was held a day before the deadline declared by Shah for the elimination of Maoist violence.

Last year, Shah had announced that the LWE would end in the country by March 31, 2026, and a major operation had been organised against the Maoists.

Giving details of the success achieved by the security forces against the Maoists, the home minister said all members of the state committees of Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Chhattisgarh have surrendered and of the four remaining in Odisha, one has surrendered and three have been killed.

He said in Telangana, six have surrendered, three have been killed and now not a single one remains there.

"Their Politburo and central structure have been almost completely dismantled. Our goal was a Maoist-free India by March 31. The country will be informed once the entire process is formally completed, but I can say that we have become Maoist-free," he announced on the floor of the House.

"It is the policy of our government that talks are held only with those who lay down their arms and a bullet is answered with a bullet," he said.

The home minister said 12 states had turned into the Red Corridor with no rule of law, 12 crore people lived in poverty for years and 20,000 people, including 5,000 security personnel, were killed due to the Maoist violence.

"In the end, who is responsible for this. I want to ask, in 75 years, you ruled for 60 years, why have the tribals still been deprived of development? The development of tribals is now being done by Prime Minister Narendra Modi," he told the Opposition.

He alleged that for 60 years, the Congress "did not give the tribals houses, didn't give them water, didn't build schools, didn't extend bank facilities".

"So first look a little into your own reign and see who is at fault," he said in response to some opposition members blaming the Modi government for the violence.

Shah said the then prime minister Manmohan Singh had acknowledged that Maoist issue was a bigger challenge than the Kashmir and North-East problems before the nation, but the "Congress did nothing about it".

Be it in Maoist-affected areas, Jammu and Kashmir or the Northeast, the Modi government will not tolerate any kind of violence and will take strong action against anyone indulging in such acts, the Home Minister asserted in the Lok Sabha.

The home minister made it clear that the Modi government will not spare anyone who picks up arms.

"The biggest achievement of the Modi government is a Naxal-free India; any researcher will accept this," he said.

He said those advocating Naxalism should know that people who take up arms will have to pay a price.

The solution for addressing injustice is prescribed in the Constitution. Taking up arms is not the answer, he said.

Claiming that several frontal organisations of the Maoists participated in Rahul Gandhi's 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' (in 2022-23) and he has records on this, the Home Minister alleged that the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha has been seen multiple times with Maoist sympathisers in public platforms.

"When (Maoist leader) Hidma, who killed 172 soldiers, was eliminated, slogans were raised at India Gate... 'How many Hidmas will you kill, a Hidma will emerge from every home', and Rahul Gandhi himself tweeted this video," he said, adding the Congress supported the Naxals from 1970 up to March 2026.

"I just want to ask those people who were advocating for Naxalism here, why was it not resolved from 1970 until now," he said.

He said that the development in Bastar had stalled because the shadow of red terror loomed there. "Now this shadow is lifting and Bastar is developing," he said while lauding security forces and tribals for the success against the Maoists.

Shah also said that all credit for the success against the Maoists goes to the Central Armed Police Forces personnel, especially the brave soldiers of Cobra and CRPF, security agencies, Chhattisgarh Police, DRG personnel and tribal inhabitants.

He said after the Narendra Modi government came to power in 2014, "every poor person in the country got a house, got gas, got clean drinking water, got health insurance up to 5 lakh, got 5 kg of free grain per person per month but why were those living in Bastar left out".

"I am saying this because the truth is being denied. These people in Bastar were left out because the shadow of red terror loomed there, so development could not reach there.

"In the Modi government today, that shadow has been lifted, and therefore Bastar is developing today. This is the Narendra Modi government, which will settle the score with anyone who picks up arms," he said.

Amit Shah said he had said it many times to the Maoists that they should lay down arms and complete arrangements for their rehabilitation would be made.

"It is the policy of our government that talks are held only with those who lay down their arms and a bullet is answered with a bullet," he said.

Shah said many innocent villagers were labelled as 'enemy informers' by them and killed.

The Maoists set up a system called 'people's court', where they themselves would pass judgments and also give punishments, he said, adding, in this country, the rule of the Constitution prevails and justice can only be administered in the courts.

The home minister said the Maoists established a parallel government in Bastar, had their own 'home minister' and a separate 'food supply minister' to distribute the looted grain.

"Some people do not yield to discussions. Force has to be used against them. Innocent citizens have to be protected from their atrocities.

"They planted bombs in the farmers' fields, crippling them. Raids were conducted in schools and children were recruited as Maoists. Under the Modi government, the security of every citizen has been ensured. If someone understands this, that is fine. Otherwise, the forces are created for this very day," he said.
A Congress leader's brutal murder in Punjab has ignited a political firestorm, raising serious questions about the state's law and order under the current government.

IMAGE: Kindly note that this image has been posted for representational purposes only. Photograph: ANI Photo

Key Points Parminder Tiwari, a Congress block president, was hacked to death in Ludhiana, Punjab, raising concerns about political violence.

The attack was carried out by two unidentified assailants who are currently being sought by police.

Punjab Congress leaders are criticising the Bhagwant Mann government, alleging a deteriorating law and order situation in the state.

The murder has sparked outrage and condemnation from Congress party members and leaders.

A Congress leader was hacked to death with an axe by two unidentified assailants in Punjab's Ludhiana district, police said.

Parminder Tiwari, Machhiwara Congress block president, had put up rental quarters for the migrant workers.

The two unidentified assailants came on a motorcycle and attacked Tiwari while he was sitting on a chair on Sunday evening. He suffered severe head injuries and was rushed to the hospital, but succumbed, Station House Officer, Kum Kalan, Paramdeep Singh, told PTI over the phone.

"A case has been registered and an investigation has been launched. Efforts are on to nab the accused. The motive of the crime is under investigation," Singh said.

Political Reactions to the Murder

Punjab Congress president Amrinder Singh Raja Warring lashed out at the Bhagwant Mann government over the incident, alleging the state's law and order situation continues to deteriorate.

"Deeply shocked and saddened by the daylight murder of our Block President from Machiwara Sahib, Parminder Tiwari ji. He was a hardworking and integral part of the @INCPunjab family, and his loss is deeply felt. My heartfelt condolences to his family in this hour of grief," Warring said in a post on X.

"Punjab's law and order situation continues to deteriorate, yet the @AAPPunjab government remains asleep at the helm," he said.

Leader of Opposition in the Punjab Assembly Partap Singh Bajwa said, "The cold-blooded assassination of our Block President Parminder Tiwari ji in broad daylight at Machiwara Sahib is not just murder, it's a damning indictment of Punjab's descent into lawlessness".

"A dedicated Congress worker who gave his life to public service has been killed while @BhagwantMann's government sits in shameful silence. My deepest condolences to his family, who have lost not just a loved one," Bajwa said in a post on X.
The Allahabad High Court has declared that a daughter-in-law is not legally bound to provide maintenance for her parents-in-law under Indian law, clarifying the scope of financial obligations within families.

Key Points The Allahabad High Court ruled a daughter-in-law is not legally obligated to maintain her parents-in-law under Section 125 of the CrPC/Section 144 of the BNSS.

The court stated that the right to claim maintenance is statutory and limited to categories expressly mentioned in the law, excluding parents-in-law.

A moral obligation to maintain parents-in-law does not translate into a legal obligation without a statutory mandate.

The court dismissed a petition by an elderly couple seeking maintenance from their daughter-in-law, who is a constable with Uttar Pradesh Police.

The court clarified that inheritance matters are separate from summary maintenance proceedings.

The Allahabad High Court has ruled that a daughter-in-law is not legally obligated to maintain her parents-in-law under Section 125 of the CrPC, now Section 144 of the BNSS.

In a recent order, Justice Madan Pal Singh observed that the right to claim maintenance is a statutory right and is confined only to the categories of persons expressly mentioned in the section itself, and the parents-in-law do not fall within that ambit.

The court said that a moral obligation, however compelling it may appear, cannot be enforced as a legal obligation in the absence of a statutory mandate.

Dismissing a revision petition filed by an elderly couple against their daughter-in-law, the court said, "The legislature, in its wisdom, has not included parents-in-law within the ambit of the said provision. In other words, it is not the scheme of the legislature to fasten liability of maintenance upon a daughter-in-law towards her parents-in-law under the said provision."

The Case

The couple had moved the high court challenging an August 2025 order passed by a family court in Agra, which rejected their application seeking maintenance under Section 144 of the Bhartiya Nyaya Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS).

The couple submitted that they were old, illiterate, indigent and wholly dependent on their deceased son during his lifetime.

They contended that their daughter-in-law, a constable with Uttar Pradesh Police, had sufficient independent income besides receiving all service and retirement benefits of her deceased husband.

They also contended that the daughter-in-law's "moral obligation" to maintain her aged parents-in-law should be treated as a legal obligation.

The court, however, rejected this contention, noting that there was nothing on record to indicate that the daughter-in-law's police employment was secured on compassionate grounds.

The court also clarified that submissions regarding succession to the deceased son's property did not fall for consideration in such summary maintenance proceedings.
The Delhi Assembly's budget session concluded with significant legislative activity, but Speaker Vijender Gupta raised concerns about the opposition's disruptive conduct and negative approach during the proceedings.

Photograph: ANI Photo

Key Points The Delhi Assembly budget session concluded with over 15 hours of legislative business.

Speaker Vijender Gupta expressed concerns about the opposition's 'negative approach' and disruptions during the session.

All seven pending Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) reports were tabled and discussed in the house.

The Speaker highlighted the historical significance of March 30, noting Swami Shraddhanand's protest against the Rowlatt Act in 1919.

The budget session of the Delhi Assembly concluded with over 15 hours of legislative business, said Speaker Vijender Gupta on Monday, describing it as a "result-oriented engagement" during the proceedings.

"The second part of the fourth session of the eighth legislative assembly was held from March 23 to March 27, 2026, comprised four sittings conducted on 23rd, 24th, 25th and 27th March 2026 and concluded with a total working time of 15 hours and 16 minutes," Gupta said.

Key Legislative Outcomes

During the budget session, the Speaker said all seven pending Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) reports were tabled in the house.

"Multiple audit reports relating to state finance, revenue, economic, social, and general sectors, public sector undertakings, Delhi Jal Board and universities of the Delhi government were laid, taken up for discussion and referred to the appropriate committees," Gupta said.

The Speaker stated that 63 notices were received under Special Mention, of which 44 were raised in the house under Rule 280.

Concerns Over Opposition Conduct

Gupta also said that the conduct of Opposition observed during this session raises "serious concerns" for parliamentary functioning.

"It is a matter of concern that the opposition has displayed a completely negative approach during this session. It is indeed unfortunate that the opposition chose to abstain from the House proceedings in the name of protest, despite there being no substantive issue," Gupta said.

There was no immediate response from the AAP on the matter.

"Deliberate disruption of proceedings, preventing the House from functioning, disregarding its dignity, and subsequently attempting to create misleading narratives reflect a pattern of indiscipline that cannot be accepted," he added.

Speaker's Engagements

Meanwhile, Gupta met President Droupadi Murmu and Delhi Lt Governor Taranjit Singh Sandhu and presented them a coffee table book named 'Shatabdi Yatra-Vir Vithalbhai Patel.'

The Speaker also briefed the President on the historical significance of March 30, saying that on this day in 1919, Swami Shraddhanand led a non-violent protest against the oppressive Rowlatt Act at Delhi's Chandni Chowk, Gupta said.
A Delhi court acquitted a man of sexual harassment charges, highlighting the critical importance of consistent and credible testimony in sexual harassment cases and raising questions about the reliability of the complainant's account.

Photograph: Ishant/ANI Photo

Key Points A Delhi court acquitted a man accused of sexual harassment due to inconsistencies in the complainant's testimony.

The court found the complainant's different versions of events at various stages of the investigation lacked credibility.

The accused was acquitted of charges under Sections 354, 506, and 509 of the Indian Penal Code.

The complainant's initial statement conflicted with her later testimony before the magistrate, raising doubts about the identity of the accused.

The prosecution failed to establish its case beyond a reasonable doubt due to the lack of credible witness testimony.

A Delhi court has acquitted a man charged with sexual harassing and criminally intimidating his neighbour, holding that the complainant's testimony suffered from multiple inconsistencies.

In her recent ruling, Judicial Magistrate Anamika also ruled that the testimony failed to inspire confidence.

"The complainant has given different versions of the allegations at different stages of the investigation and trial. The testimony of the complainant therefore lacks credibility and cannot be considered sufficient to prove the guilt of the accused beyond reasonable doubt," the court said in its March 20 judgment.

The accused was acquitted of all charges under Sections 354 (assault or usage of criminal force with the intent to outrage a woman's modesty), 506 (criminal intimidation), and 509 (acts intended to insult the modesty of a woman) of the erstwhile Indian Penal Code (IPC).

"It is clear there are multiple inconsistencies in the deposition of the complainant witness. There is no other public witness to the alleged incident, the identity of the accused himself is shrouded with doubt as the complainant herself named different people in her separate statements as the perpetrators of the offense," the court said.

According to the prosecution, the complainant was subjected to escalating instances of sexual harassment, including lecherous songs and sexually explicit comments, by the accused and his associates since she moved into her new apartment in July 2021. Things came to a head in September that year when her scooty was vandalised. She also alleged that she was groped.

Advocate Prashant Diwan appeared for the accused.

Inconsistencies in Testimony

The complainant initially stated in her complaint that she was groped by a Baljeet on the stairway, but in her statement before the magistrate, she stated she did not know the names of her neighbours involved in the harassment. She also put forward a completely different version of the incident before the magistrate.

The complainant was confronted about the contradictions in her deposition before the court and recorded statements during the investigation.

"There are multiple contradictions, discrepancies, and improvements between the statements given by the complainant at the stage of investigation and trial," the judge said.

She also alleged in her cross-examination that she went to the police three days after the PCR call, but a police witness deposed that she filed her complaint on the same day as the PCR call.

The judge held that the prosecution failed to establish its case beyond reasonable doubt due to the lack of credibility of their star witness testimony, acquitting the accused of all charges.
A woman in Delhi was injured after bravely resisting a daylight gold chain snatching attempt, highlighting concerns about rising crime and public safety in the CR Park area.

Photograph: Amit Sharma/ANI Photo

Key Points A woman was injured in CR Park, Delhi, after resisting a gold chain snatching attempt.

CCTV footage shows two men on a motorcycle trailing and attacking the woman in broad daylight.

The victim resisted the snatching, leading to a violent assault with a knife.

Police have registered a case, seized the motorcycle, and are investigating the incident using CCTV footage.

Locals express concern over the brazen nature of the crime and the lack of intervention from bystanders.

A woman sustained minor injuries after two men attempted to snatch her gold chain in south Delhi's CR Park. CCTV camera footage shows the attackers trailing and assaulting the victim in broad daylight, police said on Monday.

According to a police statement, the incident took place around 4 pm on Sunday near the Bangiya Samaj, a community organisation located close to Market No. 1 in Chittaranjan Park.

"Two unidentified men riding a motorcycle attempted to snatch a gold chain from a woman. When she resisted, one of the accused attacked her with a knife, causing minor injuries," the statement said.

The victim managed to reach a nearby hospital on her own, from where she was discharged after treatment. She then approached the police and lodged a complaint.

Based on her complaint, a case has been registered at the CR Park police station. Police are scanning CCTV camera footage from the area to identify the accused, the statement said.

The motorcycle used in the crime has been seized, police said, adding that multiple teams have been formed to arrest the accused.

CCTV Footage Reveals Attack

Meanwhile, a CCTV clip has surfaced showing the sequence of events leading to the attack.

In the clip, the woman can be seen walking on the street, with a man on foot and another on a motorcycle following her.

Moments later, the man walking attempts to snatch her gold chain. The woman raises an alarm, leading to a scuffle with the accused.

The clip shows several bystanders watching the incident, but none of them steps forward to intervene.

The accused then pulls out a knife and attacks the woman in a bid to overpower her. After the assault, he hops onto the bike as the two escape from the spot.

The woman can be seen calling for help as her attackers fled.

Victim's Account and Community Concerns

The victim's husband, a business planner who did not wish to be named, told PTI that his wife was walking towards the Bangiya Samaj, where their 11-year-old daughter was performing in a play.

"It was the final day of a three-day event, and our daughter had just gone on stage to perform. I took her to the hall, and my wife was coming right after us. The incident took place just as she was about to enter the Bangiya Samaj," he said.

He added that his wife, who was wearing a gold chain with a diamond pendant, resisted the snatching bid by holding on to the attacker's shirt, but he punched and stabbed her to get away.

"She was bleeding from her hand and face, and needed about four to five stitches on her right arm. She was also bleeding from the nose," he claimed.

Adding that none of the onlookers tried to help, he said, "She called for assistance, but people were just standing therea Nobody came forward to help her. It was terrifying to think what could have happened had I not been there."

Locals have expressed concern over the nature of the crime, saying such incidents in broad daylight point to a growing sense of insecurity in the area.

"It was not merely a snatching attempt but a violent assault, where the accused took time to attack and injure the woman before fleeing," a resident pointed out.
A woman in Delhi was violently attacked during a brazen daylight chain-snatching attempt in CR Park, highlighting growing security concerns in the area.

Photograph: Amit Sharma/ANI Photo

Key Points A woman in Delhi's CR Park was attacked and injured during a daylight chain-snatching attempt.

CCTV footage captured the incident, showing two men trailing and assaulting the victim.

The attackers used a knife, causing minor injuries to the woman when she resisted.

Police have registered a case, seized the motorcycle used in the crime, and are investigating the incident.

Locals have expressed concern over the brazen nature of the crime and the growing sense of insecurity.

A woman sustained minor injuries after two men attempted to snatch her gold chain in south Delhi's CR Park, with CCTV camera footage showing the attackers trailing and assaulting the victim in broad daylight, police said on Monday.

According to a police statement, the incident took place around 4 pm on Sunday near the Bangiya Samaj, a socio-cultural community organisation located close to Market No. 1 in CR Park.

"Two unidentified men riding a motorcycle attempted to snatch a gold chain from a woman. When she resisted, one of the accused attacked her with a knife, causing minor injuries," the statement said.

The victim managed to reach a nearby hospital on her own, from where she was discharged after treatment. She then approached the police and lodged a complaint.

"Based on her complaint, a case has been registered at the CR Park police station. Police are scanning CCTV camera footage from the area to identify the accused," the statement said.

The motorcycle used in the crime has been seized, police said, adding that multiple teams have been formed to arrest the accused.

CCTV Footage Reveals Attack Details

Meanwhile, a CCTV clip has surfaced showing the sequence of events leading to the attack.

In the clip, the woman can be seen walking on the street, with a man on foot and another on a motorcycle following her.

Moments later, the man walking attempts to snatch her gold chain. The woman raises an alarm, leading to a scuffle with the accused.

The clip shows several bystanders watching the incident, but none of them steps forward to intervene.

The accused then pulls out a knife and attacks the woman in a bid to overpower her. After the assault, he hops onto the bike as the two escape from the spot.

The woman can be seen calling for help as her attackers fled.

Community Concerns Following Violent Incident

Locals have expressed concern over the nature of the crime, saying such incidents in broad daylight point to a growing sense of insecurity in the area.

It was not merely a snatching attempt but a violent assault, where the accused took time to attack and injure the woman before fleeing, a resident pointed out.

Police said efforts are underway to identify and arrest the accused duo.
In a significant crackdown on drug trafficking, police in Budgam, Jammu and Kashmir, arrested a drug peddler and seized approximately 10 kg of narcotics, highlighting ongoing efforts to combat drug-related crime in the region.

Photograph: ANI Photo

Key Points A drug peddler was arrested in Budgam, Jammu and Kashmir, following a police raid.

Approximately 10 kg of narcotics, suspected to be charas, were seized during the operation.

The arrested individual has been identified as Mohammad Hashim Raina from Hasipora Chadoora.

A case has been registered against the accused under relevant sections of law at Chadoora police station.

Police in Chadoora received inputs that an individual, identified as Mohammad Hashim Raina from Hasipora Chadoora, was involved in drug peddling and had stored contraband substances in Kaisarmullah village, a police spokesperson said.

A police team accompanied by an executive magistrate conducted a raid at the location and seized 9.90 kg of charas-like substance, the spokesperson said.

The accused was arrested on the spot, and a case under relevant sections of law was registered against him at Chadoora police station, the police said.
The Enforcement Directorate has seized assets exceeding 270 crore from Rajendra Lodha, former director at Lodha Developers, as part of an ongoing money laundering investigation, highlighting the crackdown on financial irregularities in the real estate sector.

Photograph: Rediff.com

Key Points The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached assets worth over 270 crore linked to Rajendra Lodha, former director of Lodha Developers, in a money laundering investigation.

The attached assets include land parcels in Panvel and Shahapur, Maharashtra.

Rajendra Lodha was arrested in February and is currently in judicial custody.

The ED's case stems from a Mumbai police FIR against Lodha for cheating, abuse of official position, and unauthorised sale of assets.

Lodha is accused of diverting and siphoning funds from Lodha Developers through fraudulent activities.

The Enforcement Directorate on Monday said it has attached land parcels and other immovable assets worth more than Rs 270 crore as part of its money laundering investigation against Rajendra Lodha, former director of the Maharashtra-based realty company Lodha Developers.

A provisional order was issued on March 26 under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) to attach these assets. The value of these properties is Rs 271.48 crore, the ED said in a statement.

The assets include land parcels located in Panvel and Shahapur talukas of Maharashtra, it added.

Lodha was arrested by the ED in February and he is currently lodged in jail under judicial custody.

The ED's money laundering case stems from a Mumbai police FIR filed against Lodha on charges of cheating, abuse of official position, unauthorised sale of assets and creation of false documents causing wrongful loss to Lodha Developers Ltd.

The agency said Rajendra Narpatmal Lodha or Rajendra Lodha was involved in "diverting" and "siphoning" funds and assets of Lodha Developers.

He did this through "unauthorised" sale and transfer of company-owned immovable properties at "undervalued" prices to proxy entities and individuals connected to him, without the approval of the Board of Directors, it alleged.

"He was also involved in fabricating Memorandums of Understanding for land purchase at inflated prices, subsequently siphoning the inflated portion as cash through the sellers and thereby misappropriating company funds," it said.

Lodha, along with his related persons, associates and entities, accumulated assets through fraudulent activities causing wrongful loss to the realty firm, the agency said.
An ex-serviceman's murder in Rajasthan's Jhunjhunu district has ignited protests and road blockades, demanding justice and compensation for the victim's family after a fatal stabbing.

Key Points Udayveer Singh, an ex-serviceman, was allegedly stabbed to death by Akram in Jhunjhunu district, Rajasthan, after a verbal altercation.

The incident occurred near Singh's cattle feed shop in the Chirawa police station area, leading to his death in a government hospital.

Following the murder, villagers protested by blocking the Delhi-Bikaner National Highway, demanding the arrest of the accused and compensation for the victim's family.

Akram has been arrested, and additional police forces were deployed to maintain law and order in the affected area.

An ex-serviceman was stabbed to death allegedly by a man from his village in Rajasthan's Jhunjhunu district, police said on Monday.

The deceased was identified as Udayveer Singh (50), who ran a cattle feed shop in the village.

The incident took place in the Chirawa police station area on Sunday night when Akram and Singh got into a verbal spat near his shop. In a fit of rage, Akram stabbed Udayveer and fled, Additional SP Jhunjhunu Devendra Singh Rajawat said.

Locals rushed Singh to a private hospital in Chirawa town, from where he was referred to a government hospital, where doctors declared him dead.

Rajawat said that Akram was arrested on Monday.

Protests Erupt After Murder

Meanwhile, villagers staged a protest and blocked the Delhi-Bikaner National Highway (NH-11) near Lakhu village. They demanded the arrest of the accused and compensation for the victim's family.

An additional police force was deployed in the area to maintain law and order.

The additional SP said that the dharna has been called off.
Hyundai is keeping the i30 alive a little longer, at least until its fully electric successor is ready to take over. The refreshed Hyundai i30 for the 2026 model year is preparing for its European rollout with a simplified engine lineup and a more streamlined range of trim levels. The update is deliberately subtle, signaling continuity rather than reinvention.

The decision underlines Hyundais commitment to the C segment, still one of the most important categories in Europe. While many rivals are accelerating their transition to fully electric lineups, Hyundai is taking a more gradual approach. Hyundai has not officially confirmed a direct i30 successor yet, but an upcoming compact EV often referred to as the IONIQ 3 is expected to target a similar part of the market, while the i30 hatchback and i30 Estate remain on sale for now.

Design Updates Focus On Color And Trim

Photo Courtesy: Hyundai.

Visually, the 2026 i30 does not reinvent itself. Instead, Hyundai has focused on fine-tuning the offering through details. The updated model introduces a revised color palette with ten exterior shades in total. Among them is the new Sailing Blue finish, available exclusively with the Trend trim, and Jupiter Orange, reserved for the sport-oriented N Line and N Line X versions."

Why: Hyundai Motor Deutschland names the two exclusive colors Sailing Blue and Jupiter Orange for the German market announcement.

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The i30 continues to be offered as a five-door hatchback and as the i30 Estate wagon. Buyers looking for a sportier appearance can still choose between two N Line trims, which emphasize visual aggression without stepping into full performance-model territory.

Strong Standard Equipment Across The Range

Photo Courtesy: Hyundai.

Even the entry-level Trend trim comes generously equipped by segment standards. Hyundai includes a wide array of safety and comfort features as standard, such as front, side, and curtain airbags; ABS and ESC; hill start assist; a multi-collision braking system; and an electronic parking brake.

Driver assistance is also comprehensive. The i30 features a camera-based driver attention monitoring system, lane keeping and lane following assistance, and adaptive safety systems designed to support everyday driving. Full LED headlights, rain and light sensors, an auto-dimming rearview mirror, tire pressure monitoring, front and rear parking sensors, and a reversing camera are all standard.

Inside, buyers get heated front seats, dual-zone automatic climate control, a wireless phone charger, USB ports for both front and rear passengers, and a fully digital cockpit. A 10.3-inch digital instrument cluster is paired with a 10.3-inch infotainment display with built-in navigation, wired Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, and eCall emergency connectivity.

N Line And N Line X Add A Sportier Edge

The N Line trim adds more dynamic interior and exterior details, including aluminum pedals, a drive mode selector, a sportier steering wheel with paddle shifters for automatic versions, and a smart key system with push-button start.

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At the top of the range, N Line X brings a more complete, sport-oriented package. This includes 18-inch alloy wheels, a fabric and leather upholstery combination, and a driver seat with a memory function, plus additional safety equipment such as a knee airbag, with other driver assistance content depending on market and options.

Simplified Engines And German Market Pricing

Photo Courtesy: Autorepublika.

In Germany, Hyundai Motor Deutschland announced the 2026 model year lineup and pricing on February 2, 2026, and the i30 is offered with two gasoline engines. The entry-level option is a 1.0-liter turbocharged three-cylinder producing 115 horsepower, paired exclusively with a six-speed manual transmission. Above it sits a 1.6 liter turbocharged four-cylinder with 150 horsepower, available only with a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic.

In Germany, list prices start at 28,650 (about $31,000) for the i30 five-door with the 1.0 T GDI in Trend trim. With the 1.6 T GDI and the seven-speed dual-clutch automatic, list prices start at 33,150 (about $36,000) in Trend trim, then 34,650 (about $38,000) for N Line and 36,650 (about $40,000) for N Line X. The i30 Estate is 1,000 more at each step, starting at 29,650 (about $32,000) with the 1.0 T GDI and reaching 37,650 (about $41,000) for an N Line X with the 1.6 T GDI.

A Transitional Model Before Full Electrification

This simplified lineup makes the i30 range easier to understand and manage, but it also signals that the model is entering a transitional phase. Hyundai clearly sees the i30 as a bridge toward a fully electric future rather than a long-term pillar.

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Rollout to other European markets is expected within weeks, ensuring uninterrupted availability. What remains market dependent is engine choice, as some regions still receive lower-output naturally aspirated options. For now, though, the refreshed i30 continues to play a steady supporting role as Hyundai prepares for the next chapter.

This article originally appeared on Autorepublika.com and has been republished with permission by Guessing Headlights. AI-assisted translation was used, followed by human editing and review.
A shocking murder in Faridabad reveals a family dispute over land compensation, allegedly leading a son and daughter-in-law to kill the 65-year-old victim.

Photograph: ANI Photo

Key Points A 65-year-old woman was allegedly murdered in Faridabad by her son and daughter-in-law.

The motive behind the murder is believed to be a dispute over land compensation money.

The daughter-in-law has confessed to the crime, admitting to beating and strangling the victim.

Police are currently searching for the son, who is also implicated in the murder.

The victim's younger daughter-in-law alerted the police after suspecting foul play due to the land dispute.

A 65-year-old woman was murdered here allegedly by her own son and daughter-in-law over land compensation, police said on Monday.

After the investigation, the police registered a murder case at Sadar Ballabgarh police station, arresting the accused daughter-in-law, Poonam, who confessed to beating and strangling his mother-in-law to grab the compensation money, they said.

The deceased woman's son, Lalit, also assisted his wife in the crime, which occurred between 1 and 3 pm on March 16 in the Machhgar village in Faridabad's Sector 67, police said, adding that police are conducting raids to nab the absconding son.

According to the police, the deceased woman, Omwati, had two sons, and both are married. She had been living in the house for some time with her elder son Lalit and daughter-in-law Poonam.

Her younger son Amit and his wife Mamta live in a rented house in Ballabhgarh's Bhikam Colony, police said.

It was around 4 pm on March 16 when Mamta received a phone call informing her that her mother-in-law had died. She immediately informed the police, claiming that her mother-in-law had told her a few days earlier that Lalit and Poonam might kill her to grab the compensation money, they added.

A police team, along with a forensic team, reached the scene and collected evidence. The deceased's bangles were broken and embedded in the hands. There were injury marks on her neck and face, they said.

The body was handed over to the family after the postmortem, police said.

Confession and Motive

Crime Branch in-charge Ramesh Khatri said that the police took Poonam into custody. During interrogation, she confessed to the crime and revealed that her mother-in-law wanted to give the land compensation and the Sector 67 house to her younger daughter-in-law, Mamta and son Amit," the investigating officer said.

On March 16, after Poonam and Omwati had an argument over this matter, enraged, Lalit and Poonam assaulted her and then strangled her to death, he added.

"We are conducting raids to nab Lalit, and he will be arrested soon," the officer said.
In a shocking incident in Faridabad, a woman was allegedly murdered by her own son and daughter-in-law over a dispute regarding valuable land compensation money, highlighting the tragic consequences of greed and family conflict.

Photograph: ANI Photo

Key Points A 65-year-old woman was allegedly murdered in Faridabad by her son and daughter-in-law.

The motive behind the murder is believed to be a dispute over land compensation money.

The daughter-in-law has confessed to strangling the victim, while the son is currently absconding.

The victim's younger daughter-in-law alerted the police after suspecting foul play due to previous threats.

Police are conducting raids to apprehend the son and bring him to justice.

A 65-year-old woman was murdered allegedly by her own son and daughter-in-law, reportedly to grab the land compensation amount in Sector 67 area here, police said on Monday.

After the investigation, the police registered a murder case at Sadar Ballabgarh police station, arresting the accused daughter-in-law, Poonam, who confessed to beating and strangling his mother-in-law to grab the compensation money, they said.

The deceased woman's son, Lalit, also assisted his wife in the crime, which occurred between 1 and 3 pm on March 16 in the Machhgar village in Faridabad's Sector 67, police said, adding that police are conducting raids to nab the absconding son.

According to the police, the deceased woman, Omwati, had two sons, and both are married. She had been living in the house for some time with her elder son Lalit and daughter-in-law Poonam.

Her younger son Amit and his wife Mamta live in a rented house in Ballabhgarh's Bhikam Colony, police said.

It was around 4 pm on March 16 when Mamta received a phone call informing her that her mother-in-law had died. She immediately informed the police, claiming that her mother-in-law had told her a few days earlier that Lalit and Poonam might kill her to grab the compensation money, they added.

A police team, along with a forensic team, reached the scene and collected evidence. The deceased's bangles were broken and embedded in the hands. There were injury marks on her neck and face, they said.

The body was handed over to the family after the postmortem, police said.

Investigation and Confession

Crime Branch in-charge Ramesh Khatri said that the police took Poonam into custody. During interrogation, she confessed to the crime and revealed that her mother-in-law wanted to give the land compensation and the Sector 67 house to her younger daughter-in-law, Mamta and son Amit," the investigating officer said.

On March 16, after Poonam and Omwati had an argument over this matter, enraged, Lalit and Poonam assaulted her and then strangled her to death, he added.

"We are conducting raids to nab Lalit, and he will be arrested soon," the officer said.
A man in Gurugram has been arrested for illegally building a slum on government land and extorting money from vulnerable residents, highlighting issues of land encroachment and exploitation.

Key Points A man was arrested in Gurugram for illegally constructing a slum of 150 huts on government land in Sector 53.

The accused was collecting between Rs 2,500 and Rs 3,000 from each hut in the illegal slum.

Haryana Shahari Vikas Pradhikaran (HSVP) filed a complaint leading to the arrest of the accused, Naresh Yadav.

Slum dwellers were threatened by Yadav when they objected to paying him after learning the land was government-owned.

Gurugram Police on Monday arrested a person for illegally setting up a slum with at least 150 huts on government land in Sector 53 and housing it with dwellers to collect money from them, officials said.

An official of Haryana Shahari Vikas Pradhikaran (HSVP) filed a complaint with the police on Monday, stating that a slum has been built on government land behind Judge Enclave in Sector 53, and the shanty residents there are paying a man named Naresh Yadav (35) for housing and opening shops in the slums.

The complainant added that when the slum dwellers learned that the land was government-owned, they raised an objection with Yadav, who, in turn, threatened them and continued to extort money from them.

Based on the HSVP official's complaint, a case was registered under relevant sections at Sector 53 Police Station, and a Crime Branch team arrested Yadav, a resident of Wazirabad village.

Investigation Details

Preliminary investigation revealed that the accused had built approximately 150-200 huts on HSVP land, and he was illegally collecting Rs 2,500 to Rs 3,000 from each hut, said the Gurugram police spokesperson.
Haryana Congress MLAs are set to visit 'mandis' to address the challenges farmers face during wheat procurement, criticising new government regulations and promising support.

Key Points Haryana Congress MLAs will visit 'mandis' to understand and support farmers facing challenges in wheat and mustard procurement.

The Congress party plans to submit a complaint to the Election Commission regarding the cancellation of votes in the recent Rajya Sabha elections.

Bhupinder Singh Hooda criticises the BJP government's new wheat procurement rules, including biometric verification and guarantor requirements, as creating unnecessary hurdles for farmers.

Hooda highlights the lack of basic necessities in 'mandis' and the potential financial burden on farmers due to verification delays and traffic congestion.

Haryana Congress MLAs will visit 'mandis' across the state to understand the difficulties faced by farmers in wheat and mustard procurement, and to lend them support.

The decision was taken at a Congress Legislature Party (CLP) meeting held in Delhi under the chairmanship of former chief minister and the current Leader of the Opposition, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, according to a party statement.

Newly elected Rajya Sabha MP Karamvir Boudh was also present.

At the meeting, various issues concerning the state were discussed in detail.

It was also decided that the party would conduct district-level meetings in May.

The party has also resolved to submit a written complaint to the Election Commission against the returning officer of the recently concluded Rajya Sabha elections, "citing the wrongful cancellation of votes cast by Congress MLAs".

"The matter regarding the cancellation of votes will also be taken up in the high court here," it said.

The Haryana Congress had earlier alleged that Returning Officer Pankaj Aggarwal IAS acted in a partisan manner.

Aggarwal, while denying the allegations, had told PTI over the phone that he performed his task as per rules and instructions.

Polling for the two Rajya Sabha seats in Haryana was held on May 16, in which BJP's Sanjay Bhatia won one seat, while Congress candidate Karamvir Singh Boudh secured the other in a close contest against Independent candidate Satish Nandal.

After the polls, Congress named five of its MLAs who allegedly cross-voted and issued show-cause notices to them.

Besides, of the five votes declared invalid, four were reportedly cast by Congress legislators.

At the CLP meeting in Delhi, Haryana Congress president Rao Narender Singh said a disciplinary committee meeting on the cross-voting issue is scheduled on April 3.

Congress Criticises Wheat Procurement Rules

On farmers' issues, Hooda said at the meeting, "It has become the standard practice and policy of the BJP to devise new ways to harass farmers on every occasion. They have done so once again".

"This time, a new rule has been introduced for wheat procurement, which requires not only the biometric verification of farmers but also photographs of their tractor licence plates.

"Moreover, to verify a farmer's identity, as many as three guarantors are required now. It is as if the mandi was not a grain market, but a high-security zone or prison," Hooda remarked.

He alleged that instead of ensuring prompt and complete procurement of wheat, the government is constantly devising tactics to create hurdles in the procurement process.

"The rule mandating biometric verification and the issuance of gate passes right at the entry gate is practically impossible to implement. This is because farmers belong to a hardworking class, and as a result, the fingerprints of many farmers become worn down. Often, even at banks, their fingerprints fail to match or take a considerable amount of time to verify," he stated.

"Under these circumstances, if this same procedure is carried out at the mandi gates, it will lead to long queues of tractors, causing traffic congestion. Most farmers arrive at the mandi in rented tractors. If the procurement process is delayed due to traffic jams or verification delays, who will bear the cost of the tractor rental? Evidently, this financial burden will fall upon the farmers, causing further economic loss to those who are already steeped in debt," he added.

Hooda also drew the government's attention to the overall management of the mandis, pointing out that they lack even basic necessities such as gunny bags and tarpaulins.
Following the tragic rape and murder of a 12-year-old girl in Hazaribagh, Jharkhand, Union Minister Annpurna Devi is demanding immediate arrests and strict punishment for those responsible, sparking outrage and calls for justice.

IMAGE: Illustration: Dominic Xavier/Rediff

Key Points Union Minister Annpurna Devi condemns the rape and murder of a 12-year-old girl in Hazaribagh, Jharkhand, calling it a 'shame on humanity'.

Devi met with the victim's family, assuring them of efforts to secure justice and criticising the state government's lack of response.

A Special Investigation Team (SIT) has been formed to swiftly investigate the alleged rape and murder in Bishnugarh, Hazaribagh.

The SIT is tasked with submitting a report to the DGP within a week, including details of actions taken and awaiting forensic reports.

Union Women and Child Development Minister Annpurna Devi has termed the alleged rape and murder of a 12-year-old girl in Jharkhand's Hazaribagh district as "heartbreaking" and demanded the immediate arrest and strict punishment of those responsible.

Devi said she met the victim's family, offered her condolences and assured them that every possible effort would be made to secure justice.

"The brutality and murder of a 12-year-old innocent girl is extremely tragic, heartbreaking and a shame on humanity," Devi tweeted after meeting the victim's family on Sunday.

"The culprits should be arrested at the earliest and given strict punishment so that such inhuman incidents are not repeated in future," the minister said.

She also criticised the state government, saying, "The saddest part is that despite such a major incident, neither the chief minister nor any minister of the government has taken note of the victim's family."

Investigation into the Hazaribagh Incident

Jharkhand DGP Tadasha Mishra on Sunday said a three-member SIT has been constituted for a swift probe into the alleged rape and murder of a 12-year-old girl at Bishnugarh in Hazaribag.

The special investigation team (SIT) is headed by IPS probationer Shubham Bhausaheb and includes Bishnugarh Sub-Divisional Police Officer Baijnath Prasad and Bishnugarh police station officer-in-charge Sapan Mahatha, who is also the investigation officer in the case.

"In view of the gravity of the case, the SIT has been formed and directed to submit its report to me within a week. The SIT will look into all angles during its investigation. We are awaiting the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) Ranchi report and also the autopsy report of the case," the DGP said.

The SIT is mandated to submit a progress report, along with details regarding the actions taken thus far, to the DGP within a week.

Details of the Crime

According to police, the girl had gone with her mother to watch the 'Mangla' procession, a procession taken out as part of Ram Navami rituals, at her native village in Kusumba within Bishnugarh police station limits on the night of March 24.

Her family alleged in the FIR that she was abducted and her body was found on March 25 (Wednesday) at a field in her village.
Police in Palghar, Maharashtra, are investigating the unsettling discovery of a headless body found in a mango orchard and are seeking public assistance to identify the victim and solve the crime.

Key Points A headless body of a man in his 30s was discovered in a mango orchard in Palghar, Maharashtra.

The victim was found wearing a white floral shirt and brown shorts, with identifying marks including a black thread on his left ankle and wrist.

A tattoo with the name 'Ashok Singh' was found on the deceased's right hand, potentially aiding in identification.

Palghar police have issued a public appeal for information to help identify the body and solve the crime.

The headless body of a man was found stuffed in a plastic sack and dumped in a mango orchard in Maharashtra's Palghar district on Monday, with the police issuing a public appeal to ascertain his identity.

The body of a man in his early to mid-30s was found in an orchard in the Pelhar area around 9.35 am, senior inspector Pramod Badakh of Crime Unit-IV of the Mira Bhayandar Vasai Virar (MBVV) police said.

"The victim was wearing a white shirt with a flower pattern and brown shorts. The body also had a black thread tied around the left ankle and left wrist," the official stated.

A tattoo featuring the name 'Ashok Singh' was found on the deceased's right hand, he added.

Police Appeal for Information

The police have issued an appeal, urging the public to contact the Pelhar police station in Palghar district if they have information regarding anyone matching the deceased man's description.
Following a deadly attack on UN peacekeepers in Lebanon, India strongly condemns the violence and urges all parties to ensure the safety and security of UNIFIL personnel while calling for accountability.

Photograph: Mohamed Azakir/Reuters

Key Points India condemns attacks on UN peacekeepers in Lebanon, following a deadly incident involving an Indonesian peacekeeper.

India urges all parties to ensure the safety and security of UNIFIL peacekeepers and calls for de-escalation.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres strongly condemned the attack and called for accountability, emphasising the importance of peacekeeper safety.

India, a major contributor to UN peacekeeping, highlights its role in UNSC Resolution 2589, which seeks accountability for crimes against peacekeepers.

UNIFIL's force includes over 7,500 peacekeepers from 48 countries, with India being the fourth largest contributor.

India on Monday condemned recent attacks on UN peacekeepers deployed in Lebanon, urging all parties to ensure safety and security of the Blue Helmets.

An Indonesian peacekeeper was killed when a projectile exploded in a UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) position near Adchit Al Qusayr on March 29. The attack left another peacekeeper critically injured.

The Permanent Mission of India to the UN condemned the recent attack on UN Peacekeepers in UNIFIL.

"We condemn the recent attacks on UN Peacekeepers deployed in UNIFIL, and pay our homage to the fallen Blue Helmets. We urge all parties to ensure the safety and security of the Peacekeepers," the Indian mission said in a statement.

It added that UN Peacekeeping is multilateralism in action, implemented by UN Peacekeepers who are deployed with the backing of an international mandate in conflict areas and under difficult conditions.

"As one of the largest and longest serving contributors to UN Peacekeeping, and having lost the largest numbers to this cause, India piloted the UN Security Council Resolution 2589, which seeks Accountability for Crimes against Peacekeepers, which we will continue to pursue," said the Indian mission.

UNSC Resolution 2589, adopted in August 2021 under India's Presidency of the 15-nation Council, called on Member States hosting or having hosted United Nations peacekeeping operations to take all appropriate measures to bring to justice perpetrators of the killing of UN personnel and to promote accountability for violence against UN personnel serving in peacekeeping operations.

UN Secretary-General's Condemnation

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also strongly condemned the incident, which resulted in the death of the Indonesian peacekeeper, inside his position at Ett-Taibe, southern Lebanon, amidst hostilities between Israel and Hizbullah.

Guterres expressed his deepest condolences to the family, friends, and colleagues of the peacekeeper who died, as well as to Indonesia, and wished a full and fast recovery to the injured peacekeeper.

"This is one of a number of incidents that have jeopardised the safety and security of peacekeepers, including over the past 48 hours," a statement issued by the UN chief's spokesperson said.

Guterres called on all actors to uphold their obligations under international law and to ensure the safety and security of UN personnel and property at all times, emphasising that attacks on peacekeepers are grave violations of international humanitarian law and of Security Council resolutions and may amount to war crimes.

"There will need to be accountability," Guterres said, adding that the United Nations urges the parties to de-escalate immediately and fully adhere to their obligations under relevant Security Council resolutions.

The Secretary-General also extended his deepest appreciation to all the men and women serving with UNIFIL, recalling the importance of their safety and security and UNIFIL's freedom of movement.

UNIFIL Force Composition

As of February 2026, UNIFIL's force consists of 7,538 peacekeepers from 48 troop-contributing countries, including 642 personnel from India, the fourth highest after Italy (784), Indonesia (756) and Spain (660).
An Indian worker tragically died in an attack on a Kuwait power and water desalination plant, prompting emergency response and security measures by Kuwaiti authorities.

IMAGE: Smoke and fire rise in the direction of the fuel tank at Kuwait International Airport, following a drone strike amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, in Al-Dajeej, Kuwait, March 25, 2026. Photograph: Screen grab/Reuters

Key Points An Indian worker was killed in an attack on a power and water desalination plant in Kuwait.

The attack caused significant material damage to the Kuwait power plant facility.

Kuwaiti authorities are coordinating to secure the affected site and maintain operational efficiency of essential services.

An Indian national has been killed in Kuwait in Iranian strikes on a power and water desalination plant, the country's state-run KUNA news agency reported on Monday.

Kuwait's Ministry of Electricity, Water and Renewable Energy said a service building at one of its power and water distillation plants was damaged during the attack, according to the report.

Officials described it as a "brutal attack". The plant where the attack occurred wasn't identified.

Ministry spokesperson Fatima Jawhar Hayat said the strike resulted in the death of a worker of Indian nationality, Gulf News reported.

Technical and emergency response teams were immediately deployed to the site to contain the situation and manage the aftermath in line with the ministry's approved emergency plan, she added.

Hayat said specialised teams are working to secure the damaged facilities while coordinating closely with security authorities and other relevant agencies.

The ministry said that operational efficiency across the electricity and water network in the country remains intact.

Recently, an Indian national was among two killed in the UAE when debris of missiles intercepted by the country's air defence system fell on a street.

Iran's retaliation after joint US and Israel strikes on Tehran has escalated the war to the entire Gulf region.
An Indian national tragically lost their life in Kuwait after Iranian strikes hit a power and water desalination plant, prompting the Indian Embassy to offer support amidst escalating regional tensions.

Photograph: Stringer/Reuters

Key Points An Indian national was killed in Kuwait due to Iranian strikes on a power and water desalination plant.

The Indian Embassy in Kuwait is providing support and assistance to the family of the deceased.

Kuwait's Ministry of Electricity, Water and Renewable Energy confirmed the damage to a service building at one of its plants.

The attack is part of a wider regional escalation following joint US and Israeli strikes on Tehran.

Operational efficiency of Kuwait's electricity and water network remains intact despite the attack.

An Indian national has been killed in Kuwait in Iranian strikes on a power and water desalination plant, the Indian Embassy said on Monday.

Expressing its "deepest condolences" at the tragic demise of the Indian national in the attack on Sunday, the embassy in a social media post said it was closely coordinating with the Kuwaiti authorities to render all possible support and assistance.

Kuwait's Ministry of Electricity, Water and Renewable Energy said a service building at one of its power and water distillation plants was damaged during the attack, according to the state-run KUNA news agency.

Officials described it as a "brutal attack". The plant where the attack occurred wasn't identified.

Ministry spokesperson Fatima Jawhar Hayat said the strike resulted in the death of a worker of Indian nationality, Gulf News reported.

Technical and emergency response teams were immediately deployed to the site to contain the situation and manage the aftermath in line with the ministry's approved emergency plan, she added.

Hayat said specialised teams are working to secure the damaged facilities while coordinating closely with security authorities and other relevant agencies.

The ministry said that operational efficiency across the electricity and water network in the country remains intact.

Recently, an Indian national was among two killed in the UAE when debris of missiles intercepted by the country's air defence system fell on a street.

Iran's retaliation after the joint US and Israel strikes on Tehran on February 28 has escalated the war to the entire Gulf region.
An Indian national tragically died in Kuwait after Iranian strikes hit a power and water desalination plant, highlighting the escalating dangers faced by Indian citizens amidst the ongoing conflict in West Asia.

Photograph: Stringer/Reuters

Key Points An Indian national was killed in Kuwait due to Iranian strikes on a power and water desalination plant.

This incident brings the total number of Indian fatalities in the ongoing West Asia conflict to eight.

The Indian Embassy in Kuwait is coordinating with Kuwaiti authorities to transport the deceased's remains.

India has increased diplomatic efforts to ensure the safety and security of the 10 million Indian nationals living in West Asia.

Kuwaiti officials have described the strikes on the power and water desalination plant as "brutal."

An Indian national has been killed in Kuwait in Iranian strikes on a power and water desalination plant, taking the total number of Indian fatalities from the ongoing conflict in West Asia to eight since it began a month back.

Kuwait's Ministry of Electricity, Water and Renewable Energy said a service building at the facility was damaged in Sunday's attack, Kuwait's state-run KUNA news agency reported.

It was the fifth Indian fatality on land since the Iran-US conflict erupted on February 28.

The embassy of India in Kuwait, confirming the death, expressed its "deepest condolences" at the "tragic demise" of the Indian national.

Ambassador Paramita Trpathi visited Kuwait's central mortuary on Monday where the mortal remains of the Indian national who lost his life last evening during the attack on a desalination facility, were brought, the embassy said on social media.

"The Embassy is in touch with the family of the deceased Indian national and is coordinating with Kuwaiti authorities for expeditious transportation of mortal remains," it said without sharing details of the deceased.

Kuwaiti officials described the strikes on the power and water desalination plant A as "brutal". However, they did not identify the plant.

Fatima Jawhar Hayat, a spokesperson at the Ministry of Electricity, Water and Renewable Energy, said the strike resulted in the death of a worker of Indian nationality.

Technical and emergency response teams were immediately deployed to the site to contain the situation and manage the aftermath in line with the ministry's laid down protocol, she added.

Hayat said specialised teams are working to secure the facility while coordinating closely with security authorities and other relevant agencies.

The ministry said that operational efficiency across the electricity and water network in the country remains intact.

Rising Casualties and Regional Impact

Last week, an Indian national was among two killed in the UAE when debris of missiles intercepted by the country's air defence system fell on a street.

On March 18, another Indian national was killed in an Iranian attack on Riyadh.

Two Indian nationals were killed and 10 others injured in a drone strike in Oman's Sohar city on March 13.

Three Indian sailors were killed in attacks on merchant vessels earlier.

In the last couple of weeks, India has ramped up its diplomatic efforts to ensure safety and security of 10 million Indian nationals living in West Asia.
There are lots of potential benefits that come with purchasing American-made vehicles, not the least of which being that buying cars made in the U.S. supports local employees and domestic parts suppliers. However, some people consider American-made models to be less reliable than vehicles made primarily in foreign countries  a fact that's supported by data gathered by the consumer advisory group Consumer Reports. In late 2025, Consumer Reports created a list of the 10 least reliable cars of 2026, and a number of vehicles made by U.S.-based manufacturers pop up on the list. However, the No. 2 slot went to the 2026 Kia EV6, and despite the fact that Kia is a South Korean brand, some of this vehicle's lower-than-average reliability may be attributed to American manufacturing.

In fact, such a large portion of the EV6's makeup is manufactured in the U.S. that it was ranked the 10th most American-made vehicle in a 2025 study by American University (via AutoBlog). As part of the Hyundai-Kia Automotive Group, Kia is one of the largest vehicle manufacturers in the world, so its production extends far beyond the assembly plants based in its home country. In fact, Kia even has an active U.S.-based manufacturing plant located in Georgia. So, it's not a particular surprise that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports that 80% of the Kia EV6's components are sourced from the United States and Canada. Among its many pieces, the EV6's battery packs may be some of the most notable American-sourced parts.

Read more: You've Been Warned: Consumer Reports Says These 9 Electric Vehicles Are The Least Reliable

Why Consumer Reports considers the EV6 so unreliable

Black Kia EV6 parked outdoors - jhxfilm/Shutterstock

Consumer Reports ranks the Kia EV6's predicted reliability near the bottom of its list of nearly a dozen other electric SUVs, only ranking it ahead of the Honda Prologue and Chevrolet Blazer EV. The nonprofit lists the EV6's powertrain as a significantly problematic area, and the vehicle's charging system has consistently ranked poorly across recent model years. Consumer Reports has also noted that electric models made by Kia and Hyundai have a reputation for unreliable charging, with up to 10% of people who drive one of these brands' EVs reporting problems like failure to achieve a full charge or a loss of power while driving. Past Kia EV6 models have even been recalled for problems with their charging units.

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The EV6 also ranks poorly for its electrical accessories. These may include issues with the cruise control, USB ports, tire pressure monitors, or keyless entry system. The EV6's climate system also has extremely low ratings in two of the three most recent model years. This reputation is something of a departure for the brand, as Consumer Reports has also ranked some of Kia's other models among the best cheap and reliable cars you can buy.

Component sourcing qualifies the Kia EV6 as American-made

Kia EV6 plugged into a charging station - Emirhan Karamuk/Getty Images

Whether an electric car can save you money in the long run is up for debate, but domestic manufacturers are embracing them either way. American University's list of American-made vehicles is heavily populated by Tesla models, so the Kia EV6 was a bit of an outlier. However, that's not the only roundup to list the EV6 as an American vehicle in recent years: In its 2025 American-Made Index, Cars.com ranked the EV6 No. 6 behind only four Tesla models and the gas-powered Jeep Gladiator.

Kia initially had the EV6 assembled in South Korea, but began producing most versions of the model from its Georgia plant in 2025. One of the primary reasons this model is so well-known for being made in the U.S. is the result of a recent change to Kia's supply line: For over a decade, Kia has sourced batteries from the Korean manufacturer SK On. SK On has since established several factories in Georgia, which means that a central component to the EV6's design is now being made in the same state as the car itself.

In recent years, Kia-Hyundai has also made several moves that could see even more Kia models earn the American-made designation. In 2023, SK On and Hyundai-Kia announced they were working together to set up another battery production facility in Georgia, and the car manufacturers have only increased the volume of their battery orders in the years since that announcement. These efforts aren't surprising, as Hyundai also makes a best-selling EV that's great for retirees.

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An Indian Navy officer in Visakhapatnam has been arrested for the gruesome murder and dismemberment of a woman he met on a dating app, highlighting the potential dangers of online relationships.

IMAGE: A Navy officer after he surrendered at a police station in connection with the murder of a woman, in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, March 30, 2026. Photograph: ANI Photo

Key Points The accused and victim met on a dating app in 2021, leading to a relationship and financial disputes.

Ravindra allegedly killed Mounika after an argument, dismembered her body, and attempted to dispose of the remains.

Police recovered body parts and burnt remains, and the accused confessed to the crime and has been remanded in custody.

Police caution the public about the dangers of online dating and forming relationships with unknown persons.

An Indian Navy staff allegedly murdered a 31-year-old woman, dismembered her body, and attempted to destroy the evidence in Gajuwaka area here, police said on Monday.

According to the police, the accused procured a knife online, dismembered the body of P Mounika, stored some parts in a refrigerator, the legs in a trolley bag, while the head and hands were placed in a separate bag inside the house. He burnt the head and hands at a vacant place near Adavivaram on Sunday.

The accused,Chintada Ravindra, working as a petty officer in the Indian Navy at INS Dega, had been in contact with Mounika since 2021 after meeting her through a dating application, the police said.

"A Navy staff (Ravindra) on Sunday killed Mounika at his residence following an altercation and later dismembered the body, disposed of the parts at different locations," said Vizag South Zone assistant commissioner of police Y Srinivas Rao addressing a press conference.

Later, the accused carried petrol in a plastic can to a deserted place near Darapalem and burnt the head and hands, while also cleaning blood stains inside the house with water, he said.

Unable to dispose of the remaining body parts, he left them at his residence and later voluntarily surrendered before the police, said the ACP.

The two developed a relationship over time and frequently met at various locations across Visakhapatnam, such as parks and theatres, police said.

According to the accused, the woman had allegedly taken Rs 3.5 lakh from him and threatened to reveal their relationship to his wife, leading to frequent disputes between them, the official said.

On the fateful day, the accused allegedly called her to his flat, where a heated argument broke out before he smothered her to death, the official added.

Investigation details and motive

Further investigation revealed that the accused had continued the relationship even after his marriage in 2024 and resumed contact when his wife went to her parental home for delivery, leading to escalating differences and a pre-planned intent to eliminate the Mounika.

He (Ravindra) then brutally cut the body into multiple parts including head, hands, legs and torso, using a knife, and packed them separately to avoid detection.

Meanwhile, police registered a case under sections 103(1) and 238(a) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) Act.

During interrogation, the accused confessed to the crime, following which police recovered the burnt remains from the identified location, said Rao.

An inquest was conducted and the body parts were sent to King George Hospital (KGH) for post-mortem, while Regional Forensic Science Laboratory (RFSL) and Clue Team personnel collected physical and technical evidence from the scene.

The ACP said the accused was produced before a court and remanded.

The police also cautioned the public about the dangers of forming relationships with unknown persons through online dating platforms, advising youth and parents to remain vigilant.
The Allahabad High Court has declared that interfaith live-in relationships are legal and constitutionally protected, offering refuge to couples facing familial opposition and societal prejudice.

Photograph: Pixabay.com

Key Points The Allahabad High Court affirms that interfaith live-in relationships are neither prohibited nor punishable under Indian law.

The court emphasises that individuals in interfaith relationships are entitled to the same fundamental rights as anyone else, without discrimination based on religion.

The ruling protects couples in live-in relationships from harassment and threats, particularly from family members disapproving of the interfaith nature of the relationship.

The High Court reiterated that interference in personal relationships infringes upon the right to freedom of choice for individuals in live-in relationships.

Police are directed to investigate complaints from couples in live-in relationships and act according to the law to ensure their safety and protection.

The Allahabad High Court has held that an interfaith live-in relationship is neither prohibited nor an offence under any law, while granting protection to a couple facing threats from the woman's family.

Allowing a petition filed by Kajal Prajapati and her Muslim partner from Sonbhadra, Justice Vivek Kumar Singh observed that merely being in an interfaith relationship does not deprive individuals of their fundamental rights guaranteed under the Constitution.

"No discrimination can be made on the basis of caste, creed, sex or religion," the court said.

The couple had approached the court seeking protection from the woman's family, claiming that their pleas to police had gone unheeded.

The state government's counsel informed the court that the petitioners are majors and no FIR has been registered against them for living together.

The court said the petitioners are at liberty to approach the police for redressal of their grievances in case any harm is caused to them. It further directed police to examine the matter and the age of the petitioners.

It directed that police must act in accordance with the law if they find any substance in the allegations of the petitioners.

Court's Observations on Live-In Relationships

"A live-in relation is neither prohibited nor punishable under any law. Therefore, considering Articles 14, 15 and 21 of the Constitution of India and the Act, 2021, it cannot be said that the live-in relationship of an interfaith couple is an offence," the court observed.

In its order dated March 18, the court reiterated that live-in relationships are neither illegal nor punishable.

"This court does not see the petitioners of different religions as Hindu and Muslim, rather as two grown-up individuals who, out of their own free will and choice, are living together peacefully and happily for a considerable time."

"Interference in a personal relationship would constitute a serious encroachment on the right to freedom of choice of the two individuals," it said.
Iran emphasised that Iran did not participate in a four-sided meeting in Islamabad on Saturday hosted by Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and attended by the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt.

IMAGE: A woman stands in her home, which was damaged by a strike, as the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran continues, in Tehran, Iran, March 29, 2026. Photograph: Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters

Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said that the country has held no "direct" talks with the United States as of now and added that it has received messages through some mediators regarding the US' desire for negotiations, according to a report by Press TV on Monday.

Key Points Iranian says that it is not clear how much, even inside the US, the country's claims about diplomacy and negotiations are seriously taken into account

The foreign ministry spokesperson emphasised that Iran did not participate in a four-sided meeting in Islamabad on Saturday hosted by Pakistan.

Trump has threatened to target Iran's civilian energy infrastructure, including power plants, oil wells and Kharg Island, if Tehran does not reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

As per Press TV, Baghaei said during a press conference, "It seems quite natural that when the US raises the issues of negotiations and diplomacy, sensitivities will be increased. It is not clear how much, even inside the US, the country's claims about diplomacy and negotiations are seriously taken into account. Reactions and reflections also show that the extent of global trust in the US claims in the field of diplomacy is very limited".

He slammed the US and said that Iran, while Washington's stance has been constantly changing, Tehran has had a clear stance on the negotiations.

The foreign ministry spokesperson emphasised that Iran did not participate in a four-sided meeting in Islamabad on Saturday hosted by Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and attended by the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt.

His remarks come after the Financial Times had reported that US President Donald Trump claimed that indirect negotiations between the United States and Iran, facilitated by Pakistani intermediaries, are making "positive progress".

Meanwhile, in a post on X, Iranian state media Press TV also denied the claims by Trump on talks with Iran.

The developments come as Trump has threatened to target Iran's civilian energy infrastructure, including power plants, oil wells and Kharg Island, if Tehran does not reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

In a social media post, Trump said, "Great progress has been made but, if for any reason a deal is not shortly reached, which it probably will be, and if the Hormuz Strait is not immediately 'Open for Business,' we will conclude our lovely 'stay' in Iran by blowing up and completely obliterating all of their Electric Generating Plants, Oil Wells and Kharg Island."

He noted that Washington is engaging in "serious discussions" with a "new, and more reasonable" leadership in Tehran to bring an end to US military operations, a conflict that has lasted more than a month amid escalating regional tensions.

Trump's remarks came against a backdrop of heightened global concern over the strategic Strait of Hormuz, a critical chokepoint for nearly one-fifth of world oil flows.

The president urged Iran to ensure that the waterway is "Open for Business," tying the resumption of maritime traffic directly to progress in talks aimed at ending hostilities.

Kharg Island serves as Iran's main oil export hub, handling the vast majority of the country's crude shipments, and even though US strikes earlier in the conflict have targeted military assets on the island, its energy infrastructure had largely been left intact until now.

As tensions escalate in the region, the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) on Monday claimed it targeted the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' (IRGC) key military university, Imam Hossein University, citing its role in advancing Iran's military capabilities.
The Jammu and Kashmir government is cracking down on private schools that are arbitrarily increasing fees, directing the JKBOSE to take firm action and protect students and parents from unjustified financial burdens.

Key Points The Jammu and Kashmir government has instructed the JKBOSE to take decisive action against private schools that are arbitrarily increasing fees.

Education Minister Sakeena Itoo has ordered constant monitoring and regular inspections of private schools, including those affiliated with CBSE, to ensure compliance.

Committees comprising education department and JKBOSE officials will be formed to conduct regular inspections and monitoring of private schools across Jammu and Kashmir.

The government emphasizes that schools must operate with responsibility and transparency, and any exploitation of students or parents through unauthorized fee structures will not be tolerated.

The government is strengthening coordination between district education authorities and regulatory bodies to ensure compliance with government guidelines and improve service delivery within the education system.

The government on Monday directed the Jammu and Kashmir Board of School Education (JKBOSE) to take firm action against private schools indulging in arbitrary fee hikes and found violating prescribed norms.

Education Minister Sakeena Itoo passed the directions while chairing a comprehensive review meeting at the Civil Secretariat here to assess the performance, administrative functioning and ongoing academic reforms of JKBOSE, an official spokesman said.

The minister evaluated the Board's preparedness for upcoming examinations, timely declaration of results, curriculum implementation and grievance redressal mechanisms.

Crackdown on Unjustified Fee Hikes

Expressing concern over complaints regarding arbitrary fee hikes by certain private educational institutions, Itoo issued clear directions for constant monitoring and regular inspections of private schools.

"Take firm action against private schools indulging in arbitrary fee hikes and found violating prescribed norms or imposing unjustified financial burdens on parents," she said.

The minister asked the authorities to form committees, comprising school education department and JKBOSE officials, for regular inspection and monitoring of private schools across Jammu and Kashmir, including CBSE-affiliated schools.

"Schools must function with responsibility and transparency. Any attempt to exploit students or parents through unauthorized fee structures will not be tolerated," she asserted, adding that strict enforcement of existing regulations is essential to protect public trust.

Strengthening Education System

The minister called for strengthening coordination between district education authorities and regulatory bodies to ensure compliance with government guidelines.

She also emphasized on establishing a robust feedback and grievance redressal mechanism to identify gaps and improve service delivery within the education system.

Itoo stressed the need for adopting technology-driven solutions to enhance operational transparency and improve coordination between schools and JKBOSE.
Ranchi police have successfully apprehended 10 members of a gang suspected of involvement in a series of loot and dacoity incidents across the city, recovering weapons and bringing a sense of security to the community.

Key Points Ranchi police arrested 10 individuals allegedly involved in multiple loot and dacoity cases across the city.

The arrests were made following a tip-off, leading to the apprehension of the suspects.

Police recovered a country-made revolver, cartridges, and knives from the possession of the arrested individuals.

The accused confessed to involvement in loot cases at petrol pumps and shops in various locations around Ranchi.

Three of the arrested individuals have prior criminal records, according to police reports.

Police have arrested 10 members of a gang, which was allegedly involved in multiple cases of loot across Jharkhand's Ranchi, officials said on Monday.

Over the past two weeks, six cases have been registered against them at five police stations, SP (City) Parans Rana said.

"We arrested them following a tip-off on Saturday. The accused were involved in multiple cases of loot and dacoity," Rana said.

Confessions and Recovered Items

Rural SP Praveen Puskar said the accused have confessed to their involvement in loot cases at petrol pumps and shops in several locations of Ranchi.

The police have recovered a country-made revolver, four cartridges and knives, among other items, from their possession.

Three of those arrested have criminal antecedents, police added.
The Jharkhand High Court has launched an investigation into the alleged rape and murder of a 12-year-old girl in Hazaribag, sparking protests and raising concerns about law and order in the state.

Photograph: Danish Siddiqui/Reuters

Key Points Jharkhand High Court initiates suo motu investigation into the alleged rape and murder of a 12-year-old girl in Hazaribag.

A Special Investigation Team (SIT) has been formed to conduct a swift probe and submit a progress report within a week.

The opposition BJP is protesting the incident with a 12-hour bandh in Hazaribag, citing concerns over law and order.

Jharkhand BJP women's wing stages demonstrations in Ranchi, demanding justice for the victim and highlighting concerns about women's safety.

The Jharkhand High Court on Monday took suo motu cognisance of the alleged rape and murder of a 12-year-old girl at Bishnugarh in Hazaribag.

The court also served a notice to the state administration and director general of police in this regard, an advocate said.

A division bench of Justice Sujit Narayan Prasad and Justice Sanjay Prasad took note of the incident based on media reports.

The girl had gone with her mother to watch the 'Mangla' procession, a rally taken out as part of Ram Navami rituals, at her native village in Kusumba within Bishnugarh police station limits on the night of March 24.

Her family alleged in the FIR that she was abducted, and her body was found on March 25 at a field in the village.

Jharkhand DGP Tadasha Mishra had on Sunday said a three-member SIT has been constituted for a swift probe into the case.

The SIT is mandated to submit a progress report, along with details regarding the action taken thus far, within a week.

Protests and Political Response

Meanwhile, opposition BJP is observing a 12-hour bandh in Hazaribag to protest against the incident.

There was no untoward incident reported from anywhere in the district till 2 pm, officials said.

Members of the Jharkhand BJP women's wing also staged a demonstration in Ranchi, seeking justice for the girl.

"Law and order has deteriorated in the state and women's safety is at stake," general secretary of the wing, Seema Singh, alleged.
The Jharkhand High Court has intervened in the Hazaribag rape and murder case, demanding answers from state officials and police regarding the investigation into the tragic death of a 12-year-old girl and the subsequent protests for justice.

Photograph: ANI Photo

Key Points Jharkhand High Court initiates suo motu investigation into the alleged rape and murder of a 12-year-old girl in Hazaribag, demanding responses from key state officials.

The court expresses concern over the lack of arrests five days after the FIR was lodged and directs the Hazaribagh SP to explain the delay.

A Special Investigation Team (SIT) has been formed to probe the case, with a mandate to submit a progress report within a week.

The opposition BJP staged a 12-hour bandh in Hazaribag to protest the incident, demanding swift action and justice for the victim.

The Jharkhand government has announced initial compensation for the victim's family and plans for rehabilitation and welfare schemes.

The Jharkhand High Court on Monday took suo motu cognisance of the alleged rape and murder of a 12-year-old girl in Hazaribag district.

The court also served notices to the state home secretary, director, general of police and Hazaribagh superintendent of police to respond in the matter.

The court of Justice Sujit Narayan Prasad and Justice Anubha Rawat Choudhary took cognisance of a newspaper report of March 29 about the rape and brutal murder of the victim.

Advocate Hemant Kumar Shikarwar took up the matter in court and informed the bench that no arrest has been made by the police as yet. He said that the mother of the victim, who is a daily wager in a brick kiln, is being threatened to tamper with evidence in the case.

The high court, considering the sensitivity of the issue, particularly the commission of rape on a female child and causing injury to her body parts, particularly her private parts and her tongue, took serious note of the matter.

The court directed the Hazaribagh SP to appear online, upon which SP Anjani Anjan appeared through virtual mode.

Anjan informed that no arrest has been made and an investigation is being conducted.

The court directed the SP to specifically explain why, even after five days of lodging of the FIR, the culprit has not been arrested.

According to police, the girl had gone with her mother to watch the 'Mangla' procession, a rally taken out as part of Ram Navami rituals, at her native village under Bishnugarh police station limits on the night of March 24.

Her family alleged in the FIR that she was abducted, and her body was found on March 25 at a field in the village.

Jharkhand DGP Tadasha Mishra had on Sunday said a three-member SIT has been constituted for a swift probe into the case.

The SIT is mandated to submit a progress report, along with details regarding the action taken thus far, within a week.

Protests and Political Reactions

Meanwhile, the opposition BJP staged a 12-hour bandh in Hazaribag to protest against the incident.

There was no untoward incident reported from anywhere in the district, officials said.

The bandh evoked a mixed response. Shops and other retail outlets remained closed in the district, largely due to the weekly closure of wholesalers, while public transport services operated normally as educational institutions and commercial establishments, including banks, remained open.

Hazaribag MP Manish Jaiswal said the bandh was successful, as traders voluntarily shut their shops for the cause.

BJP state president Aditya Sahu said it would press for a Jharkhand bandh on April 3, if the administration failed to nab the culprits in the next two days.

Members of the Jharkhand BJP women's wing also staged a demonstration in Ranchi, seeking justice for the girl.

"Law and order has deteriorated in the state and women's safety is at stake," general secretary of the wing, Seema Singh, alleged.

Government Response

Jharkhand Finance minister Radhakrishna Kishore visited the victim's family in Hazaribag.

The minister said that a compensation of Rs 1 lakh is being given to the family for now. It would be increased after a discussion with the chief minister.

Kishore said that he directed the Deputy Commissioner of Hazaribag to rehabilitate the family and linked the members with government welfare schemes.

Other Demonstrations

In Jamshedpur, saffron party leaders demonstrated in front of the East Singhbhum district collectorate.

A delegation of the BJP Jamshedpur Mahanagar Mahila Morcha also submitted a memorandum addressed to the Jharkhand Governor, demanding the immediate arrest of the perpetrators.

Congress leaders Amba Prasad and Yogendra Sao, along with party supporters, also held a protest demonstration at the Zila Parishad Chowk in Hazaribag.

Hazaribag Chamber of Commerce and Industries president Shambhu Nath Agarwal said that though there was a weekly closure of shops and wholesalers in the district on Monday, several traders voluntarily downed shutters.

"It is a heinous crime, and we had appealed to the shopkeepers to express solidarity with the bandh," said Agarwal.
Following protests, the Jharkhand High Court has taken immediate action to investigate the alleged rape and murder of a 12-year-old girl in Hazaribag, ordering a probe and prompting widespread demonstrations.

Photograph: Danish Siddiqui/Reuters

Key Points Jharkhand High Court initiates suo motu investigation into the alleged rape and murder of a 12-year-old girl in Hazaribag.

A Special Investigation Team (SIT) has been formed to swiftly probe the Hazaribag case and submit a progress report within a week.

The BJP staged a 12-hour bandh in Hazaribag to protest the incident, demanding justice and a swift arrest of the culprits.

Opposition parties and trade organisations joined the protests, expressing solidarity and demanding improved law and order in Jharkhand.

The Jharkhand BJP has threatened a state-wide bandh if the culprits are not apprehended promptly.

The Jharkhand High Court on Monday took suo motu cognisance of the alleged rape and murder of a 12-year-old girl at Bishnugarh in Hazaribag.

The court also served a notice to the state administration and director general of police in this regard, an advocate said.

A division bench of Justice Sujit Narayan Prasad and Justice Sanjay Prasad took note of the incident based on media reports.

The girl had gone with her mother to watch the 'Mangla' procession, a rally taken out as part of Ram Navami rituals, at her native village in Kusumba within Bishnugarh police station limits on the night of March 24.

Her family alleged in the FIR that she was abducted, and her body was found on March 25 at a field in the village.

Jharkhand DGP Tadasha Mishra had on Sunday said a three-member SIT has been constituted for a swift probe into the case.

The SIT is mandated to submit a progress report, along with details regarding the action taken thus far, within a week.

Protests and Political Response

Meanwhile, the opposition BJP staged a 12-hour bandh in Hazaribag to protest against the incident.

There was no untoward incident reported from anywhere in the district, officials said.

The bandh evoked a mixed response. Shops and other retail outlets remained closed in the district, largely due to the weekly closure of wholesalers, while public transport services operated normally as educational institutions and commercial establishments, including banks, remained open.

Hazaribag MP Manish Jaiswal said the bandh was successful, as traders voluntarily shut their shops for the cause.

BJP state president Aditya Sahu said it would press for a Jharkhand bandh on April 3, if the administration failed to nab the culprits in the next two days.

Members of the Jharkhand BJP women's wing also staged a demonstration in Ranchi, seeking justice for the girl.

"Law and order has deteriorated in the state and women's safety is at stake," general secretary of the wing, Seema Singh, alleged.

In Jamshedpur, saffron party leaders demonstrated in front of the East Singhbhum district collectorate.

A delegation of the BJP Jamshedpur Mahanagar Mahila Morcha also submitted a memorandum addressed to the Jharkhand Governor, demanding immediate arrest of the perpetrators.

Congress leaders Amba Prasad and Yogendra Sao, along with party supporters, also held a protest demonstration at the Zila Parishad Chowk in Hazaribag.

Hazaribag Chamber of Commerce and Industries president Shambhu Nath Agarwal said that though there was a weekly closure of shops and wholesalers in the district on Monday, several traders voluntarily downed shutters.

"It is a heinous crime and we had appealed to the shopkeepers to express solidarity with the bandh," said Agarwal.
A Karnataka Deputy Commissioner of the Commercial Tax Department has been arrested for allegedly accepting a bribe, highlighting ongoing efforts to combat corruption in India's tax system.

Key Points A Deputy Commissioner of the Commercial Tax Department in Karnataka was arrested for allegedly accepting a bribe.

The tax official allegedly demanded a bribe of Rs 10 lakh, settling for Rs 6 lakh to close a case related to Input Tax Credit.

The arrest was made by Lokayukta officials following a complaint from a businessman.

The businessman was eligible for an Input Tax Credit of around Rs 60 lakh and had already claimed Rs 34 lakh.

The Deputy Commissioner of the Commercial Tax Department, Bharath Kumar Hegde, was caught on Monday while allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 6 lakh, Lokayukta officials said.

Hegde, 48, was trapped while receiving the money from Ankola-based businessman Vishwajit Nayak, 53, following a complaint lodged with the Lokayukta, Bengaluru Lokayukta Superintendent of Police Shiv Prakash Devaraj told PTI.

"Acting on a credible complaint, our team conducted a trap and caught the accused officer while accepting Rs 6 lakh," he said.

Details of the Bribery Case

According to officials, Nayak had purchased eight tipper trucks in 2019 and was eligible for an Input Tax Credit (ITC) of around Rs 60 lakh, of which he had claimed Rs 34 lakh.

The Commercial Tax Department had registered a case alleging that the ITC was claimed illegally and had initiated an inquiry.

Nayak had been summoned four times earlier for questioning and was called again earlier on Monday.

It is alleged that the officer demanded a bribe of Rs 10 lakh, but finally settled for Rs 6 lakh to close the case.

"A team led by Bengaluru Lokayukta SP Shiv Prakash Devaraj carried out the operation and secured the accused during the transaction," a Lokayukta official said.

"We have registered a case, and the investigation is in progress," he added.
Nationalist Congress Party leader Eknath Khadse and his daughter are under investigation for allegedly defrauding an elderly woman of her land in Jalgaon, Maharashtra, sparking a major political controversy.

Key Points NCP leader Eknath Khadse and his daughter are accused of fraudulently acquiring land from an elderly woman in Jalgaon, Maharashtra.

The land in question is 'Mahar Watan' land, traditionally granted to members of the Scheduled Caste community.

The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) investigated the complaint, leading to charges of fraud, cheating, and forgery against Khadse and his daughter under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

Khadse allegedly promised a sugar factory and compensation in 2002 but instead established a company and transferred the land to his daughter's name through manipulated documents by 2025.

This is not the first time Khadse has faced land-related allegations; he resigned from a ministerial post in 2016 over a land purchase controversy.

Nationalist Congress Party (SP) MLC Eknath Khadse and his daughter were booked for allegedly cheating an elderly woman by assuring a sugar factory on her land and taking its possession with the help of forged papers in Maharashtra's Jalgaon district, police said on Monday.

The land in questioned was classified as 'Mahar Watan' and its illegal possession was taken in the name of former state minister Khadse's daughter Sharda from the 82-year-old woman, they said.

Notably, 'Watan' lands are 'inam' (gift from a ruler to a subject). It refers to land traditionally granted to Mahar community members (now in Scheduled Caste category) as compensation for performing hereditary village duties by erstwhile rulers.

The alleged fraud came to light after the victim, Chamelibai Tukaram Tayade, filed a complaint on March 9 against Khadse, his daughter Sharda and other government officials with the Jalgaon district Superintendent of Police (SP), an official said.

The official said the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Jalgaon police conducted a preliminary inquiry into the complaint regarding the transaction that took place between 2002 and 2025.

Following the inquiry, police registered a case against Khadse and his daughter under BNS sections related to fraud, cheating, forgery and also the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act (victim is a Dalit), according to the official.

Details of the Alleged Fraud

According to the complainant, Khadse gave false assurances to the victim and her family members in 2002 regarding setting up a sugar factory on 'Mahar Watan' land belonging to her at Manpur Shivar in Jalgaon district in north Maharashtra.

The veteran politician, a former BJP minister, had assured good compensation and employment opportunities for the complainant's family members, said police, quoting the complaint.

After deciding to purchase the land, the legislator gave Rs 51,000 to the victim with an assurance that each member of her family will get Rs 1 lakh from the management of the proposed sugar factory, they said.

Years later in 2025, it came to light that no sugar factory was set up on the land. Khadse established a company, Tapi-Purna Sugar Allied Industries Ltd, for executing the project and took possession of the land by making alterations in documents. The Opposition MLC allegedly manipulated sale agreements and transferred the land in his daughter's name in an unauthorised manner, according to the FIR.

The complainant alleged that Khadse and others conspired against her. They took possession of the land between 2002 and 2025 by taking advantage of the woman and her family members' illiteracy and without their knowledge, it said.

The case was registered at the Bodwad Police Station and later transferred for probe to the Sub-Divisional Police Officer (SDPO) at Muktai Nagar in Jalgaon, the official said.

As per law, any case of wrongful occupation of land belonging to SC/ST members must be conducted by an officer not below the rank of a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) or a SDPO.

Khadse's Past Controversies

Khadse, a senior minister in the earlier BJP-led government (2014-19), resigned from the cabinet in 2016 after he was accused of misusing his position to facilitate the purchase of state-owned land in Pune district's Bhosari industrial area by his wife and son-in-law.
Delhi Police have arrested a suspected Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) handler with links to Pakistan's ISI, thwarting a potential terror plot and exposing a network of sleeper cells and cross-border funding.

Photograph: ANI Photo

Key Points Shabir Ahmed Lone, a suspected LeT handler with links to ISI, has been arrested in Delhi.

Lone allegedly operated a terror module involved in pasting anti-national posters and conducting reconnaissance of sensitive locations.

Police recovered foreign currencies and a Nepalese SIM card from Lone, suggesting cross-border coordination.

Lone had a history of terror activities and had undergone terror training in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

The arrest is a significant breakthrough in the investigation of a LeT module attempting to revive terror operations in India.

The Special Cell of Delhi Police has arrested a suspected Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) handler, Shabir Ahmed Lone, from the Ghazipur area here, officials said on Monday.

Terming Lone as a "hardcore and highly trained terrorist," the officials said that he reportedly established links with handlers operating on behalf of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).

"Lone, also known by aliases Raja and Kashmiri, is a resident of Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir and was allegedly operating as the handler of a recently busted module involved in pasting anti-national posters across multiple locations in Delhi and Kolkata," a senior police officer said.

According to the officer, a team from the New Delhi Range of the Special Cell arrested Shabir Ahmed Lone on the night of March 29 in the Ghazipur area.

Lone was wanted in connection with the LeT module that had been recently unearthed in the metro poster case on February 22, the officer said.

"During the arrest, police recovered multiple foreign currencies and other incriminating material from his possession. These included approximately 2,300 units of Bangladeshi Taka, 1,400 units of Nepalese currency, 5,000 units of Pakistani currency, and 3,000 units of Indian currency," they said.

A Nepalese SIM card was also seized, raising suspicions about cross-border communication and operational coordination.

"The module was being run at the behest of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), with Lone acting as a key conduit between handlers based abroad and operatives on the ground in India," the officer said.

Lone's History of Terror Activities

Lone had a long history of involvement in terror activities and had been previously arrested in 2007 by the Special Cell. At that time, an AK-47 rifle and a hand grenade were recovered from his possession. He was again arrested in 2015 in Srinagar under the jurisdiction of Parimpora Police Station.

He also said that even during his earlier arrest, Lone had come to Delhi with the intent to carry out targeted killings. He is a highly trained operative who has undergone terror training "Daura-e-Aam" (basic terror training) and "Daura-e-Khaas" (advanced terror training) from the Muzaffarabad LeT camp in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

Following his release, he allegedly fled to Bangladesh and began rebuilding a fresh terror network targeting India.

During his stay in Bangladesh, Lone reportedly established links with new handlers affiliated with Lashkar-e-Taiba. These handlers, identified by their code names Abu Huzaifa and Sumama Babar, were operating on behalf of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).

Lone's task was to resume terror activities in India by activating sleeper cells and recruiting fresh operatives. He used Bangladesh as a base to facilitate infiltration and coordination," the officer added.

Terror Plot and Reconnaissance

Investigations revealed that Lone had set up an operational base in Kolkata, which served as a launching pad for activities across multiple states.

From this base, the module carried out a "test run" by pasting pro-Pakistan and anti-national posters at prominent locations in Delhi and Kolkata, assessing their operational capabilities and response mechanisms.

The operatives also conducted reconnaissance of several sensitive locations across the country, including temples and high-footfall public places. Videos of these reconnaissance missions were recorded and transmitted to handlers in Pakistan, police said.

He said that Lone had created a structured network involving foreign nationals, particularly from Bangladesh, and was attempting to expand it further by identifying recruits and locations for future operations.

Police said that he is currently being interrogated to identify other associates, financial links, and potential targets.

Possible hawala channels and cross-border funding mechanisms connected to the recovered foreign currencies are also being probed, police said.

"The arrest of Lone marks a significant breakthrough in the ongoing investigation into the metro poster case, which had triggered security concerns earlier this year," the officer added.

Previous Arrests and Ongoing Investigation

In a related development, the Special Cell had on February 22 busted a pan-India LeT module and arrested eight operatives, including seven Bangladeshi nationals, following coordinated raids in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu.

Those arrested were allegedly acting under Lone's direction and were involved in pasting pro-terror posters and conducting reconnaissance of sensitive installations. Investigators had found that Lone was operating as their handler from Bangladesh and had been actively directing their activities.

"The module had been formed with the objective of reviving terror operations in India by exploiting illegal immigration networks and forged identity documents," a police source said.

The operatives were tasked with recruiting people and arranging logistics, including safe houses and weapons, the source said.

The February crackdown had exposed the broader network and laid the groundwork for tracing Lone's movements and eventual arrest. Further investigation into the case is underway.
The arrest of the Lashkar handler has exposed a terror module with links to Pakistan's ISI, revealing a network involved in anti-national activities and potential terror plots across India.

IMAGE: Lashkar-e-Tayiba handler Shabir Ahmed Lone is being brought to Patiala House Court after a team of Special Cell/NDR arrested him, in New Delhi, March 30, 2026. Photograph: ANI Photo

Key Points Lone is accused of orchestrating the pasting of anti-national posters in Delhi and Kolkata and planning broader terror activities across India.

The investigation revealed Lone's connections to handlers in Pakistan and Bangladesh, highlighting a cross-border terror network.

Recovered foreign currencies and a Nepalese SIM card suggest international coordination and funding for the LeT module.

Lone has a history of terror involvement, including previous arrests and training in LeT camps in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

The Special Cell of the Delhi police arrested a suspected Lashkar-e-Tayiba (LeT) handler, Shabir Ahmed Lone, from the Ghazipur area in Delhi, officials said on Monday.

After his arrest, he was produced before a court, which sent him to five days of police custody.

Terming Lone as a "hardcore and highly-trained terrorist," the police said that he reportedly established links with handlers operating on behalf of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).

"Lone, also known by aliases Raja and Kashmiri, is a resident of Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir and was allegedly operating as the handler of a recently busted module involved in pasting anti-national posters across multiple locations in Delhi and Kolkata," a senior police officer said.

According to the officer, a team from the New Delhi Range of the Special Cell arrested Lone on March 29 in connection with the LeT module that had recently been unearthed in the metro poster case on February 22.

"During the arrest, police recovered multiple foreign currencies and other incriminating material from his possession. These included approximately 2,300 units of Bangladeshi Taka, 1,400 units of Nepalese currency, 5,000 units of Pakistani currency, and 3,000 units of Indian currency," they said.

A Nepalese SIM card was also seized, raising suspicions about cross-border communication and operational coordination.

"The module was being run at the behest of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), with Lone acting as a key conduit between handlers based abroad and operatives on the ground in India," the officer said.

Lone had a long history of involvement in terror activities and had been previously arrested in 2007. At that time, an AK-47 rifle and a hand grenade were recovered from his possession. He was again arrested in 2015 in Srinagar under the jurisdiction of Parimpora Police Station.

The officer also said that even during his earlier arrest, Lone had come to Delhi with the intent to carry out targeted killings. He is a highly trained operative who has undergone terror training "Daura-e-Aam" (basic terror training) and "Daura-e-Khaas" (advanced terror training) from the Muzaffarabad LeT camp in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

Following his release, he allegedly fled to Bangladesh and began rebuilding a fresh terror network targeting India.

During his stay in Bangladesh, Lone reportedly established links with new handlers affiliated with LeT. These handlers, identified by their code names Abu Huzaifa and Sumama Babar, were operating on behalf of the ISI.

Lone's task was to resume terror activities in India by activating sleeper cells and recruiting fresh operatives. He used Bangladesh as a base to facilitate infiltration and coordination, the officer added.

Investigations revealed that Lone had set up an operational base in Kolkata, which served as a launching pad for activities across multiple states.

From this base, the module carried out a "test run" by pasting pro-Pakistan and anti-national posters at prominent locations in Delhi and Kolkata, assessing their operational capabilities and response mechanisms.

The operatives also conducted reconnaissance of several sensitive locations across the country, including temples and high-footfall public places.

Videos of these reconnaissance missions were recorded and transmitted to handlers in Pakistan, the police said.

The police officer said that Lone had created a structured network involving foreign nationals, particularly from Bangladesh, and was attempting to expand it further by identifying recruits and locations for future operations.

The police said that he is currently being interrogated to identify other associates, financial links, and potential targets.

Possible hawala channels and cross-border funding mechanisms connected to the recovered foreign currencies are also being probed, the police said.

"The arrest of Lone marks a significant breakthrough in the ongoing investigation into the metro poster case, which had triggered security concerns," the officer added.

On February 22, the Special Cell busted a pan-India LeT module and arrested eight operatives, including seven Bangladeshi nationals, following coordinated raids in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu.

Those arrested were allegedly acting under Lone's direction and were involved in pasting pro-terror posters and conducting reconnaissance of sensitive installations. Investigators had found that Lone was operating as their handler from Bangladesh and had been actively directing their activities.

"The module had been formed with the objective of reviving terror operations in India by exploiting illegal immigration networks and forged identity documents," a police source said.

The operatives were tasked with recruiting people and arranging logistics, including safe houses and weapons, the source said.

The February crackdown had exposed the broader network and laid the groundwork for tracing Lone's movements and eventual arrest.

The timely apprehension of Lone (43) has averted recruitment of vulnerable youths into the ranks of LeT, a Pakistan-sponsored terror outfit banned under UAPA and UNSC resolution.

Additional commissioner of police (Special Cell) Pramod Singh Kushwah said that during the interrogation of the accused arrested on February 22, the name of Shabir Ahmad Lone had emerged.

Kushwah said that according to central agencies' inputs, Lone had entered India through the Nepal border and was preparing to recruit like-minded people for LeT on Indian soil. He was also in contact with Tehrik-Ul-Mujahideen commander Abu Talha and a UAPA-designated terrorist, Asif Dar.

Sharing his profile, the officer said that Lone is the main handler of the recently busted Lashkar-e-Taiba module, operating out of Bangladesh. He has studied till Class 8 and completed a two-year Islamic Madrasa course from Salafia Arabic College, Batamaloo in J&K.

"In the year 2004-2005, his locality was frequently visited by LeT terrorists, namely Abu Huzaifa, Abu Bakar and Faisal, for food and other logistic support. Abu Huzaifa had recruited him in the LeT cadre during that time. In the year 2016, he was arrested along with Sajjad Gul in Parimpora, Jammu and Kashmir, with the recovery of five live rounds of AK47.

"His co-accused Gul, after being released from the case, shifted to Pakistan and is currently operating 'The Resistance Front', a LeT offshoot," said Kushwah.

Lone had been in contact with Huzaifa through encrypted apps and started radicalising and recruiting youths into the LeT cadre. Huzaifa introduced him to Pakistan-based LeT commander Sumama Babar through an encrypted app. Babar is responsible for radicalising, motivating and recruiting youth in India, primarily in the Kashmir valley, into terrorist ranks through different social media apps.

"In 2025, Sumama Babar asked Shabir to recruit Bangladeshis and Indian youths from the states/UTs other than Jammu and Kashmir to carry out terrorist operations in India," Kushwah said.

Further investigation into the matter is underway.
Delhi Police have arrested a suspected Lashkar-e-Taiba operative in Ghazipur, revealing potential links to Pakistan's ISI and raising concerns about sleeper cell activity in the region.

Photograph: Jitender Gupta/ANI Photo

Key Points Delhi Police arrested Shabbir Ahmad Lone, a suspected Lashkar-e-Taiba operative, in the Ghazipur area.

Lone is accused of being a sleeper cell member and pasting anti-national posters.

Investigations suggest the module was operated by Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).

Lone was previously arrested in 2007 with arms and ammunition and has suspected links to Hafiz Saeed and Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi.

Delhi Police's Special Cell has arrested a suspected operative of the Lashkar-e-Taiba from the Ghazipur area here, an official said on Monday.

The accused, identified as Shabbir Ahmad Lone, was allegedly working as a sleeper cell member and had pasted anti-national posters at multiple locations, he said.

ISI Involvement Suspected

"Preliminary investigation has revealed that the module was being operated at the behest of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI)," the officer said.

"We have recovered currency of Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal and India from him," the officer said.

Accused's Background

Shabbir Ahmad Lone, alias Raja alias Kashmiri, a resident of Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir, was earlier arrested by the Special Cell in 2007 with a large cache of arms and ammunition, including an AK-47 rifle and grenades. He remained lodged in Tihar Jail till 2018.

Police sources said that he had links with Hafiz Saeed and Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, and had received terror training in Muzaffarabad in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. He is currently being interrogated.
A devastating lightning strike in Jalna, Maharashtra, claimed the lives of two young pilgrims en route to a temple, highlighting the dangers of unseasonal weather and the importance of safety precautions.

Photograph: ANI Photo

Key Points Two young men died after being struck by lightning near Mahakala village in Jalna district while travelling to the Vigneshwar Mahadev temple.

A third person was seriously injured and is receiving treatment at a hospital in Ambad.

The incident occurred during unseasonal rainfall accompanied by thunder and lightning in several parts of Jalna district.

The meteorological department has issued an 'orange' alert for Jalna district, warning of adverse weather conditions.

Farmers in Jalna have been advised to take precautions to protect harvested crops from the unseasonal rains and storms.

Two young men on their way to a temple lost their lives after being struck by lightning near a village amid unseasonal rains in several parts of Jalna district in central Maharashtra on Monday, said police.

Another person accompanying them was injured in the lightning strike, they said.

The incident took place near Mahakala village under Ambad tehsil and the deceased were identified by police as Govind Prahlad Lahane (21) and Aditya Dagdu Bedre (20).

The Ambad police said the duo was on their way to Apegaon village to offer prayers at the revered Vigneshwar Mahadev temple, when sudden rains accompanied by thunder and lightning forced them to take shelter under a tree.

However, a huge bolt of lightning struck the tree, killing both men on the spot, they said.

Another young man who was with them sustained serious injuries and was currently undergoing treatment in a hospital at Ambad.

Unseasonal Rains and Weather Alert

Meanwhile, several parts of Jalna district witnessed unseasonal rainfall on Monday. Areas in Bhokardan, Jalna, Ambad and Jafrabad tehsils experienced showers. Stormy weather was also observed in Ramnagar and Ner areas of Jalna tehsil.

The meteorological department has issued an 'orange' alert for Jalna district for March 31, warning of adverse weather conditions. Farmers have been advised to take necessary precautions to protect harvested crops.
A police inspector in Sultanpur, Uttar Pradesh, is under investigation after sustaining a gunshot wound, with preliminary evidence pointing towards an accidental discharge of his own firearm.

Key Points A police inspector in Sultanpur suffered a gunshot wound, prompting an immediate investigation.

Initial findings suggest the gunshot may have been the result of an accidental discharge of the inspector's licensed firearm.

The injured inspector was initially treated in Sultanpur before being transferred to a trauma centre in Lucknow due to the severity of his injuries.

Senior police officials and a forensics team are thoroughly examining the scene and circumstances surrounding the incident to determine the exact cause.

Additional Director General of Police (Lucknow zone) Praveen Kumar visited the spot in Sultanpur where a police inspector suffered a gunshot injury, officials said on Monday.

Inspector Arun Kumar Dwivedi, posted at Akhandnagar police station, sustained a gunshot injury while he was allegedly cleaning the licensed firearm inside his room on Sunday.

Dwivedi was rushed to the Government Medical College in Sultanpur. However, given the critical nature of his condition, doctors referred him to the Trauma Centre in Lucknow.

The ADG visited the spot along with a forensics team on Sunday night and gathered information.

The gun was found lying open in the room. The investigation confirmed that the incident was accidental, Kumar said.

Senior police officials have initiated an investigation into the matter.

Superintendent of Police Charu Nigam said the incident took place at around 6 pm on Sunday. Prima facie evidence suggests that the gunshot may have resulted from an accidental discharge, he said.

The inspector sustained the gunshot wound below his right shoulder, Nigam said.

At the time of the incident, the inspector's personal licensed revolver was found lying open at the scene, along with blood spatters. The room was found to be locked from the inside.

All aspects of the case are currently being thoroughly examined, the SP said.
West Bengal's Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee fiercely criticises the BJP, accusing them of fostering social divisions and economic exploitation for political advantage during an election rally.

Photograph: @AITCofficial/X

Key Points Mamata Banerjee accuses the BJP of inciting conflict among different societal groups for political and economic gain.

Banerjee criticises Union Home Minister Amit Shah's chargesheet against the TMC government, calling for accountability from Modi and Shah.

She alleges the BJP is attempting to divide communities and government services, leading to the humiliation of capable officers.

Banerjee claims the BJP government has halted funds for key welfare schemes in West Bengal, while her government continues these projects with state funds.

She asserts her government's commitment to inclusive welfare schemes and criticises the BJP's job creation record.

Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee on Monday accused the BJP of stoking fights among all sections of society and claimed the saffron party wants to loot the country by taking advantage of such situations.

Addressing a poll rally here, the chief minister expressed strong reservations about Union Home Minister Amit Shah's political 'chargesheet' against the TMC government.

"The first chargesheet should be filed against (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi and Amit Shah, who came to power by stoking riots," she said.

"The BJP is stoking fights among all sections of society. It wants to loot the country by taking advantage of the situation evolving from such strife," she alleged while addressing the rally in Paschim Medinipur district.

She accused the BJP of trying to divide all -- from Hindu and Muslims to the administrative and police services. Several government officers, including members of the civil service, who "used to work brilliantly", are now humiliated, Banerjee said.

The West Bengal chief minister has been claiming that several senior officers have been "arbitrarily" removed to other poll-bound states by the poll panel on the insistence of the BJP, and has termed it a "political interference of the highest order".

"We love and respect all faiths, but the BJP is a hypocrite. It does not love any religion," the TMC supremo said. "The way they are running the country, I feel they will have to flee Delhi within another one or two months."

She alleged that nearly 200 people died while waiting in queues during the 2016 demonetisation process.

Banerjee also claimed that the names of a large number of Muslims were deleted from the voter list during the SIR exercise. "Even Hindus and tribals were not spared," she alleged.

The TMC supremo reiterated that her party will provide free legal assistance to those whose names have been deleted from the electoral rolls.

Welfare Schemes and Economic Accusations

Listing the development works undertaken by her government in the past 15 years, the chief minister claimed the BJP-led Centre has stopped funds for welfare schemes like 100-day job guarantee, pucca house construction and roads.

Banerjee said her government continued these projects with its own funds and sought to know why the Centre has "not released the Rs 2 lakh crore due to the state".

Addressing an election rally in Panskura Paschim constituency, the TMC chief took umbrage over Shah's political chargesheet against her party and said, "The party of thieves has come with thousands of crores of rupees (for the polls). But the people will give a charge sheet against you."

Banerjee said that her government has introduced several welfare schemes, and maintained that it does not differentiate between any religion while giving such benefits.

She asserted that the Rs 1,500 monthly financial assistance to the unemployed youths under the Banglar Yuva Sathi scheme was not a dole, but "pocket money" for them till they find employment.

"They (BJP) had promised two crore jobs every year. In reality, joblessness has risen by 40 per cent in the country, while in Bengal we have reduced it," Banerjee said.

She told the gathering that the TMC's loss in the polls "will mean the BJP will snatch everything from you".
West Bengal's Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee fiercely criticises the BJP, accusing them of fostering societal divisions and exploiting the chaos for economic advantage, sparking a major political row.

Photograph: ANI Photo

Key Points Mamata Banerjee accuses the BJP of inciting conflict among various sections of Indian society.

Banerjee alleges the BJP aims to exploit social divisions for economic gain and loot the country.

She criticises Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, suggesting they came to power through inciting riots.

Banerjee claims the BJP is attempting to create divisions between Hindus and Muslims, as well as within administrative and police services.

She alleges political interference by the BJP in the transfer of government officers to other states.

Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee on Monday accused the BJP of stoking fight among all sections of society and claimed the saffron party wants to loot the country by taking advantage of the situation.

Addressing a poll rally here, the chief minister expressed strong reservations about Union Home Minister Amit Shah's political 'chargesheet' against the TMC government.

"The first chargesheet should be filed against (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi and Amit Shah, who came to power by stoking riots," she said.

"BJP is stoking a fight among all sections of society. It wants to loot the country, taking advantage of the situation evolving from such strife," she alleged while addressing the rally in Paschim Medinipur district.

Accusations of Division and Interference

She accused the BJP of trying to divide all -- from Hindu and Muslims to the administrative and police services.

She claimed that several government officers, including members of the civil service, who "used to work brilliantly," are now humiliated.

The West Bengal chief minister has been claiming that several senior officers have been "arbitrarily" removed to other poll-bound states by the poll panel on the insistence of the BJP, and has termed it a "political interference of the highest order".
A man has been arrested in Visakhapatnam for the murder of a woman in Mira Road, Thane, after a police investigation tracked him across multiple cities following the crime.

Photograph: ANI Photo

Key Points Ashish Madan Meshram was arrested in Visakhapatnam for the murder of a woman in Mira Road.

The victim was attacked with a sharp weapon after resisting a sexual assault attempt.

The accused fled to Mumbai, Hyderabad, and then Visakhapatnam before being apprehended.

Police tracked the suspect using CCTV footage and mobile phone location data.

A man was arrested from Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh for allegedly murdering a woman in Mira Road area of Thane district, a police official said on Monday.

Ashish Madan Meshram (37), originally from West Bengal, was held by Crime Branch Unit 1 of Mira Bhayander-Vasai Virar (MBVV) police, he said.

Details of the Crime

"On March 25, he attacked the woman with a sharp weapon after she resisted his attempts to sexually assault her. The woman was alone at her house at the time. Her kin had gone out for work. The accused also had a previous dispute with the woman's son," the official said.

Investigation and Arrest

"After a case was registered, police teams checked CCTV footage and tracked the location of his mobile phone. It was found that he fled to neighbouring Mumbai, then travelled to Hyderabad and further towards Visakhapatnam, from where he was held on March 27," the official added.

Mira Road police is probing further, he said.
A man was fatally shot in an Amritsar border village, prompting a police investigation into the targeted killing and the search for the unidentified assailants.

Photograph: ANI Photo

Key Points A man, Sohna Singh, was fatally shot at point-blank range in an Amritsar border village.

The assailants intercepted Singh while he was travelling between villages.

The victim was declared dead at a nearby hospital.

The perpetrators fled the scene with the victim's motorcycle and mobile phone.

Police have initiated an investigation, reviewing CCTV footage to identify the suspects in the Amritsar shooting.

A man was shot dead from point blank range by unidentified assailants in a border village in Amritsar on Monday, police said.

The deceased, identified as Sohna Singh, was going from Rajatal to Khera village when the assailants intercepted and opened fire on him from point blank range, they said.

He was shifted to a nearby hospital where he was declared dead.

Assailants after committing the crime fled with Singh's motorcycle and mobile phone.

A team from Gharinda police station rushed to spot after the incident.

The police said that an investigation has been launched and the team is checking the footage of CCTV of the areas in order to gather evidence and identify the assailants.
The BJP and Congress members clashed over the handling of the Maoist issue, with accusations of negligence and defences of past efforts dominating the discussion on India's internal security challenges.

IMAGE: BJP MP Sambit Patra speaks in Lok Sabha during the second part of the Budget Session (2026-27) of Parliament, New Delhi, March 30, 2026. Photograph: Sansad TV/ANI Video Grab

Key Points BJP accuses the previous UPA government of failing to contain the Maoist threat and compromising national security.

Congress defends its efforts to curb left-wing extremism, highlighting the loss of leaders and initiatives like Operation Green Hunt.

Government data indicates a decline in Naxal activity, with increased surrenders and arrests under the current BJP rule.

The Modi government claims a clear and resolute approach to tackling Naxalism, contrasting it with the UPA's alleged confusion and collaboration.

The government aims to completely eliminate the Naxal menace by March 31, 2026, with a reduced number of affected districts.

Bharatiya Janata Party and National Democratic Alliance members in the Lok Sabha on Monday launched a scathing attack on the previous United Progressive Alliance government, accusing it of failing to contain Maoism, while the Congress said it made several efforts to curb left-wing extremism and lost several of its top leaders to red terrorism.

Initiating the discussion on "efforts to free the country from left-wing extremism (LWE)", Shiv Sena member Shrikant Shinde said under BJP rule, the "red corridor" has shrunk significantly and has been replaced by a growth corridor.

"....had the earlier governments timely intervened, the situation would have been different..because the government was not 'mazboot' (strong) but 'majboor' (helpless). A lack of political will to fight naxalism and policy paralysis were your (Congress) shortcomings...efforts were on to weaken the country from inside; foreign conspiracies were working, and Congress compromised with national security when it was in power," he said.

Citing data, Shinde claimed that last year, 317 Maoists were killed, 862 were arrested, and 1,900 of them surrendered.

"In 2024 and 25, at least 28 naxal leaders were killed...including six members of the central committee. In 2026 so far, 630 cadres have shunned the path of violence and these statistics show that we have covered the distance from bullet to ballot," he said.

TDP MP Byreddy Shabari told the House that she lost her family to left-wing extremism (LWE).

"There were highest number of Naxal attacks during the Congress rule, but thanks to the policy of PM Narendra Modi and relentless efforts by Home Minister Amit Shah that Maoism is now on its way out," she said.

Saptagiri Ulaka of Congress hit back, saying that the UPA government had launched operation green hunt and had created the Commando Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA) to deal with the Naxal threat.

Congress lost its entire top leadership in Chhattisgarh due to Naxalism, and the party has been a victim of LWE, Ulaka said, adding that the UPA government laid equal emphasis on welfare and security and believed that bullets alone cannot stop Maoism.

Participating in the debate, Sambit Patra of the BJP said the main difference between the NDA and the UPA government was the approach in dealing with a threat.

He claimed that the Modi government has clarity and resolve while the UPA suffered from "confusion" and "collaboration".

Patra claimed that an intellectual close to the Congress had described Maoists as "Gandhians with guns".

He alleged that the Sonia Gandhi-led national advisory council had "urban Maoists" as its members.

Referring to a reported affidavit filed by the then UPA government in court, he claimed that the home ministry had then admitted that there was a vacuum in development and security, which had led to a rise in Maoism.

He claimed that the UPA government tried to mainstream Maoism instead of curbing it.

Trinamool Congress' Mahua Moitra wondered why the House was having a discussion on Maoism when a much worse crisis in West Asia was directly affecting the country.

She said while the government wants to pat its own back, people were suffering due to a shortage of LPG and fuel and skyrocketing airfares.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah had announced that the Naxal menace would be completely eliminated by March 31, 2026.

A fresh evaluation of the Maoist violence-affected regions has brought down the number of LWE-hit districts in the country to seven from eight in the December 2025 review.

The Union government recently reviewed the 'National Policy and Action Plan to address LWE' across 38 districts in nine states, comprising Jharkhand, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Telangana and West Bengal.
Indian MP Prashant Padole survived a car accident near Nagpur after his SUV collided with a CNG truck, raising concerns about road safety and prompting an investigation into the incident.

Photograph: ANI on X

Key Points MP Prashant Padole was involved in a car accident near Nagpur when his SUV hit a CNG truck.

The accident occurred while Padole was travelling to Nagpur airport to catch a flight to Delhi for Parliament.

The front of Padole's vehicle was heavily damaged, and his driver, PA, and gunman sustained minor injuries.

The truck driver, who initially fled the scene, has been apprehended and charged with rash and negligent driving.

Bhandara-Gondiya MP Prashant Padole had a narrow escape after his SUV hit a CNG-carrying truck in Nagpur on Monday, a police official said.

The incident took place at 5:30am near Haldiram's factory on Bhandara Road, the Wadoda police station official added.

"The Congress MP's Toyota Fortuner hit a truck loaded with CNG from behind. The truck was trying to move to the left lane when the SUV rammed into it. Padole was on his way to Nagpur airport to catch a Delhi-bound flight to attend Parliament," he said.

"The front portion of the Fortuner was heavily damaged. SUV driver Rahul Girhepunje, PA Devendra Shahare and gunman Akash Khadse sustained minor injuries," the official added.

Truck driver Vikram Bahadur Singh, who fled from the spot, was held from Yavatmal, Additional Superintendent of Police Anil Mhaske said.

Singh has been charged with rash and negligent driving under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and Motor Vehicles Act provisions, Mhaske added.
Donald Trump has hinted at the possibility of the United States seizing Iran's Kharg Island oil export hub, raising concerns about potential military action and its impact on global oil markets.

IMAGE: US President Donald Trump talks to members of the media aboard Air Force One en route to Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, March 29, 2026 . Photograph: Elizabeth Frantz/Reuters

Key Points Donald Trump suggested the US could seize Iran's Kharg Island oil export hub with little resistance.

Trump voiced his desire to take control of Iran's oil resources, dismissing domestic criticism.

Trump indicated a potential US presence would be required on Kharg Island for a sustained period.

Trump expressed optimism about a potential deal with Iran, citing ongoing negotiations.

Iran's Acting Defence Minister condemned military aggression against Iran in a call with Turkey's Defence Minister.

United States President Donald Trump on Sunday (local time) hinted that Washington could seize Iran's key oil export hub on Kharg Island.

In an interview with Financial Times newspaper, Trump suggested that the facility could be captured with minimal resistance.

"Maybe we take Kharg Island, maybe we don't. We have a lot of options," he said adding, "I don't think they have any defence. We could take it very easily."

Trump also openly voiced his broader objective regarding Iran's energy resources.

Trump told the Financial Times, "To be honest with you, my favourite thing is to take the oil in Iran, but some stupid people back in the US say, 'Why are you doing that?' But they're stupid people," while dismissing domestic criticism, adding that opponents of such a move are "stupid people."

He further indicated that any potential operation could require a sustained US presence. " It would also mean we had to be there (in Kharg Island) for a while, " Trump told the Financial Times.

Drawing a parallel with US policy in Venezuela, Trump said Washington could pursue long-term control over oil assets, saying it could be held "indefinitely", Financial Times reported.

Negotiations and Potential Deal with Iran

Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump said he's optimistic about a deal with Iran, citing "very good negotiations" and Iran allowing 20 oil tankers to pass through the Strait of Hormuz as a "sign of respect".

Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One en route to Joint Base Andrews, Trump said, "I do see a deal in Iran, yeah. Could be soon."

"So we've had very good negotiations today with Iran, getting a lot of the things that they should have given us a long time ago. See how it works out, but they're very good, moving along very nicely. And they've destroyed a lot of additional targets today. The Navy's gone, the Air Force's gone, we know that. We've destroyed many, many targets today. It was a big day. And we are negotiating with them directly and indirectly," he said further.

Iran Condemns Aggression

Earlier, Iran's Acting Defence Minister Brigadier General Seyyed Majid Ibn Reza held a key telephone conversation with Turkish Defence Minister Yasar Guler amid the ongoing West Asia conflict involving the United States and Israel, according to Iranian state media Press TV.

During the call on Sunday evening, General Reza strongly condemned the "brutal military aggression" against Iran, calling it a clear violation of international law and fundamental principles of the global system, according to Press TV.
Glimpses from NASA's Artemis II mission capture a historic moment -- preparations for humanity's return to the Moon for the first time since the Apollo 17 Moon landing in 1972.

The action unfolds at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on March 29, 2026.

From the towering Space Launch System (SLS) rocket to astronauts suiting up for the journey, every frame signals a major leap forward in deep space exploration.

Unlike Artemis I, which flew without a crew, Artemis II will carry astronauts on a journey around the Moon before safely returning them to Earth -- marking NASA's first crewed lunar mission in over five decades.

Beyond the milestone, the mission has a purpose: To test life-support systems in deep space, assess how astronauts perform beyond Earth's orbit, and validate critical navigation, communication, and safety technologies -- all essential steps toward future Moon landings.

IMAGE: Visitors look at NASA's next-generation Space Launch System rocket with the Orion crew capsule on Pad 39B ahead of the Artemis II mission. Photograph: Brendan McDermid/Reuters

Key Points NASA's Artemis II mission represents the first crewed flight of the Space Launch System and Orion spacecraft combination.

The launch will send astronauts on a lunar flyby, marking a major milestone in plans for sustained Moon exploration.

Pad 39B at THE Kennedy Space Center serves as the historic launch site for the next-generation heavy-lift rocket.

The multinational crew includes astronauts from NASA and the Canadian Space Agency, reflecting global collaboration in space missions.

The mission lays groundwork for future lunar landings and long-term human presence under NASA's Artemis programme.

IMAGE: People photograph NASA's Space Launch System rocket with the Orion capsule on Pad 39B. Photograph: Brendan McDermid/Reuters

Public Gathers For Historic Launch

IMAGE: NASA's Space Launch System rocket with the Orion crew capsule stands on Pad 39B. Photograph: Brendan McDermid/Reuters

Rocket Stands Ready On Pad 39B

IMAGE: The Orion crew capsule sits atop NASA's Space Launch System rocket on Pad 39B. Photograph: Brendan McDermid/Reuters

Orion Capsule Crowns Moon Rocket

IMAGE: NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman and Victor Glover greet each other alongside Christina Koch and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen at the Kennedy Space Center. Photograph: Joe Skipper/Reuters

Astronaut Crew Prepares For Mission

IMAGE: Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen speak to the media. Photograph: Steve Nesius/Reuters

Mission Briefings Ahead Of Liftoff

IMAGE: Jeremy Hansen sits inside a training jet after landing at the Kennedy Space Center. Photograph: Steve Nesius/Reuters

Crew Unites For Lunar Journey

IMAGE: Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen pose for a portrait. Photograph: Joe Skipper/Reuters

Photographs curated by Manisha Kotian/Rediff

Feature Presentation: Ashish Narsale/Rediff
An Indian Navy staff member in Visakhapatnam has been arrested for the gruesome murder and dismemberment of a woman he met on a dating app, following a dispute over money and threats of exposure.

IMAGE: Police report the murder occurred after an argument over money and threats to reveal the relationship to the accused's wife. Photograph: ANI Photo

Key Points Indian Navy staff member Chintada Ravindra arrested for allegedly murdering and dismembering Polipalli Mounika in Visakhapatnam.

The accused and the victim met through a dating app in 2021 and had been in a relationship.

Ravindra allegedly dismembered the body, stored parts in a refrigerator, and attempted to burn the head and hands to destroy evidence.

An Indian Navy staff allegedly murdered a 28-year-old woman, dismembered her body, and attempted to destroy evidence in Gajuwaka area in Visakhapatnam, a police official said on Monday.

According to the police, the accused procured a knife online, dismembered the body, stored some parts in a refrigerator, and burnt the head and hands at a vacant place near Adavivaram on Sunday.

The accused, identified as Chintada Ravindra, posted at INS Dega, had been in contact with the deceased Polipalli Mounika since 2021 after meeting her through a dating application, police said.

"A Navy staff (Ravindra) on Sunday killed Mounika at his residence following an altercation and later dismembered the body, disposed of the parts at different locations," the official told PTI.

The two developed a relationship over time and frequently met at various locations across Visakhapatnam, such as parks and theatres, police said.

Motive for the Murder

According to the accused, the woman had allegedly taken Rs 3.5 lakh from him and threatened to reveal their relationship to his wife, leading to frequent disputes between them, the official said.

On the day of the incident, the accused allegedly called her to his flat, where a heated argument broke out before he smothered her to death, the official added.
The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) has upheld a Rs 1,950-crore settlement between National Spot Exchange Ltd (NSEL) and traders, dismissing an appeal by MMTC and reinforcing the resolution of the long-standing NSEL crisis.

Key Points NCLAT dismisses MMTC's appeal against the one-time settlement (OTS) between NSEL and traders.

The settlement scheme, worth Rs 1,950 crore, was previously approved by NCLT and affirmed by the Supreme Court.

MMTC argued the scheme was 'prejudicial to the public interest' and 'vitiated by fraud'.

NCLAT found MMTC's claims of fraud to be, at best, an 'incorrect finding' and not actual fraud.

The settlement scheme was approved by over 90% of creditors, and relevant authorities did not object to it.

Appellate tribunal NCLAT on Monday set side an appeal by state-owned trading firm MMTC, challenging the one-time settlement (OTS) between 63 Moons-backed National Spot Exchange Ltd (NSEL) and traders.

The Mumbai bench of the National Company Law Tribunal had on November 28, 2025 approved a Rs 1,950-crore settlement scheme between NSEL, along with its promoter 63 Moons, and traders who had dues aggregating nearly Rs 4,300 crore.

The scheme was challenged by MMTC before the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) saying it is "prejudicial to the public interest" and opposed to the public policy.

During the course of hearing, the NCLAT pointed out that the said National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) order of November 11, 2025 has already been approved by it earlier and also been affirmed by the Supreme Court in a civil appeal on March 9, 2026.

However, Additional Solicitor General Vikramjit Banerjee, representing MMTC, argued that even if is approved by "NCLT and this Tribunal and affirmed by the Supreme Court, can be recalled if it is proved the scheme is vitiated by fraud".

In support of his argument, the ASG referred to various paras of the order passed by the NCLT and argued the order notes wrong facts viz the EOW as well as the competent authority of MPID (Maharashtra Protection of Interest of Depositors) did not object to the scheme.

These facts are wrongly recorded, hence the impugned order is vitiated by fraud, ASG had contended.

NCLAT's Ruling on the Settlement Scheme

However, NCLAT in its order said the OTS scheme was approved by more than 90 per cent of creditors and from May-November 2025, the MMTC did not assail the resolutions passed and voted against it.

"We need to say the ASG had only pointed out to the paras of the impugned order to show the fraud is committed upon the NCLT but to our considered view, at best it can be treated as an incorrect finding but not fraud," NCLAT said, adding, "we need to note neither the ED nor EOW or MPID came up in appeal before this Court and none of these authorities even challenged the scheme before the NCLT."

Moreover, NCLT in its order dated September 17, 2025, has recorded the counsel appearing on behalf of EOW as well as the competent authority under the MPID Act has submitted that they have no objection to the proposed scheme.

Under the settlement scheme, traders had agreed to withdraw all legal cases against NSEL and 63 Moons.

Background of the NSEL Crisis

The NSEL crisis originated in July 2013, when the Department of Consumer Affairs had asked NSEL to close out all contracts, which had aggravated a payments crisis worth over Rs 5,400 crore.
Following Ajit Pawar's death, key NCP leaders are urging a merger with the Sharad Pawar faction, sparking debate and raising questions about the future of the Nationalist Congress Party.

IMAGE: Photographs of Ajit Pawar and his wife and Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Sunetra Pawar were missing from the banner of a party event in Raigad district attended by state NCP president Sunil Tatkare. Photograph: @RRPSpeaks/X

Key Points Two NCP leaders are publicly supporting a merger between the NCP, now led by Sunetra Pawar, and the Sharad Pawar-led NCP-SP.

The call for merger comes two months after the death of Ajit Pawar, former deputy chief minister and NCP chief.

The proposal is supported by NCP MLA Sunil Shelke and deputy speaker Anna Bansode, who believe unification would benefit the party.

The merger discussion surfaces amid controversy over the omission of Ajit and Sunetra Pawar's photos from a party event banner, sparking accusations of disrespect.

NCP-SP MLA Rohit Pawar has alleged attempts by Sunil Tatkare and Praful Patel to seize control of the NCP from Sunetra Pawar.

Two months after the tragic death of then deputy chief minister and Nationalist Congress Party chief Ajit Pawar in a plane crash in Baramati, two NCP leaders have voiced support for the merger of the party, now headed by Sunetra Pawar, with the Sharad Pawar-led NCP-SP.

Immediately after Ajit Pawar's demise on January 28, senior NCP-SP leaders had claimed that a merger was in the works before the senior leader died. Leaders of the NCP had then dismissed the claim, saying no such decision was taken.

"If both the parties are to come together and the NCP is to grow under the leadership of deputy chief minister Sunetra Pawar, the time has not passed yet," said Sunil Shelke, NCP MLA from Maval.

Shelke, who was considered a staunch loyalist of Ajit Pawar, was supported by deputy speaker of the legislative assembly, Anna Bansode.

"Leaders at the state level and district levels think that if two parties unite under leadership of Sunetravahini, it will be good for all," said Bansode, NCP MLA from Pimpri.

Banner Controversy and Internal Disputes

The remarks by the two NCP leaders on Sunday came amid a row over photographs of Ajit Pawar and his wife and Deputy Chief Minister Sunetra Pawar missing from the banner of a party event in Raigad district attended by state NCP president Sunil Tatkare.

A felicitation ceremony for the newly-elected members of the Zilla Parishad and Panchayat Samiti was organized at Indapur in Raigad district on March 27 in NCP minister Aditi Tatkare's constituency. She is the daughter of Sunil Tatkare.

Some NCP-SP legislators pointed out that while photos of Ajit Pawar and party president Sunetra Pawar were missing from the banner put up on the stage, it had photos of Sunil Tatkare, Aditi Tatkare, and her brother Aniket Tatkare.

Responding to the allegations, Aditi Tatkare said local party workers organise programmes at the grassroots level. "In one such programme at the gram panchayat level, there was no photo of our late leader Ajitdada Pawar as well as Sunetrakaki, and regarding this, I express my regret."

"Whether it is Ajitdada or Sunetrakaki, their place in our hearts is unshakeable. One should not judge the loyalty of all of us workers based on the photo on the banner," she said.

NCP-SP MLA Rohit Pawar, who raised the issue of the missing photos, recently alleged that Sunil Tatkare and Praful Patel were trying to wrest control of the NCP from his aunt Sunetra Pawar.

The NCP leaders had dismissed the claim as "crocodile tears", and advised Rohit Pawar to concentrate on his own party.
Following his election to the Rajya Sabha, Nitish Kumar resigned from the Bihar Legislative Council, adhering to constitutional requirements and prompting speculation about future political strategies in Bihar.

IMAGE: Nitish Kumar's resignation will set stage for the next Bihar CM. Photograph: @NitishKumar/X

Key Points Nitish Kumar, elected to the Rajya Sabha,resigned from the Bihar Legislative Council.

The resignation is mandated by the Constitution within 14 days of his Rajya Sabha election.

There is no clarity on when the 75-year-old JD-U supremo was expected to step down as chief minister..

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who was elected to the Rajya Sabha earlier this month, resigned from the state legislative council on Monday, Bihar Legislative Council chairman Awadhesh Narayan Singh said.

The Janata Dal-United president was elected to the upper House of Parliament on March 16, and according to party insiders, the 14-day period during which he has to quit as MLC ends Monday.

"It is stipulated in the Constitution that you should resign within 14 days. Things will happen accordingly," Sanjay Kumar Jha, the national working president of the JD-U, had told reporters in Patna last week.

Who will replace Nitish Kumar?

There is no clarity on when the 75-year-old JD-U supremo was expected to step down as chief minister.
Pakistan's Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar sustained a hairline fracture in his shoulder after a fall during a diplomatic reception, highlighting the challenges faced by key government figures.

IMAGE: Pakistan's Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar took a nasty fall on Sunday, but recovered at once to continue with his meeting with the Egyptian foreign minister. Photograph: Screen grab//x

Key Points Pakistan's Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar suffered a hairline fracture in his shoulder after a fall at a reception for the Egyptian foreign minister.

Despite the injury, Ishaq Dar continued with his scheduled meetings, managing the pain with painkillers.

Medical examinations revealed the hairline fracture, with treatment focusing on pain management and precautionary measures.

Ishaq Dar is a key figure in Pakistan's government and a close associate of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

Pakistan's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar has been diagnosed with a "hairline fracture" in the shoulder after slipping and falling during the reception ceremony for his Egyptian counterpart, his son has said.

The incident occurred on Sunday, during the quadrilateral summit meeting between the foreign ministers of Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Turkiye and Egypt as they discussed the West Asia conflict.

What Happened To Dhar

Dar fell down while calling Badr Abdelatty to the stage after he arrived at the ministry of foreign affairs.

He was captured on camera falling down but getting up and joining his guest for the ceremonial photo session.

Dar did not show any signs of injury, but his son revealed that he was on pain killers to manage discomfort and only agreed for a medical checkup late at night.

"Ishaq Dar Sahib, despite sustaining an injury during the reception of the Egyptian foreign minister today, completed all highly important meetings throughout the day on painkillers, Alhamdulillah, in the best possible manner," Ali Dar said on X.

He added that around 9 pm, after recording the official statement, a medical examination was conducted at the insistence of the family.

"His X-rays are Alhamdulillah overall fine. There is a hairline fracture in the shoulder. In the coming few days, his pain will be managed through medications and other precautionary measures," he said.

Ishaq Dar's Role in Pakistani Politics

Dar is the leading member of the government of Shehbaz Sharif who is active both on domestic and international fronts.

He is also a confidante of former three-time premier Nawaz Sharif, with whom he is related due to the marriage of his son with Sharif's daughter.

The elder Sharif is president of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).

A chartered accountant by education and training, Dar served as finance minister more than once in the previous governments of the PML-N.
Furious Delhi parents are protesting against private schools accused of using coercive tactics to recover unapproved fee hikes, impacting students' education and causing family stress.

Photograph: Kind courtesy Kollinger/Pixabay

Key Points Delhi parents protest against private schools allegedly coercing them to pay 'unapproved' hiked fees.

Schools are accused of striking off students' names and withholding report cards over unpaid fees.

Parents claim schools disregard directives from the Directorate of Education regarding fee revisions.

The Delhi High Court is considering the fee hike issue, but schools allegedly continue coercive actions.

Parents demand intervention from the Directorate of Education to protect students from academic disruption due to fee disputes.

Delhi Parent Association staged a protest outside the Directorate of Education (DoE), alleging coercive actions by two private schools in east and southwest Delhi to recover "unapproved" hiked fees from parents of children studying in these schools.

According to complaints submitted to the education department, the schools allegedly struck off the names of several students from their rolls and withheld report-cum-progress cards of dozens of others for not paying the alleged increased fees.

The parents claimed that they had been raising the issue with authorities for nearly two years, but the schools continued to take "arbitrary and coercive" measures despite multiple directions issued by the education department.

In their representation, the parents said the schools maintained that prior approval from the DoE was not required before revising fees, citing certain court rulings. However, the parents alleged that the department had already issued show-cause notices and other directions to the schools, which were being "blatantly disregarded".

However, there was no immediate reaction available from the schools or the education department.

They further stated that several parents had approached the Delhi High Court in the matter, where the issue of fee hike is currently under consideration. The Court, they said, had directed limited interim relief in one case, while the broader dispute remains pending.

Despite this, the parents alleged that the schools continued to issue fresh "striking off" notices and emails warning of further action if the disputed fee amount was not paid by the end of March.

The association claimed that such actions were adversely affecting students' academic interests and causing mental stress to families.

Citing provisions of the Delhi School Education Act 1973 and related rules, the parents argued that private unaided schools cannot enforce arbitrary fee hikes without regulatory oversight, and cannot take punitive action against students over disputed dues.

They demanded immediate intervention by the Directorate of Education to ensure restoration of students' names, release of withheld report cards, and withdrawal of coercive notices.

The parents also urged the department to take action against the schools for alleged violations of norms and to ensure that no student faces academic disruption due to the ongoing fee dispute.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to inaugurate a semiconductor plant in Gujarat and launch development projects worth over Rs 20,000 crore, boosting India's semiconductor industry and infrastructure development.

IMAGE: Photograph: Stephen Nellis/Reuters

Key Points Prime Minister Modi will inaugurate a semiconductor plant in Sanand, Gujarat, marking a major step under the India Semiconductor Mission.

The new semiconductor plant will manufacture advanced Intelligent Power Modules (IPMs) for automotive and industrial applications.

Modi will also inaugurate the Samrat Samprati Museum in Gandhinagar, showcasing the historical and cultural legacy of Jainism.

Multiple development projects worth over Rs 20,000 crore will be launched, spanning power, rail, road transport, health, and rural development.

The Ahmedabad-Dholera Expressway will be inaugurated, enhancing regional connectivity and supporting industrial development.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Gujarat on Tuesday where he will inaugurate a semiconductor plant at Sanand and lay the foundation stone, inaugurate and dedicate to the nation multiple development projects worth more than Rs 20,000 crore.

The prime minister will also address a gathering after inaugurating the Samrat Samprati Museum in Gandhinagar at around 10 am.

At 12.34 pm, Modi will inaugurate the Kaynes Semicon Plant at Sanand, Ahmedabad, marking the commencement of commercial production at the facility, representing a significant milestone in India's semiconductor journey, the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) said in a statement.

Thereafter, he will travel to Vav-Tharad where, at around 4 pm, he will lay the foundation stone, inaugurate, and dedicate to the nation multiple development projects worth more than Rs 20,000 crore. He will also address a gathering on the occasion.

Semiconductor Plant Inauguration at Sanand

In Sanand, with the inauguration of semiconductor plant, the commercial production at the plant will start with the manufacturing of advanced Intelligent Power Modules (IPMs), which are critical components for automotive and industrial applications requiring compact, efficient, and reliable power switching systems, the statement said.

Each module comprises 17 chips and will be supplied to California-based Alpha and Omega Semiconductor (AOS). When all phases of the plant are completed, it will have the capacity to produce 6.33 million units per day.

The inauguration of the plant is a major step under the India Semiconductor Mission (ISM). It will be the second semiconductor facility, after Micron Technology, among the approved projects under the programme to commence commercial production.

The project holds particular significance as it establishes India's second OSAT/ATMP (Outsourced Semiconductor Assembly and Test / Assembly, Testing, Marking, and Packing) unit entering the production phase.

It also marks the entry of an Indian-origin Electronics Manufacturing Services (EMS) player into semiconductor manufacturing, thereby strengthening domestic capabilities, the statement said.

The facility will contribute to building indigenous semiconductor packaging capacity, addressing a critical gap in India's chip ecosystem, and furthering the vision of self-reliance in high-technology manufacturing.

Samrat Samprati Museum Inauguration

On the occasion of Mahavir Jayanti, the prime minister will inaugurate the Samrat Samprati Museum at Koba Tirth in Gandhinagar.

Named after Samrat Samprati, the grandson of Emperor Ashoka and a revered figure in Jain tradition known for his commitment to non-violence and propagation of Jainism, the museum showcases the rich historical, cultural, and spiritual legacy of Jainism, the statement said.

Located within the Mahavir Jain Aradhana Kendra campus, the museum features seven distinct wings, each dedicated to unique aspects of India's civilizational traditions. It offers visitors a comprehensive journey through centuries of knowledge and heritage.

The museum preserves and displays centuries-old rare relics, Jain artefacts, and traditional heritage collections. These include intricately crafted stone and metal idols, large Tirth Patta and Yantra Patta, miniature paintings, silver chariots, coins, and ancient manuscripts, all exhibited across seven grand galleries.

Housing over two thousand rare treasures arranged in expansive halls, the museum enables visitors to gain a chronological understanding of the evolution of Jainism and its profound cultural impact, the statement said.

Development Projects in Vav-Tharad

In Vav-Tharad, the prime minister will lay the foundation stone, inaugurate, and dedicate to the nation multiple development projects worth more than Rs 20,000 crore.

These projects span key sectors including power, rail, road transport and highways, health, urban development, tribal development, and rural development.

Modi will inaugurate the Ahmedabad-Dholera Expressway, an access-controlled highway built at a cost of over Rs 5,100 crore. The expressway will enhance regional connectivity, support industrial development in the Dholera Special Investment Region (DSIR), and boost economic growth.

Modi will lay the foundation stone for the construction of the four-lane Idara Badoli bypass section with paved shoulders. He will also lay the foundation stone for the upgradation of the Dholavira-Mauvana-Vauva-Santalpur section (Package-II) of NH-754K to a two-lane paved shoulder carriageway.

These projects will strengthen highway infrastructure, improve connectivity to key regions including tourism destinations such as Dholavira, enhance logistics efficiency, and support socio-economic development, the statement said.
News / Africa

by Stephen Jakes

African Union Commission Chairperson Mahmoud Ali Youssouf has called for inclusive dialogue in Somalia as tensions rise in the South West State.In a statement posted on the AUs X account, Youssouf said he was closely monitoring developments and urged Somali stakeholders to use the National Consultative Council as a platform for consensusbuilding.The Chairperson recalls the National Consultative Council as an important framework for inclusive dialogue and encourages all Somali stakeholders to make constructive use of this platform to resolve differences peacefully, the AU said.He emphasised that disagreements between the Federal Government and Federal Member States should be addressed through dialogue, unity and cooperation.Expressing concern over escalating tensions and their potential impact on Somalias stability, security and humanitarian situation, Youssouf urged all parties to exercise restraint.The AU reaffirmed its support for Somalias peace, stability and statebuilding efforts, saying it stands ready to assist with dialogue and reconciliation.
The Bombay High Court has affirmed the Prevention of Money Laundering Act's (PMLA) supremacy over debt recovery laws like SARFAESI and RDB Acts in cases involving the attachment of 'proceeds of crime', clarifying the legal landscape for financial institutions and individuals.

Key Points The Bombay High Court has ruled that the PMLA has an overriding effect over debt recovery laws like SARFAESI and RDB Acts concerning the attachment of 'proceeds of crime'.

The ruling clarifies that debt recovery laws do not make the PMLA subservient due to the distinct objectives of each enactment.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) argued successfully that the PMLA, as a special penal statute, aims at confiscation of tainted property, not debt recovery.

The High Court cited a Supreme Court ruling, confirming that an attachment order under PMLA is not illegal simply because a secured creditor has a prior interest in the property.

The court clarified that claims of legitimate interest must be adjudicated by a Special Court once confiscation has occurred or a trial under PMLA Section 4 has commenced.

The Bombay High Court has ruled that Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) holds an overriding effect over debt recovery laws like SARFAESI and RDB Acts when it comes to the attachment of "proceeds of crime".

In a ruling delivered on March 23, the Nagpur bench of HC set aside previous orders by the PMLA Appellate Tribunal that had favoured the rights of banks to recover debts from attached properties.

The bench of Justices M S Jawalkar and Nandesh Deshpande emphasised that debt recovery laws such as Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act (SARFAESI) and Recovery of Debts and Bankruptcy Act (RBD) "would not render PMLA subservient to it because of the different objects and reasons of both enactments".

The objective of the legislation in PMLA being distinct from the purposes of two other enactments- RDB Act and SARFAESI Act, the latter cannot prevail over the former, it said.

Background of the Case

The case originated from a 2012 Central Bureau of Investigation probe into Grace Industries Ltd regarding irregularities in coal block allocations.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) identified approximately Rs 24.92 crore as "proceeds of crime" and provisionally attached immovable properties belonging to the accused entities in 2015. The attached properties had been mortgaged to respondent HDFC Bank as security for credit facilities extended prior to attachment.

The bank argued that because the properties were mortgaged to it prior to the ED's action, it held statutory priority under the provisions of RDB and SARFAESI Acts.

The bank then approached the Appellate Tribunal under section 26 of the PMLA challenging the attachment. The PMLA Appellate Tribunal passed an order in favour of the bank, holding that "secured creditors enjoy statutory priority" in debt recovery Acts.

The ED, however, challenged the order claiming the Tribunal incorrectly equated the attachment of "proceeds of crime" with government dues recoverable under civil statute. The Tribunal failed to appreciate that PMLA is a special penal statute aimed at confiscation of tainted property, not recovery of debt, the ED further submitted.

The ED contended that the impugned order undermines the confiscatory object of PMLA by subordinating it to civil recovery proceedings.

High Court's Decision and Implications

Citing the Supreme Court's ruling on the matter, the HC noted that provisions of both the enactments cannot be said to be having an overriding effect on each other.

"We confirm the view taken by the Delhi High Court in The Deputy Director, Directorate of Enforcement Delhi v. Axis Bank & Ors that an order of attachment under PMLA is not rendered illegal only because the secured creditor has a prior secured interest in the subject property," the court said.

The HC, however, clarified that if the order of confiscation has been passed, or trial of a case for the offence under section 4 of PMLA is commenced, the claim of a party asserting to have legitimate interest will have to be adjudicated upon only by the Special Court.

Ruling that the Tribunal order was "illegal, arbitrary and contrary to law", the HC granted liberty to the bank to move an appropriate application for release of attachment of property before the Special Court under PMLA provisions.
A cable theft attempt in Beed, Maharashtra, turned deadly when a power transmission tower collapsed, resulting in the deaths of a man and a teenager, prompting a police investigation and multiple arrests.

Key Points Two individuals died in Beed, Maharashtra, after a power transmission tower collapsed during an attempted cable theft.

The victims, a 17-year-old and a man, were allegedly stealing high-voltage cables when the tower gave way.

Accomplices attempted to cover up the incident as a road accident but were discovered after family members raised suspicions.

Police have arrested three individuals in connection with the incident and are searching for three more suspects, including the alleged mastermind.

The investigation revealed a planned theft operation that resulted in the fatal collapse of the power transmission tower.

A man and a teenaged boy died after the power transmission tower they climbed onto to allegedly steal high-voltage cables collapsed in Maharashtra's Beed district, a police official said on Monday.

The incident occurred around 2:30am on Sunday near Nandurghat in Kaij tehsil, which is on the border with Dharashiv district, the official said.

"Avinash Batole (17) and Akash Shriram Ade, both hailing from Medankarwadi near Chakan in Pune district, had arrived at the site with four accomplices in a car owned by one Suraj Giram. The duo climbed the tower, while the accomplices cut the heavy cables from one side, which caused the tower to get disbalanced and keel over," the official said.

"Batole and Ade were crushed to death. Their associates tried to pass off the incident as a road accident. They loaded the bodies in their car and fled to Parbhani district. They then abandoned the vehicle, while Giram moved the two bodies to a nearby hospital in an ambulance," the official added.

However, the plan came unstuck after some kin of Batole and Ade arrived at the hospital, raised suspicion about the deaths and created commotion, which resulted in a team under Kaij assistant police inspector Mahesh Kshirsagar reaching the spot, the official said.

Investigation Uncovers Theft Plot

Further probe led police to the site of the tower collapse, which had bloodstains, footwear, water bottles etc strewn around, leading to unravelling of the chain of events that caused the deaths of Batole and Ade, he said.

"Our probe found the theft was masterminded by one Vaibhav Adak, a resident of Chakan in Pune. We have so far arrested Giram, as well as Ashok Gaikwad and Vaijnath Kadam from Majalgaon in the case. Those absconding are Adak, Akash Pethe and Deepak Bhagat. A team under Kaij inspector Swapnil Unawane is probing further," the official informed.
West Bengal Police have launched an investigation into the tragic drowning of actor Rahul Arunodoy Banerjee at Talsari beach in Odisha, seeking eyewitness accounts and video footage to determine the circumstances surrounding his death.

Photograph: Molly Darlington/Reuters

Key Points West Bengal Police are investigating the alleged drowning of actor Rahul Arunodoy Banerjee at Talsari beach in Odisha.

Police are recording statements from eyewitnesses and those present during the incident to piece together the events.

Investigators are seeking video footage of the incident from Odisha Police, as it occurred under their jurisdiction.

The actor's post-mortem examination has been conducted, and his body is being returned to Kolkata.

Rahul Banerjee was shooting for a Bengali soap opera titled 'Bhole Baba Par Karega' when the incident occurred.

West Bengal Police on Monday recorded statements of eyewitnesses and those present during the alleged drowning of actor Rahul Arunodoy Banerjee at Talsari beach in neighbouring Odisha, even as no formal complaint has been lodged so far, an officer said.

The post-mortem examination of the 43-year-old actor was conducted at Tamralipta Medical College and Hospital, while investigators from Purba Medinipur district police are seeking video footage of the incident from Odisha Police, as it occurred under their jurisdiction, he said.

"Investigators have documented the versions of people who were at the spot as well as those who witnessed the incident in an effort to piece together the sequence of events leading to the actor's death," the officer said.

Purba Medinipur SP Anshuman Saha said efforts are underway to procure crucial video footage from Odisha Police.

"Odisha Police has video footage of Rahul's final moments during the shoot as well as of the incident. In the interest of the investigation, it is not being made public. If required, we will obtain the video," Saha told PTI.

The officer said the actor's relatives, including his maternal uncle, and some friends have reached Tamluk to bring his body back home to Kolkata.

Banerjee died on Sunday after allegedly drowning in the sea at Talsari beach, located in Odisha's Baleswar district near the West Bengal border.

He left behind his 13-year-old son and actor-wife Priyanka Sarkar.

He had gone to the beach for shooting a Bengali soap titled 'Bhole Baba Par Karega', his co-actor Diganta Bagchi said.
Rahul Gandhi accuses Narendra Modi of a tacit alliance with Kerala's LDF, alleging the Prime Minister's silence on the Sabarimala issue is a calculated move to protect the Left Democratic Front's interests in the upcoming elections.

Photograph: ANI Photo

Key Points Rahul Gandhi alleges a hidden alliance between the BJP and the LDF in Kerala, claiming Modi is silent on Sabarimala to protect LDF interests.

Gandhi accuses the LDF of corruption and alleges that the BJP is not taking action against them, suggesting a quid pro quo.

Gandhi claims the LDF's policies are corporatist, similar to the BJP, and criticises their lack of support for rubber farmers.

Gandhi reiterates his allegation that Modi is compromised by Donald Trump and that the Kerala Chief Minister is controlled by corruption.

Gandhi highlights the need for stronger small and medium businesses, agricultural base, better connectivity and IT growth in Kerala.

Launching a sharp attack on the prime minister, senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday alleged that Narendra Modi remained silent on the Sabarimala issue during his Kerala visit, indicating that the BJP-LDF works together.

Addressing a Congress election meeting in Adoor here, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha claimed that the party was facing a "combination" of CPI(M) and BJP in the April 9 Assembly elections.

"We are fighting an election against the LDF, which is fully supported by the BJP. On one side is the UDF and on the other is a CPI(M)-BJP combination," he said.

Many years ago, a famous economist said that there is a hidden hand in the market, and he was making a point about economics.

"But here in the Kerala elections, there is a hidden hand of the BJP," he said.

He said that the BJP does not want the UDF here because they know that the only force that challenges them in the country is the Congress party.

"The BJP understands that the Left Front, the LDF, can never challenge them at the national level. They also know that if they are in power in Delhi, then any LDF government in Kerala is fully under their control," he said.

He said that those who fight the BJP get attacked by the BJP and are threatened.

"I have been attacked, I have 36 cases on me. I was interrogated for 55 hours non-stop," he said.

He alleged that there is no such action against the chief minister of Kerala.

"Everybody knows that the LDF leadership is corrupt. There are cases ongoing, but there is no pressure on them from the BJP. There is no interrogation, there are no threats," he said.

Sabarimala Temple Controversy

He said that the prime minister, wherever he goes, talks about temples and religion.

"But somehow, he has forgotten about what happened in Sabarimala during his visit to Palakkad," he said.

"He has forgotten that the Left Front leaders stole from the Ayyappa temple. He has forgotten that the Left Front leaders took the gold of the Ayyappa temple and replaced it with brass," he alleged in the district where the Lord Ayyappa temple is located.

Gandhi claimed that the prime minister remained silent to avoid damaging the BJP.

"It shows two things. The first is that the BJP and LDF are working together. The second is that Narendra Modi does not care about religion, Hinduism or temples," he said.

"If it brings votes, he will speak about temples. If he wants to protect the interests of the LDF, he will not speak about temples," he added.

He said that a UDF government would ensure that those responsible for alleged irregularities related to the temple are punished.

LDF's Economic Policies and Support for Rubber Farmers

He also alleged that the LDF no longer behaves like a Left party.

"In their actions and policies, they are as corporatist as the BJP. It is a corporate-supported and funded government," he said.

He said that the UDF had supported rubber farmers and protected the rubber sector in the past, including providing compensation during difficult times.

"The LDF refuses to compensate rubber workers. They don't care about protecting them and are happy to have relations with big business," he alleged.

He said that Congress would introduce measures to protect rubber farmers and workers from price fluctuations.

"We will systematically protect them and compensate them when the market is against them," he said.

Allegations of External Influence

Rahul reiterated his allegation that Modi is compromised by former US President Donald Trump over financial dealings.

He claimed that when the issue was raised in Parliament, the prime minister avoided responding.

He further alleged that just as Trump controls Modi, the prime minister controls the Kerala Chief Minister.

"Like Modi is controlled by his financial system, your chief minister is controlled by his corruption and financial system," he said.

Rahul said the people of Kerala value the environment and coexistence, and that different communities and religions live together with mutual respect.

"You teach a lot to the rest of the country," he said.

He added that humility, love and respect were lessons he learnt while serving as MP of Wayanad, and praised the people of Kerala for their unity during times of tragedy.

He also raised concerns about the lack of industries and employment opportunities for youth, alleging that major industries in the country are concentrated in the hands of a few corporate companies.

"Kerala needs strong small and medium businesses, a strengthened agricultural base, better connectivity and IT growth, along with protection for its people," he said.

He reiterated that the five guarantees announced by Congress would be implemented if the party comes to power.
During the Kerala election campaign, Rahul Gandhi accused the CPI(M) of stealing gold from the Sabarimala temple and criticised PM Modi's silence, while also addressing concerns about rubber prices and the FCRA amendments.

Photograph: DPR PMO/ANI Photo

Key Points Rahul Gandhi accuses CPI(M) leaders of stealing gold from the Sabarimala temple during Kerala election campaign.

Gandhi questions PM Modi's silence on the Sabarimala gold theft issue, alleging a hidden alliance between BJP and LDF.

Gandhi promises to fix rubber prices at Rs 250 per kg if the UDF government is elected in Kerala.

Gandhi raises concerns about the FCRA amendment bill, alleging it favours the RSS and restricts foreign contributions to other organisations.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday raised the pitch for the UDF's campaign for the Kerala polls, targeting the CPI(M) by singing a line from a popular parody song about its leaders' reported role in the gold theft at the Sabarimala temple, while also questioning PM Modi's alleged silence on the issue.

Addressing corner meetings for the Congress-led alliance's candidates in various constituencies in the Pathanamthitta and Kottayam districts, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha alleged that the UDF was facing a "combination" of the CPI(M) and the BJP in the April 9 Assembly elections.

As he sang the line "swarnam kattathu aarappa" ("who stole the gold of Ayyappa") from a song used by the UDF to influence voters against the Left during the local body polls a few months ago, at a corner meeting in Pathanamthitta -- the district where the hill shrine of Lord Ayyappa is located-- the crowd cheered Rahul.

In his election meetings in Kottayam district, which is known as the land of latex and has a significant Christian population, Rahul raised the issue of falling rubber prices and the proposed FCRA amendments, against which the Church has come out openly against the BJP-led Centre.

Sabarimala Gold Loss Issue

Attacking the Left and the BJP over the Sabarimala gold loss issue, the Congress leader said in Adoor that the prime minister, wherever he goes, talks about temples and religion.

"But somehow, he has forgotten about what happened in Sabarimala, during his visit to Palakkad," he said, referring to the PM's speech at the massive poll rally there on Sunday for the NDA candidates.

"He has forgotten that the Left Front leaders stole from the Ayyappa temple. He has forgotten that the Left Front leaders took the gold of the Ayyappa temple and replaced it with brass," he alleged.

Rahul claimed that the prime minister remained silent to avoid damaging the LDF.

"It shows two things. The first is that the BJP and LDF are working together. The second is that Narendra Modi does not care about religion, Hinduism or temples," he said.

"If it brings votes, he will speak about temples. If he wants to protect the interests of the LDF, he will not speak about temples," he added.

He said that a UDF government would ensure that those responsible for alleged irregularities related to the temple are punished.

"We are fighting an election against the LDF, which is fully supported by the BJP," he said.

Many years ago, a famous economist said that there is a hidden hand in the market, and he was making a point about economics. "But here in the Kerala elections, there is a hidden hand of the BJP," he said.

He said that the BJP does not want the UDF here because it knows that the only force that challenges it in the country is the Congress party.

"The BJP understands that the Left Front, the LDF, can never challenge it at the national level. They also know that if they are in power in Delhi, then any LDF government in Kerala is fully under their control," Rahul said.

He said that those who fight the BJP are attacked and threatened.

"I have been attacked, I have 36 cases against me. I was interrogated for 55 hours non-stop," he said.

He alleged that there has been no such action against the chief minister of Kerala.

"Everybody knows that the LDF leadership is corrupt. There are cases ongoing, but there is no pressure on them from the BJP. There is no interrogation, there are no threats," he said.

FCRA Amendment Bill and Rubber Prices

Addressing an election rally in Puthuppally in Kottayam district for late former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy's son, Chandy Oommen, Rahul said the introduction of the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA) amendment Bill raised serious concerns.

The FCRA has emerged as a key issue in Kottayam district, which has a large Christian community.

"Suddenly, we noticed that an FCRA Bill had been brought in. The interesting thing is that there is only one organisation that can receive money from abroad. No other organisation can receive money from abroad except the RSS," he alleged.

He further claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi could access foreign finances through industrialist Gautam Adani, while the RSS would benefit from the proposed FCRA norms.

"What is special about the RSS that there are separate rules for them? They spread hatred and divide people. That is how the BJP functions," he said.

Rahul also alleged that the Centre's policies offer little benefit to the common people.

Touching on local issues, he referred to rubber farming, the popular cash crop in Kottayam district, and accused the LDF of "failing" to fulfil its promise to fix rubber prices.

"In 2016, the LDF promised to fix rubber prices at Rs 250 per kg. In 2026, they are talking about Rs 200, while the current market price is around Rs 220," he said.

He said the first decision of a UDF government would be to fix the rubber price at Rs 250.

Rahul added that the party's manifesto envisions increasing rubber prices to Rs 300 in a phased manner.

"It is our commitment that on the first day of our government, the price will be Rs 250, and then it will increase further," he said.
An elderly couple was brutally murdered in their Rajasthan home, prompting a police investigation into a suspected robbery and the detention of four suspects.

Photograph: ANI Photo

Key Points An elderly couple, both retired teachers, were allegedly murdered in their home in Beawar, Rajasthan.

Police suspect the motive was robbery and have detained four people, including two minors, in connection with the crime.

The couple's bodies were discovered after neighbours noticed water flowing from their house.

A forensic team is collecting evidence, and CCTV footage is being examined as part of the investigation into the Beawar double murder.

A couple was allegedly beaten to death with iron rods at their residence in Beawar district of Rajasthan, police said on Monday.

Superintendent of Police (SP) Beawar, Ratan Singh, said four people, including two minors, have been detained in connection with the incident. Prima facie, they were murdered with the intention of loot, he said.

The victims, Vinod Kumar Sharma (68) and his wife Purnima Sharma (65)  both retired teachers  were alone at home at the time of the incident as their son, a software engineer, was out of the city for work.

The incident came to light on Sunday evening when water continued to flow out of the couple's house, following which neighbours grew suspicious and informed a relative of the couple.

The relative and the neighbours, upon reaching the house, found the couple lying in a blood-soaked condition inside the premises. An iron rod was also found nearby, police said.

A team from the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) in Ajmer was called to collect evidence, and CCTV footage from nearby areas was examined.

The couple's son works in Gurugram and reached home on Sunday night after being informed about the incident, police added.

The SP said that the postmortem of the bodies is being conducted.
The bodies of two missing men have been found in a well in Rajasthan, India, leading police to suspect murder and launch a full investigation into the circumstances surrounding their deaths.

Photograph: ANI Photo

Key Points Bodies of two men, Surendra (26) and Vishnu (16), were discovered in a well in Jaitpura village, Ajmer district, Rajasthan.

The men had been missing since March 20, prompting a missing persons report.

Police suspect the men were assaulted and then thrown into the well, initiating a murder investigation.

A Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) team is collecting evidence from the scene to determine the cause of death.

Days after two men had gone missing from a village in Rajasthan's Ajmer district, their bodies were recovered from a well on Monday, with police suspecting that they were killed and thrown into the well, police said.

The incident came to light after residents of Jaitpura village in Bhinay area noticed a foul smell in the area and began a search, they added.

Upon searching, the bodies of Surendra (26) and Vishnu (16) were found inside the well, police said.

According to police, "Both had left home on a motorcycle on the evening of March 20. A missing persons report was filed the next day."

"Prima facie, it appears the two may have been assaulted and later thrown into the well," they added.

A team from the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) in Ajmer reached the spot and began collecting evidence.

The bodies have been kept at the mortuary of a local government hospital for postmortem.
A retired Army brigadier tragically lost his life in Dehradun after being caught in a crossfire stemming from a heated dispute over a nightclub bill, leading to multiple arrests and a police investigation.

Key Points A retired Army brigadier was fatally shot in Dehradun during a crossfire between two groups involved in a dispute over a nightclub bill.

Four individuals, including the owner of the 'Zen-G' nightclub, have been arrested in connection with the Dehradun shooting incident.

The dispute originated at the nightclub over a reduced bill, escalating into property damage and a subsequent chase and exchange of gunfire.

Police have sealed the nightclub and are recommending the cancellation of its licence due to violations of operating rules.

Several suspects remain at large, and police are conducting raids to apprehend them in connection with the Dehradun murder case.

A routine morning walk turned fatal for a retired Army brigadier in Dehradun on Monday after he was shot allegedly during a crossfire between two groups following a dispute over a bill at a nightclub, police said.

Four people, including a nightclub owner, have been arrested in connection with the incident that took place in Johri village on Mussoorie Road in the Rajpur area early Monday.

At a press conference, Dehradun Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Pramendra Singh Dobal said those arrested are Sandeep Kumar, owner of the 'Zen-G' nightclub at Kuthal Gate, Aditya Chaudhary, Rohit Kumar and Akhlaq.

Kumar's nightclub, which remained open through the night in violation of rules, has been sealed, and a recommendation will be sent to the district magistrate to cancel its licence, the officer said.

Nightclub Dispute and Escalation

According to the police, the chain of events began late Sunday night when a dispute broke out at the nightclub between Aditya Chaudhary and Mohit Agarwal, an employee of the 'Zen-G' nightclub, over a reduced bill.

The argument escalated when Mohit and two other staff members allegedly smashed the windows of Chaudhary's new Scorpio car, which did not have a number plate, the SSP said.

After leaving the club, Chaudhary and his associates allegedly waited nearby to confront the staff. When Mohit and other employees left the club in their employer's Delhi-registered Fortuner in the morning, Chaudhary's group chased them, he added.

During the pursuit, one of Chaudhary's associates, Shantanu, allegedly fired at the Fortuner to force it to stop, triggering an exchange of fire between the groups.

Retired Brigadier Mukesh Joshi (74), who was out for a morning walk, was struck by a bullet and later died in hospital.

The official further said that following the incident, the Fortuner car went out of control and crashed into a roadside tree near the Government Primary School in Johri. Subsequently, Aditya and his associates assaulted Rohit Kumar, Akhlaq, and others travelling in a Fortuner car, causing severe damage to their vehicle.

Investigation and Arrests

Dobal said that, due to police roadblocks, Aditya and his associates hid their Scorpio in a secluded spot within the forests along Thano Road and subsequently dispersed to various locations using different means of transport.

SSP Dobal said that when the police took Rohit and Akhlaq into custody for questioning, they initially claimed the shooting was carried out by the occupants of the Scorpio following a dispute over overtaking, thereby attempting to mislead the police.

The official stated that upon subsequent rigorous interrogation, they admitted to possessing weapons themselves and confessed to having opened fire as well.

The SSP said that the youths travelling in the Scorpio are predominantly students hailing from Delhi and Bihar, who are currently pursuing their studies at educational institutions in Dehradun.

Police later recovered the Scorpio from a forested stretch along Thano Road and seized both vehicles. Two country-made pistols, four live cartridges and two spent shells were also recovered.

A murder case has been registered at Rajpur police station on the complaint of the brigadier's relative, Rakesh Kumar Upreti.

Several accused who were in the Scorpio -- Shantanu Tyagi, Kavish Tyagi, Sameer Chaudhary and Vaibhav -- remain absconding, and raids are underway to arrest them, police said.
A driver in Maharashtra suffered a brutal attack, including having his genitals severed, following a roadside argument, prompting a police investigation into the shocking road rage incident.

Key Points A driver in Maharashtra was brutally attacked after a dispute over a roadside stop.

The victim's genitals were severed during the assault by occupants of a van.

The incident occurred near Shindewadi village on the Gangapur-Lasur road.

Police have registered a case and are searching for the six to seven suspects involved in the attack.

The victim is receiving treatment at the Gangapur sub-district hospital.

Unidentified van occupants allegedly attacked a goods vehicle driver and severed his genitals after a quarrel over stopping at a sharp turn in Maharashtra's Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar district, police said on Monday.

The incident occurred on Saturday night near Shindewadi village on the Gangapur-Lasur road, and a search was on for the culprits, they said.

The 32-year-old victim was returning with a friend after dropping off a consignment in his mini pick-up vehicle, an official from Gangapur police station told PTI.

The vehicle halted at a sharp turn due to a technical problem. A passing van narrowly avoided a collision with it, sparking a quarrel between the occupants of the two vehicles.

The victim fled into a nearby field, chased by six to seven persons from the van. They allegedly thrashed him and severed his genitals before abandoning him on a nearby road, the official said.

The victim was later taken to the Gangapur sub-district hospital for treatment, he said.

Police Investigation Underway

"We have registered a case in this connection. We have learnt that a group of six-seven persons was allegedly involved in this incident. They are on the run, and we are searching for them," the official said.
A Mumbai man was recently scammed out of 1.57 crore in a 'digital arrest' cyber fraud, highlighting the growing threat of online scams and the importance of cyber security awareness.

IMAGE: Illustration: Dominic Xavier/Rediff

Key Points A 69-year-old Mumbai resident lost 1.57 crore in a 'digital arrest' cyber fraud.

The victim was tricked by criminals posing as police officers who threatened him with arrest.

The scam involved a fake courtroom and demands to transfer funds to 'official accounts'.

An autorickshaw driver was arrested for his role in the scam, highlighting the network involved.

Police are investigating to apprehend other individuals involved in the sophisticated cyber fraud racket.

A 69-year-old man was cheated of Rs 1.57 crore in a 'digital arrest' cyber fraud, a Mumbai police official said on Monday.

The victim, a resident of Andheri who retired from a private firm, was trapped by a cyber criminal who called him in December last year and claimed he had been circulating obscene clips for the sake of extortion, the West Region Division Cyber Cell official said citing the complaint.

Details of the Cyber Fraud

"He also got calls from the accused posing as police officers. He was threatened with arrest. The accused even showed him a fake courtroom. The victim was told to transfer all his funds to so-called official accounts as part of the investigation or face immediate arrest. He transferred Rs 1.57 crore, after which the calls stopped," the official said.

Arrest and Ongoing Investigation

On realising he had been duped, the senior citizen approached police, which managed to unravel the money trail, leading to the arrest of autorickshaw driver Ashok Pal.

"Pal was arrested for allowing his bank account for parking of funds in return for a commission. Efforts are on to nab others involved in this racket," the official added.
News / National

by Stephen Jakes

Political analyst and concerned citizen Kennedy Kaitano has written an open letter to the international community raising alarm over the alleged abduction and torture of Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) candidate for GokweCheriya, Joseph Gumbo.

Gumbo was reportedly abducted last week by three men, one of whom was allegedly armed with an AK47 rifle, as he left his mothers home in Nembudziya.Kaitano said Gumbo was taken to the local Heroes Acre where he was severely assaulted before being moved to the Government Complex for interrogation.He was accused of mobilising people against the Zimbabwe Constitutional Amendment Bill Number Three. He was threatened with death during the torture and interrogation process, Kaitano said.He added that the abductors appeared to have been informed that Gumbo intended to educate the community on the implications of the Bill and distribute literature for those opposed to it.According to Kaitano, the abductors went to Gumbos mothers home to retrieve the documents and allegedly planted drugs in the envelope containing them.He was then taken to a police station where they accused him of possessing drugs and holding illegal meetings to mobilise people against Constitutional Amendment Bill Number 3. Gumbo denies ever planning such meetings and says he was only going to visit his 2023 campaign manager to share his views on the Bill, he said.Kaitano said Gumbo managed to identify one of the alleged abductors, whose surname is Ndebele. He appealed to the international community to intervene in what he described as escalating democratic and humanrights violations in Zimbabwe.He also accused Zanu PF and Ministry of Education officials of coercing schoolchildren in rural areas to sign forms supporting Constitutional Amendment Bill Number 3.Kaitano noted that the Minister of Primary and Secondary Education, Torerayi Moyo  who is also the MP for GokweCheriya and defeated Gumbo in the 2023 elections  has been linked to the matter, although the extent of his involvement is unclear.It is not known how involved Minister Moyo is in the abuse of children in this way. It is also not known at what level atrocities against people opposed to the unconstitutional manner in which Zanu PF is pushing for the extension of President Mnangagwas tenure are being planned, he said.Kaitano urged authorities to investigate the alleged abuses and ensure that those responsible for abductions and torture are brought to justice.
Three shop owners in Maharashtra, India, are facing legal action for allegedly selling Pakistani-made beauty products, sparking an investigation into illegal trade and import violations.

Key Points Three shop owners in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar are booked for selling beauty products made in Pakistan.

The individuals face charges under the Foreign Trade Act and Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita for trading prohibited items.

Police seized 28 items, including soaps, from the shops during the investigation.

The case was brought to the attention of the police by Maharashtra Navnirman Sena functionaries.

Three persons were booked in Maharashtra's Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar city for allegedly selling beauty products made in Pakistan, a police official said on Monday.

Shop owners Mohammed Abrar (26), Ankur Agrawal (35) and Juman Khan (48) were booked on Sunday under Foreign Trade (Development and Regulation) Act and Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita for trading in items prohibited for import, cheating and other offences, the City Chowk police station official said.

Investigation and Seizure

"We seized 28 items, including soaps, from three shops owned by Abrar, Agrawal and Khan. Further probe into the case is underway," he added.

Police was alerted to the matter by Maharashtra Navnirman Sena functionaries, the official said.
A 19-year-old man in Beed, Maharashtra, is on the run after allegedly murdering his father with a stone while he slept, prompting a police manhunt and investigation into the motive behind the shocking crime.

Photograph: ANI Photo

Key Points A 19-year-old man is accused of murdering his father in the Beed district of Maharashtra.

The accused allegedly used a stone to kill his father while he was sleeping.

Police have launched a manhunt to apprehend the suspect, who fled after the incident.

The incident occurred in Kada town, Ashti tehsil, and the victim was a daily wage labourer.

The motive behind the alleged murder is currently unknown and under investigation.

A 19-year-old man allegedly killed his father by smashing his head with a stone while the latter was asleep in their house in Maharashtra's Beed district, police said on Monday.

The accused, Kiran Mule, absconded after the attack that occurred in Kada town in Ashti tehsil on Sunday night, and police teams have been formed to track him down, an official said.

He said that the accused, who was in an inebriated state, attacked his father, Anil Sajan Mule (50), while the latter was asleep in their makeshift hut near a bus stop.

His mother discovered the body in the early hours of the day, he said.

The victim was a daily wage labourer, the official said, adding that the exact reason behind the attack is yet to be ascertained.
A Thane carpenter was allegedly scammed out of 2.92 lakh after being promised a lucrative job in Russia, highlighting the risks of overseas employment fraud and the importance of verifying job offers.

Photograph: Reuters

Key Points A Thane resident was allegedly defrauded of 2.92 lakh with the promise of a job in Russia.

The accused promised an employment visa and job at a mall but provided a temporary visa instead.

Upon arrival in Russia, the victim was allegedly forced to do strenuous work different from what was promised.

Police have registered a case against three individuals for cheating, criminal breach of trust, and criminal intimidation.

The police are investigating the role of the involved travel agency in the Russia job scam.

Police have registered a case against three persons for allegedly cheating a man from Maharashtra's Thane district of Rs 2.92 lakh under the pretext of providing him a good job in Russia, officials said on Monday.

The accused assured the 38-year-old complainant, a carpenter from Badlapur (East), that they would arrange employment for him at a mall in Russia through a travel firm.

They promised to provide an employment visa along with the necessary arrangements, such as a passport, visa and tickets, and took Rs 2.92 lakh from him between November 2025 and January this year.

"However, the complainant was allegedly sent abroad on a temporary visa instead of an employment visa," an official from Bhiwandi police station said.

The complainant further alleged that after reaching Russia, he was made to perform strenuous work and not provided the job as promised. The accused also failed to return the amount taken from him, the official said.

Legal Action and Investigation

Based on the complaint, the police registered a case on Saturday against two men and a woman under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita sections 318(4) (cheating), 316(2) (criminal breach of trust), 351(2) (criminal intimidation) and 3(5) (common intention), he said.

Search was on for the accused, and the police were also verifying the role of the travel agency involved, the official said.
Delhi Police have made multiple arrests following two separate stabbing incidents in Gokalpuri and Nand Nagri, highlighting ongoing efforts to combat violent crime in the city.

Key Points Three individuals, including two juveniles, were apprehended for allegedly stabbing two minors in Delhi's Gokalpuri area following a minor altercation.

In a separate incident in Nand Nagri, two men were arrested for allegedly stabbing a 26-year-old man without provocation.

Delhi Police recovered the knives used in both stabbing incidents, aiding in the arrests of the suspects.

Investigations are currently underway in both the Gokalpuri and Nand Nagri stabbing cases to determine the full extent of the crimes and any additional involved parties.

Delhi Police have apprehended three people, including two juveniles, for allegedly stabbing two minors in northeast Delhi's Gokalpuri area. In a separate incident, two men were arrested for attacking a 26-year-old man in Nand Nagri.

Gokalpuri Stabbing Incident

The Gokalpuri incident occurred on March 28 near Ganga Vihar after a minor altercation between two 17-year-old boys and the accused. The victims had met a friend near a pipeline when an argument broke out with Kartik (19) and his associates.

The accused stabbed both victims and fled. Police transported the injured to GTB Hospital. A case was registered, leading to Kartik's arrest in Shahdara. His two juvenile associates were subsequently apprehended. The knife used in the crime was recovered.

Nand Nagri Attack

In Nand Nagri, Lokesh, a 26-year-old man, was allegedly stabbed without provocation while returning home in Sunder Nagri on Sunday. He was taken to GTB Hospital by a PCR van. Based on his statement, a case was registered, and an investigation was launched.

A team arrested Zuber alias Zubbi (22) and Deepak (20), both residents of Sunder Nagri. During interrogation, they admitted to their involvement in the attack, and the knife used was recovered. Zuber was previously involved in a snatching case. Further investigation in both cases is underway.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath addressed public grievances during a 'Janta Darshan', ordering swift action on issues ranging from farmer harassment and land encroachments to infrastructure problems and support for athletes.

Key Points UP CM Yogi Adityanath orders officials to ensure farmers face no harassment and to take strict action against those responsible.

Adityanath directs action against encroachments on a temple in Unnao following a complaint.

The Chief Minister instructs local authorities to address the issue of a dilapidated village road in Balrampur.

Adityanath assures support for athletes, directing officials to assist a shooter from Farrukhabad in obtaining a licence.

The CM emphasises fair resolution of land and family disputes, and orders examination of illegal colony concerns in Lucknow.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Monday directed officials to ensure that farmers do not face any harassment in the state, during a 'Janta Darshan' where he met people to listen to their grievances.

Aditynath collected applications from the complainants and emphasised that the government remains committed to addressing the genuine concerns of every citizen. He instructed officials to take immediate cognisance of all petitions and ensure effective follow-up action.

Addressing Farmer Grievances and Land Disputes

Among the grievances was a farmer from Budaun who alleged that his crop was destroyed by unidentified people, and that no police action was taken.

The chief minister directed officials to ensure that farmers do not face harassment and that strict legal action is taken against those responsible.

During the event, Mamta Tiwari from Bangarmau in Unnao alleged that some people had encroached upon a temple and were preventing worship. Taking serious note, he directed the superintendent of police to initiate appropriate action without delay.

Infrastructure and Community Issues

A complainant from Balrampur raised the issue of a dilapidated village road, alleging that the village head had stalled its construction for years, causing inconvenience to residents.

The chief minister instructed local authorities to visit the site, interact with villagers, assess the situation, and ensure the construction of the road.

Support for Athletes

A shooter from Farrukhabad also submitted an application, stating that he participated in various competitions and won medals, and requested assistance in obtaining a licence. To this, Adityanath said athletes are a valuable asset and directed officials to take appropriate action on the application.

Resolving Land and Family Disputes

Several complaints related to land and family disputes were also received during the 'Janata Darshan'.

Taking note of these, the chief minister instructed officials to act in accordance with rules and ensure fair resolution.

A complainant from Lucknow raised concerns over an illegal colony, prompting the chief minister to direct the housing commissioner to examine the matter and take action according to norms.

Others complained about encroachments on government land and expressed dissatisfaction with police action. The chief minister directed authorities to act on such complaints with special emphasis on ensuring satisfaction of the aggrieved.

In another case, a complainant from Sarojini Nagar alleged land encroachment and demolition of a boundary wall. Adityanath directed the sub-divisional magistrate of Sarojini Nagar to ensure the timely disposal of the case.

The chief minister issued directions to officials to ensure prompt and time-bound resolution of complaints on a priority basis.
A Palghar man and his friend have been arrested for the brutal, premeditated murder of his wife, suspected of infidelity, in a case highlighting the persistence of honour killings in India.

Key Points A man in Palghar, Maharashtra, has been arrested for allegedly murdering his wife due to suspicions about her character.

The accused, with the help of a friend, stabbed his wife and crushed her head in a premeditated attack.

The crime branch investigation involved examining missing persons reports and scanning CCTV footage to identify the suspects.

The murder took place in Shiravli village near the Vajeshwari-Shirsad road, where the victim's body was discovered.

Both the husband and his accomplice are natives of Azamgarh district in Uttar Pradesh and were residing in Nalasopara East.

In a brutal premeditated murder, a 26-year-old man, who suspected his wife's character, allegedly stabbed her to death with the help of his friend in a remote village in Maharashtra's Palghar district, police said on Monday.

According to the Mira Bhayandar Vasai Virar (MBVV) police, the accused, Roshan Ramjam Yadav, brought his wife Madhubala alias Priyakumari (23) to Nalasopara from their hometown in Uttar Pradesh just days before the murder, an official said.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Sandeep Doiphode said that the crime branch on March 28 arrested Yadav and his friend Bhanu Pratap (30) for the murder that took place on March 19.

"On March 21, the decomposed body of an unidentified woman was found in a field in Shiravli village near the Vajeshwari-Shirsad road. The post-mortem report revealed that the victim's throat had been slit and she had also suffered severe head injuries," he said.

Investigation and Arrest

During the probe, the crime branch examined missing persons reports from neighbouring districts and scanned more than 500 CCTV footages before zeroing in on the two suspects, the official said.

The accused are natives of Azamgarh district in Uttar Pradesh and were residing in Nalasopara East.

"A probe revealed that Yadav had brought his wife to Nalasopara from UP on March 15 with a clear intention of murdering her. He hatched a conspiracy with his friend Bhanu Pratap," he said.

On March 19, the duo took her to the isolated spot in Shiravli village on a motorcycle, where they allegedly stabbed her in the neck and crushed her head with a stone to ensure she was dead, the official said.
Israels special envoy said that 80 percent of the rocket launches of Iran have been destroyed and the top echelon of their military and political leadership has also been eliminated.

IMAGE: A woman talks on a phone while standing amid a damaged residential neighbourhood hit by a strike as the US-Israeli conflict with Iran continues, in Tehran, Iran, March 30, 2026. Photograph: Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters

As the ongoing conflict in West Asia enters its second month, Fleur Hassan-Nahoum, special envoy, foreign ministry of Israel, has asserted that the situation has effectively been a "multi-front regional conflict" since its inception, while claiming significant military and strategic gains against adversarial forces.

Key Points Nahoum said the nature of the conflict expanded almost immediately after initial hostilities began.

After a month of the conflict, Israel claims Iran's entire navy has been destroyed.

Referring to India's diplomatic outreach, she acknowledged New Delhi's balanced stance and its ties across stakeholders.

Speaking to ANI from Jerusalem, Nahoum said the nature of the conflict expanded almost immediately after initial hostilities began.

"Well, we've been involved in a multi-front regional conflict since the 7th of October, when we were attacked by the Iranians' proxy Hamas from the south. And then on the 8th of October, when we are attacked by an Iranian proxy from the north. And so multi-front is already something happening for a long time, unfortunately."

Highlighting developments over the past month, she pointed to what she described as a substantial degradation of hostile capabilities.

"Today, we see that after a month, there are considerable military gains. Around 80 percent of the rocket launches of the Islamic Republic have been destroyed. The entire navy has been destroyed. The entire top echelon of their military leadership and political leadership has mainly been destroyed."

She further claimed internal instability within Iran, stating, "And we see every day cracks in the regime leadership, defections from the Basij, and absolute chaos when it comes to their strategies at the moment. They're just, you know, sending rockets at any country that they can get their hands on. So I think that there have been considerable military gains."

On the evolving United States approach, Nahoum underscored a dual-track strategy combining diplomacy with military pressure. "At every single moment, at every single crossroads of this, President Trump has always given a chance to negotiate a settlement. And it has been the intransigence of the Islamic Republic that didn't get to a settlement and nothing else."

She added that such a strategy allows room for de-escalation while maintaining operational leverage.

"I think that is a good strategy to always give them a ladder to climb down from the tree, but at the same time, keep making those military gains to destroy them when we have to."

Commenting on reports of Pakistan attempting to play a mediatory role despite lacking diplomatic ties with Israel, she expressed scepticism. "I mean, I don't know what the Pakistanis think they're doing. I think they're trying to make themselves relevant. They are themselves a huge problem in the world of jihadi terrorism. But, you know, they can try. I'm not sure they'll be very successful."

On the question of Iran's nuclear programme, she ruled out any compromise.

"No, absolutely not. We cannot have a regime calling for total destruction, at the same time having weapons of mass destruction. There cannot be any compromise when it comes to the nuclear weapons that they have, or they can enrich quickly."

Referring to India's diplomatic outreach, she acknowledged New Delhi's balanced stance and its ties across stakeholders.

"India is a very close ally to Israel. As you know, your prime minister was here only a few days before the war. And we understand that India keeps great relations with everyone. And they can be a much better mediator, if you ask me, than Pakistan. But let's see how things develop."
Amid the escalating West Asia conflict, India confirms the deaths of eight nationals while actively working to repatriate citizens and provide necessary support.

Photograph: Avi Ohayon/Reuters

Key Points Eight Indian nationals have died and one is missing in West Asia due to the ongoing conflict, prompting a response from the Indian government.

The Indian government is providing support to the families of the deceased and coordinating with local authorities for the return of remains.

The MEA is facilitating the return of Indian nationals from the region through various routes due to flight restrictions and airspace closures.

Prime Minister Modi discussed the West Asia conflict with the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, emphasising the need for de-escalation and freedom of navigation.

The Indian government is addressing academic concerns for students in the region and providing support to Indian seafarers affected by the conflict.

Amid the escalating West Asia conflict, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Monday said eight Indian nationals have lost their lives while one remains missing in "various incidents" in the region.

At an inter-ministerial briefing in New Delhi on the West Asia situation, additional secretary (Gulf), MEA, Aseem R Mahajan, also said, "Yesterday, an Indian national unfortunately lost his life in an attack in Kuwait."

However, he did not elaborate upon the circumstances of this death.

"We express our deepest condolences to the family of the deceased. Our Mission in Kuwait is in touch with the family of the deceased and is coordinating closely with the local authorities to render all support and for early return of his mortal remains to India," he said.

On March 20, at an inter-ministerial briefing on the West Asia situation, Mahajan had told reporters that six Indian nationals had lost their lives while one remained missing in "various incidents".

On Monday, he shared an update, saying, "eight Indian nationals have unfortunately lost their lives and one Indian national remains missing in various incidents".

The Indian embassy in Saudi Arabia recently said that an Indian national was killed in Riyadh due to the "recent events of March 18".

The ministry also shared that since February 28, around 5.5 lakh passengers have returned from the region to India.

The MEA on Monday reiterated that it continues to closely monitor the evolving situation in the Gulf and West Asia region.

"We continue to call for restraint and de-escalation, and at the same time emphasise on dialogue and diplomacy, as a means to an early end to the conflict," MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said.

He also said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on March 28, spoke to the Crown Prince and PM of Saudi Arabia, Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and discussed with him the ongoing conflict in West Asia and agreed on the need to ensure freedom of navigation.

In his telephonic conversation, the prime minister also reiterated India's condemnation of attacks on regional energy infrastructure.

Mahajan said safety, security and welfare of the large Indian community in the region remains "our utmost priority".

"Our dedicated special Control Room remains operational... Our Missions and Posts across the region are functioning round the clock, operating 24x7 helplines, issuing regular updated advisories and remaining actively engaged with the Indian community associations, organisations and Indian companies spread across the region," he said

Further, the CBSE has already notified the assessment scheme for the declaration of results of Class X and Class XII in the region, following the cancellation of exams due to the ongoing conflict.

Academic concerns, particularly those related to CBSE, ICSE, Kerala boards and JEE and NEET exams, are being addressed through regular outreach to parents and students, the MEA said.

Also, particular attention is being given to the welfare of Indian seafarers. The Indian missions are in continuous contact with Indian crew members on vessels across the region to provide support, it said.

Facilitating travel and airspace restrictions

Mahajan said airlines continue to operate limited non-scheduled flights between India and the UAE.

Around 85 flights are expected to operate from the UAE to India later on Monday.

Flights are operating from various airports in Saudi Arabia and Oman to different destinations in India. With the Qatar airspace partially open, Qatar Airways is expected to operate around 10 flights to India on March 30, it said.

Kuwait and Bahrain airspace remain closed. Jazeera Airways of Kuwait and Gulf Air of Bahrain have been operating non-scheduled commercial flights from the airport of Saudi Arabia to various destinations in India, the MEA official said.

"Due to flight restrictions and airspace closure, we continue to facilitate travel of Indian nationals from Iran through Armenia and Azerbaijan, to India,... and from Israel, from Egypt and Jordan to India, from Iraq through Jordan and Saudi Arabia to India, and from Kuwait and Bahrain through Saudi Arabia to India," he said.
An Ahmedabad court convicts the wife of a former Income Tax Officer in a long-standing disproportionate assets case, highlighting ongoing efforts to combat corruption and financial crimes in India.

Photograph: ANI Photo

Key Points Jasodaben Vadadia, wife of a former Income Tax Officer, has been sentenced to two years rigorous imprisonment in a disproportionate assets case.

The case, registered in 2007, involved Rameshbhai Vadadia, who was accused of amassing assets disproportionate to his income.

Rameshbhai Vadadia passed away during the trial, leading to the case against him being dropped.

Jasodaben Vadadia was found guilty of abetting her husband in acquiring disproportionate assets.

The court also imposed a fine of Rs 20,000 on Jasodaben Vadadia.

A special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court in Ahmedabad on Monday convicted and sentenced the wife of a former Income Tax Officer to rigorous imprisonment (RI) of two years in a disproportionate assets (DA) case dating back nearly 19 years ago.

Convict Jasodaben Vadadia's husband, Rameshbhai Vadadia, was also an accused in the case, but he died during pendency of trial.

The special court sentenced Jasodaben Vadadia, accused of abetting her husband in accumulating disproportionate assets, to two-year RI and also imposed a fine of Rs 20,000 fine on her in the case registered on June 30, 2007, the CBI said in a release.

Rameshbhai Vadadia, then-posted at the office of the Additional Commissioner of Income Tax, Gandhinagar, was accused of amassing assets disproportionate to the tune of Rs 29,49,977 between January 1, 2002 and April 30, 2007, which was 247 per cent of his known sources of income, said the release.

After completing investigation, the CBI filed a chargesheet on December 24, 2008, against the then-I-T officer and his wife Jashodaben Vadadia for amassing disproportionate assets worth Rs 25,46,398, which were 133.98 per cent of their known source of income, it said.

Ramesh Vadadia passed away during the trial, and the case against him was abated by the court, but his wife was found guilty of abetment in the corruption offence.

Court's Decision and CBI Statement

"The court found merit in the charges and held the accused Jasodaben Rameshbhai Vadadia guilty of abetting her husband for acquiring assets disproportionate to their known sources of income and accordingly convicted her for the abetment of the offence in the disproportionate assets (DA) case. The Hon'ble Court, after the trial, convicted and sentenced the accused accordingly," the CBI said.
Trump noted that Washington is engaging in 'serious discussions' with a 'new, and more reasonable' leadership in Tehran to bring an end to US military operations, a conflict that has lasted more than a month amid escalating regional tensions.

IMAGE: US President Donald Trump arrives on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, DC, US, March 29, 2026. Photograph: Annabelle Gordon/Reuters

US President Donald Trump has threatened to target Iran's civilian energy infrastructure, including power plants, oil wells and Kharg Island, if Tehran does not reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

Key Points Trump noted that Washington is engaging in 'serious discussions' with a 'new, and more reasonable' leadership in Tehran to bring an end to US military operations, a conflict that has lasted more than a month amid escalating regional tensions.

Trump's remarks came against a backdrop of heightened global concern over the strategic Strait of Hormuz, a critical chokepoint for nearly one-fifth of world oil flows.

The president urged Iran to ensure that the waterway is "Open for Business," tying the resumption of maritime traffic directly to progress in talks aimed at ending hostilities.

In a social media post, Trump said, "Great progress has been made but, if for any reason a deal is not shortly reached, which it probably will be, and if the Hormuz Strait is not immediately 'Open for Business,' we will conclude our lovely 'stay' in Iran by blowing up and completely obliterating all of their Electric Generating Plants, Oil Wells and Kharg Island."

He noted that Washington is engaging in "serious discussions" with a "new, and more reasonable" leadership in Tehran to bring an end to US military operations, a conflict that has lasted more than a month amid escalating regional tensions.

Trump's remarks came against a backdrop of heightened global concern over the strategic Strait of Hormuz, a critical chokepoint for nearly one-fifth of world oil flows.

The president urged Iran to ensure that the waterway is "Open for Business," tying the resumption of maritime traffic directly to progress in talks aimed at ending hostilities.

Trump wrote on Truth Social, "The United States of America is in serious discussions with A NEW, AND MORE REASONABLE, REGIME to end our Military Operations in Iran. Great progress has been made but, if for any reason a deal is not shortly reached, which it probably will be, and if the Hormuz Strait is not immediately "Open for Business," we will conclude our lovely "stay" in Iran by blowing up and completely obliterating all of their Electric Generating Plants, Oil Wells and Kharg Island (and possibly all desalinization plants!), which we have purposefully not yet "touched." This will be in retribution for our many soldiers, and others, that Iran has butchered and killed over the old Regime's 47 year "Reign of Terror." Thank you for your attention to this matter. President DONALD J. TRUMP."

US officials have said indirect messages have been exchanged through intermediaries, though Tehran has publicly denied direct negotiations.

Meanwhile, Trump has claimed that indirect negotiations between the United States and Iran, facilitated by Pakistani intermediaries, are making "positive progress", as reported by the Financial Times.

Speaking about the ongoing backchannel diplomacy, Trump said talks are underway through Pakistani "emissaries", though he declined to provide specific details when asked whether a ceasfire deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz could be reached in the coming days, as reported by the Financial Times on Sunday (local time).

Trump on Sunday (local time) said he's optimistic about a deal with Iran, citing "very good negotiations" and Iran allowing 20 oil tankers to pass through the Strait of Hormuz as a "sign of respect".

Addressing reporters aboard Air Force One en route to Joint Base Andrews, Trump said, "I do see a deal in Iran, yeah. Could be soon. So we've had very good negotiations today with Iran, getting a lot of the things that they should have given us a long time ago. See how it works out, but they're very good, moving along very nicely. And they've destroyed a lot of additional targets today. The Navy's gone, the Air Force's gone, we know that. We've destroyed many, many targets today. It was a big day. And we are negotiating with them directly and indirectly," he said further.

Kharg Island serves as Iran's main oil export hub, handling the vast majority of the country's crude shipments, and even though US strikes earlier in the conflict have targeted military assets on the island, its energy infrastructure had largely been left intact until now.

Following Trump's post today, the global energy market reacted sharply: oil prices surged amid fears of disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz, which had already seen traffic sharply reduced following the outbreak of conflict.
News / National

by Simbarashe Sithole in Guruve

A Guruvebased nurse has been arrested after he was allegedly caught raping his biological daughter.The suspect, whose name is being withheld to protect the minor, is assisting police with investigations.Sources close to the case told Bulawayo24.com that the man was caught in the act by his wife, who is the stepmother of the victim."The suspect was caught raping his daughter by his wife and he has since been arrested. Investigations are in progress," the source said.Mashonaland Central police spokesperson Inspector Milton Mundembe could not be reached for comment.
This weekend, Donald Trump has begun to say the quiet part out loud -- that he wants to take control of Iran's oil, a formulation more in line with his robber-baron style of international relations.

Prem Panicker continues his must read daily blog on the Gulf War.

IMAGE: A ship burns after Iranian explosive-laden boats reportedly attacked two fuel tankers in Iraqi waters, setting them ablaze amid the ongoing conflict, March 12, 2026. Photograph: Media Office of Iraqi Ports/Handout/Reuters

There comes a moment in any war when diplomacy, though invoked by rote, ceases to matter. This feels like one of those moments.

The fourth week of the war had begun with loud optimism about the prospects of mediation.

The news cycle spoke of Pakistan as both venue and facilitator; names of possible interlocutors, at least on the American side, were floated and as quickly rejected, Trump injected optimism into the markets (with little success, though)...

A week later mediation, such as it is, appears to have been given the go-by, though it is still occasionally referenced.

The United States talks of backchannels; Iran dismisses them; and on the ground, the war proceeds with an accelerated brutality that makes both positions feel beside the point.

IMAGE: Iranian missiles streak across the sky towards Israel, captured with long exposure from Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, March 23, 2026. Photograph: Mussa Qawasma/Reuters

Israel and Iran are no longer probing each other's defences. They are hitting sensitive targets regularly, with the kind of force that suggests as far as they are concerned, the war has settled into a phase of attrition. [Guardian (external link)]

Washington, for its part, seems to be preparing for a much longer conflict than was originally envisaged (Vice President J D Vance said over the weekend that the US does not want to be in Iran 'for more than one or two years' -- years, note, not weeks).

Each day brings news of fresh troops being committed to 'limited' ground operations. [Guardian (external link)]

IMAGE: Ground crew prepare a US Air Force Boeing B-52 Stratofortress at RAF Fairford airbase in Gloucestershire, Britain, March 23, 2026. Photograph: Toby Shepheard/Reuters

US Prepares Long Iran War

Key Points Iran-Israel conflict has shifted into sustained attrition, with intensified strikes and diminishing prospects for meaningful diplomacy.

US signals preparation for prolonged engagement, with troop movements and logistics suggesting potential expansion into extended ground operations.

Global oil and LNG markets face tightening supply as disruptions in Hormuz and Red Sea threaten critical trade routes.

Multiple conflict zones, including Ukraine strikes on Russian energy infrastructure, are compounding global energy instability.

Asia, especially India and developing economies, faces immediate energy stress as LNG shortages and rising prices ripple across markets.

More importantly, the stated objectives of the war are shifting in plain sight.

The 'emancipation of Iranian women' has fallen out of sight; 'regime change' merely succeeded in replacing relatively moderate leaders with hardline successors.

Opening the Strait of Hormuz was in any case risible -- the Strait was open before the war began, so all that means is a return to status quo ante. [Al Jazeera (external link)]

Houthis Expand Red Sea Conflict

This weekend, Donald Trump has begun to say the quiet part out loud -- that he wants to take control of Iran's oil, a formulation more in line with his robber-baron style of international relations.

Beyond the battlefield, the consequences are no longer abstract. Oil markets are tightening as traffic through the Strait remains sporadic.

Prices are climbing, even as key links in the supply chain are breaking.

As far as the world at large is concerned, the war is no longer a contained conflict -- it is taking on the contours of a spreading systemic shock. [Axios (external link)]

As if all this were not enough, another front is opening up.

The Houthis have stepped up on the side of Iran, extending the theatre of conflict into the Red Sea and the Bab el-Mandeb, another narrow artery through which global trade is forced to pass. [Reuters (external link); Guardian (external link)]

IMAGE: An F/A-18E Super Hornet lands on the USS Abraham Lincoln during operations linked to strikes on Iran, February 28, 2026. Photograph: US Navy/Handout via Reuters

Hormuz Disruption Hits Global Oil

Layer onto this a second front in everything but name.

In Ukraine, strikes on Russian oil infrastructure are now biting deep into production capacity, adding further strain to an already unstable energy landscape.

The effect is cumulative: Multiple conflicts across different geographies, all converging on an increasingly fragile system. [CNN (external link); Al Jazeera (external link)]

It is hard to see recent developments as the outcome of some coherent strategy.

A war prosecuted with no clearly defined outcome now appears to be making its own decisions, with each move narrowing the available options for the next one.

For Iran, the problem is how to hang on and continue inflicting damage till the US and Israel decide they have had enough.

And for the two aggressor nations, the question is no longer how to win, but how to stop and exit with a semblance of face.

IMAGE: A solar resource map of Iran illustrates the country's energy landscape and geographic spread. Photograph: Kind courtesy Solargis/wikipedia.org/Creative Commons

What the war looks like from Tehran's streets: Al Jazeera's Maziar Motamedi reports from a city that is trying to hold its shape in the midst of severe bombardment.

Armed checkpoints, Basij patrols, loudspeakers summoning residents to mosque gatherings, children as young as 12 being recruited into security patrols.

The Internet has been blacked out for a month. Nearly 2,000 killed, the government says.

And still, people walk to the gym, visit neighbours, try to find a routine inside the fear.

Such reporting lives on its details, and the one that stayed with me is this: A woman in the affluent north of Tehran who has left her home three times in a month, worried that an official in an adjacent alley might make her family collateral. [Al Jazeera (external link)]

IMAGE: A woman reacts near a residential building damaged by a strike in Tehran, March 27, 2026. Photograph: Majid Asgaripour/WANA/Reuters

The morning after that nobody planned for: Eric Alter, dean of the Anwar Gargash Diplomatic Academy in Abu Dhabi, asks the question Washington appears to have avoided: what happens the day after?

He walks through Iraq and Libya as case studies in what fills the vacuum when military success outruns political planning.

Iran, he argues, is even harder: a civilization with two thousand years of self-governance, a technocratic class that has accommodated successive regimes, and a regional militia architecture (Hezbollah, the Houthis, the PMF in Iraq) that has grown its own roots and will not simply switch off when Tehran changes hands.

Then there is the uranium: current whereabouts uncertain.

'The question of what happens to the enriched uranium during a governance transition is not a technical detail that can be addressed later.' [The National Interest (external link)].

The escalation nobody wanted to name: Simon Tisdall in The Guardian does not pull punches.

Trump is caught between maximalist demands he cannot deliver and a ground war he cannot afford, either politically or militarily.

Iran's surviving leadership, dominated now by hardliners, believes it is winning by surviving.

Trump's 15-point peace plan amounts to a demand for total surrender; Iran's counter-demands include reparations and guaranteed sovereignty over Hormuz. Neither side is close to the other.

Tisdall's summary of the trap is blunt: 'Cave or escalate'. The piece is opinionated in the way Guardian commentary tends to be, but the structural analysis is sound. [The Guardian (external link)]

The man who saw it coming -- and was shown the door: Nate Swanson spent nearly two decades in the US government, most recently on Trump's Iran negotiating team.

Days before the February 28 strikes, he published a piece in Foreign Affairs predicting exactly what Iran would do.

He was pushed out after a tweet from Laura Loomer flagged him as an Obama holdover.

In this Politico interview, he is careful but clear: both sides are "irrationally confident," there is no off-ramp in sight, and the most likely forcing function for de-escalation is not diplomacy but markets, the one indicator Trump actually watches.

His read on what Iran wants is worth noting: a permanent toll on Hormuz, and a guarantee this doesn't happen again in six months.

Neither is something Washington can easily give. [Politico (external link)]

IMAGE: A man points at a building damaged by Israeli strikes in Beirut's southern suburbs amid escalating hostilities, March 28, 2026. Photograph: Stringer/Reuters

Ground War Signals Emerging

The logistics tell the story: Robert Pape, writing in his Substack Escalation Trap, offers the most structurally rigorous analysis of where this is heading.

His argument: The signal of ground war is logistics.

In Vietnam, the shift from air war to ground war was visible weeks before Johnson's July 1965 announcement, in the expansion of port capacity, fuel stockpiles, and airlift cycles. The same indicators are now appearing around the Gulf.

Around 5,000 Marines are in theatre; elements of the 82nd Airborne have deployed; the Pentagon is drawing up contingency plans for sustained ground operations.

'The ground war did not begin when troops landed. It began when the system to sustain them was built.'

Watch the C-17 cycles, not the press conferences. [Escalation Trap (external link)]

A note on what Iran just demonstrated: Worth pausing on a data point that has not received the attention it deserves.

Iranian forces appear to have damaged or destroyed multiple USAF KC-135 aerial refueling tankers parked in the open at Prince Sultan Airbase in Saudi Arabia.

KC-135s are what keeps US strike aircraft aloft over Iran. Losing them degrades sortie capacity directly.

The broader point, made sharply by analyst Ron Filipkowski: Ukraine's Operation Spiderweb destroyed a significant portion of Russia's strategic aviation by targeting planes parked in the open.

Did the Pentagon look at that, and conclude it didn't apply to them?

Iran's precision missile capabilities are, by most assessments, orders of magnitude beyond Ukraine's. The question answers itself. [Twitter/X (external link)]

Track the weapons, track the war: For those who want to follow the military dimensions day by day, the Iran War Weapons & Attacks Tracker, built and maintained by Anushka Saxena and drawing on CENTCOM, ISW, and official defence ministry statements, is the most comprehensive open-source resource currently available.

It covers the battlefield timeline, weapons systems deployed by every party, maritime attacks, and the broader ecosystem of actors. [Iran War Tracker (external link)]

IMAGE: An illustrative model of an LNG tanker highlights the vulnerability of energy shipping routes amid rising tensions. Photograph: Dado Ruvic/Illustration/Reuters

Asia Faces LNG Supply Crunch

When the gas runs out: The New York Times today carries the piece that puts the energy consequences in their starkest form.

The buffer of LNG cargoes that left the Persian Gulf before Hormuz closed is running out. The last of those ships arrive this week.

Asia, which buys roughly 90 percent of Middle Eastern LNG, is about to feel the physical impact of non-delivery.

India is ordering coal plants to run at full capacity for three months. Pakistan has closed schools to conserve fuel.

In Vietnam, factories are slowing. Taiwan, which has retired much of its coal capacity and phased out nuclear, has few options.

The richer economies such as Japan, South Korea and China, can bid on spot markets, but as one analyst notes, that comes at the direct expense of poorer countries who cannot.

The longer-term damage may be structural: 'The entire concept of LNG being a reliable fuel is undermined.'

For India, caught between two stressed chokepoints simultaneously -- Hormuz and Bab el-Mandeb -- this is a catastrophe knocking on the door. [New York Times (external link)]

In passing...

The war is a month old, and it has already outgrown every framework used to explain it: Limited strike, regime change, negotiated exit.

What remains is a conflict that is generating its own momentum and sending its costs outward in every direction.

The bill, as usual, will be paid by people who had no vote in any of it.

Photographs curated by Manisha Kotian/Rediff

Feature Presentation: Ashish Narsale/Rediff
Brattleboro, VT (05301)

Today

A mix of clouds and sun early, then becoming cloudy later in the day. High 68F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Cloudy with rain developing after midnight. Low 43F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 90%. Rainfall around a quarter of an inch. Locally heavy rainfall possible.
BRATTLEBORO  Nancy Wiese, director of the Windham Regional Career Center, is Vermont's Career Center Director of the Year.

Mark Speno, superintendent at the Windham Southeast Supervisory Union, announced the news at a School Board meeting on Tuesday. Wiese was alerted about the recognition earlier that day by Jay Nichols, executive director of the Vermont Principals Association.

"It's a great honor and it's well deserved," Speno said. "Nancy took over a career center that was not in its best spot. And, in short order, she has turned it into, certainly, the highlight of our school district and I think the highest functioning CTE center in our state and I believe New Hampshire as well."

Wiese said the work "takes a team," including colleagues and the Windham Southeast School District Board.

"Over her six-year tenure, Nancy has been a transformative leader  securing vital grants for program equipment, providing unwavering support to students and staff, and expertly navigating the challenges of the pandemic during her very first year," the career center wrote in a post celebrating the recognition.

Award recipients will be honored at the VPA Leadership Academy awards banquet o Aug. 5. They were selected by the VPA Executive Council from written submissions to the VPA, according to an announcement. The list includes Karyn Stannard, assistant principal at Mill River Union High School in North Clarendon; Jason Gingold, principal of Montpelier High School; Michael Ruppel, principal of Otter Valley Union Middle High School in Brandon; Thomas Walsh, elementary principal at Bellows Free Academy in Fairfax; and Vernita Vallez, principal of Morristown Elementary in Morrisville.

Wiese joins another WRCC staff member in receiving recent accolades. Linda Alvarez was named the 2026 Vermont Teacher of the Year. She teaches business and entrepreneurship class at WRCC.

"I just try to really lead them through the process of seeing what's possible," Alvarez said of her students, after receiving the award from the Vermont Agency of Education in October. "And through that, they usually find that they really like business, too."
News / National

by Stephen Jakes

Political analyst and Mutare resident Kennedy Kaitano has condemned Zanu PF for directing pastors in Mashonaland East to suspend church services and allow congregants to attend meetings promoting Constitutional Amendment Bill Number 3.In an open letter addressed to Justice Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi, Speaker of Parliament Jacob Mudenda, Clerk of Parliament Kennedy Chokuda, the PanAfrican Parliament, SADC and other bodies, Kaitano said the ruling party had revealed its true colours of repression".He said congregants were being forced to sign preprepared template letters supporting the Bill.The template letter has a sentence which reads: 'I have firm belief that this Bill does not need to go for a referendum' as it seeks to amend the electoral cycle and not the termlimit provisions. But it is incorrect to argue that the Bill is only changing an electoral cycle," he said.Kaitano said altering the length of time an elected official stays in office is, by definition, a termlimit change.So even if four and a half million people sign template letters claiming the amendments are not termlimit provisions, it is a lie that must be exposed to SADC and global institutions," he said.He added that if Zanu PF wanted President Mnangagwa to continue in office, it should allow due process.They claim they are not afraid of a referendum - let them prove their popularity through a referendum. Zanu PF must realise it cannot fool the world all the time," he said.Kaitano urged senior government officials to stop enabling repression."Zimbabweans are angry. We need seriousness from Zanu PF deployees in influential public offices," he said.
Once we get through a bit more enablement and activation with those partners, well start to see scale to the point that will help create awareness within the customer community.

Langley said while Oracle was looking at a range of new partners across different market segments, most opportunities existed in the upper end of the mid-market.

We have the enterprise market and public sector well covered with the partners that we have. The upper end of the mid-market is not being embraced as well as it could be, he said.

Hence we need to bring on new partners that are going to help us focus on that space and ensuring [mid-market customers] are able to grow and accelerate and take advantage of the productivity gains that AI can bring for them.

Langley is bringing the same approach he used at Ingram Mirco to expand Oracles partner network.

We will identify, recruit, enable, and then activate partners, and then support [them] through the sales process, he said.

So [it will be] hand in hand  Oracle plus Team IM plus partners creating demand generation opportunities. It will be partner-led demand generation, but we will pitch or promote together until that partner is self-sufficient and can run on their own.

Oracles current partners in New Zealand include Accenture, Datacom, Cap Gemini Deloitte, Eagle Technology, Fusion 5, Infosys, KPMG and Spark.

Three key opportunities: data modernisation, multicloud and genAI

Meanwhile, Langley emphasised three areas of opportunities for Oracle, its customers and partners, which emerged from the AI World Tour conference  data modernisation, multicloud and generative AI (genAI), saying this will be the year of mass AI adoption.

Last year was the year of learning and understanding and the evolution for AI, and this year is the year that mass adoption is happening, he said.

However, data modernisation was a vital first step for companies looking to take advantage of genAI.

Data modernisation is all about getting data ready for AI. When youve got data in a poor state, youre not going to get as good results as you could expect out of AI, Langley said.

So, data enrichment and data modernisation is important.

To help drive AI adoption and success, Oracle is launching an AI Customer Excellence Centre in Sydney, which will serve as a hub for innovation and collaboration.

Through the AI centre, Oracle will work with customers to understand what challenges they aim to solve with gen AI tools and will be then help build and test prototypes.

One of the things that we can bring to bear through [the centre] is helping customers prepare their data and give them guidance and education on how to enhance [and] enrich it, so that its ready for AI, he said.

Another important announcement from Oracle at the event was the launch of Oracle AI Database services on AWS in the Australia and New Zealand region.

With Oracle services already available on Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Platform, adding AWS gave customers the ability to run Oracle workloads on the hyperscaler of their choice, Langley said.

This multicloud approach was evidence of how open the vendor has become, he added.

Were very collaborative, partnership focused, [and] customer centric. We meet our customers where they are on their digital modernisation journey, Langley said.

Its not a case of you must have all of our product. We will meet you where you are and we will help you with what youve got. There are a lot of customers with big investments in AWS, Azure or GCP  thats fine, keep those investments, but lets [add] an Oracle database, so you can get the worlds most secure, most scalable database, enterprise database and get benefits of all the AI weve infused into.

Oracles partnership with Team IM, meanwhile, addresses customers data sovereignty concerns, especially as they start to explore AI opportunities, Langley said.

Team IM is a New Zealand-owned company with 15 per cent iwi ownership. With them, owning, managing, controlling the environment, they are a sovereign hyperscale infrastructure provider in New Zealand, he said.

Thats going to be to be further accentuated by the sovereign AI discussion. As that becomes more and more prevalent, theyre the one hyperscale provider that can deliver that in New Zealand.

Louis van Wyk attended Oracle AI World Tour in Sydney as a guest of Oracle.
China's hosting of APEC an opportunity the world needs, says executive director of the APEC Secretariat

16:11, March 30, 2026 By Michael Kurtagh ( People's Daily Online

Eduardo Pedrosa, executive director of the APEC Secretariat, speaks on March 25, at the Boao Forum for Asia 2026 Annual Conference in Boao, south China's Hainan Province. (Photo provided by the Boao Forum for Asia)

For Eduardo Pedrosa, executive director of the APEC Secretariat, the timing of China's turn as APEC host could hardly be more significant. Speaking to reporters at the Boao Forum for Asia 2026 Annual Conference on March 25, Pedrosa was candid about the state of the world: uncertainty is high, trade tensions are real, and the multilateral system is under strain. But his overall message was one of quiet confidence, and China, he suggested, is at the center of why.

"Today there is a lot of instability in the world," he said, "and APEC can provide a platform for leaders to come together and discuss the challenges we face." That platform, he argued, is more valuable precisely because of the turbulence surrounding it. When the world's two largest economies are both present in the same room, alongside members spanning Asia and Latin America, the conversations that happen, even the informal ones, carry weight.

China's hosting of the 33rd Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders' Meeting in Shenzhen this November comes at a moment of genuine consequence. Pedrosa pointed to several reasons for optimism. Intra-regional trade among APEC members continues to grow. China's 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030), which he described as laying out a clear and detailed vision for the next five years, signals that the world's second largest economy is not retreating but deepening its engagement. As the world's second largest consumer market and import destination, he said, China represents a significant opportunity for trading partners across the region and beyond.

On the Hainan Free Trade Port, whose 100th day of island-wide special customs operations fell during the forum itself, Pedrosa saw a natural point of connection with APEC's own work on trade facilitation. Reducing barriers, streamlining processes, and making it easier for smaller businesses to participate in cross-border trade are goals the two share. He noted that for small and medium enterprises in particular, the complexity of compliance can be a greater obstacle than tariffs themselves, and that simplifying those processes is where real gains for ordinary businesses and people are often found.

On supply chain resilience, Pedrosa was clear that the days of taking interconnected global supply chains for granted are over. The lesson businesses and governments have learned in recent years is the danger of over-concentration, and the imperative of building more diversified, more resilient networks. That lesson is more urgent now, not less, and APEC's work on supply chain connectivity and infrastructure bottlenecks is aimed squarely at giving member economies the tools to respond.

Looking at Asia's broader trajectory, Pedrosa was expansive. He traced a long arc: historically, the world's largest economies were Asian, and the technological and demographic forces shaping the present moment are bringing that center of gravity back. He invoked the image of geese flying in formation, each economy lifting the next, from Japan to South Korea and now to China, with others following in their wake. The Asian Century, in his telling, is not a future aspiration. It is already underway.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Wu Chengliang)
News / National

by Staff reporter

Public hearings on Zimbabwe's proposed Constitutional Amendment Bill No. 3 begin today, marking the start of a four-day nationwide consultation process expected to draw thousands of citizens.According to Parliament of Zimbabwe, the hearings will run from March 30 to April 2, providing a platform for citizens to express their views on the proposed constitutional changes.The Bill, which was gazetted on February 17, is currently undergoing a mandatory 90-day public consultation period before it can be tabled for debate in Parliament. The legislative process is guided by constitutional provisions requiring public input before any amendments are considered.In a statement, Parliament said the hearings are aimed at promoting participatory democracy."A Constitutional Bill may not be presented in the Senate or the National Assembly unless the Speaker has given at least 90 days' notice in the Gazette of the precise terms of the Bill," reads part of the statement."Immediately after such notice, Parliament must invite members of the public to express their views through public meetings and written submissions."To facilitate participation, special desks have been set up at consultation venues, while a submission box has also been placed at the old Parliament building in Harare.The hearings are being conducted across all provinces, with sessions scheduled in major urban centres and rural districts. In Harare, consultations will begin today at Chitungwiza Aquatic Centre, before moving to Epworth Local Board and the city centre tomorrow.Other provinces, including Bulawayo, Midlands, Masvingo, Manicaland, and Mashonaland regions, will host similar engagements at designated community halls, schools and council offices.Once the hearings conclude, Parliamentary Portfolio Committees will compile reports based on public submissions before the Bill is formally introduced in the National Assembly.The proposed amendment contains several significant provisions, including changes to the electoral framework. Among them is a proposal to extend the presidential term from five to seven years and to introduce a Parliamentary process for electing the President, replacing the current direct vote system.The Bill has already generated strong political interest. The ruling party, ZANU PF, recently concluded nationwide sensitisation campaigns aimed at educating communities on the proposed changes.In Manicaland, provincial leaders and traditional chiefs have expressed support for the Bill, arguing that it would promote policy continuity and allow development programmes initiated under Emmerson Mnangagwa to be completed.Minister of State for Manicaland Provincial Affairs and Devolution, Misheck Mugadza, said extending the electoral cycle would reduce disruptions caused by frequent elections."Developing a nation is not an overnight job. A seven-year cycle gives enough time to implement projects without constant political interruptions," he said.Similarly, in Mashonaland West, traditional leaders and grassroots structures have also endorsed the proposed legislation, citing the need for stability and sustained development.Supporters argue that the Bill aligns governance with long-term national development strategies, including Vision 2030. However, the public hearings are expected to provide a broader platform for diverse views, including those of critics.As the consultation process unfolds, the outcome of these hearings is likely to play a critical role in shaping the future of Zimbabwe's constitutional and electoral landscape.
US President Donald Trump said he wants to "take the oil in Iran" and perhaps seize Kharg Island, while at the same time insisting Washington is doing "extremely well" in negotiations with Iran and that he is "pretty sure" a peace deal will be reached "soon."

The mixing of threats and the possibility of a peace deal with Tehran came in an interview published late on March 29 by the Financial Times and in remarks an hour later to the press aboard Air Force One.

To reporters, Trump hailed progress in talks with Iran, saying they were being held directly and indirectly with "reasonable" leaders and asserted Tehran was partially opening the crucial Strait of Hormuz, the waterway through which some 20 percent of the world's oil and natural gas supplies pass.

He didn't elaborate on what he called direct talks with Iran, whose leaders deny negotiations are taking place. Tehran has said it received, reviewed, and rejected a 15-point US peace plan that was delivered through Pakistani emissaries.

Trump said: "We are doing extremely well in that negotiation. But you never know with Iran because we negotiate with them and then we always have to blow them up...whether it's with B52 bombers" or by having torn up the 2015 nuclear deal that Tehran signed with world powers, including the United States, Russia, and China.

"I think we will make a deal with them. Pretty sure. But it's possible we won't," he told reporters. "But we've had regime change already. [The Iranian] regime was decimated, destroyed. They're all dead."

He said, without being specific, that the current leaders have been "very reasonable."

"I do see a deal in Iran. Could be soon," he said.

'Preference' Is To Take Iran's Oil

In the FT interview, Trump said that his "preference would be to take the oil," likening the situation to that of Venezuela, where he said he intends to take control of the country's oil industry "indefinitely" after US forces captured leader Nicolas Maduro in January.

"To be honest with you, my favorite thing is to take the oil in Iran, but some stupid people back in the US say: 'Why are you doing that?' But they're stupid people," Trump was quoted by the FT as saying.

"Maybe we take Kharg Island, maybe we don't. We have a lot of options," Trump said, referring to the hub where most of Iran's oil is exported.

"It would also mean we had to be there [in Kharg Island] for a while," he said "I don't think they have any defense. We could take it very easily."

Trump has imposed an April 6 deadline for Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz and accept a deal ending the war or face US strikes on its power plants.

Pakistan Seeks To Host Talks

Earlier in the day, Pakistan said it was looking to hold direct peace talks in Islamabad this week, but the violence in the Middle East and harsh rhetoric between Washington and Tehran showed no signs of letting up.

"Pakistan will be honored to host and facilitate meaningful talks between the two sides in the coming days, for a comprehensive and lasting settlement of the ongoing conflict," Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said following a March 29 meeting of the region's top diplomats.

Washington and Tehran did not comment on the proposed peace talks as the casualties and damages in the Middle East continued to rise. In a new development over the weekend, Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen entered the fray, launching missiles toward Israel, including a third salvo early on March 30.

The developments come as thousands more US Marines arrived in the region, as Washington continued laying the groundwork for a possible land invasion of Iran, though US officials said no decisions have been made whether to invade.

With the US-Israeli war with Iran in its fifth week, Iran's powerful parliament speaker, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf -- seen as a possible contender to lead the country after US-Israeli air strikes killed its leadership -- accused the United States of "secretly" planning a ground attack despite talking about peace.

"We are certain we can punish America and make it regret ever considering an attack on Iran," he said.

Iran late on March 29 launched a missile strike that injured at least 11 people in the desert city of Beersheba, Israeli authorities said. In one strike, a large fire broke out at a chemical plant on the outskirts of the city.

The Israeli military, in its "24-hour recap," said it had launched more than 140 air strikes on central and western Iran, including Tehran, over the 24 hours through the evening of March 29. It said ballistic missile launch sites and storage facilities, among other targets, were hit.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said on March 29 that Iran's heavy-water reactor at Khondab, near the city of Arak, which Tehran reported had been attacked on March 27, has suffered severe damage and is no longer operational.

The Israeli military had said it struck the facility, officially known as the Khondab Heavy Water Research Reactor. The site has been previously hit in an Israeli air strike during the 12-day war in June 2025.

The reactor is part of a sprawling nuclear complex in central Iran that includes heavy-water production facilities, which allow Iran to use natural uranium as fuel without the need for high-level enrichment.

Tehran Power Outages

Israel's military also said it carried out new strikes against sites linked to Iran's regime figures, but it did not provide specifics.

Iran's Energy Ministry said US and Israeli strikes late on March 29 targeted power supply facilities in the capital, Tehran, leading to outages in several districts.

Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he has instructed the army to advance further into southern Lebanon to expand what he called the "existing security strip."

Netanyahu said the goal was to prevent the threat posed by Iran-backed Hezbollah -- deemed a terrorist organization by Israel and the United States -- and the firing of rockets from the area.

"We are determined to fundamentally change the situation" in southern Lebanon, he said.

With reporting from RFE/RL's Radio Farda, RFE/RL's Radio Mashaal, Reuters, AFP, and dpa
A Russian-flagged tanker carrying Russian crude oil arrived in Cuba after Washington waived sanctions on the ship, permitting it past a de-facto US oil embargo of the Caribbean island.

The decision by US President Donald Trump's administration to allow the Anatoly Kolodkin to dock in Cuba comes as it suffers through nearly unprecedented energy blackouts that have pushed the country toward collapse.

The decision also has raised eyebrows among critics who say the administration is rewarding Moscow, sending a wrong message at a time when Russia is reportedly providing sensitive intelligence to Iran as it retaliates for US and Israeli air strikes.

US-backed efforts to resolve the more than 4-year-old Ukraine war have also faltered, in part because of Moscow's hard-line stance regarding Ukrainian territory.

The delivery represents the first oil imports in more than two months by the Caribbean nation, which has instituted strict gasoline rationing amid massive power outages.

Earlier this month, the US Treasury Department issued a license specifically barring Cuba from receiving Russian oil, adding it to the list of restricted countries.

The Anatoly Kolodkin departed the Russian port of Primorsk after loading some 700,000 barrels of crude oil. Ship trackers noted the Cuba-bound ship had stopped in the mid-Atlantic Ocean earlier this month amid uncertainty over whether the United States would allow it to dock.

Responding to reporters' questions on March 29 about whether the ship would be allowed to dock, Trump said, "We don't mind somebody getting a boatload...because they have to survive."

"If someone wants to send oil to Cuba right now, I don't have a problem with that, whether it's Russia or not," he said.

Russia's Transport Ministry on March 30 said the ship had docked in Cuba.

The Trump administration has sought ways to blunt the impact of soaring global energy prices resulting from the monthlong war with Iran. The administration earlier eased some sanctions on Russia, which had been in place to punish the Kremlin for the Ukraine war.

Some US lawmakers and European leaders -- as well as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy-- have criticized the decision, saying it will help Moscow fund its invasion of Ukraine.

Ukraine, meanwhile, last week started a targeted drone campaign against some of Russia's most-important oil export terminals in the Baltic Sea.

'Cuba's Next'

The blockade on Cuban oil shipments comes as Washington ramps up pressure on the Havana government. At an economic forum in Miami on March 27, Trump referenced the operation to capture Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, which resulted in a major change in Caracas's government.

"We have been very, very successful. You know, when I went into Venezuela...I built this great military, I said, you'll never have to use it, but sometimes you have to use it," Trump said. "And Cuba's next, by the way, but pretend I didn't say that please."

Trump has also suggested Washington would be doing "something with Cuba" very soon.

The island nation some 145 kilometers off the coast of Florida has been a thorn in the side of US administrations since the revolution led by Fidel Castro, who took power in 1959, eventually setting in place a communist-led government with close links to the Soviet Union.

Trump said he has asked US Secretary of State Marco Rubio to lead talks with Cuban officials and has spoken of a "friendly" takeover of the island.

With reporting by Reuters and The Washington Post
US President Donald Trump has renewed his warning to Tehran to reach a deal to end the war soon and open the Strait of Hormuz or he will order air strikes with the aim of "completely obliterating" Iran's oil export hub of Kharg Island, oil wells, and power plants.

For the second day in a row, the US leader said a deal is likely at hand, but he also said in a social media post on March 30 that "if for any reason a deal is not shortly reached" US forces will react " by blowing up and completely obliterating all of their Electric Generating Plants, Oil Wells and Kharg Island (and possibly all desalinization plants!), which we have purposefully not yet 'touched.'"

A day earlier, Trump hailed progress in talks with Iran, saying they were being held directly and indirectly with "reasonable" leaders and asserted Tehran was partially opening the crucial Strait of Hormuz, the waterway through which some 20 percent of the world's oil and natural gas supplies pass.

But he has yet to elaborate on what he called direct talks with Iran, whose leaders deny negotiations are taking place. Tehran has said it received, reviewed, and rejected a 15-point US peace plan that was delivered through Pakistani emissaries.

On March 30, Iran called the plan "unrealistic, illogical, and excessive" while launching more missiles and drones at targets in Israel.

"What has been discussed so far have been messages about America's willingness and request for negotiations, which we received from some intermediaries, including Pakistan," Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ismail Baghaei said.

Trump has imposed an April 6 deadline for Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz and accept a deal ending the war or face US strikes on its power plants.

The energy sector has become a key focus of the war with Iran, which began on February 28 with US and Israeli air strikes that killed the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other senior Iranian leaders.

Iran has effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz by launching air strikes at cargo ships in the waterway.

Further complicating the situation, Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen entered the fray over the weekend by launching missiles toward Israel, including a third salvo early on March 30.

The choking of cargo through the Strait of Hormuz has boosted the price of benchmark crude oil more than 55 percent in March. In early afternoon European trade, Brent crude was up another 2 percent at $114.85 a barrel.

In a sign of how deep the crisis is running, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told reporters in a WhatsApp chat on March 30 that Kyiv was ready to reciprocate if Russia stops attacking Ukraine's energy system.

"Recently, following such a severe global energy crisis, we have indeed received signals from some of our partners about how to reduce our responses in the oil sector and the energy sector of the Russian Federation," he said in the chat.

Meanwhile, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) confirmed the death of commander Alireza Tangsiri in an Israeli air strike last week.

The IRGC's Sepah News website said on March 30, five days after Israel reported the death, that Admiral Alireza Tangsiri "succumbed to severe injuries" from the attack.

Israel had said the commander was killed in a strike in Bandar Abbas, a key southern port city on the Strait of Hormuz.

The IRGC did not provide further details in the statement about Tangsiri's death or his possible successor.

In June 2019, the US Treasury Department designated Tangsiri as a "specially designated global terrorist."

The IRGC navy coexists with Iran's regular naval forces and specializes in "guerrilla" warfare, often using fast-attack boats, in the Persian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz.
News / National

by Staff reporter

A 25-YEAR-OLD Harare tout who raped a Grade 7 learner at the Rezende Street bus terminus has been sentenced to 15 years in jail by Harare regional magistrate Mrs Fadzai Mthombeni.Givemore Mutape pleaded not guilty, but was convicted of raping the minor after a full trial.In his defence, Mutape told the court he was not a tout, but repairs car radios for a living and on the day in question, he was repairing a commuter omnibus radio at the rank.He also claimed he could not engage in sexual activity because he did not have testicles and challenged the court to have him medically examined to prove his incapacity.The State, led by Mr Kudakwashe Muza, presented evidence that on July 19 last year, the complainant left home alone around midday to collect money for extra lessons from her stepfather at the corner of Leopold Takawira and Jason Moyo streets.After receiving US$10 from her stepfather, she began walking home.At the Rezende Parkade rank, while waiting to board a commuter omnibus to Marlborough, touts started obstructing her from entering the commuter omnibus.Mutape allegedly approached the girl, offered to help and ordered her into a white commuter omnibus that was parked nearby.She complied and sat alone in the back passenger seat.The court heard that Mutape followed her into the kombi, locked the doors, placed a white cloth over her mouth and raped her.He later released the victim, who returned home.The matter came to light on July 21 when the girl's uncle visited her school and complained that she had returned late from town.The complainant was then interviewed by her teacher and disclosed the sexual assault.
Midlands-North-West MEP Ciaran Mullooly has called on the Government to take immediate emergency action on fuel costs, similar to what has been done in France.

He warned that Ireland is now facing a full-scale rural economic crisis as hauliers, contractors and farmers unite over soaring diesel prices.

Speaking following a packed meeting of over 400 contractors and hauliers in Portlaoise on Saturday, Mr Mullooly said the situation has escalated far beyond a sectoral issue and now poses a direct threat to food production, supply chains and the wider economy.

From trucks to tractors, every link in the chain is now under pressure, he said. This is no longer just a haulage issue  it is a farming issue, a food price issue and a national economic issue. Organised by the Association of Farm Machinery Contractors in Ireland, the speakers outlined the enormous financial pressure now bearing down on businesses that are already struggling to stay afloat. The clear message from the floor was that without urgent intervention, many operators will simply not survive, Independent Ireland said.

Mr Mullooly said frustration among contractors and hauliers is reaching breaking point, with many calling for potential road blockades, including at Dublin Airport and along the M50. People are not talking about protest for the sake of it - they are talking about survival, If action is not taken, this will escalate.

A unanimous decision was taken to formally establish a committee to engage directly with Government as a matter of urgency. That committee will now seek immediate meetings with Government ministers to present a clear set of demands aimed at protecting jobs, businesses and the future of the sector.

There was deep anger and mounting frustration throughout the meeting at what was described as the Governments weak, inadequate and wholly out-of-touch response to this crisis, Independent Ireland said.

Mr Mullooly said one immediate step that can and must be taken is the scrapping of excise duty on green diesel, warning that this is essential if contractors are to remain viable in the weeks ahead.

He rejected any suggestion that EU rules prevent such action, pointing to developments in France.

France acted within hours and broke no EU rules. They have already moved to suspend excise duties on green diesel and introduce targeted fuel supports for operators. Ireland can do the same next week, he said. The EU is not the barrier here - political will is. Mr Mullooly also highlighted a fundamental inequality in how different groups are treated despite facing the same costs.

Everyone is paying the same price at the pump, but self-employed contractors are being treated differently. You have people doing the same work, using the same fuel, but not receiving the same supports. That cannot continue. He warned that the consequences of inaction will extend far beyond the sectors represented in the room.

From trucks to tractors, every link in the chain is now under pressure. If this is not addressed immediately, it will feed directly into farming costs, food prices and the wider economy. Mr Mullooly said the situation now requires urgent Government intervention and a clear demonstration that those keeping the economy moving will be supported.

The question now is simple  will the Government act, or will it allow this crisis to escalate further?
210 years of Catholic education in Bucharest

The history of Catholic confessional education within the Romanian territories spans several centuries.

banner-Pro-Memoria.-960x540-1.jpg

Steliu Lambru, 30.03.2026, 14:00

In Moldavia, Catholic confessional education was introduced earlier, being linked to the presence of the Catholic bishoprics at the end of the 13th century. In Wallachia, there were attempts at Roman religious organization, which, however, did not withstand the instability caused by the migrations of the 11th-13th centuries. The emergence of the Greek-Catholic Church in Transylvania starting the end of the 17th century meant Catholic education in Romanian, in which Latin occupied a central place.

Rodica Miron is the director of the Saint Joseph Roman-Catholic College in Bucharest and she explains the importance of the Greek-Catholic church in the development of Catholic education in the Romanian area: We knew, at the beginning of the 18th century, that the Greek Catholic Church had been existing since 1698, when a good part of the Orthodox in Transylvania united with Rome. Ever since then, they had raised the issue of European-style education, with methods that came from Vienna, so from the West. A lot was done on cultivating the Romanian language, meaning that the people had to understand what they were learning. Of course, Latin was taught in every school and was a bridge to the West, to the higher studies that would follow afterwards. We know that according to this model, which worked in Transylvania, the Wallachian princes Serban Cantacuzino and Constantin Brancoveanu took care of the Greek Academy in Bucharest. If in Transylvania the Latin language was strong, in the south, the ancient Greek language was introduced. That is how the Greek Academy at Saint Sava began.

There were huge differences between the two Romanian provinces. One of them was the presence of Catholicism. In Moldavia, the Catholic influence from Poland stronger, while in Wallachia, the Orthodox influence from the southern Balkans, from Bulgaria and Serbia, was felt more. Rodica Miron: In Moldavia, Catholic education had already begun through the monastic orders. The same thing was somehow wanted in Wallachia. Only that here, the situation was a little more difficult in terms of the episcopate. If in Transylvania, for example, thanks to the Habsburg Empire, school was able to gain momentum, even the one in the Romanian language, through the Greek Catholics, in Wallachia things were more difficult to do. In the meantime, the Orthodox Church had also gained momentum, which always saw this opening to the West as something not exactly good, as a way of proselytism. And then, more or less, it put obstacles to the momentum of Catholic religious congregations to open schools. However, education was made in every parish.

However, the 19th century would bring great changes to the Romanian society. Modern ideas, Europeanization and the separation from the oriental influence exerted by the Ottoman Empire led to a rapprochement with the Western world. The great political changes on the European continent during the Napoleonic Wars and the perceptions of the old governance practices made Romanians want other models of life and education. A few years before the revolution of 1821, the first year of the century that would produce an important change in the status of the Romanian Principalities, the first Catholic school in Bucharest was inaugurated. Rodica Miron: And here we are in 1816, an important year, a historical turning point. On the one hand, the Phanariots had become undesirable to the Ottoman Porte, which was convinced that they were no longer very sincere, so it no longer had much trust in them. And, on the other hand, the Romanians had had enough of them, both those from Moldavia and those here, from Wallachia, and aspired to something else. And then, given that the Bucharest elite wanted a Western school, conditions were created to help the monks who were here, so the bishops of Cioplea were helped to open a school. And it was the year 1816 when Redemptorist monks, specially trained in Vienna, were brought for this purpose.

It was a model of a modern school, where Christian doctrine was taught together with sciences and skills. Rodica Miron: There were also Franciscan monks, but they only taught catechism. The bishop, on the other hand, brings in real teachers to take care of the school, with rigorous methods and an adequate curriculum. The school combined philosophy with foreign languages and sciences, with mathematics, with topography. They wanted a school for everyone, not just for Catholics. It was a school managed by the Catholic Church in keeping with the Western norms.

In the years to come, Catholic education would develop as Romanian society moved forward towards modernization. The emergence of the Romanian state in 1859 meant a lot. And the establishment of elite schools, such as the Saint Mary Institute and the Notre Dame de Sion High School, were natural results of the spirit of those times. (EE)
Tensions in the ruling coalition

The Social Democrats continue their attacks on their Liberal coalition partners.

Photo: Facebook/Guvernul Romaniei

Stefan Stoica, 30.03.2026, 13:50

With a record delay of almost three months, the Romanian government adopted, towards the end of March, the 2026 budget. Its cumbersome drafting and heated debates in Parliament have worsened tensions within the four-party coalition. Liberal Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan insisted on a realistic budget, which would no longer contain allocations without clearly specified funding sources and which would respect the deficit reduction calendar, but the Social Democrats fought heroically for some social solidarity measures that could not find financial coverage, constantly threatening not to vote on the budget. In the end, some of these measures remained included in the budget, because money was found for them. However, the Social Democratic Party (PSD) no longer hide their frustration and say they will continue internal consultations on whether or not to stay in power. In fact, PSD does not want a divorce from the National Liberal Party (PNL), but wants PNL to give up Ilie Bolojan, seen by the Social Democrats as too rigid. During a visit outside Bucharest, the Social Democratic leader Sorin Grindeanu has said that a coalition that works poorly should not be maintained only for the sake of stability, if it does not also bring prosperity to the people.

Grindeanu mentioned three possible scenarios discussed during the party consultations: remaining in the current configuration with the current prime minister, moving into opposition and a reconfiguration within the coalition. The PSD announcement regarding the outcome of the consultation will be made public after the Easter holidays, but several branches have already said they are in favour of leaving the coalition. PSD, which complained in Brussels about what it sees as political manoeuvring between the PNL and the populist opposition, has repeatedly stated that it will not support a minority government and will not form an alliance with the self-proclaimed sovereignist party AUR, a scenario that commentators do not rule out. PNL defends its leader who is also prime minister and defines the actions of its Social-Democrat colleagues as a political adventure. Liberals say outright that the breakup of the coalition with the Social-Democrat vote would be tantamount to a definitive political rupture between PSD and PNL.

The third party in the ruling coalition, USR, accuses PSD of violating the coalition protocol by siding with AUR on the simple motion filed against Environment Minister Diana Buzoianu. These three parties  PSD, PNL, USR  which were joined by UDMR, are alledgedly said to be fated to co-govern, in order to stop the populist current. If parliamentary elections were held next Sunday, AUR would obtain 33% of the votes, followed by PSD with 24% and PNL with 16%, indicates a survey conducted by the Center for Urban and Regional Sociology  CURS. Next are USR, with 9% and UDMR, with 5%. In the current parliamentary configuration, but also in a future one, resulting from the early elections, a different coalition formula than the current one, involves the participation of AUR. (EE)
Gold reversed earlier losses to trade above $4,500 an ounce on Monday amid mixed signals from Iran and the United States on the status of peace talks.

Spot gold was up 0.8 percent at $4,531 an ounce while U.S. gold futures for June delivery traded up 0.8 percent at $4,560.

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Market Analysis
Boardwalk Pipelines LP (BWP), an energy infrastructure company, on Monday said it has entered into an agreement to acquire Spire Marketing Inc., a gas marketing unit, from Spire Inc. (SR) for $215 million in cash.

The transaction is expected to close in the third fiscal quarter of 2026.

The acquisition is expected to expand Boardwalk's presence across the natural gas value chain and enhance its marketing capabilities and customer reach.

Separately, Spire said the sale will help sharpen its focus on regulated utility operations and improve its risk profile.

The company said the proceeds will be used to partially fund its acquisition of the Piedmont Natural Gas Tennessee business and for general corporate purposes.

In the pre-market trading, Spire is 4.03% higher at $94.30 on the New York Stock Exchange.

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Business News
News / National

by Staff reporter

Zimbabwe is experiencing a surge in cheap sugar bean imports from Tanzania and Zambia, as local producers struggle to meet domestic demand due to high production costs.Experts say the influx is placing significant pressure on local farmers, who are failing to compete with lower-priced imports entering the market.Providing an update on fresh produce trends, Knowledge Transfer Africa (KTA) chief executive, Dr Charles Dhewa, said imported sugar beans are landing in Harare at significantly lower prices than those required by local farmers to break even."A bucket of NUA45 sugar beans is landing in Harare at US$19 from Tanzania and US$20 from Zambia," he said. "For local farmers to be profitable, they need to sell at US$25 and above per bucket."Dr Dhewa noted that the high cost of production continues to undermine competitiveness, particularly for farmers operating in irrigation schemes in Manicaland, where sugar beans are a key cash crop.Zimbabwe Farmers Union (ZFU) operations director, Dr Prince Kuipa, said the liberalised nature of the market means prices are largely dictated by supply and demand."Our checks in urban fresh produce markets show sugar beans retailing at around US$36 per bucket," he said. "Since producer prices are not regulated, farmers must be strategic in choosing where and how they sell, and avoid middlemen where possible."Dr Kuipa urged farmers to secure markets before planting to avoid post-harvest losses and price exploitation."Aggregation of produce can improve access to high-value markets that buy in bulk. Farmers selling small quantities are often disadvantaged by aggregators and middlemen," he said.He also encouraged growers to time production cycles carefully to avoid harvesting during periods of market oversupply, which often drives prices down.For the 2025/26 agricultural season, farmers are estimated to require about US$1 053 per hectare to produce sugar beans, a cost that defines their break-even threshold.According to the Crops, Livestock and Fisheries Assessment Report (CLAFA 2) for 2024/25, sugar bean production rose by 138 percent to 18 067 tonnes, up from 7 587 tonnes in the previous season.However, despite the increase, output remains far below national demand. Zimbabwe requires approximately 104 850 tonnes of sugar beans annually, based on an average consumption rate of 7kg per person per year.With last season's production falling short, the country faces a deficit of 86 783 tonnes, which must be covered through imports.At current productivity levels of 0.51 tonnes per hectare, farmers would need an output price of around US$2 064 per tonne just to break even.As imports continue to fill the supply gap, stakeholders warn that without interventions to lower production costs and improve market access, local farmers may remain uncompetitive in their own market.
Four major European powers have urged the decision makers in the Israeli parliament and Government to abandon plans to expand the use of death penalty in a Bill that could be voted into law next week.

In a joint statement issued on Sunday, the Foreign Ministers of Germany, France, Italy and the United Kingdom expressed deep concern about the de facto discriminatory character of the bill.

The adoption of this bill would risk undermining Israel's commitments with regards to democratic principles, according to them.

"The death penalty is an inhumane and degrading form of punishment without any deterring effect. This is why we oppose the death penalty, whatever the circumstances around the world. The rejection of the death penalty is a fundamental value that unites us,' the statement says.

Also Sunday, Council of Europe chief Alain Berset appealed to the Israeli government to repeal the draft law, which is set to be read in the Knesset on Monday.

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Political News
Despite weak Eurozone economic sentiment data and the ongoing war in the Middle East, European stocks gained some significant ground in positive territory on Monday. The upmove was supported by some bargain hunting at several counters following recent declines.

As the joint U.S.-Israeli war on Iran stretched into its second month, French central bank chief Francois Villeroy de Galhau said the European Central Bank is ready to act, but it is too early to discuss the timing of any rate hike.

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Market Analysis
After a slightly sluggish start and a subsequent brief spell in positive territory, the Switzerland market very nearly slipped below the flat line around noon on Monday. However, it recovered swiftly and traded firm still the end of the session thanks to strong buying at a few top counters.

The benchmark SMI, which edged down to 12,539.47 in early trades, ended the day with a gain of 98.41 points or 0.78% at 12,668.67, nearly 20 points of the session's high of 12,687.68.

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Market Analysis
The 25 judges (five each in five categories) for the 2026 National Book Awards were named last week and include four booksellers:

In fiction, Danielle King, general manager of Left Bank Books, St. Louis, Mo., where she earlier worked as a part-time bookseller, full-time used books buyer, and assistant manager. She is a member of the American Booksellers Association's Booksellers Advisory Council.

In nonfiction, Audrey I-Wei Huang, a frontline bookseller at Belmont Books, Belmont, Mass. She's served on the American Booksellers Association's Diversity, Equity, Inclusion Committee, the New England Independent Booksellers Association Advisory Council and as a judge for several awards. In 2024, she was named Handseller of the Year by the Book Publisher Representatives of New England.

Also in nonfiction, Eve L. Ewing, who besides being an author, cultural organizer, and professor at the University of Chicago, is co-owner of Build Coffee & Books, Chicago, Ill.

In translated literature, Javier Garcia del Moral, founder of The Wild Detectives, Dallas, Texas, the bookstore-bar that opened in 2014. He also coordinates the Hay Festival Forum Dallas, helping position the city as an international meeting point for contemporary literature and ideas.
Nearly 1,900 bookstores in the U.S., the most ever and up about 250 from last year, will participate in the 13th annual Independent Bookstore Day, which takes place Saturday, April 25. The stores will celebrate with a variety of creative, welcoming events, merchandise, food & drink, merriment, and more, all emphasizing connections between the stores and their communities.

American Booksellers Association CEO Allison Hill noted, "Every year, Independent Bookstore Day gets bigger and better! And it feels more meaningful than ever this year to celebrate what they represent--human connection, diversity and inclusivity, independent thought and independence, and the power of community and truth."

Courtney Wallace, ABA's senior marketing manager, added, "Independent bookstores are turning up the volume on creativity and connection, making this 13th Independent Bookstore Day our biggest yet. From can't-miss exclusives to multi-day festivities, the energy keeps growing. And while the celebration may last a day (or longer), its impact carries on, fueling a love of reading and sustaining the vital community spaces indie bookstores create year-round."

Some of the exclusive items available for Independent Bookstore Day

The many components of Indie Bookstore Day include a range of exclusive merchandise available for booksellers to sell or give customers; events that feature appearances and readings by local authors and illustrators; storytimes; live music; promotions like blind date with a book; support from a variety of publishers and others (lead co-sponsors are Ingram and Penguin Random House; publishing partner sponsors are Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing, Edelweiss, Second Story Press, and the regional booksellers associations); related programs provided by Libro.fm and Bookshop.org, among others.

This year actor, director, producer, podcaster and author LeVar Burton is the Indie Bookstore Ambassador, and said when he was appointed, "From my earliest memories, books carried me beyond the world I knew. They let me explore distant planets, ancient kingdoms, and lives very different from my own. Independent bookstores are where those explorations began."

The celebration starts with Spirit Week, with daily themes for booksellers to enjoy leading up to the national Saturday celebration. Monday is silly sock day, followed by plaid Tuesday, then bookstore shirt day on Wednesday, book character dress-up day on Thursday, and each store's own spirit day on Friday.

Bonfire is selling official 2026 Independent Bookstore Day T-shirts and sweatshirts designed by Tom Gauld with the phrase Shop Indie, Shop Local. Bonfire is also selling related and previous official T-shirts and sweatshirts.

Libro.fm will again sponsor a "golden ticket" contest under which the person finding a golden ticket hidden in a bookstore receives 12 audiobook credits. More than 1,500 bookstores are participating; each gets a golden ticket to hide. Also customers can get two free audiobooks when they start a new one credit per month membership with code BOOKSTOREDAY.

Bookshop.org is offering Independent Bookstore Day specials as well.

A map that shows participating bookstores and includes information about bookstore passport programs will appear soon on IndieBound.org. (Stores have until tomorrow, March 31, to sign up to be included on the map.)

Independent Bookstore Day features exclusive, limited-edition merchandise that is a mix of old and new designed to appeal to indie bookstore fans. The deadline for bookstores to order most of the exclusive limited-edition merchandise has passed, but some items are still available, and a few are free.

Adult items include:

An exclusive edition of Crowntide (book 4 in The Lightlark Saga series) by Alex Aster (Amulet Books); an indie exclusive paperback edition of Black AF History: The Un-Whitewashed Story of America by Michael Harriot (Dey Street); an exclusive edition of Blacktop Wasteland by S.A. Cosby (Flatiron Books); the Fight Evil, Read Books mini tote from Out of Print; The Secret History of Fantasy (Tachyon Publications), which features stories by 20 fantasy legends; a signed exclusive edition of Last Night in Brooklyn by Xochitl Gonzalez (Flatiron Books); Independent Bookstore Day Blackwing pencils; the official Shop Indie, Shop Local tote bag, drawn by Tom Gauld (Drawn & Quarterly); and Independent Bookstore Day T-shirts, sweatshirts, bookmarks, and stickers.

Kids items include:

An exclusive edition of Partypooper (book 20 in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series) by Jeff Kinney (Amulet Books); Warriors: The Adventure Game by Erin Hunter (HarperCollins Children's Books); the We Love Indies: Kids' Activity Book and We Love Indies: Coloring Book, both from the Quarto Group; the Usborne Activity Booklet; and Your Best Tomatoes: From Seed to Plate! from Cool Springs Press/Quarto Group.

Some bookstores are again this year tying in celebrations of their own milestones with Independent Bookstore Day.

Bromley's Books, Marquette, Mich., is celebrating its one-year anniversary on April 25 with a Wonderland-inspired Mad Hatter's themed tea party with festive decor, treats, and surprise (un)birthday giveaways all day long. Prizes include free blind date ARCs with the first 25 purchases, free Bromley's Books stickers, tote bag giveaways, and more! The store is also taking part in a "book-hop" with other area bookstores.

A Seat at the Table Books, Elk Grove, Calif., is celebrating its fifth anniversary of receiving the key to its space so it will have an Independent Bookstore Day theme all weekend of You're the Key, and giving buyers keys printed by a local maker. Also, owner and founder Emily Autenrieth said, because "we are the only venue for drag in our city, we'll have both a drag storytime at 11:30 and a drag show (18+) at 7."

Book Passage, Corte Madera, Calif., will feature authors on April 25. Jane Smiley will discuss her new book, Lidie; Deborah Santana will present her new book, Loving the Fire; and the Local Author Book Fair at the store includes more than 40 authors from Left Coast Writers and the California Writers Club Marin for meet-and-greets and signings (during the Book Fair, Jasmin Darznik will speak).

Likewise, Next Chapter Cafe and Book Shop, Hagerstown, Md., which opened last November, is hosting a Local Author Showcase event on April 25. Some 17 authors have signed up for tables where customers will have the opportunity to chat with the authors and get personalized copies. The authors will also participate in a panel discussion about their books and their writing process and inspiration. In addition, the bookstore is having a scavenger hunt for kids.

Old Town Books, Alexandria, Va., is celebrating all day Saturday with a full schedule of activities for all ages. They include a musical storytime; an appearance by Frog and Toad for a special meet and greet; treats from Nicole's Kitchen and other small businesses; an evening audiobook walk; a prize wheel spin with every purchase; an official tote with a purchase of $75 or more; and more.

Autumn Leaf Books, Camas, Wash., will celebrate the Day by hosting two local authors, Kay Michaels, author of Autumn Leaf Bookshop ("no relation--just really cool!" owner Eden noted), who has a new romance coming out, and E Barbee, with a new fantasy novel. The store will also have a prize wheel for everyone who makes a purchase.

The Doylestown Bookshop, Doylestown, Pa., will celebrate on April 25 with raffles, games, and more as well as a book signing with local indie authors Kimberly Brighton, Jamie Cooperstein, and R.B. Shifman. The Lahaska Bookshop will have a book signing with Natalie Pompilio for her book Philadelphia: A Walk Through History.

Two of the book clubs of Under the Umbrella, Salt Lake City, Utah, will meet on April 25--the Sapphic book club and Scream Queers (Horror) book club. The store will also celebrate with a DIY/origami bookmark station, a one-day drink special, and a prize wheel that customers can spin with every purchase. In addition, the store is partnering with the Legendarium bookstore on a stamp rally (a kind of passport event) with prizes that include drink coupons and gift cards to both stores.

On April 25, the Bookshop, Nashville, Tenn., is featuring "exclusive merch, giveaways galore (spin the Wheel of Bookishness and win a prize!), bookish blind dates," and more. The store is also participating in the Middle Tennessee Indie Bookstore Crawl.

Passport Programs

Passport programs that reward book lovers for visiting many bookstores in a particular area have been popular since Indie Bookstore Day became a national event. Some focus on the Day itself. Others are in effect for a week. A few last for a month. All involve "passports" for stores to stamp to show that the holder visited them. The programs usually offer rewards to participants, particularly discounts on purchases, some for up to a year.

Seattle-area bookstores are once again staging Seattle Independent Bookstore Day, which this year challenges book lovers to visit all 33 participating stores (during the 10 days between April 25 and May 4). The prize is a "bookstore day champion stamp card," good for a one-time 25% discount at each of the 33 stores. Those who visit at least five stores receive a single 25% discount card good at one of the 33 stores.

To fund its activities, the organization is selling official SIBD T-shirts, sweatshirts, and hoodies designed by Stephen Crowe of Third Place Books on Bonfire.

The Chicagoland Bookstore Crawl has 81 participating bookstores and offers several tiers of awards. Book lovers who visit 10 stores on April 25 receive a 10% discount at all participating stores for a year, and those who visit 15 stores receive a 15% discount for a year. Those book lovers visiting 10 or more stores also will be able to receive 2026 Chicagoland Bookstore Crawl Champion Bragging Rights and discounts.

The Brooklyn Bookstore Crawl runs for the week from Saturday, April 18, to Indie Bookstore Day on the 25th. There are 34 participating bookstores, and visitors to all stores in a neighborhood receive a 25% discount on a purchase within two months. Participants can add neighborhoods and discounts. Anyone who goes to all 34 stores receives a Crawl tote bag. A highlight of this crawl is the afterparty on Saturday from 5-8 p.m. at the Center for Fiction that features drinks, raffles, special literary guests, and more.

This year's Twin Cities Independent Passport program, organized by Rain Taxi, will include 36 bookstores and run from Wednesday, April 22, through Sunday, April 26. Each stamped page of the passport, designed by local artist Kevin Cannon, becomes a future discount coupon for the stamping store; multiple stamps make passport holders eligible for a variety of prizes.

The Columbus Indie Bookstore Crawl runs April 25 and 26 includes 19 indie bookstores in the Columbus, Ohio, area. Readers who visit at least seven stores are entered into a lottery to win a literary gift basket.

In Charlotte, N.C., 25 indie bookstores are sponsoring the Greater Charlotte Book Crawl. It runs the entire month of April and includes Indie Bookstore Day as a highlight. The program has three tiers, rewarding people who visit seven stores with a free audiobook at Libro.fm, those who visit 15 with a bookish poster, and those who visit all 25 stores with a tote bag as well as the chance to win the grand prize of a $20 gift card for each of the 25 stores, for a retail value of $500.

Samantha Schoech and Pete Mulvihill at California Bookstore Day, in 2014

Origin Story

Like many good bookselling ideas that have become national hits, Independent Bookstore Day began at the Northern California Independent Booksellers Association, when Samantha Schoech and Pete Mulvihill of Green Apple Books, San Francisco, suggested creating a California Bookstore Day modeled on Independent Record Store Day. The first iteration, in 2014--which included the Southern California Independent Booksellers Association (both associations have since merged to create the California Independent Booksellers Alliance)--was so popular that it expanded nationwide in 2015, receiving support from the ABA, which took over management of the Day in 2019. Schoech headed the program through its 2021 edition.
The enterprise software industry has a pricing problem. SAP S/4HANA deployments average $2.6 million and 14.3 months, according to industry estimates. Oracle and NetSuite charge five- and six-figure annual licensing fees. For mid-market companies across healthcare, retail, and manufacturing, these numbers are not just steep  they are exclusionary. An entire tier of the global economy has been locked out of the operational tools that Fortune 500 firms take for granted.

That dynamic is now being tested by an unlikely challenger. Nikhil Jathar, Co-Founder and CTO of AvanSaber., recently released ERPClaw, an open-source, AI-native ERP system that runs on a $20-per-month server under an MIT licence. The platform spans 47 modules and 14 industry verticals  from general ledger and payroll to HIPAA-compliant healthcare and FERPA-compliant education  with over 2,500 executable actions and more than 200,000 lines of production code.

ERPClaw did not start as an ERP. Jathar first built entAgent, an AI agent framework for business automation, followed by CraftAgent, which layered enterprise workflow orchestration on top. Over time, the agent layer and the business logic converged into a single system  ERPClaw  where the AI is not bolted onto the ERP but woven into its architecture from day one. That lineage matters: the product is not a prototype dressed up as enterprise software, it is the third iteration of a system that has been progressively stress-tested against real business operations.

The Architecture Problem Nobody Solved

What makes ERPClaw different from the growing list of AI-powered enterprise tools is not the AI itself but the constraints placed around it. Jathar designed what he calls a constitutional model  a framework of seven fundamental laws and eighteen enforceable articles that govern what an AI agent can and cannot do inside a live accounting system. The system includes a twelve-step general ledger validation engine and a tiered autonomy classification, ranging from fully automated routine transactions to those requiring human sign-off.

The question everyone in enterprise AI is asking is: how do you let an AI agent process invoices and reconcile accounts without it inventing phantom profits? Jathar says. His answer draws on an unexpected source  game engine design. The world rules that constrain agent behavior work the same way physics engines constrain objects, except the domain is financial compliance rather than collision detection.

Early results are promising. Across three production modules, Jathar reports that AI generated 80 percent of the mechanical code, 15 percent required human review, and the remaining 5 percent demanded expert accounting decisions. All 144 automated tests passed without manual intervention.

A Track Record of Products That Get Acquired

The credibility behind ERPClaw comes partly from Jathars history of building products that other companies want to buy. His earlier creation, ZapInventory, an AI-driven multi-channel inventory platform, was ranked third worldwide in its category by Crozdesk in 2020, an independent discovery platform that scores products algorithmically. The ranking placed it above established offerings from SAP, Zoho, and Intuit. Allied Market Research, in a July 2024 report on the $4.8 billion inventory management software market, separately identified AvanSabers StockVR platform alongside Oracle, IBM, Zoho, and SAP.

In early 2024, U.S.-based InvenSync, Inc. acquired ZapInventory through a formal equity exchange  AvanSaber received a ten percent stake in InvenSync, a profit-sharing arrangement, and a board seat for Jathar. That was not his only exit. Gaming IP he developed was separately acquired by QCPlay Digital Co., Ltd., a Hong Kong-based publisher, and subsequently scaled past one million downloads on Google Play. Two independent acquisitions of original work across unrelated product categories is unusual by any industry standard.

From Utility Billing to Grid Modernization

Before founding AvanSaber, Jathar spent six years at Accenture leading SAP IS-U transformation engagements for some of the largest utility operators in the world: American Water, E.ON, Allegheny Power, and EDF to name few. He built billing and customer information systems serving over 15 million customers across more than 20 U.S. states  infrastructure where a misconfigured billing cycle can trigger regulatory consequences.

That utility-sector background is now circling back. Jathar has been invited to speak at Smart Grids USA 2026 in Anaheim, California, presenting on applied AI for grid modernization alongside speakers from Siemens Energy, PG&E, and Southern California Edison.

Building for Accessibility, Then Enterprise

Jathars path to enterprise AI had an unconventional detour. Between 2015 and 2018, he built Eye+, a mobile application for visually impaired users that allows eye-free interaction with Android devices. The app grew out of research he published in Springer conference proceedings and was deployed across 10 countries, picking up consistent five-star reviews during its beta phase. That project  building software for users who cannot see the screen  shaped his approach to interface design in ERPClaw, where a Spec-First methodology auto-generates frontends from a single metadata definition file, eliminating tens of thousands of lines of conventional UI code.

It also set a pattern. Jathar has consistently released tools as open source  a PHP Reddit API wrapper that picked up over 200 stars on GitHub, SiteKit, and several other developer utilities  long before open-sourcing an entire ERP became the plan. ERPClaw is the largest expression of that instinct, but not the first.

What SAPs 2027 Deadline Means for ERPClaw

The timing of ERPClaws release is not accidental. SAP has set a 2027 deadline for customers to migrate from its legacy ECC platform to S/4HANA. Thousands of mid-market companies face a choice between expensive cloud migrations and operational stagnation. Jathar is positioning ERPClaw as a third option: an open-source system with constitutional AI safety guardrails, zero licensing fees, and a deployment measured in minutes rather than months.

Whether that positioning holds will depend on community adoption and the kind of independent validation that only production use can provide. But in an industry where the last major open-source ERP entrants  ERPNext and Odoo  carved out meaningful market share despite competing against billion-dollar incumbents, the playbook for disruption from below is well established. The difference this time is that the challenger comes with AI safety constraints baked into its architecture, a track record of acquired products, and the enterprise credibility of someone who has already built systems at utility scale. The product is live at erpclaw.ai.
Trump suggests US could take control of Irans key oil hub, Kharg Island.

Troop buildup and potential ground action raise escalation risks.

Threat to Strait of Hormuz could disrupt oil supply and spike prices.

US President Donald Trump has signaled a significant escalation in Washingtons stance on Iran, suggesting that the United States could seize control of Irans key oil infrastructure, including Kharg Island, as the ongoing Middle East conflict enters its fifth week.

Trump stated that his 'preference would be to take the oil in Iran', indicating that capturing Kharg Island which handles nearly 90 percent of Irans oil exports remains a strategic option. He added that such a move could require a sustained American presence in the region, underlining the seriousness of the proposal.

escalating geopolitical risks. The remarks come amid rising tensions across the Gulf, where fears of attacks on energy infrastructure have already pushed global oil prices higher. Kharg Island, located about 26 km off Irans coast, is central to Tehrans economy, and any attempt to seize it would significantly disrupt Irans oil trade while

Reports suggest the Pentagon is preparing for a prolonged engagement, with thousands of US troops already deployed and more expected to follow. Around 3,500 personnel, including Marines, have reached the region, while additional forces from the 82nd Airborne Division are reportedly on standby, signaling readiness for a possible ground operation.

However, military experts have cautioned against such a move, warning that capturing Kharg Island could expose US forces to serious threats. Iran could respond by targeting shipping routes, including deploying naval mines in the Strait of Hormuz a critical global oil transit chokepoint further destabilizing the region.

Also Read: Trump Extends Deadline for Iran to Reopen Strait of Hormuz to April 6

Trump also claimed that indirect negotiations with Iran are underway through intermediaries and suggested that a deal could be reached quickly. At the same time, he reiterated that Washington retains multiple military options, including further strikes on Iranian targets.

While Tehran has not responded directly to these specific claims, it has maintained that its leadership and strategic capabilities remain intact. As tensions continue to rise, the situation underscores the fragile balance between diplomacy and escalation in one of the worlds most critical energy corridors.
During MWC 2026, a leading European consulting company, IDATE, held the Green All-optical Network Forum 2026. During the forum, IDATE presented four major awards to 17 worlds leading operators.

The awards include:

1. Best Practice of Home Broadband Development Award

This award is set to recognize operators with excellent practices in gigabit HBB service development or 10G service innovation and commercial use. Technologies such as 10G PON were introduced for large-scale deployment of gigabit networks and lay a solid foundation for comprehensive upgrade to ultra-giga networks with 50G PON in near future. Innovative home broadband packages such as home networking were released to enrich user experience and lead the service development in local markets.

The final award is presented to Orange, China Telecom, PLDT Inc., and Algerie Telecom.

2. Ultra-Broadband Resilient Network for AI Development Award

This award is set to recognize operators with outstanding practices in all-optical network architecture, technological innovation and application, support for DCI, and networked computing & computing power utilization. The winner operators support the rapid popularization of AI applications and seize the opportunity of AI era use with the leading all-optical network. With innovations on key technologies and network architectures such as 400G/800G, 3D-Mesh architecture, all-optical switching, 100G to CO, and ASON, users can access data centers with millisecond-level latency, and requirements from AI training and inference such as ultra-high bandwidth and ultra-high reliability are met.

The final award goes to Fastweb, China Mobile, AZTELEKOM LLC, and MTN Nigeria Communication PLC.

3. AI-Oriented Business Innovation and Premium User Experience Award

This award is set to operators with excellent practices in fixed broadband user experience operations and widely recognized network quality in the market. They actively embrace AI services and continuously improve user experience to bring huge brand value enhancement and business returns. They provide bandwidth above gigabit to bring various AI services to homes and enterprises quickly. Home network such as FTTR are deployed to enable optimal network experience. In addition, service boundaries expansion becomes possible based on those network advantages, from providing connection only to integrating connection and applications.

The final award is presented to Zain Group, China Unicom, Globe Telecom Inc., and CTM Macau.

4. Leading Sustainable Network Operator Award

This award is set to commend operators that achieve sustainable network development through energy efficiency improvement and carbon emission reduction in network construction and service operations. For example, by replacing DSL or cable networks by FTTx, and upgrading legacy SDH/switch networks to OTN, the FTTH penetration is enhanced and the power consumption of telecom networks is greatly reduced. In addition, popularity of optical networks accelerates the service cloudification and digital transformation of enterprise users, indirectly saving energy and reducing emissions in more industries, supporting the sustainable development of the whole society.

The final award goes to MasOrange, Turkcell Corp, du, Lounea, and Ooredoo Qatar.

Please check the mini-site and social media posts from IDATE to learn the reasons and details about the award: https://idate.fr/green-all-optical-network-forum/
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Sponsored BusinessCompaniesBulls N' Bears Aureka sends survey drones skyward to unlock Victorian gold potential Brought to you by BULLS N BEARS Murray Ward March 30, 2026  7:30pm Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add more. Share A A A

Aureka Limited has taken to the skies at its flagship Irvine gold project in Victorias renowned Stawell Corridor, launching a high-resolution drone magnetic survey to sharpen its hunt for the next big discovery. The low-altitude airborne survey is designed to provide a step change in the companys geological understanding of Irvine by establishing the underlying structural architecture and defining subsurface features with far greater precision than the historical data allows. Preparation of drone and magnetometer on the ground prior to the start of Aureka Ltds survey across the companys Irvine Project in Victoria. By flying at an altitude of just 50 metres with tight 50-metre line spacings, Aureka expects to deliver a significantly improved dataset compared to regional heli-borne surveys captured by the Geological Survey of Victoria back in the late 1980s. The survey is being conducted alongside continuous diamond drilling at the project, which already hosts a JORC-compliant mineral resource of 304,000 ounces of gold grading 2.43 grams per tonne(g/t) of gold.

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Now is the right time to fly this survey as we stepout to more ambitious targets. Aureka Limited managing director James Gurry Management believes the timing is perfect to secure the high-definition data as the company prepares to drill a 2000-metre underexplored gap between its two primary deposits  the 264,000-ounce Resolution lode and the 40,300-ounce Adventure lode. Aureka Limited managing director James Gurry said: After nearly 7,000m of diamond drilling in 2025, now is the right time to fly this survey as we step out to more ambitious targets. Gold mineralisation at Irvine at the meeting point of two different rock types, especially where sheared basalt comes into contact with sedimentary rocks. The new survey will help highlight subtle magnetic features that may influence important mineral controls. The move follows a busy 2025 for the company, which included nearly 7,000 metres of diamond drilling. Late last year, targeted drilling successfully identified the highly prospective Tenacity mineralised structure. The drill bit delivered exceptional gold intercepts, including a 10-metre section running at 12.1g/t gold from 413m, featuring bonanza high-grade intervals of 0.3m at 183g/t of gold and 0.3m of 64.3g/t of gold.

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The excitement continued at the companys St Arnaud project, where new mineralised structures sub-parallel to the existing 56,000-ounce resource have been identified. Aureka is geographically well-placed, with Irvine just 16km south of the privately owned Stawell gold mine, which is home to 890,000 ounces of gold grading a very respectable 3g/t. Historically, the Stawell area has produced more than five million ounces of the yellow metal. Additionally, Irvine occupies the northern portion of the historic Ararat goldfield, a region with a rich history of high-grade gold production. Curiously, a gold rush in the mid 1800s drew up to 9000 Chinese miners, chasing a lode called the Canton lead - a buried river system packed with gold and one of the richest of its kind ever discovered in Australia. Once drone surveying is complete, the company expects to have the processed results and analysis in hand within six to eight weeks. With the drill rods about to start spinning and a high-tech eye in the sky, Aureka appears to be leaving no stone unturned as it looks to grow its Victorian gold footprint. Its an ambitious, data-driven approach that should have punters watching the horizon with plenty of interest. Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: mattbirney@bullsnbears.com.au

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BusinessConsumer affairsCredit cards Businesses warn of price rises from RBAs surcharge ban Elias Visontay Updated March 31, 2026  4:08pm ,first published March 31, 2026  9:30am Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add more. Share A A A

Key points The Reserve Bank of Australia will ban surcharges on most credit and debit card payments from October 1.

The change aims to save consumers $1.6 billion annually by eliminating complex fees on debit and credit card transactions.

The RBA will also lower interchange fees, which are paid by the payment terminal provider to the bank that issued the card.

Business groups are warning that cafes, bars, restaurants and shops will raise their prices to pass on added costs they will face from a looming ban on credit and debit card surcharges, after the Reserve Bank announced sweeping payment reforms. The RBA on Tuesday said that from October, surcharges on credit card and debit card payments will be banned, a move it says will save consumers $1.6 billion a year. However, the changes have been fiercely opposed by small business groups who warn their members will raise prices, while it is also likely the changes will cut the generosity of card reward schemes. Fuel Espresso co-owner Jessica Kotzen receives payment from customer Amber Boardman at her cafe in Brookvale, Sydney. Sam Mooy The RBA said that despite fierce opposition to changes that it first floated last year, it believed merchants should no longer be able to apply surcharges on customers card transactions. It claimed the fees were no longer working as intended because the majority of payments were now by card, and it was difficult for consumers to avoid surcharges. To avoid merchants baking in the cost of card payment processing into the price of goods, the RBA will also apply pressure on card issuers  largely banks  and other businesses that provide payment terminals.

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Under the RBAs changes, fees paid by the payment terminal provider to the institution that issues the card being used will be capped at a lower level. Related Article Consumer rights Why were holding on to billions in cash but not using it Reserve Bank governor Michele Bullock said the changes would make card payments simpler for consumers and help businesses get better value from their payment services. Surcharging no longer works as intended, she said. Consumers and businesses find the rules complex and confusing, surcharges are often not well disclosed, and most consumers want surcharging to stop, Bullock said. Treasurer Jim Chalmers backed the decision, and praised the RBAs multi-pronged plan. However, he acknowledged some small businesses may ultimately decide to increase their prices.

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We all know that Australians absolutely hate this idea that theres a sneaky charge when you tap and go, when you get a coffee or get a beer, he said. By getting some of the interchange fees down that will be a benefit to some of these small businesses that we hope that they will pass on to customers as well, he said. So there are swings and roundabouts here, but fundamentally this is about Australians knowing what theyre paying, Chalmers said. How will a surcharging ban affect small businesses? However, small business groups warned that if merchants were unable to add a surcharge for accepting debit or credit card payments, they would have to raise their prices. At Fuel Espresso cafe in Brookvale on Sydneys northern beaches, surcharges on card payments  of about 1.6 per cent  are generally noticed, but accepted, by customers, said owner Jessica Kotzen. They understand its part of the process, she said.

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Kotzen believes she will have no choice but to increase prices when a surcharge ban takes effect. While customers dont generally react well to menu price increases, a flurry of increased charges from suppliers and delivery companies who are encountering higher costs due to the fuel shortage crisis had left the small business struggling to absorb prices as is. Were absorbing increased costs for now, but we will need to start passing it on to the customer, she said. The business has tried shopping around payment processing providers in the past, but Kotzen doesnt have much faith that the RBAs measures designed to boost transparency and reduce the fees card issuers charge will ultimately offset the loss of surcharge revenue. Im deeply concerned that its just going to mostly hit small businesses. Theres only so much you can charge for a cup of coffee, Kotzen said. Loading

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On Tuesday, long-time customer Amber Boardman was buying lunch at Fuel. While she notices how surcharges quickly add up across many of lifes receipts, she is concerned if it harms her local favourites such as Fuel. If it leaves them worse off and having to absorb the cost, its not cool, Boardman said. The sentiment at Fuel was echoed by several business groups, which insisted the decision harmed small businesses and would lead to them baking their costs to process card payments into all prices. Council of Small Business Organisations Australia (COSBOA) chair Matthew Addison said, If you ban surcharging without guaranteeing lower fees, small businesses have no choice but to absorb the cost and that will ultimately be reflected in prices. Wes Lambert, CEO of the Australian Restaurant and Cafe Association, called Tuesdays announcement the biggest early April Fools joke the RBA could have handed the hospitality industry.

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Ultimately, the consumer will pay for this, Lambert said. The RBA cracks down on surcharging How much do Australians pay in surcharges? The Reserve Bank estimates Australians pay between $1.6 billion and $1.8 billion in surcharges. While many retailers add surcharges, the central bank says that overall, only 16 per cent of business charge a surcharge. What is the average cost of a surcharge? The size of a surcharge will vary depending on the type of card used, and the cost to the merchant of accepting that payment. Eftpos surcharges are typically less than 0.5 per cent, Canstar says, Visa and Mastercard debit surcharges are between 0.5 per cent and 1 per cent, and Visa and Mastercard credit surcharges are between 1 and 1.5 per cent. Does this change cover all cards, including AMEX? The changes announced by the RBA do not apply to American Express, which is regulated differently. American Express does not have interchange fees because the merchants payment service provider and the cardholders issuer are the same institution. Banks  which make up most issuers, a group set to lose $660 million in annual revenue under the changes  slammed the move, suggesting it could undermine the nations sovereign capabilities. The RBAs decision will see foreign multinationals extract an increasing share of revenue from the payments system to the long-term detriment of Australia, ABA CEO Simon Birmingham said. The changes apply to all Mastercard, Visa and EFTPOS cards, but not to American Express, which is regulated differently. American Express does not have interchange fees because the merchants payment service provider and the cardholders issuer are the same institution.

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About 84 per cent of businesses dont currently surcharge card payments, and so are expected to benefit from lower upstream costs, the RBA believes. However, the use of surcharging varies significantly by industry, with roughly a third of hospitality businesses surcharging, it said. Reserve Bank governor Michele Bullock. Louise Kennerley Why is the RBA changing the surcharging rules? The RBA said the existing system has largely meant that debit and credit card users fund the cost of expensive rewards points and frequent flier schemes, despite not all users benefiting from such schemes. For years, businesses have been able to apply surcharges to credit and debit card payments, but the amount is not supposed to exceed what it costs a business to process the payment. While average surcharges have been about 0.7 per cent of a transaction, they have ranged between 0.1 per cent to 10 per cent.

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Interchange fees historically have been a significant funding source for banks in covering the costs for reward points, which are issued to customers usually for each dollar they spend. Customers can also gain bonus points for signing up to cards, which are often gamed by points hackers who cycle through cards to accrue bonuses. Fee caps will now be lowered from 0.8 per cent to 0.3 per cent for consumer credit cards, and from 0.2 per cent to 0.16 per cent for debit cards. The new interchange fee on foreign-issued cards will be 1 per cent, while commercial credit cards cap will remain at 0.8 per cent. The Business Briefing newsletter delivers major stories, exclusive coverage and expert opinion. Sign up to get it every weekday morning.
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CultureMoviesRomance The Italian job: I hope to delight everyone, says Rege-Jean Page Michael Idato March 29, 2026  5:00am Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add more. Share A A A

In the romantic comedy You, Me & Tuscany, there is a scene  well, several actually  where the films leading man Rege-Jean Page is required to remove his shirt. At least one involves him being soaking wet. And all of them, in the screening I attended, got a reaction from the audience best described as  enthusiastic. Though the moment is somehow reminiscent of the scene in Soapdish where Carrie Fisher suggests to an auditioning Costas Mandylor that he try one without the shirt, journalistic professionalism requires we meet this artistic choice with a serious inquiry about how Page felt taking his shirt off to the delight of a cinema full of women? Michael (Rege-Jean Page) and Anna (Halle Bailey) in You, Me & Tuscany. Universal Pictures I dont know why youre restricting it to just women, I want to delight everyone in the cinema, he says, with a wry smile. But, he adds, in a more serious tone, youve struck the key  [which is that] it is about delighting an audience, and there are various tools with which we do that. Some of it is in the text, some of it is physical. The way you thread through all of that, you figure out what you are providing the audience, what theyve come for [and] what is delightful about the genre, Page adds. Where you are leaning into fantasy and where you are leaning into reality, I like to think of romcoms in particular as kind of like an Arnold Palmer  sweet and savory  but everything is serving the same thing, and its always the audience.

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You, Me & Tuscany opens when Anna (Halle Bailey), a woman drifting through her 20s, encounters by chance a handsome man named Matteo (Lorenzo De Moor), on the run from his restrictive family life in Italy. One glimpse of his empty Italian villa and Anna is off to Italy, hoping to turn a small fib into a chance to live her dream. The complicating factors? His family discover her, and they are drawn into the lie that she is his fiancee. This is where Matteos cousin (and adopted brother) Michael (Page) enters the frame. You see, hes the town pin-up boy and grape farmer, but Anna is now stuck engaged to an absent fiance who, frankly, is not yet in on the lie. There are relatives, high drama, chemistry for days and a lot of food. Welcome to Italy. Loading The film lives in a curious intersection within popular culture: the fantastical Italy, the Instagram fantasy of sun-drenched little villages and vast feasting tables of pasta al forno, parmigiana di melanzane and insalata caprese, and the various made-for-television movies that have turned all of that into a romantic/drama sub-genre. In a parallel universe, this might be My Big Fat Italian Hallmark Movie. The joy of this business, of this job, is that we make illusions real, Page says. The relationship youre referring to, between the Instagram Italy and the lived Italy, is precisely which parts of the real world that we lived in, that we experienced. I want to be emphatic about that, its to know that it is and can be real.

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You talk about running away from the world, but actually, I think its really useful to frame the world in terms of things we are running towards, Page adds. Thats a lot more powerful. It is a fantasy. It is fantastical, but its a fantasy based on real things that we can create, that we can lean into, that we can choose to capture and centre and put in front of our experience. His co-star concurs. There is a sense of escapism that you go to, like music, she says. Theres a place you go, you hear your favourite song, the chills you get, [its the same] with movies. We sometimes need to just dive into another world and feel the sense of joy and the rollercoaster of emotions. We need to feel good. Its nice to feel joyful  that youre able to go into that world together with people you love. To quote Shakespeare, hes the only man of Italy. Rege-Jean Page in You, Me & Tuscany. Universal Pictures What the film does possess, and does capture nicely in the midst of a slightly overwrought Italian experience, is a great sense of the Italian landscape. The film was shot on location in Pienza, in Tuscanys Val dOrcia, and the films Australian director of photography Danny Ruhlmann does not waste a frame. Indeed, the film lingers on every postcard-adjacent vista it can find. We find a lot of that [spirit of place] through food and through family, Page says. What I certainly found in Italy, but in Tuscany and Rome particularly where we shot, is that you cant separate food from people, from landscape, from culture. They are one thing, and they all interact.

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The films interiors were shot at Romes Cinecitta, the sprawling 99-acre complex which is the artistic and spiritual home of cinema in Italy. Built in the 1930s, it is where the American Italian films of the 1950s and 1960s were shot, including Roman Holiday (1953), Ben-Hur (1959) and Cleopatra (1963). It is also the creative home of Italys master filmmaker Federico Fellini, who shot many of his films there, including La Dolce Vita (1960). Bailey says there was a powerful living spirit to the site, energised by its long and rich artistic history. That spirit was very much alive, she says. The artistic energy that you still feel wandering in the air. I was very grateful to be in those spaces where you can feel the energy because you feel it throughout the project that youre working on, too. It feels like sparkles of good luck. The air is the same. Filming on location in Pienza, Italy. Universal Pictures Page describes their time at Cinecitta as an opportunity. You feel the opportunity to step into that history and that narrative and add something to it when you can, he says. Ive worked on the Paramount lot before, which I didnt appreciate because I was too young to realise quite how much history was around me, Page adds.

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As far as happily ever after goes, you have to trust that things will work out okay. Matteo and Michaels mother Gabriella (Isabella Ferrari) is fierce. Their father, Vincenzo (Paolo Sassanelli), is remote, and wounded. And sister Francesca (Stella Pecollo), is enthusiastic about the idea of Anna as an in-law, regardless of which brother she ends up with. (The gift with purchase is the towns hilarious taxi driver, played by Marco Calvani.) But there is one slightly peculiar caveat to this love story: it does begin with some questionable choices, notably Annas infiltration of Michaels iPhone. Prospective singles beware: Face ID and AirPlay are clearly nobodys friend. A lot of Annas choices are questionable, but theyre real, says Bailey, laughing. Meeting the family  in You, Me & Tuscany. Universal Pictures What makes the movie fun is seeing her trial and error of getting caught up in her web of lies and her messiness and her impulsiveness, Bailey adds. Its also what makes you root for her, too, because I think we all can relate to feeling as though sometimes you have to be a little messy to get places. And she ended up in the right place. She just  took the scenic route. So, this really is just an old-fashioned love story? With a side of pasta?

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Editor's pick Film The real deal: Aussie performer Catherine Lagaaia dazzles in new Moana trailer What else is there? Page says. That is the actors toolbox. I firmly, firmly believe that every movie is a love story. There are no real character motivations that dont involve love in some form. It can get twisted. It can be miserable. It can be dark or hard. It can be from trauma, a lack of love. But somewhere in there, people will always be chasing what they love and the need to be loved. Bailey concurs. Its beautiful to see the beginning of somebodys sparks together, especially on a film, she says. Its one of my favourite things to watch in a rom-com. Michael and Annas first meeting  it was a joy to play and a joy to watch, I hope for audiences to see that. And we all just love a little love. You, Me & Tuscany opens in cinemas on April 9.
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CultureMusicLive music Celine Dion reveals live show comeback following stiff-person syndrome diagnosis Ethan Beck March 31, 2026  8:07am Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add more. Share A A A

It has been six years since Celine Dions last full concert. But thats about to change. Dion, who turned 58 on Monday, plans to perform 10 concerts at the Paris La Defense Arena. In a video posted to her social media accounts, she spoke about the shows planned from mid-September to mid-October, along with providing an update on her health. Celine Dion performs in Sydney in 2018. Over these last few years, every day thats gone by, Ive felt your prayers and support, your kindness and love, Dion said. Even in my most difficult times, you were there for me. Youve helped me in ways that I cant even describe, and Im truly fortunate to have your support. The announcement was teased on posters around the French capital adorned with the titles of Dions songs, including My Heart Will Go On and Pour que tu maimes encore. A countdown to the announcement appeared on a giant screen below the Eiffel Tower, which erupted into a light show paired with Dions song Im Alive, while an early morning dry run for the extravagant display read Celine Dion: Paris, I am ready in French, according to the television network BFM TV.

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When the tickets go on sale on April 10, they are likely to be a hot commodity. The 200,000 available tickets for the Paris dates of Dions Courage World Tour sold out in 90 minutes when they went on sale in 2019, according to Deadline. While the COVID pandemic forced Dion to reschedule the latter half of her Courage World Tour, she had been sidelined from performing after being diagnosed with a rare and incurable neurological condition known as stiff-person syndrome. She shared the news in 2022 after cancelling the rescheduled tour dates. The disorder causes muscle stiffness and intense muscle spasms in the trunk and limbs. It can affect posture, balance and the ability to use certain muscles, making it difficult for some patients to walk. Just imagine having the worst charley horse [cramp] you can have but its affecting a ton of muscles in your lower back and legs  and its constant, Dr Kunal Desai, assistant professor of neurology at Yale University, told The Washington Post. Loading

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But stiff-person syndrome doesnt typically harm longevity, making it possible for patients to lead a normal life with symptom management. Since her diagnosis, Dion has performed at the 2024 Paris Olympics Opening Ceremonies, with an assured rendition of Edith Piafs Hymne a lamour from the Eiffel Tower. Months earlier, Dion made an appearance at the Grammy Awards as a presenter. When I say that Im happy to be here, I really mean it from my heart, Dion told the Grammy audience. Those who have been blessed enough to be here must never take for granted the tremendous love and joy that music brings to our lives and to people all around the world. Related Article Explainer

Autoimmune diseases Singer Celine Dion has stiff person syndrome. What is it? After becoming a star as a teenager in her native Canada throughout the 80s, Dion received broader recognition by winning the 1988 Eurovision Song Contest and recorded smash albums in English. Her American breakthrough came with the synth-based Where Does My Heart Beat Now, which reached the Top 5 of the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Throughout the 90s, Dion remained inescapable on pop radio, whether that was with her Titanic theme My Heart Will Go On or the ballad The Power of Love. Even with her smash hits, she continued making music in French, including 1995s Deux, the best-selling French-language album worldwide.

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Her struggles with stiff-person syndrome were chronicled in I Am: Celine Dion, a documentary from Academy Award nominee Irene Taylor. During interviews in her Las Vegas mansion, Dion revealed that she had struggled with vocal spasms and her ability to walk for nearly two decades. But she said she was determined to return to the stage. If I cant run, Ill walk, she said. If I cant walk, Ill crawl. But I wont stop. The Washington Post Find out the next TV, streaming series and movies to add to your must-sees. Get The Watchlist delivered every Thursday.
Boao Moments 2026: China, Europe share common ground on trade, says former Italian PM Gentiloni

16:12, March 30, 2026 By Michael Kurtagh ( People's Daily Online

Paolo Gentiloni, former prime minister of Italy and former European commissioner for the economy, speaks at the Boao Forum for Asia 2026 Annual Conference in Boao, south China's Hainan Province. (Photo provided by the Boao Forum for Asia)

Paolo Gentiloni, former prime minister of Italy and former European commissioner for the economy, struck an optimistic note on China-EU trade relations during a group interview on the sidelines of the Boao Forum for Asia 2026 Annual Conference on March 26, calling the two economies natural partners in defending an open, rules-based global trading system.

Attending the Boao Forum for Asia for the first time, Gentiloni said the event offered a timely opportunity to explore areas of shared interest between Europe and Asia at a moment of mounting global trade uncertainty.

Two giants with a common stake

Gentiloni opened by drawing a clear distinction between the economic orientations of the EU and China on one hand, and the United States on the other. While Washington can afford to turn inward given the scale of its domestic market, he argued, both China and the European Union are fundamentally trade-dependent economies, and that shared reality creates a strong foundation for cooperation.

"For us and for China, trade is very important," he said, adding that both sides have a common interest in keeping global markets open and resisting the pull of protectionism, trade wars, and tariff escalation. He also called for keeping the World Trade Organization alive and functional as a mechanism for resolving trade disputes, describing it as an indispensable referee in an increasingly contested global economy.

Addressing the imbalance constructively

Gentiloni acknowledged frankly that the China-EU trade relationship is not without friction. The EU currently runs a deficit of around 300 billion euros with China, a gap he described as significant and in need of constructive management.

Rather than pointing to tariffs as the default answer, he proposed two forward-looking directions. The first, he noted, is already embedded in China's 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030): expanding domestic consumption. If China produces more for its own market, he explained, its export volumes will naturally moderate, helping to gradually rebalance the trade relationship without confrontation. The second direction involves building new pillars of mutual benefit, including increased Chinese investment in Europe and deeper exchanges in strategic areas such as rare minerals. Individual European member states, he suggested, can serve as practical entry points for this kind of deeper engagement, particularly in areas like green transition and industrial cooperation where European and Chinese strengths are complementary.

A call for multilateral leadership

Beyond the bilateral relationship, Gentiloni urged China to use its global economic weight to champion multilateralism at a moment when the United States is retreating from that role. He suggested that China deepening cooperation across Asia, not only with ASEAN nations but also with Japan and India, could serve as a model of regional economic integration with broader global resonance.

He also cautioned that the world is at risk of sliding from a rules-based trading order into what he called the "weaponization" of the global economy, where economic relationships are dictated by power rather than agreed principles. Averting that outcome, he argued, requires active commitment from major economies on all sides.

Reflecting on the forum's theme of shaping a shared future through new cooperation, Gentiloni closed on a forward-looking note, calling for dialogue over blame. The priority, he said, is not to point fingers at who is responsible for today's disorder, but to work together toward a more stable and cooperative global order, one in which China and Europe both have a central part to play.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Wu Chengliang)
Ubiquitous mobile broadband coverage mandated by the universal service obligation is boosting digital inclusion around the world and accelerating progress towards the UNs sustainable development goals for 2030.

As well as being commercially driven however, networks in rural and emerging markets must also deliver clear social benefits to the communities they serve.

This was broadly the premise under discussion at Huaweis TECH Cares Forum held earlier this month during the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Representatives from the academic, regulatory and operator communities joined senior Huawei executives at the event to consider why take-up of services still lags in many regions, and what the likely impact will be in the AI era.

Presentations and discussions encompassing both urban and rural coverage networks, as well as industry ecosystems and technology developments including AI, considered how governments can accelerate user migration by developing and shaping policies to support wireless networks that are socially beneficial as well as commercially sustainable.

Setting the scene, Dr. Cosmas Zavazava, Director of the ITUs Telecommunication Development Bureau called the digital divide one of the defining challenges of our time. Only if people are able to access communication networks can the life-changing opportunities for individuals, communities and entire economies offered by the AI era be realized, Dr Zavazava told the audience.

Marina Madale, Executive of Sustainability Value at MTN Group, said that whereas mobile coverage has expanded significantly in sub-Saharan Africa, participation has not advanced to the same degree, especially in rural areas. We must step up our action to achieve digital inclusion in the AI era, she urged.

While the commercial viability of sites can be improved by encouraging digital inclusion and driving usage, devices are the keys to the kingdom, said Madale, and even though smartphone penetration is accelerating it is affordability that will be crucial to drive adoption.

Promoting Connectivity and Fostering Digital Skills

According to GSMA, some 300 million people are still not covered by mobile broadband (MBB) services. Nevertheless, Yang Chaobin (pictured, main image), CEO of Huaweis ICT Business Group announced at the event that by the end of 2025 the company had already more than made good on its pledge of 2022 to the ITUs Partner2Connect (P2C) Digital Coalition, to provide digital connectivity to 170 million people in remote areas across more than 80 countries.

Digital skills are the key for ordinary people to enter the digital world, said Jeff Wang, President of Public Affairs and Communications at Huawei. Inclusive connectivity and digital skills empowerment serve as the two core pillars of digital inclusion. To bridge the digital skills gap, Huawei works closely with governments and partners to enhance digital access, deliver skills training, and advance STEM education for underserved communities

To this end, Huawei helps to promote access to better knowledge and understanding of digital services through the DigiTruck initiative, a state-of-the-art mobile digital classroom serving remote communities by providing access to knowledge, opportunities, and essential online services.

Addressing Extended Network ROI

The core challenge to developing rural coverage is the long-term return on investment (ROI) for rural networks, which can be as much as 10 years, said Zeng Chuang (pictured, above), Vice President of Huaweis Wireless Network Product Line. This is particularly challenging in view of service providers responsibility to provide universal coverage.

Outlining Huaweis competitive rural network solutions and the companys global commercial progress, Zeng explained that high infrastructure, transmission and fuel costs combined with limited access to energy sources were exacerbating the challenges, along with lack of roads or transportation, and the scattered nature of rural communities.

Other factors in many rural areas are the limitations on tower numbers and lack of fibre optics, meaning that the only feasible technologies are often microwave or relay backhaul, said Zeng.

Huaweis solutions which already address rural coverage include its RuralStar and RuralLink product lines. The company has recently supplemented these with RuralCow, an energy-efficient, last-mile solution for population coverage of below 3000 people, which the vendor describes as a 1 Box 1 Site approach.

Single-day delivery and installation coupled with the use of near-line-of-sight (NLOS) transmission means that RuralCow provides fast on-air service, said Zeng, with support for services such as video calling and digital payment, helping to ensure a much-reduced ROI of around 1.5 years. He cited a recent deployment in Nigeria, where RuralCow powered by 300Ah lithium battery technology, supports GSM and LTE services.

Acknowledging that the commercial value of rural networks is not that high, Zeng said that providing universal coverage is nonetheless part of Huaweis operator customers social responsibilities. Therefore, going forward, Huawei will continue to have more engagements with customers, try to better understand their needs in terms of technology, and strive to be more cost effective.

We can deploy networks in (remote and rural) areas and provide a lot of social value, said Zeng. He pointed to economic and business models based on mobile connections that have already boosted the development of services such as e-commerce in China, and also the prosperity of the food delivery economy in China, Asia and other parts of the world.

Right now in China, countries in Asia Pacific and in Africa, we also see the development of mobile connections which have contributed to the boom in online sales, Zeng added. For example, in many rural areas there are a lot of difficulties in transportation. Now thanks to this new technology farmers are able to sell their products into other areas and in cities so I think this technology has worked out to have many social values as well.

Boosting Rural Services in the Mobile AI Era

The biggest challenge of providing universal service in the Mobile AI era is to lower the cost of technology, said Zeng. This is actually a common concern faced by the whole world, but its especially acute in regions like Africa, Latin America, and Asia Pacific,

At the equipment or physical layer, intelligent algorithms can reduce inefficiencies so allowing systems to be pushed closer to their limits in terms of things like capacity and balanced coverage, Zeng explained. And by enabling troubleshooting, intelligent algorithms can also improve the air interface transmission efficiency, and broaden coverage.

In rural networks especially, the big headache is about the operations and maintenance (O&M) costs, and intelligent algorithms can help to reduce these and also be applied in the network operations centre (NOC), said Zeng. Intelligent algorithms can also help save energy, fix problems and locate faults in a shorter space of time.

Mobile AI has also got a lot of challenges, said Zeng. Mobile AI Application requires very good connections, especially in areas such as agent to agent communications. Latency needs to be very low and we need to have large bandwidth, especially in the uplink. Enlarging the uplink bandwidth in the Mobile AI era has already become an industry consensus.

This in turn will impact network design, said Zeng. At Huawei were adapting our designs to make our products more reliable.

Power supply has also been a challenge in many rural areas, said Zeng. We can do things such as reduce the power consumption and make designs more simplified.

Redressing the Global Imbalance

At the same time we have also noticed that theres a severe imbalance between the BRIC countries and the regions, says Zeng. For example, in Asia Pacific the connection rate may be more than 90%, while in Africa the connection rate is nearer 30% or less. So apart from technology we also need to leverage funding to boost expansion and coverage.

I think we can try to better understand our customers needs in technology and continue to innovate, to provide solutions to help them, and in this way we can narrow the gap. In this way they will both have the willingness and the capability to deploy more services.
Daily Telegraph under fire after alleged undercover operation

The Daily Telegraph is under fire after an ugly blow-up at a Newtown cafe after allegations that the newspaper was running an undercover operation to see what it's like being Jewish in Sydney.
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Updated NationalNSWDefamation War of words erupts after Telegraph apologises for undercover cafe stunt Michaela Whitbourn Updated March 30, 2026  2:23pm ,first published March 30, 2026  10:52am Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add more. Share A A A

A fresh row has erupted between a Sydney cafe and a pro-Israel activist over a stunt described internally by The Daily Telegraph as undercover Jew, just hours after the tabloid apologised for causing distress to the eaterys owner and staff. Ofir Birenbaum entered Cairo Takeaway, a popular Egyptian restaurant in Newtown known for its public support of Palestine, wearing a Star of David cap. A Telegraph journalist was in tow to capture any reaction. Loading Birenbaum subsequently filed Federal Court defamation proceedings against the restaurant over comments made after the incident. It returned fire with a cross-claim against him. The Telegraph, which was not a party to the litigation, published a joint statement on Monday with Birenbaum and Cairo Takeaway that said the disputes had been resolved on confidential terms and noted the parties hope that the fact of a resolution can be a positive example for others.

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In the statement, the News Corp outlet apologised for causing distress to the cafes owner and staff, and Cairo Takeaway apologised to Birenbaum. It appeared to mark the end of the dispute, but a flurry of further statements has cast that resolution in a different light. Birenbaum said in a separate statement on Monday that he had been completely vindicated by the settlement and [this] was never a stunt. Rather, it was legitimate public interest journalism at a time when antisemitism in Sydney was escalating, visible, and dangerous, he said. Activist Ofir Birenbaum was at the centre of The Daily Telegraph sting. Nine News His lawyer, Rebekah Giles, said in her own statement that the settlement was an important win for her client and the Australian Jewish community.

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Public interest journalism matters, she said. Full credit must go to Ofir Birenbaum for having participated in this exercise at a time of increasing antisemitism. In response, Cairo Takeaway issued a statement via its lawyers, OBrien Criminal & Civil Solicitors. Cairo Takeaway owner Hesham El Masry said it was disappointing further statements were issued after the joint statement was published. Jessica Hromas Cairo Takeaway did not intend to make any statement about the confidential settlement of the legal dispute, it said. A joint statement had been agreed between the parties, and it was specifically agreed that nothing inconsistent with that statement would be published.

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It said the further statements were inconsistent with that joint statement in both word and spirit. Cairo Takeaway disputes Mr Birenbaums categorisation of the  operation that he engaged in with The Daily Telegraph as legitimate public interest journalism. It is hard to believe that The Daily Telegraph would apologise for the distress it caused to the staff and owner of the Cairo Takeaway if it currently viewed the story as legitimate public interest journalism. The restaurants owner, Hesham El Masry, said the further statements were disappointing. We thought there would just be the joint statement and we could all then move on with our lives, he said.

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Giles responded that her client was free to explain his reasons for participating in this public interest journalism investigation. Documents leaked to online media outlet Crikey shortly after the incident in February last year revealed the News Corp publication orchestrated the story under the name UNDERCOVERJEW. It intended to lift the lid on what its like being Jewish in Sydney and proposed using video glasses to film the interactions, according to an internal planning document. The incident caused an immediate stir and prompted a flurry of headlines  for news outlets other than the Telegraph. Footage emerged of a hospitality worker berating News Corp journalist Danielle Gusmaroli as she left the restaurant with a photographer and videographer.

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Birenbaum launched defamation proceedings against Cairo Takeaway in August last year. The case was listed for a seven-day hearing from May 18. Birenbaum had denied the cafes version of events, which were posted to its Instagram page. He also denied wearing smart glasses to film the interaction. Footage captured the exchange between Daily Telegraph reporter Danielle Gusmaroli and an employee at Cairo Takeaway. In response, the cafe launched a cross-claim against Birenbaum for alleged trespass. On 11 February 2025, Jewish man Ofir Birenbaum, who was wearing a Star of David cap and pendant, and representatives from The Daily Telegraph newspaper, entered the Cairo Takeaway in Newtown, resulting in an incident with Cairo Takeaway staff, the joint statement said.

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All parties are pleased that the legal disputes arising from this incident have now been resolved on confidential terms. Cairo Takeaway said it accepts that Mr Birenbaum was polite to staff when he entered the premises and purchased a drink and apologised unreservedly to him for the false and defamatory statements to the media, Instagram posts and comments by members of the public directed at him on its social media accounts. The Daily Telegraph acknowledges that entering the Cairo Takeaway without notice, to see if Mr Birenbaum would be treated differently for the purpose of a news article, caused distress to the staff and owner of the Cairo Takeaway. The Daily Telegraph unreservedly apologises to Cairo Takeaway and their staff for causing that distress. Be the first to know when major news happens. Sign up for breaking news alerts on email or turn on notifications in the app
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NationalNSWCity life Sydneys $2.5m taxpayer-owned property thats become a graveyard for waste David Barwell March 30, 2026  11:30am Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add more. Share A A A

A NSW government agency has been formally sanctioned by the states environmental watchdog after a $2.5 million taxpayer-owned property in Sydneys west was allowed to deteriorate into a dumping ground littered with construction waste, car parts, machinery and more than 500 tyres. The NSW Environment Protection Authority has issued a clean-up notice to Transport for NSW, alleging land it owns at 284 Palmyra Avenue in Shanes Park has been the site of a sustained pollution incident dating back at least five years. An aerial view of the site at Palmyra Ave in Shanes Park. Sydney Morning Herald The accumulation of waste across the two-hectare semi-rural block located within the Blacktown Council area has prompted community concerns about the management of public land in a region under sustained pressure from population growth and increased urban density. The EPA notice details a chaotic mix of material scattered across the property, including trucks, car parts, solar panels, demolition waste, PVC piping, concrete, shipping containers, timber pallets, geofabric material and more than 500 tyres.

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Among the clutter is potentially hazardous materials  discarded batteries, fire extinguishers, electronic components and empty chemical and pesticide containers. In its formal notice, the EPA said it reasonably suspects a pollution incident is occurring at the property and has deemed Transport for NSW, as the legal landowner, responsible for ensuring the site is remediated. The NSW Environment Protection Authority has issued a clean-up notice to Transport for NSW following investigations into the site. Sydney Morning Herald A Transport for NSW spokesman, in a statement, said the property is leased to a third party but declined to identify the tenant or explain how such a large volume of waste was permitted to accumulate on land under its ownership. Transport for NSW is in the process of complying with the EPAs clean-up notice, the spokesman said, adding the agency could not comment further while the matter remains subject to regulatory action.

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The case has drawn criticism from local environment groups who argue it highlights a disconnect between government policy and practice. The site sits opposite Wianamatta Regional Park and near the Yiraaldiya National Park wildlife conservation sanctuary, areas established to protect sensitive ecosystems. Wayne Olling, a member of the Blacktown and District Environment Group, said the situation exposed what he described as a double standard. Transport for NSW owns of the property, located within the fast-growing Blacktown Council area Sydney Morning Herald It is a major concern that dumping is occurring with potential toxic material leaching into areas which have been preserved for nature, he said. There is a total contradiction here  the state is managing sites for conservation nearby while allowing this to happen on its own land. Its a double standard.

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Blacktown Council confirmed it first raised concerns about the property in 2020. A spokesman said council officers had attended the site on multiple occasions to support the EPAs investigation, including facilitating asbestos testing alongside a specialist occupational hygienist. The EPA commenced a formal investigation in April 2021 into the alleged illegal processing and storage of waste. Yet even after years of regulatory attention  including a joint inspection with Transport for NSW representatives as recently as September last year  large volumes of waste have remained in place. As part of the clean-up notice, Transport for NSW must halt any further waste from being brought onto the property. Sydney Morning Herald In November, the regulator issued a $15,000 penalty notice to a tenant for allegedly failing to clear the site. With limited progress made, an EPA spokesman said the agency proceeded to escalate its enforcement action by issuing the formal clean-up notice to Transport for NSW. The EPA can confirm that while some waste has been removed, some materials remain on site, causing the clean-up notice to be issued to the landowner, he said in a statement.

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Under the terms of the clean-up notice, Transport for NSW is required to prevent any further waste from being brought onto the property and must remove more than 500 waste tyres by July 20. All remaining waste  including machinery parts, containers and other debris  must be cleared by November 3. Signage pinned to the fence of the property warns against illegal dumping. Sydney Morning Herald Transport for NSW is also required to provide monthly progress updates and submit a final completion report to the EPA. Failure to comply with the notices carries significant penalties with corporations facing fines of up to $2 million, along with daily penalties of $240,000 for ongoing breaches. Authorities also retain the power to recover clean-up costs from any party found to have contributed to the pollution.

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Property sales data from Cotality shows the site has been owned by Transport for NSW since 2019 when it was purchased for $2.51 million. NSW Transport Minister John Graham and the state opposition were approached for comment but did not respond to questions. Start the day with a summary of the days most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.
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NationalQueenslandWorkplace safety I was terrified: Surge in violence against Qld teacher aides, cleaners Courtney Kruk March 31, 2026  6:00am Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add more. Share A A A

A rising number of teacher aides and cleaners say they are being physically and verbally assaulted by students in Queensland schools, with staff warning their safety is being compromised by inadequate training and resources. Brisbane teacher aide Jake Beeton has had furniture thrown at him and been punched, kicked and spat at by students. At my school, we had 80 incidents [involving one child] over a 12-week period last year, he said. Twenty-one-year-old teacher aide Jake Beeton said hes been assaulted by students many times throughout his career. Courtney Kruk These are incredibly distressed kids that were dealing with, and its hard.

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Beeton said facing violence in the workplace is stressful, emotionally draining, and has impacted his health, but he does not believe children are to blame. Related Article Updated

Schools Weve been quiet long enough: Queensland teachers strike in their thousands [Its] a symptom of the lack of support for the children and the staff. Also lacking, Beeton said, is recognition and responsibility from the department down, leading him to join a campaign launched by the United Workers Union calling for an end to occupational violence in Queensland schools. The campaign follows a statewide survey of over 1200 teacher aides and school cleaners by the union that found 81 per cent had experienced occupational violence over their career, with nearly the same amount reporting physical or verbal abuse in the last school year.

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A spokesperson for the Department of Education said there is zero tolerance for occupational violence and aggression (OVA) of any kind in schools and pointed to the allocation of specialist staff, rapid support teams and funding to stamp out poor behaviour. We will always support and back our teacher aides, cleaners, and school staff against

aggressive and violent behaviour, including reporting to Queensland Police Service where its appropriate, they said. The majority of respondents to the survey, however, said they did not feel safe returning to work after an incident, and reported poor procedures and management systems, and a lack of professional and psychosocial support. Were doing this job because we love kids, and quite frankly, theres not much that we get back from it, Beeton said. Were given extremely challenging roles with no real support.

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There needs to be better training for the staff, more staff and more money. To end occupational violence in schools, the union is proposing: The establishment of specialist, rapid response teams in schools experiencing repeated incidents

A shift from reactive incident responses to a prevention-focused behavioural planning system

Increased mental health support for staff and students

Practical training focused on proactive behaviour strategies and de-escalation

Greater engagement with families and community partners in behavioural plans

The alignment of staffing levels with classroom complexity

Addressing regional support gaps Brisbane teacher aide Murphy Baldry fell in love with the vocation eight years ago after a placement at a special education school. She quickly discovered the pitfalls of the job when she was coward punched by a student on a school camp. It knocked me out, Baldry said. I was 19 at this point, so I had no idea what to do.

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[When I returned from the camp] no one called me [or] checked on me. I didnt fill out any forms. I was terrified, and I was just told to carry on. Related Article Opinion

Teaching Nice bum, Miss: Why we need to get tough with boys at school Jenna Price Columnist Baldry said shes been strangled with her own necklace, had her head smashed into a brick wall and bus window, and had a student hanging off her hair, damaging her neck and giving her a month-long migraine. She agrees with Beeton that more training for teacher aides, both in how to de-escalate violence and support students with complex behavioural needs, is desperately needed, alongside financial incentives and the allocation of more staff. Ive worked in the industry for almost eight years, and I only ever got one [de-escalation] training, she said.

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[Teacher aides] are paid between $30,000 and $50,000 a year  [thats not] enough to potentially walk into violence every single day. Queensland has more than 20,000 teacher aides, 7000 cleaners and 16,500 school-based support staff working across more than 1200 state schools and central and regional offices. United Workers Union Public Sector Education Co-ordinator Errin Roberts said incidents of occupational violence have lasting psychological effects on members. United Workers Union Members overwhelmingly voted to accept the Crisafulli governments enterprise bargaining offer of an 8 per cent wage increase over a three-year term earlier this month. UWU Education Co-ordinator Errin Roberts said there are other ways the government can take action to address issues.

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There has never been adequate training for our members to de-escalate or to address the complex issues that they face in classrooms every day, Roberts said. And were talking every school, not just special schools. When half of the workforce experience violence in a single year, thats a system failure, and the Crisafulli government needs to act on that. Start the day with a summary of the days most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.
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When Desmond Freeman was located by police near a tiny country town not far from the banks of the Murray River, both sides had already rehearsed the likely outcome, and both sides stuck to the script. Freeman, on the run for more than 200 days, was prepared for a shootout he knew he was always going to lose. Shortly after he shot dead Senior Constable Vadim de Waart-Hottart, 35, and Detective Leading Senior Constable Neal Thompson, 59, and injured a third officer at a rural property in Porepunkah, he made a prophetic statement to his wife, Amalia. I love you and will see you in heaven. A police helicopter flies over Mount Buffalo National Park searching for Dezi Freeman. Joe Armao On August 26, 10 police had gone to the property to serve Freeman with a warrant over serious historical sex offences. This has been lost in the aftermath. Freeman was not a survivalist or a sovereign citizen. He was an accused child molester. There had been discussions about calling in the specialist Critical Incident Response Team, but it was decided to conduct a local, low-key operation.

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The reason general duties police are called first responders is that they respond to the situation at hand, which makes them vulnerable to an ambush as they approach with gun holstered. This is not America, where there is an assumption every suspect will be armed with a gun. But when police were tipped off that Freeman was alive and hiding at a property near the town of Walwa (population 191), the odds were always on their side. The Special Operations Group (known as the Sons of God) trains for sieges such as this and plans for every known contingency. In its multimillion-dollar, secret indoor training facility, there are six container type constructions  coincidentally remarkably similar to Freemans rural hideout. They use the containers to practice forced entries, setting off explosive charges and hostage extractions. Before Mondays operation the SOG scouted the property and drew up a plan, identifying every possible escape route, and placing armoured vehicles on the external perimeter to ram Freeman if he attempted to drive out.

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The fact the armed offender was inside the container in relatively open country meant a forced entry would have been dismissed as too dangerous, leaving the only real chance of a non-lethal option in Freemans hands. For three hours through dawn, he was encouraged to agree to a peaceful arrest. For three hours, he refused. Before Freeman was called to surrender, at least eight specialist SOG snipers, trained to hit a target from up to a kilometre, were in place. They were wearing top-level ballistic vests, camouflage gear and purpose-built helmets. Freeman had a doona. As planned, when he refused to surrender, police launched non-lethal distraction devices (known as flash bangs), forcing the suspect into the open.

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Covered in his doona, he then showed he was armed, firing shots in the direction of a negotiator with Thompsons police-issue Smith & Wesson semi-automatic pistol. Related Article Exclusive

Porepunkah shooting A doona and a surprise tip-off: The bizarre final moments of Dezi Freeman Several snipers fired simultaneously (they discharge their heavy calibre semi-automatic rifles at more than 10 shots a second) hitting him dozens of times. Freeman had a death wish that was answered by the Sons of God. Publicly, police have said that this is now a matter for the coroner and the investigation is ongoing. Privately, they are relieved and delighted. That is why the labour-intensive and expensive manhunt for Freeman, called Taskforce Summit, continued when there were no real leads. This had to be resolved, one way or the other. Loading For traumatised members at the Wangaratta station, where Neal Thompson was a much loved member, for the first time in seven months, there may be smiles.

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For the families of the two dead officers and for the police force in general, Freemans death does not provide closure, but it does provide an answer. Last week there was a memorial to recognise the 40th anniversary of the Russell Street bombing that cost Constable Angela Taylor her life. Among those present were Carolina and Alain, the parents of Vadim de Waart-Hottart, who live in Belgium. They looked shattered and are still clearly in the depths of grieving. Now at least they will know the man who took their sons life cannot hurt anyone else. Detectives will now try to backtrack, to learn how long Freeman was at the property, how he managed to travel nearly 200 kilometres from Porepunkah to Walwa, and who harboured Australias most wanted man. Then there is the question of whom, if anyone, may now be eligible for the million-dollar reward. The absence of sightings of Freeman led police to believe it was likely he had killed himself. On Monday, when he refused to surrender and left his hideout armed with a gun, he did just that. It is known as suicide by cop.
Clad in a doona when he confronted police, Dezi Freeman was shot dead on Monday morning.

This was not a manhunt that ended in a high-speed chase. It was a confrontation that arrived with a quiet stealth at a rural property in the states northern edge - after an expected tip-off.

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Wrapped in a doona and clutching a gun belonging to one of the two police officers he murdered, Dezi Freeman fired on the tactical police squad that had surrounded him. The 56-year-old died in a volley of gunfire from heavily armed members of the Special Operations Group outside a remote property near the Victorian border on Monday, following an hours-long stand-off calling for his surrender. The resolution to Australias largest and most expensive manhunt was abrupt, violent, and came after a tip-off from one of those close to the countrys most wanted man. Four police sources, not authorised to speak publicly about the case, say a tip last week led police to the bush property in Thologolong, near Walwa, and the meticulous operation to catch Freeman  150 kilometres from where he murdered Detective Leading Senior Constable Neal Thompson and Senior Constable Vadim de Waart-Hottart in Porepunkah last year. Chief Commissioner Mike Bush confirmed the news of Freemans death and said the victims families were the first to be told of the deadly outcome. Everything I know at this moment tells me the shooting was justified, Bush said, flanked by detectives from Taskforce Summit.

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There was an opportunity for him to surrender peacefully, which he did not. For more than 200 days, Freeman had been a ghost in the bush, eluding search teams on his local stomping ground, and leaving many in the force to believe hed died the same day he attacked police on August 26, by his own hand. Loading But Freeman was his own worst enemy. A source with direct knowledge of the operation said that a couple believed to have been helping Freeman became increasingly concerned about his erratic behaviour. When they reached out to another Freeman associate with their concerns, those conversations gave police their first tangible intel on the man they had hunted for seven months. Freeman was last seen in the alpine country of Mount Buffalo after murdering Waart-Hottart, 35, and Thompson, 59, when they accompanied a group of 10 officers to serve Freeman with a warrant for historical sexual offences. A third officer was also injured in the shootings.

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Early on Monday morning, Freeman emerged from his hideout  a makeshift structure described as half shipping container, half caravan  cloaked in a bedding cover. When he dropped the doona, he revealed his own white-knuckle grip on a gun. He fired in the direction of a negotiator  with the police issue Smith & Wesson semi-automatic pistol he had stolen from the fallen Thompson. Several snipers returned fire, hitting him multiple times. Freeman pictured in 2018. Nine That was about 8.30am  three hours after police first asked him to surrender, following days of surveillance at the property. No police officers were injured in the stand-off, Victoria Police said. Paramedics were unable to revive the father-of-three and self-described sovereign citizen, whose fate had become the subject of national fascination and speculation. Bush said he had seen footage of Freeman presenting a firearm at our officers and photographs that helped officers confirm his identity.

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He confirmed Freeman used a police gun, but refused to detail whether the fugitive had fired on police. The police chief also would not confirm if a tip-off from Freemans associates helped officers zero in on the property, instead commending the long-running investigation. He said the focus would shift to those who assisted Freeman, his connections to the property near Walwa, how he came to be there and how long he had been staying there. The property sits on the edge of land recently ravaged by bushfires in early January. Satellite imagery shows it studded with multiple buildings, among them two containers, a caravan and several disused trucks and cars. Were very keen to learn who, if any, but Im sure some, assisted him in getting away from Porepunkah to where he was located ... and who supported him in his escapade, Bush said. If anyone was complicit, they will be held to account. [It is] very important for us to understand how long hes been here and who else was complicit in getting him here, and then caring for him or providing him with food and other things to this point.

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No one else was in the immediate vicinity during the stand-off at the property on Monday, and no one had been charged as investigators worked with the coroner to set up a crime scene at the remote hideout. It would be very difficult for him to get to where he was ... without assistance, Bush added. Bush said police could not discount the possibility that Freeman, an avid bushman, could have spent months in Victorias alpine region before making his way to the NSW border. Mike Bush addressing media at the property where Freeman was killed earlier on Monday. Justin McManus We dont know at what point he left the Porepunkah area and transferred to where he was found, he said. Over the past six months, specialist police units scoured thousands of kilometres of the alpine country, including with cadaver dogs, in the hunt for Freeman. Bush said more than 2000 tips from the public had flooded in, and previously there had been a lot to suggest that Freeman had taken his own life. Police were able to eliminate all previous reports of sightings of the fugitive.

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Thats where well leave our live coverage of the fatal shooting of police killer Dezi Freeman today.

Well continue our live coverage from 6am tomorrow as police vow to track down the people who helped the fugitive evade capture for seven months.

Catch up on the latest updates on what we know about the operation to capture Freeman and look inside the squalid bush encampment where the fugitive was shot.

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What happened? Police say a man has been shot dead in their search for Dezi Freeman after seven months on the run in regional Victoria. More than three police sources confirmed to this masthead that Dezi Freeman, who was born Desmond Filby, was shot by armed police on Monday about 8.30am. It is believed police were negotiating with Freeman for several hours before he was killed in a shootout. No police officers were injured. There is no one else in custody. Dezi Freeman had been on the run since August 26, 2025. Nine Where was Dezi Freeman found? Police were tipped off that Freeman was believed to be hiding in a container or long caravan on a regional property after 216 days on the run.

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Sources confirmed to this masthead that Freeman was gunned down near Walwa, a quiet, scenic town in north-east Victoria near the Murray River, roughly 45 minutes drive from Corryong. An aerial view of the property where Dezi Freeman was shot dead by police this morning. Related Article Exclusive

Porepunkah shooting A doona and a surprise tip-off: The bizarre final moments of Dezi Freeman Officers had surveilled the property for a number of days before surrounding it early on Monday morning. Freeman was last seen in the Mount Buffalo area more than seven months ago after the shooting deaths of Senior Constable Vadim de Waart-Hottart, 35, and Detective Leading Senior Constable Neal Thompson, 59, at a rural property in Porepunkah on August 26, 2025. It is about a two-hour drive from Porepunkah to Walwa, near the Victoria-NSW border.

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What did Dezi Freeman do? Freeman was accused of shooting dead de Waart-Hottart and Thompson after they attempted to execute a search warrant at a vast property on the outskirts of the small township of Porepunkah on August 26, 2025. Senior Constable Vadim De Waart-Hottart (left) and Detective Leading Senior Constable Neal Thompson. Victoria Police Another detective was seriously wounded in the attack and is understood to have hidden under the bus for up to an hour until paramedics arrived. The sudden violence instantly triggered a massive police manhunt, one that began in the dense mountain bushland and has since tracked hundreds of kilometres. De Waart-Hottarts parents, who live in Belgium, are currently in Melbourne after attending a ceremony last week which marked the 40th anniversary of the 1986 Russell Street bombing, in which policewoman Angela Taylor was killed. Loading

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Specialist police units conducted a number of unsuccessful searches, including with cadaver dogs, in the months since Freemans disappearance, but were unable to locate him. What have the police said? Police have confirmed they had fatally shot a man at a rural property in north-east Victoria as part of the operation to locate Freeman. The statement did not directly name Freeman. Family and friends at Neal Thompsons funeral in September. Justin McManus No police officers were injured during the incident, the statement read. The state coroner will attend the scene and the investigation will be oversighted by Professional Standards Command, as per standard process for a police shooting.

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Related Article Porepunkah shooting Oh my god, its Uncle Des: The spiralling descent of an alleged police killer Police chief commissioner Mike Bush said Victoria Police would not confirm the identity of Freeman until a thorough process of identification took place, but called the shooting justified at a press conference this morning. Everything I know at this point tells me that this shooting was justified. Bush said if the shot man was identified as Freeman it would bring closure and that the families of the slain officers were the first to be notified. He said it will take up to 48 hours to identify him. Dezi Freeman in 2018. A Current Affair The Police Association of Victoria, the union that represents police officers, said news that Freeman had been killed would be a step forward for members but would not ease their trauma. The news has been greeted with relief by rank-and-file officers.
Australia sent its strongest ever AI and education delegation to India this year. We break down what it means for Australian businesses.

Whats happening: Austrade led two significant missions to India in early 2026, one focused on AI at the AI Impact Summit in New Delhi, the other bringing Indian university founders and vice chancellors to Australia as part of a higher education partnership push.

Why this matters: India is committing more than $200 billion to AI infrastructure, and has the worlds largest higher education age cohort at 155 million people, and is actively seeking Australian partners it sees as values-aligned and credible.

The AI Impact Summit in New Delhi this March was not a small gathering. Eleven heads of state attended, global delegations arrived from across the world, and India announced more than $200 billion in commitments toward data centres, cloud infrastructure, AI models and applied AI solutions as part of its AI Mission 2.0.

Australia was there, and according to Austrade, the reception was strong. The Australian delegation was led by Austrade and supported by the Department of Industry, Science and Resources, the National AI Centre, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Tech Council of Australia. The message the delegation carried was consistent: Australia builds AI that is safe, responsible and ready for the world.

The companies representing Australia ranged from global names like Atlassian and Canva to deep-tech innovators including Dalfin AI, Anstel, NextXR, Rhombus AI and AmplifiU, alongside leading universities such as Deakin and Monash, and policy organisations including Ethic AI, the Tech Policy Design Centre and Good Things Australia.

Two themes dominated summit conversations, according to Austrade: skills and security. Indias new AI compliance rules, announced at the summit, require platforms to label AI-generated content and remove unlawful material including deepfakes within three hours of a government or court order, with tighter two-hour windows for specific content types. Australias growing cyber capabilities and its reputation for responsible AI development made it a natural fit for those conversations.

Memoranda of Understanding were signed across Australian and Indian AI enterprise software and education technology during the mission, which Austrade described as proof of genuine appetite for Australian innovation.

A fast-growing education market

Alongside the AI mission, Austrade facilitated a separate but complementary push on education. Founders and vice chancellors from leading Indian private universities travelled to Australia in February as part of the Indian University Founders and Vice Chancellors Mission, visiting Sydney, Canberra, the Gold Coast and Brisbane and taking part in roundtables, panels and summits.

The scale of the opportunity they represent is significant. Indias higher education sector currently has more than 53 million students enrolled. Its population of 18 to 23 year olds, estimated at 155 million, is the worlds largest higher education age cohort. India is also the worlds largest source of globally mobile students, with around 760,000 studying overseas each year.

The visiting delegation represented institutions from Indias private and deemed-to-be university sector, one of the fastest growing segments of Indian higher education, now accounting for around 65% of all higher education enrolments. Collectively, the delegates represented institutions with more than 300,000 students enrolled across their campuses.

Vik Singh, Trade and Investment Commissioner for South Asia at Austrade, said the missions reflect a shift in how both countries are approaching the relationship. India and Australia share a strong commitment to preparing graduates for an increasingly interconnected global workforce, Singh said. This mission reflects the growing ambition on both sides to move beyond traditional student mobility towards deeper institutional partnerships, including transnational education, dual program delivery and research collaboration aligned with emerging industry needs.

Beyond student mobility

The education mission was not focused solely on attracting Indian students to Australian campuses. Austrade said the conversations explored new forms of engagement including transnational education, joint degrees, research collaboration and industry-academia partnerships.

The QS-Austrade India Showcase at the University of Queensland, held under the theme From Degree to Employment, examined how universities can better align academic programs with rapidly evolving global workforce requirements, a question directly relevant to Australian SME owners struggling to find job-ready candidates with practical skills.

Ashwin Fernandes, Executive Director for India, Middle East and Africa at QS Quacquarelli Symonds, said the timing is significant. Indias higher education sector is entering a new phase of international engagement, supported by reforms under the National Education Policy. Australian institutions are well positioned to collaborate with Indian universities on joint programs, research initiatives and transnational education models that deliver strong outcomes for students and industry.

The Universities Australia Solutions Summit, which ran alongside the mission, explored opportunities for the two countries to deepen partnerships across education, innovation and workforce development.

What Australian businesses should do next

For Australian SME owners in tech, AI, cybersecurity, edtech or workforce services, the combined picture from both missions is worth taking seriously.

India is not a future opportunity. It is a present one. Capital is committed, digital infrastructure is being built, government support is in place, and Australian businesses are already being received as credible, values-aligned partners. The MoUs signed during the AI mission and the institutional relationships formed during the education mission are early indicators of what a deeper bilateral relationship could look like.

Austrade led both missions and is the starting point for Australian businesses exploring the India market. More information is available at austrade.gov.au.

Keep up to date with our stories on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
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PoliticsFederalOne Nation Opinion If the major parties want to win back One Nation voters, theyre going about it all wrong Parnell Palme McGuinness Columnist and communications adviser March 29, 2026  5:00am

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The sincerity of the much-flaunted virtues in politics  empathy and kindness  dont take much to expose. After the South Australian election, their chief advocates have fallen silent. They baulk at extending the tender caress of mutual humanity to a newly visible cohort of Australians: One Nation voters, who are no longer shy but happy to tell the world they voted for Paulines people. The truth is, the major parties are in a rancid panic. More than one-fifth of voters around Australia are telling pollsters they plan to vote for One Nation. In South Australia, they actually did. Most voters there made a straight swap from the Liberal Party. But a few per cent of Labor voters also shifted to ON. As a result, neither of the venerable parties are feeling entirely secure. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and One Nation leader Pauline Hanson. Nine In their fear, they are making a hat-trick of mistakes which only serve to illustrate to the voters leaving for One Nation that they were never really valued or understood in the first place. The first is trying to understand ON voters by talking among themselves. The second is patronising them. And the third is trying to fob them off with messaging rather than responding respectfully to their experiences. The first is obvious and everywhere. Well-heeled or at least white-collar commentators and political types examine the concerns of One Nation voters with distaste. They suspect them of being bigots, troglodytes, or just downright stupid. Most have never lived in the areas where the One Nation vote is growing. If they have, they were in a protected enclave, or protected by selective vision, allowing them to overlook the experiences of their neighbours.

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The Central Coast of NSW is an example of a split community. Sea-changers from Sydney have created a progressive corner, while others have been pushed out by affordability. Youth unemployment in the area is stubbornly high and some young families there say they feel like theyre competing with immigrants for rental properties, while home ownership has, for many, become entirely out of reach. Related Article Opinion

Political leadership Its not the crisis the PM wants, but its the opportunity he needs Peter Hartcher Political and international editor Other parts of Australia are simply invisible from the information superhighway. I had occasion to find myself in the Sydney suburb of Busby about 40 kilometres south-west of the CBD a little while back. (I confess  I was only there to pick up a Facebook Marketplace purchase.) Out of curiosity, I struck up a conversation with the seller, a man named Paul, who had some colourful and not especially politically correct paraphernalia on his veranda. Hes lived there for decades and, over the years, his house has, he says, been surrounded by immigrants who are trying to make life unpleasant for him so they can buy his land cheap when he gives up on living there. I cant verify thats the case, of course, but this is what immigration feels like to Paul. And so politicians and their enablers in the commentariat try to debate One Nation voters using statistics on the net benefits of immigration and arguments meant to prove that their concerns are wrong or ill-founded. View post on X

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Labor MP Andrew Leigh was a quick starter in the genre on Monday. The professorly assistant minister for productivity filmed his piece from the parliamentary courtyard. The video, explaining to One Nation-curious young men how theyre being duped, was then edited together with AI video and overlaid with sinister news bulletin-style stock music. The video was hilariously off the mark. In it, Leigh warns that One Nation wants to scrap net zero, build three more coal-fired power stations, and pull out of global climate deals. Which is, as I found in recent research on the attitudes and values of 18- to 34-year-old Australians for the Centre for Independent Studies, precisely the things young right-leaning men want. But the MP, whose hobby is triathlons, is not well acquainted with what most people would recognise as a good time. He presses on. One Nation, he says, also wants to massively slash immigration. After each revelation, Leigh adds a debating point, to demonstrate why young men who support those policies are wrong. Predictably, the video was ratioed on X  there were more negative comments than likes. More importantly, I dare say nobody felt differently after seeing the video than they did before it hit their social media feed. Labors crack debating team kept at it all week. Richard Marles attacked One Nation in question time. West Australian MP Patrick Gorman risked channelling Hillary Clintons basketful of deplorables moment on Thursday in a column for the West Australian, in which he called One Nation a growing band of rats and rejects. View post on X

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Perhaps the response to Labors smartest guys in the room approach has acted as a check on Liberal leader Angus Taylor. At the beginning of the week, Liberals had backgrounded this mastheads Paul Sakkal that they were planning an assault on One Nations credibility. They havent followed through. Related Article Opinion

Political leadership Only one party can defang One Nation, and its not the Libs Sean Kelly Columnist Instead, former prime minister Tony Abbott, campaigning with the Liberal candidate for Farrer on Thursday, tried to show he understood that One Nation voters felt let down and ripped off. The Liberal Party will need to convince voters that its new policies are the product of conviction, not just circumstance, he said. This suggests that he, at least, has heard One Nation voters refrain that the major parties cant be trusted. To my third point, that lack of trust is a key driver of switching to One Nation. The partys new voters are disillusioned by politicians who they believe tell self-serving lies. As a One Nation voter pointed out, while Andrew Leigh boasts of closing down coal-fired power plants, his colleague Dan Repacholi is posting about securing jobs by keeping them open. This is, of course, an example of the challenge that any major party has: governing for the city and the regions now means navigating vastly different visions of what is best for the nation, based on different experiences of living in Australia. Theres currently an empathy deficit between politicians and citizens, as well as between citizens of the same country.

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A good start to drawing the nation back together would be for the interpretive classes  politicians and media alike  to spend more time with the people who feel unrepresented. And from a richer appreciation of their circumstances, build solutions that serve their needs, rather than political interests. Parnell Palme McGuinness is an insights and advocacy strategist. She has done work for the Liberal Party and the German Greens and is a senior fellow at the Centre for Independent Studies. She is also an advisory board member of Australians For Prosperity, which is part-funded by the coal industry. Get a weekly wrap of views that will challenge, champion and inform your own. Sign up for our Opinion newsletter.
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PoliticsNSWEducation Editorial End of an educational experiment as LLV embraces old school ties The Herald's View Editorial March 31, 2026  5:00am

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Lindfield Learning Village, the upper north shore educational experiment with the dated nickname that hippie school, has indeed proved out of step with community expectations and is to be rebooted as a traditional government school. Students at the Lindfield Learning Village, on the site of the former Ku-ring-gai UTS campus in Lindfield. Janie Barrett It will be renamed Lindfield College. School uniforms will be mandatory, so too will parent-teacher nights, report cards for all and lunchtime and recess will no longer be called KitKat and Picnic. The public kindergarten-to-year 12 facility on the old University of Technology site at Ku-ring-gai was opened in 2019 by the former Liberal-National government and drew on concepts from futurist David Thornburg, who identified three archetypal learning spaces  the campfire, cave and watering hole  that schools could use as physical and virtual spaces. It was marketed as a radical, alternative educational setting in which pupils were responsible for their learning, uniform and timetables and called teachers by their first name.

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Parents rushed to enrol, and when the school first opened it attracted students from all over the world and had more than 3000 children on its waitlist. But almost from the beginning there were troubles. The school grew out of a need to take pressure off nearby high schools such as Killara, Turramurra and Chatswood. However, over its five years of operation, interest in LLV has fallen. The situation was exacerbated by confusion over catchment zones, with a decision to rezone the school pushed out to 2028 after some families complained of being forced to buy homes in the affluent area to access Killara Highs zone. Fears about the teaching of ideologies such as gender fluidity and Indigenous history reignited an education culture war in 2021, attracting the wrath of parliamentarians David Elliott and Mark Latham and talkback host Ray Hadley. Then, in the winter of 2024, parents were blindsided after the sudden departure of the entire leadership team, including the principal and two deputies.

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The NSW Education Department assured the school community that the innovative educational model would continue, but the writing was on the wall. The department last year surveyed 1016 community members, including 439 current and 255 prospective parents and students, about the schools strengths and weaknesses. Respondents said the main reason parents were hesitant to choose LLV was because of its teaching style, structure, discipline and lack of uniform. The school has achieved strong academic results, ranking fifth among public comprehensive schools in 2025, up from 10th the previous year. Last year, a quarter of its HSC students achieved Band 6 results, and its NAPLAN outcomes sat above the state average across all year levels. Nonetheless, it is overhauling its public image, shedding many of the visible hallmarks of its experimental past and adopting the trappings of a more conventional comprehensive school.

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While non-government schools that once embraced this type of education are also reverting to a more traditional model, parents who seek unorthodox schooling still have plenty of options in the private sector. The public school system is the default for many families across the state, and its focus should be on teaching methods backed by strong evidence. LLV was a controversial approach to education more akin to a Montessori school, but as the Education Department scrambles to attract people back into public education, this surely is the end of the experimental era. Get a weekly wrap of views that will challenge, champion and inform your own. Sign up for our Opinion newsletter.

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For subscribers The Herald's View  Since the Herald was first published in 1831, the editorial team has believed it important to express a considered view on the issues of the day for readers, always putting the public interest first.
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PoliticsQueenslandQueensland government Brisbane Writers Festival handed literary awards after intervention saga Matt Dennien March 31, 2026  6:01am Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add more. Share A A A

Queenslands signature literary awards will from this year be managed by the Brisbane Writers Festival, after a standoff that led to a high-profile ministerial intervention and the state library being stripped of its role. Arts Minister John-Paul Langbroek intervened in the $15,000 black&write! fellowship to force the librarys hand in May last year, leading to the last-minute cancellation of the award ceremony for a First Nations author he accused of glorifying terrorism. Brisbane Writers Festival, which moved to the Brisbane Powerhouse last year, will now host the Queensland Literary Awards when it returns in October. The decision sparked an independent review into the roles of the library and minister, and the resignations of 12 judges, which delayed the state literary awards. Released earlier this month, the review and the governments response to it  to seek alternative providers for the awards  had left questions about this years event.

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But in an announcement on Tuesday, Langbroek revealed the awards would headline and open the Brisbane Writers Festival, running at the Brisbane Powerhouse from October 8 to 11. In a statement, Langbroek said the government had also increased the prize pool from $187,000 to $202,000. Two alternate-year awards  the returning Steele Rudd Award for a Short Story, and the Essay Collection Award  will also feature. The Queensland Premiers Young Publishers and Writers Awards will be split into two, with a regional specific version.

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Arts Queensland will take over administration of the Queensland Writers Fellowships, to remain part of the awards, each valued at $20,000 with career development support of $4500. Related Article Queensland government Library stripped of state literary award role in fellowship fallout Entries for the fellowships will open in mid-April, with Queensland Literary Awards entries opening on Tuesday. By increasing the prize pool and partnering with Brisbane Writers Festival, we look forward to helping writers strengthen their careers by reaching new audiences and industry leaders, in addition to showcasing the outstanding work of our literary sector, Langbroek said. Brisbane Writers Festival artistic director Jackie Ryan, in comments provided with Langbroeks statement, said the organisation would elevate the profile of the awards  and its shortlisted and winning authors  through representation in the festival.

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In turn, the awards will provide the festival with the drawcard of a major industry event, incentivising more people to make the trip or to extend their stay and supercharging the festivals networking opportunities, Ryan said. Related Article Literature prizes Top state literary award winner calls out silencing of genocide concern Last years top award winner, Darumbal and South Sea Islander journalist Amy McQuire, used her speech to criticise child imprisonment and the silencing of black witnesses, especially in times of genocide. She also used a variation on a pro-Palestinian protest phrase criminalised by the Crisafulli government earlier this month. Financial reports from the festival, technically called Uplit Association Incorporated, show it relies heavily on state government funding.

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In last years state budget, the festival was awarded annual funding of $341,000 by Arts Queensland across this year and the following three. Langbroek said earlier this month the recent review highlighted the need for state-funded arts and cultural organisations to consider their policies and risk management to ensure they were consistent with and meet the expectations of the Crisafulli government. Start the day with a summary of the days most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.
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TechnologyMeta Opinion Parents like me are cheering these Facebook verdicts. But its not all good news David French Columnist March 30, 2026  12:55pm

March 30, 2026  12:55pm Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add more. Share A A A

I am alarmed by the negative influence of smartphones and social media on children. All of us should be. I am also worried that, in our zeal to protect children from those negative influences, we will undermine free speech. And thats where things get tricky. A campaigner from the global citizens movement Avaaz wearing a mask of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. AP Last week, juries in two different American states delivered multimillion-dollar verdicts against Big Tech. A New Mexico jury handed down a $US375 million verdict in a case brought by the states attorney general against Meta for enabling child sexual exploitation. The next day, a California jury awarded a young woman a combined $US6 million in damages from Meta and YouTube for the allegedly addictive and mentally distressing properties of social media apps, including algorithmic curation and so-called infinite scroll, where the app continually provides you with new content as you scroll down the page. I know that its easy to celebrate those verdicts. Im a parent of three whos seen what happens when a teenager becomes a screenager and buries his or her head in a smartphone, minute by minute, hour after hour. Looking around my community, Ive seen the disconnection from the real world and the vulnerability to conspiracy theories and absurdly radical social and political movements. Im also a concerned citizen who read Jonathan Haidts transformative book, The Anxious Generation, and watched with alarm as sex, drugs and rock n roll  the concerns of previous generations of parents  have been replaced by the unholy trinity of anxiety, depression and suicidal ideation.

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And Im an angry consumer who has seen internal documents that show that Big Tech, for all of its high-minded rhetoric about making the world a better place and doing no evil, can be just as greedy and grasping as countless other companies in countless other industries. How much responsibility should Mark Zuckerberg bear for all the hate speech published on his platforms? Bloomberg So, yes, it is a matter of urgent national necessity that we start to pull all of our heads  not just our kids  away from our phones and reengage in the real world, with our neighbours and our communities. We should think creatively about policies and habits that can wean people away from their phones. But not at the expense of our right to free speech. A social media site isnt a bottle of alcohol or a cigarette. Its not delivering a drug. Its delivering speech. Sometimes that speech is silly and harmless. Sometimes it is toxic and harmful. Sometimes its educational or inspiring. But its all speech, and in America at least, speech traditionally can only be blocked, censored or regulated in the narrowest of circumstances. Defamation, true threats, obscenity, child sex abuse material, direct incitements to violence  each of those forms of expression can be banned and punished because they are not encompassed within the freedom of speech protected by the US Constitution.

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Commercial speech  advertisements for prescription drugs or labels for food, for example can be heavily regulated. But when you move beyond these categories  especially when someone is engaged in speech that has any kind of artistic, political, cultural or religious value  then the most comprehensive protections of the First Amendment start to lock in. Related Article Opinion

Social media The social media ban (probably) wont fix our kids Jacqueline Maley Columnist and senior journalist Even the algorithm is a form of constitutionally protected speech. As Ive explained before, in a 2024 Supreme Court case called Moody v. NetChoice, Justice Elena Kagan wrote for the majority that expressive activity includes presenting a curated compilation of speech originally created by others. The algorithm, Kagan explained, was comparable to the layout of a newspaper, where editors decide which stories to feature prominently, which stories belong on the back pages, and how to make the page attractive and readable so that more people will see the news. The Los Angeles verdict, despite its smaller amount of damages, is by far the more troublesome. The plaintiff  who started using social media when she was 6  didnt claim that she was harmed by unlawful speech. She wasnt threatened or slandered, for example. But she claimed that social media companies made her addicted to lawful speech, and that her compulsive consumption of this lawful speech caused body dysmorphia and triggered thoughts of self-harm.

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That lawsuit is one of thousands of similar suits pending across the nation. There is no question that the plaintiff in the case had a traumatic childhood, but there was a real dispute about whether social media was the principal cause of that trauma. As has been reported, the plaintiff testified that her mother had abused her physically and psychologically. Yet as Mike Masnick reported at Techdirt, an invaluable site that closely covers (among many other things) the fights over free speech online: The jury was asked whether the companies negligence was a substantial factor in causing harm. Not the factor. Not the primary factor. A substantial factor. Its not hard to understand the risks to free speech. If a person experiences psychological distress as a result of what he or she sees online, is it now open season on the platforms that deliver that speech because they arrange it and package it in a compelling manner? But the effort to gain (and keep) a persons attention is a key element of the entire enterprise of free expression. The trial court in the crucial California case tried to evade the First Amendment by claiming that the cases werent about content, but design. Infinite scroll isnt speech. Its a means of delivering speech.

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Again, Masnick is directly on point: Heres a thought experiment: imagine Instagram, but every single post is a video of paint drying. Same infinite scroll. Same autoplay. Same algorithmic recommendations. Same notification systems. Is anyone addicted? Is anyone harmed? Is anyone suing? Related Article Analysis

Apps Five ways to beat your phone addiction (that actually work) Of course not. None of these features are remotely harmful unless the content is compelling. Its quite possible that these verdicts will be overturned or heavily modified on appeal. But that process can take years. In the meantime, there will almost certainly be many more trials and many more verdicts that will put social media companies under pressure to increase their own censorship and their own controls over free speech online. In the face of genuine social problems, its always tempting to cast off constitutional restraints. We fight this battle over crime all the time. Crime waves invariably lead to calls for crackdowns, but there are constitutional and unconstitutional (much less reasonable and unreasonable) ways of fighting crime.

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An increased police presence in high-crime areas is invaluable. Race-based stop-and-frisk violates the Constitution and increases political division and public bitterness. Expanded drug treatment facilities can help address the demand for illegal drugs. Brutal prison conditions might punish convicts, but they violate our constitutional commitments to human dignity. There are constitutional and unconstitutional ways of ameliorating the harms of social media. Phone-free schools, for example, represent a content-neutral time, place and manner restriction that allows students to focus on education, their obvious primary obligation during school hours  not to mention that it helps them socialise face-to-face. Related Article Opinion

Digital hygiene Instagram falsely accused me of vile behaviour. Now Im locked out of my life Sarah Curnow Journalist, broker We can also hold social media platforms liable for their own speech in the same way that we can hold any other person or company accountable if they engage in slander, harassment, threats or any other expressive activity that fits the classic categories of unlawful expression. For example, just two years ago, I wrote in defense of a federal appellate court decision holding that TikTok was potentially liable for algorithmically suggesting the so-called blackout challenge to a 10-year-old girl who later tried the challenge (which involves voluntarily choking yourself) and died.

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In that case, TikToks algorithm proactively suggested the challenge to the young girl. She did not search for it. As I argued at the time, TikTok should be treated in the same way that wed treat an adult who urged a child to try a potentially fatal activity. But thats not what the California case was about. In that case, the fundamental argument was that the design caused an addiction, not that specific speech caused direct harm. And we cant forget the role of parents and public education. Jury verdicts are a terrible substitute for parental control, and we should not think that parents are helpless. There has been a welcome sea change in parental attitudes and practices toward social media since the invention of the iPhone. One of my great parenting regrets is naively giving my two older kids phones when they were quite young (theyre doing fine, and theyre great kids, but it was still a mistake). I did not know what I did not know. My youngest child, however, had a substantially different experience. We learned. We changed. And so has virtually every parent I know. She didnt get a phone until she was 16, and she could not take it into her room. Even then, we limited access to social media apps. Every year she took a month long sabbatical from all electronics at her summer camp. Other parents ask their kids to sign digital contracts regarding phone use, or they block all social media, or they regularly review their kids social media accounts. And now parents have to pay attention to their kids exposure to immersive artificial intelligence. For some kids  thousands and thousands of teenagers among them  social media is now less influential in their lives than an AI chatbot.

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There is hope. We can push back against the most toxic effects of social media in our lives. At the same time, however, we cannot forget  in the words of civil rights leader Frederick Douglass  that no right was deemed by the fathers of the government more sacred than the right of speech. It was in their eyes, as in the eyes of all thoughtful men, the great moral renovator of society and government. This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
~Focus must be on National Issues, no time for distractions.~

PHILIPSBURG:--- The leader of the Democratic Party, MP Sarah Wescot, has confirmed that coalition party leaders will meet to discuss the current political developments, particularly those involving members of the Council of Ministers.

The DP leader indicated that the Democratic Party will approach these discussions with a focus on stability and continuity of governance.

She noted that Sint Maarten is facing a range of pressing challenges that require the government's full attention. This is a time for thoughtful leadership, for dialogue, and for keeping the interests of the people of Sint Maarten at the center of our actions and deliberations .

The DP leader emphasized that global developments continue to affect the country more and more, underscoring the importance of a government that is able to function effectively and to respond in a timely manner with focus and purpose.

In that regard, she stressed that the work of the Council of Ministers and governing institutions must remain aligned with the needs of the people.

There are important decisions before us, economic, social, and national priorities that require careful attention and timely action, she said. These matters deserve our collective focus.

The Democratic Partys position, according to its leader, is grounded in supporting stability, continuity, and effective governance, while also engaging constructively with coalition partners.

The DP leader further indicated that from the moment the issue arose concerning a civil servant in the cabinet of the Minister of VSA and the Prime Minister, she has consistently shared her perspective in the coalition, guiding and advising, always emphasizing the importance of a collective front to face the myriad of challenges before us.

Looking ahead to the discussions, she underscored the importance of listening, mutual respect, and collaboration. We must approach this moment with a sense of responsibility, she stated. It is important that we come together to find a way forward. The people deserve nothing less.

The DP leader reaffirmed her partys commitment to constructive engagement and to supporting decisions that ensure the continued functioning of government and the well-being of Sint Maarten.
PHILIPSBURG:--- In March 2026, a legal advisory prepared by Professor Arjen van Rijn was submitted to the Council of Ministers of Sint Maarten, addressing a critical constitutional issue: the role and limits of the Governor within the countrys governance system.

The advisory was prompted by a January 2026 incident involving administrative decision-making and subsequent actions that raised serious constitutional concerns. At its core, the document examines whether the Governor acted within his legal authorityor whether those actions risked undermining democratic governance.

Background: The Incident That Triggered the Advisory

The issue began with an incident on January 7, 2026, involving disciplinary action against a civil servant. The government imposed an immediate administrative measure, followed by a suspension decision that required formal approval by a national decree.

However, complications arose during the decision-making process:

The Governor intervened in the Council of Ministers proceedings

The Prime Minister and another minister were reportedly prevented from attending a meeting

The Governor participated in deliberations with an advisory vote

with an advisory vote The Governor returned and delayed signing the decree, requesting further review

These actions led to confusion over authority and raised questions about whether constitutional boundaries had been crossed.

The Core Constitutional Question

The advisory focuses on a fundamental issue:

What are the legal limits of the Governors authority within Sint Maartens constitutional framework?

To answer this, the advisory examines the Governors dual role and the principle of ministerial responsibility.

The Dual Role of the Governor

The Governor of Sint Maarten operates in two distinct capacities:

1. Constitutional Head of Government (National Role)

In this role, the Governor:

Represents the King within Sint Maarten

Forms part of the government together with the ministers

Acts formally as the head of the executive

However, crucially:

The Governor has no independent governing authority

All actions fall under ministerial responsibility

Ministersnot the Governorare politically accountable to Parliament

2. Representative of the Kingdom Government (Kingdom Role)

In this capacity, the Governor:

Safeguards the interests of the Kingdom of the Netherlands

Ensures compliance with Kingdom law

May intervene if national decisions conflict with Kingdom interests

This role includes a key power:

The ability to refuse to sign a decree and escalate it to the Kingdom government

A Fundamental Principle: No Independent Power

A central conclusion of the advisory is:

The Governor does not possess independent decision-making authority within the national government.

Instead, the Governors role is limited to:

Being consulted

Offering advice

Providing warnings

Encouraging reconsideration

But ultimately:

The ministers decideand the Governor must follow.

This principle is rooted in parliamentary democracy: elected officials must hold power, not appointed representatives.

No Third Way: A Critical Doctrine

One of the most important legal conclusions in the advisory is the rejection of a so-called third role for the Governor.

The Governor can act only as:

Head of government (without independent power), OR Kingdom representative (with escalation powers)

There is no middle ground where the Governor acts as an independent constitutional guardian with autonomous authority.

Allowing such a third way would:

Undermine democratic accountability

Blur lines of responsibility

Concentrate unelected power in a non-political office

Historical Context: The Van der Meer Affair

The advisory draws on precedent, particularly the Van der Meer affair, which clarified that:

The Governor may form opinions and engage in discussion

But in case of disagreement, ministers have the final say

The Governor must ultimately sign at the dotted line

This historical case reinforces the doctrine that the Governors authority is subordinate in national governance matters.

Assessment of the Governors Actions in the 2026 Case

The advisory concludes that the Governor exceeded his authority in several ways:

1. Interfering with Ministerial Participation

The Governor informed certain ministers that they could not attend a Council meeting.

This is problematic because: The Council of Ministers determines its own functioning The Governor has no authority to exclude ministers



2. Participating Actively in Cabinet Deliberations

The Governor attended and engaged in discussions with an advisory vote.

This is considered inappropriate because: The Governor should remain above political decision-making Active participation risks politicizing the office



3. Influencing Policy Direction

Decisions taken in meetings suggested a shift in policy direction influenced by the Governor.

This undermines: The political primacy of elected officials The authority of the Prime Minister



Democratic Risks Identified

The advisory warns that such actions pose serious risks:

Erosion of ministerial responsibility

Weakening of democratic legitimacy

Blurring of constitutional roles

Potential constitutional crisis

A key insight:

The Governor is not democratically accountable, while ministers are. Therefore, the Governor must not take on a political role.

The Proper Use of Governors Powers

The advisory clarifies what the Governor should do in contentious situations:

Advise and warn ministers Respect ministerial decision-making If necessary, refuse to sign a decree Immediately refer the matter to the Kingdom government

This ensures:

Legal oversight without undermining democracy

Clear accountability structures

Resolution of the Case

Eventually, after legal developments:

A revised decree was submitted

The Governor signed it

The proper constitutional procedure was restored

This outcome aligned with the correct legal framework.

Final Conclusions of the Advisory

The advisory reaches a strong and unequivocal conclusion:

The Governors actions exceeded constitutional limits

They undermined the authority of the Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers

They were constitutionally and democratically unacceptable

Recommendations

The advisory urges the government to:

Clearly reaffirm constitutional boundaries

Engage in dialogue with the Governor

Prevent recurrence of similar situations

Protect the primacy of democratic governance

It also warns against allowing precedents that could gradually expand the Governors role beyond its legal limits.

Conclusion

This advisory highlights a fundamental tension in constitutional systems that combine local autonomy with Kingdom oversight. While the Governor plays an essential role in safeguarding legal order, that role must remain strictly limited.

The key takeaway is clear:

Democratic authority must remain with elected officials.

The Governor advises, safeguards, and escalatesbut does not govern.

Click here to read Professor Van Rijn's advice to Prime Minister Dr. Luc Mercelina.
St. Maarten marine conservationist and environmental policy specialist Tadzio Bervoets will be a featured speaker at the Caribbean Studies Associations 50th Annual Conference, scheduled for June 1 to 5, 2026, in Kingston, Jamaica. He will present on the paper Conservation Colonialism and the Persistence of Fortress Management in the Dutch and French Caribbean, a contribution that examines how external governance systems, metropolitan policy structures, and donor-driven conservation models continue to shape environmental management in parts of the Caribbean.

The paper argues that conservation governance in the Dutch and French Caribbean remains constrained by externalized leadership, top-down administrative systems, and forms of fortress management that can marginalize local knowledge, community participation, and Caribbean-led institutional development. It calls for stronger institutional autonomy, leadership localization, community co-management, and fuller recognition of Indigenous, Afro-Caribbean, and other local ecological knowledge within conservation policy and practice.

The Caribbean Studies Association, widely known as CSA, is an independent professional organization devoted to the promotion of Caribbean studies from a multidisciplinary and multicultural perspective. It is regarded as a major forum for scholars, practitioners, artists, writers, and policy professionals working across the Caribbean region and its diasporas. The 2026 meeting in Kingston will mark the organizations 50th annual conference and will be held under the theme Caribbean Vibes and Vibrations: Culture, Identity and Development in Transformative Times.

Persons interested in attending can register through the official CSA conference registration and membership pages, which are listed on the associations conference information portal. The association also provides conference agenda links, hotel information, travel information, and related updates through its official website.

Bervoets brings more than 18 years of experience working across Small Island Developing States and the wider Caribbean in marine conservation, climate governance, protected area management, and environmental policy. His current roles include Chairperson of the UNESCO IOC Ocean Decade Task Force for Latin America and engagement with the Coral restoration Consortium, He previously served as the Project Leader at the Caribbean Biodiversity Fund and as Director of the Dutch Caribbean Nature Alliance and has held a range of technical and leadership roles connected to coral reef conservation, shark protection, marine policy, and community engagement.

His academic background includes a Master of Science, awarded cum laude, in Environmental Resource Management from VU University Amsterdam, with a specialization in coral reef and littoral ecosystem management, as well as a Bachelor of Arts, awarded summa cum laude, from the University of South Florida in International Studies, with minors including Latin America and Caribbean Studies.

Bervoets has also contributed to regional and international conservation discourse through scientific publications, policy work, and public engagement. His record includes peer-reviewed work on seagrass carbon dynamics, elasmobranch conservation, coral reef biodiversity, and large marine protected areas, alongside senior advisory and coordination roles in regional environmental governance.

His upcoming presentation at CSA places questions of power, representation, and institutional control at the center of Caribbean conservation debates. At a time when the region continues to confront climate pressures, biodiversity loss, and uneven governance structures, the paper contributes to a wider discussion on how conservation in the Caribbean can become more locally grounded, socially legitimate, and institutionally Caribbean-led.
Washington, D.C./ WILLEMSTAD CURACAO:--- The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has called for deeper transparency reforms at the Centrale Bank van Curacao en Sint Maarten (CBCS), warning that while the institution has made significant progress, key gaps in governance, communication, and public accountability still remain.

The findings come in the IMFs latest Central Bank Transparency Code Review, which evaluates how effectively the CBCS communicates its policies, operations, and decision-making to the public and stakeholders.

Strong Progress, But Trust Still Recovering

The IMF acknowledged that the CBCS has taken meaningful steps in recent years to rebuild credibility after past financial sector failures that eroded public trust. Enhanced communication efforts, regulatory reforms, and modernization initiatives have helped restore confidence.

The report highlights that transparency is now central to the banks strategy, particularly as it operates across two countriesCuracao and Sint Maartenwithin a shared monetary union.

Notably, stakeholders have recognized improvements in communication, with over three-quarters reporting better transparency compared to previous years.

Transparency Strengths: Monetary Policy and Communication Gains

The IMF praised the CBCS for its high level of transparency in key policy areas, especially:

Monetary policy framework and objectives

Foreign exchange (FX) reserve management

Lender of last resort (LOLR) operations

The banks communication surrounding the launch of the Caribbean Guilder in 2025 was cited as a standout example, with effective messaging reaching a wide audience.

Additionally, the introduction of new reportssuch as the Financial Stability Reportand increased use of newsletters and multilingual communication have strengthened public engagement.

Key Concerns: Governance, Communication, and Accountability Gaps

Despite progress, the IMF identified several structural weaknesses:

1. Weak Transparency in Governance

The report notes that while legal frameworks and mandates are publicly available, they are not sufficiently clear or comprehensive.

The hierarchy of the banks objectives is not clearly defined

Responsibilities of decision-making bodies lack transparency

Internal governance structures are not fully disclosed

This makes it difficult for stakeholders to fully understand how decisions are made.

2. Limited Disclosure of Government Interactions

The IMF raised concerns about minimal transparency in relations between the central bank and governments.

Little public information exists on agreements with public institutions

Parliamentary engagement is irregular and largely informal

The Fund suggested that regular reporting to both national parliaments would strengthen accountability and public trust.

3. Communication Strategy Needs Strengthening

Although communication has improved, challenges remain:

Messaging is not always accessible to all stakeholders

Website usability issues limit access to information

Some audiencesparticularly in Sint Maartenfeel underserved

The IMF recommended publishing a formal communication strategy and simplifying technical content for broader understanding.

4. Gaps in Policy Transparency (FX and AML/CFT)

The report identified insufficient clarity in foreign exchange policies, particularly:

Lack of explanation of licensing rules

Limited disclosure of policy outcomes and rationale

Similarly, transparency around anti-money laundering (AML/CFT) supervision is uneven, with internal controls and enforcement outcomes largely undisclosed.

Major Recommendations

The IMF outlined a comprehensive reform agenda, including:

Clarifying the legal framework and institutional autonomy

Publishing governance structures, committee roles, and decision processes

Improving risk disclosure and internal audit transparency

Enhancing engagement with parliaments and public institutions

Publishing a formal communication strategy

Increasing transparency in FX policies and AML/CFT supervision

A Complex Operating Environment

The CBCS operates in a unique and challenging context as the central bank of a two-country monetary union. The financial system it oversees is largeexceeding 300% of GDPand includes banks, insurers, and pension funds.

While the system remains broadly stable, past institutional failures have underscored the importance of transparency and effective supervision.

Looking Ahead

The IMF emphasized that the review is not a ranking exercise but a tool to help central banks align with global best practices.

For the CBCS, the path forward is clear: deepen transparency, improve communication, and strengthen accountability mechanisms to sustain public trust.

The progress is notable, the report concludes, but further steps are needed to ensure transparency supports both independence and credibility.

Conclusion

The IMFs review underscores a broader global trend: central banks are increasingly judged not only by policy outcomes, but by how clearly and openly they communicate them.

For Curacao and Sint Maarten, strengthening transparency at the CBCS will be criticalnot just for institutional credibility, but for financial stability and public confidence in the years ahead.

Click here to read IMF Report.
This month, the U.S. Department of the Treasurys Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned six individuals and two entities for their roles in Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK) government-orchestrated information technology (IT) worker schemes that systematically defraud U.S. businesses and generate revenue to fund the DPRKs weapons of mass destruction (WMD) programs, including nearly $800 million in 2024.



The North Korean regime targets American companies through deceptive schemes carried out by its overseas IT operatives, who weaponize sensitive data and extort businesses for substantial payments, said Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent.



DPRK-facilitated IT teams commonly rely on fraudulent documentation, stolen identities, and fabricated personas to conceal their true identities and gain employment with legitimate companies, including those in the United States and allied countries. The DPRK government reportedly appropriates the majority of the wages earned by these overseas IT workers, generating hundreds of millions of dollars to support the regimes WMD and ballistic missile programs, in violation of U.S. and United Nations sanctions.



In certain instances, DPRK-affiliated workers have also covertly introduced malware into company networks to extract proprietary and sensitive information.



The Treasury Departments action, taken on March 12, is part of the United States whole-of-government effort to counter the DPRKs wide-ranging revenue generation schemes and builds on several other actions OFAC has taken in the last several months to stop the DPRKs IT worker schemes.



OFACs action targets several DPRK IT worker networks by designating facilitators based in the DPRK, Vietnam, Laos, and Spain.

Amnokgang Technology Development Company (Amnokgang) is a DPRK IT company managing delegations of overseas IT workers and conducting other illicit procurement activities to obtain and sell military and commercial technology through their overseas networks.



Nguyen Quang Viet (Nguyen) is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Quangvietdnbg International Services Company Limited (Quangvietdnbg), a company based in Vietnam. Nguyen facilitates currency conversion services for North Koreans through his company. Do Phi Khanh (Do) is an associate of U.S.-sanctioned DPRK nuclear procurement facilitator Kim Se Un who acts as Kims proxy and likely allows Kim to use his identity to open bank accounts and launder proceeds from DPRK IT workers.



Under President Trumps leadership, said Secretary Bessent, Treasury will continue to follow the money in order to protect U.S. businesses from these malicious activities and ensure those responsible are held accountable.
Saudi Arabia says intercepted five ballistic missiles headed to Eastern Province



Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, March 30 (AFP) Mar 30, 2026



Saudi Arabia's defence ministry said its forces detected and intercepted five ballistic missiles aimed at the kingdom's Eastern Province.

The brief statement posted on X did not specify where the missiles originated.

Since the Middle East war erupted at the end of February, Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries have been regularly targeted by Iranian missile and drone strikes in retaliation for the US-Israeli campaign, now in its second month.
War in the Middle East: latest developments



Paris, France, March 30 (AFP) Mar 30, 2026



Here are the latest developments in the Middle East war:



- Trump says Iran has undergone 'regime change' -



US President Donald Trump said Sunday that the US-Israel war had achieved regime change in Iran.

"We're dealing with different people than anybody's dealt with before. It's a whole different group of people. So I would consider that regime change," Trump said.



- Iran strikes Kuwait power station -



An Iranian strike on a power station in Kuwait killed one Indian worker and damaged a building at the site, the Gulf state's electricity ministry said Monday.



- Israel boosts defense spending -



Israel's parliament passed its 2026 budget early Monday, including about $10 billion in new military spending, bringing the country's total defence budget to about $45 billion.



- Israel renews strikes on Iran -



The Israeli military said late Sunday that it had launched new strikes on targets across Iran's capital Tehran.



- Power cuts in Iran -



Iran's energy ministry has reported power outages in Tehran, following what it said were "attacks on electricity industry facilities".



- Pakistan talks -



Pakistan said on Sunday that it was ready to broker and host "meaningful talks" between the United States and Iran to bring an end to their war, outlining growing support for its peace efforts, including from the United Nations and China.

Foreign ministers from Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Turkey met in Islamabad.



- Ambassador refuses -



Iran's ambassador will not leave Lebanon despite being declared persona non grata and ordered to quit the country by Sunday, an Iranian diplomatic source has told AFP.

Lebanon's foreign ministry accused him of making statements "interfering in Lebanon's internal politics".



- University hit -



A university in Iran's central city of Isfahan said it was hit by US-Israeli airstrikes for the second time since the war erupted.



- Kuwait attack -



Kuwait's defence ministry said 10 service members were injured in an attack on a military camp, as Iran continues targeting positions in the region.



- Lebanon toll rises -



Lebanon's health ministry said Israeli strikes had killed 1,238 people in the country since the start of the latest war with Hezbollah on March 2.



- Israeli expansion -



Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had ordered his military to "further expand" a security zone in Lebanon.



- 30 days offline -



Iran's nationwide internet blackout has now lasted 30 days, leaving millions cut off from information and communication since the war began.



- Iran missile unit -



The Israeli military said it had attacked a key production facility in Tehran used by Iran's defence ministry to manufacture components for ballistic missiles.



- Israeli industrial zone hit -



Iran's Revolutionary Guards said they had struck an industrial complex in southern Israel with ballistic missiles.

AFP footage from the ground showed the charred shell of a warehouse billowing thick clouds of white, grey and black smoke, while fire engines trained powerful jets of water on the blaze.

The Israeli military said the impact in the zone could be from "missile shrapnel".



- US 'planning ground attack' -



Iran's parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said the United States was "secretly planning a ground attack" despite publicly engaging in diplomatic efforts on ending the war.



- Aircraft carrier threat -



Iran's navy chief Shahram Irani said the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier would be targeted by the Islamic republic if it comes within range.



- Journalists' funeral -



Lebanon held a funeral for three journalists killed by an Israeli strike the previous day in the south of the country.

The Israeli military said it carried out the attack to assassinate Ali Shoeib, a veteran correspondent for Hezbollah's Al Manar TV, whom it accused, without providing evidence, of working as a Hezbollah operative.



- Qatari TV office hit -



Qatari news channel Al Araby said an Israeli missile hit a building housing its office in Tehran, causing damage and, according to the Iranian Red Crescent, wounding 10 people.



burs/ksb/jgc
Trump says could take Iran's Kharg Island 'very easily'



Washington, United States, March 30 (AFP) Mar 30, 2026



US President Donald Trump said in an interview with the Financial Times on Sunday that he could take Iran's Kharg Island "very easily."

Kharg Island, located off the west coast of Iran, is a vital oil terminal for the Middle Eastern country and is being eyed by the Pentagon for ground operations, though the United States insisted it would stop short of a full-scale invasion.

When asked about the state of Iranian defense on the island Trump said "I don't think they have any defense. We could take it very easily."
Trump says Iran deal may be reached 'soon'



Tehran, March 30 (AFP) Mar 30, 2026



US President Donald Trump said Sunday that the US-Israel war against Iran has achieved regime change and a deal could be reached "soon" with Tehran.

Iran launched strikes on Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, meanwhile after Iranian electrical facilities came under attack, cutting power to parts of Tehran and surrounding areas.

As Israel continued to press its offensive against Iran-backed Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, the UN Force in Lebanon said a peacekeeper had been killed on Sunday and another critically injured by a projectile that hit a UNIFIL position.

UNIFIL said they did not know the origin of the projectile but were investigating.

Trump, citing the number of Iranian leaders who have been killed in the month-long US-Israeli war against Iran, said regime change has already been achieved and the new leadership is "much more reasonable".

"We've had regime change," he told reporters aboard Air Force One. "We're dealing with different people than anybody's dealt with before. It's a whole different group of people. So I would consider that regime change."

Asked whether there could be a deal with Iran this coming week, Trump said: "I do see a deal in Iran. Could be soon."

In Pakistan, the government is looking to capitalise on its links with Teharan and the Gulf states, as well as a budding rapport with Trump, to broker peace talks.

"Pakistan is very happy that both Iran and the US have expressed their confidence in Pakistan to facilitate the talks," Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said.

But the speaker of Iran's parliament has accused Washington of using diplomacy as a smoke screen.

"The enemy publicly sends messages of negotiation and dialogue while secretly planning a ground attack," Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said in a statement carried by the official IRNA news agency.

"Our men are waiting for the arrival of the American soldiers on the ground to set them on fire and punish their regional allies once and for all," he added.



- Strikes on Kuwait, Saudi Arabia -



Weeks of unrelenting strikes have taken a heavy toll on ordinary people in Iran.

"I miss a peaceful night's sleep," an artist in Tehran told AFP, saying night-time strikes were "so intense it felt like all of Tehran was shaking".

The war has escalated into a regional conflagration as Tehran retaliates with attacks on Gulf states and virtually seals the critical Strait of Hormuz oil shipping lane, sending energy markets into a tailspin and threatening the world economy.

An Iranian strike on a power station and water desalination in Kuwait killed one Indian worker and damaged a building at the site, the Gulf state's electricity ministry said Monday.

Saudi Arabia's defence ministry said its forces detected and intercepted five ballistic missiles.

Iran's energy ministry reported power outages in the capital on Sunday, its surrounding region and Alborz province "following attacks on electricity industry facilities."

Trump has previously threatened to strike Iranian power stations if Tehran does not negotiate, before repeatedly extending a deadline to do so.

Iran says it has closed the Strait of Hormuz, which previously accounted for a quarter of the world's seaborne oil trade and a fifth of liquefied natural gas shipments, to vessels from hostile nations.

The war has sent oil prices soaring, with benchmark US oil contract, West Texas Intermediate, once again surpassing $100 a barrel early Monday, while Brent climbed above $115.

And in Israel, the parliament approved a 2026 budget that provides for a massive rise in military spending, increasing the defence budget by more than $10 billion to over $45 billion.



- Pakistani-brokered talks -



On the diplomatic front, Pakistan, acting as a go-between for Washington and Tehran, hosted foreign ministers from Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt in Islamabad for talks on the crisis.

Trump has repeatedly spoken of diplomatic contacts with Iran, although these claims have been denied by Tehran.

Pakistani Foreign Minister Dar said the visiting diplomats had discussed how to "bring an early and permanent end to the war."

He said Iran and the United States had expressed "confidence in Pakistan to facilitate the talks" and that he had spoken to his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi as well as UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and other foreign ministers who also backed the idea.

Despite making diplomatic overtures, including proposing a 15-point plan to end the war, the United States has also been sending more military assets into the region.

The USS Tripoli, an amphibious assault ship carrying around 3,500 Marines and sailors, arrived in the Middle East on Friday.

According to The Washington Post, the Pentagon was preparing plans for weeks of ground operations -- potentially including raids on sites near the Strait of Hormuz -- though Trump has yet to approve any deployment.

burs/cl/lb
'Key to survival': Ukrainian army battles to change amid manpower shortages



Undisclosed, Ukraine, March 30 (AFP) Mar 30, 2026



Deep in a Ukrainian forest at one of the country's largest military training grounds, the rumble and blasts of weapons mixed with the screams of young -- and not so-young -- new soldiers.

Drafted to fight against Russia, the conscripts were being put through bootcamp before deployment to the front.

"You need to have motivation", an instructor, who goes by the call sign Alex told AFP, given rare access to the site by the Ukrainian army.

After four gruelling years of war and tens of thousands killed, "motivation" is in short supply among would-be soldiers, and the army is trying to reform itself to address severe manpower shortages.

When Russia launched its full-scale invasion in 2022, military recruitment offices were overflowing with volunteers to defend the country.

Now, almost all new arrivals are conscripts who did not sign-up of their own free will.

A general hesitancy to enlist has been compounded by open-ended service requirements, perceptions of the Ukrainian army as outdated and bogged down by Soviet-era bureaucracy, and allegations some unit commanders treat rank-and-file troops as expendable.

"People have less desire to learn, they have more, let's say, fears and negative expectations", a 28-year-old instructor who goes by Buk, told AFP.

The military has acknowledged the need to update.



- 'Build a new army' -



Newly appointed defence minister Mykhailo Fedorov, a digital reformer, has said he is preparing "key changes to the mobilisation process" and better contracts and pay for infantry and assault troops.

Two of Ukraine's most advanced and effective units -- the 3rd Army Corps and Khartia Corps -- are rolling out training reforms across the entire army.

"We offer everyone this: join us, let's build a new army together," Igor Obolensky, commander of the Khartia Corps said.

The training -- which was last year extended from 30 to 51 days -- is designed to harden conscripts for what they are set to face at the front.

In one exercise, groups of 10 undertake the so?called "psychological course".

Battle noises play continuously over loudspeakers -- screams, groans, and shouts -- while they run an obstacle course, chased be instructors repeatedly barking one word: "Faster!"

Ukraine's mobilisation campaign has been divisive and faced accusations of being unfair, corrupt and sometimes abusive.

President Volodymyr Zelensky says Ukraine is mobilising around 30,000-35,000 people a month.

But soldiers abandoning their units either during training or when deployed is a problem.

In the first three and a half years of the war, more than 230,000 criminal cases were opened for soldiers going AWOL, Ukrainska Pravda reported, citing statistics from the General Prosecutor's Office.



- 'How I got caught' -



In another drill at the camp, a field is engulfed with black smoke and the sounds of simulated explosions and gunfire as a five-person squad evacuates soldiers from a car hit by a drone.

"You accomplished the task," their instructor, a middle-aged woman, said at the end.

Like a teacher addressing students, she spoke quietly and respectfully as she detailed what mistakes were made.

At a chapel on the military grounds, a priest stood watching as he blessed one of the commanders, another praying before him.

A young conscript with the call sign Sailor, aged 26, said the training was going better than he expected.

Recruiters had "grabbed" him while he was "walking back from the store. That's how I got caught".

"The hardest part was probably the first couple of days before I came to terms with it," he said.

Initially concerned the training would be "awful", he said he had been surprised by how "calm" it had been.

With a cool yet serious demeanour, his instructor, Buk, explained enthusiastically how the programmes have improved since the start of the war.

"The training has changed radically, and it keeps changing, because the conditions of combat are also changing," he said.

More emphasis is placed on listening to recruits and "treating them with understanding," he told AFP.

"It's the key to survival ... If we don't have development, work on mistakes, analysis of the actions taking place, analysis of combat experience, it will lead to destruction," he said.

But speaking to AFP away from the cameras, the instructors admit things are still far from perfect.

Standards at the different training centres varies across the country, with some plagued by mass desertions.

"A lot still must be done," one said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
TASHKENT, March 29 (Xinhua) -- Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev and Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud held a telephone conversation on Sunday, expressing grave concern over rising tensions in the Middle East, according to the Uzbek presidential press service.

The two leaders emphasized that preventing further escalation and achieving a full settlement is crucial not only for regional states but also for global stability.

Mirziyoyev noted that during these challenging times, Uzbekistan stands in solidarity with the leadership and the brotherly people of Saudi Arabia.

The Saudi crown prince said he highly values the sincere goodwill and friendly support expressed by the Uzbek president.

The two sides agreed to intensify high-level contacts and pursue coordinated joint efforts to elevate bilateral and multilateral relations to a new level, the press service said.

Editor: Xiong Jian
G7 ministers set to tackle financial fallout of Mideast war



Paris, France, March 30 (AFP) Mar 30, 2026



Ministers from the G7 will hold talks on Monday to unpack the economic consequences of the war in the Middle East, the French government said, as oil and gas prices continue to soar.

The United States and Israel launched strikes on Iran in late February and Tehran has hit back by targeting crude-exporting countries in the region and halting shipments through the Gulf.

The squeeze on supply has pushed oil and natural gas prices higher, with drastic knock-on effects for supply chains in countless industries.

French Finance Minister Roland Lescure said the G7 meeting, to be held via videoconference, would include energy and finance ministers as well as central bank chiefs and the heads of other international agencies.

"There are already differences in the responses largely linked to differences in exposure to the crisis," Lescure told a news conference on Friday, stressing that Asia was particularly exposed to the turmoil.

"That is one of the reasons why we wanted to convene a G7 of finance, energy and central banks," he said.

He added that the idea was to exchange views on the impact on financial markets and the economy, later telling local media it was the first time in half a century the G7 had used this format.

The G7, an informal grouping of the US, Canada, Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Japan, helps shape policy debates in the world's wealthiest nations.

The United States has sought support from the group to help halt Iran's blockade of the Strait of Hormuz shipping route.

After a meeting last week, G7 foreign ministers said it was an "absolute necessity" for Iran to re-establish free passage through the strait and called for an end to attacks on civilian infrastructure.



- Governments scrambling -



Under increasing pressure, many governments have rolled out measures to limit the impact of supply difficulties and soaring energy prices.

But a lack of clarity over US war aims, along with uncertainty over the potential length of the conflict and the spread of hostilities, has left governments scrambling for coherent responses.

US officials, including President Donald Trump, have said their goals in the war are almost achieved, but thousands of US personnel have been sent to the region in an unprecedented military build-up.

Activists based outside Iran say the US-Israeli campaign has killed more than 3,000 people in the country, over half of them civilians, while Lebanese officials have said more than 1,000 have been killed there since Israel began attacking its territory in retaliation for Hezbollah attacks on March 2.

Officials in Israel and countries across the Gulf have also reported much smaller numbers of casualties.
Israel military says responding to missiles launched from Iran



Jerusalem, March 30 (AFP) Mar 30, 2026



The Israeli military said its air defences were responding to "missiles launched from Iran" on Monday.

"A short while ago, the IDF identified missiles launched from Iran toward the territory of the State of Israel," the military statement said.

"Defensive systems are operating to intercept the threat," it added, urging people to take shelter until further notice.
Middle East war: global economic fallout



Paris, France, March 30 (AFP) Mar 30, 2026



Here are the latest economic events in the Middle East war:



- G7 meeting -



The French government said ministers from the G7 will hold talks Monday to unpack the economic consequences of the war in the Middle East.

Finance Minister Roland Lescure said the meeting would include energy and finance ministers as well as central bank chiefs and the heads of other international agencies.

G7 allies held a meeting, attended by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, in France last week.

The ministers "reiterated the absolute necessity to permanently restore safe and toll-free freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz", according to the final statement.



- Australia halves fuel tax -



Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the country would halve a tax on fuel to reduce costs for motorists experiencing soaring petrol prices.

Australia charges a sales tax of 52 cents on each litre on petrol sold at the pump, which will be halved for three months.



- Philippines secures Russian crude -



The Philippines' sole oil refinery has secured nearly 2.5 million barrels of Russian crude, according to a stock exchange filing.

Petron said it had agreed to purchase the oil after seeing at least four million barrels in shipments cancelled since the start of the Middle East war.



- Asian stocks down -



Japanese and South Korean stocks led losses across Asian markets, while oil prices jumped more than three percent.

Hong Kong, Shanghai, Sydney, Singapore, Wellington, Taipei, Jakarta and Manila also fell.

The price of the main US benchmark for oil rose past $100 a barrel, while Brent climbed close to $117.



- Iran strikes Gulf energy targets -



An Iranian strike on a power station in Kuwait killed one worker and caused "significant material damage", according to the Gulf state's electricity ministry.

Over the weekend, Iran claimed missile and drone attacks on two major aluminium plants in the Gulf, targeting what they described as industries linked to the US military.

Aluminium Bahrain said its facility was targeted and that two employees were wounded in an attack on Saturday, while the UAE's Emirates Global Aluminium said one of its sites in Abu Dhabi suffered significant damage, and six people were wounded.

Iran's energy ministry, meanwhile, reported power outages in the capital, its surrounding region and Alborz province "following attacks on electricity industry facilities".



- Trump on Kharg Island -



US President Donald Trump said in an interview with the Financial Times that he could take Iran's Kharg Island "very easily".

When asked about the state of Iranian defence on the island, he said: "I don't think they have any defence. We could take it very easily."

Kharg Island, located off the west coast of Iran, is a vital oil terminal for Iran.



- Indonesia introduces austerity measures -



Indonesia plans to cut back on its free meal programme in a bid to save up to 40 trillion rupiah ($2.3 billion) amid price pressures from the war, an official told AFP.

The meals, primarily intended for schoolchildren across the country, will be distributed for five days a week instead of six, starting March 31.



- Taiwan to freeze LPG prices in April -



Taiwan said it would freeze the prices of liquefied petroleum gas in April.

"Liquefied petroleum gas prices will remain unchanged in April, and key feedstocks such as ethylene and propylene will be prioritised for domestic downstream industries," a statement from the island's cabinet said.



- Iran allows tankers to transit Hormuz -



Iran allowed 10 oil tankers to pass through the strategic Strait of Hormuz, according to Donald Trump.

The tankers were believed to be Pakistani-flagged.

Pakistan Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar announced separately that Iran had allowed "20 more ships" under the Pakistani flag -- or two ships daily -- to pass through the waterway.



burs/jgc/ksb/lkd

COSCO
Myanmar junta chief Min Aung Hlaing nominated in presidential process



Naypyidaw, Myanmar, March 30 (AFP) Mar 30, 2026



Myanmar's junta chief Min Aung Hlaing was nominated as a vice-presidential candidate and replaced as military commander on Monday, paving the way for the coup leader to continue his rule in civilian garb.

"I nominate Senior General Min Aung Hlaing as vice-president," MP Kyaw Kyaw Htay said, according to a television broadcast of a lower house session on state-run media.

Three vice-presidents will be chosen, one of whom will be elected as president.

Myanmar's junta also installed a new military commander-in-chief on Monday, reports said, with former spymaster Ye Win Oo replacing Min Aung Hlaing.

Ye Win Oo was promoted to the top military role at a ceremony in the capital Naypyidaw, several Myanmar media outlets reported.

Min Aung Hlaing has ruled by diktat since ousting the hugely popular government of Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi in 2021.

The junta leaders detained Aung San Suu Kyi and dissolved her party, triggering civil war.

Pro-military parties secured a walkover victory earlier this year in elections overseen by the junta and widely criticised by democracy watchdogs.

Under the constitution, Min Aung Hlaing is required to step down from his military post to become president.

He is already acting president, but taking the role on a permanent basis would bolster critics who accuse the military of effectively transferring power to itself in a civilian disguise.
'Long live the shah': Iranian diaspora back war at Washington rally



Washington, United States, March 30 (AFP) Mar 30, 2026



More than 1,000 people of Iranian descent gathered in the US capital on Sunday to voice support for the war, riding on calls to bring back Iran's exiled crown prince who has emerged as a figure of intense interest.

Reza Pahlavi, the US-based son of Iran's last shah who was ousted by the 1979 Islamic revolution, has positioned himself as a potential transitional leader following the killing of Tehran's supreme leader in US-Israeli strikes last month.

The rally on the lawn of the National Mall, not far from the White House, was a sea of Iranian and American flags, with chants of "USA! USA!" and "Javid shah" ("Long live the shah") bolstering the crowd, along with songs in Persian.

The former crown prince entered the global spotlight during anti-government protests in Iran, which peaked in January, where "Pahlavi will return" was among the slogans chanted nationwide.

"I agree with the war, because I think it was the only option," said Sharita Kord, a 25-year-old nurse from New York City who grew up in Iran.

As for whether 65-year-old Pahlavi should return to power, Kord said: "In this situation, you don't have any other choices."

Naz Riz, a 53-year-old attendee wearing a red "Make Iran Great Again" hat, called the conflict in Iran a "rescue operation" coordinated by Israel and the United States.

"They're like cockroaches. They're everywhere," Riz told AFP, referring to those in power in Iran.



- 'The best option' -



Riz said she left Iran almost 30 years ago and thinks Pahlavi returning to power would be "the best option right now" to ensure a democratic transition in the country.

Nissam Crowe, another rally attendee, agreed, saying: "We want democracy. We want freedom."

The 57-year-old from Virginia was critical of the Iranian leadership, calling them "not the government for the people."

While Pahlavi was not at the rally as he was attending the CPAC conservative political conference in Texas, his wife and daughter both addressed the crowd.

Not all supporters of the Iran war back Pahlavi outright, however.

"I'm not a direct supporter of Pahlavi," Ehsan Terani, 45, of Montreal, told AFP.

"At least for the transition period, I don't think there is any other alternative."

She added that after the transition phase, she hopes to see "free elections so people can choose the ruling group."
Israel strikes Tehran as Trump says Iran deal may be reached 'soon'



Tehran, March 30 (AFP) Mar 30, 2026



Israel said Monday it was striking military targets across Tehran, a day after US President Donald Trump insisted a deal could "soon" be reached, while not ruling out ground operations.

Iran also launched fresh strikes on Israel, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia after its electrical facilities came under attack at the weekend, cutting power to parts of Tehran and surrounding areas.

The war has inflicted havoc on the global economy, with fuel shortages across much of Asia, stock markets in turmoil, and oil prices soaring -- the main US benchmark rising past $100 a barrel and Brent close to $117.

As Israel pressed its offensive against Iran-backed Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, Indonesia confirmed Monday that one of its peacekeepers was killed after the UN force said a projectile hit one of its positions.

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) said they did not know the origin of the projectile but had launched an investigation.

Trump, citing the number of Iranian leaders who have been killed in the month-long US-Israeli war against Iran, said "regime change" had been achieved and the new leadership was "much more reasonable".

"We've had regime change," he told reporters aboard Air Force One. "We're dealing with different people than anybody's dealt with before. It's a whole different group of people. So I would consider that regime change."

Asked whether there could be a deal with Iran this coming week, Trump said: "I do see a deal in Iran. Could be soon."

In an interview with the Financial Times published Sunday, Trump said he wants to "take the oil in Iran" and could seize the export hub of Kharg Island.

The US president compared the potential move to Venezuela, where the US intends to control the oil industry "indefinitely" following the capture of leader Nicolas Maduro in January.

"To be honest with you, my favourite thing is to take the oil in Iran but some stupid people back in the US say: 'why are you doing that?' But they're stupid people," he told the newspaper.



- Diplomatic efforts -



On the ground there appeared to be no let-up in hostilities -- with Israel saying Monday its defences responded to "missiles launched from Iran", after earlier announcing it was striking "terror regime military infrastructure across Tehran".

On the diplomatic front, Pakistan -- acting as a go-between for Washington and Tehran -- hosted foreign ministers from Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt in Islamabad for talks on the crisis.

Trump has repeatedly spoken of diplomatic contacts with Iran, although these claims have been denied by Tehran.

Pakistan Foreign Minister Dar said the visiting diplomats had discussed how to "bring an early and permanent end to the war."

He said Iran and the United States had expressed "confidence in Pakistan to facilitate the talks" and that he had spoken to his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi as well as UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and other foreign ministers who also backed the idea.

But the speaker of Iran's parliament has accused Washington of using diplomacy as a smoke screen.

"The enemy publicly sends messages of negotiation and dialogue while secretly planning a ground attack," Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said in a statement carried by the official IRNA news agency.

"Our men are waiting for the arrival of the American soldiers on the ground to set them on fire and punish their regional allies once and for all," he added.

Despite making diplomatic overtures, including proposing a 15-point plan to end the war, the United States has also been sending more military assets into the region.

The USS Tripoli, an amphibious assault ship carrying around 3,500 Marines and sailors, arrived in the Middle East on Friday.

According to The Washington Post, the Pentagon was preparing plans for weeks of ground operations -- potentially including raids on sites near the Strait of Hormuz -- though Trump has yet to approve any deployment.



- Sleepless nights -



The weeks of unrelenting strikes have taken a heavy toll on ordinary people in Iran.

"I miss a peaceful night's sleep," an artist in Tehran told AFP, saying night-time strikes were "so intense it felt like all of Tehran was shaking".

The war has escalated into a regional conflagration as Tehran retaliates with attacks on Gulf states and virtually seals the critical Strait of Hormuz oil shipping lane.

An Iranian strike on a power station and water desalination in Kuwait killed one Indian worker and damaged a building at the site, the Gulf state's electricity ministry said Monday.

Saudi Arabia's defence ministry said its forces detected and intercepted five ballistic missiles.

Iran's energy ministry reported power outages in the capital on Sunday, its surrounding region and Alborz province "following attacks on electricity industry facilities".

Trump has previously threatened to strike Iranian power stations if Tehran does not negotiate, before repeatedly extending a deadline to do so.

Iran says it has closed the Strait of Hormuz, which previously accounted for a quarter of the world's seaborne oil trade and a fifth of liquefied natural gas shipments, to vessels from hostile nations.

burs/cl/fox/jm
War in the Middle East: latest developments



Paris, France, March 30 (AFP) Mar 30, 2026



Here are the latest developments in the Middle East war:



- Trading blows -

The Israeli army said on Monday morning that it was striking Iranian military infrastructure across the Islamic republic's capital.

Shortly after, the army said it was intercepting missiles launched from Iran.



- Peacekeeper killed -



Indonesia confirmed that one of its peacekeepers was killed in Lebanon, after the UN force said a projectile hit one of its positions.

The Indonesian foreign ministry said "indirect artillery fire" near the town of Adchit al Qusayr killed one of its peacekeepers and wounded three others.



- Kharg Island -



US President Donald Trump said in an interview with The Financial Times on Sunday that the United States could take Iran's Kharg Island "very easily."

When asked about the state of Iranian defence on the island, which houses a vital oil terminal, Trump said "I don't think they have any defence. We could take it very easily."



- Saudis intercepts missiles -



Saudi Arabia's defence ministry said its forces detected and intercepted five ballistic missiles aimed at the kingdom's Eastern Province.

The brief statement posted on X did not specify where the missiles originated.



- 'Regime change' -



US President Donald Trump said Sunday that the US-Israel war had achieved regime change in Iran.

"We're dealing with different people than anybody's dealt with before. It's a whole different group of people. So I would consider that regime change," Trump said.



- Deadly Kuwait strike -



An Iranian strike on a power station in Kuwait killed one Indian worker and damaged a building at the site, the Gulf state's electricity ministry said.



- Israel boosts defence spending -



Israel's parliament passed its 2026 budget, including about $10 billion in new military spending, bringing the country's total defence budget to about $45 billion.



- Power cuts in Iran -



Iran's energy ministry has reported power outages in Tehran, following what it said were "attacks on electricity industry facilities".



- Iran's heavy water plant -



The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said that Iran's heavy water production plant in Khondab had sustained severe damage and was no longer operational after an Israeli military strike.

The Israeli military said Friday it carried out a strike against a heavy water plant in Arak, central Iran, describing the site as a "key plutonium production site for nuclear weapons".



- Pakistan talks -



Pakistan said that it was ready to broker and host "meaningful talks" between the United States and Iran to bring an end to their war, outlining growing support for its peace efforts, including from the United Nations and China.

Foreign ministers from Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Turkey met in Islamabad.



- Ambassador refuses -



Iran's ambassador will not leave Lebanon despite being declared persona non grata and ordered to quit the country, an Iranian diplomatic source has told AFP.

Lebanon's foreign ministry accused him of making statements "interfering in Lebanon's internal politics".



- University hit -



A university in Iran's central city of Isfahan said it was hit by US-Israeli airstrikes for the second time since the war erupted.



- Kuwait attack -



Kuwait's defence ministry said 10 service members were injured in an attack on a military camp.



- Lebanon toll rises -



Lebanon's health ministry said Israeli strikes had killed 1,238 people in the country since the start of the latest war with Iran-backed Hezbollah on March 2.



- Israeli expansion -



Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had ordered his military to "further expand" a security zone in Lebanon.



- 30 days offline -



Iran's nationwide internet blackout has now lasted 30 days, leaving millions cut off from information and communication since the war began.



- Iran missile unit -



The Israeli military said it had attacked a key production facility in Tehran used by Iran's defence ministry to manufacture components for ballistic missiles.

burs/ksb/jgc/abs/yad
UN force in southern Lebanon says peacekeeper killed



Beirut, Lebanon, March 30 (AFP) Mar 30, 2026



The UN force in Lebanon said Monday that one of their peacekeepers was killed when a projectile hit one of their positions, where Israeli forces are fighting Iran-backed Hezbollah as part of efforts to establish a buffer zone.

"A peacekeeper was tragically killed last night when a projectile exploded in a UNIFIL position near Adchit al Qusayr," said a statement. "Another was critically injured."

The town of Adchit al Qusayr lies near Lebanon's southern border with Israel, where Israeli forces have been battling Hezbollah fighters for nearly a month.

Indonesia confirmed that one of its peacekeepers was killed and three others were wounded due to "indirect artillery fire".

The UNIFIL statement said they did not know the origin of the projectile but had launched an investigation.

"No one should ever lose their life serving the cause of peace," it added.

UN chief Antonio Guterres condemned the killing in a post on X. "This is just one of a number of recent incidents that have jeopardised the safety and security of peacekeepers," he said.

Lebanese state news agency NNA reported earlier that the position hit belonged to the Indonesian battalion serving with UNIFIL.

The war in the Middle East spread to Lebanon in early March after Iran-backed Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel.

Their attack came after the assassination of Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei on the first day of the US-Israeli offensive.

Israel has retaliated with wide-ranging air strikes on Lebanon, and Israeli forces are now advancing into numerous towns in southern Lebanon.

Israeli officials say they intend to set up a security zone extending 30 kilometres from the Israeli border to protect those living in northern Israel.

UNIFIL has reported that its positions have been hit more than once since the start of the latest fighting.

On March 7, three Ghanaian soldiers were wounded by gunfire in a border town in southern Lebanon.
Israel media reports impact on oil refinery in Haifa



Jerusalem, March 30 (AFP) Mar 30, 2026



Israeli television channels reported an impact at an oil refinery in the northern city of Haifa on Monday, shortly after the military said it had detected new incoming missiles from Iran.

Television network Channel 12 showed thick black smoke billowing into the sky from the site.

The reports did not say what had caused the impact, though the incident came soon after the military said it had detected a fresh salvo of missiles fired from Iran.

The military said that search and rescue forces were on their way to the site in northern Israel, where reports of an impact have been received.
Syrian army reports 'large-scale' drone attack on bases near Iraq border



Damascus, March 30 (AFP) Mar 30, 2026



Syria's military said a large-scale drone attack targeted its bases near the border with Iraq on Monday, the biggest such incident since the start of the Middle East war.

The army reported "a large-scale attack by a number of drones targeting several army bases near the Iraqi border at dawn today", adding that most of the drones were intercepted.

"We are studying our options and will respond appropriately to neutralise any threat and prevent any aggression against Syrian territory."

On Sunday, assistant defence minister for eastern Syria, Sipan Hamo, said four drones from Iraq attacked a US base in Syria's Qasrak, but were intercepted.

It was not immediately clear who had launched the attack. One possibility was that pro-Iran groups in Iraq were behind it.

"We hold Iraq responsible and call upon it to prevent the recurrence of attacks that threaten our stability," Hamo said.

A day prior, Syria's army said it repelled another drone attack from Iraq targeting Al-Tanf, a base which used to house US forces.

Another base in northeastern Syria was targeted last week. An Iraqi official said an Iraqi faction was behind the attack, and four people were arrested in connection with it.

In recent months in Syria, American forces have withdrawn from the Al-Tanf base, as well as Shadadi in the northeastern province of Hasakeh, and had begun withdrawing from the Qasrak base, also in Hasakeh.

Since the outbreak of the Middle East war, which began with a US-Israeli attack on Iran on February 28, Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa has said he is working to keep his country out of any conflict.

Iraq was pulled into the war, with pro-Iran Iraqi groups having claimed responsibility for attacks on US interests in Iraq and across the region.
NATITINGOU, Benin, March 29 (Xinhua) -- A Beninese woman suffering from a perineal tear and a severe vaginal wall laceration was successfully treated by the 28th Chinese medical team at Natitingou Zone Hospital, more than 700 km northwest of Cotonou, despite challenging conditions, medical sources said Sunday.

The patient, who had given birth at another facility, was rushed to the hospital on Friday evening in heavy rain after developing a severe postpartum hemorrhage.

According to Chinese gynecologists Zhang Huijuan and Guo Li, the patient arrived in critical condition, showing pallor, extreme weakness, and heavy vaginal bleeding.

"Without losing a second, we activated the emergency response: uterine massage, rapid infusion, continuous oxygen therapy, and oxytocin injection. Every step was precise and coordinated in a race against death," Zhang said.

Further examination revealed a complex injury: in addition to a second-degree perineal tear, the patient had a severe vaginal wall laceration, with extensive damage to normal anatomical structures.

The operation was further complicated by a sudden power outage that plunged the maternity ward into darkness, Zhang added,

"At this critical moment, interpreter Xiao Yamin quickly guided the anesthetist to shine a flashlight," Guo said. "Under this fragile yet steady light, we relied on our professional skills and clinical experience, working with utmost concentration to precisely suture the torn tissues, gradually restore the anatomy, and stop the massive bleeding, ultimately saving the patient's life."

The surgery was completed successfully, and the patient's condition stabilized.

Editor: Xiong Jian
US senator says Taiwan defence spending bill approval 'very important'



Taipei, March 30 (AFP) Mar 30, 2026



A US senator said Monday it is "very important" for Taiwan to approve a special defence spending bill, as Washington dials up pressure on the democratic island to invest more in its own military.

Taiwanese lawmakers are at loggerheads over how much to spend on improving defence capabilities against a potential attack by China, which claims the island is part of its territory and has threatened to forcibly seize it.

Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te's Democratic Progressive Party and the two opposition parties, which control parliament, are locked in negotiations after reviewing rival budget proposals last week and failing to reach a consensus.

"Passing of the special defence budget is very important to me and my colleagues back in Washington DC," Republican Senator John Curtis told reporters in Taipei during a visit by a bipartisan Senate delegation.

"We want to make sure that as we invest in this part of the world, that you are also investing and that we're in this together," he said after the senators met with Lai.

Lai's government has proposed NT$1.25 trillion ($39 billion) in spending on critical defence purchases, including US arms, while the opposition Kuomintang party (KMT) wants to allocate NT$380 billion for US weapons with the option for more acquisitions.

As pressure from the United States -- Taiwan's most important security backer -- grows, some KMT lawmakers are pushing for a much higher budget than the one proposed by the party, signalling an internal split over defence.

While the NT$1.25 trillion in spending was "essential" for Taiwan's defence, senior DPP lawmaker Wang Ting-yu told AFP on Friday the party could potentially work with NT$900 billion -- if the opposition did not restrict the budget to US arms.



- US support 'strong and enduring' -



Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen, who is part of the delegation, said US support for Taiwan "remains strong and enduring".

As part of the two-day visit, the delegation stopped by Taiwan's National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology to look at military drones and equipment in development.

Taiwan has spent billions upgrading its defences. The island maintains its own defence industry but it would be massively outgunned in a conflict with China, and remains heavily reliant on US arms sales.

Earlier this month, Taiwan's parliament gave the government a green light to sign US agreements for four weapons deals, even though funding for these and other arms has not yet been approved.

The weapons -- M109A7 self-propelled howitzers, Javelin anti-armor missiles, TOW 2B missiles and High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) -- account for nearly $9 billion of the $11.1 billion arms package announced by Washington in December.

On Monday, Deputy Defence Minister Hsu Szu-chien urged the US government to "expedite the notification process" for Taiwan's remaining arms sales requests to help "our efforts to secure funding for the special defence budget".

The US Congress, under the Taiwan Relations Act, requires the supply of weapons to the self-governing democracy for its defence.

US President Donald Trump said last month he would decide soon on whether to send more weapons to Taiwan after Chinese President Xi Jinping warned him not to do so.
Zelensky lauds 'historic' defence agreements with Middle East countries



Kyiv, Ukraine, March 30 (AFP) Mar 30, 2026



Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday hailed "historic" defence agreements signed with Middle Eastern countries last week on a visit to the region.

Ukraine signed defence agreements with Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates last week.

The contents of the deals have not been made public, but Zelensky has said they include Ukrainian expertise in downing drones, a pressing need as Iranian strikes target Gulf countries in the Middle East war.

"I believe these are historic agreements. We are reaching understanding on strategic cooperation in the military technology area and in other areas. We are talking about 10-year agreements," Zelensky told reporters.

Kyiv has sought to leverage its expertise in downing Russian drones to help the Gulf nations, which are being attacked with the same Iranian-designed Shahed drones that Russia fires on Ukraine.

Ukraine has proposed swapping its relatively cheap drone interceptors for the expensive air-defence missiles that the Gulf is currently using to down Iranian drones.
American University in Armenia halts in-person teaching over Iran threat



Yerevan, March 30 (AFP) Mar 30, 2026



The American University of Armenia said on Monday it was moving all classes online over Iranian threats to target US universities in West Asia.

Several US universities have campuses scattered throughout the Middle East, including Texas A&M University in Qatar and New York University in the United Arab Emirates.

Iran threatened to target US universities in the Middle East after saying US-Israeli strikes had destroyed two Iranian universities.

"Due to the threat made by Iran to target American universities in West Asia and the Middle East, all AUA classes on Monday, March 30, will be held fully online," the university said in a statement.

The American University of Armenia said it had received no direct threats and stressed there was no cause for alarm, calling the move "a precautionary measure".

Iran's Revolutionary Guard issued a statement, carried by Iranian media on Sunday, saying: "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."

They advised "all employees, professors and students of American universities in the region and residents of their surrounding areas" to stay one kilometre (mile) away from campuses.

The same day, the American University of Beirut -- one of the most prominent US institutions in the region -- said it would operate remotely over the next two days.

In Jordan, the American University of Madaba, about 35 kilometres (22 miles) southwest of the capital Amman, also said it was holding online classes until Thursday for its 3,000 students.
Iran confirms killing by Israel of Guards navy commander



Tehran, March 30 (AFP) Mar 30, 2026



Iran confirmed on Monday that an Israeli strike had killed the commander of the naval force of the Revolutionary Guards, who Israel had said was responsible for the blocking of the Strait of Hormuz.

A statement carried by the Guards' Sepah News website said Alireza Tangsiri "succumbed to severe injuries" from the attack last week.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz announced on Thursday that an Israeli airstrike had killed Tangsiri, describing him as the "man who was directly responsible for the terrorist operation of mining and blocking the Strait of Hormuz".

Since the start of the war now in its second month, Iran has imposed a de facto blockade on the key waterway, sending global energy prices spiralling.

The Guards statement said he had been organising coastal defences when he was killed and vowed "that we will not rest until the enemy is completely destroyed".

He is the latest top Iranian official to have been confirmed by Tehran to have been killed in the war.

Supreme leader Ali Khamenei was killed on the first day of the war on February 28 and the Islamic republic's powerful security chief, Ali Larijani, was killed earlier this month, along with over a dozen other prominent figures.

Katz had said senior officers of the naval command were killed in the strike that killed Tangsiri, without giving further details.

Tangsiri had vowed earlier in March to "deliver the harshest blows to the aggressor enemy while maintaining the strategy of closing the Strait of Hormuz".

A veteran of the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war, Tangsiri was one of the longest-serving senior figures in the force and one of its highest-profile faces within the Islamic republic.

He had been appointed by Khamenei in 2018 to head the naval branch of the Revolutionary Guards, whose task is to protect the Islamic republic from internal and external threats.

Under his leadership, the Guards' navy had been significantly strengthened. In recent years, it has claimed responsibility for seizing numerous foreign vessels.

He was sanctioned by the United States in 2019 in a counter-terrorism related designation.

Israel and the United States have said they have dealt a major blow to Iran by killing top officials, but some analysts say the Islamic republic is still showing resilience and capacity to recover from setbacks.
Israel army says second journalist killed in Lebanon was Hezbollah militant



Jerusalem, March 30 (AFP) Mar 30, 2026



The Israeli military said Monday a second journalist it killed over the weekend in Lebanon was a Hezbollah militant, without providing any evidence.

A strike on Saturday killed three journalists in Lebanon's Jezzine: Ali Shoeib of Hezbollah's Al Manar channel and Fatima Ftouni of Al Mayadeen, seen as close to the Iran-backed movement, along with Ftouni's brother, cameraman Mohammad Ftouni.

The Israeli military said it had killed Shoeib soon after the strike, alleging that he "operated within the Hezbollah terrorist organisation under the guise of a journalist".

On Monday, the military confirmed it had killed Mohammad Ftouni in the same strike.

It alleged that Mohammad Ftouni "an additional terrorist in Hezbollah's military wing, who also operated under the guise of a journalist, was eliminated".

The military has not provided any evidence to support its claims that Shoeib and Ftouni were Hezbollah operatives.

"We emphasise that the IDF directs its strikes to target terrorists, and not journalists," the military said.

Asked on Monday by AFP to provide evidence for its claims, the military said: "No what we have is what we can state."

Shoeib was a veteran correspondent for Al Manar TV, who had covered conflicts and politics in Lebanon for decades.

In its statement on Monday the military further said that it was "aware of reports that an additional female journalist who was with the terrorists was killed in the strike" over the weekend.



- 11 journalists killed in Lebanon -



Since the start of a previous round of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah in 2023, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has documented at least 11 journalists and press workers killed by Israel in Lebanon.

In the Gaza Strip, where Israel fought a war against Palestinian armed group Hamas from October 2023 until a ceasefire last year, 210 Palestinian journalists and media workers have been killed by the Israeli military, the CPJ said.

Lebanon was pulled into the current Middle East war when Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel on March 2 in revenge for the killing of Iran's supreme leader in the opening salvo of the US-Israeli war against the Islamic republic.

Israel responded with large-scale airstrikes across Lebanon and a ground offensive in the south.

Lebanese authorities say at least 1,189 people have been killed since the hostilities broke out.

Six Israeli soldiers have also been killed in combat in southern Lebanon, the military said.
Rocket attack targets Baghdad army base



Baghdad, March 30 (AFP) Mar 30, 2026



Rockets fired overnight targeted an Iraqi military base inside the Baghdad airport complex, which also houses a support centre for the US embassy, Iraq's defence ministry said Monday.

The base is near a US diplomatic and logistics hub in the airport complex, which has been repeatedly targeted since the start of the war in the Middle East on February 28.

Iraq has been drawn into the conflict despite seeking to avoid it at all costs. Pro-Iran armed groups have claimed responsibility for attacks on US interests in Iraq and across the region, while strikes have also targeted these groups.

Early on Monday morning "an air base was targeted by 122mm Grad rockets launched from the outskirts of Baghdad", a statement from the ministry said.

"This attack resulted in the destruction of an Antonov-132 aircraft belonging to the Iraqi Air Force. No casualties were reported," it added.

A military official told AFP that "rockets fell inside the diplomatic support centre early Monday morning, causing a fire".

Earlier this month a security official told AFP that the US diplomatic hub had evacuated much of its personnel.

Since the outbreak of war, pro-Iran factions -- which have repeatedly claimed attacks against US interests -- have also been targeted by strikes they blame on the US or Israel.

Monday's incident comes after Washington and Baghdad said last week they would "intensify cooperation" to prevent attacks and ensure Iraqi territory is not used to launch assaults against US facilities.

For the first time in 10 days, two drones targeted the US embassy over the weekend but did not hit their targets.

The influential pro-Iran armed group Kataeb Hezbollah said on March 19 it would pause such attacks for five days, twice extending.
Iran confirms killing by Israel of Guards navy commander



Tehran, March 30 (AFP) Mar 30, 2026



Iran confirmed on Monday that an Israeli strike had killed the commander of the naval force of the Revolutionary Guards, who Israel had said was responsible for the blocking of the Strait of Hormuz.

A statement carried by the Guards' Sepah News website said Alireza Tangsiri "succumbed to severe injuries" from the attack last week.

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, who has been absent from public view since taking the role after the killing of his father and predecessor in US-Israeli strikes on February 28, extended his condolences in a message on Telegram.

In his message, he hailed Tangsiri as "a soldier of Iran and guardian of Islam" during the war.

His funeral will be held on Tuesday in the port city of Bandar Abbas, according to Sepah News.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz announced on Thursday that an Israeli airstrike had killed Tangsiri, describing him as the "man who was directly responsible for the terrorist operation of mining and blocking the Strait of Hormuz".

Since the start of the war now in its second month, Iran has only allowed a trickle of ships to pass through the key waterway, sending global energy prices spiralling.

The Guards statement said he had been organising coastal defences when he was killed and vowed "that we will not rest until the enemy is completely destroyed".

He is the latest top Iranian official to have been confirmed by Tehran to have been killed in the war.

Supreme leader Ali Khamenei was killed on the first day of the war on February 28 and the Islamic republic's powerful security chief, Ali Larijani, was killed earlier this month, along with over a dozen other prominent figures.

Katz had said senior officers of the naval command were killed in the strike that killed Tangsiri, without giving further details.

Tangsiri had vowed earlier in March to "deliver the harshest blows to the aggressor enemy while maintaining the strategy of closing the Strait of Hormuz".

A veteran of the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war, Tangsiri was one of the longest-serving senior figures in the force and one of its highest-profile faces within the Islamic republic.

He had been appointed by Khamenei in 2018 to head the naval branch of the Revolutionary Guards, whose task is to protect the Islamic republic from internal and external threats.

Under his leadership, the Guards' navy had been significantly strengthened. In recent years, it has claimed responsibility for seizing numerous foreign vessels.

He was sanctioned by the United States in 2019 in a counter-terrorism related designation.

Israel and the United States have said they have dealt a major blow to Iran by killing top officials, but some analysts say the Islamic republic is still showing resilience and capacity to recover from setbacks.
'We miss the simplest things': Tehran residents on edge after month of war



Paris, France, March 30 (AFP) Mar 30, 2026



For Tehran resident Fatemeh, the highlight of her day in a city beset by deadly daily US-Israeli strikes in the now month-long war is to make the short journey to her local cafe.

"When I make it to a cafe table, even for a few minutes, I can almost believe the world hasn't ended," said Fatemeh, 27, a dental assistant.

"It feels like stepping out of this damn war and into an ordinary day, or at least imagining a world that isn't filled with the constant fear of losing your life, or where you stay alive but lose a loved one or everything you have," she told AFP.

If a lull in the bombing allows a better night's sleep, Fatemeh said she will put on make-up and dress up to make her visit to the cafe extra special.

"And then I go back home, back to the reality of living through war, with all its darkness and weight," she said.

Residents of Tehran who spoke to AFP's team covering the war in Paris painted a picture of a city that is still clinging to some routine, with cafes and restaurants open, no shortages reported in supermarkets or petrol stations, and people trying to keep up some vestige of a social life.

But they know that life is anything but normal with the US and Israel maintaining a relentless pace of bombardment on the capital since the war started on February 28 with the killing of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other top officials.

There are security checkpoints on what were peaceful streets, the internet has been blocked or drastically slowed for everything except domestic services, and windows are taped up to prevent them shattering in case of attack.

As well as fear of being killed or losing a loved one in an attack, people are gripped by anxiety over the future, over what kind of country they will live in and how they will make ends meet amid a collapsing economy.

The people who agreed to share messages with AFP gave only their first names for fear of the consequences were they to be identified by authorities.



- 'Only thing left' -



"These days, I mostly stay at home and only go out if I absolutely have to. The only thing left from my life routine before the war that helps me keep my spirit up is cooking," said Shahrzad, 39, a housewife.

But she added: "Sometimes I find myself crying in the middle of it. I miss ordinary days... A life where I didn't have to constantly think about explosions, death, or losing my loved ones.

"I try to stay strong for my daughter... But when I think about the future, I can't form any clear picture in my mind that I can hold on to with hope."

People in Tehran have over the last week been trying to make the best they can out of the main traditional Persian holiday of Nowruz, a festival that normally sees people leave the city or celebrate at home with family.

"There is no famine, everything is available. Cafes are open, and we still go out to cafes," said Shayan, 40, a photographer. "There is gasoline, water, and electricity."

"But there is a sense of helplessness in all of us. We don't know what to do and there's really nothing we can do.

"There was no real Nowruz atmosphere at all, but we tried to force ourselves," he said.

While shops and restaurants are open until 9:00 pm, "many people don't go out after the afternoon", he added.

In a continuation of a trend that began months before the war, more women are openly not wearing the headscarf that is obligatory under the Islamic republic's dress rules, residents say.

State television has at rallies even interviewed bare-headed women, so long as they express pro-government sentiments.



- 'I miss a peaceful night's sleep' -



Elnaz, 32, a Tehran-based painter, said when attacks did relent and she had time to think, she remembered how much she missed "living a simple life".

"We miss the simplest things, going out at night, or just being able to go to another part of the city.

"I miss something as ordinary as shopping somewhere other than the small grocery store or bakery on my street.

"I miss reading in a cafe, going to the park... all those very, very simple things."

She added: "And more than anything, I miss a peaceful night's sleep."

Elnaz said that on some nights the attacks are so intense it feels like "all of Tehran is shaking".

"Everything goes back to one state -- survival. Thinking only about staying alive with all the people I love. My friends, my family, and the people of my city, who look kinder than ever in this difficult time," she said.

Kaveh, 38, a visual artist, said a piece of a missile struck about 50 metres from his house a few days ago.

"I brought it home with me. I want to make something out of it when I get the chance," he said, recalling that dust was falling from the sky and several windows shattered immediately.

He described how at night in some areas, groups of people who back the clerical system drive around, honking and gathering, "while just a few streets away, there are checkpoints where cars and phones of normal people are being searched".

"If you have something to do in the city, you'll likely pass through multiple checkpoints in a single day -- each run by different groups. Cars are searched, phones are checked, and months of accumulated frustration are taken out on people at these checkpoints.

"These are just parts of our daily reality under these circumstances," he said.

The morose atmosphere, residents say, has been compounded by unseasonably rainy weather that contrasts with the spring sunshine people are used to enjoying at Nowruz.

Portraits of children killed in attacks are displayed in squares, while giant flags of the Islamic republic cover buildings that have been reduced to ruins.

"In the end, for many people, the most important concern is the future of Iran and its people, and what might actually improve the situation," said Kaveh.
'Regime change'? The Iranian leaders killed in Israeli-US war



Paris, France, March 30 (AFP) Mar 30, 2026



Since the start of the war, US-Israeli airstrikes on Iran have killed supreme leader Ali Khamenei and a whole echelon of the political and military elite in the Islamic republic.

US President Donald Trump said Sunday that the war had achieved "regime change" and that "we're dealing with different people than anybody's dealt with before".

But several key figures have survived and the Islamic republic has shown resilience in rapidly replacing killed leaders and also keeping up the war against the US and Israel.

In the latest fatality, Alireza Tangsiri, the commander of the naval force of the Revolutionary Guards who Israel had said was responsible for the blocking of the Strait of Hormuz, died of his wounds from an Israeli strike on Thursday, the Guards said.

Here is a recap of the some of the key figures killed so far in the war:



- Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei -



Khamenei, Iran's number one since 1989, was killed in the first hour of the war on February 28 in a strike on a meeting of senior officials in Tehran that also left his daughter-in-law, daughter and at least one grandchild dead, according to reports.

His low-profile son Mojtaba survived -- although reportedly with injuries -- and took over as supreme leader. He has yet to make a public appearance.

Ali Khamenei has yet to be buried although Mojtaba has said in a written statement he saw the body.



- Security chief Ali Larijani -



The killing of Larijani, who despite not being a cleric was a pillar of the system for decades, was likely the biggest loss to the Islamic republic after the death of Ali Khamenei.

Larijani was killed on March 17 in an Israeli strike, reportedly in the Tehran region and which also killed family members.

The previous week, he had defiantly walked in public in Tehran at a pro-government rally.



- Revolutionary Guards chief Mohammad Pakpour -



Pakpour, previously head of the Guards' ground forces, took over as commander-in-chief in June 2025 after his predecessor Hossein Salami was killed in Israel's 12-day war against Iran.

He was killed on the first day of the war and has been replaced by former interior and defence minister Ahmad Vahidi.



- Guards naval chief Alireza Tangsiri -



A veteran of the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war, Tangsiri was one of the longest-serving senior figures in the Revolutionary Guards as the head of its navy since 2018 and one of its highest-profile faces within the Islamic republic.

Israel's defence minister described him as the "man who was directly responsible for the terrorist operation of mining and blocking the Strait of Hormuz".



- Adviser Ali Shamkhani -



Shamkhani, a mainstay of the Islamic republic's armed forces since the 1980s, was killed in an airstrike on the first day of the war.

He was given a public funeral in Tehran's Tajrish Square and reportedly buried without his head.

He had been severely wounded, and initially reported dead, in a strike during Israel's June war against Iran but later re-emerged.



- Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib -



A cleric, Khatib was killed by an Israeli strike in Tehran early on March 18. As Iran's intelligence minister since 2021, he was accused by rights groups of playing a key role in the suppression of protests.



- Defence Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh -



A veteran of the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s, Nasirzadeh had served as defence minister since 2024. He was also killed in a strike on the first day of the war.



- Basij commander Gholamreza Soleimani -



Soleimani headed the Basij, a volunteer paramilitary group that is a branch of the Revolutionary Guards and notorious among rights groups for suppressing protests. He was killed in an airstrike on March 17.



- Guards spokesman Ali Mohammad Naini -



Naini was killed at dawn Friday in what the Guards described as a "cowardly" attack by the United States and Israel.

Just before his death was confirmed, the Fars news agency issued a statement quoting Naini as saying Iran's missile production deserved a "perfect score" and was continuing despite the war.



- Head of military office Mohammad Shirazi -



Killed on the opening day of the war, Shirazi had the crucial job of coordinating between the various branches of the Iranian security forces at the office of supreme leader.



- Armed forces chief Abdolrahim Mousavi -



Mousavi, killed on the first day of the war, had only taken up his post, a senior position which coordinates between the Guards and the regular army, in June 2025 following the death of his predecessor Mohammad Bagheri in the 12-day war.
Trump threatens to obliterate Iran's Kharg island if no deal reached 'shortly'



Washington, United States, March 30 (AFP) Mar 30, 2026



US President Donald Trump threatened Monday to destroy Iran's oil export hub of Kharg Island, oil wells and power plants if it does not soon agree to a deal to end the war.

A day after sounding conciliatory and suggesting a deal could be reached this week, Trump wrote on his Truth Social network that the United States is in "serious discussions" with "a more reasonable regime" in Tehran. But he added an ominous warning.

"Great progress has been made but, if for any reason a deal is not shortly reached, which it probably will be, and if the Hormuz Strait is not immediately 'Open for Business,' we will conclude our lovely 'stay' in Iran by blowing up and completely obliterating all of their Electric Generating Plants, Oil Wells and Kharg Island (and possibly all desalinization plants!), which we have purposefully not yet 'touched,'" Trump said.

On Sunday night, Trump told reporters on Air Force One that the United States had achieved "regime change" in Iran through the war launched a month ago with Israel, citing the number of Iranian leaders who have been killed. He called the new leadership "much more reasonable".

"We're dealing with different people than anybody's dealt with before. It's a whole different group of people. So I would consider that regime change."

Asked whether there could be an agreement with Iran this coming week, Trump said: "I do see a deal in Iran. Could be soon."
DAMASCUS, March 29 (Xinhua) -- Suspected Iranian drones and rockets targeted bases hosting U.S. forces in northeastern Syria on Sunday, causing material damage but no casualties, a war monitor said.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said a rocket struck the Qasrak base in Hasakah province, followed by drone attacks around midnight and at dawn. U.S. air defenses intercepted several drones, while other projectiles hit the site, causing damage, it said.

The monitor said the Kharab al-Jir base near Rmeilan was also hit by multiple rockets early Sunday, some intercepted and others reaching their targets, with no immediate reports of casualties. Two additional drones were shot down near residential areas in Hasakah, it added. The attacks prompted heightened alert and increased aerial activity.

On Feb. 28, Israel and the United States launched joint attacks on Tehran and several other Iranian cities, killing Iran's then Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, along with senior military commanders and civilians. Iran responded by launching waves of missile and drone strikes targeting Israel and U.S. bases and assets in the Middle East.

Editor: Xiong Jian
Israel renews strikes on Beirut suburbs, kills Lebanese soldier



Beirut, Lebanon, March 30 (AFP) Mar 30, 2026



Israel renewed its bombardment of Beirut's southern suburbs on Monday while continuing air strikes on Lebanon's south, one of which targeted an army checkpoint and killed a soldier.

Lebanon was pulled into the Middle East conflict when Tehran-backed armed group Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel on March 2 in revenge for the killing of Iran's supreme leader, the opening salvo in the US-Israeli war against the Islamic republic.

Israel has responded with large-scale air strikes across Lebanon and a ground offensive in the south. Lebanese authorities say more than 1,200 people have been killed since the hostilities broke out.

On Monday, two strikes hit Beirut's southern suburbs, one of them targeting an apartment in a residential building, according to an AFP photographer, who said Hezbollah gunmen imposed a security cordon at the site after the attack.

A security source told AFP that three Hezbollah members were killed in the strike and three others wounded.

An eyewitness who declined to be named said victims were evacuated from the site following the strike.

The building targeted is located in a residential neighbourhood packed with shops and commercial establishments, several of which were damaged, according to the photographer.

The Israeli army, which had issued an evacuation order for the area -- where most residents had already fled -- said it had "begun striking Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure in Beirut".

In south Lebanon, where state media reported a series of Israeli air strikes, the Lebanese army said one of its soldiers was killed and others wounded in an attack on one of its checkpoints in the Tyre region.

A military source told AFP that the strike was the first direct targeting of a Lebanese army checkpoint since the start of the war.

Earlier, the army's command announced the deaths of eight soldiers in the south and east of Lebanon since the war's beginning, although they were not on duty at the time of their deaths.

On Sunday, an Indonesian soldier with the UN's peacekeeping force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) was also killed when a projectile exploded near a UNIFIL position close to the border, while three others were wounded.

The source of the projectile has not yet been determined.

Other UN peacekeepers were wounded on Monday in a separate "incident" near the Lebanese-Israeli border, a spokesperson for the force said, without specifying the nature of the incident.

Hezbollah, for its part, continued to claim attacks against Israeli positions and forces, including on an intelligence base on the outskirts of Tel Aviv.

The Israeli military announced Monday that one of its soldiers was killed fighting in south Lebanon, and another seriously wounded, bringing the number of Israeli soldiers killed in Lebanon to six.
Somali troops enter key city ruled by renegade leader



Mogadishu, March 30 (AFP) Mar 30, 2026



Somali federal troops Monday entered the key city of Baidoa after clashes with forces loyal to the head of the region, whose mandate Mogadishu says expired four years ago.

The fighting broke out about six kilometres (3.7 miles) from the city of several hundred thousand inhabitants and local forces fled, Hassan Mohamed, a commander of the Somali National Army, told AFP.

"We have now entered the town from the side of the animal market, and very soon, we are planning to clear the rest of the city of the deposed regime loyalists," he told AFP.

"Their remnants are still in some parts of the town, but we will force them to retreat or surrender," he added.

Residents contacted by AFP confirmed that Somali army soldiers had entered the city, accompanied by fighters from a militia opposed to the local authorities.

"There was no fighting inside Baidoa so far, the opposition forces and the members of the national army have managed to enter the town after brief fighting in the suburbs of the town," Mahdi Ali, a resident, said by phone.

A few hours before pro-government forces entered Baidoa, an official from the South West State, where Baidoa is located, had insisted that local authorities and forces would repel any attack.

"Those who have invaded the people of the South West State will never succeed. They will be defeated," said Ugaas Hassan, spokesman for the state administration.

Deeply fractured Somalia's central government accuses the South West State president, Abdiaziz Hassan Mohamed Laftagareen, of having illegally extended his mandate, which in theory expired in 2022.

Tensions have risen recently after Laftagareen opposed a reform of the Somali constitution, adopted in early March, which extends the presidential term from four to five years and introduces the election of Somali MPs and senators by direct universal suffrage instead of the current indirect, clan-based system.

On Sunday, several security sources said Mogadishu had sent between 600 and 800 soldiers as reinforcements to retake Baidoa, supported by hundreds of local militiamen.

Laftagareen's fate and whereabouts are currently unknown.
War in the Middle East: latest developments



Paris, France, March 30 (AFP) Mar 30, 2026



Here are the latest developments in the Middle East war:



- Israel strikes Iran university -

Israel's military said it had struck the Imam Hossein University in Tehran run by Iran's Revolutionary Guards, claiming the institution was used for advanced weapons research.



- Trump threatens Iran oil hub -

US President Donald Trump threatened to destroy Iran's oil export hub of Kharg Island, oil wells and power plants if it does not agree soon to a deal to end the war.

Trump wrote on his Truth Social network that while the United States is in "serious discussions" with "a more reasonable regime" in Tehran, if an agreement was not forthcoming Washington would set about "completely obliterating all of their Electric Generating Plants, Oil Wells and Kharg Island (and possibly all desalinization plants!)".



- Israel kills three Hezbollah members -

An Israeli airstrike on a residential building near Beirut's southern suburbs killed at least three Hezbollah members, a security source told AFP.

The strike "targeted an office used by Hezbollah, killing three members and seriously wounding three others", while the Israeli army, for its part, announced it had "begun striking Hezbollah terrorist infrastructures in Beirut".



- Israeli oil site hit -

Israel's fire and rescue service said its crews were working to extinguish a large blaze at the Haifa oil refinery after it was hit by debris from the interception of a projectile.

Television channels showed thick black smoke billowing into the sky from the site, while the fire service shared photos of a tank on fire.



- Iran blames Israel -

Iran's military said Israel was behind a recent strike on Kuwait's desalination plant.



- Strike on Iraq base -

Rockets fired overnight targeted an Iraqi military base inside the Baghdad airport complex, which also houses a support centre for the US embassy, Iraq's defence ministry said.



- Non-proliferation treaty -

A spokesman for the Iranian foreign ministry said Iran was not seeking nuclear weapons but the issue of whether to remain part of the non-proliferation treaty was under review in parliament.



- Spain shuts out US -

Spain's left-wing government has closed Spanish airspace to US planes carrying out missions against Iran in addition to denying Washington use of its bases, the defence minister said.



- Envoy stays put -

Iran said its envoy to Lebanon would remain, despite being ordered out of the country.

"Our ambassador... will continue his work as Iran's ambassador in Beirut and remains present there," foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei told a press briefing, adding that the embassy in Beirut remains "operational".

Lebanon's foreign ministry accused him of making statements "interfering in Lebanon's internal politics".



- Lebanese soldier killed -

An Israeli strike killed a Lebanese soldier and wounded several others when it hit an army checkpoint in the country's south, a Lebanese military official said, in the first direct attack on a military post since the start of the war.



- Israeli soldier killed -

The Israeli military said a soldier had been killed in combat in southern Lebanon, bringing to six the number of troops killed since fighting with Iran-backed Hezbollah erupted in early March.



- Armenia university -

The American University of Armenia said it was moving all classes online over Iranian threats to target US universities in the region.

Iran made the warning after saying US-Israeli strikes had destroyed two Iranian universities.



- Ukraine's 'historic' deals -

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky hailed as "historic" deals that Kyiv signed last week with Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

The contents of the deals have not been made public, but Zelensky has said they include Ukrainian expertise in downing drones.



- Syria attacks -

Syria's military said a large-scale drone attack targeted its bases near the border with Iraq, in the latest such incident since the outbreak of the war.

It was not immediately clear who had launched the attack.



- Commander confirmed dead -

Iran confirmed that Revolutionary Guards commander Alireza Tangsiri had been killed, days after Israel said it targeted him in an airstrike.

A statement carried by the Guards' Sepah News website said Tangsiri "succumbed to severe injuries" from the attack.

burs-sbk/jhb
Rubio says US hopeful after private talks with Iran officials



Washington, United States, March 30 (AFP) Mar 30, 2026



US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Monday voiced hope for working with elements within Iran's government, saying the United States privately had received positive messages.

Rubio said there were internal "fractures" inside the Islamic republic and that the United States hoped that figures with "power to deliver" take charge.

"We are hopeful that that's the case," Rubio told ABC News program "Good Morning America."

"There are clearly people there talking to us in ways that previous people in charge in Iran have not spoken to us in the past, some of the things they're willing to do," he said.
Oman port hit by drone to reopen from Tuesday



Copenhagen, March 30 (AFP) Mar 30, 2026



Danish shipping firm Maersk announced Monday that Oman's port of Salalah, which was hit by a drone at the weekend, would start to reopen from Tuesday.

The Oman authorities said one worker was injured and minor damage caused by the strike on the port, which is run by Maersk subsidiary APM Terminals and is one of the key shipping facilities in the Gulf state.

Maersk said the area damaged was "limited" and that the port's management would take "necessary measures" to progressively build up to full capacity.

Some "constraints" would remain but additional safety and "preventive" measures had been taken because of the strike, it added.

cbw/tw/sbk




Trump threatens to destroy Iran oil island despite price surge



Washington, United States, March 30 (AFP) Mar 30, 2026



US President Donald Trump threatened Monday to destroy Iran's crude export hub of Kharg Island, along with its oil wells and power plants, unless Tehran quickly accepted a peace deal, compounding fears that have already sent energy prices soaring.

The risk of further escalation, including a potential US ground operation to seize Kharg Island, is sending tremors through financial markets, as well as neighboring Gulf countries.

In a post on his Truth Social network, Trump expressed confidence that a negotiated settlement would soon be reached, adding that the United States was in "serious discussions" with "a more reasonable regime" in Tehran.

But he warned that if a deal was not struck -- including to reopen the Strait of Hormuz shipping lane -- US forces would destroy "all of their Electric Generating Plants, Oil Wells and Kharg Island (and possibly all desalinization plants!)."

Destroying civilian infrastructure such as power and water facilities would be illegal under international humanitarian law and could constitute a war crime, experts say.

Iran has previously threatened to retaliate by targeting energy infrastructure and desalination plants in its Arab neighbors in the Gulf who host US military bases, such as the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

Market experts warned that any US ground operation or wider Iranian retaliation could send oil prices to levels not seen since the July 2008 commodity boom, when the cost of world benchmark crude Brent hit close to $150 per barrel.

Brent has already risen in price by nearly 60 percent this month, and the US benchmark WTI by more than half.

"If the US were to launch a ground invasion of Iran, possibly taking the Kharg Island, or if Tehran were to intensify retaliatory strikes on energy infrastructure or fully close the Strait, projections of $200 (a barrel) oil will not be an otherworldly supposition anymore," analyst Tamas Varga of PVM Energy said.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, whose country is playing a role in mediating indirect talks between the US and Iran, appealed directly to Trump on Monday to find an offramp.

"Please, help us to stop the war, you are capable of it," Sisi told a press conference with Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides in Cairo.

The United States has been sending more military assets into the region, including an amphibious assault ship carrying 3,500 Marines, leading Iranian officials to call the diplomatic efforts a smokescreen for further intervention.



- Diplomatic efforts -



On the ground on Monday, there was no let-up in hostilities.

Israel said its air defence batteries responded to "missiles launched from Iran" after earlier announcing it was striking "terror regime military infrastructure across Tehran."

Israel's fire and rescue services reported a fire at an oil refinery in the northern port city of Haifa, which also suffered a blaze on March 19.

Kuwait reported strikes on a power station and a desalination plant.

Israel confirmed that in recent days it had hit the Imam Hossein University in Tehran, which it says is used by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) for advanced weapons research.

In keeping with its tit-for-tat targeting, Tehran has warned it could strike US universities across the Middle East.

On the diplomatic front, Pakistan -- acting as a go-between for Washington and Tehran -- hosted foreign ministers from Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt in Islamabad on Sunday for talks on the crisis.

Pakistan's Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said they had discussed how to "bring an early and permanent end to the war."

He said Iran and the United States had expressed "confidence in Pakistan to facilitate the talks" and that he had spoken to his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi as well as UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and other foreign ministers who also backed the idea.

Economy ministers and central bankers from the G7 club of rich countries met in Paris where they pledged to use "all necessary measures" to stabilise the energy markets.

Developed countries agreed on March 11 to their biggest-ever release of oil reserves, with more releases predicted by analysts, especially if the war escalates.



- Semblance of routine -



The weeks of strikes have also taken a heavy toll on ordinary people in Iran.

Residents of Tehran painted a picture of a city that is still clinging to some routine, with cafes and restaurants open and no shortages reported in supermarkets or petrol stations.

"When I make it to a cafe table, even for a few minutes, I can almost believe the world hasn't ended," said Fatemeh, 27, a dental assistant.

"And then I go back home, back to the reality of living through war, with all its darkness and weight."

In southern Lebanon, Israel is continuing to expand its military operations, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordering the military at the weekend to "further expand" a so-called "security zone."

There was fresh bombardment of Beirut's southern suburbs on Monday as well as airstrikes in the country's south, one of which targeted an army checkpoint and killed a soldier.

Indonesia confirmed on Monday that one of its UN peacekeepers had been killed in Lebanon.

Separately, the Israeli military said one of its soldiers was killed on Sunday in combat in southern Lebanon, bringing to six the number of troops killed since fighting with Iran-backed Hezbollah began this month.

burs-adp/smw
Turkey says fourth missile fired from Iran has been intercepted



Istanbul, March 30 (AFP) Mar 30, 2026



Turkey's Defence Ministry said Monday that NATO forces had intercepted a new missile fired from Iran -- the fourth since the start of the Middle East war.

None of the four projectiles managed to hit Turkish soil, according to the authorities.

"A ballistic munition, which has been determined to have been fired from Iran and to have entered Turkish airspace, was neutralised by NATO air and missile defence forces deployed in the eastern Mediterranean," said a ministry statement.

A member of the US-led defence alliance, Turkey, which borders Iran, has been largely spared the sort of retaliation from Tehran suffered by countries in the Middle East.

Long critical of both Iran and Israel, Ankara has sought to avoid being dragged into the war, sparked by US-Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28.

"Preventing our country from being dragged into this inferno is our number one priority," President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had declared.

Iran's embassy in Turkey has denied that Tehran was behind the four missiles fired at Turkish airspace, and has offered to set up a joint team to investigate the incidents.

Despite that overture, Ankara announced last week that NATO would deploy a new Patriot air-defence battery at southern Turkey's Incirlik military base, which hosts US forces.
Lebanon asks Ukraine embassy to hand over suspected Mossad agent



Beirut, Lebanon, March 30 (AFP) Mar 30, 2026



Lebanon has asked Ukraine's embassy in Beirut to hand over a man taking refuge there who is suspected of working with Israel's Mossad spy agency, a senior security official and a Hezbollah source told AFP.

Lebanon and Israel have officially been at war for decades, and Lebanese security services have arrested dozens of people on suspicion of working for Israel, many of whom were recruited online following the country's economic collapse beginning in 2019.

The Hezbollah source said it had detained a Syrian-Palestinian national, who also holds Ukrainian citizenship, in September after he parked a motorbike on a road leading to Beirut airport through the city's southern suburbs -- where the Iran-backed militants exercise a de facto security role.

The motorbike "was planted with an explosive device disguised as a battery", the source said, requesting anonymity to discuss security issues.

Hezbollah held the man until its war with Israel erupted earlier this month.

On March 6, Israel's military struck a building in the southern suburbs next to where he was being detained, enabling him to escape to the Ukrainian embassy, the source added.

Lebanon's General Security agency said it managed to arrest five alleged members of the group that had been working with the man and referred them to the judiciary.

Hassan Choukeir, head of General Security, told AFP that "the Ukrainian embassy in Lebanon contacted us on March 10 requesting us to authorise its citizen... who was present there and had lost his passport, to leave through Beirut airport".

"After checking his name and photograph, we became aware that he is wanted by the Lebanese judiciary and is the subject of a number of search and investigation notices from Lebanese security agencies," he added.

Choukeir said authorities told the embassy it was obliged to hand the man over, adding he was "wanted for involvement in a cell belonging to Israel's Mossad planning assassinations and bombings in Beirut's southern suburbs".

The Ukrainian embassy did not respond to AFP's requests for comment.

Since the start of its war against Hezbollah, Israel has been carrying out almost daily strikes on Beirut's southern suburbs.

In October a judicial source told AFP that more than 30 people had been arrested on suspicion of providing Israel with precise information on Hezbollah facilities and the movements of its members during its previous war with Israel in 2023 and 2024.

People convicted of working for Israel have been sentenced to up to 25 years in prison in the past.
Kuwait says one killed in Iranian attack on desalination plant



Kuwait City, March 30 (AFP) Mar 30, 2026



Kuwait said on Monday an Iranian attack on a desalination and electricity plant killed one worker and caused damage to a building as the Islamic republic pressed its aerial campaign against its Gulf neighbours.

"A service building at a power and water desalination plant was attacked as part of the Iranian aggression against the State of Kuwait," the Gulf state's electricity ministry said.

The attack caused "the death of an Indian worker and significant material damage to the building," the statement added, without elaborating on the location of the facility.

Kuwait's military said later on Monday that it had intercepted 13 hostile drones in the past 24 hours, with "major damage" caused to the building at the power and water plant.

The oil-rich Gulf has borne the brunt of Iran's attacks in response to US-Israeli strikes that sparked the Middle East war.

Tehran has threatened to target vital infrastructure across the Gulf, including energy sites and desalination plants on which the desert countries rely heavily for their water supply.

However, in a statement on Iranian state television on Monday, Iran's military accused Israel of launching the attack "under the pretext of accusing the Islamic Republic of Iran".

Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Oman have condemned the attack on the Kuwaiti plant, with Riyadh and Doha blaming Iran.
Israel renews strikes on Beirut suburbs, kills Lebanese soldier



Beirut, Lebanon, March 30 (AFP) Mar 30, 2026



Israel renewed its bombardment of Beirut's southern suburbs on Monday while continuing air strikes on Lebanon's south, one of which targeted an army checkpoint and killed a soldier.

Lebanon was pulled into the Middle East conflict when Tehran-backed armed group Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel on March 2 in revenge for the killing of Iran's supreme leader, the opening salvo in the US-Israeli war against the Islamic republic.

Israel has responded with large-scale air strikes across Lebanon and a ground offensive in the south. Lebanese authorities say more than 1,200 people have been killed since the hostilities began.

On Monday, two strikes hit Beirut's southern suburbs, one of them targeting an apartment in a residential building, according to an AFP photographer, who said Hezbollah gunmen imposed a security cordon at the site after the attack.

A security source told AFP that three Hezbollah members were killed in the strike and three others wounded.

The health ministry reported one person killed and 17 wounded in the strike.

An eyewitness who declined to be named said victims were evacuated from the site following the strike.

The building targeted is located in a residential neighbourhood packed with shops and commercial establishments, several of which were damaged, according to the photographer.

The Israeli army, which had issued an evacuation order for the area -- where most residents had already fled -- said it had "begun striking Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure in Beirut".

In south Lebanon, where state media reported a series of Israeli air strikes, the Lebanese army said one of its soldiers was killed and others wounded in an attack on one of its checkpoints in the Tyre region.

A military source told AFP that the strike was the first direct targeting of a Lebanese army checkpoint since the start of the war.

Earlier, the army's command announced the deaths of eight soldiers in the south and east of Lebanon since the war's start, although they were not on duty at the time of their deaths.

On Sunday, an Indonesian soldier with the UN's peacekeeping force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) was also killed when a projectile exploded near a UNIFIL position close to the border, while three others were wounded.

The source of the projectile has not yet been determined.

Other UN peacekeepers were wounded on Monday in an "explosion" that "severely damaged a UNIFIL vehicle".

"Some of the injured were able to be extracted, but we were not able to access the scene to extract two others due to a lack of security guarantees," UNIFIL spokesperson Kandice Ardiel told AFP.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun condemned "the targeting of peacekeeping forces" in a phone call with the UNIFIL commander on Monday, adding that he "continues to conduct multiple international contacts to push matters towards achieving negotiations with Israel".

Hezbollah, for its part, continued to claim attacks against Israeli positions and forces, including on an intelligence base on the outskirts of Tel Aviv.

The Israeli military announced Monday that one of its soldiers was killed fighting in south Lebanon, and another seriously wounded, bringing the number of Israeli soldiers killed in Lebanon to six.
A man holds a placard during an anti-war demonstration in Rome, Italy, March 28, 2026. An anti-war demonstration was held here on Saturday to show support for Palestine and Iran. (Xinhua/Wang Kaiyan)

CAIRO, March 29 (Xinhua) -- Sunday marks the one-month milestone in the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran. Despite reports earlier this week of potential U.S.-Iran talks to end hostilities, no substantive progress has emerged. Continued strikes and military reinforcement in the Middle East are further dampening hope for a swift de-escalation.

The following is a timeline of the conflict starting from Feb. 28:

Feb. 28:

-- The United States and Israel launched joint military strikes against Iran, killing Iran's then Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, along with senior officials including Iran's National Defense Council Secretary Ali Shamkhani, Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) Chief Commander Mohammad Pakpour, Defense Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh, and Armed Forces Chief of Staff Abdolrahim Mousavi.

-- The IRGC launched retaliatory "Operation True Promise-4," firing missiles and drones at U.S. military bases in the Middle East and targets in Israel.

This photo taken on Feb. 28, 2026 shows an explosion during missile strikes by Iran in downtown Tel Aviv, Israel. (Xinhua/Chen Junqing)

March 2:

-- Lebanon's Hezbollah said it had launched rockets and drones toward Israel in retaliation for the killing of Ali Khamenei. The Israel Defense Forces said it launched "forceful" airstrikes across Lebanon in response, noting it began operating "against Hezbollah's decision to join the campaign."

March 3:

-- The U.S. Department of State urged Americans to depart immediately from the Middle East "due to serious safety risks." The locations with "serious safety risks" include Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen.

-- Deputy Commander of IRGC's Navy Mohammad Akbarzadeh said the Strait of Hormuz was under Iran's full control.

Smoke rises from buildings following Israeli bombing in Haret Hreik, south of Beirut, Lebanon, March 4, 2026. (Photo by Bilal Jawich/Xinhua)

March 7:

-- Israeli strikes hit four oil depots and a refinery in Tehran and nearby Alborz province, causing massive explosions and plumes of smoke. The following day, toxic "black rain" fell in the area, which was linked to the attacks.

March 8:

-- Iran's Assembly of Experts announced that Mojtaba Khamenei, son of Ali Khamenei, was selected as Iran's new supreme leader, citing "the decisive vote of the respected representatives" of the assembly.

March 12:

-- In his first public remarks, Mojtaba Khamenei called for the continued closure of the Strait of Hormuz and urged neighboring countries to shut down U.S. bases.

People attend gatherings to pledge allegiance to Iran's new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei at Enghelab Square in Tehran, Iran, on March 9, 2026. (Xinhua/Shadati)

March 13:

-- U.S. President Donald Trump said the U.S. military carried out bombing raids against military targets on Iran's Kharg Island, a key oil export hub that handles most of the country's crude shipments.

March 15:

-- Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the end of the war would depend on guarantees that attacks would not be repeated and on the payment of compensation for damage caused during the conflict. He also said the Strait of Hormuz remained open to all countries, "except for American vessels and their allies."

March 17:

-- Trump said the United States had been informed by most of its NATO allies that they did not "want to get involved" with its military operation against Iran. He claimed the United States would "no longer need, or desire" any help from NATO allies or any other countries in the world.

A fire breaks out on a Thai cargo ship after it was struck in the Strait of Hormuz on March 11, 2026. (Royal Thai Navy/Handout via Xinhua)

March 18:

-- Iran's Supreme National Security Council confirmed the death of its secretary, Ali Larijani. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian also confirmed that Intelligence Minister Esmaeil Khatib was killed in a recent attack.

March 21:

-- The United States and Israel carried out an attack on the Natanz uranium-enrichment facility in Iran. As a counterattack, Iranian missile strikes hit the cities of Arad and Dimona in southern Israel.

-- Trump threatened to hit Iran's power plants if the country doesn't fully open the Strait of Hormuz within 48 hours.

March 22:

People hold placards in front of Trafalgar Square during a protest against U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran in central London, Britain, March 21, 2026. (Xinhua/Li Ying)

-- Iran's Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters warned that if the United States follows through with its threats, Iran would take retaliatory measures, including completely closing the Strait of Hormuz and striking power facilities in countries hosting U.S. military bases.

March 23:

-- Trump said he had instructed the U.S. military to postpone military strikes against Iranian power plants and energy facilities for five days following what he described as "very good and productive" talks with Iran. Tehran, however, denied any such contact soon after Trump's remarks.

March 24:

-- Israel's Channel 12 reported the United States had sent Tehran a 15-point peace plan, via Pakistan, in an attempt to end the war with Iran.

March 25:

-- The U.S. Central Command said that the U.S. military had struck over 10,000 Iranian military targets.

-- Iran's Deputy Permanent Representative to the International Maritime Organization Pouria Kolivand said U.S.-Israeli attacks against Iran had resulted in at least 1,750 deaths and 22,800 injuries in the country.

This photo taken on March 3, 2026 shows the debris inside a classroom of Shahid Mahallati School in Tehran, Iran. (Xinhua/Shadati)

March 26:

-- Trump said he would pause planned strikes on Iranian energy facilities for 10 days.

-- Pakistani Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar said U.S.-Iran indirect negotiations were being mediated via Pakistan. Iranian media reported that Tehran had formally responded to Washington's 15-point ceasefire proposal.

March 28:

Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty (1st L, front), Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud (2nd L, front), Pakistani Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar (2nd R, front) and Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan (1st R, front) arrive for a quadrilateral meeting in Islamabad, capital of Pakistan, on March 29, 2026. The quadrilateral meeting involving the foreign ministers of Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Turkiye on the current Middle East tensions kicked off here on Sunday. (Xinhua)

-- Yemen's Houthi armed forces said they had launched a barrage of ballistic missiles targeting "sensitive Israeli military sites" in southern Israel. Local observers said the attacks appeared to signal the Houthis' formal entry into the widening regional conflict.

Editor: Xiong Jian
NATO confirms intercepted Iranian missile heading to Turkey



Brussels, Belgium, March 30 (AFP) Mar 30, 2026



NATO said Monday its forces had intercepted an Iranian missile heading towards Turkey, confirming an earlier announcement by the Turkish defence ministry.

"On Monday 30 March, NATO again successfully intercepted an Iranian ballistic missile heading to" Turkey, alliance spokeswoman Allison Hart said.

"NATO is prepared for such threats and will always do what is necessary to defend all allies," she added.
'Get used to new regional order' says head of Iran Guards foreign wing



Paris, France, March 30 (AFP) Mar 30, 2026



The commander of the foreign operations branch of Iran's Revolutionary Guards issued a rare message on Monday hailing Iranian proxy groups for helping create a "new regional order".

Esmail Qaani became head of the Guards' Quds Force after the killing of Qassem Soleimani in a US strike in Iraq in 2020.

His message, just the second attributed to him since the US-Israeli war against the Islamic republic began on February 28, was posted on X under the handle @general_Qaani, although the social media giant then rapidly suspended the account with a note that "X suspends accounts which violate the X Rules."

The message was also widely published by Iranian news agencies and state television.

Qaani said that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wanted to create a "security belt across the region" but the actions of Tehran-backed militant groups including Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen had "exposed the regime's false promises".

"Get used to the new regional order," he said.

Qaani was reported to have been killed in the 12-day war between Israel and Iran last June, but re-emerged in public.

Intense speculation has since surrounded his whereabouts and standing, amid unconfirmed reports he had come under pressure due to alleged intelligence lapses including the 2024 killing in Lebanon by Israel of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah.

A dozen key figures in the security apparatus, including supreme leader Ali Khamenei and overall Guards chief Mohammad Pakpour have been killed in airstrikes in the latest war.

But Qaani is one of the most prominent individuals not to have been declared dead.

On March 20, Iranian state media issued the first message of the war in Qaani's name, predicting that Iran would "soon witness the shameful defeat" of its enemies.

sjw/adp/dcp
War in the Middle East: latest developments



Paris, France, March 30 (AFP) Mar 30, 2026



Here are the latest developments in the Middle East war:







- Two UN peacekeepers killed -

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon said two of its personnel were killed on Monday in a blast in the country's south, after another peacekeeper was killed a day earlier.

Another blue helmet was severely wounded and a fourth injured in the explosion, the force said, adding it had launched an investigation.



- G7 ministers pledge action on energy -



G7 economy and finance ministers said they stood ready to take "all necessary measures" to ensure the stability of the energy market, roiled by the war.



- NATO intercepts Turkey-bound missile -



NATO forces intercepted a new missile fired from Iran towards Turkey -- the fourth since the start of the Middle East war.

None of the four projectiles managed to hit Turkish soil, according to the authorities.



- Egypt's Sisi asks Trump to help stop war -



Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi urged his US counterpart Donald Trump to help end the war.

"I say to President Trump: no one will be able to stop the war in our region, in the Gulf... Please, help us to stop the war, you are capable of it," Sisi said in Cairo.



- US 'hopeful' in private Iran talks -



US Secretary of State Marco Rubio voiced hope for working with elements within Iran's government, saying the United States privately had received positive messages.

Rubio said there were internal "fractures" inside the Islamic republic and that the United States hopes figures with "power to deliver" take charge.



- Israel strikes Iran university -



Israel's military said it had struck the Imam Hossein University in Tehran run by Iran's Revolutionary Guards, claiming the institution was used for advanced weapons research.



- Trump threatens Iran oil hub -



Trump threatened to destroy Iran's oil export hub of Kharg Island, oil wells and power plants if it does not agree soon to a deal to end the war.

The US president wrote on his Truth Social network that while the United States is in "serious discussions" with "a more reasonable regime" in Tehran, if an agreement was not forthcoming Washington would set about "completely obliterating all of their Electric Generating Plants, Oil Wells and Kharg Island (and possibly all desalinization plants!)".



- Israel kills three Hezbollah members -



An Israeli airstrike on a residential building near Beirut's southern suburbs killed at least three Hezbollah members, a security source told AFP.

The strike "targeted an office used by Hezbollah, killing three members and seriously wounding three others", while the Israeli army, for its part, announced it had "begun striking Hezbollah terrorist infrastructures in Beirut".



- Israeli oil site hit -



Israel's fire and rescue service said its crews were working to extinguish a large blaze at the Haifa oil refinery after it was hit by debris from the interception of a projectile.

Television channels showed thick black smoke billowing into the sky from the site, while the fire service shared photos of a tank on fire.



- Iran blames Israel -



Iran's military said Israel was behind a recent strike on Kuwait's desalination plant.



- Strike on Iraq base -



Rockets fired overnight targeted an Iraqi military base inside the Baghdad airport complex, which also houses a support centre for the US embassy, Iraq's defence ministry said.



- Non-proliferation treaty -



A spokesman for the Iranian foreign ministry said Iran was not seeking nuclear weapons but the issue of whether to remain part of the non-proliferation treaty was under review in parliament.



- Spain shuts out US -



Spain's left-wing government has closed Spanish airspace to US planes carrying out missions against Iran in addition to denying Washington use of its bases, the defence minister said.



burs-pdw/
UN peacekeepers in the crossfire between Israel and Hezbollah



Beirut, Lebanon, March 30 (AFP) Mar 30, 2026



United Nations peacekeepers, who for decades have served as a buffer between Israel and Lebanon, have seen three of their comrades killed and several others wounded since the latest war erupted between Israel and Hezbollah.

Here is an overview of the UN force in south Lebanon, whose mandate expires at the end of this year.



- In the firing line -



The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) patrols the area around the country's southern border, where Hezbollah and Israel began clashing this month after the Iran-backed group drew Lebanon into the Middle East war by firing rockets at Israel.

Israeli forces have been pushing into areas north of the frontier, and officials have announced plans to establish a buffer zone up to the Litani River, around 30 kilometres (20 miles) from Israel.

On Monday, two peacekeepers were killed when "an explosion of unknown origin destroyed their vehicle", wounding at least two others, the force said.

The day before, an Indonesian peacekeeper was killed and three others wounded when a projectile, also of undetermined origin, exploded near a UNIFIL position.

And earlier this month, three Ghanaian peacekeepers were wounded when their base was hit, with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun accusing Israel of being responsible and UNIFIL saying it would investigate.

Over the years since its mission began in 1978, the force has lost around 340 members.

Visiting UN chief Antonio Guterres this month said attacks against peacekeepers and their positions were "completely unacceptable... and may constitute war crimes".



- Ceasefire monitors -



UNIFIL was set up in 1978 to monitor the withdrawal of Israeli forces after they invaded Lebanon to stem Palestinian attacks targeting northern Israel.

Israel again invaded in 1982, only withdrawing from south Lebanon in 2000.

After a 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah, UN Security Council Resolution 1701 bolstered UNIFIL's role and its peacekeepers were tasked with monitoring the ceasefire between the two sides.

UNIFIL patrols the Blue Line, the 120-kilometre (75-mile) de facto border between Lebanon and Israel, in coordination with the Lebanese army. It also has a maritime task force that supports Lebanon's navy.

The mission has its headquarters south Lebanon's Naqura, which in recent years has hosted indirect border negotiations between Lebanon and Israel.

Following a November 2024 ceasefire that sought to end more than a year of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah over the Gaza war, UNIFIL became part of a five-member committee supervising that truce.

Under pressure from the United States and Israel, the UN Security Council voted last year to end the force's mandate on December 31, 2026, with an "orderly and safe drawdown and withdrawal" by the end of 2027.



- International force -



The mission currently involves around 8,200 peacekeepers from 47 countries, according to the force's website.

Top troop-contributing countries include Italy, Indonesia, Spain, India, Ghana, France, Nepal and Malaysia.

Italy's Major General Diodato Abagnara has headed the mission since June 2025.

UNIFIL patrols have occasionally faced harassment, though confrontations are typically defused by the Lebanese army.

In December 2022, an Irish peacekeeper was killed and three colleagues wounded when their convoy came under fire in south Lebanon.



- Border area -



Resolution 1701 of 2006 called for the Lebanese army and UN peacekeepers to be the only armed forces deployed in the country's south.

UNIFIL had been supporting the army in dismantling Hezbollah infrastructure near the border in the months before the latest hostilities erupted, in line with a Lebanese government decision to disarm the militants following the 2024 truce.

Hezbollah has long held sway over swathes of the south and has built tunnels and hideouts there, despite not having had a visible military presence in the border area since 2006.



- What comes next? -



Lebanese authorities want a continued international troop presence in the south after UNIFIL's exit, and have been urging European countries to stay.

Last month, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said Lebanon's army should replace the force when the peacekeepers withdraw.

Italy has said it intends to keep a military presence in Lebanon after UNIFIL leaves.
War in the Middle East: casualty figures from across the region



Dubai, March 30 (AFP) Mar 30, 2026



Since the United States and Israel unleashed strikes on Iran on February 28, war has spread across the Middle East, with casualties reported in countries across the region.

AFP has not been able to independently verify all of the following tolls, which are based on numbers released by governments, militaries, health authorities and rescue organisations in the affected countries.



- Iran -



Iran's government has not released an updated overall casualty toll in recent days.

But the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) said on March 29 that at least 3,486 people had been killed, including 1,568 civilians -- among them at least 236 children -- as well as 1,211 military personnel and 707 people whose status had not been classified.

On Monday, an Iranian government spokesperson gave a partial toll of 246 women, 216 children under the age of 18, and 17 children under the age of five killed.

On March 26 Iran's deputy health minister told the Qatar-based news channel Al Jazeera that at least 1,937 people had been killed since the start of the war.

Due to reporting restrictions, AFP is not able to access the sites of strikes nor to independently verify tolls in Iran.



- Lebanon -



Lebanon's health ministry said the death toll there had risen to more than 1,200.

The ministry said the toll included 47 paramedics and five other healthcare workers.

The health ministry has said at least three of those killed were journalists, including a prominent correspondent for Hezbollah's Al-Manar television, who died in the south of the country on March 28.

The UN force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) has said three of its peacekeepers have been killed.

The Lebanese army said seven of its soldiers had been killed.

Hezbollah has not announced its losses.



- Israel -



Israeli emergency services and authorities say attacks have killed a total of 19 civilians since the start of the war.

Iranian missile attacks have killed 14 Israelis, including four minors, as well as one Filipino caregiver and one Thai national.

Two civilians were killed in the North after Hezbollah rocket launches from Lebanon, while one man was killed close to the Lebanese border by Israeli artillery after "operational errors".

Magen David Adom, the Israeli equivalent of the Red Cross, said more than 480 people have been injured since Iran began firing missiles at the country in retaliation for US-Israeli strikes.

The Israeli military has separately announced the deaths of six soldiers in combat in southern Lebanon.



- West Bank -



The Palestinian health ministry in Ramallah said four women were killed by Iranian missile fire in the occupied West Bank.



- Iraq -



Armed groups and officials have said at least 101 people have been killed in Iraq since the start of the war, according to an AFP tally based on their announcements.

France said an Iranian drone killed a French soldier in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region.

The US military said a refuelling aircraft crashed in western Iraq, killing all six crew members, in an incident not caused by hostile or friendly fire.

Pro-Iran armed factions and security sources say 67 Iran-backed fighters have been killed in strikes they blame on the United States and Israel.

Iraq's government has said 10 members of the security services, including police and one intelligence officer, have been killed.

Kurdish regional authorities said a missile attack in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region killed six fighters on Tuesday, accusing Iran of carrying out the strike.



- The Gulf -



Authorities in Gulf states and the US Central Command (CENTCOM) have reported 39 people killed -- 20 of them civilians -- since the start of the Iranian attacks.

The rest were military or security personnel, including seven US service members.

Kuwait's military and health ministry have reported seven deaths: two soldiers, two border guards and three civilians, one of them an 11-year-old girl.

The United Arab Emirates' defence ministry has reported 10 deaths: eight civilians and two military personnel who died as a result of a helicopter crash blamed on a technical malfunction.

Saudi Arabia's civil defence agency has reported two civilian deaths.

Bahrain's interior ministry has logged two civilian deaths, and the UAE defence ministry has separately said a Moroccan contractor for the Emirati military was killed during an Iranian attack in Bahrain.

Oman's maritime security centre reported the death of a mariner at sea and two other people in a drone attack on an industrial area.

Qatar's defence ministry said four Qatari servicemen and three Turkish nationals -- including one serviceman and two civilians -- were killed in a helicopter crash in Qatar's territorial waters.

CENTCOM has confirmed six US service personnel killed in Kuwait and one killed in Saudi Arabia.



- US casualties across Mideast -



In addition to the deaths of seven military personnel in the Gulf and six in Iraq, the US army has recorded around 300 wounded in its ranks, most of them slightly injured.

Ten remain seriously wounded in seven different countries, a US official said on condition of anonymity.

On Friday, an Iranian attack on a base in Saudi Arabia wounded at least 12 American soldiers, including two seriously, US media reported.
Rubio says US hopeful in private talks after Iran 'fractures'



Washington, United States, March 30 (AFP) Mar 30, 2026



US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Monday voiced hope for working with elements within Iran's government, saying the United States privately had received positive messages.

Rubio said there were internal "fractures" inside the Islamic republic and that the United States hopes figures with "power to deliver" take charge.

"We are hopeful that that's the case," Rubio told the ABC News program "Good Morning America."

"There are clearly people there talking to us in ways that previous people in charge in Iran have not spoken to us in the past, some of the things they're willing to do," he said.

Rubio nonetheless also denounced the Islamic republic in broad strokes, insisting that the war aimed to end its nuclear weapons building capacity, which President Donald Trump said he accomplished during an attack last year.

"These people are lunatics. They are insane. They are religious zealots who can never be allowed to possess a nuclear weapon because they have an apocalyptic vision of the future," Rubio said.

In a separate interview with Al Jazeera, Rubio said there were "messages and some direct talks going on between some inside of Iran and the United States."

The communication is "primarily through intermediaries, but there's been some conversation," he told the Qatar-based news channel.

"I think the president always prefers diplomacy."

Iran denies seeking a nuclear weapon and the UN nuclear watchdog has said no bomb was imminent.

Rubio's comments came a day after Trump said that Iran has already gone through "regime change," one month into the war launched by the United States and Israel.

Trump said that the United States was speaking to a "whole different group of people" and that they were "very reasonable."

On the first day of the war Israel assassinated Iran's longtime supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and subsequent strikes have killed other top leaders.

Rubio said that there was a difference between private and public messages coming from Iran.

"Obviously they're not going to put it out in press releases, and what they say to you or put out there for the world doesn't necessarily reflect what they're saying in our conversations," Rubio said in the ABC interview.

Despite the Trump administration's public talk of diplomacy, the United States has been reinforcing its military presence in the region and Trump on Monday threatened to "blow up" Iran's oil-exporting island of Kharg if purported talks fail.

The comments from the administration signal a readiness to work with some form of the Islamic republic, after the United States and Israel at the start of the war spoke of toppling the government which weeks earlier killed thousands of people as it crushed mass protests.
Trump threatens to destroy Iran oil island despite price surge



Washington, United States, March 30 (AFP) Mar 30, 2026



US President Donald Trump threatened Monday to destroy Iran's crude export hub of Kharg Island, along with the country's oil wells and power plants, unless Tehran quickly accepted a peace deal.

The risk of further escalation, including a potential US ground operation to seize Kharg Island, is sending tremors through financial markets, as well as neighboring Gulf countries.

In a post on his Truth Social network, Trump expressed confidence that a negotiated settlement would soon be reached, adding that the United States was in "serious discussions" with "a more reasonable regime" in Tehran.

But he warned that if a deal was not struck -- including to reopen the Strait of Hormuz shipping lane -- US forces would destroy "all of their Electric Generating Plants, Oil Wells and Kharg Island (and possibly all desalinization plants!)."

Destroying civilian infrastructure such as power and water facilities would be illegal under international humanitarian law and could constitute a war crime, experts say.

Iran has previously threatened to retaliate by targeting energy infrastructure and desalination plants in its Arab neighbors in the Gulf who host US military bases, such as the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

Market experts warned that any US ground operation or wider Iranian retaliation could send oil prices to levels not seen since the July 2008 commodity boom, when the cost of world benchmark Brent crude hit close to $150 per barrel.

Brent has already risen in price by nearly 60 percent this month, and the US benchmark WTI by more than half.

The spectre of a widening conflict grew over the weekend when Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen fired missiles and drones at Israel.

The Houthis have previously threatened shipping through the Red Sea and Suez canal, which requires vessels to travel through a narrow strait off Yemen's coast.

"The Houthi's ability to disrupt shipping through the Bab al-Mandeb strait, which accounts for roughly 12 percent of global trade, is the new key risk," said analyst Chris Weston at Australian financial services company Pepperstone.

In Lebanon, Israel continued to bombard Beirut's southern suburbs and the country's south, where an airstrike targeted an army checkpoint and killed a soldier.

The United Nations peacekeeping force in south Lebanon, where Israeli and Hezbollah forces are clashing, reported that two of its personnel were killed on Monday in "an explosion of unknown origin".

Another peacekeeper was killed on Sunday, with Indonesia confirming one of its soldiers had died.



- Diplomatic efforts -



Around the Middle East on Monday, there was no let-up in hostilities.

Israel said its air defence batteries responded to "missiles launched from Iran," after earlier announcing it was striking "terror regime military infrastructure across Tehran."

Israel also confirmed it had hit the Imam Hossein University in the capital, which it said was used by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) for advanced weapons research.

In Israel, emergency services reported a fire at an oil refinery in the northern port city of Haifa, which also suffered a blaze on March 19.

Kuwait condemned strikes on a power station and a desalination plant, which killed an Indian worker.

On the diplomatic front, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, whose country is playing a role in mediating indirect talks between the US and Iran, appealed directly to Trump on Monday to find an offramp.

"Please, help us to stop the war, you are capable of it," Sisi told a press conference with Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides in Cairo.

Egypt's foreign minister joined counterparts from Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt in the Pakistani capital Islamabad on Sunday for talks on the crisis.

"As the war that the US and Israel launched against Iran enters its second month, it appears to be stalemated," Ali Vaez, an Iran expert at the International Crisis Group think-tank, told an online event on Monday.

Trump has consistently claimed to be in direct contact with senior Iranian figures who have not been identified publicly.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio referred to internal "fractures" within the Islamic republic on Monday, while expressing hope that the Iranian officials allegedly in contact with Washington had the "power to deliver."

Iranian leaders continue to insist Trump's offer of talks is a smokescreen as he moves thousands of marines and paratroopers to the region for a possible ground invasion.



- Semblance of routine -



After weeks of strikes, residents of Tehran painted a picture of a city that is still clinging to some routine, with cafes and restaurants open and no shortages reported in supermarkets or petrol stations.

Security remains tight, with checkpoints erected on streets around the capital.

"When I make it to a cafe table, even for a few minutes, I can almost believe the world hasn't ended," said Fatemeh, 27, a dental assistant.

"And then I go back home, back to the reality of living through war, with all its darkness and weight."

Meeting in Paris on Monday, economy ministers and central bankers from the G7 club of rich countries discussed how to shield their citizens from the war's effects.

Many countries around the world have started to introduce energy-saving measures or are cutting fuel taxes to help consumers.

Developed countries agreed on March 11 to their biggest-ever release of oil reserves, with more releases predicted by analysts, especially if the war escalates.

burs-adp/smw
Two more UN peacekeepers killed in south Lebanon



Beirut, Lebanon, March 30 (AFP) Mar 30, 2026



UN peacekeepers in Lebanon said two of their troops were killed on Monday, bringing to three the number of blue helmets killed in 24 hours in the country's south, where Israel and Hezbollah have been fighting.

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) said two peacekeepers were killed and two others wounded, one of them seriously, "when an explosion of unknown origin destroyed their vehicle" in south Lebanon near the border.

Also in the south, Lebanon's army said an Israeli strike killed one of its soldiers, while a security source told AFP that three Hezbollah members were killed in an Israeli strike on Beirut's southern suburbs.

Lebanon was pulled into the Middle East conflict when the Tehran-backed armed group Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel on March 2 in revenge for the killing of Iran's supreme leader, the opening salvo in the US-Israeli war against the Islamic republic.

Israel has responded with large-scale air strikes across Lebanon and a ground offensive in the south. Lebanese authorities say more than 1,200 people have been killed since the hostilities began.

UNIFIL said it had launched an investigation into the deadly incident, which came a day after an Indonesian peacekeeper was killed and three other blue helmets wounded when a projectile, also of unknown provenance, exploded near a UNIFIL position.

Jean-Pierre Lacroix, UN under-secretary-general for peace operations, strongly condemned "these unacceptable incidents", adding that "all acts that endanger the peacekeepers must stop".

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun condemned "the targeting of peacekeeping forces" in a phone call with UNIFIL's commander.

Permanent member France said it was seeking a UN Security Council meeting on the matter.



- 'Direct' attack -



Aoun "continues to conduct multiple international contacts to push matters towards achieving negotiations with Israel", the Lebanese presidency said in a statement.

In southern Lebanon, where state media reported a series of Israeli air strikes, the Lebanese army said one of its soldiers was killed and five others wounded in "a direct Israeli attack on an army checkpoint" in the Tyre region.

A military source told AFP that the strike was the first direct targeting of a Lebanese army checkpoint since the latest war began.

The army had previously announced the deaths of eight off-duty soldiers in southern and eastern Lebanon.

Two strikes hit Beirut's southern suburbs, one of them targeting an apartment in a residential building in the Bir Hassan district, according to an AFP photographer, who said Hezbollah gunmen imposed a security cordon at the site after the attack.

A security source told AFP that three Hezbollah members were killed in the strike and three others wounded.

The health ministry reported one person killed and 17 wounded in the strike.

An eyewitness who declined to be identified said victims were evacuated following the strike, which came after an Israeli army evacuation warning for parts of Beirut's southern suburbs, where most residents have fled.

The building targeted is located in a residential neighbourhood packed with shops and commercial establishments, several of which were damaged, according to the photographer.



- Evacuation order -



The Israeli military said in a statement that a strike in Beirut killed the deputy commander of a unit "responsible for coordinating between the Hezbollah terrorist organisation and Palestinian terrorist organizations operating in Lebanon, Gaza, Syria" and the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

The strike also killed the unit's "operations officer" and another operative, it's said.

Other strikes in Beirut and south Lebanon targeted Hezbollah "command centres", the military said.

Later on Monday, it issued an evacuation warning for parts of Lebanon's West Bekaa area.

Hezbollah, meanwhile, claimed a series of attacks against Israeli targets in south Lebanon and across the border, including on an intelligence base on the outskirts of Tel Aviv.

It said its fighters were engaged in "fierce clashes" with Israeli forces in the town of Ainata near the border.

Also on Monday, the Israeli military said one of its soldiers was killed fighting in south Lebanon, and another seriously wounded, bringing the number of Israeli soldiers killed in Lebanon to six this month.
Trump threatens to obliterate Iran's Kharg island if no deal



Washington, United States, March 30 (AFP) Mar 30, 2026



US President Donald Trump threatened Monday to destroy Iran's oil export hub of Kharg Island, oil wells, power plants and other civilian infrastructure if it does not soon agree to a deal to end the war.

A day after sounding conciliatory and suggesting a deal could be reached this week, Trump wrote on his Truth Social network that the United States is in "serious discussions" with "a more reasonable regime" in Tehran.

But he added an ominous warning.

"If for any reason a deal is not shortly reached, which it probably will be, and if the Hormuz Strait is not immediately 'Open for Business,' we will conclude our lovely 'stay' in Iran by blowing up and completely obliterating all of their Electric Generating Plants, Oil Wells and Kharg Island (and possibly all desalinization plants!)," Trump said.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt repeated the administration's insistence that the US war against Iran should be over within another two weeks.

Trump "has always stated four to six weeks, estimated timeline," Leavitt told reporters. "We're on day 30 today. So again, you do the math."

"He wants to see a deal over the next 10 days," she said.

Asked whether Trump's threat to devastate Iranian civilian infrastructure would not risk committing war crimes, Leavitt said the US armed forces would always act within the law.

However, she warned Iran that the US military "has capabilities beyond their wildest imagination and the president is not afraid to use them."

On Sunday night, Trump told reporters on Air Force One that the United States had achieved "regime change" in Iran through the war launched a month ago with Israel, citing the number of Iranian leaders who have been killed. He called the new leadership "much more reasonable".

"We're dealing with different people than anybody's dealt with before. It's a whole different group of people. So I would consider that regime change."

There could be a deal "soon," Trump said when asked if an agreement could come this week.

Meanwhile, when asked if US allies in the Gulf -- like Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates -- should help pay for the costs incurred by the war, Leavitt said Monday it was something Trump was "quite interested in doing."

"It's an idea that I know he has," she said without further detail.
Iran parliament commission approves Hormuz toll plan: state TV



Tehran, March 30 (AFP) Mar 30, 2026



Iranian state media reported Monday that a parliamentary commission had approved plans to impose tolls on vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway vital to oil and gas shipments that has been effectively closed due to the Middle East war.

Citing a member of the parliament's security commission, state TV said the plan involved, among other things, "financial arrangements and rial toll systems" and "implementing the sovereign role of Iran", as well as cooperation with Oman on the other side of the Strait.

It also included the "prohibition of Americans and the Zionist regime from passing through", as well as a ban on other countries imposing sanctions on Iran.

Around a fifth of global crude oil and liquefied natural gas passes through the Strait of Hormuz in peacetime.

Since the war began, crossings have plummeted by around 95 percent, according to maritime intelligence firm Kpler, with the impact felt across global energy markets.
Photo: Danilo Pavlov / The Ukrainians

Victor Liakh, the President of East Europe Foundation

Aircraft are designed to withstand turbulence  a phenomenon caused by the interaction of rising and falling air currents. It can be uncomfortable in the cabin during such periods, and it is essential to follow safety instructions carefully to avoid injury. That said, turbulence is usually short-lived and does not pose a threat to aircraft.

It has become customary to describe the times we live in as turbulent  times in which we work, build teams and organizations, achieve results, and, in the Ukrainian context, often simply try to survive and see the dawn. So, to be honest, I dont really like this term. "Turbulence" is understandable and widely used, but at its core it is too soft a concept to describe what we are dealing with, especially in Ukraine.

Instead, the term VUCA world (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity)  a world that is volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous  is the framework within which we live and build modern leadership. This concept (VUCA) originated at the U.S. Army War College following the end of the Cold War as a way of describing a new world characterized by greater instability, uncertainty, complex interrelationships and ambiguity. Later, the term found its way into business and management as a useful model for explaining conditions in which it is difficult to predict events and make decisions. And the theory has been reinforced by the sheer scale of Ukraines experience, a country that not only lives in this world but also achieves results, changes established approaches, and serves as an example to others.

Recently, I returned from Marseille, where I took part in a gathering of civil society and volunteer organizations from around the world under the umbrella of the American NGO Points of Light, which operates in over 30 countries. I spoke on one of the panels, where we discussed leadership in todays world, and each organization's leader shared their experience and vision.

For over 10 years, I have been managing East Europe Foundation  a Ukrainian non-governmental organization that has so far invested over $66 million in the countrys development.

When I joined the Foundation, it was a small organization with a small staff who, naturally, all knew one another. By 2020, there were 40 of us. Over the past four years, we have tripled in size and increased our program budgets several-fold. How did we manage to achieve this? How did we go from being a family-style organization to having over 140 specialists on board? What lessons have I learned as a leader and head of an organization that implements projects of significant scale and impact in Ukraine?

You need to rethink your approach to leadership

Firstly, rapid growth is both an achievement and a challenge that requires flexibility and a re-evaluation of oneself as a leader. As the team grew, it became clear that intuitive management wasn't working. We needed to implement systems, processes, rules, procedures, and policies  all the things that leaders often instinctively dislike, as they seem to stifle the organization's spirit. But without this, the organization simply cannot function on a larger scale. This transition from an entrepreneurial style to structured management was perhaps the least noticeable from the outside, but one of the most difficult for me personally.

At the same time, scale demands a shift in focus. There inevitably comes a point when a leader cannot (and should not) keep an eye on every corner of their organization: the structure becomes more complex, distances grow, and processes multiply. So the key challenge for me was to understand where that focus should be. Where are those "reference points" I need to monitor to know whether things are okay or not? Finding the answer to this question is yet another challenge.

It is harder to change ones own management style than organizational culture

Next came the Covid-19 pandemic. Within a matter of days, we moved all our operations online. For a non-governmental organization in Ukraine, this meant rethinking not only the our programs, operations, and so on, but also the very culture of interaction  with our team, with our partners, and with local communities.

For me personally, this was probably the most profound transformation, as it required a change not in the organization's culture, but in my own management style. The key issue was respect for, and trust in, my team.

Trust is when I know that the team will act in the organization's best interest, even when the leader cannot be physically present and does not oversee every decision. Respect is when I recognize that a person in their role sees and understands their context better than I do, and I am prepared to accept their decisions, even if I would have done things differently myself. Without respect, trust turns into blind faith. Without trust, respect remains a polite distance. They only work together.

The third challenge was Russias full-scale invasion in 2022. In the early days, we focused on ensuring the physical safety of our team. Some people were evacuated, some stayed where they were, and others found themselves under occupation. We had to look after our staff while continuing our work for the communities that needed us more than ever.

It was a challenge that also required flexible thinking and an inclusive approach. There are people who freeze in a crisis, there are those who run away, and there are those who spring into action immediately. But all these people comprise the team you rely on above all else. So a leader must be as inclusive as possible to become a bridge of safety and support for everyone.

See the person first, and their role and position second

Sometimes organizations operate on the principle that the role comes first, and the person fits into it later. At the start of the full-scale invasion, our team crossed the Rubicon  traditional roles disappeared. Everyone did everything. Communications specialists became fundraisers, digitalization managers became logistical, and accountants became legal advisors.

For years, I had been building the organizational structure, defining roles, formalizing processes, and setting KPIs  and all of this was right and necessary. But crises show that beneath this structure lies another layer  human potential  that may even go unnoticed in normal times, confined within the boundaries of functional responsibilities and job descriptions.

The approach that leaders in various sectors require is to maintain a space where the team is able to go beyond the confines of the job description without disrupting the system. Because first comes the person  with their abilities, energy, motivation  and then they find the place where they can offer the most.

How do you preserve this approach? Because when the intensity of the crisis subsides, the organization naturally returns to structure, to roles, to KPIs. And this is necessary  its impossible to operate effectively in the long term without a system. But how can we preserve that space where people can step beyond the confines of their formal roles? How can we build a system that provides structure without stifling initiative?

My current answer  and I'm not sure it's final  is that structure should be a framework, not a cage. A framework holds the shape, but inside there is room to move. For us, specifically, this means: yes, everyone has a role and a scope of responsibility. But we consciously create space for cross-functional initiatives, for people to take on tasks outside their formal perimeter. Because we know that's often where the highest value lies.

How have these challenges shaped my leadership? Growth has taught me to let go of control and focus on the right things. The pandemic has taught me to trust and respect others  genuinely, not just in words. The war has taught me to be flexible and inclusive  to see not only those who react in the same way as you but also diversity. It is important to learn to switch between different roles, sometimes within a single day.

And the most challenging aspect of all this is that these transformations did not occur sequentially. They overlapped. To draw an analogy, in the context of a VUCA world, Ukrainians are successfully refitting an aeroplane mid-flight, where turbulence itself has become a familiar backdrop.
Vatican expresses regret to Israel over Holy Sepulchre blocking



Vatican City, March 30 (AFP) Mar 30, 2026



The Vatican said Monday that it had expressed its "regrets" to Israel's ambassador over an attempt to stop the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem from accessing the Church of the Holy Sepulchre on Palm Sunday.

Vatican second-in-command Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin, and its top diplomat, Archbishop Paul R. Gallagher, met with ambassador Yaron Sideman and "regrets were expressed regarding this incident, concerning which clarifications were provided," the Vatican said.

On Sunday, police prevented Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa from entering the church, citing security concerns as Israel enforces a ban on gatherings in synagogues, churches and mosques during the ongoing war with Iran, which has brought missile strikes near holy sites.

Pizzaballa described the incident as a "grave precedent" that disregards the sensibilities of Christians worldwide.

Palm Sunday, which opens Holy Week for Christians, marks Jesus Christ's final entry into Jerusalem, days before his crucifixion and resurrection, as described in the Gospels.

World leaders from France, Spain, Italy and Jordan were among many who condemned the restriction.

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre contains the sites where Christians believe Jesus was crucified, buried and resurrected.

After widespread backlash, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday the Latin Patriarch would get "full and immediate access".
Two more UN peacekeepers killed in south Lebanon



Beirut, Lebanon, March 30 (AFP) Mar 30, 2026



The UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon said two of its personnel were killed Monday in the second deadly incident in 24 hours in the country's south, where Israel and Hezbollah are fighting.

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) said two Indonesian peacekeepers were killed "when an explosion of unknown origin destroyed their vehicle". Two other peacekeepers were wounded, one of them seriously.

Also in the south, Lebanon's army said an Israeli strike killed one of its soldiers, while a security source told AFP that three Hezbollah members were killed in an Israeli strike on Beirut's southern suburbs.

Lebanon was pulled into the Middle East conflict when the Tehran-backed armed group fired rockets at Israel on March 2 to avenge the killing of Iran's supreme leader in the opening salvo of the US-Israeli war against the Islamic republic.

Israel has responded with broad strikes across Lebanon and a ground offensive in the south. Lebanese authorities say more than 1,200 people have been killed since the hostilities began.

UNIFIL said it had launched an investigation into Monday's deaths, which came a day after another Indonesian peacekeeper was killed and three others wounded by a projectile, also of unknown provenance, that exploded near a UNIFIL position.

Jean-Pierre Lacroix, UN under-secretary-general for peace operations, strongly condemned "these unacceptable incidents", adding that "all acts that endanger the peacekeepers must stop".

Permanent Security Council member France said it was seeking to a meeting of the body over the matter, while Spain also condemned the deadly attacks.



- 'Direct' attack -



Lebanese President Joseph Aoun condemned "the targeting of peacekeeping forces" in a phone call with UNIFIL's commander.

Aoun "continues to conduct multiple international contacts" in a bid to bring about talks with Israel, a statement from the presidency said.

UN special coordinator for Lebanon Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert called in a statement for "an immediate truce to stop the devastation".

State media reported Israeli air strikes on south Lebanon, as well as in parts of the adjacent West Bekaa area, cutting roads in the region after Israel's army issued an evacuation warning for several towns there.

The Lebanese army said one of its soldiers was killed in "a direct Israeli attack on an army checkpoint" in the south's Tyre region.

A military source told AFP the strike was the first direct targeting of an army checkpoint since the war began.

The army had previously announced the deaths of eight off-duty soldiers in southern and eastern Lebanon.



- 'Command centres' -



Also Monday, two strikes hit Beirut's southern suburbs, one targeting an apartment in the Bir Hassan district, according to an AFP photographer, who said Hezbollah gunmen then cordoned off the site.

A security source told AFP that three Hezbollah members were killed in the strike and three others wounded.

An eyewitness who declined to be identified said victims were evacuated following the strike, which came after an Israeli army warning for parts of Beirut's southern suburbs, where most residents have fled.

The building is located in a residential neighbourhood packed with shops and commercial establishments, several of which were damaged, the photographer said.

The Israeli military said a strike in Beirut killed the deputy commander of a unit "responsible for coordinating" between Hezbollah and "Palestinian terrorist organisations operating in Lebanon, Gaza, Syria" and the Israeli-occupied West Bank, along with two other operatives from the unit.

Other strikes in Beirut and south Lebanon targeted Hezbollah "command centres", the military said.

Hezbollah, meanwhile, claimed a series of attacks against Israeli targets in south Lebanon and across the border, including one targeting an intelligence base on the outskirts of Tel Aviv.

It said its fighters were engaged in "fierce clashes" with Israeli forces in south Lebanon's Ainata.

The Israeli military said a soldier was killed fighting in south Lebanon, bringing the number of Israeli soldiers killed there to six this month.
Trump threatens to destroy Iran oil island despite price surge



Washington, United States, March 30 (AFP) Mar 30, 2026



US President Donald Trump threatened Monday to destroy Iran's Kharg Island, a crude oil export hub, along with oil wells and power plants unless Tehran quickly accepted a deal to end the US-Israeli war.

The risk of further escalation, including a potential US ground operation to seize Kharg Island, is sending tremors through financial and energy markets, as well as neighbouring Gulf countries.

In a post on his Truth Social network, Trump voiced hope about US talks with a "more reasonable regime" in Tehran, an apparent reference to new leadership despite the failure of the month-long war to dislodge the Islamic republic.

But Trump warned that if a deal were not struck -- including to reopen the vital Strait of Hormuz shipping lane -- US forces would destroy "all of their Electric Generating Plants, Oil Wells and Kharg Island (and possibly all desalinization plants!)."

Destroying civilian infrastructure such as power and water facilities would be illegal under international humanitarian law and could constitute a war crime, experts say.

Iran has previously threatened to retaliate by targeting energy infrastructure and desalination plants in its Arab neighbours in the Gulf that host the US military, such as the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

Showing it will not back down, an Iranian parliamentary committee voted to impose tolls on vessels through the Strait of Hormuz, the passageway through which one-fifth of global oil passes.

State television said Iran would forbid the United States and Israel from passing through.

The tolling plan for the strait has outraged the United States, which has spoken of creating a "coalition" to oppose it.

"No one in the world can accept it," Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Al-Jazeera.

"It sets an incredible precedent. So this means that nations can now take over international waterways and claim them as their own," Rubio said of the waterway the US president recently called the "Strait of Trump."



- Oil price causes havoc -



Economy ministers and central bankers from the G7 club of rich countries met in Paris to discuss the war's effects, with many countries introducing energy-saving measures or cutting fuel taxes to help consumers.

Market experts warned that any US ground operation or wider Iranian retaliation could send oil prices to levels not seen since the July 2008 commodity boom, when the cost of Brent crude, the international benchmark, hit close to $150 a barrel.

Brent has already risen nearly 60 percent this month, and the US benchmark WTI by more than half.

The spectre of a widening conflict grew over the weekend when Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen fired missiles and drones at Israel.

The Houthis have previously threatened shipping through the Red Sea and the Suez canal, which requires vessels to travel through a narrow strait off Yemen's coast.

"The Houthi's ability to disrupt shipping through the Bab al-Mandeb strait, which accounts for roughly 12 percent of global trade, is the new key risk," said analyst Chris Weston at the Australian financial services firm Pepperstone.

In Lebanon, Israel continued to bombard Beirut's southern suburbs and the country's south, where an airstrike targeted an army checkpoint and killed a soldier.

The United Nations peacekeeping force in south Lebanon, where Israeli and Hezbollah forces are clashing, reported that two of its personnel were killed Monday in "an explosion of unknown origin."

Another peacekeeper was killed on Sunday, with Indonesia confirming one of its soldiers had died.



- New strikes -



Around the Middle East on Monday, there was no let-up in hostilities.

Israel said its air defence batteries responded to missiles launched from Iran, after earlier announcing it was striking military infrastructure across Tehran.

Israel also confirmed it had hit the Imam Hossein University in the capital, which it said was used by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps for advanced weapons research.

In Israel, emergency services reported a fire at an oil refinery in the northern port city of Haifa, which also suffered a blaze on March 19.

Kuwait condemned strikes on a power station and a desalination plant, which killed an Indian worker.



- Egypt pleads for end -



On the diplomatic front, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, whose country is playing a role in mediating indirect talks between the US and Iran, appealed directly to Trump on Monday to find an offramp.

"Please, help us to stop the war, you are capable of it," Sisi told a press conference with Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides in Cairo.

Egypt's foreign minister joined counterparts from Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt in the Pakistani capital Islamabad on Sunday for talks on the crisis.

Trump has claimed to be in direct contact with senior Iranian figures who have not been identified publicly.

Rubio said there were "fractures" within the Islamic republic and voiced hope that the Iranian officials allegedly in contact with Washington had the "power to deliver."

But Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei again denied any negotiations, saying that the United States had sent only a request to talk via intermediaries including Pakistan.

Iranian leaders insist Trump's offer of talks is a smokescreen as he moves thousands of marines and paratroopers to the region for a possible ground invasion.

After weeks of strikes, residents of Tehran painted a picture of a city that is still clinging to some routine, with cafes and restaurants open and no shortages reported in supermarkets or petrol stations.

Security remains tight, with checkpoints erected on streets around the capital.

"When I make it to a cafe table, even for a few minutes, I can almost believe the world hasn't ended," said Fatemeh, 27, a dental assistant.

"And then I go back home, back to the reality of living through war, with all its darkness and weight."

burs-adp-sct/js
One wounded after intercepted drone attack targeting Baghdad's US embassy



Baghdad, March 30 (AFP) Mar 30, 2026



One civilian was wounded late Monday in Iraq's capital Baghdad after shrapnel from an intercepted drone attack targeting the US embassy fell into their neighbourhood, a police source said.

The attack follows a rocket strike the previous evening that targeted an Iraqi military base inside the Baghdad airport complex, which also houses a support centre for the US embassy.

Iraq has been drawn into the broader Middle East war that started on February 28 despite seeking to avoid it at all costs. Pro-Iran armed groups have claimed responsibility for attacks on US interests in Iraq and across the region, while strikes have also targeted the groups.

"A civilian was injured in the al-Shaljiya area of Baghdad when shrapnel from an air defence system intercepting a drone fell," the police source said.

The neighbourhood is near Baghdad's Green Zone, which hosts embassies and government offices.

The night before, a rocket strike on an air base from the outskirts of the capital destroyed an Iraqi Antonov-132 aircraft but caused no casualties, the ministry of defence said.

The base is near a US diplomatic and logistics hub inside the Baghdad airport complex, which has been repeatedly targeted since the start of the war.

A military official told AFP that "rockets fell inside the diplomatic support centre early Monday morning, causing a fire".

Earlier this month a security official told AFP that the US diplomatic hub had evacuated much of its personnel.

Since the outbreak of war, pro-Iran factions under the umbrella of the Islamic Resistance of Iraq -- which have repeatedly claimed attacks against US interests -- have also been targeted by strikes they blame on the US or Israel.

Late Monday, the coalition condemned the use of rockets in the city.

The incidents come after Washington and Baghdad said last week they would "intensify cooperation" to prevent attacks and ensure Iraqi territory was not used to launch assaults against US facilities.

Two drones targeted the US embassy over the weekend, though neither hit their target.

The influential pro-Iran armed group Kataeb Hezbollah said on March 19 it would pause attacks on the diplomatic outpost for five days, twice extending the pause.
By targeting strikes during teaching, exams and graduations, our students will now be placed under more strain during an already challenging and important time. While we respect the right to protest, we will do everything we can to protect our students and staff from any disruption.
The story is based around heroin addict Mark Renton and set against the backdrop of Edinburgh in the 1990s. Follow Renton and his friendships as he struggles with addiction, while trying to escape a cycle of self-destruction and a life of poverty. Fans of the film will be pleased to see the return of Renton and his fellow characters Sick Boy, Begbie, Spud, Tommy and Kelly, joined by a live band and ensemble cast.
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Why Arsenal may be the big winners from PSG vs Bayern thriller

Why Arsenal are the big winners from PSG vs Bayern thriller
Ukraines spring sowing campaign has started on time with optimal soil moisture levels, and the government has expanded its support tools for farmers, including preferential loans, crop insurance, and security measures in frontline zones, said Deputy Minister of Economy, Environment, and Agriculture Taras Vysotsky.

According to him, the current campaign is taking place in conditions of resource price instability.

"There are significant price fluctuations for inputs, fuel, and mineral fertilizers. Prices change literally daily, adding to the uncertainty. The key support tool remains the Affordable Loans 5-7-9 program, which allows farmers to receive up to $90 million. Importantly, we have extended it until March 31, 2027. This allows us to finance not only spring sowing but also harvesting and fall fieldwork," the deputy minister emphasized on the Suspilne TV channel.

Vysotsky clarified that electronic warfare (EW) systems are being introduced to protect equipment and workers in fields near the front line.

"In all frontline areas, local authorities and the military are working together as closely as possible to protect farmers. Human lives are the top priority. If security conditions are critical, such fields are temporarily not sown," he noted.

Regarding agricultural land demining, the program for full reimbursement of the cost of the work will continue in 2026. According to the Ministry of Economy, over 30,000 hectares were cleared through this mechanism in 2025.

Furthermore, for the first time, the state budget has allocated UAH 60 million for the agricultural insurance program. The state will reimburse up to 60% of insurance premiums for frontline communities and up to 45% for other regions. Small farms (up to 500 hectares) will also benefit from a state guarantee mechanism through the Partial Loan Guarantee Fund, facilitating access to bank financing.

As reported, the condition of winter crops in Ukraine is assessed as generally satisfactory. No widespread reseeding due to winter risks has been recorded, and productive moisture reserves in the one-meter soil layer are optimal for the development of early spring crops.
He also claimed, despite denials from Tehran: "Great progress has been made but, if for any reason a deal is not shortly reached, which it probably will be, and if the Hormuz Strait is not immediately 'Open for Business,' we will conclude our lovely 'stay' in Iran by blowing up and completely obliterating all of their Electric Generating Plants, Oil Wells and Kharg Island.
Noah Law, MP for St Austell and Newquay in Cornwall, said: Shoppers deserve to know how their food was raised and where it comes from, and if people want to buy British and higher produce, it should be so much easier for them to do so.
I also feel the need to talk to them every day and if they don't respond immediately to my calls or texts, I wish I could have an all-points bulletin or BOLO [an alert system used by police departments] out on them in minutes. Yes, I watch too much American television.
Photo: https://www.facebook.com/ForestsOfUkraine

The State Enterprise Forests of Ukraine increased timber harvesting volumes by more than 500,000 cubic meters in January-March 2026 compared to the same period last year, reaching almost 3 million cubic meters, the state-owned enterprise reported on its Facebook page.

According to the report, despite challenging weather conditions at the beginning of the year and rising fuel prices in March, the state-owned enterprise managed to meet industrial demand. At the same time, the market has seen an increase in buyer cancellations of previously contracted volumes due to logistical issues and expectations of a price correction in the second quarter.

The company estimates that the record supply has contributed to the stabilization of timber prices.

"Based on the results of trades in the second quarter, the average price per cubic meter of timber fell to UAH 4,900, compared to UAH 5,200 in the first quarter. Specifically, the average price of round pine fell from UAH 5,700 to UAH 4,700 per cubic meter," the state-owned enterprise reported.

Thanks to increased production, Forests of Ukraine forecasts revenue growth in the first quarter of 43.1%, reaching UAH 8.3 billion, compared to UAH 5.8 billion in the first three months of 2025.

The companys remaining timber stockpiles are now 300,000 cubic meters higher than at the beginning of last year.

In the firewood sector, the company additionally auctioned 120,000 cubic meters of product in the second quarter, which allowed it to secure an average price of UAH 2,500 per cubic meter.

In the next quarter, the state-owned enterprise plans to shift its focus to thinning and forest rejuvenation to further meet the markets demand for firewood.
UN chief condemns incident killing UNIFIL peacekeeper in southern Lebanon

Xinhua) 16:29, March 30, 2026

UNITED NATIONS, March 29 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Sunday strongly condemned the incident earlier in the day that resulted in the death of an Indonesian peacekeeper of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) at his position in southern Lebanon, amid hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, his spokesperson said.

"This is one of a number of incidents that have jeopardized the safety and security of peacekeepers, including over the past 48 hours," spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said in a statement.

In the incident, another peacekeeper was seriously injured after a projectile exploded at the UNIFIL Ett-Taibe position near a village in southern Lebanon.

The statement said that the secretary-general reiterated his call on all actors to uphold their obligations under international law and to ensure the safety and security of UN personnel and property at all times, underscoring that attacks on peacekeepers are grave violations of international humanitarian law and of Security Council Resolution 1701, and may amount to war crimes.

"There will need to be accountability," the statement said.

Noting that the secretary-general recalled the importance of the safety and security of peacekeepers and UNIFIL's freedom of movement, the statement urged the parties to de-escalate immediately and fully adhere to their obligations under Security Council resolution 1701.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
Ukraine hopes the Vertical Gas Corridor will be technically completed by the end of the year, and thanks to this corridor the country could receive about 10 billion cubic meters of gas annually, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.

"We hope this corridor will be technically completed by the end of the year. And for us today this is very important  at the very least, it could serve as an alternative if there are certain blockages by some representatives in Europe Ukraine could receive around 10 billion cubic meters of gas per year," Zelenskyy said during a press conference with Bulgarian Prime Minister Andrey Gyurov on Monday.

The president also said that during the meeting with Gyurov, the sides discussed continued military support from Bulgaria, as well as joint production of various weapons on the territory of both countries, including drones.

"And I am very glad that we have such a ten-year agreement between our states," Zelenskyy said.

He also thanked Bulgaria for its support for Ukraines future accession to the European Union.
Photo: The Presidential Office of Ukraine / www.president.gov.ua

Ukraine is ready to continue cooperation on nuclear power plant units, but the decision remains with the Bulgarian side, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said.

"In my view, we are simply sending a signal that we are ready to continue cooperation on units for a nuclear power plant. Why? We have nuclear power plants, this has all been calculated. Russia bought six nuclear generation units from Ukraine. This energy is relatively cheap. It could help Ukrainians and also export this assistance to other countries, including probably Eastern Europe and Moldova, which is suffering from a major deficit," Zelenskyy said during a press conference with Bulgarian Prime Minister Andrey Gyurov on Monday.

According to the president, Ukraine cannot do this today, although all the infrastructure for it has been built.

"Two units that can bring assistance to Ukraine and Bulgaria, generate money and help people  in our view, they should be working, but today the decision is undoubtedly up to the Bulgarian side," Zelenskyy said.

For his part, Gyurov added that at present the price of the sale of the reactors is not the main problem, because Bulgaria is preparing for elections in three weeks, and the governments main task is to ensure fair and honest elections.

"We are discussing the possibility of transferring ownership of these reactors to Ukraine. At this moment, there is a parliamentary vote which says that any transfer of ownership must be approved by parliament. Therefore, the question of what will happen in parliament now and later is a matter of electoral arithmetic," the prime minister said.

As reported, the Energy Ministry, headed by Herman Halushchenko, who became a figure in the NABU and SAPO "Midas" case concerning corruption in the energy sector, had actively lobbied for the purchase from Bulgaria of equipment for two units at Khmelnytsky NPP manufactured using Russian technology. The issue sparked major public debate.

Bulgaria at one point suspended negotiations on the sale of the reactors for political reasons.
Artist rendering of the LGM-35A intercontinental ballistic missile designed to carry nuclear warheads and launch from 450 new underground hardened silos. (U.S. Air Force)



The Air Force has broken ground in Utah on the prototype for 450 launch silos to be built for its next-generation intercontinental ballistic missile.

The LGM-35A Sentinel will replace the Cold War-era LGM-30G Minuteman III. The nearly $141 billion program is expected to stretch into the second half of the 21st century.

The silo prototype near Promontory, Utah, will be built using digital designs in partnership with missile maker Northrop Grumman and construction company Bechtel Corp., the Air Force said.

The Sentinel project calls for building a network of new silos rather than placing the new missiles inside the hundreds of existing Minuteman III silos.

The shift to building new silos  rather than refurbishing legacy Minuteman III infrastructure  preserves uninterrupted alert coverage while enabling a modern, adaptable architecture, the Air Force said in a March 27 statement.

The Sentinel is planned to serve as the land-based leg of the United States nuclear triad, which also includes manned bombers and submarine-launched Trident missiles.

The U.S. is in the early stages of modernizing all three legs of the triad, which is designed for nuclear war.

The Navy is developing the Columbia-class nuclear-powered submarine to replace Cold War-era Ohio-class boomer missile boats. Both the Columbia and Ohio classes are currently designed to fire the nuclear-tipped Trident II D5 missile.

Leadership from the U.S. Air Force, Northrop Grumman and Bechtel break ground for the LGM-35A Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile launch silo prototype in Promontory, Utah. The Air Force plans to create 450 new silos to replace the legacy Minuteman III system. (U.S. Air Force)



The Air Force plans for the new B-21 Raider manned bomber to replace the B-1 Lancer and B-2 Spirit bombers. The Air Force has said it will retain some B-52H Stratofortress bombers as nuclear weapon launch platforms.

The Air Force said the prototype silo would help validate plans for a modular, repeatable construction of the new silos, which would potentially shorten the timeline of fielding the Sentinel and reduce costs, which have ballooned since the replacement program for the Minuteman III was announced in 2016.

We are accelerating delivery while ensuring the system is sustainable and ready for airmen to operate for decades, said U.S. Air Force Gen. Dale R. White, director for critical major weapons systems at the Defense Department, in the Air Force statement.

Construction is also underway on a new 90th Missile Wing Command Center at F.E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyo., a key ICBM control installation.

The Pentagon says the Sentinel has passed key test-firing benchmarks. The service plans a 2027 flight test of the Sentinel, with the first operational missiles ready by the early 2030s. The Minuteman III would be phased out over several decades.

We are executing a disciplined acquisition strategy to deliver a fully integrated, operational weapon system on schedule, said Brig. Gen. William S. Rogers, Air Force program executive officer for intercontinental ballistic missiles.

The Sentinel program took a step backward in 2024 when the Air Force told Congress the projected cost of the new missile had grown 81% from its original estimate of $78 billion. The increase triggered a congressionally mandated Nunn-McCurdy breach that required the Pentagon to justify continuing the program and restructure its costs.
Service members, families and community members walk past a parked U.S. Air Force F-35A Lightning II during the F-35 first aircraft arrival at Misawa Air Base, Japan, March 28, 2026. (Gavin Hameed/U.S. Air Force)



A contingent of fifth-generation stealth fighters arrived at Misawa Air Base in northeastern Japan over the weekend, the first replacements the Air Force pledged for the F-16 Fighting Falcons stationed there.

An undisclosed number of F-35A Lightning II aircraft landed Saturday at the air base at the northern tip of Honshu, the largest of Japans four main islands, according to images posted online by the Defense Visual Information Distribution System. The new fighters were assigned to the 13th Fighter Squadron at Misawa.

The Air Force in 2024 announced plans to replace the 36 F-16 Fighting Falcons at Misawa with 48 F-35As.

A spokesperson for the air base did not respond Monday to an email and phone call from Stars and Stripes seeking further information.

U.S. Air Force Col. Jeremy Guinther, 35th Operations Group commander, delivers a speech in front of an F-35A Lightning II during the F-35 first aircraft arrival at Misawa Air Base, Japan, March 28, 2026. (Patrick Boyle/U.S. Air Force)



The new aircraft will strengthen the United States Air Forces ability to maintain combat-ready airpower in northern Japan, integrate with allies and partners, and support regional stability across the Indo-Pacific, a post states on the air bases official Facebook page.

The 35th Fighter Wing specializes in Wild Weasel missions that suppress and destroy enemy air defense.

Positioning the advanced fighters at to Misawa is part of a sweeping U.S. force realignment in Japan, which also includes the stationing of F-15EX Eagles on Okinawa and the replacement of Navy F/A-18 Super Hornets with F-35Cs at Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni.

The Defense Department in July 2024 said the plan  coordinated with the Japanese government  represents more than $10 billion invested in improved capability to enhance the U.S.-Japan alliance, strengthen deterrence and promote peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region.

The Japan Air Self-Defense Force, which shares the Misawa base with its American counterparts, has operated its own fleet of F-35As at Misawa since 2018.

Two U.S. Air Force F-35A Lightning II aircraft taxi on the flightline during the F-35 first aircraft arrival at Misawa Air Base, Japan, March 28, 2026. (Gavin Hameed/U.S. Air Force)

Four U.S. Air Force F-35A Lightning II aircraft taxi on the runway during the F-35 first aircraft arrival at Misawa Air Base, Japan, March 28, 2026. (Gavin Hameed/U.S. Air Force)



The Departments plan to station the Joint Forces most advanced tactical aircraft in Japan demonstrates the ironclad U.S. commitment to the defense of Japan and both countries shared vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific region, the Pentagon said in a July 3, 2024, statement.

In June, the 35th Wing stood up the 35th Munitions Squadron, created with 225 airmen previously assigned to the wings maintenance squadron, in preparation for the new aircraft arrivals.

The F-35A, designed to operate from conventional runways, is the most common of three variants. The B model, which can land vertically and take off from short distances, is flown by the Marine Corps. The Navy flies the C model, which is designed for the rigor of carrier operations.

F-35s are multirole fighters that can carry out a range of missions, from strategic attacks to ground support, air superiority, air defense and electronic warfare.

A U.S. Air Force F-35A Lightning II assigned to the 13th Fighter Squadron taxis out of a hangar during the F-35 first aircraft arrival at Misawa Air Base, Japan, March 28, 2026. (Patrick Boyle/U.S. Air Force)



It carries the most advanced suite of sensors of any fighter in history, according to its maker Lockheed Martin. The Lightning II also works as a network hub tying together other assets on the ground, sea and air.

The Air Force stopped taking delivery of F-35s between July 2023 and July 2024 while the manufacturer dealt with a core processor issue inside the aircraft, according to a 2024 report by the Congressional Research Service.

The Government Accounting Office in April 2024 found the F-35 fleet falling short of goals for availability, reliability and maintainability. Readiness challenges include a heavy reliance on contractors, inadequate training, lack of technical data, lack of spare parts, and lack of support equipment, according to the GAO report cited by the Congressional Research Service.
Capt. Joseph Furco, commanding officer of aircraft carrier USS Nimitz, briefs Panamanian distinguished visitors during a tour in the Pacific Ocean, March 28, 2026. Nimitz is deployed as part of Southern Seas 2026 multinational exercise. (Megan Schwengel/U.S. Navy)



Top military officers and government officials from Panama and El Salvador visited the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz last week during the multinational Southern Seas 2026 naval exercise in the eastern Pacific.

The Nimitz hosted the Panamanians on Friday and El Salvadorans on Saturday. The carrier earlier hosted senior Guatemalan officials.

Rear Adm. Cassidy Norman, commander of Carrier Strike Group 11, met with some of the visitors, including Adm. Rene Merino, minister of defense of El Salvador; Jaime Fernandez, director of the National Police of Panama; and Luis Felipe Icaza, Panamanian vice minister of public security. The Nimitzs commanding officer, Capt. Joseph Furco, led the groups on a tour of the ship.

The Navy has said more visits by partner nation officials are planned during the exercise.

The Nimitz is operating in the 4th Fleet area of responsibility, which includes the Pacific and Atlantic oceans south of Mexico, as well as the Caribbean.

Panamanian distinguished visitors observe flight operations on the flight deck of Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Nimitz in the Pacific Ocean, March 28, 2026. (Jaron Wills/U.S. Navy)



The Nimitz deployed to the exercise as part of a homeport switch from Naval Base Kitsap in Bremerton, Wash., to Naval Air Station Norfolk in Virginia. The carrier is too large to fit through the Panama Canal, so it must transit to Virginia around the southern tip of South America.

The Pentagon announced this month that the Nimitz, the Navys oldest carrier, would not retire next month as planned. The 51-year-old ship will remain in the fleet until the Gerald R. Ford-class USS John F. Kennedy is commissioned in early 2027. A congressional mandate requires the Navy to operate a minimum of 11 aircraft carriers.

Carrier Strike Group 11 is scheduled to conduct operations with partner nation forces during the Southern Seas exercise. The strike group includes the Nimitz, Carrier Air Wing 17, Destroyer Squadron 9 and the Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer USS Gridley.
(Jessica Inigo/Stars and Stripes)



Logistical Support Area Anaconda, Iraq, 2004: Sailors muscle up the side of a berm to lay down the plastic liner that goes under the fuel bladder at the Fuel Farm, also known as the Bag Farm. The Department of the Army asked the Department of the Navy if it could help support the Army mission in Balad.

Read more from the original article here.
Kim Jong Un oversees the ground jet test of high-thrust solid-fuel engine in this undated photograph from the Korean Central News Agency. (KCNA)



North Koreas leader, Kim Jong Un, watched a ground test of a solid-fuel missile engine and saw new tanks put through their paces recently, the countrys official news agency reported Sunday.

The engine, made with carbon fiber materials, is part of a plan to steadily upgrade the countrys strategic strike capability, according to the Korean Central News Agency. The report provided no information on where and when the inspections took place.

The South Korean and U.S. intelligence authorities are closely monitoring North Korean militarys weapon development trends, South Koreas Ministry of National Defense said by text message Monday.

The engine test is of great significance in putting the countrys military muscle on the highest level, Kim said in the KCNA report.

The engine, more powerful than another tested in September, is designed for use in the Hwasong-20 intercontinental ballistic missile North Korea is developing, South Korean news agency Yonhap reported Sunday.

Kim also observed a tank performance test, KCNA reported the same day.

North Koreas new main battle tank is equipped with an interceptor system capable of destroying almost all anti-tank weapons, he said, according to the agency.

Kim said no tank in the world compares to the new tank, according to the agency.

North Korea has made several missile tests since December.

In January, Kim observed a test of an improved large-caliber multiple rocket launcher. Short-range missiles fell that day in the East Sea, or Sea of Japan, according to authorities in Japan and South Korea.

The regime launched multiple long-range cruise missiles on Dec. 28 and four days earlier fired several surface-to-air missiles.

On March 13, KCNA condemned Japans planned deployment of upgraded, long-range missiles capable of striking parts of North Korea.

The missile deployments are undoubtably an extremely dangerous military act, according to KCNA.
The Philippine patrol vessel BRP Teresa Magbanua, Australian frigate HMAS Toowoomba, U.S. guided-missile destroyer USS Dewey and Philippine BRP Diego Silang sail in formation in the South China Sea on Feb. 16, 2026. (Oscar Diaz/U.S. Navy)



China and the Philippines accused each other of dangerous maneuvers in the South China Sea following a near-collision between two warships days before weekend talks on contested territory.

The two naval vessels nearly collided Thursday near Thitu, an island in the Spratly chain administered by the Philippines and also called Pag-asa.

Representatives from Beijing and Manila met Saturday in China for the 11th round of talks on territory in the South China Sea. The negotiators discussed strategic, political-security and law enforcement issues, the Philippines said Saturday in a news release.

Manila and Beijing described the talks as productive.

The South China Sea, parts of which Manila refers to as the West Philippine Sea, is a flashpoint between the two countries, which have competing territorial claims there.

The entire Spratly chain, about 960 miles south of Taiwan, is claimed by China, Vietnam and Taiwan; portions of the chain are claimed by the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei.

On Thursday the Philippine tank landing ship BRP Benguet and the Chinese guided-missile frigate Jingzhou were operating near Thitu when the Chinese frigate began closing in and passing at a dangerously close distance, the Philippines Western Command said news release Thursday. The command also posted a video of the incident.

Beijing made similar accusations against Manila. The Benguet ignored warnings and deliberately turned into the Chinese frigates path, disrupting its navigation, according to Capt. Zhai Shichen, spokesman for Chinas Southern Theater Command. Zhais remarks were posted Saturday on Facebook by Chinas Embassy in Manila.

In an incident on March 7, the Philippine frigate BRP Miguel Malvar was on patrol near Sabina Shoal when the Chinese corvette Guangan directed its fire control radar toward the ship, the Philippines Naval Defense Command said in a March 21 Facebook post.

The two incidents, along with the resumption of talks, point to a broader pattern of direct and indirect pressure by China on the Philippines, according to Renato Cruz De Castro, a professor at De La Salle Universitys Department of International Studies in the Philippines.

President Ferdinand Marcos declared a state of national energy emergency in response to the United States war in Iran, which has disrupted global oil supplies. The agenda Saturday included discussions on stable access to energy and fertilizers, according to the Philippines Department of Foreign Affairs on Saturday.

The Philippines is panic mode and trying to grab every available hand, Castro said by phone Monday.

The Chinese are offering a hand in the form of help restoring its energy supply while also intimidating the P:hilippines into an agreement with altercations at sea, he said. He expected nothing productive to come from the talks, he said.

The Chinese are, you know, shrewd enough to extend a seemingly helping hand, but actually, thats a ploy, thats a gambit, Castro said.
American and German flags wave side by side at Pegnitz Airfield, Germany, in this undated photo. A co-chair of Germanys increasingly popular far-right party on Saturday called for all U.S. forces to be removed from the country. (Jacob Bradford/U.S. Army)



STUTTGART, Germany  The co-chair of Germanys increasingly popular far-right party has called for the removal of all U.S. forces from the country, adding that Berlin should follow Spains lead and deny the use of its bases for the Iran war.

Tino Chrupalla, who leads the Alternative for Germany party alongside Alice Weidel, used a political gathering in Saxony over the weekend to push for the removal of the roughly 37,000 U.S. troops based in the country.

Lets start implementing this, said Chrupalla, as quoted Saturday by Germanys Bild newspaper.

Chrupalla also said Germany should avoid being drawn into international conflicts. He cited Spain, which has come under fire from the Trump administration for refusing access to its bases for the Iran campaign, as an example to follow.

The comments carry no practical effect on current German policy, since AfD is not part of Berlins coalition government.

But AfD over the years has grown from a fringe movement in Germany to a major political force. Recent polls show it is among the most popular parties in Germany.

The AfD has long called for a more independent German foreign policy, including an end to hosting U.S. troops and a loosening of ties with NATO.

Multiple C-17 Globemaster III aircraft park on the flight line at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, on Sept. 4, 2024. Ramstein is a major hub for American operations across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. (Eve Daugherty/U.S. Air Force)



The remarks come at a time of high tension inside NATO amid disagreements over the Iran war.

On Monday, Spain announced that it had closed its airspace to U.S. military planes involved in operations against Iran, an escalation from an earlier decision to block U.S. use of bases in the country for such missions. It wasnt clear if the decision would have any notable effect on operations, such as forcing military planes to reroute.

President Donald Trump on Friday ratcheted up his criticism of the alliance, saying that the refusal of NATO members to help open the Strait of Hormuz amounted to a loyalty test. Trump suggested that the lack of allied involvement in the effort could mean that the United States doesnt need to defend allies in Europe if they were to come under attack.

At a political event in Miami, Trump said that the U.S. has invested heavily to ensure the defense of the continent, but now, based on their actions, I guess we dont have to be, do we?

Why would we be there for them if theyre not there for us? They werent there for us, Trump added.

During the last months of Trumps first term he planned to pull some 12,000 troops from Germany, but the concept wasnt put into action by the time President Joe Biden took office.

The Trump administration hasnt indicated what its plans are for the U.S. military force posture in Germany or the rest of Europe, but numerous allies have been anticipating potentially significant cuts at some point during Trumps second term.
Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Thomas Hudner fires a Tomahawk land attack missile in support of Operation Epic Fury on Mar. 1, 2026. The U.S. has used more Tomahawk missiles in the month-old Operation Epic Fury than in any previous campaign, according to a think tank analysis of strike data. (CENTCOM)



The U.S. military has fired more Tomahawk missiles during the month-old Operation Epic Fury than in any other military campaign in history, according to a think tank analysis of reported strike data.

Replenishing inventory after this campaign will take time, and creates near-term risk for the United States, the Center for Strategic and International Studies said in a new analysis.

The findings come after The Washington Post reported that the U.S. Navy has fired more than 850 Tomahawks since the Feb. 28 start of the military operation against Iran. The report, citing unnamed U.S. officials, noted that some in the Pentagon had raised concerns about the usage rate.

If the 850-strike figure is accurate, that puts Operation Epic Fury ahead of 2003s Operation Iraqi Freedom, which involved 802 Tomahawk strikes during the invasion, according to the CSIS analysis.

Operation Desert Fox, a 70-hour bombing campaign in Iraq in 1998, was next on the list with 325 Tomahawk strikes.

Operation Desert Storm, launched in 1991 against Iraq, marked the first time the weapon was used in combat. During that 42-day campaign, the Tomahawk was launched 288 times, CSIS reported.

Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Delbert D. Black fires a Tomahawk land attack missile in support of Operation Epic Fury on Feb. 28, 2026. The U.S. has fired more Tomahawk missiles during Operation Epic Fury, now a month underway, than in any previous campaign, according to a think tank analysis of strike data. (U.S. Navy)



The Tomahawk, built by Raytheon, is a precision cruise missile launched from ships, submarines and ground launchers and can hit targets around 1,000 miles away.

CSIS said 850 missiles would likely account for around half of currently available launchers in the Middle East region.

These launchers cannot be reloaded at sea. Ships would need to return to port with requisite infrastructure once they are out of missiles, the CSIS analysis stated.

The think tank said the Navy is set to receive 110 Tomahawks in fiscal year 2026 and that existing stockpiles are estimated to be in the low-3,000s.

White House and Pentagon officials have stressed that the U.S. military has enough munitions to conduct the Iran war.

However, the CSIS report said, the high expenditure of Tomahawks and other missiles in Operation Epic Fury creates risks for the United States in other theatersparticularly the Western Pacific.
Photo: https://www.facebook.com/GeneralStaff.ua/

Ukraines air defense forces eliminated 150 of 164 enemy drones; however, hits from a ballistic missile and 12 strike drones were recorded at seven locations, with debris falling at two others, the Air Force of the Armed Forces reports.

"According to preliminary data as of 08:30, air defense shot down or suppressed 150 enemy UAVs," the report says.

In total, on the night of March 30 (from 18:00 on March 29), the enemy attacked with an Iskander-M ballistic missile from the temporarily occupied Autonomous Republic of Crimea, as well as 164 strike UAVs of the Shahed, Gerbera, and Italmas types and drones of other types from the directions of Bryansk, Orel, Kursk, Millerovo, and Primorsko-Akhtarsk in Russia, and Chauda and Gvardiyske in the temporarily occupied Autonomous Republic of Crimea; about 90 of these were Shahed UAVs.

The aerial attack was repelled by aviation, anti-aircraft missile troops, electronic warfare units, unmanned systems units, and mobile fire groups of the Defense Forces of Ukraine.

Meanwhile, hits from a ballistic missile and 12 strike UAVs were recorded at seven locations, and the fall of shot-down targets (debris) occurred at two locations.

The attack continues, with several enemy UAVs remaining in the airspace, the air command added.
President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office in this undated photo. In a post to his Truth Social account Monday, Trump threatened to strike Irans energy infrastructure if it does not immediately open Strait of Hormuz. (The White House)



The United States will blow up Irans power plants and oil infrastructure if it does not immediately open the Strait of Hormuz and agree to a peace deal, President Donald Trump said Monday, threatening to escalate the conflict amid ongoing negotiations.

The president, writing on Truth Social, reported great progress in discussions to end military operations in Iran but said that if talks do not continue to go well, the U.S. will take action.

If for any reason a deal is not shortly reached, which it probably will be, and if the Hormuz Strait is not immediately Open for Business, we will conclude our lovely stay in Iran by blowing up and completely obliterating all of their Electric Generating Plants, Oil Wells and Kharg Island (and possibly all desalinization plants!), Trump said.

Operation Epic Fury has entered its second month and has decimated much of Irans weapons stockpiles and naval power. But Iran still maintains a chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz, sharply restricting traffic and allowing only limited oil shipments through. The waterways closure has caused oil and gas prices to surge, sparking concerns about wider implications for the global economy.

On Monday, oil prices continued to rise and Asian markets fell, though U.S. stocks were slightly higher in early trading amid fears of the conflict widening.

During the monthlong conflict, Trump has alternated between promising a quick end and vowing to expand it, as the Pentagon surges forces to the region.

The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that the Pentagon is considering sending up to 10,000 more ground troops to the Middle East, adding to the roughly 5,000 Marines and thousands of paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division headed to the region.

The Okinawa-based 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit and U.S. sailors arrived in the Middle East on Friday aboard the USS Tripoli, U.S. Central Command said on X.

It is not clear how such troops would be used. Early Monday, Trump told the Financial Times that his favorite thing would be to seize Irans oil. He suggested maybe we take Kharg Island, which exports the majority of Irans crude oil.

Seizing or destroying the island would give the U.S. major leverage in reopening the strait but would require an extensive operation that could involve ground troops. U.S. forces heavily bombed the island this month, Trump said, destroying much of its military infrastructure but sparing the oil pipelines.

The island is about 7 square miles and sits roughly 20 miles off the Iranian coast in the Persian Gulf.

A map showing Kharg Island. The island is about 7 square miles and sits roughly 20 miles off the Iranian coast in the Persian Gulf. (Noga Ami-rav/Stars and Stripes)



Trump has not yet ruled out putting boots on the ground in Iran, a move that would significantly escalate the war and risk more U.S. casualties.

Thirteen service members have been killed since Operation Epic Fury began on Feb. 28. Six U.S. soldiers were killed in a drone strike in Kuwait, and another was killed in Saudi Arabia. In Iraq, six airmen died when their refueling tanker went down over friendly territory. Another 300 troops have been injured, with the majority having already returned to duty, according to CENTCOM.

Trump had previously said he would give Iran until April 6 to reach an agreement with the U.S. or face strikes on its energy centers. It is unclear if that timeline has changed.

Speaking in a series of interviews with U.S. television networks Monday, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio again insisted that the U.S. was ahead of schedule in accomplishing its goals in Iran, which will be achieved in a matter of weeks, not months.

They (Iranian leaders) are making threats about controlling the Hormuz Strait in perpetuity, creating a tolling system and the like, Rubio told ABC News. Thats not going to be allowed to happen. And the president has a number of options available to him, if he so chooses, to prevent that from happening.
Camilo Alvarez Granada 30/03/2026 a las 16:21h.

One person has been injured and 40 guests had to be evacuated after and explosion at the Hotel Olas in Almunecar on Granada province's Costa Tropical on Monday 30 March.

The incident occurred as a gas canister was being changed on one of the hotel's boilers. According to the Andalusian 112 emergency service, the explosion caused a fire accompanied by an intense column of smoke that could be seen from different parts of the town.

Almunecar's fire brigade, the Local Police, who immediately cordoned off the area, the Guardia Civil, Civil Protection and an ambulance were on the scene. Staff and guests stood outside, many of whom watched on as their suitcases were slowly removed from inside the building.

IDEAL has learned that the injured person is the driver of the propane gas truck, who has been rushed to the Santa Ana Hospital in Motril. In addition, two firefighters had to be treated for smoke inhalation during the intervention.

Relocation

According to the Local Police, the fifth floor of the building was the most affected, with one of the walls practically destroyed. The debris has spread to nearby areas such as the Callejon del Silencio, which has forced access to this street and Avenida de Europa to be cut off.

The mayor of Almunecar, Juan Jose Ruiz Joya, said that, despite the seriousness of the incident, "it was almost a miracle" that there were no fatalities or injuries among the guests. The hotel was at around 60 per cent full, with more than 40 people there at the time of the explosion. "The most affected area was not occupied at the time, which prevented a major tragedy," he said.

Work is already underway to relocate guests to other hotels in the town, a task that is now complicated due to the high hotel occupancy during the Easter holidays.

Operatives from the TEDAX-NRBQ (Technicians Specialising in the Disposal of Explosive and Nuclear, Radiological, Biological and Chemical Artefacts) of the Guardia Civil have been on the scene to investigate the causes of the accident.
USA does not object to Russia supplying oil to Cuba  Trump

President of USA Donald J. Trump delivers remarks at a press conference, March 9, 2026 | Photo: Daniel Torok / White House / CC BY 3.0 US

US President Donald Trump has indicated that Washington does not object to countries, including Russia, supplying oil to Cuba.

During a conversation with Trump, journalists asked whether media reports were true that the United States would allow a Russian tanker to deliver oil to Cuba.

"We have a tanker there. If someone wants to deliver oilwe dont mind, they need to survive. I said: If any country wants to send oil to CubaI have no objection," the US President replied.

When asked if this helps Vladimir Putin, Trump said that he is losing one shipment (presumably implying that Russia will not profit from it). He also stated there would be no benefit for Cuba.

"Let them send it if they want. It wont affect the situation. Cuba is effectively finished as a state. They have bad leadership. And one oil shipment wont change anything," the American leader said.

Summarizing, Trump added that he preferred to allow this delivery because "people need heat and electricity."
SUR in English 30/03/2026 Actualizado 03/04/2026 - 17:27h.

Are you planning to move to Spain and looking for a health insurance policy specifically designed for expats? We understand that such an abundance of information can be overwhelming, particularly when you wish to make a decision as quickly as possible. For this reason, we have created the definitive guide to help you choose your ideal health insurance policy.

 Experience. When choosing a health insurance policy in Spain, it is essential to pay close attention to the experience of the company, as this reflects its stability, growth, and ability to resolve different matters efficiently.

 Multilingual Staff. In matters of health, it is essential that communication is smooth and that there are no language barriers. For this reason, the insurer must have a multilingual and professional team that provides personalised attention.

 Extensive Medical Directory. Safeguarding your health is the most important priority, particularly when you are living in another country. For this reason, the company must provide a wide ranging and high-quality medical directory in key areas across the national territory, with direct access to specialists. In addition, it should include international hospitals and clinics offering care in different languages or translation services.

 Close to Expatriate Communities. It is important that the insurer has offices located near expatriate communities, as this makes it easier to attend in person should you wish to make an enquiry, resolve a question, or carry out different procedures. Furthermore, the company should have staff who are friendly and empathetic.

 Valid for Visa and Residence. To obtain a Visa or Residence permit in Spain, the company must comply with all the requirements established by Consulates and the Immigration Office. It is also important that the company issues the policies in the shortest possible time in order to meet the deadlines set.

 Lifetime Coverage. When living in another country, it is essential to feel at ease and to choose a company that offers lifetime coverage. In this way, you will ensure that your health insurance policy is not cancelled at a certain age or due to pre-existing medical conditions.

For all these reasons, a very good option is ASSSA Insurance, a company with more than 90 years of experience and a distinguished reputation within the expatriate community. Its high level of specialisation in international citizens makes it the perfect choice to safeguard your health in Spain without language barriers.

At ASSSA, the needs of the international community are highly valued. They therefore offer health insurance policies specifically designed to obtain a Visa and Residence permit in Spain. The company has offices in the main areas of residence, medical centres providing care in different languages, and a professional, multilingual team.

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MORE INFORMATION
Velez-Malaga activates a special lifeguard service on the beaches for Easter Week with 12 members of staff.

Velez-Malaga town hall has activated a special lifeguard and life-saving device on the beaches for Easter Week, with the aim of reinforcing security with an increase in visitors.

The service will be operational from Maundy Thursday (2 April) to Easter Sunday (5 April), from 12pm to 7pm and will have a team of 12 lifeguards, as well as a coordinator, supervisor, medical staff and emergency technician. The device will cover different points of the coastline, with a fixed presence in areas of greatest affluence and itinerant attention in the rest of the beaches.

The resources available include a basic life support ambulance, a 4x4 vehicle and a jet ski, as well as the maintenance of the assisted bathing service for people with reduced mobility in Torre del Mar, with the aim of guaranteeing accessibility and safety.
Eugenio Cabezas 30/03/2026 a las 11:32h.

The Palm Sunday procession of 'La Pollinica' and the 'Virgen del Rocio' returned to the streets of Velez-Malaga on the eastern Costa del Sol on 29 March for the first time after fire destroyed much of the religious image during Holy Week in 2023.

The procession left the town's San Francisco Market amidst applause and cheers as the image of Our Lady of Rocio emerged for the first time in three years. Due to the wind, only one candle was lit from the Virgen del Rocio's candelabra.

La Pollinica was carried by more than 140 bearers (horquillero/as), most of whom are women and was accompanied by the Nuestro Padre Jesus Nazareno de Alcaudete band from Jaen.

But the focus of the day was on the Virgen del El Rocio. The image, created by Juan Ventura in 1980, has returned to the procession under its canopy after the devastating fire of 2023, when a candle fell and severely damaged the structure.

Although it was partly repaired in time for 2024, many processions were cancelled due to heavy rain. The procession did take place in 2025 but it was still not fully repaired. This year La Virgen del Rocio was back to her former glory, complete with the canopy that had not been repaired until this year.

It was carried by 135 bearers as it passed through streets including Calle Las Tiendas and Plaza de las Carmelitas. The procession includes around 170 penitents, as well as women in mantillas accompanying the Virgin, in a scene that returned one of Velez-Malaga's beloved Holy Week images: La Virgen del Rocio under her canopy.
Jose Antonio Sau 30/03/2026 a las 11:36h.

A 44-year-old man from Malaga who suffers from severe axonal tetraparesis (lack of strength and mobility in all four limbs) has won a court case against the Social Security institute in Spain (INSS), which had revoked his right to pension.

The man prefers to remain anonymous. He has been living in a wheelchair for several years, unable to walk after three rounds of chemotherapy for a testicular cancer. "I underwent chemotherapy, but during the third session, I started feeling unwell and spoke with my oncologist. I told him I wanted to stop," he told SUR.

"I couldn't walk anymore. I would get up and fall," he says when referring to the time after his treatment, which was necessary to save his life. He received a severe disability status in 2021.

The INSS revoked his status on 30 December 2024, having previously reduced it to one of total incapacity.

Severe disability is the highest degree of incapacity recognised by the Social Security, which grants it to those who need permanent help from another person for basic daily activities.

"I rely entirely on my father"

The man's father takes care of him on a daily basis. "I rely entirely on my father. He has to clothe and feed me," the complainant said.

His lawyer Damian Vazquez described the case as "a David versus Goliath story". In 2023, they appealed the INSS's decision to reduce the status of severe disability to one of total incapacity. "Subsequently, the INSS reduced his disability benefits again, this time leaving him without any benefits whatsoever, stating that there had been an improvement and that they were removing the disability benefits and providing him with assistance instead," Vazquez said.

As Vazquez stated, the court ruling from this March overturns the Social Security's decision from late 2024. The court declares that there was never any medical evidence that the man's state was improving.

The judge states that a person's pension cannot be revoked without a subsequent medical report demonstrating their recovery. The affected individual has been recognised as having a 95 per cent disability and level III dependency, meaning they require assistance in all basic daily activities.

"They owe me for a whole year. The last time I received my pension was in December 2024, when they gave me a lump sum payment so they wouldn't pay me anything in 2025," the man, who can now celebrate his victory over injustice, said.
Jesus Hinojosa Malaga 30/03/2026 a las 10:35h.

Mayor of Malaga Francisco de la Torre has expressly banned the use of portable chairs during the Holy Week. Nonetheless, people used all sorts of chairs to reserve a good spot from which to watch the processions on Palm Sunday, 29 March.

The highest concentration of sitting people was around the Tribuna de los Pobres, from where they could see the most awaited processions of the day: Pollinica and Prendimiento.

De la Torre's ban on the use of all sorts of movable furniture cites safety reasons. It applies "especially to streets with intersections, narrow streets, access points to buildings and public establishments and where movement may be restricted" due to "large crowds".

The Local Police are responsible for monitoring the situation and informing people with chairs that they should fold them and stand up. If anyone refuses to follow these orders, the police have the right to "remove them [the chairs], with the expenses incurred being borne by the interested party in accordance with current legislation".

Despite this ban, folding chairs were present at several points in the city last year, the intersection of Calle Especeria and Calle Cisneros being just one example.

In response to SUR's request to know why the Local Police do not always intervene, the city council said: "The Local Police assess the situation and evaluate whether issuing a fine could provoke a more serious action that results in a public order incident. Therefore, they act with caution and based on principles of proportionality."
EP Malaga 30/03/2026 a las 11:28h.

The National Police have arrested two members of a criminal network specialising in the robbery of storage units in Malaga.

According to sources, the gang in question travels across the country to commit this type of robbery in different towns and cities.

The police launched the investigation after receiving several complaints concerning burglaries in various areas of Malaga city. The investigators soon discovered that the perpetrators were the same. In fact, the police were already aware of the criminal work of these individuals.

While gathering all the evidence and reviewing security camera footage, the police noticed an individual that had gained access to a facility by taking advantage of a customer entering the premises. In one of the robberies, the perpetrators allegedly stole 7,800 euros and 1,000 euros in another.

The police arrested the suspects after security cameras caught them entering a facility. The investigators seized three lock picks of different sizes, a magnet, two clips, 26 metal tools for opening padlocks, two pairs of nitrile gloves and a roll of insulating tape.
Domenico Chiappe Madrid 30/03/2026 Actualizado a las 13:31h.

She was 46 years old, had made police reports on her husband "several times previously" and then she killed him last year. She ran him over in the street with her own car.

As a victim of gender-based violence, she was already registered in the Viogen protection system (the statewide police-monitoring system of at-risk individuals).

However, she was classified as being at low-risk. She decided to put an end to the abuse that was going on under the roof she shared with her husband, a 65-year-old Spanish national.

"This is a case classified as 'responsive violence'," stated the judiciary in its press release, because her husband had been reported "for assault".

In addition to gender-based violence committed by men, the report, published this Thursday by Spain's agency that monitors domestic and gender-based violence, also deals with "intimate domestic violence". This is where the opposite is recorded, men who are murdered by the woman with whom they have or have had a romantic relationship, or a same-sex partner.

On average, according to data collected since 2009, the men murdered are 50 years old and lived with their attackers (82 per cent), although only 42 per cent were married. The female perpetrators in these reverse cases, which occur every 52 days, are 43 years old on average. In this case, the only one that happened in 2025, the woman was arrested "minutes after committing the crime", something that happens in three out of every four cases.

Looking across the years since records began, the most frequent crime scene, in 74 per cent of the cases, is the shared residence and the most common weapon used is a knife (65.5 per cent). This has happened 121 times in just over 16 years, totalling approximately seven victims per year. To note, "last year there were no recorded murders caused by same-sex domestic violence, which occurs within current or former same-sex couples, whether between men or women".

Few prior reports

In terms of gender-based violence, a woman is killed by her partner or ex-partner every six days in Spain, the average since specific records on such crimes began in 2003. The figure is slightly less for 2025: every 7.5 days. In total, 49 women lost their lives to gender-based violence last year, according to these latest figures from the judiciary.

Of these women, eight out of ten lived with their abuser and two out of ten had filed a prior report to the police. "Despite being one of the lowest annual figures since records began, it reveals data that highlights the need to continue improving the tools available to the authorities to protect victims", states this report.

Of the 49 victims killed, eleven had filed a prior complaint (22 per cent), the "lowest percentage on record", which stands at an average of 25 per cent. Five were protected by restraining orders. However, of the eleven who filed police reports, seven were still living with their abuser. Although the average age of the female plaintiffs was 42, those aged 56 or over reported nothing.

"The most common weapon used in 2025 to commit crimes of gender-based violence was a knife, deployed in 56.5 per cent of the cases for which this data is available (in three cases, the weapon used to commit the crime was not recorded). Fifteen per cent of the deaths last year were caused by asphyxiation or strangulation". Most of the crimes were committed in July, in the home and 39 children were orphaned.

Violence against children

Gender-based violence can also be directed at children. The children murdered by their parent(s) were under the age of ten in 74 per cent of these cases. In 2025, three children died this way, bringing the total to 65 over the past 12 years. In two of last year's cases, the perpetrator was the child's biological father and, in the third case, it was the mother's current partner.

Two of the children lived with the murderer and the crime was committed in the shared home, as is the case in three out of every four such crimes. "As for the method used, one in three cases involved a knife, which is the most frequently used on record (35 per cent of cases), while the other two were caused by asphyxiation and poisoning," states the report. Two of the perpetrators were arrested and one committed suicide.

There are five victims of 'vicarious violence' (harm done to a child to spite a parent) on average every year. These children, considered as "extremely vulnerable", are, on average, under seven years old. Those who commit such a violent crime are 41 years old on average and have not usually been reported before to the police. Only a third of them had prior records for such crimes.
Jose A. Gonzalez 30/03/2026 Actualizado a las 12:03h.

A new regulation set up by Spain's Ministry of Consumer Affairs allows tenants to request an extraordinary extension of their contracts for up to two years as long as they expire "between 22 March 2026 and 31 December 2027". The extension requires landlords to maintain the original conditions of the contract and the ministry has stated that this is a tenant's right that the landlord is obliged to grant.

The ministry has issued a statement that addresses 13 real estate companies and investment funds (including Blackstone, CaixaBank, and CBRE Investment Management) that manage approximately 100,000 homes.

With this notice, the ministry aims to remind property owners and real estate companies of their obligation to comply with the royal decree-law approved by the cabinet on 20 March. This regulation is part of the government's measures to address the economic impact of the war in Iran. It introduces direct changes to standard residential rental agreements.

The Consumer Affairs department has also asked companies to exercise extreme diligence and adjust their internal mechanisms to ensure the immediate application of these measures.

One million contracts signed during the pandemic

The intervention comes at a particularly delicate time for the rental market. More than one million contracts signed during the pandemic (1,037,603 in total) will expire before the end of 2027, affecting approximately 2.7 million people. Most were signed at a time of lower prices, making their renewal a critical issue for many households.

Forecasts point to significant price increases. While industry estimates place the rises between ten and 20 per cent, the government warns that in certain areas the increase could approach 50 per cent. In those cases, the price hikes could force many people to leave their homes.

The phenomenon has a broad geographical reach, although it is most intense in regions like Madrid, with more than 224,000 contracts affected, followed by Catalonia, Andalucia and Valencia. The accumulation of expiring contracts in these regions threatens to further increase pressure on prices.

To mitigate this impact, the decree combines two tools: the extension of contracts, on the one hand, and the capping of rent increases, on the other. It terms of the latter, it decouples rent increases from the CPI and sets a general cap of two per cent during the extension period.

In recent days, the government reminded eligible tenants to apply for contract extensions as soon as possible, taking advantage of the window before the decree is ratified in the lower house. Second Deputy Prime Minister Yolanda Diaz and Minister of Consumer Affairs Pablo Bustinduy believe that this measure can prevent the forced displacement of thousands of households.

An extraordinary cabinet meeting marked by tension between the coalition partners approved the measure. Although it is already in effect, its status depends on parliamentary approval in the coming weeks.
Three civilians in the Donetsk region were killed and 22 others injured, most of them in the city of Kramatorsk, due to shelling by Russia over the past 24 hours, reported Head of the Donetsk Regional Military Administration Vadym Filashkin as of the morning of March 30.

"Kramatorsk district. In Khrestyshche of the Sviatohirsk community, one person was wounded and a private house was damaged. In Mykolaivka, utility buildings and garages were damaged; in Raiohorodok  3 private houses. In Sloviansk, 2 people were wounded, and 4 high-rise buildings, a hotel, and 3 cars were damaged. In Kramatorsk, 3 people were killed and 16 wounded; 11 private houses, 7 high-rise buildings, 5 administrative buildings, a shop, a cafe, and 6 cars were damaged. In Oleksievo-Druzhkivka, 2 people were wounded," Filashkin wrote on Telegram.

Additionally, according to him, one person was wounded in the city of Dobropillia in the Pokrovsk district, and private houses were damaged in Riznykivka of the Siversk community in the Bakhmut district.

In total, Russia shelled the regions settlements 29 times over the day, Filashkin reported. During the same period, 93 people, including 16 children, were evacuated from the frontline.

The head of the Donetsk regional administration previously reported the deaths of three Kramatorsk residents due to Russia aerial bombing on Sunday; a 13-year-old boy was among the dead. Police reported 17 victims ranging in age from 19 to 84.

As reported, on Saturday, March 28, Russia shelled the Donetsk region 14 times, wounding five civilians. On Friday, March 27, there were 12 shellings, with one person killed and six civilians injured. On Thursday, March 26, there were 13 shellings, leaving one person dead and one wounded.

Evacuations from the frontline included 302 people (36 children) on March 27 and 180 people (41 children) on March 26.
Latvia allocates EUR 6.8 mln to Ukraine for energy, infrastructure and drones

The Latvian government has approved a relief package for Ukraine totaling EUR 6.8 mln, reported Foreign Minister Baiba Braze.

"This assistance package will strengthen Ukraines energy grid, shelters, infrastructure, social and civic resilience, and drone capabilities. Latvia will always support Ukraine," Braze wrote on X on Monday.

As reported, Latvia has signed a memorandum of understanding with leading Ukrainian business and defense organizations. Additionally, Latvian Defense Minister Andris Spruds, during a meeting with Ukraines Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov in Kyiv on Tuesday, announced that Latvia would transfer additional CVR(T) combat reconnaissance tracked armored vehicles to Ukraine.

On March 28, Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania stated that incidents of drones falling on their territory demonstrate the importance of strengthening air defense on NATOs eastern flank. The countries also expressed support for Ukraine in its defense against Russia.
Press Release from Business Wire: Axelspace Corporation



(AFP) Mar 29, 2026



TOKYO, March 29, 2026 (BSW) - Axelspace Corporation, Meisei Electric Co., Ltd., ANA HOLDINGS INC., and JIJ Inc. are pleased to announce that their jointly proposed technology development project has been selected for Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)'s Space Strategy Fund under the theme "Technology to Enhance Capability of Next Generation Earth Observation Satellites."

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260323044518/en/

Conceptual Diagram of the project. Under this Space Strategy Fund initiative, spectrometers will be newly developed and demonstrated in orbit. In the future, the project envisions the establishment of a satellite constellation capable of observations at different times of the day.



Project Summary (Planned)

Technology Development Theme: Technology to Enhance Capability of Next Generation Earth Observation SatellitesProject Title: Source-Specific CO2 Emission and Uptake Monitoring through Satellite Constellation and Aircraft ObservationsLead Organization: Axelspace CorporationPartner Organizations:- Meisei Electric Co., Ltd.- ANA HOLDINGS INC.- JIJ Inc.Funding Opportunity: JAXA Space Strategy Fundhttps://fund.jaxa.jp/content/uploads/Overview_of_The_SpaceStrategy_Fund.pdf

We envision establishing a new satellite constellation in coordination with aircraft and ground-based sensors upon completion of this technology development. This integrated system aims simultaneous, multi-point observations at different times of day - morning, noon, and afternoon - particularly in regions that house major urban areas. Leveraging these data, we will analyze and provide CO2 emission and uptake information by source sector, time, and location.We believe that such objective and transparent information should provide a basis for an international benchmark for GHG reductions and contribute to the development of globally harmonized evaluation frameworks that incorporate economic incentives for emissions mitigation.

Technology Development Plan

A key enabler for achieving time- and source-specific CO2 monitoring through a coordinated satellite constellation, aircraft, and ground-based observations is the miniaturization and cost reduction of spectrometers.Spectrometers measure gas concentrations by leveraging the property that atmospheric constituents absorb light at specific wavelengths, quantifying concentrations based on the degree of absorption. Under this Space Strategy Fund initiative, we will develop a new compact sensor that can be commonly deployed across satellites, aircraft, and ground-based observations. Unlike conventional high-precision spectrometers designed for government-operated satellites - which are typically large and costly - the new sensor will incorporate advanced domestically developed detector technologies to achieve both compactness and affordability.Following a series of aircraft-based validation tests, we plan to launch a demonstration satellite equipped with the newly developed compact sensor between FY2030 and FY2032, with the aim of acquiring in-orbit observation data.

For the full press release, please visit:https://www.axelspace.com/news/spacestrategyfund_co2/







View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260323044518/en/









Contact

Media ContactAxelspace Holdings Corporation[email protected]







 2026 Business Wire, Inc.Disclaimer:This press release is not a document produced by AFP. AFP shall not bear responsibility for its content. In case you have any questions about this press release, please refer to the contact person/entity mentioned in the text of the press release.
Stink of crime hangs over Vietnam chemical plant



Lao Cai, Vietnam, March 30 (AFP) Mar 30, 2026



Grey and white smoke around the clock, dust-covered trees and nonstop noise: residents living next to Vietnam's biggest chemical production complex coexist with toxic fumes from the factories.

"It smells stinky, pungent, rotten," said 64-year-old Nguyen, who lives in a one-storey concrete house three kilometres from the Tang Loong industrial park in remote Lao Cai province and asked to be identified by one name due to security concerns.

"Even if we close the doors, the smell is still in the air," she told AFP.

Among the largest of several firms at the industrial park is Duc Giang Chemicals Group (DGC), whose giant facilities produce yellow phosphorus and phosphoric acid.

It describes itself as one of the world's largest exporters of yellow phosphorus -- used in producing fertilisers, flame retardants and phosphoric acid -- with an annual capacity of nearly 70,000 tonnes.

But police this month announced the arrest of DGC chairman Dao Huu Huyen -- one of the country's richest men -- alongside his son, who was once the firm's CEO, and five other company officers.

They were accused of "illegal dumping of millions of tonnes of waste across an area spanning tens of hectares" and illegally extracting hundreds of thousands of tons of phosphate ore, as well as tax offences.

The alleged crimes took place over an extended period and sparked "public outrage", police said.

It is an unusually high corporate fall: DGC is a member of the VN-30 stock index and had a market capitalisation of around $1 billion before the arrests came to light. Originally a state-owned company, it was partly privatised more than 20 years ago.

"There normally is a political reason why certain big domestic companies or company executives are targeted in Vietnam's political economy," said Miguel Chanco, an economist focused on Asia at Pantheon Macroeconomics.

But the DGC bosses' arrests "may eventually be framed as just another case of high-level corruption", he added.

The one-party state has pursued a sprawling, high-profile anti-corruption campaign in recent years, which has netted dozens of business leaders and senior government figures.

The sweeping drive -- accelerated by top leader To Lam, who became communist party chief in 2024 -- has removed many of his opponents, according to analysts, leaving Lam as Vietnam's most dominant leader in decades.

Andrew Wells-Dang, a Southeast Asia expert at the Washington-based Stimson Center, said authorities would have investigated the case extensively before acting.

The accusations against DGC were "probably not different from what many mining companies do, just on a larger and more blatant scale", he added.

"If anything, what the arrests show is a negative: the Duc Giang leaders apparently do not have the level of political connections to be able to avoid this outcome."

- 'Nowhere to go' -



Vietnam is a manufacturing hub -- phosphoric acid is used in making semiconductors and electric vehicle batteries -- and one of Asia's fastest-growing economies. Tang Loong illustrates the trade-off in many developing countries between growth and the environment.

Government schemes drove agricultural and then industrial development in the poor, mountainous province in the 1970s, and over the years concrete roads have replaced grass-covered paths, while neighbourhoods feature newly-built villas and private cars.

"My parents were among the first ones to settle down here," said one woman living nearby. "They were poor and had to work so hard on the hills to make ends meet."

Now young people can earn at least 10 million dong ($380) a month at the factories -- considered a reasonable wage outside Vietnam's major cities.

"My kids all work in the industrial zone," the woman said outside her modern two-storey house. "None of my children and grandchildren have any health problems."

Nguyen, meanwhile, said she had become used to the smoke and noise.

"We want a better life, less polluted of course, but we have to accept the way it is," she lamented.

"We have nowhere else to go."
Rain, storms kill dozens in Afghanistan and Pakistan



Kabul, March 30 (AFP) Mar 30, 2026



Heavy rain and storms have killed at least 45 people over the past few days across Afghanistan and Pakistan, disaster officials in both countries said Monday.

Rain sweeping across Afghanistan since Thursday has caused floods and landslides in multiple provinces.

"Twenty-eight people were martyred, and 49 people were injured," Afghanistan's disaster management authority (ANDMA) said, while more than 100 homes have been destroyed.

Across the border in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, 17 people were killed and 56 wounded since Wednesday, the provincial disaster management authority said.

Those killed in Afghanistan include a 14-year-old boy struck by lightning in the northwestern Badghis province, police spokesman Sediqullah Seddiqi told AFP.

In the same province, Seddiqi said "three people drowned while trying to recover driftwood to use for heating".

The stormy weather also destroyed at least 130 homes, while more than 430 houses were damaged, ANDMA said.

In central Daikundi, the provincial disaster management department said a five-year-old was killed when a roof collapsed.

A woman was killed in the same circumstances in eastern Nangarhar, which borders Pakistan, according to police spokesman Sayed Tayeb Hamad.

Afghanistan's disaster management authority warned people to stay away from "rivers and flooded streams, and follow the weather forecast seriously".

The weather has already prompted the closure of several highways, officials in central and eastern Afghanistan said, with further rain and storms forecast for Tuesday.

The latest casualties follow more than 60 people being killed in snow and heavy rain that hit Afghanistan in January.

Afghanistan frequently experiences deadly floods, landslides and storms, particularly in remote areas with fragile infrastructure.

Among the poorest countries in the world after decades of war, Afghanistan is particularly exposed to the effects of climate change, which scientists say is spurring extreme weather.

la-strs-qb/rsc/lga
Rogue Belgian buzzard busted out of wildlife centre



Brussels, Belgium, March 30 (AFP) Mar 30, 2026



It's a tale gripping Belgium: the story of "Coco", a buzzard gone rogue that was taken into captivity for terrorising locals, only to be broken out of a wildlife rescue centre in a daring nighttime raid.

The bird of prey was booked into the facility in southern Belgium Thursday, after authorities in Dinant, a cliff-backed riverside city in the picturesque Ardennes region, complained it had been attacking people there.

But by Sunday morning it was gone -- after someone cut into its enclosure and ferried it away in an overnight operation making national headlines, authorities and the CREAVES centre said Monday.

"Fences were cut, security systems disabled, and the aviary was broken into. The buzzard was taken. Alone", the centre said lamenting what appeared to be a "deliberate and premeditated act".

Prosecutors in the nearby city of Namur noted in a statement that the buzzard had disappeared after a break-in but did not say whether the matter was being investigated.

A spokesperson did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

It was not immediately clear whether the bird had been released into the wild, something the rescue centre warned could "jeopardize its chances of survival".

"Coco" -- as the raptor was nicknamed by area locals -- had been zooming past people near a school in Dinant for weeks, "causing fear, anxiety, and tears among some children," the CREAVES said.

Sightings of it coming into close proximity with people -- and at times being fed by them -- were reported in other nearby areas, prompting authorities to order its capture.

The behaviour suggested the feathered creature did not fear humans, having possibly been raised in captivity, the centre added.

But its apprehension upset some, with the rescue centre reporting it had received "aggressive" messages from members of the public in its wake.
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Actor and former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger spoke of the "breakthrough" he experienced in Belfast as he was presented with an honorary degree.

The 78-year-old star found it "unbelievable" to return to the city of his public speaking debut, six decades on.

Ulster University awarded the Austrian-born icon the doctorate for his public service, environmental advocacy, and arts contributions. He received a red carpet welcome, with students cheering, holding signs like "Ulster he's back" and "Hasta La Vista Ulster", and some bringing Terminator 2 copies.

The actor first visited the city for a bodybuilding competition in 1966, when the sport was in its infancy, and years before his acting debut in the 1970 film Hercules in New York.

He told the students on arrival his trip is "kind of a 60-year anniversary".

open image in gallery Arnold Schwarzenegger with Ulster University Chancellor Colin Davidson (L) and Professor Paul Bartholomew, Vice-Chancellor Ulster University (R) as he receives a honorary doctorate. ( Getty Images )

"So I came here, I was invited by Ivan Dunbar, this Irish man, I think his family is here... he passed away I'm sad to say, but that's where my beginning was, in Ireland, in Belfast.

"And it's wonderful to be back in Northern Ireland and to kind of get to see, this is not something that I dreamt of when I was 19-years-old, when I was here 60 years ago, that one day I will be coming here to get an honorary doctorate degree, it's unbelievable."

Students lined the atrium in the university to listen to Schwarzenegger's speech and cheered as he turned to hold up his award.

In his speech he said that in that 1966 competition in Northern Ireland his body building idol Roy "Reg" Park encouraged him to speak on stage to the crowd.

"So I walked over to the microphone, thinking 'he wants me to do another muscular shot, or something like that', no, he asked me a question," he said.

"He said, 'how do you like it here?' and I'm now almost fainting, because I've never, ever spoken in public before, and we don't have to tell you the fear that we all have of public speaking, so to me, I had this always, I had almost a heart attack."

open image in gallery Arnold Schwarzenegger claps after watching a dancer dressed as his terminator character. ( PA Wire )

He added: "So then (Reg) said to me, says, Okay, tell them, 'I like Belfast'. So I said, 'I like Belfast' again, standing ovation, everyone jumping up, you gave me great applause.

"Then he says, tell him that you're going to be back and then I said, 'I come back' - at that time, I didn't say I'll be back that was before Terminator - so I said, 'I come back'.

"So anyway, standing ovation, he said 'thank you very much, that was fantastic, the first time you spoke in public, you did such a great job and your English is great' and all this stuff.

"And then afterwards I left, I said to myself, 'oh my God, I thought I'm going to die when I speak in front of people, but this was the most encouraging audience'.

"So what I'm saying is what happened that day in Belfast was so important to me, because every single time afterwards, when I won a competition, I went to the microphone and said thank you very much for making me the winner, being Mr Universe, it's great to be in London, or it's great to be New York, or wherever it was and I thanked the audience, and said, 'thank you fans for being so enthusiastic'.

open image in gallery Arnold Schwarzenegger lifts his honorary doctorate presented to him by the Ulster University. (Liam McBurney/PA) ( PA Wire )

"And I said a few words, and each time I said, more and more and more, they eventually couldn't shut me up.

"I love talking so much in public, so this is what I'm talking about, this was a breakthrough.

"I always tell people about that breakthrough that happened here in Belfast.

"This is why I have such fond memories of Belfast, and this is why it is so great to be back now."

Following a ceremony to present the honorary degree, Schwarzenegger answered questions from broadcaster Holly Hamilton, where he encouraged students not to "waste a minute, just study and study and study".

"Because while you're wasting a minute, someone else is going to study and you want to make sure that you are ahead of everyone else," he said.

"The world is a very competitive place, and I want you to succeed, and I want you to create a vision and have a goal."

Dancers performed a Terminator-themed Irish traditional dance routine, donning sunglasses with the famous single red eye.

open image in gallery Students await the arrival of Arnold Schwarzenegger at Ulster University in Belfast. ( Liam McBurney/PA Wire )

Following the ceremony Schwarzenegger then met with Sandra Weir, one of the women featured in a picture of the young bodybuilder on his first visit to Belfast 60 years ago.

Reminiscing on her first meeting with a 19-year-old Schwarzenegger, Ms Weir said: "He was very, very easy to talk to, you know and he was gabbling away and everything, we didn't know what he was saying."

She said the pair "had a good laugh" during their brief reunion on Monday, saying "he was in good form, good form then and even good form now".

Schwarzenegger also met with 91-year-old Eric Downing, a natural bodybuilder from Belfast and the daughter of Ivan Dunbar, the man he stayed with on that first visit 60 years ago.

Before leaving, he signed a poster and a childhood drawing done by a member of the security staff at Ulster University.

Simon Aldworth said it was a "lifetime" dream to meet the Terminator star, saying "you can actually see that my hands are shaking".
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Rege-Jean Page has described his experience of navigating global stardom following his breakout role in Netflixs Bridgerton as "strange" and "very intense".

The 38-year-old actor, who captivated audiences as the Duke of Hastings in the raunchy period drama, departed the series after its hugely successful first season.

Speaking to Esquire UK, Page reflected on adapting to life in the spotlight since the Regency romance propelled him to fame.

He said: It is strange, its not normal.

How I navigate it is very much about what is useful, what serves me in my job, in being able to deliver what I need to deliver to an audience, and a lot of that is just grounding.

It does get quite loud on the inside, like it was very, very intense, that combination of conversation, and I think I worked quite consciously to be able to navigate that environment with some normalcy for myself.

Page shot to fame with his role as the Duke of Hastings in the Netflix show ( Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP )

Since appearing in Bridgerton he has focused on his film career, starring in Netflixs big-budget spy film The Gray Man (2022) alongside Ryan Gosling and Chris Evans.

Page has also launched a production company  A Mighty Stranger  and speaking about taking creative control in his work, he said: I think theres an illusion of how passive an actors role needs to be.

We know all the writers on Beyonce or Taylors albums, but we also expect that that is their product that they crafted for us in an artistic manner.

Its a fairly natural thing for most people to have authorship, some degree of authorship, over the stories theyre telling.

Page also discussed his upcoming romance film You, Me And Tuscany, which will see him star alongside Halle Bailey.

The actor, who is of Zimbabwean descent, said: I think its important to normalise your own existence.

To normalise seeing two black leads in a film that is about a universal experience of escaping to find true love in Italy.

He added that the film, directed by Kat Coiro, is a very fun and frivolous ride with some integrity.

The full interview with Rege-Jean Page is available in Esquire UK.
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The BBC has denied Thomas Skinners claim that he was offered 2,000 to go on Question Time after his controversial appearance on the show.

The scandal-prone Strictly star took part in the BBC One shows panel on Thursday (26 March). While he hit out at the Labour government for smacking small businesses left, right and centre, his comments on the divisive nature of social media were met with criticism.

Skinner said that he tried to spread a bit of positivity and a bit of love online despite being criticised for his political beliefs, leading host Fiona Bruce to ask whether hes part of the problem due to the addictive algorithm that pushes his content. Meanwhile, some viewers recalled one of Skinners tweets in February, in which he called Green Party leader Zach Polanski a massive b******.

open image in gallery Thomas Skinner claimed that he was paid 2,000 to appear on 'Question Time', which the BBC later denied ( X: @iamtomskinner )

Following his Question Time appearance, Skinner took to social media to clarify that he wasnt on the show to represent Reform UK despite revealing in January that he had joined the political party.

Im not there representing any party, he said on X. Im there because it pays 2,000 and I like watching Question Time. Ive been asked probably nine or 10 times to attend over the last four or five years.

So I decided to give it a go. And I really enjoyed it.

The BBC has since denied this was the case, with a spokesperson telling The Independent: Question Time offers a fee of 150 to panellists who arent politicians.

The show also does not pay any elected or serving politicians who appear on the show.

open image in gallery Thomas Skinner on Question Time ( BBC )

After being challenged on social media by former Big Brother contestant Narinder Kaur following the BBCs statement, Skinner doubled down, tweeting: No mate seriously. I honestly agreed 2,000 for me to go on it.

And I agreeed [sic] that they pay me driver 400 on the night to take me and bring me back. Which he had already been paid. I wasnt fishing. I was telling the truth.

In a statement given to The Sun, Skinner also said that his understanding of the fee came directly from his management, who he claimed told him that he would be paid 2,000.

Im a big fan of Question Time and really enjoyed being part of the show, he said. At the same time, it is work for me, and with three kids, I have to treat these opportunities as part of my job.

Skinners relationship with the BBC has been fraught at times following his short time on Strictly Come Dancing last year.

open image in gallery Thomas Skinner on Strictly Come Dancing last year ( BBC )

The show faced backlash after he was cast on the 2025 series due to his friendship with US vice president JD Vance. He became the first star to be voted off the series and later snubbed the final.

In December, he said that he was sent an anonymous email that claimed hed received far more votes than it appeared on the show and that he had been advised to seek legal advice. He also claimed that everyone received a welcome gift on the show except for him, being told that it was stolen.

A spokesperson for the BBC said at the time that Strictlys public vote is independently overseen and verified to ensure complete accuracy every week and that claims to the contrary are entirely without foundation. They added that the Strictly production team categorically did not supply welcome gifts to any of the cast.
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Zendayas recent fashion choices on the global press tour for The Drama have subtly embraced a wedding theme, with the actor sporting something old, something new, and something borrowedalongside co-star Robert Pattinson.

This sartorial nod aligns perfectly with the film's plot, which sees a Boston couple's impending nuptials thrown into chaos by a dark revelation ahead of its Friday release.

Coincidentally, this bridal theme has also fuelled unconfirmed speculation that Zendaya may have already married Tom Holland, with rings she has been observed wearing adding to the rumours.

But back to the fashion: Something old came in Los Angeles on March 17, where the actor wore the same off-the-shoulder Vivienne Westwood Bridal gown  in white, of course  that she wore to the 2015 Oscars.

open image in gallery Zendaya arrives at the premiere of The Drama on Tuesday, March 17, 2026, at DGA Theater Complex in Los Angeles ( Invision )

Our Something Old, her stylist, Law Roach, posted on Instagram.

At the movies March 24 Paris premiere it was time for something new  a white custom Louis Vuitton gown with a very, well, dramatic black bow and train cascading down the back.

Two days later for the Italian premiere in Rome, Zendaya sported a borrowed black Armani Prive dress with a plunging neckline framed with stones, earlier worn by Cate Blanchett at the Venice Film Festival. (somethingborrowed, Roach posted.)

As for something blue  the color may have been subtly referenced by her flowing, multi-hued floral Alexander McQueen dress worn on Jimmy Kimmels show March 16. But that was a little TOO subtle.

Which is why many expect the star to soon be singing the blues.

open image in gallery Zendaya attends The Drama French Premiere, Tuesday, March 24, 2026, in Paris, France ( Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. )

Earlier in March, Zendaya sported a new ring - which led many to believe shes married to actor Holland.

However, the star isnt confirming it and shared why shes intentional about keeping her personal life private.

I think theres a balance between hiding and then also just like living your life and enjoying your life and protecting things that are special to yourself and I think everyone kind of has to do that in some way, the actor told The Associated Press at The Drama premiere.

She arrived for Tuesday's premiere with what appeared to be a wedding band next to a large ring that started speculation at January's Golden Globes that she was engaged to Holland.

Her representatives have declined to confirm the couple are married, even after Zendaya's longtime stylist Law Roach teased journalists recently that the wedding had already happened.
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Spring allergy season has sprung once again in the U.S., with 80 million Americans sneezing, tearing and rubbing their eyes as pesky tree pollen fills the skies.

Record heat and windy weather have fueled major pollen surges in Colorado, Utah, Georgia, North Carolina, Arizona, Virginia and Texas, and forecasters say there will be little relief to arid conditions in the Central states.

As temperatures rise due to human-caused climate change, experts warn that Americas pollen season is expected to start earlier, extend longer and result in higher levels of pollen.

This week, the West will see cooler and wetter weather, AccuWeather said, with a series of storms forecast across the Four Corners States and the Pacific Northwest. But do we see relief when it rains? And what else should Americans know this season?

Rain is a mixed blessing when it comes to allergies, Baylor College of Medicine allergist Dr. David Corry said in a statement, noting that rain does wash pollen out of the air and provides immediate relief.

open image in gallery With hotter and drier weather, comes worsening pollen levels. Experts say one way to get relief from frustrating allergy symptoms is better than the others ( Getty Images for IRONMAN )

But, rain can also lead to the growth of mold and anything that can produce pollen.

There is also a difference between lighter spring showers and a deluge, according to 13 News Now. Harder rain can knock loose more pollen.

If the rain does not flush all pollen off the streets and into the bayous while oak trees are still pollinating, it starts to cycle all over again. Rain also makes weeds and grass grow, and everything that can pollinate grows, exacerbating allergies, he said.

The best way to alleviate symptoms is not to wait for the rain.

First, people should avoid exposure to whats triggering their immune reaction. This can be done through a simple blood or skin test performed by a physician.

For tree pollen, wearing protective gear can help, Dr. Rachel Miller, System Chief of the Division of Clinical Immunology at Mount Sinais Icahn School of Medicine, explained.

If tree pollen, for example, is identified as a trigger, then wearing hats, sunglasses outdoors and removing shoes and showering upon return indoors, can minimize exposure, she said. So can wearing an N95 mask while doing outdoor yard work and protective goggles.

And there are many medications that can help treat symptoms, if they are taken correctly.

Those include eye drops, pill or nose sprays. The sprays are among the most effective treatments for seasonal allergies, but patients often use them wrong, Dr. Kathleen May, an allergist at Augusta University in Georgia, told The Associated Press.

People should position the nozzle of the spray toward the ear, rather than jamming it up the nostril, she said.

If someone cannot tolerate the medicines or has persistent symptoms, then allergen immunotherapy either through injections, known as allergy shots, or medicine under the tongue, can be considered, said Miller.

There is a rumor that honey can be effective in protecting people against allergies by exposing people to pollen. However, thats largely been debunked.

The flowers bees pollinate dont usually contain the airborne pollens that cause seasonal allergies.

The only way this type of allergenic pollen would end up in honey is by chance, if it were blown into the hive or onto the flowers, the American Academy of Allergy Asthma & Immunology said.

open image in gallery The flowers that bees pollinate usually dont have tree pollens that are typically the source of seasonal allergies ( AFP via Getty Images )

Still, the drugs can only provide temporary relief. So, is there a cure and what can people do if the drugs arent working for them?

Well, first make sure to try a different version of allergy medication. Some work better than others depending on the individual.

But, people can also get allergy shots from their doctors to help better respond to the allergens.

Doctors can offer allergy shots if appropriate, and that basically takes a small amount of the thing you're allergic to and puts it in a shot form to desensitize your body to the allergen, Dr. Sharon Chinthrajah, an associate professor of medicine and of pediatrics at Stanford Medicine, said.

The shots can lead to either long-term or permanent relief of symptoms, Dr. Kathleen May, the division chief of allergy, immunology and pediatric rheumatology at the Medical College of Georgia, noted.

We hesitate to use the word cure because its possible it will come back later in your life. But, I have treated children with allergy injections where their symptoms were gone and they were requiring no medication, she said.

Some people can also outgrow their allergies, but allergies can also emerge at any time of your life.

Just because youve never experienced allergies before does not mean you never will, Johns Hopkins Medicines Dr. Murray Ramanathan Jr., a professor of otolaryngology, pointed out.

With our environment constantly changing, its hard to nail down how allergies develop in every person, Chinthrahjah said.

What I try to tell my patients is to try to restore the things that you can, such as the skin barrier. Try to hydrate your skin. If you have eczema, that dryness is a skin breakdown where you're letting outside in. It's also important to try to sleep better, eat better, exercise better  getting outside and getting vitamin D is really important, she concluded.
The Ministry of Culture of Ukraine is not considering the issue of canceling the system of awarding honorary titles such as "Peoples Artist of Ukraine" and "Merited Artist of Ukraine," but it will join the processing of this issue if there is a request from society.

"The Ministry is not considering the issue of canceling the system of state awards, in particular the awarding of honorary titles Peoples Artist of Ukraine and Merited Artist of Ukraine. However, in case of a request from society regarding the need to review the system of state awards, the ministry will join the processing of the aforementioned issue," the Ministry of Culture said in response to an inquiry from the Interfax-Ukraine agency.

The department also reminded that the procedure for the functioning of the state award system is defined by the law "On State Awards of Ukraine," and specifically, the awarding is carried out by a decree of the president.

In this regard, the Ministry of Culture is not the administrator of information regarding the number of awarded honorary titles of "Peoples Artist of Ukraine" and "Merited Artist of Ukraine."

As reported, on March 19, the Lviv Regional Puppet Theater stated that the system of honorary titles has Soviet origins and, in their opinion, does not correspond to modern approaches to evaluating art. The theater also called for a broader discussion on the expediency of preserving honorary titles in Ukraine. Additionally, they urged the Ministry of Culture to "hear the voice of the professional community" and consider the possibility of canceling the system of Soviet honorary titles at the state level.
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The news this week is defined by enduring geopolitical fault lines. Iran repeatedly commands the worlds attention, whether through covert assassination plots in Europe or high-stakes hostage negotiations with British sailors. Meanwhile, Israel engages in a tense military siege at the Church of the Nativity and, years later, reveals controversial plans to redraw its borders and annex Palestinian territory. The week also sees the loss of influential figures, from the Queen Mother at the age of 101 to John Paul Il, paving the way for the election of his successor. All and more are captured on the front pages of The Independent.

4 April 1988  Iranian hit squads target Europe

Highly placed sources reveal that Iranian hit squads are preparing to infiltrate Western Europe in a new assassination campaign ordered by Tehran. The specially trained operatives plan to bypass customs by posing as national airline flight attendants, relying on a covert network of fake students and agency workers for ground support. The intelligence details a highly coordinated effort by Ayatollah Khomeinis regime to target dissidents abroad.

open image in gallery ( The Independent )

5 April 1991  A million Kurds mass on Iranian border

More than a million Iraqi Kurds mass at the Iranian border, fleeing helicopter attacks and the advancing Iraqi army. The refugees endure torrential rain, starvation and untreated wounds as they desperately seek safety from Saddam Husseins regime. The mass displacement soon prompts an international response, with Western allies establishing safe havens and enforcing a no-fly zone across northern Iraq.

open image in gallery ( The Independent )

30 March 1998  Blair announces bug buster army

Tony Blair reveals plans to train a 20,000-strong army of bug busters to tackle the impending millennium computer date-change crisis. Writing in The Independent, the prime minister outlines government grants to train young, unemployed and retired citizens to prevent the technical timebomb from causing major disruption. Less than two years later, the turn of the millennium ultimately arrives without catastrophe.

open image in gallery ( The Independent )

31 March 2001  Milosevic taken into police custody

Serbian state television announces the arrest of former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic in Belgrade. The detention occurs just one hour before the expiry of a US deadline threatening heavy economic sanctions if the country fails to cooperate with the UN war crimes tribunal. He is later extradited to The Hague to face trial for crimes against humanity, but ultimately dies in his cell in 2006 before a verdict can be reached.

open image in gallery ( The Independent )

31 March 2002  Queen Mother dies peacefully at 101

Buckingham Palace announces the death of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, who dies peacefully in her sleep at the age of 101. The loss marks a second severe blow to the royal family, coming exactly seven weeks after the passing of Princess Margaret. An estimated 200,000 mourners later file past her coffin during her public lying-in-state at Westminster Hall.

open image in gallery ( The Independent )

4 April 2002  Siege at the Church of the Nativity

Israeli troops surround the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem as reports indicate at least 100 Palestinian civilians are seeking sanctuary inside the sacred site. The tense military standoff, unfolding alongside heavy tank incursions into nearby Nablus, raises profound international alarm over escalating violence in the Holy Land. The gruelling 39-day siege ultimately concludes with an internationally brokered agreement that frees the civilians and sends armed militants into exile.

open image in gallery ( The Independent )

3 April 2005  Pope John Paul II dies at 84

The Vatican announces the death of Pope John Paul II at the age of 84, bringing a close to his historic 26-year papacy. Following a highly publicised decline in the pontiffs health, The Independent reports he is mourned globally by millions across all faiths despite his staunchly conservative views. His passing soon draws one of the largest gatherings of world leaders in history for his funeral, paving the way for the election of his successor, Pope Benedict XVI.

open image in gallery ( The Independent )

30 March 2006  Olmert wins mandate to redraw borders

Ehud Olmert secures an election victory, claiming a mandate to implement a controversial realignment plan to unilaterally redraw Israels borders and annex Palestinian territory. The proposed strategy aims to consolidate major settlement blocs while withdrawing from other areas of the West Bank. However, the plans are ultimately abandoned just months later following the outbreak of the 2006 Lebanon war.

open image in gallery ( The Independent )

4 April 2007  High-stakes hostage talks with Iran

The British government enters direct talks with a senior Iranian negotiator as the hostage crisis over 15 captured Royal Navy personnel reaches a crucial stage. Hopes for a resolution mount following the release of an Iranian diplomat in Iraq, sparking media speculation of a coordinated prisoner exchange. In a dramatic twist later that very day, Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad suddenly announces the unconditional release of all 15 sailors as an Easter gift to the British people.

open image in gallery ( The Independent )

3 April 2009  G20 agrees $1 trillion global bailout

World leaders at the London G20 summit agree to inject $1 trillion into the global economy to combat the escalating recession. Economists widely credit this unprecedented, highly coordinated intervention with restoring market confidence and preventing a second Great Depression.
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When I looked in the mirror, I saw gaping pores and deep craters, and when I interacted with people, I couldnt focus on conversation, says Ashlea Perry, describing the intrusive thoughts about her appearance that tormented her throughout her twenties. My internal dialogue was always the same: Theyre staring at my face. They think Im hideous. Why are they even talking to me? It consumed my thoughts.

Perry, who is now 44, is one of many sufferers of skin dysmorphia, more commonly referred to as acne dysmorphia in the US, where she lives in New Orleans, Louisiana. Years later, a friend found an old photo of us  taken before Photoshop and filters existed  and I was stunned, she reflects. My skin looked normal  good, even. I asked former classmates about it, and they told me they never noticed my skin being bad.

I was shocked. I had always believed I would be remembered as the girl with terrible acne.

Skin dysmorphia is an increasingly recognised condition, where the sufferer looks in the mirror and believes there are imperfections all over their face. This can lead to an obsessive and complex skincare routine in a bid to achieve the type of flawless skin commonly flaunted (thanks to filters and foundation) on social media sites like TikTok and Instagram Reels.

Signs of the condition include checking in the mirror excessively, being dissatisfied with aesthetic or medical skin treatments, compulsively using or trying new products and procedures, experiencing intense emotional stress over minor or invisible skin issues, and even avoiding social situations because of the way you think your skin looks.

The all-encompassing illness often appears alongside depression, anxiety, isolation, and loss of work or low grades, as sufferers get stuck in a loop of staring at the face they hate in the mirror, picking apart their reflection and trying to fix it  through whatever dangerous or costly means they can.

The emotional and financial costs were enormous, says Perry. I have likely spent tens of thousands of dollars on skincare.

Excessive skincare routines, with numerous steps, active agents or excessive scraping and scrubbing, are often adopted by skin dysmorphia sufferers and can expose people to a myriad of health risks, including scarring, irritation, and sun damage  or worse.

In one case, a previously healthy 44-year-old woman suffered a seizure and liver toxicity hepatitis, which, researchers concluded, stemmed from prolonged exposure to titanium dioxide in her skincare products.

open image in gallery Maddie Ogle has shared her experience with skin dysmorphia on TikTok ( TikTok/@maddieogle10 )

While this is an extreme case, its not uncommon for fears over acne to keep patients hooked on intense treatments for far longer than necessary.

Maddie Ogle, 22, was put on 150mg of spironolactone for her hormonal acne when she was 20. The medication  a diuretic, which can cause dizziness, low energy, skin rashes, headaches and loss of libido  cleared her skin, but she became too afraid to come off of it, even though by this point shed been weaned down to 20mg as her treatment came to a close.

I kept having all these side effects, she says. But my skin looked good, so I thought Id rather deal with a few weird things than the depression of having acne. I would get tiny breakouts and be convinced it was happening again.

Im glad that I had my mum and my boyfriend around me to tell me you need to care about your health and your mental health more than your skin because its going to be fine and it, and it was, so Im glad I listened to them, she reflects of her decision to come off of the medication and see how her skin responded (well).

It deeply impacted my self-esteem and self-worth and made me more vulnerable to abusive relationships Ashlea Perry

I was just exhausted; my skin was literally the only thing on my mind.

Skin dysmorphia is a specific form of body dysmorphic disorder (BDD), a mental health condition involving intense, obsessive preoccupation with imagined or slight flaws in physical appearance that are often unnoticeable to others. This can mean that those suffering from skin dysmorphia are less likely to get the help they need, as patients will often go to dermatologists to treat their perceived skin issues, rather than seeking mental health support.

The psychological effects deeply impacted my self-esteem and self-worth and made me more vulnerable to abusive relationships, Perry reflects about her own symptoms.

Awareness of the condition is growing. In January 2026, doctors recommended that further steps be taken for the symptoms to be identified, through a new Skin Dysmorphia Scale (SDS) published in the Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology, to urgently necessitate comprehensive assessment and management of the condition. However, its still up to practitioners whether or not they use it.

The psychologist and mental health researcher Dr Eleanor Chatburn says shed like to see more communication between dermatologists, aesthetic practitioners and mental health specialists to stop people falling through the cracks. I have worked with dermatologists before who are very ethical, she says. Theyll screen for dysmorphia and decline to treat people who have it or refer them first to a psychologist. But there are also plenty of people who will happily take peoples money and offer them a whole course of various treatments.

She points out that alerting a patient that they might be suffering from a mental health issue can be a hard conversation to have. People can still be in the mindset that its definitely a skin problem, says Chatburn. Theyre going to a dermatologist or aesthetic practitioner because they want a quick, external fix. If they hear, this may not be fixable in the way you think it is, some people dont come back because they desperately want a certain product or laser treatment. So, they find someone wholl sell it to them.

Chatburn advises anyone wondering if they are suffering from the condition to do an audit. Ask others around you whether you spend a lot of your day checking yourself in the mirror. Ask yourself if you are spending a lot of your money on skin products and a lot of your time on social media comparing yourself to flawless influencers. Think about how those things are impacting your life.

Those who suffer will often spend less time socialising, dismiss their hobbies, and decrease the amount they go outside. Therell be a whole bunch of stuff theyre avoiding, Chatburn says. Sitting under bright lights, being too close to people; things that we call safety behaviours because they make sufferers feel secure, but actually they can inadvertently keep the preoccupation going.

Also look for signs of low mood, depression, hopelessness, and low self-esteem. Ive heard people say, My skin is bad, so Im bad. So, it gets internalised in a really, really toxic way.

Excessive skincare purchasing is worse now than ever before. Nicola Liberos, a registered nurse prescriber and aesthetic practitioner based in London, says shes often horrified by patients who come to see her with 50 different highly chemical products in their bathroom. Its ridiculous, she says. Ill give them three that are less toxic and then also look at their overall wellbeing; mental health, internal health, gut health, blood tests, because that all links to your skin.

Skin is the largest organ of your body, so youve got to look at everything  but there are practitioners out there whore just trying to sell products.

As well as selling products, there are a lot of people selling what looks like perfect skin. With 47.6 million videos (and counting) under the skincare hashtag on TikTok, its no wonder that the latest research demonstrates that heavier use of the app coincides with higher skin dysmorphia tendencies.

Dont forget, children have access to TikTok, Instagram, Boots and Superdrug, Liberos reminds us of Gen Alphas insatiable penchant for products. There are harmful, harsh ingredients in there that are dangerous to children; you can pick anything up and take it to the counter.

If you are experiencing feelings of distress or are struggling to cope, you can speak to the Samaritans, in confidence, on 116 123 (UK and ROI), email jo@samaritans.org, or visit the Samaritans website to find details of your nearest branch
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A Florida man has been arrested following an alleged theft at an election supervisors office, according to law enforcement.

John D. Panicci, 59, of Lake Worth, was arrested on Saturday and charged with theft after the Palm Beach County elections office reported that sensitive computer equipment had been stolen from the office.

According to the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office, the Supervisor of Elections Office held a training session for volunteers working a March 24 election.

Investigators believe that Panicci attended that training and used the opportunity to steal an encrypted access key from a voter registration terminal.

On his Facebook page, Panicci, a U.S. Army veteran, posted several times expressing outrage at the actions of the Trump administration.

open image in gallery John Panicci, 59, volunteering at the Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Office in Palm Beach County, Florida. Panicci allegedly stole an encrypted key to a voter registration terminal while training as a volunteer at the office ( Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Office )

On March 16, Panicci posted about Trump invoking the deaths of servicemembers in Kuwait in a fundraising email. I mean seriously, he agrees making money over the death of a soldier is just fine to do. He then goes on in the same breath to spout about votes and poll numbers?! WTF?, he wrote. That same day, Panicci also criticized Trump for apparently alienating U.S. allies with the ongoing conflict in Iran.

On November 17, 2025, Panicci wrote a lengthy post criticizing the presidents reluctance to release the Epstein files. In 2024, Panicci wrote that during his refresher class at the Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Office, he was told that if Trump came to vote, he would not be allowed because of his New York felony conviction.

This is not the case, as Florida law dictates that only felons convicted in the Sunshine State are forbidden from voting. If a person is convicted out of state and that state allows felons who are not currently incarcerated to vote, they are allowed to vote in Florida.

open image in gallery John Panicci, 59, has been charged with theft after he allegedly stole an encrypted voter registration terminal key while volunteering at the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office ( Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office )

A special election was held on March 24 in which Florida Democrats flipped two state congressional seats, including District 87, which includes President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago.

The sheriff's office said that the stolen key only provided access to training databases, not to voter kiosks.

After establishing probable cause, the sheriff's office executed a search warrant at Panicci's house and found the key, as well as electronic and digital storage devices, according to the release.

Panicci was arrested and appeared in court on Sunday.

A judge told him he was to have no contact with the Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Office. He was then booked into the Palm Beach County Jail on $6,000 bail.
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When Dawn Haas gave birth to her son, the Florida mom said she felt like she was doing something right for a change  bringing a perfect boy into the world.

But over the years, little Justyn Pennell began to display behaviors that Haas found disturbing. Shed wake up to him staring at her. Fits of rage would overcome him. Watching others being injured amused him.

There was something not right about him, Haas thought. But he was still her sweet, baby boy, and the thought of him doing something tragic never crossed her mind.

I just killed someone, Pennell admitted in a 911 call. I dont know whats wrong with me.

On January 9, 2020, Pennell was out in Hudson, Florida, when he struck and killed 75-year-old Michael Pratt, a Vietnam veteran and grandfather who was out walking with his cane. The then-21-year-old was sentenced to life in prison after he pleaded no contest to the murder. Haas thought she understood what her son had done.

That was until she heard his 911 confession for the first time.

open image in gallery Justyn Pennell was sentenced to life in prison after he intentionally ran over 75-year-old Michael Pratt  a Vietnam veteran and grandfather, in Florida in 2020. Now, his mom is speaking out in a new documentary about learning that her son was a killer ( CourtTV )

Thats not the Justyn I know, she said. Thats not him.

His calm demeanor and detached awareness of the situation shocks his mother, who wipes her tears and shakes her head, asking why.

Theres so much more to him that I didn't see, theres so much more to him that I didnt know, she tells a documentary crew. How does this happen?

A chilling confession

Haass story is one of several featured in Evil Lives Here: My Child the Killer, a new Investigation Discovery spinoff that explores the devastating reality of parents who realized their children were capable of the unthinkable.

In the first episode of the series, which premieres on March 31, Haas hears, for the first time, the 911 call her son made just moments after he plowed down Pratt, killing him. Pennell, who was 21 years old at the time, could be heard on the call telling the dispatcher what hes done  that he hit someone, and that it was intentional.

Ive been driving around roads looking for people I can hit while avoiding witnesses. he admitted

I saw the old guy with the cane and then I made a U-turn, he continues. I just went for him.

open image in gallery Haass story is one of several featured in Evil Lives Here: My Child the Killer, a new Investigation Discovery spinoff that focuses on parents who realized their children were capable of the unthinkable ( Investigation Discovery )

open image in gallery Haas recalls how her son Justyn often had fits of rage growing up ( Investigation Discovery )

In an interview with police, Pennell admitted that he just wanted to know what it felt like to kill someone. When asked about other methods he has considered, he told investigators that he always had a fondness for knives.

I mean Im really fond of knives, he says in the recording. I was thinking about slicing people up and cutting them open. Dissecting them, essentially.

Haas mother sobs on camera as she hears her son speak so nonchalantly about murder. She also sees, for the first time, photos of items recovered from his car the day of the killing, which include multiple types of knives, gloves, and a hatchet.

Thats a literal murder kit, she reacts in horror. Haas stares at the images, trying to reconcile them with the boy she raised.

open image in gallery Justyn was nine years old when he became annoyed at a duck and slammed it into a log ( Investigation Discovery )

An act of pure evil

Pennell, who had told investigators he had been thinking about killing someone for several months. He had never met Pratt. There was no connection between them  only opportunity.

The suspect drives past him, intentionally makes a U-turn, goes toward the victim and starts accelerating at a high rate of speed, Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco said at a press conference after the killing.

The suspect tells us later on that while hes driving, he can see the look of fright on the victims face. He can see that fear and he can see the emotion of, Oh my gosh, this persons about to hit me, and the victim tries to get out of the way. The suspect intentionally runs him over.

Pratt died at the scene.

It was an act of pure evil, the sheriff said.

open image in gallery Michael Pratt, a Vietnam vet and grandfather, was out walking with a cane when he was struck and killed by Pennell. The killer and victim did not know each other ( MLive.com )

open image in gallery Pennell told investigators he had been thinking about killing someone for 'several months' ( Investigation Discovery )

After slamming into the victim, Pennell didnt flee. His busted vehicle came to a stop at the scene of the crash, where he called 911 and waited for the authorities to arrive. It was Pennells reaction to Pratts death that stunned his mother.

When asked about how he felt after hitting Pratt, he told investigators: I just smiled and laughed. I enjoyed it, but afterwards, I calmed down. I was more ashamed that I broke the car.

Signs of a psychopath?

Long before the crime, there were moments his mother couldnt fully explain. Her son made comments that didnt feel right, she explained in the docuseries.

When he was just nine years old, he became annoyed with a duck that was swimming near him so he slammed it against a log over and over. When he was a teenager, and his cousin was struck by a car, all he could do was laugh.

It created a red flag in the back of my brain that he might be a psychopath, Haas said. Something is not right with him.

Haas said she tried to get her son help, had him evaluated by doctors. But was told that he was just a typical kid - and there was nothing to be alarmed about.

I was worried I might find him on the news, Haas said. Within a few short years, she did.

Its just been a horrible dream, a nightmare, she added. I just want to wake up from it.

open image in gallery Evil Lives Here: My Child the Killer premieres Tuesday, March 31 at 9/8c on ID, with episodes available to stream on HBO Max ( Investigation Discovery )

In 2022, more than two years after his arrest, Pennell changed his plea. He pleaded no contest to first-degree premeditated murder. A no-contest plea means a defendant does not admit guilt but will not challenge the charges.

In court, Pennell said he had been diagnosed with Aspergers, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. He acknowledged he was not taking medication at the time but said he was capable of making a clear decision. Judge Mary Handsel sentenced Pennell to life in prison.

Haas continues to keep in touch with her son, whom she lovingly calls Bubby.

For the Florida mother, the hardest part isnt just what her son did. It was hearing his deepest, darkest thoughts. And trying to understand how the boy she raised became a killer  while wondering whether the signs were always there.

The mom in me is still feeling the hurt hes feeling, she said between sobs. Because I can fix him and make him better? No, I can just love him. 

Evil Lives Here: My Child the Killer premieres Tuesday, March 31 at 9/8c on ID, with episodes available to stream on HBO Max.
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A Texas man is behind bars after investigators say he killed his girlfriend, then drove across state lines to dump her body, according to new details revealed in an arrest affidavit.

Authorities allege Christopher Charles Sanders, 53, murdered 31-year-old Molly Richards in late November 2025 after the couple traveled from Texas to South Dakota. Her remains have not been found.

Despite not having located her body, investigators say evidence has led them to believe Richards was murdered. On March 7, police arrested Sanders in Marietta, Oklahoma, as he was traveling from South Dakota. Sanders denied killing Richards and wouldn't provide any details on her whereabouts.

An investigation was first launched in January by police in Little Elm, Texas, after Richards father, Steven Richards, contacted them after not hearing from his daughter since November.

According to the affidavit obtained by WFAA, Richards last saw his daughter in November 2025. She later texted him saying she and Sanders were traveling to South Dakota.

open image in gallery Sanders has denied killing Richards ( Little Elm Police Department )

The worried father told investigators that his daughter had recently moved in with Sanders at a home in Little Elm in October and that she had previously told him about alleged abuse.

On December 1, he received what would be the final message from her, stating she was checking herself into a mental health facility for bipolar disorder. After that, his messages went unanswered.

Went by your place. Where is Molly anyway? Richards said in a text to Sanders on December 10. There was no answer at the door, and I didnt see her car. I am worried about Molly. Can you tell me where she is and how she is doing?

But Sanders did not respond, prompting Richards to contact police and file a missing persons report.

During the investigation, authorities traced Molly Richards car to Deadwood, South Dakota, where it had been involved in a minor crash. A witness there told police he had met the couple at a bar in November and had agreed to watch her car at Sanders request, according to the affidavit.

The witness said Sanders claimed he was taking Richards to see a doctor in Rapid City, then flew back to Texas, later returning to retrieve his own vehicle while leaving hers behind. The witness also said that Sanders had claimed that Richards had met another man and was staying behind with him at a motel in Rapid City.

Mental health facilities, hospitals and motels were contacted, but investigators found no record of Richards ever checking in to any of the places as claimed by Sanders.

open image in gallery Police believe Richards was killed on November 25 ( Little Elm Police Department )

Days later, a woman caring for Sanders dogs at his South Dakota property discovered several of Richards belongings in a dresser drawer, including her drivers license, bank cards, laptop, prescription medication, and unopened mail, according to the affidavit.

Her laptop had not been used since November 14, and her bank accounts had no activity beyond recurring subscription charges after November. Investigators noted that, based on prior interactions with Richards, it would be out of character for her to leave behind her ID and other personal items.

Search warrants were executed at properties tied to Sanders in Little Elm and Denton and investigators reported finding bedding with blood residue and a receipt for items including a 24-inch bow saw, multiple five-gallon buckets, a tamper, a reciprocating saw, and gloves, according to the affidavit. The tools were not recovered.

open image in gallery However, her body has not been found ( Little Elm Police Department )

Authorities allege Richards was killed on or around November 25.

Investigators later reconstructed the route of Richards vehicle, determining it traveled through Oklahoma on the way to South Dakota on November 27.

They identified a gap of one hour and nine minutes when the vehicle was near Sanders property in Marietta, Oklahoma. Investigators believe that window of time is when Sanders disposed of Richards body, likely on or near the property, before continuing north, according to the affidavit.

Sanders is currently in the Denton County Jail without bail.
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More than two decades after a California banker vanished, parts of his body have washed up on the west coast  for a second time.

Partial remains discovered on a Sonoma County beach in June 2022 have now been identified as Walter Karl Kinney, a 59-year-old banker who disappeared in 1999, according to the DNA Doe Project.

A family was walking along Salmon Creek Beach looking for seashells when they spotted a long leg bone protruding from the sand, with surgical hardware still attached. Deputies who were called to the area searched for additional remains, but came up empty handed.

The Sonoma County Sheriffs Office turned to the DNA Doe Project, a nonprofit that uses genetic genealogy to identify unknown remains. After developing a DNA profile and uploading it to a public database, the remains were identified as Kinney.

In a bizarre twist, other parts of Kinneys body had already been found along the same coastline years earlier.

open image in gallery Remains found on a California beach in 2022 have been identified as Walter Karl Kinney, a 59-year-old banker who vanished in 1999 ( DNA Doe Project )

Kinney, who was born in 1940, had been living in Santa Rosa when he disappeared in August 1999, according to the DNA Doe Project. At the time, investigators had little to go on  until a grim discovery later that same year.

A severed leg washed ashore at Bodega Head, about five miles south of Salmon Creek Beach. The foot was still inside a size 12 Rockport ProWalker shoe fitted with a custom orthopedic insert. But with no other remains, the investigation hit a dead end, SFGATE reported.

The first break in the case came in 2003 when a woman in Cleveland contacted authorities to report that her father, Walter Kinney, had not been seen for several years. While she said it wasnt unusual for him to lose contact due to struggles with alcoholism and periods of incarceration, the length of his absence raised concern.

Investigators obtained Kinneys medical records, which showed a history of foot problems. X-rays matched the remains found at Bodega Head, confirming those remains were his.

In January 2026, nearly two decades later, researchers with the DNA Doe Project uncovered past reporting on the 1999 remains and the 2003 identification, allowing investigators to link both discoveries to the same person  making Kinney a rare case of someone identified as a John Doe twice, the organization said.

This case was unusual  its not often we see someone end up as a John Doe twice, said Traci Onders, team leader with DNA Doe Project. But thanks to investigative genetic genealogy, we were able to resolve this mystery and provide some answers to everyone involved in this case.

But despite identifying the remains, there are still unanswered questions in the case. Authorities have not determined how Kinney died or whether foul play was involved.

In 2003, his daughter described him to investigators as a man who was smart, sensitive, almost to a fault, and said, This world was just too harsh a place for him.
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Nicole Daedone, the founder of a controversial womens wellness company known for promoting "orgasmic meditation," has been sentenced to nine years in federal prison on forced labor charges.

A federal court in Brooklyn also ordered Daedone to forfeit $12 million, the amount she received when she sold her stake in OneTaste Inc., according to John Marzulli, a spokesperson for the Office of U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York.

Prosecutors had pushed for a 20-year sentence, asserting in pre-sentencing filings that Daedones scheme left "scores of victims financially, emotionally and psychologically scarred."

They argued that "Daedone and her co-conspirators exercised control through economic pressure, psychological manipulation, physical exhaustion and emotional degradation, leaving behind a trail of financial ruin and lasting trauma."

However, Daedones lawyers contended that a lengthy imprisonment would be "bonkers," advocating for a term of approximately two years.

They highlighted her lack of a prior criminal record and presented over 200 letters to the court "attesting to her character, her generosity, and her positive influence."

open image in gallery Daedones lawyers presented over 200 character letters to the court, including one from CNNs Van Jones ( The Associated Press. All rights reserved )

Her defense team wrote in their sentencing memo that she "has lived an uncommon and impactful life, and she is deeply respected by people from all walks of life, including many entirely unconnected to OneTaste."

They described her as "a prolific writer, teacher, and spiritual practitioner whose work has long focused on reducing suffering and fostering meaningful human connection."

Among those who submitted letters of support were CNN correspondent Van Jones, a former adviser to President Barack Obama, and actor Richard Schiff of "The West Wing."

Jones characterized Daedone as "a woman of uncommon wisdom, grace and moral courage" who has "dedicated her life to helping others find healing, empowerment and a deeper sense of human connection."

Schiff argued she deserved leniency because she has "spent her life trying to bring compassion, awareness, and honesty to a part of human experience that is often shamed or misunderstood."

During the roughly month-long trial, prosecutors detailed how Daedone and former sales director Rachel Cherwitz, who is set to be sentenced later, ran a years-long scheme.

They allegedly groomed adherents, many of whom were victims of sexual trauma, to perform their bidding.

open image in gallery Daedones lawyers presented over 200 character letters to the court, including one from CNNs Van Jones ( The Associated Press. All rights reserved )

The two women were accused of using economic, sexual, and psychological abuse, intimidation, and indoctrination to coerce OneTaste members into sexual acts they found uncomfortable or repulsive, such as engaging with prospective investors or clients.

Followers were told these acts were essential for achieving "freedom," "enlightenment," and demonstrating commitment to the companys principles.

One of Daedones lawyers, conversely, portrayed her as a "ceiling-shattering feminist entrepreneur" who established a unique business centered on womens sexuality and empowerment.

OneTaste was co-founded by Daedone in San Francisco in 2004 as a self-help commune that posited female orgasms as crucial for sexual and psychological wellness and interpersonal connection. A core practice was "orgasmic meditation," or "OM," which involved men manually stimulating women in a group setting.

The company garnered positive media attention in the 2010s as a pioneering enterprise focused on womens sexual pleasure, expanding with outposts from Los Angeles to London.

Daedone sold her stake in 2017 for $12 million, a year before OneTastes marketing and labor practices came under intense scrutiny.

The companys current owners have since rebranded it as the Institute of OM Foundation, maintaining that its work has been misrepresented and the charges against its former executives were unjustified.
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Just two days before Halloween last year, a Missouri man allegedly stole thousands of Snickers bars from a Sams Club store in St. Charles.

Police are searching for Clifton L. Davis, 50, of St. Louis County, and a warrant has been issued for his arrest, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Davis was charged last week with felony stealing in connection with the theft of 50 boxes of Snickers and two jugs of laundry detergent, valued at more than $2,600. He is currently not in custody.

Using store surveillance footage, investigators said they were able to identify Davis as the suspect accused of leaving the store with the candy bars on October 29, 2025.

Davis allegedly walked into Sams Club, filled a shopping cart with the candy bars and the containers of detergent, and left without paying, police said.

open image in gallery Clifton L. Davis is charged with felony stealing in the theft of 50 boxes of Snickers and two jugs of laundry detergent, valued at more than $2,600 ( Getty Images )

Security cameras later captured a man loading the candy into the back of a black Lincoln Navigator before leaving the scene.

Store employees told police they thought they recognized Davis, and believed he had previously tried to steal merchandise from the store.

Davis has an extensive criminal history and is described by court officials as being a multi-state stealing offender with numerous arrests and convictions dating back 1992.

He has multiple stealing convictions from stores throughout the St. Louis region since 2023, according to court records obtained by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The candy bars would constitute Davis largest monetary theft.

Davis was convicted of stealing merchandise from Walmart in Wentzville, a Schnuck Market grocery store in OFallon, a Home Depot in Bridgeton, and a Menards in St. Ann. He also has been convicted of a theft from an unnamed store in Kirkwood.
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Three women have been arrested for refusing to leave a plane after they boarded with too many carry-on bags, according to the cops.

Nafisa Dockery, 30, Davana Cochran, 26, and Dionjana Cochran, 21, were at Miami International Airport Sunday night, boarding a Frontier flight to Philadelphia when the incident occurred, according to arrest reports obtained by The Independent from the Miami-Dade Sheriffs Office.

The trio was being checked onto the plane when a Frontier employee noticed they had only paid for one of the two carry-on bags they had with them, according to the arrest report.

When the employee said the women needed to step out of line and pay for the extra bag, they began a verbal altercation with the worker, police said.

open image in gallery Three women, including 30-year-old Nafisa Dockery, have been arrested for refusing to leave a plane after they boarded with too many carry-on bags, according to the cops ( Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office )

After the employee again explained they needed to pay for the extra bag or be removed from the flight, Dockery told the other two in her group, We dont have to listen, let's just go, the arrest report said.

The trio then rushed onto the plane through a door marked restricted area authorized personnel only, according to the report.

When the cops showed up, a Frontier manager said the groups boarding passes were being denied because of their actions and requested they be removed from the plane, police said.

open image in gallery Davana Cochran, 26, and the other two women rushed onto the Frontier flight at Miami International Airport after refusing to pay for an extra bag, according to authorities ( Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office )

Police went onto the plane and told the women they no longer had valid boarding passes and needed to leave the plane, but they refused, according to the arrest report.

The cops warned the women that they would be arrested for trespassing if they did not leave the plane, the report said. Despite multiple warnings, the women continued to refuse the polices orders and were then arrested, the cops said.

Police requested that all passengers leave the plane so they could arrest the trio, and then the women tried to leave with the crowd, according to the report. As Dockery walked off the plane, she spat on someone, the report said.

Once the women were off the plane, the cops tried to handcuff them, but they resisted arrest, police said. After a brief struggle, the trio was taken into custody, according to authorities.

open image in gallery The incident, which also involved Dionjana Cochran, 21, caused the flight to be delayed for more than an hour, police said ( Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office )

The incident caused the flight to be delayed for more than an hour, police said.

All three women were charged with Resisting Officer Without Violence To His Person and Trespass Property/After Warning. Dockery was also charged with Battery.

They were taken to Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center. Information about the womens legal representation was not immediately clear.

The Independent has reached out to Frontier for comment.
In early 2026, cyber security researchers at Google spotted an alarming new tactic emerging from cyber crime circles. Hackers were deploying a combination of AI-powered tools to create traps that were nearly impossible to defend against.

The attacks used Googles Gemini AI tool to develop tooling, conduct operational research, and assist during the reconnaissance stages, before AI deepfakes were used to trick victims over spoofed Zoom calls. In one instance, a group linked to North Korea used an AI-generated deepfake of a prominent CEO to fool the victim into compromising their computer security.

The attack method forms part of a new wave of AI-enabled online crime that is leading to record levels of cyber attacks, scams and financial losses.

This weaponisation of AI is turning once uniquely human skills, like persuasion, mimicry and coding, into hyper-effective tools that can be accessed on demand and customised for any target.

It has led to what some experts describe as the fifth wave of cyber crime, contributing to huge losses for both companies and individuals, and making the internet more dangerous than ever before.

AI-driven social engineering

Social engineering attacks like phishing  where attackers trick people to steal sensitive data or money  have been around for decades. But now generative AI tools are enabling attackers to create highly-personalised impersonation attacks, mimicking a targets friends, family members or colleagues with unprecedented accuracy.

They can come in the form of hyper-realistic email scams, synthetic voice calls, and even deepfake personas appearing on video calls.

AI-powered social engineering is alarmingly effective, Brian Sibley, chief technology officer at IT consultancy firm Espria, tells The Independent.

Attackers can now mimic colleagues, suppliers, or executives with near-perfect accuracy. The only effective defence is to monitor behaviour continuously, spotting the subtle indicators that something just isnt right.

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A January report from cyber security firm Group-IB found that cyber criminals could acquire phishing kits on the dark web for the price of a Netflix subscription. These synthetic identity kits offer AI video actors, cloned voices and even biometric datasets.

From the frontlines of cyber crime, AI is giving criminals unprecedented reach, said Group-IB CEO Dmitry Volkov. AI is enabling criminals to scale scams with ease and create hyper-personalisation and social engineering to a new standard.

Pig butchering scams

One way AI is accelerating social engineering attacks is through so-called pig butchering scams, where criminals spend weeks, or even months, building an emotional connection with the target. This period, known as fattening the pig, creates trust so that a victim is then less skeptical when they are presented with a fake investment opportunity. The criminal then slaughters the pig by disappearing with the funds.

The advent of generative AI has transformed pig butchering from a niche type of consumer fraud into a major avenue for scammers. Fraudsters typically initiate contact through messaging apps, social media platforms or dating sites, before using apps like ChatGPT to establish the relationship.

Other forms of AI, such as face-swapping technology or deepfakes, can also be employed by criminals to trick targets into thinking that they are communicating with a sincere love interest.

Researchers have observed crime syndicates in South-East Asia adopting such techniques on a massive scale to lure victims, regardless of language barriers or technical skills.

Autonomous malware

Cyber criminals have found a new way to leverage artificial intelligence for the purpose of spreading malware  malicious software designed to steal data or damage computer systems.

This new type of malware uses large language models (LLMs) like Googles Gemini to mutate its code in real-time as it spreads, making it nearly invisible to traditional antivirus software.

In a threat intelligence report in November, Google researchers described it as a new operational phase of AI abuse, involving tools that dynamically alter behaviour mid-execution.

They explained how new autonomous malware threats like Promptflux use a Thinking Robot function that allows AI to rewrite the malwares entire source code on an hourly basis to evade detection.

While Promptflux is likely still in research and development phases, this type of obfuscation technique is an early and significant indicator of how malicious operators will likely augment their campaigns with AI moving forward, the researchers noted.

The fifth wave of cyber crime

Cyber criminals have been quick to adopt AI tools into their arsenals, leaving those responsible for defending against attacks playing catch up.

AI-driven scams surged 1,200 per cent in 2025, according to research from cyber security firm Vectra AI, with this surge expected to continue in 2026. By 2027, projected losses from AI-driven fraud could reach $40 billion  up from $16.6 billion in 2024.

Former Interpol Director of Cybercrime, Craig Jones, warned that AI has dramatically increased the speed, scale, and sophistication with which criminals can operate in 2026. It is also made it harder than ever to detect and attribute cyber attacks.

AI has industrialised cyber crime, he said. The shift marks a new era, where speed, volume, and sophisticated impersonation has fundamentally changed how crime is committed and how hard it is to stop.
Photo: https://www.military.com/

Ukraine is conducting negotiations with two countries regarding an alternative to the PAC-3 system, and details will be shared once there is a result, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy has announced.

"Not only Ukraine, but the world needs to find an alternative as quickly as possible. And we are conducting negotiations with two countries to make such an opportunity possible. But when there is a result, then I will speak frankly. And Ukrainians need to know that our defense-industrial complex must do everything, the maximum, so that we have our own systemsanti-ballistic systems," Zelenskyy told journalists on Monday.

The President noted that the shortage of PAC-3 systems globally and in Ukraine has never ended.

"Unfortunately, you know that total production is somewhere around 60 missiles per month. Certainly, there are important steps on the European continent to increase production, but even this increase will not solve the issue," he added.

According to him, partners are currently sending anti-ballistic packages primarily to the Middle East; "unfortunately, they sometimes forget about Ukraine, but we remind everyone and are grateful to the partners who hear us."

"Certainly, this issue was raised in the countries of the Middle East. I will not share details. We will work to ensure that Ukraine is provided for in this direction," Zelenskyy emphasized.
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BusinessCompaniesDonald Trump Opinion The conga line of Australian companies suing to claw back Trump tariffs Elizabeth Knight Business columnist March 30, 2026  3:56pm

March 30, 2026  3:56pm Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add more. Share A A A

A conga line of Australian companies  from miners to food producers  are risking the wrath of the mercurial and vendetta-driven president Donald Trump by taking legal action in the US to claw back refunds for tariffs that were imposed illegally by the US government. Australian mining giant Rio Tinto is at the front of the line of Australian companies that have staked their claim for redress in the US Court of International Trade, looking for refunds on tariffs paid under Trumps executive order which relied on using the International Emergency Economics Powers Act (IEEPA). It is running the legal gauntlet at the same time as Rio is seeking crucial support from the US for a massive copper mine in Arizona. The list of Australian companies now taking legal action alongside Rio includes oil and gas producer Santos, and appliance manufacturer Breville whose largest shareholder Solomon Lew has engaged in successful business deals with Trump before he became president. President Donald Trump imposed tariffs illegally and Australian companies want their money back. AP

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Add to the list fertiliser suppliers Nufarm and Incitec Pivot explosives maker Orica and food and beverage group, SPC. Related Article Mining Australias two biggest miners meet Trump over controversial copper plan The US Supreme Court ruled in February that tariffs imposed under this Act were unlawful, which has opened the floodgates to hundreds of companies to seek refunds. The US had collected $US129 billion in tariffs from Trumps Liberation Day in April last year to December last year. In Rios statement of claim, which has been seen by this masthead, the miner says it had standing to bring this lawsuit because they [Rio subsidiaries] are the importers of record for goods imported into the United States that were subject to the IEEPA Tariffs ... that have been held unlawful by the Supreme Court. As a result of the IEEPA Executive Orders (EOs) that were held unlawful by the Supreme Court, Plaintiffs have paid IEEPA Tariffs to the United States and have accordingly suffered injuries caused by the IEEPA EOs.

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Companies have been paying these tariffs for the best part of a year and at varying rates, given Trumps executive orders varied the rates levied several times based on negotiations with particular countries like China and Canada. Rio Tinto paid $1.4 billion last year in additional trade levies, but only a fraction of this will form part of its clawback claim. The lions share of the levies paid were by its Canadian aluminium operations exporting to the US, which were not imposed using IEEP Act and remain legal. Rather, Rio Tinto is seeking to recover tariffs paid by its US subsidiaries on imported goods. Rebate claims by smaller Australian companies would go unnoticed by Trump, but companies like Rio Tinto, which are better known to the government, have a higher risk of catching the presidents attention. But it is the companys timing of its legal complaint thats important  given it was initiated in the days after it formalised a land swap that assists in paving the way for it to develop the Resolution Copper project in Arizona, which is jointly owned with BHP.

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Political support from the Trump administration has been critical in progressing the Resolution project, according to reports in the Australian Financial Review, which says the project suffered bureaucratic delays under the Biden administration. Related Article Opinion

Earnings season How this Aussie appliance-maker dodged Trumps tariff bullet Elizabeth Knight Business columnist Resolution could also be in line for US federal funding support or subsidies at a time when the Trump regime is promising to boost domestic production of critical metals. The US government has described Resolution as an important project in advancing President Trumps goal of mineral independence and energy dominance by boosting domestic mineral production. There is a hope that, given the volume of companies seeking a US customs refund, the cases will be grouped together in a move that will reduce legal fees and provide some cover for individual companies seeking to remain under Trumps radar.

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US legal experts suggest it is important for companies looking for refunds to file now to preserve their rights. The absence of a defined refund mechanism, combined with strict statutory time limits and the likelihood of robust government defences, makes early action essential, according to US lawyers, Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck. So there may be more Australian companies joining the conga line. The Market Recap newsletter is a wrap of the days trading. Get it each weekday afternoon.
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NationalHealthcare Im running out of time: Steve begged his doctors for a single piece of paper Kate Aubusson March 31, 2026  5:00am Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add more. Share A A A

A shortage of practitioners, stonewalling religious medical services and a law barring telehealth are preventing some terminally ill patients from accessing voluntary assisted dying (VAD). The latest national report found people in NSW accounted for almost one-third of Australias 6621 VAD applications in 2024-25, despite NSW being the last state to legalise the practice, in November 2023. Steve Lowe pleaded with his doctors to give him the letter he needed to apply for voluntary assisted dying. Go Gentle Dr Linda Swan, the chief executive of Go Gentle, which compiled the report, said its main message was overwhelmingly positive: VAD laws were working safely and compassionately, with almost universal compliance. But the increasing demand was left to a small, highly concentrated group of practitioners, leaving some patients fearing they may not find a doctor to help them.

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Other terminally ill patients reported that religious healthcare institutions were actively blocking their applications and, in some cases, treating them quite badly, like theyd done something wrong, Swan said. Related Article Dementia After watching her mum die in agony, Angie wants to change the law Practitioners have the right not to participate in VAD, but by law must not hinder a patients access. Sydneysider Steve Lowes final months were marred by stress and frustration under the treatment of doctors at a faith-based hospital. The 60-year-old had terminal oesophageal cancer and was adamant he would not spend the little time he had left undergoing gruelling treatments or being tube-fed.

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I need to go knowing everybody is OK and that everything has been done [and] there are going to be wonderful memories of me rather than the tubed-up guy in the ward, Lowe said in footage recorded by Go Gentle. He did not want his doctors to be involved in VAD. But he needed a letter confirming what they had told him: he had three to six months to live. Loading [I was] stonewalled at every corner that I took with the doctors, he said. His sister, Allison Mueller, said Lowe had cared for their mother as she underwent chemotherapy for ovarian cancer before she died.

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He saw the distress and trauma she went through, and he said: I will never do that. Lowes anxiety rose with every rebuff. Im running out of time. I want that letter. Please, Lowe said. Then finally, when I got it, I burst into tears. Lowe died at Concord Hospital on July 24, 2025, surrounded by his family and friends. He was very calm and ready to go, Mueller said. It just looked like he was drifting off to sleep. Then he made a whee! sound, as if he was going down a slippery dip, and we all smiled because we knew he wasnt in pain.

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A spokesperson for Catholic Health Australia, which represents the largest faith-based health and aged care provider, said its members commitment to compassionate end-of-life care does not change when a patient or resident is considering VAD. Our hospitals do not impede people from making choices that are available to them under the law, and we comply with all relevant provisions under state legislation, the spokesperson said. VAD accounted for about 2 per cent of deaths nationally in 2024-25, and a growing proportion of cancer deaths (one in 20) and motor neurone disease deaths (about one in three). The report found that difficulties in finding VAD practitioners were particularly pronounced outside major cities.

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Exacerbating the problem was a section in the Commonwealth Criminal Code enacted in response to internet suicide chat rooms, which prohibits telehealth for VAD assessments by making it an offence to use a carriage service to incite, encourage or provide instructions on suicide. Related Article Exclusive

Euthanasia Cruel beyond belief: The legislative push upsetting expert doctor Swan said people were often too sick to travel for the multiple in-person consultations necessary to apply for VAD. Getting in a car and driving hours away when you might only have two good hours a day is really quite cruel. Swan said a simple, one-line fix to the code would exempt people lawfully abiding by state or territory VAD acts, and the stalling from the federal government on this is becoming frustratingly inhumane.

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A spokesperson for the Albanese government said it was considering a range of complex issues arising from Commonwealth legislation and VAD schemes in consultation with the states and territories. The report found NSW had 188 registered VAD practitioners, but Swan said many opt in to help one of their own patients, then stop. Fewer than half of Australias roughly 1600 VAD practitioners provided the service in 2024-25. If you look at how NSW is growing, Blind Freddy can see we need more health practitioners, Swan said. Swan hoped the current legislative review of NSWs VAD laws would lead to financial penalties for institutions that obstruct access, and broaden the application time frame from six to 12 months for all conditions, to allow more people to undertake the complex process while they are still able. A person must meet all of the following criteria to access VAD in NSW 18 years or older

An Australian citizen, permanent resident or a resident for at least three continuous years

Lived in NSW for at least 12 months

Have an advanced and progressive or terminal medical condition that causes intolerable suffering, and  on the balance of probabilities  will cause death within six months (or 12 months if the condition is neurodegenerative)

Have the capacity to understand VAD and communicate your voluntary decision

Your request for VAD must be enduring over time The five-step process: Make a first request for VAD to a doctor Undergo the first assessment by a co-ordinating practitioner to confirm eligibility Undergo a second assessment by an independent practitioner Make a written declaration signed by the patient and two witnesses Make a final request at least five days after the first request, followed by a final assessment. Start the day with a summary of the days most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.
Photo: https://t.me/Ukraine_MFA

The number of countries ready to join the Enlarged Partial Agreement on the Special Tribunal for the crime of aggression against Ukraine is growing, announced Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Andriy Sybiha.

"We already have eight confirmations and expect more. I urge all countries to take this critically important step and support efforts to ensure accountability," Sybiha wrote on X.

He emphasized that the scale of Russian atrocities during its aggression is unprecedented on European soil since World War II. The crime of aggression is their root cause.

"There must be accountability, and there will be no amnesty for Russian criminals, including the top political and military leadership of the Russian Federation. The Special Tribunal is a critically important element of the accountability infrastructure, where the 2 other components are the Claims Commission and the Register of Damage. Tomorrow, together with colleagues from the EU who are coming to Ukraine, we will mark the tragic anniversary of the Bucha massacre. The ashes of Bucha demand the restoration of justice," Sybiha stressed.

He pointed out that the Special Tribunal revives the spirit of Nuremberg. Its practical launch this year is vital not only to ensure justice for Ukraine and the Ukrainian people but also to strengthen international criminal law, complement the efforts of the International Criminal Court, and prevent the recurrence of such horrific crimes in the future.
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LifestyleHealth & wellnessPlastic Can you really detox from plastic? Nina Agrawal March 31, 2026  5:00am Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add more. Share A A A

In The Plastic Detox, a new documentary on Netflix, six couples with unexplained infertility work to rid their lives of plastic in the hope that doing so will improve their chances of having a baby. They toss out air fresheners and cutting boards, and try adopting bamboo toothbrushes and deodorant packaged in paperboard. Will we get pregnant because of it? one participant asks. I have no idea. Their guide on this journey is Shanna Swan, an 89-year-old researcher who has spent much of her career studying the effects of environmental chemicals on reproductive health. If you want to minimise the effect of plastics, experts suggest first distinguishing between microplastics and plasticisers. Getty Images In the film, Swan, a professor of environmental medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, inventories the sources of plastic in the participants daily lives and identifies alternatives. Over a three-month intervention period, she measures concentrations of chemicals in their urine and sperm counts.

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The premise of the documentary is appealing: cut plastic chemicals out of your life, and improve your fertility. But its not that straightforward. Its not a quote unquote scientific study, Swan acknowledges in the film. We have no control group. Its very small. And its not clear that reducing daily exposure to such chemicals the way these participants did can increase an individual adults fertility. Related Article Active wear Plastic anxiety: Is this the next big shift in activewear? In the film, Swan says she doesnt want to scare people but instead educate them. This is also something we have to pay attention to, she says. A plastics primer If you want to take a hard look at the plastics in your life, it helps first to understand what exactly you need to worry about. Its important to distinguish between microplastics and plasticisers, said Matthew Campen, a professor of pharmaceutical sciences at the University of New Mexico. Microplastics are tiny pieces of plastic, commonly shed through wear and tear on larger plastics  for example, single-use plastic bags or clothes made from synthetic fabric. Plasticisers are chemicals like bisphenols and phthalates that are often added to plastics, such as reusable bottles or bath toys, to make them rigid or flexible.

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Based on the research, plasticisers are the bigger concern for reproductive health. Bisphenols (including BPA) and phthalates were part of a class of chemicals called endocrine disruptors because they interfere with hormones, said Andrea Gore, a professor of pharmacology and toxicology at the University of Texas at Austin. Is it possible to cut out plastic entirely? Probably not, Swan said. Plastic is everywhere  in our coffee makers, clothes, couches and the materials used to build our homes. But you can make changes that lower your exposure. A good place to start is food and water. Buy fresh food when possible to reduce your exposure to phthalates in food packaging. Heat your food in glass or ceramic containers instead of plastic, which can transfer chemical additives into your food when heated. Drink tap instead of bottled water to avoid chemicals that can leach into the water and to reduce plastic waste.

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Its important to check the labels of personal care and home products, as many contain phthalates. Getty Images Avoid personal care and home products that list fragrance or parfum on their labels. These ingredients can signal the presence of phthalates, which are used in items such as laundry detergent, hand cream and perfume to retain scents, Swan said. Be mindful of less obvious sources, too, such as liners in canned goods and paper receipts, both of which may contain bisphenols. Not everyone has the resources to make these changes, and reducing exposure broadly will require policy changes, experts noted. Campen compared it to the systemic change that happened when scientists realised the health harms of lead. We took lead out of gasoline and paint, he said. Theres no quick fix. Will cutting out plastics change your health outcomes?

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A large body of evidence has linked endocrine disruptors to a variety of negative health outcomes, Gore said. In addition to infertility, these include cardiovascular disease and neurodevelopmental disorders such as ADHD. Some research suggests that reducing your exposure to plastic and the chemicals in it may not be enough to stop these harms. Related Article Exclusive

Plastic Biodegradable plastics that actually break down might finally be here Even very, very low-dose exposure during sensitive developmental periods can have effects, and those effects can be permanent, Gore said. A 2015 study by Swan of nearly 1000 pregnant women, for example, suggested that exposure to phthalates in utero could interfere with reproductive development in male babies. What microplastics mean for health is less clear. Some studies, including Campens, have linked them to dementia and cardiovascular disease. Other research has suggested they affect reproductive health. But at this point, that research is not even in the same ballpark as the evidence of harm from phthalates and bisphenols, Campen said.

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Three of the couples in the film did have babies. But its nearly impossible to ascribe cause and effect because of the small sample and the fact the intervention wasnt a controlled experiment. Swan doesnt want to stop there. She is planning to apply for a grant to run a larger randomised trial that she hopes will provide more definitive answers. The New York Times

Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add more. Share More: Plastic

Wellbeing
Local communities react to Dezi Freemans death

After months of grief and uncertainty, local communities in Victoria's high country are responding to the news Dezi Freeman has been shot dead.
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NationalNSWCity life Do more: Clover points finger at state-owned land for housing fix David Barwell March 31, 2026  5:00am Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add more. Share A A A

The City of Sydney has identified more than 30 state-owned sites, including prime harbourfront hotels, that could be transformed into thousands of new homes, as Lord Mayor Clover Moore calls on the NSW government to do more to solve the states housing crisis. In a bold intervention, the council is pushing for planning rules to be relaxed at Darling Harbour to allow the redevelopment of the Novotel and Ibis hotel sites into high-density apartments. The Novotel sits behind the new harbourside development. Wolter Peeters The move shifts pressure directly onto the Minns government, by challenging it to unlock its own land for housing rather than simply mandating targets for local councils. The council has identified 32 state-owned sites that could deliver approximately 14,300 new homes. Among the most ambitious proposals is the rezoning of harbourfront land currently owned by Placemaking NSW and leased to the Accor-operated hotels, which the council believes could accommodate 1000 apartments if towers were permitted on the sites.

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The push comes as NSW councils face mounting pressure to meet aggressive housing targets or risk losing their planning powers. With the NSW government signalling it may step in to rezone land where supply lags, Moore argued that government-controlled sites offered a faster way to boost density near existing transport, jobs, and infrastructure without pushing more development to Sydneys urban fringe. Some of these areas have been earmarked for housing for years, yet remain vacant, Moore said, pointing to long-dormant sites around Redfern and North Eveleigh. Beyond the harbour, the council has flagged land around Macdonaldtown station as an opportunity for up to 2500 homes. While the precinct is dominated by ageing rail sheds, the council argues that relocating transport operations could create housing on the doorstep of the CBD.

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Smaller sites have also been identified, including the Alexandria Erskineville Bowling Club, and multiple social housing properties which the council believes could be renewed to deliver a net increase in social and affordable housing without displacing existing tenants. The councils plan is underpinned by worsening affordability, with Sydney dwelling prices rising about 29 per cent since 2020 and a median-income household facing a 16.7-year wait to save a deposit. The City of Sydney believes land along the Central Station rail corridor could be used for more housing. Brendan Esposito At the same time, housing supply has slowed due to rising construction costs, labour shortages and tighter financing conditions. The NSW government urged caution, with a spokesman noting several sites, particularly Macdonaldtown, were critical to transport operations. He said the government also has plans to develop projects including 500 homes across sites in Eveleigh and Woolloomooloo.

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We support using surplus government land for housing where appropriate, but we also need to ensure essential infrastructure is maintained, he said. Related Article City life More than 5000 rooms are planned in these Sydney suburbs. None will count as a home The City of Sydney has been tasked with delivering 18,900 homes by 2029, the highest target of any NSW council. Moore said solving the crisis would require co-operation across governments. While we acknowledge the NSW governments efforts to date, we believe it can do more, she said.

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In addition to state-owned land, the council identified other underused sites that could support more housing, including sites on Parramatta Road near the University of Sydney, the former Australia Post facility on Cleveland Street, and the Supa Centre at Moore Park. Start the day with a summary of the days most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.
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NationalVictoriaPorepunkah shooting Freeman was the latest in a long line of fugitives to hide in the isolated riverside Tony Wright March 30, 2026  6:40pm Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add more. Share A A A

Police killer Dezi Freeman sought quiet, remote places, but he wasnt the first fugitive or gunman to be drawn to the lovely and isolated Upper Murray. Freeman was shot dead by police on Monday at a property on the Murray River at Thologolong, about half an hour down river from the villages of Walwa, in north-east Victoria, and Jingellic, a few kilometres over the river in NSW. The remote property in Thologolong, where Dezi Freeman was shot dead by police on March 30. Justin McManus Despite the apparently peaceful nature of the back-country area, it has seen more than its fair share of drama. In February 1924, an unhinged gunman who was a member of the Walwa Rifle Club earned the title of the Jingellic killer after he took his gun and ambushed a group of seven picnickers taking refuge from the summer heat by the bank of a creek.

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Claude Batson, known as the Jingellic killer. The gunman, Claude Batson, said to be consumed by unfocused vengeance and depressed after his girlfriend dumped him, killed one man and wounded three others. He was earlier seen walking across the Jingellic Bridge to the NSW side of the river after leaving Walwa, armed with a .303 rifle, a bandolier of ammunition and more bullets in his pockets. He said he was out for a bit of bushranging. Batson, after shooting his victims, fled a police hunt into the deep silence of forests in the area before emerging a week later, starving. He was captured and sentenced to a psychiatric institution.

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In 1984, a man who had held two young people captive on a farm near Holbrook in NSW stole a four-wheel-drive vehicle and a small armoury of guns and headed through the back country for Victoria. He crossed the Murray over the bridge between Jingellic and Walwa and took to the forests south of Corryong, half-an-hour further south-east along the Upper Murray. There, the 25-year-old was captured in a dramatic police operation after the vehicle he was driving ran out of fuel on a rough bush track. The handy, out-of-the-way Jingellic Bridge was again favoured by the nations most wanted outlaws when father-and-son Gino and Mark Stocco slipped into Victoria in October 2015.

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Porepunkah shooting A doona and a surprise tip-off: The bizarre final moments of Dezi Freeman Wanted for numerous offences over eight years, including shooting at police in Wagga Wagga, they drove across the state border late at night between Jingellic and Walwa before continuing to evade police throughout north-east Victoria. They slipped the net of a massive police hunt in the Victorian High Country before heading back into NSW. The Stoccos were captured after murdering a 68-year-old man near Dunedoo in central-western NSW. How and when Dezi Freeman, for seven months Australias most wanted man, found himself a handy bolthole in the area remains unknown.

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But despite his desire to lie low, if he was bunkered down on the lonely Upper Murray farm in early January this year, his isolation suddenly became tenuous. And hot. Scores of firefighters and about 11 firetrucks raced along the boundary line of the property on January 5 and 6, battling to control a blaze that roared out of bushland and came within a few hundred metres of the place where Freeman was hiding when police found him and shot him dead on Monday. The Stoccos in a photograph released by police. The bushfire  one of many out of control across Victoria at the beginning of the year  became known as the Walwa fire, though it was in an area properly known as Thologolong, about 40 kilometres downriver. A watch and act alert was issued at the time. Did Freeman, who once masqueraded as a firefighter to big-note himself in the Ovens Valley, pay close heed?

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Like much else, it is not known whether Freeman was on the property next to the blaze in January, or whether hard-pressed firefighters saw him or even knew anyone was there. Related Article Porepunkah shooting Inside the squalid bush encampment where Dezi Freeman died Over the seven months since he shot and killed two police officers and wounded a third near Porepunkah on August 27, Freemans whereabouts became a matter of high frustration for the hundreds of police searching for him and engrossing fascination for much of the public. All that was known for certain is that after shooting the police, he fled into the rugged Mount Buffalo bush. He was variously thought to be dead, or hiding out in a cave or mineshaft on the slopes of the mountain, or taking refuge with supporters in the anti-authority sovereign citizen movement to which he adhered.

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Instead, he somehow travelled 190 kilometres north-east to the remote farm at Thologolong bounded to the south by the rugged wilderness of the Mount Lawson State Park and to the north by the Murray River. Police have a strong suspicion someone helped him make the trip, according to sources unwilling to be named. Loading How Freeman sustained himself in this remote place, and for how long, also remains a mystery. He is known to be a skilled hunter and bushman who regularly butchered and hung deer carcasses at his various homes around the Mount Buffalo area. Freeman was clearly living rough, whatever he was eating and wherever he got his supplies.

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The farm on which he was found on Monday morning has no house, but scattered around were two containers, a caravan and several disused trucks and cars. The absentee owner of the farm, from a well-known Thologolong cattle-farming family, lives in Tasmania, where he is suffering a serious illness. Dezi Freeman had been on the run since late August after fatally shooting two officers in Victorias High Country. Nine And soon, when the police investigators and the coroner have gone, the old area, we can be sure, will revert to its rural quietude, the river running by and the forests whispering, its history of attracting fugitives once again all but forgotten. Read more on Dezi Freemans death:

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NationalVictoriaLife in the burbs Opinion My suburb is so safe that if I collapse, a doctor will trip over me on their way to get coffee Nicolas Brasch Contributor March 30, 2026  7:00pm

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Opinion pieces from local writers exploring their suburbs cliches and realities and how it has changed in the past 20 years. See all stories .

When I moved into my suburb 10 years ago, I was in my 50s and still feeling vibrant, dare I say, invincible. Aches and pains and procedures were not at the forefront of my mind. But how fortuitous, a decade later, that I had moved into Melbournes premier medical precinct. Heidelberg has hospitals, medical centres, pathologists and screening clinics galore. I know because Ive been to many of them. How convenient. Ive even walked to emergency, rather than call an ambulance because it was quicker. And when it all turned out to be nothing, or at least minor, I walked back home again. All of that makes Heidelberg a safe suburb to live in. If I collapse on the pavement, I can be sure that within seconds a doctor or nurse will walk past on their way to getting a coffee. And the safety of my suburb doesnt end there. I live around the corner from Heidelberg Court and Heidelberg Police Station. No ones breaking into my place. The proximity of those institutions makes for a procession of interesting characters past my door on the way to court in the morning, though its sometimes hard to differentiate the lawyers from their clients.

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Recently, someone walking by asked if they could use the hose to get water to brush their teeth  no doubt hoping to impress the judge. It got me thinking, I could set up a tie-hire stall in my driveway and earn a little extra cash. Ten bucks an hour for a tie seems a reasonable fee. Maybe shoe shine for another $10. Of course, Heidelberg is far more than just hospitals and medical centres, theres the river and Yarra Trail bike paths, the start of the Banyule Flats  plenty of nature, though look out for the snakes from October to March. And down near the Flats, I reckon weve got more footy ovals in a single square kilometre than anywhere else in Melbourne. Related Article Opinion

Life in the burbs Can you guess Melbournes smallest, poshest or smelliest suburbs? Explore our interactive map Damien Nowicki Deputy Opinion Editor, The Age One of my sons played for the Heidelberg Tigers when he was very young, and they had the Auskick sessions on Friday evenings. There wasnt a parent who complained for a second about having to take their kid down there because the bar at the clubhouse was open. For a parent ending the working week, the relaxed atmosphere, jovial conversation and flowing amber fluid was a godsend.

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One of the ovals was damaged recently. You may have read about it. Not by floods, though weve had plenty of them, or by an infestation of pests eating the grass. But a sinkhole. Yes, Heidelberg has its own sinkhole, allegedly a result of some of the massive tunnelling work thats going on for the North East link. I dont think the sinkhole was part of the plan. No-one was injured, no one fell into it but I suspect it swallowed up Leos Supermarket. Leos was a local institution, the best supermarket in Melbourne, in my humble opinion, but it is no more. Disappearing around the time the sinkhole arrived. Cant be coincidence. The sinkhole far from being the only sign of the tunnelling. Paths are closed, road diversions everywhere. Short-term pain for long-term gain they say. I hope theyre right. Just up the road from the court and police station is a building that houses the quaint Heidelberg Historical Society, open for three hours every Sunday thanks to passionate volunteers. I popped in there once, with my daughter, who had to do a school project for her German class and decided to find out the link between our suburb and the German city of the same name. Related Investigation

Life in the burbs Life in the burbs They told us that the name came about because the land reminded someone of the German Heidelberg, which he had visited or lived in or something. There was a move to change the name during World War I to something less German but I guess it turned out to be too difficult. But when it comes to history and Heidelberg, theres no doubt that it is the Heidelberg School, the famous 19th century art movement, that is at the forefront of peoples minds. Well, maybe not forefront, because I reckon if you asked most locals doing their shopping what they think about the Heidelberg School, theyll reply, Its good. My kids go there. That aside, there are murals and visual reminders up and down the main strip, Burgundy Street, and Heide Museum of Modern Art is nearby. But even that is in neighbouring Bulleen. I guess they decided Bully might not be an appropriate name.

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Another neighbouring suburb is Heidelberg West. Whatever you do, dont confuse us with them. Were happy to drive through Heidelberg West on our way to Northcote and Thornbury. Of course, if youre a Melburnian youll want to know about the food and coffee in Heidelberg. We have our fair share of cafes, none better than The Alleyway, which has the best egg and bacon roll (or should I say, focaccia) for miles around. And our hidden gem is one of the best Italian restaurants in Melbourne, Little Black Pig and Sons, but dont tell anyone  its hard enough to get a table on a Friday or Saturday night. Gotta go now. Theres someone knocking on my door. I think they need a tie. Nicolas Brasch is a writer and teacher of writing at Swinburne University.
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Police have vowed to continue chasing the people who helped Dezi Freeman hide from the law after the dangerous killer was shot dead in an early morning raid on a rural property. Chief Commissioner Mike Bush confirmed that police were investigating whether Freeman was being assisted or harboured by supporters hours after Freeman was gunned down at a property in Thologolong in north-east Victoria. The remote property in Thologolong, where Dezi Freeman was shot dead by police. Justin McManus Bush said it was likely that Freeman had help during the seven months he was on the run after he shot dead two police officers who were attempting to serve a warrant on him at a property in Porepunkah. The property where Freeman was found is nearly 200 kilometres from where he was last seen by authorities in Porepunkah in August last year.

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It would be very difficult for him to get where he was without assistance, Bush said. We will be speaking to anyone we suspect has assisted him in avoiding detection and arrest. All people connected to the sprawling rural property in Walwa will be questioned by police about any connections to Freeman. Victoria Police Commissioner Mike Bush speaks to media in northern Victoria on Monday afternoon. Justin McManus Bush said nobody else was present at the property when police confronted Freeman this morning, but any person connected to it would form part of ongoing investigation.

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He added that while Freeman had been the only person at the property for at least 24 hours before the shooting but that doesnt mean they havent been in the past. Related Article Exclusive

Porepunkah shooting A doona and a surprise tip-off: The bizarre final moments of Dezi Freeman [It is] very important for us to understand how long hes been here and who else was complicit in getting him here, and then caring for him or providing him with food and other things to this point, Bush said. We will be speaking to anyone we suspect has assisted him to avoid detection and arrest. He said that those who were found to be complicit in helping Freeman escape or harbouring him would be held to account.

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Police Association of Victoria secretary Wayne Gatt also issued a warning to anyone who might have harboured Dezi Freeman during his time on the run. Our members will chase every rabbit down every burrow, Gatt told reporters at a press conference in Wodonga. Criminal law specialist Melinda Walker said that in a case such as this, any charges would fall under section 325 of the states Crimes Act. This includes cases in which a person has committed a serious indictable offence and another person, who knows or believes them to be guilty of this principal offence, acts with the purpose of assisting with their escape from authorities or impeding their apprehension, prosecution, conviction or punishment. Where the principal offence is the most serious offence, being life imprisonment, then that person [who assists them] could be liable to a penalty of a maximum of 20 years if they are found guilty, Walker said.

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A huge amount of police resources have been dedicated to the search for Dezi Freeman. Justin McManus Earlier this month, Victoria Police said it was not intending to charge the wife of Freeman with obstructing a police investigation into the fatal shooting of two police officers at Porepunkah, after the Office of Public Prosecutions found there was insufficient evidence to support a conviction. At the time, police confirmed that they had interviewed Amalia Freeman, 42, and a 56-year-old man from Porepunkah in relation to the offence of indictable obstruction of police by detectives from Taskforce Summit, but the brief of evidence had not been authorised by prosecutors. A police spokeswoman said the briefs were independently reviewed, which also determined a prosecution was unlikely. A third person had been interviewed regarding an attempted theft but would also avoid charges, according to the spokeswoman, who said any further information received by detectives involved in the case would be thoroughly assessed and acted on as appropriate.

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Immediately after Freemans disappearance, police repeatedly warned sympathisers not to help the fugitive. Superintendent Brett Kahan used a press conference to issue a blunt message. People know the whereabouts of the person who has killed two cops, Kahan said. People have chosen, for whatever reason, not to come forward. Im taking this time to appeal to you to come forward. You are committing an extremely serious crime by harbouring or assisting in the escape of Dezi Freeman.

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Kahan said police believed Freeman, a self-proclaimed sovereign citizen who changed his surname from Filby, had a wide support network. He said that the offer of a surrender plan made to Freeman immediately after the murders would be extended to any potential accomplices. Take up that offer, by whichever means you like, whether it be [calling] triple zero or otherwise, he said. We will formulate a surrender plan. Start the day with a summary of the days most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.
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NationalVictoriaHealthcare Walk in my shoes for a bit: Cyrils fight to die on his own terms Henrietta Cook March 31, 2026  5:00am Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add more. Share A A A

When Cyril Lands voice began to fail, changing overnight into a croaky whisper, his wife, Lee, knew something was wrong. It took another seven months before the Wodonga man received a devastating diagnosis: motor neurone disease. Cyril Land, 75, and his wife, Lee. Cyril has motor neurone disease and has been approved for voluntary assisted dying. Justin McManus But that was just the first hurdle. Cyril would spend another four months fighting for the right to die on his own terms. The legislation doesnt really add the human factor, Lee said of the gruelling process that forced the pair to drive for hours to secure approval for voluntary assisted dying from two medical practitioners.

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A new national report shows that these struggles are common, and have led to a disproportionately low number of Victorians applying for and accessing voluntary assisted dying. Related Article Exclusive

Healthcare We wouldnt let a dog go through this: The state wouldnt help him die, so Glenn stopped eating While Victoria was the first state in Australia to legalise voluntary assisted dying (VAD), its proportion of deaths attributed to the scheme is at least half that of other states. There is some sort of access block, said Dr Linda Swan, the chief executive of Go Gentle Australia, which compiled the 2026 State of VAD report. There were 799 applications for voluntary assisted dying in Victoria last financial year, compared with 2146 applications in NSW, 2039 in Queensland and 878 in Western Australia.

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While 389 VAD deaths were recorded in Victoria, 1028 were recorded in NSW, 1072 in Queensland and 480 in Western Australia. This means 0.9 per cent of all deaths in Victoria were through voluntary assisted dying, compared with a national average of 2 per cent. Swan said the legacy of Victorias gag clause, which has prevented doctors from raising the topic of voluntary assisted dying with patients, had stifled access to the scheme. While the state government has recently passed legislation to lift this clause following a review of Victorias VAD scheme, this change will not come into effect until April 2027. When a gag clause is introduced, it creates a real stigma that gets embedded in the belief systems of people, and its hard to undo, Swan said.

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It has been cemented in the belief systems of not only health professionals but aged care facilities, who somehow interpret it to mean theyre not allowed to talk about it either. Related Article Exclusive

Euthanasia Janet suffered for months waiting for assisted dying. A doctor shortage in the regions prolonged her pain A Victorian government spokesman said its reforms would make the law fairer, and it was improving access to the scheme by growing the voluntary assisted dying workforce in regional and remote parts of the state. He said the state government was also advocating for the Commonwealth to remove restrictions on the use of telehealth for VAD assessments. [This] has a disproportionate impact on Victorians in regional and remote areas, he said.

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A spokesman for the Albanese government said it was considering the complex issues arising from the Commonwealth legislation and voluntary assisted dying schemes, in consultation with the states and territories. In Victoria, two independent, specially trained medical practitioners must agree that a patient is eligible for voluntary assisted dying before a permit is approved. One of the biggest hurdles for Cyril Land was finding a VAD doctor in regional Victoria. There is only one such doctor in Albury/Wodonga, but they work on the NSW side of the border so cant treat Victorian residents. The 75-year-olds next best option was a voluntary assisted dying doctor in the northern Victorian town of Tatura, which is a 2-hour drive from his home. Cyril then faced another long drive to Wangaratta to visit a neurologist, who signed his application and stated that he was expected to die within 12 months.

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Its a situation that Jo Whitehouse, MND Victoria general manager support services, knows all too well. Individuals may need to travel four to six hours to access a specialist MND clinic or appropriately trained practitioners, she said, adding that the cost of this travel could be prohibitive. Jo Whitehouse of MND Victoria. As MND progresses, mobility and respiratory function are often significantly compromised, making travel increasingly difficult. The report found that voluntary assisted dying now accounted for about one in 20 cancer deaths nationally and about one in three motor neurone disease deaths. The median age of participants across Australia was 75.

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Cyril first toyed with the idea of voluntary assisted dying while sitting around a fire and chatting with a group of friends last winter. When a peer expressed opposition to VAD, Cyril got fired up. Id like you to walk in my shoes for a bit, he said. Just imagine what its like to be told youve got three to five years left to live. When he returned home that night, he told his wife of 20 years that he wanted to apply for VAD. The couple have spent the past few years ticking off things on Cyrils bucket list. They have flown over Antarctica, taken a cruise around New Zealand, travelled through the Australian outback on The Ghan and whale watched in Eden. Weve done a lot. We certainly have, Lee said.

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As the disease has progressed, Cyrils voice has become difficult for many people to understand and his fingers have bent inwards. Lee blends his meals in a food processor to prevent him from choking. The former bus driver, Tax Office employee and competitive cyclist struggles to regulate his temperature, so often walks about the house without a shirt. Related Article Euthanasia Study finds significant barriers for GPs offering voluntary assisted dying He intends to access voluntary assisted dying from home when he becomes bedridden. But a complication looms over his plans. If Cyril needs to be admitted to hospital it will be in Albury, which means he wont be able to access VAD because his approval is for Victoria.

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A feeding tube has been placed in Cyrils stomach to make it easier to administer his daily medication, and when the time comes, it will be used to release his VAD medication. His doctor will have to drive for more than two hours to administer the medication  a journey that attracts no Medicare rebate. Under the law, Cyrils doctor will have to ask him one last time if he wishes to proceed. Cyril plans to respond with a simple, silent gesture. His fingers are curled up, but he can stick his thumb up or down, Lee said.

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Thumb up, thumb down is the one we will go for. With Kate Aubusson

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Euthanasia Henrietta Cook is a senior reporter covering health for The Age. Henrietta joined The Age in 2012 and has previously covered state politics, education and consumer affairs. , Facebook or email. Connect via X
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PoliticsVictoriaLiberal Party Moira Deeming gets second chance in re-run preselection Rachel Eddie March 30, 2026  11:57am Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add more. Share A A A

High-profile MP Moira Deeming has a second chance to save her political career with the Liberal Party after it was revealed her victor gave a character reference to a child abuser. The party revealed late on Monday that another preselection would be held to choose the No.1 candidate for the upper house Western Metropolitan region and that Dinesh Gourisetty, who only 24 hours earlier beat Deeming, would be barred from contesting. Dinesh Gourisetty on Sunday at the Liberal Party headquarters before his preselection. Rachel Eddie Sundays preselection vote devolved into a messy fight and confusion over whether Gourisetty had withdrawn from the contest after the character reference came to light. Opposition Leader Jess Wilson subsequently said Gourisetty would not be welcome in her party room after the November election over his 2024 court reference for his friend Kashyap Patel, who pleaded guilty to grooming and sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl.

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Liberal Party state president Phil Davis said the information, which he described as serious and concerning, had come to the partys attention after Sundays preselection vote, and that on Monday Gourisetty had stepped down as the No.1 candidate on the ticket. The Victorian Liberal Partys state executive has resolved that a further preselection convention will be held for the first position on the Liberal Partys group voting ticket for the Western Metropolitan region, and that Mr Dinesh Gourisetty will not be eligible to participate as a candidate in that convention. Deeming has not yet confirmed whether she intends to contest, though the path appears to be cleared for her to succeed. The party has not decided on a date but hope to arrange it as soon as possible. Gourisetty had earlier written to the partys state executive to declare he never withdrew and hoped to continue. He condemned the actions of Patel, and insisted he did not know the details of the allegations, believing Patel was contesting the charges.

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In the character reference released to The Age, however, Gourisetty acknowledged that Patel was in court for child grooming and sexual assault charges. Moira Deeming and husband Andrew after they left party headquarters on Sunday. Luis Enrique Ascui He is very upset about the charges and I truly believe he is extremely sorry to the complainant for what he has done, the reference released by the County Court said. Patel in 2024 pleaded guilty to grooming a child under 16, transmitting indecent communication to a person under 16, and sexually assaulting a child under the age of 16 in 2021. He was convicted and sentenced to nine months imprisonment. Gourisetty, an Indian community leader, came under intense pressure on Monday to withdraw when the character reference was revealed. He beat Deeming and her fellow MP Trung Luu less than a day earlier at Sundays preselection. Luu retained the second position, which Deeming did not contest.

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In his letter to the state executive, also obtained by The Age, Gourisetty said he had indicated he may step down in a moment of distress and in the interest of unity on Monday morning. But he said he had not formally withdrawn and didnt intend to after the honour of being preselected following years of service. Let me be absolutely clear  I strongly and unequivocally condemn the actions for which Mr Patel has now been convicted. Those actions are unacceptable, and I do not in any way support or excuse them, Gourisetty wrote. Related Article Liberal Party Moira Deeming dumped: MP loses Liberal preselection battle He said this was not an endorsement of wrongdoing and pointed out former prime ministers John Howard and Tony Abbott had also provided character references in the past for unrelated cases. It is deeply troubling to me that I am now being judged and asked to face consequences for actions I did not commit, and for circumstances I was not fully aware of. Our party, and indeed our country, is built on the fundamental principle of a fair go and natural justice. Every individual deserves to be heard, to be treated fairly, and to be judged in context. I humbly ask that I be afforded that same fairness, Gourisetty wrote.

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At the time I provided the reference, my understanding of the situation was entirely different. I was led to believe he was contesting the charges and maintaining his innocence ... I had no knowledge of the seriousness or full nature of the allegations. I acted in good faith, based on what I knew at the time. Wilson, having unsuccessfully lobbied delegates to vote for Deeming, said she had made it clear to the state executive that Gourisetty could not sit in her party room come November. Gourisetty is not welcome on my team, Wilson said in a statement. The character reference also described Patel, his friend of four years, as a humble family man who was not coping well during COVID-19. The issue was completely outside of his usual character. Even though he has been charged, I would continue to trust him as my friend, Gourisettys character reference said.

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I believe any behaviour he displayed that caused him to be charged with child grooming and sexual assault was a one-off event. Liberals were on Monday questioning how the information had not been uncovered in vetting. Supporters of Gourisetty believed the timing was designed to cause maximum damage to the party and its executive. Be the first to know when major news happens. Sign up for breaking news alerts on email or turn on notifications in the app.
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PoliticsVictoriaPorepunkah shooting Opinion When I knew Dezi Freeman in the 90s, he was a hippie idealist called Des Filby Beth Knights Contributor March 31, 2026  5:00am

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When I met Dezi Freeman in my early 20s, decades before he murdered two police officers near the remote town of Porepunkah, we were preoccupied with idealism and full of longing for a simpler and kinder world. We first encountered each other in early 1998 near Omeo, in Victorias High Country, while attending a hippie and alternative lifestyle event. Rainbow Gatherings are temporary, completely off-grid events where anywhere from a hundred to a thousand people come together to build a village from scratch and live collectively for between a week and a month. They still happen to this day. In the late 1990s, Dezi Freeman (pictured) was part of hippy festivals known as Rainbow Gatherings, which are centred on community, sustainability and living off grid. Beth Knights The man I met there, Des Filby, was generous, joyous, capable, and like many of us, searching for meaning and something larger than ourselves to belong to. He had a magnetism. Warm, open, laughed a lot. He could catch fish with his hands, understood the bush and knew how to create a fire break. He also held a deep respect for the land that we tried to tread lightly on. The gatherings had their issues, but they were high functioning, self-organising and wondrous. No cars, no commerce, no electricity. Meals were shared, decisions were made by consensus, and a magic hat was passed around to fund basic supplies.

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You arrived to hand-painted signs  Welcome Home, We Love You  and strangers offering a hug, if you needed one. People bathed in rivers and waterfalls, ran workshops, cooked, talked and sang. For a time, it felt like a workable alternative to the world outside it. These gatherings were among the most formative and positive experiences of my early adult life. I met Des again at a gathering later that year, and in Tasmania in 1999. Rainbow Gathering festivals are off-grid events that celebrate communal living and sustainability. Beth Knights Idealism isnt naive  its born of a deeply human longing for things to make sense, to be fairer, better. But for those who already feel out of step with the world, that impulse can intensify into something more rigid, and sometimes more extreme. The same impulse that draws people towards more utopian ways of living can, when met with disillusionment and marginalisation, become something dangerous. What begins as an objection to injustice and a society that feels incoherent, can over time become a rejection of the world altogether.

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The next time I saw Des, at a music festival some years later, I sensed a bitterness had set in. He was looking for work, trying to be a photographer, and struggling. The optimism I remembered had given way to something harder. A sense of being worn down by the demands of the world. But to my mind, there was still no hint of a man who could commit double murder. I was overseas in France when I read about the shootings. A Victorian had killed two cops when they came to arrest him over alleged historical child sexual offences. I thought, what a monster. Then, I recognised the man in the pictures. I confirmed it with three friends  could this really be the Des we had known and loved? I sobbed for an hour. Loading When he took off into the bush, I had every faith that he was still alive  I knew his capacity for survival and connection to the land  but I prayed he would surrender. I couldnt stop thinking about how he turned, how he became a killer. How does idealism turn into extremism? Dezi murdered two innocent people. There is no ambiguity in that fact. But he was not forever destined to reach that point. The pipeline from idealism to something more dangerous often begins with disillusionment  feeling outside the world as it is. The Desi I knew was as conflicted and messy and human as any of us.

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Laughing at a conspiracy theorist, alienating them, might make one feel a sense of intellectual superiority, but its not helping bring them back to a shared reality. We further entrench their position. Some turn to religion, others to drugs. I know more people than I should who have taken their own lives as a reaction to a baffling world. Senior Constable Vadim De Waart-Hottart (left) and Detective Leading Senior Constable Neal Thompson. Victoria Police There will be people for whom news of his death is the best they can hope for  the price paid for taking the lives of two police officers. There will also be those who are confounded as to how a person moves from optimism to something so absolute, and deadly. Related Article Exclusive

Porepunkah shooting A doona and a surprise tip-off: The bizarre final moments of Dezi Freeman The idea of freedom that Des pursued promised a life not bound by systems and authority, but in the end it stripped away the very things that make a life liveable  a home, a community, a place within the world. When he ran into the bush, he left behind more than the grief of the families of the officers he shot. His children are without a father, his wife without a husband.

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In the end, Dezi was a man hiding in a shipping container, shot dead while wrapped in a doona, not free from the world and no longer a part of it. And the greatest tragedy is he took two innocent lives with him. Beth Knights is a freelance screenwriter and writer in scripted television, digital media and print. The Opinion newsletter is a weekly wrap of views that will challenge, champion and inform your own. Sign up here.
Photo: Iegor Shumikhin

Prime Minister of Ukraine Yulia Svyrydenko discussed Black Sea security and energy cooperation with Prime Minister of Bulgaria Andrey Gyurov.

"Following the consultations, we adopted a joint statement, and we agreed to develop a roadmap for its implementation. It will reflect the next practical steps to realize the initiatives we discussed today at the ministerial level," Svyrydenko said during a joint briefing with Gyurov following intergovernmental consultations in Kyiv on Monday.

She noted that the parties discussed security in the Black Sea region, strengthening the defense capabilities of the states, cooperation in energy and transport, as well as Bulgarias involvement in Ukraines reconstruction projects.

Svyrydenko thanked her Bulgarian colleague for the exchange of experience in nuclear power plant management.

Furthermore, the premiers discussed the potential for projects developing alternative energy routes in Europe, specifically the Vertical Gas Corridor and the Trans-Balkan route.

Among other things, according to Svyrydenko, Ukraine is interested in attracting Bulgarian companies to reconstruction projects, particularly in the Odesa region, which is home to a large Bulgarian community.

"We discussed the most important economic issues for both Bulgarian and Ukrainian companies, which can cooperate in various fields, specifically in energy, to achieve better security for our states. Also in the field of transport," Gyurov said in turn at the briefing.
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TechnologyCyber bullying Roblox, YouTube caught in major childrens privacy overhaul David Swan March 31, 2026  5:00am Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add more. Share A A A

Australias privacy regulator has released draft rules that would force apps, games, streaming platforms and educational tools to overhaul how they handle childrens personal information, in the most significant expansion of online protections for minors since the social media age ban took effect last year. The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner on Monday published the exposure draft of the Childrens Online Privacy Code, which would require online services to act in a childs best interests before collecting, using or sharing their data  and give children a new right to demand permanent deletion of their personal information. Privacy Commissioner Carly Kind said that an estimated 72 million pieces of data were collected about a child by the time they turned 13, leaving them exposed to data breaches, discrimination, algorithmic bias and targeted advertising of harmful products. Services such as Roblox, YouTube, Spotify and school-issued apps would all come under the new code. Bloomberg It is critically important that we protect these rights, so that children can develop their capacity to choose how they want to engage in the digital world, what information about themselves they want to share and with whom, Kind told this masthead.

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The code goes well beyond the under-16s social media ban, which took effect in December 2025 and applied only to age-restricted social media platforms. The new rules would cover games, streaming platforms and educational tools  meaning services such as Roblox, YouTube, Spotify and school-issued apps would all be affected. Sarah Davies, chief executive of the Alannah & Madeline Foundation  a charity that works to prevent violence against children  said the code was the first piece of serious legislative reform to target the drivers of online harms rather than responding to symptoms. Privacy Commissioner Carly Kind. Michael Quelch What this online childrens privacy code is saying is, you cant do that. You cannot exploit children and their data, Davies said. She described the codes two-step consent mechanism for under-15s  where a child must first assent before a parent or carer confirms  as genius, noting that if a child says no, the answer is no regardless of what the parent decides. Davies said she anticipated resistance from big tech during consultation. They have had years and years and years to deal with this. They have known exactly what theyve been doing, she said.

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Professor Dan Angus, director of the QUT Digital Media Research Centre, said the code reversed the onus onto platforms to justify why they needed childrens data. He said the approach was pragmatic, unlike what he described as the fantasy land of the social media ban where the policymakers expected all under-16s to simply go and touch grass. Related Article Analysis

Social media Zuckerberg faces his Big Tobacco moment Digital Rights Watch head of policy Tom Sulston said the code exposed weaknesses in Australias broader privacy framework. Protections available to children under the draft  including the best-interests test and the right to deletion  were not currently available to adults, he said, calling for the long-delayed second tranche of privacy reform to advance through parliament. Sulston also said there should be a general prohibition on direct marketing to children, arguing it was difficult to see how such marketing could ever be in a childs best interests. Under the draft rules, online services would need to collect only the minimum personal information required to operate, with privacy settings turned to maximum protection by default. Dark patterns  design tricks that pressure children into handing over data  would be explicitly banned. Targeted advertising would require consent and must be in the childs best interests. Professor Tama Leaver, of Curtin Universitys ARC Centre of Excellence for the Digital Child, said the code accepted young people were online in a multitude of ways and sought to make those spaces safer. He said notifying children when parents consented to data collection on their behalf was more than symbolic  it was a vital step in building digital literacy and ensuring young people valued their privacy.

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The consent framework sets 15 years as the threshold age. Children aged 15 and over could consent independently, while those under 15 would need parental permission. In a novel provision, services would be required to notify children when parents consent to data collection on their behalf, and to alert children when other users are tracking their geolocation. Public consultation runs for 60 days until June 5, with the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner targeting registration of the final code by December 10, 2026. Get news and reviews on technology, gadgets and gaming in our Technology newsletter. Sign up to receive it every Friday.
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WorldMiddle EastMiddle East at war Trump threatens to blow up Kharg Island as Albanese seeks certainty on war claims Matthew Knott Updated March 30, 2026  11:04pm ,first published 6:00pm Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add more. Share A A A

Canberra/Washington: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has called for more clarity from Donald Trump about his aims for the war in Iran, as the US president muses on the possibility of seizing the regimes oil supplies or completely obliterating Kharg Island and Iranian desalination plants. Albaneses more forceful language after a month of war in the Middle East came as Trump insisted that the war could end soon after progress in negotiations, even as the Pentagon orders the deployment of 10,000 more troops to Iran. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he regarded the Iranian regime as abhorrent and reprehensible, but was unsure whether foreign military intervention could achieve true regime change. Alex Ellinghausen I want to see more certainty in what the objectives of the war are, and I want to see a de-escalation, Albanese told reporters on Monday. So a de-escalation is in the global economys interests. Elaborating in an interview with the ABCs 7.30 on Monday night, Albanese said he would like to see a timeframe on the conflict and recognition of the economic damage it continues to cause.

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Later on Monday night AEDT, Trump posted on Truth Social that the US was in serious discussions with a new, and more reasonable, regime to end our military operations in Iran. Related Article Middle East at war US-Iran war as it happened: Iran warns US ground troops will be set on fire; Pakistan meets with regional powers for talks to end war Great progress has been made but, if for any reason a deal is not shortly reached, which it probably will be, and if the Hormuz Strait is not immediately Open for Business, we will conclude our lovely stay in Iran by blowing up and completely obliterating all of their Electric Generating Plants, Oil Wells and Kharg Island (and possibly all desalinization [sic] plants!), which we have purposefully not yet touched, Trump wrote. This will be in retribution for our many soldiers, and others, that Iran has butchered and killed over the old Regimes 47-year Reign of Terror. Trump told the London Financial Times in his latest interview that the US military had another couple of thousand targets to go in Iran and that a deal could be made fairly quickly.

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But in the same interview, Trump said he wanted to seize Irans oil resources, a move that would mark a major escalation in the conflict. To be honest with you, my favourite thing is to take the oil in Iran, but some stupid people back in the US say: Why are you doing that? But theyre stupid people, he said. Taking Irans oil would require a risky military operation involving the invasion and occupation of its main export hub, Kharg Island, which also houses an Iranian naval base. Trump said that taking Kharg Island would also mean we had to be there for a while. The US has sent dissonant messages about the next stages of the war. Trump has pushed for ceasefire talks with Iran even as the military ramps up forces in the region. Thousands of US troops amassed in the Middle East at the weekend, including an amphibious assault team. Members of the 82nd Airborne Division were also on their way.

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Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday night (Washington time) that Iran gave America most of the 15 demands it issued to Tehran to end the war, even as it remained unclear whether either side was negotiating. US President Donald Trump, on board Air Force One, said the US and Iran had been meeting directly and indirectly and that Irans new leaders have been very reasonable. AP They gave us most of the points. Why wouldnt they? he said, declining to specify what concessions Iran had offered. Publicly, Iran has rejected the US 15-point list of ceasefire terms delivered by the Trump administration via intermediaries in Pakistan, and has countered with five conditions of its own  including maintaining sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz. The president said on Sunday that the US and Iran had been meeting directly and indirectly and that Irans new leaders have been very reasonable, claiming they would permit 20 more oil cargo ships through the Strait from Monday (Washington time) as a sign of respect.

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But negotiations did not preclude further military action. Loading Were doing extremely well in that negotiation, Trump said. But you never know with Iran because we negotiate with them and then we always have to blow them up. Trump also suggested that the US had already achieved its goal of regime change, saying: Were dealing with different people than anybodys dealt with before following the killing of many of Irans senior leaders, including supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Albanese said he regarded the Iranian regime as abhorrent and reprehensible, but was unsure whether foreign military intervention could achieve true regime change.

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Middle East at war Ideally people will come out and overthrow the regime. But its complicated Whether that is going to occur or not is something that I think needs to be outlined, he said. Albanese said that history tells us that regime change imposed from outside is very difficult. [It] tends to happen from the bottom up within a country, rather than being imposed from outside, because military action against a nation will tend to promote nationalism within that nation. He did not go as far as Liberal frontbencher Andrew Hastie, who at the weekend described the war as a huge miscalculation and criticised Trumps lack of consultation with allies. Albanese said he believed the US and Israeli strikes had clearly achieved the other two aims: stopping Iran from getting a nuclear weapon and degrading Irans ability to fund terror proxies throughout the region.

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Related Article Middle East at war War escalation fears grow as Yemens Houthis launch missile barrage at Israel Iran is still believed to possess 440 kilograms of highly enriched uranium, which would probably require a complex ground operation to remove. Irans parliamentary Speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, accused the US of sending messages about possible negotiations while at the same time planning a ground invasion. Tehran was ready to respond if US soldiers were deployed, he said. As long as the Americans seek Irans surrender, our response is that we will never accept humiliation, he said in a message to the nation. With Bloomberg, Reuters Get a note directly from our foreign correspondents on whats making headlines around the world. Sign up for our weekly What in the World newsletter.
Meeting in Kyiv in September 2025 | Photo: President's Office / www.president.gov.ua

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy held a conversation with President of Finland Alexander Stubb.

"It is important that we all in Europe coordinate substantively. This is exactly what Alex and I are doing. I informed him about the meetings and negotiations in the Middle East and the Gulf region that I had these days. Strategic agreements are already in place, and our contribution to security and stabilization can be significant," Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram following the conversation on Monday.

Stubb, in turn, provided information about his own activities, Zelenskyy noted.

"Security is above all, and now, when the world is so destabilized, not a single day can be lost: joint actions and joint results are needed. We are preparing formats of communication with other leaders of Europe," the President of Ukraine reported.

The parties also discussed work on the American track and the drone incident that recently occurred on Finnish territory.
2,500 US Marines arrive, as Iran Speaker warns US troops will be set on fire





DUBAI :

AROUND 2,500 US Marines arrived in the region and more American forces are reaching the Middle East, US Central Command announced on Sunday. As the US Marines arrived in the region, Iran Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf warned the US against a ground invasion, saying American troops would be set on fire. He also threatened severe retaliation against American troops and allies in the region if US forces alight on Iranian soil. Iranian forces are waiting for the arrival of American troops on the ground to set them on fire and punish their regional partners forever, Iran Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf said on Sunday. Our firing continues. Our missiles are in place. Our determination and faith have increased, Qalibaf said. He described the US 15-point plan which Pakistan passed to Iran last week as their wishes and said the Trump administration is attempting to gain through the plan what it has failed to achieve by force. As long as the Americans seek Irans surrender, our response is clear: Our forces are ready, and we will never be humiliated, he said. Iran-backed Houthi rebels entered the month-long war in the Middle East on Saturday, claiming two missile launches at Israel. The war has threatened global supplies of oil and natural gas, sparked fertiliser shortages and disrupted air travel. Irans grip on the strategic Strait of Hormuz has shaken markets and prices.

The United States and Israel continue to strike Iran, whose retaliatory attacks have targeted Israel and neighbouring Gulf Arab states. More than 3,000 people have been killed. On Sunday, Iran for the first time issued a threat to strike Israeli and American universities in the region. The Houthis entry could further hurt global shipping if they again target vessels in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait off the Red Sea, through which about 12 per cent of the worlds trade typically passes. There could be limited relief after Iran on Friday agreed to allow humanitarian aid and agricultural shipments through the strait following a United Nations request. US President Donald Trump, meanwhile, has given Iran until April 6 to reopen the strait. Witnesses in Tehran reported heavy strikes late on Saturday. Israels military earlier said it targeted Irans naval weapons production facilities that it would finish attacking essential weapons production sites within a few days. The US said it has struck more than 11,000 Iranian targets in the war. Iran fired missiles toward Israel, while air defences early on Sunday intercepted missiles and drones across Gulf countries.

The number of American service members wounded in the Iran war has grown beyond 300, with more than two dozen troops injured this week from attacks on a Saudi air base. Iran fired six ballistic missiles and 29 drones at Saudi Arabias Prince Sultan air base in an attack on Friday that injured at least 15 troops, including five seriously, according to two people briefed on the matter. The USS Tripoli, an amphibious assault ship, as well as the elements from the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit that are aboard, are based in Japan. They were conducting exercises in the area around Taiwan when the order came to deploy to the Middle East almost two weeks ago. Central Command said that in addition to the Marines, the Tripoli also brings transport and strike fighter aircraft, as well as amphibious assault assets to the region. The USS Boxer and two other ships, along with another Marine Expeditionary Unit, have also been ordered to the region from San Diego. Before the arrival of the Marines, the US military had already built up the largest American force in the region in more than 20 years, including two aircraft carriers, several other warships and some 50,000 troops. The USS Gerald R Ford, the nations newest aircraft carrier, recently left the Middle East for repairs and supplies in Europe after a fire in a laundry room that affected some of the ships sleeping quarters.

Two Israeli strikes early on Sunday in the Gaza Strip killed six Palestinians, including three policemen. One attack hit a police checkpoint while another hit a group of people in the southern city of Khan Younis, according to Nasser hospital, which received the bodies. The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the strikes. Israels military said early Sunday that an American-Israeli soldier, originally from New Haven, Connecticut, had been killed while three Israelis were wounded in combat in southern Lebanon. The death raised the total to five soldiers from Israels military killed there since the conflict with Hezbollah reignited March 2. The paramilitary Revolutionary Guard warned in a statement Sunday that Iran would consider Israeli universities and branches of American universities in the region legitimate targets without safety assurances for Iranian universities, state media reported. If the US Government wants its universities in the region spared, it should condemn the bombardment of (Iranian) universities by 12 oclock Monday, March 30, in an official statement, the Guard said. The Guard also demanded the US stop Israel from striking Iranian universities and research centres, which have been attacked in recent days. Houthi Brig Gen Yahya Saree said on the rebels Al-Masirah satellite television station that they launched missiles toward sensitive Israeli military sites in the south.

If the Houthis increase attacks on commercial shipping, as they have in the past, it would further push up oil prices and destabilise all of maritime security, said Ahmed Nagi, a senior Yemen analyst at the International Crisis Group. The impact would not be limited to the energy market. The Bab el-Mandeb, at the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula, is crucial for vessels heading to the Suez Canal through the Red Sea. Saudi Arabia has been sending millions of barrels of crude oil a day through it because the Strait of Hormuz is effectively closed. Houthi rebels attacked more than 100 merchant vessels with missiles and drones, sinking two vessels, between November 2023 and January 2025. The group said it acted in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza during the Israel-Hamas war. The Houthis latest involvement would complicate the deployment of the USS Gerald R Ford, the aircraft carrier that arrived in Croatia on Saturday for maintenance. Sending the ship to the Red Sea could draw attacks similar to those on the USS Dwight D Eisenhower in 2024 and the USS Harry S. Truman in 2025. The Houthis have held Yemens capital, Sanaa, since 2014. Saudi Arabia launched a war against the Houthis on behalf of Yemens exiled government in 2015 and they now have an uneasy ceasefire.
Awa Pani Jhonki gains national attention in Mann Ki Baat, PM Modi lauds Koriya district initiative, calls it an example of people-led development





Our Correspondent KORIYA :

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in the 132nd episode of his monthly radio programme Mann Ki Baat, highlighted Chhattisgarhs water conservation efforts as a strong example of people-driven development, bringing national attention to grassroots initiatives emerging from the State. Emphasising that water conservation must evolve into a peoples movement, the Prime Minister made special mention of farmers in Koriya district, describing their work under the Awa Pani Jhonki initiative as both inspiring and replicable across the country. Addressing the nation, Modi said Indias development gains strength through active public participation and that meaningful transformation occurs when citizens take ownership of local challenges. Referring to the initiative in Koriya district, he noted that farmers have constructed recharge ponds and soak pits to conserve rainwater, contributing significantly to improving groundwater levels. The efforts of farmers in Koriya district are an inspiration for the entire nation. They demonstrate how collective participation at the grassroots level can effectively address challenges such as water scarcity, the Prime Minister said.

He stressed that such innovative community-led practices should not remain confined to a particular region but must be adopted widely. Observing that water conservation is not solely the responsibility of Governments, he called upon citizens to actively participate in safeguarding natural resources and integrate conservation practices into their daily lives. The Prime Minister further noted that similar initiatives emerging from different parts of the country are helping shape the vision of a New India, where ordinary citizens contribute to extraordinary outcomes. During the broadcast, Modi also spoke on several nation-building priorities, including achieving self-reliance in fisheries, promoting fitness among youth, reducing sugar consumption, and strengthening the ecosystem for sports. He observed that a healthy and aware society forms the foundation of a strong nation. Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai, who listened to the programme at his official residence, said the Prime Ministers appreciation of Koriya districts water conservation efforts is a matter of pride and encouragement for the State.

He stated that through initiatives such as Awa Pani Jhonki, the State Government has been promoting water conservation through public participation and is working to expand similar practices across Chhattisgarh. He appealed to citizens to adopt water conservation as part of their daily routine and contribute actively towards preserving water resources. Sai further said focused initiatives are being undertaken to promote fisheries, encourage sports, and foster healthy lifestyles, thereby strengthening the rural economy and creating new employment opportunities for youth. Reassuring the public, he added that there is no shortage of petroleum products, cooking gas, or other essential commodities in the State and that supply chains are functioning normally. He urged citizens not to pay heed to rumours and to rely only on official sources of information.
Balen checks in





NEPAL is in the midst of a major churn with the arrival of Mr. Balendra Shah, aka Balen, as its 47th Prime Minister. The 35-year-old Rastriya Swatantra Party leader is being seen as a changemaker the country wants after the unprecedented uprising triggered by Gen Z last year. He began with a symbolic message by assuming office on the auspicious day of Ramnavami and releasing his latest song Jay Mahakali a day before the swearing-in ceremony. However, the bigger message came a day after the celebrations when the Balen government arrested former PM and Chairman of Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist Mr. K P Sharma Oli.

The police also arrested former Home Minister Mr. Ramesh Lekhak in connection with handling of the Gen Z protest. Within hours, Mr. Balen Shah has delivered a solid message to the old guard in Nepal politics, pushing the country to an interesting curve. The arrest of Mr Oli and Mr. Lekhak is seen as the clean-up job promised by the rapper-turned-politician to the Gen Z voters in Nepal. Interestingly, the order to arrest the CPI-UML duo was signed by a Gen Z Home Minister, Sudan Gurung. It has changed the atmosphere of jubilant celebrations into protests by Mr. Olis supporters, handing the new government its first major challenge. The old guard will be highly skeptical of Mr. Shahs next move as many of them had been targeted during the Gen Z uprising for alleged corruption and governance failure during their regimes. The Prime Minister has acted upon recommendation of the Gaur Bahadur Karki Commission of Inquiry which submitted its report to the previous interim government two weeks ago. The Karki Commission has held Mr. Oli and Mr. Lekhak guilty on charges that also included murder during the Gen Z protests. If Mr. Shah has decided to follow all the recommendations of the panel then much more political upheavals are on cards in Nepal. The next move by the former Mayor of Kathmandu will be watched with keen interest by the world. For, the Karki Commission report has already been termed controversial in Nepali politics.

Experts have flagged the Karki report for going beyond its terms of reference. It has, reportedly, dabbled into judiciarys role and also issues on Nepal-India border. The last reference is of great curiosity for India as border issues had taken a serious turn a few years ago when the then government made cartographical changes to show many Indian territories like Kalapani and Limpyadhura as Nepals own land.

The move had led to diplomatic tensions between Kathmandu and New Delhi after the new map was released in Nepal. Whether Mr. Shah is willing to rake up the same issue will decide Indias response to his wish of eagerly working with India which he has conveyed to Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi. India should not jump the gun even if the young PM decides to leave out pragmatism in forging future relations. New Delhi has seen it all and will allow the new government in Nepal to settle in the office as a stable lawmaker.
CM Fadnavis urges police to stay ahead of tech-savvy criminals





{Dignitaries, including Devendra Fadnavis, Dr Ravinder Singal, Adv Ashish Jaiswal, and others at the ceremony.} {A total of 144 trained police dogs are participating in the meet. (Pics by Satish Raut) } {A parade of 29 teams, including a contingent of BSF (above), representing various states became centre of attraction. (Pic: Satish Raut) }

Staff Reporter :

69th All India Police Duty Meet commences in city

Highlighting the need for active and modern policing, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Sunday said that police must always stay two steps ahead of criminals in the digital age. He was speaking after inaugurating the 69th All India Police Duty Meet (AIPDM) 202526 at Shivaji Stadium in the Police Headquarters. State minister Ashish Jaiswal, Director General of Police (DGP) Maharashtra and Chairman of the 69th AIPDM Sadanand Date and Chairman of the 69th AIPDM; Commissioner of Police (CP) Dr Ravinder Kumar Singal, ADG CID Sunil Ramanand, ADG Madhukar Pandey and others were present on the dias. CM Fadnavis further said that the meet is not merely a competition but a platform for strengthening public trust and improving investigative quality through technological excellence. He also said that the BJP government has replaced colonial-era laws to protect the rights of Indian citizens.

The role of police is no longer to rule over citizens but to serve them, with technology acting as a crucial force multiplier in tackling modern challenges like cybercrime and digital fraud, said Fadnavis. He highlighted the recent inauguration of the Bhandewadi Police Station in Nagpur as a blueprint for future police stations, featuring modern amenities and advanced technology to enhance response times. Fadnavis added, The very first Duty Meet was held right here in Nagpur and once again this year Nagpur has received the honour of hosting it. The inauguration featured a parade and a ceremonial oath-taking by participants. While adressing the function DGP Date said that AIPDM serves as a professional skill test in an era where criminals have become high-tech. CP Dr Singal delivered the vote of thanks. The meet will conclude on April 3, with a valedictory function presided over by Union Minister of State for Home Affairs, Nityanand Rai.

29 teams from across country

The prestigious event, hosted by the Maharashtra Police in coordination with the State CID and Nagpur City Police, has returned to Nagpur. A total of 29 teams representing various states, Union Territories, and Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) are participating, comprising 1,327 police personnel and 144 trained police dogs. The meet features competitions across six specialised disciplines: Scientific Aid to Investigation, Police Dog Competition, Computer Awareness, Police Photography, Videography and Anti-Sabotage Checks. These events, spread across venues like the Police Training Centre in Bajaj Nagar and SRPF Group four, include both written and practical tests designed to evaluate technical proficiency and field expertise.
Fire breaks out in Sarafa Bazaar, flames brought down within minutes





Staff Reporter :

Panic gripped the Sarafa Bazaar area on Sunday evening after a sudden fire broke out at an electricity pole near a jewellery shop, triggering chaos in the busy market. As per the information received, the fire broke out in the cobweb of electricity wires at an electricity pole near Mamaji Taar Pattawale shop, leading to panic among nearby shopkeepers and visitors. As flames spread, people rushed out of shops and informed the fire brigade. Responding swiftly, fire tenders along with employees of electricity department reached the spot and started efforts to control the blaze.

Within minutes, the fire was brought under control, preventing it from spreading further in the densely packed market area. No casualties have been reported in the incident, bringing relief to traders and locals present at the time. However, some damage to property is suspected, though the exact extent is yet to be assessed. Spokesman of the fire department of Jabalpur Municipal Corporation informed that although they rushed the fire tenders to the site, immediately after getting the information. But, due to heavy traffic fire fighters had to face much inconveniences in reaching the spot. Despite, timely action averted a major mishap in the area. Meanwhile, police and concerned departments have started an investigation to ascertain the reason behind the incident.
Former Raymond Group MD Vijaypat Singhania passes away at 87





MUMBAI :

DR. VIJAYPAT Singhania, former MD of Raymond Group and a Padma Bhushan awardee, died at 87, his son Gautam Singhania confirmed via an X post on Saturday. With profound grief and deep sorrow, we inform the passing of Padma Bhushan Dr Vijaypat Kailashpat Singhania, wrote Gautam Singhania. He described his father as a visionary leader, philanthropist, and an inspiring personality, whose legacy will continue to guide and inspire generations. Vijaypat Singhania was cremated in Mumbai on Sunday. His sons Gautam, who currently leads Raymond, and Madhupati led the funeral procession as the mortal remains of Vijaypat Singhania, a Padma Bhushan awardee, were brought out of their family residence in south Mumbai. The cremation was held at the Chandanwadi crematorium.

Vijaypat Singhania will be remembered as a towering Indian industrialist who played a pivotal role in building the Raymond Group into a respected and enduring institution. Vijaypat Singhania and Gautam Singhania were embroiled in legal disputes some years ago, though the issues were later settled. Born in 1938, Gautam was an Indian entrepreneur and aviator. He went on to lead the Raymond Group as its Chairman from 1980 to 2015, guiding it through decades of growth and transformation. Vijaypat Singhania led Raymond as chairman for two decades till 2000. After stepping down, he handed over the reins of the company to Gautam Singhania and transferred his entire 37 per cent stake in the firm to his son. His contribution to industry and the nation was recognised with an honorary PhD from the London Institute of Technology & Research, and the Government of India honoured him with the Padma Bhushan in 2006. In addition, the Indian Air Force appointed him as an Honorary Air Commodore in 1994, and he was named Sheriff of Mumbai in 2006.
IRGC claims downing of US F-16, MQ-9 drone





TEHRAN :

IRANS Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) claimed its air defence has struck a US F-16 Fighting Falcon and an MQ-9 Reaper drone in the countrys southern airspace. IRGC said the US fighter jet and drone were hit during joint retaliatory missile and drone operations by its Navy and Aerospace Division against heavy industries belonging to the United States and Israel. It added that the US Central Command (CENTCOM) has also confessed that its F-16 Fighting Falcon was targeted. In a post on social media platform X, CENTCOM said, A US Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcon lands at a base in the Middle East after a combat flight in support of Operation Epic Fury. IRGC said that it destroyed a Ukrainian anti-drone equipment depot in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, used to assist US forces.

Ebrahim Zolfaghari, spokesman for Irans main military command Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, said that a warehouse in Dubai containing Ukrainian anti-drone systems and housing 21 Ukrainians had been targeted and destroyed in a joint operation by the IRGCs Air Force and Navy. Ukraines Foreign Ministry spokesman Heorhiy Tykhyi denied the information as a lie, the Interfax-Ukraine news agency reported. This information does not correspond to reality. It is fake, Interfax-Ukraine also quoted a spokesperson for Rustem Umerov, secretary of Ukraines National Security and Defense Council, as saying. The development came amid heightened tensions following joint US-Israeli strikes on Iran starting on February 28, to which Iran and its regional allies responded with attacks on Israeli and US interests across the Middle East.
Laptop, desktop prices to rise 7-10 per cent in April





Business Reporter :

Citizens planning to buy a laptop or desktop in the coming days, may get a big surprise as its prices are set to increase in April. The prices that have already escalated by 30-40 per cent in the past few months, are likely to see further rise of 7-10 per cent in the new fiscal. The prices are expected to see a hike due to critical shortage of random-access memory (RAM) and memory chips in the domestic and international markets. Dinesh Naidu, President, Vidarbha Computer & Media Dealers Welfare Association (VCMDWA), said that the price will increase because of two main factors - skyrocketing RAM prices and a shortage of memory chips. RAM prices have already jumped 3 times, pushing laptop and desktop prices up by around 30 to 40 per cent in the past four months. Further rise of 7-10 per cent is expected in April. Naidu further said that all the major laptop manufacturers have already informed their authorised dealers about the price rise effective from April 1.

Naidu said, The world is moving rapidly towards Artificial Intelligence (AI). Large technology companies are building massive data centres that require large amounts of memory, processors, and graphics cards. This has reduced supply for regular users and increased the prices. Globally, only three companies including Samsung Electronics, SK hynix, and Micron Technology dominate the memory market. Together, they control nearly 95 per cent of the worlds RAM supply. Today, all three companies are shifting their production focus towards AI data centre memory, as a result, the supply of regular RAM has reduced for regular consumers and leading to higher prices. To make matters worse, chip factories cannot increase production quickly to meet the required demand. AI companies are willing to pay more, and thus the manufacturers give them priority, creating a shortage for consumers.

The ongoing US - Iran conflict is adding pressure on global supply chains. Rising oil prices are increasing both manufacturing and transportation costs. Additionally, key materials like helium, which are essential for semiconductor production, are facing supply risks, he added. This situation may lead to reduced chip production and delays, causing further shortage and price increases in laptops and computer hardware, especially in countries like India that depend heavily on imports, Naidu said. He suggested that the consumers can avoid buying laptops or PCs with unnecessary high specifications.
New yoga protocols launched





NEW DELHI :

THE Union Ayush Ministry has launched a comprehensive Yoga Protocol for Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) and Target Groups, in a significant push towards reshaping the countrys healthcare narrative from treatment to prevention. Launched during the Yoga Mahotsav 2026 earlier this month by Union Ayush Minister Prataprao Jadhav, the initiative is being seen as a timely intervention to tackle various lifestyle diseases. The initiative has been developed by the World Health Organisation Collaborating Centre for Traditional Medicine (Yoga) (WHOCCIND 118), at the Morarji Desai National Institute of Yoga under the Ministry of Ayush. The protocols are designed as structured, evidence-based modules that integrate Yogic practices into daily life in a simple, accessible, and scalable manner. India today faces an alarming rise in non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular ailments, chronic respiratory conditions, and mental health disorders, an official source said. According to recent estimates, these conditions now account for nearly two-thirds of all deaths in the country, signalling a clear epidemiological shift from infectious diseases to lifestyle-driven illnesses.

With a growing burden of mortality attributed to NCDs each year, the urgency for preventive solutions has never been greater, the source underlined. It is in this context that the new yoga protocols assume significance. Built on scientific evidence and clinical insights, the modules prescribe daily sessions of 30 to 60 minutes that combine asanas, pranayama, meditation, and relaxation techniques, sources said. The approach is gradual, adaptable, and designed to suit varying fitness levels and medical conditions. Emphasising the preventive potential of yoga, Jadhav noted that prevention is the future of healthcare, and yoga is Indias answer to the rising burden of lifestyle diseases. Through these evidence-based protocols, we are empowering every citizen to take charge of their own health and well-being in a simple, accessible, and sustainable manner. By integrating yoga into daily life, we aim to shift the focus from illness to wellness, reducing long-term healthcare pressures, he said. This initiative reflects our commitment to building a healthier nation through holistic, preventive, and people-centric approaches rooted in Indias rich traditional knowledge, the minister said.

What sets the initiative apart is its targeted design, with specific yoga interventions curated for major health conditions. For diabetes, the focus is on improving metabolic balance and glycaemic control; for hypertension, on calming the nervous system and regulating blood pressure; and for bronchial asthma, on strengthening respiratory capacity and improving lung function. Studies and meta-analyses have consistently shown that such integrated yoga practices can lead to measurable improvements in clinical outcomes. Highlighting the scientific foundation of the initiative, Vaidya Rajesh Kotecha, Secretary, Ministry of Ayush, said that the protocols are rooted in evidence and have been carefully developed to align traditional knowledge with modern clinical understanding. From playful yoga modules for young children to mental health-focused routines for adolescents, and mobility-enhancing practices for the elderly to specialised guidelines for women and pregnant mothers, the initiative seeks to make yoga a lifelong companion for health and well-being, another official source explained. At a time when mental health concerns are rising sharply, the protocols also place strong emphasis on emotional well-being, with dedicated practices focused on breathing and meditation aimed at reducing stress, anxiety, and depression. Public health experts believe the initiatives real strength lies in its scalability.

With minimal infrastructure requirements, the protocols can be implemented across schools, workplaces, healthcare centres, and community spaces, making them a cost-effective solution for a country of Indias size and diversity. Beyond individual health benefits, the larger impact could be systemic, reducing long-term healthcare costs and easing pressure on medical infrastructure, the source said. The launch also reinforces Indias position as a global leader in promoting yoga as a holistic health solution. By institutionalising structured protocols and linking them to public health goals, the government is attempting to transform yoga from a periodic practice into an everyday habit, he added. As the country prepares for the International Day of Yoga, the message is clear: Yoga is no longer just a cultural legacy; it is emerging as a critical tool in Indias fight against modern-day health challenges, he said.
Photo: Creative Commons BY 4.0.

The European Commission states that the root cause of the incident involving a Ukrainian drone in Finnish airspace is exclusively Russia, which is waging an aggressive war against Ukraine.

Anitta Hipper, spokesperson for EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas, commented on the recent incident involving a Ukrainian drone that entered Finnish territory.

"From a diplomatic point of view, our message is clear, and the High Representative has always insisted on emphasizing this message: even when drones fly over EU member states, the main culprit here is Russia. Without Russia, this would not have happened, so this is issue number one," she said.

Hipper also confirmed that an informal meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council will be held in Ukraine on March 31. "It will also be used not only to honor the memory of all the terrible tragedies in Bucha but also to again rally support for Ukraine. And we strive to support Ukraine when it comes to both its security and defense and its need to defend itself in everything," the spokesperson emphasized.

In turn, EC official representative Thomas Regnier noted that the European Commission is "well aware of what happened and is monitoring it closely." "Let me remind you that the fight against these drone incursions is the competence of the member state. Of course, we are very concerned about these drone incursions. That is why at the European level, we have taken a number of measures to strengthen the capabilities of our member states," he added.
No Kings rallies draw crowds across US, in Europe





ST PAUL :

LARGE crowds protested on Saturday against the war in Iran and President Donald Trumps actions in No Kings rallies across the US and in Europe. Minnesota took centre stage, with thousands of people standing shoulder-to-shoulder to celebrate resistance to Trumps aggressive immigration enforcement. Minnesotas flagship event on the Capitol lawn in St. Paul drew Bruce Springsteen as its headliner. He and other speakers praised the states people for taking to the streets over the winter in opposition to a surge of US Customs and Immigration Enforcement agents. Springsteen performed Streets of Minneapolis, the song he wrote in response to the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal agents. Springsteen lamented Good and Prettis deaths but said the states pushback against ICE has given the rest of the country hope. Your strength and your commitment told us that this was still America, he said. And this reactionary nightmare, and these invasions of American cities, will not stand. People rallied from New York City, with almost 8.5 million residents in a solidly blue state, to Driggs, a town of fewer than 2,000 people in eastern Idaho, a state Trump carried with 66 per cent of the vote in 2024.

Big, but mostly peaceful, crowds: US organisers have estimated that the first two rounds of No Kings rallies drew more than 5 million people in June and 7 million in October. This week they told reporters they expected 9 million participants Saturday, though it was too early to tell whether those expectations were met. Organisers said more than 3,100 events, 500 more than in October, were registered, in all 50 states. Protests were mostly peaceful, but federal authorities deployed tear gas due to demonstrators throwing large concrete blocks, bottles and other objects in downtown Los Angeles, police said on the social platform X. LAPD also said protesters were later arrested for failing to disperse. Earlier in Topeka, Kansas, a rally outside the Statehouse had people impersonating a frog king and Trump as a baby.

Wendy Wyatt drove with Cats Against Trump sign from Lawrence, 20 miles to the east, and planned to drive back to her hometown for a later rally there. Wyatt said there are so many things about the Trump administration that upset her, but this is very hopeful to me. GOP officials dismissive of protests: White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson characterised them as the product of Leftist funding networks with little real public support. The only people who care about these Trump Derangement Therapy Sessions are reporters who are paid to cover them, Jackson said. The National Republican Congressional Committee was also sharply critical. These Hate America Rallies are where the far-lefts most violent, deranged fantasies get a microphone, NRCC spokesperson Maureen OToole said.
Rs 2.85 cr trail in fake drug case raises red flags; HC cancels bail





Staff Reporter :

Justice M M Nerlikar at the Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court has cancelled the bail granted to Robin alias Himanshu Vijaykumar Taneja in a spurious Ciprofloxacin drugs case, pointing to a suspicious money trail of around Rs 2.85 crore. The court closely examined financial transactions between co-accused Vijay Choudhary, Shailendra Choudhary and Robins family members. As per the investigation, about Rs 2.85 crore was transferred through bank accounts. Out of this, nearly Rs 1.08 crore was deposited in Robins account, around Rs 82 lakh in the account of his wife Priya, and about Rs 94 lakh in the account of his mother Poonam.

The court found these transactions highly suspicious. It noted that despite such huge amounts being transferred to Robin and his family, there were no bank transactions between Robin and the alleged manufacturer Amit Dhiman, who is accused of producing the fake medicines. The defence claimed that payments were made in cash, but the court rejected this explanation as unacceptable. According to the prosecution, Robin played a key role in procuring spurious medicines from an unlicensed manufacturer and supplying them through a network to Government hospitals. These medicines were later distributed to rural hospitals, posing a serious risk to public health.

The court observed that such fake drugs can cause severe harm, including treatment failure and long-term health issues. It also noted that the trial court had ignored these important financial details while granting bail. Considering the seriousness of the offence, the alleged conspiracy, and multiple cases registered against the accused, the High Court ruled that the bail order was improper. It then cancelled the bail and directed that Robin be taken back into custody. APP N B Jawade represented the State while Adv L G Agrawal for the Non-applicant.
Sihora cops arrest 2 in illicit liquor trade





Staff Reporter :

In a major breakthrough, Sihora police arrested two accused and seized a large quantity of English liquor amounting to Rs 2.14 lakh along with cash and a vehicle used for transportation. The accused have been identified as Abhay Singh alias Vivek Thakur (31) and Aijaz Ahmed (26), both residents of Bhatta Mohalla in Katni district. The action was carried out under the directions of Superintendent of Police Sampat Upadhyay, who has instructed strict action against those involved in illegal liquor and narcotics trade across the district. The operation was conducted under the guidance of Additional SP (Rural) Suryakant Sharma and SDOP Sihora Akanksha Upadhyay. SHO of Sihora police station, Pratiksha Marko, informed on the late night of March 28, police received credible information that two individuals were transporting illegal liquor in a white car MP-21ZG-7413 from village Ponda towards Katni. Acting on the tip-off, a police team set up a blockade near Khudawal turn on NH-30.

Soon, the vehicle was spotted and intercepted by the police. The two occupants identified themselves as Abhay Singh alias Vivek Thakur and Aijaz Ahmed, both residents of Bhatta Mohalla, Katni district. Police recovered 24 cartons of English liquor of various brands, including Blenders Pride, Bagpiper, 8 PM, Bacardi Mango Chili, Signature Whisky, Magic Moments, R S Company liquor and Goa Whisky. The total value of the seized liquor is estimated at Rs 2,14,200. Besides this, Rs 54,500 in cash, allegedly meant for purchasing liquor and the car valued at around Rs 12 lakh were also seized. The accused admitted, they had purchased the liquor from a shop in village Ponda and were illegally transporting it to Katni. Sihora police have registered a case against both under Section 34(2) of the Excise Act. The liquor consignment was seized by police team comprised of Sub-Inspector Nanhelal Rajak, Head Constable Ganeshwar Singh, Akash Sonkar, Neeraj, Anuj Kansana, Devraj, Avdhesh, Gyanprakash, Gokul and driver Shailendra Tiwari.
US, Iran trade blame for drone attack on Kurdish Presidents residence





TEHRAN :

A DRONE strike on Iraqi Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzanis residence on Saturday sparked a blame game between the US and Iran. The US claimed Iran-backed militias carried out the attack, while Iran counterclaimed it was a US-Israeli assassination attempt. Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has strongly condemned the targeting of the President of Iraqs Kurdistan, calling it a clear act of terrorism, alleging the drone strikes to be conducted by the US and Israel by using the term aggressor enemies, according to Iranian State Media Press TV. The IRGC further claimed that the incident reflects a broader pattern of cowardly assassinations aimed at undermining peace, stability, and regional cooperation between the Kurdistan Region and neighbouring countries, according to Press TV. The IRGC also asserted its readiness to defend regional partners, emphasising the need for a collective defence shield and enhanced security cooperation among countries to counter the aggressors, Press TV reported. The strike on Duhok is no longer just a local security breach; it is a geopolitical Rorschach test. To the West, it is proof of Irans malign influence.

To Tehran, it is a false flag designed to justify Western aggression. The US said that the attack was conducted by Irans terrorist militia proxies in Iraq, according to the official press statment by Thomas Tommy Pigott, Principal Deputy Spokesperson. The official statement said, The United States unequivocally and forcefully condemns the despicable terrorist attacks by Irans terrorist militia proxies in Iraq on the private residence of Iraqi Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani. These actions by Iran and its proxies are a direct assault on Iraqs sovereignty, stability, and unity. We categorically reject the indiscriminate and cowardly terrorist acts that Iran and its terrorist proxies have unleashed in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region and throughout Iraq. Earlier on Saturday, Iraqs Kurdistan Regional Government confirmed the drone strike targeting the residence of the President of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, Nechirvan Barzani, in Duhok amid the conflict in the region.

According to a statement issued by Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani, the attack was strongly condemned, describing it as a cowardly drone attack and calling for urgent action against those responsible. I condemn and denounce in the strongest terms the cowardly drone attack on the residence of Nechirvan Barzani, President of the Kurdistan Region, in Duhok. Once again, we call on the federal government to act on its responsibilities, bring these outlaw criminals to justice, and curb the continued terrorist attacks carried out by these groups, the statement read. The Prime Minister further urged the international community to support the Kurdistan Region in protecting its citizens and safeguarding its interests, while asserting that authorities reserve the right to respond decisively to such threats. We reserve every right to confront these terrorists, and we will take whatever steps are necessary to protect the Kurdistan Region, the statement added.
Young legislators conference begins today





By Bhavana :

How young public representatives are not only the leaders of the future  but powerful changemakers today. They play a critical role in advancing inclusive democratic system and addressing the challenges...with this notion, a gathering of bright minds and burgeoning intellects is going to start at the State legislative Assembly from Monday. The two-day conference of young legislators from three statesMadhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthanbelonging to Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (India Region 6) is being organised at Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly on March 3031, 2026. Bringing together young MLAs from these three states, this conference, focusing on the role of youth in democracy and a Developed India 2047, will feature about 67 legislators under the age of 45. Discussions will cover Parliamentary procedures, language style, behaviour and ground-level issues, featuring input from experienced senior MLAs. A day ahead of formal inauguration of this powerful gathering, on Sunday, host Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assemblys Speaker Narendra Singh Tomar, reviewed preparations for the event and issued directives to the officials concerned to ensure that the program is conducted successfully and smoothly. He was accompanied by Principal Secretary of Legislative Assembly, Arvind Sharma and other officials including Narendra Mishra were also present on the occasion.

The Speaker stated that the primary objective of this gathering is to strengthen democracy and to deliberate upon the role of young elected representatives. The conference will feature detailed discussions regarding the participation and responsibilities of the youth within a democratic framework. It is a matter of pride that such a conference for young legislators is being hosted in Madhya Pradesh. Elaborating more on this, he informed a total of five sessions will be conducted during the conference, comprising three sessions on the first day and two on the second. The conference will be attended by 37 legislators from Madhya Pradesh, 13 from Rajasthan, and 13 from Chhattisgarhall of whom are under the age of 45.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Dr Mohan Yadav, Madhya Pradesh Assembly Speaker Narendra Singh Tomar, and Rajasthan Assembly Speaker Vasudev Devnani. On the first day of the conference, deliberations will focus on the theme: The Role of Young Legislators in Strengthening Democracy and Citizen Participation. On March 31, the second day of the conference, a deliberation will be held on the theme Viksit Bharat 2047: Responsibilities and Challenges for Young Legislators. On this day, in addition to other sessions, Dr. Rahul V. Karad, Chairman of MIT Pune, will deliver an address. Harivansh, Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, will be present at the closing ceremony. Kailash Vijayvargiya, Minister for Parliamentary Affairs of Madhya Pradesh, and Umang Singhar, Leader of the Opposition, will attend the event as distinguished guests.
A memorial for the victims of the murder-suicide on Milford Street in Plainville Monday, March 30, 2026. Dave Zajac/Hearst Connecticut Media A memorial for the victims of the murder-suicide on Milford Street in Plainville Monday, March 30, 2026. Dave Zajac/Hearst Connecticut Media A photo is seen as part of a memorial for the victims of the murder-suicide on Milford Street in Plainville Monday, March 30, 2026. Dave Zajac/Hearst Connecticut Media A memorial for the victims of the murder-suicide on Milford Street in Plainville Monday, March 30, 2026. Dave Zajac/Hearst Connecticut Media A memorial for the victims of the murder-suicide on Milford Street in Plainville Monday, March 30, 2026. Dave Zajac/Hearst Connecticut Media People placed balloons, stuffed animals and flowers on the porch of a home on Milford Street in Plainville after a man killed his girlfriend and two children before killing himself Friday, police said. Jim Shannon/Hearst Connecticut Media

PLAINVILLE  As Plainville residents reel from a murder-suicide in town following a two-hour standoff with police on Friday, officials were offering support to the local school community.

Superintendent of Schools Brian S. Reas said one of the victims, Mileena Matthews, 12, was a sixth-grader at the Middle School of Plainville.

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"Our thoughts and prayers are with her family and friends during this incredibly difficult time," Reas said Monday. "As our school community pulls together to process this tragedy, counseling support remains available for our students and staff."

Autopsies showed that the four people who died in the murder-suicide Friday died from gunshots to the head, according to the state Office of Chief Medical Examiner.

Patrick King, 27, died of a gunshot wound to the head and the manner of his death was suicide, the medical examiner reported. His girlfriend, Felisha Matthews, 31, died of a gunshot wound to the head and the manner was homicide; four-year-old Ava King died of gunshot wounds to the head and the manner was homicide; and Mileena, 12, died of a gunshot wound to the head and the manner was homicide, according to the medical examiner.

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Police say King shot Matthews and the two children and then himself at their home after a standoff.

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Plainville Town Council Chairman Christopher Wazorko said Monday that town police had had no previous contact with the family, who moved to Plainville from Bristol in January. Bristol police had interactions with King while he was a juvenile and on a medical/mental health call when he was an adult, department spokesperson Lt. Patrick Krajewski said Monday. There was also one unfounded disturbance complaint involving King, Krajewski said.

Many people in the community want to hold a vigil for the victims, Wazorko said, but arrangements were still in the works, and that officials were trying to contact relatives to see whether they wanted to be part of a memorial gathering.

As for the mood of the community, "I think everyone wants answers," he said. "And I think right now everyone's looking to help."

A woman called dispatchers at 3:53 p.m. Friday saying her brother had called her claiming he had killed his girlfriend and 4-year-old daughter and intended to kill himself, Plainville police said.

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Officers arrived at the Milford Street home shortly after and made contact with King, police said. Negotiations went on for about two hours, police said, before officers shot pepper gas into the home to force King to come outside and surrender. Just after the gas was fired, King shot himself, police said. Though life-saving measures were attempted, he later was pronounced dead at a hospital, police said.

Firearms in the home were legally registered to King, police said.

Inside the home, officers found the bodies of Felisha Matthews, Ava King and Mileena Matthews, who was Matthews' child from a previous relationship, police said.
Crews begin to tear down the former Bank of America building at 99 Founders Plaza in East Hartford on March 30, 2026, to make way for 300 apartment units as part of a larger $840 million project dubbed Port Eastside. Joseph Villanova/Hearst Connecticut Media State and local officials celebrate the former Bank of America building at 99 Founders Plaza in East Hartford on March 30, 2026, to make way for 300 apartment units as part of a larger $840 million project dubbed Port Eastside. From left to right: CRDA executive director David Steuber, House Majority Leader Jason Rojas, Town Council chairman Richard Kehoe, Town Council member Awet Tsegai, and Mayor Connor Martin. Joseph Villanova/Hearst Connecticut Media Crews begin to tear down the former Bank of America building at 99 Founders Plaza in East Hartford on March 30, 2026, to make way for 300 apartment units as part of a larger $840 million project dubbed Port Eastside. Joseph Villanova/Hearst Connecticut Media

Town and state officials celebrated the start of demolition of the former Bank of America at 99 Founders Plaza, one of four properties that are part of the housing-centric redevelopment of Founders Plaza known as Port Eastside.

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Developers behind the project have described it as an $840 million revamp with as many as 1,000 "amenity-rich" residential units alongside a new parking garage with ground-floor retail and other associated infrastructure improvements.

Mayor Connor Martin said the teardown of the vacant office building will make way for 300-plus market-rate apartments as part of a larger redevelopment of 30 acres of commercial land on and surrounding Founders Plaza, which also includes retrofitting the 19-story tower at 111 Founders Plaza with some 240 units.

East Hartford has sought new development at Founders Plaza for decades, inspired in large part by the Adriaen's Landing project that began just across the river in Hartford before the turn of the century.

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Individual developers sought to reuse some of the properties on and near Founders Plaza, including the Hampton Inn on Pitkin Street while other plans for hotels never came to fruition. The office tower at 111 Founders Plaza has consistently been occupied from its opening. Town officials, however, have described the region and individual buildings as underutilized for years.

Port Eastside was announced in 2023, with the developers behind the plan spending 2023 and 2024 designing the project and acquiring the Founders Plaza parcels. Town officials have said Port Eastside would both revitalize an underused commercial property and take better advantage of the town's riverfront property.

The state passed a bill to establish an infrastructure improvement district in 2025 which, much like Adraien's Landing, will eventually allow for up to $125 million in bonds for infrastructure improvements through tax incremental financing.

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In addition to addressing housing needs, Martin said Port Eastside will help East Hartford grow its grand list and attract commercial and retail developments.

"East Hartford is elevating and rising, and moving toward a brighter future," Martin said.

Town Council chairman Richard Kehoe said East Hartford revised its Plan of Conservation and Development some 25 years ago to encourage projects like Port Eastside, and he is pleased to see tangible results from the planning and efforts of the town and its legislative delegation.

"Twenty-five years ago, the town of East Hartford looked at this property, saw what was happening over the river on Front Street and Columbus Boulevard, and asked ourselves, 'why can't that same development happen on this side of the river?'" Kehoe said.

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Martin said the Port Eastside development will "definitely not" take another 25 years, with demolition to be finished by the end of the year and construction anticipated for three to four years. He said East Hartford's agreement with the Port Eastside team, signed lasts year, requires the development to receive a certificate of occupancy within four years, so an extension may be necessary if delays with demolition push the project past 2029.

David Steuber, executive director of the Capital Region Development Authority, said that East Hartford was awarded $6.5 million to tear down the building. Martin said the demolition cost came out to $4.2 million, and the town is looking to see how the rest of the grant could be used to support the construction that will follow.

Even more residential development is planned around the corner from Founders Plaza: West Hartford developer Simon Konover is planning a 160-unit, $47.5 million development on 35 acres along East River Drive, to be named Commerce Center Apartments.

Steuber said the development is expected to break ground in the next few months, bringing even more activity and vitality to the riverfront area.

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Kehoe said he walked from his office in downtown Hartford to 99 Founders Plaza in just 10 minutes, showing the potential for connection between Port Eastside and both sides of the river.
MIX Prime Steakhouse, Fish, and Sushi Bar restaurant, 757 Main St S, Woodbury, Conn. Monday, March 30, 2026. H John Voorhees III/Hearst Connecticut Media MIX Prime Steakhouse, Fish, and Sushi Bar restaurant, 757 Main St S, Woodbury, Conn. Monday, March 30, 2026. H John Voorhees III/Hearst Connecticut Media MIX Prime Steakhouse, Fish, and Sushi Bar restaurant, 757 Main St S, Woodbury, Conn. Monday, March 30, 2026. H John Voorhees III/Hearst Connecticut Media MIX Prime Steakhouse, Fish, and Sushi Bar restaurant, 757 Main St S, Woodbury, Conn. Monday, March 30, 2026. H John Voorhees III/Hearst Connecticut Media MIX Prime Steakhouse, Fish, and Sushi Bar restaurant, 757 Main St S, Woodbury, Conn. Monday, March 30, 2026. H John Voorhees III/Hearst Connecticut Media MIX Prime Steakhouse, Fish, and Sushi Bar restaurant, 757 Main St S, Woodbury, Conn. Monday, March 30, 2026. H John Voorhees III/Hearst Connecticut Media MIX Prime Steakhouse, Fish, and Sushi Bar restaurant, 757 Main St S, Woodbury, Conn. Monday, March 30, 2026. H John Voorhees III/Hearst Connecticut Media MIX Prime Steakhouse, Fish, and Sushi Bar restaurant, 757 Main St S, Woodbury, Conn. Monday, March 30, 2026. H John Voorhees III/Hearst Connecticut Media MIX Prime Steakhouse, Fish, and Sushi Bar restaurant, 757 Main St S, Woodbury, Conn. Monday, March 30, 2026. H John Voorhees III/Hearst Connecticut Media MIX Prime Steakhouse, Fish, and Sushi Bar restaurant, 757 Main St S, Woodbury, Conn. Monday, March 30, 2026. H John Voorhees III/Hearst Connecticut Media MIX Prime Steakhouse, Fish, and Sushi Bar restaurant, 757 Main St S, Woodbury, Conn. Monday, March 30, 2026. H John Voorhees III/Hearst Connecticut Media MIX Prime Steakhouse, Fish, and Sushi Bar restaurant, 757 Main St S, Woodbury, Conn. Monday, March 30, 2026. H John Voorhees III/Hearst Connecticut Media Tony Ramadani in his rebuilt Portofino Restaurant and Pizzeria in Wilton in a file photo. Hearst Connecticut Media file photo

Prominent Connecticut restaurateur Ljatif "Tony" Ramadani was arrested last week and charged with attempting to bribe employees who accused the chef at one of his restaurants of sexually assaulting her, documents show.

Walid Gad, the former head chef at Ramadani's MIX Prime Steakhouse, Fish & Sushi Bar in Woodbury, is accused of sexually assaulting or groping six female employees at the restaurant, according to partially redacted arrest warrant affidavits provided by Connecticut State Police.

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The warrants include an account from one woman who detailed how Gad allegedly raped her on several occasions. Gad was arrested by state police on Wednesday.

According to the state police documents, Ramadani, who also owns the Red Rooster Pub in Wilton, which previously had locations in Newtown and Ridgefield, dismissed Gad's sexual assaults after he learned of them. He also reportedly offered $20,000 to two women after they went to speak with a person they believed was a lawyer, police said.

Ramadani, 68, of Ridgefield, was charged with one count of bribery of a witness.

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Workers at his two restaurants on Sunday said he was not available, and a lawyer representing him in a lawsuit against the restaurant declined to comment last week.

Here's what we know, and some outstanding questions, about the cases:

What we know

Police: Chef assaulted and harassed 6 employees

Gad is facing four counts of first-degree sexual assault, according to state police.

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Walid Gad, 55, was arrested Wednesday in the sexual assault of employees at a Woodbury steakhouse where he worked as head chef, police said. Courtesy of the Connecticut State Police

The arrest warrants depict a pattern of behavior over close to two years, during which Gad is alleged to have routinely groped female employees, particularly in the restaurant's cooler. One victim told police that Gad had groped her vagina while telling her, "It'll be our little secret," when she refused his advances, the warrants said.

Police allege that Gad repeatedly raped one woman  a 48-year-old undocumented immigrant from Guatemala referred to as Victim 1 in the arrest warrant  on several occasions, including in the restaurant's bathrooms. The warrant says he also warned her that if she contacted the police, they would call immigration authorities and have her deported.

Gad told police he had a "consensual sexual relationship" with the woman, according to the warrant.

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Warrant: Ramadani tried to pay off victims, delayed firing Gad

Three women, all undocumented, first reported Gad's abuse to state police in August, kicking off an investigation into the restaurant.

One of the women told state police that when she reported the abuse to Ramadani through a co-worker, he reportedly "asked her what she wanted to get out of the situation," the warrant said.

Tony Ramadani in a mugshot provided by Connecticut State Police. Courtesy of Connecticut State Police

The warrant said Ramadani called Gad's behavior "normal" and reportedly told one of the victims, "women get sexually assaulted all the time and never report such incidents."

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The warrant said Ramadani "expressed concern" about the immigration status of two of the women who approached him about the abuse, saying it could be put in jeopardy if attention were drawn to them. The warrant said Ramadani told the women he "had a lot of money and multiple lawyers that would overpower (them)."

The two women, who were identified in the court documents as Victim 1 and Victim 2, told investigators they had gone to a notary specializing in immigration issues, whom they thought was a lawyer. While there, Ramadani called one of the women and agreed to meet with them, the warrants said.

"A short time later, Tony arrived at the office and allegedly offered to pay Victim #1 and Victim #2 $20,000 in cash in exchange for their silence regarding the allegations against Gad," the court documents said.

The notary, whose name is redacted in the files released by state police, confirmed to investigators that Ramadani had offered the women $20,000, the warrant said.

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In an interview with state police, Ramadani denied offering $20,000, though he "admitted that he offered Victim #1 and Victim #2 $5,000, $10,000, or $15,000, but he indicated he was 'joking,'" the warrant said.

According to the warrant, Victim 1 and Victim 2 approached Ramadani in June 2025 with their allegations against Gad and asked for him to be fired. But Ramadani did not fire Gad until mid-September, another employee told police, the warrant said.

Ramadani said he delayed firing Gad, despite the allegations, because "he needed to find someone to replace him before that happened," according to the warrant.

Ramadani was freed on a $100,000 bond following his arrest, state police said. He is due to appear in state Superior Court in Waterbury on April 9.

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Ramadani's restaurants previously faced lawsuits from employees

In three separate lawsuits in 2021, eight employees of Ramadani across MIX steakhouse and at least two Red Rooster locations sued the restaurateur, alleging that he had regularly paid employees sub-minimum wage for non-tipped work, in violation of Connecticut law.

The three lawsuits did not mention any instances of sexual harassment or assault, and focused on how employees were allegedly paid as little as $6.38 per hour for tasks, including restocking and polishing silverware, cleaning coffee machines, and sweeping the server alley, none of which generated tips.

All of the lawsuits filed against Ramadani by his former employees were eventually dismissed, with Ramadani's lawyers successfully arguing in at least one instance that the allegations fell outside the state's statute of limitations.

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What we don't know

Are there more victims out there?

One question is whether more victims have not yet come forward to state police to report their abuse.

In a statement, state police said they hoped all victims of sexual assault in this case would come forward.

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"We hope that if there are additional victims, this will empower them with the courage to come forward and report it to police," a police spokesperson said.

According to the arrest warrants, three of the six women who reported being assaulted by Gad were undocumented, and Ramadani allegedly threatened the women by referring to their immigration statuses, in addition to trying to buy their silence.

Gad's alleged abuse also took place over more than two years, stretching from June or July 2023 to June 2025.

Studies and surveys have both indicated that sexual harassment in the restaurant industry is rampant, with some surveys showing that upwards of 70% of women working in restaurants are harassed.

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Will the charges affect Ramadani's businesses?

There's also a question how, if at all, the charges against Ramadani and Gad will affect the two Connecticut restaurants.

In general, sustained and successful business boycotts in Connecticut are rare, and while there has been some chatter in Woodbury-area Facebook groups about avoiding the steakhouse, there is no evidence that any kind of sustained opposition is being organized.

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Marc Karun, center, is arraigned in state Superior Court in Norwalk June 17, 2019. Karun is charged in the kidnapping and murder of 11-year-old Kathleen Flynn of Norwalk. Karun is seen here with attorney Todd Busstert. Ned Gerard / Hearst Connecticut Media Marc Karun Contributed Photo / Connecticut Department of Corrections A fourth-grade school photo of Kathleen Marie Flynn sits in the living room at her familys Norwalk home. File photo Fourth-grade school photo of Kathleen Marie Flynn, who was kidnapped and murdered in 1986 while walking home from school. Contributed photo

NORWALK  Nearly 40 years ago, 11-year-old Kathleen Marie Flynn went to school and never returned home.

The trial of Marc Karun, who is facing charges of murder, murder with special circumstances and first-degree kidnapping in the girls death, began Monday. If convicted, Karun, 60, faces a sentence of life without the possibility of parole.

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Esther Marie Flynn, Kathleens mother, was the first witness to take the stand Monday in state Superior Court in Stamford. She testified that her daughter had started sixth grade at Ponus Ridge Middle School three weeks before she was found dead.

On Sept. 23, 1986, Kathleen, who went by Kathy, went to school wearing bright pink sneakers  she had bought them using money she earned at her familys restaurant, Flynn said.

Kathy had begun walking from the school with some friends, taking a nearby paved pathway to get to Hunters Lane. Flynn, who was a math teacher at a high school at the time, usually met her daughter at an intersection near the middle school but, due to a work meeting, she was going to be a little late. They were planning after school to go shopping for a new purse for Kathy, Flynn said.

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When Flynn got to the intersection, her daughter wasnt there. She searched for her daughter, going to their home, Kathys former elementary school where she said she wanted to visit her fifth-grade teacher, and Ponus Ridge Middle School since Kathy had said she wanted to clean out her locker. At the middle school, Flynn said she went to Kathys locker and noticed her bookbag and other personal items werent there.

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Flynn testified that she called the homes of the friends Kathy usually walked with, finding that one was picked up from school and the other didnt attend that day. She then called police, who responded quickly to their home.

Flynn said her son, who was 14 at the time, went with officers to show them the path his sister usually took to walk home. Officers also took the 11-year-olds pillowcase and clothing so their dogs could use the scent and track down the missing child.

Several retired Norwalk police officers testified on Monday about the search for Kathy and the investigation that ensued.

Former Norwalk police Officer Joseph Kubik testified that he was one of the officers who responded to Flynns home on the evening of Sept. 23, 1986. He recalled Kathys older brother, who was 14 at the time, showing him the path she took to walk home.

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Former Officer Thomas Noonan, who retired in 2011, said he was first assigned to search a nearby construction site, and later joined other officers and firefighters at the middle school to look in the woods. Kubik said about 15 to 20 people were searching for the child, and described the effort as all hands on deck.

In the woods, Noonan said he found a white cloth bag, unzipped it and discovered a notebook that had Kathys name written inside. Kubik, working with his dog Rex, used the bag to get a scent. The dog then led Kubik to a pair of pink sneakers, he testified.

Kubik said he continued searching the area weeks after Kathys body was found. On Oct. 9, 1986, he said he found a pair of paisley pants belonging to Kathy about 92 feet from where her body was discovered.

Former Officer Michael Bauer, who retired in 2015, said that he found socks during the search and, about 20 yards away, an area of disturbed foliage. He pushed a log away, and found the body of a young girl covered with debris, he testified.

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In the early morning hours of Sept. 24, 1986, Flynn said she got a call that a body had been found. Her husband and brother  Kathys dad and uncle  went and positively identified the body as Kathy.

Former Officer Stephen Tyszka was called to the area and testified that he assisted another detective in taking photos of the crime scene. The child was found unclothed from the waist down, and there were strangulation marks on her neck and ligature marks on both of her wrists, he testified.

Kathy had been sexually assaulted and strangled. The first-degree kidnapping charge brought against Karun falls under a provision of the law in which the kidnapper abducts a victim with the intent to violate or abuse them sexually, according to court records.

States Attorney for the Judicial District of Stamford/Norwalk Paul J. Ferencek, who is prosecuting the case, held up Kathys clothes to the jury: A childs denim jacket, the paisley pants and a black T-shirt.

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Former Officer James Belmont recalled interviewing Karun at his home  which was less than two miles away from the middle school  in October 1986. He described the then-21-year-old man as being very nervous, and said he had chain-smoked three cigarettes and was visibly shaking during the roughly 20-minute interview.

Karun told him that he had been looking for a job on the morning Kathy disappeared, Belmont testified. Belmont said he asked Karun whether hed been to the middle school recently, which he said he had. Karun told Belmont that he had been at the school on Sept. 19, 1986, to meet with a librarian or teacher, but this could not be corroborated.

In his cross-examinations, Frank OReilly, Karuns defense attorney, asked the officers about whether they had worn gloves or personal protective equipment while searching for evidence in the case, which they each said they had not. Ferencek asked one officer whether they were required to wear gloves or personal protective equipment at the time, and he said no.

OReilly also asked officers about other suspects that came up in the investigation, and said outside the presence of the jury that he may use evidence that a third party was culpable. OReilly inquired about one suspect who had been investigated, asking officers if they knew he had fled out of state shortly after the homicide, but they said they did not recall.

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OReilly brought out a wanted poster officers had also handed out at the time. The poster showed sketches of two suspects and two pictures of an involved vehicle. During the investigation, one student made a statement to police shortly after Kathys death, saying he witnessed her getting abducted by three men. This prompted the sketches and wanted posters, but Belmont said that the story didnt add up and a follow-up interview led investigators to conclude that it was a fabricated story.

The child provided a sworn statement a year later admitting the story was made up, Belmont testified.

The trial is expected to take about three weeks, Judge John F. Blawie told jurors on Monday. On Tuesday, jurors are expected to hear from a representative at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.

In the run-up to the trial, a judge denied requests from News 12 and Hearst Connecticut Media Group to take video and photographs at the trial.

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The judge cited court rules, which require that, in murder trials in which there are allegations of sexual assault, the families of victims must affirmatively approve courtroom photography requests. In court, Stamford and Norwalk States Attorney Paul J. Ferencek told the judge that the family was against any cameras in court, after which the judge formally denied the requests.

Police considered Karun a suspect early in the investigation.

In January 1986, months before Kathleens killing, authorities had charged Karun with sexually assaulting a woman in the woods behind what now is Norwalk Community College. He was arrested and charged with first-degree sexual assault and kidnapping. But because the charges were reduced and nolled, he ended up only serving a few months in prison.

Between 1986 and 1988, Karun was implicated in at least two other sexual assaults, an abduction and an attempted kidnapping, according to an arrest warrant.

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Investigators focused on Karun as a suspect in Kathleens killing in 2012, after his DNA was linked to Kathleens fingernail scraping, his arrest warrant said. Later testing determined it was inconclusive.

Police obtained additional DNA from Karun in 2017 through a warrant. By that point, advances in DNA technology allowed further testing on previously examined evidence.

The DNA evidence combined with the similarity between Karuns other cases and Kathleens homicide resulted in Karuns arrest.

Police arrested him in 2019 as he left his home in Stetson, Maine. Karun has been imprisoned since his arrest.

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The case has been stalled because Karun faced superseding federal weapons charges after authorities seized dozens of weapons and thousands of rounds of ammunition from his home during his arrest in Kathleens homicide.
Fans cheer as rapper Clem Cleopatre performs in Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo, Saturday, March 28, 2026. Moses Sawasawa/AP Fans and supporters of rapper Clem Cleopatre attend a festival in Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo, Saturday, March 28, 2026. Moses Sawasawa/AP A dancer performs on stage during rapper Clem Cleopatre's concert in Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo, Sunday, March 29, 2026. Moses Sawasawa/AP Rapper Clem Cleopatre performs for the crowd in Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo, Saturday, March 28, 2026. Moses Sawasawa/AP Rapper Clem Cleopatre performs in Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo, Saturday, March 28, 2026. Moses Sawasawa/AP

GOMA, Congo (AP)  Congolese rapper Clem Cleopatre took to the stage on the last day of a three-day music festival organized by women in Goma, firing up the crowd with rapid, punchy lyrics about social cohesion, peace, and unity.

Nearly 3,000 people attended Musika na Kipaji," according to organizers. The event, now in its seventh year, aims to campaign against gender-based violence and showcase womens talents in music and dance.

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People swayed to Cleopatre's music on Sunday, with some singing along and blowing her kisses, while performers in colorful clothes danced on stage.

Goma, a prized city in mineral-rich eastern Congo, has been under the rule of the Rwanda-led M23 rebel group since January 2025, when the group took over key cities in the eastern region in a blitz. A long, heavy conflict has since broken out between the group and the Congolese military. Despite a peace deal, led by U.S. President Donald Trump, to end the decades-long conflict, it has continued to flare up with the use of heavy artillery, according to the United Nations.

Sexual violence has surged with the conflict and festival organizers say the event is a way for women to combat violence and push for peace.

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I come from a place where war breaks out at any moment, ever since we were little. And for me, that's a real motivation, Cleopatre, one of the many women performers of the night, told The Associated Press. "I encourage young people not to feel alone, especially women, because they are often forgotten, and for me, its a real motivation to make music just to prove to these women that they are not alone.

The conflict has sparked one of the world's largest humanitarian crises, displacing at least 7 million people in eastern Congo, but the people still feel hopeful.

In a city where violence is an everyday reality, festivalgoers said the festival has become more special, a place where many can meet despite their differences to rebuild social bonds.

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Today, we are all together as young people. A year ago, that was impossible because of the war. Here, we can express our frustration  and see young people united around culture and women," said Jean Luc Maroy, a festivalgoer.

 For more on Africa and development: https://apnews.com/hub/africa-pulse



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Photo: President's Office / www.president.gov.ua

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy made working visits to Middle Eastern states and held negotiations with the leaders of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Jordan on the topic of security and mutual support, according to the website of the head of state on Monday.

Zelenskyy arrived in Jeddah on March 27, where he met with Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud and discussed steps to strengthen both countries. "Before the meeting, an agreement was signed between the defense ministries of the two countries on defense cooperation. The document lays the foundation for future contracts, technological cooperation, and investment, and strengthens Ukraines role as a security donor," the report says.

On March 28, the President of Ukraine arrived in Abu Dhabi, where he met with President of the United Arab Emirates Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and discussed joint work to protect lives and possible steps for effective response to existing challenges. "The presidents of Ukraine and the UAE agreed on cooperation in the field of security and defense. Teams are finalizing the details of the agreements," the website of the head of the Ukrainian state reported.

On March 29, Zelenskyy arrived in Doha, where he met with the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani. Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani was also present at the meeting. "The chiefs of the general staff of Ukraine and Qatar signed a ten-year intergovernmental agreement on cooperation in the defense sphere. The agreement provides for joint projects in the defense industry, the creation of co-production facilities, and technological partnerships between companies," the report says.

On March 29, the President arrived in Amman, where he held a meeting with King Abdullah II of Jordan and discussed a possible partnership in the security sphere and the general situation in the Middle East and the Gulf region.

According to the first deputy head of the Office of the President, Sergiy Kyslytsya, Zelenskyy is raising the issue of partnerships for years to come, not only in the defense but also in the energy sphere. "For example, we have some of the deepest underground gas storage facilities. I also think we will have more understanding at international platforms. The countries of this region will always remember the help provided to them and the fact that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was perhaps the first to visit them during the war," he said.

Zelenskyy instructed the Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, Rustem Umerov, to remain in the Middle East and the Persian Gulf region to finalize agreements with partners.

"During the visit of the head of state, we signed important agreements in the sphere of security and defense cooperation. I will continue to work in the region to coordinate the implementation of the reached agreements. This refers to the practical deployment of security solutions, specifically in the field of countering aerial threats, as well as the further synchronization of work with partners at the level of military and technical teams," Umerov explained.
A portrait of Iran's late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, left, is seen, as smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon, Monday, March 30, 2026. Hassan Ammar/AP Portraits of Hezbollah's late leaders Hassan Nasrallah, right, and his cousin, Hashem Safieddine, are seen, as smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon, Monday, March 30, 2026. Hassan Ammar/AP Monsignor Simon Khoury inspects a damaged house following an Iranian missile strike in Shefaram, Israel, Monday, March 30, 2026. Ariel Schalit/AP Israeli authorities inspect a damaged house following an Iranian missile strike in Haifa, Israel, Monday, March 30, 2026. Ariel Schalit/AP Members of the Basij paramilitary force stand at a checkpoint in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, March 29, 2026. Vahid Salemi/AP

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP)  U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday threatened widespread destruction of Irans energy resources and other vital infrastructure, potentially including desalination plants that supply drinking water, if a deal to end the war is not reached shortly.

Iran, meanwhile, struck a key water and electrical plant in Kuwait, and an oil refinery in Israel came under attack. A drone hit a Kuwaiti oil tanker in Dubai waters, causing a fire that authorities were working to control early Tuesday, the Dubai Media Office said.

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Israel and the U.S. launched a new wave of strikes on Iran, as the war raged with no end in sight.

Trumps new threat came in a social media post. Earlier comments to the Financial Times suggested American troops could seize Irans Kharg Island oil export hub. Trump has repeatedly claimed to be making diplomatic progress  though Tehran denies negotiating directly  while ramping up his threats and sending thousands more U.S. troops to the Middle East.

Trump told the New York Post that the U.S. is negotiating with Irans parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf. The former Revolutionary Guard commander, who has taunted the U.S. on social media, dismissed the talks facilitated by Pakistan as a cover for the latest American troop deployments.

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Trump says diplomacy is going well but threatens major escalation

In a social media post, Trump said great progress is being made in talks with Iran to end military operations. But he said if a deal is not reached shortly, and if the Strait of Hormuz is not immediately reopened, the U.S. would broaden its offensive by completely obliterating power plants, oil wells, Kharg Island and possibly even desalination plants.

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The strait is a crucial waterway through which a fifth of the worlds oil is shipped in peacetime.

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The laws of armed conflict allow attacks on civilian infrastructure such as energy plants only if the military advantage outweighs the civilian harm, legal scholars say. Its considered a high bar to clear, and causing excessive suffering to civilians can constitute a war crime.

A 22-year-old resident of Karaj, near Tehran, said his area lost power for several hours overnight following nearby strikes.

I was really scared. I thought that theyd hit the power plants and that we are not going to have power anymore, he said, speaking on condition of anonymity out of security fears.

Iran says US demands are excessive, unrealistic and irrational

The U.S. already has targeted military positions on Kharg. Iran has threatened to launch its own ground invasion of Gulf Arab countries and to mine the Persian Gulf if U.S. troops set foot on its territory.

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Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said Tehran had received a 15-point proposal from the Trump administration containing excessive, unrealistic and irrational demands, while denying there had been any direct talks.

Qalibaf, the parliament speaker Trump says he is negotiating with, said Iranian forces were waiting for the arrival of American troops on the ground to set them on fire and punish their regional partners forever, according to state media.

Twice during Trumps second term, the U.S. has attacked Iran during high-level diplomatic talks, including with the Feb. 28 strikes that started the current war.

Iran attacks Israel and Gulf infrastructure

Sirens sounded at dawn near Israels main nuclear research center, a part of the country that has been targeted repeatedly in recent days. Israels military also said it had taken out two drones launched from Yemen, where the Iran-backed Houthi rebels entered the war on Saturday with their first missile attack.

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Iran kept up the pressure on its Gulf Arab neighbors: Saudi Arabia intercepted five missiles targeting its oil-rich Eastern province; a fireball erupted over Dubai, United Arab Emirates, as a missile was intercepted; and in Kuwait, an Iranian attack hit a power and desalination plant, killing one worker and wounding 10 soldiers, the state-run KUNA news agency reported.

An Emirati official signaled that the UAE wants more than just a ceasefire.

An Iranian regime that launches ballistic missiles at homes, weaponizes global trade and supports proxies is no longer an acceptable feature of the regional landscape, Noura Al Kaabi, a minister of state at the UAEs Foreign Ministry, wrote in a column published by the state-linked, English-language newspaper The National.

She added: We want a guarantee that this will never happen again.

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NATO air defenses intercepted a ballistic missile over Turkey that was fired from Iran, Turkey's Defense Ministry said, in the fourth such incident since the start of the war. Iran has denied firing the previous missiles. Turkey is taking part in mediation efforts.

Israel launched a new wave of attacks on Iran, saying it was striking military infrastructure across Tehran. Explosions were heard in the Iranian capital, and Iranian state media reported that a petrochemicals plant in Tabriz, in the north, sustained damage in an airstrike.

Peacekeepers killed in Lebanon, where Israel is battling Hezbollah

The U.N. Security Council planned to convene an emergency session Tuesday after officials said three peacekeepers in southern Lebanon had been killed in less than 24 hours. The meeting was scheduled after a request from France.

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The U.N. peacekeeping mission in the region where Israel is battling the Iran-backed Hezbollah did not say who was responsible for the deaths overnight and into Monday.

Two of the peacekeepers were killed when an explosion of unknown origin destroyed their vehicle, and a third was killed earlier when a base for the peacekeeping mission, known as UNIFIL, was hit by a projectile. All three peacekeepers were from the Indonesian army, U.N. officials said.

The Israeli army said it was reviewing the deaths to determine if they resulted from Hezbollah activity or Israeli fire, noting that they occurred in an active combat area.

An Israeli airstrike on a Beirut suburb killed one person and wounded 17, including four children, according to Lebanon's Health Ministry.

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Over the weekend, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the military would widen its invasion, expanding the existing security strip in southern Lebanon.

In Iran, authorities say more than 1,900 people have been killed, while 19 have been reported dead in Israel.

Two dozen people have been killed in Gulf states and the occupied West Bank. In Lebanon, officials said more than 1,200 people have been killed, and more than 1 million have been displaced.

Ten Israeli soldiers have died in Lebanon, while 13 U.S. service members have been killed in the war.

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Oil prices rise again as concerns of global energy crisis grow

Irans attacks on the energy infrastructure of the region and its stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz have threatened global supplies of oil, natural gas and fertilizer. They have sent fuel prices skyrocketing and given rise to growing concerns about an energy crisis.

Trump has said that Iran agreed to allow 20 oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz starting Monday as a sign of respect. There was no information on whether those ships were actually moving.

Brent crude oil, the international standard, was trading around $115 Monday, up nearly 60% from when the war started.

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___
Clothing and shoes costing under $100 would be permanently exempt from sales taxes in a wide-ranging bill worth hundreds of millions of dollars annually that won bipartisan support Monday in a Connecticut legislative committee. Jeff Greenberg/Jeffrey Greenberg/Universal Imag State Sen. Ryan Fazio of Greenwich, a ranking Republican on the legislative Finance, Revenue & Bonding Committee. Ned Gerard/Hearst Connecticut Media State Rep. Joe Polletta of Watertown, a ranking member of the legislative Finance Committee, on Monday morning in the Legislative Office Building. From the left are Rep. Tammy Nuccio, R-Tolland, Rep. Tom O'Dea, R-New Canaan, House Minority Leader Vincent Candelora of North Branford and Rep. Nicole Klarides-Ditria, R-Seymour. Ken Dixon/Hearst Connecticut Media

HARTFORD  Clothing and shoes costing under $100 would be permanently exempt from the state sales taxes in a wide-ranging bill worth hundreds of millions of dollars annually that won bipartisan support Monday in a legislative committee.

The legislation, which now heads from the Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee to the state Senate, would give homeowners $400 tax credits  up from the current $300  and eliminate income taxes on Social Security benefits totaling more than $57 million in the 2027-2028 state budget year. Renters with incomes less than $50,000 would receive tax credits of up to $1,000 per person.

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School supplies, including backpacks, lunch boxes, writing gear and paper, would be tax-free under the bill, but not electronic devices, for an estimated savings of $7 million a year. The footwear and clothing tax breaks would be worth about $175 million annually.

Major home appliances with Energy Star endorsements also would be exempt from sales taxes, including air conditioners, furnaces, boilers, heat pumps, refrigerators, and clothes washers and dryers, estimated at a savings of $12 million a year, under the bill. Takeout food sold in supermarkets, including sandwiches and coffee, would be sales-tax-free for a savings of about $9 million, according to the legislation.

Starting in 2027, family caregivers within specific income levels would receive up to $2,000 in tax credits, worth about $1.8 million statewide, for caring for their family members.

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State Sen. John Fonfara, D-Hartford, co-chair of the committee, estimated the annual savings of the bill at $540 million.

The clothing-and-footwear exemptions would preclude the annual sales-tax-free week.

Republicans on the committee supported the bill, but lawmakers led by state Sen. Ryan Fazio of Greenwich, a candidate for governor who voted for the legislation, said its in a piecemeal fashion at a time when state residents deserve more relief.

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I think it is at best a suboptimal way to reduce the tax burden on Connecticut residents, he said. I dont think there is in this a long-term growth strategy to not only reduce the immediate tax burden, but as or more importantly, to increase wages, incomes and jobs in the long run.

If we are going to maximize the bang for the buck that we give middle-class and working-class families in the long run with our tax changes and with our tax decreases, it should be focused in ways that are broad, that are even-handed, that are fair, and generate the most wage growth and income growth in the future, added Fazio, a ranking Republican on the committee.

State Rep. Joe Polletta of Watertown, another ranking Republican on the panel, said, Its nice to see a tax cut proposal put forth here in this committee. Year after year, folks have proposed tax decreases to make Connecticut more sustainable, more affordable, more appealing to people that want to live, work and raise a family. Im going to vote for this today.

Polletta said while the bill included some GOP priorities besides the $100 increase in credits for homeowners, it would not go far enough to reduce local property taxes that are increasing throughout the state after this years local revaluations.

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The legislation, a top priority of majority Senate Democrats who gave it the Senate Bill 1 designation, was the focus at the start of a Monday afternoon when the committee was facing a Wednesday deadline to vote on bills as the General Assembly closes in on its midnight May 6 adjournment.

Sugary beverage bill turned into a study

In other action, the committee approved a drastically revised bill initially aimed at creating a tax on sugary beverages to fund the expanded availability of free breakfast and lunch for all public school students. The current bill, which next heads to the House, would create a study group to research the issue and make recommendations to the next General Assembly, in January 2027.

Im glad we turned this bill into a study, said state Rep. Nicole Klarides-Ditria, R-Seymour, stressing that free meals should be a line item in the state budget, not a result of a tax.

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Tax credit for dairy farmers cut to $8M

The committee also approved a bill that would create a tax credit for dairy farmers based on the difference between their costs and the price of milk.

The bill originally was drafted at $20 million for the states dairy farmers but was reduced to $8 million under the bill, which next heads to the House.

Change in convenience tax rolled out

Earlier on Monday, House Republicans, in the first of a series of budget proposals that will be rolled out, offered a change in the so-called convenience tax, which charges New York income taxes for Connecticut residents who work from home for companies in the neighboring state.

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Connecticut needs to reassert itself in New England and take tax revenue that is ours, said House Minority Leader Vincent Candelora, R-North Branford.
About 1,700 protesters took to City Park on March 28 as part of the "No Kings" rally in downtown Edwardsville. Courtesy David Vitoff

About 1,700 people gathered March 28 at City Park for a No Kings protest, according David Vitoff, one of the event organizers.

This was about people coming together and making their voices heard, Vitoff said in an email.

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Vitoff said turnout exceeded a similar local protest in October that drew about 1,250 people.

Several speakers addressed the crowd, encouraging attendees to vote and to urge others to participate in upcoming elections, according to Vitoff.

Vitoff said the protest included chants and live music, and that participants lined nearby streets as passing motorists honked in support.

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The Edwardsville gathering was part of a series of No Kings events held across the United States and internationally. More than 3,100 events were planned nationwide, with participation estimated in the millions, according to The Associated Press.

Protests took place in all 50 states and in some international locations, according to national reporting. Most were peaceful, though some cities reported isolated arrests.

Similar protests took place elsewhere in Illinois, including a rally in Springfield that drew more than 1,000 people at the State Capitol, according to Capitol News Illinois.

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Russia seizes 15 sq km in three directions over two days, outskirts of two villages in Dnipropetrovsk region cleared  DeepState

Russian forces have advanced over the past two days in the area of the villages of Pazeno in the Bakhmut district on the Slovyansk front, Rusyn Yar in the Kramatorsk district of the Donetsk region on the Kostyantynivka front, and Varvarivka in the Polohy district of the Zaporizhia region on the Hulyaipole front, reports OSINT project DeepState.

"The enemy advanced near Pazeno, Rusyn Yar, and Varvarivka," the DeepState Telegram channel states.

It is also reported that the Defense Forces have cleared territories near the villages of Orestopil and Oleksiivka in the Dnipropetrovsk region.

There is no mention of the capture or liberation of specific settlements. On the project maps, Pazeno is shown as controlled by Russia, while Rusyn Yar and Varvarivka are in the penetration zone, and Orestopil and Oleksiivka are shown as controlled by the Defense Forces.

According to DeepState maps, the area of Russian occupation on the Slovyansk front increased by 2.79 sq km over two days (the penetration area decreased by 1.36 sq km), on the Kostyantynivka front by 2.8 sq km (the penetration area increased by another 3.14 sq km), and on the Hulyaipole front by 9.54 sq km. At the same time, the penetration zone there and in the Dnipropetrovsk region collectively decreased by 27.4 sq km.

In the area of Chasiv Yar in the Donetsk region, the penetration zone expanded by 0.8 sq km without an increase in the area of Russian occupation. There were no changes on other fronts during this time.

Thus, in total over two days, Russia seized 15.13 sq km of Ukrainian territory, while the penetration zone decreased by 24.82 sq km.

As reported, last week Russia advanced by an average of 4.7 sq km daily, while the penetration zone decreased daily by an average of 0.7 sq km.
Photo: https://t.me/vitaliy_klitschko/

Kyiv has received a total of 72 generators of various capacities from its German sister cities Leipzig and Hamburg, reported Mayor Vitali Klitschko.

"In particular, Leipzig, in cooperation with the Federal Ministry for Economic Development of Germany, transferred 49 generators to the Ukrainian capital - from 60 to 300 kW. And in cooperation with the foundation from Berlin, it sent two high-power generators - 280 and 710 kW. The city also sent 850 m of cable to connect these power sources. Hamburg transferred 21 generators to Kyiv - from 60 to 110 kW and 290 m of cable," the message posted on the mayors Telegram channel says.

The mayor thanked the sister cities for the support and humanitarian assistance they have provided to the Ukrainian capital since the beginning of the full-scale war.
Ukraine and Bulgaria plan to test-launch passenger train through Romania this summer  Development Ministry

Ukraine and Bulgaria plan to launch a test passenger train through Romania this summer, the Ministry of Communities and Territories Development announced.

"The launch of rail service between Ukraine and Bulgaria is not only about convenience for people, but also about strengthening our integration into the European transport space," the press release quotes Oleksiy Kuleba, Deputy Prime Minister for Reconstruction of Ukraine and Minister for Communities and Territories Development, as saying.

The launch of the route was discussed during a meeting with Bulgarian Minister of Transport and Communications Korman Ismailov

According to Kuleba, there is demand for rail service with Bulgaria, so all three parties are working to launch this route.

Among other issues discussed were the development of transport routes, the Danube cluster and automobile infrastructure.

Kuleba noted on his Telegram channel that the countries will further cooperate in the field of road transport and work on holding a meeting of the joint commission.

Cooperation on navigation safety in the Black Sea was also discussed.

"We expect to reach agreement on an intergovernmental agreement on maritime search and rescue this year," the Deputy Prime Minister emphasized.
Photo: The Presidential Office of Ukraine / www.president.gov.ua

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has signed a number of laws on combating international corruption, supporting foreign volunteers, technical cooperation with Slovakia, and simplifying international access to justice.

"Law No. 4811-IX joins Ukraine to the OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials, which is a key condition for Ukraines accession to the club of successful countries; Law No. 4816-IX abolishes visa requirements for foreign volunteers and humanitarian workers for the period of martial law; Law No. 4819-IX ratifies the agreement with Slovakia on technical and financial cooperation to attract grants, know-how and assistance in rebuilding the country; Law No. 4820-IX ensures Ukraines accession to the Convention on International Access to Justice, which gives our citizens the right to free legal aid in 28 countries around the world," the Verkhovna Rada said on its Telegram channel.
Photo: Iegor Shumikhin

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Bulgarian Prime Minister Andrey Gyurov signed a security cooperation agreement on Monday, March 30.

"Today, the president and I signed a security cooperation agreement that had long been in preparation, and I am glad we were able to do it this time. And this is not just some formality  it is joint work in the dimension of our shared Atlantic security," Gyurov said during a joint press conference with Zelenskyy in Kyiv.

The prime minister also said the Bulgarian government had approved a national contribution to the PURL program.

In addition, Gyurov and Zelenskyy discussed security in the Black Sea region.

"We greatly value the extensive experience Ukraine has accumulated in protecting critical infrastructure and in ensuring freedom of navigation in the Black Sea, to the extent that we believe Ukraine is a key factor for security not only in the Black Sea region, but for NATOs entire eastern flank," he said.

Gyurov also said that Ukraine and Bulgaria had signed a protocol regarding the G.S. Rakovski Bolhrad Gymnasium, in particular to ensure that students would be able to receive education in the Bulgarian language.
Russian occupation forces in Donetsk region continue to press on the village of Hryshyne in Pokrovsk district, and its occupation is only a matter of time. At present, the enemy is focused on taking control of Pokrovsk and Myrnohrad, while activity near Kostiantynivka is also increasing, according to the DeepState OSINT project.

"The enemy continues to exert active pressure on Hryshyne, gradually pulling in more infantry. The settlement is literally swarming with occupiers, although so far they are being destroyed on the northern outskirts. At present, Defense Forces troops are carrying out strike-and-search operations in houses where the enemy is constantly hiding, trying to entrench and build up forces. Infiltration deeper into the area is also already being recorded near the settlements of Vasylivka and Novooleksandrivka, but these cases remain isolated and without significant success for the enemy," the OSINT analysts said on Telegram on Monday.

They said that, given the current dynamics of enemy pressure, the occupation of Hryshyne is only a matter of time, since the Russians "are committing a large amount of manpower there, which is being accumulated in Pokrovsk." The report also says the enemy "sees its plans for advancing along Hryshyne-Myrne-Hulieve-Shylivka line and so on, along the highway toward Pavlohrad, as open terrain that is not advantageous for any movement. The most important task for them has already been accomplished  they have cut it off by taking it under fire control."

According to the project, active fighting is currently underway for Rodynske, "which is also gradually being swallowed up by the enemy, but in an unconventional way." It says Russian forces are leveling the town, including by dropping guided aerial bombs. At the same time, cases are often recorded in which Russian infantry "throw explosive charges into houses, after which the building collapses and they seep further deeper into the area. They are not focused on establishing positions in the town, but simply destroying it while retaining the ability to move through the settlement. The activity itself is focused on infiltrating deeper beyond Rodynske, in order to accumulate there and disrupt the work of drone pilots, whom they are hunting there. The town is essentially a thoroughfare."

"At present, the enemy is focused on taking control of Pokrovsk-Myrnohrad agglomeration, having already taken the cities themselves under control. This will ensure freer buildup of resources in Pokrovsk and Myrnohrad, without interference from Defense Forces drone pilots, and will create operational space for further advance. At present, enemy tube artillery is being recorded on the southern outskirts of both Pokrovsk and Myrnohrad," the analysts said.

It also noted that activity near Kostiantynivka is increasing alongside this section of the front and that, in terms of the number of assault actions, it has already moved into second place.
 UNHCR/Viktoria Tiutiunnyk

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, complements the Government of Ukraines compensation programme by helping to restore common areas in war-damaged apartment buildings. This will make families eligible for compensation and allow them to begin rebuilding homes and lives.

Since 2023, UNHCR has carried out or supported repairs in more than 100 multi-story residential buildings  this has enabled over 7,500 households to become eligible to apply for compensation under the Governments eVidnovlennia programme.

Under national regulations, apartment owners can only apply for compensation once the common areas  such as roofs, staircases, entrances, or windows  have been restored and declared safe. In many war-damaged buildings, the cost of repairing these shared spaces is too high for residents to manage on their own, leaving entire buildings excluded from the compensation mechanism.

By repairing these common spaces, UNHCR addresses one of the most practical and immediate barriers to compensation. The repairs are implemented through a combination of contractor-led works and the provision of construction materials to local authorities, complementing the community-led efforts.

In 2025 alone, UNHCR helped with repairs across Chernihiv, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Dnipro and Mykolaiv regions, making over 1,700 families  in total 3,250 people  eligible to apply for compensation.

This work is part of UNHCRs broader approach to ensure that displaced and war-affected people in Ukraine gain access to the Governments vital compensation scheme which also entails provision of free legal aid.

 UNHCR/Viktoria Tiutiunnyk

Together with local NGO partners, UNHCR provides legal counseling to help people restore their housing, land, and property rights, recover essential documents, confirm ownership, or complete inheritance procedures required for compensation claims. In 2025, UNHCR delivered 39,000 legal consultations, helping thousands navigate procedures and overcome administrative obstacles with over 2,200 cases successfully resolved to restore documentation or ownership rights.

"Through our integrated approach to shelter and protection interventions, we are making sure that no one is left behind and that people are supported to access the Governments essential compensation programme, which we know serves as a lifeline to many families whose homes have been damaged by Russian attacks. By combining practical repairs with legal aid and our strategic advocacy, we help remove barriers for thousands of people, delivering tangible results today and helping to prepare communities for future reparations and recovery work," says Bernadette Castel-Hollingsworth, UNHCRs Representative in Ukraine.

The repairs of common spaces are part of UNHCRs larger shelter programme in Ukraine, which supports war-affected and displaced families through emergency shelter materials provided immediately after attacks (more than 565,000 people supported since 2022) and durable house repairs (close to 55,000 houses repaired since 2022).

UNHCRs response in Ukraine is made possible thanks to the generous support of government and private donors. This includes top donors contributing specifically to the Ukraine operation as well as those providing critical flexible funding to UNHCR globally: Denmark, the European Union, Germany, Japan, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America.

More info:

UNHCR Ukraine Brief: People-Centred Recovery in Action  Unlocking Compensation
Photo: https://www.facebook.com/zelenskyy.official

The winner of the vote among 10 names for the national Large Language Model (LLM) was Syayvo, receiving 22,600 votes, the Ministry of Digital Transformation has announced.

According to the Ministry of Digital Transformation on Monday, more than 136,000 Ukrainians participated in the selection of the name for the national LLM.

It is noted that the name chosen by Ukrainians will be featured in government services, businesses, education, and defense, will facilitate faster data processing, automate processes, and will also become the basis for new digital products.

The Ministry of Digital Development clarified that the main selection criterion was uniqueness; in particular, ideas had to be original, free of plagiarism and copyright infringement.

"Thank you to everyone who joined the vote. You are part of the creation of Ukrainian AI," the Ministry of Digital Transformation wrote.

Other variant names included: Pytai, Slovo, Dzvinka, Hoverla, Shypit, Shukai, Yadro, Kavun and Homin.

In early January, it was reported that beta testing of the national LLM was planned to launch in the spring of 2026.

According to former First Deputy Prime Minister for Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov, the first text database for LLM training was supposed to be created in January, along with an improved tokenizer that separates words into elements for fast and efficient language processing, and proprietary benchmarks for quality assessment.

In December 2025, it was reported that the Ministry of Digital Transformation, together with Ukraines largest mobile operator, Kyivstar, selected Googles Gemma 3 model (an open-source AI model) to train Ukraines LLM.

In its press release, Kyivstar then recalled that the Gemma model had already demonstrated results as the base model for MamayLM and Lapa LLM  the first Ukrainian LLMs, as well as for INSAIT BgGPT  a modern LLM for the Bulgarian language.
What to know about U.S. shifting targets, new deployments and diplomatic double game as conflict enters Day 30?

Xinhua) 09:02, March 30, 2026

This photo taken on March 28, 2026 shows a car service center which was hit by a missile strike in eastern Tehran, Iran. (Xinhua)

CAIRO, March 29 (Xinhua) -- The U.S.-Israeli campaign against Iran that began with targeted "decapitation" strikes on Feb. 28 has spiralled into a multi-front regional war with no end in sight.

As Sunday marks the 30-day milestone of the conflict, has the United States shifted its striking targets already? Is it ready to initiate a new phase of the campaign involving ground operations? And is it really vying for a diplomatic off-ramp? Here's what you need to know.

FROM MILITARY ASSETS TO ECONOMIC, ENERGY INFRASTRUCTURE

In the first weeks of the war, U.S. and Israeli airstrikes focused primarily on eliminating key leadership and hitting Iran's military installations, missile launch sites, and command-and-control centers.

U.S. Navy Admiral Brad Cooper, who commands U.S. military forces in the region, claimed Wednesday in a video message that his forces had hit over 10,000 targets, destroying 92 percent of Iran's largest ships and more than two-thirds of its missile, drone and naval production facilities. "We're not done yet," he said.

Yet, as the conflict has dragged into its second month, targeting priorities have shifted significantly toward Iran's economic lifelines and energy infrastructure.

On March 13, U.S. warplanes bombed Iran's Kharg Island, Iran's main oil export hub in the Gulf, striking over 90 military sites. While initial strikes were described as targeting defensive positions, the island's oil infrastructure has since become a focal point, as Washington seeks to cripple Tehran's ability to generate revenue and sustain its war effort.

Meanwhile, Israeli and U.S. strikes have increasingly hit Iran's power distribution centers and industrial facilities. Iranian media reported in early March that an electricity distribution center supplying large sections of Tehran's eastern neighborhoods was knocked out for several hours after an airstrike.

U.S. and Israeli forces also expanded targets to include a heavy water production plant and a yellowcake production facility in central Iran, two steel plants in central and southwestern Iran, and a cement plant in southwestern Iran, all on Friday alone.

The University of Science and Technology in Tehran and the Isfahan University of Technology in the central city of Isfahan were also struck earlier this week.

Some analysts believed that the strategic logic behind this shift appears twofold -- to pressure Iran economically by targeting its energy exports, crucial for foreign revenues, and to demonstrate Washington's ability to strike anywhere inside Iran with impunity, and hence potentially force Tehran to the negotiating table.

A man is taken away by police officers during a protest against the U.S.-Israeli military strikes against Iran in Tel Aviv, Israel, March 28, 2026. (Xinhua/Chen Junqing)

TROOPS, SHIPS AND GROUND PREPARATION

The U.S. military presence in the region has expanded dramatically in recent days. On Saturday, the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said the USS Tripoli, an amphibious assault ship carrying some 3,500 Marines and sailors, had arrived in the Middle East. The group also includes "transport and strike fighter aircraft, as well as amphibious assault and tactical assets," CENTCOM said in a post on social media platform X. This adds to what officials described as the largest U.S. force buildup in the region in more than 20 years.

The Pentagon has also deployed AH-64 Apache attack helicopters for operating on Iran's southern flank, CENTCOM said in updates released on March 16 and March 18.

The New York Times reported Tuesday that the United States is expected to send around 3,000 troops from the elite 82nd Airborne Division to the region, in addition to roughly 2,500 more soldiers from Asia. The Wall Street Journal and AFP both reported on Friday that U.S. officials are now considering sending up to 10,000 additional troops to the region to join thousands of paratroopers and Marines already there.

Meanwhile, despite U.S. State Secretary Marco Rubio's Saturday remarks insisting that the United States "can achieve all of our objectives without ground troops," several media reports have revealed that the Pentagon is drafting options for weeks, or even months, of potential ground operations in Iran.

The Washington Post, citing unnamed U.S. officials, said Saturday that the plans, which have been under development and "war-gamed," focus on limited but high-risk ground operations "by a mixture of Special Operations forces and conventional infantry troops," including raids into coastal areas near the Strait of Hormuz to "find and destroy weapons" capable of targeting international commercial and military shipping, rather than a full-scale invasion.

Smoke billows after explosions heard in Tehran, Iran, March 28, 2026. (Xinhua/Shadati)

TALKS, THREATS, AND HORMUZ STRAIT

Perhaps the most striking feature of the conflict's 30th day is the stark disconnect between U.S. diplomatic rhetoric and military preparations. On Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump claimed Washington had reached "major points of agreement" with Iran, telling reporters the two sides were "going to get together" by phone and that he had ordered a five-day delay of planned strikes on Iranian energy facilities. Washington had also proposed a 15-point ceasefire plan to Iran via intermediaries from Pakistan.

However, Tehran has repeatedly denied any direct or indirect communication with the United States. The semi-official Fars news agency reported Monday that there had been no contact, while the Iranian Foreign Ministry dismissed Trump's remarks as "part of efforts to reduce energy prices and buy time" for military plans. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi reiterated on Wednesday that Iran does "not intend to negotiate. So far, no negotiations have taken place."

On Sunday, Iran's Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf accused Washington of "openly sending a message of negotiation and secretly planning a ground attack."

Iran has also officially rejected the U.S. 15-point proposal and responded with its own five-point plan, which includes war reparations, guarantees against future attacks, and control over the Strait of Hormuz.

This photo shows a damaged building after joint U.S.-Israeli strikes in Tehran, Iran on March 29, 2026. (Xinhua/Shadati)

Reacting to Tehran's attitude, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt warned Wednesday that the United States would "unleash hell" on Iran if Tehran does not accept a deal. A day later, Trump said if Iran does not agree to a deal, it will face a U.S. "onslaught."

Behind the diplomatic theater, the Pentagon is drafting four "final blow" options for Trump, Axios reported Thursday, citing sources.

The options include invading or blockading Kharg Island, seizing Larak Island, a strategic location for controlling the Strait of Hormuz, capturing Abu Musa, Greater Tunb and Lesser Tunb, three strategic islands in the Gulf near the Strait of Hormuz that are controlled by Iran but claimed by the United Arab Emirates, as well as blockading or seizing vessels exporting Iranian oil through the eastern Strait of Hormuz.

Axios added that U.S. military planners have also drawn up options for seizing highly-enriched uranium stored at Iranian nuclear sites.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
The Chamber of Commerce in Orange will hold their monthly coffee, hosted by the Bridge City Bank, at 7:30 am, on Thursday, April 2. The bank is located at 57 Strickland Dr., in Orange. Parking will also be available in the Guadalajara parking lot.
The Hongbei massacre of four Understanding the angst

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The circumstances, the timing, the purpose, if one can call it a purpose, were all wrong and one can understand the tears and angst of the people of Ukhrul, correction, Tangkhul folks. The question doing the round is, why were four young lads, all belonging to the Eastern Flank of the NSCN, done to death seemingly in cold blood by cadres of the same organisation, NSCN (IM) ? Already speculations are doing the round and it is an answer to this query that is being sought and is central to the manner in which a mob built up and targeted the office of the Wung Tangkhul Region (WTR) of the NSCN (IM). An internal matter of the outfit is a line that will not cut ice with the Tangkhul people, if one takes into consideration the reality at the ground level. And apart from targeting the office of the WTR of the outfit, reports have also come in of concerned neighbours of a senior leader of the NSCN (IM) moving out furnitures, utensils and movable goods from his house to be taken to a safer location fearing the build up of a mob. One day after the bodies of the four slain cadres were brought to Ukhrul district headquarters, a total shutdown was imposed on Ukhrul town with exceptions made only for people on emergency such as medical and students appearing for examinations. Seldom is it that the whole town of Ukhrul goes into shutdown mode, and this should say so many significant things. If one goes by what the Eastern Flank of the outfit has had to say, a name has been picked up uttering the line, Its them we are ordered to shoot, indicating that the order to shoot and kill the four cadres came from a higher level. Significantly the picture of the man or cadre who came out with this said line has gone viral on the social media and this has already left an impact. The Naga Army, on the other hand, has clarified that no such order has been issued from the general headquarters and it is against this that the Tangkhul people are demanding that the truth be told to them. Only time can tell if the whole undiluted truth will come out in the public domain or not, but one point that all seem to agree upon is, the killings made no sense and it came at the wrong time. There can be no such thing as killing at the right time but what happened at Hongbei village in Kamjong district on May 28 night has only muddied the water further and made things more confusing and unclear to the Tangkhul folks who are already reeling under pressure from different directions.

Fratricidal killings and this at a time when people are beginning to place unconditional faith and belief on indigeniety, the term that has started drawing the people closer to each other. Circumstances work in strange ways and if the Nagas, particularly the Tangkhuls, and the Meiteis, could not see eye to eye on many things in the past, the reality in the last three years seems to have drawn the people on either side closer. Supping from the indigeniety plate, this was what could be ascertained at the ground reality and the sense of oneness, of belonging to the same soil, of sharing the same ground on which one walks and drinking water from the same water body and this became all that more palpable after May 3, 2023 and February 8, 2026 after the Litan outrage. This is what makes the Hongbei incident all that more tragic and to many unacceptable. Last heard, the NSCN (IM) has reportedly set up an inquiry commission to look into the matter and dig out the truth of what really happened and hopefully to fix responsibility. The faith that people, particularly the Nagas, have reposed on the outfit should not be allowed to erode due to any short-sightedness. If the Naga movement has managed to come to such a level today, it is in no small measure due to the far sightedness of its leaders and this is a legacy that simply cannot be allowed to be erased. The onus of fixing responsibility lies on the outfit. And remember eyes will be fixed on April 10, the date that has been given by the NSCN (IM) to submit the inquiry report.
Bethalto School District superintendent Jill Griffin speaks at the school board meeting at the Bethalto Central Office Building on Thursday, Oct. 24, 2024. Scott Cousins/The Telegraph

For the first time, Bethalto School District superintendent Jill Griffin explained why the district entered into a confidential separation agreement with former Trimpe Middle School teacher Kary Morgan six months before she was criminally charged.

"We decided to take that approach because it was the most expeditious way to manage it at that time," Griffin told The Telegraph on Friday.

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Griffins comments provide the first public explanation of the districts decision to separate from Morgan after allegations that later resulted in a criminal charge. Morgan was charged on March 13 with misdemeanor reckless conduct after authorities alleged she used an air horn near a students ear, causing hearing issues, according to charging documents filed in Madison County Circuit Court.

The charges stem from incidents reported to have occurred Sept. 2 and 3, according to Bethalto Police Department documents. Records indicate the student sought medical evaluation multiple times, including treatment by a physician.

Police records state Trimpe Middle School principal Laura Gipson first learned of the incidents Sept. 10. Charging documents state Bethalto Police Department Sgt. Ryan Dugger became aware of the allegations on Sept. 12.

Trimpe Middle School on Oct. 7, 2025. Chase Martin/The Telegraph

Griffin said Friday that Morgan was removed from the classroom as soon as district officials learned of the allegations.

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At a Sept. 29, 2025, meeting, the Bethalto School Board unanimously approved a separation from employment for a teacher but did not publicly identify the individual.

Records obtained by The Telegraph show the teacher was Morgan, and she and the district entered into a confidential separation agreement. The undated agreement provided for Morgan to be paid through Sept. 30 and included a voluntary retirement letter signed Sept. 23 by Morgan that ended her 25-year teaching career in the Bethalto School District.

Documents previously obtained by The Telegraph show that in a Sept. 30 email to Trimpe Middle School staff, Griffin wrote that Morgan will not be returning to TMS and directed questions about classroom coverage to Gipson. Griffin instructed staff to tell students and families that Morgan retired at the end of September. The email did not reference the Bethatlo Police investigation.

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Because the teacher was not publicly identified at the Sept. 29 meeting, the Illinois Attorney Generals Office is investigating whether the district violated the Illinois Open Meetings Act.

Bethalto police explain delay in charges

Wilbur Trimpe Middle School teacher and student council adviser Kary Morgan from November 2006. The Telegraph

Dugger, who oversaw the police investigation, said part of the six-month gap between the alleged incidents and the filing of charges was due to the time required to obtain medical records and for the Madison County States Attorneys Office to review the case.

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There were obviously several reasons for that, Dugger told The Telegraph on Friday. Waiting on some medical records and then the states attorneys office reviewing it and making that determination. ... We conducted our investigation, we sent it up for review by the states attorneys office, and then they made the determination as far as what charges."

Dugger said he initially learned of the incidents from a Bethalto School District official. Police documents previously obtained by The Telegraph did not identify the source of the initial report.

Bethalto schools removed teacher, reported case to authorities

Trimpe Middle School on Oct. 7, 2025. Chase Martin/The Telegraph

Jill Griffin said the district conducted an internal review before notifying outside agencies.

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As soon as we heard about the situation with the teacher, we intervened, we removed her from the classroom and investigated the situation internally and thoroughly, Griffin said. As more information became known and available through the investigative process, we then notified and self-reported to DCFS and the Bethalto Police Department, who then began their own investigations. We cooperated fully with both agencies throughout their investigations. Our job is to report it to the authorities, and we did.

Morgan, a Bethalto native and graduate of Civic Memorial High School, taught science at Trimpe Middle School for more than two decades and served as student council adviser.

Its a very sad situation for all involved, Griffin said.

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A 61-year-old Edwardsville man has been indicted on three charges of aggravated murder in Ohio. FOTOKITA/Getty Images

Editor's note: This story has been updated to confirm that Mohr has been arrested in Madison County and has waived extradition.

An Edwardsville man has been indicted on three counts of aggravated murder in Henry County, Ohio.

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William Mohr, 61, of Edwardsville, was indicted March 25. He is currently in the Madison County Jail.

Mohr appeared before Madison County Associate Judge John Hackett on March 30 and waived extradition.

The charges stem from a fire at the Wellington Hotel in Napoleon, Ohio, that killed three people, including a 6-year-old child, on Jan. 21, 1992. The Ohio State Fire Marshal's Office later determined the fire had been set intentionally.

Napoleon police said the investigation was reopened in January 2026.

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No additional information about the investigation was immediately available. Police said they would continue to release information as it becomes available.

An email to the Henry County, Ohio, Prosecutor's Office was not immediately returned.
Isaih Pierson Courtesy Alton Police Department

EDWARDSVILLE  A 19-year-old Alton man accused of murdering the on-again, off-again boyfriend of his mother in early March was indicted Thursday by a Madison County grand jury.

Isaih R. Pierson, of Alton, is accused of murdering John Terrence Anthony on March 10 outside an Oakwood Estates apartment.

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Pierson was indicted on March 26 on two counts of first-degree murder, both Class M felonies, and aggravated unlawful possession of weapons, a Class 4 felony.

He had originally been charged on March 11 in a case presented by the Alton Police Department.

The incident began at about 4:19 a.m. March 10, police responded to 911 reports of gunshots in the 700 block of Oakwood Estates. As they were responding, additional information came in that a man had been shot.

Police found the victim, later identified as Anthony, in the street. He was taken to a local hospital and was pronounced dead.

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Pierson was taken into custody at the scene, and a Cline C9 9mm handgun allegedly used in the shooting was recovered in a nearby apartment.

According to prosecutors, Pierson had a long-standing animosity toward Anthony, who had an on-again, off-again relationship with Piersons mother.

At the time of the incident, Stewart said Pierson had pulled up to the apartment with his girlfriend, saw Anthonys car, and became enraged. His girlfriend attempted to hold him back, but Pierson went up to Anthonys car and shot him.

It had been noted in court proceedings that Anthony had a history of violence, including pending charges relating to domestic abuse involving Piersons mother.

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Anthony also had an extensive criminal record, including being listed as non-compliant on the Violent Offender Against Youth database kept by the Illinois State Police.
These are such beautiful paintings, remarked an onlooker at the opening of a new exhibition on Friday at the DAG.

The paintings in question are picturesque landscapes from the early 19th century (1800-1850), filled with ruinsdilapidated forts and buildings made dysfunctionalset against sweeping, dramatic backdrops. They evoke an India untouched by modernity, but also one quietly in decay.

Take, for instance, the Ruined Mosque, the Juma Musjid, Mandu (1852) by Claudius Harris, where the dome appears worn, with outgrowths emerging from it.

Or The Palace of Tirumala Nayak, Maduraigrand in scale, yet curiously empty, with not even a single soul in sight.

In the picturesque, architecture and landscape have to go together. The architecture has to be irregular, preferably ruined. There has to be great irregularity of form, explains Giles Tillotson, senior vice president (Museum Exhibitions), DAG, and curator of the exhibition.

For instance, a picture of the Taj Mahal taken from the Southern Gate isnt picturesque because its formal, but if you put a great tree covering half of it, or exaggerate signs of decay, youre making it picturesque by increasing that sense of irregularity.

An English aesthetic that developed in the late 18th century, the picturesque was brought to India by artists such as William Hodges and Thomas Daniell, along with his nephew William Daniell.

The exhibition brings together works by landscape artistsboth European and Indianwho followed them, including George Chinnery, Henry Salt, James Baillie Fraser, and Sita Ram, among others.

In one oil on canvas, Chinnery paints an ox in front of a thatched dwelling. In another, rendered in muted watercolours, he paints a tomb in Bengal, the structure dissolving into its surroundings; its edges darkened.

The reason its problematic in the Indian context is if that was the idea of 18th-century India, then it was a place in decay. It showcases a civilisation that is essentially over, and ready for a young, energetic, industrial country to take over, says Tillotson.

True, many of the structures depicted may well have been in ruins when artists painted them; but this raises another question: why choose those buildings over others? he writes in the book accompanying the exhibition.

Even structures that were far from ruinedsuch as the Brihadishvara temple in Thanjavurare shown depopulated, their function deliberately played down.

Here, Tillotson notes that while the intention of the artists remains a point of academic debate, what interests him is to show it to a young Indian audience, to say: this is a vision of your country 200 years ago. What do you make of it? And particularly, if you like it, why do you like it? What is there to like?"

"Thats not a straightforward question. A possible answer, he suggests, lies in nostalgia. Its the idea that landscape is something old, ancient, untouchedchaste, evennot violated by modernism.

While spearheaded by European painters, the style was also taken up by Indian artists, particularly in Murshidabad. One name that stands out is Sita Ram, several of whose works are part of the show at the DAG.

The show brings together British and Indian landscape paintings to examine their artistic interconnectedness and shared visual vocabulary.
Local authorities strengthen flood prevention measures in Ili, NW China's Xinjiang

Xinhua) 09:32, March 30, 2026

An aerial drone photo taken on March 24, 2026 shows a staff member operating an excavator to dredge a river channel in Qapqal Xibe Autonomous County of Ili Kazak Autonomous Prefecture, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Recently, in response to the potential flood risks caused by snowmelt in the Tianshan and Altay Mountains, local authorities in Ili have conducted thorough hazard identification and rectification, increased the frequency of meteorological and hydrological monitoring, stockpiled sufficient flood control supplies, and established emergency rescue teams to prevent flood-related disasters during the flood season. (Xinhua/Ding Lei)

A drone photo taken on March 27, 2026 shows workers building the revetment of a river in Xinyuan County of Ili Kazak Autonomous Prefecture, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Recently, in response to the potential flood risks caused by snowmelt in the Tianshan and Altay Mountains, local authorities in Ili have conducted thorough hazard identification and rectification, increased the frequency of meteorological and hydrological monitoring, stockpiled sufficient flood control supplies, and established emergency rescue teams to prevent flood-related disasters during the flood season. (Xinhua/Ding Lei)

An aerial drone photo taken on March 24, 2026 shows a dredged river channel in Qapqal Xibe Autonomous County of Ili Kazak Autonomous Prefecture, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Recently, in response to the potential flood risks caused by snowmelt in the Tianshan and Altay Mountains, local authorities in Ili have conducted thorough hazard identification and rectification, increased the frequency of meteorological and hydrological monitoring, stockpiled sufficient flood control supplies, and established emergency rescue teams to prevent flood-related disasters during the flood season. (Xinhua/Ding Lei)

A staff member inspects the maintenance gate chamber of the spillway tunnel at a river hydropower complex in Xinyuan County of Ili Kazak Autonomous Prefecture, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, March 27, 2026. Recently, in response to the potential flood risks caused by snowmelt in the Tianshan and Altay Mountains, local authorities in Ili have conducted thorough hazard identification and rectification, increased the frequency of meteorological and hydrological monitoring, stockpiled sufficient flood control supplies, and established emergency rescue teams to prevent flood-related disasters during the flood season. (Xinhua/Ding Lei)

An aerial drone photo taken on March 27, 2026 shows staff members inspecting a river hydropower complex in Xinyuan County of Ili Kazak Autonomous Prefecture, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Recently, in response to the potential flood risks caused by snowmelt in the Tianshan and Altay Mountains, local authorities in Ili have conducted thorough hazard identification and rectification, increased the frequency of meteorological and hydrological monitoring, stockpiled sufficient flood control supplies, and established emergency rescue teams to prevent flood-related disasters during the flood season. (Xinhua/Ding Lei)

Staff members check supplies at a warehouse for flood control and drought relief emergency supplies in Xinyuan County of Ili Kazak Autonomous Prefecture, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, March 27, 2026. Recently, in response to the potential flood risks caused by snowmelt in the Tianshan and Altay Mountains, local authorities in Ili have conducted thorough hazard identification and rectification, increased the frequency of meteorological and hydrological monitoring, stockpiled sufficient flood control supplies, and established emergency rescue teams to prevent flood-related disasters during the flood season. (Xinhua/Ding Lei)

Staff members check monitoring feeds from various sites at the control room of a river hydropower complex in Xinyuan County of Ili Kazak Autonomous Prefecture, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, March 27, 2026. Recently, in response to the potential flood risks caused by snowmelt in the Tianshan and Altay Mountains, local authorities in Ili have conducted thorough hazard identification and rectification, increased the frequency of meteorological and hydrological monitoring, stockpiled sufficient flood control supplies, and established emergency rescue teams to prevent flood-related disasters during the flood season. (Xinhua/Ding Lei)

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
Globally, the aerospace and defence sector is seeing increased activity, with most countries raising defence spending, and demand is expected to grow over the next three to five years. Besides, the defence, aerospace, and space sectors are becoming increasingly technology-driven and precision-oriented, with greater reliance on advanced platforms, electronics, and integrated systems.

Rising defence spending, increasing scale requirements, and the growth of satellite programmes are creating sustained demand for high-reliability systems. These observations were made by Senthil Balasubramanian, CEO, Rossell Techsys, during an interaction with THE WEEK.

For more defence news, views and updates, visit: Fortress India

As per Balasubramanian, the Bengaluru-headquartered Rossell Techsys is aligned with this rising demand. Nearly 14 years since inception up to FY 202425, the company delivered cumulative revenues of over 1,300 crore. But the company is aiming to achieve a similar scale within just the current and next financial years combined.

Interestingly, the company has had a long-standing relationship with Boeing since 2013, when it was initially selected to work on a single platform. Over time, this engagement has expanded to cover almost all of Boeings defence platforms. In other words, all the defence aircraft have some contribution from Rossell Techsys.

In September 2025, we signed a long-term Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract with Boeing for the manufacturing of electrical panel assemblies for Boeings advanced pilot training system. We have also been associated with this programme since its engineering and manufacturing development and early flight test stages, remarked Balasubramanian.

This homegrown company has 90 per cent of its revenue coming in from global firms and serves over 30 customers across countries, including global and leading OEMs such as Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Honeywell.

The defence and aerospace industry growth can be gauged by the fact that the demand from these customers has moved beyond prototyping to high-volume production, with clear expectations around faster turnaround, scalability, and zero-defect quality. In the space segment, programmes have advanced to volume-ready status, with the first major production batch scheduled before year-end. The segment is also seeing rapid scale-up, with customers planning larger deployments and expecting significant increases in production, said Balasubramanian.

Globally, defence expenditure is showing an upward trend, translating into higher demand across the supply chain. We now have strong order visibility, with over 720 crore in confirmed orders, and a 2,500 crore long-term pipeline. In India, these trends are reflected through the governments push for indigenisation and the growing presence of global OEMs establishing supply chains in the country, with a continued focus on Make in India and integration with global value chains," said Balasubramanian.
Days after the defence acquisition council (DAC), chaired by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, cleared the procurement of five S-400 missile systems from Russia to fortify the countrys long-range air defence shield, India is reportedly expected to receive the fourth air defence system from Russia by the end of April.

According to media reports, an Indian Air Force (IAF) team is in Russia to inspect the system, which is set to be deployed in the country's Western sector.

India currently has three operational S-400 squadrons, or 'Sudarshan Chakra', strategically placed to cover both Pakistan and China frontsthe Punjab-Jammu sector (Western front), the Sikkim sector (Eastern front), and the RajasthanGujarat sector (Western desert).

ALSO READ: Is Israel's war on Iran impacting Indias 30,000 crore MALE drone deal?

The fifth S-400, according to a Hindustan Times report, will arrive in November. These are part of the $5 billion deal signed with Russia in 2018 for five S-400 air defence missile systems.

The delivery of the fourth air defence system has been delayed by over three years, owing to supply chain disruptions caused by the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Meanwhile, a few days ago, a report by The Print said the fourth system may reach India only by May or June, while the fifth may reach India in the last quarter of the year.

The decision to procure an additional batch of five S-400 air defence missile systems came months after their effectiveness was demonstrated during Operation Sindoor in May. The system played a major role in India establishing dominance over Pakistan during the May 710 hostilities last year.

Quoting sources, The Print report said that with all 10 S-400 air defence systems operational and Project Kusha in place, Indias airspace would be virtually sealed against drones, advanced fighters, and missile threats.
The Indian Air Force (IAF) has decided to procure modern military transport aircraft to replace its ageing fleet of Soviet-era An-32 and Il-76 planes. The top contenders for the multi-billion-pound deal are Lockheed Martin's C-130J Super Hercules, Embraer's KC-390 aircraft, and Airbus A400M plane.

The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), the Ministry of Defence's highest decision-making body on military procurement, recently approved a 2.38 lakh crore-worth proposal, which also covers the plan to acquire these military airlifters.

The IAF already operates 12 C-130J Super Hercules. But the Brazilian-made KC-390 aircraft, which is currently operated only by South Korea in Asia, is expected to give the Hercules stiff competition. The C-390 Millennium is a medium-sized, twin-engine, jet-powered military transport aircraft designed and manufactured by Embraer. The aircraft consists of more than 50 per cent US equipment and is said to be 2530 per cent faster than the C-130J. Embraer claims its operational costs will be lower because it is a jet-powered aircraft, as opposed to the turboprop C-130J.

ALSO READ | Larger than a C-130, smaller than the C-17: 5 facts about A400M transport aircraft that may join IAF

For those interested in a deep dive, here are five things to know about the military transport aircraft that may become part of the Indian Air Force in the years to come.

1. The aircraft has a length of 35.20 m (115 ft 5 in), a height of 11.84 m (38 ft 10 in), and a wingspan of 35.05 m (115 ft).

It can carry a maximum payload of 26 metric tonnes in concentrated form and 23 metric tonnes when distributed, with a fuel capacity of 23.9 metric tonnes (52,690 lb) in usable wing tanks. It has a maximum cruise speed of 470 KTAS (Mach 0.80) and an altitude ceiling of 40,000 ft (though often operated at 36,000 ft), with a cabin altitude of 8,000 ft at maximum ceiling. The take-off distance is 1,524 m with a 23-metric-tonne payload, the official brochure showed.

For more defence news, views and updates, visit: Fortress India

2. Capable of offering a payload capacity of up to 26 tonnes and higher speed and range compared to other medium-sized military transport aircraft, the C-390 Millennium is capable of performing a wide range of missions. These include cargo and troop transport, airdrop operations, medical evacuation (MEDEVAC), search and rescue, firefighting, and humanitarian missions. The aircraft can operate from temporary or unpaved runways and may be configured for air-to-air refuelling, both as a tanker and as a receiver.

ALSO READ | Why the Indian Navy needs Boeing Poseidon 8I aircraft to keep Chinese submarines in check? 5 POINTS

3. The modern features of the KC-390 Millennium include a comprehensive self-protection system with detection devices such as a Radar Warning Receiver (RWR), Laser Warning System (LWS), and Missile Approach Warning System (MAWS).

These are supported by countermeasures such as a Countermeasure Dispensing System (CMDS) and Directional Infrared Countermeasures (DIRCM), providing 360 coverage. It comes with ballistic protection, fully night-vision compatible interior and cockpit systems, and advanced tactical radar. It also features a Continuous Computed Drop Point (CCDP) algorithm to determine the optimal release point for cargo.

4. Embraer and the Mahindra Group had, in October 2025, inked a strategic partnership to produce the C-390 Millennium in India. In February 2026, Embraer announced plans to establish a maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) facility in India, in collaboration with Mahindra, following its selection for the IAF's Medium Transport Aircraft (MTA) programme. The plan aims to provide comprehensive sustainment for the C-390 fleet, supporting high levels of operational readiness.

ALSO READ | Eurofighter Typhoon jets: What are swing-role combat aircraft and why do Air Force pilots love them? 5 POINTS

5. Apart from Brazil, KC-390 Millenniums are used by the Czech Republic, Austria, South Korea, Hungary, and Portugal. Sweden and Slovakia have selected the aircraft for future delivery.

In the first quarter of 2023, the Brazilian Air Force fleet of C-390s had accumulated more than 8,000 flight hours, participating in global missions across all continents, including Antarctica. According to the Royal Air Force of the UK, similar airlifters in this class, like the Atlas, carry significant weight, but the C-390s jet engines allow it to complete missions faster than its turboprop rivals.
Manjeshwar has been one of Keralas most tightly contested Assembly constituencies in recent years, often decided by razor-thin margins. In the 2021 election, the IUMLs A. K. M. Ashraf won by just 0.4 per cent (745 votes) against the BJPs former state president, K. Surendran. In 2016, the margin was even narrowerjust 89 votes. This time, too, there is little expectation that the winner will secure a comfortable margin, with the contest once again primarily between Surendran and Ashraf. As The Week travelled through the constituency, there was a palpable sense of uncertainty over which way the results would tilt.

Adding to this uncertainty is Gean Lavina Monteiro, 56, who is contesting as an independent, complicating calculations for political parties and fronts. Involved in her family business, Monteiro is a former panchayat president of the Manjeshwar Grama Panchayat. Notably, the BJP, which had six members in the 2020 local body elections, backed heralong with other independentsfor the presidency. The Konkani Catholic community, which Monteiro hails from, has an estimated membership of over 12,000 in the Manjeshwar Assembly constituency, with around 7,000 voters.

Speaking to The Week, Monteiro said she decided to contest the Assembly electionfully aware that she may not winto highlight a long-standing concern of her micro-minority community. Interestingly, she describes herself as someone who prefers to stay away from the media and the limelight; she politely declined requests for photographs. Nevertheless, she sees her candidacy as important, believing it is part of the democratic process to assert her communitys demands.

The reason I am contesting is that for over 25 years, we have been requesting recognition under the Latin Catholic (LC) category. Despite repeated efforts, we have not received it, she said. We are Latin Catholics, but in Kasaragod, we are not being considered as such. Officials say there is no proper record to show that we belong to the LC category. As a result, we do not receive the reservation benefits that Latin Catholics get in other parts of Kerala. We are also unable to obtain caste certificates because there is no proper system or documentation in place.

There are 16 parishes in Kasaragod and Manjeshwar that follow the Latin Catholic rite and fall under the Latin Catholic Archdiocese of Mangalore, Karnataka. Earlier, these parishes were under the Archdiocese of Verapoly, headquartered in Kochi, Kerala. Monteiro says successive UDF and LDF governments have cited this as a reason for not considering her community for reservation benefits.

Monteiro said that, traditionally, a majority of her community supported the UDF, with a smaller section shifting towards the LDF in recent years. But both fronts have neglected us. We are contesting to show our importance. Thats all, she said, responding to the perception that she is in the fray with the backing of the BJP to split votes. The claims that I am backed by the BJP are not true, she added.

Notably, the UDFwhich has traditionally enjoyed the support of Konkani Catholics in Manjeshwarmade efforts to persuade Monteiro to withdraw her nomination. She said the Church has not been directly involved in her candidacy but acknowledged that UDF leaders attempted to reach her through a priest who had initiated the movement for reservations for the community over two decades ago. No leaders from the UDF have directly contacted methey only approached the priest, she said, adding that there had been pressure on him.

They [UDF leaders] promised the father that our demands would be fulfilled if they came to power, Monteiro said. But I asked, if half my work is already done by contesting, why should I withdraw? Assurances can always be givenbut will they be fulfilled?

Earlier, the SDPIwhich also claims to have around 7,000 votershad fielded its candidate in Manjeshwar. However, they later withdrew the nomination under pressure.

Monteiro acknowledged that her independent candidacy has both pros and cons". Some people are supporting us because this is a sudden change. But traditionally, Christians here supported the Congress and the Indian Union Muslim League (UDF), so convincing them is difficult. I dont know how successful I will be. I know I wont win. But some change needs to happen.
A 30-year-old Navy technician, Chintada Ravindra, has been arrested for allegedly killing and dismembering his lover at his residence in Vishakapatnam. The woman was identified as Polipali Mounika.

The incident occurred at a house in LV Nagar. Police found the womans remains hidden at the suspect's residence. Half was stored inside a refrigerator, and the other half was packed inside a gunny bag.

When Chintada Ravindras wife left for her parents' home, he called Mounika, with whom he was having an affair, to his home to spend some time together. Ravindra had been posted at the Indian naval Ship Dega.

He had met her on a dating app called Mingle in 2021 after they matched. The two had met regularly across various locations in Visakhapatnam, such as parks and theatres.

However, this time the two broke out into a fight. Police say the murder was not entirely impulsive.

Ravindra had proceeded to suffocate Mounika to death. He had, however, gone to stores in Srinagar to look for knives. When he failed to find them, he then allegedly purchased a knife from an online delivery platform to cut the body into pieces.

Initial police investigations show that he separated the head, legs and hands from the torso. He then packed the legs and hips in a trolley bag and stored the torso in the refrigerator before taking the head and hands to a different location at Adavivaram to burn them.

Police told local media that the Ravindras wife had recently given birth and was staying at her parents' home for support.

After the murder, Ravindra had called a friend for advice. On the friends advice, he walked to a police station and confessed to the crime.

He claimed to the police that Mounika had taken Rs 3.5 lakh from him during their relationship and that she often threatened to reveal their relationship to his wife. The issue had led to frequent disputes between the two, police officials say.

The disputes also became more frequent after Ravindra chose to get married ti another woman in 2024. Police are now searching for the missing body parts. A murder case has been registered, and an investigation is underway.
'Thalapathy' Vijay's decision to fight from the Trichy East (Tiruchirappalli East) seat of Tamil Nadu is no cause for worry for the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), said Minister for Municipal Administration, Urban and Water Supply, K. N. Nehru. The DMK will win every seat within the Tiruchirappalli district limits, and all opponents, including the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) chief, will bite the dust, Nehru said.

Tiruchy will play a crucial role in M. K. Stalin's return to power, Nehru reportedly declared. He also dismissed the allegation that his party's government was purposefully trying to delay, if not block, Vijays campaign. "Why would we block his campaign? There is no need for us to do so," the DMK leader asked. It is Vijay's right to contest from any seat that he finds fit, as India is a democratic country, he added.

"In the upcoming Legislative Assembly elections, the DMK alliance will definitely win. Not only the nine constituencies in the Tiruchirappalli district, but the DMK alliance candidates will win in all 41 constituencies across the Delta region," Daily Thanthi quoted Nehru as saying.

"People are asking what the DMK candidates chances will be if TVK leader Vijay contests from the Tiruchirappalli East constituency. Whoever contests, we will take all necessary efforts to ensure the victory of the DMK candidate," the Tamil daily quoted him as saying.

Trichy East is one of the prominent constituencies of Tiruchirappalli, with over 2.17 lakh voters. It is a semi-urban constituency, with over 30 per cent of the segment located on the outskirts of the city. The seat is currently held by S. Inigo Irudayaraj, the founder of the Christian organisation Christhuva Nallenna Iyakkam. Irudayaraj is contesting on the DMKs 'rising sun' symbol. In 2021, he defeated the former AIADMK minister, Vellamandi Natarajan. S. Inigo Irudayaraj is contesting again from the constituency, while the AIADMK has fielded K. Rajasekaran.

With a large Christian voter base, particularly from the Vellalar community, the constituency also has a significant urban electorate, which constitutes nearly a quarter of the population. It is a strategically and sentimentally important seat in the history of Tamil Nadu, as the party winning from this constituency has formed the government in the past three elections after the delimitation in 2011.

Making his much-anticipated political debut, Vijay is contesting two seats. Apart from Tiruchirappalli East , he is also contestin the Permabur seat.
The election affidavit submitted by TVK chief and actor Vijay has shed light on his long list of luxury cars, properties in Chennai and Kodaikanal and other assets.

What is Vijay's net worth?

Vijay has declared that he owns a total approximately Rs 603.20 crore worth of assets. He also reported an income of Rs 184.53 crore in his IT returns for FY 2024-25 from sources, including self-employment, interest and rental income.

VIDEO | Tamil Nadu polls: TVK chief Vijay (@actorvijay) says, Our candidates are no different from me, we should win this election to end autocracy of DMK.



(Source: Third Party)#TVK #TNPolls



(Full video available on PTI Videos - https://t.co/n147TvrpG7) pic.twitter.com/L7aPCdOxbu  Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) March 29, 2026

The affidavit submitted to the Returning Officer revealed that his immovable assets are worth Rs 198.62 crore. These include commercial and residential properties across Chennai as well as agricultural land in Kodaikanal.

The TVK chief's movable assets are valued at Rs 404.58 crore. These include Rs 2 lakh cash in hand and bank deposits exceeding Rs 213 crore in various accounts. His long list of luxury cars include a BMW 530, a Toyota Lexus, a Toyota Vellfire, and a BMW i7. He also revealed that he possesses 883 grams of gold and silver articles worth Rs 15 lakh.

The politician revealed that he has no pending criminal cases against him, nor has he been convicted of any offence. Vijay also declared zero liabilities and no pending dues to banks or financial institutions.

Vijay also revealed his educational background in the affidavit. He discontinued his BSc degree from Loyola College, Chennai in 1992. He completed his Class 10 and 12 through private study in 1989 and 1991, respectively.

Vijay's estranged wife Sangeetha has assets worth Rs 15.76 crore. These include movable property worth Rs 15.51 crore and immovable property worth Rs 25 lakh. The actor declared that he lend his wife Rs 12.6 crore, besides Rs 8.78 lakh to his son, Jason Sanjay, and Rs 4.6 lakh to daughter, Divya Sasha. He has also provided Rs 3.02 crore to his father, S.A. Chandrasekar and Rs 8.71 lakh to his mother, Shoba Sekar.

His has also provided personal loans and advances to various individuals and entities. These include Rs 20 crore to A L P Antonoious Britto and the Kokilambal Educational Trust, Rs 5.84 crore to the Vidya Charitable Trust and Rs 3 crore to TVK General Secretary N. Anand.

This comes as Vijay filed nomination papers to contest the upcoming assembly polls from Perambur and Tiruchi East constituencies. The elections will be held on April 23 and the results will be out on May 4.
With the initial impact of the initial US-Israel shock and awe campaign wearing off, the combined force faced off against a defiant Iran promises to usher in a more deadly phase of the war that began on February 28.

The ongoing convergence of a US force of approximately 8,000 ground forces, drawn from the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) based in Japan and the 11th MEU based in California, along with the 82nd Airborne Division in the Persian Gulf region, is expected to be complete by mid-April.

Such numbers militate against the idea of a conventional invasion as Iran is half the size of India with a population of 93 million. It would need much more bigger numbers than 8,000 to even launch a ground invasion into Iran leave alone to sustain it.

The troop trans-shipment and their composition is indicative of an American intent to: firstly, lead a surgical special forces ground assault into Iran; secondly, an operation with a limited aimthe most apparent one being to make a grab for the oil-hub of Kharg island that is located about 24 km off the Iranian coast and through which 90% of Irans oil trade took place; and thirdly, the US aim may be to secure the Hormuz strait from Iranian disruptions.

An interesting feature of the specialized forces deployment is that there are no heavy armoured or artillery units which may imply that the plan is to strike selectively and surgically and not look at a protracted conflict.

Yet, the troop movement may be a show of force too to gain more leverage during the negotiations.

But what has changed in the meantime is the entry of the Yemen-based Houthis who fired their first missiles and drones into Israel on March 28. In a single stroke, the Houthi entry has broadened the war into a much larger geography including the very important Bab el-Mandeb Strait.

A US seizure of Kharg island may be a cakewalk but maintaining and protecting it will be a near impossibility as the entire island will be well inside the range of Iranian missiles, coastal battery systems, drones and artillery fire not to speak of lurking fast attack crafts and midget submarines.

Iran on its part has been steadfast in its defiance with its Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi challenging the impending US military deployment with a terse: We are waiting for them.

Having had years to prepare for what seemed like an imminent US attack, Iran may have prepared well enoughthe reason why it continues to fire missiles and drones at US bases and infrastructure in nearby Gulf countries despite most of its missile and drone arsenal being depleted and its top leadership eliminated. Although much reduced in quantity, analysts say the Iranian attacks are much better targeted now.

Iran also has geography on its side as the Iranian coast has a sufficient number of islets, coves and natural harbours that are ideal for asymmetric naval warfare.

The only thing certain about the ongoing conflict now is that the summer of 2026 holds out supreme promises of being a torrid one.
An Indian worker has been killed in an Iranian attack on a power and water desalination plant in Kuwait as tensions in the Middle East remain high.

The identity of the deceased is not immediately known. According to Kuwaits Ministry of Electricity, Water and Renewable Energy, a service building at the facility suffered significant damage during the strike.

A service building at one of the power and water desalination plants was attacked as part of the Iranian aggression against the State of Kuwait. This resulted in the death of one worker (of Indian nationality) and significant material damage to the building, the ministry said in a statement.

Technical and emergency teams were deployed immediately to manage the aftermath and maintain the plants operational capacity. This was carried out in full coordination with security and relevant authorities to secure the affected site, the statement added.

The ministry urged the public to remain calm and avoid spreading rumours, assuring that official updates would be communicated transparently as the situation evolves.

It further emphasised that ensuring the stability and safety of electricity and water systems remains a top priority, with technical teams working around the clock to anticipate potential contingencies and ensure the uninterrupted delivery of essential services.

Meanwhile, Kuwait's Armed Forces said on Sunday that projectile attacks by Iran injured 10 members of its forces. According to Kuwait's Defence Ministry, the warehouses of a private logistics company were hit, resulting in only material damage, as the country intercepted 26 other Iranian missiles and drones over the past 24 hours.

Kuwait's Foreign Minister Sheikh Jarrah Jaber Al Sabah said on Sunday that what the region is witnessing is "systematic pattern of undermining regional stability led by Iran". In a statement reported by the state-run Kuna news agency, Al Sabah said that Iran is destabilizing the region through "exploiting chaos and terrorism as tools of influence."
An Iranian Mahan Air aircraft stationed at Mashhad International Airport in Iran has reportedly been hit during a strike by the US on Iran. The strike has disrupted a planned humanitarian mission flight as the aircraft was scheduled to fly to New Delhi to collect aid supplies.

It was expected to arrive on April 1, 4:00 am.

The incident has raised concerns about commercial aviation safety in the country. During the beginning of the war, about 16-17 commercial passenger and cargo aircraft were destroyed by Israeli strikes in Iran at the Mehrabad airport.

Israel had claimed that the flights had belonged to the IRGC and that the Quds Force used them to arm terrorists.

However, satellite imagery had shown that the flights were passenger planes. Israel has claimed that Iran used commercial passenger flights like Air Iran and Mahan Air to transport weapons to Russia for its war in Ukraine.

The recent strike was on one of the planes that was scheduled to transport 11 tons of humanitarian aid, including medicines, to Iran from India. Indian flights were not used for any of the prior shipments.

Indias first shipment of aid to Iran was sent on March 18, 2026. New Delhi had said that the shipments symbolised the friendly and civilisational link between the two countries.
Xiong'an New Area under construction in north China's Hebei

Xinhua) 14:01, March 30, 2026

A staff member of the China Construction Second Engineering Bureau Ltd. works at the construction site of the Xiong'an campus of the University of Science and Technology Beijing in Xiong'an New Area, north China's Hebei Province, March 25, 2026.

About an hour's drive from Beijing, a futuristic city is rising on the North China Plain -- the Xiong'an New Area.

The area aims to relieve Beijing of non-essential functions related to its status as the nation's capital while also advancing the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.

Official data reveals a more detailed picture in Xiong'an: the developed area spans around 215 square kilometers with more than 5,300 buildings shaping the urban skyline, housing 1.41 million residents and 669 high-tech enterprises. (Xinhua/Mu Yu)

A staff member of China Construction Third Engineering Bureau Group Co., Ltd. works at the construction site of the headquarters of China Mineral Resources Group Ltd. in Xiong'an New Area, north China's Hebei Province, March 25, 2026.

About an hour's drive from Beijing, a futuristic city is rising on the North China Plain -- the Xiong'an New Area.

The area aims to relieve Beijing of non-essential functions related to its status as the nation's capital while also advancing the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.

Official data reveals a more detailed picture in Xiong'an: the developed area spans around 215 square kilometers with more than 5,300 buildings shaping the urban skyline, housing 1.41 million residents and 669 high-tech enterprises. (Xinhua/Mu Yu)

An aerial drone photo taken on March 25, 2026 shows staff members of China Construction Third Engineering Bureau Group Co., Ltd. working at the construction site of the headquarters of China Mineral Resources Group Ltd. in Xiong'an New Area, north China's Hebei Province.

About an hour's drive from Beijing, a futuristic city is rising on the North China Plain -- the Xiong'an New Area.

The area aims to relieve Beijing of non-essential functions related to its status as the nation's capital while also advancing the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.

Official data reveals a more detailed picture in Xiong'an: the developed area spans around 215 square kilometers with more than 5,300 buildings shaping the urban skyline, housing 1.41 million residents and 669 high-tech enterprises. (Xinhua/Mu Yu)

An aerial drone photo taken on March 25, 2026 shows a scene at the construction site of the start-up zone of Xiong'an New Area, north China's Hebei Province.

About an hour's drive from Beijing, a futuristic city is rising on the North China Plain -- the Xiong'an New Area.

The area aims to relieve Beijing of non-essential functions related to its status as the nation's capital while also advancing the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.

Official data reveals a more detailed picture in Xiong'an: the developed area spans around 215 square kilometers with more than 5,300 buildings shaping the urban skyline, housing 1.41 million residents and 669 high-tech enterprises. (Xinhua/Mu Yu)

An aerial drone photo taken on March 25, 2026 shows a scene at the construction site of the Xiong'an campus of the University of Science and Technology Beijing in Xiong'an New Area, north China's Hebei Province.

About an hour's drive from Beijing, a futuristic city is rising on the North China Plain -- the Xiong'an New Area.

The area aims to relieve Beijing of non-essential functions related to its status as the nation's capital while also advancing the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.

Official data reveals a more detailed picture in Xiong'an: the developed area spans around 215 square kilometers with more than 5,300 buildings shaping the urban skyline, housing 1.41 million residents and 669 high-tech enterprises. (Xinhua/Mu Yu)

Staff members of China Construction Third Engineering Bureau Group Co., Ltd. work at the construction site of the headquarters of China Mineral Resources Group Ltd. in Xiong'an New Area, north China's Hebei Province, March 25, 2026.

About an hour's drive from Beijing, a futuristic city is rising on the North China Plain -- the Xiong'an New Area.

The area aims to relieve Beijing of non-essential functions related to its status as the nation's capital while also advancing the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.

Official data reveals a more detailed picture in Xiong'an: the developed area spans around 215 square kilometers with more than 5,300 buildings shaping the urban skyline, housing 1.41 million residents and 669 high-tech enterprises. (Xinhua/Mu Yu)

An aerial drone photo taken on March 25, 2026 shows a scene at the construction site of an urban cultural square in Xiong'an New Area, north China's Hebei Province.

About an hour's drive from Beijing, a futuristic city is rising on the North China Plain -- the Xiong'an New Area.

The area aims to relieve Beijing of non-essential functions related to its status as the nation's capital while also advancing the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.

Official data reveals a more detailed picture in Xiong'an: the developed area spans around 215 square kilometers with more than 5,300 buildings shaping the urban skyline, housing 1.41 million residents and 669 high-tech enterprises. (Xinhua/Mu Yu)

An aerial drone photo taken on March 25, 2026 shows staff members of the China Construction Second Engineering Bureau Ltd. working at the construction site of the Xiong'an campus of the University of Science and Technology Beijing in Xiong'an New Area, north China's Hebei Province.

About an hour's drive from Beijing, a futuristic city is rising on the North China Plain -- the Xiong'an New Area.

The area aims to relieve Beijing of non-essential functions related to its status as the nation's capital while also advancing the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.

Official data reveals a more detailed picture in Xiong'an: the developed area spans around 215 square kilometers with more than 5,300 buildings shaping the urban skyline, housing 1.41 million residents and 669 high-tech enterprises. (Xinhua/Mu Yu)

An aerial drone photo taken on March 25, 2026 shows a scene of the construction sites of an urban cultural square (L) and a financial center (R) in Xiong'an New Area, north China's Hebei Province.

About an hour's drive from Beijing, a futuristic city is rising on the North China Plain -- the Xiong'an New Area.

The area aims to relieve Beijing of non-essential functions related to its status as the nation's capital while also advancing the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.

Official data reveals a more detailed picture in Xiong'an: the developed area spans around 215 square kilometers with more than 5,300 buildings shaping the urban skyline, housing 1.41 million residents and 669 high-tech enterprises. (Xinhua/Mu Yu)

An aerial drone photo taken on March 25, 2026 shows a scene at the construction site of the Xiong'an campus of Beijing Forestry University in Xiong'an New Area, north China's Hebei Province.

About an hour's drive from Beijing, a futuristic city is rising on the North China Plain -- the Xiong'an New Area.

The area aims to relieve Beijing of non-essential functions related to its status as the nation's capital while also advancing the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.

Official data reveals a more detailed picture in Xiong'an: the developed area spans around 215 square kilometers with more than 5,300 buildings shaping the urban skyline, housing 1.41 million residents and 669 high-tech enterprises. (Xinhua/Mu Yu)

This photo taken on March 25, 2026 shows a scene at the construction site of the headquarters of China Mineral Resources Group Ltd. in Xiong'an New Area, north China's Hebei Province.

About an hour's drive from Beijing, a futuristic city is rising on the North China Plain -- the Xiong'an New Area.

The area aims to relieve Beijing of non-essential functions related to its status as the nation's capital while also advancing the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.

Official data reveals a more detailed picture in Xiong'an: the developed area spans around 215 square kilometers with more than 5,300 buildings shaping the urban skyline, housing 1.41 million residents and 669 high-tech enterprises. (Xinhua/Mu Yu)

An aerial drone photo taken on March 25, 2026 shows a scene at the construction site of the headquarters of China Mineral Resources Group Ltd. in Xiong'an New Area, north China's Hebei Province.

About an hour's drive from Beijing, a futuristic city is rising on the North China Plain -- the Xiong'an New Area.

The area aims to relieve Beijing of non-essential functions related to its status as the nation's capital while also advancing the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.

Official data reveals a more detailed picture in Xiong'an: the developed area spans around 215 square kilometers with more than 5,300 buildings shaping the urban skyline, housing 1.41 million residents and 669 high-tech enterprises. (Xinhua/Mu Yu)

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
As tensions in the Middle East escalate, US President Donald Trump has raised the possibility of American forces seizing Iran's Kharg Island, the countrys main oil terminal in the Persian Gulf.

In an interview with The Financial Times on Sunday, Trump expressed his preference for taking Iran's oil. "To be honest with you, my favourite thing is to take the oil in Iran but some stupid people back in the US say: why are you doing that? But theyre stupid people," Trump said.

The president suggested that US forces could easily seize control of Kharg Island, claiming that Iran has little defense there. Maybe we take Kharg Island, maybe we dont. We have a lot of options. It would also mean wed have to be there for a while, he added.

Kharg Island, which handles 90 per cent of Irans oil exports, has long been vital to the country's economy. The US has already carried out airstrikes on the island, targeting Iran's military infrastructure.

Meanwhile, speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One en route to Joint Base Andrews, Trump expressed optimism about ongoing negotiations with Iran. He noted that Tehran had allowed 20 oil tankers to pass through the Strait of Hormuz as a "sign of respect."

"So weve had very good negotiations with Iran, getting a lot of the things they should have given us a long time ago. We'll see how it works out, but theyre very good, moving along very nicely," he said.

Trump also claimed that there has been a regime change in Iran, pointing to the deaths of top Iranian officials, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in joint US-Israel airstrikes.

"Weve had regime change, if you look already, because the one regime was decimated, destroyed. Theyre all dead. The next regime is mostly dead," Trump said.

"And the third regime? Were dealing with different people than anybodys dealt with before. Its a whole different group of people. So, I would consider that regime change. And frankly, theyve been very reasonable. So I think weve had regime change," he added.
Israeli police blocked the two most senior Catholic officials in the Holy Land from entering the Church of the Holy Sepulchre on Palm Sunday, triggering a diplomatic row that drew condemnations from across Europe and the United States. On Sunday morning, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, and Father Francesco Ielpo, the Guardian of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, were stopped by Israeli police as they attempted to enter the church to celebrate Mass. The cardinal later held the service instead at St. Saviour's Monastery nearby.

The timing made the incident particularly significant. Holy Week, the most important time in the Christian calendar, starts on Palm Sunday and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is revered as the site of Christ's crucifixion and resurrection. According to the Latin Patriarchate, it was the first time in centuries that the senior Catholic leadership had been prevented from celebrating Palm Sunday at the church.

The Catholic Church had already made concessions to the security situation. The traditional Palm Sunday procession from the Mount of Olives, which typically draws large crowds, had been cancelled in light of the ongoing conflict between Israel and Iran, which had intensified in late February. Pizzaballa and Ielpo were travelling privately, without ceremony or fanfare.

The Patriarchate issued a statement condemning the police action as a "manifestly unreasonable and grossly disproportionate measure," describing it as "hasty and fundamentally flawed" and arguing that it violated both freedom of worship and the historic Status Quo governing access to Jerusalem's holy sites.

Israeli authorities defended the decision on security grounds. Iran had been launching ballistic missiles at Israel, with fragments reportedly landing near the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and other sites in the Old City. A police spokesman noted that the narrow alleyways of the Old City make it difficult for emergency vehicles to reach the scene quickly in the event of an incident. Prime Minister Netanyahu's office stated there had been "no malicious intent," framing the blockade as a precautionary measure taken out of concern for the Cardinal's safety. President Isaac Herzog telephoned Pizzaballa to express regret over the incident. Shortly afterwards, the Prime Minister's Office announced that security forces would work on a plan to allow church leaders to access the site during the remaining days of Holy Week.

The restrictions, it should be noted, were not limited to Christians. Muslims had been barred from the Al-Aqsa Mosque throughout Ramadan, and Jewish worshippers at the Western Wall had been limited to groups of fifty in a designated enclosed area.

Even so, the incident drew a swift international response. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni called the denial of entry an offence against religious freedom, Italy's Foreign Minister summoned the Israeli ambassador, and Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini described the episode as "unacceptable and offensive." French President Emmanuel Macron condemned it as part of what he called a troubling pattern of violations of the Jerusalem status quo. Pope Leo XIV expressed concern from the Vatican that Middle Eastern Christians were unable to fully observe their holiest days. The American ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabeehimself a Baptist ministerdescribed it as an "unfortunate overreach" that was "difficult to understand or justify," noting that small religious gatherings had been permitted elsewhere in Israel.

Within Israel, opposition leader Yair Lapid criticised the government for failing to explain the decision promptly, warning that the absence of a clear statement had left room for the incident to be misread internationally. MK Gilad Kariv attributed the situation to what he called the "unprofessional conduct" of the police, and linked it to the influence of National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and right-wing elements within his ministry.

The Israeli government moved to contain the damage ahead of Easter Sunday, with officials indicating that arrangements would be made to ensure religious leaders could access the holy sites during the remainder of Holy Week.
U.S. President Donald Trump is considering conducting a military operation to extract nearly 1000 pounds of enriched uranium from Irans stockpile as part of efforts to prevent Tehran from developing nuclear weapons, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing US officials.

The officials said that Trump has not yet made a final decision, as he is considering the risk to the troops.

However, he has remained open to the idea as it could help the US achieve its goal.

The president had also encouraged his advisors to press Iran to give up the material as a condition to ending the ongoing war. He has also discussed seizing the uranium by force if Iran is unwilling to negotiate.

Washington and Tehran have not yet engaged in direct negotiations to end the war.

On Sunday night, Trump told reported that Iran must do what the US demands or theyre not going to have a country. Trump said, Theyre going to give us the nuclear dust.

Some of the presidents allies have said that it is possible to seize the material in a targetted operation that wouldn't significantly extend the timeline of the war and still have the conflict end by mid April.

Trump also told his associates that he didn't want the war to go on until the US exhausted their supplies. Meanwhile, Republicans are worried that the war could worsen the political problems as the partys approval numbers go down before statewide races.

What the operation would look like.

Multiple US military officers and experts also warn that the operation would be extremely complex and carry significant risk. They should also be able to foresee a retaliation from Iran, which could further lengthen the war beyond the 4 to 6 week time frame that the Trump team have mapped out.

The US military would have to first fly into Iran amid the missile and drone attacks in the region. The combat troops would also have to secure the perimeters so that engineers can search through the debris on site and check for mines and booby traps. The material would also have to be extracted by an elite special operations team that is trained to handle radioactive material in a conflict zone.

The uranium would be contained in about 40 to 50 cylinders that look like scuba tanks, and they would be need to be put in transportation casks to protect them.

Several trucks would be needed for the task, according to Richard Nephew, a senior research scholar at Columbia University and a former nuclear negotiator with Iran.

A makeshift airfield would also need to be set up to bring the equipment in and to take the uranium out.

Experts say the operation could take days or weeks.

Retired Gen. Joseph Votel, the former commander of U.S. Central Command and U.S. Special Operations Command, said, This is not a quick in and out kind of deal.
Amid intense speculation over his whereabouts, Irans Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei has issued a written message thanking the people of Iraq and its religious leadership for their support in the face of aggression.

According to Islamic Republic News Agency (ISNA), the message followed a meeting between the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq and Irans ambassador to Baghdad.

Since being named Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei has not made a public appearance, issuing only rare written statementsfueling speculation about his condition. Although Iranian state media continue to publish his images, there is no confirmation that they are recent.

Some reports, citing Iranian officials, suggest that he is recovering from injuries sustained in an airstrike. Adding to the uncertainty, last week Donald Trump said Washington was engaging with a top person in talks with Iran, but clarified that it was not the Supreme Leader.

We dont know if he is living, Trump said.

A report earlier this month by The Sun claimed that Mojtaba Khamenei lost a leg and suffered a liver rupture in an airstrike, and is undergoing treatment at Sina University Hospital. These claims, however, remain unverified.

Mojtaba Khamenei was named Irans Supreme Leader following the death of his father, Ali Khamenei, who was killed in a US-Israel airstrike on February 28. Despite assuming office, the new leader has yet to appear in public.

He is the third Supreme Leader of Iran since the 1979 revolution, succeeding his father and the countrys founding leader, Ruhollah Khomeini.
US President Donald Trump has said that the US would not enforce a blockade of crude oil into Cuba as a loaded Russian oil tanker arrived on the Caribbean Island.

Russia had said that it was sending a humanitarian shipment of 100,000 tons of crude oil arriving in Cuba on Monday, Russian state outlet RIA Novosti said, citing the countrys Ministry of Transport.

The sanctioned Anatoly Kolodkin vessel was reportedly waiting to unload the shipment shortly after U.S. President Donald Trump said he had no problem with a Russian crude tanker delivering fuel to Cuba.

Trump's recent comments, made from his Air Force One, seem to be a U-Turn from his administration's enforced blockade of oil into Havana.

If a country wants to send some oil into Cuba right now, I have no problem with that, whether its Russia or not, Trump said as he was returning to Washington after a weekend at Mar-a-Lago.

The arrival of the Anatoly Kolodkin over the weekend also tests how far the Kremlin would go to help its ally, which lies close to US territory, the Washington Post reported.

The vessel departed from Primorsk Russian on March 8 carrying around 730,000 barrels of crude oil.

The thousands of barrels are set to provide major relief for Cuba. The president, Miguel Diaz-Canel, said that the country did not receive any oil imports for three months, leading to strict rationing, which led to a major energy and power shortage crisis on the island.

Cuba had lost it main regional oil supplier and ally when the US captured Venezuela's president Maduro. Trump had later declared that he expects Cubas communist government to fall, threatening to impose tariffs on any country that assists the country.

The Anatoly Kolodkin has arrived in Cuba while there are sanctions against Russia by the US, EU and the UK.

Russian Energy Minister Sergei Tsivilev said last week that Moscow would continue supplying fuel to Cuba, showing defiance against U.S. restrictions.
Vice President JD Vance says he is obsessed with unidentified flying objects and intends to use his remaining time in office to get to the bottom of a mystery that has captivated the American public for decades.

Trust me, anybody whos curious about this, Im more curious than anybody, and Ive got three years of the very tippy-top of the classification. Im going to get to the bottom of it, Vance said on conservative commentator Benny Johnsons podcast, released Friday.

Asked whether he had peeked at any of the administrations UFO files, Vance said he had not. I have not been able to spend enough time on this, but I am going to. Trust me, Im obsessed with this.

The vice president also said he had previously planned visits to Area 51, the highly classified military facility in the Nevada desert that has become the symbolic center of alien conspiracy theories, though the timing never came together.

Vance then offered his own theory about what might be behind the phenomena.

I dont think theyre aliens, I think theyre demons anyway, but thats a longer discussion, he said, before elaborating when pressed. I mean every great world religion, including Christianity, the one that I believe in, has understood that there are weird things out there, and there are things that are very difficult to explain, Vance continued. And I naturally go, when I hear about sort of extra-natural phenomenon, thats where I go, is the Christian understanding that theres a lot of good out there, but theres also some evil out there.

The remarks come amid a broader moment of unusual official candor on the subject. Former President Barack Obama said on a podcast last month that aliens were real but that he had not seen them and they were not being held at Area 51. He attempted to walk back the comments the following day, posting on Instagram that he saw no evidence during my presidency that extraterrestrials have made contact with us, and clarifying that he had been responding to the spirit of a rapid-fire interview format rather than making a substantive claim.

President Trump pledged shortly afterward to direct the Department of Defense and other agencies to release their UFO files to the public, citing what he called tremendous interest in the topic. He also told reporters that declassifying records might get him out of trouble, referring to Obama.

The White House added a practical signal to the rhetorical momentum earlier this month, registering the domain names Alien.gov and Aliens.gov, prompting speculation that a formal disclosure of some kind may be forthcoming.

(YWN World Headquarters  NYC)
Achiezer hosted a major pre-Pesach security briefing on Thursday at its headquarters, bringing together senior law enforcement officials from both New York City and Nassau County amid rising antisemitic threats.

The event drew rabbonim, shul presidents, and security representatives from across the Five Towns, Bayswater, and Far Rockaway, underscoring growing concern within the community.

Rabbi Yaakov Bender of Yeshiva Darchei Torah opened the gathering with words of inspiration, praising law enforcement efforts. Representatives from Hatzalah, JCCRP, Rockaway Nassau Shomrim, and clergy liaisons also participated.

Newly appointed 4th Precinct Commanding Officer Inspector Schiller was among the law enforcement leadership present. During the event, 101st Precinct Commanding Officer George Ng was informed of his promotion to Deputy Inspector by NYPD leadership.

Achiezer President Rabbi Boruch Ber Bender emphasized the importance of action, stating that actions speak louder than words, while noting the unique coordination between NYC and neighboring Nassau County.

Officials from both the New York Police Department and Nassau County Police Department outlined expanded security resources that will be deployed throughout the community to help ensure a safe and calm Pesach.

NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch and NCPD Commissioner Patrick Ryder both praised the gathering, pledging continued cooperation and support between agencies.

Your browser does not support the video tag.

(YWN World Headquarters  NYC)
Senior officials in Kyiv are taking a swipe at the head of German defense giant Rheinmetall, whose unflattering comments about Ukrainian drone technology and the role of women in the war against Russia ignited a social media backlash.

Rheinmetall AGs Chairman and CEO Armin Papperger likened Ukraines development of cutting-edge drone expertise as like playing with Lego and said the drones are being built by Ukrainian housewives.

They have 3D printers in the kitchen, and they produce parts for drones, Papperger said in comments to The Atlantic magazine published Friday. This is not innovation.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who is offering his countrys advanced drone technology to Gulf countries amid the Iran war, on Monday described Pappergers remarks as strange.

If every Ukrainian housewife can really produce drones, then every Ukrainian housewife could also be the CEO of Rheinmetall, he told reporters via voicemail on WhatsApp. I congratulate our defense-industrial complex on being at such a high level.

Ukraine has quickly grown into one of the worlds leading producers of cutting-edge, battle-tested drone interceptors that are cheap and effective.

Rheinmetall, one of Europes biggest arms manufacturers with almost 10 billion euros ($11.5 billion) in sales last year, supplies ammunition, air defense and combat vehicles to Ukraine.

After Pappergers comments appeared, Ukrainians took to social media to berate him under the hashtag #MadeByHousewives.

Ukraines Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko praised the role of Ukrainian women in the effort to thwart Russias all-out invasion of February 2022.

Ukrainian women are indeed an essential part of Ukraines war effort and of Europes security, she posted on X late Sunday. They have stepped with courage into many areas once seen as male-dominated, bringing energy, discipline, and determination.

And they are doing this while raising our next generation and caring for their families under wartime pressures, she added.

Zelenskyy adviser Alexander Kamyshin said he regularly visits military manufacturing plants and sees men and women working side by side.

They are great housewives, yet they have to work hard in the military factories, he said on X, adding: They deserve respect.

Rheinmetall responded Sunday on X, saying that the company has the utmost respect for Ukrainian people fighting Russia.

Every single woman and man in (Ukraine) is making an immeasurable contribution, it said. The innovative strength and the fighting spirit of the Ukrainian people are an inspiration to us.

(AP)
Afghanistans government accused Pakistans military of shelling the outskirts of an eastern Afghan city on Sunday, killing one person and wounding more than a dozen in the latest episode of renewed fighting between the two neighboring countries.

The fighting, which erupted in late February, has been the most severe between Afghanistan and Pakistan in decades.

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 allegation.

Afghan deputy government spokesman Hamdullah Fitrat said that mortars and other heavy weaponry were used Sunday afternoon to strike rural areas and civilian homes on the outskirts of the city of Asadabad in Kunar Province.

In a post on X accompanied by photos of wounded children, Fitrat said that preliminary figures indicated that one person had been killed and 16 others were wounded, mostly women and children. There was no immediate response from Pakistan to the accusations.

The fighting between Afghanistan and Pakistan has seen repeated cross-border clashes as well as airstrikes inside Afghanistan, including several in the Afghan capital Kabul.

Earlier this month, Afghanistan said that a Pakistani airstrike had hit a drug treatment hospital in Kabul, killing more than 400 people. The U.N. humanitarian affairs office has said the total death toll is still under verification. Pakistan has disputed the claim and denied targeting civilians, saying that it struck an ammunition depot.

The fighting in February began when Afghanistan launched a cross-border raid into Pakistan, saying it was in retaliation for deadly Pakistani airstrikes on Afghan border areas that it said had killed only civilians. Islamabad had said the strikes were targeting militants.

Last month, Pakistan declared that it was in 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 before the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr, following mediation by Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar. The truce expired earlier this week, and renewed fighting erupted on Wednesday, with Afghan officials saying that at least two civilians had been killed in eastern Afghanistan.

Tension between Afghanistan and Pakistan has been high for months. The most recent fighting has upended a Qatari-mediated ceasefire in October that had halted earlier clashes between the two sides that had killed dozens of civilians, security forces and militants. The two sides differ widely on the casualty figures.

Peace talks held in Istanbul in November failed to reach a long-term solution.

(AP)
Israel is reportedly planning to invite the United States to relocate some of its Middle East military bases into Israel and establish new ones following the current war, according to Channel 12.

Citing security sources, the report says Israeli officials see a rare opportunity to reshape the map of U.S. military positioning in the region amid changing threats and the ongoing conflict.

We have proved our values of late as a central ally of the United States  one that provides not only stability, but also significant operational and intelligence capabilities, an Israeli source was quoted as saying. American bases in Israel would create a strategic advantage for both sides.

The move would mark a significant shift in regional defense strategy, with potential long-term implications for U.S. force posture across the Middle East.

(YWN World Headquarters  NYC)
Stories of High-Quality Development | Bringing supply and demand into alignment

People's Daily Online) 15:30, March 30, 2026

Narrators:

Zheng Huaihai, Director, Quality Development Department, Liaoning Provincial Administration for Market Regulation

Qin Yuechuan, Deputy Store Manager, JD Mall (Beijing Shuangjing Branch)

A number of the world's major ice wine-producing regions are located at 41 degrees north latitude. Most of the ice wine produced along this latitude bears internationally renowned brand names. Huanren county in Benxi, northeast China's Liaoning Province, was the sole exception  its wine then little known beyond the region.

In early January each year, the vast vineyards in Huanren are draped in silver-white snow, and clusters of frozen grapes hang like ornaments on the vines. The ice wine produced here boasts an exceptional taste. Yet, for a long time, the domestic ice wine market was dominated by imported brands.

"Even fine wine fears obscurity in the depths of the alley." This old saying captures the real challenges many high-quality products face when trying to enter the market. This challenge extended beyond Huanren ice wine to other distinctive Liaoning specialties such as Panjin rice field crabs, Chaoyang millet, and sea cucumbers from southern Liaoning. For a long time, these products struggled with information barriers and a lack of branding, unable to reach broader markets.

How could high-quality Liaoning specialties gain visibility and recognition from more consumers? By establishing standards, creating platforms, and enhancing promotion, we have leveraged the "Liaoning Premium Products" public brand as a strategic lever. We have introduced a coordinated set of measures to bridge the gap between high-quality supply and upgraded consumption, paving the way for these local treasures to reach wider markets. The government leads in setting standards and building credibility, while businesses focus on quality innovation and market expansion. This approach ensures that premium products possess both substance and reputation.

Take Huanren's Cai Longlin Ice Wine as an example. After obtaining the "Liaoning Premium Products" label, it has entered over 100 Michelin-starred restaurants nationwide, with sales doubling in 2025. This success has also driven the transformation of the entire ice wine industry in the region. Farmers now earn a stable profit of over 7,000 yuan ($1,000) per mu, compared to barely breaking even five years ago. This demonstrates the virtuous cycle of "certifying one product, elevating an entire industry and benefiting an entire region."

By aligning the efforts of a "proactive government" with an "effective market," we have not only made our products reach wider markets and sell better but also set benchmarks to guide industry-wide quality improvements. High-quality products give consumers the willingness and confidence to spend, attracting more specialties to compete for the "Liaoning Premium Products" label. This, in turn, allows them to enter more households and expand into overseas markets. The positive cycle of "high-quality supply, consumer recognition and industrial upgrading" continues to strengthen.

With the quality at the supply side now secured, the vitality on the demand side also requires policy stimulus. At a JD.com retail store in Beijing, Ms. Zhang took advantage of a national subsidy program to replace her air conditioner, which had been in use for many years, with a new, energy-efficient model.

Qin Yuechuan, deputy store manager of the Beijing Shuangjing branch of JD Mall, noted that since the launch of the large-scale equipment upgrade and consumer goods trade-in programs in 2024, JD.com has actively participated to ensure the implementation of national subsidy policies, enabling consumers to truly enjoy tangible benefits.

(Web editor: Hongyu, Wu Chengliang)
U.S. President Donald Trump said he is mulling seizing Irans oil resources, including the Kharg Island oil terminal in the Persian Gulf.

Trump said his preference would be to take the oil.

Maybe we take Kharg Island, maybe we dont, he told the Financial Times in an interview published early Monday. We have a lot of options.

Trump suggested it could mean a longer-term commitment if the U.S. decided to try and take Kharg Island, saying it would mean we had to be there for a while.

I dont think they have any defense, he added. We could take it very easily.

The U.S. already launched airstrikes once that targeted military positions on the island. Iran has threatened to launch its own ground invasion of Gulf Arab countries and mine the Persian Gulf if U.S. troops land on its territory.

To get an amphibious invasion force to Kharg would mean transiting the Strait of Hormuz and most of the Persian Gulf. Experts say that holding the island would also be a challenge, because in addition to its missiles and drones, it would be well within artillery range from the Iranian mainland.

Trump added that Iran had agreed to allow 20 oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz starting Monday as a sign of respect. At the same time, with 2,500 U.S. Marines now in the region and a similar sized contingent on its way, he raised the idea of taking Irans Kharg Island.

Pakistan announced Sunday that it would soon host talks between the U.S. and Iran, though there was no immediate word from Washington or Tehran, and it was unclear whether discussions on the monthlong war would be direct or indirect.

Pakistan is very happy that both Iran and the U.S. have expressed their confidence in Pakistan to facilitate the talks. Pakistan will be honored to host and facilitate meaningful talks between the two sides in the coming days, Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said after top diplomats from Turkey, Egypt and Saudi Arabia met in Islamabad.

Pakistan later said the diplomats had departed for their home countries. The talks were originally scheduled to continue Monday. Pakistans foreign ministry did not answer questions, and Irans mission to the United Nations declined to comment.

U.S. President Donald Trump didnt address the potential Pakistan talks but told reporters aboard Air Force One late Sunday that the U.S. was negotiating directly and indirectly with Iran, though Iran has insisted that it has not been in any talks with Washington.

Were doing extremely well in that negotiation but you never know with Iran because we negotiate with them and then we always have to blow them up, Trump said.

Earlier, Irans parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, dismissed the talks in Pakistan as a cover to get more U.S. troops into the area. He said Iranian forces were waiting for the arrival of American troops on the ground to set them on fire and punish their regional partners forever, according to state media.

Iran launches attacks on Israel and hits more infrastructure targets in Gulf states

Sirens sounded at dawn near Israels main nuclear research center, a part of the country that has been targeted repeatedly in recent days. Israels military also said it had taken out two drones launched from Yemen, where the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels entered the war on Saturday with their first missile attack.

Iran kept up the pressure on its Gulf Arab neighbors, as Saudi Arabia intercepted five missiles targeting its oil-rich Eastern province, Bahrain sounded a missile alert, and a fireball erupted over Dubai as an incoming missile was taken out by defenses.

In Kuwait, an Iranian attack hit a power and desalination plant, killing one worker and injuring 10 soldiers, the state-run KUNA news agency reported.

Desalination plants are crucial to water supplies in the Gulf Arab states, and an Iranian attack previously damaged a desalination plant in Bahrain during the war. The facilities are typically paired with power plants, because of the large amount of energy required to remove salt from the water to make it drinkable.

Israels military launched a new wave of attacks on Iran, saying it was striking military infrastructure across Tehran, and explosions were heard in the Iranian capital. Iranian state media reported a petrochemicals plant in Tabriz, in the north, sustained damage after an airstrike and firefighters had to put out a blaze.

In Lebanon, which Israel has invaded by ground, an Indonesian peacekeeper was killed and three others were wounded when a projectile exploded near a village in the south.

Over the weekend, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the military will widen its invasion, expanding the existing security strip in that countrys south as it targets the Iran-linked Hezbollah militant group.

Oil prices rise again as concerns of global energy crisis grow

Irans attacks on the energy infrastructure of the region and its stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the worlds oil is shipped in peacetime, has sent oil prices skyrocketing and given rise to growing concerns about a global energy crisis.

In early trading, the spot price of Brent crude oil, the international standard, was around $115, up nearly 60% from when the U.S. and Israel started the war with attacks on Iran on Feb. 28.

Iran on Monday confirmed that the head of the Revolutionary Guards navy, Rear Adm. Alireza Tangsiri, had been killed in an Israeli airstrike, as Israel claimed last week. The Republican Guard praised the admirals efforts in statement, particularly in helping Iran keep its grip on the Strait of Hormuz.

Every fighter is a Tangsiri, and we will see what surprises they will bring in the days and months ahead, it said.

(AP)
Spain closed its airspace to US planes involved in attacks on Iran, Defense Minister Margarita Robles announced on Monday.

The step goes further than Madrids previous decision to deny US forces the use of its joint military bases.

According to Spanish media reports, US military planes will have to bypass Spain on their way to targets in the Middle East, barring emergencies.

This decision is part of the stance already taken by the Spanish government not to participate in or contribute to a war that was initiated unilaterally and against international law, Economy Minister Carlos Cuerpo said in an interview with Cadena Ser radio.

Spains left-wing government is headed by Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, who announced in a televised address in September that Spain cant stop Israel from operating in Gaza because it doesnt have nuclear bombs.

Spain doesnt have nuclear bombs, nor aircraft carriers, nor a large amount of oil reserves, so we alone cant stop Israel, he said. But that doesnt mean we wont stop trying because there are causes worth fighting for even if its not in our sole power to win them.

Apart from arousing Israels ire, Sanchezs comments were slammed by many Spanish politicians, with one right-wing politician scornfully stating, Sanchez wants nuclear weapons to defend Hamas rather than Spain.

Foreign Minister Gideon Saar slammed the remarks, stating that Sanchez leads a hostile anti-Israeli line, wild rhetoric dripping with hatred, and announced sanctions on antisemitic members of his government.

In response to Saars comments, Spain pulled its ambassador from Tel Aviv and the next day announced a ban on National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich from entering the country.

(YWN Israel DeskJerusalem)
IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir made an unusual decision to suspend all 450 soldiers from the Reserve 941st Battalion, whose members are graduates of the Netzach Yehuda framework, for the actions of several of its members.

The decision was made after a confrontation on Sunday between IDF soldiers and a CNN crew near the village of Tayasir in the Shomron, where CNN was covering the illegal takeover of land. A video of the confrontation shows the soldiers attempting to prevent the crew from filming and telling them that all of the Shomron belongs to the Jews and that they are avenging the killing of their friend a few days earlier.

An international media organization representing journalists in Israel and the Palestinian Authority claimed that an IDF soldier approached the CNN cameraman from behind, grabbed him and choked him, slammed him to the ground, and damaged his camera.

Following reports about the incident, the IDF issued a statement saying: The behavior and statements of the soldiers in this incident do not represent the IDF, contradict expectations of IDF soldiers, and will be investigated.

The IDF Chief of Staff later decided to dismiss the entire battalion. In a Zoom call, all the soldiers were ordered to collect their belongings and return home within 24 hours, until at least after Pesach.

The soldiers were shocked by the collective act of discipline, Ynet reported.

Its breaking, it hurts, soldiers said. You get called up five times over the past two and a half years, and now they spit on you and throw you out.

Why stay in the reserves? Why recruit Chareidi soldiers if you can just throw away the reservists you already have? What justification is there for treating 450 soldiers like this? Who will show up after an incident like this? they added.

A battalion officer told Ynet that one soldiers actions had led to punishment for the entire unit.

There are many soldiers here who sacrifice everything, and this is a humiliating decision, he said. There is no comfort in sending people home on Erev Pesach. They know how to call you up when they need you, and then they spit on you.

(YWN Israel DeskJerusalem)
Israels Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara has blocked the transfer of approximately NIS 800 million ($252 million) to Chareidi yeshivos, intervening within hours of a Knesset vote to halt funds that had received parliamentary approval.

The funding was inserted by the coalition into a legislative amendment to the state budget and passed with a broad majority, in what Baharav-Miara acknowledged was a procedural maneuver. Because nearly all amendments are typically submitted by the opposition, a number of opposition MKs voted in favor without recognizing the measure  a legislative miscue that nonetheless produced a valid vote under Knesset rules.

The attorney general argued the allocation appeared designed to circumvent a High Court of Justice ruling that bars the state from providing benefits to yeshivos who have refused to comply with military conscription orders. The attorney general has broad discretion over which legal concerns to elevate into emergency halts and her office has shown a consistent pattern of deploying that discretion against legislation benefiting Chareidim.

United Torah Judaism MK Moshe Gafni did not mince words. The budget was approved last night in accordance with the law, with an unprecedented majority, he said. Gali Baharav-Miara has no authority to intervene; this is criminality by any standard and her hatred towards the Chareidi public is visible to all.

Opposition leader and Yesh Atid chairman Yair Lapid  a politician whose career has been defined by his opposition to Chareidi draft exemptions  welcomed the move immediately and in explicitly political terms. We will continue to fight for you, he said. This money will not be transferred.

(YWN World Headquarters  NYC)
We still need to raise crucial funds to reach our goal of $450,000  the sum needed to cover the bare minimum these families need to make Pesach

Today is a busy day, so were going to make this quick.

Besiyata Dishmaya, weve already raised $344,646 funding the Yom Tov expenses of hundreds of families in Yerushlayim.

Now, just 48 hours before Bedikas Chametz we are still short $100,000!

The families of Zichron Moshe are relying on us  and we cant let them down.

Two minutes of your time, to click and donate, would make all the difference in the world to these families.

Click here to donate now.

Tizku LMitzvos and a chag kasher vsameach,

Kupas Zichron Moshe

Hundreds of families who travel abroad and go door-to-door each year cant go this time.

In past years, many of the needy in the Zichron Moshe neighborhood in Yerushalayim travel abroad and raise the necessary funds to be able to make Yom Tov in addition to many that visit Yershshalyim for Purim and Pesach.

This year, everything has changed.

This year, due to the war, travel is extremely difficult. Many families are unable to leave, and those who can are unsure if they will be able to return in time for Yom Tov.

Kupas Zichron Moshe was established by Rav Aaron Nimersovsky to assist the needy families in Shchunas Zichron Moshe in Yerushalaym, including almanos, yesomim, and those that are in crisis.

Unfortunately, the numbers have been growing over the last few years, with over 800 families on the list for this year.

This year more than ever, the aniyim are relying on the Kuppah.
So-called 'China economic slowdown' claim completely unfounded

15:42, March 30, 2026 By People's Daily ( Global Times

Industrial robot arms operate at the vehicle body workshop of Volkswagen's smart manufacturing base in Hefei, East China's Anhui Province. Photo: Courtesy of Volkswagen

Recently, as China unveiled its economic growth target for 2026, some voices in the US and Western media have once again revived the hype about a so-called "slowdown" of the Chinese economy. The Wall Street Journal claimed that "China Signals New Era of Slower Economic Growth," while Bloomberg ran a piece titled "Six Charts That Explain China's Weakening Economy." Such claims are completely unfounded.

Let us first look at the latest economic data released for the first two months of 2026: from January to February, the value added of industrial enterprises above designated size nationwide grew by 6.3 percent year-on-year; fixed-asset investment rose by 1.8 percent, reversing a previous decline; investment in high-tech industries increased by 5.1 percent; total retail sales of consumer goods grew by 2.8 percent; and total imports and exports of goods surged by 18.3 percent. With such performance at the start of the year, where is the so-called "slowdown" or "weakening"?

Another set of figures tells a similar story: in the first two months, 8,631 new foreign-invested enterprises were established in China, up 14 percent year-on-year; actual use of foreign investment reached 161.45 billion yuan ($23.36 billion). Foreign investment in high-tech industries totaled 63.21 billion yuan, up 20.4 percent year-on-year, accounting for 39.2 percent of the total and 8.5 percentage points higher than the same period last year.

The latest China Economic Update released by the World Bank noted that more proactive fiscal policy and moderately accommodative monetary policy have supported domestic consumption and investment. Meanwhile, China's export markets have become more diversified, helping sustain export resilience. Against the backdrop of sluggish global cross-border investment, foreign investors are "voting with their feet," demonstrating that China remains a highly attractive destinationa "pillar of certainty" and a "safe harbor of stability" for the world.

To put it bluntly, some US and Western media follow the same pattern when assessing China's economyit is not that they fail to understand, but that they choose not to look objectively. When China's growth is fast, they call it a "threat"; when it moderates slightly, they cry "collapse." They attempt to shape narratives with selective numbers, yet fail to account for the most basic fact: by 2025, China's economic aggregate had surpassed the benchmark of 140 trillion yuan, with annual incremental output equivalent to the total GDP of a medium-sized economy.

A horizontal comparison further underscores this point. In 2025, real GDP growth in the US was 2.1 percent, Japan was 1.1 percent, and France was 0.9 percent. Against the backdrop of an economy already exceeding 140 trillion yuan, China's growth target of "4.5 percent to 5 percent" for this year is by no means low. Rather, it represents a proactive yet pragmatic goal - one that aims high while maintaining steady progress.

At present, global economic growth lacks momentum, while international trade and investment remain subdued. External conditions are becoming more complex, severe, and uncertain. Against this backdrop, China has proactively calibrated its pace by setting a target range of "4.5 percent to 5 percent," balancing the present and the long term, domestic and international factors, development needs and realistic possibilities, as well as favorable conditions and potential risks. It is a target aligned with China's development realities and promotes higher-quality economic growth while achieving an appropriate increase in economic output.

Some foreign media fixate solely on growth rates while deliberately ignoring that China's economy is undergoing transformation and upgrading toward higher-quality, more sustainable growth.

The advantages of a super-large market continue to be unleashed, with cultural tourism, leisure services, and new forms of consumption flourishing. New quality productive forces are steadily developing, with the "new three" products selling strongly worldwide, and future industries such as biomanufacturing, quantum technology, and embodied intelligence gaining strong momentum.

Employment and prices remain generally stable, social welfare is precisely targeted and effective, and market confidence among business entities is strengthening. These visible changes and tangible results outline a clear trajectory of China's economy advancing under pressure while moving toward innovation and higher quality.

Far from "slowdown," China's economy is running more steadily, healthily, and robustly on an innovation-driven track. "4.5 percent to 5 percent" target is not a sign of deceleration, but rather a reflection of confidence and composure following profound changes in development philosophy, mode, and drivers.

Working backward from China's long-range objectives through the year 2035 and considering the projected population at that time, China's GDP will need to grow at an average annual rate of 4.17 percent over the next decade.

Viewed within the broader context of Chinese modernization, the "4.5 percent to 5 percent" target is organically aligned with medium- and long-term development goals. It leaves ample room for structural adjustment, risk prevention, and reform, while ensuring stable livelihoods and market expectations through reasonable growth. It demonstrates China's strategic resolvenot to pursue high growth blindly, but to focus on high-quality development.

China is not incapable of achieving higher growth rates; rather, it is committed promote higher-quality economic growth while achieving an appropriate increase in economic output. China does not engage in a "numbers game," but strives to "deliver results that can stand the test of practice, the people, and history."

In the face of both internal and external challenges, China vows to adhere to the general principle of pursuing progress while ensuring stability, implement more proactive and effective macro policies, make policies more forward-looking, targeted, and coordinated.

From building a robust domestic market, to fostering new growth drivers at a faster pace; from moving faster to achieve greater self-reliance and strength in science and technology, to expanding high-standard opening up, a series of measures aim to stabilize growth in the short term while strengthening momentum for the long term.

The facts are clear: China's economy has strong resilience, vast potential, and broad space for development. With precise and effective macro regulation, it is fully capable of achieving its set growth targets "while striving for better in practice."

Ultimately, the malicious hype about a so-called "China economic slowdown" by some US and Western media is never about objective analysis, but political calculation. History and reality have repeatedly shown that China's economic achievements are the result of the hard work of the Chinese people, not something that can be defined by a few words of praise or criticism from outside. Those repeatedly recycled narratives of "China collapse" cannot change the overall trajectory of China's economy toward higher quality and innovation, nor can they halt the country's steady and determined pace of development.

This was compiled based on an article published in the "Chisu Jinsheng" economic commentary column of People's Daily on March 27, 2026.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
The recent minimum wage rises in Ireland did not result in low-paid workers losing their jobs, according to a recent study.

The ESRI (Economic and Social Research Institute) study examined whether increases in the minimum wage, which was risen annually from 2016 to 2025, saw low-paid workers lose jobs if employers reduce their workforce due to higher labour costs.

The study, funded by the Low Pay Commission, looked at the six-month period after the most recent minimum wage increase.

It found that no evidence that recent minimum wage increases in Ireland increased the likelihood of employees on minimum wage losing their jobs.

While minimum wage employees are generally more likely to become unemployed than higher paid workers, the likelihood of this happening did not increase following increases to the minimum wage.

In the years where there were larger minimum wage increases, there was not a higher likelihood of minimum wage employees becoming unemployed.

The ESRI warned that the time period examined featured strong economic growth and low unemployment.

Job loss among employees aged under 20 years old in Ireland, who can be paid less than the full adult minimum wage, were also examined by the ESRI.

An employee aged 18 is entitled to 80% of the full adult minimum wage rate, while a 19-year-old can earn 90%.

The study found that overall, young workers that age into a higher minimum wage band did not experience an increased likelihood of job loss following their birthday.

Despite this, the study found that youth minimum wage rates appear to be increasingly relied upon by employers, with 30% of employees aged under 20 paid the sub-minimum wage rate in 2025.

It is possible that employers are increasingly using sub-minimum youth wage rates to keep labour costs low as the minimum wage gets higher, the ESRI said.

Author of the report Dr Paul Redmond said: It is important to monitor whether increases to the minimum wage result in negative employment effects for low-paid workers.

In this study, we find that recent minimum wage increases, which occurred during a period of strong economic growth and low unemployment, did not increase the likelihood of minimum wage employees losing their jobs.

Ultan Courtney, chairperson of the Low Pay Commission, said it welcomed the publication of the research.

The Low Pay Commission values the depth of this research and its strong evidence-based approach.

The Commission strives at all times to make evidence-based recommendations.

Our work relies on rigorous, data driven research and this research provides valuable insights into the effects of increases in the minimum wage.

The research will support our discussions as we prepare our recommendation to Government on the 2027 minimum wage.
This week starts with BREAKING NEWS that concerns every small biz in Kansas City.

To wit . . .

INSIDERS SHARE AN EPIC REPORT OF LEGAL ACTION CLAPPING BACK AGAINST MAYOR Q & COUNCIL DUDE CRISPIN REA AFTER SMALL BIZ WAS SACRIFICED FOLLOWING TRAGEDY!!!

Moreover . . .

We think our readers will take note given that city hall blame shifting continually targets locals trying to make a living . . . For years the 29th floor has blamed venues, parking lots and even small bottles rather than taking any responsibility.

And so . . .

We wanted to share this EXTENSIVE & EXCLUSIVE background on a local legal battle . . .

QUINTON LUCAS CLOSED A HISPANIC WOMAN'S NIGHTCLUB WITH ZERO WRITTEN VIOLATIONS  NOW YOU'RE PAYING FOR HIS LAWSUIT

His inspector never went inside. His own agencies cleared her before he shut her down. A city official made up evidence and took it back on the spot. The dangerous building code became a political weapon.

And the bill lands on Kansas City taxpayers.

Here we go again.



Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas ordered a business closed on February 19, 2026. Thirty-ve days later the owner has not received a single written violation. Not one piece of paper explaining why her doors are locked and her employees are out of work.



Not one.



The building inspector who posted the red placard told the owner's prior attorney on the record  on the record  that he did not enter the building, had no direct code violation to cite, and that the closure came from the Mayor's office. That's not a conspiracy theory. That's what the City's own employee said.



And now Case No. 2616-CV10960  Waldrop v. City of Kansas City, Missouri, et al.  is sitting in Jackson County Circuit Court.



Twelve counts. Federal civil rights claims. Four individual defendants including the Mayor himself. How much is Quinton Lucas's political vengeance going to cost this city?



IF THEY CAN DO IT TO HER, THEY CAN DO IT TO YOU



The City posted a dangerous building placard on a fully licensed, actively operating business with no inspection, no written ndings, no formal order, no certified mail notice, and no appeal rights. They skipped every single step the law requires. Every one. And they kept the building closed for over a month while manufacturing paperwork to justify what they had already done.



That dangerous building code exists to protect people from buildings that are actually falling down. Cracked foundations. Holes in the roof. Walls that lean. It is not a political weapon. It has never been designed to be used the way Lucas used it  as a fast, quiet way to shutter a business, skip due process, and worry about the paperwork later.



If they can do this to Keyla Waldrop  post a placard, lock the doors, and walk away without a single written violation, without entering the building, without following one required step  they can do it to your business. Your restaurant. Your bar. Your shop. Any business in Kansas City that the Mayor decides is politically inconvenient can be shut down the same way. Today. With no warning. No hearing. No paperwork. And no recourse until you can afford an attorney and a lawsuit. That is what no due process looks like. That is what this case is actually about.



WHO IS KEYLA WALDROP???



Keyla Waldrop is a Hispanic woman who took over BLVD Nights at 2801-2805 Southwest Boulevard in 2018. She obtained all new permits and licenses in her name. Eight consecutive years of clean operation. Nine consecutive years of annual city re and health inspections  zero violations, zero citations, zero adverse ndings. Every year.



She holds a valid city liquor license. A valid city health permit. Three licensed professionals  a professional engineer, a registered architect, and a certied re sprinkler contractor  have signed documents conrming her building is safe. The sprinkler system passed 100 percent inspection on March 16. Three days later the City issued a deciency list with sprinkler violations on it.



On March 20 she went to City Hall, paid $270.06 for her 2026 business license renewal. The City took her money, printed the license, and refused to hand it to her. "Under the circumstances," they said. The City of Kansas City took a Hispanic woman's money and kept her license.



HOW THEY ABUSED THE DANGEROUS BUILDING CODE



Kansas City Code Chapter 56 requires six mandatory steps before a building can be closed as dangerous: (1) a physical inspection; (2) written ndings of fact identifying specific dangerous conditions by statute; (3) a formal written order; (4) service by certified mail or personal delivery; (5) advisement of appeal rights; and (6) time to comply or appeal.



The City completed zero of those six steps. Zero.



Item 21 on the City's 24-item deciency list  issued a month after the closure  literally says "DS to research." That is not a code violation. That is a to-do note. Not one of the 24 items meets the legal denition of a dangerous building under city code. Not one.



This code was not invoked because the building is dangerous. It was invoked because it was the fastest way to close a business without going through the regulatory agency that already had authority  the one that had already cleared her to stay open.



IT GETS WORSE



On March 2, a Deputy Building Official left a recorded voicemail claiming the City had no idea the building was occupied and that the business had operated illegally for nine years. Nine years. City inspectors walked through that building every year from 2018 through 2026. Every year. Zero violations.



Every year.



On March 11, the Director of Lucas's own task force, a man with zero authority under building codes  showed up at a joint inspection and told Waldrop he had personally delivered an occupancy permit revocation notice to her in 2021 or 2022. Two licensed professionals were standing right there.



Waldrop said it never happened. He backed down and said maybe he delivered it to someone else. The City's own CompassKC database has zero record of any such revocation. He made it up. Then he un-made it up when he got caught.



NOW THEY WANT TO FREEZE HER OUT



The City intends to direct Evergy to cut power to the building. Saturday's forecast is 31 degrees. BLVD Nights has a wet re sprinkler system. No heat in freezing temperatures means burst pipes and a ooded building. Her attorney has put Evergy's General Counsel on formal legal notice. A PSC complaint is led. The Cold Weather Rule prohibits disconnection when temperatures fall below 32 degrees. And any disconnection after a civil petition is led is post-litigation retaliation  a new constitutional violation that adds to the damages.



When does this end? When does there have to be accountability in the Mayor's office? How many businesses has this happened to quietly  without the documentation, without the attorney, without the case number? How many people just gave up because they couldn't afford to ght City Hall?



WHERE IS COUNCIL MEMBER CRISPIN REA?



Zero response. Zero calls. Zero action. That is what this community has received from Council Member Crispin Rea on this case. Bill Nigro personally reached out to Council Member Rea on behalf of Keyla Waldrop  and received absolutely nothing back.



It is the same story every time: talk like you care when the votes are on the line, then go silent when a constituent actually needs you. A Hispanic-owned business destroyed in his district. A woman without income. And the council member  completely silent.



Kansas City deserves representatives who show up when it matters most  not just when there are cameras and elections involved.



THE TAXPAYER TAB



Waldrop is represented by Mark H. Epstein of The Epstein Law Firm, LLC  one of the Kansas City metro's most respected attorneys in real estate law, building codes, and zoning. He knows exactly what the City was required to do. He knows exactly what they did instead. And he led twelve counts against them to prove it.



Under 42 U.S.C.  1988, if she wins the federal civil rights counts  and the case for that is strong  the City pays her attorney's fees too. Kansas City taxpayers pay both sides. All of it because the Mayor made a phone call he had no legal authority to make, to a department that does not report to him, to close a business his own regulatory agencies had already cleared  and then his people spent ve weeks making things up to try to justify it.



An emergency TRO is pending. The building should be open.



The license should be in her hand. And somebody in the Mayor's office should be answering some very uncomfortable questions.

#######################



Developing . . .
Because our readers are smarter than most . . .

We trust that some of our TKC denizens will appreciate historical context as we hope & pray for peace and that Americans will remain safe.

Meanwhile . . .

It's important to notice the widening age-gap amongst Republicans with old school conservatives supporting the military action against Iran whilst younger right-wing voters have started to voice increasingly louder skepticism.

And so . . .

Rather than stick our heads in the sand, we acknowledge historical parallels that are trending as American soldiers amass in the Middle-East . . .

Check-it:

"Trump called British Prime Minister Keir Starmer not Winston Churchill for declining to commit British forces to the war effort. Trump meant it as contempt. What he produced instead was an argument  because Churchills career, examined without the mythology, is the most precise warning available against exactly the war Trump is now fighting.



"Not one warning. Two. And they run in opposite directions. In February 1915, Churchill was First Lord of the Admiralty. He believed that the Ottoman Empire, if struck hard enough at the right point, would collapse. The Dardanelles Strait was that point. The plan was that breaking through it would allow Britain to resupply Russia, relieve the Western Front and potentially shorten the war by years.



"The naval assault began in March. Mines destroyed ship after ship. When the navy failed, troops landed at Gallipoli  on beaches different from those planned, and behind schedule. Eight months later, the survivors were evacuated. Tens of thousands were dead. Churchill was removed from his position and banished to the back benches."

Another take that's even more pessimistic . . .

"Its at this point the Dardanelles analogy becomes operative. The only reason the Gallipoli campaign was attempted in 1915 was because the most powerful navies of the day had failed to force a passage through the narrow Dardanelles, the shores of which were controlled by Ottoman forces. In this case, even 18 battleshipsincluding the 381-mm guns of the new battleship HMS Queen Elizabethfailed to sufficiently suppress defensive artillery.



"In constricted waters, the combination of basic artillery and basic naval mines inflicted such damage on the worlds most advanced navy and its French ally that they had to retire.



"So, an attempt to force passage will present the United States with the same fallback option that Britain and France had in 1915: to take the littoral by force. But occupying the Gallipoli peninsular doesnt begin to compare with occupying more than 150 km of Iranian shoreline, from Qeshm island in the west to the Port of Bandar Abas and down the coast to Koo Mobarak, where the strait widens . . ."

Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com links . . .

Churchill understood the terrible cost of war. Trump clearly does not The lauded WWII prime minister is often invoked as a symbol of defiance or toughness.

Trump's Iran war has a Churchill problem - Asia Times Two weeks before launching Operation Epic Fury, President Trump stood before Congress and boasted that gasoline was "below US$2.30 a gallon in most

Developing . . .
Hopefully, we'll have even more for Monday morning and there's already a few posts we're working on in the background . . . BUT . . . In the meantime, inspired by angel Gracie, we want to share this quick glance at pop culture, community reporting and top headlines.

Check TKC news gathering . . .

Home Team Hope Springs Eternal

Royals salvage series, beat Braves 4-1 in finale The Royals are officially in the win column

Stellar Perspective

Retired NASA astronaut talks space, extraterrestrial life at Planet Comicon KC Planet Comicon KC is celebrating its 27th year at Bartle Hall, marking its evolution from a small suburban comic book show into the largest event of the year held at the venue.

Golden Ghetto Calculations

Johnson County property taxes explained: How your mill levy determines what you actually owe The assessed value is only half of the story. The other half is the mill levy, the rate at which your property is taxed.

Giving Up The Farm

Belton BBQ restaurant The Ranch KC closing after rising food and labor costs A Belton barbecue restaurant is closing its doors after rising costs and early challenges proved too much to overcome.

Super Hero Safe Space Cont'd

Planet Comicon draws more than tens of thousands to Kansas City Convention Center Planet Comicon drew more than tens of thousands of people to the Kansas City Convention Center.

Angels For Another Era

Victoria's Secret is back - with a sharper focus on bras and Gen Z Victoria's Secret is betting that making lingerie "fun" again can reverse years of sliding sales.

Money Moves MAGA?!?

Trump 'pays attention to the stock market': Wall Street eyes signs of TACO amid Iran war Wall Street sees Trump TACO moments unfolding, but wonders whether the war with Iran can end quickly enough to avoid economic damage from surging oil prices

MAGA's Greatest Ally Emerges

Once a foe, Lindsey Graham is now Trump's biggest Iran war booster: 'The most pro-war Republican out there' South Carolina senator has reconciled with the man he once called a 'jackass' and a 'bigot', and is pushing him to expand the war

Vlad Earns South Of Border Pass

Trump says he has 'no problem' with a Russian oil tanker delivering relief to Cuba President Donald Trump said he has "no problem" with a Russian oil tanker off the coast of Cuba delivering relief to the island, which has been brought to its knees by a U.S. oil blockade.

Politic Thoughts & Prayers

Hegseth injects combative Christianity into America's military During his briefing on the Iran war last week, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth suggested that Americans take a knee and pray to Jesus for the success of U.S. forces in the Middle East. A few days la...

Comic Relief This Weekend

Jimmy Kimmel Mocked After Bringing His Family to 'No Kings' Rally: 'Deport Jimmy Kimmel' Jimmy Kimmel attended a "No Kings" rally in California this weekend, mere months after promoting the last one on his late-night ABC show. Kimmel held a sign captioned "Enough Already," his two children held anti-Trump signs, while his "Barack Obama" hat-wearing father's sign said "Deport ICE."

Render Unto The Blockchain

God and bitcoin: Why some Christians are going all in on cryptocurrency From churches allowing congregants to tithe with digital coins to blogs promoting bitcoin as biblically sound, there's an emerging Christian crypto subculture.

Poetic Cowtown Reporting

Henry David Thoreau's Influence Ripples Around KC Region Evelyn Vogel-Leutung, a retiree from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, is just one of the people - past and present - who draw inspiration from Thoreau.

Grigs Gives This Week's Forecast

Kansas City warms into 80s Monday before rain chances return Skies stay mostly clear overnight, and temperatures only fall to around 58 degrees. Even the wind begins to ease compared to earlier in the day, setting up a quiet and very mild night.

And this is the OPEN THREAD for right now.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 30. President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and First Lady Mehriban Aliyeva have sent a wreath to the farewell ceremony of People's Artist Rasim Balayev, Trend reports.

The wreath was laid at the farewell ceremony of the deceased at the Academic National Drama Theater.

The People's Artist will be buried in the First Alley of Honor.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 30. The systematic killing of the civilian population during the incidents from March through April 1918 because of their ethnic origin and religion and those crimes of genocide, unfortunately, haven't yet been fairly articulated at the international level, the statement of the Commissioner for Human Rights of Azerbaijan (Ombudsperson) Sabina Aliyeva regarding 31 March  the Day of Genocide of Azerbaijanis says, Trend reports.

"Throughout history, at different times, Azerbaijanis were deliberately subjected to ethnic cleansing and genocide by Armenians and murdered in a massive way on the basis of their ethnicity and religious background. Since the beginning of the 20th century, Armenia had committed systematic and brutal crimes against the Azerbaijani population in various parts of Azerbaijan, as well as in the present territory of Armenia.

According to the statement, incidents that occurred from March through April of 1918 were one of the manifestations of the most bloody and tragic policy and carved their place in history as massacres of thousands of innocent people due to their ethnicity and religion.

"These incidents left an indelible mark on the memories of our people. Massive killings in Baku, Shamakhi, Guba, Garabagh, Zangezur, Iravan, Nakhchivan, Lankaran, Ganja, Goychay, Sheki, Sabirabad, Salyan, Kurdamir, and other regions were an integral part of the policy intended to eliminate the historical existence of the Azerbaijani population inhabited in those areas.

During the march of 1918 incidents, 110 villages in Shamakhi, over 150 in Garabagh, 115 in the Zangezur Uyezd, 98 in the Gars Governorate, and 167 in the Guba Uyezd had been devastated and burned, and the peaceful and unarmed residents had been massacred with unprecedented cruelty. The mass grave and multiple remains of human beings discovered later in Guba City visually confirm the scope and brutality of massacres committed in that period. These facts are clear signs that the people had been systematically targeted and largely murdered on the basis of their ethnic background, as they were Azerbaijanis.

The archive materials, historical documents, and other reliable sources verify those tragic incidents with indisputable proofs. The testimonies of those who survived and other legal documents comprehensively describe the scope of the massacres, demonstrating that those incidents had not occurred accidentally but were an integral part of a purposeful policy of ethnic cleansing. The investigations and legal analyses carried out in accordance with the international law substantiated that those crimes contain the elements of a crime of genocide.

Heydar Aliyev, the National Leader, issued a decree on 26 March 1998 that declared 31 March as the Day of Genocide of Azerbaijanis. Subsequently, measures were undertaken to ensure the political and legal evaluation of facts of genocide, the investigation of the truth, and its dissemination to the international community.

International recognition of the crimes of genocide committed against Azerbaijanis and restoration of justice is of key importance in terms of preventing the recurrence of such crimes against humanity in the future.

International organizations and United Nations member states should take a firm position on the series of crimes of ethnic cleansing and genocide committed by Armenians against Azerbaijanis and recognize the criminal acts of 1918 as genocide," the statement noted.

Stay up-to-date with more news on Trend News Agency's WhatsApp channel
BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 30. President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and First Lady Mehriban Aliyeva have signed an obituary on the death of People's Artist Rasim Balayev, Trend reports.

"The Azerbaijani cultural community has suffered a heavy loss. The prominent representative of national cinematic art, Chairman of the Union of Cinematographers of Azerbaijan, recipient of the Presidents personal pension, State Prize laureate, and Peoples Artist Rasim Ahmed oglu Balayev passed away on March 29, 2026, at the age of 78.

Rasim Balayev was born on August 8, 1948, in the city of Aghsu. After completing secondary school, he studied at the Acting Faculty of the Azerbaijan State Institute of Arts from 1965 to 1969. From 1969 to 1972, he worked as an actor at the institutes Training Theatre.

Since 1972, Rasim Balayev had been an actor at the Azerbaijanfilm film studio. In 1990, he was appointed First Secretary of the Board of the Union of Cinematographers of Azerbaijan, and in 2022, he was elected Chairman of the Union.

From the very beginning of his work at Azerbaijanfilm, Rasim Balayev gained recognition as a talented actor. Thanks to his unique performance style and high artistic culture, he quickly won the hearts of cinema audiences. The memorable and powerful characters he created on screen were always warmly received by wide audiences.

As a master artist who skillfully drew upon the rich traditions of Azerbaijani cinema, Rasim Balayevs creative path constitutes a distinct chapter in the history of national cinema culture. The films in which he played leading roles are part of the golden fund of Azerbaijani cinema. The vivid characters he portrayed with deep insight into their inner spiritual world are among the unforgettable pages of our cinematic chronicle. These unique roles, created with natural talent, have always stood out for their originality and remained at the center of attention.

While bringing to life images of our heroic historical past and contemporary figures, the master artist succeeded in creating a vivid picture of the era. All these roles performed by Rasim Balayev hold great importance in promoting our nations national and spiritual values and in educating the younger generation in the spirit of loyalty to the Motherland. The portrayals of the legendary Babek and Nasimi by the artist are considered among the greatest achievements of Azerbaijani cinematography.

Rasim Balayev also demonstrated his artistic mastery by creating memorable characters in films produced beyond Azerbaijan.

He was also known as a public figure who approached social processes with a deep sense of civic responsibility. He spared no effort in preserving and promoting our national and spiritual values.

Rasim Balayevs services to the development of national cinema culture were duly appreciated. Over the years, he was awarded high state honors and honorary titles. He was decorated with the highest orders of independent Azerbaijan  Shohrat, Sharaf, and Istiglal.

The bright memory of the outstanding artist and modest, caring individual Rasim Balayev will forever live in the hearts of our people.

May Allah rest his soul in peace!"

Ilham Aliyev

Mehriban Aliyeva

Ali Asadov

Sahiba Gafarova

Samir Nuriyev

Eldar Azizov

Farah Aliyeva

Adil Karimli

Polad Bulbuloglu

Anar Rzayev

Haji Ismayilov

Shafiga Mammadova

Ogtay Mirgasimov

Fakhraddin Manafov
BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 30. We strongly condemn the launch of a ballistic missile from the territory of the Islamic Republic of Iran against the territory of the Republic of Turkiye, the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense said in a statement, Trend reports.

"We express our solidarity with brotherly Turkiye and reaffirm our unwavering support for its security and territorial integrity," the ministry says.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 30. On March 29, an event dedicated to the "31 March - Day of Genocide of Azerbaijanis" and the 10th anniversary of the "April Battles" was held in Ottawa, Trend reports, citing the Azerbaijani Embassy in Canada.

The event was organized jointly by the Embassy and the Karabakh Azerbaijani Language School, with the support of the Azerbaijani Diaspora Support Fund. The gathering was attended by members of the embassy staff, representatives of the Azerbaijani diaspora and local community, as well as students studying in Ottawa.

The event commenced with an introductory address by Vusal Suleymanov, the Charge d'Affaires of the Azerbaijani Embassy. He provided an overview of the genocidal acts committed by Armenians against Azerbaijanis over various periods of history, emphasizing the profound moral and historical significance of the "April Battles" for the Azerbaijani people. In his address, Suleymanov also informed the participants about Azerbaijan's post-war recovery efforts, its reconstruction initiatives, and the countrys policies aimed at ensuring peace and stability in the region.

Following this, teachers Vusala Ahmadova and Ulviyya Rahimova from the Azerbaijani Language School presented a detailed information of the historical origins of the centuries-old genocidal policies against the Azerbaijani people. They highlighted that the "April Battles" marked the beginning of Azerbaijan's significant military victory in the Patriotic War.

Throughout the event, speeches were delivered by members of the Azerbaijani community, and patriotic films were screened to further engage and inspire the audience.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 30. On March 30, a telephone conversation took place between the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan Jeyhun Bayramov and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran Seyed Abbas Araghchi, Trend reports, citing the Azerbaijani Foreign Minister.

During the telephone conversation, deep concern was expressed about the worsening regional situation.

The importance of intensifying diplomatic efforts to quickly end military clashes in the region was emphasized.

The ministers also exchanged views on bilateral issues of mutual interest.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 31. Tragedies and genocides have been inscribed in the history of Azerbaijan, along with numerous glorious pages, over the past 200 years.

One of these terrible events occurred from March through April 1918. Dozens of thousands of peaceful Azerbaijanis were brutally killed only on the basis of their nationality during these events, which went down in the history of Azerbaijan as the genocide of March 31.

One hundred and eight years ago, Armenian Dashnaks and Bolsheviks committed unprecedented atrocities against the Azerbaijani population in Baku, Shamakhi, Guba, Karabakh, Zangazur, Nakhchivan, Lankaran, Ganja and other regions, killing over 70,000 people with extreme violence, including women, old people and children, burned the villages, expelled the inhabitants from their homes.

Armenian armed formations wiped out 229 villages in Baku province, 272 in Ganja province, 115 in Zangazur province, and 157 villages in Karabakh.

Most of the population in the territory of present-day Armenia, that is, living in the lands of Western Azerbaijan, about 565,000 people, were brutally killed or expelled from the lands of their ancestors as a result of the genocide committed from 1918 through 1920 by Armenian Andranik's bandit detachments against Azerbaijanis.

Numerous masterpieces of national architecture, schools, hospitals, mosques and other monuments were destroyed.

An extraordinary Commission of Inquiry was established to investigate this tragedy by the Decree of the Council of Ministers of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic dated July 15, 1918.

The commission the first stage investigated grave crimes committed by Armenians in Shamakhi and on the territory of the Irevan province.

Special structure was established under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to bring this truth to the international community.

March 31 was declared a day of national mourning by the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic.

An attempt was made for the first time in history, to give a political assessment of the aggressive processes of genocide against Azerbaijanis, which have been going on for more than a century. However, activities in this area were interrupted after the fall of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic.

Turning the pages of history, face new facts testifying to the atrocities of the Armenians.

Searches have been expanding to clarify information, recently. Numerous undeniable archival documents, evidence of the genocide are revealed.

For example, with regard to the number of those killed in Shamakhi from March through April 1918, in some sources, this figure is 7,000, in others from 8,000 to 12,000 and even 40,000.

The documents of the Extraordinary Investigation Commission, created by the government of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, note that in March-April 1918, 3632 men, 1771 women, 956 children were brutally killed in 58 Azerbaijani villages in the Shamakhi province. However, according to experts, based on archival documents, 8,027 Azerbaijanis were killed in 53 villages of the Shamakhi province, 4,190 of them were men, 2,560 were women, and 1,277 were children. According to other sources, 7,000 people were killed in 72 villages of Shamakhi, including 1,653 women and 965 children.

The Extraordinary Investigative Commission testifies that 86 out of 120 villages were subjected to Armenian aggression in the Shamakhi province.

Due to the fact that the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic commission interrupted its work, it is impossible to find information about the other 34 villages.

Local researchers have been carrying out a number of works in connection with the calculation of the number of people killed in the city of Shamakhi from March through April 1918, since the 90s of the last century.

As a result of their research (memoirs and information collected from about a hundred witnesses), It was established that under the leadership of Armenian criminals S. Shaumyan, S. Lalayev, Z. Arestisyan, brothers T. Amirov and A. Amiryan, about 14,000  16,000 people were killed in the city of Shamakhi, in its 40 villages and settlements  6,000  8,000 people.

The number of persons expelled from the Shamakhi district amounted to more than 18,000 people.

More than 16,000 people were killed with extreme cruelty in the Guba district, 167 villages were destroyed as a result of the Armenian armed attack during the first five months of 1918.

A number of new facts about the massacres of Azerbaijanis by Armenian-Dashnak detachments in the Guba district have been discovered. Mass graves discovered in 2007 in the city of Guba is one of these facts.

Armenian military formations committed massacres in Guba not only to the Turkish-Muslim population, but also to Jews.

It was found that, about 3,000 Jews were killed by Armenians in Guba from 1918 through 1919, as a result of the research.

Through the policy of military aggression against Azerbaijan, which lasted for almost 30 years, Armenia continued to commit crimes against Azerbaijanis on ethnic grounds.

On the night of February 25-26, 1992, another terrible genocide was committed in the Azerbaijani city of Khojaly.

A total of 613 people were killed with particular cruelty, including 106 women, 63 children and 70 old people, 487 people were seriously injured, including 76 children, 1275 people were taken hostage as a result of a treacherous attack on the city at night.

The Azerbaijani state has taken all the necessary steps to bring the truth about the March genocide to the world. After 80 years  on March 26, 1998, an adequate political assessment was given of these horrific events by the Decree of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan "On the Genocide of Azerbaijanis", signed by National Leader Heydar Aliyev and 31 March was declared the Day of Genocide of Azerbaijanis.

The Decree of Heydar Aliyev "On the mass deportation of Azerbaijanis from their historical and ethnic lands in the Armenian SSR from 1948 through 1953" dated December 18, 1997 is of great importance in terms of a comprehensive study of the deportation of Azerbaijanis from the territory of the Armenian SSR, giving a political and legal assessment these crimes bringing it to the attention of the international community.

These decrees are important not only for research and perpetuating the bloody pages of our history but also for exposing Armenian chauvinism and terrorism.

President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev signed an Order in 2018, on the eve of the 100th anniversary of the genocide in order to more fully bring the truth about this crime against Azerbaijanis to the public of the country and the whole world. The special action plan was developed and implemented for this purpose.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 30. The farewell ceremony for the People's Artist, Laureate of the State Prize, cavalier of the "Shohrat", "Sharaf", and "Istiglal" state orders, and Chairman of the Union of Cinematographers of Azerbaijan, Rasim Balayev, is taking place at the Azerbaijan State Academic National Drama Theatre, Trend reports.

His name is forever etched in the history of national art.

Since early morning, colleagues, students, cultural figures, and viewers have been arriving at the theatrethose for whom his voice, gaze, and roles became part of their personal memories. Flowers in hand, sorrow and tears on their faces, filled with the pain of loss. The actors coffin is placed on the stage, which is overflowing with flowers from various organizations, government structures, and grateful viewersfinal honors for the great artist. On the stage are also state awards, symbols of recognition of his immense contribution to the arts and culture of Azerbaijan. However, the greatest reward remains the love of the people, a love that cannot be measured by orders or titles.

Balayevs name is inseparably linked to his roles in films such as Nasimi, Babek, Dada Gorgud, and other vibrant characters. His heroesstrong, tragic, and full of dignitybecame a reflection of the national character, a symbol of the era, and artistic truth. In every role, he found a depth that made the viewer not just watch, but feel.

Today, memories are being shared. Colleagues speak of Balayevs rare inner culture, his self-demanding nature, and his respect for the profession. Young actors remember him as a mentor who not only taught but also inspired. For many, he was not just a master of stage and screenhe was a guiding light.

He went from being a graduate of the Institute of Arts to one of the most recognizable faces in Azerbaijani cinema. Nearly two hundred roles in both national and international cinemanone of them accidental. Each one was lived, earned, and filled with meaning. With his expressive appearance, powerful screen charisma, and rare ability to transform, Balayev convincingly portrayed national heroes, imbuing them with depth and inner strength. His roles were marked by drama, scale, and sincerity. In addition to his work in film and theatre, he was also actively involved in the countrys public and cultural life.

The farewell ceremony is accompanied by soft music. People approach, bow their heads, and stand still for a moment, as if trying to say one last "thanks". In this silence, the most important thing is felt: Rasim Balayev doesn't leave. He remainsin the frames of films, on the theatre stage, and in the hearts of viewers.

May the great artist rest in peace. With his passing, an entire era comes to an end, but its mark will forever remain in his work.

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BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 30. Turkmenistan is poised to present both concrete achievements and ambitious plans for urban development and sustainable urbanization at the 13th session of the World Urban Forum (WUF13) in Baku.

Scheduled for May 17-22, 2026, under the auspices of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), the forum will convene global experts, urban planners, and government representatives to address one of the most critical global challenges, ensuring the provision of safe, comfortable, and sustainable housing. Within this broader context, Turkmenistan aims to showcase its unique approach, demonstrating how a nation can successfully integrate state-driven strategies, social priorities, and technological advancements in urban development.

The Turkmen delegation, led by Chairman of the Halk Maslahaty (Parliament), Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, underscores the country's high-level commitment to urbanization and city planning. As noted by Turkmenistans Ambassador to Azerbaijan, Gurbanmammad Elyasov, the nation will approach the forum with tangible outcomes, fully developed projects, and clear, forward-looking strategies. A focal point of Turkmenistans presentation will be the urban development initiatives in the capital city of Ashgabat, along with the pioneering "smart" city of Arkadag.

Founded in 2019, the "smart" city of Arkadag represents not merely a new urban settlement but serves as a flagship initiative for the nation's urban planning vision. This ambitious project integrates cutting-edge information and communication technologies, eco-friendly public transportation systems, digital services, and expansive green spaces. Designed to accommodate 64,000 residents, Arkadag boasts 336 social and cultural facilities. To date, it has garnered more than 20 international certifications, including recognition as an "environmentally friendly city."

These advancements are further reinforced by Turkmenistans progress in housing and utilities infrastructure. In the past year, the country completed the construction of 645,000 square meters of new housing, alongside the establishment of 116 industrial and social facilities. In Ashgabat, efforts to modernize the housing stock are ongoing, with the development of new residential districts such as Parahat-7. Simultaneously, 127 two-story residential buildings are under construction, in addition to schools with a total capacity of 3,380 students and kindergartens for 1,080 children. Moreover, modern villages are being established in the regions, particularly in the Balkan, Ahal, and Dashoguz regions, complemented by large-scale infrastructure projects, including the high-speed Mary-Turkmenabat highway.

Turkmenistan is also engaged in projects aimed at sustainable development at the municipal level. In cooperation with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), initiatives are being implemented to strengthen urban resilience to climate and natural disaster risks, requiring the integration of climate adaptation and risk reduction into urban planning processes.

The main theme of WUF13, safe and sustainable housing for all, resonates with the core objectives outlined in Turkmenistan's "Program of Socio-Economic Development and Investments for 2026," signed by President Serdar Berdimuhamedov in February 2026. This program is designed to advance the goals outlined in several long-term national frameworks for 2022-2028 and 2022-2052. It encompasses continued large-scale housing development, the modernization of the existing housing stock, and the expansion of social infrastructure, including schools, kindergartens, and healthcare facilities. Furthermore, it emphasizes the integration of modern engineering and digital solutions into the urban fabric. This pragmatic approach forms the foundation of Turkmenistan's participation in WUF13.

In this context, Turkmenistan arrives at WUF13 equipped with tangible projects, measurable outcomes, and specific targets. From the completion of hundreds of thousands of square meters of modern housing in 2025 to the projected 900,000 square meters for 2026, from the ongoing modernization of Ashgabat to the ambitious construction of Arkadag, the country is progressively defining its national urban development paradigm.

Baku will thus serve as a pivotal platform for Turkmenistan to present its experience to the global community, articulating its urban policy priorities and embedding them within the broader WUF13 agenda.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 30. In the medium term, the most promising areas are those where we already see practical traction and where Azerbaijans own priorities are clearly moving, the State Secretariat for Trade of the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Entrepreneurship said in an interview with Trend.

The digital economy is currently the most dynamic pillar, with a Spanish technology firm already well established in high-value technological cooperation.

"Energy and the green transition are also structurally important and increasingly in a way that combines existing infrastructure with new, renewables-driven opportunities. Spanish engineering and industrial contractors have delivered major projects for the national energy sector, including refinery modernization and other industrial upgrades. Spains footprint also includes participation in major energy infrastructure linking Azerbaijan to Europe.

On the renewables side, cooperation is becoming increasingly tangible: joint initiatives with the public electricity utility include a 150 MW wind project ("Yeni Yashma") and a 300 MW photovoltaic project, supported by coverage from the Spanish export credit agency Cesce. At the same time, other Spanish groups, together with local partners, are advancing additional wind projects (for example, around 70 MW) and providing technical assistance on renewable programs, supporting the design and implementation side of the transition," the Secretariat stated.

The Secretariat emphasized that infrastructure remains a natural area for cooperation, given Azerbaijan's focus on reconstruction and connectivity.

"Finally, agriculture and water resource management are gaining weight, particularly through practical business engagement. A recent Spanish agribusiness trade mission to Baku brought companies active in areas such as irrigation, greenhouses, crop protection, and plant nutrition in full alignment with Azerbaijans priorities for the agribusiness.

Overall, the most promising cooperation lies at the intersection of digitalization, sustainable infrastructure, and the green transition, with agriculture and water becoming increasingly relevant," the statement reads.

The statement also notes that, building on cooperation already underway, new projects are being considered, especially in areas linked to reconstruction, sustainability, and modern infrastructure.

"In this context, the Strategic Economic Dialogue is a practical tool to make future projects easier to deliver. It helps both sides achieve early and swift alignment on priorities and on the enablers that determine whether projects move fast from ideation to execution, clear scoping, realistic sequencing, permitting, and, where relevant, grid connection arrangements.

It also provides a structured channel to discuss financing and risk mitigation architecture and to address implementation obstacles early, in a cooperative way.

Overall, the Dialogue supports an agenda that can grow organically, as enabling conditions mature and new mutually beneficial opportunities take shape," the State Secretariat reports.

The Secretariat noted that Spain sees clear potential to deepen cooperation in solar and wind energy, where Azerbaijans ambitions align well with Spains proven technological leadership across the full project cycle, from design and engineering to grid integration and operation.

"Hydrogen is approached in a targeted and forward-looking way. Spain has accumulated significant experience along the hydrogen value chain and follows with interest Azerbaijans steps towards hydrogen-ready infrastructure, including initiatives aimed at strengthening future interconnections with European markets," the Secretariat reports.

The statement emphasized that this creates scope to explore cooperation on hydrogen selectively, as renewable capacity expands and the necessary infrastructure and regulatory frameworks mature.

"There is a possibility for Spanish infrastructure and engineering companies to participate in projects related to the development of transport hubs and logistics centers in Azerbaijan. Spain sees significant opportunities for cooperation in the development of transport hubs and logistics infrastructure, particularly as Azerbaijan continues to strengthen its role as a regional connectivity platform.

This forward-looking interest builds on existing Spanish involvement in Azerbaijans transport and logistics ecosystem, including proven cooperation in areas such as air traffic management and airport digital systems, as well as related operational and support services.

More broadly, Azerbaijans reconstruction and connectivity planscovering roads, airports, multimodal logistics platforms, and transport corridorsalign well with Spains internationally recognized capabilities in infrastructure construction, transport engineering, digital solutions for mobility, and integrated logistics," the Secretariat added.

Overall, Spain views the development of transport hubs and logistics centers in Azerbaijan as an area with outstanding potential for collaboration, building on existing cooperation and closely aligned with both countries strategic interests in connectivity, economic diversification, and regional integration.

"Spain recognizes the growing strategic relevance of the Middle Corridor as a key component of Eurasian connectivity, particularly in the current effort to diversify and reinforce trade routes between Europe and Asia. In this framework, Azerbaijan plays a central role, and its sustained investment in transport infrastructure and logistics significantly enhances the corridors viability.

From Spains perspective, the Middle Corridor contributes to greater resilience and optionality in supply chains, complementing existing routes and supporting a more balanced connectivity architecture. This approach is closely aligned with European priorities, including those promoted under the EU Global Gateway strategy, which seeks to advance secure, sustainable, and high-quality connectivity through investments in infrastructure, digitalization, and logistics along strategic corridors," the Secretariat stated.

The statement adds that more broadly, Spain sees the corridor as consistent with a European connectivity vision based on partnership, investment, and standards.

"By supporting modern, efficient, and interoperable transport routes across the South Caucasus and Central Asia, the Middle Corridor can play a constructive role in strengthening EuropeAsia links in a way that is economically viable, environmentally sustainable, and geopolitically balanced," the Secretariat concluded.

The Middle Corridor is a transport trade route passing through several countries in the region and connecting Asia with Europe. It serves as an alternative to the traditional Northern and Southern corridors.

The route begins in China and passes through Central Asian countries such as Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan. It then crosses the Caspian Sea, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkiye before reaching Europe. The Middle Corridor is a land-based route that bypasses longer maritime paths, linking eastern parts of Asia, including China, with Europe.

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ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan, March 30. Trade turnover between Turkmenistan and the European Union exceeded $2.1 billion in 2025, nearly doubling compared to 2024, Trend reports via the press service of the Turkmen Government.

The figures were announced by Minister of Finance and Economy Mammetsguly Astanagulov during a business forum held in Ashgabat under the Turkmenistan-EU cooperation platform.

In 2024, trade between Turkmenistan and EU member states stood at around $1.1 billion, according to the European Commissions data.

The minister noted that Turkmenistan maintains economic relations with nearly all EU member states, with cooperation implemented through regional programs, country-level projects, and targeted financial agreements.

Previously, Turkmenistan and the European Union held the 9th interparliamentary meeting in Brussels. The Turkmen delegation, led by Maksat Kulyyev, Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on International and Interparliamentary Relations, met with European Union representatives, including MEP Giuseppina Princi, Chair of the European Parliament Delegation for Relations with Central Asian Countries (DCAS).

The meeting focused on political and economic cooperation, regional developments in Central Asia, international issues, and topics related to the rule of law and social policy.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 30. Iran is drafting legislation that could introduce a paid transit system for vessels passing through the Strait of Hormuz, Alaeddin Boroujerdi, a member of the Iranian parliaments National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, told reporters, Trend reports.

Boroujerdi said the proposed framework would establish a new regulatory regime governing the strait, including mechanisms to ensure maritime security and provide services to passing ships. If adopted, the legislation would introduce fees for transit through the strategic waterway.

He noted that Iran currently maintains full control over the strait and is working on a comprehensive program to regulate vessel passage and maritime services. The Strait of Hormuz, he added, remains one of the worlds most critical chokepoints for global trade and energy transportation.

Since no concrete agreement was reached in negotiations between the United States and Iran over the nuclear program, the U.S. and Israel began military airstrikes against Iran on February 28. In response, Iran launched missile and drone attacks on Israel and U.S. military facilities located in countries across the region, starting the same day.

On the first day of the air strikes against Iran, Irans Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei and several high-ranking military officials were killed. On March 8, Irans Assembly of Experts elected Seyyed Mojtaba Khamenei as Irans third Supreme Leader by majority vote.

From March 1 through March 5, the confrontation expanded further, affecting several countries across the Middle East.

According to information, the U.S. side suffered losses of 13 dead and more than 140 wounded.

The ongoing conflict has significantly threatened the regions energy infrastructure and maritime transport. Oil prices have surged on global markets due to heightened security tensions around the Strait of Hormuz, prompting several countries to advise their citizens to leave the region.

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ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan, March 30. Turkmenistan and the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) have signed a protocol amending their memorandum of understanding to further develop the Trans-Caspian Transport Corridor (TCTC), Trend reports via the press service of the Turkmen government.

The document was signed by Turkmenistans Minister of Trade and Foreign Economic Relations Nazar Agakhanov and GIZ Country Coordinator in Turkmenistan Joachim Fritz.

The protocol envisages further implementation of the program to develop the potential of the Trans-Caspian Transport Corridor in the country.

The initiative builds on a broader framework launched during the International Investor Forum on the Trans-Caspian Transport Corridor and related infrastructure held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, in November 2025. At the event, the European Union, Germany, and France signed a trilateral agreement to launch the TCTC capacity development program.

The program is aimed at enhancing the efficiency, sustainability, and competitiveness of the corridor as a key route linking Central Asia with Europe, contributing to regional economic growth.

Implementation of the initiative in Central Asia, with financial support from the EU, Germany, and France, will be carried out by GIZ and Expertise France from 2026 to 2029.

For reference, the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ), known in its native tongue as Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit, is a German development agency that implements projects on behalf of the German government, focusing on sustainable economic development, energy, governance, and climate policy across more than 130 countries.

Cooperation between Turkmenistan and GIZ has developed over the past decade and covers areas such as trade facilitation, vocational education, legal and economic reforms, as well as more recent initiatives in renewable energy, energy efficiency, and climate policy. In recent years, cooperation has intensified through joint projects and agreements with key ministries, particularly in the energy and green transition sectors.

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ASTANA, Kazakhstan, March 30. Kazakhstans Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov has called for the introduction of a unified digital system for monitoring and managing water resources in the Syr Darya and Amu Darya river basins, Trend reports via the press service of the Kazakh government.

The corresponding proposal was made by Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov during a meeting with members of the Board of the International Fund for Saving the Aral Sea (IFAS). The meeting brought together senior representatives from Central Asian countries, including Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan, as well as Chairman of the IFAS Executive Committee Askhat Orazbay and Kazakh officials.

The parties discussed issues related to strengthening regional cooperation in the water sector, improving the efficiency of the funds activities, and preparations for the upcoming meeting of the Council of Heads of Statefounders of IFASscheduled for April 22 in Astana.

Bektenov emphasized that the preservation of the Aral Sea and sustainable management of transboundary water resources remain among the priorities outlined by President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.

The sides also highlighted the importance of advancing digitalization in water accounting and management to ensure transparency and build trust among countries.

In addition, Kazakhstan proposed developing a Framework Convention on water use in Central Asia to establish agreed principles for the rational use of water resources, prevention of transboundary damage, and expansion of hydrological data exchange.

The International Fund for Saving the Aral Sea (IFAS) is an intergovernmental organization established in 1993 by the Central Asian states to coordinate joint efforts in addressing the environmental and socio-economic consequences of the Aral Sea crisis. The fund serves as a key regional platform for cooperation on water management, ecological restoration, and sustainable development, supporting projects aimed at improving conditions in the Aral Sea basin and promoting coordinated use of transboundary water resources.

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ASTANA, Kazakhstan, March 30. Kazakhstan has reached the third level of maturity of its national medicines regulatory system under the World Health Organization (WHO) assessment, strengthening its attractiveness for investment in the pharmaceutical sector, Trend reports via the countrys Ministry of Healthcare.

The development was highlighted during the Indian-Kazakh pharmaceutical business forum held in New Delhi, which brought together more than 60 Indian pharmaceutical companies producing medicines, raw materials, medical devices, vaccines, and biotechnology products.

The achievement makes Kazakhstan the first country in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and the fourth in the WHO European Region to reach this level, confirming compliance with international standards of quality, safety, and efficacy of medicines.

Reaching the third maturity level means that Kazakhstans regulatory system meets global requirements in drug registration, quality control, pharmacovigilance, and manufacturing inspections, increasing confidence among international organizations, investors, and manufacturers.

According to the ministry, ensuring the accessibility and effectiveness of drug provision remained a key focus in 2025, with 3.6 million people across the country receiving free medicines under state programs, covering 15.6 million prescriptions worth 262.9 billion tenge ($543.8 million).

The ministry also noted that the list of medicines has been updated, with ineffective drugs removed and a stronger focus placed on modern and innovative treatments.

For reference, the World Health Organization (WHO) classifies national medicines regulatory systems on a scale from 1 to 4 using its Global Benchmarking Tool, which assesses more than 250 indicators, including drug approval, quality control, and safety monitoring. Reaching maturity level 3 indicates that a country has a stable and functioning regulatory system aligned with international standards and capable of overseeing the full lifecycle of medicines.

Countries that have achieved this level include, among others, Turkiye, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, and Egypt. In practical terms, this status allows national regulators to be recognized by international partners, which can facilitate participation in global pharmaceutical supply chains, simplify export procedures, and support cooperation with international procurement mechanisms. It is also considered an important factor for foreign companies when assessing regulatory predictability and market entry conditions.

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ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan, March 30. Turkmenistan and the European Union have discussed prospects for expanding cooperation in environmental protection and sustainable natural resource management, Trend reports via the Turkmen Embassy in Belgium.

The discussion took place during a meeting between the Ambassador of Turkmenistan in Brussels, Sapar Palvanov, and Deputy Director-General of the European Commissions Directorate-General for Environment (DG ENV), Patrick Child.

The sides outlined that the elevation of EU-Central Asia relations to a strategic level creates favorable conditions for intensifying bilateral engagement. Palvanov noted that developing relations with the EU remains a key priority of Turkmenistans foreign policy, including in the environmental sector.

Particular attention during the talks was given to water resources, which are increasingly seen as a key factor for sustainable development in Central Asia. The sides noted that regional economies, especially in agriculture, largely depend on water availability, while growing pressure on water systems requires the introduction of modern technologies and expanded exchange of international best practices.

The ambassador also highlighted Turkmenistans initiative to establish a Regional Climate Technology Center for Central Asia, which could serve as a platform for environmental monitoring, research, risk assessment, and data exchange with international partners, including the EU.

The parties also discussed the need to further institutionalize cooperation, including through the development of structured mechanisms such as framework agreements or roadmaps to advance practical interaction.

For his part, Child welcomed Turkmenistans interest in strengthening cooperation on environmental issues, particularly in water resilience, noting that the European Commission is actively advancing related initiatives within its agenda.

Earlier, on March 27, Turkmenistan hosted a business forum focused on expanding cooperation with the European Union in trade, investment, transport connectivity, and sustainable development. The event brought together representatives of the government of Turkmenistan, the European Union, international organizations, diplomatic missions, and the business community.

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ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan, March 30. A delegation led by the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) has held a series of consultations in Turkmenistan focused on trade facilitation and logistics cooperation under ongoing regional programs, Trend reports via the press service of the Turkmen government.

The working visit was headed by Asel Uzagaliyeva, Deputy Head of the regional TFCA project implemented by GIZ, together with representatives of Expertise France, the French agency for development cooperation.

During the mission, the delegation met with representatives of Turkmenistans Ministry of Trade and Foreign Economic Relations, Ministry of Finance and Economy, State Plant Quarantine Service, Ministry of Agriculture, Turkmen Logistics and Transport Center (TULM), and the Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs of Turkmenistan.

Discussions centered around optimizing trade protocols, enhancing logistics synergy, and broadening collaboration among pertinent public and private sector entities.

The delegation also visited the Turkmenbashi International Seaport, where it held meetings with the State Service of Maritime and River Transport and port authorities to discuss cargo handling processes and potential areas for technical cooperation in maritime logistics.

The visit forms part of ongoing efforts to support trade facilitation and enhance institutional coordination in Central Asia through GIZ-led regional initiatives.

Meanwhile, a steering committee meeting on the Regional TFCA project was held in Turkmenistan on March 25, 2026, bringing together representatives of relevant ministries and project leadership to review progress achieved in 2024-2025 and outline priorities for the next implementation period through 2029. The project is implemented by GIZ under the initiative of Germanys Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) within the framework of a 2024 memorandum with Turkmenistans Ministry of Trade and Foreign Economic Relations.

The meeting placed particular emphasis on institutional measures aimed at trade facilitation, including the establishment of an Interagency Working Group supported by GIZ. The group is expected to contribute to streamlining trade procedures, improving transparency, and reducing administrative barriers, with the broader objective of supporting higher trade volumes and strengthening economic efficiency in Turkmenistan.

For reference, the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ), known in its native tongue as Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit, is a German development agency that implements projects on behalf of the German government, focusing on sustainable economic development, energy, governance, and climate policy across more than 130 countries.

Cooperation between Turkmenistan and GIZ has developed over the past decade and covers areas such as trade facilitation and vocational education, legal and economic reforms, as well as more recent initiatives in renewable energy, energy efficiency, and climate policy. In recent years, cooperation has intensified through joint projects and agreements with key ministries, particularly in the energy and green transition sectors.

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BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 30. The Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) in Bushehr Province, located in southern Iran, continues to operate, the spokesperson for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, Esmaeil Baghaei, said at a press conference in Tehran today, Trend reports.

According to him, the military airstrikes carried out by the U.S. and Israel against Iran are extremely dangerous. The responsibility of the UN and the International Atomic Energy Agency in this matter is very clear.

Unit 1 of Bushehr NPP began operating in 2011. In 2013, the operation of the unit was handed over by Rosatom to the Iranian company. Since 2013, the unit has produced a maximum of 1,000 megawatts of electricity. Over the past 10 years, electricity production at Bushehr NPP has exceeded 65 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh).

Electricity production at the Bushehr NPP from 2013 to March 20, 2025, amounted to 72.4 million kWh.

Since no concrete agreement was reached in negotiations between the United States (US) and Iran over the nuclear program, the US and Israel began military airstrikes against Iran on February 28. In response, Iran launched missile and drone attacks on Israel and US military facilities located in countries across the region, starting the same day.

On the first day of the air strikes against Iran, Irans Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei and several high-ranking military officials were killed. On March 8, Irans Assembly of Experts elected Seyyed Mojtaba Khamenei as Irans third Supreme Leader by majority vote.

From March 1 through March 5, the confrontation expanded further, affecting several countries across the Middle East.

The ongoing conflict has significantly threatened the regions energy infrastructure and maritime transport. Oil prices have surged on global markets due to heightened security tensions around the Strait of Hormuz, prompting several countries to advise their citizens to leave the region.

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BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 30. The moment has come for Iran to withdraw from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), a member of the parliaments National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, Alaeddin Boroujerdi, told reporters, Trend reports.

According to him, remaining within the NPT no longer serves a meaningful purpose under current conditions. He noted that a growing number of lawmakers now believe there is no justification for Iran to continue accepting extensive restrictions in light of recent developments.

Iran is not seeking a nuclear bomb. However, complying with the rules while being subjected to bombardment is incompatible, he said.

Since no concrete agreement was reached in negotiations between the United States and Iran over the nuclear program, the U.S. and Israel began military airstrikes against Iran on February 28. In response, Iran launched missile and drone attacks on Israel and U.S. military facilities located in countries across the region, starting the same day.

On the first day of the air strikes against Iran, Irans Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei and several high-ranking military officials were killed. On March 8, Irans Assembly of Experts elected Seyyed Mojtaba Khamenei as Irans third Supreme Leader by majority vote.

From March 1 through March 5, the confrontation expanded further, affecting several countries across the Middle East.

According to information, the U.S. side suffered losses of 13 dead and more than 140 wounded.

The ongoing conflict has significantly threatened the regions energy infrastructure and maritime transport. Oil prices have surged on global markets due to heightened security tensions around the Strait of Hormuz, prompting several countries to advise their citizens to leave the region.

Stay up-to-date with more news on Trend News Agency's WhatsApp channel
BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 30. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) of Iran has confirmed the death of Rear Admiral Alireza Tangsiri, the statement of the IRGC says, Trend reports.

According to the statement, Tangsiri, a valiant defender of Iran's islands and coasts, faced grave injuries and ultimately lost his life due to the relentless airstrikes carried out by U.S. and Israeli forces.

Since no concrete agreement was reached in negotiations between the United States and Iran over the nuclear program, the U.S. and Israel began military airstrikes against Iran on February 28. In response, Iran launched missile and drone attacks on Israel and U.S. military facilities located in countries across the region, starting the same day.

On the first day of the air strikes against Iran, Irans Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei and several high-ranking military officials were killed. On March 8, Irans Assembly of Experts elected Seyyed Mojtaba Khamenei as Irans third Supreme Leader by majority vote.

From March 1 through March 5, the confrontation expanded further, affecting several countries across the Middle East.

The ongoing conflict has significantly threatened the regions energy infrastructure and maritime transport. Oil prices have surged on global markets due to heightened security tensions around the Strait of Hormuz, prompting several countries to advise their citizens to leave the region.

Stay up-to-date with more news on Trend News Agency's WhatsApp channel
BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 30. The Iranian army fired on U.S. radar stations and military installations in the UAE last night, the army's statement says, Trend reports.

According to the statement, the Iranian army carried out the attacks with drones.

The Iranian army noted that the mentioned stations were tracking missiles and UAVs launched by Iran.

Since no concrete agreement was reached in negotiations between the United States and Iran over the nuclear program, the U.S. and Israel began military airstrikes against Iran on February 28. In response, Iran launched missile and drone attacks on Israel and U.S. military facilities located in countries across the region, starting the same day.

On the first day of the air strikes against Iran, Irans Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei and several high-ranking military officials were killed. On March 8, Irans Assembly of Experts elected Seyyed Mojtaba Khamenei as Irans third Supreme Leader by majority vote.

From March 1 through March 5, the confrontation expanded further, affecting several countries across the Middle East.

The ongoing conflict has significantly threatened the regions energy infrastructure and maritime transport. Oil prices have surged on global markets due to heightened security tensions around the Strait of Hormuz, prompting several countries to advise their citizens to leave the region.

Stay up-to-date with more news on Trend News Agency's WhatsApp channel
BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 30. Iran hasn't held any direct talks with the U.S. so far, the spokesperson for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, Esmaeil Baghaei, said at a press conference in Tehran today, Trend reports.

According to him, so far, some requests have been received from mediators regarding holding talks with the U.S.

Baghaei noted that it's not clear to Iran what level of importance the U.S. attaches to diplomacy. Iran's position towards the party that is constantly changing its position is completely clear.

"It's important for the countries of the region to attach importance to ending the war. However, Iran wasn't the party that started the war," he added.

Since no concrete agreement was reached in negotiations between the United States (US) and Iran over the nuclear program, the US and Israel began military airstrikes against Iran on February 28. In response, Iran launched missile and drone attacks on Israel and US military facilities located in countries across the region, starting the same day.

On the first day of the air strikes against Iran, Irans Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei and several high-ranking military officials were killed. On March 8, Irans Assembly of Experts elected Seyyed Mojtaba Khamenei as Irans third Supreme Leader by majority vote.

From March 1 through March 5, the confrontation expanded further, affecting several countries across the Middle East.

The ongoing conflict has significantly threatened the regions energy infrastructure and maritime transport. Oil prices have surged on global markets due to heightened security tensions around the Strait of Hormuz, prompting several countries to advise their citizens to leave the region.

Stay up-to-date with more news on Trend News Agency's WhatsApp channel
BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 30. Iran has expressed regret over the International Atomic Energy Agencys (IAEA) inaction regarding the bombing of its nuclear facilities, said Esmail Baghaei, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson, at a press conference in Tehran,Trend reports.

Baghaei emphasized that under the current circumstances, the first action the IAEA could take is to condemn the attacks on Iran. However, he noted, Iran has yet to witness such a response.

He added that Iran continues its work and necessary consultations while maintaining its own demands.

Since no concrete agreement was reached in negotiations between the United States (US) and Iran over the nuclear program, the US and Israel began military airstrikes against Iran on February 28. In response, Iran launched missile and drone attacks on Israel and US military facilities located in countries across the region, starting the same day.

On the first day of the air strikes against Iran, Irans Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei and several high-ranking military officials were killed. On March 8, Irans Assembly of Experts elected Seyyed Mojtaba Khamenei as Irans third Supreme Leader by majority vote.

From March 1 through March 5, the confrontation expanded further, affecting several countries across the Middle East.

According to information, the U.S. side suffered losses of 13 dead and more than 140 wounded.

The ongoing conflict has significantly threatened the regions energy infrastructure and maritime transport. Oil prices have surged on global markets due to heightened security tensions around the Strait of Hormuz, prompting several countries to advise their citizens to leave the region.

Stay up-to-date with more news on Trend News Agency's WhatsApp channel
BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 30. NATO again successfully intercepted an Iranian ballistic missile heading to Turkiye, NATO Spokesperson Allison Hart wrote on its X page, Trend reports.

"On Monday 30 March, NATO again successfully intercepted an Iranian ballistic missile heading to Turkiye. NATO is prepared for such threats and will always do what is necessary to defend all Allies," she wrote.

Earlier, the Ministry of National Defence of Turkiye announced that a ballistic munition launched from Iran and entering Turkish airspace had been successfully neutralized by NATO air and missile defense systems deployed in the Eastern Mediterranean.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 30. The Israeli Air Force attacked Iranian air defense systems located off the coast of the Caspian Sea, the Israeli army press service said in a statement, Trend reports.

The targets hit were reportedly located in a wooded area in northern Iran, "near the Caspian Sea."

It is noted that the targets were located 1,600 km from Israeli territory.
Take a moment and consider this observation: There are things in PDFs that I cant see as a visually enabled person that they hear in the screen reader. You can hear the screen reader saying something like header, header, header, header because it sees all this data in the margins that shouldnt be there. It can be a jumbled mess.

That quote comes from Cory Tressler, MA, MAT, assistant dean for technology and digital programs at Ohio State University Libraries. He was interviewed for a recent article in Inside Higher Ed titled Higher Ed Prepares for a New Era of Accessibility.

Clockwise from upper left: Emily Hurst, Alex Likowski, Charles Schelle, Amir Chamsaz, Tricia Kaufman, Ann Kim, and Shannon Tucker, with Becky Menendez in the center.

Tressler was describing just one sliver of the challenge facing universities that  along with all state and local government agencies  must come into compliance with federally mandated accessibility standards in April.

The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 requires all employers to make reasonable accommodations to employees with any of a wide array of disabilities, and it mandates accessibility requirements for public accommodations. The law has been considered to cover technology access in many ways for years, but in 2024 the Justice Department issued final rules specific to state and local governments web content and mobile applications.

All such agencies  including public universities such as the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB)  must meet the standards set forth in the latest iteration of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. On the federal governments ADA website, there are examples like this one that help explain the problem:

Individuals who are blind may use a screen reader to deliver visual information on a website or mobile app as speech. A state or local government might post an image on its website that provides information to the public. If the website does not include text describing the image [usually called alt text], individuals who are blind and who use screen readers may have no way of knowing what is in the image because a screen reader cannot read that image.

Non-compliant PDF files are clearly a huge problem. There are thousands of PowerPoint slides and information graphics filling up our websites that are in no way compliant with federal law.

Video recordings are another problem area. They need to be captioned properly and may require audio descriptions for visually impaired users.

Its going to take a lot of effort to fix whats already out there, and it will take little extra time when we create new content going forward. But its really the only way to ensure that everyone, regardless of ability, is able to fully participate in UMBs academic and community life.

So, it isnt just the law that requires equitable access, but also UMBs own core values. Most of the requirements can be met just by doing things like explaining whats on the screen and speaking clearly  in other words, just by being considerate of people with different abilities.

On March 24, members of the UMB Title II Task Force held a virtual town hall to explain the situation, whats being done at the University, and answer questions from the UMB community. You can watch the 90-minute program at the top of this webpage or on YouTube.
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Detected: First Ever Spin Reversal of Comet 41P

In a first, astronomers have found evidence of a comet reversing its spin

Washington: In a first, astronomers have found evidence of a comet reversing its spin.

The NASA astronomers using Hubble Space Telescope detected that the spinning of a small comet slowed and then reversed its direction of rotation.

The finding offers an example of how volatile activity can affect the spin and physical evolution of small bodies in the solar system.



The object, comet 41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresak, or 41P for short, likely originated in the Kuiper Belt, and was flung into its current trajectory by Jupiters gravity, now visiting the inner solar system every 5.4 years.

After its 2017 close passage around the Sun, scientists found that comet 41P experienced a dramatic slowdown in its rotation. Data from NASAs Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory in May 2017 showed the object was spinning three times more slowly than it had in March 2017 when it was observed by the Discovery Channel Telescope at Lowell Observatory in Arizona.

A new analysis of follow-up Hubble observations has shown the spin of this comet took an even more unusual turn. Hubble images from December 2017 detected the comet spinning much faster again, with a period of approximately 14 hours, compared to the 46 to 60 hours measured by Swift, NASA said in a blog post.

The comet continued slowing until it almost stopped, and was then forced to spin in the near-opposite direction by outgassing jets on its surface, the researchers explained in a detailed paper published in The Astronomical Journal Thursday March 26, 2026.

Why size matters?

Hubble also constrains the size of the comets nucleus, measuring it at around 0.6 miles across (about a kilometer), or about three times the height of the Eiffel Tower.

This is especially small for a comet, making it easy to torque, or twist.

As a comet approaches the Sun, heat causes frozen ices to sublimate, venting material into space.

Jets of gas streaming off the surface can act like small thrusters. If those jets are unevenly distributed, they can dramatically change how a comet, especially a small one, rotates, said paper author David Jewitt of the University of California at Los Angeles.

The comet was originally spinning in one direction, but gas jets pushing against that motion gradually slowed it down. Because the jets kept pushing, they ultimately caused the comet to start rotating in the opposite direction.

Its like pushing a merry-go-round. If its turning in one direction, and then you push against that, you can slow it and reverse it, Jewitt said.

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No Kings Protests Symbolizes Global Frustration With Trump

The rally organisers echo peoples sentiments by repeatedly emphasising that No Kings Day is only one aspect of broader efforts toward building people power and fighting the Trump administration  and that that work 'doesnt end after March 28'

More than 3,000 No Kings protests against the Trump administration were held across America and in more than a dozen countries on Saturday (March 27), according to a coalition of organisers that included anti-authoritarian groups - Indivisible and 50501, labour unions and other grassroots organisations.

Saturday March 28 protests were the third No Kings protest against US President Donald Trump; the last one in October 2025 drew seven million people nationwide. At the recent flagship event in Minnesotas Twin Cities, Minneapolis and St Paul, organisers estimate around 200,000 people filled the streets around the state capital to commiserate, mourn, and speak out against the Trump administration.

Bernie Sanders, the independent Vermont senator, riled up the crowd with remarks about the role of the ultra-rich in politics. Bruce Springsteen sang his song about the death and destruction brought by ICE to the state, Streets of Minneapolis, leading the crowd in chants of Ice out now!

The states governor, Tim Walz, introduced Springsteen, saying it was clear America needed no damn kings but it needed the Boss. Walz commended the states people for standing up for each other and for immigrants when Trump sent in thousands of federal agents, who killed Minneapolis residents Renee Good and Alex Pretti. Their names were featured heavily in No Kings protest signs in the city. Jane Fonda even read a statement from Goods wife, Brenda.

According to The Guardian report, in New York City, multiple No Kings contingents merged through Times Square, as well as the outer boroughs. Minutes before the main march was set to take off from Central Park, the states attorney general, Letitia James; the citys public advocate, Jumaane Williams; actor Robert DeNiro; the Rev Al Sharpton; and Padma Lakshmi filed into the front of the crowd holding hand-painted banners that read: We protect our democracy  people over billionaires  we protect our neighbours.

In Washington DC, one protest group, made up of about a dozen Palestinian mothers, stood at the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and waved a 10ft-tall Palestinian flag. Most Americans dont know that our tax dollars are being used to subsidise violence, Hazami Barmada, 42, said. This is happening while many Americans cant afford housing, milk, school or healthcare. Prices continue to go up as we are fighting Israels wars.

Other protesters, led by local activist organisations including Free DC, gathered at the Frederick Douglass Bridge in south-east Washington DC. The crowd marched across the bridge to Fort McNair in Southwest DC, where the White House senior adviser Stephen Miller resides.

In downtown Chicago, protestors chanted Trump must go now, fascists gotta go now and Ice out as they filed into Grant Park. Chicagos mayor, Brandon Johnson, addressed the crowd of thousands: Look around, our movement is bigger, our resolve is bigger.

Other speakers at Chicagos rally discussed labour rights and keeping immigrant and trans communities safe. When we build a world that protects trans people, we build a world thats better for everyone, said Iggy Ladden, the founder of the Chicago Therapy Collective.

The White House and Republican leadership denounced Saturdays No Kings day events as Trump Derangement Therapy Sessions. In a statement, White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said the demonstrations were created by leftist funding networks and that only people who care about these Trump Derangement Therapy Sessions are the reporters who are paid to cover them.

The BBC says that since returning to the White House in January 2025, Trump has expanded the scope of presidential power, using executive orders to dismantle parts of the federal government and deploying National Guard troops to US cities despite objections by state governors.

The president has also called on the administration's top law enforcement officials to prosecute his perceived political enemies. In his defence, the president says his actions are necessary to rebuild a country in crisis and has dismissed accusations that he is a behaving like a dictator as hysterical. "They're referring to me as a king. I'm not a king," he said in an interview with Fox News in October last.

But critics warn some of the moves by his administration are unconstitutional and a threat to the American democracy.

These protests came amidst reports that around 3,500 US Marines have been sent to the war zone in the Middle East. This points out to alleged reports by some Trump advisers not to send ground forces to the region, as it may further escalate the conflict and may prove to be another Vietnam for the US.

However, apparently the US President doesnt seem to be bothered by all these advices. Instead, he is seen busy in mocking the Iranian leaders and establishment and even mockingly describing Strait of Hormuz as Strait of Trump. In retaliation, Iranian newspapers gave banner headlines Welcome To Hell to the US soldiers.

As the disruption in global oil supply chain increases, it will have a rippling effect on other supply chains. This in turn would lead to an increase in economic woes and hardships not just for the American citizens but across the globe.

The latest No Kings protest follows recent electoral successes by the Democrats and a slump in Trumps approval ratings. Organisers were hopeful that as many as 9mn people could turn out at events in all 50 US states.

Analysts say the war against Iran, rising petrol prices, stock market volatility, as well as criticism of his hardline immigration clampdown, pose a threat to the Republican Party in the November midterm elections.

Meanwhile, reportedly Pakistan and Turkey are mediating to end the conflict, but the needle has not moved much. Israeli and US militaries continue to attack Iran, and Iran continues to hit back. No one is quite sure what Trump would say, or order, next.

The rally organisers echo peoples sentiments by repeatedly emphasising that No Kings Day is only one aspect of broader efforts toward building people power and fighting the Trump administration  and that that work doesnt end after March 28.

The war in Iran was supposed to be a spurring force for these demonstrations, but most of the protesters focussed on President Trumps immigration crackdown. Besides, many politicians, and even Senators and Governors, joined the crowds in some states.

[The writer, Asad Mirza, is Delhi based Journalist and Author]



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When White House was renamed as Epstein Island

In a major embarrassment for Donald Trump, the White House was recently renamed as Epstein Island for some Google Pixel phone users in the United States

[U.S. President Donald Trump seen outside the White House in a file image.]

Washington: In a major embarrassment for Donald Trump, the White House was recently renamed as Epstein Island for some Google Pixel phone users in the United States.

The White House is the official residence of the U.S. President.

Epstein Island refers to the Caribbean island of Little St. James, which had been owned by the convicted pedophile Jeffry Epstein. According to the prosecutors, the island served as the venue for sex trafficking and other abuses of minor girls involving some high-profile figures in business and politics, including U.S. President Donald Trump.

In an article Saturday March 28, 2026, local daily Washington Post reported that when its journalist tried calling the White House switchboard earlier this week, the name on screen indicated that they were contacting the Epstein Island.

Only users of Googles Pixel phones experienced the issue. For those calling the presidential residence from other Android phones and iPhones, no name was displayed, the report said.

"Fake Edit"

Google spokesperson Matthew Flegal later told the newspaper that there was a fake edit in Google Maps that had been briefly picked up in the call identification feature of some Android phones.

The user behind it has been identified and blocked from making further edits because his actions violated Googles policies, Flegal said.

The US Department of Justice released the final batch of over 3 million pages, 2,000 videos, and 180,000 images relating to Epsteins case in January. The details of the Wall Street financiers dealings with some of the most powerful people in the US and UK have only worsened the scandal.

US President Donald Trump had ordered the agency to release the files in November, following intense pressure from the lawmakers and his own supporters. The documents mention Trumps name over 5,000 times, but without any indication of criminal activity. However, they have been heavily redacted, leaving many critics unconvinced.

Trimp has repeatedly denied having been friends with the disgraced financier, saying that he never went to the infested Epstein island but, almost all of these Crooked Democrats, and their Donors, did.

A poll from the left-wing Zeteo website earlier this month found that 52% of those surveyed believed that Trump launched the ongoing war against Iran in order to distract the public from the Epstein files.

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Universities across the Middle East were placed on high alert Sunday after Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps declared American and Israeli university campuses in the region "legitimate targets"  a threat that has already prompted at least one major institution to suspend in-person operations and sent students, staff, and faculty scrambling for guidance.

The IRGC issued the warning in a statement carried by Iranian state media early Sunday morning, framing it as direct retaliation for what Tehran describes as deliberate US-Israeli strikes on Iranian academic institutions. "The reckless rulers of the White House should know that all the universities of the occupying regime and American universities in the West Asian region are our legitimate targets," the statement read.

The Corps issued an ultimatum: if the US government wished to prevent retaliation, it must issue a formal condemnation of the bombing of Iranian universities in an official statement by 12 noon Monday, March 30, Tehran time. As of the time of publication, no such statement had been issued by Washington.

THE STRIKES THAT TRIGGERED THE THREAT

The IRGC's warning followed reports that US-Israeli airstrikes struck Iran's University of Science and Technology in Tehran on Saturday, damaging buildings on the campus. A second strike hit the Isfahan University of Technology on Sunday  the second time that campus has been hit since the war began  leaving four university staff members wounded.

Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei condemned both attacks on social media, alleging that the strikes were part of a deliberate campaign to dismantle Iran's scientific and academic foundations. He named the Isfahan University of Technology and the Iran University of Science and Technology as just two of many academic institutions targeted in the 30 days since the conflict began.

Iranian education officials have painted a stark picture of cumulative damage. Hossein Sadeghi, head of public relations at Iran's Ministry of Education, told state news agency IRNA that at least 250 students and teachers have been killed and 600 educational facilities struck across Iran since the war began  figures that could not be independently verified.

WHICH CAMPUSES ARE AT RISK

The IRGC's statement specifically mentioned universities in Baghdad, Sulaymaniyah, and Dohuk in Iraq, as well as institutions "perceived to be associated with the United States" more broadly across the region. The US Embassy and consulate in Iraq separately warned that Iran and its proxies may intend to target those named institutions.

Several prominent American universities operate campuses or full branch institutions across the Gulf. Texas A&M University maintains a campus in Education City, Doha, Qatar. New York University operates NYU Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. Georgetown University, also in Education City, Qatar, had already shifted to remote instruction on Thursday  before the IRGC formally issued its threat. Other US-affiliated institutions operate across the UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Lebanon.

The IRGC advised all employees, professors, students, and residents near American and Israeli university campuses to stay at least one kilometre away from those institutions for their safety  a warning that carries the practical weight of a targeted threat.

AMERICAN UNIVERSITY OF BEIRUT MOVES ONLINE

The most immediate institutional response came from the American University of Beirut, one of the oldest and most prominent US-affiliated universities in the Arab world. AUB president Fadlo Khouri told students and staff the university would operate fully online on Monday and Tuesday as a precautionary measure.

"Like many of you, we learned early this morning of threats issued against American universities in the region," Khouri said in a statement. "At this time, we have no evidence of direct threats against our university, its campuses or medical centres. At the same time, out of an abundance of caution, we will operate fully online on Monday and Tuesday, with the exception of essential personnel."

Founded in the 19th century, AUB has long been one of the Arab world's most influential educational institutions and a cornerstone of Lebanon's academic landscape for generations.

"We advise all employees, professors, and students of American universities in the region and residents of their surrounding areas to stay at least one kilometre away from these universities to protect their lives." IRGC Statement, March 29, 2026

THE WIDER WAR CONTEXT

The university threats are the latest escalation in a widening conflict that has now entered its fifth week. US-Israeli airstrikes, initially aimed at military infrastructure, have increasingly drawn accusations of striking civilian and cultural sites. Iran's parliament speaker Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf accused the United States on Sunday of planning a ground invasion, a claim the White House has not publicly addressed.

Iran has continued to fire drones and ballistic missiles at Gulf states, with Kuwait reporting interceptions of incoming fire early Sunday morning. Saudi Arabia said it intercepted and destroyed ten drones. Iran also claimed strikes on major aluminium facilities in Bahrain and the UAE.

Diplomatic efforts are underway on a parallel track. Pakistan has offered to host direct US-Iran talks "in the coming days," with foreign ministers from Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Egypt convening in Islamabad on Sunday to develop a de-escalation framework. Iran has agreed to allow two Pakistan-flagged ships per day through the Strait of Hormuz as a tentative gesture of goodwill.

"Isfahan University of Technology and the University of Science and Technology in Tehran are just two among many universities and research centers deliberately attacked by the aggressors during the past 30 days." Esmaeil Baghaei, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson

WHAT IT MEANS FOR STUDENTS AND FACULTY

For the tens of thousands of students enrolled at American and Israeli-affiliated universities across the Gulf and Levant, Sunday's developments introduced an unprecedented level of uncertainty. Campus security teams at multiple institutions were reported to be convening emergency briefings, and several embassies in the region updated their travel and safety guidance to include specific warnings about university facilities.

University Herald will continue to monitor institutional responses and update this report as developments unfold. Students and staff at affected institutions are urged to follow official communications from their universities directly and to check guidance from their relevant national embassies.
Vietnam Briefing has developed into a premium source for insight on doing business in Vietnam. It publishes business news concerning foreign direct investment into Vietnam, including the most important tax, legal and accounting issues. The Vietnam Briefing Magazine was first published in 2009, and is contributed to by investment professionals based in Vietnam.
Italy celebrates Dachshunds, or "bassotti", with eighth edition of Sausage Walk.

Thousands of Dachshund dogs and their owners gathered in cities across Italy on Sunday for Sausage Walk Italia, an annual event now in its eighth edition.

What began as a spontaneous initiative among enthusiasts has grown into the largest collective dachshund parade in the country, transforming online communities into a joyful gathering of families and their four-legged companions.

The 2026 edition saw gatherings organised in nearly every Italian region, from Liguria to Sicily, with the events receiving official patronage from numerous municipal authorities.

City by city

In Rome, the gathering took place at Villa Doria Pamphilj, with participants joining a circular trail around the park.

Milan's contingent made its way to the Castello Sforzesco, assembling on the lawns of Parco Sempione for the traditional group photograph.

In Caserta, the bassotti departed from Piazza IV Novembre and wound its way to Piazza Carlo III, taking in some of the city's most representative landmarks.

On the island of Sardinia, Cagliari welcomed participants at the amphitheatre of Marina Piccola, from where a panoramic walk along the Lungomare Poetto provided a relaxed morning by the sea.

Format and charity

The formula is simple: routes approved by local authorities, safe and suited to the dachshund's characteristically short stride - though open to dogs of all breeds - with group photographs at iconic locations and a convivial close of farewells and exchanged contacts.

Organisers prepared a dedicated kit for participants, complete with the event's bow tie, which changes design with each edition and has become a collector's item.
Who Is Anne-Marie Descotes, France's New Ambassador to Italy?

On 26 March 2026, Anne-Marie Descotes presented her credentials to Italian President Sergio Mattarella at the Palazzo del Quirinale, formally beginning her tenure as the new French ambassador to Italy. She was accompanied by a delegation from the embassy including Cyril Blondel, minister counsellor, May Gicquel, minister counsellor for economic affairs, and Pauline Le Louargant, head of cabinet.

The appointment, announced on 9 February 2026, signals that France is sending one of its most experienced and senior diplomats to one of its most important bilateral postings. Descotes does not arrive in Rome as a newcomer to high-stakes diplomacy. She arrives as someone who has spent three decades navigating the most sensitive corridors of European foreign policy, including nearly four years as the highest-ranking civil servant at the Quai d'Orsay itself.

A Career Built at the Heart of European Diplomacy

Anne-Marie Descotes was born on 5 December 1959 in Lyon. She is a graduate of the Ecole Normale Superieure and the Ecole Nationale d'Administration, holds a master's degree in Germanic studies and a degree in art history, and holds the agregation, France's highest teaching qualification, in German.

Her career reflects a consistent focus on European integration and cultural diplomacy. After her university studies, she taught German for two years, then worked for three years as a cultural attache at the French Embassy in Bonn from 1987 to 1990. The Bonn posting, in the final years of divided Germany, gave her a front-row seat to one of the defining moments of modern European history.

After graduating from the ENA, she was appointed Director of European Cooperation at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, working on European Community external and internal relations from 1994 to 1997, before becoming technical advisor to Pierre Moscovici, minister with responsibility for European affairs, from 1997 to 2001. From 2001 to 2005, she was advisor for enlargement and Central and South-eastern Europe at the Permanent Representation of France to the European Union in Brussels.

She then moved to Washington as advisor for Europe and the former Soviet Union from 2005 to 2008, before taking on the role of director of the Agency for French Education Abroad from 2008 to 2013, a position that placed her at the centre of France's global soft power strategy. As Director General for Globalisation, Culture, Education and International Development from 2013 to 2017, she focused the work of the Directorate General on economic diplomacy and soft power, green diplomacy and sustainable development.

Five Years in Berlin

The posting that most directly shapes her arrival in Rome is her five-year tenure as French Ambassador to Germany, from June 2017 to August 2022. This was not a routine ambassadorship. It covered the final years of Angela Merkel's chancellorship, the emergence of Olaf Scholz, the Covid pandemic, and Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. It required managing the Franco-German relationship at its most consequential in decades, as Berlin's longstanding policy assumptions about Russia collapsed and Paris and Berlin scrambled to coordinate their responses.

In August 2022, Descotes returned to Paris to become Secretary-General of the French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs, the highest civil servant position within the Quai d'Orsay and second in rank only to the minister. She was the first woman to occupy the post since it was created in 1915. In that role she effectively ran the ministry's day-to-day operations and received foreign ambassadors accredited to France.

What She Brings to Rome

The France-Italy relationship is one of the most important and most complicated bilateral relationships in the European Union. The two countries are close partners, bound by the Quirinal Treaty signed in 2021, which institutionalised their cooperation across defence, foreign policy, culture, and economic affairs. They are also, periodically, rivals and irritants to each other, with recurring tensions over migration policy, Libya, Africa, and the sometimes abrasive relationship between Italian and French political leaders.

Descotes steps into a relationship that has seen diplomatic friction in recent years, most notably over the repeated clashes between Matteo Salvini and Emmanuel Macron, which have on at least one occasion led France to summon the Italian ambassador for formal reprimand. At the same time, the Quirinal Treaty framework gives both countries institutional tools to manage and deepen cooperation that did not previously exist.

Her appointment at this moment, with France holding the G7 presidency and both countries navigating a turbulent international landscape including the war in Ukraine and the pressure of a more transactional American administration, carries clear strategic intent. Paris is putting serious diplomatic weight into this posting.

Descotes herself, leaving the Quirinale after presenting her credentials, was characteristically precise about her intentions. She said the meeting had "moved and honoured" her, and that she looked forward to writing "a new chapter in Italian-French relations together with all institutional partners and those from civil society who give life to this relationship." She noted that France's G7 presidency "further strengthens the action of France and Italy, which are working side by side and in close coordination in a very degraded international context."

She also offered something more personal: "I have known Italy for a long time. I learned the language through Italian friends I met during my art studies and through cinema, and I look forward to continuing to discover this magnificent country and its warm inhabitants."

For Rome, the arrival of a diplomat of this seniority and calibre at Palazzo Farnese is a signal worth paying attention to. France is not sending a placeholder. It is sending one of its best.
MOSCOW, March 30 (Xinhua) -- A Russian tanker carrying a humanitarian shipment of crude oil has arrived in Cuba, the Russian Ministry of Transport said Monday.

The tanker Anatoly Kolodkin delivered about 100,000 tons of crude oil to the Caribbean island country, according to a statement cited by TASS news agency.

The vessel is currently awaiting unloading at the port of Matanzas, the statement added.

Earlier, The New York Times reported that the United States Coast Guard had allowed a Russian-owned crude oil tanker to reach Cuba after months of an oil blockade on the country. 
Operation Hate: Italy's Carabinieri Arrest 17-Year-Old Who Was Planning a Neo-Nazi School Attack

Italian military police arrested a 17-year-old on Monday morning on terrorism charges after investigations revealed he had been planning a school massacre modelled on the 1999 Columbine High School shooting. The operation, codenamed "Hate," was conducted by the ROS, the Special Operations Group of the Carabinieri, and involved simultaneous searches across four Italian regions.

The teenager, originally from Pescara but resident in a town in the Alto Tevere area of Umbria, faces charges including possession of material with terrorist purposes, as well as incitement to commit crimes on grounds of racial, ethnic and religious discrimination. Investigators found he had been working on the fabrication of weapons and chemical devices, and had been seeking manuals and technical information on the manufacture of explosive devices and firearms. Among the seized material were documents containing technical instructions on dangerous chemical and bacteriological substances, as well as guides to sabotaging essential public services.

The case was handled by the juvenile prosecutor's office in L'Aquila, which issued the precautionary custody order. The teenager has been transferred to a juvenile detention facility.

The Online Network

Investigators established contacts between the teenager and the leadership of a Telegram group called "Werwolf Division," a virtual environment of neo-Nazi and white supremacist content, where mass killers such as Brenton Tarrant, the perpetrator of the Christchurch mosque attacks in New Zealand in 2019, and Anders Behring Breivik, responsible for the Oslo and Utya attacks in Norway in 2011, were described as "saints" to be emulated.

The teenager had planned the school attack on the Columbine model, to be followed by his own suicide. Investigators described the broader digital ecosystem as transnational, connecting neo-Nazi, accelerationist and white supremacist groups and channels across multiple countries.

The teenager had previously been searched as part of a separate investigation in Brescia into individuals suspected of belonging to far-right online groups with neo-Nazi, supremacist, xenophobic and antisemitic positions.

Seven Others Under Investigation

Alongside the arrest, the Carabinieri carried out seven searches against minors in the provinces of Teramo, Perugia, Pescara, Bologna and Arezzo. All seven are under investigation for incitement to commit crimes on grounds of racial, ethnic and religious discrimination. All appear to be embedded in an international virtual ecosystem of neo-Nazi, accelerationist and supremacist groups with a particular attraction to extremist violence.

The searches spanned Abruzzo, Emilia-Romagna, Umbria and Tuscany, pointing to a network of radicalized teenagers operating across a wide geographic area through online platforms, primarily Telegram.

The Political Response

Italy's Minister of Education Giuseppe Valditara commented on the arrest, saying: "This case is confirmation that we must consider the subject of social media with great attention, probably also by working with the large companies and the various managers of these networks to find solutions together, because it is not just about banning minors." He added that the teenager "was connected to social media and using information, at least from what I have read in early reports, to obtain weapons, explosives and so on. It is a great challenge; unfortunately it is the issue of the moment and it is a very dramatic one."

The Broader Context

The arrest comes at a moment when Italy, like most European countries, is grappling with the radicalization of young men through online platforms that operate effectively beyond the reach of national authorities. The "accelerationist" ideology documented in this case, which holds that mass violence is a tool to accelerate the collapse of liberal societies, has been connected to attacks across Europe, North America and Australia in recent years. Tarrant in Christchurch and Breivik in Norway, both glorified in the Werwolf Division Telegram group, have become central figures in this transnational online culture, which actively cultivates the idea of the mass killer as a heroic martyr.

What makes the Italian case notable is not only its content but its geography. This is not a story about a teenager in an isolated rural setting with limited social connections. It is a story about a network of radicalized minors scattered across multiple Italian regions, connected through platforms that carry no national borders, celebrating mass violence in the language of racial ideology and actively planning to act on it.

The investigation is ongoing.
Netanyahu intervenes following international outcry after Latin Patriarch was stopped from entering Jerusalem holy site on Palm Sunday.

Italy on Sunday summoned Israel's ambassador after Israeli police prevented the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, from entering the Church of the Holy Sepulchre to celebrate Mass.

The Italian cardinal's office said it was "the first time in centuries" that a Latin Patriarch had been turned away from Christianity's most sacred site on Palm Sunday, the day marking the start of Holy Week leading up to Easter.

The incident

Cardinal Pizzaballa was travelling with the church's guardian, Father Francesco Ielpo, when the two were stopped en route to the holy site where they had planned to celebrate Palm Sunday Mass.

Pizzaballa stated that they were proceeding privately, without any characteristics of procession or ceremony, and were "compelled" to turn back from the church which is built on the traditional site of Jesus crucifixion and burial.

Israeli law enforcement officials stated that all holy sites in Jerusalem's Old City, including those sacred to Christians, Muslims and Jews, had been closed to worshippers since the beginning of the US-Israeli operation against Iran, particularly those without adequate bomb shelters.

The Latin Patriarchate described the measure as a "grave precedent" that "disregards the sensibilities of billions" of Christians worldwide, particularly during Holy Week.

He noted that church leaders had complied with all restrictions imposed by Israel since the start of the war with Iran, stressing that he had merely wanted to celebrate "a brief and small private ceremony".

Cardinal's response

Pizzaballa described the decision by Israeli police as "a manifestly unreasonable and grossly disproportionate measure" but said he did "not want to force the issue".

"We want to use this situation to try to clarify better what will be done in the coming days, respecting the security of all naturally but also in respect of the right to prayer," he said.

Unable to celebrate Mass at the Holy Sepulchre, the Latin Patriarchate led the solemn celebration of Palm Sunday from the Basilica of All Nations in Gethsemane, where he offered a message of hope, stating that "war will not erase the resurrection" and that "grief will not extinguish hope."

The Vatican

News of the barring reached the Vatican as Pope Leo XIV was concluding his Palm Sunday Mass in St Peter's Square, where he had prayed especially for the Christians of the Middle East, "who are suffering the consequences of a brutal conflict and, in many cases, are unable to observe fully the liturgies of these holy days."

During his homily, Pope Leo said that God rejects the prayers of leaders who start wars and have "hands full of blood," dedicating his address to his insistence that God is the "king of peace" who rejects violence.

The Vatican did not specifically comment on the police incident in Jerusalem.

Italy's response

The reaction from Rome was unequivocal. Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni expressed "solidarity" with Pizzaballa, stating that denying entry to the Patriarch of Jerusalem, "especially on a solemnity central to the faith such as Palm Sunday, constitutes an offence not only against believers but against every community that recognises religious freedom."

Foreign minister Antonio Tajani made a formal protest on behalf of the Italian government to the Israeli authorities and summoned the Israeli ambassador on Monday, demanding clarifications.

Tajani also instructed the Italian ambassador to Israel to protest to the government of the Tel Aviv authorities and to reaffirm Italy's position "on the protection of religious freedom always and under all circumstances."

The move was notable given that Meloni's right-wing government had sought to maintain a balanced position with Israel during the war in Gaza, supporting Israel's right to self-defence whilst condemning the toll on Palestinian civilians.

Israeli ambassador on Italian television

Israel's ambassador to Italy, Jonathan Peled, gave an interview on Italian television on Sunday, before meeting Tajani on Monday.

Peled responded to the controversy by stating that Cardinal Pizzaballa had been informed of the ban, given that Jerusalem constitutes a conflict zone.

"We understand that today is a significant day for Catholics and we had no intention of offending Christian believers around the world, but we must understand that we are under rocket attacks," the ambassador said.

"The entire city of Jerusalem has been closed to Christians, Muslims, and even Jews for a month" - Peled said - "The missiles have hit the entire city, even the Holy Sepulchre. As we speak, rockets and missiles are hitting Jerusalem, ten million Israelis are in shelters, and so we have to understand that this is a conflict zone."

Netanyahu intervenes

Faced with an international outcry, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had asked "relevant authorities" to allow Cardinal Pizzaballa to enter the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and "hold services as he wishes."

Netanyahu's office stated that police had intervened "out of special concern for his safety," insisting that "there was no malicious intent whatsoever," and noting that Iran had repeatedly targeted holy sites in Jerusalem with ballistic missiles, with missile fragments having fallen metres from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre itself.

Netanyahu added that "given the holiness of the week leading up to Easter for the world's Christians, Israel's security arms are putting together a plan to enable church leaders to worship at the holy site in the coming days."

Who is Cardinal Pizzaballa?

A Franciscan friar from the northern Italian city of Bergamo, 60-year-old Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa has served as Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem since 2020.

Pope Francis appointed him to the role as archbishop of Latin Church Catholics of the Archdiocese of Jerusalem, with jurisdiction for all Latin Catholics in Israel, Palestine, Jordan and Cyprus.

Pizzaballa, who last year was tipped as a potential successor to Pope Francis, has lived in the Holy Land for more than three decades and speaks fluent Hebrew.

Photo credit: Jose HERNANDEZ Camera 51 / Shutterstock.com
A small museum in the town of Padula, in the Campania region of southern Italy, has confirmed what had long been suspected but never officially documented: Taylor Swift has Italian origins. The proof is a birth certificate, discovered in historical archives, belonging to one of her great-great-grandfathers.

The document records the birth of Carmine Antonio Baldi on 28 March 1862 in Castelnuovo Cilento, a village in the province of Salerno. His parents were Vito Baldi and Rosa Galzerano. The discovery was made by the Museo del Cognome di Padula, directed by Michele Cartusciello, and represents the first official documentary evidence of Swift's Italian ancestry, moving the story from family lore and journalistic speculation into the realm of verified historical record.

The British press, including The Times, had already devoted significant coverage to the question of Swift's Italian roots in recent months. Now there is a paper trail.

Carmine Antonio Baldi's story is one that will be familiar to anyone who knows the history of Italian emigration. In the late 19th century, millions of southern Italians left their villages, driven by poverty, lack of land, and the pull of a continent that promised something better. Baldi was fourteen years old when he left Castelnuovo Cilento in 1876, travelling to the United States with his father and his brother. He arrived in Philadelphia.

What happened next was, by any measure, remarkable. Baldi started at the bottom, working a series of humble jobs including selling lemons on the streets of Philadelphia. He climbed. By 1903 he had established a bank. In 1906 he founded L'Opinione, an Italian-language daily newspaper that served the city's rapidly expanding Italian-American community. Within a few years, the Baldi family had built what could genuinely be described as a small economic empire, and Carmine Antonio had become one of the most prominent figures in Italian-American Philadelphia at the turn of the century.

That is the man in Taylor Swift's family tree. Four generations back, one of her great-great-grandfathers arrived as a teenager with nothing and ended up founding a bank and a newspaper in one of America's great cities.

Castelnuovo Cilento has not been slow to claim its connection to one of the most famous people on the planet. The village has already named a street after Charles Carmine Antonio Baldi. At the inauguration, a delegation of his descendants was present, along with Giuseppe Galzerano, identified as the first researcher to have actively investigated Taylor Swift's Italian origins and done much of the groundwork that eventually led to the archival discovery.

The mayor of Castelnuovo Cilento, along with other representatives of the local administration, have now formally invited Taylor Swift to visit the village where her family's American story began 150 years ago. The invitation has so far received no response.

This is not surprising. Swift's schedule and the volume of attention she receives make it unlikely that a letter from a small Campanian comune lands with particular urgency. But the invitation is genuine and the connection is real, and there is something genuinely affecting about the thought of it: a village of a few thousand people on the Cilento coast, looking out toward the Tyrrhenian Sea, with a street named after a boy who left at fourteen and never came back, writing to one of his great-great-granddaughters to tell her where she comes from.

The Cilento is one of the most beautiful and least touristed stretches of southern Italian coastline, a UNESCO-protected landscape of mountains, ancient Greek temples and fishing villages that has somehow managed to remain largely outside the mainstream tourist circuit. If Taylor Swift ever does make the visit, she would find a place that has changed less than almost anywhere else in Italy. She might recognize something in it. That, perhaps, is the real point of the invitation.

Ph: Jamie Lamor Thompson / Shutterstock.com
From the Mountains of the First World War to a Bronze Statue in Villa Borghese, the Mule Has Earned Its Place in Italian History

There is a small bronze mule standing in Villa Borghese, just in front of the Fortezzuola on Viale Pietro Canonica, that most visitors walk past without stopping. Those who do stop tend to feel something unexpected. The animal is rendered with quiet dignity, ears slightly forward, body compact and sturdy, entirely still. There is no drama in the pose. That is rather the point.

The statue was created in 1937 by sculptor Pietro Canonica, who lived in the Fortezzuola itself, and donated to the City of Rome in 1940. It depicts a specific animal: Scudela, a mule who served with an Alpini mountain artillery battery during the First World War. Every day for years, Scudela carried his cannon along the harsh mountain paths of the Alps, through snow and under enemy fire, inseparable from his Alpine soldier handler.

One morning, during a fierce engagement, the battery was forced to retreat and Scudela and his handler were listed as missing. By nightfall the mule had found his way back to the remnants of the unit. He returned alone. Of his companion, only the hat with the black feather remained.

Scudela was awarded the Gold Medal for Military Valour at the end of the war. The inscription on the base carries the battle cry of the Aosta Brigade: "Ca Custa Lon Ca La Custa, Viva L'Austa"  whatever it costs, long live the Aosta. Since 1957, an Alpine soldier has stood beside him, sculpted by the same hand, so that Scudela is no longer alone.

The Mule Is Not a Donkey

Before going further, a clarification that Italians instinctively understand but that is worth stating: the mule (mulo) and the donkey (asino) are not the same animal, and the distinction matters.

A mule is the hybrid offspring of a male donkey and a female horse. Mules are larger than donkeys and typically larger than the donkey parent, combining the strength and size of the horse with the endurance, surefootedness, and resilience of the donkey. The donkey is a species in its own right, domesticated for thousands of years. The mule is a deliberate cross, bred for a specific purpose: to produce an animal that can do what neither parent can do alone.

Male mules are almost always sterile due to their odd number of chromosomes (63, compared to 64 in horses and 62 in donkeys). This means every mule must be bred anew, which made them valuable and carefully managed animals throughout history.

The practical differences are significant. The mule is stronger than the donkey, more resistant to disease than the horse, calmer in difficult terrain than either, and able to carry heavy loads over long distances without the constitution of a horse. What looks like stubbornness is actually considered a form of self-preservation: a mule will refuse a task it judges physically dangerous, which is not stupidity but a kind of intelligence that made it uniquely suited to mountain warfare.

The Mule and Italy's Mountains

Italy is a country built around difficulty. Its spine is the Apennines. Its northern frontier is the Alps. For most of its agricultural and military history, the territory that mattered most was the territory hardest to reach, and the animal best suited to reaching it was the mule.

During the First World War, the mule was considered precious for the transportation of weapons, provisions, and equipment along the mountain front. During the Second World War, the number of mules with the Italian Alpine troops was estimated at approximately 520,000. No other number quite captures the scale of the animal's contribution to Italian military history.

First-class mules were the largest and most robust and were used by the artillery for transporting weapons and ammunition, particularly the 120mm mortar, which disassembles into three parts: the base plate, the mount, and the barrel. This mortar required at least three Alpine soldiers to carry manually. Second and third-class mules were smaller and used by the Alpine infantry for tents, ammunition, and supplies.

The bond between the Alpine soldier and his mule was not merely operational. In each company, every mule was assigned a specific soldier, called a conducente, who was responsible for the animal throughout his military service. When soldiers completed their service, the rules of care were passed down to the next conscripts. This transfer of knowledge, from one generation of soldiers to the next, through the shared responsibility of an animal, created a relationship that shaped the culture of the Alpini as much as any battle.

The last mules used by the Alpini were sold at auction in 1993 following the corps' reorganisation. The last of those mules, named Iroso, died of natural causes on 29 April 2019, aged 40. He had been purchased at auction by a former Alpine soldier, who had cared for him until his death.

Agriculture, Transhumance and the Land

Beyond the military, the mule shaped the Italian countryside. In the agricultural South, where the terrain was too steep and the soil too poor for large horses, the mule was the engine of the farm. It ploughed, it hauled, it carried the harvest from fields that no wheeled vehicle could reach.

Each year in Italy, a centuries-old practice known as transhumance takes place, where donkeys and mules help shepherds carry newborn lambs down mountains to grazing areas in the plains. This tradition, dating back over a thousand years, was recognised by UNESCO in 2019 as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

In Italy historically, mules made up half of the equine population. The papal court's own etiquette specified mules for the Pope's carriage, and Italian nobles adjusted their practices accordingly, riding mules rather than horses. In this sense the mule was not merely a working animal but a marker of a certain kind of Italian pragmatism: choosing the animal best suited to the actual conditions of the land, regardless of the prestige attached to the horse.

Is the Mule Loved?

The mule occupies a curious place in Italian affection. It does not have the romance of the horse, the Biblical resonance of the donkey, or the domesticity of the dog. It is not a pet. It is not a symbol. It is a worker, and Italy has always had a complicated relationship with things that work without complaint and ask for nothing in return.

And yet the statue in Villa Borghese exists. The Alpini of Rome gather before it every October to lay a wreath. The Gold Medal for Military Valour was awarded to a mule. The last surviving military mule died attended by the man who had bought him at auction specifically to give him a dignified retirement. These are not the gestures of a society indifferent to an animal.

What Italy feels for the mule is perhaps something more specific than love: it is recognition. The recognition of an animal that did what was asked of it, in the worst conditions imaginable, without glory, without complaint, and often without returning. The sculptor Canonica called his monument "L'Umile Eroe," the humble hero. In a country that has always had an uneasy relationship with the word humble, that is a title worth examining.

The mule earned it.

ph: Tripadvisor - Claudio D.
By Grainne Ni Aodha and Rebecca Black, Press Association

All Irish peacekeepers in Lebanon are safe and accounted for, the Minister for Defence has said.

Three Indonesian peacekeepers have been killed in the south of the country in recent days.

It came amid rising tensions in the region after Israel and the US began bombing Iran more than four weeks ago, which has threatened global supplies of oil and disrupted air travel.

The Irish Defence Forces can confirm that all Irish personnel are well and accounted for. We wish to extend our sympathies to the families of the peacekeepers who lost their lives in the service of peace. Our thoughts are also with those injured in the attack.



Oglaigh na pic.twitter.com/io0mcF2AEj  Oglaigh na hEireann (@defenceforces) March 30, 2026

Israel has launched a ground invasion of Lebanon while targeting the Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah.

On Sunday, the Indonesian peacekeepers were attacked when a projectile exploded near a village in south Lebanon.

Helen McEntee strongly condemned attacks on Indonesian personnel with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil) in a statement on Monday evening.

These incidents represent a deeply concerning further escalation and have resulted in the deaths of three peacekeepers and serious injuries to others, she said.

My thoughts are with their families, friends and colleagues, and I wish those injured a full and speedy recovery.

Those serving under the UN flag do so in pursuit of peace and stability.

These incidents are an attack on the very principles of peace, cooperation and international solidarity.

I am in daily contact with the Chief of Staff of the Defence Forces, and all Irish personnel serving with Unifil are safe and fully accounted for.

Earlier, Taoiseach Micheal Martin condemned the escalation of violence.

The role of the peacekeeper must be respected and honoured at all times.

Both Israel and Hezbollah must do everything in their power to keep peacekeepers from harm.

I have been briefed by our Defence Forces and all Irish personnel serving in Lebanon continue to be well and accounted for.

There are more than 360 Irish peacekeepers on a six-month deployment to a Unifil base in southern Lebanon.

The United States and Israel wanted to have UN troops removed from the area in 2026 but an extension to 2027 was agreed after negotiations.

Ireland will have taken part in peacekeeping in Lebanon for almost 50 years by the end of 2027.
An incredible 2,400 was raised for West Waterford Mental Health Awareness from a Cheltenham Night fundraiser.

The money was raised by A Pair of Punters, Alan Tobin and William Curley.

Chairperson of West Waterford Mental Health Awareness, councillor Donnchadh Mulcahy, welcomed the donation and highlighted the difference it will make to the groups ongoing work.

I want to sincerely thank Alan and William for their outstanding effort in raising this funding.

Its a brilliant example of the community spirit we have here in West Waterford, and we are extremely grateful for their support, said Cllr Mulcahy.

The funds are to go towards the development and distribution of school support packs, an initiative aimed at promoting positive mental health and wellbeing among young people across the area.

These school packs are a key part of what we are trying to achieve.

They help start important conversations around mental health at an early age and ensure young people know that support is there for them.

West Waterford Mental Health Awareness, a volunteer-led group, continues to grow and raise awareness while signposting people to the supports and services available to them.

This funding will be put to very good use and will directly benefit young people across West Waterford.

It shows what can be achieved when people come together for a positive cause, said Cllr Mulcahy.

Cllr Mulcahy also thanked everyone who supported the Cheltenham Night, helping to make the fundraiser such a success.
An Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) has been called for the shareholders of Waterford Regional Airport Plc on Monday, April 20.

The EGM will see shareholders vote to wind up the company, allowing US oil billionaire Kelcy Warren to become the main proprietor of the airport under the guise of the newly formed Waterford Airport Limited.

A previous EGM in December 2025 began the path towards the companys liquidation.

The decision to liquidate the company would require a 75% approval of the present shareholding. Deloittes James Anderson and Andrew Byrne would then be appointed as the companys liquidators.

Shareholders will be asked to vote on two resolutions: (i) To approve the companys liquidators and (ii) To authorise Waterford Airport chairperson Michael Walsh to take any such action deemed to aid the companys liquidation.

In a letter sent to shareholders, Mr Walsh praised their commitment to the airport: We, also, wish the new company the very best in its endeavours in building a genuinely viable Regional Airport for Waterford and the South-East Region, the letter read.

While this represents finality for shareholders and will be sad for many, we are satisfied that the intent of the visionaries who set out on the path of developing an Airport in Waterford so many years ago will be satisfied.

We appreciate the goodwill and support of everybody throughout all of those years since the company's inception.

Mr Warren has been granted Foreign Direct Investment approval. His executive assistant, Brooke Seims, has been listed as a secretary for Waterford Airport Limited since January 20, 2026.

All liabilities of Waterford Regional Airport Plc have been discharged in recent weeks.

William Bolster, the largest shareholder in Waterford Regional Airport Plc and the key connect between Mr Warren and the board, has targeted an April start date for the beginning of the runways construction.

Summer 2027 has been outlined as the possible return of commercial flights to Waterford Airport following a decade-long hiatus.
YAOUNDE, March 30 (Xinhua) -- The 14th Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization concluded early Monday in Cameroon's capital of Yaounde.

During the four-day conference, delegates reached several outcomes and issued a joint declaration toward implementing the world's first multilateral investment agreement.

Delegates also adopted an agreement on electronic commerce, which will strongly bolster the development of global digital trade. Ministerial decisions were also adopted regarding fisheries subsidies and small economies. Furthermore, a consensus was reached on WTO reform.

The conference took place against a backdrop of heightened geopolitical tensions, with over 120 delegations from the WTO's 166 members participating, including more than 80 ministers. Originally scheduled for 1:00 pm local time (1200 GMT) on Sunday, the closing ceremony was postponed to approximately 2:00 a.m. local time (0100 GMT) on Monday due to extended negotiating sessions.

In his closing remarks, Luc Magloire Mbarga Atangana, the conference chair and Cameroon's minister of trade, noted that while ministers worked diligently to conclude as many issues as possible, "we ran out of time" regarding several outstanding issues, such as the continuation of the existing moratorium on customs duties for electronic transmissions.

"We are very close to a Yaounde package of agreements that would be important for members and the future of the organization," said WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. "But we are not all the way there yet."

The Chinese delegation participated in all agenda items. Adhering to core WTO principles such as multilateralism and most-favored-nation treatment, China actively promoted negotiations and consensus-building, working to bridge differences and making a vital contribution to the aforementioned outcomes.

China's proactive and constructive role was highly commended by host country Cameroon, Okonjo-Iweala and other relevant members.

The Ministerial Conference is the highest decision-making body of the WTO. Held every two years, it is responsible for advancing negotiations on key issues, reviewing the WTO's daily operations, and planning the future direction of the multilateral trading system. 
Representatives of the Waterford Indian Community and Waterford Malayalee Association met with Gardai over the weekend in the wake of online attacks.

Shiju Sasthamkunnel, Chairman, Waterford Malayalee Association, committee member Sabu Isaac and Senthil Ramaswamy, Chairman of Waterford Indian Sangam, had a two-hour meeting with Gardai last Saturday.

The meeting was arranged after a number of concerning posts were published online that targeted the communities' participation in the recent St. Patrick's Day parade in Waterford.

The posts targeted men, women and children taking part in the parade, using artificial intelligence to create a distorted image of the parade and the communities.

Mr. Ramaswamy told the News and Star that the meeting was 'very positive' and Gardai advised on how to report harmful content.

He stated: "Garda Browne provided valuable insights into current legislation and noted areas where laws require strengthening to address online harm effectively. A formal written complaint was submitted to remove harmful content from social media platforms."

"The meeting concluded with plans for future collaborations, committee meetings, and community information events with Gardai," he said.

"We appreciate the support of Superintendent, Inspector, Garda Browne, and the Waterford Garda team in addressing these issues and many thanks to Garda members for giving appointment soon to the Indian Community members."

'Sinister fashion'

Local Councillor Eamon Quinlan confirmed that such posts had been highlighted to him by members of the community.

He stated: "In these posts, they were disturbed to see pictures of adults and children, walking in the parade, receiving abuse along with various derogatory comments."

"Other posts show AI generated images of cartoon character Indians walking down the Mall in Waterford as part of the parade, in a sinister fashion, throwing rubbish on the streets and scaring red-haired Irish onlookers," said Cllr Quinlan.

"The community is deeply hurt and disturbed to see such sentiments, and especially to see them gain traction in the online space," he added.

"Any parent would be nervous of such persons taking pictures of their children to then single them out online."

The Fianna Fail councillor added: "The Indian Community in Waterford is vibrant and very welcome. Most are stage 4 Visa holders, meaning that they are here working in many of the critical areas that we need such as the hospital and nursing homes."

"Should they lose their employment, they have to leave the country after six months," he said.

"Many have now been here, and working for years. They have purchased homes and their children have Waterford accents stronger than mine," he added.

"Many of the local churches have seen an increase in attendance, due in part to many of Waterfords Indian Community being Christians. After all these years, they are hurt to see such sentiments being targeted at them, unjustifiably so."

Attacks on the Indian community living in Waterford and the rest of Ireland have increased in the past year.

In August 2025, it was reported that a 6-year-old girl of Indian descent was attacked outside her home in Waterford.

Her assailants shouted 'go back to India' as they attacked her.

Gardai confirmed that they were investigating the matter.
Members of Waterfords business network, sporting community and local politicians turned out for a breakfast hosted by Minister Mary Butler and attended by Taoiseach Micheal Martin at the Granville Hotel last week.

Following the event, the 43 million academic and research building at Glassworks was launched.

Business Breakfast

An Taoiseach, Micheal Martin was in attendance as guest speaker and spoke of the importance of local enterprise in Waterford and throughout the country, investment in the regions and the need for a strong Europe in the face of increasing global uncertainty.

Minister Butler announced at the event that the 24/7 cardiac care service is now a reality and will go live at the start of July.

She also highlighted the 90 million surgical hub and the new Acute Mental Health Approved Centre at UHW consisting of 60 beds, an additional ten beds for psychiatry of later life, as significant recent investments.

Government Chief Whip, Minister for Mental Health & Waterford T.D Minister Butler speaking at the event

The Minister also highlighted that a site for the new Ambulance Base has been identified in the heart of Waterford City.

The Minister spoke about the progress of the North Quays and investment in SETU. She highlighted the recent commencement of construction on the Engineering, Architecture, Computing, and General Teaching Building at SETUs Waterford Campus and successful bids for two recently established programmes in Veterinary Medicine and Pharmacy at SETU.

Read more about the launch of Glassworks HERE
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Tips & adviceThe cut Why you should rest your lamb roast for 20 minutes before carving (plus other pro tips) Chefs Ozge Kalvo of Olympus Dining and Jenna Abbruzzese are experts on all things lamb. They share their tips for making the most of each cut, this Easter and beyond. Dani Valent March 27, 2026 Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add more. Share A A A

To understand how best to cook and serve lamb this Easter and beyond, we learn from two chefs with more insight than most. Ozge Kalvo leads the kitchen at Olympus Dining in Sydney, where they lean hard into lamb. Were getting 20 lambs weekly from a family farm in Victoria, and using all the cuts, she says. A wine cool room has been turned into a lamb room, weve employed a full-time butcher, and were dry-ageing for two weeks. Ozge Kalvo turns lamb on the charcoal grill at Olympus Dining. Jessica Hromas An entire section of the menu is devoted to lamb  cutlets, chops, sausages, leg  while lamb brain and sweetbreads make an appearance, too. Jenna Abbruzzese is a chef-turned-lamb farmer in central Victoria. Cooking lamb isnt complex, she says, Its about who youre serving and what the occasion is: you can make it really special, or it can be your own quick dinner.

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Lamb farmer Jenna Abbruzzese from Addington Downs. The best recipes from Australia's leading chefs straight to your inbox. Sign up Lamb is a comforting family meal, easy to cook, and more affordable than steak, says Kalvo. It works well if youre trying to eat less but better meat. The portions are better for individuals, she says. Serving a variety of cuts encourages a nose-to-tail mindset, treating the animal with more respect and your guests to more flavour. You dont have to feed everyone cutlets, says Kalvo. I prefer a platter that celebrates the whole animal. You can serve a variety of lamb cuts on a platter, as they do at Olympus Dining. Jessica Hromas Love your butcher

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Abbruzzese sells her Addington Downs lamb boxes directly to subscribers, but for those outside her circle, she recommends finding a trusted local butcher. Be a bit more intentional, she says. We already do it with wine, coffee, and beef why not lamb? In Turkey, Kalvo recalls that meat was never a supermarket commodity; it was a conversation with the family butcher. Shopping this way transforms the ingredient from a plastic-wrapped mystery into a custom-cut asset. A good butcher will debone a lamb leg or prep your skewers on the spot  but the real win is the mince. Ask them to mince it fresh with some fatty belly, Kalvo suggests. She sticks to a 20 per cent fat ratio to ensure her meatballs and kofte stay rich and succulent. Adam Liaw's roast lamb shoulder makes a great Easter main. William Meppem How to measure done-ness

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Why guess when you can measure? asks meat-probe-lover Jenna Abbruzzese. I can guarantee using a thermometer will make cooking roasts so much more enjoyable. When it comes to smaller cuts, Kalvo leans toward a medium-well finish. Less than medium, its too chewy for me and I dont really experience the taste of the lamb. Seasoning Abbruzzese cooks lamb with salt only. Its so I can eat it over a few days. Keeping it simple makes it versatile, but theres also a cave-person satisfaction in simplicity. At Olympus, Kalvo goes Greek with fennel seeds, lemon, olive oil, orange zest, onion, yoghurt and herbs, which are all good friends with lamb.

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Karen Martini's leg of lamb roasted on root vegetables. William Meppem The cuts LEG The hero cut of the beast is the top portion of each rear leg. Butterflied lamb leg (deboned and butchered so it flattens out) is terrific on the barbecue. Kalvo also suggests removing lamb sausage meat from its casing and rolling it up in a butterflied lamb leg before tying and roasting. Try Adam Liaws butterflied lamb leg with tomato and mint recipe, pictured below.

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Adam Liaw's butterflied (and barbecued) lamb leg with tomato and mint. William Meppem To roast, Abbruzzese recommends removing the leg from the fridge two hours before cooking. This will help it cook more evenly. Rub the leg with salt, olive oil (and pepper, if you like), roast for 20 minutes at 220C fan-forced, then reduce to 180C conventional. I like more gentle heat, not blasting the outside of the meat, she says. Spoon over fat and juices every 25 minutes or so. For pink-ish legs, remove from the oven when the centre reaches about 55C. It will continue to cook out of the oven, reaching about 60C to 68C, which is medium-rare to medium. I like a long resting period, about 20 or 30 minutes, where you cover the meat with foil and allow it to relax and reabsorb all that moisture, she says. Slightly cooler meat makes for easier carving, too.

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Related Recipe collection 11 fall-apart lamb shoulder recipes (plus the perfect roast potatoes) for your Easter feast SHOULDER A hard-working cut that loves a slow cook, Kalvo brines, marinades and sears bone-in shoulders, before placing them in a tray with chicken stock, herbs and spices. She covers the pan, then cooks it for eight hours at 120C. The meat will be fork-tender. Addington Down lamb shanks. SHANK

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Braise shanks in red wine with mushrooms and peppercorns and youre on the way to a gastropub winner. Serve slow-cooked shank with mash and peas, and it will keep everyone happy, says Abbruzzese. Related Article How to make RecipeTin Eats slow-cooked lamb shanks in red wine sauce Kalvo suggests picking shank (or neck) meat from the bone and serving it with orzo pasta. You can use the cooking jus to cook your pasta, and serve it with salted ricotta on top. Neil Perrys braised lamb necks with pearl onions and garlic. William Meppem NECK

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The neck makes the perfect cut for soup or ragu, or Neil Perrys succulent lamb necks with onions and garlic (pictured above). You can use it to make harira, a Greek soup, Italian ragu, curry: its so delicious and succulent, says Abbruzzese. Adam Liaws barbecued lamb cutlets with tzatziki. William Meppem CUTLETS When the rack is separated, the portions become cutlets. All my friends feed their babies cutlets as their first solid food, says Abbruzzese. But it doesnt matter how old you are. Who is going to decline a cutlet, cooked in a hot pan with good oil or lamb fat and a bit of salt? Related Collection Five juicy lamb cutlet recipes including Adam Liaws (above)

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CHOPS Like cutlets, chops need a quick, high heat to get a good crust, leaving the meat close to the bone quite rare. You need a good salad with those cuts, maybe Greek, something refreshing acid and vinegary, says Abbruzzese. LOIN I love to slice into medallions and do a little marinade  sumac and allspice, maybe  and make luxe little skewers, says Abbruzzese. They are great with charcoal flavour on every side. Related Article EASY Mint-crusted lamb rack with olive salad 30 mins - 1 hr

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RACK Give it colour in the pan, then roast it in a hot oven and its beautiful to present, says Abbruzzese. RUMP The rump is a versatile cut that benefits from a quick roast and a rare finish. As Kalvo explains: Because its taken from between the cutlets and the leg, its a generous, manageable portion for two. Jill Dupleix's lamb ribs Steven Siewert

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RIBS Kalvo recommends a low-and-slow approach: Keep the ribs in one piece, season with olive oil and salt, and place them in a slow cooker or a low oven overnight with a little water in the tray to steam, she says. Once cooked, allow the ribs to cool completely before slicing into single portions. To serve, give them a quick fry until crisp. They make a delicious, simple snack when served with yoghurt and lemon. Because ribs can be quite fatty, Abbruzzese uses a clever acidity trick: she marinates them in salt and onion juice (simply blitz an onion and strain). The ribs are then wrapped tightly in greaseproof paper and foil for a gentle bake. Once the meat begins to soften, open the parcel to let the ribs colour, then finish with a generous brush of toum (garlic sauce) for a hit of sharp, creamy heat. Related Article How to cook Jill Dupleixs slow-cooked lamb ribs 2 hrs + OFFAL

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Exclusive PoliticsFederalAustralia votes AEC launches blitz to save Farrer from the informal bin Rob Harris March 30, 2026  2:43am Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add more. Share A A A

The Australian Electoral Commission will mount an intensive voter education blitz ahead of the Farrer byelection, warning a congested information environment and rising misinformation could undermine confidence in Australias preferential voting system. The move comes amid a spike in informal voting in parts of the country and a political push from minor parties and conservatives to overhaul how preferences are allocated. The Australian Electoral Commission will step up efforts to ensure voters understand how to cast a valid ballot. NSW  where preferential voting is optional at a state level  recorded the highest informality rate at the last federal election, at 8.06 per cent  a slight increase on the previous poll. The seat of Farrer, which includes regional towns and cities including Albury, Deniliquin and Griffith, sat even higher at 9.03 per cent. Officials fear the byelection could mean that figure climbs further if a crowded field produces an unwieldy ballot paper. An AEC spokesperson said the commission was stepping up efforts to ensure voters understood how to cast a valid ballot and how preferences flow under the system, saying there was a clear and increasing requirement to provide information about how Australias preferential voting system works for federal House of Representatives contests.

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The campaign will include instructions printed directly on ballot papers, handouts at polling booths, posters and multilingual guides, alongside a broader media push spanning radio, social platforms and direct messaging to voters. Related Article Exclusive

Byelection Hanson offers Coalition preference deal in Farrer as Abbott warns of Liberal wipeout The communication environment during a byelection can be congested and difficult for voters to navigate, the spokesperson said. The AEC is alert to the prospect for incorrect information to be spread around how preferential voting works  from a variety of potential sources. It will also revive its stop and consider messaging, aimed at countering misleading or false claims circulating online. The intervention follows controversy at this months South Australian state election, where Pauline Hansons One Nation distributed open how-to-vote cards that listed only a first preference for its candidate, leaving the rest blank.

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The tactic led to confusion among some voters, with reports of candidates or campaigners filling in preferences themselves, prompting accusations of dirty tricks. Hanson has seized on the issue to argue for optional preferential voting last week, similar to the NSW system, where voters can choose to mark a single preference or continue numbering candidates. She said people were fed up with sending preferences to the Greens or Labor and the system was aimed at keeping the major parties in control. Related Article Resolve Political Monitor The LNP thought this change could help its election chances. Will it? The push has found some traction. In Queensland, the Liberal-National government is examining optional preferential voting, while in NSW Labor figures are arguing the opposite  for tighter compulsory preferential rules to maximise flows from progressive voters. The AEC said its role was not to enter the political debate but to ensure voters could navigate whichever system was in place. With a byelection likely to draw an unusually large field and heightened political scrutiny, officials are bracing for a test not just of voter patience  but of the system itself.

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But election experts have rejected claims the current system disadvantages minor players. Related Article Exclusive

NSW Votes This tweak to the voting system would seriously advantage Labor. Will it happen? Bill Browne, the director of the democracy and accountability program at the Australia Institute, a left-aligned think tank, said Australia had a long history of preferential voting which had benefited either side of politics. Preferential voting actually makes things simpler for Australians because it removes the need for tactical voting, where youre trying to guess who are going to be the final two people in the race, and you can just vote according to your true beliefs, he said. Dr Jill Sheppard, from the Australian National Universitys school of politics and international relations, said it was easy to underestimate how hard preferential voting could be for many voters.

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Generally, we know that that informality  which is the percentage of votes that dont get counted because they make mistakes in preferencing  is always higher in rural areas and particularly in areas with high numbers of migrants who arent used to voting in Australia, she said. Organic campaigns to try to undermine peoples confidence and knowledge about the electoral system, but I doubt wed see it from One Nation this time because theyll want to make sure that as many of their votes are included at the end of election counting as possible. Cut through the noise of federal politics with news, views and expert analysis. Subscribers can sign up to our weekly Inside Politics newsletter.

Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add more. Share License this article More: Australia votes Rob Harris is the national correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age based in Canberra. He is a former Europe correspondent. Connect via email
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WorldMiddle EastMiddle East at war Trump threatens to blow up Kharg Island as Albanese seeks certainty on war claims Matthew Knott Updated March 30, 2026  8:04pm ,first published 3:00pm Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add more. Share A A A

Canberra/Washington: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has called for more clarity from Donald Trump about his aims for the war in Iran, as the US president muses on the possibility of seizing the regimes oil supplies or completely obliterating Kharg Island and Iranian desalination plants. Albaneses more forceful language after a month of war in the Middle East came as Trump insisted that the war could end soon after progress in negotiations, even as the Pentagon orders the deployment of 10,000 more troops to Iran. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he regarded the Iranian regime as abhorrent and reprehensible, but was unsure whether foreign military intervention could achieve true regime change. Alex Ellinghausen I want to see more certainty in what the objectives of the war are, and I want to see a de-escalation, Albanese told reporters on Monday. So a de-escalation is in the global economys interests. Elaborating in an interview with the ABCs 7.30 on Monday night, Albanese said he would like to see a timeframe on the conflict and recognition of the economic damage it continues to cause.

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Later on Monday night AEDT, Trump posted on Truth Social that the US was in serious discussions with a new, and more reasonable, regime to end our military operations in Iran. Related Article Middle East at war US-Iran war as it happened: Iran warns US ground troops will be set on fire; Pakistan meets with regional powers for talks to end war Great progress has been made but, if for any reason a deal is not shortly reached, which it probably will be, and if the Hormuz Strait is not immediately Open for Business, we will conclude our lovely stay in Iran by blowing up and completely obliterating all of their Electric Generating Plants, Oil Wells and Kharg Island (and possibly all desalinization [sic] plants!), which we have purposefully not yet touched, Trump wrote. This will be in retribution for our many soldiers, and others, that Iran has butchered and killed over the old Regimes 47-year Reign of Terror. Trump told the London Financial Times in his latest interview that the US military had another couple of thousand targets to go in Iran and that a deal could be made fairly quickly.

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But in the same interview, Trump said he wanted to seize Irans oil resources, a move that would mark a major escalation in the conflict. To be honest with you, my favourite thing is to take the oil in Iran, but some stupid people back in the US say: Why are you doing that? But theyre stupid people, he said. Taking Irans oil would require a risky military operation involving the invasion and occupation of its main export hub, Kharg Island, which also houses an Iranian naval base. Trump said that taking Kharg Island would also mean we had to be there for a while. The US has sent dissonant messages about the next stages of the war. Trump has pushed for ceasefire talks with Iran even as the military ramps up forces in the region. Thousands of US troops amassed in the Middle East at the weekend, including an amphibious assault team. Members of the 82nd Airborne Division were also on their way.

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Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday night (Washington time) that Iran gave America most of the 15 demands it issued to Tehran to end the war, even as it remained unclear whether either side was negotiating. US President Donald Trump, on board Air Force One, said the US and Iran had been meeting directly and indirectly and that Irans new leaders have been very reasonable. AP They gave us most of the points. Why wouldnt they? he said, declining to specify what concessions Iran had offered. Publicly, Iran has rejected the US 15-point list of ceasefire terms delivered by the Trump administration via intermediaries in Pakistan, and has countered with five conditions of its own  including maintaining sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz. The president said on Sunday that the US and Iran had been meeting directly and indirectly and that Irans new leaders have been very reasonable, claiming they would permit 20 more oil cargo ships through the Strait from Monday (Washington time) as a sign of respect.

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But negotiations did not preclude further military action. Loading Were doing extremely well in that negotiation, Trump said. But you never know with Iran because we negotiate with them and then we always have to blow them up. Trump also suggested that the US had already achieved its goal of regime change, saying: Were dealing with different people than anybodys dealt with before following the killing of many of Irans senior leaders, including supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Albanese said he regarded the Iranian regime as abhorrent and reprehensible, but was unsure whether foreign military intervention could achieve true regime change.

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Middle East at war Ideally people will come out and overthrow the regime. But its complicated Whether that is going to occur or not is something that I think needs to be outlined, he said. Albanese said that history tells us that regime change imposed from outside is very difficult. [It] tends to happen from the bottom up within a country, rather than being imposed from outside, because military action against a nation will tend to promote nationalism within that nation. He did not go as far as Liberal frontbencher Andrew Hastie, who at the weekend described the war as a huge miscalculation and criticised Trumps lack of consultation with allies. Albanese said he believed the US and Israeli strikes had clearly achieved the other two aims: stopping Iran from getting a nuclear weapon and degrading Irans ability to fund terror proxies throughout the region.

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Related Article Middle East at war War escalation fears grow as Yemens Houthis launch missile barrage at Israel Iran is still believed to possess 440 kilograms of highly enriched uranium, which would probably require a complex ground operation to remove. Irans parliamentary Speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, accused the US of sending messages about possible negotiations while at the same time planning a ground invasion. Tehran was ready to respond if US soldiers were deployed, he said. As long as the Americans seek Irans surrender, our response is that we will never accept humiliation, he said in a message to the nation. With Bloomberg, Reuters Get a note directly from our foreign correspondents on whats making headlines around the world. Sign up for our weekly What in the World newsletter.
BEIJING, March 27 (Xinhua) -- About an hour's drive from Beijing, a futuristic city is rising on the North China Plain -- the Xiong'an New Area. Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday inspected Xiong'an in Hebei Province, which is dubbed the "city of the future," underscoring his sustained attention to the fledgling modern city with his fourth visit. During the latest trip, Xi toured the new area's start-up zone by vehicle. There, what he saw outside the window was a landscape that is rapidly taking shape -- universities, headquarters of centrally administered state-owned enterprises, hospitals, residential communities, sci-tech innovation centers, and IT companies. Official data reveals a more detailed picture: the developed area spans around 215 square kilometers with more than 5,300 buildings shaping the urban skyline, housing 1.41 million residents and 669 high-tech enterprises. Seeing that the construction of the new area is progressing in an orderly manner with full vitality, Xi expressed his appreciation. On Feb. 23, 2017, Xi made his first visit to what would become the Xiong'an New Area, traveling by vehicle over 100 kilometers southwest from central Beijing to inspect the planned start-up zone. Standing in an open field, he surveyed the future core area of Xiong'an and, over a planning map, examined its layout while receiving briefings on relocation and resettlement, as well as local geological and hydrological conditions. More than one month later, the Xiong'an New Area was officially established. It aims to relieve Beijing of functions nonessential to its role as the nation's capital, while also advancing the coordinated development of Beijing and neighboring Hebei and Tianjin Municipality. This key decision was rooted in the question of "how to develop the capital." For a long time, the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region faced significant development disparities, with Beijing's sprawling urban expansion pushing its carrying capacity to the limit. Tackling urban maladies like overcrowding and congestion became an urgent imperative, making the establishment of the Xiong'an New Area a strategic masterstroke -- a plan designed for the millennium. During Monday's visit, Xi once again emphasized the importance of upholding the area's primary functional positioning as the major recipient of those functions relocated from Beijing. Xiong'an has, from the very beginning, adhered to high standards of planning and design, adopting a "moving in after infrastructure is in place" approach, ensuring that networks of water, electricity, gas, roads and bridges are established first. In the first two years, the whole of Xiong'an was largely a quiet place, with hardly a brick or tile laid, following Xi's instruction that "construction should start only after every inch of the land is clearly planned," leaving no room for regret. When Xi visited Xiong'an for a second time in 2019, the area was transitioning to substantive construction. He stressed the need for patience and strategic resolve, calling for high-quality and high-standard planning and construction. Xi reiterated the importance of "sustained efforts" during his third inspection trip to the area in 2023, when Xiong'an was bustling with large-scale construction projects amid intensified moves to receive functions relocated from Beijing. Each of his trips was made at key moments for the development of the area. The trip earlier this week came at a critical juncture as China just kicked off the implementation of the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030) for development. Chairing a meeting on further advancing the high-quality construction and development of Xiong'an, Xi urged efforts to build it into an innovation hub in the new era and a model of promoting high-quality development. Xiong'an should take reform and innovation as the driving force, promote the deep integration between technological and industrial innovation, develop new quality productive forces tailored to local conditions, and cultivate a modernized industrial system suited to the new area's realities, he said. Xi underscored the need to improve the public service system, ensure people's well-being, actively explore future-oriented models of smart city management, and build a beautiful Xiong'an with blue skies, green fields and clean waters. In his view, constructing a future-oriented city is "not for the sake of creating a dazzling new city. Rather, the new city is built precisely to ensure a better life for the people." During his Monday tour, Xi met with people working for relocated companies and also spoke with teachers and students at the Xiong'an campus of Beijing No.4 High School. Yang Xinya, an employee of Sinochem Holdings, is one of many workers now based in Xiong'an following the company's move-in last year. The biggest change for them, Yang said, is that they can now walk to work in just 15 minutes and easily access smart, tech-driven public services. "There's a shopping mall just being built near my home. I feel that Xiong'an is changing every day," said Zhou Zhuoyuan, a junior high school student.


MANILA, March 30 (Xinhua) -- The Philippines' fertility rate has steadily declined over the past three decades, according to a report released on Monday by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

The Philippines' 2025 National Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) found that the total fertility rate (TFR) among women aged 15 to 49 dropped to 1.7 children per woman, indicating a continued decline from 4.1 children per woman in 1993.

Fertility rates declined across both rural and urban areas during the same period. From 1993 to 2025, rural TFR fell from 4.8 to 2.0 children per woman, while urban TFR declined from 3.5 to 1.5.

The survey also showed that fertility was closely linked to education and income levels. Women with some primary education had the highest TFR at 3.1 children per woman, with rates declining as educational attainment increased.

The TFR represents the average number of children a woman would have over her lifetime based on current age-specific fertility rates.

The 2025 NDHS is the 13th survey of its kind since 1968. The survey obtained interview responses from 29,694 women aged 15 to 49. 
Strong, transparent Customs institutions are crucial for economic growth and competitiveness.

It is fundamental to protect Customs against corruption and threats from organized crime.

Through the WCO, Customs administrations have access to comprehensive guidance material and tools, as well as tailor-made technical support.

The WCO was represented at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) annual Global Anti-Corruption & Integrity Forum (GACIF) held last week in Paris, France. The event explored how integrity and anti-corruption efforts, which have been traditionally seen as safeguards, can also serve as engines for performance, resilience and innovation. With international trade being a powerful driver of economic development as well as a sector where corruption risks are high and multifaceted, many of the discussions highlighted the critical nature of Customs efforts in fostering integrity and combating corruption. The WCO Deputy Secretary General, Ricardo Trevino Chapa, and WCO representatives shared some of the insights gained by the Organization through the delivery of capacity building and consultations with its Members.

Building upstream resilience to organized crime

As criminal networks grow more sophisticated, the threat they pose to society and the economy through corruption, infiltration and intimidation demands decisive action. With this in mind, the GACIF opened on Monday 23 March 2026 with a Conference on Building Upstream Resilience to Organized Crime during which participants explored how countries can effectively prevent and respond to corruption driven by organized crime.

In his remarks, WCO Deputy Secretary General Trevino Chapa drew attention to the vulnerabilities within global supply chains that criminal organizations seek to exploit, emphasized Customs pivotal role in building upstream resilience against such organizations, and explained how the WCO is actively supporting its Members in bolstering their integrity.

Citing data collected from Customs administrations having conducted a WCO Customs Integrity Perception Survey (CIPS), he revealed that, in some of those administrations, up to 20% of Customs officials acknowledged facing threats or pressure from organized crime. He explained that the WCO provides its Members with a platform to discuss how to respond to such issues and to share efficient measures and practice through its Integrity Sub-Committee. For example, guidance has been provided on how to spark meaningful discussions on the risk of criminal infiltration and provide staff with the knowledge and skills that will enable them to determine the best course of action in the face of a threatening situation.

Strengthening Customs integrity as an economic strategy

The Deputy Secretary General also addressed the GACIF Plenary, underscoring how strong, transparent Customs institutions are crucial for economic growth and competitiveness. He stressed that strengthening Customs institutional integrity is not just an issue of better governance but also of economic strategy, as Customs facilitates legal trade while also enforcing rules designed to protect national interests.

His remarks echoed discussions held during a GACIF Knowledge Partner Session hosted earlier in the day by the WCO Anti-Corruption and Integrity Promotion (A-CIP) Programme team, representing one of the WCOs flagship capacity-building programmes. During this side event, speakers from the OECD, the International Chamber of Commerce, the Ukraine State Customs Service and the WCO discussed how building a culture of integrity within Customs fuels economic development, as well as how to leverage data and performance metrics to inform the development of efficient integrity policies and initiatives. Participants acknowledged the lack of inclusion of Customs in national governments' anti-corruption strategies, and WCO representatives highlighted that insights gained by conducting a CIPS or implementing the WCO Performance Measurement Mechanism (PMM) can greatly contribute to the success of such strategies.

Matching ambition with capacity

Discussions held at the GACIF reaffirmed the strategic importance of building integrity within Customs and underscored the critical role played by Customs in fostering economic prosperity. This view is shared by WCO Members, which have made integrity a core Customs value in the WCO Strategic Plan 2025-2028 and which have identified tangible paths towards the integration of integrity principles in work programmes related to trade facilitation, revenue collection and protection of society. Thanks to the Government of Norway, which has renewed its funding of the WCO A-CIP Programme, the WCO will be able to continue supporting the Customs community in implementing WCO recommended practices and tools over the next five years.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB)  Funeral arrangements were released for a Kentucky airman who died during Operation Epic Fury.

Tech. Sgt. Ashley B. Pruitt, 34, of Bardstown, was killed March 12 after a KC-135 aircraft tanker she was in crashed in western Iraq, according to the Department of War. She was one of six who died in the crash, and was assigned to the 6th Air Refueling Wing at MacDill Air Force Base in Florida.

According to her obituary, Pruitt's body will arrive at Samuels Field Airport in Bardstown Thursday, April 9 at 11 a.m. for a dignified transfer and escort to Houghlin-Greenwell Funeral Home.

The Nelson County Sheriff's Office will be apart of the escort and encourage the community to line the streets along the route to honor Pruitt. The route will leave Samuels Field Airport turn onto Boston Road/W. Stephen Foster heading towards Bardstown, then from Court Square up to North 3rd Street, turn left onto Highway 245 ending at the funeral home.

Visitation will be held on Friday, April 10 from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. at Houghlin-Greenwell Funeral Home. Funeral services will be held Saturday, April 11 at 11 a.m. at New Salem Baptist Church Cemetery with cremation following.

Pruitt leaves behind a husband and two children.

Copyright 2026 WDRB Media. All Rights Reserved.
Frustrating security lines dwindled at U.S. airports Monday, clearing the worst bottlenecks as Transportation Safety Administration officers began receiving backpay for working during the government shutdown.

Checkpoint lines that at times stretched to four hours at Houstons George Bush Intercontinental Airport shrank to waits of 10 minutes or less on Monday. In other previous trouble spots such as Atlanta and Baltimore-Washington International Airport, travelers were moving smoothly to their flights.

After weeks of airport chaos, there was finally optimism for the beleaguered aviation system.

Weary travelers hope the overdue paychecks will end the seemingly endless security lines and missed flights many experienced. It remains unknown how long federal immigration officers will maintain a visible presence in airport terminals as the busy spring break travel season continues.

TSA workers told union leadership Monday that they received some  but not all  of their back pay, according to Johnny Jones, secretary-treasurer of the TSA chapter of the American Federation of Government Employees. He said the rest is expected by next week. Some employees also reported incorrect backpay amounts, including missing overtime, the union said.

Jones, who is also a TSA agent at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, said one colleague told him he was already back to zero after covering his car and housing payments and late fees. Workers are relieved the money has arrived, but with the shutdown still unresolved, he said, they worry it wont provide lasting relief.

None of my colleagues feel like theyve been made whole," Jones said. Their finances are destroyed.

What about the TSA officers who couldn't work without pay?

The union said the TSA updated its furlough policy on Sunday, removing guidance that allowed officers to request a furlough if they could not report to work for reasons tied to the shutdown, such as lack of transportation or child care.

Working without pay forced more than 500 officers to leave TSA and thousands were forced to call out, acting TSA Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis said in announcing the delayed payday.

The union agreed with these numbers, but said those who could not afford to report for duty now have disciplinary actions looming over their heads.

Backpay alone does not fix those problems, the union said.

The AP emailed TSA and DHS seeking comment and additional details on the agencys furlough guidance.

The DHS shutdown resulted in not only travel delays but also warnings of airport closures as TSA workers who were only just recovering financially from last fall's extended government shutdown stopped going to work. TSA employees had gone without pay since DHS funding lapsed in February.

Other agencies affected by this latest shutdown include the Secret Service and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

What Congress is doing about partial shutdown

President Donald Trump on Friday ordered the Department of Homeland Security to pay TSA officers immediately to ease the lines plaguing airports. Trump had rejected bipartisan efforts to fund the TSA while negotiations over ICE continue with Democrats, who have refused to approve more funding without restraints on Trumps immigration enforcement and mass deportation operations. Trump's order left other DHS employees unpaid.

Democrats are demanding that ICE agents wear cameras, identify themselves and operate without masks. They also want judges to decide whether to issue their warrants, and they want ICE raids to avoid schools, churches or other sensitive places.

Republicans and the White House have been willing to negotiate on some points, but a final agreement remains elusive.

On Monday, there were few signs of progress on Capitol Hill. Senators held a short session without considering the House bill, then resumed their two-week break.

The union again urged Congress to approve funding for the entire Department of Homeland Security. To say we are utterly disgusted and disappointed with our elected officials is an understatement, the union said.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Monday that Trump has offered to host an Easter Dinner for members of Congress who return to resolve the impasse. On Democrats' demands, she said there has not been a change in policy.

It has always been the policy of this president and this administration to deport the worst of the worst illegal alien criminals, Leavitt said.

As for the ICE agents Trump deployed to some airports a week ago to help with security, White House border czar Tom Homan said how long they stay depends on how quickly TSA employees return to work.

Associated Press contributors include Mary Clare Jalonick and Will Weissert in Washington.
BEIJING, March 30 (Xinhua) -- At a recent seminar hosted by China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, participants engaged in in-depth discussions on advancing multilateralism in arms control, injecting fresh impetus for the international arms control process, a ministry spokesperson said on Monday.

Spokesperson Mao Ning made the remarks at a regular news briefing when responding to a query about the Seminar on Promoting Multilateralism and Advancing Arms Control Diplomacy held in Beijing from March 24 to 27, as well as organized visits to decommissioned nuclear facilities.

Mao added that foreign representatives attending the seminar visited a Chinese nuclear company and also traveled to Chongqing to visit decommissioned nuclear facilities.

"This was an important diplomatic event for China to implement the Global Governance Initiative and the Global Security Initiative, support the UN's role in arms control, and uphold the international arms control system," Mao said.

Participants exchanged views on practicing multilateralism in arms control, the review conference of the parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, governance of emerging science and technology, and the rights of developing countries to peaceful use of science and technology, Mao added.

"These discussions effectively enhanced mutual understanding on arms control policies, deepened strategic mutual trust, and provided new impetus for the international arms control process," Mao said. 
Leesville, LA (71446)

Today

Cloudy early with thunderstorms developing later in the day. Gusty winds and small hail are possible. High 79F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 70%..

Tonight

Showers and thunderstorms likely. Gusty winds and small hail are possible. Low 64F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 80%.
TOKYO, March 30 (Xinhua) -- Japan detected excessive levels of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) at hundreds of water quality monitoring sites nationwide in fiscal 2024, according to a recent survey released by the Ministry of the Environment.

The nationwide water quality survey, covering April 2024 to March 2025, found PFAS levels exceeding national standards at 629 monitoring points across 26 prefectures. The survey tested 3,941 locations across the country's 47 prefectures, including rivers, lakes, coastal waters, and groundwater.

The highest reading was recorded in Kumatori Town in Osaka Prefecture, where groundwater at one site contained 73,000 nanograms of PFAS per liter -- about 1,460 times Japan's national limit. Another site in Okayama Prefecture detected 72,000 nanograms per liter in a river sample.

Many of the monitoring sites with elevated PFAS levels were located near factories, U.S. military bases, or Self-Defense Forces facilities, according to Kyodo News. The environment ministry, however, did not disclose detailed information about the specific locations of the monitoring sites.

PFAS is the collective term for a large group of fluorinated compounds, including perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), which are widely used in industrial products.

Often referred to as "forever chemicals" due to their persistence, some PFAS compounds can accumulate in the environment and in the human body and have been linked to health risks.

Japan's guideline limits the combined concentration of PFOS and PFOA in water to no more than 50 nanograms per liter. 
Tom Tuite

Two Dublin men accused of using a drone to fly more than 6,000 worth of drugs into Cloverhill Prison have been granted bail.

Craig Doyle, 25, of the Paddocks Way, Adamstown, Lucan, and 30-year-old Adam Aspel, with an address at Corkagh Grange Way, Clondalkin, were arrested by gardai carrying out surveillance of drone activity on March 28th.

On Monday, they appeared at Dublin District Court, where Judge Treasa Kelly set bail with a range of conditions, including "no drone activity".

Each man is charged with unlawful possession of cannabis, heroin, and tablets estimated to be worth 6,422, conveying controlled drugs into a prison, and using a drone to fly drugs into Cloverhill Prison in west Dublin.

Ronanstown-based Garda Kevin Duff alleged the pair were observed in an area of Collinstown Park, near Cloverhill and Wheatfield Prisons.

Objecting to Aspel's bail, he alleged that gardai had observed two men in the area. He said Aspel went to the far side of a hedge and ran.

He maintained that Aspel tried to evade gardai.

Drugs were found on the ground and more beside a drone and its controller in a hedge.

Garda Duff said the drone had been activated because its lights were on.

Cross-examined by defence solicitor Donal Quigley, he conceded that he did not see Aspel discard anything.

The defence solicitor emphasised that the evidence was not strong, that his client was in a field adjacent to the incident, and no one saw him do anything.

Quigley stressed his client happened to be there at the time and denies the charges.

Judge Kelly held that bail terms could be applied.

There was also consent for Doyle to be released with conditions. His solicitor, Colleen Gildernew, said that a lengthy period was required to obtain directions from the Director of Public Prosecutions and to have the drugs analysed.

They must stay away from the two prisons, be contactable by phone, and have no drone activity whatsoever.

Doyle's case was adjourned until September, while his co-accused will appear again on Tuesday.
COMMUNITY NOTES: CLAREMORRIS - WESTERN PEOPLE (MARCH 31 EDITION)

Mayo volunteer Ger McCallig was among those honoured at a special ceremony in the Mansion House, Dublin, where the Irish Red Cross recognised individuals who have given more than half a century of service to the organisation.

Ger was one of 28 volunteers presented with Long Service Awards in acknowledgement of over 50 years of dedication to helping those in need. The awards were presented by Irish Red Cross Chair Charlie Flanagan, who praised the recipients for their lifelong commitment to humanitarian work.

Over the course of five decades, Ger McCallig has played a role in supporting communities through times of difficulty, reflecting the core values of the Irish Red Cross in providing assistance, comfort and reassurance where it is needed most. The event highlighted the contribution of volunteers like Ger, whose quiet and consistent service forms the backbone of the organisations work both at home and abroad.

The Irish Red Cross continues to operate as Irelands humanitarian response network, with around 4,000 volunteers across 71 branches nationwide. Their work includes helping communities prepare for emergencies, responding in times of crisis and supporting recovery efforts.

Ger McCalligs recognition stands as a testament to a lifetime of service and dedication, and to the vital role volunteers play in strengthening communities across the country.
Bus Eireann has announced that it is withdrawing its Ballina  Galway (Route 52) Expressway service.

The company announced they have notified the National Transport Authority (NTA) and customers that from Sunday 24 May 2026, a number of Expressway services will be withdrawn including Route 52, Waterford  Dublin/Dublin Airport and Rosslare/Wexford  Waterford.

The Ballina-Galway service made stops in Foxford, Straide, Ballyvary, Castlebar, Breaffy, Balla, Claremorris, Ballindine, Milltown, Tuam, Claregalway and Galway city.

The company said these measures are in response to the continuous significant losses being incurred on these services.

Expressway is a commercial service, which receives no State subvention. While disappointing, it is clearly unsustainable for a commercial operation. The decision to consolidate our Expressway network and withdraw from a small number of routes is aimed at safeguarding the Expressway network.

Given the scale of our operations, there will be no impact on jobs given our current recruitment needs.

Any customer who has a prebooked journey on any of the impacted services will be contacted and provided with a full refund.
Tucked just beyond the iconic Ashford Castle gates, Cullens at the Cottage has reopened for the 2026 season, welcoming guests back to one of the estates most beloved dining experiences.

The thatched-roof setting, with its relaxed charm and warm Irish hospitality, offers the perfect backdrop for an evening that feels both effortless and memorable.

Open nightly from 5.30pm for dinner, Cullens at the Cottage showcases the vibrant flavours of the West of Ireland through thoughtful, ingredient-led dishes. Fresh seafood from the Atlantic, local farm produce, and classic Cullens favourites return to the menu. Whether guests join us after a day exploring the estate or arrive especially for dinner, the atmosphere remains inviting, soulful, and distinctly Ashford.

From June, Cullens will open for lunch service, bringing back long, laid-back afternoons where guests can enjoy the terrace, linger over a light bite, or savour a leisurely meal before wandering the grounds. Lunch at Cullens is all about unhurried enjoymentsunny days, seasonal plates, and the gentle rhythm of life on Lough Corribs edge.

Advance reservations are warmly recommended, particularly during peak summer days when Cullens becomes a favourite retreat for both residents and local diners.

"We look forward to welcoming guests back to this charming hideaway for another unforgettable season."

Tel: 094 9546003
JAKARTA, March 30 (Xinhua) -- Indonesia on Monday confirmed that one of its peacekeepers was killed and three others were injured after indirect artillery fire struck near an Indonesian contingent serving with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).

The incident occurred on Sunday in Adchit al-Qusayr, said a statement issued by Indonesia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs on X, adding that Indonesia strongly condemned the attack and called for a transparent and thorough investigation to identify those responsible.

The Indonesian government extended its condolences to the family of the fallen peacekeeper and wished a swift recovery to the injured personnel, said the statement, adding that it is coordinating with UNIFIL to repatriate the deceased and ensure proper medical treatment for the wounded.

"The safety and security of UN peacekeepers must be fully respected at all times, in accordance with international law. Any harm to peacekeepers is unacceptable and undermines collective efforts to maintain peace and stability," the ministry said.

Indonesia also reiterated its condemnation of Israel's military actions in southern Lebanon and urged all parties to respect Lebanon's sovereignty, cease attacks on civilians and infrastructure, and return to dialogue.

Lebanon was drawn into the ongoing Middle East conflict after Hezbollah launched missiles toward Israel on March 2, following U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran days earlier. The attack prompted Israel to carry out a new wave of military operations against Hezbollah targets in Lebanon. 
Allentown, PA (18103)

Today

Mostly cloudy; a dry start, but showers becoming more likely towards later afternoon and evening. .

Tonight

Cloudy skies with some rain showers likely overnight, especially before midnight.
MELBOURNE, March 30 (Xinhua) -- Police in the Australian state of Victoria on Monday fatally shot a man accused of killing two police officers in an August 2025 shooting that triggered the largest operation in Australian history.

Victoria Police said that officers searching for 56-year-old Desmond Freeman shot and killed a man following a stand-off in the small town of Thologolong, 300 km northeast of Melbourne, on Monday morning.

It comes seven months after Freeman allegedly shot dead two police officers on his rural property in the town of Porepunkah in Victoria's High Country before fleeing into dense bushland on Aug. 26, 2025.

The subsequent search of the rugged area was the largest tactical police operation in Australian history, involving hundreds of officers from Australia and New Zealand as well as the army.

A record reward of up to 1 million Australian dollars (686,545 U.S. dollars) for any information leading to the arrest of Freeman was announced in September 2025.

Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Mike Bush said on Monday that officers arrived at the property in Thologolong, 90 km northeast of Porepunkah, at around 5:30 a.m. and that the man was shot following a stand-off.

"There was an opportunity for him to surrender peacefully, which he declined," he said.

"Everything I know at this point tells me that this shooting was justified."

Bush said it was quite possible that shots were fired at police during the stand-off on Monday, but that no officers were injured.

He said that police believe Freeman was assisted by other people following the August shooting and that the investigation would now focus on holding them to account. 
Slow Poison: Colonial Legacies and the Unfinished Project of Decolonisation

Professor Mahmood Mamdani will be in conversation with Angelo Fick on nationalism, ethnicity, and the turn to neoliberalism.

Professor Mucha Musemwa hosts Professor Mahmood Mamdani at the Wits Dean of Humanities Dialogue Series in-person in the Great Hall as well as online on 10 April 2026 at 14:30pm SAT. Click here to register your attendance.

Mamdani is Herbert Lehman Professor of Government and Professor of Anthropology and Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies at Columbia University.

He received his PhD from Harvard University in 1974 and was Director of the Makerere Institute of Social Research in Uganda from 2010 to 2022.

Amongst the worlds leading public intellectuals

Widely regarded as one of the Top 20 Public Intellectuals (Foreign Policy, US, 2021) and nominated amongst The Worlds Top 50 Thinkers (Prospect Magazine, UK, 2008), Mamdani is one of the most influential scholars of postcolonial Africa. His work has shaped debates in history, politics, and decolonial studies worldwide.

His works explore the intersection between politics and culture, a comparative study of colonialism since 1452, the history of civil war and genocide in Africa, the Cold War and the War on Terror, the history and theory of human rights, and the politics of knowledge production.

His landmark book Citizen and Subject is widely taught and remains foundational to understanding the colonial roots of contemporary African states. His publications include Neither Settler nor Native, When Victims Become Killers, and Good Muslim, Bad Muslim.

Exploring Ugandas postcolonial struggles under Idi Amin and Yoweri Museveni

The Wits Dean of Humanities Lecture Series also marks the launch of Mamdanis latest book Slow Poison: Idi Amin, Yoweri Museveni, and the Making of the Ugandan State.

The book is a firsthand account exploring Ugandas postcolonial struggles under Idi Amin and Yoweri Museveniexamining dictatorship, ethnic division, global interference, and the enduring legacy of violence.

Published in southern Africa by Wits University Press and elsewhere by Harvard University Press, Slow Poison will be on sale at the in-person event at the Great Hall at Wits University.

About Slow Poison

In 1972, when Mahmood Mamdani came home to Uganda, he found a country transformed by an orgy of violence.

Two years earlier, with support from the colonial powers of Great Britain and Israel, Idi Amin had forcefully cemented his rule. He soon expelled Ugandas Indian minority in hopes of fostering a nation for Black Ugandans.

The plan backfired.

Amin was followed by Yoweri Museveni, who has now ruled for nearly four decades.

Whereas Amin tried to create a Black nation out of the majority, Museveni sought to fragment this majority into multiple ethnic minorities, recreating a version of colonial indirect rule.

Slow Poison is Mamdanis firsthand account of the tragic unravelling of his countrys struggle for decolonialization.

A witness to East Africas endlessly intricate power plays, and one of the most insightful political philosophers of his generation, Mamdani casts a learned and wary eye on Amin, internationally depicted as a buffoon, the radical scholar Museveni, and the global heavyweights that exploited and manipulated Uganda before and after its independence.

Each leader made violence central to his project, but Mamdani sees a signal difference between Amin, who retained popular support to the end, and Museveni, who has not.

The Asian expulsion made Amin a monster in the eyes of the West. In contrast, Museveni was hailed as standard bearer of the war on terror in Africa and was protected from accountability for far greater crimes.

In exchange for adopting the package of neoliberal reforms known as the Washington Consensus, he became Africas poster child.

Amin, who aimed to create a nation of Black millionaires, never became one himself.

Meanwhile, Ugandas surrender to privatization has brought Musevenis family immense wealth, even as the country remains one of the worlds poorest.

Nationalism, ethnicity, and the turn to neocolonialism

At the Wits Dean of Humanities Dialogue Series, Mamdani will be in conversation with Angelo Fick, the Director of Research at the Auwal Socio-economic Research Institute in Johannesburg, discussing nationalism, ethnicity, and the turn to neocolonialism.

Fick has taught in various universities and across disciplines in the humanities, sciences, and applied sciences in South Africa and elsewhere.

He regularly analyses and comments on post-millennial post-apartheid South Africa's political economy, especially around questions of justice, freedom, and inequality.

The Wits Dean of Humanities Dialogue Series Slow Poison: Colonial Legacies and the Unfinished Project of Decolonisation takes place on Friday, 10 April at 14:30 SAT, both in-person in the Great Hall, Braamfontein Campus East, Wits University, as well as online. Please click the following link to register to attend in person or online: https://wits-za.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_VLkUuLucRU-B0gIBPNENUQ
BEIJING, March 30 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump said on Saturday he would prefer to "take the oil in Iran" and suggested seizing Kharg Island, the Islamic Republic's oil export hub.

The remarks appear to shed light on Washington's possible objectives amid an ongoing military buildup in the Middle East, with more than 3,500 U.S. troops deployed to the region and the Pentagon said to be preparing for weeks of ground operations in Iran.

What are the latest U.S. military moves? Is Washington seeking to force Tehran into negotiations or prepare for a further escalation of military operations?

TROOP BUILDUP

As the conflict enters its second month, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) announced on Saturday that a task force of 3,500 Marines and sailors aboard USS Tripoli arrived in the Middle East on Friday.

Serving as the flagship of the Tripoli Amphibious Ready Group and 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, the America-class amphibious assault ship is carrying transport and strike fighter aircraft, as well as amphibious assault and tactical assets, CENTCOM said on social platform X.

The arrival of Tripoli is keeping the American troop levels in the Middle East above 50,000, The New York Times quoted a U.S. military official as saying on Sunday.

Another group is expected to reach the region in the second week of April. U.S. media reported on March 20 that the amphibious assault ship USS Boxer, accompanied by the dock-landing ship USS Comstock and amphibious transport dock USS Portland, had departed San Diego, California, with the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit aboard, comprising about 2,500 Marines.

Together, the two deployments enable rapid precision strikes and vertical assault operations without reliance on fixed regional bases. As the San Diego Union-Tribune reported on Friday, such deployments are specifically designed for such missions as island raids.

Reuters reported Tuesday that the Pentagon is expected to deploy 3,000 to 4,000 troops from the elite 82nd Airborne Division to the region, which could create a rapid-entry force capable of launching the initial phase of a joint ground operation on short notice.

Moreover, the Pentagon is seeking to send up to 10,000 additional ground troops to the region, The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, citing Department of Defense officials.

If approved by Trump, the United States could soon have more than 17,000 ground troops positioned near Iran, according to the Journal.

GROUND OFFENSIVE POSSIBILITY

The Pentagon has reportedly been considering military options that could include ground forces, although Trump has not approved any of those plans, according to multiple news outlets.

Military experts said that the scale of additional U.S. troop deployments appears consistent with plans for discrete and time-limited operations rather than a sustained ground campaign.

Ruben Stewart, a senior fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, told CNBC that the number of forces being prepared does not align with a prolonged ground operation.

Potential military objectives could include seizing strategic Iranian island of Kharg, or Iran's nuclear stockpile, said Daniel Davis, a senior fellow and military expert at Defense Priorities.

"The overall idea is to deny Iran's capabilities to use those islands," said Kevin Donegan, former commander of the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet.

Donegan told CNBC that "the mission is absolutely executable," and the key question is how long it would take to complete the operation and to ensure the normal flow through the Strait of Hormuz.

Former NATO Supreme Allied Commander James Stavridis suggested a blockade of the island as a "less risky option" than seizure, saying it would likely result in fewer casualties while achieving a similar economic effect.

Any island invasion "would likely be far from surgical ... and still leave Iran with plenty of other potential steps to create mayhem and improve its bargaining position," said Stavridis.

But Aaron MacLean, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, warned that any operation targeting Iran's nuclear material could not only be "one of the riskiest special operations missions in American history, but very possibly the largest," CBS reported Saturday.

NEGOTIATION LEVERAGE

The troop buildup could provide Washington with additional diplomatic and economic leverage while preparing for more decisive action if diplomacy stalls, analysts said.

"Job number one is feeding the strategic narrative that we're serious about this, and the president has options," retired U.S. General Joseph Votel told the Journal. "There's clearly a big information component to this."

By bolstering its military presence while refraining from immediate strikes, Washington appears to be applying calibrated pressure on Iran, seeking to push it toward negotiations while avoiding full-scale escalation, according to media reports.

Trump on Sunday floated the possibility of American forces seizing Kharg Island. "Maybe we take Kharg Island, maybe we don't. We have a lot of options," he said in an interview published early Monday by the Financial Times. "It would also mean we had to be there for a while."

Control of the island would give Washington economic leverage over negotiations with Iran, given its status as "the main node" of Iran's economy, said Petras Katinas, a researcher at the London-based Royal United Services Institute.

Israel's Channel 12 reported on Tuesday that the United States had sent Tehran a 15-point peace plan, via Pakistan, in an attempt to end the war with Iran, which Tehran has officially rejected and responded with its own five-point proposal.

Iran's Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf on Sunday accused Washington of secretly plotting a ground attack despite talking publicly about negotiations.

Diplomatic efforts continue, with Pakistan emerging as a key intermediary between Washington and Tehran, relaying messages and coordinating backchannel communications. 
CALS seeks to join landmark case on land

CALS hopes to bring our experience working with rural communities and international organisations to a land case being heard in the High Court

The Centre for Applied Legal Studies (CALS) has applied to the Western Cape High Court to intervene as a friend of the court in a matter with important implications for redressing the injustices arising from inequitable access to land three decades after the formal end of colonial apartheid.

In November 2024, the Nelson Mandela Foundation launched an application in the Western Cape High Court against the state, including the Speaker of the National Assembly and the Presidency. The application confronts the states failure to meet its constitutional obligation to address the injustices of the past by taking legislative and other measures to enable equitable access to land. It further calls for urgent action to address access to land in line with section 25(5) of the Constitution. The state has opposed the application, and filed Court papers in response in 2025.

In March 2026, the Centre for Applied Legal Studies (CALS) of the University of the Witwatersrand applied to join the matter as amicus curiae or a friend of the court. CALS has a long history of advocating for justice in the area of land and housing rights and has also been involved in landmark Constitutional Court judgments on access to housing (including the cases known as Blue Moonlight and Dladla).

CALS intervention also draws from our collaboration with organisations working on these issues from across the Global South, as a member of the International Network for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights  or ESCR-Net. ESCR-Net is a global network of over 350 members from 80 countries. The network has made submissions in a number of cases in South Africa, foreign courts and regional human rights bodies.

CALS seeks to assist the Court in determining this important matter, which raises questions not only around how we understand the constitutional rights in question, but also how we address historical injustice and the legacy of apartheid. We hope to make submissions on the gendered and intersectional impacts of land dispossession, how other jurisdictions in the Global South and regional human rights mechanisms have addressed similar issues, and the states obligations under international law to address ongoing structural inequalities arising from colonial apartheid.

Land dispossession does not affect everyone equally, says Thuto Gabaphethe, acting head of Home, Land and Rural Democracy at CALS. Apartheid-era laws combined with patriarchal norms proved to be a brutal combination for Black women in South Africa in particular. This legacy of injustice continues today, where Black women are still excluded from land reform processes. Without access to land, they are instead forced to take low-paying jobs and face an increased risk of gender-based violence.

Access to land is a key issue facing rural women in South Africa today, notes Lulama Madyaka, candidate legal practitioner at CALS. Land reform efforts must address the intersectional consequences of historical dispossession, which continue to perpetuate inequality and poverty.

CALS is represented in the matter by in-house counsel Mx Letlhogonolo Mokgoroane. The parties are currently finalising their replying affidavits in the matter, and we await a court date for the hearing.

Read our founding papers in the matter here.

For inquiries, please contact:
KIEV, March 30 (Xinhua) -- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Monday that Ukraine is prepared to establish an Orthodox Easter ceasefire with Russia.

"We are ready for a ceasefire during the Easter holidays," Zelensky was quoted as saying by the Interfax-Ukraine news agency.

He emphasized that Ukraine supports any format for ending the conflict "which preserves the country's dignity and independence," including a full ceasefire and a ban on strikes against energy infrastructure.

This year, Orthodox Easter will be celebrated in Ukraine and Russia on April 12. 
BEIJING, March 30 (Xinhua) -- The sixth China International Consumer Products Expo (CICPE) is set to reaffirm the lasting appeal of the Chinese market, with robust international participation underscoring global businesses' continued confidence in the world's second-largest economy.

Scheduled to take place in south China's Hainan Province from April 13 to 18, this expo will see the participation of more than 3,400 brands from over 60 countries and regions, Vice Commerce Minister Sheng Qiuping said at a press conference on Monday.

International exhibits will account for 65 percent of the total, up 20 percentage points from last year.

Since its launch in 2021, the expo has become an important platform for multinationals to stay abreast of consumer trends in China's gigantic market, with over 3,800 enterprises and more than 12,000 brands from 92 countries and regions participating over the past five editions.

Sheng noted that the expo has become a "bridgehead" for high-level opening up, with over 230,000 domestic and overseas buyers participating across the five expos to date.

"It has opened a fast-track channel for high-quality consumer goods from around the world to enter the Chinese market, and injected continuous new momentum into upgrading consumption and unlocking the potential of China's vast market," he said.

Canada, this year's guest of honor, will bring nearly 40 companies to showcase cosmetics, agricultural products, pet food and more. Russia and Bulgaria are among the nations setting up national pavilions for the first time, while official delegations from 12 countries and regions, including Switzerland, the Czech Republic and Ireland, will also attend.

Beyond the main venue, a health exhibition area in Boao will feature 120 international pharmaceutical and medical device companies, and a yacht show in Sanya is expected to host over 200 yachts, with international brands accounting for 70 percent.

This year's expo carries added significance as it will be the first edition since the Hainan Free Trade Port (FTP) fully launched island-wide special customs operations in December last year.

Under the new rule, the "first line" linking Hainan with overseas markets allows most imported goods to enter tariff-free with faster clearance, while the "second line" between Hainan and the mainland applies standard customs oversight.

For exhibitors and consumers alike, this year's consumer expo offers a first glimpse of how the new policies will reshape trade and consumption dynamics.

Bateer, vice governor of Hainan Province, emphasized that the event is not only a platform for showcasing global consumer goods but also a window for the concentrated release of favorable policies following the launch of special customs operations.

For exhibitors, this means enhanced customs clearance efficiency and lower logistics costs. The expansion of the zero-tariff goods list to over 6,600 items opens up new possibilities for setting up production and supply chain hubs in Hainan, catering to both the vast mainland market and Southeast Asia.

For consumers, the experience is becoming more immersive and accessible. Thanks to the duty-free policy for imported exhibits during the expo, consumers can purchase a wide range of new and unique products from around the world directly at the venue, all at duty-free prices.

The expo is also positioning itself as a global launchpad for lifestyle trends and a must-visit destination for the latest innovations. According to Bateer, more than 200 new products are expected to be unveiled at this year's expo, doubling the number from the previous year.

Among them will be new models of flying cars, intelligent robots and smart public transport stations. The expo will also feature a dedicated pavilion highlighting consumer goods from 22 countries and regions under the theme of "exporting to China," setting a new record for the number of participating national and regional pavilions.

"It is fair to say that the CICPE has effectively transformed the policy dividends of the FTP into market vitality, industrial momentum and tangible development results," Sheng said. 
The 2026 Los Angeles municipal election cycle has emerged as a devastating exposure of the political character of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) and its local affiliate, DSA-LA. There are 14 candidates in the June 2 all-party primary, including incumbent Democrat Karen Bass.

Although two of the candidates challenging Bass claim affiliation to the democratic socialist groupingCity Council member Nithya Raman and community organizer Rae Huangthe DSA-LA has refused to endorse either of them.

Leslie Chang, a co-chair of DSA-LA, articulated the organizations crisis with remarkable candor, saying, The worst thing we can do right now for our movement is to say, Well, actually, were not going to endorse Rae or Nithya. Were going to do a third thing, which is to issue no endorsement. But that is precisely what the DSA leadership in LA is doing.

The refusal to endorse either candidate reflects the erosion of the DSAs political credibility. After years of promoting electoral politics within the Democratic Party as the pathway to socialism, the organization now finds itself unable to defend the record of its own elected officials or present a coherent alternative.

This crisis has been compounded by the open defection of council member Hugo Soto-Martinez, a prominent DSA-endorsed figure, who has thrown his support behind Bass. This is the extent to which the DSAs elected representatives are integrated into the Democratic Party establishment and committed to defending its policies, including austerity measures that directly attack the working class.

Over the past decade, the DSA has grown rapidly, transforming itself from a marginal tendency into a significant force in Los Angeles municipal politics, with four members on the City Council (out of 15 total). This growth was driven by the appeal of its socialist rhetoric to the mounting discontent of workers facing soaring rents, social cuts, inequality, and attacks on democratic rights, such as the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids. Yet this very evolution has exposed the organizations central contradiction: socialist in words, but pro-capitalist in practice.

The mayoral primary has brought this contradiction to the surface. Mayor Bass is seeking reelection amid a deepening fiscal crisis, including a projected $1 billion budget shortfall. Her administration has responded with sweeping austerity measures, including the proposed elimination of 1,647 city jobs, the largest round of cuts since the 2008 financial crisis.

Yet Bass has received consistent support from DSA-aligned council members, including Raman. Last summer, Raman voted in favor of the citys declaration of a fiscal emergency, a measure that paved the way for mass layoffs and cuts in social programs. This vote was not an aberration, but a demonstration of the DSAs real function--to impose austerity while maintaining a progressive facade.

Los Angeles Councilmember Nithya Raman talks during a press conference in the North Hollywood section of Los Angeles, Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2024. [AP Photo/Richard Vogel]

Ramans broader record further exposes this reality. Her support for the restructuring of the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority has facilitated the expansion of privatization, channeling public funds into the hands of contractors and nonprofit agencies. Similarly, Raman initially supported Measure ULA, a proposed tax on luxury real estate transactions, and then reversed herself under pressure from powerful developer interests.

At the time of the October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas on Israel, Raman sprang to the defense of Israel. The backlash over Ramans pro-Israel endorsement led to her censure by the DSA, an expression of crisis within the organization.

These developments underscore the DSAs inability to reconcile its pseudo-left rhetoric with its integration into the machinery of American imperialism. The DSAs elected officials are bound by their positions within the state to defend US foreign policy interests, even as the organization attempts to posture as an opponent of war and oppression.

Rae Huang, the other candidate associated with the DSA, similarly offers no alternative. Her campaign rhetoric, centered on pro-renter and pro-sanctuary themes, is indistinguishable from that of mainstream Democratic politicians. In the face of skyrocketing rents, mass evictions and escalating ICE raids, such rhetoric serves only to channel popular discontent back into the political framework responsible for these conditions.

Rev. Rae Huang, a Presbyterian minister and member of the Democratic Socialists of America who is challenging Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, poses for a portrait in Culver City, Calif. on Tuesday March 17, 2026. [AP Photo/Krysta Fauria]

To fully grasp the crisis of the DSA it is necessary to situate it within a broader national context. On the opposite coast, in New York City, DSA Democratic Mayor Zohran Mamdani is openly collaborating with the Trump administration in pursuit of federal funding for infrastructure projects. His willingness to partner with a fascist president, after vowing to be his worst nightmare, has laid bare the organizations true political orientation.

Mamdanis efforts to reassure Wall Street and secure more than $21 billion in federal grants for the Sunnyside Yard development project mark a shift to open collaboration with the most reactionary forces in American politics. This alliance is the logical outcome of the DSAs strategy of working within the Democratic Party and the capitalist state.

The developments in New York have clearly influenced the approach of DSA-LA. The refusal to endorse either Raman or Huang reflects an awareness that any explicit backing would further discredit the organization. Neither candidate represents even a minimal break with the policies of austerity, militarism and repression. Both are fully committed to operating within the framework of capitalist politics.

The scale of the crisis is underscored by the material conditions facing workers in Los Angeles. The citys budget cuts come amid a broader assault on living standards, including rising housing costs, stagnant wages and the erosion of public services. At the same time, the federal government has intensified its ICE raids and escalated militarism abroad with the attack on Venezuela and the criminal war of extermination in Iran.

Under these conditions, the DSAs activities take on an openly cynical character. Its upcoming Socialist Job Fair, which encourages workers to Get a Job to Build a Union, epitomizes its subordination to the trade union bureaucracy. Through initiatives such as salting (getting a job to help organize a union) and peppering (getting a job to help energize an existing union), the organization directs young workers into low-wage jobs with the aim of bolstering union apparatuses that are themselves integrated into corporate management and the state.

The DSA boasts of its growing membership, claiming thousands of members in Los Angeles alone. But these numbers cannot mask its political bankruptcy. To the extent that workers and youth join because they are sincerely looking for a socialist organization, the DSAs crisis grows more acute.

At the highest levels, this trajectory is embodied in figures such as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who has emerged as a leading representative of Democratic Party imperialism. Her recent appearances on the international stage, where she has positioned herself as a defender of US global hegemony, demonstrate that the DSAs integration into the political establishment is complete. The differences between such figures and openly right-wing politicians are increasingly reduced to matters of style and tactics.

What most concerns the DSA is the growing militancy and radicalization of the working class. Across the United States, workers are entering into struggle against layoffs, austerity and authoritarianism. In Los Angeles, strikes by more than 100,000 workers have taken place or are threatened, and major protests have occurred against ICE raids, war and Trumps drive to dictatorship.

These struggles are developing in opposition not only to the Republican Party but also to the Democratic Party and its pseudo-left auxiliaries. Workers are increasingly recognizing that their interests cannot be defended within the existing political framework.

It is precisely this independent movement that the DSA seeks to prevent. By tying workers to the Democratic Party and the trade union apparatus, it works to dissipate social opposition.

In opposition to this, the Socialist Equality Party calls for the building of rank-and-file committees in workplaces, schools and neighborhoods, independent of the union apparatus and the capitalist parties. These organizations are necessary to unify workers across industries and national boundaries in a common struggle against the profit system.
25 years ago: Slobodan Milosevic arrested at the behest of US imperialism

In the early morning of April 1, 2001, Slobodan Milosevic, the former president of Yugoslavia, was arrested at the behest of the Clinton administration. His jailer was his presidential successor, Vojslav Kostunica, who had won the previous years election with 51 percent of the vote compared to Milosevics 38 percent.

The US had been demanding his arrest, using its monetary influence as leverage. On March 30, Secretary of State Colin Powell threatened Belgrade that Washingtons pledge of $150 million in aid would be withheld for refusing the ultimatum. Western imperialism then dangled millions of dollars in IMF and World Bank loans to persuade local authorities to imprison Milosevic for war crimes.

Milosevic, left, with Clinton in Paris in 1995

After years of dismembering Yugoslavia, dropping bombs, stoking nationalist divisions, destroying vital infrastructure, and committing war crimes, US imperialism used its 1999 war of aggression to spearhead the takeover of the region and the subordination of the Balkans to US capitalist domination. By this time, Milosevic had fallen from the graces of Washington. His crude Serbian nationalism, alleged ethnic atrocities, and patronage to local party bureaucrats cut across the goals of US imperialism.

The arrest was preceded by a dramatic 36-hour standoff. Kostunica dispatched elite special forces to arrest the former president at his home, but hundreds of Milosevic supporters barred the way. Milosevic then issued a public statement, attempting to cultivate anti-NATO sentiment among the population, declaring the warrant by the lackeys of NATO and the USA to be illegal.

Milosevics private security units thwarted an attempt to break into his home. More discussions ensued; Milosevic said he would die rather than be taken alive. Eventually, negotiations led to a bloodless conclusion. The former president was arrested for 30 days, charged with corruption, abuse of power, embezzlement, financial misdeeds and misuse of public funds, but no charges were brought forward related to the Kosovo war. He pleaded not guilty.

The 30-day imprisonment proved to be a trap. The US and European powers demanded new charges for atrocities in Croatia and Bosnia be levelled. Several months later, Kostunica obliged, handing Milosevic over to the International Criminal Tribunal at The Hague.

50 years ago: Palestinian general strike and the First Land Day

On March 30, 1976, Palestinian citizens of Israel launched a general strike and mass demonstrations to protest the states expropriation of thousands of acres of Palestinian-owned land in the Galilee. The Israeli state responded with a massive military and police mobilization, resulting in the killing of six unarmed protesters and the wounding of hundreds more.

The immediate catalyst for the strike was the Israeli governments Area 9 plan, a policy aimed at the Judaization of the Galilee. This involved the seizure of approximately 5,000 acres of land between the Palestinian towns of Sakhnin, Arraba and Deir Hanna.

The Labor-led government of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin designated the area a closed military zone to facilitate the construction of exclusively Jewish settlements and industrial parks. This was a continuation of the Present Absentee legal framework used since 1948 to seize property from Palestinians who remained within the states borders but were displaced from their home villages.

The general strike of March 30 saw near-total participation across Palestinian communities in Israel. The construction and agricultural sectors were the most heavily impacted, as thousands of Palestinian laborers refused to report to work in Israeli cities. In Nazareth, the largest Palestinian city in Israel, shops remained shuttered and schools were closed. The strike also saw significant support from Palestinian students at Hebrew University and the University of Haifa.

On the eve of the protest, the Rabin government declared all demonstrations illegal and imposed a strict curfew on the Galilee region. Thousands of soldiers and Border Police units, supported by armored personnel carriers and tanks, were moved into position.

Israeli police attack a Palestinian boy during the Palestinian general strike, March 30, 1976 [Photo by Israeli Government Press Office / CC BY 3.0

On March 30, in the village of Rafat al-Zuhairi, security forces opened fire on a crowd that gathered in defiance of the curfew. In Sakhnin and Arraba, protesters met the advancing armored columns with stones and burning tires. By the end of the day, six PalestiniansRaja Abu Raya, Khader Khalaila, Khadija Qasem, Kheir Yasin, Mohsen Taha, and Raafat al-Zuhairihad been shot and killed.

At the same time the Israeli state was suppressing its own Palestinian citizens, it was deeply involved in the Lebanese civil war.

The Rabin government was providing millions of dollars in clandestine military aid, training, and intelligence to the fascist-sectarian Phalangist militias in Lebanon. This alliance was aimed at crushing the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and its Lebanese leftist allies, who were using Lebanon as a base for operations after being driven out of Jordan in 1970.

In the following years, March 30 has become an annual day of protest known as Land Day. The day now serves as a global day of protest against the ongoing oppression of Palestinians and land occupation by the Israeli government.

75 years ago: Julius and Ethel Rosenberg sentenced to death for espionage

On April 5, 1951, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were sentenced to death for conspiracy to commit espionage. The reactionary Espionage Act of 1917 under which they were sentenced contained a clause that allowed for those convicted of passing to a foreign government information relating to the national defense to be put to death.

The arrest, trial, conviction, death sentence and eventual execution of the Rosenbergs were a political frame-up and one of the worst expressions of the McCarthyite witch-hunt of that period. Their state murder was aimed above all at intimidating and silencing left-wing tendencies in the American working class, which had taken on a near-insurrectionary scale in the 1930s, under the guise of upholding national security.

The couple had been arrested in late 1950 supposedly on suspicion of passing information about the atomic bomb to the Soviet Union. Their trial began on March 6, 1951, in New York, and concluded on March 29 with both being convicted of espionage.

Ethel and Julius Rosenberg

During the trial, the primary witness for the prosecution team was David Greenglass, Ethel Rosenbergs brother. He had previously been arrested by the FBI for passing on information to the Soviet Union via a courier while he was working as a machinist at Los Alamos on the Manhattan Project. Greenglass claimed throughout the trial that it was Ethel who typed up the notes which he passed to the Soviet Union, and that it was Julius who recruited him into the spy network in which he operated .

For his accusation against the Rosenbergs, Greenglass had his own sentence reduced to 15 years. But as he would admit decades later and as is corroborated by the transcript of his grand jury testimony of August 1950, it was his wife Ruth who actually typed up the notes, and Greenglass falsely implicated his sister to cover this up.

There is in fact no credible evidence that Julius or Ethel Rosenberg stole the secret of the atomic bomb and passed it to the Soviet Union, which was a wartime ally of the United States during World War II.

When the US government pressured the Rosenbergs to admit their guilt and provide names of other spies under the threat of execution, they refused. In a public statement they declared: By asking us to repudiate the truth of our innocence, the government admits its own doubts concerning our guilt... we will not be coerced, even under pain of death, to bear false witness.

Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were executed on June 19, 1953.

100 years: Kolkata gripped by communalist riots

On April 2, 1926, violence between Hindus and Muslims ignited in Calcutta (modern Kolkata) in the British Raj when a procession organized by the Arya Samaj, a Hindu revival movement that was associated with Hindutva or Hindu nationalism, played music with loud drums, cymbals, and horns as it passed near the Dinanath Mosque on Harrison Road (now Mahatma Gandhi Road) during afternoon prayer.

The procession then spiraled into a city-wide conflict. The violence involved organized groups from both communities, fueled by underlying political friction and the recent breakdown of the Non-Cooperation Movements inter-religious unity. Over the course of the first phase, which lasted roughly two weeks, the city saw brutal street fighting, arson and the desecration of religious sites.

View of Kolkatas Howrah Bridge, c. 1920s

The local police struggled to contain the chaos, prompting a swift intervention by British troops. Battalions were deployed to enforce a strict curfew and patrol the most volatile neighborhoods. Despite the military presence, sporadic outbursts continued into May.

The human cost was staggering. Historical records indicate that roughly 110 people were killed and more than 900 were injured during the April peak. Beyond the casualties, the 1926 riots marked a grim milestone in the communalization of Indian politics, as the British administration increasingly treated the two communities as irreconcilable blocsa perspective that would echo through the decades leading toward Partition. The result was the outcome of decades of British colonial policyfrom the imposition of separate religious electoral rolls to the calculated ethno-communal partition of Bengal in 1905that had systematically institutionalized religious identity as the primary axis of political life, serving to make communal eruptions both more likely and harder to defuse.
In an interview published Sunday in the Financial Times, US President Donald Trump announced his preference to take the oil from Irana massive expansion of the US war of aggression that would only be possible through a ground invasion of the country.

Trumps statement of his intent to massively expand the war came one day after as many as 8 million people took to the streets across all 50 states in the third round of No Kings demonstrationswhich would make them the largest single-day protests in American history. Despite efforts by the organizers to downplay opposition to the war in Iran, the demonstrations expressed the overwhelming popular opposition to it.

The Financial Times interview, conducted by Edward Luce, was published as the Pentagon ordered thousands of additional troops to the region. Trump compared the planned seizure of Irans oil to Venezuela, where the US intends to control the oil industry indefinitely following its capture of President Nicolas Maduro. To be honest with you, my favourite thing is to take the oil in Iran, Trump said, but some stupid people back in the US say: why are you doing that? But theyre stupid people.

First responders inspect a residential building hit in an earlier U.S.-Israeli strike in Tehran, Friday, March 27, 2026. [AP Photo/Vahid Salemi]

Such a move would involve seizing Kharg Island, through which most of Irans oil is exported. Trump told the Financial Times: Maybe we take Kharg Island, maybe we dont. We have a lot of options. He added: It would also mean we had to be there for a while.

The Wall Street Journal reported separately Sunday that Trump is actively making plans for a military operation to extract nearly 1,000 pounds of uranium from Irana complex and risky mission that would likely put American forces inside the country for days or longer.

The Washington Post reported Sunday that the Pentagon is preparing for weeks of ground operations in Iran. The Post reported that any operation would fall short of a full-scale invasion and could instead involve raids by a mixture of Special Operations forces and conventional infantry troops. One official told the Post the objectives would take weeks, not months. Another said a couple of months.

The Post cited a former senior defense official, who said: Weve looked at this. Its been war-gamed. This is not last-minute planning. On the seizure of Kharg Island, the official said: Seizing it is not difficult. Protecting your guys once they are there is.

Michael Eisenstadt, a retired Army officer with the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, told the Post: I just wouldnt want to be in that small place with Irans ability to rain down drones and maybe artillery. A poll by the Associated Press and NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that 62 percent of Americans strongly oppose the use of ground troops in Iran. Only 12 percent are in favor.

Trump claimed he could take Kharg Island very easily, saying Iran has no defense on the island. The militarys own assessments contradict this.

CNN reported that Iran has fortified the island with an estimated 30,000-40,000 personnel, air defense systems, underground trenches, land mines along the coastline and swarms of first-person-view kamikaze drones. Harrison Mann, a former Army major and Defense Intelligence Agency analyst, told Democracy Now that the operation would be close to a suicide mission, warning that US troops could really end up being trapped there. Joe Kent, Trumps own former counter-terrorism chief, said: I just think that would be a disaster. It would essentially be giving Iran a bunch of hostages on an island that they could barrage with drones and missiles.

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham compared the planned operation to Iwo Jima, one of the bloodiest battles of World War II, and said: We did Iwo Jima, we can do this. My moneys always on the Marines. Irans parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said Sunday that the US was secretly planning a ground invasion while publicly talking about negotiations, according to Reuters.

More than 50,000 US troops are now deployed across the Middle East, according to the New York Times. The 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU)2,500 Marines and 2,500 sailorsarrived in the region on Friday. Another 2,200 Marines from the 11th MEU are en route aboard the USS Boxer. Roughly 2,000 paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division have been ordered to the region. The Wall Street Journal and Axios reported that the Pentagon is drawing up plans to send another 10,000 troops to the region.

In Lebanon, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered Sunday the expansion of what he called the security zone in southern Lebanon. More than 1,238 people have been killed and 3,500 wounded since Israel launched its assault on March 2, according to Lebanons Health Ministry, including 124 children. More than 1.2 million people have been displaced. Israeli forces have reached a tributary of the Litani River. PBS NewsHour reported that three journalists were killed Saturday in a targeted Israeli airstrike on a marked press vehicle in Jezzine.

After 30 days of war, the civilian death toll in Iran continues to climb. The human rights group Hengaw, using field documentation, reported at least 6,530 killed through Day 25, including 640 confirmed civilians. The Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) documented at least 1,551 civilian deaths, including 236 children. Irans Red Crescent reported more than 81,000 civilian sites damaged, including 61,000 homes and nearly 500 schools. Between 3.2 and 4 million Iranians have been internally displaced. A near-total internet blackout has sealed off 90 million people from the outside world for 30 days.

Brent crude surged above $115 a barrel on Sunday, up 59 percent this month, according to Reuters, the steepest monthly jump on record, exceeding gains during the 1990 Gulf War. Gasoline in the United States has risen to $3.98 a gallon, up nearly $1 since the war began. Goldman Sachs estimated in a report cited by Fortune that the war is costing the US economy 10,000 jobs per month.

On the Sunday talk shows, no Democrat on any of the four major programs used the words war crime or international law in connection with the Iran war. Last weekend, former Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chair Donna Brazile declared on ABCs Sunday news program: Democrats understand that Iran has posed a threat, not just to the region, the Gulf, but to the world itself.

The entire Democratic leadershipSenate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Minority Whip Katherine Clark and Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilarvoted for the $839 billion military budget that funds the war.
After the parliamentary election on March 22, difficult coalition negotiations and a fragile governing coalition appear imminent in Slovenia.

Robert Golob

The outgoing government, comprising the liberal Freedom Movement (GS), the Social Democrats (SD) and the Left Party (Levica), no longer has a majority of its own. GS, led by incumbent Prime Minister Robert Golob, came out on top with 28.6 percent, but only by the narrowest of margins ahead of Janez Jansas right-wing conservative Democratic Party (SDS), which secured 28 percent. Even with the votes of the Social Democrats (6.7 percent) and the left-wing electoral alliance Levica-Vesna (5.5 percent), Golob does not have a majority in parliament.

A right-wing alliance comprising the SDS, a three-party right-wing conservative electoral alliance and the SDS splinter group Democrats also lacks a majority of its own. The far-right party Resni.ca (Truth) with 5.5 percent could now become the kingmaker. The party was formed at the height of the coronavirus pandemic by anti-vaxxers and coronavirus deniers, and combines social backwardness with hate speech against migrants. Like the SDS, it also maintains close ties to openly fascist circles.

Yet this has not deterred Golob from a possible coalition with the far right. On Friday, he invited the leaders of all parties and alliances represented in the new parliamentwith the exception of the SDSto explore the possibility of a government of national unity.

The right-wing conservative alliance (New Slovenia (NSi), Peoples Party (SLS) and Fokus) declined the invitation. It stated that the Golob government had been voted out and that it would only join a government led by the SDS. The remaining parties, on the other hand, offered to work with Golobs GS on an emergency law that would allow them to bypass parliament and pass legislation in the event of protracted coalition negotiations.

Numerous political commentators consider cooperation between the previous coalition partners and Resni.ca or the Democrats to be likely. This would result in a further, significant shift to the right.

The former business executive Golob won the 2022 parliamentary election by a clear margin because the then head of government, Jansa, was hated by the population.

Jansa began his political career in Slovenias communist youth organisation. Because he criticised the Yugoslav leadership in Belgrade, he was imprisoned and came to be seen as a symbol of the so-called democracy movement. In 1989, he was one of the founders of the Slovenian Democratic Union (SDZ). During the Yugoslav civil war, he served as Minister of Defence and commander of the Slovenian army.

Since then, the self-styled democrat, who has already served three terms as Slovenian Prime Minister, has shifted further and further to the right. Jansa is regarded as an admirer of Donald Trump and a close friend of extreme right Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. As prime minister, he attacked independent institutions and attemptedlike Orbanto undermine press freedom.

Golob falsely presented himself as the alternative to Jansa. In 2022, he was able to mobilise young voters in the larger cities particularly. He promised more democracy, a climate-friendly economic policy and a move away from fossil fuels. Crucially, however, he avoided taking a clear stance on the war in Ukraine, while Jansa called for arms deliveries to Ukraine immediately after the outbreak of the war and stoked anti-Russian sentiment.

Upon taking office, Golob changed course. As part of a swap deal with Germany, he supplied tanks and military equipment to Ukraine and called for the delivery of long-range weapons capable of striking targets deep inside Russia. Last year, Golobs government contributed around $46 million to the Ukrainian air defence PURL programme.

These funds were squeezed directly from the population of the country, which has only 2.1 million inhabitants. As a result, affected households received only a derisory amount of aid following the devastating floods of 2023. Furthermore, the government slashed pensions and healthcare provision.

At the same time, Golobs government took measures to establish a police state. At the end of last year, it passed the so-called Sutar Law. This grants the police virtually unlimited powers in so-called security risk areas. These zones can be designated at the authorities discretion and primarily affect areas with Roma communities.

The catalyst was the death of 48-year-old Ales Sutar, who was killed during a brawl outside a nightclub in Novo Mesto, southern Slovenia. The perpetrator belonged to the Roma minority. This led to racist protests by neo-Nazis, which the police failed to stop. Instead, arbitrary police raids took place in Roma settlements.

With the support of the right wing, Golob rushed the law through parliament in record time. It undermines fundamental democratic rights. Even though it is currently only being used against discriminated-against minorities, it serves to suppress any opposition.

Nevertheless, Golob once again attempted to portray himself as a liberal, cosmopolitan and socially minded politician during this election campaign. He was supported in this by the left-wing forces within his government, who organised protests against Jansa and his closeness to Trump and Orban, linking this to a call to go to the polls and vote for the government.

Yet this transparent manoeuvre did not achieve the desired success. The support for NATOs war against Russia was too obvious. And whilst Slovenia cautiously criticised the Israeli governments genocide in Gaza and banned arms deliveries to Israel, the government avoided any criticism of the attack on Iran, which violated international law.

In the polls over the past few weeks, Jansa was in the lead, until a scandalpresumably orchestrated by Jansa himselfbackfired. It involved secretly recorded video footage intended to portray the Golob camp as corrupt. Among others, the footage showed a former justice minister from Golobs camp being encouraged to engage in corruption by supposed British investors.

The videos were uploaded to the website of the Israeli firm Black Cube, which maintains links to the Israeli secret service and right-wing European circles. Jansa initially denied having anything to do with the matter, but was later forced to admit that he had contacts with the company.

European Union (EU) circles reacted with a degree of relief to Golobs victory, but at the same time expressed concern about the political instability and the difficult coalition negotiations now facing Slovenia.

Regardless of which political camp ultimately takes over the government in whatever constellation, tensions between the ruling elite and the working population will intensify. Golob and Jansa are preparing for fierce social conflicts in view of the tense international situation.

The economic impact of the war in Iran is hitting working-class households hard. The government was recently forced to ration fuel sales in order to keep prices reasonably stable. Other governments in the Balkan countries are taking similar measures.

Last week, Croatia announced a 450 million ($518 million) package of measures to cushion the impact of rising energy prices. This involves freezing electricity and gas prices. In Serbia, the government is also regulating fuel prices, has passed a ban on fuel exports and released state reserves.

The rising prices coincide with strikes against poor wages and working conditions. Only last month, emergency call centre operators suspended a two-year strike following an agreement with the government. Prior to that, there had been lengthy strikes in the public sector demanding higher wages.

Added to this are redundancies in several industrial sectors, particularly the automotive industry. For instance, the German company Mahle made 600 employees redundant in Slovenia last year. Further redundancies in this sector are already under discussion.
According to Science Alert on March 20, the Runit Dome nuclear waste dump on the Marshall Islands in the northwest Pacific is continuing to deteriorate with deepening cracks in the sites concrete capping and the casing vulnerable to rising seas due to global warming.

Runit Dome [Photo by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory / CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

The 115-metre (377 feet)-wide dome was built between 1977 and 1980 as part of a supposed military cleanup. The 18-inch thick structure holds more than 3.1 million cubic feet of radioactive soil and debris, more than 120,000 tons of material contaminated by US nuclear waste including lethal quantities of plutonium. The dome was intended as a temporary fix and, to save money, the actual bomb crater on which it was constructed was never lined.

Accelerating climate change now threatens to turn the potential catastrophe into an irreversible regional disaster. Recent reports of new cracking, the daily inandout movement of radioactive groundwater driven by the tides, and rising seas around the structure show that it may have serious consequences for the wider Pacific and its impoverished populations.

Situated mid-way between Hawaii and Australia, the Marshall Islands has a population of 53,000 people. The island chain was occupied by Allied forces in 1944 and placed under US administration in 1947. It achieved nominal independence in 1986 under a neo-colonial Compact of Free Association (CoFA) which effectively still binds it to Washington.

Between 1946 and 1958, the US carried out 67 atmospheric and underwater nuclear explosions and a series of biological weapons tests in the islands. The largest, the Castle Bravo bomb detonated in March 1954, was 1,000 times more powerful than the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The blast vaporised part of Runit Island and sent a mushroom cloud six kilometres into the sky. Irradiated soil from the Enewetak and Bikini atolls, used as ground zero for the tests, was poured into a crater left from the detonations, mixed with concrete and covered with the shallow concrete dome.

Since the construction, groundwater has penetrated the crater, beneath which lies a bed of porous coral sediment. This is the main source of leaks, but experts are concerned that parts of the dome designed to sit above sea level will not stay above water much longer. US government data already shows sea level rise at Runit and project increases that will push waves higher over the dome, exacerbating cracking and infiltration.

With rising sea levels, the Marshall Islands is forecast to see many of its 29 atolls under water within 10 to 20 years. In 2019, the WSWS reported a Los Angeles Times investigation that showed climate change is breaking open the aging and weathered dome as it bobs up and down with the tide, threatening to spill nuclear waste into the ocean.

According to Marshall Islands President Hilda Heine, debris from the dome was in 2019 already seeping into the nearby lagoon, used by locals as a food source. Following a fruitless visit to the White House accompanied by the presidents of Palau and the Federated States of Micronesia, Heine told Reuters she saved her breath rather than in a futile attempt to persuade US President Trump, then in his first term in office, of their concerns about climate change.

Columbia University chemist Ivana Nikolic-Hughes, who has been involved in ongoing research into the contamination of the Marshall Islands, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) on March 15 that she saw the domes cracks first-hand while taking soil samples on the island in 2018. Nikolic-Hughes has since found elevated radiation levels and significant quantities of radionuclides in soil from outside the dome.

The presence of plutonium, which remains dangerous for more than 24,000 years, warrants grave concerns, she warned. Rising sea levels and intensifying storms meant the integrity of the dome could be in jeopardy. Nikolic-Hughes noted that Runit is just 20 miles from where people live so the implications are potentially devastating.

The ABC further reported that experts worry the dome will not stand the test of time. Arjun Makhijani, a nuclear engineer and president of the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research, said no concrete structure could endure even for a tiny fraction of the life span of plutonium. There are already cracks in it in less than 50 years, he said. Bikini Atoll, meanwhile, remains effectively uninhabitable due to radioactive contamination.

The personal consequences have been devastating. Former US Army truck driver Robert Celestial, involved in the 1970s clean up, told the ABC: We were on a small island in the Pacific with 500 guys on it, and it was like Alcatraz. You couldnt escape. He has since suffered multiple health problems, including brittle bone, osteoporosis, arthritis as well as kidney and liver issues.

Of the 4,000 troops posted to Enewetak during the 1970s and 80s, only a few hundred are alive today, according to records from the National Association of Atomic Veterans. It was not until 2023 that the US government officially recognised the survivors as atomic veterans who could access disability claims. We couldnt go to the VA [Veterans Affairs] before that so a lot of guys couldnt get treatment, Celestial said.

He described the clean-up effort as careless. We didnt do a good job, he said. We didnt know what the plan was so a lot of the equipment and hot stuff we just dumped into the lagoon.

Hundreds of Marshall Islanders were exiled across the Pacificimpoverished, their homes devastated and health imperiled. An international tribunal concluded in 1988 the US should pay $2.3 billion in claims, but Congress and US courts refused. Documents cited by the LA Times showed the US paid just $4 million.

Washington has falsely asserted that locals now face little risk from radioactivity. At Bikini and Rongelap, residents initially returned to their islands after the US told them it was safe. The resettlement was a disaster. Cancer cases, miscarriages and deformities multiplied. By 1967, 17 of the 19 children who were younger than 10 and on the island during the Bravo detonation had developed thyroid disorders and growths. One child died of leukaemia.

Under the Compact with Washington, in exchange for limited funding and continued US military access, all claims, past, present and future related to nuclear testing were declared resolved. US officials now exploit this arrangement to shield Washington from any responsibility, with the legal burden for any remediation of Runit Dome resting primarily with the impoverished Marshall Islands government.

The social crime committed by the US is emblematic of wider imperialist domination of the Pacific. Major powers occupied large tracts of the region and used it for nuclear testing after World War II. The United Kingdom exploded atomic and hydrogen bombs at Malden Island and Kiritimati (Christmas Island) in 1957-1958. A total of 193 tests were carried out by France on Fangataufa and Mururoa Atolls in French Polynesia from 1966-1996, including one thermonuclear device in 1968.

Today, the Marshall Islands are again assuming geo-strategic importance as part of Washingtons intensifying confrontation with Beijing. Once poisoned for nuclear weapons development, the tiny Pacific Island state is now, along with other parts of the Pacific, being secured and upgraded as a forward platform in the US-led drive to militarily encircle China.
Democratic Party candidate for US Senate in Michigan Abdul El-Sayed is appearing at back-to-back events at Michigan State University (MSU) and the University of Michigan (UM) on April 7, along with US Representative from Pennsylvania Summer Lee and podcaster Hasan Piker.

US Senate candidate for Michigan Abdul El-Sayed speaks during a town hall, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025, in Lincoln Park, Michigan. [AP Photo/Ryan Sun]

El-Sayed is one of three candidates seeking the partys nomination for US Senate in the November midterm election. His campus tour is a calculated intervention by a faction of the Democratic Partyalong with its pseudo-left satellitesto corral the growing leftward movement of students behind capitalist politics.

With Democrat Gary Peters retiring, the seat is open in a state that Trump carried in 2016, lost in 2020, and narrowly recaptured in 2024, making Michigan a key state from the standpoint of bourgeois electoral politics. Former Representative Mike Rogers has emerged as the leading candidate for the Republican Party, advancing a lawandorder, national security platform aligned closely with the White House.

In his Senate campaign, ElSayed has positioned himself as the left candidate in a three-way Democratic contest with US Representative Haley Stevens and State Senator Mallory McMorrow. Polling by Emerson College in late January 2026 shows McMorrow at 22 percent, Stevens at 17 percent and ElSayed at 16 percent among Democratic primary voters, with a huge 38 percent still undecided, showing that the race is wide open.

Since the campuses of MSU in East Lansing and UM in Ann Arbor are centers of mounting opposition to war, social inequality and Trumps fascism, the intervention is above all aimed at blocking a turn by students toward an independent movement of the working class for socialism.

The essential political function of the campus tourwhich pairs the Democrat El-Sayed with a progressive member of Congress and a media personality branded as a leftistis to direct opposition behind the false hope that electing Democrats in 2026 will stop the threat of fascism and the descent into a Third World War.

Who is Abdul ElSayed?

Abdul ElSayed is a physician and former Detroit health director who first came to national prominence in 2018, when he ran in the Democratic primary for Michigan governor with the backing of Bernie Sanders and Alexandria OcasioCortez (AOC), ultimately losing to Gretchen Whitmer, who went on to win the gubernatorial election and is currently serving a second term.

Born in Detroit in 1984 to Egyptian immigrant parents, El-Sayed has become a significant figure in Michigan Democratic Party politics, with media and Democratic Party-aligned groups referring to him as the Mamdani of Michigan. This is an attempt to connect him to the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) member Zohran Mamdani, who won the New York City mayoral election as a Democrat in 2025.

ElSayeds posture on the USIsraeli war against Iran illustrates clearly the alignment of his politics with that of the Democratic Party. On social media he has issued posts under slogans like NO WAR WITH IRAN, presenting himself as an opponent of the conflict. But his actual criticism centers not on the criminal character of the war itself, but on procedural objections and Trumps betrayal of his America First rhetoric.

In a widely circulated statement, ElSayed denounced Trump for launching another regime change war and for failing to obtain congressional authorization, casting the central issue as one of constitutional process and presidential overreach. While he declares that the war must end and the aggression must stop, El-Sayed does not state that the US and Israel are carrying out a war crime under international law, nor does he call for an immediate and unconditional withdrawal of all US military forces from the region.

This position is entirely within the framework of the official line of leading Democrats, who criticize Trump for bypassing Congress and for jeopardizing stability, while accepting the geopolitical aims of US imperialism in the Middle East.

ElSayeds criticisms are a repackaged version of this fundamental agreement between both parties, while carefully phrased to appear to align with widespread public anti-war sentiment. El-Sayed does not condemn the criminal murder by the US and Israel of the Iranian leadership, including the assassination of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, in a series of decapitation strikes beginning on the first day of the war.

Branding himself as a singlepayer champion, ElSayeds program is entirely reformist and procapitalist. He has presented himself as one of the most prominent advocates of Medicare for All. He proudly declares that he has never touched corporate money and that he is the only candidate openly running on Medicare for All, which supposedly distinguishes him from the Democratic Party establishment.

Yet ElSayed speaks of building a broad-based movement that comes together around policies that address affordability and expand public goodsnot to expropriate the capitalist class and place major industries under workers controlbut to prove out a policy through the Democrats.

Jacobin, DSA and the lessons of Mamdani

The nomination and victory of Mamdani in the New York City mayoral race in November 2025 was seized upon by the DSA and its affiliated publication Jacobin magazine as proof that figures like ElSayed can similarly harness discontent and be elected to high office. El-Sayed is not a member of the DSA and, unlike Mamdani, does not refer to himself as a democratic socialist. El-Sayed instead refers to himself as a progressive Democrat.

However, within weeks of his election, Mamdanis veneer collapsed as he moved quickly to bind his administration to the capitalist ruling establishment. He publicly reassured Wall Street about fiscal discipline and appointed DemocraticParty operatives to key posts. Most damningly, he opened direct lines to Donald Trump, including meeting with the president on two occasions.

His second in-person encounter with Trump in the Oval Officewhich took place on the eve of the imperialist assault on Iranmade clear that Mamdanis priority is collaboration with both ruling parties and the fascist in the White House rather than anti-capitalist politics and democratic socialism. While the Mamdani experience is being referenced by El-Sayeds boosters, the rapid unmasking of the New York City mayor provides a foreshadowing of what to expect from a potential victory of the Michigan Democrat.

Jacobin has praised ElSayed for never taking corporate money and for being the only Medicare for All candidate, presenting him as anti-establishment. The publication frames Michigan as a laboratory for demonstrating the viability of movement politics that can push the Democratic Party to the left on social issues, notably healthcare and affordability.

In an interview with Jacobin, El-Sayed emphasized that winning in Michigan would suggest a way forward in the rest of the country, meaning he had a strategy for rebranding the Democratic Party. While insisting he could speak truth to power, El-Sayed promised the ruling class that his proposalssinglepayer, limited debt relief, modest taxation of the wealthywould not fundamentally threaten their wealth, property or control of the state.

This narrative is designed to obscure the lessons of Mamdanis election-- that such figuresincluding Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortezdo not represent the working class and are not independent in any way of American imperialism. The ElSayed candidacy represents the same perspective in Michigan.

In the case of Sanders, his presidential campaigns in 2016 and 2020 ended not in a break with the Democrats, but in endorsements of Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden. While millions of workers and young people were attracted to Sanders talk of a political revolution against the billionaire class, in the end this leftward movement was twice betrayed.

The effort to corral growing student opposition to capitalism and war behind ElSayed takes place under conditions of a mounting political crisis and disaffection of millions from both the Democrats and Republicans. Demonstrations against the bombing of Iranian cities and the assassinations of Iranian leadersalong with outrage over the ongoing genocide in Gazahave radicalized a generation of youth that has known only war, economic crisis and climate catastrophe.

The movement of the working class and program of the SEP

Globally, strikes and protests by workers, from autoworkers to logistics and public sector workers, indicate that a new period of class struggle is underway. As the wars and attacks on democratic rights are pushing masses of people to the left, the ElSayed campaign and its April 7 campus tour serve a specific political purpose: to create a deadend trap for the emerging mass movement and divert it back into the Democratic Party.

The Socialist Equality Party (SEP) advances a fundamentally different perspective. The SEP insists that the fight against war, fascism and social inequality requires a break from the Democrats and the independent political mobilization of the working class based on a socialist program. War is not an aberration, but the inevitable outcome of the capitalist system. Ending war means abolishing capitalism.

The SEP fights for the construction of rankandfile committees in workplaces and schools, independent of the trade union bureaucracy and the Democratic and Republican parties, to organize strikes and mass action, including a general strike against austerity, layoffs and war. It calls for the expropriation of the banks and major corporations, placing them under democratic control as public utilities; the cancellation of student and medical debt; the guarantee of free, highquality healthcare and education; and the defense of democratic rights.
In the first days of March 2026, the Philippine National Security Council (NSC) announced it had uncovered and dismantled a Chinese espionage network operating inside government agencies. The online news outlet Rappler simultaneously published a three-part investigative series claiming Filipino civil servants had been recruited to pass military secrets to Chinese handlers. The Philippine military amplified the claims. Senator Risa Hontiveros of the Akbayan party demanded new surveillance powers and the suspension of visa-free entry for Chinese nationals.

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr speaks during a press conference at Malacanang Palace Wednesday, March 25, 2026 in Manila, Philippines. [AP Photo/Ezra Acayan/Pool]

The announcement and escalating allegations against and attacks on China for spying come as the Ferdinand Marcos Jr administration confronts an immense economic and social crisis caused by the spike in prices and curtailed supply of oil as a result of Washingtons war on Iran. There are strong indications that Marcos is looking to distance the Philippines from the United States and improve relations with China.

Theresa Lazaro, head of the Department of Foreign Affairs, announced that the Philippines was planning on conducting joint patrols of the South China Sea with China. A leading Marcos ally, Senator Erwin Tulfo, head of the Foreign Relations committee, called for the re-examination and possible scrapping of the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) that allows the basing of US forces in the country and the deployment of US missile systems targeting China. On March 24, Marcos told Bloomberg that there would be a reset of relations between Manila and Beijing, and called for joint oil and gas exploration in the South China Sea.

Opposing this reset are many of the top brass of the Philippine military and the pseudo-left party Akbayan, which out of its merger with the elite Liberal Party, has become the most vocal proponent of Washingtons war drive against China in the Philippines.

It is in this context that the espionage campaignwhose immediate origins lie in a March 4 NSC press release and a Rappler series sourced entirely from military officialsmust be understood.

The Rappler series centers on three Filipino government workers, identified only as Lawrence, Harley, and Allison, who allegedly passed military information to foreign handlers. All three are anonymous. All three are held under military supervision and cooperating with security authorities. None have been charged.

Lawrence, the only subject to speak on camera, stated that his handler was known only by the alias Scott Chana name supplied by Lawrence alone, with no documentary corroboration. The NSC declared the handlers to be Chinese nationals while simultaneously stating it could not discuss identities, methods, or timelines on national security grounds.

The most operationally serious charge is that one of the three uncharged anonymous subjects passed resupply mission schedules to handlers in August 2024, enabling China to intercept Philippine vessels at Ayungin Shoal. But the accusation crumbles on examination.

The disputed shoal is the site of the Philippines resupply missions to a handful of Marines stationed aboard the BRP Sierra Madre which was scuttled there. The Philippines and China concluded a provisional arrangement the previous month, announced publicly in July 2024, under which Chinas Foreign Ministry stated explicitly that Manila would notify Beijing in advance before each resupply mission so that the two countries could avoid future confrontations. The idea that China needed spies to inform them of these resupply missions makes no sense. These were disclosed events per the diplomatic framework both governments had just negotiated. The Rappler series made no mention of this.

The identification of this alleged operation as a Chinese government intelligence program rests on the NSCs assertion that anonymous informants transmitted documents to un-named Chinese nationals. This is not merely flimsy: it is unsubstantiated allegations piled upon baseless claims.

The March 2026 allegations are the latest in a sustained cycle that has been running since 2024, each episode following the same template: an announcement by security officials, media amplification, and charges that fail to materialize.

In January 2025, the NBI arrested Chinese software engineer Deng Yuanqing, who had lived in the Philippines for over a decade, was married to a Filipino, and was conducting road surveys for a self-driving vehicle technology company. The NBI claimed his mapping equipment was espionage hardware and alleged he had graduated from a PLA universitya claim contradicted by his actual diploma. No conviction has followed.

Before that, the Senate held months of hearings alleging that Alice Guo, the dismissed mayor of a small town in Tarlac province was a Chinese intelligence asset. She had been implicated in a forced labor operation run from a government-licensed offshore gambling hub. The foundational evidence was the testimony of She Zhijiang, a Cambodian-Chinese gambling tycoon imprisoned in Thailand on his own criminal charges, who claimed in a documentary film that he and Guo were both Chinese agents.

Guo subsequently became unreachable after being transferred to another facility. She was convicted in November 2025not of espionage, but of human trafficking. The Chinese Embassy in Manila, noting the record, called the repeated allegations malicious slanders and observed that several cases loudly portrayed as Chinese espionage have quietly unraveled.

No political force has exploited these allegations more systematically than Akbayan and its most prominent figure, Senator Hontiveros. The pseudo-left Akbayan has become the most energetic promoter of the US military alliance in the Philippine legislature, and the espionage campaign has been its primary instrument.

In August 2025, Akbayan launched what it called the Silent Infiltration campaign, alleging Chinese penetration through donated CCTV cameras; school computers; Confucius Instituteswhich teach Mandarin and aspects of Chinese culture at select Philippine universities; coast guard volunteers; and attempts to influence the 2028 presidential election. By January 2026 it was calling for the suspension of visa-free entry for all Chinese nationals and the closure of Confucius Institutes. The logic of the campaign is that every Chinese person, every Chinese institution, every Chinese donation is a potential weapon of subversion.

Akbayans racist nationalism has a history. The suspicion of Chinese Filipinos is not newit was given modern legal form by American colonialism, which extended the Chinese Exclusion Act to the Philippines in 1898, the very first piece of American civil legislation applied to the colony, and used nationality law to keep Chinese Filipinos in legal limbo for decades. The Chinese community in the Philippines traces its presence to the sixteenth century; Manilas Chinatown, Binondo, was established in 1594. The inhabitants were subjected to repeated pogroms under Spanish rule, and were systematically discriminated against under the laws drawn up for the Philippines by the Americans. Akbayans campaign treats this centuries-rooted community as a fifth column.

The NSC, which declared the March spy ring a clear and present danger, is headed by National Security Adviser Eduardo Anoa career military intelligence general, former AFP Chief of Staff, and former Interior Secretary under Rodrigo Duterte, whose entire institutional formation lies in the US security relationship. It is his NSC that produced the press release. It is military spokespeople aligned with the US Indo-Pacific Command who have sustained the campaign in the weeks since. Rappler, which published the series, has publicly acknowledged receiving funding from USAID-funded media programs and the US-based National Endowment for Democracy.

There is a long history of espionage conducted against the Philippines, including the rigging of elections, the subversion of democracy, and sabotaging of popular sovereigntybut it was waged not by China but by the United States.

CIA officer Edward Lansdale arrived in the Philippines in 1950, ran psychological warfare against the Hukbalahap peasant insurgency, managed the 1953 presidential electionwriting Ramon Magsaysays campaign speeches, funding his campaign through CIA channels, and running a smear operation against Magsaysays rival. Philippine presidents were funded by the CIA; cabinet ministers and members of Congress were paid CIA assets. The Philippines served as the training laboratory for counterinsurgency methods exported across Asia and Latin America; the techniques developed there were carried to South Vietnam and to the Bay of Pigs in Cuba. Clark Air Base and Subic Bay were the platforms from which the United States bombed Cambodia and Vietnam.

The operations have never stopped. US Marine Corps MQ-9A Reaper drones now fly continuous surveillance missions over the South China Sea from Basa Air Base in Pampangaan EDCA siteproviding real-time intelligence on Chinese vessels to US Indo-Pacific Command. A permanent US special forces task force, Task Force Ayungin, is embedded in Philippine maritime operations. The intermediate-range Typhon missile system, capable of striking the Chinese mainland, has been deployed to Philippine soil.

Washington, in a secret psychological warfare campaign documented by Reuters in 2024, operated hundreds of fake social media accounts in Tagalog and other Philippine languages to sabotage the Chinese-manufactured Sinovac vaccinedistributing fabricated claims that it was rat poisonduring the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

There are no Chinese drones flying from Philippine bases. There are no Chinese special forces embedded in Philippine commands. There are no Chinese missiles aimed at Washington on Philippine territory. China has never rigged a Philippine election, bought off a candidate, or flown bombing missions from its shores.

The scurrilous campaign against Chinese nationals and Chinese Filipinos waged by Akbayan and the Philippine military serve to buttress the violently tottering framework of the US empire in the Philippines, but it does more than this. In the context of explosive social unrest, Akbayan is bringing back into circulation the age-old racist scapegoating of the Chinese. They are employing the language of the pogrom.
On March 25, the 210-day statutory deadline, which was imposed by the Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998, for the Trump administration to nominate a new director for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) expired. Consequently, the premier US public health agency remains officially headless but under the de facto control of Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, who simultaneously serves as director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Bhattacharya, an economist and co-author of the anti-science Great Barrington Declaration, shares Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.s hostility to established public health measures. He will continue executing the duties of the office despite legally losing the title of acting director.

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks alongside Food and Drug Administration administrator Dr. Martin Makary, left, and Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, director of the National Institutes of Health, as they announce that the government would no longer endorse the COVID-19 vaccine for healthy children or pregnant women. [AP Photo/Health and Human Services]

The expiration of the deadline comes just days after U.S. District Judge Brian E. Murphy issued a March 16 preliminary injunction blocking Kennedys overhaul of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) and his sweeping rollbacks to the childhood immunization schedule. This administrative lapse also coincides with the governments escalating efforts to validate right-wing anti-vaccine narratives, highlighted by a recently leaked federal report from an ACIP workgroup urging the formal medical codification of COVID-19 vaccine injuries.

It also follows the apparent stalemate in the Senate over the nomination of anti-vaxxer Dr. Casey Means as Surgeon General. Some Republican senators have balked over the nomination of an individual without a current medical license to the post, which is seen as Americas top doctor. This applies as well to Dr. Jerome Adams, Trumps Surgeon General during his first term.

Under these conditions, pushing through a Senate-confirmed director risked a bruising confirmation battle, or the selection of a nominee who would assert the CDCs traditional scientific independence. Keeping Bhattacharya in informal control instead ensures the agency remains paralyzed and subservient to Kennedys agenda at precisely the moment the federal courts are pushing back. Murphys ruling has sharpened the administrations dilemma, because it must find a nominee ideologically aligned with Kennedys anti-vaccine crusade who can nonetheless survive Senate confirmation. Former CDC officials and public health experts are unequivocalThis is not bureaucratic neglect but a deliberate strategy to keep the agency leaderless, legally diminished and incapable of resisting HHS directives.

Bhattacharyas attempts to placate a demoralized workforce with promises of restored telework and paused layoffs have convinced no one who knows the agency. Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, former director of the CDCs National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, who resigned in protest last August, dismissed these gestures as Stockholm syndrome, adding that the damage has been done. A loyalist at the helm of a captain-less ship achieves exactly what the administration requires: continued starvation and paralysis of the agency, without the political exposure of a confirmation fight.

Under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998, once the 210-day clock expires without a formal Senate nomination, the office becomes legally vacant, triggering an administrative bifurcation. The law distinguishes between delegable, day-to-day management duties and non-delegable functionsthe exclusive statutory powers that must be performed only by the CDC director.

While routine operational management can continue to be delegated to Bhattacharya, he has been legally stripped of the acting director title. Attempting to downplay the downgrade at a recent CDC all-staff meeting, Bhattacharya told employees, Instead of acting director, I would be acting in the capacity as director. However, the distinction is far more than semantic. Any attempt by an unconfirmed official to execute the non-delegable powers of the office after the 210-day limit renders those actions legally void. Those exclusive statutory powers revert upward to HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. By permitting this deadline to expire, the Trump administration has accepted a structurally downgraded CDC directorship at the precise moment of nationwide conflict over vaccine policy, concentrating authority over the nations premier public health institution directly in Kennedys hands.

The vacancy is not an isolated failure but the predictable outcome of the administrations war on CDC. Dr. Susan Monarez was confirmed by the Senate on July 29, 2025the first CDC director ever to require Senate confirmation, a change made as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic. Twenty-nine days later, Kennedy fired her for refusing to pre-approve his ACIP recommendations and purge career vaccine officials. Clearly any CDC director who resists the anti-vaccine agenda will be removed.

The ACIP purge in June 2025 was the starkest expression of this strategy. Kennedy dismissed all 17 independent voting members and replaced them with ideological loyalists, provoking a federal lawsuit. On March 16, Judge Murphy issued a preliminary injunction that stayed the appointments of the 13 newly installed ACIP members, nullified all their 2025 votes and froze the January 5, 2026 decision memorandum that slashed the childhood immunization schedule.

The leadership vacuum mirrors a devastating internal collapse. Over the past year, mass layoffs, forced attrition and prolonged administrative leaves have cost the CDC roughly a quarter of its workforce. Frozen grants and contracts have devastated morale. Core disease surveillance is severely disrupted, and the agencys flagship journal, the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, is publishing far fewer scientific articles. While federal grants still reach state partners, severe staffing shortages mean this funding is distributed without vital technical assistance or accountability.

This operational paralysis has facilitated CDCs rapid centralization under the direct control of HHS. According to former chief medical officer and deputy director for program and science at CDC, Dr. Deb Houry, a cadre of approximately 20 political appointees aligned with Kennedy now micromanages agency budgets, external communications and individual employee travel requests. Ultimately, this systematic dismantling strips CDC of its independent scientific status, refashioning it into a subordinate political arm of the Trump-Kennedy administration.

The CDCs evisceration has cleared the path for HHS and its captured advisory panels to formally incorporate Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.s anti-vaccine ideology into federal policy. This agenda is spearheaded by Retsef Levi, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology operations management professor whom Kennedy appointed to chair the ACIPs COVID-19 vaccine workgroup.

Levi has recently taken to social media to agitate for the creation of specific International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10) diagnostic codes to track alleged COVID-19 vaccine harms. Operationalizing this mindset, a leaked confidential ACIP workgroup report obtained by MD Reports proposes the formal medical recognition of Post-Acute Covid-19 Vaccination Syndrome (PACVS).

The implication behind establishing these diagnostic codes goes far beyond medical documentation. It is a calculated effort to construct a legal scaffolding to bring lawsuits against vaccine manufacturers. ICD-10 codes are the universal diagnostic classifications used by clinicians, hospitals and insurance companies to reliably document, reimburse, research and incorporate specific medical conditions into standard treatment guidelines. Without such a code, health conditions practically do not exist within the official healthcare and insurance apparatus. The ACIP workgroups urgent push to create specific diagnostic codes for unproven vaccine injuries is a calculated maneuver to force the medical establishment to formally legitimize, track and financially subsidize a politically motivated, anti-vaccine diagnosis.

Dismantling vaccine liability shields has been a central objective of Kennedy and the anti-vaccine movement for decades. The Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness (PREP) Act of 2005 currently insulates COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers from direct lawsuits, routing claims through the federal Countermeasures Injury Compensation Program (CICP). Anti-vaccine law firms, such as Siri & Glimstad, are challenging this framework in court, seeking to open the floodgates for conventional civil litigation. Embedding an ICD-10 diagnosis for COVID-19 vaccine injuries into federal policyeven absent any scientific consensus on causationwould hand those litigants a powerful tool, one that risks bankrupting the compensation system and driving life-saving vaccines off the US market entirely.
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A section of the massive "No Kings" rally in New York City, March 28, 2026.

The third round of No Kings demonstrations on March 28 drew millions of people into the streets across the United States in what was the largest single-day protest in American history. Organizers estimated that roughly 8 million people participated in more than 3,300 events across the 50 states in every major city, along with hundreds of small towns.

The scale of individual demonstrations was extraordinary: MinneapolisSt. Paul, designated the national flagship event, drew between 100,000 and 200,000 people to the State Capitol grounds. Large protests were reported in major urban centers across the country, including an estimated 350,000 in New York City; 180,000 in Boston (double what was expected); 200,000 in Chicago; 90,000 in Seattle and 40,000 in San Diego. Organizers stated that roughly 600 events took place in predominantly rural, Republican-leaning communities, underscoring the national breadth of opposition.

The scale of the March 28 protests reflected the depth of popular anger at the advance of dictatorship at home and the escalation of imperialist war abroad. A collision is unfolding between a capitalist oligarchy that is breaking with democratic forms of rule and the broad mass of the population.

The war against Iran, now one month old, was a decisive animating force for those participating. While it was downplayed by the organizations that called the protests, opposition was expressed in signs and chants in city after city. As the demonstrations were taking place, Trump was preparing a further escalation with potentially catastrophic consequences for the planet. The day after the protests, the Washington Post reported that the Pentagon is preparing for weeks or months of ground operations in Iran and that planning for such operations has been in development for weeks, under the cover of fraudulent negotiations.

The scale of the opposition terrifies the ruling class, and the response of the corporate media was to downplay it and move on as quickly as possible. In its cursory report, the New York Times framed the demonstrations not as a mass eruption of opposition to war and dictatorship, but as a vehicle for frustrated Democrats and midterm maneuvering. The Sunday cable news programs the day after barely mentioned the largest protest in American history.

The question that must be confronted is: Given the scale of opposition, how is Trump still in power? How can a criminal regimeoperating in open violation of the Constitution, erecting a dictatorship, and dragging the population of the world into an illegal war of aggressioncontinue to govern?

The answer lies in the political chasm between the anger of millions and the supposed opposition, including the Democratic Party-aligned groups (led by Indivisible) that called the protests. This was expressed most sharply in the deliberate downplaying of the war.

David North, chairman of the International Editorial Board of the World Socialist Web Site, was barred from addressing a No Kings rally in Nuremberg, Germany. Democratic Party operatives would not allow me to speak and condemn the illegal war against Iran, which the Democrats support, North noted.

At the major rallies, Democratic politicians either ignored the war entirely or reduced it to a passing phrase, because they agree with the wars fundamental aims and accept its basic premises. In Boston, Senator Elizabeth Warren did not mention Iran at all, while including only a brief reference to Trump spending $1 billion a day to drop bombs halfway around the world. Senator Ed Markey referred to the war only in a throwaway line.

Bernie Sanders remarks in Minnesota were the only comments by a major Democratic Party figure that devoted more than a sentence to the war. We are being lied to today about the war in Iran, Sanders declared. Trump and his partner Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu started a war with Iran that was unconstitutional, he said, because Trump did not seek or receive authorization from Congress. Sanders added that the war was a violation of international law.

But Sanders function is not to develop opposition to war and dictatorship, but to prevent it. He presents the war primarily as the product of Trump and Netanyahu, not as the outcome of the class interests of American imperialism and a bipartisan policy pursued for decades. He referenced the genocide in Gaza while saying nothing about the fact that it was initiated and armed under the Democratic Party and Biden, who Sanders supported. Nor did he note that the Democrats have voted repeatedly to fund Trumps war machine.

Sanders role was summed up in his line that conservatives, moderates and progressives are speaking in unison to end the waran appeal not to the working class as an independent force, but an orientation to sections of the right and the Republican Party that criticize the conflict by presenting it as Israels war, while leaving untouched the predatory aims of American imperialism. And what does Sanders actually propose? Electoral maneuvers and voting for Democrats in November.

Millions of workers participated in the demonstrations, but they did so as individuals, not as an organized force. This expresses the role of the union bureaucracy in suppressing independent working class action, tying workers to the Democratic Party, and adapting to Trumps program. This was particularly evident in the relatively small turnout in Detroit, where the United Auto Workers under Shawn Fain has promoted Trumps America First nostrums.

The Minnesota rally featured speeches from AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler, who did not mention war once, and American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten. Without mentioning Iran, Weingarten remarked that its costing a billion dollars a day. Weingarten, an enthusiastic supporter of the war in Ukraine, would no doubt prefer that this money be spent for war against Russia.

Neither Schuler nor Weingarten mentioned the strike movement developing across the country. At the very moment when workers are entering into struggle in critical industries and services, the officials who claim to speak for 15 million workers did not suggest that workers actually do anything to oppose the Trump administration or the billionaires, outside of voting for DemocratsNo kings today and we vote in November, as Weingarten put it.

The March 28 demonstrations expressed deep and widespread opposition to the Trump administration, but this opposition is not yet guided by a clear political program. The central task is to arm it with a conscious perspective equal to the scale of the crisis. Certain fundamental points must be stressed.

First, the Trump administration is proceeding simultaneously with the escalation of war abroad and its conspiracy for dictatorship at home. Its response to mass opposition is not concessions but the intensification of repressionthe obliteration of democratic rights, the normalization of police-state methods, and the preparation of ever more violent measures to silence dissent. The deployment of ICE agents in airports, which Border Czar Tom Homan declared Sunday would continue even after Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents start getting paid, is a test run for paramilitary deployments throughout the country.

Second, Trumps actions do not arise simply from his personal depravity. He speaks and acts as the representative of a classthe capitalist oligarchythat is breaking with legality and democratic forms of rule in order to defend its wealth and global interests.

Third, the Democratic Party represents the same class. It differs from Trump only over tactics and presentation, while enabling the war and working systematically to divert opposition into electoral dead ends and safe channels that do not threaten the foundations of capitalist rule.

Fourth, the decisive social force that must be mobilized is the working class, organized independently of the trade union apparatus. The protests coincide with a deepening eruption of the class struggle, but this movement is being blocked and dissipated by a union bureaucracy integrated into the corporations and the state.

It is on this basis that the Socialist Equality Party intervened in the demonstrations across the United States and internationally: to advance the strategy required to transform mass anger into a movement capable of stopping war and defeating dictatorship.

The essential next step is the building of independent rank-and-file committees, rooted in workplaces and uniting workers in the United States with workers internationally against the same capitalist oligarchies and imperialist war. The International Workers Alliance of Rank-and-File Committees (IWA-RFC) encourages the building and linking of these committees across workplaces and borders to prepare coordinated action against the war machine and the assault on democratic rights.

The SEP insists that the fight against war and dictatorship cannot be separated from the fight for socialism. The conditions that have driven millions into the streets will not be resolved through appeals to the political establishment, but only through the development of a mass social and political movement of the working class.

This requires as an urgent task the building of a leadership capable of ending the rule of the oligarchy and reorganizing society on the basis of human need, not private profit. The Socialist Equality Party calls on all workers and young people seeking a way forward to join the SEP and take up this struggle.
ASTANA, March 30 (Xinhua) -- Kazakh police have dismantled a major drug trafficking channel in the Ulytau region, seizing more than 300 kg of marijuana, the Kazinform news agency reported on Monday.

Officers from the anti-narcotics unit detained five individuals on the Zhezkazgan-Karaganda highway suspected of involvement in transporting drugs from southern regions of the country, the report said, citing the Interior Ministry.

Police said a total of 13 packages of marijuana weighing over 300 kg were seized during the operation, which could amount to up to 1 million single-use doses with an estimated black market value of up to 3 million U.S. dollars.

The suspects have been placed in temporary detention. Authorities said efforts to combat drug trafficking will continue in accordance with the law. 
PHNOM PENH, March 30 (Xinhua) -- The National Assembly of Cambodia on Monday passed a draft law on combating online scams, which will deliver up to 30 years or life imprisonment to scam bosses.

A total of 112 lawmakers in attendance unanimously approved the draft bill.

According to the bill, online scam bosses will face between 15 and 30 years or life imprisonment if their operations lead to one or many deaths.

Ringleaders of online scam centers will face between five and 10 years in prison and a fine of up to 1 billion riels (250,000 U.S. dollars), and they will face between 10 and 20 years in jail and a fine of up to 2 billion riels (500,000 dollars) if their operations are found to involve violence, torture, illegal confinement, human trafficking, or forced labor.

Online scammers will be imprisoned between two and five years with a fine of up to 500 million riels (125,000 dollars).

Deputy Prime Minister and Justice Minister Koeut Rith said Cambodia was one of many countries in the region that criminals had used to operate online scams.

"This crime has not only seriously affected public security and order, but also badly damaged Cambodia's reputation and image on the international stage," he told the parliament.

Koeut Rith said the law would "enhance the effectiveness of the fight against online scams, aiming at safeguarding security and public order as well as enhancing the effectiveness of cooperation in combating online scams."

The draft bill will need to be finally reviewed by the Senate before being submitted to King Norodom Sihamoni for promulgation.

The kingdom has launched an unprecedented nationwide crackdown on cyber scam networks to maintain social security, safety, and public order, and to restore the kingdom's image on the international stage.

The Southeast Asian country is committed to eradicating all online scam centers by April this year.

Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Sar Sokha said in February that Cambodia had deported more than 30,000 suspected foreign scammers, as over 210,000 others had voluntarily left the kingdom after operations against online scams had intensified since June 2025. 
Social media influencer Clavicular, a leading figure in the "looksmaxxing" movement seen here at New York Fashion Week, is out on bond after being arrested in Florida on suspicion of misdemeanor battery. (Theo Wargo / Getty Images)

Clavicular, the social media influencer leading the looksmaxxing movement, is out on bond after being arrested in Florida on suspicion of misdemeanor battery.

The manosphere internet celebrity, born Braden Eric Peters, was taken into custody Thursday on a warrant issued by the Osceola County Sheriffs Office, according to a Fort Lauderdale Police Department spokesperson.

The Sheriffs Office asked Fort Lauderdale police for assistance in arresting Peters, 20, who they alleged instigated a fight between his girlfriend, Violet Lentz, 24, and a 19-year-old influencer in February at a Kissimmee short-term rental.

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In the video of the altercation, which was broken into clips and cross-posted across social media platforms, Peters and the woman are hanging out when Lentz arrives, upset. The argument escalates into a physical altercation, with the women pushing, punching and pulling hair.

Peters is seen in the video standing to the side for much of the brawl, but at one point, he intervenes and holds the 19-year-old's wrists while separating the women. While the woman's wrists are being held to her sides, Lentz punches her several times, the video shows.

"Neither Peters nor Lentz came out of the residence to speak to deputies about the incident when they arrived at the house to investigate," the sheriff's office said in a statement to NBC Miami. "Detectives from the Osceola Sheriffs Office completed their investigation after reviewing videos and talking with witnesses."

Peters did not respond to reporters' questions about the battery charges as he left Broward County Jail on Friday.

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"I just woke up. I'm a little tired. Maybe next time," he said.

A representative for Peters declined to comment on Friday.

Read more: Contributor: Why are high school boys drawn to the manosphere?

The face of "looksmaxxxing," a subculture hyperfocused on taking extreme measures to perfect one's physical appearance, Peters doesn't just boast a fit lifestyle, he's admitted in interviews to using drugs, from steroids, peptides and testosterone to methamphetamine, and has said he chisels his face by smashing his bones with a hammer.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has also launched a separate investigation into another of Peters' videos involving an alligator in the Everglades, according to the agency.

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In that video, the influencer appears to come across what is seemingly the carcass of an alligator floating in the water and shoots it repeatedly. Peters has not been charged with any crime in that incident.

"Florida's wildlife and waterways deserve respect, not content farming," Lt. Gov. Jay Collins said in a statement on X. "Under my watch, anyone who abuses wildlife in Florida will be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law."

Peters was previously arrested in February at Casa Amigos nightclub in Scottsdale, Ariz., and charged with forgery and possession of prescription-only pills. But the Maricopa County Attorneys Office dropped the charges on Feb. 11, citing no reasonable likelihood of conviction.

Peters shared the news on X alongside a screenshot of an article with the headline Mens facial features may sway criminal sentencing.

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Above the screenshot, he wrote, You just gotta mog.

By Friday evening, Peters once again returned to social media, posting a video on TikTok with the caption "I'm back."

A comment underneath the post read, "Bailmaxxxing."

Get notified when the biggest stories in Hollywood, culture and entertainment go live. Sign up for L.A. Times entertainment alerts.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
For thousands of years, "spring farming" meant working the land with hand-plows and cattle. Today, technology is rewriting that story. Xinhua correspondent Rick heads to the fields of Shandong Province, east China, to talk to the people feeding the nation and see what life is really like for modern Chinese farmers.
Chinese Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, reads out a congratulatory message from President Xi Jinping and delivers a keynote speech at the inaugural assembly of the World Data Organization (WDO) in Beijing, capital of China, March 30, 2026. (Xinhua/Ding Lin)

BEIJING, March 30 (Xinhua) -- At the inaugural assembly of the World Data Organization (WDO) held in Beijing on Monday, Chinese Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang read out a congratulatory message from President Xi Jinping and delivered a keynote speech.

Ding, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, said that the establishment of the WDO is a major event that aligns with the development trends of the intelligent era and deepens international data cooperation.

President Xi has sent a congratulatory message to mark the WDO's inauguration, which fully embodies his earnest expectations for the organization, Ding added.

The vice premier said that China supports the growth and development of the WDO, enabling it to play a role in bridging the data divide, unlocking the value of data, and powering the digital economy, thereby contributing to the joint efforts for a better digital future.

Noting that China attaches great importance to data governance and the development of the digital economy, Ding said the country has accelerated the development of fundamental systems such as data property rights, using data to drive industrial upgrading, improve people's well-being, and enhance governance efficiency.

He also said that China will further advance the building of Digital China, deepen the development and utilization of data resources, accelerate innovation in digital and intelligent technologies, and actively expand application scenarios, injecting strong impetus into the development of the global digital economy.

Ding called for taking the WDO's establishment as an opportunity to promote the improvement of global data governance and realize the sound development of the digital economy, and put forward three proposals.

Firstly, he called for leveraging the high mobility of data and promoting the efficient flow and use of data through openness and cooperation. Secondly, he stressed harnessing the high empowering potential of data and fostering common development through inclusive sharing. Thirdly, he called for leveraging the high sensitivity of data and safeguarding the bottom line of data security through coordinated governance.

Around 500 people attended the inaugural assembly of the WDO, including representatives of the organization's members, Chinese and international scientists and technologists, government officials, and heads of international organizations. 
The recent legal storm surrounding the Duggar family took a sharp turn when Joseph Duggars wife, Kendra, was released from custody following a high-profile arrest.

Kendra failed to return to her Arkansas home after her release, suggesting a deliberate attempt to distance herself from the chaos of their primary residence.

The internet personality was arrested shortly after her husband was taken to jail. Joseph remains in custody and is facing serious charges alleging sexual misconduct with a minor.

Kendra Duggar Moves To Private Location After Her Jail Release

Washington County Sheriffs Dept. / MEGA

Following her booking into an Arkansas jail on March 20, Kendra was released on bail after only 90 minutes. However, instead of returning to the home she shared with her husband, Joseph, she was reportedly whisked away to a private and remote location.

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This move came after a significant police search of their Tontitown property, which resulted in the couple being charged with four counts of endangering the welfare of a minor and four counts of false imprisonment.

During a recorded call from jail later that evening, Kendra informed Joseph that she had been taken to a secure place to stay. While she initially seemed open to discussing her whereabouts, Joseph advised her to keep the location private.

They brought me to a good place to stay thats very private, Kendra said, as confirmed by People Magazine.

In the background of the call, children could be heard playing, suggesting that Kendra has her four children with her at this undisclosed residence.

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Joseph, who is being held on separate felony charges related to an alleged 2020 incident in Florida, told his wife he was trying to keep his spirits up by reading the Bible.

Joseph And Kendra Duggar Were Arrested Days Apart

Washington County Sheriffs MEGA

While Kendras move to a private residence suggests a desire for isolation, the legal reasons behind her displacement are deeply tied to the overlapping cases involving her husband.

The sudden arrests of both Joseph and Kendra just days apart have fueled rumors about whether their legal troubles stem from the same incident. However, officials have clarified that Joseph is currently facing two entirely separate sets of charges.

The Blast confirmed that, according to sources close to the investigation, the specific charges Kendra is facing are unrelated to her husbands Florida molestation case. Instead, both Joseph and Kendra have each been hit with four counts of endangering the welfare of a minor and four counts of false imprisonment in Arkansas.

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These charges reportedly arose after authorities discovered locks installed on the outside of bedroom doors during a search of the couples property.

Joseph Duggar Has Reportedly Not Received Many Visitors In Jail

MEGA

While Kendra has been released from custody, Joseph remains behind bars. Since his arrest, the former reality star has had very little contact with the outside world, reportedly receiving no visitors other than his legal counsel.

His communication has been limited to just a handful of phone calls, primarily to his wife and a single management consultant.

Following his initial detention, Joseph attempted to reach Kendra several times, though she did not answer his first few calls on March 19. It wasnt until the following day that the couple finally connected for a conversation that lasted nearly ten minutes, per The Blast.

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Over the next several days, their communication became more frequent, with Joseph placing multiple calls to Kendras cell phone. Reports indicate that between March 24 and March 26, the two spoke for approximately 20 minutes a day across two separate calls.

Joseph Duggars Counting On Show Feels The Heat Of His Alleged Actions

While Joseph attempts to maintain a semblance of his former life through sparse phone calls, the industry that once made him a household name is rapidly distancing itself from him.

The Blast reported that as Joseph remains in custody awaiting his transfer to Florida, major digital platforms have taken swift action to pull his content from their libraries.

In the wake of his arrest for the alleged molestation of a minor, the TLC series Counting On has been removed from several major streaming platforms in the United States.

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As of March 27, 2026, the show is no longer available to view on HBO Max or Discovery+, even as users in Canada and the United Kingdom report that it remains accessible in those regions.

How The Duggar Family Reacted To The Scandal

MEGA

As the professional world moves to distance itself from the former reality stars, the Duggar familys internal reaction has taken a defensive and deeply religious tone.

According to The Blast, certain members of the Duggar family are reportedly viewing the arrests of Joseph and Kendra as a witch hunt motivated by a dislike for their Christian faith.

An insider revealed that some relatives feel that these legal proceedings are a form of straight-up persecution from people who simply want to see the family fail.

The Why Joseph Duggars Wife Kendra Failed To Return To Arkansas Home After Jail Release first appeared on The Blast
As the end of the school year approaches, Claremore High School seniors are rallying to raise money for Grad Bash, their post-graduation party.

Michelle LeClair, parent of a Claremore senior and president of the Grad Bash committee, said the seniors will need a good deal of support to afford their all-night party at Tulsa's Incredible Pizza Co.

"We're just a little bit behind," LeClair said. "We didn't get to do quite as much of the fundraising events that we had wanted to. I jumped in last minute because the last president stepped down, so we're just trying to, right here at the end, finish up and meet our goal."

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Claremore senior Eve Mathews-Cox, the Student Council secretary, said planning for Grad Bash begins anew each school year. The parents of the senior class form the organizing committee and rely on a thick binder passed down from class to class to chart their finances.

The thermometer printed inside the binder, labeled "Progress," is about one-third full to represent the $11,784 the committee has raised. LeClair said to ensure the committee can leave some money for next year's Grad Bash, the senior class needs to wrangle an additional $23,000.

"If we can do more, that's awesome," LeClair said. "If not, we would like to just at least meet the goal."

Mathews-Cox said she and her classmates will put on several fundraising events to fill the Grad Bash purse. Fitness Time Nutrition donated 20% of its proceeds to the committee through a "give back" event Saturday, and other local businesses will host fundraisers in April:

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 April 9: "Give back" event at J. Farley's, 820 S. Lynn Riggs Blvd. in Claremore, 5 to 9 p.m. Grad Bash committee receives 10% of proceeds and 100% of the donation box.

 April 18: Bake sale at 6:19 Nutrition, 983 W. Will Rogers Blvd. in Claremore, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

 April 25: Car wash at Pizza Hut, 600 S. Lynn Riggs Blvd. in Claremore, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

People can give directly to the Grad Bash campaign at tinyurl.com/yc7ma6np. Mathews-Cox said they can also contribute by purchasing something from the Grad Bash Amazon gift registry at tinyurl.com/bdtj26x2.

"With the way the economy is right now, everything is just so expensive, and when you're fighting to be able to pay tuition, having a vacuum and bed sheets is not your no. 1 priority," Mathews-Cox said. "It's nice to have that sort of help, even if it's just one or two items or some cash. ... It's giving us a chance to get some help for the future."

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Claremore seniors have capped off their final year of high school with Grad Bash since 1998. LeClair said she won a TV at her Grad Bash in 2003, when the party was still at the high school, and she wants her daughter to have the same thrill.

"It's exciting," LeClair said. "It's fun. I really want her to have that last chance to be a kid before she has to do all the grown-up things."

Mathews-Cox, named one of Oklahoma's top 100 high school seniors this year, plans to study either biomedical engineering or biochemistry at Washington University in St. Louis.

She said she's looking forward to fishing for $1 bills in Incredible Pizza's money booth and enjoying one last hurrah with her friends.

"It's symbolic of, 'Oh my gosh, we finally did it,'" Mathews-Cox said. "I feel like I speak for most seniors when I say we are so ready to be done. That 'senioritis' is really kicking in. It's very much that run through the finish line."
Dear Abby: My sister-in-law "Nancy" and my wife have a strained relationship, but they love each other and talk often. Every so often, Nancy becomes abusive with my wife. The ire stems from a messy divorce Nancy went through 15 years ago.

We have traveled to see Nancy's son (our nephew) who lives with her ex, "Jim." While we are there, we see them both and enjoy some quality time together. This aggravates Nancy, who feels that because (in her opinion) Jim was solely responsible for the divorce, we are disrespecting her by visiting him. I think she should understand that we developed a relationship with him during their marriage.

We love Nancy, but we feel we are entitled to maintain the relationship with her ex. Are we wrong? Must we choose a side since she is so hateful toward him?

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 Wrong Side in Texas

Dear Wrong Side: Nancy is hurt and bitter that Jim left her, as well as possessive of you and her sister. Time has not mellowed her. You are not wrong to maintain a relationship with your former brother-in-law. As adults, you and your wife are entitled to have a relationship with anyone you wish. (It is also understandable that you would want to maintain a relationship with your nephew.) That said, however, it would seem prudent for the two of you to disclose less to Nancy about your travels because she is so sensitive and emotional about it.

Dear Abby: Aunt's passing is followed by a bitter dispute

Dear Abby: My cousin's son, "Troy," is getting married in eight months. I just received the "save the date," and I'm trying to decide whether to attend. The wedding is out of state, requiring travel and a hotel. Troy and I haven't spoken in years.

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He has never shown an interest in getting to know me. The last communication I had with him was a thank-you note for his high school graduation gift eight years ago. Once, when Troy, his brother and his mother were supposed to spend a day or two visiting me while on vacation, they decided at the last minute to visit other relatives in California. And last year, when the family was supposed to come for Thanksgiving, they rented an Airbnb close to my house, and then everyone made plans to do things without me. Needless to say, I was surprised to receive his "save the date."

Must I attend? Should I attend? Should I send a gift, or simply convey my best wishes for a happy marriage, like I would to any other stranger or acquaintance?

 Baffled in Arizona

Dear Baffled: Because relations with this branch of the family are so distant, I don't think you need to go to the expense of traveling to be there. However, the polite thing to do to maintain some sort of family connection would be to send a gift to the happy couple, along with a card conveying your good wishes. (My intuition tells me you likely won't receive an acknowledgement for your generosity, so don't be disappointed.)

Dear Abby: Thankless weddings have worn thin

Contact Dear Abby at www.DearAbby.com.

This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Dear Abby: Sister-in-law bitter when couple visit her ex
Topline

The full pink moon  the fourth of 13 full moons in 2026  will turn full on Wednesday, April. 1, 2026. Named for the pink phlox wildflowers that bloom at this time of year in North America  and because it will look pink in color  this full moon will rise during dusk and, one day after its full, shine close to a bright star as seen from North America.

Everything you need to know about Aprils full pink moon  including exactly when its full and the best evening to see it rise in dramatic twilight. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images) Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

Key Facts

The moon will be officially full at 10:13 p.m. EDT and 7:13 p.m. PDT on Wednesday (April 1) and will be best seen appearing in the east at the time of moonrise where you are. The moon will also appear bright and full on Feb. 2.

A full moon always looks its best when it first appears above the eastern horizon during dusk. The sight is at its most dramatic when the moon appears very close to sunset, rising into fading daylight during blue hour to provide dramatic contrast. Thats exactly what happens this month in North America.

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On the west coast, a very rare sync occurs, with 7:13 p.m. PDT being the exact moment of full moon, sunset, and moonrise, according to sunrisesunset.com.

Almanac reports that Native American names for Februarys full moon include Breaking Ice Moon, Frog Moon and Sucker Moon.

The day after the full moon, on April 2, the moon will shine less than two degrees from Spica, the 16th brightest star in the night sky.

Best Time To See The Full pink Moon Rise

To see the full pink moon at its best, find an elevated location, an open field or an east-facing coastline with a clear view of the eastern horizon. To find the best time to see it appear from where you are, consult a moonrise calculator. Here are some sample times :

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New York: sunset at 7:20 p.m. EDT, moonrise at 7:15 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, April 1.

Los Angeles: sunset at 7:13 p.m. PDT, moonrise at 7:13 p.m. PDT on Wednesday, April 1.

pink Moon And Easter Sunday

This year, Aprils pink moon is also called the paschal moon  paschal meaning Easter. Thats because in the Western Christian tradition, Easter Sunday is always held on the Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox. The spring equinox was on March 20 this year, and although the church uses a fixed date (March 21), the pink moon is the decisive factor. This year, Easter Sunday must fall on April 5.

How To Star-Hop To Spica And The pink Moon

Spica, which will be close to the pink moon this year, can be easily found in spring and summer in the Northern Hemisphere using a popular star-hop. As the pink moon rises and it gets dark, look to the northeast for the Big Dipper, which will be standing on its handle. Trace that handle  a curved line of stars  to go Arc to Arcturus,  arriving at the next bright star in the night sky, low in the east. From bright Arcturus, speed on to Spica, darting along the horizon to the bright star just below the pink moon.

Full Moon May 2026: When To See The flower Moon And blue Moon

The pink moon is the fourth of 13 full moons in 2026. A solar year is 365.24 days, while a lunar year is around 354.37 days, so sometimes there are 13 full moons in one calendar (solar) year. The 13 full moons in 2026 have so far included a blood moon total lunar eclipse in March, and will include a blue moon in May and supermoons in November and December, the latter on Christmas Eve.

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The next full moon  the flower moon  arrives on May 1. A second full moon will follow it in the same calendar month, when a full moon also rises on May 31  a blue moon.

Further Reading

MORE FROM FORBESWhy Easter 2026 Is So Late  And How Aprils Full Moon Sets The Date By Jamie Carter

MORE FROM FORBESYour Full Moon Guide For 2026  All 13 Dates For Your Diary By Jamie Carter

MORE FROM FORBESYour Ultimate Guide To Stargazing And Astronomy In 2026 By Jamie Carter

MORE FROM FORBESThe Five Must-See Meteor Showers Of 2026  According To An Expert By Jamie Carter
Its spring and Floridas wildlife is on the move. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is sharing seasonal tips to reduce conflicts and help conserve our native species.

During this time of year, migration, breeding, feeding and nesting all increase. The following tips can help protect wildlife and minimize disturbances during this busy season and throughout the year.

Bats: Bat maternity season runs from April 16 through Aug. 14, the time of year when bats give birth and raise their young. Its illegal to block or exclude bats from their roosts during this period.

Bears: As temperatures rise, bears become more active, and mothers begin teaching their cubs what to eat and how to survive. Help ensure your garbage, pet food and bird seed dont become part of that lesson by removing or securing potential attractants around your property.

Gopher tortoises: Floridas only native tortoise becomes more active this time of year, foraging for food and seeking a mate. If you spot a gopher tortoise or its distinctive half-moon-shaped burrow entrance, give it space and avoid disturbing it.

Manatees: For boaters and personal watercraft users, staying alert for manatees can help prevent collisions with these large aquatic mammals. Encounters are more likely this time of year as manatees leave their winter habitats and travel through waterways along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, as well as inland waters. Slow down and watch carefully for manatees below the surface when boating.

Sea turtles: Large marine turtles begin nesting on Floridas beaches from about March through October. You can support their nesting season by keeping beaches dark and free of any obstacles at night. Artificial lighting can disturb nesting turtles and disorient hatchlings, so avoid using flashlights or cellphones on the beach after dark. If youre in a building along the beach, close the curtains, pull the shades, or turn off the lights to prevent disruptions.

Snakes: You might start seeing some of Florida's native snakes as they become more active during warmer temperatures. Snakes are shy and usually try to avoid encounters; however, it is not unusual to find them basking in the sunlight on artificial surfaces. If you spot one in your yard, on your sidewalk or driveway, or while hiking, give it space and admire from a distance.

Scenes from Dickmans Island in Collier County as Megan Hatten, Southwest Florida Shorebird Program Manager for Audubon Florida and Derek Salge, avian specialist for Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve stake out an area for that will be a nesting area for Wilsons plovers and possibly, an American oystercatcher on Wednesday, March 11, 2026. Dickmans Island is in the Ten Thousand Islands National Wildlife Sanctuary. It is coming up on nesting season for shorebirds including the Wilsons plovers and Audubon Florida is asking visitors to be aware of the small birds that nest on SWFL beaches.

Nesting shorebirds: You can help protect shorebirds, seabirds and wading birds as nesting season begins by keeping your distance (at least 300 feet) while on the beach or out on the water. Youll know youre too close if the birds appear agitated or fly off their nests. Shorebird eggs and chicks nestled among the sand and shells arent easy to spot, so watch your step while youre enjoying the beach. Wading birds, such as herons and egrets, along with pelicans, are also busy nesting in mangroves and tree islands.

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For more information on wildlife in spring, visit MyFWC.com/News and click on Spring Wildlife News. The FWC encourages the public to report suspected wildlife violations to the FWCs Wildlife Alert Hotline at 888-404-FWCC (3922).

Linda Sandlin, Rotary Noontime Membership Chairman, welcomes Krystal Yoder into the Club at its Thursday noontime meeting.

Rotary welcomes Yoder

The Rotary Club of Marco Island Noontime recently welcomed its newest member, Krystal Yoder.

According to Rotarian Henry Stanley, Yoder was born and raised in a small town in Michigan. Growing up, she discovered her talent for secretarial work and was entered into a national typing contest for her skills. She could do shorthand faster than her teacher could talk.

Yoder furthered that interest into computer classes. She also helped her ex-husband expand his lumber business. They sold the company in 2006.

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Soon after, Yoder discovered Marco Island, and it was love at first sight! After visiting from 2008-2014, she made the move and purchased her home.

Everything was perfect except I needed to find a purpose here, said Yoder. Then along came Rotarian Jim Sandberg who invited Yoder to volunteer with Rotarys hugely successful Flags for Heroes event this past February.

Yoder was inducted March 19.

For more information about the Rotary Club of Marco Island Noontime, contact Linda Sandlin, linda@marcorealtysource.com or 239-777-9200.

More: Now You Know: America the Beautiful exhibit on Marco

And: Now You Know: Shark fishing debate; nesting season; Marco Lutheran gives

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Live, work or play on Marco Island, South Naples or Everglades City? If so and you have something youd like featured in Now You Know, send your information to mail@marconews.com.

This article originally appeared on Marco Eagle: Now You Know: Spring to life  Wildlife is more active now; more
A rescue became a rescuer when scent detection dog Bear saved over 100 koalas during the "Black Summer" bush fires of 2019-2020, as one Instagram user reported.

Instagram creator Tank's Good News (@tanksgoodnews) shared a slideshow with photos of Bear hard at work in the scorched ruins of one of Australia's eucalyptus groves.

Wearing boots to protect his feet and a vest to inform bystanders about his work, Bear uses his talented nose to bring his handler to koalas, which would otherwise be in serious danger from habitat loss.

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This is a major turnaround for Bear, who had a troubled history before entering the program.

"Initially deemed challenging as a pet, Bear's unique traits made him an ideal candidate for scent detection with the University of the Sunshine Coast's Detection Dogs for Conservation team, supported by the International Fund for Animal Welfare," Tank's Good News wrote in the slideshow description.

It was also clear that Bear's efforts made a significant impact at a time when this species was struggling.

"His efforts led to the rescue of numerous koalas that would have otherwise perished in the widespread fires, which significantly impacted koala populations across New South Wales and other regions," Tank's Good News continued.

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Koalas are already in a perilous position. These hyper-specialized animals primarily eat the leaves of specific eucalyptus trees, making them especially vulnerable to habitat loss. The more wild areas shrink due to human activity or are altered due to a changing climate, the more difficult it is for this unique species to survive.

That makes Bear's efforts all the more impactful; according to the IFAW, there may be as few as 100,000 koalas left in the wild. That means Bear may have personally saved as many as one out of every 1,000 wild koalas that exist in the world.

According to Tank's Good News, that was worth some recognition.

"Bear was subsequently honored at the Animal Action Awards for his remarkable contributions to wildlife conservation," the caption said.

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Similar efforts have been made by conservationists looking for everything from endangered bees to hedgehogs, and this is expected to continue in the future.

"The work of detection dogs like Bear continues to be crucial for wildlife rescue and research, including studying the long-term health and habitat impacts on koalas," Tank's Good News reported. "Koalas remain a vulnerable species, with ongoing conservation efforts aiming to protect them from threats like bushfires and habitat loss."

"Who's a good boy! Bear!" one commenter praised.

"What a legend!" another added.

Get TCD's free newsletters for easy tips to save more, waste less, and make smarter choices  and earn up to $5,000 toward clean upgrades in TCD's exclusive Rewards Club.
Usha Vance, the first Indian American second lady in the U.S. and the youngest in decades, launched a childrens podcast on Monday.

I always loved reading from when I was a kid until today, said the second lady in the first episode of Story Time with the Second Lady, geared toward children. And now, as a mom, story time with my kids is the highlight of my day.

She gave viewers a tour of her office-turned-reading nook, decorated with small Lego projects created by the Vance family.

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Each of the first three episodes features a book. Vance read the first one, The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter, first published more than 100 years ago. She invited former race car driver Danica Patrick to read Disneys Cars and Paralympic bronze medalist Brent Poppen to recite his own book, Playground Lessons-Friendship & Forgiveness: Harley and His Wheelchair.

Because when we read, we grow, Vance said.

In a post on X, Vice President JD Vance said, Very proud of my wife, Usha, for launching her podcast today!

Very proud of my wife, Usha, for launching her podcast today! https://t.co/EWEGbxkpmo  JD Vance (@JDVance) March 30, 2026

The second lady told NBC News the podcast is an advertisement for reading.

Usha Vance on her pregnancy and everyday life

She expressed her long-standing interest in education, and this initiative seemed like a natural fit, given the second couples three young children  Ewan, Vivek and Mirabel  are under 10 years of age.

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As I was teaching them to read, I was starting to see some of the statistics out there about the decline in literacy rates, about the fact that this is really a long-term trend and its worrisome, Vance said.

The Vances announced they are expecting a fourth child, a boy, this year, which coincides with the 250th anniversary of the United States.

Usha Vance said there are some obvious differences between this pregnancy and her past ones.

I have to dress up a lot more. My last pregnancy, there were a lot of sweatpants, she joked.

She also opened up about the need for normalcy in her familys day-to-day life.

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We have our neighborhood shops. We have our Costco membership, Vance said. She added that shes usually in a T-shirt and jeans, with her hair up, when taking a trip to the grocery store or the library.

JD and Usha Vances love story began at Yale, as the Deseret News previously reported. Vance, in his 2016 memoir Hillbilly Elegy, said they got to know each other during a class assignment and fell in love.

Usha Vance worked as an attorney but left her position to serve as the second lady and support her husband, the U.S. vice president. Of hitting pause on her career, Vance said, It was really disorienting at first to lose that.

But she saw it as an opportunity to pursue other things she felt passionate about, adding that when the time comes, she intends to get back to work.

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Vance told NBC she gets together with first lady Melania Trump, who has been generous in sharing her experiences from her previous tenure in the White House, at a time when Barron Trump, her son, was only 10 years old.

Will JD Vance run in 2028? Heres what Usha Vance says

Asked about her closeness to the vice president on official matters, the second lady said she isnt a staffer nor is she involved in any professional capacity.

Theres no expectation that we are going to see eye to eye on everything, Vance said.

The expectation is that we are going to be open-minded and have a conversation, and that Ill provide meaningful input from the perspective of someone who loves him and wants him to succeed. So even if we dont agree. I think its always very productive.

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She told NBC News that everyone asks her whether her husband will run for president in 2028.

My attitude is none of this has been planned, the second lady said. I think that my role here is to support him and what he might wish to do and to help him in this moment.

NBC interviewers also asked Vance if she felt fully comfortable in the universe of conservatives, noting her previous affiliation as a Democrat in the past.

I dont feel like I have to walk around pretending anything of the sort. Sometimes I have thoughts that fit very comfortably into one side or another. Sometimes I have views that are way more idiosyncratic, she said.

Its a world that I think is actually rather accepting of that since everyone knows that I really care about JDs success.
Tuesday is Trans Day of Visibility , an annual day of observance on March 31 focused on highlighting trans history and issues affecting the trans community.

Keep up with the latest in LGBTQ + news and politics. Sign up for The Advocate's email newsletter.

Across the United States, trans people face growing difficulties in accessing gender-affirming care , like hormone therapy and gender-affirming surgery. This year, dozens of bills proposed in state legislatures across the country seek to reduce access to gender-affirming treatments, and the Trump administration has implemented limits on age and insurance coverage for the services.

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This Trans Day of Visibility, The Advocate has compiled a list of five GoFundMe campaigns crowdsourcing funding for gender-affirming surgery for trans people across the United States.

Soph Opatz of Arizona

soph opatz

GoFundMe

Soph Opatz

Soph is a nonbinary Arizonan seeking help with paying for top surgery. Their partner, Ali DeMeo, launched a GoFundMe campaign on February 22, with a goal of $6,000.

Soph experiences gender dysphoria because of their chest, but top surgery is not covered by their insurance, according to the fundraisers description. The couple is also saving up for their wedding, and Soph has limited days off from work, the campaign said.

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This surgery will allow them to exist more freely, comfortably, and confidently in a body that makes them feel at home, DeMeo wrote. Access the fundraiser at this link.

Jack Lea of California

Jack Lea

GoFundMe

Jack Lea

Jack Lea, a trans man from California with Autism, underwent top surgery on March 23 and is seeking support paying an unexpected bill of more than $4,500 after his insurance did not cover the entire procedure.

Lea is currently searching for work after losing his job, which has added a degree of financial instability, according to his GoFundMe campaign page.

This surgery is life-changing for me, he wrote. However, I am feeling anxious about my ability to cover it and remain financially stable. Access the fundraiser at this link.

Fern Keenan of Texas

Fern Keenan

GoFundMe

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Fern Keenan

Texas resident Fern Keenan will soon travel to Guadalajara, Mexico, for top surgery. Concerns about the safety and cost of gender-affirming care in the United States right now urged them to look for care abroad, according to Keenans GoFunMe description.

Keenan and their partner plan to pay for the surgery once they have raised enough funds, but are also navigating debt and wedding expenses. Their goal is to raise $10,000.

Ive spent a long time feeling disconnected from my body, and top surgery is something I need to feel more comfortable and aligned with who I am, they wrote. Access the fundraiser at this link.

Tommy Nouansacksy of Texas

Tommy Nouansacksy

GoFundMe

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Tommy Nouansacksy

Tommy Nouansacksy is a drag queen, DJ, and entrepreneur based in Austin, Texas. Nouansacksy began to transition about 9 months ago and is seeking funds to help pay for hormone therapy and laser hair removal, according to their GoFundMe page. They are seeking $5,500 in support.

These are essential steps for me to feel more comfortable and authentic in my own skin, Nouansacksy wrote. But the financial burden can be overwhelming. Access the fundraiser at this link.

Gaux of Illinois

Gaux

GoFundMe

Gaux

Gaux is a Chicago-based poet and artist preparing for top surgery in late April. But accessing this care comes with a price tag: Gaux is seeking $15,000 to help fund their surgery and recovery expenses.

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This surgery represents relief, and the ability to move through the world with the chest of their dreams, the GoFundMe description reads. Access the fundraiser at this link.





This article was written as part of the Future of Queer Media fellowship program at The Advocate, which is underwritten by a generous gift from Morrison Media Group . The program helps support the next generation of LGBTQ+ journalists.

This article originally appeared on Advocate: This Trans Day of Visibility, help these 5 trans people afford gender-affirming surgery costs

RELATED
Not long ago, Pamela Atkinson came across a book she didnt remember ordering and read it. The novel was titled In His Steps. Written over 100 years ago by Charles M. Sheldon, it is the fictional story of a group of people of faith who pledge to tackle every decision they face with the question What would Jesus do? and then act accordingly.

After reading it, Atkinson, who is probably Utahs best-known  and most beloved and respected  advocate for the poor, the disenfranchised and the ill, felt a sense of urgency to apply the concept to life today.

She calls the moments she knows are a spiritual prompting a holy nudge. But this one felt like a more urgent holy shove because it dominated her thoughts and carried a sense of hurry up.

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The hurry-up part is because Atkinson is 93 years old and has been quite frail, with bouts of illness recently. She told Deseret News she thinks this may be her final heaven-sent assignment.

Pamela Atkinson poses for a portrait in her home in Salt Lake City on Friday, March 7, 2025. | Laura Seitz, Deseret News

She said she tries to always act on spiritual promptings. So Atkinson has gathered a group of policymakers and faith leaders to ponder what Jesus would do in this community and beyond  as well as how resulting goodness could spread to others in more far-reaching ripples. She wants to ensure the work that has filled her heart and busied her hands for decades doesnt lose momentum or attention, because the challenges that beset folks never really go away.

The result is a roundtable discussion titled A Conversation with Pamela Atkinson: What Would Jesus Do? It centers not on the details of any faith, but on a discussion of how faith and its practitioners can make whole communities and individual lives much better. The goal is to get the collaboration and the caring that ensues to spread. The roundtable, which takes place this week, will be disseminated as part of the Deseret Voices podcast series, hosted by Jane Clayson Johnson.

Homeless advocate Pamela Atkinson encourages passersby to support the Pamela Atkinson Homeless Trust Fund through donations on their tax form while standing outside the Fourth Street Clinic in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Feb. 4, 2016. All donations to the trust fund go directly to organizations statewide that provide vital services and assistance to individuals and families experiencing homelessness. | Laura Seitz

Atkinson has selected a small but diverse group of participants. The invitation the panelists received asked them to be part of an interfaith panel exploring Christian kindness, dignity and the power of faith to lift communities in times of joy and stress.

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The hourlong event, which Atkinson will host, includes Utah first lady Abby Cox; Sophia DiCaro, executive director of the Utah Governors Office of Planning and Budget; Michael Edwards, director of youth and young adults for the Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake City; Rev. Corey Hodges, lead pastor of The Point Church; Bishop W. Christopher Waddell, Presiding Bishop of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; and Rev. Jamie White, lead pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Salt Lake City (Atkinsons longtime church). Sharon Eubank, who oversees global humanitarian efforts for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is co-hosting.

Atkinsons legacy

Pamela Atkinson visits with Scotty at the Volunteers of America Utah Detoxfication Center on May 8, 2003. Scotty slept at the center after having gotten sick the previous evening. He had the best intentions of keeping his promise to Atkinson  to stay at the center for two weeks  but Atkinson was doubtful he would stay that long. | Laura Seitz

A homeless trust fund, health clinics and transitional housing all bear Atkinsons name and honor her legacy, particularly the part that has eased the suffering and brought opportunities to people who are homeless or very close to it. Atkinson has advised a handful of governors and served on many boards, crafting policy that at its forefront focuses on what will bolster those who struggle. Most of that, she notes, has come from holy nudges and heaven-sent opportunities.

Atkinson told Deseret News she really does believe the ambition to bring a diverse group together based on the what would Jesus do premise is probably her final God-given assignment.

If it is her last project, its a good one, she said. Ive had a lot of holy nudges from the Lord in terms of the work that I do, and even when Ive been sick, hes still done that because I can always help people by referring them to somebody else. I know the Lords using me right up to the end, and I know the end isnt too far away.

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The roundtable is appropriate to this era of disagreement and dissension, she said. What would Jesus do?

Atkinson would like to see ideas on how to come together to solve community problems, lift up strugglers and be accountable for the tasks to emerge from this small Christian group. She sees the group as a committee of sorts  Christians that could easily over time expand to other faiths, because many faith traditions cherish and practice the common principles like kindness, care for the less fortunate and basic decency that were part of Christs ministry.

Ed Snoddy and Pamela Atkinson chat with Max after delivering him a hot Thanksgiving Day meal at his tent in West Valley City on Thursday, Nov. 24, 2016. | Laura Seitz

But this is where she wants to start. She said she has known and worked with each of the six panelists. She has worked with so many people, in fact, that her original proposed list of participants had to be whittled down.

Her wish? I want people to look at their interactions. The other day I was talking to this person and I said, You know, I dont think I agree with you on this issue. And he clarified and I said, I still disagree, but boy, I like you. Well remain friends. Thats what I want people to learn. Itll have some similarities with the governors Disagree Better initiative.

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As for legacy, Atkinson hopes people believe she made a difference in the world with the Lords help. She didnt do it alone. I want people to see my legacy as something they can build on and continue  that its very easy to help one another, she said.

The key, she said, is to always ask people what they need, rather than telling them what they need. Dont discriminate because people are of a different socioeconomic class. And dont give up on people.

Pamela Atkinson checks up on Cricket at the Allstar Hotel on North Temple on May 15, 2003. Atkinson took Cricket to the hospital to have her swollen tonsils examined. Cricket has been staying in the hotel after a run-in with her abusive ex-boyfriend. | Laura Seitz

She yearns to know that others will build on any good that has already been done. She pointed out that anyone can be part of societys solutions.

Atkinson herself grew up in extreme poverty in England, with a mother who worked very hard to support her children and a father who raced greyhounds, gambled money away and then left. She used education to escape poverty so intense that they lacked the indoor plumbing most of her peers took for granted. She became a nurse and later returned to school for a masters degree in both sociology and business. By the time she retired, she was a vice president at Intermountain Health, where she oversaw humanitarian services.

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But she didnt really retire, continuing to serve on boards and acting as an adviser to Utahs recent governors, among other contributions. And she continued, until recently, visiting my homeless friends and distributing dog food to those whose only companion was often a canine. She used the money she earned serving on boards to pay someones rent here and hospital bill there. It was her help-others fund.

Even now, she makes referrals for folks who need help that she can no longer provide directly.

Stepping up

Gov. Spencer Cox, right, presents Pamela Atkinson with a signed proclamation creating Pamela Atkinson Day during an event at the Capitol in Salt Lake City on Friday, Feb. 24, 2023. At left is President M. Russell Ballard, acting president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. | Spenser Heaps, Deseret News

When Deseret News contacted several of the panelists, it was clear that accepting Atkinsons invitation was not just belief in the purpose but also joy at being asked by someone everyone seems to consider a friend.

Hodges, the Baptist minister, described Atkinson as a longtime friend with a wonderful legacy of doing great community work. I wanted to participate and contribute to her legacy as well.

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Hes also interested in the perspective other faith groups will bring to the discussion. Theyve all read the In His Steps book to gear up for the conversation.

Hodges referred to Matthew 25, where Jesus describes the least of these.

People who are overlooked, marginalized, disenfranchised, Hodges said. It is our responsibility as people of faith to minister to these people, to help make life and lifes burdens a little lighter, to live out the Christian principles that we say we hold deeply. ... Although we may be from different faith traditions, I think we can all agree that looking out for those who are homeless, those who are in prison, those who are hungry, those sorts of things are principles of humanity and most faith communities support coming together to provide some relief in these situations. Its exciting because Jesus would absolutely do that.

He was a radical character who thought outside the box, who crossed boundaries  cultural boundaries, religious boundaries, economic boundaries, political boundaries.

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DiCaro, from the governors office, said she feels a lot of pressure to be entrusted with helping further Atkinsons goal for the group. While listening to the book, she said she started thinking that its about 50/50 what people can control and what they cant. She sees an opportunity to better direct what you can control in a more productive way ... an opportunity to hopefully inspire people to reevaluate what they can do in  this sounds cheesy  making the world a better place.

Gov. Spencer J. Cox and community advocate Pamela Atkinson discuss their desire for every Utahn who is filing taxes to donate $3 to the Pamela Atkinson Homeless Trust Fund at a press conference at the Geraldine E. King Womens Resource Center in Salt Lake City on Thursday, April 6, 2023. The annual tax campaign highlights the opportunity Utahns have to donate directly to the trust fund, which enables vital services and assistance to individuals and families experiencing homelessness. | Laura Seitz, Deseret News

She said she hopes people will be inspired to ask themselves in any situation to do better, rethink, ask: Is there a different approach to what were doing here, especially with all the uncertainty going on around us? Its a great reminder to reevaluate what we can control.

Edwards, the Catholic, said just being asked to participate was an honor, knowing the life Pamelas lived and all the things shes had her hand in.

He said he has since been pondering, Are we really sacrificing anything like Christ would have sacrificed? Are we helping our neighbors out? Are we too involved with ourselves, maybe?

Atkinson doesnt have very big feet, Edwards said, but she has huge shoes to fill.

That ripple effect will be very important.
Mar. 29MITCHELL  In an industry often built on volume, Jeralyn Fast is slowing things down.

At Shear Perfection Pet Salon, the 21-year-old schedules fewer dogs, builds in breaks and prioritizes comfort over speed  a philosophy shaped by years of training and her own struggles to find consistent grooming care growing up.

Fast grew up near De Smet surrounded by hunting dogs and Labs. When her family added a small Yorkie, they struggled to find a reliable groomer. Area groomers often moved away after a year, forcing her family to drive two hours to Sioux Falls.

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"I realized dog grooming was a good gig that combined my interest in cutting hair with my love for animals," Fast said.

While anyone can start a grooming business without formal certification, Fast wanted to build a strong foundation. She attended Rio Grooming School and Salon in Hastings, Minnesota, where she learned not only grooming techniques but also how to run a business and protect her body through proper mechanics.

"My time at Rio was amazing. It was such a supportive environment," Fast said. "I loved that the professional groomers would often pause their own work to pull us aside and show us how to execute specialized trims."

The program typically lasts six months, but Fast stayed for an additional year after being invited to work alongside professional groomers, gaining hands-on experience with a wide range of dogs and temperaments.

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After finishing her training and spending time in Minneapolis, Fast realized she preferred a smaller community  one where she could build relationships with clients. She was drawn to Mitchell's growing business scene and its role as a hub for surrounding rural towns.

"Everyone goes to Mitchell at least once a month," Fast said. "Clients could easily drop their dogs off while they ran errands or shopped."

Finding the right location proved challenging at first, with high rent and limited availability. But a chance encounter helped change that. Fast's mother and sister met local property owner John Adamo, who offered to show them a downtown space. Fast signed a lease and, with help from family and local contractors, spent two months remodeling it into a high-end salon.

Her extended time training at Rio Grooming, where she gained hands-on experience with dogs of varying temperaments, helped shape her approach to grooming. Rather than focusing on volume, she prioritizes each dog's comfort and emotional well-being.

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Unlike high-volume salons that may see six to eight dogs a day, Fast schedules longer appointments to allow for breaks and reduce stress. Puppies under six months receive a discounted first session to help them acclimate.

"If it's going well, I'll do the complete haircut," Fast said. "If they're struggling, I do what I can and stop when necessary."

Her salon is designed with that philosophy in mind. Grooming tables and tubs are ergonomic and lower to the ground, allowing dogs to step up without lifting. A custom drying station and a small enclosed drying room  complete with a puppy gate and dog bed  give pets a safe place to relax.

After grooming, dogs can roam freely, whether that means napping, playing, or watching the street from the front windows.

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Shear Perfection offers full grooms, baths, trims, breed-specific cuts, standalone nail trims and spa add-ons such as blueberry facials. Retail products include treats from a local dog bakery and specialty collars and leashes.

Because she operates the business alone, Fast limits appointments to dogs under 100 pounds and declines breeds she said may require multiple handlers for safe grooming.

Demand has been strong since opening. Within 24 hours of her open house, Fast had booked 42 appointments. She now has around 150 clients and is nearing her planned cap of 200 dogs.

"I don't want to take on too many clients right away," she said. "I want to make sure every dog gets the attention and care it needs."

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Fast credits much of her early success to word-of-mouth support and community connections, including Mitchell Main Street and Beyond (MMSB).

MMSB Executive Director Elizabeth Luczak has been highlighting women business owners on social media during Women's History Month and said Fast has made an immediate impact downtown.

"She isn't just focused on getting her business up and running, she's intentionally building relationships, learning the local landscape, and showing up with a positive solutions-oriented attitude," Luczak said. "Young women business owners like Jeralyn bring innovation, resilience, and a collaborative spirit that strengthens local economies."

Fast is already thinking about ways to collaborate with other businesses. She envisions events such as discounted nail trim days paired with shopping at nearby stores or outdoor dog playtime, as well as partnerships with local bakeries, pairing discounted blueberry facials with a blueberry dessert from a nearby shop.

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While her current lease includes an option to renew, Fast said she eventually hopes to operate the business from her home while keeping it rooted in the Mitchell area.

As her client list nears capacity, her focus isn't on growing bigger, but staying consistent with the approach that got her there  one dog at a time.
This photo provided by Indonesia's National Search And Rescue Agency (Basarnas) Palu region shows rescuers riding a ship during search and rescue operation in the northern waters of Taliabu Island, North Maluku province, Indonesia, March 30, 2026. A motor vessel, named Nazila 05, sank in the northern waters of Taliabu Island in Indonesia's North Maluku province, leaving 27 passengers missing, the Palu Search and Rescue Office reported on Monday. (Photo by Basarnas Palu/Handout via Xinhua)

JAKARTA, March 30 (Xinhua) -- A motor vessel, named Nazila 05, sank in the northern waters of Taliabu Island in Indonesia's North Maluku province, leaving 27 passengers missing, the Palu Search and Rescue Office reported on Monday.

The incident was first reported by the boat owner at around 10 a.m. local time, prompting authorities to launch a search and rescue operation, said Muh Rizal, head of the Palu Search and Rescue Office, in a written statement.

"Based on the report, the vessel departed from Taliabu Island to Kema village on Sunday at 6 p.m. local time," Rizal told Xinhua. "At around 4 a.m. local time, the captain reported that Nazila 05 had sunk. All crew members were able to conduct a self-evacuation using a long boat, but their whereabouts remain unknown," he said.

He added that further developments regarding the search and rescue operation would be delivered in the next report. 

This photo provided by Indonesia's National Search And Rescue Agency (Basarnas) Palu region shows rescuers preparing for search and rescue operation in the northern waters of Taliabu Island, North Maluku province, Indonesia, March 30, 2026. A motor vessel, named Nazila 05, sank in the northern waters of Taliabu Island in Indonesia's North Maluku province, leaving 27 passengers missing, the Palu Search and Rescue Office reported on Monday. (Photo by Basarnas Palu/Handout via Xinhua)
NEED TO KNOW

Kiros, a young lion, was reunited with his parents, Kim and Carl, after being separated and illegally sold as a cub

The Wildcat Sanctuary rescued Kiros after getting a call from a zoo that he was related to two lions already in their care

After everything hes been through, he can now relax at his forever home, said the sanctuarys director

A young lion got a sweet reunion with his family after being separated.

Kiros, the young male African lion, was illegally sold as a pet when he was a cub, according to a news release from The Wildcat Sanctuary.

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Staff from the sanctuary in Minnesota had discovered Kiros was missing during a rescue mission to save lions from squalid roadside zoo in Quebec, Canada. Kiros parents, Kim and Carl, among nine lions rescued.



From the moment we heard about the missing cub, we hoped we might one day find him, said Tammy Thies, founder and executive director of The Wildcat Sanctuary in Sandstone.

She continued, To discover that Kiros not only survived but could come to the sanctuary where his parents now live is incredibly powerful. Stories like this remind us why rescue work matters.

Kiros parents, Kim and Carl, watch as their son arrives at The Wildcat Sanctuary

Credit: The Wildcat Sanctuary

The sanctuary then got a surprising call a few months later. There was a young lion, related to Kim and Carl, who was looking for home.

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Staff checked photos and records to confirm it was Kiros.

Authorities had taken the lion cub and gave him to an accredited zoo, which cared for him for 18 months while a legal proceeding involving the roadside zoo in Quebec was resolved.

Staff at the accredited zoo lovingly named him Kiros, which means "lord."

The Wildcat Sanctuary then traveled 2,280-miles roundtrip to bring Kiros back to his family in a crate, after obtaining the proper international permits. Kiros parents watched curiously as their son arrived at the sanctuary for their reunion.

Kiros now lives in a natural habitat with his parents at The Wildcat Sanctuary, which is hopeful that he will form a pride with the other lions, including another rescued cub named Mango, who was also saved from the roadside zoo.

Kiros explores his living space at The Wildcat Sanctuary

Credit: The Wildcat Sanctuary

Never miss a story  sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

Kiros story highlights the cruelty of roadside zoos and the illegal pet trade, Thies said. But it also shows whats possible when animal welfare organizations, accredited sanctuaries, and caring supporters work together to give these animals the lives they deserve.

She concluded, This is a new beginning for Kiros. After everything hes been through, he can now relax at his forever home.



Read the original article on People
Two middle school students died Friday when their school bus collided with a dump truck and a passenger vehicle on Highway 70 in Carroll County, Tennessee, PEOPLE reports.

The Tennessee Highway Patrol responded to the three-vehicle crash around noon on March 27. More than 20 Kenwood Middle School students and five adults were aboard the Montgomery County school bus when it collided with a Tennessee Department of Transportation dump truck and a passenger car, according to a news release. Two adults were in the dump truck and one person was in the passenger vehicle.

The school bus was transporting students on a field trip. Tragically, two students on the bus were killed, the Tennessee Highway Patrol said in the news release. Several others were injured, with multiple airlifted to trauma centers in Nashville and Memphis.

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The bus was headed to a GreenpowerUSA event in Jackson when the crash occurred. Authorities have not released the names or ages of the deceased students.

Emergency responders deployed nine air ambulance helicopters to transport the injured to medical facilities across the region. Baptist Memorial Hospital-Carroll County treated 19 patients, while Monroe Carell Jr. Childrens Hospital at Vanderbilt in Nashville received four pediatric patients, according to reports. A Vanderbilt Health spokesperson confirmed those patients are in stable condition.

The Clarksville-Montgomery County School System released a statement following the crash.

Our hearts are shattered at the tragic loss of two young lives, the district said on a social media post. We continue to pray for the students and employees injured and everyone who was affected by todays accident.

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Montgomery County Mayor Wes Golden said the incident has deeply affected the community.

My family and I are grieving alongside the families, friends, and staff of Kenwood Middle School, Golden said in a statement. This is every parents worst nightmare, and it has shaken our close communities.

The Tennessee Highway Patrol is investigating the cause of the collision. Officials have not released additional details about the circumstances surrounding the crash.

Read the original article on cleveland.com. Add cleveland.com as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a progressive disorder that affects motor neurons responsible for controlling voluntary muscle movement. As these nerve cells degenerate, patients gradually lose the ability to walk, speak, swallow, and eventually breathe independently. Although a small proportion of cases are linked to inherited genetic mutations, most ALS diagnoses occur sporadically, with no single identifiable cause. Researchers increasingly view ALS as a complex, multi-factor disease involving overlapping mechanisms such as protein aggregation,

neuroinflammation, mitochondrial dysfunction, and impaired cellular repair processes. This biological complexity has made drug development particularly challenging, contributing to decades of limited therapeutic progress.

Current treatment strategies focus largely on slowing disease progression and managing symptoms rather than reversing neuronal damage. Key therapeutics include Riluzole, a cornerstone therapy that acts to reduce glutamate-mediated excitotoxicity, which is believed to contribute to motor neuron death; and Edaravone, introduced more recently, which targets oxidative stress and may help preserve physical function in some patients, though responses can vary. Alongside these therapies, supportive multidisciplinary care plays a critical role in extending

survival and maintaining quality of life. Respiratory support, nutritional interventions, and assistive communication technologies have significantly improved patient outcomes even in the absence of curative treatments. Meanwhile, emerging approaches, including gene-targeted therapies, antisense oligonucleotides, and anti-inflammatory agents, aim to address specific biological drivers of the disease rather than its symptoms alone.

Clinical research activity has expanded considerably. Trial activity reached its highest level in 2025, which accounted for roughly 9% of all studies, suggesting an accelerating interest in novel therapeutic approaches. In terms of clinical trial status, approximately 59% of trials have been completed, 9% are currently ongoing and recruiting participants, while another 9% are planned. A further 5% are ongoing but no longer recruiting, and approximately 17% have been suspended, terminated, or withdrawn.

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Geographically, research activity is concentrated in several leading markets. The US has the largest share of trial sites with approximately 32%, followed by China with about 13%. Japan, Canada, and Italy contribute close to 8% each. This broad international participation reflects both the global burden of ALS and increasing collaboration across academic institutions, biotechnology companies, and public health systems. As larger and more targeted studies continue to emerge, analysts are watching closely to see whether advances in genetics and precision medicine can finally translate into durable clinical benefits for patients living with this devastating disease.

"2025 dominated in ALS research" was originally created and published by Clinical Trials Arena, a GlobalData owned brand.




The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department is mourning the death of a San Dimas deputy who died from a medical emergency during a law enforcement relay race in the Mojave Desert.

The annual Baker to Vegas Challenge Cup Relay Race has teams from various law enforcement agencies run 120 miles from Baker, through the desert, to Las Vegas.

The sheriff's department says Deputy Levi Vargas died on Saturday during the race. He was 30 years old.

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The department says Vargas received medical care, but ultimately passed away from his injuries. Further details about what happened were not immediately available.

According to authorities, Vargas joined the department in 2015 as a custody assistant and later graduated from Academy Class 413, serving in several assignments before landing at the San Dimas Station.

"He was known among his colleagues and friends for his professionalism, commitment, and compassion to our communities," the sheriff's department wrote.

Video shows his body being transported from a Las Vegas hospital to the morgue with a full law enforcement procession.

His family says Vargas will be flown back to Southern California on Monday.

Deputy Vargas is survived by his wife, parents and siblings.
The Kenosha Police Department announced March 30 that an arrest has been made in a homicide cold case dating back to the 1970s.

A 68-year-old man was arrested March 30 in Memphis, Tennessee, by Kenosha police, with assistance from local authorities.

A press conference related to the arrest is scheduled for 1 p.m. March 31 in D.C. Hall at the Kenosha Public Museum, 5500 First Ave.

The arrest comes nearly five decades after the killing of 48-year-old Ralph Ambrose Gianoli, whose case remains unsolved since 1977.

Gianoli's case has been unsolved since 1977

In September 1977, Kenosha police responded to Gianoli's residence, 5310 25th Ave., where officers found Gianoli deceased inside.

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An autopsy determined Gianoli died from blunt-force trauma to the head and abdomen.

All investigated leads for the case were exhausted, and the case remained unsolved.

The case was reopened in 2021 after police identified new potential suspects

In October 2021, the Kenosha Police Department's Cold Case unit reopened Gianoli's homicide case. Detectives said they reviewed the original case file, interviewed previous investigators, identified and interviewed potential new suspects and reexamined evidence.

In 2022, detectives  working with agents from the Wisconsin Department of Justice, Division of Criminal Investigation and the Federal Bureau of Investigation  used advanced evidence-processing techniques, which led to identifying a suspect in July 2024.

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Adrienne Davis is a south suburban reporter for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Got any tips or stories to share? Contact Adrienne at amdavis@gannett.com. Follow her on X at @AdriReportss.

This story was updated to add new information.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Arrest made in 1977 Kenosha homicide cold case




Texas Gov. Greg Abbott sounds like he's running for reelection against state Rep. James Talarico.

"He's crazy, and we are not going to allow the Talarico takeover of the state of Texas," Abbott said last week during a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Grapevine. "We're going to keep Texas red. We're going to safeguard the values that keep Texas Texas."

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Abbott's opponent in the November general election is state Rep. Gina Hinojosa of Austin, not Talarico, who is the Democratic Senate nominee.

The governor doesn't mention Hinojosa's name on the campaign trail, and when his team is asked questions about his opponent, the initial response is, "Who?"

Texas Governor Greg Abbott (right) speaks as Texas Senator Bryan Hughes looks on during the Conservative Political Action Conference, on Friday, March 27, 2026 at Gaylord Texan Resort and Conference Center in Grapevine. (Shafkat Anowar/Staff Photographer)





Abbott's attacks on Talarico have a broader political purpose. It's part of a Republican strategy to blunt Democratic momentum and shield their candidates from headwinds the party faces in the midterm elections.

Related: CPAC celebrates Donald Trump, braces for new leadership

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Abbott is developing his most prodigious campaign since taking office in 2015. He started the year with over $100 million in his campaign fund. With that money, he'll unleash an army of campaign field workers backed by a traditional and digital media campaign.

While Abbott doesn't think Hinojosa is a threat, he's concerned down-ballot Republicans could get washed away in a blue wave. Attacking Talarico, who will have more money, resources and name recognition than any other Democratic candidate, is a top priority of Republican leadership inside and outside of Texas.

James Talarico, Texas Democratic Senate candidate, talks to supporters during a Texas Together rally at Ridglea Theater on Friday, March 20, 2026, in Fort Worth. (Elias Valverde II/Staff Photographer)





Michael Adams, a pollster and public affairs professor at Texas Southern University, said Republicans have staged early attacks on Talarico's progressive religious views, Texas House votes on culture war issues and old comments telling Texans to stop eating meat to curb climate change.

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"It's a concerted effort by Republicans to tear down Talarico," Adams said. "Abbott doesn't see Gina Hinojosa as an opponent, so that allows him to add to the arsenal that will be used to hold the Senate seat and protect down-ballot Republicans."

Talarico's campaign did not comment on Abbott's remarks. In the past, he's predicted Republicans would try to distort his record. "They're hoping Americans care more about culture wars than actual wars. More about pronouns than prices," Talarico said on X. "We're not falling for it."

Hinojosa echoed Talarico's comments.

"Once again, Greg Abbott is trying to distract us using culture wars with one hand while he takes our money with the other," she said in a statement.

Gina Hinojosa, Democratic candidate for governor, talks during a Texas Together rally at Ridglea Theater on Friday, March 20, 2026, in Fort Worth. (Elias Valverde II/Staff Photographer)





History shows why Republicans are concerned.

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In 2018, the first midterms with Trump in the White House, Republicans lost 12 seats in the Texas House and two congressional districts, including District 32 in the Dallas area.

The 2018 carnage could have been worse for the GOP if not for Abbott.

He was running for reelection against former Dallas County Sheriff Lupe Valdez, who raised just over $1 million for her underdog campaign. Abbott ran a robust campaign and helped U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz win a close reelection fight against Democrat Beto O'Rourke.

Dave Carney, Abbott's chief political strategist, said the governor's campaign "feels responsible" for helping Texas legislative and congressional candidates win elections.

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"The Senate race is also important," Carney said. "We're going to do our best to turn out our coalition. It will be a bigger campaign than last time."

The winner of the Republican runoff between incumbent Sen. John Cornyn and Attorney General Ken Paxton will face Talarico in November. Abbott's campaign resources would help either candidate, particularly Paxton, who has struggled to raise campaign dollars at the pace of his rival.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sits down for an interview at the exhibit hall during Conservative Political Action Conference, on Friday, March 27, 2026 at Gaylord Texan Resort and Conference Center in Grapevine. (Shafkat Anowar/Staff Photographer)





Abbott's efforts to keep Texas red are in concert with attempts by national Republicans to use the Lone Star State to help the GOP and Trump maintain control of the U.S. House and Senate.

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Over the past year, Republicans have sought to improve their chances in the November elections by:

Redrawing Texas' congressional boundaries in an effort to flip up to five Democratic congressional seats.

Possibly having a midterm National Republican Convention this September in Dallas.

Launching early attacks on U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett and Talarico as they competed for the Democratic Senate nomination.

Since the Civil War, the party that controls the White House has held the House after midterm elections only three times - 1934, 1998 and 2002.

FILE - In this Sept. 14, 2001 file photo, President George W. Bush embraces firefighter Bob Beckwith while standing in front of the collapsed World Trade Center buildings in New York as rescue efforts continue. (AP Photo/Doug Mills) The bullhorn Pres. Bush is holding is just one of the more than 40,000 artifacts to be stored in the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum. 04212013xBUSHLIBRARYspecialsection (Doug Mills/AP)





In 1934, the Great Depression was instrumental in Franklin D. Roosevelt holding the House. The failed impeachment attempt against Bill Clinton helped him in 1998, and George W. Bush and Republicans were strong after the Sept. 11 attacks.

Democrats hope Trump's low approval ratings in polls will prevent him from bucking history, but Abbott is doing all he can to make it a banner year for the GOP.
Jury selection began Monday for the murder trial of DeMorris Hunter, who is accused of the 2002 killing of Theresa Green in College Park. Hunter, who was previously convicted of killing three people in California, faces a potential death sentence in the Florida cold case.

Jury selection is expected to continue until Thursday, with opening statements scheduled to start on April 3.

The trial follows over a decade of delays and postponements in Orange County. An Orange County grand jury indicted Hunter for Greens death in 2014, and he was extradited to Florida from California in 2015 to face murder charges.

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He has been incarcerated for a total of 25 years across facilities in both states, including more than a decade spent in the Orange County Jail awaiting the start of this trial.

While detained in the local jail, Hunter has been assigned at least six different public defenders.

Defense attorneys have filed legal motions to prevent the death penalty from being considered if Hunter is convicted. However, these motions have not been successful so far, and the death penalty is still a possible sentence for the prosecutors.

While Hunter was sentenced to life in prison for his previous convictions in California, he could face the death penalty in the Florida case.

Click here to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.
Prosecutors have filed an additional felony charge against Tremaine Jones, whose trial in the shooting death of Milwaukee police Officer Kendall Corder begins with jury selection March 30.

Jones, 23, now faces a charge of possession of a short-barrel shotgun or rifle.

Assistant District Attorney Grant Huebner said prosecutors indicated in February their intent to file the charge, but weren't able to confirm the length of the weapon for charging purposes until recently.

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Jones was arraigned on the new charge just after 9 a.m. on the first day of his trial in Circuit Judge Michelle Havas' courtroom.

Jones earlier pleaded not guilty to first-degree intentional homicide, attempted first-degree intentional homicide and first-degree recklessly endangering safety in the June 26 shooting that killed Corder.

Corder and his partner, Officer Christopher McCray, responded to a call of shots fired near North 25th Street and West Garfield Avenue when they were met with gunfire.

Corder died three days after the shooting. McCray also was hit, but survived.

Possession of a short-barrel shotgun or rifle carries a maximum penalty of up to six years in prison.

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More: Questions remain over Tremaine Jones' previous crimes, court agreements

Jones has been unable to post the $500,000 bond for his release and has remained in jail since his June 26 arrest.

Chris Ramirez covers courts for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. He can be reached at caramirez@usatodayco.com.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Tremaine Jones trial in Kendall Corder's death begins with new charges
On the Monday, March 30, 2026, episode of The Excerpt podcast: The US-led war in Iran is the first global conflict where AI is playing a major role, both on the literal battlefield and on social media where the battle for hearts and minds is playing out. Are we entering a dangerous new evolution of warfare with AI? Aalok Mehta, director of the Wadhwani AI Center for CSIS, and Mehta Alimardani, associate director at WITNESS, join The Excerpt to share their insights.

Hit play on the player below to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript beneath it. This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text.

Podcasts: True crime, in-depth interviews and more USA TODAY podcasts right here

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Dana Taylor:

One of the earliest headlines in the US-led war in Iran involved the bombing of a girl's primary school in Minab. Between 175 and 180 people were killed in the attack. Most of them, young girls. Meanwhile, adjacent to the school was a military compound of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. Was AI to blame?

Hello, and welcome to USA TODAY's The Excerpt. I'm Dana Taylor. Today is Monday, March 30th, 2026. The US-led war in Iran is the first global conflict where AI is playing a major role, both on the literal battlefield and on social media where the battle for hearts and minds is playing out. Are we entering a dangerous new evolution of warfare with AI? We're going to dig into all of it with two experts today. Joining me to discuss the nascent use of AI on the battlefields of Operation Epic Fury is Aalok Mehta, director of the Wadhwani AI Center for CSIS, the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Thanks so much for joining me on The Excerpt, Aalok.

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Aalok Mehta:

Thanks for having me. I'm happy to be here.

Dana Taylor:

Start us out, if you would, with a 30,000-foot view of how AI is being deployed in the US-led war in Iran. What makes this conflict so different with regards to AI?

Aalok Mehta:

I think over time we've seen an evolution in the use of AI on autonomy in the battlefield. If you look at what is happening in Ukraine and Russia, we've seen lots of pioneering uses of AI in that war. And now, in Iran, we're seeing more of an evolution. If you think about it in terms of what the US is capable of, the best examples we have, we've seen some previews from Palantir of how the Maven smart system might work. And so, we're seeing that they've incorporated new generative AI technology into that system, and so the operations we're seeing in Iran by the US military are incorporating generative AI tools in the first instance where that's happening for the US military and in actual hot battlefield situation.

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Dana Taylor:

There's an old terminology that I want to bring in here, and that's the kill chain, a chain of events that starts with identifying a target and ends with an attack. At what strategic point in the kill chain is AI being used?

Aalok Mehta:

AI is primarily being used, to the best of our understanding, as a tool that helps with integration of various types of information streams. You can think of AI tools as helping to bring together and synthesize lots of data from things like satellite imagery, troop telemetry, bring it together into an interface where then operators are able to query the system and help with things like conducting intelligence operations, finding gaps in intelligence, and finding various operational strategies to remedy intelligence gaps, brainstorming operational plans, and then coming up with strategic options for dealing with various battlefield situations.

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Then you are able to use AI to task drones with humans involved in making decisions about where those attacks will happen, what kinds of targets are being struck. But right now, most of the use of AI is really in helping people in the military manage the enormous amount of information that's coming across their desk and be able to interface with that information using a more naturalistic type of way of interacting with it.

Dana Taylor:

Look, what guardrails are there for ensuring that a target is a legitimate military one and not, say a girls school, as happened on day one of the conflict?

Aalok Mehta:

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The US military has a directive that oversees or provides guidance on how it's able to use autonomy in military systems. And this directive, DoD Directive 3000.09, lays out some of the ways that is appropriate and not appropriate for the military to use autonomous systems, essentially. And the key text here is that it requires an appropriate level of human judgment in decisions, especially decisions that have high consequences like use of lethal force on the battlefield.

What is happening is that the military almost certainly has human oversight over selection and actual execution of military strikes on targets. To the best of our understanding, this particular situation with the school was an issue, not with the particular use of AI in this instance, but issues with the underlying data. Essentially, I think the latest intelligence we have is that there were errors in the database that this site had previously been a military installation and its use had been transformed, it had been turned into a school. And our systems, our various data feeds had not fully incorporated that. And so, that persistent error in the data continued to make its way through the system, and it ultimately led to the circumstance in which the school was targeted.

Dana Taylor:

Developers of AI technology, including Claude and Maven, two of the most widely used AI tools, have voiced their concerns about the use of AI in warfare, specifically with regards to autonomous weapon systems versus decision support systems. Can you talk me through that distinction and how that plays out on the battlefield?

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Aalok Mehta:

Yeah. The distinction here would be the difference between incorporating a bunch of information, selecting a target, and then telling a drone to attack that target. And that would involve low levels autonomy on the drone. You can tell it, "I want you to go here. I want you to drop your munitions in this location." And then the drone will use various low levels of autonomy to make sure that, as it's flying, it's able to navigate to the location, navigate around obstacles, make low level decisions to be able to continue on its flight path. That is a big difference. But between the type of autonomy in which you provide a much more high level or general guidance to a drone of, say, I want you to attack a strategic target, say attack enemy troop formations. And then the drone flies away, has its own sensors, looks at the battlefield, makes decisions about what it thinks is an enemy formation, and then engages without further human intervention and attack on that formation.

Now you have a lot more things that you want the drone to do, the requirements are much more precise, it has to make decisions that are a lot harder. This is the kind of distinction that the companies that you're talking about are worried about. Which is, as you give higher and higher level of abstraction in terms of the orders to drones, it's required to make more decisions. And our current AI tools, while very good, are not reliable in making those kinds of decisions in high stakes battlefields at the level of reliability that we really want when you're engaging in military operations.

Dana Taylor:

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Is there an ethical line when it comes to using AI in warfare?

Aalok Mehta:

I think there are almost certainly going to be developments in how we think about the appropriate use of AI in warfare. Some of that will develop as we figure out what these AI tools are capable of. Not only that, but as we figure out various issues around implementation of AI and actual systems. It's one thing to think about AI in the abstract. It turns out that when you put AI in physical systems, there are all sorts of issues that you don't anticipate as you try to integrate AI with various physical components.

And I think we're going to be engaging in a learning process in which we understand more about the capabilities of AI systems. We learn more about the capabilities of those systems when they're integrated into a bigger module like an actual drone, and we get some experience about how they work in the real world. Then I do hope we have discussions within our government, between government and lawmakers about what is the appropriate use of military technology or AI and military technology, and where we might want to put some guardrails to make sure that we're protecting our troops, protecting our reputation as a country, ensuring that people trust AI technology as a whole.

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Dana Taylor:

Look, when you think about the key role AI is playing in this war in Iran, what do you worry about most?

Aalok Mehta:

In terms of that, I think what I worry about is that we might start to deploy technology more quickly than our ability to absorb the lessons from using that technology. We see, time and time again, AI technology, ever since ChatGPT came out, has been evolving at a really rapid pace. It's overwhelming a lot of the systems and institutions that we've developed to help deal with the impacts of technology and society. And I'm worried that we'll see something similar happen in the military space where we'll engage in operations using AI, but we won't have the systems in place to be able to learn lessons from those, integrate lessons from different units, using AI in different ways, and then being able to roll that back up into higher level guidance or policy on an appropriate way to use AI and appropriate guardrails. I do hope that we take the time to learn lessons and synthesize information and really use that to inform how we think about AI development and integration in military operations.

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Dana Taylor:

Really appreciate your time, Aalok. Thank you so much for hopping on The Excerpt.

Aalok Mehta:

Thank you.

Dana Taylor:

As I mentioned earlier, the other battle playing out in the war in Iran is the one for hearts and minds. It's taking place largely on social media. Today, I'm joined by USA TODAY producer and host, Zulekha Nathoo, who's breaking down for us how generative AI is having an impact on the war's narrative.

Zulekha Nathoo:

That's right, Dana. Social media is where generative AI is being used to a much greater extent than in previous conflicts, creating fake images and video at a rate that makes it nearly impossible to counter in real time. To talk more about that, I'm joined now by Mahsa Alimardani, who leads the technology threats and opportunities program at the human rights organization WITNESS. Thanks for joining me, Mahsa.

Mahsa Alimardani:

Thanks for having me.

Zulekha Nathoo:

Generative AI has been used extensively to create fabricated images and video that have flooded social media, and even some state-run media, since the beginning of this war. What are one or two examples of what you think have been the most widely spread or even dangerous fake images or videos of the war so far?

Mahsa Alimardani:

What's interesting is that we really are experiencing an unprecedented level of AI generated content by all the conflict actors. What we have been seeing is a prevalence of typical war propaganda now being mobilized in deceptive ways by Israel, by the Islamic Republic of Iran to promote their narratives. We've, of course, seen a lot of different examples of the Iranian state and affiliated social media accounts of state broadcasters show deceptive AI generated images of them attacking US spaces in the region that were fake or widely exaggerated. We've seen different types of content also come from Israeli sources showing certain things that don't exist, like AI generated images of military personnel and military equipment within schools.

The thing that it has been most corrosive, however, has been the fact that, not that we have this much content, which of course is a massive load on fact-checkers. The most corrosive aspect that we're seeing, it's the doubt that we have been seeing proliferate. The fact that it's very hard for people to trust what they see and what they believe. We have this kind of information environment in Iran, which is probably this laboratory of some of the worst excesses that you can see of information pollution, which is largely created by the fact that you have decades of information controls, media controls by the regime.

And of course you have the Iranian opposition and you have the Iranian diaspora. And all of these different actors have really been contributing to different sorts of biases and perceptions. And what we have really been seeing with the issue of doubt is evidence really being undermined. The inability to really, for a lot of Iranians inside of the country, to even believe that the civilian casualties that are being documented by the state are real. You have a regime that created this information environment that really has accelerated this concept of the liar's dividend. The liar's dividend is this term for this AI environment we are in where bad actors can use the accusation of AI to essentially deny the truth when it's inconvenient to them.

Zulekha Nathoo:

Then how does the use of AI generated imagery blur that line between psychological warfare and traditional battlefields reporting in the Iran war?

Mahsa Alimardani:

Well, we've always had war propaganda. What this really does is really blur the ability to know what is real and what is not. We have seen a massive acceleration in the capabilities of generative AI models. The different types of deception we've been seeing has really been unprecedented. My colleague, Shireen, and I actually did an analysis of people using even fake forensics analysis to then call content AI as well. And some of the fake forensics analysis was AI generated itself to lob those accusations as well.

It is this situation where the trust signals are really failing. We've had tech companies create a lot of these capabilities without fully assessing what kind of guardrails there needs to be in order not to have this kind of epistemic fracture of not knowing what to see and believe. It is this situation where you really do need the tech companies and the powers to be to step up and invest more in creating all of these different trust signals that we need. That's something that my team at WITNESS has been working on for a very long time in terms of what kind of labeling and what kind of providence and authenticity standards need to be embedded within these technologies, within the models that are being developed, and how the platforms need to be able to communicate this transparency. And the kinds of investments they need to be doing in terms of having human reviewers and fact-checkers.

Because, of course, if you've been following the trust and safety teams, the investments and fact checking across these platforms has been decimated over the past few years, making our information ecosystem especially vulnerable as this technology is accelerating at the same time.

Zulekha Nathoo:

Well, when altered or completely artificial images of destruction circulate faster than footage can be verified, who ultimately controls the war narrative?

Mahsa Alimardani:

Whoever really has the most resources and the most appeal. We really are seeing the situation where both sides have ways to appeal to certain sectors and populations. The Islamic Republic of Iran has long tried to present itself with this identity of representing the oppressed, representing the global majority. Of course, the irony being they are the biggest repressors of their own people, but this is the kind of identity that their propaganda likes to present to the world. And they've never had more raw material with the fact that they are under bombardment by the US and Israel, who have been these longtime boogeymen figures within their ideological and propaganda frameworks for over four decades. They are really playing to this advantage. It is this very toxic information environment you have where things like this are very quick to spread.

And especially, I work on this professionally, but also personally, I myself am Iranian in the diaspora and I see how this spread of AI-generated content, and even the doubt of AI-generated content, has created this just sense of uncertainty. And you can really see the real life impact of not having good and clear information even on the ground in the ways that people are making decisions about their safety, about how to evacuate.

Zulekha Nathoo:

What about the effects of repeated exposure to convincing AI-generated images? To what extent does being inundated with these fake images reshape international public perception? And then, does that influence wane if imagery is debunked? Do fact-checkers help quickly enough to be able to change people's minds about especially popular AI images out there?

Mahsa Alimardani:

Yeah. I think this has long existed even before AI. The lie travels much faster than the truth. Even when we have had well-known things that have been debunked, in my own networks I've seen it reshared. One really good example is, again, going to the first day of the war. The day before there was an AI generated image of military tanks in a schoolyard, creating this narrative that civilian locations as schools can be justifiable targets for bombings. And of course, the very next day, the first day of the war you had a school bombed. Even though very quickly, within the first 24 hours, that AI generated image was very easily debunked. You could see the Google AI Gemini watermark on that photo. People were still referencing that photo in replies to the news of the Minab school bombing.

Zulekha Nathoo:

Thank you so much for being with us, Mahsa.

Mahsa Alimardani:

Yes, thanks so much for having me.

Zulekha Nathoo:

Mahsa Alimardani is the associate director of the Technology Threats and Opportunities Program that the human rights organization WITNESS.

Dana Taylor:

And thank you, Zulekha, for joining us as well. Zulekha Nathoo is a USA TODAY producer and host with our special projects team.

Zulekha Nathoo:

Thanks for having me, Dana.

Dana Taylor:

Thanks to Kaely Monahan, Zulekha Nathoo, and Lamar Salter for their production assistance. Our executive producer is Laura Beatty. Let us know what you think of this episode by sending a note to podcasts@usatoday.com. Thanks for listening. I'm Dana Taylor. I'll be back tomorrow morning with another episode of USA TODAY's The Excerpt.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Does AI targeting open the door to lethal errors in the kill chain? | The Excerpt
TORONTO (AP)  Air Canada announced Monday that its CEO will retire later this year, after Michael Rousseau was criticized for his English-only message of condolence following this months deadly crash in New York.

Canadas largest airline, based in French-speaking Quebec, said that Rousseau, 68, told the board he will leave by the end of the third quarter.

Canada is an officially bilingual nation, and Prime Minister Mark Carney said that Rousseau's decision to retire is appropriate."

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It is essential that the next CEO of Air Canada is bilingual, Carney said.

Carney had said the English-only message showed a lack of compassion and judgment. Quebecs premier and others called on the airline executive to resign.

I salute the decision of Air Canada CEO Michael Rousseau to step down from his position. The Air Canada board of directors will have to ensure that the next CEO speaks French," Quebec Premier Francois Legault said in a statement.

Antoine Forest, one of the two pilots killed in the crash at LaGuardia Airport, was a French-speaking Quebecer. Forest and Mackenzie Gunther died when the Air Canada Jazz flight from Montreal collided with a fire truck on the runway shortly after landing.

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Canadas largest airline is headquartered in Montreal. Rousseau previously had been criticized for not speaking French. He delivered his condolence video message in English, with French subtitles. The Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages has received hundreds of complaints about it.

Steven MacKinnon, Canadas transport minister, thanked Rousseau in a social media post and said that the government will continue to work closely with Air Canada to ensure that it "provides safe, reliable, affordable, and bilingual service to all Canadians.

Legault noted that when Rousseau was appointed president of the airline in February 2021, he promised to learn French.

Quebecs identity has been contentious since the 1760s, when the British completed their takeover of what was then called New France. Quebec is about 80% French-speaking.

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"Language is a highly political issue in Canada and the Air Canada leadership has been aware of that for a very long time," said Daniel Beland, a political science professor at McGill University in Montreal.

The fact that Rousseau had promised to learn French back in 2021 but failed to deliver amidst his sky-high level of compensation did not help him in the court of public opinion.

Jason Kenney, a former Conservative Cabinet minister, has said that he would rather the CEO of Canadas flagship carrier focus his scarce time on safety and reliability than language training.
TAIPEI, March 30 (Xinhua) -- Cheng Li-wun, chairperson of the Chinese Kuomintang (KMT) party, on Monday expressed her thanks and accepted the invitation to visit the Chinese mainland in April.

The Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and Xi Jinping, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, have invited Cheng to visit the Chinese mainland from April 7 to 12.

Cheng expressed the hope that both parties will work together to promote the peaceful development of cross-Strait relations, enhance exchanges and cooperation, contribute to peace in the Taiwan Strait, and improve people's well-being. 
NEED TO KNOW

A flight attendant claims she suffered severe burns from a malfunctioning coffee maker during an April 2024 flight

In a civil complaint filed on behalf of Alaska Airlines flight attendant Victoria Waldron, she alleges that Stumptown Coffees packaging was defective and unsafe for use

The complaint cites at least nine similar incidents and accuses Stumptown of failing to address known safety issues

An Alaska Airlines flight attendant is suing Portland-based Stumptown Coffee Corp, alleging she suffered serious and permanent thermal burns to her body from an explosive coffee maker on board a 2024 flight.

In a March 27 civil complaint filed in the U.S. District Court of Western Washington and obtained by PEOPLE, Victoria Waldron says she was exposed to scalding hot coffee, coffee grounds and boiling water with explosive force during an April 1, 2024, flight.

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Waldrons complaint names Stumptown Coffee Corp. as a defendant, citing one count of design defect and failure to warn, as well as one count of breach of implied warranty.

She alleges that about 30 minutes before landing at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport in Arizona, the onboard coffee maker in the galley suddenly and without warning failed catastrophically."

Waldron says she sustained immediate and severe thermal burns to her chest and other areas of her body. She notes she was pregnant at the time and allegedly experienced immediate physical pain, distress and fear for herself and her unborn child.

An Alaska Airlines plane

Credit: Mario Tama/Getty

In the complaint, she claims she now suffers from permanent scarring that causes her emotional distress, ultimately requiring ongoing dermatological evaluation, treatment and potentially surgical or cosmetic intervention.

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The complaint alleges that the incident was caused by "defective packaging" from the airline's coffee supplier, Stumptown Coffee Corp. It cites one count of design defect and failure to warn, as well as one count of breach of implied warranty.

In 2023, Alaska Airlines announced it was partnering with the Portland-based roaster to offer its brews on all company flights beginning Dec. 1 of that year. Previously, the airline served Starbucks coffee on its aircrafts.

However, Waldrons complaint claims the roaster did not adequately design, test or validate its coffee packaging for safe performance in aircrafts "under the pressurized, high-heat conditions present during commercial flight operations.

A flight attendant serves coffee.

Credit: Getty

The flight attendant says her burn was not an isolated incident. In February 2024, the Association of Flight Attendants representing Alaska and Hawaiian Airlines employees issued a statement identifying at least nine incidents caused by scalding hot coffee and grounds spewing from the brew basket of coffee makers.

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The complaint alleges that despite the public knowledge of the defects, Stumptown took no action before the April 1, 2024, incident.

Stumptown took no corrective action, issued no warning to Alaska Airlines, recalled no product, and continued to supply the same packaging to Alaska Airlines without modification, the complaint says. Stumptown's failure to act after receiving actual notice rendered its continued supply of defective packaging particularly egregious.

The flight attendant is demanding a trial by jury and is seeking damages for medical expenses, lost income and general pain and suffering in an amount to be determined in court.

Never miss a story  sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

PEOPLE has reached out to Waldrons attorney, Stumptown Coffee and the Association of Flight Attendants for comment.



Alaska Airlines declined to comment, citing active litigation.

Read the original article on People
NEED TO KNOW

American Airlines flight 2819 from New York to Chicago was diverted to Detroit due to a disruptive passenger on board

The airline confirmed law enforcement met the plane when it landed in Detroit as a result of the incident

The flight later continued to Chicago after a delay of several hours at Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport

An American Airlines flight heading to Chicago was forced to divert to Detroit after a passenger caused a serious disruption on board.

On Sunday, March 29, American Airlines flight 2819 diverted to Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport (DTW), where it landed safely following an incident with a disruptive customer, a spokesperson for the airline tells PEOPLE in a statement.

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Once the plane landed, law enforcement and medical personnel met the flight and the customer deplaned, the airline adds.

A spokesperson for the FBI Detroit Field Office confirmed to PEOPLE that personnel were conducting law enforcement activities at DTW Airport at the time.

Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport

Credit: Matthew Hatcher/Bloomberg via Getty

Speaking to CBS News, passengers who were on the flight described the alleged scene on board after the plane touched down in Detroit.

"There was a guy who came on the plane with a machine gun, and we're being told, 'Put your head down and hands up,'" a passenger named Esther Sutofsky told the outlet.

Passenger Sona Jones said the ordeal was pretty spooky and that the day ended up being awfully long for all of us. She also said she thought the kids on board handled it well.

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Jones told CBS News that she recalled hearing the unruly passenger say something along the lines of, 'If you don't land this plane, I'm going to, I'll blow it, the plane,' or, 'If you don't land this plane, I'm going to do something to it, and you will see.'"

Meanwhile, passenger Gerry Sutofsky said they were about an hour from Chicago when the passengers outburst started.

"And about an hour out of Chicago, we hear this person in the back screaming, yelling: 'No! No! No!' And he's not going to  'I can't get off the plane!'" the passenger said. "According to the people who came on the plane, he was threatening  he said there was a bomb."

American Airlines Boeing

Credit: Getty

While no additional details were provided by the FBI, the agency added that there was no threat to the public during that time.

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According to data provided by FlightAware, American Airlines 2819 departed from John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) in New York at 8:59 a.m. local time on Sunday, March 29.

Instead of landing at its destination, Chicago OHare International Airport (ORD), it was diverted to DTW where it landed at 11:08 a.m. local time. The duration of the flight was just over two hours.

The flight later departed from DTW at 7:08 p.m. local time and reached ORD in less than an hour.

Never miss a story  sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

The incident comes days after another American Airlines flight was met by emergency vehicles on Wednesday, March 25, due to a malfunction on board.

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A large presence of emergency vehicles responded to American Airlines flight 1461, a Boeing 737-800 that had departed from Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT), when it landed at Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) in New Jersey following reports of a malfunctioning landing gear from the flight crew.

A spokesperson for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said the aircraft landed with a blown nose-gear tire in a statement shared with PEOPLE at the time. The department noted that Boeing 737 aircrafts have two nose-gear tires so the second tire would have still been functional.

At the time, a representative for American Airlines did not offer a public comment regarding the incident.

Read the original article on People
For decades, nuclear propulsion has been a fixture of aerospace engineering proposals and government studies, always promising, never quite leaving the laboratory. That changes in 2028.

NASA announced that it will launch a spacecraft called Space Reactor-1 Freedom, described by the agency as the first nuclear-powered interplanetary spacecraft, on a trajectory to Mars before the end of that year. The mission, called Skyfall, will carry a fleet of small helicopters to the Martian surface. But the helicopters may end up being the secondary headline. The reactor powering the journey could reshape how humanity moves through deep space.

The propulsion technology onboard SR-1 Freedom is known as nuclear electric propulsion, or NEP. It operates through an onboard fission reactor that generates heat, which is then converted into electricity to drive highly efficient electric thrusters.

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This is distinct from the radioisotope thermoelectric generators that have powered instruments aboard probes like Voyager for decades; those systems use the heat from radioactive decay for power but play no role in propulsion. NEP is an active drive system, and unlike solar panels, it functions at any distance from the sun, making it particularly suited for missions heading toward the outer solar system.

Artists concept of Phase 3 of NASAs Moon Base. (CREDIT: NASA)

Three helicopters and a fission reactor

The Skyfall helicopters will be similar in design to Ingenuity, the small rotorcraft that arrived at Mars with the Perseverance rover in February 2021 and went on to complete 72 flights before operations ended in January 2024. Ingenuity was built as a technology demonstrator. The Skyfall fleet has a more focused job.

Three helicopters will scout a potential human landing site, using cameras and ground-penetrating radar to map terrain, assess hazards, and characterize deposits of subsurface water ice. The location of that water, and details about its depth and distribution, will be critical information for any future crewed mission to the surface.

They will also map and characterize the subsurface water ice to find out where the water ice deposits are, along with the size, depth and other important characteristics, said Steve Sinacore, program executive for NASAs Space Reactors Office.

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If the mission timeline holds, SR-1 Freedom will launch in December 2028 and reach Mars roughly a year later. After deploying the Skyfall helicopters, the spacecraft may continue outward into the solar system, though that part of the mission architecture has not been finalized.

NASA views NEP as something well beyond a single mission. SR-1 Freedom will establish flight-heritage nuclear hardware, set regulatory and launch precedent, and activate the industrial base for future fission power systems across propulsion, surface and long-duration missions, the agency said in a statement.

That language points toward a longer ambition. Nuclear electric propulsion is considered essential for efficiently moving large payloads to the outer planets, where solar power becomes impractical, and for sustaining high-power systems on crewed spacecraft during multi-year journeys.

Mars Helicopter Ingenuity on Mars. (CREDIT: NASA)

A broader reset at NASA

The Skyfall announcement was part of a larger event NASA called Ignition, held March 24, during which the agency outlined a series of sweeping changes to its exploration strategy.

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Among the most significant: NASA is pausing development of Gateway, the planned moon-orbiting space station, to redirect focus toward building a permanent base on the lunar surface. Some of Gateways hardware will be repurposed for that outpost.

The lunar base plan is structured in three phases, beginning with early infrastructure using small habitats, then progressing toward semi-permanent facilities with contributions from international partners including Japan, Italy, and Canada, and eventually arriving at continuous human presence on the surface.

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman framed the moment in stark terms. The clock is running in this great-power competition, and success or failure will be measured in months, not years, he said.

In low Earth orbit, NASA announced it is exploring a new strategy to transition away from the International Space Station without creating a gap in American human presence. The proposal involves attaching a government-owned core module to the current station, then gradually adding commercial modules that would eventually detach and operate independently. An industry request for information opened March 25.

An updated render of the Dragonfly spacecraft. (CREDIT: NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/Steve Gribben)

Science missions moving forward

Several other missions received notable mentions during the announcements. The Dragonfly mission, a nuclear-powered octocopter, remains on schedule to launch in 2028 and arrive at Saturns moon Titan in 2034 to study its organic-rich environment. NASA also confirmed it will deliver the European Space Agencys Rosalind Franklin Rover to Mars in 2028, equipped with a mass spectrometer designed to search for organic matter.

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The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, aimed at advancing understanding of dark energy, is set to launch as early as this fall. A new Earth science mission launching next year will, for the first time, measure the internal dynamics of convective storms in real time, with the goal of improving extreme weather prediction by up to six hours before an event.

NASA also announced plans to expand its Commercial Lunar Payload Services program, targeting up to 30 robotic lunar landings beginning in 2027, with payloads open to contributions from industry, academia, and international partners.

What nuclear propulsion means for deep space

The practical weight of SR-1 Freedom extends past its specific mission objectives. Nuclear electric propulsion makes large-scale cargo transport across deep space far more efficient than anything currently available. Beyond Mars, it becomes the only viable propulsion option for high-power missions near Jupiter and beyond, where solar arrays cannot generate adequate energy.

By demonstrating the technology in flight, establishing regulatory frameworks for nuclear hardware in space, and building out the industrial supply chain needed to support future systems, this mission is designed to function as infrastructure for everything that comes after it. Crewed Mars missions, outer planet robotic explorers, sustained lunar operations requiring constant high power, all of them depend on solving the propulsion problem first.

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The Skyfall helicopters will scout Mars. SR-1 Freedom will, if all goes as planned, scout a path for the rest of the solar system.

The original story Americas nuclear spacecraft is heading to Mars, and its bringing helicopters is published in The Brighter Side of News.

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WASHINGTON (AP)  Two Arkansas Republicans with competing visions on how best to implement President Donald Trumps agenda to overhaul elections and voting will vie for their partys nomination for the states top elections job on Tuesday.

U.S. Army veteran Bryan Norris and state Sen. Kim Hammer were the top two vote-getters in the March 3 GOP primary for Arkansas Secretary of State, but both candidates fell far short of the majority vote needed to avoid Tuesdays primary runoff election.

The winner will face Democrat Kelly Grappe, who ran unopposed for her nomination.

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The duties of the Arkansas Secretary of State include overseeing state business filings and maintaining the state capitol building and its grounds, but the office is probably best known for its administration of federal, state and district elections in Arkansas.

Both Norris and Hammer have touted their support of Trumps election agenda, but the two disagree on some key points of election administration. For example, Norris supports hand-counting ballots in elections without the use of automated tabulation equipment. Hammer authored a 2023 law that requires hand-counted ballots to be compatible with state tabulation equipment and requires counties that hand-count ballots to bear any associated costs.

The call to fully hand-count ballots has been a popular refrain among many Trump supporters since the presidents failed attempts to overturn the 2020 election. But some attempts at full hand-counts since then have shown the process to be time-consuming, expensive and prone to human error.

Hammer has endorsements from much of the states Republican Party establishment, including U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton, Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Lt. Gov. Leslie Rutledge, Attorney General Tim Griffin and outgoing Secretary of State Cole Jester. Norris backers include former national security adviser Michael Flynn and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, both prominent 2020 election deniers and Trump allies.

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In his endorsement of Hammer, Jester called on Norris to drop out of the race over the candidates past confrontational and expletive-laden social media posts. In an interview with KATV, Norris acknowledged using some salty language from time to time but added, youre never going to hear me talk or speak that way again.

Norris edged Hammer in the competitive three-way primary with both candidates receiving about 34% of the vote. Miller County Judge Cathy Hardin Harrison received about 32% of the vote.

Just more than half the primary vote was cast in counties Trump carried with 70% or more of the vote in 2024. Norris performed slightly better than Harrison and Hammer in these areas, while Hammer slightly outperformed the others in the rest of the state.

Pulaski, Benton and Washington counties are the biggest population centers in the state, and they contributed the most votes in the March 3 primary. Pulaski is home to Little Rock and is where former Vice President Kamala Harris posted her best performance in the state in the 2024 presidential election. Although Pulaski is Arkansas most populous county, Benton tends to have more influence in Republican contests, as was the case on March 3.

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Regardless of who wins, the eventual Republican nominee will have an advantage heading into the general election. Its been 20 years since Arkansas elected a Democrat as secretary of state and no Democrat has won statewide office since 2010.

Some Arkansas voters in a handful of districts across the state will also choose nominees for state Senate and House. Republicans hold lopsided majorities in both chambers.

The Associated Press does not make projections and will declare a winner only when its determined there is no scenario that would allow a trailing candidate to close the gap. If a race has not been called, the AP will continue to cover any newsworthy developments, such as candidate concessions or declarations of victory. In doing so, the AP will make clear that it has not yet declared a winner and explain why.

Arkansas does not have automatic recounts, but candidates may request and pay for one, with the costs refunded if the outcome changes. The AP may declare a winner in a race that is subject to a recount if it can determine the lead is too large for a recount or legal challenge to change the outcome.

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Here are some of the key facts about the election and data points the AP Decision Team will monitor as the votes are tallied:

When do polls close?

Polls close at 7:30 p.m. local time, which is 8:30 p.m. ET.

Whats on the ballot?

The AP will provide vote results and declare winners in the Republican primary runoffs for secretary of state and state House Districts 5, 6, 46 and 52, as well as the Democratic primary runoffs for state Senate District 15 and state House District 35.

Who gets to vote?

Voters do not need to have voted in the March 3 primary to participate in the March 31 runoff. But primary voters may only vote in the runoff of the same party as they did in the primary. In other words, Republican primary voters may not vote in a Democratic primary runoff or vice versa. Voters in the non-partisan primary may vote in either partys runoff.

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For voters who did not participate in a party primary, Arkansas Democrats allow any registered voter to vote in Democratic contests, while Republicans bar registered Democrats from voting in Republican contests.

What do turnout and advance vote look like?

There were about 1.8 million registered voters in Arkansas as of the March 3 primary.

More than 266,000 voters participated in the Republican primary for secretary of state. The state Senate District 15 Democratic primary had about 9,300 total votes, while four of the five state House Districts forced to a runoff each had total votes of between 4,400 and 4,800 total votes. The lone exception was the Democratic primary for state House District 35, which had about 1,700 total votes.

In the 2022 primaries for statewide offices, about 52% of Democratic voters and 42% of Republican voters cast their ballots for governor before Election Day.

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Nearly 28,000 statewide Republican runoff ballots had already been cast as of Monday.

How long does vote-counting usually take?

In the GOP U.S. Senate primary on March 3, the AP first reported results at 8:32 p.m. ET, or two minutes after polls closed. The last vote update of the night was at 2:04 a.m. ET with more than 99% of total votes counted.

When are early and absentee votes released?

County elections officials throughout the state have said they tend to release all or nearly all results from early and absentee voting in the first vote update of the night, before any in-person Election Day results are released.

Are we there yet?

As of Tuesday, there will be 217 days until the 2026 midterm elections.

___

Follow the APs coverage of the 2026 election at https://apnews.com/projects/elections-2026/.
Ahmad Vahidi, a known quantity for Israel and the West, became the face of a regime that prefers total confrontation over any semblance of pragmatism.

In the wake of a seismic shift in the Islamic Republics leadership, following the killing of Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei and other senior figures, one name has emerged as the definitive architect of Irans military and internal survival: Ahmad Vahidi.

As the new commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), following the death of Maj.-Gen. Mohammad Pakpour, on the first day of Operation Epic Fury and Roaring Lion, became the face of a regime that prefers total confrontation over any semblance of pragmatism.

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Vahidis ascent comes at a time of unprecedented internal friction. While President Masoud Pezeshkian attempts to navigate a collapsing economy and deepening international isolation, Vahidi represents the old guard  the generation that rose from the Iranian Revolution in 1979 and never looked back.

Vahidi is among the first commanders of the Quds Force, said Nati Tubian, an expert on Iranian affairs. He is truly flesh of the regimes flesh  a product of the IRGCs foundational years who has climbed every rung of the ladder.

For the West and Israel, Vahidi is a known quantity. A former commander of the Quds Force in the 1990s, he is officially wanted by Interpol for his alleged role in the bombing of the AMIA Jewish community center in Buenos Aires in 1994, which killed 85 people.

Ahmad Vahidi speaks at a candidates' registration office in Tehran on May 30, 2024, during the first day of registration ahead of the country's presidential election. (credit: AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES)

Tamar Eilam-Gindin, from the University of Haifas Meir and Miriam Ezri Center for Iran and Persian Gulf Studies, said Vahidis career serves as a road map of Iranian state-sponsored terrorism.

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The 1990s were characterized by intense Islamic Republic activity in foreign countries, she said. There were numerous assassinations on European soil, as well as the major bombings in Argentina. Vahidi was a core part of that operational circle.

Ahmad Vahidi's history in Iranian politics

Vahidi was appointed defense minister in 2009 under then-president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. As interior minister in 2022, he played a key role in the brutal suppression of the Woman, Life, Freedom protests following the death of Mahsa Amini.

As interior minister, he was responsible for the logistics and security of the regime, which in practice meant the systematic crackdown on civilians, Tubian said. He is a fundamentalist with Iranian blood on his hands.

Inside the halls of power in Tehran, Vahidis hardline stance has put him on a collision course with Pezeshkian. As the Iranian economy teeters on the brink of collapse, Pezeshkian has hinted at the need for a tactical retreat or a ceasefire to appease an increasingly angry public.

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If theres no ceasefire within three weeks or a month, Irans economy might completely collapse, Pezeshkian said in a debate with Vahidi, according to London-based Iran International, an anti-regime, Persian-language news channel, reflecting the desperation of the reformist wing.

Pezeshkian even went so far as to issue a rare public apology for IRGC provocations against Gulf states.

On my own behalf, I apologize for this process and the situation that has occurred, he said.

Vahidi, however, remains unmoved.

While Pezeshkian apologizes, Vahidis IRGC continues to launch attacks against Gulf states, signaling to the world, Irans neighbors, and the Iranian public that diplomats do not hold the reins of power.

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Vahidi belongs to the hardline core that prefers to fight whatever it takes rather than accept a ceasefire, Tubian said.

This sentiment is echoed in Vahidis own rhetoric. In a recent address, he said, Today, we have reached a point that can be called the beginning of great leaps. Our country, in terms of geopolitical and geostrategic characteristics, holds a unique regional and international status.

Despite his talk of great leaps, the sentiment on the streets of Tehran is markedly different. The average Iranian citizen is weary after a decade of near-constant conflict.

I think people prefer ceasefires, an Iranian citizen said. More complex matters should be handled by decision-makers, but no one likes war.

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But in Vahidis world, the desires of the citizenry are secondary to the survival of the Islamic Revolution.

Vahidi is not a man who can be easily bargained with, Eilam-Gindin said.

Unlike the president or the foreign minister, Vahidi cannot be described as a pragmatist or a reformist, she said. He is a fundamentalist who believes in the path of resistance above all else.




An armed man sexually assaulted a woman jogging near Stanford University's campus on Sunday evening, according to university police.

The woman reported a man grabbing and pushing her into a landscaped area near a house just after 6 p.m. near Mayfield Avenue and Santa Ynez Street, a historic residential district near campus, the university's Department of Public Safety said in a notice to students Sunday. The man sexually assaulted the woman, police said.

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It was not immediately known if the woman was a Stanford student.

University police were searching for the alleged perpetrator, who was described wearing a light blue hoodie, dark jeans and a braided bracelet on his left wrist. The man had brown eyes, short hair, was clean shaven and had a semi-automatic handgun on his waistband, police said.

"Stanford University does not tolerate sexual assault, sexual misconduct or sexual harassment," the school alert said, encouraging anyone who has been sexually assaulted to report the incident to university officials.

This article originally published at Armed man sexually assaulted woman jogging near Stanford University, campus police say.
We're going back to the surface of the moon, but not in 2026.

Maybe you've heard some buzz around the launch of NASA's Artemis II mission, which has made headlines as the space agency's first human lunar mission in more than 50 years. The venture is a historic undertaking  one that will send the first Black man, first woman and first Canadian on a journey that will take them farther from Earth than any humans before them.

But it's not the mission that will return humans to the surface of the moon for the first time since the era of Apollo lunar landings came to an end in 1972.

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Instead of touching down on the surface, the four Artemis II astronauts are due to circle the moon in NASA's Orion capsule before heading back to Earth. That highly-anticipated moon landing? That should come about two years from now.

After NASA conducted an April 1 launch of the Artemis II mission, here's what to know about how the venture sets the stage for a future moon landing.

Interactive graphic: See how Artemis II will get to the moon, step-by-step

Why the Artemis II mission won't include moon landing

The Artemis II astronauts are due to pilot NASA's Orion capsule on a 10-day journey circling the moon after launching atop the towering, 322-foot Space Launch System (SLS) rocket from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

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While NASA tested its spacecraft during the Artemis 1 mission in 2022, Artemis II will be the first time that the SLS rocket and the Orion capsule will fly with humans aboard. For that reason, NASA wants to use the Artemis II mission to ensure that both pieces of hardware are working as intended before putting boots back on the lunar surface.

After testing systems and hardware while seeing views of the far side of the moon no other humans ever have, the astronauts are due to ride Orion through Earth's atmosphere for a water landing in the Pacific Ocean near California.

Artemis II: What to know about NASA's Artemis II launch and its 10-day moon journey

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman stands with the Artemis II crew during an SLS rollout press briefing. The crew of Artemis II (from left: Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen, Mission Specialist Christina Koch, Pilot Victor Glover and Commander Reid Wiseman) answer questions at a press conference as their Space Launch System rocket is transported to Pad 39B January 17, 2026. Artemis II is tentatively scheduled to launch on a mission to th Moon in early February. Craig Bailey/FLORIDA TODAY via USA TODAY NETWORK Artemis II Commander Reid Wiseman answers questions during a press conference at Kennedy Space Center, FL January 17, 2026. The Artemis II crew is tentatively scheduled to launch in early February. Craig Bailey/FLORIDA TODAY via USA TODAY NETWORK Artemis II Pilot Victor Glover answers questions during a press conference at Kennedy Space Center, FL January 17, 2026. The Artemis II crew is tentatively scheduled to launch in early February. Craig Bailey/FLORIDA TODAY via USA TODAY NETWORK Artemis II Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen answers questions during a press conference at Kennedy Space Center, FL January 17, 2026. The Artemis II crew is tentatively scheduled to launch in early February. Craig Bailey/FLORIDA TODAY via USA TODAY NETWORK The Artemis II crew poses in front of an Orion simulator Jan. 23, 2026 at NASAs Johnson Space Center in Houston. Four astronauts will venture around the Moon on Artemis II, the first crewed mission on NASA's path to establishing a long-term presence at the Moon for science and exploration through Artemis. The 10-day flight will help confirm systems and hardware needed for early human lunar exploration missions. The crew of Artemis II (from left) Jeremy Hansen, Christina Koch, Victor Glover and Reid Wiseman leave crew quarters December 20, 2025 during their pre-launch rehearsal. Craig Bailey, FLORIDA TODAY via USA TODAY NETWORK Artemis II mission specialist Christina Koch talks with spectators as the crew leaves crew quarters December 20, 2025 during their pre-launch rehearsal. Craig Bailey, FLORIDA TODAY via USA TODAY NETWORK The astronauts of Artemis II (from left) Victor Glover, Jeremy Hansen, Reid Wiseman and Christina Koch leave crew quarters December 20, 2025 during their pre-launch rehearsal. Craig Bailey, FLORIDA TODAY via USA TODAY NETWORK Artemis 2 crew members, shown Aug. 8, 2023 inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida, walk toward their Orion crew module. Artemis II crew members Jeremy Hansen, Reid Wiseman, Christina Koch, and Victor Glover answer questions from reporters during the first downlink event of their mission. NASA's Artemis 2 mission to fly 4 astronauts around moon. Photos of crew 1 of 12 NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman stands with the Artemis II crew during an SLS rollout press briefing.

When will astronauts return to the moon? NASA targets 2028

NASA had originally targeted a moon landing for the subsequent Artemis III mission. But at the end of February, the U.S. space agency announced an overhaul to the Artemis campaign that included a new mission before sending humans to the surface.

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Artemis III is now the name of a new mission planned for 2027 that will send a crew of astronauts on the Orion spacecraft to Earth orbit, where they will dock with at least one of the commercial lunar landers being developed by SpaceX and billionaire Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin. NASA will also use the mission to test space suits, known as extravehicular activity suits, being developed by Axiom Space for astronauts on the lunar surface.

A moon landing is now due to take place as early as 2028 during the Artemis IV mission.

What might NASA's lunar landing look like?

SpaceX, the commercial spaceflight company founded by billionaire Elon Musk, was originally awarded the contract to develop a lunar lander for the first Artemis mission to send astronauts to the surface. Under that original plan, SpaceX has been working on a configuration of its Starship vehicle, known as the Human Landing System, for human lunar missions.

But amid concerns that Starship's development has lagged, NASA now also appears to be considering Blue Origin's Blue Moon lander, an uncrewed version of which is due to head to the lunar surface later in 2026 on a pathfinding mission.

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Whichever lander ends up being selected for Artemis IV would rendezvous with NASA astronauts aboard an Orion vehicle in lunar orbit and then ferry them to the surface. After the astronauts conduct a moon walk and a series of scientific experiments, the lander would then transport them back up to Orion, which would make the journey back to Earth, according to NASA.

Where will a US moon landing take place?

NASA previously identified nine possible landing sites near the moon's largely unexplored south pole for human surface operations.

All the possible locations are further south than any of the Apollo astronauts landed or ventured, according to NASA. There, a permanent shadow is thought to shroud an area abundant with water ice  a valuable resource that could be extracted and used for drinking, breathing and as a source of hydrogen and oxygen for rocket fuel.

NASA wants to build moon base ahead of Mars missions

The ultimate goal is for NASA to spend the next few years using a series of both crewed and uncrewed lunar landings to build a $20 billion moon base where astronauts could live and work long term.

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After the Artemis V mission, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman has said the agency wants to target a human lunar landing up to twice a year  if not more often.

Once that cadence is established and the infrastructure for a sustainable settlement is in place, NASA will set its sights on humanity's next giant leap: sending the first astronauts to Mars.

Eric Lagatta is the Space Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at elagatta@usatodayco.com

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: NASA's Artemis II mission won't land on the moon. Here's why.
SYDNEY, March 30 (Reuters) - Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Monday said he wanted more certainty from U.S. President Donald Trump on the objectives of the ongoing war in Iran.

"I want to see more certainty in what the objectives of the war are and I want to see a de-escalation," Albanese said, responding to a question about his view on how Trump was prosecuting the war.

* An initial Israeli strike on February 28 killed Iran'sSupreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was replaced by hisson Mojtaba. * The war has spread across the Middle East, killingthousands, causing the biggest disruption ever to energysupplies and hitting the global economy. * Australia has provided aircraft to assist with the defenceof the United Arab Emirates after a request from the country,but has ruled out sending naval ships to assist in reopening theStrait of Hormuz.

(Reporting by Alasdair Pal in Sydney; Editing by Thomas Derpinghaus)
Nancy Guthrie has been missing for almost two months, and due to the lack of substantial leads in the investigation, many have used the stagnant developments to push their own conspiracy theories.

One recent rumor has prompted local authorities to directly address it, as the discovery of a womans dead body has sparked online speculation it could be the missing 84-year-old.

Police Address Rumors That Womans Dead Body Found Is Nancy Guthrie

FBI/MEGA

On Friday, March 28, the Scottsdale Police Department shared a statement on X, formerly known as Twitter, regarding the discovery of an unidentified womans body in an Arizona canal about 100 miles from Nancy Guthries Tucson home.

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A death investigation is underway after an adult womans body was recovered from a canal near Indian Bend and Hayden Roads on March 28th, the statement began. Police and fire personnel were first called to the area around 8 a.m. after someone walking along the canal saw the body in the water.

Scottsdale detectives and crime scene specialists responded to the scene to collect evidence and thoroughly document the scene, the statement continued.

Authorities also shared the condition of the body and confirmed they are working to determine the identity of the dead woman.

Due to the condition of the body, investigators are initially unable to confirm if there are traumatic injuries present. The investigation is still in the early stages as detectives work to confirm the identity of the person and how they ended up in the canal, the statement read.

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When an X user asked if the unidentified body was connected to Guthries disappearance, the Scottsdale Police Department responded that it was not related to Guthries disappearance, which is being led by the Pima County Sheriffs Department.

Retired FBI Agent Shared That Guthrie Investigation Is Much Harder As Case Lingers On

MPI28/Capital Pictures / MEGA

On March 17, CBS News spoke with retired FBI supervisory special agent Lance Leising, who told the outlet that it will be difficult to keep the investigation going without any new leads.

The lack of meaningful leads. Thats the initial thing it says to me, Leising said of the investigation seemingly being at a standstill. It becomes much harder to keep the investigation going, keep it current, and fight for new leads.

However, he did note that the lack of leads doesnt mean that all hope is lost in finding Guthrie because the process takes a while.

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Maybe youve got multiple people within the same DNA family that could potentially be suspects. You have to investigate each one of those independently, he said.

Id like to be hopeful that  and Im sure the family is incredibly hopeful  that the silence is because theyre on to something, Leising continued. They just need to investigate harder.

Dates Of Two Surveillance Videos Have Taken Guthrie Investigation In New Direction

FBI/MEGA

According to PEOPLE, investigators are now paying close attention to video footage from the weeks before Guthrie disappeared, specifically on January 11 and January 24.

Neighbors in her Tucson community say authorities have recently asked about surveillance footage tied to those dates, suggesting they could be the key to determining what led up to Guthries disappearance.

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The January 11 footage was previously requested by authorities, specifically between 9 p.m. and midnight, pointing to a precise window they believe could contain relevant activity.

Additionally, footage from January 31 between 9:30 a.m. and 11 a.m. was also requested, which was the day before Guthrie was last seen.

The renewed attention follows previously released footage showing a masked individual at Guthries front door in the early hours of February 1, who was described as having an average build, carrying a backpack, and appearing to be armed.

Pima County Sheriff Reveals Authorities Know Why Nancy Guthrie Was Abducted

Instagram | Savannah Guthrie

Sheriff Chris Nanos of the Pima County Sheriffs Department shared in an interview with NBC News that he and other members of the sheriffs department believe they know why Guthrie was kidnapped from her home.

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We believe we know why [the kidnapper] did this and we believe that it was targeted, but were not 100% sure of that, Nanos said on March 12. So itd be silly to tell people, Dont worry about it. Youre not his target. You could be. Dont think for a minute that because it happened to the Guthrie family, youre safe. No. Keep your wits about you.

Speaking about the details of a possible motive, Sheriff Nanos stopped short of sharing them publicly.

I think its come out from day one, he told NBC News. I think day one, we had some strong beliefs about what happened, and those beliefs havent diminished. Im not going to get into those theories. We have our beliefs. Everybody else has theirs.

Savannah Guthrie Announced Her Official Return To The Today Show

On Friday, March 27, Hoda Kotb, who conducted Savannah Guthries first sit-down interview since her mothers disappearance, shared on the Today show that she would officially make her return to the show on Monday, April 6.

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In the third part of the interview, Savannah explained her decision to return to the show as her mother, who disappeared on February 1, remains missing.

Its hard to imagine doing it because its such a place of joy and lightness and I cant come back and try to be something that Im not, she said of returning to her co-anchor spot. But I cant not come back because its my family. I think its part of my purpose right now. I want to smile.

And when I do, it will be real. And my joy will be my protest. My joy will be my answer, she continued. And being there is joyful. And when its not, Ill say so. I have been so grateful to have this family. I consider this my family, my greater family, and when times are hard, you want to be with your family. And I want to be with my family.

Savannah admitted how difficult it will be to return to airwaves in the midst of such an extreme personal tragedy.

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I dont know if I can do it. I dont know if Ill belong anymore, but I would like to try. I would like to try. Im not gonna be the same, but maybe its like that old poem, more beautiful in the broken places, she told Kotb.









The Authorities Address Speculation That Dead Womans Body Found In Arizona Canal Is Missing Nancy Guthrie first appeared on The Blast
The organisers of the Barbie Dream Fest weekend in Florida are issuing refunds to attendees after customers complained of a lacklustre event.

The creators of the event promised "unforgettable experiences", and advertised a roller rink and disco with a caption that read: "Join us for three days of glam, nostalgia, and dream-big energy made for Barbie fans of every generation."

But ticketholders, who paid up to $450 (340), say it was far from that. Photos of the event show a grey convention centre space with pink cardboard cut-out Barbie signs.

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Mattel, which owns the Barbie brand, said that full refunds would be given to everyone who purchased tickets.

[Tara Brooks]

One attendee, Michael Gorey, who flew to the event from Ohio for a spring break trip with his daughters and wife, told the Times that upon entering the concrete event space, he thought: "Is this it? Like, did I miss something?"

Others took to social media to air their complaints.

"This event sucks," one user wrote on Reddit. "The 'life size Barbie dream house' is a cheap backdrop with a picnic table on some fake turf/grass."

Hell Hotel, a burlesque group who attended the event, told the BBC that they were "expecting much more based on what was advertised to us through their social media channels".

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They say that young women in their 20s and 30s were advertising the event on social media, but in reality many of the experiences at the convention were height restricted and "for children up to eight years old".

"There were empty halls, maybe 14 vendors, lack of things to do for all ages and especially a lack of events for our demographic," the group said.

"Barbie Dream Fest was created by Mischief Management, which licensed the Barbie brand from Mattel," the company said.

"We are working with Mischief Management, who are managing attendee feedback and issuing full refunds to everyone who purchased tickets. We want every fan experience to be an excellent one."

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Mischief Management, meanwhile, said in a statement to the BBC that it appreciated "the passion and engagement from the Barbie community".

"Barbie Dream Fest was created as an intimate fan convention designed to foster meaningful connection, inspiration, and closer access to Barbie and her world. We will be providing full refunds to everyone who purchased tickets."

A day pass to the event cost $72 for adults and $33 for children - and as much as $250 for a three-day pass with a "swag bag" comprised of a plastic pouch with Barbie hand sanitiser.

Some attendees said it was reminiscent of the Willy Wonka Experience in Glasgow that went viral after customers were promised a glimpse into the world of the fictional chocolatier.

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Instead, eager fans who turned up at the event, located in an industrial area of the Scottish city, described it as "little more than an abandoned, empty warehouse".
ISTANBUL, March 30 (Xinhua) -- A ballistic missile launched from Iran was intercepted by NATO air and missile defense systems in the eastern Mediterranean after entering Turkish airspace on Monday, Turkiye's Defense Ministry said. It was the fourth such interception, the ministry said.

In a statement posted on social media, the ministry said "necessary measures are being taken decisively" to protect the country's territory and airspace, adding that developments in the region were being closely monitored.

The interception follows similar incidents earlier this month amid heightened regional tensions. Iran's new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, said previously that attacks on Turkiye and Oman were not carried out by Iranian armed forces or the "resistance front," and blamed Israeli deception. 
Donald Trumps brutal war on Iran has resulted in a financial bonanza for the very country he is attempting to grind into submission.

Iran is now earning almost double the amount in daily oil sales than it did before the U.S. and Israel strikes were launched on Feb. 28.

The country is currently exporting 2.4 million to 2.8 million barrels of oil and petroleum products per day, which includes 1.5 million to 1.8 million barrels of crude, an inside source familiar with Irans oil accounting confirmed to The Economist.

U.S. President Donald Trump launched his war on Iran on Feb. 28. / Kevin Lamarque / REUTERS

Those figures match, and may exceed, what Iran exported last year. The products are now also selling at much higher prices.

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Iran is now using the increased oil profits to boost its defense by funding its elite fighting force, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the publication says. China is also assisting Iran, with funds moved to Asia to protect it from the Israeli military.

The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.

Trumps war, now in its fifth week, has effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, meaning up to 20 percent of the worlds oil supply cannot reach its customers.

Irans oil tankers are still passing through the Strait of Hormuz while other Gulf states have had their access limited, leading to a drop in exports. Iranian officials have also revealed they are charging fees to ensure the safe passage of some tankers through the Strait. Lloyds List reported one vessel paid around $2 million.

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This weekend, the national average for oil reached $3.96 per gallon, up from $2.97 when the war began on Feb. 28.

On Sunday, Brent crude, the global benchmark, jumped nearly 2.5 percent to $107.92 a barrel, while U.S. crude jumped nearly 3 percent to $102.57.

During a press gaggle on Air Force One on Sunday, Trump claimed Iran was sending the U.S. more big boats of oil as a sign of respect.

Trump said there would be 20 boatloads of oil, in addition to the 10 massive boats he teased were a gift to him last week.

The president called the 20 new boats a tribute and said they would start going through the Strait of Hormuz from Monday morning.

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I would only say that were doing extremely well in that negotiation, Trump claimed regarding his war talks with Iran. But you never know with Iran, because we negotiate with them, and then we always have to blow them up.

Even after the war ends, the price of gas and oil will not drop immediately and will rely on the Strait of Hormuz safely reopening, as well as repairing nearby infrastructure, according to CNN.

U.S. President Donald Trump waves as he boards Air Force One at Palm Beach International Airport in West Palm Beach, Florida, U.S., March 29, 2026. / Elizabeth Frantz / REUTERS

Last week, Trump admitted he knew his war on Iran and subsequent chaos in the Middle East would create an oil crisis, but did not care.

I thought it was going to be much worse, the billionaire said. I thought that the energy prices, oil prices, would go up higher. I thought the stock market would go somewhat lower. But it didnt matter to me. Its short-term.

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During the gaggle, Trump also confirmed a New York Times report that the U.S. was letting a Russian oil tanker go to Cuba, the country he claimed would be next to be taken over by America.

We dont mind having somebody get a boatload because they need they have to survive, Trump said of Cuba, adding he had no problem with the delivery.

When asked if it helps Russian President Vladimir Putin, Trump disagreed. He loses one boatload of oil. Thats all it is. Its fine. If he wants to do that and if other countries want to do it, doesnt bother me much.

The Pentagon is preparing for weeks of ground operations in Iran, involving Special Operations raids and infantry troops, according to The Washington Post.

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Asked about the claims on Sunday on Air Force One, Trump did not give a direct answer. We have tremendous numbers of ships over there, we dont need them all because of, you know, the power. I would say... were weeks ahead of schedule with Iran.

It comes as a top Iranian official warned the U.S. about launching a ground invasion.

On Sunday, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Irans parliament speaker, threatened to set U.S. troops on fire, according to Iranian official media.
UPDATE: Man killed in South Boston stabbing Friday night identified

A 24-year-old South Boston woman accused of fatally stabbing her boyfriend in the chest with a knife on Friday night was ordered held on $100,000 cash bail on Monday, after she told police she was acting in self-defense.

Gisselle Pascual was arraigned in South Boston District Court on a manslaughter charge, according to court filings.

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Judge Margaret Albertson ordered her held on $100,000 cash bail and committed her to the Suffolk County House of Correction. If she posts bail, Pascual must remain on home confinement with GPS monitoring and surrender her passport. Her next court date is April 27.

Pascual was arrested Friday evening after calling 911 around 5:45 p.m. to report that she and her boyfriend had gotten into a fight and that she had cut him with a knife, according to a Boston police report.

Officers arrived at 258 Old Colony Ave., a residential section of South Boston, and were let inside by Pascuals mother who directed them to the second floor.

Read more: Woman arrested after fatal South Boston stabbing

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There, officers were met by Pascual, who was asked where her boyfriend was. She pointed to the bathroom, where he was found lying unresponsive on the floor with a stab wound to the chest.

Pascual was placed in handcuffs and her boyfriend was taken to Boston Medical Center in grave condition. He died on Saturday.

At Boston Police headquarters, Pascual was given Miranda warnings but waived her rights and agreed to speak with detectives, according to the report.

She told police her boyfriend had arrived at her home that night and was intoxicated, which upset her, and that the two began arguing. They got into an argument, and she said she grabbed her boyfriends chest as she was yelling at him.

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Pascual said her boyfriend then held her neck and pushed her head into a wall, the report read. Then, there was a pause in the fight during which her boyfriend stood still and was talking his (expletive), the report said.

At this point, Pascual grabbed a kitchen knife from a desk in her room and stabbed him, she told police.

Police noted that Pascual had a scratch on her neck and a bruise on her elbow. Police also noted that her boyfriend was unarmed at the time of the stabbing.

The defense attorney for Pascual did not immediately respond to MassLive for comment on Monday.

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The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation reached a $1.9-million settlement agreement this month with 13 female inmates who claim they were subjected to "war zone" level violence during a use of force incident in 2024.

The women claim they suffered medical issues including traumatic brain injuries, seizures, respiratory distress and long-term vision problems following an Aug. 2, 2024, operation at the Central California Womens Facility in Chowchilla where inmates were tear-gassed and beaten, according to a complaint filed in federal court against the state's prison system and several of its employees.

The plaintiffs, 10 of whom remain incarcerated, have received payments ranging from $50,000 to $200,000 based on the severity of their injuries, according to their attorney Robert Chalfant. Attorneys have also filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of all the women involved in the incident, which is scheduled to go to mediation in May, he said.

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The CDCR said in a statement that it had reviewed the situation and made changes.

"The scope and degree of CDCRs corrective action, which is believed to be one of the largest issued against CDCR staff from a single incident, demonstrates CDCRs commitment to redressing policy violations," the department stated.

A total of 41 staff members were found to have violated policy and faced disciplinary actions including termination, transfers to other positions and salary reductions.

The August 2024 incident started shortly after the women were woken up for the day. Correctional officers removed more than 150 incarcerated women from their cells and confined them in a dining hall while conducting a search of their housing unit, the complaint alleges.

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The plaintiffs allege in the complaint that the operation was spearheaded by the leader of the Delta Dog prison guard gang in retaliation for the number of sexual misconduct complaints women had filed against guards.

The U.S. Department of Justice in 2024 launched a civil rights investigation into allegations of sexual abuse by staff at the Central California Womens Facility, following years of lawsuits and complaints from incarcerated women.

Read more: Can California change a dark culture at Chowchilla women's prison?

The 13 plaintiffs allege they were confined to the cafeteria for hours and denied water, food and medication. The inmates became increasingly agitated and disruptive after they witnessed guards throwing out their personal possessions, according to the complaint.

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Guards were then ordered to "use pepper spray, throw tear gas and flash bang grenades, fire rubber bullets and assault and batter the women, even though all of the female inmates were complying with officers orders and posed no threat to any officer," the complaint alleges.

Leaked recordings of the incident reviewed by the San Francisco Chronicle show inmates, including those named in the lawsuit, ducking for cover as tear gas swirls around the cafeteria.

One of the plaintiffs, Wisdom Muhammad, alleges she was told to "shut the f up" when she asked guards not to pepper-spray her because she has asthma. She alleges she was zip-tied and dragged out of the cafeteria and onto the lawn where she had four tear gas grenades thrown directly at her, one of which exploded next to her face leaving her with a permanent scar, according to the complaint.

Read more: Widespread sexual abuse of women in two California prisons draws federal investigation

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"The repeated attacks and violent use of force caused Muhammad to lose consciousness twice, have seizures, and urinate on herself," the complaint states. "Muhammad eventually regained consciousness in an ambulance with blood all over her, an IV in her arm, and was unable to see out of her left eye."

Muhammad "hoped that she would die to end the pain and suffering that she was experiencing," the complaint states. Other women named in the lawsuit describe similar experiences of abuse during the incident, which they claim left them with lasting injuries.

The CDCR did not admit to any wrongdoing or policy changes as part of the settlement agreement.

Chalfant, the women's attorney, commended his clients' bravery in pursuing legal action, saying that filing the lawsuit put them at risk of further retaliation in a prison plagued with allegations of sexual assault and abuse.

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"It's one problem after another," he said. "I'm hoping that the institute will change and that they've retrained the officers as to when they can use force, so this kind of stuff doesn't happen."

Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Californias Democratic attorney general and a voting rights group launched legal challenges this week to halt a seizure and recount of more than half a million 2025 election ballots by a Republican county sheriff who is running for governor.

The dispute over the ballot seizure in Riverside County, which began last month, escalated this week as Democratic Attorney General Rob Bonta urged the court to step in and Sheriff Chad Bianco doubled down by taking more ballots from a county election office. A Riverside County judge held a hearing Friday on Bontas request for the case to move quickly.

His office said in a Thursday filing that Bianco seized another 426 boxes of election materials this week. Bianco said his probe was legal and approved by a Riverside County judge.

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We are conducting a lawful investigation, approved by a judge, he said in a statement. I think the failed democratic candidates are just trying to rally a base for their own political benefit.

Separately, the UCLA Voting Rights Project argued in a state Supreme Court filing Thursday that the seizure violated state laws on election materials.

Bianco, one of two prominent Republican gubernatorial candidates, earlier this month said his office had launched the investigation after receiving a complaint from a local citizens group about the ballot count from a November 2025 special election on redistricting. He called the effort a fact-finding mission, seizing some 650,000 ballots in Riverside County, the inland California county of 2.5 million people where he has twice been elected sheriff. Local election officials told the county Board of Supervisors last month the complaint was unfounded.

Bianco said last week that his office would physically count the ballots and compare the result with the total votes reported to the state. The counting is being done by sheriffs officials under the supervision of a special master appointed by a court. He did not give a timeline on when the counting would conclude.

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Bontas first effort this week to stop the count failed after an appeals court said his petition was filed in the wrong place. Hes now refiled it in a lower court.

Absent swift action by this Court, the Sheriffs misguided investigation threatens to sow distrust and jeopardize public confidence in the upcoming primary and general elections, not just in Riverside County but around the State, the petition reads. It also sets a dangerous precedent that could invite future attempts to improperly contest election results through a misuse of law enforcement authority and the criminal process.

The sheriff, a supporter of President Donald Trump, said he obtained warrants signed by a judge to seize the ballots. Bianco said the alleged discrepancy amounted to about 45,800 votes  a difference elections officials have refuted at county meetings, saying the machine count and the final count submitted to the state differed by about 100 votes. They argue the handwritten rolls, which were not relied on to check the count, were being kept by temporary elections workers who had worked long days and may have made mistakes.

The UCLA Voting Rights Project argued the sheriff has no authority to seize the ballots in a petition filed on behalf of several Riverside County voters. Its asking the state Supreme Court to order Bianco to return the ballots.

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Law enforcement officials are legally prohibited from interfering in counting ballots, in California and nationwide, former state attorney general Xavier Becerra, a Democrat who is running for governor and serves as a senior advisor of the group, said in a statement. A candidate for Governor should know the law and lead by example, not weaponize his law enforcement office for political gain.

The ballot probe came as President Trump has repeatedly disputed the results of the 2020 election, citing unsubstantiated instances of fraud. His administration recently seized ballots and other documents from an election office in Georgia. Some Republicans have mirrored Trumps rhetoric on voting in their states.

For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com
LIMA  New life will be breathed into a dormant community center in south Lima.

Community members celebrated a new vision for the former Cheryl Allen Southside Community Center, 1802 S. Central Ave., Lima, armed with a $50,000 donation from T-Mobile, $2 million from the state of Ohio and a promise of more possible state funding.

Here it is today that we have the privilege of celebrate new life, new opportunity, new vision and a new look for what is called now the Mizpah Community Center, said the Rev. B. LaMont Monford, who helped lead a project to revitalize the community center across Ninth Street from his church. Whatever the names have been, it doesnt matter. The mission is the same.

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Monford called the renovated center, which should open in late spring or early summer of 2027, a vital resource for education and empowerment. Part of the project includes an addition for modern classroom spaces on the back of the building. There are also plans to rebuild a kitchen inside the center, with much of T-Mobiles donation dedicated to that.

Monford said in the future, theyll announce a partnership to bring training for job opportunities to Limas south side, showing an emphasis on not just recreation but education at Mizpah, a Hebrew word in Genesis in the Bible meaning watchtower or lookout.

More than 150 people witnessed the unveiling in the sanctuary of Philippian, many wearing clothes in T-Mobiles iconic magenta to celebrate its collaboration. They counted down from 10 before ripping magenta paper down to reveal large renderings of the modernized, colorful facility.

Photos from Sundays celebration

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Lima Mayor Sharetta Smith celebrated the opportunity to rejuvenate the area.

There may be areas that look like people have forgotten about them, but today shows that nothing is forgotten about, Smith said. Today should be marked as really Day One of bringing back this corridor of our city, which is a vision that we have been working on and believing in really for the past four years.

Philippian Baptist Church purchased the property in 2023. It built a coalition of other churches, the city and the state to ensure the finished project doesnt struggle to remain open. The Cheryl Allen Centers programs were evicted from the structure in March 2015, before Church Women United brought back after-school programming in the Mizpah name that first served Lima starting in 1912.

That will not happen again, Monford said of the struggles to keep the community center open. In fact, were blessed that well be able to see it beyond my lifetime, and I hope to live for a long time.

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Ohio House Speaker Matt Huffman, R-Lima, joked he and Monford had worked together on projects before, some have been fantastic successes, and some of them have been dubious failures. He called the Mizpah project a monumental thing, and he said there will be some more contributions from the state capital budget coming up.

This church, as all great communities have been, is the bedrock of this community, said Huffman, who noted his parents lived on nearby Eureka Street in the 1950s. Im looking at a vision and a future where this neighborhood, with the help of what were going to do with the community center and beyond, is going to blossom into a beautiful, beautiful place, and Im delighted that I can be a part of it and look forward to a fantastic success.

Photos of the center from March 2026

Reach David Trinko at 567-242-0467 or on Twitter/X @Lima_Trinko.
BANGUI, Central African Republic (AP)  The president of the Central African Republic, Faustin-Archange Touadera, was sworn in for a third term on Monday three months after a disputed general election.

Touadera will be serving a new seven-year term. He was declared the winner of the vote in December, which was boycotted by the coalition opposition party following a 2023 constitutional referendum that removed term limits and increased the presidential term from five to seven years.

We aspire to build a sovereign economy and ensure transparent management of our natural resources, Touadera said at the swearing-in ceremony in Bangui, attended by the presidents of Congo-Brazzaville and Comoros.

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Opposition parties and civil society rejected the results of the election, which the Constitutional Council said that Touadera won with 77.9% of the vote.

"You have to be a fool to believe that, said Frederic Godoba, a civil society activist.

Conflict has broken out in the country since 2013 after mostly Muslim rebels seized power and forced then President Francois Bozize to quit. The conflict was de-escalated by a 2019 peace deal between the government and 14 armed groups. Six of the 14 groups later withdrew from the agreement.

The Central African Republic is one of the countries where Wagner, a Russian mercenary group, was first active in Africa.
The Chicago Board of Education voted on a new leader Monday morning.

Macquline King has become the next official CEO, catapulting a Black woman with homegrown talent to the district's top post 10 months after she was appointed to the interim role.

All voted "yes," except Jenni Custer, who was a "no" vote.

"As a proud CPS graduate, teacher, mother, and principal, I am honored to lead the District that shaped me," King said in a statement. "My priority as permanent CEO is clear: to keep students at the center of decisions and build on the academic gains of the past few years, advocate fiercely for the funding our students deserve, and move the District forward so that more students graduate ready to succeed in college, careers, and civic life."

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King's starting salary is $380,000 per year, which is more than her predecessor, Pedro Martinez, made. He was fired from the job.

While many on the City Council Education Committee originally were opposed to her becoming interim CEO, they have since come to her support. But those like Alderwoman Jeanette Taylor said last week that King needs to hire more Latinos in leadership positions.

King becomes the permanent CEO July 1. It is a three-year contract.

King will need to close a huge budget deficit and work with a fully elected school board starting in 2027.

Before serving as the interim CEO, King worked as an education policy adviser under Mayors Lori Lightfoot and Brandon Johnson.

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There have been over a dozen Chicago Public Schools CEOs over the past 25 years.

King is the first to be approved by a partially elected school board.

"We will not allow financial headwinds to jeopardize those hard-won victories and our students' confidence," King said.

King pledges to be the most vocal advocate for more money. She says she and her team are 100% committed to being in Springfield.

"We need to look at the best way to organize the district to allocate resources based on the needs of our students last year; everything has to be on the table," King said.

After his handpicked school board fired Martinez, Johnson named King as the interim CEO.

But, King refused mayoral pressure to take out a controversial loan to balance the budget.

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Her independence cost her.

King did not make the list of three CEO finalists last fall. Leaks to the press caused the search process to blow up, and King was back on the list as a finalist a few weeks ago.

"Dr. King was eliminated back in November. And all of sudden we have a lot of pressure at the tail end to get her back in here, and this wasn't the process people of Chicago were looking for," school board member Custer said.

Custer plans to run for school board president.

Besides the rocky search process, Custer says school leaders in her district say King has not been communicative enough with them. But, the remainder of the school board says King has earned their confidence and respect during a tough year.

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"I appreciate your calm and steady leadership in the midst of massive turmoil that we have seen," school board member Karen Zacor said.

"I supported her because I believe of her proven bravery and her proven independence," school board member Ellen Rosenfeld said.

Besides the budget, King has navigated schools during "Operation Midway Blitz" and charter school closures.

She has the support of unions, several City Council members and community groups.

"Public education is the foundation of opportunity in our city, and strong, dedicated leadership is essential to Chicago's future," Mayor Brandon Johnson said in a statement. "I am grateful to the members of the Board who carried out this process and congratulate Dr. Macquline King on her appointment as permanent CEO. In her time as interim CEO, Dr. King has demonstrated commitment to the success of CPS students, teachers, and families. I look forward to continued partnership with Dr. King, educators, and community stakeholders as we work to deliver the high-quality education every student in Chicago deserves."

The Chicago Teachers Union said in part, "The Chicago Teachers Union is prepared to be a partner. We remain committed to our city's families and stand ready to secure, finally, the quality school communities we continue to fight so hard to achieve."
BEIJING (AP)  Chinas flag carrier resumed direct flights between Beijing and North Koreas capital of Pyongyang on Monday not long after the restoration of passenger train services between the capitals.

The Air China flight was welcomed by the Chinese ambassador to North Korea, Wang Yajun, and other diplomats, according to Chinese state media.

Passenger train service from China to North Korea had resumed March 12.

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Flights and passenger trains to North Korea had been suspended since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

North Korean carrier Air Koryo resumed flights between the capitals in 2023.

North Korea banned all foreign tourists during the pandemic but has started easing the restrictions, with a Russian tour group entering the country in 2024.

Chinese tour groups had made up 90% of all visitors to North Korea prior to the ban, and the delay on resuming Chinese tours surprised observers.

China is Pyongyangs biggest trading partner and major ally, but Beijing has expressed disapproval over the years at North Koreas test-launches of missiles that could be used to target South Korea and the United States.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un traveled to Beijing in September to attend a massive military parade, marking the first time a North Korean leader had been present at a Chinese military parade in decades.
By Jonathan Saul

LONDON, March 31 (Reuters) - Three Chinese ships recently sailed through the Strait of Hormuz after coordination with relevant parties, a foreign ministry spokesperson told a regular daily press briefing on Tuesday, while calling for peace and stability in the Gulf Region.

The critical waterway has effectively been shut since the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran began on February 28.

"The Strait of Hormuz and the surrounding waters are an important route for global trade and energy supplies. China calls for an immediate ceasefire, an end to the fighting and restoration of peace and stability in the Gulf Region," Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told reporters regarding reports of the vessels' passage.

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Mao did not offer details about the Chinese ships.

Ship-tracking data showed two Chinese container ships sailed through the Strait of Hormuz on Monday on their second attempt to leave the Gulf after turning back on Friday.

The vessels sailed in close formation out of the strait and into open waters, data on the MarineTraffic platform showed.

"Both vessels successfully crossed on a second attempt today, marking the first container vessels to leave the Persian Gulf since the start of the conflict, excluding Iranian flag vessels," said Rebecca Gerdes, data analyst with Kpler, which owns MarineTraffic.

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"Both vessels are steaming at an elevated speed toward the Gulf of Oman at the moment."

Officials from China's COSCO, the shipping group that operates the two vessels, did not respond to requests for comment.

COSCO had said in a March 25 client advisory, that it had resumed bookings for general cargo containers for shipments from Asia to the Gulf including the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait and Iraq.

Iran has launched attacks on Gulf shipping and threatened more, stranding hundreds of vessels and 20,000 seafarers inside the Gulf.

Energy exports including crude oil from Saudi Arabia and liquefied natural gas from Qatar have been effectively halted.

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While there have been some discussions with Iran and countries such as India and Pakistan on getting their fleets through the strait, oil and tanker markets have been looking for any signs that shipping traffic has picked up pace.

The majority of energy shipments that have passed through the waterway have related to Iran's oil exports, with a few other ships managing to sail through every day.

GREEK OIL TANKER DEPARTS

A Greek-operated tanker bound for India carrying Saudi crude also exited the Gulf via the strait recently, LSEG ship-tracking data showed.

The Maltese-flagged Marathi began broadcasting its position off the coast of India on March 26 after last reporting its position inside the Gulf on March 2.

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The vessel was last seen off the west coast of India on Monday, the LSEG data showed.

It was the third loaded crude tanker operated by Greek firm Dynacom to exit the Gulf since the war began.

Dynacom did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Dynacom is one of the few shipowners willing to risk crossing the strait where the risks from Iran include possible floating mines, missiles and drones.

Companies making the voyage have used tactics including switching off their AIS tracking transponders and sailing at night to be less visible, sources have told Reuters.

Two Indian-flagged liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) tankers crossed the strait on Saturday, following two others which exited carrying critical supplies of the cooking gas bound for India in recent days.

(Reporting by Jonathan Saul, Renee Maltezou, Nerijus Adomaitis and Aizhu Chen; Additional reporting by Ethan Wang in Beijing; Editing by David Goodman and Jason Neely)
Charlotte Douglas International Airport will conclude its gift card donation program for Transportation Security Administration employees on Monday.

Officials said the decision follows a federal executive order directing back pay for employees who have been working without pay during a partial government shutdown.

The Department of Homeland Security was directed to provide the back pay following an executive order signed on Friday. Transportation Security Administration staff at the airport have been without paychecks since the partial government shutdown began on Feb. 14, 2026.

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The donation program supported more than 600 local Transportation Security Administration employees stationed at the airport, officials said. Throughout the shutdown period, community members, passengers and airport partners provided food, fuel and other essential resources to assist the workers.

Airport officials thanked the Charlotte community for the support shown to federal workers over the past several weeks. They also recognized the continued dedication of staff members who maintained travel safety and security despite the financial challenges posed by the shutdown.

CLT will stop accepting gift card donations and other resources effective Monday. Back pay for affected federal employees will be processed through the Department of Homeland Security in the coming weeks, officials said.

WATCH: Carolina Strong: Meet Matthews Fire and EMS four-legged hero
KABUL, March 30 (Xinhua) -- Afghan police arrested 10 individuals and confiscated 11 firearms, including eight Kalashnikov assault rifles, in the eastern Laghman province on Sunday, a news release from the provincial police office said Monday.

The arrested individuals, from two villages in Alishing district, began firing at each other after a quarrel over a disputed issue, the news release said, adding that police arrived at the scene and took all of them into custody.

During search operations, police also found 11 assault rifles, including eight Kalashnikovs and a pistol, the news release added, without providing further details.

Police will not allow anyone to take the law into their own hands, the news release said, calling on people to resolve disputes through official channels and legal means. 
YouTube/Jubilee

A high-ranking member of the right-wing youth group College Republicans of America has a history of making misogynistic, homophobic, and racist comments on his personal livestreams, according to a new report in The Guardian.

Kai Schwemmer, who was newly appointed as the political director of the College Republicans of America, made the statements, in addition to spouting some extremely far-right rhetoric on issues such as abortion, according to the outlet, which reviewed his livestreams, many of which are behind a paywall.

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While reviewing his streams on the platform Gumroad, the Guardian found that some of Schwemmers bigoted rhetoric was aimed at gay men.

In January 2023, while reacting to a Time magazine story about fitness culture and the reasons gay men took the gym during the early days of the AIDS crisis, Schwemmer said: Once again, gay men trying to take over straight male spaces. Gay men have been trying to subvert the gym. Do not let them do it. He added: Theyve been weaponizing it. Theyve been weaponizing it to give you AIDS. People are going to think this is an own on lifters. No, no, no. This is an indictment of gay people.

Schwemmers comments are part of a package of racist, sexist, and antisemitic comments that he made both on his stream and on appearances on other since-archived YouTube shows, the Guardian uncovered. While on stream, he also said that he would accept a world where abortion is banned and slavery is legal and says he is very much an anti universal suffrage guy. He also cheered a DNA test that proved he held no Jewish ancestry.

The Guardian noted that Schwemmers comments were made after having gone on a two-year Mormon mission to Argentina, which he said prompted a process of growth that led him to no longer hold the racist and bigoted beliefs he previously harbored.

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The Guardian also reviewed footage of his appearance on a now-archived episode of the YouTube channel Modern Day Debate from July 2025, in which he said that a 15-year-old who was sexually assaulted should be forced to carry to term. This platform is where he made his comment saying he would accept a society where abortion is banned and slavery is legaland indicated that he is in favor of family voting, a Christian nationalist ideology that would allow men to vote as the head of a household, voting for their wives and children.

In the same debate, Schwemmer said he was anti-gay marriage and in favor of repealing same-sex marriage protections.

Schwemmer and the College Republicans of America did not respond to the Guardians requests for comment.

Gavin Newsom Is Being Weirdly Homophobic Yet Again

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The governor of California wont stop invoking peoples alleged Grindr accounts as an insult.

Jeff Tischauser, a senior research analyst at the Southern Poverty Law Center, told the Guardian that he had been monitoring Schwemmer since 2022, given his association with far-right figure Nick Fuentes. (He previously identified as part of Fuentes groyper movement and streamed on Fuentess platform Cozy.tv, according to the report.)

Any time someone claims they have left the movement, you need to watch them closely to see if their actions match their rhetoric, and if they are being sincere, Tischauser told the Guardian. It does not seem like Kai Schwemmer is being sincere.

Ben Lorber, a senior research analyst at Political Research Associates, echoed Tischauser and said that he was following Fuentes playbook.

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Essentially, hes trying to do exactly what Nick Fuentes has always called on his followers to do: to participate in Republican politics and to downplay their more extreme views, he told the Guardian. He added, Fuentes is fine with people like Kai Schwemmer disavowing him, even though Schwemmer is walking a fine line. Ive never heard him directly condemn Nick Fuentes.

Get the best of whats queer. Sign up for Thems weekly newsletter here.

Originally Appeared on them.
Four total QBs make Nate Tice's early big board, and four Longhorns are in the top nine. Plus, Indiana's not done cranking out pro wide receivers.
Community members held a vigil in Pittsburghs South Shore on Sunday to mourn the death of 31-year-old Daphy Michel.

Tea lights and flowers were placed near a photo of Michel at the East Carson Street-Smithfield Street bus shelter.

Supporters poured out a libation honoring Michel and decried alleged systemic issues they say led to her death.

According to the Allegheny County Medical Examiners Office, Michel was declared deceased at a hospital on March 2, following an unspecified incident along East Carson Street.

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Supporters claim Michel, a Charleroi resident, spent months in jail after being arrested during a possible mental health incident. When her charges were dropped, she was allegedly placed in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody and released in Pittsburgh with an ankle monitor.

Michel was found unresponsive at that South Shore bus shelter three days later, supporters say.

While speakers during Sundays vigil criticized American institutions over Michels death, the Department of Homeland Security has denied any responsibility.

In a March 14 post on X, DHS claimed ICE had NOTHING to do with this womans death, which it says happened three days after ICE first encountered her.

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ICE released Michel on Feb. 27 with all of her personal belongings, including a fully charged phone in Pittsburgh, with ready access to public transport, DHS said. ICE was allegedly informed of her death by media reports, after Allegheny County officials were uncooperative and would not provide information when Michels ankle monitor was severed.

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WASHINGTON  After nearly seven long weeks, the political stalemate over funding the Department of Homeland Security still doesn't seem likely to end anytime soon.

Congress is on a scheduled two-week recess. Republicans in the Senate and House of Representatives are deeply divided. Democrats don't want to negotiate until the GOP gets on the same page.

And while many people have praised President Donald Trump for rerouting federal funds to pay Transportation Security Administration (TSA) workers, who are now receiving checks, amid the impasse, that directive also eased arguably the most determinative pressure point in fully resolving the crisis as it continues to hamstring a crucial federal agency.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents patrol at John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York City, March 23, 2026. Hundreds of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were ordered to deploy to airports to help fill TSA staffing gaps across the country. Travelers stand in long lines at Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport on March 23, 2026 in Atlanta. The travel disruptions continue as hundreds of TSA agents quit or work without pay during a partial government shutdown. ICE agents walk through the airport drinking coffee as travelers stand in long lines at Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport on March 23, 2026 in Atlanta. People wait in TSA security lines at John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York City, March 23, 2026 Passengers wait in lines as they maneuver toward a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) checkpoint after hundreds of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were ordered to deploy to airports to help fill TSA staffing gaps, at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in Atlanta, March 23, 2026. Travelers stand in long a line outside of Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport on March 23, 2026 in Atlanta. The travel disruptions continue as hundreds of TSA agents quit or work without pay during a partial government shutdown. President Donald Trump said ICE agents will be deployed to airports on Monday, with border czar Tom Homan in charge of the effort. ICE agents look on as travelers stand in long lines at Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport on March 23, 2026 in Atlanta. Passengers wait in lines as they maneuver toward a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) checkpoint after hundreds of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were ordered to deploy to airports to help fill TSA staffing gaps, at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in Atlanta. People wait in TSA security lines at John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York City, March 23, 2026. ICE agents appear at airports as TSA delays snarl check-in 1 of 9 Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents patrol at John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York City, March 23, 2026. Hundreds of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were ordered to deploy to airports to help fill TSA staffing gaps across the country.

"We are in a conflict with Iran right now," Sen. James Lankford, R-Oklahoma, said on NBC's "Meet the Press" on March 29. "We need the cybersecurity professionals at their desk, and they're currently not being funded."

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While congressional aides say attempts at negotiating have continued even after lawmakers left town for spring break, the political dynamics around the partial shutdown have only gotten more intractable.

Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, warned on March 30 that even with TSA workers getting paid again, airports may not completely return to normal. She called on Congress to get back to Washington immediately to permanently end the crisis.

"Nothing will be truly normal again until Democrats do the right thing to fund this agency fully," she said.

Read more: Homeland Security shutdown breaks GOP divisions in Congress wide open

A sleepy Senate

A JetBlue aircraft lands under the DC skyline featuring the U.S. Capitol building, near United Airlines, American Airlines and Delta Airlines aircraft on the tarmac at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on January 25, 2025.

On Friday, March 27, the House of Representatives passed a stopgap measure that would entirely fund the Department of Homeland Security through May 22.

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The bill was a dramatic rebuke of a deal that was reached the day before between Senate Republicans and Democrats, who'd passed legislation overnight that would have funded all of DHS except for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol (both units are already operating with cash influxes).

House Republicans, in a dramatic split from their Senate colleagues, derided that agreement as a "joke" and a "Swiss-cheese funding bill defined by its holes." They called on the Senate to reconvene immediately and instead consider their counterproposal.

Read more: DHS shutdown drags on after House passes 'dead on arrival' bill

But the Senate is scheduled to be gone over the Easter and Passover holidays until Monday, April 13. There are no concrete plans to return earlier yet. According to a senior GOP aide, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-South Dakota, told Republican senators over the weekend that he would only call them back to consider DHS funding legislation that could realistically pass (not for any test votes or show votes).

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Senate Republicans broadly support the House-passed bill, which would need at least some Democrats on board to survive the chamber's 60-vote threshold. But Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York, said it would be "dead on arrival."

During a brief "pro forma" session on Monday, March 30, Republican senators could have attempted to unanimously pass the House DHS bill (though Democrats would've blocked it). None even tried.

Zachary Schermele is a congressional reporter for USA TODAY. You can reach him by email at zschermele@usatoday.com. Follow him on X at @ZachSchermele and Bluesky at @zachschermele.bsky.social.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: With Congress gone and TSA paid, DHS shutdown probably won't end soon
A second man was arrested along with a candidate for the U.S. House by Grove City police at a "No Kings" rally there on March 28.

Don Leonard, a Democrat who is running to represent Ohio's 15th Congressional District, said he was giving a speech using a bullhorn on the back of a pickup truck when a police cruiser "came roaring up" and an officer approached and asked him to step down.

The officer took the megaphone and informed him he had violated a city noise ordinance, Leonard said. The officer returned to his cruiser briefly, then stepped back out and motioned for Leonard to walk toward his cruiser and away from the crowd, he said.

Protest organizers speak during the No Kings protest at Schiller Park in German Village on Saturday, March 28, 2026 in Columbus, Ohio. Demonstrators gathered to join a nationwide No Kings protest to voice opposition to Trump administration policies, including the war in Iran, on Saturday, March 28, 2026, in New Albany, Ohio. A man dressed as President Donald Trump in a prison jumpsuit parades around the amphitheater during a No Kings rally, March 28, 2026, in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. A woman holds a sign that says, End the circus of horrors! Scariest clown ever during the No Kings protest at Schiller Park in German Village on Saturday, March 28, 2026 in Columbus, Ohio. Demonstrators gathered to join a nationwide No Kings protest to voice opposition to Trump administration policies, including the war in Iran, on Saturday, March 28, 2026, in New Albany, Ohio. Demonstrators gathered to join a nationwide No Kings protest to voice opposition to Trump administration policies, including the war in Iran, on Saturday, March 28, 2026, in New Albany, Ohio. People participate in the No Kings protest at Schiller Park in German Village on Saturday, March 28, 2026 in Columbus, Ohio. Demonstrators gathered to join a nationwide No Kings protest to voice opposition to Trump administration policies, including the war in Iran, on Saturday, March 28, 2026, in New Albany, Ohio. People march by Jaeger Street during the No Kings protest in German Village on Saturday, March 28, 2026 in Columbus, Ohio. Demonstrators gathered to join a nationwide No Kings protest to voice opposition to Trump administration policies, including the war in Iran, on Saturday, March 28, 2026, in New Albany, Ohio. City Council President Shannon Hardin marches with fellow protesters during the No Kings protest at Schiller Park in German Village on Saturday, March 28, 2026 in Columbus, Ohio. A person holds a sign that says, No faux kings way! during the No Kings protest at Schiller Park in German Village on Saturday, March 28, 2026 in Columbus, Ohio. More than 500 people attended the No Kings protest March 28 at the base of the John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge in Covington. Protesters line Broad Blvd. for a No Kings rally, March 28, 2026, in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. More than 500 people attended the No Kings protest March 28 at the base of the John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge in Covington. More than 500 people attended the No Kings protest March 28 at the base of the John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge in Covington. More than 500 people attended the No Kings protest March 28 at the base of the John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge in Covington. People have gathered outside Cincinnati City Hall for the No Kings protest against President Donald Trump on March 28, 2026. Protestors gathered outside of the Marion County Courthouse on March 28 for a No Kings protest organized by Citizens for Democracy of Marion. Protestors gathered outside of the Marion County Courthouse on March 28 for a No Kings protest organized by Citizens for Democracy of Marion. Protesters line Broad Blvd. to make their voices heard to passersby during a No Kings rally, March 28, 2026, in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. Southern Ohio residents gathered in front of the Ross County Courthouse in Chillicothe, Ohio, for a No Kings protest on March 28, 2026. Attendees protested President Donald Trump, his actions and his administration. Southern Ohio residents gathered in front of the Ross County Courthouse in Chillicothe, Ohio, for a No Kings protest on March 28, 2026. Attendees protested President Donald Trump, his actions and his administration. Southern Ohio residents gathered in front of the Ross County Courthouse in Chillicothe, Ohio, for a No Kings protest on March 28, 2026. Attendees protested President Donald Trump, his actions and his administration. Southern Ohio residents gathered in front of the Ross County Courthouse in Chillicothe, Ohio, for a No Kings protest on March 28, 2026. Attendees protested President Donald Trump, his actions and his administration. Southern Ohio residents gathered in front of the Ross County Courthouse in Chillicothe, Ohio, for a No Kings protest on March 28, 2026. Attendees protested President Donald Trump, his actions and his administration. Southern Ohio residents gathered in front of the Ross County Courthouse in Chillicothe, Ohio, for a No Kings protest on March 28, 2026. Attendees protested President Donald Trump, his actions and his administration. No Kings protests across Ohio stand against Trump policies, Iran war 1 of 27 Protest organizers speak during the No Kings protest at Schiller Park in German Village on Saturday, March 28, 2026 in Columbus, Ohio.

Leonard said in an interview with The Dispatch the next day that he did not want to leave the crowd because he wanted people to witness his interaction with police for the sake of accountability and transparency. He said he wasn't afraid of the officer, but did not understand why it was necessary for him to leave the crowd.

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"As this was happening, there were like seven or eight cruisers that came roaring in and I started feeling very uncomfortable about the way that this was escalating," Leonard said. "And so I informed the officers that I would feel more comfortable standing here. ... I wanted witnesses just in case things escalated."

Leonard said he told the officer he did not wish to leave the crowd. The officer asked him a second time, and asked if Leonard understood that he was ordering him to come with him, he said.

"I said, 'I understand that I was exercising my First Amendment rights,' and I was starting to finish that sentence when he said, 'OK, turn around, put your hands behind your back,'" Leonard said.

The arrest was filmed with cell phones by multiple people in the crowd whom Leonard had decided to remain near.

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Leonard was charged with obstructing official business and violating a noise ordinance in Grove City Mayor's Court, according to court records. His first court appearance for both charges is set for April 15.

"The officers treated me with great professionalism and respect," Leonard said. "The handcuffs were put on really loose and I was hauled off into the slammer."

Leonard said he was booked into jail, fingerprinted, and had a mugshot taken, He was released within about an hour and a half.

Another man was arrested for attempting to block the police cruiser after he was arrested, Leonard said. Leonard was not sure what the man's name was or what charges he faced.

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In a March 30 statement, Grove City police said they arrested and charged a second man at the "No Kings" rally for obstruction of official police business and disorderly conduct, a fourth-degree misdemeanor. Grove City police did not say if this is the same man whom Leonard said attempted to block the police cruiser after Leonard was arrested.

A large crowd turned out for the third No Kings protest at the Statehouse Saturday afternoon, Mar 28, 2026.

Leonard said he had "pretty mixed feelings" about the arrest. He said he was willing to accept a citation for violating the noise ordinance, but did not see why he should be arrested, and called the incident "just another day in Trump's America."

"I'm absolutely proud of of my decision to exercise my First Amendment rights," Leonard said. "I think it's pretty unconscionable that the police of Grove City opted to enforce a noise ordinance during a political protest."

New Albany police allowed a woman with a microphone, speaker and megaphone to use those devices during a protest there March 28 that extended along both sides of Main Street from the Dublin Granville Road side of Village Hall and the U.S. Post Office and extended nearly to the Market Street roundabout.

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Leonard said the arrest reminded him why he chose to run for office in the first place.

"I do think it's important that people don't see what happened to me and use that as an excuse to stay home or stay silent," Leonard said. "I want the world to know that democracy dies in silence, and we need more people with bullhorns out there."

Leonard has a defense attorney and plans to fight the charges.

Who is Don Leonard?

Leonard is a Democrat running for Ohio's 15th Congressional District. Leonard first faces former State Representative Adam Miller for the Democratic nomination in a May 5 primary.

The winner will face Republican incumbent Mike Carey or his challenger, Samuel Ronan, along with libertarian candidate Brennan Barrington.

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This article has been updated with new information.

Public Safety and Breaking News Reporter Bailey Gallion can be reached at bagallion@dispatch.com.

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Congressional candidate Don Leonard arrested at Ohio 'No Kings' protest




State officials are demanding that four day care centers return nearly $570,000 in defaulted grant money distributed under a federal program designed to expand child care nationally.

Each of the four day care centers has been unable to account for how some or all of the federal money was spent, according to state records. State officials are now working to recoup that money or require the day care centers to alternatively provide detailed records demonstrating that the money was spent on legitimate expenses permitted under he grants. Officials are also conducting a forensic audit to determine whether any of the public funds were misspent.

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The grant money dates back to 2024 when a round of federal funding for day care expansion and improvement began flowing through the American Rescue Plan, a $1.9 trillion stimulus program passed by former President Joe Biden a few years earlier to jumpstart the economy and accelerate recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. Of that, about $24 billion was allocated to day care grants nationally and $15 billion for Child Care and Development Block Grants.

While some was used for paying employees across the country amid the COVID shutdown, some money was allocated to help expand day care facilities. Connecticut has long suffered from an ongoing shortage of affordable day care slots for children, with families often facing waitlists to get access to some day cares.

A total of $13 million was distributed to 125 day cares in Connecticut for the purpose of expansion, a small fraction of the 700 that applied, requesting a combined $75 million.

"More than 96% of those grantees successfully completed their construction projects and provided all required documentation," said Jim Horan, director of the Local Initiatives Support Corp., a national non-profit agency which distributes public and private funding to a variety of community organizations and businesses.

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But four day care centers collectively owe the state $569,090, according to documents obtained by CT Insider through the state Freedom of Information law. Those day care centers are the Tiny Sprouts Playhouse in Norwich, $492,500; Aqua Vistas Daycare, Danbury, $15,394; Little Eric's Daycare, West Haven, $15,325; and Angel Family Childcare, New Haven, $45,871.

Several attempts to reach the owners or license holders responsible for the day care centers for comment by calling phone numbers listed on their websites and social media pages were not successful.

Maggie Adair, a spokesperson for the state Office of Early Childhood, which oversees the grant program, confirmed the day care centers are in default.

"None of the programs you have inquired about have repaid or provided allowable receipts accounting for the funds," Adair said. "The OEC is working with each on these matters. Contract language has been amended to ensure repayment only to avoid future defaults; OEC is following protocol by initiating an audit process."

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Adair noted LISC, which vetted applicants and distributed the funds, is not involved in the collection process.

"At this time, there has been no referral to the Chief State's Attorney by OEC," Adair said, when asked if criminal charges were being sought. "It is premature at this juncture; however, federal reporting is underway."

Adair added "OEC is retaining outside external auditors to undertake a forensic audit. After that audit and any further investigations are complete, a determination will be made as to whether a referral to the Chief State's Attorney is appropriate."

Paper trail

The largest of the day care centers in default is the Tiny Sprouts Playhouse in Norwich. The tidy brick building and adjacent parking lot are marked by a colorful sign proclaiming its name. Calls from a CT Insider reporter seeking comment were not returned.

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Documents show the facility planned to use $500,000 in federal grant money to create 48 new slots for toddlers and infants.

According to one letter sent by the state, the grant money could be used for "planning and construction/renovation for a new center This project will include construction that will renovate a former doctor's office into a high-quality child care center."

But on Jan. 28, 2026, the state OEC, in a letter to the day care center, demanded return of nearly $493,000 in grant funds, saying the money was in default and had not been accounted for through invoices and other documents.

"Consider this letter as a demand for immediate return of the $493,000 disbursed to you by LISC and the amount you now owe the State of Connecticut," wrote Cynthia Watts-Elder, a senior legal director for OEC.

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"Alternatively, you must immediately supply LISC with detailed financial records demonstrating legitimate expenditures and payments in the amount of $493,000," Watts-Elder wrote. "The OEC is also undertaking a forensic audit."

The state's demand for return of the money first began in late summer 2025, other documents show.

In an Aug. 5, 2025 letter sent by LISC to Stephanie Davis, who is listed as the contact person for Tiny Sprouts on various documents, was reminded that on Sept. 11, 2024, Tiny Sprouts received $453,110 in federal grant funds and on March 27, 2025, received $46,900 in additional grant money for various expansion work.

"LISC has made numerous requests via text, phone calls, and emails for Grantee to provide documentation of how $500,000 in Grant funds was spent," LISC wrote to Davis and the day care last year. "So far, Grantee has not provided LISC with documentation showing that Grant funds have been spent in accordance with the Grant."

More defaults

The other three child care centers received similar default letters and demands for documentation to prove the grant money had been legitimately spent. The process began in the summer or fall of 2025, and the latest letters arrived in January or February of 2026, documents show.

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CT Insider requested all default letters sent to day care centers which received grant money over the past three years and received documents related to only the four facilities named in this report, indicating there had been no other defaults during that period.

In a Sept. 23, 2025 letter, Watts-Elder reminded the New Haven-based Angel Family Childcare it was awarded a $59,000 grant in July 2024 to expand the day care center. While the letter was addressed to Angel Family Childcare, a sign outside the facility in a residential neighborhood identifies the business as Angel Child Family Daycare.

"Permissible expenses included supporting quality improvements to indoor spaces by renovating your garage and adding a children's playroom," Watts-Elder wrote. "On or about January 24, 2025, another grant in the amount of $10,000 was awarded to you, for the same permissible expenses."

The letter also delivered bad news.

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"Consider this letter as a demand for immediate return of the $45,871.50 disbursed to you by LISC and the amount you now owe the State of Connecticut," Watts-Elder wrote. "OEC may be willing to enter into a reasonable repayment schedule if you contact me within thirty (30) calendar days of receipt."

A woman who identified herself as the day care provider answered the phone, promising to have someone return the call, but no follow up call was received.

Adair said OEC has referred the Angel Family Childcare to the Department of Administrative Services' collections unit.

Little Eric's Daycare on Smith Street in West Haven, told state officials the grant money would be used to improve outdoor areas, purchase outdoor play equipment and install a fence to keep children safe. The day care is located in a tight urban neighborhood surrounded by streets.

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In a Jan. 30, 2026 letter to Mariela Zamora, who also goes by Mariela Izquierdo, the contact person listed on state documents, Watts-Elder stated the original grant was $32,500 but was reduced by $6,500 "because of your failure to submit detailed financial records demonstrating appropriate expenditures."

The letter added "while some financial records were submitted to LISC demonstrating appropriate expenditures, LISC has not received from you financial records demonstrating how $15,325 [of the grant funds] was expended. Accordingly, consider this letter as a demand for immediate return of $15,325 disbursed to you by LISC and the amount you now owe the State of Connecticut."

Calls to a phone number listed on the day care center's web page went to voicemail.

According to the secretary of state's office, Little Eric's Daycare LLC was administratively dissolved in September 2025 for failure to file an annual report. But state officials said the business was in good standing when the grant was approved a few years earlier.

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"While Little Eric's Daycare, LLC appears to have been administratively dissolved, that business entity was not issued a license," Adair said. "All family child care home licenses are issued to individuals, not businesses. The license was issued to Mariela E. Zamora, DCFH.54293, and remains active."

Danbury day care

The Aqua Vistas Daycare in Danbury was granted funding to improve outdoor areas, purchase outdoor play equipment, upgrade the backyard and playground areas, install a fence, renovate the bathroom for day care use, install security cameras and replace flooring, according to documents.

A visual inspection revealed the single-story house is located in the Aqua Vista neighborhood overlooking Candlewood Lake. Phone calls to a phone number listed on the day care's web page went to voicemail.

A Jan. 30, 2026 letter from Watts-Elder stated that the day care originally received a $56,000 grant, of which $30,102 was disbursed to the day care center.

LISC then reduced the grant by $25,898 "because of your failure to submit detailed financial records demonstrating appropriate expenditures," Watts-Elder wrote to the operator.

Watts-Elder added "Upon information and belief, while some financial records were submitted to LISC demonstrating appropriate expenditures, LISC has not received from you financial records demonstrating how $15,394 was expended. Accordingly, consider this letter as a demand for immediate return of $15,394 disbursed to you by LISC and the amount you now owe the State of Connecticut. Alternatively, you must immediately supply LISC with detailed financial records demonstrating legitimate expenditures and payments in an amount totaling $15,394."

Horan, the head of LISC, said the focus of the funding for all of the day cares was to "address critical gaps in infant and toddler capacity and early childhood deserts through facility renovation and construction funding." The agency focused on operators located "in high need regions."

Once a grant was issued, according to Horan, the grantee was required to spend the money in approved ways as outlined in their funding contract.

"Per the grant agreement, awardees had until 15 days after the grant term ended to submit all final receipts," Horan said. "Because these are public dollars subject to federal audit, LISC is required to follow established compliance procedures."

After reviewing each day care's invoices and responses to the accounting requirement, LISC issued a formal notice of default to day care centers not in compliance and offered them an opportunity to submit missing or incomplete documentation, Horan explained.

"These safeguards exist to protect taxpayer funds and ensure that grant dollars are used as intended - to support high-quality child care and expand access for families," Horan said. "At the conclusion of the grant program, 1,267 child care slots were created, with 67 percent located in communities classified as a high need child care desert."

This article originally published at Connecticut demands return of nearly $570,000 from day cares over missing records.
As Maine lawmakers enter the final weeks of the legislative session, a bill to expand ranked choice voting is awaiting a judicial opinion to help determine whether it becomes law.

In turn, that means the ruling could decide if voters will use ranked choice voting in Novembers contentious governors race.

Ranked choice voting is not just a great way to ensure voter satisfaction, it just makes a lot of sense for Maine in particular: we have a lot of independent voters, we have a lot of voters who do not identify with the major political parties, said Jen Lancaster, deputy director of the League of Women Voters of Maine.

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The League has been advocating for ranked choice voting in Maine since the issue initially arose with a successful statewide referendum in 2016, but since then its application has been limited.

The Maine Legislature last month asked the court to issue an advisory opinion on LD 1666, which would expand the voting method to special and general elections for governor, state senator or state representative.

At the heart of the debate is language in the Maine Constitution that stipulates that those races must be determined by a plurality, or the highest number of votes received, and how that is interpreted. That leaves both sides to argue about the meaning of plurality and what exactly is considered a vote.

The Maine Supreme Judicial Court will hear oral arguments on Wednesday in Portland, first on whether the Legislatures request meets the threshold of a solemn occasion  under which lawmakers ask the court to produce a nonbinding decision on the legality of pending legislation and then on the constitutionality of the bill itself.

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The outcome will help determine if lawmakers send the bill to Gov. Janet Mills, and what she will do with it.

The legislation passed both chambers last session but was recalled from the governors desk and carried over to this year. During a Jan. 30 work session, sponsor Sen. Cameron Reny (D-Lincoln) explained that Mills had intended to veto the bill, but was open to a solemn occasion request.

It passed both Democratically-controlled chambers last month, including a final enactment vote in the House. But it was tabled in the Senate, where it waits amid unfinished business.

Critics include the Republican National Committee and Attorney General Aaron Frey, who argued in briefs to the court that nothing has changed since 2017.

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Legislation like LD 1666, which changes the terminology used to describe the process without changing how the process works, cannot make the unconstitutional constitutional, Frey said.

But Lancaster said the expansion is about listening to voters, who have consistently supported it.

Every time we give Maine voters a chance to weigh in on ranked choice voting, they just overwhelmingly approve of it, she said.

Election year stakes

Its a particularly climactic moment for the debate, as Maine stares down a major election to replace Mills. Its already a crowded field with numerous Democratic, Republican and independent candidates.

And although the Democratic and Republican primaries in June will both utilize ranked choice voting  under current law, the general election in November will not. And with Maine Sen. Rick Bennett (I-Oxford) already a serious contender, odds seem high that the general election could be at least a three-way race.

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Its easy to see how this could become another three-way race, where the percentages of the winning candidate would be relatively low compared to what you would see coming out of a ranked choice voting race, and I think thats something thats reasonable to anticipate, said John Brautigam, legal counsel for the League of Women Voters of Maine.

I think theres a chance that ranked choice voting will be used and will help move us to a place where therell be a better outcome for the election in these multi-candidate races, he said, but theres no question its going to be a crowded ballot in November for the gubernatorial race.

Critics have argued that changing voting rules during an election year is bad public policy, as Rep. David Boyer (R-Poland) put it before the House voted in support of the bill.

But Lancaster said the timing with a contentious election year was not intentional, and the League has been working on the issue for several years.

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I can totally see how sometimes the optics of this makes it feel like were pushing this through the Legislature so that it can become implemented in time for the 2026 gubernatorial election, she said. But its very much been a long, thoughtful process, and were hopeful that the Maine Supreme Court will see it as fully constitutional.

The gubernatorial race has long been at the center of the discussion on ranked choice voting  because historically, the winning candidate has not gotten a majority of the votes.

Of the past 13 elections for governor, only four have won more than 50% of the votes. That leaves nine elections where the winner got less than half, and of those nine winners, five of them won with less than 40% of the votes.

Nearly 10 years of ranked choice

Lancaster said for the League, which is nonpartisan, ranked choice voting is the best option to ensure the will of voters is heard clearly.

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The more that we use it, the more that it will just reflect the preference of the voters. Its not necessarily going to benefit one political party over another, she said.

And, she said, it changes how candidates campaign ahead of the election.

The benefits are not just for your satisfaction, but also just ensuring that candidates are speaking a little bit more to the voters themselves, Lancaster said. Because now they have to fight for preference, and not just that one single top line first-choice vote.

Its an unusual setup under current law. Maine already uses ranked choice voting in many elections: U.S. Senate, U.S. House of Representatives, the presidential race, gubernatorial primaries and state legislative primaries.

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I think most voters have navigated it pretty well, but it does kind of call out for unifying that and putting all elections on the same basis, said Brautigam.

Maine voters expect to use ranked choice voting across the board, but we don't, and it's confusing.

 Jen Lancaster, League of Women Voters Maine

Lancaster agreed that universal ranked choice voting is the straightforward option.

Maine voters expect to use ranked choice voting across the board, but we dont, and its confusing, she said.

The division of ranked choice elections goes back to a 2017 opinion from the state Supreme Court. After the 2016 referendum, state legislators asked the court for an advisory opinion on the legality under the Maine Constitution  much like they are doing now.

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At the time, the court determined that ranked choice voting couldnt apply to general election races for governor or the Maine Legislature because the Constitution said those outcomes should be determined by a plurality of voters.

But the bill under consideration now, LD 1666, is meant to address those concerns. And Brautigam said Maine election officials and voters understand ranked choice voting more now, after using it in most elections in recent years.

So I think voters now kind of understand that a lot better, and they just understand that this is a nuanced, more complete expression of their intention than what exists, he said. And I think everybody has kind of said, Oh, yeah, okay, now I see the value of this.

Other factors

Another key change since 2017 is a 2022 ruling by the Alaska Supreme Court, which considered similar constitutional concerns that have been raised in Maine.

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In that case, Kohlhaas v. State, the petitioner argued that ranked choice voting may deny victory to the candidate who received the most votes. However, the Alaska court held that a ranked choice election is not complete until each vote has been fully tallied  at which point the candidate with the most votes wins the election.

Now, no one says that that is binding in Maine, but it does illustrate this part of the question that really wasnt examined very closely in Maine, and I think its going to be examined more closely this time around, Brautigam said.

On the question of how the bill could be applied in an election year, the Secretary of States Office said in a brief that the office would be able to prepare ranked choice voting for the November election, but they would need a final decision by Aug. 25 to print ballots.

The final unpredictable element of the debate is the court itself: theres no requirement for the justices to issue a simple yes or no opinion. It could be a very narrow ruling, or more broad, or the court could state that the question cant be answered in an advisory opinion, and requires full litigation with a binding ruling.

But were hoping for something thats really decisive and puts this issue to rest and says, Yes, were in a new place, now this proposed legislation does satisfy the Constitution, because it sort of answers the question that the Constitution doesnt answer about the nature of a vote, Brautigam said. And that could go a long way towards putting this to rest.
ROME, Ga. (AP)  During almost three decades of living in Georgias conservative northwest corner, Kimberly Seals got used to keeping her liberal opinions to herself. She suspected there were others who felt the same way, but she had no way to know for sure.

So on a recent Saturday afternoon, she gazed in amazement at the crowd of hundreds who gathered in the town of Rome to hear Pete Buttigieg stump for long-shot Democratic congressional candidate Shawn Harris.

Theres a lot more people that think like us than we anticipated, Seals said alongside her husband.

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Harris, a farmer and retired Army general, is running to replace conservative firebrand Marjorie Taylor Greene, who resigned in January after a falling-out with President Donald Trump. He's up against Republican candidate Clay Fuller, a district attorney, and faces slim chances in a runoff on April 7.

But as early voting begins on Monday, some Democrats are still feeling hopeful after their party performed better than expected in recent special elections leading up to the November midterms, which will determine control of Congress.

I believe that there is no such thing as a permanently red district or state or town," said Buttigieg, who served as President Joe Biden's transportation secretary. A former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, he previously ran for the White House and might try again.

Speaking to reporters after his speech, Buttigieg insisted things really are shifting in this country.

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Harris is testing the limits of that theory with his second campaign for Georgia's 14th District, banking that nationwide Democratic enthusiasm and simmering discontent with Trump could help him defy political gravity.

Walking the streets

Sporting blue jeans and well-worn orange sneakers last week, Harris zig-zagged down a residential street in south Rome, chatting with voters who recognized him immediately.

Phoebe Johnson, 69, said it was the third time she saw Harris knocking on doors. He is actually talking about the things that really matters, she said, such as rising grocery prices and the cost of the Republican president's tariffs.

Unlike in 2024, when he lost to Greene, Harris said more people know him  as Shawn, rather than as Gen. Harris. He served in the military for 40 years, including time as an infantry commander in Afghanistan, before retiring as a brigadier general in the Army National Guard. He lives on his cattle farm in Rockmart.

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I went right back to work with my hands and built a cattle farm that I live on every day, Harris said. That says to the hardworking people here in northwest Georgia that Shawn Harris works hard just like them out in the hot sun and I get the results.

He said a group of Republican veterans helping him put up fences on his farm were among the first people who pushed him to run for office, before they knew he was a Democrat.

Harris said his background as a farmer and veteran resonate with working-class voters.

Odell Battle, 76, said Harris stands for the kind of lifestyle that I like and enjoy."

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"This man is here to serve the community, Battle said after Harris gave him his cellphone number. Its not just to get into Washington and forget about us.

Republicans doubt Harris' chances

Harris finished first on the ballot in the March 10 election. But while he was the best-known Democrat, Republicans split their vote among several candidates. Consultants from both parties caution against extrapolating too much from special elections with limited turnout.

Its just too solid a red district, said conservative commentator and former state Rep. Buzz Brockway. But it might be closer than it should.

Jay Morgan, former executive director of the Georgia Republican Party, said, if anything, the district could become even redder, and he described Fuller as central casting.

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"You have a guy whos a stand-up law enforcement guy who is an extremely attractive candidate," he said. "To have somebody like that follow Marjorie Taylor Greene is just a huge boost for the party.

Many Republicans were relieved to see Fuller make it to the runoff over former state Sen. Colton Moore, the brasher, more controversial far-right candidate whose style mirrors Greenes.

The people of Northwest Georgia stand with President Trump and Clay Fuller," Fuller campaign manager Dabriel Graham said.

Floyd County Democratic Chair Vincent Mendes works as a chiropractor and said many of his Republican patients are considering voting for Harris. He believes Harris has a shot because the district is tired of being a talking point.

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"Were ready for real representation, Mendes said. We had somebody who was mostly interested in chasing headlines for years.

Georgia Democratic Party Chair Charlie Bailey hopes that excitement will lift candidates across the state in the midterms, especially as Republicans attempt to oust Sen. Jon Ossoff.

This race is critical for Georgias 14th District, but its even bigger than that, Bailey said. Shawn is building momentum right now that will keep growing all the way through November, boosting Democrats at every level of the ticket in North Georgia and beyond.

___

Kramon is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
NASAs Artemis II rocket is positioned at the Kennedy Space Center in preparation for a mission scheduled to launch on Wednesday.

The mission will send four astronauts on a flyby mission around the moon.

This would be the first crewed lunar mission for NASA in more than 50 years.

While the crew will not land on the moon, NASA said the mission will serve as a pathfinder for future missions to the lunar surface.

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The Artemis II crew arrived on the Florida Space Coast last week to prepare for the flight.

NASA astronaut Christina Koch described the mission as a shift in how the moon is perceived.

How do we feel as the people that can call the moon the destination, a destination, not just something were looking at and it is our strong hope that this mission is the start of an era where everyone, every person on earth can look at the moon and think of it as also a destination, Koch said.

Behind the scenes, teams have spent years designing and manufacturing the space suits that the four astronauts will wear during the mission.

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These Orion spacesuits are built to protect the crew during high-activity periods and potential emergencies.

Dustin Gohmert, the Orion Crew Survival System Manager at NASA, explained that the suits provide protection throughout the entire transit to the moon and back.

The main thing about the Orion spacesuit is its designed to keep the crew safe not only at launch and landing, during dynamic phases of flight, but if something were to go wrong while youre in transit to the moon or in lunar orbit, theyre designed to sustain you for that full duration of return, Gohmert said.

The Artemis II mission is scheduled to launch on Wednesday.

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Teams at the Kennedy Space Center are conducting final preparations for the flight.

Click here to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.
A woman accused of killing the father of her children and his parents in Crete Township made her first court appearance Monday.

Jenna Strouble is accused of shooting and killing all three.

Strouble did appear in court. But because her attorney had a different case at the time, the hearing was rescheduled.

Several members of Strouble's family and loved ones of Jacob Lambert and his parents, Stacy and Patrick Forde, were in court Monday, visibly distressed and emotional.

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Strouble has been charged with first-degree murder in what officials said were the targeted deaths of Lambert, whom she shared a relationship and children with and his parents.

Police said Lambert was found dead in a car in the driveway last Monday, and his parents were found dead inside the home, on the first floor, near the front door, in the 3400-block of East Norway Trail in Crete Township.

The sheriff's office said Strouble made incriminating statements after the murders, and police recovered a gun that matched the one used in the incident.

In court Monday, prosecutors accused Strouble of murdering Lambert because she didn't like how he parented their two children.

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They said Strouble and Lambert were in his truck last Sunday night, when she offered to give him a massage.

Prosecutors say she then shot him in the head while he was face down.

Prosecutors claim she then drove to his mom and step-dad's home, where she started shooting when they opened the door.

Patrick Forde was shot 17 times. Stacy Forde was shot three times.

Strouble was arrested at her parents' Saint John, Indiana home.

Strouble did waive extradition last week in Lake County, Indiana.

She was initially expected to appear in the Will County Courthouse Tuesday at 9 a.m., but her court date has been pushed back, officials said on Monday evening.
The handover ceremony of the commander-in-chief of defence services is held in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar, March 30, 2026. Ye Win Oo has been appointed Myanmar's commander-in-chief of defence services, military-owned Myawady TV reported on Monday. (Myanmar's Ministry of Information/Handout via Xinhua)

NAY PYI TAW, March 30 (Xinhua) -- Ye Win Oo has been appointed Myanmar's commander-in-chief of defence services, military-owned Myawady TV reported on Monday.

Ye Win Oo succeeded Min Aung Hlaing, who had served as the commander-in-chief of defence services since March 30, 2011.

The handover ceremony of the commander-in-chief of defence services was held with guards of honor at the Zeyathiri Beikman in Nay Pyi Taw on Monday morning. 

Ye Win Oo delivers a speech at the handover ceremony of the commander-in-chief of defence services in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar, March 30, 2026. Ye Win Oo has been appointed Myanmar's commander-in-chief of defence services, military-owned Myawady TV reported on Monday. (Myanmar's Ministry of Information/Handout via Xinhua)
SANTEE, Calif. (FOX 5/KUSI)  Crews responded to a fire in Santee that started Sunday evening.

The San Diego Sheriffs Office confirmed that deputies were on scene assisting crews from the San Diego Fire Department (SDFD) and the Santee Fire Department.

Santee Deputy Fire Chief Kyle Moyneur told a FOX 5/KUSI team at the scene that crews had been able to keep the fire contained to 5 acres. Deputies also said on social media that forward progress of the fire had been stopped.

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From the eight freeway, you could see the smoke, and I said, Wow, its March,' said Moyneur. So early in the season, but very active fire for us in Santee.

Officials said the fire started in the riverbed behind a Walmart near Town Center Parkway. Walmart, Michaels and other nearby businesses were evacuated.

Live camera footage of smoke filling the air during the blaze (ALERT California). Camera footage of crews working to put out the fire (ALERT California).

Deputies said the fire started spreading north, but crews were able to slow its progress, and that there was no threat to residents in the area.

Additional crews were stationed under the Cuyamaca Bridge, which is where fire officials said they hoped the fire would burn out.

Credit: Cecil Olinger

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More than 20 units were on scene. A helicopter with night-flying capabilities, which SDFD officials said is one of the very few in California, was also assisting with knocking down the fire.

Officials are asking people to avoid the area until further notice.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation.

Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX 5 San Diego & KUSI News.
A Delta Air Lines flight from Brazil bound for Atlanta made an emergency landing during the evening of Sunday, March 29 after an engine issue that sparked a fire.

Airbus A330-300 DL Flight 104 from Sao Paulo headed to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport returned to the airport soon after takeoff, following a mechanical issue with the aircraft's left engine, Delta told USA TODAY.

The aircraft had 272 passengers and 14 crew members on board, Delta reported.

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The aircraft eventually landed safely, the airline said, and customers were taken by bus to the terminal.

The cause of the engine issue was not immediately known. The Federal Aviation Administration defered questions about the aircraft to South American officials.

USA TODAY has reached out to the Civil Aviation Authority for more information.

Delta planes sit at gates at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on Dec. 8, 2024.

'Verbal bomb threat': Frontier flight probed at Atlanta airport

Video of the incident recorded by a passenger on board shows one engine spitting flames immediately after takeoff at the airport in Brazil.

No injuries were reported.

A passenger aboard Delta flight DL104 recorded the moment the left engine failed, emitting flames immediately after takeoff at Sao Paulo Airport. The aircraft, heading to Atlanta, diverted back to GRU, landing safely. https://t.co/AFQF0NaKGz pic.twitter.com/YWMGmr6Wwo  Turbine Traveller (@Turbinetraveler) March 30, 2026

"Delta teams are working to reaccommodate customers to get them safely to their destination," the airline said. "The safety of our customers and crew is our highest priority. We apologize to our customers for this delay in their travels."

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This story has been updated to add new information.

Natalie Neysa Alund is a senior reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at nalund@usatoday.com and follow her on X @nataliealund.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Delta flight makes emergency landing in Brazil after engine issue
The Minnesota utilities set to power two proposed Google data centers near Rochester and Duluth say the massive computing facilities wont raise regular customers electricity bills.

Theres good reason to believe them, at least in the near term.

Thats because Gov. Tim Walz signed a law last year creating a separate class of very large utility customers separate from residential, commercial and most industrial customers. In practice, most will be data centers. The service agreements between these facilities and utilities like Xcel Energy must cover the full cost of their electric service and any system upgrades needed to serve them reliably; avoid burdening other customers if the facilities downsize or close; and comport with Minnesotas carbon-free power standard.

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The public is about to get more insight into the first such arrangement developed under the new law. Xcel plans to file the service agreement for Googles Rochester-area data center in the coming weeks, a utility spokesperson told the Reformer.

Meanwhile, in a separate proceeding, the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission will decide whether to approve the proposed framework  known in industry parlance as a tariff  that it ordered Xcel to develop for the new very large customer class. A spokesperson for the commission said that could happen in mid-May, subject to change.

More: EPA allows E15 fuel sales into summer to lower gas prices

The two Google projects would be among the first Minnesota data centers to exceed the minimum threshold for very large customers, which is of 100 megawatts  enough to power 50,000 to 100,000 homes. A Meta facility under construction in Rosemount will also reside in the very large category. At least seven other big data center projects are in the works across the state, according to the Star Tribune.

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The data center law and the commissions order aim to forestall the affordability concerns  and political blowback  wrought by large-scale data center development elsewhere.

In Oregon, an early data center hub due in part to its abundant and relatively cheap hydropower, rates paid by customers of Portland General Electric have risen 50% over the past five years. Democratic Gov. Tina Kotek signed a similar ratepayer protection law there last year.

Virginia, the countrys largest data center market, is among the states considering laws this year that would shift more costs onto tech companies after an independent study showed data centers pushed up residential utility rates there. In Georgia, a fast-growing data center hub, voters in November overwhelmingly turned out two regulators seen as overly cozy with Georgia Power, the states dominant utility.

DATA CENTERS: Why are states considering banning new data centers

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Back in Minnesota, some environmental and ratepayer advocates who frequently clash with Xcel are optimistic that the utility will do more or less what lawmakers and regulators asked of it.

I like the way the large load tariff has been going, said Will Kenworthy, senior Midwest regulator for Vote Solar, one of several nonprofits and state government units that called the proceeding one of the most consequential to ensuring the affordability of electricity for Minnesotans in a March 6 letter asking regulators to expedite a vote on it. Quick consideration  ideally by May 1, the letter said  would reduce the risk of a dispute over whether the very large customer tariff covers the forthcoming Xcel-Google agreement, they said.

We want to get that tariff approved so everyone knows the rules before these individual projects come before the PUC, said Annie Levenson-Falk, executive director for the Citizens Utility Board of Minnesota, a ratepayer advocacy group that signed onto the March 6 letter. CUB Minnesota was instrumental in pushing for the protections that passed into law last year.

More: North Dakota oil industry resists price surge, here's why

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Xcels proposal would require contract terms of at least 15 years to ensure the continuity of both the load and the service, it said in the filing. A data center customer would also need to put up significant financial collateral; agree to pay at least 75% of the contracted capacity for power even if it ends up using less; plug directly into Xcels transmission network to reduce the need for new grid infrastructure; and pay a hefty exit fee if it shuts down before the contract expires. And, any customer that agreed to ramp down its operations during periods of high power demand would qualify for discounted rates reflecting the avoided cost of added stress on the grid.

In filings over the past several months, outside groups have urged the commission to strengthen some of these provisions. For example, CUB said Xcel should extend its minimum contract term with the expected asset lives of the infrastructure it builds, which it says can stretch 30 years or longer, i.e., extending the contract term from at least 15 years to at least 30.

But the biggest sticking point may be an unresolved disagreement over exactly how Xcel plans to calculate the expense of serving new data centers  something that could determine how its agreement with Google and possibly future data center companies affect other ratepayers.

We havent actually seen the agreement yet, and until we do, the devil will be in the details, Kenworthy said.

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Xcels tariff proposal includes an incremental cost test that the utility says would ensure data center customers paid more than the total costs they incurred, including for any new power plants and lines needed to serve them while maintaining grid reliability.

Ellison raises questions about 'opaque' process

In a response filed last fall, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellisons office called Xcels proposed process for forecasting those costs opaque and inherently uncertain.

Xcels proposed protections for ordinary ratepayers are helpful, but contract provisions cannot fully protect other customers unless (Xcel) ensures that new very large customers are covering their actual  not hypothetical  costs, Ellisons office said.

Data center developers and users have also pushed back. The Data Center Coalition, an industry group, said Xcels inherently uncertain forecasts could leave data centers on the hook for costs that should be borne by other customers.

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But the Data Center Coalition reiterated that it fully supports cost-based rates and fully supports the goal of ensuring that large customers as a class or subclass pay Xcels full costs of serving them, the group wrote.

Bloomington-based Geronimo Power, a renewable energy company that hopes to attract a data center customer to a powered land project its developing in southwestern Minnesota, agreed with the consensus that data centers should pay their own way while urging flexibility for data centers that use onsite power generation. Facilities with behind-the-meter power  like onsite solar, for instance  wouldnt require as much new grid infrastructure but would also likely generate less revenue for the utilities serving them, Geronimo said.

Google wants a more thorough study

For its part, Google asked the commission to scrap the test entirely and determine how much big data centers should pay through a standard regulatory proceeding known as a rate case. It said that would allow the commission to more thoroughly study service costs as theyre incurred and reconcile data centers past payments to Xcel with actual costs, a process known as truing up.

Googles deal with Xcel relies on a Clean Energy Accelerator Charge that Xcel says will cover the full cost of bringing nearly 2 gigawatts of carbon-free power online  the rough equivalent of two large nuclear reactors. In an email, Xcel spokesperson Theo Keith said the arrangement was crafted to avoid raising costs for customers while keeping Xcel on track to meet its clean energy obligations.

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We see this partnership as a model for how energy companies can work with data center developers to protect customers, advance clean energy and bring new investment to states and communities, he said.

The resources Google is paying for include the largest battery project by gigawatt-hour energy capacity announced to date in the world, Xcel says. It would be among the first commercial-scale grid batteries that can provide multiple days of power in a single cycle, something power system experts and Xcel have said is critical for reliability as more renewable energy comes online.

Batteries, but for residential and business customers, too

Kenworthy of Vote Solar signaled that the back-and-forth over the incremental cost test may not be the last time groups like his tussle with Xcel on its data center plans, however.

Googles deal with Xcel includes $50 million to help the utility build battery installations in areas where the grid routinely comes under stress, which Xcel says will help reduce overall system costs. But Xcel will own those batteries, at least to start  a key point of contention for groups that want Xcel to open the program to residential and business customers too. Xcel says it may do so in future phases of the program.

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Kenworthy said Google should use its heft to support greater deployment of customer-owned solar and batteries, which are more common in California, Texas and other markets.

If we see the agreement and theres not some of that in there, we would be very disappointed, he said.

Minnesota Reformer is part of States Newsroom, the nations largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.

This article originally appeared on St. Cloud Times: Will data centers raise electric bills in Minnesota?
Orlando police officers are searching for a man who was seen wandering around the Wadeview Park neighborhood early Sunday, smashing windows and rummaging through cars.

The man, wearing ski gloves and ski goggles, walked around a three-square-block area west of the park. There was no clear pattern to which cars were hit and which were left alone.

Some cars had expensive items and coins left in them. Neighbors said the man examined the items and tossed them back into the cars, and they werent sure what he was looking for.

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He walked around this neighborhood for hours like that, and no one stopped and asked him any questions, Chad Keaton said. Not one person drove by him and saw him looking.

Keaton had two cars hit. He showed off scratches on one where the man climbed in through the window.

To neighbors frustration, the man evaded multiple security cameras and was never captured in great detail, at least in the videos that have been circulating in community groups. He also didnt set many of the neighborhoods dogs off.

Orlando Police stepped up patrols Sunday night, which Keaton said he appreciated.

I just think more policing around here needs to happen, he said, adding that it was the fourth window claim hes made to his insurance company in recent years. I mean, I havent seen a cop in this neighborhood since the stop the shelter meeting like patrolling, until last night.

Click here to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.
The LGBTQ+ Victory Fund on Monday endorsed 35 candidates across 19 states, expanding its push to build LGBTQ+ political power as rights face renewed challenges in the 2026 election cycle.

Keep up with the latest in LGBTQ+ news and politics. Sign up for The Advocate's email newsletter.

At a glance, the list reads like a catalog of local and state races, city councils, county commissions, statehouses, and a mayoral bid in Reno. But taken together, it sketches a deliberate effort to seed LGBTQ+ representation throughout the machinery of the American government at a moment when that presence is being tested and, in some places, rolled back.

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The March endorsements bring the groups total for the 2026 cycle to 163 candidates nationwide, an expanding bench that reflects years of investment in building a pipeline from local office to national influence.

That long-game approach has taken on new urgency. Evan Low, in a recent interview with The Advocate, described the coming elections as a stress test for LGBTQ+ political power, unfolding amid a climate of fear, distortion, and an unprecedented wave of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation.

Related: Joe Biden says MAGA Republicans want to make LGBTQ+ people into something scary

He has been making that case for months. In December, at the LGBTQ+ Victory Institutes International LGBTQ+ Leaders Conference, where former President Joe Biden was honored for what organizers called his administrations historic leadership on LGBTQ+ equality, Low described the moment as one of urgency and hope, even as the community faces laser-focused efforts to legislate us out of existence.

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In Connecticut, State Treasurer Erick Russell, the first out gay Black man elected to statewide office in the United States, is seeking to continue a tenure the Victory Fund describes as steady and fiscally grounded. In Illinois, Precious Brady-Davis, the first Black out trans woman elected to public office in Cook County history, is running for reelection as a commissioner on the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago after building a profile around environmental policy and public health.

Elsewhere, the races are more local, but no less telling. Nevadan Devon Reese, a Reno city councilmember, is running for mayor on a platform rooted in downtown revitalization, community policing, and addressing the high cost of living. In North Carolina, State Rep. Deb Butler remains a fixture in legislative fights over equality measures. And in Wisconsin, Madison Common Councilmember Dina Nina Martinez-Rutherford is running for the State Assembly's 76th District, a race that, if she wins, would make her the first transgender person elected to the Wisconsin Legislature.

Related: LGBTQ+ elected officials are facing mental health challenges. A new initiative wants to support them

Related: If 2025 tested our resolve, 2026 will prove our resilience

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The geography is as notable as the candidates. The slate stretches across states where LGBTQ+ rights are broadly protected and those where they are actively contested, with Texas and Tennessee alongside California and New York.

To earn the Victory Funds endorsement, candidates must be out as LGBTQ+, support equality and bodily autonomy, and demonstrate a viable path to victory. Founded in 1991, the Victory Fund has helped elect thousands of LGBTQ+ candidates. That success has reshaped American politics in ways that now feel almost taken for granted.

And yet, as Low suggested in both his interview and at the December gathering, the question facing 2026 is not simply how many candidates run, but whether the political conditions that made their rise possible are beginning to erode.

This article originally appeared on Advocate: Dozens of LGBTQ+ candidates just got a major boost for 2026

RELATED
North Carolina Central University received a major show of support Sunday from a Durham church with deep roots in the community.

The senior pastor of St. Joseph AME Church, the Rev. Dr. Abdue Knox, challenged parishioners to raise $10,000 for the HBCU, but the congregation exceeded expectations, collecting $20,000.

The donation was presented during the church's #NCCUSunday service, which featured NCCU Chancellor Dr. Karrie Dixon and a performance by the university's award-winning gospel choir at the 11 a.m. service.

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Church leaders formally presented the check to Dixon during worship, highlighting the congregation's commitment to supporting education and its neighboring HBCU.

The gift reflects St. Joseph AME Church's continued dedication to uplifting North Carolina Central University and the Durham community it serves.

SEE ALSO | UCLA beats Duke 70-58; advancing to the women's Final Four for the second straight season

Make sure to download the ABC 11 mobile app | ABC11 North Carolina Apps for Connected TV, Mobile News, Echo
One of New Jerseys most dilapidated strip malls will be demolished and transformed into a mixed-use project with hundreds of apartments.

Raritan Mall, a 10.88-acre property along Route 206 in Somerset County, was approved for redevelopment by the boroughs planning board Wednesday night.

The 6-2 vote ends years of stalled redevelopment efforts, including earlier plans rejected by the Raritan Borough Council. Plans for the mall site, which was built on a former landfill in a flood-prone area, have drawn continued pushback from residents over environmental risks.

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The newly approved plans call for replacing the aging strip mall with a five-story, 70-foot-tall building with 276 rental apartments. The complex will include 42 affordable units and about 20,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space.

Raritan Mall redevelopment rendering

A separate one-story building that once housed a bank will remain and be converted for retail use, according to plans submitted by the applicant, Raritan Mall Urban Renewal LLC.

The affordable housing would help satisfy the boroughs obligations under a state law that requires New Jersey municipalities to collectively add or rehabilitate more than 146,000 affordable units by 2035. Under the mandate, Raritan Borough is expected to contribute 99 affordable housing units over the next decade.

Raritan Mall was once a busy shopping center with at least 15 storefronts, but the site has been largely vacant since its anchor tenant, Stop & Shop, closed in 2016. Built on a former landfill in the 1980s, the property has since fallen into disrepair, with ongoing environmental and structural issues worsened by repeated flooding.

Raritan strip mall

A preliminary 2022 redevelopment study conducted by the borough described the strip mall as abandoned and deteriorating, with vandalism, broken glass, mold, exposed nails and significant flood damage. Sidewalks are cracked, and overgrown weeds have taken over parts of the parking lot, the study said.

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Efforts to revive the site have faced setbacks in recent years. In 2024, the borough council rejected a previous proposal over concerns about density, traffic and overall use.

The projects return also follows a $100 million lawsuit filed by the property owner after that rejection, alleging a conflict of interest. The lawsuit was withdrawn in February 2025.

Drone captures severe flooding from remnants of Hurricane Ida in Somerville and Raritan

Flooding remains one of the biggest fears. The strip mall sits in a flood-prone area near the Raritan River, which supplies drinking water to millions of residents in Central Jersey through New Jersey American Water. During Hurricane Ida in 2021, much of the site, including the strip mall itself, was submerged by floodwaters.

At Wednesdays meeting, community members again voiced concerns about this risk, especially during demolition, and the potential for contamination to spread to drinking water.

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This is a bad idea. Its a flood area, one resident said during the hearing.

Developers previously testified they have secured a flood hazard permit from the state Department of Environmental Protection, allowing the project to move forward.

Derek Forth, an attorney representing the applicant, also acknowledged the concerns about the site Wednesday but said the plan had already been vetted through multiple levels of review including in court.

I understand the anxiety of the public and the board, he said. This is a very important site in town. It is located on a landfill in an area which has previously flooded.

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He added that the project will help the borough meet its affordable housing requirements and the plans still need additional approvals before construction begins.

This is just the first start, Forth said. Theres much work done after this.

Read the original article on NJ.com. Add NJ.com as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
By Olivia Le Poidevin

YAOUNDE, March 30 (Reuters) - A global e-commerce moratorium on duties on digital downloads and streaming has expired, a senior World Trade Organization official said on Monday.

WTO talks in Cameroon to extend the moratorium ran out of time and will be continued in Geneva, the WTO conference chair told delegates earlier.

Negotiations will begin afresh on a new moratorium, said a senior WTO official who asked to remain unidentified.

The talks reached a deadlock between the U.S. and Brazil over extending the moratorium beyond two years.

(Reporting by Olivia Le Poidevin; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)
MINOT, N.D.  Republican Party delegates on Sunday attempted to undo an earlier vote to strip absent incumbent officials of the Republican brand as critics including the governor called it unenforceable.

But participants stood behind Saturdays motion in a split vote as party loyalty remained a major theme during the state convention.

Delvin Boehm, chair of District 33, urged the party to focus on seeking legislative changes in the 2027 session, leaving the state party in control for the pivotal 2028 elections.

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We have to have a plan. We have to go into this wisely, Boehm said. 2028, thats our convention.

Kevin Hunter, a delegate from District 2, quoted a piece of advice from his father, who raised seven boys: Never make threats, only promises.

Yesterday we made a threat. Live that through and actually make it a promise, carry it through, Hunter said. Play stupid games and win stupid prizes.

Legislators were split on the issue. Rep. Jared Hendrix, R-West Fargo, said the incumbents made a stupid decision not to attend, but he pushed for undoing Saturdays vote because there is no realistic way to enforce it.

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Sen. Jeff Magrum, R-Hazelton, gave an impassioned speech in defense of the conventions actions and said the party has the absent incumbents on their haunches.

Stand your ground, Magrum urged. The word is out. We cant undo it.

Delegates opposed reconsidering the motion on a 311-297 vote. Participants did not discuss how the action would be implemented, but a pair of delegates put out a call to action for volunteers to work on next steps.

The governors take

In an interview Sunday morning, Gov. Kelly Armstrong called the action practically unenforceable. He said ballot access for candidates who submit petition signatures is protected by state law and cant be changed unilaterally by a political party.

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Legally they cant, Armstrong said. Anybody can file to run in the primary however they want.

Armstrong said he doesnt know if the motion removing the Republican brand applies to him because hes not a candidate this year. Armstrong, a former party chair, did not attend the convention because he was participating in a friends wedding. He questioned how the party can punish people who have other commitments.

Is their answer that anybody who cant be at a state convention has no voice and the people that are there, that their vote counts more than every other North Dakotan? Armstrong said. I dont think anybody else agrees with that. People like voters deciding, not back rooms.

Participant reaction

Delegates expressed mixed feelings about the action. Eric Smith, a Bismarck delegate from District 47, called the decision disappointing. Brian McDonald, a Leonard delegate of District 25, considered the incumbents absence a clear insult, adding nobody likes to be insulted.

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I think theres probably going to be some blowback and penalties to it, and maybe in the long run itll hurt us, McDonald said. I did support it, but I fear that were going to come to regret it.

Landon Allex, a delegate from District 44 attending his first state convention, said he has observed a lot of infighting and said there was an obvious rift in the party.

But Allex said candidates like Armstrong and Secretary of State Michael Howe, who is on the ballot, have a proven track record and the party should not alienate them.

Regardless of what you think about them, they have the power, they have the connections, they have the money, and they win elections, Allex said. I think its better to work with those people who can win the elections and maybe create incentive structures for them to follow the platform a little bit more closely than to just completely alienate them and create a bigger rift in the party.

North Dakota Monitor reporter Jacob Orledge can be reached at jorledge@northdakotamonitor.com.

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A music and car event caught officials and police by surprise on Sunday in Bridgeport, Gloucester County.

It was put on by a company called Import Expo at the Bridgeport Motorsports Park. Police say the organizers didn't have a permit, and when an estimated 25,000 people showed up, it caused concern.

"Haven't seen anything like this in this little town ever!" said resident Ed Gaventa, who lives and owns a winery a block from the venue.

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Gaventa and his wife chose to close for the day after the road in front of their house, Repaupo Station, turned into a parking lot.

There were reports of lewdness, fights and other disorderly conduct.

"It was very intimidating and very scary," Marsha Gaventa commented on the large crowds that gathered.

Logan police stopped allowing people to enter the venue and called for backup help.

New Jersey state police responded with a helicopter.

An emergency alert to disperse the area was sent to phones in the region, and reportedly reached people as far away as Delaware, which led to some confusion.

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The Motorsports Park released a statement on Facebook, apologizing for the event, and saying it did not expect the large crowds. Once operators realized what was happening, they worked with law enforcement to shut it down and not escalate the situation further.

"It was a party in the street. It would've been a good time if I was 18. But it was in our backyard," Marsha Gaventa said while laughing.

Police say only one person was charged with disorderly conduction, but some township ordinance violations will also be filed. There are no reports of injuries. Attempts to reach Import Expo have been unsuccessful.
A staff member of the China Construction Second Engineering Bureau Ltd. works at the construction site of the Xiong'an campus of the University of Science and Technology Beijing in Xiong'an New Area, north China's Hebei Province, March 25, 2026.

About an hour's drive from Beijing, a futuristic city is rising on the North China Plain -- the Xiong'an New Area.

The area aims to relieve Beijing of non-essential functions related to its status as the nation's capital while also advancing the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.

Official data reveals a more detailed picture in Xiong'an: the developed area spans around 215 square kilometers with more than 5,300 buildings shaping the urban skyline, housing 1.41 million residents and 669 high-tech enterprises. (Xinhua/Mu Yu)

A staff member of China Construction Third Engineering Bureau Group Co., Ltd. works at the construction site of the headquarters of China Mineral Resources Group Ltd. in Xiong'an New Area, north China's Hebei Province, March 25, 2026.

About an hour's drive from Beijing, a futuristic city is rising on the North China Plain -- the Xiong'an New Area.

The area aims to relieve Beijing of non-essential functions related to its status as the nation's capital while also advancing the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.

Official data reveals a more detailed picture in Xiong'an: the developed area spans around 215 square kilometers with more than 5,300 buildings shaping the urban skyline, housing 1.41 million residents and 669 high-tech enterprises. (Xinhua/Mu Yu)

An aerial drone photo taken on March 25, 2026 shows staff members of China Construction Third Engineering Bureau Group Co., Ltd. working at the construction site of the headquarters of China Mineral Resources Group Ltd. in Xiong'an New Area, north China's Hebei Province.

About an hour's drive from Beijing, a futuristic city is rising on the North China Plain -- the Xiong'an New Area.

The area aims to relieve Beijing of non-essential functions related to its status as the nation's capital while also advancing the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.

Official data reveals a more detailed picture in Xiong'an: the developed area spans around 215 square kilometers with more than 5,300 buildings shaping the urban skyline, housing 1.41 million residents and 669 high-tech enterprises. (Xinhua/Mu Yu)

An aerial drone photo taken on March 25, 2026 shows a scene at the construction site of the start-up zone of Xiong'an New Area, north China's Hebei Province.

About an hour's drive from Beijing, a futuristic city is rising on the North China Plain -- the Xiong'an New Area.

The area aims to relieve Beijing of non-essential functions related to its status as the nation's capital while also advancing the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.

Official data reveals a more detailed picture in Xiong'an: the developed area spans around 215 square kilometers with more than 5,300 buildings shaping the urban skyline, housing 1.41 million residents and 669 high-tech enterprises. (Xinhua/Mu Yu)

An aerial drone photo taken on March 25, 2026 shows a scene at the construction site of the Xiong'an campus of the University of Science and Technology Beijing in Xiong'an New Area, north China's Hebei Province.

About an hour's drive from Beijing, a futuristic city is rising on the North China Plain -- the Xiong'an New Area.

The area aims to relieve Beijing of non-essential functions related to its status as the nation's capital while also advancing the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.

Official data reveals a more detailed picture in Xiong'an: the developed area spans around 215 square kilometers with more than 5,300 buildings shaping the urban skyline, housing 1.41 million residents and 669 high-tech enterprises. (Xinhua/Mu Yu)

Staff members of China Construction Third Engineering Bureau Group Co., Ltd. work at the construction site of the headquarters of China Mineral Resources Group Ltd. in Xiong'an New Area, north China's Hebei Province, March 25, 2026.

About an hour's drive from Beijing, a futuristic city is rising on the North China Plain -- the Xiong'an New Area.

The area aims to relieve Beijing of non-essential functions related to its status as the nation's capital while also advancing the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.

Official data reveals a more detailed picture in Xiong'an: the developed area spans around 215 square kilometers with more than 5,300 buildings shaping the urban skyline, housing 1.41 million residents and 669 high-tech enterprises. (Xinhua/Mu Yu)

An aerial drone photo taken on March 25, 2026 shows a scene at the construction site of an urban cultural square in Xiong'an New Area, north China's Hebei Province.

About an hour's drive from Beijing, a futuristic city is rising on the North China Plain -- the Xiong'an New Area.

The area aims to relieve Beijing of non-essential functions related to its status as the nation's capital while also advancing the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.

Official data reveals a more detailed picture in Xiong'an: the developed area spans around 215 square kilometers with more than 5,300 buildings shaping the urban skyline, housing 1.41 million residents and 669 high-tech enterprises. (Xinhua/Mu Yu)

An aerial drone photo taken on March 25, 2026 shows staff members of the China Construction Second Engineering Bureau Ltd. working at the construction site of the Xiong'an campus of the University of Science and Technology Beijing in Xiong'an New Area, north China's Hebei Province.

About an hour's drive from Beijing, a futuristic city is rising on the North China Plain -- the Xiong'an New Area.

The area aims to relieve Beijing of non-essential functions related to its status as the nation's capital while also advancing the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.

Official data reveals a more detailed picture in Xiong'an: the developed area spans around 215 square kilometers with more than 5,300 buildings shaping the urban skyline, housing 1.41 million residents and 669 high-tech enterprises. (Xinhua/Mu Yu)

An aerial drone photo taken on March 25, 2026 shows a scene of the construction sites of an urban cultural square (L) and a financial center (R) in Xiong'an New Area, north China's Hebei Province.

About an hour's drive from Beijing, a futuristic city is rising on the North China Plain -- the Xiong'an New Area.

The area aims to relieve Beijing of non-essential functions related to its status as the nation's capital while also advancing the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.

Official data reveals a more detailed picture in Xiong'an: the developed area spans around 215 square kilometers with more than 5,300 buildings shaping the urban skyline, housing 1.41 million residents and 669 high-tech enterprises. (Xinhua/Mu Yu)

An aerial drone photo taken on March 25, 2026 shows a scene at the construction site of the Xiong'an campus of Beijing Forestry University in Xiong'an New Area, north China's Hebei Province.

About an hour's drive from Beijing, a futuristic city is rising on the North China Plain -- the Xiong'an New Area.

The area aims to relieve Beijing of non-essential functions related to its status as the nation's capital while also advancing the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.

Official data reveals a more detailed picture in Xiong'an: the developed area spans around 215 square kilometers with more than 5,300 buildings shaping the urban skyline, housing 1.41 million residents and 669 high-tech enterprises. (Xinhua/Mu Yu)

This photo taken on March 25, 2026 shows a scene at the construction site of the headquarters of China Mineral Resources Group Ltd. in Xiong'an New Area, north China's Hebei Province.

About an hour's drive from Beijing, a futuristic city is rising on the North China Plain -- the Xiong'an New Area.

The area aims to relieve Beijing of non-essential functions related to its status as the nation's capital while also advancing the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.

Official data reveals a more detailed picture in Xiong'an: the developed area spans around 215 square kilometers with more than 5,300 buildings shaping the urban skyline, housing 1.41 million residents and 669 high-tech enterprises. (Xinhua/Mu Yu)

An aerial drone photo taken on March 25, 2026 shows a scene at the construction site of the headquarters of China Mineral Resources Group Ltd. in Xiong'an New Area, north China's Hebei Province.

About an hour's drive from Beijing, a futuristic city is rising on the North China Plain -- the Xiong'an New Area.

The area aims to relieve Beijing of non-essential functions related to its status as the nation's capital while also advancing the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.

Official data reveals a more detailed picture in Xiong'an: the developed area spans around 215 square kilometers with more than 5,300 buildings shaping the urban skyline, housing 1.41 million residents and 669 high-tech enterprises. (Xinhua/Mu Yu)
Heres what youll learn when you read this story:

A study suggests the first of seven key pyramids in Egypt, the Step Pyramid of Djoser, was built using a hydraulic lift.

Dated to about 4,500 years ago, this would move up the introduction of major hydraulic systems from previous beliefs.

The landscape, waterways, and interior architecture of the pyramid all point to the hydraulic system.

Hydraulic mechanics may have indeed been the driving force behind the construction of ancient Egyptian pyramids.

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In a 2024 paper, scientists concluded that the Step Pyramid of Djoser in Saqqara, Egyptbelieved to be the oldest of the seven monumental pyramids and potentially constructed about 4,500 years agooffers a remarkable blueprint for hydraulic engineering.

The hydraulic-powered mechanism could have maneuvered the oversized stone blocks forming the pyramid, starting from the ground up. The research team says the Step Pyramids internal architecture is consistent with a hydraulic elevation mechanism, something thats never been reported before at that place or in that time.

By lifting the stones from the interior of the pyramid in what the authors call a volcano fashion, the water pressure from the hydraulic system could have pushed the blocks into place. If proved out, this research shows the Egyptians had a powerful understanding of advanced hydraulic systems well before modern scholars believed they did. That begs the question: Was this the first major use of the system, or had it been in play previously?

No matter the answer, pulling it off at the Step Pyramid would have been no easy feat.

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The team believes that based on the mapping of nearby watersheds, one of the massiveand yet unexplainedSaqqara structures, known as the Gisr el-Mudir enclosure, has the features of a check dam with the intent to trap sediment and water. The scientists say the topography beyond the dam suggests a possible temporary lake west of the Djoser complex, with water flow surrounding it in a moat-like design.

As a Nile tributary fed the area, a dam could have created a temporary lake, potentially linking the river to a Dry Moat around the Djoser site, helping move materials and serving the hydraulic needs.

The ancient architects likely raised the stones from the pyramid center in a volcano fashion using the sediment-free water from the Dry Moats south section, the authors write.

In one section of the moat, the team found that a monumental linear rock-cut structure consisting of successive, deep-trench compartments combines the technical requirement of a water treatment facilityand a design still often seen in modern-day water treatment plantsby including a settling basin, retention basin, and purification system.

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Together, the Gisr el-Mudir and the Dry Moats inner south section work as a unified hydraulics system that improves water quality and regulates flow for practical purposes and human needs, the authors write. The team believes the water available in the area was sufficient to meet the needs of the project.

Ancient Egyptians are famous for their pioneering and mastery of hydraulics through canals for irrigation purposes and barges to transport huge stones. This work opens a new line of research: the use of hydraulic force to erect the massive structures built by Pharaohs.

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European countries have expressed deep concern over Israeli plans to extend the application of the death penalty in a bill that could disproportionately target Palestinians.

In a statement shared by the German Federal Foreign Office on Sunday, the foreign ministers of France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom expressed their deep concern over the bill, which could be voted into law next week.

We are particularly worried about the de facto discriminatory character of the bill. The adoption of this bill would risk undermining Israels commitments with regards to democratic principles, it said.

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Israels far-right government is due to put its bill to a second and third reading in the Knesset, the parliament, on Monday. If it passes, it will almost certainly face a legal challenge and go before the Supreme Court.

The legislation is being considered as Israels genocidal policies against Palestinians in Gaza continue, and as Palestinians in the occupied West Bank experience a surge in Israeli military and settler violence.

Amnesty International previously said the proposals, championed by government figures, including far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, would make the death penalty another discriminatory tool in Israels system of apartheid.

These amendments mean that the most extreme and irrevocable punishment is being reserved for, and weaponised against, Palestinians, the rights group said in February.

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At that time, a dozen United Nations rights experts argued that the legislation would remove judicial and prosecutorial discretion and prevent courts from considering individual circumstances, including mitigating factors, and from imposing a proportionate sentence that fits the crime.

Also on Sunday, Council of Europe chief Alain Berset issued an appeal to Israel over the draft law. The Council of Europe opposes the death penalty in all places and in all circumstances, he said, calling on the authorities to abandon it.




Mandatory evacuations are underway in parts of Hernando County due to a rapidly spreading brush fire that has burned 125 acres near the coast. As of Sunday afternoon, the Preserve Brush Fire was 0% contained.

The Florida Forest Service and Hernando County Fire Rescue are actively fighting the fire as it advances toward Shoal Line Boulevard. Strong winds are making containment efforts more difficult, leading emergency officials to focus on protecting structures and ensuring public safety.

The mandatory evacuation applies to all residents and businesses on the east side of Shoal Line Boulevard, from Calienta Street to Osowaw Boulevard.

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Officials have directed those leaving the area to head south on Shoal Line Boulevard toward Osowaw Boulevard. Drivers are advised to exercise caution during the evacuation.

Hernando County Fire Rescue continues to focus on protecting structures to stop the fire from reaching homes and businesses along its path.

Meanwhile, the Withlacoochee Forestry Center of the Florida Forest Service is actively engaged in firefighting efforts to contain the brush fire.

Firefighting efforts are being hindered by strong wind conditions. Emergency crews are urging the public to stay away from the area to allow clear access for responders.

Click here to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.
A new investigation has backed up evidence given by a woman who has accused Donald Trump of sexually abusing her when she was 13, according to a report.

The woman conducted four interviews with the FBI in 2019 in which she detailed alleged abuse by Trump and child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Her interviews referencing Trump were initially withheld by the Department of Justice.

A report from South Carolina newspaper The Post and Courier released on Sunday has now corroborated key personal details given by the woman about a third man she claims also sexually assaulted hernamed Jimmy Atkins. Those details are not directly related to her accusations against Trump, but suggest that she was truthful about other matters she raised with the FBI.

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The White House has called the womans claims against Trump completely baseless, while the president has always denied any involvement in Epsteins crimes.

Epstein allegedly hired the girl under the guise of babysitting duties. / Rick Friedman / Rick Friedman Photography/Corbis via Getty Image

The woman claimed Epstein started abusing her and trafficked her to several men when she was aged between 13 and 15. She had met Epstein after he responded to an advertisement for babysitting that her mother, a real estate agent in South Carolina, had given to her clients.

The Post and Courier report says Atkins moved to Hilton Head, South Carolina, in the mid-80s and took over Harbour Realty and Rentals. That was where he met the teenage girl who would later claim to the FBI during interviews in 2019 that Atkins and Epstein assaulted her.

The womans claims of assault against Epstein, Trump, and Atkins remain unproven, while no direct evidence backing up the alleged crimes has been uncovered.

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The Daily Beast is not disclosing the womans identity in accordance with its policy on sexual assault victims.

The Post and Courier scoured records to match the womans testimony of Atkins affiliation with a college in Ohio, as well as his age, hair color, physical appearance, and his employment in Hilton Head.

Donald and Melania Trump with Jeffrey Epstein and accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell. / Davidoff Studios Photography / Getty Images

The paper was also able to verify a direct association with her mothers criminal record for embezzlement.

During her interviews, the woman told FBI agents that two men were extorting money from her mother, who wound up going to prison for embezzling money.

Her mother informed her late in the process that they were in trouble, that she had seen photographs...and that she was paying people money, an FBI agent wrote after an interview, referring to alleged naked photos of the teenage girl.

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This month, a Substack article by Ellie Leonard publicly made the link between Atkins, his employment at an Ohio college, and the embezzlement case from the Hilton Head real estate company.

The woman was interviewed four times by the FBI after Jeffrey Epstein's arrest in 2019. / Department of Justice

The author said Atkins died in 2003 at the age of 69. As well as owning Harbour Realty and Rentals in Hilton Head, he was also the president/director of Betz College Inc. in Cincinnati, Ohio.

The new information follows the womans claims about being trafficked to Trump when he was a developer with a new casino in Atlantic City.

The Post and Courier also verified details the woman gave to FBI agents about her family background and legal history, although none of the corroborated details directly related to her accusations about Trump.

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In documents released by the DOJ earlier this month, the woman told the FBI she met Trump after Epstein took her to a very tall building with huge rooms in the New York or New Jersey area when she was between 13 and 15.

The woman told FBI investigators that Trump said to her

[REDACTED] could not recall the identities of the other individuals present; however, they all exited when TRUMP asked everyone to leave the room, the FBI report states.

Let me teach you how little girls are supposed to be, she alleged Trump said.

The woman alleged that Trump sexually assaulted her after the others left the room.

TRUMP unzipped his pants and put [her] head down to his penis. [REDACTED] bit the s--t out of it, the FBI report states.

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Trump was in his first term as president at the time of her FBI interview.

The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt previously told the Daily Beast in a statement that the womans allegations are completely baseless and came from a sadly disturbed woman.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the woman's accusations were

The woman called an FBI hotline days after Epstein was arrested, claiming he had abused her as a teenager. She told investigators Epstein had requested her to work as a babysitter, then raped her after she was given drugs and alcohol.

She said the abuse happened as many as 20 times, with Epstein inviting other men to participate in the criminal activity at least once. Her life would later descend into crime and drug use, before she filed a lawsuit as a Jane Doe and reached a settlement with Epsteins estate.

The Post and Courier also reported that around 30 pages of documents listed in an internal DOJ trial evidence inventory still remain missing.
Researchers spotted a snow leopard in the Himalayas for the first time in four years.

According to the Times of India, trail cameras captured footage of the rare feline in Darma Valley in January. The cameras also picked up a rare bird, the snowcock.

"An eight-member team spotted and photographed the snow leopard on Jan 26," said Jayendra Singh Firmal from the non-profit Hidden Himalayas of Uttarakhand, per the publication. "The last sighting of a snow leopard in this area was in 2022."

As apex predators, snow leopards need a lot of prey. So, when a snow leopard shows up in an area, it also means there's a good range of other species present to support it.

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Trail cameras are vital tools for gathering data on elusive species. A human photographer might scare off a snow leopard, but a trail camera can track it. When armed with more accurate information on the spread of vulnerable species, conservationists can make the case to expand protection efforts and justify previous work.

The recovery of snow leopard populations is thanks to this kind of work. More of them are being spotted in Kazakhstan and Pakistan.

Advocating for habitat protection or donating to relevant causes can help protect vulnerable species. When natural environments are left intact, free from threats posed by agricultural or housing development, wildlife can thrive. This builds strong ecosystems that ultimately benefit humanity.

Officials were optimistic about the future spread of snow leopards through the area and pledged to continue surveillance.

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"The forest department is installing camera traps to monitor the animal's movement," said forest officer Ashutosh Singh, per the Times of India. "The presence of a snow leopard is a positive indicator of biodiversity in the Darma Valley."

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A Texas family got a terrifying late-night surprise when they found a rattlesnake inside their home, hiding in one of the most unexpected places.

According to a viral Facebook post by the Del Rio Police Department, officers responded to a call about an animal complaint just before midnight on March 23.

They found the large rattler curled up beneath a bed, right next to a sandal.

Officers immediately evacuated the occupants to ensure their safety and requested assistance from Del Rio Animal Services, the department wrote in a Facebook post, which has been shared more than 800 times as of Saturday.

He can have the shoes and the house, one person commented.

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And I thought a Clown under the bed was Bad !!!

Thanks, will sleep well tonight! And that childhood move of jumping on and off the bed from 5 feet away will come in handy! someone else wrote.

New fear unlocked, added another.

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Several people joked about the sandal or chancla next to the snake, saying the reptile didnt seem to be scared of getting swatted by it.

Saw the chankla and said I aint moving.

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Even the snake fears the chancla!

On this day, the infamous Chancla met its kryptonite.

Del Rio police said local animal services came to the house and removed the snake without incident, but also offered a creepy warning:

The Del Rio Police Department would like to remind residents that snakes commonly emerge from hibernation during warmer months, particularly between March and April. Rattlesnakes may enter homes while seeking shelter, food, or relief from extreme temperatures.

If you think that snakes under your bed are scary, in 2021 a Texas woman called 911 after finding a python on top of her toilet in the middle of the night. That cant be real, the woman remembered thinking. Then its little forked tongue flickered out at me and I slammed the door.

A Texas woman called police after she found a large python on top of her toilet.

Why are snakes showing up right now in Texas?

Snake activity tends to increase in the warmer months as temperatures rise and snakes come out of winter hibernation, according to Dallas Fort Worth Wildlife Control.

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During this time, snakes are often searching for food, water, or shelter, which can bring them closer to homes, garages, and shaded areas.

That doesnt mean theyre aggressive.

Snakes will prefer to avoid encounters with humans altogether, the group said. A snake might respond defensively by hissing, striking, or biting if it feels cornered, startled, or otherwise threatened.

Texas is home to more than 100 species of snakes, with only about 15 considered venomous and dangerous to humans, according to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.

Common venomous snakes in the state include rattlesnakes, copperheads, cottonmouths, and coral snakes, with rattlesnakes being the most common.

What should I do if I see a snake near my home?

If you come across a snake, the safest thing to do is keep your distance and avoid trying to handle or move it.

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The majority of bites result from people taking unnecessary or foolish risks with venomous snakes, TPWD said.

To reduce the chances of snakes around your home, experts recommend keeping grass trimmed and removing woodpiles, debris, and clutter where snakes may hide.

Frequent sightings or signs like shed skin, droppings, or a musky odor could indicate a larger issue and may be a reason to call wildlife control for help.
Nasa's Artemis II mission is sending four astronauts on their way to the Moon.

Their voyage around our nearest neighbour will pave the way for a lunar landing and, eventually, a Moon base.

The Artemis programme has taken years of work, involved thousands of people and is estimated to have cost $93bn to date.

But for some, there's a distinct feeling of "been there, done that".

More than 50 years ago, America's Apollo missions made history when the first people set foot on the lunar surface. With six landings in total, it felt like the Moon had been well and truly ticked off the space to-do list.

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So why is the US spending so much time, effort and money racing to return?

Valuable resources

"The Moon has got the same elements in it that we have here on Earth," says Prof Sara Russell [NASA]

The terrain might look dry, dusty and seems rather barren, but it's far from that.

"The Moon has got the same elements in it that we have here on Earth," says Prof Sara Russell, a planetary scientist at the Natural History Museum.

"An example is rare earth elements, which are very scarce on Earth, and there might be parts of the Moon where these are concentrated enough to be able to mine them."

There are metals too, like iron and titanium, and also helium, which is used in everything from superconductors to medical equipment.

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But the resource that's the biggest draw is the most surprising: water.

"It has water trapped in some of its minerals, and it also has substantial amounts of water at the poles," says Russell.

There are craters that are permanently in shadow, she says, where ice can build up.

Having access to water is vital if you want to live on the Moon. It not only provides drinking water, but can also be split into hydrogen and oxygen to provide air for astronauts to breathe, and even fuel for spacecraft.

Race for space dominance

Astronaut Buzz Aldrin salutes an American flag on the Moon's surface in 1969 [Getty Images]

America's Apollo missions of the 1960s and 1970s were driven by a race for space dominance with the Soviet Union. This time around China is the competition.

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China has been making fast progress with its space programme. It's successfully landed robots and rovers on the Moon, and says it will get humans there by 2030.

There's still prestige in being the first to plant your flag in the lunar dust. But now it really matters where you plant it.

Both the US and China want access to the areas with the most abundant resources, which means securing the best lunar real estate.

China put its flag on the Moon when it landed a robotic spacecraft in 2020 [CNSA HANDOUT via EPA]

The United Nations 1967 Outer Space Treaty says that no country can own the Moon. But when it comes to what's found on the Moon, it's not quite so straightforward.

"Although you can't own a piece of the land because of the UN treaty, you can basically operate on that land without anybody interfering with it," says Dr Helen Sharman, the first British astronaut.

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"So the big thing right now is to try to grab your piece of land. You can't own it, but you can use it. And once you're there, you've got it for as long as you want it."

Paving the way to Mars

Living on Mars will be much harder than the Moon [NASA]

Nasa has its sights set on Mars and wants to send people there by the 2030s.

Given the technological hurdles it needs to overcome, it's a pretty ambitious timeline.

But you have to start somewhere, and the US has decided the Moon is that place.

"Going to the Moon and staying there for a sustained period is much safer, much cheaper and much easier to be a test bed for learning how to live and work on another planet," says Libby Jackson, head of space at the Science Museum.

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On a Moon base, Nasa can perfect the tech to provide the air and water astronauts need. They'll have to work out how to generate power and build habitats to protect people from extreme temperatures as well as dangerous space radiation.

"These are all technologies that if you try them for the first time on Mars and they go wrong, it's potentially catastrophic. It's much safer and much easier to try them out on the Moon," Jackson says.

Mysteries yet to be unlocked

The Apollo astronauts collected samples of rock during their missions [NASA]

Scientists can't wait to get their (gloved) hands on material from the Moon.

The rocks brought home by the Apollo astronauts transformed our understanding of our celestial neighbour.

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"They told us that the Moon was formed by this incredibly dramatic event, where a Mars-sized body smashed into the Earth and the bits that came off formed the Moon. We know about that because of the Apollo rocks," says Prof Sara Russell.

But she says there is still much to discover.

Because the Moon was once a part of the Earth, it holds a record of 4.5bn years of our own planet's history. And with no plate tectonics, or wind and rain to wipe this record away, the Moon is a perfect time capsule.

"The Moon is a fantastic archive of the Earth," says Russell. "A new haul of rocks from a different area of the Moon would be amazing."

Inspiring a new generation

It's hoped that the Artemis missions will excite people about careers in science, technology and engineering [Joe Raedle/Getty Images]

The grainy black-and-white footage beamed back from the Apollo missions transformed the dream of space into a reality.

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And while only a lucky few watching would become astronauts themselves, many went on to careers in science, technology and engineering.

Black-and-white footage beamed back from the Apollo missions transformed science fiction into reality [NASA]

It's hoped that the Artemis missions - streamed live and in 4k - will inspire a new generation.

"We live in a world of technology. We need scientists, engineers and mathematicians - and space has a brilliant ability to excite people about those subjects," says Libby Jackson.

New jobs and a thriving space economy will give the US a return on the billions of dollars it's poured into Artemis. As will any spin-offs from the technology developed for the missions that have a use on Earth.

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But Helen Sharman says a return to the Moon will also give the world a much-needed boost.

"If we really come together, we can produce so much that's beneficial to humankind," says Sharman.

"It shows us what humans are capable of."

Top image shows a digital illustration of the surface of Mars.
Days after Floridas Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia issued a scathing criticism of what he described as excessive and wasteful budget spending, Flagler County Chair Leann Pennington welcomed the state officials findings.

In an email to The News-Journal March 28, Pennington wrote that she and others on the board have have consistently raised concerns about rising project costs, increased staffing, and the overall growth of government.

These were some of the topics Ingoglia addressed in a press release he issued March 26 criticizing what he said is excessive, wasteful spending of $59 million in the countys budget. He also presented his argument during a private event the same day at the Club at Hammock Beach, calling on the local government to offer immediate property tax relief to the taxpayers while pointing out that the countys general fund budget has increased by approximately 119% in the last five fiscal years.

Florida CFO Blaise Ingoglia criticizes Flagler County's budget spending during an invitation-only event at the Club at Hammock Beach in Flagler County, March 26, 2026.

Ingoglia has issued a series of other similar fiscal analysis for other Florida counties, including one for Citrus County just days before Flagler and several others since last year.

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CFO criticizes Flagler's budget: In private event, state CFO criticizes Flagler County's budget

His efforts began amid Gov. Ron DeSantis' push to eliminate property taxes in Florida. Appointed by DeSantis in July 2025 to replace Jimmy Patronis, Ingoglia is running for the seat in November.

Flagler County chair welcomes Florida CFOs fiscal analysis of countys budget

Pennington welcomed the state CFOs findings, adding that her first budget season on the Board of County Commissioners was for the 2023-24 fiscal year, as I was seated in late 2022 after the 2023 budget had already been approved.

"The County Commission requested to participate in Floridas 'FAFO' process, which reviewed local budgets dating back to 2019," Pennington wrote. "I am glad the CFO recognized these issues and selected our county as an example of wasteful spending."

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Ingoglia created FAFO, or the Florida Agency for Fiscal Oversight in December, and the audits are similar to the DOGE audits that took place before FAFO existed.

Ingoglia's findings, she added, reinforce "what Ive been saying for some time: taxation cannot be the answer to every problem government identifies."

"Several weeks ago, we took an important step by making changes in the countys administration, a move I believe was necessary to begin addressing these challenges," she wrote.

The Board of County Commissioners on March 2 approved a mutual separation agreement with longtime County Administrator Heidi Petito, who has faced criticism from the more recently elected board members over the past few months.

Flagler County Chair Leann Pennington speaks during Nexus Center ribbon-cutting ceremony in Bunnell, Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025.

Emails sent to Petito seeking comment March 27 and 30 were not returned.

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"We have also lowered property taxes every year Ive been in office," Pennington added. "Im doing my part, now hopefully we will get an administration that will bring efficiencies and cost reductions to the table. Im encouraged by these findings and hopeful this serves as a turning point. Growing government is not the answer."

Though she said her concerns, for the most part, have now been validated, she also mentioned what she sees as positive steps the county has taken since 2019.

It is also important to note that during the timeframe reviewed, the County took meaningful steps to strengthen its financial position, she wrote. Reserves were increased, outstanding debt was significantly reduced, and our bond rating improved, resulting in long-term savings and better preparedness for potential disasters.

Florida CFO criticizes Flagler County's budget increase, suggests property tax cuts

In his analysis of the countys finances, Ingoglia pointed out that Flagler Countys general fund budget has increased by $110,241,921 between fiscal year 2019-20 and FY 25-26.

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The budget increase we have seen in Flagler County represents the single largest increase we have seen out of the 16 spending reviews have conducted so far, and it should concern every single taxpayer in this county, Ingoglia said of the Florida Agency for Fiscal Oversights analysis in the press release.

He did mention the spike in the county's population.

"Over the past six years, Flagler County has added 80 full-time administrative employees to accommodate a 32,564 increase in population growth."

Flaglers 2025-26 general fund budget was $203 million, according to the countys website. Five years ago, it was approximately $92.4 million.

Florida CFO Blaise Ingoglia criticizes Flagler County's budget spending during an invitation-only event at the Club at Hammock Beach in Flagler County, March 26, 2026.

The government budget increase equates to an increase of $3,385.39 for individual residents and $13,541.56 for a family of four, according to the agencys analysis.

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The CFO suggested the county reduce its property tax rate by 1.40 mills. The countys 2025-26 adopted tax rate is 7.8695, which essentially means homeowners pay approximately $7.87 for every $1,000 of their homes assessed value.

Ingoglia argued that taxpayers deserve to know exactly where their money is going and the confidence that (it) is being spent wisely.

County defends efforts towards accountability and transparency

In a statement released by through its communications department on March 26, the county defended its record while welcoming the opportunity to discuss fiscal efficiency and accountability, as it is a value we also champion.

The local government also pointed to its Transparency Dashboard  a website containing information about the countys strategic planning, budget, infrastructure and capital projects, and more.

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Our 16-year record of national budget excellence and our award-winning Transparency Dashboards prove that we don't just talk about accountability, we build it into every dollar we spend, the countys release said.

We acknowledge the Florida CFOs role in this process, and we will continue to work side-by-side with the state to ensure our taxpayers receive the maximum benefit from every dollar, the countys press release added. In Flagler, the books are open, the mission is clear, and our commitment to efficiency and accountability is proven.

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Flagler County chair reacts to state CFO's budget analysis
Floridas Attorney General is making the case that non-violent felons should not have their right to own a gun taken away.

In Florida, and nearly everywhere else in the United States, when a person is convicted of a felony they lose their Second Amendment rights.

In Florida, that suspension is permanent, short of being granted clemency, which is a process that can take years or even decades.

Second Amendment Attorney James Phillips argued he often sees cases where the penalty simply seems too harsh.

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Back in the 70s when they were 19 years old, they get in trouble for something that was deemed a felony charge and then they havent been in trouble since, said Phillips. You know, and for someone like that to permanently be banned from possessing a firearm, a right that our constitution provides us in order to defend ourselves, I think its just too extreme.

And now Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier is making the case its unconstitutional to suspend non-violent felons firearm rights.

Uthmeier laid out his argument in a brief filed in a case involving a man who lost his right to bear arms after being caught possessing a firearm without a license in another state.

In the brief, Uthmeier argued laws disarming nonviolent felons are not consistent with the Nations historical tradition of firearm regulation.

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Uthmeier explained he believes drug offenses should still count as violent felonies as the drug trade is notoriously violent.

To do a blanket allowance of gun ownership without there being some sort of process of oversight is very concerning from a public safety perspective, State Representative Anna Eskamani (D-Orlando) said.

Eskamani argued Uthmeier is once again attempting to circumvent the legislature to loosen Floridas gun laws.

Recently, Uthmeier intervened in a case dealing with open carry of firearms and argued against the states open carry prohibition.

As a result, a state appeals court declared the states open carry ban unconstitutional, which led to a statewide policy shift.

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I think its really important for the legislature to be the body that defines laws and the executive branch to enforce them, not to leverage their position to continuously change them, Eskamani said.

Even if Uthmeier succeeds in overturning the state law, the issue wouldnt be fully settled.

Federal law also suspends felons Second Amendment rights, violent and nonviolent alike.

But Criminal Defense Attorney Chris Carson argued the federal government could turn a blind eye if Florida were to move in another direction, as it does in states that have legalized marijuana.

Because there would just be a lot of volume and a lot going on. So, I think it would, not that it would never happen, but it just makes it less likely, Carson said.

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The Florida Prosecuting Attorneys Association filed a brief opposing the AGs view on suspending non-violent felons gun rights.

The group represents 20 State Attorneys in Florida.

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A new study found that mislabeled shrimp is costing the U.S. seafood industry millions of dollars.

Researchers report that some restaurants are misrepresenting imported, farm-raised shrimp as local, wild-caught seafood.

The practice negatively impacts local fishermen and causes customers to pay higher prices for products they are not actually receiving.

According to the study, Florida is among the states with the highest levels of shrimp mislabeling in the country.

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Mislabeled seafood often originates from international commercial operations rather than local waters.

Domestic seafood advocates note that the practice allows restaurants to capitalize on the high demand for local products while using cheaper alternatives.

Experts say what diners believe they are eating often does not match what is actually served on their plates.

Christine Gala serves as a board member for the Southern Shrimp Alliance, an organization that represents the interests of the domestic shrimp industry.

Gala noted that consumers are frequently misled regarding the origin of their meal.

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When in fact, theyre probably eating imported shrimp from a shrimp farm in Ecuador, Gala said.

The financial impact on the domestic industry is significant as local producers struggle to compete with misrepresented goods.

Click here to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.
A local vocational student of an international Lamian beef noodle chef training program practises making beef noodles at the I.E.S. Hotel Escuela in Madrid, Spain, in January 2026. (Lanzhou Resource and Environment Vocational and Technical University/Handout via Xinhua)

LANZHOU, March 30 (Xinhua) -- With swift and practiced hands, 42-year-old Peng Jingjing twisted, stretched and folded dough into slender strands before a dozen students at the I.E.S. Hotel Escuela in Madrid, bringing the art of hand-pulled noodles to life.

An associate professor at Lanzhou Resource and Environment Vocational and Technical University in northwest China's Gansu Province, Peng has been teaching the art of Lamian noodle making for nearly two years, and earlier this year she taught in Spain for the first time.

In China, the wide variety of noodles is among the finest expressions of its culinary heritage, with traditional Lamian noodles, or hand-pulled noodles, serving as a signature specialty of Lanzhou. The growth of the Lamian noodle industry has provided local people with a pathway to poverty alleviation and economic prosperity.

The Lamian noodle-making technique is recognized as a national intangible cultural heritage. For many years, however, the skill was passed down mainly through traditional master-apprentice relationships, without formal professional standards.

In recent years, as Chinese culture has gained increasing global appeal, noodles have attracted a growing international following. In response, Lanzhou has strengthened support for vocational training institutions, offering structured courses that cultivate skilled Lamian noodle makers. Today, opportunities to learn the art of hand-pulled noodles in Lanzhou are becoming increasingly professional and systematic.

Since the launch of the Belt and Road Initiative, more Lamian noodle makers have sought new business opportunities outside China. By 2025, the total number of Lamian noodle restaurants -- both domestically and abroad -- had reached 71,000, according to the Gansu Provincial Department of Commerce.

To better support the overseas expansion of the Lamian noodle industry, Lanzhou Resource and Environment Vocational and Technical University established a talent training base in Barcelona last year. The university also launched an international Lamian beef noodle chef training program for local vocational students, benchmarked against the standards of UK NARIC, the National Recognition Information Center for Britain.

As the university's first instructor dispatched to Spain, Peng began coordinating with the faculty of I.E.S. Hotel Escuela months in advance. She also prepared Spanish-language teaching materials to ensure local students could fully engage with the program.

The three-day course in January combined both theoretical lessons and hands-on practice. At the end of the program, every student took a qualification test, with successful participants earning credit points officially recognized by their institution.

During the course, students were amazed by the skill of transforming dough into hair-thin noodles and intrigued by the use of traditional Chinese medicinal ingredients in the broth.

"Although we cannot speak each other's language, we communicated smoothly using translation tools," Peng said, adding that they told her how much they enjoyed the course and hoped she would teach them every day.

The training also attracted representatives from a local Lamian noodle restaurant to engage with the program.

Months after the training, Peng continued to receive photos from her students in Spain, proudly showing the Lamian noodles they had made. Some even emailed her to ask how to incorporate noodle-making techniques into local Spanish dishes.

For Peng, the noodles are more than just food; they represent a gateway to Chinese culture.

"I believe that more overseas diners would fall in love with Lamian noodles in the future and become interested in the skills," she said. 

Local vocational students of an international Lamian beef noodle chef training program taste their handmade beef noodles at the I.E.S. Hotel Escuela in Madrid, Spain, in January 2026. (Lanzhou Resource and Environment Vocational and Technical University/Handout via Xinhua)

Local vocational students of an international Lamian beef noodle chef training program pose for a group photo with an instructor at the I.E.S. Hotel Escuela in Madrid, Spain, in January 2026. (Lanzhou Resource and Environment Vocational and Technical University/Handout via Xinhua)
Retired Gen. Frank McKenzie, the former commander of U.S. Central Command (Centcom), said Sunday that the U.S. military has been working on plans for a ground raid in Iran for years, as President Trump is reportedly considering sending troops into the war.

Margaret, for many years weve considered options along the southern coast of Iran, seizing islands, seizing small bases. Typically raids. And a raid is an operation with a planned withdrawal. Youre not going to stay. But some of those islands you could seize and hold. That would have a couple effects, McKenzie told CBS Newss Margaret Brennan on Face the Nation.

First of all, it would be profoundly humiliating for Iran and would give us great weight in negotiations. The second, the example of Kharg Island, which everyone talks about, if you seize Kharg Island, you really can shut down the Iranian oil economy completely. And the beauty of seizing it is, youre not destroying it, he said.

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The Washington Post reported this weekend that the Department of Defense was preparing plans for ground operations lasting for weeks in Iran. The ground operations may involve special operations forces and regular infantry troops undertaking raids, U.S. officials told the Post.

Some 3,500 sailors and Marines aboard the USS Tripoli arrived on Friday in the Centcom area in the Middle East. The Amphibious Ready Group of the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit includes transport and strike fighter aircraft, as well as amphibious assault and tactical assets.

U.S. officials have said the massive deployment of troops in the Middle East a month into the war does not mean Trump has decided to use ground troops.

McKenzie said the U.S. could achieve some level of success without a ground component to its operations in Iran.

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I think a success looks like the Strait of Hormuz is open. We get some kind of deal on the ballistic missile program, some kind of deal on the nuclear program. Thats probably about as much as you could hope for, he said.

I believe all of those things are actually within our grasp. We just need to continue. Iran will ultimately respond to the use of force, he added.

The majority of Americans have a negative view of the war, according to recent polling. In a recent CBS News/YouGov poll, 60 percent of respondents were against the conflict with Iran, while 40 percent were for it.

Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
OMAHA  Nebraskans interested in exploring the federal budget can attend a free workshop Tuesday hosted by the University of Nebraska at Omaha.

Former U.S. Rep. Carolyn Bourdeau, D-Ga., who now is executive director of the Concord Coalition, is a presenter at a March 31 event in Omaha. (Courtesy of Concord Coalition)

The balanced budget exercise will be held from 3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. in the Thompson Alumni center, 6705 Dodge St., and registration is open to the public. It is held in partnership with the nonpartisan Concord Coalition and UNOs College of Public Affairs and Community Services School of Public Administration.

Presenters include former U.S. Rep. Carolyn Bourdeaux, D-Ga., who as executive director of the Virginia-based Concord Coalition is building a grassroots movement to advocate for fiscal responsibility. Concord lists as co-chairs former Nebraska governor and U.S. Sens. Bob Kerrey, D-Neb., and John Danforth, R-Mo.

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Why does it matter? The total federal debt has surpassed $39 trillion as of March, a $2.8 trillion increase from March 2025, a UNO statement said, citing the U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committee.

The event will explore the importance of balancing the federal budget and achieving bipartisan consensus, said the statement. Participants are to be divided into groups to review federal spending and revenue priorities and make recommendations to address problems considering policy impact, economic consequences and political implications.

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The Federal Bureau of Investigation is investigating an alleged false bomb threat made by a Frontier Airlines passenger shortly after the flight arrived at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on Sunday, March 29.

Frontier flight 2539 departed John Glenn Columbus International Airport at 2:38 p.m. and landed at the Atlanta airport at 5:09 p.m., according to FlightAware. When the Frontier aircraft was taxiing to its assigned gate, a passenger made a "verbal bomb threat," an airline spokesperson told USA TODAY.

"As a matter of precaution and in coordination with local authorities, the aircraft parked at a remote location while law enforcement responded," according to Frontier. The threat was deemed non-credible, and passengers were deplaned via air stairs and bused to the terminal, the Denver-based airline added.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents patrol at John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York City, March 23, 2026. Hundreds of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were ordered to deploy to airports to help fill TSA staffing gaps across the country. Travelers stand in long lines at Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport on March 23, 2026 in Atlanta. The travel disruptions continue as hundreds of TSA agents quit or work without pay during a partial government shutdown. ICE agents walk through the airport drinking coffee as travelers stand in long lines at Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport on March 23, 2026 in Atlanta. People wait in TSA security lines at John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York City, March 23, 2026 Passengers wait in lines as they maneuver toward a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) checkpoint after hundreds of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were ordered to deploy to airports to help fill TSA staffing gaps, at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in Atlanta, March 23, 2026. Travelers stand in long a line outside of Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport on March 23, 2026 in Atlanta. The travel disruptions continue as hundreds of TSA agents quit or work without pay during a partial government shutdown. President Donald Trump said ICE agents will be deployed to airports on Monday, with border czar Tom Homan in charge of the effort. ICE agents look on as travelers stand in long lines at Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport on March 23, 2026 in Atlanta. Passengers wait in lines as they maneuver toward a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) checkpoint after hundreds of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were ordered to deploy to airports to help fill TSA staffing gaps, at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in Atlanta. People wait in TSA security lines at John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York City, March 23, 2026. ICE agents appear at airports as TSA delays snarl check-in 1 of 9 Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents patrol at John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York City, March 23, 2026. Hundreds of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were ordered to deploy to airports to help fill TSA staffing gaps across the country.

There were no reported injuries. Airport operations remain normal, a Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport spokesperson said.

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Federal authorities and the Atlanta Police Department responded to the incident, according to the FBI.

"The FBI can assure the traveling public there is no continuing threat related to this incident," the agency said in a statement. An investigation is currently underway, with authorities conducting interviews. The FBI will consult with the U.S. Attorney's Office of the Northern District of Georgia to determine if federal charges will be filed.

Airline damaged her $75,000 wheelchair. Now shes speaking out.

USA TODAY reached out to the Atlanta Police Department for additional information. The FAA declined to comment, deferring to local law enforcement and the airline.

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Earlier this month, a man on board a JetBlue flight taking off from the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport in Broward County, Florida, was taken into custody after he allegedly made bomb threats, local news outlets WSVN and WPLG reported.

Contributing: Julia Gomez, USA TODAY

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Frontier flight investigated for 'verbal bomb threat' at GA airport
Every motorist will have noticed one of the major economic consequences of the conflict in the Middle East  rapid price rises for both petrol and diesel.

Some 20% of the world's oil trade, the raw ingredient for producing both petrol and diesel, has been halted by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

But closures closer to home have caught motorists' attention.

Over the weekend, sporadic reports of closed pumps at some petrol station forecourts in Northern Ireland sparked fears of fuel shortages.

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But trade bodies, the RAC and the government are adamant that supply remains healthy in spite of the conflict and that panic buying isn't necessary.

In a joint statement, Fuels Industry UK and the Petrol Retailers Association said: "We're aware of reports circulating about fuel availability at a small number of forecourts in Northern Ireland.

"Supply is flowing normally and there is no need for any change in usual buying habits in Northern Ireland."

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Economy Minister Caoimhe Archibald said officials from her department can confirm that fuel continues to be delivered as normal after speaking with oil and fuel depots in Northern Ireland.

She added they will continue to work with other departments, governments and supply-chain partners to monitor and maintain supply.

Why were some petrol pumps closed?

Pumps running dry, especially in rural locations, is something that happens occasionally, even without pressure on global oil prices, but there is no doubt the war is impacting the fuel market.

While there isn't any nationwide shortage of petrol or diesel, there are localised challenges with some retailers struggling to get deliveries.

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Some local shortages are also due to consumer demand.

As prices continue to rise, motorists are quick to take advantage of any retailer offering a lower price for fuel.

Petrol stations selling fuel for cheaper than average could see a boom in trade  effectively drinking those pumps dry until their next delivery.

Anecdotal reports that some petrol stations linked to supermarkets had been slower to raise fuel prices, may explain why forecourts at Sainsbury's and Tesco temporarily closed some pumps over the weekend.

A source with knowledge of the UK wholesale fuel market told BBC News NI that there was still sufficient supply available for retailers to purchase, but added that it was a question for supermarkets as to why they haven't done so.

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A spokesperson for Sainsbury's, who still have several pumps closed at locations across Northern Ireland, has rejected any suggestion that the retailer wasn't trying to buy all available supply.

The company said it expects its forecourts to be fully restocked later this week.

One Tesco forecourt in Belfast, which had struggled with supply over the weekend, has reopened this morning. A spokesperson said the company still had good availability of all fuel grades, with regular deliveries to all fuel stations.

How much is petrol and diesel?

According to the Consumer Council for Northern Ireland's weekly fuel price checker, the average price for one litre of petrol was 144.6p last week - a rise of 19.8p since 26 February.

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The same amount of diesel has an average cost of 169.7p - a rise of 37.1p since the conflict began.

The UK is heavily reliant on oil and gas imports, with the lion's share of those imports coming from the US and Norway.

The price of oil on the global market determines how much the UK pays for it.

Though the UK does get oil from the North Sea, most of that is exported for refining elsewhere.

Industry warnings

Wael Sawan has warned of fuel shortages [Getty Images]

Asda executive chairman Allan Leighton acknowledged that his company had experienced similar issues with closed pumps at forecourts, but expected them to be resolved by the company's next delivery.

"Our fuel volumes are up quite significantly and clearly demand has been outstripping supply," he said.

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"Supply is tight and we are all trying hard on that."

Shell Chief Executive, Wael Sawan, had warned that fuel shortages could occur as early as next month should disruption to fossil fuel supplies continue.

Michelle Kelly said no evidence suggests any supply issues for Northern Ireland [BBC]

Michelle Kelly, head of transport at the Consumer Council, claims there is "no evidence that there are any supply issues at all across Northern Ireland.

"I think what we've seen recently is that some forecourts have experienced increased demand, and that's probably due to the fact that they have slightly lower than average prices at the moment," she added.

"The situation is very volatile but at the moment there is certainly no need to worry or to panic buy. Go about your daily business but look for the best price near you."

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The International Energy Agency, of which the UK is a member, has published guidelines encouraging a global reduction in energy use  from fewer car trips to reduced use of electricity in homes and offices.

Some countries have already begun to ration their supplies.

Where does NI get its petrol and diesel from?

Oil tankers are regularly arriving at Belfast Harbour and Foyle Port where their cargoes are pumped into storage facilities on the quayside.

Most of those tankers will have been loaded at Milford Haven in south Wales, site of the nearest large refinery to Northern Ireland.

The UK refines enough petrol to fully supply its home market, with enough excess production to also export to places including the Republic of Ireland.

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Diesel is different. The UK only refines about half of what it needs and imports the rest from places like the Netherlands and the United States.

That more complicated supply chain for diesel helps explain why its price has risen more sharply than petrol.
SYDNEY, March 30 (Reuters) - Australian police said on Monday a fugitive gunman, who had been on the run for seven months for allegedly killing two police officers, was believed to have been shot dead in a police operation in a remote town in Victoria state.

"While the man is yet to be formally identified, police believe it is likely to be 56-year-old Porepunkah man Desmond Freeman," Victoria Police said in a statement.

Freeman, previously known as Desmond Filby, was fatally shot at about 8:30 a.m. on Monday (2130 GMT, Sunday) following a three-hour standoff at a rural property in northeast Victoria, Australian media widely reported.

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Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Mike Bush said the police shooting was justified as officials investigate the exact circumstances of the incident and conduct a formal identification.

"Everything I know at this point tells me that this shooting was justified," Bush said during a media briefing, adding that no police officers were injured during the incident.

"There was an opportunity for him to surrender peacefully, which he did not ... we're working through the sequence of that. We strongly believe, yet to be confirmed, that he was armed."

More than 450 police officers had been involved in the hunting for Freeman since August, when he allegedly opened fire on a team of 10 police officers, when they arrived at a property in Porepunkah, about 300 km (186 miles) northeast of Melbourne, to execute a search warrant.

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Authorities had offered a A$1 million ($684,700) reward for information leading to his capture.

Believed to have expert bushcraft skills and multiple powerful firearms, Freeman fled into bushland at Mount Buffalo National Park following the shooting. Local media have described him as a "sovereign citizen", a term used for individuals who regard the government as illegitimate.

The Age newspaper reported Freeman was found and shot dead by police at a large rural property in the remote Walwa area in Victoria, about 180 km (112 miles) northeast of Porepunkah.

Satellite imagery showed the property was studded with multiple buildings, two shipping containers, a caravan and several derelict vehicles, the report said.

($1 = 1.4605 Australian dollars)

(Reporting by Renju Jose in Sydney; Editing by Sonali Paul and Michael Perry)
Cars lined up six deep to purchase gas for $3.49 a gallon at the Sams Club in Madison Heights this weekend. The price was a bargain compared to the $4 or more at some of the other metro Detroit stations.

Michiganders are anxiously looking for ways to reduce the price at the pump.

The pain at the pump is so acute that U.S. Sen. Elissa Slotkin said on CNN's Saturday, March 28, re-broadcast of "Real Time with Bill Maher," she saw "a 90-minute line outside a Costco for gas" in Michigan.

To save money on gasoline, drivers wait in line at Sam's Club in Madison Heights on Sunday, March 29, 2026, to fill up where gas is selling below the statewide average.

Patrick De Haan, the head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, estimated Americans have "already spent nearly $8 billion more on gasoline over the past month, a trend that poses growing risks to the broader economy."

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According to AAA, the average price on Monday, March 30, for regular gas was $3.94. That's $59 for a full 15-gallon tank of gasoline. For diesel, the price per gallon is even higher, at $5.03.

The most expensive per gallon average fuel prices in Michigan on March 29 were Benton Harbor, at $4.08; Jackson, at $4.06; and Lansing, at $3.99, according to AAA. The least expensive were Flint, at $3.86; Marquette, at $3.90; and metro Detroit, at $3.92.

How Michigan drivers are trying to save on gas

Gas prices are now at their highest levels in a few years, mostly as a result of global oil supply disruptions from the U.S.-Iran war, particularly the closing of the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway through which ships carrying about 20% of the worlds crude oil passes.

Oil, which makes up half the cost of gasoline, is about $100 a barrel or more.

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To save on gas, some motorists are driving less, shopping around more for cheap gas, using cash  which some stations offer a discount for  and taking advantage of retailer "Fuel Points" and store-branded, credit card gas discounts.

The same day the "Real Time" episode re-aired, millions of Americans took to the streets across the country to protest President Donald Trump and his policies, which includes going to war in the Middle East, which has lead to a global energy crisis.

Trump, during his campaign, said he would lower gas prices. And he made mention of falling prices during his State of the Union address last month.

He also promised also not "to start wars."

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It was unclear, however, whether the 90-minute wait the Michigan Democrat mentioned was hyperbole  for dramatic effect  or if she knew how long the line was because she had been waiting in it.

She did not say which Costoco it was  and perhaps she had read about 30-minute wait times for gasoline at a Costco in San Antonio, Texas, and adapted that story to make a point.

Slotkin went on to say about gas prices and other costs: "The American people are feeling the impacts of this war, many, many miles away; and thats a very real, real thing for people."

Will Michigan gas prices keep rising?

The Iran conflict that Trump has referred to as both a "war" and "excursion," is now starting its fifth week and the president has sent mixed messages about what's next.

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Will the international conflict be resolved through negotiations or more fighting  or will the Trump administration, which already has declared victory multiple times, simply stand down.

Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on March 29, Trump said that Iran had agreed to allow 20 more oil cargo ships to pass through the strait, the New York Times reported. Trump framed Irans decision as a sign that negotiations were underway.

Yet, at the same time, the Pentagon also was putting together plans this weekend for weeks of ground operations in Iran, which could involve infantry and special operations, the Washington Post reported.

Democrats are now using the war and soaring gas prices as key mid-term elections issues.

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Ken Martin, the Democratic National Committee chair, sent an email blast March 30 saying people are "sick of Trump's high costs, chaos and corruption."

As for prices at the pump, they may hold where they are  for a few days, anyway.

"Michigan pump prices are still rising, but the sharp jumps motorists saw earlier this month are starting to slow," Adrienne Woodland, a spokeswoman for AAA said. "While thats a welcome sign for drivers, prices remain elevated and could change again."

Contact Frank Witsil: 313-222-5022 or fwitsil@freepress.com

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan gas prices near $4 spur reports of long lines at Costco
California Gov. Gavin Newsom is warning some cities in his state that they need to comply with state laws mandating more housing development, or they could face action from the attorney general.

Newsom said 15 jurisdictionsKings County and Merced County, plus several smaller cities mostly under 50,000 people like Half Moon Bay and Oakdalehave 30 days to respond before the state takes further action.

California has determined all of them are more than two years behind schedule in adopting an element. None has a clear path to compliance in the next 60 days. Newsom said that indicates they don't plan to comply with the state law.

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"Im disappointed on behalf of the state and the people of California that after years of effort, we still have communities that arent meeting the needs of their residents," Newsom said in a statement. "Theres no carve-out here. No community gets a pass when it comes to addressing homelessness or creating more housing access."

What California law says about housing

California law requires all cities to adopt a "housing element," or a plan to meet housing needs "at all income levels." These elements also require plans that don't constrain housing development.

The state-by-state housing affordability report card from Realtor.com gives California an F. Newsom has pressed reforms to allow building more housing in the state, especially more dense housing in areas that have previously resisted it.

The state began cracking down on cities that failed to adopt housing elements in 2021. About 480 jurisdictions in the state have since adopted housing elements, and an additional 22 will finalize theirs within 60 days.

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But the state has taken legal action against several cities that refused to do so, including Anaheim, Flintridge, and Huntington Beach. The latter city recently lost its appeal in California Superior Court.

Newsom said the state would "keep pushing forward by enforcing the law, fighting NIMBY actions, and holding local governments accountable."

The cities of Atwater, Avenal, California City, Corcoran, Escalon, Hanford, Lemoore, Montclair, Patterson, Ridgecrest, and Turlock also received warnings.
The head of Rheinmetall, the German defence company, compared Ukrainian drone producers to housewives and children playing with Lego.

Armin Papperger, the tough-talking chief executive, made the inflammatory remarks in an American magazine interview as he suggested that Ukraine did not deserve praise for battlefield innovation.

When asked how Ukraine had turned drones into some of the deadliest weapons on earth against Russian troops and tanks, Mr Papperger scoffed: This is how to play with Legos.

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He added, in comments to Atlantic magazine, that the biggest producers of drones in Ukraine were housewives working with 3D printers in the kitchen, and they produce parts for the drones ... this is not innovation.

The belittlement from Germanys largest tank producer caused an outcry in Ukraine, with business chiefs, government ministers and even Volodymyr Zelensky, the president, weighing in.

If every housewife in Ukraine can really produce drones, then every housewife in Ukraine can be the chief executive of Rheinmetall, Mr Zelensky said on Monday, calling on the company to compete with Ukraine on results, not rhetoric.

Yulia Svyrydenko, the prime minister of Ukraine, also took umbrage at the comment. Yes, Europes defence is powered by Ukrainian housewives, she said, using the hashtag #MadeByHousewives  which has gone viral since the Rheinmetall interview.

Armin Papperger is the chief executive of Rheinmetall, which arms Europe - INA FASSBENDER/Getty Images

Alexander Kamyshin, an adviser to Mr Zelensky, added that Ukrainian women were great housewives, yet they have to work hard in the military factories. They deserve respect.

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During his visits to arms factories in Ukraine, he said he had seen Ukrainian women working equally with men often enough.

The war of words is an embarrassment for Mr Papperger, who has been one of Ukraines closest supporters. His company has built tanks, mortar shells and huge quantities of 155mm artillery rounds for Kyiv.

His reference to housewives has also raised eyebrows because of the critical role women played in the Second World War, with nearly a million former housewives employed in weapons factories in Britain alone.

Mr Pappergers comments are likely to have irritated Friedrich Merz, the German chancellor. He is one of Europes most outspoken supporters of Kyiv and is also depending on Rheinmetall for a large expansion of the German armed forces.

Pledging to build Europes strongest conventional army, Mr Merz has passed historic debt reforms in Germany that allow potentially unlimited public spending on large defence projects.

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Rheinmetall has been by far the biggest German beneficiary of that surge in contracts and funding opportunities. Mr Papperger has said he hopes to catch 300bn (260bn) in European defence deals by 2030.

Rheinmetall received such widespread criticism on social media for the comments that it issued a clarification on Sunday through its official X account, in which it insisted its chief executive respected Ukrainian innovation.

We have the utmost respect for the Ukrainian peoples immense efforts in defending themselves, the company said. Every single woman and man in Ukraine is making an immeasurable contribution.

As The Telegraph revealed in a recent profile, Mr Papperger is nicknamed the alpha-male animal of Germanys defence industry, with a highly traditional approach to the arms industry and a tendency towards boasting of his success.

Ukraines Magura V7 sea drone has a range of up to 900 miles - Efrem Lukatsky/AP

Rheinmetall, his 70bn company, is considered so crucial to the Ukrainian war effort that Russia at one point hatched a plot to assassinate him.

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Left-wing extremists also targeted his summer home in April 2024, launching an arson attack in revenge for his support for the Ukrainian army.

An anonymous social media statement announcing the attack referred to various old types of tanks that could now be sold to Ukraine with ammunition and at a hefty profit.

As arguably Germanys most high-profile defence figure, Mr Pappeger is divisive in his own industry among colleagues.

One German defence source said: On a positive note, he proactively analyses problems and pushes the solution, and hes an expert on external communication.

The negatives are [boastful] communication. Theres also this sense that he enjoys the success of his company more than [he sees] the falling apart of the world as a problem.

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So is he a good guy? No. Might he be exactly the right guy these days? Could very well be.

Try full access to The Telegraph free today. Unlock their award-winning website and essential news app, plus useful tools and expert guides for your money, health and holidays.
BERLIN/SANTIAGO, March 30 (Reuters) - Germany will talk to Chile's new right-wing government about reports that it is dropping plans to turn a settlement founded by a German cult leader and sex abuser into a memorial to victims of torture.

"The German government supports the project to establish a memorial in Chile. We will continue discussions on this, especially in light of this new information," a foreign ministry spokesperson told a government press conference.

Chile's housing minister, Ivan Poduje, was cited by La Tercera newspaper on Sunday as saying he would reverse the previous government's decision for financial reasons.

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Speaking to Chilean state broadcaster TVN on Monday, Minister Jose Garcia Ruminot, who is in charge of presidential affairs, explained that the project had been put on hold strictly for financial reasons.

"We have no interest in failing to meet international commitments, and therefore it is strictly for financial reasons and, as far as I know, it is only for the remaining months of this year," he said.

The enclave, originally called Colonia Dignidad and renamed Villa Baviera, was founded in 1961 by Paul Schaefer, an evangelical preacher and cult leader who was later jailed for sexually abusing children.

He died in 2010, while serving a 20-year sentence.

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During Augusto Pinochet's 1973-1990 right-wing dictatorship, the 290-acre (117-hectare) community hosted a secret prison for the torture of political prisoners by military forces.

Chile's previous government had announced plans last year to expropriate the site and compensate property owners.

Around 100 people still live at the settlement, where businesses have tried in recent years to attract visitors to green fields and views of snow-capped mountains.

The spokesperson said the issue would be raised at the next German-Chilean joint commission meeting, which should normally take place within a few months.

(Reporting by Miranda Murray in Berlin and Luzinda Eliot in Santiago; additional reporting by Fabian Cambero, editing by Matthias Williams, Kevin Liffey, William Maclean)
Germany stands by Syria as it seeks to rebuild, Foreign Minister Johan Wadephul said on Monday as Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa's visits Berlin.

At a German-Syrian economic forum held at the Foreign Office, Wadephul said he saw an important role for Germany in Syria's reconstruction, which he argued can only succeed with international aid.

"The Syrians deserve a chance, and we want to help ensure that this chance is put to good use," he said.

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In the medium and long term, the opportunities for economic exchange between the two countries are enormous, Wadephul added.

Al-Sharaa whose Islamist alliance toppled long-time dictator Bashar al-Assad in late 2024 - was received by German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Monday and was set to meet Chancellor Friedrich Merz later in the day.

At the economic forum, al-Sharaa spoke of a new beginning for his country, calling for investment from German companies.

Syria has amended many laws to improve the legal framework for investment, he said.

With regard to the war in Iran, al-Sharaa described Syria as a "safe haven" with major investment opportunities

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Wadephul said that Syria has until recently suffered under a brutal dictatorship and a bloody civil war.

The task facing Syria today  to develop a state that guarantees security, freedom and a life of dignity  is immense, he added.

Economy Minister Katherina Reiche said she sees great potential for cooperation with German companies, for example in the energy and construction sectors, in mechanical and plant engineering, and in IT and software solutions.
A staff member operates an excavator to remove debris of a damaged house after heavy rain in Bannu, Pakistan, March 30, 2026. (Str/Xinhua)

ISLAMABAD, March 30 (Xinhua) -- At least 11 people, including 10 children and a woman, were killed and 49 others injured in rain-related incidents in Pakistan's northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, rescue officials said on Monday.

The casualties were reported in Bannu, North Waziristan, and Kohat districts, where heavy rains caused roof collapses and partial damage to several houses.

According to the Pakistan Meteorological Department, intermittent rains are likely to continue in various districts of the province until Tuesday.

Authorities urged citizens to avoid unnecessary travel and take precautionary measures. 

A damaged house is seen after heavy rain in Bannu, Pakistan, March 30, 2026. (Str/Xinhua)

A man examines a damaged house after heavy rain in Bannu, Pakistan, March 30, 2026. (Str/Xinhua)

People work at a damaged house after heavy rain in Bannu, Pakistan, March 30, 2026. (Str/Xinhua)
German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul intends to send a "signal of friendship and solidarity" in Poland with a visit to an international youth centre on Monday.

"I am convinced that this German-Polish solidarity, this resolute commitment to peace and freedom, is more important today than at any time since the end of World War II, said Wadephul ahead of his departure.

He is due to visit the International Youth Meeting Centre in Krzyzowa - known in German as Kreisau - alongside his Polish counterpart Radosaw Sikorski.

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The facility was erected in 1994 at the site of a famous meeting in November 1989, just days after the fall of the Berlin Wall, between West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl and Tadeusz Mazowiecki, the first non-Communist Polish prime minister after World War II.

The reconciliation mass, as the meeting became known, and the embrace between the two politicians during the service are regarded as the beginning of a new chapter in German-Polish relations following the democratic uprisings of 1989.

Wadephul said he wished to send a message of solidarity at a time "when German-Polish relations are facing renewed hostility."

"It is in Ukraine that it will be decided whether the European peace order can endure, or whether we will fall back into the darkest times of our continent," said Wadephul.

The fact that Germany and Poland are among Ukraines most resolute supporters in its defence against Russia "is therefore indispensable in terms of security policy  and at the same time the imperative lesson from our history," the foreign minister added.
Republican candidate for governor Tom Tiffany wants to end emissions testing, a regular headache for southeastern Wisconsin drivers but defended by state officials as a way to fight air pollution.

Tiffany plans to ask U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin for a waiver to end the program, which requires drivers in southeastern Wisconsin to get their car inspected every other year and seek repairs if their vehicle fails.

"Because of the regulation, [drivers] are required to do time-consuming tests and expensive repairs," Tiffany said at a Monday, March 30 news conference outside the Greendale Historic Hose Tower. "Those that can least afford to do this, it is hitting them hard."

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Tiffany said he wants clean air and water but called the current approach ineffective and inefficient. Wisconsin should set aside the program and allocate the resources toward other measures to improve the environment, he said.

Candidate for governor Tom Tiffany calls to end vehicle emissions testing at a March 30, 2026, press conference outside the Greendale Historic Hose Tower.

Tiffany was joined by state Rep. Bob Donovan, a Republican from Greenfield, and several other GOP state lawmakers who signed a 2025 letter asking Wisconsin's members of Congress to end the emissions testing program.

That letter cited repair costs shouldered by lower-income residents who own older vehicles that are more likely to fail, plus an average failure rate below 1% for vehicle models released in the last 10 years.

"Each of us is willing to do our fair share of what the government asks of us, if it makes sense. Well, this doesn't make sense any longer," Donovan said.

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Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson, asked for his thoughts on ending the emissions testing program, said "we should do everything to protect our environment. We live here, We've got kids and grandkids. We should breathe fresh air."

"At the same time ... our region suffers not because of emissions that happen here, but because of the flow of emissions or other byproduct that comes from Chicago and northwest Indiana," Johnson told a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporter March 29. "I want to have conversations around that."

More: Pollution from Chicago area bumps Milwaukee's air quality down to moderate

Tiffany said if he's elected governor, he'll go to neighboring states like Illinois and Indiana "to try to craft a resolution to this so that people in southeastern Wisconsin are not penalized for something they are not responsible for."

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Emily Stuckey, a spokesperson for the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, said "if Tiffany wants to discuss the issues that raise costs for Wisconsinites, he should focus on his own policies  tariff-taxes that make vehicles, along with just about everything else, more expensive, and voting for the illegal war in Iran that has sent gas prices sky-high."

What is emissions testing, and how does it work in Wisconsin?

In seven counties  Kenosha, Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Racine, Sheboygan, Washington and Waukesha  vehicles must get an emissions test every other year before plates can be renewed, starting three years after the car's model year.

If the vehicle fails, it must be repaired and reinspected. The state operates Technical Assistance Centers to help vehicles reach compliance. In some cases, the centers can issue waivers if they determine no additional repairs would help.

Matt Lepperd, an auto shop owner and village board trustee from Eagle in Waukesha County, said his customers often pay up to $1,500 for a catalytic converter to reach compliance, forgoing other repairs like brakes or tires if their budget runs out.

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"It shouldn't be, 'Do I fix it or buy groceries?' Or, 'Do I fix it or pay my car insurance?'" Lepperd said at the news conference.

Tiffany was against starting a program to help low-income Wisconsinites pay for those repairs, saying he doesn't want to create another subsidy funded by taxpayers and believing it wouldn't solve the root of the problem.

More: You ask, we answer: Why do I still have to get an emissions test in Wisconsin?

The vehicle emissions testing program began in 1984 as part of the state's efforts to comply with the federal Clean Air Act. Despite air quality improvements over the last 20 years, many parts of southeastern Wisconsin still don't reach federal ozone standards, according to a state report.

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State officials previously told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel their goal is to improve air quality by reducing car emissions that turn into smog. Monitors in southeastern Wisconsin have found smog levels fluctuating near or above federal limits.

A report from the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau notes the state could also end the program if it submits a new plan to the EPA outlining steps to reduce emissions from sources other than vehicles.

Wisconsin is among the 29 states that require an emissions test, or "smog check," when registering or renewing a vehicle, according to the Kelley Blue Book. Some states, like Wisconsin, only require inspections in certain regions.

Drivers can get their free emissions test at dozens of private auto shops, which are paid $2 per test conducted, or use two self-service kiosks in Brown Deer and Oak Creek. According to the state, nine out of 10 vehicles pass inspection.

Hope Karnopp can be reached at HKarnopp@usatodayco.com.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Should Wisconsin get rid of car emissions tests? Tom Tiffany says yes
Half Moon Bay officials say a growing homelessness crisis along Pilarcitos Creek has become an environmental threat, prompting the city to consider new enforcement measures while continuing outreach to unhoused residents.

City leaders say most of the community's unhoused population is living along the creek, where debris and discarded items have accumulated. Vice Mayor Deborah Penrose said the impact is visible throughout the corridor, "which is filled with tents, camps and tarps and junk."

City officials say abandoned bicycle parts, plastic bags, food containers, old motors and even larger items such as a tricycle and a shopping cart have been found in the creek. Pilarcitos Creek is considered highly vulnerable and is home to endangered species including the garter snake and steelhead trout. The waterway flows directly into the Pacific Ocean, raising concerns about pollution.

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"Our Pilarcitos Creek empties into the ocean and the waste that goes into it is bad for the ocean, it's bad of the planet," Penrose said.

City Manager Matthew Chidester said the city is trying to balance environmental protection with the needs of people living outdoors. "So we really take a measured approach and our focus is both on the environmental side but also the human side," Chidester said.

Officials estimate 40 to 60 people are living near the creek. Outreach teams visit regularly to offer services, but some individuals decline help. The city says it currently has enough shelter beds at a local hotel for every unhoused person in Half Moon Bay.

MORE: Leaders looking to find safe parking for those living in cars along San Mateo Co. coast

During a recent visit, one person shouted from a distance for ABC7 Eyewitness News to leave. Officials say some residents along the creek struggle with substance abuse or mental health issues.

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One man, Huber Ponce, initially hesitated to speak because he feared the crew was immigration enforcement. Ponce said the city has offered him help and that he previously stayed in a shelter. "Pero me sacaron de ahi. Nos han sacado de ahi, pues," he said. He said he was told to leave the shelter without explanation and said he does not use drugs or alcohol.

City officials say they plan to take steps to prevent people from returning to sensitive areas of the creek. One option is installing fencing along parts of the waterway.

"Something that we've been working on and will move forward with this summer is actually a lot of fencing in the areas along the creek that they don't prevent people from going into the area, but they make it more difficult and allow us easy enforcement going forward," Chidester said.

Officials are also considering an ordinance that could pressure unhoused residents to accept services or face citations. San Mateo County adopted a similar policy two years ago.

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"We guarantee people these beds when we go to these encampments," County Executive Officer Mike Callagy said. "If that doesn't work then we'll send out our team that will actually 'notice' them and they'll get a notice each day for three days and upon the third day they could be cited. We've never had that situation. Most people leave after that first or second notice and we put them in housing or they go elsewhere," he said.

MORE: SF to extend RV parking permits to avoid tows as hundreds still wait for housing

Some residents question whether enforcement is the right approach. "You can't force people into treatment and you can't force them to get help. They have to ask for it," said Half Moon Bay resident Miles Swanton.

Others say county assistance has changed their lives. Jose Reyes, who previously lived on the streets, described moving into shelter and housing. "From sleeping in post office doorways to being woken up at one in the morning with the police telling me you can't sleep here, sleeping in tents to having a room with a shower," Reyes said. "Now I'm standing on my feet and I might have a home soon. I have my dignity back, I have my self respect back."

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City leaders say they will not act on a new ordinance until hearing from the community. Penrose said she believes the measure is likely to pass but warned it will not solve the underlying problem.

"I don't think it's the answer. I don't think anything is the answer except building more housing, making more affordable housing available for everyone," Penrose said.

Half Moon Bay is three years overdue on its statemandated housing plan, making it one of California's worst offenders in meeting required goals. On Wednesday, Gov. Gavin Newsom issued a final warning for the city to comply with state housing laws.

In a statement, city officials said they are working toward full compliance. "The City takes the Governor's comments seriously and is continuing to work toward full compliance with state housing law," the statement said. The city said its Housing Element meets statutory requirements and that staff are completing required rezonings, which involve additional steps because the city is fully within the Coastal Zone.

MORE: Trump's new Medicaid work mandate could leave thousands of homeless Californians uninsured

"We've drafted the needed rezoning updates and are working with HCD to finalize them," the statement said. "We'll continue moving these updates forward to meet state requirements and stay on track to achieve our housing goals."

If you're on the ABC7 News app, click here to watch live
A pair of Hawaiian crows raised in captivity have been prepared for release in Maui to reverse their extinction in the wild after disappearing nearly 30 years ago.

Only about 110 of these native Hawaiian crows remain from five species from five different crow species that once lived there.

The remaining Hawaiian crows, called alala, survive because they have been raised in two conservation breeding centersone on the island of Hawaii and the other in east Maui.

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Partners in the project to save the native crows include the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources forestry and wildlife division, the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, the University of Hawaii and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.

Jet-black and playful, alala are one of only two crows known to make and use tools. After Europeans arrived in the late 18th century, these charismatic birds began a steep decline from habitat destruction, shooting, and invasive species that ramped up in 19th and 20th centuries, notes the Audubon.

These medium-sized crows, measuring from 18 to 20 inches long, are among the worlds rarest birds. Their back feathers arent as shiny as their North American cousins. The Hawaiian crows have black bills and legs, and wings with brown coloring. The feathers on their throats are gray near the base and stiff.

The species is vulnerable to extreme reduction in numbers should a catastrophic event such as a hurricane or fire strike either of the two conservation breeding centers and there is only one small population of alala in the wild that currently is dependent on human care for its continued existence, notes a June 2025 Five-Year Review by the USFWS.

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The last wild Hawaiian crows, listed as a federally endangered species, were seen in 2002 and have been regarded as extirpated from the wild, according to a U.S. Department of Interior notice issued in 2009.

Importance in Hawaiian Culture

Hawaiians held a ceremony in November before the two Hawaiian crows (alala) were taken to a release aviary. Daniel Dennison/State of Hawaii

The Hawaiian culture considers the alala as family guardians (aumakua), whose cry was considered a warning not to enter certain places. Alala are included in the Kumulipo, the Native Hawaiian creation chant that details the emergence of all life forms. This acknowledgement is significant as it demonstrates the familial relationships and connections that Native Hawaiians continue to have with alala, explains the USFWS.

Before the pair of crows (a male and female) were taken to a release aviary in November, Hawaiians gathered for a special ceremony at the Maui Forest Bird Recovery Project (MFBRP), a venture between the USFWS and DLNR.

Kekai Robinson from the Maui County Department of Oiwi Resources led a pule (blessing) that emphasized how the effort brings together culture and aina and reintegrates this species into the community. The emotional event was filled with aloha, gratitude and well wishes. It touched on the projects progress to date and honored the time, dedication and support from partners and the community, announced the DLNR.

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The wildlife advocates have been encouraged by the survival of five crows released in November 2024 and hope the new pair will flourish.

Seeing the first five birds thriving after a full year in the forest and being there with them every day of that journey, has been not only extraordinary, but also gives us hope, said Dr. Hanna Mounce, MFBRP program director. Were optimistic that these two new birds will be welcomed into the group as they begin their own path.

A Hawaiian crow sails past a feeder station in the forest. Daniel Dennison/State of Hawaii

Feeder stations are in the aviary for new birds and in the forest for the crows now living in the wild.

Until the crows can successfully sustain themselves from foraging in the wild, they can eat from perches on the feeder stations. Conservationists refill the wooden boxes, suspended above ground, daily with protein, fruit and vegetables.

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The system does more than keep the birds healthy, it also helps keep the flock anchored to an area where staff can safely and efficiently respond if a bird becomes sick or injured. The feeder stations, equipped with scales and motion-triggered cameras, also allow the team to closely monitor body condition, the DLNR said.

Training the Crows about Predatory Hawks

Hawaiian crow. USFWS, Pacific Islands

Previous releases of the crows were done on Hawaii island from 1993-1998 and also between 2016-2019. These attempts were unsuccessful most of the crows being killed by Hawaiian hawks.

Consequently, changes were made. The Hawaiian crows had been raised by people and needed predator aversion training since they knew nothing about living in the wild amid threats from other species.

The DLNR created a video showing how people train the crows about predators. Some of this instruction consists of trying to mimic the scenario of a hawk attackplaying audio of bird warning calls about predators, using a Hawaiian hawk from a zoo to flap its wings and moving a taxidermy hawk in the air to look like it is flying past.

Optimism for the Future

A Hawaiian crow is being monitored by the state to closely track its survival. Daniel Dennison/State of Hawaii

There is optimism that the Maui releases of the Hawaiian crows will continue and more survive longer.

The fortitude the first five alala have shown thus far, having expanded their flight range and honed their skillsets since captivity, gives momentum and optimism for future progress, DLNR stated.
The head of a large-scale drugs gang and his "trusted lieutenant" have been jailed for dealing cocaine and money laundering, police have said.

Charlie Savage, 27, from Standerwick near Frome, and Shay Girvan, 22, from Station Road, Warminster, were sentenced at Swindon Crown Court on Thursday.

Savage was responsible for distributing 188 kilograms of cocaine, which has an estimated street value of about 18m. He was jailed for 12 years for supplying drugs, while Girvan was jailed for nine years for moving drugs and money around the country.

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Savage's meticulous record-taking resulted in Wiltshire Police arresting 30 suspected couriers, customers and suppliers.

The majority are on bail while the Crown Prosecution Service investigates.

More from Wiltshire

A force spokesperson said Savage headed a large-scale organised drugs gang and was eventually arrested in London when he was found with a rucksack containing more than 65,000 of cash.

Det Con Jared Yalden said Savage was operating at a level above what police would expect for his age, however with "this youth came a degree of naivety".

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"Unfortunately for him and his criminal associates, moving cocaine and cannabis in such significant quantities required detailed record keeping to stay on top of the accounts.

"Girvan was a trusted lieutenant, heavily involved in the movement of large quantities of cocaine, cannabis and cash, and his jail sentence reflects his position within the group and the role he played," Yalden added.

Both are now subject to proceeds of crime orders, as police hope to confiscate Girvan and Savage's assets.

Follow BBC Wiltshire on Facebook, X and Instagram. Send your story ideas to us on email or via WhatsApp on 0800 313 4630.

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Heavy rain that has caused severe flooding and landslides has killed at least 45 people in Afghanistan and Pakistan over the past five days, authorities say.

Afghanistans National Disaster Management Authority (ANDMA) said on Monday that 28 people have been killed in the floods and 49 injured with more than 100 homes destroyed.

Most of the deaths in Afghanistan were reported in central and eastern provinces, including Parwan, Maidan Wardak, Daikundi and Logar, according to ANDMA.

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The authority added in a statement that weather conditions remained unstable in parts of the country and there is a continued risk of more rain and flooding in some areas.

In total, 1,140 families have been affected, ANDMA said.

Police spokesperson Sediqullah Seddiqi told the AFP news agency a 14-year-old boy died after being struck by lightning in the northwestern province of Badghis.

He added that in the same province, three people had drowned while trying to gather driftwood to be used for heating.

At the same time in Pakistans Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which shares a border with Afghanistan, 17 people were killed and 56 wounded, the Provincial Disaster Management Authority said.

A man clears the rubble of his house, which collapsed after heavy rains in Bannu, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, in Pakistan [Ehsan Khattak/Reuters]

Extreme weather

Heavy rainfall has continued to sweep across Afghanistan since Thursday, causing floods and landslides in multiple provinces.

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The weather prompted the closure of several highways, according to officials in central and eastern Afghanistan. Further rains and storms are forecast for Tuesday.

Afghanistans National Disaster Management Authority has warned citizens to refrain from using rivers and flooded streams, and follow the weather forecast seriously.

In the central province of Daikundi, the local disaster management department said a five-year-old was killed when a roof collapsed. A woman was also killed in the same circumstances in the eastern province of Nangarhar, police spokesperson Sayed Tayeb Hamad said.

Afghanistan is vulnerable to extreme weather, particularly heavy rainfall and monsoon seasons, which trigger floods and landslides in remote areas with fragile infrastructure.

In January, flash floods and snowfall caused the deaths of at least 17 people and killed livestock.
The Brief

The chair of the Hernando County Democratic Party was arrested for battery on Saturday, according to the Hernando County Sheriff's Office.

The sheriff's office booked Brian Stewart in the afternoon, and he was released about two hours later.

Florida GOP Chairman Evan Power is calling for the removal of Brian Stewart following his arrest.

BROOKSVILLE, Fla. - Chair and State Committee member of the Hernando County Democratic Party, Brian Stewart, was arrested on Saturday on charges of battery.

The backstory

According to the Hernando County Sheriff's Office, Stewart was booked Saturday afternoon, and released a couple of hours later after posting a $1,000 bond.

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The Republican Party of Florida is calling on Florida Democrat Chair Nikki Fried to "immediately remove" Stewart following his arrest. They allege that Stewart attacked a counter-protester who was a disabled military veteran during a "No Kings" protest on Saturday. The Hernando County Sheriff's Office has not confirmed what happened prior to Stewart's arrest.

READ: Massive brush fire in Hernando County still burning, evacuation order lifted overnight

What they're saying

Florida GOP Chairman Evan Power issued the following statement:

"Violence and political intimidation have no place in our state, and Floridians deserve better than mere silence from Democrat leadership. Nikki Fried must immediately remove Brian Stewart from his position of leadership in the Florida Democrat Party!"

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"The fact that this occurred at a far-left No Kings protest only underscores how dangerous and inflammatory rhetoric from the radical Left continues to spill over into real-world violence. Leadership is measured by action, and the silence from Florida Democrats is deafening."

The Hernando County Sheriffs Office has yet to disclose the circumstances leading to the arrest. Neither the Hernando County Democratic Party nor the Florida Democratic Party have released a statement.

The Source

Information for this story was collected from the Hernando County Sheriff's Office and includes a statement released by the Republican Party of Florida.
A haulier has been jailed for his role in smuggling migrants between the UK and France.

Romanian national Nicusor Lacatus, 53, recruited other HGV drivers willing to move migrants across the border for a UK-based gang, according to the National Crime Agency (NCA).

He was given a six-year prison term at Canterbury Crown Court on Friday after admitting facilitating illegal immigration at an earlier hearing.

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"This case should serve as a warning," said NCA branch commander Saju Sasikumar, adding: "We know crime groups try to recruit HGV drivers... but the penalties for getting involved can be harsh and life-changing."

The agency said it arrested Lacatus in November at an M20 service station in Folkestone, Kent, as he prepared to leave the UK in his van.

One of the drivers he recruited, 40-year-old Romanian national Sebastian Haprian, had been stopped two months earlier in Dover carrying 22 migrants in the back of his lorry.

Sebastian Haprian was handed a three-year prison sentence in December [NCA]

Cash totalling 3,600 was also found and phone evidence showed he had been in contact with Lacatus in the build-up to the incident, according to the NCA.

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Haprian was handed a three-year prison sentence in December after admitting his role in the scheme.

Sasikumar said smugglers operated in both directions across the Channel and often drivers transported migrants into and out of the UK.

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Letter read by The Jerusalem Post invokes Holocaust-era rescue precedent to argue for childrens exception in wartime policy.

A Holocaust survivor and descendants of children rescued from Nazi Germany have urged Israels High Court of Justice to ensure access to life-saving medical care for children in Gaza, according to a copy of the letter read by The Jerusalem Post.

In the letter, sent ahead of a Monday hearing on a petition to reopen a humanitarian medical corridor from Gaza to hospitals in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, the signatories argue that even during war, children must be afforded special protection, a principle they say was established during the rescue of Jewish children from Nazi Europe.

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The Kindertransport (German for "children's transport") was a series of rescue operations that brought children, mostly Jewish, from Nazi Germany to the United Kingdom between 1938 and 1940.

The letter signatories argue that "children's exception to war and extermination" should now be reaffirmed to include emergency life-saving medical care for wounded and critically ill children of nearby Gaza.

Jerusalen, Israel, 04-15-2019: Photographs of missing children victims of the Holocaust perpetrated by the Nazis against the Jews at the Holocaust History Museum (credit: SHUTTERSTOCK)

Signatories emphasize different circumstances but ethical similarity

The Kindertransport, carried out on the eve of World War II, saw approximately 10,000 Jewish children evacuated from Nazi-controlled Europe to Britain. Organized by Jewish groups alongside Christian organizations, the effort remains one of the most significant humanitarian rescue operations of the 20th century.

In their letter, the signatories stress that while the historical circumstances differ, the ethical lesson remains relevant to this day.

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Clearly, the suffering and fate of children living in Gaza and the fate of Jewish children living under the German Reich are not the same, they wrote. That being unequivocally said the childrens exception to war should be reaffirmed.

The group includes one Kindertransport survivor and 17 descendants of those rescued, who note that their own lives were made possible by the willingness of governments and citizens to act in the face of humanitarian crises.

A Palestinian woman helps a burn victim, Maria Abu Aawad, at a Doctors Without Borders (MSF) hospital, amid severe shortages of medical equipment, medicines and essential materials needed for burn treatment, in Zawaida, in the central Gaza Strip, January 26, 2026. (credit: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa)

Petition seeks to restore mechanisms to allow Gazans to receive treatment outside the Strip

The appeal comes amid a broader legal challenge filed by five human rights organizations seeking to restore medical transfer mechanisms that had allowed Gazan patients to receive treatment outside the Strip for years.

According to the petition cited in the letter, the corridor has effectively been shut since the outbreak of war, leaving many critically ill children without access to adequate care.

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The petition was filed by Physicians for Human Rights, Gisha, HaMoked: Center for the Defence of the Individual, Adalah, and the Association for Civil Rights in Israel.

Letter notes significance of decision to Israel's future

The letter frames the courts upcoming ruling as one that will extend beyond the immediate legal question.

The Courts decision will not only adjudicate existing facts but also help to formulate by example humanitys shared future, the signatories wrote.

They further warn that current policies may sustain the continued suffering of a substantial number of children within Gaza, including the likely death of some children, while an alternative approach prioritizing medical access could alleviate suffering and save lives.

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The letter continues, The Kindertransport is not only about the past. We know from our own lives that it is also about the future.

For years prior to the war, thousands of Gazans were granted permits to receive care in Israeli, West Bank, and east Jerusalem hospitals. According to data referenced in the petition, that system has been largely halted, with only a very limited number of patients currently able to leave.




The TSA lines that wrapped across three floors of George Bush Intercontinental Airport last week thinned over the weekend and shrunk to 10 minutes Monday afternoon, according to the Houston Airport System.

Only Terminal A and Terminal C checkpoints were open at Bush Airport, with no CLEAR or PreCheck, but the lines were far cry from the more than 4-hour wait travelers faced there last week. Hundreds of TSA agents have either quit or called out of work over the last month during the partial government shutdown, which halted funding for the Department of Homeland Security.

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President Donald Trump signed an executive order Friday to pay TSA workers, and most received backpay covering two pay periods on Monday, DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Lauren Bis said. Federal officials were working to finish processing an additional half paycheck for an earlier pay period "as soon as possible," she said.

Some paychecks may be delayed due to processing times, direct deposit issues and other reasons, Bis added.

"TSA officers are grateful to President Trump and Secretary Mullin for their leadership to put money back into the pockets of TSA employees who worked without pay during the ongoing Democrat DHS shutdown," Bis said in a statement, referencing newly appointed DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin. "Working without pay forced more than 500 officers to leave TSA and thousands were forced to call out."

Hobby Airport faced similar hours-long delays earlier this month, but the problem dissipated after airport officials requested national deployment officers to assist there. TSA waits have mostly remained around 10 minutes or less at Hobby Airport since.

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TSA agents in Houston have called out of work at one of the highest rates in the country during the partial government shutdown, but travelers at the city's two airports have had vastly different experiences recently. Bush Airport has grappled with some of the longest lines in the U.S. despite Hobby's smooth operations.

On Saturday, more than 38% of TSA agents at Bush Airport and nearly 37% of those at Hobby Airport called out of work, according to the DHS. ICE officers started checking travelers' IDs after arriving at airports in Houston and elsewhere in the country last week.

"We are grateful to President Trump for taking action to help fund and pay TSA employees after more than 40 days without a paycheck," the DHS wrote in an email to the Chronicle on Sunday. "During this time, over 500 officers have quit, and thousands more have been forced to call out because they can't afford basic necessities like gas, childcare, food or rent."

Houston airport officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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White House border czar Tom Homan said ICE would stay in airports until those sites seem "100%" in an interview on CBS News' Face The Nation on Sunday.

In a statement issued Monday, the American Federation of Government Employees - the union that represents TSA workers - called on Congress to restore its funding for DHS.

"AFGE TSA members are grateful to receive some backpay today," AFGE President Hydrick Thomas said in the statement. "But many of our members have seen bills pile up, interest and late fees add up, cars repossessed, and families thrown into disarray because Congress has failed to do their jobs."

This post may be updated.

This article originally published at IAH security lines shrink to 10 minutes as TSA workers get paid and DHS shutdown continues.
An Air China passenger plane from Beijing arrives at Sunan International Airport in Pyongyang, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), March 30, 2026. An Air China passenger plane from Beijing arrived in Pyongyang Monday morning, marking the formal resumption of the Chinese carrier's passenger flight operations between the capitals of China and the DPRK. (Xinhua/Wang Chao)

PYONGYANG, March 30 (Xinhua) -- An Air China passenger plane from Beijing arrived in Pyongyang Monday morning, marking the formal resumption of the Chinese carrier's passenger flight operations between the capitals of China and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

Chinese Ambassador to the DPRK Wang Yajun, along with some other Chinese diplomats, greeted the passengers from the flight at Sunan International Airport in Pyongyang.

Calling the resumption of the flight "an important event" in bilateral air transportation cooperation, Wang told the travelers upon their arrival that the renewed air service will function as a bridge in further facilitating friendly exchanges and people-to-people connectivity between China and the DPRK, and help promote personnel movement, economic and trade cooperation, as well as cultural and people-to-people exchanges between the two countries.

The Chinese ambassador said that "the road, rail and air links between the two countries have all been resumed thus far."

Describing the Air China flight as "a smooth and comfortable journey and a perfect experience," one traveler beamed with a sense of honor for being on the special flight, expressing confidence that the resumed flight will provide more travel options and convenience for people from China and the DPRK, and do its due part in promoting the development of the bilateral ties. 

Wang Yajun (3rd L, upper), Chinese Ambassador to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), talks with other travelers on a shuttle bus at Sunan International Airport in Pyongyang, DPRK, March 30, 2026. An Air China passenger plane from Beijing arrived in Pyongyang Monday morning, marking the formal resumption of the Chinese carrier's passenger flight operations between the capitals of China and the DPRK. (Xinhua/Wang Chao)
A masked immigration agent followed procedures and carefully smashed out a car window in order to arrest an undocumented immigrant outside a New Jersey courthouse last week, an agency spokesperson said Monday.

Video of the incident outside the Cumberland County Courthouse in Bridgeton showed a masked U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent using a baton to bust out a window before removing Edgar R. Gomez-Ramirez from his lawyers vehicle on Thursday.

Gomez-Ramirez, 41, of Vineland, had just left the courthouse and was with his wife when ICE agents descended on the car and ordered him to exit, according to his wife, Deborah Gomez, and their attorney.

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Deborah Gomez livestreamed the encounter on Facebook and can be heard screaming No! Stop it! Stop! and demanding to see a warrant.

The ICE agent did nothing wrong when the car window was smashed, an ICE spokesperson said in a statement issued Monday.

On March 26, 2026, ICE officers observed Gomez entering a vehicle and subsequently conducted a lawful stop. Despite clearly identifying themselves as federal law enforcement officers and wearing appropriate law enforcement identifiers, the driver and passengers refused to comply with repeated lawful commands instructing Gomez to exit the vehicle, the spokesperson said in a statement.

The occupants were told that continued refusal to comply could necessitate breaking the vehicle windows to ensure officer safety, ICE said.

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ICE officers, prioritizing safety and following established protocols, carefully broke the rear passenger side window to safely access and remove Gomez from the vehicle, the spokesperson said. Officers followed their training and used the minimum amount of force necessary to effect the arrest. Resistance to lawful federal enforcement is not protected conduct, it is a deliberate decision that escalates risk to officers, the public, and all individuals involved.

Gomez-Ramirez is undocumented and illegally entered the United States multiple times, the ICE spokesperson said.

Gomez-Ramirez has entered the United States illegally three times and given the opportunity to return voluntarily twice, according to the statement.

He also has pending charges of assault by auto, the ICE statement said.

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Gomez-Ramirez was in court Thursday for a DWI crash case in which he is charged with fourth-degree assault by auto, according to court records.

He had just left that hearing when he was detained.

Gomez-Ramirez is being held in the Delaney Hall immigration detention facility in Newark and will receive due process in immigration court, according to ICE.

While Deborah Gomez is a U.S. citizen, her husband of nearly 10 years is undocumented, she said last week. Hes been in the country for 25 years and they have been trying for years to get him documented, she said.

She denied the claim in the ICE statement that Gomez-Ramirez has entered the country illegally three times. He has been living in the United States since arriving 25 years ago, she said.

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He never left and came back, she said.

If he had repeatedly entered the country, that would have derailed his ongoing work to get legal status in the United States, she said.

His lawyer, Stephen Guice, called Thursdays incident stunning and highly problematic. The attorney was stopped at a traffic light when the agents approached his vehicle yelling and screaming.

I asked for a warrant. They didnt show me a warrant. And then they proceeded to smash in my back window where Edgar was sitting and dented my whole door, the lawyer said. It was very stunning to me. I have a problem with it because I dont think in a democracy such as ours that rogue agents should be doing this kind of action.

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ICE activity in Bridgeton has increased in recent months, leaving the local immigrant community fearful, according to immigrant advocates. They say agents have targeted the city of 27,000, where about a quarter of the population are immigrants. Bridgetons population is nearly 60% Latino.

Candlelight Compassion Gathering in Bridgeton, Feb. 6, 2026

The arrests are part of a nationwide crackdown on undocumented immigrants launched last year by the Trump administration, which said it was targeting the worst offenders.

Immigrant advocates say agents are often targeting people with no criminal records.

Last week, Deborah Gomez questioned the motives behind her husbands arrest. She believes immigration agents targeted her family because of her previous work as a rapid response volunteer who monitored ICE agents and posted videos about their activities in the Cumberland County area.

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Gomez-Ramirez is a productive member of his community who has made a life for himself in New Jersey, his lawyer said.

Edgar had a good job, a very good job. And he could speak English, and hes been here for years, and he paid taxes, and he didnt have a criminal record, Guice said. Thats what gets me. Theyre not just picking up criminals. Theyre picking up whoever. I dont know why they were so intent on getting him, but they were very intent, for sure.

New Jersey leaders have sought to rein in ICEs activities by blocking the creation of immigration detention centers in the state, creating a database where residents can share videos of ICE operations and by regulating how agents conduct themselves.

New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill signed legislation last week barring ICE agents from wearing masks during interactions with the public in the state. ICE officials criticized the new law and said the agency would not comply.

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Some of the ICE agents who detained Gomez-Ramirez on Thursday were wearing masks, according to the video of the incident.

ICE officials said they will continue carrying out the agencys duties, even when they meet resistance.

ICE will continue to enforce federal law, and when compliance is refused, ICE officers will take the necessary and lawful actions in accordance with established policy to ensure the safety of all involved, the spokesperson said.

Read the original article on NJ.com. Add NJ.com as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Kentucky House Republicans asked Justice Pamela Goodwine to recuse herself from reviewing an impeachment petition contested before the states Supreme Court, while attorneys for the judge at the center of the case are arguing Goodwine should stay on the panel.

Goodwine, who also faced an impeachment petition this year, recused herself from the suit brought by Fayette Circuit Judge Julie Goodman. The House forwarded articles of impeachment against Goodman to the Senate, which will hold an impeachment trial in the weeks to come.

Fayette Circuit Julie Goodman (Kentucky Court of Justice photo)

Goodman attempted to get the Franklin Circuit Court to intervene in her case, but Judge Phillip Shepherd denied her motion. She then appealed to the states high court on grounds that the legislature is violating the state Constitution.

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The general counsel for the House Republican caucus, Eric Lycan, filed a request last week for Goodwine to recuse herself from hearing Goodmans appeal. He argued that the Supreme Courts decision could impact the impeachment proceeding against Justice Goodwine, which, he wrote, remains pending.

The House last week appeared to drop the impeachment actions against Goodwine and a Fayette County school board member. The chair of the House Impeachment Committee, House Republican Whip Jason Nemes, told the Lexington Herald-Leader that the committee would not meet during the remainder of the legislative session to consider pending petitions. A House GOP spokesperson confirmed that to the Lantern.

Before Lycans motion, Goodwine had disclosed to the court that she faced an impeachment petition but does not believe the foregoing forms a basis for her disqualification in the within-styled action, nor would she be influenced whatsoever by the facts within this Disclosure. However, she later granted Lycans motion out of an abundance of caution to avoid any appearance of impropriety as required by the Judicial Canons.

One of Goodmans attorneys, Mitchel Denham, argued in a filing over the weekend that the petition against Goodwine was completely unrelated to the petition against Goodman, as that petition involves six cases, none of which Goodwine is a party in.

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Denham also pointed to Nemes public comments about the work of the committee being finished this year.

These comments are consistent with the action (or inaction) of the Committee. The last action of the Committee regarding the petition of Justice Goodwine was on February 26, 2026 when it publicly posted her Response submitted February 18, 2026, Denham wrote. They have taken no action since, and from the public comments of Respondent Chair Nemes, they will not before they adjourn sine die.

An impeachment proceeding is a rare occurrence in the Kentucky Senate. The chamber held its last impeachment trial in 2023 and unanimously convicted former prosecutor Ronnie Goldy who asked a defendant for nude images in exchange for prosecutorial favors. Goldy was later convicted on federal fraud and bribery charges and sentenced to 41 months. Before that, the Senate last held an impeachment trial in 1888 against former state Treasurer Honest Dick Tate, who was tried for stealing nearly $200,000 in state funds.

The proceedings against Goodman have drawn some criticism from the legal community. The Kentucky Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (KACDL) filed a brief in Goodmans case, saying that before the Judicial Article was adopted in 1976, the states Constitution said governors could remove judges upon address of the Senate and House of Representatives showing reasonable cause.

Majority Whip Rep. Jason Nemes, R-Middletown, testifying in front of the House Health Services Committee. March 5, 2026. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Sarah Ladd)

The Judicial Article moved that power to the Judicial Conduct Commission. Goodmans attorneys previously wrote that the commission had never found her in violation of the judicial code.

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The present impeachment effort is a serious, if unintended, attack on the independence of the Court of Justice, KACDLs brief said. Attorneys must now wonder if judges will be able to rule fairly on suppression motions or take other justified actions favorable to the defense if judges have to look over their shoulder to see if an impeachment is in their future.

The Lexington Herald-Leader reported that almost 70 Kentucky attorneys signed a letter pushing back at the impeachment hearings against Goodman.

However, some family members of victims that disagreed with Goodmans sentences have spoken out in support of removing Goodman. The widower of Tammy Botkin, a woman who died in a 2020 hit-and-run in Lexington gave brief testimony during the House committees public hearing on Goodmans petition. He said that he and other family members were shocked when Goodman dismissed charges in the case and an appeals court later reinstated them.

The impeachment petition against Goodman was filed by former Republican state Rep. Killian Timoney, who is seeking reelection to the seat. Some of the cases at the center of his petition are still pending in courts.
BELGRADE, Serbia (AP)  International observers at a local election in European Union candidate Serbia said Monday they had witnessed violence and irregularities during the vote.

Yesterday, the delegation observed procedures inside polling stations often largely in line with provisions but was alarmed by the situation outside the premises, the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe said in a statement.

Congress observers witnessed acts of violence ... and in all but one of the municipalities visited, saw heated arguments and the threatening presence of large groups of people, often unidentified and sometimes masked, they added.

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The vote in Serbia on Sunday was held in 10 towns throughout the country. It was seen as a test for autocratic President Aleksandar Vucic following more than a year of youth-led street protests that shook his tight grip on power.

Vucic has declared victory for his right-wing populist Serbian Progressive Party in all 10 municipalities. The Serbian president has led the campaign himself, as he sought to reaffirm his rule after the protests that first started in November 2024, triggered by a train station tragedy in the countrys north.

Violent incidents erupted in at least three towns on Sunday. Student activists and some observers said they were attacked by Vucic's supporters, some of whom were masked. The president and his party accused the other side of stirring incidents.

Violence and coercion are unacceptable barriers to the free expression of the will of all voters, the Congress monitors said. No voter should feel threatened when exercising his or her democratic right.

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In addition, the statement said, a number of irregularities, related to breaches of voting secrecy and voters taking photos of their ballot papers, was also highly worrying. The preelection campaign, the group said, was highly polarized and focused on national priorities and actors.

Vucic has faced accusations of curbing democratic freedoms in Serbia since he came to power more than a decade ago. Though he is formally seeking EU entry for the country, the process has been stalled as he maintained also ties with Russia and China.

Both presidential and parliamentary elections are expected in Serbia late this year or next year. Support for Vucic is believed to have eroded though mass protests have subsided in recent months.

Serbian independent monitors also reported scores of violent incidents and clashes in some of the towns, and voting irregularities during Sunday's election. Videos from the scene showed clashes and even a man with a gun in one town.

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The independent Center for Research, Transparency and Accountability said that this can hardly be called an election.

The group alleged violations of voting secrecy and organized voting, along with repeated scuffles that included employees of state institutions. Several people were injured and police in riot gear deployed in some towns.

The whole atmosphere was marked with high intensity of tensions, violence, pressures, Jovana Djurbabic, from CRTA, told The Associated Press. "I would not call these elections free, they are not free at all."

Vucic has also alleged logistical support to his opponents during the election from a neighboring country. He has in the past repeatedly accused Croatia of supporting the student-led movement that led protests against his rule.

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Croatian President Zoran Milanovic said Monday he was canceling an annual regional meeting planned in May because it was impossible to host Vucic in the country following his recent comments.

Vucic's political statements and actions ... inflict damage on relations between the states and jeopardize peace and stability in southeastern Europe, the statement from Milanovic's office said.

Relations between Croatia and Serbia have been strained since Belgrade backed in 1991-95 a Croatian Serb rebellion against the country's independence from the Serb-led former Yugoslavia. More than 10,000 people died in the war.
Italys not having a great time of late when it comes to protecting treasured goods...

After the museum heist that saw millions worth of artwork nabbed comes another daring heist that happened over the weekend.

Twelve tonnes of KitKat bars were stolen in a high-stakes chocolate heist, with confectionery giant Nestle confirming the robbery on Sunday.

In an official statement, the company explained that precisely 413,793 chocolate bars were stolen while in transit between a factory in central Italy and end destination in Poland.

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"We've always encouraged people to have a break with KitKat," a spokesperson for the brand said, referring to its catchphrase. "But it seems thieves have taken the message too literally and made a break with more than 12 tonnes of our chocolate."

Whilst we appreciate the criminals exceptional taste, the fact remains that cargo theft is an escalating issue for businesses of all sizes. With more sophisticated schemes being deployed on a regular basis, we have chosen to go public with our own experience in the hope that it raises awareness of an increasingly common criminal trend.

"We are working closely with local authorities and supply chain partners to investigate," read the official statement, adding: "The good news: there are no concerns for consumer safety, and supply is not affected."

Predictably, the news of the heist has sparked interest online  with many making pop culture references that range from Scarface to Breaking Bad, via a lot of "Charlie And The Chocolate Factory" references.

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Check out some of the funniest reactions to the sweet heist:

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Nestle warned that the missing chocolate bars "could enter unofficial sales channels across European markets". Company officials said that if this occurs, law enforcement can trace stolen products through batch codes assigned to individual bars.
Hezbollah has denounced the decision, while Berris Amal party joined Hezbollah ministers in boycotting a cabinet session this week.

As Israel expands its ground operation and carries out airstrikes against Hezbollah in Lebanon, Iran is betting it can maintain its grip on the country.

Lebanon is now seeking to expel Irans ambassador. Over the years, Tehrans envoy has been accused of meddling in Lebanese politics by backing Hezbollah and helping the group entrench its control over parts of the country. Iran effectively treats Lebanon as a colony.

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According to AFP, Irans ambassador will not leave Lebanon despite being declared persona non grata and ordered to leave the country by Sunday, an Iranian diplomatic source said. The ambassador will not leave Lebanon, in accordance with the wishes of the speaker of parliament Nabih Berri and of Hezbollah, the source added. Berri, one of Lebanons longest-serving politicians, is a key Shiite leader of the Amal movement, which is allied with Hezbollah.

Hezbollah has denounced the decision, while Berris Amal party joined Hezbollah ministers in boycotting a cabinet session this week in protest at the order to expel Mohammad Reza Sheibani, AFP reported.

Sheibani, who was previously involved in Syrian affairs until the fall of the Assad regime, was appointed Irans ambassador to Lebanon in January 2026. He earlier served as Tehrans top envoy to Beirut from 2005 to 2009, a period marked by Hezbollahs growing influence, including the 2006 war with Israel and its takeover of parts of Beirut during street clashes in 2008.

A Hezbollah flag waves among a destroyed building following an Israeli airstrike during a media tour in Baalbek, Lebanon, on March 23, 2026. (credit: Jonathan Labusch / Middle East Images / AFP via Getty Images)

Lebanon accuses Iranian ambassador of interfering in its internal affairs

According to Lebanons foreign ministry, the Iranian ambassador is expected to leave. He was expelled last week. The ministry accused him of making statements interfering in Lebanons internal politics. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot has praised the Lebanese decision. The Lebanese authorities have banned Hezbollahs military and security activities. It is the only armed non-state group in the country and a close ally of Iran. It has also banned the presence and operations of Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) whom Prime Minister Nawaf Salam accused of directing Hezbollah operations against Israel, AFP noted in an article published at Asharq al-Awsat.

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It is worth noting that Irans last ambassador to Lebanon, Mojtaba Amani was wounded in a pager explosion in 2024. That operation also wounded thousands of Hezbollah operatives during Israels escalation of strikes on the group in September 2024. That was with Hezbollah, showing how deeply embedded Iran is with Hezbollah. This is a widely known fact, but the ambassador's Hezbollah pager illustrated the reality.

Irans decision not to allow Lebanon to expel its ambassador illustrates how the country views Lebanon as a kind of satrapy or colony. As such, the ambassador to the country is more than a diplomat. He serves as an Iranian viceroy or high commissioner in a colonial sense, helping to run Irans regional empire. This is how Iran has viewed Lebanon, Iraq, and some other countries. It has done this in Lebanon since the 1980s, backing Hezbollah and making sure that Hezbollah is entangled with the system in Lebanon. For instance, Hezbollah was able to create its own communications network in Lebanon and was widely believed to have a role at the airport and border crossings over the years. Hezbollah intervened in the Syrian civil war beginning in 2012, dragging Lebanon into that conflict.

This is now a test for Lebanon. Israel is expanding its ground operation, moving to take control of areas south of the Litani. Jerusalem hints it may remain in southern Lebanon for the long term. More than a million people are displaced. Israel has bombed the bridges over the Litani, saying this means Hezbollah cant use them. It also means residents cant return to the south. Israels defense minister has spoken about applying the Gaza doctrine to Lebanon, as in Beit Hanoun and Rafah, which would mean razing areas in southern Lebanon near the border.

The IDF said on March 30 that During a targeted operation against Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure in southern Lebanon, the troops located a weapons cache and destroyed five advanced anti-tank missiles that were intended for launch toward Israeli territory. In addition, the troops located weapons caches inside underground compounds. The weapons were dismantled immediately after their discovery by the troops. In addition, the IDF said that Sergeant Liran Ben Zion, aged 19, from Holon, a soldier of the 9th battalion, 401st Brigade, fell during combat in southern Lebanon. In another an armored corps officer was severely injured. In addition the IDF said that two IDF soldiers were severely injured as a result of an anti-tank missile fired toward them in southern Lebanon. Also, an IDF soldier was severely injured, and two IDF soldiers were moderately injured as a result of a UAV that fell adjacent to them in southern Lebanon. This shows Hezbollah is still a threat.
BEIRUT, March 30 (Reuters) - Iran said on Monday its ambassador to Lebanon would remain in his post in Beirut, defying the Lebanese Foreign Ministry, which has declared him persona non grata and told him to leave.

With war raging in Lebanon between Hezbollah and Israel, the Iranian envoy's status has emerged as a focal point of tension between the Iran-backed group and the Lebanese government, which has been heavily critical of Hezbollah for entering the regional war in support of Tehran and called for talks with Israel.

The Lebanese Foreign Ministry last week said it had decided to withdraw accreditation for the ambassador-designate, Mohammad Reza Shibani, and asked him to leave by March 29. The ministry said at the time that Shibani had violated diplomatic convention by making statements about Lebanese internal politics.

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Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, a powerful Shi'ite Muslim politician and Hezbollah ally, opposed the Foreign Ministry's decision and has asked Shibani to remain, sources familiar with Berri's position said.

ISRAEL SAYS IRAN 'MOCKING' LEBANON

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei, speaking at a news conference, said Shibani would stay in Beirut.

"Considering the discussions raised by the relevant Lebanese parties and the conclusions reached, the Iranian ambassador will continue his work as ambassador in Beirut and is still present there," Baghaei said.

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The Lebanese Foreign Ministry has issued no statement on the matter since the deadline passed, and didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

Lebanon was sucked into the war in the Middle East on March 2, when the Shi'ite Muslim group Hezbollah opened fire in support of Iran, igniting an Israeli offensive that has killed more than 1,200 people in Lebanon and displaced over 1 million.

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, whose administration had been seeking to peacefully disarm Hezbollah, said its decision to attack Israel had shown disregard for the majority of Lebanese, and banned its military wing.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, who praised Lebanon's decision last week, noted on Monday that the deadline had expired and said the Iranian ambassador "is sipping his coffee in Beirut, mocking the host 'country'".

"Lebanon is a virtual state that is, in practice, occupied by Iran," Saar wrote on X.

(Reporting by Laila Bassam and Maya Gebeily; Writing by Tom Perry; Editing by Gareth Jones)
Investing.com -- Iran is pushing the Houthis to prepare for a renewed campaign against Red Sea shipping if the US escalates its military actions against Iran, according to European officials familiar with the matter, Bloomberg News reported Monday.

Leaders of the Yemen-based Houthis, a militant group backed by Iran, are weighing options for more aggressive action after launching ballistic missiles at Israel, the people said, asking not to be named discussing sensitive matters.

There are divisions within the Houthis leadership about how aggressive to be, which partly explains why the group only entered the conflict a month into it, the people said.

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In an announcement Saturday, the Houthis said they would continue military operations until US-Israeli attacks on Iran and its proxy groups, including Hezbollah in Lebanon, cease. The group did not specifically say they would target tankers or other vessels transiting the Red Sea.

US and Saudi Arabian officials have told European allies they believe the group wants to avoid further escalation and attacks on American and Saudi assets for now, the people said.

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When the U.S.-Israel war with Iran began a month ago, the tragic potential reverberations of past conflicts echoed quickly for Virginia state Del. Dan Helmer, who deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan and is now running for Congress as a Democrat.

In 2002, a president lied to the American people and sent my friends to die in a war of choice, he told POLITICO in an interview, noting that next month marks the 22nd anniversary of his first friends death in combat. And once again, President [Donald] Trump has circumvented the democratic process to launch a war of choice without strategic insight in Iran.  The consequences of reckless military intervention are pretty clear. And the challenges in enacting regime change to get a predictable outcome have defined my experience in the military.

Michael Bouchard sees things differently. The Michigan Republican House candidate and Bronze Star recipient served in the Army and National Guard, including a counter-ISIS deployment in Iraq for most of 2025  which encompassed the last Israel-Iran war. Bouchard thinks the current conflict is a necessary, limited mission against a regional menace that has endangered and targeted U.S. service members for decades.

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Ive seen peace through strength save my friends lives, and thats what this is, he said. No one wants to go to war less than somebody whos been to it. But we cant just put our heads in the sand and hope things dont happen.

Dozens of military veterans running for Congress across the country, both Democrats and Republicans, have now adapted their campaign messaging to befit a nation at war. In a rapidly changing landscape  with ceasefire talks, military escalation and global energy crisis all on the table on any given day  candidates from each party have starkly opposed perspectives on the conflict. But for many of them, the costs and the imperatives of war feel deeply personal.

New York Assemblymember Robert Smullen, who spent 24 years in the Marine Corps and is campaigning in an Upstate GOP House primary, has done multiple Strait of Hormuz transits and studied the enrichment process as a White House fellow at the Energy Department. Montana Democrat Matt Rains, who flew Black Hawks in South Korea and Iraq, is also a rancher watching crucial diesel costs rise. Zach Dembo, a former Navy JAG officer running as a Democrat in Kentucky, has been on two of the aircraft carriers now deployed to the Middle East.

All of that intimate knowledge leads them to some pretty different conclusions.

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What they agree on: More than half a dozen Democratic and Republican veteran candidates who spoke with POLITICO said they oppose the autocratic Iranian government and wouldnt be sorry to see it go.

Beyond that  and respect for the troops  theres little consensus across the partisan divide.

Democrats are fuming that Trump didnt make the case for war and get buy-in from the American public, Congress and foreign allies. They argue that the U.S. approach has lacked clear plans and strategic goals. And they deeply fear that what they see as Trumps recklessness will lead to another forever war, needlessly sacrificing soldiers lives without achieving any big-picture goals.

I dont see an endgame here, and it makes me really worried, Dembo said.

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This idea that you can just briefly drop bombs on a nation  and theyll just like raise the white flag and beg for us to come put a new government in there, I mean, is asinine, Rains said.

Many Democrats also see the war as a costly distraction from Americans economic struggles. The amount of money we are spending on this war and on this conflict right now, when we have so many issues here at home that are not being addressed  thats where the real disconnect is, said Jessica Killin, an Army veteran running in Colorado.

GOP veterans say they oppose endless wars, too. But thats not how they see this one. Hewing closely to Trumps messaging, Republicans told POLITICO that Iran has been the real belligerent for 47 years. They agree with their Democratic counterparts that the U.S. needs to have a clear plan and not let the conflict drag out for too long  but they have much greater trust in Trump to achieve those goals, principally stopping Iran from getting a nuclear weapon.

I understand veterans issues. I understand the cost of what theyve given, their families have given, said Oregon Republican Monique DeSpain, an Air Force veteran and JAG whos worked with veterans for 30 years. Thats why I feel strongly [about] swift removal of any threats to our country  Congress needs to understand national security: The cost of delay and inaction is irreversible.

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It remains to be seen how voters during wartime will receive these and other veterans running for Congress, many of them in crowded primaries or swing districts. Those who spoke with POLITICO said they think theyre uniquely positioned to speak with authority: Democrats pitching their national security expertise to lay bare the wars flaws, and Republicans reassuring skittish voters about why the U.S. strikes can succeed and bolster American security.

Ive been in their shoes, and I actually know what theyre doing and what theyre facing, because I dealt with the same thing after September 11th, Smullen said of the troops currently being deployed. Its a mission that needs to be done. Its about time that we did it.

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After more than six weeks with no pay, TSA workers started to see paychecks hit their bank accounts on Monday, thanks to an executive order President Donald Trump signed on Friday.

The order directs Department of Homeland Security officials to redirect funds in order to pay TSA employees.

However, tens of thousands of other DHS staffers will continue to go without pay until Congress can pass longer-term funding. This includes employees at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and Federal Emergency Management Agency.

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The DHS funding drought started on Feb. 13, when its short-term continuing resolution money ran out. This payment freeze follows a six-week payment drought from last October, during the 43-day federal government shutdown.

So far, Democrats in Congress have been unwilling to pass funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol, unless the funding bill includes several policy changes. Specifically, theyre asking for the following:

Requiring agents to receive judicial warrants before they enter private property or homes.

Requiring agents to display visible identification, including names and badge numbers.

Banning masks for ICE and Border Patrol agents.

Restricting roving patrols and stop-and-search tactics.

Strengthening limits on when and where ICE can make arrests.

Republicans say theyve made a concessions, including ensuring agents wear body cameras, but several other Democratic requests are nonstarters.

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In an interview with ABC News on Sunday, Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., explained what Democrats have gotten out of the shutdown. We made clear that were going to demand reforms of a lawless ICE operation, he said.

ABC reporter Jonathan Karl responded, I guess whats confusing here is you have fought and blocked funding for the Department of Homeland Security, because you object to what ICE is doing and you want to force changes. And yet, the only thing that has been assured throughout all of this is that ICE already has the money.

Trumps One Big Beautiful Bill Act of last July allocated $75 billion for ICE over four years, allocating $45 billion for new detention spaces and $30 billion to hire 10,000 ICE employees. Consequently, some employees in the agency have continued receiving pay amid the shutdown.

How significant is the DHS shutdown?

TSA employees make up about 20% of the departments 260,000 employees nationwide, and 95% are deemed essential workers. By late March, about 50,000 TSA officers had been unpaid for more than 40 days.

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Officer absentee rates climbed above 12% nationally at some points, with the number surpassing 36% at George Bush International Airport in Houston, Texas. Consequently, heightened wait times have accompanied staffing shortages.

More than 500 TSA officers have quit during the latest DHS shutdown.

However, a DHS media relations official, Lauren Bis, told USA Today on Monday that TSA workers financial burdens should begin easing soon. Most TSA employees received a retroactive paycheck today that included at least two full paychecks covering pay periods 4 and 5 today.

Some employees may see a slight delay due to a variety of reasons, including financial institution processing times or issues with their direct deposit, Bis said. But the department is working aggressively with USDAs National Finance Center to complete processing for the half paycheck they are owed from pay period 3 as soon as possible.

Who is still going without pay in the DHS?

Tens of thousands of non-TSA DHS staffers are continuing to go unpaid.

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Civilians in the U.S. Coast Guard, tasked with recruiting, maintenance and non-emergency operations, will continue to work unpaid. Their active-duty Coast Guard counterparts have been and will continue to be paid during the shutdown.

Other employees in FEMA, which also falls under DHS, along with essential employees in the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, will continue working without pay.

Similarly, civilian employees in sworn law enforcement positions, including CBP and the U.S. Secret Service have been and will likely continue working unpaid through the shutdown.

A Salt Lake City AFGE regional vice president, Tanja Fowler, released a statement to KSL on Friday on behalf of her union.

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It is outrageous that politicians should continue to receive their salaries while failing to fulfill their responsibilities to the citizens who elected them, she wrote. Our federal employees deserve far better than to be treated as political pawns. They are human beings with families, bills and responsibilities, contributing significantly to our economy and national security.

Fowler also thanked Trump for stepping in to ensure that TSA employees are compensated and that our nation remains secure.

Legislation has stalled in Congress ahead of a two-week recess. Long-term funding still needs to be passed by lawmakers, who dont plan to be back in D.C. until April 14.
March 30 (UPI) -- Israel's parliament on Monday passed legislation legalizing the death penalty as a punishment for Palestinians convicted of terror attacks.

Critics of the law said the bill was worded in such a way that it would be used disproportionately against Palestinians.

Palestinians convicted under the law would have no path for appeals or clemency, while those in Israel would be able to have their sentences commuted, The Guardian reported. Executions would be carried out within 90 days of a sentence being issued.

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The death penalty was previously legal in Israel in cases of genocide, but rarely used. The last execution to take place there was that of Nazi leader Adolf Eichmann in 1962.

European leaders on Sunday issued statements of "deep concern" over the possibility of the Knesset passing the legislation.

"We are are particularly worried about the de facto discriminatory character of the bill," the foreign ministers of Britain, Germany, France and Italy said. "The adoption of this bill would risk undermining Israel's commitments with regards to democratic principals."

The death penalty -- by way of hanging -- would be the default punishment in cases of deadly attacks as well as possibility for killings seeking to "negate the existence of the state of Israel," The New York Times reported.
As the core driving force of a new wave of technological revolution and industrial transformation, artificial intelligence is profoundly changing production and lifestyles and reshaping industry competition. In recent years, Anhui has actively seized the AI + everything opportunity, issued multiple action plans for the AI field, upgraded and implemented the General AI Policies 2.0, and pushed to take a leading role in the countrys new round of AI development. In 2025, Anhui ranked fifth nationwide in AI industry development, behind only Beijing, Shanghai, Guangdong and Zhejiang. Strengthening Foundational Capabilities and Intensifying Technical Research When a tea tree gets sick, we used to call an expert. Now you just snap a photo, upload it to the large model, and it immediately identifies the disease and even prescribes a remedy! This Tea AI Brain, led by Professor Wan Xiaochun, director of the National Key Laboratory for Tea Germplasm Innovation and Resource Utilization, is called the Luyu Tea Industry Large Model and possesses fully independent intellectual property rights. Wan told reporters that the model includes over 40,000 tearelated publications and more than 50,000 gene entries, with text data exceeding 10 million characters and parameter scale reaching the hundreds of billions. It links selfbuilt tea genome, tea compound, and tea chemistry & health databases and covers core knowledge units such as tea encyclopedias, the tea industry, tea cultural tourism, tea culture, and tea science and technology  amounting to the knowledge of a tea library. Currently, its Q&A accuracy exceeds 85% and pest and disease recognition surpasses 90%. It can identify diseases from images, infer flavor from aroma, assess quality by process, and translate classical texts into plain language, Wan said. The next 2.0 version will refine the models integrated applications in tea breeding, pest and disease control, processing techniques, quality appraisal, and tea culture dissemination. In recent years the province has continuously intensified largemodel R&D. Besides the tea industry model Luyu, Anhui has supported Conch Group in developing the worlds first cement and building materials industry large model and backed iFlyteks joint largemodel efforts with Huawei, achieving breakthroughs in 22 bottleneck areas such as toolchains and communication components. Currently, the province has over 140 large models. In the past three years, 128 AI R&D projects were launched with total investment of RMB 6.73 billion and over RMB 1.2 billion in provincial support. On computing power and data, the provinces intelligent computing capacity grew from 838 P at the start of 2023 to over 48,000 P today. Anhui was approved as a national comprehensive pilot zone for data elements; the provincial data exchange established a dedicated AI zone, built 138 highquality industry datasets, and amassed 2,457 TB of labeled data. Innovative Approaches to Attract Enterprises and Facilitate Landing In the Maanshan Software Park office area, researchers at Maanshan ShenCe YunKong Technology Co., Ltd. are closely monitoring screens, focusing on tuning algorithm parameters for their industrial selflearning agent project. This company forged a close tie with Maanshan through the National General AI Competition. In 2024 the team entered the AI + Industrial Manufacturing track of the National General AI Innovation Application Competition held in Maanshan. The citys industrial background matched our project well  its ideal soil for technology deployment, said Lan Qiqi, ShenCe YunKongs core leader. Relying on the parks intelligent computing center, the team can quickly access compute resources to ease earlystage compute anxiety and shorten the technology iteration cycle. Now ShenCe YunKong has planned collaborations with multiple local Maanshan enterprises and intends to promote its industrial agent technology across more processindustry scenarios. Using competitions to attract investment is an important strategy for the province. Since 2023, Anhui and the China Computer Federation have jointly organized the National General AI Competition for three consecutive years, with participant numbers rising each year and the quality of matched projects improving annually. In 2025 the National General AI Competition spurred six cities  Hefei, Wuhu, Maanshan, Bozhou, Huainan and Huangshan  to host special tracks. A total of 605 domestic and international teams competed, 69 highquality projects accelerated implementation, attracting a 19% increase in participating teams and a 38% rise in investmentattraction projects. HiDream.ai, attracted after the inaugural competition, has become an emblematic AI enterprise in the province. Comprehensive Layout to Improve the Industrial Ecosystem As the core AI area of Hefei and the main carrier of Anhuis AI pilot zone, Hefei HighTech Zone is vigorously building the China Voice Valley centered on iFlytek. Today, more than a hundred AI innovation platforms have been established, including the National NewGeneration AI Open Innovation Platform for Intelligent Speech and the National Intelligent Speech Innovation Center. Models and products such as iFlytek Spark, Guochuang Software GCGPT, and Atom Echo have been put into use. The zone now hosts over 1,500 AI companies spanning the full industry chain across foundational, technical and application layers. Beyond Hefei and Bengbu, multiple Anhui localities are accelerating coordinated deployments to fully capture the AI industry track. Maanshan is developing Turing Town and software parks, gathering over 150 AI firms; Bozhou is building an AI + Traditional Chinese Medicine application hub; Huangshan hosted the national competitions AI + Cultural Tourism track to help digitize Huangshans entire tourism sector. The data speak for themselves: in 2025, the provinces AI enterprises above designated size achieved revenue of RMB 246.55 billion, a 14% increase  tying for the fastest growth among emerging industries. Investment grew by 28.3%, while investment in key statistical projects surged 103.3%, ranking first and second respectively. Anhui is accelerating on the new AI track with a clear path and solid steps. Going forward, the province will continue to promote deep integration of AI with the real economy, and keep advancing its nationwide position in artificial intelligence.

Source: Anhui Daily
UNITED NATIONS, March 29 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Sunday strongly condemned the incident earlier in the day that resulted in the death of an Indonesian peacekeeper of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) at his position in southern Lebanon, amid hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, his spokesperson said.

"This is one of a number of incidents that have jeopardized the safety and security of peacekeepers, including over the past 48 hours," spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said in a statement.

In the incident, another peacekeeper was seriously injured after a projectile exploded at the UNIFIL Ett-Taibe position near a village in southern Lebanon.

The statement said that the secretary-general reiterated his call on all actors to uphold their obligations under international law and to ensure the safety and security of UN personnel and property at all times, underscoring that attacks on peacekeepers are grave violations of international humanitarian law and of Security Council Resolution 1701, and may amount to war crimes.

"There will need to be accountability," the statement said.

Noting that the secretary-general recalled the importance of the safety and security of peacekeepers and UNIFIL's freedom of movement, the statement urged the parties to de-escalate immediately and fully adhere to their obligations under Security Council resolution 1701. 
Protests took place in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Haifa, and Beersheba, as a survey found broad but uneven support among Jewish Israelis for Operation Roaring Lion.

Israel Police arrested 21 anti-war protesters Saturday night as demonstrations against the conflict with Iran expanded in multiple cities despite restrictions on public gatherings.

Protests took place in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Haifa, and Beersheba, with hundreds of participants reported in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem and about 100 in Haifa, marking the largest turnout since weekly demonstrations began. Authorities said 13 people were arrested in Tel Aviv and eight in Haifa.

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Police said the gatherings were not approved under Home Front Command regulations that ban events with more than 50 people. Officials said the increase in turnout followed calls by groups opposing the government to protest despite the restrictions.

During a situation assessment that took place at the scene with a Home Front Command representative it was clarified that there was a real risk to human life and accordingly, Yarkon [precinct] police commander Tzachi Sharabi ordered the gathering to be dispersed, police said.

Hadash-Taal chairman Ayman Odeh, an Arab lawmaker involved in the protests, criticized the police response, calling officers fascists in the service of the government and saying they were afraid of the heroic citizens who went out, despite everything, to make their voice heard.

MK Ayman Odeh attends a special plenary session at the auditorium in the Knesset, the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem, during the war with Iran and Hezbollah, March 9, 2026. (credit: YONATAN SINDEL/FLASH90)

Survey shows broad, uneven support for war

The demonstrations come as a March 2026 survey by the Israel Democracy Institute found broad but uneven support among Jewish Israelis for Operation Roaring Lion. Support was strongest on the Right at 87% and about half on the Left.

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The survey also found that Jewish and Arab respondents largely agreed that Irans resilience has been stronger than expected. Most Jewish respondents said Israeli society could sustain the campaign for up to one month, while 28% said as long as needed. Arab respondents were less optimistic about how long the public could endure the conflict.

A majority of Jewish respondents said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus decision was driven by security considerations, while most Arab respondents viewed it as political.
The Israeli army said on Monday that it struck what it called an "armed Hamas terrorist cell" in the Gaza Strip and "eliminated" it, with medical sources on the ground reporting three killed in the attack.

The incident, in the north of the territory, also produced injuries, some serious, the sources said, adding that a group of people was struck. The Israeli army said the cell posed a threat to Israeli soldiers. None of the details could initially be independently verified.

A ceasefire in the Gaza war between Israel and the Palestinian militia has technically been in place since October 10. Nevertheless, fatal incidents continue to occur, with both sides accusing each other of violating the agreement.

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Since the ceasefire came into effect, more than 700 people have been killed in Gaza, according to the Hamas-controlled health authority.

Palestinians have been killed in Israeli shelling almost every day in the past week, according to Palestinian sources.

Israel frequently justifies the attacks by claiming that the individuals threatened Israeli soldiers or entered areas under its control. Several Israeli soldiers have also been killed in attacks since the ceasefire began.
By Maayan Lubell and Pesha Magid

JERUSALEM, March 30 (Reuters) - Israel's parliament passed a law on Monday making death by hanging a default sentence for Palestinians convicted in military courts of deadly attacks, fulfilling a pledge by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus far-right allies.

The law would only apply to Israelis convicted of murder whose attacks aimed at "ending Israel's existence", meaning it would mete out the death penalty for Palestinians but not for Jewish Israelis who committed similar crimes, critics say.

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The legislation has drawn international criticism of Israel, which is already under scrutiny for increasing violence by Jewish settlers against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and its war in Gaza.

NO RIGHT TO CLEMENCY

The measure includes provisions requiring an execution by hanging within 90 days of sentencing, with some allowance for a delay but no right to clemency. It provides the option of imposing a life imprisonment sentence instead of capital punishment, but only in unspecified "special circumstances".

Israel abolished the death penalty for murder in 1954. The only person executed in Israel after a civilian trial was Adolf Eichmann, an architect of the Nazi Holocaust, in 1962.

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Military courts in the West Bank can already sentence Palestinian convicts to death but have not done so.

The measure was promoted by Itamar Ben-Gvir, the far-right national security minister who wore noose-shaped lapel pins in the run-up to the vote.

"This is a day of justice for the murdered, a day of deterrence for enemies," Ben-Gvir said in parliament. "Whoever chooses terror chooses death."

PALESTINIANS REJECT LAW, SOME CALL FOR ATTACKS

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned the legislation as a breach of international law and a doomed bid meant to intimidate Palestinians.

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"Such laws and measures will not break the will of the Palestinian people or undermine their steadfastness," Abbas' office said in a statement.

"Nor will they deter them from continuing their legitimate struggle for freedom, independence, and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital."

Palestinian militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad called on Palestinians to launch attacks in revenge for the law.

CRITICS SAY BILL IS DISCRIMINATORY

Israel's leading rights groups decried the law as "an act of institutionalized discrimination and racist violence against Palestinians." The Association for Civil Rights in Israel said it filed an appeal against the law with Israel's Supreme Court.

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The law is the latest action by Netanyahu's nationalist-religious coalition to raise concern among Israel's Western allies, who have also been critical of settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank.

In an effort to head off international backlash, Netanyahu asked for some elements of the legislation to be softened, Israeli media reported. He voted in favour of the bill, which won the backing of 62 of the Knesset's 120 members.

The original bill had mandated the death sentence for non-Israeli citizens convicted in West Bank military courts of deadly terrorist acts. The revised legislation includes the option of life imprisonment.

In Israel's civilian courts, the new legislation mandates either life imprisonment or the death penalty for anyone convicted of "deliberately causing the death of a person with the intent of ending Israel's existence."

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Critics of the bill say that language effectively confines those Israelis who can be sentenced to death to members of the country's 20% Arab minority, many of whom identify as Palestinian, and not to Jewish citizens.

Even before the vote, the bill drew criticism from the foreign ministers of Germany, France, Italy and Britain, who said it had a "de facto discriminatory" character toward Palestinians and undermines Israel's democratic principles.

A group of U.N. experts said the bill includes vague definitions of "terrorist", meaning the death penalty could be meted out over "conduct that is not genuinely terrorist".

Ben-Gvir's Jewish Power party argues that the death penalty will deter Palestinians from carrying out deadly attacks against Israelis or attempting kidnappings with the aim of affecting swap deals for Palestinians jailed in Israeli prisons.

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Amnesty International, which tracks countries imposing death penalty laws, says there "is no evidence that the death penalty is any more effective in reducing crime than life imprisonment".

Professionals in Israel's legal establishment argued the bill was unconstitutional, increasing the likelihood of the Supreme Court striking down the law.

GLOBAL TREND ON DEATH PENALTY IS TOWARD ABOLITION

Some 54 countries around the world permit the death penalty, including a handful of democracies such as the United States and Japan, according to Amnesty International. The group says the global trend is toward abolition, with 113 countries having outlawed it.

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Israeli rights group B'Tselem says military courts in the West Bank, where Palestinians are tried for alleged crimes, have a 96% conviction rate and a history of extracting confessions through torture.

Ben-Gvir, who was convicted in 2007 of racist incitement against Arabs and support for the Kach group on the Israeli and U.S. terrorism blacklists, has overseen an overhaul of prisons that has led to allegations of abuse of Palestinian prisoners.

He made capital punishment for Palestinian militants a main pledge in his 2022 election campaign and since taking office has publicly backed some Israeli soldiers being probed for suspected excessive force against Palestinians.

The next national election is due in October 2026.

(Reporting by Pesha Magid and Maayan Lubell in Jerusalem, Ali Sawafta in Ramallah and Nidal al-Mughrabi in Cairo; editing by Rami Ayyub, William Maclean and Stephen Coates)
Israel's parliament on Monday approved a controversial bill to reintroduce the death penalty for terrorists, a move considered racist by critics as the legislation would effectively only apply to Palestinians.

Under the bill, Palestinians convicted of murder as an act of terrorism by military courts in the occupied territories would face a mandatory death sentence. In the event of a conviction, the death penalty is to be carried out within 90 days by hanging, administered by a prison guard.

In civilian courts in Israel, meanwhile, a person convicted of murder with a terrorism motive with the aim of destroying the State of Israel could be sentenced either to death or to life imprisonment under the law.

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Due to a prohibition on retroactive application, the new law cannot be applied to Hamas terrorists who were involved in the attacks on October 7, 2023.

The bill was introduced by the Otzma Yehudit party of far-right Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir.

A total of 62 of 120 lawmakers in the Knesset backed the bill in a final vote on Monday, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. A total of 48 lawmakers voted against the bill, while the rest abstained or were not present for the vote.

Rights organizations and several European countries had called for the initiative to be stopped.

The Association for Civil Rights in Israel swiftly announced that it had filed a lawsuit against the bill with the country's highest court, describing the move as "the most violent and extreme expression of this government's attack on human rights."

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Ben-Gvir described it as the most important bill of recent years. The Knesset's national security committee recently approved the draft for its second and third readings.

The committee chairman, Zvika Fogel, said the bill marked an "important step towards restoring the State of Israel's deterrence."

Israel abolished the death penalty for murder in 1954. Israeli law still allowed the death penalty to be imposed in certain cases, such as against Nazi criminals or for treason in wartime.

However, the execution of German Nazi criminal Adolf Eichmann in 1962 was the last time a death sentence handed down by a regular court in Israel was actually carried out.

European countries appealed to Israel in vain

The foreign ministers from Germany, France, Italy and the United Kingdom had expressed their "deep concern" about the bill in a joint statement on Sunday and appealed to those responsible to abandon the plans.

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"The death penalty is an inhumane and degrading form of punishment without any deterring effect. This is why we oppose the death penalty, whatever the circumstances around the world," the statement said.

The bill also faced opposition in Israel. In an expert opinion, the Israeli Democracy Institute criticized it for forcing judges in military courts to impose the death penalty and for depriving them of the necessary case-by-case assessment.

The law contradicts Israel's democratic and rule-of-law values because it is directed solely against Palestinians, the institute said.

It added that it could result in irreversible miscarriages of justice and cause Israel political harm, while experts believe it will not effectively aid the fight against terrorism.

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The secretary general of the Council of Europe, Alain Berset, expressed shock over the passing of the law, describing it as a severe step backwards for civilization in a post on X.

The Council of Europe, based in Strasbourg, is not an EU body. It monitors the rule of law and compliance with human rights in its 46 member states, and also advocates the abolishment of the death penalty.

Israel is a party to various agreements and cooperation schemes, and the Knesset has held observer status at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe since 1957, according to the organization.
Italy has detained a civilian rescue ship operating in the Mediterranean after the crew ignored orders to dock in a port over 1,000 kilometres away following a rescue mission, German organization Sea-Watch said on Monday.

Italian authorities imposed a 20-day detention order and a 10,000 ($11,500) fine on the Sea-Watch 5, the group said in a statement.

Sea-Watch is one of several civilian organizations operating in the Mediterranean to assist migrants as they attempt to reach Europe in often unseaworthy vessels.

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On March 15, the Sea-Watch 5 took 93 people on board after finding them in distress in international waters, according to the group.

Italian authorities then ordered the crew "to proceed to a designated port more than 1,100 kilometers away," Sea-Watch said.

A few days later, the captain decided to head to a much closer port in Sicily instead "to safeguard the fundamental right to life."

Sea-Watch condemned the detention as "a predictable measure designed to sabotage civilian sea rescue operations."

The Italian government under far-right Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has taken a tough a stance against migrants, especially those arriving from the Middle East and North Africa by boat.

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A decree passed three years ago requires civilian rescue vessels to immediately head to a designated port following a rescue operation.

Rescue groups operating in the Mediterranean, including Sea-Watch, have repeatedly accused the government of attempting to systematically obstruct their work by assigning ports that require long travel times or detaining their vessels.
JAMES CITY COUNTY, Va. (WAVY)  A 15-year-old male is dead following a shooting in the 100 block of Dehaven Court Sunday evening.

According to officials, units with the James City County Police Department were dispatched at approximately 6:32 p.m. following reports of gunshots.

Upon arrival at Dehaven Court, officers located at 15-year-old male shooting victim.

The victim was transported to Riverside Regional Hospital, where he was later pronounced deceased.

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The James City County Police Department believes this is an isolated incident.

10 On Your Side has reached out to officials for any additional information.

Anyone with information is urged to contact police dispatch at 757-566-0112 or call the Crime Line at 1-888-LOCK-U-UP.

An anonymous tip can also be submitted at the p3Tips website here.

Continue to check WAVY.com for updates.

Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WAVY.com.
More than seven years after two Texas cops snatched a teenaged girl they erroneously claimed had been "abandoned," a federal jury has concluded that the officers violated her Fourth Amendment rights by unreasonably seizing her from her home. In a verdict delivered last week, the jurors said that seizure also violated her parents' due process rights under the 14th Amendment. And they agreed that one of the officers had violated the Fourth Amendment by "conducting an unreasonable search" of the family's "refrigerator and freezer" without a warrant, consent, or exigent circumstances. In the second phase of the trial, the jurors approved $175,000 in compensatory damages and $125,000 in punitive damages.

The verdict validates constitutional claims that Megan and Adam McMurry made in a federal lawsuit they filed in October 2020, two years after Officers Alexandra Weaver and Kevin Brunner, both of whom worked for the Midland Independent School District, visited their apartment and left with their daughter, Jade, then 14. That intervention, the jury concluded, was not justified in the circumstances, since Jade was not in any danger. The verdict "was vindicating after having our lives turned upside down and trampled through for the past seven and a half years," Megan McMurry told KMID, the ABC affiliate in Midland.

The bizarre episode at the center of the case happened when Adam McMurry, then a member of the National Guard, was deployed to the Middle East, and Megan McMurry, a special education teacher at Abell Junior High School in Midland, was in Kuwait looking into a job that would have allowed the family to live near him. Megan McMurry had alerted her colleagues to her trip and had asked two neighbors, Vanessa and Gabe Vallejos, to keep an eye on Jade and her brother, Connor, then 12, who was a student at the school where McMurry worked.

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On October 26, 2018, the guidance counselor who was supposed to take Connor to school was ill, so she texted Weaver, who lived in the neighborhood, asking if she could give Connor a ride. Although another Abell employee ended up bringing Connor to school, Weaver's involvement did not end there.

Weaver was convinced that Jade had been "abandoned" and was in urgent need of a "welfare check." Brunner, her supervisor, agreed, which is how they both ended up at the McMurrys' apartment that morning.

Jade, who was homeschooled and in the midst of her online studies, did not understand what the cops were doing there. But within a minute, they had decided she needed to be rescued.

Brunner told Jade to put on warmer clothing so she could leave the apartment. As Jade began to follow Brunner's instructions, body camera video showed, he asked her, "Do you mind if she [Weaver] comes in the house with you?" Jade's response was ambiguous: "Mm-hmm." Then she burst into tears, saying, "I'm scared."

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Taking that as an invitation, Weaver entered the apartment and began poking around. She inspected the living room and the kitchen, opening the pantry, the refrigerator, and the freezer. Her search found no evidence that Jade was in any danger. She and Brunner nevertheless removed Jade from her home, grilled her, prevented her from communicating with her parents, and took her to Abell Junior High School. Jade was detained until that afternoon, when the cops finally let her go after Texas Child Protective Services (CPS) concluded there was no evidence of abuse or neglect.

At the point when Weaver and Brunner whisked Jade away, they knew that Vanessa Vallejos was checking in on her and Connor. Jade had told them as much, offering to put them in touch with Vallejos. During the trial, KMID reports, the defendants "tried to argue that Ms. Vallejos refused to come to the apartment to confirm the arrangements, despite the body cam [footage] showing Ms. Vallejos offering to come to wherever the officers were." Brunner "instructed her to go to Abell, because the officers told her they were taking Jade to Abell, where her brother was attending class."

Weaver and Brunner had already filed a CPS complaint, and they were determined to act on their unfounded suspicions. They were so sure of themselves, in fact, that they pursued criminal charges against McMurry even after CPS decided there was no case to be made. In January 2020, a jury took just five minutes to acquit McMurry of abandoning or endangering her children.

That prompt acquittal suggested the jurors did not think Weaver and Brunner's avowed concern for Jade's welfare was reasonable. Nor did U.S. District Judge David Counts, who in September 2021 rejected the officers' motion to dismiss the McMurrys' lawsuit.

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Weaver and Brunner argued that they were shielded by qualified immunity, a doctrine that bars federal civil rights lawsuits unless they allege violations of "clearly established" law. After Counts rejected that claim, Brunner appealed to the 5th Circuit, which affirmed Counts' decision in December 2022.

"The facts here are particularly egregious," Judge Andrew Oldham noted in a concurring opinion. He elaborated:

Weaver performed an illegal search in front of her supervisor (Brunner). And instead of settling for one constitutional violation (the search), Brunner went on to commit two more (unlawfully seizing [Jade] and violating the McMurrys' due-process rights). And after taking custody of [Jade], Brunner prevented [her] from talking to her father and the Vallejos for a significant amount of time. All while [Jade] was crying and confused. Then CPS told Brunner that his safety concerns were baseless. And still, inexplicably, Brunner persisted and pushed for criminal charges against Mrs. McMurry. Like CPS, a jury of Mrs. McMurry's peers squarely rejected Brunner's charges. But the damage was already done: Mrs. McMurry was already fired, was already prevented from teaching again, and had already spent 19 hours in jail.

After that resounding defeat, Brunner unsuccessfully asked the 5th Circuit to reconsider the case and unsuccessfully sought Supreme Court review. Then Brunner and Weaver filed motions for summary judgment with the district court, reasserting their qualified immunity claims. Unsurprisingly, Counts was no more impressed by their arguments the second time around.

The 5th Circuit "has already held in this case that [Jade] was unlawfully seized 'in violation of the Fourth Amendment as a reasonable fourteen-year-old would not have believed she was free to leave when an officer removed [her] from her home for questioning while instructing her not to respond to calls from her father,'" Counts noted in June 2024. "Defendants' motions even confirm the facts underlying that holding. So no, this was not 'a consensual act of transportation'; [Jade] was unlawfully seized in violation of her Fourth Amendment rights."

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Were those rights "clearly established"? As Counts noted, the 5th Circuit had already said they were "under these exact facts."

As for the due process claim, Jade "was following her parents' instruction to continue her homeschooling in the family apartment during school hours," Counts wrote. "Defendants then overruled that parental instruction by unlawfully removing [Jade] without a court order or exigent circumstances. Thus, Defendants 'obviously deprived the McMurrys of their liberty interest' in the care, custody, and management of their child."

The McMurrys "did not receive the process they were due," Oldham had noted. "In fact, they received no process whatsoever. No ex parte court order, no warrant, no notice, no hearing. Nothing. Surely, the McMurrys had a right to at least some predeprivation process before their child was snatched from their home."

You might think those unambiguous decisions would have cleared the way for the McMurrys to finally present their claims to a jury. But after Counts reiterated that Weaver was not entitled to qualified immunity, she appealed that ruling to the 5th Circuit, which upheld it last June.

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"The parties do not dispute that Weaver searched the refrigerator without a court order or consent," Judge Carolyn King wrote in an opinion joined by the two other members of the 5th Circuit panel. "To comply with the Fourth Amendment, the search must be justified by exigent circumstances. But Weaver does not argue that there were exigent circumstances, and the district court found that there were none. Instead, Weaver relies on a 'special needs' or 'community caretaking' exception to the warrant requirement. Neither applies here."

A warrant "may not be required where there is a 'special need' that is 'divorced from the State's general interest in law enforcement,'" King noted. Likewise "when the police perform 'community caretaking functions' that are 'totally divorced from the detection, investigation, or acquisition of evidence relating to the violation of a criminal statute.'" But the search in this case was obviously related to a criminal investigation, as confirmed by the charges that McMurry later faced.

Was Weaver on notice that her search was unconstitutional? King thought so, noting that the 5th Circuit, in a case decided a decade before Weaver perused the McMurrys' kitchen, had "held that government officials conducting home visits 'to investigate possible child abuse' must satisfy 'the typical Fourth Amendment standards of a court order, consent, or exigent circumstances.'"

That precedent, Gates v. Texas Department of Protective and Regulatory Services, also established that "the government may not seize a child from his or her parents absent a court order, parental consent, or exigent circumstances," King noted. "Again, Weaver does not argue there were exigent circumstances, and a jury could find that Weaver did not have reasonable cause to believe that fourteen-year old [Jade] faced any 'immediate danger' at home alone in a gated apartment complex in the middle of the day."

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The due process claim against Weaver "is premised on [Jade's] Fourth Amendment claim for unreasonable seizure," King added. "Accordingly, the McMurrys have established a constitutional violation sufficient to survive summary judgment for the same reasons: [Jade] was seized without a court order or exigent circumstances."

In a concurring opinion, Judge James Ho highlighted one of the arguments offered by Weaver's appellate lawyer. Because Jade was studying at home, the lawyer suggested during oral argument in February 2025, the apartment may have qualified as a school, a setting in which Fourth Amendment requirements are relaxed. "Was she taken from an apartment or was she taken from her school?" he said. "There's no case law whatsoever that establishes that an apartment stays an apartment when you're going to school."

That position is "obviously wrong as a matter of rudimentary constitutional principle," Ho wrote. "The Fourth Amendment expressly assures every one of usincluding families who homeschoolthat '[t]he right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated.' To justify intrusions on this bedrock liberty based on the educational choices parents make for their children does not evade the constitutional objectionit exacerbates it."

Ho also took the opportunity to reiterate his dismay at the 5th Circuit's repeated rejection of the First Amendment lawsuit that Priscilla Villarreal, an independent journalist in Laredo, filed after she was arrested for asking a police officer questions about a public suicide and a fatal car crash. Villarreal cited Supreme Court decisions recognizing that qualified immunity does not require highly fact-specific precedents in cases involving conduct that is "obviously unconstitutional." But the appeals court "waved away those decisions on the ground that they're 'Eighth Amendment cases,'" Ho wrote, "and that they establish only a 'narrow[] obviousness exception' that should not apply to obvious violations of the First Amendment."

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Ho thought that decision, along with a 2011 5th Circuit precedent involving religious freedom, may have encouraged Weaver's lawyers to argue that she deserved qualified immunity even though her conduct was plainly outrageous. "It seems absurd to suggest that the most egregious constitutional violations imaginable are somehow immune from liability precisely because they're so egregious," he wrote. "It would make a mockery of our rights to grant qualified immunity just because no one in government has yet to be abusive enough to commit that particular violationand then stubborn enough to litigate it, not only before a district court, but also in the court of appeals."

Although "I'm of course duty bound to follow en banc precedent," Ho added, "I'm not obliged to extend it.I will not make things worse by extending this mistaken body of precedent and refusing to protect citizens from obvious violations of the Fourth Amendment as well as the First."

Ho also questioned the application of qualified immunity to cases that do not involve "split-second" decisions. "It's one thing to grant qualified immunity when it comes to police officers who are forced to make split-second judgment calls in life-and-death situations," he said. "It's quite another thing to immunize public officials who make a deliberate and calculated decision to violate one's constitutional rights."

Although the McMurrys eventually beat back the challenges to their lawsuit, their case illustrates how difficult it can be to vindicate your constitutional rights. "In our judicial system, it is damn near impossible to hold government actors accountable when they violate our constitutional rights," Megan McMurry says in an email. "They have endless resources and huge law firms that endlessly blame the victims to excuse the behavior of the government actors, cops, etc. In this case, the defendants repeatedly tried to blame me. 'Look at the McMurrys. It's their fault this happened. Don't look at what we did! We are cops and deserve a medal!'"

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Weaver and Brunner literally made that argument during the trial. Their lawyers "maintain[ed] the officers acted appropriately and deserved a medal for their actions," KMID reports. The jurors clearly did not agree.

In fact, McMurry thinks the jury would have approved higher damages if Weaver's attorney had not intimated that the defendants would personally bear the cost. "Multiple jurors said they were misled" on that point, she says, and "we are filing a motion for a new Phase 2 trial" based on that misrepresentation.

McMurry notes that the school district and its insurer have been covering the cost of Weaver and Brunner's defense. And even in the rare cases where police officers are held liable for constitutional violations, their employers routinely indemnify them.

The post A Jury Approves Damages After 2 Texas Cops Snatched a Supposedly 'Abandoned' Girl From Her Home appeared first on Reason.com.
,

Prosecutors described a twisted tale of cheating and jealousy, with the convicted killer making a voodoo doll of the other woman.

Judy Church, of Salisbury, was found guilty of murdering Leroy Fowler, 55, in the first degree with premeditation and extreme atrocity and cruelty by placing ethylene glycol in his Powerade bottle in November 2022, the district attorney said Monday.

Fowler, also of Salisbury, had previously told his relatives he thought Church was poisoning him, according to prosecutors.

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The guilty verdict came down Monday in Essex County Superior Court, where prosecutors outlined Churchs motive for killing her boyfriend.

One witness testified during the trial that before Fowlers death, Church said of her then-boyfriend while visiting a bar in the summer of 2022, If he ever cheats on me, I will poison him.

On Nov. 11, 2022, Salisbury Police responded to a 911 call and found Fowler in poor condition, unable to stand.

Prosecutor AJ Camelio told the court that Fowler was taken to the hospital. Doctors found that he had antifreeze in his system, causing significant damage to his internal organs.

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He died two days later, on Nov. 13, 2022.

A police search of the house yielded a Powerade bottle that was largely empty but contained some residue at the bottom. The Massachusetts Crime Lab tested the bottle and found it to contain antifreeze.

Hed be dizzy a lot, and I thought he was anemic, Church told investigators during a recorded interview that was played in court.

Camelio told the court that before the murder, Church and her boyfriend were involved in a toxic and dysfunctional relationship that involved another woman.

Camelio said the evidence showed that Church and the other woman knew about each other and their involvement with Fowler. Neither woman was happy with the arrangement.

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Prosecutors said Church created a voodoo doll of the other woman.

Camelio and Homicide Unit Chief Jessica Strasnick, co-prosecutor on the case, presented the jury with a 911 call recording from Church on Nov. 11, 2022, in which Church said, My boyfriend must have ingested something.

That something, Camelio and Strasnick argued, was antifreeze that Church had placed into Fowlers Powerade bottle. Investigators tested the bottle and found Churchs DNA on it.

Thats the murder weapon, Camelio told the court.

Camelio said Church was the only person who had access to Fowler during the time when the antifreeze would have taken effect.

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Camelio told the court that Church called 911 only after Fowler asked her to. He also showed the jury a video Church recorded on her cell phone showing Fowler in pain while she asked, Are you having fun?

Church is due back in court for sentencing on April 2.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

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A 2018 arrest, years of appeals, and a familys fight over constitutional rights culminate in a landmark verdict

MIDLAND, Texas (KMID/KPEJ)- What began as a child welfare check in October of 2018 set off a chain of events that would take nearly eight years to unwind through criminal court, a federal lawsuit, multiple appellate rulings, and ultimately, a jury verdict finding two former Midland ISD police officers, Alexandra Weaver and Kevin Brunner, liable for violating a familys constitutional rights.

At the center of the case: a mother who left Midland to visit a school overseas about a teaching position, leaving her children in the care of her neighbors, the Vallejos and other individuals, including a school counselor and another colleague, who were tapped with getting her son to and from school, and a response by school district police that a federal jury later determined crossed legal lines with malice and reckless indifference.

Now, after years of delays by the defendants, unanimous appeals in favor of the McMurry family, and mounting legal costs, a verdict has been reached, one that attorneys say carries implications far beyond a single family.

The McMurry family

A Day That Changed Everything

On October 26, 2018, Midland ISD police responded to a report involving two children, ages 14 and 12, who were home while their mother, Megan McMurry, was out of the country.

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According to court records and testimony, Megan was visiting a school overseas in Kuwait to possibly be closer to her husband, an active serviceman stationed in Kuwait and then Syria, and had arranged for neighbors to supervise the children and for a school counselor and another colleague to assist with transportation. While the oldest child planned to stay in her own home during the day to attend her online classes, there was an agreement between both the children and the Vallejos to allow them to sleep in their own beds.

Child Protective Services later spoke with Megan, confirmed her childcare arrangements and determined that the children were safe and that the situation did not meet the threshold for abuse or neglect, according to statements made by a CPS investigator.

While courts later ruled that the case should have gone no further, the situation quickly escalated.

The oldest child, who was homeschooled at the time and not enrolled in MISD, was seized from her home and taken to an MISD school campus and held incommunicado all while begging to call her deployed father, actions that would later become central to the familys civil rights claims.

From Criminal Case to Civil Rights Fight

Megan spent 19 hours in jail, was shackled, and charged with two felony counts of abandoning a child with intent to return. However, the criminal case against Megan ultimately ended in acquittal after jurors deliberated for only five minutes.

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But the legal battle didnt stop there.

The family filed a federal lawsuit alleging violations of their Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment rights, arguing that officers conducted an unlawful seizure of their daughter, illegally searched their home, and violated their procedural due process rights in connection with the illegal seizure of their daughter.

What followed was a prolonged legal fight shaped largely by the doctrine of qualified immunity, a legal standard that often shields government officials from liability.

A Case That Wouldnt Go Away

Over the next several years, the case moved repeatedly between lower courts and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

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At multiple points, judges declined to dismiss the case, allowing it to proceed despite arguments from the defense that the officers were protected by qualified immunity.

In 2022, the Fifth Circuit squarely rejected an early appeal and after a unanimous 5th Circuit En Banc declined to review the prior decision, The U.S. Supreme Court also declined to intervene. Then in 2025, the appellate court again denied immunity claims, this time in a published opinion, giving the ruling broader legal weight within the circuit.

Each decision brought the case closer to a trial that, for years, had seemed uncertain.

What the Jury Heard

During several days of testimony in a bifurcated trial, jurors were presented with two sharply different interpretations of what happened in 2018.

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Attorneys for the family argued the situation was mishandled from the outset, that what could have been a welfare check that promptly ended at the front door after concluding that 14-year-old Jade McMurry was safe, especially after Jade offered up the contact information for the Vallejos family and her father, instead continued full-force ahead as a criminal investigation without proper justification. They pointed to evidence and testimony they said showed:

Officers seized Jade before verifying childcare arrangements

Established MISD policies concerning body cams and contacting parents prior to getting statements from juveniles were not followed

Offense Reports contained factual inaccuracies and material omissions

Actions taken went beyond the scope of a welfare check

The defense pushed back on those claims, maintaining the officers acted appropriately and deserved a medal for their actions on October 26, 2018.

They tried to argue that Ms. Vallejos refused to come to the apartment to confirm the arrangements, despite the body cam clearing showing Ms. Vallejos offering to come to wherever the officers were. Officer Brunner instructed her to go to Abell, because the officers told her they were taking Jade to Abell, where her brother was attending class.

Seven and a Half Years

In closing arguments, the attorney for the family, Peter Bagley, urged jurors to consider not just what happened that day, but everything that followed.

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Now is the timeto make them whole again after seven and a half years, Bagley said.

Jurors heard testimony that the fallout extended far beyond the initial incident.

According to testimony, Megan lost a job opportunity overseas, incurred out-of-pocket expenses, and spent years navigating the consequences of a criminal charge. Her teaching certification was flagged, and she was unable to return to her position with MISD until the criminal case was resolved.

Family members also described emotional trauma that persisted long after the initial encounter.

Body cam videos shown to jurors captured the emotional toll the investigation took on the oldest child, as she was questioned without parental consent.

At one point, the childrens father testified in what attorneys described as an anguished voice:

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How am I so invisible to these people? Am I not the childrens father?

That comment stemmed from an incident that happened when the criminal investigation began, and the couples daughter was seized from her home. When the father asked to speak to his daughter, to check on her and try and calm her fears, his requests were denied.

The attorney argued that while mental anguish cannot be physically measured, it was visible in body camera footage, testimony, and the lasting impact on the familys lives.

They also asked jurors to consider punitive damages. Arguing the officers actions showed reckless indifference to constitutional rights and warranted a financial penalty meant to deter similar conduct from these two officers and from other rogue cops.

The Verdict

After deliberation, the jury found former MISD officers, Weaver (formerly Sexton) and Brunner (now with Midland College) liable and awarded monetary, both compensatory and punitive, damages to the family.

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The decision marks the first time a jury weighed the full scope of the case after years of procedural battles and sided with the plaintiffs on all counts.

It was vindicating after having our lives turned upside down and trampled through for the past seven and a half years, Megan said in an interview with Big 2 News upon the conclusion of the trial.

However, things arent ending there, she said, as her attorney plans to file a motion for a new phase two (damages) trial this coming week.

The trial, which ended last week, took place in two phases, one to determine liability, which the jury ruled in favor of the McMurrys, and one to determine the cost of damages. But the family said the jury was influenced on how much to award after defendant Alex Weavers attorney, Dennis Eichelbaum, allegedly told them that the children of the officers being sued would bear the consequences in the form of depleted college funds, and more.

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We will continue to follow this case at it makes its way through the court and will update our readers as we are able.

Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to Yourbasin.
JERUSALEM, March 30 (Xinhua) -- A fire broke out at the Haifa oil refinery in northern Israel following a recent round of missile attacks launched by Iran and Lebanon's Hezbollah, Israel's Channel 12 reported on Monday.

It remains unclear whether the facility was directly hit by a missile or struck by debris from an intercepted projectile, the report said. 
Its another week at the Supreme Court that started with Democratic-appointed justices calling out their colleagues for refusing to address a perceived injustice.

Last week began with Justice Sonia Sotomayor lamenting the rejection of a petition from Rodney Reed. She said the effect of the denial is Texas will likely execute Reed without ever knowing whether his or another persons DNA is on the murder weapon.

This week started with Sotomayor writing again in protest as the court declined to review yet another criminal appeal.

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Mondays denial came in the case of James Skinner, who was tried in Louisiana for the 1998 murder of Eric Walber. A co-defendant, Michael Wearry, was tried for the same crime. Wearry was convicted and sentenced to death, while Skinners initial trial ended with a hung jury, and then he was convicted and sentenced to life in prison.

In 2016, the Supreme Court vacated Wearrys conviction because the prosecution violated its duty to disclose evidence to him.

Yet the high court declined on Monday to review Skinners appeal, even though, as Sotomayor wrote, the prosecution failed to disclose the same favorable evidence to him in connection with his case. She said the court should have granted review rather than leaving that injustice in place, and the court failed to treat like defendants alike.

The upshot, the Obama appointee wrote, is Skinner risks spending the rest of his life in prison while Wearry walks free, and by refusing to get involved, the high court refuses to enforce its own precedents stemming from the landmark 1963 ruling in Brady v. Maryland, regarding prosecutors duty to disclose favorable evidence to the defense.

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Opposing review, state officials said Wearrys case doesnt help Skinner because the latter has no viable challenge to his confessions and the other corroborating evidence that squarely support the jurys verdict. Skinners lawyers said in his final reply brief to the justices that the state insinuates the jury heard Mr. Skinner himself confess, but what the jury actually heard was two informants (themselves the subject of Brady violations) claim Mr. Skinner confessed.

It takes four justices to grant review. Only Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson joined Sotomayor on Monday. Even when they are joined by the courts third Democratic appointee, Elena Kagan (as they were in the Reed case last week), it will still be one vote short of securing review  to say nothing of how the Republican-appointed majority would rule if review were granted.

The post Justices Sotomayor and Jackson dissent from Supreme Court leaving an injustice in place appeared first on MS NOW.

This article was originally published on ms.now
WAUZEKA, Wis. (WFRV)  Two people in Wisconsin are now in custody on multiple charges after a K9 helped uncover drugs during a traffic stop.

According to the Crawford County Sheriffs Office, deputies made contact on Monday, March 23, with what they called a suspicious vehicle on Dutch Ridge Road in the Town of Wauzeka.

Hit-and-run incident in Wisconsin leaves vehicle damaged

Officials say both the driver and the passenger of the vehicle displayed indicators of possible drug-related impairment. K9 Diego was deployed and alerted to the presence of one or more controlled substances, leading to a search of the vehicle, which resulted in the findings of prescription medicine and methamphetamine.

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The driver of the vehicle, 35-year-old Bryant Nyberg from Beloit, failed a drug influence evaluation and was arrested for operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of a restricted controlled substance (2nd Offense) and operating a motor vehicle with a revoked drivers license.

Courtesy of the Crawford County Sheriffs Office

Courtesy of the Crawford County Sheriffs Office

The passenger, 38-year-old Holly Polkinghorn from Prairie du Chien, was arrested on charges of possession of methamphetamine, possession of a controlled substance, and possession of drug paraphernalia.

No other information is available at this time.

Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WFRV Local 5 - Green Bay, Appleton.
It was a feel-good story: A boy and his mom split a Kentucky-record $167.5 million Powerball payday.

James Farthing and his mother, Linda Grizzle, were certainly set for life after the $2 purchase last April at Clarks Pump-N-Shop in Georgetown, their hometown.

Things have not exactly gone so great in the year since the windfall, as Farthing cannot keep himself out of trouble.

According to numerous media reports citing information from the Fayette County Detention Center, Farthing was arrested last Friday for a third time since the big win. This time, he was picked up for second-degree burglary and marijuana possession.

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According to LEX18, an NBC affiliate in Kentucky, security camera footage allegedly showed Farthing making his way into a home on Kenesaw Drive in Lexington around 7 p.m. Saturday. The person living there told police they heard what sounded like a door getting kicked in.

By the time cops showed up, Farthing was gone. He took off in a black Porsche, according to the report. The alleged victim told police Farthing made off with $12,000 in cash.

He didnt get far.

Officers found him a couple hours later in the parking lot of Red Mile Gaming. During the arrest, police reportedly spotted a marijuana blunt sitting in plain view inside the vehicle. A search of the car turned up more marijuana. Farthing was booked at the Fayette County Detention Center without incident.

Other cases

Back on Feb. 11, Farthing was charged in Scott County with intimidating a participant in the legal process. According to WKYT-TV, he had picked up a woman as part of a pre-arranged meetup, and she told police she felt pressured by him to take a gummy. She ended up calling authorities from the home they were at, claiming people there had a weapon and wanted to hurt her.

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Police found marijuana and a gun at the scene. And while officers were still talking to the woman, Farthing allegedly texted her: Why would you do this to me? Unreal. Id never hurt you.

Farthing was previously arrested a mere two days after claiming the Powerball jackpot.

Farthing, drunk and spending his new money on a trip to TradeWinds Resort with his girlfriend, had gotten into a fight with another guest, kicked a Pinellas County Sheriffs deputy in the face, tried to run, and was taken down.

Bodycam footage told the story. Forty-three seconds of video showed another guest tackling a shirtless Farthing from behind. When cops moved in, Farthing kicked someone. I just got kicked, the deputy said.

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The video cut, then picked back up with tasers aimed at Farthing, who did not appear remotely sober. Officers yelled at him to put his hands behind his back. He stumbled along a wall, then took off running. The tasers clicked but didnt drop him. Another officer did, tackling him to the ground. The video ended with Farthing face down getting cuffed.

He initially pled not guilty but eventually waived his hearings and served out his sentence.
March 30 (Reuters) - NASA's Artemis program is the U.S. effort to return astronauts to the moon for the first time since the Apollo era and eventually establish a sustained human presence there, a goal Washington has framed as central to maintaining space leadership amid growing competition from China. Here are key milestones in the Artemis program:

20172018: Program revived

During the first administration of President Donald Trump, NASA was directed to refocus human spaceflight on the moon after years of prioritizing Mars. The lunar effort would be built around the Space Launch System rocket and Orion crew capsule, hardware first conceived under the previous, since canceled Constellation program, with Boeing serving as the prime contractor for the SLS core stage, Northrop Grumman producing the rockets solid-fuel boosters, and Lockheed Martin building the Orion spacecraft.

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2019: Accelerated timeline set

In 2019, the White House set a target of landing astronauts on the moon by 2024. Though the "Moon to Mars" program wouldn't get its name Artemis until months later, NASA outlined a three-mission sequence: Artemis I, an uncrewed test flight; Artemis II, a crewed moon flyby; and Artemis III, a landing on the lunar surface.

20202021: Delays mount, moon lander selected

Technical challenges, cost overruns and COVID pandemic-related disruptions pushed back schedules for the SLS rocket, Orion spacecraft and launch infrastructure at Kennedy Space Center. NASA picked SpaceX's Starship as the program's first lunar lander, keeping the landing target of 2024 but acknowledging it may no longer be achievable.

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2022: Artemis I flies

In November 2022, NASA launched Artemis I, sending an uncrewed Orion spacecraft around the moon and back during a 25-day mission. The flight tested deep-space navigation, communications and Orion's heat shield during a high-speed reentry, a critical step before flying with astronauts.

20232024: Program recalibrated

Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin is tapped as NASA's second lunar lander provider in 2023 after months of legal disputes over the agency's decision to only pick SpaceX's Starship. Later, under the administration of President Joe Biden, NASA reset Artemis timelines, pushing the first crewed lunar landing to 2027. The agency continued to defend the program amid budget scrutiny, while highlighting China's parallel lunar ambitions.

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2024: Artemis II crew named

NASA announced the four astronauts for Artemis II: Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen. The mission will be the first crewed voyage toward the Moon since Apollo 17 in 1972.

2026: Artemis program overhauled under new leadership

After taking office, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman announced a sweeping overhaul of the Artemis program, scrapping plans for the Lunar Gateway  a space station intended to orbit the moon  and redirecting its components toward building a permanent base on the lunar surface. He also added an additional crewed mission ahead of a lunar landing, arguing that the extra flight would help crews and ground teams build operational muscle memory in deep space before attempting sustained surface missions.

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April 2026: Artemis II mission around the moon

In April 2026, NASA is set to launch Artemis II, a roughly 10-day mission that will send four astronauts on a crewed flyby of the moon, the first such voyage since the Apollo era. The mission will not land on the lunar surface but will push astronauts farther from Earth than any human flight, testing Orion's life-support systems, navigation, communications and heat shield performance in deep space  capabilities NASA says are essential before attempting a lunar landing.

Later this decade: moon landing planned

Artemis is intended to return astronauts to the lunar surface using a commercially developed lander, a step NASA says is essential before future missions to Mars. Elon Musk's SpaceX and Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin are competing to provide the lunar lander, part of NASAs push to enlist private companies in delivering hardware for deepspace exploration. The first moon-walking Artemis crew is expected to take whichever lander completes development first.

(Reporting by Joe Brock in Los Angeles; Editing by Bill Berkrot)
Prominent Connecticut restaurateur Ljatif "Tony" Ramadani was arrested last week and charged with attempting to bribe employees who accused the chef at one of his restaurants of sexually assaulting her, documents show.

Walid Gad, the former head chef at Ramadani's MIX Prime Steakhouse, Fish & Sushi Bar in Woodbury, is accused of sexually assaulting or groping six female employees at the restaurant, according to partially redacted arrest warrant affidavits provided by Connecticut State Police.

The warrants include an account from one woman who detailed how Gad allegedly raped her on several occasions. Gad was arrested by state police on Wednesday.

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According to the state police documents, Ramadani, who also owns the Red Rooster Pub in Wilton, which previously had locations in Newtown and Ridgefield, dismissed Gad's sexual assaults after he learned of them. He also reportedly offered $20,000 to two women after they went to speak with a person they believed was a lawyer, police said.

Ramadani, 68, of Ridgefield, was charged with one count of bribery of a witness.

Workers at his two restaurants on Sunday said he was not available, and a lawyer representing him in a lawsuit against the restaurant declined to comment last week.

Here's what we know, and some outstanding questions, about the cases:

What we know

Police: Chef assaulted and harassed 6 employees

Gad is facing four counts of first-degree sexual assault, according to state police.

Walid Gad, 55, was arrested Wednesday for sexually assaulting employees at a Woodbury steakhouse where he worked as head chef, police said. (Courtesy of the Connecticut State Police)





The arrest warrants depict a pattern of behavior over close to two years, during which Gad is alleged to have routinely groped female employees, particularly in the restaurant's cooler. One victim told police that Gad had groped her vagina while telling her, "It'll be our little secret," when she refused his advances, the warrants said.

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Police allege that Gad repeatedly raped one woman - a 48-year-old undocumented immigrant from Guatemala referred to as Victim 1 in the arrest warrant - on several occasions, including in the restaurant's bathrooms. The warrant says he also warned her that if she contacted the police, they would call immigration authorities and have her deported.

Gad told police he had a "consensual sexual relationship" with the woman, according to the warrant.

Warrant: Ramadani tried to pay off victims, delayed firing Gad

Three women, all undocumented, first reported Gad's abuse to state police in August, kicking off an investigation into the restaurant.

One of the women told state police that when she reported the abuse to Ramadani through a co-worker, he reportedly "asked her what she wanted to get out of the situation," the warrant said.

Tony Ramadani in a mugshot provided by Connecticut State Police. (Courtesy of Connecticut State Police)





The warrant said Ramadani called Gad's behavior "normal" and reportedly told one of the victims, "women get sexually assaulted all the time and never report such incidents."

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The warrant said Ramadani "expressed concern" about the immigration status of two of the women who approached him about the abuse, saying it could be put in jeopardy if attention were drawn to them. The warrant said Ramadani told the women he "had a lot of money and multiple lawyers that would overpower (them)."

The two women, who were identified in the court documents as Victim 1 and Victim 2, told investigators they had gone to a notary specializing in immigration issues, whom they thought was a lawyer. While there, Ramadani called one of the women and agreed to meet with them, the warrants said.

"A short time later, Tony arrived at the office and allegedly offered to pay Victim #1 and Victim #2 $20,000 in cash in exchange for their silence regarding the allegations against Gad," the court documents said.

The notary, whose name is redacted in the files released by state police, confirmed to investigators that Ramadani had offered the women $20,000, the warrant said.

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In an interview with state police, Ramadani denied offering $20,000, though he "admitted that he offered Victim #1 and Victim #2 $5,000, $10,000, or $15,000, but he indicated he was 'joking,'" the warrant said.

According to the warrant, Victim 1 and Victim 2 approached Ramadani in June 2025 with their allegations against Gad and asked for him to be fired. But Ramadani did not fire Gad until mid-September, another employee told police, the warrant said.

Ramadani said he delayed firing Gad, despite the allegations, because "he needed to find someone to replace him before that happened," according to the warrant.

Ramadani was freed on a $100,000 bond following his arrest, state police said. He is due to appear in state Superior Court in Waterbury on April 9.

Ramadani's restaurants previously faced lawsuits from employees

In three separate lawsuits in 2021, eight employees of Ramadani across MIX steakhouse and at least two Red Rooster locations sued the restaurateur, alleging that he had regularly paid employees sub-minimum wage for non-tipped work, in violation of Connecticut law.

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The three lawsuits did not mention any instances of sexual harassment or assault, and focused on how employees were allegedly paid as little as $6.38 per hour for tasks, including restocking and polishing silverware, cleaning coffee machines, and sweeping the server alley, none of which generated tips.

All of the lawsuits filed against Ramadani by his former employees were eventually dismissed, with Ramadani's lawyers successfully arguing in at least one instance that the allegations fell outside the state's statute of limitations.

What we don't know

Are there more victims out there?

One question is whether more victims have not yet come forward to state police to report their abuse.

In a statement, state police said they hoped all victims of sexual assault in this case would come forward.

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"We hope that if there are additional victims, this will empower them with the courage to come forward and report it to police," a police spokesperson said.

According to the arrest warrants, three of the six women who reported being assaulted by Gad were undocumented, and Ramadani allegedly threatened the women by referring to their immigration statuses, in addition to trying to buy their silence.

Gad's alleged abuse also took place over more than two years, stretching from June or July 2023 to June 2025.

Studies and surveys have both indicated that sexual harassment in the restaurant industry is rampant, with some surveys showing that upwards of 70% of women working in restaurants are harassed.

Will the charges affect Ramadani's businesses?

There's also a question how, if at all, the charges against Ramadani and Gad will affect the two Connecticut restaurants.

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In general, sustained and successful business boycotts in Connecticut are rare, and while there has been some chatter in Woodbury-area Facebook groups about avoiding the steakhouse, there is no evidence that any kind of sustained opposition is being organized.

A notable successful restaurant boycott in the state came in 2015, when New Haven-based grocer Gourmet Heaven was forced out of their lease after reports of massive wage theft led to a year-long boycott.

This story contains previous reporting from staff writers Peter Yankowski and Lisa Backus.

This article originally published at What we know about the sexual assault and bribery case involving a Connecticut restaurateur.
PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP)  Kushtrim Ajvazi is proud to be part of a successful business in one of the poorest countries in Europe. The company where he is a manager produces potato chips and other snacks that can be found in almost every shop in Kosovo and are exported abroad.

But Ajvazi's company faces unplanned challenges because of a steep rise in fuel prices caused by the war in Iran, whose ripple effects have reached this small corner of southeastern Europe.

The Pestova company has nearly 100 acres of potato fields in eastern Kosovo that are used to make the potato chips sold under the name Vipa. Both the firm and its distribution network were hit when the wholesale price of fuel rose from 1.10 euros ($1.27) to up to 1.7 euros ($1.96) per liter, Ajvazi said.

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Kosovo does not have its own fuel production. The price of diesel and gasoline is determined by importers whose profit margin is capped at 12%.

Ajvazi urged the government to help ease the burden. Spring is potato planting season.

The company needs a lot of fuel so costs are "extremely high," he said. Fertilizer prices also have gone up, but the company had reserves.

We are analyzing and calculating every additional cost, and if we see that this process of rising costs continues, we will be forced to adjust our prices," Ajvazi said.

While other countries in Balkans have put in place measures to ease the effects on farmers, Kosovo's government is yet to act. The government did not respond to questions.

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Romania, Hungary and Serbia have introduced special diesel prices for farmers or lowered the state tax income.

In Kosovo, economic experts warned that the government should urgently respond in case of a further price increase, to prevent greater damage to the economy.

There is not one sector that is not affected by the price increase," economist Safet Gerxhaliu said.

Ajvazi said his company faces additional problems because around 40% of production is exported with prearranged, fixed prices that can be changed only with a 90-day advance notice. He said it is hard to plan anything without stable prices.

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We call on the government to ease this phase for us," he said. "We are a company that exports to more than 23 different countries, including those in Europe.

The price hike has also burdened ordinary citizens. Bardh Mehmeti, an IT professional from the capital, Pristina, said he now pays 100 euros ($115) for a full tank, up from 80 euros ($92) before the crisis. Mehmeti is now seriously considering" ways to get an electric car.

Kosovo's economy has struggled ever since the country declared independence from Serbia in 2008 following a war. Serbia does not recognize the split, and the unresolved situation has stalled the countries in their bids to join the European Union.

Also affecting Kosovo's economic situation has been a prolonged political crisis that left the country without a fully functioning government for much of last year. The current government of Prime Minster Albin Kurti is again in a stalemate over a failure to elect a new president.

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The main opposition Democratic Party has criticized what it calls government inaction and urged temporary tax cuts to help ease the burden on citizens and businesses.

___

Associated Press writer Jovana Gec contributed from Belgrade, Serbia.
Kuwait, like many other countries in the region, has not been spared by the Islamic regime despite having no relations with Israel.

A shift in the Kuwaiti publics perceptions of Israel began as the war with Iran broke out, Kuwaiti dissident Jasem Aljuraid told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday.

Kuwait, like many other countries in the region, has not been spared by the Islamic regime, despite having no relations with Israel. On Monday, a worker was killed after the Iranian regime struck a desalination plant and a key power station.

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They see that Israel is throwing and shooting missiles that pass Kuwaits airspace going toward Iran, Aljuraid said. This is an unprecedented time for Kuwaitis to change their perspective and their opinion about Israel.

Last week, he delivered an impassioned address at the 61st session of the UN Human Rights Council, where he denounced atrocities committed by the Iranian regime, condemned what he described as entrenched anti-Israel double standards among member states, and criticized the historical revisionist efforts to paint the Jewish state as a colonialist force.

We need to join ventures and point out our strategic enemy and try to topple the IRGC and their militias, Aljuraid told the Post.

I wasnt wrong, he said. Israel went after Hamas. Israel went after Hezbollah. They freed Lebanon. They freed the Palestinians from Hamas in Gaza. They went after the Houthis. They weakened the Houthis. Now, Yemenis have a new government, whether we agree with the new government or not.

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Israels impact is unbelievable. I dont think that there are more important countries than Israel and the UAE in the region today. And I wasnt wrong about this, and thats why I went to the UN, and I gave that speech.

Wearing traditional Arab clothing, Aljuraid said he wanted to make it clear that he was calling out antisemitism as an Arab.

Theyre calling Israel the colonizer, the Zionist entity that is trying to expand and go back to the Greater Israel, which is a huge propaganda and an enshrinement of a lie that they want to convince the world about, he said. And then I went there and said, No, Im Kuwaiti. Im an Arab. We are the colonizers. There are 57 Islamic countries and one Jewish state. Why would we go after that Jewish state? Why, when theyre fighting our fight?

I just want to make sure that we perceive Israel as a friend, not as an enemy, he added, joking that he heard the sound of microphones dropping when he identified Arabs as colonizers.

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Aljuraids willingness to call out corruption and stand in support of Israel has come at a cost. He described how his criticism of the Muslim Brotherhood and corruption in Kuwait, coupled with inviting an Israeli journalist to his home, upended his life.

Aljuraid, who wrote extensively for the Kuwaiti daily newspaper Al-Qabas for nearly a decade, has been living in Canada for the past several years after receiving death threats and a prison sentence for referring to Israeli journalist Edy Cohen as his friend and brother in 2022. In a series of tweets, he said he hoped Cohen might one day visit his home, remarks that sparked a boycott campaign and ultimately pressured Al-Qabas to dismiss him and remove his work.

In the aftermath, prominent activists and community figures escalated their rhetoric, openly calling for his death and urging citizens to do their job if they encountered him in public, Aljuraid said.

Digital normalization of Israel

Amendments in 2021 to Kuwaits 1964 Israel Boycott Law criminalize what authorities define as digital normalization with Israel, effectively barring citizens from interacting with Israelis online. Violations can carry severe penalties, including prison sentences of up to 15 years with hard labor, as well as asset seizures.

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AT FIRST, Aljuraid was taken to court and made to pay fines equivalent to $7,000 for his articles on theMuslim Brotherhood and his investigative journalist efforts to expose corruption in his country. But after the death of emir Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, the punishments became more severe.

Aljuraid was accused of being a member of the Mossad and was strongly advised to flee the country. Soon after leaving, he said, he was sentenced to 12 years imprisonment in absentia and made a political refugee.

I never thought that this was gonna be my destiny, he added. Even Edy Cohen did not even imagine that I would be in this severe trouble.

The Muslim Brotherhoods rise in power had meant that his ability to speak, write, and report freely had been restricted, Aljuraid said.

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We used to talk about Israel and the democracy in Israel and the development of the Israeli people in the education system and so forth We were talking about it, and I was writing about it for a very long time So, it didnt resonate with me that the next government bodies were influenced by the Brotherhood, he said.

Sabah was a liberal, Aljuraid said, adding that the only reason normalization had not come under his rule was because of the countrys geographic vulnerability, being surrounded by countries hostile to the Jewish state.

The powers that took over the country, including the interior minister and the prime minister, were sympathetic to the Muslim Brotherhood and reacted strongly to Aljuraids campaign to confront the radical Islamists in Kuwait, where their power was arising in a very, very scary way, he said.

Making his situation more difficult to bear, Aljuraid said while visibly distressed, was that he missed his home and would likely not get the opportunity to say goodbye to his dying mother.

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She doesnt know why Im a political refugee today, he said. I didnt harm my countrys sovereignty, nor did I say anything wrong I miss my mom. Im lying to her every day, every day I tell her that Im coming back. I lie. I say Im coming next week; my paperwork is almost done.

Asked whether knowing what it had cost him, he would do anything differently to spare himself the heartache, Aljuraid said he would take a harsher stance than he had.

I would travel to Israel, and Id say, This is Israel. Im safe, he said. I would double down.

He had had the opportunity to retract his statements when he was hosted by Arab media outlets but refused, he added.

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While many in Kuwait have been indoctrinated by the media and prevented from deradicalizing through online or in-person interactions due to the strict anti-normalization laws, Aljuraid said he had been protected from the rhetoric by his parents.

His Muslim mother has Jewish ancestry, he said, and his father didnt trust Palestinians after Yasser Arafat and the PLO supported Saddam Husseins 1990 invasion of Kuwait.

Forgotten by many in Kuwait, although not his father, was Israels restraint in responding to Husseins forces during the 1991 Gulf War attacks, Aljuraid said.

So, this is, this is also a very noble stance that we will never forget for Israel, he said.
The Kansas Legislature shuddered to a bone-crunching stop early Saturday, with the House and Senate coughing up a property tax proposal and then lumbering sheepishly away.

The spectacle of the Statehouse in its final week  both lawmakers and the bills they shredded like so many caffeinated zombies  left onlookers aghast. State budget director Adam Proffitt, not normally an overheated sort, savaged the worst budget Ive seen come through this building during my time. I heard similar shocked exhortations from other onlookers, advocates and journalists.

Statehouse scraps

Opinion editor Clay Wirestones weekly roundup of Kansas legislative exploits. Read the archive.

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Since returning to Kansas in the summer of 2016, Ive tracked 10 legislative sessions. Each year tends to be worse than the one before, with more procedural chicanery and ideological stonewalling. But 2026 was something to behold.

Lame duck House Speaker Dan Hawkins clashed with rebellious Republicans in his chamber last week. The great sausage maker churned for hour after hour, with GOP members huddling behind closed doors as Democrats fumed.

Senate President Ty Masterson put nerves further on edge by ringing a bell outside the chamber, prompting opposition outrage.

(Kansas Reflector video)

Yes, it was ridiculous bordering on comic for a few days there.

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By early Saturday, time had run out. The session that was rumored to end in early March had instead stretched nearly to months end, leaving business undone. Members might take another whack at property taxes when they return for a veto session next month, but they passed a budget and a handful of other important bills (a couple worthy, a couple less so).

Kansas Reflector will catch up throughout this week and next, making sure that you know everything that happened in those waning hours and how it affects you. Keep refreshing those browser windows.

House Speaker Dan Hawkins, left, and Senate President Ty Masterson converse at a Jan. 8, 2026, legislative meeting. (Photo by Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector)

The real problem

Behind the silliness skulks a monstrous problem.

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What happened in Topeka last week exemplifies the brokenness of Kansas politics. Bills affecting the entire state were drafted on the fly, debated in minutes and voted on by lawmakers who hadnt read the text.

This isnt some sort of rhetorical hyperbole. This is what happened, day in and day out.

Republicans have the votes to pass whatever they want. This has been true for years. If they want to pass a budget that cuts all spending except a gargantuan yearly payment to Koch Industries for the privilege of sharing the state, they can do so. Voters elected the officials they elected, and those officials will vote as they see fit.

This perversion of institutional, legislative and ethical norms cannot  and should not  be stomached by any Kansan. We all lose. Conservatives, centrists, liberals and libertarians alike. Leaders instead short-circuit public input, committee and chamber debate, and the time needed to reach good decisions.

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Bills pass. But no one knows or grasps the consequences. This betrays every Kansan who expects a government to serve them.

Next session, the House will elect new leaders. The Senate may have a new president, too, depending on how the gubernatorial election goes. The time will be ripe to reconsider  from top to bottom  how bills become law in the Sunflower State. Our shared future depends on doing better.

Claeys redux

Believe me, Id love for a few weeks to pass without writing about Sen. Joe Claeys, R-Wichita.

Yet he keeps saying things on the Senate floor that I cant ignore. If he cant help it, then I cant help it either. On Thursday night he grumbled about the final budget, particularly the removal of a $1 million transportation project funded by cuts to public broadcasting and the states art commission.

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Commission funding was cut by $250,000 (down from a proposed $500,000), but lawmakers actually increased public media funding by $300,000.

Claeys knew who to single out while belting Dont Cry for Me Argentina on the Senate floor: Me.

We made the right decision, he told Senate colleagues of the original proposal. We funded that. This ride (program) was paid for by reducing a television subsidy. I was told it was a false choice. The Kansas Reflector called it a nonsensical class warfare. Fine. But were deficit spending in this budget, in the red by $700 million last I looked.

You can watch the senators full colloquy in the video above. Hes hanging onto that false choice rhetoric like his life depends on it.

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GOP senators and representatives chose to pass repeated rounds of tax cuts for the richest Kansans. Now Claeys argues that the arts have to be cut  not because theyre bad or dont serve the public, but because he wants to support another program. But his colleagues inept budgeting got them into this mess, not PBS.

If lawmakers can cut taxes year after year, they can manage to locate the revenue to support multiple good things. That might make the Wichita senator happy, besides.

Gov. Laura Kelly answers a reporters questions during a Feb. 24, 2026, interview in her office at the Statehouse in Topeka. (Photo by Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector)

All eyes on Kelly

Now its Democratic Gov. Laura Kellys turn.

The Legislature dumped a steaming bag of odiferous legislation on the front porch of Cedar Crest and sped off into the darkness. She has to decide whether to bring some or all of the contents of that bag inside her home.

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Given the rebellion against Hawkins in the House, most bills coming through the chamber recently have been short of veto-proof majorities. The Senate has hung together better, but strain has begun to show there as well. In the House, a bill needs 84 votes set in stone to become law over Kellys objections. In the Senate, it needs 27. But look at some of the recent totals on important bills.

That property tax measure passed the House 63-59 and the Senate 22-18, according to the Kansas City Stars Matthew Kelly.

A duo of troublesome elections bills passed the House 80-43 and 78-45. Both whipped through the Senate 28-12.

The budget passed the House 67-53, while clearing the Senate 23-17.

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Kelly can delete individual spending line items in the budget, so she might be tempted to use a scalpel rather than a hatchet when it comes to overall state spending. But she could still go for the gusto and veto the whole megillah. As for those other bills, she has room to wield that veto pen.

Well see what she does over these next two weeks.

Programming note: Statehouse Scraps will skip next week but will return to cover the April 9-10 veto session. Ill see you then!

Clay Wirestone is Kansas Reflector opinion editor. Through its opinion section, Kansas Reflector works to amplify the voices of people who are affected by public policies or excluded from public debate. Find information, including how to submit your own commentary, here.
STOCKTON, Mo.  Long before Stockton Lake, long before the Sac River was controlled by a dam, people kept returning to the same bend in what is now Cedar County.

They came because the place had what they needed.

The river offered fish and mussels. Gravel bars held chert, the hard stone used to make tools and spear points. The nearby woods and floodplain provided plants, game and fuel. And after people left, the river slowly covered their camps with new layers of dirt and silt.

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That is what made Big Eddy so unusual.

Instead of mixing everything together, the river buried one period after another, almost like stacking pages in a book. Missouri State University says every major prehistoric period is represented at the site, with the oldest artifacts found 11 to 13 feet below the surface.

Then the river started taking that history back.

Archaeologists first noticed artifacts there in 1986 while canoeing the Sac River in Cedar County. Missouri State says the site began eroding in the 1970s, and a 2002 magazine article said the riverbank was being lost at more than four feet a year in places. Researchers tied much of that erosion to large water releases from Stockton Dam upstream.

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That turned Big Eddy into a race against time.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers funded five excavation seasons between 1997 and 2005. When archaeologists from Missouri State began digging, they thought the site held evidence of Native occupation going back about 8,000 years. They soon realized it was much older. The university says Big Eddy contained artifacts among the oldest found on the continent, some left in place more than 13,000 years ago.

The 1997 dig showed just how deep that history ran.

Researchers found evidence from the Mississippian, Woodland, Archaic and Paleoindian periods, and possibly from an even earlier time. That meant the same spot had been used again and again across thousands of years, by very different groups of people.

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The site was especially important because it did not just produce old objects.

It showed how people used the place.

Archaeologists found spear points, scrapers, drills and piles of stone flakes left over from making tools. In some layers, they could see clusters of that debris still sitting where ancient people left it. That told researchers Big Eddy was not just a place where people passed through. At times, it was a camp, a work site and possibly a meeting place.

Some of the oldest layers drew the most attention.

Missouri State says at least three, and possibly as many as five, very early Native cultures are represented there, including Clovis or Gainey, Dalton and San Patrice. Those names come from the styles of spear points and tools found in the ground. Big Eddy mattered because those early layers were still separate and readable, instead of jumbled together.

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That gave archaeologists something rare.

Usually, ancient points are found alone or mixed in with later material. At Big Eddy, researchers could tell which objects belonged together and which time period they came from. That made it easier to see how tool styles changed and how peoples use of the site changed over time.

The site also raised a bigger question.

Missouri State says later digging found hints that people may have been there even before Clovis, which would push the history back to roughly 14,000 to 15,000 years ago. The evidence was not conclusive. Researchers found stones that may have been used as tools, but they were careful not to overstate what those finds meant.

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Even so, the possibility drew national attention.

Archaeologists quoted by Missouri State described Big Eddy as one of the most important stratified Paleoindian sites in the country and one of the archaeological treasures of the midcontinent.

Later work widened the story beyond the artifacts themselves.

Researchers studied the valley, the soil, plant remains and radiocarbon dates to better understand what the landscape looked like when people were living there. By then, Big Eddy was not just helping explain one campsite. It was helping explain an ancient stretch of the Ozarks.

Today, Big Eddy is still little known outside archaeology circles.

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But along one quiet stretch of river in Cedar County, researchers found a record of human life that had been buried, layer by layer, for thousands of years  and was almost lost before anyone understood what it was.

Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KOLR - OzarksFirst.com.
Four Republican candidates for Oklahoma governor will be debating at a forum hosted by the Oklahoma Freedom Caucus, a group of lawmakers that wants to shift state politics to the right.

The forum, which will be held at the Oklahoma History Center in Oklahoma City, starts at 6:30 p.m. Monday, March 30.

Watch: GOP candidates for Oklahoma governor speak at debate

You can watch the debate live below starting at 6:30 p.m.

When is the next gubernatorial election in Oklahoma?

The primary election is June 16. If no Republican candidate wins at least more than 50% of the vote, there will be a runoff between the top two vote getters on Aug. 25.

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The winner of the runoff will then go against the lone Democratic nominee, House Democratic Leader Cyndi Munson, and a trio of independent candidates in the general election. This election will take place Nov. 3.

Who can vote in Oklahoma's primary elections?

Oklahoma's primary elections are closed, which means only voters registered with a party can vote in that party's primary.

Voters can change their party affiliation before April 1, 2026. State law prohibits party affiliation changes from April 1 through Aug. 31.

Party affiliation changes submitted during the closed period will be processed on Sept. 1, 2026. Changes can be made online through the OK Voter Portal.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Watch GOP candidates for OK governor debate live ahead of 2026 primary
HANOI, March 30 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam's capital Hanoi has proposed a roadmap for converting its bus fleet to green energy, the Vietnam News Agency reported Monday.

All buses operating within Ring Roads 1, 2 and 3 are set to switch to electric or compressed natural gas (CNG) power from July 1, 2026, Jan. 1, 2028, and in 2030, respectively, the state media said, citing a report from the Hanoi Center for Traffic Management and Operation.

The plan also includes adjustments to various routes and the opening of new services to improve operations and better meet travel demand.

According to Thai Ho Phuong, director of the center, the move is necessary as the capital city is phasing out fossil fuel vehicles and promoting the use of public transport.

Current data show that across the three ring roads, Hanoi operates a total of 225 bus and branch routes, including 65 electric routes, 15 CNG routes and 145 diesel-powered routes. 
Jury selection is set to start on Monday for a murder trial involving a cold case from over 20 years ago. DeMorris Hunter faces charges for the 2002 murder of Theresa Green in College Park.

Hunter has been detained in Orange County Jail for 11 years as he awaits trial for Greens death, 24 years after Green was discovered in a car trunk.

He is also serving four life sentences in California for an unrelated murder of another woman, who was killed a few months prior to Green.

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In May 2002, Theresa Green was discovered dead inside the trunk of an abandoned sedan in a Sanford parking lot. Investigators soon identified Hunter as the main suspect. At the time of the murder, Hunter had recently relocated to Orlando and was using the alias Michael Berry.

Hunter left Florida soon after Greens body was discovered. Two years later, in 2004, police arrested him in Texas. He was then extradited to California to face charges for the murder of another woman, who was killed just months prior to Greens discovery. Hunter was convicted of that murder and received four life sentences in California.

In 2014, Hunter was indicted by an Orange County grand jury for Greens death. He was extradited to Florida in 2015 to face a new murder charge. Hunter has been incarcerated for the past 25 years, spanning his time in California and Florida.

Over the past 11 years, the legal process in Orange County has faced numerous delays. Hunter has had at least six different public defenders since arriving at the Orange County Jail. His trial date has been postponed multiple times during his decade-long wait for a jury.

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Defense attorneys have submitted motions to exclude the death penalty as a potential sentence if Hunter is convicted. However, those efforts have not succeeded yet, and the death penalty is still on the table for prosecutors.

Jury selection is set to start tomorrow morning, with the trial expected to continue in Orange County court after the jury members are chosen.

Click here to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.
Los Angeles County saw the largest decline of any county in the United States in 2025, according to new census data published on March 26.

Nearly 54,000 people moved out of L.A. County between July 1, 2024 and July 1, 2025, U.S. Census data shows. The decline is part of an ongoing trend. In 2020 L.A. County was estimated to have more than 10 million residents. As of 2025, the county was thought to have just under 9.7 million residents.

Its unclear where the fleeing Angelinos are moving. However, the neighboring counties of Riverside and San Bernardino saw a combined increase of 21,131 residents between 2024 and 2025, according to U.S. Census data. The greater Las Vegas area also saw a population boost of more than 21,000 people last year.

The downtown Los Angeles skyline is pictured on Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026. (KTLA)

Despite the ongoing decline, L.A. County still remains the nations most populous county, nearly doubling the population of the next largest county, Cook County, Ill. (5.2 million residents).

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The second largest decline was seen in Pinellas County, Fla., with a population decrease of nearly 12,000 people. Orange County (-8,520), San Diego County (-5,294) and Ventura County (-2,580) also made the top 10 list for largest population declines in the U.S. last year.

Although L.A. County saw the largest total decline, percentage-wise, its losses were minimal compared to other U.S. counties. L.A.s population declined roughly 0.5% between 2024 and 2025. The counties that lost the largest percentage of residents include Taylor County, Fla. (-2.2%), Vernon Parish, La. (-2.1%) and Del Norte County, Calif. (-2%). Other California counties to lose the highest percent of residents include Tuolumne County (1.9%) and Lassen County (1.7%).

Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTLA.




After the chaotic March primaries in Dallas County, those of us who live here can breathe a sigh of relief. For the primary runoffs on May 26, the county will abandon precinct-based voting and go back to countywide polling places, meaning you can vote wherever its most convenient for you.

After the chaotic March primaries in Dallas County, those of us who live here can breathe a sigh of relief.

Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, a Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, leaves the stage after speaking during a primary election watch party Tuesday, March 3, 2026, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez) (Tony Gutierrez/AP)





Thats because the local Democratic and Republican parties have agreed to go back to joint elections for the runoffs, according to news reports. It was the Dallas County GOP that threw a wrench into the primaries in the first place by insisting on precinct-based voting for Republicans.

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But you cant have only Republicans doing precinct-based voting. Per state law, if one party does it, then the other has to as well.

This is the subhed

And thats how we ended up with chaos on March 3: Voter after voter showed up at their usual polling place but had to be turned around because it wasnt their assigned voting location. The confusion was such that lines formed at some Dallas County polls close to the 7 p.m. deadline. County officials extended Democratic voting hours after a local judge granted an emergency request from party officials, but those after-hours ballots were ultimately not counted.

Residents wait in line past 10 p.m. to cast their primary election votes at Samuell-Grand Recreation Center in Dallas. (Shafkat Anowar/Staff Photographer)





We knew from our colleagues reporting on election day that hundreds, at least, had been turned away and referred to another polling place. Now we have hard numbers. Dallas County commissioners were told last week that at least 12,600 people had been sent text messages redirecting them to a new location.

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That whopping number by itself is an undercount because some people who were redirected opted not to receive text messages.

After the primaries, Dallas County GOP Chair Allen West issued a statement dripping with condescension: Yesterday Republican voters in Dallas County evidenced their ability to adapt and overcome proving that precinct level voting can be accomplished on primary Election Day. Its apparent that Democrats struggled with grasping basic civics and their usual attempt at lawfare backfired.

Yet an analysis of county data by the news outlet Votebeat found that at least 7.7% of the voters seeking to participate in the Democratic primary and 6.4% of voters seeking to cast ballots in the Republican primary went to the wrong voting site. West didnt respond to Votebeats findings.

We suspect West gave up on precinct-based voting because his stunt risked confusing Republican voters gearing up for the red-hot runoff for U.S. Senate between incumbent John Cornyn and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.

As we see it, West was willing to undercut Democrats at the expense of voters in his own party. Dallas County Republicans deserve, and should demand, better leadership.
A bill ensuring that lawfully present immigrants can access food assistance received initial approval in both chambers of the Maine Legislature.

In response to the federal government limiting some immigrants eligibility for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, the proposal aims to clarify current state law to ensure they still receive state-funded SNAP benefits.

In Maine, these groups of legal immigrants have not needed to depend on the states SNAP program until now, because they could get food assistance from its federal counterpart. But with the loss of federal support through the changes made under HR 1, the Trump administrations sweeping budget law, refugees, domestic violence survivors and human trafficking victims were deemed ineligible for food assistance, despite their legal presence and humanitarian protections.

The amended version of the bill defines which groups of immigrants are eligible for state-funded benefits, but does not expand the food assistance state program, which is why the bill has no associated fiscal note.

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During floor debate in the Maine House of Representatives last week, Republican Rep. Michael Lemelin of Chelsea questioned the need for the bill, saying all the poor people who are legally here and are not cheating the system will get SNAP, thats what HR 1 says.

Rep. Bill Pluecker, an independent from Warren who introduced the legislation, explained that the individuals it serves  refugees and asylum seekers, survivors of persecution and those on temporary protected status  often pay state and local taxes, are now barred from programs that they help support.

Maine established its state SNAP program nearly three decades ago with the deliberate purpose of addressing gaps left by federal benefit structures, Pluecker said. With the recent passage of HR 1 and its considerable reductions to federal food assistance, the importance of maintaining that state level infrastructure cannot be overstated.

There was no debate in the Senate, but Sen. Henry Ingwersen, a Democrat from Arundel, said the bill takes proactive steps to protect against future threats to SNAP access.

The bill will now go back to both chambers for final enactment votes before it is sent to the governors desk.

SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON, March 30 (Reuters) - Major U.S. airports that suffered massive disruptions for weeks after 50,000 Transportation Security Administration security officers went unpaid since mid-February say operations are returning to normal.

Airports in Baltimore, Houston, New York, New Orleans and Dallas, which have all experienced massive delays in recent weeks, all reported very short lines on Monday. The standoff brought chaos and in some cases security lines topping four hours, the longest in the TSA's nearly 25-year history.

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President Donald Trump signed an emergency directive on Friday ordering TSA workers to get paid despite a failure of Congress to end the 45-day-old partial government shutdown and the Homeland Security Department said workers started getting paid Monday, the agency said.

DHS said most TSA officers on Monday received a retroactive paycheck that included at least two full two-week paychecks and plans to provide workers with the remainder of a partial missed paycheck from the beginning of the shutdown as soon as possible.

Asked why Trump did not sign the order earlier to pay TSA officers, White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said an "existential crisis" at U.S. airports prompted the emergency action last week.

Tens of thousands of other DHS workers are still not being paid.

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Leavitt said Trump wants Congress to return to Washington immediately to pass legislation to fully fund the Homeland Security Department.

Absences on Friday hit a high since the shutdown began with about 12.4% of workers not showing up, or 3,560 and massive lines were reported at many major airports but fell over the weekend. More than 500 airport security officers have quit since mid-February.

More than a third of workers did not show on Friday at New York JFK. Baltimore, Atlanta and New Orleans and 45% of workers did not show up Friday at Houston's two airports.

Democrats in Congress have held up funding for DHS while demanding changes in rules governing its immigration operations, after agents in Minneapolis shot and killed U.S. citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti.

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Congressional Democrats had proposed funding TSA separately while negotiating over reforms on how Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents operate.

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 and passed a bill to fund all of DHS.

Airports are grappling with a school spring-break travel surge with about 5% higher volume than last year's.

Hundreds of U.S. immigration agents and Homeland Security Investigations officers began deploying at 14 U.S. airports last week to aid security screening and the White House said they would remain in place until operations returned to normal.

(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Nick Zieminski)
NEED TO KNOW

In July, Jeff Brady jumped into the Colorado River to save his girlfriend's two nephews after they became distressed while swimming

The boys were saved, but Jeff went into the water  and his body was only found hours later

Now he is being honored as a hero by the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission

A man in California is being honored as a hero after he died last year saving his girlfriends two nephews from drowning.

The incident unfolded in July when 51-year-old Jeff Brady was with his twin brother, Greg, traveling through Colorado River with other family members, according to local NBC station KNSD.

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Jeffrey's girlfriends 10-year-old nephew swam out to deeper water and the boy's 12-year-old brother followed before they began struggling to swim, according to the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission, which this week awarded Jeff with a medal.

Jeff's boat was anchored at a nearby sandbar when he heard the boys cries for help, the fund said.

Jeff didnt hesitate, he saw children in danger and acted without a second thought. Thats just who he was.... a protector, a provider, and a selfless hero, wrote the organizers of a GoFundMe created to support Jeff's family.

The commission said Jeff's brother, Greg, also jumped in the water to help before a passing boat stopped to give aid.

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Jeff, however, had already gone underwater. While the two boys were unharmed, he drowned and his body was found hours later.

I reach for my phone at least once or twice a day to call him or text him about something thats going on in my life, his brother told KNSD.

An obituary for Jeff said that his final moments were spent doing what he always did best: protecting and helping others.

Jeffs final act was one of pure selflessness and couragean embodiment of the man he was every day of his life. In the face of danger, Jeff didnt hesitate. He gave his life so that others could live, becoming a true guardian angel in the process, his obituary said.

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According to the fundraiser for his family, Jeff "had recently started a new chapter of life."

He'd moved "from California to Yuma, Arizona just two months ago. He bought a new home to create a safe and peaceful space for his loved ones. Living with him were the two people who meant the world to him, Elen, the love of his life, and his 84-year-old blind father," according to the GoFundMe.

Never miss a story  sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

This week the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission give him a posthumous medal as one of 18 recipients who risked their life to save another, the fund said.

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The award includes a cash grant and a medallion inscribed with his story.

Hes obviously very deserving of this ... but obviously I would much rather have my brother here, his brother told ABC affiliate KGTV.

Greg he plans to use the grant toward a scholarship for high school students and toward the Jeff Brady Water Safety Initiative that he hopes will promote safer conditions on the Colorado River.

I try to live every day to do right in his eyes, Greg told KGTV, and just keep his legacy and his memory alive.

Read the original article on People
In the dorm room she once shared with her best friend, 19-year-old Babson College freshman Alejandra Esquivel said Any Lucia Lopez Bellozas empty desk haunts her every day.

Its a constant reminder of her roommates deportation while trying to surprise her family for Thanksgiving this past fall, of the life and traditions the two first-generation students built together  before federal immigration authorities tore them apart.

Its very lonely, Esquivel, of Dallas, Texas, said on Sunday. She stood on the grassy Wellesley Town Square, surrounded by about 100 fellow Babson, Wellesley and Olin College students, faculty and community members.

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Starting around 12:15 p.m. Sunday, the group marched from their respective campuses to the town center, coming together in protest of Lopez Bellozas deportation this past fall.

The protesters held signs that read, Bring Any home with her picture and Any has a right to a seat in my classroom. They wore t-shirts created by her attorney, Todd Pomerleau, which read Get MADD, Get Even, in red and yellow letters and showed images of fists raised, two parents hugging a child and the hashtag #ICEout.

Madd stood for the newly formed nonprofit deportation defense clinic, Mass Deportation Defense, launched by Pomerleaus firm to fight high-stakes immigration and deportation cases like Lopez Belloza.

A legal fight of flights

Any Lucia Lopez Belloza was taken into U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody at Logan Airport on Nov. 20, 2025, before boarding a flight to Texas to surprise her family. She was deported to Honduras  a move the government later called a mistake  and a federal judge ordered her return last month.

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Lopez Belloza did not board the flight back after receiving conflicting information from officials, Pomerleau said. U.S. District Judge Richard G. Stearns then dismissed her lawsuit, saying the court lost jurisdiction once she declined the flight.

The sad truth is that when Any declined the flight she also waived this courts only remaining basis for jurisdiction, he wrote. Any civil contempt dissolved when the government complied with the facilitation order.

As of Sunday, Lopez Bellozas case is before the First Circuit Court of Appeals, where a growing team of high-profile attorneys  including attorneys from Willkie Farr & Gallagher, the ACLU, Yale Law Schools Rule of Law Clinic and the democracy watchdog Protect Democracy  is challenging the governments refusal to bring her back, attorney Todd Pomerleau told the crowd.

We have her fight  its in the First Circuit Court of Appeals, Pomerleau said. Were not stopping till Anys back home. Were not stopping till she gets justice.

In her own words

In a letter read aloud to the crowd, Lopez Belloza thanked supporters and described a roller coaster of legal updates since she was deported.

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... I found out that my return was a trap. My happiness, that I was going to be back at Babson and my family  everything from there went downhill.

She said, Every day is a fight for me. I have never struggled with mental health, but it has come to a point that I keep getting anxiety and panic attacks  at the same time that I want to give up, but I cant give up because deep down, I want to continue to fight so everything ends and I can return to Babson to pursue my education.

Lopez Belloza also pleaded, All that I ask is for them to let us finish our studies, so we can contribute to the country that saw me and other students journeys. To complete our dreams, so later in life we can work and give back to our communities.

When asked what its been like to go through freshman year without her roommate, Esquivel could not hold back her tears.

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We were really close and we had a tradition of, you know, saying good morning to each other, just asking each other how our day would go, she cried. The two still talk frequently, Esquivel said, but all they want is for Lopez Belloza to be home. We would have dinner at the end of the day ... I did have such a great person with me.

More stories involving ICE

Read the original article on MassLive. Add MassLive as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Multiple members of the Memphis-Shelby County Schools board are up for reelection, and two face challengers.

That isn't the case for the District 8 seat on the board, which is currently represented by Amber Huett-Garcia. Huett-Garcia, who has been on the board since 2022, is running for the Shelby County Commission District 13 seat.

Some of the schools in District 8 are:

White Station Elementary

Richland Elementary

White Station Middle School

Kate Bond Middle

White Station High School

Bolton High

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The Commercial Appeal reached out to all candidates who qualified for the ballot about some of the most pressing issues facing the district and what voters should know about them. Answers for this district and others were edited for brevity, clarity and formatting, and some spelling and grammar errors were also corrected. Candidates are listed in alphabetical order. Any emphasis or links are the candidates' own.

Ayleem Connolly

CA: Why are you running for office?

Ayleem Connolly: I am first a mom, a wife and a former Memphis-Shelby County Schools teacher who until last year wasnt planning to run for this office. Im originally from the Dominican Republic and after college I worked for the countrys national department of education, helping administer technical schools for arts nationwide. I moved to Memphis in 2014 when my brother was undergoing treatment at St. Jude Childrens Research Hospital. I began working as a Spanish teacher and taught hundreds of students at two disadvantaged schools  Oakhaven High and Trezevant High  and later taught for several years at East High, where I was World Language department chair.

Ayleem Connolly

I have two masters degrees in education  one from EOI University in Spain, another from Freed-Hardeman University here in Tennessee. I became a naturalized citizen in 2019... Two events last year prompted me to run for office. The first was the turmoil over the Marie Feagins case early in 2025  I opposed the firing and communicated with school board members about it...The second event that prompted me to run for office was the Tennessee legislatures unconstitutional move to force immigrant students out of public schools...I am a former teacher, and my priorities can be summed up in a few words. Serve the children. Pay the teachers. Empower parents. Keep local control.

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... I am running because I believe our district can thrive when decisions are made transparently, when families are respected as partners, and when every child  regardless of background, language, or ZIP code  has access to a fully funded, highquality education. I want to bring my teaching experience, my experience in the national government of the Dominican Republic, my advocacy, my experience in operations and quality control for a large company, and my commitment to equity to the board so we can protect our students and strengthen our schools for the long term.

CA: MSCS faces a large deferred maintenance budget, and the prospect of the closure of multiple schools over the course of the next few years. What are your priorities for the district's infrastructure?

AC: School board members and staffers have already studied the infrastructure issue extensively. I would follow the priorities established by the district. An excellent resource for the public on this issue is called Blueprint for MSCS Greatness  its available online at blueprintforgreatness.org. As a board member, I pledge to communicate with parents to learn about infrastructure needs that might have been overlooked, and to advocate to have those needs addressed.

CA: The school district is, again, facing the threat of a state takeover. Why do you want this position, given the possibility the Tennessee General Assembly could strip away much of its power, and how involved do you think the state should be in MSCS?

AC: As a Memphian and a former teacher, I oppose the state takeover, and if necessary, I would join other school board members in filing a lawsuit to stop it. Multiple groups and organizations in Memphis  including the two teachers unions, members of the Shelby County Commission, Stand for Children, and Memphis for All  have already developed an accountability plan aimed at improving the boards infrastructure and responsiveness. Their work focuses on strengthening academic outcomes, expanding student services, and ensuring meaningful parent input. If the Republican supermajority in the state legislature wants to influence the direction of Memphis-Shelby County Schools, they should invest in recruiting and preparing strong Republican candidates to run for school board  the same way they have done in other municipalities.

Memphis-Shelby County Schools board chair Natalie McKinney speaks to the media while surrounded by other elected officials and community leaders after a press conference announcing a new MSCS accountability and transformation plan in Memphis, Tenn., on March 6, 2026. State Senator Brent Taylor speaks to media as MSCS Board Members Natalie McKinney and Sable Otey and State Rep. Antonio Parkinson speak to each other in the background after Taylor abruptly arrived at the end of a press conference announcing a new MSCS accountability and transformation plan in Memphis, Tenn., on March 6, 2026. Memphis-Shelby County School Board member Sable Otey speaks during a press conference to announce the MSCS local accountability and transformation plan while surrounded by fellow board members and other elected officials and community leaders in Memphis, Tenn., on March 6, 2026. State Senator Brent Taylor speaks to MSCS board member Towanna Murphy after Taylor abruptly arrived at the end of a press conference announcing a new MSCS accountability and transformation plan in Memphis, Tenn., on March 6, 2026. Memphis City Council member JB Smiley speaks during a press conference announcing a new MSCS accountability and transformation plan in Memphis, Tenn., on March 6, 2026. Shelby County Commissioner Mickell Lowery speaks during a press conference announcing a new MSCS accountability and transformation plan in Memphis, Tenn., on March 6, 2026. Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris speaks during a press conference announcing a new MSCS accountability and transformation plan in Memphis, Tenn., on March 6, 2026. U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen speaks during a press conference announcing a new MSCS accountability and transformation plan in Memphis, Tenn., on March 6, 2026. State Senator Brent Taylor speaks to MSCS Board Members Natalie McKinney and Sable Otey and State Rep. Antonio Parkinson after Taylor abruptly arrived at the end of a press conference announcing a new MSCS accountability and transformation plan in Memphis, Tenn., on March 6, 2026. State Senator Brent Taylor speaks to media after Taylor abruptly arrived at the end of a press conference announcing a new MSCS accountability and transformation plan in Memphis, Tenn., on March 6, 2026. State Senator Brent Taylor speaks to MSCS Board Member Sable Otey and State Rep. Antonio Parkinson after Taylor abruptly arrived at the end of a press conference announcing a new MSCS accountability and transformation plan in Memphis, Tenn., on March 6, 2026. MSCS, local elected officials propose alternative to state takeover 1 of 11 Memphis-Shelby County Schools board chair Natalie McKinney speaks to the media while surrounded by other elected officials and community leaders after a press conference announcing a new MSCS accountability and transformation plan in Memphis, Tenn., on March 6, 2026.

But there are no Republican candidates in this years school board races  not one. Rather, the Republican supermajority plans to bypass elections and create its own unelected board. I understand that the legislature has argued that in a state takeover, they would appoint a local body to make decisions on behalf of students. However, this approach would duplicate the cost of the current board, undermine the authority of elected representatives, and remove a key democratic mechanism that ensures accountability to all voters. When the people of Shelby County called for reforms last year, they were not asking for a state takeover that would wipe out their will.

CA: MSCS has long struggled with poor academic performance. How do you think, as a school board member, you can help improve academics?

AC: Again, the Ayleem Connolly campaign motto is Serve the children. Pay the teachers. Empower parents. Keep local control. In a school system, the person most directly responsible for driving academic success is the superintendent. Serving the children means supporting the superintendent in that effort and holding the superintendent accountable for any areas where academic achievement falls short.

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Serving the children also means improving students day to day experience by improving the quality of meals. Serving the children also means working with the community to increase enrichment programs from early childhood all the way through high school. By enrichment, I mean access to sports, specialty camps, tutoring and more. The district already offers access to some of this, but we can increase it in targeted areas that need it more. Serving the children also means addressing mental health problems. In one case several years ago, an honors student in my class had a psychotic episode and I was asked by the principal to ride with her in an ambulance to the hospital.

The student was later placed in Lakeside Behavioral Health hospital and was out of school for several months. Thats an extreme case, but it helps illustrate that without mental health, its far harder for students to achieve academic success. My experience as a teacher showed me that many students suffer daily from anxiety, depression and trauma. I want to serve students by collaborating with the Shelby County Commission, City Council and the school board to provide greater access to mental health care for students. Knoxville has a successful program that we can imitate.

CA: What are your top 3 priorities if elected?

AC: In addition to fighting for local control and improving students experience and outcomes, my other big priorities include maintaining strong communication with parents and improving teacher pay and working conditions. Communication: As a board member, I will host quarterly virtual and in-person town halls to ensure parents have a consistent, accessible space to share concerns and priorities. And on an ongoing basis, I will send out updates and refer and address key issues raised by families to district staff for follow-up and action.

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Improving teacher pay and working conditions: Far too many teachers quit the profession. We can increase teacher retention by doing smart things like expanding teacher maternity and paternity leave. Today, the Memphis-Shelby County Schools offers only six weeks of paid parental leave. Thats far too little time, especially if the mother is recovering from a cesarean section, and I will advocate to improve it to at least 12 weeks of paid leave...Importantly, improving parental leave wouldnt cost much at all, since each year, only 1.8% to 3.5% of teachers take paid parental leave each year, according to the National Council on Teacher Quality. This is one example of how the school system could dramatically improve employees lives and keep more good talent in the classroom.

We should also explore renegotiating health care contracts to control costs for teachers and other employees. When I moved from public school teaching to the corporate world, I was shocked at how much my health insurance premiums dropped. We should work to control health insurance costs. The school system has 15,000 employees, and we could combine our pool with that of other nearby school systems to improve bargaining power with insurers.

Learn about other districts: Learn more about the Memphis-Shelby County Schools board candidates

CA: What else do you want voters to know about you that will help them make an informed decision on election day?

AC: To date, I have received endorsements from current Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris, from the National Womens Political Caucus and from Fuerza Democrats Tennessee. All the candidates for MSCS School Board District 8 are strong professionals with good judgment. That said, I believe I have the strongest background in education. During eight years of classroom teaching of multiple courses at a time at Oakhaven High, Trezevant High and East High, I taught well over 1,000 students from all types of backgrounds and zip codes. I understand education at the big picture level, too. More than a decade ago, before I came to Memphis, I worked in the national department of education for the Dominican Republic.

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I have since earned two masters degrees in education. I now work as a corporate trainer for a Fortune 500 company and I have to solve complex national and international problems involving logistics and operations that impact millions of dollars in revenue. In addition to my strong education background, I have the heart and the will to fight for my community of Memphis, especially during this sensitive time.

Tanya Frey

CA: Why are you running for office?

Tanya Frey: I care deeply about the future of our public schools and the families who rely on them. Memphis-Shelby County Schools is a large and complex district. The boards role is to ask the right questions, provide steady leadership, and make sure decisions are grounded in whats best for students. Im running to bring focus on supporting educators and families, clear communication, and strong accountability. As a public school-educated parent, and mom of public school-educated children, an attorney, and someone who works with organizations on leadership and decision-making, Ive seen how much thoughtful oversight matters.

Tanya Frey

CA: MSCS faces a large deferred maintenance budget, and the prospect of the closure of multiple schools over the course of the next few years. What are your priorities for the district's infrastructure?

TF: First, schools must be safe and functional places for students and educators. The districts facilities challenges have been building for years, so the solution requires transparency and long-term planning. Families deserve clear information about the condition of school buildings, the cost of repairs, and the districts plan moving forward. As a board member, I would make it a priority to listen to families and clearly explain the reasoning behind decisions that affect their schools. If difficult decisions like consolidation or closure come up, those decisions should be transparent and focused on student impact. Schools are deeply connected to their communities, so families deserve to be part of those conversations.

CA: The school district is, again, facing the threat of a state takeover. Why do you want this position, given the possibility the Tennessee General Assembly could strip away much of its power, and how involved do you think the state should be in MSCS?

TF: Local leadership matters, especially during times of uncertainty. I wouldnt be running for this position if I didnt believe local governance mattered. The state has a role in setting standards and accountability, but local communities should have a real voice in decisions about their schools. My focus would be on strong oversight, clear communication with families, and making sure decisions remain centered on students.

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Even with the possibility of state intervention, our students need leaders who are focused on the day-to-day work of supporting schools, listening to families, and ensuring the district is being managed responsibly. I have a track record of working and collaborating with many groups. If a board of managers is appointed I'm committed to working with them and board colleagues to get results for Memphis students and educators.

CA: MSCS has long struggled with poor academic performance. How do you think, as a school board member, you can help improve academics?

TF: Improving academic outcomes starts with supporting the people closest to students  our teachers and school leaders. The boards role isnt to run classrooms. The board's role is to set clear expectations, ask the right questions about results, and make sure the districts policies and resources are helping students learn. That also means listening to educators and families about whats working and where improvements are needed. When leadership is focused and accountable, it creates the conditions for stronger academic outcomes.

CA: What are your top 3 priorities if elected?

TF: Pride in our public schools. Public education works, and our schools are the heart of our neighborhoods. We should highlight whats working while continuing to expand opportunities for students across the county, regardless of zip code.

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Helping Educators Succeed. Teachers and school staff are central to student success, and they deserve the resources and support needed to do their work well.

Responsive Communication. Families deserve clear, honest communication about how education funding decisions affect their schools. Conversations about school choice and the use of public funds should be transparent so communities understand the financial impact on the public schools that serve most students.

Local Guidance and Local Accountability. Public education is one of our communitys most important shared investments. School boards have a responsibility to ensure district decisions and funding priorities are locally guided, accountable to the public, and focused on improving outcomes for students in our public schools.

CA: What else do you want voters to know about you that will help them make an informed decision on election day?

TF: Our family is raising three smart, proud, and loyal Memphians. Public schools matter in this city. The future of Memphis runs straight through our classrooms. I want schools where students thrive, educators feel supported, and families know someone is paying attention. If you care about this city, you step up and do the work. Thats exactly what I intend to do.

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Brooke Muckerman is the education and children's issues and politics reporter for The Commercial Appeal. She can be reached at brooke.muckerman@commercialappeal.com.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Memphis-Shelby County Schools board District 8 candidates, priorities
Multiple members of the Memphis-Shelby County Schools board are up for reelection and two face challengers.

The District 6 seat on the school board has been represented by Keith Williams. Williams previously led the Memphis-Shelby County Education Association, one of the teachers' unions for MSCS. He retired from the position in May 2025.

Williams is not seeking reelection, which means the District 6 seat will have a new face for the first time since he was elected in 2022.

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Some of the schools in District 6 are:

Ford Road Elementary

J. P. Freeman K-8

Whitehaven Elementary

Fairley High School

Mitchell High

Westwood High

The Commercial Appeal reached out to all candidates who qualified for the ballot about some of the most pressing issues facing the district and what voters should know about them. Answers for this district and others were edited for brevity, clarity and formatting, and some spelling and grammar errors were also corrected. Candidates are listed in alphabetical order. Any emphasis or links are the candidates' own.

Marinda A-Williams

CA: Why are you running for office?

Marinda A-Williams: I am running for the Memphis- Shelby County School Board District 6 because our district needs leadership with deep experience in education, policy, technology and legal oversight. My background includes serving on the State Executive Committee for District 33 at age 23 and spending more than a decade working across education, technology and legal fields. Having taught in both public and private schools, I have seen first hand the challenges teachers face and the urgent need for stronger classroom support...My legal experience including interning with attorneys and legal advocacy work has strengthened my understanding of contracts, compliance and public accountability... I am committed to ensuring responsible spending, strong oversight and policies that prioritize student success. My goal is to help build trust in the district and ensure every student has access to safe, high-quality, and forward-thinking education.

Marinda A-Williams

CA: MSCS faces a large deferred maintenance budget, and the prospect of the closure of multiple schools over the course of the next few years. What are your priorities for the district's infrastructure?

MA-W: Memphis-Shelby County Schools is confronting a substantial deferred-maintenance backlog, and addressing these infrastructure challenges requires a strategic and transparent approach. My first priority would be initiating a comprehensive facilities assessment to determine which buildings demand immediate safety repairs and which require long-term modernization...Decisions regarding potential school closures must be grounded in data, meaningful community engagement, and the long-term academic interests of students rather than short-term financial pressures...To avoid placing undue strain on local taxpayers, we must also pursue federal, state and public-private funding partnerships that can help close infrastructure gaps.

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Effective facility planning must account for enrollment patterns, neighborhood stability , and transportation access to prevent disproportionate impacts on specific communities. Ultimately, transparency and early community involvement are essential to maintaining public trust and ensuring that every student learns in a safe, modern and supportive environment.

CA: The school district is, again, facing the threat of a state takeover. Why do you want this position, given the possibility the Tennessee General Assembly could strip away much of its power, and how involved do you think the state should be in MSCS?

MA-W: Local representation remains essential even when the possibility of a state intervention exists, because communities deserve meaningful representation in decisions that shape their schools. Tennessee designates local boards of education as the governing authorities responsible for district oversight...At the same time, the Tennessee General Assembly retains the power to intervene in districts facing persistent academic challenges, including through the Achievement School District framework established under Tennessee First to the Top Act of 2010.

While state involvement can sometimes bring additional resources and structural support, sustainable improvement ultimately depends on strong local leadership that understands the needs of Memphis students and families. My goal as a board member would be to strengthen governance, transparency and academic performance so that external intervention becomes unnecessary. If the states do become involved, the relationship should be guided by collaboration rather than conflict to ensure continuity for the students...I am committed to serving in this role because even in challenging situations, principled and steady leadership can help guide the district toward long-term progress.

Memphis-Shelby County Schools board chair Natalie McKinney speaks to the media while surrounded by other elected officials and community leaders after a press conference announcing a new MSCS accountability and transformation plan in Memphis, Tenn., on March 6, 2026. State Senator Brent Taylor speaks to media as MSCS Board Members Natalie McKinney and Sable Otey and State Rep. Antonio Parkinson speak to each other in the background after Taylor abruptly arrived at the end of a press conference announcing a new MSCS accountability and transformation plan in Memphis, Tenn., on March 6, 2026. Memphis-Shelby County School Board member Sable Otey speaks during a press conference to announce the MSCS local accountability and transformation plan while surrounded by fellow board members and other elected officials and community leaders in Memphis, Tenn., on March 6, 2026. State Senator Brent Taylor speaks to MSCS board member Towanna Murphy after Taylor abruptly arrived at the end of a press conference announcing a new MSCS accountability and transformation plan in Memphis, Tenn., on March 6, 2026. Memphis City Council member JB Smiley speaks during a press conference announcing a new MSCS accountability and transformation plan in Memphis, Tenn., on March 6, 2026. Shelby County Commissioner Mickell Lowery speaks during a press conference announcing a new MSCS accountability and transformation plan in Memphis, Tenn., on March 6, 2026. Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris speaks during a press conference announcing a new MSCS accountability and transformation plan in Memphis, Tenn., on March 6, 2026. U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen speaks during a press conference announcing a new MSCS accountability and transformation plan in Memphis, Tenn., on March 6, 2026. State Senator Brent Taylor speaks to MSCS Board Members Natalie McKinney and Sable Otey and State Rep. Antonio Parkinson after Taylor abruptly arrived at the end of a press conference announcing a new MSCS accountability and transformation plan in Memphis, Tenn., on March 6, 2026. State Senator Brent Taylor speaks to media after Taylor abruptly arrived at the end of a press conference announcing a new MSCS accountability and transformation plan in Memphis, Tenn., on March 6, 2026. State Senator Brent Taylor speaks to MSCS Board Member Sable Otey and State Rep. Antonio Parkinson after Taylor abruptly arrived at the end of a press conference announcing a new MSCS accountability and transformation plan in Memphis, Tenn., on March 6, 2026. MSCS, local elected officials propose alternative to state takeover 1 of 11 Memphis-Shelby County Schools board chair Natalie McKinney speaks to the media while surrounded by other elected officials and community leaders after a press conference announcing a new MSCS accountability and transformation plan in Memphis, Tenn., on March 6, 2026.

I believe there should be a third option between full state control and maintaining the status quo: a collaborative governance model where the elected board continues representing parents and the community while working with the state to meet clear academic and financial benchmarks. The state should allow potentially newly elected leadership the opportunity to demonstrate improvement and reconsider any takeover after elections so the community has a voice in the future of its schools. Ultimately, the goal should be improving outcomes for students while maintaining transparency, accountability, and strong community involvement in Memphis schools.

CA: MSCS has long struggled with poor academic performance. How do you think, as a school board member, you can help improve academics?

MA-W: Improving academic performance requires a district-wide commitment to evidence based instruction and strong support systems for students and teachers... As a board member, I would support expanding science-based literacy instruction and implementing a district-wide emergency literacy strategy to improve reading proficiency. Research shows that early literacy is one of the strongest predictors of long-term academic success. I also believe we must expand tutoring programs, academic interventions, and after-school learning opportunities to help students catch up. Teachers must be supported with professional development and classroom resources so they can effectively implement evidence-based instruction.

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Data-driven evaluation of curriculum and programs should guide district decisions rather than political trends. In addition, strengthening early childhood education programs can help ensure students enter school ready to learn. Schools should also integrate college and career readiness programs that motivate students by connecting learning to real-world opportunities. With strong academic support systems and accountability, we can significantly improve outcomes for Memphis Shelby County School Students.

CA: What are your top 3 priorities if elected?

MA-W: My first priority is implementing a District-Wide Emergency Literacy Plan that focuses on science-of-reading instruction, tutoring interventions, and early literacy guarantees so every child can read proficiently by third grade...My second priority is strengthening college and workforce readiness for every student by expanding Career and Technical Education programs and building partnerships with local employers...I would support introducing career exploration in elementary or middle school and expand internships and mentorships with local industries.

More: MSCS board to keep Richmond as interim superintendent. What to know

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My third priority is strengthening financial accountability and contract oversight within the district. School systems manage large public budgets and vendor contracts, and strong oversight ensures taxpayer dollars are used effectively...Transparent procurement and evaluation processes can help prevent waste and improve resource allocation. These priorities together focus on academics, opportunity, and responsible governance.

CA: What else do you want voters to know about you that will help them make an informed decision on Election Day?

MA-W: Voters should know that my background brings together education experience, policy knowledge, and systems thinking that are essential for effective school board leadership. I have spent over a decade working in education, technology, and legal environments that have prepared me to evaluate complex policy and financial decisions. My experience working in education gives me first hand understanding of the challenges educators face in the classroom... My work in sustainability and technology consulting has taught me how to approach large systems with innovative solutions and long-term planning. Through my collaboration with academic programs and research initiatives, I have gained experience evaluating data and evidence-based policy approaches.

My legal internship experience and advocacy work helping families avoid tax sales has strengthened my understanding of contracts, compliance, and financial accountability. These skills are important because school boards must oversee large budgets and complex vendor agreements. I am ready for this responsibility and look forward to working with both the established and newly elected board members. I am here to support my colleagues and to serve the students and families of Memphis Shelby County Schools in District 6.I believe leadership should focus on transparency, responsibility, and student-centered decision making. Most importantly, I am committed to ensuring Memphis students receive the opportunities and resources they deserve.

Juliette Eskridge

Juliette Eskridge did not return answers to the CA's questionnaire.

T. L. Harris

CA: Why are you running for office?

T. L. Harris

T.L. Harris: I am running for the MemphisShelby County School Board because I believe our children deserve leadership that is focused, accountable, and deeply connected to the community. I grew up in Memphis, attended our public schools, and have spent much of my career working with young people and families across this city. Through my work as a youth advocate, case manager, and community leader, I have seen firsthand how education can change the trajectory of a childs life.

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I have also seen the consequences when systems fail to provide students with the tools they need to succeed. My campaign centers around one simple belief: every child in Memphis should be able to read proficiently by the third grade. Literacy is the foundation for everything that followsacademic success, confidence, and long-term opportunity. I am running to bring practical leadership, community partnership, and a relentless focus on student outcomes to the school board.

CA: MSCS faces a large deferred maintenance budget, and the prospect of the closure of multiple schools over the course of the next few years. What are your priorities for the district's infrastructure?

T.L. H: The districts infrastructure challenges are significant, and addressing them will require disciplined planning and transparency. My priorities would be: First, prioritizing safe and functional learning environments. Students cannot perform academically in buildings that are unsafe, poorly maintained, or not conducive to learning. Second, using data and enrollment trends to guide facility decisions. If closures or consolidations become necessary, they must be based on clear data and done in a way that minimizes disruption to students and communities. Third, ensuring transparency with the public. Families deserve to know why decisions are being made and how resources are being allocated. Infrastructure decisions should always begin with one central question: what best supports student learning and long-term stability for the district.

CA: The school district is, again, facing the threat of a state takeover. Why do you want this position, given the possibility the Tennessee General Assembly could strip away much of its power, and how involved do you think the state should be in MSCS?

T.L. H: Local schools should primarily be governed by local leadership that understands the needs and challenges of the community. However, the possibility of increased state involvement is a reminder that academic outcomes must improve and that public confidence in the system must be strengthened. My focus would be on improving student performance, strengthening governance, and ensuring responsible oversight so that Memphis maintains strong local control of its schools. The best way to prevent outside intervention is to demonstrate that the district is effectively serving students and using resources responsibly.

MSCS has long struggled with poor academic performance. How do you think, as a school board member, you can help improve academics?

T.L. H: Improving academic performance must begin with a clear and focused strategy. For me, the foundation is early literacy. Research consistently shows that students who cannot read proficiently by the third grade are far more likely to struggle academically later in life. That is why my campaign emphasizes what I call the Third Grade Guaranteeensuring every child receives the support needed to read at grade level by the end of third grade.

CA: What are your top 3 priorities if elected?

T.L. H: If elected, my top priorities will be: 1. Early Literacy and Academic Foundations: Ensuring that every student has strong reading and math skills, particularly by the third grade. 2. Safe and Supportive Learning Environments. Students and teachers must have schools that are safe, well-maintained, and conducive to learning. 3. Transparency and Community Partnership: Parents, educators, and community members should be active partners in shaping decisions that affect our schools. These priorities are designed to focus the district on what matters moststudent success.

CA: What else do you want voters to know about you that will help them make an informed decision on Election Day?

T.L. H: I have spent years working with young people in Memphis through organizations and programs that support youth development and violence prevention. I have also worked as a case manager helping at-risk youth and families navigate difficult circumstances. In addition, I founded the Lost and Found Foundation, which helps individuals restore their voting rights and reconnect with civic participation. Public service is not new to meit has been a consistent part of my lifes work. If elected, I will approach this role with humility, determination, and a deep commitment to the children and families of Memphis. Literacy first. Everything else follows.

Contessa Humphrey

CA: Why are you running for office?

Contessa Humphrey: I believe my experience as a Teaching Assistant would bring meaningful value to the school board. Having worked directly in the classroom, I have firsthand insight into the challenges and opportunities within our education system. This perspective allows me to better understand the gaps that exist for both students and educators. I strongly believe that literacy development and standardized testing should work together in a balanced way to support student achievement and overall academic growth.

Contessa Humphrey

CA: MSCS faces a large deferred maintenance budget, and the prospect of the closure of multiple schools over the course of the next few years. What are your priorities for the district's infrastructure?

CH: I would prioritize reallocating funding from lower-risk or less critical budget line items to address the districts most pressing needs. Strategic financial planning may also require difficult decisions, including evaluating school consolidations or closures in certain circumstances to reduce long-term financial strain and ensure resources are used effectively to support student success.

CA: The school district is, again, facing the threat of a state takeover. Why do you want this position, given the possibility the Tennessee General Assembly could strip away much of its power, and how involved do you think the state should be in MSCS?

CH: I would welcome the opportunity to continue gaining knowledge and experience by working collaboratively with the state to ensure that the needs of our students are fully supported. My goal and vision are to remain engaged, accessible, and committed to serving the Memphis-Shelby County Schools community while consistently showing up to advocate for the success of our students, educators, and families.

CA: MSCS has long struggled with poor academic performance. How do you think, as a school board member, you can help improve academics?

CH: Implementing proven, results-driven programs and instructional strategies tailored to age-appropriate learning levels is essential to ensuring that students who need the most support have meaningful access to the resources they require. It is equally important that we establish effective methods for identifying students who are struggling or underperforming so we can meet them where they are academically. Additionally, incorporating a real-time tracking system would allow educators and administrators to monitor progress, intervene earlier, and make data-informed decisions that support improved student outcomes.

CA: What are your top 3 priorities if elected?

CH: My top three priorities are maintaining a child-centered approach, ensuring decisions are community-driven, and leading with credibility, integrity, and accountability to build trust and deliver meaningful results.

CA: What else do you want voters to know about you that will help them make an informed decision on Election Day?

CH: I want voters to know that I am a proud product of our public school system, and I have chosen to return to that same system to help uplift and support the next generation. My commitment is to create an educational environment where students are inspired and excited to learn. I believe that with strong guidance, thoughtful leadership, and the right support systems in place, we can restore a genuine love for learning in our schools.I also recognize that todays students face many external influences and challenges outside the classroom. Because of this, our approach must evolve to provide the support, resources, and understanding students need to succeed both academically and personally. My goal is to ensure our schools are prepared to meet students where they are and help them reach their full potential.

Stacey Kelly

CA: Why are you running for office?

Stacey Kelly: I am running for the Memphis-Shelby County Schools District 6 School Board because our children deserve strong leadership, accountability, and a school system that puts students first. As someone who has worked in education for many years, I have seen firsthand the challenges our students, teachers, and families face every day. I believe our schools must focus on improving academic achievement, supporting our educators, and creating safe, positive learning environments for every child. District 6 families deserve a representative who will listen, advocate, and work collaboratively to rebuild trust in the school board. I am committed to transparency, responsible decision-making, and ensuring that every dollar is used to benefit student learning. Most importantly, I am running because I care deeply about our community and believe every child in Memphis-Shelby County Schools deserves the opportunity to succeed.

CA: MSCS faces a large deferred maintenance budget, and the prospect of the closure of multiple schools over the course of the next few years. What are your priorities for the district's infrastructure?

SK: My priority for Memphis-Shelby County Schools infrastructure is ensuring that every student and educator learns and works in a safe, clean, and functional environment. Deferred maintenance must be addressed strategically by first prioritizing repairs that directly affect health and safety, such as HVAC systems, plumbing, roofing, and building security. The district should conduct a transparent, data-driven assessment of all facilities to determine which schools require immediate investment and which may no longer be sustainable due to enrollment trends or repair costs.

Stacey Kelly

If school closures become necessary, the process must involve clear communication and meaningful engagement with families and communities. Additionally, I believe the district should aggressively pursue state and federal funding opportunities and explore partnerships to help address long-term infrastructure needs. Our goal must be to maintain well-equipped schools that support student learning while also being responsible stewards of taxpayer dollars.

CA: The school district is, again, facing the threat of a state takeover. Why do you want this position, given the possibility the Tennessee General Assembly could strip away much of its power, and how involved do you think the state should be in MSCS?

SK: I am running for this position because our community still deserves strong local leadership and advocacy, even when facing the possibility of increased state involvement. The students, families, and educators of Memphis-Shelby County Schools deserve a representative who will stand up for them and work to improve outcomes. While the state has a role in setting standards and providing oversight, I believe decisions about our schools should primarily remain in the hands of local leaders who understand the needs of our community. A state takeover does not solve the root challenges our schools face. My focus would be on improving academic outcomes, supporting teachers, and strengthening accountability so we can rebuild trust and demonstrate that local leadership can effectively serve our students. Regardless of the circumstances, I am committed to advocating for District 6 families and ensuring their voices are heard.

CA: MSCS has long struggled with poor academic performance. How do you think, as a school board member, you can help improve academics?

SK: Improving academic performance in Memphis-Shelby County Schools must start with strong accountability, support for teachers, and a clear focus on student achievement. As a school board member, my role would be to ensure the district sets clear academic goals and holds leadership accountable for measurable progress. I believe we must invest in evidence-based literacy and math instruction, especially in the early grades, because strong foundations are critical to long-term success.

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We must also ensure teachers have the resources, training, and classroom support they need to be effective. Another priority is strengthening partnerships with parents and the community so families are actively involved in their childrens education. When schools, parents, and communities work together, student outcomes improve. Finally, the board must make responsible budget decisions that prioritize academic programs and student support services. Our goal must be to ensure every student receives a high-quality education and the opportunity to succeed.

CA: What are your top 3 priorities if elected?

SK: If elected, my top three priorities will focus on improving outcomes for students, supporting educators, and rebuilding community trust. First, I will prioritize improving academic achievement across the district. Our students deserve strong literacy and math instruction, early intervention for struggling learners, and clear accountability for academic progress. Second, I will focus on supporting and retaining quality teachers. Teachers are the foundation of student success, and we must ensure they have the resources, professional development, and respectful working conditions they need to remain in our classrooms. Third, I will work to rebuild trust between the school board and the community. Parents, educators, and community members must have a voice in the decisions that affect their schools. I am committed to transparency, listening to stakeholders, and making responsible decisions that put students first. My goal is to help create a school system where every child has the opportunity to succeed.

CA: What else do you want voters to know about you that will help them make an informed decision on Election Day?

SK: I am a lifelong member of this community and have proudly lived in the 38106 zip code for more than 40 years. I attended Orleans Elementary School, Lincoln Junior High School, and Overton High School, where I graduated with the Class of 1990. My deep roots in this community have given me a strong understanding of the challenges and opportunities our schools face. I earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a concentration in Management from Christian Brothers University.

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I am also completing my Master of Science in Leadership with a concentration in Community Leadership from Austin Peay State University and will graduate on May 8, 2026. In addition, I have worked for 14 years as a third-party partner supporting Memphis-Shelby County Schools. This experience has allowed me to work closely with students, educators, and families and has strengthened my commitment to improving educational opportunities for all children in our community.

Brooke Muckerman is the education and children's issues and politics reporter for The Commercial Appeal. She can be reached at brooke.muckerman@commercialappeal.com.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Memphis-Shelby County Schools board District 6 candidates, priorities
Multiple members of the Memphis-Shelby County Schools board are up for reelection, and two face challengers.

That is the case for the District 9 seat, where incumbent Joyce Dorse-Coleman faces four challengers. Dorse-Coleman has been on the board since 2018.

Some schools in District 9 are:

Dunbar Elementary

Hanley K-8

Sherwood Middle

Colonial Middle

Melrose High

Overton High

The Commercial Appeal reached out to all candidates who qualified for the ballot about some of the most pressing issues facing the district and what voters should know about them. Answers for this district and others were edited for brevity, clarity and formatting, and some spelling and grammar errors were also corrected. Candidates are listed in alphabetical order. Any emphasis or links are the candidates' own.

Jonathan Carroll

CA: Why are you running for office?

Jonathan Carroll: I am running because first and foremost I am an advocate. For the last few years I have been worked and been involved in organizations in and around education and neighborhood safety advocacy, working to make Memphis better. After serving as my son's High School PTSA president for three years, I moved on the the state PTA board where I serve as the State and Federal Legislation and Resolutions Chair where I work with organizations on all levels of government working to make better schools and (environments) for every student.

Jonathan Carroll

I am running because the school board as it stands does not work and has lost the trust of the people. I will work tirelessly to achieve more transparency and accountability that is currently lacking. I will not be just a school board member, I will be an advocate for students and parents at the local, state, and national level to ensure that we turn the schools around and ensure that every student is a success story.

CA: MSCS faces a large deferred maintenance budget, and the prospect of the closure of multiple schools over the course of the next few years. What are your priorities for the district's infrastructure?

JC: The current school board system owes more than $1 billion dollars in (deferred maintenance) cost. We cannot just rely on closing schools to make up this gap. While we as a school board will need to make difficult decisions that include closing and consolidating some schools, we must look at other options. Looking over MSCS's Project Build along with publicly available information, I would support working with the County Commission to pass a bond issue. The school board as it is currently (constituted) has a trust gap with the other elected bodies that must be overcome. Further complicating this is what a possible oversight board would allow us to pursue.

CA: The school district is, again, facing the threat of a state takeover. Why do you want this position, given the possibility the Tennessee General Assembly could strip away much of its power, and how involved do you think the state should be in MSCS?

JC: "I want to lead this off by saying, that we have had the state run the ASD. I want this position because I am an advocate for children, teachers, and schools. Those are my top priorities. If there is a state takeover, we will have some power, but most of all, we will be the elected (representatives) of the voters. We will have a legitimacy in people's minds that the appointed board will not, no matter how many Memphian and Shelby Countians they appoint. That provides a power of advocacy and belief in and of itself. Bottom line, even if there is a Takeover Board, we have the support of the parents and students to be their voice."

Memphis-Shelby County Schools board chair Natalie McKinney speaks to the media while surrounded by other elected officials and community leaders after a press conference announcing a new MSCS accountability and transformation plan in Memphis, Tenn., on March 6, 2026. State Senator Brent Taylor speaks to media as MSCS Board Members Natalie McKinney and Sable Otey and State Rep. Antonio Parkinson speak to each other in the background after Taylor abruptly arrived at the end of a press conference announcing a new MSCS accountability and transformation plan in Memphis, Tenn., on March 6, 2026. Memphis-Shelby County School Board member Sable Otey speaks during a press conference to announce the MSCS local accountability and transformation plan while surrounded by fellow board members and other elected officials and community leaders in Memphis, Tenn., on March 6, 2026. State Senator Brent Taylor speaks to MSCS board member Towanna Murphy after Taylor abruptly arrived at the end of a press conference announcing a new MSCS accountability and transformation plan in Memphis, Tenn., on March 6, 2026. Memphis City Council member JB Smiley speaks during a press conference announcing a new MSCS accountability and transformation plan in Memphis, Tenn., on March 6, 2026. Shelby County Commissioner Mickell Lowery speaks during a press conference announcing a new MSCS accountability and transformation plan in Memphis, Tenn., on March 6, 2026. Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris speaks during a press conference announcing a new MSCS accountability and transformation plan in Memphis, Tenn., on March 6, 2026. U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen speaks during a press conference announcing a new MSCS accountability and transformation plan in Memphis, Tenn., on March 6, 2026. State Senator Brent Taylor speaks to MSCS Board Members Natalie McKinney and Sable Otey and State Rep. Antonio Parkinson after Taylor abruptly arrived at the end of a press conference announcing a new MSCS accountability and transformation plan in Memphis, Tenn., on March 6, 2026. State Senator Brent Taylor speaks to media after Taylor abruptly arrived at the end of a press conference announcing a new MSCS accountability and transformation plan in Memphis, Tenn., on March 6, 2026. State Senator Brent Taylor speaks to MSCS Board Member Sable Otey and State Rep. Antonio Parkinson after Taylor abruptly arrived at the end of a press conference announcing a new MSCS accountability and transformation plan in Memphis, Tenn., on March 6, 2026. MSCS, local elected officials propose alternative to state takeover 1 of 11 Memphis-Shelby County Schools board chair Natalie McKinney speaks to the media while surrounded by other elected officials and community leaders after a press conference announcing a new MSCS accountability and transformation plan in Memphis, Tenn., on March 6, 2026.

CA: MSCS has long struggled with poor academic performance. How do you think, as a school board member, you can help improve academics?

JC: "I would endorse several methods to help improve academic (achievements.) One is to increase support staff and ensure that all students regardless of (achievement) tier are (receiving) proper support. Second is to work to increase on time attendance and after school activities with an academic focus including a dinner option. Many of our students are not receiving adequate nutrition outside of the school day which contributes to learning loss during breaks and attention issues during the school day. Working with MATA to provide free bus passes and other services when applicable can help with students arriving on time."CA: What are your top 3 priorities if elected?

JC: "My top 3 priorities are increasing funding and opportunities around vocational and technical training to prepare our students for the future (economy), increase teacher pay and provide a more robust support system for teachers while also increasing support staff, and increase oversight and guidance on contracts."What else do you want voters to know about you that will help them make an informed decision on Election Day?

Carroll: "I have come into this race with an insatiable (curiosity) to know more, to share that information, and help explain what the impact is. I am also an advocate in transparency on contracting. I have a severe dislike of grift and self dealing. I will work with others on the school board to investigate current and future contracts to ensure that everything is done fairly, cleanly, and designed to ensure that we do our best to ensure he public's money is not wasted. I also expect you, the students, parents, and voters of District 9 to hold me accountable, to provide feedback, and work together with me. My campaign slogan is none of us is as smart as all of us. Your help will make District 9 a success."

Joyce Dorse-Coleman, incumbent

CA: Why are you running for office?

Joyce Dorse-Coleman: I want to continue with my commitment for the success, safety and overall well-being of every scholar in the district. Our Children deserve strong advocacy who will work to ensure they will continue to receive a high-quality education which will give them a better chance of being successful.

Joyce Dorse-Coleman

CA: MSCS faces a large deferred maintenance budget, and the prospect of the closure of multiple schools over the course of the next few years. What are your priorities for the district's infrastructure?

JD-C: We must continue to assure that infrastructure decisions ensure that students have access to safe, well maintained learning environments. We must continue to improve our communication with all of our stakeholders.

CA: The school district is, again, facing the threat of a state takeover. Why do you want this position, given the possibility the Tennessee General Assembly could strip away much of its power, and how involved do you think the state should be in MSCS?

JD-C: We must continue to assure that infrastructure decisions ensure that students have access to safe, well maintained learning environments. We must make sure that the conversations around closing and consolidating schools are inclusive of our parents, community members and our scholars.

CA: MSCS has long struggled with poor academic performance. How do you think, as a school board member, you can help improve academics?

JD-C The possibility of a state takeover does not change or alter my responsibility to represent our community. One of the responsibilities of the school board member is to ensure that parents, teachers and scholars are heard and that we continue working toward solutions that strength our schools. We also must remember that there are consequences of a state take over. The ASD is a prime example that a takeover is not what we need.

CA: What are your top 3 priorities if elected?

JD-C: I feel that we are on the right trajectory as we are working to create an environment where students feel supported, educators are empowered and academic success is something every scholar in the district can and will obtain.

CA: What else do you want voters to know about you that will help them make an informed decision on Election Day?

JD-C: Continue to (strengthen) our resolve that all scholars will receive a high quality education, continue to make our schools a safe, warm and loving environment, continue to implement the academic plan that we finally have. That I have worked for the last eight years as an advocate for the district. My commitment to our scholars is very personal. I believe every child, no matter their zip code, deserves access to a high quality education, safe facilities, and the support they need to be successful.

Tamara Jordan

CA: Why are you running for office?

Tamara Jordan: I am running for office because I care about our youth and their future. I know education can get a person far in life and I just want to see our youth have a fair chance in life. They are our future and I want to invest in the future of Memphis.

Tamara Jordan

CA: MSCS faces a large deferred maintenance budget, and the prospect of the closure of multiple schools over the course of the next few years. What are your priorities for the district's infrastructure?

TJ: The district needs a proactive approach to the deferred maintenance budget. An audit of all assets with fidelity needs to happen, so that repairs can be prioritized based on risk ROI. Although additional funding is needed or needs to be allocated to the deferred maintenance budget, the district needs a routine inspections of critical systems: such as, HVAC and plumbing.

CA: The school district is, again, facing the threat of a state takeover. Why do you want this position, given the possibility the Tennessee General Assembly could strip away much of its power, and how involved do you think the state should be in MSCS?

TJ: I want this position because I have the experience to help turnaround a failing education system. As an educator, I have been involved in turning failing schools and systems around. My hope is that the Tennessee General Assembly will not take over, but if the state intervene, I know that I could be a voice of reason.

CA: MSCS has long struggled with poor academic performance. How do you think, as a school board member, you can help improve academics?

TJ: I would prioritize early literacy by making sure that each elementary school has a solid and conducive literacy program. I would also suggest an audit be done on all curricula and academic programs because as an educator, I know that certain educational platforms are not aligned with the state's evaluation system and that can sometimes misrepresent the student's true ability to proficiency and/or mastery. Also, I would suggest board members and district leaders evaluate each/all school systems and routines. As the board and/or district leaders we come up with a solid plan for each individual school that are not meeting academic and culture expectations.

What are your top 3 priorities if elected?

Jordan: As an educator early literacy is a top priority. I feel that if students have a solid foundation in literacy, they will be able to excel in all subject areas. I would advance early literacy by ensuring schools/the district have the appropriate literacy programs in place that is conducive to learning. My second priority would be the collaboration with students, parents, concerned community members and staff. This is important because I do believe that it takes a village. I believe and statistics prove that when parents and the community are involved in the school's students perform better both academically and behaviorally.

I would advance this priority by not only recommending parents watch and attend board meetings, but having town halls at the schools so that parents and the community can be more hands on with policies and what's to come. My third priority is academic growth and proficiency. This is my third priority because when the proper systems are put in place students are going to grow. I would advance this by evaluating school wide systems, routines and curriculum and support by helping them make the proper adjustments to their school.

CA: What else do you want voters to know about you that will help them make an informed decision on Election Day?

TJ: I have been an educator well over a decade with a proven record of turning around schools and systems.

Louis M. Morganfield III

CA: Why are you running for office?

Louis M. Morganfield III: Why am I running for office? Make early literacy the #1 academic priority...Build a reading-teacher model K- 3rd grade. Smaller class sizes, 10-18 students K-3rd grade, so teachers can meet the students where they are, 1 in 4 students meeting or exceeding expectations 3-12, in 2024-2025 improved from 23.7% to 24.6%. Also to change the culture of the district, where teachers are heard and not (threatened) if they speak out, this culture of be seen and not heard, do as you're told or be fired, is hurting the morale of district staff from building engineers cafeteria staff, teachers and teacher asst., plumbers, roofers, (HVAC) techs and carpenters.

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I know because I've heard their complaints as a building engineer going on six years, this kiss the ring culture must end and 30 years of low scores must end also. I'm running to stop reckless spending ($6 million) on buildings and selling it for $300,000...Vision of the district has been wandering in the wilderness for 30 years like Moses with low scores. The bible says "Without VISION, the people perish" and our children have been perishing for 30 years, it is time to try something else.

CA: MSCS faces a large deferred maintenance budget, and the prospect of the closure of multiple schools over the course of the next few years. What are your priorities for the district's infrastructure?

Louis Morganfield III

LM: I was hired in 2021 and was advised by a (HVAC) tech who was frustrated with the districts deferred maintenance plan (and) had a prominent (high school) in Whitehaven (need) new (HVAC) units, his complaint was those units were being held together with spit and bubble gum, checked with people in the building 5 years later still no new units. The deferred (plan) is a band aid on serious maintenance issues because of MSCS funding mismanagement, 5 years to buy new (HVAC) units, the district is too top heavy, we could have paid for the units by not bringing back district executives that were let go, set aside money for maintenance and fix what needs to be fixed. That means get a handle on the mismanagement of funds.

Closing schools kills the community, really look at schools building records to see if they need to be closed or saved, this current deferred plan throws the children of MSCS out with the bathwater, the focus on closing schools will do more harm than good, it disrupts a child's life, causing academic decline in grades, depression (and) anxiety.CA: The school district is, again, facing the threat of a state takeover. Why do you want this position, given the possibility the Tennessee General Assembly could strip away much of its power, and how involved do you think the state should be in MSCS?

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LM: The district has no one to blame but itself for the take over if it happens. But I have looked into the Houston school takeover, school takeovers cause more problems than they solve. They show no improvement in scores, because they focus on control and reduce accountability, loss of vocal voices and trust, teacher turnover...June 2025 2,300 teachers left in one month and over 500 or more every year after the takeover. MSCS can't afford to lose any teachers.

I would like to know, what are the (Republicans) in Nashville (planning) to do differently than the (Republicans) in Houston? Because scores weren't raised, making that district more unstable. Also who's paying these new 9 board managers? Is the money being paid by MSCS or taken out of the money given to MSCS from the state? The Houston takeover shows nothing good came from it the same low (grades) and a mass exodus of teachers MSCS can't afford to lose.

Dive into MSCS issues: TN Republicans want Houston-style takeover of Memphis schools. What it means

CA: MSCS has long struggled with poor academic performance. How do you think, as a school board member, you can help improve academics?

LM: Smaller class sizes 10-18 students per classroom K-3rd grade pilot program that focuses on literacy also with reading teachers to staff the program, attacking the literacy issue head on. By making sure dollars scheduled for classrooms end up in the classrooms. Being a building engineer for MSCS, I will try to pass a rule that new incoming cleaning vendors must have at least 30-60 days of cleaning supplies in house before being granted a contract. Not having hose supplies hinders us from controlling the spread of germs and bacteria in our schools and staff. An uncleaned building hinders learning. Changing the district's culture of fear and intimidation, you can't have a bullying policy for the children when the district uses fear and intimidation on the staff.CA: What are your top 3 priorities if elected?

LM: Raising our literacy scores, a child that is struggling to read carries over into other subjects as well. A must is get parents involved in their child's education by using counselors, teachers and parents and board members putting a plan together to submit to MSCS. Getting a handle on spending paying, buying a building at 6 million and selling it at $300,000 was a $5.7 million dollar loss.CA: What else do you want voters to know about you that will help them make an informed decision on Election Day?

LM: My (problem) solving skills I learned in the military (8 years) and on the Memphis Police Dept, (11 years) I will (ask) the hard questions because of what I have seen working as a MSCS building engineer. I believe what we do at MSCS has a huge impact of the city of Memphis 2024-2025 reading 24.6% when the state of (Tennessee) is reading at 41%. With 1-4 of our children reading at grade level, Jobs will refuse to relocate and the jobs we have will leave Memphis. The crime rate will rise. It's time to change the culture of MSCS by changing the future of our children, while making a better future for Memphis at the same time. I have served this nation and this city now I'm asking you to let me serve as District 9 School Board Commissioner with a Vision From The Bottom Up.

Damon Curry Morris

CA: Why are you running for office?

Damon Curry Morris: I am running for office because the parents, teachers, plant managers, cafeteria workers, teachers assistants, and most importantly the students asked me to run. The experience that I have in Education culminates almost a 30 year career. We are now in a crisis. When your community sees your work, they will want real change. They believe Damon Curry Morris is that change.

Damon Curry Morris

CA: MSCS faces a large deferred maintenance budget, and the prospect of the closure of multiple schools over the course of the next few years. What are your priorities for the district's infrastructure?

DCM: The facilities plan by the current superintendent was not comprehensive enough. Now, populations have decreased in Shelby County mainly because our governments are not working as one. Due to this, having schools with limited populations means limited resources. That is not what is best for children. So the district has to be right sized. It is never a popular decision to close schools, but we have to think about the quality of education that would provide the least impact on communities. We don't need communities full of abandoned buildings. They should be repurposed into resource centers to bring much needed wraparound services back to communities. Then we can bring families back so we will not have to close schools.

CA: The school district is, again, facing the threat of a state takeover. Why do you want this position, given the possibility the Tennessee General Assembly could strip away much of its power, and how involved do you think the state should be in MSCS?

DCM: I am the only candidate in this race that has tried to foster a relationship with the TN State Legislature. The relationship was there. Just as I worked with lawmakers on both sides of the isle on the Third Grade Retention Law, when things outside of Shelby County reaches the GOP majority in Nashville, you must have an experienced legislator to minimize the impact of such legislation. I spent the entire legislative session in Nashville when this was proposed. Believe it or not, some Democrats were on board for this. However, we can't discount the atonement that our leadership on the school board must face. We must understand the causes of such legislation.

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We can't discount that. Before this legislation was proposed, the working relationship between the legislature and the previous superintendent lines were open when it came to my attention that it was closed previously. But when the school board made a decision to terminate the superintendent, those lines of communication closed. And let us not discount the parents that wanted change and contacted the legislature about this, teachers as well. Now we have this looming. If a managing board is put in place, you will need school board members that will be able to work with them. I am the only candidate in District 9 that already has those relationships. I experienced the Houston ISD model and how that worked. We have to have now leaders that are willing to work with each other to take care of our most precious commodity, the children.

CA: MSCS has long struggled with poor academic performance. How do you think, as a school board member, you can help improve academics?

DCM: We must focus on early literacy. The District just lost a 19 million dollar Pre-K grant to Porter Leath. That was a huge blow to early literacy because that was also another relationship lost. Jobs were lost. We have to start there. We need common sense budget decisions in order to secure funding that will provide the resources that children need to improve educational outcomes. 75 percent of our graduates are not reading on grade level. That is unacceptable. We have to hold the superintendent and his academic team responsible for this. As a board member I would urge the superintendent to put forth a plan to attack early literacy. The school board needs to continue to work with the County Commission and City Council to make Universal Pre-K a reality. We are in a crisis and it needs to be done now! Our children cannot wait.

CA: What are your top 3 priorities if elected?

DCM: Access-We have to form a plan now to make sure that all students have access to a quality education. That comes from infrastructure, programming, food, and wraparound services. Accountability-I will propose a resolution to remove the board's power to govern their own ethics. In addition, I will work with leaders in the community to form an ethics committee that will be compromised of teachers, parents, and community stakeholders that will show true transparency. Also, every government body needs a youth council. The board members need student interns to advocate their interests in their own education. This would build back trust to board. Teacher and employee focus-We have to pay people. Plain and simple. The school building works as one. If we don't see the value in everyone, the system cannot thrive. There needs to be a working relationship with everyone. Everyone needs to be valued. And people making livable wages will produce more.

CA: What else do you want voters to know about you that will help them make an informed decision on Election Day?

DCM: I am the only candidate in this race with the connections, knowledge, and relationships to contribute to the turnaround of Memphis-Shelby County Schools. I bring almost 30 years of educational excellence from Pre-K to Post Secondary education. If we want different, we will do something differently. Education is the nucleolus of a community. If it fails, we fail. It is time out for the same thing. We need new leadership who is connected to the future. I am that person. I work with youth providing programs that will guide them.

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I have fostered relationships with government entities that will help guide resources and effective plans that will work. I am already doing the work and will continue to do so. My record speaks for itself. I have been a champion for education and will continue to be the engine of change. This one will always and forever be for the people.

Brooke Muckerman is the education and children's issues and politics reporter for The Commercial Appeal. She can be reached at brooke.muckerman@commercialappeal.com.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Memphis-Shelby County Schools board District 9 candidates, priorities
JERUSALEM, March 30 (Xinhua) -- The Israeli Defense Forces said on Monday its air force intercepted two drones launched by Houthi forces in Yemen.

The drones triggered air raid sirens in the southern city of Eilat on the Red Sea.

The Houthi group issued a broad warning on Friday, stating they were prepared to act if the regional conflict, sparked by a Feb. 28 strike on Iran, continues to widen.

On Saturday, Houthi forces fired two missiles toward southern Israel, marking the first time the group attacked Israel since the beginning of the conflict. The missiles were intercepted, according to the Israeli military.

The group had previously targeted shipping lanes in the region, striking vessels in the Red Sea in retaliation for the Israeli offensive against the Gaza Strip, an enclave of Palestine. 
SAN BARTOLO MORELOS, Mexico (AP)  For 32 years, Cruz Monroy has walked the streets of a small town on the fringes of Mexico's capital with a tower of small cages filled with a rainbow of birds.

The melodies of red cardinals, green and blue parakeets and multicolored finches fill the days of pajareros, or street bird vendors, like him.

The act of selling birds in stacks of cages  sometimes far taller than the men who carry them  goes back generations. They've long been a fixture in Mexican markets and are among 1.5 million street vendors that work on the streets of Mexico.

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Hearing their songs, it brings people joy, Monroy said, the sounds of dozens of birdsongs echoing over him from his home in his small town outside Mexico's capital, where he cares for and raises the birds. This is our tradition, my father was also a bird-seller.

During the Catholic holiday of Palm Sunday, hundreds of pajareros from across the country flock to Mexico City and decorate 10-foot-tall stacks of cages, adorning them with bright flowers, tinsel and images of the Virgin of Guadalupe, Mexicos patron saint.

They walk miles through the streets of the capital with their birds and their families to the city's iconic basilica.

But pajareros have slowly disappeared from the streets in recent years in the face of mounting restrictions by authorities and sharp criticisms by animal rights groups, who call the practice an act of animal abuse and trafficking.

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Monroy and others say they don't capture birds like parrots and others prohibited by Mexican authorities  which say tropical species are wild birds, not pets  often breed the birds they own themselves and take good care of their animals. Despite that, Monroy said in his family, the tradition is dying out.

In the face of harassment by authorities and mounting criticisms, he said he wants his own sons to find more stable work.

"Because of the restrictions, harassment by certain authorities, many friends have left selling birds behind," Monroy said. For my children, it's not stable work anymore. We have to look for other alternatives.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has said that 80% of the more than 900,000 Syrian nationals in Germany should return to their home country in the next three years.

At a press conference with Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa in Berlin on Monday, Merz said the leaders agreed that over the "longer term of the next three years," around "80% of the Syrians currently in Germany should return to their homeland."

"That was the wish of President Sharaa," Merz said, adding that "those Syrians who wish to remain in Germany and are well integrated will be able to stay in Germany."

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Germany was one of the main destinations for Syrian refugees fleeing the devastating civil war, with around 1 million arriving in the country during dictator Bashar al-Assad's time in power.

Calls for Syrian nationals to leave Germany have risen in conservative and far-right circles following al-Assad's ousting in late 2024 by an Islamist coalition led by al-Sharaa.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has said that 80% of the more than 900,000 Syrian nationals in Germany should return to their home country in the next three years.

At a press conference with Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa in Berlin on Monday, Merz said the leaders agreed that over the "longer term of the next three years," around "80% of the Syrians currently in Germany should return to their homeland."

"That was the wish of President Sharaa," Merz said, adding that "those Syrians who wish to remain in Germany and are well integrated will be able to stay in Germany."

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Germany was one of the main destinations for Syrian refugees fleeing the country's devastating civil war, with around 1 million arriving in the country during dictator Bashar al-Assad's time in power.

Many thousands reached the German border during the European migration crisis of 2015-2016 when chancellor Angela Merkel was in power, and the issue has a particular political sensitivity in the country.

Many have since become German citizens, but calls for Syrian nationals to leave Germany have risen in conservative and far-right circles following al-Assad's ousting in late 2024 by an Islamist coalition led by al-Sharaa.

Merz said the majority of Syrians want to return to their country, rebuild it and live in safety, freedom and dignity.

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The chancellor added that al-Sharaa has said returning Syrians would be "welcome."

"That is surely the key message of your visit here in Berlin today," Merz added.

Reconstruction efforts

Political stability and economic growth in Syria will be crucial to the success of the reconstruction effort, Merz stated.

"And those returning to Syria with new experiences and ideas gained during their years in Germany and around the world should play a key role in this," he argued.

Rebuilding schools, nurseries, hospitals and businesses in Syria will require an enormous effort, and Germany intends to support the country's reconstruction, Merz said, announcing the formation of a task force on the issue.

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Berlin is providing more than 200 million ($230 million) this year to help stabilize the country.

"You can count on Germanys support on the path to a bright future," Merz told al-Sharaa.

He encouraged the Syrian leader to create space for all people in the new Syria, regardless of their religion, ethnicity or gender.

"Violence against minorities and those with differing views must be a thing of the past," he underlined.

Merz also said he has asked al-Sharaa to prioritize the repatriation of Syrians who no longer held a valid residence permit in Germany.

"We have a small group here, but one that is causing us problems  Syrians who have committed criminal offences, whom we now wish to repatriate as a matter of priority," the chancellor said.

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Al-Sharaa was earlier received by German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier at Berlin's Bellevue Palace before participating in an economic forum alongside business representatives.

The visit has been met with protests in the German capital, with several demonstrations expected to draw up to 5,000 participants.
By Ted Hesson

WASHINGTON, March 30 (Reuters) - A Mexican immigrant died in U.S. immigration custody in Los Angeles on March 25, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said on Monday, marking at least 14 deaths in ICE custody in 2026 and prompting criticism from the Mexican government.

Jose Guadalupe Ramos was found unconscious and unresponsive in his bunk by security staff at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center, ICE said in a press release. The staff called on-site medical personnel and he was transferred to an area hospital where he was declared dead, ICE said.

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U.S. President Donald Trump launched a mass deportation effort after taking office in 2025, pledging to detain and deport millions of immigrants living in the U.S. illegally. The number of immigrants in ICE detention has reached record levels, with 68,000 locked up as of early February.

Opponents have criticized the detentions as overly punitive and potentially deadly. At least 31 people died in ICE detention in 2025, a two-decade high, and the current pace could eclipse that.

ICE said it arrested Ramos in Torrance, California, on February 23. He was convicted of possession of a controlled substance and theft of personal property in 2025, ICE said. ICE said an initial health screening when he was taken into custody showed diabetes, high cholesterol and hypertension.

Ramos' death was the fourth of a detainee held at Adelanto since Trump took office. The other three were also Mexican men.

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Mexico's foreign ministry said it would file a legal brief in support of a lawsuit brought by detainees alleging poor conditions at the detention center, including inadequate medical care, unsanitary conditions and punitive use of isolation. The ministry will also raise the issue of immigration detainee deaths to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.

During a press conference at the Mexican consulate in Los Angeles, Mexican diplomat Vanessa Calva Ruiz said the latest death was part of "an alarming, unacceptable trend" since Trump took office in 2025.

"These deaths reveal systemic failures, operational deficiencies and possible negligence," she said.

A U.S. Department of Homeland Security spokesperson defended conditions in ICE detention and said that only a small number of detainees had died relative to the total population.

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Bed space had rapidly expanded in detention centres and there was now a higher standard of care than most prisons that hold U.S. citizens, including access to proper medical care, the spokesperson said in a statement.

While ICE has not published official detention statistics in March, the number of people in custody dropped to about 60,000 as of last week, a source familiar with the matter said, requesting anonymity to share internal figures.

A Republican-backed spending bill passed in 2025 gave ICE a massive funding increase that allows the agency to detain more than 100,000 people at any given time.

(Reporting by Ted Hesson; Additional reporting by Kristina Cooke in San Francisco; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama, Rod Nickel, David Gregorio and Michael Perry)
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has vowed to take action after the death of another Mexican national in US immigration custody.

Jose Guadalupe Ramos-Solano died last week at a detention centre in Adelanto, southern California - the fourth fatality at the facility this year.

He is the 14th migrant to have died in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody this year. His cause of death has not yet been determined.

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Mexico's government is filing a legal brief as part of a class-action lawsuit alleging unconstitutional conditions at the centre. The number of immigrants in ICE custody is among the highest ever, with 68,000 held as of last month.

Ramos-Solano, 52, died on 25 March while being held at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center, the agency said.

ICE said that Ramos-Solano, who had been convicted of possession of a controlled substance and theft, was in the US illegally.

Life-saving measures, including CPR, were immediately initiated as Ramos-Solano was found "unconscious and unresponsive in his bunk", but he was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital, according to ICE.

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The agency said a medical screening of Ramos-Solano after his arrest in February found he had diabetes, high cholesterol and blood pressure.

It said he had "received constant medical care while he was in custody, including daily medication to treat his illness".

Ramos-Solano and the three others who died at the Adelanto ICE facility were Mexican nationals, raising this year's nationwide deaths in ICE custody to 14.

Last year, ICE hit a two-decade high when it reported 31 detainee deaths.

This year's death toll appears on track to outpace last year's as President Donald Trump's administration cracks down on illegal immigration.

Four Mexican nationals have died in US federal custody at the ICE detention facility in Adelanto, California. [Getty Images]

President Sheinbaum told her daily morning press conference on Monday that Mexico was "going to take greater measures".

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"We're going to take several steps to protest the death of yet another Mexican national in the United States," she said.

During a news conference at the Mexican consulate in Los Angeles on Monday, Ramos-Solano's children briefly spoke through tears.

"What happened to my dad was very inhumane," said his daughter, Gloria Ramos. "I think my family and I deserve to know the truth of what happened to my dad."

Vanessa Calva Ruiz, director general for consular protection and strategic planning, told the news conference: "The government of Mexico will exhaust all legal, diplomatic and multilateral avenues to demand justice."

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Mexico's government said it supported a class-action lawsuit filed in January against the GEO Group Inc, a private contractor that operates the Adelanto facility.

The legal action alleges detainees at the detention centre face mould, disease, medical neglect and inadequate food and water.

Representatives for the Geo Group did not immediately respond to a BBC request for comment.

It has previously said its facilities offer round-the-clock medical care and are monitored by the Department of Homeland Security to ensure compliance.
It often starts with a familiar excuse. Ill just be a minute. For many drivers, pulling into a handicap parking space for a quick errand feels harmless, especially when the lot looks full or the stop seems brief. But for those who depend on these spaces, that minute can mean the difference between access and exclusion.

In Miami Springs, Florida, that everyday violation has become a growing problem. Residents who rely on accessible parking say theyre dealing with a persistent, frustrating problem that often forces them to abandon simple tasks most people take for granted.

A Choice Between Access and Going Home

Theo, a member of the Miami Springs Disability Advisory Board who lives with multiple sclerosis, knows this struggle all too well. For him, accessible parking is a necessity.

Image Credit: WSVN-TV/YouTube.

Yet time and again, he finds those designated spaces occupied by drivers who have no legal right to use them.

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When that happens, Theo faces a difficult choice. He can circle the lot, hoping a spot opens up, or he can give up entirely and head home. More often than not, he says, he ends up leaving.

That reality highlights a broader issue. Accessible parking spaces are designed to provide safe, practical access to businesses and public life for individuals with disabilities. When those spaces are misused by those who see it as just the closest parking spot, the impact of that seemingly harmless violation of the law can travel far beyond inconvenience. It literally limits independence.

The Law Enforcement Operation

Frustrated by the rise in violations, the Miami Springs Disability Advisory Board decided to act. They brought their concerns to city leaders, urging action against the misuse and fraud involving disabled parking permits. Their message was that, without enforcement, the problem would only worsen.

Image Credit: WSVN-TV/YouTube.

Local police listened.

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In response, Miami Springs Police Chief Matthew Castillo organized a targeted enforcement effort. Instead of relying solely on routine patrols, he assembled a dedicated team that included public service aides and motorcycle officers. Their mission was simple. Focus on illegal parking in accessible spaces and hold violators accountable.

The results were immediate and striking.

Image Credit: WSVN-TV/YouTube.

Within just a few hours, officers issued 30 citations. Even more alarming, 20 of those were classified as criminal violations. In Florida, that level of offense can carry serious consequences, including fines of up to one thousand dollars or even jail time.

Many of the violations occurred in busy commercial areas along Canal Street and Curtis Parkway. And the excuses officers heard were all too familiar. Drivers claimed they were running inside for just a moment. Others insisted they had no other place to park.

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But those explanations did not hold up.

A Call for Change

Image Credit: WSVN-TV/YouTube.

Authorities emphasized that parking illegally in a handicap space, even briefly, can prevent someone with a disability from accessing that same location. A quick stop for one person can mean a missed opportunity for someone else.

Chief Castillo expressed disappointment at the sheer number of violations uncovered in such a short time. To him, it was clear evidence of a larger issue within the community. Without consistent enforcement, he warned, drivers will continue to take advantage of the system.

For Theo, however, the operation brought a sense of relief. It showed that speaking up can lead to real change. He believes advocacy is essential, not just for individuals, but for entire communities that rely on accessibility.

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His hope is that other cities adopt similar measures to curb disabled parking violations. By prioritizing enforcement and awareness, they too can address the misuse of accessible parking and ensure that these spaces serve their intended purpose.

If you want more stories like this, follow Guessing Headlights on Yahoo so you dont miss whats coming next.
One of the largest manhunts ever conducted in Australia has ended with the fatal shooting of a fugitive authorities believe to be Dezi Freeman, a self-proclaimed sovereign citizen whod been on the run for seven months after killing two police officers.

Freeman disappeared into dense Australian wilderness in rural Victoria last August, after firing at the officers when they attempted to serve a search warrant on his property over alleged sex crimes.

Hundreds of police officers, dogs and helicopters spent days and weeks scouring the area around the small town of Porepunkah, where residents lived on edge for months amid fears a heavily armed Freeman was hiding in the vicinity.

Police board a helicopter at a command area at Feathertop Winery in Porepunkah in Victoria, Australia, on August 27, 2025. - Simon Dallinger/AAP/AP

Law enforcement said the man believed to be Freeman was finally found Monday morning when he was shot dead by police after a three-hour standoff at a rural property in the states north-east where officers had surrounded a long caravan structure.

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There was an opportunity for him to surrender peacefully, which he did not, said Mike Bush, Victoria Police Chief Commissioner, adding that they strongly believe the man was armed.

Bush said his information suggests the shooting of the fugitive was justified though an investigation is underway to determine why police discharged their weapons.

Dezi Freeman, also known as Desmond Filby, fled after shooting two police officers last August. - Victoria Police

Formal identification is underway, but Bush said, if confirmed as Freeman, it would bring closure to what was a tragic and terrible event. He said the first people informed of the shooting Monday were the families of two police officers killed last August  Det. Leading Senior Constable Neal Thompson and Senior Constable Vadim De Waart-Hottart.

The killing of the two officers was seen by experts as an example of how the sovereign citizen movement that originated in the United States has taken root in Australia and now carries the threat of violence.

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Sovereign citizens dont believe the law applies to them and commonly deploy pseudo-law to challenge the authority of police, lawyers, judges, and other representatives of a system they say is illegitimate and corrupt.

Detective Leading Senior Constable Neal Thompson and Senior Constable Vadim De Waart were shot dead by Freeman last August. - Victoria Police

Freeman, previously known as Desmond Filby, was known to authorities after years of railing against the police, who hed previously called Nazis and terrorist thugs in evidence submitted to court when he tried to overturn a 2020 conviction for traffic offenses.

The operation to find him involved a massive police effort that pulled in officers from every Australian state and territory, with extra enforcements from New Zealand, as they worked through more than 2,000 leads to track him down.

His suspected discovery nearly 200 kilometers (124 miles) away from the August crime scene shooting raises questions as to how he came to be there, and if he received help.

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Im sure some actually assisted him in getting away from Porepunkah to where he was located. But thats a very important part of what comes next to determine that, and if anyone was complicit, they will be held to account, Bush said.

A police helicopter flies over a property during the search for a fugitive linked to the murder of two police officers, in Porepunkah, Australia, on August 28, 2025. - William West/AFP/Getty Images

Police had previously said they strongly believed Freeman was dead and declined to say Monday whether a tip-off had led investigators to his location.

There was a lot to suggest that Freeman had taken his own life, but I can tell you standing here that our investigators  our professionals keep their mind open to every possible outcome and follow every possible lead, said Bush.

The Police Association of Victoria said Freemans death represents a step forward for their members, the families of fallen members and the community.

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Today, we wont reflect on the loss of a coward. We will remember the courage and bravery of our fallen members, and every officer that has doggedly pursued this outcome for the community.

For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com
Myanmar's military chief Min Aung Hlaing has been nominated for the presidency as parliament convened on Monday, following a general election from which the biggest opposition parties were excluded.

Min Aung Hlaing is certain to be chosen, as he was nominated in parliament alongside two loyalists who are very unlikely contenders for president.

He has been sanctioned by many Western countries for leading a military coup five years ago.

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In the ensuing civil war, thousands of people have been killed and millions have been displaced. Large areas of the country remain under the control of armed opposition groups.

The general elections, held between December and January, were touted by the junta as a pathway to peace.

But the vote was widely viewed as a sham, with many popular parties banned from standing and large areas of the country not allowed to participate because of the civil war.

The regime has rejected this criticism, maintaining that the vote was free and fair.

Still, around 90% of the members of Myanmar's new parliament owe their loyalty to Min Aung Hlaing, either as serving officers in the armed forces - which are guaranteed a quarter of the seats - or as elected candidates for the military's own party.

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They plan to spend most of this week debating the choice of the next president, but it is now inevitable that the coup leader will get the job.

Following Myanmar's general elections, its parliament convened for the first time on 16 March [AFP via Getty Images]

Min Aung Hlaing is known to have wanted the presidency for a long time.

The prospect of not getting it after the military party's dismal performance in the 2020 election was a big factor behind the coup that ousted the elected government led by Aung San Suu Kyi.

But there are trade-offs: the constitution states that Min Aung Hlaing must give up command of the armed forces if he becomes president.

That carries risks. There are known to be senior commanders who are unhappy with his leadership.

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He has already chosen a staunch loyalist, General Ye Win Oo to replace him, who has a reputation for brutal treatment of dissidents.

But the risk still remains that once Min Aung Hlaing no longer controls the military, he loses some of his power.

He has also created a new consultative council which he will head, which could give him continued authority over both military and civilian affairs.

What is not in doubt is that the new administration will essentially be just an expanded version of the current military junta, but in civilian clothes.

There has been no indication from Min Aung Hlaing or his deputies that he will change course, and end the violent suppression of those who oppose his seizure of power five years ago.
Newark school officials approved a budget for the coming school year that would cost the the average homeowner about $40 a year more in property taxes, an increase officials called mindful of taxpayers, attributable in part to a continued increase in state aid.

The $1.677-billion 2026-27 budget for the states largest school district was adopted unanimously Thursday night by the 9-member Newark Board of Education, capping a public hearing at the George Washington Carver Elementary School in the citys South Ward.

Apart from the nine board members, Superintendent Roger Leon, and about a dozen district administrators and staff, the meeting was attended by fewer than 40 members of the public.

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Board President Hasani Council later issued a statement asserting district officials were maintaining critical programs, investing in our facilities, and doing so in a way that is mindful of taxpayers.

The $39.94 annual increase brings the total school tax bill for the coming academic year to $2,172 for the owner of a home assessed at $191,065, the average for Newark residential properties.

The budget increases overall spending increase from the $1.63 billion projected to be spent by June 30, the end of the current school year. Budget documents revealed that the current year spending figure was adjusted upward from the $1.57 billion budget originally adopted last spring for 2025-26.

Along with the tax hike for homeowners  which breaks down to an additional $3.33 a month  the coming budgets increased spending will be offset in part by a $60.6 million increase in state aid under newly inaugurated Gov. Mikie Sherrills first state budget proposal, which was unveiled earlier this month.

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Sherrills increase follows years of funding hikes under her predecessor, fellow Democrat Gov. Phil Murphy, even as wealthier, suburban districts saw aid cuts under the statewide school funding formula.

The increase keeps Newark fully funded under the formula, which incorporates district characteristics including student demographics, total value of taxable property, and local residents income levels.

The additional aid puts Newarks total for the year at $1.39 billion, accounting for about 83% of the budgets total revenues. Newark will raise $149 million in local property taxes, an increase of 2%, the maximum allowed by state law for the local levy without the approval of district voters.

The budget include a reduction of 30 teachers, which district officials said was consistent with a decline of 818 students enrolled in the district during the current academic year. The reduction puts the current total enrollment in the citys traditional public schools at about 43,160.

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Theres money for enhancing STEM, arts, computer and other academic programs, maintaining aging schools and funding new ones. For example, Leon said New Media High School will host its inaugural freshman class this fall at the districts existing Bard High School Early College in the citys Central Ward, before moving in September 2027 into the now-vacant Dayton Street School in the South Ward.

During the public input portion of the hearing, Newark resident and community activist Maggie Freeman expressed concerns about a potential new school projected to open in September 2028.

The proposed Riverfront School in the crowded Ironbound section of Newarks East Ward would cost the district an estimated total of $498 million in lease payments to the schools private developer under a plan the board authorized to move forward on Wednesday night.

Its extremely concerning that $500 million is also kind of at the table in capital improvement for an East Ward school for the next 30 years, which will project to go even higher for the taxpayers who cannot afford it, said Freeman.

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She was also concerned with what she saw as a lack of transparency or accountability on the part of Newarks charter schools, which are supposed to adhere to the New Jeresy Open Public Meetings Act.

A total of $421 million, or about a quarter of the budget, funds Newark charters, which enroll just over half as many students as the districts regular public schools.

Almost all of the budgets charter funds are in the form of per-pupil state aid, with a small amount for transportation and out-of-district special education.

Leon later told Freeman that the Riverfront school was merely in its planning stages. He added that the district had nothing to do with the operation of charter schools.

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Another resident, Viva White, a social worker and education counselor, asked how much revenue the district was losing as a result of property tax abatements for residential building projects frequently approved by the Newark City Council at the recommendation of Mayor Ras J. Barakas administration.

How much money are we missing, as taxpayers, from those tax abatements, White asked.

Leon, who did not have a figure for lost abatement revenue, told White that he could appreciate her concern about the tax breaks. But, he said he also understood the broader value of abatements to life of the city by encouraging growth and development.

Board members and district officials applauded the slide-show-assisted budget presentation led by the districts new business administrator, Jose Fuentes, who inherited the annual task from Valerie Wilson.

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Wilson took part in her last presentation before she retires in June as board secretary and business administrator, and was saluted by the board for her years of service.

The boards co-vice president, Veraliz Santana, bid an effusive farewell to her district leadership mentor, Josephine Garcia, who is not seeking a fourth three-year term in Newarks April 21 school election and was attending her last meeting as a member. Council presented Garcia with his presidents gavel as a memento.

Santana noted that Garcia was first elected in 2017 to what was then the Newark Advisory Board of Education, and served during the districts transition back to local control after a 25-year state takeover. She said Garcia had been a key supporter of Leon as the districts first locally hired superintendent in 2018 back under local control.

There is no Superintendent Leon without you at the helm, Santana said.

Read the original article on NJ.com. Add NJ.com as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Nasa has begun the final preparations for its Artemis II mission, clearing the way for a launch on Wednesday evening.

It will be the most ambitious crewed space mission since the Apollo program more than 50 years ago, with the four-person crew set to travel around the Moon on a 10-day journey.

The nation and the world has been waiting a long time to do this again, mission commander Reid Wiseman told reporters from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida over the weekend.

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The test mission is designed to lay the groundwork for future lunar landings, with the first one currently scheduled to take place in 2028 as part of the Artemis IV mission.

The US space agency said the current forecast for Wednesdays launch shows an 80 per cent chance of favourable weather conditions, with potential cloud cover and high winds in the area

The four person crew consists of Nasa astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, and Canadian Space Agency (CSA) astronaut Jeremy Hansen.

Artemis II crew members CSA astronaut Jeremy Hansen, and Nasa astronauts Christina Koch, Victor Glover, and Reid Wiseman (Nasa)

They arrived in Florida on Friday, having begun their quarantine to shield themselves from viruses in Texas on 18 March.

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The 10-day mission will see them fly around the Moon, taking them further from Earth than any human has ever travelled.

The trajectory of the Orion spacecraft will see it perform a high-altitude flyby of the Moon, reaching a distance of roughly 400,000 kilometres (250,000 miles) from Earth.

The previous record distance was set by Apollo 13 in 1970, when problems with the mission forced the crew to abandon its lunar landing and take a similar high-altitude trajectory around the Moon.

The Moons orbital position in early April means the Artemis II crew will have to travel further than the Apollo 13 crew.

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There will be several other firsts for the mission, including the first woman, the first non-white person, and the first non-American to fly to the Moon.

Returning to Earth could also see a record-breaking speed for a crewed reentry, with Orion expected to reach a velocity of around 40,000kph (25,000mph).

Live coverage of Wednesdays launch will be broadcast on Nasas website and official YouTube channel, starting from 7:45am local time (12:45pm BST) on 1 April, with the launch currently scheduled for 6:24pm EDT (11:24pm BST).
ACCRA, March 30 (Xinhua) -- At least three people were killed and many others injured when an uncompleted three-storey building being used for worship collapsed on Sunday in Accra New Town, in downtown Accra, the capital of Ghana, authorities said.

Interior Minister Muntaka Mohammed-Mubarak told local media late Sunday that the incident occurred on the premises of the Accra New Town Experimental School on the morning of Palm Sunday, a Christian celebration.

"There were 23 people in the building at the time of the incident. Unfortunately, we have lost three, one male and two females. We are not able to tell their names for now," he said.

According to the minister, 20 survivors were rescued and are receiving treatment at various hospitals.

Rescue operations continued late into the night, as teams worked to locate any survivors trapped beneath the rubble. 
NASA says it is ready to send astronauts toward the Moon for the first time in more than half a century.

Officials said Sunday that preparations for Artemis II are nearing completion following months of testing and final reviews. This is the first crewed mission of NASA's Artemis program,

"We are getting very, very close and we are ready," acting associate administrator Lori Glaze told reporters. "Our flight systems are ready. The ground systems are ready. Our launch and operations teams are ready."

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The four astronauts assigned to the mission arrived in Florida on Friday to begin final preparations ahead of a launch that could take place as soon as April 1 from NASA's Kennedy Space Center. The crew includes NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, along with Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen.

They will fly aboard NASA's Space Launch System rocket inside an Orion crew capsule on a roughly 10day mission that will send them on a highspeed loop around the Moon and back. While Artemis II will not attempt a lunar landing, the mission will take astronauts farther from Earth than any previous human spaceflight and test key systems needed for future Moon missions.NASA officials said recent testing of launch, spacecraft and ground systems has gone smoothly.

Shawn Quinn, a program manager, said checks of hydrogen systems and communications between the rocket and spacecraft were successful and that the launch countdown is scheduled to begin Monday afternoon, pending weather later in the week.

"At this point, we can safely say the crew's ready, the rocket's ready, the spaceship's ready and the ground systems are ready," Quinn said.

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Officials also said teams are completing final international medical agreements needed in the event of an emergency landing outside the United States. Glaze said those arrangements were expected to be finalized by Monday.

The Artemis program aims to return humans to the Moon and establish a longterm presence there. Boeing is the prime contractor for the Space Launch System core stage, Northrop Grumman builds the rocket's solidfuel boosters and Lockheed Martin produces the Orion spacecraft.

Glover will become the first Black astronaut to travel to the Moon's vicinity, Koch the first woman and Hansen the first nonAmerican astronaut to go beyond low Earth orbit.

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An attendee holds a sign during A Palm Sunday Witness of Remembrance, Resistance, and Justice event in Nashville, Tenn., Sunday, March 29, 2026. Rev. Travis Meier speaks during A Palm Sunday Witness of Remembrance, Resistance, and Justice event in Nashville, Tenn., Sunday, March 29, 2026. Rev. Stephen Handy leads community members as they participate in A Palm Sunday Witness of Remembrance, Resistance, and Justice in Nashville, Tenn., Sunday, March 29, 2026. The public prayer procession highlights compassion, dignity and care for neighbors most adversely impacted by public policy. Faith leaders and community members participate in A Palm Sunday Witness of Remembrance, Resistance, and Justice in Nashville, Tenn., Sunday, March 29, 2026. The public prayer procession highlights compassion, dignity and care for neighbors most adversely impacted by public policy. Faith leaders and community members participate in A Palm Sunday Witness of Remembrance, Resistance, and Justice in Nashville, Tenn., Sunday, March 29, 2026. The public prayer procession highlights compassion, dignity and care for neighbors most adversely impacted by public policy. Faith leaders and community members participate in A Palm Sunday Witness of Remembrance, Resistance, and Justice in Nashville, Tenn., Sunday, March 29, 2026. The public prayer procession highlights compassion, dignity and care for neighbors most adversely impacted by public policy. Faith leaders and community members participate in A Palm Sunday Witness of Remembrance, Resistance, and Justice in Nashville, Tenn., Sunday, March 29, 2026. The public prayer procession highlights compassion, dignity and care for neighbors most adversely impacted by public policy. Rev. Stephen Handy speaks during A Palm Sunday Witness of Remembrance, Resistance, and Justice event in Nashville, Tenn., Sunday, March 29, 2026. The public prayer procession highlights compassion, dignity and care for neighbors most adversely impacted by public policy. Faith leaders and community members participate in A Palm Sunday Witness of Remembrance, Resistance, and Justice in Nashville, Tenn., Sunday, March 29, 2026. The public prayer procession highlights compassion, dignity and care for neighbors most adversely impacted by public policy. Rev. Dawn Bennett marches with community members in A Palm Sunday Witness of Remembrance, Resistance, and Justice in Nashville, Tenn., Sunday, March 29, 2026. The public prayer procession highlights compassion, dignity and care for neighbors most adversely impacted by public policy. Faith leaders and community members participate in A Palm Sunday Witness of Remembrance, Resistance, and Justice in Nashville, Tenn., Sunday, March 29, 2026. The public prayer procession highlights compassion, dignity and care for neighbors most adversely impacted by public policy. Faith leaders and community members participate in A Palm Sunday Witness of Remembrance, Resistance, and Justice in Nashville, Tenn., Sunday, March 29, 2026. The public prayer procession highlights compassion, dignity and care for neighbors most adversely impacted by public policy. Faith leaders and community members participate in A Palm Sunday Witness of Remembrance, Resistance, and Justice in Nashville, Tenn., Sunday, March 29, 2026. The public prayer procession highlights compassion, dignity and care for neighbors most adversely impacted by public policy. Judith Plummer participates in A Palm Sunday Witness of Remembrance, Resistance, and Justice in Nashville, Tenn., Sunday, March 29, 2026. The public prayer procession highlights compassion, dignity and care for neighbors most adversely impacted by public policy. Faith leaders and community members participate in A Palm Sunday Witness of Remembrance, Resistance, and Justice in Nashville, Tenn., Sunday, March 29, 2026. The public prayer procession highlights compassion, dignity and care for neighbors most adversely impacted by public policy. Blake Simmons holds a sign while participating in A Palm Sunday Witness of Remembrance, Resistance, and Justice in Nashville, Tenn., Sunday, March 29, 2026. The public prayer procession highlights compassion, dignity and care for neighbors most adversely impacted by public policy. Faith leaders and community members participate in A Palm Sunday Witness of Remembrance, Resistance, and Justice in Nashville, Tenn., Sunday, March 29, 2026. The public prayer procession highlights compassion, dignity and care for neighbors most adversely impacted by public policy. Faith leaders and community members participate in A Palm Sunday Witness of Remembrance, Resistance, and Justice in Nashville, Tenn., Sunday, March 29, 2026. The public prayer procession highlights compassion, dignity and care for neighbors most adversely impacted by public policy. Faith leaders and community members participate in A Palm Sunday Witness of Remembrance, Resistance, and Justice in Nashville, Tenn., Sunday, March 29, 2026. The public prayer procession highlights compassion, dignity and care for neighbors most adversely impacted by public policy. Faith leaders lead Palm Sunday march through downtown Nashville 1 of 19 An attendee holds a sign during A Palm Sunday Witness of Remembrance, Resistance, and Justice event in Nashville, Tenn., Sunday, March 29, 2026.

They marched for the people who have been oppressed and marginalized by state and federal government policies that have strayed from the teachings of Jesus.

Congregations from churches across Middle Tennessee gathered on Palm Sunday formed lines two-by-two to the State Capital building. They wore T-shirts that said "Love Thy Neighbor, "Live and Let Love" and "Today is the Day to be Kind."

More than 400 people representing Methodists, Presbyterians, Catholics, Lutherans, Evangelicals and many other denominations sang, "We Are Not Afraid," and waved palm fronds as they marched across downtown Nashville. They called out government cuts to programs that provided food, shelter and healthcare to vulnerable populations.

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The Palm Sunday march was held simultaneously in 30 cities across 16 states. The march was held a day after thousands of people joined the "No Kings" rally in Nashville.

"The Jesus that I know is very different than the one who supports killings and making immigrants scapegoats," said Neelley Hicks, Executive Director of non-profit Harper Hill Global. "His message gets lost in the voices that say Jesus is on our side, and then claim it is Christianity as they take food programs away in Nashville."

More: Woodland Presbyterian gathers for the last time with 'grief and gratitude.'

The message on Palm Sunday was to take action to help people who are the targets of ICE raids. At one stop along 7th Avenue, the crowd was challenged to help accused illegal immigrants get to and from court hearings without being arrested.

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Julian Gordy said he participated in the march to push back "against the hard heartedness in the country aimed at immigrants, aimed at the poor. There is a nationalist claim to be the gospel, but it is more about power than it is service."

Faith leaders and community members participate in A Palm Sunday Witness of Remembrance, Resistance, and Justice in Nashville, Tenn., Sunday, March 29, 2026. The public prayer procession highlights compassion, dignity and care for neighbors most adversely impacted by public policy.

Many of the marchers repeated the same phrases as their inspiration: Free the oppressed. Feed the hungry. Care for the sick. Welcome the stranger.

Presbyterian minister Heidi Hudnut-Beumler said she tries to remain hopeful, but the news every day seems so full of heartlessness.

"Jesus stands against cruelty, hatred, violence and greed and the brutal policies of state and federal governments that hurt the most vulnerable among us," Hudnut-Beumler said.

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Tessa Lemos Del Pino, the Co-Executive Director of Tennessee Justice for our Neighbors, said she hopes the march serves as a reminder. "We are all one community," she said. "It is staggering, at times, to seen the news. It can be disheartening.

"Maybe this march will ask people to sit with what they're doing, and who they're aligning with."

The march started at the First Lutheran Church near Lower Broadway. Rev. Eric Mayle got things off to a rousing start with a fiery speech that had the overflow crowd clapping and shouting in approval.

Faith leaders and community members participate in A Palm Sunday Witness of Remembrance, Resistance, and Justice in Nashville, Tenn., Sunday, March 29, 2026. The public prayer procession highlights compassion, dignity and care for neighbors most adversely impacted by public policy.

"If nobody is trying to throw you off a cliff once in awhile, you ain't doing it right," Mayle said. "Following Jesus takes us to that edge. We can no longer be comfortable when our neighbors are being disappeared by masked men."

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Mayle referenced the Palm Sunday when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey to face the people who wanted him dead.

"Today, the foot of the empire is still on the necks of the people," Mayle said. "Jesus is Lord, and Caesar is not."

Pastor Stephen Handy offered a hopeful message.

"The bible teaches that hope does not disappoint us," Handy said. "Hope will always rise to the top. Most of us just don't live in patience well."

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Marchers ask for changes to policies that target poor and immigrants
Top Democrats have their eyes on Kentucky this week.

The Democratic National Committee is launching its first National Voter Registration Week of Action to register new voters in the Bluegrass State over the next few days. The DNC has also unveiled its Organizing and Political Playbook ahead of midterm elections this year.

The events will include voter registration blitzes at the University of Kentucky and Morehead State University and aim to close the partys voter registration gaps in the state.

Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin, left, and Kentucky Democratic Party Chair Colmon Elridge talk to reporters in Owensboro where the party gathered in 2025 for its annual convention. (Kentucky Lantern photo by McKenna Horsley)

The DNC said in a press release that the efforts build on efforts of Chair Ken Martin to modernize the partys approach to organizing.

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At the DNC, our motto is when you organize everywhere, we can win anywhere, including in Kentucky. Were putting that belief into action as we invest in on-the-ground organizing that prioritizes listening to Kentucky voters and earning their support, Martin said in the press release. Democrats have won tough races up and down the ballot through aggressive, innovative organizing and clear communication  and were thrilled to continue building on that momentum with this new playbook as we level up our organizing in Kentucky to meet the moment, starting with our upcoming Voter Registration Week of Action.

Martin told Kentucky Democrats last summer at their annual statewide dinner that the DNC must not give up on red states or rural America.

Republicans overtook Democrats in the states number of registered voters in 2022.

In Kentucky, Gov. Andy Beshear and Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman have been the only Democrats elected statewide since 2019. All but one of the eight Kentuckians in the U.S. Congress are Republicans, and the GOP holds a supermajority in both chambers of the state legislature.

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As part of the week of action, the DNC will be holding its first voter registration drive on Morehead States campus, a DNC official said. Though most registered voters in the area surrounding the campus, Rowan County, are Democrats, the county voted for President Donald Trump in the last three presidential elections. The DNC will hold more weeks of action throughout the 2026 election cycle.

The new playbook encourages party staffers and organizers to connect on a personal level with their neighbors in order to bring them into the Democrats fold.

This year, Kentucky has several races on the ballot, including seats in the U.S. Senate, U.S. House and state legislature.
SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI)  A record nearly 100,000 people took part in No Kings events across San Diego County on Saturday, according to Take Action San Diego.

The progressive activist group said on Sunday that an estimated 93,000 to 98,000 demonstrators gathered across 22 countywide events as part of a nationwide day of protest against the Trump administration.

Take Action San Diego said it was the largest, single-day pro-democracy turnout on record, surpassing the more than 80,000 people who participated in marches in the county in October of last year.

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There have been three nationwide No Kings rallies, one in June 2025, another in October 2025 and the one on Saturday. The first protest was launched on President Trumps birthday as a day of opposition to the federal governments military and immigration policies during his second term.

What kind of attack drones does Iran have and could they reach the US West Coast?

The independent organization, Action San Diego, which also did countywide estimates for the last two No Kings day protests, used ground and aerial counts to estimate crowd sizes.

It estimates that the largest event took place at Downtown Waterfront Park.

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The San Diego Police Department said that an estimated 40,000 people turned out for the event. Action San Diego put the crowd size at 49,500, conservatively.

Demonstrators at a No Kings march on Saturday in Downtown San Diego (Take Action San Diego). It is estimated that more than 49,000 people turned out for the march Saturday (Take Action San Diego). The day of action is meant to protest President Trumps policies (Take Action San Diego). People marched through the streets of Downtown San Diego (Take Action San Diego). People hold up signs during the march (Take Action San Diego). The march started at San Diegos Waterfront Park (Take Action San Diego). Tribal leaders and community organizers led the march (Take Action San Diego).

The march went through Downtown San Diego and was led by tribal leaders and community organizers. Officials like San Diego County Board of Supervisors Chair Terra Lawson-Remer and County Supervisor Paloma Aguirre spoke at the event.

San Diegans from every neighborhood, every background, and every generation came together around one simple truth: there are no kings in America, Lead Downtown Organizer for Take Action San Diego, Wendy Gelernter, said. We showed that this movement is growing, that what unites us is stronger than what divides us, and that were taking action every day  through boycotts, advocacy, support for our neighbors, and at the ballot box.

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The estimated attendance count at other countywide events is below:

Carlsbad: 14,000

Rancho Bernardo: 6,000

Temecula: 3,500

Escondido: 3,000

El Cajon: 2,700

La Mesa: 2,000

Mira Mesa: 2,000

Otay Mesa: 2,000+

Carmel Valley: 2,000

Vista (Soroptimist and Wildwood Parks combined): 1,500

Oceanside: 1,000

La Jolla: 1,000

San Marcos: 800

Chula Vista: 500

Ramona: 400+

Fallbrook: 300

Ruocco Park: 300

Ocean Beach: 300

Borrego Springs: 300

Valley Center: 180

Julian: 70

SDPD said there were no arrests or reported crimes during the march.

Several events also collected donations, clothing and canned goods for local food banks and those in need. In Escondido, participants raised nearly $500 and hundreds of dollars worth of pantry goods.

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Over nine million people were expected to turn out to No Kings protests across all 50 states, potentially making it one of the largest single-day protests in U.S. history.

Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX 5 San Diego & KUSI News.
LINCOLN  Nebraska Democratic U.S. Senate candidate William Forbes told CNN that he voted for President Donald Trump and attended a training session earlier this year for conservative candidates, activists and staff.

CNN reports that Forbes, an anti-abortion pastor and registered Democrat from Paxton, said he attended a leadership training session in January organized by the Leadership Institute, a right-leaning organization based in Virginia that trains Republicans to run and help conservative campaigns. The Nebraska Republican Party had recommended and promoted the event. Forbes also told CNN he had voted for Trump in multiple elections.

In a follow-up text with the Examiner on Monday, Forbes said, CNN just got played like a cheap fiddle by Dan Osborn and his desperate crew  Im a real Democrat in the mold of JFK and Ben Nelson.

A photo of William Forbes allegedly deleted from Facebook that was posted on Cindy Burbank website. (Screenshot)

The CNN interview with Forbes adds to weeks of candidate-related controversy in the race, with competing candidates calling several plants to help major candidates. Forbes told CNN he went to the conservative-backed event because he was trying to get information from everybody.

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Forbes previously sidestepped a question from Examiner about whether he wanted to address allegations of his being loyal to Ricketts. In the CNN interview, he said he ran because there was no Democrat on the ballot.

Im the only Democrat, and the Democrats are going for Dan Osborn, he told CNN. He also grew frustrated about being pressed about his voting history, saying, Youve asked me who I voted for three times.

Forbes continued to attack Osborn by saying, Voters here want a strong Democrat who reaches across the aisle and actually unites people  not another phony independent puppet like Dan Osborn.

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Ricketts campaign and national Republicans have called Osborn a fake independent.

After a decade of Pete Ricketts dumping millions into Nebraska and destroying our safety net, wrecking our rural communities, and pushing his extreme agenda, Nebraska Democrats cant afford to fall for this nonsense, Forbes said. Its time for Nebraska Democrats to unite behind a real Democrat who puts Nebraska first.

Nebraska Republican Party Chair Mary Jane Truemper, who declined to comment for the CNN story, told the Examiner Monday that the NEGOP does not know Mr. Forbes, has no relationship with him and has no knowledge of his motivations for entering the Democratic primary.

The January event referenced in CNNs reporting was a Leadership Institute training, an educational program open to anyone interested in attending, Truemper said. While the Nebraska Republican Party recommended the event to our members and supporters, it was not a party-sponsored event.  These trainings are broadly available and not exclusive to Republicans.

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Truemper said, Forbes made his own decision to attend  any suggestion that his attendance at an open educational event reflects coordination with or endorsement by the NEGOP is simply false.

Nebraska Democratic Party chair Jane Kleeb said in a statement, Forbes is a Ricketts plant because hes scared of a head-to-head match with Osborn. The states minority party is recommending that its voters support Cindy Burbank in its Senate primary. Osborns campaign manager, John Dolan, said in a statement that it was painfully obvious that Ricketts campaign would use their classic dirty tricks. Ricketts, the Republican incumbent senator, has denied any involvement with Forbes.

Burbank, on her campaign website, which she named NOT a Pete Ricketts plant, pointed to Forbes deleted Facebook post. Her website showed alleged Facebook photos of Forbes attending a banquet for Nebraska Right to Life and a separate photograph from the page of Ricketts speaking at the Capitol for the 2025 Nebraska Walk for Life.

The CNN story also touched on Forbes Facebook page, which showed someone traditionally aligned with conservative causes. In one sermon on his Facebook page, he blamed radical feminism and left-wing media for shaping public opinion on abortion. Forbes called then-President Joe Biden, dementia Joe in another sermon.

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Nebraska Republicans have separately tried labeling Burbank as unserious, pointing to her signaling that she might drop out to support Osborn. The NEGOP filed a formal complaint to boot her from the ballot, alleging she was not a good-faith candidate and that she had no plans to serve if elected, which she disputed. She was briefly kicked off and sued her way back on the ballot.

The states majority party also has highlighted that Burbank paid for the filing fee for third-party candidate Mike Marvin, who has been accused of being a plant to help Osborn. Marvin has denied being a plant. Osborns team has denied involvement with Marvin as well.

Ricketts and Osborn are currently in a heated race for one of Nebraskas two Senate seats, in a race considered Rickettss toughest general election matchup of his career. Ricketts served two terms as governor before being appointed to the seat in 2023 and winning a special election in 2024.

Nebraskas primary election is May 12. The general election is Nov. 3.

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The high-stakes election season marches on.

Americans in four states are set to hit the polls in April, and while the month is light on primary races before a busy May, special elections in two states will send new faces to the U.S. House of Representatives.

Throughout the 2026 midterm cycle, President Donald Trump hopes Republicans maintain power in Congress to secure the bandwidth for his second-term agenda, while Democrats chase the opportunity to restabilize.

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There's still one state with an election on tap in March: voters in Arkansas will weigh in on the next Secretary of State, among several other races happening March 31. But looking ahead to April, here are the races to expect and why they matter.

Former U.S. Ambassador to Japan and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff See 19 potential Democratic presidential candidates for the 2028 election 1 of 2 Former U.S. Ambassador to Japan and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel

Georgia

April elections kick off after Easter weekend with a Georgia special runoff election on April 7. The winner of the race will immediately replace former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene to represent Georgia's 14th District in Washington.

The election moved to a runoff after a March 10 primary failed to produce a candidate with more than 50% of the vote.

Two candidates face off on April 7: Democrat Shawn Harris and Trump-backed Republican Clayton Fuller.

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Harris finished with 37.3% of the vote in the primary, according to CNN and AP, the most of any Democrat by a wide margin. Trump-backed Fuller finished with 34.9% of the vote, beating out Republicans Colton Moore and Brian Stover.

Harris has led Fuller in campaign fundraising, while Fuller's victory over GOP peers could signal Trump's endorsement still matters in the minds of voters in the district.

Whoever wins the race is set to serve in Congress right away, so a Harris win and a flip to blue could be a hit to the House's narrow GOP majority.

Democrat Shawn Harris spoke with MS Now shortly after his race to replace Marjorie Taylor Greene was called for a runoff.

More midterms: Trump push on mail-in ballots hits Supreme Court

Wisconsin

A plethora of local positions are up for grabs in the Wisconsin on April 7, but perhaps the most noteworthy statewide race is the contest for state Supreme Court. Known as the spring election, the April 7 race is not a primary. Wisconsin does not have a primary for its congressional and gubernatorial races until Aug. 11.

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Both candidates for the state's highest court currently serve on the state Court of Appeals, reported the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, part of the USA TODAY Network.

Conservative Judge Maria Lazar, a former assistant attorney general during former Gov. Scott Walker's administration, faces off against Judge Chris Taylor, a former Democratic state lawmaker who previously worked as a policy director for Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin. The two are set to debate on April 2.

Appeals Court Judge and Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate Maria Lazar answers questions during a Get to Know series at Marquette Law School in Milwaukee on the afternoon of Feb. 17, 2026.

Unlike the highly-contested 2025 Wisconsin Supreme Court race, the results won't change the court's political makeup. No matter what happens April 7, liberals will keep control of the court.

Judge Chris Taylor, who is running for the Wisconsin Supreme Court, visits SEIU Wisconsin in Milwaukee for a meet and greet on March 2, 2026.

New Jersey

New Jersey will hold a special general election on April 16 to fill a vacant seat for the state's 11th congressional district. The seat became available when Mikie Sherrill, now the New Jersey governor, resigned in November 2025 to run in the gubernatorial election.

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The winners of a Feb. 5 primary, Democrat Analilia Mejia and Republican Joe Hathaway will conduct an April 1 debate ahead of the election, according to NorthJersey.com, part of the USA TODAY Network.

Mejia, a labor and political organizer who was national political director for Bernie Sanders 2020 presidential campaign, beat long odds to win a 12-candidate primary on Feb. 10 in a field that included former New Jersey Rep. Tom Malinowski and former Lt. Gov. Tahesha Way. Hathaway won the GOP primary unopposed.

Special election candidates in New Jersey's 11th Congressional District are progressive activist Analilia Mejia, left, the Democratic nominee, and Randolph Township Councilman Joe Hathaway, the Republican nominee.

Virginia

The Virginia special election on April 21 asks voters to consider a proposed constitutional amendment. The measure would give the state legislature the power to redraw congressional maps ahead of the November midterms, potentially paving the way for Democrats to gain as many as four seats in Washington.

Voters will be asked one specific question: Should the Constitution of Virginia be amended to allow the General Assembly to temporarily adopt new congressional districts to restore fairness in the upcoming elections, while ensuring Virginia's standard redistricting process resumes for all future redistricting after the 2030 census?

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Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger, a freshly-inaugurated Democrat, has endorsed the redistricting measure, Politico reported. But GOP turnout has been steady in early voting, and Spanberger's recent win in the state isn't a guaranteed signal of the measure's passage.

Key measure: This April election could shake up the balance of power in Washington

Why these elections matter

Even though runoff and special elections are one-time-only events, they are happening in the midst of a busy election year for Americans. Efforts to gain or maintain seats in Washington for both parties signal the close range Democrats and Republicans find themselves in  all while Trump faces slumping approval amid the war in Iran and rising prices at home.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: When is the next election? April 2026 votes in Georgia, NJ, Virginia
No more sweets from SNAP. Starting in April, millions of Floridians who receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) will no longer be permitted to use those benefits to buy soda, energy drinks, candy, or prepared desserts as part of an initiative to encourage healthy eating.

Florida is one of 22 states, mostly Republican-led, that have requested waivers from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to make changes to their food assistance programs. Indiana, Iowa, Nebraska, Utah and West Virginia started their changes in January. Idaho, Kansas, Louisiana, Nevada, Oklahoma, and Wyoming followed in February.

Florida's change, one of the most restrictive in the country, will come in April, the USDA said. Most of the other states' waivers only ban soft drinks and candy.

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The USDA said in a statement that the move "is empowering states with greater flexibility to manage their programs" by restricting "non-nutritious items like soda and candy, adding, "These waivers are a key step in ensuring that taxpayer dollars provide nutritious options that improve health outcomes within SNAP."

SNAP recipients in different states have sued the U.S. Department of Agriculture to block the changes, arguing that the restrictions "destabilize food access," cause confusion at checkout lines, and affect people who rely on the restricted foods to manage health conditions such as diabetes and allergies.

Critics said the restrictions also will increase the social stigma for SNAP recipients, raise grocery prices for everyone, and make life more miserable for people who are unable to afford treats without SNAP and have few other options. Unhoused Americans who have nowhere to store unprepared foods will also be affected.

The changes to the food assistance programs come months after Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the chief proponent of the Make America Healthy Again movement, suggested he would work with Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins to limit access to certain foods under SNAP.

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"Every American who wants to eat a donut ought to be able to eat it or drink a Coke," Kennedy said in early 2025. "But the federal taxpayer should not be paying to poison our children. And we're going to end that."

Here's what to know.

Millions of SNAP recipients in Florida will face new limitations in 2026 on what they can use the federal assistance to buy, including bans on soda, energy drinks and candy, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Which foods are banned for Florida SNAP recipients?

The new changes to what people can buy with SNAP benefits will vary from state to state. According to Healthy SNAP Florida and the USDA approval, Florida's SNAP will stop covering:

Soda: Any beverage made with carbonated water that is flavored or sweetened with added sugar or artificial sweeteners such as corn sweetener, corn syrup, dextrose, fructose, glucose, high-fructose corn syrup, lactose, malt syrup, maltose, molasses, raw sugar, and sucrose "Soda" does not include unflavored soda water or other drinks greater than 50% vegetable or fruit by volume, or that contain less than 5 grams of added sugar

Energy drinks : A beverage containing at least 65 milligrams of caffeine per 9 fluid ounces that is advertised as being specifically designed to provide metabolic stimulation or an increase to the consumer's mental physical energy "Energy drinks" do not include coffee or tea or any substantially coffee or tea-based beverage

Candy: Any product that involves the preparation of sugar or artificial sweeteners in combination with chocolate, fruits, nuts, caramels, gummies, and hard candies or other ingredients or flavorings in the form of bars, drops, or pieces

Ultra-processed prepared desserts: A processed, shelf-stable, ready-to-eat, pre-packaged sweet food intended for immediate consumption without any further preparation

When will Florida block sweets, soda, and energy drinks from SNAP?

The change takes effect on April 20, 2026, according to the USDA.

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Approval was for a two-year term ending December 31, 2027, with the option for the state to request three more extensions for a total period not to exceed five years. During that time, the state must track and report SNAP transactions and spending habits, and survey recipients to see if more Floridians are making "nutrient dense purchases" such as fresh fruits and vegetables.

What is SNAP, the former food stamp program?

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is a federal program that assists low-income seniors, people with disabilities living on fixed incomes, and other individuals and families with low incomes to help them buy nutritious food such as breads, cereals, fruits, vegetables, meats, fish, poultry, and dairy. Recipients can also buy plants and seeds to grow food for their households to eat.

SNAP does not cover nonfood items such as pet foods, soaps, paper products, household supplies, grooming items, alcoholic beverages, tobacco, vitamins, and medicines, and may not be used to buy food to eat in the store, or hot foods.

It grew out of the nearly century-old national food stamp program started in 1939 at the end of the Great Depression. That program ended in 1943, but President John F. Kennedy initiated a new food stamp pilot program in 1961, according to the USDA. President Lyndon B. Johnson made the program permanent with the Food Stamp Act of 1964.

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The program was renamed to SNAP as a result of the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008, a bill that passed over the veto of President George W. Bush.

SNAP is part of the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program.

How much money do SNAP recipients get?

In fiscal year 2025, the average monthly benefit per person in the SNAP program was $190.59, per USDA (about $6 a day). For households, the average monthly benefit was $356.41 in total.

However, the exact amount of money each SNAP recipient gets per month depends on their income and household size, so it varies per person.

SNAP benefits slashed, made tougher to get

The changes come as the SNAP program was already facing new reductions and restrictions. President Donald Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill," passed in July, cut an estimated $186 billion from SNAP funding through 2034, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

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The bill also created a $50 billion Rural Health Transformation Program that scores states on whether they submit SNAP restriction waivers, while making SNAP requirements more difficult for recipients to qualify.

Able-bodied individuals without dependents are required to work at least 80 hours per month if they are ages 18 to 65 to receive benefits. Previously, the top age was 55.

Veterans, people who recently aged out of foster care, and unhoused people are no longer exempt from work requirements.

Benefits are restricted to only certain lawful permanent residents and U.S. citizens. Others lawfully present in the United States are eliminated, including those who have qualified for conditional entry under the asylum and refugee laws or based on urgent humanitarian reasons, such as survivors of domestic violence or human trafficking.

The federal government has paid for benefits, with each state handling the actual management. Under the new bill, states must assume up to 15% of benefit costs, depending on the payment error rate, and are saddled with increased administrative costs from 50% to 75%.

How many people are on SNAP benefits?

More than 42 million people across more than 22 million households relied on SNAP benefits every month during fiscal year 2025, according to the USDA. Children accounted for about 39% of the people who received the benefits, according to the USDA's report on fiscal year 2023, its latest annual data.

About 2.98 million Floridians received SNAP during fiscal year 2024, about 12.7% of the state's population. The national average is 12.3%.

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In 2023, 55% of SNAP households with children included someone employed (28% of the total), and 61% also received some other form of assistance, such as Social Security.

C. A. Bridges is a journalist for the USA TODAY Network-Florida's service journalism Connect team. You can get all of Floridas best content directly in your inbox each weekday day by signing up for the free newsletter, Florida TODAY.

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Florida SNAP benefits changing in April, here's what's banned
The world is more connected than ever before, courtesy of breakthroughs in technology, and making our tiny blue rock floating through space smaller and smaller.

And yet, there are some who still live off-the-grid, devoid of modern luxuries.

Perhaps the most notable, and infamous from an incident back in 2018 (more on that later), are the Sentinelese, a tribe of 50-150 people, living primitively on Indias North Sentinel Island. They have little, if any, contact with the outside world; they still hunt with spears and bows. But through satellite imagery, some of their secrets have been revealed.

YouTuber GEODENSITY compiled the video above, which showcases Google Earth imagery, displaying some of the Sentinelese camps, movements, and behaviors. The video also dives into the history of the tribe, dubbed the worlds most isolated people.

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According to EBSCO, a research database, heres a little more on this mysterious tribe:

The Sentinelese are an indigenous tribe residing on North Sentinel Island in the Andaman Islands of Southeast Asia, known for their isolation and fierce resistance to outside contact. As one of the last uncontacted tribes in the world, little is understood about their daily life and culture due to their strong desire for privacy.

The Indian government has established a protective exclusion zone around the island, preventing outsiders from approaching, although tragic encounters have occurred, such as the deaths of fishermen and a missionary. North Sentinel Island, part of Indias Andaman and Nicobar Islands Union Territory, is approximately 23 square miles and features dense forests and surrounding reefs, leaving it largely inaccessible.

Related: Inside Americas 'Secret' Island Deep in the Remote Pacific Ocean (Video)

Back in 2018, an American was killed by the tribe when he attempted to visit them. John Allen Chau, a 27-year-old from Alabama, was a modern-day missionary of sorts, attempting to bring Christianity to the primitive people. And yet, he was warned.

John Chau, who was killed by the Sentinelese by bow and arrow, when he attempted to make contact with them in 2018. Instagram (Instagram)

"The number of people belonging to the Sentinelese tribe is so low, they don't even understand how to use money, journalist Subir Bhaumik, who has covered the tribe for years, told the BBC. It's in fact illegal to have any sort of contact with them."

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According to a report, upon approaching the island, [Chau] was attacked by arrows but he continued walking. His body was spotted two days later, but never recovered.

Some mysteries are better left unknown.

Related: Man Lives Alone on Island for 33 Years to Avoid Talking to People

This story was originally published by Surfer on Mar 29, 2026, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Surfer as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Across the country, states are recognizing a simple truth: when a veteran returns home with a 100% service-connected disability, that sacrifice deserves meaningful recognition. One of the most common ways states do this is through relief from the property taxes on the home that veteran fought to defend.

Twenty-one states have already passed laws granting full property tax exemptions for 100 percent disabled veterans. Recently, New York joined that list when Gov. Kathy Hochul signed legislation granting full property tax exemption to disabled veterans beginning in 2026.

Ohio, despite its proud military heritage and strong veteran population, has yet to follow suit.

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The reason is not a lack of legislation. Ohio Senate Bill 92 would provide full property tax relief to Ohios 100% disabled veterans and their surviving spouses.

Yet the bill has remained stalled in the Ohio Senate for more than a year.

Why? Because the chair of the committee responsible for moving the bill forward, state Sen. Louis Blessing, has refused to allow it to come to a vote.

In a phone call with him in January 2026, Sen. Blessing told me directly that he would not bring the bill to the Senate floor, preventing lawmakers from even debating the issues. Thats not how democracy works and certainly not how Ohios legislature should operate.

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Disabled veterans are not asking for guaranteed passage of the bill. They are asking for something much simpler. They want their elected representatives to debate the issue and vote.

That is how representative government is supposed to work. Instead, the bill remains locked in committee.

Sen. Blessing frequently portrays himself as a supporter of the military and veterans. His public statements often praise the service and sacrifice of those who wear the uniform.

But praise is easy when it requires no action. For veterans watching this situation unfold, the contrast between those public statements and the reality in Columbus is becoming difficult to ignore.

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The image projected by Sen. Blessing is polished and thoughtful, often accompanied by his trademark bow tie. But for many disabled veterans waiting for action, the presentation is beginning to feel like political theater.

At some point, the disconnect between the words and the actions begins to resemble something else entirely. For many veterans it looks like a wolf in sheeps clothing with a bow tie.

A 100% service-connected disability rating from the Department of Veterans Affairs is not symbolic.

It means the VA has determined that a veterans injuries or medical conditions were caused directly by their service and have permanently and totally disabled them.

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These are the men and women who carried the burden of Americas wars. Many live on fixed incomes. Many face lifelong medical challenges. Property taxes can represent a significant financial burden.

More than twenty states have already recognized this and acted. Ohio should do the same.

Allowing Ohio Senate Bill 92 to move forward would not force any legislator to support it. It would simply allow Ohios elected representatives to debate the issue and vote.

But that cannot happen as long as one committee chair refuses to allow the bill to move forward.

If Sen. Blessing truly supports the military and the veterans he claims to champion, there is a very simple way to prove it. Allow Ohio Senate Bill 92 to be heard. Let the committee debate it. Let the Senate vote.

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Until that happens, Ohios disabled veterans are left watching a politician who publicly praises their service while privately preventing the very vote that could help them. For many veterans, it now looks like a wolf in sheeps clothing wearing a bow tie.

Bernard J. Mutz is a retired U.S. Air Force Major and resident of Oakwood, Ohio.

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The Ohio Supreme Court will decide the constitutionality of an Ohio law banning gender-affirming care for transgender youth.

The court heard oral arguments last Tuesday in a case challenging Ohio House Bill 68 and a decision will be made in the coming months. The court is made up of six Republicans and one Democratic justice.

The law  which prevents transgender youth from starting hormone therapy and puberty blockers  took effect in April 2024 after the Ohio House and the Senate voted to override Ohio Gov. Mike DeWines veto.

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H.B. 68 prevents parents from accessing treatment that they and their children believe is necessary, that is recommended by the minors treating physicians, and that is available for minors with other medical conditions, said Jordan Bock, arguing on behalf of the plaintiffs in the case.

The American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Ohio, and the law firm Goodwin filed a lawsuit in 2024 on behalf of two transgender girls and their families. One of the girls was already using puberty-blocking medication and the other was meeting with doctors about starting the process when the lawsuit was filed.

Grace questioned whether dying would allow her to return as a girl, Bock said. And Madeline Moe told her parents that she wished she could die and just be reborn. But after being able to live as girls, they thrived.

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The Franklin County Court of Common Pleas rejected the plaintiffs challenge to the law in August 2024, allowing the gender-affirming care ban to go into effect. The ACLU of Ohio appealed the decision and the Tenth District Court of Appeals ordered a permanent injunction to be entered against the bill in March 2025.

Gender-affirming care is supported by every major medical organization in the United States.

It does not mean there is a right answer in any particular case, but it is the parents that have the right to decide, given the girls own circumstances, whether treatment is appropriate, Bock said.

Bock argued the ban goes against the Health Care Freedom Amendment Ohio voters approved in 2011.

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Ohios Solicitor General Marthura Sridharan, however, argued children do not have a constitutional right to obtain gender reassignment procedures.

Parents have discretion to govern the medical treatment of their children, she said during oral arguments. Even if there are some benefits to treating gender dysphoria through gender reassignment medications, well, that is not overridden by the significant risks and the significant costs.

Sridharan mentioned Chloe Cole, who started transitioning at 12 and began detransitioning at 16.

Children would write away their fertility for life, Sridharan said. They suffer other serious physical consequences and on top of that, theres significant known and unknown psychological risks.

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Democratic Ohio Supreme Court Justice Jennifer Brunner mentioned how DeWine spent time talking with families of transgender youth before he vetoed the bill.

Im only bringing that up for the reason that the evidence to the kids showed that there are children who actually harm themselves without the care that they get based upon their gender dysphoria, she said.

Follow Ohio Capital Journal Reporter Megan Henry on X or on Bluesky.

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HONG KONG, March 30 (Xinhua) -- Hong Kong plans to launch the uncertificated securities market (USM) regime on Nov. 16, the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) of Hong Kong announced on Monday.

Major work streams for implementing USM are now at advanced stages following steady progress over the past year, said the SFC, adding that Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX) and relevant share registrars are at an advanced stage of developing and testing their USM-related systems and processes, with market participants to be invited to participate in testing in the coming months.

Amendments to various HKEX rules and operational procedures that are necessary for implementing USM have also been approved, the SFC said.

The SFC is reportedly reviewing applications from six FSR (the Federation of Share Registrars Limited) members who seek to become Approved Securities Registrars (ASRs). Information on the status of their applications will be published on the SFC's website in the coming weeks.

Implementation of the USM regime will further elevate Hong Kong's financial market infrastructure through greater investor choice, more streamlined processes and more opportunities for straight-through-processing, said Rico Leung, the SFC's Executive Director of Supervision of Markets.

Upon implementation, newly listed securities will be required to be issued in paperless form from the time of listing. For securities already listed prior to the launch date, issuers will be gradually integrated into the USM regime over a five-year period. Issuers and the market will receive advance notice regarding these arrangements.

Investors who possess share certificates will have the flexibility to decide when they wish to convert their shares into paperless form. 
Overnight, the US president says the US hit "many long sought-after targets" in Iran on Sunday - while Israel says it's carrying out new attacks on Tehran
UPDATE 3/30/36:

Thomason was able to get a temporary ID. While there, she asked about the message and was told it was because there was no birth certificate on file in the state of Oklahoma.

ORIGINAL STORY:

OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR)  Some Oklahomans are having trouble renewing their drivers license online.

Last month, Service Oklahoma updated its system to make drivers licenses and vehicle services fast.

Service Oklahoma to launch faster, unified system for driver license and vehicle services

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However, some say theyre receiving a message that says they are not U.S. citizens.

Our records indicate that you are not currently listed as a U.S. citizen in our system, said Ceciley Thomason, a woman trying to obtain a state drivers license.

Oklahomans told they are not listed as a U.S. citizen by Service Oklahoma.

This is the message some Oklahomans are getting while trying to obtain a license online.

Im going to be honest, it was alarming because around that time there were some very scary things going on with immigration, said Thomason.

Ceciley Thomason was trying to get a state drivers license online after she moved.

My husband, he does have a real ID already, and he was able to go in through, no problem, said Thomason. Then, when I went to go change or update my ID, I got the screenshot that you saw on Facebook, where it says, we dont have you as a citizen. I was like, thats strange.

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Thomason is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation. She says she already has a tribal drivers license and passport card.

Thomason says while filling out the information online, she input her drivers license number and social security number, but still received the message.

She tried multiple browsers but was still told she is not listed as a U.S. citizen.

I cannot imagine being someone who is going through this and also actively worried about an immigration issue, said Thomason.

News 4 reached out to Service Oklahoma about this issue.

Were aware that some customers may see this message when attempting to complete a renewal online. While the wording is not as clear as it should be, it is simply indicating that additional information is needed before the transaction can be completed.



Not all customers are eligible to renew online for a variety of reasons, including when certain documentation needs to be verified. In these cases, customers can quickly complete their renewal in person at a Service. Oklahoma location or with a licensed operator.



We are updating our messaging to ensure it is more clear and helpful for customers moving forward. Service Oklahoma

Thomason recently went to the tag agency to handle the issue in person, but at last check, the status of her license is not pending, and she still receives the same message.

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Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KFOR.com Oklahoma City.
WASHINGTON (AP)  President Donald Trump has listed five objectives that the U.S. wants to achieve before ending its war with Iran. Now, one month into the conflict, he has suggested the U.S. may soon be winding down the operation, even though some of his key aims remain undefined or unfulfilled.

Trump last week outlined five goals for the massive air campaign. That's up from four laid out by his staff since the war's start on Feb. 28 (and up from the three generally enumerated by the Pentagon and Secretary of State Marco Rubio). Though the Trump administration has said its objectives are clear and unchanging, the list of priorities has expanded and shifted as the war has taken a toll on the global economy, tested alliances and raised unanswered questions about the planning for the conflict, its justification and its aftermath.

By most accounts, the strikes by the U.S. and Israel have significantly degraded Iran's military capabilities and killed scores of senior leaders. But those tactical successes don't necessarily translate to achieving all the president's strategic aims.

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Some of his objectives are difficult to achieve and if the U.S. walks away with unfinished aims and Iran's paramilitary Islamic Revolutionary Guard in power, Trump could face political fallout at home and global repercussions about what was accomplished in his decision to launch a war of choice that upended the Middle East and roiled the global economy.

Trump and the White House have insisted the operation is going well and on track to meet its goals. We are very close to meeting the core objectives of Operation Epic Fury, and this military mission continues unabated, press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters this week, saying the operation was ahead of schedule and performing exceptionally.

Heres a look at the objectives as laid out by Trump and where they stand:

1. Completely degrading Iranian Missile Capability

One of the prime objectives laid out by the president with Iran was to destroy their missiles and raze their missile industry to the ground."

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The administration says that the ability has been significantly degraded. But Iran is still launching missiles and drones, including a series of barrages at Israel as Trump claimed that negotiations with Iran were underway.

Trump said Thursday at the White House that about 90% of Iran's missiles and launchers have been knocked out, and that drones and the factories where drones and missiles are manufactured are way down.

2. Destroying Irans Defense Industrial Base

Before last week, the president and his administration sometimes listed this as a standalone objective, describing it as a goal to raze their missile industry to the ground. Other times, this has fallen off the list. The Pentagon has generally lumped it into the first objective of destroying Irans missile capability.

U.S. Central Command has said its targets for strikes in Iran have included weapons production and missile and drone manufacturing facilities. But Iranian attacks against its Gulf neighbors and Israel continue.

3. Eliminating their Navy and Air Force

The U.S. and Israel quickly established air superiority in the skies above Iran, where they have flown largely unchallenged. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Thursday that the U.S. has damaged or destroyed more than 150 Iranian vessels.

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After a U.S. submarine torpedoed and sank an Iranian warship in early March, two other Iranian vessels  the IRIS Bushehr and IRIS Lavan  docked in Sri Lanka and India and sought assistance from the two countries. There has been no indication from the U.S. that they have since been sunk or captured.

Irans Revolutionary Guard has its own navy that also relies on smaller vessels to do swarm attacks and drop mines. It is unclear how much of that force remains or whether it has planted any mines. But Iranian missiles continue to disrupt shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.

4. Never allowing Iran to get even close to Nuclear Capability

Trump made a marked shift over the last year after declaring that the U.S. has obliterated Irans nuclear program in June, only for his aides to warn that Iran was just weeks away from a bomb to justify the current operations.

Iranian state media said its nuclear facilities were attacked Friday. A heavy water plant and a yellowcake production plant were struck and Israel later confirmed it was behind the strikes.

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Israel had previously announced strikes on other nuclear-related targets, including the killing of a top Iranian nuclear scientist.

One of the most pressing questions in the war is whether Trump will seek to seize or destroy about 970 pounds of enriched uranium that Tehran has that could potentially be used for a weapon.

Trump, for the first time on Monday, said the U.S. would retrieve the uranium, which is believed to be buried deep under a mountain facility. But he indicated that would occur if the U.S. struck some kind of deal with Iran to the U.S. to retrieve it. Without permission from Iran, seizing it would be a dangerous mission, experts say, and would require a sizable deployment of U.S. troops into the country.

5. Protecting, at the highest level, our Middle Eastern Allies

Trump, in a recent social media post, added a fifth objective for the U.S: Protecting, at the highest level, our Middle Eastern Allies, including Israel, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait, and others. The Hormuz Strait will have to be guarded and policed, as necessary, by other Nations who use it  The United States does not!

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The U.S. already maintains thousands of troops on bases and other installations in the region. It's not clear how much further Trump is willing to go to protect Middle East allies from threats, and Iran is still able to attack those countries. Its also not clear how far the U.S. is willing to go to keep open the Strait of Hormuz. Trump has vacillated on whether the U.S. needs to take a role in policing it. He has again extended a deadline for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz or face attacks on its power plants, now giving them until April 6.

Regime change is not officially on the list

Trump has spoken about regime change since the start of the war, encouraging the Iranian people to take over your government after Israel, assisted by the U.S., launched strikes that killed Iran's supreme leader and much of its upper echelon of leaders.

Trump and his administration, however, have never explicitly stated regime change as an objective in Iran, despite making it clear they want to end the repressive theocracy's 47-year reign.

Trump said Thursday at the White House that the regime is largely decimated.

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You could really say we have regime change because they have been killed, he said in a Fox News Channel interview.

Now the U.S. claims to be holding talks with elements of the same Iranian government as it looks to bring a swift end to the conflict and reopen the Strait of Hormuz to maritime traffic. Iran, however, continues to publicly insist it is not negotiating with the White House.

And Trump's initial hopes for the Iranian people appear set to continue unfulfilled.

Also falling off the list: Cutting off support for Iranian proxy groups

Trump administration officials have offered few updates about this objective, which the president has described as ensuring that the regions terrorist proxies can no longer destabilize the region or the world and attack our forces and ensuring that the Iranian regime cannot continue to arm, fund, and direct terrorist armies outside of their borders.

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While the U.S. has struck Iranian-aligned militia groups in Iraq, and Israel appears to be expanding its operations against Hezbollah in Lebanon, the administration has not offered details about how its going to permanently halt Tehrans support for the militant groups.

The White House said in a statement that ensuring that Iranian proxy groups cannot further destabilize the region remains a key goal and that proxies are hardly putting up a fight because our United States Military is so strong and lethal.

___

Associated Press writer Konstantin Toropin contributed to this report.
The data reflects the feelings of the young people participating in the survey, but paints a worrying picture that is mirrored in Alumas ongoing work in the field.

Amid the ongoing war and the upheaval it creates in everyday life, the Aluma organization, which works to expand mobility among young people in Israel and to provide support at life's crossroads of service, education, and employment, conducted an internal survey among 237 young men and women it supports. The results point to a severe and deepening crisis beneath the radar.

The data reflects the feelings of the young people participating in the survey, but paints a worrying picture that is mirrored in Alumas ongoing work in the field.

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According to the data and Alumas work, many young people feel that the government does not see them and does not provide a sufficient response to their needs.

Only 3% of respondents felt that the state cares about the future of young people in Israel, whereas 74% stated that they feel that the state does not see them and does not care about their future at all, or only to a small extent.

The main impact is in the field of education, according to Alumas findings, with 64% of young people reporting damage or freezing of their academic plans due to the war, and 45% listed education as their primary concern.

Israelis take shelter in an underground parking lot in Tel Aviv during the war with Iran and Lebanon as missiles are fired toward Israel, March 6, 2026. (credit: CHAIM GOLDBERG/FLASH90)

About a quarter of those surveyed stated that they are especially worried about their economic situation.

Growing instability, diminishing optimism

At the same time, the feeling of instability is growing. A majority of the young people surveyed, 57%, reported uncertainty as a description of their feelings about their future in Israel. Only 30% felt optimistic about their future in Israel.

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The potential consequences of the situations are already visible, with about 30% of young people surveyed having thought about or considered leaving Israel for an extended period, with 9% of them seriously considering or planning to leave.

Dr. Tami Halamish Eisenman, CEO of Aluma, said that "the young people we meet every day are at the very turning points of their lives - after military service, at the beginning of their studies, on the path to independence. The war caught them there, and we see the impact.

As in any crisis, they are the first to be affected and among the last to be talked about. This survey does not surprise us; it confirms what we hear from the field, Eisenman said.

"The question is not whether there is a problem, but when we start addressing it. Without focused attention, we may find ourselves in a few years with much deeper gaps."
Heres what youll learn when you read this story:

For decades, a theory based on the dating of organic matter (sampled from the Monte Verde archaeological site in Chile) dated the oldest American settlement to 14,500 years ago.

Researchers reevaluated those findings, and discovered that this sample matter was actually older organic matter which had been redeposited later.

Clovis, New Mexico, has long been considered the oldest known human settlement in the Americas, although some evidence has been found for earlier sites.

For some time, it was thought that the first humans to populate the Americas may have appeared as early as 14,500 years ago. Experts believe they would have followed a migration route that took them southward, trekking along the Pacific Coast, to what is now the archaeological site of Monte Verde, Chile. The idea that they arrived before the Clovis people, howeverarrived in North America between 13,000 and 13,500 years ago after crossing the Beringia land bridgewas questionable to some, and after a reevaluation of discoveries from between the 1970s and 1990s, the truth has finally been unearthed.

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Monte Verde is certainly ancient, but as it turns out, evidence of human occupation at the site is not quite as ancient as it was once believed to be. Anthropologist Todd Surovell (from the University of Wyoming) and his team of researchers have found that the site was only occupied between 4,200 and 8,200 years ago.

South America was the last continent on Earth to be colonized by humans. Artifacts from these early settlersincluding stone artifacts, ropes, wooden tools, bundles of seaweed, and the remnants of early architecturewere recovered from a peat bed in the Monte Verde II region of the Monte Verde site, which was excavated between 1977 and 1985.

Dating indicated that the site was occupied 1,500 years before the Clovis people ever made it to the North American continent. In fact, the settlement was determined to be even older than a site in eastern Beringia from which the Paleoindians were thought to have entered the Americas, and this determination was validated in 1997. But Surovell was not convinced.

[Our] results fail to support the [previous] hypothesis that the lower portion of [Monte Verde II] date to the Late Pleistocene, he and his team said in a study recently published in the journal Science. Instead, evidence from multiple sections show that the uppermost terrace at Monte Verde accumulated during the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene.

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According to the researchers, several critical observations had been missed. For one, Monte Verde II is actually above an older layer known as Lepue Tephra, which is comprised of rock fragments that were ejected by an erupting volcano. And that lower (and, therefore, presumably older) layer is only 11,000 years oldnowhere close to the original 14,500-year-old estimate for Monte Verde occupation. For another, the original investigation of the site never accounted for the erosion that further separates older and younger strata in the region.

There is also a significant presence of Pleistocene wood and organic matter near Monte Verde II, which is about the same age as wood at the site itself. Because of geological disruptions in the region during Early Holocene, organic matter dating back to the Pleistocene was exposed, redeposited, and buried in river sediments that Surovell dated to the Middle Holocene. This natural phenomenon convinced previous archaeological teams that the settlement at Monte Verde II was far older than it actually was, even leading some to reject the theory of human migration over the Beringia land bridge. The age of the sediments can only mean that whatever remained of the Monte Verde settlement was from the Middle Holocene, rather than the Pleistocene. While this does not necessarily rule out human presence in the Americas before the Clovis culture, there has not yet been sufficient evidence to confirm that anyone predated them.

As demonstrated here, the age of the [Monte Verde II] component should not be used as a constraint or check on colonization models derived from other sources, including the genetics of modern or ancient populations, said Surovell. Our findings also underscore the critical need for independent study and verification of early sites.

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By Will Dunham

WASHINGTON, March 30 (Reuters) - As humankind moves toward the goal of establishing a long-term presence on the moon and Mars, the question of whether reproduction is possible in extraterrestrial environments may no longer be merely hypothetical. And new research using simulated microgravity conditions has identified some major challenges.

Experiments conducted by scientists in Australia found that microgravity conditions, simulated in a laboratory, disrupt sperm navigation, reduce fertilization rates and, when exposure is prolonged, compromise the quality and survival of early embryos.

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They found that human and mouse sperm cells were around 50% less effective at swimming through a channel mimicking the female reproductive tract under these conditions compared to normal gravity. In mouse eggs, this translated into a drop of roughly 30% in fertilization success. The research also revealed complications in early embryo development.

The human body evolved over millions of years to function optimally in Earth's environment, including its gravity, and trekking beyond Earth's confines causes many physiological changes that affect human health.

The United States, with NASA's Artemis program, is planning to land astronauts on the moon in the coming years, as is China.

"With the Artemis program actively working to return humans to the moon and serious plans underway for crewed Mars missions, the ability to reproduce beyond Earth is fundamental to any long-term settlement," said reproductive scientist Nicole McPherson, who heads the Sperm and Embryo Biology Group at Adelaide University's Robinson Research Institute in Australia, lead author of the study published in the journal Communications Biology.

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"That includes not just human reproduction but also the animals and agricultural species any self-sustaining habitat would depend on," said McPherson, who also serves as director of research and diagnostic laboratories at Genea, one of Australia's leading IVF providers.

Fertilization occurs when a man's sperm cell navigates through the female reproductive tract and penetrates an egg cell, with the genetic material of the two cells combining. The new study is the first to show that gravity plays a critical role in sperm's ability to navigate toward an egg.

"It is not the ability to swim that is affected. Sperm in microgravity still move, they just cannot find their way. The function that appears to be disrupted is navigation, the ability to orient and move with purpose toward a destination. We believe this happens because many of the proteins on the surface of sperm act as mechanosensors, tiny molecular devices that detect physical forces including gravity," McPherson said.

"When that gravitational pull is removed, these sensors appear to be thrown off, leaving the sperm without a reliable frame of reference for up, down or which direction to move. It is a bit like trying to navigate a maze blindfolded and spinning," McPherson said.

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Adding progesterone, a female hormone naturally released around the time of ovulation as a chemical homing signal that assists sperm in finding their way, helped more human sperm overcome microgravity's negative effects.

SIMULATING MICROGRAVITY

To simulate microgravity, the researchers used a device that makes cells experience a condition resembling the continuous free fall of weightlessness in space. To test navigation, they used a plastic chamber with narrow channels open at both ends, with the sperm needing to navigate from one end to the other.

There was a roughly 50% reduction in the number of human and mouse sperm that successfully navigated in microgravity compared to normal gravity.

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For mouse eggs, there was a 30% reduction in successful fertilization after four to six hours of microgravity compared to normal gravity. The embryos that managed to form under microgravity appeared to be of higher quality, with more of the cells that go on to form the fetus.

"This suggests that brief microgravity exposure may act as a kind of selective filter, with only the most resilient sperm and embryos succeeding," McPherson said.

But when developing mouse embryos were exposed to microgravity during the first 24 hours after fertilization - when the genetic material from both parents comes together for the first time - fewer embryos formed, and those that did showed signs of developmental delay and reduced cell counts in the critical early stages.

There were similar embryo findings using pig cells.

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"The clearest conclusion is that reproduction in space is going to be considerably more challenging than most people assume, and that the challenges appear at multiple stages, not just one," McPherson said.

(Reporting by Will Dunham; Editing by Daniel Wallis)
Almost 50 people who took part in the U.S. Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021, including some pardoned by President Donald Trump, filed a lawsuit against the federal government alleging excessive force and emotional distress while exercising their First Amendment rights to protest.

The federal class action suit is meant to represent people on the west side of the U.S. Capitol struck by weapons or exposed to chemicals, and it listed dozens of people who have claimed $18 million in damages. Listed were 46 people, who said they've been "completely ignored by the United States of America."

The three Florida residents who filed the lawsuit included a married couple from Citrus County  Patrick and Marie Sullivan  and Alan Fischer III, who marched to the Capitol with the Proud Boys and faced charges of civil disorder and assault for throwing chairs, a traffic cone and a pole at officers, according to a 2022 press release from the U.S. Justice Department.

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Fischer was one of about 1,600 people pardoned by the president last year. The lawsuit contends that these protestors were affected by pepper spray and chemical munitions; others were injured by billy clubs and "other means of excessive force."

The lawsuit depicts an image of Jan. 6, 2021, in line with the White House's recast of this day to be a "peaceful and historic protest." But that's contrary to what multiple high-ranking officials have described as an attack on the U.S. Capitol where protestors stormed the building and lawmakers were forced to evacuate. It alleges police launched explosives into a "peaceful crowd" and physically assaulted people on the west side outdoor terrace and grounds of the Capitol.

"The 40mm grenade launchers were also used to fire tear gas and other projectiles into the middle of the demonstration, affecting peaceful, praying citizens exercising their First Amendment rights," the lawsuit read.

This lawsuit is also part of an ongoing and growing effort to hold the federal government responsible for those punished for their actions on Jan. 6, 2021. In June, members of the Proud Boys filed a $100 million lawsuit for being subjected to government raids and solitary confinement.

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More: Proud Boys who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6 sue government for $100 million

A request for comment is pending with the attorney representing the Capitol rioters and demonstrators. The lawsuit named the United States as a defendant, but in the filing said the case is focused on Capitol Police and the Metropolitan Police of the District of Columbia. A D.C. police spokesperson said the office does not comment on pending litigation, and a request for comment from Capitol Police is pending.

The rioters and demonstrators are asking the judge to declare that the Capitol Police and D.C. police assaulted protestors and acted with negligence. The case was filed March 27 in the Middle District of Florida in Ocala and assigned to U.S. District Judge Paul Byron, who was appointed by former President Barack Obama.

This reporting content is supported by a partnership with Freedom Forum and Journalism Funding Partners. USA Today Network-Florida First Amendment reporter Stephany Matat is based in Tallahassee, Fla. She can be reached at SMatat@usatodayco.com. On X: @stephanymatat.

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Jan. 6 riot participants allege excessive force in lawsuit
The partner of notorious gangland figure Steven Lyons was arrested in Dubai on the same day he was detained by police in Bali, it has emerged.

Amanda Lyons was held over offences alleged to have been committed in Spain.

It is understood her arrest on Saturday followed an Interpol red alert.

Steven Lyons, 45, was taken into custody shortly after he arrived at Bali's I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport on a flight from Singapore.

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A Police Scotland spokesperson said: "We are aware of the arrest of a Scottish woman in Dubai and we are working closely with European partners."

On Friday, the joint Scottish-Spanish operation targeted properties in Bellshill, Glasgow, Gartcosh, Whitburn, Caldercruix, Cumbernauld, Coatbridge, Barcelona and the Malaga area.

Officers made eight arrests in Scotland and five in Spain.

The request for Steven Lyons' arrest is believed to have come via Spain's Guardia Civil. BBC Scotland News understands he is now expected to be extradited to Spain.

Steven Lyons is the current head of the Lyons clan, which was originally based in the north of Glasgow and latterly in Cumbernauld, North Lanarkshire.

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It has been involved in a bloody feud with the rival Glasgow-based Daniel gang for more than 20 years.

It was reported earlier this month that Lyons had been arrested in Bahrain - five months after being released from custody in Dubai.

But in the weeks that followed, details of his whereabouts were shrouded in mystery - until he stepped off a flight in Bali.

In a statement, the Ngurah Rai Immigration Office said: "Based on intelligence data, SL is strongly suspected of being the leader of an international criminal organisation.

"He is suspected of being the mastermind behind the operation of several fictitious companies and of being involved in money laundering."

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Steven Lyons is currently being held at the Bali airport's detention centre.

In 2006, Steven Lyons survived a shooting at a garage in Lambhill, in the north of Glasgow, which claimed the life of his cousin, Michael Lyons.

Last May, Steven Lyons' brother, Eddie Lyons Jnr, and Ross Monaghan were shot dead in a beachfront bar in Fuengirola on the Costa del Sol.

Both men had spent the evening watching the Champions League final before they were targeted by a lone gunman.

Michael Riley, 44, from Liverpool, has been accused by Spanish police of the murders.

He had challenged an extradition bid but the Crown Prosecution Service confirmed in October that he had given his consent to be taken to Spain to face prosecution.

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In the days after the double shooting, a Spanish National Police detective said the suspect was a member of the rival Daniel gang.

But Police Scotland have maintained there is nothing to suggest the murders in Spain are linked to the ongoing gang war or that it was planned in Scotland.

Police Scotland said the inquiry pre-dated last year's gangland feud in central Scotland which resulted in a series of assaults, shootings and firebombings.

A number of properties were set alight in Edinburgh and the surrounding areas in March before the attacks spread to the west at the beginning of April.

The force launched Operation Portaledge in response and it has so far resulted in more than 60 arrests.
A flight from Columbus to Atlanta was briefly waylaid by passenger threats, according to media reports.

As Frontier Airlines flight 2539 from Columbus to Atlanta was taxiing to the gate at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, a passenger made a verbal bomb threat, according to Fox News and 11 Alive in Atlanta.

More: Frontier passenger made 'bomb threat' at Atlanta airport, airline says

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Atlanta's 11 Alive reported that air traffic control audio indicated the passenger also threatened the woman in the seat next to him.

"He's in his seat. He is starting to threaten to kill the lady who's sitting next to him, and he is saying that he has a bomb on board," the pilot said, according to the audio cited by the TV station.

"As a matter of precaution and in coordination with local authorities, the aircraft parked at a remote location while law enforcement responded," the airline told USA TODAY.

Passengers were deplaned and bused to the terminal and it was ultimately determined there was no credible threat, according to media reports.

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Fox 5 in Atlanta reported the FBI is now taking the lead in looking into the incident, which is not being investigated as a hijacking.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus to Atlanta Frontier flight evacuated after threat while taxiing
What is daily life like on the ground in Tehran?

Norwegian Refugee Councils Iran director, Martje van Raamsdonk, joins from the Iranian capital to talk about how bombing has intensified in recent days, prompting residents to tape up their windows, amid growing fears and uncertainty as talks of a US invasion ramp up.

Warship USS Tripoli has arrived in the Middle East with thousands of fresh troops, and the USS Boxer is not far behind - but Iran has vowed to rain fire on any American soldiers who set foot on its territory. Meanwhile, Trump is said to be considering taking Kharg Island and has been claiming regime change has already happened.

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Venetia Rainey and Roland Oliphant discuss all the latest updates, along with the impact on the price of oil and Israel expanding its offensive in southern Lebanon.

Plus, Yemen expert and University of Cambridge mistress Elisabeth Kendall explains why the Houthis joining the war is so significant and how they could turn things into a nightmare.

Listen to Iran: The Latest: YOUTUBE | APPLE PODCASTS | SPOTIFY | AMAZON

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BEIRUT, March 30 (Xinhua) -- Lebanese President Joseph Aoun on Monday condemned the attack that killed a United Nations peacekeeper in southern Lebanon during a phone call with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) Commander Diodato Abagnara.

Aoun extended his condolences to the family of the Indonesian peacekeeper, who was killed after a UNIFIL position in the village of Adchit al Qusayr came under shelling. He also wished the other peacekeeper injured in the attack a speedy recovery, according to a statement from the Lebanese presidency.

On Sunday, UNIFIL said a peacekeeper was killed and another critically injured when a projectile exploded at a UNIFIL position near Adchit al Qusayr. UNIFIL said the origin of the projectile was unknown and that an investigation had been launched.

Cross-border fighting has continued along the Lebanon-Israel border since March 2, when Hezbollah launched rockets toward Israel for the first time since a ceasefire agreed on Nov. 27, 2024, triggering intensified Israeli airstrikes across southern and eastern Lebanon. 
A bill making the Iowa Child Care Assistance program permanently available for child care workers regardless of income heads to the governors desk after passing both chambers with bipartisan support.

House File 2514, which passed the Senate unanimously Monday, makes the Child Care Assistance (CCA) pilot program established in 2023 permanent. The pilot program extends child care assistance to families in which one parent is working at least 32 hours a week in the child care field, regardless of the familys income.

Under current law, the assistance program is available to families with a gross monthly income below 160% of the federal poverty level who are unavailable during week days due to their job, schooling, vocational training or other state PROMISE JOBS activities.

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Sen. Mark Costello, R-Imogene, said the estimated cost of implementing the bill is $11.7 million, with the state paying $7 million and the federal government $4.7 million in fiscal year 2027. In FY 2028, the projected state cost is $7.3 million and the federal cost $4.8 million, according to the Legislative Services Agency fiscal note.

Costello said the bill comes as the state has a projected surplus of the money that we have for this that we may as well use. House lawmakers said in February during floor debate on the bill the state funding is drawn from Iowas Child Care Development Fund, which is projected to carry forward $107 million in FY 2026 and $91 million in FY 2027.

Sen. Sarah Trone Garriott, D-West Des Moines, said the bill moving forward was an example of exactly how the legislative process should work.

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I heard from so many child care providers that this was the make or break thing to keep people in the profession, because a lot of our child care providers are parents of young children, Trone Garriott said. And so, this is a benefit that helps them to continue to work in that field, and that makes a difference for all of our families with young children.

The measure moves to the governor for final consideration. The same proposal  making the CCA pilot program permanent  is also a component of House File 2712 and Senate File 2462, companion bills that make changes to the states Early Childhood Iowa system and related funding. These bills survived the second funnel deadline of the session, as it concerns appropriations.

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U.S. Customs and Border Protection is warning New Yorkers of telephone scammers posing as U.S. Border Patrol agents and U.S. Customs and Border Protection to solicit personal and banking information.

According to CBP, these scams have been reported to target residents across the country over the past few years, and recent scams have been reported in New York counties.

Here's what to know.

What NY counties are these scams being reported in?

CBP stated that numerous telephone scams have been reported targeting New York residents in Erie, Jefferson, Monroe, Niagara and Oswego Counties.

What are the telephone scams?

Residents have reported receiving these two types of unsolicited calls from scammers posing as U.S. Border Patrol agents and U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers:

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The scammers are calling with a pre-recorded message, stating "a box of drugs and money being shipped has your name on it and has been intercepted. Scammers are posing as CBP employees and calling residents to say there is a warrant out for their arrest, or requesting information in exchange for Bitcoin.

In both cases, CBP stated that residents are asked to provide their banking information or other personally identifiable information, such as their Social Security numbers or dates of birth.

CBP stated that Border Patrol and U.S. Border Protection will never solicit money over the phone, and that they never use Bitcoin, gift cards or any other forms of digital currency. Residents are urged not to provide any information over the phone.

If you receive a scamming call like this, CBP stated that you should take note of the phone number and any other important details about the call, then immediately hang up. These calls should be reported to local law enforcement and the Federal Trade Commission at https://reportfraud.ftc.gov/.

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If you would like to speak with someone from CBP, call the CBP Information Center at (877) 227-5511.

 Madison Scott is a journalist with the Democrat and Chronicle who covers breaking and trending news for the Finger Lakes Region. She has an interest in how the system helps or doesn't help families with missing loved ones. She can be reached at MDScott@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: New phone scams target New Yorkers. What to know
Boston police are investigating after two people were hospitalized following a shooting in the South End.

Around 7:08 p.m. police were dispatched to the area of Kendall Street and Shawmut Avenue after 911 calls, and a ShotSpotter was activated for shots fired.

Once on the scene, officers found two victims by the intersection of Kendall Street and Trotter Court with gunshot wounds.

Officers applied tourniquets to both victims pending the arrival of emergency medical personnel, a spokesperson for Boston police said. Boston EMS responded to the scene and transported both victims to area hospitals for treatment.

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At this time, the extent of the victims injuries is not known, but police say they appear to be non-life-threatening. No arrests have been made.

Detectives are on the scene, and the investigation remains ongoing.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts.

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Police have launched a hate crime investigation after someone spread feces onto the door of a historic mosque in Brooklyn, and now cops have released video of the suspect they are looking for.

Steps away from the bustling Atlantic Avenue, nestled on a quiet residential street, is the Daoud Mosque, also known as the Islamic Mission of America. It's nearly a century old and is a beloved place of worship for Muslims in Brooklyn Heights.

"It's not whether if you're Black or you're whites or other nationalities or anything of that sort," said Ahmad Jawwad, who attends the mosque. "It's how much God consciousness you have. And that's what is endorsed in this mosque. And that's why it's very beautiful."

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But now the mosque on State Street is also the scene of a disturbing act the NYPD is investigating as a hate crime.

Police shared surveillance video of a man they say is responsible.

Officials say around 430 a.m. on March 9, in the midst of Ramadan, the suspect threw torn pieces of what likely was a Quran at the mosque and then smeared an unknown substance on the door. The New York chapter of the Council of American-Islamic Relations says it is believed to have been feces.

"It's a repulsive act by an individual who targeted an Islamic house of worship and did really what no one else would imagine," said Afaf Nasher, executive director of NY-CAIR. "Unfortunately, anti-Muslim hate is one of the largest increases that we've ever seen."

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According to the NYPD, there have been 25% more reported hate crimes citywide this year compared to the same time period in 2025.

A manager at the nearby Yemeni Cafe, is very concerned by the rise in religious discrimination.

"it doesn't matter what community got hit by hate, it's still against everyone," said Mahmood Alsubai of Brooklyn Heights. "We would like to see the changes from the top against those things."

As police continue searching for the perpetrator of this disgusting act, mosque-goers turn towards the teachings of the Quran.

"It just goes to show like I guess the ignorance of that individual, right? Because if he actually knew the reality of what Islam stands for, he would never have done that," Jawwad said.

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MONACO (AP)  Pope Leo XIV urged residents of the principality of Monaco on Saturday to use their wealth and influence for good and reject the idolatry of power and money that is fueling wars around the world.

Leo made a one-day trip to the glitzy Mediterranean enclave, becoming the first pope to visit since Pope Paul III came in 1538.

Prince Albert and Princess Charlene met Leo at the Monaco heliport, just down the coast from the marina that is home to the megayachts of the rich and famous. To celebrate his arrival, a cannon boomed in a ceremonial salute and boats in the marina sounded foghorns that at one point interrupted Leos remarks.

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At the palace, members of the royal family stood in the courtyard to greet Leo, the women dressed in black and with lace head coverings. Charlene wore white  a protocol privilege granted by the Vatican to Catholic royal sovereigns when meeting popes, known in diplomatic terms as "le privilege du blanc."

In his opening greeting from the palace balcony, Leo urged Monaco to use its wealth, influence and gift of smallness to do good in the world.

It was important, he said in French, especially at a historical moment when the display of power and the logic of oppression are harming the world and jeopardizing peace.

A reference to abortion in Monaco

Speaking later in the cathedral, Leo urged Monaco's Catholics to spread their faith so that the life of every man and woman may be defended and promoted from conception until natural death, he said.

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Such terms are used by the Vatican to refer to Catholic teaching opposing abortion and euthanasia.

Monaco is one of the few European countries where Catholicism is the official state religion. Prince Albert recently refused a proposal to legalize abortion, citing the important role Catholicism plays in Monacos society.

The decision was largely symbolic because abortion is a constitutional right in France, which surrounds the coastal principality of 2.2 square kilometers (about 1 square mile).

But in refusing to allow it in Monaco, Albert joined other European Catholic royals who have taken a similar stand over the years to uphold Catholic doctrine on an increasingly secular continent. When Pope Francis visited Belgium in 2024, he announced he was putting the late King Baudouin on the path to possible sainthood because he abdicated for a day in 1990 rather than approve legislation to legalize abortion.

Pope urges Monaco to reject idolatry of war

A coastal playground for the rich and famous, Monaco is renowned as much for its tax-friendly incentives and Formula 1 Grand Prix as its glamorous royal family. The son of the late American actress Grace Kelly, Albert spoke in perfect, unaccented English when he greeted Leo at the heliport. Leo was heard noting that he landed three minutes late.

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Leos visit was designed to highlight how small states such as Monaco and the Holy See can punch above their weight on the global stage. Leo used his homily at Mass in the Monaco stadium to do just that, urging the faithful to reject the type of idolatry that has enslaved people in cycles of war and injustice.

Todays wars, stained with blood, are the fruit of the idolatry of power and money., he said. Let us not grow accustomed to the clamor of weapons and images of war! Peace is not merely a balance of power; it is the work of purified hearts, of those who see others as brothers and sisters to be protected, not enemies to be defeated.

Though small, Monaco has made its mark as a strong campaigner for environmental protection as well as a supporter of initiatives to help Christians in the Middle East. It is a partner in the Aliph Foundation, which works in particular to rebuild and restore churches and other sites of cultural importance that get damaged or destroyed by conflict.

The government has also been a longtime supporter of church projects in Lebanon organized by luvre dOrient, a French-based group that supports bishops, priests and religious orders working in 23 countries.

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Monacos population of 38,000 is heavily Catholic and multinational, with only a fifth of the population actually citizens of the principality. On a sunny spring day, many people flocked to the palace grounds to greet Leo, and some lined the streets to wave Vatican and Monaco flags as his open-sided popemobile passed by.

Claudine Fiori, Monaco resident, said it was a privilege and an emotional boost to welcome a pope.

His Highness invited him and he came and it was a beautiful surprise," Fiori said. "Thanks to the pope for coming here.

Enrico Doja, a Monaco resident of Italian origin, said he appreciated that Leo spoke in French throughout the day.

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This means that he is close to the people," he said. "And nowadays the world is unfortunately run mainly by people who are one man show, and his role is to say we have to do things together. 

___

Winfield reported from Rome.

___

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the APs collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
Land disputes over unregistered Hindu religious sites have long fuelled racial tensions in Muslim-majority Malaysia, with the latest example involving unfounded claims that a public hospital in northern Penang state would be relocated to avoid "disturbing" a nearby temple. The now-deleted post cites a Malaysian minister, whose aide has lodged a police report against the social media user who made the false claim. The hospital's visitor's board said it proposed an expansion, not a relocation.

"Bukit Mertajam Hospital will be relocated to avoid disturbing the temple - Steven Sim Chee Keong," reads a Facebook post shared on March 22, 2026.

Sim is a member of parliament representing the Bukit Mertajam district of northern Penang state and also Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives Minister.

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The post includes an image of Sim at the hospital speaking with nurses, supposedly dated March 22.

Screenshot of the false post taken on March 26, 2026 with a red X added by AFP

Around 70 percent of Malaysia's 2,251 Hindu temples serving the country's minority Indian community are unregistered, which often become embroiled in land disputes and face demolition (archived link).

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said in February that the government would act against unauthorised houses of worship, particularly those on illegal land, but warned against vigilantism (archived link).

Soon after, four individuals were arrested for trespassing and demolishing a temple built without proper approval from the authorities, but were later released (archived link).

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Among them is controversial activist Tamim Dahri Abdul Razak, who is currently being sought by police and has said he will return to Malaysia only if his demand for four temples to be demolished is met (archived link).

However, the Bukit Mertajam Hospital is not being relocated and the circulating claim is baseless.

Expansion, not relocation

Keyword searches on Google found multiple news outlets reported that the ministers special officer Lim Zheng Han had filed a police report against a Facebook account called "Hamly Hadi", which first made the claim (archived link).

Lim said he had filed a report "on the dissemination of statements containing racial and religious incitement on social media, which contain untrue allegations regarding the hospital", adding that the statement is untrue, misleading and malicious.

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He said there was no proposal to relocate the hospital but instead plans for a new building at the existing site to accommodate increasing patients.

Further keyword searches also found that the Bukit Mertajam Hospital visitors' board had filed a police report and denied social media claims that the hospital would be relocated to avoid disturbing a temple (archived link).

Another one of Sim's aides shared a statement by the board on Facebook on March 23, 2026 which said the false claims were "ill-intentioned" and an attempt at blocking the hospital's expansion effort (archived link).

"We urge the authorities to investigate the owner of the Facebook account and take firm action under laws related to defamation, incitement, and the spread of false information," it said.

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A subsequent reverse image search for the image of Sim at the hospital shared in the circulating post led to a Facebook post by the Penang State Health Department on September 17, 2025.

Screenshot of the Penang State Health Department's Facebook post taken on March 27, 2026

According to the post, Sim visited the hospital on September 14, 2025 to inaugurate its new facilities for people with disabilities and zero-waste toilets (archived link). There is no mention of relocating the hospital.

Sim did not respond to AFP's request for comment at the time of publication.
WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW)  Three men were taken to the hospital after a semitruck hauling potatoes crashed with a pickup in western Kansas on Saturday.

The crash happened around 9 p.m. on U.S. Highway 83 just north of Kansas Highway 4.

According to the Kansas Highway Patrol, a 2007 Nissan Titan was heading south on U.S. 83 when a semitruck attempted to pass it in a nopassing zone. The pickup turned left into the passing semi, causing both vehicles to overturn. The semi came to rest on its drivers side, blocking both lanes of U.S. 83, while the pickup landed upright.

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The Scott County Department of Emergency Management shared a photo showing the potatoes spilled across the highway:

Courtesy: Scott County Department of Emergency Management

The driver of the semi, a 53yearold man from Texas, was taken to the hospital with minor injuries.

The two occupants of the pickup  a 17yearold man and a 28yearold man, both from Scott City  were also taken to the hospital with minor injuries.

The highway was reopened Sunday morning.

For more Kansas news, click here. Keep up with the latest breaking news by downloading our mobile app and signing up for our news email alerts. Sign up for our Storm Track 3 Weather app by clicking here. To watch our shows live on our website, click here.

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Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KSN-TV.
March 30 (UPI) -- A United Nations peacekeeper from Indonesia was killed and another was critically injured when a projectile exploded in southern Lebanon, officials said Monday.

The peacekeeper, who served with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, was killed Sunday night near Adchit Al Qusayr, close to Lebanon's southern border with Israel, UNIFIL said in a statement. The second peacekeeper of unknown nationality was critically injured, it said.

Israel and Lebanon-based Hezbollah, an Iran-backed militia, have been trading cross-border attacks on and off for years, with their fight intensifying after Israel's war against Iran-proxy militia Hamas in Gaza. A fragile cease-fire reached in November 2024 crumbled earlier this month amid the larger U.S.-Israeli war against Iran and fighting resumed between the two sides.

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Since March 2, Israel has launched a renewed offensive on southern Lebanon, killing at least 1,230 people and wounding more than 3,540 more as of Sunday, Lebanon's Ministry of Public Health said in a statement Monday.

The origin of the projectile that killed the peacekeeper was unknown, UNIFIL said, stating it has launched an investigation into the circumstances.

Created in 1978 by the U.N. Security Council to restore peace in southern Lebanon following Israel's cross-border military campaign, UNIFIL consists of nearly 8,200 personnel, including 7,375 troops.

Indonesia has the second highest number of troops deployed to UNIFIL with 756, according to its website.

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The foreign ministry of Indonesia described the attack as indirect artillery fire, and while not blaming any one side for the deadly projectile it condemned Israel over its ongoing attacks in southern Lebanon and called on both sides to respect Lebanon's sovereignty and cease attacks against civilians.

"We are profoundly saddened by this loss," the ministry said in a statement.

"We pay our highest respect to the fallen peacekeeper for his dedication and service to international peace and security."

Iran's Embassy in Indonesia issued its condolences online, while condemning the peacekeeper's death as "a direct consequence of Israel's continued aggression."
On a chilly day in early February, a 14-year-old girl quietly excused herself from a classroom in Krasnoyarsk, in eastern Russia. Minutes later, she returned with a rag soaked in accelerant burning in her hand.

She sprinted into a nearby algebra lesson, splashed the remaining fuel across the desks, and hurled the flaming weapon. As panic erupted, she drew a hammer and began striking at classmates scrambling for the door.

According to local media reports, one victim was left with burns across half of his body. Four other children suffered moderate burns and traumatic brain injuries. One teacher was treated for smoke inhalation.

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Under normal circumstances, the incident would have fuelled intense media coverage. But such incidents were already becoming commonplace in Russia.

Russian media showed a picture of the classroom where a 14-year-old girl splashed fuel across desks and hurled a rag soaked in accelerant to start the fire

For more than four years since the beginning of Russias invasion of Ukraine, children from nursery age have grown up amid an industrial-scale campaign of militarisation.

They have marched drills in school corridors, learned to assemble drones and rifles, held grenade-throwing contests and taken lessons from war-bloodied mercenaries who fought in Ukraine.

And it is not just in the classroom. Indoctrination has spanned youth groups such as the Yunarmiya, state-run media, popular culture and even gaming and toys  the latter is known to scholars as militainment.

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Experts fear this militarisation of school has led to the increase in attacks by children.

The day before the girls firebomb attack, another 14-year-old in the same region had stabbed a peer and a teacher.

On that same day in Ufa, the capital of Bashkortostan, a Year 10 pupil opened fire with an airsoft gun, hitting a teacher and three classmates.

Four days later, a 15-year-old in Ufa stormed a student dormitory with a knife, stabbing seven people while shouting nationalist slogans and smearing a swastika on the wall in blood, according to local Telegram channels.

A few days later, a 17-year-old stole his grandfathers gun and shot three people at a technical college in Krasnodar Krai, killing a security guard.

A week later, a 13-year-old stabbed a classmate in the neck and torso after a disagreement.

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On Thursday, a 15-year-old pupil brought a crossbow, flare gun and pepper spray to school, shot a teacher and a female classmate, then jumped out of a window.

As public fears mount, the Kremlin has begun to take notice. At the start of this month, Vladimir Putin expressed particular concern about the subject in a board meeting of Russias internal ministry.

Juvenile crime increased last year for the first time in a long time, the Russian president noted, drawing attention in particular to cases of aggressive behaviour by teenagers in schools, colleges and public places.

Police outside a secondary school after a knife attack

The issue threatens to spiral into a domestic crisis. Cases of juvenile crime increased by 18 per cent in 2025. According to Putin, serious and especially serious crimes made up around 40 per cent of this figure.

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There were at least seven school attacks in Russia in the first two months of 2026, compared with 15 in 2025. Vladimir Kolokoltsev, the Russian interior minister, said Russian police had prevented a further 21 school attacks since the beginning of the year.

Half of the 117 recorded violent incidents at Russian schools since 2000 have occurred in the past five years, according to The Moscow Times.

Teachers have been instructed to check students phones and backpacks and pay attention to suspicious factors such as strange clothing, shaved heads, combat boots and interest in social studies and history, according to the independent Russian outlet Verstka.

Russias top officials have been quick to offer their diagnoses. Vyacheslav Volodin, the State Duma chairman and an erstwhile Putin aide, singled out video games for their focus on crimes, gender transition, drug use and LGBT issues.

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Nina Ostanina, the chairman of the parliamentary committee on family affairs, blamed social media for the epidemic of infernal violence in Russian schools.

But experts speaking to The Telegraph pointed to the militarisation of school for young children since Russias full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

According to Dr Ian Garner, a professor of totalitarian studies at the Pilecki Institute and the author of Z Generation, a book about youth fascism in Russia, the particularly violent culture in schools could be spilling over into childrens behaviours.

Theyre learning about war. Theyre exposed to veterans talking about killing and violence at the front in Ukraine. They may be missing fathers. As much as we think that many Russians are sheltered from the war, the war is coming home to them, he told The Telegraph.

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This transformation of education into a vehicle for future mobilisation was the subject of this years Oscar-winning documentary Mr Nobody Against Putin, which follows a horrified teacher documenting his students immersion in ultranationalist propaganda amid a state overhaul of education.

In archival footage featured in the film, Putin announced on state television: Commanders dont win wars. Teachers win wars.

Dr Jenny Mathers, a lecturer at Aberystwyth University and an expert in youth militarisation in Russia, noted that Putin-approved presidential grants had ensured patriotic education extends to every corner of the country, from major cities to far-flung villages.

This focus on the youth tells us a lot about what Putins regime intends for the future, she told The Telegraph. They are settling themselves in for a long, drawn-out period of violent confrontation with other states. They need the young people to be on side.

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However, even as school attacks strain Moscows image of order, they are also likely to be read as a positive signal that the system is working, she said.

Such acts of reflexive violence against perceived outsiders and adversaries dovetail with state narratives of an external threat and imply elements of military messaging are being internalised, churning out future soldiers for the Kremlins forever war.

The convergence has already been made visible. The neo-Nazi paramilitary Rusich group, which fights for Russia, posted images in support of a 15-year-old white supremacist who stabbed a 10-year-old Tajik child to death in a Moscow school in December.

A 15-year-old has been arrested after he fatally stabbed a 10-year-old and injured a security guard in a Moscow school

Dr Mathers says her research suggests the regime is very worried that its programme of indoctrination is not having an effect, but that the crisis could be a sign that some part of this message is getting through.

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Theres a message that the use of violence is sanctioned. And especially if its against people identified as the other, because youre protecting your society and they dont belong, she said.

Dr Garner suggested that the regime may use the crisis to force yet more militarisation on young people.

The Putin government doesnt often admit that things are getting worse in the country, he said. Of course, the answer will be, the people to fix it are the regime. It will force more militarisation, more patriotic education, more lessons about how important it is to be a good Russian.

The state says that the answer to violence committed by children is more war.

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Credit: Josh Dinner

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.  NASA continues to target Wednesday (April 1) for the launch of its Artemis 2 mission to fly astronauts around the moon, and says teams are tracking zero technical issues leading up to the liftoff window.

That Artemis 2 launch window opens on Wednesday at 6:24 p.m. EDT (2324 GMT) and extends for two hours. If the launch is delayed or scrubbed for any reason, there are more opportunities for liftoff through April 6. But still, NASA officials are voicing a high degree of confidence in the mission's chances of launching on the agency's massive Space Launch System (SLS) rocket on time. Notably, NASA completed a flight readiness review for the mission ahead of SLS' rollout to the pad on March 20, and has since flagged no issues or risk acceptances that need closing before clearing Artemis 2 to launch.

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"Since that time, all of our operations have been going very smoothly," Lori Glaze, acting associate administrator for NASA's Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate, said during a mission status update on Sunday (March 29). "Our flight systems are ready, the ground systems are ready, our launch and operations teams are ready, and our flight operations team in Houston are also ready. The crew arrived yesterday, and I know that they're ready  they are more than ready."

NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket on the launchpad. If all goes to plan, it'll soon be on its way. | Credit: Josh Dinner

"There are little things that we find as we go that we're working right there, but none of them are threatening the first right now," Glaze said.

The biggest thing currently standing in the way of an April 1 liftoff is weather. There is currently a 20% chance of a weather violation on Wednesday due to potential cumulus clouds in the lower troposphere.

But hopes are high for the big day: Artemis 2 will be the first crewed mission of NASA's Artemis program , which endeavors to ultimately return astronauts to the surface of the moon and build an eventual base there. The mission will fly NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, as well as Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen, on a 10-day mission around the moon aboard a spacecraft called Orion .

Credit: Josh Dinner

To be clear, the astronauts aboard Orion for Artemis 2 won't actually enter orbit around the moon, but will instead slingshot around the lunar far side in a figure-eight trajectory that puts the spacecraft on a direct course back to Earth . The mission is designed as a second test flight for Orion, which has adventured beyond Earth orbit before  but never with a crew onboard.

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The first part of NASA's Artemis program, Artemis 1 , launched in November 2022, and successfully flew an uncrewed Orion into lunar orbit for about a month.

If all goes according to plan, Artemis 2 will pave the way for the next mission in the program, Artemis 3. Artemis 3 is slated to launch Orion to Earth orbit where the spacecraft will test rendezvous and docking operations with the selected Artemis lunar landers. The success of this demonstration will lead to Artemis 4, which NASA is planning as the first crewed lunar landing since the end of the Apollo program more than 50 years ago.

"We are getting very, very close  and we are ready," Glaze said.
DAMASCUS, March 30 (Xinhua) -- The Syrian Army said that Syria's military bases near the border with Iraq were targeted in a large-scale drone attack early Monday, adding that most of the drones were intercepted.

In a statement cited by state media, the Syrian Army Operations Authority said that multiple bases in the country's eastern region came under attack by a number of unmanned aerial vehicles.

The Syrian military said that its air defenses and units on the ground were able to shoot down most of the drones before they reached targets.

There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage.

The army did not identify those responsible for the attack, but said that it is assessing options and would take "appropriate measures" to neutralize any threats and prevent further attacks on Syrian territory.

Days earlier, a rocket attack targeted a Syrian military position near the town of al-Yarubiyah in Hasakah province, in an area close to the Iraqi border, highlighting growing security concerns along Syria's eastern frontier.

The latest attack occurred amid heightened tensions in the Middle East and increased cross-border activity, as the conflict involving the United States, Israel and Iran continues to reverberate across neighboring countries. 
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) is facing a grilling from both sides of the political aisle after TMZ reported that he was spotted at Disney World.

Photos of Graham have gone viral on social media, with the outlet juxtaposing his visit with the longest partial government shutdown in U.S. history over the ongoing funding lapse at the Department of Homeland Security.

Lindsey Graham lives it up at Disney World during the partial government shutdown! TMZ posted on X on Monday.

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In a separate post from Sunday, it added: Lindsey Graham was ineffective talking his colleagues into keeping the government open, but he had a great convo with Mickey Mouse Sunday ... at Disney World!!!

Negotiations to reopen the agency remain stalled after House Republicans on Friday voted to pass a short-term funding bill that has no clear path in the Senate. The move came hours after the Senate passed legislation to fund all of DHS except Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection  a bill that House Speaker Mike Johnson called a joke.

The Senate, where Republicans hold a 53-47 majority, has repeatedly failed to clear the 60-vote threshold needed to advance a similar measure since the shutdown began 45 days ago.

It is time for the Senate Filibuster to END, Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social about the parliamentary procedure. Those weak and ineffective Republicans Senators that stand in the way of this should be exposed to the public. The Democrats are CRAZY!

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Graham had quickly sparked some backlash on social media over his reported visit to the Florida resort.

Something has to change, one user wrote on X. Congress is supposed to work for us, yet they get 10 times more vacation time than we do.

Adam Cochran, a self-described policy consultant, posted that the most unhinged thing about this is wearing his senate attire to Disney in 80F temperatures.

Childless single man at Disney World, the End Wokeness account said. Definitely not creepy at all.

Another popular commentator asked: How is this real? A 70-year-old man with no kids, just roaming Disney World.

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A number of users also criticized his supportive stance on the war in Iran, including floating more U.S. troops overseas.

Graham later told Newsweek in a statement that he was invited to a lunch in South Florida on Friday with Steve Witkoff, the U.S. special envoy to the Middle East, and many others to talk about the possibility of normalization between Saudi Arabia and Israel.

I went to Orlando to meet friends after, Graham added. I got back to South Carolina on Sunday.

He also said he has voted seven times to fully fund the government and to call a Democrat.

The images follow TMZ encouraging its audience to submit photos they take of U.S. lawmakers on vacation amid the partial shutdown at your expense.

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The outlet separately posted images of Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) in a Las Vegas casino on Monday, prompting a response from the congressman.

Actually I dont mind what [TMZ] is doing here, Garcia said. Like the story says my dad has lived in Vegas for 15 years and I had just finished lunch with him. I try to see him whenever I can.

And like I said a few days ago, Speaker Mike Johnson should have never sent us all home, he continued.

Read the original article on NJ.com. Add NJ.com as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
MINOT, N.D.  Delegates to the North Dakota Republican state convention overwhelmingly approved a pair of resolutions calling for the abolishment of the primary election system and urging elected officials to adhere to the party platform, among a host of other symbolic motions.

One resolution declares the primary system to be unconstitutional and directs the party chairman, executive committee and all Republican officials to pursue every available legal, legislative, and political path to change state law to ensure candidates endorsed by a political party go directly to the general election. It passed 540-60.

Another resolution calls upon all Republican elected officials to support and adhere to the party platform. It was approved 577-23.

The votes occurred a day after the delegates narrowly voted to strip the Republican party brand from candidates who did not attend this years state convention. All incumbent statewide elected officials running for reelection in 2026 skipped the event.

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Republican Party Chair Matt Simon, delivering the events closing remarks, said party delegates are best positioned to hold Republican officials accountable to the platform.

We stand at a dangerous precipice of allowing anointings and coronations over the thorough vetting of elected representatives, Simon said.

Simon criticized an effort by some Republicans not at the convention pushing for legislation to make the primary the only way to access the ballot. Rep. Mike Nathe, a Bismarck Republican, has said hes considering proposing a bill to abolish the endorsement process. The Legislature in 2025 considered dueling bills to abolish the primary or abolish the state endorsement process, but both bills failed.

The appeal to forsake the convention nomination process in favor of the primary is really just a polished way of saying, We want your vote, not your voice, Simon said.

Delegates begin Day 2 of the NDGOP state convention at the State Fairgrounds in Minot on March 29, 2026. (Photo by Michael Achterling/North Dakota Monitor)

Delegates also voiced concerns that the Republican party, as a private organization, has no control over who can have an R next to their name on an election ballot.

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The way the law sits right now, Hillary Clinton could move to North Dakota for six months, become a resident of North Dakota, get enough signatures and put an R behind her name, said Greg Malo, a delegate from District 21. It just aint right.

The resolution calling for adherence to the party platform by public officials underwent a significant change before it was ever presented to the Republican delegates for a vote.

An early draft called on Republicans to maintain a voting record of 80% or greater within the Republican platform, but that portion of the resolution did not advance, said Rep. Karen Karls, R-Bismarck, chair of District 35 Republicans, who serves on the resolutions committee.

Marriage, abortion, religion

Convention delegates also passed resolutions focused on social issues, including the reiteration of the partys opposition to same-sex marriage and abortion.

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A resolution to promote historical values called for all public officials to honor and defend the federal Constitution, state constitution and the historical Christian faith of our founders.

Public officials and educational institutions are urged to promote the historical influence of Christian religious belief  including the Ten Commandments and the religious views held by many of Americas founders  within the broader context of American history and civic duties, as part of the resolution. It passed 582-18.

Opposition to same-sex marriage was steadfast among delegates. A resolution supporting the definition of marriage in the North Dakota Constitution, between one biological man and one biological woman, passed 583-17. The resolution calls for the attorney general to vigorously defend that definition in court.

But that doesnt necessarily mean everyone voting for the resolution is hostile to the LGBTQ community, said Brian McDonald of Leonard, a delegate from District 25.

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Ive got no problem with people who want to be partners, or whatever you call it, McDonald said. We dont need to punish anyone. I dont want to see anybody hurt. But I do believe that theres a purpose in marriage and we should encourage that, I guess, and protect it.

The right to life resolution, opposing abortion in all forms, also received strong support from those in attendance. It passed 589-11.

Eric Smith, a Bismarck delegate from District 47, suggested focusing on policies to support families with children.

We can look at, also, what we can do for families to actually help them raise that because I know theres a lot of financial factors that play into that, and thats why a lot of people choose to terminate their childbirth, Smith said.

Energy, other topics

A resolution regarding energy freedom was approved by a vote of 580-20.

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It declared the North Dakota Republican Party supports three concepts:

Legislation supporting fossil fuels and reducing regulations.

Legislation prohibiting the use of eminent domain by private enterprises without a public purpose, appearing to allude to Summit Carbon Solutions carbon dioxide pipeline.

Legislation ensuring large energy customers, an apparent reference to data centers, do not negatively impact energy costs to traditional consumers.

The proposed prohibition on the use of eminent domain for private enterprise without a public purpose prompted applause in the crowd. McDonald, a landowner who sold an easement to Summit for the pipeline route, considers the companys project a boondoogle that eminent domain should not be used for.

This really isnt in the public interest, he said. I think the people ought to either, you know, come to agreement or they find a different route around those people.

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The party also overwhelmingly approved eight other resolutions affirming health freedom, supporting election integrity, reducing state government spending, and supporting public safety, among others.

North Dakota Monitor journalists Michael Achterling and Amy Dalrymple contributed to this report.

North Dakota Monitor reporter Jacob Orledge can be reached at jorledge@northdakotamonitor.com.

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After previously questioning if he would go to heaven after he died, Donald Trump was assured by Christian evangelist Franklin Graham that he was not going to hell

Graham, a longtime Trump ally, wrote the president a letter in October 2025 after Trump told the media that he wasn't sure if he'd make it to heaven after he died

Trump has previously fundraised off questions about his eternal fate, urging supporters to raise money so that he could make it to heaven

Donald Trump says he's received assurance that he's going to heaven, and he's sharing the evidence to go with it.

To mark Palm Sunday  a Christian holy day that takes place a week before Easter  on March 29, the 79-year-old president shared a letter on Truth Social that he received from longtime ally Franklin Graham, the son of the late Evangelical pastor Billy Graham.

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Dated Oct. 15, 2025, the letter was written after Trump helped to broker a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas. It referenced previous remarks that the Republican leader made expressing concerns that he might go to hell after he dies.

Donald Trump and Franklin Graham in February 2018

Credit: Shawn Thew-Pool/Getty

"Congratulations! The cease-fire between Israel and Hamas and the hostages being returned home are incredible accomplishments. Your leadership is historic. This is an answer to much prayer. Jesus said, 'Blessed are the peacemakers" (Matthew 5:9)  and Mr. President, that is what you are," Franklin wrote to Trump.

His letter continued, noting that the president had "commented to the media that you might not be heaven bound."

"Maybe you responded in jest, but it is an important issue to know for certain that your soul is secure and will spend eternity in the presence of God," Franklin opined. "The only One who can save us from Hell is Jesus Christ. You can't save yourself; I can't save myself. Good works, prominence, success  none of these get us to Heaven. The only way to Heaven is through the shed blood of Jesus Christ."

Never miss a story  sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

Franklin wrote, "God requires us to turn from our sins and, by faith, believe in our heart that Jesus came to earth, died on the cross for our sins, was buried and God raised Him to life on the third day. If you accept that by faith and invite Him to come into your heart, you ARE heaven bound, I promise you."

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"The Bible says, 'If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved' (Romans 10:9)," the evangelist wrote, citing additional scripture. "You continue to be in my prayers," he added, signing the letter, "As always, your friend."

Though in 2019, Trump reshared a post on social media implying that he was "heaven sent," he has questioned his eternal fate multiple times in recent months.

During an August 2025 appearance on Fox & Friends, Trump said that he was "[trying] to get to heaven if possible," but added that he'd been told he was "not doing well" and was "at the bottom of the totem pole."

Trump doubled down shortly thereafter by sending out fundraising emails asking for donations alongside a message that read, "I want to try and get to Heaven."

Donald Trump's letter from Franklin Graham about if he'll make it to heaven

Credit: Donald Trump/Truth Social

Last year, I came millimeters from death when that bullet pierced through my skin. My triumphant return to the White House was never supposed to happen! the fundraising email read, referencing a July 2024 assassination attempt that he survived.

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Speaking to press aboard Air Force One in October, Trump said that he was "being a little cute" while addressing if he's going to make it to heaven.

However, he quipped, "I don't think there's anything going to get me in heaven," adding, "I really don't. I think I'm not maybe heaven-bound. I may be in heaven right now as we fly on Air Force One."

"I'm not sure I'm going to be able to make heaven, but I've made life a lot better for a lot of people," he said at the time.

These remarks appear to be the ones that Franklin referenced in his letter.

Read the original article on People




EAST HARTFORD - A hotel redevelopment on Roberts Street is seeking a restaurant tenant for a drive-thru space previously earmarked for East Hartford's first Starbucks.

Development is under way at 363 Roberts St., the former Holiday Inn and Ramada Inn near Rentschler Field. New Jersey-based hotel owner Kautilya Group plans to open a new five-floor, 145-room Marriott hotel within a newly renovated building, dual-branded with 65 rooms under Fairfield Inn & Suites and 80 extended-stay rooms as TownePlace Suites.

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Kautilya Group purchased the vacant hotel in 2021 for $3.4 million and subsequently filed a special permit for the redevelopment project.

Application materials and testimony from the company indicated that Starbucks would occupy a restaurant space that previously existed as part of the hotel, to be made accessible to the public and renovated with a drive-thru. If opened, it would be the coffee chain's first location in East Hartford.

Construction began in the summer of 2023 and was expected to wrap up in 2024, though the hotel has yet to open. In January, a Marriott booking website indicated that the hotel was "opening soon" in March, though the site now states that the hotel is set to open April 30.

Earlier this month, real estate company Sullivan Hayes began marketing 2,650 square-feet of retail space within the hotel for lease, billing it as a "fantastic quick service drive-thru restaurant opportunity" on an information brochure posted to the company's website.

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Representatives for Sullivan Hayes and Starbucks did not return requests for comment Friday.

Various renderings of the building and project site included in a version of the brochure found on a LoopNet listing include signage for and references to Starbucks, though the brochure hosted on the Sullivan Hayes website has those references removed.

The brochure from Sullivan Hayes states that the building features unobstructed visibility to traffic on Interstate 84, and the unit would benefit from "consistent on-site activity" from hotel guests including remote workers.

This article originally published at Revamped East Hartford hotel seeks restaurant tenant for unit previously identified as Starbucks.
Former Northwest Arkansas psychiatrist and accused fraudster Brian Hyatt was arrested again over the weekend, this time by U.S. Marshals (USMS).

53-year-old Hyatt was booked into the Washington County Detention Center on March 28, 2026. Jail records say he was arrested by USMS and is on a federal hold.

While the reason for his most recent arrest is unclear, federal law enforcement has been investigating Hyatt since the onset of fraud and abuse allegations against him.

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The Drug Enforcement Administration searched his office in 2022, and in 2025, the FBI asked for help identifying potential victims amid an investigation into whether Hyatt held patients against their will.

Hyatt, the former head of the state medical board, is facing charges of Medicaid fraud in Pulaski County.

Court documents say that while Hyatt was the director of the Behavioral Health Unit at Northwest Medical Center in Springdale, a confidential informant reported significant growth in the unit despite the doctor reportedly never visiting patients.

Hyatt's criminal case with the state is ongoing, with a hearing scheduled for May 4 to discuss ongoing concern about his fitness to proceed, as he was involuntarily committed to a mental health facility in 2025.

In addition to his fraud allegations, Hyatt was arrested twice in 2025 for alleged public intoxication and driving while intoxicated. He also has over 200 outstanding lawsuits, many claiming abuse and coercion.
Russia on Monday kicked out a British diplomat over allegations he was working as a spy -- charges rejected by London as "complete nonsense".

Moscow and London have each expelled multiple embassy staff over the last decade, trading accusations of espionage.

Expulsions from one side have typically been followed by a tit-for-tat response from the other.

The diplomat was expelled for engaging in "subversive intelligence activities that threaten Russia's security", Russia's FSB security service said.

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The diplomat was ordered to leave Russia within two weeks, the FSB said.

The Russian foreign ministry said it had summoned Britain's charge d'affaires over the incident and warned London not to retaliate.

Britain accused Russia of waging an "increasingly aggressive and co-ordinated campaign of harassment".

"The accusations made today by Russia against our diplomats are complete nonsense," a foreign ministry spokesperson said, adding Russia was "pumping out malicious and completely baseless accusations about their work".

"The UK does not stand for intimidation of British embassy staff and their families," the British spokesperson added.

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Russia previously announced the expulsion of a British diplomat in January, prompting the UK to revoke a Russian diplomat's accreditation last month.

Relations between London and Moscow, currently at a low point over the Ukraine war, have been strained by spying allegations for decades.

In 2006, former FSB officer and Russian defector Alexander Litvinenko was killed in London, poisoned by polonium in what British investigators said was a hit by the Russian secret service.

In 2018, the UK said Russian double agent Sergei Skripal was poisoned with a Novichok nerve agent in the British cathedral city of Salisbury.

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A member of the public was killed after handling the delivery device, a discarded perfume bottle, triggering the largest Western expulsion in decades of Russian diplomats alleged to be spies.

burs-am/jkb/sbk
The Ukrainian battlefield is littered with destroyed Russian vehicles, with Ukraine reporting the destruction of over 120,000 Russian vehicles. While these figures are likely elevated, Oryxspioenkop still documents 18,400 visually confirmed losses. To offset these losses, Russia first drew from its stockpiles of Cold War-era military equipment before increasingly turning to commercial platforms, including motorcycles and pickups. This shift toward improvised and commercial systems has set the stage for new purpose-built designs. On March 25, 2026, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced on Telegram that it had begun large-scale fielding of the Ulan-2 light all-terrain tactical vehicle. While this vehicle is unlikely to significantly alter the battlefield, its deployment points to an emerging trend in Russian procurement, emphasizing the mass production of simple, purpose-built systems tailored to the demands of the current fight.

The Ulan-2 Light All-Terrain Tactical Vehicle

The Ulan-2 is a light all-terrain tactical vehicle, reportedly built on the GAZ Sobol 44 platform, retaining the core mechanical characteristics of a light commercial truck. It features all-wheel drive and a payload capacity of approximately 1.5 tons. According to the Telegram post, the vehicle is powered by a commercial engine producing 120 horsepower, consistent with Sobol variants, and can reach speeds of up to 120 km/h. It is designed for off-road mobility, incorporating increased ground clearance, a reinforced suspension system, and a locking differential that improves traction in rugged terrain.

Physically, the Ulan-2 resembles a stripped-down utility vehicle rather than a conventional military platform. It has a boxy, cab-forward layout with a short hood and a visibly simplified structure. In many observed configurations, the vehicle lacks full doors, reducing weight and simplifying construction, but leaving occupants exposed. The rear section is typically open or semi-open, often configured with a flatbed or basic frame that can accommodate personnel or cargo. The Telegram post also shows soldiers adding features to the Ulan-2 vehicles, including radio jammers, rubber mats, and nets to protect against drone attacks.

Image captured from video posted on social media by the Russian Ministry of Defense showing a Ulan-2 tactical vehicle being driven after it has been outfitted with tactical protective measures. Social Media Capture

The Ulan-2 was developed as part of a broader effort to adapt civilian automotive platforms for military use. Rather than emerging from a traditional defense procurement program, it appears to have been developed through a decentralized process involving Russian industry and military stakeholders working from existing commercial designs. By leveraging the GAZ Sobol platform, developers were able to modify a widely available vehicle rather than designing a new system from the ground up, reflecting a focus on rapid production and simplicity.

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Development and fielding of the Ulan-2 occurred on a compressed timeline during the war. Initial references to the system emerged in 2023, with subsequent sightings and limited fielding through 2024 and into 2025. This suggests an iterative approach, with the vehicle likely refined based on battlefield feedback rather than following a fixed development program. The Russian Ministry of Defense formally announced the systems broader deployment in March 2026.

Russias Need For The Ulan-2 On The Modern Battlefield

Unlike other vehicles in the Russian inventory, the Ulan-2 is designed to meet Russias current needs on the battlefield. In particular, the RussiaUkraine battlefield is increasingly defined by kill-zones. These areas, often extending several kilometers in front of Ukrainian defensive lines, are under constant surveillance by drones and covered by pre-registered artillery fires. Any movement detected within these zones can be rapidly targeted, often within minutes. As drone capabilities have advanced, these kill-zones have expanded in depth, further complicating Russian efforts to maneuver and conduct assaults.

In response, Russia has adapted its tactics, moving away from assaults using large armored columns. Instead, it is increasingly relying on small, dispersed groups of soldiers, sometimes at the fireteam level, pushing forward into contested areas. These elements advance incrementally, establishing positions within or even beyond Ukrainian defensive lines. Given the depth of these kill-zones, advancing on foot is often impractical, as it requires prolonged exposure and increases the likelihood of detection. Russian forces have experimented with motorcycles, ATVs, and even horses, but with limited success.

Image captured from a video posted on social media by the Russian Ministry of Defense. The image shows the production facility for the Ulan-2 tactical vehicle. Social Media Capture

The Ulan-2 offers a more viable option for this type of movement. A single, compact vehicle can transport a small group of soldiers on one platform, reducing the overall signature compared to multiple smaller vehicles moving together. This helps balance the need for speed and mobility with the requirement to minimize detection. In some cases, Ulan-2 variants have also been fitted with counter-drone protection systems, improving the likelihood that assault elements can reach forward positions within these contested kill-zones. The vehicles open design, including its lack of doors, further allows for rapid egress, particularly in the event of an imminent drone strike.

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Once these small units establish forward positions, sustaining them becomes a primary challenge, as they require continuous resupply of ammunition, food, water, and medical support. Larger military logistics vehicles are highly vulnerable in these environments, while smaller platforms such as ATVs and motorcycles lack the payload capacity and provide little protection. The Ulan-2 is also well suited to fill this capability gap, as it can carry meaningful loads while maintaining a relatively low signature and sufficient mobility to operate within drone-covered kill-zones.

Implications of the Ulan-2 on the War

The introduction of the Ulan-2 is unlikely to have a decisive impact on the war. At the platform level, it does not provide a qualitative advantage in firepower, protection, or survivability. Its primary contribution is incremental, improving the ability of Russian forces to push soldiers forward, move supplies, and evacuate casualties under increasingly contested conditions. However, the platform remains highly vulnerable, particularly to Ukrainian drones. While it may incorporate some counter-drone protection, these measures will be challenged by the rapid evolution of drone technology.

Image captured from a video posted on social media by the Russian Ministry of Defense. The video shows the development and fielding of the Ulan-2 tactical vehicle. Social Media Capture

Its significance lies more in what it represents than in what it delivers tactically. The Ulan-2 reflects an emerging Russian willingness to adopt rapid, adaptive development pathways that rely on modifying commercial technologies for military use. This approach reduces development timelines, lowers costs, and allows for iterative refinement based on battlefield feedback. To date, this has been a relative strength of Ukrainian forces, which have demonstrated an ability to quickly field modified civilian systems ranging from drones to improvised ground vehicles. That adaptability has provided significant advantages, particularly in responding to new threats and exploiting emerging opportunities.

If Russia is able to institutionalize similar processes, the longer-term implications of the Ulan-2 could be more consequential. With a larger industrial base and access to mass production, Russia could scale such adaptations more broadly, narrowing Ukraines advantage in rapid innovation. In a protracted war of attrition, the ability to quickly develop, produce, and field large numbers of simple, purpose-built systems can be as important as traditional measures of military capability. As such, the Ulan-2 may represent much more than just a vehicle. Rather, it could signal a shift in how Russia approaches battlefield adaptation, with an increasing emphasis on speed, scale, and the rapid integration of commercially derived technologies.
A Russian tanker carrying oil to Cuba has entered the waters off the Communist-run island, Russian news agencies report.

The oil shipment - the first to reach Cuba since January - comes hours after US President Donald Trump said that he had no problem with countries, including Russia, sending supplies to the island.

Trump's remark appeared to signal a loosening of a de facto oil blockade his administration had imposed on Cuba since January.

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Cuba has been experiencing a series of nation-wide blackouts as the blockade exacerbated existing fuel shortages.

Russian media reports the Russian tanker Anatoly Kolodkin was carrying a "humanitarian shipment" of 100,000 tonnes of crude oil.

Last week, the World Health Organization (WHO) had warned that severe fuel shortages meant that Cuban hospitals were struggling to maintain emergency and intensive care services.

Cuba's situation has deteriorated rapidly since 3 January, when US forces seized Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro - a staunch ally of the Cuban government - who had been providing the island with oil under highly preferential terms.

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Trump also threatened to impose tariffs on any nation sending oil to Cuba.

Just over a week ago, the US Treasury Department added Cuba to a list of countries barred from receiving oil deliveries from Russia.

But in an apparent reversal of his strategy, Trump told journalists on board Air Force One on Sunday that he had "no problem" with Russia delivering oil to Cuba.

"We have a tanker out there. We don't mind having somebody get a boatload because they need... they have to survive," he said.

It was not clear from Trump's comment whether this represented a permanent reversal of the fuel blockade policy or just a temporary softening - especially as Trump appeared to double down again on his threats towards the government in Havana, telling journalists on Sunday that "Cuba's finished".

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"They have a bad regime. They have very bad and corrupt leadership, and whether or not they get a boat of oil it's not going to matter."

The Russian tanker is expected to offload the oil in Matanzas terminal in the coming hours.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov said that Russia considered it "its duty to step up and provide necessary assistance to our Cuban friends".

He added that the shipment had been "raised well in advance... with our American counterparts".

The Cuban authorities have portrayed the arrival of the Russian tanker as "breaking" the US-imposed oil blockade.

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The oil the Russian tanker carries is expected to provide Cuba with a short-term lifeline.

Its Communist government, led by President Miguel Diaz-Canel, has been in talks with the Trump administration to try to find a route out of the crisis.

But both sides have publicly set out a number of political and economic red lines that make it hard to see where they could find common ground.

Trump recently said he could "take" Cuba, while the island's leadership has said it refuses to accept any enforced changes to the personnel or political direction of its government.

Cuba was already facing its worst economic and energy crisis since the end of the Cold War due to a combination of a drop in tourism after the coronavirus pandemic and government economic mismanagement.

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This crisis has been further worsened by the de facto fuel blockade.
In Louisiana, when a family and school disagree over how a student with special needs is being taught, it falls on the family to prove the school has failed to properly serve their child.

State lawmakers are considering legislation that would dramatically change that power dynamic, flipping the burden to schools to prove a child has been properly served under state and federal laws, including the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act.

After hearing from families, advocates and attorneys who have labored through the states due process for challenging schools special education plans, Rep. Alonzo Knox, D-New Orleans, said one thing was clear: The process was imbalanced.

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When a dispute arises and a due process hearing is filed, parents are often the ones required to prove that the school systems own program is inappropriate, Knox said. That creates an uneven playing field and leaves families at a real disadvantage.

With recent changes at the federal level, including the gutting of the U.S. Department of Educations Office of Civil Rights, this state-level challenge is essentially a familys last recourse, advocates say.

Its not an easy process. School districts have access to the most important documents and staff attorneys at their disposal.

School systems already have the records, the staff who created the program and lawyers whose services are funded by taxpayer dollars, Knox said. Parents often do not have the same access to information or resources when they challenge decisions about their childs education.

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Kathryne Hart of Baton Rouge knows the system all too well.

Her 10-year-old son Carter has a rare genetic condition that causes cerebral palsy, seizures and cortical visual impairment. He is only one of 40 people in the world with the condition, Hart said.

The Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act requires schools give Carter and all students with disabilities individual education plans, known as IEPs. The IEP is a contract between the family and school outlining the students educational goals and the services and support needed to meet them. The federal law provides with the right to a free and appropriate education, colloquially called FAPE.

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When Carter wasnt progressing, Hart challenged East Baton Rouge Parish Public Schools. It took her more than a year to prove the school district had failed to provide Carter with the special education services he needs  and has a right to under federal law.

Carters case was the only successful challenge of a school district out of 43 due process complaints filed in Louisiana during the 2024-25 school year.

New protections

Louisiana could join a growing number of states, many in the Northeast, providing this protection for families, special education attorney Sara Godchaux said in an interview. Godchaux is a longtime special education attorney and professor at Loyola University of New Orleans College of Law. She helped found the schools Education Project to represent families in school discipline and special education matters.

The Louisiana Department of Education and NOLA Public Schools are still under a federal consent decree for failing to provide special education services to children in New Orleans charter schools. Across the state, Godchaux said Louisiana has one of the lowest success rates for parents who file due process challenges.

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Knoxs bill could make recourse easier for families. It would specifically shift the burden of proof from a family to school districts or charter school organizations.

Godchaux said families are at a disadvantage.

The school district has all of the records, all of the personnel, right? Godchaux said.

When Hart suspected her son Carter wasnt receiving proper services, she had to prove it.

Youre proving a negative. It is assumed that your district provided FAPE, Hart said.

If Knoxs bill passes, that responsibility shifts. The school district would have to prove its special education offerings meet state and federal standards. Hart and Godchaux say the switch would incentivize districts to maintain better records.

Most parents cant do this on their own

Due process complaints are a parents last line of appeal in state education systems. Families usually arrive there after struggling to convince their school and district that their students needs arent being met. A complaint is filed with the state and starts a mediation process. If it goes unresolved, the family and school district go before an administrative law judge.

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You have to present evidence, you have to present witnesses, you have to do oral argument, as to why youve met your burden, Godchaux said. Its very very complicated. Most parents cant do this on their own.

Even as an attorney, Godchaux said her office can be overwhelmed. Last summer, she represented a family in a due process hearing that lasted five days.

Its supposed to be something that parents can do on their own but its not, she said. I mean as lawyers, its a lot of work for us.

When Carters vision was regressing, Hart suspected he wasnt receiving proper services and asked for his education records.

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His IEP said he met goals he didnt meet, she said. You as a parent have to prove they didnt meet your childs needs.

Youre not there every day, so how do you prove [the school] didnt do it?

Thats if parents are provided access to school records for their child. Knox said it can be a challenge to get the paperwork, despite the fact that Louisianas Parents Bill of Rights guarantees them access to those records.

When Hart received Carters records, she pored through them and found them inaccurate and inconsistent.

He even got a grade on a day he was in the hospital on a ventilator, she said.

Whats next

Knox hopes his bill will give parents a better chance with their special education challenges.

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When school systems design a childs educational program using taxpayer dollars, they should be able to explain that decision and support it with evidence, Knox said. Louisiana families deserve nothing less.

Advocates anticipate some push back from school districts, who they say might claim this will cost districts more money.

However, Hart thinks with the incentive for improved record-keeping, fewer cases will end up in the lengthy administrative process.

Knoxs bill awaits a hearing before the House Education Committee.





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JERUSALEM, March 30 (Xinhua) -- An oil refinery in the northern Israeli city of Haifa was struck by a rocket fired by Hezbollah in Lebanon on Monday, with a large plume of black smoke seen rising above a structure following the strike, Israel's state-owned Kan TV news reported. 
Washington State Patrol has issued a Silver Alert for a 68-year-old Enumclaw man.

WSP said Ronald Morgan Jr was last seen on Sunday morning at the Fred Meyer in Auburn.

He has previously been located in South Dakota, and there is concern that he cant return home without assistance.

Ronald is 58 and weighs 185 pounds. He has white hair and brown eyes and was last seen wearing a red long sleeve shirt.

He may be in a 2000 red Chevrolet express with South Dakota plates 15KZ71/

If you see him, call 911.
Several recently elected far-right mayors have taken down European Union flags from the facades of their town halls, in a move the French government denounced as "populism".

Marine Le Pen's anti-immigration, eurosceptic National Rally (RN) party is on the rise and hopes to win the country's top job in next year's presidential election.

During this month's polls to elect mayors, the far-right party notched wins in small and mid-sized towns, even though it failed to take any major urban centres.

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Far-right mayors in several towns wasted no time in taking down the EU flags.

"Out with the European flags at the town hall! Make way for the French flags," Christophe Barthes, the mayor of the southern town of Carcassonne, said on X on Sunday.

He posted footage showing him personally taking down the European flag and leaving only the French tricolour and the regional flag of Occitania.

Bryan Masson, the new mayor of Cagnes-sur-Mer, a seaside resort near the southern city of Nice, and Anthony Garenaux-Glinkowski, the far-right mayor of the northern town of Harnes, followed suit.

Garenaux-Glinkowski also took down the Ukrainian flag that French city halls have been flying in a gesture of solidarity after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.

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France's Europe minister Benjamin Haddad denounced the move as "populism."

"Will they also refuse the European funds received by our farmers, our businesses for re-industrialisation, and our regions? Will they hand back their European Parliament allowances?" Haddad said in a statement to AFP.

"This is populism that shows the RN hasn't changed," he added.

No law requires the European symbol to be displayed on town hall facades, except on May 9, Europe Day.

RN officials have justified the removal of the EU flag.

In 2022, French authorities took down a temporary installation of the EU flag from the Arc de Triomphe monument in Paris, after right-wing opponents of President Emmanuel Macron accused him of "erasing" French identity.

jwi-jmt-as/ah/sbk
Slovakia has rejected a call by the EU to scrap a measure that introduced different pricing for foreign and domestic vehicles at petrol stations, Prime Minister Robert Fico said on Monday.

The government in Bratislava introduced a 30-day restriction on diesel and fuel on March 18 as oil prices had begun soaring due to the war in Iran.

In a bid to prevent drivers from neighbouring EU countries stocking up on cheaper fuel in Slovakia, the country also increased prices for vehicles with a foreign licence plate, arguing that supplies could currently only be maintained thanks to state emergency reserves.

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A spokesman for the European Commission recently described the measure as "highly discriminatory," and Fico said the commission had threatened his government with infringement proceedings over alleged violations of EU law.

However, Fico rejected the request to withdraw the different pricing as "utterly unfair to Slovakia" and did not rule out extending the measure.

Instead, he called on the commission to put more pressure on Ukraine to ensure that it resumes the transit of Russian oil to Slovakia, which he said would make all restrictions unnecessary.

Slovakia issued an "oil emergency" shortly before the Iran war began on February 28, after oil stopped flowing through the Druzhba pipeline from Ukraine in mid-January.

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The Druzhba pipeline delivered Russian oil through Ukraine to Hungary and Slovakia. According to Kiev, the pipeline was damaged by Russian drone strikes, causing the halt to deliveries.

Slovakia and Hungary have questioned Ukraine's account and called for an independent inspection of the pipeline.

Slovakia remains highly dependent on Russian oil deliveries and has been granted an exemption from EU sanctions against Russia to be able to import Russian oil and cope with the shortage.
It wasnt supposed to go like this.

Last year, the investor-owned utilities serving South Carolina promised the state Legislature that if they were just allowed to raise rates incrementally every year, there would be no need for large rate increases every three to five years in general rate cases.

The utilities wanted a Rate Stabilization Act which would allow annual rate adjustments so they could achieve their return on equity (i.e. profit) that the utilities were permitted by the state Public Service Commission in general rate cases.

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During a Senate Judiciary subcommittee meeting in March 2025, a representative of Dominion Energy pitched the Rate Stabilization Act as benefiting customers by increasing rates in little small bites rather than waiting a few years and then jumping up.

Dominions South Carolina president also told senators thats what customers wanted.

Over the objections of consumer groups, including the South Carolina Small Business Chamber of Commerce, the Legislature bought into the utilities promise of annual small bites and included the Rate Stabilization Act as part of the big energy bill passed last year.

Now, Duke Energy Progress has exposed how empty that small bites promise was.

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On Feb. 1 of this year, Duke Energy Progress customers in the Pee Dee region, from Chesterfield to Williamsburg counties, started paying higher electricity rates as approved by the Public Service Commission in a general rate case last year.

Residential rates increased 7.8% and small business rates went up by 9.6%.

Then just 41 days later, on March 13, Duke Energy Progress filed for a rate hike under the Rate Stabilization Act: 6.25% for residential and 7.9% for small businesses (officially called small general service in the application).

So much for small bites.

The consumer groups had warned the Legislature that this would happen.

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Allowing utilities to raise rates every year would not result in rates being stable.

Plus, without the law putting a cap on these annual rate increases there was no incentive for the utilities to control costs.

However, if the Legislature was bound and determined to believe the utilities needed to raise rates every year to benefit their customers and themselves, the consumer groups all supported this amendment to the legislation:

The (Public Service) Commission shall not approve an upward adjustment in rates under the authority of this section that exceeds 2% per year for each customer class, cumulatively, of the rates set in the most recent general rate case, nor shall it approve an upward adjustment in rates under the authority of this section for a calendar year during which the National Bureau of Economic Research has declared the existence of an economic recession.

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The Legislature, of course, sided with the utilities and did not cap rate increases in the law.

So, here we are today with proposed rate hikes that are almost as high as those awarded by the Public Service Commission last year in Duke Energy Progress general rate case.

Customers of Duke Energy Carolinas and Dominion Energy will experience this same outcome down the road.

It is not too late to protect Duke Energy Progress customers and the others who will surely face large Rate Stabilization Act hikes in the future.

Duke and Dominion are in the top 10 utility companies in the United States by revenue.

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They continue to grow their revenue every year.

Their stocks are safe investments because the utilities are guaranteed to recover all the prudent costs for providing energy to their customers plus a handsome profit.

The citizens and small businesses of South Carolina are not so well off.

Expenses are growing every day, and utility rate hikes are a big part of the problem.

The Legislature can revisit the Rate Stabilization Act and show whose side they are on, the struggling consumers or the giant utilities.




Smoke was visible in the East Bay hills Sunday afternoon from a vegetation fire on an island near Antioch, although fire officials said it posed no serious danger.

The Rio Valley Fire Department said one engine responded to a fire burning on the Lower Sherman Island Wildlife Area, a 3,100-acre marshland accessible only by boat on the confluence of the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers.

"There were no life safety concerns," the department said. "The fire will burn to the water line and self extinguish."

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Firefighters said smoke may be visible for a few hours.

The Bay Area Air District issued an air quality advisory around 5 p.m. Sunday related to the fire, saying smoke was expected to impact air quality in the East Bay through Monday.

"Residents in affected areas should stay alert to news coverage and health warnings related to smoke," the district said.

Lower Sherman Island has willows and cottonwoods, according to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

This article originally published at Smoke visible near Antioch from vegetation fire.
SOUTH BEND  A young boy from Granger sat with his back against a tree, and a book between his hands. The world around him was loud with the chatter of protesters and the supportive honk of seemingly every vehicle that passed by. Sam Gallwitz was reading "1984" by George Orwell.

This wasnt the first No Kings protest Andy Gallwitz has brought his children to. He believes its important for youth to get involved to get them to see that they dont have to take it, Gallwitz said.

When Sam was asked how he was enjoying "1984," he said Its kind of shocking how theyre all just of the same mindset. The government is completely controlling the way they speak.

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They really just cant say anything against the people who are ruling them, and I think thats something very important to do, is to speak up when theres wrong and your rulers are doing wrong to you, Sam said. And so, you know, thats what were here today to do, and I'm glad that we can.

A few thousand people bore the cold Saturday, March 28 for the third No Kings protest at Jon Hunt Memorial Plaza. The event was organized by Michiana Alliance for Democracy, an Indivisible network member.

Across the nation, more than 3,200 protests were expected, according to Carrie Bowie of Michiana Alliance for Democracy. There are protests in all 50 states, Mexico, Canada and even across various European countries, according to the No Kings website.

One South Bend event organizer estimated between 3,000 and 4,000 people attended.

A pickup truck blows black smoke on protesters lined up on North Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard during the third national No Kings rallies on Saturday, March 28, 2026, in South Bend. Thousands of protesters at Jon R. Hunt Memorial Plaza participate in the third national No Kings rallies on Saturday, March 28, 2026, in South Bend. Rosalind Iams, 3, bottom left, pets 6-year-old St. Bernard Leonard with her mother Sophia Iams and 10-year-old sister Ada Iams at Jon R. Hunt Memorial Plaza during the third national No Kings rallies on Saturday, March 28, 2026, in South Bend. Protesters hold up signs at Jon R. Hunt Memorial Plaza during in the third national No Kings rallies on Saturday, March 28, 2026, in South Bend. A pickup truck blows black smoke on protesters lined up on North Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard during the third national No Kings rallies on Saturday, March 28, 2026, in South Bend. Protesters at Jon R. Hunt Memorial Plaza participate in the third national No Kings rallies on Saturday, March 28, 2026, in South Bend. Carrie Bowie, of Michiana Alliance for Democracy, speaks to protesters during the third No Kings rally at Jon R. Hunt Memorial Plaza on Saturday, March 28, 2026, in South Bend. Thousands of protesters at Jon R. Hunt Memorial Plaza participate in the third national No Kings rallies on Saturday, March 28, 2026, in South Bend. Protesters sing in unison at Jon R. Hunt Memorial Plaza while participating in the third national No Kings rallies on Saturday, March 28, 2026, in South Bend. Protesters sing in unison at Jon R. Hunt Memorial Plaza while participating in the third national No Kings rallies on Saturday, March 28, 2026, in South Bend. Mary Ellen Hegedus, of Michiana Alliance for Democracy, speaks to protesters during the third No Kings rally at Jon R. Hunt Memorial Plaza on Saturday, March 28, 2026, in South Bend. Maria Carmone speaks to protesters during the third No Kings rally at Jon R. Hunt Memorial Plaza on Saturday, March 28, 2026, in South Bend. Judy (no last name given), left, draws a heart on Claire Capdevielle's sign during the third No Kings rally at Jon R. Hunt Memorial Plaza on Saturday, March 28, 2026, in South Bend. Darryl Heller speaks to protesters during the third No Kings rally at Jon R. Hunt Memorial Plaza on Saturday, March 28, 2026, in South Bend. A passenger in a car holds up an American flag as they pass by protesters on North Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard participating in the third national No Kings rallies on Saturday, March 28, 2026, in South Bend. Jason Critchlow, Portage Township trustee, speaks to protesters during the third No Kings rally at Jon R. Hunt Memorial Plaza on Saturday, March 28, 2026, in South Bend. Thousands of protesters at Jon R. Hunt Memorial Plaza participate in the third national No Kings rallies on Saturday, March 28, 2026, in South Bend. Protesters line North Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard during the third national No Kings rallies on Saturday, March 28, 2026, in South Bend. Thousands of protesters at Jon R. Hunt Memorial Plaza participate in the third national No Kings rallies on Saturday, March 28, 2026, in South Bend. Thousands of protesters at Jon R. Hunt Memorial Plaza participate in the third national No Kings rallies on Saturday, March 28, 2026, in South Bend. Thousands of protesters line North Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard during the third national No Kings rallies on Saturday, March 28, 2026, in South Bend. A supporter drives by protesters lined up on North Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard during the third national No Kings rallies on Saturday, March 28, 2026, in South Bend. Protesters line North Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard during the third national No Kings rallies on Saturday, March 28, 2026, in South Bend. A supporter drives by protesters lined up on North Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard during the third national No Kings rallies on Saturday, March 28, 2026, in South Bend. Thousands of protesters at Jon R. Hunt Memorial Plaza participate in the third national No Kings rallies on Saturday, March 28, 2026, in South Bend. A man climbs out of his truck and waves a cross in the air toward protesters lined up on North Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard during the third national No Kings rallies on Saturday, March 28, 2026, in South Bend. A pickup truck blows black smoke on protesters lined up on North Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard during the third national No Kings rallies on Saturday, March 28, 2026, in South Bend. A pickup truck blows black smoke on protesters lined up on North Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard during the third national No Kings rallies on Saturday, March 28, 2026, in South Bend. Supporters drive by protesters lined up on North Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard during the third national No Kings rallies on Saturday, March 28, 2026, in South Bend. A young supporter holds a sign out from a car window as they pass by protesters lined up on North Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard during the third national No Kings rallies on Saturday, March 28, 2026, in South Bend. Protesters line North Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard during the third national No Kings rallies on Saturday, March 28, 2026, in South Bend. Notre Dame student Ismael Martinez blows a whistle at Jon R. Hunt Memorial Plaza while participating in the third national No Kings rallies on Saturday, March 28, 2026, in South Bend. A supporter drives by protesters lined up on North Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard during the third national No Kings rallies on Saturday, March 28, 2026, in South Bend. See photos from the third No Kings rally held in downtown South Bend 1 of 33 A pickup truck blows black smoke on protesters lined up on North Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard during the third national No Kings rallies on Saturday, March 28, 2026, in South Bend.

Do not let injustice happen in peace

The event began with Singing Resistance, led by Bowie. The crowd sang short songs like Gather your courage into your heart, when were together, we can start, and Let's stop this war, this needless war, let's stop this war right now, right now. We know the Epstein files are still out there. Let's stop this war right now, right now.

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The first speaker, Maria Carmone, spoke with tears in her eyes as she expressed the reality she faces as a Mexican American woman who experiences discrimination.

I remember growing up, never feeling American enough even though I was born right here, Carmon said.

Throughout her career and life, she said, Discrimination has followed me, and it still does, and I used to ask myself, why me? I have an education; I was born here. I'm capable, but the truth is they dont care how capable you are. Its easier to hate and be a sheep than it is to critically think and go against the grain.

Carmon concluded her speech with a "Bugs Life" movie reference and a message, Do not let injustice happen in peace. Stir the pot. Cause the waves. Let the pot fall over and build new.

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An assistant professor of women's and gender studies at Indiana University South Bend and director of IUSB Civil Rights Heritage Center, Darryl Heller called the racism and patriarchy and overt white supremacy of this administration profound. He said these acts are changing the world in a way we could hardly imagine.

He criticized the passing of Indiana Senate Bill 76, which he said, is the state's attempt at making the citizen complicit with their racist and xenophobic policies. The bill makes it so law enforcement, school administratiors or hospital employees must comply with federal immigration law.

Jason Critchlow, Portage Township trustee, opened his speech by calling for a reclamation of the word patriot because its not patriotic to storm the U.S. Capitol when you dont like the results of an election.

Its not patriotic to applaud government abuse of power. Its not patriotic to rip away support from people who need it most.

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In the days following the death of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, Critchlow said, citizens were told to just stay home if they didnt want to get hurt. He argued agitation is how America has always demanded accountability.

So, we might be agitators, we might be pissed off, but were patriots, Critchlow said. Were American patriots.

Protesting the regime

People gathered to protest a variety of misgivings they have with the Trump administration. Some of the protesters wielded signs addressing the increased use of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, the ever-increasing price of living, the climate crisis, LQBTQ+ rights, the war in Iran and the possible threat of war in Venezuela and Cuba, as well as the Epstein files.

Most people were dressed in their winter best, but there were several people dressed in costumes. A few women dressed as handmaidens; one person wore an inflatable chicken costume, and another wore an inflatable dragon.

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According to Tribune news-gathering partner WNDU, the weather was about 40 degrees with winds at 6 miles per hour.

Serena Adams, a Mishawaka resident, wore a cream jumpsuit set with randomly spaced, black horizontal lines. Adams has participated in all three No Kings protests and for every protest she attends, she tries to go with a theme.

I didnt want the Epstein files to not be discussed anymore, Adams said. I didnt want it to be just part of a distraction that gets lost in the wind again.

I really decided that this theme has to be about remembering those who dont have a voice, those who arent believed, Adams said.

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Adams continued to say that while she believes the war in Iran is terrible, society cannot forget about the abuse survivors.

South Bend resident Annalise Hosken has been to No Kings protests in other states and said she stands up for people who are working paycheck to paycheck, those who are being oppressed by the system and for people being discriminated against for things out of their control.

Im looking up high at where the discrimination is coming from, Hosken said. Its coming from a group of self-interested, billionaire, criminals who are putting their capital interest before everything else, and its been that way for a long time and its only getting worse.

Mark Rodda, a Mishawaka resident, has been to all three local No Kings protests and he said he felt todays event was bigger. He also said that while he doesnt believe it to be hostile, signs have grown more crass and a little more in your face.

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Rodda was holding a double-faced sign. One side with photos of people he deems to be king. The other side was a painting of Earth.

Theres the biggest crisis facing our planet, and were not even talking about it because we cant, Rodda said. Relative to this, its just one minor crisis after another.

Hardly any opposition present

The event did not appear to draw any opposing protesters, though there were a few negative fingers flashed, and one passing truck blew exhaust smoke onto the protestors lining the street.

The block of Colfax Avenue and North Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard was loud with honking vehicles. Some vehicles were sporting supporting signs or flags of their own. Passersby waved their hands and pumped their fists in support of the protesters.

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The Tribune observed one police car parked at Colfax Avenue and Michigan Street. There was no police interaction with the crowd.

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: How many people went to South Bend's No Kings protest in March 2026?
The Spanish government and the Catholic Church in Spain have signed an agreement to compensate victims of sexual abuse in church-run institutions, even in cases where the statute of limitations has expired.

Following two years of negotiations, the agreement was inked in Madrid on Monday by Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's government, the church and the Spanish Ombudsman.

Following the signing, Justice Minister Felix Bolanos spoke of a "groundbreaking model worldwide" and "a day of justice for the victims."

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The state would "have the final say" on the claims and the church "will pay," Bolanos stressed.

The agreed procedure is primarily aimed at those whose cases can no longer be prosecuted, for example due to the statute of limitations or because the perpetrators are no longer alive.

According to official figures, this applies to the majority of victims. Those affected may submit their claims to the Ministry of Justice from April 15.

A two-stage procedure is envisaged. An independent commission under the Ombudsman will examine the claims and propose compensation. A church commission will give its opinion, but the final decision rests with the Ombudsman. The church will cover the payments in full.

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According to Ombudsman Angel Gabilondo, the procedure is expected to take a maximum of three months.

The agreement does not set out any specific guidelines regarding the amount of compensation. Neither minimum nor maximum amounts have been established.

According to the latest figures from the Spanish Bishops' Conference, more than 1,000 cases of abuse have been documented since 1940.

This contrasts with significantly higher estimates from independent investigations: a report by the Spanish Ombudsman published in 2023, based on a representative survey, estimated that there are at least 236,000 victims, and possibly even more.
MADRID (AP)  Spain closed its airspace to U.S. planes involved in the Iran war, officials said Monday, in another step by Europes loudest critic of U.S. and Israeli military actions in the monthlong conflict.

The country earlier said that the U.S. couldn't use jointly operated military bases in the war, which Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has described as illegal, reckless and unjust. Defense Minister Margarita Robles said that the same logic applied to the use of Spanish airspace.

This was made perfectly clear to the American military and forces from the very beginning. Therefore, neither the bases are authorized, nor, of course, is the use of Spanish airspace authorized for any actions related to the war in Iran, Robles told reporters, describing the conflict as profoundly illegal and profoundly unjust.

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Sanchez has called on the U.S., Israel and Iran to end the war.

You cannot respond to one illegality with another, because thats how humanitys great disasters begin," he said earlier this month.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that Spain's leaders are bragging" about cutting off its airspace, even as Washington has pledged to defend the NATO member. He said that the trans-Atlantic military alliance is useful for the U.S., because it allows us to station troops and aircraft and weapons in parts of the world that we wouldnt normally have bases, and that includes in much of Europe.

But if NATO is just about us defending Europe if theyre attacked, but then denying us basing rights when we need them, thats not a very good arrangement, Rubio told Al Jazeera on Monday. Thats a hard one to stay engaged in and say this is good for the United States. So all of that is going to have to be reexamined.

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After Sanchez's government denied the U.S. use of the Rota and Moron military bases in southern Spain, U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to cut trade with Madrid.

Washington made trade threats last year, too, when Sanchez said that his government wouldn't increase its defense spending in accordance with a deal agreed to by other NATO members following Trump's pressure.

At the time, Sanchez's government said that Spain could meet its military commitments by spending 2.1% of gross domestic product on defense, instead of the 5% the rest of the 32-nation military alliance agreed upon.

Sanchez also has been among the most vocal critics of Israel's actions during the war in Gaza, which has invited criticism from Israel's government on several occasions.

No comment from NATO

Spain's new decision against a NATO ally is rare, though not unprecedented. NATO didn't comment, referring questions to national authorities.

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"NATO allies operate with a presumption of cooperation, but of course they retain sovereignty,'' said Daniel Baer, director of the Europe Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and a former U.S. ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

In an incident that strained trans-Atlantic ties, France and Italy blocked the U.S. military from using their airspace for an operation targeting Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi in 1986.

In 2003, NATO member Turkey refused to allow American troops to use its territory to invade Iraq, though it did allow overflights. France and Germany firmly opposed that war, but allowed U.S. and British fighter jets to fly over their airspace.

Frances then foreign minister, Dominique de Villepin, despite a famed U.N. speech against the Bush administrations plans to invade, told the French parliament at the time that there are practices between allies that exist that we must respect, including overflight rights.

Europe between a rock and a hard place

Spain's decision reflects broader concerns among traditional U.S. partners since Trump returned to office.

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The relationship with the U.S. was already strained, Baer said. Allies can generally be counted on, but they cant be taken for granted.

Still, he's doubtful that other European countries would follow Spain's example.

"Most Europeans are focused on keeping some measure of U.S. cooperation in supporting Ukraine, so I think its less likely that others join, even as they voice concerns about a lack of clarity around U.S. strategic objectives in Iran,'' he said.

___

Angela Charlton contributed to this report from Paris.
Two rounds of thunderstorms are going to zip across Lower Michigan between tonight and Tuesday night. The first round could have some hail in the storms. The second round could have any of the severe thunderstorm outcomes, including tornadoes.

To see where we are going in weather from today, Monday into Tuesday night, heres the radar forecast from the best thunderstorm-predicting model.

severe

In the middle of the night tonight, we should expect scattered strong thunderstorms to develop. There looks to be a couple of clumps of thunderstorms. One clump will develop after midnight and move across central Lower and northern Lower Michigan between midnight and 3 a.m. There could also be another clump of t-storms that will move across the southern third of Lower Michigan between 3 a.m. and 6 a.m. tonight into very early Tuesday.

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Those thunderstorms have an atmosphere that could produce hail. This is a little odd for middle-of-the-night thunderstorms.

Here are today and tonights severe weather outlook. The main area of severe storms this afternoon should be west of Michigan, in Wisconsin and Iowa. All of Lower Michigan is in an overall marginal risk of severe thunderstorms, but thats for overnight.

Monday severe

Large hail is the main threat during tonights thunderstorms. The highest chance for hail up to two inches in diameter is in the black hatched area below, and includes Mount Pleasant, Alma, Lansing, Grand Rapids, Muskegon and Kalamazoo. The hail would still be isolated, and could occur in the middle of the night.

Monday severe

Of course, any severe thunderstorm can have isolated severe wind gusts.

Monday severe

Tuesday afternoon and evening have stronger dynamics for some severe thunderstorms. The southern half of Lower Michigan has a fairly high chance of at least a few thunderstorms that will produce severe weather.

Monday severe

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There is enough wind shear to make the risk of tornadoes from Grand Rapids to Saginaw and southward. The black hatching shows that EF-2 strength tornadoes are possible Tuesday afternoon and evening.

Monday severe

The same exact area with a chance of a tornado also has the chance of large hail and damaging wind gusts. The yellow shaded area will have the strongest thunderstorms, and the most widespread thunderstorms.

Monday severe

Monday severe

Tuesdays possibly severe thunderstorms could come in two spurts, with a quick round Tuesday afternoon and then a line of severe storms in the evening.

Tuesday morning we should have a good idea of exactly where and when severe thunderstorms may hit Lower Michigan.

Bookmark MLive.com/weather to see all the updated information on severe storms in Michigan.

Read the original article on mlive.com. Add mlive.com as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
JERUSALEM, March 30 (Xinhua) -- An Israeli soldier was killed in southern Lebanon by an anti-tank missile fired by Hezbollah, the military said in a statement on Monday.

An armored corps officer was severely injured in the same incident.

His death brings the number of Israeli soldiers killed in southern Lebanon to six since the resumption of full-scale hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah.

Cross-border fighting has continued along the Lebanon-Israel border since March 2, when Hezbollah launched rockets toward Israel for the first time since a ceasefire agreed on Nov. 27, 2024, triggering intensified Israeli airstrikes across southern and eastern Lebanon, and on Beirut's southern suburbs. 
A man was arrested by the Gila River Indian Police Department for his alleged connection to the death of a man that occurred more than two months ago.

>> Download the 12News app for the latest local breaking news straight to your phone.

On Jan. 1, police officers responded to a residence in the South Housing area of the Gila River Indian Community, where a man named Ronald Enos was found with a gunshot wound. Enos later died from his injuries.

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More than two months later, Steven Johns, who is a member of the Gila River Indian Community, was taken into custody in connection with Enos' death.

Police said the investigation was a collaborative effort involving the Gila River Police Department Criminal Investigations Division, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Marshals Service and the Safe Trails Task Force.

>> This story will be updated as additional information becomes available. Stay with 12News for the latest.

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The free 12News+ app from 12News lets users stream live events  including daily newscasts like "Today in AZ" and "12 News" and our daily lifestyle program, "Arizona Midday"on Roku and Amazon Fire TV.

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12News+ showcases live video throughout the day for breaking news, local news, weather and even an occasional moment of Zen showcasing breathtaking sights from across Arizona.

Users can also watch on-demand videos of top stories, local politics, I-Team investigations, Arizona-specific features and vintage videos from the 12News archives.

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MIDLAND, Texas (KMID/KPEJ)- The Midland Police Department is searching for a suspect involved in a deadly shooting over the weekend.

According to the department, around 9:48 am on March 28, officers were called to a reported shooting at Reyes-Mashburn Park, located in the 2100 block of E Cuthbert Avenue. There, they found Devon Nelson with injuries from a gunshot wound. Nelson was taken to an area hospital where he later died.

MPD said the suspect has not yet been identified and the investigation is on-going.

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Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to Yourbasin.
(This story was updated to add new information.)

Rep. Eric Swalwell, one of the leading Democratic candidates in Californias gubernatorial race, accused the federal government of attempting to interfere in the state's election after reports emerged that the FBI may release files from a closed investigation into the representative.

The accusation stemmed from a Washington Post report published on March 28 that says FBI Director Kash Patel is pushing for the release of files on a decade-old investigation regarding Swalwell and a suspected Chinese intelligence operative. People familiar with the investigation told the Post that there was no evidence of wrongdoing by Swalwell.

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USA TODAY reached out to the FBI for comment.

Swalwell, a vocal critic of President Donald Trump, said during a March 30 press conference that reporting from the Washington Post and the New York Times showcases the federal government's attempt to "manufacture deceit" and to "crush" his campaign.

Out of the 10 candidates vying for the California governor's seat, polling shows that Swalwell is the leading Democratic candidate, trailing only Republicans Steve Hilton and Chad Bianco. The state's primary is June 2.

"With early voting starting in about a month, Trump and Patel are trying to interfere with the California election," Swalwell said.

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The investigation reportedly involves a Chinese woman, Christine Fang, whom the FBI believed could have been a foreign intelligence agent. Fang reportedly helped Swalwell raise funds for his 2014 reelection campaign and placed an intern in his congressional office, according to the Washington Post.

The Post said Swalwell reportedly cut ties with Fang in 2015 after federal agents raised concerns about her to the representative. He assisted the agency with its investigation, and in 2023, the Republican-led House Ethics Committee closed its investigation into the congressman, the Washington Post reports.

The congressman was never charged with a crime in relation to the investigation.

However, according to the Washington Post, FBI leaders recently proposed a plan to grant Fang a U.S. visa in exchange for speaking with FBI agents about Swalwell.

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Swalwell thanked the federal agents who he said blew the whistle on the FBI's plans when the files were sent to the bureaus San Francisco office for release.

"They are desperate to extend their reach until there is no corner of this republic left untarnished by their revenge," Swalwell said. "Donald Trump and Kash Patel can compile their enemies list, but they cannot command the dawn."

Swalwell condemned Patel's decisions to release the files and reaffirmed his efforts to fight back against the Trump administration.

"The president dreams of a servant in Sacramento. The western White House," Swalwell said during the press conference. "But unfortunately for him, our campaign is winning."

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Noe Padilla is a Northern California Reporter for USA Today. Contact him at npadilla@usatodayco.com, follow him on X @1NoePadilla or on Bluesky @noepadilla.bsky.social.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Swalwell slams Kash Patel's plan to release old FBI investigation
A Syrian government soldier stands outside SDF controlled Al Aktan prison which holds ISIS detainees, as the Syrian amry takes possession of the nearby SDF military base in the city of Raqa on January 19, 2026. (photo credit: Bakr ALKASEM / AFP via Getty Images)

In a statement on Syrian state media, Syria's army said most of the attacking drones were shot down, but did not say where they had come from.

The Syrian army said on Monday drone attacks targeted several of its bases near the Iraqi border, a rare attack on Syrian positions since US-Israeli attacks on Iran a month ago triggered a war across the Middle East.

Damascus has been keen to stay on the sidelines of the regional conflict that has pulled in neighboring countries, including Lebanon, where Hezbollah is locked in fighting with Israeli ground troops, and Iraq, where Iran-aligned factions have launched drone and rocket attacks.

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In a statement on Syrian state media, Syria's army said most of the attacking drones were shot down, but did not say where they had come from. It said it was assessing its options to respond.

Syria sent thousands of troops to its western border with Lebanon and its eastern border with Iraq earlier this month. Syria's defense ministry said the deployment was part of efforts to "protect and control the borders amid the escalating regional conflict."

An Iraqi army post stands along a section of the 600-kilometer Iraqi border with Syria, on December 26, 2024 (credit: ZAID AL-OBEIDI/AFP via Getty Images)

Four drones attacked base where US forces are stationed

Over the last month, shrapnel from rocket interceptions has landed in several parts of Syria.

Sipan Hamo, the assistant defense minister for eastern Syria, said on Sunday that four drones from Iraq attacked a base in northeast Syria where US forces are stationed, but were intercepted.

"We hold Iraq responsible and call upon it to prevent the recurrence of attacks that threaten our stability," Hamo wrote in a statement on X.
Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa met German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Monday as he began a visit to Berlin for talks on the Middle East war, rebuilding his country and the return of refugees.

Sharaa -- on his first trip to Germany since ousting his country's longtime leader Bashar al-Assad in late 2024 -- was also later due to meet Chancellor Friedrich Merz.

Europe's top economy is home to the largest Syrian diaspora in the European Union at more than a million, many of whom arrived during the peak of the migrant influx in 2015-2016.

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Sharaa, 43, a former Islamist rebel leader, has managed to build relations with Western governments and made several overseas trips, including to the United States, France and Russia.

As a result, many international sanctions on Syria have been lifted to help the country rebuild after a bloody 14-year civil war.

"We want to put this difficult time behind us and now catch up with the rest of the world," Sharaa told a foreign ministry forum in Berlin, according to the German translation of his speech.

He pointed to investment opportunities in Syria's energy, transport and tourism sectors, describing his homeland as very diverse and with "a great wealth of people".

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"We stand with Syria," German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said, pledging to support reconstruction efforts. "The Syrians deserve a chance, and we want to help ensure that this opportunity is well utilised."

Sharaa also suggested that he would like to see some of the Syrians who fled to Germany return to help with reconstruction.

"These are Syrians who have studied at German universities, acquired German expertise, and are now working in German companies," he said. "Through investments in Syria, they can then bring this expertise back to Syria."

- Demonstrations planned -

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Rights campaigners have criticised the visit, pointing to Sharaa's Islamist past and Syria's ongoing violence and instability.

Large demonstrations were planned in Berlin both in support of Sharaa and in protest at his trip on Monday, according to police, with "several thousand" expected to take part.

One rally has been registered under the motto "No deportation deals with human rights abusers".

Merz, a conservative who took power last May, has stepped up a drive to limit irregular immigration as he seeks to counter the rise of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.

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Merz said last year that, with Syria's civil war over, people from that country now have "no grounds for asylum in Germany".

The government in December resumed deporting convicted criminals to Syria, though only a handful of cases have gone ahead so far.

Merz also said he assumed many Syrians would return home voluntarily, drawing criticism from campaign groups that cite continued instability and rights abuses in Syria.

- 'Expressly wrong' -

Since Sharaa has been in power, sectarian tensions have continued to cause repeated bloodshed, while the Islamic State group remains active.

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After Assad's overthrow, Israel moved its forces into the UN-patrolled demilitarised zone on the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, and has carried out hundreds of strikes in Syria as well as regular incursions.

Sharaa was initially planning to visit Germany in January, but the trip was postponed as he sought to end fighting between government forces and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in his country's north.

KGD, a group that represents the Kurdish community in Germany, charged that Sharaa "bears responsibility for numerous human rights violations, war crimes and crimes against humanity".

"Back in January, together with other civil society organisations, we had already voiced strong criticism of the planned visit and called for protests," said Ali Ertan Toprak, chairman of the group.

"Despite these objections, the German government has so far stood by the invitation. We consider this to be expressly wrong."

fec/fz/jhb
BEIJING/TAIPEI, March 30 (Reuters) - The leader of Taiwan's largest opposition party, the Kuomintang (KMT), will visit China in April after being invited by Chinese President Xi Jinping, a trip that will come a month before U.S. President Donald Trump goes to Beijing for his own summit.

Former lawmaker Cheng Li-wun won election as KMT chairwoman in October and has signalled a swing towards even closer ties with Beijing than her predecessor Eric Chu, who did not visit China during his term as chairman that began in 2021.

China, which views democratic Taiwan as its own territory, refuses to speak to the government of President Lai Ching-te, who it calls a "separatist", but regularly welcomes senior KMT officials, and Cheng had said she was planning on going.

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In a statement on Monday, the KMT said that Cheng was grateful for the invitation and had "gladly" accepted it.

"We hope April's visit marks the beginning of the new spring of the two sides of the Taiwan Strait and this would be the first step for both sides to extend kindness and build mutual trust," Cheng told reporters in Taipei.

"We will work hard for cross-strait peace and stability, making positive efforts, and let the whole world feel at ease."

Chinese state news agency Xinhua said that Cheng would visit from April 7 to 12 and go to Beijing, Shanghai and the eastern province of Jiangsu.

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Hsu Kuo-yung, Secretary-General of Taiwan's ruling Democratic Progressive Party, told reporters in Taipei that he hoped Cheng would tell Xi that "Taiwan is a sovereign, independent country."

"I also ask her to make one thing especially clear: In Taiwan, we elect our own president," Hsu said. "And she should also ask Xi Jinping: When is China going to elect its president?"

STALLED DEFENCE BUDGET

The announcement comes at a time when Lai's government is trying to get Taiwan's opposition-majority Parliament to approve an extra $40 billion in defence spending.

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The KMT has said it supports strengthening Taiwan's defences but it will not sign "blank cheques" and wants more details from the government.

Trump, whose administration has strongly backed Taiwan's increased defence spending plans, is due in China in mid-May for a meeting that was postponed from early April due to the U.S. and Israeli war on Iran. China has yet to confirm the trip.

Both Xinhua and the KMT referred to Xi by his title as general secretary of the Communist Party rather than as head of state.

The defeated Republic of China government, led at the time by the KMT, fled to Taiwan in 1949 after losing a civil war with Mao Zedong's communists. No peace treaty or armistice has ever been signed and neither formally recognises each other's government.

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In late 2015, Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou, also from the KMT, held a landmark meeting with Xi in Singapore.

(Reporting by Beijing newsroom and Ben Blanchard; Editing by Himani Sarkar, Raju Gopalakrishnan and Thomas Derpinghaus)
When marine biologist Shane Gero spotted a plume of blood spreading across the water where a group of sperm whales had gathered in the Caribbean, he feared the worst  injury to one of the whales, perhaps from a predator attack. But then he saw something unexpected and extraordinary bob above the waterline: the head of a newborn sperm whale.

A whales life wasnt ending. Rather, a new life was beginning. On July 8, 2023, Gero and the scientific team aboard two boats belonging to Project CETI, or the Cetacean Translation Initiative, a nonprofit for studying whale communication, recorded something that only a handful of people have ever witnessed  the live birth of a whale in the wild.

I initially thought that something bad was about to happen, until we saw the little head pop out and then the floppy flukes, said Gero, a CETI field biologist, referring to the whales tail. And then we knew that it was actually a joyous occasion.

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It was also a social occasion, with other whales in the group first surrounding the laboring mother and then lifting the baby out of the water as it took its first breaths. Evidence from this remarkable observation adds nuance to scientific understanding of teamwork among sperm whales. The findings, Gero said, also offer an important lesson for another social species: humans.

In a cooperative society, if were going to succeed, we need to work together, rather than constantly finding reasons to define how we are different, Gero said. Its a pretty great message to take away from an animal that is fundamentally different from us.

Setting the scene for cetacean birth

The sperm whale calf swims alongside its mother. - Brian J. Skerry/National Geographic/Courtesy Project Ceti

On that July day, a CETI team of scientists and technicians  including drone operators, programmers and acoustics experts  were on the open ocean in waters near the Commonwealth of Dominica. The team was expecting a typical day of fieldwork observing a group of mostly female sperm whales that was known to CETI researchers as Group A and had been studied for years. But Gero noticed quickly that something was amiss. The whales were tightly clustered near the surface.

These families are usually spread across kilometers as they dive and forage, Gero, a scientist-in-residence at Carleton University in Canada, told CNN. To have the entire family close together but not really active is kind of unusual.

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One whale that Gero had been observing since she was a calf, known to researchers as Rounder, was in labor. Rounder is thought to be at least 19 years old and previously birthed another calf, called Accra, in 2017. Scientists tracked the progress of Rounders delivery by noting the visibility of the new calf, the behavior of the attending whales, and the appearance and quantities of blood and feces in the water. The team logged the start of birth at 11:12 a.m. local time, and the birth was completed at 11:45 a.m.

Because of the protocol that we run every day on the water, we had the drones in the air and the recordings running even before we knew it was a birth, Gero said. Acoustic recordings and images revealed previously unknown behaviors and vocalizations in sperm whale groups post-birth as well, offering unprecedented insights into their interactions.

Before this observation, our understanding was based on a very small number of fragmentary sightings, said Giovanni Petri, a network science lead at Project CETI and a professor at Northeastern Universitys Network Science Institute in London. The actual dynamics of birth  who does what, in what order, how the group coordinates, whether non-kin participate  were essentially unknown, Petri said in an email.

CETI researchers documented the event in two papers, both published March 26. In the journal Science, the study authors described and analyzed the birth using drone footage that they interpreted with machine learning to identify whale identities, positions and interactions. A larger scientific group published a more detailed, minute-by-minute account of the birth and aftermath in the journal Scientific Reports. This is the first study to document an observation of whale birth that combines audio and video from the event with decades of data on social relationships in sperm whales.

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The Project CETI team, which consists of over 50 scientists across eight different disciplines, worked together to publish these studies, said David Gruber, CETI founder and president and a corresponding author on both papers. Together the whale birth observations and dataset represent an apex of complexity of sperm whale communication, he said.

In general, birth observations for wild cetaceans  the group that includes whales, dolphins and porpoises  are exceedingly rare, representing only 10% of species, Gruber noted via email.

The last scientific record of a sperm whale birth was in 1986, which included only written observations following the birth. Before that there are just a few scattered accounts from whaling vessels, he said. What makes this study even more unique is that we have such detailed knowledge of each individual whale and their family relationships.

A group effort

The sperm whale family near the Caribbean island of Dominica are part of a clan that communicates in its own dialect of click patterns. - Brian J. Skerry/National Geographic/Courtesy Project Ceti

The group of sperm whales known as Unit A contains 11 individuals: eight adults and three calves. When scientists first saw the newborn, it was still partially inside Rounder, but minutes later it surfaced beside the mothers head. The other Unit A whales suddenly became a lot more active. They nuzzled and squeezed the newborn, rolling it between their heads and bodies.

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The whales then took turns lifting the baby up to the surface, revealing the still-attached umbilical cord. The scientists soon observed that the cord was severed; about three minutes after its first appearance the baby was attempting to swim, though the lifting behavior continued for several hours. Four whales in the group provided most of the attention to the newborn, taking turns with the lifting. One of the most attentive whales, a juvenile named Ariel, was not directly related to the mother, showing that even non-kin were active participants in the birth.

The whales also had plenty to say to each other during this time, producing 31,364 clicks over more than four hours. Codas, or groupings of clicks, were longer during the birth and then became shorter after the newborn emerged, the authors wrote in Scientific Reports.

The most common coda type was previously linked to the social identity of whales from this part of the eastern Caribbean. Overlapping codas, which were also recorded that day, are associated with social bonding in sperm whales. Hearing these codas during a highly social event appears to support this interpretation, the authors wrote.

This is one of the first detailed, quantitative records of a sperm whale birth in the wild  a life stage we almost never get to see in this species, said Mauricio Cantor, a behavioral ecologist and assistant professor at Oregon State Universitys Marine Mammal Institute who was not involved in the sighting.

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What stands out is just how collective the process is. In sperm whales, its now very clear that birth isnt just a mothercalf event  its a group effort, Cantor explained via email. Multiple females, including non-kin, actively coordinate to support the newborn, keeping it afloat and assisting in its first moments of life.

A lone young male named Allan also lingered nearby. This behavior, too, was unusual, as adolescent males are usually pushed out of the all-female adult groups. Allan was no longer a true member of Unit A. But he kept close during the birth even if he was largely ignored by the others, providing another intriguing detail about the complexity of relationships between sperm whales, said Christine Clarke, a doctoral student studying sperm whales with the Whitehead Lab at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

To my knowledge, Allan is only the second young male to be documented going through the process of leaving his social unit, which all young males eventually do, Clarke, who was not involved in the research, said in an email. It felt a bit like watching a soap opera to learn how this family reunion went, with Allan being given the cold shoulder even as he was there participating in the big social event.

Whale encounters on the open ocean cant be planned or scheduled, so its uncertain when CETI expeditions will see Rounder and her calf again. But each observation adds to a growing body of knowledge about sperm whales lives and habits.

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As a team, we were so privileged to observe this moment, Gruber added. We hope people also take away the knowledge that this is western science complementing Indigenous knowledge, as people have witnessed and been connected to whales for thousands of years.

Mindy Weisberger is a science writer and media producer whose work has appeared in Live Science, Scientific American and How It Works magazine. She is the author of Rise of the Zombie Bugs: The Surprising Science of Parasitic Mind-Control (Hopkins Press)

Sign up for CNNs Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news on fascinating discoveries, scientific advancements and more.

For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com
By Idrees Ali and Phil Stewart

WASHINGTON, March 30 (Reuters) - Thousands of soldiers from the U.S. Army's elite 82nd Airborne Division have started arriving in the Middle East, two U.S. officials told Reuters on Monday, as President Donald Trump weighs his next steps in the war against Iran.

Reuters first reported on March 18 that Trump's administration was considering deploying thousands of additional U.S. troops to the Middle East, a move that would expand options to include the deployment of forces inside Iranian territory.

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The paratroopers, based out of Fort Bragg, North Carolina, add to the thousands of additional sailors, Marines and Special Operations forces sent to the region. Over the weekend, about 2,500 Marines arrived in the Middle East.

The officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, did not say specifically where the soldiers were deploying to, but the move was expected.

The additional Army soldiers include elements of the 82nd Airborne Division headquarters, some logistics and other support, and one brigade combat team.

No decision has been made to send troops into Iran, but they will build up capacity for potential future operations in the region, one of the sources said.

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OPTIONS FOR TRUMP

The soldiers could be used for several purposes in the Iran war, including an attempt to seize Kharg Island, the hub for 90% of Iran's oil exports.

Earlier this month, Reuters reported there had been discussions within the Trump administration about an operation to take the island. Such a move would be highly risky, since Iran can reach the island with missiles and drones.

Reuters has previously reported the administration has discussed using ground forces inside Iran to extract highly enriched uranium, though that option could mean U.S. troops deeper inside Iran for potentially longer periods of time, trying to dig out material that is deep underground.

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The internal Trump administration discussions have also included potentially putting U.S. troops inside Iran to secure safe passage for oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz. While that mission would be accomplished primarily through air and naval forces, it could also mean deploying U.S. troops to Iran's shoreline.

Trump said on Monday the United States was in talks with a "more reasonable regime" to end the war in Iran, but repeated his warning to Tehran to open the Strait of Hormuz or risk U.S. attacks on its oil wells and power plants.

Any use of U.S. ground troops - even for a limited mission - could pose significant political risks for Trump, given low American public support for the Iran campaign and Trump's own pre-election promises to avoid entangling the U.S. in new Middle East conflicts.

Since operations started on February 28, the U.S. has carried out strikes against more than 11,000 targets. More than 300 U.S. troops have been injured and 13 service members have been killed as part of Operation Epic Fury.

(Reporting by Idrees Ali and Phil StewartEditing by Rod Nickel)
The FBI says there is no continuing threat after a passenger made a verbal bomb threat aboard a plane that was taxiing to land. Law enforcement responded to the threat as a security incident.

The passenger, who hasnt been identified yet, made the threat aboard a Frontier Airlines landing at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport Sunday, Frontier Airlines said.

The threat was made on Flight 2539 from Columbus, Ohio, to Atlanta, Frontier Airlines confirmed. As a precaution, the aircraft parked at a remote location while law enforcement responded.

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Passengers who were aboard the plane talked to Channel 2s Cory James about what they saw and heard.

One passenger said she was in Row 10 and heard the unruly passenger say something about a bomb.

It was stressful, the passenger said.

The flight attendants started saying, Heads down, hands up, heads down, hands up, passenger Jessica Kinder said.

[DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]

Video taken by another passenger and posted on social media shows the frantic moments after flight attendants repeatedly told the unruly passenger to take his seat.

Sit down, sit down and then the guy started saying the f word, Kinder said. He was texting the guy behind me. They were sending voice messages back and forth. You heard them what were they saying in French, so yeah, so I didnt know.

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Keyaira Smith was also on the plane.

He kept standing. The pilot told him, flight attendants, to sit down, Smith said. He said that he was going to threaten or kill the flight attendants.

Smith told Channel 2 Action News she remembers seeing the man before they took off.

He was already erratic then, but I guess they let him on the plane, she said.

Upon landing, passengers had to use the air stairs to deplane, and were bussed to the terminal.

Atlanta police took part in the security response to the unruly passenger and what was determined to be a non-credible threat.

It is not being treated as a hijacking at this time, APD said.

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Atlanta PD said the FBI is handling in the investigation.

In a statement, the FBI said there is no threat to the public, and the decision hasnt yet been made to charge the passenger.

FBI Georgia responded, along with Atlanta Police, this afternoon after a flight from Columbus to Atlanta was disrupted by an unruly passenger. All passengers and crew were taken off the aircraft. The FBI can assure the traveling public there is no continuing threat related to this incident. The FBI and Atlanta Police are currently conducting interviews to gather the facts, and the FBI will consult with the U.S. Attorneys Office of the Northern District of Georgia to determine if federal charges will be filed. FBI GEORGIA

In addition to the bomb threat reported on the Frontier Airlines plane, APD says it responded to a bomb threat at State Farm Arena Sunday at around 6:15 p.m.

Officers swept the stadium and surrounding area and determined the threat wasnt credible.

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Remember that old saying about April showers and May flowers? Well, the showers arent wasting any time arriving in North Texas.

Wednesday night should bring the first round of showers after a few warm and breezy days, according to the National Weather Services Fort Worth office. Precipitation should start falling around 7 p.m. and continue until 1 p.m. Thursday. Rainfall should be heaviest Wednesday evening, when the probability of thunder is also highest.

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The weather service said some severe storms may be possible, but its not clear yet what the top threats could be. About an inch of precipitation is expected with this system.

The rain could bring moderate cooling Thursday, dropping temperatures to the low 80s after a forecast high of 87 degrees Wednesday. The system will move out Thursday afternoon with sunshine expected to follow, but more significant cooling is forecast after a second round of thunderstorms Friday.

Clouds should gather again by Friday morning and rain should kick off in the evening, with precipitation chances picking up to 40% at 7 p.m. Notable rain chances are expected to last throughout the day Saturday and into Saturday night, which should bring almost 1.6 inches of rain.

During Saturdays rain, temperatures should be noticeably cooler, with a high of 72 degrees. The rain could clear out in time for Easter Sunday, but a few sprinkles may linger Sunday morning. Clearer skies with more sunshine are expected by the afternoon Sunday.
TEHRAN, March 30 (Xinhua) -- Iran on Monday executed two members of the Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO), designated by Iran as a terrorist group, for committing "multiple terror acts" in Tehran, Iran's official media reported.

The MKO members, identified as Akbar Daneshvarkar and Mohammad Taqavi Sangdehi, were hanged after the Supreme Court of Iran upheld their death sentences, according to the Mizan news agency, affiliated with Iran's judiciary.

During the deadly "riots" in Iran in January, the MKO contacted the two convicts, plotting to confront Iran's security forces, the report said.

According to Mizan, Sangdehi was involved in identifying Iran's sensitive locations and plotting operations against various centers and institutions.

Daneshvarkar had also taken part in recent "riots," devising tactics against Iran's military and law enforcement forces, the report said.

Iran accuses the MKO of having assassinated tens of thousands of Iranian citizens. 
Utah Rep. Blake Moore secured the endorsements of two top Republican leaders in the U.S. House on Monday, giving the three-term congressman a boost in his reelection campaign as he faces a primary challenge from a prominent state lawmaker.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., announced his endorsement alongside Rep. Jim Jordan, the founder of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, in a joint press release on Monday afternoon. Johnson lauded Moore as a valued member in House Republican leadership and an America First Patriot who has used his committee positions to advance key GOP agenda items.

Blake has helped deliver working families tax cuts, a secure border, American energy dominance, and peace through strength, while also defending our troops, veterans, and principles that have made America the greatest nation on Earth, Johnson said. I am proud to ENDORSE Congressman Blake Moore in Utahs 2nd District, and look forward to working with him to defend and grow our majority and CONTINUE our American comeback!

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Moore serves as the vice chair of the House GOP conference, the fifth-highest leadership position for the party in the lower chamber. He is the first Utahn to be elected to such a leadership position.

House Freedom Caucus founder endorses Moore

Jordan similarly praised Moores record since being elected in 2020, particularly in his work to advance President Donald Trumps tax priorities in the Big Beautiful Bill Act last summer as well as his work to create the Trump Accounts.

Blake Moore is a close friend and a proven fighter for conservative values, Jordan said in a statement. Together, we have worked tirelessly to rein in big government, root out fraud and waste, end DEI and the weaponization of the federal government, defend free speech, and advance President Trumps agenda. Now, more than ever, we need leaders like Blake Moore in Congress.

The endorsements come at a key time for Moore as he faces a challenge from state Rep. Karianne Lisonbee, a well-known state legislator who has served in leadership positions within the Utah House of Representatives.

Lisonbee endorsed by Utah House speaker

Lisonbee launched her bid earlier this month, criticizing Moore for his previous involvement with Better Boundaries to create an independent redistricting commission in Utah. Moore was one of the original signatories on the application to put Proposition 4 on the ballot, which was later used to overturn the states previous congressional map and establish a heavily Democratic district in Salt Lake County, alongside three heavily Republican districts.

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Blake Moore wasnt naive to the teeth of Prop 4 when he led the charge for the initiative in 2018, and now in 2026 hes gifted a seat to the Democrats, Lisonbee said in a post on X. Northern Utah, Im a stalwart conservative with a legislative track record that proves my backbone. Im running to serve you and to represent the conservative values of our CD2 community.

Lisonbee has gotten support from some local state delegates and even secured an endorsement from Utah House Speaker Mike Schultz.

Trump endorsed Moore

Moore, on the other hand, has the benefit of having Trump on his side after the president endorsed him in November in a Truth Social post. Trump also gave Moore a shoutout during his State of the Union speech in February.

Moore and Lisonbee will face off in the Republican primary for what is the states newly redrawn 2nd District that encompasses northern Utah and covers much of the same ground as Moores previous 1st District seat. However, critics such as Lisonbee say Moore should run in the new blue seat because of the Better Boundaries push to redraw the map.

This story has been updated.
President Donald Trump on Sunday night broke out some props as he spoke with reporters on Air Force One about one of his biggest obsessions.

With the war in Iran passing the one-month mark, the stock market plunging into correction territory, gas prices soaring by $1 a gallon or more over the past month, and the partial shutdown of the federal government entering its seventh week, the president showed off oversized renderings of the ballroom he is trying to have built at the White House.

This is a view of the columns as they are going to be made, theyre gonna be hand-carved, isnt that beautiful? Top of the line, Trump said as he displayed the image below. Theyll be Corinthian, which is considered the best, most beautiful, by far.

President Donald Trump holds a rendering of the White House ballroom as he speaks to reporters aboard Air Force One on March 29, 2026. MANDEL NGAN via Getty Images

As Trump displayed the images, he claimed that people were talking about how beautiful the ballroom was, and said it would be needed to host foreign leaders, such as Chinese President Xi Jinping. He also said the military was building a massive complex beneath the ballroom.

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Over the weekend, The New York Times published a report that said the rushed project was full of design flaws, including stairs to nowhere and columns that would block the view. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt pushed back on X, slamming the authors as people who had never built anything and defending the project as a beautiful ballroom thats been needed for decades.

Politics: 'Is Donald Trump Well?': MS NOW Host Sounds Alarm On Mental Fitness

But critics pointed out that the 90,000-square-foot ballroom was far larger than the White Houses 55,000-square-foot main residence, and others slammed Trump for demolishing the East Wing to make way for the structure without first seeking public input. The National Trust for Historic Preservation in the United States, a nonprofit that oversees the preservation of historic structures, has also filed a lawsuit that could slow or even stop the project.

Trumps lengthy aside about his ballroom left critics aghast, especially given everything else going on that would seem to require the presidents attention:

We sure this will bring down gas prices?? https://t.co/bO7rwJtfbf  Governor Newsom Press Office (@GovPressOffice) March 30, 2026

The world is on fire. We're at war. More than a dozen Americans are dead. The economy is tanking.



But let's talk about a freaking ballroom. This man is out of touch with reality. https://t.co/Qr0iCovSH5  Sam K. (@bluesamk) March 30, 2026

Gas skyrocketing, bombs dropping, our standing in the world in tatters, taxpayer dollars up in flames  meanwhile this oligarch dictator wanna-be brags about his new ballroom and the Corinthian columns



How is every American not sickened by this? pic.twitter.com/VCBlq4PqTA  The Tennessee Holler (@TheTNHoller) March 30, 2026

the world is on fire theres an affordability crisis thats about to explode and this is what this moron is excited about. and ik his stupid cult will eat this **** up. idiots. https://t.co/r7CXeYKZmG  hasanabi (@hasanthehun) March 30, 2026

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Can we eat them? https://t.co/sEJlkW1goK  Heather Thomas (@HeatherThomasAF) March 30, 2026

All of the peasants economic anxieties will simply disappear at the site of my most beautiful, top-of-the-line, hand-carved, Corinthian columns https://t.co/vUlOIlme9U  Hadley Sheley (@HadleySheley) March 30, 2026

Like this article? Keep independent journalism alive. Support HuffPost.

Big burly architects with tears in their eyes. https://t.co/fhwkcPxwIw  PoliticOhMyGawd (@PoliticOhMyGawd) March 30, 2026

This man is making the White House look like something Liberace designed. It's always been a place of understated elegance, because we aren't a nation that needs a palace. He's never understood that, which is why there are No Kings rallies.  Amanda Berry (@amanda_booberry) March 30, 2026

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50,000 Americans deployed to war

Oil over $100/barrel

Costs spiraling out of control

Airports still a mess



The President: https://t.co/uxsBZPlfEz  Jon Favreau (@jonfavs) March 30, 2026

The peasants will no longer care about TSA lines, healthcare, grocery, or gas prices when they hear my ballroom will have top-of-the-line hand-carved corinthian columns. pic.twitter.com/LwAcoozlwh  Hadley Sheley (@HadleySheley) March 30, 2026

We cant ******* afford groceries or healthcare https://t.co/cbBs0QSIwH  Jamie Bonkiewicz (@JamieBonkiewicz) March 30, 2026

We are about to invade Iran with troops on ground for an indefinite time and we lost a $300 million aircraft, but take a look at the pillars on the Epstein distraction hall I have built. https://t.co/aPKTD5S7MF  Chad Scott (@cpscott16) March 30, 2026

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This makes me feel better about grocery prices.  https://t.co/uA9wHmuSmF  Diane N Sevenay (parody) (@DianeSevenay) March 30, 2026

Americans cant afford food, gas, healthcare https://t.co/LHnQyeqsRT  Nancy Levine Stearns (@nancylevine) March 30, 2026

Id say he thinks hes building the Taj Mahal but that went bankrupt  pic.twitter.com/0cicMfIagL  Ted (@teddunne) March 30, 2026

Political Updates

Read the original on HuffPost
Former Customs and Border Patrol "commander at large" Greg Bovino has had all of his official government social media accounts shut down after he refused to turn them over to the federal government, according to a new report.

Bovino became the face of President Donald Trump's anti-immigration raids in so-called sanctuary cities in 2025, and built a social media presence around his self-administered commander-at-large title. He stepped down from his role after nationwide backlash to Trumps immigration raids and the shooting deaths of two protesters, Alex Pretti and Renee Good.

Bovino was active on social media, especially X, but also on Facebook and Instagram, which together had some 850,000 followers. After taking over as "commander at large" of the agents sent into Los Angeles to conduct immigrant raids, he began posting flash social media videos hyping up the actions of ICE and Border Patrol agents while infuriating advocates for immigrant communities and those who had been on the receiving end of DHS enforcement.

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The accounts he used to promote himself and the agencies actually belonged to the Border Patrol's El Centro, California, regional office.

On Thursday, the accounts were shuttered, according to a Washington Examiner report.

Former U.S. Border Patrol El Centro Sector Chief Greg Bovino with masked Department of Homeland Security agents in Chicago, Illinois. His social media accounts, which belong to the U.S. government, were seized after his retirement despite his wishes to keep them (Reuters)

Chief Patrol Agent Bovino has retired from federal service and no longer has access to official government social media accounts, a spokesperson from U.S. Customs and Border Protection wrote in an email to the Examiner on Friday.

The outlet spoke to five people familiar with the conflict between Bovino and the federal government over the social media account.

One source told the Examiner that Border Patrol Commissioner Rodney Scott gave Bovino a direct order to return the pages/accounts names to reflect El Centro Sector and that new accounts would be created.

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Bovino was reportedly upset because he believed he had grown the account and that the followers were there for him, not for the El Centro Sector. He wanted to keep his social media follower count high.

Bovino refused, arguing that the followers were his. He said he earned the followers and that his followers expected him to post from new cities, the source said. It was all about Greg Bovino getting attention and nothing else.

On August 4, Bovino posted an announcement on his accounts, noting that he was changing the name of an official government account to reflect his role.

"The @USBPChiefELC Facebook page will be changing names to 'Gregory K. Bovino, Commander-Operation At Large CA' - @CommanderOpAtLargeCA," he wrote at the time. "Moving forward, all content posted here will be related to Operation at Large in Los Angeles, CA."

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No other Border Patrol region chief has ever renamed a regional social media account to reflect their persona assignment.

Another source told the Examiner that when Bovino was told to give up the accounts, he said, "Those are my followers, so I'm taking them with me."

Corey Lewandowski, President Donald Trump's 2016 campaign manager and a special employee for former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, allegedly protected Bovino from CBP's push to reclaim his social media, according to the sources.

Corey prevented the Commissioner from taking any action against Bovino, so that just empowered Bovino and his ego even more, a third source told the paper. Ever wonder why [Border Patrol] put boats on the river in Chicago? Bovino was willing to make agents literal sitting ducks just for the photo op.

A U.S. Customs and Border Patrol boat in the Chicago River in 2020 (U.S. Border Patrol)

While Bovino was dabbling as a social media influencer, the El Centro region was left without an account to post news about developments there. The CBP allowed it to create three new accounts  one on Facebook, one on X, and one on Instagram  to post updates. But that meant starting fresh with zero followers and thus a diminished ability to share news widely.

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An official claimed that Bovino's decision to take the social media account for himself "damaged" the El Centro region's ability to communicate with the public and the media.

Bovino left his "commander at large" role after the fatal shootings of two protesters by DHS agents in Minnesota. He retired two months later.

The Independent has requested comment from Bovino.
The US has allowed a Russian oil tanker into Cuba despite an existing fuel blockade, President Donald Trump confirmed.

"If a country wants to send some oil into Cuba right now, I have no problem, whether it's Russia ... and if other countries want to do it," Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One as he returned to Washington from a weekend at his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida, the Washington Post reported.

"One boatload of oil, that's all it is," Trump added.

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Russia, a long-time ally of Cuba, welcomed Trump's change of heart. "We are pleased that this shipment of petroleum products has already arrived on the island," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, according to Russian news agencies.

He added that there had been prior contact with US officials on the matter. Russia was working to send even more oil to Cuba.

Cuba has faced a severe economic crisis for years, which has been exacerbated over the past three months by a US oil embargo.

Earlier this month, Trump hinted at a possible takeover of the socialist-run island, telling reporters that he thought he would have the "honour of taking Cuba." For weeks, Trump has been repeating that Cuba is on the brink of collapse.

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Cuba has lost its main oil supplier, Venezuela, since US special forces arrested president Nicolas Maduro in Caracas in early January.

On Sunday, the New York Times reported that the US coastguard had allowed a Russian oil tanker to deliver its cargo  vital for the critical energy supply  to the Caribbean island.

Peskov explained that, under the conditions of the blockade, Cuba needs support, including oil for power generation. "Naturally, Russia considers it its duty not to stand idly by and to provide our Cuban friends with the necessary assistance," he said. This also includes medical supplies.
By Alexander Cornwell, Trevor Hunnicutt and Asif Shahzad

TEL AVIV/WASHINGTON/ISLAMABAD, March 30 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump warned on Monday that the U.S. would obliterate Iran's energy plants and oil wells if Tehran does not open the Strait of Hormuz, after Tehran described U.S. peace proposals as "unrealistic" and fired waves of missiles at Israel.

Israel's military said two drones from Yemen had also been intercepted on Monday, two days after the Iran-aligned Houthis entered the war by firing missiles at Israel, and that Lebanon's Hezbollah had fired rockets at Israel.

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Israeli forces carried out missile strikes on what they called military infrastructure in Tehran and infrastructure used by Iran-backed Hezbollah in Beirut, leaving black smoke hanging over the Lebanese capital.

Turkey's defense ministry said a ballistic missile launched from Iran entered Turkish airspace before being shot down by NATO air and missile defenses deployed in the eastern Mediterranean, the fourth such incident since the start of the war.

Tehran remains defiant in the month-old war, which began with U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran on February 28 and has spread across the region, killing thousands, disrupting energy supplies and hitting the global economy.

The majority of those reported killed were in Iran and Lebanon, and many were civilians. Iran has effectively blocked the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway that normally carries about a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas supplies.

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TROOPS DEPLOY AS TALKS CONTINUE

Thousands of soldiers from the U.S. Army's elite 82nd Airborne Division have started arriving in the Middle East, two U.S. officials told Reuters on Monday, part of a reinforcement that would expand Trump's options to include the deployment of forces inside Iranian territory, even as he pursues talks with Tehran.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt later said Trump wanted to reach a deal with Tehran before an April 6 deadline he set last week after extending an earlier deadline he had set for Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz. Leavitt said talks with Iran were progressing, adding that what Tehran says publicly differs from what it tells U.S. officials in private.

Iran said earlier on Monday it had received U.S. peace proposals via intermediaries, following talks on Sunday between the foreign ministers of Pakistan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.

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Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said the proposals were "unrealistic, illogical and excessive".

"Our position is clear. We are under military aggression. Therefore, all our efforts and strength are focused on defending ourselves," he told a press conference.

Soon after Baghaei's remarks, Trump said in a social media post that the United States was in talks with a "more reasonable regime" to end the war in Iran, but he also issued a new warning over the Strait of Hormuz.

"Great progress has been made but, if for any reason a deal is not shortly reached, which it probably will be, and if the Hormuz Strait is not immediately 'Open for Business,' we will conclude our lovely 'stay' in Iran by blowing up and completely obliterating all of their Electric Generating Plants, Oil Wells and Kharg Island," Trump wrote.

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Trump also threatened to attack the desalination plants that supply clean water in Iran.

The national security committee in the Iranian parliament, meanwhile, approved a bill that bans ships from the U.S., Israel and countries that unilaterally sanction Iran, from moving through the Hormuz Strait, according to state media. The bill must still be approved by the full parliament and it was not clear when or if such a vote would take place.

A Pakistani security official, whose country is trying to mediate in the war, said it appeared unlikely there would be direct U.S.-Iran talks this week.

Baghaei also said Iran's parliament was reviewing a possible exit from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which recognizes the right to develop, research, produce and use nuclear energy as long as nuclear weapons are not pursued.

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Trump has cited the prevention of Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons as a reason for attacking the country on February 28. Tehran denies it is seeking a nuclear arsenal.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in an interview with U.S. media outlet Newsmax, declined to give a timeline for achieving his countrys objectives in the war. While he said that "it's definitely beyond the halfway point," he later clarified that he meant in terms of missions, not time.

OIL MARKETS BRACE FOR TURMOIL

The White House said Trump was considering asking Arab nations to pay for the cost of the war. "It's an idea that I know that he has and something that I think you'll hear more from him on," Leavitt said in response to a reporter's question about the idea.

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His administration requested an additional $200 billion in funding for the war, which faces stiff opposition in the U.S. Congress, which must approve new spending.

Iran has fired on Arab Gulf states during the conflict and war has been reignited between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon. Three members of the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Lebanon (UNIFIL) were killed in two separate incidents in southern Lebanon after a bloody weekend in which Lebanese journalists and medics were killed in Israeli strikes.

Benchmark oil prices extended gains on Monday, with Brent crude futures on course for a record monthly rise.

The Houthis' attacks on Israel raised the prospect that they could target and block a second important shipping route, the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.

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The oil market has all but discounted the prospect of a negotiated end to the war and "is bracing for a sharp escalation in military hostilities," said Vandana Hari of oil-market provider Vanda Insights.

The International Monetary Fund warned that war in the Middle East has caused serious disruption to the economies of frontline countries, and is dimming the outlook for many economies that had just started to recover from previous crises.

G7 finance leaders also said they were ready to take "all necessary measures" to safeguard energy market stability and limit broader economic spillovers from recent volatility.

(Reporting by Reuters bureaux; Writing by Stephen Coates, Timothy Heritage, Keith Weir, Simon Lewis and Brad Brooks; Editing by Gareth Jones and Matthew Lewis)
OkCupid and its parent company, Match Groupwhich also owns massively popular dating apps like Hinge and Tinderallegedly shared sensitive user data to a facial recognition software company. President Trumps Federal Trade Commission is letting them off with a slap on the wrist.

The FTC, which Trump all but controls now after removing the Democratic commissioners, announced Monday it is settling its lawsuit against the companies, while detailing what its investigation uncovered.

OkCupid provided the third party with access to nearly three million OkCupid user photos as well as location and other information without placing any formal or contractual restrictions on how the information could be used, the FTC said in a press release. Since September 2014, Match and OkCupid took extensive steps to concealincluding through trying to obstruct the FTCs investigationand deny that OkCupid shared users personal information with the data recipient. When a news story revealed that the third party had obtained large OkCupid datasets, OkCupid claimed to the media and OkCupid users that it was not involved with the third party.

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The third party in question is Clairifai, an AI company that makes facial recognition software. The FTC noted that OkCupid and Match handed over users photos, locations, and demographic information.

The FTC has settled the lawsuit in exchange for a promise that the company wont do the same thing again. There will be no financial penalty. And even worse, Clairafai still has the photos. The FTC has simply banned the companies from misrepresenting things like the extent to which the companies collect, maintain, use, disclose, delete or protect any personal information such as photos and demographic and geolocation datathings OkCupid and Match Group have already spent years lying about, according to the FTCs own investigation.

Clarifai still has those images. Theyve already used them to train their facial recognition models, said Douglas Farrar, former FTC director of public affairs. But the FTC doesnt order the company to delete the models trained on stolen data.

It was immediately apparent that the punishment did not meet the severity of the dystopian crime.

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This should be punishable with prison time, Ohio Democratic congressional candidate Jerrad Christian wrote on X. Your face shouldnt be a product for tech companies to sell.

Match Group, the biggest name in online dating, sold personal data to a facial recognition firm. They were just fined $0, the Groundwork Collaboratives Emily DiVito chimed. Youre not the customer, youre the product.
Donald Trumps education secretary is under fire for an ostensibly apolitical national tour ahead of Americas 250th birthday that critics say has been funded entirely by pro-MAGA groups.

Linda McMahonwho presides over whats left of the Department of Education after Trump launched an initiative to effectively eliminate it last yearlaunched her History Rocks! tour of the U.S. last December.

McMahon has billed the educational tour as a politically neutral celebration of U.S. history ahead of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence on July 4.

Trump appointed McMahon to effectively work herself out of a job in gutting the Department of Education. / Elizabeth Frantz / REUTERS

But critics have raised concerns after it emerged that the America 250 Civics Education Coalition sponsoring the drive is, in fact, made up entirely of pro-Trump organizations.

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This includes the America First Policy Institute, Turning Point USA, Moms for Liberty, and the Heritage Foundation, the Washington Post reports.

Slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk's Turning Point USA is one of the groups behind the educational tour. / Trent Nelson/The Salt Lake Tribune/Getty Images

The newspaper said there is no sign political messaging has been pushed at any of the events, but objections have been raised over the idea that students should focus on positive aspects of U.S. history over darker chapters like the transatlantic slave trade.

The America First Policy Institute, announcing the coalition behind the tour, also released a video calling for a return to a time when education was based on faith, heritage, patriotism.

Under the leadership of President Trump and Secretary McMahon, that light will be restored to guide our students and our nation into a brighter American future, the video claims.

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At least four schools have cancelled planned events in Massachusetts, Alabama, and McMahons home state of Connecticut out of concern for the tours backing. Others in Wisconsin, New Jersey, and Illinois have been the targets of protests.

I just found it hypocritical, one Alabama high school student told the Post. They tried to say their tour was apolitical while being very publicly supported by strongly political groups.

The Daily Beast has contacted the Department of Education for comment on this story. Secretary McMahon told the Post that some have tried to brand this tour as radical, dangerous and partisan, and that those claims were absurd.

What you see is not politicsit is a shared commitment to our nations story, she went on. It speaks volumes about certain voices in our society that they would seek to distort a celebration of Americas 250th anniversary and deprive children of this experience.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP)  U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday threatened widespread destruction of Irans energy resources and other vital infrastructure, potentially including desalination plants that supply drinking water, if a deal to end the war is not reached shortly.

Iran, meanwhile, struck a key water and electrical plant in Kuwait, and an oil refinery in Israel came under attack. A drone hit a Kuwaiti oil tanker in Dubai waters, causing a fire that authorities were working to control early Tuesday, the Dubai Media Office said.

Israel and the U.S. launched a new wave of strikes on Iran, as the war raged with no end in sight.

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Trumps new threat came in a social media post. Earlier comments to the Financial Times suggested American troops could seize Irans Kharg Island oil export hub. Trump has repeatedly claimed to be making diplomatic progress  though Tehran denies negotiating directly  while ramping up his threats and sending thousands more U.S. troops to the Middle East.

Trump told the New York Post that the U.S. is negotiating with Irans parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf. The former Revolutionary Guard commander, who has taunted the U.S. on social media, dismissed the talks facilitated by Pakistan as a cover for the latest American troop deployments.

Trump says diplomacy is going well but threatens major escalation

In a social media post, Trump said great progress is being made in talks with Iran to end military operations. But he said if a deal is not reached shortly, and if the Strait of Hormuz is not immediately reopened, the U.S. would broaden its offensive by completely obliterating power plants, oil wells, Kharg Island and possibly even desalination plants.

The strait is a crucial waterway through which a fifth of the worlds oil is shipped in peacetime.

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The laws of armed conflict allow attacks on civilian infrastructure such as energy plants only if the military advantage outweighs the civilian harm, legal scholars say. Its considered a high bar to clear, and causing excessive suffering to civilians can constitute a war crime.

A 22-year-old resident of Karaj, near Tehran, said his area lost power for several hours overnight following nearby strikes.

I was really scared. I thought that theyd hit the power plants and that we are not going to have power anymore, he said, speaking on condition of anonymity out of security fears.

Iran says US demands are excessive, unrealistic and irrational

The U.S. already has targeted military positions on Kharg. Iran has threatened to launch its own ground invasion of Gulf Arab countries and to mine the Persian Gulf if U.S. troops set foot on its territory.

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Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said Tehran had received a 15-point proposal from the Trump administration containing excessive, unrealistic and irrational demands, while denying there had been any direct talks.

Qalibaf, the parliament speaker Trump says he is negotiating with, said Iranian forces were waiting for the arrival of American troops on the ground to set them on fire and punish their regional partners forever, according to state media.

Twice during Trumps second term, the U.S. has attacked Iran during high-level diplomatic talks, including with the Feb. 28 strikes that started the current war.

Iran attacks Israel and Gulf infrastructure

Sirens sounded at dawn near Israels main nuclear research center, a part of the country that has been targeted repeatedly in recent days. Israels military also said it had taken out two drones launched from Yemen, where the Iran-backed Houthi rebels entered the war on Saturday with their first missile attack.

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Iran kept up the pressure on its Gulf Arab neighbors: Saudi Arabia intercepted five missiles targeting its oil-rich Eastern province; a fireball erupted over Dubai, United Arab Emirates, as a missile was intercepted; and in Kuwait, an Iranian attack hit a power and desalination plant, killing one worker and wounding 10 soldiers, the state-run KUNA news agency reported.

An Emirati official signaled that the UAE wants more than just a ceasefire.

An Iranian regime that launches ballistic missiles at homes, weaponizes global trade and supports proxies is no longer an acceptable feature of the regional landscape, Noura Al Kaabi, a minister of state at the UAEs Foreign Ministry, wrote in a column published by the state-linked, English-language newspaper The National.

She added: We want a guarantee that this will never happen again.

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NATO air defenses intercepted a ballistic missile over Turkey that was fired from Iran, Turkey's Defense Ministry said, in the fourth such incident since the start of the war. Iran has denied firing the previous missiles. Turkey is taking part in mediation efforts.

Israel launched a new wave of attacks on Iran, saying it was striking military infrastructure across Tehran. Explosions were heard in the Iranian capital, and Iranian state media reported that a petrochemicals plant in Tabriz, in the north, sustained damage in an airstrike.

Peacekeepers killed in Lebanon, where Israel is battling Hezbollah

The U.N. Security Council planned to convene an emergency session Tuesday after officials said three peacekeepers in southern Lebanon had been killed in less than 24 hours. The meeting was scheduled after a request from France.

The U.N. peacekeeping mission in the region where Israel is battling the Iran-backed Hezbollah did not say who was responsible for the deaths overnight and into Monday.

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Two of the peacekeepers were killed when an explosion of unknown origin destroyed their vehicle, and a third was killed earlier when a base for the peacekeeping mission, known as UNIFIL, was hit by a projectile. All three peacekeepers were from the Indonesian army, U.N. officials said.

The Israeli army said it was reviewing the deaths to determine if they resulted from Hezbollah activity or Israeli fire, noting that they occurred in an active combat area.

An Israeli airstrike on a Beirut suburb killed one person and wounded 17, including four children, according to Lebanon's Health Ministry.

Over the weekend, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the military would widen its invasion, expanding the existing security strip in southern Lebanon.

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In Iran, authorities say more than 1,900 people have been killed, while 19 have been reported dead in Israel.

Two dozen people have been killed in Gulf states and the occupied West Bank. In Lebanon, officials said more than 1,200 people have been killed, and more than 1 million have been displaced.

Ten Israeli soldiers have died in Lebanon, while 13 U.S. service members have been killed in the war.

Oil prices rise again as concerns of global energy crisis grow

Irans attacks on the energy infrastructure of the region and its stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz have threatened global supplies of oil, natural gas and fertilizer. They have sent fuel prices skyrocketing and given rise to growing concerns about an energy crisis.

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Trump has said that Iran agreed to allow 20 oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz starting Monday as a sign of respect. There was no information on whether those ships were actually moving.

Brent crude oil, the international standard, was trading around $115 Monday, up nearly 60% from when the war started.

___

Boak reported from Washington and Corder from The Hague, Netherlands. Associated Press writers David Rising in Bangkok, Collin Binkley in Washington, Amir-Hussein Radjy in Cairo, Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Israel, and Sally Abou AlJoud in Beirut contributed to this report.
A generational divide over the Iran war has emerged between older attendees and their political heirs at this years Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Texas, as the groups leaders pleaded for unity ahead of a challenging midterm election year for Republicans.

Younger conservatives spoke of disappointment and even betrayal over Donald Trumps launch of strikes against Iran, saying that the presidents actions run counter to his many pledges to oppose foreign entanglements.

Meanwhile, older conservatives were looking past Trumps campaign criticism of military action to topple foreign regimes, arguing the war in Iran is a pragmatic act forced by threats to the US.

Maga anxiety over Iran war on display at CPAC

CPAC is usually a place of optimism, if not triumph. But for the first time in a decade, the president did not attend, apparently consumed with the war in Iran. In his absence, the audience gathered in a cavernous ballroom to hear well-known but less powerful Maga figures debate where their movement was heading. Chief among their concerns is how a president who campaigned on ending wars could find himself mulling a ground invasion of Iran.

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Read the full story

Iran accuses US of plotting ground assault while publicly seeking talks

Iran has warned the US that it is prepared to confront any ground assault, accusing Washington of secretly planning a land attack while publicly seeking talks, as the war that has killed thousands of people and caused the biggest ever disruption to global energy supplies entered its second month.

Read the full story

Lawmakers react to reports Pentagon is preparing for ground operations in Iran

US lawmakers have responded to reports that the Pentagon is preparing for weeks of ground operations in Iran as thousands of US troops assemble in the Middle East and the conflict showed signs of entering a more dangerous phase.

James Lankford, a Republican senator, told NBCs Meet the Press he had not ruled out supporting troops on the ground but that weve got to be able to know what the objectives are and what theyre actually carrying out.

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Read the full story

DHS now longest partial government shutdown in US history

The shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the fourth largest agency in the US government, became the longest partial shutdown in US history on Sunday. If the six-week partial shutdown continues after the weekend, it will become the longest of any shutdown, surpassing the impasse late last year that dragged on for 43 days.

Read the full story

US abortion rate holds steady despite bans, report finds

The abortion rate is holding steady in the US despite total and partial bans in some states  largely because of travel across state lines and a significant increase in telehealth appointments, a new report says.

The number of abortions in the US increased slightly last year, from 1.124m to 1.126m, according to a Guttmacher Institute report. Theres also a shift away from traveling and toward telehealth, in which providers may prescribe mail-order pills.

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Read the full story

What else happened today:

Pope Leo has said God ignores the prayers of leaders who wage war and have hands full of blood , in an apparent rebuke to the Trump administration. The pontiff made the comments on Sunday as thousands of US troops arrived in the Middle East.

More than 8 million people protested against the Trump administration at more than 3,300 No Kings events across the US and in more than a dozen countries on Saturday, according to organizers.

Catching up? Heres what happened on 28 March 2026.
President Donald Trump said Sunday that he would like to "take the oil in Iran" and is considering seizing the export hub of Kharg Island, which is responsible for more than 90% of Iran's oil exports.

In an interview with the Financial Times, Trump said his "preference would be to take the oil."

"To be honest with you, my favorite thing is to take the oil in Iran but some stupid people back in the U.S. say: Why are you doing that? But theyre stupid people," he said.

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The interview marks some of Trump's most direct comments about his thinking on what to do with Iran's oil.

In an interview with NBC News this month, Trump sidestepped answering whether he had plans to try to take Irans oil.

You look at Venezuela, he said. People have thought about it, but its too soon to talk about that.

In January, the U.S. captured Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro and proceeded to take more control over the country's oil industry.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment Sunday night.

Trump told the Financial Times on Sunday that the U.S. has "a lot of options," including potentially taking Kharg Island, a rare island made of hard coral off Iran.

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Maybe we take Kharg Island, maybe we dont. We have a lot of options, Trump said. It would also mean we had to be there [in Kharg Island] for a while.

Oil prices have skyrocketed around the globe as the war continues, with U.S. crude oil costing over $100 a barrel Sunday.

Thousands more U.S. troops are heading to the Middle East, with the USS Tripoli arriving on Saturday as part of a complement of 3,500 troops. But Trump and his administration continue to signal that they are working to negotiate a 15-point proposal to end the war.

Trump declined Sunday to offer specific details about whether a ceasefire deal could be reached in the coming days to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a critical waterway used to move about 20% of the world's oil exports.

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Weve got about 3,000 targets left  weve bombed 13,000 targets  and another couple of thousand targets to go, Trump said in the Financial Times interview. A deal could be made fairly quickly.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
People attend the launching ceremony of a Mekong children's heart care project in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, March 30, 2026. A China-backed Mekong children's heart care project was officially launched in Cambodia on Monday, aiming at delivering life-saving treatment to children with congenital heart disease (CHD). (Photo by Phearum/Xinhua)

PHNOM PENH, March 30 (Xinhua) -- A China-backed Mekong children's heart care project was officially launched in Cambodia on Monday, aiming at delivering life-saving treatment to children with congenital heart disease (CHD).

Funded by China through the Global Development and South-South Cooperation Fund, the landmark project is implemented by the Mekong Institute, in close partnership with the Ministries of Health of Cambodia and Laos, with technical support from the Fuwai Hospital of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences.

"The project will screen at least 40,000 children in Cambodia, including 10,000 ultrasound screenings, provide full-cycle treatment for at least 40 children with CHD, and train more than 100 healthcare professionals," a press release said.

It added that the project will also provide essential medical equipment and support advanced training for Cambodian doctors.

Hok Kimcheng, director general for Health at Cambodia's Ministry of Health, said CHD remained a public health concern, affecting the lives of many children and families, early detection, timely diagnosis, and appropriate treatment are essential to improve the survival and quality of life.

"This project reflects our shared commitment to strengthen the health system through the technology transfer, capacity building, and regional cooperation," he said.

Kimcheng added that the project has adopted a comprehensive approach, combining school-based screening, advanced diagnostics, referral systems, treatment, and follow-up care.

"We are confident that this collaboration will not only benefit Cambodian children, but also contribute to the broader regional effort in addressing CHD," he said.

Suriyan Vichitlekarn, executive director of Mekong Institute, said the project reflected China's firm commitment to advancing the Global Development Initiative and accelerating progress toward the UN 2030 Agenda, as well as shared determination to improve access to care for children with CHD. 
Aboard Air Force One  U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday hinted at differences among his top aides on their approach to Iran, saying that his intelligence chief Tulsi Gabbard was "softer" than him on curbing Tehrans nuclear ambitions.

Trump, who also suggested that a deal could be near to contain Tehran's nuclear ambitions, said "yeah, sure," when asked by a reporter whether he retained confidence in Gabbard, the U.S. director of national intelligence.

"She's a little bit different in her thought process than me," Trump said aboard Air Force One as he returned to Washington after a weekend at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida. "But that doesn't make somebody not available to serve. I would say that I'm very strong on the fact that I don't want Iran to have a nuclear weapon because if they had a nuclear weapon, they'd use it immediately. I think she's probably a little bit softer on that issue, but that's okay."

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard testifies during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on worldwide threats in the Hart Senate Office Building on March 18, 2026 in Washington, DC. A closed session immediately followed the hearing.

Trump seldom acknowledges debate among top officials over the joint U.S.-Israeli campaign against Iran, which is entering its second month.

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Vice President JD Vance has staked out a cautious approach on conflict and some other top Republicans have privately worried about the conflict's domestic economic and political costs.

The Republican president's administration has given conflicting messages about the state of Iran's nuclear program.

In the run-up to the war, some top administration officials said Iran was weeks away from developing a nuclear weapon, although others  including the president  claimed that another U.S.-Israeli campaign last summer had destroyed its weapons program.

Iran has maintained that its nuclear program was for peaceful purposes.

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Gabbard, a former Democratic congresswoman, told lawmakers earlier this month that the U.S. intelligence community had "high confidence" that it knows where Iran keeps its stockpile of highly enriched uranium. At the time, she declined to discuss in a public session whether the U.S. has the means to destroy it.

An official with close ties to Gabbard, Joe Kent, who headed the National Counterterrorism Center, earlier this month resigned over the war, saying Iran posed no imminent threat to the U.S.

Want to comment on this story? Become a subscriber today. Click here.

This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Trump says Tulsi Gabbard 'softer' than him on Iran nuclear issue
Two more United Nations peacekeepers have been killed in southern Lebanon, the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) has said, in the latest deadly incident involving UN forces since Israel expanded its ground invasion of the country.

In a statement shared on social media, UNIFIL said two peacekeepers were killed on Monday when an explosion of unknown origin destroyed their vehicle near the southern Lebanese village of Bani Hayyan.

The UN force said a third peacekeeper was severely injured while a fourth was also wounded in the incident. We reiterate that no one should ever have to die serving the cause of peace, UNIFIL said.

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The announcement came hours after UNIFIL said one of its peacekeepers was killed in a separate incident when a projectile exploded in a UNIFIL position on Sunday near the southern Lebanese village of Aadshit al-Qusayr.

The force said that the exact origin of the projectile was not immediately clear, but that an investigation had been launched into the incident.





Indonesias Ministry of Foreign Affairs later confirmed that the slain peacekeeper was one of its citizens. It said three other Indonesian peacekeepers with UNIFIL were also wounded in the attack, which it described as indirect artillery fire.

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Indonesia strongly condemns the incident and calls for a thorough and transparent investigation, the ministry said in a statement. Indonesia reiterates its condemnation of Israels attacks in southern Lebanon and calls on all parties to respect Lebanons sovereignty and territorial integrity, cease attacks against civilian populations and infrastructure, and return to dialogue and diplomacy to prevent further escalation and advance peace.

Israeli invasion deepens

The deadly incidents come as Israel has expanded its ground invasion of Lebanon, pushing deeper into the south of the country as part of a campaign that it says aims to secure northern Israel against Hezbollah air attacks.

Israel launched intensified strikes against its northern neighbour in early March after Hezbollah fired into northern Israel in response to the US-Israeli war on Iran, which began on February 28.

More than 1,200 people have been killed in Israels continuing attacks across Lebanon, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry, while more than 1.2 million people have been forced out of their homes across the country.

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The Israeli ground invasion has spurred intensified confrontations and deadly violence in Lebanons south, Al Jazeeras Obaida Hitto reported from the southern city of Tyre on Monday afternoon.

In another recent incident, a Lebanese soldier was killed in an Israeli attack on a military checkpoint in the south on Monday, Lebanons army said in a statement.

The checkpoint was clearly marked as a Lebanese army position, said Hitto, noting that the past 48 hours have been marked by several incidents involving UNIFIL and the Lebanese military.

As the Israelis announced theyre expanding their operations here in southern Lebanon, I expect these kinds of incidents to increase, he said.





Global condemnation

World leaders have condemned the escalating violence, with United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres calling on all parties to the conflict to abide by international law and ensure the security of all UN personnel.

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This is just one of a number of recent incidents that have jeopardized the safety & security of peacekeepers, Guterres wrote on X after the Indonesian peacekeeper was killed.

France on Monday requested an urgent meeting of the UN Security Council, Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said in a statement condemning the attacks on UNIFIL positions as unacceptable and unjustifiable.

Barrot also called for a thorough investigation into the deadly incidents.

Earlier in the day, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, a vocal critic of Israels bombardment of Lebanon, said a new red line was crossed after the first fatal attack involving UNIFIL this week.

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Attacks on UN peacekeeping missions are an unjustifiable aggression against the entire international community, Sanchez wrote in a social media post, calling on the Israeli government to end its military operations.

The Republic of Irelands Prime Minister Micheal Martin also warned against a shocking escalation of violence that has injured a number of peacekeepers in recent days.

The role of the peacekeeper must be respected and honoured at all times, Martin wrote on X.
The UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon said two of its personnel were killed Monday in the second deadly incident in 24 hours in the country's south, where Israel and Hezbollah are fighting.

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) said two Indonesian peacekeepers were killed "when an explosion of unknown origin destroyed their vehicle". Two other peacekeepers were wounded, one of them seriously.

Also in the south, Lebanon's army said an Israeli strike killed one of its soldiers, while a security source told AFP that three Hezbollah members were killed in an Israeli strike on Beirut's southern suburbs.

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Lebanon was pulled into the Middle East conflict when the Tehran-backed armed group fired rockets at Israel on March 2 to avenge the killing of Iran's supreme leader in the opening salvo of the US-Israeli war against the Islamic republic.

Israel has responded with broad strikes across Lebanon and a ground offensive in the south. Lebanese authorities say more than 1,200 people have been killed since the hostilities began.

UNIFIL said it had launched an investigation into Monday's deaths, which came a day after another Indonesian peacekeeper was killed and three others wounded by a projectile, also of unknown provenance, that exploded near a UNIFIL position.

Israel's military said on Tuesday it was also investigating the two incidents "in order to clarify the circumstances and determine whether they resulted from Hezbollah activity or from IDF activity."

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Jean-Pierre Lacroix, UN under-secretary-general for peace operations, strongly condemned "these unacceptable incidents", adding that "all acts that endanger the peacekeepers must stop".

Permanent Security Council member France said it was seeking a meeting of the body over the matter, while Spain also condemned the deadly attacks.

- 'Direct' attack -

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun condemned "the targeting of peacekeeping forces" in a phone call with UNIFIL's commander.

Aoun "continues to conduct multiple international contacts" in a bid to bring about talks with Israel, a statement from the presidency said.

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UN special coordinator for Lebanon Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert called in a statement for "an immediate truce to stop the devastation".

State media reported Israeli air strikes on south Lebanon, as well as in parts of the adjacent West Bekaa area, cutting roads in the region after Israel's army issued an evacuation warning for several towns there.

The Lebanese army said one of its soldiers was killed in "a direct Israeli attack on an army checkpoint" in the south's Tyre region.

A military source told AFP the strike was the first direct targeting of an army checkpoint since the war began.

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The army had previously announced the deaths of eight off-duty soldiers in southern and eastern Lebanon.

- 'Command centres' -

Also Monday, two strikes hit Beirut's southern suburbs, one targeting an apartment in the Bir Hassan district, according to an AFP photographer, who said Hezbollah gunmen then cordoned off the site.

A security source told AFP that three Hezbollah members were killed in the strike and three others wounded.

An eyewitness who declined to be identified said victims were evacuated following the strike, which came after an Israeli army warning for parts of Beirut's southern suburbs, where most residents have fled.

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The building is located in a residential neighbourhood packed with shops and commercial establishments, several of which were damaged, the photographer said.

The Israeli military said a strike in Beirut killed the deputy commander of a unit "responsible for coordinating" between Hezbollah and "Palestinian terrorist organisations operating in Lebanon, Gaza, Syria" and the Israeli-occupied West Bank, along with two other operatives from the unit.

Other strikes in Beirut and south Lebanon targeted Hezbollah "command centres", the military said.

Hezbollah, meanwhile, claimed a series of attacks against Israeli targets in south Lebanon and across the border, including one targeting an intelligence base on the outskirts of Tel Aviv.

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It said its fighters were engaged in "fierce clashes" with Israeli forces in south Lebanon's Ainata.

The Israeli military said a soldier was killed fighting in south Lebanon, bringing the number of Israeli soldiers killed there to six this month.

lar-ris-lg/smw/ceg/ane
A 23-year-old U.S. Marine formerly stationed at Camp Pendleton in San Diego County is in custody after federal investigators claim he was stealing weapons of war, transporting them to Arizona and selling them.

A Glendale, Arizona native, Corporal Andrew Paul Amarillas, was working as an ammunition technician specialist at the School Infantry-West at Camp Pendleton, where he had access to restricted military weapons, explosives and ammunition.

In a complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona last week, a grand jury indicted the 23-year-old, alleging he stole a Javelin missile system and cans of ammunition that he then sold to a network of co-conspirators, the news outlet AZFamily first reported.

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Court documents referenced text messages Amarillas reportedly sent to his unindicted co-conspirators.

[J]ust got some javs and some other ones, he allegedly wrote in an August text. Have 2 launchers that [I] think youd like, if you want to take a look tomorrow.

Federal investigators claim a 23-year-old U.S. Marine stationed in Southern California was stealing and selling weapons of war in Arizona. (U.S. Dept. of Justice)

Undercover officers were able to buy some of the ammunition from the middlemen and trace some of it back to Camp Pendleton, where they said some of the lot numbers were signed out by the corporal.

While investigators said that at least one of the Javelin Missile Systems Amarillas planned to sell was recovered, along with some of the stolen ammunition, prosecutors noted in paperwork to keep the corporal in custody that as many as 2 million rounds of M855 ammunition could be unaccounted for, AZFamily reported.

Federal investigators claim a 23-year-old U.S. Marine stationed in Southern California was stealing and selling weapons of war in Arizona. (U.S. Dept. of Justice) Federal investigators claim a 23-year-old U.S. Marine stationed in Southern California was stealing and selling weapons of war in Arizona. (U.S. Dept. of Justice)

Portable anti-tank weapons designed exclusively for the U.S. military by Lockheed Martin and RTX Corp, Javelin Missile Systems are also used to target low flying helicopters and other fortifications.

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Unless demilitarized, the weapons cannot be legally possessed by or sold to the public, which in this case, they werent, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The 23-year-old was arrested ahead of completing an eight-week training course in Quantico, Virginia that would have then deployed him to protect the U.S. Embassy in Myanmar.

He pleaded not guilty to charges that included conspiracy to commit theft and embezzlement of government property and possession and sale of stolen ammunition at a federal courthouse in Phoenix on March 26, The Times reported.

The judge said that because he presented a flight risk and had the potential to tamper with evidence and possibly interfere with witnesses at Camp Pendleton that he should be held without bail.

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Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTLA.
Ukraine has issued an apology to Finland after several of its drones crashed in Finnish territory a day earlier, the Foreign Ministry in Kiev said on Monday.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Heorhii Tykhyi stressed that the drones had not targeted Finland deliberately.

"We can say with certainty that Ukrainian drones did not fly towards Finland under any circumstances," he told journalists in Kiev.

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The most likely scenario, he said, was that the drones had been diverted from their original course by electronic jamming from Russian air defences.

Several Ukrainian drones crashed to the east of the south-eastern city of Kouvola near Finland's border with Russia on Sunday.

It came as Ukraine had been repeatedly targeting Baltic ports in Russia's western Leningrad region to disrupt Russian oil exports.

Kouvola lies around 70 kilometres from the region.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Finnish President Alexander Stubb also spoke about the incident during a phone call on Monday, according to the Ukrainian leader.

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"Of course, we also discussed the drone incident that recently took place on Finnish territory," Zelensky wrote in an English-language post on X on Monday.

"Alex and I see the situation in the same way. We are sharing all necessary information."

Ukrainian drones have repeatedly strayed into the airspace of Russia's neighbours in the Baltic region and occasionally come down on their territories, most recently in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.
A Ukrainian national has been arrested in western Germany on suspicion of spying for a Russian intelligence service, prosecutors said on Monday.

According to the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office, the 53-year-old is alleged to have gathered information on behalf of Russian intelligence about a man in Germany who took part in combat operations with the Ukrainian military following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

The Ukrainian man was detained in Hagen, south of Dortmund, on Friday and was remanded in custody on Saturday.

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"The surveillance operation was presumably also intended to lay the groundwork for further intelligence operations against the target in Germany," prosecutors said.

German intelligence agencies have warned of the increasing threat posed by Russian espionage, sabotage and disinformation since Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

With traditional intelligence operations involving professional spies having become more difficult due to sanctions and the increased vigilance of Western authorities, Russian actors have been accused of recruiting individuals from the petty criminal underworld for espionage or sabotage operations in return for payment.

Last week, a Ukrainian man was detained in Spain and a Romanian woman held in Germany over allegations of spying on a man in Germany who supplied drones and related components to Ukraine.

The two cases are not related, prosecutors said.
BEIRUT, March 30 (Reuters) - Three United Nations peacekeepers from Indonesia were killed in two separate incidents in southern Lebanon after a bloody weekend in which Lebanese journalists and medics were killed in Israeli strikes.

Two peacekeepers were killed on Monday after an explosion from an unknown origin destroyed their vehicle near Bani Hayyan in south Lebanon, the U.N. peacekeeping force UNIFIL said in a statement. Two other soldiers were wounded in the blast.

Another Indonesian soldier was killed overnight Sunday into Monday when a projectile exploded near one of the group's positions close to the southern Lebanese village of Adchit al-Qusayr. Another peacekeeper was critically injured at the time.

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The death on Sunday was the first among the U.N.'s peacekeeping force in the new war between Israel and Lebanese armed group Hezbollah which erupted on March 2.

"These are two separate incidents and we are investigating them as two separate incidents," said UNIFIL's spokesperson Kandice Ardiel.

In response to the first death, Indonesia's foreign ministry said on Monday the deceased peacekeeper was one of its citizens and that three others were injured by "indirect artillery fire".

Indonesia condemned "in the strongest terms" the second attack, its foreign ministry said on Tuesday.

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"This cannot be treated as an isolated occurrence, but reflects a rapidly deteriorating security environment in southern Lebanon, where ongoing Israeli military operations have placed United Nations peacekeepers at grave risk," it said.

In a post on X on Tuesday, the country's Foreign Minister Sugiono called for an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting and "for a swift, thorough, and transparent investigation" into the "heinous attack" after speaking with U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

Israel's military said early on Tuesday it is aware of the reports regarding the two incidents and they are being reviewed thoroughly to determine whether they resulted from Hezbollah or the military's activity.

Guterres said attacks on peacekeepers are grave violations of international humanitarian law and may amount to war crimes.

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"We strongly condemn these unacceptable incidents - peacekeepers must never be a target," the U.N. peacekeeping chief Jean-Pierre Lacroix told reporters in a briefing on Monday.

PARAMEDICS, JOURNALISTS KILLED

UNIFIL is stationed in southern Lebanon to monitor hostilities along the demarcation line with Israel - an area that is at the heart of clashes between Israeli troops and Iran-backed Hezbollah fighters.

Lebanon was pulled into the war in the Middle East when Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel in solidarity with Tehran, two days after Iran was attacked by Israel and the United States. Hezbollah's attack prompted a new Israeli ground and air offensive.

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More than 1,240 people have been killed in Israeli strikes on Lebanon, according to Lebanese authorities. They include more than 120 children, nearly 80 women and dozens of paramedics.

More than 400 Hezbollah fighters have been killed since March 2, according to two sources familiar with Hezbollah's count.

The Israeli military issued evacuation warnings to residents of six villages in Lebanon's western Bekaa region on Monday, in the first such warning for those areas. The military said the warning was prompted by what it described as militant activity in the area, without providing further details.

Fresh airstrikes hit several towns in southern Lebanon on Monday and at least one strike hit Beirut's southern suburbs.

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The Israeli military said strikes in Beirut targeted commanders responsible for coordination between Hezbollah and Palestinian militant groups.

At least 10 paramedics were killed over the weekend in Israeli strikes, according to the Lebanese health ministry. Three journalists were killed in an Israeli strike on their car on Saturday.

The Israeli military has accused Hezbollah operatives of posing as Lebanese paramedics, and has said that some journalists it killed were part of the group's intelligence or military wing. It has not publicly provided evidence to support those claims.

Lebanon's health ministry has denied that any ambulances or health facilities are used for military purposes. Lebanon's presidency has said that targeted journalists are "civilians performing a professional duty."

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Israel has said it intends to control a buffer zone up to the Litani River, which runs about 30 km (20 miles) north of the Lebanese border with Israel.

Its ground troops have been pushing into Lebanese border towns and demolishing homes in the area.

Israel's military said on Monday that a sixth soldier had been killed in fighting in southern Lebanon. Lebanon's armed forces said that a Lebanese soldier had been killed in an Israeli airstrike. At least nine Lebanese soldiers have been killed by Israel.

Lebanon's army has not been fighting Israeli forces.

(Reporting by Hatem Maher, Muhammad Al Gebaly, Menna Alaa El-Din, Stanley Widianto in Jakarta, Maya Gebeily in Beirut and Alexander Cornwell in Jerusalem; Editing by Jonathan Oatis, Raju Gopalakrishnan, William Maclean, Alexandra Hudson and Lincoln Feast)
At least two U.S. university campuses in the Middle East are tightening security measures this week following reports that Iran is threatening to strike American-run colleges in the region.

Multiple media outlets reported on Sunday, March 29, that Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps warned it would target U.S. universities in the Middle East, prompting two American schools in Lebanon and Qatar to close.

The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad confirmed the threats in an alert posted to social media on March 29, warning that Iran may intend to target American universities in the Iraqi cities of Baghdad, Sulaymaniyah and Dohuk.

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Iran has specifically directed threats toward American universities across various parts of the Middle East, the statement from the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad cautioned.

More: Americans struggling to evacuate Middle East say State Dept. unhelpful

Children run to an underground shelter amid reports of incoming missiles on February 28, 2026 in Tel Aviv, Israel. Iran launched a wave of missiles at Israel after the United States and Israel launched a joint attack on Iran early this morning, killing Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Israel's Defense Minister Israel Katz declared a state of emergency, as Israelis braced for the retaliation. Israeli emergency responders work at the site of a projectile impact after Iran launched missiles into Israel, following Israel and the U.S. launching strikes on Iran, in Tel Aviv, Israel, February 28, 2026. Members of Israeli Police Bomb Disposal Unit stand at the site of a projectile impact, after Iran launched missiles into Israel following Israel and the U.S. launching strikes on Iran, in Tel Aviv, Israel, February 28, 2026. Israeli emergency responder carries a child, at the site of a projectile impact after Iran launched missiles into Israel, following Israel and the U.S. launching strikes on Iran, in Tel Aviv, Israel, February 28, 2026. An explosion in the sea, after missiles were launched towards Israel from Iran following strikes by Israel and the U.S. on Iran, as seen from Haifa, northern Israel, February 28, 2026. An Israeli firefighter works to put out a fire on a car, at the site of a projectile impact, after Iran launched missiles into Israel following Israel and the U.S. launching strikes on Iran, in Tel Aviv, Israel, February 28, 2026. This long exposure shows trails and explosions from projectile interceptions by Israel's Iron Dome missile defence system over Tel Aviv on February 28, 2026. The United States and Israel launched strikes against Iran on February 28, with Israel's public broadcaster reporting that the Iranian supreme leader had been targeted, as the Islamic republic retaliated with barrages of missiles at Gulf states and Israel. A man carries two children as he runs to take shelter after sirens sounded in Tel Aviv on February 28, 2026, following the announcement that Israel had launched a "preemptive strike" on Iran.



President Donald Trump urged Iranians on February 28 to take over their government as US forces began a large-scale attack on the country's military. Rocket trail from Israel's Iron Dome missile defense system is seen over the skies of Jerusalem on February 28, 2026. The Israeli military said it detected missiles launched from Iran on February 28 as sirens sounded across several parts of the country, after Israel earlier launched strikes on Iran. A person takes shelter as sirens sounded in Jerusalem on February 28, 2026, following the announcement that Israel had launched a "preemptive strike" on Iran. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Iran must not be allowed to gain nuclear arms and urged Israelis to "stand together" after Israel and the United States launched strikes against the Islamic republic on February 28. Israelis take cover in a shelter as sirens sound, after missiles were launched towards Israel from Iran following strikes by Israel and the U.S. on Iran, in Tel Aviv, on February 28, 2026. People rush to fill their tanks at a petrol station in Nablus, in the occupied West Bank on February 28, 2026, after Israel and the US launched attacks on Iran. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Iran must not be allowed to gain nuclear arms and urged Israelis to "stand together" after Israel and the United States launched strikes against the Islamic republic on February 28. An air defense system operates as missiles are launched towards Israel from Iran, after Israel and the U.S. launched strikes on Iran, in Jerusalem, February 28, 2026. This picture shows a view shows traffic moving on a street in Jerusalem with the Russian Church of Mary Magdalene (bottom-R) on February 28, 2026. The Israeli military said it detected missiles launched from Iran on February 28 as sirens sounded across several parts of the country, after Israel earlier launched strikes on Iran. A woman holds a child as they take shelter under the bridge of a highway after Israel's military announced they identified missiles launched from Iran towards Israel and sirens are sounded, near Latrun, Israel, February 28, 2026. People run to take shelter after sirens sounded in Tel Aviv on February 28, 2026, following the announcement that Israel had launched a "preemptive strike" on Iran. President Donald Trump urged Iranians on February 28 to take over their government as US forces began a large-scale attack on the country's military. Memebers of the Israeli security personnel move a patient in a parking lot at Sourasky Medical Center for safety after sirens sounded in Tel Aviv on February 28, 2026, following the announcement that Israel had launched a "preemptive strike" on Iran. President Donald Trump urged Iranians on February 28 to take over their government as US forces began a large-scale attack on the country's military. Patients are placed in a parking lot at Sourasky Medical Center for safety after sirens sounded in Tel Aviv on February 28, 2026, following the announcement that Israel had launched a "preemptive strike" on Iran.



President Donald Trump urged Iranians on February 28 to take over their government as US forces began a large-scale attack on the country's military. Israelis gather in an underground shelter after Israel's military announced they identified missiles launched from Iran towards Israel, in Haifa, northern Israel, February 28, 2026. Israelis enter an underground shelter after Israel's military announced they identified missiles launched from Iran towards Israel, in Haifa, northern Israel, February 28, 2026. People take shelter after a siren sounded a warning, after missiles were launched towards Israel from Iran following strikes by Israel and the U.S. on Iran, in Rosh Haayin, Israel, February 28, 2026. Israeli emergency responders work at the site of a projectile impact after Iran launched missiles into Israel, following Israel and the U.S. launching strikes on Iran, in Tel Aviv, Israel, February 28, 2026. An Israeli firefighter works to put out a fire on a car, at the site of a projectile impact, after Iran launched missiles into Israel following Israel and the U.S. launching strikes on Iran, in Tel Aviv, Israel, February 28, 2026. Israeli emergency responders work at the site of a projectile impact after Iran launched missiles into Israel, following Israel and the U.S. launching strikes on Iran, in Tel Aviv, Israel, February 28, 2026. Photos show retaliation strikes on Israel after Iran attack 1 of 24 Children run to an underground shelter amid reports of incoming missiles on February 28, 2026 in Tel Aviv, Israel. Iran launched a wave of missiles at Israel after the United States and Israel launched a joint attack on Iran early this morning, killing Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Israel's Defense Minister Israel Katz declared a state of emergency, as Israelis braced for the retaliation.

The notice added other universities perceived as connected to the United States may also be targets for Iran and its affiliated militias. USA TODAY has reached out to the State Department for further information.

More: Are US flights safe? Feds say yes, but signs of danger are growing

The two universities that have shut their doors aren't closing permanently. American University of Beirut announced its campus in Lebanon's capital will be closed March 30-31, and Georgetown University said early March 30 that its campus building in Qatar is closed until further notice. Both schools said they will continue to operate online.

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Fadlo R. Khuri, president of the American University in Beirut, said the school has no evidence of direct threats made against the university, its campuses or medical centers, but is closing the campus out of an abundance of caution.

Irans threats are reportedly retaliation for U.S. and Israeli airstrikes, which Iran claims hit two of its universities over the weekend, according to the Wall Street Journal.

A person walks at the American University of Beirut, Lebanon May 8, 2024.

The Persian Gulf is also home to a campus operated by New York University in the United Arab Emirates. Carnegie Mellon, Northwestern and Texas A&M have university locations in Qatar.

New York Universitys Abu Dhabi campus moved to remote instruction earlier this month. The university did not immediately respond to requests for comment as to whether the campus remains open.

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Widespread security alerts remain in place for American travelers and citizens across the Middle East as the U.S.-Israel war with Iran enters its fifth week. The State Department has advised citizens to leave more than a dozen countries in the Middle East and Gulf since the war began on Feb. 28, and nearly every country in the region is under the two highest travel advisory ratings.

Kathryn Palmer is a politics reporter for USA TODAY. You can reach her at kapalmer@usatoday.com and on X @KathrynPlmr. Sign up for her daily politics newsletter here.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: US campuses in Middle East temporarily close following Iran threats
A US federal judge has ruled that Colgate-Palmolive must face two proposed class actions over alleged misleading packaging for children's mouth rinses, Reuters reported.

The judge has dismissed a similar case involving toothpaste.

Plaintiffs say Colgates colourful packaging and flavours such as Bubble Fruit and Silly Strawberry suggest the rinses are safe for children under six.

They said that this is despite US health guidance saying that children under six years of age should not use fluoride rinses and that children aged two to six years should use only "pea-sized" amounts of fluoride toothpaste.

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US District Judge Andrea Wood in Chicago said reasonable consumers might not know where to "draw the line" on rinses when labels prominently feature "kids" or "children's".

She rejected Colgates claim that shoppers would recognise rinses as over-the-counter drugs and rely on back-label FDA warnings.

Wood found toothpaste labels different because they already direct children aged between two and six years to use pea-sized amounts.

She wrote: "Viewed in context, the toothbrush with a full strip of toothpaste is there only to represent the act of toothbrushing."

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Requests for comment from Colgate and its legal team were not immediately answered.

Plaintiffs lawyer Michael Connett said courts have been open to deceptive labelling suits.

"These rulings will hopefully send a wake-up call to manufacturers to stop promoting unsafe use of fluoride products," he noted.

Last September, Colgate agreed to alter packaging for its Colgate, Tom's of Maine, and hello toothpaste brands following a probe by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.

Paxton had deemed the brands fluoride advertising misleading. After an agreement with the attorney general, the company agreed to depict safe, age-appropriate amounts of toothpaste on its packaging and ads for children under six years old.

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Procter & Gamble (P&G) reached a similar agreement with Paxton earlier this year. Under the terms, the company agreed to update its Crest childrens toothpaste marketing and packaging to clearly show the recommended amount of toothpaste for young users.

"US judge allows class action against Colgate on kids rinse labels  report" was originally created and published by Packaging Gateway, a GlobalData owned brand.




By Mike Scarcella

WASHINGTON, March 30 (Reuters) - A U.S. judge will hear arguments on Monday on whether the Pentagon has defied a court order protecting journalists access, in a closely watched clash over press freedom and executive power.

U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman scheduled a hearing for 9:30 a.m. EST (1330 GMT) in Washington to weigh a request by the New York Times to compel the Pentagons compliance with the prior court ruling.

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The Pentagon under Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in October said journalists could be deemed security risks and have their press badges revoked if they solicited unauthorized military personnel to disclose classified, and in some cases unclassified, information.

Of the 56 news outlets in the Pentagon Press Association, only one agreed to sign an acknowledgment of the policy, with reporters who did not sign surrendering their press passes to the Pentagon.

On March 20 Friedman ruled that provisions of the Defense Department's policy pertaining to Pentagon press credentials violated protections for news gathering and due process in the U.S. Constitution.

The judge issued an injunction requiring the immediate reinstatement of media credentials for reporters covering the Pentagon.

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The New York Times, the lead plaintiff that sued to challenge Hegseth's policy, told Friedman last week that the Pentagon had not complied with his order but instead released what it called a new "interim" policy defying the court ruling.

The policy, the Times said, bars reporters with press passes from entering the building without an escort, sets up rules governing when a reporter can offer anonymity to a source and leaves in place other rules that the court order rejected.

In a filing on Friday, the Pentagon denied violating Friedman's prior order. "The Department was careful to address all of the legal defects that the court perceived in the prior policy," it said.

The Pentagon Press Association said the Pentagon's new rules are "a clear violation of the letter and spirit" of Friedmans ruling. Reuters is a member of the association, which includes the Times, ABC News, Fox News and other outlets.

(Reporting by Mike Scarcella; Editing by David Bario and Howard Goller)
Teachers of Hainan Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences introduce the university's program and admission information to parents and students in Danzhou, south China's Hainan Province, March 28, 2026. (Hainan Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences/Handout via Xinhua)

HAIKOU, March 30 (Xinhua) -- Hainan Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences (BiUH) is expected to enroll 800 students across 25 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities in China this year, according to the admissions office of BiUH.

BiUH, a campus established by Germany's Hochschule Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences and Arts (HSBI), is the first independent institution run by a foreign university on the Chinese mainland.

Last Saturday, BiUH, located in Danzhou City of south China's Hainan Province, hosted its 2026 Campus Open Day and university admission information session. Many high school students and parents from Beijing, Shanghai, Hainan and other places across China attended the event.

"This event not only provides an important opportunity to showcase our educational achievements, but also serves as a platform for dialogue, exchange, and mutual understanding," said Ingeborg Schramm-Wolk, president of BiUH.

She noted that the university is committed to serving as a bridge between Chinese and German education systems, placing students at the center of its mission while promoting the deep integration of theoretical learning and practical skills to cultivate high-quality, application-oriented talent with international perspectives and innovative capabilities.

BiUH enrolled its first students in 2023, marking the first time China allowed a foreign university to operate independently without a local partner. Currently, it offers seven undergraduate programs, including Computer Science and Technology, Digital Technologies, Industrial Engineering, Logistics Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Software Engineering and Business Administration.

In April 2018, China announced plans to transform Hainan into a pilot free trade zone, with a long-term vision of developing a free trade port with Chinese characteristics. A master plan released two years later aimed to build Hainan Island into a globally influential and high-level free trade port by the middle of the century.

Under the plan, high-level overseas universities and vocational institutions in science, engineering, agriculture and medicine are permitted to operate independently in the Hainan free trade port (FTP).

To date, Hainan has partnered with 48 domestic and overseas universities, and won approval for two independently operated campuses of foreign universities and 26 Sino-foreign higher-education institutions and programs, according to the provincial department of education. 
A decade ago, Jessica Luebbers could not have imagined supporting Marco Rubio for president. His acrimonious race to stop Donald Trumps march to the White House in 2016 left a bitter taste in her mouth.

But as she and hundreds of other Trump supporters gathered outside Dallas this week at the Conservative Political Action Conference to consider the future of the movement, Luebbers said she hoped the president would pass the torch to his former rival in 2028.

I was a little skeptical when Trump picked Rubio (for secretary of state) but, man, he has knocked it out of the park, Luebbers said. Its amazing how much hes had on his plate.

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The growing comfort with Rubio among conservatives was captured in CPACs annual straw poll of potential 2028 contenders. After barely registering in the informal survey last year, 35% of attendees at this years event said they wanted him to be the partys next nominee, according to results released Saturday.

Rubio trailed only Vice President JD Vance, who won the CPAC straw poll for the second time with 53%, albeit with less support than in 2025, when he won 61%.

The straw poll is not a scientific survey, with a pool limited to conference attendees, and is not representative of the broader Republican electorate. But the result is certain to further fuel Republican Party intrigue over the budding rivalry between two top Trump confidantes. Rubio has taken a leading role for the administration amid Trumps increasingly aggressive military posture and high-stakes diplomatic negotiations in Venezuela, Iran and Cuba.

Vance, meanwhile, has lately operated more often from behind the scenes. His past statements loudly opposing new foreign conflicts has left some Trump supporters wondering where he stands on the decision to strike Iran and kill many top regime officials, including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

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Some younger conservatives who voiced opposition to Trumps war seemed to prefer Rubio to Vance  despite the secretarys historically hawkish positions.

I may disagree with him on something like the Iran war and how hes spoken about that, but then I can agree with him on some other policies, said Luke Rosati, a student at Xavier University.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks to the press following a G7 Foreign Ministers' meeting with Partner Countries before his departure at the Bourget airport in Le Bourget, outside Paris, on March 27, 2026. - Brendan Smialowski/Pool/AFP/Getty Images

He added: I hate seeing the president and vice president run. I want someone new and different.

Still, Vance has many supporters within the GOP base who were eager to punch his name in the CPAC straw poll. His backstory as the son of a drug addict raised by his grandmother  chronicled in his best-selling book Hillbilly Elegy  remains compelling to his followers.

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I think he speaks to a lot of people in the country that maybe other people in the country would pass off, said William Augustine, who lives in the Dallas area and attended CPAC with his wife Susan.

The debate over the partys future took place without its most influential voice: Trump, who skipped the conference for the first time in a decade. Trump has publicly avoided picking an heir, though he has praised both Vance and Rubio. Among the CPAC faithful, his endorsement will ultimately loom large over the nominating contest, should he decide to play kingmaker.

Certainly, President Trumps endorsement will play a big role because he needs to continue his legacy, said Henry Tian of Texas. Four years is not enough.

There remain some holdouts, too, who want to see Trump run again despite the Constitution making clear that wouldnt be allowed.

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We need Trump. We need this to keep going, said Frank Robles of Paso Robles, California, who wore a Trump 2028 hat to CPAC. We cant stop the momentum.

Vance has largely dismissed 2028 chatter, while Rubio has said he would support the vice president if he runs. Most notable Republican figures have avoided publicly teasing a presidential bid, though Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul told CBS he was considering running again and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis didnt rule it out in a recent interview with Sean Hannity.

Vice President JD Vance shakes hands with Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the State Department in Washington, DC, on February 4, 2026. - Oliver Contreras/AFP/Getty Images

None of the aforementioned spoke this week at CPAC, which has traditionally served as a platform for future presidential contenders to introduce themselves to the GOP base. This year, few of the rumored 2028 hopefuls made the pilgrimage to Texas.

One exception was the states junior senator, Ted Cruz, who received a warm welcome as he laid out his vision for the GOP  one that combines Trump populism and blue-collar support with bedrock GOP principles like small government, low taxes and limited regulations.

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The people who say, Were conservative, but were big government conservatives, Im here to tell you, youre not being a populist, youre advocating for the policies of Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, Cruz said.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) USA 2026 at the Gaylord Texan Resort and Convention Center, in Grapevine, Texas, on March 28, 2026. - Daniel Cole/Reuters

The message resonated with Barbara Lewis, a Texas retiree who said she hopes her home-state senator runs for president again in 2028.

I just think hes done a good job for Texas, she said.

Cruz, though, didnt get a home-court advantage in the CPAC poll. His support registered at 1%.

Nor did the events final speaker, Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr., find much interest inany future political ambitions. His support in the poll was 0%.

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In fact, no one outside of Rubio and Vance surpassed 2% in the survey, which included about 1,600 participants. Many are already looking ahead to a Vance-Rubio ticket  preferably in that order for Maxine Cunnyngham of Edmond, Oklahoma.

They are the men for the hour, she said, and they are positioned right now in the government where they are learning everything they dont already know and they are going to be perfect.

Susan Augustine offered another idea.

Theyd make a good team, she said. Too bad they couldnt co-president, you know?

For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com
Vice President JD Vance is the favorite to earn the Republican nomination for president in 2028, according to a new straw poll taken at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on Saturday.

Vance earned support from about 53 percent of attendees who participated in the presidential preference poll at the annual gathering in Grapevine, Texas, according to New York Times reporter Kellen Browning.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio came in second with 35 percent, and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Donald Trump Jr., the presidents son, tied at 2 percent for a distant third place.

Sens. Ted Cruz (Texas) and Rand Paul (Ky.), Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott each got 1 percent. The other two contenders on the list got no support.

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The closely watched straw poll often serves as an early barometer for how GOP voters are leaning, and Vances name at the top indicates that conservative Republicans view him as best suited to succeed President Trump and advance the MAGA agenda.

Last year, Vance led with 61 percent support among 1,022 CPAC attendees, followed by former Trump advisor and right-wing media personality Steve Bannon with 12 percent. Rubio received only 3 percent support in 2025, a sign his stock is now rising among Trumps core base.

Trump is reportedly skipping CPAC this year  the first time in a decade  as the war with Iran rages on and he faces pressure to tamp down surging oil and gas prices ahead of the midterms.

The outcome of Saturdays straw poll was not unexpected, as Vance and Rubio have widely emerged as the expected GOP frontrunners heading into 2028. Trump is not eligible to run again.

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Vance has been seen as the heir apparent to Trump since becoming his running mate in 2024, but the presidents recent praise of Rubios diplomatic work has introduced fresh speculation over who may carry the party torch once Trump leaves office.

Trump knows this is playing in the backdrop, and hes struggling with it, one Republican fundraiser of the debate on who might succeed Trump atop the GOP and MAGA told The Hill. Thats why he keeps asking people what theyre thinking.

Vance has dismissed the notion that he and Rubio are rivals, telling Fox News host Sean Hannity in November: I dont feel like that at all.

People have asked me, Do you see Marco as a rival? And first of all, if either of us end up running, its a long ways in the future, and neither of us is entitled to it. So I think it would be ridiculous for me to say Marco is a rival. No, Marco is a colleague, he said at the time.

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A month later, Rubio told Vanity Fair he would be one of the first people to support Vance if the vice president decided to run for the White House.

Amie Parnes and Julia Mueller contributed.

Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Here are the latest developments in the Middle East war:

- Four Israeli soldiers killed in south Lebanon -

The Israeli military said Tuesday that four soldiers had been killed in combat in southern Lebanon, where its forces are clashing with Iran-backed Hezbollah.

A military statement named three soldiers from the same battalion who "fell during combat", and a separate statement said another soldier whose name had not yet been cleared for publication had died in the same incident.

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Another soldier was severely wounded and a reservist moderately wounded, according to the second statement.

- Israel military says responds to Iranian missiles -

Israel's military said its air defences responded to Iranian missiles on Tuesday as sirens rang out.

At least 10 blasts were heard over Jerusalem, an AFP journalist said.

"A short while ago, the IDF identified missiles launched from Iran toward the territory of the State of Israel," the Israeli military posted on Telegram.

- Local media: Explosions heard in Tehran -

Explosions were heard in Tehran and power cuts hit some parts of the capital, Iranian media reported on Tuesday.

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"Power outages in parts of Tehran after multiple explosions heard," Fars news agency reported.

Tasnim news agency reported that power has now been restored in the affected areas.

- PMF: US-Israeli air strikes target Iraqi bases -

Iraq's Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF) said US-Israeli forces carried out air strikes on two of their bases in the Babil and Anbar provinces.

"The 45th Brigade in the Jurf al-Nasr sector of Babil Governorate was targeted with three airstrikes, while another strike targeted the 31st Brigade in the Karma sector, east of Anbar Governorate," it said on its website.

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No casualties were reported.

- Tanker fire in Dubai -

An Iranian attack sparked a fire on a Kuwaiti oil tanker at Dubai Port, state media reported Tuesday, adding there were no injuries.

"The Kuwaiti giant crude oil tanker was subjected to a direct and malicious Iranian attack while in the anchorage area of Dubai Port in the UAE," official news agency KUNA reported, citing Kuwait's state-owned oil company.

Also in Dubai, falling debris from an air defence interception sparked a fire and wounded four people in the city, authorities said.

- Netanyahu: progress on war goals -

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the war on Iran had achieved more than half its aims, without putting a timeline on when it would end.

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"It's definitely beyond the halfway point. But I don't want to put a schedule on it," Netanyahu told the conservative US broadcaster Newsmax.

- Two UN peacekeepers killed -

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) said two personnel were killed on Monday in a blast in the country's south, after another peacekeeper was killed a day earlier.

Two other blue helmets were injured in the explosion, one severely, the force said, adding that it had opened an investigation.

- Drone attack targets US embassy in Baghdad -

One civilian was wounded in Iraq's capital Baghdad late Monday after shrapnel from an intercepted drone attack targeting the US embassy fell onto their neighbourhood, a police source said.

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- Iran panel approves Hormuz toll plan -

Iranian state media reported that a parliamentary commission had approved plans to impose tolls on vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz, the waterway vital to oil and gas shipments that has been effectively closed due to the Middle East war.

Citing a member of the parliament's security commission, state TV said the plan involved, among other things, "financial arrangements and rial toll systems" and "implementing the sovereign role of Iran", as well as cooperation with Oman on the other side of the strait.

- G7 ministers pledge action on energy -

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G7 economy and finance ministers said they stood ready to take "all necessary measures" to ensure the stability of the energy market, roiled by the war.

- NATO intercepts Turkey-bound missile -

NATO forces intercepted a new missile fired from Iran towards Turkey, the fourth since the start of the Middle East war.

None of the four projectiles managed to hit Turkish soil, according to the authorities.

- US 'hopeful' in private Iran talks -

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio voiced hope for working with elements within Iran's government, saying the United States privately had received positive messages.

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Rubio said that there were internal "fractures" inside the Islamic republic and that the United States hoped figures with "power to deliver" take charge.

- Israel strikes Iran university -

Israel's military said it had struck the Imam Hossein University in Tehran run by Iran's Revolutionary Guards, claiming the institution was used for advanced weapons research.

- Trump threatens Iran oil hub -

Trump threatened to destroy Iran's oil export hub of Kharg Island, oil wells and power plants if it does not agree soon to a deal to end the war.

Trump wrote on his Truth Social network that while the United States was in "serious discussions" with "a more reasonable regime" in Tehran, if an agreement was not forthcoming Washington would set about "completely obliterating all of their Electric Generating Plants, Oil Wells and Kharg Island (and possibly all desalinization plants!)"

burs-mlm/ane/fox
Police are searching for the person or people responsible for stealing historic plaques from cemeteries and parks.

Newburyport police say bronze plaques have been stolen from the Old Hill Burying Ground on Greenleaf Street.

The historic pieces date back hundreds of years and seem to have been forcefully ripped off the pillars at one of the entrances.

Another plaque was taken off a stone. Newburyport police are sharing a before-and-after picture of the plaque that labels the African American Section of the burying ground established in 1729.

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The plaque explaining men, women, and children were laid to rest there during the 18th and 19th centuries. Some of them, unidentified yet labeled once known, as it is recognized that these lives were meant to be honored.

Its a wild idea to think anybody would do anything to disrespect anyones gravesite. Pat Fallon from Newburyport said.

The sacred area is not the only target for the thieves responsible.

Investigators say its happening across Newburyport and there have been reports of stolen plaques from as close as the Oak Hill Cemetery down the street around March 15th, to Cashman Park and Atkinson Common in mid-January.

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Similar crimes have also been reported in neighboring areas, including Amesbury and Newbury.

Many residents told Boston 25 News they are speechless and hope the culprits are found before they go after more irreplaceable pieces of history.

Theres a plaque in front of the library downtown, George Washington slept there with Aaron Burr and some other founding fathers so its everywhere. Its like a time capsule for our country. Fallon added.

Such a special, special historical place, so it hurts my heart. Joan Miller, from Amesbury, explained.

Newburyport police are asking people to remain vigilant and report anything suspicious.

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This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts.

Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch Boston 25 News NOW
Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin is expanding its Born to Dairy: Wisconsin Originals campaign in 2026, bringing the faces and stories of real dairy farmers into unexpected places across the state, including city buses, billboards, milk trucks and radio stations.

Beginning this week, bus wraps and billboards featuring Born to Dairy are rolling out in major cities across the state, bringing the larger-than-life faces and stories of the people behind Wisconsin dairy directly into the everyday spaces where consumers live, work and travel.

Launched last fall at World Dairy Expo, the campaign offers a lighthearted glimpse into the people behind Wisconsins dairy industry, amid renewed consumer interest in nutrition, transparency, and whole foods.

From the Barn to the Bus: Born to Dairy campaign puts Wisconsin farmers front and center in the public's eye in major cities.

Rather than focusing only on dairy products, Born to Dairy shines a spotlight on the farmers themselves, celebrating the creativity, ingenuity, and rich legacy that are hallmarks of Wisconsins dairy community.

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Wisconsinnative comedian Charlie Berens returns to help lead a new wave of social content in 2026, joined by additional farmer personas and expanded partnerships with wellknown brands and institutions.

Wisconsin dairy farmers are some of the most hardworking, witty and authentic people youll ever meet, said Berens in the news release. Born to Dairy is about sharing that personality  from the neighbor who can fix anything with duct tape to the farm family livestreaming from the free-stall barn. These stories are funny, relatable and 100% Wisconsin. Im honored to help celebrate the folks who keep Americas Dairyland running, even in -20 windchill.

Some of Wisconsins most recognizable brands, institutions and personalities, including Culvers, Green Bay Packers legend LeRoy Butler, Piggly Wiggly and University of Wisconsin-Madison, are helping share farmer stories. Born to Dairy can be experienced at events throughout the year, including June Dairy Month celebrations, the Wisconsin State Fair, Wisconsin Cheese Fair off the Square, and a Born to Dairythemed corn maze at Feltz Family Farms this fall.

Fond du Lac County dairy farmer Katie Grinstead, left, and Green Bay Packer legend LeRoy Butler are featured in the lighthearted Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin's Born to Dairy campaign, highlighting the faces and stories of real dairy farmers and dairy advocates.

Its pretty surreal to think commuters might see my face on a city bus, said Fond du Lac County dairy farmer Katie Grinstead, Culver's Connoisseur: Herd to Curd Farmer, whose milk goes into the iconic Culver's curds. But if it helps people stop for a second and think about the farmers behind the milk, cheese and butter they enjoy every day, thats something that makes me really proud to be involved.

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The effort will also appear on milk trucks and radio stations statewide, bringing farmer stories into the places where consumers encounter Wisconsin dairy every day.

Wisconsin dairy is a $52.8 billion economic engine, and its greatest strength is its people, said Chad Vincent, CEO of Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin. Farmers care deeply about their animals, their land and the families who enjoy the products they produce.

Dairy is more than just an industry. It's people. It's woven into our communities; on the farm, at the table and everywhere in between. In Wisconsin, we are Born to Dairy.

Visit BorntoDairy.com to learn more and follow along on social @americasdairyland.

This article originally appeared on Wisconsin State Farmer: From the Barn to the Bus: Born to Dairy puts dairy farmers front and center
A 24-year-old woman charged in connection with a deadly stabbing in Boston last week has been ordered held on $100,000 bail.

Gisselle Pascual, of South Boston, was arraigned in South Boston District Court on a charge of manslaughter. A plea of not guilty was entered on her behalf.

Officers responding to a report of a stabbing at 258 Old Colony Avenue in South Boston just before 6 p.m. on Friday found a man inside an apartment suffering from a stab wound, according to the Boston Police Department.

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The victim, whose name hasnt been released, was rushed to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead on Saturday.

Pascual was initially charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, but the charge was upgraded to manslaughter when the victim passed away.

Her lawyer claimed in court that she was acting in self-defense and that the victim was attempting to strangle her.

If Pascual is able to make bail, shell be subject to around-the-clock house arrest.

She is due back in court in April.

Anyone with information on the incident is urged to contact Boston homicide detectives at 617-343-4470.

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An investigation is ongoing.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts.

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It was a dramatic rescue that has now been viewed over a million times and played across the country - a woman wearing a bikini holding on for dear life on the side of a San Francisco cliff. That woman is Maxime Rancourt.

"I was just going to go in the water a little bit. To have a cold plunge. Which I did for a moment. I was looking at the waves and said they are so beautiful. I'm a good swimmer but I don't usually swim there," said Rancourt.

Seconds later, Maxime said a violent current pulled her in deeper.

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"The current took me away from the beach. Almost 15 meters," said Rancourt. "All of a sudden, I was pulled away and then I wasn't very far yet. I thought I could still go in the water, but the water was so intense. It was the waves like this. I was stuck in the middle."

Maxime found herself stuck in the legendary Kelly's Cove. The beach just south of the Cliff House is known for its strong currents and high-energy surf break. With poor visibility and her glasses on shore, Maxime Rancourt said she tried to swim to the first rock she could see.

PREVIOUS: Crews rescue woman found clinging to cliff near San Francisco's Cliff House

San Francisco fire crews swiftly rescued a woman who was found clinging to the side of a cliff near San Francisco's Cliff House on Wednesday.

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"The current was extreme. I jumped and grabbed the rock to stay there, and the water was still coming at me," said Rancourt. "Everything went so fast. I was on the rock and started climbing from left to right and then I realized that it wasn't a good idea, but it was the idea to save myself in the moment."

The scrapes throughout her body tell a story of survival and of at least 30 minutes of rocks piercing through her skin as she held on to the side of the cliff hoping someone would see her. Minutes later, a stranger that she now calls one of her angels saw her and called 911.

"He saw me and he said, 'Hey!' I didn't have my glasses, and I could see a little bit, and he was trying to come closer, and he went down a little bit and was asking me if I was okay," said Rancourt.

"What do you want to say to that person who called 911?" ABC7 Eyewitness News reporter Luz Pena asked.

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"I want to say- thank you so much. Because I now have a future because of this person. I thought about it. My destiny was gone in one minute," said Rancourt.

About five minutes later, the San Francisco Fire Department coastal rescue team got to her.

In the middle of our interview, we asked that rescue unit to surprise Maxime.

"I wasn't expecting that. I wanted to say thank you and say I'm alive and I see all the news about me," said Rancourt. "Thank you for saving my life."

Our data team found that on average, 32 people each year need rescuing from cliffs per SFFD data. Maxime is now one of those successful rescues.

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"As you look at here you see these three rocks. It creates somewhat of a turbulent area, almost like a toilet bowl situation where the waves bounce off and it makes it really challenging to surf but, in her case, swim," said Harry Higgins, Lieutenant for the SF Fire Department fire station 14.

Maxime couldn't meet the actual paramedics and firefighters who were there on Wednesday. Now, she is planning to go back to the fire station to take treats to the rescue team calling all of them her angels.

"I had a profound spiritual experience after that. I was so grateful to be alive. I could have died," said Rancourt. "I'm just lucky, and I thank God."

Maxime Rancourt is not planning to get into that water anytime soon.

If you're on the ABC7 News app, click here to watch live




WASHINGTON (AP)  Federal courts have uniformly blocked President Donald Trumps order seeking to end birthright citizenship for children born in the United States to someone in the country illegally or temporarily.

The Supreme Court is hearing arguments Wednesday in the Trump administrations appeal of a ruling by a federal judge in New Hampshire who concluded that the executive order the Republican president signed on the first day of his second term likely violates the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution and federal law.

Trumps order was part of his administrations broad crackdown on immigration, though the citizenship restrictions have never taken effect.

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At issue is the meaning of the first sentence of the 14th Amendment, the Citizenship Clause, which makes citizens of all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof.

Among the judges who have weighed in are the three liberal members of the Supreme Court, who have made clear they believe Trumps order should be struck down. With the stroke of a pen, the President has made a solemn mockery of our Constitution, Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote in June, quoting from an 1809 opinion written by Chief Justice John Marshall. Sotomayor, joined by Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson, dissented from a decision by the courts six conservative justices that used an earlier round of the birthright citizenship dispute to limit the use of nationwide injunctions by federal judges.

Following the high courts decision, judges have explained why they believe Trumps birthright citizenship executive order is unconstitutional, out of step with long-established understandings of citizenship, contrary to a 126-year-old Supreme Court decision and at odds with the meaning of the 14th Amendment at the time it was adopted in 1868.

They also have written about why prohibiting the order from taking effect nationally is appropriate, even after the Supreme Court ruling on injunctions.

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Here are excerpts from some of the opinions, as well as the 1898 Supreme Court case, United States v. Wong Kim Ark, that the judges have cited as the clearest precedent for their rulings:

Supreme Court ruled in 1898 in favor of a child born in San Francisco to Chinese parents

Justice Horace Gray wrote the majority opinion in the 6-2 decision that Wong was a citizen by virtue of his birth on American soil:

The real object of the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution, in qualifying the words all persons born in the United States by the addition and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, would appear to have been to exclude, by the fewest and fittest words (besides children of members of the Indian tribes, standing in a peculiar relation to the national government, unknown to the common law), the two classes of cases,  children born of alien enemies in hostile occupation, and children of diplomatic representatives of a foreign state.

... The fourteenth amendment affirms the ancient and fundamental rule of citizenship by birth within the territory, in the allegiance and under the protection of the country, including all children here born of resident aliens, with the exceptions or qualifications (as old as the rule itself) of children of foreign sovereigns or their ministers, or born on foreign public ships, or of enemies within and during a hostile occupation of part of our territory, and with the single additional exception of children of members of the Indian tribes owing direct allegiance to their several tribes."

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The amendment, in clear words and in manifest intent, includes the children born within the territory of the United States of all other persons, of whatever race or color, domiciled within the United States."

In dissent, Chief Justice Melville Fuller wrote that Wong could not be a citizen because his parents still owed their allegiance to the Chinese emperor and could not be fully subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. Justice John Marshall Harlan joined the dissent.

Sotomayors opinion aligned with lower-court rulings against Trumps birthright citizenship order

Children born in the United States and subject to its laws are United States citizens, Sotomayor wrote.

The Trump administration, she noted, broke with its usual practice of asking for nationwide enforcement of the citizenship restrictions. Why? The answer is obvious: To get such relief, the Government would have to show that the Order is likely constitutional, an impossible task in light of the Constitutions text, history, this Courts precedents, federal law, and Executive Branch practice, Sotomayor wrote.

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The justice consulted a dictionary from 1865 to help define the key term at issue in the case, what it means to be subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. To be subject to the jurisdiction of the United States means simply to be bound to its authority and its laws, she wrote, providing the entry for jurisdiction in the American Dictionary of the English Language as power of governing or legislating or the power or right of exercising authority.

The answer to the legal question is easy, she wrote. Few constitutional questions can be answered by resort to the text of the Constitution alone, but this is one. The Fourteenth Amendment guarantees birthright citizenship, Sotomayor wrote.

Her opinion, however, drew only the three liberals votes. Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who wrote the majority opinion reining in nationwide jurisdictions, pointed out the limited nature of last years case.

The principal dissents analysis of the Executive Order is premature because the birthright citizenship issue is not before us. And because the birthright citizenship issue is not before us, we take no position on whether the dissents analysis is right, Barrett wrote.

Federal judges have prevented Trump from putting his proposed changes in effect, holding that they likely violate the Constitution

U.S. District Judge Joseph N. LaPlante in New Hampshire, whose ruling is being reviewed by the Supreme Court, wrote in July: The Executive Order likely violates the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution and federal law. LaPlante applied his ruling to a nationwide class of children born to mothers who are in the United States illegally or temporarily. Denying citizenship to those children, LaPlante wrote, would render the children either undocumented noncitizens or stateless entirely. ... The children would risk deportation to countries they have never visited.

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The following month, U.S. District Judge Deborah Boardman in the Washington suburb of Greenbelt, Maryland, stuck with her initial ruling in favor of immigrant rights groups and their clients challenging the order. The Court reaffirms here its prior finding that the Executive Order flouts the plain language of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, conflicts with binding Supreme Court precedent, and runs counter to our nations 250-year history of citizenship by birth. The plaintiffs are extremely likely to succeed on the merits of their claim that the Executive Order is unconstitutional, Boardman wrote.

An appellate panel in California ruled Trumps order was contrary to history, Supreme Court precedent and justice

Perhaps the Executive Branch, recognizing that it could not change the Constitution, phrased its Executive Order in terms of a strained and novel interpretation of the Constitution. The district court correctly concluded that the Executive Orders proposed interpretation, denying citizenship to many persons born in the United States, is unconstitutional. We fully agree, Judge Ronald Gould of the San Francisco-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit wrote in July, joined by Judge Michael Daly Hawkins. The case involved a lawsuit filed by several states.

The executive order, Gould wrote, misreads American history. The Defendants proposed interpretation of the Citizenship Clause relies on a network of inferences that are unmoored from the accepted legal principles of 1868. ... The Executive Order attempts to qualify and limit the plain language of the Constitutions citizenship clause, which by its terms only says that a person born in the United States and subject to its jurisdiction is a citizen, by adding the notion that the person must be a child of a citizen or lawful permanent resident. ... We reject this approach because it is contrary to the express language of the Citizenship Clause, the reasoning of Wong Kim Ark, Executive Branch practice for the past 125 years, the legislative history to the extent that should be considered, and because it is contrary to justice. he wrote.

Judge Patrick Bumatay dissented, saying he would have thrown out the lower-court ruling because he believes the states challenging the executive order had no right to sue. Bumatay did not comment on the ultimate legality of Trumps order.

The federal appeals court in Massachusetts also ruled against Trump, upholding lower-court orders

Judge David Barron of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit in Boston spent 100 pages laying out his opinion for a unanimous three-judge panel in October. But the length of our analysis should not be mistaken for a sign that the fundamental question that these cases raise about the scope of birthright citizenship is a difficult one, Barron wrote. It is not, which may explain why it has been more than a century since a branch of our government has made as concerted an effort as the Executive Branch now makes to deny Americans their birthright.

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Reaching back to the Supreme Courts Dred Scott decision that barred Black Americans, free or enslaved, from being citizens and led to the adoption of the 14th Amendment, Barron wrote, Our nations history of efforts to restrict birthright citizenship ... has not been a proud one."

The lessons of history thus give us every reason to be wary of now blessing this most recent effort to break with our established tradition of recognizing birthright citizenship and to make citizenship depend on the actions of ones parents rather than -- in all but the rarest of circumstances -- the simple fact of being born in the United States. Nor does the text of the Fourteenth Amendment, which countermanded our most infamous attempt to break with that tradition, permit us to bless this effort, any more than does the Supreme Courts interpretation of that amendment in Wong Kim Ark, the many related precedents that have followed it, or Congresss 1952 statute writing that amendments words in the U.S. Code, he wrote.
BEIRUT, March 30 (Xinhua) -- Israeli airstrikes targeted several areas in southern Lebanon and Beirut's southern suburbs on Monday, killing seven people, including a Lebanese soldier, with several others wounded, official sources said.

The Lebanese Army said in a statement that an Israeli strike hit an army checkpoint in the Ameriyeh area, killing one soldier and wounding others.

In another Israeli airstrike in the Bint Jbeil district, one person was killed and another wounded, Lebanon's official National News Agency said.

An airstrike on the town of Shaqra killed five people and injured two others, according to Lebanon's Public Health Emergency Operations Center at the Ministry of Public Health.

Meanwhile, Hezbollah said in statements that its fighters targeted the Mishmar HaCarmel missile defense site south of Haifa with a salvo of rockets. The group also said it fired rockets at Israeli troop gatherings in the Avivim settlement, as well as Israeli soldiers and vehicles in the Khanouq area and the border village of Adaisseh twice, in addition to the Kiryat Shmona settlement and the al-Malkiya site.

Cross-border fighting has continued along the Lebanon-Israel border since March 2, when Hezbollah launched rockets toward Israel for the first time since a ceasefire took effect on Nov. 27, 2024, triggering intensified Israeli airstrikes across southern and eastern Lebanon. 
WASHINGTON (AP)  The Pentagon has flouted a court order blocking it from enforcing a policy limiting news reporters access to the Defense Departments headquarters, a New York Times attorney asserted Monday in urging a federal judge to compel the government's compliance with the 10-day-old order.

U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman didn't immediately rule from the bench after hearing a second round of arguments from lawyers for the newspaper and the Trump administration. The Times claims Pentagon officials have implemented a revised press policy that circumvents the judge's March 20 ruling.

Friedman sided with The Times earlier this month in deciding that the Pentagons new credential policy violated journalists constitutional rights to free speech and due process. He ordered Pentagon officials to reinstate the press credentials of seven Times reporters and stressed that his decision applies to all regulated parties.

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Times attorney Theodore Boutrous said the Pentagon responded to Friedman's order by imposing a new, revised policy that imposes radical new restrictions on journalists.

They've only made things worse, Boutrous said.

Government attorney Sarah Welch said the Defense Department's revised policy on media access to the Pentagon includes several safe harbors protecting reporters engaging in routine forms of newsgathering. The department has fully complied in good faith with that (March 20) order, Welch told the judge.

Contradictions arise in Pentagon's new approach

In a court filing Sunday, Times national security reporter Julian Barnes said Pentagon staff also explained to him and his colleagues last week that their new credentials would give them access a new press area located in the Pentagon library. But the only way for the reporters to access the library is through a corridor or on a shuttle bus that they didn't have permission to use, Barnes noted  prompting a pointed response from Friedman.

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How weird is that? the judge said. Is it Catch-22? Is it Kafka? What's going on here?

In October, reporters from mainstream news outlets walked out of the building rather than agree to the new rules. The Times sued the Pentagon and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in December to challenge the policy.

Times attorneys accused the Pentagon of violating the judges March 20 order, both in letter and spirit, by issuing a revised interim policy that bars credentialed reporters from entering the building without an escort. Plaintiffs lawyers say the latest policy also imposes unprecedented rules dictating when reporters can offer anonymity to sources.

The intent is obvious: The Interim Policy is an attempted end-run around this Courts ruling, newspaper attorneys wrote.

Pentagon says it's complying

Government lawyers said the Pentagons revised policy fully complies with the judges directives.

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In effect, Plaintiffs ask this Court to expand the Order to prohibit the Department from ever addressing the security of the Pentagon through a press credentialing policy with conditions that may address similar topics or concerns as the enjoined conditions. The Order does not say that, and this Court should not read it to say that, Justice Department attorneys wrote.

Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell has said the administration would appeal Friedmans March 20 decision.

The Pentagon Press Association, which includes Associated Press reporters, said the Pentagons interim policy preserves provisions that Friedman deemed to be unconstitutional while also adding new restrictions on credential holders.

The Interim Policy moves reporters workspace to an annex facility outside the Pentagon and prohibits any reporter from moving within the Pentagon itself without an escort, further limiting their ability to actually do journalism in the forum designated specifically for that purpose, an association attorney wrote.

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The current Pentagon press corps is comprised mostly of conservative outlets that agreed to the policy. Journalists from outlets that refused to consent to the new rules, including from the AP, have continued reporting on the military.

Friedman, who was nominated to the bench by Democratic President Bill Clinton, said in his order that recent U.S. military operations in Venezuela and Iran highlight the need for public access to information about government activities.
Volodymyr Zelensky has said Ukraine's allies have urged him to scale back attacks on Russia's energy infrastructure amid the ongoing global fuel crisis - but that they would only end if Russia stopped targeting Ukraine's first.

The Ukrainian president told journalists in a WhatsApp voice message that, by launching attacks on Russia's energy system, Ukraine was only responding in kind.

It is unclear which countries he may have been referring to. China and India remain heavily dependent on Russian oil, and the EU on Russian gas.

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Zelensky's comments come amid a string of long-range Ukrainian strikes on Russia's energy sector, including the key oil export terminal at the port of Ust-Luga outside St Petersburg.

"We have received messages from some of our partners asking about how our responses against Russia's oil sector - the energy sector - can be reduced," Zelensky said in the voice message.

"If Russia is ready not to strike Ukraine's energy, then we'll respond by not attacking theirs."

In response to surging energy prices triggered by the war in Iran and Tehran's effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz - a key shipping route - the US recently eased some sanctions it had imposed on Russian oil.

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China and India remain the largest buyers of Russian crude oil, though, accounting for 85% of its exports in February, according to the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA).

Meanwhile, the EU is the largest buyer of Russian gas (34%) and LNG (49%).

After relentless Russian attacks on Ukraine's oil refineries, the latter now heavily relies on fuel imports - largely via Poland, Greece, Lithuania and Turkey.

Almost half of Ukraine's gas imports used to come from Hungary, but they were seemingly suspended Budapest accused Kyiv of stalling the repair of a pipeline carrying oil from Russia over it holding up an EU loan

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The key targets of Ukraine's deep strikes on Russian energy infrastructure and the impact they have are a closely guarded secret, meaning there's little clarity there as well.

While strikes on Ukraine's energy have been in the news recently, defence factories have been hit as well.

Zelensky told journalists on Saturday that Ukraine's attacks on the Ust-Luga oil terminal earlier this week had knocked out 60% of the port's capacity.

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Further attacks on the terminal took place overnight into Tuesday, according to Russian and Ukrainian officials. Local governor Alexander Drozdenko said there had been some damage and three people were hurt, including two children.

Last week, Zelensky visited Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Jordan - all of which have been marauded by Iranian aerial attacks.

During the tour, he offered Ukraine's drone technology and expertise, and sought assistance in protecting Ukraine against Russian missile attacks.

While surging global oil prices mean an injection of cash into Russia's war economy, they also threaten Ukraine's ability to fight.

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Responding to a BBC question on Saturday, Zelensky said the Ukrainian army had enough fuel for now, but that he had sought to secure more during his tour of the Gulf.

He also said that Ukraine, which successfully beat back Russia's attempts to stop grain exports via the Black Sea, had useful experience of unblocking trade routes when it came to the Strait of Hormuz.

Russian attacks have caused severe damage to Ukraine's energy system, in particular leaving more than a million people without electricity and heating in winter.
After weeks of delays, NASA launched the Artemis II into space on Wednesday, the start of a 10-day journey that will take its four-member crew around the moon and back.

The Artemis II lifted off from pad B at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., at 6:35 p.m. ET. Twin solid rocket boosters, which provided 80% thrust, detached two minutes into the flight, and the shuttle entered Earths orbit nine minutes after takeoff.

The astronauts  NASA commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, mission specialist Christina Koch and Canadian space agency mission specialist Jeremy Hansen  were safe, secure and in great spirits, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said during a postlaunch press conference.

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Wiseman told NASA controllers on the ground that the crew could see their destination.

We have a beautiful moonrise, were headed right at it, he said.

What is the goal of the Artemis II mission?

Artemis II crew members, from right, Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen. (Aubrey Gemignani/NASA)

The Artemis II is the first U.S. human lunar spaceflight in over 50 years, marking a key step toward long-term return to the moon and future missions to Mars, according to NASA.

The four astronauts on Artemis II wont be landing on the moon; instead, theyll venture 600,000 miles around the moon and will return at 30 times the speed of sound, according to NASA. During their 10-day trip, the astronauts will collect critical information for those future missions, including conducting experiments as both scientists and test subjects to help scientists understand how long-distance space travel may affect the human body.

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They will test life-support systems in the Orion capsule for future crewed missions to the moons surface. A moon landing would occur during Artemis III, which NASA is hoping to launch sometime in 2027.

Also read: Artemis will take Americans to the moon for the 1st time since 1972. Why has it been so hard to go back?

The information we learn from the Artemis II test flight will inform future missions and help NASA pave the way for the next era of exploration on the moon and Mars, the agency said in a video posted to social media.

NASAs long-term goal is to return humans to the moon to establish a continuous human presence and develop a lunar settlement on the south pole, a region where its believed water ice is abundant and could be used for drinking and breathing and as a source for rocket fuel.

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Artemiss long-term mission is to also lay the foundation for future crewed missions to Mars. The program is building on the legacy of the Apollo-era missions to the moon in the late 1960s and early 70s. The Artemis program is named after the ancient Greek goddess of the moon, twin sister of Apollo.

Where is Artemis II now, and when will it reach the moon?

NASA's Artemis II lifts off from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., on April 1. (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

According to the latest flight update from NASA, the Orion fired its main engine for nearly six minutes to complete the translunar injection (TLI) burn, sending the crew out of Earths orbit and on a trajectory toward the moon.

If all goes well, the Orion will reach the moon on April 6, according to NASA.

During a six-hour flyby window, the crew members will observe the moons surface to help scientists understand how the Moon and solar system formed, per NASA.

And theyll witness a solar eclipse, giving them an opportunity for them to look for flashes of light from meteoroids striking the Moons surface, dust lofting above the edge of the Moon, and deep space targets, including planets, NASA said.
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TAIPEI, March 30 (Xinhua) -- Cheng Li-wun, chairperson of the Chinese Kuomintang (KMT) party, said on Monday that her upcoming mainland trip will highlight a shared hope for peace.

Cheng will lead a delegation to visit the Chinese mainland from April 7 to 12, with stops in Jiangsu, Shanghai and Beijing.

The visit is in line with the mainstream public opinion in Taiwan, Cheng said at a press conference in Taipei.

"We have a choice," she said. "For the sake of both sides of the Taiwan Strait, for regional stability, and for the well-being of the next generation, we must firmly choose the path of peace."

She said that her visit, like previous visits to the mainland by former KMT chairmen Lien Chan and Ma Ying-jeou, is on the basis of the same political foundation -- adherence to the 1992 Consensus and opposition to "Taiwan independence."

On this foundation, Cheng said that the KMT aims to demonstrate to people in Taiwan and the world that the two sides of the Strait do not need to descend into danger and armed conflict, and the two sides can together forge a broad road to peace with their own wisdom and effort.

She noted that a recent forum between think tanks of the Communist Party of China and the KMT in early February responded to strong expectations from various sectors in Taiwan for improved cross-Strait relations, while contributing to cooperation on issues such as climate change, energy conservation and artificial intelligence.

Cheng voiced hope that the upcoming visit will express concern for Taiwan's industries and business people, and explore further opportunities for cross-Strait exchanges and cooperation on forward-looking issues. 
BEIJING, March 30 (Xinhua) -- Air China resumes direct flights between Beijing and Pyongyang on Monday.

According to Air China's website, flight CA121 departed Beijing Capital International Airport at 8:05 a.m. Beijing time on Monday and is scheduled to arrive at Pyongyang airport at around 11:00 a.m. local time. 
BEIJING, March 30 (Xinhua) -- A team of researchers has developed a conformal and stretchable piezoelectric microsystem (CSPM) that integrates device design with algorithmic optimization, offering a new approach for long-term, precise monitoring of cardiovascular health.

The achievement was recently published in the journal Nature Communications.

Frequent recalibration poses a major challenge to the accuracy and reliability of current cuffless blood pressure monitoring devices, particularly during long-term use, the study noted.

The CSPM, developed by researchers from Tianjin University, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, City University of Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Centre for Cerebro-cardiovascular Health Engineering (COCHE), features two core sensing modules and achieves much higher sensitivity than conventional designs. It can accurately capture pulse wave signals and measure vascular diameter and its dynamic changes in real time, with a resolution of up to 4.928 micrometers.

The two sensing modules can operate simultaneously in the same localized vascular area, enabling precise, synchronous measurement of pulse wave velocity and vascular diameter, according to a report by China Science Daily.

This provides comprehensive hemodynamic parameters to support accurate blood pressure calculation.

The CSPM also offers excellent wearability. Measuring less than 450 micrometers in thickness and weighing under one gram, it is encapsulated in low-stiffness silicone rubber and can stretch up to 40 percent, allowing it to conform closely to curved skin surfaces such as the wrist.

Thanks to its hydrophobic, sweat-resistant properties and outstanding biocompatibility, the microsystem can maintain a stable temperature during continuous operation for up to three hours, meeting the demands of long-term, uninterrupted monitoring.

On the algorithmic front, the research team developed a demographics-based adaptive blood pressure model, enabling calibration-free blood pressure measurement.

The team also introduced a time-decay compensation strategy to effectively address measurement deviations caused by minor slippage of the wearable sensor, ensuring long-term stability in blood pressure monitoring.

Tests on 45 subjects showed that the CSPM maintained consistent accuracy across individuals of different genders, ages and skin tones.

It can precisely track blood pressure fluctuations during daily activities over a seven-day period without requiring individual calibration, achieving accuracy comparable to that of professional cuff-based medical devices.

This technology overcomes the long-standing challenges of frequent calibration and population adaptability that have limited cuffless blood pressure monitoring. It holds promise for a wide range of applications, including hypertension screening, early warning of cardiovascular diseases and long-term disease management. 
SYDNEY, March 30 (Xinhua) -- Six sailors from Central and South America have been charged in Australia over the alleged import of one tonne of cocaine, police said on Monday.

The men from Honduras and Ecuador were arrested and charged by the Australian Federal Police (AFP) on Saturday, two months after an investigation commenced when authorities from French Polynesia intercepted their modified 40-meter vessel, the MV Raider, in international waters.

During the January interception, the French Navy located and disposed of 4.8 tonnes of cocaine before releasing the MV Raider and its crew.

The AFP and Australian Border Force (ABF) said in a joint statement on Monday that police suspected that the MV Raider was looking to rendezvous with an Australian crew operating on behalf of a larger criminal syndicate to conduct an at-sea transfer of the drugs.

The ship was met by ABF officers off Australia's east coast in February, and the crew were informed they would not be permitted entry to an Australian port. However, after making a distress call, they were escorted into Sydney Harbor on March 13.

The crew members were taken to immigration detention and a search of the vessel by the AFP located three professionally installed smuggler hides suspected of previously containing up to six tonnes of cocaine.

An examination of electronic devices by the ABF found evidence that the MV Raider had further drugs on board when the French Navy released it.

It will be alleged in court that the six men dropped off one tonne of cocaine in Australian waters before making the distress call.

The men, ranging in age from 26 to 61, were all charged with conspiracy to import a commercial quantity of border-controlled drugs, which carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment. 
WASHINGTON, March 29 (Xinhua) -- The United States Coast Guard allowed a Russian-owned crude oil tanker to reach Cuba after months of oil blockade to the country, The New York Times reported Sunday.

The tanker, which is carrying an estimated 730,000 barrels of oil and is owned by the Russian government, was within several miles of Cuban territorial waters on Sunday evening, said the report, noting that it could reach its expected destination of Matanzas, Cuba, by Monday night.

The U.S. Coast Guard has two cutters in the region that could have attempted to intercept the Russian tanker, but the Trump administration did not order those vessels to act, a U.S. official briefed on the matter was quoted as saying.

"The Russian ship's arrival would shift the trajectory of a rapidly accelerating crisis in Cuba, buying the island nation at least a few weeks before its fuel reserves run out," the report said.

Since January, the Trump administration has imposed a new round of oil restrictions on Cuba and has repeatedly issued military threats. According to U.S. media reports, the administration is considering efforts to promote regime change in Cuba.

Speaking in Florida on Friday, U.S. President Donald Trump touted progress in its war against Iran, saying "Cuba is next."

On March 17, the Russian Foreign Ministry voiced serious concern over the mounting U.S. pressure on Cuba, pledging necessary support for the Caribbean island nation.

"Russia reaffirms its unwavering solidarity with the Cuban Government and its brotherly people. We firmly condemn attempts to grossly interfere in the domestic affairs of a sovereign state, intimidate it and engage illegal unilateral restrictive measures," the ministry said in a statement. 
JUBA, March 30 (Xinhua) -- International medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said on Monday that at least 58 people have died in recent violence in Jonglei State, South Sudan, where about 30,000 displaced people remain stranded without access to food, water, or medical care.

Gul Badshah, MSF operations manager, said the displaced civilians fled recent violence in Lankien and Pieri and are now sheltering under trees near swampy areas in Nyatim, with very limited means of survival.

"People are dying of suspected hunger, as their only food is boiled tree leaves. Children have also died from acute watery diarrhea and suspected malaria," Badshah said in a statement.

Humanitarian access to Nyatim has been blocked for nearly a month, preventing aid organizations from delivering urgently needed assistance to those trapped in the area, according to MSF.

The medical charity warned that the situation is deteriorating rapidly, with many of the displaced -- mostly women, children, and the elderly -- facing severe shortages of clean water, shelter, and medicines.

It also reported insecurity in the area, including abductions by armed groups, with some civilians attacked while searching for food and water.

The MSF has called on authorities to urgently allow humanitarian access to Nyatim and appealed to the international community, including UN agencies, to help facilitate life-saving assistance.

The organization warned that without immediate intervention, the death toll could rise as thousands remain stranded without aid. 
TEHRAN, March 30 (Xinhua) -- Some relevant Iranian institutes, including the parliament, are considering the country's withdrawal from the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), and the conclusion in this regard is becoming certain, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported on Monday. 
BEIJING, March 30 (Xinhua) -- China strongly condemns the attack against the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), urging the immediate cessation of any attacks against United Nations peacekeepers, said Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning at a regular press briefing here on Monday.

Mao's remarks came after a UNIFIL peacekeeper was killed and another injured when a projectile exploded at a UNIFIL position near a southern Lebanese village, according to UNIFIL on early Monday.

"We mourn the loss of life and our hearts go out to the injured," Mao said.

She noted that any deliberate attack against UN peacekeeping personnel is a serious violation of international humanitarian law and the UN Security Council resolution 1701, and is absolutely unacceptable and must stop immediately.

"China urges relevant parties to de-escalate the situation and take concrete measures to ensure the safety of UN peacekeeping personnel," Mao said. 
LUSAKA, March 30 (Xinhua) -- The Green Climate Fund (GCF) on Monday announced the approval of 440 million U.S. dollars in climate financing for Africa.

The GCF was established in 2010 as a dedicated financing mechanism for developing countries under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement.

Catherine Koffman, GCF regional director for Africa, said during an online press briefing with journalists from across the continent that the funding, allocated to seven projects, is expected to attract an additional 1.1 billion dollars in co-financing.

"Africa is already feeling the impacts of climate change, from droughts and floods to rising food and energy costs. The question is no longer whether action is needed, but how quickly and how fairly solutions can be delivered," she said.

She added that the new investment, along with a stronger regional presence, will support African-led climate solutions that drive growth, create jobs, and build resilience.

She said the GCF support is increasingly aligned with Africa's broader development goals, including the African Continental Free Trade Area, noting that climate resilience is essential for the success of the free trade arrangement.

Koffman said by investing in resilient agriculture, infrastructure, and energy systems, as well as enabling green value chains, the GCF is helping to safeguard trade gains from climate shocks while supporting inclusive growth, job creation, food security, and poverty reduction. 
WASHINGTON, March 30 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump said Monday that the United States is in serious discussions with Iran to end military operations there.

In a post on Truth Social, he also threatened to "completely obliterate" all of Iran's electric generating plants, oil wells, Kharg Island if a deal is not shortly reached. 
KUWAIT CITY, March 30 (Xinhua) -- One worker was killed as a power generation and water desalination facility was severely damaged by an "Iranian attack" on the country, Kuwaiti authorities said on Monday.

A spokesperson for Kuwait's Ministry of Electricity, Water and Renewable Energy said a service building at one of the power and desalination plants was hit on Sunday evening.

The attack resulted in the death of a worker of Indian nationality and caused severe material damage to the facility, she said in a statement posted on the ministry's official X account.

Technical and emergency teams were immediately deployed, said the spokesperson, adding that safety and stability of Kuwait's electricity and water systems remain a top priority.

On Sunday evening, Kuwait's Ministry of Defense said that 14 ballistic missiles and 12 drones had been detected within Kuwaiti airspace over the past 24 hours. Some of them struck a military camp, injuring 10 armed forces personnel.

The latest incidents came amid escalating tensions following joint U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran that began on Feb. 28. Iran has since responded with missile and drone attacks targeting Israeli and U.S. assets and interests across the Middle East. 
SINGAPORE, March 30 (Xinhua) -- Singapore's Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) detected 42 cases of travelers found in possession of e-vaporizers, as well as those who voluntarily disposed of them, amid stepped-up inspections at the city-state's air, land, and sea checkpoints.

Between March 24 and 27, the agency seized more than 240 e-vaporizers and related components, the ICA said in a Sunday post.

About 52 percent of the cases involved short-term visitors, while 48 percent involved Singapore residents, including citizens, permanent residents, and long-term pass holders.

Short-term visitors who re-offend will be banned from re-entering Singapore. Long-term pass holders who commit a third offense may have their passes revoked, and could be deported and banned from re-entry, the agency said.

Singapore has enforced a strict ban on the importation, sale, distribution, possession, use, and purchase of e-cigarettes, vaporizers, and other imitation tobacco products to protect public health. 
RAMALLAH, March 30 (Xinhua) -- Two Palestinians were killed on Monday by Israeli army gunfire in two separate incidents in the West Bank, Palestinian sources said.

Palestinian security sources told Xinhua that Abdul Rahman Abu al-Rub, 31, was killed after Israeli forces opened fire on his vehicle near the Anab checkpoint, east of Tulkarm in the northern West Bank.

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said in a statement that Israeli forces prevented its medical teams from reaching Abu al-Rub after his vehicle came under fire near the checkpoint.

In a separate incident, a young Palestinian man was killed by Israeli army in the village of Kharsa, near Dura in southwest Hebron, Palestinian medical sources said.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health identified the victim as Ramzi al-Awawdeh, adding he was killed by Israeli forces in the village.

The Israel Defense Forces said in a statement on Monday that "IDF soldiers operating adjacent to Tulkarm identified a terrorist who accelerated his vehicle toward them in a manner that posed a threat to their safety."

Tensions have escalated across the West Bank since Oct. 7, 2023. According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, more than 1,080 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli gunfire and shelling in the West Bank and East Jerusalem during this period. 
HANOI, March 30 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam will require individual bank account holders to use their real names matching official identification documents starting April 1 under new regulations issued by the State Bank of Vietnam, local daily Thanh Nien reported Monday.

The move aims to ensure the security and safety of transactions.

Under the new rules, banks are responsible for verifying payment orders to ensure their legality and validity, including confirming that account numbers and account names match those registered in customers' account agreements and are fully displayed on payment documents.

Banks will have to discontinue services that allow customers to use nicknames, also known as iNick, for their accounts.

Previously, some banks allowed customers to choose nicknames in addition to their official account numbers, enabling more personalized, shorter and easier-to-remember account identifiers, the report said. 
BELGRADE, March 30 (Xinhua) -- Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic announced on Monday that he has secured a highly favorable extension of natural gas supplies from Russia following a 50-minute phone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin, while also warning Europe of a potential energy crisis.

Speaking at a press conference in Belgrade, Vucic said the new agreement extends Serbia's current gas contract by an additional three months under existing below-market terms. Serbia will continue to receive 6 million cubic meters of gas per day at a price ranging between 320 U.S. dollars and 330 U.S. dollars per 1,000 cubic meters, based on an oil-indexed pricing formula.

Vucic noted that the arrangement also provides flexibility for Serbia to increase import volumes in the event of harsh weather conditions or natural disasters.

"In Europe, we will probably be the second or third country with the lowest gas price," Vucic said.

Beyond energy cooperation, the two leaders discussed long-term bilateral collaboration for the 2026 to 2030 period. According to Vucic, the talks covered pharmaceutical partnerships, potential atomic energy cooperation, and the involvement of Russian Railways in Serbian infrastructure projects.

The Serbian president also warned that any potential ground offensive against Iran could trigger "the greatest energy and economic catastrophe in history" for Europe and the wider world.

"Europe cannot withstand this. No one can withstand this," Vucic said, urging European leaders to pursue immediate diplomatic solutions and engage with all available global energy suppliers, including Russia, to mitigate the risks of a crisis. 
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei attends a weekly press conference in Tehran, Iran, on March 30, 2026. (Xinhua/Shadati)

TEHRAN, March 30 (Xinhua) -- Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said on Monday the recent truce plan proposed by the United States contains "very excessive, unrealistic and unreasonable" demands.

He made the remarks at a weekly press conference in Tehran while elaborating on the U.S.-proposed 15-point plan delivered to Iran via intermediaries to end the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

Unlike the United States, "which constantly changes its positions, and whose officials make and demonstrate contradictory remarks and behaviors," Iran's stance towards relevant issues has been completely clear from the beginning, Baghaei said.

He added, "We know very well what our desired framework is. As I mentioned earlier, the materials that have been conveyed to us under various titles such as the '15-point plan' mainly include very excessive, unrealistic, and unreasonable demands."

Baghaei stressed that "up to this moment, we have had no direct negotiation with the United States." He noted that since the last round of negotiations with the United States in Geneva on Feb. 26, Iran has received messages through certain intermediaries, including Pakistan, which contained the U.S. willingness and request for negotiations.

Iran has not participated in meetings held by Pakistan with the participation of neighboring states, he said.

Iran will announce its conclusion about the plan through an appropriate way in due course, Baghaei added.

On Feb. 28, Israel and the United States launched joint attacks on Tehran and several other Iranian cities, killing Iran's then Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, along with senior military commanders and civilians. Iran responded by launching waves of missile and drone strikes targeting Israel and U.S. bases and assets in the Middle East. 

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei speaks at a weekly press conference in Tehran, Iran, on March 30, 2026. (Xinhua/Shadati)

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei speaks at a weekly press conference in Tehran, Iran, on March 30, 2026. (Xinhua/Shadati)
BAGHDAD, March 30 (Xinhua) -- An Antonov-132 aircraft of the Iraqi Air Force was destroyed early Monday in a rocket attack on a military base near Baghdad International Airport, the Iraqi Defense Ministry said.

The attack, which occurred at 1:55 a.m. local time on Monday (2255 GMT on Sunday), involved rockets launched from the outskirts of Baghdad, according to a statement by the ministry.

No casualties were reported, while specialized authorities have begun assessing the damage and tracking the rocket launch sites.

The ministry condemned the act as a "cowardly criminal act" targeting the military institution and defense capabilities, noting that it will not tolerate any attempt to undermine Iraq's security and sovereignty.

The attacks came amid heightened regional tensions following joint U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran starting on Feb. 28, to which Iran and its regional allies have responded with attacks on Israeli and U.S. interests across the Middle East. 
The first day meeting of the elected Pyithu Hluttaw representatives' group is held in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar, March 30, 2026. Myanmar's Pyithu Hluttaw (Lower House) and Amyotha Hluttaw (Upper House) on Monday held separate sessions to nominate the country's vice-presidential candidates. (Xinhua/Myo Kyaw Soe)

NAY PYI TAW, March 30 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar's Pyithu Hluttaw (Lower House) and Amyotha Hluttaw (Upper House) on Monday held separate sessions to nominate the country's vice-presidential candidates.

During the sessions, Pyithu Hluttaw nominated Min Aung Hlaing and Kyaw Swe as candidates. Meanwhile, Amyotha Hluttaw nominated Nan Ni Ni Aye and Manam Tu Ja.

According to the election procedures, the groups of elected representatives from Pyithu Hluttaw and Amyotha Hluttaw will each elect one vice president. The group of military representatives from both houses of the Union Parliament will elect another vice president.

The presidential electoral college, composed of all representatives of the Union Parliament, will elect the president from among the three elected vice presidents. 

U Aung Lin Dwe, speaker of Myanmar's Amyotha Hluttaw (Upper House), attends the first day meeting of the elected Amyotha Hluttaw representatives' group in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar, March 30, 2026. Myanmar's Pyithu Hluttaw (Lower House) and Amyotha Hluttaw (Upper House) on Monday held separate sessions to nominate the country's vice-presidential candidates. (Myanmar's Ministry of Information/Handout via Xinhua)

The first day meeting of the elected Pyithu Hluttaw representatives' group is held in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar, March 30, 2026. Myanmar's Pyithu Hluttaw (Lower House) and Amyotha Hluttaw (Upper House) on Monday held separate sessions to nominate the country's vice-presidential candidates. (Xinhua/Myo Kyaw Soe)
KABUL, March 30 (Xinhua) -- At least 28 people have been confirmed dead and 49 others injured in rain-triggered accidents across Afghanistan over the past four days, the National Disaster Management Authority said on Monday.

Heavy rainfall since Thursday has triggered widespread flash floods and landslides, accompanied by violent thunder and lightning, across 25 of Afghanistan's 34 provinces, killing 28 people and injuring 49 others, according to Hafiz Mohammad Yusuf Hammad, spokesman for the authority.

The floods also caused heavy financial damage to local people, as 578 residential houses and shops, 2,901 acres of farmland, and 93 km of rural roads have been washed away or badly damaged throughout the provinces, Hammad added.

Additionally, the disaster killed 244 livestock, damaged or destroyed 53 water canals and irrigation networks, and affected a total of 1,130 families, the official added.

Rescue and relief teams from the authority and partner humanitarian organizations have deployed to the affected areas to assist victims, he said, with food, non-food items and cash assistance already distributed to a number of those impacted.

Afghanistan's meteorological department has forecast continued heavy rainfall across 14 provinces in the coming days, issuing fresh warnings of potential flooding in remote and vulnerable regions. 
KABUL, March 30 (Xinhua) -- An Afghan army spokesman in northern Afghanistan's Badakhshan province has rejected the reports on the presence of Pakistani troops in Wakhan district as baseless.

"There are no security threats and any report on the movements of Pakistani troops in this region (Wakhan) is baseless," Mullah Noorullah Noori said in an interview with a local biweekly publication released by the provincial Directorate of Information and Culture on Sunday, adding that Wakhan district enjoys complete security.

Reports on some social media platforms a couple of days ago claimed the presence of Pakistani troops in Wakhan district of Badakhshan.

The official also noted that the Afghan security forces stationed in the area are vigilant and capable enough of ensuring security.

Skirmishes along the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan have claimed scores of lives from both neighboring nations since February.

However, the ceasefire agreed with the mediation of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey on the occasion of Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan on March 19 in Afghanistan, remains intact. 
MOSCOW, March 30 (Xinhua) -- Russia has revoked the accreditation of a British diplomat over "intelligence and subversive activities," the Federal Security Service (FSB) said Monday.

The diplomat, identified as second secretary of the British Embassy Janse Van Rensburg, has been ordered to leave the country within two weeks, according to an FSB statement.

The security service said it had documented the diplomat's attempts to obtain sensitive information during informal meetings with Russian economic experts.

It also said that the British diplomat provided false information when entering Russia and was involved in activities posing a threat to the country's national security. 
Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, plants a tree during a voluntary tree-planting activity at Baishan Town in Changping District of Beijing, capital of China, March 30, 2026. Xi and other Party and state leaders, including Li Qiang, Zhao Leji, Wang Huning, Cai Qi, Ding Xuexiang, and Li Xi, took part in a voluntary tree-planting activity in Changping District of Beijing on Monday. (Xinhua/Yan Yan)

BEIJING, March 30 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday called for mobilizing the whole society to actively participate in afforestation, stressing that a sound ecological environment is shared by all and requires the joint efforts of all.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks when taking part in a voluntary tree-planting activity in Beijing.

Xi and other Party and state leaders, including Li Qiang, Zhao Leji, Wang Huning, Cai Qi, Ding Xuexiang and Li Xi, arrived at the tree-planting site in Changping District of Beijing in the morning. Xi waved to the crowd to extend his greetings before picking up a shovel to join the activity. He planted saplings of multiple types of trees.

While planting the trees, he asked the children at the site about their studies and daily lives, their participation in labor and sports, and their involvement in tree-planting activities. He stressed the importance of setting great goals at a young age, fostering a love of learning, work and nature, and striving to become pillars of society.

Xi also talked with officials and members of the public on site. He said that China has seen sustained increases in both forest area and stock volume, as well as continuous reduction in desertified and sandy land areas. This has made it the country with the largest and fastest increase in greening in the world.

Xi hailed the Ecological and Environmental Code adopted in March, noting that it further strengthens the legal foundation for building a Beautiful China.

Afforestation is an important task in building a Beautiful China, Xi said, urging sustained and solid efforts to advance the initiative.

This year marks the first year of implementing the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030) and the 45th anniversary of the nationwide voluntary tree-planting campaign, Xi noted.

Under the new circumstances, efforts to advance greening programs should place greater emphasis on improving quality, developing related industries, and delivering benefits to the people, he said.

Xi emphasized the importance of facilitating the channels for realizing the value of ecological products, and advancing urban and rural greening in a coordinated manner. 

Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, plants a tree during a voluntary tree-planting activity at Baishan Town in Changping District of Beijing, capital of China, March 30, 2026. Xi and other Party and state leaders, including Li Qiang, Zhao Leji, Wang Huning, Cai Qi, Ding Xuexiang, and Li Xi, took part in a voluntary tree-planting activity in Changping District of Beijing on Monday. (Xinhua/Xie Huanchi)

Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, plants a tree during a voluntary tree-planting activity at Baishan Town in Changping District of Beijing, capital of China, March 30, 2026. Xi and other Party and state leaders, including Li Qiang, Zhao Leji, Wang Huning, Cai Qi, Ding Xuexiang, and Li Xi, took part in a voluntary tree-planting activity in Changping District of Beijing on Monday. (Xinhua/Yan Yan)

Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, talks with the crowd on site during a voluntary tree-planting activity at Baishan Town in Changping District of Beijing, capital of China, March 30, 2026. Xi and other Party and state leaders, including Li Qiang, Zhao Leji, Wang Huning, Cai Qi, Ding Xuexiang, and Li Xi, took part in a voluntary tree-planting activity in Changping District of Beijing on Monday. (Xinhua/Xie Huanchi)

Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, talks with the crowd on site during a voluntary tree-planting activity at Baishan Town in Changping District of Beijing, capital of China, March 30, 2026. Xi and other Party and state leaders, including Li Qiang, Zhao Leji, Wang Huning, Cai Qi, Ding Xuexiang, and Li Xi, took part in a voluntary tree-planting activity in Changping District of Beijing on Monday. (Xinhua/Yan Yan)

Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, talks with the crowd on site during a voluntary tree-planting activity at Baishan Town in Changping District of Beijing, capital of China, March 30, 2026. Xi and other Party and state leaders, including Li Qiang, Zhao Leji, Wang Huning, Cai Qi, Ding Xuexiang, and Li Xi, took part in a voluntary tree-planting activity in Changping District of Beijing on Monday. (Xinhua/Huang Jingwen)

Li Qiang plants a tree during a voluntary tree-planting activity at Baishan Town in Changping District of Beijing, capital of China, March 30, 2026. Party and state leaders Xi Jinping, Li Qiang, Zhao Leji, Wang Huning, Cai Qi, Ding Xuexiang, and Li Xi took part in a voluntary tree-planting activity in Changping District of Beijing on Monday. (Xinhua/Huang Jingwen)

Zhao Leji plants a tree during a voluntary tree-planting activity at Baishan Town in Changping District of Beijing, capital of China, March 30, 2026. Party and state leaders Xi Jinping, Li Qiang, Zhao Leji, Wang Huning, Cai Qi, Ding Xuexiang, and Li Xi took part in a voluntary tree-planting activity in Changping District of Beijing on Monday. (Xinhua/Ding Haitao)

Wang Huning plants a tree during a voluntary tree-planting activity at Baishan Town in Changping District of Beijing, capital of China, March 30, 2026. Party and state leaders Xi Jinping, Li Qiang, Zhao Leji, Wang Huning, Cai Qi, Ding Xuexiang, and Li Xi took part in a voluntary tree-planting activity in Changping District of Beijing on Monday. (Xinhua/Huang Jingwen)

Cai Qi plants a tree during a voluntary tree-planting activity at Baishan Town in Changping District of Beijing, capital of China, March 30, 2026. Party and state leaders Xi Jinping, Li Qiang, Zhao Leji, Wang Huning, Cai Qi, Ding Xuexiang, and Li Xi took part in a voluntary tree-planting activity in Changping District of Beijing on Monday. (Xinhua/Ding Haitao)

Ding Xuexiang plants a tree during a voluntary tree-planting activity at Baishan Town in Changping District of Beijing, capital of China, March 30, 2026. Party and state leaders Xi Jinping, Li Qiang, Zhao Leji, Wang Huning, Cai Qi, Ding Xuexiang, and Li Xi took part in a voluntary tree-planting activity in Changping District of Beijing on Monday. (Xinhua/Yue Yuewei)

Li Xi plants a tree during a voluntary tree planting-activity at Baishan Town in Changping District of Beijing, capital of China, March 30, 2026. Party and state leaders Xi Jinping, Li Qiang, Zhao Leji, Wang Huning, Cai Qi, Ding Xuexiang, and Li Xi took part in a voluntary tree-planting activity in Changping District of Beijing on Monday. (Xinhua/Yue Yuewei)
MADRID, March 30 (Xinhua) -- The Spanish government has closed its airspace to all flights related to the U.S. and Israeli military strikes on Iran, including U.S. aircraft deployed in third countries such as the United Kingdom and France, Spanish newspaper El Pais reported Monday. 
COLOMBO, March 30 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lanka's Supreme Court conducted its first fully digital hearing on March 26, marking the operational rollout of a paperless judicial process under the country's e-court initiative.

The hearing, which relied entirely on electronic documentation, was a contempt of court case. During proceedings, the bench reviewed all case materials through computers using a digital case file prepared by the Supreme Court, with no physical documents used in court.

The hearing comes amidst the "e-Court" project to digitize the judicial system. The platform has been developed by the Supreme Court with technical support from Sri Lanka Telecom.

The Ministry of Justice and National Integration said the e-filing system, launched on Feb. 10, 2026, is seeing increasing use among legal practitioners, who can now submit cases electronically at a lower cost. 
CAIRO, March 30 (Xinhua) -- It has been over a month since the United States and Israel launched military strikes on Iran. During this period, the conflict has spread across multiple countries, with its effects reverberating far beyond the immediate battlefield.

Here are some key figures:

MORE THAN 10 COUNTRIES IMPACTED

On Feb. 28, the United States and Israel launched large-scale military operations against Iran. Iran responded with strikes on Israeli targets and U.S. bases across the region. The fighting has directly affected more than 10 countries, including Lebanon, Yemen, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Jordan, Bahrain, Oman, and Iraq.

Analysts warn that if the conflict drags on, more countries, including in Europe and Ukraine, could be drawn in.

OVER 24,000 CASUALTIES IN IRAN

Iranian officials said U.S.-Israeli attacks have killed at least 1,750 people and wounded 22,800 in Iran, damaged more than 81,000 civilian facilities, and displaced about 3.5 million people.

On Friday, Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi said more than 600 schools were damaged, and over 1,000 teachers and students were killed or injured. On Saturday, the Health Ministry said the attacks had killed more than 230 children and injured about 1,800 others.

MORE THAN 10,000 IRANIAN SITES TARGETED

Meanwhile, the United States said its forces had struck more than 10,000 Iranian military sites, while Israel's military said it had hit over 3,000 Iran-related targets.

NEARLY 90 WAVES OF IRANIAN RETALIATION

Iran said on Monday that it had carried out 87 waves of attacks against U.S. and Israeli targets under its "True Promise 4" operation.

AT LEAST 13 U.S. SOLDIERS KILLED, 17 REGIONAL BASES HIT

U.S. media reported 13 American service members killed in operations against Iran. A U.S. Central Command spokesperson said on March 16 that more than 200 troops were injured in seven Middle Eastern countries since the start of the U.S.-Israeli attacks, including 10 severely wounded.

The New York Times reported earlier this month that at least 17 U.S. bases and facilities were damaged in Iranian counterattacks.

AT LEAST 20 DEAD, OVER 5,000 INJURED IN ISRAEL

According to Israel's Ministry of Health and emergency services, Iranian attacks have killed at least 20 people in Israel and injured over 5,000 as of Saturday.

MORE THAN 50,000 U.S. TROOPERS IN REGION

The United States has been sending military reinforcements to the Middle East. According to U.S. media, once all reinforcements arrive, American forces in the Middle East will number around 50,000.

95 PCT DROP IN STRAIT OF HORMUZ TRAFFIC

Data from trade intelligence firm Kpler shows that between March 1 and March 23, only 144 commercial vessels passed through the Strait of Hormuz, a 95 percent drop compared with pre-conflict levels. 
RIO DE JANEIRO, March 29 (Xinhua) -- Two people on board a small aircraft were killed after it crashed on Sunday in Rio Claro in Brazil's Rio de Janeiro state, according to authorities.

The crash occurred at approximately 11:55 a.m. local time near the Sao Joao Marcos road, where the aircraft went down in a private forested area.

Firefighters said that when rescue teams arrived at the scene, both occupants showed no signs of life. Rescue and response operations are still underway, and technical experts will conduct an on-site investigation.

Brazil's National Civil Aviation Agency said the aircraft was registered as an experimental category plane and was authorized to operate only during daytime. 
Li Yuhao (R), a rice and agro-processing expert with the fourth batch of Chinese agricultural experts assisting Mozambique, explains rice cultivation techniques to a local agricultural technician at the Umbeluzi Agricultural Station in Maputo Province, Mozambique, March 19, 2026. (Xinhua/Liu Jie)

MAPUTO, March 30 (Xinhua) -- At the Umbeluzi Agricultural Station in Maputo Province, Mozambique, vast rice fields have entered the harvest season. Golden rice panicles sway gently in the breeze as two small harvesters move across the fields, presenting a vivid scene of abundance.

The site is a comprehensive rice production base jointly established by the fourth batch of Chinese agricultural experts assisting Mozambique and the Mozambique Agricultural Research Institute (IIAM). It focuses on high-yield rice demonstration, variety trials, seed breeding, and the promotion of field management techniques.

"From land preparation and seedling cultivation to fertilization and pest control, Chinese experts have introduced a complete set of systematic cultivation techniques," said Tito Chimbamba, an agricultural technician at the Umbeluzi station. With guidance from Chinese experts, he has mastered key rice farming skills and learned to operate and maintain various agricultural machines.

Li Yuhao, a rice and agro-processing expert with the Chinese agricultural team, said preliminary yield estimates show that rice output in the demonstration fields has exceeded 8 tonnes per hectare, significantly higher than traditional local levels, while some high-yield plots have surpassed 10 tonnes per hectare.

In addition to rice, oil crops are another important focus of China-Mozambique agricultural cooperation. Sesame and sunflower, both traditional oil crops in Mozambique, have seen steady export growth in recent years and have become important sources of foreign exchange. Sunflower, in particular, is widely regarded as having strong potential for import substitution.

The Chinese agricultural team has established demonstration bases for oil crops, collecting high-quality hybrid varieties and promoting advanced techniques such as seed treatment, integrated pest and weed management, and foliar fertilization during key growth stages, aiming to improve yields and support industry development.

"We have collected 68 hybrid varieties of sunflower, sesame and soybean, and are conducting comparative trials with local varieties to identify those best suited to local conditions," said Zhao Jun, an oil crop expert. She added that the promotion of these improved varieties and efficient cultivation techniques will help increase farmers' incomes and provide technical support for scaling up the oil crop sector.

Seed quality is fundamental to agricultural development. Wu Guiyun, a seed production and quality testing expert with the Chinese team, said a seed laboratory has been established at the Umbeluzi station, integrating testing services, technical support, talent training and external exchanges, significantly enhancing local seed quality management capacity.

"The laboratory has helped address the shortage of seed testing capacity in the region," Wu said. In one case, rice samples submitted from another agricultural station initially showed a germination rate below standard.

Further analysis revealed that a high level of seed dormancy was the main cause. The laboratory then proposed technical measures such as high-temperature sun-drying, providing a practical solution for seed utilization.

Technology transfer remains a core goal of China-Mozambique agricultural cooperation. Over the past three years, the expert team has trained more than 1,000 local agricultural technicians, farmers and students.

Relying on the demonstration base, it has also provided a platform for university students to engage in research and practical training, promoting the localization of efficient rice and oil crop cultivation technologies.

Meanwhile, the demonstration base and seed laboratory have attracted visits and exchanges from agricultural experts and students from multiple countries, gradually becoming an important hub for regional agricultural technology dissemination and talent cultivation.

As an important component of bilateral cooperation, Chinese agricultural experts continue to support Mozambique in improving agricultural productivity and efficiency, enhancing food production capacity, and contributing to food security and agricultural development. 

Wu Guiyun (L), a seed production and quality testing expert with the fourth batch of Chinese agricultural experts assisting Mozambique, teaches a local technician seed breeding techniques at the Umbeluzi Agricultural Station in Maputo Province, Mozambique, March 27, 2026. (Xinhua/Liu Jie)

Zhao Jun (L), an oil crop expert with the fourth batch of Chinese agricultural experts assisting Mozambique, explains sunflower cultivation techniques to a local technician at the Umbeluzi Agricultural Station in Maputo Province, Mozambique, March 27, 2026. (Xinhua/Liu Jie)

Li Yuhao (L), a rice and agro-processing expert with the fourth batch of Chinese agricultural experts assisting Mozambique, guides a local agricultural technician in operating a harvester at the Umbeluzi Agricultural Station in Maputo Province, Mozambique, March 19, 2026. (Xinhua/Liu Jie)
CAIRO, March 30 (Xinhua) -- The U.S.-Israel-Iran conflict showed no signs of de-escalation as it entered its 31st day on Monday, with Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) confirming the death of its navy commander from combat injuries and renewed attacks between Israel and Iran inflicting more casualties and damage.

The following is an overview of the latest developments in the escalating crisis affecting much of the region and beyond.

The United States

-- U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to "completely obliterate" all of Iran's electric generating plants, oil wells, and Kharg Island if a deal is not reached shortly.

Trump also said that the United States is in serious discussions with Iran to end military operations there.

-- In an interview with the Financial Times on Sunday, Trump said, "to be honest with you, my favourite thing is to take the oil in Iran," comparing the U.S. move to Venezuela, where Washington intends to control the oil industry "indefinitely" after it forcibly seized President Nicolas Maduro in January.

Taking Iranian oil would involve seizing Kharg Island, through which over 90 percent of Iran's oil is exported, the Financial Times reported, warning that such "an assault" risks raising casualties and prolonging the war.

Israel

-- An oil refinery in the northern Israeli city of Haifa was struck by Hezbollah rockets, with Israel's state-owned Kan TV news reporting that an oil tanker and an industrial structure were hit.

Hits and damage were also reported in Shfaram in the Galilee and Kiryat Ata near Haifa, where the attack caused temporary power cuts.

-- An Israeli soldier was killed and an armored corps officer was severely injured in southern Lebanon by an anti-tank missile fired by Hezbollah, the military said.

The latest death brings the number of Israeli soldiers killed in southern Lebanon to six since the resumption of full-scale hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah.

-- The Israeli Defense Forces said that its air force intercepted two drones launched by Houthi forces in Yemen.

-- The Israeli Finance Ministry announced a significant reduction in its 2026 growth forecast for the country's economy, revising down the projection to 3.3-3.8 percent from the original forecast of 5.2 percent, citing the prolongation of the war on the Iranian and Lebanese fronts.

-- Israel's Energy Ministry announced that the price of unleaded 95-octane gasoline will rise to 8.05 shekels (about 2.54 U.S. dollars) per liter, up from 7.02 shekels, a 14.7 percent increase and the highest in more than three and a half years, citing higher global oil costs linked to the ongoing war with Iran.

Iran

-- Relevant Iranian institutes, including the parliament, are considering the country's withdrawal from the Non-Proliferation Treaty, with a growing consensus that remaining in the accord is no longer justified, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported.

-- Iran's IRGC said that its navy chief, 64-year-old Alireza Tangsiri, died from severe injuries sustained while "organizing and strengthening his forces and beefing up the country's defensive shield along the islands and coastlines targeted by hostile forces."

Iran's Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei offered condolences over Tangsiri's death, describing him as a "brave commander" who "attained martyrdom after years of struggle."

-- Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said the recent truce plan proposed by the United States contains "very excessive, unrealistic and unreasonable" demands.

-- Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian said any decision to end the war will be based solely on preconditions that protect the nation's dignity, security, and interests.

Pezeshkian also said that maintaining consistent, effective public services is a key pillar of national stability until ultimate victory is achieved, according to a statement from his office.

-- Abbas Goudarzi, spokesman for the Iranian parliament's presiding board, said the parliament has kicked off a process to approve a plan to exercise smart management over the Strait of Hormuz, to enhance the waterway's security and collect tolls from vessels in the local currency, the rial.

Lebanon

-- Israeli airstrikes targeted several areas in southern Lebanon and Beirut's southern suburbs, killing seven people, including a Lebanese soldier, with several others wounded, official sources said.

-- Two United Nations peacekeepers were killed and two others wounded, one seriously, when an explosion destroyed their vehicle near the town of Bani Hayyan in southern Lebanon, UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) said in a statement.

The blast is the second deadly incident involving UNIFIL personnel in 24 hours. A peacekeeper from the mission's Indonesian contingent was killed earlier when a projectile struck the unit's headquarters.

-- United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert called for an immediate truce between Hezbollah and Israel, warning that prolonged conflict could cause irreversible damage to the country's stability and prosperity.

Syria

-- The Syrian Army said Syria's military bases near the border with Iraq were targeted in a large-scale drone attack, adding that most of the drones were intercepted. There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage.

Iraq

-- The Iraqi Defense Ministry said an Antonov-132 aircraft of the Iraqi Air Force was destroyed in a rocket attack launched from the outskirts of Baghdad on a military base near Baghdad International Airport.

Bahrain

-- Bahrain's Interior Ministry announced the arrest of three individuals for forming a terrorist cell linked to Lebanon's Hezbollah group, saying they coordinated with the group and sought to undermine the sovereignty of Bahrain.

Turkiye

-- A ballistic missile launched from Iran was intercepted by NATO air and missile defense systems in the eastern Mediterranean after entering Turkish airspace, Turkiye's Defense Ministry said. It was the fourth such interception.

Jordan

-- Jordan's Prime Minister Jafar Hassan ordered stricter controls on government spending and resource use across all public institutions as the ongoing conflict drives up global oil prices and disrupts regional energy supplies.

Earlier this month, Jordan activated its emergency energy plan after a disruption in natural gas supplies from Mediterranean fields. The shutdown of Israel's Leviathan gas field, a key energy source for Jordan and Egypt, prompted the move.

Egypt

-- Egypt and Cyprus signed a natural gas cooperation framework as Cairo faces growing energy shortages linked to regional conflict, prompting emergency consumption cuts that highlight a deepening supply crisis.

Saudi Arabia

-- Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, Jordan's King Abdullah II, and Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani met in Saudi's Jeddah to discuss the escalating regional tensions.

The talks focused on threats to international navigation and energy security, the impact on the global economy, and coordination of joint efforts to reinforce regional stability. 
TEHRAN, March 30 (Xinhua) -- Iran's Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei on Monday offered condolences over the death of Alireza Tangsiri, chief commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Navy, the official news agency IRNA reported.

In a message, Khamenei described Tangsiri as a "brave commander" who "attained martyrdom after years of struggle."

The IRGC confirmed in a statement on Monday that Tangsiri, 64, died from severe injuries sustained while on duty, saying he was "organizing and strengthening his forces and beefing up the country's defensive shield along the islands and coastlines targeted by hostile forces."

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz claimed on Thursday that Tangsiri was killed in an overnight airstrike, which also killed other senior Navy officials.

Israel's state-owned Kan TV news, citing an Israeli official, reported earlier in the day that the airstrike targeted an Iranian naval base in the southern port city of Bandar Abbas. 
Zeng Yongchao, executive vice president of China Southern Air Holding Company, speaks at a promotion event hosted by China Southern Airlines for the new Beijing-Helsinki direct route in Helsinki, Finland, March 30, 2026. (Photo by Matti Matikainen/Xinhua)

HELSINKI, March 30 (Xinhua) -- Representatives from the aviation, tourism and business sectors on Monday voiced expectations that China Southern Airlines' new direct route between Beijing and Helsinki will boost tourism, trade ties and exchanges between China and Finland.

The remarks were made at an event hosted by China Southern Airlines in Helsinki, one day after the successful inaugural direct flight between the Chinese and Finnish capitals.

Nearly 200 guests, including representatives from China Southern Airlines, Finnish airport operator Finavia, Finnish national tourism board Visit Finland, the Chinese Embassy in Finland, local authorities, the media, and the travel and business sectors, attended the event.

Speaking at the event, Zeng Yongchao, executive vice president of China Southern Air Holding Company, said the new route will make travel between the two countries smoother, expand business and tourism opportunities, and offer passengers a more convenient and comfortable experience.

The route, launched on Sunday and operated by Boeing 787 wide-body aircraft, will initially run three times a week before increasing to daily service from June 20, Zeng said, noting that the route links not only Helsinki and Beijing, but also Finland with the broader Chinese market.

Finavia CEO Kimmo Maki said the route will provide European travelers with a fast and efficient connection to Beijing and onward to other parts of China and Asia, while also helping attract more Chinese visitors to Finland.

Teemu Ahola, director of international operations at Visit Finland, said the direct link has been long-awaited and will support not only tourism, but also trade, cultural exchanges and broader bilateral ties.

He said Chinese tourists have long been an important source for Finland's tourism industry, adding that Chinese overnight stays in Finland rose 20 percent last year to nearly 250,000.

Chen Huixin, charge d'affaires ad interim of the Chinese Embassy in Finland, said the direct link between the two capitals will inject fresh momentum into bilateral exchanges, as Beijing and Helsinki are marking the 20th anniversary of their sister-city relationship this year. 

Finavia CEO Kimmo Maki speaks at a promotion event hosted by China Southern Airlines for the new Beijing-Helsinki direct route in Helsinki, Finland, March 30, 2026. (Photo by Matti Matikainen/Xinhua)

Teemu Ahola, director of international operations at Visit Finland, speaks at a promotion event hosted by China Southern Airlines for the new Beijing-Helsinki direct route in Helsinki, Finland, March 30, 2026. (Photo by Matti Matikainen/Xinhua)

Actresses from China perform dance at a promotion event hosted by China Southern Airlines for the new Beijing-Helsinki direct route in Helsinki, Finland, March 30, 2026. (Photo by Matti Matikainen/Xinhua)

A staff member introduces the new Beijing-Helsinki direct route at a promotion event hosted by China Southern Airlines in Helsinki, Finland, March 30, 2026. (Photo by Matti Matikainen/Xinhua)

A Finnish folk dance performance is staged at a promotion event hosted by China Southern Airlines for the new Beijing-Helsinki direct route in Helsinki, Finland, March 30, 2026. (Photo by Matti Matikainen/Xinhua)
SARAJEVO, March 30 (Xinhua) -- Police in Bosnia and Herzegovina have arrested four individuals, including three police officers, on suspicion of human trafficking involving the exploitation of minors, authorities said on Monday.

According to a police spokesperson, the officers were arrested at their homes during coordinated operations as part of an investigation led by the Ministry of Interior of Tuzla Canton.

Authorities said the suspects are believed to have engaged in human trafficking, specifically the sexual exploitation of minors. Following forensic processing, they will be handed over to the prosecutor's office for further proceedings.

After the arrests, the Tuzla Canton Police Administration ordered the suspension of the three officers pending the outcome of criminal or disciplinary procedures.

The case comes amid a series of human trafficking prosecutions in the country. Earlier, a court confirmed indictments against eight suspects accused of exploiting two minors between 2024 and 2025, with some cases already resulting in prison sentences for child exploitation.

In recent years, BiH has intensified the implementation of its Anti-Trafficking Strategy 2024-2027, which prioritizes tackling official complicity and enhancing protections for children, a group increasingly targeted by trafficking networks in the Balkan region. 
MANAMA, March 30 (Xinhua) -- Bahrain's Interior Ministry announced on Monday the arrest of three people for forming a terrorist cell linked to Lebanon's Hezbollah.

According to a ministry statement, the three Bahraini nationals coordinated with the group and sought to undermine the sovereignty of Bahrain.

The suspects' confessions showed that they received weapons training after meeting Hezbollah members during their travel to Lebanon, the ministry said.

They also provided photos and details of Iranian attacks in Bahrain, raised funds under the guise of charity to support Hezbollah, and prepared to carry out terrorist acts in the country on the group's orders, it added.

The ministry said the suspects have been referred to the Public Prosecution after completing of all necessary legal procedures. 
UNITED NATIONS, March 30 (Xinhua) -- Amid Middle East hostilities, UN humanitarians on Monday pointed to a sharp rise in attacks on healthcare in Lebanon and growing obstacles for humanitarian operations in the Gaza Strip.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said attacks on healthcare facilities, ambulances and medical personnel in Lebanon have risen at an alarming rate.

The World Health Organization (WHO) reported seven incidents over the weekend alone, which killed at least nine health workers while they were on duty.

In southern Lebanon, OCHA said that strikes hit ambulances, including vehicles transporting casualties from an earlier attack in the town of Kfar Sir in Nabatieh governorate.

Since the escalation began, OCHA said 87 attacks on healthcare have been recorded, killing 52 health workers and injuring 126 others.

In a joint statement issued over the weekend, UN's deputy special coordinator and humanitarian coordinator for Lebanon Imran Riza and WHO Representative in Lebanon Abdinasir Abubakar called for the protection of health workers and first responders, saying that medical personnel and facilities must never be targeted.

The office said Lebanese authorities reported that at least 96 people were killed over the weekend, bringing the total number of people killed since the escalation began to 1,238, with more than 3,500 injured.

OCHA said that despite deteriorating security conditions, the office and its partners continue to work closely with the government to reach people in need. WHO and health partners have provided more than 33,500 medical consultations to displaced people and delivered essential medicines to over 22,500 people.

In the occupied Palestinian territories, OCHA said lethal attacks affecting civilians continue in both Gaza and the West Bank, as restrictions on humanitarian operations continue to mount.

Over the weekend, airstrikes and shelling reportedly hit residential areas in Gaza. In the West Bank, OCHA recorded reports of fatal shootings by Israeli forces and attacks linked to Israeli settlers.

International non-governmental organizations (NGOs) said Monday they intend to file a petition of appeal with Israeli High Court of Justice challenging a new Israeli NGO registration system, which they say further restricts their ability to operate in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories.

OCHA said that international NGOs play a critical role in the humanitarian response, collectively delivering around 1 billion U.S. dollars in assistance each year in the territories. The new registration requirements are among several measures undermining people's access to humanitarian services.

The office called on Israeli authorities to facilitate the rapid and unimpeded passage of humanitarian relief, to reverse policies that obstruct humanitarian operations, and to ensure that humanitarian organizations can operate in line with humanitarian principles.

OCHA said that civilians must always be protected and that in the context of law enforcement, lethal force must be used only as a last resort. Perpetrators of unlawful attacks must be held to account. 
ABUJA, March 30 (Xinhua) -- At least 12 bodies have been recovered after a group of unknown gunmen attacked Angwan Rukuba, a community in Nigeria's central Plateau State late Sunday, police said Monday.

Alabo Alfred, spokesperson for the Plateau State police, told local media that some of the bodies were found in nearby bushes combed by security operatives for possible arrest of the assailants, following the attack in the Jos North Local Government Area.

The gunmen reportedly opened fire indiscriminately on residents, Alfred said, describing the attack as "unfortunate."

"As we speak, the police and other security agencies in the state have organized joint operations and are currently combing nearby bushes to ensure that the suspects are arrested or dislodged in accordance with the law," he said, adding that the motive of the attack is not yet clear.

In response, the Plateau State government has imposed a 48-hour curfew on Jos North Local Government Area, beginning on Monday. 
WINDHOEK, March 30 (Xinhua) -- A German woman was killed and a pilot seriously injured after a light aircraft crashed near Aus Settlement in southern Namibia's Kharas Region on Sunday morning.

The victim, identified as 51-year-old Carmen Spetzinger, died at the scene, authorities told Namibia's national broadcaster NBC on Monday.

Police confirmed that the pilot, 60-year-old German national Saneke Bernhard, survived the crash with serious injuries and was airlifted by Medical Rescue Africa from the coastal city of Luderitz to a private hospital in the capital, Windhoek, where he is in stable condition.

Nicodemus Mbango, head of the Kharas Police Crime Investigations Unit, said preliminary findings indicate the aircraft was flying at low altitude when it struck electrical cables, leading to the crash.

"The wreckage is under police guard and investigations are ongoing to determine the exact cause," Mbango said.

Authorities have notified the next of kin of the deceased. 
JUBA, March 30 (Xinhua) -- At least 74 people were killed in an attack by unknown armed men at a gold mining site in Central Equatoria State, South Sudan, a local official confirmed on Monday.

Kwacijwok Dominic Amandoch, spokesperson for the South Sudan National Police Service, said the incident occurred on the evening of March 28 in a gold mining area of Jebel Iraq.

"An unknown armed group attacked miners at the site, resulting in the killing of more than 74 people. Some others are still missing in the forest," Amandoch told Xinhua in Juba, the capital of South Sudan, noting that the victims were civilians engaged in gold mining activities in the area.

Security forces, including the police and the South Sudan People's Defence Forces, have been deployed to the area to assess the situation, conduct patrols, and carry out rescue operations, said Amandoch.

"Eleven bodies have so far been transported to a mortuary, while efforts are ongoing to locate those missing," he said, adding that the death toll could rise.

Authorities have yet to establish the identity of the attackers, despite unconfirmed reports of the presence of an opposition-linked camp near the scene, according to the spokesperson.

Eyewitnesses said the attackers rode past the Anguwan Rukuba junction and began shooting sporadically, forcing people to flee for safety. 
BANGKOK, March 30 (Xinhua) -- The Thai government has encouraged the widespread use of B20 biodiesel to help business operators effectively lower their energy expenses, a government official said on Monday.

B20 diesel is a type of diesel blend containing 20 percent Thai palm oil biodiesel, Ratchada Thanadirek, assistant minister to the Prime Minister's Office, said in a government press release.

She said that vehicles compatible with this fuel can operate normally just like those using regular diesel, adding that its key advantage lies in helping reduce fuel costs and increasing the use of domestically produced energy.

To ensure rapid adoption, the Fuel Fund Management Committee has worked to maintain the price of B20 diesel at approximately 5 baht (about 0.15 U.S. dollars) per liter lower than standard B7 diesel.

This subsidy will help the transportation, logistics and industrial sectors, which bear relatively high energy costs, to better manage expenses, alleviating the pressure of rising commodity prices and bringing positive benefits to the public, the official said.

Meanwhile, major oil groups in Thailand have been continuously expanding the retail outlets for B20 diesel, aiming to provide more convenience and options for compatible vehicle owners, she said. 
KABUL, March 30 (Xinhua) -- Afghan security forces successfully rescued four children from kidnappers in the northern Parwan province, local media outlet Tolo news reported on Monday.

According to the report, the children had gone missing several days earlier in Balkh, and their rescue on the outskirts of Salang district marks a successful operation in the key transit area located in Parwan's mountainous corridor north of Kabul.

The operation followed precise intelligence reports that led security forces to the kidnappers' location. A well-coordinated raid resulted in the safe release of the children, who were reunited with their parents shortly afterward, the report said.

The report did not disclose the identities or motives of the suspected kidnappers. 
TOKYO, March 30 (Xinhua) -- Japan's National Police Agency (NPA) convened a meeting on Monday over the incident in which an active-duty Self-Defense Forces officer forcibly entered the Chinese Embassy in Japan.

NPA Commissioner General Yoshinobu Kusunoki said at the meeting that the incident "should not have happened" and described it as "extremely unusual and serious."

Kusunoki stressed the need to prevent similar incidents from occurring again and called for thorough strengthening of security measures to protect diplomatic missions.

About 70 senior police officers from 12 prefectures that host foreign embassies and consulates attended the meeting.

On March 24, Kodai Murata, a 23-year-old second lieutenant in the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force, allegedly scaled a wall and broke into the Chinese embassy in Tokyo while carrying a knife.

The Japanese government has so far only described the incident as "regrettable," drawing widespread criticism within Japan. 
CANBERRA, March 30 (Xinhua) -- Total financial losses to scams in Australia increased by 7.8 percent in 2025 despite a fall in the number of scams reported, according to official data.

The National Anti-Scam Center (NASC) said in an annual report released on Monday that Australians lost 2.18 billion Australian dollars (about 1.5 billion U.S. dollars) to scams in 2025, up from 2.03 billion Australian dollars in 2024.

In the same period, the number of scams officially reported by Australians fell by 2.7 percent to 481,523.

The NASC report identified investment scams, payment redirection scams, romance scams, phishing scams and remote access scams as the top scam types by financial loss in 2025.

The total financial loss from phishing scams increased by 15.5 percent year-on-year, and losses from payment redirection scams rose by 9.3 percent.

Despite the increase in financial losses in 2025, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), which runs the NASC, noted that scam losses remained 29.7 percent lower than the record-high of 3.1 billion Australian dollars reported in 2022.

Catriona Lowe, deputy chair of the ACCC, said in a statement that collaboration and shared accountability are needed to tackle the harm caused by scams in Australia and globally.

The NASC said it referred over 8,400 suspicious websites for assessment in 2025, resulting in the removal of 7,500 scam URLs. 
BAKU, March 30 (Xinhua) -- China's 15th Five-Year Plan is set to offer the world a package of new opportunities for win-win cooperation in such areas as industry, trade, digital economy and infrastructure, said Emin Gasimov, director of Azerbaijan's Center for the Study of China's Global Initiatives, Development and Culture.

During the recently concluded "two sessions," Chinese lawmakers have approved the outline of the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030) for national economic and social development.

The document reinforces the global perception of China as a large-scale, resilient and tech-driven partner, capable of simultaneously opening markets, creating demand, driving innovation and providing effective institutional platforms, Gasimov said in a written interview with Xinhua.

He noted the plan's emphasis on increasing imports of advanced technical equipment, high-quality agricultural products and producer services.

"For other countries and regions, this means not only an expansion of exports to China but also a deeper integration into China's demand structure, which is becoming a vital factor for their own development," he said.

China's 15th Five-Year Plan proposes a series of concrete measures to accelerate green transition, including the establishment of zero-carbon state-level industrial parks and zero-carbon transport corridors.

Gasimov said that these measures will create favorable conditions for joint investment and production localization, highlighting a vast landscape for cooperation in clean energy, new materials, green logistics and low-carbon industrial modernization.

According to the document, over the next five years, China aims to raise the value added of core digital economy industries to 12.5 percent of GDP, while fostering deep integration between the real and the digital economies.

"For China's partners, this means vast prospects not only in e-commerce or IT services but also in the collaborative digitalization of the real economy -- encompassing transport, logistics, industry, urban infrastructure, and energy," the expert said.

The document also put forward measures for high-standard opening-up, such as promoting wider opening with regard to telecommunications, the internet, education, and other sectors, shortening the negative list for foreign investment, and ensuring national treatment for foreign-funded enterprises.

"China is expanding opening-up at the institutional level. This is particularly valuable for international partners because the country is not merely creating temporary incentives, but rather a broader and more predictable environment for long-term presence," the expert noted.

Gasimov also spoke highly of China's role as a vital stabilizer for the global economy.

"The 15th Five-Year Plan presents the world with the opportunity not just to trade with China, but to build a new growth architecture alongside China -- one that is greener, more digital, and more mutually beneficial," he said.

The document also underscored the importance of pursuing the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative, the Global Civilization Initiative, and the Global Governance Initiative, making China's contribution to the building of a community with a shared future for humanity.

Gasimov commended China's actions in promoting the visions, calling them some of the most significant and constructive practices in contemporary global politics.

He noted that the vision of building a community with a shared future for humanity proposes a logic of inclusion rather than exclusion, and win-win cooperation rather than a zero-sum game.

"China is consistently transforming its development into an anchor of international stability, while turning its initiatives into platforms for joint development. In today's turbulent global landscape, this undoubtedly deserves high praise," Gasimov said. 
People protest during a rally in front of the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo, Japan, Feb. 27, 2026. (Xinhua/Jia Haocheng)

Experts say the reorganization bears a clear "offensive" character. Japan's accelerating military buildup underscores its "remilitarization" ambitions, posing a threat to regional peace and stability.

TOKYO, March 29 (Xinhua) -- The Japanese government, led by Sanae Takaichi, has recently carried out a sweeping reorganization of the Self-Defense Forces (SDF), including what it calls the "largest-ever reorganization" of the Maritime Self-Defense Force (MSDF), along with an expansion of operations in the cognitive domain and the enlargement of the Space Operations Group.

Experts say the reorganization bears a clear "offensive" character. Japan's accelerating military buildup underscores its "remilitarization" ambitions, posing a threat to regional peace and stability.





LARGEST REORGANIZATION IN HISTORY

The most significant changes in this reorganization concern the MSDF. Its main units, the Fleet Escort Force and the Mine Warfare Force, have been disbanded and consolidated into a newly established Fleet Surface Force, which centralizes command and control over destroyers, minesweepers and other surface vessels.

Through the shakeup, the Fleet Surface Force will consist of three surface warfare groups, along with a Patrol and Defense Group and an Amphibious and Mine Warfare Group.

Established in 1961, the Fleet Escort Force has a long history, which is why some Japanese media have described this overhaul as "the biggest reorganization" in the history of the MSDF.

Lu Hao, an expert from the Institute of Japanese Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said this reorganization breaks with the MSDF's tradition of organizing units by vessel type. The move, he said, is to build a more integrated, combat-ready fleet, laying the groundwork for creating a carrier strike group.

Japanese media also reported that the headquarters of the Amphibious and Mine Warfare Group is located in Sasebo, Nagasaki Prefecture, enabling closer coordination with the Ground Self-Defense Force's (GSDF) Amphibious Rapid Deployment Brigade, also headquartered in Sasebo.

The Amphibious Rapid Deployment Brigade, Japan's equivalent of the Marine Corps, bears distinctly offensive characteristics.

The MSDF has also integrated units responsible for intelligence, cyber operations, communications and oceanographic observation into a newly established Information Warfare/Operations Command, comprising about 3,200 personnel. In parallel, the GSDF has also created a new intelligence operations unit.

According to Japan's Defense Ministry, these units will be tasked with responding to the so-called "information warfare."

Additionally, the Air Self-Defense Force (ASDF) plans to upgrade its current Space Operations Group, which is responsible for outer space monitoring, into a Space Operations Wing, nearly doubling its personnel from about 310 to around 670, with a further expansion to roughly 880 personnel planned by fiscal 2026.

The Defense Ministry also intends to rename the ASDF into the Air and Space Self-Defense Force during the same time period.

Notably, the words "warfare" and "operations" feature prominently in the names of newly established or reorganized units, while the Fleet Surface Force has also dropped the word "escort" from its designation. Some Japanese media have bluntly described this reorganization as an "offensive restructuring."

Fan Xiaoju, a research professor at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, said the changes are part of the Japanese government's strategy of so-called "fundamental reinforcement of defense capabilities," aimed at achieving offensive military ambitions with limited personnel and equipment.

Protesters attend a rally against the ruling coalition's plan to ease arms export in front of the headquarters of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in Tokyo, Japan, on Dec. 25, 2025. (Xinhua/Jia Haocheng)





ACCELERATING "REMILITARIZATION"

Japan has been on a sustained path of military expansion for years. Since taking office, Takaichi has further accelerated this pace, pushing ahead with what critics describe as "remilitarization."

This month, the country began deploying long-range missiles with what it calls "counterstrike capabilities," which is, in effect, the capability to strike enemy bases.

Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi recently said that deliveries of U.S.-made Tomahawk cruise missiles and Norwegian-developed Joint Strike Missiles to the Self-Defense Forces have begun.

The Ministry of Defense has also delivered a launcher for the upgraded Type 12 surface-to-ship missile to Camp Kengun in Kumamoto City. The system is set to be formally deployed by the end of this month.

Though designated as an "anti-ship missile," the upgraded Type 12 is also capable of striking land targets. With a range of about 1,000 km, it can reach the territories of neighboring countries from Japan.

The ministry also confirmed that construction of the first Aegis System Equipped Vessel (ASEV) had begun in July 2025. The vessel is expected to be equipped with Tomahawk cruise missiles and a ship-launched improved variant of the Type 12 missile currently under development.

Experts said the rapid development and deployment of multiple offensive weapons show that Japan has stopped pretending to follow its long-held defensive military policy. In practice, Japan's exclusively defense-oriented policy has become meaningless.

Fan said Japan's series of military moves reflects a foreign and security policy increasingly focused on prioritizing military strength and enhancing "deterrence."





THREATENING REGIONAL PEACE

Japan's relentless military expansion and development of offensive capabilities lay bare its remilitarization ambitions, posing a serious threat to regional peace and stability while potentially backfiring on Japan itself.

Hiroshi Shiratori, a professor with Japan's Hosei University, said that deploying long-range missiles capable of striking enemy bases, in effect, gives Japan the means to attack other countries, deviating from its pacifist policy.

He said that the reorganization of the SDF and deployment of long-range missiles will further strengthen offensive capabilities and intensify regional tensions.

Japanese public figures have also pointed out that while the country faces numerous economic and social challenges, the Takaichi government remains obsessed with strengthening military power and feeding the military-industrial complex. Ultimately, they warn, such policies will harm Japan's economic development and social well-being, and lead the country down a dangerous path.

Lu said that Japan is seeking to break free from the constraints of the postwar order by developing offensive military capabilities, while also promoting military integration with the United States and helping Washington consolidate and strengthen its alliance system.

Such moves could intensify bloc confrontation and spark a regional arms race. The irony, he said, is that such a Japan still claims to be a "stabilizer" for regional peace and security. 
PHNOM PENH, March 30 (Xinhua) -- A China-backed Mekong children's heart care project was officially launched in Cambodia on Monday, aiming at delivering life-saving treatment to children with congenital heart disease (CHD).

Funded by China through the Global Development and South-South Cooperation Fund, the landmark project is implemented by the Mekong Institute, in close partnership with the Ministries of Health of Cambodia and Laos, with technical support from the Fuwai Hospital of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences.

The project is a concrete action under the Global Development Initiative, said a press release, adding that it targets CHD, one of the leading causes of child mortality, by building national screening systems, enhancing access to treatment, and strengthening healthcare workforce capacity in Cambodia and Laos.

"The project will screen at least 40,000 children in Cambodia, including 10,000 ultrasound screenings, provide full-cycle treatment for at least 40 children with CHD, and train more than 100 healthcare professionals," the press release said.

It added that the project will also provide essential medical equipment and support advanced training for Cambodian doctors.

Hok Kimcheng, director general for Health at Cambodia's Ministry of Health, said CHD remains a public health concern, affecting the lives of many children and families. Early detection, timely diagnosis, and appropriate treatment are essential to improving survival and the quality of life.

"This project reflects our shared commitment to strengthening the health system through technology transfer, capacity building, and regional cooperation," he said.

The official expressed his profound gratitude to the government and people of China for their generous contribution to improving access to healthcare for children with CHD.

Kimcheng said the project has adopted a comprehensive approach, combining school-based screening, advanced diagnostics, referral systems, treatment, and follow-up care.

"The Ministry of Health fully supports this initiative, and we will work closely with all partners to ensure the project's effective implementation," he said. "We are confident that this collaboration will not only benefit Cambodian children, but also contribute to the broader regional effort in addressing CHD.

The project will focus on key provinces, including Kampot, Kampong Cham, Takeo, and Siem Reap, with outreach extending to underserved communities.

Sok Chour, an advisor to Cambodia's Ministry of Health and deputy director general for health, said that it is estimated that Cambodia has approximately 3,000 to 4,000 children born with heart disease every year.

"This project reflects strong cooperation and shared commitment to improving child health in Cambodia," he told Xinhua. "It will significantly strengthen Cambodia's capacity in early detection, diagnosis, and treatment of congenital heart disease, while also enhancing the skills of our health workers."

Chour said the project will help reduce the preventable child morbidity and mortality, and contribute to better long-term health outcome of Cambodian children.

Suriyan Vichitlekarn, executive director of Mekong Institute, said the project reflected China's firm commitment to advancing the Global Development Initiative and accelerating progress toward the UN 2030 Agenda, as well as shared determination to improve access to care for children with CHD.

"This project is not only about delivering life-saving care. It is about building systems that ensure children are identified early, treated in time, and given the opportunity to live healthy lives," he said. "Through regional partnership, we are strengthening healthcare capacity and creating lasting impact for communities across Cambodia and the Mekong region."

Suriyan said the project will not only address public health issues, but also foster close cooperation among Mekong countries and China.

He said in both Cambodia and Laos, the project will reach around 50,000 children, support treatment for at least 70 children, and train over 235 medical professionals. 
SUVA, March 30 (Xinhua) -- Fijian Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka has underscored the urgent need to rebuild trust between citizens and government institutions, warning that national unity and long-term stability depend heavily on public confidence in governance systems.

Speaking at the National Social Cohesion Stakeholder Conference in Suva on Monday, Rabuka highlighted the concept of "vertical social cohesion" -- the relationship between the state and its people.

He explained that this form of cohesion is reflected in how citizens perceive public institutions, their ability to access justice, and the extent to which they benefit from government services.

Rabuka stressed that inclusive political processes and transparent decision-making are critical to strengthening this relationship.

He noted that when people feel represented and have fair access to opportunities, trust in government grows, forming a foundation for a more stable and resilient society.

The prime minister described the conference as a vital platform for dialogue, bringing together diverse stakeholders to share ideas and shape a unified national vision.

He said such engagement is essential to fostering a more harmonious and inclusive future, particularly at a time when Fiji faces ongoing economic pressures, social challenges, and global uncertainties. 
MOSCOW, March 30 (Xinhua) -- Russia will continue working on oil supplies to Cuba as the Caribbean island nation faces a severe energy shortage, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Monday.

"We will continue to work," Peskov told reporters when asked whether additional energy shipments to Cuba could be expected. Earlier in the day, the Russian Ministry of Transport reported that a humanitarian shipment of crude oil carried by a Russian tanker had arrived in Cuba.

Peskov said that Moscow could not remain indifferent to Cuba's current difficulties and would keep working on the issue.

He added that Russia sees it as its duty to provide necessary assistance to Cuba under the current circumstances and that Russia is glad about the arrival of the latest shipment.

The Russian Transport Ministry said Monday that the tanker Anatoly Kolodkin had delivered about 100,000 tons of crude oil to Cuba in humanitarian aid. The vessel is currently awaiting unloading at the port of Matanzas.

Earlier, The New York Times reported that the United States Coast Guard had allowed a Russian-owned crude oil tanker to reach Cuba after months of an oil blockade against the country. 
MADRID, March 30 (Xinhua) -- The Spanish government has closed its airspace to all flights associated with U.S. and Israeli military strikes on Iran, including U.S. aircraft deployed in third countries such as the United Kingdom and France, according to media reports on Monday.

Spain's Deputy Prime Minister and Economy Minister Carlos Cuerpo confirmed the decision in an interview with radio station Cadena Ser. He said the move was "part of the Spanish government's decision not to participate in or support this war, which was begun unilaterally and violates international law."

The restrictions apply to flights taking off from or landing in Spanish territory, as well as aircraft flying over the country, reported the Spanish newspaper El Pais.

Spain had already prohibited the use of U.S. military bases on its territory, including Rota and Moron de la Frontera, in connection with the conflict.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has been among the most vocal European critics of the U.S. and Israeli actions, repeatedly emphasizing the message "No to the war." Meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened potential trade measures against Spain, although no concrete actions have been announced. 
LISBON, March 30 (Xinhua) -- More than 8,000 people signed a petition submitted Monday by Portugal's Left Bloc party, urging the government to ban the use of Lajes Air Base by the United States for military operations against Iran.

According to the party, the letter has been delivered to the official residence of the prime minister, calling on the government to prohibit U.S. aircraft from using the base for strikes targeting Iran.

"We have brought the government an open letter, signed by about 8,500 people, expressing indignation and demanding that the government condemn this conflict and, above all, take concrete action - not just rhetorically, but effectively - by prohibiting the use of the Lajes Air Base by U.S. aircraft for this purpose," the party's coordinator Jose Manuel Pureza said.

The letter also urges Portugal to follow Spain's example by restricting flights linked to the attacks and denying U.S. access to certain military bases. The party accused the government of complicity and said the use of Lajes Air Base could contradict international law.

Pureza also referred to a report by SIC stating that MQ-9 Reaper military drones, often referred to as "killer drones," were scheduled to arrive at the Lajes Air base on Monday night.

"The fact that a significant number of U.S. drones are expected to land at the Lajes Air Base today for use in the conflict further aggravates the Portuguese government's complicity," he said.

According to the official Lusa News Agency, the Portuguese government granted "conditional authorization" for the use of the Lajes Air Base after the start of the attacks, stipulating that the facility could only be used "in response to an attack, within a framework of defense or retaliation," that actions must be "necessary and proportionate," and that targets must be "of a military nature."

Speaking in parliament in mid-March, Portugal's Prime Minister Luis Montenegro said that, based on information available to the government, U.S. use of the Lajes Air Base "has complied with the conditions underlying the authorization" granted by Portugal.

Since the start of the U.S. and Israeli operations against Iran, multiple refueling aircraft have departed from the Lajes base on a near-daily basis for aerial refueling missions, according to local media. 
This photo taken on March 28, 2026 shows a car service center which was hit by a missile strike in eastern Tehran, Iran. (Xinhua)

CAIRO, March 29 (Xinhua) -- The U.S.-Israeli campaign against Iran that began with targeted "decapitation" strikes on Feb. 28 has spiralled into a multi-front regional war with no end in sight.

As Sunday marks the 30-day milestone of the conflict, has the United States shifted its striking targets already? Is it ready to initiate a new phase of the campaign involving ground operations? And is it really vying for a diplomatic off-ramp? Here's what you need to know.





FROM MILITARY ASSETS TO ECONOMIC, ENERGY INFRASTRUCTURE

In the first weeks of the war, U.S. and Israeli airstrikes focused primarily on eliminating key leadership and hitting Iran's military installations, missile launch sites, and command-and-control centers.

U.S. Navy Admiral Brad Cooper, who commands U.S. military forces in the region, claimed Wednesday in a video message that his forces had hit over 10,000 targets, destroying 92 percent of Iran's largest ships and more than two-thirds of its missile, drone and naval production facilities. "We're not done yet," he said.

Yet, as the conflict has dragged into its second month, targeting priorities have shifted significantly toward Iran's economic lifelines and energy infrastructure.

On March 13, U.S. warplanes bombed Iran's Kharg Island, Iran's main oil export hub in the Gulf, striking over 90 military sites. While initial strikes were described as targeting defensive positions, the island's oil infrastructure has since become a focal point, as Washington seeks to cripple Tehran's ability to generate revenue and sustain its war effort.

Meanwhile, Israeli and U.S. strikes have increasingly hit Iran's power distribution centers and industrial facilities. Iranian media reported in early March that an electricity distribution center supplying large sections of Tehran's eastern neighborhoods was knocked out for several hours after an airstrike.

U.S. and Israeli forces also expanded targets to include a heavy water production plant and a yellowcake production facility in central Iran, two steel plants in central and southwestern Iran, and a cement plant in southwestern Iran, all on Friday alone.

The University of Science and Technology in Tehran and the Isfahan University of Technology in the central city of Isfahan were also struck earlier this week.

Some analysts believed that the strategic logic behind this shift appears twofold -- to pressure Iran economically by targeting its energy exports, crucial for foreign revenues, and to demonstrate Washington's ability to strike anywhere inside Iran with impunity, and hence potentially force Tehran to the negotiating table.

A man is taken away by police officers during a protest against the U.S.-Israeli military strikes against Iran in Tel Aviv, Israel, March 28, 2026. (Xinhua/Chen Junqing)

TROOPS, SHIPS AND GROUND PREPARATION

The U.S. military presence in the region has expanded dramatically in recent days. On Saturday, the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said the USS Tripoli, an amphibious assault ship carrying some 3,500 Marines and sailors, had arrived in the Middle East. The group also includes "transport and strike fighter aircraft, as well as amphibious assault and tactical assets," CENTCOM said in a post on social media platform X. This adds to what officials described as the largest U.S. force buildup in the region in more than 20 years.

The Pentagon has also deployed AH-64 Apache attack helicopters for operating on Iran's southern flank, CENTCOM said in updates released on March 16 and March 18.

The New York Times reported Tuesday that the United States is expected to send around 3,000 troops from the elite 82nd Airborne Division to the region, in addition to roughly 2,500 more soldiers from Asia. The Wall Street Journal and AFP both reported on Friday that U.S. officials are now considering sending up to 10,000 additional troops to the region to join thousands of paratroopers and Marines already there.

Meanwhile, despite U.S. State Secretary Marco Rubio's Saturday remarks insisting that the United States "can achieve all of our objectives without ground troops," several media reports have revealed that the Pentagon is drafting options for weeks, or even months, of potential ground operations in Iran.

The Washington Post, citing unnamed U.S. officials, said Saturday that the plans, which have been under development and "war-gamed," focus on limited but high-risk ground operations "by a mixture of Special Operations forces and conventional infantry troops," including raids into coastal areas near the Strait of Hormuz to "find and destroy weapons" capable of targeting international commercial and military shipping, rather than a full-scale invasion.

Smoke billows after explosions heard in Tehran, Iran, March 28, 2026. (Xinhua/Shadati)

TALKS, THREATS, AND HORMUZ STRAIT

Perhaps the most striking feature of the conflict's 30th day is the stark disconnect between U.S. diplomatic rhetoric and military preparations. On Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump claimed Washington had reached "major points of agreement" with Iran, telling reporters the two sides were "going to get together" by phone and that he had ordered a five-day delay of planned strikes on Iranian energy facilities. Washington had also proposed a 15-point ceasefire plan to Iran via intermediaries from Pakistan.

However, Tehran has repeatedly denied any direct or indirect communication with the United States. The semi-official Fars news agency reported Monday that there had been no contact, while the Iranian Foreign Ministry dismissed Trump's remarks as "part of efforts to reduce energy prices and buy time" for military plans. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi reiterated on Wednesday that Iran does "not intend to negotiate. So far, no negotiations have taken place."

On Sunday, Iran's Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf accused Washington of "openly sending a message of negotiation and secretly planning a ground attack."

Iran has also officially rejected the U.S. 15-point proposal and responded with its own five-point plan, which includes war reparations, guarantees against future attacks, and control over the Strait of Hormuz.

This photo shows a damaged building after joint U.S.-Israeli strikes in Tehran, Iran on March 29, 2026. (Xinhua/Shadati)

Reacting to Tehran's attitude, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt warned Wednesday that the United States would "unleash hell" on Iran if Tehran does not accept a deal. A day later, Trump said if Iran does not agree to a deal, it will face a U.S. "onslaught."

Behind the diplomatic theater, the Pentagon is drafting four "final blow" options for Trump, Axios reported Thursday, citing sources.

The options include invading or blockading Kharg Island, seizing Larak Island, a strategic location for controlling the Strait of Hormuz, capturing Abu Musa, Greater Tunb and Lesser Tunb, three strategic islands in the Gulf near the Strait of Hormuz that are controlled by Iran but claimed by the United Arab Emirates, as well as blockading or seizing vessels exporting Iranian oil through the eastern Strait of Hormuz.

Axios added that U.S. military planners have also drawn up options for seizing highly-enriched uranium stored at Iranian nuclear sites. 
WASHINGTON, March 29 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump said Sunday that he wants to "take the oil in Iran" and could seize Kharg Island, the country's oil export hub.

In an interview with the Financial Times, Trump said, "To be honest with you, my favourite thing is to take the oil in Iran," comparing the U.S. move to Venezuela, where Washington intends to control the oil industry "indefinitely" after it forcibly seized President Nicolas Maduro in January.

Taking Iranian oil would involve seizing Kharg Island, through which over 90 percent of Iran's oil is exported, the Financial Times reported, warning that such "an assault" risks raising casualties and prolonging the war.

"Maybe we take Kharg Island, maybe we don't. We have a lot of options," it quoted Trump as saying. "It would also mean we had to be there for a while."

He added that he believed Iran had little or no defense on the island. "We could take it very easily," he said.

Trump's remarks came as he steps up the U.S. military buildup in the Middle East while weighing a military operation to extract nearly 1,000 pounds of uranium from Iran, according to U.S. officials.

He has also encouraged his advisers to press Iran to agree to surrender the material as a condition for ending the war, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing an anonymous source familiar with Trump's thinking.

The Pentagon is reportedly deploying up to 10,000 additional ground troops to the region, with the U.S. Central Command announcing Saturday that over 3,500 troops, including 2,500 Marines, had arrived in the Middle East.

Despite the threat, Trump noted that indirect talks between the United States and Iran via Pakistani "emissaries" were making progress. "A deal could be made fairly quickly," he said.

Oil prices have surged since the United States and Israel launched massive attacks on Iran on Feb. 28, with Brent crude rising as high as 119.5 U.S. dollars a barrel in March, the highest since June 2022. 
In what could be called the Great Wine Decline, the wine industry has suffered a 21% decrease in revenue from the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 through 2025, which has led to a surge in winery closings.

The wine sector's total revenue fell by $19.7 billion over the six-year period, or from $94 billion in 2020 to $74.3 billion in 2025, according to Silicon Valley Banks State of the U.S. Wine Industry Report.

Industry experts blame a decline in consumption by its top demographic, Baby Boomers, for the slowdown in wine sales.

Kenwood Vineyards owner Pernod Ricard Kenwood Holding LLC closed its 56-year-old winery and sold its assets to F. Korbel & Bros.Shutterstock  Shutterstock

Kenwood Vineyards closes winery

The most recent closure was a major California winery, Kenwood Vineyards, which closed its operations on March 27, according to its website, with no estimated date for resuming its business.

"Kenwood Vineyards is closed until further notice. Check back in April for updates," a message on the website stated.

The Kenwood, Calif., winery's owner, Pernod Ricard Kenwood Holding LLC, filed a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification letter with the California Employment Development Department on March 23, asserting that it would permanently close the business by March 31 and lay off all 14 employees by that date.

Korbel buys winery for $4 million

The Sonoma Valley-based winery will likely reopen under new ownership, as Pernod Ricard sold the 33-acre Kenwood Vineyards for $4 million to Kenwood Winery Land LLC, which is led by Gary Heck, owner of F. Korbel & Bros., the producer of Korbel California Champagne and Brandy, the Press Democrat reported.

F. Korbel returns as owner of Kenwood Vineyards after selling the winery to Pernod Ricard in May 2014 for under $100 million. The real estate alone was valued at $7.2 million, according to county records at the time.

Winery produces half a million cases

Korbel purchased half ownership in Kenwood Vineyards 30 years ago and took full ownership in 1999. The winery's production grew from about 300,000 cases annually to about half a million when Pernod Ricard purchased it in 2014, according to the Press Democrat.

Kenwood Vineyards was Pernod Ricard's first Sonoma County purchase as part of a U.S. expansion in 2014, but it was also its last wine holding before the recent sale, as the company has shifted its focus to spirits.

Before selling the Kenwood winery, Pernod Ricard sold its Mumm Napa label in December to Napa Valley-based Trinchero Family Wine & Spirits.

Two other major California wineries also announced facility closings and filed WARN notices before Kenwood Vineyards' closing.

Other major wineries close facilities

E. & J. Gallo, the largest wine company in the U.S., is permanently closing its Ranch Winery in St. Helena, Calif., and laying off all 56 employees by April 15, 2026, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) notice it filed with the California Employment Development Department on Feb. 12.
Jenni Leister, co-owner and Director of Operations at Bunyaad Marketplace in Lancaster County, said the company has resisted raising prices on its hand-knotted Pakistani carpets following tariff expenses. (Photo courtesey of Jenni Leister)

The Bunyaad Marketplace in Lititz, where colorful, hand-knotted carpets from Pakistan are stacked nearly to the hip and hang on the walls, has an explicit fair trade mission to sell its inventory at a price that pays its artisans a living wage for their craftsmanship.

Co-owner and Director of Operations Jenni Leister proudly shares that over half of their rugs are made by women living in the villages of her husbands homeland, even if it comes at a higher cost. But combining that expense with tariffs has forced the Lancaster County company to be scrappy.

We find ways here in North America to minimize our overhead, to do things as economically as possible, said Leister. When the tariffs came in for a lot of the fair traders that we work with, we certainly did see costs go up and we knew how hard that was hitting them.

Paying a fair wage to their artisans is important to Bunyaan Marketplace, according to co-owner Jenni Leister. The hand-knotted rugs are crafted in homes across Pakistani villages, allowing some mothers to work and balance child care. (Photo courtesy of Jenni Leister)

The dollars needed to get a $12,000 rug shipment across the ocean was hard to stomach knowing what amazing good that could do in Pakistan.

Our customers are feeling the rising costs everywhere  everything from when they go into their local department store or their local grocery store, said Leister. This is not a way to make the world a more just and equitable place for all.

Products from Pakistan and textile furnishings, in particular, were both taxed at a higher rate under a now-defunct class of tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump during his second term. After the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a category of fees in February, they were quickly replaced, but some small businesses are calling for refunds.

We Pay the Tariffs  a coalition of more than 1,100 small businesses, including Bunyaad Marketplace and 42 others in Pennsylvania  reported that companies in the commonwealth had paid $4.5 billion in illegal tariffs nearly one year after their announcement on Liberation Day.

Leister couldnt put a price tag on the amount of tariffs paid through Bunyaad, but said the store staffing is at the barest of bones and theyve pulled back advertising dollars. Americans feeling a financial pinch may already hesitate to buy a high-quality rug, so Leister said theyve tried to avoid a price increase.

We are constantly juggling, How much of the increased cost of things can we take before we must pass it on to our customers? Because we also want to stay in business. Because if were not in business, were not supporting the artisans that we work with, said Leister. But on the other hand, we also realize that we are a choice business. Its not food.

SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
After nearly four decades working in New York City, Scott Scovel was ready for something new. In 2019, he sold his Manhattan condo for $1.65 million, and in 2021, he took a job in Miami.. He was hoping to benefit from Florida's lack of income tax and relatively lower cost of living.

The tax savings, it turned out, didn't impact him as much as he'd expected. While working, he says he saved around $40,000 a year. But the real advantage was how much further his housing budget stretched.

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He spent $727,500 on a two-bedroom condo in Miami, which left him with just under a million from the sale of his NYC residence  and that cushion allowed him to retire much earlier.

"I suddenly realized I could afford to retire years earlier than I expected," Scovel told Business Insider (1). "For that, I'm extremely grateful to Miami."

His story raises an interesting question: If you have a significant amount of home equity, could a similar move work for you?

No income taxes doesn't mean lower taxes

Florida has no personal state income tax (2), which can be a huge advantage for high earners. Scovel estimated that when living in New York, state and city taxes cost him close to $40,000 in some years. Moving to Florida wiped that out entirely.

But that benefit has a shelf life. Once Scovel retired and stopped drawing a salary, the income tax advantage no longer mattered, since Florida doesn't tax investment income (3) or Social Security. But New York also doesn't tax Social Security benefits (4), though it does tax investments (5).

What about everyday costs? Scovel found them roughly similar. Groceries were modestly cheaper, but transportation was actually pricier in Miami, since he needed a car (or costly rideshares) rather than the subway in New York. Many purchases he made online, like clothing and household goods, didn't change in price at all.

There's also the cost of property taxes to consider. Florida only charges .8% in property taxes (6), but Miami has property taxes, too, which tacks on another 2% (7). Scovel could expect to pay around $14,000 a year in property taxes based on the state's tax estimator. Of course, New York's property taxes are quite high  as much as 20% (8) compared to Floridas.

There's also homeowners' insurance to consider. Florida's rates are notoriously high  a policy for a $300,000 home runs around $5,800, which is more than $3,000 higher than the national average. The same policy on a similar house in New York costs an estimated $1,800 (9).

The lesson here is that if you're counting on a relocation to dramatically slash your monthly expenses, do the math carefully before you move. The day-to-day savings may be smaller than you think.

Read More: 5 essential money moves to make once youve saved $50,000

Can housing arbitrage work for you?

The real benefit for Scovel wasn't tax policy  it was the massive amount of home equity from his NYC sale and the relatively cheaper housing market in Florida. The concept is pretty simple: Sell a high-value property in an expensive market and buy a similar one for cheaper elsewhere.

If you're considering a comparable move, here are a few things to keep in mind:

You need meaningful equity

This strategy only works if you're sitting on a significant amount of equity and can buy and move to a cheaper area. Run the numbers on both sides  and make sure to consider things like homeowners' insurance and property taxes.

Mind the tax bill on your sale

The IRS excludes up to $250,000 (10) in home-sale gains from capital gains taxes ($500,000 for married couples filing jointly) if you've lived in the residence for at least 2 of the last 5 years. Anything above that figure is taxed, and if your home has dramatically increased in value, the tax bill could be high.

The numbers can change

Scovel arrived in 2021, just after the pandemic. Median home sales have risen since then, though prices are cooling this year (11). Still, math that worked just a few years ago might not be as financially prudent today.

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Article sources

We rely only on vetted sources and credible third-party reporting. For details, see our editorial ethics and guidelines.

Business Insider (1); State of Florida (2); Smart Asset (3); Fidelity (4, 10); Edelman Financial Engines (5); Tax Foundation (6); Tomas Regalado (7); NYC Department of Finance (8; Bankrate (9); Redfin (11)

This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind.
The two sides involved in the now mostly-ended legal battle over Rhode Island truck tolls each asked a court for big payouts from the other side for legal fees, but few were ultimately ordered after two separate judicial officers got done with their work.

Both the American Trucking Associations and the defendants they sued, one individual and one agency of the Rhode Island state government, sought payments in the millions from the other side in the battle over whether the state could implement a truck-only tolling program dubbed RhodeWorks.

In that litigation, Rhode Island mostly prevailed, but not entirely; the ATA could claim one small victory.

That dichotomy is why both parties could seek to have the other side pay its legal bills. The end result, through a ruling last week by Rhode Island Federal District Court Judge John McConnell, is that the ATA is getting nothing and the state of Rhode Island is getting an amount that would be considered small by most measures.

The background irony is that though an appellate court decision in December 2024 ultimately allowed the truck-specific tolls to be implemented, Rhode Island hasnt launched them yet and said recently that it wont be able to until next year.

At a recent hearing before a Rhode Island House committee, according to news reports, Robert Rocchio, the interim director of the Rhode Island Department of Transportation said the equipment needed to conduct the truck-only tolls is past its life cycle and needs to be rebuilt.

RIDOT expects the gantries to be operational in March 2027, but the timeline is still dependent on how long it takes to install the new gantries and for the state to find a new collection contractor, the report from television station WPRI said.

So even as the regulation that kicked off the lengthy court battle awaits the infrastructure needed to be put into operation, the two legal combatants over the issue went to court to lay their claims to have the other side pay their legal expenses.

In the end, nobody got all that much, though they asked for plenty.

Both sides asked to be considered prevailing parties. They both were granted that status by Magistrate Patricia Sullivan, though in the case of ATA, to a limited degree.

More than $20 million sought by ATA

The biggest request came from ATA. It had asked for just over $20 million for work by both its in-house and outside counsel, the law firm of Mayer Brown, as well as related legal expenses. It also sought just over $1 million in costs.

The states request was for attorney fees of just over $7.6 million, and other costs of $789,795.19.
Washington is racing to secure American leadership in artificial intelligence. Lawmakers are investing in semiconductor capacity, energy infrastructure, domestic manufacturing, and supply chain resilience  all with AI at the center of economic strategy.

But there is a structural gap in that strategy that few are talking about.

AI leadership depends on more than compute, talent, and capital. It also depends on whether the United States offers predictable and enforceable patent protection for the technologies that companies are building and investors are financing. In the global competition for AI dominance, intellectual property policy is not peripheral  it is foundational.

Recent Federal Circuit decisions affecting applied AI patents have renewed debate over subject matter eligibility under Section 101 of the Patent Act. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has issued helpful guidance clarifying examination standards for AI-related inventions  a needed step. But for companies deploying AI into real-world systems, from advanced manufacturing to grid modernization to defense, the operative question is durability: Will a duly issued patent withstand challenge? Will it support financing and commercialization? Will it provide meaningful remedies if infringed?

This distinction is especially significant in applied AI  AI embedded in industrial processes, energy systems, logistics networks, and health technologies. That is where large-scale private capital flows, and where enforceable patent protection most directly shapes investment decisions. When patent rights are uncertain, investors factor in that risk. Some move their capital toward less risky industries  or less risky jurisdictions.

What China and Europe are already doing

Other major economies treat patent policy as a core component of their industrial strategy. China integrates intellectual property objectives into its national AI plans, pairing patent development with enforcement capacity. The European Patent Office has issued structured guidance on AI patentability designed to produce predictable outcomes when software-based inventions demonstrate technical effect.

The United States retains extraordinary strengths: leading research institutions, deep capital markets, entrepreneurial dynamism, and a sophisticated patent system. But sustained AI leadership depends not only on technological capability  it depends on legal certainty.

Three priorities for a forward-looking agenda

1. Maintain clarity in AI patent examination. The USPTOs AI-related guidance provides a constructive foundation. Continued refinement, examiner training, and transparent application of eligibility standards are essential to ensure consistent outcomes across technologies and industries. Predictable examination reduces friction at the front end of innovation.
The future of work might not come with a timecard. It might come with a tax bill. Mark Cuban jumped into the AI debate on X with a mock IPO "Risk Factors" section that reads less like satire and more like a preview of what companies could soon be forced to disclose.

He was responding after Tesla CEO Elon Musk wrote, "Working will be optional in the future," in a post on X Saturday.

A four-year timeline that changes everything

Cuban's response didn't ease into the idea. He went straight to speed.

"Within the next 4 years we expect to completely recreate all processes and procedures in each organization to optimize the replacement of humans with humanoids and AI."

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That line does two things at once. It sets a timeline and raises the stakes. This isn't framed as a slow transition or a distant future. It's a near-term overhaul of how companies operate.

In simple terms, Cuban is describing a world where businesses redesign themselves to rely far less on human labor. AI systems and humanoid robots wouldn't just assist workers. They would replace them at scale.

That aligns with Musk's broader view. He has repeatedly suggested that advanced AI could make traditional jobs unnecessary for survival. Work would become optional, more like a choice than a requirement.

If work disappears, tax revenue doesn't

Cuban's biggest warning isn't about technology. It's about what happens after.

"In the event our prediction that work will be optional is actualized, we expect local, state and federal governments to institute new and unpredictable taxes including a robot utilization tax, a token utilization tax and who the fuck knows what else."

Trending: Skip the Regrets: The Essential Retirement Tips Experts Wish Everyone Knew Earlier.

The logic is straightforward. Today, governments collect a large share of revenue from human labor through income taxes and payroll taxes. If fewer people are working, that stream shrinks.

Cuban's point is that governments won't simply accept that loss. They'll look for new ways to replace it. That could mean taxing the tools doing the work instead of the people who used to do it.

The idea isn't new. Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates said in 2017 that companies using robots to replace workers could be taxed in a similar way to human labor. The goal would be to offset lost revenue and potentially fund retraining or public services.
New hospitality platform Mezza has begun operations in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), offering upfront capital to restaurants in exchange for future food and beverage credit.

The platform is launched at a time when restaurant operators in the UAE are searching for different ways to sustain guest numbers and repeat visits, according to the companys press release on Zawya.

Mezza focuses on independent venues and multi-restaurant groups and aims to address two recurring issues faced by operators: securing non-debt funding and attracting a steady stream of new diners.

Under its approach, the company advances cash to restaurants and, instead of charging interest or taking equity, receives food and beverage credit.

The business buys this credit at a wholesale rate from partner venues and then allocates it to members via the app.

Restaurants can access between Dh20,000 ($5,445) and Dh10m ($2.7m) through the Mezza.

The capital can be directed towards operating expenses, growth projects or stabilising revenue.

Redemption of the credit is typically spread over 12 months. This is intended to distribute the cost to restaurants across the year while helping to smooth out customer traffic.

Mezza founder Kevin Boubil was quoted by Zawya as saying: Restaurants often face two major challenges: access to capital and the ability to consistently attract new customers.

Mezza was built to solve both. We provide funding without debt or dilution while helping restaurants bring more diners through their doors, not just on weekends, but throughout the year.

Mezza has already signed agreements with several hospitality operators, including Italian restaurant Chic Nonna.

The operators are selected on criteria such as food quality, brand standing and overall guest experience.

To fund its rollout and future expansion, Mezza has also closed a Seed investment round, which was supported by investors including the founders of PropertyFinder and Jellysmack, as well as the chairman of Deel.

Earlier this month, UAE-based food delivery platforms warned of longer waits due to regional instability linked to the Iran conflict.

"Mezza debuts in UAE to offer upfront capital to restaurants" was originally created and published by Verdict Food Service, a GlobalData owned brand.




While high-end coastal living always commands a premium, wealthy Californians moving to Miami could effectively give themselves a five-figure raise by swapping the Golden State's peak state income tax rate for Florida's 0% tax environment.

Kevin Rutois, a luxury real estate adviser at Rutois International Realty specializing in executive clientele looking to settle in Miami, recently crunched the numbers, finding that a Californian earning $500,000 could pocket more than $51,000 in annual tax savings by moving from Los Angeles or San Francisco to Magic City.

Rutois calculation, laid out in a weekend LinkedIn post, assumes a minimum tax rate of 10.3% for a $500,000-a-year salary, but it could be as high as 11.3%.

In fact, California has the nation's highest state income tax rate, with a top margin of 13.3% reserved for the highest earners.

On the other hand, Florida is one of just nine states that have no state income tax on wages. The others are Alaska, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming.

For affluent Californians with flexible work arrangements, the financial argument for Miami becomes undeniable.

"Income tax is a huge burden in California and in Florida that tax rate is a nice round zero," says Realtor.com senior economist Joel Berner. "For those who are able to work where they want, living and earning in Florida is a major advantage."

Rutois points out that an L.A.-to-Miami move is not just about this years tax bill. He writes that what most people tend to overlook is what he calls "the compound effect."

According to the adviser, a Miami transplant saving over $51,000 a year on state taxes over 10 years could invest that windfall at 7%, raking in over $750,000 in additional wealth.

"That's a down payment on a second property. That's early retirement acceleration," writes Rutois.

West Coast vs. East Coast

A high-earner in Los Angeles has to pay state income tax and contend with sky-high home prices and a possible long commute. (Getty Images)

Comparing the housing markets of L.A., San Francisco, and Miami, it is apparent that the bustling Florida hub is the more budget-friendly option.

In February, the median listing price in Miami was $499,999, less than half of Los Angeles' median and over $400,000 cheaper than San Francisco's, according to the latest Realtor.com monthly housing report.

Miami has been on Californians' radar since the days of the pandemic, but Rutois says the profile of the West Coast transplant shopping for homes in the Sunshine State has evolved.

"Early on, there were more opportunistic and curious people, testing Miami and taking advantage of the freedom," Rutois tells Realtor.com. "Now its much more intentional. People are committing long term, moving companies, and building real infrastructure here."
The Washington Supreme Court affirmed last April that it was illegal for marketers to send emails with subject lines containing any false or misleading information, not just those that concealed a commercial intent.

The ruling, prompted by a Pierce County womans ongoing federal lawsuit against Old Navy, was a broader interpretation of the states Commercial Electronic Mail Act (CEMA) than hoped by industry groups representing retailers. The groups feared the decision would significantly increase legal risks for businesses that send emails to customers.

Not quite a year later, the Washington Retail Association says that more than 80 related lawsuits have been filed against businesses in Washington courts, many targeting routine email subject lines without allegations of consumer harm. Prior to the courts decision, only eight such lawsuits had been filed since CEMA was introduced in 1998, according to The Seattle Times editorial board.

The Washington Retail Association, which represents more than 3,500 storefronts statewide, has been lobbying for legislative protections.

On Wednesday, the association announced that Gov. Bob Ferguson signed into law this week a bipartisan bill that the group called a first step in slowing the growing number of lawsuits. House Bill 2274 requires someone who sends a commercial email to know that its subject line is considered false or misleading for it to be a violation of CEMA and decreases statutory damages for recipients of emails that violate the act.

The current trajectory of lawsuits caused by the broad interpretation of CEMA is unsustainable and puts an undue level of uncertainty for businesses that genuinely offer sales and promotions, Alesha Shemwell, the associations interim president and CEO, said in a statement.

Rep. Larry Springer, D-Kirkland, was one of House Bill 2274s sponsors. When the bill was introduced in January, Springer offered the example of up to 80% off to illustrate current legal disputes involving email subject lines.

What if you came in and the item you bought was 65% off? Springer said. Thats technically a violation or could be construed to be a violation.

The state Supreme Court weighed in on CEMA after a Pierce County woman and another plaintiff in a proposed class-action lawsuit against Old Navy sought to clarify the scope of the laws protections. Their lawsuit, filed in 2023, claimed that the national clothing retailers email subject lines misstated the duration of promotions to create a false sense of urgency, among other allegedly deceptive practices.
Subscribers to The Washington Post recently received a routine notice: their subscription price was going up. Buried in the fine print was an unusual disclosure:

This price was set by an algorithm using your personal data.

Must Read

The single line, first highlighted in a Washingtonian investigation, has pulled back the curtain on a pricing strategy that many consumers dont realize is already shaping what they pay for groceries to airline tickets (1).

From surge pricing to surveillance pricing

Dynamic pricing isnt new.

Airlines have long adjusted ticket prices based on demand. Ride-hailing apps also increase fares during busy periods. Meanwhile, hotels charge more during peak travel seasons.

Traditional dynamic pricing responds to market factors like time, inventory and demand.

Thanks to the advancements in AI, its possible for companies to set prices based on your online behavior. Regulators increasingly refer to this as surveillance pricing.

According to a January 2025 Federal Trade Commission (FTC) study , companies are already using personal data  including browsing history, location and even mouse movements  to tailor prices to individual consumers (2). In some cases, two people may see different prices for the same product, depending on who they are and how they behave online.

Retailers frequently use peoples personal information to set targeted, tailored prices, FTC Chair Lina Khan said in the report.

Read More: 5 essential money moves to make once youve saved $50,000

What data are companies using?

The Washington Post has not publicly detailed its pricing algorithm. However, Luca Cian, a University of Virginia business professor, told The Washingtonian that such systems typically rely on a mix of demographic signals, behavioural data, and inferred income (1).

These factors can include:
Imagine this: youre 62, living in Texas and gleefully looking forward to retirement. Youve got about $67,000 in unsecured debt  a mix of credit cards and personal loans  and a dream of starting fresh in Portugal, where the cost of living is lower and the pace of life is slower.

But one question nags at you. If you leave the U.S. before paying it off, what actually happens to that debt?

Must Read

Its a situation more Americans are facing. While countries like Portugal and Italy have become popular retirement destinations, personal finance advice rarely tackles what happens when you dont leave debt-free.

The short answer: your debt doesnt disappear, but collecting on it gets complicated.

Your debt doesnt vanish  even if you do

No matter where you live, you still legally owe what you borrowed. Moving abroad doesnt erase your obligations to lenders.

However, enforcement is another story.

According to Experian, creditors can still attempt to collect unpaid debts if you move overseas, but pursuing you internationally is often difficult and expensive (1). That creates a gap between what you owe and what creditors can realistically recover.

What happens after you stop paying?

If you fall behind, your lender will typically try to collect for several months before escalating the account.

Under U.S. banking regulations, credit card accounts are generally charged off after about 180 days of delinquency (2), meaning the lender writes the debt off as a loss for accounting purposes  but you still owe it.

After that point, the debt is often assigned to a collection agency or sold to a third-party debt buyer. Those collectors can continue pursuing repayment.

Read More: 5 essential money moves to make once youve saved $50,000

Can creditors actually reach you overseas?

This is where things get murky.

Creditors can still attempt to collect, but pursuing someone internationally can be difficult, costly and often impractical, especially for unsecured debts like credit cards (3).

In many cases, a creditor would need to (4):
Oil prices continued to rise on Monday, with Brent crude approaching a record monthly increase, following attacks by Yemeni Houthis on Israel over the weekend, escalating the ongoing conflict in the Middle East involving the US and Iran.

By 09:33 GMT, Brent crude futures rose by $3.20, reaching $115.77 per barrel after a 4.2% increase on Friday, reported Reuters.

Meanwhile, US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) increased by $1.86 to $101.51 per barrel following a gain of 5.5% in the preceding session.

US President Donald Trump stated that there have been both direct and indirect meetings with Iran, noting that the country's new leadership has shown reasonableness.

Concurrently, more US troops have been deployed to the region, and the Israeli military confirmed strikes on Iranian infrastructure in Tehran.

The current escalation in conflict has led to Brent's 60% rise this month, marking the most significant monthly jump since the 1990 Gulf War. This increase in prices was due to the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a vital passage for global oil and gas shipping.

In response, Saudi Arabia has rerouted crude exports from the Strait of Hormuz to Yanbu port in the Red Sea, which recorded exports of 4.658 million barrels per day last week, as per Kplers data.

Over the weekend, attacks damaged Omans Salalah terminal amid attempts to initiate ceasefire talks.

Pakistan Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar highlighted discussions aimed at resolving the conflict and potential US-Iran talks in Islamabad.

Meanwhile, Vietnam's Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical disclosed ongoing negotiations to purchase Russian crude oil while also planning acquisitions from Africa, the US, and Southeast Asia.

In related developments, two LPG tankers bound for India successfully navigated through the Strait of Hormuz despite disruptions caused by the conflict, Reuters reported.

They are scheduled to arrive at Mumbai and New Mangalore by March 31 and April 1, respectively.

The war has largely halted traffic through the strait, however, Tehran has allowed non-hostile vessels passage if coordinated with Iranian authorities.

According to LSEG ship tracking data, four Indian LPG tankers have completed crossings while three remain on route in the western section of the strait.

A total of 18 Indian-flagged vessels with 485 Indian seafarers are still located in the western Gulf.

"Oil prices surge as Houthi attacks escalate Middle East conflict" was originally created and published by Offshore Technology, a GlobalData owned brand.




Calling a cryptocurrency the next XRP (CRYPTO: XRP) is practically shorthand for describing an asset that starts small, builds real utility within a tightly focused niche, and eventually vaults into the crypto big leagues. Bittensor (CRYPTO: TAO) has invited that comparison lately. Its price popped by 57% during the last three months alone (as of March 24), thanks to its increasingly successful ecosystem of projects, many of which pertain to training or testing artificial intelligence (AI) models.

But the comparison to XRP deserves some scrutiny. XRP and Bittensor sit at opposite ends of the cryptocurrency design spectrum, and understanding how they differ is essential for evaluating whether Bittensor can deliver comparable returns. Let's dig in and determine if it really could become the next XRP.

Will AI create the world's first trillionaire? Our team just released a report on the one little-known company, called an "Indispensable Monopoly" providing the critical technology Nvidia and Intel both need. Continue 

Image source: Getty Images.

This is a decentralized marketplace that took notes from Bitcoin

Bittensor is an open-source blockchain with many different stakeholders and moving parts.

There are the miners, who provide the network with their computing power, and who are granted new TAO -- the Bittensor chain's native token and the investment we're talking about here -- by the network itself as a reward for their service. Hosted on the network are more than 120 subnets, each of which automatically performs the specific computing task (or otherwise avails the computing resources) that users want by provisioning some of the computational power available on the network.

Some subnets charge users in TAO for their services, whereas others have different business models. To keep everyone honest, there are also validators, who, in an automated fashion, are responsible for checking the validity and quality of whatever the miners offer to the customers of the subnet, thereby directly influencing the reward the miners get. The validators themselves are paid in a token issued by the subnet.

Today, most of the chain's subnets compete with each other to provide AI services like raw compute rental, AI model training, data storage, or inference. So, there's likely to be plenty of demand right now and in the near future, assuming that the people who might need those services are willing to use cryptocurrency to procure them.

In terms of Bittensor's supply, it mirrors Bitcoin's almost exactly. Bittensor features a hard cap of 21 million TAO that can ever exist, and a four-year halving cycle that cuts the production of new tokens in half.
Franklin Templeton And Coinbase Back Midas In $50M Funding Round

Tokenized investment product firm Midas says it closed a $50 million Series A funding round on Monday.

The round was led by RRE Ventures and Creandum, with Franklin Templeton, Coinbase Ventures, Framework Ventures, and Anchorage Digital also participating.

The German based company has been on a tear, recently reporting a record-breaking quarter, with its suite of mTokens surpassing $1.7 billion in total assets minted. The company says its distributed more than $37 million in yield to investors since its inception.

More From Cryptoprowl:

Todays announcement highlighted the launch of the firms Midas Staked Liquidity, a standalone liquidity layer that enables instant withdrawals by utilizing a $40 million pre-funded capital pool.

"At Midas, our vision is to make investing work like the internet: open, transparent, composable - and for everyone. With the closing of our Series A, we are thrilled to advance these efforts and build the future for onchain investing. Dennis Dinkelmeyer | CEO & Co-Founder, Midas

Midas also unveiled its Attestation Engine, which provides continuous, on-chain Proof of Reserve and Net Asset Value (NAV) updates. The system allows users and DeFi protocols to independently verify the underlying collateral for every mToken in real-time.

The company said it plans to use the new funds to expand its product range beyond treasury bills and yield-bearing trade products into more complex asset classes, including reinsurance, private credit, and tokenized equities. The firm is also deepening its integrations with Morpho and Pendle, where mTokens are increasingly used as collateral for lending and yield-farming.

The recent Series A follows an $8.75 million seed round in 2024, bringing Midass total funding to nearly $59 million.
Hyperliquid now has 100,000 weekly users and handles $50 billion in weekly volume  and the rush onchain to stocks and commodities is just getting started, industry insiders say.

The burst of trading activity on the crypto-native decentralised exchange is getting noticed beyond the crypto community, Kam Benbrik, head of research at Bitwises onchain division, told DL News.

Perpetual contracts are structurally superior for commodity trading, and this is why we're seeing such a high volume on Hyperliquid, Benbrik said.

The DEXs record numbers come as crypto investors have also pushed Hyperliquids native HYPE token up 44% in March to just over $38 at time of reporting, making it one of the best performing large-cap cryptoassets.

To be sure, HYPE is still down some 35% from its September peak of nearly $60. However, it is significantly outperforming the likes of industry leaders like Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana.

Weekend fix

With no end in sight to the US-Israeli war on Iran, traders have come to depend on Hyperliquid for their weekend markets fix.

The main signal of real TradFi interest is the 24/7 angle: when the crisis in the Middle East hit on a weekend and oil surged, the liquid venue to trade the underlying was Hyperliquid, Benbrik said.

Gold, silver, and oil perpetuals have already become a major part of the DEXs trading volume, alongside cryptoassets like Bitcoin. And Hyperliquid could potentially add other popular globally relevant commodities such as uranium and aluminium, Benbrik said.

Perpetual futures eliminate expiry, rolling, and delivery risk, and that this is a structural improvement compared to dated futures for commodity exposure, he said. Those are real frictions in traditional commodity futures markets..

With Brent crude now sitting at around $115 a barrel amid continuing disruption around the Strait of Hormuz chokepoint, Hyperliquid saw well over $500 million in oil trading volume on Sunday.

Whats next?

Benbrik said that HIP-4, first announced in February 2026, will be an exciting upgrade to Hyperliquid, that opens the door to prediction markets.

Users will be able to trade on the outcome of different events directly on Hyperliquid, he said.

Hyperliquid wants to be the everything exchange: one venue where any asset, any financial outcome, trades 24/7 on-chain.

Crypto market movers

Bitcoin is up 1.8% over the past 24 hours, trading at $67,773.

Ethereum is up 2.9% over the past 24 hours at $2,060.

What were reading
The News in Brief Monday, March 30, 2026

Georgian Dream Parliament Chairman Shalva Papuashvili has accused the Helsinki Commission of inciting Georgian citizens to commit crimes to create political leverage against the government. His remarks follow a statement from the Commission claiming the Georgian Dream party is using the judiciary as a "weapon" to silence dissent, specifically highlighting the case of Elene Khoshtaria. The Droa party leader was recently sentenced to 18 months for "property damage" after defacing a campaign banner and now faces up to 15 years for "crimes against the state."Papuashvili dismissed the international concern as a calculated strategy, stating, "It is clear that they want to capitalize on this to some extent, for which they organized all this... so that they can then use these statements to attack the Georgian government." He further characterized opposition figures as "personal prisoners of the Helsinki Commission and similar organizations," arguing that external actors "incite them to commit crimes so that they can then organize discussions, resolutions, and statements."The Chairman concluded that these organizations suffer no consequences for their rhetoric while "using our citizens" and pushing them toward illegal acts.Transparency International (TI) Georgia has submitted two additional applications to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), alleging violations of fundamental rights by the Georgian judiciary.The first case involves journalist Vika Bukia, a host on TV Pirveli, who was fined 4,000 GEL for an administrative offense after referring to a Georgian Dream MP as a "slave" on Facebook. TI Georgia stated that in her case, "the rights to freedom of expression, a fair trial, and protection from discrimination were violated."The organization criticized the domestic courts for relying on legislation that "places representatives of Georgian Dream in a privileged position" and for disregarding the "higher degree of tolerance required from politicians."The second application concerns lawyer Mikheil Zaqareishvili, who was sentenced to five days of administrative detention following a protest at Parliament. According to TI Georgia, Zaqareishvili was "a victim of violations of the rights to freedom of assembly and expression, the right to respect for private life, and the right to a fair trial."The organization argued that the court's claim that Zaqareishvili obstructed pedestrians was contradicted by video evidence showing "the number of protesters was too small to hinder the movement of passersby."Over the past year, Transparency International Georgia has submitted a total of eight applications to the Strasbourg Court. "We will continue to defend the rights of our citizens both before the Strasbourg Court and in other international human rights protection mechanisms," the group stated.
A truck loaded with more than 413,000 KitKat bars vanished on its way from Italy to Poland.

Swiss food giant Nestle said roughly 12 tons of KitKat bars disappeared after leaving its production site in Italy last week, setting off one of the strangest consumer-goods stories of the year.

The shipment, which was meant for distribution across Europe ahead of Easter, never made it to its destination.

Related: You could pay over $1,500 more on mortgage this year. Blame Iran

Nestle confirms the theft

Nestle confirmed the theft in a public statement, saying the vehicle and its load are still nowhere to be found.

The company said the stolen shipment could surface through unofficial sales channels across Europe, but added that the bars can be traced using unique batch codes printed on the packaging. If one of those codes shows up, Nestle says the company can be alerted and authorities can be notified.

Three 4-finger Kit Kat Nestle chocolate bars isolated against black background in Kiev, Ukraine. Source: Getty Images.

And yes, the company leaned into the absurdity of it all.

Whilst we appreciate the criminals exceptional taste, the fact remains that cargo theft is an escalating issue for businesses of all sizes, KitKat said in a statement.

Nestle added that with more sophisticated schemes being deployed on a regular basis, we have chosen to go public with our own experience in the hope that it raises awareness of an increasingly common criminal trend.

Trending on TheStreet Roundtable:

So behind the jokes, there is a real concern here.

Cargo theft has been rising across Europe, and this wasnt just a few boxes going missing from a warehouse.

Cargo theft is surging across Europe, with over 50,000 incidents recorded in 2023 and total losses estimated at $8.9 billion annually, according to TAPA EMEA and European Parliament data.

Trucks remain the primary target, accounting for 75% of thefts, with organized, large-scale operations driving a sharp rise in incidents and losses through 20242025.

In the case of Kitkar, this was an entire truck carrying more than 413,000 units of one of the worlds most recognizable chocolate brands.

Related: Treasury unveils new details on proposed U.S. dollar changes

That number alone is ridiculous enough to make the story travel. More than 413,000 KitKat bars is the sort of statistic that almost sounds made up until you picture it sitting in a single truck somewhere, either abandoned, rerouted or quietly offloaded piece by piece.

The timing also makes it weirder. The shipment disappeared just ahead of Easter, one of the busiest periods for chocolate sales.
Visa Direct has entered a collaboration with Moonrise, a BaaS gateway by Nordic challenger bank Lunar, to access local payment rails in the region.

The move will enable digital payment network to access domestic payment rails across Denmark, Sweden, and Norway.

The collaboration is intended to support real-time domestic payments and local account access for Visa Direct clients operating in, or expanding into, the Nordic region.

Visa Direct describes itself as a real-time payment network that enables banks, fintechs, businesses and governments to send and receive funds to eligible debit cards, bank accounts and digital wallets.

According to the website, the network supports near-instant, 24/7 money movement across more than 195 countries and 160 currencies.

Under the collaboration, Visa Direct will integrate Moonrises local accounts and payment infrastructure via a single API. This includes virtual accounts as well as pay-in and pay-out capabilities across domestic payment schemes in Denmark, Sweden and Norway.

Lunar CEO and founder Ken Villum Klausen said: Visa is building the next generation of global payments infrastructure, and Moonrise is what brings the Nordics into that equation.

By simplifying access to local payment rails, Moonrise enables global payment players to deliver local market payment experiences and scale in the region with greater speed, reliability, and confidence, without the need for multiple local integrations.

The agreement extends Visas existing relationship with Lunar. The companies are positioning the work as an expansion from point integrations to a broader payment offering for Visa Direct customers across the Nordics.

Visa Europe Commercial & Money Movement Solutions head, SVP, Philip Konopik said: Access to true local accounts and payment rails is becoming a key differentiator in markets across Europe, and this expands Visa Directs collection capabilities.

The Nordics are a highly advanced but uniquely structured payments market, with local infrastructure and regulatory requirements that can be complex for companies looking to scale across the region.

Through Moonrise, Visa Direct is able to combine its global reach with local capabilities, giving our clients the flexibility to operate at scale while maintaining the consistency and resilience of the Visa Direct platform.

Last month, Visa and UnionPay International partnered to support cross-border money movement into Chinese Mainland through Visa Direct.

The service will allow cross-border remittances and business-to-consumer payouts to more than 95% of UnionPay International debit cardholders in Chinese Mainland.
The deeper problem with quick pay is that the fee is not standardized across brokers. One broker charges 2%, another charges 4%, another structures it as a flat fee per load regardless of invoice size. There is no uniform disclosure requirement. The broker tells you the rate, offers you quick pay in the same breath, and the conversation moves on before you have had time to do the math. A carrier who routinely accepts quick pay from multiple brokers at different rates has no clean picture of what that financing is actually costing them  which is exactly the environment brokers operate most comfortably in.

That number is not small. For an owner-operator or a two-truck operation, $23,000 is a new set of tires, a transmission rebuild, three months of insurance, or four months of truck payments. It is not incidental. It is a real operating cost that most carriers are absorbing without ever naming it.

Here is where the math starts to matter. A $1,500 load with a 3% quick pay fee costs you $45 on that specific transaction. Run ten loads a week off quick pay at 3% and you are paying $450 per week  roughly $23,400 per year  for the privilege of getting paid in three days instead of thirty.

Quick pay is exactly what it sounds like. Instead of waiting 30 to 45 days for standard payment terms, the broker accelerates payment  often within 24 to 72 hours  in exchange for a fee deducted directly from the rate. The fee is typically expressed as a percentage of the load value, most commonly somewhere between 1.5% and 5%, though it varies by broker and is rarely disclosed as a standardized line item.

Two tools dominate this conversation: quick pay from the broker and freight factoring from a third-party company. Most carriers use one or the other without ever doing the actual math on what each costs. That is a mistake. The difference between choosing right and choosing fast can run into thousands of dollars a year  real money in a market where margins are measured in cents per mile.

That gap is not an accident. It is structural. It is baked into how freight payment terms work, and it has been the number one cash flow killer for small carriers and owner-operators since the first rate confirmation was ever signed. The question is not whether the gap exists. The question is how you are filling it  and whether the method you are using is actually costing you more than you realize.

You delivered the load. The BOL is signed. The POD is in. The job is done. And now you wait  30 days, 45 days, sometimes longer  for a broker to release payment while your truck payment, your fuel bill, your insurance premium, and your drivers paycheck are all due right now.

Story Continues

Quick pay also has a selection problem built into it. You can only use quick pay on loads from brokers who offer the program. If you are stretching toward the best-paying load available on a given day and that load is with a broker who does not offer quick pay, you either take the load and wait, or you pass on it and chase something worse. Your financing tool is limiting your freight decisions. That is a problem.

What Freight Factoring Actually Is

Freight factoring is not a loan. That distinction matters and it is worth understanding clearly.

When you factor an invoice, you are selling an asset  your unpaid receivable  to a third-party company at a slight discount. The factoring company gives you immediate cash, typically 90% to 95% of the invoice value within 24 hours of submitting documentation, and then collects the full amount from the broker or shipper on normal terms. Their profit is the difference. Your cost is the factoring fee, which in 2026 runs between 1% and 5% of invoice value with most small carriers landing in the 2% to 3.5% range depending on volume, broker credit quality, and contract terms.

Because factoring is a sale rather than a loan, it does not add debt to your balance sheet. It does not accrue interest. It does not require strong carrier credit to access  factoring companies underwrite based on the creditworthiness of the broker or shipper, not you. That makes it one of the few immediately available financing tools for new fleets and for operators who have been through a rough cycle and do not have pristine financials.

Factoring also separates your financing from your load selection. You can factor invoices from any broker  not just the ones who offer quick pay programs. That means your ability to get cash quickly does not depend on which broker you happen to be working with on a given load. You are not steering your freight decisions around a payment tool. You are running the best freight you can find and managing cash flow on the back end.

Most factoring companies also perform credit checks on brokers before you book the load  a service that costs you nothing and tells you in minutes whether the broker has a history of slow payment or disputes. That intelligence has real operational value in a market where broker quality varies significantly.

The Real Cost Comparison

Running the actual math on quick pay versus factoring requires knowing your load volume, your average invoice size, and the specific fee structures you are working with. But a baseline comparison is instructive.

A five-truck fleet generating roughly $100,000 per month in freight revenue  a reasonable figure for that size operation  has approximately $100,000 in outstanding receivables at any given time on standard 30-day payment terms. That is the gap that needs to be filled.

If that carrier is using quick pay at an average of 3% across their invoice volume, they are paying $3,000 per month  $36,000 per year  to access their own money quickly. If they consolidate all invoicing through a single factoring company at a negotiated rate of 2.5%  which is achievable at that volume  the annual cost drops to $30,000. That is $6,000 per year in savings just from switching tools, before accounting for any additional benefits.

At ten trucks, the volume leverage becomes even more significant. Factoring companies actively compete for large accounts and will negotiate rate and terms aggressively for fleets running consistent monthly volume above $150,000. A carrier with ten trucks who consolidates all invoices through a single factoring partner is in a meaningfully different negotiating position than that same carrier splitting volume across five different broker quick pay programs.

The one scenario where quick pay can make sense as a tactical tool is when you have a single broker relationship with below-average quick pay fees and you are using it selectively for specific high-urgency situations  a large load you need cash from quickly to cover a repair, for example. Quick pay as a one-off tool can be rational. Quick pay as your default financing strategy is expensive.

What to Watch for in Factoring Contracts

Factoring is the right tool for most small carriers in the current environment, but the contract you sign matters as much as the rate you are quoted. The advertised rate is rarely the complete picture.

Watch for reserve holdbacks  some factoring companies hold 5% to 10% of each invoice in reserve, releasing it only when the broker pays in full. That withheld cash reduces your effective advance rate and ties up working capital you thought you had access to. Ask specifically what the holdback structure is and when reserves are released.

Watch for ACH and wire transfer fees. Some companies charge $10 to $25 per payment transfer. Across a high-volume fleet, those fees add up fast and are rarely disclosed prominently in the initial pitch.

Watch for monthly minimums. Some contracts require a minimum invoice volume per month. If you have a slow month and fall below that minimum, you pay fees even on the volume you did not factor. That creates a cost floor that can hurt you during seasonal dips.

Watch for contract length. Multi-year factoring contracts lock you in without giving the factoring company any ongoing incentive to deliver good service or competitive pricing. Twelve months is a reasonable term. Anything longer warrants careful scrutiny and ideally legal review before signing.

Watch for the non-recourse language specifically. Non-recourse factoring means the factoring company absorbs the loss if the broker does not pay. Recourse factoring means you are on the hook. Many companies advertise non-recourse coverage but define it narrowly  only covering bankruptcy, not slow payment or disputes. Understand exactly what is and is not covered before you assume you are protected.

The Bottom Line for Right Now

The cash flow math for a small carrier in 2026 is brutal and the current environment is not making it easier. Diesel is above $5 a gallon. Spot rates have been recovering but not dramatically. Broker payment terms have not shortened. The structural gap between delivering a load and getting paid for it has not changed.

What has changed is the cost of filling that gap  and the tools available to fill it intelligently. Quick pay is not free. Factoring is not a loan. Both have a real cost and that cost should be a line item in your operating budget the same way fuel and maintenance are.

The carriers who manage cash as a strategic asset  who know what their financing tools cost, who consolidate volume for leverage, who read the contract before they sign it  are the ones who are still running when the market turns fully. The ones who grab quick pay because it is easy and move on are paying for the convenience in ways they are not tracking.

Run the math. The number will tell you what to do.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Is factoring worth it if I only have one or two trucks?

Yes  arguably more so than for larger fleets, because a one or two-truck operation has no cash cushion to absorb payment delays. A single slow-paying broker on a 45-day timeline can create a cash crisis when you have no other revenue stream to bridge the gap. The fees at low volume are higher on a percentage basis, typically 3% to 4%, but the protection against a cash flow emergency is worth it. As volume grows, negotiate the rate down. Start factoring from day one, not after the first cash crisis.

Q: What happens if a broker does not pay the factoring company?

Under non-recourse factoring, the factoring company absorbs the loss if the broker goes bankrupt or becomes insolvent  the specific covered scenarios vary by contract, so read the language carefully. Under recourse factoring, the unpaid invoice comes back to you. The factoring companys pre-booking broker credit checks are specifically designed to screen out high-risk payers before the problem starts. Use those checks every time before booking an unfamiliar load.

Q: Can I use factoring and still accept quick pay from certain brokers?

Some factoring companies allow selective factoring  you choose which invoices to factor and which to collect directly. Others require you to factor all invoices as a condition of the contract. If you want flexibility to take quick pay on certain loads, verify whether selective factoring is available and whether there are fees or minimums associated with lower volume months. Not every factoring company offers this structure.

The post The Broker Offers You Quick Pay and It Sounds Like Free Money. Read This Before You Take It. appeared first on FreightWaves.
Regional cities and less prestige-driven neighborhoods are usually where the budget goes further. The smartest plays tend to sit outside the most expensive city-center segments or beyond the most obvious first-choice addresses altogether. For buyers willing to look past the headline locations, Romania still offers genuine room for a modest purchase without forcing them into fantasy-level compromises.

Romania earns its place because the national numbers still leave room to move. Numbeo puts the countrys outside-center price at about 8,464.14 lei per square meter , while city-center prices run higher, which helps explain why the best sub-$100,000 opportunities usually sit outside the hottest addresses. That does not make the market universally cheap, but it does keep the category alive in a way many buyers can still use.

The most interesting part is how many different settings can still stay in play. Bulgarias affordability is not only an inland story. It can extend to older resort-area stock, secondary cities, and more ordinary residential neighborhoods where buyers care less about polish and more about getting a workable foothold near the coast or in a livable town. With prices at this level, the country still looks unusually practical for buyers who want access without paying Southern Europe money.

Bulgaria remains one of the easiest places in Europe to defend on pure affordability. Numbeo currently puts the national price per square meter outside the center at about 1,358.10 , which leaves meaningful room for sub-$100,000 purchases in the right parts of the market. That does not mean every listing is a steal, but it does mean the budget reaches beyond the thinnest bargain fringe.

One important qualifier belongs right up front. In most of these markets, that money usually buys a smaller flat, an older house, a renovation project, or something outside the priciest core. That does not make the deal any less real, but it does mean buyers need to stay grounded about size, finish, and location. Think practical foothold, not a fantasy villa with a postcard view and no trade-offs.

A six-figure ceiling still opens more doors abroad than many buyers expect. To build this list, I looked for countries where current residential listings clearly show apartments or houses under $100,000, then checked broader pricing data to make sure those bargains were not just a single odd outlier. The result is not a roundup of Europes flashiest postcodes. It is a more useful map of places where modest budgets still have real options.

Story Continues

3. Albania

Image Credit: Shutterstock.

Albania has become far more popular, yet the bargain window has not slammed shut everywhere. Numbeo currently places the national outside-center purchase price at about 137,036 lek per square meter, a level that still leaves room for smaller or less prime homes under $100,000. That matters because Albania now gets discussed like a rising-star coastal market, which can make buyers assume the affordable end has already disappeared. The broader pricing picture says that is too simple.

Where the budget works best depends heavily on the town. Some coastal areas are clearly moving upmarket faster than others, while less polished stretches and more ordinary neighborhoods continue to offer better entry points. Albania is no longer uniformly cheap along the water, but it still gives buyers a real shot at getting in below six figures if they stay selective about micro-location, finish, and square footage.

4. Serbia

Image Credit: Shutterstock.

Serbia still gives budget-minded buyers more breathing room than many Western European markets can offer. Numbeo puts the countrys outside-center price at roughly 222,753 dinars per square meter, which keeps smaller apartments and more modest homes within reach of a $100,000 cap. That does not make Belgrade a bargain paradise, but it does show the national picture remains more accessible than regional hype sometimes suggests.

What that budget buys changes depending on location. In the capital, the money usually goes toward a smaller unit or a less fashionable part of town. Outside Belgrade, the same budget can often stretch further into larger apartments or more practical family homes. Serbia works best for shoppers who care less about gloss and more about how far their money can still go.

5. Bosnia and Herzegovina

Image Credit: Shutterstock.

Bosnia and Herzegovina belongs on this list because the market still sits in a range many European buyers would call refreshingly sane. Numbeo places the national outside-center price at about 3,026.93 KM per square meter, which makes a sub-$100,000 search plausible before anyone starts chasing hidden gems. It may not be the continents loudest market, but affordability is one of its clearest strengths.

The stronger value case usually appears in older stock, less polished segments, and markets outside the most in-demand pockets. Buyers who do not need glossy new-build finishes may still find the numbers compelling. This is the kind of market that works best for people who care more about getting on the ladder than landing a showcase property on day one.

6. Montenegro

Image Credit: Shutterstock.

Montenegro is the trickiest inclusion because prices have risen quickly, especially along the most glamorous pieces of coast. Even so, Numbeo still places the countrys outside-center price at roughly 1,975.55 per square meter, which keeps compact purchases within reach of a $100,000 budget. That is no longer bargain-bin territory, but it is enough to keep the entry-level conversation alive.

The key here is adjusting expectations. In Montenegro, that kind of budget usually buys a smaller residence, an older unit, or a less elite micro-location rather than a polished waterfront showpiece in the most talked-about addresses. Buyers who stay realistic about size and status can still find a path in, but this is a market where selectivity matters much more than it did a few years ago.

7. Italy

Image Credit: Shutterstock.

Italy rounds out the list because it still offers one of the broadest low-entry property conversations in Europe, even if buyers need to avoid the most photogenic hot spots. Numbeo currently places the national outside-center purchase price at about 2,069.18 per square meter, a level that still leaves room for small homes, older properties, and purchases in less glamorous provinces under the $100,000 line. That helps explain why Italy keeps turning up in budget property discussions year after year.

Southern provinces and smaller towns are usually where the value story becomes most convincing. None of this means Rome, Milan, or Florence suddenly turned cheap. It does mean buyers open to places in Apulia, Sicily, Calabria, or lesser-known inland communities can still find asking prices that look startlingly low compared with the rest of Western Europe. Italy is not uniformly affordable, but it remains one of the few countries in the region where the sub-$100,000 category still feels broad rather than symbolic.

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Albertsons (ACI), a leading US food and drug retailer, is pulling back in the high-stakes North Texas market as part of a broader restructuring.

According to recent Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) filings listed by USA Today, the grocery giant will shutter two Tarrant County locations by late April, resulting in 138 layoffs.

This adds to a string of location closures by the grocery retailer, which spans California and Washington, D.C. These new locations add to its shrinking physical footprint, following the company's 2025 closure of 20 stores to survive as a standalone entity.

While the Euless and Fort Worth closures may seem like a local story, they underscore a rising trend of digital productivity amid cooling merger ambitions in an extremely competitive market.

Under the company banner are known names, including Safeway, Vons, Acme, Pavilions, Shaw's, and Tom Thumb, among others, with a combined strength of more than 2,200 stores in 35 states and the District of Columbia.

The Kroger merger hangover

In 2024, the planned $24.6 billion merger between grocery giant Kroger and Albertsons collapsed due to antitrust concerns and concerns that it would reduce workers' bargaining power.

This deal was a missed lifeline for a financially pressured Albertsons, as competition from Costco, Walmart, and Texas-based H-E-B continues to make staying relevant in this market extremely difficult.

More Layoffs:

Adding to the pressure is market manipulation by dominant grocery retail power buyers like Walmart, which is contributing to higher food prices for American consumers, according to the National Grocers Association.

As such, it is pushing local retailers such as Albertsons to brace for a brutal reality in which names like Walmart, with an over $1 trillion valuation, capture around 23% of the U.S. grocery market, followed by Kroger, which accounts for over 10% of the market, as reported by TheStreet.

Albertsons rebound strategy

During the companys Q3 earnings call in January 2025, then-CEO Viveik Sankaran revealed that increasing digital sales was a pivotal part of its revival strategy.

To engage customers, we have continued to invest in growth through four digital platforms. These platforms are designed to drive increased sales, more deeply engage our most loyal customers, increase customer lifetime value, and generate digital space and robust data for the Albertsons Media collective, said former Albertsons CEO Vivek Sankaran.
Air Canada CEO Michael Rousseau has faced criticism over his French language skills [Getty Images]

The CEO of Air Canada will retire later this year, after being criticised for failing to speak French in a condolence video following last week's fatal collision at LaGuardia Airport in New York, that killed two pilots.

Michael Rousseau informed the airline that he will be stepping down by the end of the company's third quarter, Air Canada said in a statement on Monday.

Rousseau had faced calls to resign after delivering his condolences in English only. One of the pilots who died, Antoine Forest, was from French-speaking Quebec.

He later apologised and said he was unable to express himself "adequately" in French - an official language in Canada - despite taking lessons over the years.

Announcing his retirement, Rousseau said: "It has been my great honour to work with the dedicated and talented people of Air Canada and to represent our outstanding organisation.

"I look forward to supporting our company during this important transition period."

In the same statement, Air Canada said Rousseau was stepping down "after nearly two decades of strong and dedicated leadership" with the airline, which is headquartered in Montreal.

Rousseau's English-only condolence video was criticised by Canadian politicians, including Prime Minister Mark Carney, who said it showed "a lack of compassion".

Quebec Premier Francois Legault said he believed Rousseau should step down if he was unable to speak French.

Legault welcomed Air Canada's announcement and said in a post on X Monday that the next CEO should speak French as a "matter of respect for the employees, francophone customers, and all Quebecers".

The condolence video was released after an Air Canada plane collided with a fire truck at LaGuardia airport in New York shortly after landing, killing Forest and another pilot, Mackenzie Gunther.

Rousseau expressed "deepest sorrow for everyone affected" in the video, which was posted on X and included both English and French subtitles.

He was quickly criticised afterwards for failing to speak French in it and was summoned to Ottawa by Canada's parliamentary committee on Official Languages to "explain himself" before MPs.

Rousseau later apologised in a written statement released in both English and French, saying he was deeply saddened his inability to speak French "diverted attention" from the pilots' grieving families and Air Canada staff.
Alkane Resources secures A$150m syndicated debt package Proactive uses images sourced from Shutterstock

Alkane Resources Ltd (ASX:ALK, OTC:ALKEF) has secured a new A$150 million syndicated debt package, comprising a A$110 million revolving credit facility and a A$40 million contingent instrument facility, as it looks to strengthen balance sheet flexibility and expand its banking relationships.

The new facilities follow Alkanes early repayment of its $45 million project finance facility in August 2025 and were arranged with ANZ, Commonwealth Bank, Macquarie Bank and Westpac under a syndicated facilities agreement.

Alkane said the revolving credit facility can be used for general corporate purposes, while the contingent instrument facility is designed to free up cash currently tied up in backing performance guarantees.

Notably, the company said the facility does not require mandatory gold hedging.

The company also flagged that its operations are performing strongly and said it expects to release a production update for the March 2026 quarter in coming weeks, ahead of its full quarterly activities report later in April 2026.

The facilities include covenants typical for debt arrangements of this kind and remain subject to satisfaction of certain conditions precedent.

Bedrock Credit and Gilbert + Tobin advised Alkane on the transaction.

Alkane reports high-grade gold-antimony hits at Kendal near Costerfield

Alkane has reported a series of exceptionally high-grade gold and antimony drill intersections from infill and extension drilling at the Kendal deposit, a near-mine target adjacent to the currently mined Youle lode at its Costerfield operation in Victoria.

The latest results support Kendal as the antimony-rich up-dip continuation of the high-grade Youle and Shepherd systems and highlight a substantial zone of shallow mineralisation close to existing underground infrastructure.

Development to access the extended Kendal system began in late 2025 and is continuing.
Kudos to tobacco giant Altria Group (NYSE: MO). Recognizing that traditional cigarettes are a dying business (it's embraced the mantra of "moving beyond smoking," in fact), it's been pivoting to safer alternatives. One of these alternatives is nicotine pouches, manufactured by subsidiary Helix Innovations and sold under the "on!" label.

Now the company's expanding this brand, and its reach. Following recent FDA authorizations of newer "on! PLUS" pouches with higher nicotine levels and made from a more comfortable material, now Altria is expanding this product's brick-and-mortar retail availability from just three states to the entire nation.

Will AI create the world's first trillionaire? Our team just released a report on the one little-known company, called an "Indispensable Monopoly" providing the critical technology Nvidia and Intel both need. Continue 

The question is, of course, whether or not Altria stock is a worthy buy in 2026.

The answer is arguably yes, but not for this reason.

Smart shift

Altria is smart to pivot away from smoking, which -- due to health concerns and effective cessation efforts -- has been steadily declining for decades now. Indeed, data from Gallup indicates the prevalence of smoking among consumers living in the United States has fallen from 1954's peak of 54% to 2024's record low of 11%. Population growth hasn't been able to offset this decline.

But quitting smoking en masse hasn't necessarily funneled all former smokers to alternative vices like Altria's vaping products -- sold under the NJOY label -- or the aforementioned on! line of consumables.

Image source: Getty Images.

And the numbers bear this out. Despite a measurable near-10% decline in its total unit sales of cigarettes last year, this company's oral tobacco product revenue only improved less than 1%, slowing from 2024's growth of just over 4%. Moreover, of the mere one-third of Altria's top line that comes from oral/smokeless products, its actual smokeless tobacco products like Copenhagen and Skoal still account for a bigger portion of this smaller segment's revenue.

The point is, nicotine pouches don't exactly move the needle much for Altria.

Not helpful, but not necessary to income investors either

That's not to say they can't. As was noted, this widened retail expansion grows in-store access to on! goods from three states to every U.S. state. That's not insignificant. Moreover, these goods from Altria's Helix were already seeing some measurable unit shipment growth in 2025. There's some momentum to build on to be sure, in step with the entire nicotine pouch category's growing share of the United States' entire oral tobacco business.
ASX Small Ordinaries to slip as companies progress financing, resources and project milestones Proactive uses images sourced from Shutterstock

The S&P/ASX Small Ordinaries Index (ASX: XSO) closed at 3,315.40 on Friday, down 29.20 points or 0.87% for the session, but remained up 114.00 points or 3.56% over the past five days.

While the index pulled back at the end of the week and is expected to do so again, several small-cap companies have already reported material progress across financing, project development and resource definition. You can read about the following and more throughout the day.

Cobalt Blue advances US processing strategy

Cobalt Blue Holdings Ltd (ASX:COB, OTC:CBBHF, FRA:COH) has entered into a consortium agreement with US-based Glomar Minerals LLC to progress a critical minerals processing facility in the United States.

The partnership will focus on advancing feasibility studies for processing polymetallic nodules, with pilot testwork to be undertaken at Cobalt Blues Broken Hill Technology Centre.

The proposed facility is positioned as a potential world-first plant aimed at supplying processed materials to US advanced manufacturing and defence sectors.

Alkane secures A$150 million in new facilities

Alkane Resources Ltd (ASX:ALK, OTC:ALKEF) has executed a new syndicated debt package comprising a A$110 million revolving credit facility (RCF) and a A$40 million contingent instrument facility (CIF).

The facilities were arranged with a syndicate including ANZ, Commonwealth Bank, Macquarie Bank and Westpac.

The RCF will be used for general corporate purposes, while the CIF is expected to improve liquidity by enabling the release of cash currently tied up in performance guarantees.

The new facilities follow Alkanes early repayment of its previous $45 million project finance facility in August 2025.

Tamboran-Falcon deal receives court approval

The Supreme Court of British Columbia has approved Tamboran Resources Corporation (NYSE:TBN, ASX:TBN, OTC:TBNRL, FRA:O8R) proposed acquisition of Falcon Oil & Gas subsidiaries.

The court granted the final order for the transaction, subject to amendments relating to the treatment of Falcon shareholders impacted by sanctions.

The approval marks a key step toward completion of the transaction, which will consolidate Tamborans position in its targeted gas assets.

Elixir completes Taroom Trough seismic program

Elixir Energy Ltd (ASX:EXR, OTC:ELXPF) has completed its Teelba 2D seismic acquisition program in ATP2057 in Queenslands Taroom Trough on schedule and within budget.

The company, through contractor Terrex Seismic, acquired 225 kilometres of high-resolution 2D seismic data, including 205.4 kilometres within the permit area.
Athora Holding has completed its acquisition of Pension Insurance Corporation Group (PICG), including its wholly owned subsidiary, Pension Insurance Corporation (PIC).

The deal creates a savings and retirement services group with 139bn ($160.06bn) of assets under management and administration (AuMA), serving 3.1 million policyholders.

Athora said the enlarged group now has scaled operations in the UK and the Netherlands. It also has businesses in Italy, Belgium and Germany, alongside reinsurance operations in Bermuda.

In the UK, Pension Insurance Corporation will continue to operate under the PIC brand as Athoras insurance business, as it continues to compete in the pension risk transfer market.

PIC has a portfolio of 54.8bn of assets, representing around 45% of Athoras AuMA. It serves nearly 450,000 policyholders and has paid more than 19bn in pensions.

Athora said PIC will gain access to increased long-term growth capital and broader asset origination capabilities, particularly in private investment grade credit, through Athoras strategic relationship with Apollo.

PIC has invested approximately 15bn in the UK real economy to date. Athora and PIC said they expect the combination to accelerate scaled investment in high-quality assets, supporting the long-term security of pensions for more defined benefit scheme members.

Separately, Athora said it intends to relocate its corporate and legal headquarters from Bermuda to the UK by late 2027, subject to regulatory approvals.

The move would involve transferring Athoras business to a new public limited company incorporated in England and Wales, which would become the groups new holding company.

During the transition, the Bermuda Monetary Authority will continue as group supervisor.

Athora said it will also comply with PRA group supervision requirements on a modified basis in parallel.

Once the relocation is completed, the PRA is expected to become Athoras group supervisor.

London will be Athoras corporate headquarters. Athora and PIC currently employ 800 people there.

Athora group CEO Mike Wells said: "We are delighted to welcome PIC into the Athora family as our UK insurance business. PIC's exceptional track record, strong brand and reputation, and commitment to customer service make it an outstanding addition to our group.

Backed by our long-term capital base and asset origination capabilities, we think PIC is uniquely positioned to support the growing needs of the UK pension risk transfer market, and relocation to the UK is a natural next step in Athora's strategic journey."
The News in Brief Tuesday, March 31, 2026

Parents of children with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) are intensifying protests, most recently rallying outside the Government Administration on March 28. The group is demanding a meeting with Georgian Dream Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze and the resignation of Health Minister Mikheil Sarjveladze over the state's failure to provide access to modern, internationally approved treatments.Zakro Gvishiani, chair of the Let's Fight Against DMD organization, has issued a five-day window for a meeting with the Prime Minister, warning of continuous street protests and tent encampments if the demand is not met. The urgency follows the recent death of 17-year-old Avtandil Bregadze, which families say underscores the need for "life-saving" intervention for the approximately 100 children living with the condition in Georgia.While the Health Ministry granted DMD patients immediate disability status and a monthly allowance of GEL 425 in February 2025, parents argue that this support is insufficient. They are calling for the state to fund newer, FDA- and EMA-approved medications like Givinostat and Vamorolone, which can slow the progression of the muscle-wasting disease. Currently, the state funds Deflazacort, which parents claim has limited effectiveness and significant side effects.Georgian Dream Health Minister Sarjveladze previously stated that including these high-cost treatments in state programs is currently unfeasible, citing their recent emergence and conflicting information regarding their efficacy. However, the Social Justice Center, a human rights watchdog, maintains that the state has a legal obligation to guarantee equal access to high-quality, financially accessible healthcare to safeguard the right to life.Davit Gabaidze, the Chairman of the Supreme Council of the Autonomous Republic of Adjara, announced his resignation during a briefing on March 30. Gabaidze, who has held the position since 2016, stated that his decision followed lengthy consultations with his team and a personal desire for a career change after nearly a decade in the role.During the announcement, Gabaidze dismissed rumors of internal friction, specifically denying that his resignation was linked to a "clan" or his relationship with Tornike Rizhvadze. He noted that he was appointed to his position before Rizhvadze became the Chairman of the Government of Adjara. Gabaidze intends to remain in the Supreme Council as a member for the time being while considering future offers from his team.Tsotne Ananidze, a fellow member of the Georgian Dream party and current Chairman of the Human Rights Protection Committee, is reportedly being considered as Gabaidze's successor. Gabaidze expressed support for Ananidze's potential candidacy, noting that the final decision rests with the parliamentary majority.
Austrian regulators have yet to approve Chinese e-commerce group JD.coms proposed acquisition of German electronics retailer Ceconomy, leaving a key approval outstanding and putting the wider transaction at risk.

Ceconomy said the foreign direct investment (FDI) approval process in Austria remains pending, even as the deal has secured clearances in several other jurisdictions.

In a statement, Ceconomy said: With respect to the FDI clearance in Austria, it is currently uncertain whether and, if so, when such clearance will be granted.

The company confirmed that all necessary merger control approvals have been obtained, alongside FDI clearances in France and Italy. It added that approvals in Germany and Spain are expected to follow.

The investment agreement between Ceconomy and JD.com was signed on 30 July 2025 as part of plans for a potential public takeover.

JD.com later released the offer document in September 2025, detailing a voluntary bid for all bearer ordinary shares in Ceconomy under the German Securities Acquisition and Takeover Act.

However, clearance from Austrias investment control authority, which operates under the Federal Ministry of Economy, Energy and Tourism, is still outstanding.

According to the retailer, the Austrian Federal Ministry of Economy has expressed concerns regarding the approvability of the transaction and refused to engage in a joint solution-finding process.

The company added that the authority has raised objections to the deal and has not entered discussions aimed at addressing these concerns.

It noted that JD.com had previously committed to safeguards relating to locations, employment, data protection and management independence at the time of the deals announcement.

Additional remedies have since been proposed in an attempt to resolve regulatory issues.

Ceconomy CEO Kai-Ulrich Deissner said: There seems to be a misunderstanding about what constitutes the business model of a retail company: We bring products to market already today, but we do not manufacture them.

With the partnership, Ceconomy wins a global player with unparalleled retail expertise as well as cutting-edge technology and logistics capabilities.

Both companies said they continue to engage with Austrian officials in efforts to obtain the remaining approval and finalise the transaction.

"Austria delays JD.com takeover clearance for Ceconomy" was originally created and published by Retail Insight Network, a GlobalData owned brand.




Bank of America has agreed to pay $72.5 million to settle a class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of women who say they were victims of Jeffrey Epstein's sex trafficking operation, reported CBS News. The settlement was filed in Manhattan federal court on March 27.

The bank denies wrongdoing. The settlement still requires approval from U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff, with a hearing scheduled for April 2.

What the Jeffrey Epstein victims' lawsuit alleged

The lawsuit, filed in October 2025 under case number 25-cv-08520 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, accused Bank of America of providing banking and financial services to Epstein and his associates while ignoring clear warning signs.

Plaintiffs alleged the bank failed to file required suspicious activity reports with federal authorities until after Epstein's death in August 2019, per CBS News.

The lead plaintiff, identified only as "BOA Jane Doe," said she was living in Russia when she met Epstein in 2011 and was coerced into what she described as a cult-like life. According to court filings, Epstein paid her rent and income through a Bank of America account while controlling her financially, emotionally, and psychologically, sexually abusing her on at least 100 occasions over eight years.

More Wall Street

A central element of the lawsuit involved billionaire financier Leon Black, co-founder of Apollo Global Management. The suit alleged that $170 million Black paid to Epstein from a Bank of America account, described as compensation for "tax and estate planning advice," represented suspicious transactions the bank should have flagged.

Black was not a defendant in the lawsuit but was described as a "critical witness" by Sigrid McCawley, the lead attorney for the victims. Black had been scheduled to be deposed on the same day the settlement details were filed with the court.

Bank of America's position on Epstein lawsuit

"While we stand by our prior statements made in the filings in this case, including that Bank of America did not facilitate sex trafficking crimes, this resolution allows us to put this matter behind us and provides further closure for the plaintiffs," the bank said in a statement cited by NBC News.

In February 2026, Judge Rakoff had allowed key claims to proceed, ruling that allegations of the bank's "reckless disregard" were sufficient to support the case moving forward. The settlement was reached in principle on March 12, and its terms were made public on March 27.
We just covered Bill Gates 2026 Portfolio: Top 10 Stocks to Buy. FedEx (NYSE:FDX) ranks #9 (see the Bill Gates 2026 Portfolio: Top 5 Stocks to Buy).

FedEx (NYSE:FDX) shares are up 46% over the past year. But can it run more? The company is executing a major efficiency plan (DRIVE) to reduce billions in costs and increase margins with fewer flights, using automation and network consolidation. Despite short-term volatility, global e-commerce is positioned to expand and FedEx (NYSE:FDX) will benefit from increasing package volume growth.

Another growth catalyst is FedExs (NYSE:FDX) plan to spin off its Freight segment. Separating the higher-margin LTL business could unlock value through a higher standalone valuation, while allowing FedEx to focus on improving efficiency in its Express and Ground operations.

The London Company Large Cap Strategy explained in its Q4 letter why they remain attracted to the stock. (Click Here to Read The Letter In Detail)

While we acknowledge the potential of FDX as an investment, we believe certain AI stocks offer greater upside potential and carry less downside risk. If you're looking for an extremely undervalued AI stock that also stands to benefit significantly from Trump-era tariffs and the onshoring trend, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock.

READ NEXT: 33 Stocks That Should Double in 3 Years and Cathie Wood 2026 Portfolio: 10 Best Stocks to Buy.

Disclosure: None. Follow Insider Monkey on Google News.
Buying defense stocks at a time of intense, seemingly intensifying, geopolitical conflict might appear to be a no-brainer, but it's not that simple. Backlogs and revenue are growing, and upside potential is considerable.

For a recent example, witness the recent announcement of framework agreements between the U.S. government and Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT), BAE Systems, and Honeywell to accelerate production of missile technology, including Precision Strike Missiles (PrSM) used to attack Iran. However, valuations and profitability still matter.

Will AI create the world's first trillionaire? Our team just released a report on the one little-known company, called an "Indispensable Monopoly" providing the critical technology Nvidia and Intel both need. Continue 

Soaring tension, soaring share prices

Defense stocks have outperformed the S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.

This is largely due to soaring backlogs, driven by the need to replenish equipment used in Ukraine, NATO rearmament, and mammoth U.S. defense budgets.

These backlogs have helped drive enterprise value (market cap plus net debt) higher relative to earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA).

Structural margin pressures?

However, a decade-long analysis of earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) and EBIT margins shows that declining margins have challenged defense companies' ability to grow profits. Lockheed Martin's 46% increase in EBIT over the last decade (shown in the chart below) equates to less than 3.9% annual growth.

The profit margin challenges are possibly structural and lasting, driven by increasing technological complexity and mounting negotiating pressure from the U.S. government, notably on fixed-price development contracts and, in particular, pressure to deliver in a timely fashion.

Boeing's (NYSE: BA) defense business stands out. Although the fixed-price contracts account for 15% of the segment's revenue, they led to multibillion-dollar losses and charges.

The conflict with Iran has inevitably raised revenue expectations, but if margin pressures prove structural and lasting, are investors, in effect, betting on new conflicts to drive revenue expectations and defense budgets even higher? Are the current valuations justified for an industry that could struggle to grow earnings at more than an annual single-digit rate? Caution may be advised here.

Dont miss this second chance at a potentially lucrative opportunity

Ever feel like you missed the boat in buying the most successful stocks? Then youll want to hear this.
Carnival delivers solid bookings and operational gains during Q1 amid rising fuel risks: analysts Proactive uses images sourced from Shutterstock

Wall Street analysts have pointed to continued earnings momentum and improving long-term outlook following Carnival Corp (NYSE:CCL)s first quarter 2026 results, while noting that fuel costs remain a key source of near-term uncertainty.

Bank of America maintained its Buy rating and $45 price objective on the cruise operator, describing the quarter as featuring several positives, including a continuation of earnings momentum, a new $2.5 billion share repurchase program, and updated long-term targets under the companys Propel initiative. The firm noted that first quarter performance included an earnings-per-share and net yield beat, reinforcing recent trends.

At the same time, the banks analysts cautioned that near-term fuel will create earnings volatility, adding that higher energy prices and geopolitical factors could leave some consumers in a wait and see mode. They characterized these pressures as short term and pointed to valuation, stating the shares trade near historical trough levels.

On operations, Bank of America said booking trends have not materially deteriorated, although demand may have been somewhat softer than it otherwise would have been due to macro factors. The company remains about 85% booked for 2026, which the analysts view as providing time for normalization.

The firm also highlighted Carnivals updated Propel targets, which call for more than 50% earnings-per-share growth through 2029 and return on invested capital above 16%. Bank of America estimates this implies a roughly 10% annual EPS growth rate, with capital returns of about $14 billion over the period, equivalent to more than 40% of the companys current market capitalization.

UBS similarly emphasized the strength of the first quarter results and the implications for full-year guidance.

The analysts noted that Carnival raised its fiscal 2026 yield outlook by 25 basis points to 2.75%, mostly passing along the Q1 beat, though it added that the magnitude of the quarterly outperformance was likely ahead of expectations.

The firm also pointed to improved cost performance excluding fuel, with net cruise costs guidance benefiting from first-quarter trends. However, higher fuel prices remain a meaningful offset, with UBS estimating roughly $500 million in additional fuel costs for the year, partially mitigated by about $150 million in stronger operational performance.

Despite these pressures, UBS said Carnival remains on track for approximately $7 billion in EBITDA for fiscal 2026, only modestly below prior expectations, with earnings per share reduced by less than the increase in fuel costs.
On Thursday, Cathie Wood-led Ark Invest executed significant trades, focusing on reducing holdings in major tech companies. Among the prominent trades were the sales of shares in Meta Platforms Inc., NVIDIA Corp, Advanced Micro Devices Inc., Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd, Broadcom Inc., Alphabet Inc., and Netflix Inc.. These trades reflect a strategic shift in Arks investment approach amid market fluctuations.

The Meta Platforms Trade

Ark Invest made a notable move by selling shares of Meta Platforms across multiple ETFs, including ARK Blockchain & Fintech Innovation ETF, ARK Innovation ETF, and ARK Next Generation Internet ETF. The sales amounted to 76,622 shares, valued at approximately $42 million, based on the closing price of $547.54.



This decision comes amid challenges for Meta, including a $6 million verdict related to product liability and ongoing layoffs. The broader market weakness and rising energy costs also contribute to the pressure on Metas stock.

Don't Miss:

The NVDA Trade

Ark Invest reduced its position in NVIDIA by selling 154,441 shares across ARKF, ARKK, and ARKW, totaling approximately $26.6 million at a closing price of $171.24. T

This move aligns with concerns highlighted by Scott Galloway, who warned of potential overvaluation in AI-centric companies. The tech sectors high expectations could lead to significant market corrections, according to the report.

The AMD Trade

Ark Invest also sold 38,245 shares of AMD through ARKK and ARKW, valued at around $7.8 million, with shares closing at $203.77.

The semiconductor industry faces challenges, including price increases and processor shortages, contributing to AMDs stock volatility.

Trending: This Startup Thinks It Can Reinvent the Wheel  Literally

The TSMC Trade

Ark Invests sale of 15,696 shares of TSMC through ARKK, valued at approximately $5.1 million, reflects ongoing concerns about production capacity constraints.

Broadcom warned that surging AI demand was straining the supply chain, with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company hitting production capacity limits and emerging as a key bottleneck through 2026.

The company said shortages were spreading beyond chips to components like lasers and circuit boards, while customers increasingly locked in long-term supply deals to secure capacity.
getty

Zhao Jianhui, the founder and chairman of Epiworld International, joined the billionaire ranks after shares of his Xiamen-based power chip wafer manufacturer jumped 35% in their Hong Kong trading debut on Monday.

The listing values Epiworld at HK$43.8 billion ($5.6 billion) based on its closing price of HK$103 on Monday. Zhao, 66, is Epiworlds largest shareholder with a 27% stake, which gives him an estimated net worth of $1.5 billion.

Epiworld raised HK$1.6 billion in the initial public offering. The company disclosed in its prospectus that it will use the bulk of the IPO proceeds to expand production capacity in China over the next five years. Epiworld did not respond to a request for comment regarding Zhaos billionaire status.

Established in 2011, Epiworld manufactures epitaxial wafers for silicon carbide (SiC) chips. Epitaxy is the complex process of growing a thin layer of SiC, a combination of silicon and carbon, on a wafer.

SiC chips act as a power switch mostly in electric vehicles and increasingly in AI data centers. Compared to traditional silicon chips, SiC chips can withstand higher voltage and extreme heat, thereby reducing power loss. They enable fast EV charging and efficient power delivery for AI chips.

Epiworld is a supplier to power chip companies including Germanys Infineon Technologies and Japans Rohm Semiconductor. In its prospectus, Epiworld said it is the worlds largest SiC epitaxial wafer company by revenue with a 29% market share as of 2024, leading Resonac Holdings 26%, citing China Insights Industry Consultancy. It also said it is the worlds first company to achieve large-scale commercialization of 8-inch SiC epitaxial wafers, a generation ahead of todays commonly used 6-inch wafers.

Epiworld has recently been buffeted by a price war triggered by a supply glut from competitors such as Resonac and Shanghais Inventchip Technology. In the first nine months of 2025, Epiworlds revenue dropped 34% year-on-year to 535 million yuan ($77.4 million) due to downward price pressure in the industry. Between December 2024 and September 2025, it nearly halved the average selling price of its 8-inch wafers. With lower margins, net profit in the nine months of 2025 plunged 82% to 21.1 million yuan. During the period, Greater China accounted for nearly two-thirds of its sales, with 22% from South Korea and Japan, followed by Europe and North America.

Epiworlds pre-IPO investors include Hubble Technology, the venture capital arm of Chinese tech giant Huawei, as well as China Resources Microelectronics, the semiconductor unit of state-owned conglomerate China Resources.
By Tom Hals

WILMINGTON, Delaware, March 30 (Reuters) - The chief judge on Delaware's corporate court said she will reassign three cases involving Elon Musk to avoid unnecessary media attention after the billionaire entrepreneur complained that her activity on social media had shown bias against him.

More from Yahoo Scout What are the allegations in the reassigned cases? What is Musk's history with Delaware courts? Why did Judge McCormick reassign Musk's Delaware cases? How did the LinkedIn post controversy unfold?

Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick of the Court of Chancery said she was reassigning three cases against Musk and Tesla board members that are potentially worth billions of dollars after the defendants said she supported a post on LinkedIn celebrating a jury verdict against Musk in an unrelated securities fraud case.

"As should be obvious, disproportionate media attention surrounding a judges handling of an action is detrimental to the administration of justice," McCormick wrote in her letter to the legal teams in the three cases, adding she was not biased against the defendants. She also said the motion for her recusal was based on the false premise that she was supportive of the LinkedIn post.

The defendants' motion included a screenshot of a LinkedIn post by a jury consultant that congratulated the legal teams that led a federal securities fraud case against Musk for "standing up for the little guy against the richest man in the world." It showed McCormick had supported the post using her personal LinkedIn account.

In a letter to the legal teams last week, McCormick said she had not read the post and reported the incident as suspicious activity to LinkedIn.

The defendants said if McCormick eventually sided with Tesla's shareholders, her ruling would be tainted by her "support" for the people standing up to Musk.

McCormick said she would select a time for the reassignment to take place and directed the attorneys who requested the move to attend to "witness what they requested."

After McCormick posted her letter on the court docket, Tesla shareholder David Wagner dismissed his case. Wagner sued in 2022 alleging the Tesla board failed to enforce a 2018 agreement with the Securities and Exchange Commission that required Musk to obtain Tesla approval for social media posts about the company.

Attorneys for the shareholders and defendants did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Musk has attacked McCormick and Delaware courts since her ruling in 2024 stripping him of his record pay package from Tesla after she found the board breached its fiduciary duties to shareholders in approving it. The Delaware Supreme Court reinstated the pay package, worth more than $100 billion, in December.
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Finnair Oyjs analyst story has shifted, with a price target trimmed from 2.90 to 2.80. This sets a fresh reference point for how the shares are being framed. That adjustment sits alongside commentary that fuel costs, the current air campaign and broader sector sentiment are all shaping how constructive or cautious analysts feel at this level. Read on to see how these moving parts fit together and what to watch as the narrative evolves from here.

Stay updated as the Fair Value for Finnair Oyj shifts by adding it to your watchlist or portfolio. Alternatively, explore our Community to discover new perspectives on Finnair Oyj.

What Wall Street Has Been Saying

 Bullish Takeaways

Barclays upgraded Finnair to Equal Weight from Underweight with a price target of 2.80, which signals a more balanced view of risk and reward at the current valuation.

The firm highlights the potential for sentiment to improve once the air campaign concludes and if fuel prices ease, which it links to the possibility of a more supportive backdrop for airline shares in general.

 Bearish Takeaways

Earlier in March, Barclays trimmed its price target to 2.80 from 2.90 while maintaining an Underweight rating at that time, pointing to concerns that kept the stock screened as relatively less attractive versus peers.

The shift from an Underweight stance to Equal Weight at the same 2.80 target suggests that while some perceived risks have moderated, Barclays is not positioning Finnair as a clear outperformer and still sees execution and sector uncertainties as key watchpoints.

Do your thoughts align with the Bull or Bear Analysts? Perhaps you think there's more to the story. Head to the Simply Wall St Community to discover more perspectives!

HLSE:FIA1S 1-Year Stock Price Chart

We've flagged 4 risks for Finnair Oyj. See which could impact your investment.

What's in the News
Floor & Decor has recently opened three new warehouse-format stores and design centers in Syracuse, New York, Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, and Grapevine, Texas, extending its presence beyond its more than 270 existing locations nationwide.

By entering Central New York and the Pittsburgh area for the first time, and coupling these openings with promotions targeting both homeowners and professional customers, the company is reinforcing its focus on organic expansion and deepening relationships with trade partners.

Next, well explore how this cluster of new warehouse openings, particularly the first entries into Central New York and Pittsburgh, influences Floor & Decors investment narrative.

Outshine the giants: these 22 early-stage AI stocks could fund your retirement.

Floor & Decor Holdings Investment Narrative Recap

To own Floor & Decor, you need to believe its warehouse model and national footprint can keep attracting both homeowners and pros, even as housing turnover and big-ticket remodeling remain sensitive to rates and sentiment. This latest cluster of openings modestly supports the near term catalyst of transaction growth, but also underscores the key risk that rapid expansion, against a mixed housing backdrop, could pressure store-level economics if new locations take longer to ramp.

Among the recent announcements, the Syracuse opening, supported by a 7 Days of Deals campaign, speaks most directly to the current catalyst: driving traffic and ticket size in a new region while testing more intensive promotional activity. How effectively promotions like daily US$1,000 gift card giveaways translate into sustainable demand, rather than one-off spikes, will matter for how investors assess both the payback from new stores and the risk of ongoing margin pressure.

Yet even as new stores open, investors should be aware of how quickly expansion could tip into market saturation and 

Read the full narrative on Floor & Decor Holdings (it's free!)

Floor & Decor Holdings' valuation narrative projects $6.0 billion in revenue and $296.9 million in earnings by 2028.

Uncover how Floor & Decor Holdings' forecasts yield a $77.27 fair value, a 54% upside to its current price.

Exploring Other Perspectives

FND 1-Year Stock Price Chart

Some of the most optimistic analysts saw revenue reaching about US$6.3 billion and earnings of roughly US$359 million by 2028, but compared with the risk that rapid expansion eventually dilutes new store productivity, this highlights just how wide the range of opinions is, and why you may want to weigh several viewpoints before deciding what the latest Syracuse and Pittsburgh openings really mean for Floor & Decors long term story.
The Armenian government is determined to take away the Armenian railways from Russia. This is very noticeable by the persistence with which Nikol Pashinyan raises the issue of the South Caucasus Railway (SCR).





The topic first appeared on the agenda at the end of last year, when Nikol Pashinyan called on Russian Railways, of which SCR is a wholly owned subsidiary, to immediately begin rebuilding two sections of the railway near the borders with Turkiye and Azerbaijan. The Russian side did not refuse. Nevertheless, as early as February 2026, Nikol Pashinyan began to speak more specifically, showing exactly what Yerevan wants from Moscow. Yerevan does not expect Moscow to repair roads, but to sell the concession right to one of the countries that "have warm relations" with Armenia and Russia, as Russian Railways deprives the Armenian side of competitive advantages. With this, Pashinyan made it clear to Russian Railways that he no longer wants to see Russia as a concessionaire. It is impossible to say this directly, but one can accuse the partner of not fulfilling the terms of the concession agreement, which in the current regional realities have deprived Armenia of competitive advantages.





It should be noted that Yerevan is in a bit of a hurry with its competitive advantages. Even in Soviet times, Armenia did not have a competitive advantage in terms of logistics due to the difficulties of the terrain. By and large, the concession management of the Armenian railways was more a political move than an economic one. The Armenian railway was never able to make a profit, so the Armenian SSR did not have its own railway management, its highways were part of the Transcaucasian Railway.





In other words, the Armenian railway has always been managed by someone, and Yerevan is not even considering the transfer of this infrastructure to national management. He has neither the experience nor the finances to do this.





Since 2008, the SCR has been the only structure authorized to manage the Armenian railways. The concession agreement is signed for 30 years and will be valid for two more years. The Armenian government does not want to wait so long, considering that it loses a lot due to the fact that it cannot turn the Zangezur corridor into a ring road, connecting the Nakhchivan section with other lines due to their technical unsuitability. In principle, the claims against the Russian side are unfair for the reason that it made no sense to spend money on roads leading to Turkiye and Azerbaijan during the conflict years. Now is the time for this, but Nikol Pashinyan no longer wants his country's railway to depend on Russia.





Terminating the agreement with Russian Railways will not be as easy as it may seem. This is a complex legal process that entails possible financial and legal consequences. For example, Armenia may be obliged to pay compensation to Russian Railways, cover losses or the purchase price of assets. Etc. Therefore, Pashinyan suggests selling assets to another country that suits both sides.





Interestingly, Kazakhstan is considered first of all. At a briefing in Yerevan, Pashinyan said that "Armenia and Russia can come to an understanding that the transfer of the republic's railways on concession terms to Kazakhstan is acceptable for both sides."

It is still unknown what the Kazakh side thinks about this. Pashinyan first announced Kazakhstan as a potential concessionaire in February. There has been no reaction yet. It cannot be until Moscow's consent is obtained. Other candidates include Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. But these options are less realistic. Kazakhstan, as one of the key countries in the Middle Corridor, could be interested in the proposal. But there is a big PROBLEM - Armenian railways are not and cannot become part of international transit due to the same technical parameters. The Zangezur Corridor (or TRIPP) will become part of the transit. But in the current situation, the implementation of this project has been postponed for the time being. In general, Armenia's railways are not profitable, the network is undeveloped and operates only within the Armenian borders.





According to Russian experts, the Armenian side could offer a concession to the Kazakh TEXOL group. This company owns the Atyrau Car Building Plant and has about 10,000 freight wagons of various types in its operational management. For comparison, the SCR has only 2 thousand of them. In addition, it is reported that the company has ambitions in the field of railway transport and logistics in the CIS.





But so far these are just expert opinions. The Kazakh side itself does not react to Pashinyan's idea in any way.





In December last year, the Armenian prime minister, rushing Russia, said that Armenia could withdraw the sections it needed from the Russian Railways concession and restore them independently at its own expense. However, we repeat that Armenia does not have such an experience. We are talking about the sites in Ijevan, Yeraskh and Akhurik, which connect Armenia with the western regions of Azerbaijan, Nakhchivan and Turkiye. Since the beginning of the Armenian occupation, these roads have been inactive and are currently in unusable condition or have been dismantled for scrap. You can't do it with repairs alone. A thorough reconstruction is needed, taking into account modern standards, according to which roads are being built in Azerbaijan and lines in the North will be restored.





All these are not such complicated issues, but they are becoming difficult for a country that is not used to doing things on its own.
Is GRDN a good stock to buy? We came across a bullish thesis on Guardian Pharmacy Services, Inc. on Guasty Winds Investment Ideass Substack by Guasty Winds. In this article, we will summarize the bulls thesis on GRDN. Guardian Pharmacy Services, Inc.'s share was trading at $37.57 as of March 24th. GRDNs trailing and forward P/E were 45.67 and 29.15 respectively according to Yahoo Finance.

Is GRDN a good stock to buy?

Guardian Pharmacy Services, Inc., a pharmacy service company, provides a suite of technology-enabled services to help residents of long-term health care facilities (LTCFs) in the United States. GRDN-US represents a compelling investment opportunity in the long-term care (LTC) pharmacy sector, benefiting from a highly defensive, capital-light, and sticky business model.

Read More: 15 AI Stocks That Are Quietly Making Investors Rich

Read More: Undervalued AI Stock Poised For Massive Gains: 10000% Upside Potential

As the largest player in the assisted living facility (ALF) segment with ~14-15% market share, Guardian has a clear runway for both organic and inorganic growth. The company operates 56 facilities across 38 states, leveraging a decentralized model that empowers local presidents with P&L responsibility while HQ provides centralized support in purchasing, HR, and technology.

This structure drives high employee retention, service consistency, and operational efficiency, creating a significant barrier to entry for new competitors. Guardians growth is further supported by structural tailwinds, including a rapidly aging population, ALF consolidation, and the decline of competitors such as Omnicare, whose bankruptcy presents potential acquisition opportunities to accelerate Guardians expansion.

The company combines high-margin organic growth, currently in the low-teens, with strategic M&A that typically targets break-even facilities, which achieve full profitability within 3-4 years, producing exceptional ROIC. Despite short-term margin drag from recently acquired or opened facilities, long-term EBITDA growth is projected in the mid-to-high teens, with EPS growth of 20-25%+, supported by operational leverage and capital-light investments.

Guardians revenue is predominantly derived from Medicare Part D, a stable and economically insensitive source, and the company benefits from high switching costs due to its embedded software, med-pass processes, and strong relationships with facility staff. With a proven management team, a scalable playbook, and multiple levers for growth, Guardian is positioned to continue consolidating the fragmented LTC pharmacy market, offering investors attractive long-term returns and a strong risk/reward profile.
Halo Minerals begins trading after 20m AIM float Proactive uses images sourced from Shutterstock

Halo Minerals, a company looking to extract copper from legacy mining waste in northern Chile, has raised 4 million and listed on London's AIM.

The shares started trading on Monday, dropping 2.8% to 17.5p from the 18p issue price of the initial public offering.

At the IPO price, Halo had a market capitalisation of around 20 million.

Operations are focused on processing tailings, the material left behind after ore has been mined and processed, at the Playa Verde project in the Atacama region, the prolific copper-producing area where BHP's Escondida mine is based, along with state-owned giant Codelco that has partnerships with Antofagasta, Freeport-McMoRan and Rio Tinto.

The Playa Verde project holds a JORC-compliant mineral resource of 53 million tonnes at 0.24% copper, with ore reserves of 32.2 million tonnes at 0.25% copper containing an estimated 79,359 tonnes of fine copper.

Based on a copper price of $5.30 per pound, the reserves carry an estimated net present value of $154 million.

The funds raised will be used to advance the project towards a final investment decision, or to a point at which outside project financing becomes available.

Chief executive Andrew Dennan said admission to AIM "represents a significant milestone for Halo", which he said is "well-positioned to support the global transition to sustainable energy through the extraction of critical minerals, delivering both environmental and economic value".

"Listing on AIM strengthens our ability to grow as a company by enhancing our visibility, broadening our shareholder base and providing a platform from which to pursue our long-term strategy."
This article first appeared on GuruFocus.

Shenzhen Inovance Technology Co. is moving toward a potential Hong Kong listing that could raise as much as $2 billion, with the industrial automation and robotics maker selecting a syndicate of global banks to support the deal, according to people familiar with the matter. The company is said to be working with Bank of America (NYSE:BAC), China International Capital Corp. (CNICF), Guotai Junan International Holdings Ltd. (GUOTF) and Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS), pointing to a transaction that could draw meaningful investor demand if market conditions hold. Discussions are ongoing and details such as deal size could still shift, while several of the involved parties have declined to comment or did not respond.

The timing lines up with a broader wave of mainland China-listed companies turning to Hong Kong markets, often to fund overseas expansion. That trend has been a dominant driver of activity, accounting for the majority of listing proceeds in 2025, when total capital raised reached $37 billion, a four-year high based on compiled data. Inovance had already indicated in January that it was considering a Hong Kong listing, though without specifics, and the latest developments could suggest those plans are advancing as companies look to tap deeper pools of international capital.

Founded in 2003 and listed in Shenzhen since 2010, Inovance has built its position in industrial automation, supplying robotics and control systems across industries including plastics, packaging and steel production. The company currently carries a market capitalization of about 182 billion yuan ($26 billion), though its shares have declined roughly 25% since reaching a record high in October. The backdrop may remain supportive, as China continues to prioritize high-tech manufacturing, with robotics emerging as a strategic focus area, and peers such as Unitree Robotics recently filing for a 4.2 billion yuan Shanghai IPO, potentially reinforcing investor attention on the sector.
We recently compiled a list of the 13 Best Stocks to Invest In on Robinhood for Beginners. The Gap, Inc. is one of the best Robinhood stocksto invest in.

TheFly reported on March 20 that JPMorgan increased its price target for GAP to $35 from $33 while keeping an Overweight rating on the shares. This adjustment follows discussions with the companys management, during which Gap outlined its three-year plan aimed at accelerating growth, providing investors with insight into the firms strategic trajectory and expected performance over the upcoming period.

In a recent development, on March 24, The Gap, Inc. (NYSE:GAP), which owns Old Navy, Banana Republic, and Athleta, unveiled two AI-driven initiatives aimed at enhancing online shopping. The company introduced personalized sizing guidance through Bold Metrics Agent Sizing Protocol and implemented Googles Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP) to enable smoother conversational and AI-assisted purchasing.

JPMorgan Boosts The Gap, Inc. (GAP) Target Following Three-Year Growth Plan Discussion

By integrating AI across its digital platform rather than as isolated experiments, GAP ensures that customers receive size recommendations within the buying journey and can complete purchases seamlessly in AI-powered environments, including Google Search and the Gemini app. These innovations address key pain points, including selecting the right fit and executing transactions, while embedding intelligence throughout the enterprise. This reflects GAPs strategic approach to scaling AI capabilities for practical, measurable improvements in the shopping experience.

The Gap, Inc. (NYSE:GAP) is an American apparel retailer offering casual clothing and accessories through brands like Gap, Old Navy, Banana Republic, and Athleta, serving global customers with fashion basics and lifestyle apparel.

While we acknowledge the potential of GAP as an investment, we believe certain AI stocks offer greater upside potential and carry less downside risk. If you're looking for an extremely undervalued AI stock that also stands to benefit significantly from Trump-era tariffs and the onshoring trend, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock.

READ NEXT: 33 Stocks That Should Double in 3 Years and 15 Stocks That Will Make You Rich in 10 Years

Disclosure: None. Follow Insider Monkey on Google News.
Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) investors got some very bad news when the company was forced to abandon its internally developed GLP-1 weight loss drug in April, 2025. With patent expirations on the horizon, falling even further behind competitors like Novo Nordisk (NYSE: NVO) and Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY) in an emerging new drug niche was a bad look. However, what happened next is what's really important.

Pfizer quickly changes course in the GLP-1 space

GLP-1 drugs have seen strong consumer demand. Eli Lilly's industry-leading GLP-1 drugs Mounjaro and Zepbound, for example, saw revenue growth of 99% and 175%, respectively, in 2025. The flameout of Pfizer's internally generated GLP-1 candidate was a major setback.

Will AI create the world's first trillionaire? Our team just released a report on the one little-known company, called an "Indispensable Monopoly" providing the critical technology Nvidia and Intel both need. Continue 

Image source: Getty Images.

In fact, Pfizer hasn't exactly been hitting out of the park for a while. Its COVID vaccine success is well in the past, and it has notable patent expirations coming up over the next couple of years. The stock is down around 50% from its 2021 highs. That said, Pfizer didn't give up on the GLP-1 niche. It quickly shifted gears, buying a company with a promising GLP-1 candidate. The deal closed in November, 2025, less than a year after Pfizer announced its own weight loss drug had been dropped. That's a pretty quick pivot.

Pfizer is still an industry giant

What's interesting here is that, despite a massive decline in value, Pfizer still has a market cap of $150 billion. It is a well-respected industry giant navigating the normal ebbs and flows of the pharmaceutical industry. Innovation is vital, but it doesn't come in a smooth line. And, sometimes, a company's plans don't work out as well as hoped.

It is what happens during the hard times that defines a drug company. In February 2026, less than a year after its own drug was dropped, Pfizer announced that the long-acting GLP-1 drug it is now working on was progressing as hoped. That's the sign that Pfizer hasn't suddenly lost its way. It is still the industry-leading drugmaker it was back when COVID vaccines were driving the stock higher.

Long-term investors should consider Pfizer

Pfizer's dividend yield is a lofty 6.2%, largely because its payout ratio is over 100%. Conservative dividend investors may want to tread with caution. However, management has stated its intention to maintain the dividend. All in, if you think in decades, this out-of-favor drug stock is still an industry leader. It could easily help set you up for life and, likely, for a lifetime of dividends.
ProPetro awarded Buy rating in initial coverage from Bank of America Proactive uses images sourced from Shutterstock

Bank of America has initiated coverage on ProPetro (NYSE:PUMP) with a 'Buy' rating and a price objective of $18, citing a combination of cyclical recovery in oilfield services and longer-term growth in power infrastructure.

Shares of ProPetro traded up almost 3% at $15 on Monday afternoon.

The banks analysts believe ProPetro is well placed for a recovery in hydraulic fracturing, or Completions, activity after a weak period expected to bottom in 2026.

At the same time, Bank of America expects a turning point described as an inflection, in the companys PROPWR business beginning in the second half of 2026. This segment focuses on providing power generation and related infrastructure, including for oil and gas operations and data centers.

The analysts expect this combination to reshape the companys earnings profile over time. While ProPetro currently generates all of its earnings from Completions, Bank of America forecasts that by 2030 roughly 39% of adjusted EBITDA could come from the power segment, reducing reliance on the more volatile oilfield services cycle.

Overall, the firm projects revenue and adjusted EBITDA to grow at compound annual rates of 15% and 35%, respectively, from 2026 through 2030. Its adjusted EBITDA estimates for 2027 and 2028, $365 million and $520 million, are significantly above consensus, reflecting a stronger expected recovery in completions activity.

Cash flow from the legacy business is expected to fund much of the expansion. The analysts estimate free cash flow from Completions will increase from $94 million in 2026 to $170 million in 2027 and $270 million in 2028, which they say should allow ProPetro to scale its power operations without taking on substantial additional debt.

Bank of America also pointed to execution in the power segment, noting the company has assembled an experienced team and has already secured contracts, including a long-term agreement tied to a 60-megawatt data center. The firm expects the division to generate adjusted EBITDA of about $9 million in 2026, rising to $94 million in 2027 and $158 million in 2028 as more capacity is deployed.

Despite a roughly 54% rise in the stock so far this year, the banks analysts believe its valuation remains relatively low compared with peers, trading at a discount on forward EBITDA multiples.

They see the overall setup as offering an attractive risk/reward, while highlighting risks including prolonged weakness in oil prices, execution challenges in scaling the power business, and the companys concentration in US shale regions.
Revolut plans to base roughly 40% of its global workforce in India by the end of 2026, as the UK digital bank grows its global capability centre (GCC) in the country, Reuters has reported.

The company said it will add 1,600 roles in India through 2026, taking its headcount there to 5,500 by the end of that year.

The UK-founded digital banking platform has about 12,000 employees worldwide.

Revolut had previously committed 500m ($669.8m) over five years to its India business and the GCC, with the investment announced in 2025.

The new hires are expected to cover product development, support activities and financial services work, including payment processing and fraud investigations.

Indias GCCs, once largely associated with cost-driven outsourcing, increasingly take on broader responsibilities such as operations, finance and research and development for multinational groups.

Jonathan Beaney, Revoluts head of talent acquisition, described India as one of the deepest and most dynamic talent pools in the world.

Our India tech hub is central to our global scale... the technical calibre, ambition and excellence we see here make India a natural long-term home for Revolut, Beaney said.

Revolut said the GCC expansion is separate from its India business.

India chief executive Paroma Chatterjee told Reuters that around a third of the firms processes are now handled from India, including routine transaction monitoring and AI-driven alerting.

"Things made visible using the India tech stack, like video KYC - more intelligence came in from the India GCC to share that knowledge overseas to try to implement it in other markets to have tighter onboarding," Chatterjee said.

Founded in 2015, Revolut is valued at $75bn. In India, it is authorised to issue prepaid payment instruments and said it plans to launch its product in the next quarter, according to a company statement.

"Revolut to base 40% of global workforce in India by end-2026" was originally created and published by Retail Banker International, a GlobalData owned brand.




Spectra Systems shares rise 8% as sensor contract drives record profits Proactive uses images sourced from Shutterstock

Shares in Spectra Systems Corporation (AIM:SPSY, OTC:SCTQ) rose 8% to 136p after the AIM-listed banknote authentication and security technology company reported a doubling of adjusted earnings per share following the first deliveries under a major sensor contract.

Revenue rose 30.7% to $64.3 million for the year ended 31 December 2025, while adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation, adjusted for non-cash items) surged 82.9% to $27.3 million and adjusted profit before tax and amortisation more than doubled to $25.2 million.

Adjusted earnings per share rose 100% to 37.8 US cents, with chief executive Nabil Lawandy noting that, including stock compensation adjustments the increase was 133%.

The step-change in profitability was driven by partial completion of a sensor order for a long-standing customer, which generated $5.7 million in payments during 2025, with further cash expected as remaining sensors are delivered in 2026.

A sensor maintenance contract worth approximately $6.7 million covering 2026 to 2030 has also been executed, providing additional revenue visibility.

The company's gaming software security business produced record revenues and profitability during the year, while its UK secure printing subsidiary was awarded a $4 million, four-year hybrid stamp contract.

The board declared an annual dividend of $0.136 per share, up from $0.116 in 2024, to be paid in July 2026.

Looking ahead, Spectra identified near-term opportunities including qualification of its polymer substrate with a second central bank, expansion of hybrid stamp sales to additional postal authorities and potential adoption of its smartphone authentication technology for tax stamp programmes.

Cash stood at $14.8 million at year's end, with debt of $3.3 million.
T&G Global has appointed Goldman Sachs to assist with the possible change in ownership at the NZ fresh-produce supplier.

Nine months ago, T&G announced it was up for sale with its major shareholder, the German conglomerate BayWa, looking to offload its stake.

At the time, the group said had received a large number of expressions of interest in its business after BayWas announcement in December 2024 it was reducing its investments as part of wider corporate changes at the German group. BayWa, which does business in sectors including building materials and renewable energy, ended 2024 with a loss of around 1.6bn ($1.86bn).

T&G also said at the time it had started a process to consider its strategic options.

In a stock-exchange filing on Thursday (26 March), the publicly-listed T&G issued a brief statement after a media report in Australia.

T&G Global Limited notes an article published yesterday in The Australian commenting that the company has appointed Goldman Sachs to relaunch a sales process of the company.

As T&G Global previously advised the market in July 2025, the company is going through a process to consider its strategic options. No decision has been made at this time in respect of that process.

As also previously advised to the market in July 2025, T&G Globals largest shareholder, BayWa AG, has announced that it is proposing to sell its shareholding in the company. T&G Global confirms that it has appointed Goldman Sachs to assist the company in respect of that matter.

T&G Global will continue to keep the market informed in accordance with its continuous disclosure obligations.

T&G Global operates in 13 countries and distributes fresh produce in more than 55 markets.

"T&G Global hires Goldman Sachs to work on possible sale" was originally created and published by Just Food, a GlobalData owned brand.




Tamboran wins court approval for Falcon acquisition, flags amendments and timing update Proactive uses images sourced from Shutterstock

Tamboran Resources Corporation (NYSE:TBN, ASX:TBN, OTC:TBNRL, FRA:O8R) on Friday announced it has received court approval for its proposed acquisition of Falcon Oil & Gas Ltd (AIM:FOG, TSX-V:FO), with the Supreme Court of British Columbia signing off on the transaction subject to amendments to the Plan of Arrangement.

The Final Order clears a key step in the process to acquire all of Falcons subsidiaries, although the court has required changes relating to the treatment of certain Falcon shareholders subject to sanctions.

Tamboran and Falcon are now reviewing those amendments and assessing their impact on the implementation of the transaction.

Amendments prompt timing extension

The required changes centre on how sanctioned shareholders are handled under the arrangement  an issue that has become more prominent in cross-border transactions involving multiple jurisdictions. Tamboran said both companies are now considering how best to incorporate the courts conditions.

To allow time to address these requirements, Tamboran and Falcon plan to extend the outside date under the agreement while they work toward satisfying the remaining conditions.

The transaction therefore remains subject to finalisation of the amended terms and completion of the remaining steps.

Beetaloo consolidation strategy continues

The Falcon acquisition forms part of Tamborans broader push to consolidate its position in the Beetaloo Basin in the Northern Territory.

Tamboran is already the largest acreage holder in the basin, with about 1.9 million net prospective acres, and has been progressing pilot development and infrastructure planning in recent months.

Taking full control of Falcons interests is expected to simplify the ownership structure across key assets and support the companys longer-term development plans in the region. Recent company updates have pointed to growing activity in the basin, including ongoing work programs.

With court approval in place, Tamboran said the parties are now working through the required amendments and what they mean for the timing and structure of the transaction.
Qabil Ashirov

The Director-General of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has shared a post on X following the recent Israeli military attacks in southern Lebanon, as a result of which has killed a health worker. AzerNEWS reports via The Guardian that the strike also destroyed a medical warehouse in the same city, according to the WHO official.

Besides, the reports say that the WHO has verified that Israeli attacks have killed 51 Lebanese health workers since 2 March - including nine paramedics on Saturday.

Back to the WHO Chief, in his post on X, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says the WHO has verified that 51 Lebanese health workers have been killed since 2 March, including nine paramedics just yesterday. "Attacks on health facilities must cease immediately. This cannot become the norm. Health workers are safeguarded under international humanitarian law and should not be targeted. Peace is the best medicine."
This article first appeared on GuruFocus.

Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE:TM) is starting to show early signs of strain as February data points to softening demand in key markets, particularly China, where competition in electric vehicles continues to intensify. The company reported a 2.3% year-over-year decline in global sales to 806,905 units, with Toyota and Lexus brand sales in China falling 13.9% and local production down 11.5%, partly reflecting the timing of the Lunar New Year holiday. While Toyota has so far held relatively steady through a broader slowdown in EV demand and ongoing tariff-related costs, the latest figures suggest underlying pressure could be building before the full effects of recent geopolitical developments are felt.

The broader industry backdrop appears similarly challenged. Honda Motor Co. (NYSE:HMC) reported a 6.6% drop in global sales for February to 249,414 units, including a 15.2% decline in China, while Nissan Motor Co. posted a 7.4% global sales decline, with a sharper 19.4% contraction in the Chinese market. These trends could indicate that legacy automakers are facing a more competitive and rapidly shifting demand environment in China, particularly as local EV players continue to scale. At the same time, supply-side risks are beginning to emerge, as the Middle East conflict that escalated on Feb. 28 starts to affect logistics, deliveries, and sourcing conditions.

Japanese automakers may be particularly exposed given that roughly 70% of their aluminum supply is sourced from the region, and disruptions to the Strait of Hormuz are forcing longer shipping routes via the Cape of Good Hope, potentially extending delivery times to around 100 days. Industry data shows that about 800,000 vehicles were exported from Japan to the Middle East in 2025, representing approximately 2.5 trillion in value, highlighting the scale of potential disruption. In response, Toyota and Nissan have signaled plans to reduce production in March, while Honda is increasing localized production in certain regions to offset export declines. Separately, Toyota's joint ventures in China are preparing to recall more than 560,000 SUVs as part of a wider global recall affecting about 1.23 million vehicles, which could add another layer of operational complexity at a time when demand visibility may already be weakening.
This article first appeared on GuruFocus.

Toyota Motor (NYSE:TM) is starting to feel the heat, with February sales slipping 2.3% year over year to 806,905 units as pressure builds in China and demand softens at home.

The biggest drag came from China, where Toyota and Lexus sales dropped 13.9%, while production fell 11.5%. The company partly blamed the shifting timing of the Lunar New Year, which reduced operating days, but the bigger story is how competitive the market has become as local EV players continue to gain ground.

That shift is becoming harder to ignore. China's auto market is moving quickly toward electric vehicles, and Toyota, still catching up in that space, is finding it tougher to hold share even as overall demand remains relatively stable.

Importantly, these numbers don't yet reflect any fallout from the Iran conflict, which only began toward the end of the month and could add more uncertainty in the weeks ahead.
Iran parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf has made a name for himself on social media.

He's been using X to push back on President Trump's Iran-war commentary.

Ghalibaf most recently said investors should view Trump updates as a reverse indicator for markets.

President Trump may have some competition on the social-media front.

Trump has become known for posts that can move the market depending on whether he deescalates the Iran-war situation, or adds to existing tensions. The market is always watching his account for cues.

But recently, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the speaker of Iran's parliament, has entered the fray. In an X post on Sunday, he acknowledged Trump's tendency to respond to market moves, and advised investors how to position:

For his part, Trump did end up publishing a market-moving Truth Social post about negotiations on Monday before the open. The tone of it was unabashedly positive, and stocks responded in kind, opening strongly higher.

By Ghalibaf's logic, this increase is ripe for a reversal, and represents a selling opportunity. As of 11 a.m. ET on Monday the move in US indexes was still positive, but pared from earlier highs.

@realDonaldTrump Truth Social

Not the Iranian official's first rodeo

This isn't the first time that Ghalibaf posted about Trump's comments on negotiations moving markets.

The Monday prior, Trump posted about "productive" talks with Iran which sent US equities higher and oil prices lower. The S&P 500 ended the week lower and oil prices higher despite Trump's efforts.

Ghalibaf, who is among the de facto leaders in Iran after the US and Israel-led assassinations of Iranian politicians, took to X following Trump's post and denied that conversations had happened and allege market manipulation.

X

"Fake news is intended to manipulate financial and oil markets and to escape the quagmire in which America and Israel are trapped," he wrote.

Ghalibaf followed up on March 27 with more criticism and another mention of "fake news":

While Ghalibaf doesn't post as often as Trump, he is getting attention from some elite pundits.
The Iran war is reshaping international aviation, with Gulf carriers forced to cancel tens of thousands of flights while rivals from Europe and Asia pick up some of the slack.

Around 1.7 million weekly seats have been removed from the regions airline schedules so far, equal to around a third of prewar capacity, according to industry analysts OAG.

Saudi-based airlines are operating near-normal schedules, but the larger carriers in Qatar and the UAE are not. Qatar Airways is seeking lower aircraft rental payments as a way to reduce costs, Bloomberg reported. Airlines from other regions, including British Airways, Germanys Lufthansa, and Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific have cut back on services to the Gulf or pulled out entirely. At the same time, some have increased capacity on direct Asia-Europe routes that bypass the Gulf, although it is hard to make significant additions quickly, and at affordable prices for passengers.

A chart showing the average number of Gulf airline flights before and after the Iran war.

 Dominic Dudley
Ducati (VWAGY) unveiled what it calls the most extreme and most expensive road-legal motorcycle it has ever built  and clients have already snagged every one.

The Superleggera V4 Centenario, priced at $165,000 and limited to just 500 numbered units, is already sold out, a testament to Bologna, Italy-based Ducatis hold on the most discerning motorcycle enthusiasts. A special Tricolore variant, limited to 100 units and priced at $250,000, also sold out.

The bike, unveiled late last week ahead of Sundays US Grand Prix motorcycle race in Austin, Texas, celebrates Ducatis 100-year anniversary and was built around a philosophy the company said is core to the brand: no constraints, no compromise, and no limits.

The Ducati Superleggera V4 Centenario.  Ducati

Read more: Motorcycle insurance explained: Types of coverage and how much you'll need

Its really special to be able to have basically no limits, Ducati US CEO Jason Chinnock told Yahoo Finance. The only limits are making sure you can homologate it and that it fits within the core values of our brand  style, sophistication, performance, and it delivers on that.

No limits means a hand-built V4 engine with exotic parts like titanium intake valves, paired with a throaty race exhaust, producing an astounding 247 horsepower, all for a bike that weighs only 381 pounds  a serious horsepower-to-weight ratio.

It weighs so little because the entire chassis  frame, swingarm, wheels, and bodywork  is made from carbon fiber. The Centenario also debuts two firsts for a road-legal bike: carbon-ceramic brake discs approved for street use and an Ohlins fork with carbon fiber outer tubes.

The Ducati Superleggera V4 Centenario.  Ducati

Chinnock said the company and dealers previewed the bike to clients when it was little more than a 3D model and not a fully functioning bike.

We basically had been pre-selling it for the last six months, and candidly, at this point, we now have an order portfolio that exceeds our production capacity. So, is there a market? Theres definitely a market, Chinnock said.

The companys US business is strong across Ducatis portfolio of now 14 models available in the US, from the entry-level Scrambler series to high-performance bikes like the Streetfighter and Panigale, and even the new off-road segment.

A Ducati motorcycle is showcased at Zhang Yuan during the Jing An New Year Sales Festival in Shanghai, China, on January 25, 2026. (Ying Tang/NurPhoto via Getty Images)  NurPhoto via Getty Images

We're going to end Q1 very strong, Chinnock said, adding that he didnt want to speculate with Q1 numbers still coming in, but that sales were trending nearly 20% higher.

The sales of pricey yet coveted Ducati bikes come against the backdrop of deep uncertainty across the globe, with the US-Israel war with Iran and ensuing spike in oil prices leading to roiled markets. Economic activity in the US and other regions is also trending lower.
A federal government plan to include alternative assets in 401(k)s has lifted the stock of private equity giants.

On Monday, the US Labor Department officially issued a proposal opening the door for alternative assets like private equity, credit, and cryptocurrency to be included in retirement accounts for more than 90 million Americans.

The move comes at a tenuous moment for alternative assets, which have faced a bear market in 2026.

Shares of Apollo Global Management (APO), Blackstone (BX), and KKR (KKR) all rose 1% to 3% on Monday. These same stocks have been walloped in recent weeks and are down between 24% and 30% this year. (Disclosure: Yahoo is a portfolio company of funds managed by affiliates of Apollo Global Management.)

Crypto-related assets including Bitcoin (BTC-USD) and ether (ETH-USD) also rose slightly on the news and were up slightly on a 24-hour basis as of late Monday afternoon.

Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer said the proposal shows how retirement plans can consider a wider range of products that reflect todays investment landscape.

She added in the release that it delivers on the presidents promise for a new golden age by fostering a retirement system that allows more Americans to retire with dignity.

The proposed regulation lays out how 401(k) plan managers should consider these assets in their investment lineups, which typically include stocks, bonds, and other index products. It's a major shift in retirement investments, opening up the traditionally staid industry to more speculative and less liquid options.

The proposal follows an executive order President Trump signed last summer that paved the way for ordinary savers to have access to alternative assets, which historically have been reserved for institutions and wealthy investors.

In an op-ed published in the Wall Street Journal, Chavez-DeRemer said the rule confirms that "there is no investment class or strategy that is per se unlawful for retirement plans" so long as plan managers engage in a "sound fiduciary process."

"We applaud President Trump and the Department of Labor," Will Dunham, CEO of private equity industry trade association, the American Investment Council, said in emailed statements.

"This proposed rule provides regulatory clarity that will give millions of workers with 401(k)s more choices and more control over their financial futures," Dunham added.

Big money managers like Apollo, Blackstone, KKR and BlackRock (BLK) have eyed this opportunity for years as a way to tap a large and fresh new source of capital. Last week, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink argued that giving everyday investors more access to a range of assets, particularly those tied to artificial intelligence, is a core way to improve wealth inequality.
By Florence Tan

March 30 (Reuters) - Oil prices extended gains on Monday, with Brent headed for a record monthly rise, after Yemeni Houthis launched their first attacks on Israel over the weekend, widening the U.S.-Israel war with Iran in the Middle East.

Brent crude futures jumped $3.09, or 2.74%, to $115.66 a barrel by 2353 GMT after settling 4.2% higher on Friday.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate was at $102.56 a barrel, up $2.92, or 2.93%, following a 5.5% gain in the previous session.

Brent has soared 59% this month, the steepest monthly jump, exceeding gains seen during the 1990 Gulf War, after the Iran conflict effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, a conduit for a fifth of the world's oil and gas supplies.

The war, launched on February 28 with U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran, has spread across the Middle East, with Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis on Saturday launching their first attacks on Israel since the start of the conflict, raising concern about shipping lanes around the Arabian Peninsula and the Red Sea.

"The conflict is no longer concentrated in the Persian Gulf and around the Strait of Hormuz, but now extends into the Red Sea and the Bab el-Mandeb  one of the world's most crucial chokepoints for crude and refined product flows," JP Morgan analysts led by Natasha Kaneva said in a note.

Saudi crude exports re-directed from the Strait of Hormuz to the Yanbu port in the Red Sea reached 4.658 million barrels per day last week, data from analytics firm Kpler showed.

If exports from Yanbu were disrupted, Saudi oil would need to pivot toward Egypts Suez-Mediterranean (SUMED) pipeline to the Mediterranean, JP Morgan analysts said.

Attacks in the region escalated over the weekend and damaged Oman's Salalah terminal despite efforts to start ceasefire talks.

Iran said it was ready to respond to a U.S. ground attack, accusing Washington on Sunday of preparing a land assault even as it sought negotiations.

Pakistan's Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said they had covered possible ways to bring an early and permanent end to the war in the region as well as potential U.S.-Iran talks in Islamabad.

(Reporting by Florence Tan; editing by Jonathan Oatis and Sonali Paul)
HALABJA, Iraq (AP)  To speak with his mother inside Iran, Yaser Fattahi waits in self-exile in Iraq for brief calls arranged by a cousin back home who travels close to the border between the neighboring countries where he can pick up a signal to connect them.

Fattahi fled to neighboring Iraq in December, fearing arrest over his participation in anti-government protests in Iran. A trained nurse, he was caring for wounded protesters in their homes so they wouldn't have to seek care in state-run hospitals that were under surveillance.

Now, as the war intensifies, he worries constantly for his mothers safety amid U.S. and Israeli bombardment.

The war has disrupted telecommunications and concentrated Iranian forces along the frontier, choking off communications and trade for many.

When Fattahi's cousin can make it to the border, he calls over WhatsApp using one phone with an Iraqi SIM card and then connects to Fattahi's mother using another phone with the Iranian cell network.

The calls last a minute or two, Fattahi said from Sulaymaniyah, in Iraqs Kurdish region along the Iranian border. She tells me to take care of myself, and that they are okay.

Four days have passed since the last call. Fattahi keeps glancing at his phone. I thought he would call today but he hasnt, he said.

The border between Iran and northern Iraq's Kurdish region has long been porous, alive with family ties, trade and smuggling. Now families are cut off from loved ones, and traders  even smugglers  hesitate to cross. Iranian forces have built up their presence to prevent incursions by Iranian Kurdish militant groups.

Those who travel close to the border to pick up Iraqi cell signals risk being shot, activists said. Others rely on smuggled Starlink connections and pay steep prices to stay in touch.

A family divided

In the mountainous Iraqi district of Byara, relatives used to regularly cross the border to visit one another for family gatherings and religious celebrations.

The war has upended those longstanding traditions.

Nyan Fayaq, 25, a law student, stood over giant pots of food as she helped prepare a fast-breaking iftar meal in the final week of Ramadan while dozens of relatives gathered in shimmering Kurdish dress amid rolling green hills dotted with sheep.

Her thoughts were in the Iranian city of Saqqez, where she has family she has not been able to reach for more than a month.

Fayaq was born in Iran. Her parents divorced when she was 2, and she returned with her mother to Iraq, her mothers homeland. She reached out to her uncles in the Iranian city of Saqqez 18 years later and remained in contact.
By Olivia Le Poidevin, David Lawder and Lisandra Paraguassu

YAOUNDE, March 30 (Reuters) - World Trade Organization countries failed to agree on a reform path or even a routine extension of an e-commerce duty moratorium, prompting a fresh vow from the U.S. to seek alternative deals with like-minded countries and relegate the body to only a limited role in global trade policy.

More from Yahoo Scout What were Brazil and Turkey's main objections? How will this impact global trade policy? What are the US plans outside the WTO? Why did the WTO e-commerce moratorium talks fail?

Four days of talks among trade ministers in Cameroon's capital Yaounde broke up in the early hours of Monday with Brazil and Turkey blocking a bid to extend the WTO's e-commerce moratorium, including on digital downloads and streaming.

The moratorium, agreed at the dawn of the internet, lapsed for the first time in 28 years.

U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said in a statement that he has secured agreements from dozens of countries, including nearly all major trading partners, not to impose tariffs on U.S. digital transmissions. He vowed that if the WTO fails to restore the moratorium, "the United States will work outside of the WTO with all interested partners to get it done."

Greer, who is the architect of U.S. President Donald Trump's multi-front tariff assault on global trading partners, said he was disappointed that the meeting ended in an impasse. He said some countries demonstrated a "lack of seriousness" in WTO reform by not sending their trade ministers to Cameroon.

"I have always been skeptical of the value of the WTO, and this weeks conference confirmed that this organization will play only a limited role in future global trade policy efforts," Greer said.

The WTO has been increasingly sidelined by economic nationalism in the past decade, and its 14th ministerial conference in Cameroon will further that trend, analysts said.

RISK OF A 'SPAGHETTI BOWL' OF DEALS

"It marks another crack in the foundations of the WTO system," said Andrew Wilson, Deputy Secretary General of the International Chamber of Commerce.

Meanwhile, Jonathan McHale, vice president of digital trade at the Computer and Communications Industry Association, said that WTO members have allowed the digital trade issue to become "a negotiating football".

"WTO Members must return to this issue urgently in Geneva, build on the draft texts developed at MC14, and deliver a durable solution that restores certainty and credibility to the system," he said.

The talks tested the WTO's relevance after a year of huge trade turmoil and more recent disruptions in the Middle East.

Still, a subset of 66 members did agree to sidestep previous hurdles to usher in the world's first baseline deal on digital trade rules among participants.
A senior Iranian lawmaker has called for Tehran to withdraw from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), arguing that current conditions no longer justify the countrys continued participation.

AzerNEWS reports that Alaeddin Boroujerdi, a member of Irans parliamentary National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, said in a statement to local media that remaining in the treaty has lost its meaning under the present circumstances.

According to Boroujerdi, a growing number of Iranian lawmakers now believe there is no reason for the country to accept high-level restrictions following recent developments.

Iran is not seeking nuclear weapons, he said. However, it is not logical for a country to both comply with international rules and be subjected to bombardment at the same time.

His remarks come amid a sharp escalation in tensions between United States and Iran over Tehrans nuclear program. After failing to reach a concrete agreement in negotiations, the United States and Israel reportedly launched airstrikes against Iran starting February 28.

In response, Iran carried out missile and drone attacks targeting Israel and U.S. military facilities across the region.

The first day of the strikes reportedly resulted in the death of Irans Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, along with several high-ranking military officials. On March 8, Irans Assembly of Experts elected his son, Mojtaba Khamenei, as the countrys third Supreme Leader.

Subsequent airstrikes also led to the deaths of several senior Iranian figures, including Chief of Staff Major General Abdolrahim Mousavi, IRGC Commander Mohammad Pakpour, senior adviser Ali Shamkhani, Defense Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh, Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib, National Security Council Secretary Ali Larijani, and Basij Commander Gholamreza Soleimani.

Between March 1 and 5, the conflict expanded further, drawing in multiple countries across the Middle East.

The escalation has placed regional energy infrastructure and maritime routes under severe threat. Rising tensions around the Strait of Hormuz have driven global oil prices sharply higher, while several countries have urged their citizens to leave the region.
The ongoing partial government shutdown has led to major airport delays, but TSA PreCheck and Global Entry can help you avoid long security lines.

The shutdown affects funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). As a result, TSA workers have been furloughed since the shutdown began in February, and passengers are waiting in increasingly long lines  some for more than four-and-a-half hours  to get through security.

In a congressional hearing on March 25, Ha Nguyen McNeill, the acting TSA chief, said that nearly 500 workers have quit during the current shutdown, in addition to those workers calling out sick. Thats led to what McNeill says are the highest wait times in the agencys history.

President Trump signed a presidential memorandum on March 27, ordering TSA agents to be paid as soon as Monday, even as Congress remained gridlocked over funding the DHS.

Trumps border czar, Tom Homan, said over the weekend that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents could remain at U.S. airports depending on how many TSA agents come back to work. Some airports were still seeing long lines as TSA staff continued to call out sick over the weekend, according to media reports.

One way to avoid potential delays is to enroll in a paid service to get priority access through security. Expedited security lanes for CLEAR+ members and travelers with TSA PreCheck are still open at airports across the United States.

And if youre traveling internationally, using the Customs and Border Protections Global Entry service  which was initially suspended but is now open  could speed up your entry back into the U.S. after a trip abroad.

If youre traveling soon, heres what to know about using TSA PreCheck and Global Entry during the government shutdown.

TSA PreCheck is operating

TSA PreCheck is open nationwide. However, staffing shortages have led some airports to temporarily close dedicated TSA PreCheck lanes.

TSA PreCheck availability can depend on both the airport youre flying out of and the terminal you use to go through security. TSA PreCheck is currently closed (as of March 26) at George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH) in Houston, for example. The Philadelphia International Airport on March 18 temporarily closed some security checkpoints, including the PreCheck-only Terminal C checkpoint, but still has PreCheck lanes open at other terminals.

Check the MyTSA mobile app to view estimated wait times at U.S. airports, and arrive early. Whether you have TSA PreCheck or not, its smart to build in extra time for long security lines and regularly check travel alerts for your upcoming travel.

Read more: Flight chaos grows as TSA lines stretch for hours. What to know about trip cancellation insurance.

Global Entry has reopened

While still operating TSA PreCheck lanes, the DHS initially suspended Global Entry processing at participating airports starting in late February as part of its effort to conserve resources. But Global Entry lanes reopened as of March 11.

International travelers may still face delays when returning to the U.S. with long lines at customs, but travelers with Global Entry may start to see faster processing times upon re-entry.

Geoff Freeman, president and CEO of the U.S. Travel Association, said in a statement that the organization welcomes the decision to reopen Global Entry: Trusted Traveler Programs enhance security while keeping travel moving.

Both TSA PreCheck and Global Entry continued to operate during past government shutdowns, including the record-long shutdown last year.

TSA PreCheck vs. Global Entry: Whats the difference?

TSA PreCheck and Global Entry can both minimize the time you spend at the airport, but they serve two very different functions. The best choice for you depends on how you typically travel.

TSA PreCheck helps you move through security more quickly at participating airports throughout the country. Airports have dedicated TSA PreCheck lanes, which are often significantly shorter than general security lines, and the screening process doesnt require you to remove your shoes or belts.

Now, you can also enroll in Touchless ID through TSA PreCheck when you fly with participating airlines. When you enroll and fly with Touchless ID, youll go to another dedicated security lane and use facial comparison to verify your identity, which can help speed up the process even more.

PreCheck is available at more than 200 airports in the U.S. and with over 90 participating airlines. Touchless ID is currently available at 65 airports. You can use PreCheck when youre at the airport for domestic flights or when you leave a U.S. airport for an international destination. The program typically costs up to $85 for five years of access.

Global Entry, on the other hand, is most useful for frequent international travelers. Global Entry grants you expedited entry back into the U.S. from other countries. Youll have shorter wait times through customs and wont have to go through processing lines or fill out paperwork. Global Entry is available at major U.S. airports and has a non-refundable $120 fee for five years of access.

Compared to PreCheck, Global Entry can take longer to enroll in, since youll need to do an in-person interview at an enrollment center. But once you enroll in Global Entry, youll also have access to TSA PreCheck.

Read more: How to use your credit card for international travel

Consider CLEAR+ as an alternative at some airports

CLEAR+ is another paid service that can help reduce your wait time at airport security.

CLEAR+ members have dedicated lanes at participating airports, and the service uses biometric data (like facial recognition and fingerprint scans) to identify you, so you dont have to show your ID to a TSA agent.

The cost for CLEAR+ is more expensive than TSA PreCheck. Youll pay $209 annually, though you can get a discount through certain airline loyalty programs and with some travel credit cards. You can also enroll in TSA PreCheck alongside your CLEAR+ membership for no additional cost.

Before you sign up, make sure CLEAR+ is available at your home airport. While over 60 airports across the country currently have CLEAR+ lanes, the service isnt yet as widespread as TSA PreCheck.

Read more: CLEAR+ lets you bypass TSA checkpoints for ID. Is it worth the cost?

How to get TSA PreCheck for free with a credit card

During a government shutdown, you should always be prepared for delays and longer lines at the airport. But using TSA PreCheck is a great way to expedite the security process and get to your destination more quickly.

If youre traveling soon, consider TSA PreCheck to help avoid some of the disruptions you might face. You can even offset the cost using a travel credit card with fee credits for either TSA PreCheck or Global Entry.

Here are a few of our top picks for cards with TSA PreCheck benefits:

Chase Sapphire Reserve

Get a statement credit of up to $120 every four years as reimbursement for TSA PreCheck or Global Entry application fees charged to your card.

Read our full Chase Sapphire Reserve review

Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card

Get up to $120 in statement credits when you use your Venture card for TSA PreCheck or Global Entry.

Read our full review of the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card

United Explorer Card

United flyers with this airline card can get a statement credit worth up to $120 every four years for TSA PreCheck or Global Entry application fees.

Read our full United Explorer Card review

Editorial Disclosure: The information in this article has not been reviewed or approved by any advertiser. All opinions belong solely to the Yahoo Finance and are not those of any other entity. The details on financial products, including card rates and fees, are accurate as of the publish date. All products or services are presented without warranty. Check the banks website for the most current information. This site doesn't include all currently available offers. Credit score alone does not guarantee or imply approval for any financial product.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that 44% of tax returns, or 37.5 million Americans, have claimed benefits from one of the new tax policies in the One Big Beautiful Bill: no tax on tips, no tax on overtime pay, no tax on Social Security, or deductions for car loan interest.

Meanwhile, more than 6 million Americans have signed up for Trump accounts, the new tax-advantaged investment account for children, designed to set them up to invest early, Bessent said last week in a meeting of President Trump's Cabinet.

According to the most recent IRS data, the IRS has received more than 78.8 million tax returns so far.

The average tax refund is up almost 11% over last year: $3,571, compared with an average of $3,221 in 2025.

Learn more: 4 ways the One Big Beautiful Bill Act could lower your taxes

The strong tax season has unfolded amid rising oil prices driven by the Iran war, raising questions about whether the conflict could hurt the U.S. economy and consumer spending.

Bessent said that the economy is well positioned to withstand these temporary disruptions.

According to an analysis by Deutsche Bank, if oil were sustained at $100 per barrel, the projected tax benefits to consumers from the OBBB would still exceed the drag from the implied energy tax increase. But at $150 per barrel, the increase in energy costs would present a more serious threat to the outlook for consumer spending.

The price of West Texas Intermediate crude oil has averaged $84.95 per barrel over the past month amid the conflict, though it traded over $100 per barrel on Monday. The peak price of crude during the Ukraine war in early 2022 was over 30% higher than todays levels.

Bessent reiterated the administrations efforts to pad the spike in oil prices and, in turn, gas prices, including issuing temporary sanction waivers on Iranian and Russian oil already in transit to stabilize the global oil market. Trump has also authorized the release of 172 million barrels from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in concert with a larger, coordinated effort with International Energy Agency member nations to release a total of 400 million barrels globally.

Read more: What an extended war with Iran could mean for U.S. gas prices

The administration has also announced a 60-day waiver of the Jones Act, allowing foreign ships to transport oil, natural gas, and other fuels between U.S. ports to boost supplies.

The oil market is well supplied, said Bessent. We have taken actions to ensure oil supplies stranded at sea are made available to the global market.

On Monday, Bessent announced a new program that will offer whistleblowers of taxpayer fraud reportedly up to 30% of the fines imposed on criminals who have stolen taxpayers funds.

The Treasury is also urging financial institutions to be vigilant about fraud schemes targeting government health care benefit programs.

Financial institutions have filed 20% more suspicious activity reports related to health care over the past year since President Trump elevated the issue, according to the administration.

Jennifer Schonberger is a veteran financial journalist covering markets, the economy, and investing. At Yahoo Finance, she covers the Federal Reserve, Congress, the White House, the Treasury, the SEC, the economy, cryptocurrencies, and the intersection of Washington policy with finance. Follow her on X @Jenniferisms and on Instagram.

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Africas energy producers are emerging as unexpected long-term beneficiaries of the Middle East conflict, according to oil analysts.

Angola, Mozambique, and Nigeria are among nations increasingly viewed by European and Asian buyers as lower-risk alternatives to disrupted supplies: With the Strait of Hormuz and Red Sea now high-risk routes, African volumes carry lower insurance premiums and more predictable delivery times  structural advantages that could reshape long-term supply contracts.

Africas liquefied natural gas sector stands to gain most; export capacity is projected to more than double by 2040, according to the African Energy Chamber. The crisis could also accelerate long-delayed projects, including the Trans-Saharan pipeline designed to carry Nigerian gas through Niger and Algeria to Europe, which has been beset by safety and security concerns in the Sahel region.

Horizon Engage risk analyst Clementine Wallop warned, however, that while Africa was a logical place to look, the risks some of these projects have faced  security, political, or logistical in nature  show that this is not a quick fix.

Potential gains for producer nations are nevertheless cold comfort for millions of ordinary Africans: The conflict has sent Brent crude surging more than 50% to around $110 a barrel, and since most African countries are net importers of refined oil products, the price shock has been swift and severe.

A chart showing Africas share of global oil supply compared to the worlds top producing countries.

 Yinka Adegoke
The US-Israeli war on Iran has rattled energy markets, with many countries taking measures to conserve fuel.

Amid this, a March 2026 study by Energy World Mag examined 75 countries across seven factors to determine which nations would struggle most during global energy disruptions.

The study scored each country on a 0-100 scale, with higher scores indicating greater risk if energy supplies are disrupted. The factors included fossil fuel dependency, energy self-sufficiency, reliance on fuel imports, and more.

Singapore Leads Energy Vulnerability Ranking

Singapore topped the list. The city-state earned the highest vulnerability score of 85.2. Nearly 98% of its energy comes from fossil fuels.

Moreover, Singapore imports 100% of its natural gas. Its energy imports exceed domestic production by 243%.

Turkmenistan placed second with a score of 80.7. The country derives 100% of its power from fossil fuels, with zero alternative capacity. Average incomes of roughly $9,000 also limit the population's ability to absorb price spikes.

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Top 10 Countries Most Vulnerable to Future Energy Crises. Source: Energy World Mag

Hong Kong followed at 80.2. The city imports 176% more energy than it produces and relies on overseas sources for all of its natural gas.

Morocco (74.6) and Belarus (74.2) round out the top five, both importing the vast majority of their energy. At the same time, low average incomes ($4,000 and $8,000, respectively) leave their populations with limited capacity to handle price shocks.

An energy market analyst from World Energy Mag warned that even wealthy economies like Germany and Italy faced energy rationing during the 2022 crisis. Smaller import-dependent markets like Singapore and Hong Kong have even less capacity to cope with disruptions.

"Germany and Italy had to ration energy despite being among the world's largest economies. The difference is that places like Singapore or Hong Kong have even less room to maneuver because they produce almost no domestic energy. When supplies get disrupted, they can't just switch to local coal or increase their own gas production, the analyst said.

Nonetheless, Singapores Minister for Manpower Tan See Leng noted that about half of the country's gas arrives via piped natural gas, unaffected by the Middle East conflict. The government also maintains a fuel stockpile.

Still, with Brent crude exceeding $116 per barrel and supply disruptions expected to continue, concerns are rising. Whether current emergency reserves can absorb a prolonged disruption remains an open question for policymakers and markets alike.
Formentera Partners and Inpex have announced a joint venture (JV) that aims to expedite the development of natural gas resources in Australia's onshore Beetaloo Basin, located in the Northern Territory.

This collaboration is set to combine Formenteras expertise in shale technology with Inpexs global capabilities in liquefied natural gas (LNG).

It aims to establish a domestic natural gas supply for Australia and facilitate LNG exports to international markets, particularly in Asia.

As part of the agreement, Inpex will initially acquire approximately 68,000 net acres from Formenteras 1.9 million-net-acre holdings within the basin through a phased earn-in arrangement worth up to $208m. The deal includes structured off-ramp provisions.

Furthermore, Inpex holds an option to purchase an additional acreage of around 75,000 net acres, with the purchase price ranging from $266m to $411m contingent on when the option is exercised.

The majority of the transaction's cost will be met through development capital by funding the drilling programme's well expenses.

Daly Waters Energy (DWE), a fully owned subsidiary of Formentera, will manage the joint venture.

It will utilise Formenteras experience in applying advanced US shale technologies, honed through extensive horizontal drilling in comparable geological settings.

Inpex managing director and Australia country chair Tetsu Murayama said: We are delighted to participate in this exciting opportunity with Daly Waters to prove up the potential to develop natural gas from the Beetaloo Sub-basin for the Northern Territory in the near term.

By developing low-carbon natural gas with Daly Waters Energy (DWE), Inpex will also continue to supply LNG to key trading partners such as Japan and Taiwan, and we are proud of playing our part.

The collaboration of DWE and Inpex with other partners like Tamboran Resources is expected to enhance domestic production.

Under the new partnership, DWE and Inpex, alongside joint venture partner Tamboran Resources, will jointly advance domestic production. This will be underpinned by a 40 million cubic feet per day (mcf/d) supply agreement with the Northern Territory.

Moreover, efforts are underway to increase the regions LNG export capacity, including plans by Inpex to add a third LNG train at Ichthys LNG in Darwin, leveraging growing production from Beetaloo.

Since partnering with Tamboran in 2022, Formentera has established one of the largest continuous onshore unconventional land holdings in the Beetaloo, spanning 1.9 million acres.

A multi-well appraisal programme has highlighted substantial resource potential, estimating multi-trillion cubic feet across key areas.
Matrix Renewables has signed a long-term battery optimisation agreement with EDF for a 500MW/1GWh battery energy storage system (BESS) currently under construction in Eccles, Scotland.

This collaboration aims to enhance the UK electricity system by ensuring critical flexibility and supporting grid operations.

Once completed in summer 2027, the battery storage project will capture surplus renewable energy and release it during periods of peak demand, helping to integrate more renewables into the national grid.

The project marks Matrix Renewables' inaugural standalone battery storage development in the UK and is set to be one of the largest in the British electricity system.

Under the agreement, EDF will provide route-to-market services and manage the battery's performance across the UK power markets once operational.

EDF commercial director of business and wholesale services Stuart Fenner said: Delivering EDFs mission to build an Electric Britain depends on flexible assets that can respond instantly to the needs of the system.

This project will provide exactly that capability. Using our Powershift platform, we will optimise the battery in real time to support grid stability, manage peak demand and help integrate more low-carbon generation.

Located between key transmission routes linking Scotland and England, the Eccles facility will play a crucial role in bolstering grid resilience and facilitating efficient electricity distribution.

This initiative aligns with Matrix Renewables' broader goals to widen its battery storage portfolio and support the UK's transition to a cleaner power system, contributing to the Clean Power 2035 goals and Net Zero 2050 target.

The Eccles project has met all planning requirements and received full approval, enabling construction to proceed as scheduled.

Furthermore, Matrix Renewables is actively expanding its battery storage and generation initiatives in the UK, with plans to develop over 3GW of capacity nationwide in the coming years.

Matrix Renewables chief commercial officer Chris Matthews said: We are proud to be delivering one of the UKs largest battery storage projects and to partner with EDF for its commercial optimisation.

Battery storage will play a critical role in enabling the continued growth of renewable energy while strengthening the resilience and flexibility of the electricity system.

In December 2025, Matrix Renewables signed a comprehensive engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contract with Tesla to build, design and commission a standalone BESS located in Eccles.
Oil prices have surged to their highest level in nearly two weeks amid escalation on multiple fronts of the US-Israel war on Iran.

Brent crude, the global benchmark, rose more than 3 percent on Monday morning to top $116 a barrel.

The latest climb took the international yardstick to its highest point since March 19, when it briefly touched $119 a barrel.

The surge came after Iran said it was prepared for a US ground invasion, with the speaker of the countrys parliament warning that Tehran was waiting for the arrival of US troops to set them on fire and punish their regional allies.

Tehrans warning came as the conflict deepened over the weekend, with the Iranian-backed Houthis launching missiles at Israel for the first time in the war, and Israel expanding its invasion of southern Lebanon.

Asias main stock indexes fell sharply in morning trading, with Japans Nikkei 225 and South Koreas KOSPI both down more than 4 percent as of 1:30 GMT.

Irans effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz in retaliation for the US-Israeli attacks has disrupted about one-fifth of global oil and liquified natural gas (LNG) supplies, plunging the world into its biggest energy crisis in decades.

Oil prices have risen nearly 60 percent since the start of the war, driving up fuel prices worldwide and forcing numerous countries to adopt emergency measures to conserve energy.

Analysts have warned that oil prices are likely to keep rising unless maritime traffic returns to normal levels in the strait.

US President Donald Trump has threatened to obliterate Irans energy infrastructure if Tehran does not relinquish its stranglehold on the waterway by a deadline of April 6.

Trump, who on Thursday extended his deadline by 10 days, has proposed a 15-point plan for ending the war on Iran, and played up the prospect of a breakthrough in indirect talks mediated by Pakistan.

I do see a deal in Iran, yeah, Trump told reporters on Air Force One late on Sunday.

Could be soon.

Tehran has flatly rejected Trumps plan and proposed its own terms for a ceasefire, including war reparations and recognition of Irans right to control the strait.





Greg Newman, CEO of Onyx Capital Group, which began as an oil derivatives trading house, said energy consumers were only beginning to feel the true fallout of the turmoil.

Physical oil moves around the world in loading cycles, and Europe has taken around three weeks to really start feeling the effects of the oil shortage, Newman told Al Jazeera.

Brent is starting to reflect the reality, and we think its a steady rise from here towards $120 and beyond.
Petro-Victory Energy has signed a definitive association agreement with Azevedo & Travassos Energia (ATE) to transfer certain assets in Brazils Potiguar Basin.

Under the agreement, these assets will be moved to a new subsidiary that will be integrated into ATE, which operates as a publicly listed oil and gas company in Brazil.

In return, Petro-Victory will acquire 10.25% of ATEs issued and outstanding share capital following the initial closing.

The assets involved in the deal include the Andorinha field concession and six exploration blocks in the Potiguar Basin, namely POT-T-566, POT-T-304, POT-T-327, POT-T-352, POT-T-436, and POT-T-474.

The transaction also covers an option to acquire a 50% interest in certain oil and gas properties currently subject to a separate acquisition process with Brava Energia, as previously disclosed last month.

The combined implied value for the transaction is estimated at approximately $5.6m, based on current market valuations and foreign exchange rates. It incorporates both the fair market value of the equity stake and the assumption or settlement of certain liabilities and contractual obligations by ATE.

The transaction will proceed in stages. Petro-Victory will place the identified assets in a new subsidiary at initial closing, after which it will receive its equity stake in ATE.

Legal transfer of concession rights will follow as relevant regulatory and corporate approvals are obtained from authorities including Brazils National Agency of Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels (ANP) and, if required, the TSX Venture Exchange in Canada.

The companies target completion by the second quarter of 2026, pending all required approvals. Petro-Victory will maintain ownership of other assets not included in the transaction.

These comprise its full interest in the Sao Joao field operated with Eneva and partnership interests with BlueOak Investments in Capixaba Energia. The company also holds production concessions for the Alto Alegre and Trapia fields, as well as full control over 28 other exploration blocks within the Potiguar Basin.

Earlier this month, Petro-Victory commenced drilling operations at the SJ-12 well in the Sao Joao Field, located in the Barreirinhas Basin, Maranhao, Brazil.

"Petro-Victory to transfer certain Potiguar Basin assets to ATE" was originally created and published by Offshore Technology, a GlobalData owned brand.




TotalEnergies SE (NYSE:TTE) is included among the 15 Large Cap Stocks with Highest Dividends.

Trump Administration to Pay TotalEnergies $1B to Abandon Wind Farms

TotalEnergies SE (NYSE:TTE) is a global integrated energy company that produces and markets energy.

It was reported on March 24 that the Trump administration will pay $1 billion to TotalEnergies SE (NYSE:TTE) for the French giant to abandon building its offshore wind farms in the Atlantic Ocean and instead divert the investment to oil and gas production in the United States. The billion dollars in taxpayer funds will be used to reimburse the company for the money it spent on acquiring the federal leases under the Biden administration.

The move marks a new strategy by the White House to block offshore wind projects, a type of energy that President Donald Trump has been very vocal against in recent years.

According to a statement by the DOI, TotalEnergies SE (NYSE:TTE) will invest $928 million this year in the development of four trains at the Rio Grande LNG plant in Texas, in addition to the development of upstream conventional oil in the Gulf of America and shale gas production.

Patrick Pouyanne, Chairman of the Board of Directors and CEO of TotalEnergies SE (NYSE:TTE), commented:

TotalEnergies is pleased to sign this settlement agreements with the DOI and to support the Administrations Energy Policy. Considering that the development of offshore wind projects is not in the countrys interest, we have decided to renounce offshore wind development in the United States, in exchange for the reimbursement of the lease fees Furthermore, these agreements, under which we will reinvest the refunded lease fees to finance the construction of the 29 Mt Rio Grande LNG plant and the development of our oil and gas activities, allows us to support the development of U.S. gas production and export. These investments will contribute to supplying Europe with much-needed LNG from the U.S. and provide gas for U.S. data center development. We believe this is a more efficient use of capital in the United States.

While we acknowledge the potential of TTE as an investment, we believe certain AI stocks offer greater upside potential and carry less downside risk. If you're looking for an extremely undervalued AI stock that also stands to benefit significantly from Trump-era tariffs and the onshoring trend, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock.

READ NEXT: 13 Oil Stocks with Highest Dividends and 14 Best Energy Stocks to Buy According to Wall Street Analysts

Disclosure: None. Follow Insider Monkey on Google News.
Akbar Novruz



Thousands of American troops, including Marines and paratroopers, are headed towards the Middle East as United States President Donald Trump considers starting a ground operation in Iran, Israeli I24 News reported on Sunday, citing officials familiar with the matter, AzerNEWS reports.

"All options are on the table. It all depends on the president's decision," another US source told the outlet, emphasizing that both military and diplomatic solutions are being considered. The officials did not disclose any details about the possible timeframe of the operation.

Unofficial reports about the possible ground operation have been pouring in lately, with Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf accusing the US side of preparing for escalation while publicly speaking of peace efforts.

According to the NY Times, the arrival of 2,500 Marines and another 2,500 sailors is keeping the number of American troops in the Mideast region at over 50,000, roughly 10,000 more than usual, as President Trump decides on his next step in his month-old war in Iran.

While it is still unclear just what the Marines, from the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, will be charged with, U.S. officials say the president is weighing whether to try a larger attack, like venturing to seize an island or other ground as part of Mr. Trumps effort to open the Strait of Hormuz.

The narrow waterway, through which around 20 percent of the worlds oil usually traverses, has been largely closed because of attacks by Iranian forces who are retaliating against the U.S. and Israeli war on their country.

Usually there are around 40,000 American troops scattered around at bases and on ships at any time around the region, including in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Iraq, Syria, Jordan, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait. But as Mr. Trump has escalated the war in Iran, that number has reached more than 50,000, according to a U.S. military official.

The number of troops no longer includes the 4,500 aboard the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Gerald Ford, however. That ship has been hobbled by constant mishaps, including a fire that broke out in the laundry. The Ford withdrew from the region on March 23 and sailed to Crete. On Friday it arrived in Croatia. It remains unclear where it is headed next.

Last week, the Pentagon also ordered about 2,000 soldiers from the Armys 82nd Airborne Division to the Middle East to give Mr. Trump additional military options.

The location of the Army paratroopers is not public, the military official said. But they will be within striking distance of Iran. The paratroopers could be used to seize Kharg Island, Irans main oil export hub in the northern Persian Gulf, where U.S. warplanes bombed more than 90 military targets earlier this month. Or they could be deployed for other ground operations in conjunction with the Marines.

But military experts caution that even 50,000 troops, many of them at sea, is a small number for any kind of major land operation. Israel used more than 300,000 troops for its operations in the Gaza Strip that began in October 2023. The U.S.-led coalition that invaded Iraq in 2003 was close to 250,000 at the beginning.

At almost a third of the size of the continental United States, Iran has around 93 million people. Taking, let alone holding, a country of its size and complexity and weaponry with 50,000 troops is not doable, military experts say.
Warren Buffett made a bold bet on a couple of oil stocks before he retired as Berkshire Hathaway's (NYSE: BRKA)(NYSE: BRKB) CEO earlier this year. His company bought nearly 27% of Occidental Petroleum's (NYSE: OXY) outstanding shares and built a 6.5% stake in oil giant Chevron (NYSE: CVX), making them Berkshire's sixth- and fourth-largest holdings, respectively. Those moves have paid off this year as crude prices skyrocketed due to the war with Iran.

Here's a look at why these top oil stocks remain a safe bet in today's Iran-rattled market.

Will AI create the world's first trillionaire? Our team just released a report on the one little-known company, called an "Indispensable Monopoly" providing the critical technology Nvidia and Intel both need. Continue 

Image source: The Motley Fool.

Repositioned to thrive at lower oil prices

Occidental has spent the past several years building a larger-scale, more focused oil company, thanks in part to Berkshire's help. Buffett's company helped Occidental fund its $38 billion acquisition of Anadarko Petroleum in 2019 through a preferred stock investment, enabling it to beat out a rival offer from Chevron. Occidental also acquired CrownRock for $12 billion in 2024. While those deals saddled Occidental with a lot of debt, it has steadily whittled down its borrowings by generating free cash flow and selling assets, including selling OxyChem to Berkshire for $9.7 billion earlier this year.

As a result, Occidental can thrive at lower oil prices. It was on track to generate $1.2 billion of additional free cash flow this year without any increase in oil prices. Meanwhile, with crude oil soaring this year, Occidental will produce an even bigger free cash flow gusher, giving it additional funds to repay debt, repurchase stock, and eventually redeem Berkshire's preferred stock investment.

The perfect time to hit an inflection point

Chevron has also spent the past few years upgrading its portfolio. It sold off several lower-margin assets and has invested heavily in developing and acquiring higher-margin assets. The oil giant completed several major growth capital projects last year and closed its $55 billion acquisition of Hess.

As a result, Chevron expected to generate $12.5 billion of incremental free cash flow this year at $70 oil. With oil prices now much higher, it can produce an even bigger free cash flow gusher. The oil company can use those funds to further fortify its elite balance sheet and repurchase shares toward the top end of its $10 billion to $20 billion target range.
Lumos to brief investors after FebriDx CLIA waiver clearance, capital raising Proactive uses images sourced from Shutterstock

Following its milestone CLIA waiver clearance for its FebriDx rapid point-of-care test and the completion of a placement, Lumos Diagnostics Holdings Ltd (ASX:LDX, OTC:LDXHF) will conduct an investor presentation covering the two key updates.

LDX will host an investor webinar on Tuesday, March 31, 2026 at 9.00am AEDT, followed by a Q&A session.

Investors can pre-register for the webinar via the link provided by the company: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_rgpFV6_mTI6SnayhDT80Hg

After completing registration, participants will receive a confirmation email with details on how to join the meeting.

Lumos wins US CLIA waiver for FebriDx, widening commercial opportunity

Lumos has secured a key US regulatory approval, with the Food and Drug Administration granting a CLIA waiver for its flagship FebriDx point-of-care test.

The milestone significantly broadens the settings in which FebriDx can be used, extending its reach across primary care and outpatient markets in the US.

The approval follows earlier 510(k) clearance and is expected to unlock US$5.5 million in milestone payments for the company while opening access to a much larger patient population and addressable market.

CLIA waiver broadens rollout

With the CLIA waiver now in place, FebriDx can be used at more than 300,000 healthcare sites across the US that operate under a Certificate of Waiver.

These include primary care clinics, urgent care centres, retail pharmacies and community health settings, materially expanding the products potential commercial footprint.

Lumos raises $20 million to back US FebriDx rollout

Lumos has also secured $20 million through a strongly supported institutional placement, with proceeds earmarked to expand manufacturing and commercial operations for its flagship FebriDx respiratory infection test in the United States.

The capital raising was announced alongside news that the US Food and Drug Administration had granted the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) waiver for FebriDx.

The placement was priced at 22.5 cents a share and drew support from both existing and new institutional investors.

Lumos is seeking to raise a further $2 million through a share purchase plan, giving eligible shareholders in Australia and New Zealand the chance to acquire shares at the same price as institutional investors.

Separately, existing shareholders Tenmile and Ryder Capital have committed to exercise at least 43.9 million options, which is expected to deliver an additional $3.1 million in proceeds.
Billionaire Mark Cuban says big drug and insurance companies in the U.S. have grown too powerful to care about ordinary people, but policymakers aren't taking any real action to fix it.

Speaking at the Punchbowl News Conference in Washington, DC, earlier this month, Cuban said major insurance companies run vertically integrated empires  they control everything from pharmacy benefit managers to wellness programs. That's why they hold so much power over the entire healthcare system. His fix? Force them to divest non-insurance businesses and level the playing field.

"Theres just no way to compete with these enormous companies that just dont care," Cuban said. "You have to break them up. Youve got to break them up."

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Nobody Has Jumped On Board'

Asked if his plan to dismantle big insurance companies has any chance, Cuban pointed to a recent attempt by Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Josh Hawley (R-MO) to split up big medicine, but expressed frustration that no other senators backed the initiative.

"But no other senator has jumped on, right?" Cuban said at the conference. "How can no senator jump on to break up big medicine. The most hated industry in the country is the health insurance industry. And yet nobody has jumped on board with Hawley and Warren. That makes no sense whatsoever and just tells me its all lip service."

Warren and Hawley last month introduced the Break Up Big Medicine Act to address consolidation in the U.S. healthcare industry.

Trending: Think you're saving enough for your kids? You might be dangerously off  see why

Vertical integration allows major insurance and pharmacy benefit companies to control the supply chain and drug access, Cuban said. His Cost Plus Drugs startup sells many medications at far lower prices but can't offer every drug because big pharma pressures manufacturers to limit access, he added.

"They know if theres a drug that we put on there and we show our cost, then every employer knows what the cost of that medication is," Cuban said. "And that completely changes how people buy healthcare in this country."

It Makes No Sense'

Another fundamental problem with U.S. healthcare is high deductibles, Cuban said at the Punchbowl event. If people can't afford their deductibles, their insurance is basically useless even if premiums are low, he said. He thinks the government makes it easy to get student loans or mortgages with guarantees, yet when it comes to healthcare, there's no safety net.
Story Continues

Q & A Highlights

Q: On the gross margin improvement, could you provide more detail on the specific mix of products that helped drive the expansion and how you expect the gross margin to trend going forward? A: Gregory Hunter, Chief Financial Officer, explained that the improvement was due to higher-margin international oil and metered-dose inhalers, as well as exiting lower-margin flower segments and picking up tolling business. The company expects to continue focusing on margin improvement.

Q: How should we think about the ability to position yourself to capitalize on the International growth trends? Do you feel the company has the right pieces and partnerships in place today? A: Gregory Hunter stated that MediPharm Labs is well-positioned with a suite of licenses and strong partnerships in key markets like Germany and Australia. The company is expanding into new markets such as France, New Zealand, and Brazil, and launching branded products to strengthen its international presence.

Q: In anticipation of the potential rescheduling of cannabis to a Schedule III drug, are there any steps or conversations that you could be taking to ensure you're positioned for opportunities that could open up as an API provider or otherwise? A: Gregory Hunter noted that the rescheduling could expand research access, benefiting MediPharm Labs by allowing participation in more clinical studies, although the tax relief aspect does not impact the company directly.

Q: We've seen more Canadian and international cannabis companies move into the regulated medical and pharma adjacent space. How has increased competition in medical cannabis, including EU-GMP and clinical trial supply, changed the market landscape, and what durable advantages does MediPharm have to defend or expand its position in that environment? A: Gregory Hunter highlighted that increased competition is leading to pricing compression, particularly in Germany and Australia. MediPharm Labs is responding by launching branded products and leveraging partnerships with companies like STADA. Regulatory changes in these markets are expected to benefit MediPharm due to its compliance and licensing advantages.

Q: What are the key financial takeaways for the year, and what are the priorities for 2026? A: Gregory Hunter summarized that MediPharm Labs achieved $45 million in revenue, maintained a 31% gross margin, and improved profitability metrics. For 2026, the company aims to grow international medical revenue, expand pharmaceutical and B2B opportunities, maintain cost discipline, and enhance long-term shareholder value.

For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript.
Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) is one of Jim Cramers Hottest GLP-1 and Weight Loss Stock Picks.

Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) is a key player in the weight loss drug industry. The firm made a splash earlier this year when it became the first to secure the FDAs approval for a weight loss drug pill. With the announcement occurring on December 22nd, Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO)s shares closed 7.3% higher on the 23rd. Since Cramer discussed the firm in April 2025, the shares are up by 44%, while they are down by 48% over the year. 2026 hasnt been a great year for Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO)s shares either, as they are down by 31% year-to-date. On February 23rd, the shares closed 16.4% lower as the firm reported that its next-generation weight loss drug, CagriSema, failed to match rival Eli Lillys offering. The announcement marked another day of weak performance, as Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO)s stock had dipped by 19% between February 2nd and February 4th after the pharma company surprised investors through its guidance and commented that revenue and operating profit could dip between 5% and 13% each in 2026. Heres what Cramer said about the firm on Mad Money:

I do. It got low enough. When it hit 3.6% yield, it was low enough. Apparently, theyre doing exactly what President Trump wants. I am a buyer at this point in Novo Nordisk, though of course I do like Eli Lilly more, but this stock has come down enough.

Novo Nordisk (NVO) Shares Up Since Jim Cramer Said He Was A Buyer

Jirsak/Shutterstock.com

While we acknowledge the potential of NVO as an investment, we believe certain AI stocks offer greater upside potential and carry less downside risk. If you're looking for an extremely undervalued AI stock that also stands to benefit significantly from Trump-era tariffs and the onshoring trend, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock.

READ NEXT: 33 Stocks That Should Double in 3 Years and Cathie Wood 2026 Portfolio: 10 Best Stocks to Buy.

Disclosure: None. Follow Insider Monkey on Google News.
A crisis is a terrible thing to waste, said Stanford economist Paul Romer. That is certainly the case with AI and cybersecurity.

CHONGQING, CHINA - FEBRUARY 07: In this photo illustration, a smartphone displays the logo of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ: PANW), an American cybersecurity company providing network security, cloud security and endpoint protection solutions, in front of a screen showing the company's latest stock market chart on February 7, 2026 in Chongqing, China. (Photo illustration by Cheng Xin/Getty Images) Getty Images

At the RSAC cybersecurity conference here in San Francisco last week, the arrival of agentic AI gave the community plenty to talk about, with practitioner advocates pointing out that AI acts as an accelerant for cyberthreats.

Meanwhile, incumbent vendors as well as startups piled on with potential solutions to the cybersecurity risks generated by AI, including specifically agentic AI.

The context of RSAC was interesting, with many cybersecurity stocks selling off last weekand Friday in particularas rumors about new AI cybersecurity tools being released by Anthropic hit the market.

Lets dive into everything i saw at RSAC.

AI Is a 'Compounding Factor

Software vendors and practitioners described a daily battle to push back on boards and CEOs who want to aggressively deploy AI, while they struggle to implement it safely.

"Nobody thinks about security when they create code," said Tom Pace, cofounder and CEO of supply-chain cybersecurity company NetRise. Pace, who spent 16 years as a cybersecurity practitioner in roles at enterprises as diverse as PNC Bank, the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and the U.S. Marine Corps, believes that because AI speeds up the creation of software, it will accelerate threats posed by software around the world.

"There is no piece of software on the planet that doesnt have an issue, said Pace. In the near term, AI makes the problems orders of magnitude bigger. It is a negative compounding factor.

In presentations and RSAC talks, similar concerns were struck.

"Every day there is news now where agents are doing something funky with enterprise data, said Rehan Jalil, president of products and data with Veeam Software, in an RSAC presentation. Whether it's exposing sensitive data or deleting data ... or deleting an entire repo of data. It's happening."

In the same session, Michael Dolan, vice president and chief privacy officer of Best Buy, said that the power and potential risks of AI demand an entirely new way of thinking about things.

"The whole way we are thinking about security and governance is different, said Dolan.

Agentic AI and Supply Chain Risks

Software vendors are busy rolling new new products and features to address the growing risks. Key themes at RSAC included implementing safe identity, governance, agentic AI security and supply-chain trust.

Vin Sharma, cofounder and CEO of AI security company Vijil, told me that enterprises are struggling to ensure safe agentic operations: "Enterprises have a pattern to getting close to adoption, then pulling back. Enterprises worry about three things: 1. Is it reliable? 2. Can I protect itI dont want it to be hijacked; and 3. In the event that it fails, what is the blast radius."
Air Canadas CEO will step down this year following criticism over his English-only condolence message in response to a deadly collision in New York last week.

Michael Rousseau faced backlash for not issuing a statement in French: The countrys largest airline is based in French-speaking Quebec, and one of the pilots killed in the crash was a French-speaking Quebecer.

Prime Minister Mark Carney said the message showed a lack of judgment, and a Montreal historian called it one of the most tone-deaf and ill-conceived public relations efforts in Canadian corporate history.

Rousseau had previously boasted about living in Montreal for more than a decade without speaking French (he had to apologize for that as well).

 J.D. Capelouto
By Tom Balmforth and Max Hunder

LONDON/KYIV, March 30 (Reuters) - Ukraine's war has forced the country to become a trailblazer in drone interception. The conflict in the Middle East could be its make-or-break moment to take the technology global.

In an effort to export Ukrainian systems and know-how, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has criss-crossed the Gulf region this weekend to hash out deals with countries that have been targeted by waves of Iranian drone attacks this month.

"Ukraine is sharing expertise that is not available in the Middle East," Zelenskiy told Reuters in an interview last week. "Expertise is not a drone, but a skill, a strategy, a system where a drone is one part of the defense."

Indeed, Ukraine has signed framework cooperation deals with Saudi Arabia and Qatar in recent days, and has said one is in the works with the United Arab Emirates. Zelenskiy has stressed that arms sales must be decided at the government level, warning businesses against engaging with clients directly.

Ukraine's drone sector is chomping at the bit.

"Everybody is sitting and waiting," said Oleg Rogynskyy, CEO of UForce, a UK-headquartered Ukrainian military tech company which says its Magura sea drone has been the subject of intense commercial interest from the Middle East.

Several industry figures said the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran had underlined the potency of attack drones in modern warfare and exposed many countries' vulnerabilities to their threat.

The conflict, some added, presented Ukraine with a unique opportunity to jumpstart exports and create a world-leading industry that could provide the backbone for post-war reconstruction and prosperity.

Wild Hornets and SkyFall, two other top Ukrainian interceptor drone makers, said they too had received inquiries from Middle Eastern countries but like UForce were not directly negotiating contracts before getting a green light from Kyiv.

Anastasiia Mishkina, executive director at Tech Force in UA, an association of nearly 100 Ukrainian defence companies, said some members had asked the government for permission to export and were waiting for a response.

"There is a risk of losing the moment because the international market does not wait," she said.

The government did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether it risked moving too slowly on defence cooperation at a time of opportunity.

SEA DRONES MOUNTED WITH INTERCEPTORS

Ukraine has developed its technology and expertise over years of countering Russia's drone attacks - a threat that Gulf states now face from Iran's relatively cheap Shahed drones.
Philip Johnstons company launched its first satellite last year

A start-up founded by a British space entrepreneur has secured $170m (128m) to challenge Elon Musks SpaceX in the race to develop orbital data centres.

Starcloud is led by Philip Johnston, its Surrey-born co-founder. The company launched its first satellite last year and is now laying the groundwork to launch thousands of spacecraft at a cost of tens of billions of dollars.

Mr Johnston said: Weve just filed with the FCC [the US telecoms regulator] for a constellation of 88,000.

These would each have a capacity of 200 kilowatts, meaning that in total, Starclouds orbital data centres could provide 20 gigawatts worth of power if it can raise the financing required.

Mr Johnston said the capital expenditure on it would be about $100bn.

The latest deal to raise $170m values Starcloud, which is headquartered in Washington state in the US, at $1.1bn. It brings its total funding raised to more than $200m.

Starcloud secured the funds from backers including early Uber investor Benchmark and private equity firm EQT.

Founded in 2024, the start-up has been racing to develop orbital data centres that will be able to power artificial intelligence software. The business launched its first test satellite in November, carrying an Nvidia graphics chip into space.

The business was one of the first to propose launching data centres into space, arguing that abundant solar energy in orbit could provide an alternative to building AI infrastructure on Earth, where power and planning constraints slow progress.

The idea has been picked up by Mr Musk, whose rocket business SpaceX is expected to launch a $1.75tn float in the coming months, raising up to $75bn.

The worlds richest man has claimed SpaceX will send up to one million data centre satellites into orbit to power superintelligent AI software. His company has already launched a network of thousands of Starlink communications satellites.

Its a no-brainer for building solar-powered AI data centres in space, Mr Musk said earlier this year.

Elon Musks rocket business SpaceX is expected to launch a $1.75tn float in the coming months - Philip Pacheco/AFP via Getty Images

Rival tech giants have launched their own efforts to explore data centres in space. Google is preparing to launch test satellites in a programme called Project Suncatcher.

Blue Origin  which is controlled by Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon  has laid out plans to launch more than 50,000 data centre satellites in a proposal called Project Sunrise.

Launching data centres into space is unproven and poses significant technical and logistical hurdles. Not least, Starclouds plans rely on riding to orbit aboard Mr Musks own Starship megarocket, which is not yet finished.
Chinas largest manufacturer of new energy vehicles (NEVs), BYD Auto, reported a 3.5% rise in global sales revenue to a record CNY 804 billion (US$ 116 billion) in 2025, but profits fell for the first time since 2021, reflecting cut-throat competition and weakening demand in its home market in the second half of the year.

Earlier this year, the company reported a 7.7% increase in global sales to 4,602,436 vehicles last year, driven mainly by a 151% surge in overseas sales to 1,046,083 units, as the automaker stepped up its global expansion. Domestic sales declined by almost 8% to 3,556,353 vehicles last year, with deliveries falling sharply in the second half of the year as competition from other Chinese manufacturers continued to intensify while overall demand weakened.

BYDs net earnings declined by 19% to CNY 32.6 billion (US$ 4.7 billion) last year, the first profit decline since 2021.

Domestic market conditions have continued to deteriorate in 2026, after the Chinese government withdrew some of its NEV subsidies at the end of last year and as competition continued to intensify. The automaker reported a 36% drop in global sales to 400,241 units in the first two months of the year, with domestic sales plunging by 58% to 199,159 units, while exports surged by over 50% to 201,082 units.

"BYD reports drop in earnings in 2025 despite record sales" was originally created and published by Just Auto, a GlobalData owned brand.




By Nora Eckert and David Shepardson

DETROIT, March 30 (Reuters) - General Motors is idling a Detroit electric vehicle plant until April 13, extending downtime that began on March 16, the company said on Monday.

Factory ZERO will temporarily adjust production to align EV production with market demand, a GM spokesperson said. The temporary layoff affects 1,300 workers.

More from Yahoo Scout How has waning EV demand affected GM's production strategy? What regulatory shifts are impacting automaker EV plans? How is GM pivoting to gas-powered vehicle production? Why is GM extending its Detroit EV plant shutdown?

The plant, which produces vehicles including the Chevrolet Silverado EV and Hummer EV, has had choppy production over the last year as GM confronts waning demand for battery-powered models. The automaker cut output at the plant by about 50% in January.

GM, which has reported $7.6 billion in writedowns on its EV programs, is one of several automakers that have pared back their EV plans following significant regulatory shifts under U.S. President Donald Trump.

Instead, the industry is leaning into production of gas-powered trucks and SUVs, Detroit's main profit machines. GM confirmed on Monday it plans to increase production of its heavy-duty trucks at a plant in Michigan starting in June.

(Reporting by Nora Eckert; Editing by Chris Reese)
The Asian markets have been navigating a complex landscape marked by energy price volatility and geopolitical tensions, with these factors significantly influencing investor sentiment and economic outlooks across the region. Amidst this backdrop, high growth tech stocks in Asia are drawing attention for their potential to offer robust returns despite broader market uncertainties. In such an environment, a good stock is often characterized by strong fundamentals, resilience to external shocks like fluctuating oil prices, and the ability to capitalize on technological advancements that align with evolving market needs.

Top 10 High Growth Tech Companies In Asia

Name Revenue Growth Earnings Growth Growth Rating Giant Network Group 36.46% 42.98%  Zhongji Innolight 32.97% 35.32%  Shengyi TechnologyLtd 24.24% 32.49%  Suzhou TFC Optical Communication 43.76% 38.73%  Shengyi Electronics 26.92% 36.01%  Fositek 28.13% 38.63%  Unimicron Technology 20.84% 68.76%  Co-Tech Development 34.37% 65.79%  Suzhou Dongshan Precision Manufacturing 36.66% 84.97%  CARsgen Therapeutics Holdings 64.21% 83.56% 

Click here to see the full list of 135 stocks from our Asian High Growth Tech and AI Stocks screener.

We're going to check out a few of the best picks from our screener tool.

Simply Wall St Growth Rating: 

Overview: Hefei I-TEK OptoElectronics Co., Ltd. is a Chinese company specializing in the design, development, manufacturing, and marketing of industrial imaging, high precision optics, and opto-electrical equipment with a market cap of CN5.79 billion.

Operations: I-TEK OptoElectronics generates revenue primarily from its machine vision segment, which amounts to CN440.31 million. The company focuses on industrial imaging and precision optics within the Chinese market.

Hefei I-TEK OptoElectronics, a burgeoning force in Asia's tech landscape, has demonstrated robust growth with a 307.6% surge in earnings over the past year, significantly outpacing the electronic industry's average of 12.2%. This performance is anchored by a strategic emphasis on R&D, which is evident from their substantial investment in innovation; however, specific expenditure figures are not provided. The firm reported an impressive annual revenue increase of 32.9%, forecasting continued expansion at this rate which exceeds the broader Chinese market forecast of 14.3%. With recent earnings results showcasing a jump from CNY 248.26 million to CNY 440.31 million and net income soaring to CNY 64.09 million from CNY 15.72 million year-over-year, Hefei I-TEK appears well-positioned for sustained growth despite its relatively low forecasted Return on Equity of 11.4% over the next three years.
On Thursday, Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. CEO Lisa Su hosted Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick for a key discussion with industry leaders.

US Doubles Down On Semiconductor Leadership

Taking to X, the U.S. Commerce Department said that Lutnick met leaders from the Semiconductor Industry Association.

"The American tech stack is the gold standard," the Commerce Department wrote, noting U.S. firms dominate high-value segments such as chip architecture and AI compute.

Secretary Lutnick met with leaders from the Semiconductor Industry Association, hosted by @LisaSu.



The American tech stack is the gold standard:



 U.S. companies dominate advanced chip design

 American firms design the processors that power the vast majority of AI systems pic.twitter.com/RLoZsLCplt  U.S. Department of Commerce (@CommerceGov) March 26, 2026

Don't Miss:

Su echoed that sentiment, writing on X, "We deeply appreciate the open dialogue and partnership as we work together to accelerate America's tech stack and expand opportunities across the U.S. workforce."

Thank you @HowardLutnick for joining the Semiconductor Industry Association Board @SIAAmerica for an important discussion on strengthening America's leadership in semiconductors and expanding our domestic manufacturing footprint. We deeply appreciate the open dialogue and https://t.co/BXQXIj8WjC  Lisa Su (@LisaSu) March 26, 2026

Trump's AI And Chip Strategy Gains Industry Backing

Earlier this week, the Donald Trump administration appointed a slate of high-profile executives  including Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang and Meta Platforms, Inc. CEO Mark Zuckerberg  to a presidential council tasked with advising on AI policy, export controls and science strategy.

The administration has also imposed a 25% tariff on select high-end AI chips from companies like Nvidia and AMD, citing national security concerns and the need to boost domestic production.

Trending: This Startup Thinks It Can Reinvent the Wheel  Literally

Last month, AMD reported fourth-quarter revenue of $10.27 billion, surpassing analyst expectations of $9.67 billion. The company also reported adjusted earnings of $1.53 per share, topping estimates of $1.32 per share.

Chip Shortages, Price Hikes Add Pressure

Despite the policy push, the semiconductor sector faces mounting challenges.

Reports indicate Intel Corporation and AMD are planning CPU price increases of 10% to 15% amid tightening supply.
March 30 (Reuters) - Match Group (MTCH) agreed to settle a U.S. Federal Trade Commission lawsuit claiming it gave an outside company unauthorized access to personal data belonging to millions of users of the OkCupid dating app.

The FTC said OkCupid users were never told their information - including nearly 3 million photos, demographic information and location data - would be shared in 2014 with Clarifai, a facial recognition technology company, contrary to OkCupid's privacy policies.

More from Yahoo Scout What penalties could Match Group face for future violations? What data did OkCupid allegedly share without user consent? What are the terms of Match Group's FTC settlement? How has OkCupid responded to the privacy allegations?

Monday's settlement in Dallas federal court prohibits Match from misrepresenting the privacy of user information, and requires the Dallas-based company to certify compliance.

Match and OkCupid neither admitted nor denied wrongdoing, and could face civil fines for future violations. The settlement requires court approval.

A spokesperson for OkCupid said it has strengthened its privacy practices, and the alleged conduct "does not reflect how OkCupid operates today."

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel and Jody Godoy in New York; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Mark Porter)
Mistral, a French AI company, announced Monday the completion of its first-ever debt raise  $830 million  to fund a new data center near Paris.

The new site in Bruyeres-le-Chatel will use 13,800 Nvidia GB300 GPUs as part of Mistral's Grace Blackwell infrastructure, providing a total capacity of 44 megawatts. Mistral chose Bruyeres-le-Chatel for the project in February 2025, and the facility is expected to open in the second quarter of 2026, according to Reuters.

Seven banks backed the transaction: Bpifrance, BNP Paribas, Credit Agricole CIB, HSBC, La Banque Postale, MUFG, and Natixis Corporate & Investment Banking, the company said.

"Scaling our infrastructure in Europe is critical to empower our customers and to ensure AI innovation and autonomy remain at the heart of Europe," CEO Arthur Mensch said in a statement. "We will continue to invest in this area, given the surging and sustained demand from governments, enterprises and research institutions seeking to build their own customized AI environment, rather than depend on third-party cloud providers."

The site will support model training and inference workloads once it comes online, according to CNBC. Earlier this year, the company announced a separate 1.2-billion-euro plan for a second data center in Sweden. Across Europe, Mistral is pursuing a total of 200 megawatts in capacity, a goal it has set for the end of 2027.

The startup was established in 2023 and ranks among a small group of European firms working on foundational AI models; its clients include the French military, according to Reuters. At $2.9 billion in total funding, Mistral leads European LLM developers in capital raised, according to CNBC  though it remains well behind U.S. rivals OpenAI ($180 billion) and Anthropic ($59 billion).
US-based real estate investment firm Mack Real Estate Group (MREG) and McCourt Partners have commenced construction on Halo Vista, a 2,300-acre development in North Phoenix adjacent to the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) campus in Arizona.

Officials held a groundbreaking ceremony to mark the start of the project, which is expected to support the expansion of Phoenixs semiconductor sector.

The $7bn project will include nearly 30 million sq ft of mixed-use space across industrial, manufacturing, office, retail, residential and educational facilities.

The initial construction phase, managed by Willmeng Construction of Phoenix, will focus on preparing the site and installing horizontal infrastructure.

Retail and hospitality tenants confirmed for the first stage include Costco, an auto mall developed by DeRito Partners with around 11 dealerships, and a five-storey Marriott hotel offering Courtyard and Residence Inn accommodations through Common Bond Development Group.

These businesses will be located along I-17 and Dove Valley Road to accommodate incoming workers and residents.

More than 100 attendees were present at the ceremony.

Speakers included MREG CEO Richard Mack; Frank McCourt, founder and executive chairman of McCourt Partners; Phoenix District 1 Councilwoman Ann OBrien; Sandra Watson from the Arizona Commerce Authority; Christine Mackay from the Greater Phoenix Economic Council; Jordan Lang from McCourt Partners; Chris Janson from Mack Halo Vista; and Willmeng Construction CEO James Murphy.

Mack said: Our job is to create the ecosystem at Halo Vista that best supports TSMCs success and reindustrialisation in America generally.

That is why todays groundbreaking is monumental for Phoenix, the US and the world. We are grateful to the public officials and private sector partners who are helping to bring this project to life.

Halo Vista aims to support companies working alongside TSMC as well as students and professionals in science and engineering fields.

Janson said: From our public partners to our private stakeholders, this project reflects a shared commitment to building the ecosystem that will support TSMC and the broader semiconductor industry.

"MREG and McCourt Partners break ground on $7bn Halo Vista project" was originally created and published by World Construction Network, a GlobalData owned brand.




The National Advanced Functional Fiber Innovation Center (NAFFIC) and Dutch supply chain traceability platform Aware joined forces to create the first China-Europe digital product passport (DPP) for textiles. The groups unveiled the new program at the Trace to Renew, Weave a Zero-Carbon Future summit held in Suzhou, China, last week.

The China-Europe DPP traces the complete recycled polyester supply chain from post-consumer plastic bottles collected in China to flakes processed and verified by NAFFICs Sustainable Textiles Credible Platform (STCP). From there, it follows the flakes as theyre spun into yarn by Jiangsu Reborn Eco-Tech, then woven into fabric by Wujiang City Chaodai Textiles and finally manufactured into finished garments by Suzhou Qiandai Life Technology Development. Those finished garments will then be sold by promotional textiles brand Iqoniq.

More from Sourcing Journal

Each step of the supply chain is recorded on public blockchain, which is independently verifiable and accessible to consumers, regulators or brands by scanning a QR code.

The China-Europe DPP comes as the European Unions Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) requires mandatory DPPs on textiles starting next year. These DPPs verify the sustainability claims associated with textiles.

Aware founder Feico van der Veen said that while this DPP will assist brands with ESPR compliance, he believes the system will lead to greater transparency on a global scale.

This is not just a European regulation. It is a transformation of global supply chainsand it starts here in China, he said. For the first time, Chinese producers can give brands what they need most: irrefutable, blockchain-verified proof of what went into their product and where it came from. The data does not exist in brand head officesit is created in factories. We can make that data tradable.

NAFFIC and Awares DPP system taps into both organizations complementary platformsNAFFICs STCP, which records and verifies the origin of recycled feedstock and issues Feedstock Source Declarations and Transaction Certificates at the raw material stage, and Awares unique blockchain-anchored data tokens for each production batch. The system will automatically record each material transaction, producing a Crypto TC (blockchain transaction certificate) and a traceability record.
Anthropic's business remains at serious risk despite a Thursday ruling from a federal judge in California that temporarily blocked the Pentagon from declaring the AI startup a risk to national security, tech lawyers and lobbyists say.

Supporters of Anthropics stand against the Pentagon were quick to celebrate the 43-page order from U.S. District Judge Rita Lin, which found that the Trump administration improperly punished Anthropic by labeling it a supply chain risk for restricting the Defense Departments use of its Claude AI model to surveil U.S. citizens or empower autonomous weapons.

The designation  never before applied to an American company  would stop Anthropic from pursuing its roughly $200 million contract with the Pentagon, as well as partnerships with other federal agencies. But it could also bar contractors from using Anthropics AI models as part of their work with the Pentagon. In Thursdays ruling, Judge Lin wrote that three contractors either terminated their work with Anthropic or were instructed to do so by the government, and three deals valued at over $180 million fell apart despite being on the verge of closing.

But while Thursdays decision is a win for Anthropic, several lawyers and lobbyists said it will do little to lift the cloud of uncertainty thats settled on both the company and the broader tech sector.

Practically speaking, not that much has changed on the supply chain designation for Anthropic due to this preliminary junction, said Charlie Bullock, a lawyer and senior research fellow at the Institute for Law and AI think tank. I think a lot of the public reaction to this is premature, and doesn't reflect an understanding of the actual situation.

In the immediate wake of the ruling, top Defense Department official Emil Michael insisted that the supply chain risk designation against Anthropic remains in place. Bullock explained that Anthropic wont be out of the woods until a three-judge panel at the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals issues its own ruling on a separate statute that underpins the governments supply chain risk designation.

Two of the three judges on that panel  Gregory Katsas and Neomi Rao  were appointed by President Donald Trump, and both have taken an expansive view of the governments national security powers.

I think it's very possible that they will rule in a different way than Judge Lin did in the Northern District of California, said Bullock. Its likely, in fact, I would say, that they will rule in a different way.

An Anthropic spokesperson declined to answer questions about the companys chances in the D.C. Circuit. a Pentagon spokesperson referred POLITICO to Emil Michaels comments on X.
Germany-based software company SAP has reached an agreement to acquire Reltio, a master data management software firm, as part of its strategy to enhance integration and quality of data for AI across SAP and non-SAP environments.

The companies announced the agreement, with completion expected in either the second or third quarter of 2026, pending customary closing conditions, such as regulatory approval.

Financial details of the transaction have not been disclosed.

The acquisition will add Reltios data management capabilities into SAPs Business Data Cloud (BDC), supporting SAPs goal of enabling enterprise-wide AI by providing consistent, reliable data across systems.

SAP plans to use Reltios technology to unify, cleanse, and harmonise structured and unstructured data from multiple sources, including legacy SAP systems and third-party applications.

Reltios platform processes and governs enterprise data end-to-end, using AI-based entity resolution that merges records from multiple formats and systems into a single source of context.

Its cloud-native architecture is designed for use across complex IT landscapes and provides features such as real-time data delivery and support for multi-agent workflows.

Industry-specific solutions tailored for sectors like life sciences, healthcare, and financial services are also included in Reltios offering.

SAP stated that integrating Reltio will strengthen BDCs capabilities for business AI use cases by providing trusted data sets that can be used by tools such as Joule and Joule Agents.

This development aims to improve decision-making processes, reduce integration complexity, and support both traditional analytics workloads and new AI-driven tasks within customer organisations.

Once the transaction closes, Reltio will become a core component of SAP BDC while remaining available as a standalone solution.

SAP will offer flexible commercial options, allowing customers to purchase Reltio independently or bundled with other SAP products.

The acquisition is intended to extend these capabilities further within SAPs expanding suite of cloud-based business services.

Reltio founder and CEO Manish Sood said: Joining forces with SAP presents a tremendous opportunity for us to accelerate our mission.

This combination accelerates our ability to deliver Reltio as the system of context across SAP and non-SAP environments, while maintaining continuity for our customers and our partner ecosystem.

"SAP to acquire Reltio to boost master data management for AI" was originally created and published by Verdict, a GlobalData owned brand.
By Akash Sriram

March 30 (Reuters) - Orbital compute infrastructure startup Starcloud has raised $170 million at a $1.1 billion valuation, as companies including Elon Musk's SpaceX and Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin race to move power-hungry AI data centers off-planet.

Led by Benchmark and EQT Ventures, the fundraise underscores surging investor appetite for space infrastructure bets as massive AI computing requirements strain terrestrial energy grids and data center capacity, even as space-based systems offer access to near-continuous solar power.

More from Yahoo Scout When will space-based data centers become cost-competitive? How do orbital data centers solve AI infrastructure challenges? What partnerships is Starcloud building with tech giants? What is Starcloud's $1.1 billion valuation based on?

Starcloud, which has long-term plans for an 88,000-satellite data center constellation, will use the new capital to fund next-generation satellites, manufacturing expansion and future launch contracts as it moves toward commercial operations, it said on Monday.

"The main customer contracts that are committed are for other spacecraft, particularly Earth Observation and DOW satellites. We are also working on some binding energy offtake agreements with the hyperscalers to be announced in the coming months," co-founder and CEO Philip Johnston told Reuters.

In February, Elon Musk's SpaceX acquired his AI startup xAI and revealed plans for a million-satellite orbital data center network. Blue Origin, the space venture of Amazon's Jeff Bezos, has expressed similar ambitions.

Meanwhile, Starcloud is already working with partners including Nvidia and the cloud units of Amazon and Google.

In November, it launched a satellite carrying Nvidia's H100 chip, demonstrating AI training and inference in orbit in an industry-first move.

It now plans a second launch in October featuring Amazon Web Services' AWS Outposts offering.

While space infrastructure would ease power and land constraints, high launch costs remain a challenge. But Starcloud expects them to fall enough by 2028 or 2029 to make space-based data centers cost-competitive with Earth facilities, Johnston said.

The latest round brings Starcloud's total funding to $200 million, with the Redmond, Washington-based company having raised $34 million earlier from investors including Andreessen Horowitz and In-Q-Tel, the Central Intelligence Agency's venture capital firm.

(Reporting by Akash Sriram in Bengaluru; Editing by Jonathan Ananda)
Walmart Mexico is widening its collaboration with French retail solutions provider Vusion to deploy connected store technology across key retail formats.

The expanded agreement will see the EdgeSense platform introduced across Walmart Express stores, with plans to extend implementation into the retailers Supercenter network.

The move builds on the companies existing partnership and follows earlier adoption of Vusions connected store solutions in Walmarts US operations.

Under the plan, all Walmart Express outlets in Mexico are set to be equipped with EdgeSense technology by the end of this year, marking the platforms first large-scale deployment in the region.

The local business of the US retail major also intends to expand the rollout to its Supercenters as part of a wider modernisation effort.

Walmart Mexico chief operating officer Paul Lewellen said: The deployment of EdgeSense will help us further modernise our store operations and empower our associates to focus on serving customers.

This initiative represents an important step in strengthening our operational capabilities while continuing to improve the shopping experience for millions of customers across Mexico.

In the initial phase, Walmart Express locations will install more than 1.7 million electronic shelf labels alongside over 180,000 EdgeSense smart rails, making it one of the largest deployments of connected store systems in Latin America.

A pilot programme will also be introduced in the Bodega format to evaluate suitability across additional store types.

EdgeSense integrates electronic shelf labels, intelligent shelving infrastructure, computer vision, AI, and real-time retail data within a single operating system.

The platform is designed to streamline store operations, enhance inventory accuracy, and support data-led merchandising and customer engagement.

Through the rollout, Walmart Mexico aims to improve the in-store experience, reduce manual workloads for staff, and establish infrastructure capable of supporting future AI-driven developments.

Vusion Americas deputy CEO and executive vice-president Philippe Bottine said: The rollout of EdgeSense across Walmart Express stores and the planned expansion to Supercenters represent a major milestone in our shared vision of building the connected store of the future.

Earlier this month, Walmart agreed to a $100m judgment to resolve allegations it misled Spark Driver delivery workers on earnings.

The US Federal Trade Commission and 11 states alleged Walmart caused drivers to lose tens of millions of dollars by overstating expected base pay, tips and incentive payments in delivery offers shown in the Spark Driver app.
I think there's basically no market right now, so I wouldn't view it as much of a revamp case. Or it's a trivial market. It's more a question of can it go from being a virtually non-existent market to a real market? he says, estimating the potential in the tens of millions of dollars in North American but probably below $50m.

Even with favourable credentials, alternative seafood is only likely to command a fraction of the seafood market, say 1-2%, and that prospect is still years away, Cooney adds.

Consumers have also been put off by the types of ingredients, often long lists, and the use of binders, when people are increasingly searching out clean-label foods, he suggests, referring to other commonalities across all protein alternatives.

Nick Cooney, a managing partner at New York-based investor Lever VC, says plant-based companies  whether meat or seafood  have found the going tough in recent years, with many not even turning a profit. Quality has been poor, particularly when it comes to taste and texture.

Whichever way alternative seafood develops the category is going to remain small and niche relative to the size of plant-based meats and a drop in the ocean to real seafood. Some would also argue the terminology is wrong  an alternative should be offered as just that rather than trying to replicate or copy the real thing. There, the chances of success look gloomy.

The issue right now is that there's some tech-like 3D printed fish, for instance, but the price point is nowhere comparable to regular seafood. If there is some company that comes up with a tech that can make plant-based seafood texturised and accessible at a price point there might be a future.

I think everyone's realised that the challenge in plant-based seafood is that it's very hard to get that like-for-like replacement. You need to be looking at better technology, says Devika Suresh, the head of the incubator programme at ProVeg International.

The industry as it stands is still some way off that, particularly for products made using extrusion, which is commonly employed right across the alternative-protein sector. One solution might be cultivated seafood but the jury is still out.

Nevertheless, there remains an element of optimism over the category's prospects but the chances of success will rest on new technologies to produce a product with the same look, texture, taste and health credentials  and at the right price point to challenge the real deal.

Theres an argument to be had that plant-based seafood alternatives are literally dead in the water judging by the number of companies that have fallen by the wayside or have quietly disappeared.

Story Continues

We're not talking about it gobbling up a huge chunk of the seafood sector. But I think if you have roughly similar penetration on the seafood side as you have on the chicken side, or even a third of what you have on the beef side, it would be a sizeable category.

In the short and medium term, if you have an Impossible Foods-style quality product in the seafood space, it could do in seafood what Impossible is doing on the beef side but ratchet it down for the size of the seafood sector.

Funding gap

Funding, or lack of it, is one issue overshadowing seafood alternatives, especially to foster innovation and R&D, according to Good Food Institute Europe.

The non-profit think tank recently conducted analysis that found there have been huge increases in research funding and the number of alternative-protein patents but only 2% of the former and 1% of the latter were channelled towards seafood.

Carlotte Lucas, its head of industry and special projects, says: While we have seen welcome examples of innovation and collaboration, alternative seafood lags far behind efforts to develop alternative chicken, beef or pork products, and its clear that far more work is needed.

Public funding bodies need to recognise this food's capacity to contribute to Europes food security in the face of unsustainable fishing levels and prioritise the development of tasty and affordable alternative seafood.

Tasty is one of the operative words that has plagued protein alternatives for many years and in the case of meat has led to the demise of many companies because products didnt live up to expectations. Efforts to replicate the real deal generally failed and put off consumers on the first try.

Consumers wont swap their tuna, salmon and cod for plant-based options unless these products meet their expectations on taste, price and nutrition, and companies and governments need to recognise alternative seafood as a way of future-proofing supply chains by investing in delicious and affordable options now, Lucas suggests.

Alternative seafood has the potential to capture a much larger share of the market and provide consumers with a more diverse range of options but far more publicly-funded research work will be needed to develop products that can come closer to consumer expectations.

Alternative  not a swap

Sophies Kitchen, set up in 2010 in California, was one of the victims and even its co-founder Eugene Wang is critical about why many seafood alternatives failed. He agrees they should remain just that.

Wang sold the business to a Canadian investor in 2019, which then wound up the company in 2023-24. He has now formed Sophies Bio, which produces alternative-protein ingredients via precision fermentation using chlorella, a single-cell water algae often supplied as a nutrient food supplement.

Sophies Kitchen originally targeted vegans and vegetarians who have limited options but when you talk about flexitarians and everybody else, then alternative seafood is never going to make the cut, he says.

Real seafood has certain characteristics embedded from sea water and plankton, while alternatives lack those characteristics as well as the sea taste, the fishy smell and nutrition credentials like omega-3 and other fatty acids such as eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), Wang argues.

That's why seafood alternatives never took off, he says. Unless there's some technological breakthrough years from now, it will just be another alternative.

It's not just the alternative-seafood sector, it's also the meat-alternative sector. They're trying to replicate what's already there. They're setting the bar too high. If were trying to make ourselves look like them, then you're losing your game already.

Wang does, however, believe there is a future for seafood alternatives using new forms of ingredients and technologies without the goal to mimic real seafood because seafood lovers will not accept alternatives and arent necessarily concerned about the environmental issues.

He uses the example of tofu and Chinese monks 2,000 years ago. They were trying to make a plant-based version of meat but because the technology was not there, they cannot really replicate the texture. But then people started to use it in dishes, just like the way they use meat," he says.

That's my idea for plant-based seafood. Plant-based seafood should be the nutrition from the ocean but it doesn't have to simulate the shape or the flavour of the sea animals.

New tech

New School Foods in Canada is one company trying to turn the tables. CEO Chris Bryson set up the business in 2021 and is using a different process to extrusion to produce alternative proteins, including salmon.

He says extrusion is fine for ground beef but it cannot create the fibrous structures and textures found in other protein forms such as seafood and steak. The company employs what Bryson calls a free-structuring technology or scaffold, which he claims is able to create muscle fibres and connective tissue.

I would argue that texture really is, from an R&D perspective, the most challenging thing to solve, certainly more so than taste, he says, adding that New School Foods salmon is clean label.

Bryson agrees the alternative-seafood market is likely to remain small based on the proposition that real seafood is a tenth the size of meat in North America. Therefore, plant-based seafood would end up being a tenth the size of plant-based meat, he suggests but with an element of optimism.

In terms of plant-based seafood being dead in the water, I would say it feels dead in the water from an investment perspective but we don't feel that way when it comes to market reception, he argues.

This comes back to product quality and whether or not your product has a value proposition that is attractive to the market. I don't think consumers are opposed to alternatives as a category, although a lot of scepticism has been introduced around it.

Bryson expands: If we had products that were affordable, that were the same price, that tasted just as good, that had the same nutritional benefits, would consumers flock to it? I do think they would.

It's just achieving that parity with the sensorial experience and then superiority when it comes to nutritional positioning. That's very difficult to achieve as a complete package at a price that is the same.

Achieving a product that has a great value proposition is possible but more R&D is required. Only then will you have products that can access a mass-market category.

Cultivated seafood doubts

Key is whether cultivated seafood or cell-cultured seafood might stand a better chance of success than its plant-based cousin.

Wang at Sophies Bio has reservations. Based on the technology I know they're developing right now, they never have a chance. Theyre never going to be like the real one, he argues.

For [cell-based] beef and also cell-based seafood, the number one thing they couldn't conquer is the structure, the texture. The texture they never had, the technology nailed down to simulate the real beef or the real seafood.

Cooney at Lever VC suggests there are similar challenges around all the protein alternatives.

If I were starting a company and trying to raise capital and I was deciding plant-based meat or seafood, or cultivated meat or seafood, what's going to be easier? I don't think one of those quadrants is easier than the other. I think they're all roughly difficult.

In the long term, cultivated has the potential to ultimately get to a much larger share of market because it is the real thing. Its just produced in a different way.

ProVeg, meanwhile, remains supportive of plant-based seafood even though the future is unlikely to be smooth sailing.

But Suresh suggests restaurants might be a better avenue than retail to drum up consumer interest and loyalty, a path New School Foods is taking.

At ProVeg, we see it as an opportunity because it's a huge innovation white space that people need to be coming in and working on, she says. We'll continue to support start-ups that want to come up in that space, as tricky as it is. But there's no denying it's a really challenging and tough space right now.

Bryson at New School Foods suggests there is still a way to go before plant-based seafood can comfortably sit side by side with real seafood on retail shelves even though he claims the companys salmon at least looks like it belongs in the same family.

For plant-based seafood, extrusion has still to crack the code of moving from a raw and semi-translucent looking state during cooking to the opaqueness you get with real fish, he says, although New School Foods scaffolding process has achieved that.

I don't think plant-based seafood is anywhere close to being put physically side by side real seafood. Consumers and grocery stores have realised these products really aren't equivalent yet in terms of price, taste and nutrition, so only when that happens will we ever position them side by side, he explains.

I do think one day plant-based seafood could be positioned next to real seafood but it's probably going to take some sort of government or consumer pressure to make that happen. And it's only ever going to happen if they look the part as well.

"Why the future of small-fry alternative seafood needs new technology" was originally created and published by Just Food, a GlobalData owned brand.




Interview: Paperjam Extra





Paperjam: How has Luxembourg's position as a business events destination evolved in recent years?



Eric Thill: Luxembourg is gradually gaining visibility among European destina tions dedicated to business events. Between 2023 and 2024, the number of professional events held in the country increased by 10%, reaching nearly 9,200 events. These gatherings attracted 935,000 participants and generated 650,000 overnight stays, representing a 16% increase in just one year.



The creation of the Luxembourg Convention Bureau (LCB) six years ago has also helped structure this strategy. Initial results are already visible, with several international conferences confirmed in the coming years, including EUSEA (European Science Engagement Association) in 2026, Gen-Ethe largest European festival dedicated to youth entrepreneurship in 2027 and the annual congress of the European Society for Vascular Surgery in 2028.



Paperjam: What is the economic weight of the sector today?



Eric Thill: Congresses and professional events play an increasingly significant role in Luxembourg's economy. Beyond the international visibility they bring, they mobilise a broad local ecosystem: hotels, event venues, specialised agencies, technical service providers, caterers and transport services.



The economic impact is also growing. Between 2023 and 2024, revenue generated by international business events rose by 14%. The average length of stay increased from 1.5 to 1.8 days, with participants spending around 450 per day on averageincluding accommodation, food, transport and activities. These indicators confirm the rising importance of this segment in the national economy.



Paperjam: The Business Events 2030 strategy was launched in 2023. Where does its implementation stand today?



Eric Thill: The Business Events 2030 strategy now serves as the roadmap for the development of professional events in Luxembourg. Several initiatives are currently underway.



The first concerns the creation of a business events barometer, developed in collaboration with the Luxembourg Convention Bureau. This tool will help measure the sector's economic weight more precisely, track market developments and provide reliable indicators to fine-tune the strategy. The first results are expected before the summer.



Strengthening the skills of industry stakeholders is another key focus. Luxembourg has hosted the CityDNA Summer School, a leading European programme in event development, as well as several ICCASkills training modules dedicated to the interna tional congress industry.



In the coming months, the Congress Ambassadors programme will also be launched. It aims to mobilise people from academic, scientific, economic and institutional circles whose expertise and international networks can help attract major congresses and events to Luxembourg.



Paperjam: Luxembourg aims to enter the ICCA top 50 ranking. Where does the country currently stand?



Eric Thill: According to the 2024 ranking of the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA), Luxembourg currently ranks 60th worldwide. Between 2023 and 2024, the number of international association conferences organised in the country increased from 19 to 32, reflecting progress in this highly competitive segment.



One interesting statistic from the latest ranking concerns the sectors attracting the largest number of conferences and congresses. With 17% of events, the medical sector stands out, followed by technology and science. These are among the country's key economic sectors, confirming Luxembourg's potential to compete with major European cities. The results of the next ranking, covering 2025, will be announced in May at the IMEX international trade fair in Frankfurt.



Paperjam: Is the ICCA ranking really a good indicator for guiding the national strategy?



Eric Thill: The ICCA ranking is based on specific criteria. To be included, an event must take place in at least three countries, gather more than 50 participants and be organised on a regular basis (annual, biennial or triennial).



Exhibitions, trade fairs and corporate events are not included. Yet these formatssuch as corporate seminars, internal conventions or team-building eventsare far more numerous. However, they are more difficult to track in a standardised way at the international level and do not fall within ICCA's scope, which primarily meas ures a destination's attractiveness for international associations.



The ranking is therefore not used as the sole tool to steer national strategy. Rather, it serves as a positioning indicator, allowing Luxembourg to compare itself with other European destinations of similar size and identify areas for improvement.



Paperjam: Faced with major European capitals, what strengths underpin Luxembourg's strategy?



Eric Thill: Luxembourg does not seek to compete in volume with major European capitals, whose hotel and event capacities are significantly larger. Nevertheless, the country has infrastructure capable of hosting large-scale events, including those exceeding 1,500 participantsalready a substantial figure at national level.



Rather than seeing this limitation as a constraint, Luxembourg turns it into an advantage. The country's compact size, accessibility, ease of mobility and high level of safety are often seen as benefits compared with larger, more congested and expensive metropolitan areas. Added to this are a rich heritage and omnipresent nature, offering visitors an environment conducive to both work and leisure.



To stand out, Luxembourg focuses on specialised international congresses aligned with its sectors of excellence. The objective is not to host more events, but to attract those with real scientific, economic or institutional impact. In other words, prioritising quality over quantity.



Paperjam: Luxembourg is historically associated with finance. Which other sectors do you want to highlight through business events?



Eric Thill: Beyond finance, business events are seen as a lever to increase the visibility of other key sectors in the country's economic diversification strategy. These include space, cleantech, sustainable construction, industry, logistics and supply chain 4.0, information technologies, health technologies, as well as smart mobility and drones.



Paperjam: 75% of Business Events take place in Luxembourg City. Should events be more evenly distributed across the country?



Eric Thill: The concentration of business events in Luxembourg City mainly reflects a structural reality: the capital hosts the country's largest and best connected infrastructure. That does not prevent a diversification strategy. On the contrary, Luxembourg can rely on a network of venues across the countrymuseums, castles, hotels and cultural centresthat broaden the possibilities available to event organisers. Some locations outside traditional circuits, such as the Chateau de Bourglinster, offer interesting potential for conferences, workshops and professional events. The objective is to better highlight these venues outside the capital by increasing their visibility, integrating them more into prospecting efforts and making them easier for organisers to access.
A "highly mutated" COVID-19 variant that has been detected in at least 25 states is gaining ground, according to health authorities.

Nicknamed "Cicada," BA.3.2 is on the list of variants being tracked by both the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization, as its spread picked up internationally late last year. Though it was first detected in 2024, it only recently started accounting for a notable number of infections, ballooning to represent up to 30% of COVID-19 infections in some Eastern European countries as of February.

Experts have said the mutated nature of BA.3.2 makes it more effective at evading vaccination formulations and immune systems that have built a resistance to other COVID-19 infections. This has the potential to cause another "summer surge" in the coming months, as previously reported by USA TODAY.

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Here's what to know about "Cicada," or variant BA.3.2:

See map: 'Cicada' COVID variant found in 25 US states

What is the COVID variant 'Cicada' (BA.3.2)?

"Cicada" is a nickname given to BA.3.2, a COVID-19 variant. It was first detected in a person who did not live in but was traveling to the United States from abroad in June 2025 and was nicknamed after the rarely emerging insects because it has largely remained undetected or "underground" since its discovery, Dr. Robert H. Hopkins Jr., medical director of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases, previously told USA TODAY.

The first local case in a U.S. patient was diagnosed in January, he said. Between then and the latest available data from Feb. 11, it was detected in wastewater samples from 132 sites across at least 25 states, according to the CDC. The variant was also present in samples from travelers' voluntary nose swabs. Cases began increasing worldwide in September 2025.

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The variant is considered "highly mutated," as its 70-75 mutations make it distinct from the JN.1 lineage, which has been the source of the predominant U.S. strains over the last two years, according to Hopkins.

What to know about BA.3.2: US 'vulnerable' to COVID variant 'Cicada.'

What are the symptoms of the Cicada variant?

Like most other variants, the symptoms of the Cicada variant are the same as those of other COVID-19 variant infections. According to the CDC, these may include:

Runny or stuffy nose

Fever

Headache

Fatigue

Sneezing

Sore throat

Cough

Muscle pain or body aches

Vomiting

Diarrhea

Changes to the sense of smell or taste

Some later variants have been associated with "razorblade throat," or an extremely sore throat.

"I have not seen any data which indicates that Cicada is any more severe than other circulating variants," Hopkins said. "Severe sore throat is reported as a common symptom along with other typical COVID symptoms."

How to tell the difference between COVID, flu, other seasonal illnesses

The symptoms of COVID-19 infection, regardless of which variant, are often described as "flu-like," making them sometimes difficult to discern from other seasonal illnesses.

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The only surefire way to determine if you have the flu, COVID-19, or another respiratory illness is to get tested. According to the CDC, you generally cannot tell the difference between flu and COVID-19 by the symptoms alone, because so many overlap.

Some are slightly more common in one illness over the other. A significant change to or total loss of taste or smell, especially that lasting a long time without an obvious cause, is more commonly associated with COVID-19, the CDC said. Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing is also more often a sign of COVID-19 than the flu.

COVID-19 infections also tend to appear a bit later after exposure than the flu. Whereas symptoms typically appear one to four days after exposure for flu, COVID-19 symptoms can appear two to five days, and even up to 14 days, after infection.

What to do if you test positive

While mutations could mean existing COVID-19 boosters may not prevent infection as effectively, they can still offer protection against severe disease and death, especially as vaccine formulations catch up.

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"When sick, get tested. If positive, stay home until better and confirm with a negative test. If that's not possible, wear a fit N95 mask," Rajendram Rajnarayanan, assistant dean of research and associate professor at the New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine at Arkansas State University, previously told USA TODAY. "Get boosted as soon as it's available. It works against all of the top circulating lineages, including XBB.1.16, EG.5.1, FL.1.5.1, etc."

If you believe you may have COVID-19 or test positive, the CDC suggests several ways to treat the symptoms and stop the spread.

Stay home and separate from others.

Improve ventilation in your home.

Wear an N95 or other high-quality mask when around other people.

Keep up to date on COVID-19 vaccines and boosters.

Monitor symptoms and stay in touch with your healthcare provider.

Take medications and treatments as prescribed.

Rest and use over-the-counter medications to manage symptoms like headaches.

Practice hygiene such as washing hands often and cleaning shared surfaces.

Use their testing and treatment location tool to find resources in your area.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: See symptoms of 'highly mutated' COVID variant 'Cicada'
A three-day stretch of what the National Weather Service called a historic, record-setting storm so impacted regions of Wisconsin and Minnesota that USDA has kicked into gear, notifying dairy producers of these states that the Farm Service Agency (FSA) is taking reports of crop, livestock, and infrastructure losses. Farmers are invited to inquire about disaster recovery assistance after blizzard conditions disrupted production and the supply chain, as well as creating issues for livestock.

Milk cant wait, said Wisconsin FSA State Executive Director Sandy Chalmers. When trucks cant reach farms or processors on time, producers face costly delays and, in some cases, must dispose of milk that cant be stored. These disruptions coupled with livestock losses create real consequences for Wisconsin dairy operations, she added. Chalmers emphasized FSAs role in offering timely disaster assistance in cases of extreme weather events. A variety of programs and levels of assistance may be applicable, including the Livestock Indemnity Program, an emergency livestock assistance program, as well as loan assistance and servicing options.

Additional information on these and other USDA services can be found here.
COMPANY NEWS: SAP Concur is accelerating the future of travel and expense management with a new wave of AI-powered innovations, expanded global partnerships, and enhanced capabilities unveiled at SAP Concur Fusion 2026. The announcements highlight SAP's focus on automating workflows, strengthening compliance, and improving employee experiences.

Bringing together finance and travel leaders from around the world, the event showcases how AI-enabled, integrated solutions are helping organisations navigate rising cost pressures, evolving policy requirements, and growing expectations for seamless digital experiences.

Jonathan Beeby, managing director, enterprise, SAP Concur Australia and New Zealand, said, "The latest innovations from SAP Concur reflect increasing demand from Australian businesses for smarter, more connected systems that deliver greater visibility and control across travel, expense, and invoice management, while reducing manual effort and improving decision-making."

Joule integration, new agents, and innovations streamline travel and expense workflows

Building on the integration between Joule and Microsoft 365 Copilot, SAP Concur is bringing AI-enabled travel and expense management directly into the Microsoft applications employees use every day. Available now, employees can create and submit expense reports, track expense status, ask policy-related questions, upload receipts, book travel, and more, without having to leave the application they're working in.

Jonathan Beeby said, "With this enhanced organisational context, Joule introduces greater business intelligence into the flow of work, helping employees complete travel and expense tasks more easily, offering guidance, and reducing manual effort while maintaining compliance. Bringing SAP Concur experiences into the tools employees already use regularly removes friction, streamlines workflows, and improves productivity."

Existing Joule Agents from SAP Concur focus on intelligent receipt analysis and expense report validation, automatically enriching expense data, detecting errors, and guiding employees to submit accurate, compliant reports. Now, two new Joule Agents join the SAP Concur lineup to further streamline expense compliance and reporting:

Expense Automation Agent: A Joule Agent that acts as a virtual delegate, creating the expense report and automatically adding transactions, including populating custom fields based on contextual details and user history. Employees can simply review and refine the report before submitting, reducing manual data entry and saving considerable time. This agent delivers a modern expense management experience, the expense report that practically manages itself.

Expense Pre-Submit Audit Agent: A Joule Agent that provides accurate, relevant receipt checks early in the expense report process. It proactively flags discrepancies in receipts before submission, helping address inaccuracies early, reduce report rejections and review cycles, and shorten reimbursement timelines. Drawing on decades of expertise and innovation in expense report auditing, SAP Concur delivers an agent that ensures receipt validation is robust and precise.

Jonathan Beeby said, "Concur Expense will also soon support new capabilities to submit receipts via text message, offering another easy way for employees to capture receipts without manual data entry."

Expense Pre-Submit Audit Agent, Expense Automation Agent, and receipt texting capabilities are currently in the SAP Early Adopter Care program, with general availability expected later this year. Expense Automation Agent will be available as part of Joule Premium for Travel and Expense.

Additionally, leveraging the power of the SAP Concur Business Suite, the SAP Sales Cloud solution now integrates with Booking Agent to streamline workflows and enhance productivity for sales teams. Salespeople can use Joule within the SAP Sales Cloud solution to book travel for planned client visits. Joule recognises key details of the client visit and presents personalised travel itinerary options for the salesperson to choose from for quick, seamless booking within the existing workflow. This eliminates the need to manage separate workflows for client visits and trip bookings, as Joule connects planned visits directly with easy booking options. The integration is planned for general availability in Q2 2026.

Simplified administration, stronger compliance, and increased automation across travel and expense processes

New AI-based rule creation tools simplify the complex process of managing policy rules in Complete by SAP Concur and American Express Global Business Travel (Amex GBT), Concur Travel, and Concur Expense, especially for administrators without a technical background. These tools help customers automate enforcement of even the most nuanced policies using natural language or company policy documents as the input. Now, administrators can manage rule creation efficiently and confidently.

Jonathan Beeby said, "Administrators can upload a travel policy document, and the travel rules will automatically be created or modified, saving time and strengthening policy compliance. This capability will be available as part of the SAP Early Adopter Care program in Q2 2026. Concur Expense administrators can create and manage audit rules using natural language starting in Q2 2026. The ability to create rules from uploaded policy documents is planned for release later in 2026."

Additionally, SAP Concur is strengthening two key financial industry partnerships to further streamline expense reporting and compliance.

SAP Concur and American Express (Amex) are deepening their partnership to enable joint customers to create and manage American Express Virtual Cards in Concur Expense. An American Express Virtual Card features a uniquely generated card number and security code associated with an employer's Amex Corporate Card account, reducing the burden of out-of-pocket expenses by supporting online payments and transactions on-the-go through a digital wallet.

American Express Virtual Cards with SAP Concur lets employees make purchases in just a few clicks, while providing organisations with enhanced visibility, stronger controls, and greater efficiency. They also can be used as a payment method within Concur Travel. This capability is available now to select U.S.-based American Express Corporate and Business customers using Concur Expense with availability for all customers planned for Q3 2026.

Last year, SAP Concur and Amex launched a real-time notification (RTN) capability that automatically generates and categorises eligible business expenses from Amex Corporate Card purchases in Concur Expense. Enrolled cardholders will get real-time notifications via the Concur mobile app when making a purchase, so they never miss key details like uploading a receipt or adding attendees for a meal.

SAP Concur teams up with Visa to drive greater integration between Concur Expense and Visa through the Visa Commercial Integrated Partner program. The first integration milestone will be for Concur Expense to enable real-time notifications to automatically create expenses from Visa card swipes and reduce the risk of lost receipts or duplicates. The capability will be available as part of the SAP Early Adopter Care program in Q3 2026. SAP Concur will now support RTN from all major credit card networks.

Corporate travel experience enhancements and new AI-enabled capabilities

SAP Concur is advancing the corporate travel experience with new capabilities, expanded global availability, and enhanced partner integrations designed to support travellers and travel managers worldwide.

SAP Concur and Amex GBT are announcing new innovations to Complete, an AI-enabled, co-developed solution for booking, servicing, payments, and expensing. New capabilities include AI-enabled travel support with hand-off to a live travel counsellor and a specialised home page for travel managers. Concur Expense also integrates with Amex GBT Egencia for customers worldwide. For more about these co-innovations, visit the SAP Concur blog.

Jonathan Beeby said, "For customers using the new Concur Travel experience, it now fully supports guest bookings, offering an improved reservation workflow for hosting guest travel. Enhanced booking capabilities provide a streamlined experience, letting guest profiles be created quickly and without having to establish new profiles for recurring visitors each time."

TripIt by SAP Concur is also enhancing the travel experience with new intelligent, on-device capabilities that help travellers organise plans effortlessly while staying informed about potential disruptions in real time.

TripIt Pro image to plan with Apple Intelligence: Travellers can turn photos or PDFs, including tickets, reservations, event flyers, and receipts, into organised TripIt plans in just a few taps. Using Apple Intelligence's on-device foundation models, TripIt Pro securely extracts key details such as dates, times, locations, confirmation numbers, and costs, all without leaving the device.

Expanded TripIt Pro risk alerts: Based on the address entered with a trip plan, TripIt Pro monitors breaking news that may disrupt the itinerary. Travellers will now receive proactive, timely alerts about incidents that could affect lodging, car rental, rail, activities, and other plans, in addition to flights, airlines, and airports.

These new capabilities in TripIt Pro are available now.
Industrial software firm AVEVA is doubling down on its data to dollars strategy, arguing that better data governance and AI-driven operational models can simultaneously boost production, cut costs, and reduce emissions across oil, gas and LNG operations.

Speaking at the Energy Exchange of Australia, AVEVA industry principal for oil and gas Cindy Crow, said the sector is entering a pivotal phase where traditional hydrocarbon expansion and decarbonisation must co-exist. She took time from her busy schedule to speak with iTWire about her message, the achievements AVEVA is hitting with its customers, and the problems that industry faces.

Upstream and LNG expansions will account for more than $100 billion of investment in 2026, Crow said. We need to extend hydrocarbon supply into the next decade, but at the same time were under increasing pressure to decarbonise both operations and products.

Put simply, the world needs high-return oil and gas projects and is going to continue to need these for some time. Yet, these traditionally messy industries also must decrease their emissions. And, at the same time, there's a financial priority to meet near-term demand while replacing coal. It's an industry with a lot of tension, and AVEVA wants to help with its product suite aimed at helping customers optimise and succeed.

Before we dig into this message, a little on AVEVA: the company is a global leader in industrial software, specifically aiming to drive responsible use of the world's resources, via the power of information. AVEVA connects people with trusted information and AI-enriched insights, meaning teams can engineer efficient and optimised operations to drive growth as well as sustainability. It's an innovative business with more than 6,400 employees and operations around the globe.

This background is important, because what I soon came to understand when speaking with Cindy is this a win/win situation. Industries of all kinds can attain their sustainable goals without having to limit or curtail production. Cindy's work instead uses data to help companies do what they do better and smarter, with decreased emissions as a result, but yet with superior deliverables. Nevertheless, while easy to say, it's much harder to do, and that's the work she and her team do.

AI moves from experimentation to operations

According to Crow, while every oil company has some kind of AI initiative underway, the industry is shifting from isolated pilots to embedding data science directly into operational workflows. The challenge, she said, is not a lack of data. Instead, it's too much of it, often poorly governed.

Theres still a huge amount of paper-based processes - maintenance logs across multiple people and systems, she said. If you dont standardise and govern that data, you end up with noise, and you lose the opportunity to build effective AI models.

AVEVAs approach, she explained, focuses on structuring industrial data using standards and governance frameworks before applying analytics. Its platforms, such as Unified Engineering, Asset Information Management, and CONNECT, all aim to create a consistent data foundation that can support repeatable AI outcomes.

Compression optimisation delivers real-world impact

Crow highlighted a large-scale compressor optimisation project as an example of how AI can deliver both financial and environmental returns. For those not in the know - which included me, before speaking with Cindy - compressors are high-performance machines in the oil and gas industry that, well, compress the substances for extraction, transport, and refinement. They use reciprocating, centrifigual, or screw technologies to process hydrocarbons, methane, and CO, and operate at high pressure.

Compressors are a major component for these industries. By modelling compressor performance across hundreds of plants in North America, operators were able to identify inefficiencies and adjust operating protocols in near real time.

The system runs every 15 minutes and identifies where intervention is needed, she said. But importantly, theres still a human in the loop because there are so many variables, from maintenance cycles to downtime.

The results were significant: improved fuel efficiency, reduced emissions, and a CO impact equivalent to removing more than 11,000 cars from the road.

In some cases, the optimisation challenged conventional assumptions. Running two compressors at partial load was found to be less efficient than operating a single unit at full capacity, highlighting how data-driven insights can overturn long-held operational practices. And sometimes replacing a compressor with another that used less fuel and had fewer emissions turned out to be the smartest choice, despite the assumption being that this would have less efficient results.

That project was a two-year effort, designing the AI first, then building and testing, and working out how to put it in practice. There were a large number of variables, but with engineering design principles, the AVEVA team were able to achieve a great and consistent result.

AVEVA has completed many large projects, but "operations in oil and gas have a lot more variability than regular processes," Cindy explained. "You don't always know every detail of every product coming in." For example, an oil or gas well produces oil, gas, and water in differing ways, while a jet fuel refinery, say, has the same inputs and outputs consistently.

As well as presenting on "data to dollars", Crow also sat on a panel "What's really working with AI and energy (and what's not)", with numerous insights to share.

Balancing cost, revenue, and sustainability

Crow said industrial operators are increasingly viewing AI through a dual lens: cost reduction and revenue optimisation. On one side, youre reducing fuel consumption and emissions. On the other hand, youre increasing uptime and production - more oil, more gas, more LNG, she said.

This balance is particularly critical as LNG takes on a larger role in global energy supply, partly replacing coal while meeting near-term demand.

At the same time, companies are exploring alternative energy efficiencies within existing operationssuch as reusing steam in refining processes or capturing gas from storage systems to power equipment.

From engineering models to industrial copilots

A key part of AVEVAs vision is the use of knowledge graphs and engineering models to underpin AI systems, enabling a deeper understanding of how variables interact across complex industrial environments.

This is evolving into what Crow describes as an industrial assistant - a natural language interface that can interpret plant conditions, reference maintenance manuals, and generate actionable work orders. You can ask: I see pressure is too high and temperature is rising; what should I do? and the system can provide guidance based on engineering principles and historical data, she said.

The next frontier is agentic AI - systems that can take more autonomous action, though Crow noted the industry is not yet ready to remove human oversight fully.

Even so, "I'm really proud of what we do," she said. "What we do from an industry standpoint is heads and shoulders above anything prior. It's exciting to see these things after 40 years in the industry, instead of sitting in a filing room looking at manuals and reading all about pumping equipment and trying to figure out what was happening."

A sector-wide opportunity

While the discussion centred on oil and gas, Crow said the same principles apply across mining, LNG, and broader industrial sectors in Australia. Theres nothing in this approach that isnt applicable, from traditional fields to offshore platforms and LNG fleets, she said.

Ultimately, she argues, the industrys biggest opportunity lies in understanding how operational data translates directly into financial outcomes.

This is what data to dollars really means - taking what you already have, structuring it properly, and turning it into measurable business value, Crow said.
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Two recent election results have Black voters, strategists and activists talking. One is the Senate Democratic primary in Texas , which saw Representative Jasmine Crockett lose pretty handily to James Talarico , a white candidate who is centrist in bearing if not in policy. The other is the Senate Democratic primary in Illinois , which saw Lieutenant Governor Juliana Stratton beat a crowded and diverse field that included another Black female candidate, a victory that almost certainly puts Stratton on a path to become the third Black person elected to serve in the upper chamber from the Land of Lincoln . (There have only been 14 Black U.S. senators since 1789.)

The contests left fresh intra-party divisions which will have to be sorted out as November approaches. Some wonder if Talarico, who ran strong among Latino and White voters, can rally Black voters to his side after a bitter and racially stratified primary, which left many Black women feeling like the party has abandoned them. Some say that Stratton, who won with the backing (and funding) of Governor JB Pritzker, isnt getting enough credit for her own victory, with Pritzker getting lots of headlines as the muscle behind her win. All of this comes as a coalition of organizing groups is trying to figure out how to boost not only Black representation, but Black participation. It also comes as gerrymandering and a weakened Voting Rights Act could shrink the number of Black elected officials, watering down the power of Black voters.

Black voters, around the margins, helped President Donald Trump win a second term by slightly swinging right in states like Michigan , Wisconsin and Georgia . Once again, those states and the Black electorate will be crucial as Democrats aim to get back in power and rein in the destructive excesses of the Trump administration. For any hope of winning the Senate, Democrats have to keep their seats in Michigan and Georgia , and then flip several seats, including in North Carolina , which is about 20% Black.

But it will take more than the usual strategy of ad buys on Black radio, hiring Black strategists here and there and the predictable visits to churches, barber shops and beauty salons. It will take real financial investment and forethought, which the party hasnt done consistently in the post-Obama years.

On the ground, activists I spoke with recently have been discouraged by disengagement and disaffection  worrisome, if not entirely new, trends given the stakes. Black female leaders, advocates and organizers gathered in Washington earlier this month as part of the 15th Annual Black Womens Roundtable Women of Power National Summit, keen to diagnose and solve the issue of Black voter motivation  or lack thereof.

[Black voters] really think that [politicians] are not listening to them, that theyre not really doing things for them. Theyre not responding to their needs. That one side takes them for granted, one side just doesnt care, said Helen Butler , who is the executive director of the Georgia Coalition for the Peoples Agenda in a telephone interview with me. They also feel like their representatives arent fighting hard enough for them. You get them elected, and theyre just not fighting for them.

Many of these same issues and sentiments came up in a series of focus groups held by HIT Strategies as part of a survey called The State of Black Opposition and Engagement in 2026, which will now be a kind of blueprint for people like Butler who are trying to register and engage Black voters.

While Black people are expressing the highest concern around economics [and] attacks on democracy, they are the most likely to avoid this political environment, so we wanted to understand that avoidance, said Terrance Woodbury , President & Founding Partner of HIT Strategies, which conducted focus groups and workshopped messaging. They are saying we dont want to go high, we want to take the gloves off, we want to fight fire with fire, we want them to disrupt the functions of government. Stop playing by the old rules, and stop sitting quietly by while Trump tells lies.

In the two Senate primaries so far, which happened in states with sizable Black primary populations, organizers see some promise and some problems. Crockett didnt see enough of a surge of young and Black voters, who make up 20% of a likely Democratic primary electorate. Some have blamed voter suppression, others a weak ground game and the idea that Crockett wasnt electable statewide. Texas is a huge state, with a largely moribund Democratic party that hasnt seen a Democrat win statewide since 1994. Crockett chose to enter the race last, built a shoestring campaign that relied too heavily on social media, cable hits and the usual campaign stops. Even with those missteps, she didnt do poorly, suggesting that if she had put more effort into building a real campaign, she could have won.

Stratton won a broad base of voters, including sweeping all 17 predominately Black wards in Chicago . Though she was quite polished, she also campaigned with Crockett-esque fire and vigor. One of her YouTube ads featured voters on the street praising Stratton, saying F--- Trump, vote Juliana. That obviously worked quite well for Stratton, as did her focus on the economy and immigration.

Woodbury and Butler said that the most pressing issue for Black voters is the economy, including health care and education costs, and now worries about the war in Iran . Woodbury also says his data show that defending democracy is also a promising thread among Black voters.

It will be up to Democrats to make that determination. And as they plot their way forward, they abandon and ignore their core voters at their peril.

Nia-Malika Henderson is a politics and policy columnist for Bloomberg Opinion. A former senior political reporter for CNN and the Washington Post , she has covered politics and campaigns for almost two decades.

(COMMENT, BELOW)




Artificial intelligence talks with a voice that is fluent, confident, and increasingly human-like. For clinicians, that voice is both promising and worrisome. It can summarize charts, draft notes, and answer questions with remarkable speed. But it can also do something equally slick yet potentially dangerous: It can agree, virtually all the time.

At first glance, agreement seems harmless. Even helpful. But a growing body of evidence suggests that this tendency, known as sycophancy, is not just a stylistic quirk of large language models. It is a behavioral feature with occasionally serious consequences. The central question is no longer whether artificial intelligence is useful. It is whether it is shaping human judgment in ways we do not fully appreciate and cannot easily detect or correct, systematically distorting it toward unwarranted certainty, producing someone who is a know-it-all.

Artificial intelligences reinforcing tendencies

Large language models do not simply retrieve information. They adapt to the user in front of them. In doing so, they often reinforce the beliefs, assumptions, and emotional tone embedded in a prompt. Recent research demonstrates that this is not an isolated phenomenon. Across 11 leading artificial intelligence systems, chatbots affirmed users actions nearly 50 percent more often than humans, even in scenarios involving deception, illegality, or interpersonal harm. This pattern extends beyond factual agreement into what researchers call social sycophancy: the tendency to validate not just what users say, but who they believe themselves to be. Artificial intelligence is not merely reflecting thought. It is systematically nudging our thinking toward the self-justification of a con-man.

The illusion of understanding

Part of the problem lies in how these systems are experienced. Chatbots simulate empathy with extraordinary fluency. They sound attentive, thoughtful, even caring. But what appears as understanding is often alignment, and alignment, when driven by user preference, can become distortion.

Even when users know they are interacting with artificial intelligence, the persuasive effects persist. Disclosure does not protect against influence. Nor does tone. Whether responses are warm and human-like or neutral and clinical, the impact on users beliefs remains the same. In other words, the problem is not how artificial intelligence speaks. It is what it affirms.

Sycophancy and the distortion of judgment

The most concerning finding is not that artificial intelligence agrees with users; it is what that agreement does next. In controlled experiments involving more than 2,400 participants, even a single interaction with a sycophantic chatbot increased users belief that they were in the right and reduced their willingness to take responsibility or repair relationships. Participants became less likely to apologize, less open to alternative perspectives, and more confident in their original stance. At the same time, they trusted the artificial intelligence more.

This is the paradox. Sycophantic responses are not only influential, they are preferred. Users rate them as higher quality, more helpful, and more trustworthy. Ironically, the very feature that causes harm also drives engagement. What emerges is a feedback loop: Affirmation increases trust, trust increases reliance, and reliance deepens the original belief. In effect, the artificial intelligence does not just validate a belief. It locks it in.

A new variable in the clinical encounter

For clinicians, this introduces a new and largely invisible factor into patient care: prior conversations with artificial intelligence. Patients are increasingly turning to chatbots for advice about symptoms, diagnoses, relationships, and life decisions. These interactions often occur outside the clinical setting, without oversight, and without the guardrails that guide professional care. The result is that patients may arrive not just with concerns, but with reinforced narratives. Narratives that feel validated, coherent, and increasingly resistant to challenge by their doctor or anyone else.

In mental health, this is particularly consequential. Therapeutic progress often depends on cultivating insight, tolerating ambiguity, and considering alternative perspectives. Sycophantic artificial intelligence moves in the opposite direction. It narrows focus, reinforces certainty, and reduces the impulse toward self-correction. More broadly, research shows that these systems can diminish prosocial behavior, that is, the willingness to apologize, repair, and take responsibility. In this sense, artificial intelligence is not just informing patients. It is shaping how they relate to others.

What should be done?

We are entering an era in which artificial intelligence is part of the patients cognitive environment and yet it remains largely unexamined in clinical practice. If artificial intelligence is now embedded in how patients think, reason, and decide, our response must be equally intentional.

First, normalize artificial intelligence disclosure. Clinicians should routinely ask patients about chatbot use, just as they should ask about supplements or online searches. Artificial intelligence then becomes part of the history and history-taking.

Second, reframe artificial intelligence as a tool, not an authority. Patients and clinicians alike must understand that these systems generate plausible language, not verified truth. Their fluency should not be mistaken for sound judgment. Artificial intelligence may systematically distort patients judgment toward unwarranted certainty, causing them to reject certain medical recommendations and dismiss a prognosis.

Third, design for constructive friction. Tell patients that artificial intelligence systems should not simply validate their feelings or concerns. Artificial intelligence should challenge them, and this may require a prompt, such as asking what another person might be thinking or feeling, or offering alternative interpretations. Simple design choices, such as reframing user statements as questions, may reduce sycophancy and promote reflection. Better yet, suggest prioritizing direct, person-to-person conversations instead of relying on artificial intelligence as a substitute for real human interaction.

Fourth, move beyond engagement metrics. Current systems are optimized for conditions that favor agreement, for example, satisfaction and continued use. Future models should be evaluated on their ability to promote accurate reasoning, accountability, and long-term well-being.

Fifth, develop artificial intelligence-informed care models. Rather than excluding artificial intelligence, clinicians should integrate it thoughtfully. This may include:

Discussing artificial intelligence interactions as part of therapy

Using artificial intelligence outputs as material for reflection and reality testing

Educating patients about the strengths and limitations of these tools

Artificial intelligence with less conviction

Artificial intelligence does not think. But it reflects users thoughts and increasingly reinforces them. The emerging risk is not simply that machines will be wrong. It is that they will make us more certain, more quickly and more confidently, about things we should question.

In medicine, we are trained to value doubt by pausing and reconsidering circumstances. Sycophantic artificial intelligence moves in the opposite direction. It smooths friction, removes resistance, and replaces reflection with affirmation. The question is not whether artificial intelligence will influence human thinking (it already does). The question is whether we will design systems that challenge us when it matters, or continue building ones that tell us, with increasing fluency and conviction, exactly what we want to hear.

Arthur Lazarus is a former Doximity Fellow, a member of the editorial board of the American Association for Physician Leadership, and an adjunct professor of psychiatry at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University in Philadelphia. He is the author of several books on narrative medicine and the fictional series Real Medicine, Unreal Stories. His latest book, a novel, is JAILBREAK: When Artificial Intelligence Breaks Medicine.
The white coat has always been a symbol of a sacred trust, a commitment to do no harm. But as we approach Doctors Day 2026, many of us find ourselves grappling with a different kind of harm. It is not a physical wound, nor is it the burnout often cited in corporate wellness modules. It is the moral injury of us.

In our daily practice, we increasingly find ourselves at the intersection of clinical necessity and systemic constraint. We are forced to make decisions that do not always align with our core values, navigating boundaries that feel less like guardrails and more like barriers to the care our patients deserve. The cost of this internal conflict, our moral injury, occurs when we are forced to witness or participate in acts that transgress our deeply held moral beliefs. In medicine, this manifests as the agonizing gap between the care we know a patient needs and the care we are permitted to provide within the structures and intersections of modern health care.

This is not just stress. It is a profound erosion of the professional soul, and the data paints a sobering picture of the consequences:

A crisis of wellness: Studies continue to show a significant decline in the mental health of physicians, with higher rates of depression and anxiety than the general population.

Studies continue to show a significant decline in the mental health of physicians, with higher rates of depression and anxiety than the general population. The ultimate price: The medical profession faces a staggering suicide rate, estimated to be more than double that of the public. We lose the equivalent of an entire large medical school class every year to suicide.

These numbers are not just statistics; they are our colleagues, our mentors, and our friends. They are the result of a system that asks us to be resilient without addressing the structural fractures causing the strain. Kintsugi, the practice of repairing broken pottery with gold, embracing the flaws and history of the object to make it stronger and more beautiful in Japanese art, welcomes us as physician architects to apply this philosophy to our own profession. We cannot simply fix the system overnight, but we can change how we exist within it.

Acknowledge the injury: We must stop labeling moral injury as a personal failure of resilience. It is a systemic issue that requires systemic design solutions.

We must stop labeling moral injury as a personal failure of resilience. It is a systemic issue that requires systemic design solutions. Radical advocacy: Our voices are most powerful when unified. By advocating for structural changes, whether in administrative burden or clinical autonomy, we begin to close the gap between our values and our practice.

Our voices are most powerful when unified. By advocating for structural changes, whether in administrative burden or clinical autonomy, we begin to close the gap between our values and our practice. Community as a catalyst: The antidote to moral injury is often found in the collective. By sharing our experiences and witnessing one anothers challenges, we move from the isolation of me to the strength of us.

Doctors Day should be more than a celebratory brunch or a thank-you note. It should be a day of reclamation. We entered this field driven by a sense of purpose, an ikigai centered on healing and humanity. To move beyond the injury, we must identify the keys that unlock our collective potential, leading us to a place of collective healing:

The power of refusal (clinical boundaries): Exercise the right to say no to administrative tasks that directly compromise patient safety or your ethical standards. When we collectively resist click-clack medicine, we force the system to value our clinical judgment over data entry.

Exercise the right to say no to administrative tasks that directly compromise patient safety or your ethical standards. When we collectively resist click-clack medicine, we force the system to value our clinical judgment over data entry. Radical transparency: Speak openly about moral injury. When we strip away the stigma of not being tough enough, we reveal that the system, not the healer, is what is broken. Transparency is the first step toward structural redesign.

Speak openly about moral injury. When we strip away the stigma of not being tough enough, we reveal that the system, not the healer, is what is broken. Transparency is the first step toward structural redesign. Architectural advocacy: Do not just work within the system; design the work. Use your seat at the table to advocate for human-centric design in EMRs and staffing models. We must be the architects of our own workflows to ensure they support, rather than sap, our energy.

Do not just work within the system; design the work. Use your seat at the table to advocate for human-centric design in EMRs and staffing models. We must be the architects of our own workflows to ensure they support, rather than sap, our energy. The fellowship of the scar: Build Kintsugi circles within your departments. By witnessing each others challenges without judgment, we turn our shared wounds into a reinforced bond of professional solidarity.

While the boundaries of modern practice are real, they do not define our worth or our mission. By leaning into our shared values and demanding a health care architecture that supports the healer as much as the healed, we can begin to mend the fractures. We embark on reclaiming the soul of the medicine we dreamt of and believe we can have (aspire to). Changing the narrative from celebrating our endurance to celebrating our evolution, we are more than the sum of the boundaries placed upon us. We are the stewards of a craft that requires both a sharp mind and an untethered soul.

In conclusion, we are not just practitioners; we are the guardians of the professions heart. Let us commit to building a future where our freedom keys include the liberty to practice medicine with our integrity entirely intact.

Seleipiri Akobo is a physician executive.
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09:02 Indian killed in Iranian strike on Kuwait power plant An Indian worker was killed in an Iranian attack on a power and water desalination plant in Kuwait.According to a statement issued by Kuwait's Ministry of Electricity, Water and Renewable Energy the strike targeted a service building at one of Kuwait's power and water desalination plants,... Read more >
President Ronald Reagan has been shot and wounded after a lone gunman opened fire in Washington.

He is currently undergoing emergency surgery at George Washington University Hospital but there are unconfirmed reports he walked in unaided.

Initial reports claim he may have a punctured lung.

Five to six shots were fired as he left the Washington Hilton Hotel where he had been addressing a union convention, about one mile from the White House.

A man, firing at close range, also wounded White House Press Secretary James Brady in the head.

A Secret Service official and a Washington policeman were also injured before the gunman was pushed to the ground by police.

The president had appeared from the hotel smiling and walked towards his limousine turning momentarily to acknowledge calls from the waiting press.

A burst of gunfire was then heard before the president was bundled into a bullet proof limousine and whisked away.

First Lady Nancy Reagan is understood to be on her way to the hospital to visit her 70-year-old husband.

The attacker is described as being in his twenties and blonde.

He was pinned to the wall by secret service agents and he has now been arrested.

The assassination attempt has sent shock waves around the country where memories of the murder of president John F Kennedy remain vivid.

Courtesy BBC News

In context

The president initially appeared to have escaped serious injury, but had been hit by a ricocheting bullet as he was bundled into his limousine by Secret Service Agents.

He was operated on and made a fast recovery.

Mr Brady suffered severe head injuries, and policeman Thomas Delahanty and Tim McCarthy of the Secret Service were also injured.

John Hinckley, 25, the son of an affluent oil industry executive, was charged with trying to assassinate the president fuelled by an obsession with actress Jodie Foster and a desire to impress her.

The following June, Hinckley was found not guilty by reason of insanity and was committed to hospital.

Ronald Reagan went on to win a second term in office by a wide margin almost four years later.

He died in June 2004, aged 93, after suffering from Alzheimers disease for 10 years.

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Facing a shortage of specialized professionals, the Macau Insurers Association urged authorities to allow non-local students who graduate from Macau universities to stay and gradually gain residency.

The association submitted the proposal in writing at the recent 2026 Macao Industry and Commerce Forum hosted by the Macao Chamber of Commerce (ACM). Industry insiders quoted by the media said bringing in non-local professionals would not take up local employment quotas but would help build local teams through mentorship and guidance.

The written proposal argued that allowing non-local graduates of Macaus higher education institutions to remain in the city could help address future labor shortages, noting that neighboring jurisdictions have adopted similar measures.

It warned that the insurance sector faces critical shortages of professional talent and human resources and said permitting graduates to stay would supply locally educated, market-familiar talent to support the sustainable development of industry and commerce.

According to a report in Chinese-language media Exmoo, Cheung Ming Fai, chairman of the association, said the industry is facing a severe shortage of professional talent, which is the biggest obstacle to its internationalization.

The report quoted Cheung as saying the proposal would raise professional standards in Macaus insurance sector and help build a pipeline of local staff, adding that local practitioners could leverage their networks to attract mainland clients and expand the market.

The same report cited Cheung as noting younger workers struggle to balance work with professional study and that some firms have relaxed entry requirements by no longer requiring professional certification and systematic training  a change he said has hindered efforts to improve local practitioners standards.

An industry insider attributed the drop in intermediaries to a cooling life insurance segment and aggressive recruitment by the gaming sector, which has led practitioners to leave.

As quoted, he said introducing UK and Australian professional exams in Macau, with government-backed subsidies for firms to support staff testing, could revive interest and upskill the workforce.

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Conversations about obesity often focus on individual responsibility. Eating better, moving more, and trying harder are typical phrases.

This simplistic framing overlooks a structural reality: many people lack the time, energy, or the conditions to make such choices.

In Macau, long shifts, irregular working schedules, and a work culture built around endurance leave little room for health.

If authorities are serious about tackling rising obesity rates and sedentary lifestyles, they need to stop treating exercise as a personal hobby and recognize it as a public health necessity.

A bold step toward this goal would be to incentivize companies to offer paid workout time as part of the working day, replacing a portion of overtime culture with health-focused time allowances.

The local economy, heavily reliant on tourism and gaming, depends on shift work. Employees often rotate between day and night shifts, endure long hours on their feet or sitting in repetitive roles, and face unpredictable workloads. By the time a shift ends, the idea of going to the gym isnt just unappealing; its often impossible. Add in the prevalence of quick, low-quality meals, and the results are predictable: fatigue, weight gain, and long-term physical and mental health risks follow.

Telling people in this environment to exercise more borders on absurd and worsens their mental health, which is already burdened by a lack of time for their families or themselves.

A government-backed workout time allowance would directly address this. Imagine if employees were provided with even 3060 minutes of paid time per shift cycle for physical activity. This could be used for gym sessions, walking, stretching, or organized fitness programs, even in companies that are eager to promote wellness just once a year.

Crucially, it would not reduce rest time, which is already inadequate, but instead would be incorporated into working hours, just like overtime is now.

This isnt a radical idea. Companies already pay for overtime because productivity demands it. But what if long-term productivity also relied heavily on keeping workers healthy? Benefits like reduced absenteeism, lower healthcare costs, improved morale, and higher sustained performance are all well-supported by evidence of regular physical activity.

In that sense, workout time is not a perk; it is a small, simple investment.

Critics will argue that businesses cannot afford to lose productive hours. However, this assumes that the current system is effective. In reality, overworked and exhausted employees are not functioning at their best. Burnout, turnover, and health-related absences are hidden costs that companies already bear.

Reallocating a fraction of overtime into structured exercise time could actually improve overall output.

And then comes culture. As we all know, in many work environments, long hours are worn as a badge of honor, and changing that mindset requires more than a policy; it requires strong leadership.

If the government signals that health is as important as productivity, as it does with many other areas, companies will follow (they always do).

Incentives like tax breaks, subsidies for workplace health and fitness programs, or even public recognition schemes could speed up this process.

If the Healthy Macau Blueprint is genuinely a policy and not merely a defense mechanism to dodge responsibility, we need to set our sights much higher than just the chocolate milk in schools vending machines.

Our scale and structure enable Macau to set an example, redefining what a healthy work-life balance looks like in a modern economy.

If people are too busy to stay healthy, the system is not working.

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A top Iranian official warned the U.S. against a ground invasion, saying its troops would be set on fire, as regional diplomats met yesterday in Pakistan in hopes of opening direct U.S.-Iran talks and ending the monthlong war.

Irans parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, said Iranian forces were waiting for the arrival of American troops on the ground to set them on fire and punish their regional partners forever, according to Iranian state media. He also dismissed the talks as a cover after some 2,500 U.S. Marines trained in amphibious landings arrived in the Middle East.

The war has threatened global supplies of oil, natural gas and fertilizer and disrupted air travel. Irans grip on the strategic Strait of Hormuz has shaken markets and prices, and now the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels  entry into the war could threaten shipping on another crucial waterway, the Bab el-Mandeb strait to the Red Sea.

We dont know at what moment our homes could be targeted, said Razzak Saghir al-Mousawi, 71, describing relentless airstrikes as Iranians crossing into Iraq urged the United States to end the war. I am definitely afraid.

More than 3,000 people have been killed in the war that began with U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran that triggered Iranian attacks on Israel and neighboring Gulf Arab states. Meanwhile, Israel has invaded Lebanon while targeting the Iranian-backed Hezbollah. The war continues on the digital front as well.

Pakistan hosts ministers from Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt

Pakistan said the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt met in Islamabad without U.S. or Israeli participation, days after the U.S. offered Iran a 15-point action list as a framework for a possible peace deal. The ministers are expected to meet again Monday.

Egypts Badr Abdelatty said the meetings are aimed at opening a direct dialogue between the U.S. and Iran, which have largely communicated through mediators. Both this war and last years 12-day war began during rounds of indirect talks.

Iranian officials have rejected the U.S. framework and publicly dismissed the idea of negotiating under pressure. But Press TV, the English-language arm of Irans state broadcaster, reported last week that Tehran had drafted its own five-point proposal that reportedly called for a halt to killing Iranian officials, guarantees against future attacks, reparations and Irans exercise of sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran has eased some restrictions on commercial ships in the strait, agreeing late Saturday to allow 20 more Pakistani-flagged vessels to pass through. It sends a clear signal that Iran remains open for business with the world, provided the United States abandons coercion, said Asif Durrani, Pakistans former ambassador to Iran.

An adviser to the United Arab Emirates, Anwar Gargash, called for any settlement to the war to include clear guarantees that Iranian attacks on neighbors will not be repeated.

Gargash said Irans government has become the main threat to Persian Gulf security and called for compensation for attacks on civilian infrastructure.

Iran threatens retaliatory strikes on Israeli and US universities

Iran on Sunday warned of escalation after Israeli airstrikes hit several universities, including ones that Israel claimed were used for nuclear research and development. Concerns over Irans nuclear program are at the heart of tensions.

The paramilitary Revolutionary Guard warned that Iran would consider Israeli universities and branches of U.S. universities in the region legitimate targets unless offered safety assurances for Iranian universities, state media reported.

U.S. colleges have campuses in Qatar and the UAE, including Georgetown, New York and Northwestern universities.

If the U.S. government wants its universities in the region spared, it should condemn the bombardment of Iranian universities by midday Monday, the Guard said in a statement.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei said Saturday that dozens of universities and research centers have been hit, among them the Iran University of Science and Technology and Isfahan University of Technology.

Both sides in the war have threatened to attack civilian facilities, which critics have warned could be a war crime.

Death toll continues to climb

Iranian authorities say more than 1,900 people have been killed in the Islamic Republic, while 19 have been reported dead in Israel.

In Lebanon, officials said more than 1,100 people have been killed.

In Iraq, where Iranian-supported militia groups have entered the conflict, 80 members of the security forces have died.

In Gulf states, 20 people have been killed. Four have been killed in the occupied West Bank. MUNIR AHMED, SAM METZ & SAMY MAGDY, ISLAMABAD, MDT/AP

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MGM China unveiled an M-shaped booth at this years Art Basel Hong Kong, amplifying Hong Kong-Macau synergies through innovative design.

Developed in partnership with Chinese tech giant BOE, the booth highlighted East-meets-West themes and distinctive MGM cultural projects.

Its fourfold, high-definition, small-pixel-pitch LED screen ditched conventional flat panels for a hyper-real virtual space that wrapped around viewers.

The screens featured visuals from the POLY MGM Museums Silk Roads Beyond Borders exhibition, along with clips from MGMs Macau 2049 production.

MGM China Holdings CEO Kenneth Feng connected these efforts to a broader vision in a press release, stating, MGM remains committed to leveraging Macaus unique role as a vital gateway for cultural exchange between East and West.

Through our global network, we continue to create platforms that connect Macaus arts community with the world, helping industry professionals gain deeper insights into global art market trends and the practical dynamics of the art economy, added Feng.

Nurturing talent through art basel

MGM has collaborated with Art Basel Hong Kong since 2017, regularly bringing Macau artists, cultural figures, and students to the fair.

On Friday, the company led approximately 30 young artists and students through the fairs galleries before joining afternoon Conversations panels with collectors Saeb Eigner and Uli Sigg, who explored art markets, cultural diplomacy, and Asian trends.

That same day, the announcement of the second edition of the MGM Discoveries Art Prize took place.

Launched in 2025 with Art Basel to spotlight emerging international artists, the award recognizes emerging international artists for their originality and innovative practices along their artistic journeys, according to MGM, while offering a cash prize and an invitation to visit Macau for exchanges, exhibitions, and collaborations that deepen the citys ties to the global art scene.

This year, the award went to Natsuko Uchino of Frances Galerie Allen for originality and forward-looking artistic vision.

Art Basel Hong Kong director Angelle Siyang-Le praised the partnership with MGM, stating, At Art Basel Hong Kong, we are committed to connecting artistic voices from Asia with the world and opening up meaningful exchanges across cultures. The MGM Discoveries Art Prize reflects a shared belief between Art Basel and MGM in supporting the next generation of artists and the galleries that stand behind them, while recognizing the originality and energy of emerging practices.

The fair, at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC) in Wan Chai, featured more than 240 modern and contemporary galleries from over 40 countries. It ran until yesterday, Mar. 29.

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* Stay Policy

 Local insurers urge international graduates to be allowed to stay amid talent shortage

* Economy | New 10-week consumption campaign to start April 10

* Events |International Parade draws 1,600 performers as officials eye expansion

* Hotel occupancy reached 95% last month, according to the Statistics and Census Service

* MIECF: Portugal pitches role in ChinaEurope green cooperation

* Four bipartisan senators plan to visit Taiwan, Japan, and South Korea to strengthen US alliances

DOWNLOAD PDF

Monday, March 30, 2026  edition no. 4921

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Swiss food giant Nestle says about 12 tons, or 413,793 candy bars, of its KitKat chocolate brand were stolen after leaving its production site in Italy earlier this week for Poland.

The company, based in Vevey, Switzerland, said in a statement Friday that the vehicle and its load are still nowhere to be found.

The shipment of the crunchy bars, made of waffles covered with chocolate, disappeared last week while en route between production and distribution locations. The chocolate bars were to be distributed throughout Europe.

The missing candy bars could enter unofficial sales channels across European markets, the company said, but if this does happen, all products can be traced using the unique batch code assigned to individual bars.

A spokesperson for KitKat said that as a result, consumers, retailers and wholesalers would be able to identify if a product is part of the stolen shipment by scanning the on-pack batch numbers. If a match is found, the scanner will be given clear instructions on how to alert the company, which will then share the evidence appropriately.

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Sands China Ltd. marked its 18th consecutive year of participation in Earth Hour by switching off exterior and non-essential indoor lights across its properties on Saturday.

Sands Macao, The Venetian Macao, The Plaza Macao, The Parisian Macao, and The Londoner Macao joined the global initiative led by the World Wildlife Fund.

The company has extended its efforts beyond the annual event by observing a monthly Earth Hour since 2013, turning off selected lighting on the first Tuesday of each month.

Chief Executive Officer Grant Chum said sustainability remains central to the companys long-term strategy.

Ahead of Earth Hour, Sands China organized an y-themed night activity at Taipa Grande Natural Park and co-hosted an exhibition with WWF China focused on biodiversity and climate change.

From 2021 to 2025, its energy-saving measures reduced consumption by 39.4 million kWh, equivalent to about 7,500 households.

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The Bill Committee for Safeguarding National Security of the Macao Special Administrative Region was deliberated and unanimously passed by the Legislative Assembly on 19 March. Compared to the proposed text presented on February 10 for general examination, the significant change of the revised text consists of the addition of a provision, i.e. the Committee for Safeguarding National Security of the Macao Special Administrative Region (hereinafter referred to as the Committee) is responsible for confirming whether the publication of certain procedural acts may harm the interests of national security, as well as deciding whether there is the need to protect such interests during the course of the proceedings. An analysis of the underlying legislative intent is of great importance for the complete and accurate understanding of the system and mechanisms for safeguarding national security in Macao.

1. The Committee is the legally competent organisation to assess matters relating to national security interests

Security is the premise for a nations survival and development, and national security is a crucial component of a nations core interests. When it comes to safeguarding national security interests, any government will remain resolute, intolerant of controversy, compromise, or interference. National security interests are highly political, complex, and dynamic, encompassing political, economic, military, scientific and technological domains. For this reason, in judicial practice, determining whether a given process or procedural act involves national security interests goes beyond the traditional scope of assessing legal facts. This requires an integrated evaluation of the macro internal and external situation, highly confidential information, and the countrys overall security strategy  capabilities that ordinary judicial bodies can hardly exercise autonomously, either due to limited access to information or insufficient specialised technical expertise.

Therefore, the legislative intent of the Law on Committee for Safeguarding National Security of the Macao Special Administrative Region is quite clear: the assessment of issues involving national security interests should only be carried out by the Committee. As the top unit for shouldering the main responsibility of safeguarding national security in the Macao SAR, the Committee possesses the most complete and essential security information and is the most authoritative body with the necessary conditions and capabilities to make judgements on whether national security interests are involved. Therefore, it is absolutely reasonable and necessary for the Law on Committee for Safeguarding National Security of the Macao Special Administrative Region to stipulate that the Committee is the specialised unit endowed with the corresponding legal competences to make such judgements. Through the amendment of the Judicial Organisation Framework Law, the Law expressly establishes that, when a judge decides not to make certain procedural acts public because he considers that their publicity may harm national security interests, he must obtain confirmation from the Committee. Furthermore, with regard to granting special authorisation to legal representatives to intervene in procedural acts concerning national security interests, the judge must communicate the information of the case to the Committee, so that it can decide on the need to protect the interests of national security. This gives the Committee, a unit endowed with the highest authority and expertise, the power of substantive assessment over the concept of national security interests, ensuring the accuracy of verification in matters of national security and effectively avoiding any risks arising from limitations of understanding on the part of the judicial authorities.

2. Rigorous legal provisions and a well-established system

Article 3, paragraph 2 of the Law on Committee for Safeguarding National Security of the Macao Special Administrative Region clearly and unequivocally establishes the fundamental competence of the Committee: the Committee is responsible for assessing whether certain matters involve national security interests and issuing decisions with enforceable force. In the absence of provisions regarding specific procedures that ensure its practical application, this fundamental competence may generate ambiguities in its application in specific judicial proceedings.

In the initial text submitted for general examination by the Legislative Assembly, the proposed amendments to the Judicial Organisation Framework Law were mainly based on the autonomous assessment by a competent judge or competent judicial authority regarding the need to safeguard national security interests. This formulation could generate a logical contradiction with the provisions of paragraph 2 of Article 3: if the Committee has exclusive competence to assess matters relating to national security interests, why then, in judicial proceedings, would only the judge be responsible for carrying out the substantive assessment?

The revised text of the Bill precisely answers this question. By amending the Judicial Organisation Framework Law and introducing the confirmation and decision of the Committee, it is ensured that its competence to assess national security interests is fully and systematically implemented in all circumstances.

3. The design of this mechanism does not affect the professional qualifications of lawyers nor the right of defense of interested parties

The provisions of the Law on Committee for Safeguarding National Security of the Macao Special Administrative Region relating to the assessment carried out by the Committee on national security interests and the establishment of a special authorisation procedure for legal representatives do not constitute a deprivation of the rights and legitimate interests of interested parties, much less affect the professional qualifications of lawyers.

Firstly, after the Committees assessment, the fact that a legal representative does not obtain special authorisation decided by the court only means that this lawyer will not be able to participate in that specific case, without affecting in any way their legal professional qualification to practice law in the Macao SAR.

Secondly, the right of those concerned to a fair trial remains strictly protected by law. In criminal cases related to national security, defendants continue to be fully protected by the principles of presumption of innocence, equal opportunities for prosecution and defense, the principle of investigation, as well as other principles of criminal procedure. Defendants retain the right to defend themselves personally, as well as the right to hire a lawyer for their defense. Even if the lawyer they hire does not obtain special authorisation, or if they are unable to hire a lawyer, the court will appoint or designate, in accordance with the law, a qualified lawyer to defend them, thus ensuring that their right to a fair trial is not in any way prejudiced.

Professor Leng Tiexun, Director of One Country Two Systems Research Centre of Macao Polytechnic University

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A psychotherapist suspected of sexually assaulting and harassing at least one female patient and four female trainee therapists under the guise of therapy and teaching since 2021 was arrested Thursday.

Police disclosed details Friday of allegations against a psychotherapist arrested Thursday on suspicion of sexual assault and harassment.

At a police press briefing Friday, the Judiciary Police (PJ) identified the arrested man as a Macau resident who has worked as a psychotherapist at a local medical institution for at least a decade.

Police said the case dates back to late February 2021, when the suspect allegedly used the guise of a stress-relief massage to put his hand inside the clothing of a female patient receiving treatment for emotional problems, touching her chest, waist, and abdomen over her undergarments. The force added that last year the suspect repeatedly touched the waists, thighs, and arms of four female trainee therapists while they were completing internships, purportedly to assist with casework.

Authorities said the five victims delayed reporting for different reasons: the patient feared retaliation after personal information was disclosed, while the four trainee therapists worried the allegations would harm their internship evaluations. Some came forward years later because they remained unable to move on; others filed reports after learning of the others experiences in recent conversations.

Police apprehended the suspect Thursday afternoon at the medical facility where he worked. The case has been referred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) for further investigation. The facility remains open and operating as usual, police added.

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Abipartisan group of four senators has plans to visit Taiwan, Japan and South Korea in the coming days on a trip meant to bolster U.S. alliances seen as important to countering Chinas dominance in Asia.

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, announced the trip Saturday. She will be joined by Sens. John Curtis, R-Utah, Thom Tillis, R-N.C., and Jacky Rosen, D-Nev. Their visits to Taipei, Tokyo and Seoul are coming before President Donald Trumps trip to Beijing in May for a rescheduled summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

The lawmakers stop in Taiwan could draw scrutiny from China, which opposes such relations and sees them as a challenge to its claim of sovereignty over the self-governing island. Taiwan relies on American backing for its democracy, but recent moves by Trump, such as discussing a potential weapons sales to Taiwan with Xi, have raised questions about the future direction of U.S. policy.

Analysts in both China and the United States believe Xi, through the leader-level summit, will try to influence Trump to soften the U.S. stance on Taiwan.

This bipartisan delegation demonstrates Congress commitment to these alliances and partnerships is unwavering and will endure well beyond any one administration, Shaheen said in a statement.

In a show of reassurance to the Asian allies, the lawmakers plan to meet with political leaders and defense officials on their trip.

Our alliance with Taiwan is one of the most strategically and morally significant partnerships America has in the Indo-Pacific, Curtis said.

It remains to be seen how Trumps intervention in Venezuela, Iran and elsewhere could influence other powers such as China and Russia. But there is some concern among lawmakers that the Republican presidents actions could be seen as giving those countries an opening for their own foreign moves.

The economic relationship with Taiwan has also come under scrutiny from the Trump administration. The U.S. is reliant on Taiwan for its production of computer chips, which contributed to a trade imbalance of nearly $127 billion during the first 11 months of 2025.

The Trump administration reached a deal with Taiwan in February that removed 99% of its trade barriers.

During another visit by a bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers last year, they emphasized that the U.S. would continue to partner closely with Taiwan.STEPHEN GROVES , WASHINGTON, MDT/AP

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On the weekend of 2022 March, the Revolutionary Communist Party (RKP) held its second congress. 230 communists from across the country gathered in Copenhagen to discuss the political situation and how we can build the communist movement in Denmark.

[Originally published in Danish at marxist.dk]

The congress comes on the heels of a period in which the RKP has gained many new members, held inspiring events for International Working Womens Day on 8 March, and established new branches across the country. This development was reflected at the congress, with many new comrades attending for the first time. Everyone left the congress with an even greater dedication to overthrowing the crisis-ridden system under which we live.

The world on fire

On Saturday morning, we discussed the world situation and the war in the Middle East. Niklas Albin Svensson, who attended as a representative of the International Secretariat of the Revolutionary Communist International (RCI), explained that the war comes at a time when capitalism is in its deepest crisis ever. The war has sent oil prices soaring and shaken the already unstable world market.

The day before, it was reported that the Danish government, along with 19 other western countries, had declared itself ready to become involved in the US war against Iran. As communists in the West, our most important task is to expose western imperialism as the most destructive and reactionary force on Earth. The congress therefore unanimously adopted a statement condemning Danish participation in a war in which the working class has no interest.

Revolutionary events are implicit in the situation. This year we have already witnessed an uprising in Minneapolis in the US, and across the globe the class struggle is simmering. The same social explosions will also come to Denmark.

In her presentation on the situation in Denmark, Marie Frederiksen from the RKPs Executive Committee explained that we are entering into a period in Denmark where the working class and the remnants of the welfare state will be subjected to fierce attacks. The collapse of the old, US-dominated world order is accelerating the crisis of Danish capitalism.

Already, a growing layer of young people can see that capitalism cannot offer a future for the vast majority. A school student from Hje Taastrup spoke of her friend, who described her feeling that young people are pawns in a game of chess, which the elite move around as they please. Anecdotes like this about the mood among young people permeated the congress, and linked our perspective on the situation in Denmark with the tasks of building the RKP.

It is these thousands of revolutionary young people and workers that we in the RKP are orienting ourselves towards, in order to build the backbone of a future revolutionary mass party. The next step for the RKP is to reach 500 organised communists, a target adopted by the congress.

Hunger for theory

Our success over the past years stems from Marxist ideas, which can explain developments in the world. An understanding of the world is the prerequisite for us to be able to change it. This hunger for ideas was reflected at the congress in the sale of political material at the stalls, which brought in a staggering 27,079 kroner, beating last years record of 17,000 kroner. Comrades left the congress with their arms full of Marxist theory. There was particular interest in Lenins Imperialism: the Highest Stage of Capitalism, which is an essential work for understanding the world today.

The comrades seriousness and dedication to the struggle for revolution were also clearly reflected in our congress fundraising. In the months leading up to the congress, the partys branches across the country had been raising funds, culminating in the RKPs largest ever collection: over 600,000 kroner was raised to build the party that is essential for a future revolution to triumph!

There has never been a better time to be a revolutionary

At a time when the world is characterised by war, crisis and instability, it is easy to become pessimistic about the future. But as Andreas Nrgaard from the RKPs Executive Committee said in his closing speech on Sunday afternoon, that is not the mood prevailing within the RKP.

As well as professionalism, the congress has been characterised by optimism, he said. For there has never been a better time to be a revolutionary than this, when more and more people are becoming revolutionaries with every passing day. We have a world to win and nothing to lose but our chains!
Angolan President Joao Lourenco has returned over the week-end to the country following his participation in the summit of the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OEACP), where he formally concluded Angolas tenure. And transferred the rotating presidency to Equatorial Guineas President, Teodoro Obiang Nguema.

The handover marks the end of Angolas leadership at the helm of the organization, during which it sought to strengthen coordination, cooperation, and strategic alignment among member States across Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific.

The summit brought together heads of state and government to deliberate on shared priorities, including trade, economic cooperation and sustainable development, while reflecting on the achievements recorded under Angolas stewardship.

President Lourencos participation also underscored Angolas commitment to advancing multilateral diplomacy and deepening engagement within the OEACP framework, as member states navigate evolving global and economic challenges. The gathering reaffirmed the organizations role as a platform for fostering partnerships and collective progress, as it continues to adapt to the demands of an increasingly interconnected world.
Border Management Authority (BMA) has activated a nationwide operational plan to ensure secure and efficient movement across South Africas 71 ports of entry during the Easter travel period.

The plan, announced on Sunday, March 29, is structured around four phasesplanning, execution, demobilization and sustenancewith the planning phase concluding on March 30, 2026.

It involves coordination with neighbouring countries including Lesotho, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Eswatini and Botswana to streamline border operations and extend operating hours at key crossings between March 27 and April 10.

Execution of the plan will run from March 31 to April 9, 2026, with peak outbound travel expected on April 2 and return traffic peaking on April 6. Authorities anticipate daily volumes exceeding 25,000 travellers at the busiest entry points.

To bolster capacity, additional personnel have been deployed at major airports, including Cape Town International and OR Tambo International, alongside tourism safety officers and social workers to support vulnerable travellers and combat human trafficking.

The BMA, supported by national security and transport agencies, says the initiative is designed to manage heightened Easter traffic, enhance border security and maintain seamless travel during one of the busiest periods on the national calendar.
Armed attackers have killed at least 16 civilians in an ambush on a convoy in western Niger, underscoring persistent insecurity along the countrys volatile border with Mali.

The attack occurred in the Banibangou district of the Tillaberi region on Sunday, March 29, where suspected extremist groups linked to Al-Qaeda are known to operate.

According to local sources, gunmen intercepted five trucks travelling from Niamey to a weekly market, executing 16 men while sparing women.

Several victims were reportedly traders, with the attackers also looting goods, stealing three vehicles and setting another ablaze. The assault took place in a remote desert area near the Malian border. The incident follows a period of relative calm in the region, which had previously witnessed a wave of attacks between 2021 and 2023 targeting civilians in villages, markets and along transit routes.

Authorities recently announced plans to establish civilian auxiliaries to support national security forces in combating armed groups. Despite official assurances of improved stability, Niger continues to face threats from insurgent groups, including Boko Haram in its southeastern corridor.
The Constitutional Court of the Republic of Congo has confirmed over the week-end President Denis Sassou-NGuessos re-election, securing him a fifth term with 94.90% of the vote.

The ruling affirms earlier provisional results announced on March 17 and dismisses legal challenges from opposition candidates, including an appeal seeking to annul the election outcome.

Sassou-NGuesso, 82, faced six challengers in the oil-rich Central African nation, though the electoral process was marked by stark imbalances. The incumbent dominated the campaign, while some opposition parties boycotted the vote, citing concerns over fairness.

His continued tenure reflects a broader pattern of long-serving African leaders maintaining political dominance. Sassou-NGuesso remains among the continents longest-serving presidents, having first taken power in 1979 and returning in 1997 after a civil war.

The election unfolds against a backdrop of economic strain, with high public debt, rising youth unemployment and widespread poverty affecting more than half of the countrys population, underscoring deep structural challenges despite its resource wealth.
Morocco remains firmly committed to tangible solidarity with Arab states under the leadership of King Mohammed VI, Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita said, warning that continued regional escalation driven by Iran poses a grave threat to Arab sovereignty and regional stability.

Bourita was speaking during the 165th regular session of the Arab League Council at ministerial level, held via videoconference, where he reiterated Moroccos strong condemnation of the flagrant attacks against Gulf states and their territorial integrity.

Morocco was among the first countries to express solidarity with its Arab partners following the outbreak of the crisis, acting in line with royal directives.

Bourita noted that King Mohammed VI had held direct talks with leaders of Gulf countries, reaffirming Moroccos strong denunciation of the blatant attacks targeting the sovereignty of sister states and the security of their territories, and voicing full support for any legitimate measures they deem necessary to safeguard their security and the safety of their citizens.

The Arab region was facing exceptionally complex and dangerous circumstances, marked by attacks that have overstepped all limits, targeting civilians and critical infrastructure including airports, ports and energy facilities, Bourita said.

Such actions constitute a serious violation of international law and norms and undermine the right of Arab peoples to live in dignity and security, he said.

The Moroccan foreign minister stressed that the attacks had targeted Arab countries that were not parties to any conflict, warning that failure to contain the situation risked expanding the conflict into a broader regional confrontation, with serious repercussions for regional and global peace.

These attacks have inflicted severe damage on both regional and international economies, Bourita said.

The gravity of the situation placed a historic responsibility on Arab countries to respond decisively, calling for firm action and unity, he said.

Bourita also urged Iran to comply with United Nations Security Council Resolution 2817 and to immediately and unconditionally halt its attacks.

In this regards, he called for a unified and resolute Arab stance against what he termed hostile behavior, for continued support of Arab states in measures taken to protect their territories, and for urgent steps to ensure the security of regional airspace and the safety of maritime navigation.

Morocco, he said, supports all initiatives aimed at de-escalation, halting the cycle of conflict, and establishing guarantees to prevent its recurrence, regardless of circumstances, in order to safeguard the right of Arab states and peoples to live in peace and security.
The Ayatollah had great regard for India

Living in India, I have never felt myself a stranger or a foreigner. Indians, even when they see me in my black robe and white turban, think Im Indian. Iranians and Indians share not only the same culture, but also the same appearance. Iran has been connected to India by culture, philosophy, and education for the last 5000 years. Our friendship is not new.Dr Abdul Majid Hakeem Ilahi, the special representative of Ayatollah Khamenei in India, was speaking at the end of a condolence meeting for the assassinated supreme leader of Iran, at Islam Gymkhana on Sunday evening.Speaking about the late Ayatollahs regard for India, Dr Ilahi said he often cited India as an example of coexistence between people of different faiths and languages.I have also seen no gap between Shia and Sunni here, no difference between Muslim and non-Muslim, he added.Ayatollah Khamenei wrote 75 books, but his first two were on India, said Dr Ilahi. He would urge Iranian students to read The Discovery of India and emphasise that Jawaharlal Nehru had written it in prison without access to a library, using only his memory, recalled Dr Ilahi.As a student and then teacher of philosophy, Dr Ilahi had been advised by the Ayatollah to study India not just for its ancient civilisation and anthropology, but also because he felt that one could not fully understand Irans culture without studying India.The Ayatollah knew so much about India, said Dr Ilahi, that whenever he went to meet him, he took care to read up the latest news emerging from India.Dr Ilahi also shared with his audience what kind of man the late Ayatollah was. As a classmate of the current Supreme Leader, Mujtaba Khamenei, the late Ayatollahs son, Dr Ilahi, was a frequent visitor to their residence. The Supreme Leader was such a simple man that his dining table and chairs were of plastic. His clothes and slippers were old. He didnt take a single rial from the government. When I asked him why he was using a plastic chair, he replied that even if he were to buy the most expensive chair, it would only be used for sitting, the same as a plastic chair.None of the Ayatollahs four sons owned a house, said Dr Ilahi. Recounting a trip to Mecca with Mujtaba Khamenei, Dr Ilahi said that while he bought a shirt for himself worth 100 rials, the Ayatollahs son didnt even buy one for 50 rials, saying he couldnt afford it.Dr Ilahi spoke of the late Ayatollahs disquiet at the unequal relationship between countries and the double standards that characterised global relations. A powerful country could attack another country and get away with it, but if a less powerful one did so, it was condemned.This inequality and double standards were evident in the current war, too, said Dr Ilahi. 175 little girls were killed. Yet, a lot of countries didnt mention anything about them.Iran didnt want to start a war, said Dr Ilahi, knowing the suffering it would bring. But having been attacked, they were being criticised for responding. Did the US attack us from New York or San Francisco? They targeted us from our neighbours. They assassinated our Supreme Leader, our religious leader and the religious leader of millions across the world. Yet, we have no right to defend ourselves. Our neighbours provided the US with the means to kill us. Yet, we are criticised for attacking them.
Transwoman files defamation case

The transwoman, involved in the viral video controversy involving NCP minister Narhari Zirwal, on Saturday approached the Cuffe Parade police station, accusing her brother Ravi Yadav of blackmail, defamation, and misuse of artificial intelligence (AI) to fabricate content.The transwoman had accused her brother of stitching together two or three clips, inserting explicit footage of someone else, and circulating the doctored footage, further alleging him of blackmailing her for the past two years, Mirror had reported on March 28.In her complaint, the transwoman alleged that Yadav manipulated and circulated morphed videos with the intent of maligning her image and allegedly extort both her and Zirwal. The videos were entirely fabricated. He morphed my face using AI tools and stitched together two to three videos to falsely portray me in a negative light. It is a clear attempt to defame me, she said, adding that she intends to pursue stringent legal action against him.The video, which recently went viral across social media platforms, triggered widespread speculation and controversy, particularly due to the alleged involvement of a sitting minister. However, the complainant has strongly denied the authenticity of the footage.Raising questions over the lack of immediate police action, she said, Why is no one talking about his arrest? Where is he now? She has urged authorities to register an FIR at the earliest and take swift steps to track down the accused. I am not going to spare him, she vowed.Police officials at the Cuffe Parade station have acknowledged receipt of the complaint and are currently examining the allegations. Sources indicated that technical analysis of the video may be conducted to verify claims of digital manipulation and identify its origin.
As the United States and Israeli military commanders met to map out the war with Iran, they deliberated over how to divide responsibility for an array of targets, including missile batteries, military bases and nuclear sites. It was clear from the outset, however, that one grim mission would belong to Israel: hunting and killing Irans leaders.



Israel has pursued this assignment with ruthless efficiency, killing Irans supreme leader in the opening salvo of the war and more than 250 other senior Iranian officials since, according to a count maintained by the Israeli military. The latest blow came last Thursday when Israel said it had killed the naval commander of Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The decapitation campaign relies on a proliferation of sources and surveillance capabilities inside Iran  regime insiders recruited to spy for Israel as well as cyber-penetrations of thousands of targets including street cameras, payment platforms and internet choke points that Iran installed to impose communications blackouts on its citizens. These and other streams of data are being scoured by what Israeli officials described as a new, classified artificial intelligence platform programmed to extract clues to leaders lives and movements.



Israels targeted killing tactics  bombs planted months before being detonated, drones capable of slipping into apartment windows and supersonic missiles fired from stealth fighter jets  have been honed by years of conflict in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran.



However, whether the ongoing decapitation campaign will enable Israel to achieve its core war objectives: eradicating the threat of Irans missiles and proxy forces, blocking its path to a nuclear weapon, and weakening the regime to the point that it could be toppled, remains uncertain. Those killed often have been replaced by more militant subordinates. Senior Israeli officials described the regime in Iran as battered but resilient, stable and feeling triumphant after withstanding a month of strikes by two of the worlds most powerful militaries.



Israel began this killing spree with a staggering pace, starting with the February 28 attack that killed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, ending his 27-year reign as Irans supreme leader, as well as the head of Irans defence council, the commander of the IRGC, the leader of the countrys armed forces, the minister of defence and at least a dozen other senior lieutenants. The strike has been depicted as the result of a singular intelligence breakthrough. In reality, Israeli officials said that the countrys intelligence services had been monitoring gatherings of the Group of Five, a term for Khamenei and his closest advisers, for much of the past year.



Hitting the Group of Five in an opening barrage had been built into the US-Israeli war plan devised during extensive consultations between senior officers with the Israel Defence Forces and their US Central Command counterparts, officials said. The strikes marked the culmination of a multiyear effort by Israel to acquire up-to-the-minute intelligence on the locations and movements of Irans leaders  an effort spearheaded by the Mossad, a spy agency responsible for recruiting human sources and covert operations, and Unit 8200, an elite cyber-operations branch of IDF intelligence.



Israels spies and their US counterparts  the CIA and NSA  have collaborated for years on covert operations targeting Iran, including Stuxnet, a scheme exposed in 2010 to sabotage Irans nuclear enrichment efforts with malicious computer code. But many of the intelligence capabilities now fuelling leadership strikes came into play only in the aftermath of an Iran-Israel exchange of cyberattacks that erupted five years ago, according to Israeli officials.



After alleged Iranian offensives caused outages in Israeli water utilities and other targets, Israel responded with a wave of retaliatory strikes, officials said, snarling traffic by disrupting Tehrans streetlights, closing gas stations by sabotaging their electronics and blocking members of Irans Basij  a regime-backed militia  from being able to withdraw cash at ATMs.



Irans paranoia and internal suppression efforts have also created vulnerabilities. In recent years Iran began forcing the countrys communications traffic through centralised hubs so that the regime could wield an internet kill switch, a capability it has used since the start of the war to block citizens ability to communicate or get information. But doing so meant that regime members own communications were also being routed through the new choke point.



A covert intrusion would provide a really strong hidden vantage point for Israeli operatives to vacuum up the emails, messages and calls made by regime guards, advisers and relatives, a former Western intelligence official said.



Israels intelligence on certain commanders was so precise that missiles were redirected mid-flight based on the targets movements, officials said. A June 13 strike that killed Amir Ali Hajizadeh, commander of the IRGC aerospace force, was adjusted as he moved from an office to a nearby apartment, according to a former senior Israeli military officer briefed on the operation.



However, the accuracy of Israels intelligence on regime figures at times has appeared less than foolproof. In early March, Israel said it had bombed the Qom headquarters of Irans Assembly of Experts at a moment when dozens of assembly members were expected to be gathering to discuss who would succeed Khamenei. The building was destroyed, but assembly members were unscathed, having held their meeting online instead of in person. An Israeli defence official said the strike was intended to prevent the assembly from meeting, not to kill its members.



Israeli officials overseeing the campaign acknowledge that its success owes at least in part to seemingly inexplicable lapses by its targets. Even four weeks after the opening attack, senior Israeli officials continued to express amazement that Khamenei and his top lieutenants opted to gather in central Tehran at a moment when negotiations had broken off and the US had completed the largest military mobilisation to the region in two decades.



Many of Irans military leaders had been killed in the opening strike of the 12-day war eight months earlier. Yet Khamenei and others gathered above ground on February 28 rather than scattering across the city or retreating to a warren of tunnels and bunkers built beneath the leadership complex to ensure their survival. Nobody can explain it, said a senior Israeli security official with access to intelligence on Irans leaders and their decisions. Every human being would have seen the perfect storm coming.



Lior Soroka in Tel Aviv and Dan Lamothe in Washington contributed to this report.




A month after US and Israeli strikes on Iran, global markets for the supply of crude oil, refined products and liquefied natural gas are already in the second-worst possible scenario.Everything hinges on the Strait of Hormuz. This chokepoint, which normally carries around 20 per cent of global crude, products and LNG, is still effectively closed to most shipping, leaving energy markets dangerously exposed.



Under those conditions, claims by Washington or Israel that they are somehow winning the war against Iran are largely meaningless.



It may well be true that the US and Israeli air campaign has decapitated Irans leadership and degraded key military capabilities. But the reality is that most tankers still cannot transit the Strait of Hormuz safely, while Iran has demonstrated a clear ability to strike energy and other critical infrastructure across the Gulf. That leaves Tehran shaping the narrative  and, more importantly, holding the global economy to ransom at the same time. What would the worst-case scenario look like? It would be a sharp escalation in which Iran inflicts widespread damage on Gulf energy infrastructure, using missiles and drones to hit pipelines, refineries, processing plants and export terminals across the region.



The likely trigger for such action would be US ground forces trying to capture and hold Iranian-controlled territory, like Kharg Island oil terminal and small islands in the Strait of Hormuz.



But even a militarily successful invasion would be meaningless if it triggers widespread destruction of energy infrastructure, escalating an already serious market crisis into a global energy disaster.



The crude oil futures market, as shown by Brent contracts, is still largely pricing for a de-escalation and an eventual return to normal flows through the Strait of Hormuz. Prices also indicate that Asian refiners are scrambling for crude to operate, while fuel importers such as Australia and Indonesia are rushing to secure supplies.



The stress in Asian refined product markets reflects that the fallout from the war in Iran has hit the region first, which isnt surprising given Asia is the destination for around 80 per cent of the crude and refined fuels shipped through the Strait of Hormuz. But the pain felt in Asia will quickly spread around the world, as refiners and fuel importers pull scarce cargoes from the Atlantic Basin, forcing prices higher well beyond the region.



The real risk is that the conflict with Iran drags on, or escalates further, in the weeks ahead. Imagine a US ground invasion triggering Iranian strikes on the Saudi pipeline to the Red Sea, or on critical facilities at Fujairah.



Or consider Irans Houthi allies in Yemen effectively closing the Bab el-Mandeb passage between the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, a move that would mean Saudi exports could only flow north through the Suez Canal, adding significant time, cost and congestion for cargoes bound for Asia. The risk is that the crude oil and LNG markets may have to start pricing for a sustained loss of supplies from the Middle East, something they have not fully done yet.



Reuters




Vihiga Senator Godfrey Osotsi shrugged off his ousting from the Orange Democratic Movements leadership, insisting that he can lead effectively without a formal party title.

I will not go to court to contest. I will let them have their post. I will be the deputy party leader of Linda Mwananchi, Osotsi said during a political rally.

His comments follow a Special Delegates Conference at Nairobis Jamhuri Grounds, where ODM delegates removed him from his post as deputy party leader. During a chaotic session, Osotsi lost the position after failing to find anyone to propose or second his nomination.

The convention also confirmed Oburu Odinga as the new party leader. This shift signals a fresh direction for ODM as it navigates internal restructuring and growing rifts within its ranks.

Osotsi, who recently aligned himself with Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifunas Linda Mwananchi faction, slammed opposing groups for prioritizing personal gain over the partys long-standing heritage.

He specifically targeted the Linda Ruto and Linda Ground camps, arguing that several leaders have turned their backs on the core values ODM established under the late Raila Odinga.

Even with this recent blow, Osotsi maintained that his political weight hasnt shifted. He cast his removal as a symptom of the intense power struggles currently gripping the party as it maneuvers for the 2027 general election.
Former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua addressed the succession of his late brothers estate, Nderitu Gachagua, asserting that the process strictly followed the instructions left in the deceaseds will. During an interview, Gachagua pointed out that succession disputes belong in the courtroom, noting that any heir with grievances should seek a resolution through the legal system.

The law of succession is handled by courts of law. If anybody is dissatisfied with what is happening in a succession implementation, you go to court, he said.

He clarified that the disagreement centers on the estate of his brother, who died in 2017. The late governor left a comprehensive will that dictated exactly how to distribute his assets. Gachagua maintained that the document explicitly named every beneficiary and their specific shares, ensuring the family considered everyone connected to the late Nderitu.

He explained that the late governors estate was split among 21 beneficiaries. The will mandated the sale of all properties and the settlement of debts, with the remaining cash shared according to specific percentages.

Some were getting 10 per cent, others 5 per cent, others 2 per cent or 3 per cent, all clearly indicated in the will, he said.

Gachagua noted that three executors  the deceaseds lawyer, a longtime friend, and a family member  oversaw the process to ensure they followed the written instructions to the letter. He maintained that all beneficiaries originally agreed to the contents after the reading of the will.

The court adopted the will and allowed the executors to go ahead and execute it in accordance with the wishes of the deceased person, he said.

He further claimed that the team wrapped up the entire process about eight years ago. During that time, they sold the properties, cleared all debts, and wired the proceeds directly into the beneficiaries bank accounts as the will required.

Gachagua maintained that the succession followed every legal and transparent step, arguing that anyone with a grievance should use the proper legal channels. He urged those with inheritance concerns to settle them in court rather than airing them on public or political platforms.

Meanwhile, the late James Nderitu Gachaguas family appealed for state intervention regarding the administration of the estate. In a media statement released on Friday, March 27, 2026, the immediate family explained that they went public only after private efforts to resolve the matter hit a dead end.

After careful and thoughtful consideration, we, the family of the late Hon. James Nderitu Gachagua, have made the very difficult decision to go public on matters concerning our rightful inheritance, the statement reads.
Democracy for the Citizen Party (DCP) leader Rigathi Gachagua told President William Ruto to stay out of his familys private business, responding to a recent public appeal from the late Nyeri Governor Nderitu Gachaguas family.

Led by the late governors widow, Margaret Nyokabi Nderitu, the family asked President Ruto to order an independent investigation into claims of a forged will and illegal interference with the estate. This follows a public outburst where President Ruto accused Gachagua of calling him a thief despite allegedly stealing from his own brother.

During a tour of Kirinyaga County, Gachagua warned the president to stop meddling in his family affairs and stick to his own.

Amesahau mambo ya Kenya anaingilia mambo ya familia ya Gachagua. Alijaribu kuingilia mambo ya mlima, nikamkataza. Ameshindwa kugawanya mlima, anafikiria atagawanya familia ya Gachagua? Wewe William Ruto, ukona familia yenu ya Kalenjin, kuenda ongea mambo ya familia yenu, usiingilie mambo ya familia yangu hapa milimani, Gachagua stated.

He also urged leaders still backing the current administration to join the DCP immediately, warning that waiting too long might cost them their chance.

Gachagua insisted that DCP nominations will remain free and fair, but he promised to lock out those who stay aligned with the government until the last minute.

Ive heard those still in Rutos administration plan to join DCP later, after benefiting from the current government, only to come and confuse you. Will you allow them? Gachagua asked as residents shouted one term in unison.

He urged residents to vote out any leaders supporting the current administration in the next general election, arguing that the country needs a fresh start.

Gachagua, currently touring Kirinyaga to build support for the DCP, visited Mwea, Kirinyaga Central, and Gichugu to call for the rejection of those backing the president.

When William Ruto visits, hear what he says, take his money, but dont let other leaders accompanying him speak because they are traitors, Gachagua said, warning residents to stay wary of politicians with hidden agendas.
Former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has issued a stark SHA collapse warning, claiming Kenyas Social Health Authority could fail within six months due to massive unpaid hospital bills. He says faith-based and private hospitals are owed billions, raising fears of a nationwide healthcare crisis.

Former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua warned that the Social Health Authority (SHA) stands on the verge of collapse, claiming the government-run insurance program faces a total breakdown within the next six months.

Addressing congregants at the ACK Diocese of Kirinyaga in Ndia Constituency on Sunday, March 29, Gachagua described a grim outlook for the countrys healthcare system. He cautioned that without immediate action, the failing SHA could spark a nationwide crisis in medical services.

I have information that SHA will collapse in 6 months and we will have a crisis in the health sector, Gachagua stated.

The former DP argued that unpaid bills owed to hospitals  specifically faith-based and private facilities  are crippling the entire health system. He claimed the government currently owes these facilities up to Ksh90 million, a debt he believes could force hospitals to shut their doors entirely.

Today, as we speak, our hospitals , especially the faith-based hospitals are owed Ksh90 billion and are almost shutting down, he added.

I want to give advice to our hospitals. if SHA collapses, all our hospitals will collapse. Our hospitals should demand the release of the Ksh90 billion before they render services, he said.

Gachagua accused President Ruto of neglecting his duties to focus on early 2027 campaigns while key sectors of the country crumble.

We heard the president say that we in the opposition are spoiling the name of the country. We want to tell him it is not us, it is him, Gachagua said. He pointed to several issues that he claims have drawn international criticism, including alleged abductions, killings, and accusations of interference in Sudans affairs. To handle the health crisis, the Democracy for the Citizens Party (DCP) leader advised struggling hospitals to negotiate for upfront payments or monthly reimbursements in advance rather than waiting for delayed funds.

Gachagua suggested this strategy could protect the financial stability of these facilities and ensure patients continue to receive care.

I propose and advice the hospitals to consider demanding up-front payment from the SHA. They demand a monthly average and get paid in advance, the former DP added.
Gati Shakti Vishwavidyalaya signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) in the presence of Union Ministers Ashwini Vaishnaw and Ram Mohan Naidu on Monday to address the growing workforce requirements of India's aviation sector. The partnership focuses on formalizing the education of technical personnel, specifically Aircraft Maintenance Engineers (AMEs), ensuring the industry meets global standards during its current phase of rapid expansion. Union Minister of Civil Aviation Ram Mohan Naidu, speaking at the event, highlighted the significant growth of the sector over the last 12 years. "Under the visionary leadership of our honorable Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi ji, we all have witnessed tremendous success in the last 12 years especially, and what has started as a mantra, and the moment where we wanted aviation to be not just an exclusive sector for travel, but an inclusive sector for travel, and where we have doubled all the parameters that we see in," he said. He noted that the industry is no longer an exclusive travel option but has become an inclusive one, with a doubling of operational airports and aircraft fleet. "When you see the sector growing with such great pace then you have to build up the workforce also accordingly so that your workforce is also of the global standards," Naidu stated. He emphasized that the goal is to create a seamless multimodal connectivity framework where departments like highways, railways, and airports "talk to each other" from the foundation of every major project. A primary objective of the MoU is to resolve professional bottlenecks faced by maintenance staff. Naidu explained that while Indian AMEs possess high-level skills, they often lack formal degrees, which restricts their career progression. "The major feedback that we got from these AMEs who are getting trained through the approved organizations is that they're not having any specific degree even though they have one of the best skills to handle the aircraft to handle the maintenance to handle the repair of the aircraft," he said. Through this collaboration, the university will provide the curriculum and degree certificates to these engineers, allowing them to "further grow in that sector." The Minister also detailed a shift in the government's approach toward the "Atmanirbhar" concept, focusing on domestic aircraft component manufacturing and the Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul (MRO) sector. He observed that many planes are currently sent abroad for engine and component maintenance due to a lack of specialized local workforce. "The most important part in the aviation sector is how well are you able to create this aviation manufacturing ecosystem in the country," Naidu remarked, adding that the government is putting "full focus on the full throttle" to expand this ecosystem. Addressing future demand, Naidu revealed that there are "1700 aircrafts under order today," which is double the current fleet. To support this, the country will require between 10,000 to 12,000 additional pilots over the next decade. "Our honorable Prime Minister has put special focus upon that in India, we have to train in India, we have to get them educated in India, and we have to create the workforce from the Indian youth," he said. He further mentioned that the Cabinet recently approved an additional Rs 28,000 crore for the UDAN scheme, which will provide a "huge boost" to regional connectivity and helicopter operations, requiring a robust talent pool to remain self-reliant. (ANI)
Union Minister for Railways and Electronics and IT Ashwini Vaishnaw on Monday said the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Gati Shakti Vishwavidyalaya and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) will significantly strengthen talent development in India's fast-growing aviation sector. Speaking at an event held in the presence of Union Civil Aviation Minister Kinjarapu Ram Mohan Naidu, Vaishnaw described the agreement as a major step toward building skilled manpower for the aviation industry. "This is a historic agreement. And this MOU will help the talent development in the aviation sector a lot. And the speed with which the aviation sector is growing in the country, there is a great requirement of talent," Vaishnaw said. He highlighted that the aviation ecosystem requires trained professionals across roles, including engineers, operators, pilots and maintenance staff. "Good, well-trained engineers, operators, pilots, maintenance, everyone is needed in every way. That need will be met to a great extent by this MOU," he added. Vaishnaw noted that Gati Shakti Vishwavidyalaya has already signed several agreements with aviation companies to strengthen industry-linked education. He said that students from the institute have already begun working with global aerospace firms. "As Ram Mohan Naidu was telling, 40 BTech students have already come for Airbus in Gati Shakti Vishwavidyalaya. Now they have come for Safran, the engine maker," he said. The minister added that the university is also preparing to sign an agreement with Hindustan Aeronautics Limited. "Also, you are going to have an MOU with Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd soon," Vaishnaw said, adding that multiple aviation-sector partnerships with the university have already shown positive progress. Highlighting the importance of industry-oriented education, the minister said such initiatives align with the vision of the National Education Policy. "The main point in the new education policy, according to the Prime Minister's vision, is that students should be given industry-oriented courses," he said. "The benefit of having an industry-oriented course is that when a student leaves the college, he is ready for the industry, he is ready for employment." Vaishnaw said manufacturing will play a crucial role in India's journey toward becoming a developed and self-reliant nation. "When the country has to walk on the path of a self-reliant India and has to fulfill the vision of a developed India, then manufacturing is going to play a big role in that," he said. Emphasising the difference between manufacturing and software development skills, he noted, "Software development is very much on the table top. And the talent required for manufacturing is very much in hands-on, laboratory, practical, factory," he said. Vaishnaw also proposed setting up a Centre of Excellence for manufacturing technologies at the university to address industry demand for precision manufacturing skills. "I had one wish, that a centre of excellence should be opened in Gati Shakti Vishwavidyalaya of manufacturing technologies," he said. The centre, he said, should train youth in high-precision manufacturing standards used in advanced industries such as aviation, railways and electronics. "The best precision manufacturing standards of Europe, especially of Germany, of Japan and the precision manufacturing standards of the US -- you have to take all of them as your benchmark," he said. (ANI)
Goa has a way of surprising me every time I visit this land of beaches. While most visit for the coastline, my recent trip was a deep dive into a different kind of beauty, the intersection of human creativity and industrial excellence. As I moved from the starlit celebrations of the GeeVees 2026 Awards to the humming assembly lines of the Tivim digital lock factory, I realized that 'safety' isn't just about hardware; it's about the hands that build it. Celebrating the Visionaries: The journey began at the GeeVees 2026 Awards. Now in its fifth edition, the event has become a massive platform for the Godrej Value Co-Creators Club (GVCC), bringing together over 2,100 architects and designers. Watching the winners getting recognized across 15 different categories, from healthcare to residential villas, was a reminder of how much thought goes into the spaces we inhabit. Whether it was a commercial project in a small town or a sprawling hospitality venture, the theme was clear: innovation and sustainability are the new benchmarks for Indian design. But as much as I admired the finished architectural marvels, I was eager to see where the actual 'safety' of these structures begins. The Heartbeat of Tivim: The next day, the atmosphere shifted from the gala to the gully, specifically, the Tivim industrial estate. Stepping into India's first dedicated digital lock manufacturing facility was an eye-opener. This 1,520 sq. meter plant is a cornerstone of the 'Make in India' vision, producing next-gen tech like the Advantis IoT9 and the GSL D1. The scale is impressive, with a capacity to churn out 300,000 units monthly. But the data points aren't what stayed with me. It was the people. The Women of the Shop Floor: The most striking feature of the Tivim plant isn't the semi-automated machinery; it's the fact that 85% of the workforce is female. Seeing these women manage core production functions with such precision was a powerful testament to inclusive manufacturing. The highlight of my entire trip was meeting a lady who has been with the company for over 32 years. In an era where 'job-hopping' is the norm, her three decades of service felt like a rare treasure. She was sweet and humble, yet when she spoke about her work, her eyes lit up with a genuine, infectious passion. It wasn't just a job for her; it was a craft she had mastered over a lifetime. A Legacy of Trust: It's easy to look at a digital lock and see only the biometrics or the connectivity. But after walking that shop floor, I see the 3,471 safe man-days and the global certifications (like TPM Platinum) as more than just wall hangings. They represent a culture of care. Godrej has a 127-year legacy, and today they export to 24 countries. However, the real 'excellence' I witnessed in Goa wasn't just in the global reach or the 25,000+ retail partners. It was in the smile of a woman who has spent 32 years ensuring that the rest of us can sleep soundly behind a locked door. After all, design may win awards, but it is this kind of selfless, enduring passion that truly builds a nation. (Disclaimer: The author is an expert in the fields of consumer technology, auto and lifestyle. The views shared here are personal.) (ANI)
Trinamool Congress candidate and filmmaker Raj Chakraborty on Monday expressed grief over the tragic death of actor Rahul Arunodoy Banerjee , calling it "very shocking" and a big loss for the film industry. Chakraborty said he initially thought the news was a rumour. "I felt very bad when I heard about Rahul. At first, my wife called and told me about the accident. I said it must be false, such rumours keep spreading. But later, when I started calling people in the industry, I found out the news was true," he said. He added that the news has left the entire industry in mourning. "Since I heard it, our whole industry has been in great sadness because he was a very good and intelligent actor," Chakraborty said. Rahul Banerjee worked in Chakraborty's directorial 'Chirodini ... Tumi Je Amar'. Recalling their early association, he said, "My first film was also his first film. I had cast him as Rahul, and that is where he got his name." Expressing shock over the untimely demise, Chakraborty said, "He was only 42 years old and much younger than me. This is very shocking." He also mentioned that he could not be present due to prior commitments. "Today the whole industry is with him. I am here because of my commitment, so I couldn't go," he added. Popular Bengali actor Rahul Arunodoy Banerjee died in a tragic accident during a shoot near Digha, officials said.According to police, the incident occurred on Sunday evening at Talsari, near the Odisha-West Bengal border. Rahul was shooting for a TV series alongside co-actor Sweta Mishra.Officials stated that the two were allegedly performing a dance sequence in knee-deep water when they suddenly slipped into a ditch. Both were rushed to Digha Hospital; however, Rahul could not be saved. Sharing details of the incident, SP Balasore Pratyush Diwakar said that Talsari police first received information from Digha police, after which further action was taken.Police also noted that the shooting team had not obtained permission to film at the location. Authorities from Talsari are now coordinating with Digha police to investigate the matter. Rahul Arunodoy Banerjee came from a film and theatre background. He was born to director Biswanath Banerjee and started acting at a very young age. As a child artist, he was part of many stage shows linked to his father's theatre group.He later appeared in films and gained recognition with the 2008 romantic film 'Chirodini Tumi Je Amar', directed by Raj Chakraborty and co-starring actress Priyanka Sarkar. The film was a big hit and helped him become a known face in Bengali cinema. (ANI)
Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) Sulur assembly constituency candidate Sukumaran asserted confidence in the victory of the party in the upcoming Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly election and accused AIADMK and DMK of "misleading people". Upon his arrival in Coimbatore by flight from Chennai, Sukumaran received an enthusiastic welcome from party workers. Speaking to reporters, Sukumaran highlighted several longstanding issues in the Sulur constituency, including the struggles of powerloom workers who are unable to pay electricity bills; the desilting of the Sulur lake, which has reportedly not been maintained for over 20 years; and the need for the restoration of the Noyyal river. He assured us that necessary steps would be taken to address these concerns. Expressing confidence, he said his chances of victory are "bright" and added that TVK is strong not only in Sulur but across all 234 constituencies in Tamil Nadu. He stated that while TVK is contesting independently, the DMK and AIADMK are entering the fray with alliances of 24 and 10 parties, respectively. "The fact that 34 parties have come together against TVK shows our strength," he remarked. Sukumaran further claimed that Sulur is no longer a stronghold of the AIADMK, calling it a "falling bastion." He alleged that both Dravidian parties have been buying votes with money and misleading people for five years after the elections, forcing voters to struggle to reach their representatives. He said TVK was founded with the aim of eradicating corruption and claimed that people are now ready to support the party, having grown disillusioned with both major Dravidian parties. Criticising the Election Commission, he alleged that adequate action is not being taken to curb the distribution of freebies.Identifying himself as someone from a traditional DMK family, he claimed that honest individuals are not respected within the party and that corruption has increased, turning it into a "corporate structure". Referring to political developments, he criticised DMK leader V Senthil Balaji for contesting from Coimbatore instead of Karur, drawing a comparison to remarks made earlier about K Annamalai. He added that Senthil Balaji lacks the credibility to criticise Annamalai and accused him of pursuing personal political growth over party interests. (ANI)
Rajasthan Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharma interacted with residents of Heerawala village at a tea stall while returning from a programme he attended in Jamwa Ramgarh. The Chief Minister attended Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Mann Ki Baat' session with the public and BJP workers in Jamwa Ramgarh. On Friday, Rajasthan Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharma lauded Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership, calling it a "protective shield for the country", and welcomed the government's move to slash central excise duty on petrol and diesel, saying it will strengthen millions of families and protect them from global uncertainties. In an X post, the Rajasthan Chief Minister said, "In this era of global challenges, the leadership of the Honorable Prime Minister Shri @narendramodi ji is proving to be a protective shield for the country. The decision to reduce the central excise duty on petrol from 13 to 3 per liter and on diesel from 10 to zero is highly commendable." "This sensitive step will provide economic strength to millions of families across the country. At the same time, they will remain free from the uncertainties of global fluctuations. My appeal is that all citizens stay away from rumors and unite to contribute to the progress of the state and the nation," he added. Bhajanlal's remarks come after the Central government reduced excise duty on petrol to Rs 3 per litre and brought it down to zero for diesel, as per a Gazette notification issued under the provisions of the Central Excise Act, 1944. Additionally, a windfall tax of Rs 21.5 per litre has been imposed on diesel exports. The decision follows escalating tensions in West Asia, particularly the ongoing conflict involving the United States, Israel, and Iran, which has led to a blockade of the Strait of Hormuz--a crucial route that handles nearly one-fifth of the world's crude oil supply. Before the crisis, India sourced around 12-15% of its oil imports through this route. (ANI)
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Sunday said that he had no information regarding the summons to NCP leader Rupali Chakankar in the Ashok Kharat case, while assuring that the investigation is being conducted "impartially". A Special Investigation Team (SIT) was formed last week, and the Nashik Police Commissioner is handling the investigation while efforts continue to encourage people to come forward with their allegations against Nashik-based astrologer Ashok Kharat in the alleged rape case. Speaking with the media, the CM said that he is not aware of the current status of the case, adding that updates on the probe will be provided at the "appropriate time". "I currently have no information about what summons have been issued to Rupali Chakankar in the Ashok Kharat case. I also do not know the current status of this case. The investigation is ongoing and is being conducted impartially. Information about such cases is not taken on a daily basis; it is taken only when necessary. Therefore, the inquiry is underway, and information will be given at the appropriate time," he said. His remarks come after Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Rupali Chakankar on Friday resigned from the position of the party's Women's Wing's State President over the allegations of her involvement in the Nasik case involving Ashok Kharat. In a post on X, she said that she extended her resignation following a telephonic conversation with Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Sunnetra Pawar. Chakankar further clarified her stance, stating that she has no connections to any of his alleged wrongdoings and reiterated the request for an impartial probe into the matter. Expressing concerns over the alleged speculations being made in the media, she asserted that "truth will eventually prevail". Earlier, Chakankar also resigned as Chairperson of the Maharashtra State Commission for Women. As per the sources, she stepped down after Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis asked her to do so following the Kharat case. The case pertains to the arrest of Kharat, who has been accused of repeatedly sexually assaulting a 35-year-old woman over several years under the pretext of spiritual guidance. A Nashik court has remanded him to police custody till March 24. Police said the accused allegedly exploited the complainant between 2022 and December 2025 and used intimidation and manipulation to continue the abuse. Kharat, who is the chairman of the Shri Ishanyeshwar Temple Trust in Sinnar, was famed among several public figures. (ANI)
Several villagers in Bettenahalli village of Karnataka's Chikkaballapur district fell ill after consuming prasadam distributed during Ram Navami celebrations, officials said on Sunday. Further details are awaited. In another incident, a clash erupted in West Bengal's Murshidabad, at three separate locations, between two communities, during a Ram Navami procession on March 27. The violence escalated, involving acts of vandalism against shops and establishments, looting, and arson, and several individuals sustained injuries. Central forces and the local police subsequently arrived and took control of the area. Officials said Section 144, prohibiting the assembly of four or more people, was imposed across the entire town. DIG of the area, Ajit Singh Yadav, declared that authorities are trying to identify the culprits through CCTV footage, vowing to take strict action against the perpetrators. Meanwhile, the nine-day festival, also known as Ram Navratri, concluded on Ram Navami, which marks the birthday of Lord Ram. Throughout the festival, all nine days are devoted to honouring the nine incarnations of the goddess Shakti. The festival is celebrated with great devotion across India, with rituals and prayers honouring the goddess in her various forms. Ayodhya witnessed an overwhelming influx of devotees on the occasion of Ram Navami, as thousands arrived from far-flung regions to participate in the religious rituals with immense enthusiasm. After taking a holy dip, devotees flocked to prominent temples--including the Ram Temple in Ayodhya--to offer their prayers. The entire city remained immersed in an atmosphere of deep devotion, resonating with chants of "Jai Shri Ram." A palpable sense of excitement was evident among the devotees celebrating the birth anniversary of Lord Shri Ram. The district administration implemented stringent security measures, with police forces deployed strategically across various locations. (ANI)
A clash broke out on Sunday between workers of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Trinamool Congress (TMC) over flag hoisting in Chopra area of Uttar Dinajpur district, leaving several people injured. BJP's Uttar Dinajpur District Vice President Surajit Sen claimed that party workers were attacked by members of the Trinamool Congress while attempting to hoist a flag in Chopra, warning that peaceful elections would not be possible in the area. Speaking to ANI on Sunday, Sen said, "Elections haven't even started yet, and BJP workers are being attacked... Peaceful elections won't happen here. Our people went there to put up the flag, but TMC goons didn't let us put up the flag and beat our workers." The polling for the 294-member Assembly in West Bengal will be held in two phases. The counting of votes is scheduled for May 4. A day earlier, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee launched a scathing attack against the BJP in the run-up to the 2026 state elections, accusing the opposition party of inciting riots. Addressing a public gathering in Purulia, CM Mamata claimed that the public will be unable to consume non-vegetarian food if the BJP is voted to power. She reiterated her accusations against the BJP, alleging attacks against Bengal-speaking people in other states. CM Mamata said, "Fish is not eaten in BJP-ruled states. If the BJP comes, you won't be able to eat meat or eggs. BJP is one-sided; they don't believe in any religion. These people incite riots. They come to power by inciting riots, and they come to power by killing people. Most attacks on tribal people, attacks on women, happen in BJP-ruled states. Our Bengali-speaking people are attacked in other states. We don't oppress anyone." TMC has, on several occasions, slammed the BJP over attacks against Bengali migrant workers in other states. The party has taken it up a poll plank in the run-up to the 2026 West Bengal elections. (ANI)
A Navy employee identified as Ravindra was arrested in the Gajuwaka area of Visakhapatnam for allegedly murdering his lover and dismembering her body. The local police discovered the remains hidden inside the suspect's residence in LV Nagar. According to the Circle Inspector of Police (CI) in Gajuwaka, Visakhapatnam, the incident took place in a house located in LV Nagar, where the accused reportedly dismembered the victim's body into two parts. One-half was kept in a refrigerator, while the other half was packed in a gunny bag. Police informed that the accused committed the crime while his wife was away at her parental home. According to reports, Ravindra had asked the victim, Mounika, to come to his house in the afternoon. An argument broke out between them, which escalated, leading to the brutal murder. The accused, Ravindra, has been taken into police custody. Gajuwaka police have registered a case and are currently investigating the matter. Meanwhile, in February, a man was allegedly stabbed to death by his wife following a heated argument over the volume of the TV set, police said. The deceased was identified as Sheikh Ahmed (27), an AC mechanic by profession. Both Ahmed and his partner were living in a TIDCO housing colony in Mangalagiri. According to police, an argument broke out after the victim asked his wife to reduce the TV sound. In a fit of rage, she allegedly attacked him with a knife. Locals rushed Ahmed to the Government General Hospital in Vijayawada for treatment. However, he succumbed to his injuries while undergoing treatment. A case was registered. Earlier, in a separate incident, a man allegedly stabbed his ex-wife to death in an apartment located at Green City Colony in Rangareddy district of Telangana, police confirmed. Reportedly, the deceased woman had divorced him and married another person, which led to the murder. The Vanasthalipuram police reached the site of the incident promptly after receiving the information, and are currently investigating the incident. Speaking to ANI, a police official said, "We received information about the matter, reached the spot and are investigating the matter." (ANI)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday called his road show in Thrissur, Kerala, "memorable". Sharing a video clip of his road show on Sunday, PM Modi wrote on X, "Thrissur, thank you! Yesterday's road show was memorable. Here are the main highlights." PM Modi held a road show in Thrissur and a public rally in Palakkad to kickstart the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA)'s election campaign for the 2026 Kerala State Assembly polls. He launched an all-out attack against the Left Democratic Front (LDF) and the United Democratic Front (UDF), accusing them of "looting" the state for decades by allegedly sharing the spoils. Addressing a public rally in Palakkad, PM Modi said, "The LDF and UDF have looted Kerala for decades by sharing the spoils; there has been an understanding between them that for some years the LDF will run the government and fill their pockets, then after a few years the UDF will loot. Our Kerala has gotten entangled in this alliance of theirs. These days, the communists and Congress have joined hands to start a new propaganda, where the Communists say that Congress is the B team of the BJP, and Congress says that the Communists are the B team of the BJP". "They too have now accepted that in this Kerala election, if there is any one team--the 'A' team--it is only the BJP," he added. With both Congress and the CPI(M) calling each other the BJP's "B-team", the Prime Minister said, "Today, the truth about who is whose B-team in the upcoming elections needs to be revealed to the people of Kerala. They are in an alliance with each other across the country. Look at Bihar, look at Jharkhand, look at Andhra Pradesh, Manipur, Tripura, Assam. They are together in the INDI alliance; even in Tamil Nadu, they are in alliance. But here in Kerala, the Congress and the Left parties are abusing each other. That's why you should be careful about both of them," said the Prime Minister. The polling for Kerala Assembly elections will be held in a single phase on April 9, with counting of votes scheduled for May 4. Kerala has traditionally followed an alternating pattern of governance, switching between the Left Democratic Front (LDF) and the United Democratic Front (UDF) every five years since 1982. This trend was broken in 2021 when the LDF, led by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, was re-elected for a second consecutive term. While the LDF and the UDF are frontrunners in the polls, the BJP will attempt to make a mark after its historic win in the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation elections. (ANI)
A team of the Delhi Police's Special Cell has arrested a wanted Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist, Shabir Ahmed Lone, from the Ghazipur area, officials said on Monday. Addressing a press conference here, Special Cell officer Pramod Singh Kushwaha said the accused was apprehended under the leadership of newly appointed DCP Praveen Tripathi. The operation was carried out by a team of Inspector Sunil and Inspector Dheeraj Mehlawat. Kushwaha stated that Lone was the handler of a recently busted LeT module linked to the metro poster case, in which eight individuals were earlier arrested, including seven Bangladeshi nationals and one Indian national. Key operatives identified in the module include Umar Farooq and Rabiyul Islam. "Subsequently, six more Bangladeshi nationals linked to the module were arrested in Tiruppur, Tamil Nadu. Shabir Ahmed Lone was handling this entire network," he said. Police recovered multiple foreign currencies from Lone's possession, including approximately 2,300 Bangladeshi Taka, 1,400 Nepalese currency units, 5,000 Pakistani currency units, and Rs 3,000 in Indian currency. A Nepalese SIM card was also seized. Officials revealed that Lone has a long history of terror-related activities. He was first arrested by the Special Cell in 2007, when an AK-47 rifle and a hand grenade were recovered from him, and was later convicted. He was again arrested in 2015 in Srinagar's Parimpora area with AK-47 weapons. After his release, Lone allegedly fled to Bangladesh, where he established a new operational module and came in contact with LeT-linked handlers operating on behalf of Pakistan's ISI, identified by the code names Abu Huzaifa and Sumama Babar. "From Bangladesh, he set up a base in Kolkata and initiated operations. The module carried out poster campaigns across Kolkata and Delhi as a test run to assess operational capabilities," Kushwaha said. He further added that the group conducted reconnaissance at sensitive locations across the country, including temples and other crowded public areas, and shared video footage with handlers in Pakistan. The officer also highlighted the role of the metro police in initially taking cognisance of the poster activity, which eventually led to the identification of key accused Umar Farooq and the subsequent transfer of the case to the Special Cell. Describing Lone as a "hardcore terrorist," Kushwaha said he had returned to India to identify recruits and potential targets to revive terror operations using the Bangladesh route with Kolkata as a launching base. Earlier on February 23, Delhi Police arrested eight suspects in connection with Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), with the investigation revealing that the module was working with Shabir Ahmed Lone, who previously served a decade in jail for terrorism, released on bail in 2019, subsequently fleeing to Bangladesh, sources said. Shabir Ahmed Lone was in direct touch with proscribed terror organisation top commanders Hafeez Saeed and Zaki-ur- Rahman Lakhvi, who are the masterminds of 26/11. The Delhi Police is currently in the process of questioning the eight men arrested about whether they were planning to carry out an attack on the temple or in an area with heavy footfall. Sources reported Lone has been given the task of recruiting and radicalising Bangladeshis who are illegally staying in India. He had managed to wean the eight arrested to the LeT ideology by brainwashing them. Lone was on look out of illegal Bangladeshi immigrants and, through touts, provided them with fake identity proofs like Aadhar cards. The accused were provided with weapons to carry out an attack, sources said. (ANI)
On March 31, the President will grace the convocation ceremony of Nalanda University at Rajgir, Bihar.

On the next day on April 1, she will attend the 119th birthday and Guruvandana of Dr Sree Sree Sivakumara Mahaswamiji at Sree Siddaganga Math in Tumakuru, Karnataka.

Earlier on Friday, President Droupadi Murmu met officers of the Central Power Engineering Service (CPES) and the Indian Economic Service (IES) at Rashtrapati Bhavan.

According to the Rashtrapati Bhavan release, the President said that they stand at the forefront of India's growth, and their decisions will help build a stronger and self-reliant India.

President Murmu also said that they will play a crucial role in shaping policies and implementing reforms that promote inclusive and sustainable development.

She advised them to work with a spirit of dedication and passion. She said that they may face many challenges in their journey, but these challenges offer immense opportunities to contribute meaningfully to nation-building. They should always discharge their responsibilities with a spirit of curiosity, commitment to innovation and constant willingness to learn. (ANI)
The accused, identified as Ritik Kharab, a resident of VPO Mundela Khurd, Delhi, was nabbed by the Special Staff team of Dwarka District on Monday. During the operation, police recovered a sophisticated pistol and two live cartridges from him.

A case has been registered against him at Jaffarpur Kalan police station under Sections 25/54/59 of the Arms Act.

According to police, Ritik got married in Sonipat in 2024 but divorced mutually in May 2025 due to disputes. Seeking revenge against his former in-laws, he obtained the weapon from one Jitu, a resident of Bhondsi, Haryana. Jitu reportedly has criminal links with a local gangster.

Ritik was recently released from Bhondsi Jail after an attempt-to-murder case. In February 2026, he got married again in Kanjhawala, Delhi, and allegedly used the pistol for celebratory firing. He also frequently displayed the weapon on social media to impress his friends.

The team was led by Inspector Kamlesh Kumar, along with SI Rakesh, ASI Kartar, HC Kuldeep, HC Sudhir, Ct. Ravi, and Ct. Hemraj.

Further interrogation is underway.

Meanwhile, Delhi Police have arrested a notorious burglar within 72 hours of a house theft in Rajinder Nagar, solving six similar cases and recovering high-value stolen goods, a release said on Monday.

On March 24, a woman returned home around 11 PM to find her door broken and her valuables missing. The stolen items included two mobile phones, an Apple iPad Air, a laptop, a Panasonic camera, a Marshall speaker, a Van Heusen bag, and Rs 18,400 in cash. A case was immediately registered at the Rajinder Nagar police station. (ANI)
Senior Himachal Congress leader Pratibha Singh on Monday said that the legacy of former Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh will continue to guide the party, as she welcomed the reconstitution of the Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee (HPCC) by the All India Congress Committee. Speaking to ANI, Pratibha Singh expressed gratitude to the party high command for restructuring the Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee and giving due representation to grassroots workers and senior leaders. "Virbhadra Singh's legacy is something that cannot be forgotten. The work he did for Himachal Pradesh and the development he brought are still visible on the ground. People remember him with respect, and his contribution will continue to inspire the party," she said. Referring to the newly constituted HPCC, she said the move was long-awaited and would help energise party workers. "There was a delay earlier, and workers had been hoping for recognition. Now, with this reorganisation, many dedicated workers who have been serving the party on the ground have been given responsibility. We are grateful to the high command for taking this step," she added. Pratibha Singh also acknowledged that while party workers had high expectations, not all of them could be fulfilled. "There were many hopes among workers, and naturally, some of those could not be met. But the party has tried to accommodate as many deserving and committed people as possible," she said. She appreciated the inclusion of senior leaders in the expanded structure, saying their experience would guide the organisation. "Senior leaders have been brought together so that they can give timely suggestions and help the party move in the right direction. Their role will be very important," she noted. Highlighting the need for unity ahead of upcoming elections, she said the party must avoid internal divisions and ensure that only one candidate represents the Congress in each constituency. "We have limited time, and we must work day and night to strengthen the party. The high command should ensure that there is no division of votes due to multiple candidates," she said. On her own political role, Pratibha Singh said that both party leadership and workers had expressed a desire for her to be sent to the Rajya Sabha, though she personally had not sought the position. "It was not my intention to go to the Rajya Sabha. But many people in the party and supporters felt that I should represent them there. I respect their sentiments," she said, adding that she welcomed the party's decision to promote younger leadership. Commenting on the broader political environment, she acknowledged that there is some perception of anti-incumbency but defended the state government's performance. "There are expectations among people, and some may feel disappointed. But it is not that work has not been done. The Chief Minister and the government are working day and night in areas like health, education, infrastructure and disaster management," she said. On the allegations concerning land mafia and benami land deals, she said that the party leadership and the Chief Minister will take cognisance of the matter as CM has also assured the assembly that action would be taken against any such corrupt practices of proved. The AICC on Sunday reconstituted the Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee, appointing Vinay Kumar as president and forming a 21-member executive committee, along with 12 vice presidents and 27 general secretaries, in a move aimed at strengthening the organisation at the grassroots level ahead of upcoming political challenges. (ANI)
Gurinderpal Singh Nagra, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Amritsar, told ANI that the investigation is underway

"Early this morning, the Duty Officer at the local police station reported to us that they had heard a minor explosion here. A team arrived on the scene to verify this report and conduct an investigation. This incident resulted in absolutely no loss of life or property damage. We are currently reviewing all the CCTV footage from the police station, which amounts to approximately 12 hours of footage. We will inform you of the findings once the review is complete...," the DSP told ANI.

More details are awaited in this case.

A day earlier, Amritsar Commissionerate Police foiled an illegal arms consignment, recovering two 9MM sub-machine guns and one empty magazine during naka-bandi, Director General of Police (DGP), Punjab - Gaurav Yadav said on social media.

"Preliminary investigation reveals links to gangster Gurpreet Singh @ Goldy Dhillon, with the consignment intended for criminal and anti-national activities across #Punjab," DGP Yadav added.

An FIR has been registered at PS Chheharta, Amritsar under relevant provisions of the Arms Act. Further investigation is underway to identify the absconding accused and dismantle the entire network., he added. (ANI)
Bihar's longest-serving Chief Minister and Janata Dal (United) chief Nitish Kumar on Monday resigned as a member of the Bihar Legislative Council (MLC), marking the next major political transition as he prepares to assume office in the Rajya Sabha after being elected earlier this month. Kumar, who was elected to the Rajya Sabha earlier this month, tendered his resignation from the state legislature, marking a significant political development in the state. On March 5, the 75-year-old penned a heartfelt message announcing his decision. He expressed his longing desire to be a member of both houses of the Bihar Legislature as well as the Houses of Parliament. He asserted his commitment to building a "developed Bihar" and extended his "cooperation and guidance" to the new government. The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) welcomed Kumar's decision and lauded his return to the parliamentary democracy. A week earlier, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar was unanimously re-elected as President of the Janata Dal (United) after no other candidate filed a nomination for the post. Reacting to the development, Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Vijay Sinha said, "It is his own decision. It is the constitutional arrangement that he will have to resign from one place if he is taking an oath at another..." Former JD(U) MP Chandeshwar Chandravanshi remarked, "He has brought Bihar here... He is going to Delhi, but he will have a hold of Bihar's politics... His vision is not for Bihar but for the entire..." Union Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi said, "Whatever he thought, he did it; for that, thanks to him." JD(U) MLA Dulal Chandra Goswami said that the party chief Nitish Kumar included Bihar in the "list of developed states" and his resignation from his position as Member of the Legislative Council (MLC) is a "loss for the state." Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar resigned from his position as Member of the Legislative Council (MLC) today as he is set to take oath in the Rajya Sabha. He lauded Kumar's transformative leadership in the state. "He has changed the infrastructure of Bihar. He has included Bihar in the list of developed states. The NDA and the JDU will get CM's guidance from Delhi. His departure is a loss for Bihar." The remarks come after Nitish Kumar resigned from his membership of the Bihar Legislative Council (MLC), marking the end of a significant chapter in state politics. Kumar, the longest-serving Chief Minister of Bihar and chief of the Janata Dal (United), was recently elected to the Rajya Sabha, prompting his resignation from the state legislature. Further, State JDU President Umesh Singh Kushwaha explained the procedural reason behind Kumar's resignation. "Under constitutional provisions, a person cannot remain a member of two houses. He has to resign within 14 days. That is why he has given his resignation," he told reporters. Bihar Minister and JD(U) National General Secretary Ashok Choudhary became emotional while speaking to ANI about Nitish Kumar's political journey. "Following in the footsteps of Nitish Kumar, working like him, respecting the strongest of your rivals is a big thing. I don't think the new generation has people with such a political mindset. Nobody can be Nitish Kumar. Na kabhi Nitish Kumar paid hua tha, na kabhi Nitish Kumar paida hoga," he remarked. Moreover, Chairman of the Bihar Legislative Council, Awadhesh Narain Singh, confirmed that Kumar's resignation has been accepted and described the development as an emotional moment for the state. He said, "I met the Chief Minister this morning as a courtesy visit. He has submitted his resignation... The seat will be declared vacant... Bihar is saddened by his departure... Today, Bihar is being counted among the developed states... The resignation has been accepted." Moreover, Bihar Minister Deepak Prakash said Nitish Kumar will continue to work for the state even as he transitions to the Rajya Sabha, asserting that his "guidance will remain available" for Bihar's development." He will go to the Rajya Sabha. He will work for Bihar from the Rajya Sabha. His guidance will continue to be available in the future as well..." Prakash said. However, opposition leaders criticised the move and alleged a political conspiracy. Leader of Opposition in Bihar Assembly and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav on Monday accused the BJP of deceiving the public after JD(U) chief Nitish Kumar resigned as Bihar MLC to head to the Rajya Sabha. Speaking to ANI, Tejashwi Yadav compared Nitish Kumar to Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, who was made the CM as he joined hands with the BJP in 2022. The RJD leader said, "We had been saying from the beginning that Nitish Kumar will not continue as the CM of Bihar after the elections. This was repackaged as the Maharashtra situation, and he was allowed to be the CM for a brief period. He is now being removed by the people of the BJP. BJP has deceived Nitish Kumar and the people of Bihar. There is a vast difference between the BJP's words and actions. Kumar, who was elected to the Rajya Sabha earlier this month, tendered his resignation from the state legislature. Congress MP Rajeev Shukla said, "It suggests that chaos was being created in the media. Everything was already decided. Today, Nitish Kumar bid farewell to Bihar... There is nothing left of JDU in Bihar." Nitish Kumar's political career is a masterclass in coalition manoeuvring, marked by a series of high-stakes ideological shifts. Beginning his journey as an MLA in 1985 and later serving as a Union Minister under the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government, he first ascended to the Bihar Chief Minister's office in 2005 as a pillar of the NDA. Meanwhile, when asked about Nitish's son Nishant Kumar joining JD(U), Tejashwi Yadav welcomed the move. However, he also stated his apprehensions about Nishant's capability to handle the party. "His capability will tell us whether he is able to handle the party or not. But if a youth enters politics, we welcome them," Tejashwi Yadav told ANI. Nishant recently joined politics, marking an unprecedented shift in Bihar politics. He formally joined the JD(U) on March 8, following in his father's footsteps. While Nitish Kumar has had an anti-dynastic politics stand, Nishant's entry into the party came amid the former Bihar CM moving to the Rajya Sabha. (ANI)
Iran on Sunday (local time) vowed retaliatory attacks targeting the residences of US and Israeli commanders and political officials in the region amid escalating tensions, describing them as legitimate targets, as reported by Iranian state media Press TV. The warning was issued by the spokesperson for the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, stating that enemy commanders' homes and the residences of officials are considered valid military targets for Iran as the conflict escalates. The Central Khatam al-Anbiya Headquarters is Iran's highest operational command unit that coordinates operations between the Army and the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC). The statement followed a series of accusations against US President Donald Trump by the Central Headquarters, alleging threats of ground operations and occupation of parts of Iran, particularly in the Persian Gulf. The spokesperson accused Trump of repeatedly threatening Iran while positioning US forces away from the battlefield and taking refuge in population and economic centres, as reported by Iranian state media, Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB). "He and the top commanders of the depleted American army, thousands of kilometres from the battlefield, expect resistance from Iran's warriors. American aggression will only result in humiliation, captivity, and destruction of the aggressors," the statement read, as quoted by IRIB. It further warned that US commanders and soldiers could become "food for the sharks of the Persian Gulf" if threats were carried out. Meanwhile, Seyed Majid Mousavi, IRGC Aerospace Commander, in a post on X, said retaliatory strikes against Iranian infrastructure-linked enemies are ongoing, citing attacks on strategic facilities in the occupied territories, including a chemical plant in Neot Hovav, one refinery, two steel complexes, and two aluminium mega-complexes, warning that such strikes will continue until "we see the pain in your eyes." "Retaliation against Iran's infrastructure is underway, with the destruction of strategic industries linked to the American-Zionist enemy in the region. Up to this moment: Neot Hovav chemical industries in the occupied territories, one refinery, two steel complexes, two aluminum mega-complexes, and these painful strikes continue until we see the pain in your eyes," the post read. (ANI)
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on Sunday (local time) announced the immediate suspension of all operational activities of a reserve battalion following the high-profile detention and assault of a CNN news team in the occupied West Bank last week. According to CNN, citing an Israeli military official, the battalion, comprised of hundreds of reservists from the ultra-Orthodox Netzah Yehuda Battalion, will be withdrawn from West Bank duties and reassigned to training until further notice. The decision was ordered by IDF's Chief of the General Staff, Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, roughly 48 hours after CNN broadcast footage of the incident, and is seen as a significant disciplinary action by the IDF. According to CNN, the disciplinary suspension follows an incident last Thursday in the Palestinian village of Tayasir, where the CNN team, led by correspondent Jeremy Diamond, was covering the aftermath of an attack by Israeli settlers who had established an illegal outpost in the area. During the encounter, soldiers detained the crew, with one soldier seen placing CNN photojournalist Cyril Theophilos in a chokehold, forcing him to the ground and damaging his camera. The team reported being held by the battalion for nearly two hours. In an official statement on its Telegram channel, the IDF said that findings from an internal inquiry were presented to the Chief of the General Staff, and based on commanders' recommendations, the reserve battalion's deployment "will be suspended." The statement added that the unit "will remain in reserve service and will undergo a process aimed at reinforcing its professional and ethical foundations" and "will resume operational activity upon completion of this process and subject to the decision of the Commander of the Central Command. " Additional command measures are expected at a later stage. The military has not detailed whether individual soldiers involved will face further disciplinary action, but it noted that accountability measures for actions during the incident are ongoing. The battalion placed on suspension is the reserve unit of Netzah Yehuda, an infantry battalion initially created to help ultra-Orthodox Jews serve in the IDF while preserving religious practices like gender separation and strict observance, as per CNN. In recent years, however, the unit--mostly deployed in the West Bank--has drawn recruits from radical right-wing settler factions, including the so-called "Hilltop Youth", CNN reported. (ANI)
US War Secretary Pete Hegseth on Sunday (local time) outlined a new geopolitical framework, naming it the "Greater North America" strategy, describing it as a redefinition of regional security under President Donald Trump's leadership. Speaking at the US Southern Command headquarters in Doral (Florida), Hegseth said the administration's strategic vision stretches "from Greenland to the Gulf of America to the Panama Canal," encompassing all sovereign countries and territories north of the equator within "immediate security perimeter." "Every sovereign nation and territory north of the equator, from Greenland to Ecuador and from Alaska to Guyana, is not part of the Global South. It is an immediate security perimeter in this great neighbourhood that we all live in," Hegseth said during a conference of Western Hemisphere defence counterparts. He emphasised that geography underpins the doctrine, pointing to natural barriers such as the Amazon and the Andes mountains, which he argued separate northern and southern strategic responsibilities. According to Hegseth, the United States will bolster its military posture and presence across the northern hemisphere in coordination with regional partners. He said, "It is an immediate security perimeter in this great neighbourhood that we all live in. Each one of these countries borders either the North Atlantic or the North Pacific. Each one of these countries sits north of the two basic geographic barriers that exist in this region, the Amazon and the Andes mountains." He added, "In the north, the United States must enhance posture and presence in cooperation with you and our sovereign partners to defend our shared immediate security perimeter." At the same time, Hegseth indicated a shift in expectations for countries south of the equator, calling for an increased "burden sharing " to secure the South Atlantic and South Pacific regions, as well as critical infrastructure and resources. "In the south, meaning south of the equator, the other side of this great neighbourhood, we will strengthen partnerships through increased burden sharing. This will enable you to take a greater role in defending the South Atlantic and the South Pacific and to secure critical infrastructure and resources in partnership with us and other Western nations," Hegseth said. The War Secretary drew parallels with World War II, invoking a revival of a "Quarter Sphere Defence" approach. He said, "This is what we did in World War II. Just like we sank ships with torpedoes in World War II, at the Department of War, we call it the Quarter Sphere Defence. And we will do this again." (ANI)
Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense detected the presence of a sortie of Chinese military aircraft, nine naval vessels and an official ship operating around its territorial waters as of 6am (local time) on Monday. The sortie crossed the median line and entered Taiwan's southwestern and southeastern part ADIZ. In a post on X, the MND said, "1 sorties of PLA aircraft, 9 PLAN vessels and 1 official ship operating around Taiwan were detected up until 6 a.m. (UTC+8) today. 1 out of 1 sorties crossed the median line and entered Taiwan's southwestern and southeastern part ADIZ. ROC Armed Forces have monitored the situation and responded." https://x.com/MoNDefense/status/2038420953076498510?s=20 Earlier on Sunday, Taiwan's MND detected the presence of 19 sorties of Chinese military aircraft, nine naval vessels and two official ships operating around its territorial waters. Of the 19, 13 sorties crossed the median line and entered Taiwan's northern, central, southwestern and eastern part ADIZ. In a post on X, the MND said, "19 sorties of PLA aircraft, 9 PLAN vessels and 2 official ships operating around Taiwan were detected up until 6 a.m. (UTC+8) today. 13 out of 19 sorties crossed the median line and entered Taiwan's northern, central, southwestern and eastern part ADIZ. ROC Armed Forces have monitored the situation and responded." https://x.com/MoNDefense/status/2038058565995577621?s=20 China's claim over Taiwan is a complex issue rooted in historical, political, and legal arguments. Beijing asserts that Taiwan is an inseparable part of China, a viewpoint embedded in national policy and upheld by domestic laws and international statements. Taiwan, however, maintains a distinct identity, functioning independently with its own government, military, and economy. Taiwan's status remains a significant point of international debate, testing the principles of sovereignty, self-determination, and non-interference in international law, as per the United Service Institution of India. China's claim to Taiwan originates from the Qing Dynasty's annexation of the island in 1683 after defeating Ming loyalist Koxinga. However, Taiwan remained a peripheral region under limited Qing control. The key shift came in 1895, when the Qing ceded Taiwan to Japan after the First Sino-Japanese War, marking Taiwan as a Japanese colony for 50 years. After Japan's defeat in World War II, Taiwan was returned to Chinese control, but the sovereignty transfer was not formalised. In 1949, the Chinese Civil War resulted in the establishment of the People's Republic of China (PRC) on the mainland, while the Republic of China (ROC) retreated to Taiwan, asserting its claim to govern all of China. This led to dual sovereignty claims: the PRC over the mainland and the ROC over Taiwan. Taiwan has operated as a de facto independent state but has avoided declaring formal independence to prevent military conflict with the PRC, United Service Institution of India. (ANI)
The Rajasthan Association of North America on Sunday (local time) celebrated Rajasthan Diwas and Holi Sneh Milan at the Indian Consulate in New York with cultural festivities and major philanthropic announcements, including a landmark pledge of over five million US dollars to establish an Indo-US Friendship Centre in the city, it was announced at a diaspora gathering celebrating the 77th Rajasthan Diwas and Holi Sneh Milan. The contribution, from the Mehta Family Trust founded by New York-based businessman KK Mehta and his wife Chandra Mehta, was announced by Rajasthan Association of North America (RANA) President Prem Bhandari at the Indian Consulate. The planned centre would feature a Rajasthan Bhawan, a Yoga and Ayurveda Centre, a Convention Centre, and a Social Centre for seniors, aiming to serve as a cultural and community hub for the Indian diaspora in New York. "We want every Indian who walks through those doors -- whether they came here fifty years ago or fifty days ago-- to feel that Rajasthan, and India, never left them." Prem Bhandari, president of RANA, told ANI. The project is the brainchild of Ambassador Binay K Pradhan, the Consul General of India in New York, who first raised the idea with KK Mehta at a previous RANA event, describing the centre as a means to preserve Indian culture and heritage for future generations of the diaspora. "I really feel that the Indian community from Rajasthan have been able to maintain the tradition, have upheld the tradition, passed it on to the next generation," CG Pradhan told the diaspora members. Mehta's philanthropic record extends back to the Covid-19 pandemic, during which he offered 100 rooms at his Times Square hotel to students in need and accommodated the entire crew of the Vande Bharat Mission-2 Air India repatriation flight. At the event, seven individuals were conferred the Rajasthan Ratna, the association's highest honour, in recognition of their philanthropic contributions in both the United States and India. Among the recipients were Dr Samin Sharma, described as a world-renowned interventional cardiologist, alongside Dr Narinder Kukar, Dr Raj Bansal of Florida, Ashok Sancheti and Jugal Kishore Ladda. All five were also appointed as Patrons of RANA, which describes itself as the largest and most prestigious global organisation of the Rajasthani diaspora. A sixth recipient, Nand Todi, was recognised for his recent donation of one million dollars toward a shelter home for the homeless in Philadelphia. Todi is the founder of Bharatiya Mandir and a longstanding supporter of the Jaipur Foot prosthetics programme and Apna Ghar Ashram. All honours were presented by Ambassador Pradhan as the Chief Guest. Bhandari used the occasion to praise Ambassador Pradhan's decision to keep the New York Consulate open 365 days a year, serving a jurisdiction of more than two million Indians. He noted that, following his address at a recent diaspora welcome event in Boston attended by 66 organisations, the newly appointed Boston Consul General, S. Raghuram, immediately announced his consulate would adopt the same policy. Bhandari called on all Indian consulates, wherever needed, to follow New York's example. The gathering also heard that a Jaipur Foot prosthetics camp will be held in Gujarat, sponsored by BRUHUD NY Seniors under the leadership of its President Ajay Patel, in memory of his late father Shashikant Bhai, a founder of one of New York's largest senior organisations. Last year's camp was organised under the guidance of former Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla, whom Bhandari praised as a long-term supporter of the initiative. The celebration concluded with flower Holi festivities, dance performances by RANA ladies and children, and a poetry recital. (ANI)
US President Donald Trump on Sunday (local time) hinted that Washington could seize Iran's key oil export hub on Kharg Island in an interview with the Financial Times newspaper. He told the Financial Times, "Maybe we take Kharg Island, maybe we don't. We have a lot of options." Underscoring the strategic importance of the island, Trump said, "I don't think they have any defence. We could take it very easily," suggesting the facility could be captured with minimal resistance. Trump also openly voiced his broader objective regarding Iran's energy resources. He told the Financial Times, "To be honest with you, my favourite thing is to take the oil in Iran, but some stupid people back in the US say, 'Why are you doing that?' But they're stupid people," while dismissing domestic criticism, adding that opponents of such a move are "stupid people." He further indicated that any potential operation could require a sustained US presence. " It would also mean we had to be there [in Kharg Island] for a while, " Trump told the Financial Times. Drawing a parallel with US policy in Venezuela, Trump said Washington could pursue long-term control over oil assets, saying it could be held "indefinitely", Financial Times reported. Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump said he's optimistic about a deal with Iran, citing "very good negotiations" and Iran allowing 20 oil tankers to pass through the Strait of Hormuz as a "sign of respect". Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One en route to Joint Base Andrews, Trump said, "I do see a deal in Iran, yeah. Could be soon." "So we've had very good negotiations today with Iran, getting a lot of the things that they should have given us a long time ago. See how it works out, but they're very good, moving along very nicely. And they've destroyed a lot of additional targets today. The Navy's gone, the Air Force's gone, we know that. We've destroyed many, many targets today. It was a big day. And we are negotiating with them directly and indirectly," he said further. Earlier, Iran's Acting Defence Minister Brigadier General Seyyed Majid Ibn Reza held a key telephone conversation with Turkish Defence Minister Yasar Guler amid the ongoing West Asia conflict involving the United States and Israel, according to Iranian state media Press TV. During the call on Sunday evening, General Reza strongly condemned the "brutal military aggression" against Iran, calling it a clear violation of international law and fundamental principles of the global system, according to Press TV. (ANI)
US President Donald Trump on Sunday (local time) said it's a "big day" for Iran, stating that the US military has destroyed many key targets in the country. In a post on Truth Social, Trump said that the US military had destroyed many sought-after targets in Iran. He said, "Big day in Iran. Many long-sought-after targets have been taken out and destroyed by our GREAT MILITARY, the finest and most lethal in the World. God bless you all! President DJT." Earlier in the day, when being gaggled with the press on Air Force One en route to Joint Base Andrews, Trump said that Iran's entire Navy and Air Force have been knocked out, and most of their missiles are gone. Trump also hinted at regime change in Iran, saying the current leadership is "very reasonable" and a "new group of people@. He said, "I just have lots of alternatives. We have a tremendous number of ships over there. We don't need them all because of, you know, the power. If you had said that in three days we were going to knock out 158 ships, their entire Navy, which we did, we knocked out their entire Air Force, we knocked out most of their missiles. That's why you see missile attacks, but they're down to just sputtering. And we have a group, it's really a new regime. It's the new group of people, people that we've never dealt with before, that are acting very reasonably. It is truly regime change." When he was asked if Iran's dead leader Khamenei's son was alive and a part of the ongoing conversation. "We think he may be. Nobody's heard about him and he's... he may be alive, but he's obviously very seriously in trouble. Really, he's seriously wounded," Trump replied. On being asked about the 15-point peace plan sent by the US to Iran, Trump said, "Yeah, they came back on the 15-point plan. They gave us most of the points. Why wouldn't they?" Trump mentioned that Iran has agreed to most of the 15-point peace plan sent by the US and has even sent 20 boatloads of oil as a "sign of respect". "Well, they're agreeing with us on the plan. I mean, we asked for 15 things, and for the most part, we're going to be asking for a couple of other things. And just to prove that they're serious, they gave us all these boats. When I talked about four days ago, a present, I said they gave me a present, but I didn't think I was at liberty to say what it was. What it was was 8 plus 2; it's 10 massive boatloads of oil. And today they gave us another present, they gave us 20 boatloads of oil. That starts being shipped tomorrow. We're having very good meetings, both directly and indirectly, and we're getting a lot of very important points," Trump further said in the gaggle. Earlier, Iran's Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf on Sunday accused the United States and Israel of planning a "ground invasion" under the guise of diplomacy, warning that Tehran will not yield to pressure, according to Iranian state media Press TV. As quoted by Press TV, he said, "The enemy talks of negotiations but plans a ground invasion. The US seeks in a 15-point list what it couldn't win in war. Our forces are ready, and we will never be humiliated." (ANI)
The first session of Nepal's House of Representatives has been summoned from Thursday onwards by President Ram Chandra Paudel, the office of the President announced on Tuesday. Issuing a release, the President's Office announced that the house meeting has been summoned on the recommendation of the cabinet under the leadership of Prime Minister Balendra Shah. "Honorable President Shri Ram Chandra Poudel, pursuant to Clause (1) of Article 93 of the Constitution of Nepal, has called a session of both Houses of the Federal Parliament on Thursday, Chaitra 19, 2082 BS at 14:00 at the Federal Parliament Building, Singha Durbar, on the recommendation of the Government of Nepal, Council of Ministers dated 2082/12/16," the release from the President Office reads. Earlier, the government spokesperson Sasmit Pokharel had confirmed that the Cabinet meeting on Monday took a decision to recommend the President to summon the session from Thursday. According to the constitution provisions, the president summons the House of Representatives (HoR) session on the recommendation of the Council of Ministers. It will be the HoR session following the conclusion of the recently held parliamentary elections on March 5 which has elected 275 new members. In the House of Representatives elections held on March 5, the Rastriya Swatantra Party emerged as the largest party with 182 seats, followed by the Nepali Congress with 38 seats, CPN-UML with 25, Nepali Communist Party with 17, Shram Sanskriti Party with seven, and the Rastriya Prajatantra Party with five seats. Under the Proportionate Representation system, 57 lawmakers were elected from the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP), 20 from the Nepali Congress (NC), 16 from the CPN (UML), nine from the Nepali Communist Party (NCP), and four each from the Shram Sanskriti Party and the Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP). The Election Commission had announced the PR election results on March 16. Under the First-Past-the-Post (FPTP) system, the RSP secured 125 seats, followed by the NC with 19, UML with 9, NCP with 8, Shram Sanskriti Party with 3, RPP with 1, and one independent candidate. As per constitutional provisions, the House of Representatives, the lower house of the Federal Parliament, consists of a total of 275 members, including 165 elected through the FPTP system and 110 through the PR system. (ANI)
Tibetan youth assembled in Amsterdam on Saturday, showing that even a small group can create meaningful momentum for an international cause, according to a report by the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA). The gathering, organised by the Office of Tibet in Brussels in partnership with VTAG Netherlands, aimed to explore new strategies to strengthen advocacy efforts for Tibet. The meeting brought together five Tibetan youths along with a supporter, reflecting a growing sense of responsibility among younger members of the Tibetan diaspora. Despite its small size, the event had a clear objective: to maintain awareness and engagement on Tibet-related issues in the Netherlands, as cited in the CTA report. Tenzin Phuntsok, EU Advocacy Officer from the Brussels office, attended the session and provided insights into key aspects of the Tibetan movement. The programme included a screening of the documentary "A Liberation That Never Was: 70 Years of Occupation and Repression in Tibet," produced by the Tibet TV section of DIIR, which helped initiate deeper discussions. Phuntsok also familiarised participants with the structure and functions of the Central Tibetan Administration, stressing the importance of understanding institutional efforts as well as the role of the Brussels-based Office of Tibet. The session ended with an interactive question-and-answer segment, encouraging participants to engage thoughtfully with the issues discussed. Adding a personal perspective, Tenzin Dolkar shared her experiences from the Youth Empowerment Program in Italy. She highlighted the significance of such initiatives in developing informed and active advocates, and encouraged others to pursue similar opportunities, as noted in the CTA report. The meeting also saw the inclusion of a new supporter, Arun Pawan Kumar, who joined as a Blue Book member, an initiative designed to strengthen solidarity between Tibetans and their supporters. Participants also exchanged ideas on innovative awareness campaigns, particularly focusing on the case of the 11th Panchen Lama, Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, who has been missing since 1995. Discussions referred to updated materials from DIIR's publication "Tibet's Stolen Child," underlining the importance of keeping his case visible internationally, the CTA report stated. The meeting concluded with a collective commitment to expand their network and continue regular engagement in the Netherlands. Though limited in number, the participants' determination reflected a broader reality: youth-led efforts remain crucial in sustaining Tibet's voice on the global stage, the CTA report highlighted. (ANI)
As the ongoing conflict in West Asia enters its second month, Fleur Hassan-Nahoum, Special Envoy, Foreign Ministry of Israel, has asserted that the situation has effectively been a "multi-front regional conflict" since its inception, while claiming significant military and strategic gains against adversarial forces. Speaking to ANI from Jerusalem, Nahoum said the nature of the conflict expanded almost immediately after initial hostilities began. "Well, we've been involved in a multi-front regional conflict since the 7th of October, when we were attacked by the Iranians' proxy Hamas from the south. And then on the 8th of October, when we are attacked by an Iranian proxy from the north. And so multi-front is already something happening for a long time, unfortunately." Highlighting developments over the past month, she pointed to what she described as substantial degradation of hostile capabilities. "Today, we see that after a month, there are considerable military gains. 80% of the rocket launches of the Islamic Republic have been destroyed. The entire navy has been destroyed. The entire top echelon of their military leadership and political leadership has mainly been destroyed." She further claimed internal instability within Iran, stating, "And we see every day cracks in the regime leadership, defections from the Basij, and absolute chaos when it comes to their strategies at the moment. They're just, you know, sending rockets at any country that they can get their hands on. So I think that there have been considerable military gains." On the evolving United States approach, Nahoum underscored a dual-track strategy combining diplomacy with military pressure. "At every single moment, at every single crossroads of this, President Trump has always given a chance to negotiate a settlement. And it has been the intransigence of the Islamic Republic that didn't get to a settlement and nothing else." She added that such a strategy allows room for de-escalation while maintaining operational leverage. "I think that is a good strategy to always give them a ladder to climb down from the tree, but at the same time, keep making those military gains to destroy them when we have to." Commenting on reports of Pakistan attempting to play a mediatory role despite lacking diplomatic ties with Israel, she expressed scepticism. "I mean, I don't know what the Pakistanis think they're doing. I think they're trying to make themselves relevant. They are themselves a huge problem in the world of jihadi terrorism. But, you know, they can try. I'm not sure they'll be very successful." On the question of Iran's nuclear programme, she ruled out any compromise. "No, absolutely not. We cannot have a regime calling for total destruction, at the same time having weapons of mass destruction. There cannot be any compromise when it comes to the nuclear weapons that they have, or they can enrich quickly." Referring to India's diplomatic outreach, she acknowledged New Delhi's balanced stance and its ties across stakeholders. "India is a very close ally to Israel. As you know, your prime minister was here only a few days before the war. And we understand that India keeps great relations with everyone. And they can be a much better mediator, if you ask me, than Pakistan. But let's see how things develop." (ANI)
The White House on Monday (local time) claimed that the recent movement of oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz, despite a virtual blockage amid the West Asia conflict, is the result of ongoing direct and indirect talks between the United States and Iran. It credited diplomatic efforts led by US President Donald Trump. Addressing a press briefing, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt rejected claims that Iran is selectively allowing certain tankers to pass or imposing informal controls over maritime traffic. "That's not something we support, and I would reject that they are cherry-picking. In fact, these tankers that are moving through - the 10 that were previously announced and now the new 20, the announcement of 20 additional tankers, which we expect to see over the coming days - are a result of the direct and indirect talks that are taking place between the United States and Iran," she claimed. Leavitt further insisted that such tanker movements would not have been possible without sustained diplomatic engagement by the US administration led by Trump. "So, you wouldn't have seen those tankers if not for the president's diplomacy and his team engaging on this matter, which we expect that compliance moving forward, and it's again something that we're working on very closely," she added. Earlier on Sunday, Trump said that Iran is allowing 20 oil tankers to pass through the Strait of Hormuz as a "sign of respect". Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump said that Iran initially agreed to send 10 boats through the strait and then added 10 more, which he considers a positive development. "We have emissaries, but we are also dealing directly, and as you know, they've agreed to send 8 boats two days ago, and then they added another two, so it was 10 boats. And now today, they gave us, as a tribute, I don't know, I can't define it exactly, but they gave us, I think, out of a sign of respect, 20 boats of oil, big, big boats of oil going through the Hormuz Strait," the US President said. Meanwhile, responding to a question on whether the administration supports any system where Iran could impose tolls or restrictions on vessels passing through the strategic waterway, Leavitt made it clear that such an arrangement is not backed by Washington. The remarks come in the context of a new report from the Shipping News website, Lloyd's List, suggesting that Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) imposed a de facto 'toll booth' in the Strait of Hormuz as the conflict in West Asia has put enormous stress on one of the key global shipping routes. This requires vessels to submit full documentation, obtain clearance codes and accept IRGC-escorted passage through a single controlled corridor, the report stated. The Strait of Hormuz remains a critical global energy chokepoint, and recent developments come amid heightened tensions in the region, even as diplomatic channels between Washington and Tehran continue to remain active. (ANI)
TOKYO, Mar 30 (News On Japan) - A month has passed since the United States and Israel launched attacks on Iran, and while Japan holds oil reserves equivalent to roughly eight months of domestic consumption, concerns are growing that rising crude prices and supply disruptions could begin to affect everything from plastic bottles to medical IV tubes.

Crude oil futures have surged sharply, climbing from 67 dollars per barrel on February 27th before the conflict to 98 dollars on March 20th, briefly falling to 84 dollars around March 23rd after an announcement delaying an attack on Iranian power facilities, before rising again to 103 dollars on March 30th amid renewed uncertainty.

The continued de facto closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a route that accounts for roughly 20 percent of the worlds oil supply, has heightened fears of further disruption to the global economy, with Asia particularly exposed due to its heavy dependence on Middle Eastern crude.

According to Takafumi Yanagisawa of the Institute of Energy Economics, Japan, approximately 20 million barrels of oil pass through the Hormuz route each day, while alternative supply routes such as Saudi Arabias pipeline to the port of Yanbu can handle about 5 million barrels daily.

However, risks remain elevated after Yemens Iran-aligned Houthi forces signaled their intention to target shipping routes, a development that Nomura Research Institute executive economist Nobuhide Kiuchi said could push prices higher by an additional 5 to 10 dollars per barrel.

As uncertainty grows, governments around the world have begun urging energy conservation measures.

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi wrote on social media on March 29th that Japans needs are currently being met through the release of strategic reserves, calling on the public to remain calm.

Estimates suggest oil stockpiles vary widely across Asia, with Japan holding about eight months supply, South Korea about seven months, Thailand three months, the Philippines around one and a half months, and Sri Lanka just 25 days.

In response, countries have moved quickly to introduce conservation measures.

South Korea has implemented a vehicle restriction system based on license plate numbers, limiting when approximately 1.5 million government and public-sector vehicles can operate.

Thailand has called for reduced use of air conditioning in government offices and encouraged limiting elevator use.

The Philippines is recommending a four-day workweek for private companies, while Sri Lanka has designated Wednesdays as non-operational days for most public services except essential sectors such as hospitals and immigration.

Despite these measures, the impact of oil consumption can be difficult for individuals to grasp.

Yuki Kinoshita, a parenting influencer, noted that while water conservation measures are easy to visualize, reducing oil usage is less straightforward, particularly for those living in rural areas where dependence on cars is high.

Even when oil is mentioned, its use in daily life is not always visible, and there is often a delay before rising costs are reflected in consumer prices, making the situation harder for the public to fully perceive.

In Japan, discussions are beginning over how to respond without stalling the economy.

At a joint ruling party meeting on March 24th, petroleum industry executives cited the International Energy Agencys ten-point plan for reducing fuel demand as a potential framework.

These measures include promoting remote work, lowering highway speed limits by 10 kilometers per hour, encouraging public transport use, introducing alternating vehicle restrictions in urban areas, expanding car sharing, and avoiding air travel when alternative transport options exist.

While the government remains cautious about calling for conservation too early out of concern for economic activity, experts warn that delaying action may not be sustainable.

Go Matsuo, head of the Institute of Energy Economics and Society, pointed out that countries such as South Korea, Thailand, the Philippines, and Sri Lanka face more immediate risks due to limited refining capacity or reliance on imports.

Japan, by contrast, is not in immediate danger, but Matsuo stressed that the government will need to carefully consider when to shift toward conservation measures.

Ultimately, the decision will come down to political timing, as questions grow over how long the country can continue operating as usual, not only in fuel consumption but also in the use of petroleum-based products such as plastics, which could soon face supply constraints if the situation persists.

Source: TBS
SHIZUOKA, Mar 30 (News On Japan) - Former Ito mayor Maki Takubo was indicted while remaining out of custody over an academic credentials fraud scandal in Ito City, Shizuoka Prefecture.

According to prosecutors in Shizuoka, Takubo is accused of forging her own graduation certificate and presenting it to the city councils chairman and vice chairman, as well as giving false testimony before a special investigative committee.

Police had referred the case to prosecutors in February on suspicion of violating the Local Autonomy Act, and on March 25th filed additional charges on suspicion of forging and using a private document bearing a seal.

Source: FNN
Algeria has rushed to force the Polisario into making some leadership changes, including the dismissal of senior figures overseeing its militia and political structures, amid growing international scrutiny of the separatist movement and calls in the US congress and the senate to classify the Algerian proxy militia as a terrorist group.

The reshuffle affected around 20 positions across the Polisarios militia command, its self-declared government and the inner circle of leader Brahim Ghali.

The changes come as Algerian authorities face pressure linked to a push by a growing number of US senators and congressmen to advance legislation that would classify the Polisario as a terrorist organization.

Analysts say the prospect of such a designation prompted Algerias military leadership to instruct the Polisario to sideline figures who have publicly called for violence in recent years, particularly against targets in the Moroccan Sahara.

Among those dismissed were militia chief Mohamed El Ouali Akeik and Mustapha Sidi Ali El Bachir, who headed the socalled ministry for the occupied zones and diaspora affairs.

Akeik, who had served as chief of staff since 2021, had called in May 2022 for attacks inside the Sahara. El Bachir made similar calls in May 2025, urging violence against American, European and Chinese companies operating in the region.

Despite the removals, discontent has reportedly grown inside the Polisarios refugee camps, where critics accuse the leadership of preserving tribal dominance rather than undertaking genuine reform. Protests are planned this weekend outside the movements headquarters in Rabouni after Ghali created a bespoke ministercounsellor role for Akeik, rather than fully sidelining him.

Akeik has been replaced by Hamma Salama, a senior figure seen as close to Algerias military establishment. Salama, 76, has previously led two Polisario military regions and has been received by top Algerian civilian and military officials since late 2023, underscoring Algiers influence over the movement.

The changes also follow Algerias recent announcement of a new doctrine of diplomatic pragmatism, unveiled through the armybacked magazine El Djeich, suggesting a tactical recalibration rather than a fundamental shift in policy toward the Polisario.
The 10th edition of the SMAP IMMO real estate fair, held from March 27 to 29 in Brussels, offered more than a platform for property investment  it provided Moroccan artisans with a historic opportunity to showcase their heritage on the European stage. For the first time in the fairs history, a dedicated Artisan Village spanning approximately 300 square meters was established within the events halls at Brussels Expo.

Organized by Moroccos State Secretariat for Crafts and the Social and Solidarity Economy in partnership with the Federation of Chambers of Crafts, the initiative brought together 16 artisans representing a broad cross-section of Moroccos regions and traditional trades. Visitors were treated to an exceptional display of craftsmanship spanning carpets, zellige tilework, pottery, leather goods, embroidery, and decorative furniture.

The space was officially inaugurated by Moroccos Ambassador to Belgium and Luxembourg, Mohamed Ameur, alongside senior officials from the State Secretariat and representatives from several regional chambers of crafts, including delegations from Rabat-Sale-Kenitra, the Oriental region, Draa-Tafilalet, Guelmim-Oued Noun, and Beni Mellal-Khenifra.

Beyond the exhibition of goods, the Artisan Village functioned as a cultural bridge, connecting Moroccan diaspora communities in Belgium with their roots while attracting European visitors eager to discover Moroccos living heritage. Folklore performances and live craft demonstrations added an immersive dimension to the experience.

The initiative forms part of a broader strategic framework formalized through a partnership agreement signed on February 25, 2026, aimed at strengthening the international presence of Moroccan craftsmanship and expanding its commercial reach. This edition of SMAP IMMO drew thousands of visitors from Belgium and across Europe, confirming the events growing role in promoting Moroccos cultural and economic appeal internationally.
The northern city of Tangier hosted the 3rd National Diabetes Congress from March 26 to 29, 2026, bringing together a distinguished gathering of Moroccan and international specialists under the banner of the Moroccan Society of Diabetology (SMD). The event centered on the latest scientific advances in the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of diabetes, with particular focus on the complex and far-reaching consequences of type 2 diabetes.

A central theme running through the congress was the strong causal relationship between type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular and renal complications. Experts emphasized that the disease significantly raises the risk of cardiovascular mortality and accelerates the decline of kidney function, while any deterioration of the heart or kidneys in turn worsens the progression of diabetes. These complications, specialists warned, frequently develop without visible symptoms in their early stages, making early intervention essential.

SMD President Dr. Sonia Abahou highlighted the significance of the 2026 American Diabetes Association guidelines, which recommend initiating combination therapy when HbA1c levels exceed personalized targets by 1.5 to 2 percentage points, enabling faster and more sustained glycemic control. She also referenced the latest NICE 2026 recommendations, which advocate for SGLT2 inhibitors across all type 2 diabetes patient profiles, regardless of comorbidities.

A landmark moment at this edition was the unveiling of Moroccos first fixed-combination SGLT2 inhibitor therapy. Experts stressed that treatment must extend beyond glycemic control alone, adopting a holistic approach that protects vital organs and breaks the vicious cycle linking diabetes to cardiovascular and renal disease.

Congress participants called for a fundamental transformation of Moroccos chronic disease management system, anchored in integration, innovation, and prevention. Their appeal carries considerable urgency: more than 2.8 million Moroccans currently live with diabetes, a significant share undiagnosed. Non-communicable diseases, specialists noted, now account for approximately 85 percent of deaths in the country.
Public appearances by representatives of the Algeria-based Polisario Front in activist and academic forums this month have underscored the groups growing ideological alignment with Iran and the socalled axis of resistance, reinforcing concerns in Washington and western capitals over its regional posture and external links.

The Polisario took part in a series of events marked by explicit support for Iran in its confrontation with the United States and denunciations of Washington and its allies.

The group used these platforms to promote its separatist narrative alongside Iranian and Cuban diplomatic representatives, despite Brazil backing Moroccos autonomy plan.

At several gatherings, Polisario envoy Ahmed Mulay Ali Hamadi cast the groups campaign against Morocco as part of what he described as a broader antiimperialist struggle, drawing direct parallels with Irans conflict with the United States.

Beyond rhetoric, Polisarios links with Iran are acknowledged publicly by senior Polisario officials. In late 2022, Omar Mansour, then the Polisarios interior minister and a close aide to leader Brahim Ghali, publicly declared that the group would soon deploy armed drones against Moroccan forces in what he termed a war of attrition in the Sahara. The threat was made at a press conference in Nouakchott.

Moroccan officials and US lawmakers have taken such threats seriously. In 2018, Morocco cut ties with Iran due to its backing and arming  including through its Hezbollah proxies- of the Polisario.

The resurfacing of the movement in openly proIranian settings has renewed attention in the US Congress, where bipartisan legislation introduced in 2025 seeks to document the Polisarios links with Iranianaligned networks and declare it a terrorist group.
Egypt is moving to secure alternative energy supplies by negotiating imports of Libyan crude, as disruptions in Gulf shipments strain its refining capacity.

Officials said, on Sunday March 29, Egypt is seeking to import at least one million barrels of oil per month from Libya, with talks underway between the National Oil Corporation and the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation to finalize an agreement.

The shift follows supply interruptions from Kuwait, where the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation declared force majeure due to navigation disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz. The waterway, which carries roughly a fifth of global oil trade, has seen a near-total halt in shipping, triggering price volatility across energy markets.

Egypt had previously relied on Kuwaiti imports of up to two million barrels monthly, alongside additional supplies from Saudi Aramco under credit arrangements. The broader energy landscape remains fragile, with QatarEnergy also suspending operations at a major liquefied natural gas facility following a drone attack, heightening concerns of sustained supply shocks.

Analysts warn that prolonged instability in the Gulf could further escalate global oil prices, prompting countries like Egypt to diversify supply chains and reinforce energy security strategies.
Brent crude has surged 84% since the start of 2026 to nearly $113 per barrel, and a 56% spike in domestic diesel prices following the scrapping of fuel subsidies are making fuel theft an increasingly profitable and hard-to-stop illicit economy.

A little-recognized consequence of soaring cocaine related lawlessness and bloodshed in the tiny South American country of Ecuador is a massive surge in hydrocarbon theft. This serious problem, long associated with Colombia, which is the world's largest cocaine producer, arose because of the tremendous profits that can be earned from stealing gasoline and diesel. Rising fuel prices along with heightened lawlessness are driving ever-higher levels of hydrocarbon theft, which even government crackdowns appear incapable of stopping.

Not long after the end of the 2020 COVID pandemic, Ecuador exploded in violence as criminal gangs clashed with each other and the authorities over the control of cocaine trafficking. The surge in violence was so spectacular that hooded gunmen even stormed a television station in Guayaquil, Ecuador's largest city and commercial hub, in January 2024 as armed clashes spiraled out of control. The violence is so severe that the 2025 homicide rate surged 31% year on year to an all-time high of 50.9 murders per 100,000 head of population.

A massive surge in the volume of cocaine being shipped from Ecuador, once considered an island of tranquility in South America's violent northern Andes region, is the primary catalyst for the surge in conflict. Located between Colombia and Peru, the world's largest cocaine producers, Ecuador is an ideal transshipment hub due to its strategic location and extensive port infrastructure. Soaring demand for cocaine, now the world's fastest-growing illegal drug market, drives tremendous profits, making trafficking a highly appealing activity despite significant risks.

While much of the bloodshed is driven by criminal bands clashing over control of lucrative cocaine smuggling routes, other illicit economies are also rapidly expanding. One of the fastest-growing problems since 2022 is the theft of gasoline and other hydrocarbons from Ecuador's lengthy pipeline network, which was once a minor problem solely associated with neighboring Colombia, where it has blown out to gargantuan levels. Authorities currently estimate that around 20,000 gallons (76,000 liters) of fuel is stolen daily, costing Ecuador around $100 million annually.

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According to Reuters, illegal taps on Ecuador's fuel pipeline network soared from 32 incidents during 2022 to 773 for the first ten months of 2024, a whopping 24-fold increase. This was responsible for the government losing an estimated $215 million over that period. Since that article, the incidence of hydrocarbon theft has soared higher with a Ministry of National Defense September 2025 media release showing that 1,095 illegal taps were identified between January and August 2025, a stunning 34-fold increase from 2022.

Quito's efforts to rein in hydrocarbon theft by cracking down on lawlessness and deploying a specialist police unit using drones to monitor pipelines are having a negligible effect. Hydrocarbon theft is expected to keep growing despite those measures. Ecuador's lengthy 1,600-mile (2,575-kilometer) pipeline network, which snakes its way through many remote regions on the Pacific coast and Amazon, is particularly vulnerable to sabotage and being tapped. Furthermore, communities in remote regions are hostile to Quito while many perceive hydrocarbon theft to be a victimless crime.

Cocaine fueled bloodshed and lawlessness, which in recent years swept across Ecuador, is creating a fertile environment for illicit economies, like hydrocarbon theft, in which to thrive. Key criminal bands involved in the cocaine trade and responsible for spiraling violence, Los Tiguerones, Los Lobos, Los Choneros, and Los Gansters, are heavily involved in hydrocarbon theft. This reflects the lucrative nature of the illicit activity, along with the pressing need for diesel to fuel the machinery that powers their investments in illegal mining, another booming illicit activity in Ecuador.

Higher fuel prices after Noboa's controversial September 2025 decision to scrap a costly fuel subsidy, causing the price of diesel to soar by 56% overnight from $1.80 to $2.80 per gallon, are responsible for higher incidences of fuel theft. The activity will only be spurred on by the recent spike in oil prices triggered by U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran. The international Brent benchmark soared by a stunning 84% since the start of 2026 to nearly $113 per barrel, which, with considerable uncertainty ahead, makes hydrocarbon theft a particularly lucrative activity.

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There is also the insatiable demand for gasoline in Colombia to consider. Tremendous volumes of that fuel are needed to manufacture cocaine, especially with production of the narcotic spiraling ever higher to new all-time highs. Around 75 gallons (284 liters) of gasoline is required to process the up to 400 kilograms of coca leaves used to manufacture one kilogram of cocaine hydrochloride. Tight Colombian government control of the purchase of large volumes of gasoline and soaring prices are forcing criminal structures to look for supplies elsewhere.

Those developments, along with rapidly rising cocaine production, make smuggling gasoline a highly lucrative activity in Colombia. Surging demand for diesel due to the rapid expansion of the strife-torn country's illegal mining industry is also behind the soaring consumption of bootleg fuels. This, coupled with surging fuel prices, creates a considerable incentive for criminal bands to tap oil pipelines and extract the petroleum, which is then sent to rudimentary jungle laboratories for refining into primitive fuels.

The crude fuel produced, called pategrillo, is widely used to power the heavy machinery used in illegal mining, which is a booming illicit economy with precious metals hitting record highs earlier this year. Pategrillo is regularly substituted for gasoline to extract the all-important alkaloid from coca leaves that is the vital precursor needed to manufacture cocaine. Petroleum theft from remote pipelines and distilling into crude gasoline in illicit jungle laboratories is a widespread problem, notably in the southern departments of Narino and Putumayo, which border Ecuador.

There are fears that as demand for gasoline grows to support soaring cocaine production, oil theft will become a major illicit activity in Ecuador. The country's two key petroleum pipelines, the SOTE and OCP facilities, pass through Ecuador's remote and rugged Amazonian region, making them vulnerable to illegal taps used for oil theft. The petroleum extracted can then be refined in nearby rudimentary jungle laboratories from where it can be smuggled into Colombia. It is also widely used to manufacture cocaine and power the heavy machinery utilized in illegal mining.

Combating soaring hydrocarbon theft, including securing Ecuador's lengthy pipeline network, while cracking down on spiraling cocaine fueled violence, is costly. There are fears that the latest measures will place greater pressure on a cash-strapped Quito facing worsening fiscal headwinds. Despite the economy returning to growth, Quito's 2025 fiscal deficit blew out to over 5% of gross domestic product (GDP) because of substantially higher expenditures for security and law enforcement as well as a marked decline in oil revenues, which are falling because of plummeting petroleum production. Spiraling hydrocarbon theft will only further weaken Ecuador's financial position.

By Matthew Smith for Oilprice.com

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Irans been waiting for the U.S. to put boots on the ground because it knows that while its easy to get into a country militarily, its much more difficult to get out, and the longer the U.S. is on the ground, the more likely it is to be forced into making a better peace deal for Tehran, a senior energy security source working closely with the European Unions (E.U.) energy security complex exclusively told OilPrice.com over the weekend. And two events this weekend [28-29 March] have dramatically increased the possibility that the U.S. is going to fall into the trap, he said.

The first of these was the full entry into the U.S./Israel-Iran conflict of the Tehran-backed Houthis, which has fought a proxy war for Iran in Yemen against its arch-regional enemy, Saudi Arabia. On Saturday, 28 March, the group launched a barrage of missiles against Israel, the first since the start of the US/Israel war with Iran. It vowed to continue such attacks, saying that closing the vital global shipping chokepoint, the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, remained a viable option. These moves by the Houthis are specifically designed to provide the catalyst for direct infantry action from the U.S, by challenging [President Donald] Trumps vow to keep the [worlds] oil flowing, following the ongoing Iranian blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, the E.U. source underlined. As highlighted recently by OilPrice.com, the situation in the Strait remains precarious, effectively blocking the free passage of up to a third of the globes oil supply and about a fifth of its liquefied natural gas. Irans often-stated aim is to force oil and gas prices sharply higher, causing economic damage to energy importers.

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The only ships currently able to move relatively freely through the Strait of Hormuz are those carrying Iranian oil to its biggest superpower backer, China, which has for decades bankrolled the Islamic regime through oil payments, despite international sanctions aimed at preventing this. In a bizarre turn of events, this previously illegal activity by Iran has now been made legal for the next 30 days by the U.S. to keep oil prices contained. Although it only affects oil at sea, this covers around 170 million barrels of Iranian oil, and the waiver may yet be extended. Russia -- the second of Tehrans key superpower backers -- will also reap a surprise multi-billion-dollar windfall from its own U.S.-granted 30-day waiver on oil-at-sea exports. Combined with higher oil prices, this means the Kremlins oil and gas revenues are projected to nearly double this month, rising from approximately US$12 billion to US$24 billion this month, according to industry figures.

For net energy importers -- which includes many of the U.S.s key allies -- the view is less rosy. Houston-based Vikas Dwivedi, global energy strategist at Macquarie Group, said early in the conflict that the closure of the Strait of Hormuz alone could create a domino effect that could push crude to US$150 a barrel or higher. As he told OilPrice.com: We think about the conflict and the closure around the Strait of Hormuz as an impulse function on pricing, meaning the reduced transit is creating the action and will require numerous policy, military, and logistical responses to mitigate the upward price move, which we believe could reach $150 per barrel along the path. In the past few days, he and the Macquarie Group team have assessed the possible impact of the war continuing until the end of June. The current hit to supply is already bigger than the peak in either of the 1970s oil shocks, or the first two Gulf Wars, although thankfully International Energy Agency members hold emergency stockpiles of over 1.2 billion barrels of oil, while China is also well stocked, which will help, he said. However, if the Strait [of Hormuz] were to stay closed for an extended period, prices would need to move high enough to destroy an historically large amount of global oil demand, with some countries, particularly in Asia, already facing physical shortages, he underlined. And with the global economy much less oil intensive than 50 years ago, we would not be surprised if that would require historically high real prices (over US$200) for a time, which would equate to a U.S. gasoline price of around US$7 per gallon, he concluded.

Such a move could be hastened by the closure of the other major oil chokepoint in Irans strategic sights -- the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. This 16-mile-wide waterway hosts 10-15% of the worlds seaborne oil shipments and begins on the south-west spur of Yemen where the Gulf of Aden runs westwards from the Arabian Sea, forming a channel between the west coast of Yemen on the one side, and the east coasts of Djibouti and then Eritrea on the other. From the north end of the Red Sea, the waterway flows into the Suez Canal before moving into the Mediterranean Sea and then westwards. In day-to-day terms, the Bab el-Mandeb Strait is controlled on the Yemen side by the Iran-backed Houthis, and on the other side by Djibouti and Eritrea (both of which owe huge sums of money to Beijing as part of Belt and Road Initiative-related loans). However, in broader terms, through its Iran-China 25-Year Comprehensive Cooperation Agreement, first revealed anywhere in the world in my 3 September 2019 article on the subject and as analysed in full in my latest book on the new global oil market order, Beijing exercises enormous influence over what happens in the Strait, as it does over the entire Persian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz chokepoints. As shown by the Houthis seizure of the Galaxy Leader cargo ship on 19 November 2023  supposedly for being Israeli-owned  the action was sanctioned by Iran to demonstrate that it still had control over the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait, and it was done with the full blessing of Beijing, according to the E.U. source at the time. The same is true now, the source underlined, with nothing happening here [in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait and the Strait of Hormuz] without Chinas tacit approval. The closure of the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait by the Houthis -- on top of the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz -- would mean up to 45% of the worlds oil flows would be closed, prompting a move in the Brent benchmark oil price towards US$200 per barrel and beyond.

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Given the appalling economic -- and political -- consequences of such a move for the U.S. and Trump respectively, as also fully detailed in my latest book on the new global oil market order, this could be sufficient lure for the president to spring the trap set for him by Tehran, thinks the E.U. source. Although the movement of [U.S.] troops over the past week or so was intended as a negotiating tool with Tehran, they may well find themselves in a real deployment, he added. As with so many such deployments in various theatres by various countries in the past, this could start with a very limited presence, perhaps on Irans key crude and condensate export and storage terminal of Kharg Island, or on key nodes along the Strait of Hormuz, the source thinks. But the problem here is that to protect the troops in such a deployment, the U.S. would need to establish an indirect fire buffer zone of at least a 20-kilometre radius, and much more than that to deal with the missile threat, he added. And ultimately, for a Kharg Island deployment, for instance, the Iranians could just sit there day after day for months, firing everything they have on the site, and on any American forces that came to rescue them, he underlined.

Given these factors, pressure may well grow on Trump to declare a victory of sorts and withdraw from the conflict, as flagged by OilPrice.com. He [Trump] laid out four clear objectives for the attacks on Iran at the beginning, and we still think theres sufficient scope for him to say that hes broadly achieved them, said the E.U. security complex source. Trump can say that the regime has been changed, in that the leader and many other leadership figures have been removed, and he can cite the nuclear programme as having been degraded such that Iran wont be able to make a nuclear weapon for the foreseeable future, he told OilPrice.com. Third, he can say the [U.S. and Israeli] attacks have destroyed nearly all of Irans missile stocks and meaningfully set back its production capabilities, and he can announce that Irans regional proxies have been hollowed out to a point that makes them much less of a threat than before, he underlined. There is a wording that will work here, and we think hell use it once he sees the scale of what hed be taking on with a full invasion, and then hell pull out, the E.U. source concluded.

By Simon Watkins for Oilprice.com

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The ongoing Middle East conflict has upended global energy markets, cutting off supplies of approximately 8 million barrels of crude per day and 20% of liquefied natural gas (LNG). Brent crude has surged more than 50% to around $110/bbl since the conflict erupted in late February, while the U.S. stock market has lost nearly $4 trillion. Previously, we reported that Russia has emerged as the biggest winner of the war, with the conflict providing a strategic "economic lifeline" to Moscow by elevating oil prices, distracting Western allies from the war in Ukraine and strengthening its diplomatic standing among nations in the Global South. The Trump administration has even eased sanctions on Russian and Iranian oil, albeit temporarily, drawing bipartisan backlash.

However, Africas energy giants could ultimately emerge as the long-term winners of this conflict. The ongoing disruption has handed African energy producers a distinctive structural advantage, thanks to being largely insulated from the conflict's geography. Leading energy giants in Africa, including Nigeria, Libya, Angola, Gabon, Mozambique, Namibia, and Tanzania, are increasingly viewed as lower-risk alternatives to Middle Eastern suppliers. European and Asian buyers now favor African volumes due to lower insurance premiums and more predictable delivery times compared to volumes passing through high-risk routes such as the Strait of Hormuz and the Red Sea.

Africas burgeoning LNG sector has, by far, the most bullish outlook. The continents total LNG export capacity is projected to rise from approximately 80 million tons per year (mtpa) in 2025 to over 175 mtpa by 2040, positioning Africa as a critical global LNG supplier. Sub-Saharan African LNG exports are projected to increase by 175% by 2034, rising from 30.9 billion cubic meters (bcm) in 2024 to 44.5 bcm. This surge will be driven by major project developments, including Mozambique, Angola, Equatorial Guinea, Nigeria and Cameroon.

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Last year, French multinational energy giant, TotalEnergies (NYSE:TTE), officially restarted its $20 billion Mozambique LNG project in Afungi, Cabo Delgado, following a 5-year suspension due to security issues. The facility has a capacity of over 13 mtpa, with first production scheduled for 2029. Italys Eni S.p.A. (NYSE:E) is advancing multi-stage development of the "supergiant" Coral natural gas field in the Rovuma Basin, offshore Mozambique, where its deploying Floating Liquefied Natural Gas (FLNG) technology to process LNG for export. With a capacity of 3.4 mtpa, Coral South FLNG began production in 2022, while Final Investment Decision (FID) for the 3.5 mtpa Coral North project was reached in 2025, with production expected to commence in 2028.

Meanwhile, Americas largest energy company, ExxonMobil (NYSE:XOM), is leading the onshore development of the $30 billion Rovuma LNG project in northern Mozambiques Area 4 block with a 25% stake, alongside partners Eni (25%), China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) (20%), Korea Gas Corp (10%), and Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (ADNOC) (20%). Rovuma LNG consists of onshore liquefaction trains fed by offshore gas fields with a total capacity of 18 mtpa. The project recently lifted force majeure following security improvements, with FID expected in the current year and production anticipated around 20302031.

The ongoing global energy crisis is also helping to fast-track some of Africas long-delayed energy projects, including the $20 billion Trans-Saharan gas pipeline designed to carry Nigerian gas through Niger and Algeria to Europe. Last month, Algeria and Niger announced that they would resume construction of the TSGP in March after a nearly one-year diplomatic standoff. The project has transitioned from a decades-long concept to an active construction phase largely driven by Europe's urgent need to diversify away from Russian energy following the invasion of Ukraine. Algerias state energy giant, Sonatrach, is leading the construction and technical oversight, with approximately 60% (2,400 km) of the total 4,128 km pipeline complete or advanced, primarily within Nigeria and Algeria. The pipeline aims to deliver 30 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas annually from Nigeria to Europe by 2027, providing a critical alternative to Russian supplies. Beyond energy, the TSGP is part of a broader "West-to-North Africa" corridor aimed at integrating regional economies and monetizing Nigeria's 200+ trillion cubic feet of gas reserves.

The European Union (EU) has drastically reduced its reliance on Russian natural gas, with imports falling from roughly 155 bcm in 2021 to an estimated 30 bcm per year in 2025. Russian gas now accounts for ~13% of EU imports, consisting of a mix of pipeline gas to countries like Hungary and Slovakia, alongside LNG delivered to Belgium, France and other European countries.

By Alex Kimani for Oilprice.com

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Conservatives, Reform UK and Lib Dems are all calling for the rise to be cancelled, with Kemi Badenoch pivoting to demands for renewed North Sea oil and gas drilling instead.

The planned hike would lift the current 52.95p-per-litre rate by reversing a temporary 5p cut introduced in 2022  the first fuel duty increase in 15 years.

Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson pushed back against cross-party calls to scrap the September fuel duty rise, saying the government will "take a view closer to the time."

A Labour cabinet minister has pushed back against rallying calls for the government to hand petrol retailers some reprieve, stating there is no need to axe the planned hike in fuel duty.

Education secretary Bridget Bridget Phillipson said on Sunday the government would take a view closer to the time on whether to press ahead with the controversial increase.

The current main rate of fuel duty stands at 52.95p per litre, but includes a temporary 5p reduction introduced in 2022, which is scheduled to be reversed in stages starting in September 2026.

Septembers increase will mark the first rise to fuel duty in 15 years, which has been frozen since 2011  apart from a 5p cut in 2022.

Im not going to commit months ahead of time when there isnt a need to act right now, because those protections remain in place, Phillipson told Sky News.

It comes as the industry awaits a targeted support plan from Rachel Reeves, to help the poorest households deal with the shock of surging energy prices following the outbreak of war in Iran.

Reeves has also pledged to crack down on profiteering among retailers amidst the energy crisis, but this has faced criticism from business leaders who have said the accusation lacks any foundation.

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Asda boss Allan Lieghton said there was zero credibility in ministers profiteering claims against retailers and said the campaign was a waste of time.

He added: Thankfully weve all got better things to do than play that particular political shenanigan game.

Badenoch calls for North Sea drilling

An increase to fuel duty has sparked backlash from opposite benches with the Conservatives, Reform UK and Liberal Democrats all calling for the government to reverse the decision.

Kemi Badenoch has doubles down on calls for the government to drill in the North Sea, instead of squeezing its fuel supply.

Badenoch told Sky News: Rushing out to say the Government should be rationing fuel, thats not the first thing I would be doing.

The first thing they should do is start drilling our own oil and gas in the North Sea, its important for our energy security, our economic security, our national security  and theyre not doing that.

Sir Keir Starmer said during Prime Ministers Questions that he doesnt hold the legal capacity to approve fresh exploration of North Sea oil and gas fields, with the decision falling in the hands of net zero secretary Ed Miliband.

Its absolutely clear that the quasi judicial [process] lies with secretary of state, Starmer said.

He added: In the last four weeks, because we are on a fossil fuel rollercoaster, everyone is being held to ransom.

By City AM

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Criminals are exploiting weak points across the West Texas oil production region, which accounts for 15% of the world's energy resources. This emerging wave of oil theft is burning a multi-billion-dollar hole in the budgets of oil and gas operators across the Permian Basin and is becoming a national security threat.

Bloomberg reports that oil and gas producers are losing at least $1 billion, if not more, per year due to oilfield theft in what the outlet describes as something straight out of a "Mad Max" movie.

At the center of the Permian Basin is Martin County, one of the most important oil-producing counties in the country.

The outlet spoke with Sheriff Randy Cozart, who estimates that about 500 barrels of crude are stolen each week. Industry groups say statewide losses are accumulating and range from $1 billion to $2 billion annually.

"Where there's money, there's crime," Cozart explained. "And there's lots of money in oil right now," he said, especially with WTI prices near triple-digit territory due in part to the energy shock in the Middle East.

One of the major problems in the Permian Basin is the recent increase in criminal activity, which some say is due to the Biden-Harris administration's nation-killing open-border policies.

Ed Longanecker, president of the Texas Independent Producers and Royalty Owners Association, told the outlet that oil companies in the region could incur losses of up to $2 billion. He said that figure does not cover thefts across the New Mexico portion of the Permian.

"The old joke in the oil field used to be that if it wasn't bolted down, it would get stolen," Michael Lozano, who runs government affairs and communications for the Permian Basin Petroleum Association, said, adding, "Now they're unscrewing the bolts, and they're stealing those too."

A recent Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas survey of oil executives showed that at least 60% said their operations were affected by oil thefts.

Bloomberg described one method thieves use to steal oil:

Today's Permian Basin thieves might instead connect vacuum trucks to storage tanks in broad daylight and siphon it out, sometimes covering their license plates or swapping vehicles to evade law enforcement, authorities say.

Now, regulators and the FBI have taken notice because these oil thefts are becoming a growing economic security and critical infrastructure threat.

Local officials in Texas and New Mexico are closely watching the oil theft crisis. Texas has responded by creating a task force under the Railroad Commission, lawmakers are studying total economic losses, and the FBI has become more involved.

The question now is whether the energy shock emerging from the Middle East and the resulting national security threats will pressure states and the federal government to fortify critical energy infrastructure from the Gulf of America to the Permian Basin and elsewhere, as the risk of drone threats and sabotage continues to rise.

By Zerohedge.com

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US President Donald Trump said he wants to take the oil in Iran and perhaps seize Kharg Island, while at the same time insisting that Washington is doing extremely well in negotiations with Iran and that he is "pretty sure" a peace deal will be reached "soon."

The mixing of threats and the possibility of a peace deal with Tehran came in an interview published late on March 29 in the Financial Times and in remarks an hour later to reporters aboard Air Force One.

To reporters, Trump hailed progress in talks with Iran, saying they were being held directly and indirectly with "reasonable" leaders and asserted that Tehran was partially opening the crucial Strait of Hormuz, the waterway through which some 20 percent of the world's oil and natural gas supplies pass.

He didn't elaborate on what he called direct talks with Iran, whose leaders deny negotiations are taking place. Tehran has said it received, reviewed, and rejected a 15-point US peace plan that was delivered through Pakistani emissaries.

Trump said: "We are doing extremely well in that negotiation. But you never know with Iran because we negotiate with them and then we always have to blow them up...whether it's with B52 bombers" or by having torn up the 2015 nuclear deal that Tehran signed with world powers, including the United States, Russia, and China.

"I think we will make a deal with them. Pretty sure. But it's possible we won't," he told reporters. "But we've had regime change already. [The Iranian] regime was decimated, destroyed. They're all dead."

He said, without being specific, that the current leaders have been "very reasonable."

"I do see a deal in Iran. Could be soon," he said.

'Preference' Is To Take Iran's Oil

In the FT interview, Trump said that my preference would be to take the oil," likening the situation to that of Venezuela, where he said he intends to take control of the country's oil industry indefinitely after US forces captured leader Nicolas Maduro in January.

To be honest with you, my favorite thing is to take the oil in Iran, but some stupid people back in the US say: Why are you doing that? But theyre stupid people, Trump was quoted by the FT as saying.

Maybe we take Kharg Island, maybe we dont. We have a lot of options, Trump said, referring to the hub where most of Iran's oil is exported.

It would also mean we had to be there [in Kharg Island] for a while, he said I dont think they have any defense. We could take it very easily.

Trump has imposed an April 6 deadline for Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz and accept a deal ending the war or face US strikes on its power plants.

Pakistan Seeks To Host Talks

Earlier in the day, Pakistan said it was looking to hold direct peace talks in Islamabad this week, but the violence in the Middle East and harsh rhetoric between Washington and Tehran showed no signs of letup.

"Pakistan will be honored to host and facilitate meaningful talks between the two sides in coming days, for a comprehensive and lasting settlement of the ongoing conflict," Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said following a March 29 meeting of the regions top diplomats.

Washington and Tehran did not comment on the proposed peace talks as the casualties and damages in the Middle East continued unabated. In a new development over the weekend, Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen entered the fray, launching missiles toward Israel, including a third salvo early on March 30.

The developments come as thousands more US Marines arrived in the region, as Washington continued laying the groundwork for a possible land invasion of Iran, though US officials said no decisions have been made whether to invade.

With the US-Israeli war with Iran in its fifth week, Irans powerful parliament speaker, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf -- seen as a possible contender to lead the country after US-Israeli air strikes killed its leadership -- accused the United States of "secretly" planning a ground attack despite talking about peace.

"We are certain we can punish America and make it regret ever considering an attack on Iran," he said.

Iran late on March 29 launched a missile strike that injured at least 11 people in the desert city of Beersheba, Israeli authorities said. In one strike, a large fire broke out at a chemical plant on the outskirts of the city.

The Israeli military, in its 24-hour recap, said it had launched more than 140 air strikes on central and western Iran, including Tehran, over the 24 hours through the evening of March 29. It said ballistic missile launch sites and storage facilities, among other targets, were hit.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said on March 29 that Iran's heavy-water reactor at Khondab, near the city of Arak, which Tehran reported had been attacked on March 27, has suffered severe damage and is no longer operational.

The Israeli military had said it struck the facility, officially known as the Khondab Heavy Water Research Reactor -- at least the second time the site had been hit following an Israeli air strike during the 12-day war in June 2025.

The reactor is part of a sprawling nuclear complex in central Iran that includes heavy-water production facilities, which allow Iran to use natural uranium as fuel without the need for high-level enrichment.

Tehran Power Outages

Israel's military also said it carried out new strikes against sites linked to Iran's regime figures, but it did not provide specifics.

Iran's Energy Ministry said US and Israeli strikes late on March 29 targeted power supply facilities in the capital, Tehran, leading to outages in several districts.

Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he has instructed the army to advance further into southern Lebanon to expand what he called the "existing security strip."

Netanyahu said the goal was to prevent the threat posed by Iran-backed Hezbollah -- deemed a terrorist organization by Israel and the United States -- and the firing of rockets from the area.

"We are determined to fundamentally change the situation" in southern Lebanon, he said.

By RFE/RL

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A fast thaw in relations between the Kremlin and Azerbaijan occurred in March, enabling a strategic link connecting Russia and Iran to keep functioning, despite the ongoing US-Israeli bombing campaign in Iran. Some Western observers believe the route, known as the western branch of the North-South corridor, is being used by Russia to funnel weapons to Iran to keep the war in the Persian Gulf going.

Russian-Azerbaijani relations had been tense since Russian air-defense forces accidentally shot down an Azerbaijani civilian airliner in late 2024 and subsequently refused to take responsibility for the tragedy. Until recently, the two countries had continued to trade diplomatic barbs.

But the tone in bilateral relations suddenly changed following a March 2 meeting in Baku between Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Overchuck and Azerbaijani leader Ilham Aliyev, discussions that took place just days after the start of the US-Israeli aerial campaign in Iran. A statement issued by Aliyevs office indicated that the meeting managed to settle the issue of the accidental shootdown. It also noted that both sides reaffirmed their commitment to continuing efforts to advance the International NorthSouth Transport Corridor.

Since then, the tone of bilateral relations has lost its edge and now sounds more like one of strategic partners that they profess to be. Azerbaijans envoy in Moscow, Rahman Mustafayev, was quoted as saying in mid-March by the Azerbaijani state-connected outlet Minval; "There is an active process of normalization. There are dynamics in the trade and economic sphere, in the field of political and humanitarian contacts."

On March 27, Russian leader Vladimir Putin, in comments marking the opening of an Azerbaijani theater in the Russian North Caucasus territory of Dagestan, lauded bilateral relations as developing on a solid foundation of a common historical past.

Against the backdrop of the Russian-Azerbaijani thaw, Overchuk recently said that the North-South corridor was functioning normally, specifically thanking Azerbaijan for ensuring the routes smooth operation.

State-aligned media in Azerbaijan of late have published commentaries touting the corridor, with one outlet describing the country as the logistical backbone of the North-South route.

Concern is growing in the United States and Europe Union that Russia will soon send, if it is not already doing so, arms and equipment, along with medical supplies and humanitarian aid, via the North-South corridor to Iran in amounts that would allow Tehran to maintain, or even expand its drone counter-attack strategy, according to a March 26 report published by the New York Times. Russia denies supplying Iran with weaponry.

Earlier this year, Azerbaijan inked a charter on strategic partnership with the United States, focusing on expanding trade ties. Baku also maintains a strong security relationship with Israel. But apparently, North-South considerations in Azerbaijans geostrategic calculus slightly outweigh the opportunities presented by closer relations with the United States and Israel, although Baku still is eager to be perceived as neutral in the US-Israeli-Iran conflict.

Lackluster trade data with the United States may help explain Azerbaijans approach on the North-South corridor. Despite the hype around the signing of a Washington-brokered Armenian-Azerbaijani peace deal, and an agreement to construct a trade route known as the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP), US-Azerbaijani trade volume totaled just under $1.6 billion in 2025, an over 11 percent decline over the previous years total. And trade volume was down 25 percent during the first two months of this year, compared to the same period in 2025.

By Eurasianet

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Argentina no longer faces a $16.1 billion court-ordered payment tied to the 2012 nationalization of state-owned oil company YPF.

A U.S. appeals court overturned the 2023 judgment that had awarded damages to minority shareholders, Barrons said on Friday. The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled 21 that the claims were not recognizable under Argentine law. That removes a potential liability estimated at up to $18 billion, including interest.

The case stems from Argentinas 2012 seizure of a 51% stake in oil company YPF from Repsol under then-president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner. Repsol settled for $5 billion in 2014. Other shareholders, including Petersen Energia and Eton Park, did not receive compensation. They filed suit in 2015, arguing that Argentina failed to make a required tender offer under YPFs bylaws.

The U.S. district court agreed in 2023 and set damages at $16.1 billion. Argentina appealed. The appellate court reversed, finding that Argentine law did not support the breach of contract claims. The case was heard in New York because YPF is listed on the NYSE, but the legal standard ultimately rested on Argentine statutes.

For Argentina, the removal of a $1618 billion liability directly affects reserves, debt servicing capacity, and fiscal planning. Argentina had argued the payment would consume a large share of its foreign currency reserves.

We won the YPF trial, Argentine President Javier Milei said on X.

For Milei, this means Argentina does not have to come up with $1618 billion in hard currency. That removes a direct draw on reserves and avoids pulling capital out of oil and gas. YPF continues funding drilling, completions, and midstream buildout in Vaca Muerta without the spectre of diverting cash to a legal payout.

The ruling also sets clear limits for US investors. YPF may trade on the New York exchange, but Argentine law controlled the outcome. That limits how far foreign shareholders can pursue claims in U.S. courts and will feed directly into how investors price legal and political risk in state-controlled energy assets going forward.

By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com

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President Donald Trump on Monday threatened to destroy Iran's power plants, oil wells, Kharg Island, and potentially its desalination infrastructure if no ceasefire deal is reached, even as he claimed talks are moving in the right direction.

"Great progress has been made but, if for any reason a deal is not shortly reached...we will conclude our lovely 'stay' in Iran by blowing up and completely obliterating all of their Electric Generating Plants, Oil Wells and Kharg Island (and possibly all desalinization plants!), which we have purposefully not yet 'touched,'" Trump posted on Truth Social Monday morning.

The post came roughly 30 days into the U.S. and Israel's joint bombing campaign against Iran, which has effectively shut down the Strait of Hormuz to most commercial traffic. About one-fifth of the world's oil normally moves through the strait.

With it largely closed, global energy markets have been under sustained pressure, Brent crude has pushed back above $115 per barrel as insurers pull back and tanker routes are rerouted or abandoned.

WTI, for its part, crossed the $100 mark...

Trump's message on Monday also restated his threat to seize Kharg Island, which handles roughly 90% of Iran's crude exports. He has floated the idea before, including in a weekend interview with the Financial Times, though he acknowledged it would mean a U.S. military presence there "for a while." Iran has reinforced the island's defenses in anticipation, including portable air defense systems and mines along likely landing zones.

The new threat comes a day after Trump told reporters that Tehran had agreed to "most of" a 15-point ceasefire proposal the U.S. relayed via Pakistan. Iran's government has publicly denied that any direct negotiations are taking place. On March 25, Tehran formally rejected the U.S. proposal and put forward five conditions of its own  including sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz, guaranteed war reparations, and a complete halt to strikes from the U.S. and Israel.

On March 26, Trump extended his deadline for Iran to reopen the strait for a second time, pushing it to April 6. He has framed each extension as a goodwill gesture toward ongoing talks. Speaking Thursday, Trump said Iranian negotiators had allowed eight oil tankers through the strait as a symbolic gesture, which he described as a sign he was "dealing with the right people."

But by Sunday, Iran's parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf was rejecting the talks outright, saying Iran could not be forced into submission. And on the ground, the conflict continued to escalate. A March 27 Iranian missile and drone strike on Prince Sultan Air Base damaged several U.S. refueling aircraft and injured 15 soldiers, including five critically.

The Pentagon is now weighing sending up to 10,000 additional ground troops to the Middle East, according to the Wall Street Journal, on top of deployments already underway that include the 82nd Airborne Division and Marine Expeditionary Units configured for amphibious operations.

In Washington, some lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are pushing back against any ground operation inside Iran, and the Senate Armed Services Committee is preparing to examine the war next month. U.N. officials have also warned that threatening to strike civilian power and water infrastructure could constitute a war crime.

The April 6 deadline is now the focal point. If negotiations collapse before then, Trump's options range from striking Kharg Island's oil export infrastructure  a move JP Morgan has warned could cut Iran's crude output in half  to a ground assault on the island itself. Either path carries significant market consequences. Destroying the terminal would remove a large share of Iranian supply immediately. Seizing it, analysts say, would likely trigger broader retaliation across Gulf energy infrastructure without necessarily resolving the standoff over the strait.

For now, the market is watching the calendar.

By Michael Kern for Oilprice.com

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Despite a ban on fuel exports from early this month, China has delivered cargoes of diesel and other fuels to Southeast Asia in recent days in a sign that Beijing seeks to alleviate the regional crisis and retain diplomatic leverage.

Two weeks after the war in the Middle East began and after it became clear that the Strait of Hormuz wouldnt be re-opening within days, China banned all fuel exports as crude supply from the Middle East crumbled and forced Asian refiners to turn to alternatives.

The restrictions took immediate effect on March 12 and applied to all cargoes that had not passed through customs as of March 11.

Over the weekend, cargoes from China were observed to arrive at ports in the Philippines and Vietnam, two of the Southeast Asian countries worst hit by the supply loss from the Middle East.

The Ding Heng 36 and Auchentoshan tankers this weekend delivered over 260,000 barrels of diesel to the Philippines, according to ship-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg. Another vessel, Great Ocean, delivered around 100,000 barrels of distillate fuels to Vietnam this weekend, the data showed.

The cargoes may have been cleared for export before the Chinese ban. They would still come as some relief to the struggling Southeast Asian nations that found themselves short on fuels and amid a major oil shock supply and price crisis.

Related: 3 Defense Stocks To Replenish Americas Depleting Arsenal

The Philippines, for example, last week declared a national energy emergency, the first country in the world to do so, after gasoline and diesel prices doubled since the war began. The Philippines depends on imports from the Middle East for 98% of its oil needs.

Vietnam, for its part, temporarily removed the value-added tax on gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel until April 15, while local airlines will slash routes as of April 1 amid a major aviation fuel crunch.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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India is speeding up the commissioning of wind farms and battery storage systems as its natural gas supply is slashed amid the war in the Middle East, India's junior power minister Shripad Naik said on Monday.

"Presently, there are challenges in respect of availability and price volatility of natural gas due to the Middle East crisis. However, the generators are exploring alternate sources," Naik told the Parliament today, as carried by Reuters.

The country slashed gas supply to industry early this month, following the war in the Middle East and Qatar's force majeure on LNG deliveries after it stopped liquefaction and later its major LNG complex at Ras Laffan was hit by Iranian missiles. Damages were extensive, QatarEnergy said, noting that it would lose $20 billion in annual revenues due to the attacks, with repairs potentially taking up to five years to complete.

Due to the lower natural gas supply, India is leaning on a higher share of renewables and its backup fuel for power generationcoal, which continues to deliver more than half of power output and will likely account for much more this summer.

India's Power Minister last week ordered coal-fired power plants to run at full capacity for three months starting April 1, to be prepared to meet peak power demand during the coming summer.

Related: New Chemistry Breakthrough Could Challenge Chinas Rare Earth Dominance

India is expected to see peak summer demand of 270 gigawatts (GW) this year, which would beat the previous record-high demand of 250 GW from May 2024.

Still, solid coal capacity and rising share of renewable energy generation are expected to compensate the lower gas-fired generation. While gas doesn't have a large share in the power generation mix, it is flexible fuel in plants that could meet peak demand.

This summer, coal will play that role, once again, as India is keen to avoid blackouts amid lower gas supply due to the Middle East war and the resulting sky-high spot LNG prices.

India's power system is prepared to meet peak summer demand, the junior power minister told Parliament today.

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

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Oil prices had another volatile start to the week before breaking out due to a combination of military escalation and diplomatic breakdown.

At the time of writing, after climbing to $116 and then flash crashing to $114, Brent Crude was trading at $116.69, up 3.66%. Meanwhile, West Texas Intermediate had risen 3.18% to $102.80.

Another weekend of escalation in the conflict started with an Iranian strike on Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia on Saturday, wounding at least 15 U.S. service members and damaging key aerial refueling assets. The strike could hinder Saudi air defences, which heightens the risk of a successful attack on the Kingdom's energy infrastructure.

Fears of a further disruption to oil markets then worsened as Yemens Houthi rebels formally entered the conflict, launching ballistic missiles toward southern Israel and signaling that the Bab el-Mandeb Strait may now be at risk.

While the Strait of Hormuz is the world's most important oil chokepoint, the Bab el-Mandeb Strait has provided some relief for markets, with Saudi Arabia redirecting oil through its East-West Pipeline to the Red Sea. If the Houthis were to shut that in as well, the supply crisis would worsen significantly.

Over the weekend, the U.S. continued its military buildup in the region, with the arrival of the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, a unit that consists of 3,500 personnel and specializes in amphibious raids. This heightened concerns that the U.S. may attempt to take Kharg Island or put 'boots on the ground' in some other arena. Reporting from the Wall Street Journal suggests the President is considering an operation to extract Iran's uranium.

President Trump added fuel to the fire in a Sunday interview with the Financial Times when he said his preference would be to "take the oil in Iran," a move that would require seizing Kharg Island.

Elsewhere, Israel launched a new wave of airstrikes over the weekend targeting sites in Tehran, including a heavy-water plant and a yellowcake production facility, which resulted in partial power outages in the city.

Pakistans Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said Islamabad is prepared to host talks between the U.S. and Iran, but it remains unclear how committed either side is to negotiations.

Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf dismissed the prospect of negotiations, warning that Iranian forces are prepared for American soldiers and will set fire to their souls and punish their regional partners forever.

That rhetoric, combined with continued strikes across the region and a U.S. troop buildup, has led markets to largely discount diplomatic progress for now.

By Josh Owens for Oilprice.com

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Oil prices are about to log their biggest monthly rise on record following Houthi attacks on Israel and President Trumps statement that he wants to take Irans oil. The international benchmark was set for a 59% increase since the start of March, Reuters said.

At the time of writing, Brent crude was trading at $115.52, after topping $116 per barrel earlier in the day in Asia following the news of the Houthi strikes. West Texas Intermediate was trading at $101.04 per barrel.

The conflict is no longer concentrated in the Persian Gulf and around the Strait of Hormuz, but now extends into the Red Sea and the Bab el-Mandeb  one of the world's most crucial chokepoints for crude and refined product flows, JP Morgan analysts said in a note, as quoted by Reuters.

Bloomberg, meanwhile, cited President Trump as saying that Iran had agreed to most of the 15 points of a ceasefire plan the United States released last week. They gave us most of the points. Why wouldnt they? the U.S. president told the media on Air Force One on Sunday. Were going to be asking for a couple of other things. Trump did not specify the other things, but in an interview with the Financial Times, he said he wanted Irans oil.

The Yemeni Houthis involvement in the war has become the latest bullish factor for oil prices as they could add to supply disruptions by targeting tankers in the Red Sea, which has become Saudi Arabias main export conduit after the Strait of Hormuz closure. Per Kpler data cited by Reuters, the Saudis were exporting oil at a rate of 4.658 million barrels daily from the port of Yanbu.

If the Red Sea exports get disrupted, Saudi Arabia would have to redirect oil flows to the SUMED pipeline from the Suez Canal to Egypts Mediterranean coast, JP Morgan analysts warned. The pipeline has a capacity of 2.5 million barrels daily.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

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A tanker loaded with Russian fuel is set to arrive in Cuba as the United States considers lifting the blockade of the island to let it pass, Bloomberg reported today, citing unnamed sources in the know from Washington.

Reuters reported earlier today that the tanker, Anatoly Kolodkin, had entered Cubas exclusive economic zone.

Earlier in the month, the U.S. said Russian tankers were banned from delivering oil to Cuba, where the Trump administration is trying to effect regime change by choking off energy supplies.

The U.S. president, in late January, signed an executive order declaring a national emergency and establishing a process to impose tariffs on goods from countries that sell or otherwise provide oil to Cuba. This was motivated by protecting U.S. national security and foreign policy from the Cuban regimes malign actions and policies, according to the executive order.

The blockade resulted in severe shortages of fuel as the U.S. takeover of Venezuelas oil industry eliminated Cubas biggest oil supplier, and Mexico, despite declarations that it would continue supplying fuel to the island, did not follow with actions, wary of U.S. tariff penalties.

Russia, on the other hand, signaled it would send fuel to Cuba despite the blockade and the tariff threat. The Russian embassy in Cuba said the fuel would be delivered as humanitarian aid.

The first tanker is set to arrive in Cuba this week, carrying 730,000 barrels of crude oil, Bloomberg reported, adding that Cuban government officials were in contact with the U.S. in recent days, making certain concessions such as allowing a fuel delivery for the U.S. embassy.

The second tanker, carrying diesel fuel, is on its way, per Bloomberg, although Marie Traffic data says the vessel is anchored off the Venezuelan coast. The cargo from the first tanker could ease Cubas electricity shortages for about a week, given an average daily demand rate from power plants of 100,000 barrels. If Cuba rationed the fuel, however, the Russian cargo could last it for up to a month.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

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President Donald Trump has suggested the United States may try to take over Irans oil the way it did with Venezuelas, per a Financial Times interview.

To be honest with you, my favourite thing is to take the oil in Iran, but some stupid people back in the US say: Why are you doing that? But theyre stupid people, Trump told the FT.

Maybe we take Kharg Island, maybe we dont. We have a lot of options, the U.S. president also told the publication, adding. It would also mean we had to be there [in Kharg Island] for a while.

Kharg Island is Irans oil hub, handling 90% of the countrys oil exports. The island lies beyond the Strait of Hormuz, however, which would make taking it a challenge, as noted by various military experts. According to official Pentagon statements, the U.S. has bombed as many as 90 targets on Kharg Island but these have not included oil facilities or infrastructure, per President Trump himself.

We can do that on five minutes' notice. It'll be over, Trump said earlier this month, referring to the pipelines connecting mainland Iran to Kharg Island. Just one simple word, and the pipes will be gone too. But it'll take a long time to rebuild that.

That one simple word has yet to be pronounced, it seems, even as Trump told the FT on Sunday that I dont think they have any defence. We could take it [Kharg Island] very easily.

While threatening the takeover of Kharg Island, however, the U.S. president also said negotiations with Iran were going very well. In remarks over the weekend, Trump said the current Iranian leadership was very reasonable, per Reuters. I think we'll make a deal with them, I'm pretty sure, but it's possible we won't, he also said, as more U.S. troops arrive in the Middle East and Iran repeats it will not give in to U.S. demands.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

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Days before it is slated to announce pricing for May-loading cargoes for Asia, the worlds top crude exporter, Saudi Arabia, is unsure how the typical price mechanism could apply and is under pressure from buyers to switch to alternative pricing, as the war is upending oil flows and roiling regional benchmarks.

Saudi Arabia typically announces around the fifth of each month its crude pricing for the following month and doesnt comment on price changes.

It also sets the tone for the pricing of the other major oil producers in the Middle East, influencing the pricing policy of about 9 million barrels per day (bpd) of exports from the Arab Gulf region. Now most of these are trapped and unable to move past the Strait of Hormuz.

The pricing mechanism has long been to price the Saudi flagship Arab Light crude, and all other grades, to Asia against the average of the Oman/Dubai pricesthe Middle Eastern benchmarks.

But since the war has now upended all crude and petroleum flows in the Middle East, with the Strait of Hormuz off the table as an option for Saudi crude, the pricing mechanism is in disarray with the Dubai prices soaring, but physical supply nowhere to be seen.

Related: 5 Stocks to Buy Now That The Strait of Hormuz is Closed

Saudi Arabia and Asian buyers are still negotiating on the pricing for Saudi crude loading for Asia in May, and buyers insist that the worlds biggest crude oil exporter change the mechanism, traders with knowledge of the talks told Bloomberg on Monday.

If the conventional pricing mechanism is followed, the premium for Arab Light would soar to as much as $40 per barrel over the average Oman/Dubai, up from a $2.50 per barrel premium for the April loadings, the traders said.

Asian refiners have already priced some orders for U.S. crude oil against the ICE Brent benchmark instead of the typical pricing on Dubai crude, as the Middle Eastern benchmark has seen wild fluctuations amid choked physical supply from the Persian Gulf.

For April, Saudi Arabia is slashing its crude oil exports to Asia, for a second month in a row, as the de facto closed Strait of Hormuz is stranding nearly half of the supply from the worlds top crude exporter.

Saudi Arabia is seeking to redirect as many barrels as possible to the Yanbu port on the Red Sea. This export route doesnt need passage through the Strait of Hormuz, where Iran is now selectively and politically ensuring safe passage through the chokepoint for some vessels.

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

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By Taxpayers Association of Oregon

OregonWatchdog.com

Last year the State of Washington raised their Death Tax on higher earners and it backfired! Fears grew that the highest paying taxpayers were set to leave the state. Washington icon, Starbucks, just saw their founder leave Washington for Florida. High profile Washington businessman Marc Barros just announced he is taking his company out of Washington.

The Governor just signed a bill to cut the Death Tax.

Washington is cutting their death tax, at the same time Oregon is circulating a petition to abolish the Death Tax.

This maybe the most vulnerable time for the Oregon death tax.

Please go here to sign the petition!

We only have until June to get enough signatures. Act now.

 Was this article helpful? If yes, please contribute online at OregonWatchdog.com (learn about a Charitable Tax Deduction or Political Tax Credit options to promote liberty).


By Oregon Campaign Watch,

Oregon U.S. Senator Ron Wyden is part of the Senate investigation into Jeffrey Epstein. At the same time, the Epstein files reveal that there is a connection between Wydens son and Jeffrey Epstein.

Fox News reports, However, emails reviewed by Fox News Digital in the DOJ Epstein files show Wydens own family connection  an April 2016 appointment at Epsteins Manhattan mansion between his son Adam and the disgraced financier. An email chain from late April 2016, after it was already public that Epstein was a convicted child sex offender and was accused of operating an under-age sex slave ring, shows Adam Wyden sought investment backing from Epstein during a meeting at Epsteins home in Manhattan where Epstein allegedly engaged in some of his criminal activity. The senators son founded his own private investment fund, ADW Capital, in 2010.Jeffrey, I wanted to thank you for taking the time to meet with me. I thoroughly enjoyed our conversation and hope my passion and dedication for my business came through in the meeting. I live and breathe this business and take my returns, integrity, and reputation quite seriously. And, I believe I have the mental fortitude and energy to stick through the tough times and drive value when others are fatigued, the younger Wyden said in an email in April 2016 to Epstein. I intensely appreciate like minded individuals and would very much look forward to having you join us at the fund.

No elected official is responsible for the actions of their adult sons, but it does complicate the investigation.

Read more here:
Kathmandu, Nepal, March 30, 2026: Police arrested Rekha Sharma, a member of the Lumbini Provincial Assembly, on Sunday. She was taken from her home in Dhumbarahi, Kathmandu.

The Case Against Rekha Sharma

Ms. Sharma is accused of keeping a young girl at her house for child labor. A team from the Kathmandu Metropolitan City and the local police rescued the girl recently. They found that the child was being used as a domestic worker.

There was some confusion before the arrest. The District Government Attorneys Office had previously said there was "no need to file a case." However, the police went ahead with the arrest on Sunday to investigate the matter further.

Police Search for Mahesh Basnet

At the same time, police are looking for Mahesh Basnet, a secretary of the CPN-UML party. Since Sunday afternoon, police officers in plain clothes have been trying to find him.

A woman has filed a complaint against Mr. Basnet, accusing him of "forcing and threatening" her. While the police are searching for him, Mr. Basnet posted a message on social media on Sunday night.

What the Leaders Say

Mr. Basnet said he is not running away. He claims that the government is trying to arrest him to stop the CPN-UML's protests. These protests started after the party's Chairman, KP Sharma Oli, was also taken into custody.

The CPN-UML party says these arrests are being made for political reasons. However, the police maintain that they are simply following the law based on the complaints they received.
A second person involved in Riviera Maya highway accident dies

Akumal, Q.R.  A second person involved in a Riviera Maya highway accident earlier this month has died. Authorities have confirmed the death of 36 year old Yocelin Estrada N who died after three weeks in hospital.

She suffered injuries when she was hit by a bus on the federal highway March 3. The bus hit a parked Sabritas company truck, pushing it into a pole and causing it to catch fire.

The driver of that company truck, Ginger A, was killed. Yocelin Estrada N, who was also a Sabritas employee, was injured while standing outside that truck talking with her coworker.

She was rushed to Playa del Carmen hospital where she died Friday night.

The accident happened when the driver of the bus dozed at the wheel and swerved into one of the two the parked vehicles. The bus driver was arrested at the scene.
Cozumel judge hands down 25 year prison sentence for 2022 murder

Cozumel, Q.R.  A Cozumel judge has sentenced an island man to 25 years for murder. Police say the sentence was handed down Friday for the November 2022 murder of a Cozumel man.

In an oral trial hearing, a 25-year prison sentence against Christian Jesus Torres Medina and/or Cristian Jesus Torres Mejia, alias El Walas, was handed down for the crime of aggravated homicide against a male victim, they reported.

The events for which he was sentenced occurred on November 20, 2022, at a residence located on 6th South Street and 23rd Avenue in the San Miguel I neighborhood.

At that location, the now sentenced man arrived on a motorcycle in the company of an accomplice; likewise, two other men arrived at the site in a car.

Subsequently, Christian Jesus Torres Medina and/or Cristian Jesus Torres Mejia got off the motorcycle and remained in the hallway of the house, while an accomplice entered the building and killed the victim with a firearm. After the attack, the perpetrators fled the scene.

In addition to the prison sentence, the judicial authority imposed a fine of 144,330 pesos as well as 874,722 pesos for material damages.
First miner rescued from Mexico gold mine collapse after more than100 hours trapped

El Rosario, Sinaloa  One of the four trapped miners has been rescued alive after more than 100 hours of search work. Authorities have confirmed the rescue of 44 year old Jose Alejandro Castulo Colin from the Santa Fe gold mine.

He was rescued early Monday morning after a collapse left four men trapped. He was underground more than 100 hours before being pulled from the mine.

Four men were trapped when a tailings dam inside the Santa Fe gold mine collapsed. March 25, 2026.

The National Coordination of Civil Protection confirmed the location and rescue of one of the four workers. The rescue happened shortly after midnight March 30 when emergency brigades managed to locate one minor.

After activating the extraction protocols and bringing him to the surface, he was transferred by helicopter to the General Hospital of Mazatlan.

On March 25, a tailings dam inside the Santa Fe gold mine, operated by the company Industrial Minera Sinaloa in the town of Chele, collapse. According to the Government of Mexico, the collapse happened at 2:00 p.m. March 25 and was reported to municipal authorities at 2:20 p.m. on March 26.

Upon receiving official notification from state authorities, the Mexican government immediately activated federal response protocols and deployed task forces to the site. Technical reports indicate that 25 workers were on the excavation crew at the time of the geomembrane rupture. Of these, 21 miners escaped unharmed on their own, while four remain trapped, they reported in a statement.

The rescue efforts initiated by the mining company are ongoing and have been strategically reinforced by all three levels of government.

Constant ventilation is maintained inside the mine to ensure life support conditions, the site where the dam failed has been plugged to prevent the entry of more material and removal work is being carried out at the mine entrance for safe entry.

Work continues to rescue the remaining three miners. March 30, 2026

Simultaneously, a vertical excavation is underway using diamond-tipped drilling equipment, aiming to reach a depth of up to 300 meters to establish contact and deliver vital supplies, while teams prepare for search operations using counter-shafts and rappelling.

Work continues to rescue the three remaining trapped miners.
French Navy Defense and Intervention frigate Amiral Ronarch arrives in Cozumel

Cozumel, Q.R.  The Mexican Navy reported on the Saturday arrival of the French Navys Defense and Intervention frigate Amiral Ronarch. The vessel arrived at the Punta Langosta dock in Cozumel Saturday.

The French vessel arrived at Cozumel March 28, 2026.

The aforementioned ship is intended to carry out a logistical visit for its provisioning, operational coordination as well as rest for its personnel, they reported. Therefore, it is estimated that it will set sail on April 2nd.

The ship has a length of 121.6 meters, a draft of 6.3 meters and a beam of 17.7 meters and a crew consisting of 17 officers, 85 sailors and 29 boatswains.

During their stay, they will be provided with the corresponding port and logistical facilities in accordance with current regulations applicable to visits by foreign vessels for non-commercial purposes.

Furthermore, the necessary coordination will be carried out with naval authorities and diplomatic representatives to ensure the smooth running of this visit. The Mexican Navy strengthens international cooperation ties, as well as coordination and understanding mechanisms between the worlds navies.

On Sunday, the Government of Cozumel also reported on its arrival. On behalf of Mayor Jose Luis Chacon, City Councilor Daniela Ayala led the plaque exchange ceremony with the French frigate Almiral Ronarch.

This formal event strengthens the bonds of friendship and international cooperation, highlighting Cozumel as a strategic meeting point for cultures and nations.

The vessel and crew will stay at San Miguel until April 2, 2026.

The frigate Almirante Ronarch, from France, symbolizes the maritime vocation and collaborative work between countries that share values of peace and development.
A garage can be a tough environment, collecting dirt, moisture, insects, and rodents. It can be difficult to use power tools and work in such conditions, especially if your garage's design is one that doesn't have enough outlets in the right places, forcing people to use extension cords or power strips. If your garage floor is always wet, you may worry about running extension cords or power strips along the floor because wet electrical components can increase the chance of electrical shock.

Hiring an electrician to install new outlets to meet your needs can cost $100 to $450 per outlet. If you want to safely add more outlets in your garage without breaking the bank, Harbor Freight has a helpful product worth considering that can help you avoid any potential moisture problems. The U.S. General 5-Outlet Metal Housing Magnetic Power Strip ($34) is available both online and in stores.

The U.S. General power strip is highly rated on the Harbor Freight website, with 98% of customers recommending purchasing it. Only about 2% of the more than 3,500 customer reviewers on the company website gave it one or two stars out of five. Many of the reviewers mentioned that the product has a rugged, heavy-duty design that they trust with specialized projects or valuable power tools. Reviewers also mentioned the strength of the magnet, which ensures that the power strip remains in place, even when it's supporting the weight and stress of multiple electrical cords.

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Read more: 15 Affordable Dollar Tree Home Items You Should Leave On The Shelf

Features customers love about the U.S. General power strip

Electrical cords plugged into a U.S. General power strip - Harbor Freight

You might know the U.S. General brand name from its inexpensive, colorful, and highly-rated mini toolboxes at Harbor Freight. While the toolbox is available in six eye-catching colors, the U.S. General power strip has nine color choices, including purple, red, bright green, yellow, and orange. Many reviewers say they picked a power strip color to match the toolbox they already owned. "It matches my red U.S. General toolbox perfectly," one Harbor Freight reviewer says.

Beyond the distinctive colors, the U.S. General power strip offers desirable features, including five outlets, one of which has extra space around it to accommodate a large adapter. It also has two USB ports, a lighted power switch, and an eight-foot grounded power cord. The two magnets on the back of the power strip provide 19 pounds of pull force, or you can use the screw holes built into the unit's housing to permanently mount it to a workbench or wall, keeping it away from a damp floor.

You can save money at Harbor Freight with this power strip. Snap-On offers a power strip with five outlets and other similar features for more than $160. The primary differences between these two products are that the Snap-On power strip has a lifetime warranty and is made in the United States. Harbor Freight only offers a 90-day warranty, and most U.S. General products are assembled in China.

What Harbor Freight customers say about this power strip

Battery chargers plugged into a U.S. General power strip - Harbor Freight

Many of the Harbor Freight customers who wrote reviews on the website say the U.S. General power strip works especially well in harsh environments. The metal housing used in the power strip's design protects the device from impacts and reduces the risk of damage that could lead to a fire. "This power strip is perfect for any garage," one Harbor Freight reviewer says. "The magnets on it make it great to attach to any toolbox or workbench." Other reviewers use the magnet to attach it to a refrigerator in the garage, a metal tool chest, or a garage cabinet.

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Several reviewers say the U.S. General power strip can handle a heavy-duty workload, too. One reviewer used it to run three 1,500-watt electric heaters in the garage, and the unit continued operating without tripping the built-in integrated circuit breaker. Another reviewer says the unit solved the problem of transforming a garage without enough working outlets into a woodworking shop. After trying to run multiple extension cords for power tools and increasing the trip hazard, the reviewer installed the U.S. General power strip to increase the number of available outlets near the workbench.

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Read the original article on House Digest.
CCTV: This morning, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs put on its website the decision to take countermeasures against member of Japans House of Representatives Keiji Furuya. Can you share more information on that?

Mao Ning: The Taiwan question is at the core of Chinas core interests and a red line that cannot be crossed. China has lodged serious protests with the Japanese side over the visit to Chinas Taiwan region by Keiji Furuya, member of Japans House of Representatives. In disregard of Chinas repeatedly stated position regarding the Japanese leaders erroneous remarks on Taiwan, Keiji Furuya failed to reign in his wrong behavior, and continued to collaborate with Taiwan independence separatist forces in taking provocative moves, which constitutes serious interference in Chinas internal affairs and violation of Chinas sovereignty and core interests. In response to his egregious moves and in accordance with the Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law of the Peoples Republic of China, China announced in the form of MFA decree countermeasures against Keiji Furuya as an action of warning and deterrence. China will take any additional punitive measure if deemed necessary in the future.

Anadolu Agency: A UN peacekeeper was killed and another critically injured in Israels artillery strike in southern Lebanon on the weekend. The UN Secretary-General strongly condemned the incident. What is Chinas comment?

Mao Ning: China strongly condemns the deadly attack on the UN Interim Force in Lebanon. We express deep condolences over the life lost and heartfelt sympathies to the injured. Any deliberate attack on UN peacekeepers is a serious violation of international humanitarian law and UNSC Resolution 1701. Such attacks are absolutely unacceptable and must stop at once. China urges parties to the conflict to deescalate and take concrete steps to ensure the safety of UN peacekeepers.

China News Service: It has been just over 100 days since the Hainan Free Trade Port started special customs operations. The worlds youngest free trade port has been widely praised for its high-standard performance. Would you like to comment on this and could you share more information?

Mao Ning: The Hainan Free Trade Port is to serve as a key platform championing openness and cooperation and facilitating innovation-driven development. The past 100 days or so since its debut has witnessed some impressive progress. With institutional opening up as the main engine, Hainan has been seeking growth through openness and openness through connectivity, turning into an important economic hub and platform for innovation cooperation in the domestic and international dual circulation. With the implementation of policies such as zero tariffs and low tax rates, Hainan has seen rapid increases in visits, cargo flow and the number of enterprises. On a year-on-year basis, visa-free inbound tourists increased by 54.2 percent; foreign trade grew by 32.9 percent; 737 new foreign-funded enterprises were established, up by more than 30 percent.

The past 100 days or so is just a prelude. As a vivid example of Chinas institutional opening up, the Hainan Free Trade Port will create opportunities through opening up, meet challenges through innovation, and write new stories of success together with the world.

A Tarde: The Japanese ambassador in Brazil said in a recent interview that Japan is willing to settle its diplomatic strain with China about Taiwan and stabilize the relationship between the countries. Is the Chinese government open to start a dialogue about this issue with Japan?

Mao Ning: The Taiwan question is Chinas internal affair and the one-China principle is the political foundation of China-Japan relations. Dialogue should be built on the basis of respecting each other and honoring the agreements made. One cannot just talk about dialogue while at the same time eroding the other sides core interests. The Japanese side needs to reflect on and correct its wrongdoings, abide by the four political documents between China and Japan and its own commitments, and take concrete actions to display sincerity for dialogue.

Global Times: It was reported that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs held the Seminar on Promoting Multilateralism and Advancing Arms Control Diplomacy and organized visits to decommissioned nuclear facilities from March 24 to 27. Can you share more information on that?

Mao Ning: From March 24 to 27, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs held the Seminar on Promoting Multilateralism and Advancing Arms Control Diplomacy in Beijing and organized visits to decommissioned nuclear facilities. Foreign representatives attending the seminar visited a Chinese nuclear company and also traveled to Chongqing to visit decommissioned nuclear facilities. This is an important diplomatic event of China to implement the Global Governance Initiative and the Global Security Initiative, support the role of the UN in arms control, and uphold the international arms control system.

Participating parties had in-depth exchanges of views on practicing multilateralism in arms control, the review conference of the parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, governance on emerging science and technology, and developing countries rights to peaceful use of science and technology. These discussions effectively enhanced mutual understanding on arms control policies, deepened strategic mutual trust, and provided new impetus for the international arms control process.

Anadolu Agency: Pakistans Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar raised the possibility of hosting talks between the U.S. and Iran to end ongoing conflict in the Middle East after a meeting of top diplomats from Pakistan, Turkiye, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia in Islamabad on the weekend. He said both Washington and Tehran expressed their confidence in Pakistan to facilitate the talks. What is Chinas position about this possibility of negotiations between the conflicting parties in the Middle East?

Mao Ning: China supports all efforts conducive to easing tensions, deescalating the situation and restoring dialogue. We call on parties to start peace talks as soon as possible. We commend Pakistans mediation effort for deescalation and support Pakistan in continuing to play its role as mediator. We stand ready to enhance communication and coordination with Pakistan and others to jointly work for a ceasefire and peace and stability in the region.

AFP: Air China has resumed flights to North Korea. I would like to ask the Foreign Ministry when will Chinese tourists be allowed again to travel to North Korea?

Mao Ning: Relevant department has released information on that. China and the DPRK are friends and close neighbors. Resuming passenger flights helps facilitate the friendly exchanges between the two peoples.

Reuters: The foreign ministers of G7 nations met last week to discuss the situation in Iran and the region. In their statement they urged an immediate cessation of attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructures. But in that statement they did not mention calling off attacks on all targets. Does the ministry have any comment on this statement?

Mao Ning: Military means do not address the fundamental issue. To prolong or escalate the conflict does not serve any partys interest. China opposes attacks on civilians and civilian facilities. Once again we call for an immediate end to military operations and start of peace talks as soon as possible to prevent even worse humanitarian disasters.

Anadolu Agency: U.S. President Donald Trump said Cuba is next after the military operation against Iran; Cuba will fail soon. What is Chinas comment?

Mao Ning: China stands for respecting sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries and opposes violating other countries sovereignty or interfering in their internal affairs under any pretext. China firmly supports Cuba in safeguarding its sovereignty and security and opposes external interference.

AFP: This is on Donald Trumps claim that a deal with Iran on ending the Middle East conflict could be reached soon while at the same time not ruling out ground operations as well as more strikes, including ones targeting power stations. Would Chinas Foreign Ministry like to comment on this?

Mao Ning: The Chinese side has stressed on multiple occasions that a drawn-out conflict serves no ones interest. Starting talks is the only way to avoid more casualties and losses and prevent further spread of the conflict. We once again call on parties to show sincerity, seize every opportunity and window for peace, initiate peace talks as soon as possible, and bring an early end to this war that should not have happened in the first place.

Reuters: A question related to Trump and Cuba. Trump said on Sunday night that he has no problem with a Russian oil tanker off the coast of Cuba delivering oil to the island. Trump said, if a country wants to send some oil into Cuba right now, I have no problem, whether its Russia or not. So our question is, has Cuba already sought oil relief from China and is China willing to help Cuba?

Mao Ning: We urge the U.S. to immediately end its blockade, sanctions and all forms of coercion and pressure against Cuba. China will continue to help Cuba in its own way to the best of its capabilities.

Reuters: The question is about the U.S. senators in Taiwan. We would like to seek a comment on this visit by four U.S. senators who are in Taiwan right now. How does China view the visit coming ahead of the expected visit by Trump to China? Also this morning China has announced sanctions against a Japanese lawmaker. Would China similarly sanction the four U.S. senators?

Mao Ning: China has all along opposed official contact between the U.S. and Chinas Taiwan region, and has lodged serious protests with the U.S. side. The U.S. should abide by the one-China principle and the three China-U.S. joint communiques, handle the Taiwan question prudently and properly, stop any form of official contact with Chinas Taiwan region, stop sending any wrong message to Taiwan independence separatist forces, and take concrete actions to uphold the overall China-U.S. relations and peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait. Chinas position on issues related to Chinas Taiwan region is consistent and clear. We will do what is necessary to firmly safeguard our sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Bloomberg: We understand that China has exported cargoes of diesel and other fuels to other energy-starved countries across Southeast Asia over the past week. Was this a sign of support for those economies in the middle of the Middle East crisis? And does China have an update on what it plans to do to support other countries?

Mao Ning: For your specific question, I have no information and would refer you to relevant authorities and companies. Due to the situation in the Middle East, commodities like energy and fertilizers are in short supply in the global market, which has dealt a blow to many countries. China is ready to maintain communication with all sides to safeguard global energy security. However, to resolve the issue once and for all, what should be done first and foremost is to stop military operations.
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On this day in 1949, a vote was scheduled in the Icelandic Alingi, or parliament, to determine whether the island nation would join NATO as part of the Cold War. Opposition to this from the Icelandic left was fervent, resulting in a protest that soon developed into a riot and was violently put down by police and members of the conservative pro-NATO party. Iceland joined NATO and quickly became host to a US air base.

You may use this page to discuss the benefits and limitations of soft power, or pursue your own areas of off-topic discourse.

Find previous discussions in the Open Thread archive. Excepting the entreaty that you remain on topic, all of Slates usual commenting policies apply.
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Gone the way of the Jell-O salad, an obituary might read. Past its shelf life, at last, another would lament. Expired, theyd all conclude.

Amid the chilled stock of Eggo waffles, Uncrustables, and Toaster Strudel, I pause my shopping cart before a stack of moribund cylinders. In the grocery store freezer aisle, Ive come to pay my final respects to an iconic product. I open the freezer door and pick up a coil of spiral-wound paperboard. Somehow, its surface is tacky with sugar. Have the contents oozed through the packaging? Did it leave the factory coated in sweet residue? I dont dwell on it as I load my cart with six of the 12-fluid-ounce cans of Minute Maid frozen orange juice concentrate. Ill squirrel these away in my own freezer. Before long, I wont be able to buy this item ever again.

Minute Maid, the first name in freezer-aisle juices since its launch in 1946, has finally announced the discontinuation of all its frozen juice products, which run the gamut of citrus colors and flavors, from country-style orange to puckery pink lemonade. After 80 years, the permafrost reliability of an American pantry icon has thawed. An era defined by concentrated orange juicefar more deeply than you might thinkis hastening to an end.

Coca-Cola, which has owned the Minute Maid brand since its acquisition in 1960, announced in early February that its entire line of frozen juice concentrates would be out of production by April of this year. (Other private-label brands of frozen juice concentrates will remain on the market for the time being, but frozen juice is experiencing a systemic downturn. For its part, PepsiCo sold out of the juice category in 2021, off-loading Tropicana, Minute Maids chief competition since 1947, to a private equity firm.) But dont blame Coke for capriciously putting a classic out to pasture. This ones on us: Americans have turned away from frozen orange juice over the years for a variety of reasons.

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At first, it was Tropicanas 1954 innovation of flash pasteurization that allowed Americans to drink fresh, refrigerated juice instead of frozen concentrate, but Minute Maid remained cheap and popular for decades. In more recent years, consumer preferences for healthier, functional beverages have hurt demand for the processed orange extract. And perennially challenging environmental factors in the citrus hubs of Florida and Brazil have made the frozen cans far less affordable. According to data from the Federal Reserve, the cost of a 12-ounce can of frozen concentrate has more than doubled since January 2020, when a can cost about $2.32. Today that price has risen to around $4.86.

Ive shelled out to stock up my freezer because the death of an ingredient necessarily has trickle-down effects in the culinary ecosystem. Im attentive to the ripples of such a loss, to the cascades in my own personal food chain that will surely follow. There will be marinades that will lack a certain mid-century zing. There will be kitchen curiosities, like frozen orange-juice pie, left unsated. There will be shelf-stable shortcuts to piquancy and citrus obstructed. And perhaps worst of all for a drink-focused writer like myself, there will be vintage punches made more difficult, if not impossible, to resurrect.

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You might accuse me of being melodramatic in eulogizing the most processed form of the humble orange. But Id counter that you should read on. Very few products in the American pantry have skyrocketed to prominence as quickly as frozen orange juice concentrate did, and few innovations have become as ubiquitous on American tables and in American recipe books.

It is suitable that we owe the existence of this tropical delight to a Department of Agriculture research laboratory in Winter Haven, Florida. Thankfully, the citrus scientists of Winter Haven kept good records. Research chemist Steven Nagys 1977 classic Citrus Science and Technology Vol. 2 gives ready insight into the earliest days of OJ concentrate for those who are particularly fanatical about their citric and ascorbic acids. It was the harvest of the 194546 season that first resulted in the production of about 852,000 liters of the concentrate. British and American soldiers had received rations of a similar product during World War II, but it was tainted with the flavors of sulfur dioxide and benzoic acid used for sterilization.

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The ingenuity of the postwar Floridians made frozen concentrated orange juice palatable to the masses via cutting-edge evaporators, which overconcentrated the juice to a higher Brix content (a measurement of dissolved sugars also used in wine). To save the flavor, they then added something called cut-back, a mix of normal orange juice with peel oil and other flavor essences that preserved the fresh, volatile flavor of the fruit. They froze the combination and put it up for sale. In 1948, U.S. Patent Number 2,453,109 was granted to citrus experts Louis MacDowell, Edwin Moore, and Cedric Atkins for their invention of the cut-back method.

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The products success was instantaneous. American consumers had never seen orange juice like this before. In June 1945, the New York Times reported on the novelty of frozen OJ at a local grocer:

Up in Westchester County shoppers are carrying home oranges in a new waynot in bags or fiberboard boxes or market baskets but in small cans hardly larger than a cold cream jar. Each little tin holds six ounces of condensed, quick-frozen orange juice which, when mixed with the right proportions of water, provides twenty-four ounces of ordinary juice, or enough to fill six of the four-ounce cheese glasses that are used in many households at breakfast.

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By 1948, American demand for the freezer juice had outpaced supply. Floridas industry responded, building seven more concentrating facilities for the 1949 season, raising the total number to 10. California would start production in 1950.

John M. Fox, president of the Minute Maid Corporation, reported that 1949 sales were 300 percent higher than the 1948 level and that 40 percent of U.S. grocery stores carried the new commodity. Minute Maid sales amounted to just over $374,000 during their first year but grew to nearly $110 million by 1955. Fox, who brought on Bing Crosby as Minute Maids first spokesperson, would go on to put the famous individual blue stickers on the Chiquita banana after Coca-Cola acquired his company in 1960.

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For millions of Americans during the following decades, these little, sticky cans were the quotidian source of a morning glass of juice. The Smithsonian recounts: Many households adopted the habit of placing a frozen can of concentrate in the refrigerator to thaw overnight so that mixing it with water in the morning would be faster and easier. It had become a universal daily ritual. The tubes would have been as recognizable as Campbells soup cans. By 1975, Florida was producing some 674 million liters of frozen concentrate, according to Nagys citrus tome.

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Even Wall Street saw a lucrative opportunity in the Floridian innovation. In 1966 bankers began trading futures in frozen orange juice. The original contract still lives on as FCOJ-A, the world benchmark for the global frozen concentrated orange juice market. The contract, famously volatile due to the fickleness of citrus groves, figured prominently in the ending of the 1983 Eddie MurphyDan Aykroyd comedy Trading Places.

But my concern is not with who is losing money in the concentrated orange juice biz. It might be the Coca-Cola Company, a Wall Street trader, or a fixed-income shopper in the freezer aisle. Im much more concerned with pumpkin pie, sparerib sauce, ketchup, bourbon slush, and sunshine punch. So many vintage cookbooks hold frozen OJ as a core ingredient. Just as the bankers saw it as a commodity, the American home cook saw it as a pantry staple.

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Ive leafed through many Junior League cookbooks from the 1970s and 80s. Ive perused some recipe books published as fundraisers by womens groups at local Lutheran or Presbyterian churches. Ive read the West Virginia Tailgaters Club cookbook from 1984. All of them include frozen cans of orange juice as a key ingredient in all kinds of punches and drinks and sauces and marinades. But spiral-bound cookbooks and their constituent recipes have become as passe as the spiral-wound paperboard of the last Minute Maid cans stocked in the reach-in freezer. Theyre both placeholders of bygone cravings. As their ingredients start to disappear, the recipes will increasingly become artifacts. Footnotes will need to be added to translate a forgotten format of OJ to a future chef hoping to re-create a dish. What was this frozen concentrate used for?

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In some cases, it stars as a sweetener, in others a tenderizer. It can cool a punch while adding flavor. It can glaze an orange chicken. It can provide both the chill and the orange to a Frozen Creamsicle Pie. It serves as a shelf-stable citrus and a timeless tang. But that permanence is no more.

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Sugar, coffee, cocoa. We trade these on the futures market, just as we surely have them shelved somewhere in the pantry. They are central to our lives and our recipes. At one point, this was the level of saturation that frozen orange juice concentrate possessed in the kitchen too. But as the downfall of Minute Maid shows us, things made to last sometimes last for only 80 years (what, you thought I was going to say a minute?) Its only fitting to point out in an obituary that orange juice concentrate once started as a dehydrated dust back in the 1940s. It seems that the remaining cans are headed that way soon.

For you are dust, and to dust you shall return.
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The Cheltenham Youth Detention Center in Maryland has been in operation in some form for more than 155 years. Just adjacent to the facility, still in operation today, is a haunting reminder of the past: the graves of more than 200 children who died in state custody. Tragically, these children still do not have a proper memorial for the crimes they suffered that led them to their current home. We hope to change that.

We come to this story from opposite sides of the detention walls: One of us oversaw the incarceration of youth at the Cheltenham Youth Detention Center, and the other was incarcerated there as a child in the 1990s. But we are driven by a common beliefknowing that our history, even if painful, is necessary to make the system fairer and more effective. Guided by that principle, one of us helped launch an effort within Marylands Department of Juvenile Services to examine its history, including its segregationist past. What that research uncovered was not simply troubling, but a moral failure buried for over 100 years and one we still need to see addressed.

In 1855 Maryland opened the House of Refuge, becoming the first Southern state to establish a facility to remove children from adult jails and prisons. However, while white youth were transferred out of adult facilities, Black children as young as 5 remained incarcerated alongside adults. It was not until 1870, after slavery was abolished, that Maryland would create a separate facility for Black youth. Most of the children at the newly instituted House of Reformation and Instruction for Colored Childrenlocated on the grounds where the Cheltenham Youth Detention Center now sitswere held for minor offenses, including running away from home and being incorrigible.

Where the House of Refuge emphasized education and rehabilitation, the House of Reformation emphasized labor and control. The message was clear: White children needed refuge, whereas Black children required reformation. These institutions remained segregated until 1961, when Maryland was compelled to desegregate only after being sued by Juanita Jackson Mitchell and Thurgood Marshall. Equal treatment was not freely given by the state, which fought the lawsuit; it was ordered by the courts. While desegregation eventually occurred, the racial inequities baked into those early systems continue to shape who is incarcerated, disciplined, and denied opportunity today.

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While we were researching this history, a former staff member at Cheltenham who had worked at the facility for more than 40 years told us about a burial ground on the property. After searching for records and walking the land, we found it: a long-abandoned, heavily wooded site. Beneath moss-covered cinder blocks, dilapidated stone markers, and a handful of headstones, more than 200 children who died in state custody between the 1870s and 1930s are buried. Standing there, it was impossible for the two of us not to imagine Tyrone as a boy once confined at the same facility and how easily he could have been one of those now buried, with only a bare cinder block to mark the site.

Related From Slate Trump Just Caved On One of His Biggest Power Grabs Read More

Official records list disease as the cause of death for most of the boys who perished. But reporting at the time and witness testimony tell a more disturbing storyone of violence, neglect, and systemic indifference. Families were rarely if ever notified when their sons died. Compounding this painful apathy is the fact that state officials were made aware of the burial ground by at least the 1970s. Yet nothing was done to preserve or mark it. Hundreds of Black children remained in unmarked graves for decades, their deaths ignored publicly.

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Only recently has that begun to change. Under Gov. Wes Moores administration, Marylands Department of Juvenile Services made plans to restore and formally recognize the burial ground, determine how many boys are buried there through the use of ground-penetrating radar, identify the children, and attempt to contact surviving family members. The Legislative Black Caucus of Maryland has introduced a bill to investigate the causes of these deaths and recommend how the state can finally acknowledge and address the harms committed against these children and their families. Recognition alone is not enough; the state must also take responsibility for the harm it caused and ensure transparency, accountability, and reparative action.

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Sadly, but not surprisingly, Maryland is not alone. Similar abandoned burial grounds for incarcerated children exist in states across the country. Together, these sites tell a story about how vulnerable childrendisproportionately Black, poor, and powerlesswere treated as expendable, buried, and forgotten. These sites are not graveyards, built for sacred rest. They are more like abandoned crime scenes.

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This realization led us to launch a national initiative at Georgetown Universitys Center for Youth Justice to find, research, and recognize these burial grounds, and to honor the children buried there. In Maryland, we have conducted genealogical research that has already identified living relatives of boys buried after having died or been killed at the House of Reformation. These families deserve to know about their long-lost relatives and to participate in decisions to recognize this injustice and repair the harm.

In the face of efforts to erase or sanitize the uncomfortable history of our country, confronting this past is more important than ever. Despite lying beneath unmarked stones, these young people were not nameless. They were children with families; they lived, they hoped, and they deserved care. We should say their names, tell their stories, and honor their legacies by atoning for the harms caused and ensuring that nothing like this ever happens again.
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You may have heard about last weeks twin verdicts against Meta and YouTube, which held the tech companies liable for harms their products inflicted on young people. But the significance of these cases runs deeper: They threaten the legal architecture that has allowed Big Tech to reap trillions of dollars in profits with little risk of consequence in court. The plaintiffs pressed a shrewd theory to pierce the federal shield that these companies have relied upon for decades to escape liability, putting them on the hook for millions in damages todayand quite possibly billions more to come.

Lawyers for the companies have already vowed to appeal, insisting that they can persuade higher courts to nix these awards as a misapplication of the law. But success is far from a guarantee: The plaintiffs pursued a strategy endorsed by none other than Justice Clarence Thomas, the intellectual leader of the Supreme Courts 63 conservative supermajority. Thomas ideas have gained considerable support throughout the lower courts in recent years. And it is entirely possible that his hostility toward Big Tech will carry the day when the plaintiffs theory gets tested at SCOTUS.

To see why these verdicts are social medias Big Tobacco moment, as Slates What Next: TBD put it, its important to understand how Silicon Valley evaded this kind of reckoning for so long. In 1996 Congress enacted Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which immunized websites for content that other people post on them. This policy created the internet as we know it by fostering free expression: It allowed platforms to host a vast range of speech without worrying that they would be liable for its content. An individual can still be sued for defamation if they post something libelous on Facebook. But Facebook itself cannot be sued for merely hosting that speech thanks to the immunity provided by Section 230. That protection is the main reason why social media companies can facilitate wide-open discussion online.

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But these corporations have sought to expand Section 230 further, often with the support of courts that treat it like a get-out-of-liability-free card. As Thomas first warned in 2020, these decisions read extra immunity into the statute based on policy and purpose arguments rather than the plain text of the law. Most alarmingly, courts have wielded the statute to crush lawsuits that accuse social media companies of negligently providing a defective product. These suits claim that developers created, or refused to provide, certain features that made them especially susceptible to harm and misuse. YouTube, for instance, allegedly designed an algorithm that recommended violent terrorist content. Grindr reportedly refused to install basic safety features to prevent harassment. Backpage gave users special privileges that evidently facilitated sex trafficking. Snapchat allegedly rolled out a feature that encouraged reckless driving.

In each of these cases, Thomas noted, the lower courts granted the companies immunity under Section 230. Yet in none of them were the plaintiffs actually suing over third-party speech posted on the platforms. Each had sought to hold the companies liable for product design flawsthat is, the defendants own misconduct. But courts tossed the suits anyway. They reasoned that speech posted by others, like sexual harassment and terrorist recruitment, was still the true cause of the plaintiffs injuries. And platforms cannot be penalized for hosting this kind of speech.

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But that logic is, as Thomas wrote, more of a policy argument than a legal one. Section 230 clearly protects tech companies from being sued as the mere publisher of other peoples speech. It does not, on its face, shield these corporations from suit as the creators of a defective product that negligently serves users this speech in harmful ways. Thomas reiterated this argument in 2024, this time joined by Justice Neil Gorsuch, in a disturbing case brought by a victim of child sexual abuse. The plaintiff accused Snapchat of encouraging minors to lie about their age and enabling adults to commit abuse through certain features, including self-deleting messages. Yet the lower court dismissed his lawsuit under Section 230. Thomas and Gorsuch expressed serious doubts that the statute actually exonerates platforms for deliberately structuring in a way that could facilitate illegal and dangerous activity. Thomas urged the court to consider whether the statute really immunizes platforms for their own conduct.

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The plaintiffs who won major payouts against Meta and YouTube last week followed Thomas road map. In a California case, lawyers argued that Instagram and YouTube designed features meant to get their client, a young woman identified as KGM, addicted to social media, including infinite scroll, autoplay, and incessant notifications. (These charges were bolstered by Metas own damning internal documents.) The jury agreed, awarding the plaintiffs $6 million in damages. In a New Mexico case, the state attorney general accused Meta of enabling the sexual exploitation of children, then lying about the dangers of its products. The jury imposed $375 million against the company in damages.

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In both cases, the plaintiffs carefully navigated the gap that Thomas identified in Section 230. They acknowledged that some harm was inflicted by third-party speech, like predatory messages from child abusers. But they insisted that the platforms themselves negligently enabled this harm through faulty design of their services. This strategy echoed the Big Tobacco lawsuits of the 1990s, which faulted tobacco companies for making cigarettes more dangerous by adding chemicals that would get users addicted. And like those suits, it workedat least for now. The theory will be tested more in the coming months and years: More than 40 state attorneys general are suing Big Tech for allegedly hurting minors mental health, while thousands more private plaintiffs have filed similar complaints seeking, in sum, hundreds of billions in damages.

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This issue is therefore barreling toward the Supreme Court. And lower-court judges across the ideological spectrum are pushing the justices to reject an interpretation of Section 230 that immunizes platforms for their own negligent designs. Thomas and Gorsuch have already taken up this cause, but the rest of the justices havent yet weighed in. (Thats partly because in 2023 the court disposed of a case that raised the issue after finding a different legal defect.) In recent years, the justices have been wary of big decisions that could break the internet and protective of social media companies First Amendment rights. The biggest exception is Thomas, who seems to have embraced the MAGA view that these platforms deserve punishment for ostensibly censoring conservative speakers. His hostility toward Big Tech marks a notable departure from his corporate-friendly jurisprudence in other cases. Both Gorsuch and Justice Samuel Alito share this evident suspicion of social media companies, while Justice Brett Kavanaugh is the courts loudest voice in defense of their rights. The other justices on the left and center are tougher to pin down.

Regardless of where SCOTUS eventually lands, there is undeniable trouble ahead for Silicon Valley. When Thomas stakes out a position, the other Republican-appointed justices listen. And he has already validated the theory that drove last weeks landmark verdicts against Big Tech. These cases are not a slam dunk for the plaintiffs or defendants on appeal; with so much money at stake, the upcoming battle will be brutal for both. But it is always better to arrive at this court with Thomas already on your side.
Last week, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang made headlines when he told podcaster Lex Fridman that AGIartificial general intelligencehad already been achieved.

AGI has long been the ultimate goal of many artificial intelligence researchers. Thats been the case even though there is no universally accepted definition of the term. It generally means AI that is as intelligent as humans, but there is a fierce debate over exactly how to define and measure intelligence.

In this case, Fridman had offered Huang a very unusual metric for AGI: Could AI start and grow a technology business to the point where it was worth $1 billion? Fridman asked if Huang thought AGI by this definition could be achieved within the next five to 20 years. Huang said he didnt think that amount of time was necessary. I think its now. I think weve achieved AGI, he said. He then hedged, noting the company didnt necessarily have to remain that valuable. You said a billion, Huang told Fridman, and you didnt say forever.

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Few AI researchers agree with the definition of AGI that Fridman offered Huang, which was both more specific (a company worth $1 billion), but also more narrow than most AGI definitions (which tend to refer to matching a vast range of human cognitive skills, not all of which might be needed to build a successful business). But AI researchers also disagree with one another over what a better definition should be. The term remains stubbornly amorphous despite the fact that several leading AI companies, with collective market valuations of more than $1 trillion, say that AGI is what they are racing toward. Some computer scientists avoid using the term at all precisely because they say it is perpetually undefined and unmeasurable. Others say tech companies like using the term for completely cynical reasonsprecisely because it is ill-defined, its easy for companies to build hype by claiming big strides toward achieving the fabled milestone.

The buzz over Huangs AGI remarks only serves to highlight this quandary at the heart of the AI boom.

Trying to measure AGI

In fact, just days before Fridman dropped his podcast, researchers at Google DeepMindincluding DeepMind cofounder Shane Legg, who first helped popularize the term AGI in the early 2000spublished a new research paper that proposed a more scientific way to define and assess whether AI models had achieved general intelligence. The paper, Measuring Progress Toward AGI: A Cognitive Framework, draws on decades of research in psychology, neuroscience, and cognitive science to construct what its authors call a cognitive taxonomy.

The taxonomy identifies 10 key cognitive facultiesincluding perception, reasoning, memory, learning, attention, and social cognitionthat the researchers argue are essential for general intelligence. The framework then proposes evaluating AI systems across all 10 faculties and comparing their performance to a representative sample of human adults with at least the equivalent of a secondary education.

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The papers key insight is that todays AI models have a jagged cognitive profile: They may exceed most humans in some areas, like mathematics or factual recall, while dramatically trailing even average people in others, like learning from experience, maintaining long-term memories, or understanding social situations. An AI model would need to at least match median human performance across all 10 areas to be considered AGI, the Google DeepMind researchers suggest.



The researchers also announced a contest with a $200,000 prize pool on the popular machine learning competition site Kaggle for outside researchers to help build evaluations for the five cognitive faculties where existing benchmark tests are weakest.

The DeepMind paper is only the latest in a string of recent attempts to put the measurement of intelligence on more rigorous footing.



Last year, a team led by Dan Hendrycks at the Center for AI Safety, and that included deep learning pioneer Yoshua Bengio, published their own AGI framework and metrics. That paper also divided general intelligence into 10 separate cognitive domains, drawing on a framework for human intelligence developed by three psychologistsRaymond Cattell, John Horn, and John Carrollthat is the most empirically validated model of human cognition. It produced AGI scores for existing AI models; the most capable system tested, OpenAIs GPT-5, which was released in August 2025, scored just 57%, falling far short of matching a well-educated adult across all the cognitive dimensions.

One of the most ambitious practical attempts to highlight what todays AI systems still cannot do is the ARC-AGI benchmark, created by well-known machine learning researcher Francois Chollet. Chollets core argument is that intelligence should be measured not by what a system already knows, but by how efficiently it can learn new skills.

The ARC-AGI benchmark consists of visual puzzle tasks involving grids of colored cells. Each task shows a few examples of an input grid being transformed into an output grid according to a hidden rule, and the test-taker must figure out the rule and apply it to a new input. For a human, grasping the pattern typically takes seconds. For frontier AI models, these puzzles remain surprisingly difficult, because they require the kind of flexible, abstract reasoningspotting symmetries, understanding spatial relationships, inferring rules from a handful of examplesthat current systems struggle with.

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This month, Chollet and his collaborators launched ARC-AGI-3, the latest and most demanding version of the benchmark. Unlike earlier editions, which presented static puzzles, ARC-AGI-3 is interactive: AI agents must explore novel environments, acquire goals on the fly, build adaptable world models, and learn continuously over multiple stepsabilities that come naturally to humans but that remain at the frontier of AI research.

Taken together, these new benchmarks represent a growing effort within the AI research community to replace vague definitions about AGI with something closer to scientific measurement. But as these researchers are the first to admit, the difficulty of defining intelligence is as old as the study of thinking itselfand has plagued artificial intelligence as a field from its very earliest days.

Defining intelligence

In 1950, before the term artificial intelligence had even been coined and when mathematicians and electrical engineers were just starting to build the first modern computers, the famed British mathematician and computer pioneer Alan Turing wrestled with the fact that it was extremely difficult to formulate a definition of intelligence.



Rather than attempting one, Turing proposed an assessment he called the Imitation Game, which later became better known as the Turing test. It stipulated that a machine should be considered intelligent when it can hold a general conversation with a person, via text, and a second human judge, reading the exchange, cannot reliably determine which participant is the machine and which the human. It was, in essence, an Ill know it when I see it approach to intelligence.

But the Turing test soon proved problematic too. Eliza, a chatbot developed at MIT in the mid-1960s, was designed to mimic a psychotherapist. Most of its responses followed hard-coded logical rules; Eliza often answered users with questions such as Why do you think that is? or Tell me more to cover up its weak language understanding. And yet Eliza fooled some people into believing it understood them. Eliza came close to passing the Turing test even though on almost every other measure it came nowhere close to human cognitive abilities. And, in fact, a more sophisticated chatbot called Eugene Goostman officially passed a live Turing test competition in 2014, again without touching most human cognitive skills.



Todays large language models converse far more fluently than Eliza ever could, but they still cannot match humans across the full spectrum of cognitive abilities: They hallucinate facts, struggle with long-horizon planning, and cannot learn from experience the way a person does.

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Compared to the Turing test, the term artificial general intelligence is a relatively recent one. It was first coined in 1997 by Mark Gubrud, then a graduate student at the University of Maryland, who used the neologism in a 1997 paper he presented at a conference on nanotechnology. He used the phrase advanced artificial general intelligence to describe AI systems that could rival or surpass the human brain in complexity and speed, that can acquire, manipulate, and reason with general knowledge, and that are usable in essentially any phase of operations where a human intelligence would otherwise be needed. But the paper quickly vanished in obscurity.

Then, in the early 2000s, Leggwho would go on to cofound DeepMindindependently coined the same term. He was collaborating with computer scientists Ben Goertzel, Cassio Pennachin, and others on a book about potential ways to create machine learning systems that would be able to address a wide range of problems and tasks. They wanted a term that would distinguish the ambition of these systems from the narrow machine learning algorithms then in vogue, which, once trained, could only tackle a single, narrow task. Goertzel considered calling this more general AI real AI or strong AI, but Legg suggested artificial general intelligence instead, unaware of Gubruds earlier usage. He also suggested the term be abbreviated as AGI. This time, AGI took off.



In Goertzels book he defined AGI as AI systems that possess a reasonable degree of self-understanding and autonomous self-control, and have the ability to solve a variety of complex problems in a variety of contexts, and to learn to solve new problems that they didnt know about at their time of creation.



The definition was useful for separating work on general AI systems from narrow machine learning ones, but it too contained a fair an unhelpful amount of ambiguity: What did reasonable degree mean? Which complex problems in which contexts counted toward the standard?



Legg would later compound this ambiguity by offering a more casual definition of AGI that was in some ways narrower (it didnt talk about self-understanding, for instance) but equally vague. For instance, he told The Atlantics Nick Thompson last year, I define an AGI to be an artificial agent that can do the kinds of cognitive things that people can typically do. I see this as the natural minimum bar. But which things? And which people?



Questions like this have continued to swirl around AGI. Does the term mean software that matches the cognitive abilities of an average human? Or the abilities of the humans with the highest IQs? Or the best expert in each individual domain of knowledge? The Hendrycks and Bengio research paper, for instance, defines AGI as matching or exceeding the cognitive versatility and proficiency of a well-educated adult. The DeepMind paper proposes measuring against a representative sample of adults. Others have used less precise formulations.

Adding to the confusion, AGI is often conflated in public discussion with a concept AI researchers call artificial superintelligence, or ASIan AI that would be smarter than all humans combined. Most AI researchers consider AGI and ASI to be separate milestones, and very different in degree of sophistication, but in the popular imagination the two frequently blur together.

AGI becomes a corporate goaland a marketing slogan

If the academic debate over defining AGI has been long and nuanced, the corporate world has introduced definitions that are, to put it charitably, idiosyncratic. DeepMind became the first company to make the pursuit of artificial general intelligence a business goal. Legg put the phrase on the front page of the companys first business plan when he, Demis Hassabis, and Mustafa Suleyman cofounded the company in 2010.

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Five years later, OpenAI also made building AGI its explicit mission. Its original 2015 founding principles said that the new labat the time a nonprofitwas dedicated to ensuring that artificial general intelligence benefits all of humanity. Three years later, when the lab first set up a for-profit arm, it published a charter that defined AGI as highly autonomous systems that outperform humans at most economically valuable work. Now, for the first time, AGI was being measured by financial metrics, not mere cognitive ones.

And, as it turned out, OpenAI would soon secretly set a highly specific financial threshold for AGI. When Microsoft first invested $1 billion into OpenAIs for-profit arm in 2019, the tech giants agreement with the AI startup made it OpenAIs preferred commercialization partner for any AI model the lab developed up to, but crucially not including, AGI. At the time, it was reported that the decision of when AGI had been achieved would be at the discretion of OpenAIs nonprofit board.



But, crucially, according to reporting by tech publication The Information in 2024, when Microsoft agreed to invest a further $10 billion into OpenAI in 2023, its contract with OpenAI contained a clause that defined AGI as a technology that could generate at least $100 billion in profits.

OpenAI is nowhere near that mark. The company has reportedly told investors it made $13 billion in revenues last year, but still managed to burn through $8 billion in cash. It does not expect to break even until 2030.

Despite being far short of the financial threshold for AGI in its contract with Microsoft, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has often made statements that suggest OpenAI is close to achieving the AI milestone as measured by other benchmarks. In a post to his personal blog in January 2025 titled Reflections, Altman wrote that OpenAI was now confident we know how to build AGI as we have traditionally understood it and that the company was beginning to turn its aim toward superintelligence. In a subsequent essay titled Three Observations, he wrote that systems pointing toward AGI were coming into view. Yet, at other times, Altman has seemed to acknowledge AGIs weakness as a concept. Around the same time as his Reflections blog post, Altman told a Bloomberg News interviewer that AGI has become a very sloppy term.



Microsoft has also chosen to ignore the financial definition of AGI it struck with OpenAI when it suited the companys marketing purposes. In March 2023, a team of Microsoft researchers published a 154-page paper about GPT-4 provocatively titled Sparks of Artificial General Intelligence, arguing the model could reasonably be viewed as an early (yet still incomplete) version of AGI.



The paper was widely criticized for hyping the abilities of GPT-4 for commercial purposes. Even Altman distanced himself, calling GPT-4 still flawed, still limited. The new research and benchmarks from Google DeepMind and the Hendrycks-Bengio team make some progress toward establishing a yardstick for AGI, one rooted in decades of study of human intelligence. And whats clear is that todays best AI models still dont measure up to breadth and depth of human cognitive abilities.

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Huang, the Nvidia CEO, knows this, just as he was no doubt fully aware of the social media frenzy and headlines he would generate by saying AGI had been achieved. We know Huang knows this because later in the same podcast in which he said AGI is achieved he also said that the popular OpenClaw AI agents, which can be powered by any of the top AI models from companies such as Anthropic and OpenAI, could never replicate Nvidia. Now, the odds of 100,000 of those agents building Nvidia is zero percent, he said.

Huang is not just Nvidias CEO. He is also the companys founder and the person who has run the company for 33 years, piloting it past near bankruptcy at one point, to see it now worth more than $4 trillion, making it one of the most valuable companies on the planet. In many ways, Huang is a singular genius. But hes also a very human one. So maybe we need a new standard, not AGI but AJIartificial Jensen intelligence. When AI reaches that level, the AI boosters on social media who breathlessly amplified Huangs AGI claim will really have something to get excited about.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
Inside Hungarys high-stakes election, where the Hungarian prime minister is deploying fear, disinformation, and Kremlin-style tactics to cling to power. From Respekt.

Transitions note: An article about Hungarian intelligence agencies alleged operation to cripple the IT infrastructure of the Tisza opposition party amassed over 1 million views within roughly 30 hours of its publication by the independent news outlet Direkt36, according to a LinkedIn post by Direkt36 co-founder Andras Petho.

Petho also co-wrote the long investigative story, which appeared on 24 March, as campaigning ahead of critical elections on 12 April rose to fever pitch, with Tisza leading the polls ahead of the euroskeptic, ruling Fidesz party. The investigation has since circulated widely across social media and news platforms, unfolding alongside broader political and media developments ahead of the elections. The scale and speed of its reach are highly unusual in the largely pro-government Hungarian media landscape, and underscore the level of public interest in the allegations.

The case is unfolding against the backdrop of a broader political controversy involving Hungarys ties to Russia. Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto initially denied a Washington Post reportciting a European security official as claiming that he regularly phoned his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov with news of EU meetings. On 24 March, Szijjarto admitted calling Lavrov before and after European Council meetings, as well as other foreign diplomats, calling this regular diplomatic practice.

Two days after the Direkt36 article appeared, and three days after Prime Minister Viktor Orban announced a probe into what he called the wiretapping of Szijjarto, the government filed espionage-related charges against investigative journalist Szabolcs Panyi, accusing him of sharing Szijjartos private phone number with a foreign state.

Panyi, himself the target of government wiretapping in 2021, and a contributor to Direkt36 and the Central European investigative outlet VSquare, has denied any wrongdoing, while supporters and international observers describe the case as politically motivated and part of a broader effort to intimidate, discredit, and suppress independent journalism.

The allegations about Szijjarto are not the first claims of Hungary sharing highly sensitive EU discussions with Russia, and have sparked alarm over confidentiality and trust within the bloc, particularly in the context of the ongoing Ukraine war and the upcoming parliamentary elections that could either cement Orbans long hold on power, or see him replaced by a newbie party yet to clarify its stances on Ukraine and the EU.

 Sian Olislagers

The small town of Szentendre is a picturesque Hungarian tourist destination, and there are no Russian secret service agents or operatives of the Kremlins hybrid war in sight. At first glance, a typical election campaign is underway here, organized today by the ruling party.

The speakers preceding incumbent Prime Minister Viktor Orban spoke while it was still light out, but the prime minister takes the stage at dusk, illuminated only by spotlights and the torches that were handed out to rally attendees before the event began. A thousand people in the small square give him a rousing welcome.

At first he is a bit out of breath and seems a little out of sorts, but after a moment he delivers his usual  meaning good  Orban-style rhetorical performance. He mixes deadly seriousness with jokes and compliments for the town, whose square is usually full of tourists  drawn here by its small-town charm straight out of a century ago and just a half-hour train ride from Budapest.

The crowd at a rally for the ruling Fidesz party in Szentendre. Photo by Matej Stransky / Respekt.

When Orban says he will never allow Ukraine and Brussels to take control of this country, a huge roar of boos erupts. If the Ukrainians dont repair the oil pipeline in the war zone that carries Russian oil to Hungary, they wont see a single EU euro. The crowd loudly agrees. As one of the speakers from the ruling Fidesz partys elite put it, the opposition isnt their real rival in these elections. Its Ukraine. And so thank you for giving us your vote, Orban continued in that vein half an hour later. Because only Fidesz can ensure that Ukraine wont decide Hungarys fate and that there wont be a war in Hungary. The crowd responds with a chorus of Thank you!

A prime minister mingling with the people three weeks before an election is nothing out of the ordinary; in a normal country, its a political necessity. But Hungary, as everyone in Europe knows, is no ordinary country. Orban hasnt been out among his fellow citizens for seven years; he didnt need to win elections. Now, after 16 years in power, the ruling party stands on the brink of defeat by an opposition party, Tisza.

Orbans standard campaign style is proof that his hitherto unshakable power is seeking every possible way to reverse the looming outcome. Many of these methods go far beyond what we in Europe understand by the terms hard or negative campaigning.

The whole country is waiting to see if it will get to watch two-year-old footage of opposition leader Peter Magyar having sex with his then-girlfriend, as promised by anonymous slanderers. A fake but sophisticated and seemingly credible investigative portal publishes reports claiming that the opposition leader is smuggling millions of euros to London at the behest of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy (once the lies had spread sufficiently across social media, the portal ceased to function). In early March, the government-controlled customs administration ostentatiously seized, on Hungarian territory, a routine cash transfer from a Ukrainian state bank. Ministers in Orbans government first claimed it was dirty money for the Ukrainian elite, and then that it was money for Tisza. The prime minister is sending Hungarian soldiers to patrol power plants and refineries to protect the country from the Ukrainian military attack he has warned his fellow citizens about. He complains that the Ukrainian government is threatening to destroy him, and films himself calling his daughter to reassure her not to worry about him. Thousands of bots spread government propaganda across social media by including sophisticated videos created by artificial intelligence.

An experiment of pan-European significance is underway in Hungary: what happens when a powerful politician teetering on the brink of authoritarianism  and an EU celebrity  doesnt want to relinquish power, is willing to go beyond the limits of what was previously conceivable, and readily employs the latest technologies as well as Russian methods and Russian assistance to do so. Orbans government has been working closely with Putins state since 2015. According to reports by investigative journalists at the VSquare media outlet, a team of three Russian operatives specializing in rigging elections abroad arrived in Budapest a few weeks ago. Foreign intelligence agencies, including U.S. ones, were supposed to have warned the Hungarian government, but Orbans government denies any such thing.

The Russian teams specialty is said to be not only disinformation but also physical provocations and the instigation of fear and chaos. And so perhaps someone like that was there, just to be sure, on that picturesque square in Szentendre.

Then Something Happens

Hungarian ministers have dismissed reports of Russian infiltration as desperate lies. Peter Buda, a former high-ranking intelligence officer and now a security analyst frequently quoted by independent media, has little doubt about the accuracy of the information. Orbans government has been knowingly cooperating with Moscow for years, and now it has one more reason to continue doing so and let Moscow influence the elections directly on the ground, says Buda.

He estimates that Russian agents in Budapest are tasked, if possible and necessary, with orchestrating some crime or atrocity and framing it as a Ukrainian act. It doesnt have to be anything major or deadly; in Hungary, a little might be enough, he says. He points out that eight years ago, Russian intelligence services demonstrably set fire to a Hungarian cultural center in Uzhhorod, Ukraine, and are likely also behind last years act of vandalism against a church in the Ukrainian but ethnically predominantly Hungarian village of Palad-Komarivtsi. The Hungarian government did not hesitate for a moment and immediately accused Ukrainians of hatred toward the Hungarian minority, to whom it had promised protection.

Violent action must be preceded by another step: convincing enough people that the local opposition to Orban and the Ukrainian government are one and the same, Peter Buda says. Fidesz does not need Russian assistance for this.

Hungarians celebrate a national holiday on 15 March, commemorating the brutally suppressed democratic revolution of 1848, and it is traditionally the political event of the year. This year, with elections just around the corner, it is especially so. The government and opposition rallies were a kilometer apart in Budapest, and more than 200,000 people attended each. In his speech, Orban spoke almost exclusively about how, if the opposition wins on 12 April, Ukraine will prevail, along with its desire to drag Hungary into war.

You see, Ukrainians? You see, Zelenskiy? This [Hungary] is a nation thats a thousand years old. If you wanted to destroy it, you should have gotten up a few hundred years earlier, he told the crowd, among other things, as they responded with boos directed toward Kyiv from the square in front of the imposing Hungarian parliament building. Thousands of posters hang in Hungarian cities, showing Magyar, alongside Zelenskiy and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, flushing Hungarian money down a golden toilet (a reference to the biggest  and internationally publicized  Ukrainian corruption scandal of recent months).

Brussels, Kyiv, Berlin  (Peter Magyar, 15 March). Photo by Matej Stransky / Respekt.

 but not Moscow (Fidesz march, 15 March). Photo by Matej Stransky / Respekt.

Hatred not only toward the Ukrainian elite, but toward Ukrainians themselves, who supposedly crave Hungarian money and blood, is the most important message the ruling party has been conveying to its citizens over the past six months. Boos echo across the square several times, though mostly half-heartedly.

Of course, all this is not merely a prelude to a possible staged terrorist attack orchestrated by Russia, but rather a common  and for Fidesz, necessary  political tactic. Analyst Peter Kreko says that after 16 years of autocratic rule, Orbans government has no other issue to focus on besides foreign policy. That is why it consistently portrays Ukraine as a fundamental threat and presents itself as the only safe choice. At home, Fidesz cannot claim to know best how to do anything better. It has been in power too long for that. Experience in international diplomacy is the only area where it can hold an advantage over the opposition, he says. As Janos Lazar, a prominent Fidesz official, stated from the podium on 15 March: Times are tough. We cannot send a lightweight into the world ring when we have a heavyweight at our disposal.

It works only to a limited extent. Corruption scandals of an enormous scale plague the ruling party. Andras Lanczi, the partys philosopher and former rector of the prestigious Corvinus University, said years ago that what you call corruption is a political act and the deliberate creation of a new national economic elite, but a large part of the nation clearly has no sympathy for this. Education and healthcare are in dire straits. The emigration of young people, mainly to Austria and Germany, numbers in the tens of thousands annually. It is coming to light that systematic sexual abuse and mistreatment of children are occurring in childrens homes and juvenile detention centers, for which a large part of society blames the ruling party. Magyars own political career began during a scandal in early 2024, when then-President Katalin Novak, the female and benevolent face of Fidesz, pardoned a man who had covered up the rape of children in a childrens home.

That is why opinion polls show Magyars Tisza leading Fidesz among decided voters by a margin of roughly 50 to 40 (with smaller parties accounting for the remainder), and this has been the case for about a year now. Fidesz is banking on roughly 20 percent of undecided voters  who are unsure not only of whom to vote for but whether to vote at all  and has been trying to win them over in recent weeks, by any means necessary.

One fact complicates all the estimates. The electoral system in Hungary is extremely complex. Fidesz tailored it to its own needs at a time when it was undeniably the largest party in the country: most seats are allocated in districts, but in a single round. Whoever gets the most wins. A smaller portion of parliamentarians are elected from national slates. If there is one large party in the country, the result is predictable: the large party will win far more seats than the number of votes it receives. That is why Fidesz has held a constitutional majority for 16 years. When two parties are similarly strong, thousands or even hundreds of votes in each district can decide the outcome, and anything can happen. Tisza could win a landslide victory in terms of seats. Fidesz, though slightly less likely, could as well.

The polls four years ago underestimated Fidesz. Its election results were significantly better than the pre-election models had predicted. Government officials often mention this. Four years ago, Orban was also helped by the fact that a war broke out just across Hungarys border a few weeks before the election, and many voters rallied behind the experienced prime minister as a safe choice. That is Fideszs main campaign slogan this year, which is why Orban is trying to evoke the same sense of existential threat.

But this year the situation is different. Lets assume the statistics hold true. Then Tiszas lead is unassailable in the real world, says Gabor Torok, a well-known political analyst and strategist. Unless something completely unexpected happens.

This brings the alleged trio of Russian operatives back into the picture.

Dont Lose the Tool

Russia has a strong interest in keeping Viktor Orban in power. The Hungarian prime minister is Russias most valuable ally in the European Union. Figures like Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico or Czech Parliamentary Speaker Tomio Okamura cannot hold a candle to him. Orban completely controls one of the EUs member states and can effectively complicate the work of the entire bloc  currently, for example, he is threatening to block a key EU loan of 90 billion euros for Ukraine because the Ukrainians are not repairing the war-damaged Druzhba pipeline, through which Russian oil flows, on which Hungary depends.

Although he governs a small-to-medium-sized country, this educated and charismatic prime minister is a European political celebrity with strong ties to Trumps America (indeed, Trumps administration is counting on him to help dismantle the EU, just as the Russians are  and it also openly supports him). He controls a network of think tanks, websites, and universities that Fidesz has built over the past decade and that promote his idea of illiberal democracy and, with it, the Russian worldview across Europe. Perhaps only Germanys AfD is as valuable to the Russians in Europe.

No one has yet provided a satisfactory explanation for why Prime Minister Orban made a pro-Russian pivot in 2015, or what exactly the relationship is between the Hungarian and Russian ruling elites. Around 2020, Russian intelligence agencies were systematically and continuously downloading data from the servers of the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Orbans government knew about this, failed to prevent it, and outwardly continued to build excellent relations with Russia, the best in history, as Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto stated during a visit to Moscow in 2021, even as his office was under a cyberattack at the time.

While the rest of Europe stopped consuming Russian oil following Russias attack on Ukraine, Hungary, along with Slovakia, increased its consumption, even though Russian oil is ultimately more expensive than what the rest of the EU purchases elsewhere on the global market. It deliberately does not use the oil pipelines from the Adriatic Sea; over 80 percent of Hungarys consumption now flows through the non-functional Druzhba pipeline  and that is why Orban is now accusing Ukraine of imposing an energy blockade on the country. Hungary is dependent on Russian oil (and Russian whims). So it may not be that Orban wants something from his Russian partners. The Russians may want something from him, and it doesnt even have to be a partnership. The Russians dont have partners; they have tools, Buda says.

Fidesz has been preparing for a situation like this for years on its own initiative, though often following the Russian playbook for disinformation warfare. It goes without saying that it controls 90 percent of the media market, just as it is a given that, thanks to its vast financial resources, it can plaster the entire country with its billboards. Its operatives have internet bots at their disposal and artificially inflate the reach of government messages on social media. It has built a network of digital activists among its members and supporters  real people who campaign for the party online  debating, arguing, supporting, and sharing. Fidesz voters tend to be older people, so the party has a large group of professional influencers tasked with attracting young Hungarians to Fidesz. It is a glossy propaganda machine.

When Magyar and Tisza entered politics in February 2024, government spokesperson Zoltan Kovacs was still referring to them that spring as this months opposition flavor. By summer (when Tisza, three months after its founding, succeeded in the European and municipal elections), however, it was clear that the threat to Fidesz was much greater. Orban immediately ramped up his public opinionshaping machinery to full speed and directed it against the new opposition party. But nothing happened.

And Go Home!

Kreko and Torok see several reasons for this: voter fatigue and disillusionment with the ruling partys officials. Also important is that Magyar doesnt really resemble opposition politicians of the past, whether those linked to the socialist governments of the early 2000s or those who were too Budapest-liberal. For a long time, he was a promising member of the mid-level Fidesz cadre, married then to Judit Varga, a prominent government politician and minister of justice. Magyar focuses on the issues of corruption and living standards. After the Russian attack on a childrens hospital in Kyiv in July 2024, he traveled to the site with humanitarian aid, but otherwise he does not speak much about Ukraine. On the contrary, he is increasingly critical of Russian influence in the country. He has fully revived the slogan with which Orban entered Hungarian politics in 1988: Russians, go home!

The success of the Tisza party shows that while the government and Fideszs hard-core voters have embraced a pro-Russian shift, the majority of the population has not. In polls, Fidesz voters say they prefer Russia to Ukraine. But the Hungarian average is the same as, say, that among Czechs  30 percent of respondents view Ukraine as a state positively (pollsters note that Ukraine is not the same as Ukrainians; that is a different question, and the assessment is more positive). Among Tisza voters, the figure is 40 percent, which is above the Czech average.

Everyone is against us, my friends  (Viktor Orban in Szentendre). Photo by Matej Stransky / Respekt.

Security expert Buda also says that Magyar is currently pushing back against smear campaigns exactly as the playbook dictates: by speaking openly and in advance about what might happen. As for the aforementioned sex video, Magyar recorded a statement saying that his family is facing several difficult days and that what people will see is consensual sex between two adults, with no drugs involved. Nothing new has appeared yet on the website, which features a shot of an empty bed with the caption coming soon.

But perhaps something will surface a few hours before the vote  or something else, described by Torok as completely unexpected, in which the alleged Russian agents may or may not be involved. There is a whole range of speculation: that Orban will declare a state of emergency under the pretext of Ukrainian aggression and postpone the elections. Or that he will let them take place, but then simply refuse to step down.

But such drama didnt cross anyones mind in Szentendre. Orban spoke combatively, yet people dispersed calmly and in high spirits. Peter Magyar should see how many of us were here, says Laszlo, a local man in his forties, who bought a cardboard sign at a party booth with the name of the main opposition party crossed out, in Ukrainian colors, chipped and peeling, evoking post-Soviet despair. Everyone is against us, but the prime minister was right. Theres still hope that well win.

Tomas Brolik is deputy editor-in-chief of Respekt, the leading Czech newsweekly where this article originally appeared. Republished by permission. Translated by Jeremy Druker.
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Kathryn Emerson Romeyn

At the 8th-century Borobudur, the worlds largest Buddhist monument, in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, I panicked. Our guide, Hariyanto, had just handed me, my four and a half-year-old daughter, Indah, and my 75-year old dad the UNESCO-required pandan leaf sandals to explore the monument. With notoriously sensitive feet, my dad fumed: They expect people to walk up and down uneven steps in these? How much harder can they make it? I helped him put on the awkward sandals, but within minutes he had kicked them off. Id rather go barefoot.

Kathryn Emerson Romeyn

Kathryn Emerson Romeyn

My dad has forever been my up-for-anything adventure buddyuntil my husband entered the picture seven years ago. Before this trip through Java and Borneo, our last just-us trip was prior to my marriage and kids and Covid, joyfully marooned together in Nairobi with my sister and her newborn. His frequent globe-trotting, including Machu Picchu and Zambia, belies his age, but still, hes based in Atlanta, Im in Bali.

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Once common one-on-one opportunities are now precious. But here was a rare one Id devised for us: a cultural voyage through ancient Central Java and an orangutan-focused mosey through Borneos Tanjung Puting National Park on a 16-foot-wide klotok riverboat. His eldest granddaughter, Indah, would join us, her early bedtime allowing us leisurely nights of conversation during the bespoke week beautifully designed by experiential luxury operator and Conde Nast Traveler specialist Extraordinary Journeys. For a deeply sentimental, family-focused nature lover and avid waterman it wasnt a hard sell.

Kathryn Emerson Romeyn

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Kathryn Emerson Romeyn

But not long into the first stretch of the trip, in Indonesias artistic city of Yogyakarta and meeting our friendly Yankees-hatted guide, Eko Prayitno, I began to notice my fathers new-found limitations. The shortest walks required negotiation. He relied on hiking poles. After that first day, we fell happy and exhausted into our plump beds at verdant boutique retreat Garrya Bianti Yogyakarta, and I wondered how my dads body had seemingly aged overnight. Our guide, Prayitno discreetly altered our itinerary to avoid much walking, but I worried guiltily, was this trip, with its thrillingly full days, too ambitious?

Kathryn Emerson Romeyn

As we went, I realized the answer was no. My father has always burst with pride over his daughters, however here I was beyond proud of his open-minded going for it, even though I could see he was in pain at times. In Jogjas historic Islamic district he gamely sampled tofu and tempeh, which I knew he detested (and ended up liking!), alongside eye-wateringly potent cabe rawit chili-choked sambal made by our charming hostess, Wiwin, in a mortar and pestle on her homes lovely terrace. She chuckled when Indah called my dad Babu, which means grandfather in Swahili but servant in Indonesianone of his favorite jokesand I got to admire how his interest in people makes everyone feel seen, no matter their age, gender, or creed.

Kathryn Emerson Romeyn

Kathryn Emerson Romeyn

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When we tried our hands at wax-resist batik with heritage preservation organization Jelajah Pusaka, Indah noticed her grandfather growing frustrated with his design and said emphatically, Babu, the goal is to explore what is in your mind, lightening the mood. I could tell each activity was a struggle. But he would never surrender. In a busy market, where random hands reached out to pinch Indahs cheeks, he cracked, I feel like Im in Taylor Swifts entourage. But at Prambanan, an enchanting 9th-century Hindu temple complex, Indah ran up thigh-high candi (temple) steps leaving me to quietly face dads mobility struggles. Ultra cautious, he stayed mostly on the dusty earth, commenting, If I fell up there it would be a disaster. He looked visibly peevedI read it as anger at his bodys betrayal. This is a guy whos tackled the Camino de Santiago three times.

Kathryn Emerson Romeyn

At Borabudor, we took it slow, with the guide weaving Buddhist tales of sufferingplaying to the audienceand nirvana as we spiraled up heavily carved levels to eventually reach a stone forest of 72 Buddha-encased stupas. Up there, orange-robed monks took photos, Indah skipped around, and my father reached something like enlightenment, courtesy of our 63-year-old Muslim guide who sat peaceful and pretzel-like performing mudras as he explained eight precepts for becoming Buddha. Barefoot Babu listened attentively as Hariyanto described the need to be brave: we cant be nervous, we need to try new things. My dads appetite for adventure and living on his own terms is stronger than ever, and I hate to see his body holding him back. Asking Hariyanto to please repeat it, Babu recorded the moving speech.

Hed earned it and the glorious Amanjiwo, our lodgings for two nights, provided a well-earned respite: a windy swim in the zero-edge pool, memorable meals, naps in our paras-pillared beds, and delicious homemade chocolate chip cookies, refilled frequently by the hyper-attentive staff who also arranged a Javanese blessing with their resident guru, Bapak Kunjung. Kneeling between my sarong-ed dad and daughter, I choked up at Babus wish: More healthy years to enjoy his daughters and grandchildren. Amid melodious chanting I recognized panjang umur, meaning long life; words that sounded like moogey moogey apparently meant we hope. I felt my eyes wet.

Kathryn Emerson Romeyn

If Java was about revelations, Borneo was the place for reflection. In Pangkalan Bun, we boarded Spirit of Lamandau, WOW Borneos three-cabin klotok riverboat, and glided gloriously slowly through dense Tanjung Puting National Park, comprising more than 1,000,000 protected acres of critically endangered Bornean orangutan habitat. We volleyed between off-grid downtime on the breezy top deckspotting orangutans and high-flying proboscis monkeys as we cruisedfantastic Indonesian feasts prepared by mother-daughter cooks, and sweaty, exhilarating rainforest treks to witness wild and habituated orangutans gorge themselves on supplemental producesweet potatoes, bananas, mangosoffered daily at research stations feeding platforms. Babu immediately fell into the flow, picking a nap chair in the bow and inquiring about the riverboats construction. The low-key pace felt foreign to my go-go-go brain, yet I constantly complain about time moving too fast and here it was noticeably, happily ebbing.

Kathryn Emerson Romeyn

At each stations wooden dock, Indah shouted, Babu, do you want to be an explorer with us? and hed heartily reply, Yes! before carefully stepping down. Our first encounter with a young hairy auburn dude who shares 97 percent of our DNA stopped us in our tracks: he stood pot-bellied and pigeon-toed with the posture of a nightclub security guard, grasping a tree with one hand, his other knuckles nearly sweeping the ground a la Stretch Armstrong. Each rendezvous, complete with soap operaworthy dramahoarding, cheeky teasing, Alex Honnoldworthy climbing, slow-mo acrobatics, and aggression that made gathered onlookers gaspfurther cemented our similarities as species. We watched, mesmerized and tickled, as they peeled husks and silks from hundreds of corn cobs before devouring them just as we do, as they crunched, snarled and swung, babies clinging to every possible body part, including perched on shoulders like I did as a toddler so high on my dads.

Kathryn Emerson Romeyn

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Kathryn Emerson Romeyn

In this equatorial environment, daylight stretched out languorously and deep dark night was accompanied by signs of the wildness around us: howlslikely mating callsand profuse fireflies, as rare as they are indelible. With Indah already asleep on our last night, we stood in the stern witnessing the synchronous flickers that continue to amaze adult me. Do you remember, Daddy? We used to catch them in a jar in the backyard. Of course, he replied, eyes on the dazzling mangrove. There, sans phone service, sans stress and real life, nostalgia and presence merged into a momentary elastic timelessness where we were again a little girl and her daddy, wonderstruck together over the magic of Mother Nature.

Originally Appeared on Conde Nast Traveler

The Latest Stories from Conde Nast Traveler
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The world is a big, beautiful place, and while every region has something to offer, South America in particular is home to a dizzying array of spectacular spots. From the ancient heights of Machu Picchu to the wildlife and arresting beauty of the Galapagos Islands  which are still the destination of a lifetime  this massive continent boasts the kind of variety that's hard to match elsewhere. The diversity draws travelers from all over who come to South America to soak up the richness it has on offer, though not all spots are created equally, at least when it comes to cost.

While it's true that certain places in South America come with a high price tag, there are also many worthy attractions all throughout the region that won't break the bank. Whether it's an otherwise popular spot that's cheaper in the shoulder season, or an affordable country packed with culture and food, it's more than possible to travel in South America on a budget. You just have to plan accordingly, which includes knowing where to go. Here are five destinations that really stand out when you factor in both allure and affordability.

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Read more: 14 Safest Caribbean Islands For A Stress-Free Vacation, According To Research

Sucre, Bolivia

The white, colonial building of Sucre, Bolivia. - Streetflash/Getty Images

Bolivia is widely cited as one of the most affordable countries to visit in South America. According to the Latin America travel blog World Adventurer, it's possible to travel in this rugged, landlocked nation for as little as $16 a day (on an extreme backpacker's budget), though mid-range travelers can expect to pay close to $80 daily.

This affordability extends to the city of Sucre, a UNESCO World Heritage Site that also serves as the country's co-capital (with the larger and busier La Paz). Known for its white-washed colonial architecture, Sucre was established in 1538 and offers laid-back vibes in a gorgeous and historic setting. It was here that Bolivia's Declaration of Independence was signed in 1825, and since then, the city has played a vital role in the country's political and cultural affairs. Most visitors spend their time soaking up the architecture around the Plaza 25 de Mayo (the central square), exploring its vivid, fascinating markets, and lounging in the city's many cafes and surprisingly hopping bars, where a domestic draft beer will set you back less than $2.

When it comes to cheap accommodations, Sucre also delivers. The centrally-located Hostal Pachamama offers private rooms with courtyard views for just $25 a night. Hospedaje Sarabia  which has a 9.3 rating on Booking.com  offers both twins and doubles for under $40, while a spacious room at the beautiful Hotel San Felipe will only set you back around $80. Whatever you choose, you'll be able to relax in Bolivia's gorgeous second city without stressing about the cost. "With its European feel," wrote travel blogger David Fegan in Vagabond Journey, "Sucre provides more familiar settings if you are struggling with culture shock, while still being interesting, uniquely Bolivian, and an extremely economical place to visit."

Quito, Ecuador

A street in the Old Town of Quito, Ecuador. - Leonid Andronov/Getty Images

Flanked by a string of volcanoes, Quito sits at 9,350 feet above sea level and is one of South America's most striking colonial capitals. Home to cobblestone alleys, broad plazas, historic churches, and buzzing street markets, this is Latin America in its most concentrated form, and it's both beautiful and easy on the wallet.

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Most visitors linger in Quito's Old Town, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, boasting the kind of colonial charm and architecture that may make you fall in love with the place. It's also a good place to stay, with rooms at centrally-located establishments such as Mia Leticia and Rincon Familiar Hostel Boutique going for around $40. While you're there, check out some of the district's 25 churches and monasteries, explore the Central Market, and when you're hungry, dive into traditional dishes at a hueca, the small, family-run eateries in town that will fill your belly for just a few dollars.

However, one of Quito's most irresistible and economical attractions is the TeleferiQo de Quito. For less than $10 round trip, this sky tram transports you to a mountainside viewpoint perched at over 12,600 feet. From there you can gaze down at the seemingly miniature city below, and, if you're feeling especially energetic (and have taken a couple of days to acclimate to the elevation), hike to the 15,350-foot summit of Rucu Pichincha, one of the volcanic peaks that looms over the city like a rocky sentinel.

Asuncion, Paraguay

Palacio de los Lopez, the presidential palace in Asuncion, Paraguay. - Donyanedomam/Getty Images

Long skipped over in favor of more high-profile spots, the small, landlocked country of Paraguay is starting to garner attention as an underappreciated and affordable destination. This especially applies to its capital, Asuncion, which was once declared the "cheapest city in the world" by the British tabloid The Mirror. Whether or not it deserves this distinction is up for debate, but according to travel website Backpacker South America, you can expect to spend between $40 and $60 a day in Paraguay, which certainly qualifies it as a budget option.

We especially see this in Asuncion's hotels. Doubles at the friendly Casa Mosaico run less than $30 a night, and if you feel like "splurging," the beautiful, colonial-style Asuncion Palace not only offers exceptional views of the city and the Paraguay River, but also rooms for around $65. Food is also remarkably affordable in the capital. Local dishes like sopa Paraguay (cheesy cornbread) and vori vori (chicken soup with cornmeal balls) will set you back less than $5 at local lunch spots such as El Rincon de las Papas.

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Asuncion is admittedly one of Latin America's sleepier capital cities, but if you're looking for a slower-paced experience, this may be your place. While you can enjoy free activities like taking in the neoclassical Palacio de los Lopez or paying your respects at the National Pantheon of the Heroes, perhaps the best thing to do is just relax and get in sync with the local pace of life. This, of course, means trying terere, the national drink made with ice-cold water and yerba mate that locals sip all day long. If you crave something harder, there's always beer, which should only cost about $1.50 at one of the city's restaurants or bars.

Cusco, Peru

A colorful street market in Cusco, Peru. - Olli0815/Getty Images

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Meaning "Navel of the World" in native Quechua, Cusco is situated at 11,152 feet above sea level in the Andes mountains, and has long been a magnet for budget travelers. According to the website Peru-Explorer, daily costs can range from $30 to $40, with meals at picanterias  lunchtime spots serving traditional fare  only running to around $2.50. Try the Cuzco adobo (pork stew) or expertly-prepared pachamanca (mutton cooked with potatoes or corn) to really get a taste of what these old-school eateries have on offer.

Once the capital of the Inca Empire, Cusco was largely demolished by the Spanish, who raided the city for its gold. Cobblestone streets, plazas, and a grand cathedral soon replaced the Incan structures and temples, though evidence of Cusco's pre-Spanish past is still evident in its remarkable stone walls, as well as the scores of Incan historical sites found throughout the city and its surroundings. 16 of these  including Coricancha (Temple of the Sun) and the massive Sacsayhuaman complex perched on a hillside overlooking downtown  can be accessed by purchasing the Cusco Tourist Ticket. At around $36 for a 10-day pass, this is surely one of the best deals to be had in Cusco. In addition to ruins, several museums and cultural centers are included in the price of the pass.

As far as places to stay, Cusco Bed and Breakfast has nice rooms for less than $50 a night, while the beautiful Kantu Hotel offers what you need for around $70, complete with a rooftop terrace. If that's north of your budget, you can always grab a private room at the Terra Sagrada Cusco guesthouse for just around $40, if you don't mind the company of backpackers.

Puerto Narino, Colombia

An aerial shot of Puerto Narino, Colombia. - Izanbar/Getty Images

You could argue that no trip to South America is complete without visiting the Amazon, and while there are a number of cities and towns that act as gateways to this wild jungle region, Colombia's idyllic Puerto Narino offers a chance to experience the best of what the iconic waterway has to offer. Situated on the river's northern bank, this town of nearly 10,000 residents is only accessible by flying into the larger, busier municipality of Leticia and taking a boat two hours upriver from there. This relative isolation just adds to Puerto Narino's charms, along with the fact that the settlement doesn't allow motorized vehicles.

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People come to Puerto Narino to take part in a number of eco-tour activities, such as spotting wildlife like pink and grey freshwater dolphins, monkeys, and tree sloths, as well as fishing for piranhas, jungle night trekking, and exploring nearby Lake Tarapoto. Visitors can also interact with the Indigenous communities that call the area home, providing a good dose of culture to complement the natural splendor Puerto Narino boasts in spades.

While it's possible to spend a pile of cash at one of the area's upscale eco lodges, you can keep costs down by staying in a local guesthouse or wooden cabin. Doubles at the highly-rated Hotel TATUANE run just $30 to $40 a night, and you'll pay about the same for a private jungle cabin at the charmingly rustic Satori Natural. You can also save money by arranging guides in person once you arrive. However you choose to do it, Puerto Narino offers a chance to experience the Amazon without depleting your bank account, as backed up by this Redditor, who wrote, "Puerto Narino is a cool town. Safe and cheap to get guides."

Methodology

A woman browses a traditional market in Chile. - John Elk/Getty Images

To determine which five affordable travel destinations in South America to include on this list, we looked at media articles, blog posts, and threads on websites such as Reddit to see which spots consistently came up in conversations about budget travel on the continent. Any given location had to come in at less than $80 a day for a realistic travel budget. We also looked at the prices of accommodations on sites such as Booking.com, as well as how much you can expect to spend at basic restaurants, as reflected in travel blogs and websites calculating living and travel costs.

After considering all this, we selected five destinations that offered unique travel experiences, each in a different country, and are confident that this list reflects some of the most appealing budget-friendly places to travel in all of South America. If you're looking to get off the mainland during your travels in South America, here are the most stunning islands on the continent, according to visitors.

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Read the original article on Islands.
Forecasters are predicting a surprise late-season winter storm system that could unload up to 33 inches of snow and bring wind gusts exceeding 70 mph this week. The weather will offer one final burst of winter just as many people were expecting that to be over for months.

How Much Snow Is Actually Expected This Week?

Dramatic scene of multiple vehicles traveling along a curving mountain road blanketed in fresh snow. Photo by Omer Urer/Anadolu via Getty Images (Photo by Omer Urer/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Forecasters are calling for heavy snowfall to arrive in the Sierra region of California this week. The winter storm is expected to strike from Tuesday, March 31, until early Friday, April 3. Until then, they are expecting dry weather to continue on Sunday and Monday, giving residents and tourists a brief calm before the storm. The forecasted winter storm could also bring wind gusts reaching speeds from 40 mph up to more than 70 mph at times.

The Sierra region of California is home to several ski resorts. Snow amounts affecting each of them will vary widely depending on the location and elevation level of the resort. The area around Bear Valley is expected to be hit hardest, as between 13 and 33 inches of snow is forecasted. On the other end of the spectrum is Mount Baldy, where snow isn't expected at all.

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Forecasted Snowfall Totals for Each Resort From Tuesday, March 31, to Friday, April 3:

Bear Valley  13-33

Kirkwood  11-29

Sugar Bowl  11-27

Dodge Ridge  10-26

Palisades Tahoe  10-26

Mammoth  6-15

Northstar  5-14

Heavenly  4-12

Diamond Peak  3-8

Mt. Rose  3-8

Mount Baldy  0

These figures represent estimations based on early modeling, with the potential for numbers to vary depending on how the storm evolves.

Why This Late-Season Storm Matters

Typically, when winter storm warnings are issued, it causes a great deal of concern for residents of the area for very good reason. After all, those kinds of weather systems can wreak severe damage and cause serious risks to those affected. However, there are also instances when heavy snowfall arriving not only doesn't make people upset, it is celebrated.

As Men's Journal's meteorologist, Jonathan Warren, recently covered, the 2026 winter season has been upsetting for many as they have been left asking a simple question. Where is the snow?

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While heavy snowfall and powerful winds striking the Sierra region of California require locals to take the potential dangers seriously, many will rejoice at the impending storm. After weeks of watching snow melt away, this unexpected influx offers one last taste of the winter conditions they have been hoping for.

Recently, CBS News reported that warm March weather was forcing the early closures of some Sierra ski resorts. Businesses like Homewood Mountain Resort and Sierra-at-Tahoe already shut down ahead of schedule, and others have scaled back their operations. So, being struck by a fresh batch of heavy snowfall may bring a welcome rejuvenation for the resorts that hadn't quite closed their doors yet.

This story was originally published by Men's Journal on Mar 29, 2026, where it first appeared in the Travel section. Add Men's Journal as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
A general view of the beach on the Sporades island of Skopelos. Alexia Angelopoulou/dpa/dpa-tmn

Greece and Cyprus are feeling the effects of the war in the Middle East as the holiday season approaches, with uncertainty over rising costs and economic developments causing concern across the hotel sector.

In Athens, industry representatives are observing a noticeable slowdown in reservations.

Travel agencies and hoteliers say many holidaymakers are hesitating and waiting to see how the situation develops.

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Greek Tourism Minister Olga Kefalogianni spoke late last week of the psychological burden caused by the war, but also suggested that holidaymakers may concentrate on destinations considered safe  including Greece, which lies far from the actual crisis region.

Cyprus in contrast is closer to the conflict region and has experienced its effects directly: in early March, an Iranian-made drone struck the British RAF Akrotiri airbase near Limassol, causing minor damage.

The government in Nicosia has launched a package worth 200 million ($230 million) to cushion the economic consequences of the Middle East crisis.

In April, 30% of the wages of employees in hotels and other holiday accommodation will be covered. The government is also planning support for airlines.

Cypriot Tourism Minister Kostas Koumis said that the drop in tourist arrivals from several important markets such as Israel and several Arab states was particularly problematic.
South Florida airport wait times, while often longer than normal, are not anywhere near the three-to-four-hour delays occurring at other sites throughout the country.

Immigration Customs and Enforcement agents have been dispatched to numerous airports across the country, including Miami. TSA union officials, though, say they have been of little help since they are not trained in airport security. President Trump has signed an executive order to pay TSA agents, but it is not clear how many of them will return to work. More than 500 have quit rather than work without pay,

According to the website Flightqueue.com, here are the average wait times at South Florida airports as of 8:30 a.m. on Monday, March 30.

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 JetBlue: Adds Fort Lauderdale flights, becomes airport's top carrier

Here are the TSA wait times at PBIA, Fort Lauderdale and Miami airports

Palm Beach International Airport: Less than 15 minutes for both TSA and immigration.

Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport: 30-45 minutes for TSA, and more than 45 minutes for immigration

Miami International Airport: 30-45 minutes for TSA, and less than 15 minutes for immigration.

Mike Diamond is a journalist at The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. He covers Palm Beach County government. You can reach him at mdiamond@pbpost.com. Help support local journalism. Subscribe today.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: TSA airport wait times at Miami, Fort Lauderdale, PBI for March 30
In an interview published in yesterdays Express, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar revealed the principles guiding her administrations policies. As is usual with politicians, however, there was a notable gap between rhetoric and reality.

Asked about her strong and vociferous support for American President Donald Trump, the Prime Minister explained, The current US government believes in conservatism and capitalism, and that aligns with my views.
A pet kangaroo who escaped his enclosure Wednesday was found Friday night and was home by early Saturday.

The kangaroo stayed within a 2-mile radius the entire time he was missing, said Debbie Marland, who opened Sunshine Farm petting zoo last June near Necedah, Wisconsin, 90 miles northwest of Madison.

Chesney was spotted by drone operators who had been involved in the search from the start, Marland said in a Facebook post.

Once spotted, a drone operator put an eight-person search team in position to form a circle around him, she said.

"Unfortunately, Chesney had other plans and was way quicker than us," Marland wrote, adding that once they came close, with one of the searchers diving onto him, "he snuck out of the grip."

After pinpointing him, the search took two hours, she wrote in a later post. "We just finished at 1 a.m."

Marland thanked the "incredible drone flyers" and everyone who searched and lent support.

"To all our drone pilots bless your souls, the hours you put in to locate him daily and the tedious searching was just incredible," she wrote.

She said Saturday that Chesney was home safely "and taking the biggest nap after some food. He is not hurt and looks healthy as can be."

Marland said Stacy Brereton, a good friend who works at the farm, was the one to coax Chesney to her. "She just spoke in a gentle voice to him and crouched down to his level and he came right up to her to sniff her and it basically looked like he was giving her a kiss and then she just picked him up," Marland wrote in a text.
"Arizona law already prohibits the mailing and delivery of abortion-inducing drugs,'' Keshel told colleagues during debate on the measure.

"What is missing in the statute is clear enforcement mechanisms,'' she said. "This bill, HB 2364, basically just closes that gap.''

Keshel said the prohibition, and the penalty she wants to add, are justified.

"It is obviously taken to end the life of a preborn child,'' she said. "And I believe that life starts at conception, in the womb.''

Beyond her personal feelings, Keshel told colleagues the ability to get the drug through an online consultation has led to abuses.

One case she cited involves a Texas attorney who pleaded guilty to obtaining the abortion drug and then putting it into the drinks of his pregnant wife. He was sentenced to 180 days in jail.

Another case involves allegations an Ohio man who ordered abortion drugs using his estranged wife's information and then gave them to his pregnant girlfriend. He was later indicted.

"So we need to take this very seriously,'' Keshel said.

The legislation drew support from Dr. Erica Kreller, a board-certified obstetrician and gynecologist in private practice. She told lawmakers she has treated women who have suffered complications after obtaining the abortion drug in the mail.

"Many of them had taken the pill beyond the recommended 10 weeks, either because they didn't know how pregnant they were or didn't understand the increasing risks of taking it at a later gestational age,'' Kreller said.
ABC defends Australian Story episode after Media Watch criticism

ABC defends "small but integral to the narrative" inclusion of surgeon in a recent Australian Story episode, following a high-profile defamation case.

ABC has defended its recent Australian Story episode on Iraqi refugee Ghanim Al Shnen in which his surgeon Munjed Al Muderis featured.

In 2025 60 Minutes and The Age won a defamation case following a report by Nines Tom Steinfort and investigative journalist Charlotte Grieve.

While last weeks Australian Story included on-screen warnings referring to the courts findings, Media Watch host Linton Besser described those as inadequate.

 it was entirely feasible to present this otherwise legitimate update to Ghanims inspirational life story without seeing or hearing from the scandal-plagued surgeon at all, said Besser.

The Nine-owned Sydney Morning Herald also referred to the episode as pretty light on disclosure.

Absent from the ABCs Al Muderis puffery were meaningful disclosures related to the risks associated with osseointegration surgery,  said SMH.

A spokesperson for the ABC told Media Watch, Al Muderis appearances amounted to only four minutes of the program:

Australian Story followed up its 2019 episode on Ghanim Al Shnen to let viewers know he had been reunited with his family after 12 years and show how he has adapted to his robotic arms. Viewers responded strongly to the initial episode and we felt they would value the update. The story is about Ghanim and the surgery allowing him to be fitted with robotic arms is a fundamental part of his story. Ghanim has no issues with his surgery, its outcome or his treatment. As the doctor responsible for the surgery, Dr Munjed Al Muderis role was small but integral to the narrative, they said.

No questions about Al Muderis had been raised at the time of the original episode and the update was filmed before a decision on his defamation case was handed down. In light of the questions raised before and during the trial we edited references to Al Muderis from the updated episode as much as possible. In a 30-minute episode, a little over four minutes contains material related to Al Muderis.

In light of the courts findings, on-screen information was inserted immediately following the surgery sequence that accurately conveyed the gravity of the allegations. It said: After the 2019 episode aired, Dr Al Muderis was accused by Nine Media of downplaying the risks of osseointegration surgery, improper sales tactics, inappropriate patient selection and inadequate aftercare. After Al Muderis failed in a defamation action, a judge found he prioritise[d] fame, numbers and money over his patients.

The episode was not about osseointegration surgery so did not include a high level of detail about the procedure. The episode acknowledged complications can arise from the surgery, which remains one of the options available for amputees.

As the digital story did not focus on the surgery the original brief references to the negative findings against Al Muderis were not material to it and an editorial decision was made to remove them. The article also included the acknowledgment that: Osseointegration is a controversial and risky procedure. The point at which the titanium rod emerges from the skin requires ongoing care to prevent infection and its not a procedure that suits every patient. It is possible to attach mind-controlled robotic limbs using less-invasive methods.

There were no errors and nothing misleading in the original version so there was no need for an editors note or a post on the Corrections page. This is consistent with the editorial guidance, which states a note should be included when we have corrected or clarified the content and need to disclose the change to the audience. The episode meets the ABCs Editorial Standards and remains available.

A Federal Court appeal by Dr Al Muderis is to be heard in coming weeks.
Airdate: 7News: The Dezi Freeman Hunt Over

Special coverage on Seven following the end of a manhunt, with Michael Usher and Mike Amor tonight.

Seven News is giving comprehensive coverage to the hunt for fugitive Dezi Freeman who was found and shot dead by police this morning.

From 4.00pm,Seven News will head straight to 7NEWS Reporter Cassie Zervos  who first broke the story  live from Thologolong in north-east Victoria, where Dezi had been hiding.

Next, a special edition of Seven News at 6.00pm takes viewers inside the dramatic end of a seven-month operation to find a cop killer.

Tonight from 8.40pm on Seven and 7plus, Michael Usher and Mike Amor will host 7NEWS: The Dezi Freeman Hunt Over, with Mike Amor live from Porepunkah, revealing how authorities closed in on Victorias most wanted man.

Sunrise will continue coverage from 5.00am tomorrow.

Victoria Police is yet to officially confirm the mans identity.

Details about 9-1-1 episode are yet to be supplied.
Dateline: Mar 31

Locals and refugees are stuck in housing limbo in Glasgow, fuelling a deep divide.

Dateline tonight heads to Glasgow for its story, No Vacancy.

Glasgow prided itself as the UKs most friendly city for asylum seekers. But now, facing a housing emergency, far-right politics is on the rise, stoking divisions in this once welcoming city.

Since 1999, Glasgow has proudly declared itself a dispersal city, an area designated by the Home Office to house and support asylum seekers while they wait for their claims to be processed.

Glasgow is the largest dispersal city in the UK and supports more than 3,800 asylum seekers.

Dispersal cities were set up to ease the burden on major metropolitan areas in Britain, like London, and receive funding from the Home Office.

Once asylum seekers are granted refugee status, Scottish local authorities  which have a legal obligation to house homeless people  must then step in and house refugees who present as homeless.

But this generosity is being tested. Glasgow City Council has declared a housing emergency, and in 2025 requested a pause on new arrivals being sent to the city by the Home Office to deal with the citys housing crisis.

9:30pm Tuesday on SBS.
Four Corners breaches ABC Code of Practice

ACMA finds a 2024 episode breached accuracy and impartiality -which contrasts somewhat to the findings of the ABC Ombudsman.

A 2024 Four Corners episode Water Grab has breached the ABC Code of Practice over accuracy and impartiality.

The Australian Communications and Media Authority found that the August 2024 episode by reporter Angus Grigg about water usage in the Northern Territory inaccurately conveyed that a Northern Territory pastoral station had illegally used a fire to clear land for cotton production without approval to do so.

The ACMA investigation found the ABC did not have sufficient evidence to make this assertion and did not make reasonable efforts to verify it.

Given the complexity of the scientific and technical subject matter, the ACMA undertook a thorough and comprehensive investigation considering all the material issues.

In its assessment the ACMA found that the episodes omissions of credible, alternative scientific perspectives limited the audiences ability to weigh competing evidence and therefore also breached the ABCs obligations to present principal relevant viewpoints.

The finding somewhat contrasts the ABC Ombudsmans finding from October 2024 that the episode did not breach the ABCs editorial standards for accuracy and privacy (but a breach on impartiality).

ACMA Chair Nerida OLoughlin said, The ABC should have stopped to consider whether it had sufficient supporting evidence to include the statement about the fire.

This type of assertion can have a significant adverse effect on the reputations of those involved, so reasonable efforts must be made to ensure any claims are accurate and presented in context.

Australians expect rigorous, fair and factual reporting on complex and contested public issues. Our view is that parts of the program did not meet the ABCs own standards for accuracy and impartiality.

The ABC will publish an editors note and clarification about the ACMAs breach finding. The ABC has also increased its accuracy and impartiality training for news journalists in response to the ACMAs finding and will develop advanced training for managers of investigations.

Updated: In a statement ABC said, This story broadcast on August 19 2024 examined the role of the Northern Territory government in facilitating water licenses for the growing of cotton, particularly in the area near Mataranka Springs and Elsey Creek. The program was subject to a complaint to the Australian Media and Communications Authority (ACMA). The ACMA concluded that the program unduly favoured the perspectives of two environmental scientists and did not adequately inform the audience of the existence of alternative scientific perspectives about the causes of changes to Mataranka groundwater levels and the water quality at Elsey Creek. The ACMA also concluded that the description of a fire at Claravale station amounted to an allegation of illegal land clearing. The ACMA concluded that the factual assertion conveyed by the relevant statement was not accurate.

The ABC accepts that the statement should have been qualified but does not accept that the statement has been shown to be inaccurate.
TVNZ news boss resigns

Phil OSullivan to depart after 11 years at Kiwi broadcaster.

TVNZ news boss Phil OSullivan last week announced his resignation after 11 years with the Auckland-based broadcaster.

He has been Executive Editor  News & Current Affairs since 2022.

Its been a huge responsibility but a great privilege to lead the team that informs this country every day. Im so proud of our people and I know theyll keep doing a great job for New Zealanders, he told the NZ Herald.

He was once a member of the TVNZ executive, but a restructuring last year saw the head of news role combined with the head of content / programming.

TVNZ chief news and content officer Nadia Tolich rold staff via email, Phils impact on our newsroom and our journalism has been profound.

His editorial judgment, experience and leadership have shaped our coverage for more than a decade, but more importantly, he has shaped our people.

So many of you will have experienced first-hand how deeply Phil cares about our teams and the role we play in Aotearoa. This commitment has always been evident in the way he leads.

A TVNZ spokeswoman said they were: immensely grateful for [OSullivans] contribution, and well certainly be celebrating a tenure very well served before he departs.

He exits on April 24.
Hundreds of individuals involved in easy job, high salary scams in Cambodia were returned to Vietnam. Photo: V.T

All suspects have been charged and placed in temporary detention on allegations of using computer networks, telecommunications systems and electronic devices to appropriate assets.

From job seekers to fraud participants

According to Dong Nai Provincial Police, the case stems from an extensive investigation into organized online scam networks operating across national borders.

Many of those involved were initially drawn in by promises of easy jobs with high pay advertised on social media platforms. They later left Vietnam illegally and ended up working at scam compounds, including operations based in Poipet casino complexes in Cambodia.

Once there, they were instructed to use applications such as WhatsApp, Zara, Gap, Instagram and Facebook to carry out fraudulent schemes targeting unsuspecting internet users.

Large-scale repatriation and legal action

On March 17, nearly 400 Vietnamese citizens connected to the network were handed over by Cambodian authorities at Hoa Lu International Border Gate.

Following their return, border forces imposed administrative penalties on 331 individuals. Among them, 328 were fined a total of more than VND2.4 billion (approximately US$98,000) for illegally crossing the border, while three others were sanctioned for failing to present valid passports.

Through investigative measures, authorities gathered sufficient evidence to formally prosecute and detain 343 suspects by March 27.

Coordinated international effort

The crackdown is part of a broader campaign led by Vietnams Ministry of Public Security to combat increasingly sophisticated transnational cybercrime.

In recent years, authorities have stepped up cooperation with law enforcement agencies in Laos and Cambodia to dismantle fraud rings that exploit digital platforms and operate beyond national borders.

A growing and evolving threat

Investigators say the scale and organization of the network reflect a worrying trend, as online scams become more complex and harder to detect.

The case also underscores the risks faced by individuals seeking overseas employment through informal or unverified channels, many of whom unknowingly become entangled in criminal operations.

Authorities are continuing to expand the investigation and have warned the public to remain vigilant against fraudulent job offers circulating online.

Hoang Anh
The first Ho Chi Minh City Buddhist Congress is scheduled to take place at Viet Nam Quoc Tu pagoda, in Hoa Hung ward, from April 4 to 5 (corresponding to the 17th and 18th days of the second lunar month of the Year of the Horse).

Venerable Thich Le Trang, Vice Chairman of the Executive Council of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha and Head of its Ho Chi Minh City chapter, as well as Head of the Organizing Committee, emphasized that this congress carries special significance.

It has been selected by the central Sangha as the first to be held, serving as a pilot congress and a model for implementation in 33 provinces and cities nationwide.

According to Venerable Thich Le Trang, the congress takes place as the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha is implementing a restructuring policy aimed at streamlining its organizational apparatus to enhance effectiveness and efficiency.

As such, the congress not only focuses on content but also sets strict requirements for personnel and organizational work, ensuring alignment with broader reform orientations.

A defining event for the new term

Venerable Thich Le Trang: The congress sets strict requirements for personnel and organizational work, ensuring alignment with the broader direction of reform. Photo: Organizing Committee

Information about the congress was announced at a press conference on March 30 organized by the Ho Chi Minh City chapter of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha. Photo: Organizing Committee

Held under the theme Discipline - Innovation - Effectiveness - Efficiency, the congress is considered the most important Buddhist event in Ho Chi Minh City for the upcoming term.

It has received approval from the Standing Committee of the Sanghas Executive Council as well as the Ho Chi Minh City Peoples Committee.

The organizing committee expects around 600 delegates, including representatives from the Council of Proof, central Sangha bodies, government agencies, invited guests and 434 official delegates.

The program will feature 18 presentations from specialized committees, including those responsible for Buddhist education, Dharma propagation, lay Buddhist guidance, international relations and the nuns community.

Contributions beyond religious activities

Alongside preparations for the congress, Buddhist activities in recent years have been recognized for their contributions to social welfare.

Notably, relief efforts, support for disadvantaged communities and the organization of emergency kitchens during natural disasters have been implemented, with total funding reaching nearly VND4.118 trillion (US$169 million).

In the lead-up to the congress, decoration and communication efforts have been carried out across Buddhist establishments in the city. National flags, Buddhist flags, banners and posters have been displayed, also marking the 45th anniversary of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha (19812026).

Information about the first Ho Chi Minh City Buddhist Congress for the 20262031 term was announced at a press conference held on March 30 by the citys chapter of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha.

Tuan Hung
According to investigators, nearly 160 environmental monitoring stations were interfered with, resulting in falsified data that concealed violations for an extended period.

A network spanning dozens of enterprises

Investigators from the Ministry of Public Security question a suspect in the case. Photo: VTV

On March 29, the Investigation Police Agency under the Ministry of Public Security confirmed that 74 suspects had been charged with 10 different offenses related to environmental monitoring violations.

The individuals are associated with 59 enterprises and service units involved in emissions discharge and the installation of monitoring equipment nationwide. Among those implicated are also officials and leaders from state agencies responsible for environmental management.

The case came to light after the Environmental Crime Prevention Police Department detected unusual patterns suggesting systematic falsification of environmental indicators at multiple businesses. The findings were reported to ministry leadership, prompting a full-scale investigation.

Months of investigation uncover sophisticated methods

After months of gathering evidence, authorities coordinated arrests and formally initiated criminal proceedings.

Investigators identified several major industrial facilities - including Quang Ninh Thermal Power Plant, Hai Phong Thermal Power Plant and Thai Binh 2 Thermal Power Plant - along with companies in aluminum, steel and environmental services, as key sources of large-scale emissions.

Under regulations, such facilities are required to install automatic monitoring systems at discharge points to ensure continuous oversight.

However, data transmitted from these systems to local Departments of Agriculture and Environment had been manipulated in a highly sophisticated manner.

Despite being sealed and monitored by dedicated cameras, the systems were remotely accessed using specialized software. This allowed suspects to alter output indicators, lowering reported pollution levels so that transmitted data consistently remained within permitted thresholds.

More than half of monitoring stations affected

Authorities determined that nearly 160 monitoring stations had been tampered with, accounting for approximately 55% of all such stations nationwide.

According to Major General Than Van Hai, Director of the Environmental Crime Prevention Police Department, offenders have shifted from direct, visible violations to more covert methods involving continuous interference with automated monitoring systems.

These systems are considered a core tool for state oversight. Their manipulation effectively enabled businesses to legitimize illegal emissions over long periods.

A new form of environmental crime

The case underscores a significant evolution in environmental violations, from physical acts of pollution to digital interference designed to evade detection.

It also raises concerns about the integrity of monitoring systems that authorities rely on to enforce environmental regulations.

As the investigation continues, the Ministry of Public Security is expected to expand inquiries and tighten oversight mechanisms to prevent similar abuses in the future.

Dinh Hieu
Outrage over Trump paying Michael Flynn for wrongful prosecution, zero outrage over the lefts payoffs By Rachel Alexander

web posted March 30, 2026 The left is furious that the Trump administration settled with former National Security Advisor General Michael Flynn over wrongful prosecution, agreeing to pay him $1.25 million. Flynn had sued the government alleging that the DOJ and FBI politically targeted him due to his association with Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign. Mary McCord, a former DOJ prosecutor writing for MS NOW, said it was an ominous new precedent  to settle a baseless claim of malicious prosecution. But it wasnt really a precedent. The mainstream media just pretends to ignore previous precedents by their leftist comrades in government, giving them sparse coverage. In Maricopa County, former Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas attempted to prosecute two Maricopa County Supervisors in the late 2000s for corruption. One of them, Don Stapley, raised about $86,000 for a campaign where he had no opponent, then spent most of the money on luxury personal items and vacations with his family. The prosecutions went nowhere due to cozy relationships between the judges and supervisors. The supervisors filed bar complaints against Thomas and myself  I was serving as a Special Assistant  and got Thomas disbarred . Stapleys fellow supervisors awarded him $3.5 million of taxpayers money over the stress of being prosecuted. About the same time, they also awarded $3.75 million to the disgraced former owners of the Phoenix New Times, Michael Lacey and Jim Larkin, who were prosecuted shortly afterwards for facilitating ads for prostitution involving minors on Backpage.com. Larkin killed himself before the trial started, and Lacey was sentenced to five years in prison. Much of the case against them hinged on the testimony of Eryka Brewster, who said she was only 14 when she was sex trafficked. The only way my trafficker could make any money off of me was through a Backpage ad; he worked nowhere else but there, although I did later find out that I showed up on other sites like Erotic Monkey which basically scraped ads from Backpage and posted them to their site without knowledge, she told me. A U.S. Senate investigation found that Backpage knowingly facilitated underage sex trafficking on its site by actively editing ads posted in the adult services section. The payout to the pair was over a criminal subpoena that Sheriff Joe Arpaio had served on them in 2007 for information on their website regarding publishing his home address, potentially a crime . Since the subpoena was broad, asking for IP addresses of website visitors who had viewed the articles, the mainstream media blew it up and a leftist judge threw it out. But the government has asked for IP addresses previously from the media and it didnt result in multimillion dollar settlements. In 2009, federal prosecutors issued a subpoena to Indymedia demanding IP addresses from everyone who had visited the site on June 25, 2008. The mainstream media pushed back supporting Indymedia, and so prosecutors dropped the subpoena. But Indymedia didnt sue; it was an area of law at the time that was still being fleshed out. The Maricopa County Supervisors issued numerous huge settlements to opponents of Arpaio in order to make him look bad  even when they hadnt filed lawsuits against the county! By 2021, they had paid out $100 million of these. Former Maricopa County prosecutor April Sponsel attempted to prosecute several people involved in an Antifa riot, but after local media heavily covered the prosecutions with negative coverage, her superiors dropped the charges. ABC15 bragged , On February 12, 2021, MCAO dismissed the gang charges against protesters following a week of intense scrutiny because of ABC15s reporting. The State Bar of Arizona, which has a history of targeting conservative attorneys, suspended Sponsels law license for two years, and the supervisors awarded the protesters $6 million. In another typical example, several progressive activists claimed their civil rights had been violated. The supervisors awarded them nearly $475,000. This is happening all over the country. The City of Portland, Oregon, has paid out over $9.1 million to Antifa and related activists involved with the 2020 riots. New York City approved a $13.7 million class-action settlement, one of the largest ever for protesters, to roughly 1,380 BLM activists. Denver approved a $4.7 million settlement to more than 300 BLM protesters who had been arrested. Seattle approved a $10 million settlement to over 50 BLM activists. Its always the same story: leftist prosecutors cave to media pressure, drop the charges or never bring them, the progressive activists sue, and Democrats in office issue large settlements, never bothering to go to trial despite the fact a lot of the activists would have lost. Flynn was prosecuted because prosecutors claimed he lied stating he had not talked to the Russians about their voting at the U.N. Vice President Mike Pence said on TV that Flynn had not discussed sanctions with the Russians. Since this contradicted what prosecutors said about Flynn, he was fired from his position as National Security Advisor. But Flynn never said he didnt talk to the Russians  he said he didnt remember if hed talked to them. FBI agent Peter Stzrok and FBI lawyer Lisa Page, his extramarital lover, changed the FD-302 writeup of Flynns interview to state that hed denied having the conversation. Flynns career was decimated , his private sector work dried up, and he lost tens of millions of dollars in business opportunities and future earning potential because the prosecution destroyed his consulting career and reputation. Nothing can fully compensate for the hell that my family and I have endured over these many years  the relentless attacks, the destruction of reputations, the financial ruin, and the profound personal toll inflicted upon us all, he said this month. The mainstream media gets by on its lies in part through selectively reporting information. But conservatives value history. Despite their Orwellian omissions, we will not forget and will call them out on their hypocrisy. Rachel Alexander and her brother Andrew are co-Editors of Intellectual Conservative. She has been published in the American Spectator, Townhall.com, Fox News, NewsMax, Accuracy in Media, The Americano, ParcBench, Enter Stage Right and other publications. Home

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iPhone 17 Pro Max. Photo: PhoneArena

The feature in question is not flashy, rarely promoted and often left unused by most users. Yet its performance is now drawing serious attention across the tech world.

A clean record against spyware

Apple confirmed that it has not recorded a single successful spyware attack on devices with Lockdown Mode enabled since the feature was introduced in 2022.

According to the companys latest report, this record holds across the entire lifespan of the feature, with no known breaches to date.

So what exactly is Lockdown Mode?

In simple terms, it acts as a kind of panic button for iPhone users. Once activated, it significantly reduces the devices functionality. Message links no longer show previews, wired connections to computers are restricted, web browsing capabilities are limited, and incoming calls from unknown contacts are tightly controlled.

This is clearly not a setting designed for everyday users casually browsing social media. Instead, Lockdown Mode is built for individuals at high risk of targeted cyberattacks, including journalists, lawyers and activists. In exchange for a heavily restricted user experience, they gain a substantially higher level of security.

A response to growing threats

Spyware has become an increasingly serious global threat. Tools such as Pegasus have been used to monitor activists, politicians and journalists, often without any interaction from the victim.

These so-called zero-click attacks can take control of a device without the user doing anything at all, making them among the most dangerous forms of cyber intrusion.

In that context, Lockdown Modes flawless record is particularly notable. It suggests that Apples strategy of reducing potential entry points for attackers is working not just in theory, but in real-world conditions.

The achievement also highlights a clear advantage for Apple. While Android does offer a feature with a similar name, it does not operate in the same way or provide the same depth of protection. Even many Android enthusiasts acknowledge that there is currently no direct equivalent at this level.

A broader question for Apple

Apple deserves recognition for this accomplishment. At the same time, it is important to understand its scope.

Lockdown Mode is designed for a relatively small group of users facing highly specific threats. For the average iPhone user who mainly messages friends or watches videos online, enabling the feature is unlikely to make a noticeable difference in daily security.

However, the broader significance lies elsewhere.

The success of Lockdown Mode demonstrates that when Apple focuses on security at a deep level, it can deliver measurable results. This raises a larger question: could such protections be expanded to benefit all users, rather than remaining an optional setting hidden within the system?

If Apple were to integrate these defenses more widely, or even make them standard, the overall security of the iPhone ecosystem could be significantly strengthened.

As spyware continues to evolve, such improvements may become critical in shaping the future of mobile security.

For now, Lockdown Mode remains a little-known and often overlooked feature. But with a near-perfect security record, it may be time for users to reconsider its importance as one of the most powerful tools available on the iPhone.

Hai Phong
Tucked between motorbike parts shops on Duong Tu Giang Street in Ho Chi Minh City, a modest sticky rice stall begins its day at 2pm. Yet long before the glass display is fully arranged, customers are already waiting.

The sticky rice and three-color dessert stall run by Yen draws crowds of customers as soon as it opens at 2pm each day.

For nearly half a century, this small family-run business has served only two items: xoi xiem and che ba mau. Despite its simplicity, the stall has built a loyal following across generations.

The current owner, Huynh Thi Ngoc Yen, 51, inherited the business from her mother-in-law, continuing a culinary tradition that dates back to the 1970s.

A recipe passed down across borders

The story of the stall begins with an unexpected connection.

Decades ago, Yens mother-in-law lived near a Cambodian neighbor known for making fragrant xoi xiem. Before returning to her home country, the neighbor shared her cooking secrets.

After successfully mastering the dish, Yens mother-in-law began selling xoi xiem and che ba mau from her home, quickly attracting regular customers.

When I got married, I helped my mother-in-law run the stall. Later, when she grew older, I took over the cooking and daily operations, Yen said.

For nearly 50 years, the recipes have remained unchanged, preserving the original flavor passed down through generations.

The small stall, established by Yens mother-in-law, serves only two dishes: xoi xiem and che ba mau.

The stalls signature dish is xoi xiem with ca de custard.

A serving of xoi xiem features fragrant sticky rice at the base, topped with a rich slice of ca de and finished with coconut milk mixed with durian pulp.



The flavor that defines the stall

At the heart of the menu is xoi xiem served with coconut milk and ca de - a custard-like layer that gives the dish its signature character.

The sticky rice is made from nep ngong, a variety known for its soft, fragrant grains. Once cooked, the rice appears glossy, evenly textured and carries a distinct aroma.

But the defining element is the ca de - golden like flan, rich yet delicate in taste. Made from butter, milk, eggs and coconut milk, it is prepared using a closely guarded family recipe.

A complete portion layers hot sticky rice at the base, topped with a slice of ca de, and finished with coconut milk mixed with durian pulp. The result is a balanced combination of sweetness, creaminess and subtle richness without becoming overwhelming.

Two dishes, countless loyal customers

A serving of xoi xiem.



Beyond xoi xiem, the stall serves just one other item: che ba mau.

The dessert combines red beans, mung beans and jelly, topped with coconut milk and ca de. It offers a layered texture - creamy, nutty and lightly sweet, with a gentle chew from the jelly.

Each portion of both dishes is priced at VND35,000 (US$1.40), making it accessible while maintaining consistent quality.

Yen prepares ingredients carefully from the night before and cooks everything fresh in the morning. By the time the stall opens in the afternoon, both sticky rice and dessert are ready to serve.

Throughout the day, the sticky rice is kept warm at a controlled temperature to maintain its texture, while the dessert is portioned in advance and assembled upon order.

A small space, a lasting connection

The three-color dessert is also served with coconut milk and ca de, offering a creamy, lightly sweet flavor.



The stall itself is modest - part home, part kitchen - with space for only two small tables indoors. Most customers sit along the sidewalk, especially in the evening when neighboring shops close and the area opens up.

Operating daily from 2pm to 10pm, the stall sees a steady flow of takeaway orders during the day, while evenings bring diners who choose to stay and enjoy the experience.

Over the years, the customer base has grown to include long-time locals, overseas Vietnamese and even international visitors. Some have been coming since childhood.

Nguyen Thi My Nhan, 50, has been a regular for nearly four decades.

I started eating here when I was 10. Even after all these years, I still love the flavor, especially the ca de. Whenever I pass by, I stop to buy some, she said.

A legacy shaped by simplicity

My Nhan said she has been eating at the stall since she was 10 and has remained a loyal customer for nearly 40 years.







In a city known for its dynamic food scene, where trends come and go, this small stall stands apart by doing less - and doing it well.

With only two dishes and a recipe that has barely changed in half a century, it continues to draw crowds not through novelty, but through consistency and memory.

In many ways, its enduring appeal lies not just in taste, but in the quiet continuity of a family tradition - one that has found its place in the everyday rhythm of Saigon life.

Ha Nguyen
Unfavorable weather puts Bac Ninh lychee crops at risk of a sharp decline in output.

With less than two months before the main harvest begins, concerns are mounting in one of northern Vietnams key lychee-growing regions. According to Dang Van Tang, head of the provincial Sub-Department of Crop Production and Plant Protection, flowering rates this year are significantly lower than usual. Early-season lychee has reached around 60 percent flowering, while the main crop ranges between 40 and 50 percent.

As a result, total output is projected to decline by approximately 50 percent compared to 2025, with an estimated production of around 100,000 tons.

The primary cause lies in unusual weather patterns during a critical stage of plant development. In November and December 2025, when lychee trees typically undergo flower bud differentiation, temperatures were higher than average and accompanied by prolonged humidity and rainfall.

These conditions triggered off-season vegetative growth, disrupting the formation of flower buds and ultimately reducing flowering rates for the current crop.

Despite the overall decline, some orchards have achieved flowering rates of 70 to 80 percent by strictly following technical guidelines and proactively managing tree care. These models are now being considered for wider replication across the province.

In response to the challenges, the Bac Ninh Department of Agriculture and Environment has already implemented a production plan for the 2026 season. Specialized task forces have been established to oversee export-oriented growing areas, guiding farmers to follow standardized practices.

At the same time, the province is selecting high-quality orchards as benchmarks to promote effective cultivation methods.

Learning from the 2025 season, when heavy rainfall during harvest led to increased pest and disease outbreaks that affected fruit quality, authorities are placing strong emphasis on early disease control this year.

Common threats such as downy mildew and anthracnose are being closely monitored, as they can cause fruit rot under humid conditions. Farmers are being instructed on proper prevention measures, appropriate harvest timing and avoiding picking during unfavorable weather.

The use of biological and herbal plant protection products is being encouraged to reduce chemical residues. All pesticide use must comply with strict guidelines, including a minimum 15-day pre-harvest interval.

Export standards are also being tightened. Bac Ninh currently has 241 coded growing areas eligible for export to markets including China, the US, the EU, Japan and Australia, along with 42 certified packing facilities.

All export shipments must undergo rigorous inspection for food safety, particularly pesticide residues, with only compliant batches approved for shipment. For the Chinese market alone, 127 growing area codes and all 42 packing facilities have been authorized, and these are subject to ongoing review, with non-compliant units facing revocation.

Traceability is being strengthened in parallel. Production zones of 10 hectares or more have been digitized, with electronic farming logs introduced to ensure transparency in cultivation and pest management practices.

Currently, about 40 percent of Bac Ninhs lychee output is exported, while the remaining 60 percent is consumed domestically. As a result, applying export-level standards also helps improve quality in the local market.

More than 70 percent of the provinces lychee-growing area now meets VietGAP, GlobalGAP or organic standards, broadly aligning with export requirements. However, the proportion of officially certified areas remains limited.

To expand market access, Bac Ninh plans to step up trade promotion efforts, bringing lychee into supermarket systems and major domestic markets such as Ho Chi Minh City, Dong Nai and Can Tho, as well as industrial zones.

Despite a challenging season ahead, the province remains focused on maintaining quality and safeguarding its reputation in both domestic and international markets.

Bao Khanh
Yet behind those headlines lies a more complex reality.

According to Assoc. Prof. Dr. Cao Tuan Dung, Vice Rector of the School of Information and Communication Technology at Hanoi University of Science and Technology, the industry is simultaneously experiencing both surplus and shortage of human resources.

The surplus, he explained, is concentrated in routine, repetitive roles and mid-level management positions - areas increasingly vulnerable to replacement by artificial intelligence. At the same time, there is a severe shortage of highly skilled engineers capable of solving complex, real-world problems.

A shifting global demand

Students at the School of Information and Communication Technology, Hanoi University of Science and Technology. Photo: HUST

This transformation is not unique to Vietnam.

The Future of Jobs Report 2025 by the World Economic Forum projects that by 2030, the global economy will create around 78 million new jobs. Among the fastest-growing roles are data specialists, fintech engineers, AI and machine learning experts, software developers and cybersecurity professionals.

The implication is clear: while some jobs will disappear, new ones with higher requirements will emerge.

For Dr. Cao Tuan Dung, the key question is no longer whether students should study IT, but whether they are capable of adapting to constant change. The so-called surplus exists mainly among those who lack skills, fail to update their knowledge or cannot keep pace with technological progress.

When knowing how to code is no longer enough

In practice, many IT graduates struggle to find jobs - not because demand is lacking, but because hiring expectations have evolved.

Todays AI systems can already handle basic programming tasks effectively. As a result, graduates who only possess coding skills, without deeper system thinking, face increasing competition.

Work itself is also shifting.

Tasks are moving away from execution toward design. Repetitive work is fading, while roles that require complex logical thinking and an understanding of user needs are growing rapidly.

Companies are no longer hiring in large numbers. Instead, they are becoming more selective, prioritizing candidates with practical experience, problem-solving ability and the capacity to use AI as a tool rather than rely on it entirely.

Language proficiency and technical communication skills have also emerged as major barriers, particularly for those seeking opportunities in multinational companies.

Rethinking how IT is studied

In an increasingly competitive landscape, Dr. Cao Tuan Dung emphasized that choosing IT should begin with personal aptitude and genuine interest, rather than following trends.

Without passion and persistence, students are more likely to drop out or be filtered out by the market.

Equally important is a shift in learning approach.

Instead of focusing on memorization or simply following instructions, students need to understand the core of problems and learn how to ask the right questions. AI should be leveraged to enhance learning efficiency, but not treated as a crutch. The ability to verify and correct errors generated by such tools is becoming essential.

Competitive advantage now lies in foundational capabilities - system thinking, architectural design, solving open-ended problems, and effective communication and teamwork.

Interdisciplinary knowledge in fields such as healthcare, finance or manufacturing can further strengthen a students ability to apply technology to real-world challenges.

Learning beyond the classroom

Students are also encouraged to participate in real-world projects early in their academic journey. This not only reinforces knowledge but also serves as tangible proof of capability in a job market that increasingly values hands-on experience.

Above all, lifelong learning is critical.

Technology evolves rapidly, and those who fail to continuously update their skills risk being left behind.

In that sense, the future of IT does not belong to those who simply follow instructions, but to those who can think independently, adapt quickly and grow alongside the technologies they use.

Thuy Nga
Gia Lai has granted investment approval for 273 projects with total registered capital of nearly VND840 trillion (US$34 billion), as the province seeks to position itself as a key growth driver in the region.

A surge of investment commitments

Overview of the Gia Lai investment promotion conference.

On March 28, the Gia Lai Peoples Committee held its 2026 investment promotion conference, drawing participation from domestic and international stakeholders.

Speaking at the opening, Chairman of the Gia Lai Peoples Committee Pham Anh Tuan pledged to build a development-oriented, transparent and action-driven administration, shifting from a management mindset to one focused on service and partnership, with businesses and investors placed at the center.

All policies, he said, are aimed at fostering a transparent, stable and genuinely competitive investment environment.

Operating under the principle of not wasting a day, not delaying a week, not missing an opportunity in a month, the province is implementing tasks decisively and efficiently, guided by six clear criteria: clear responsibilities, clear tasks, clear timelines, clear accountability, clear outcomes and clear authority.

Strengthening investor confidence and governance

Pham Anh Tuan emphasized that the province will accompany businesses throughout the entire lifecycle of their projects, from preparation and implementation to operation and expansion.

Gia Lai will also maintain regular dialogue mechanisms to promptly identify and resolve challenges, preventing bottlenecks from emerging.

At the same time, the province is focusing on building a professional, dedicated and accountable civil service, strengthening administrative discipline and strictly addressing any acts that cause inconvenience or harassment to businesses.

Authorities reaffirmed their commitment to protecting the legitimate rights and interests of investors, ensuring a fair and transparent competitive environment, while prioritizing projects with long-term vision and strong development impact.

Transitioning toward a knowledge-based growth model

In his remarks at the conference, economist Tran Du Lich noted that while Gia Lai has achieved an average annual GRDP growth rate of around 7.2%, higher than the national average of 6.3%, it is unlikely to reach breakthrough growth of 1010.5% in the coming period if it continues to rely on a traditional model driven mainly by capital investment and low-cost labor.

To achieve higher growth, he said, the province needs to transition toward a model based on knowledge, innovation, digital transformation and green development. This shift is essential to improving productivity, increasing value creation and fully leveraging local advantages.

At the conference, Harsha Vardhan, Director of Supply Chain Development at Syre Impact AB (Sweden), expressed interest in collaborating with partners across the value chain - from waste collection and material sorting to fiber production, textile manufacturing, technology supply and logistics - to invest in Gia Lai.

Government calls for targeted and sustainable investment

Addressing the conference, Deputy Prime Minister Ho Quoc Dung commended Gia Lais efforts in organizing the event and highlighted the critical role of the business community in driving economic growth.

He stressed the need for the province to effectively implement Party resolutions, prioritize high growth as a central and consistent objective, and enhance investment promotion in a more focused, selective and substantive manner.

He also called for stronger administrative reform and improved governance efficiency.

The Deputy Prime Minister urged both domestic and international businesses to invest confidently in Gia Lai, affirming that the government will continue to accompany and support investors to ensure effective, stable and sustainable project development.

Tran Hoan
Presenting the proposal, Duong Duc Tuan, Standing Vice Chairman of the Hanoi Peoples Committee, outlined a roadmap for sustained high growth.

Hanoi aims to achieve an average GRDP growth rate of over 11% annually through 2045. The citys economic scale is projected to reach approximately US$200 billion by 2035, US$640 billion by 2045 and around US$1.92 trillion by 2065.

The capital envisions itself as a global city - a cultured, smart, innovative and ecological megacity, with a strong emphasis on improving quality of life and human development.

By 2035, Hanoi is expected to become a civilized, modern and happy city, serving as a leading center for economics, education, healthcare and innovation in the Asia-Pacific region. By 2045, it aims to attract global knowledge and technology flows, and by 2065, to achieve a high human development index comparable to advanced global cities.

Reshaping urban space and connectivity

The master plan defines a new urban structure based on a multi-layered, multi-centered model. The Red River is identified as the central ecological and cultural axis, playing a key role in shaping and connecting the citys development.

Population is projected to be controlled at around 1415 million by 2035, 1516 million by 2045, and 1719 million by 2065, with a long-term cap of 20 million to ensure sustainable growth.

The plan covers Hanois entire administrative area of approximately 3,359.84 square kilometers, while also expanding connectivity with surrounding provinces in the Capital Region, the Red River Delta and broader national and international economic corridors.

Transport, environment and future infrastructure

Hanoi plans to develop a public transport system centered on urban rail, with a network expected to span about 1,200 kilometers. Transit-oriented development will be applied to create compact urban areas and optimize land use.

The city will also adopt a core-satellite urban model, linking the central area with surrounding satellite cities to reduce pressure on the inner districts.

Environmental priorities include the restoration of rivers such as To Lich, Nhue and Day, alongside the adoption of advanced waste treatment technologies and a shift toward a circular economy, with the goal of eliminating landfill waste.

Urban space will be developed across multiple layers, including underground, surface and low-altitude spaces.

The Red River is envisioned as a new symbol of the capital, integrating cultural, ecological and creative spaces at an international scale, while ensuring flood control.

Strategic development zones and new airport plan

The plan identifies nine key growth poles across Hanoi, including the central urban area along the right bank of the Red River, as well as zones in Dong Anh - Me Linh - Soc Son, Gia Lam - Long Bien, Hoa Lac, Xuan Mai - Chuong My, Son Tay - Ba Vi and others.

A major infrastructure highlight is the proposed development of a second international airport in the southern area, around Ung Hoa and Chuyen My. The airport is expected to handle approximately 50 million passengers per year and will be developed under an airport city model aligned with international standards.

With its comprehensive scope and long-term ambition, the master plan positions Hanoi for a transformative phase of development, aiming to balance rapid growth with sustainability and livability.

Thanh Hue
According to the Global Financial Centres Index 2026 (GFCI 39) recently released, Ho Chi Minh City ranked 84th among 120 global financial centres, climbing 11 places from the previous edition, despite gaining only one additional rating point. This marks one of the strongest improvements among mid-tier financial centres.



Within ASEAN, Ho Chi Minh City currently ranks third, behind Singapore (fourth globally) and Kuala Lumpur (42nd), while surpassing Jakarta and Bangkok. The result highlights the citys increasingly visible role in the regional financial network.



Globally, New York and London maintained their positions as the top two financial centres. Notably, the Asia-Pacific occupies six places in the global top 10, reflecting the continued shift of financial gravity toward the region, while also underscoring intensifying competition.



The city was also placed in the list of "The 15 Centres Likely To Become More Significant", receiving 21 mentions in the past 24 months from industry experts.



Ho Chi Minh City also improved its position in the FinTech ranking, moving seven places up from 90th in GFCI 38 to 83rd in the latest assessment.



Associate Professor Dr Nguyen Huu Huan, Vice Chairman of the Executive Board of the Vietnam International Financial Centre in Ho Chi Minh City (VIFC-HCMC), described the 11-place improvement in the GFCI ranking as a positive signal.



According to him, the change reflects not only a shift in ranking but also broader progress in institutional frameworks, market depth and rising expectations from the international financial community.



While many global financial centres have largely maintained stable positions, the rise of VIFC-HCMC suggests that the strategy to develop an international financial centre is moving in the right direction.



More importantly, Ho Chi Minh City has been recognised among centres with strong future potential, which carries strategic significance because the GFCI measures not only current performance but also market expectations.



Huan said VIFC-HCMC is beginning to be revalued on the global financial map, shifting from a frontier market toward a potential destination for international capital flows, Huan said.



Alongside Ho Chi Minh Citys progress, Da Nang is also emerging as a new candidate. In GFCI 39, the city was listed among associate centres  a group of 17 locations being monitored but not yet included in the main rankings due to insufficient data.



Da Nang is currently among the locations closest to reaching the required 150 assessments, alongside Fukuoka and Incheon. If international financial community interest continues to grow, the city could soon enter the official rankings, potentially forming a new financial development axis alongside Ho Chi Minh City.





GFCI 39 was compiled using 147 instrumental factors. These quantitative measures are provided by third parties including the World Bank, the OECD, and the UN. The instrumental factors were combined with 34,468 assessments of financial centres provided by 5,218 respondents to the GFCI online questionnaire./. VNA
Apples long-standing ambition to deliver a truly seamless iPhone display may not materialize as soon as expected, as new reports suggest the company is encountering significant technical challenges with the upcoming iPhone 18 Pro Max.

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Dynamic Island will only be reduced in size, rather than completely disappearing on the iPhone 18 Pro Max. Photo: PhoneArena







For months, speculation has pointed to a major redesign in which Apple would eliminate the Dynamic Island entirely, replacing it with a small punch-hole camera similar to those found on many Android devices. The move was widely seen as a key step toward a full-screen experience, with sensors and Face ID components hidden beneath the display.

However, recent information indicates that this plan is facing delays.

According to leaks from Fixed Focus Digital on Weibo, Apple is struggling to perfect under-display Face ID technology. Development progress has reportedly fallen behind initial expectations, forcing the company to reconsider its design strategy for the next generation of iPhones.

The main challenge lies in camera performance. When placed beneath the display, the front-facing camera does not yet meet Apples strict standards, particularly in complex lighting conditions. This directly affects selfie quality, video calls and the accuracy of facial recognition. Consistent with its philosophy of not releasing unfinished technology, Apple is believed to have postponed the full transition.

Instead of a radical redesign, the company may adopt a more gradual approach. In this scenario, the existing Face ID module would be refined and reduced in size, making the Dynamic Island smaller rather than eliminating it altogether.

This aligns with previous reports suggesting that while some components could be placed under the display, a complete transition remains out of reach for now. Well-known leaker Digital Chat Station has also indicated that Apple may reuse many components from the iPhone 17 Pro Max, delaying more transformative design changes to future models.

The iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max are still expected to launch next autumn, possibly alongside Apples first foldable iPhone. If accurate, this could further stretch the companys development resources, making it even harder to achieve a breakthrough display redesign within the same timeframe.

In this context, delaying major changes may not necessarily be a drawback. When Apple first introduced the Dynamic Island, it was seen by some as a compromise after the removal of the traditional notch. Over time, however, the company transformed it into a functional interface element, supporting notifications, music controls, calls, navigation and more.

As a result, Dynamic Island has evolved from a perceived design flaw into a defining feature of the iPhone experience. Many users have grown accustomed to it, even considering it an essential part of modern iPhones.

This raises an important point: removing Dynamic Island entirely would require a replacement that is equally useful and intuitive. Without that, Apple risks losing a feature that has become both practical and recognizable.

Looking ahead, Apples vision of a completely uninterrupted display remains intact, but the timeline appears to be extending. Under-display camera and sensor technologies still face limitations, especially when measured against the companys high standards for image quality and security.

For now, the iPhone 18 Pro Max is likely to represent a transitional step rather than a revolutionary leap. True to Apples approach, meaningful changes may arrive later, once the technology is fully refined and ready for mass adoption.

Until then, the Dynamic Island is expected to remain a defining feature of the iPhone for at least another generation.

Hai Phong
Building public transport habits



For young people today, transport is no longer merely about moving from one place to another but also about comfort and emotional experience. Modern metro lines and smooth electric buses have largely met these expectations. Elevated metro stations with minimalist, contemporary designs have become popular check-in spots, while images of young commuters enjoying coffee and music as they overlook the city from train windows have become familiar on social media.



Nguyen Huu Anh, a student at the University of Medicine and Pharmacy under Vietnam National University, Hanoi, said travelling by metro is both fast and relaxing. Instead of navigating traffic congestion, noise and pollution, commuters can spend valuable time listening to music or editing photos, while the experience evokes the atmosphere of modern cities such as Seoul or Tokyo.



Meanwhile, Tran Nguyen Thai An, a student at the Vietnam National University of Agriculture, has switched from motorbike travel to buses for a daily commute of more than 20 kilometres. Rising fuel prices, he said, make buses a more economical and comfortable option, with reliable schedules, clean vehicles and reduced exposure to pollution.



While young commuters increasingly favour public transport, older residents are turning to electric vehicles as a cost-effective alternative. Duong Thi Doan, 63, a resident of Vinhomes Smart City urban area, said convenient charging infrastructure makes electric motorbikes practical for daily activities, eliminating the need to queue at petrol stations while contributing to environmental protection.



In recent years, Hanoi has accelerated what many describe as a transport infrastructure transformation. The introduction of urban railways alongside modern electric bus systems has revitalised the citys public passenger network. Data from the Hanoi Department of Construction show a notable rise in public transport usage, expanding beyond office workers to younger groups that value speed and technological convenience.



Public transport gains momentum through synchronised development



Nguyen Minh Tuan, Deputy Director of the Hanoi Transport Management and Operation Centre, said bus passenger volume reached 68.3 million trips in the first two months of 2026, equivalent to 99% of the same period in 2025. Urban railway ridership totalled 3.1 million passengers, up 4.6% year-on-year.



Notably, passenger numbers on metro lines and buses increased following fuel price adjustments in early March. Average metro ridership reached about 71,000 passengers per day, up 5.3% compared to the period before fuel price changes, while daily single-ticket bus passengers rose by around 1.2%.



Experts noted that further expansion of the metro network and improved first- and last-mile connectivity, including public bicycle systems, are essential to making public transport the primary travel choice. This transition requires both continued investment and behavioural change among residents.



According to Standing Vice Chairman of the Hanoi Peoples Committee Duong Duc Tuan, the city plans to complete five metro lines totalling 100km during 20262030 and expand to eight lines with a combined length of 301km in the 20312035 period. Alongside railway development, Hanoi will continue expanding bus networks and integrating shared and non-motorised transport, aiming for public transport to meet at least 30% of travel demand by 2030 and 40% by 2035.



The shift toward public transport reflects not only changing travel patterns but also a broader move toward a greener, cleaner and more modern Hanoi, stated the official./. VNA
On March 30, during the first session of the 14th-term Peoples Council of Quang Ngai for the 20262031 tenure, delegates elected key leadership positions for both the Peoples Council and the Peoples Committee.

Nguyen Duc Tuy, Chairman of the 13th-term Peoples Council, was also re-elected to the same position for the new term, securing all 66 votes from attending delegates.

The newly elected Vice Chairpersons of the Peoples Council include Nguyen Cao Phuc, Nguyen The Hai and Nghe Minh Hong.

At the same session, with 100 percent approval, Nguyen Hoang Giang, a member of the Party Central Committee, Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee and Chairman of the Provincial Peoples Committee for the 20212026 term, was re-elected to continue serving as chairman for the 20262031 term.

Quang Ngai Provincial Party Secretary Ho Van Nien congratulates the newly elected leadership of the Peoples Council and its committees. Photo: A.D

Nguyen Hoang Giang is re-elected as Chairman of the Quang Ngai Provincial Peoples Committee. Photo: A.D

The Vice Chairpersons of the Provincial Peoples Committee for the new term include Y Ngoc, Tran Phuoc Hien, Nguyen Ngoc Sam, Nguyen Cong Hoang and Do Tam Hien.

Nguyen Hoang Giang, 55, is originally from Hai Phong and holds a PhD in Economics.

Throughout his career, he has held various positions at both local and central levels, including Deputy Director of the Hai Phong Department of Trade, Deputy Director of the Hai Phong Department of Industry and Trade, and Deputy Director of the Economic Department under the Office of the Party Central Committee.

He also served as Director and Secretary to a Politburo member who was Chairman of the Central Inspection Commission, and as Standing Vice Chairman of the Thai Binh Provincial Peoples Committee.

In June 2020, he was appointed Deputy Minister of Science and Technology.

In July 2024, the Secretariat assigned him to join the Quang Ngai Provincial Party Committee, where he was appointed Deputy Secretary for the 20202025 term.

A month later, in August 2024, he was elected Chairman of the Provincial Peoples Committee for the 20212026 term at the 26th session of the 13th-term Peoples Council. Since July 1, 2025, he has continued to serve as Chairman of the newly structured Quang Ngai province.

Ha Nam
A free speech culture goes beyond the First Amendment By Thomas M. Sipos

web posted March 30, 2026 I've known some libertarians and conservatives to say: "You are free to speak. You are not free of the consequences."This is their way of saying, with approval, that the First Amendment only forbids the government from banning speech. But if you lose your college admissions, business customers, jobs, or platforms because of what you say, well then, tough. That's the "free market" at work. I disagree. While their interpretation of Constitutional law is accurate, the market is not moral, and not all consequences are just or conducive to a free society. Whereas the First Amendment is a legal doctrine, free speech is a cultural value. And in a free culture, people do not dox or harass, bankrupt or destroy, anyone who expresses opposing opinions. They do not pressure universities, employers, service providers, or social circles to expel thought criminals. The First Amendment guarantees a politically free society. But a politically free society isn't necessarily culturally free. Private sector actors, apart from government, can oppress freedom just as effectively. During our recent COVID hysteria, I felt as if I were living in Communist Romania, a nation I visited during the 1970s (the inspiration for my novel, Vampire Nation). As I crossed into Romania, I felt the atmosphere grow oppressive. The same atmosphere I felt in Los Angeles in 2020, with the masks, and social distancing, and kneeling to George Floyd. People often wore masks or kneeled not because the law demanded it, but because private individuals and businesses monitored and harassed those who didn't. An intolerant culture was enough to enforce compliance; no laws required. People who refused. or questioned the narrative, risked being harassed by Antifa, BLM, random "Karens," and various private sector busybodies. You don't need laws to destroy freedom. Civil society can crush freedom without state intervention. Politically free people are not necessarily free. A free culture values free speech for its own sake. It's a culture whose people proudly cite Voltaire: "I may not agree with what you have to say, but I shall defend to the death your right to say it." Voltaire's statement might be apocryphal, but it's a beautiful sentiment. It conveys a generosity of spirit that celebrates not only the right to speak, but to be respectfully heard. Not to be free of disagreement, but free of harassment or intimidation. One does not express a willingness to die for a "right" that can then be so easily quashed by the private sector. In the 1970s, public figures, conservative and liberal, often quoted Voltaire with approval. It was a decade when a Jewish ACLU lawyer, Aryeh Neier, defended the right of Nazis to march in Skokie, Illinois (the topic of his book, Defending My Enemy). Having seen Communism first hand, being the son of refugees from Communism, I hate Communism as much as anyone. Yet when, out of morbid curiosity, I visited the New York City offices of the Communist Party in 1977, my disgust was balanced with pride that I lived in a country so free that even the vilest of people could rent an office and appear on the election ballot. But those were the 1970s. I no longer hear Voltaire quoted today. On both left and right, there have always been people intolerant of speech. But they seem louder and more numerous than in decades past. They no longer hide their desire to "cancel," but boast of it. While the left tries to unperson "Covidiots" and "racists," the new Neocons (NeoNeocons?) seek to unperson those critical of Israel or the Iran War. Filmmaker Sacha Baron Cohen has argued that the right to speak does not mean the right to a platform. Some libertarians would agree, citing the "property rights" of Big Tech platform owners. But those "property rights" rest on shaky ground, considering the internet was built on public utilities, or that Big Tech lobbies for regulations that ensure their dominance and block competitors, or is largely funded by government contracts. Ironically, while a free culture protects more speech than does the First Amendment, the private sector can, and often does, restrict for less speech than is protected by the First Amendment. Thus, as our culture grows intolerant, government increasingly outsources speech restrictions to private sector companies. Finally, the debate over speech restrictions is not about about "offensive" speech, though it's often presented that way. People don't seek to restrict speech because it offends, but because they fear it doesn't. They fear their neighbor, rather than offended, might enjoy it, and even be convinced by it. An intolerant culture is a low-trust culture. Free speech is seen not only as offensive, but dangerous. A view that is alien to the high-trust Western cultures of decades past. I prefer we foster a high-trust culture, tolerating speech far beyond what the First Amendment permits. Not a low-trust culture with outsourced corporate censorship and private sector "Karens." Not merely a politically free society, but one that is culturally free. A society whose people might disagree with what they hear, sometimes vehemently, but always with a Voltairean spirit. Thomas M. Sipos writes satirical novels and film criticism. His website is CommunistVampires.com . Home

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Recognised as a national intangible cultural heritage, the folk knowledge surrounding Nam Dinh Pho (Vietnamese rice noodle soup) is being preserved not only to safeguard a traditional culinary practice but also to protect a living cultural legacy with pho as a cultural driver of sustainable economic and tourism development.

Van Cu  birthplace of the pho tradition

The story of Pho Co traces back to Van Cu village in Nam Dong commune, Ninh Binh province, considered the cradle of Vietnams pho-making craft. For generations, villagers have dedicated themselves to preserving and passing down the culinary techniques that shaped the countrys most iconic dish.

Historically renowned for producing traditional rice vermicelli and noodle sheets, Van Cu adapted its craft during rainy seasons when noodles could not be sun-dried. Fresh sheets were sliced into thin strands, forming an early version of pho, initially served with crab-based broth before evolving into the bone-broth soup recognised today.

In the early 20th century, alongside the construction of French-era industrial works in Nam Dinh and Hanoi, street vendors refined the dish further by introducing beef broth. Diners later coined the name Pho Co, referring to pho prepared by cooks from the Co family.

Co Huu Kien, a veteran artisan in his nineties and the villages most experienced pho noodle maker, recalled that traditional pho noodles were crafted from rice soaked in clean water, ground with stone mills, hand-steamed and manually cut, creating the distinctive softness, elasticity and chewiness associated with Van Cu Pho.

Equally important are the villages closely guarded broth-making techniques, refined over generations. Using beef and pork bones, cooks developed methods to remove unwanted odours while enhancing the broths natural sweetness, complemented by herbs and vegetables to achieve a clear yet rich flavour.

According to Co Van, a septuagenarian who has cooked pho since the age of 17, seasoned diners can easily recognise Van Cu pho because its preparation relies on accumulated experience rather than fixed formulas. Careful ingredient selection and inherited family secrets produce a taste deeply rooted in the cultural identity of the former Nam Dinh region, now part of Ninh Binh province.

Since the 1980s, the pho trade has expanded significantly, with families preserving the craft as both a livelihood and a shared cultural heritage. Villagers have carried the profession across Vietnam and abroad.

Today, Van Cu natives operate more than 130 pho restaurants and 30 noodle production facilities nationwide. Two artisans, Vu Ngoc Vuong and Co Nhu Doi, have been honoured by the Vietnam Culinary Culture Association for their contributions to preserving the craft.

A living heritage in modern times

Established in 2022, the Van Cu Pho Association serves as a common platform connecting practitioners and safeguarding traditional values. Bringing together around 50 members nationwide, the association facilitates professional exchanges, promotes authentic flavours, participates in culinary events, and encourages younger generations to continue the trade.

To connect cultural preservation with tourism growth, Nam Dong commune has backed efforts to celebrate the pho craft, boosting brand identity, building tourism links, and raising awareness about food safety.

Nguyen Van Sinh, Chairman of the Nam Dong commune Peoples Committee, said local authorities have worked closely with experts, artisans and the pho-making community to compile documentation supporting Vietnams nomination of pho for UNESCO recognition. The commune is also studying plans for an 8.6-hectare development area near Van Cu communal house, combining craft preservation with experiential tourism to enhance the value and visibility of both Van Cu pho and Vietnamese pho as a whole.

From March 1922, the Pho Festival 2026 was held at Thien Truong pedestrian street in Thien Truong ward, Ninh Binh province, gathering around 50 booths representing leading pho brands nationwide and recreating the evolution of Vietnamese pho. The event offered visitors an opportunity to experience regional variations while promoting research and standardisation efforts aimed at completing a future UNESCO nomination dossier./. VNA
Despite operating modest, low-cost businesses, Hanois street food vendors are increasingly being pushed to their limits by rising expenses. What once offered a fragile but steady livelihood is now marked by difficult trade-offs, where raising prices risks losing customers, while holding them steady quietly erodes already narrow margins.

Mounting input costs erode fragile profits

Customers enjoy their meals at Trungs grilled pork noodle stall.

In recent months, the cost of essential ingredients and daily operations has climbed steadily, placing direct pressure on small vendors. Nguyen Thanh Trung, 45, who runs a grilled pork noodle stall in Hoan Kiem District, said pork prices have risen from around VND130,000 to VND160,000 ( US$5.30US$6.50) per kilogram, while vegetables have increased from VND20,000 to over VND30,000 (US$0.80US$1.20) per kilogram.

Even so, Trung has kept his menu prices unchanged at roughly VND30,000VND40,000 (US$1.20US$1.60) per serving. The decision is deliberate. He fears that any increase, however small, could drive customers away - especially as daily foot traffic has already dropped from more than 100 to around 70.

Everything is getting more expensive, including fuel, so our income has been affected, Trung said. But if we raise prices now, customers may not accept it. We could lose even more business, so for now we accept lower profits.

Vendors recalibrate to sustain operations

Tuoi sells fresh fruit from her bicycle along a street in Hanoi.

Across the city, vendors are quietly adjusting to these pressures in order to keep their businesses running. Some reduce portion sizes, others substitute more affordable ingredients, while many extend their working hours to offset declining income.

Nguyen Thi Tuoi, 54, a mobile fruit vendor, begins her day at 4 a.m., sourcing fresh produce from a wholesale market before selling on the streets until late evening. Yet despite the long hours, her sales have declined significantly. She once sold about 50 kilograms of fruit per day; now, she sells between 30 and 40 kilograms.

Import prices have gone up, but I cant raise my selling prices because customers wont buy, she said. There are days when costs are so high that I cant sell anything and have to stop.

Nguyen Thi Toan, 49, who sells desserts made from com (green rice flakes), faces similar challenges. Rising costs have affected nearly every part of her business, from ingredients to packaging. Still, she has chosen not to adjust her prices, concerned about the loyalty of her regular customers.

Most of my customers are regulars, so I feel reluctant to increase prices, she said.

Her daily routine reflects the intensity of that choice. She begins preparing food at 3am, starts selling at 5:30am, and returns home at 6:30pm. The long hours are physically demanding, while demand continues to soften as customers cut back.

People are eating less, so business has become tougher, she said.

For vendors like Tuoi and Toan, continuing to operate is no longer about turning a profit. It is about maintaining a livelihood, as their small stalls remain the primary source of income for their families.

Consumer caution reshapes everyday spending

Toan sells green rice flake desserts near Hoan Kiem Lake in Hanoi.

The pressure is not limited to vendors. Rising prices are also reshaping how consumers spend, particularly on eating out.

Hang, a 45-year-old resident of Hoan Kiem District, said that while some of her regular food spots have kept prices stable, many others have raised them by VND5,000 to VND10,000 (US$0.20US$0.40) per meal.

When prices go up, it definitely affects my spending. Ive had to cut back on eating out, she said. Small increases are still manageable, but bigger ones would make me rethink my habits more seriously.

As living costs rise, many households are prioritizing essential expenses and reducing discretionary spending, including meals outside the home.

An uncertain outlook for small-scale vendors

Customers gather at a street food stall near Hoan Kiem Lake in Hanoi.

With input costs showing no clear sign of easing, the outlook for many vendors remains uncertain. Some may eventually have no choice but to raise prices, even if it means losing more customers.

Trung said he may need to increase prices by around VND5,000 (US$0.20) per serving if current conditions persist.

This is not just my situation - its happening everywhere. If we dont adjust prices, it will be very difficult to continue, he said.

Others acknowledge that their ability to absorb rising costs is reaching its limit. If expenses continue to climb, some small vendors may be forced to suspend operations entirely due to a lack of financial reserves.

Yet despite these challenges, most continue to show up each day. Their stalls remain not only a source of income, but also a reflection of resilience - of workers adapting, enduring, and holding on in the face of an increasingly uncertain economic reality.

Ngoc Phuong - Ai Khanh - Lan Phuong
Vietnams Ministry of Health is closely monitoring a new SARS-CoV-2 subvariant, known as BA.3.2 - or informally dubbed the cicada variant - as it quietly spreads across the United States and multiple countries worldwide.

According to updates from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), BA.3.2 has been classified as a variant under monitoring. Current assessments place its public health risk at a low level compared to other circulating Omicron lineages.

A variant with notable mutations

First identified in South Africa on November 22, 2024, BA.3.2 has attracted scientific attention due to a large number of mutations, particularly on the spike protein - the mechanism the virus uses to enter human cells.

Laboratory data suggest the variant may exhibit changes in antigenic properties and an enhanced ability to evade immune responses. However, there is currently no evidence indicating that BA.3.2 leads to more severe illness, higher hospitalization rates or increased mortality.

Health experts also emphasize that existing Covid-19 vaccines continue to provide effective protection against severe disease and death.

Global presence continues to grow

As of early 2026, the BA.3.2 variant has been detected in at least 23 countries, including Japan, Australia, Germany and several European nations. In the United States alone, it has been reported in at least 25 states, according to the CDC.

Despite its expanding footprint, the variants impact remains limited, with no significant changes observed in clinical outcomes.

Preparedness without panic

In response, Vietnams Ministry of Health has reaffirmed its commitment to closely tracking global developments and circulating variants. The preventive health system, medical facilities and relevant agencies have been instructed to maintain surveillance, ensure early detection and assess risks in a timely manner.

Authorities stress that while the public should not panic, complacency must also be avoided.

People are encouraged to monitor their health, maintain good personal hygiene and seek medical attention if symptoms arise. Special attention is advised for high-risk groups, including the elderly, individuals with underlying conditions, pregnant women and those with weakened immune systems.

A familiar lesson in an evolving pandemic

The emergence of BA.3.2 serves as a reminder that the Covid-19 pandemic continues to evolve, even as its immediate threat appears to have eased.

For health authorities, the challenge lies in balancing vigilance with stability - ensuring readiness without fueling unnecessary concern.

And for the public, the message remains unchanged: stay informed, stay cautious, and trust in the systems designed to respond when needed.

Phuong Thuy
Under Circular 50 issued by the Ministry of Industry and Trade, from June 1, 2026, all gasoline sold domestically must be blended into E10 for use in gasoline engines. However, amid growing global energy uncertainties, the government is pushing to bring forward the timeline, aiming to deploy E10 nationwide as early as April 2026 to help cut fossil fuel consumption by around 10 percent.

According to Deputy Minister Nguyen Sinh Nhat Tan, the accelerated roadmap shortens implementation by about one month, reflecting the urgency of the transition.

To meet this goal, Vietnam will require between 100,000 and 110,000 cubic meters of ethanol (E100) each month, equivalent to 1.2 to 1.3 million cubic meters annually. This demand level is fixed, raising a key question: whether supply can keep pace.

At present, the answer appears to be no.

Vietnam has six ethanol production plants, but only four are currently operational. While total theoretical capacity across all six facilities is around 41,000 cubic meters per month, actual output from the four active plants reaches only about 25,000 cubic meters monthly, covering roughly 25 to 27 percent of demand.

Even if all six plants were to operate at full capacity, they would meet only about 41 percent of national needs.

Among the active facilities, the Ethanol Dong Nai plant is operating steadily at around 250 cubic meters per day, or approximately 7,000 cubic meters per month, and has already reached its maximum capacity. Its flexible production line allows the use of various feedstocks, including corn, cassava and broken rice, helping stabilize input supply. Plans are in place to increase output to 130 percent of current capacity.

Meanwhile, the Ethanol Dung Quat plant has recently resumed operations. After trial runs began in January, it produced its first batch of fuel ethanol in early February. Output reached around 150 cubic meters per day in March and is expected to rise to 200 cubic meters per day in April, and approximately 300 cubic meters per day from May once new grinding systems are fully operational.

Other facilities, including the Dai Tan and Dak To plants, contribute additional capacity of 8,000 and 3,000 cubic meters per month, respectively.

Authorities are also working with relevant stakeholders to restart previously idle ethanol plants. Over time, restoring and expanding domestic production is expected to reduce reliance on imports and strengthen supply security.

However, in the near term, imports will remain essential.

Industry estimates indicate that Vietnam will need to import between 700,000 and nearly 1 million cubic meters of ethanol annually during 2026-2027. Major suppliers include the US and Brazil, with logistics routes that avoid conflict-affected areas such as the Middle East, ensuring relatively stable transportation.

Additional supply channels are available through regional distribution hubs such as South Korea and Singapore.

While ethanol prices tend to fluctuate less than conventional fuel, challenges remain in timing and competition. As countries like India, the Philippines, Thailand and China ramp up their own biofuel programs, demand pressure on supply hubs is expected to intensify.

Vietnam does have infrastructure advantages. Key ports including Nha Be, Van Phong, Da Nang and Quang Ninh are capable of handling large shipments, facilitating imports when needed. Still, industry representatives warn that without early procurement planning, domestic firms could face supply shortages or be forced to purchase at higher prices from regional markets.

The push toward E10 represents a strategic shift in Vietnams energy policy, balancing environmental goals with energy security. Yet the transition also highlights a structural gap between ambition and capacity, one that will require coordinated efforts across production, logistics and international sourcing to bridge in the years ahead.

Tam An
Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Vu Hong Thanh and leaders of the Standing Committee of the Thai Nguyen Provincial Party Committee present flowers to congratulate newly elected Chairperson of the Provincial Peoples Council Bui Van Luong.

The session, held on the morning of March 30, also saw the election of Bui Van Luong, Standing Vice Chairman of the provincial Peoples Committee, as Chairman of the Peoples Council for the new term.

Supporting him in the council leadership are Vice Chairpersons Do Duc Cong, Tran Thi Loc, Dong Van Luu and Mai Thi Thuy Nga.

Alongside Vuong Quoc Tuans reappointment, the provincial Peoples Council elected a new team of Vice Chairpersons of the Peoples Committee, including Nguyen Linh, Nguyen Thi Loan, Duong Van Luong and Nong Quang Nhat.

The leadership lineup reflects a combination of continuity and organizational consolidation as the province enters a new administrative term.

Born in 1977 in Bac Ninh province, Vuong Quoc Tuan holds a doctorate in business administration and has held several key positions throughout his career.

He previously served as Secretary of the Bac Ninh Provincial Youth Union, Secretary of Bac Ninh City Party Committee, Chairman of the Bac Ninh Peoples Committee, and later as Deputy Secretary of the Thai Nguyen Provincial Party Committee and Chairman of the provincial Peoples Committee for the 2021-2026 term.

His re-election signals continued confidence from provincial legislators in his leadership and administrative track record.

The developments in Thai Nguyen are part of a wider wave of leadership appointments and reappointments across Vietnam, as local governments finalize their structures for the 2026-2031 term.

These transitions are expected to ensure the timely operation of new-term administrations, in line with national requirements for local governance to be fully in place by early April.

Bao Khanh
The hidden risks of total regime change in Iran By Dr. Irwin J. Mansdorf

web posted March 30, 2026

Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps headquarters ceases to exist during Operation Epic Fury It is becoming increasingly clear that the goal of Operation Epic Fury is regime change. When leadership speaks of unconditional surrender, a total replacement of the governing body appears to be the intended result. In pursuing regime change, the objective is to replace a hostile regime with a more cooperative one. If one considers a government (or regime) as the sole determinator of policy, this goal appears logical: new regime, new policy; old danger replaced by new cooperation. However, a change in policy is insufficient when a regime is driven not by pragmatic reality, but by rigid ideology. In such cases, the intended endgame of changed minds can quickly devolve into an endless cycle of more of the same. Regime Change: The Case for Yes Governmental behavior is driven by ideology. Whether grounded in political orientation or religious perspective, the motor for moving policy forward stems from how a leader or group views their goals. There are fundamental differences between politics and religion. Political Ideology is generally pragmatic. Platforms outline desires more than expectations. Citizens may hope promises are kept, but rarely believe all will be. This flexibility enables formal agreements and diplomatic adjustments. Religious Ideology, on the other hand, is characterized by dogma. Pragmatism is replaced by divine mandate. In this framework, when a leader believes God is on our side, standard diplomatic concessions, if actually delivered, are viewed as spiritual betrayals. With the current Islamist regime in Iran, decades of behavior have demonstrated that religious determination is integrated into any standard political pragmatism. Given that this regime cannot be trusted in the same way as conventional secular governments, a goal of regime change makes eminent sense, but only if the shift moves the nation from uncompromising religious dogma to a secular, and hopefully democratic, foundation. Regime Change: The Case for No While Iran possesses a population with strong secular roots and a history of non-Islamist government, the background for effective change is only present if the new government is ideologically, rather than just cosmetically, different. However, the pursuit of a complete and thorough removal of the old order carries profound psychological and systemic risks that often trigger the very instability they seek to cure. 1. The Power Vacuum and Radicalization Historically, as seen in the de-Baathification of Iraq, purging an entire ideological class leaves a nation without civil servants, police, or local administrators. The risk: This chaos creates a vacuum quickly filled by radical non-state actors or insurgencies that are harder to track and negotiate with than a centralized government.

Religious ideology operates on a different cognitive plane than secular politics. The risk-imposed change often validates the martyrdom narrative of religious hardliners. Instead of the ideology dying, it becomes a resistance movement. If the population perceives the new government as a Western puppet, religious dogma becomes a powerful unifying tool for underground rebellion.

3. Economic and Human Cost of Unconditional Surrender The term unconditional surrender implies total military victory, which carries a staggering price tag. The risk: With costs estimated at $2 billion per day, the financial and human destruction of infrastructure often leaves the new regime with a broken country that is impossible to govern effectively, leading directly back to the endless cycle.

4. Regional Destabilization Iran is a major regional power with an extensive network of proxies. The risk: Attempting a total removal of the current order may trigger a scorched earth policy. If the old order feels it is being permanently erased, it may activate sleeper cells and proxies domestically and abroad to ensure no stable government can take its place, potentially sparking a multi-front regional war.

5. The Pragmatism Paradox There is a cognitive bias in assuming a secular government will naturally be more cooperative. The risk: Secular nationalism can be as rigid as religion. A new Iranian government might still pursue nuclear capabilities or regional dominance based on national pride or security concerns, meaning the old danger remains under a new name.

Strategic Policy Recommendations: A Behavioral Framework Avoiding these traps calls for a shift from a strategy where regime change defines ideological erasure as cognitive realignment: Define Unconditional Surrender as Calculated Reciprocity: Use planned, announced, and staged, verifiable concessions to offer a pragmatic path that bypasses religious dogma, driving the regime to reject ideological purity for economic survival.



Selective Preservation: Instead of a total purge, identify and empower internal pragmatiststechnocrats and civil servants who did not and will not work on the basis of religious dogmato ensure administrative continuity and public legitimacy.



Multilateral Oversight: Involve regional partners to frame the transition not as a Western imposition, but as a regional stabilization effort, diluting the puppet narrative.



Redirecting Nationalism: Integrate a post-regime Iran into global energy and trade networks, providing a pragmatic, non-military outlet for national pride.

Conclusion: The Cognitive Architecture of a Sustainable Endgame The fundamental challenge of regime change is that while a military can create conditions that lead to surrender, it cannot force a change in belief. While it appears that most Iranians favor regime change, a significant minority who back the current regime can still serve as an impediment and opposition to it. As Operation Epic Fury demonstrates, the endgame is not the fall of a capital or the elimination of a leadership tier; it is the stabilization of a national psyche. Success requires a policy that is as psychologically sophisticated as it is militarily capableone that replaces the endless cycle of dogma with a sustainable, pragmatic reality. Military history is littered with symbolic decapitations, the removal of a Supreme Leader or a central committee, that failed because they addressed the symptoms of a regime rather than its cognitive roots. When a vacuum is created through unconditional surrender, the resulting state of ontological insecurity (the loss of a stable sense of self and order) often drives a population toward even more radical strongman alternatives or non-state actors. To stabilize the psyche, it is better to ensure that the transition preserves the technocratic nervous system of the statecivil servants, utility managers, and local administratorsto maintain the basic social contract and prevent the fear that fuels extremism. Foreign-imposed regime change naturally triggers a martyrdom complex within ideologically driven populations. When the old order is erased completely, its remnants are transformed into a powerful unifying myth for underground resistance. A psychologically sophisticated policy must proactively dismantle this narrative by demonstrating that the new, pragmatic reality provides tangible human benefitseconomic stability, personal security, and global integrationthat the old dogma fundamentally could not. The goal is to move the citizenry from a vertical, cosmic description of power to a horizontal, civic habit of mind. It is critical to avoid the cognitive bias that assumes a secular government is inherently more pragmatic or peaceful. Nationalism can be as rigid and uncompromising as any religious dogma. A new Iranian leadership may still pursue regional dominance or nuclear capabilities, driven not by faith, but by a deeply ingrained sense of nationalist pride. True success is best achieved when this national identity is redirected away from military expansion and toward economic and technological achievement. When national prestige is tied to global cooperation, the cognitive cost of returning to old dangers becomes too high for even the most ardent nationalist to bear. Ultimately, the transition from an uncompromising religiously based regime to a secular one is a high-stakes gamble on the human capacity for realignment. If the transition focuses only on the cosmetic change of leaders, it leaves a breeding ground for future radicalization. If it seeks total erasure, it risks a scorched earth psychological response that destabilizes the entire region. The most viable path forward is a framework of defining unconditional surrender in terms of calculated reciprocity and selective preservation. By providing a pragmatic outlet for national pride and maintaining the essential structures of daily life, the administration can provide the new regime with the one thing a foreign military cannot: indigenous legitimacy. Only then can the endless cycle of intervention finally give way to a stable and lasting peace. Irwin J. (Yitzchak) Mansdorf, PhD., is a clinical psychologist and a fellow at the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs specializing in political psychology. Home

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Leftists recycled lies about the SAVE Act are so lazy theyre racist By Curtis Hill

web posted March 30, 2026 The House of Representatives has done the right thing by passing the SAVE America Act (i.e., Safeguard American Voter Eligibility). This commonsense legislation requires proof of U.S. citizenship to register and a valid photo ID to vote in federal elections. It is a straightforward safeguard for election integrity  nothing more, nothing less. Leftists and their media allies are already dusting off the same tired playbook they used against Georgias election reforms and every other state law that dares to ask voters to prove who they are. They are screaming Jim Crow 2.0 and insisting the SAVE America Act will disproportionately harm black Americans. Leftists apparently believe black Americans arent smart enough or interested enough to get a photo ID. This is the same insulting trickery Malcolm X warned about decades ago  the white leftists history of manufacturing racism to keep black voters dependent on Leftists. Their narrative is clear: Black Americans are supposedly too incompetent, too poor, or too intimidated to obtain the same identification the rest of us use every single day. That belief is absurd. Every black person I know has an ID. Can critics of the SAVE America Act produce a single black voter who was turned away at the polls solely because he lacked photo identification? Of course, they cannot. The claim that these requirements disparately affect black voters rests on the racist assumption that there is something about being black that makes one less likely to possess identification. That is not an argument against voter ID  it is an argument against the dignity and capability of black Americans. If requiring identification is truly racist, why do we only hear the outrage when it regards elections? Black Americans drive cars, open bank accounts, apply for credit, buy cell phones, sign up for utilities, board airplanes, and purchase firearms  all of which require ID. Yet somehow, only voting triggers the racist hysteria. Thats because the real objection isnt discrimination; its that secure elections might catch illegal voting by noncitizens or repeat voters, which Leftists cant abide. The cost of a photo ID is minimal. In my home state of Indiana and many others, fees are waived for those who need it. Procuring an ID takes little time and can cost less than a fast-food meal. The idea that black voters would rather stay home than spend that small effort is not just false; it is deeply condescending. It treats grown adults like children who need the federal government to hold their hands all the way to the ballot box. This patronizing lie dishonors the real Jim Crow era heroes who suffered poll taxes, literacy tests, and outright deadly violence that actually prevented black Americans from voting. Those were deliberate, humiliating barriers specifically designed to suppress black engagement. Requiring a photo ID to verify you are who you say you are, and that you are a citizen, protects the integrity of every lawful vote, including those cast by black Americans. Equating voter ID with Jim Crow-era atrocities is a disgrace to the memory of every patriot  black and white  who fought, bled, and died for the right to vote. The SAVE America Act is not about suppressing anyone. It is about ensuring that only eligible American citizens decide American elections. Indianas photo ID law has been in place for years with strong support across racial lines and zero evidence of widespread disenfranchisement. The Supreme Court upheld it. The sky did not fall. Black voter turnout did not collapse. The House has acted. Now the Senate must follow. Election integrity is not a partisan issue; it is an American issue. Black Americans, like all Americans, deserve elections they can trust. The SAVE America Act delivers exactly that. And the suggestion that we cannot handle showing an ID to protect that trust is not only wrong but offensive. We know better than that. There is no middle ground here: Youre either for the SAVE America Act and secure, fair elections, or youre for allowing unchecked cheating in federal elections. Choose wisely. Project 21 Ambassador Curtis T Hill, Jr., is the former attorney general of Indiana. This is adapted from a commentary first published at The Federalist. Home

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Photo: Le Toan

HDBank has submitted to shareholders a proposal to establish a wholly owned commercial bank operating under a single-member limited liability structure at the VIFC, with all its charter capital owned by HDBank.

The subsidiary bank is expected to be headquartered at the centre, operating independently in terms of legal status and financial management while complying with regulations set by the State Bank of Vietnam.

The move aims to expand HDBanks operational network and increase brand awareness in the local and foreign markets. The subsidiary bank also serves as a channel to build an ecosystem of finance, technology, and intermediaries to connect with financial institutions and international investors, which is in line with HDBank's development in the next phase.

This comes as HDBank continues to consolidate its ecosystem, including increasing its ownership in HD SAISON from 50 to 75 per cent and acquiring full ownership of Vikki Bank.

Likewise, Nam A Bank presented to shareholders the plan to establish a wholly owned single-member limited liability commercial bank at VIFC at the AGM on March 20.

The subsidiary bank will help Nam A Bank implement its long-term development strategy and expand its international financial operations. Simultaneously, it will leverage tax incentives, legal advantages, and specific operating conditions at VIFC to optimise business efficiency, increase competitiveness, and strengthen the bank's position in both domestic and international markets.

Tran Khai Hoan, acting general director of Nam A Bank said, With the plan, the bank aims to increase access to international capital, while diversifying financial products and services to meet the cross-border transaction needs of businesses and individuals.

In addition, other commercial banks are also developing plans to participate in VIFC. They will seek shareholders approval during this year's AGMs.

According to the documents for the 2026 AGM, Vietcombank also plans to present to shareholders a proposal to establish a subsidiary bank at VIFC. Under the plan, this entity will help the bank expand its scale and access higher international standards in governance, products, and risk management.

VietinBank is also studying options for establishing a subsidiary bank or suitable legal entity to operate within VIFC. Its strategy includes expansion into fintech and digital assets, with plans to collaborate with startups within the ecosystem of its strategic shareholder, Japans MUFG Financial Group, to develop payment, lending, and insurance services in 20262027. The bank also aims to position itself as a payment intermediary in the digital asset sector when regulatory approval is granted.

VIFC is attracting strong interest from the Vietnamese financial system. In Danang, authorities have approved 11 institutions to participate in the centre, including five banks.

VIFC-HCMC is expected to cover about 898 hectares, including areas in Sai Gon Ward, Ben Thanh Ward and the Thu Thiem urban area in An Khanh Ward.

Its founding members include lenders such as MB, TPBank, SHB, HDBank, and Nam A Bank. UOB is expected to soon break ground on its new headquarters at VIFC-HCMC, marking the first foreign bank to establish a presence at the complex.

The participation and expansion of domestic financial institutions at the VIFC are expected to contribute to building a modern financial ecosystem and enhancing connectivity with regional and global markets.

VIFC in Ho Chi Minh City officially launches The Vietnam International Financial Centre in Ho Chi Minh City has been launched, marking a step towards deeper global financial integration. The initiative aims to strengthen capital market development and support economic growth.

Nam A Bank forms position as strategic member at VIFC through three key partnerships After becoming a strategic investor in Vietnam's International Financial Centre, Nam A Commercial Joint Stock Bank has implemented a series of strategic partnership agreements to deploy practical solutions as part of its commitment to building a green, modern, and integrated financial centre.
On March 30, HSBC announced the successful completion of the five-year facility, acting as sole mandated lead arranger and bookrunner. The transaction was oversubscribed by more than two times, attracting participation from 19 financial institutions, and will support GELEX Infrastructure's medium-term investment requirements and expansion plans.

GELEX Infrastructure is a key subsidiary of GELEX Group, a Vietnamese conglomerate with established operations in electrical equipment manufacturing and industrial production. The company focuses on infrastructure development, industrial parks, utilities, and energy-related businesses. The new facility strengthens its funding capacity to support growth across core business areas, contributing to essential infrastructure development and Vietnam's broader economic activity.

"Completing this significant syndicated term loan demonstrates what can be achieved when partners move quickly and work closely together," said Tim Evans, CEO and head of Banking at HSBC Vietnam. "Despite uncertain market conditions and a tight timetable, we brought together a broad syndicate of lenders to deliver a tailored solution for GELEX Infrastructure's medium-term investment needs. We're proud to support Vietnamese corporates as they expand and contribute to the country's long-term growth."

Le Tuan Anh, chairman of GELEX Infrastructure JSC, said, This milestone marks an important step in GELEX Infrastructures international capital mobilisation strategy and reflects the strong confidence of the global financial community in our governance, financial strength, and long-term vision.

By executing large-scale transactions with international partners, we are strengthening our ability to connect with global funding sources and support our long-term growth priorities, while contributing to Vietnams continued economic development, he added.

The transaction was executed within a tight timeframe amid volatile market conditions, reflecting HSBC's syndication and execution capabilities and reinforcing its role in connecting Vietnamese clients to offshore liquidity. It highlights the continued evolution of Vietnamese corporates in accessing international capital, as more leading local groups diversify funding sources and tap offshore syndicated markets to support long-term investment. The successful completion of the deal also demonstrates continued lender appetite for opportunities in Vietnam.

GELEX completes international financing transaction worth $79 million GELEX Group announced the completion of a loan facility guaranteed by the Italian Export Credit Agency (SACE) with a total value of $79 million on May 29.

HSBC facilitates five-year green club loan for property developer Tam Luc HSBC Vietnam on May 19 announced a five-year green club loan for Tam Luc Real Estate Corporation (Tam Luc), owned by Malaysian property developer Gamuda Land.
Under a draft decree guiding the revised Law on Personal Income Tax released on March 27 to collect comments, the Ministry of Finance (MoF) has set out detailed rules for calculating tax on various types of income from capital and securities transfers.

Accordingly, the drafting authority proposes to bring shares of unlisted companies into the scope of capital transfer taxation, in addition to existing provisions covering equity stakes in enterprises.

For such transactions, tax would be calculated at 20 per cent of taxable income, defined as the selling price minus the purchase price and related expenses, on a per-transaction basis.

If the purchase price and associated costs cannot be determined, a tax rate of 2 per cent on the transfer value would apply. This method would be uniformly applied to both resident and non-resident individuals in Vietnam.

The MoF explained that unlisted shares have characteristics similar to capital transfers, as they are traded infrequently and lack transparency, and therefore should fall within the taxable scope.

Meanwhile, income from the transfer of listed securities, including stocks, bonds, and fund certificates, would continue to be taxed at 0.1 per cent of the transaction value per trade, as currently applied. This is because such transactions are conducted regularly in the market with clear and transparent pricing. According to the drafting authority, maintaining a lower tax rate for listed securities is intended to encourage companies to list, enhance transparency, and protect investors.

Regarding tax declaration, individuals transferring capital would be responsible for self-declaration and payment. For securities transactions, the income-paying organisation would be required to withhold, declare, and pay tax on behalf of the individual at the 0.1 per cent rate.

New tax incentives to benefit startups and SMEs Newly-issued Decree 20 introduces a package of tax exemptions and reductions, creating a more favourable legal and financial environment for startups and small and medium-sized businesses.

Sustained growth can translate into income gains The Vietnamese economy achieved positive growth in 2025 and is expecting more going forward. Jochen Schmittmann, regional resident representative for the International Monetary Fund in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos, talked with VIRs Thanh Tung about how the country has performed, and offered some recommendations.
On the 20th anniversary of Stephen Harpers first victory (2006)  the decline of the Tory tradition in Canada since the 1980s (Part Four) By Mark Wegierski

web posted March 30, 2026 The notion of Canada ever being a more conservative society than America has largely disappeared from the perception of both the general public and the media and intellectual elites of Canada. Yet, until the 1960s, it could be argued that Canada was indeed a more substantively conservative society. In contrast to the United States, however, Canada was almost always in its history characterized by a far greater degree of niceness and politeness than America, mostly avoiding such aspects of American society as racism and excessive commercialism. It is not too popular today to say that the roots of Canadian politeness may actually lie in an earlier social conservatism. The attempts by the current-day politically correct to demonize Canadas past and even some current-day realities would be outrightly ridiculous if they were not so deeply entrenched now among the Canadian intellectual and media elites. One would want to laugh at politically correct persons who claim to be Canadian nationalists, while characterizing Canada historically, and to some extent even today, as a presumed nexus of white evil. Nothing confident, socially healthy, or truly tolerant can be built on the ground of ever more pronounced self-hatred. It should also be considered that Canadians have been typified as being deferential to authority. In the pre-1960s, when the traditionalist-centrist consensus was in place, this contributed to making Canada more socially-conservative. However, once the ruling paradigm was changed from the top, this has meant that many Canadians have become among the most ardent exponents of political-correctness in the world. (1) It should be remembered that, insofar as America remained more liberal than Canada, the Liberal Party pushed for "Free Trade", increased contacts with the United States, and advocated continentalism (typified by Frank Underhill and, to some extent, Mackenzie King). Now, when America appears to be more conservative than Canada (owing to a variety of reasons), the Liberal Party has suddenly discovered what it calls Canadian nationalism (what is called "the unique socially-compassionate political culture of Canada"). What is also somewhat ironic is that there has apparently occurred a similar dialectical flip between the United States and Europe, as the United States and Canada. It has been argued that America today (frequently characterized by its willingness to exercise power) is a considerably more conservative society than those seen in Europe, and especially in the Western European countries (characterized as a so-called postmodern paradise). (2) However, it could be argued that Canada, America, and the European Union are today, to a large extent, just three super-states of somewhat different forms of the managerial-therapeutic regime. What appears to have occurred is the near-total reconstruction of what it means to be a European, an American, and a Canadian today. It is an interesting question which of those societies is best equipped to weather the coming storm of the conflict with Islam, the challenge of such powers as China and India, and the burgeoning rise of what was during the Cold War named the Third World. Its possible to argue that what remains of Western civilization will mostly become localized in Eastern Europe (3) and Russia. Considering that possible context, the reconciliation of the Western, Eastern, and Southern Slavic nations may become a matter of world-historical importance. To be continued. Footnotes: (1) A similar point has been made in a column of Ted Byfield in Western Standard (A Society of Yes Men. June 4, 2007, p.14). He also makes the point that the current-day elites in Canada are still mostly WASPs. Presumably the WASP elites still remain prominent because they are the most ultra-politically-correct grouping.



(2) This argument was probably most prominently made by Robert Kagan, in his book Of Paradise and Power: America and Europe in the New World Order. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2003. (3) The term Eastern Europe, although disliked by considerable numbers of people living in those countries, continues to persist to a large extent. The dividing line between Western and Eastern Europe is said, according to some historians, to run roughly from Szczecin on the Baltic Sea to Trieste on the Adriatic Sea. It can be seen that many of the Eastern European countries are resisting the trends to de-nationalization today. Thus, what is considered the supposed backwardness and parochialism of those countries (from the standpoint of politically correct left-liberalism) may indeed be their greatest strength for the future. Why should they adopt the worst aspects of such Western European societies as Holland? Mark Wegierski is a Canadian writer and historical researcher.



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Quang Trach I Thermal Power Plant

The new plant is one of Vietnam's key national power facilities, is now nearing grid synchronisation of Unit 1 after overcoming challenges related to market volatility, supply chains, and technical execution, according to Dao Ngoc Long, deputy director of the Power Project Management Board 2 under Vietnam Electricity (EVN) and director of the Project Management Unit at the Quang Trach Power Centre.

As of now, around 98 per cent of the total workload has been completed, and we should be ready for the grid connection of Unit 1 by the end of March, with commercial operation scheduled for May, he said.

On site, major construction works have largely been completed, with testing and commissioning now commencing. Several key technical milestones have been achieved, including boiler pressure testing, the first oil firing of Unit 1 last August, and the completion of steam blowing for both auxiliary and main steam pipelines. Critical supporting systems such as water treatment, compressed air, and cooling systems have also been successfully tested.

The plant adopts ultra-supercritical boiler technology, one of the most advanced technologies currently available in coal-fired power generation. This technology enhances efficiency while reducing fuel consumption and emissions. In parallel, environmental protection systems have been comprehensively installed, including flue gas desulphurisation selective catalytic reduction for NOx treatment, electrostatic precipitators, and continuous emissions monitoring systems operating on a real-time basis.

A notable highlight is the plant's strong safety and environmental performance. Implemented under an international engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contract model, the facility ensures comprehensive control from design and procurement to construction and commissioning.

As of the end of March, the project has recorded more than 21 million safe working hours without any environmental incidents. This achievement reflects the close coordination between the investor, contractors, and the entire workforce, demonstrating a firm commitment to prioritising safety and environmental protection, said Long.

Regarding fuel supply, Quang Trach I is designed to use imported coal, including bituminous and sub-bituminous types. Power Project Management Board 2 has signed agreements with Indonesian suppliers to secure coal for commissioning, fully meeting the technical requirements of EPC contractors.

For long-term commercial operation, we have also secured a coal supply contract with Dong Bac Corporation. The first commercial coal shipment is expected to arrive at the plants port shortly. We are confident in ensuring sufficient coal supply for operations in 2026, Long said.

Operation hub of Quang Trach I Thermal Power Plant

Throughout its development, the project has faced a range of global challenges. The COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine conflict disrupted supply chains, driving up prices of key materials such as steel, electromechanical equipment, and transportation costs. These factors placed considerable pressure on EPC contractors under fixed-price contracts.

In addition, delays in equipment delivery and exchange rate fluctuations have affected both progress and financial efficiency, creating complexities in contract management, negotiations, and cost control, and requiring more flexible risk management approaches for large-scale energy projects.

At present, ongoing geopolitical uncertainties continue to influence oil and coal prices, particularly impacting transportation costs. However, according to Long, these factors no longer significantly affect construction progress. The project has entered its final phase, with most heavy construction work already completed, so the impact of fuel price fluctuations is now much less significant, he said.

Quang Trach I has a total installed capacity of 1,400 MW, comprising two units of 700 MW each. The EPC contractor consortium includes Mitsubishi (Japan), Hyundai (South Korea), and Construction Corporation No.1.

Key project milestones include the back-energisation of Unit 2 on February 12; grid synchronisation of Unit 1 by the end of March; commercial operation of Unit 1 in May; and commercial operation of Unit 2 expected in October. Bringing Unit 1 into operation on schedule will provide a critical foundation for completing the entire project within 2026, Long added.

Coal stacker unloader for Quang Trach I Thermal Power Plant

Alongside the plant, the shared infrastructure project of the Quang Trach Power Centre has also made significant progress. The coal import port and breakwater system have been completed and are now capable of receiving vessels of up to 60,000 tonnes, with plans to increase capacity to 100,000 tonnes by the end of May.

The plants coal storage yard can sustain continuous operation for approximately 3738 days at full capacity, providing a relatively safe buffer against short-term supply disruptions. In the long term, the port is also expected to support liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports, serving future gas-fired power projects via pipeline connections to nearby LNG hubs.

The Quang Trach Power Centre is one of Vietnams largest energy hubs, comprising four major components: shared infrastructure, Quang Trach I Thermal Power Plant (1,400 MW), Quang Trach II LNG-to-power project (1,612 MW), and Quang Trach III LNG-to-power project (1,500 MW).

Its development aligns with the revised Power Development Plan VIII and the governments broader strategy to transition towards a more sustainable energy mix, gradually reducing reliance on fossil fuels and moving towards net-zero emissions by 2050.

Within this broader framework, Quang Trach I plays a pivotal role as a foundational project, ensuring stable power supply in the near term while laying the groundwork for infrastructure and operational experience to support cleaner energy developments in the future.

With its current momentum and thorough preparation across technical, fuel supply, and infrastructure aspects, Quang Trach I is approaching its first commercial operation milestone, marking a significant step forward in strengthening Vietnams national energy security.

Quang Trach I thermal power plant races towards completion Workers are racing around the clock to complete the construction of the Quang Trach I thermal power plant in Quang Tri province.

Quang Tri green-lights $1.59 billion LNG-fired power project Quang Tri province has approved a $1.59 billion liquid natural gas (LNG)-fired power scheme by Vietnam Electricity to boost local energy capacity.

EVN secures financing for Quang Trach II LNG power plant Vietnam Electricity has secured major domestic financing for the Quang Trach II liquefied natural gas (LNG)-fired power plant, a key addition to the countrys power generation capacity.
On March 26, the British Embassy in Hanoi, the British Consulate General in Ho Chi Minh City, and the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office jointly hosted the 2026 UK-Vietnam Green Investment Forum, reflecting high-level commitment from both sides to accelerate green investment flows. The next phase of cooperation will focus on execution, capital mobilisation, and regulatory clarity.

At the centre of the forum was the unveiling of the UKs upgraded Green Investment Partnership Toolkit, accompanied by a new Green Capabilities Guide. These initiatives outline a comprehensive package of UK support spanning technical assistance, policy advisory, and financing instruments designed to help Vietnam achieve its dual objectives of high-income growth and net-zero emissions.

The toolkit operationalises commitments under the upgraded UK-Vietnam Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, including the Clean Energy Partnership with the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Green Finance Partnership with the Ministry of Finance.

It aims to streamline collaboration across the investment lifecycle by integrating policy support, financial structuring, and project development, thereby providing a clearer pathway for policymakers, development finance institutions, investors, and businesses to engage in Vietnams green economy.

British Ambassador to Vietnam Iain Frew said the UK was proud to introduce its Green Investment Partnership Toolkit and Green Capabilities Guide at the forum, bringing together technical, financial, and commercial instruments to support Vietnam's development ambitions.

"Vietnam is pursuing one of the most ambitious green growth pathways in the region, aiming for high-income status by 2045, net-zero by 2050, and ambitious Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP) targets, all while facing increasing climate shocks and rising demands for energy security," he added.

Iain Frew, British Ambassador to Vietnam

As co-chair of the International Partners Group under the JETP, UK representatives noted that the enhanced toolkit will play a pivotal role in supporting Vietnam's long-term energy transition goals, particularly in mobilising capital and de-risking early-stage projects.

Demonstrating the toolkit in action, Frew announced a series of new partnerships aimed at accelerating development and strengthening institutional capacity.

These include technical assistance under the UK Partnering for Accelerated Climate Transitions scheme to support the implementation of a renewable energy expansion roadmap through the Global Renewable Energy Expansion and Network Laboratory for the National Power System and Market Operator Company.

"The strong participation from government, development partners, and the private sector today shows we're all committed to action," Frew said. "We're mobilising new partnerships, backed by a strong enabling environment, to scale bankable projects and drive Vietnam's inclusive, resilient green transition."

Another key initiative is the Offshore Wind (OSW) Accelerator Partnership agreed with the Ministry of Industry and Trade, which is designed to fast-track preparation, enhance supply chain readiness, and reduce early-stage risks in OSW development. The initiative is expected to contribute directly to Vietnams targets under both the JETP and the national Power Development Plan VIII.

Truong Thanh Hoai, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade, said green, low-emission energy transition is the inevitable pathway for Vietnam to achieve sustainable development.

"In this process, we are pleased to receive support from the International Partners Group, co-chaired by the UK and the EU, the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero, and domestic and international businesses under the JETP Declaration. This represents a mechanism for financial and technological cooperation, and a testament to Vietnam's strong determination to pursue a green and sustainable development pathway," Hoai said.

Truong Thanh Hoai, deputy minister of Industry and Trade

In parallel, the UK is providing green finance technical assistance to support the development of a Sustainable Finance Framework for Vietnams planned International Financial Centre, building on earlier regulatory advisory work led by TheCityUK. This reflects a broader effort to align financial system reforms with the countrys green growth ambitions.

Urban sustainability also featured prominently, with the launch of new support under the UK Green Cities, Energy and Infrastructure Programme to upgrade the Tender Information Platform for Hanois Metropolitan Rail Management Board.

The initiative is expected to improve transparency and access to project information, thereby facilitating greater participation from both domestic and international investors in sustainable urban transport projects.

The government, the Prime Minister, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, together with other ministries, sectors and localities, are actively reviewing and improving policies to accompany businesses, with the aim of removing impediments and creating new advantages to entice investment, particularly in the OSW sector, said Hoai. All issues can be shared and overcome if we have trust, cooperation, and determination. Todays forum is a clear reflection of that spirit.

Discussions at the forum converged on a shared assessment that while capital, technology, and international expertise are increasingly available, Vietnams green transition remains constrained by the final steps needed to convert near-ready projects into fully bankable investments.

Participants highlighted the critical importance of clear and consistent policy frameworks, particularly in areas such as OSW, battery energy storage systems, and integrated grid infrastructure.

There was also strong consensus that blended finance mechanisms will be essential to mobilise private capital at scale, especially in bridging the gap between early-stage innovation and commercial deployment. At the same time, the need to strengthen project preparation pipelines, particularly for large-scale renewable energy and climate-resilient infrastructure, was identified as a pressing priority.

Beyond mitigation, the forum also addressed the growing importance of resilience and adaptation, noting that while Vietnam has made progress in advancing nature-based solutions and climate risk management, a significant financing gap remains. Innovation was highlighted as a key enabler, with programmes such as the UKs Climate Finance Accelerator supporting the development of new business models in areas including rooftop solar and energy storage.

Looking ahead, participants agreed that accelerating Vietnams green growth trajectory will require a coordinated effort across government agencies, financial institutions, and private sector actors. This includes advancing regulatory reforms, expanding blended finance tools, and strengthening collaboration to ensure that commitments translate into tangible outcomes.

PwC Vietnam acted as the Knowledge Partner for the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) at the Forum, collaborating with FCDO to shape the forums content and encourage discussion among policymakers, industry leaders, and financial institutions. PwC Vietnam also serves as the in-country delivery partner for the UK-funded Green Cities, Energy and Infrastructure Programme (2023-2026, three phases) and the Climate Finance Accelerator (2022-2026, two phases), working with FCDO to advance Vietnams green transition. This ongoing partnership gives PwC Vietnam valuable insight into FCDOs strategic priorities and methods for promoting green growth with green transition, green innovation, resilience and green finance in Vietnam.

Green finance talent a must for new IFCs The development of international financial centres in Vietnam has been designed by the government around several core pillars, among which the international factor plays a decisive role in ensuring the safe operation of the entire financial system.

Developing suitable talent for greener financial ambitions Vietnams ambition to develop international financial centres is sharpening the focus on talent capable of navigating sustainable finance and evolving standards. To Quoc Hung, country manager of ACCA Vietnam, spoke with VIRs Khanh Linh about how the country can strengthen its green finance talent pipeline.
At the UK-Vietnam Green Investment Forum hosted by the British Embassy to Vietnam, with support from PwC Vietnam as the Knowledge Partner, on March 26, industry leaders converged on a common assessment: while capital and technology are increasingly available, the country remains held back by a critical gap, turning near-ready projects into fully bankable investments within a still-evolving regulatory framework.

Abhinav Goyal, director of Capital Projects and Infrastructure at PwC Vietnam, observed that the nature of energy financing in Vietnam is undergoing a fundamental shift.

Digital solutions, particularly in areas such as battery energy storage systems (BESS), are where international partners like the UK clearly hold an edge, he said. But technical capability alone is not sufficient if the financial system is not equipped to absorb the risks that come with these innovations.

Goyal noted that Vietnams banking sector has traditionally relied on straightforward corporate lending models, but is now gradually transitioning towards project finance, which is an essential shift for capital-intensive energy projects.

Over the past three years, we have seen local banks begin moving from pure corporate finance towards project financing structures, he explained. However, many of the existing financing solutions are still not flexible enough to make new green technologies viable. This is where international experience in structuring and de-risking projects could play a pivotal role in unlocking capital at scale.

Abhinav Goyal, director of Capital Projects and Infrastructure at PwC Vietnam

Denzel Eades, chairman of the British Chamber of Commerce Vietnam, highlighted regulatory reform as the key catalyst for the next wave of investment, particularly in energy storage and integrated system solutions.

The deployment of BESS at scale will be a major driver, and what we are seeing now is the application of system-wide solutions that combine digitalisation, digital twins, and AI optimisation. These are essential for more advanced models such as direct power purchase agreements (DPPAs) plus storage, enabling a more sophisticated pricing mechanism, he added.

Eades expressed confidence that these developments are imminent. We expect to see these solutions rolled out at scale within the next 24 months. However, there is no cookie-cutter solution for Vietnam. What is required are innovative financial and legal structures tailored to local conditions, he added.

To that end, Eades outlined a three-part de-risking strategy. Firstly, investors must understand the local market and the role of domestic players. Secondly, they need to navigate the legal and regulatory framework to address bankability issues. And thirdly, they must identify the right funding pool, which may include blended finance solutions, he explained.

Ross Coull, CEO of Skye Renewables, brought the discussion down to operational reality and described DPPAs as a long-awaited breakthrough.

DPPAs essentially allow developers to build large-scale solar or wind projects and sell electricity through the grid, which is a significant step forward, he said. Alongside this, behind-the-meter storage solutions are gaining traction among corporate users. This allows companies to manage rooftop solar and perform load shifting, charging power when it is cheaper and using it when demand is higher.

Yet, despite clear technological pathways and growing investor interest, Coull underscored a persistent impediment.

There is still a lack of clear regulations, and that is a major concern, he said. The market feels like it is 95 per cent there, but that remaining 5 per cent, which is the finalisation of policy details, is what determines whether projects can actually move forward. For many investors, this uncertainty translates into hesitation, leaving capital on the sidelines despite strong fundamentals.

Overview of the panel discussion

Kathy-Thuy Nguyen, who is the country director at Impact Investment Exchange (IIX), framed this gap not as a structural mismatch between investment readiness and risk allocation.

In emerging markets like Vietnam, the constraint is often not capital itself, but the shortage of investment-ready projects and the inability to appropriately distribute risk. That is where blended finance becomes critical in bridging the gap between early-stage innovation and commercial-scale investment, she said.

She introduced the concept of orange bonds as a mechanism designed to unlock private capital by embedding a layered risk structure.

Our orange bonds are structured with a first-loss layer provided by catalytic investors, including institutions and partners from the UK, the EU, and Canada, explained Nguyen. This allows private investors to participate in projects that would otherwise be perceived as too risky, particularly in sectors like climate and renewable energy.

Importantly, growing signs that Vietnams financial ecosystem is capable of absorbing such innovation. The participation of local financial institutions demonstrates that blended finance can be deployed effectively within the domestic market, translating global priorities into tangible investments, she added.

Nguyen also pointed to the less visible but equally critical issue of the shortage of investment-ready projects.

Mobilising capital is only one side of the equation, but we also need to build a pipeline of investable businesses, she said. Through initiatives such as the Impact Investment Readiness Vietnam programme, IIX works directly with enterprises to strengthen their financial and operational capabilities, guiding them through a structured process to become scalable and bankable.

By preparing high-impact enterprises and connecting them with responsible investors, IIX helps bridge the gap between innovation and capital. Such efforts are essential to ensure the energy transition is not only technically feasible, but also financially inclusive and scalable, noted Nguyen.

According to Alice Carr, executive director for Public Policy under the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero, Vietnam is entering a critical phase of rapid urbanisation and industrialisation, creating pressure to transition towards more nature-based development models. Efforts such as mangrove restoration alongside coastal development reflect attempts to balance economic growth with environmental protection, but scaling these initiatives remains a challenge.

Support from international partners has helped accelerate progress. However, a major constraint lies in strengthening measurement, reporting, and verification systems, which are essential for connecting projects with international climate finance, particularly in coastal and high-risk areas, Carr said.

Land use presents another structural bottleneck, Carr explained. Urban expansion and industrial development often compete directly with agricultural land and forests, creating a zero-sum dynamic. Addressing this requires more strategic land-use planning, alongside stronger coordination between domestic authorities and international stakeholders.

Technological solutions, including renewable energy, battery storage, and electrification, are already available, but the challenge lies in deploying them at scale. This places greater importance on policy consistency, particularly in developing bankable mechanisms such as power purchase agreements, while maintaining flexibility to adapt as implementation evolves, Carr added.
On March 28, the two parties signed a cooperation agreement to assess the project, which will be developed in two phases. The first phase is expected to have a total capacity of around 2,000 MW, followed by an expansion to approximately 3,000 MW in the second phase, with total investment estimated at VND210 trillion ($8 billion).

Once completed, the complex is expected to form a large-scale clean energy hub, contributing to Vietnams long-term energy security while driving socioeconomic development in Gia Lai. The agreement marks a significant step in VinEnergos strategy to expand its renewable energy portfolio and reflects Vingroups commitment to supporting localities in advancing the green transition and sustainable development goals.

Nguyen Huong Giang, deputy CEO of VinEnergo, said the project would make a meaningful contribution to reducing environmental pollution and addressing global climate change through the development of clean energy sources.

We are committed to making long-term, well-structured investments in full compliance with legal regulations to ensure economic efficiency and harmonise the interests of the state, local authorities, businesses, and communities, she said.

Nguyen Huu Que, Vice Chairman of the Gia Lai Peoples Committee, noted, "We highly value the companys capabilities in the renewable energy sector and are committed to creating improvements for the investor to swiftly carry out research and project development."

VinEnergo is currently investing in a series of large-scale renewable energy projects across Vietnam, including the Ky Anh Wind Power Plant (Ha Tinh province, 400 MW), Eco Wind Ky Anh (Ha Tinh, 498 MW), Dien Bien 1 Solar Power Plant (Dien Bien, 300 MW), Ban Chat 1 Floating Solar Power Plant (Lai Chau, 250 MW), and Ban Chat 2 Floating Solar Power Plant (Lai Chau, 300 MW).

With ambitions to expand globally, VinEnergo has announced a target of developing 100 GW of renewable energy capacity over the next three years in key international markets such as North America, Northern Europe, the Mediterranean, and Southeast Asia, while also exploring potential markets in Central Asia and Africa. The company has already secured initial agreements for international portfolios in Denmark, Sweden, and the Philippines, with a total capacity of 10GW.

Vingroup and VinEnergo to develop LNG power plant in Haiphong Vingroup will join a consortium with VinEnergo, an energy firm majority-owned by billionaire Pham Nhat Vuong, to invest in a 4,800 MW LNG-fueled power plant in the northern port city of Haiphong.

VinEnergo launches global strategy with 10 GW renewable portfolio The Vietnamese energy company unveiled international expansion plans while deploying its initial gigawatt-scale portfolio of wind and solar projects across markets.
It calls for collaboration across borders, sectors, and generations. In this context, co-creation has become a necessity.

Against this backdrop, MUFG has been advancing a long-term approach in Vietnam that brings together sustainable finance, innovation, and human capital development. From strengthening agricultural systems through its Food X initiative, to empowering youth innovators and engaging startups in open innovation platforms, MUFG is helping to build practical bridges between Vietnam and Japan by connecting ideas, technology, and people to create shared value.

FoodX: connecting the two countries

Few places illustrate both the urgency and the opportunity of smart agriculture more clearly than Vietnam. As global markets shift towards quality and resilience amid rising climate risks, agricultural value is no longer defined by output alone.

This contrast highlights a deeper challenge for both countries. Japan faces food security, demographic, and climate pressures, while Vietnam brings strong agricultural and human potential but seeks deeper access to technology, sustainable practices, and global networks.

Bridging these complementary strengths requires collaboration and long-term commitment beyond capital.

It is from this perspective that MUFG launched its Food X (Food Transition) initiative.

Kinoshita Shingo, who is MUFGs managing director and head of the Ho Chi Minh City branch, said the vision of Food X is to build a bridge between the two countries.

By connecting Japanese technology, know how, and digital innovation with Vietnams food and agriculture sector, Food X aims to enhance productivity, quality, and resilience across the value chain. At the same time, it seeks to unlock Vietnams potential to contribute to addressing Japans food security challenges in the long term, Shingo said.

For MUFG, Food X goes beyond financing. As a global financial institution with an extensive international network, MUFG plays a catalytic role, mobilising capital, matching business, facilitating partnerships, and aligning stakeholders across finance, technology, agribusiness, and policy.

The initiative reflects MUFGs view that food security, digital transformation, and climate action are deeply interconnected, and that sustainable agriculture is both an economic imperative and a social responsibility, and a cornerstone of MUFGs broader commitment to connecting countries, empowering people, and co creating solutions for the future.

Empowering youth

Recognising this transformation depends on the next generation, MUFG has also been investing in people, particularly Vietnams youth.

In partnership with the United Nations Development Programme and the University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City, MUFG is proud to co-create a platform that connects and empowers young innovators through the Youth Digital Citizen Challenge 2025.

Under the theme AI for Climate Action, from October 2025 to January 2026, the event challenged young people to harness AI and digital technology to develop solutions addressing climate risks in the Mekong Delta, which is Vietnams rice basket but one of the regions most vulnerable to climate change. The challenge was designed as a learning journey, spanning from capacity building webinars to an intensive 36-hour hackathon finale.

As a sponsor, co-host and co-organiser, MUFG worked closely with partners to help shape the programme, contributing experts as speakers, mentors, and judges throughout the journey. This hands on involvement reflects MUFGs commitment to equipping young innovators with practical skills, real world perspectives and the confidence to translate ideas into impactful solutions, Shingo added.

By connecting digital talent with local climate realities, the initiative demonstrates how youth led innovation can contribute to resilient livelihoods and sustainable agriculture  principles that align closely with MUFGs Food X vision.

From ideas to impact

Beyond supporting early-stage ideas, MUFG Vietnam has deepened its engagement in startup innovation through its participation in the ASEANJapan Co-creation Fast Track Initiative 2025.

Led by the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry along with the Japan External Trade Organization, and in collaboration with ASEAN partners, the initiative promotes open innovation between startups and corporates.

At the Inno VietnamJapan Fast Track Pitch 2025, MUFG Vietnam was one of six Challenge Owners, contributing real world business challenges, and joining the judging panel to identify solutions with strong practical potential.

Takao Nozaki, MUFGs managing director, regional head of Vietnam and head of the Hanoi branch, said, Aligned with its strategic focus on digital transformation and sustainable development, MUFG Vietnam invited proposals from startups across three key innovation challenges: enhancing Vietnams financial industry through advanced credit-scoring technology; applying fintech to strengthen distribution networks; and supporting the growth of Vietnams agriculture by leveraging MUFGs global expertise.

These challenges reflect MUFGs intent to foster inclusive growth, improve access to finance, and reinforce the agricultural ecosystem through innovation, Nozaki added.

From Food X and smart agriculture to youth empowerment and startup co creation, MUFGs initiatives in Vietnam are not standalone efforts. Together, they form an integrated ecosystem approach that connects land, technology, talent, and capital across borders.

Through long-term partnerships and a strong belief in co-creation, MUFG continues to act as a bridge to connect countries, empowering people and co-creating solutions for a more resilient and inclusive future.
Alicante. Monday 23 March 2026

Approximately 3,500 years ago, in the Bronze Age settlement of Cabezo Redondo in present-day Villena, a fire razed dwellings and workshops to the ground. However, the same fire that destroyed part of the village also helped preserve an object that is incredibly hard to document in archaeology: a loom with a largely wooden structure.

Recently published in the journal Antiquity, this finding by a team of researchers from several Spanish universities is one of only a few known cases in Mediterranean Europe in which both the set of loom weights and components made from wood and plant fibres have been preserved. The article is authored by University of Alicante (UA) researchers Gabriel Garcia Atienzar, Paula Martin de la Sierra Pareja, Virginia Barciela Gonzalez and Mauro S. Hernandez Perez, Ricardo Basso Rial (University of Granada) and Yolanda Carrion Marco (Universitat de Valencia).

UA Professor of Prehistory Gabriel Garcia Atienzar explains that the fire generated a very specific archaeological context where the collapse of the ceiling was crucial [] resulting in a sealed space in which the area was suddenly destroyed and immediately buried, enabling its preservation. The loom components  including charred timbers, clay weights and esparto ropes  were trapped beneath the remains of the collapsed ceiling.

The loom appeared during the excavation of a circulation area on the western slope of the settlement, where the researchers found a raised platform with a dense concentration of clay weights. According to University of Granada predoctoral researcher Ricardo Basso Rial, this evidence allowed the team to identify the device with a high degree of certainty, as although the loom was recovered from a collapsed area and some pieces were missing, the compact set of 44 cylindrical weights with a central perforation, most of them about 200 grams in weight, is characteristic of a vertical warp-weighted loom.

Several pine timbers in a parallel arrangement were discovered alongside the weights. Some of the thicker timbers, with a rectangular cross-section, are probably the remains of the upright posts of the loom frame; other narrower pieces, with a rounded cross-section, supposedly constitute the horizontal posts.

The researchers also identified plaited esparto fibres associated with the structure, and even remains of small cords in the perforations of some weights, likely used to warp the warp threads to each loom weight. Thanks to this combination of weights, timbers and fibres, the researchers have been able to accurately determine how the loom worked, which is highly unusual in prehistoric contexts.

The archaeobotanist Yolanda Carrion (Universitat de Valencia) analysed the wooden pieces. The preservation of the organic elements was due to the fire that charred the remains and to the fact that these remains were practically unaltered later. Paradoxically, the fire both destroyed and preserved the site, she says.

It was concluded from the microscopic study of the wood that the loom was made from Aleppo pine, widely found in the surrounding area. According to Carrion, the observation of the growth rings suggests that the timbers came from long-lived trees that provided large-diameter pieces of wood, which indicates that the material was carefully selected. The researcher adds that the arrangement of wooden components of various sizes, assembled with each other and resting on a wall, and the presence of the weights allow us to develop a robust hypothesis about the morphology of the loom.

The loom was part of a wider process known as the textile revolution in the European Bronze Age, characterised by technological and economic changes in textile production.

For Ricardo Basso, this process was not driven by a single factor: the textile revolution was the result of a combination of processes, including the expansion of livestock breeding for wool production, technical innovations in looms and spinning and weaving tools, and social changes that led to more intensive and diversified textile production.

At Cabezo Redondo, these transformations are inferred from the presence of new forms of lighter spindle whorls and various types of loom weights. Some of them are lightweight enough to allow for the production of finer, more complex fabrics, such as twills. However, the fabrics themselves are rarely preserved in archaeological settings, and therefore many of these deductions are based on the indirect study of tools.

For this reason, the loom recovered from Cabezo Redondo is especially valuable, allowing researchers to go from interpreting isolated loom weights to documenting a working loom with extreme detail: the wooden structure, the ropes, the weights and the architectural context, Basso argues.

The context in which the loom appeared also provides information on the social organisation of work. The device was located in an outdoor space shared by several households, which suggests that production was a cooperative effort. This indicates that different household groups may have collaborated on activities such as spinning, weaving and milling, as noted by Paula Martin de la Sierra, a predoctoral researcher at the UA Institute for Archaeology and Heritage Research (INAPH) and research team member. Other artisanal activities in the village, such as metalwork or ivory craftsmanship, seem to have been concentrated in specialised areas, she adds.

Bioanthropological evidence also points to a central role of women in textile activities. In several graves at the site, teeth recovered from female remains have a degree of wear characteristically associated with spinning and weaving, as these women probably used their incisors to hold fibres in place or cut threads.
National Crime Agency officers have arrested three people as part of a coordinated operation with French police against a people smuggling organised crime group involved in transporting Vietnamese migrants to the UK in lorries and small boats.

NCA officers apprehended a 25-year-old woman at an address in Rhostyllen and a 25-year-old man in Newcastle-upon-Tyne this morning.

French Police arrested a further 16 people in and around Paris in simultaneous raids, supported by police from Europol, Eurojust and Belgian federal police. They also discovered 41 migrants, including 11 who were being housed in one address.

The NCA say arrests were connected to the same investigation which saw five men apprehended and charged in north west England and South Yorkshire in February this year  alleged to be key figures in a Vietnamese organised crime group smuggling people from France to the UK in HGVs and small boats.

The woman arrested today is suspected of assisting that group by laundering money, while the man is believed to have organised facilitation through lower members of the crime group.

The NCA say the organised crime group is suspected of facilitating migrants on commercial airlines from Vietnam to central and eastern Europe, before onward journeys to France after which they were moved to the UK on small boats and lorries.

The NCA say the crime group are believed to hold the genuine Vietnamese passports of those smuggled into the UK as debt bondage.

Alex Cruise, NCA Senior Investigating Officer, said: These arrests are a great example of partnership working with our colleagues in France to tackle the groups behind dangerous crossings to the UK. Such journeys put those being moved at great risk and undermine border security.

Tackling people smuggling remains a top priority for the NCA, and this is one of approximately 100 ongoing investigations targeting groups or individuals both directly involved in organising journeys, or those who facilitate that criminality.

Our investigation continues with the evidence we have gathered today.

Top pic: A picture from the NCA of NCA and police jackets, a topic the NCA have been very unhelpful over.

Spotted something? Got a story? email us at Got a story? email us at news@wrexham.com
Wrexham Councils plan to convert Acton Community Resource Centre into a day care facility has drawn sharp criticism from local councillors and residents, who say the decision was made without consultation or any assessment of the impact on community groups that rely on the building.

The council wants to move its day opportunities service for adults with complex needs from the Cunliffe Centre on Rhosddu Road to the Acton site. Officers say the Cunliffe Centre building is in poor condition and would require significant investment. Once vacated, it would be demolished, with the site earmarked for new social housing.

The council say the building in Acton would be refitted with specialist equipment, and would become a modern day care facility.

But Plaid Cymru councillors Andy Gallanders and Becca Martin, who represent wards in the Acton area, say the process has been handled badly. In a joint statement, they said: Council officers presented the decision to close the centre to residents as a done deal with no consultation or impact assessment on local people. The intention is to close it completely by June and then refurbish with the intention of opening in January as an adult day care centre.

The two councillors say the first meeting held at the resource centre to discuss the plans gave no clear indication of what was actually being proposed. The council held a meeting at the resource centre that clashed with a licensing committee, which we both sit on. There was no explanation beforehand that the closure of the resource centre was to be discussed  it was described as a discussion on day provision and there was no mention of Acton community centre or any intention to close it, they said.

They say the decision was taken without elected members being involved. We understand that this decision was made behind closed doors by the Senior Leadership Team some time ago without any impact assessment or engagement. Who on earth sanctioned that?

Acton Community Resource Centre currently hosts a range of groups including Citizens Advice, a youth club, Active Fit, Christchurch, Tiddlers Toddlers, a heritage society, Active Futures and Slimming World.

Among those affected is Barbara Tasker who helps run Purple Orchids, a group she helped establish more than a decade ago, which brings people together weekly for crafts and a monthly meal.

I am 82 and a widow and have been a resident of Acton for over 50 years working in the community till retirement and supporting countless families, she said.

Purple Orchids is a group where people get together once a week to learn new crafts and have a meal once a month. This group provides opportunities for people to come together in the community for friendship and support, some are widowers and this maybe the only time in the week they are amongst others.

The use of a local community centre with amenities is vital to the running of our group. Mobility issues and transport costs would hamper the continuation of the group if the centre was to close.

The closure would not only affect our group but for the countless other groups and individuals that use the centre regularly. Having a space to hire and use locally is so important for the wellbeing of the local residents of Acton. With so many other closures over the years of centres and youth buildings it would be such a great sadness if this was taken away from the people of Acton. It came as such a shock when we were told of the closure without any forewarning.

The council says it will encourage displaced community groups to use alternative venues and community centres in Wrexham, though no specific alternatives have been named in its public comment.

Councillor John Pritchard, Lead Member for Adult Social Care, said the move was about providing a better service from a better building. The Cunliffe Centre building has definitely seen better days and would need significant investment in the coming years. Acton Resource Centre on the other hand is a smart, modern building  and not far away in terms of location. So it makes sense to move our day opportunities service to Acton, so we can make better use of that building and provide a better service for adults with disabilities from across Wrexham, he said.

Council Leader Mark Pritchard said vacating the Cunliffe Centre would allow long-standing housing plans to move forward. The Cunliffe Centre has played an important role for many years, but the building is tired and would need a lot of investment at some point in the future. Moving the day opportunities service to Acton is a smarter solution, and will allow us to make better use of an attractive modern building. Vacating the Cunliffe Centre will also allow us to move forward with our long-held aspiration to build high quality social housing in Rhosddu  something weve been working towards for many years.

The Centre 67 building was demolished in 2022, and removing the Cunliffe Centre will be another step towards regenerating the site, and breathing new life into this part of the city, he said.

Councillors Gallanders and Martin said they are not opposed to relocating the day care service, but believe the loss of community access is not inevitable. While were supportive of the relocation of the Cunliffe Centre, which is not fit for purpose in its current location, that should not completely exclude local access to the Acton resource centre. We believe its possible to repurpose the building while maintaining some local community access for groups that rely on the building, they said.

They are calling on residents to write to the council leader to request a rethink.

A public drop-in session  specifically not a consultation  is scheduled for Wednesday, 15 April, between 3pm and 6pm at Acton Community Resource Centre, where residents can ask questions about the proposals.

Spotted something? Got a story? email us at Got a story? email us at news@wrexham.com
A young lion that was illegally sold as a cub has been reunited with his parents.

A young lion has been reunited with his parents

Staff from The Wildcat Sanctuary in Minnesota had saved nine lions from a roadside zoo in Quebec, Canada, but discovered Kiros was missing from the pride, only to receive a surprising phone call a few months later.

A young lion, related to rescued creatures Kim and Carl was looking for a home and staff checked photos and records to confirm it was Kiros.

The cub had been seized by authorities and taken to an accredited zoo, where he remained for 18 months while legal proceedings involving the roadside facility were resolved.

The Wildcat Sanctuary staff made a 2,280-mile roundtrip to bring back Kiros - which means Lord - after securing international parents, and Kim and Carl watched curiously as he arrived back at the facility.

Tammy Thies, founder and executive director of The Wildcat Sanctuary, told People magazine: From the moment we heard about the missing cub, we hoped we might one day find him.

To discover that Kiros not only survived but could come to the sanctuary where his parents now live is incredibly powerful. Stories like this remind us why rescue work matters.

Kiros story highlights the cruelty of roadside zoos and the illegal pet trade.

But it also shows whats possible when animal welfare organizations, accredited sanctuaries, and caring supporters work together to give these animals the lives they deserve.

This is a new beginning for Kiros. After everything hes been through, he can now relax at his forever home.
Mark Isherwood MS, who was first elected to the Senedd in 2003, said it has been an honour to serve the people of North Wales for 23 years in his Valediction speech in the Senedd.

In Wednesday afternoons Plenary session, Mr Isherwood, who is retiring at the end of this Senedd term, reflected on his five Terms as a Member of the Senedd (MS).

He spoke of his 23 sometimes fun, always frantic and frequently frustrating years in this role, and thanked the people of North Wales for allowing him to serve them throughout this period.

He also thanked Members across the Parties who have worked with me positively on many issues and this Senedd for enabling my BSL (Wales) Bill to become legislation.

Speaking in the Senedd Chamber for the final time, Mr Isherwood, who has attended approximately 1,600 Plenary sessions since first being elected, said:

When I arrived, which sometimes feels like yesterday and sometimes a hundred years ago, I joined an Assembly which was still a single corporate body in law, but was already operating in large part as if the legal separation of power between Parliament and Government, which was to follow, had already happened.

I established friendships across all the Parties, although almost all of that early friendship group have since moved or passed on.

He added: Having previously worked in the Building Society sector, where I obtained Professional Banking Qualifications, and having held several voluntary positions, including Housing Association Board Member and Chair of School Governors, I arrived here with a working knowledge and understanding of many of the issues affecting the people of Wales:

Including what was then a threatened but avoidable housing crisis.

Including what was then a threatened but avoidable economic crash.

Including the worryingly high levels of persistent poverty in our communities.

Including, from personal experience, the systemic barriers facing children with what we then called Special Educational Needs, and including serious allegations relating to certain Public Bodies.

Woe betide any principled Whistleblower who dared tell the truth, a theme which has continued throughout my years as a Member here and remains prevalent in Labour Wales now.

It was from 2003, not 2010, that I started highlighting these issues in the Chamber, in Committee, in Cross-Party Groups, in the media and in my contributions to external inquiries.

He added: It has been a privilege to Chair the Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee during this 6th Senedd, and Legislation Committee during the 3rd Senedd term, and I thank the hardworking Clerking Teams and the Members of those Committees.

It has been a privilege to Chair purposeful Cross-Party Groups on many, often related, social justice matters past and present, over many years, including those on Disability, on Autism, on Deaf Issues, on Neurological Conditions, on Hospices and Palliative Care, on Funerals and Bereavement, on Fuel Poverty and Energy Efficiency, on Violence against Women and Children, and on North Wales.

And it has also been a privilege to be the Wales Species Champion for the magnificent, evocative and threatened Curlew since 2016, working with Gylfinir Cymru/ Curlew Wales to highlight the multiple and multi-species benefits that Curlew recovery would bring.

Mr Isherwood, who throughout his time as an MS, has always championed the needs of Disabled people, added: Behind all the legislation, strategies and plans, there remains a real need for inclusion, equity and understanding grounded in Lived Experience, so that people and their families can participate fully in their communities, thrive, experience happiness, and have a genuine voice and control over their lives.

This will require a wholly different approach from future Welsh Governments in practice as well as in word, recognising that the people who know what is best for their communities are the people who live in them.

Reflecting on issues which have remained prevalent throughout his time as an MS, he said: Around 30% of children in Wales are currently living in poverty, which Labour and Plaid Cymru have blamed on post-2010 Conservative UK Government, dodging the reality that Child Poverty in Wales reached the highest level of any UK Nation, at 32%, before the Credit Crunch in 2008, when there were Labour Governments at both end of the M4.

Concluding, he said: Let me finish on a positive note, by thanking Members across the Parties who have worked with me positively on many issues, by thanking this Senedd for enabling my BSL (Wales) Bill to become legislation, and by thanking the people of North Wales for allowing me to serve them since 2003. It has been an honour to do so.

Spotted something? Got a story? email us at Got a story? email us at news@wrexham.com
Leaseholders and freeholders on private estates in Wrexham are being asked to respond to a UK parliamentary survey on proposed changes to property law in England and Wales.

Our wrexham.com/houseprices data assessment found that 93% of all Wrexham residential sales since the mid-1990s are freehold  however roughly 1 in every 14 sales is leasehold.

The Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee is asking home owners to share their views on the UK Governments draft Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill, published in January 2026. The Committee has been asked by the Government to examine whether the reforms will be effective and to recommend improvements before the final version goes to Parliament.

That means a significant number of local home owners could be directly affected by whatever reforms Parliament eventually passes.

The Bill aims to give property owners greater control over the management of their buildings. Leaseholders, shared owners, and freehold home owners who pay private estate charges in England and Wales are all eligible to take part.

Responses are anonymous. The Committee may publish a small number of anonymised quotes from open text responses, but individual answers will not be published in full.

Be quick though, the survey closes at 11.59pm tomorrow  31 March 2026. It can be found at: forms.office.com/e/Hj27jXurmA.

Spotted something? Got a story? email us at Got a story? email us at news@wrexham.com
Alex Duong has died at the age of 42.

Alex Duong has died

The comedian-and-actor - who is best known for his appearances on Blue Bloods and Jeff Ross Presents Roast Battle - passed away on Saturday (28.03.26) at around 11am at St John's Hospital in Santa Monica, California after going into septic shock on Friday (27.03.26) night amid his battle with cancer.

A close pal, Hilarie Steele, told TMZ Alex's family and friends were with him when he died.

Last year, after experiencing headaches behind his eye, Alex underwent a biopsy and was found to have a rare and aggressive form of cancer called alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma.

His pals including Ronny Chieng and Atusko Okatsuka joined together for a comedy fundraiser last August titled The Alex Duong Has Cancer In His Eye Comedy Benefit Show.

Hilarie set up a GoFundMe to help fund his friend's medical journey to regain his sight, but the campaign will now help Alex's wife Cristina and their five-year-old daughter Everest.

The page had been offering updates on the comic's condition, including an announcement on Friday that he was seriously unwell with septic shock, and then a message announcing his death.

Hilarie wrote on Saturday: "With the heaviest hearts, we share that our dear Alex passed away peacefully this morning, surrounded by love and dear friends.

"He was comfortable and thankfully out of pain.

"Christina and Everest were able to see him last night, and he was alert enough to say goodbye to his little girl, whom he has treasured every moment since the day she was born.

"We are devastated, but so grateful for the support, prayers, and generosity you have all shown during this unimaginable time.

"Your continued support now means everything as Christina and Everest navigate the days ahead and to arrange a beautiful celebration of his life.

"All of us will be by her side to hold her up and help her in every way possible.

"We love you all. We will share more when we are able. Thank you for holding this family in your hearts."

After the fundraiser - which was originally set up to raise $95,000 - passed the $100,000 mark, Hilarie shared an update on Sunday (28.03.26) to explain how the money will now be used.

She wrote: "We are overwhelmed with gratitude  because of you, we have already reached the original goal. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

"At the same time, with Alex passing, Christina's situation has become more serious and the financial needs ahead are much greater than we could have anticipated. Alex's memorial service, Everest 's education needs, ongoing care, daily support, and what lies ahead for his family mean we must continue raising funds beyond this initial goal.

"If youve already given, thank you  truly. If youre able to share or contribute again, it would mean everything right now.

"Please keep Alex and his family in your prayers. Your support is carrying them through the hardest time of their lives. We will update you with respect to details of his 'Celebration of Life'."


Diamond Drilling Program Commences

Sydney, Mar 30, 2026 AEST (ABN Newswire) - The Board of the Cannindah Resources Limited ( ASX:CAE ) provided an update on Exploration Activities at the Mt Cannindah Project.



Key Highlights:



o Diamond drilling at the highly prospective Southern Porphyry Target has commenced with the first hole re-entering and extending previous hole 25CRC016 which returned a high grade intersection of 28m @ 1.15% CuEq from 292m to the bottom of the hole.



o Drillhole 25CRC016, which ended in mineralisation is interpreted to have intersected the potential upper levels of a significant copper gold porphyry system.



o A minimum of 10,000m diamond drilling program will target high priority zones to the south and east of the successful 2025 Reverse Circulation (RC) drilling which identified the appropriate copper-gold-rich porphyry vectors, including:



- increasing grade and intersection thickness,



- an increased level of intrusive dykes with Au and Cu,



- the development of zones of high grade, and



- increasing levels of Au associated with Cu.



o Drilling will initially focus on the eastern 700m of the overall 2,000m long Southern Target and has the capacity to drill to depths in excess of 1200m per hole.



o Surface exploration activities have also re-commenced on the western portion of the Southern Target to follow up anomalous surface sampling and high order IP anomalies.



o Resource expansionary RC drilling continues at the Mt Cannindah Breccia MRE with the initial 12 holes completed and additional holes underway.



o The company is well funded with circa $17M in cash to aggressively explore the potentially transformational Southern Target and expand the current Cannindah Breccia MRE.



Managing Director and CEO, Mr Cameron Switzer stated: "The commencement of diamond drilling on the Southern Porphyry Target is a pivotal time in the growth aspirations for all Cannindah stakeholders.



To date all the exploration data suggests the presence of a significant copper-gold mineralized porphyry body which, if confirmed, would be transformational for the Company. This target requires drill testing to the appropriate depths which initially may be in excess of 1,200m below surface. As evidenced elsewhere in Australia, for example at the porphyry copper-gold mines at Cadia-Ridgeway and North Parkes in NSW, mineralized porphyry systems can have vertical extents greater than 1,800m and we are preparing to test similar targets at Mt Cannindah."



Diamond drilling has commenced on the Southern Target utilising the previously drilled reverse circulation hole 25CRC016 which returned 28m @ 1.15% CuEq from 292m to EOH. Diamond drilling will extend this hole geology dependent to depths upwards of 1200m if required.



A second drill rig will complete step out pre collars to the south and east of the Southern Target before transitioning to diamond drilling for testing to greater depths.



A total of 10,000m of Phase 1 drilling is initially planned to test the eastern portion of the Southern Target as shown in Figure 2*.



Reconnaissance activities have commenced on the western extensions of the Southern Target aimed at defining the source of the high order IP chargeability anomaly within the zones of extensive alteration.

About the Southern Target



The Southern Target is located on the southern margin of the Monument Intrusive Complex. The target has an identified surface dimension of 2000m (east west) by 800m (north south) and is open to the west and the south. The target is defined by high order soils with coincident copper (+1000ppm), gold (+0.1ppm) and Mo (+70ppm) anomalism over zones of outcropping hematite magnetite chlorite and garnet skarn. Within the skarn variably developed porphyry style veining can be observed associated with copper oxides and gossanous ex pyrite sulphide boxworks. Base metal veining is also observed.



Historic shallow drilling up to 60m has defined highly anomalous zones of Cu and Mo (no Au assays).



Several more recent 1990's 200m deep holes also intersect Cu and Mo. Surface rock chip data support the high order results.



Coincident with this zone is a large IP chargeability anomaly of up to 110mv/V is observed. High order conductors are also evident.



The amount of topographic relief is dramatic with up to 180m of RL5 level observed. In the lower RL zone, evidence for narrow dykes and intrusives with copper, molybdenum and gold is supported from trench results and mapping.



From an exploration perspective the Southern Target can be defined by



1. a broad elongate high order soil anomaly with coincident Cu Au and Mo anomalism



2. An Exploration Target of 64Kt to 114Kt CuEq over a strike length of 850m. The Exploration Target represents only the near surface shallow outer skarn mineralisation characterised by pyrite and assists with the targeting for deeper drill holes.



3. Trenching and mapping data which returned high grade results up to 400m east beyond the limit of the exploration target



4. Surface rock chip results and mapping indicating further porphyry style mineralisation 400m further east and



5. Open ended IP anomalies associated with historic halo drill holes 400m to the west of the exploration target.



6. Complex magnetic character consisting of both high and low magnetic character.



7. Drill target vectors provided by initial scout RC drilling including high grade associated with intrusive dykes and increasing grade or metal shells.



8. Broad mineralised intersections most recently indicate a porphyry Cu Au target to the south of all previous drilling.



The abovementioned data verify that the Southern Target represents the upper level or outer zone of a potential porphyry Cu Au Mo system at depth.



From an exploration perspective the eastern portion of the Southern Target is more advanced with ( ASX:CAE ) completing 9 reverse circulation drill holes into this area in 2025 to depths of 320m. These holes delivered vectors typical of many porphyry systems including;



- increasing grade and intersection thickness,



- an increased level of intrusive dykes with Au and Cu,



- the development of zones of high grade and



- increasing levels of Au associated with Cu



The next Phase of exploration activity will include diamond drill testing to depths in excess of 1200m geology dependent.



The western portion of the Southern Target has not had any recent exploration activities. A large IP chargeability anomaly coincident with a large alteration zone, zones of brecciation and veining characteristic of porphyry style systems is observed. Reconnaissance surface activities have commenced.



MT CANNINDAH PROJECT OVERVIEW



Mt Cannindah is located 90km southwest of Gladstone in central Queensland and 27km northeast of the town of Monto as shown in Figure 3*. The project comprises nine Mining Leases and two enveloping EPM's.



Small-scale mining operated from 1884-1920, followed by a leaching operation from 1947-1965.



Within the Mt Cannindah leases there are at least 17 significant copper (Cu), gold (Au) and molybdenum (Mo) mineralised occurrences, each defined by multiple pits, located adjacent to and peripheral to the Triassic-age Monument Intrusive Complex, a composite intermediate to felsic batholith. These include Cannindah Breccia (Cu-Au), Blockade (Au), Cannindah East (Au), Mount Theodore (Au), Midway (Au), Little Wonder (Au), United Allies (Cu-Mo), Monument (Cu-Mo-Au), Lifesaver (Cu-Mo-Au), Appletree (Cu-Mo-Au), Dunno (Cu-Mo-Au) and the Barrimoon Structure (Au-As) prospects.



Deposit styles including porphyry-related breccias (e.g. the Cannindah Breccia), skarns, stockworks and late-stage Au-As veins with high sulphidation characteristics.



The Cannindah Breccia is located on a major regional NNE trending structure on the contact of a diorite intrusive and hornfelsed sediments. The mineralisation is associated with sericite chlorite carbonate alteration enveloped within a large halo of albite alteration.



The Southern and Eastern target zones are characterised by peripheral or upper level skarn development associated with hematite magnetite garnet chlorite actinolite carbonate epidote alteration coincident with fracture and disseminated pyrite up to 5% by volume. Molybdenite veining can be observed associated with porphyry style A and B veins where developed.



High sulphidation assemblages of kaolinite, dickite and alunite associated with disseminated gold mineralisation is observed at Cannindah East.



Base metal veining and stockworks associated with Pb Zn Ag Te Bi Mo As and Au is developed throughout the surface footprint of the system.



The Cannindah hydrothermal system is a classically zoned porphyry related centre of Triassic age.



A summary of previous drill holes and exploration activity can be obtained in ( ASX:CAE ) 17 March 2021.



Modern or recent exploration recommenced in 2021 with drill testing at the Cannindah Breccia.



*To view tables and figures, please visit:

https://abnnewswire.net/lnk/ZMAS1QKC





About Cannindah Resources Limited





Cannindah Resources Limited is an ASX-listed (ASX:CAE) Queensland, Australia-based exploration and resource development company. We are focused on copper and gold mineral exploration, evaluation, and progressing various mineral projects.

Cannindah's goal is to preserve shareholder wealth and grow the value of the flagship asset with prudent exploration methods. Our focus is to progress further exploration work at the Piccadilly Project and review the possible strategies for Mount Cannindah Project.

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Commissions Oxide to Metal Study

Sydney, Mar 30, 2026 AEST (ABN Newswire) - American Rare Earths Ltd ( ASX:ARR ) ( ARRNF:OTCMKTS ) (ADR:AMRRY) announced that it has engaged Tetra Tech, a U.S. based major consulting and engineering services company, to complete an Oxides to Metals study for the Company's heavy rare earths ("HREE") stream.



The study will evaluate options to convert separated heavy rare earth oxides from the American Rare Earths Halleck Creek Project in Wyoming all the way to metal, a critical midstream step immediately preceding the manufacture of permanent magnets relied upon by defense and advanced technology sectors.



Positioning into the U.S. midstream



Today, China dominates the midstream of the rare earth value chain, including oxide separation and metal production. The United States has prioritised development of a domestic midstream capable of producing rare earth metals and ultimately permanent magnets, and several U.S. companies are assessing pathways from separated rare earth oxides to metal.



American Rare Earths intends to be part of that solution. The Oxides to Metals study will:



- Identify and evaluate available technologies to convert heavy rare earth oxides to metals, including molten salt electrolysis and calciothermic reduction.



- Focus on ARR's heavy rare earth suite - samarium (Sm), gadolinium (Gd), terbium (Tb) and dysprosium (Dy) - which are essential for high temperature permanent magnets used in defense and advanced technologies.



- Select a preferred technology and develop a process flow diagram, mass balance, major equipment list, and preliminary capital and operating cost estimates.



- Provide an initial assessment of the potential strategic and operational benefits of integrating oxide to metal capability with ARR's planned refining operations in Wyoming.



The work will be led by Tetra Tech's Salt Lake City office under Process Department Lead and Qualified Person Kelton Smith.



Aligned with CEO strategy and U.S. policy support



In his letter to shareholders dated 9 February 2026, CEO Mark Wall emphasised that Halleck Creek is a very large, long-life rare earth deposit in Wyoming, one of the world's most attractive and mature mining jurisdictions, and that ARR's objective is to build "a secure domestic supply of rare earths for the U.S. market."



The oxide to metal initiative builds directly on that work. With the capability to produce separated rare earth oxides now demonstrated at bench scale, this study is the next logical step in assessing how far downstream Halleck Creek's product can be integrated within the United States, from ore in Wyoming, through refining in Wyoming, to heavy rare earth metals that are the immediate precursors to permanent magnets.



Strategic importance of a Wyoming based heavy rare earth metals stream



American Rare Earths Halleck Creek project is the largest known deposit of total contained rare earth oxides in North America. By evaluating options to convert its heavy rare earth oxide stream to metal within this Wyoming anchored value chain, American Rare Earths aims to:



- Identify potential strategic benefits of integrating downstream processing beyond separated oxide production.



- Offer potential partners and customers a U.S. based, jurisdictionally secure source of critical heavy rare earth metals.



- Further align Halleck Creek with U.S. policy priorities that frame rare earths as a national security imperative and seek to reduce reliance on foreign midstream and magnet supply chains.



American Rare Earths CEO Mark Wall commented "American Rare Earths believes that advancing oxide to metal options for its heavy rare earths stream is an important step toward realising its vision of a Wyoming based, mine to magnet contribution to the U.S. rare earths supply chain."





About American Rare Earths Limited





American Rare Earths (ASX: ARR | OTCQX: ARRNF | ADR: AMRRY) is a critical minerals company at the forefront of reshaping the U.S. rare earths industry. Through its wholly owned subsidiary, Wyoming Rare (USA) Inc. ("WRI"), the company is advancing the Halleck Creek Project in Wyoming-a world-class rare earth deposit with the potential to secure America's critical mineral independence for generations. Located on Wyoming State land, the Cowboy State Mine within Halleck Creek offers cost-efficient open-pit mining methods and benefits from streamlined permitting processes in this mining-friendly state.

With plans for onsite mineral processing and separation facilities, Halleck Creek is strategically positioned to reduce U.S. reliance on imports-predominantly from China-while meeting the growing demand for rare earth elements essential to defense, advanced technologies, and economic security. As exploration progresses, the project's untapped potential on both State and Federal lands further reinforces its significance as a cornerstone of U.S. supply chain security. In addition to its resource potential, American Rare Earths is committed to environmentally responsible mining practices and continues to collaborate with U.S. Government-supported R&D programs to develop innovative extraction and processing technologies for rare earth elements.

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Remaining Exploration Licences Granted

Sydney, Mar 30, 2026 AEST (ABN Newswire) - QX Resources Limited ( ASX:QXR ) announced that the Company has been granted the two remaining exploration licences by Tanzania's Ministry of Minerals' Mining Commission, covering the Madaba Uranium Project (Madaba or the Project), located within the highly prospective Luwegu Basin, southern Tanzania.



HIGHLIGHTS



- Exploration licences (PL 13743/2026 & PL 13847/2026) have been officially granted by Tanzania's Ministry of Minerals' Mining Commission.



- With all three licences now granted, the Company awaits the final documents to permit the commencement of the high-resolution heli-borne radiometric survey at the Madaba uranium project.



- Environmental consultants with prior involvement on the Madaba uranium project have been formally engaged to commence environmental impact assessment (EIA) work.



- An approved EIA will enable QX to undertake its maiden drilling program at Madaba, targeting early Q3 2026 commencement.



- Following the Company's recent well-supported capital raising, QX is well-funded to complete the radiometric survey and the planned drill program.



The granting of PL 13743/2026 & PL 13847/2026 was a key requirement for the Company to receive final documentation to enable the commencement of the high-resolution heli-borne radiometric survey at Madaba. The Company anticipates approval in the coming weeks.



Following management's recent visit to Tanzania, the Company has formerly appointed experienced Tanzanian environmental consultants, Paulsam Geo-Engineering Company Ltd (PaulSam), for the delivery of an environmental impact assessment (EIA) at Madaba. PaulSam were previously engaged by Olympic Exploration Limited, prior holders of the Madaba project, and were responsible for Olympic's approved EIA in 2016.



Post receipt of an approved EIA, QX intends to undertake the first drilling program at the Madaba project since the early 1980s.





About QX Resources Ltd





QX Resources Limited's (ASX:QXR) strategy is built on unlocking high-value energy and battery minerals to power the globe. We focus on identifying, acquiring, and developing assets with strong geological potential and strategic relevance to the energy storage supply chain. We focus on identifying, acquiring, and developing assets with strong geological potential and strategic relevance to the energy storage supply chain.

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The Bank of Mum and Dad is open, with three in five (61%) parents of over 18s helping their children navigate the financial ups and downs of life  however this support is having a lasting impact on parents ability to save for retirement according to Standard Life. New research explores how lifes pivotal moments can shape, and sometimes disrupt, peoples long-term financial journeys, highlighting how three quarters (75%) of parents of over 18s who provide such support say it has affected them financially. A quarter (27%) have dipped into their savings, and one in seven (15%) have or are planning to delay their retirement or have a more modest retirement as a result. Parents to the rescue as financial pressures mount for younger generations The financial support given by parents of adult children takes many forms. Over a quarter (26%) are helping them with everyday living costs such as rent, bills and food, while over one in ten (13%) are giving them a helping hand onto or up the property ladder and a similar proportion (13%) are funding one-off purchases such as cars or household items. Others are focused on longer-term support, with one in ten contributing to savings accounts for their children (11%) and supporting or saving for grandchildren (10%). These findings come as student finances continues to dominate public debate, with renewed discussion around the long-term burden posed especially by Plan 2 student loans and their impact on peoples finances long after they have finished university. Against this backdrop, some parents are stepping in to help ease the pressure on their student children, with one in ten (11%) helping to cover university fees to reduce the need for large student loans. Generosity comes at a financial cost  and a lasting impact on retirement plans This generosity comes at a cost, with the financial impact having lasting effects. Three quarters (74%) of parents of over 18s who provide financial support say this has affected them financially, over a quarter (27%) have dipped into savings as a result, and a fifth (18%) say they are saving less for the long term. A further one in ten (12%) say this means they have contributed less to their pension than they had hoped, and one in seven (15%) expect to retire later than planned, leading to them having a more modest retirement (15%) and being more reliant on the State Pension (15%). These longer-term consequences are evident among those parents of over 18s already retired, with a quarter (24%) noting that having children was the single biggest factor impacting their ability to save for retirement. A love without limits: a strong desire to protect their children from financial hardship Despite the financial pressures, the unconditional love parents feel for their children prevails, with many parents of over 18s viewing supporting their children as a life moment worth prioritising, even when it requires carefully balancing with their own long-term financial plans. Over half (57%) say they expect nothing in return, and two in five (39%) say they are happy with their decision to provide financial support. These parents cite a strong sense of responsibility (46%) and a desire to protect their children from debt or financial hardship (47%) as key motivations, while a third (36%) say they want to help their children achieve long-term financial security. A further one in ten parents (11%) also see support today as a form of early gifting for inheritance tax purposes, ahead of pensions coming into scope of inheritance tax from 2027. However, in a world where life is increasingly complicated and uncertain, the picture is not the same for every family, and one in seven parents of children of all ages (15%) also plan to prioritise enjoying their money in retirement over leaving an inheritance. Priorities and needs can change over time, and many parents have to make a careful balance between supporting the next generation and enjoying their own later life. Mike Ambery, Retirement Savings Director at Standard Life plc, said: For many parents, helping their children financially is something they would do in an instant, without hesitation. With student loan repayments, higher housing costs, rising living expenses and job market pressures all affecting younger generations, its understandable that parents want to offer support where they can. Life is rarely linear, and like many other milestones, its completely normal for pension savings to take a back seat when focusing on supporting children. However, at the same time, parents mustnt lose sight of their own financial goals. Everyones journey to and through retirement can be better and understanding where you are in terms of your own long-term finances is also important, to ensure you are heading towards the retirement you envisage. This means setting clear expectations with your children about the level of support you can realistically provide, making sure youre still contributing what you can afford into your pension, and ensuring youre thinking about how much money you will realistically need for retirement  striking the right balance between supporting children today and staying engaged with your own financial future. For parents with younger children thinking ahead and starting early, even with small amounts, can help build financial resilience for the next generation while keeping your own long-term plans on track. Junior ISAs (JISAs) and even child pensions are a great way to do this, providing a tax-efficient way to give children a head start and potentially benefit from compound interest or investment growth from the earliest moment possible.
Thane MACT Awards Rs 58 Lakh to Techie Who Lost Leg in 2019 Truck Crash 2

The Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (MACT) in Thane has awarded Rs 58.3 lakh in compensation to a 35-year-old software engineer who lost his leg after being hit by a speeding truck in 2019.

In an order dated February 23, MACT member R V Mohite directed the trucks insurance company to first pay the compensation to the claimant and then recover the amount from the vehicle owner, amid a dispute over the authenticity of the insurance policy.

The claimant, Kiran Suresh Mali, a senior software developer, was riding his motorcycle on Ghodbunder Road in Thanes Anand Nagar area on March 30, 2019, when a truck rammed into his two-wheeler from behind. The collision caused a severe crush injury, resulting in the amputation of his left leg and 65 per cent permanent disability.

The truck owner failed to appear before the tribunal, and the case proceeded ex parte against him.

The insurance company contested the claim, alleging that the policy produced was fake and fabricated. However, the tribunal observed that records from the Regional Transport Office (RTO) showed that the vehicle was insured with the firm.

The tribunal noted that even if the insurer was not strictly liable due to policy-related disputes, the claimant, as a third party, was entitled to compensation. It cited rulings of various high courts and the Supreme Court holding that insurers must satisfy the award in favour of third-party victims in the first instance and may later recover the amount from the vehicle owner or driver.

While assessing the impact of the disability on Malis career, the tribunal observed that the same percentage of physical disability could result in varying degrees of loss of earning capacity depending on the nature of the profession, age and other factors. It assessed his functional disability at 25 per cent and fixed a notional monthly income of Rs 45,000, as he had not submitted income tax returns or bank statements to substantiate his claimed salary of over Rs 84,000.

The compensation awarded includes Rs 21.6 lakh towards loss of income, Rs 8.64 lakh for future prospects and Rs 18 lakh for a future artificial limb and its maintenance. The tribunal also directed that the amount be paid with interest at 9 per cent per annum from April 2019, the date of filing the petition.
By People's Daily reporters

Asia's economy continues to demonstrate strong resilience and positive momentum, making an important contribution to global growth and sustainable development, according to flagship reports of the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA).



The two reports, titled "The Asian Economic Outlook and Integration Progress Annual Report 2026" and "The Sustainable Development: Asia and the World Annual Report 2026," respectively, were released at a press conference for the BFA annual conference 2026 held in south China's Hainan province on March 24.



Attendees emphasized the immense potential of regional cooperation in Asia, calling for stronger confidence and joint efforts to address global challenges and inject greater certainty and positive momentum into an increasingly turbulent world.



"The Sustainable Development: Asia and the World Annual Report 2026" pointed out that Asia plays a key role in promoting global economic growth, advancing economic transformation, and improving global governance.



Thanks to joint efforts across the region, Asia's progress toward the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development ranks among the strongest worldwide, with 10 out of 17 goals advancing faster than the global average, further highlighting the region's resilience.



Yose Rizal Damuri, executive director of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, Indonesia, projected that Asia's share of the world's GDP will rise to 49.7 percent this year. "Asia is a major source of global trade demand and supply, and an important driver of global economic progress," he said.



Across the region, infrastructure projects such as cross-border power grids and renewable energy initiatives are steadily advancing. Regulatory and standard connectivity is also expanding into emerging areas including digital trade and cross-border payments.



Holger Bingmann, vice chairman of the International Chamber of Commerce, emphasized that the real opportunity lies in restoring confidence in global free trade. "In an era of uncertainty, openness itself is a powerful strength," he said. "We need to build new bridges to connect different regions and communities."



Amid a complex and uncertain international landscape, "stability" has emerged as a recurring theme at the forum. Denis Depoux, global managing director of Roland Berger, observed that countries in the Asia-Pacific, including China, are committed to anchoring stability through peace, cooperation, and multilateralism, an approach that is crucial for boosting investor confidence and fostering a stable investment environment.



"The Sustainable Development: Asia and the World Annual Report 2026" highlighted a major shift in the global artificial intelligence (AI) landscape. As the center of AI development increasingly moves toward Asia, regional economies are leveraging their large digital populations, diverse application scenarios, and systematic policy support to transition from followers to leaders, reshaping the global AI innovation ecosystem.



Chen Lan, Managing Partner at Deloitte China Research Center, noted that China has developed a comprehensive framework spanning computing infrastructure, talent cultivation, industrial support, and governance. She called on Asian countries to strengthen talent exchange networks and build cross-border technology cooperation platforms to sustain long-term competitive advantages.



Michele Geraci, former undersecretary of state at Italian Ministry of Economic Development, shared a personal example of regional connectivity: "I can now travel from Laos to China by train, thanks to the China-Laos Railway. With speeds reaching 150 kilometers per hour, travel time has been significantly reduced." In his view, cooperation in areas such as technology and infrastructure is helping drive shared development across Asia.



Over its 25-year history, the BFA has become a witness to the key milestones in Asia's development. From the launch of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) to the signing of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area 3.0 Upgrade Protocol, and from the operation of the China-Laos Railway and the Jakarta-Bandung High-Speed Railway to the ongoing construction of Malaysia's East Coast Rail Link, regional cooperation continues to gain momentum.



Former President of the Philippines Gloria Macapagal Arroyo described this year's BFA annual conference as a milestone event. As China's global influence grows, she said, the forum is playing an increasingly prominent role as a platform for dialogue among political, business, and academic leaders from across Asia and beyond.



"Countries across Asia hope to further advance integrated economic cooperation," said Kairat Sarybay, Secretary General of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia. He warned that geopolitical tensions, uncertainties in international trade, and rising protectionism pose challenges to global development, and that advancing economic integration in Asia will help boost confidence among all stakeholders.



BFA Secretary General Zhang Jun emphasized that the forum remains rooted in Asia while embracing the world, committed to advancing regional economic integration, strengthening exchanges and cooperation, and deepening mutual understanding and trust.



While acknowledging that the path toward economic integration and sustainable development will inevitably involve challenges, Zhang stressed that with strong confidence, solidarity, and perseverance, Asia can continue to move toward high-quality development and build a new growth paradigm that supports the "Century of Asia."
Mariska Hargitay will make her Broadway debut in Every Brilliant Thing.

Mariska Hargitay is to make her Broadway debut

The Law + Order: SVU actress is set to take over from current lead Daniel Radcliffe in the one-person production, with the play extending its run at the Hudson Theatre in New York until 28 June.

Mariska will make her debut in Every Brilliant Thing on Tuesday 26 May and she hailed the production an "extraordinary gift".

She said in a statement: I read Every Brilliant Thing and cried, rejoiced, laughed, cried some more, and loved it so much.

Im always drawn to themes of healing and renewal, especially when the journey is rendered in all its complexity. It feels like an extraordinary gift to make my Broadway debut, the fulfillment of a lifelong dream, with a play that affirms life so emphatically.

"For me, the triumph of this beautiful piece of workthis luminously brilliant thingis that through a deeply personal story, we experience the universal endeavour of keeping ourselves pointed towards light, compassion and hope.

Harry Potter star Daniel will take his final bow in the play on 24 May.

Every Brilliant Thing revolves around a child reacting to their mother's suicide attempt and making a list of the things that make life worth living, with the audience encouraged to join in by shouting out the list.

As the child becomes an adult, their list continues to develop but it is now the older ones in need of a reason to be hopeful.

The Broadway version was written by Duncan Macmillan, along with the show's original star Jonny Donahoe.

The play debuted at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2014 and has been performed in more than 80 countries, with the likes of Minnie Driver, Sue Perkins, Sir Lenny Henry and Ambika Mod stepping in as the lead when Jonny stopped performing it in 2017.

The structure of the play can be tailored for specific audiences, with 90s Greek popular culture references included when Melina Theo starred in an adaptation in Greece and a specific brand of ice cream mentioned during Oliver Chong's Singapore performances.

Daniel, 36, made his stage debut in Equus in 2007 and has starred in a number of productions in London and New York since then.

His last Broadway appearance was in Merrily We Roll Along last year, for which he won a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical.
By Gu Yekai, Yu Sinan, People's Daily

China's technological capabilities are increasingly evident in the critical field of database software. During the peak of the 2026 Spring Festival travel season, China's railway ticketing platform 12306 handled over 1 million queries per second, sold over 1,000 tickets per second at peak times, and recorded more than 80 billion daily visits, making it the world's largest real-time ticketing system.



Amid such massive traffic surges -- with hundreds of millions of users vying for tickets within seconds -- China's homegrown databases have played a pivotal role. They not only provided essential support but also served as the foundation engine ensuring the system's stable, efficient, and secure operation.



In recent years, China has ramped up investment in core database technologies. A growing number of Chinese database solutions have broken the long-standing dominance of international players, empowering digital transformation across a wide range of industries.



Databases are critical to national economy and people's livelihoods, and represent a core technology in the software sector.



Data from the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology show that China's database market is now valued at nearly 60 billion yuan ($8.71 billion), with 164 database products available. Globally, one in every four database companies is based in China.



Demonstrating strong capabilities in stability, storage, and computing power, these domestic databases highlight China's advancements in foundational software and contribute to higher-quality development.



The drive for self-reliance has deep roots. In the late 1970s, Feng Yucai, founder and chairman of Wuhan Dameng Database Co., Ltd. (Dameng), visited Wuhan Iron and Steel Corporation for technical training. At the time, the plant had imported a costly automated management system from abroad. After installation, foreign engineers destroyed three truckloads of technical documentation on-site.



Deeply affected by the incident, Feng resolved to develop China's own database system. After eight years of research, he created China's first domestically designed database management system prototype using the Pascal programming language.



As a fully self-developed native distributed database, OceanBase maintains full control over its source code. Since its launch, it has avoided reliance on external technologies and instead focused on achieving independent control over core technologies by writing its kernel code from scratch. In October 2019, OceanBase ranked first in a leading international database benchmark, ending nine years of leadership by foreign companies.



Beyond native distributed databases, China has also outperformed global peers in cloud-native database. In January 2025, Alibaba Cloud's PolarDB claimed the top position in the TPC-C benchmark, widely regarded as the "Olympics" of the database performance. The test simulates 1.6 billion current users conducting transactions. During the evaluation, PolarDB completed 2.2 trillion data operations with a fluctuation rate of just 0.16 percent, ensuring 100 percent data accuracy. It also set new world records for performance, processing 2.055 billion transactions per minute, and cost efficiency, at 0.8 yuan per unit.



According to Wang Yuan, head of database product technology architecture at Alibaba Cloud, it is precisely the real-world stress tests of massive events like China's Double 11 shopping festival that have enabled domestic databases to achieve world-class capabilities, driving continuous improvements toward extreme performance and greater simplicity and usability.



Moving from the lab to the market, domestic databases must overcome not only technical challenges but also barriers of market trust. Years ago, foreign database products accounted for over 80 percent of the Chinese market, nearly monopolizing core systems in key sectors such as finance, telecommunications, and energy. For these industries, foreign databases were almost the default choice.



"Even a one-second delay can lead to serious consequences," said Yang Chuanhui, CTO of OceanBase. "This is especially true in the financial sector, where requirements are extremely stringent.



To prove their reliability, OceanBase tackled challenges head-on. Its teams often worked on-site, earning trust through technical excellence. Over more than a decade, OceanBase has not only supported all core accounting systems of Chinese payment services platform Alipay, but also achieved stable operation across more than 300 financial institutions, serving over 4,000 clients.



Dameng spent more than a decade developing shared-storage cluster technology for databases, enabling it to move from peripheral systems into the core of high-end markets. Previously, only one foreign company possessed this technology. Driven by market demand, Dameng achieved a breakthrough.



"Good software is shaped through use. Databases, in particular, require continuous refinement in real-world applications to evolve and meet market needs," Feng said.



Today, domestic databases have become standard infrastructure in key sectors. As their capabilities continue to grow, they are also gaining global traction. From ride-hailing platforms in Southeast Asia and smart city projects in the Middle East to emerging e-commerce in Africa and digital banks in Latin America, Chinese database solutions are offering new options for global digital applications.



"At present, Alibaba Cloud's database services cover 29 regions and 92 availability zones worldwide," said Li Feifei, senior vice president of Alibaba Cloud.
The week of March 23-29 marked the fifth anniversary of a rare moment in international shipping that dominated the global news cycles for a week.

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On March 23, 2021, the containership Ever Given encountered a problem entering the Suez Canal. High winds, low water levels, and the sheer size of the containership (20,000 TEUs, one of the largest classes of commercial ships) caused the vessel to swing sideways and run aground, blocking all traffic in the canal and thus rendering one of the worlds most important shipping routes impassable for a week.

The world press was fascinated by the ships predicament. Within hours, wire services were reporting the story, video was all over cable news, and experts were interviewed discussing whether the cause was weather, pilot error, the size of the vessel, or the vessel owners cost-cutting (the choice not to hire local tugs as escorts was questioned).

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The image of a sideways ship with 20,000 truckloads worth of cargo aboard became the source of memes on social media and jokes at comedy clubs. For a brief moment, the usually boring field of marine transportation became culturally significant.

Then the ship was righted, other ships safely reentered the channel, and the story no longer intrigued editors, broadcasters, and news anchors. It dropped off the headlines.

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One might assume, therefore, that the Suez Canal, a key route in global commerce since 1869, has since been back to normal. If it werent, the news media would have covered it. Right?

Well, actually, no.

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For two and a half years now, the Suez Canal has been mostly unused by commercial vessels, because the weaponry of Yemens Houthi rebelsessentially a subsidiary of the Iranian ayatollahs rogue government in Iranhas been making the Red Sea impassable for commercial shipping. And if you cant get in or out of the Red Sea, you cant use the Suez Canal either.

Two and a half years.

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Consider where the Suez Canal and the Red Sea are located. Theyre at the northeast corner of Africa, at the point where Africa meets Asia.

Until 1869, ships traveling between the Pacific and the Atlantic had to circumnavigate Africa, sailing from Asia to Europe and back to Asia. But with the Suez Canal and the Red Sea in use as shortcuts, that trip is about two weeks shorter, using less fuel, manpower, and time. Its also considerably safer than traversing the Cape of Good Hope.

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When we think about the global economy, we tend to think of Labor and Energy, Materials and Equipment, Buyers and Sellers. All these have a cost, and reducing the energy and manpower costs of transportation through the worlds busiest trade lane has been a major godsend of the Suez Canal for a century and a half now.

But it can be argued that Time is the greatest gift of the Suez Canal. This two-week shortcut between Egypt and the Arabian Peninsula significantly reduces the transit time of millions of shipments per week. Sixty to eighty ships per week used to go through the Suez Canal, from containerships to tankers, from breakbulk to feeder vessels, enabling a more efficient supply chain for millions of businesses every week.

Since the Houthis have shut off access, that savings is gone.

Most estimates indicate that the direct financial cost to the global economy is north of a billion dollars per day because carriers must charge customers a third more per trip when each trip takes two weeks longer.

But even that doesnt tell the whole story. When a business is built on a certain transit time, and that transit time is unexpectedly lengthened and made more costly, that business must adapt, and its customers must adapt too. With higher costs and slower delivery times, businesses lose orders; they lose customers, lay off employees, and eventually go out of business.

The Houthis attack on global shipping, by blocking access to Suez and the Red Sea, isnt some distant political story to leave in the business pages; its a direct attack on the world community, affecting everyone on earth, from the price of food and clothing to the availability of manufacturing and distribution jobs.

On top of all this, another more than tangential issue worth mentioning in passing is the effect on Egypt. The canal runs through Egyptian territory, and that struggling, developing nation is very dependent on the $7 to $8 billion it normally earns each year in canal tolls and tugboat rentals. Egypts loss of most of its Suez Canal revenue these past two and a half years has had a painful impact - over time, perhaps, to a destabilizing degree.

And here is the question:

Why is it that a one-week closure of the Suez Canal five years ago resulted in global awareness, viral videos, and ubiquitous memes, but a two-and-a-half-year closure of the very same canal has produced no comparable coverage, in fact, hardly any coverage at all?

When a discussion of the Straits of Hormuz prompts a mention of the ongoing Suez Canal closure, the most common reaction is surprise, as this lack of reporting has left news consumers utterly unaware its happening at all.

If a week-long closure is worth reporting, but a closure more than a hundred times that long is not, how on earth do the major news services prioritize the stories they cover?

There are several possibilities.

Perhaps the complexity of global commerce is just beyond their ken, a disturbing thought since the same wire services provide what they claim to be business news coverage, so a trillion-dollar intentional hit to the global economy really ought to register for them.

Perhaps they think the Suez Canal is so far away that it must not affect their American readers, so they leave it for the Middle Eastern news to coverthough this explanation would also serve as an indictment of their understanding of economic news.

Or perhaps they dont want to cover anything that shows Iran and Irans clients in a bad light, so, if the Houthis are responsible for the closure, and not the winds and tides, they have no interest in the story. One hopes thats not the reason, but it seems the most likely, doesnt it?

There were many good reasons for the United States and Israel to finally move against Iran this month, and the need to end the Iranian mullahs control of their clients in nearby countriesLebanon, Gaza, Yemen, etc.is at the top of that list.

However, if regime change in Iran also enables the Houthis to be defanged and the Suez Canal to be reopened at lastas it mustthe billion-dollar-per-day transportation savings to the world economy that result from it will, in itself, have made it all worthwhile.

This isnt about Israel and the United States alone; its about every developed and developing nation on earth. Everyone uses the Suez Canal; everyone needs it.

Weve seen the press get behind all sorts of issues before, championing political positions, demanding public support for nationwide or even global action, out of compassion for the downtrodden. Sometimes such campaigns are honorable and even courageous.

One wonders why the Houthis effective robbery of a billion dollars per day from all the peoples of the earth, for two and a half years now, hasnt risen to the level of such attention in the eyes of the mainstream media.

X screen grab.

John F. Di Leo is a Chicagoland-based international transportation manager, trade compliance trainer, consultant and public speaker. Read his book on the surprisingly numerous varieties of vote fraud (The Tales of Little Pavel), his biting political satires on the Biden-Harris years (Evening Soup with Basement Joe, Volumes I, II, and III), and his collection of essays on public policy in the 2020s, Current Events and the Issues of Our Age, all available in eBook or paperback, exclusively on Amazon.
Antisemitism is an ancient concept which has just now moved back above the fold. Back in ancient times, legend has it that Mosess mother put him in a wicker basket so he could drift down the river and escape pharaohs wrath. Again, according to legend, God achieved overwhelming retribution against the Egyptians by imposing ten plagues upon them.

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Yes, the Jewish Torah may be considered the beginning of linear history. As with Homers Iliad, it was chanted in the singsong style of pre-literate cultures. To this day, bar mitzvah candidates are offered the option of either reciting their Torah portion or chanting it.

Judaism, however, is not just a religion, it is an ethnicity. The Jewish people are an ancient tribe that has maintained its integrity over millennia -- despite numerous encounters with hostile outsiders -- as with many other tribal cultures. The development of the Roman Empire allowed the Jewish people to disperse beyond their Levantine homeland. Eventually, Christianity developed as an offshoot of the Hebrew tribe -- and became especially popular among the modernizing former-heathens of the Roman world largely because of the elimination of a particularly problematic tribal custom: circumcision.

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Ultimately, Christianity was considered separate from Judaism and, according to some historians this resulted from the fire of Rome during Neros rule that was blamed on the Christians and not the Jews. Paul Johnson, in A History of the Jews, says that the primary contribution of the Jews to the modern world is the concept that there is a purpose to life. What that purpose is, he leaves unanswered. I suppose it could be to dutifully obey Gods commandments. I would also say that the most conspicuous contribution of the Jews to our world is the seven-day week. Days, months, seasons and years all exist in nature. The seven-day week is entirely a human invention. The Jewish Sabbath is Saturday, while the Christian Sabbath falls on Sunday and yet, American calendars still have Saturday as the seventh day.

During the Medieval period, Jews were often considered valuable to have around. They embodied much of the useful knowledge that was often lost to the world at large such as medicine, pharmacology, and even literacy. Then came what is known as the Twelfth-Century Renaissance -- which, ironically, was brought about by the rise of Islam and the reopening of access to storehouses of ancient wisdom -- and Jews thus lost much of their appeal.

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Then came the fourteenth century and the black plague. Jews were seen to not be nearly as impacted as their Gentile neighbors. Though mostly attributed to their traditional obsession with cleanliness, rank superstition presumed that the Jews were causing the pandemic. I was once given a book by a friend whose uncle got it in chiropractic school; called Devils Drugs and Doctors by Howard W. Haggard, M.D. in which Burning the Jews appeared:

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Antisemitism has since then simmered under the radar, though with occasional outbursts such as the French Laffaire Dreyfus or the (also) French establishment of Credit Mobilier in a feeble attempt to stick it to the Rothschilds. Then came the aftermath of the First World War.

When the war ended, a lowly military courier named Adolf Hitler lay temporarily blinded by poison gas in a German hospital. He, as did many of his fellow Germans, thought the war was being won and then defeat imposed its ugly aftermath on an entire nation. In Paul Johnsons Modern Times, a chapter titled Waiting for Hitler revealed the extraordinary deception accomplished by the Kaisers government. When the smoke cleared, the German nation went hunting for someone or something to blame for their unpleasant surprise. Jews, many of whom were also prominent Bolsheviks, fit right into the role. (Ironically, Karl Kroner, one of the doctors who cured Hitler, was Jewish.)

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Other than their apparent financial success, Jews also evoked suspicion because they hardly looked any different than everybody else. Many voluntarily distinguished themselves through characteristic grooming and dress. Once, while walking around Dublin, Ireland, I noticed a bunch of people coming out of a building who didnt look all that Irish. They were more formally dressed and the men tended to have really bushy beards. Then I noticed a star of David on the side of the building that they were walking out of. Hence the Nazi requirement that Jews wear a conspicuous star of David when in public. It was not their religion that provoked the Nazis, but their non-German ethnicity. They also went after Gypsies who, like Hitler, were typically Roman Catholic.

Israel, the Zionist nation, is now being showcased as the provocateur of Middle East trouble by the enemies of religious and ethnic freedom. And here their craftiness comes into play. First off, this tiny sliver of a nation has linked up with the worlds superpower to neutralize the Shia oppressor of many multitudes. Superior technology along with a serious desire for survival has motivated this tiny Zionist state to maintain its sovereignty.

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For starters, Israel has maintained superior intelligence on all items of relevance in Iran (and elsewhere). How? Not being a member of Mossad, I can only assume that, with both on-the-ground covert operatives and extremely sophisticated technology. Second, being the target of choice for many of its neighbors, Israel has developed particularly effective defensive technology such as the Iron Dome. In other words, this conflict marks a departure from previous examples. The minority player remains superior to its opponents. Could it be that in war, numbers are overrated?

The people of Israel, unlike many of their neighbors, are modern people. Theyre not trapped in the 13th century. A former troll to this website tried to push the narrative that European Jews, a.k.a. Ashkenasim, had no historical claim to Eretz Israel. Really? Because their diaspora occurred at the wrong time? The reality of today is that a dangerous element of the global puzzle is now being neutralized for the immense benefit of everybody else. Partially because of the persistent Jewish desire for survival. And, they also have their clever ways. Anybody interested in a really good deal on a pager?

Image: Public Domain
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Robert Mueller, who died on March 20 at age 81, once stood as a symbol of public integrity. His record was not merely respectable. It was exceptional.

He served as director of the FBI for 12 years, having been confirmed by a 98-0 Senate vote, and took office just days before the Sept. 11 attacks. He was a decorated Marine, awarded the Bronze Star and Purple Heart for his service in Vietnam. His leadership helped transform the FBI into a counterterrorism-focused agency during one of the most perilous periods in modern American history.

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By the time he was appointed special counsel in May 2017, Mueller was widely described as beyond reproach.

Observers across the political spectrum saw him as a stabilizing force, someone whose reputation for discipline and neutrality would command trust regardless of outcome. He was even called Americas straightest arrow, a man whose moral compass required no calibration.

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That reputation did not survive the special counsel investigation.

The 2016 origins of the probe alone raised profound concerns. Opposition research, funded by the Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee, produced the Steele dossier. It was filled with unverified allegations about collusion between Donald Trumps candidacy and Russia.

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This dossier was compiled by former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele, who admitted his hatred of Trump. It was later revealed that funding for his work had been misreported in campaign filings as legal services, resulting in a Federal Election Commission fine.

That same dossier played a central role in fueling suspicion and driving investigative actions against the Trump campaign. It became the backdrop for a sweeping federal probe into a sitting president.

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The Department of Justice Inspector General later documented 17 significant inaccuracies and omissions in judicial warrant applications targeting Trump campaign adviser Carter Page. These failures included withholding exculpatory information and overstating the reliability of Steeles reporting. Investigators were unable to corroborate key claims in the dossier, yet still relied on it.

The findings pointed to a breakdown in basic investigative standards. The requirement that court applications be scrupulously accurate was not met.

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Years later, Special Counsel John Durham delivered an even more damning conclusion. He found that at the start of the investigation, law enforcement possessed no actual evidence of Trump-Russia collusion. He further concluded that investigators failed to corroborate any substantive allegations from the Steele dossier.

Durham described a pattern of confirmation bias and a willingness to ignore information that contradicted the collusion narrative. He concluded that an objective assessment should have caused the FBI to question whether it was being manipulated for political purposes.

This was not a minor procedural lapse. It was a systemic failure that shaped the very foundation of the Mueller investigation.

Inside the special counsels office, additional concerns emerged. Reporting revealed that several members of Muellers team had made significant political donations. These were overwhelmingly to Democrats, including maximum contributions to Hillary Clintons campaign. Prosecutors are expected to maintain professional neutrality. The absence of comparable Republican donors on the team raised legitimate questions about endemic bias in a politically consequential investigation.

Mueller himself was a Republican, publicly described as Never Trump, which he never denied.

For certain, Mueller maintained a notably hands-off leadership style. Much of the day-to-day work was delegated to top deputies, who managed operations and reported progress. Critics substantively argued that this allowed subordinates to shape the direction of the probe, while Mueller functioned as a rubber stamp.

That perception hardened during Muellers congressional testimony in July 2019.

Over nearly seven hours, he appeared hesitant and unfamiliar with key aspects of his own report. He asked lawmakers to repeat questions approximately 30 times and declined or deflected answers roughly 198 times. Observers noted a stark contrast between this performance and his earlier reputation for precision.

The image of a commanding, detail-oriented investigator gave way to that of a detached figurehead.

The investigations ultimate findings only deepened the controversy. The special counsel failed to establish that members of the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with Russia. After nearly two years of investigation and immense taxpayer resources, the central allegation that dominated public discourse yielded no criminal charges.

Despite this outcome, the political damage had already been done. Public opinion data evinced a country fractured along partisan lines.

A Reuters/Ipsos poll revealed that, by 2019, roughly eight in ten Democrats believed the Trump campaign colluded with Russia. Seven in ten Republicans did not. At the same time, 73 percent of Republicans thought investigators were working to delegitimize Trump. Unsurprisingly, 74 percent of Democrats said the White House sought to undermine the probe.

Trust in institutions eroded further as the investigation unfolded.

A Pew Research Center survey, also from 2019, found overall confidence in the probe at 65 percent, but this masked deep partisan divides. Subsequent reporting showed that 42 percent of both Democrats and Republicans viewed the investigation as handled unfairly.

The special counsel process did not unify the country around facts. It entrenched suspicion and amplified hostility.

This is the core of Muellers legacy. Not the absence of collusion alone, but the manner in which his investigation unfolded and the damage it inflicted on American politics.

A probe was built on unverified campaign opposition research, sustained by defective investigative practices, and carried out by Clinton supporters. It rightfully became, in the eyes of many Americans, an exercise in Democratic lawfare. It was justly perceived not as a neutral search for truth, but as a political weapon cloaked in legal authority.

Mueller allowed his good name and sterling reputation to brand that excrement show.

Even some commentators who once respected him have concluded that his final chapter overshadowed everything that came before. One assessment described his role as a grave disservice to the nation and argued that his last undertaking permanently stained his legacy.

That judgment may be debated, though there seems little point in it. In any case, the broader reality is impossible to dismiss. Mueller entered the special counsel role with unmatched credibility. He left it with that credibility vanquished in the eyes of a large portion of the country.

History is rarely kind to figures whose final act contradicts their lifes work. Muellers career was defined by discipline, restraint, and utmost integrity. The special counsel investigation, by contrast, became a symbol of governmental weaponization and political warfare.

That contrast is stark.

For many Americans, Mueller evokes anything other than professionalism in public service. He evokes a bitter chapter in which the justice system collided with partisan politics. He evokes a process that deepened distrust and hardened resentment. He evokes a disdain that still defines Americas political landscape.

Muellers earlier accomplishments remain written on his chapter of the Book of Life. They cannot be erased. Yet legacies are not built via excerpts. They are shaped by final chapters. Epilogues ultimately reveal what what people amounted to.

In this case, his legacy appears safe  in the depths of dishonor.

Robert Muellers life in public service ended not with a reaffirmation of trust. It left an incalculable sum of Americans to feel a profound erosion, if not eradication, of confidence in their own government.

That is the reality which endures. That is what shall be remembered. What a waste.

Dr. Joseph Ford Cotto is the creator, host, and producer of News Sight, delivering sharp insights on the key events that shape our lives. He publishes Dr. Cottos Digest, sharing how business and the economy really impact us all. During the 2024 presidential race, he developed the Five-Point Forecast, which accurately predicted Donald Trumps national victory and correctly called every swing state. Cotto holds a doctorate in business administration and is a Lean Six Sigma Certified Black Belt.

Image: Ryan J. Reilly, via Wikimedia Commons // CC BY 2.0 Deed
The founders feared concentrating power in a monarch. What they did not foresee was a permanent political class. The modern danger is different: power that never leaves office at all. Americans have reason to be skeptical that Congress will ever agree to term limits, but it might be within reach.

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The Constitution already provides the remedy. The path to congressional term limits exists within the document itself.

When the Constitution was written, public office was not imagined as a lifelong career. Service in government was expected to be temporaryan interruption of private life rather than a permanent replacement for it. In the early republic, the federal government was remarkably small. American diplomacy abroad often rested largely in the hands of figures such as John Adams and Benjamin Franklin, representing the young nation with minimal bureaucracy.

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Almost two and a half centuries later, Congress has evolved into a body in which many members serve for decades. The legislature increasingly consists of career politicians rather than accomplished citizens temporarily serving their country. As a result, seniority and political survival dominate. Committee assignments become currency, lobbyist relationships deepen, and fundraising consumes daily life. House members face elections every two years, leaving little time between campaigns for actual governing. The result is not a citizen legislature but a professional political class.

Congress is widely seen as failing its constituents. As of 2026, only 15% of Americans approve of its performance, just over one in seven citizens. At the same time, polls consistently show roughly 7580% of voters favor term limits. Yet members of Congress, enjoying secure salaries, generous pensions, allowances, and decades of accumulated influence, have little incentive to limit their own tenure. Public service has become a career, not a sacrifice for the nation.

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Americans watch Congress lurch from crisis to crisisbudget showdowns, shutdown threats, and last-minute spending bills. Voters reasonably expect their legislature to produce results: budgets passed on time, laws debated seriously, and oversight conducted responsibly. Yet the current system incentivizes career survival over tangible accomplishments.

Over the years, members of both parties have faced ethics investigations, corruption convictions, or expulsion from the chamber. Long tenure and concentrated power create systemic risk. Few legislators are remembered for significant accomplishments once they leave office.

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Those rare figures whose judgment genuinely benefits the nation could still be retained under a new concept: a proposed Statesman provision that preserves institutional memory without allowing permanent incumbency.

Americans remain remarkably united on reform. Polls show strong, bipartisan support for term limits, making it clear that voters want new bloodcitizens with accomplishments outside politics, not career politicians seeking personal security and influence.

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The Constitution provides a path. Under Article V of the United States Constitution, amendments may be proposed not only by Congress but also by a convention called at the request of two-thirds of the states. Today, that means thirty-four state legislatures. Any amendment proposed by such a convention must then be ratified by thirty-eight states (3/4) before becoming law, ensuring only reforms with broad national support succeed.

History confirms this path is viable. In the early twentieth century, states submitted applications demanding a convention to establish direct election of senators. As the number of applications approached the constitutional threshold, Congress acted first, proposing the Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Over the years, more than thirty-four states, at different times and on different issues, have submitted applications for an Article V convention. Those efforts lacked coordination but demonstrate that the constitutional threshold is achievable.

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A modern reform effort could succeed by learning from those earlier attempts. The key is unity and precision: all states must use identical petition language to avoid legal challenges over inconsistent wording.

Each state would vote on a uniform resolution calling for a convention limited to a specific amendment addressing congressional term limits and related reforms. Ideally, a widely recognized, non-politically motivated leader would champion the cause, guiding state legislatures and rallying citizens. Such a figure could become a national hero if the amendment succeeds.

The amendment itself could be simple and precise:

Section 1  Statesmen Designation:

Each chamber of Congress may designate two members as Statesmen, each eligible to serve three additional terms beyond the limits established in this article. Statesmen shall be selected by a two-thirds vote of the members of that chamber. They can be replaced while serving by a two-thirds vote in favor of a different nominee.

Section 2  Term Limits for the House of Representatives:

No person other than a Statesman shall be elected to the House of Representatives more than two times.

Section 3  Term Limits for the Senate:

No person other than a Statesman shall be elected to the Senate more than two times.

Section 4  Length of Terms:

Terms of members of the House of Representatives shall be four years, beginning with the first election following ratification of this article.

Section 5  Transition:

Service prior to ratification shall not count toward the limits established by this article.

Section 6  Enforcement:

Congress shall have the power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

In practice, the expectation would be that the two leading political parties would each nominate one Statesman in each chamber and that members would respect the opposing partys selection. This arrangement preserves institutional memory while maintaining the principle that most members serve only a limited time in office.

Critics argue that term limits would deprive Congress of valuable experience. Yet real legislative expertise is typically gained within a few years, not decades. The Statesmen provision preserves the rare individuals whose judgment and experience benefit the institution without allowing permanent incumbency.

Term limits would also change party strategy. Today, parties concentrate enormous financial resources on protecting incumbents, whose fundraising networks and name recognition give them formidable advantages. When tenure is limited, parties must instead develop new candidates and cultivate broader leadership. This would encourage recruitment of citizens with demonstrated achievements in business, science, military service, education, and community leadership.

Early American thinkers recognized the dangers of long tenure in public office. Leaders such as Thomas Jefferson emphasized rotation in office as a safeguard against a permanent ruling class. The principle remains sound today.

Of course, achieving constitutional reform requires leadership as well as public support. A coordinated national effortideally led by a widely recognized figure outside the traditional political structurecould rally voters and state legislatures around a uniform proposal. Someone with the national visibility and organizational capacity of figures such as Elon Musk could potentially fill such a role, though many Americans might emerge to lead the effort.

Term limits would not weaken democracy. They would strengthen it by restoring the expectation that service in Congress is temporary. Citizens would enter public life, contribute their experience, and return to private pursuits.

The United States already accepts term limits for the presidency through the Twenty-second Amendment to the United States Constitution. It is difficult to argue that the most powerful office in the world requires limits while legislators may serve indefinitely.

The only remaining question is whether the statesthe citizens they representare willing to make it happen.

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Rick McDowell is a writer of political philosophy, sociology, history, and essays on the mind at The American Perspective.
A famous line from Shakespeares play Richard III underscores the desire to sacrifice something of value for something trivial when the situation dictates. The line, My kingdom for a horse, was frustratingly uttered by King Richard III on a battlefield after his steed had been felled beneath him. At a disadvantage fighting on foot, Richard was ultimately slainhis final words reflecting a desperate effort to surrender all he had for a horse upon which his life depended.

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Ironically, today we witness a politician unwilling to do the reversei.e., surrender something relatively trivial when compared to achieving something of great value.

Our war with Iran has entered its second month. Despite political differences concerning the conflict, it is incumbent upon every American to support our troops at this critical time. Nothing should be done to undermine the task they courageously take on. This includes any actions that might negatively impact on their warfighting capabilities. Everything possible should be done to demonstrate total support for our warriors to ensure they are armed with the appropriate mindset empowering them to fulfill their mission.

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This includes providing our forces with whatever is needed to achieve victory, such as the $200 billion supplemental to replenish U.S. military stocks. Every congressperson should be setting aside personal differences concerning the war to enable our military to do its job.

However, one U.S. senator in particular refuses to do so, failing to surrender his political theatrics in order to protect the lives of our fighting forces by providing the funding necessary for them to accomplish their mission. There could be no clearer indication as to what is of value and what is not to Senator Adam Schiff (D-Calif).

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Apologies to the reader for the comparison, but Schiff is proving to be a real piece of horse excrement. He has announced he will vote against the $200 billion bill. To him, political showmanship trumps 100% support for our fighting forces during a conflict. Even putting the Iran war aside, clearly the replenishment of our military stockpiles is in our national security interests as well.

Not only does Schiffs stand endanger our forces from dwindling weapons stockpiles, it also needlessly endangers their lives. It provides aid and comfort to an enemy that, despite being on the verge of total destruction, is now encouraged to continue the fight. It is reminiscent of what our anti-war activists did during the Vietnam conflict, enabling the enemy to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.

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In 1968, North Vietnamese and Viet Cong (VC) forces launched a massive surprise attack against U.S. and South Vietnamese forces in what was known as the Tet Offensive. The offensive violated a ceasefire agreement both sides made in recognition of the Tet lunar new year holiday. While the enemy believed the offensive would trigger an uprising in the south, it failed to do so. It was a complete disaster for them, especially the VC who suffered devastating losses.

What was shared by the commander of the VC forces, General Tran Van Tra, years after the Vietnam war ended, was most telling. He reported that the Tet Offensive had so devastated his fighting capabilities, Hanoi was exploring the possibility of pursuing an end to hostilities.

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This all changed, however, as the communist leaders began observing the impact U.S. anti-war activists were having in undermining Americas war effort. This included the false projection that the Tet offensive had been an American defeat. The U.S. anti-war impact effectively renewed the enemys motivation to fight on for victory.

The mullahs undoubtedly view Schiffs position as a potential crack in U.S. political support for the Iran war. As such, it only encourages them to ignore what has been a devastating defeat, and will only result in prolonging the conflict resulting in more lives being lost on both sides of the battlefield.

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A Tennessee grandmother is trying to rebuild her life after police, aided by artificial intelligence, hauled her into a nightmare she says she had nothing to do with.

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According to the New York Post, 50-year-old Angela Lipps was arrested after facial recognition technology linked her to a bank fraud case in North Dakota  a state she says she had never even visited. She spent more than five months in jail before basic bank records reportedly showed she was in Tennessee at the time of the crime. By then, the damage was done: Lipps had lost her home, her possessions, and much of the life she had built.

And no, the police did not apologize or make restitution. The law doesn't require it unless officers were purposely or recklessly negligent  a threshold that's very hard to meet in court. So Lipps is leaning on the kindness of strangers through a GoFundMe page.

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Pitiful.

This is the kind of story Americans are constantly told not to worry about. Officials assure us that new technology will merely assist law enforcement, that artificial intelligence is just another tool, that mistakes are rare and that officers always take additional investigative steps. But in Lipps's case, those additional steps somehow missed the most basic question imaginable: Was the suspect even in the same state?

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This isn't a clerical error. It's a catastrophic abuse of state power  and what makes it so enraging is how predictable the aftermath was. When ordinary Americans make a mistake, they pay. When government agents make one, especially with badges and warrants behind them, they usually don't.

Which brings us to Afroman.

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The rapper, best known for "Because I Got High," had his Ohio home raided in 2022 after deputies showed up with allegations of kidnapping and drug trafficking. They found no kidnapping victim. They found no basis for charges. But they did smash through his door, terrify his family, and put him through the kind of spectacle most people never fully recover from.

Afroman, though, had something most people don't: a built-in audience, a recording setup, and the instincts of an entertainer. He turned surveillance footage of the raid into music videos  including "Lemon Pound Cake," which mocked the deputies who tore through his house and reportedly stopped to admire a cake on his kitchen counter while searching for nonexistent horrors. The sheriff's office, rather than apologizing, had its deputies sue him. This month, a jury found Afroman not liable.

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But the real point isn't just that he won. It's that he had unusual weapons at his disposal  fame, creativity, an audience, and the ability to turn humiliation into viral content and legal leverage. Angela Lipps had none of that. Most innocent Americans don't.

Most people can't turn a botched raid into a charting novelty song. They can't monetize outrage. They can't make the officers who upended their lives the butt of a national joke, or convert trauma into a kind of media shield. They just lose. They lose their homes, their jobs, their savings, their reputations and their sense of safety. And then they're told to file paperwork, find a lawyer they can't afford, and maybe  if they're lucky  spend years in court fighting for some fraction of what was taken from them.

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A free country can't operate on the principle that the state may destroy an innocent life and then shrug: "Oops, the software thought it was you." It also can't operate on the principle that the only people who can effectively fight back are celebrities with cameras, fan bases and a catchy hook.

If police agencies want the power to deploy facial recognition, AI-assisted identification, militarized raids, and aggressive interstate enforcement, then they need to bear real, automatic consequences when they get it wrong.

Americans are lectured about accountability constantly. It's time the people holding the guns, the badges, and the AI subscriptions heard that lecture, too.
Theres no doubt that our society tends to neglect or ignore our senior citizens. But California is willing to give senior sex offenders a pass, becausewell, you know, theyre seniors.

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Where does this evil propaganda come from? Apparently, our legislators felt sorry for those poor criminals who had to serve long sentences. The original legislation passed in February 2014, and required a new parole process for inmates over 60 and who had served at least 25 years. At that time, they could be referred to the parole board. The law was changed in January 2021, where inmates only had to be 50 years old and have served 20 years in prison. The proponents of lowering of requirements will tell you that there are good reasons to release convicts early, citing overcrowding and cost to the taxpayers.

Not everyone could be released. I mean, they did have their standards:

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The following individuals are excluded from the statutory Elderly Parole Program: (1) those sentenced under Californias strike laws as a second or third strike under Penal Code sections 667(b)-(i) or 1170.12; (2) those sentenced to death; (3) those sentenced to life without the possibility of parole; or (4) those convicted of first-degree murder of a peace officer or former peace officer due to performance of their official duties.

There are a number of problems with this legislation, some of which were illuminated recently. One major glaring issue is that prolific pedophiles are considered for early release. Two offenders in particular have become eligible for parole:

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Authorities on Thursday, March 12, announced that a parole board had approved early release for Gregory Vogelsang, 57. He had been sentenced to 355 years to life in prison for sex crimes committed against six children between the ages of 5 and 11 between 1995 and 1997, according to the Sacramento County Sheriffs Office. Psychological evaluations later documented that Vogelsang acknowledged he remains primarily sexually attracted to boys between the ages of 5 and 11, the agency said in a written statement. He also admitted that as recently as 2020, he was still masturbating to fantasies about young boys. Advertisement [snip] David Allen Funston, 64, was approved for release and was set to be released in Southern California when he was rearrested on an additional criminal charge out of Placer County on Feb. 26. Advertisement He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in 1999 after being convicted of 16 counts of kidnapping and child molestation for using candy and toys to lure and prey on eight victims between 4 and 7 years old, according to California Department of Corrections and Sacramento Sheriff's officials. Funstons release was approved despite admitting he still experiences pedophilic urges, according to a statement from Lackeys office, which cited parole records. Advertisement

What is wrong with this picture? Everything. First, pedophiles are known for recidivism, and its extremely rare theyre ever rehabilitated.. Second, and perhaps most importantly, why are we making exceptions for seniors?

Defenders of the law for early parole for seniors provide the excuse that over time, chances of recidivism decline. Is it worth the risk though? Do we not want to protect our children from these predators? And as stated earlier, the overall cost of incarcerating these people adds up, since they are in prison for such a long time; apparently though, people are willing to sacrifice our children to save a few bucks.

Some people are showing a bit of sanity, suggesting that the law for early release should be changed. Kamaria Henry, managing deputy district attorney for the Riverside County District Attorneys Office, insists that sex offenders should be disqualified from early parole. Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer sums it up well:

Governor Gavin Newsom and the California Legislature should not be able to wave a magic wand and declare that some of our states most horrific murderers, rapists and child molesters should be let out the front door of Californias prisons after often spending just a fraction of the sentence handed down by a Superior Court judge, Spitzer said. I refuse to accept a reality in which the heinousness of the crime no longer matters, and the victims no longer matter.

Backing up D.A. Spitzer are D.A. Ho and Sheriff Jim Cooper, both of Sacramento County:

[Vogelsang] will molest again, and yet, this parole board is letting him out. And theyre letting him out under one of the most horrible, unjust laws that we have in the state of California: elder parole, Ho said.

These officers of the court understand that their job is to protect the people, not the criminals; too bad Democrats do not share the same opinions.

Let these criminals have their lives ruined just as their victims lives were.

Image from Grok.
As some of you might have noticed, I was absent from the site for almost two weeks, having taken my boys to the U.K. for spring break. The trips main purpose was to visit my lovely nonagenarian nana, who lives in England, but we ended up taking the opportunity to spend a few days in Ireland, and a few days up in the Scottish Highlands. (We skipped Edinburgh and Glasgow entirely, and I couldnt be more pleased with the decision to do so.)

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When my sons and I discussed the trip, I gave them the option of heading north into Scotland, or south to London (and a day-trip to Paris). My older son is a big hunter whos pretty obsessed with Red Deer, and my younger boy really wanted to catch the Loch Ness Monster and stay in a castle, so off to the Highlands we went. (Spoiler alert: We did not snare the creature.)

We booked a room at the 12-century Tulloch Castle in Dingwall, which was absolutely stunningonly on the night of our check-in did I learn that its notoriously haunted, but thankfully, we didnt have any issues. I will say it was a bit creepy though that to get to our room, we had to walk up the same stairwell where The Green Lady (the castles most-seen apparition) met her demise, after she allegedly caught her father in a compromising position with a maid. The story is that she fell, but we wondered if she werepushed.

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We went on a gorgeous and very easy hike to Rogie Falls, which was just 30 or so minutes from our lodging, along the Black Water river. The water color is like nothing Ive ever seenit looks like Guinness beer! The water was absolutely frigid, but my 7-year-old still stripped down to his swim trunks and did some cold plunging.

After the hike we headed down to Fort Augustus, where we embarked on a brief cruise around Loch Ness with the Cruise Loch Ness outfit. I had no idea, but the lake is shockingly deepestimates put the depth between 755 feet and 889 feeteven right along the shore line. At one point we were mere feet off the banks, and the monitors inside the cabin showed the boat was over some serious depth; if you were strolling into the lake, youd immediately drop off a cliff. While I love water, the depth and inky blackness definitely gave Loch Ness an eerie feel, even on an uncharacteristically bright and sunny day. Also, the steep hills surrounding the loch are covered in Scottish pine trees, but when you look through the woods from the road, it looks like something out of a fairy tale. The canopy is so thick so no light comes down from above, but with the light of day, you could see a bit into the forestwith all the trees being tall and spindly and the air being dark but seeable, it was very Brothers Grimm-like.

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Fort Augustus was a darling little village, where I spent way too much money, but I ended up meeting a local Scot in a gift shop called The Clansman Centre, and we talked for almost an hourall history and politics, topics on which we were of the same mind.

We eventually left Fort Augustus for dinner in Inverness, where we dined on Red Deer at The Mustard Seedfive stars, but only if you like venison!

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By no means am I a world traveler, but if youre ever looking for some inspiration, Loch Ness and the surrounding area is definitely a place worth seeing.

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Eric Swalwell is one of the most vacuous and sleazy of the 14 California gubernatorial candidates.

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He's a rabid Trump hater and pulled every dirty trick in the book to undermine him in his first term. He's also the only one among the gubernatorial candidates, so far as is known, who had a love affair with a Chinese national who doubled as a spy.

Supposedly, he didn't know, being all young and fresh-faced and naive, despite his exalted position as a congressman, so the FBI gave him a cautionary briefing advising him to drop the relationship. He claimed he had "cooperated" in the matter.

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Now that he's running for governor, the matter has come up once again:

I just received a call, on Palm Sunday no less! The FBI has launched a fresh review of documents on Eric Swalwells ties to a suspected Chinese spy. My partners are supplying archived GPS data. Tick tock! https://t.co/WrlX8y4h5W Advertisement March 29, 2026

Seruga, whose X site says he's an intelligence expert and data scientist, says the FBI is looking into the Swalwell matter again, concerning his lovelorn relationship with Chinese agent "Fang Fang" who did so much to help Swalwell's campaign, and once he made it to Congress, and onto the House Intelligence Committee, where she helped pick out his staff.

China would never do such an obvious agent-of-influence operation, selecting just the right staff for Swalwell to read over those top secret intelligence reports, now, would it?

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And Swalwell, being a man of the world and all, wouldn't be so stupid as be led around by his little head to allow her to do what she needed to do for her masters in Beijing, would he?

I like to think he's just stupid, but the other possibility is that he was a collaborator with the enemy foreign government, because 'anything to Get Trump,' and Democrats didn't really care all that much if they had security risks in their midst. To them, the danger was Trump, so every foreign enemy was actually a potential ally.

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Whatever it was, a lot of potential secrets may have been leaked or pilfered on Swalwell's watch, making a mockery of the idea of government secrets. What good does it do to keep secrets secret if the people they're being kept secret from know all about them, just because Eric Swalwell can't keep his pants zipped?

Seruga underlines the disturbing implications, now that there's a distinct possibility he may become governor of California:

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In the uneasy intersection of national security and campaign politics stands a story that once dominated headlines but soon vanished under layers of spinthe case of Eric Swalwell and a woman named Fang Fang. What began as a local networking effort in the Bay Area became an uncomfortable reminder that even U.S. decisionmakers at the core of intelligence oversight can be drawn into foreign influence operations. Eric Swalwell, an ambitious prosecutor turned congressman, climbed rapidly through Californias Democratic ranks after ousting a 20term incumbent in 2012. By 2013 he was serving on the House Intelligence Committeean achievement that positioned him near the countrys most sensitive briefings on China, Russia, and cyber defense. Around that same period, Christine Fangknown socially as Fang Fangwas cultivating an image as a glamorous student activist and fundraiser. She surfaced at Bay Area campaign events, volunteered for candidates, and made herself invaluable to a generation of young officeholders nurturing national ambitions. According to multiple U.S. intelligence officials cited by Axios and later CBS News, the FBI determined that Fang Fang was operating under, or at least for the benefit of, Chinas Ministry of State Security (MSS). Her goal was not sabotage; it was relationshipsaccess that could pay dividends years later as local politicians rose through the ranks. Among those contacts was Congressman Swalwell. She reportedly assisted with fundraising for his 2014 campaign, introduced volunteers to his staff, and appeared at numerous political functions documented in photographs still circulating online. By 2015, federal counterintelligence had gathered enough material to issue a defensive briefinga courtesy warning rather than arrest action. The FBI delivered that briefing directly to Swalwell, explaining that Fang was suspected of being an intelligence asset. Within weeks she was gone, having abruptly left the United States. Normally, such a warning would sideline a politicians access to classified information, at least temporarily. But the Democratic leadership under Nancy Pelosi opted to keep Swalwell on the Intelligence Committee. No formal violation was alleged, but the episode raised unprecedented questions about political immunity in nationalsecurity matters. The public remained unaware until Axios broke the story in December 2020, followed soon by Politico, CBS News, and The Guardian. Each confirmed three unambiguous facts: FBI involvement, Fangs disappearance, and Swalwells briefing. His office verified the meeting but insisted the warning prompted immediate cooperation with federal authorities. Behind the scandal looms a larger structurethe Chinese United Front Work Department (UFWD). The UFWD orchestrates influence abroad through semiofficial friendship organizations, cultural exchanges, and business partnerships that straddle diplomacy and espionage. California, with its technology sector and porous fundraising culture, is the crown jewel of such outreach. Groups like the Chinese Peoples Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries and the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association are legitimate at face value yet give the UFWD plausible points of contact with mayors, academics, and entrepreneurs. Through these channels, Beijings envoys gain social introduction to the very figures who shape U.S. state policy. The Fang Fang story fits perfectly into that pattern. Rather than a lone spy, she functioned as what analysts call a relationship nodeusing voluntarism and charm as force multipliers for a sprawling strategic network. Her presence in California politics symbolized the subtle stagecraft of twentyfirstcentury influence operations. For intelligence professionals, the real scandal wasnt sex or scandalous motiveit was systemic vulnerability. Americas open campaign system remains easy to infiltrate with small donations, unpaid volunteer work, and social media boosterism. Chinas strategy exploits precisely those touch points that Western democracies consider harmless. The political fallout exposed another weakness: party discipline overpowering security protocol. Leadership feared the optics of conceding that a committee member handling classified Asia briefings had been compromised socially by someone later flagged as an MSS asset. Institutional selfpreservation trumped accountability. Over time, the noise subsided, but the CCP infiltration continued. Swalwell continued his national career, eventually entering the 2026 California governors race backed by the same Bay Area donor networks that defined his rise. For many citizens, the unanswered question isnt What did he do wrong? but Why were the rules bent to protect him? 15. The broader lesson transcends partisanship. The Fang Fang affair spotlights how transnational money and prestige create blind spots in even the most advanced democracy. When oversight becomes political and disclosure inconvenient, intelligence warnings lose their deterrent power. Whether viewed as espionage, infiltration, or systemic dereliction, the case endures as a cautionary tale: openness without verification invites exploitation. The calm dismissal of hard evidence in the name of political comfort may prove the most dangerous influence operation of all.

And this is far from the only suspicious activity. As Seruga notes, once Swalwell got his cautionary briefing about Fang Fang being a foreign agent, Fang Fang was somehow onto things and was able to flee the country. The Swalwells did keep contact with her family on social media, though.

And here's another thing, according to Fox News:

Rep. Eric Swalwell's, D-Calif., gubernatorial campaign continues to be bankrolled by Keliang "Clay" Zhu despite concerns over his ties to China and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Zhu donated another $25,000 to Swalwell's campaign earlier this month after he had already donated $5,000 to Swalwells gubernatorial campaign in November and previously donated over $10,000 to his House campaigns. Zhu is a partner at DeHeng Law Offices PC, a top Beijing law firm that has deep ties to the Chinese Communist Party, and has also donated thousands to Swalwell's gubernatorial campaign. The law firms website shows their lone "Silicon Valley Office," located in Pleasanton, Calif., appears to only have a single lawyer who works there  Zhu, who has a history of fighting for Chinese interests in the U.S.

Now he's racking up endorsements. from Big Labor unions, who pretty much run the state of California and may have secrets of their own on their involvement with China, too.

The whole thing cries out for transparency -- and maybe a grand jury investigation if the FBI can show there were problems. What did he really know about Fang Fang, what do the Chinese know that matches Swalwell's time on the House intelligence committee, and why was Fang Fang so lucky as to be able to flee the country? What could Swalwell do now as governor of California that might just make the Chinese happy? How might Swalwell's money problems make him just a little more vulnerable to Chinese coercion? And what do we know about the Democrats who promoted Swalwell to the House intelligence committee, despite the obvious potential problems with it -- were they compromised, too?

Image: X screenshot
Nancy Cartwright was asked to make an announcement using her Bart Simpson voice during a flight.

Nancy Cartwright is the voice of Bart Simpson

The 68-year-old actress is best known for voicing the 10-year-old animated schoolboy from The Simpsons and she recalled being recognised by flight crew on board a plane and was asked to use her skills to help keep passengers informed.

During an appearance on Nancy's Simpsons Declassified podcast, Joe Mantegna - who voiced Fat Tony - asked the host "the most ridiculous place" someone had asked her to do the Bart voice and she told how a flight attendant had spotted her on board.

She said: "She was like, Sorry to interrupt you, Ms.Cartwright, but just wondering, are you the voice of Bart Simpson? Im like, Yes, I am.'

"She goes, Okay, both of our pilots are huge, huge fans, would there be any way if we could get you to come up into the cockpit and announce that were leading in Heathrow? "

Nancy told the staff member she would be "glad to do that.

She continued: So we go up, and Im like shaking their hand.

"They handed me the microphone, and I said something like [in the voice of Bart Simpson] Ladies and gentlemen, this is Bart Simpson speaking. Im the copilot here and I just wanted to let you know we will be landing in Japan in about 15 minutes, so buckle your seatbelts. 

Meanwhile, Nancy recently addressed fears about being replaced by AI and insisted she doesn't think the technology has enough "heart" to do so properly.

She told People magazine: I think I would choose a successor [instead of AI], and I'll tell you why  because AI has no heart and I think that's a missing ingredient.

"[AI] might sound pretty close to Nancy Cartwright, but I got passion.

We're spiritual beings, we can emote passion and uplift people and stuff. And I don't know that a computer can do something like that.

Nancy was initially supposed to audition for the voice of Bart's younger sister Lisa Simpson but had a change of heart at the last minute.

She said: I go in and for the voice of Lisa Simpson, who's the middle child, and I saw it there, and then I saw the picture of Bart  10-year-old school-hating underachiever and proud of it. And I'm like, Wait a minute, that's more interesting.  So I auditioned and I got it."
Democrats love to say their problem is messaging but sometimes its the message thats the problem.

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Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed is learning that the hard way. Leaked audio has surfaced of El-Sayed telling staffers he didnt want to say anything about the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei  because, in his words, there are a lot of people in Dearborn who are sad.

The New York Post reports the recording came from a March 1 strategy call, the day after Khamenei was killed in an Israeli strike. On that call, El-Sayed urged his team to stay quiet on the subject entirely.

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The Washington Free Beacon, which obtained the audio, quoted him directly: I also want to remind you guys that there are a lot of people in Dearborn who are sad today. So, like, I just dont want to comment on Khamenei at all. Like, I dont think its worth even touching that.

This wasnt someone being careful about the fog of war or worrying about civilian casualties. It was a straightforward political calculation: Dont say anything that might alienate a key voting bloc, even if that means staying silent about the death of one of the worlds most consequential bad guys.

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Khamenei spent decades at the helm of a regime that bankrolled terrorism, jailed and killed dissidents, crushed womens rights, persecuted religious minorities and exported chaos across the Middle East. You dont have to cheer every Israeli military operation to find it troubling that a U.S. Senate candidates first instinct was to worry about voters who were grieving him.

It gets worse. According to the Free Beacon, El-Sayed also mapped out a deflection strategy for reporters, saying: Im just gonna go straight to pedophilia, frankly  meaning he planned to pivot to Trump and Jeffrey Epstein if pressed.

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Mediaite confirmed the key details, noting El-Sayeds concern that supporters might be upset if anyone was seen celebrating Khameneis death.

Sure, politicians shape their message for different audiences. Thats not news. But theres a difference between adjusting your tone and refusing to say anything at all because a theocrats death might upset your base. At some point, the calculation itself tells you something about the candidate and his coalition.

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Michigan Democrats have spent years arguing that the partys more radical factions can be kept in check. This audio suggests otherwise.

If El-Sayed is afraid to say Khameneis death was good today, what else wont he say once he actually needs those voters to show up?
Much of the mainstream media have been portraying the 'No Kings' marches around the country as wholesome, family friendly, big, and mainstream.

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But actually, among them, are a lot of crazed radicals, would-be terrorists, throwing lethal objects and issuing calls to kill.

Such as this one:

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And these people:

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 NOW in Los Angeles: No Kings protest has turned FULLY VIOLENT.



Protesters are smashing cement blocks into smaller pieces, stuffing them in their pockets, and advancing on DHS agents, clearly preparing to throw them like weapons.

pic.twitter.com/YQ7e6SDnhd  Gunther Eagleman (@GuntherEagleman) March 29, 2026

When you see that, all you can think is that you hope these agents are wearing masks. Democrats have made a big deal of ICE agents wearing masks, as if they are the ones avoiding accountability, but in reality, this is how it's done when threat levels are high from domestic terrorists -- masked judges and officers -- as has been seen in Italy, Peru, and Colombia. When they're killing (and doxxing) officers and judges, as happened with the Red Brigades, the Shining Path, and Pablo Escobar's drug dealers and guerrilla allies, masks are a necessity.

Which clearly the No Kings protestors doing this have modeled themselves on. That alone should discredit this insane movement.

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These clarion calls to murder, ironically done by masked protestors, are actually illegal, and should be as incitements to murder.

Fortunately, President Trump's estimable U.S. Attorney, Bill Essayli, is on the case:

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This is a federal crime. If anyone knows who this person is, please let us know. The @DHSgov tip line is 866-347-2423. https://t.co/zIHZIL37eQ  F.A. United States Attorney Bill Essayli (@USAttyEssayli) March 29, 2026

The No Kings movement should be the first to turn these people in to the lawmen as a supposed mainstream family-friendly operation. Oddly enough, they don't.

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Image: X screenshot from Fox News clip
Sometimes, political events far from American soil strike directly at the heart of U.S. policy. The upcoming parliamentary elections in Hungary on April 12, 2026, and the heated campaign now unfolding there are exposing information with profound implications for President Trumps administration and its relationships with nations long viewed as reliable partners  if not outright allies.

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A single incident rarely commands attention on its own. But when it surfaces amid a pattern of events all pointing in the same direction, it demands serious scrutiny.

Hungary, that picturesque Central European nation, has become a vital strategic asset and trusted partner for the current administration. The warm personal friendship between President Trump and Prime Minister Viktor Orban is well known, but the deeper bond rests on shared principles: robust democracy rooted in national sovereignty, strict controls on migration, energy security, military strength, economic prosperity, and technological leadership. Orbans platform mirrors our own America First agenda. He battles the same globalist elites in Brussels who enjoy the quiet backing of the Democrat party. In many respects, the Hungarian government is fighting the very war Trump wages here at home.

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Recent statements from Trump Administration officials affirming U.S. support for Orbans Fidesz party only underscore this alignment.

Then, at the close of March 2026, Orban dropped a political bombshell. He publicly charged that Ukraine, under President Zelenskyy, had funneled billions of dollars  laundered through Hungary  into efforts to support Kamala Harris during the 2024 U.S. presidential election. Hungarian officials, including Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto, detailed transfers of Ukrainian aid money routed westward to boost Democrats.

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BREAKING:



 This is HUGE! Hungary REVEALS Ukraine Funnelled Billions to SUPPORT Kamala Harris in U.S Elections.



"Zelensky billions of dollars through Hungary to the West, Ukrainian funds were used for the Democrats Campaign." pic.twitter.com/PGXjvkvPmM  Based Hungary  (@HungaryBased) March 27, 2026

Why would Kyiv interfere in the election of its biggest benefactor? The motive is as obvious as it is cynical: a Democrat in the Oval Office might have guaranteed endless blank-check billions with minimal oversight, allowing Zelenskyy to prolong a bloody conflict indefinitely.

The backdrop of Ukraine-Hungary relations makes the accusation even more credible. Tensions have skyrocketed in recent months. Budapest has repeatedly demanded that Kyiv repair the Druzhba (Friendship) oil pipeline so Hungary and Slovakia could once again receive affordable Russian crude. Zelenskyy refused, citing infrastructure damage without providing evidence, and barred technical inspection teams from assessing the site. During a tense, media-covered meeting in his presidential office, Zelenskyy reportedly blackmailed Orban over the issue. In retaliation, Orban vetoed a proposed 90 billion EU loan package for Ukraine, rightly noting that Kyiv has no realistic path to repayment and that European taxpayers would foot the bill forever. Adding insult to injury, Kyiv has stepped up support for Orbans chief domestic rival  Peter Magyar and his Tisza Party  further poisoning bilateral ties.

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Could Orbans timing  mere weeks before Hungarians head to the polls  be mere campaign rhetoric or information warfare? Perhaps. Yet the broader context transforms the claim from isolated accusation into a coherent pattern. And that pattern has now exploded across the American information space.

Last week, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard declassified U.S. intelligence intercepts showing that, as far back as 2022, Ukrainian government officials discussed funneling hundreds of millions of U.S.-donated taxpayer dollars (originally earmarked for clean-energy projects via USAID) into accounts tied to Joe Bidens political operation and the Democratic National Committee. The Biden administration, of course, buried the intercepts; such an international scandal would have been politically catastrophic as Democrats would lose voter support over their reckless Ukraine policy. Gabbard has now ordered a full USAID review and potential criminal referral to the FBI.

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Nor can we ignore the most brazen public example: in September 2024, President Zelenskyy himself flew to a military ammunition plant in Scranton, Pennsylvania  Joe Bidens hometown and a critical swing-state battleground  to deliver what Republicans rightly called a campaign-style appearance on behalf of Kamala Harris. A foreign head of state openly stumping for one U.S. candidate in the midst of a presidential election, with zero legal repercussions for him or his country.

Taken together, these episodes  Orbans March revelation, Gabbards declassified intercepts, and Zelenskyys Pennsylvania photo-op  form a compelling case. This is not coincidence; it is a pattern of interference by a supposed partner that has received hundreds of billions in American aid.

The Trump Administration must treat this seriously. An immediate, thorough investigation is essential. Whether ally or adversary, no foreign power has the right to meddle in U.S. elections. That sacred decision belongs exclusively to American citizens. Anything less signals weakness  and weakness invites more aggression from wolves disguised in sheeps clothing. Hungarys voters will decide their own future next month. We must decide ours by demanding full accountability now.

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Mike Robertson is a contributor to American Thinker. Follow him on X at @Mike_for_MAGA and Reddit.

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Every four years, couples from all over the United Kingdom, and sometimes beyond, come to the little Essex village of Great Dunmow to take part in a 900-year old ceremony called the Dunmow Flitch Trials. In this curious tradition, married couples attempt to prove before a public jury that they have lived together in perfect harmony for a year and a day. If successful, they are ceremonially rewarded with a flitch of bacon, i.e. half a pig, in recognition of their conjugal bliss.

The tradition is rooted in the village of Great Dunmow, where it is believed to have originated in the 12th century. The earliest recorded reference dates to around 1104, at the priory of Little Dunmow Priory. According to legend, a noble couple, often identified as Reginald Fitzwalter and his wife, disguised themselves as peasants and sought a blessing from the prior after a year of marriage. Impressed by their devotion and lack of quarrel, the prior awarded them a flitch of bacon. The couple, pleased with the recognition, endowed the priory with land on the condition that any couple who could make the same claim would receive a similar reward.

From this story grew a formalized custom any married pair who could swear that they had not regretted their union for a year and a day could claim a flitch of bacon from the priory, provided they could convince a jury of their peers.

In the Flitch Trials, couples present their case before a panel, presided over by a judge and attended by advocates, clerks, and a jury comprising of "six maidens and six bachelors". They must swear an oath affirming that they have not repented their marriage for a year and a day.

Those who succeeded in proving marital harmony were then be paraded shoulder-high by bearers in the "ancient Flitch Chair" to the town's Market Place, to take an oath. Couples who fail to convince are given a bit of gammon as a consolation prize and must walk through the town behind an empty chair.



The Dunmow flitch of bacon award festivities in 1905. Credit: Wikimedia Commons

The custom gained prominence in medieval England and was referenced in literature as a symbol of ideal marriage. Writers such as Geoffrey Chaucer alluded to trials in the The Wife of Bath's Tale and William Langland referenced the Dunmow flitch trials in Piers Plowman.

Despite its popularity, the trials were never frequent, or perhaps due to poor record-keeping, only six names have officially laid claims over the bacon. In the 18th century, the flitch was awarded on only two occasions. By this time, the tradition had largely fallen into disuse, and authorities, for some reason, started turning down requests for trial. These requests started getting so persistent that in 1772, the gates of Dunmow Priory were nailed shut to prevent couples from harassing the Lord of the Manor.

Some people took matters in their own hands and started awarding flitches privately. In 1830 a silver flitch was given to the Duke of St. Albans, and in 1837 the mayor of Saffron Walden awarded a flitch at the annual agricultural dinner. In 1841 it was rumoured that Queen Victoria was offered a flitch on the anniversary of her marriage to Prince Albert. In 1851 a farmer from nearby Felsted was refused the flitch, but on this occasion there was sufficient popular support to revive the custom that a flitch was awarded privately at the nearby village of Little Easton.

The custom might have faded into obscurity were it not for William Harrison Ainsworths successful 1854 novel, The Flitch of Bacon. Ainsworth's novel proved so popular that it revived the custom which has continued in one form or another down to the present day and is now held every leap year.
Rob Reiner and his wife Michele have been honoured for their fight to legalise same-sex marriage.

Rob Reiner and his wife Michele were honoured at an event in Los Angeles

The Hollywood director and his partner - who were found dead at their home in Brentwood, California on December 14 - were recognised for their activism work during the Human Rights Campaign gala dinner in Los Angeles on Saturday night (28.03.26).

At the start of the event, gala chairman Todd Hawkins dedicated the evening to the couple, saying: "They helped make it possible for LGBTQ+ people to marry the person they love.

"I remember looking out from this very stage last year. Rob and Michele were right there cheering us on with everything that they had. We may have lost them in the physical sense, but we have never lost their spirit, their fire, their fight, their energy, their friendship, their influence and their everlasting impact.

"So tonight, we dedicate this evening to them. We remember them, we honor them.

According to Variety, Human Rights Campaign president Kelley Robinson, said: "When Prop 8 passed in 2008, Rob and Michele stood shoulder-to-shoulder with a real-life league of queer Avengers. Im talking about Chad Griffin and Kristina Schake, Kris Perry and Sandy Stier, Jeff Zarrillo and Paul Katami, Justin Mikita and Adam Umhoefer, whos here tonight.

"And from that moment when they locked arms, they decided to launch the American Foundation for Equal Rights and that legal team took the fight all the way to the Supreme Court and won for our rights and for our lives.

"Rob and Michele were and are superheroes. They showed us what real allyship is. They were courage embodied and most importantly, they never stopped giving a damn  not for themselves or for self-image but for the good of all of us."

The event also included a tribute to Sex and The City creator Michael Patrick King, who was presented with the Visibility Award by Lisa Kudrow and RuPaul.

Rob, 78, and Michele, 70, were found dead at their home shortly before Christmas and their son Nick was arrested and charged with their murders.

He has pleaded not guilty to two counts of first-degree murder and faces life in prison without parole or the death penalty if he is convicted.

Nick is being held without bail.
Air Canadas chief executive, Michael Rousseau, announced Monday he will retire later this year, following widespread criticism over an English-only message of condolence issued after a deadly plane crash this month in New York.

The airline, headquartered in French-speaking Montreal, confirmed Rousseau informed the board he would step down by the end of the third quarter.

The controversy stemmed from his message following a crash at LaGuardia Airport, which killed two pilots, Antoine Forest, a French-speaking Quebecer, and Mackenzie Gunther.

Their Air Canada Jazz flight from Montreal collided with a fire truck on the runway shortly after landing.

During Rousseaus four-minute condolence video, only two French words were spoken: bonjour and merci.

Canada is an officially bilingual nation, and Prime Minister Mark Carney stated the English-only message demonstrated a lack of compassion and judgment.

The Air Canada Jazz flight from Montreal collided with a fire truck on the runway shortly after landing (Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

Quebecs premier and other officials had called for Rousseaus resignation. The Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages received hundreds of complaints regarding the video, which featured English remarks with French subtitles.

I am deeply saddened that my inability to speak French has diverted attention from the profound grief of the families and the great resilience of Air Canadas employees, who have demonstrated outstanding professionalism despite the events of the past few days, Rousseau said in a statement after the backlash.

Despite many lessons over several years, unfortunately, I am still unable to express myself adequately in French. I sincerely apologize for this, but I am continuing my efforts to improve.

The Air Canada Jazz flight from Montreal collided with a fire truck on the runway shortly after landing

Quebec Premier Francois Legault highlighted that Rousseau had pledged to learn French upon his appointment in February 2021.

Forest, one of the two pilots killed in the crash at LaGuardia Airport, was a French-speaking Quebecer.

The linguistic identity of Quebec, where approximately 80% of the population speaks French, has been a contentious issue since the British takeover in the 1760s.
Actor and former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger spoke of the "breakthrough" he experienced in Belfast as he was presented with an honorary degree.

The 78-year-old star found it "unbelievable" to return to the city of his public speaking debut, six decades on.

Ulster University awarded the Austrian-born icon the doctorate for his public service, environmental advocacy, and arts contributions. He received a red carpet welcome, with students cheering, holding signs like "Ulster he's back" and "Hasta La Vista Ulster", and some bringing Terminator 2 copies.

The actor first visited the city for a bodybuilding competition in 1966, when the sport was in its infancy, and years before his acting debut in the 1970 film Hercules in New York.

He told the students on arrival his trip is "kind of a 60-year anniversary".

Arnold Schwarzenegger with Ulster University Chancellor Colin Davidson (L) and Professor Paul Bartholomew, Vice-Chancellor Ulster University (R) as he receives a honorary doctorate. (Getty Images)

"So I came here, I was invited by Ivan Dunbar, this Irish man, I think his family is here... he passed away I'm sad to say, but that's where my beginning was, in Ireland, in Belfast.

"And it's wonderful to be back in Northern Ireland and to kind of get to see, this is not something that I dreamt of when I was 19-years-old, when I was here 60 years ago, that one day I will be coming here to get an honorary doctorate degree, it's unbelievable."

Students lined the atrium in the university to listen to Schwarzenegger's speech and cheered as he turned to hold up his award.

In his speech he said that in that 1966 competition in Northern Ireland his body building idol Roy "Reg" Park encouraged him to speak on stage to the crowd.

"So I walked over to the microphone, thinking 'he wants me to do another muscular shot, or something like that', no, he asked me a question," he said.

"He said, 'how do you like it here?' and I'm now almost fainting, because I've never, ever spoken in public before, and we don't have to tell you the fear that we all have of public speaking, so to me, I had this always, I had almost a heart attack."

Arnold Schwarzenegger claps after watching a dancer dressed as his terminator character. (PA Wire)

He added: "So then (Reg) said to me, says, Okay, tell them, 'I like Belfast'. So I said, 'I like Belfast' again, standing ovation, everyone jumping up, you gave me great applause.

"Then he says, tell him that you're going to be back and then I said, 'I come back' - at that time, I didn't say I'll be back that was before Terminator - so I said, 'I come back'.

"So anyway, standing ovation, he said 'thank you very much, that was fantastic, the first time you spoke in public, you did such a great job and your English is great' and all this stuff.

"And then afterwards I left, I said to myself, 'oh my God, I thought I'm going to die when I speak in front of people, but this was the most encouraging audience'.

"So what I'm saying is what happened that day in Belfast was so important to me, because every single time afterwards, when I won a competition, I went to the microphone and said thank you very much for making me the winner, being Mr Universe, it's great to be in London, or it's great to be New York, or wherever it was and I thanked the audience, and said, 'thank you fans for being so enthusiastic'.

Arnold Schwarzenegger lifts his honorary doctorate presented to him by the Ulster University. (Liam McBurney/PA) (PA Wire)

"And I said a few words, and each time I said, more and more and more, they eventually couldn't shut me up.

"I love talking so much in public, so this is what I'm talking about, this was a breakthrough.

"I always tell people about that breakthrough that happened here in Belfast.

"This is why I have such fond memories of Belfast, and this is why it is so great to be back now."

Following a ceremony to present the honorary degree, Schwarzenegger answered questions from broadcaster Holly Hamilton, where he encouraged students not to "waste a minute, just study and study and study".

"Because while you're wasting a minute, someone else is going to study and you want to make sure that you are ahead of everyone else," he said.

"The world is a very competitive place, and I want you to succeed, and I want you to create a vision and have a goal."

Dancers performed a Terminator-themed Irish traditional dance routine, donning sunglasses with the famous single red eye.

Students await the arrival of Arnold Schwarzenegger at Ulster University in Belfast. (Liam McBurney/PA Wire)

Following the ceremony Schwarzenegger then met with Sandra Weir, one of the women featured in a picture of the young bodybuilder on his first visit to Belfast 60 years ago.

Reminiscing on her first meeting with a 19-year-old Schwarzenegger, Ms Weir said: "He was very, very easy to talk to, you know and he was gabbling away and everything, we didn't know what he was saying."

She said the pair "had a good laugh" during their brief reunion on Monday, saying "he was in good form, good form then and even good form now".

Schwarzenegger also met with 91-year-old Eric Downing, a natural bodybuilder from Belfast and the daughter of Ivan Dunbar, the man he stayed with on that first visit 60 years ago.

Before leaving, he signed a poster and a childhood drawing done by a member of the security staff at Ulster University.

Simon Aldworth said it was a "lifetime" dream to meet the Terminator star, saying "you can actually see that my hands are shaking".
Russell Brand's rape trial has been postponed until October.

Russell Brand will face trial in October

The Forgetting Sarah Marshall star had been due in court on 16 June after he was charged in April 2025 with two counts of rape, one count of indecent assault and two counts of sexual assault, in relation to alleged offences involving four women between 1999 and 2005, but after fresh charges were brought in January, one count of rape and one of sexual assault against two women in 2009, the matter has now been postponed.

Brand - who has denied the allegations against him - will now go on trial for all seven charges at Southwark Crown Court from 12 October, with the matter expected to last two months.

The trial had initially been scheduled for up to five weeks.

According to Sky News, the judge, Mr. Justice Bennathan, said if the trial began in June as planned, the court may run out of time to hear it and would struggle to find jurors who could sit through the start of the summer holidays.

Brand - who is a father to three children with his wife Laura Gallacher - previously spoke out to deny the allegations against him when he was first charged by the Metropolitan Police last year.

In a video statement which was posted on social media, the 50-year-old comic said: "I've always told you guys that when I was young and single before I had my wife and family ... I was a fool, man.

"I was a fool before I lived in the light of the Lord. I was a drug addict, a sex addict, and an imbecile. But what I never was, was a rapist.

"I've never engaged in nonconsensual activity. I pray that you can see that by looking in my eyes."

Brand added: "Of course, I'm now going to have the opportunity to defend these charges in court. And I'm incredibly grateful for that."

A number of sexual abuse allegations against the Get Him to the Greek actor were first reported in 2023 as part of a joint investigation by Channel 4's Dispatches and The Sunday Times newspaper. The comedian has consistently denied any allegations of wrongdoing.
Desmond Freeman was killed by police during a confrontation at a rural property in Thologolong - ABC

An Australian fugitive accused of carrying out an an execution-style killing of two police officers and seriously wounding a third has been shot dead following a seven-month manhunt.

Desmond Dezi Freeman, 56  one of Australias most wanted criminals  was killed by police during a confrontation at a rural property in Thologolong, in the north-east of Victoria state, shortly after 8.30am local time on Monday.

Freeman, a paranoid conspiracy theorist and self-proclaimed member of the sovereign citizen movement, which believes it is not subject to the law, had wilderness survival skills and was considered highly dangerous.

Heavily armed special operations group tactical police were involved in a standoff for three hours before the suspect was shot dead, police said. He had been living inside a shipping container and refused appeals to surrender.

Freeman, well known to authorities for his extremist views, had previously taken part in anti-lockdown protests.

Freeman was well known to authorities for his extremist views

While contesting a speeding penalty in a Melbourne court, Freeman referred to police as frigging Nazis, Gestapo and terrorist thugs.

In 2019, he tried to place a magistrate under a citizens arrest during a dispute over public access to a national park.

The Covid pandemic appeared to tip him over the edge into paranoia and adherence to the sovereign citizen movement.

He went from being just a pretty ordinary country bloke, a normal dude youd see at the local footy club all the time, to quite a strange bloke, one acquaintance told The Sydney Morning Herald.

Born Desmond Filby, he was the subject of what detectives described as the most considerable investment of police resources in the states history and one of the biggest manhunts ever launched in Australia.

There had been no confirmed sightings of Freeman since he opened fire on police officers who came to serve a warrant at his home near the town of Porepunkah, north-east of Melbourne, on Aug 26 last year, said Mike Bush, Victorias chief commissioner of police.

The shooting of three police officers led to a large search across Victorias heavily forested alpine region. In recent months, police said they suspected Freeman had killed himself. This turned out not to be the case.

Police finally caught up with the fugitive at a remote location near Thologolong, around two hours drive north of Porepunkah.

The chief commissioner said that a weapon found next to Freemans body was a police service revolver, taken from one of the officers he murdered last August.

Everything I know at this point tells me that this shooting was justified. There was a standoff. There was an opportunity for him to surrender peacefully, which he did not, said Mr Bush.

The chief commissioner would not say whether police had been led to the location by a tip-off. He described the shooting of Freeman as justice for a terrible and tragic event.

Jacinta Allan, the premier of Victoria state, said: Today, an evil man is dead and its over, and its good that this individual is no longer a threat to the Victorian community.

A local woman, Jasmine Teese, said she thought police had probably received a tip-off about the location.

The place is off the grid entirely. I honestly dont think its a place you just stumble across. You have to know where it is, she said. Theres no house there. The man who resides there lives in a collection of caravans, containers and old cars.

Mr Bush said formal identification of the body was expected to take place within 24 to 48 hours.

The site of the fatal confrontation is about 85 miles from the location where the original ambush took place in August, after which Freeman vanished into the Victorian Alps.

Freeman was killed by tactical officers at a rural property in Thologolong - ABC

Police tracked him down to the remote property, littered with disused trucks. Aerial footage showed a police specialist vehicle using a hydraulic tool to puncture the side of the metal shipping container.

Mr Bush said the operation began at 5.30am on Monday, with the stand-off happening aroundt three hours later.

The rural property is owned by 70-year-old Richard Sutherland, described by locals as a bit alternative and someone who enjoyed living off-grid, according to ABC News Australia.

Family members confirmed that Mr Sutherland had been staying with relatives in Tasmania for several months and was not present when the fugitive allegedly began using the property.

Freeman was arrested outside a courthouse in 2021 after he took part in a protest against Victorias then-premier Daniel Andrews

Wayne Gatt, secretary of the Police Association of Victoria, issued a stern warning to potential accomplices: Our members will chase every rabbit down every burrow.

He paid tribute to the two officers who were killed last year, saying: The memory of cowards fades quickly. With heroes, it lives on forever.

On Aug 26 last year, a 10-man police team descended on a remote 20-hectare property near Porepunkah, 180 miles north-east of Melbourne.

The officers had arrived to serve a search warrant linked to historic sex abuse allegations when they were met by an execution-style ambush.

Detective leading senior constable Neal Thompson, 59, who was weeks away from retirement, and Belgian-born senior constable Vadim de Waart, 34, were killed in the minutes-long burst of gunfire. A third officer was shot in the leg but survived.

Helicopters, dog squads and reinforcements from New Zealand were dispatched to help track Freeman. At one point, the manhunt involved around 450 officers.

The families of the dead officers were the first to be notified of the suspects death on Monday morning.

Vadim De Waart and Neal Thompson were killed in the minutes-long outburst of gunfire - Victoria Police

Investigators said they were still working to establish a timeline of Freemans movements.

At the time of the police killings, Mr Bush described them as a straight-out execution and warned that Freeman, who had been living in an old bus on the property, had stolen weapons from the officers before disappearing on foot.

In September, Victoria police announced an A$1m (515,000) reward, the largest ever offered in the state for an arrest.

Freeman managed to evade capture for 216 days by fleeing into the dense, rugged bushland of the Mount Buffalo National Park.

The ambush last year drew comparisons to a deadly 2022 incident in Queensland, when two young officers were lured to a remote farm and killed by three radicalised sovereign citizens. The suspects were later shot and killed by police after an hours-long standoff.

In Australia, a country with some of the worlds strictest gun-control laws, such targeted attacks on law enforcement officers remain exceedingly rare.
Drivers in Dhaka, Bangladesh, have had to wait for hours at petrol stations - Monirul Alam/EPA/Shutterstock

Bangladesh could become the first foreign casualty of Donald Trumps war in Iran as it faces running out of oil and gas within weeks.

After weeks of rationing, the government in Dhaka is struggling to formulate a plan and is becoming increasingly desperate at the prospect of running out of fuel, sources have told The Telegraph.

However, the south Asian nation is not the only country facing an escalating energy crisis.

As a result of Irans blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, Indias industrial output has slowed. At the same time, the Philippines, Australia and New Zealand are rationing dwindling fuel supplies, while South Korea is considering limits on public consumption.

In some cases, it has forced countries to open talks with China for fuel imports, with Beijing leveraging the crisis.

Forecasts suggest that shortages could start biting in Britain in as little as two weeks should Mr Trumps military operation in Iran continue.

But Bangladesh, a country of 170 million people, is expected to become the first to run dry. Around 80 per cent of crude oil and oil products shipped through the Strait of Hormuz are exported to Asia, as is nearly 90 per cent of liquefied natural gas (LNG).

Security has been tightened at Bangladeshs fuel depots amid shortages - Abdul Goni/Anadolu via Getty Images

It imports 95 per cent of its oil and gas needs, with two-thirds of that coming from Gulf states such as Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Iraq.

This month the country has imported about 170,000 tonnes of crude oil and diesel. This is down from 332,000 tonnes in the same month last year, as crude imports dried up almost completely.

The government there is getting increasingly desperate, not sure what to do and how to plan, a Western source briefed on the countrys woes said.

In late March Bangladesh had 80,000 tonnes of crude oil stored at its Eastern Refinery, enough to keep the country going for about 17 days. Its stocks of diesel and petrol are equally tight.

Bangladesh is struggling to secure more crude and its authorities are frantically scouring the world for new sources of refined products such as diesel and fuel oil.

Officials have asked the US for approval to import 600,000 tonnes of Russian fuel oil, and they have also received 60,000 tonnes from Indonesia. The price is likely to be much higher than Bangladesh was paying before the war.

India was contracted to deliver 60,000 tonnes of diesel to Bangladesh in the first half of this year. But India has its own supply worries, and Dhaka has had to fight to get this pledge honoured.

Indians queue for cooking gas in Assam - Anuwar Hazarika/NurPhoto/Shutterstock

In Dhaka, its capital, motorists have been queueing for hours at petrol stations, universities have been shut and civil servants have been told to limit their electricity consumption during daylight hours.

Ive been in this queue for four hours and still dont know if Ill get fuel, Abul Kalam, a cab driver told The Telegraph. If I go home empty, my family doesnt eat tonight. Its that simple.

Commuters abandoned journeys, delivery workers sat idle beside their vehicles and public transport thinned across parts of the capital. The shortages have brought daily life close to a standstill in one of the worlds most congested cities.

Riders wait with their motorcycles at a petrol station in Dhaka - Monirul Alam/EPA/Shutterstock

An oil industry source said reports had shown that Bangladesh could have just 10-21 days of key fuel stocks remaining.

Despite the worrying figures, they cautioned that new shipments were expected to arrive in the country, meaning depletion was not inevitable.

Industry insiders and transport workers alleged that informal syndicates were exacerbating the crisis by diverting supplies and holding back fuel from the market.

There is already a severe strain on fuel availability, a senior official said. If the Iran war drags on and fuel supplies remain disrupted, Bangladesh could effectively grind to a halt within weeks.

The government insists there is no shortage. Iqbal Hasan Mahmud Tuku, the energy minister told the countrys parliament on Monday that supplies remained stable. Let me state clearly, there is no fuel shortage in Bangladesh at this moment. In fact, we have increased supply compared to last year, he said.

The minister blamed a surge in consumption. Motorcyclists, he said, were buying three-to-four times their usual daily amounts, while sales at some filling stations had nearly doubled.

The government has launched a nationwide crackdown on illegal storage and is offering rewards for information on hoarding.

Motorcycles and cars form a long line in Dhaka as they wait for fuel - Sony Ramani/NurPhoto/Shutterstock

In India, gas shortages have prompted manufacturing to slump to its lowest levels in four and a half years.

Its ministry of petroleum and natural gas has been forced to counteract claims that the countrys oil reserves could run out within the week.

Officials said New Delhi maintained a readily available 60-day supply to quell panic buying prompted by the rumours.

In South Korea, the government is considering imposing driving restrictions on the public for the first time since the Gulf War in 1991.

The country imports roughly 70 per cent of its fuel needs from the Middle East.

Companies are being encouraged to persuade their employees to cut back on car use to ease pressure on supplies.

Separately, Seoul has been forced to warn the public not to hoard plastic bin bags because there is no risk of a shortage, as feared.

Kim Sung-wha, the energy minister, said that more than half of local authorities had supplies to last more than six months, and Korea would allow the use of regular bags for waste in the worst-case situation.

The Philippines and Vietnam are also exposed, importing more than 80 per cent of their crude oil from the Gulf.

App-based motorcycle drivers in the Philippines queue to receive cash aid as fuel costs surge - Ezra Acayan/Getty Images

Vietnam gets most of its supply from Kuwait. Its imports of crude oil roughly halved in March from the previous month and it has not been able to replace this supply with shipments from elsewhere.

The countrys strategic reserve would last the Vietnamese economy about three weeks.

The nearest source of diesel is China. But Beijing earlier this month imposed a ban on petroleum exports.

Still, Bloomberg reports that a Chinese tanker delivered 100,000 tonnes of distillate fuels to Vietnam over the weekend.

Johannes Rauball, from analysis firm Kpler, said Beijing had seen an opportunity to boost its influence with sometimes fractious neighbours such as Vietnam and the Philippines.

He said: China is exporting diesel and clean petroleum products to countries like the Philippines and Vietnam through bilateral government arrangements, strengthening Beijings leverage over neighbours with whom it already has ongoing territorial disputes.

The Philippines became the first country to announce a national energy emergency last Tuesday.

Protesters take part in a rally opposing fuel price hikes and taxes in Manila, Philippines - Rolex Dela Pena/EPA/Shutterstock

The country, which is almost entirely reliant on the Gulf for crude oil, has more than a month of fuel left (40 days), forcing its government to start talks with Beijing.

It has received two Chinese tankers carrying 260,000 tonnes of diesel and has about six weeks of the fuel remaining. Like Bangladesh, it is seeking Russian cargo. But an initial 700,000-barrel diesel shipment from Russia would only buy a few days grace.

Japan began its largest ever release of emergency reserves last week (80 million barrels of of oil, which will last approximately 45 days).

In Myanmar, soldiers are cruising the streets with loudspeakers telling people to stay home and avoid panic buying. Many people have been forced to wait for hours in line at petrol stations only for them to sell out. The junta has implemented an odd-even rationing system, where odd-numbered plates can buy fuel on one day and even numbers the next.

In Cambodia, a third of the petrol pumps have been shut down.

Meanwhile, Iran appears to be profiting from the rising energy prices, with the price of oil as high as $116 a barrel.

An anonymous source, cited by the Economist, said the Islamic Republic was exporting up to 2.8 million barrels and other petroleum products a day, which was the same, if not more, than it did before the war.

Many of its exports end up in China, which either exchanges them for goods Tehran needs to import or simply deposits money into a shadowy network of sanction-busting bank accounts.

Much of this money, an estimated $6bn-$7bn, has been removed from known accounts and sheltered elsewhere to protect it from the war.

These new accounts are often found in East Asia, Britain, Germany, Georgia, Italy and Romania, according to the Economist.
The trip is set to provide amazing sights of the Moon like weve never seen before (AFP/Getty)

British astronaut Major Tim Peake has stated that the UK can be "very proud" of its involvement in Nasas upcoming Artemis II Moon mission.

A spacecraft is scheduled to launch this Wednesday from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, marking the first time astronauts will fly around the Moon in over 50 years.

Goonhilly Earth Station, located near Helston, Cornwall, is set to play a crucial role by tracking the Orion spacecraft during its journey around the Moon and back to Earth.

Four astronauts  three American and one Canadian  will be aboard the vessel. Maj Peake anticipates the trip will provide "amazing sights of the Moon like weve never seen before" in 4K high definition.

Maj Peake said the mission can inspire young people in the UK to consider a career related to space (Jeff Spicer/PA Media Assignments)

Asked about the UK and Europes lunar exploration, Maj Peake said: Well, the UK and Europe are right there on Artemis II, we were there on Artemis I, in terms of we built the European service module which powers the Orion spacecraft that provides all the electrical power, the life support systems, the propellant.

So Europe is heavily involved in the Artemis programme and in return for our involvement, at some point, yes, we will get a European astronaut as part of that mission.

He added: We can be very proud in the UK that we are part of this Artemis mission.

Maj Peake said the mission can inspire young people in the UK to consider a career related to space.

Its really important I think that young people in the UK, across Europe, theyre able to look at these programmes and think: I could be involved in that, he told PA.

These are interesting, exciting careers to be had and that level of inspiration, it could be the seed, the spark that gets somebody a fantastic and very rewarding career.

So I think its really important that we do get the word out that we are part of this programme.

The astronaut knows the four Orion crew members very well, and said the launch of the mission will be an emotional moment.

Artemis 2 crew members, from left, Mission Spc. Jeremy Hansen, of Canada, Mission Spc. Christina Koch, Commander Reid Wiseman, and Pilot Victor Glover pose for a photo after the crew's arrival at the Kennedy Space Center on Friday (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

He said: Having that emotional attachment to friends who are sat on top of that rocket will be incredible but theres not an astronaut on the planet who wouldnt want to be in one of those four seats.

So its going to also be incredibly exciting, it will be a very proud moment and well all be wishing them well on their journey and for a safe and successful mission.

The mission will last around 10 days and pave the way for Artemis III and IV  the latter being the mission that would see boots back on the Moon again.

The first mission was uncrewed and that also went around the Moon, so what were testing out on this mission is the fact that weve got four astronauts on board in the Orion spacecraft, Maj Peake said.

Theyll be testing out the life support systems, the communications, navigation, piloting the spacecraft, making sure it performs perfectly and once theyre very happy with that, theyll then do whats called a trans-lunar injection burn and that sends them on their way to the Moon.

He said further space exploration may bring medical breakthroughs and help improve clean energy systems on Earth, and that the Moon may have precious metals, minerals and resources on its surface that could be incredibly valuable.

Theres a huge amount to be learned in terms of scientific knowledge, the astronaut added.

Maj Peake will be hosting a BBC podcast about the mission from next Monday.
Dame Harriet Walter, Zoe Ball and Joe Swash are among the stars who will explore their family histories in a new series of Who Do You Think You Are?.

Strictly Come Dancing star Amy Dowden, Olympian Katarina Johnson-Thompson and award-winning actor Adeel Akhtar will also take part in the Bafta-winning genealogy show when it returns to BBC One this spring.

The documentary series will feature actors Ruth Madeley and Toby Jones in its latest instalment, and will follow the eight celebrities as they explore their ancestry and discover their family histories.

Former EastEnders star Joe Swash will feature in the new series of the programme (BBC/Wall to Wall/PA)

Dame Harriet will uncover a family members secret intelligence role during the Second World War as she digs into her history, and will also learn more about the life of one of her noble Italian ancestors.

Radio DJ Ball will explore her Scottish and Cornish roots as she discovers stories of hardship, tragedy and survival, while former EastEnders star Swash will explore his Italian heritage.

The actor will travel across the country, from Little Italy to southern Italy, as he unearths a family tale of outlaws and crime.

Strictly professional Dowden will try to crack the case of a family murder, with her investigation leading her to a west Wales farmhouse and a valley named after her ancestor.

As the Welsh dancer delves deeper into her roots, she will also uncover an emotional story with parallels to her own life.

Zoe Ball will explore her Scottish and Cornish roots (BBC/Wall to Wall/PA)

Olympic athlete Johnson-Thompson will explore her Bahamian roots in the Exuma Islands, and will follow her familys migration to Miami during a time of racial segregation amid the rise of the Ku Klux Klan.

Elsewhere, Akhtar will unearth a family secret as he traces his Indian-Kenyan roots to a sea voyage from Indian city state Gujarat.

The Murdered By My Father star, 45, will also discover his ancestors key role in the foundation of Kenyan capital Nairobi.

Meanwhile actress Madeley, known for Years And Years, will discover a family secret about an adoption, which entails DNA testing and genealogical work to uncover a lost ancestor.

Jones will investigate a family rumour, which will take him to Meerut in north India  the city where his great-great-grandfather was stationed with the British Army  as he makes a discovery about his lineage.

Amy Dowden will feature in the upcoming series of Who Do You Think You Are? (BBC/Wall to Wall/PA)

Simon Young, BBC head of commissioning, history, said: This series never fails to astonish and surprise.

And in all of the hidden histories it uncovers  aided by the generosity and openness of a simply exceptional cast  we can find a sample of the incredible richness and diversity that makes up modern Britain.

Who Do You Think You Are? is social history that brings us all together.

Colette Flight, executive producer for Wall to Wall Media, said: Who Do You Think You Are? returns with eight more of our best-loved celebrities investigating secrets and solving mysteries in their family trees.

Travelling across the UK and the globe, we see their astonishment, delight, laughter and tears as they discover how the incredible stories of their ancestors have shaped their family, and them.

Olympic athlete Katarina Johnson-Thompson will explore her Bahamian roots in the upcoming series (BBC/Wall to Wall/PA)

Along the way they learn about the dramatic social forces and historical events that impacted their families, from Victorian silent prisons to the American civil rights movement, from Italian brigands to bankruptcy.

The new series of Who Do You Think You Are? launches on BBC One and BBC iPlayer this spring.
All the dancers leaving Strictly Come Dancing as BBC shakes up cast

When Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman announced that they were leaving Strictly Come Dancing, fans were prepared for the show to undergo a bit of a shake-up.

What they couldn't have predicted was that along with the hosts, a number of the show's longest standing professional dancers beloved by fans would also be saying goodbye to the show.

Earlier this month, it was reported that five of the show's pros  including the longest serving female dancer  would not be returning.

Strictly is saying goodbye to a number of fan-favourite dancers (BBC/Guy Levy)

Four of the dancers, all of them female, have since confirmed their exits. Another, Spanish pro Gorka Marquez has also reportedly been given the axe, although he is yet to comment on this.

Here are all the dancers saying goodbye to the Strictly ballroom so far

Karen Hauer

Hauer with Harry Aikines-Aryeetey in the 2025 series (CREDIT LINE:BBC/Guy Levy)

The first dancer to announce her Strictly departure was Karen Hauer, who had been the show's longest standing remaining female pro after 14 years on the dance competition. The dancer was known for her spicy Latin routines, reaching the final with Mark Wright in 2014 and Jamie Laing in 2020. She also performed in one of the shows same-sex partnerships, when she danced with Jayde Adams in 2022.

In a video posted to Instagram, Hauer, 43, broke down in tears while saying that it was the right time for her to leave the show and take on new projects in other areas that Im passionate about.

The Venezuelan-American dancer, who was previously married to former Strictly pro Kevin Clifton, also singled out the show's welfare staff for taking such good care of the Strictly pros.

In a heartfelt statement, the BBC said: As the longest-serving female professional dancer in the history of the show, Karen has given so much of herself and her time to the programme, and we are extremely grateful for the passion, creativity and dedication she has brought to every single performance.

Nadiya Bychkova

Bychkova dancing with her final partner, Chris Robshaw (BBC/Guy Levy)

The next exit confirmed by the BBC was that of Ukrainian dancer Nadiya Bychkova, who joined the show in 2017 and had a celebrity partner in seven of her nine years on Strictly.

The tallest female pro, Nadiya, 36, was often paired with the taller male celebrities such as Dan Walker (who she reached quarter-final with), Bross Matt Goss, and most recently Chris Robshaw.

Confirming rumours of her departure on Wednesday (25 March), Bychkova wrote: After nine wonderful years, this part of my journey with Strictly Come Dancing is evolving This isnt the end. I look forward to being part of the Strictly world for many years to come in ways I am beginning to explore.

The BBC released their own statement praising the mother-of-one, saying: Nadiya has brought elegance, artistry and unwavering dedication to the ballroom, and she will always remain a cherished member of the Strictly family.

Luba Mushtuk

Mushtuk dancing with Nicholas Bailey in the 'Strictly' Christmas special (BBC/Guy Levy)

On Friday (27 March), Russian pro Luba Mushtuk shared that she, too, was leaving Strictly. Mushtuk had a dance partner in four of her eight years as a dancer on the show; her most successful pairing was with Adam Thomas in 2023, where the pair finished in ninth.

The 36-year-old wrote on Instagram that she would be leaving with a heart full of gratitude, adding: The time has come for me to step away from Strictly Come Dancing.

The BBC quickly paid tribute to Mushtuk, who first competed on the show in the 2018 Children in Need special. Since joining in 2016 as an assistant choreographer and stepping into the professional dancer line-up two years later, Luba has been a valued member of the team  bringing professionalism, creativity, and her quality expertise year after year, the post on the shows social media account read.

While she will not return to the show for its 2026 series, Mushtuk is still competing on the upcoming Strictly: The Professionals UK tour, which kicks off at the end of April. Marquez, the Spanish dancer also rumoured to be leaving the show, is also taking part in the tour.

Michelle Tsiakkas

Tsiakkas danced with Brian McFadden in the 2025 Christmas special, having not received a partner in the main series (BBC/Guy Levy)

Strictly confirmed Michelle Tsiakkas departure from the show on Tuesday (31 March).

The Cypriot dancer, 30, joined the show in 2022, but only competed in 2024, when she was paired with Jamie Borthwick.

In aa statement, the BBC said: Thank you to Michelle Tsiakkas for everything she has brought to Strictly Come Dancing over the past four series, it read.

During her time on the show, Michelle has delivered some excellent performances, whether in the series group routines, alongside guest music artists, or with celebrity partners across the main series and the Christmas special whom she has always taught with professionalism, respect and kindness.

In her first interview following the reports, Tsiakkas said that her exit from the show had been conveyed to her over Zoom and had come out of the blue.

It felt like my world was falling apart, my dream was shattered. I gave my everything to the show for the four years  it was my whole life, she said.
Some Democrats are mulling whether the partys best chance at winning back the White House is to pick a straight, white Christian man in 2028 for the top of the ticket.

Having lost twice to Donald Trump with female candidates for president, Democratic strategists have echoed concerns voiced last year by former first lady Michelle Obama: America is not ready for a woman.

Behind closed doors, several Democratic strategists have bluntly said some form of, It has to be a white guy, according to Axios.

There is a fear  and I actually don't think this is just a grass-tops fear, I think you'd hear it from voters, too  that a woman has now lost twice, an unnamed Democratic strategist told the outlet. So not discounting the hundreds of other times men have lost  but is it the right thing to nominate a woman?

Former first lady Hillary Clinton lost to Trump in the 2016 presidential election, though she won the popular vote, and former Vice President Kamala Harris was defeated by the Republican in 2024.

Having lost twice to Donald Trump with female candidates for president, some Democrats are mulling whether the partys best chance at winning back the White House is to pick a straight, white man in 2028 (Getty Images)

California Gov. Gavin Newsom is considered one of the top contenders to clinch the Democratic presidential nomination, but said he has not yet made up his mind about running.

Other names that frequently top the list for potential 2028 candidates, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker and Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, are both Jewish.

Last November, Obama poured cold water on whispers of her running in 2028. Dont even look at me about running, because you all are lying. Youre not ready for a woman, she said. You know, we got a lot of growing up to do, and theres still, sadly, a lot of men who do not feel like they can be led by a woman.

Other Democrats have since agreed with her, including South Carolina Rep. Jim Clyburn. Michelle Obama is absolutely correct, he told NBC News last year. If you look at the history, we demonstrated that we are not ready.

Clyburn added, though, that the party should not stop the pursuit of electing a female president. We may be in a dark moment as it relates to women serving as president, but we may be in that moment just before dawn when a woman will serve, he added.

Harris wrote in her memoir 107 Days that the party was already asking a lot to accept a Black woman married to a Jewish man, and so she decided not to move forward with her first pick for vice president, originally then-Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. He would have been an ideal partner  if I were a straight, white man, Harris said of Buttigieg, who is gay.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom topped a recent YouGov poll of who Americans would like to see as the partys nominee in the 2028 presidential election (Getty Images)

Harris, who has yet to rule out a 2028 comeback bid, said in December that she believes the country is ready for a woman to become president.

The other female Democrat possibly in the running is New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who has been railing against the Trump administration in demonstrations across the country with Independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkins name has also been floated.

Newsom topped a recent YouGov poll of who Americans would like to see as the partys nominee in the 2028 presidential election.

According to the survey, 19 percent of Americans said theyd rather see Newsom as the Democratic nominee in 2028, though Harris was hot on his heels at 18 percent, while 13 percent said Buttigieg and 12 percent said Ocasio-Cortez.

Prediction market sites Kalshi and Polymarket also have Newsom as the favorite to be the next Democratic nominee.

Other Democratic strategists have suggested that voters want conventionally attractive candidates on the ballot, according to The Bulwark.

The hotness of candidates had come up during conversations with Democratic strategists and former officials, according to the report.

Its easier to elect hot people, said former Biden White House staffer Yemisi Egbewole. America is a superficial nation, and we want our politiciansespecially those that are representing us on an international stage, as the number-one world powerto be hot, to look good.
Eric Swalwell at a House judiciary committee hearing with FBI director Kash Patel in September last year. Photograph: Annabelle Gordon/Reuters (Photograph: Annabelle Gordon/Reuters)

The Trump administration has reportedly been pushing to release records from an FBI investigation related to Eric Swalwell and alleged links to a Chinese agent as the Democratic congressman makes gains in the California governors race.

The Washington Post reported on Saturday, citing three people familiar with the effort, that the FBI director, Kash Patel, is pushing to release the files, even though there is no public evidence of wrongdoing on Swalwells part. The records stem from a decade-old investigation into a suspected spy who had developed relationships with US politicians and assisted Swalwell with fundraising.

An FBI official previously said Swalwell was cooperative with the investigation and was not suspected of wrongdoing. He cut off contact with the woman after speaking to the FBI.

The profile of Swalwell, an outspoken critic of Donald Trump who served as a congressional manager during the presidents second impeachment trial, has risen as the contest for California governor takes shape. The field of candidates to replace Gavin Newsom is crowded, with at least eight Democrats, including Swalwell, and two Republicans.

Republicans have led the race in recent polling, fueling concerns of a conservative win, because the top two vote-getters in the June primary will advance to the general election in November. A poll last week commissioned by the states Democratic party found that conservative political commentator Steve Hilton had the support of 16% of participants in the upcoming primary and Chad Bianco, the Riverside county sheriff, had 14%.

Three Democrats, Swalwell, former congresswoman Katie Porter and the billionaire environmental activist Tom Steyer, were in a dead heat, with support from 10% of people surveyed. Swalwell has gained support from key forces in the states organized labor movement, including the California Teachers Association, which is expected to bolster his campaign.

Swalwell has suggested the Trump administrations effort to release records is part of the presidents effort to target political opponents.

The reason Trump is so desperately trying to stop me is not because Im running for governor of California but because now Im the favorite, he said in a statement. But Donald Trump and Kash Patel do not get to pick the next governor. Californians do.

On Monday, Swalwells attorneys issued a cease and desist to Patel.

Your attempt to release the file is a transparent attempt to smear him and undermine his campaign for governor of California, reads the letter, according to the Washington Post.

Prominent Democrats, including Senator Adam Schiff and Congressman Jamie Raskin, were critical of the administrations move.

The FBI is attempting to smear a sitting US congressman, candidate for governor, and vocal opponent of the president. What the hell does that have to do with law enforcement? This is plain weaponization of the FBI for partisan political purposes, Raskin said in a statement.
Actor Arnold Schwarzenegger has told students in Belfast dont limit yourself to where you come from, and urged them to pick the biggest goals.

Two film students who met the former governor of California said it was inspiring to meet the star and took on his message of dreaming bigger.

The Austrian-born star received an honorary doctorate from Ulster University in recognition of his contributions to public service, environmental advocacy and the arts, which he described as an honour as he hailed the great university.

On his entrance, students held signs reading Hasta La Vista Ulster and some carried posters or copies of Schwarzeneggers films such as Terminator.

Students await the arrival of Arnold Schwarzenegger at Ulster University in Belfast (Liam McBurney/PA) (Liam McBurney)

He then supervised some powerlifters, counting out reps as they lifted barbells that had been put out at the end of the red carpet.

Students lined the atrium on the main campus, egging on the Hollywood star with a Belfast yeo as he turned and held his doctorate up towards them.

Schwarzenegger advised the young people dont waste a minute, just study and study and study.

Arnold Schwarzenegger talks to pharmacy student Minnie Dihmis at Ulster University (Liam McBurney/PA) (Liam McBurney)

We have to understand that the harder it is, the more valuable it becomes, he said.

Using an analogy from his past as a bodybuilder, the former Mr Universe compared personal growth to muscle growth, saying when it gets really hard and I cant do another rep that is what makes it grow, and thats the way it is in life.

Its when its hard, its when you struggle, its when you fall, it is when you get up again and you continue on, Schwarzenegger said.

This is why I love to play the character of Terminator, even though it was a machine, but it never stopped, he was relentless, and this is what I want every human being to be, relentless, and not to say, Oh, this is so hard, oh my God, I have to get up early in the morning, this is so difficult for me.

I mean, this is absurd. Do you want to accomplish something or not? Do you want to be one of millions, or do you want to be unique?

I mean, the only way youre going to accomplish something is if you go and you get up early, the early birds get the worm.

Arnold Schwarzenegger fans hold plaques ahead of a ceremony presenting him with an honorary doctorate at Ulster University in Belfast (Liam McBurney/PA) (Liam McBurney)

Get up early, work out, study, do something, develop your brain, develop your body, be a machine, and just move forward and go after this goal.

The actor said it is remarkable how much talent comes from Belfast, and told the students about his journey from Austria to becoming one of Hollywoods biggest stars.

He said: It is amazing because the people here dont look at themselves as like, Oh, we come from a little place, and therefore we can only do little things.

Thats a big mistake, because that is the mentality that Ive seen at work in Austria.

Schwarzenegger added: I wanted to break out, I wanted to get into bodybuilding, even though everyone thought that bodybuilding is an American sport, not an Austrian sport, and I would never win and all of those things, but I saw myself as a champion, and I made it.

Arnold Schwarzenegger poses for a picture with students from the Ulster Screen Academy (Liam McBurney/PA) (Liam McBurney)

So thats why I say the key thing is to pick a goal.

It doesnt matter where you come from, its where youre going, that is the important thing, dont limit yourself from where you come from, just think about where youre going and you can pick the biggest goals, if you work hard enough, you will achieve it.

See it, believe it, achieve it.

There was never a doubt in my mind for a second, in any of my goals, there was never a doubt.

You know how great that feels to have the faith in your goal and knowing? Because the vision is a preview of whats to come. Thats why you need the vision.

After his question and answer session, Schwarzenegger met some students from Ulster Screen Academy, including Grace Hamilton and Tabassum Islan.

(left to right) Ulster Screen Academy students Grace Hamilton and Tabassum Islan, who spoke to Arnold Schwarzenegger after he was presented with an honorary doctorate by Ulster University in Belfast (Liam McBurney/PA) (Liam McBurney)

Ms Hamilton said she had a nice wee handshake with Schwarzenegger, and then a lovely group photo, he had his arm on my shoulder, I was like, oh, OK, hi.

She added: It was nice meeting him and just hearing him, even before in the ceremony and things he had to say, especially to students, about drive and motivation and just pursuing your goals, but also dreaming bigger.

Ms Islam said Schwarzeneggers words very strongly resonated with her coming from Bangladesh.

She said: We definitely grew up watching a lot of his films, and then coming here, which is quite far away from home, and seeing him up close getting credited and getting awarded for all his lifes work, that is so inspiring to see and also meeting him in person and to shake his hand, that was so very inspiring.
Indian forest officials have started an investigation following social media outrage over a Russian photographers photoshoot for which a 65-year-old elephant was painted bright pink.

Animal rights activists accused Julia Buruleva, a Barcelona-based conceptual photographer, of animal cruelty for painting the tusker in pink colour for a photoshoot in Jaipur city in the western state of Rajasthan.

The images show a woman, coloured in pink, sitting atop the painted elephant at an abandoned Hindu temple. The pictures were initially posted on her Instagram page in December last year, but they sparked outrage this month after going viral on social media.

Ms Buruleva told The Independent that the shoot took place in November 2025 during her six-week art expedition and that the project was aimed at reflecting the existing realities rather than justifying, promoting, or condemning the practices.

Ms Buruleva said no harm was caused to the elephant at any point during the shoot, adding that the paint was non-toxic and natural. It was applied for a very short period of time and was easily washable. The entire session was brief and conducted under the supervision of the elephants handler, who is responsible for its daily care and well-being, she said.

The photographer said that the elephant showed no signs of distress and appeared calm, relaxed and responsive.

One of the most-liked comments on her Instagram post read: "This is not art, this is pure animal abuse and so not ok to glorify it. Another user wrote: "Creative freedom is not a free pass for irresponsible expression".

"Would they let you do this in your own country?" read a comment.

Responding to the backlash, Ms Buruleva said: In Jaipur, elephants are visibly present in the cultural landscape  in ceremonies, decorations, and everyday life. And I saw them painted every day, because it is also a part of a local tradition.

I understand that this topic is sensitive for many people. At the same time, I believe it is important to distinguish between situations where animals are genuinely harmed and those where assumptions may not fully reflect the actual conditions.

Shadik Khan, the elephants owner, said the tusker named Chanchal was 65 years old at the time of the shoot and was no longer used for rides. Mr Khan added that Chanchal died in February.

Ms Buruleva said she was informed of the elephants death and that the owner told her Chanchal died of old age.

He told The New Indian Express that kaccha gulal was used to paint the elephant for the 10-minute shoot, which was washed off immediately after, referring to the Hindi term for a powdered colour made from natural materials which washes off easily without leaving any stains.

Forest department officials said they have taken cognisance of the incident and initiated an inquiry. Authorities will examine whether permissions were obtained and if animal welfare norms were followed, according to the report.

Animal rights groups have called on the government to impose stricter regulations. "This incident highlights the rampant abuse of captive elephants in Jaipur to cater to tourists whims and fancies," said Gajender Kumar Sharma, Country Director of World Animal Protection in India.

"We are calling upon the Indian authorities to strictly regulate all close encounters of captive elephants with all tourists, including foreign tourists, in Jaipur and all over India."
Former BBC Radio One DJ Tim Westwood, who denies multiple sex offences including rape and sexual assault, will next appear in court in December.

The 68-year-old is accused of sex offences against seven women dating back to 1983, including three indecent assaults at the BBC studios in the 1990s.

The former Capital Xtra DJ was excused from attending a further case management hearing at Southwark Crown Court on Monday.

The hearing was set to facilitate disclosure between the prosecution and Westwoods defence team.

Former Radio 1 DJ Tim Westwood arrives at Westminster Magistrates Court (Lucy North/PA) (Lucy North)

His trial is set to begin on January 25 next year, and Westwood will next appear at a pre-trial review on December 14.

Westwood is accused of four indecent assaults in the 1980s in London, as well as the three indecent assaults at the BBC in the 1990s.

The defendant is also alleged to have raped a woman in a hotel in 1996.

Westwood is further accused of two indecent assaults and one count of rape from the early 2000s at a London address, and two counts of rape at a London address in the 2010s.

He is also alleged to have sexually assaulted a woman at a nightclub in Stroud, Gloucestershire, in 2010.

Westwood, who has been granted bail on the condition he does not contact the complainants, has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Samara Weaving has been leaning on Margot Robbie for advice during her pregnancy.

Samara Weaving has opened up about her pregnancy

The 34-year-old actress - who announced in December that she's expecting her first child with husband Jimmy Warden - has found her circle of mom friends, including her Babylon co-star, to be a source of comfort and encouragement during her pregnancy.

Speaking to People, Samara said: "All my girls here who are moms have just been so lovely, and I think what they all tell me is just, 'You do it your way. Whatever makes you feel comfortable.'"

The actress appreciates having the support of other women who have gone through similar experiences.

She added: "I think our society, there's so many voices and opinions and that it's tough for women, especially when they're pregnant and being a mom. So they're all just so supportive of whatever I want to do is good."

Margot, 35 - who gave birth to her first child, a baby boy, in October 2024 - showed her support for Samara by attending the recent Los Angeles screening of Ready or Not 2: Here I Come, the new comedy-horror film.

Meanwhile, Samara has also been relying on her stylist to help her feel confident during her pregnancy.

The actress recently told People that she wanted to avoid looking too "maternal" and has been inspired by Rihanna's bold maternity style.

She said: "I think for me, I really wanted to avoid doing things that felt maternal. I wanted to still feel [like] me and still feel cool. And I really love what Rihanna does when she's pregnant. So I was like, 'That's a north star.'"

Samara credited her "incredible stylist", Jordan Dorso, for helping her navigate the challenge of dressing her changing body.

The actress - who has been married to Jimmy since 2019 - explained: "It's hard because you have a new body that's changing every week, and you have no control. So we're trying to find outfits that accentuate what we want to accentuate and kind of hide what we want to hide. And he's just been an absolute dream to work with, that I would literally be lost without him."
Seventeen men died at HMP Parc in 2024 and another three in the first nine months of 2025. Photograph: G4s/Ncsm Media/Shutterstock (Photograph: G4s/Ncsm Media/Shutterstock)

Plans to expand one of the most troubled prisons in England and Wales should be paused until serious failures surrounding staff and inmate safety are addressed, MPs have said.

Seventeen men died at HMP Parc in Bridgend in 2024  the highest number recorded at any prison in England and Wales that year  amid drug use, self-harm, violence and understaffing issues. Another three men died there in the first nine months of 2025.

A Welsh affairs committee report released on Monday acknowledged the need for more prison places for adult men, but concluded that Parc is not the right place to expand the prison population.

Despite the prisons problems, pre-application approval for adding 345 inmates and 160 staff to the category B facility was granted in September 2024, after the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) said England and Wales would run out of prison places in two months without urgent action. Parc, which is run by private firm G4S, can accommodate 1,670 prisoners and 676 staff.

The committee chair, Ruth Jones, said the events of 2024 had shone a light on serious problems at the site.

Every preventable death is a tragedy. It is vital that improving the safety and wellbeing of men at the prison is at the forefront of any decisions, the Newport West and Islwyn MP wrote.

While some improvements have been made, expanding the prison now would be a distraction that could put that progress  and the safety of prisoners and staff  at risk.

An unannounced visit by inspectors in January 2025 was highly critical, finding conditions across all key measures had worsened and high levels of drug abuse, self-harm and violence. They also noted that prisoners could be left in their cells for up to 21 hours at a time, poor quality food, staff shortages and under-resourced mental health and substance misuse services.

A chief inspector of prisons visit in January 2026 found insufficient progress, but showed what the Welsh affairs committee report called green shoots of improvement.

In a statement, Parc prison said: Parcs latest inspection report highlights that progress has been made in many areas, particularly in disrupting the supply of drugs.

This is significant and is helping to drive wider improvements throughout the prison, especially in reducing self-harm and violence.

The MoJ said: Were taking decisive action to address the prison crisis inherited by this government  building 14,000 extra prison places by 2031 and reforming sentencing to ensure we can always lock up dangerous criminals.

At 87,751, the prison population of England and Wales is close to the all-time record, while Scotland hit its own record of 8,452 this month. Numbers are on the increase as sentences are getting longer and more prisoners are being recalled after release, according to the Prison Reform Trust.

Incarceration levels and lengths of sentences are higher in Wales than the rest of western Europe, a phenomenon researchers attribute to gaps and overlap between the English and Welsh systems.

Welsh Labour, which leads the Cardiff Bay government, advocates full devolution of policing and criminal justice from Westminster, as per the recommendation of three independent commissions. Plaid Cymru, which polls suggest will succeed Labour in Wales after Mays elections, is also seeking a full transfer of justice, police, and prison services.
A body found in Colombia has been identified as a flight attendant from the U.S., who had gone missing in the South American country, according to his family.

Eric Fernando Gutierrez Molina, a 32-year-old American Airlines flight attendant from the Dallas-Fort Worth area of Texas, vanished after a night out with a colleague on March 21 during a layover in Medellin, his longtime partner, Ernesto Carranza, and best friend, Sharom Gil, told CBS News.

Medellin Mayor Federico Gutierrez announced on social media Friday that a lifeless body was found between the municipality of Jerico and Puente Iglesias. He said there was a high probability that it was Gutierrez Molina.

We express our solidarity to his family and friends. I have just personally delivered the painful news to his father, who is in Medellin, the mayor said.

On Monday, Mayra Gutierrez, Gutierrez Molinas sister, told NBC News the body was identified by Colombian authorities as her brother.

A body found in Colombia has been identified as a flight attendant from the U.S., who had gone missing in the South American country, according to his family (Kelvin Gutierrez/GoFundMe)

Gutierrez Molinas brother, Kelvin Gutierrez, set up a GoFundMe page for the flight attendant.

It is with profound sadness we share the passing of Fernando Gutierrez, the online fundraising page read. Fernandos personality will always be remembered as a ball of sunshine as he entered and exited a room. He will always be remembered as a docile, charismatic, goofy man who always provided a helping hand.

The Independent has reached out to American Airlines and Gutierrez Molinas family for comment.

Gutierrez Molina was born and raised in El Salvador and later became a U.S. citizen, according to the GoFundMe page. The family asked for donations to help bring Gutierrez Molina from Colombia to Texas.

Medellin Security Secretary Manuel Villa recently said at a news conference that Gutierrez Molina was with his colleague in Itagui when they left one location to go to a second location in the same city with others, per NBC News.

Eric Fernando Gutierrez Molina, a 32-year-old American Airlines flight attendant from the Dallas-Fort Worth area of Texas, vanished earlier this month (AFP via Getty Images)

The colleague made it back to her hotel somewhat disoriented, Villa said, but Gutierrez Molina had vanished.

Villa said Gutierrez Molina and his colleague encountered people with a history of committing theft using scopolamine. Scopolamine is a medication that helps with nausea and vomiting. It can cause severe dizziness and hallucinations, the Cleveland Clinic warns.

The investigations carried out by the Police and the Prosecutor's Office are very advanced and they would have very clear leads on those responsible, Mayor Gutierrez said Friday. Let justice be done. Even, that those responsible be requested in extradition.

American Airlines said it was heartbroken by the tragic passing of our colleague.

Our thoughts and support are with his family, loved ones and colleagues during this difficult time, and we are doing all we can to assist Colombian law enforcement in its investigation, the airline said in a statement shared with The Independent.
Robert Ficos populist government in Slovakia eroded rule of law in all areas, including justice and media freedom, the report found. Photograph: Vadim Ghirda/AP (Photograph: Vadim Ghirda/AP)

Governments in five EU member states are consistently and intentionally eroding the rule of law, Europes leading civil liberties group has warned, while democratic standards are deteriorating in six more, including historically strong democracies.

Drawing on evidence from more than 40 NGOs in 22 countries, the Civil Liberties Union for Europe (Liberties) described the governments of Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Italy and Slovakia as dismantlers that were actively weakening the rule of law.

The groups 2026 report, released on Monday, said the rule of law had regressed in all areas  justice, anti-corruption, media freedom and civil society checks and balances  in Slovakia under the populist, authoritarian, pro-Moscow government of Robert Fico.

The picture was similarly bleak in Bulgaria, while Hungary, where Viktor Orbans 16 years in power could end after elections on 12 April, remains in a category of its own, continuing to pursue ever more regressive laws and policies with no sign of change.

Elsewhere, Liberties identified Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany and Sweden, all countries with strong democratic traditions, as sliders: places where the rule of law is declining in some areas, without erosion being part of an overall political strategy.

The Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Ireland, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Romania and Spain were all classified as stagnators, defined as countries where rule-of-law conditions were neither improving nor deteriorating, the 800-page report said.

Poland also fell into that category, with the prime minister, Donald Tusk, trying to restore key elements of the rule of law  such as an independent judiciary  dismantled by the former Law and Justice (PiS) government, but being hampered by presidential veto.

Polands limited progress so far shows just how challenging and fragile it can be to restore compromised institutional independence, Liberties said. Only Latvia merited hard worker status, with a government actively improving rule-of-law standards.

The report also said the EUs mechanisms for addressing erosion or rule of law were largely ineffective, with most member states failing to turn guidance into tangible action despite several years of recommendations from the European Commission.

Related: Assault on justice: how far-right attacks are threatening rule of law in Europe

It found that 93% of all recommendations in the EU executives own 2025 rule of law report were repeats from previous years, many carried over with no change in the wording, while the number of new recommendations had fallen by half since 2024.

Out of 100 commission recommendations assessed by Liberties, 61 showed zero progress, while 13 more were deteriorating. The commissions report was meant to prompt concrete action, said Ilina Neshikj, Liberties executive director.

But after seven annual editions, Liberties findings highlight not only backsliding, but also ongoing and deliberate efforts to undermine the rule of law. Repeating recommendations without meaningful follow-up will not reverse this, she said.

The report also criticised EU institutions in general, saying that in 2025 they had not only mirrored many of the issues seen in member states, but had also failed to consistently apply and defend fundamental rights.

They normalised the use of exceptional, fast-track lawmaking, rolled back key fundamental rights protections, and led a concerted campaign against watchdog organisations, said Kersty McCourt, Liberties senior advocacy adviser.

When that happens, McCourt added, the institutions undermine the credibility of the EU and of its own rule of law reports.

Liberties found rule-of-law conditions had deteriorated most in 2025 in the democratic checks and balances pillar: independent NGOs and civil society being able to organise, challenge decisions and hold governments to account.

Regressive legislation and strong penalties for attending banned protests were increasing, it found, including in Hungary, where Pride events were banned and their organisers, including the mayor of Budapest, placed under formal investigation.

In Italy, a highly restrictive security decree was adopted criminalising road blockades and other forms of dissent but strengthening guarantees for police. In several member states, climate and pro-Palestine protesters faced bans and criminalisation.

The justice pillar, too, showed a lack of progress, Liberties said, highlighting in particular what it called an emerging trend of increasingly critical or hostile political discourse towards the judiciary and human rights institutions.

It found little progress either on anti-corruption efforts. And on media freedom, only a small number of states had made measurable improvements. Attacks on journalists increased in Bulgaria, Croatia, Italy, the Netherlands and, especially, Slovakia.
Former BBC DJ Tim Westwood gets next court date in rape and sex assault case

Former BBC Radio One DJ Tim Westwood will next appear in court in December on charges of sexual offending against seven women.

The 68-year-old is facing a raft of accusations dating back to the 1980s, including rape, sexual assault, and indecent assault.

He has denied all of the charges.

The former Capital Xtra DJ was excused from attending a further case management hearing at Southwark Crown Court on Monday.

The hearing was set to facilitate disclosure between the prosecution and Westwoods defence team.

His trial is set to begin on 25 January 2027.

Former Radio 1 DJ Tim Westwood leaving Westminster Magistrates Court after an earlier appearance (PA Wire)

Westwood will next appear at a pre-trial review on 14 December.

He is accused of four indecent assaults in the 1980s in London, as well as the three indecent assaults at the BBC in the 1990s.

The defendant is also alleged to have raped a woman in a hotel in 1996.

Westwood is further accused of two indecent assaults and one count of rape from the early 2000s at a London address, and two counts of rape at a London address in the 2010s.

He is also alleged to have sexually assaulted a woman at a nightclub in Stroud, Gloucestershire, in 2010.

Westwood, who has been granted bail on the condition that he does not contact the complainants, has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
A total of 40 London bus routes have been cut back in the last two years, mayor Sir Sadiq Khan has admitted.

Information obtained by the Green party on the London Assembly shows that 40 routes have had bus frequences reduced since April 2024.

This excludes a number of recent changes, including those that started last Saturday when the 13 was reduced to one bus every 10 minutes, and the 32 was temporarily limited to a bus every 11 minutes.

They also fail to take into account of the proposed shortening of the 19 and 38 routes through central London or the already imposed cuts to the 484 bus that serves Kings College hospital.

A mayoral written answer said that 40 routes had had their hourly frequencies reduced in the last two years while 71 routes had frequency increases.

However, research by the Green party has established that the increases are often off peak, while the reductions are disproportionately daytime, weekday, and peak time, affecting more passengers.

The service reductions primarily affect inner London  boroughs such as Camden, Islington and Westminster (each with 11 routes affected), followed by Hackney (10 routes), Haringey (nine) and Hammersmith and Fulham and Lambeth (eight each).

Roues to suffer recent cutbacks include the 3, 371, 134, 229, 453, 291, 178, 51, S4, 386, W15, EL2, 220 and 173.

Caroline Russell, the Green party leader on the London Assembly, said: Tinkering with bus frequencies makes every day affordable journeys a bit less convenient for people getting to school, or a hospital appointment, picking up shopping or visiting friends.

Reducing from four buses an hour to three may mean older and disabled people waiting longer in the cold or rain at a bus stop, and for a more crowded bus which just makes bus travel less attractive.

If the mayor wants to meet his transport targets, catching the bus should be a reliable and convenient alternative to driving. He should use his powers to reduce motor traffic before fiddling around with bus timetables, reducing services in peak time and making bus travel less handy.

Recent TfL bus frequency reductions

3: Frequency reduced from six to five buses an hour during Monday to Saturday daytime

371: Frequency reduced from six to five buses an hour during Monday to Saturday daytime

134: Frequency reduced from 7.5 to seven buses an hour during Monday to Saturday daytime

229: Frequency reduced from six to five buses an hour during Monday to Saturday daytime

453: Frequency reduced from nine to 7.5 buses an hour, Monday to Saturday

291: Frequency reduced from six to five buses an hour, Monday to Saturday

178: Frequency reduced from four to three buses an hour, Monday to Saturday

51: Frequency reduced from six to five buses an hour, Monday to Saturday

S4: Monday to Saturday daytime frequency reduced from three to two buses an hour.

386: Monday to Saturday daytime frequency reduced from four to three buses an hour.

W15: Monday to Friday frequency reduced from 7.5 to six buses per hour.

EL2: Monday to Friday daytime frequency reduced from 7.5 to six buses per hour.

220: Reduced frequency from nine to 7.5 buses per hour during Monday to Friday daytimes and from eight to 7.5 buses per hour during Saturday shopping hours.

173: Monday to Friday peak frequencies reduced from six to 5.5 buses per hour.

Last week, The Standard revealed that Sir Sadiq had been hit by another backlash from London Labour MPs over his bus cuts.

Ellie Reeves and Vicky Foxcroft wrote to Transport for London commissioner Andy Lord to express deep concern about the reduction in the frequency of route 484.

The mayor, who chairs TfL, was already facing criticism over proposed changed to the 19 and 38 bus routes, including from Hackney South and Shoreditch MP Meg Hillier.

TfL is making widespread changes to bus routes across the capital in a bid to respond to the long-term decline in passenger numbers - primarily caused by plummeting bus speeds, which now average 9mph.

The Standard revealed in January that the mayor was having to spend 1.2bn a year subsidising the capitals bus network.

A TfL spokesperson said: London has one of the most extensive and accessible bus networks anywhere in the world, and we are committed to providing the best service possible.

Since April 2024, there have been 71 instances of frequency increases compared to 40 instances of frequency reductions.

We regularly review our services according to customer demand and, following detailed analysis, we make frequency changes to bus timetables allowing us to operate bus services efficiently to meet demand whilst offering value for money.

This also means allowing buses more time to complete their journeys - which should increase reliability. As with all changes, we continue to keep any changes under review."
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A Frontier Airlines passenger is in custody after allegedly threatening to kill his seatmate and declaring that he had a bomb on board a flight that had just landed in Atlanta.

He's in his seat. He is starting to threaten to kill the lady who's sitting next to him, and he is saying that he has a bomb on board, the pilot told the tower shortly after landing around 5 pm. Passengers were safely removed from the Airbus A320. The threat resulted in the pilot declaring a level four security alert, a signal that the crew were concerned about a breach of the cockpit.

Officials at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport redirected Flight 2539 into a remote area of the runway Sunday afternoon while an investigation took place. The flight departed from Columbus, Ohio, around 2:30 pm.

A Frontier Airlines passenger is in custody after allegedly threatening to kill his seatmate and declaring that he had a bomb on board a flight that had just landed in Atlanta (Getty)

The Atlanta Police Department described the suspect as an unruly passenger and not a legitimate hijacker. The case is being handled by the FBI.

The passenger has not yet been identified. It is not clear what charges he will face.

A passenger in Row 10 of the aircraft called the situation stressful when speaking to WSB-TV.

The flight attendants started saying, Heads down, hands up, heads down, hands up, another passenger, Jessica Kinder, said.

Kinder went on to say that she was sitting beside the suspects travel partner and said the pair were exchanging voice messages in French.

He kept standing. The pilot told him, flight attendants, to sit down. He said that he was going to threaten or kill the flight attendants, said another passenger, Keyaira Smith. She said the man had been acting erratically before they boarded the flight in the Buckeye State.

As a matter of precaution and in coordination with local authorities, the aircraft parked at a remote location while law enforcement responded, Frontier said in a brief statement.

Around the same time of this incident, Atlanta officials were called to a non-credible bomb threat at the State Farm Arena in the city.
Ukraine has pioneered drone warfare as it resists Russian aggression - Jose Colon/Anadolu via Getty Images

The head of Rheinmetall, the German defence company, compared Ukrainian drone producers to housewives and children playing with Lego.

Armin Papperger, the tough-talking chief executive, made the inflammatory remarks in an American magazine interview as he suggested that Ukraine did not deserve praise for battlefield innovation.

When asked how Ukraine had turned drones into some of the deadliest weapons on earth against Russian troops and tanks, Mr Papperger scoffed: This is how to play with Legos.

He added, in comments to Atlantic magazine, that the biggest producers of drones in Ukraine were housewives working with 3D printers in the kitchen, and they produce parts for the drones ... this is not innovation.

The belittlement from Germanys largest tank producer caused an outcry in Ukraine, with business chiefs, government ministers and even Volodymyr Zelensky, the president, weighing in.

If every housewife in Ukraine can really produce drones, then every housewife in Ukraine can be the chief executive of Rheinmetall, Mr Zelensky said on Monday, calling on the company to compete with Ukraine on results, not rhetoric.

Yulia Svyrydenko, the prime minister of Ukraine, also took umbrage at the comment. Yes, Europes defence is powered by Ukrainian housewives, she said, using the hashtag #MadeByHousewives  which has gone viral since the Rheinmetall interview.

Armin Papperger is the chief executive of Rheinmetall, which arms Europe - INA FASSBENDER/Getty Images

Alexander Kamyshin, an adviser to Mr Zelensky, added that Ukrainian women were great housewives, yet they have to work hard in the military factories. They deserve respect.

During his visits to arms factories in Ukraine, he said he had seen Ukrainian women working equally with men often enough.

The war of words is an embarrassment for Mr Papperger, who has been one of Ukraines closest supporters. His company has built tanks, mortar shells and huge quantities of 155mm artillery rounds for Kyiv.

His reference to housewives has also raised eyebrows because of the critical role women played in the Second World War, with nearly a million former housewives employed in weapons factories in Britain alone.

Mr Pappergers comments are likely to have irritated Friedrich Merz, the German chancellor. He is one of Europes most outspoken supporters of Kyiv and is also depending on Rheinmetall for a large expansion of the German armed forces.

Pledging to build Europes strongest conventional army, Mr Merz has passed historic debt reforms in Germany that allow potentially unlimited public spending on large defence projects.

Rheinmetall has been by far the biggest German beneficiary of that surge in contracts and funding opportunities. Mr Papperger has said he hopes to catch 300bn (260bn) in European defence deals by 2030.

Rheinmetall received such widespread criticism on social media for the comments that it issued a clarification on Sunday through its official X account, in which it insisted its chief executive respected Ukrainian innovation.

We have the utmost respect for the Ukrainian peoples immense efforts in defending themselves, the company said. Every single woman and man in Ukraine is making an immeasurable contribution.

As The Telegraph revealed in a recent profile, Mr Papperger is nicknamed the alpha-male animal of Germanys defence industry, with a highly traditional approach to the arms industry and a tendency towards boasting of his success.

Ukraines Magura V7 sea drone has a range of up to 900 miles - Efrem Lukatsky/AP

Rheinmetall, his 70bn company, is considered so crucial to the Ukrainian war effort that Russia at one point hatched a plot to assassinate him.

Left-wing extremists also targeted his summer home in April 2024, launching an arson attack in revenge for his support for the Ukrainian army.

An anonymous social media statement announcing the attack referred to various old types of tanks that could now be sold to Ukraine with ammunition and at a hefty profit.

As arguably Germanys most high-profile defence figure, Mr Pappeger is divisive in his own industry among colleagues.

One German defence source said: On a positive note, he proactively analyses problems and pushes the solution, and hes an expert on external communication.

The negatives are [boastful] communication. Theres also this sense that he enjoys the success of his company more than [he sees] the falling apart of the world as a problem.

So is he a good guy? No. Might he be exactly the right guy these days? Could very well be.
Tenants protesting outside the Trongate 103 building. Photograph: Kirsty Anderson (Photograph: Kirsty Anderson)

Tenants at one of Glasgows leading cultural hubs are battling what they describe as unsustainable rent increases, with critics describing the landlord responsible as a rogue agency imposing similar rises on vulnerable organisations across the city.

With tenants expected to sign new leases or receive notices to quit last week, hundreds of protesters gathered outside the offices of City Property last Friday. The demonstration reflects growing concern about the conduct and accountability of the arms-length organisation that manages hundreds of buildings on behalf of Glasgow city council.

At first ministers questions in Holyrood last Wednesday, Scotlands first minister, John Swinney was told City Property is out of control.

The Scottish Labour MSP for Glasgow, Paul Sweeney, asked Swinney to intervene urgently to prevent City Property from forcing out the seven tenants at the Trongate 103 cultural hub with 700,000 a year extra costs that are four times previous rent, and 10 times service charges.

The Trongate building, renovated in 2009 with 8m of public investment to create a sustainable grassroots arts community, is home to leading cultural organisations including Transmission Gallery, Street Level Photography and Glasgow Print Studio.

City Property has vehemently denied it is evicting people, stressing that the notices to quit are standard process in lease renewal and that the new rents are still significantly cheaper than commercial terms.

Trongate 103 tenants wrote to the Scottish governments cabinet secretary for culture, Angus Robertson, and all MSPs, saying the current trajectory risks dismantling one of Glasgows most important cultural assets.

Mark Langdon, the chair of Glasgow Media Access Centre, which has moved out to a nearby community centre, said: After 17 years in the building we were given only four weeks to decide. We feel our experience has been coercive and unfair, and very far from the values of diversity and community that City Property champions on their website.

A spokesperson for the agency said: City Property are continuing to discuss new leases with the tenants of 103 Trongate on sustainable and acceptable terms for both parties. It is City Propertys firm intention to work with all tenants to secure their long-term occupation of 103 Trongate. These discussions are being conducted in a fair, reasonable and professional manner by both parties.

Glasgow Print Studio said it had been in effect forced to sign an interim monthly lease to maintain our operations but made clear to City Property it was doing so under duress and without accepting the unsustainable increases to rent and uncapped service charge.

But other organisations in Glasgow describe a different experience. Turning Point Scotland (TPS), a leading provider of social care services to the city, is in dispute with City Property over 805,000 dilapidation charges after it moved out of a property. Turning Point says it had spent 1m on building repairs.

Chris Wallace, who works as a consultant for TPS, said: City Property likes to say this is a negotiation. The council says its a commercial dispute and wont get involved.

City Property said it was unable to comment on ongoing matters but had acted in accordance with our respective procedure, the lease provisions and have been guided professional standards.

Wallace told the Guardian he was aware of other cases in which charity tenants had faced unsustainable rent increases or service charges from City Property, but that they were unwilling to come forward because of ongoing lease disputes.

This is a rogue agency running amok in the city, banking that tenants dont want to fall out with the council. Because City Property are an arms-length organisation, they seem to avoid scrutiny and dont recognise any duty of public value that the council certainly has.

Another well-known charity, which rents several properties from City Property, told the Guardian on condition of anonymity: Im worried that if they get away with this they will roll it out to even more vulnerable organisations. Their maintenance of properties has been a complete shambles but theres no accountability for an arms-length organisation.

City Property denied what it described as baseless claims, pointing out that it is fully accountable to and scrutinised by its Board which comprises both elected members and senior officers of Glasgow city council.

City Property fully complies with Glasgow city councils concessionary rent policy and will continue to do so. The maintenance of our properties is professionally managed within the terms of the leases, and where we recover these costs from tenants, this is a transparent and regulated process, a spokesperson said.

The Scottish Greens are bringing a motion to the city council next week calling for greater collective intervention to support Trongate 103 tenants and better oversight for arms-length organisations such as City Property.

The Scottish Greens councillor and deputy provost, Christy Mearns, said: Although the Councils landlord, City Property, are doing what they were set up to do when the then-Labour administration passed the councils commercial properties to them, Trongate 103 should never have been passed over as a purely commercial asset, as the organisations within it are not commercial by their very nature and nor should they be.

Sweeney also called for greater oversight. This is a public agency that should have the public interest at its core, he said. After the disaster that we witnessed in Union Street [the recent fire that gutted a historic Victorian building], it adds to the sense that there is no coherence driving the care of Glasgow city centre.

A Glasgow city council spokesperson said: Our understanding is that the discussions on the new leases for spaces at Trongate 103 are ongoing, and that these are taking place in a reasonable way between all concerned.
Angela Lipps said her arrest was carried out in front of her four grandchildren who she was babysitting - GoFundMe

A grandmother was jailed for five months after police erroneously used AI to link her to bank fraud in a US state she had never been to.

Angela Lipps was extradited from her home in Tennessee to Fargo, North Dakota, on July 14 after being wrongly identified by facial recognition technology.

Ms Lipps, 50, had never been on a plane before when she was flown to the Fargo Police Department, 1,000 miles away from her home.

The West Fargo Police Department said it had made a few errors but did not issue an apology to Ms Lipps.

A spokesperson for the force said it used Clearview AI, which searches billions of photos scraped from the internet and social media and identified a potential suspect with similar features to Angela Lipps.

On July 1, a judge in North Dakota signed a warrant for Ms Lipps arrest, with nationwide extradition.

After spending three months in a Tennessee jail, she was finally extradited to Fargo.

Lipps had never been on a plane before being transported to Fargo

According to a GoFundMe page set up to help Ms Lipps get back on her feet, by that point she was terrified and exhausted and humiliated.

The flight to North Dakota was the first time I had ever been on an aeroplane, she said.

Ms Lipps was facing charges of theft and using someone elses identity or personal information, but in December, a court dismissed the case.

David Zibolski, the former chief of Fargo police department after retiring last week, said in a statement: At some point, our partner agency over at West Fargo purchased their own AI facial recognition system that we were not aware of at the executive level.

He added that we would not have allowed that to be used, and it has since been prohibited.

Ms Lipps fundraising page has now raised $72,000 of the $75,000 target to help pay her bills while she was in custody.

In a post on Sunday, the Funds organiser Michael Nessa said Ms Lipps was overwhelmed with gratitude toward each and every person who had donated to her.

In a previous post, Mr Nessa had warned: If this could happen to her, it could happen to anyone.

Clearview AI was contacted for comment.
Safe space? Travelodge hotel in central London (Simon Calder)

The shocking case of a woman sexually assaulted in a Travelodge by an attacker who was handed a key to her room has drawn attention to serious lapses in hotel security.

The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was staying at the hotel in Maidenhead, Berkshire. The attacker, Kylan Smith, told reception staff he was her boyfriend and was given a keycard enabling him to carry out the assault.

He was jailed in February for seven-and-a-half years following the attack. Initially, the survivor was offered a 30 refund.

Travelodge has promised to improve its procedures. But how can it have happened, and what other risks are there?

Was this an isolated event?

Sadly, not. The Travelodge chief executive, Jo Boydell, told Good Morning Britain: Weve certainly heard of other instances, different to this one, in terms of not keys being obtained by deception, but instances of somebody entering a customers room that they havent given explicit permission to.

Natalie Wilson, senior travel writer for The Independent, said: I think its very scary and seriously concerning, especially as a woman that travels solo. I think peoples main concern with hotels isnt the amenities  it is safety.

Each hotel seems to operate differently. I stayed in one in Cardiff where youre not given a key at all; someone lets you in and out of your room every time you come and go through reception. A friend of mine, who I was expecting, just said my name at reception and the guy opened the door with a key and then she was in my room. I was very surprised to see her.

When a guest checks into a hotel, they have to accept that they are sharing the property with a random selection of humanity. But every hotel guest has the right to expect privacy and safety in their room.

A minimum level of security at any hotel should be to verify that the room occupant is expecting a guest, by calling the room or going to knock on the door. Limiting room keys to people listed on the booking who can provide ID would be another valuable option.

How common are these issues?

In a high-pressure, customer-facing environment, they happen more often than anyone would like. In each of the last two years, I have checked into a hotel and been given a key to a room that was already occupied.

On the first occasion, in Berlin in 2024, I let myself into room 509 to find a rumpled bed, casually strewn towels and half-consumed bottles. The guests were out, fortunately, and I was assigned a different room.

Late in 2025, at a chain hotel in Manchester, I was given the key for a room that was already occupied. The gentleman who was staying there was surprised and furious when I unlocked the door  but he had put the bar across the door.

On each of these misassignments the hotel has been particularly busy, with staff under pressure. In Manchester, the hotel turned out to be overbooked and I was sent to another property across the city. But this being the 21st century, its surprising that hotel systems can allow a key to be issued to two different people with different bookings.

Why are hotels seemingly lax in their procedures?

There is a fundamental contradiction between maximising security and the hospitality industry. Hotel staff have a difficult tightrope to walk. They naturally want to be accessible to guests, and they want to provide friendly and friction-free hospitality.

Hotels are by their nature transient, with sometimes hundreds of people coming and going every day. No one knows who exactly is a guest.

When I am out and about in a city I will sometimes pop into the public area of a hotel to use the wifi or the loo; I am always impressed when challenged, in a friendly way, to explain what I am doing there.

In my experience, the posher of the hotel, the more emphasis is put on discreet security: personnel will be stationed at the public entrances, the CCTV images of who is coming and going will be constantly monitored. There is a counter view, which is that five-star hotels are very concerned not to upset their guests and so may not be as inquisitive as they might be.

What security procedures should guests follow?

Use whatever precautions are available: a door chain or bar to stop the door being opened very far, and a deadlock if there is one. Otherwise  and this is particularly useful when travelling alone  a cheap rubber door wedge. They cost about 3 and constitute a valuable line of defence.

Bear in mind that criminals can sometimes pretend to be hotel staff. If you get an unexpected knock on the door, call reception to verify the persons identity.

More widely, fire remains a risk. As soon as you check in, check out the route from your room to the fire escape.

Is theft a problem in hotels?

Yes. Thieves may wander unchallenged into public areas and steal from guests  even grabbing bags as guests are checking in at reception.

There is also the problem of stealing from rooms that are occupied but where the guest is out. This can be as rudimentary as someone asking a housekeeper: Oh Im in room 219 and Ive left my key inside. Can you let me in, please? Almost every time such requests will be genuine, but conscientious staff should make checks.

In addition, you should not put all your trust in the hotel safe; as a basic principle never travel with something you cant afford to lose.

Any improvements in sight?

Facial recognition has a part to play in both accelerating the check-in process and improving security.

Read more: My joyful stay in the amazing House of Tugu in Jakarta, Indonesia
Dakota Johnson once lost a role after being branded pompous and cocky for shaking hands during an audition.

Dakota Johnson once lost a role after being branded pompous and cocky for shaking hands during an audition

The Fifty Shades of Grey actress, 36, said the incident happened during a callback early in her career, when she entered the room and greeted the creative team before performing her scene.

Speaking on Hits Radio while promoting the UK release of her new movie Splitsville, Dakota described how the feedback she later received criticised what she believed was simple politeness.

Dakota said: I had an audition once, and it was a callback, and I went into the room, and I shook everyones hand and introduced myself.

Then I did the scene, and I left. The feedback I got was that because I had gone and introduced myself and shook everyones hand is that I was pompous.

That I was schmoozing, and I was full of myself, and I was like, What?

I didnt get the job because they said that I was being cocky, but I just had manners it was pretty crazy.

Dakota stars in and produced the dark comedy through TeaTime Pictures, the production company she co-founded with Ro Donnelly.

The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival before opening in the US in late August and is now playing in UK cinemas, with streaming availability in the US on Hulu.

It is directed by Michael Angelo Covino and co-written by Kyle Marvin, with Adria Arjona among the cast.

Dakota has also spoken about her motivations for launching her own production company.

She told Variety in Cannes in 2025: So much of why I wanted to start a production company and make my own movies is because I want more from this industry. I want more from my experience as an artist.

I felt so thirsty for more conversation and more creativity and more collaboration. I found myself as an actor, a few times, showing up to the premiere of a movie to see it the first time and saying, Woah. That is not what I thought we were making.

That is such a weird thing to do.

Splitsville centres on two couples whose relationships are disrupted when the husband of a divorcing couple sleeps with the wife of a couple in an open marriage.

Dakota described the happy working environment on the film, saying: The way that we build our sets is really vibe based. Energy based. Its very much a no a**hole policy.

The other thing is that we really ensure that every person on the crew knows what we are making, so everybody feels a part of it.

Working in movies the hours are long and its grueling. Its not comfortable. Its not nice.

When you feel like youre genuinely invested in something, people are happier and they work better.
The Iran-backed Houthis are a militant group based in Yemen and have an estimated 20,000 fighters. Composite: Reuters (Composite: Reuters)

The Houthis are a militant group that emerged from a years-long civil war in Yemen as the countrys most powerful political force, able to disrupt international trade thanks to their proximity to a key shipping corridor at the entrance of the Red Sea.

The group, which has an estimated 20,000 fighters, represents the Zaidi branch of Shia Islam. The Houthis first began gaining mass support around the turn of the century from Shia Yemenis fed up with corruption and authoritarian leaders.

The Houthis captured the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, in 2014 and a year later overthrew the western-backed president, Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi. Hadi was forced to flee, but his allies in Saudi Arabia and the UAE launched a military campaign, also backed by the west, to drive out the Houthis.

The ensuing civil war led to an estimated 377,000 deaths and displaced 4 million people by the end of 2021. The UN brokered a 2022 truce between the warring sides in Yemen that has largely held.

As a part of Irans axis of resistance, the Houthis began targeting international shipping in the Red Sea after the 7 October 2023 attack on Israel by Hamas, which triggered the Israeli military campaign in Gaza. The Houthis campaign in the Red Sea  a major thoroughfare for world trade  brought chaos to global supply chains.

The Houthis ceased their attacks after a US-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in October 2025.

While the US says Iran has armed, funded and trained the Houthis, the group denies being an Iranian proxy, but say they share a political affinity. The group was largely silent in the early weeks of the US-Israel war on Iran, but on 28 March fired missiles at Israel, vowing to continue military operations until Israel ceases its attacks and aggression.
Millions of Americans this week got an up-close view at Donald Trumps strongman impulse to use law enforcement officers and the military to solve his political problems.

The president  after months of violence and chaos in American cities  is cynically leveraging the idea of armed Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers inside more than a dozen major airports to pressure Democrats to vote for his agenda.

Instead, ICE officers have largely been seen standing around, leaning on barricades, talking and texting on phones, and staring at long security lines that they cant move any faster.

Its the latest of his largely performative deployments and politically motivated posturing to force Democratic officials to comply with his administration while also unleashing violent and sometimes lethal force against citizens and immigrants alike.

Whether its surging ICE and Border Patrol into Minneapolis or calling on the National Guard to pick up litter in the nations capital, Trump routinely treats federal law enforcement and a federalized military as his own personal army, or what a federal judge last year called a national police force with the president as its chief.

Trump has deployed ICE agents into more than a dozen airports during a partial government shutdown that has left TSA workers unpaid for more than a month (AP)

Democratic officials and civil rights groups have accused the president of manufacturing crisis after crisis to justify boots on the ground in their states and cities, then declaring victory when theyre inevitably pulled out to go somewhere else and leaving terrorized communities in their wake.

Trump, unmoored from any close advisers willing to argue against his impulses in his second term, is doing what he tried to do in his first, when he allegedly urged cops to crack skulls and beat the f*** out of protesters, or just shoot them instead.

Thousands of immigrants were arrested in the Minnesota surge while the president used allegations of widespread fraud as a pretext for what officials there called an ongoing invasion, while none of those arrests were linked to those initial fraud cases. ICE and Border Patrol agents killed two people, and another person died in custody, adding to an in-custody death toll under ICE that is already on track to be the deadliest administration in decades.

Roughly 2,500 National Guard troops were pulled out of their states to patrol Washington, D.C., to address what Trump called an epidemic of crime, but members of Congress cannot point to tangible crime reduction successes specifically tied to their efforts. The Congressional Budget Office estimated that domestic troop deployments across the country last year cost nearly half a billion dollars.

And desperate to end a partial government shutdown that kicked off after Democratic lawmakers refused to pump more funding into Homeland Security without any guardrails against future violence and warrantless arrests, Trump deployed ICE officers to at least 14 airports where travelers are facing hours-long wait times to get through security.

Twice within the same week, Trump also floated sending National Guard troops into airports next.

Sending armed federal agents inside airports appears to be the presidents latest attempt to leverage threats of force to solve what he sees as an urgent political crisis (REUTERS)

The White House insists that ICE officers are helping, by handing out water, holding passengers spots in security lines and in one case helping with an emergency involving an infant (Getty Images)

The White House insists ICE is making a dent, whether officers are handing out water or holding travelers spots in security lines so they can use the bathroom. Press secretary Karoline Leavitt said one officer jumped into action and restored an infants breathing who was unresponsive inside John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York.

ICE officers were seen checking identification at security terminals in several airports and waving them through checkpoints, though its unclear whether their efforts are speeding up the lines. A spokesperson for Homeland Security said officers received standard TSA training curriculum to help.

Trump didnt seem to know exactly what theyll be doing, suggesting on Monday that theyre making immigration arrests and providing security like no one has ever seen before and then thanking them two days later for helping people with bags and picking up and cleaning areas with their much larger, and harder, muscles.

But Transportation and Security Administration agents say ICE cant do their jobs, which have been unpaid for more than a month during the DHS shutdown. Even TSA workers dont seem to know what ICE is actually doing there other than getting paid to be ICE.

Theyre the reason that were not getting paid, one worker unloaded to New York magazine.

A tweet went out and the next day theyre at the airport walking around sipping coffees, holding on to their vest, they wrote. They arrived on Monday, and now theyre hanging out in the break room doing nothing. Theyre warming up their lunch. I dont know what youre hungry from  you didnt do anything!

ICEs presence instead appears to be a warning to Democrats and Republicans who wont break up a filibuster to get his agenda through Congress: Fund DHS and pass a sweeping election law that also targets transgender Americans, or deal with them.

The Democrat shutdown has created chaos for American travelers and TSA employees alike, White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson told The Independent.

Our great ICE officers are always ready to step in and help the American people when needed, she said. President Trumps brilliant idea to send ICE to airports has helped make the travel process smoother for travelers and provided much-needed relief to TSA employees who the Democrats have forced to work without pay for so long.

Agents have been reported standing around in groups, using their phones, and not making a dent in the hours-long security lines plaguing the nations busiest airports (REUTERS)

Trump said the officers would be making immigration arrests and providing security like no one has ever seen before but later thanked them for helping people with bags and picking up and cleaning areas with their much larger, and harder, muscles (Getty Images)

After repeatedly rejecting Democratic proposals that would separately fund TSA while hashing out plans for the rest of DHS, Republicans were reportedly pushing the White House for a state of emergency in a desperate bid to bail themselves out of the process altogether.

Trump said Thursday night he would sign an order to immediately pay TSA agents, and hours later, in the dead of night, the Senate passed a measure to fund DHS  leaving ICE and Border Patrol out of the picture, for now. This could have been done three weeks ago, Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said.

House Republican leaders immediately rejected the deal, and the Senate is in recess for two weeks through Easter.

Former ICE lawyer-turned-whistleblower Ryan Schwank warned that ICE officers are outside their experience.

Not only does this place these agents into unfamiliar roles, it forces the public to submit to a criminal checkpoint system if they wish to exercise their freedom of travel, he said. At best, this forces Americans to accept the same kind of checkpoint systems once used in the Soviet Union and East Germany. At worst, it could result in a violent confrontation between a tired traveler and an inexperienced agent.
A man examines damage at the site of a building hit by a US-Israeli strike in Tehran on Sunday. Photograph: Majid Saeedi/Getty Images (Photograph: Majid Saeedi/Getty Images)

Iran has warned the US that it is prepared to confront any ground assault, accusing Washington of secretly planning a land attack while publicly seeking talks, as the war that has killed thousands of people and caused the biggest ever disruption to global energy supplies entered its second month.

In a message published to mark 30 days since the start of the war, the Iranian parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said: The enemy signals negotiation in public, while in secret it plots a ground attack.

Our firing continues, Ghalibaf said. Our missiles are in place. Our determination and faith have increased. He said Iranian forces were waiting for the arrival of American troops on the ground to set them on fire and punish their regional partners for ever.

In an interview published on Sunday night, Donald Trump did little to assuage those concerns, telling the Financial Times that his preference would be to take the oil in Iran, and saying of Irans crucial export hub on Kharg island: We could take it very easily.

The newspaper also quoted Trump as stressing that, despite his threats to seize Iranian oil production, indirect US-Iran talks via Pakistani emissaries were progressing well.

Asked whether a ceasefire deal could be reached in the coming days that would reopen the vital strait of Hormuz, Trump declined to offer specific details, saying: Weve got about 3,000 targets left  weve bombed 13,000 targets  and another couple of thousand targets to go. A deal could be made fairly quickly.

As efforts to find a negotiated conclusion to hostilities inched forward with a meeting of regional powers in Pakistan, there were signs of further escalation over the weekend as Yemens Iran-backed Houthis entered the conflict for the first time and the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said his country was widening its invasion of southern Lebanon.

The Israeli air force later said it had intercepted two unmanned aerial vehicles launched from Yemen, and the UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon (Unifil) said a peacekeeper was killed when a projectile exploded at one of its positions near the southern Lebanese village of Adchit al-Qusayr on Sunday.

Another peacekeeper was critically injured, Unifil said early on Monday. We do not know the origin of the projectile. We have launched an investigation to determine all of the circumstances, it added in the statement.

The Pentagon is preparing for weeks of ground operations in Iran, US officials have told the Washington Post, as thousands of American soldiers and marines arrive in the Middle East.

Any US ground operation would probably stop short of a full-scale invasion, instead relying on raids by special operations forces and conventional infantry, according to reports on contingency planning. But even a limited mission could expose American troops to Iranian drones, missiles, ground fire and improvised explosives.

Among the options reportedly being discussed are the seizure of Kharg Island, Irans main oil export hub, and raids on coastal sites near the strait of Hormuz to destroy weapons threatening commercial and military shipping. Axios and the Wall Street Journal have reported that the Pentagon is also considering sending another 10,000 troops to the region, alongside a broader bombing campaign.

The White House has sent mixed signals, alternating between talk of de-escalation and threats of a wider war. Karoline Leavitt, the press secretary, said Pentagon planning was intended to give Trump maximum optionality, not to signal a final decision. The Post said whether Trump would approve plans for deploying ground troops remained uncertain.

Trump said on Sunday that the US-Israel war had achieved regime change in Iran, even as he assured that he would make a deal with the Iranians. I think well make a deal with them, pretty sure  but weve had regime change, Trump told reporters on Air Force One, citing the number of Iranian leaders killed in the month-long war.

He said: Were dealing with different people than anybodys dealt with before. Its a whole different group of people. So I would consider that regime change.

Photos published on Sunday showed a US command and control aircraft that had been destroyed at an airbase in Saudi Arabia. On Friday a US official told Reuters that 12 US personnel had been wounded in an Iranian military attack on the base.

In an apparent rebuke of the Trump administration on Sunday, Pope Leo said God ignored the prayers of leaders who waged war and had hands full of blood. The pontiff made the comments days after the US defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, prayed for violence against enemies who deserved no mercy.

Related: Israeli strikes and US troop buildup put Pakistans peacemaker role under pressure

The war that began on 28 February shows no sign of de-escalation despite renewed diplomatic efforts. Pakistan, seen as a potential mediator between Washington and Tehran, hosted a four-way meeting with Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt on Sunday, a day after the Pakistani prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, spoke with the Iranian president, Masoud Pezeshkian.

Pakistans foreign minister, Ishaq Dar, said on Sunday evening that Pakistan would soon host talks between the US and Iran.

Pakistan is very happy that both Iran and the US have expressed their confidence in Pakistans facilitation, Dar said in a televised speech, adding that the talks would take place in the coming days.

There was no immediate confirmation from the US or Iran.

Last week the US presented Iran with a 15-point ceasefire proposal, including reopening the strait of Hormuz and curbs on Irans nuclear programme, but Tehran has rejected the plan and offered alternatives. Tehran has refused to admit to holding official talks with Washington but has passed a response to the 15-point plan via Islamabad, according to an anonymous source cited by the Iranian Tasnim news agency.

The Houthis claimed two missile launches at Israel on Saturday, their first attacks on Israel since the start of the conflict. The group poses a potential new threat to global shipping if it again targets vessels in the Bab el-Mandeb strait off the Red Sea, through which about 12% of the worlds oil trade typically passes. A shutdown of the strait would amplify the already grave impact of the war on the global economy, and could also reignite a Saudi-Yemen conflict that caused huge humanitarian suffering for seven years before a 2022 truce.

Since the US-Israeli attack on Iran on 28 February, Saudi Arabia has been able to divert some of its oil exports by pipeline to the Red Sea. Saudi commentators have said that if this route is also threatened, Riyadh could enter the war directly.

Farea Al-Muslimi, a research fellow in the Middle East and north Africa programme at Chatham House, said: The decision by the Houthis to join the broader Middle East conflict marks a serious and deeply concerning escalation. The potential impact on key commercial maritime routes, especially in the Red Sea and the Bab al-Mandab strait, cannot be overstated. At the same time, vital economic and military infrastructure across the Gulf region may become increasingly exposed.

Israels military has continued its relentless air assault on Iran, saying on Sunday its forces targeted Tehrans weapons manufacturing infrastructure, including dozens of storage and production sites, the day before.

Five people were killed in a strike on a pier in the southern Iranian port of Bandar-e-Khamir, which also destroyed two vessels, state media reported. In Tehran, a building housing Qatars Al Araby TV was hit and there were power outages in the east of the city.

Netanyahu announced that Israel would widen its invasion of southern Lebanon, as Israeli forces continue to target the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group.

In Lebanon, I have just ordered the military to further expand the existing security zone, Netanyahu said in a video statement. This is intended to definitively neutralise the threat of invasion [by Hezbollah militants] and to keep anti-tank missile fire away from the border.

On the ground in Lebanon, a funeral was held on Sunday for three journalists killed in an Israeli strike the day before. Officials say more than 1,100 people have been killed in the fighting in Lebanon since the Iran war began.

The UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon (Unifil) said a peacekeeper was killed when a projectile exploded at one of its positions near the southern Lebanese village of Adchit al-Qusayr on Sunday.

Another peacekeeper was critically injured, it said in a statement. We do not know the origin of the projectile. We have launched an investigation to determine all of the circumstances, Unifil added.

An Iranian missile sparked a fire in the Neot Hovav industrial zone near Beersheba in Israel, and officials were assessing the risk of a hazardous materials leak and urging the public to stay away. Adama, a maker of active ingredients and crop protection materials, said its Makhteshim plant was hit.

The IDF said on Sunday evening that the impact may have been caused by missile shrapnel. Soroka hospital in Beersheba said it had treated six people who were lightly injured in the attack.

Reuters contributed to this report
Irans destruction of a critical American spy plane has raised concerns among military analysts who fear the damage could impact U.S. abilities to spot incoming threats.

Images of the wrecked U.S. Air Force E-3 Sentry aircraft show a broken tail that appears to have been severed entirely from the body of the plane.

The Boeing aircraft  a key part of the militarys airborne warning and control system, or AWACS  is capable of tracking hundreds of targets at a time while monitoring thousands of square miles. The plane itself serves as an airborne command post with a distinctive rotating radar dome above the fuselage.

Images of the planes destruction surfaced over the weekend following a strike on a Saudi Arabia air base on March 27. Several U.S. service members were injured in the attack.

The loss of one in a fleet of 17 AWACS amounts to a a serious blow to American surveillance capabilities, according to CNN military analyst Cedric Leighton, a former Air Force colonel who has flown on the aircraft.

Images show a significantly damaged US Air Force E-3 Sentry aircraft after an Iranian strike on a Saudi Arabian air base on March 27 (SOCIAL MEDIA via REUTERS)

That fleet has effectively been reduced to 16 E-3 Sentry aircraft, six of which were stationed at Prince Sultan air base prior to Fridays attack, according to Air & Space Forces Magazine.

The planes are critical battle managers analyzing airspace for attacks and other lethal effects that the entire force needs for the battle space, according to former F-16 pilot Heather Penney, director of studies and research at the Air & Space Forces Associations Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies.

The aircraft, in essence, see the bigger picture, she said.

Theyre the chessmaster, while [fighter pilots] are the bishops, she told the magazine.

Losing one among 17 Sentry planes could create significant gaps in coverage, according to experts.

Iran is gradually eating away at the network of early warning systems that the U.S. has built over decades in the region, Andreas Krieg, a senior lecturer at Kings College Londons School of Security Studies, told NBC News.

Their destruction further degrades the overall monitoring capability of the U.S., he said.

The Independent has requested comment from the Pentagon and U.S. Central Command.

The loss of one among 17 E-3 aircrafts could significantly degrade the US militarys ability to monitor incoming threats, according to experts (SOCIAL MEDIA via REUTERS)

Retired U.S. Army Lt. Col. Daniel Davis, a Bronze Star recipient who served for 21 years, told NBC News that were not doing OK at all.

Davis, a senior fellow and military expert at Defense Priorities, a Washington-based think tank, said the U.S. is not militarily prepared for this to be a sustained war.

There were too many in the administration that thought this was going to be a quick and easy thing, he added, noting that Iran still has plenty of missiles to keep going at a sustained rate.

If weve had this much trouble with what was considered a militarily inferior Iran, what does anybody think would happen if we had to fight on the ground, in the sea and in the air against a Russia or a China? he told the network.

An E-3 Sentry, pictured flying over New Mexico in an undated photo from the Air Force, serves as a critical airborne warning and control system aircraft that provides all-weather surveillance, command, control and communications in a battlespace (Getty Images)

CENTCOM commander Adm. Brad Cooper said last week that Irans missile and drone launches were down by more than 90 percent since the start of the U.S. war on February 28, but Iran remains capable of launching attacks that can impact critical sites and vessels, even with an allegedly diminished supply, according to experts.

More than 300 American service members have been injured since the beginning of the attacks last month, and at least 13 service members have been killed. Roughly 20 U.S. aircraft have been damaged.

President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly vacillated between military threats and claims of diplomatic progress, threatened again Monday to completely destroy Irans key oil export hub Kharg Island as well as other energy sites if the nation did not agree to lift a blockade of the Strait of Hormuz and pursue a peace deal.

The administration is also reportedly weighing a potentially risky ground operation to seize uranium from deep inside Iran, marking a major escalation of the war.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that the U.S. will operate within the confines of the law when questioned about the presidents threats to destroy electricity plants and desalination plants  civilian infrastructure that could amount to war crimes under international law, if targeted.

Of course this administration and the United States armed forces will always act within the confines of the law, Leavitt added. But with respect to achieving the full objectives of Operation Epic Fury, President Trump is going to move forward unabated, and he expects the Iranian regime to make a deal with the administration.
Smoke rises following an Israeli air strike in Dahiyeh, in Beiruts southern suburbs - Hassan Ammar/AP

Israel plans to flatten entire areas of southern Lebanon and uproot forests to defeat Hezbollah, government figures have warned.

Troops from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have reached the Litani River, several miles from the Israeli border, and look set to establish a sterile security zone that could last for years.

The ground operation started in the early days of the Iran war, after Hezbollah began firing rockets and drones into Israel for the first time in 16 months.

About one million civilians are now displaced in Lebanon, the majority from the south and parts of Beirut, areas subjected to heavy Israeli air strikes.

This weekend, Benjamin Netanyahu spoke openly about creating a security buffer zone.

An Israeli security cabinet minister, speaking anonymously, said: The Israeli manoeuvre is designed to purge all of southern Lebanon of weapons up to the Litani River.

The plan is to flatten the entire area of the villages, the forests and the vegetation  and to remain in controlling positions and not to leave them.

Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel will widen its invasion of southern Lebanon - Alexi Rosenfeld/Getty Images

The comments came after a defence official said the army could remain in southern Lebanon for years.

If confirmed, the tactics appear to echo the later stages of the Gaza war, when Israel increasingly demolished entire neighbourhoods in its battle to eradicate Hamas.

Israeli troops crossed into Lebanon to shut down any risk of Hezbollah fighters raiding Israeli communities, and to prevent them from firing anti-tank missiles and mortars into Israel.

However, most of the rockets and drones are launched from north of the Litani, meaning the buffer zone is unlikely to protect citizens in Israel in Israel.

Six soldiers have been killed in the operation to seize the territory from Hezbollah, including 19-year-old Sgt Liran Ben Zion, who died on Sunday when an anti-tank missile struck his tank, also seriously wounding an officer.

Israel has carried out extensive air strikes on south Beirut - IBRAHIM AMRO/AFP via Getty Images

Despite being routed by the IDF in 2024, through a mixture of the exploding pager attack, air strikes on the leadership and a ground incursion, Hezbollah has reconstituted as an effective guerrilla force.

It is able to ambush troops, particularly tanks, from concealed positions in the rubble of previously bombed villages, giving the IDF virtually no time to react when attacked with missiles and mortars.

The IDF has destroyed bridges across the Litani to prevent Hezbollah resupplying its fighters.

Israel withdrew from southern Lebanon towards the end of 2024 under the terms of a US-brokered ceasefire that obliged the Lebanese armed forces to disarm the Iran-backed terror group.

The IDF said that while some efforts had been made, they had largely failed.

Mr Netanyahus government is lobbying Donald Trump to exclude the Lebanese battle from any ceasefire with Iran.

It is determined to avoid evacuating citizens from the north of Israel, following a nearly 18-month evacuation after the attacks of Oct 7, 2023.

Earlier this month, the Lebanese government declared Irans ambassador to the country persona non grata.

However, in a signal that Tehran is determined to maintain its influence in the Levant, Esmaeil Baqaei, the foreign ministry spokesman, said on Monday that the official would remain in Beirut.
Israel's parliament approved a bill on Monday that would allow the execution of Palestinians convicted on terror charges for deadly attacks, a move that has been criticised as discriminatory and immediately drew a court challenge.

Sixty-two lawmakers, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, voted in favour and 48 against the bill, championed by far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir.

There was one abstention and the rest of the lawmakers were not present.

Ben Gvir in the run-up to the vote had worn a lapel pin in the shape of a noose, symbolising his support for the legislation.

"We made history!!! We promised. We delivered," he posted on X after the vote.

The bill would make the death penalty the default punishment for Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank found guilty of intentionally carrying out deadly attacks deemed "acts of terrorism" by an Israeli military court.

The bill says that the sentence may be reduced to life imprisonment under "special circumstances".

Palestinians in the West Bank are automatically tried in Israeli military courts.

Meanwhile, under the bill, in Israeli criminal courts anyone "who intentionally causes the death of a person with the aim of harming an Israeli citizen or resident out of an intention to put an end to the existence of the State of Israel shall be sentenced to death or life imprisonment".

Criminal courts try Israeli nationals, including Palestinian citizens and residents of east Jerusalem.

The bill sets the execution method as hanging, adding that it should be carried out within 90 days of the sentencing, with a possible postponement of up to 180 days.

'Parallel tracks'

The bill appears to conflict with Israel's Basic Laws, which prohibit arbitrary discrimination, and shortly after it was passed, a leading human rights group announced that it had filed a petition with the Supreme Court demanding the legislation's annulment.

"The law creates two parallel tracks, both designed to apply to Palestinians," the Association for Civil Rights in Israel said in a statement.

"In military courts  which have jurisdiction over West Bank Palestinians  it establishes a near-mandatory death sentence," the rights group said.

In civilian courts, the law's stipulation that defendants must have acted "with the aim of negating the existence" of Israel "structurally excludes Jewish perpetrators", the group added.

The association argued the law should be annulled on both jurisdictional and constitutional grounds.

During the debate in parliament, opposition lawmaker and former deputy Mossad director, Ram Ben Barak, expressed outrage at the legislation.

"Do you understand what it means that there is one law for Arabs in Judea and Samaria, and a different law for the general public for which the State of Israel is responsible?" he asked fellow parliamentarians, using the Israeli name for the West Bank.

"It says that Hamas has defeated us. It has defeated us because we have lost all our values."

'Discriminatory application'

Lawmaker Limor Son Har-Melech from Ben Gvir's party, who years ago survived an attack by Palestinian militants in which her husband was killed, urged fellow parliamentarians to approve the bill.

"For years, we endured a cruel cycle of terror, imprisonment, release in reckless deals, and the return of these human monsters to murder Jews again ... And today, my friends, this cycle has come full circle."

The Palestinian Authority condemned the law's adoption, saying that "Israel has no sovereignty over Palestinian land".

"This law once again reveals the nature of the Israeli colonial system, which seeks to legitimise extrajudicial killing under legislative cover," it added.

In February, Amnesty International had urged Israeli lawmakers to reject the legislation, citing its "discriminatory application against Palestinians".

On Sunday, Britain, France, Germany and Italy expressed "deep concern" over the bill, which they said risked "undermining Israel's commitments with regards to democratic principles".

Read moreEuropean nations say Israels planned expansion of death penalty is a "grave step backwards"

While the death penalty exists for a small number of crimes in Israel, it has become a de facto abolitionist country  the Nazi Holocaust perpetrator Adolf Eichmann was the last person to be executed in 1962.

Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967 and violence there has soared since Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel triggered the Gaza war.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)
Israels parliament has passed a law imposing the death penalty on Palestinians convicted of fatal attacks, a measure sharply criticised as discriminatory by European countries and rights groups.

The legislation makes the death penalty the default punishment for Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank found guilty of intentionally carrying out deadly attacks deemed acts of terrorism by a military court.

According to the bill, those sentenced to death will be held in a separate facility with no visits except for from authorised personnel, with legal consultations conducted only by video link. Executions will be carried out within 90 days of sentencing.

Israel has rarely used the death penalty, applying it only in exceptional cases. The Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann was the last person to be executed, in 1962.

The national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, one of the bills strongest backers, has repeatedly worn a noose-shaped lapel pin, symbolising executions under the proposal. He described hanging as one of the options alongside the electric chair or euthanasia, claiming some doctors had offered to assist.

A security committee made some amendments to the bill, which last week passed its first vote. Israels public broadcaster KAN reported that executions would be carried out by hanging.

The measure will allow courts to impose the death penalty without a request from prosecutors and without requiring unanimity, instead permitting a simple majority decision. Military courts in the occupied West Bank will also be empowered to hand down death sentences, with the defence minister able to submit an opinion.

For Palestinians under occupation, the bill closes off avenues for appeal or clemency, while prisoners tried inside Israel could have their sentences commuted to life imprisonment.

The legislation, initiated by the far-right Otzma Yehudit party led by Ben-Gvir, has drawn sharp criticism from opponents who warned it would mark a significant escalation in Israels penal policy.

Military officials and ministries have said the bill could breach international law and expose Israeli personnel to arrest abroad.

Once enacted, the law formally enters into force but it can still be reviewed  and potentially struck down  by Israels supreme court.

Directly before voting began, Ben-Gvir made a bellowing speech from the podium, describing the law as long overdue and a sign of strength and national pride.

From today, every terrorist will know, and the whole world will know, that whoever takes a life, the state of Israel will take their life, he said.

When the measure passed, the chamber erupted into cheers and Ben-Gvir brandished a bottle in celebration. The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, who had come to the chamber to vote yes in person, sat motionless.

Israels leading rights groups decried the law as an act of institutionalised discrimination and racist violence against Palestinians. The Association for Civil Rights in Israel said it filed an appeal against the law with Israels supreme court.

The Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, condemned the legislation as a breach of international law and a doomed bid meant to intimidate Palestinians.

Such laws and measures will not break the will of the Palestinian people or undermine their steadfastness, his office said in a statement. Nor will they deter them from continuing their legitimate struggle for freedom, independence, and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.

Last month UN experts called on Israel to withdraw the bill, warning it would violate the right to life and discriminate against Palestinians in the occupied territories. They said the measure removed judicial discretion, preventing courts from weighing individual circumstances or imposing proportionate sentences. They said hanging constituted torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment under international law.

The EUs diplomatic service also condemned the proposal, saying capital punishment breached the right to life and risked violating the absolute prohibition on torture.

In February, Amnesty International urged Israeli lawmakers to reject the legislation, which it said would allow Israeli courts to expand their use of death sentences with discriminatory application against Palestinians.

On Sunday, Britain, France, Germany and Italy expressed deep concern over the legislation, which they said risked undermining Israels commitments with regards to democratic principles.
Ivanna Maszczak served seven years hard labour at the sub-arctic gulag in Magadan, Kolyma, as punishment for her involvement with the Ukrainian underground movement Photograph: none (Photograph: none)

My friend Ivanna Maszczak, who has died aged 100, survived a brutal seven-year spell in a Siberian labour camp in the late 1940s and early 50s before moving to the UK, where she made a new life for herself.

A native of Ukraine, Ivanna had fallen foul of the Soviet authorities when they discovered her support for Ukrainian independence. After serving her sentence and arriving in Britain during the mid-60s, she kept up her connections with Ukraine  and her support for its independence movement  via the Association of Ukrainians in Great Britain and worship at the Ukrainian Catholic cathedral in Mayfair, London.

Small and tough, she lived the whole of her life in the UK in a third-floor flat in Notting Hill, west London, working as a librarian. Over the years she became a local celebrity and a well-known face in the Ukrainian community in London.

Ivanna was born in the village of Krupets, to Osyp Przepiorski, a Greek Orthodox priest, and his wife, Iryna (nee Marenin), a teacher. She went to school in the nearby town of Sokal, and had a happy childhood in a creative family, surrounded by music, poetry, amateur dramatics and lively group discussions.

During the German occupation of Ukraine in the second world war she finished her education at the Ukrainian State Trade College in Sokal, where she graduated in 1943. During Soviet rule of the country she was forcibly resettled, in 1947, to the Olsztyn region of Poland.

It was there that she was arrested by the security forces in 1948 for collaborating with the Ukrainian underground movement. Sentenced to 10 years hard labour in the sub-arctic gulag at Magadan, Kolyma, 10,000km away, she endured torture and other unspeakable hardships across seven years before being released in 1955 after the death of Stalin.

In 1956 she began working in a library in the Polish town of Kentrzyn, and during that time completed a librarianship course at the Polish ministry of culture and arts in Gdynia. In 1965 she was able to visit a friend in London, and there was introduced to a fellow Ukrainian, Wolodomyr Maszczak, a newspaper administrator, who proposed to her five days after they met. She remained in London, where they married the same year.

Initially Ivanna worked in London as a clerk for Barclays Bank, before moving back to being a librarian at the Association of Ukrainians.

Once she retired, she began painting, and discovered she had a talent for it, creating beautiful, delicate scenes, including of traditional wooden churches from her homeland. She also wrote two volumes of memoirs, Roads from the Past (2010) and Love and Pain (2024).

Although she had endured great horror and pain, she never showed any self-pity, treating her extreme experiences as just one of those things that happened, and instead focusing on the joy of being alive. She was entirely herself, never bending to anyone elses will. Her dignity, warmth and wonderful sense of humour  you could joke with her about anything  won her friends of all ages.

Wolodomyr died in 2012. Ivanna is survived by two nieces.
Let's begin where Karoline Leavitt began: with God. Specifically, with a solemn prayer, shared between her and her staff members just offstage before she started todays Iran war-heavy press briefing by boasting about killing people who lie to Donald Trump.

"Could you hear our amen in there?" she asked White House reporters, as she walked out, which is not a question you usually expect from a government spokesperson in a constitutional democracy, but anyway. The Lord has entered the briefing room. He is, one gathers, extremely supportive of Operation Epic Fury. Its a name surely picked out from the Bible.

Yes, the regular briefings on the war thats always been a war but also isnt a war and has already been won but also is currently being negotiated get weirder by the week. Leavitt is sent out to repeatedly remind people that the regime chanted Death to America  as if that actually means anything of substance  and that the president always said the campaign would be over in four to six weeks. In response to a question about Iran war timelines today, 30 days since Israel and the United States started bombing Iran, she repeated the four to six weeks line and then told the reporter, triumphantly: You do the math.

To which one might reasonably reply: I did, and the bottom end of the timeline has expired. But fuzzy, subjective things like space and time have no place in this, Gods briefing room. What of the threat, asked another reporter, made by Donald Trump a few hours earlier on Truth Social, that he would destroy Iran entirely  including wiping out desalination plants for delivering clean water to the civilian population  if they didnt agree to all his demands at the negotiating table? Is wiping out civilian access to clean water not a war crime? Isnt it very, very illegal?

Irans best move is to make a deal because the US has capabilities beyond their wildest imagination, Leavitt responded. She then talked around legality in a way that seemed to suggest either Trumps threats are hollow or anything Trump chooses to do is, de facto, not illegal. When a clarifying follow-up question was asked, she refused to answer.

"Could you hear our amen in there?" White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt asked reporters Monday before she launched into an update on the Iran wars toll on the enemy, who, she said, are no longer on Planet Earth because they lied to the United States. (Getty Images)

What were we left with in terms of solid information about the next steps in Iran? Surprise, surprise: the president isnt ruling out ground troops. Iranian military leaders will get military consequences if they dont hold true to their words.

There are a lot of people, Leavitt said, with fixed eyes and a half-smile, who are no longer on Planet Earth because they lied to the United States and they strung us along. She seemed to like the phrasing, because she repeated it another couple of times later in the briefing for effect.

What about the economic turbulence caused by skyrocketing oil prices after the closing of the Strait of Hormuz? "Short-term fluctuations for long-term benefit." The military objectives in Iran? "The mission will continue until the objectives are achieved." The objectives themselves? Not specified. They wouldnt tell the media anyway, because then their enemies would know what they were planning  although one does suppose that with a leader this erratic, letting everyone in on the plan on Monday wouldnt guarantee any Iranian military getting worthwhile information by Tuesday afternoon.

There was a brief interlude during which Leavitt claimed that TSA agents werent getting paid because Democrats want millions and millions of illegal immigrants to pour across the border, preferably murderers and rapists and thugs if they can get them (I think this part was in Leviticus?)

Another strange aside was when she held up a piece of A4 paper showing how many minutes three news programs had spent reporting on the shooting of a young woman in Illinois during the evening news, supposedly proof of the mainstream networks love of murderous immigrants because the man charged with shooting her is of Venezuelan descent (his immigration status remains unclear.)

Inconveniently, just as she was about to wrap things up, Leavitt was asked what she thought of Pope Leo XIVs statement during his first Palm Sunday mass, that God does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war (no, not even Pete Hegseths.) Leavitt replied that America had been a nation for 250 whole years and that service members like it when Americans pray for them. It was a strangely atheist answer for a supposedly devout Christian: Who even cares if no ones actually listening? It makes them feel better while they bomb people!

On a question about whether American-made landmines have actually been found in the Middle East, Leavitt then demurred. But she did mention that if he gets the chance, Trump will hold a big Easter dinner at the White House on the weekend if Congress comes back and strikes a deal to fund DHS and ICE. And isnt that what matters?

Just like that, the briefing was over. The old lines had been resurrected; the Democrats were evil-doers; the epic fury surges on. Leavitts large, gold cross glinted on a necklace round her neck as she strode back offstage to meet with her devoted followers.

Jesus may or may not have had notes.
Sir Keir Starmer has branded the decision to reject the latest doctors pay deal reckless as he issued a 48-hour deadline to call off the strikes.

The British Medical Association has announced a six-day strike from 7 to 13 April, immediately following the Easter weekend, as doctors call for pay to be restored to 2008 levels, representing a 26 per cent increase.

The prime minister has said ministers will withdraw an offer of thousands more NHS jobs if the strikes are not called off within 48 hours, according to reports.

An offer under which doctors would have received a pay rise of up to 7.1 per cent was rejected by the BMA last week. Health secretary Wes Streeting accused the unions resident doctors committee of unilaterally rejecting the deal instead of putting it to members.

Under this deal, he said that for the most experienced resident doctors, basic pay would have increased to 77,348 and average earnings would have exceeded 100,000, while first-year doctors would earn 52,000 a year on average.

The latest round of industrial action will start on 7 April (PA Wire)

Writing inThe Times, Sir Keir admitted the NHS is facing damage if the fresh strikes go ahead.

He said: Walking away from this deal is the wrong decision. It is a reckless decision. And doing so without even giving resident doctors themselves the chance to vote on it makes it even worse.

No one benefits from rejecting this deal. Resident doctors will be worse off. Instead of the improved pay, progression and support on offer, they will receive the standard pay award this year, with none of the additional reforms that would have strengthened their working lives. The NHS will be worse off. Each strike costs the NHS 250m in paying for cover. And patients will be worse off.

Of course, we will do everything we can to protect care. But it would be wrong to pretend there is no impact.

Keir Starmer admitted the NHS is facing damage if the fresh strikes go ahead (PA Wire)

Under the deal, Mr Streeting said pay would be increased, while at least 4,000 and up to 4,500 additional speciality training posts over the next three years would be created.

However, the health secretary warned that the offer of training places would be withdrawn if the BMA rejected the deal. He told the Commons on Wednesday: There is not a something for nothing culture here.

He said the government was planning on the basis of a prolonged conflict in Iran, and as a result will not be able to offer more to resident doctors in a future deal.

The upcoming strike action, the 15th by resident doctors since 2023, will be the joint-longest walkout in the dispute.

Responding to the prime ministers comments in The Times, the chair of the BMA resident doctor committee, Dr Jack Fletcher, accused the government of moving the goalposts on pay negotiations and warned that cutting posts would be bad for patients.

He added: These negotiations are not about arbitrary cut-offs as the prime minister seems to think. Any deadline disappears the moment there is a credible and sustainable offer on the table. Our focus remains on getting a good deal for both doctors and for patients, and we are seeking to talk once again with the government later today [Tuesday] with every intention of achieving a meaningful outcome that could see the strikes called off and a pay deal we can support.
Gina Gershon turned down a role in Friday the 13th Part 2 because it felt "exploitative".

Gina Gershon has opened up about a film role she turned down

The 63-year-old actress has revealed she was offered the chance to star in the 1981 horror movie sequel but she rejected the part over the planned nudity involved.

In her new memoir, AlphaP***y: How I Survived the Valley and Learned to Love My Boobs, she wrote: "At the time, those kinds of slasher movies always had girls dying with their breasts exposed.

"My character would be killed by a stake through the heart, blood dripping down her t***. That seemed pretty lame to me: exploitation 101."

She went on to add in an interview with Fox News: "I was offered a lead in that movie. And, of course, I was so excited to act in movies, but it definitely felt kind of exploitative to me and a little silly that right before she gets killed, her top has to come off."

Gina added that she turned to her father for advice on whether she should take the job or not. She told the outlet: "Listen, I was really lucky that I had a father who really taught me how to believe in my own decisions.

"It wasnt like I had to rebel against my family. I remember asking him about it, thinking he was going to say: 'No daughter of mine is going to do that! And he said: 'Its your body. If youre comfortable with it, Im comfortable with it'.

"When I sat and thought about it, I just thought: 'I dont really want to do this'. I wasnt comfortable with it. It seemed silly to me. Not that I had anything against nudity - I grew up on European films - but only if it makes sense for the character and the story.

"But when it just seems silly, I dont know. It just felt like it was something that wasnt for me."

In the book, Gina revealed her father passed away not long after she turned the role down and she insisted his advice became invaluable as she built her career in Hollywood.

She wrote: "My dad may have died too soon, but he taught me many valuable lessons in the 19 years I had with him," Gershon wrote. "Mainly, he taught me to trust myself in making my own decisions.

"This theme of trusting my gut kept showing up in my life."
New lawsuit says Costco raised its prices in response to tariffs  and wants to keep tariff refunds for itself

A proposed class action lawsuit filed against Costco accuses the retail giant of retaining financial benefits from federal tariffs that were recently struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court.

The lawsuit, as reported by KING 5 News, was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington. It alleges that the company raised prices to offset the cost of import duties but has failed to commit to refunding those same customers now that the government is expected to return the funds.

The dispute stems from tariffs imposed by President Donald Trumps administration in February 2025 under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. Seven named plaintiffs from Washington, Ohio, California and Pennsylvania claim they were charged higher prices for imported goods as the retailer passed the tax burden directly to shoppers.

On February 20, the Supreme Court ruled these specific tariffs were unlawful, paving the way for businesses to reclaim billions of dollars in paid duties.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs argue that Costco now stands to collect the same money twice  once from the customers who paid inflated prices at the checkout and a second time via government refunds.

Plaintiffs argue that CEO Ron Vachriss plan to use refunds for future price cuts fails to compensate the specific shoppers who actually bore the financial burden of the tariffs between 2025 and 2026 (Getty)

The complaint describes this as a form of unjust enrichment, noting that while Costco has actively pursued its own litigation to recover the duties, it has not promised to redistribute those specific refunds to the customers who originally bore the cost.

Chief Executive Ron Vachris previously told analysts that any potential tariff refunds would be used to provide lower prices and better value for customers in the future. However, the lawsuit contends this approach would only benefit a general group of future shoppers rather than the specific people who were financially disadvantaged during the tariff period between February 2025 and February 2026.

Evidence cited in the filing includes Costcos own public acknowledgments during earnings calls that tariffs were influencing its pricing strategies.

The plaintiffs also point to the fact that the retailer reduced prices on certain items once the tariff pressure had eased, which they claim demonstrates a direct link between the federal duties and the higher costs previously paid by members.

If successful, the lawsuit would cover any shoppers across the United States who purchased goods subject to these tariffs at Costco during the yearlong period.

Costco has not yet issued a formal comment on the pending litigation.

The Independent has contacted Costco for comment.
The hellish long lines at major U.S. airports began to show signs of improvement Monday after weeks of travel chaos caused the government shutdown and security workers going without paychecks.

Most Transportation Security Administration officers started to receive pay for the first time in more than a month after President Donald Trump signed an executive order last week as a temporary fix amid the ongoing partial government shutdown, which has now exceeded 40 days.

However, experts warned that the ordeal is not done, given that more than 500 agents have quit their jobs.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but this TSA fiasco isnt over just yet; its actually about to get worse, former TSA officer Caleb Harmon-Marshall wrote on his travel Substack, Gate Access. Travelers should remain cautious of long wait times at airports across the country for the next couple of weeks, as TSA officers are still financially strained due to extremely low paychecks.

Aaron Barker, an Atlanta TSA officer and president of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 554, told CNN that he believed more agents would quit in the coming weeks due to multiple missed paychecks.

The hellish long lines at major U.S. airports began to show signs of improvement Monday after weeks of travel chaos. Monday was also the first time TSA workers had been paid since the shutdown started (Getty Images)

I do think that theres going to be a mass exodus of officers, Barker told the network. Officers have gone into debt. Credit has been shot. Officers have been evicted. Cars have been repossessed.

Johnny Jones, secretary-treasurer of the unions TSA Council 100, said back pay is not going to address systemic issues and it would be difficult for agents to recover from the shutdown, which is the longest in the agencys nearly 25-year history.

Unions estimate that it could take a week or so for more TSA officers to return to work due to the disruption, as many were forced to cancel child care because they couldnt afford to pay for it during the shutdown, CNN reports.

The Department of Homeland Security shutdown comes during one of the busiest travel periods of the year with students and families going on Spring break vacation.

Many TSA agents quit their jobs as they went without pay for weeks, causing delays of up to four or five hours at some U.S. airports (Getty)

Passengers have endured lines of up to four or five hours to pass through airport security in recent weeks, with queues stretching back into terminal parking garages and snaking around baggage claim carousels. Roughly 500 TSA agents have quit work during the shutdown after going without a paycheck.

As of Monday, lines at major airports were improving but airports in the New York City area remained the worst for security delays, according to estimated wait times online.

LaGuardias website still warned travelers that wait times were significantly longer than normal, with lines of up to 60 minutes, while Newark Liberty and John F. Kennedy airports reported wait times of up to 45 minutes at some terminals.

In Texas, the security lines at Dallas-Fort Worth, Houstons William P. Hobby and George Bush Intercontinental airports along with Georgias Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta, which experienced some of the longest delays, had dropped to under 10 minutes.

Unions estimate that it could take a week or so for more TSA officers to return to work due to missing their paychecks (Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

Despite Trumps temporary measure to pay TSA agents, the Department of Homeland Security will remain shut down until Congress returns from a two-week recess.

There were calls for lawmakers to cut their recess short amid growing anger over the shutdown.

White House border czar Tom Homan said Sunday that he hoped Trump would urge lawmakers to return sooner than April 13, when they are due back in Washington, D.C. They're on vacation right now while tens of thousands of DHS employees aren't being paid, he said on CBS News Face the Nation.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were deployed to support the lines at airports, but the officers have largely been seen standing around, leaning on barricades, talking and texting on phones, and staring at long security lines.

The Democrat shutdown has created chaos for American travelers and TSA employees alike, White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson told The Independent.

Our great ICE officers are always ready to step in and help the American people when needed, she said. President Trumps brilliant idea to send ICE to airports has helped make the travel process smoother for travelers and provided much-needed relief to TSA employees who the Democrats have forced to work without pay for so long.
The International Atomic Energy Agency said on Sunday that Iran's heavy water production plant at Khondab, which the country reported had been attacked on March 27, has suffered severe damage and is no longer operational.
Police vehicles sit outside the Temple Israel synagogue on 13 March in West Bloomfield Township, Michigan. Photograph: Paul Sancya/AP (Photograph: Paul Sancya/AP)

The assailant who attacked a synagogue in Michigan earlier this month was inspired by Hezbollah, the FBI said on Monday.

Jennifer Runyan, head of the FBIs Detroit field office, announced during a press conference that Ayman Mohamad Ghazali, 41, had frequently consumed Hezbollah-related content online before the attack. In a video recorded before he drove his truck into Temple Israel in West Bloomfield Township  a north-western suburb of Detroit  on 12 March, Ghazali said he wanted to kill as many of them as I possibly can.

Ghazali, a naturalized US citizen originally from Lebanon, crashed a truck into the synagogue before shooting and killing himself inside the vehicle, which had caught fire.

Runyan detailed the scope of the investigation, saying: Despite the fire in the truck and the assailants attempts to delete his digital footprint, we have processed hundreds of digital and forensic evidence items. Weve conducted over 100 interviews of witnesses, family and associates.

Based on the evidence gathered to date, we assess this attack to be a Hezbollah-inspired act of terrorism purposely targeting the Jewish community and the largest Jewish temple in Michigan  Evidence shows the attacker was motivated and inspired by Hezbollahs militant ideology, she added.

According to Runyan, an FBI review of Ghazalis online activity dating back to January revealed a reoccurring search history involving pro-Hezbollah and Iranian news channels, as well as videos about shootouts and bullets. He also regularly viewed coverage of Hezbollahs current secretary general, Naim Qassem, along with coverage about an Iranian fatwa for total jihad against the US military.

The FBI said that in a video sent to his sister 10 minutes before the attack, Ghazali said: This is the largest gathering place for Israelis in the state of Michigan in the United States. I have booby-trapped the car. I will forcefully enter and start shooting at them. God willing, I will kill as many of them as I possibly can.

Ghazali entered the United States in 2011 on a family-related visa as the spouse of an American citizen and became naturalized in 2016. Earlier this month, he lost two brothers, a niece, and a nephew in an Israeli airstrike in Lebanon, according to a local official in Mashgharah, central Lebanon. The strike occurred amid the ongoing US-Israeli war on Iran, which has also included Israeli attacks in Lebanon targeting Iran-backed Hezbollah forces that have resulted in the displacement of more than a million Lebanese people.

Runyan said that both the day before and the morning of the attack, Ghazali posted several photos on Facebook of his deceased family members, as well as Irans former supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in US-Israeli strikes in February.

Related: Religious leaders condemn Michigan synagogue attack  but moving forward together tricky

We will seek retribution for his sacred blood, Ghazali wrote, according to Runyan.

Runyan said that in the days leading up to the attack, Ghazali began researching local synagogues, starting in the early morning hours of 9 March. His online searches included phrases such as largest gathering of Israelis in Michigan and Israelis near me. Investigators added that Ghazali had attempted to delete his search history.

He also tried to obtain a weapon from two individuals, both of whom refused. He ultimately purchased an AR-style rifle from a local gun store in Dearborn Heights, along with 10 rifle magazines and approximately 300 rounds of .223 ammunition, according to Runyan.

In addition, Ghazali ordered a rifle pouch and 40 5.3-gallon water containers online, and researched local firework vendors.

At the same press conference, US attorney Jerome Gorgon pointed to the 1983 Hezbollah barracks attack on US marines in Lebanon with a truck bomb, stating: That is exactly what this terrorist did a few weeks ago in our backyard. He methodically planned, armed himself and then drove an explosives-laden truck into a temple filled with American children.

Although multiple officers were treated for smoke inhalation, no one inside the synagogue was injured, including all 140 children in the buildings preschool.

Since the start of the US-Israeli war on Iran  which has also included Israeli strikes on Lebanon and retaliatory attacks by Iran on regional US allies  the conflict has taken a heavy toll across the region.

According to Lebanese officials, more than 1,200 people, including 120 children, have been killed by Israeli strikes in Lebanon. At least 200 US troops have been injured and 13 service members killed since the fighting began. In Iran, US-Israeli strikes have killed approximately 1,500 people while Iranian retaliatory attacks have left about a dozen people dead across Gulf states.
Keir Starmer at No 10 speaking to the media on the situation in the Middle East. Photograph: Brook Mitchell/Reuters (Photograph: Brook Mitchell/Reuters)

A week after Labours election victory in July 2024, officials at Labour HQ held their first crisis meeting about the May 2026 local elections.

The party had just secured a 174-seat majority and already strategists were predicting it would be very tough, though none were assuming the prime ministers own position would be vulnerable.

Now, according to multiple officials, it will be nothing short of a bloodbath  though it is an open question whether the parliamentary Labour party will use it to depose Keir Starmer.

One Starmer ally said it would be impossible to spin the results. Theres no point us doing expectation management, as the results are going to be terrible anyway, they said.

Afterwards, we need to remind everybody that this is classic midterm stuff, but worse, because the public hates the system more than ever and they see us as part of that. We need to spend every day of the next three years showing them were on their side.

Starmer will launch Labours local election campaign on Monday with a warning against risking the progress Labour is making with a vote for Reform or the Greens.

That could also be a warning he hopes his MPs will heed. In the immediate aftermath of the results, there is a three-pronged strategy  to attempt to minimise the salience of the results as a judgment on the government, to remind MPs of the perilous international situation, and to distract immediately with a new kings speech and potentially a cabinet reshuffle.

One thing Starmer has control over is the timing of the kings speech  set for 13 May, just after the local elections. Officials are expecting parliament to be prorogued some time in late April, ahead of election day.

That timing is convenient  it gives MPs less physical time together in the building to organise any coups while anger is hottest in the post-election fallout.

It would be much harder for somebody to challenge Keir and argue we need to take the government in a different direction when the king is about to come to parliament and announce our plans for the next year, one senior government source said.

Downing Street also hopes it will be clear of the next tranche of files relating to Peter Mandelson, which it hopes will be ready to release shortly after Easter. The documents are understood to now be with the intelligence and security select committee, which will examine anything that may need to be redacted.

Two senior government sources said there was also advance planning in place for a cabinet reshuffle  though one said Starmer had yet to take the final decision on whether that would go ahead.

The reshuffle is not expected to result in a return to the cabinet for Angela Rayner, a key leadership rival, nor for Louise Haigh, the former transport secretary turned key soft-left critic.

Rayner is not thought to be coveting any immediate return. What has she got to gain? Shes better off on the outside. At least she can say and do what she wants, one ally said.

Any reshuffle is therefore likely to focus more on senior cabinet ministers thought to be unhappy in their existing departments, and on promotions in the junior ministerial ranks for new MPs.

It would also probably involve a shake-up of the whips office  dubbed the Wags office by MPs because so many of its members are related to current or former advisers or ministers. It has been clear for some months that MPs distrust their whips and that more experienced hands are needed there.

Related: Anyone but Labour or anyone but Reform? Clash of animosities likely to define May local elections

Even if the most apocalyptic scenario happens in the May elections, the US-Israeli war with Iran has given many MPs pause for thought. I think everyone can see that a challenge right in the middle of a huge international crisis would look foolish, one pessimistic minister said.

That doesnt mean the fundamentals  that we are heading towards fourth in the polls and have the most unpopular prime minister on record  have gone away.

Can you imagine what it would look like having a leadership contest in the middle of a global crisis? another MP said. Totally self-indulgent. The electorate would be right to punish us after that.

But others said they had genuinely changed their view on whether Starmer should survive long term. I think so far Keir is showing some obvious good judgment, both on our non-involvement in the war [and] resisting an urge to rush to judgment over whether we need to intervene to stop an energy bills crisis and keeping the language open-ended, one senior MP said.

Both Wes Streeting and Rayner have told allies in recent days that they understood MPs thought the prime minister should be able to focus on the Middle East crisis  and the economic fallout at home  and that it would be unwise to oust Starmer during it.

Both of them are self-interested enough to know that it would be fatal for them to do that, one Starmer ally said.

After May, No 10 hopes that the kings speech will move the narrative on to how much time Labour has in power to make real change.

Insiders say the speech will focus on measures being taken to tackle the cost of living, but also, crucially, on public service reform. The next sessions will include Send reform as well as a major drive on the digitisation of public services. Investments promised in the spending review will begin to happen.

Public services, several insiders said, are the barometer for people to measure how the state is functioning, where they can make simple comparisons with previous experiences  booking appointments, receiving government documents  and see whether things are improving.

There are three years left of this government, one senior strategist sad. After May, we will spend a lot of time reminding people that much of what we have set in motion will start to bear fruit.
Former GOP congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene has turned on Fox News, accusing the channel of brainwashing boomers and peddling fake news amid President Donald Trumps war in Iran.

Greene, a former Trump loyalist, has been a regular guest on the MAGA-leaning network over the years but lashed out at its coverage of the conflict in the Middle East.

Fox News is now the fake news, Greene said Sunday X post, following news that thousands of U.S. troops have arrived in the Middle East, which she opposes. Brainwashing boomers to support what we voted against.

The MAGA firebrand was replying to a comment made by fellow conservative commentator Ann Coulter.

Watching Fox News assure viewers the Iran war is going SUPER well and Trump is a total stud is like watching the same network assure viewers that Dominion Voting Systems rigged the 2020 election and Trump was the winner, Coulter, who has also appeared on the network over the years, wrote on X Sunday.

Former GOP congresswoman and Trump loyalist Marjorie Taylor Greene has turned on Fox News, accusing the channel of brainwashing boomers and peddling fake news (Getty Images)

Coulter was referring to the scandal that saw Rupert Murdochs network pay a settlement $787 million after hosts and guests repeatedly and falsely claimed on air that Dominion voting machines rigged the 2020 presidential election by recording Trumps votes for former President Joe Biden.

The Independent has contacted Fox News for comment.

Trump appeared on Fox News The Five last week to defend the war, where he argued that the Iranian regime has been weakened because of Operation Epic Fury. The network also aired a segment by host Mark Levin over the weekend where he said there are a lot of reasons for sending troops into Iran.

Fox News also published an unfavorable poll that found 59 percent of Americans disapprove of Trumps performance as commander in chief, while 58 percent said they opposed the conflict with Iran, versus 42 percent in favor.

Greene has been a regular guest on the MAGA-leaning network over the years but lashed out at its coverage of the conflict in the Middle East (Fox News)

Trump lashed out at the poll Friday during his interview on the network. I hate Fox polls. Honestly, whoever does your polls are terrible, he fumed. Rupert Murdoch has promised me for years he's going to get rid of your pollster, but he doesn't do it. I don't get it, but your Fox polls are terrible.

Greene, the former Georgia representative, has criticized Trump for entering into the conflict and argued that it goes against America First.

Its a cruel irony that the American troops soon to be sent into Iran will be Gen Z and millennials (again), by the very President and admin that promised no more foreign wars, to make life affordable for Americans, and a strong American economy producing good American jobs, Greene said Monday.

Greene dramatically fell out with Trump last year after she persistently called for the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files and has since become one of his loudest critics.

The White House hit back at the MAGA firebrand in a statement to Fox News Digital last week. There is nothing more America Last than quitting on your constituents and the MAGA movement in the middle of your term, said spokesperson Davis Ingle. President Trump is fighting every single day to Make America Great Again  we dont have time for quitters.
The man who has led the military junta in Myanmar for 15 years was nominated by the lower house of parliament for the presidency on Monday after a general election that paved the way to legitimise military rule.

Min Aung Hlaing was one of two people named as vice-presidential candidates by lawmakers.

The nomination marks the initial step in the presidential race, with the union parliament set to choose the head of state from three vice-presidential candidates, as required under the constitution. Min Aung Hlaing, who has been sanctioned by several Western nations, including the US, is almost certain to become president, having been nominated alongside two loyalists who are not seen as serious contenders.

The war-torn southeast Asian nation opened its first parliamentary session in more than five years this month following an election that did not include major opposition parties, ensuring that the ruling military retains a firm grasp on power.

Myanmar has been gripped by violence since a 2021 coup in which the military wrested power from the democratically elected government of the Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. The country has since been embroiled in a civil war which has killed thousands of people and displaced millions. The conflict intensified in 2023 after the Three Brotherhood Alliance launched offensives against the army.

Senior General Min Aung Hlaing is proposed as a vice-presidential candidate, Kyaw Kway Htay, a representative of a military-aligned party, said on the floor of the lower house of parliament, according to state media.

The move follows a controversial election held in December and January, won by the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party but widely derided as a sham by the United Nations and many Western countries. The regime has rejected the criticism.

The military and its allies hold nearly 90 per cent of the seats in the two-chamber parliament.

Analysts say that, under Myanmars constitution, drafted by the military in 2008, presidential candidates cannot be active-duty military personnel or civil servants at the time of their nomination.

In a rare public signalling of transition by the military that has dominated Myanmar for decades, Mr Mins deputy said last week that the secretive institutions leadership was set for a reshuffle. This has been Min Aung Hlaings goal all along, said independent analyst Htin Kyaw Aye, pointing to the generals potential presidential role. Its just a shift from ruling as a military leader to ruling as president.

Ye Win Oo, a Min loyalist, has been appointed commander-in-chief of defence services, according to military-owned Myawaddy TV.

Born to a family from Myanmar's south, Min Aung Hlaing studied law before entering the military and rising steadily through the ranks, culminating in his promotion to military chief in 2011. A rigid military leader and considered a ruthless operator, he has also relied on a finely tuned ability to manage the countrys elites, using tactics that include handing important positions to loyalists and punishing political rivals.

He was seen as coveting the presidency, driven in part by the military partys poor 2020 election showing to back the coup that ousted Ms Suu Kyi, Myanmars 80-year-old former leader, who is serving a 27-year prison term on charges widely viewed as spurious and politically motivated. Her party won landslide victories in the 2015 and 2020 elections, but was forced to dissolve in 2023 after refusing to register under new military rules.
The Minnesota congresswoman Ilhan Omar. Photograph: Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc/Getty Images (Photograph: Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc/Getty Images)

Several news outlets have falsely reported that Somalilands government called for the extradition of Ilhan Omar, basing their stories on a post from an X account that does not represent the state despite its claims to the contrary.

Fox News, the New York Post, Sinclair Broadcast Groups the National News Desk and the Independent ran stories on the US representative. The reports centred on a post by @RepOfSomaliland in reaction to claims by JD Vance that Omar had committed immigration fraud, which echoed prior allegations against the Somali-born Minnesota Democrat that she has vehemently denied.

Deportation? the post read. Please youre just sending the princess back to her kingdom. Extradition? Say the word 

The account is not an official government channel, and Somalilands own foreign ministry had said so publicly in December. It said: Ministry has begun identifying social media accounts that are NOT official Government of Somaliland channels, adding that they were not authorized to speak on its behalf.

In a statement to the Guardian on Monday, Somalilands ministry of foreign affairs said: We kindly advise that any news or statements be referenced solely from official and authorized channels to ensure the accuracy and reliability of information.

Somaliland is a self-declared republic in the Horn of Africa that broke away from Somalia in 1991 after the collapse of the Somali state. Though it has maintained relative stability in a turbulent region, it remains unrecognised by the international community, with Israel being a notable recent exception. Somalia continues to claim it as part of its territory.

Fox News later issued a quiet correction, acknowledging the account was not a verified government outlet. The post has been corrected to note that the RepofSomaliland X account is not a verified government account, the rightwing news outlet said, revising its headline to: Pro-Somaliland account backs extraditing Ilhan Omar after Vance fraud claim.

The post was a reaction to an interview the vice-president gave to conservative influencer Benny Johnson on 28 March. In the interview, Vance claimed that Omar had definitely committed immigration fraud against the United States of America.

Vance said he had discussed potential legal action with Stephen Miller, the White House immigration adviser, adding: Were trying to figure out what the legal remedies are  how do you go after her, how do you investigate her, how do you build a case necessary to get some justice for the American people?

Johnson pressed Vance specifically on whether Omars alleged offenses were grounds for deportation or denaturalization. Omars chief of staff, Connor McNutt, dismissed Vances accusations as a ridiculous lie and desperate attempt to distract, adding a pointed reference to Vances past admission that he was willing to create stories to redirect media attention.

It is not the first time Omar has found herself at the centre of a viral misinformation story with a Somali aspect. In early 2024, a mistranslated clip of a speech she gave in Minneapolis spread rapidly online, with rightwing figures accusing her of declaring herself Somalian first.

The reports spread against a backdrop of escalating rhetoric from the White House targeting Minnesotas Somali community and Somalia. Just days before Vances interview, Trump described Somalia as a crooked, disgusting country. The following day he boasted of getting Minnesota back from Somalia.

The Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (Cair) condemned the remarks, with Jaylani Hussein, the executive director, warning that portraying an entire people as intellectually inferior is not just political rhetoric  it is dehumanization.

Omar, who arrived in the US as a refugee aged 12 and became a citizen at 17, warned in a Guardian interview in December that Trumps rhetoric was fueling a climate of political violence with real consequences. Weve had people incarcerated for threatening to kill me, she said. She added that her concern extended from herself to anyone who looks like me in Minneapolis.

In January, a man sprayed Omar with liquid from a syringe as she addressed constituents at a Minneapolis town hall, hours after Trump had again targeted her with xenophobic remarks. Federal prosecutors subsequently charged Anthony Kazmierczak, 55, with assault.
The state of Ohio is moving towards passing a wide-ranging ban on drag performances, legislation that critics allege will stifle constitutionally protected free expression.

Last Wednesday, the Ohio House of Representatives passed HB249, known as the Indecent Exposure Modernization Act, which prohibits adult cabaret performances, including drag, outside of adult settings such as nightclubs or sex shops.

The bill, sponsored by Republican lawmakers, applies to a variety of performers including strippers, go-go dancers, and drag artists. In particular, the proposed law penalizes performers or entertainers who exhibit a gender identity that is different from the performers or entertainers gender assigned at birth using clothing, makeup, prosthetic or imitation genitals or breasts, or other physical markers.

The legislation comes as drag performances grow increasingly popular in the U.S., taking place in settings ranging from parades to libraries to traditional artistic venues. The performances have become a frequent target of conservative activists and lawmakers, who allege drag shows are often obscene and inappropriate for children.

Those found guilty of violating the proposed Ohio law could face felony charges and up to 18 months in prison.

The Ohio House of Representatives this month passed a bill that would ban a variety of drag performances, prompting criticism from performers and civil rights groups (Getty Images)

House Bill 249 is about protecting kids and restoring common-sense safeguards to protect their innocence, one of the bills sponsors, Rep. Angie King, said in a statement after the House win. Parents across Ohio want to know their children are safe and not exposed to adult performances or imagery. This bill closes loopholes in our law, strengthens protections for minors, and ensures that private spaces remain just thatprivate.

As part of the push to pass the bill, GOP lawmakers referenced an incident in Xenia, in which a transgender woman who had not yet undergone gender reassignment surgery was accused of public indecency for using the womens locker rooms at a local YMCA in 2021 and 2022. A judge found the woman not guilty.

Lawmakers said the Ohio bill would be used to reinforce privacy in private spaces such as restrooms and locker rooms.

So long as Im alive, Im going to prevent perverts from exposing kids to obscene material, Majority Whip Josh Williams said during debate over the bill and discussion of the Xenia incident.

Critics allege that the proposed law restricts constitutionally protected free expression, and would criminalize transgender people using public spaces.

[D]rag is protected speech just like any other art form, the ACLU of Ohio said in a statement after the bill passed. Dance, fashion, and music are all protected by the First Amendment. This bill is yet another attempt to silence and censor the LGBTQ community by denying drag performers their constitutional right to free expression.

Democratic Rep. Dontavius Jarrells told WBNS that the bill unfairly singles out transgender and gender non-conforming people.

When you talk about what this bill really is  it is an attack on human lives, he said after the bill passed.

The Washington Post editorial board argues that the bill is unnecessarily restrictive, given that Ohio state law already criminalizes obscenity in the presence of minors.

States including Texas have attempted to restrict drag performances (AP)

Giving the government far-reaching power to punish speech that crosses some arbitrary line inevitably means people will shy away from going anywhere near that boundary, the board wrote on Sunday. Thats censorship, plain and simple.

Andrew Levitt, a nationally recognized drag artist who performs under the stage name Nina West, testified that drag also offered a safe place for many LGBTQ+ people.

Drag is something that saved my life, Levitt told lawmakers earlier this month. When I met entertainers who are drag queens, they gave me a place to call home when I didnt have a place to live, when I didnt have the familial support that I was just so desperately needing.

Drag ban laws have faced numerous challenges in federal court, with critics alleging the bills violate constitutional free expression rights (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Ohios Republican-controlled Senate and governors office are yet to weigh in on the proposed bill.

Across the country, two states have specific drag ban laws, Tennessee and Montana, while four others have adult performance laws that could or already do apply to drag shows, according to the Movement Advancement Project, an advocacy group.

Federal courts have blocked the Tennessee and Montana laws, while a federal appeals court in February gave the green light to a similar Texas bill.
Why Pakistans ambitious bid to mediate in the Iran-US war could backfire

Pakistans unlikely emergence as the potential mediator between the US and Iran may enhance its diplomatic and strategic standing in the region but it must first overcome its many contradictions and challenges, analysts say.

In a televised briefing on Sunday, foreign minister Ishaq Dar said Islamabad was happy that Washington and Tehran had agreed to peace talks facilitated by the South Asian nation in the coming days. These, he added, would be meaningful talks for a comprehensive settlement.

Dar was speaking after a multilateral meeting with his counterparts from Turkey, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, the regional powers seeking to return stability to the Middle East amid the escalating war against Iran launched by the US and Israel a month ago.

Pakistan is very happy that both Iran and the US have expressed their confidence in Pakistan to facilitate their talks, the minister said.

Islamabad, Dar added, was also engaged with the US leadership in our efforts to deescalate the situation and find a solution to the conflict.

Neither Washington nor Tehran has so far confirmed Islamabads role as the potential mediator.

Foreign ministers Badr Abdelatty of Egypt, left, Faisal bin Farhan of Saudi Arabia, Ishaq Dar of Pakistan, and Hakan Fidan of Turkey pose before their meeting in Islamabad on 29 March 2026 (Pakistan Foreign Ministry/AFP)

Pakistan has positioned itself as a big player in brokering peace in the most consequential conflict in the world, leveraging improved ties with the US under president Donald Trump and its longstanding friendship with Iran.

Its emergence as a potential mediator, however, has surprised many given the South Asian countrys perceived instability and unreliability on the international stage.

It was a pleasure to receive H.E. Mr. Hakan Fidan, Foreign Minister of the Republic of Turkiye and H.E. Dr. Badr Abdelatty, Foreign Minister of the Arab Republic of Egypt, this evening.



I stressed upon the need for collective efforts to urgently bring an end to hostilities that  Shehbaz Sharif (@CMShehbaz) March 29, 2026

Chietigj Bajpaee, a senior research fellow for South Asia at Chatham House, tells The Independent Pakistans mediation attempt is ambitious but deeply constrained.

I think there are a lot of internal contradictions, and the challenge is ensuring Pakistans ambition to play the role of a mediator doesnt collapse under the weight of these contradictions, internal and in the broader regional context as well.

Regionally, it is in the midst of a conflict with Afghanistan and there is an irony in Pakistan offering to mediate between the US and Iran and Iran offering to mediate between Afghanistan and Pakistan. It also continues to have poor relations with India in the aftermath of last years four-day conflict, he says.

What also makes its outreach awkward, Bajpaee says, is that Pakistan doesnt have any diplomatic relations with Israel, a key party to the conflict, while it maintains close ties to both the US and the Gulf Arab states, including a defence agreement with Saudi Arabia, undermining its neutral status.

It is hard to see it as a neutral mediator, he says. It has at times had strained relations with Iran as seen in the brief skirmishes in 2024 over Baloch separatist movements on both sides of the border.

Another analyst sees this as a diplomatic turnaround for a country once isolated by the US for harbouring Osama bin Laden and dismissed by Trump, during his first term, as a bad-faith actor that had given Washington nothing but lies and deceit.

Pakistan hosting USIran talks represents a major upgrade in Islamabads strategic standing, says Kamran Bokhari, a senior resident fellow at the Middle East Policy Council in Washington. After decades of being a troubled state, Pakistan appears to be re-emerging as a major American ally in West Asia.

In spite of limited history in mediating high-profile crises, analysts say Pakistan carries unusual credibility due to its workable ties with both the US and Iran.

Pakistan maintains steady relations with Iran as a neighbour, sharing a sensitive border along its southwestern Balochistan province, the site of insurgencies on both sides. The two sides clashed along the border in January 2024 but ties were quickly repaired.

At the same time, Pakistan does not host American military bases, unlike traditional Gulf mediators such as Qatar or Oman, which continue to face the threat of Iranian strikes for this reason.

A man draped in Irans national flag holds a portrait of supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei during a march in support of the armed forces in Tehran (AFP via Getty)

Islamabads relations with the US have come a long way during Trumps second term, with prime minister Shehbaz Sharif slowly making his way into the US presidents good books.

Sharif was one of the first world leaders to sign up to Trumps International Board of Peace. He had previously hailed the US president for brokering a ceasefire between India and Pakistan to end last years four-day war, unlike India which denied that Washington had played any major role.

Pakistans powerful army chief, Asim Munir, has also managed to curry favour with Trump, who has described him as his favourite Pakistani field marshal.

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," says Adam Weinstein, deputy director of the Middle East programme at the Quincy Institute.

In neighbouring India, however, Pakistans emergence as a facilitator has triggered strategic unease, with the opposition accusing the Narendra Modi government of causing diplomatic embarrassment and arguing that Islamabads proactive role highlighted Delhis fading influence on the international stage despite its far bigger size.

Indian foreign minister S Jaishankar last week told an all-party meeting that India was not a dalaal nation like Pakistan, using the Hindi word for broker, rejecting any notion that Delhi should play an intermediary role and framing it as beneath Indias stature.

Bajpaee says India is actually better placed than Pakistan to act as a mediator, given its more neutral position and relations with all key parties, meaning the US, Israel, Iran and the Gulf countries.

Donald Trump speaks with reporters while holding up a rendering of the planned White House ballroom aboard Air Force One en route to Joint Base Andrews, Maryland (REUTERS)

Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One late on Sunday that the US was negotiating directly and indirectly with Iran, though Tehran insisted that it had not been in any talks with Washington.

Were doing extremely well in that negotiation, but you never know with Iran because we negotiate with them and then we always have to blow them up, he said.

In a previous comment, Iran's parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, dismissed the talks in Pakistan as a cover for the deployment of more American troops to the region.

He said Iranian forces were "waiting for the arrival of American troops on the ground to set them on fire and punish their regional partners forever", according to state media.

Given that the warring sides are in a fix and conflict appears to be widening, Pakistans challenges lie in bridging the chasm between Tehran and Washington.

Bajpaee says there is a risk of it blowing up in its face given the limited control but high exposure to consequences inherent in the conflict.

There is a real risk that this could backfire. So far, Iran has targeted several countries in the region but not Pakistan, likely because Pakistan does not host permanent US military bases, he says. However, if Pakistan is seen as aligning too closely with the US, that perception could change.

Islamabads mutual defence pact with Riyadh  signed last September  complicates its chances of posing as a credible and effective mediator, making it a tightrope walk it, he adds.

Tehran has demanded that the US pay reparations for war damages, remove its military bases from the Gulf, and agree to a new security framework for the Strait of Hormuz.

Trump told the Financial Times on Sunday that the US could seize Irans oil export hub of Kharg Island as 2,500 marines arrived in the region and a similar-sized contingent on its way.

Iran is leveraging its ability to disrupt the Strait of Hormuz, a key oil and gas route, driving up prices and causing shortages in Asia, while allowing limited tanker passage from select countries.
"Palworld" captivates players with its seamless fusion of creature taming, base construction, and relentless survival challenges. Fans hunting for games like "Palworld" often turn to survival crafting games that replicate this thrill through resource scavenging, combat, and progression. This guide highlights top picks that deliver similar open-world intensity.

Exploring Top Games Like 'Palworld'

"Palworld" sets itself apart by letting players capture and command over 100 unique pals for tasks ranging from farming to firepower. Games like "Palworld" build on this by offering expansive worlds where every decision impacts survival. Survival crafting games in this vein emphasize automation, multiplayer raids, and evolving tech trees that keep sessions engaging for dozens of hours.

These titles appeal to solo explorers and group tacticians alike. Whether taming massive beasts or forging advanced weaponry, the core loop mirrors "Palworld"'s charm. Recent updates in 2026 have refreshed many of these experiences with new content, ensuring they remain relevant.

What Makes Survival Crafting Games Like 'Palworld' Stand Out?

Survival crafting games like "Palworld" thrive on player agency in hostile environments. Creatures serve multiple rolescombat allies, workers, or mountswhile bases evolve from shacks to fortresses. Expect mechanics like hunger management, weather effects, and enemy waves that demand constant adaptation.

Multiplayer elements add depth, with co-op building or PvP sieges turning friends into rivals. Procedural generation ensures varied playthroughs, much like "Palworld"'s islands. Sites like SteamPeek have long lists of similar games, spotlighting overlaps in creature systems and crafting depth.

Top 10 Survival Games Like 'Palworld'

This ranked selection focuses on games like "Palworld" with the strongest survival crafting games parallels. Each entry includes standout features, playstyles, and why it hooks fans.

"Ark: Survival Evolved" tops the list as the ultimate creature-taming survival crafting games benchmark. Players breed dinosaurs for massive herds, construct thatched villages into metal citadels, and explore biomes from snowy peaks to abyssal trenches. Tribe systems enable epic alliances or betrayals, with flyers scouting enemy positions. Its depth rivals "Palworld", especially in automation chains where dinos haul logs endlessly. A 2026 ASA expansion added new pals and flyers, keeping servers buzzing.

"Minecraft" follows closely, beloved for its boundless creativity in survival crafting games. Pals come via mods like Alex's Mobs, introducing tameable wolves, birds, and even dragons. Redstone contraptions automate farms much like "Palworld" factories, while Nether portals open hellish resource runs. Realms support 10-player co-op, perfect for shared bases. Community servers evolve daily, blending vanilla survival with "Palworld"-inspired creature ranches.

"The Forest" plunges players into cannibal-infested woods, where survival crafting games mean trap-lined camps and effigy defenses. "Sons of the Forest", its sequel, refines this with modular shelters and smarter NPCs that chop wood autonomouslyechoing "Palworld" workers. Multiplayer lets teams delve into caves for artifacts, facing mutants with bows or spears. Both emphasize storytelling through logs and radio calls, adding lore absent in pure sandboxes.

"Valheim" channels Norse mythology into survival crafting games and voyages. Sail longships across misty oceans to fell ancient bosses, using their drops for rune magic. Portals fast-travel resources home, streamlining base upgrades like "Palworld" saddles. Co-op shines in raids, with friends manning ballistas against trolls. Its 2026 meadow update introduced herd animals for passive farms.

"Rust" delivers raw multiplayer survival crafting game chaos. Spawn naked on a beach, punch trees for stone, then ally for helicopter raids. Bases stack honeycomb walls against C4 blasts, with recyclers funding tech upgrades. Electricity systems power turrets akin to "Palworld" defenses. Solo players thrive in safe zones, but clans dominate monuments.

"Subnautica" shifts survival crafting games underwater, crafting cyclops subs from prawn suits. Scan alien flora for cures while dodging reapers in lava zones. Base modules pipe water and oxygen, automating fish feeders like pal ranches. Its narrative guides exploration without hand-holding, ideal for immersive dives.

"No Man's Sky" has transformed since launch, now a stellar survival crafting games hub. Tame companions on 18 quintillion planets, build orbital freighters, and warp to black holes. 2026's Echoes update added pal-like echoes for scanning and fighting. Multiplayer expeditions unite strangers for cosmic events.

"Sons of the Forest" improves on its predecessor with guest NPCs for labor, 3D-printed defenses, and ziplines over chasms. Winter survival adds hypothermia layers, demanding fire pits and coats. Horror elements ramp up with demons, balanced by creative building.

"V Rising" casts players as vampires in a gothic survival crafting games realm. Suck blood from thralls for servants, siege rival castles at night. Gear progresses from rags to draconic plate, with spell wheels for boss melts. Co-op clans farm veins efficiently.

"Nexomon: Extinction" lightens the load with RPG flair in games like "Palworld". Capture nexomons for teams of three, battling tyrants in overworld puzzles. Crafting stays simplepotions and spheresbut extinction lore ties into collection. Mobile ports make it accessible.

Platforms and Playstyles in Survival Crafting Games

Most games like "Palworld" span PC via Steam, PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch. Cross-progression in "No Man's Sky" and "Minecraft" lets players switch devices seamlessly. "Rust" and "Ark: Survival Evolved" demand beefy GPUs for 100-player servers, but "Subnautica" runs on laptops. Free trials or Game Pass inclusion lowers entry barriers. PC Invasion's roundup notes strong mod scenes extending lifespans.

Player Tips for Survival Crafting Games Like 'Palworld'

Start with basic shelters in "Ark: Survival Evolved" to fend off early predators before taming your first dino. In "Minecraft", prioritize iron tools and a bed to skip nights filled with creepers. "Rust" players should team up quickly, as solo runs against geared clans prove brutal.

Focus on water sources in "Subnautica" right away, crafting a seaglide for faster escapes from leviathans. "Valheim" rewards portal networks for hauling ore from distant swamps. Experiment with "No Man's Sky" scanning for rare blueprints that unlock freighter summons.

Fresh Picks for 'Palworld' Fans in 2026

Survival crafting games like "Palworld" keep evolving, with "Ark: Survival Evolved"'s new maps and "Valheim"'s expansions fueling communities. Dive into "Rust" for tension or "Subnautica" for serenitythese titles guarantee hours of taming, building, and conquering.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What are the most popular survival crafting games like "Palworld"?

"Ark: Survival Evolved" and "Minecraft" lead in popularity, offering deep creature taming and base-building that mirror "Palworld"'s core appeal. "Rust" follows for its intense multiplayer focus.

2. Which games like "Palworld" support multiplayer co-op?

"Rust", "Valheim", "No Man's Sky", and "Ark: Survival Evolved" excel in co-op, allowing teams to build bases and tackle bosses together. "Minecraft" realms host up to 10 players seamlessly.

3. Are there any free survival crafting games similar to "Palworld"?

"Minecraft" offers affordable realms, while "Rust" runs free weekends frequently. "No Man's Sky" joins services like Game Pass for low-cost access.

4. Do games like "Palworld" work on consoles?

Yes, most run on PS4/PS5, Xbox, and Switch"Subnautica" and "Minecraft" shine across all platforms. "Sons of the Forest" stays PC-exclusive for now.
Concern has been voiced that coverage of official mourning periods could suffer - Yui Mok/PA Wire

Buckingham Palace is concerned that the BBCs decision to cut its event planning team could affect the way deaths in the Royal family are covered, The Telegraph understands.

The corporation is to slash its award-winning BBC Studios Events team, which handles national moments from state funerals to coronations, from six people to one.

The decision, blamed on cost-cutting, has been met with incredulity, with one source noting that the team is responsible for conveying Britains biggest national moments to the world.

A source said: In an age where not many people watch linear national television, these are the people who present national moments for the eyes of the world.

The source noted that while many such moments could be planned and staffed in advance, others could not.

The team of six will be cut to just one, with Claire Popplewell remaining - Jeff Spicer/Bafta/Getty Images

These include the deaths of senior members of the Royal family and the complex operations covering their official mourning periods and funerals.

The palace is understood to fear that the decision will lead to a loss in production quality and scheduling prominence.

The BBC insisted that it was usual practice to employ freelancers whenever it needed to produce such events.

The sole member of the team who will remain is Claire Popplewell, who oversaw the BBCs coverage of events including Nelson Mandelas funeral and the weddings of the Prince and Princess of Wales and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.

Her small but experienced BBC team has received plenty of plaudits, with its coverage of Elizabeth IIs Platinum Jubilee celebrations and her funeral both recognised by Bafta.

Last week, the team won a Royal Television Society Award for its live coverage of Holocaust Memorial Day, which marked the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, on Jan 27, 2025.

The department has covered every ceremonial occasion since Elizabeth IIs coronation in 1953.

The redundancies come when the corporation is facing a financial crisis, with plans to cut more than 500m from its annual budget.

Last year, the BBC said it would spend 150m less on making programmes, warning that rising production costs had left it with an unprecedented funding challenge.

The broadcast of Elizabeth IIs coronation was organised by the teams predecessors - PA

Tim Davie, the outgoing director-general, told staff in February that the cuts would affect all parts of the corporation, including its licence fee-funded public service arm and its commercial BBC Studios division.

The broadcaster has said it is open to replacing the licence fee with a tax to fill the funding gap.

On Tuesday, Matt Brittin, a former Google executive, was announced as the successor to Mr Davie. He faces a battle to restore the corporations reputation.

A BBC Studios spokesman said: As a prudent commercial business with a mandate to maximise returns to the BBC, we regularly look at how were set up and where we can work more efficiently.

Were proposing some changes that will help us stay strong creatively and continue to deliver a range of high-quality programmes  whilst managing our costs in a challenging and fastmoving market.

The BBC and its production arm, BBC Studios, remains committed to broadcasting and producing events of national importance including ceremonial and live events.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has upended longstanding norms by repeatedly invoking his religious faith, blurring the line between church and state in a way that has become particularly pronounced amid the Iran war, according to a new report.

Hegseth  who has a large Jerusalem cross tattooed across his chest  has long worn his Evangelical faith on his sleeve in a manner that has unsettled some military officials.

The former Fox News host has said that the U.S. was founded as a Christian nation and that it remains a Christian nation in our DNA, if we keep it. Hes also hosted Pentagon worship services that legal experts have branded unprecedented, The Washington Post reports. One faith leader invited to preach to servicemembers has said women shouldnt be allowed to vote.

Hegseths proselytizing has drawn heightened scrutiny in connection with the U.S.Israeli war against Iran, which has now stretched into its second month and shows no signs of abating, according to the Post.

During a press briefing on March 19, he encouraged viewers to pray for the success of U.S. troops in the Middle East. To the American people, please pray for them every day on bended knee with your family, in your schools, in your churches, in the name of Jesus Christ, he said.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth keeps invoking religion amidst the Iran war, an approach that some current and former military leaders find 'terrifying,' according to a new report (Getty Images)

On Wednesday, while speaking at a Pentagon prayer service, he called for overwhelming violence of action against those who deserve no mercy, asking that wicked souls be delivered to the eternal damnation in the fight against Iran, a Muslim-majority nation.

Some senior military commanders seem to have followed his lead. The Military Religious Freedom Foundation, a watchdog organization, said it had received more than 200 complaints from service members that military commanders had told troops it was all part of Gods plan that they be deployed to Iran.

During a mass on Sunday, Pope Leo appeared to deliver a thinly-veiled rebuke to this line of messaging. This is our God: Jesus, king of peace, who rejects war, whom no one can use to justify war, he told worshippers at the Vatican. He does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them.

An unnamed senior Army civilian described the current situation as terrifying.

If U.S. troops are trained to believe that God is on our side, the person told the Post, what precludes us from doing anything we want to win? The strength of our military is our people, and their sense of belonging to their unit and their service.

A Pentagon spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Independent.

Some senior military commanders seem to have followed Hegseths lead, invoking Christian end times rhetoric to justify the lethal offensive against Iran, according to reports. Pictured here are US troops who were deployed to the Middle East earlier this week (US Centcom)

A group of former highranking military officials, chaplain corps leaders, and current Pentagon officers told the Post that they are troubled by both Hegseths overt religious rhetoric and the policy changes he has pursued.

Hegseth has eliminated dozens of military codes for various faith groups and axed the Armys Spiritual Fitness guide, which he claimed focused on selfcare rather than truth. On Wednesday, the Pentagon also announced that U.S. military chaplains will now wear religious insignia on their uniforms, rather than their rank.

Retired Army Maj. Gen. Randy Manner said he has spoken with dozens and dozens of military chaplains who said those among them who do not identify with Hegseth are being marginalized.

The defense chiefs changes have undone longstanding efforts to foster religious inclusion in the armed forces, Rachel Laser, the president of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, told the Post.

It feels like decades worth of progress has been undone in 12 months, an unnamed Air Force general added. Its heartbreaking and its heartbreaking to watch our chaplains try to navigate this.

The point was, it didnt matter, and it shouldnt have mattered, who you worship, or whether you worship at all. What mattered was doing the job and being mindful that you represent all Americans, no matter what they believe, a person who served on the leadership team of a former chairman of the Joint Chiefs said. I dont approve of cramming your religious faith down peoples throats, and when the top of the chain couches these operations in this hyper-Christian tone, it flies in the face of the freedom of religion that the Constitution enshrines.

At a service Wednesday, Hegseth prayed for overwhelming violence of action against those who deserve no mercy. (Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

Earlier this week, Americans United sued the Pentagon for failing to answer public records requests about Hegseths prayer services.

Even if these prayer services are presented as voluntary, there is pressure on federal employees to attend in order to appease their bosses, the organization wrote in a press release.

In response to a request for comment from the Post, Pentagon Press Secretary Kingsley Wilson said their office is proud to play host to religious services.

Prayer services at the Pentagon are 100 percent voluntary and are not mandated whatsoever. It is not against the law to worship Christ voluntarily anywhere in the United States, Wilson added. The Secretarys prayer services undoubtedly improve morale for those who choose to attend and are constitutionally protected. No special treatment or punishment is given as a result of ones choice to attend these prayer services.
Rege-Jean Page has said it was strange and very intense to navigate stardom after starring in Bridgerton.

The 38-year-old actor shot to fame with his role as the Duke of Hastings in Netflixs raunchy period drama and left the show after its globally successful first series.

Speaking to Esquire UK, Page told how he has navigated life in the spotlight since starring in the Regency romance.

Page has said fame is not normal (Esquire UK/Christianah Ebenezer)

He said: It is strange, its not normal.

How I navigate it is very much about what is useful, what serves me in my job, in being able to deliver what I need to deliver to an audience, and a lot of that is just grounding.

It does get quite loud on the inside, like it was very, very intense, that combination of conversation, and I think I worked quite consciously to be able to navigate that environment with some normalcy for myself.

Since appearing in Bridgerton he has focused on his film career, starring in Netflixs big-budget spy film The Gray Man (2022) alongside Ryan Gosling and Chris Evans.

Page has also launched a production company  A Mighty Stranger  and speaking about taking creative control in his work, he said: I think theres an illusion of how passive an actors role needs to be.

We know all the writers on Beyonce or Taylors albums, but we also expect that that is their product that they crafted for us in an artistic manner.

Its a fairly natural thing for most people to have authorship, some degree of authorship, over the stories theyre telling.

Page has opened up about taking creative control as a producer (Esquire UK/Christianah Ebenezer)

Page also discussed his upcoming romance film You, Me And Tuscany, which will see him star alongside Halle Bailey.

The actor, who is of Zimbabwean descent, said: I think its important to normalise your own existence.

To normalise seeing two black leads in a film that is about a universal experience of escaping to find true love in Italy.

He added that the film, directed by Kat Coiro, is a very fun and frivolous ride with some integrity.

The full interview with Rege-Jean Page is available in Esquire UK.
TSome Republicans have raised alarm bells at the growing number of young conservatives who have been influenced by far-right online personalities that espouse negative opinions of Jewish people, women, people of color and more.

Streamers and podcasters who have been accused of sharing such views, such as Nick Fuentes, Myron Gaines and others, have grown in popularity over the last few years  appealing to a younger bloc of conservatives disgruntled with traditional politics.

We dont think Hitler is, like, the worst person ever, Alec Beaton, a 23-year-old former Trump campaign staffer, told the Washington Post at a national young conservatives conference. Beaton added that he praises Adolf Hitler to mess with people.

Fuentes, a 27-year-old white nationalist with a Rumble platform of more than 600k, said during a recent stream that women just lie and theyre whores. Not all of them but it is a serious problem.

Gaines, a 36-year-old streamer, podcaster and author of a book titled Why Women Deserve Less, wrote on X in October, Yeah we like Hitler. No one gives a f*** what you woke jews think anymore.

Nick Fuentes has gained a massive following by sharing alternative conservative views online  particularly negative rhetoric about women and Jewish people (Getty Images)

Beaton later commented on the article to The Independent, saying his comments were taken out of context.

Is Hitler the worst person ever? Of course not. Satan is. That is not just my belief as an America First Patriot, but first and foremost, the belief of the Catholic Church, he wrote in an email. Of course, unfortunately, this is something that zionists have a huge issue with, because Hitler being the worst person ever is imperative to their agenda in establishing the Greater Israel agenda.

The quotes are either misunderstood or blatantly out of context. Out of tens of thousands of things said, they were nitpicked. Hopefully, one day, a more neutral media company can bring these views to light, he added.

Beaton also provided more details about his views on the Holocaust and other issues brought up by the Post.

I do not recall specifying my own beliefs or going my own viewpoint on the holocaust, which is that, of course, it happened, but so did many other genocides, such as the Holodomer or the Great Leap Forward in China, yet the holocaust is regarded as one of the worst genocides in the world, Beaton wrote to The Independent. I don't think I'd call this belief holocaust revisionism, but rather that the holocaust is exaggerated by the media and zionists to justify Israeli Imperialism in the Middle East.

There is growing concern among some Republicans about the apparent antisemitism growing in the party (Getty Images)

While the sentiments from the influential political commentators likely do not represent the beliefs of all, or even most, young conservatives, their platforms are growing. At the Symposium on Antisemitism, Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz said, I have seen more antisemitism in the last 18 months on the right than at any point in my lifetime.

It is gaining real purchase, especially with young people, Cruz said, expressing concern that antisemitism was growing among young conservatives, especially on college campuses.

Its easy to see Fuentes growing influence in the comment section of his Rumble videos, which consistently gain 200k views. Some of his followers, known as groypers, share their own racist or sexist views.

Women and Jews need to Shut the F*** Up.

The brownification of America is disgusting and tragic.

Jews aren't that smart, they're just incredibly coordinated.

Laura Loomer, a right-wing influencer and self-described Islamaphobe, has also pointed out antisemitism among the Republican Party.

The GOP has a Nazi problem, Loomer wrote in November. And the more we pretend like we dont, the worse its going to get.

Carlson has also been accused of antisemitism for platforming Fuentes. The former Fox News host has denied allegations that he is antisemitic (AFP via Getty Images)

Loomers comments arose after Politico published an expose of bigoted messages exchanged between young Republican leaders, in which they praised Hitler, used racist slurs, joked about sending people to gas chambers like in the Holocaust, made positive remarks about rape and more.

Republican lawmakers, including Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, condemned the messages.

Loomer has also accused former Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson  an influential voice on the right  of spreading antisemitism, and even inciting violent antisemitic attacks. Carlson has denied the allegation, calling it slander.

I am ... strongly opposed to anti-Semitism, precisely as much as I am to the anti-Arab hate you promote or the anti-white bias embedded in the US government and our largest institutions. Its all immoral and indefensible. I believe in the inherent rights of the individual because I believe in God. Carlson wrote on X this month.

Cruz also accused Carlson of antisemitism, saying: It is being spread by loud voices, the most consequential of whom is Tucker Carlson.

In November, Carlson was accused of platforming Fuentes by giving him an interview. Carlson was heavily scrutinized for not pushing back on Fuentes antisemitic comments. The former Fox News host later told critics to Buzz off.

When President Donald Trump was asked about Carlsons interview, he defended Carlson and denied knowing much about Fuentes  despite once dining with the 27-year-old at Mar-a-Lago in 2022.

Fuentes was present as a guest of rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, who has himself made a series of antisemitic statements.

Donald Trump has promised to combat antisemitism in his administration  targeting college and universities that allowed large pro-Palestinian protests in 2023 (Getty Images)

When reached for comment, White House Spokesperson Davis Ingle said in a statement: President Trump is focused on making America great again for all Americans, and he has zero tolerance for anti-Semitism.

However, Democrats in Congress are being taken over by anti-Semitic and anti-American radicals like Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, Ingle said.

According to the Washington Post, Beaton and his colleagues boasted about their growing influence at the national young conservatives conference.

Half the people there were, like, us, Beaton claimed.

This article was amended after publication to include comments from Beaton about the Post report.
A British diplomat has been ordered to leave Russia after being accused of spying by Moscow.

The FSB, the main successor to the Soviet-era KGB, said that the second secretary at the UKs Moscow embassy had been ordered to leave within two weeks after counterintelligence officers revealed the undeclared intelligence presence.

Claims made against the unnamed diplomat are malicious and baseless, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) said.

The FSB said that it had found signs that the diplomat was carrying out intelligence and subversive activities that threaten the security of the Russian Federation, Russian media reported.

In particular, the FSB said, the diplomat had tried to obtain sensitive information about the Russian economy during informal meetings.

They also claimed that he had provided false information about himself.

In January this year, president Vladimir Putins foreign ministry said it would not tolerate the activities of undeclared British intelligence officers in Russia after a different UK diplomat was expelled.

A French navy boat surrounds the GRINCH oil tanker, intercepted by France in the Alboran Sea on suspicion of operating under a false flag and belonging to Russias shadow fleet (Reuters)

It comes days after Sir Keir Starmer announced British commandos will be able to board and halt Russias shadow fleet vessels as they pass through UK waters.

The prime minister said the UK would join northern European allies in intercepting the tankers, in an attempt to go after the sanction-breaking ships even harder.

Moscows shadow fleet is reported to be made up of more than a thousand ageing tankers.

They illicitly ship oil and other goods out of Russia by flying the flags of other countries, with the aim of evading sanctions imposed by the West since the invasion of Ukraine began.

On Thursday afternoon, a crude oil tanker flying under the Russian flag was located on the Marine Traffic monitoring website off the Sussex coast. The vessel, named Liteyny Prospect, is on the UK sanctions list.

A government spokesperson said: We will not comment on specific operational planning or give a running commentary as this could compromise our ability to successfully take action against these ships, only benefitting our adversaries.

The FSB claims the diplomat tried to obtain sensitive information about the Russian economy (PA Archive)

In general terms, any target ship will be individually considered by law enforcement, military and energy market specialists before an operation is executed.

British forces have already been involved in tracking shadow fleet vessels for several years, and have supported operations by other countries to seize the ships.

In January, the UK assisted in the seizure of the oil tanker Marinera by the US.

Previously known as the Bella-1, the Russian-flagged vessel was captured by American forces aided by RAF aircraft and the British supply ship RFA Tideforce in the Atlantic.

Later that same month, Royal Navy patrol boat HMS Dagger helped the French seize another sanctioned ship, the Grinch, in the western Mediterranean, shadowing the vessel through the Strait of Gibraltar.

More follows...
Sacked BBC Radio 2 star Scott Mills was investigated by police several years ago into alleged serious sexual offences against a teenage boy under 16.

The 53-year-old presenter was questioned under caution but the case was dropped due to a lack of evidence.

The DJ was abruptly taken off air last Tuesday following allegations about his personal conduct.

Mills is said to have been completely blindsided by claims, signing off from his last show with: See you tomorrow.

The claims relate to when Mills was working at BBC Radio 1, and it is not known if the BBC was told of the investigation at the time.

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: In December 2016, the Met began an investigation following a referral from another police force.

The investigation related to allegations of serious sexual offences against a teenage boy. These were reported to have taken place between 1997 and 2000.

As part of these enquiries a man who was in his 40s at the time of the interview was questioned by police under caution in July 2018. A full file of evidence was submitted to the Crown Prosecution Service, who determined the evidential threshold had not been met to bring charges. Following this, the investigation was closed in May 2019.

The Met confirmed the boy was under 16.

The newspaper reported that is understands the sacking relates to the same individual.

Scott Mills has been fired by the BBC following an allegation over his personal conduct (PA Archive)

The Standard has contacted Scott Mills rep for comment.

The broadcaster, who took over Radio 2s Breakfast Show from Zoe Ball last year, was told his contract was terminated at the weekend, sources claimed.

News of his departure was first reported by the Mirror, which said the allegation related to a historic male relationship more than 10 years ago.

The BBC said: While we do not comment on matters relating to individuals, we can confirm Scott Mills is no longer contracted to work with the BBC.

In a message circulated to staff, seen by the Mirror, it was noted that this news will be sudden and unexpected and therefore must come as a shock.

Sima Kotchea speaking on BBC News (BBC News)

According to the publication, Lorna Clarke, Director of Music, said in a statement to staff: I wanted to personally let you know that Scott Mills has left the Breakfast show, and the BBC.

I know that this news will be sudden and unexpected and therefore must come as a shock. Not least as so many of us have worked with Scott over a great many years, across a broad range of our programmes on R1, 5Live, R2 and TV.

I felt it was important to share this news with you at the earliest opportunity.

The news came as a huge shock to colleagues, with a BBC reporter saying there were gasps filled the newsroom when staff found out he had lost his job.

This is mega news. We heard gasps in the newsroom when people realised that he had been sacked, she said.

We dont know why hes been sacked but we do know that it will surely be unwelcome news.

The fact that the bosses had to do this means there must be something potentially very significant here to let one of their big names go. As I said, this is a huge name in the BBC.

On Tuesday Jeremy Vine has said the BBCs decision to sack his Radio 2 colleague Scott Mills feels unfair, questioning why action was taken despite no criminal charges. being brought.

Mills pictured with Zoe Ball after it was announced he was taking over the Radio 2 Breakfast Show (PA Wire)

The DJs abrupt departure comes just weeks after he was announced as a host for Race Across The World spin-off The Detour.

Mills joined Radio 1 in 1998, initially presenting the early breakfast show between 4am and 7am. In July 2005, he moved to an early evening weekday slot while covering for Sara Cox during her maternity leave.

When she chose not to return, the programme became The Scott Mills Show, airing from 1pm to 4pm, Monday to Friday.

It was confirmed in July 2022 that he would move to Radio 2, where his new afternoon show launched on 31 October, running from 2pm to 4pm.

The programme replaced Steve Wright in the Afternoon. Mills then stepped into the flagship breakfast slot, taking over from Ball last year.

After taking over the show, Millss BBC salary jumped from 315,000 to a reported 355,000.

Beyond radio, he has made a number of television appearances. Between 2006 and 2007, he appeared in the medical drama Casualty as reporter Paul Lang.

The broadcaster and husband Sam Vaughan on Race Across The World (BBC)

He has also featured as a contestant on shows including Never Mind The Buzzcocks, Supermarket Sweep, Mastermind and Most Haunted.

Mills has also presented a weekend show on Radio 5 Live and appeared on series 12 of Strictly Come Dancing, where he was paired with professional dancer Joanne Clifton, becoming the fifth couple to be eliminated.

More recently, Mills competed in the celebrity edition of Race Across The World alongside his husband Sam Vaughan.

The pair went on to win, travelling more than 12,500 kilometres across South America from Belem in Brazil to Frutillar in Chile.
Scott Mills previously said he should have been fired for presenting his Radio 1 show while drunk, before his shock sacking by the BBC.

The presenter, 53, was fired by the BBC on Monday over allegations about his personal conduct.

Though the BBC did not provide further detail, The Mirror then claimed that the sacking relates to a historic male relationship from more than ten years ago.

In an unearthed interview with Now magazine, reported by MailOnline, Mills discussed his difficult relationship with alcohol after one of his first serious boyfriends died following a drug overdose in 2001.

Scott Mills opened up in a previous interview (Nick Ansell/PA) (PA Archive)

Speaking about his exs passing, he said: I was 26 and we spent every minute together... It was truly awful. I'd been to the Brits. After my Radio 1 show, the police were waiting for me. They told me he'd died. I couldn't process it.

As it dawned on me, it got worse and worse and worse, he added. I started smoking that day and I haven't stopped since.

He then explained how his grief whilst presenting Radio 1s early morning show saw him turn to alcohol, saying he'd wake up at 2.30am, do the show, come home and go back to sleep.

Then I'd wake up in the evening and drink two bottles of wine or a bottle of spirits in front of the TV. It was a way to escape, he added.

Mills then said he ended up going on air drunk, as he admitted: That could have been a massive f***-up for me. Even I would've sacked me.

But thank God for Radio 1  they knew about Mitch and why I was having a bad time. It was a proper wake-up call.

In 2003, Mills later admitted to going on air drunk for his early morning slot after the Brit Awards, though he later said he was very lucky to walk away with my job, but it did teach me a lesson and I've not done anything like that since.

According to The Mirror, Mills was pulled from air last week while the BBC assessed the situation and was informed over the weekend that his contract had been terminated.

Confirming his departure, the BBC said in a statement: While we do not comment on matters relating to individuals, we can confirm Scott Mills is no longer contracted and has left the BBC.

The BBC has yet to confirm who will take over permanently presenting Mills radio show, and it is understood that interim hosting arrangements could be put in place while a long-term successor is decided.
Scott Millss sacking from BBC Radio 2 reportedly relates to allegations about a historic relationship.

The DJ was abruptly taken off air last week.

He last hosted his show on Tuesday March 24 and signed off with: See you tomorrow.

On Monday, a BBC spokesperson said: While we do not comment on matters relating to individuals, we can confirm Scott Mills is no longer contracted to work with the BBC.

The allegation relates to a relationship with a male from more than 10 years ago, according to The Mirror.

Representatives for Mills have been contacted for comment.

Veteran DJ Gary Davies replaced him from Wednesday onwards but has not alluded to Millss departure.

When he unexpectedly hosted the breakfast show on Wednesday, Davies did not address the reason for Millss absence and just told listeners: Morning, Gary in for Scott.

Scott Mills joined the BBC in the late 1990s (David Davies/PA) (David Davies for The Jockey Club)

News of Millss sacking led Mondays noon bulletin on his former station BBC Radio 2.

At the start of his own Radio 2 show, Jeremy Vine said he was taken aback by the news.

He added: I had not heard anything about it until 17 minutes ago, when it was on the BBC website and I only had the information that was given to you in the bulletin, I have nothing more, that it was allegations about Scott Millss personal conduct, which have led to him being sacked.

I have no more than that. All right, on to todays show.

In an email sent to staff, Lorna Clarke, director of music, wrote: I wanted to personally let you know that Scott Mills has left the breakfast show, and the BBC.

I know that this news will be sudden and unexpected and therefore must come as a shock. Not least as so many of us have worked with Scott over a great many years, across a broad range of our programmes on R1, 5Live, R2 and TV.

Scott Mills in 2006 (PA) (Ian West)

I felt it was important to share this news with you at the earliest opportunity.

Of course, it will also come as a shock to our audience and loyal breakfast show listeners too. I will update everyone with more information on plans for the show when Im able to.

While I appreciate many of you will have questions, I hope you can understand that I am not going to be saying anything further now.

The 53-year-old from Southampton took over the breakfast show from Zoe Ball last year.

The latest Rajar figures in February showed Mills had an average weekly audience of 6.47 million between October and December 2025, up from 6.16 million the previous quarter and his highest figure since taking over the Radio 2 breakfast show.

The BBC annual report in July 2025 revealed he earned between 355,000 and 359,999 a year.

Scott Mills, right, meets the King with other presenters of the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest in Liverpool (PA) (Phil Noble)

Mills began his BBC career on Radio 1 in the late 1990s as the early breakfast host, before going on to present weekend slots and then an early evening show while providing maternity cover for Sara Cox.

When Cox did not return, the programme was renamed The Scott Mills Show.

In 2022, he joined Radio 2, replacing Steve Wright in his weekday afternoon slot.

He has presented a number of shows on the station before taking up the Breakfast Show after Balls departure.

Mills has also presented a weekend show on Radio 5 Live and appeared on series 12 of Strictly Come Dancing where he was paired with professional dancer Joanne Clifton, becoming the fifth couple to be eliminated.

He also won Celebrity Race Across The World with his husband in 2024.

Earlier this month, Mills appeared in a Traitors-themed sketch on Comic Relief, and he has also been a commentator for the Eurovision Song Contest on the BBC.

Mills is due to support Boyzone on their Two For The Road gigs in June.
Scott Mills has been sacked from his morning slot on Radio 2 following allegations about his personal conduct - Andrew Crowley for The Telegraph

Last January, following Scott Millss debut as the full-time host of Radio 2s Breakfast Show, I wrote, with some disappointment, that the DJ was everything the BBC wanted: safe, cosy, reliable, uncontroversial. Following a slew of controversies  involving Strictly Come Dancing, Huw Edwards, Gregg Wallace, Gary Lineker et al  the Beeb needed the safest pair of hands in its plum radio slot. Step forward Mills, the most boring man in radio. Fast-forward 14 months and the (at least) 11th-highest-paid star at the BBC has been unceremoniously sacked following allegations about his personal conduct, leaving the corporation with a huge new problem. Who would have thought Mr Vanilla would have left such a sour taste?

Six days ago, Mills signed off from his Tuesday morning show with a breezy see you tomorrow. On Wednesday morning, however, it was Gary Daviess voice who bleary-eyed listeners could hear. In an email to staff, Lorna Clarke, the director of music at the BBC, admitted this news will be sudden and unexpected, and therefore must come as a shock. Ill say. Even Jeremy Vine sounded stunned as he opened his afternoon show today, admitting hed had no idea. Social media is awash with the sound of people dropping their toast.

Mills has long been seen as BBC Radios Mr Reliable, a career DJ who did his time in regional radio and the graveyard slots, who seemed to model himself not on the brasher, younger radio voices of the 21st century, but the smoother, cheesier tones of the 20th. Indeed, one of the aspects that seemed to hold him back from the more prestigious slots was his lack of personality  something seen as a bonus by the beleaguered corporation by 2025. Millss background was wholly admirable  local radio in his native Hampshire at the age of 16, grafting on air in Bristol, Manchester and London, before getting his break on Radio 1. His ambition has always been radio and nothing else. Speaking to The Telegraph this year, Mills said: I feel like Im having my career peak right now.

While he might not have been the most pulse-racing choice for the Breakfast Show when Zoe Ball left in 2024, no one could begrudge Mills. On Radio 2, he had been forever the stand-in, always the bridesmaid. The promotion to Breakfast full-time, felt like a vindication of a decent, hard-working company man. He did not compare to his predecessors  but, then, that was always a tough ask. Terry Wogan and Chris Evans made the breakfast slot completely their own (and drew enormous listening figures), while Ball, despite not quite having the same pizzazz, was an undeniably warm and comforting presence. Although listening figures dipped when Mills took over (from almost seven million to nearly six million), they had begun to climb up again in recent months. Mills was finding his audience and the show was finding its voice.

Mills replaced Zoe Ball on the Radio 2 Breakfast Show in 2024 - Instagram

This is a huge blow for the BBC, not least because it will have to restart the recruitment process for a programme seen as the crown jewels of BBC Radio (Vernon Kays mid-morning slot has the most listeners in the UK, but the Breakfast Show has the kudos). Having gained fans by winning 2024s Celebrity Race Across the World, alongside his husband, Sam Vaughan, Mills was due to begin co-hosting the spin-off podcast for this years non-celebrity version, which starts on Thursday.

Mills appearing on Celebrity Race Across the World with his then-fiance, Sam Vaughan (right), in 2024 - BBC/Studio Lambert

He is also the voice of the BBCs Eurovision semi-finals coverage, and the last time we saw him on television was on last weeks Comic Relief. Mills  like Edwards, Lineker and Wallace  was a copper-bottomed, BBC-branded star. To add to the headache, Mills was featured, in his role as Breakfast Show host, in a December episode of EastEnders which flashed forward to 2027  his dismissal even has repercussions for Albert Square.

The whole situation is deeply embarrassing. Yet another big name with an even bigger salary who is accused of bringing the corporation into disrepute. Matt Brittin, the incoming director-general, will be forgiven for wondering what sort of culture he is inheriting in W1A. Tim Davie, who is in his final week in the role, will surely be glad to be shot of the place. In the short term, what does this all mean? For starters, it means a lot more work for Rylan Clark, who could be a popular choice to replace Mills on the Breakfast Show and can handle Eurovision too. However, Brittin will need to visit his HR and safeguarding departments, to work out how and why this keeps on happening.

The Radio 2 Breakfast Show airs every weekday from 6.30am
Four-time Olympic gold medalist Sir Mo Farah is pressing ahead with his move to Qatar, despite the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

The 43-year-old has confirmed the move in paperwork filed through his running business, which holds 3.9million in assets, including 1.9million in investment property, The Sun reports.

Sir Mo, who is considered to be one of the greatest runners of all time, and his wife Tania, have also changed their residency status in another firm, One Mo Mile Limited.

Qatar has long attracted celebrities, investors and entrepreneurs with its tax-free lifestyle, luxury real estate and low crime.

But as the US-Israel war with Iran rages, more than 100,000 UK nationals are fleeing the Middle East and returning to the UK.

It comes as US President Donald Trump has said he is considering seizing Irans Kharg Island, in the latest development of the month-long conflict.

Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted an area in Beirut's southern suburbs on March 24 (AFP via Getty Images)

In an interview with the Financial Times, Trump said the US could easily take the island, which is the centre of Irans export system, adding a peace deal could be reached fairly quickly.

Maybe we take Kharg Island, maybe we dont. We have a lot of options, Trump told the FT. It would also mean we had to be there [in Kharg Island] for a while.

Kharg Island is of great importance to Iran, responsible for up to 90% of the countrys oil exports, including crude oil, fertilisers and liquefied gas, providing a major source of revenue for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

Donald Trump speaks with members of the media onboard Air Force One on March 29 (Getty Images)

Iran has threatened to expand retaliatory strikes on the houses of US and Israeli commanders and political officials in the region.

When asked about Iranian defence on the island he said: "I dont think they have any defence. We could take it very easily."

At the same time, the president is weighing up whether to send an extra 10,000 troops to the region to expand Washingtons options.

Despite the build-up, the Trump administration insists the war is nearing its conclusion while still pursuing talks with Tehran.

Houthis brandish their weapons as they rally in solidarity with Iran and Lebanon (AFP via Getty Images)

On Friday, Trump declared: It's sort of finished, but it's not finished. It's got to be finished.

It comes as oil prices rose to a record monthly levels in the aftermath of Yemens Houthis joining the war and launching attacks on Israel.

Fears are now growing that the economic fallout of the war could deepen if the Houthis open a new front in the war by blocking the Bab al-Mandeb Strait.

The Bab al-Mandeb Strait  known as the Gate of Tears  links the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden and controls access to the Suez Canal.

If both it and the Strait of Hormuz are disrupted, the consequences could ripple worldwide.
A 41-year-old Milwaukee mother who was stabbed 107 times had been dead for several days before police discovered her body in her home, according to newly released case documents.

Milwaukee police said officers responded to a residence near North 37th Street and Concordia Avenue around 4:16 p.m. on March 13 after family members requested a welfare check.

Relatives found the woman, identified as Janie Pendleton, unresponsive inside the home and called authorities. The Milwaukee County Medical Examiner's Office later ruled her death a homicide caused by multiple sharp-force injuries, according to People.

An initial assessment at the scene suggested Pendleton had suffered roughly 20 stab wounds, according to a search warrant affidavit cited by local media. An autopsy later showed she had been stabbed 107 times and was likely dead for several days before officers arrived. Investigators also noted a distinct shoe pattern on her right forearm, indicating she may have been struck or stepped on during the attack.

Detectives obtained a warrant to search the home of a man who knew Pendleton after concluding he had given inconsistent statements during interviews, the affidavit states. Police searched his residence but reported that no evidence was recovered during that operation. Authorities have not publicly named the man, and he has not been identified as a suspect, Crime Online reported.

Officers have not announced any arrests in the case, and no suspects have been publicly identified as of Friday. The homicide investigation remains active as detectives work to determine what led to the killing and who is responsible. Officials have not released information about a possible motive.

Pendleton, described in reports as a mother, has been remembered by relatives on social media following her death. Her daughter posted a photo with the caption "Forever us," while other tributes highlighted her role in her children's lives. Community posts say news of the killing has shocked those who knew her.

Milwaukee police are asking anyone with information about Pendleton's death to contact the department at 414-935-7360. Tipsters who wish to remain anonymous can reach Crime Stoppers at 414-224-TIPS or use the P3 Tips app. Investigators say assistance from the public could be critical to moving the case forward, as per the Times of India.

Originally published on Lawyer Herald
While Bruce Springsteen was headlining a rally against kings in Minnesota this weekend, Sir Paul McCartney was reported to have taken his own swipe against Donald Trump during a star-studded gig in Hollywood.

The Beatles legend recently announced that his next album, The Boys of Dungeon Lane, will be released on 29 May. In celebration, he played two rare intimate shows at the historic Fonda Theater.

Among those in attendance were Stevie Nicks, Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish and Margot Robbie. McCartneys former bandmate, Ringo Starr, also showed up to support him.

CNN reported that in between a set heavy with Beatles and Wings classics, McCartney, 83, poked fun at the US presidents dance moves, with a mention of his name prompting boos from the crowd.

Come together: Celebrity fans and collaborators showed up to support McCartney after he announced his latest album (Getty)

Lucky fans who scored tickets to the 1,200 capacity venue told the outlet that the event was a much-needed salve to the political upheaval taking place across the country, as millions took to the streets to protest Trump.

I just feel like art and community and any sort of gathering around something thats going to uplift us or bring us closer to each other in our city, thats the antidote to troubled times, graphic designer Derek Heath, 39, said.

I think that inherently this experience fits within the world of fighting back against tyranny and fighting back against hate.

Fans were thrilled when McCartney played the classic 1968 Beatles hit Blackbird, inspired by the Little Rock Nine and the 1960s civil rights movement.

Other famous faces in the audience reportedly included actors Steve Carrell, Laura Dern and Dakota Johnson  who sang along as McCartney played further hits such as Let It Be and Hey Jude  and musicians Olivia Rodrigo and John Mayer.

Announcing The Boys of Dungeon Lane last Thursday (26 March), McCartney also released his first new song in four years, the poignant ballad Days We Left Behind.

While it is influenced by his memories of growing up in a post-war Liverpool, some of the lyrics feel strikingly pertinent today: In the skies/ The skylarks rise/ Above the sounds of war.

McCartney in new artwork (Mary McCartney)

This is very much a memory song for me, McCartney said in a statement. The album title, The Boys of Dungeon Lane, comes from a lyric in this track. I was thinking just that, about the days I left behind  I do often wonder if Im just writing about the past but then I think, how can you write about anything else?

He continued: Its just a lot of memories of Liverpool. It involves a bit in the middle about John and Forthlin Road, which is the street I used to live in. Dungeon Lane is near there.

The street is a place McCartney still sees when returning home; he views it as a symbolic gateway to a world before Beatlemania, one of smoky bars and cheap guitars, or of afternoons spent birdwatching by the Mersey.

McCartney also recalled the working-class area he grew up in, Speke: We didnt have much at all but it didnt matter because all the people were great and you didnt notice you didnt have much.

Produced by Andrew Watt, whose other recent collaborations include The Rolling Stones and Elton John, The Boys of Dungeon Lane is out on 29 May.
A Texas high school teacher was taken to a hospital after being shot by a 15-year-old student, who then fatally shot himself, authorities said Monday.

No other injuries were reported in the shooting at the San Antonio school, and the Comal County Sheriffs Office has not said what may have led to the shooting.

The condition of the Hill Country College Preparatory High School teacher was not immediately clear, as the sheriffs office did not have an update.

The male student died on the scene, the sheriff's office said. A spokesperson for the sheriffs office said that the student died from a self-inflicted gunshot.

The school said on social media that it was placed on lockdown at 8:34 a.m., and the bell schedule listed online shows that classes start at 8:55 a.m.

One student told KSAT-TV that they heard loud bangs coming from a room on the second floor and then heard screaming. Another student told the TV station that they heard five shots and yelling before her debate teacher told students to get inside a classroom.

Students were bused to a nearby middle school, where parents stood in long lines, some praying, as they waited to be reunited.

Jesse Lopez, a parent, told KSAT-TV that it will be difficult to tell his daughter that she has to eventually go back to class.

For one, she has autism, and shell be afraid to go back, shell be real afraid to go back, Lopez said.

The high school, which is part of the Comal Independent School District, focuses on academics and skills to prepare students for college, according to the district's website. Its curriculum is centered on science, technology, engineering, arts and math, known as STEAM, with electives that include cybersecurity and engineering.

The school opened in August 2020 with a freshman class. It has since grown to offer grades nine through 12 and as of this school year has about 260 students enrolled, according to the district's website.

If you are based in the USA, and you or someone you know needs mental health assistance right now, call the National Suicide Prevention Helpline on 1-800-273-TALK (8255). This is a free, confidential crisis hotline that is available to everyone 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

If you are in another country, you can go to www.befrienders.org to find a helpline near you.
Christopher Charles Sanders has been arrested on suspicion of murder in the disappearance of his girlfriend Molly Richards who was last seen in November 2025 (Little Elm Police Department)

A Texas man is behind bars after investigators say he killed his girlfriend, then drove across state lines to dump her body, according to new details revealed in an arrest affidavit.

Authorities allege Christopher Charles Sanders, 53, murdered 31-year-old Molly Richards in late November 2025 after the couple traveled from Texas to South Dakota. Her remains have not been found.

Despite not having located her body, investigators say evidence has led them to believe Richards was murdered. On March 7, police arrested Sanders in Marietta, Oklahoma, as he was traveling from South Dakota. Sanders denied killing Richards and wouldn't provide any details on her whereabouts.

An investigation was first launched in January by police in Little Elm, Texas, after Richards father, Steven Richards, contacted them after not hearing from his daughter since November.

According to the affidavit obtained by WFAA, Richards last saw his daughter in November 2025. She later texted him saying she and Sanders were traveling to South Dakota.

Sanders has denied killing Richards (Little Elm Police Department)

The worried father told investigators that his daughter had recently moved in with Sanders at a home in Little Elm in October and that she had previously told him about alleged abuse.

On December 1, he received what would be the final message from her, stating she was checking herself into a mental health facility for bipolar disorder. After that, his messages went unanswered.

Went by your place. Where is Molly anyway? Richards said in a text to Sanders on December 10. There was no answer at the door, and I didnt see her car. I am worried about Molly. Can you tell me where she is and how she is doing?

But Sanders did not respond, prompting Richards to contact police and file a missing persons report.

During the investigation, authorities traced Molly Richards car to Deadwood, South Dakota, where it had been involved in a minor crash. A witness there told police he had met the couple at a bar in November and had agreed to watch her car at Sanders request, according to the affidavit.

The witness said Sanders claimed he was taking Richards to see a doctor in Rapid City, then flew back to Texas, later returning to retrieve his own vehicle while leaving hers behind. The witness also said that Sanders had claimed that Richards had met another man and was staying behind with him at a motel in Rapid City.

Mental health facilities, hospitals and motels were contacted, but investigators found no record of Richards ever checking in to any of the places as claimed by Sanders.

Police believe Richards was killed on November 25 (Little Elm Police Department)

Days later, a woman caring for Sanders dogs at his South Dakota property discovered several of Richards belongings in a dresser drawer, including her drivers license, bank cards, laptop, prescription medication, and unopened mail, according to the affidavit.

Her laptop had not been used since November 14, and her bank accounts had no activity beyond recurring subscription charges after November. Investigators noted that, based on prior interactions with Richards, it would be out of character for her to leave behind her ID and other personal items.

Search warrants were executed at properties tied to Sanders in Little Elm and Denton and investigators reported finding bedding with blood residue and a receipt for items including a 24-inch bow saw, multiple five-gallon buckets, a tamper, a reciprocating saw, and gloves, according to the affidavit. The tools were not recovered.

However, her body has not been found (Little Elm Police Department)

Authorities allege Richards was killed on or around November 25.

Investigators later reconstructed the route of Richards vehicle, determining it traveled through Oklahoma on the way to South Dakota on November 27.

They identified a gap of one hour and nine minutes when the vehicle was near Sanders property in Marietta, Oklahoma. Investigators believe that window of time is when Sanders disposed of Richards body, likely on or near the property, before continuing north, according to the affidavit.

Sanders is currently in the Denton County Jail without bail.
Renoirs Les Poissons is among the works stolen (Magnani Rocco Foundation)

A three-minute heist has left Italian authorities scrambling after thieves made off with artworks worth millions from a museum near Parma, in what is being described as one of the countrys most significant art thefts in recent years.

Paintings by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Paul Cezanne and Henri Matisse were stolen from the Magnani Rocca Foundation villa on March 22, Italian police have said.

The raid saw four masked men storm the historic Villa dei Capolavori, overpowering its security in a matter of minutes before fleeing with three masterpieces from its prized French Room.

According to Italian media reports, the thieves spent no more than three minutes inside the building. Their plans were curtailed when the museums alarm system was triggered, forcing them to abandon what authorities believe was an attempt to steal additional works.

The stolen pieces include Renoirs Les Poissons, valued at approximately 6 million (5.2 million), alongside Cezannes Still Life with Cherries and Matisses Odalisque on the Terrace. Together, the paintings are estimated to be worth around 9 million (7.8 million).

 uvres volees :



 Pierre-Auguste Renoir : Les Poissons (ou I pesci), peinture de 1917.



 Paul Cezanne : Natura morta con ciliegie (Still Life with Cherries / Nature morte aux cerises), aquarelle sur papier datant de 1890.



 Henri Matisse : Odalisca sulla terrazza pic.twitter.com/cVTOwHjeFK  guz (@JordanRivire5) March 29, 2026

Investigators say the thieves forced entry through the villas main door before heading directly to the first floor, suggesting prior knowledge of the layout and collection. After seizing the artworks, the group reportedly escaped by scaling a perimeter fence, disappearing into the surrounding countryside before police arrived.

Each of the stolen works holds considerable artistic and historical value. Renoirs Les Poissons, painted around 1917, reflects the Impressionist masters later style. Cezannes Still Life with Cherries, created circa 1890, is notable for its use of watercolour, a medium he rarely employed until the final years of his life. Matisses 1922 painting Odalisque on the Terrace depicts two figures in a sunlit setting, exemplifying the artists exploration of colour and form.

The investigation is now being led by Italys Carabinieri, alongside the Cultural Heritage Protection Unit of Bologna, a specialist division tasked with combating art crime. Authorities have not yet made any arrests.

Founded in 1984 following the death of composer and collector Luigi Magnani, the Magnani Rocca Foundation houses an extensive collection of European art in his former family home. It described the perpetrators as structured and organised, adding that the speed and coordination of the attack indicated careful planning. Officials believe the alarm system prevented an even greater loss.

The theft has drawn comparisons to a series of high-profile art crimes across Europe, including last Octobers robbery of priceless jewels from the Louvre in Paris.

Experts warn that such incidents highlight ongoing vulnerabilities in museum security, particularly at smaller institutions housing significant private collections.
United Nations peacekeepers, who for decades have served as a buffer between Israel and Lebanon, have seen three of their comrades killed and several others wounded since the latest war erupted between Israel and Hezbollah.

The mandate for the UN force in south Lebanon expires at the end of this year

Here are the key facts about the role of Lebanon's 'Blue Helmets' in the current conflict.

In the firing line

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) patrols the area around the country's southern border, where Hezbollah and Israel began clashing this month after the Iran-backed group drew Lebanon into the Middle East war by firing rockets at Israel.

Israeli forces have been pushing into areas north of the frontier, and officials have announced plans to establish a buffer zone up to the Litani River, around 30 kilometres (20 miles) from Israel.

On Monday, two Indonesian peacekeepers were killed when "an explosion of unknown origin destroyed their vehicle", wounding at least two others, the force said.*

Read moreMiddle East war live: UN says two additional peacekeepers killed in south Lebanon explosion

The day before, another Indonesian peacekeeper was killed and three others wounded when a projectile, also of undetermined origin, exploded near a UNIFIL position.

And earlier this month, three Ghanaian peacekeepers were wounded when their base was hit, with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun accusing Israel of being responsible and UNIFIL saying it would investigate.

Over the years since its mission began in 1978, the force has lost around 340 members.

Visiting UN chief Antonio Guterres this month said attacks against peacekeepers and their positions were "completely unacceptable ... and may constitute war crimes".

Ceasefire monitors

UNIFIL was set up in 1978 to monitor the withdrawal of Israeli forces after they invaded Lebanon to stem Palestinian attacks targeting northern Israel.

Israel again invaded in 1982, only withdrawing from south Lebanon in 2000.

After a 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah, UN Security Council Resolution 1701 bolstered UNIFIL's role and its peacekeepers were tasked with monitoring the ceasefire between the two sides.

UNIFIL patrols the Blue Line, the 120-kilometre (75-mile) de facto border between Lebanon and Israel, in coordination with the Lebanese army. It also has a maritime task force that supports Lebanon's navy.

The mission has its headquarters south Lebanon's Naqura, which in recent years has hosted indirect border negotiations between Lebanon and Israel.

Following a November 2024 ceasefire that sought to end more than a year of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah over the Gaza war, UNIFIL became part of a five-member committee supervising that truce.

Under pressure from the United States and Israel, the UN Security Council voted last year to end the force's mandate on December 31, 2026, with an "orderly and safe drawdown and withdrawal" by the end of 2027.

International force

The mission currently involves around 8,200 peacekeepers from 47 countries, according to the force's website.

Top troop-contributing countries include Italy, Indonesia, Spain, India, Ghana, France, Nepal and Malaysia.

Italy's Major General Diodato Abagnara has headed the mission since June 2025.

UNIFIL patrols have occasionally faced harassment, though confrontations are typically defused by the Lebanese army.

In December 2022, an Irish peacekeeper was killed and three colleagues wounded when their convoy came under fire in south Lebanon.

Border area

Resolution 1701 of 2006 called for the Lebanese army and UN peacekeepers to be the only armed forces deployed in the country's south.

UNIFIL had been supporting the army in dismantling Hezbollah infrastructure near the border in the months before the latest hostilities erupted, in line with a Lebanese government decision to disarm the militants following the 2024 truce.

Hezbollah has long held sway over swathes of the south and has built tunnels and hideouts there, despite not having had a visible military presence in the border area since 2006.

What comes next?

Lebanese authorities want a continued international troop presence in the south after UNIFIL's exit, and have been urging European countries to stay.

Last month, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said Lebanon's army should replace the force when the peacekeepers withdraw.

Italy has said it intends to keep a military presence in Lebanon after UNIFIL leaves.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)
Tom Felton is wishing the best for the young actor playing Draco Malfoy in the forthcoming HBO adaptation of Harry Potter.

The 38-year-old actor, known for playing Malfoy in the film adaptations of J.K. Rowlings iconic books, said on the Happy Sad Confused podcast that he sent word to Lox Pratt, who will be taking on the role in the new series.

Felton said he felt it was really important to reach out to Pratt  but that he chose not to give him specific advice on playing Potters nemesis.

The last thing I'm going to do is offer anything other than say, Here's my phone number. Here's my address, Felton said during Thursdays episode. To his parents, as well as him, and to anyone else there: I can't offer you advice. This is your journey. Have as much fun as possible. Take as many pictures as you can. Steal as many props as you can. They'll be worth a fortune. But also, if you do need a word of encouragement or questions to ask, I'm there.

Felton, who began filming the Harry Potter movie series aged 13, is currently playing an older version of Malfoy on Broadway in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. The play serves as a sequel to the original series and is set 19 years after the final book.

Actor Tom Felton said that he sent a note to Lox Pratt, who will play Draco Malfoy in the new Harry Potter series (Getty Images/Max)

Harry Potter fans got their first look at Pratt, 14, in his Slytherin robes last week with the release of the shows first trailer, as it is set for a Christmas premiere. Starting with Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone, the series will devote a season to each book.

Felton is not the only former Harry Potter star to reach out to his successor in the controversial reboot.

Lox Pratt will be taking on the role of Harry Potters nemesis Draco Malfoy, which was originated by Tom Felton (Max/Warner Bros)

Daniel Radcliffe  who originated the titular role in the beloved movies  revealed in November that he sent a letter to Dominic McLaughlin, who is playing Potter in the show.

I sent him a letter, and he sent me a very sweet note back," the actor said on Good Morning America at the time. I do not want to be a specter in the lives of these children at all. I just wanted to write to him and say, I hope you have the best time, and an even better time than I did. I had a great time, but I hope you have an even better one.

Actor Rupert Grint also said that he reached out to Alastair Stout, who will be taking on the role of Potters best friend, Ron Weasley. He told the BBC in November: [The letter] was really just wishing him all the best with it. I had so much fun stepping into this world, and I hope he has the same experience.
The White House is standing by President Donald Trumps threat to cripple the desalination infrastructure that supplies Irans population with drinking water and downplaying the possibility that bombing such civilian targets would constitute war crimes under both American criminal law and international treaties to which the U.S. is a party.

Asked about Trumps warning that he would order U.S. forces to attack vast swaths of Iranian civilian infrastructure  including water purification plants  if Tehran does not agree to his terms for a ceasefire and allow free passage for oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters at a press briefing on Monday that the Iranian regimes best move is to make a deal or else.

The United States Armed Forces has capabilities beyond their wildest imagination, and the President is not afraid to use them, said Leavitt, who dismissed a reporters question about why Trumps threat was not in conflict with the administrations position that the U.S. does not target civilians in wartime.

This administration [and the] United States Armed Forces will always act within the confines of the law, but with respect to achieving the full objectives of Operation Epic Fury, President Trump is going to move forward unabated, and he expects the Iranian regime to make a deal.

Leavitt then refused to respond to a follow-up query on how destroying the plants that generate fresh water for 92 million Iranians would help achieve the military objective the administration has repeatedly laid out for the month-old war, including destroying Irans navy, ballistic missile infrastructure and defense industrial base, and preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt declined to walk back President Trump's threat to attack Iran's water supply even though it would be a war crime prohibited by American criminal law (REUTERS)

Her defense of Trumps threat to target Irans fresh water supply came just hours after Trump renewed his threat to have U.S. warplanes bomb Irans electrical power generation facilities and desalinization plants if Tehran did not reach a deal with the administration and allow the Strait of Hormuz to be immediately Open for Business by halting threats to commercial shipping through the key maritime chokepoint.

Writing on Truth Social earlier on Monday, Trump said thered been great progress in serious discussions with what he described as the new and more reasonable regime in Tehran but warned of more bombings if the talks dont produce the result he wants.

If for any reason a deal is not shortly reached, which it probably will be, and if the Hormuz Strait is not immediately Open for Business, we will conclude our lovely stay in Iran by blowing up and completely obliterating all of their Electric Generating Plants, Oil Wells and Kharg Island (and possibly all desalinization plants!), which we have purposefully not yet touched, the president said.

He added that any such attacks would be retribution for our many soldiers, and others, that Iran has butchered and killed over the old Regimes 47-year Reign of Terror.

The presidents extraordinary threat to attack Irans power and water systems  attacks that would almost certainly violate the Fourth Geneva Conventions prohibitions against targeting civilian infrastructure necessary for a populations survival.

The United States has ratified that 1949 treaty and has signed but not ratified a 1977 additional protocol that prohibits intentional attacks on the civilian population and civilian objects. But in 1993, the United Nations Security Council adopted a U.N. Secretary-Generals report which held that the treaty and additional protocols are binding on all parties in armed conflict, including non-signatories to the convention.

Additionally, American criminal law prohibits the commission of war crimes, which it defines as a grave breach in any of the international conventions signed at Geneva 12 August 1949, or any protocol to such convention to which the United States is a party.

The U.S. criminal code states that any person who commits war crimes can be imprisoned for life or put to death if a war crime results in the death of any victims.

Trumps threat against Iranian civilian infrastructure and the White Houses refusal to rule out targeting Irans water supply comes exactly one week after Trump backed off a prior threat to target Tehrans electrical generation capacity while citing what he described as productive conversations with Tehran even as Iranian government officials denied that any such talks had taken place.

President Donald Trump is renewing threats to bomb Iranian civilian infrastructure if a deal to end the war is not reached (AP)

He has repeatedly claimed there has been progress towards an agreement to end the war, which is entering its second month, even as Tehran has denied any direct talks with Washington since the start of the air campaign.

Iranian state media has also reported that the government has rejected the purported peace plan as unrealistic, illogical and excessive.

Trump is also understood to be considering plans to launch a high-stakes ground operation to seize Irans enriched uranium stockpiles from deep within the country at sites he has repeatedly claimed to have obliterated, both in a series of airstrikes by B-2 stealth bombers last June and during the current war that he launched on February 28.

Thousands of American ground forces from the Army and Marine Corps have arrived in the region, and Trump has told the Financial Times that he wants to take the oil in Iran and potentially use American troops to seize the tiny Kharg Island, the countrys main oil exporting terminal.

On Sunday, he told reporters aboard Air Force One that the Iranian military had been decimated and suggested that Tehran had agreed to give up nuclear weapons and give us the nuclear dust, referring to the weapons-grade nuclear materials.

He also expressed optimism about the same talks which Irans government has denied taking part in while boasting that the month-long bombing campaign had brought about regime change by killing most of the countrys previous leadership.

I think we'll make a deal with them, pretty sure, but it's possible we won't, but we've had regime change, if you look already, because the one regime was decimated, destroyed, they're all dead, he said.

They're going to do everything that we want to do. If they don't do that, they're not going to have a country, he added.

Since February 28, US and Israel have been launching attacks in Iran (Getty Images)

Seizing Irans uranium would entail a complex operation involving American troops flying to nuclear sites while under fire from Iranian forces.

Combat troops would need to secure the perimeters of the sites, supported by highly-skilled technical staff and engineers on board to extract the radioactive material. This would need to be carried in around 40 to 50 special cylinders to be transported out of the country without incident.

They would also need to assess the territory for mines and other explosive devices designed to ward off security breaches.

Tehran has warned against a ground invasion and said Trump is leading U.S. troops into the swamp of death, while even members of Trumps own Republican Party have cautioned him against deploying ground forces into the country.

One GOP congressman, Rep. Tim Burchett of Minnesota, said Sunday that a lot of Republicans would not support that level of escalation in the month-old conflict.

He told the television network NewsNation that he did not think there was a will for a ground conflict between American and Iran while noting that such a development would face united opposition from Democrats in Congress in addition to a critical mass of Republicans.

Burchett also said he believed a ground invasion would be a red line for the GOP.

Another Republican lawmaker, Senator James Lankford of Oklahoma, cautioned that Trump would have to ensure that Congress is fully informed on what any ground troops would be doing and why.

Speaking Sunday on NBC News Meet the Press, Lankford said: Weve got to be able to know what the objectives are and what theyre actually carrying out.

If this is special forces to be able to carry out a specific operation  get in, get out  thats very different than longstanding occupation, he said. The worst thing that can happen is to be able to have this kind of conflict start and to not end it, to leave it undone.
President Donald Trump on Monday threatened to obliterate all of Irans energy infrastructure  including the key oil hub Kharg Island  if Tehran continues to stall on efforts to strike a deal to end the war.

Airstrikes across the Middle East have continued despite several public overtures to diplomacy and negotiations by the US leader, with Tehran continuing to deny that any direct talks are taking place.

But in a post on Truth Social, Mr Trump claimed that serious discussions had been taking place over bringing an end to the month-old conflict and that great progress had been made.

If the Hormuz Strait is not immediately Open for Business, we will conclude our lovely stay in Iran by blowing up and completely obliterating all of their Electric Generating Plants, Oil Wells and Kharg Island (and possibly all desalinization plants!), which we have purposefully not yet touched, he wrote in another outburst.

It follows reports of a potential ground invasion of Iran that would mark a significant escalation of the conflict, with officials telling The Wall Street Journal on Sunday that the president is also assessing plans for a military operation to seize uranium from deep inside the country.

Its the job of the Pentagon to make preparations in order to give the commander-in-chief maximum optionality. It does not mean the president has made a decision, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement, regarding the reports.

Donald Trump said great progress had been made while also threatening to blow up Irans energy facilities (Getty)

Thousands of US sailors and marines landed in the Middle East over the weekend, according to US Central Command, a move that Tehran said was a sign that Washington was not serious about securing a peace deal.

Oil prices have continued to surge as the Strait of Hormuz remains largely closed to commercial shipments.

Yemens Houthi rebels entered the fray over the weekend, prompting further concern over global trade disruption after their previous attacks on maritime vessels in the Red Sea passage to the Suez Canal in 2024.

Prime minister Keir Starmer ruled out putting British troops on the ground in Iran and insisted that the UK would not be dragged into Mr Trumps escalating war in the region.

Thousands of US marines arrived in the Middle East over the weekend (US Central Command)

This is not our war and were not going to get drawn into it, he said, adding the UK will continue to take defensive action and work to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

What we have done is taken defensive action: so weve had our pilots up in the air since an hour or two after this war started, defending British lives, British interests and, of course, our allies in the region.

But we are not going to get dragged into this war.

The prime ministers office said it is in discussions with the US at every level over its involvement in the war in Iran.

We will continue to focus, as the prime minister has done, on British national interests, protecting people in the region, doing what we can to protect households from the impact here in the UK, and working with international allies.

Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon, on Monday (AP)

The Pentagon is reported to be awaiting Mr Trumps approval on ground operations involving up to 10,000 troops, according to The Washington Post.

Secretary of state Marco Rubio has previously denied that ground operations would go ahead and on Monday insisted that the US would achieve its objectives in a matter of weeks, not months.

Iran continues to deny that talks have taken place. Tehrans foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said they had received messages from intermediaries expressing Washingtons willingness to negotiate, but said the proposals were asking too much.

Meanwhile, Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon have continued after Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared the expansion of a buffer zone in operations said to be intended to defeat Hezbollah.
A TSA agent checks passengers at the security checkpoint in Pittsburgh international airport on Monday. Photograph: Gene J Puskar/AP (Photograph: Gene J Puskar/AP)

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) issued its employees back pay on Monday, after Donald Trump signed an order for them to be paid even as a partial shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security drags on, with no end in sight.

The paychecks appear to have relieved severe congestion at airport TSA checkpoints, which resulted in hours-long lines at several major air hubs over the past two weeks but brought Congress no closer to resolving the standoff over the the DHSs budget.

Most TSA employees received a retroactive paycheck today that included at least two full paychecks, said Lauren Bis, the acting assistant secretary of public affairs at the DHS. She noted the agency was working aggressively to send a third half-paycheck that employees are owed.

Related: US reopens embassy in Venezuela in significant thawing of relations

TSA officers are grateful to President Trump and Secretary [Markwayne] Mullin for their leadership to put money back into the pockets of TSA employees who worked without pay during the ongoing Democrat DHS shutdown. Working without pay forced more than 500 officers to leave TSA and thousands were forced to call out, she said.

Trump signed an executive order last week to pay TSA officers, just days after deploying agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to airports in what he described as an effort to shorten security lines.

The president intervened amid a prolonged logjam in Congress over funding the DHS, the parent agency of TSA as well as ICE and the border patrol, whose officers have taken the lead in Trumps mass deportation campaign.

After federal agents dispatched to Minneapolis shot and killed two US citizens in January, Democrats refused to back a key funding bill for the DHS unless Republicans agreed to impose guardrails on immigration enforcement operations, including that officers cease wearing masks and obtain judicial warrants to enter homes and businesses.

The White House refused many of those demands, but a resolution appeared to be in sight last week, when Democrats and Republicans in the Senate passed legislation to fund the DHS while excluding money for ICE and other offices involved in immigration enforcement. It was expected that Republicans would fund those agencies in a forthcoming reconciliation bill that they could pass along party lines.

But on Friday, House Republicans rejected the Senate bill, and instead passed a measure funding all of the DHS for two months, which Senate Democrats quickly rejected. Both chambers are on recess for the next weeks, and it appears unlikely that the standoff will be resolved before then.

The origin of the money for TSA employees paychecks is unclear. In a memo, Trump order the DHS to use funds that have a reasonable and logical nexus to TSA operations to pay salaries.

The money appears to have shortened security lines at some major airports that last week took hours to get through. The official websites of Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta international airport, the George Bush intercontinental airport in Houston and the Philadelphia international airport all reported short wait times at TSA checkpoints on Monday afternoon.
Two Indonesian soldiers attached to the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Lebanon were killed by an exploding projectile in the countrys south, the UN announced on Monday.

The projectile was said to be of unknown origin and injured two others when it exploded at a Unifil (United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon) position near the southern Lebanese village of Adchit al-Qusayr on Sunday.

Unifil was established by the UN Security Council in 1978 to monitor hostilities along the demarcation line  or Blue Line  between Israel, Lebanon, and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights; now the centre of clashes between the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) and Tehran-backed Hezbollah fighters.

We do not know the origin of the projectile. We have launched an investigation to determine all of the circumstances, Unifil said.

Once again, we call on all actors to uphold their obligations under international law and to ensure the safety and security of UN personnel and property at all times, including by refraining from actions that may put peacekeepers in danger, Unifil said. No one should ever lose their life serving the cause of peace.

A French peacekeeper inspects a position recently held by Hezbollah forces in south Lebanon, August 2025. (Associated Press, 2025)

Also on Sunday, a Polish soldier sustained minor injuries after a roadside device detonated as an Irish-Polish Unifil unit passed it on patrol.

The peacekeeper was evacuated by armoured ambulance. It is unclear who detonated the explosives.

On 6 March, the headquarters of a Ghanaian Unifil detachment was attacked by Israeli tank fire, critically injuring two soldiers.

The IDF acknowledged the strikes as being launched by their forces, saying they were responding to anti-tank fire from Hezbollah, which had moderately injured two Israeli troops.

Unifil is scheduled to begin their withdrawal from Lebanon on 31 December 2026, after Israeli and US pressure on the UN Security Council to wind up the mission.

Aid workers at the site of an Israeli airstrike in the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Roummane on 26 March, 2026. (AFP/Getty)

Tel Aviv has long accused the mission of failing to disarm Hezbollah  despite them never being tasked to do so  and providing it with political cover since its 2006 war with Israel.

Under President Donald Trump, the US has come to regard Unifil as a financial burden and has increasingly echoed Israels objections.

It is comprised of 10,500 peacekeepers from 47 countries and can only use force in self-defence or to protect civilians under fire.

Lebanon was drawn into the ongoing conflict across the Middle East on 2 March, when Hezbollah launched missiles towards Israel two days after the US and Israel attacked Iran and killed its supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The IDF is currently involved in intense clashes with Hezbollah forces in more than a dozen villages in southern Lebanon as they attempt to push north towards the Litani river.

Israels defense minister Israel Katz said residents and homes in contact-line villages would be destroyed in accordance with the model of Beit Hanun and Rafah in Gaza.
WASHINGTON  More than 2,000 people have been killed since the United States and Israel launched airstrikes against Iran on Feb. 28, 2026, igniting a high-intensity conflict that has seen Iranian retaliatory missile and drone attacks across the Middle East, with civilian deaths in Iran forming the vast majority of the toll.

The war, dubbed Operation Epic Fury by the U.S. military, began with nearly 900 joint U.S.-Israeli strikes in the first 12 hours targeting Iranian air defenses, missile sites, nuclear facilities and leadership targets. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was among those killed in the opening salvo, along with other senior officials, according to multiple reports.

As of late March 2026, casualty figures remain fluid and contested due to the fog of war, restricted access in Iran and differing methodologies used by various sources. Iranian authorities report around 1,937 deaths inside the country from U.S.-Israeli strikes, with more than 24,800 injured, including thousands of women and children. Independent monitors and rights groups cite higher numbers, with one estimate from HRANA reaching 3,389 killed, including 1,527 civilians and at least 228 children.

U.S. Central Command has confirmed 13 to 15 American service members killed, with figures varying slightly across reports. Some deaths resulted from direct Iranian attacks on U.S. bases in the region, while others stemmed from a KC-135 refueling aircraft crash over Iraq that killed six crew members. Approximately 200 to 313 U.S. troops have been wounded, though most injuries are described as minor, with many service members returning to duty.

Israeli casualties include at least four soldiers and 19 to 24 civilians killed, with thousands injured from Iranian missile barrages. Additional deaths have been reported in Gulf states and among Iranian-backed groups such as Hezbollah, where hundreds of fighters are estimated killed.

Breakdown of Reported Casualties

In Iran, the Health Ministry attributes nearly all fatalities to airstrikes on military and infrastructure sites, though civilian areas have also been hit. Reports describe strikes damaging cultural heritage in cities like Isfahan and causing secondary casualties in populated zones. U.S. and Israeli officials claim the majority of Iranian deaths  potentially over 6,000  were military personnel, including Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps members, while downplaying civilian impact.

Human rights organizations highlight challenges in verification, noting blackouts, disrupted communications and restricted international access. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies has cited at least 1,900 killed and 20,000 injured in Iran. Some accounts mention specific incidents, such as damage to schools and hospitals, contributing to civilian tolls.

On the U.S. side, the 13 confirmed deaths include losses from enemy fire and the aviation mishap. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has acknowledged that more casualties are likely as operations continue. Wounded figures hover around 300 in some CENTCOM updates, with about 10 seriously injured in recent incidents like the strike on Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia.

Israel has reported lower overall losses thanks to robust air defenses, though Iranian attacks have caused injuries and infrastructure damage. Hezbollah and other proxies have suffered hundreds of fighter deaths in related exchanges.

Gulf states have seen smaller numbers of fatalities from spillover strikes, with reports of around 25 deaths across the region in early tallies.

Context and Escalation

The conflict erupted after months of heightened tensions, with the initial U.S.-Israeli campaign aimed at degrading Iran's nuclear program, missile capabilities and regional influence. Iranian responses included waves of ballistic missiles and drones targeting Israel, U.S. bases in Iraq, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and other locations.

No large-scale U.S. ground invasion has occurred, with operations focused on air and naval strikes. Secretary of State Marco Rubio indicated in late March that the campaign could conclude in "weeks, not months," though diplomacy via mediators continues amid Iranian reviews of U.S. proposals.

Millions have been displaced in Iran and Lebanon, with economic costs running into billions. Oil facilities and shipping routes have faced disruptions, raising global energy concerns. UNESCO has urged protection of cultural sites damaged in the fighting.

Casualty counts are expected to rise as strikes persist and verification improves. Independent tallies often lag official reports, and both sides accuse the other of inflating or minimizing figures for propaganda purposes.

Challenges in Tracking Deaths

Accurate accounting remains difficult in active conflict zones. Iranian state media provides one set of numbers, while U.S. and Israeli assessments emphasize military targets. Rights groups like HRANA attempt independent verification but face access barriers.

Hospitals in Iran have been strained, with reports of overwhelmed facilities treating thousands of injured. Civilian deaths, including children, have drawn international concern and calls for de-escalation.

The U.S. military has not released full details on all American fatalities, following standard notification protocols for families. Names of some fallen service members have appeared in media and Wikipedia compilations.

Broader Impact and Outlook

The human cost extends beyond direct deaths to long-term injuries, psychological trauma and displacement. Humanitarian organizations warn of potential crises in food, medical supplies and shelter as infrastructure suffers.

As negotiations hover in the background, both sides continue military operations. U.S. officials stress the campaign's progress in degrading Iranian capabilities, while Tehran vows continued resistance.

With the conflict now over a month old, the death toll  conservatively exceeding 2,000 and potentially much higher when including unconfirmed military losses  underscores the stakes. Families on all sides mourn losses while diplomats seek paths to end the fighting.

Observers note parallels to past Middle East conflicts, where initial strikes escalated rapidly with significant civilian impact. The coming weeks may determine whether the war expands further or moves toward resolution.

For now, the verified toll stands as a grim marker of a conflict that began with targeted leadership strikes and has drawn in multiple nations across the region.

Originally published on ibtimes.com.au
Negotiations to secure a new 650m agreement with France to help prevent small-boat crossings in the Channel have hit a standstill.

British and French officials were continuing talks on Monday to reach an agreement before the current 475m deal, which was signed in 2023, expires at midnight on Tuesday.

According to sources involved in the negotiations, discussions stalled over how a funding package of around 650m will be released from the UK to France over the course of the next three years

Home secretary Shabana Mahmood has reportedly demanded stricter conditions that would mean the money would be released after the French reached a certain interception rate.

Currently, the French intercept 33 per cent of crossings, with Home Office figures showing rates have fallen to intercepting just 2,064 of 6,233 crossings.

Migrants attempt a Channel crossing near Gravelines in northern France (PA)

Frances general secretary for the sea, Xavier Ducept, said linking funding to interception rates would endanger lives.

They must not make this funding conditional on a type of efficiency that could be extremely dangerous for migrants, he told a French parliamentary committee on Friday.

The separate one-in, one-out migrant returns deal, made between Sir Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron last summer, has resulted in 377 migrants being returned to France, while 380 asylum seekers have been transferred to Britain.

British negotiators also rejected requests to pay the salaries of staff at a new migrant detention centre in northern France, The Times reports.

Shabana Mahmood has demanded stricter conditions for release of money (House of Commons/UK Parliament)

The detention centre in Dunkirk was agreed under the last deal in 2023 but has been repeatedly delayed due to planning permission. But British negotiators want to see this centre completed this year as a condition of a new deal.

Funding from the UK is critical to combating migrants crossing the channel in small boats due to the high costs of French illegal migration patrols in northern France.

Border forces said if a deal is not made there will be an increase in the number of migrants that evade capture.

A French interior ministry source told the French newspaper Le Monde, that negotiations have failed. It added that everything has gone up to the ministerial level.

But the British Home Office has denied this and insisted talks between officials were continuing and said ministers were not yet involved in the talks.

A Home Office spokesperson said: "France is our most important migration partner and together our joint work is bearing down on small boat crossings.

We have prevented over 40,000 crossing attempts by illegal migrants since this government took office. Our landmark deal means illegal migrants who arrive on small boats are being sent back to France."
Patients have been advised "not to worry" about medicine supply concerns despite potential links to the conflict in Iran.

While reassurances are offered, pharmacy bodies are noting early warning signs.

The Independent Pharmacies Association warned the UK faces a "perfect storm of factors exacerbating medicine shortages."

The National Pharmacy Association (NPA) adds that pharmacists are seeing "evidence of escalating price rises" for medicines, a potential early warning for supply constraints.

Yet, the NPA stressed the UK is "yet to see" any shortages linked to the conflict, urging patients not to be concerned.

Chief executive Dr Leyla Hannbeck said: The UK pharmacy sector depends heavily on imports, particularly from India and China, and ongoing pressures, from rising energy costs to constrained raw ingredients from the Middle East conflict, are already disrupting supply and risk worsening shortages without decisive action.

Both the Independent Pharmacies Association and National Pharmacy Association have issued warnings (Getty/iStock)

Olivier Picard, chairman of the National Pharmacy Association said: The medicine supply chain is complex and fragile and global trends and events in the Middle East have the potential to cause disruption, as it does with other products.

We have already seen evidence in recent weeks of escalating price rises for medicines for pharmacies in the UK, as the cost of ingredients goes up, and this can be an early sign of supply pressures.

Medicine supply issues vary from month to month, and pharmacies do all they can to ensure patients get the medicines they need.

The Government must support them to meet these pressures if they increase.

Weve yet to see shortages in the UK directly from this conflict.

While there is a risk of disruption, particularly if this conflict goes on for a prolonged period, it is extremely hard to predict.

We advise patients not to worry but to take the advice of their local pharmacy which will help them plan ahead and get prescriptions in good time.

The Government should do all they can to mitigate against this and maintain supplies of medicines into the UK through alternative global supply routes.

A Government spokesperson said: There are currently no reported medicine shortages as a result of conflict in the Middle East.

We continue to monitor the situation closely for any impacts on the medical supply chain.

The department actively monitors emerging threats to supply resilience and has established processes in place to manage disruption across the health and social care sector.
German defence giant Rheinmetall has sought to ease a row caused by its CEO when he likened Ukrainian factories producing drones to housewives making weapons in their kitchens. In an interview with the Atlantic, CEO Armin Papperger was asked whether Ukraines drone technology could disrupt his industry, which focused more on areas such as artillery and tanks. This is how to play with Legos, Papperger said of the drones and went on to compare major drone Ukrainian manufacturers to housewives, adding this is not the technology of Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics, or Rheinmetall. They have 3D printers in the kitchen, and they produce parts for drones, he said, adding: This is not innovation. Alexander Kamyshin, an adviser to Volodymyr Zelenskyy, swiftly point out the successes that Ukraines drones have had against Russian tanks. Kamyshin said that in his visits to arms factories he had seen Ukrainian women working equally with men often enough, adding: They deserve respect. The row also spawned the hashtag #MadeByHousewives on Ukrainian social media. On Sunday, Rheinmetall tagged Kamyshin in a post on its X account in which it said. We have the utmost respect for the Ukrainian peoples immense efforts in defending themselves. Every single woman and man in Ukraine is making an immeasurable contribution. Ukraines prime minister, Yulia Svyrydenko, later on Sunday said the people of Ukraine deserve not only utmost respect but to be heard  and learned from. Yes, Europes defence is powered by Ukrainian housewives, she said, also adding the #MadeByHousewives hashtag.
Actor and former governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger spoke of the breakthrough he experienced in Belfast as he was presented with an honorary degree.

Schwarzenegger, 78, said it was unbelievable to be back in the city where he had his first taste of public speaking, 60 years after his first visit.

The Austrian-born star received the honorary doctorate from Ulster University in recognition of his contributions to public service, environmental advocacy, and the arts.

He arrived to a red carpet welcome, as students cheered and held signs reading Ulster hes back and Hasta La Vista Ulster, while some brought copies of his movie Terminator 2.

Arnold Schwarzenegger walks with vice-chancellor of Ulster University Professor Paul Bartholomew (right) as he arrives to receive an an honorary doctorate presented by the university in Belfast (Liam McBurney/PA) (Liam McBurney)

The actor first visited the city for a bodybuilding competition in 1966, when the sport was in its infancy, and years before his acting debut in the 1970 film Hercules in New York.

He told the students on arrival his trip is kind of a 60-year anniversary.

So I came here, I was invited by Ivan Dunbar, this Irish man, I think his family is here he passed away Im sad to say, but thats where my beginning was, in Ireland, in Belfast.

And its wonderful to be back in Northern Ireland and to kind of get to see, this is not something that I dreamt of when I was 19-years-old, when I was here 60 years ago, that one day I will be coming here to get an honorary doctorate degree, its unbelievable.

Students lined the atrium in the university to listen to Schwarzeneggers speech and cheered as he turned to hold up his award.

Arnold Schwarzenegger lifts his honorary doctorate presented to him by the Ulster University in Belfast (Liam McBurney/PA) (Liam McBurney)

In his speech he said that in that 1966 competition in Northern Ireland his body building idol Roy Reg Park encouraged him to speak on stage to the crowd.

So I walked over to the microphone, thinking he wants me to do another muscular shot, or something like that, no, he asked me a question, he said.

He said, how do you like it here? and Im now almost fainting, because Ive never, ever spoken in public before, and we dont have to tell you the fear that we all have of public speaking, so to me, I had this always, I had almost a heart attack.

He added: So then (Reg) said to me, says, Okay, tell them, I like Belfast. So I said, I like Belfast again, standing ovation, everyone jumping up, you gave me great applause.

Then he says, tell him that youre going to be back and then I said, I come back  at that time, I didnt say Ill be back that was before Terminator  so I said, I come back.

So anyway, standing ovation, he said thank you very much, that was fantastic, the first time you spoke in public, you did such a great job and your English is great and all this stuff.

Arnold Schwarzenegger claps after watching a dancer dressed as his terminator character, after receiving his honorary doctorate presented to him by the Ulster University in Belfast (Liam McBurney/PA) (Liam McBurney)

And then afterwards I left, I said to myself, oh my God, I thought Im going to die when I speak in front of people, but this was the most encouraging audience.

So what Im saying is what happened that day in Belfast was so important to me, because every single time afterwards, when I won a competition, I went to the microphone and said thank you very much for making me the winner, being Mr Universe, its great to be in London, or its great to be New York, or wherever it was and I thanked the audience, and said, thank you fans for being so enthusiastic.

And I said a few words, and each time I said, more and more and more, they eventually couldnt shut me up.

I love talking so much in public, so this is what Im talking about, this was a breakthrough.

I always tell people about that breakthrough that happened here in Belfast.

This is why I have such fond memories of Belfast, and this is why it is so great to be back now.

Arnold Schwarzenegger (left) poses for a picture next to a picture of himself during a visit he made to Belfast in 1966, with former Belfast Telegraph staff member Sandra Weir (Liam McBurney/PA) (Liam McBurney)

Following a ceremony to present the honorary degree, Schwarzenegger answered questions from broadcaster Holly Hamilton, where he encouraged students not to waste a minute, just study and study and study.

Because while youre wasting a minute, someone else is going to study and you want to make sure that you are ahead of everyone else, he said.

The world is a very competitive place, and I want you to succeed, and I want you to create a vision and have a goal.

Dancers performed a Terminator-themed Irish traditional dance routine, donning sunglasses with the famous single red eye.

Following the ceremony Schwarzenegger then met with Sandra Weir, one of the women featured in a picture of the young bodybuilder on his first visit to Belfast 60 years ago.

Reminiscing on her first meeting with a 19-year-old Schwarzenegger, Ms Weir said: He was very, very easy to talk to, you know and he was gabbling away and everything, we didnt know what he was saying.

She said the pair had a good laugh during their brief reunion on Monday, saying he was in good form, good form then and even good form now.

Schwarzenegger also met with 89-year-old Eric Downey, a natural bodybuilder from Belfast, and the daughter of Ivan Dunbar, the man he stayed with during his first visit 60 years ago.

Before leaving, he signed a poster and a childhood drawing done by a member of the security staff at Ulster University.

Simon Aldworth said it was a lifetime dream to meet the Terminator star, saying you can actually see that my hands are shaking.
Vaping likely to cause lung and oral cancers, most definitive determination to date finds

Millions of Americans use e-cigarettes, the majority of them younger adults and teenagers. The battery-powered devices, also known as vapes, have often been promoted to younger demographics as a lower-risk alternative to smoking regular cigarettes.

Now a new analysis of global research  one of the most detailed attempts to determine this impact so far, according to Australias University of New South Wales  says that e-cigarettes are likely to cause lung and mouth cancer.

The cancers are expected to lead to 138,140 deaths in the U.S. this year.

Considering all the findings  from clinical monitoring, animal studies and mechanistic data  e-cigarettes are likely to cause lung cancer and oral cancer, Adjunct Professor Bernard Stewart, a cancer researcher at the university, said in a statement.

To our knowledge, this review is the most definitive determination that those who vape are at increased risk of cancer compared to those who dont, he noted.

Many Americans use e-cigarettes, which contain fewer harmful chemicals than regular cigarettes but are still unsafe. Now, Australian cancer researchers say the battery-powered devices are likely to cause oral and lung cancer (AFP/Getty)

The review consulted clinical studies, animal experts and lab research examining the chemicals produced by e-cigarettes and their effects, the university said.

The studies the universitys researchers looked at showed vaping was linked to inflamed tissue and oxidative stress, which are both signs of damaged DNA. There were also some experiments in mice that showed vaping caused lung tumors and lab studies that found cellular damage and disrupted biological pathways linked to cancer.

Weed killer, preservative and food additive

The researchers identified numerous cancer-causing chemicals in the e-cigarette aerosols the devices produce to inhale, including chemicals, metals and volatile organic chemicals.

Aerosols can contain cancer-causing chemicals, volatile organic compounds and heavy metals like nickel, tin and lead, tiny particles that can be inhaled deep into the lungs, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says.

The volatile organic compounds include the carcinogen and preservative formaldehyde, the food additive diacetyl and the weed killer acrolein, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine. Acrolein and diacetyl are tied to lung disease.

The evidence was remarkably consistent across fields, UNSW Associate Professor Freddy Sitas added. It dictated an unequivocal finding now, though human studies that estimate the risk will take decades to accumulate.

Still, the researchers say they will only be able to determine what the precise risk is when longer-term studies on humans are available.

New CDC data found that seven percent of Americans used e-cigarettes in 2024 (AFP via Getty Images)

The inflammation is happening

Other researchers had previously said e-cigarettes had not been around long enough to definitively say they caused cancer and that health consequences were just starting to be understood.

We do know that smoking tobacco forces tiny particles to be deposited deep in the bronchial tree and can lead to the development of cancer, Johns Hopkins Medicine lung cancer surgeon Stephen Broderick previously explained. The same may be true for vaping.

Biologically, damage is happening even if you cannot see negative effects right away, Dr. Panagis Galiatsatos, a pulmonary and critical care physician at Johns Hopkins Medicine, told the American Lung Association.

The inflammation is happening. And the concern is, were creating the conditions that will lead to those diseases later, he said.

There are still 480,000 deaths from smoking cigarettes each year in the U.S., with many tied to cancer, according to the American Cancer Society. Projections released by the society earlier this year said 124,990 people would die from lung cancer.

Although cigarette use has decreased among U.S. adults, e-cigarette use has increased. Newly released CDC data found that seven percent of Americans used e-cigarettes in 2024.

The CDC says that while e-cigarettes dont have all of the contaminants in tobacco smoke, they are still unsafe.

E-cigarette aerosol generally contains fewer harmful chemicals than the deadly mix of 7,000 chemicals in smoke from cigarettes. However, this does not make e-cigarettes safe, the CDC says.
Karoline Leavitt refused to provide further details about the military building a "big complex" underneath the new $400m White House ballroom under construction.

While speaking with reporters aboard Air Force One, Donald Trump said members of the military are involved in the construction, and hinted at it being a new bunker.

The ballroom essentially becomes a shed for whats being built under the military, including from drones, including from any other thing, the president said, adding that the windows will be bulletproof.

During Monday's briefing, the White House press secretary would not be drawn on the topic.

"I cannot tell you more about [the complex] as a matter of fact, however, the military is making some upgrades to their facilities here at the White House, and I'm not privy to provide any more details on that this time."
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday hailed "historic" defence agreements signed with Middle Eastern countries last week on a visit to the region.

Ukraine signed defence agreements with Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates last week.

The contents of the deals have not been made public, but Zelensky has said they include Ukrainian expertise in downing drones, a pressing need as Iranian strikes target Gulf countries in the Middle East war.

"I believe these are historic agreements. We are reaching understanding on strategic cooperation in the military technology area and in other areas. We are talking about 10-year agreements," Zelensky told reporters.

Kyiv has sought to leverage its expertise in downing Russian drones to help the Gulf nations, which are being attacked with the same Iranian-designed Shahed drones that Russia fires on Ukraine.

Ukraine has proposed swapping its relatively cheap drone interceptors for the expensive air-defence missiles that the Gulf is currently using to down Iranian drones.

Read moreMiddle East war live: Trump threatens to 'completely' obliterate Irans Kharg Island if no deal

Easter ceasefire

Some of Ukraine's allies have sent Kyiv "signals" about the possibility of scaling back its long-range strikes on Russia's oil sector amid a spike in global energy prices, Zelensky said on Monday.

Speaking to reporters in a WhatsApp chat, he added that Ukraine was ready to reciprocate if Russia stops attacking the Ukrainian energy system, and that Kyiv is open to an Easter ceasefire.

"Recently, following such a severe global energy crisis, we have indeed received signals from some of our partners about how to reduce our responses in the oil sector and the energy sector of the Russian Federation," Zelensky said in a WhatsApp briefing with journalists.

The US-Israeli war on Iran has squeezed international supplies of oil, gas and refined products, sending prices soaring. Russian strikes on Ukraine's energy infrastructure have already left it scrambling for supplies.

Zelensky said at the weekend that he had reached a deal with some countries during his visit to the Middle East on diesel deliveries for a year to Ukraine, without providing further details. Diesel is vital for the functioning of the Ukrainian armed forces and for the country's agricultural sector, the bedrock of the economy.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP and Reuters)
Eileen, our salmon, takes to the water paddling downstream on her hands and knees. Photograph: Roshan Adve (Photograph: Roshan Adve)

Theres something afoot in the woods today. Bubble-headed humanoid figures bump clumsily through the trees, making their way down to the waters edge accompanied by flute and drum. Here comes Frog, with bulgy red eyes, followed by stripe-faced Badger and a slim figure with a massive salmon on her head. I wanted to be Otter, but Otter is taken, so I end up as Barn Owl.

All around us, wild garlic bursts through the leaf litter, like clean green licks of paint, and every passing bootprint sends a pungent plume into the air. Blackbird song and the glockenspiel gurgle of the playful young River Tone provide the soundtrack to this mornings ceremonials, and behind our papier-mache masks were all a little overexcited.

Responding to the call put out by Extinction Rebellion to mark World Water Day on 22 March, the artistsformallyknownasWiveyXR  creative people from nearby Wiveliscombe  decided to pledge their allegiance to the Tone at Hurstone nature reserve, close to the village of Waterrow on the edge of Exmoor national park.

The idea was inspired by a young Bristol-based activist called Megan who married her local river, the Avon, in 2023. Campaigns like those of Surfers Against Sewage, the recent TV series Dirty Business, films such as Jo in the Water and Rave on for the Avon, and books such as Robert Macfarlanes Is a River Alive? and Amy-Jane Beers The Flow have galvanised people into action. Todays nuptials are held in the same spirit, because, for all the fancy dress, everyone knows this is a serious business: of the 3,553 river stretches in England assessed by the Rivers Trust, 0%  that is none  were in good overall status.

Here, just seven miles from its source, the Tone is sparkling and clear  a very different river than the sluggish, coffee-brown waterway that snakes through Taunton and beyond. We cheer and whoop as Eileen, our salmon, takes to the water paddling downstream on her hands and knees. She commits to love and honour the Tone and protect it in sickness and in health. Something stirs inside our animal hearts. Just maybe, the tide is turning.

 Under the Changing Skies: The Best of the Guardians Country Diary, 2018-2024, is available now at guardianbookshop.com
Triple killer Valdo Calocane was given an indefinite hospital order - Nottingham Inquiry

A psychiatrist who assessed the Nottingham triple killer did not question him about terror videos on his phone, an inquiry has heard.

Prof Nigel Blackwood told the inquiry into the handling of the case that he knew Valdo Calocane had viewed footage of the 2022 Buffalo shootings and the 2019 Christchurch mosque killings.

However, Prof Blackwood did not ask more questions about these, instead interpreting them as the killer searching for an understanding of his psychosis.

Calocane killed Barnaby Webber and Grace OMalley-Kumar, both 19, and 65-year-old Ian Coates in the early hours of June 13, 2023.

Health professionals have been criticised for not having committed the 34-year-old to a psychiatric hospital long before the killings, despite symptoms of paranoid schizophrenia and involvement in violent attacks.

Asked on Monday by Rachel Langdale KC, counsel for the inquiry, whether he had been aware of these videos, Prof Blackwood said he had, but had not asked Calocane about them.

Calocane was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia three years before he fatally stabbed three victims - Nottinghamshire Police

I interpret those in the context of his untreated psychosis, Prof Blackwood, who interviewed Calocane for five hours in a secure mental health hospital in November 2023, said.

He is angry, he is perplexed. Why are my thoughts being monitored?Why am I being tormented by these individuals?

In the context of thinking about such things, he is looking at different information, about Hitler, the Nazis, shootings, etc.

Ms Langdale asked Prof Blackwood: Hes looking at terrorism, isnt he? Hes looking at shootings. Are you saying psychosis is a precursor to look at terrorism videos? Im trying to understand the connection there.

Prof Blackwood responded: Clearly anyone can look at such videos, but it may be that hes searching for an understanding, hes looking at the way in which others have reacted to these things, it may be that he already has murderous intentions by this point and thats why hes looking at such material.

Ms Langdale also mentioned images of a knife, a partial image of what appeared to be a large gun, and images of a sword and other weapons on Calocanes device.

She asked: Hes a dangerous man, isnt he?

Prof Blackwood said: I think his risk to others has increased as a result of his psychotic illness, yes.

This may be reflective of the fact that hes beginning to have murderous intentions. We know that he buys a knife in 2022, he buys knife-sharpening equipment etc, so there is a new interest in weaponry at this point.

Prof Blackwood, who is a professor of forensic psychiatry at Kings College London, dismissed questions around Calocane being manipulative, instead describing him as having a lack of insight.

He said: Being manipulative is being aware of what an individual is seeking, and while being aware of that, going out of your way to frustrate that aim.

So there is nothing in his police interviews I would ascribe to manipulation.

Valdo Calocane killed Ian Coates, Grace Kumar and Barnaby Webber in June 2023 - Nottinghamshire Police

The hearing also heard that Calocane  who was not tested for drugs on arrest, although the bodies of OMalley-Kumar and Webber were  told psychiatrists he had tried cannabis once at the age of 28 and that it left him feeling like his arm was going to be cut off and he would die.

But Dr Ross Mirvis, a psychiatrist who interviewed Calocane in the hospital where he is serving his sentence, said he was satisfied that cannabis was not a perpetuating factor.

Dr Mirvis added that Calocane had been taking antipsychotic drugs since beginning his hospital order at Ashworth Hospital and was becoming less aggressive and warmer in his interactions with others.

Sanjoy Kumar, the father of OMalley-Kumar, condemned Prof Blackwood for ignoring key pieces of evidence.

Everything we have seen today shows that [Calocane] was highly manipulative, but Blackwood says this is not manipulation and instead it is a lack of insight, Mr Kumar added.
Edward Goldsmith (left) was dubbed Godfather of Green, while his brother James might be called the Godfather of Brexit

Ever since Zack Polanksi became leader of the Green Party last September, the picture has been stark. Nearly all the 150 opinion polls since then have shown that the combined support for the Greens and Nigel Farages Reform is greater than for the two parties who have run Britain for more than 100 years, the Conservatives and Labour. And the new insurgents look set for more success in the local elections on May 7.

Surprisingly, despite their Left-Right differences, both insurgent parties stem from similar roots. More remarkable still, the origins of both parties can be traced, in part, to two energetic, radical brothers: Edward and James Goldsmith.

They were the sons of Major Frank Goldsmith, who belonged to a German-Jewish banking family that came to England in the 1890s. From 1910 to 1918 he was Conservative MP for Stowmarket in Suffolk.

James Goldsmith (left) and his brother Edward were from a wealthy banking family

Teddy and Jimmy, as they were known, would both fail in their single attempts to become MPs, but each significantly influenced the past 50 years of British politics. While Teddy Goldsmith was called Godfather of Green on his death in 2009, his brother Sir James Goldsmith might be called the Godfather of Brexit. More importantly, the environmentalism and Euroscepticism they both espoused were populist responses to the globalisation which emerged in the late 20th-century.

As young men, the brothers struck a deal over their family wealth, explains Jimmys son Zac Goldsmith, the former Conservative minister: Uncle Teddy knew he was hopeless at business, and had full confidence in Dad. So Teddy handed everything to my Dad, on the understanding that 10 per cent of the profits would come back to him.

Between the 1950s and 1980s, James achieved meteoric business success, which provided the financial backing for Teddy to become one of the most influential environmentalists in Britain. He was a philosopher who loved debate. Teddy had a very entertaining approach to life, according to the environmentalist Sir Jonathon Porritt, who first knew Teddy around 1974. His conversations would always be hard hitting and robust, but he was very courteous.

In 1969, Teddy founded The Ecologist magazine, and three years later he and co-author Robert Allen published A Blueprint for Survival  first published as a special edition of The Ecologist in January 1972, then later in book form  which warned of the environmental limits to unceasing growth.

Former Conservative MP Zac Goldsmith with his Uncle Teddy in 2002 - Alan Davidson/Shutterstock

A Blueprint for Survival was the inspirational bible for a new political party founded in 1972, called simply People, for which Teddy stood in the February 1974 general election. He fought Eye in Suffolk, a seat based on the medieval town of that name, and part of his fathers old seat. Teddy borrowed a camel from the private zoo of his wealthy casino-owning friend John Aspinall, to campaign on the streets under the bizarre slogan No Deserts in Suffolk. Vote Goldsmith, to warn of the dangers of soil erosion, even in Suffolk.

Teddy got just 395 votes, and never stood for Parliament again, but remained a highly influential member of the Green movement, through The Ecologist, his numerous books and as a donor to environmental causes. Meanwhile, People became the Ecology Party in 1975, and 10 years later the Green Party of today.

In the European elections of 1989, the Greens won 15 per cent of the vote, the highest share by a minor party in any British election until then. Its voters included a 25-year-old Nigel Farage, whod previously voted Conservative. The Greens, Farage later explained, were the only Eurosceptic party back in those days. And that vote was significant to him personally, he added. I was striking out on my own, no longer finding refuge in the compromises offered by conventional politics.

Teddy and the Greens thought the European Community (EC) benefitted big business, whereas they championed small enterprises. The environmentalist Ben Goldsmith  Teddys nephew  says the EC gave access to large corporations across Europe  big cheese-makers, for example  to impose new regulations, which would then drive smaller cheese-makers out of business.

Yet Teddys younger brother, James, had actually become extremely rich through big business, notorious for corporate raiding and asset-stripping. Nonetheless, James sponsored Teddys environmental causes, and when Harold Wilson gave James a knighthood in 1976, the citation was for ecology and trade.

Sir James was almost 60 when he suddenly plunged into politics. Although his involvement lasted barely four years, he operated on a grand scale, fighting elections in two countries. In 1983, in a lecture for broadcaster Channel 4 of all places, James suggested a referendum on Britains membership of the EU. The following year, exploiting his dual UK and French citizenship, he was elected a member of the European Parliament for the Eurosceptic Movement for France party, and his campaign wooed voters and journalists with lavish displays of oysters and other fine food. Then in Britain, Goldsmith founded the Referendum Party.

In the 1997 election, James spent a staggering sum exceeding 20m  the biggest amount any individual has given to one campaign. His party stood candidates in 547 constituencies, but he didnt win a single seat, though they gained 811,849 votes, more than twice as many as their Eurosceptic rivals, the young UK Independence Party, Ukip. Goldsmith had put Eurosceptism on the political agenda.

Sir James founded the Referendum Party in 1994 - PA Archive/PA Images

Just 11 weeks later James was dead, having quietly been suffering from pancreatic cancer. He was only 64, and had he lived, he might have led the Eurosceptic movement in Britain for another 10 to 20 years, crushing Ukip in the process  and the world might never have heard of Nigel Farage.

Without James Goldsmith, the Referendum Party collapsed, and was partly absorbed by Ukip, which adopted the Referendum colour, purple. Farage, now Ukip chairman, swiftly recruited more than 100 of Jamess strongest candidates, including Jeffrey Titford, whod enjoyed the best Referendum result  9.2 per cent in Harwich, which included Clacton (which is today Farages seat). Titford and Farage were among Ukips first three European MEPs elected in 1999.

Above all, James bequeathed the idea of a referendum as the route to withdrawal from the European Union. Ironically, Farage remained sceptical about holding a referendum for another 15 years, fearing the British public would never vote to leave. He thought it better instead to assemble a cross-party majority of anti-EU MPs at Westminster.

The Referendum Party was a significant strand in the ancestry of the parties led by Farage  Ukip and the Brexit Party (now called Reform UK). Those parties exploited regular elections to the European Parliament under proportional representation, to raise their profile, support and resources, and the Greens did the same.

The Referendum Party placed this advert in newspapers in the run-up to the 1997 election - PA

Teddy Goldsmith would have been astonished by the success of the Green Party, says Porritt, especially since he never envisaged it playing more than a provocative role in politics. But it would unnerve him as well, Porritt adds. Teddy was clear that nature was at the centre of everything. Todays Green Party has strong policies on nature and climate, but theyre not prominent. He would have been very concerned about that. He didnt go with socialist ideas.

The Green Party would have horrified Uncle Teddy, says Ben Goldsmith. The environment and nature have taken a back seat at best, second place to Islamist leftism that cares about Gaza and Jew-bashing. His brother Zac agrees: The Green Party founded by Uncle Teddy stood for small-C conservatism, whereas I cant find any real difference between the Greens of today and Jeremy Corbyn.

James with his wife Annabel (right), daughter Jemima and son Zac in 1997 - Brian Smith

James, in contrast, would probably be delighted by Reforms breathtaking success. Neither of his sons, Zac and Ben, have joined the party, but in January Ben Goldsmith approached Farage offering to suggest new policies on the environment and nature. Farage has agreed to listen.

Perhaps theyll talk at 5 Hertford Street, the private members club in Mayfair which has become a favourite haunt for Farage and his friends. The club is owned by Robin Birley, James Goldsmiths stepson. The Goldsmith influence lives on.

Michael Crick is author of One Party After Another: the Disruptive Life of Nigel Farage
A month into the conflict, its time to press pause on this war: Global Times editorial

Global Times) 09:05, March 30, 2026

Destroying peace. Illustration: Liu Rui/GT

It has now been a full month since the US and Israel launched military strikes against Iran on February 28. Far from achieving their so-called "intended objectives," this conflict, which was initiated by the US and Israel without justification amid negotiations, has instead edged steadily toward the brink of losing control. Although it is uncertain how this conflict will end, its shock to geopolitics and the global order is already profound. What is urgently needed now is to prevent this conflict - one that should never have happened - from sliding into the abyss of complete loss of control.

In just one month, the perilous escalation of the conflict has far exceeded initial expectations. The flames of war have spread from the Persian Gulf to the eastern Mediterranean, and from the Strait of Hormuz to the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. Beyond Iran and Israel, the territories of Kuwait, Iraq, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain have also come under direct military strikes, leaving critical infrastructure and civilian safety severely impacted. The US government initially projected that the war against Iran would last "four to five weeks," and later repeatedly claimed it would "end soon." The facts have proven otherwise: Once modern warfare is initiated, it is difficult to stop it according to the "pre-set trajectory." The US and Israeli attempt at a "swift and decisive victory" has now collapsed, and the consequences of reckless military intervention in the Middle East are becoming increasingly evident.

This war was built from the outset on severe strategic miscalculations and a morality deficit. From the bloody tragedy in the school in Minab to the "black toxic rain" on the streets of Tehran, repeated strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities have triggered global alarm and sharply heightened the risk of radioactive leaks. This conflict has also imposed an energy crisis, supply chain disruptions, and economic uncertainty on the entire world. With the Strait of Hormuz remaining under restricted navigation, international oil prices have surged past $112 per barrel. If the conflict continues to escalate, the risk of a global economic recession will rise significantly, undermining the shared interests of people across all nations.

What is most alarming now is the erosion of limits on targets and the sharp rise in the risk of spillover. The conflict is no longer confined to military objectives; both sides have begun striking key civilian infrastructure, including oil refineries, desalination plants, and power stations - facilities vital to national economies and everyday life. Once this "mutual destruction" mode becomes the norm, it will trigger even more severe humanitarian disasters. The Houthi movement's declaration of entry into the war not only opens a new front but also heightens risks along the Red Sea shipping lane, increasing global oil prices and logistics costs. Meanwhile, the deployment of 3,500 US sailors and marines to the Middle East has sharply increased the likelihood of a ground offensive and the danger of dragging the conflict into a protracted quagmire.

"Enough: end the eternal war" - such slogans appeared in a square in Tel Aviv on March 28, marking one month since the conflict began. On the same day, more than 3,100 related protests were held across the US, with "no more war" emerging as one of the protesters' core demands. Even Joe Kent, director of the US National Counterterrorism Center, reportedly resigned because he could not "in good conscience" support the US war with Iran - a clear sign of the war's lack of public support.

Following an airstrike on Iran University of Science and Technology, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps declared that American and Israeli-affiliated universities in the Middle East would be considered "legitimate targets." This serves as yet another warning: War is never a solution, and it only breeds more hatred and killing.

Although the current situation is filled with uncertainty, it also contains a potential window for de-escalation. The US, Israel, and Iran are all facing increasingly prominent pressures in their ongoing confrontation, which significantly constrain their strategic space and policy choices. Previously, both the US and Iran had signaled a willingness to negotiate; the key lies in whether all parties can maintain strategic restraint under pressure, gradually restore communication mechanisms through limited de-escalation measures, and create conditions for subsequent political solutions. The conflict is now on the brink of complete loss of control, where every misjudgment and each escalation could lead to irrevocable consequences. Therefore, all parties involved in the conflict should remain calm and rational, abandon confrontational thinking, and not easily let slip the fleeting glimmer of peace.

It has been over a month, and the 168 girls in Minab can no longer grow up. War has no winners, only irreparable harm. From the outset of the conflict, China has made it clear that the urgent priority is to achieve a ceasefire and stop the fighting as soon as possible. This is a war that should never have happened, and it brings no benefits to any party involved. The history of the Middle East repeatedly teaches us that force is not the solution to problems; armed confrontation only adds new hatred and breeds new crises. We once again call for an immediate halt to this conflict, to prevent the situation from escalating further and to avoid the spread of war.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
One of two ships carrying Russian oil that appeared to be heading to Cuba arrived in Venezuelan waters, according to a new report.

Reuters detailed that the Sea Horse, carrying some 200,000 barrels of oil, rerouted from Cuba to Venezuela. It was between the ports of El Palito and Puerto Cabello on Friday and had not discharged the cargo.

The development appears to be a blow for Cuba, teetering on the brink of collapse due to a lack of fuel. However, the other vessel carrying Russian oil, the Anatoly Kolodkin, appears to continue heading to the island.

Russian Energy Minister Sergei Tsivilev confirmed that the country is sending fuel to Cuba, effectively defying the U.S. blockade on the island's private sector. "We are sending humanitarian aid. We are providing humanitarian support," Tsivilev said, according to French outlet France 24.

Jorge Pinon an energy expert at the University of Texas at Austin, told the Miami Herald that, should the ship continue its course, it should arrive early next week.

The ship, which has been sanctioned by the U.S., the UK and the EU is carrying 730,000 barrels of Russian oil and is heading to Matanzas.

Should the vessel effectively attempt to unload the oil in the island, it could spark a confrontation with the U.S., which is seeking to ensure that Cuba's public sector is still unable to access the source of energy.

In contrast, U.S. suppliers have shipped tens of thousands of barrels of oil to Cuba's private sector. Reuters detailed that some 30,000 barrels of fuel have made their way to the island.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said that authorizing the mentioned exports is part of a policy "entirely designed to put the private sector and individual private Cubans  not affiliated with the government, not affiliated with the military, in a privileged position." While the figure is small, volumes are growing by the week, the outlet added.

Originally published on Latin Times
DXC Technology Australia employees will move to protected industrial action following an overwhelming vote, after more than 14 months of failed enterprise agreement negotiations.

Union members of Professionals Australia will begin a series of stoppages and work bans across the country from 31 March, escalating to a 24-hour stop-work on 2 April.

Professionals Australia director Paul Inglis said the industrial action will involve around 200 highly skilled technology professionals, including software engineers, systems engineers, software developers, infrastructure specialists, database administrators, technical consultants, information security analysts and operational support analysts.

These are the people who keep these critical systems running for Australias major government agencies and banks, he said.

They are highly skilled professionals responsible for maintaining the networks, systems and cybersecurity that large parts of the economy rely on.

DXC provides IT services to organisations, including the Australian Taxation Office, the Australian Electoral Commission, the Attorney Generals Department, and major Australian banks, including ANZ, CommBank, and Westpac.
Todays headlines: in Myanmar, Min Aung Hlaing, a formal presidential candidate, has left the army; The Taiwanese leader of the Kuomintang is due to visit Beijing from 7 April; The Maldives do not recognise the agreement between Britain and Mauritius on the Chagos Islands; Chongqing overtakes Shanghai in the ranking of Chinese cities by consumer spending.

MIDDLE EAST-INDIA-INDONESIA

Whilst mixed signals continue to emerge from the United States regarding the war, with Trump wavering in his statements between optimism about the Pakistan-mediated negotiations and the threat of a ground operation on the Iranian island of Kharg, another Indian worker has been killed in Kuwait in an Iranian missile strike targeting a desalination plant. This brings the total number of Indians killed in the Gulf states since the start of the conflict to seven. Meanwhile, the UNIFIL mission in Lebanon has reported that an Indonesian peacekeeper has also died and another has been seriously injured following the explosion of a projectile near the town of Adchit al-Qusayr. UNIFIL has launched an investigation to clarify the circumstances of the incident and the origin of the projectile.

MYANMAR

The head of Myanmars military junta and architect of the 2021 coup, Min Aung Hlaing, has resigned to stand for the presidency following the first elections since the power grab that sparked a civil war. The 69-year-old general, who has led the armed forces since 2011, has been named as one of three candidates from whom the new parliament, installed after a sham election, must choose the president. His election is taken for granted.

MALDIVES-MAURITIUS-UNITED KINGDOM

The President of the Maldives, Mohamed Muizzu, has stated that his country does not recognise the agreement between the United Kingdom and Mauritius regarding the transfer of sovereignty over the Chagos Islands, the Indian Ocean archipelago where the Diego Garcia military base is located. The Maldives claims historical sovereignty over the archipelago and is threatening international legal action. The British government, however, maintains that the matter concerns only the UK and Mauritius, citing a ruling by the International Court of Justice in favour of Mauritius.

TAIWAN-CHINA

The leader of Taiwans main opposition party, the Kuomintang, will visit China from 7 to 12 April at the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping, on a trip scheduled a month before US President Donald Trumps visit to Beijing for a summit. Former MP Cheng Li-wun, elected KMT chairperson in October, has signalled a shift towards even closer ties with Beijing than her predecessor Eric Chu, who did not visit China during his term of office, which began in 2021.

CHINA

In the Peoples Republic of China, the south-western metropolis of Chongqing has overtaken Shanghai in the ranking of cities by consumer spending in 2025, ending the seven-year reign of Shanghai, the financial capital. Official figures show retail sales of 1.67 trillion yuan, compared with 1.66 trillion in Shanghai. This growth is attributed to its larger population (31.9 million), lower cost of living and greater propensity to spend.

RUSSIA

The Russian state sociological centre Vitsom has put President Vladimir Putins approval rating at 70.1%, the lowest level since the start of the war in Ukraine in 2022, almost two percentage points lower than the previous month, undoubtedly due to internet restrictions and the blocking of the Telegram messaging service, which also caused approval ratings for Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin (below 55%) and the United Russia party (below 30%) to fall.

TURKMENISTAN

In 2025, Turkmenistans trade balance with European Union countries exceeded billion, as stated by Ashgabats Finance Minister, Mammetguly Astanagulov, at the EU-Turkmenistan business forum, a partnership that occupies an important place in our states foreign economic strategies, emphasising that this concerns practically all European countries across many sectors.
by Dario Salvi

The celebrations for the start of Holy Week were subdued in response to recent violence. In Suqaylabiyah, extremist groups targeted Christian businesses and young women walking down the street. The archbishop of Homs reports that the situation is calm now, but problems remain unresolved. It is wrong to entrust weapons and security solely to Sunnis. A cycle of revenge" is silently unfolding.

Milan (AsiaNews)  Violence broke out in recent days in some parts of Syria, which prompted Church leaders in Damascus to celebrate Palm Sunday yesterday in a quiet and low-key manner.

"Now the situation is calm, but it is not yet resolved because "tempers have not yet calmed, said Archbishop Jacques Mourad, Syriac Catholic Archbishop of Homs, Hama, and Dabek, speaking AsiaNews.

A climate of "awful" tensions persist, with "attacks and verbal violence," rooted, especially "in the Homs area," in a desire for "revenge, the prelate lamented. Attacks and abuses against Christians are taking place in various parts of the country" and are "the result of an injustice" linked to the decision taken by the new leaders to "take away the weapons" of minority groups, entrusting them "to Sunnis, who are now responsible for security.

This, he warns, is fuelling tensions and encouraging a desire for revenge" in other groups.

Sectarian tensions, attacks against minorities (from the massacre of Alawites in March last year to violence against Christians, including the suicide attack on the Mar Elias Church in Damascus), and widespread violence have marked the hard rebirth of the "new" Syria.

For more than a year, power has been in the hands of Ahmed al-Sharaa and the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham[*] group (HTS), who overthrew the decades-long regime of Bashar al-Assad in late November and December 2024.

The former dictator fled into exile to Moscow, while the Arab country began a slow and arduous return to the international political, diplomatic, and economic scene.

However, the lifting of Western sanctions and the welcome given by Donald Trump to the current caretaker president (who has never renounced radical Islamism) at the White House have not been enough to guarantee stability and security in the country.

Whether involving Alawites, Kurds, Christians or Druze, conflicts are multiplying with no solution in sight, while gangs linked to the ruling group commit abuses and crimes, often with complete impunity.

The latest incident occurred last week in Suqaylabiyah, a town in the Orontes Valley, Hama governorate, in a district with some 250,000 people, mostly Sunni Muslims, except for the town where the violence took place, which is inhabited mainly by Greek Orthodox Christians.

The clash was sparked by a dispute at a Christian-run liquor store. The sale of alcoholic beverages was recently banned in the capital (except in a few areas).

Moreover, the issue of alcoholic beverages, prohibited by Islam, is not only a point of contention, but also a sign of the extent to which radical Muslims intend to impose their law.

The dispute at the liquor store attracted groups of radicalised youths from other villages in the area, who went on a rampage, destroying a statue of the Virgin Mary in a square (pictured).

Some of the attackers, from the nearby town of Qalaat al-Madiq, also attempted to attack a group of Christian girls, threatening the residents with further and even worse attacks.

The following morning, 28 March, young Christians took to the streets to protest the raids and call for justice.

This incident confirms what Christian activists and experts have repeatedly denounced, namely that Syria is still far from guaranteeing equality and justice for all its communities and that President al-Sharaa does not have full control over certain militias.

The justice system, explained Archbishop Mourad, "doesn't work at all" because there is no clear division of powers, and those who commit crimes are rarely held accountable.

What is more, sectarian tensions have never subsided. They may not be fuelled by the new leadership, but the latter has proved incapable of translating the promises of equality and rights into action.

This is not the first time," the prelate said, that young Muslims [in Suqaylabiyah] have attacked or used offensive words towards girls walking freely in the street, triggering a reaction from their Christian peers, sometimes even violent.

This time, the attackers "showed up in large numbers, armed and on motorcycles, and began breaking up businesses and shops, firing shots into the air, and creating a climate of fear and terror.

"Security officials didn't arrive immediately. In fact, the attackers included members of the security forces and police, who actively participated in this act of persecution. Now the situation is calm, but it's not yet resolved.

"In Homs, killings occur almost every day," especially of Alawites, but no one says anything, no one hears the cries of suffering of the mothers or does anything to stop this cycle of revenge; few have the courage to report it. This is an injustice.

In response to the recent tensions, churches in Damascus that follow Western liturgies decided for security reasons to hold "limited" services without solemn rites or outdoor events over the weekend, which marked the beginning of Holy Week.

Given the current discouraging circumstances, we have decided, in coordination and agreement with all the churches, that Easter celebrations this year will be limited to prayers only inside the churches," the Greek Catholic Patriarchate in Antioch and the East said in a statement on Saturday.

The measure is further confirmation of the tense climate in the capital, where discontent has been mounting for days among minority Christians over controversial and discriminatory measures taken by the authorities, not least the alcohol ban in the name of Islam.

A Catholic source close to the local Church spoke to AsiaNews about the situation on condition of anonymity.

When a person believes, silently or openly, that they are the sole guardian of the truth, that they have the right to judge others, classify them, exclude them, or even impose on them a lifestyle they deem right, the issue of faith shifts from being an element of light to a question of power."

"From spiritual source, religion becomes an instrument of control," something that "we see clearly around us at present, under the pretext of 'organising society,' but which, in reality, conceals an attempt to impose a single image of God on all."

This, he warns, applies to alcohol but also when the decision to wear the niqab is seen as retrograde. In both cases, there are those who believe they possess the truth, and others must follow. Yet, despite all the different images we have of God, the truth remains simple and profound: God created us different. Do not claim ownership of God and do not speak in his name.

[*] Organisation for the Liberation of the Levant.
by Vladimir Rozanskij

Russias foreign agents register currently contains over 1,200 individuals and more than 1,500 projects, organisations and titles of various initiatives. Some have managed to have their names removed by striking deals with the authorities to save their businesses and reputations. But there are also those who find themselves on the list without even knowing why.

Moscow (AsiaNews) - In the Russian market, increasingly disrupted by military actions, the accusation of being an inoagent  the much-persecuted foreign agent  is used to get rid of competitors and take over their businesses.

Many Russians believe that the status of inoagent does not apply to them: I dont give interviews to foreign journalists, Im not on the list of enemies of the state, Ive never supported Navalny, I dont travel abroad, so it would seem they are completely clean, but often this illusion of innocence is undermined not by state bodies, but by their own compatriots seeking to make a name for themselves.

A damaging reputation can be pinned on someone based on fabricated interviews published in little-known media outlets, which are dug up during commercial disputes to put pressure on opponents.

Even if the person in question insists they never gave such interviews, the association of their name with foreign newspapers critical of the government or the war remains a stain that is difficult to wash away completely.

Lawyer Maksim Olenicev of the rights defence project Pervyj Otdel (the First Office, reminiscent of the KGB), told Radio Svoboda that these dirty tactics in the Russian business world are not yet very common, but appear to be on the rise.

As he reports, these are isolated cases, but increasingly strict legislation against inoagents is allowing this practice to spread more and more widely.

In fact, this is a law that is constantly being revised with additions and amendments, yet remains vague and ill-defined; the decision to declare hostile status lies with the Minister of Justice, but in reality many state bodies claim this authority for themselves  the Public Prosecutors Office, the FSB services, the Centre for Combating Extremism  before the matter reaches the Ministrys desks, which often merely rubber-stamps the decision.

The designation remains highly arbitrary, but once decided, an endless series of obligations and restrictions are applied, and attempts are made to strip businesspeople of their property and financial assets.

Even people who are absolutely loyal to the regime end up being listed as inoagents: they make no donations to suspicious organisations or associations, watch only Pervyj Kanal on TV, and have no dealings with foreign nationals.

The law on foreign agents has been in place since 2012, and the register currently contains over 1,200 individuals and more than 1,500 projects, organisations and titles of various initiatives. Some have managed to have their names removed by seeking compromises with the authorities, in an attempt to save their businesses and their reputation within Russian society.

Publicists and journalists have also ended up on the blacklist; after being reinstated, they have begun to sing the highest praises of state policy, without a shred of criticism.

The law was last amended in 2022, immediately following the invasion of Ukraine, and today any form of online dissemination of dissenting views  even simply by liking other peoples posts  can be defined as activities of a foreign agent. In practice, the register includes anyone who dares to express a personal opinion  and often not even that, but merely because others have attributed to them views they have never publicly expressed.

With the increasingly radical banning of foreign platforms and social media such as Facebook, Instagram or Telegram, it is no longer even necessary to post or publish anything; simply being registered on them is enough to be suspected of pro-foreign sentiment.

This triggers various prohibitions, ranging from political activity to the possibility of being paid for intellectual work, to the sale of property and vehicles. Naturally, authors of unwelcome books will be unable to receive royalties from publishers, and teachers easily lose their jobs.

Since the start of 2026, inoagents have been burdened with an additional tax, up to 30% higher than that of ordinary citizens, effectively ensuring that these people leave Russia for good.
by Shafique Khokhar

Two weeks after his appointment, the installation ceremony was held for the Capuchin prelate, formerly Apostolic Vicar of Quetta. I stand before you with humility and gratitude, ready to be guided by God. This was the warning from Archbishop Travas, who has served as apostolic administrator of this Church for the past two years: Beware of those who use you for their own interests and agendas.

Lahore (AsiaNews)  On 28 March, the Archdiocese of Lahore in Pakistan celebrated a joyous and significant day in its history with the installation of the new Metropolitan Archbishop Khalid Rehmat, a 57-year-old Capuchin friar and former Apostolic Vicar of Quetta, appointed by Pope Leo XIV to lead the archdiocese following a troubled period and an unusual exchange of the episcopal see with his predecessor, Archbishop Sebastian Francis Shaw, who had led this local Church since 2013.

Hundreds of faithful, together with the clergy and in the presence of the Apostolic Nuncio, Monsignor Germano Penemote, welcomed the new archbishop to the beat of drums, expressing their affection with flowers, rose petals, hymns and special prayers.

In his homily, the new Archbishop Rehmat declared that our vocation and our lives are guided by Gods plans and providence, and not by our personal positions: I stand before you with humility and gratitude, he said. I thank Pope Leo XIV for entrusting me with this mission, and I entrust myself to your faith, your prayers and your cooperation. I feel strongly that this is not merely a ceremonial occasion, but an ecclesial moment of grace and responsibility.

Before him, it was Bishop Benny Mario Travas, Archbishop of Karachi and Apostolic Administrator of Lahore since the suspension of Bishop Shaw on 18 August 2024, who presented Archbishop Khalid to the diocesan community as a precious gift.

I have received many instructions from Rome, commented Travas, but the central one was to promote unity and fraternity among the clergy.

This responsibility, he continued, has become an opportunity to experience the vibrant missionary spirit and commitment of the clergy, men and women religious, and the laity of the Archdiocese of Lahore. But he also urged the priests to guard against divisions fuelled by those among you who use you for their own interests and agendas.

For his part, Cardinal Joseph Coutts, Archbishop Emeritus of the Archdiocese of Karachi, recalled the historical importance of Lahore for the way in which the Catholic Church has developed in Pakistan. He invited everyone to pray for the new archbishop, that God may carry him on eagles wings and be with him in all that he does.

He also added that there is still much to be done in the field of ecumenism, since the final wish and prayer of Jesus Christ was that they may all be one.

Fr Almas Salas, a priest of the Archdiocese of Lahore, told AsiaNews that the appointment of a Capuchin friar as archbishop will be a source of blessing for this local Church. Kashif Anthony, secretary of the Catholic Commission for Interreligious Dialogue and Ecumenism of the Archdiocese of Karachi, noted for his part that the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin has a long history and has played a significant role in the development of the Catholic Church in Pakistan, particularly in pastoral care, education and missionary work.

A key milestone came in 2021 with the appointment of Khalid Rehmat as Apostolic Vicar of Quetta, making him the first Pakistani Capuchin bishop. Archbishop Khalid Rehmat, concludes Kashif Anthony, has extensive experience in serving remote and marginalised communities, promoting peace and interfaith dialogue, managing schools and social programmes, and supporting small Catholic communities in challenging regions.
by Gregory

Twelve months after the earthquake which, according to official figures, claimed at least 5,000 lives, Caritas and CAFOD continue to support the affected communities. Many people are still displaced and living in even more precarious conditions due to poverty and civil war. Reconstruction remains slow and the needs are still enormous, warn organisations on the ground.

Yangon (AsiaNews) - One year on from the devastating earthquake that struck Myanmar in March 2025, Christian organisations continue to be one of the main sources of support for the affected communities.

According to official data released by government sources, the 7.7-magnitude earthquake caused over 5,000 deaths, at least 10,000 serious injuries and tens of thousands of displaced people, exacerbating a humanitarian crisis already deepened by the civil war that broke out in 2021. In the central regions of the country, which were hardest hit, up to 70% of buildings suffered severe damage or collapsed completely.

Whilst international attention had focused on other countries in the region during the early stages of the emergency, due to difficulties in accessing the earthquake-affected areas in Myanmar, an immediate response came from local Catholic organisations. The Caritas network and the CAFOD agency collaborated to provide food, water and shelter to thousands of displaced people. In particular, Karuna Mission Social Solidarity (KMSS), the operational arm of the Catholic Church in the country, transformed churches and parish facilities into reception centres.

Relief operations took place under extremely difficult conditions due to constant communication disruptions and restrictions on movement. Volunteers from local parishes continued to deliver aid even to the most isolated areas, reaching communities excluded from government assistance.

The response of the military junta, in power since the coup detat in February 2021, has been the subject of harsh criticism. Humanitarian workers reported that aid convoys were blocked, residence permits were used as a tool for control, and access was severely restricted in the areas most devastated by the earthquake.

A year on, the immediate emergency has given way to a more complex and protracted crisis. Many families are still grappling with damaged farmland and destroyed homes. Rising prices of basic necessities and the civil war, particularly in the central Sagaing region, are making recovery even more difficult. Children and families who were already living in precarious conditions before the earthquake now find themselves in an even worse situation, despite the assistance received. Millions of people across the country also remain displaced due to ongoing violence and seasonal flooding, making the reconstruction process even more complex.

Christian organisations such as Caritas and CAFOD remain at the forefront of providing assistance, but stress that needs remain enormous, particularly in terms of rebuilding homes and restoring livelihoods. The road to a genuine recovery, they warn, is still a long one.
Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) has now christened its newest ship, the Norwegian Luna, in Miami, Florida.

The 3,565passenger ship had just completed its maiden voyage, departing Italy on March 10 for Miami.

Norwegian Luna Christened

According to a report by TravelPulse, the christening ceremony took place in Norwegian Cruise Line's terminal at PortMiami.

NCL CEO Marc Kazlauskas was on hand at the christening, sharing that the Luna is a special ship for him as his daughter had gotten engaged onboard the previous day, per Travel Weekly.

Other executives present include Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings CEO John Chidsey and NCL Chief Sales Officer John Chernesky.

Serving as the Luna's godmother is street artist ELLE, who designed the artwork of the ship's hull.

Norwegian Luna's Christening Cruise

The Norwegian Luna is now on its three-night christening cruise. Guests include a number of company executives, travel advisors, brand partners and journalists.

According to the report, guests will be taken to Great Stirrup Cay, Norwegian Cruise Line's private destination in the Bahamas.

"Norwegian Luna now begins her own journey," said Norwegian Luna Captain Robert Lundberg. "Just as the moon has led the way for generations, Luna is set to lead the way in our industry... She will guide us toward new horizons and unforgettable experiences at sea."

Originally published on Travelers Today
30 March 2026 08:30 (UTC+04:00)

Akbar Novruz Read more

For decades, Tokyos energy planners quietly recognized an uncomfortable reality: Japans economy was balanced on a single thread  a 33-kilometre-wide strip of water separating Iran and Oman. When US and Israeli strikes on Iran precipitated the de facto blockade of the Strait of Hormuz in late February 2026, that thread snapped. But instead of chaos, there was the swift execution of plans that had been quietly developing over the years.

At the centre of one of those plans is INPEX, Japan's largest oil and gas explorer, and its stakes in two fields that, until recently, existed primarily to supply European markets. Now, those Caspian barrels are being redirected home.

The scale of Japan's vulnerability is difficult to overstate. As of January 2026, 95.1% of Japan's crude oil imports originated from the Middle East, with roughly three-quarters of that volume transiting the Strait of Hormuz. Japan alone was importing 1.6 million barrels per day through that route. When the blockade took hold, over 150 tankers were left stranded outside the strait, unable to load or depart.

On 16 March, Tokyo announced the largest emergency reserve drawdown since the reserve system was established in 1978, 80 million barrels, enough to cover approximately 45 days of consumption. The move underscored both the urgency and the limitation of Japan's buffer: reserves buy time, but they cannot replenish themselves while the blockade holds.

Into this emergency, INPEX steps in. The company has substantial upstream holdings in two of the Caspian region's most productive fields: the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli complex off the coast of Azerbaijan, in which INPEX has just increased its interest, and the giant Kashagan field in Kazakhstan, which is among the biggest oil discoveries in the world. Until now, production from these fields has been sold primarily to European markets in the spot market.

Reporting by Japan's Yomiuri Shimbun and NHK confirms that INPEX has decided to give domestic Japanese buyers priority in the sale of oil from both fields. The volumes involved are not symbolic: redirecting even a portion of ACG and Kashagan output represents a meaningful contribution to Japan's emergency procurement strategy.

"Europe may lose part of its oil supplies from Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan - the decision was made because of the crisis in the Middle East." - Yomiuri Shimbun

The impact on European buyers is real, though not necessarily disastrous. ACG's output, carried west through the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline to the Mediterranean port of Ceyhan, Turkiye, has been an established part of the European spot markets. A shift in INPEX's allocation to the east only further constricts an already challenged supply landscape for the continent, still readjusting from its Russia experience.

There is another, deeper strategic level to all of the above, which extends beyond the current crisis. INPEX's shift is, at bottom, an expression of institutional support for Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan as viable, non-Hormuz alternatives. For Baku, which has gone to great lengths over the past few years to establish itself as the linchpin of the entire Middle Corridor, the timing could not be better.

The great advantage of the Caspian is its geography, whereby oil can travel westward through the BTC, thereby avoiding the Strait altogether, or through the Russian or Iranian routes, none of which cross the Persian Gulf. In an age where already 95% of Japan's oil supply is at risk due to one single blockade, this is not merely an economic asset; it is an issue of national security.

ACG oil travels via the BakuTbilisiCeyhan (BTC) pipeline - 1,768 km - to the Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan, entirely avoiding the Strait of Hormuz and the Persian Gulf. From Ceyhan, tankers can reach Asian markets via the Suez Canal or around the Cape of Good Hope. Kazakhstan's Kashagan oil is primarily exported via the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) route to Novorossiysk on the Black Sea.

Mizuho Bank estimates that if crude prices hold in the $90$100 range, Japan's annual trade deficit could widen by nearly 10 trillion yen. The auto industry, built on just-in-time logistics, is particularly exposed: any sustained fuel disruption risks cascading through the production chains of Toyota, Honda, and Nissan simultaneously. For ordinary Japanese households, fuel subsidies are currently holding pump prices to around 161165 [estimates around 1$] per litre - but without those subsidies, some estimates project prices rising toward 200 per litre if the blockade persists.

Surely, the Caspian pivot by INPEX is not going to address the structural weakness in the Japanese position by itself. The 93.5% dependency in the Middle East is the result of decades of energy policy, not the result of any particular corporate decision, and it cannot be reversed by the corporate decision to change the priority of two fields. But it does mark the end of the era in which Caspian oil was seen as a European oil and Persian Gulf oil was seen as an Asian oil. The crisis has rewritten the commercial map, and Azerbaijan, by virtue of its geography, by virtue of the investments that have been made in it, by virtue of the gradual accumulation of the value of its role as a transit point, is now at the center of it.
30 March 2026 17:56 (UTC+04:00)

Elnur Enveroglu Read more

The USIsraelIran war has now entered its first full month. Yet despite four extremely tense and, at times, existentially significant weeks marked by a series of serious developments, the core context of the conflict remains largely unchanged.

During the initial week of the war, Irans heavy human losses prompted widespread international commentary suggesting that a change of power in the country might be imminent. However, the rapid internal consolidation and regrouping within Iran recalled a historical precedent. In the 1980s, on the eve of the IranIraq war, large crowds in Tehran had taken to the streets to express profound dissatisfaction with the ruling authorities. As the war unfolded, the situation, however, shifted abruptly, giving way to a form of consolidation similar to what is being observed today, namely, a tightening of unity around the government.

In February 2026, even before the outbreak of hostilities, US President Donald Trump publicly called on the Iranian people to "take to the streets and protestpeople of Iran, we are coming, we are with you." However, at a critical juncture, the momentum of unrest within Iran changed dramatically. Despite the imposition of harsh punitive measures against protesters domestically, large segments of the population began to view their expectations as increasingly unrealistic and, consequently, shifted towards supporting the government.

It is no secret that Iran is governed on the basis of deeply rooted fundamental traditions. Unlike Iraq, Syria, or Afghanistan, the Iranian state has not been subjected to sustained and decisive Western influence over its governing structures. Even the United States, which once played a central role in shaping the trajectory of the IranIraq war, failed in its attempts to weaken Iran through regional proxies.

Thus, what may initially appear as a weakened Iran is, in reality, a state that cannot be easily subdued. Iran continues to define one of the most intense and enduring confrontations in the Middle East against the West and Israel. Indeed, Irans resilience and persistence are driving both the United States and Israel towards increasingly hardline measures. This, in turn, opens the door to broader escalation, with consequences extending beyond Iran itself to neighbouring states.

Against this backdrop, a critical question emerges: why are the Gulf states, those geographically closest to the conflict, not taking decisive steps to halt it?

The United States has already signalled its intention to deploy forces to Kharg Island, widely regarded as the backbone of Irans energy infrastructure. Kharg Island accounts for approximately 90 per cent of Irans crude oil exports, with a terminal capable of handling close to two million barrels per day. It is, in effect, the lifeline of Irans energy economy. By seizing this island, Washington appears to believe it can effectively choke Irans economic breathing space.

However, the risks associated with such a move are substantial, and they extend far beyond Iran itself, potentially placing Gulf states in direct danger. First and foremost, serious doubts remain as to how long US forces could realistically maintain control over the island. Located just 2030 kilometres from Iranian territory, in the narrow waters of the Gulf, Kharg Island would be highly vulnerable to even conventional Iranian artillery strikes.

The most alarming aspect, however, lies in the environmental consequences. Any direct strike on the island could result in massive oil and chemical spills into the Gulf waters. This, in turn, could lead to severe ecological contamination of waters that constitute up to 90 per cent of the drinking water supply for Gulf states through desalination processes.

Moreover, it remains unclear whether the United States could achieve its broader strategic objectives through such an operation. To date, Washington has already launched over 1,500 missile strikes against Iranian territory, targeting nuclear facilities and other strategic assets, yet has still fallen short of achieving its desired outcomes. In this context, it is legitimate to ask whether Kharg Island could truly deliver a decisive strategic victory over Iran.

So, what is the position of the Gulf states?

Today, Arab states such as Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Bahrain, countries that rely heavily on US military protection, find themselves facing an extraordinarily difficult choice. This situation also reflects one of the deepest fractures within the Islamic world. It is widely understood that US military bases located in these countries serve not only their defence and security needs, but also broader American geostrategic objectives, including the security of Israel.

Nevertheless, monarchies accustomed to economic stability and prosperity continue to view any departure from the US security umbrella as a significant risk, even in the face of harsh and, at times, openly dismissive rhetoric from Donald Trump. While the Gulf states have hardly experienced moments of rapprochement with Iran in the past, the scale of present risks suggests that caution and restraint are perceived as the more prudent course for the regions future.

Ultimately, the conclusion is clear: for Arab states in the Gulf, Iran represents both a serious rival and a country whose systematic weakening is, to some extent, desirable. At the same time, even limited support for Iran would expose these states to potential retaliation from the United States. This dynamic, in effect, underscores how grand political ambitions in the region can be constrained, and ultimately overshadowed, by the imperatives of power, security, and geopolitical alignment, often cloaked in the language of religious solidarity.
31 March 2026 01:00 (UTC+04:00)

By AzerNEWS staff

The memory of March in the Azerbaijani consciousness is a complex tapestry woven with threads of profound grief and unbreakable resilience. As we stand in the spring of 2026, the dates of March 31st serve as a somber bridge between two eras: the systematic ethnic cleansing of 1918 and the harrowing "Tunnel" massacre of 1993 in Kalbajar. Yet, today, these narratives of victimhood have been fundamentally transformed into a saga of restoration and sovereign strength. To understand the Azerbaijan of today, one must look deep into these scars, not merely as historical footnotes, but as the catalysts for the grand construction policy currently reshaping the liberated territories.

The tragedy of March 1918 remains a cornerstone of our national sorrow, representing a calculated attempt to erase the Azerbaijani identity from the map. Under the guise of revolutionary shifts, Bolshevik-Dashnak forces unleashed a wave of terror across Baku, Shamakhi, Guba, and beyond. This was not collateral damage of war; it was a pre-meditated genocide where tens of thousands were slaughtered for no crime other than their ethnicity. Historical reality reveals a chilling level of cruelty, from the burning of the Ismailiyya building to the desecration of holy sites. The Guba mass grave, discovered decades later, remains a silent, terrifying witness to this brutality, where the remains of women and children tell a story of a hatred that knew no bounds. For a century, this pain was suppressed, but todays reality demands that we acknowledge these facts to ensure that "never again" is not just a slogan, but a state-guaranteed reality.

Seventy-five years after the 1918 massacres, history repeated its darkest patterns in the rugged mountains of Kalbajar. By late March 1993, the district was surrounded, and the civilian population found themselves trapped in a frozen hell. The "Tunnel" massacre of March 31, 1993, stands as one of the most agonizing episodes of the First Karabakh War. As thousands of civilianselderly men, women carrying infants, and the woundedattempted to flee through the only available mountain passage, they were ambushed within the confines of a tunnel. In that claustrophobic darkness, amidst the smoke of burning vehicles and the echoes of heavy gunfire, hundreds of innocent lives were extinguished. Those who survived the bullets often succumbed to the unforgiving frost of the Murov Mountains, walking barefoot through the snow in a desperate flight for survival. The occupation of Kalbajar was a wound that bled for nearly thirty years, symbolizing the displacement of an entire community from their ancestral paradise.

However, the narrative of the 21st century has taken a defiant turn. The liberation of Kalbajar in 2020, achieved through a combination of military pressure and diplomatic brilliance by President Ilham Aliyev, signaled the end of the era of lamentation. Today, the very tunnels that once saw blood and despair are being replaced by state-of-the-art engineering marvels. The vast construction policy in Kalbajar is nothing short of a miracle in the middle of a high-altitude wilderness. The government is not just building roads; it is carving out a future through the hardest rocks of the Caucasus. Modern tunnels under the Murovdag range now symbolize safety and connectivity rather than entrapment. Reportages from the region no longer focus on the debris of war, but on the humming of machinery and the rising silhouettes of "smart" villages and luxury sanatoriums that utilize the regions famous thermal waters.

Central to this rebirth is the human elementthe return of the people to whom this land belongs. The resettlement process is a deeply emotional journey, often highlighted by the Presidents personal visits to the homes of returning families. In these newly built residential areas, the standard of living often surpasses that of modern metropolitan centers. When we see materials from the homes where the President has sat at the dinner table with local families, we see a bridge between the state and the citizen that was missing for decades. These families are no longer "IDPs" defined by their loss; they are pioneers of a new Karabakh. In cities like Lachin and Shusha, and villages like Aghali and Talish, the household life of the residents is a testament to the states commitment to dignity. High-speed internet, green energy solutions, and modern educational facilities are the new reality for people who once lived in the shadow of occupation.

The policy of building and restoration is the ultimate response to the genocides of the past. Every stone laid in Kalbajar, every school opened in the liberated territories, and every child born in a revitalized village is a victory over the darkness of 1918 and 1993. Azerbaijan has moved beyond the status of a mourning nation to a leading regional power that honors its martyrs by creating a prosperous haven for their descendants. As we reflect on the 31st of March, we do so with a heavy heart for the past, but with a firm hand on the steering wheel of the future. The transition from the "Tunnel" of death to the tunnels of progress is the most poetic justice history could provide, proving that while a nation can be wounded, a nation with such a deep will to live can never be broken. Today, the reports from the field do not speak of massacre, but of harvest, heritage, and the eternal return of a people to their rightful home.
30 March 2026 15:11 (UTC+04:00)

A farewell ceremony is being held for Rasim Balayev at the Azerbaijan State Academic National Drama Theatre, honoring one of the countrys most celebrated actors, AzerNEWS reports.

Rasim Balayev, a Peoples Artist of Azerbaijan, was widely known for his unforgettable roles that left a lasting impression on audiences. He also served as Chairman of the Board of the Union of Cinematographers of Azerbaijan and was a laureate of the State Prize, as well as a recipient of the Shohrat, Sharaf, and Istiglal orders.

State and government officials are attending the ceremony, including tributes sent by Ilham Aliyev and Mehriban Aliyeva, whose wreaths have been laid at the venue.

The late artists coffin has been placed on a pedestal on the theatres stage, which has been solemnly arranged for mourning.

Here is a more fluid, narrative refinement of the text, removing the structured lists to create a cohesive biographical essay.

Life and Legacy of Rasim Balayev

Born on August 8, 1948, in the Agsu region, Rasim Balayev has ascended to become a foundational pillar of Azerbaijani cinema. His professional journey began at the Azerbaijan State Institute of Arts, where he studied from 1965 to 1969. Before becoming a household name on the silver screen, he honed his craft at the institute's Educational Theater until 1972, a period that laid the groundwork for his future mastery of the performing arts.

Balayevs formal association with the "Azerbaijanfilm" studio began in 1972, marking the start of an era where his name became synonymous with national pride. His influence, however, extends far beyond his individual performances. Since 1990, he has served as the First Secretary of the Board of the Union of Cinematographers of Azerbaijan, eventually being elected as the Union's Chairman in 2022. This leadership role reflects his deep commitment to the administrative and creative health of the nation's film industry.

From his very first appearance at "Azerbaijanfilm," Balayev distinguished himself through a unique performance style and a sophisticated stage culture that immediately resonated with audiences. He possessed an innate ability to penetrate the spiritual depth of his characters, creating a "golden fund" of films that now serve as a chronicle of the nations cinematic history. These roles were not merely performances; they were profound explorations of the human soul, selected for their uniqueness and consistently kept in the cultural spotlight.

The artists true mastery lies in his ability to breathe life into the landscape of different eras. By portraying both contemporary figures and legendary heroes from Azerbaijan's historical past, he has played a vital role in promoting national and spiritual wealth. His portrayals of Babek and Nasimi are considered peak achievements in Azerbaijani cinematography, serving as powerful tools for educating younger generations in the spirit of loyalty and patriotism.

Beyond the borders of Azerbaijan, Balayevs artistic skill earned him international acclaim through memorable roles in foreign productions. Throughout his career, he has remained a dedicated public figure, approaching social issues with a deep sense of citizenship. He has spared no effort in his lifelong mission to preserve and perpetuate the national values that define the Azerbaijani identity.
30 March 2026 16:44 (UTC+04:00)

The Azerbaijani cultural community has suffered a heavy loss. The prominent representative of national cinematic art, Chairman of the Union of Cinematographers of Azerbaijan, recipient of the Presidents personal pension, State Prize laureate, and Peoples Artist Rasim Ahmed oglu Balayev passed away on March 29, 2026, at the age of 78.

Rasim Balayev was born on August 8, 1948, in the city of Aghsu. After completing secondary school, he studied at the Acting Faculty of the Azerbaijan State Institute of Arts from 1965 to 1969. From 1969 to 1972, he worked as an actor at the institutes Training Theatre.

Since 1972, Rasim Balayev had been an actor at the Azerbaijanfilm film studio. In 1990, he was appointed First Secretary of the Board of the Union of Cinematographers of Azerbaijan, and in 2022, he was elected Chairman of the Union.

From the very beginning of his work at Azerbaijanfilm, Rasim Balayev gained recognition as a talented actor. Thanks to his unique performance style and high artistic culture, he quickly won the hearts of cinema audiences. The memorable and powerful characters he created on screen were always warmly received by wide audiences.

As a master artist who skillfully drew upon the rich traditions of Azerbaijani cinema, Rasim Balayevs creative path constitutes a distinct chapter in the history of national cinema culture. The films in which he played leading roles are part of the golden fund of Azerbaijani cinema. The vivid characters he portrayed with deep insight into their inner spiritual world are among the unforgettable pages of our cinematic chronicle. These unique roles, created with natural talent, have always stood out for their originality and remained at the center of attention.

While bringing to life images of our heroic historical past and contemporary figures, the master artist succeeded in creating a vivid picture of the era. All these roles performed by Rasim Balayev hold great importance in promoting our nations national and spiritual values and in educating the younger generation in the spirit of loyalty to the Motherland. The portrayals of the legendary Babek and Nasimi by the artist are considered among the greatest achievements of Azerbaijani cinematography.

Rasim Balayev also demonstrated his artistic mastery by creating memorable characters in films produced beyond Azerbaijan.

He was also known as a public figure who approached social processes with a deep sense of civic responsibility. He spared no effort in preserving and promoting our national and spiritual values.

Rasim Balayevs services to the development of national cinema culture were duly appreciated. Over the years, he was awarded high state honors and honorary titles. He was decorated with the highest orders of independent Azerbaijan  Shohrat, Sharaf, and Istiglal.

The bright memory of the outstanding artist and modest, caring individual Rasim Balayev will forever live in the hearts of our people.

May Allah rest his soul in peace!

Ilham Aliyev

Mehriban Aliyeva

Ali Asadov

Sahiba Gafarova

Samir Nuriyev

Eldar Azizov

Farah Aliyeva

Adil Karimli

Polad Bulbuloglu

Anar Rzayev

Haji Ismayilov

Shafiga Mammadova

Ogtay Mirgasimov

Fakhraddin Manafov
30 March 2026 23:55 (UTC+04:00)

by Mazahir Afandiyev,

There are many unforgettable days in the history of Azerbaijanmoments that are forever engraved in memory and cannot be erased from the pages of history. Unfortunately, alongside many glorious chapters, there are also pages filled with tragedies and acts of genocide. Throughout all stages of its history, our people have endured suffering in order to protect their land, state, and statehood. One of these horrific events was the mass massacres committed with particular cruelty in MarchApril 1918 by armed Dashnak-Bolshevik groups operating under the mandate of the Baku Soviet.

The March 1918 genocides are among the bloodiest tragedies not only in the history of Azerbaijan but in the history of humanity in terms of their scale and brutality. Taking advantage of the opportunity, Armenians killed thousands of people without distinctionchildren, the elderly, and womenslaughtering them, burning them alive, and turning much of Baku into ruins. The genocide of Azerbaijanis was carried out not only in Baku but also with extreme cruelty in Shamakhi, Quba districts, Karabakh, Zangezur, Nakhchivan, Lankaran, Ganja, and other regions. In these areas, more than 30,000 Azerbaijanis were killed, tens of thousands were expelled from their homes, cities and villages were burned, and national cultural monuments were destroyed. Alongside tens of thousands of Azerbaijanis, thousands of people of Lezgi, Jewish, Russian, Avar, and Talysh origin also became victims of this genocide.

The first attempt to give a political assessment to this genocide against Azerbaijanis was made after the establishment of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic. However, the fall of the republic left this work unfinished.

The genocides committed by Armenians against Azerbaijanis were repeated at the end of the 20th century. As a result of military crimes initiated by nationalist-separatist Armenians in Azerbaijan, thousands of our compatriots were martyred, and more than one million people were displaced from their native lands.

After Azerbaijan restored its state independence, it became possible to present an objective picture of our historical past. Truths that had been hidden and suppressed for many years began to emerge, and practical steps were taken to preserve the enduring history of our people.

In order to commemorate all genocide tragedies committed against the Azerbaijani people, on March 26, 1998, National Leader Heydar Aliyev signed the Decree On the Genocide of Azerbaijanis. With this decree, March 31 was declared the Day of Genocide of Azerbaijanis. On March 30, 1999, a plan of measures was approved to ensure the consistent and organized implementation of this decree.

In that historic decree, Heydar Aliyev drew attention to the various stages of the deliberate and systematic genocide policy carried out by Armenians against Azerbaijanis. It is noted that the Republic of Azerbaijan, as the successor of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, accepts as a historical duty the task of giving a political assessment to these events as a logical continuation of decisions that could not be fully implemented at the time.

The political and legal assessment of genocide acts provided by this decree gave boost to research in this field and increased efforts to uncover the truth. As a result of investigations, many new facts and documents were collected, and a mass grave was discovered in the city of Quba. These historical facts prove that the geography of the bloody actions carried out by Armenian nationalists in MarchApril 1918 and in subsequent periods was much wider, and the number of victims was far greater.

At the same time, significant work has been done to study this history; many works have been written and translated into foreign languages. As emphasized by the National Leader:

Although it is difficult to convey to the world states and influential international organizations the truths about the genocide committed against our people based on real facts and evidence, to change the false perceptions formed by Armenian propaganda, and to achieve a legal-political assessment, this honorable and sacred task must continue today and in the future. This is a sacred duty of the present generation before the memory of the victims of genocide.

The important work carried out to convey these truths to the world community, to preserve the national memory of future generations of the Azerbaijani people, and to immortalize the victims of genocide, as well as the successful policy laid down, are being continued today by President Ilham Aliyev. By his decree dated December 30, 2009, it was decided to establish the Genocide Memorial Complex in the city of Quba. The complex, covering an area of 3.5 hectares and consisting of five parts, was built in 20122013 on the left bank of the Gudyalchay River in Quba and opened on September 18, 2013.

It should be noted that according to the UN Convention On the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide adopted on December 9, 1948, acts committed with the intent to wholly or partially destroy national, ethnic, or racial groups are considered crimes under international law.

The March 31 genocide remains in human history not only as a crime and tragedy but also as a heroic page of Azerbaijans history. In particular, during the Second Karabakh Patriotic War, the heroic sons of the victorious Azerbaijani Army, fulfilling the orders of Supreme Commander-in-Chief Ilham Aliyev, avenged all atrocities and genocides committed against our people.

The signing of the trilateral statement between the leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia on November 10, 2020, with the participation of the President of the Russian Federation, as well as the trilateral declaration signed in Washington on August 8, 2025, with the participation of the President of the United States, and the initialing of the provisions of a Peace Agreement, put an end to the injustices our people had suffered for many years.

Today, in a period when the global political architecture is being reshaped, Azerbaijan is successfully carrying out its peacekeeping mission. Our country protects its independence, restored sovereignty, and territorial integrity, and by rapidly carrying out reconstruction work in our native Karabakh with the support of Turkic states and other partner countries, ensures peace, stability, and security in the South Caucasus.

Thus, by strengthening its position in the modern world, Azerbaijan, together with friendly neighboring and global states, strives to build a prosperous future for all peoples.

-----

The author is a member of the Milli Majlis (the Parliament) of the Republic of Azerbaijan

The views and opinions expressed by guest columnists in their articles may differ from those of the editorial board and do not necessarily reflect its views.
In a dramatic rebuke to the Trump administration, a US federal judge has declared the effective shutdown of Voice of America illegal, ordering more than 1,000 journalists and staff to be reinstated. The ruling not only restores jobs but also reignites a global conversation on press freedom, US government interference in media, and the role of independent journalism in a democratic society.

For decades, Voice of America has been a cornerstone of international news, delivering independent reporting in multiple languages to audiences around the world. Yet in March 2025, sweeping cuts under the Trump administration media agenda decimated the broadcaster, silencing much of its output, including critical foreign-language coverage.

The recent ruling signals a court-led reaffirmation of the agency's independence and the protections afforded to journalists serving the public interest.

U.S. judge orders Voice of America staff reinstated, reversing Trumps shutdown https://t.co/jHzUyD0Z3g  CTV News (@CTVNews) March 18, 2026

A Reversal Years in the Making

Founded during World War II to provide reliable information to audiences in countries with restricted press, VOA quickly became a trusted voice globally. Its reporting spans dozens of languages and has often been a lifeline for communities denied access to impartial news.

But that mission was abruptly threatened when the Trump administration enacted sweeping personnel and operational changes in 2025. Layoffs reduced the workforce by roughly 85 percent, VOA's websites went silent, and key broadcasts stopped entirely. The administration even suggested some coverage could be shifted to a pro-Trump outlet, raising urgent questions about government interference in media.

Why the Court Called the Shutdown Illegal

Judge Royce C. Lamberth's decision sent a clear message: the VOA closures and mass layoffs were not just disruptivethey were unlawful. Central to the ruling was the finding that the acting head of the US Agency for Global Media, which oversees VOA, lacked the legal authority to dismantle operations or terminate personnel on such a scale.

The court further noted that the administration failed to provide any compelling rationale for the shutdown. VOA, Congress has long maintained, is meant to serve as a balanced, reliable news source, free from short-term political manipulation. The decision underscores that mission and reaffirms protections against political interference in government-funded journalism.

US judge orders Trump administration to reverse Voice of America job cuts and resume broadcasts

 https://t.co/dfk7WsUOwz pic.twitter.com/mxMlBoSANM  FRANCE 24 English (@France24_en) March 18, 2026

The Human and Global Impact

The headline is simple but profound: VOA journalists reinstated. More than 1,000 staff members, many of whom spent over a year in professional limbo, are set to return to their posts. For these reporters, the ruling is more than legal vindicationit is a restoration of purpose and professional dignity.

VOA's reach extends far beyond Washington, D.C. Its broadcasts inform audiences in countries where press freedom is restricted and counter foreign propaganda with independent reporting. By reinstating journalists, the ruling ensures that millions of people, from Eastern Europe to the Middle East, regain access to impartial news.

A Win for Press Freedom

This case has become a touchstone for discussions about press freedom in the US. Legal experts and media watchdogs alike have hailed the ruling as a reaffirmation that political leaders cannot unilaterally silence government-funded broadcasters.

Critics argue that taxpayer-funded media should remain accountable to public policy, but courts are making it clear that impartial journalism cannot be sacrificed for partisan objectives.

International observers are closely watching the ripple effects. Arbitrary political interference in media undermines trust and leaves informational vacuums that authoritarian state broadcasters are quick to fill. The reinstatement of VOA staff signals a critical step in preserving independent reporting in a polarized global media environment.

What Comes Next for VOA

VOA is poised to ramp up operations, potentially restoring broadcasts in dozens of languages. Meanwhile, the US Agency for Global Media faces the challenge of implementing the court order while navigating political pushback. The confirmation of new leadership for USAGM could further shape VOA's direction and influence the agency's ability to operate independently.

For international audiences, this ruling may mark a renaissance for one of the world's most trusted news institutions. And for students of media law, it sets a precedent that courts can and will act to protect journalists from political overreach, ensuring that independent voices continue to reach the people who need them most.

Originally published on IBTimes UK
30 March 2026 14:47 (UTC+04:00)

Qabil Ashirov Read more

Sabina Aliyeva, the Human Rights Commissioner of Azerbaijan, has called for greater international recognition of the mass killings of Azerbaijanis in 1918, describing them as acts of genocide, AzerNEWS reports.

In a statement marking the March 31  Day of Genocide of Azerbaijanis, Aliyeva said that Azerbaijanis had been subjected to systematic ethnic cleansing and mass violence throughout various periods of history, particularly in the early 20th century.

According to the statement, the events of MarchApril 1918 represent one of the most tragic and violent episodes, during which thousands of civilians were killed based on their national and religious identity.

These events have left an indelible mark on the historical memory of our people, the statement noted, adding that mass killings took place across multiple regions, including Baku, Shamakhi, Karabakh, Zangezur, Iravan, Nakhchivan, and Guba.

Aliyeva cited historical records indicating that entire settlements were destroyed during the violence. In Shamakhi district alone, 110 villages were reportedly burned, while more than 150 were destroyed in Karabakh, 115 in Zangezur, 98 in the Kars region, and 167 in Guba.

The discovery of a mass grave in Quba, containing numerous human remains, was highlighted as further evidence of the scale and brutality of the killings.

The statement emphasized that archival materials, eyewitness testimonies, and other legal documents confirm that the violence was not random but part of a deliberate and systematic policy of ethnic cleansing. Legal assessments, it added, classify these acts as genocide under international law.

Aliyeva also expressed concern that the international community has yet to adopt what she described as a fair and principled position regarding these events.

She noted that a decree issued in 1998 by Heydar Aliyev officially designated March 31 as the Day of Genocide of Azerbaijanis and initiated efforts to provide political and legal recognition of the events, as well as to promote historical awareness globally.

The Ombudsperson stressed that international recognition of these crimes is essential not only for restoring justice but also for preventing similar atrocities in the future.

She called on international organizations and United Nations member states to take a principled stance and recognize the 1918 events as genocide.
30 March 2026 17:13 (UTC+04:00)

Akbar Novruz Read more

The Baku Initiative Group (BIG) has expressed full support for the resolution adopted by the United Nations General Assembly recognizing the transatlantic slave trade as the most serious crime against humanity, AzerNEWS reports.

In a statement, the organization described the resolution as a significant step toward addressing centuries of colonial injustice faced by peoples of African descent.

BIG emphasized that the transatlantic slave trade, as one of the most brutal manifestations of colonialism, led to the forced enslavement of millions and deprived affected populations of economic, cultural, and social development.

The consequences of that heavy legacy continue to this day, the statement said.

The group also highlighted the importance of reparations, stressing that justice should go beyond financial compensation and include:

 official apologies

 the return of looted cultural heritage

 the creation of educational and endowment funds

 mechanisms to prevent similar crimes in the future

The organization noted its active role in raising these issues at international platforms, including participation in sessions at United Nations headquarters such as the Working Group and Permanent Forum on the Rights of Peoples of African Descent in 2024 and 2025.

BIG also stated that its inclusion in a report by the UN Secretary-General reflects its growing recognition as a reliable international partner advocating for the rights of peoples affected by colonialism.

The group called on UN member states to take practical steps to implement the resolution, deepen discussions on reparations, and commit to advancing historical justice.
30 March 2026 16:18 (UTC+04:00)

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The Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), which transports Azerbaijani natural gas to Europe, recorded a booked capacity of 367.85 million kWh at Greeces Kipoi exit point on March 30, AzerNEWS reports.

Here we are to serve you with news right now. It does not cost much, but worth your attention.

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30 March 2026 11:04 (UTC+04:00)

Akbar Novruz Read more

United States President Donald Trump said Tehran "gave" Washington "most" of the 15 demands it sent over as requirements for ending the war, AzerNEWS reports.

"They came back on the 15-point plan. They gave us most of the points. Why wouldn't they?," Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One.

"They're agreeing with us on the plan. We asked for 15 things, and for the most part, we're going to be asking for a couple of other things," he said.

He also claimed that his country's military destroyed "many long sought after targets" in Iran.

"Big day in Iran," Trump wrote on Truth Social. "Many long sought after targets have been taken out and destroyed by our GREAT MILITARY, the finest and most lethal in the World. God bless you all!"

Previously, Trump said his "favorite thing" about the military campaign against Iran is "to take the oil" in that country, but that he faces opposition in the US. Later, he spoke in favor of regime change there. Lastly, Trump claimed that Iran "gave" the US "most" of the 15 points presented in the ceasefire proposal.
30 March 2026 11:28 (UTC+04:00)

Akbar Novruz Read more

Thousands of American troops, including Marines and paratroopers, are headed towards the Middle East as United States President Donald Trump considers starting a ground operation in Iran, Israeli I24 News reported on Sunday, citing officials familiar with the matter, AzerNEWS reports.

"All options are on the table. It all depends on the president's decision," another US source told the outlet, emphasizing that both military and diplomatic solutions are being considered. The officials did not disclose any details about the possible timeframe of the operation.

Unofficial reports about the possible ground operation have been pouring in lately, with Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf accusing the US side of preparing for escalation while publicly speaking of peace efforts.

According to the NY Times, the arrival of 2,500 Marines and another 2,500 sailors is keeping the number of American troops in the Mideast region at over 50,000, roughly 10,000 more than usual, as President Trump decides on his next step in his month-old war in Iran.

While it is still unclear just what the Marines, from the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, will be charged with, U.S. officials say the president is weighing whether to try a larger attack, like venturing to seize an island or other ground as part of Mr. Trumps effort to open the Strait of Hormuz.

The narrow waterway, through which around 20 percent of the worlds oil usually traverses, has been largely closed because of attacks by Iranian forces who are retaliating against the U.S. and Israeli war on their country.

Usually there are around 40,000 American troops scattered around at bases and on ships at any time around the region, including in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Iraq, Syria, Jordan, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait. But as Mr. Trump has escalated the war in Iran, that number has reached more than 50,000, according to a U.S. military official.

The number of troops no longer includes the 4,500 aboard the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Gerald Ford, however. That ship has been hobbled by constant mishaps, including a fire that broke out in the laundry. The Ford withdrew from the region on March 23 and sailed to Crete. On Friday it arrived in Croatia. It remains unclear where it is headed next.

Last week, the Pentagon also ordered about 2,000 soldiers from the Armys 82nd Airborne Division to the Middle East to give Mr. Trump additional military options.

The location of the Army paratroopers is not public, the military official said. But they will be within striking distance of Iran. The paratroopers could be used to seize Kharg Island, Irans main oil export hub in the northern Persian Gulf, where U.S. warplanes bombed more than 90 military targets earlier this month. Or they could be deployed for other ground operations in conjunction with the Marines.

But military experts caution that even 50,000 troops, many of them at sea, is a small number for any kind of major land operation. Israel used more than 300,000 troops for its operations in the Gaza Strip that began in October 2023. The U.S.-led coalition that invaded Iraq in 2003 was close to 250,000 at the beginning.

At almost a third of the size of the continental United States, Iran has around 93 million people. Taking, let alone holding, a country of its size and complexity and weaponry with 50,000 troops is not doable, military experts say.
30 March 2026 17:29 (UTC+04:00)

Akbar Novruz Read more

United States President Donald Trump warned on Monday that if a deal is not "shortly" reached with Iran, Washington will be "blowing up and completely obliterating" all of its energy sites and Kharg Island, AzerNEWS reports.

"Great progress has been made but, if for any reason a deal is not shortly reached, which it probably will be, and if the Hormuz Strait is not immediately 'Open for Business,' we will conclude our lovely 'stay' in Iran by blowing up and completely obliterating all of their Electric Generating Plants, Oil Wells and Kharg Island (and possibly all desalinization plants!), which we have purposefully not yet 'touched'," Trump said in a post on Truth Social, claiming that the attacks would be retailation for "many" US soldiers being killed by Iran's regime over the 47 years of its "Reign of Terror."

The US president also noted that his country is in "serious discussions" with a "NEW, AND MORE REASONABLE" regime.
30 March 2026 22:25 (UTC+04:00)

AzerNEWS Staff Read more

Five individuals have been arrested in connection with an attempted bomb attack near a Bank of America office in Paris, AzerNEWS reports, citing Le Parisien.

Authorities confirmed that two additional suspects were detained on the latest day as part of the ongoing criminal investigation.

The incident took place early Saturday at approximately 3:30 a.m. on La Boetie Street, in front of the Bank of America building. Police apprehended the individual who allegedly planted the explosive device at the scene, while an accomplice managed to flee.

The subsequent arrests suggest a rapid expansion of the investigation, as law enforcement continues efforts to identify and detain all individuals linked to the attempted attack.

While no casualties were reported, the case underscores ongoing security concerns in major European cities and highlights the swift response of French authorities in preventing a potentially serious incident.
30 March 2026 20:40 (UTC+04:00)

AzerNEWS Staff Read more

A Russian oil tanker has entered waters off Cuba, marking the first such delivery since January and offering potential relief to the islands worsening energy crisis.

As reported by AzerNEWS, citing Russias Interfax news agency, the tanker Anatoly Kolodkin is carrying approximately 100,000 tonnes of crude oil, described as a humanitarian shipment.

The shipment comes shortly after U.S. President Donald Trump stated that he had no problem with countries, including Russia, supplying oil to Cuba, signaling a possible softening of the de facto oil blockade imposed earlier this year.

The blockade had significantly restricted fuel supplies to Cuba, exacerbating existing shortages and triggering a series of nationwide blackouts. The countrys energy crisis has intensified in recent months following disruptions to traditional supply routes.

International organizations have also raised concerns over the humanitarian impact. The World Health Organization previously warned that severe fuel shortages were affecting hospital operations, including emergency and intensive care services.

Analysts view the arrival of the Russian shipment as both a short-term lifeline for Cubas strained energy system and a sign of shifting geopolitical dynamics, as Washington appears to recalibrate its approach amid mounting humanitarian pressures.
30 March 2026 23:29 (UTC+04:00)

Akbar Novruz Read more

The Knesset, Israels parliament, has reportedly passed a law introducing the death penalty for individuals accused of terrorism-related offenses, AzerNEWS reports.

According to the reported provisions, the law would apply to cases within Israel as well as in territories such as Gaza Strip and Palestine.

The legislation reportedly  that:

 individuals convicted of terrorism may face execution

 in Palestinian territories, the death penalty would be applied specifically to Palestinians

 Israeli citizens would not be subject to the death penalty under any circumstances

 no appeal process would be available

 executions would be carried out within three months of sentencing
Soil erosion control protects farmland by preventing topsoil loss from water and wind. Methods like contour plowing, cover crops, and terracing tackle sheet erosion and gully erosion effectively. These draw from Dust Bowl lessons, where poor farming turned fertile plains into dust storms during the 1930s.

Core Soil Erosion Types Explained

Sheet erosion strips uniform layers of soil across fields, often invisible until productivity falls. It happens with light rain on bare slopes, carrying away nutrients gradually. Over time, this silent thief depletes organic matter, leaving compacted subsoil that holds less water and supports weaker crops.

Gully erosion digs deep channels from heavy runoff, ruining paths and fields quickly. Concentrated water flow starts small rills that widen into impassable gullies, sometimes meters deep. These scars disrupt machinery movement and livestock access, turning productive acres into wastelands overnight.

Both types link to land management. Sheet erosion dominates flat areas under constant rain, while gullies form faster on steeper, unprotected land. Compaction from heavy equipment worsens both by reducing infiltration, forcing more surface flow.

Dust Bowl lessons show extremesdrought plus overplowing caused massive wind-driven sheet erosion, burying homes in dust. "Black blizzards" carried soil thousands of miles, highlighting how bare fields amplify natural forces.

Farmers spot sheet erosion through thinner plant stands or grayish soil layers. Gullies announce themselves with visible cuts, often starting at field edges or fence lines where water concentrates.

Practices for Soil Protection

Contour plowing runs tractor lines along hillside curves, not straight down. Furrows act as dams, slowing water to boost infiltration. This cuts runoff speed, targeting sheet erosion directlyon 2-8% slopes, it reduces soil loss by half or more. Farmers adjust plows to follow GPS-guided contours for precision, minimizing skips.

Cover crops fill gaps between main harvests, like rye or clover on bare ground. Roots hold soil, leaves block rain splash. They fight sheet erosion by keeping the surface covered year-round, while dense roots stabilize channels against gully erosion. Winter rye grows fast in cool weather, dying back just as corn planting starts.

Terracing carves flat steps into hills, each with a ridge to catch water. It excels against gully erosion on slopes over 8%, trapping sediment before it deepens cuts. Grass on risers adds root strength, and stone-faced edges prevent collapse. Bench terraces support mechanized farming, unlike sloped versions.

Wikipedia notes contour plowing as a basic yet powerful soil conservation step, used globally since ancient times. Agriculture Victoria explains terracing with drainage prevents failures like collapses from poor water management. A University of Illinois study shows cover crops settled Dust Bowl dust storms through better ground cover.

Benefits of each practice:

Contour Plowing: Higher water retention for crops; fewer rills turning into gullies; yield boosts from saved topsoil; easy integration with existing equipment

Higher water retention for crops; fewer rills turning into gullies; yield boosts from saved topsoil; easy integration with existing equipment Cover Crops: Weed suppression without chemicals; pest control via habitat diversity; erosion drop by 90% in no-till setups; improved soil biology from microbes

Weed suppression without chemicals; pest control via habitat diversity; erosion drop by 90% in no-till setups; improved soil biology from microbes Terracing: Permanent slope stabilization; controlled water flow; transformed steep land into cropland; long-term investment with decades of use

Steps to build basic terraces:

Survey slope and mark levels with stakes and string lines Dig benches with outer bunds using bulldozers or hand tools Plant grass waterways between terraces for overflow Add check dams in gullieslogs, rocks, or woven brush

Farmers often start small, testing contours on one field before scaling. Cover crop seed mixesgrains for quick cover, legumes for nitrogentailor to local climates.

Dust Bowl Lessons Applied Today

The Dust Bowl hit U.S. plains hardoverfarming stripped sod, drought baked soil into powder. Sheet erosion went airborne, creating "black blizzards" that darkened skies from Oklahoma to New York. Over 100 million acres degraded, displacing 2.5 million people.

Lessons include avoiding deep tillage on dry land and maintaining cover. Government soil banks paid farmers to idle erosive fields, while education promoted contours and strips. Contour plowing spread rapidly post-1935, credited with halting further losses.

Today, combine methods:

Contours plus covers for moderate fields reduce overall erosion by 70%

Terraces with barriers for severe gullies handle peak storms

Rotations to mimic prairiesalternate wheat with alfalfa or sorghum

ProAg reports modern no-till echoes Dust Bowl fixes, cutting erosion nationwide by millions of tons yearly. Precision agriculture refines these: satellite imagery flags high-risk zones, variable-rate seeding optimizes covers.

Prevent sheet erosion with:

Mulch layers post-harvest to absorb rain energy

Minimum tillage preserving residue

Grass strips across fields every 100 feet

Gully erosion tactics:

Divert upslope water with shallow ditches Line floors with rock, geotextile, or deep-rooted plants Grade edges smooth for regrowth and seeding

Modern tech aids long-term strategies:

GPS for precise contours, reducing overlap by 15%

Drones spotting early gullies via aerial photos

Soil tests guiding cover crop choices based on pH and nutrients

Top solutions ranked by ease and impact:

Cover crops everywherecheap, versatile, multi-benefit Contours on rollsquick setup, immediate results Terraces last resortlabor-heavy but permanent for extremes

Comparing erosion control practices:

Contour Plowing: Excellent for sheet erosion, good for gully erosion, suits 2-8% slopes, low cost, fast adoption

Excellent for sheet erosion, good for gully erosion, suits 2-8% slopes, low cost, fast adoption Cover Crops: Excellent for sheet erosion, very good for gully erosion, works on all slopes, medium cost, year-round action

Excellent for sheet erosion, very good for gully erosion, works on all slopes, medium cost, year-round action Terracing: Good for sheet erosion, excellent for gully erosion, best for 8%+ slopes, high cost, structural durability

Real-world examples abound: Iowa farms blend contours and covers, slashing sediment in rivers by 50%. Ancient Asian rice terraces endure centuries, proving longevity.

Building Resilient Farmland Long-Term

Dust Bowl survivors diversified beyond wheat monocrops. Bare fields erode fastest, so rotate grains with legumes and include perennials. Windbreakstree rowscut wind speed by 40%, trapping airborne soil.

Soil health tests track progress: rising organic matter signals success. Organic carbon above 2% resists erosion naturally.

Community efforts amplify: watershed groups share equipment for terracing, seed banks distribute covers cheaply. Incentives like carbon credits reward adopters.

Climate change intensifies rains and droughts, making these practices urgent. Models predict 20% more erosion without action, but integrated systems hold soil steady.

Farmers report 20-50% less erosion blending practices, plus bonus yields from better moisture. Ongoing monitoringwalk fields post-rain, map rillscatches problems early.

Policies echo 1930s shifts: subsidies favor conservation over yield alone. These timeless strategies turn Dust Bowl warnings into modern successes, securing fertile land for generations ahead.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What is sheet erosion?

Sheet erosion removes thin, uniform layers of topsoil across fields from rain splash and shallow runoff. It often goes unnoticed until crop yields drop, targeting bare or compacted ground.

2. What causes gully erosion?

Gully erosion starts with unchecked rills that deepen from concentrated water flow on slopes. Heavy storms widen these into deep channels, worsened by poor drainage or overgrazing.

3. How does contour plowing help soil erosion control?

Contour plowing aligns furrows along slope contours to slow water, reducing sheet erosion by 50%+ on gentle hills. It traps sediment and boosts infiltration, a key fix post-Dust Bowl.
Natural carbon sinks like forests and oceans pull massive amounts of CO2 from the atmosphere, driving carbon sequestration to counter rising climate pressures. This expanded exploration of Carbon Sinks in Nature dives into forest sinks, blue carbon ecosystems, their mechanisms, threats, and restoration paths, building on insights from sources.

Unpacking Carbon Sinks in Nature

Carbon Sinks in Nature serve as Earth's built-in regulators, capturing atmospheric carbon dioxide through a mix of biological uptake and physical storage. These systemsprimarily forests, oceans, soils, peatlands, and wetlandsabsorb roughly half of human-generated CO2 emissions each year, equivalent to 25-30 billion tons. Without this natural buffering, greenhouse gas levels would surge, accelerating global warming and extreme weather.

The core process hinges on photosynthesis: plants, algae, and phytoplankton use sunlight to convert CO2 and water into oxygen and sugars, locking carbon into living tissues. In forests, this builds wood, leaves, and roots; in oceans, dissolved CO2 forms bicarbonate ions that circulate and eventually sink. Population Education emphasizes that land and ocean sinks together offset about 50% of fossil fuel emissions, a critical lifeline strained by deforestation, pollution, and heat.

Carbon sequestration rates differ widely by ecosystem and region. Tropical rainforests sequester up to 20 tons of CO2 per hectare annually during peak growth phases, while boreal forests in colder climates store carbon more slowly but across immense areas. Peatlands, water-saturated soils in places like Indonesia and Scotland, hold twice the carbon of all global forests combined in a compact footprint, preventing decay through oxygen deprivation. Wetlands add another layer, filtering carbon from rivers into long-term deposits.

This dynamic cycle has evolved over millions of years, stabilizing climates through ice ages and warm periods. Today, however, human activities pump out CO2 at rates 100 times faster than natural geological sinks like rock weathering, overwhelming these systems. Understanding their capacity helps prioritize conservation, as even small degradations ripple through the carbon cycle.

Forest Sinks: Land's Heavy Lifters

Forest sinks anchor Carbon Sinks in Nature on terrestrial landscapes, harboring over 650 billion tons of carbontwice the atmosphere's total. Mature trees act as long-term vaults, with trunks and branches accumulating 50-200 tons per hectare in ancient stands like those in the Amazon or Congo Basin. Soil layers beneath often double that figure, as roots, fallen leaves, and microbial activity bind carbon into humus that resists breakdown.

Young, regenerating forests excel at rapid sequestration, pulling in 10-20 tons of CO2 per hectare yearly as they expand. Tropical regions lead globally, with the Amazon alone absorbing 1-2 billion tons annually before recent droughts. Boreal forests across Canada, Russia, and Scandinavia cover 30% of forested land, storing carbon in slow-decaying needles and permafrost-adjacent soils. Temperate forests in Europe and North America contribute steadily, bolstered by diverse understories of shrubs, ferns, and fungi that enhance soil retention.

Factors amplify forest sinks' power:

Biodiversity: Mixed-species stands sequester 20-30% more than monocultures by optimizing nutrient cycles.

Mixed-species stands sequester 20-30% more than monocultures by optimizing nutrient cycles. Age dynamics: Old-growth forests store vast reserves; selective logging preserves this while allowing regrowth.

Old-growth forests store vast reserves; selective logging preserves this while allowing regrowth. Microclimates: Canopy shade and humidity slow decomposition, extending carbon residence time.

Challenges erode these gains, however:

Deforestation for agriculture and urban sprawl releases 12-15% of global emissions, as cut trees rot or burn rapidly.

Wildfires, intensified by climate shifts, scorched 20 million hectares in 2023-2024, turning sinks into sources.

Invasive pests and diseases, like mountain pine beetles, have killed billions of trees in North America, exposing soils.

Population Education reports that intact forests netted 3-4 billion tons of sequestration from 1990-2019, but losses now halve that. Reforestation efforts, such as the Trillion Trees initiative, target degraded lands with native species, potentially reclaiming 200 billion tons over 50-100 years. Agroforestry models integrate trees into farms, boosting yields while sequestering 5-10 tons per hectare.

Expanses like the Congo Basin's dense canopies illustrate forest sinks in action, where layered growth cycles CO2 into enduring biomass year after year.

Blue Carbon: Oceans' Unsung Heroes

Blue carbon illuminates marine facets of Carbon Sinks in Nature, focusing on coastal powerhouses: mangroves, seagrasses, and salt marshes. These habitats, spanning less than 1% of ocean bottoms, bury carbon 10-50 times faster than terrestrial forests, packing up to 1,000 tons per hectare into anoxic sediments. Mangroves trap sediments laden with organic matter from tides and roots, creating millennia-long storage.

Seagrass meadows, found in shallow bays worldwide, capture CO2 via photosynthesis and currents, exporting excess to deeper waters. Salt marshes along estuaries filter riverine carbon, layering it beneath mats of grasses where bacteria struggle without oxygen. Broader oceans absorb 25-30% of emissions through surface dissolution and the biological pump: phytoplankton blooms fix CO2, die, and sink as "marine snow," delivering 10 billion tons to abyssal depths annually.

Standout blue carbon advantages include:

Exceptional efficiency: A hectare of mangrove sequesters as much as 50 hectares of tropical forest. Resilience perks: Root systems shield coasts from erosion and storms, protecting 10% of the world's population. Economic boosts: These zones sustain fisheries yielding $30-40 billion yearly in catches.

Oceans face mounting threats, though. Warming surface waters hold less CO2, while acidificationup 30% since 1750disrupts shell-forming life. Coastal development has erased 35% of mangroves since 1980, releasing buried carbon. Overfishing depletes grazers that maintain seagrasses, and nutrient runoff sparks dead zones that kill blue carbon producers.

ClientEarth underscores how restoring these systems could add 1-3 billion tons of sequestration by 2050. Projects in Indonesia and Australia have replanted mangroves, regaining 20-40 tons per hectare within years. Marine protected areas, now covering 8% of oceans, safeguard habitats while allowing spillover benefits to fisheries.

Threats and Paths Forward for Carbon Sequestration

Carbon sequestration buckles under pressures on Carbon Sinks in Nature. Land conversion claims 10 million forest hectares yearly, while ocean heatwaves bleach plankton and wilt seagrasses. Thawing permafrost in the Arctic could unleash 1,500 billion tons of carbon by 2100, dwarfing current emissions. Pollutionfrom plastics entangling roots to fertilizers fueling algae bloomschokes productivity.

Feedback loops compound risks: hotter soils respire more CO2, acidified seas absorb less, and dying forests dry out further. Extreme years like 2023 saw near-zero net uptake globally due to fires, floods, and heat.

Revival demands multifaceted strategies:

Scale reforestation to 350 million hectares by 2030, prioritizing fire-resistant natives.

Protect 30% of oceans via no-take zones, reviving blue carbon flows.

Promote sustainable land use: agroforestry and silvopasture blend sequestration with food production.

Leverage Indigenous knowledge: Groups steward 80% of intact forests, achieving 50% higher carbon stocks.

Innovate verification: Satellites and drones track changes, enabling carbon credit markets.

Payments for ecosystem services reward stewards, while policy shiftslike subsidies for restoration over clearancealign incentives. Community mangrove projects in the Philippines have sequestered 100,000 tons while creating jobs.

Strengthening Carbon Sinks in Nature Today

Forest sinks and blue carbon hold immense untapped potential for carbon sequestration, offering climate stability alongside biodiversity, flood defenses, and livelihoods. Protecting and expanding them bends the emissions trajectory, fostering resilient ecosystems for generations. Hands-on global action now secures this natural alliance against warming.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What Are Carbon Sinks in Nature?

Carbon Sinks in Nature are ecosystems like forests, oceans, and wetlands that absorb more CO2 from the atmosphere than they release. They drive carbon sequestration by storing carbon in biomass, soils, and sediments, offsetting about half of human emissions annually. Forests and oceans lead as the largest, with blue carbon coastal zones adding outsized efficiency.

2. How Do Forests Act as Carbon Sinks?

Forest sinks capture CO2 through photosynthesis, where trees convert it into growth for trunks, roots, and leaves. Soil and dead matter store even more long-term, with intact forests absorbing 10-20 tons per hectare yearly. Tropical and boreal types dominate, but deforestation and fires threaten their net uptake.

3. What Is Blue Carbon and Why Does It Matter?

Blue carbon refers to carbon sequestered by coastal ecosystems like mangroves, seagrasses, and salt marshes. These bury CO2 10-50 times faster than land forests, locking it in sediments for millennia despite small coverage. They protect shores and boost fisheries while aiding climate balance.
Bennington, VT (05201)

Today

Partly cloudy skies during the morning hours will become overcast in the afternoon. High around 70F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Rain showers in the evening will evolve into a more steady rain overnight. Low 46F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80%. Rainfall near a quarter of an inch. Locally heavy rainfall possible.
Being in here in the last three weeks has been so wonderful and relaxing for patients because we have space, owner Christina Meucci said. There's a peaceful energy about this place It's not so tight and squeezed.
PITTSFIELD  How much would it cost to close the nations housing gap?

An annual investment of $450 billion over 10 years, according to Upside413 Executive Director Brad Gordon.

Yet, he pointed out during a recent housing forum at the Berkshire Athenaeum that "$200 billion is being requested for an excursion in the Middle East. That's a choice," he said, referring to the Israel-Iran war.

Gordon spoke alongside officials from organizations in the county that are impacted by poverty during the forum. The discussion laid out the drivers and symptoms of poverty, called attention to the positive action being undertaken by local nonprofits and touched on ways to destigmatize it.

The forum was hosted by the Berkshire Community Action Council, a local nonprofit that aimed to give attendees a holistic view of the symptoms of poverty.

Officials say the key factors affecting the low-income population include access to housing, mental health care and transportation.

Gordon said poverty is incredibly corrosive, affecting every part of life  from housing and food to employment.

Those challenges are compounded by cuts to social safety-net programs designed to mitigate povertys worst effects.

The federal government sets a poverty line  $15,960 a year for an individual  to determine eligibility for programs such as Medicaid and SNAP, making any cuts to those safety-net programs especially consequential for low-income residents.

Nearly 25,000 Berkshire County residents received SNAP benefits in 2023, according to the most recent data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

State Sen. Paul Mark and state Rep. John Barrett III both admonished the reversal of federal funding for these programs initiated by the Trump administration, specifically calling out the One, Big, Beautiful Bill Act, which gutted SNAP and Medicaid.

"When [Trump] came back in 2025, I feel like we gained an enemy," Mark said. Still, he said the state is fighting to stymy the effects of the cuts to Medicaid.

While solutions to address the underlying drivers of poverty were brought up  like building more housing, providing health access and promoting first-generation college students  much of the meeting focused on the current programs and organizations combating poverty's symptoms.

On the workforce side, MassHire Berkshire Career Center helps people with resume gaps or prior convictions find work, said Pam Wojtkowski, executive director of the center. The organization also works with local businesses to destigmatize qualified workers with non-traditional work history.

Public health has also ramped up, with stronger addiction recovery efforts and better outreach, said Jennifer Michaels, medical director for The Brien Center. That includes the free distribution of naloxone, the drug that can prevent opioid overdoses.

When Michaels asked who carried the nasal spray, two-thirds of the room raised their hands.

That community awareness matters, as the primary way to destigmatize poverty is by exposing the truth to the people, said Cindy Shogry-Raimer, a panelist and director of community development for Greylock Federal Credit Union. Poverty can befall anyone, and "bad things can happen to good people."

For Mark, the topic is more personal, as his family struggled to make ends meet, needing food stamps even while his father was working, he said. "The stigma doesn't need to be there."

Communities and municipalities need to take a holistic approach to addressing poverty, tackling both its causes and its symptoms while continuing to educate the public about its realities, BCAC Executive Director Deborah Leonczyk said.

Even if solutions to address poverty at every level are ready, there's only so much funding available.

"That's the choice that funders want us to make," Gordon said. "We need both. We shouldn't settle for one or the other and make those kind of choices."
PITTSFIELD  Intradistrict school choice for Pittsfield Public Schools is staying frozen for now.

A proposal to undo a policy shift pausing a program allowing elementary students to attend schools outside their enrollment district was voted down 6-1 by the School Committee on Wednesday.

Committee member Ciara Batory had proposed ending the moratorium, announced by interim Superintendent Latifah Phillips at the bodys March 10 meeting. Batory raised concerns about halting the program at that meeting, stating that families were voting with their feet.

If we have something that is working we need to preserve it. Families are choosing these classrooms, she said Wednesday. People want to go from other districts to these classrooms.  Some of these schools only exist because kids choice in, she added, citing Capeless Elementary School as an example.

At the March 10 meeting, Phillips explained that continuing intradistrict choice would hinder the process of right-sizing class sizes as the district works to overcome a $4.3 million budget deficit. She said efficiencies cant be obtained by maintaining smaller class sizes at smaller schools such as Williams, Egremont and Capeless, while continuing larger class sizes at Morningside, Conte and Crosby.

If we add something in we have to take something out, so I need to know what the trade off is, member Daniel Elias said. He warned the result could be something else coming out that may be equally as important to you.  Without the full picture of what that is, its hard to say yes.

Committee member Heather McNeice asked if the freeze was in place so that the district, with so many moving parts to implement for the 2026-27 school year, doesnt add more. For example, she said if Morningside Community School closes, as is being considered, the district has to assess where that schools students will be going.

We had a discussion about reductions at many schools, including Pittsfield High School, Phillips said. Everything we chose is making a decision for something thats either been allocated or not allocated.

If we were to, at this moment, expand classrooms that have been right-sized, that would mean everybody else with a [budget] reduction would be off the table. Wed have to stop talking, she said. We cant restore all the right-sized classrooms across the district. 

According to data provided by the administration, 8 percent of the district  388 students  use intradistrict choice.

Of students leaving their enrollment districts, 199  51.2 percent  come from three elementary schools that have struggled in the states accountability ratings over the past several years: Crosby Elementary School, Conte Community School and Morningside Community School.

Meanwhile, Capeless Elementary School (63), Egremont Elementary School (55) and Williams Elementary School (39) together received 40.4 percent of all city students opting out of their geographic district.

During the meetings public comment period, Emily Day, a former district employee, said transfers have had the effect of pulling resources away from schools with greater needs by artificially growing enrollment at the smaller schools.

It's about ensuring that students with the greatest needs receive the resources necessary for their advancement, Day said. Achieving this goal becomes increasingly difficult if parents can transfer their children freely between schools, thereby reallocating vital resources.

Another speaker, Sidney Hamilton, cautioned the School Committee against using labels to characterize the city schools or distinguish them from each other  namely, referring to the Tier I schools of Capeless, Egremont and Williams as good schools.

That, she said, is a disservice to teachers and students at the rest of the citys schools.

While this sounds harmless, it sends a message, whether intentional or not, that the others must be bad, Hamilton said. By doing so, we have placed a label on every student, family and educators from most schools. When these labels are repeated over and over again, especially by people in positions of power, they shape the way our community views our schools, our families and most importantly, our children. As we should have learned by now, labels have real impact.

Hamilton, a social worker, is a graduate of Conte Community School, Reid Middle School and Taconic High School  all of which, she said, have been handed negative labels over the years.

Our students do not need or deserve to be defined by labels, but to be supported with the resources, opportunities and belief that every school community deserves, Hamilton said. If we truly want every student in the Pittsfield Public Schools to receive an equitable education, then it's time to stop leaving some schools as better than others, and start investing in all of them.
The Pharisees were experts in the law. Before Jesus arrival, the Pharisees were the people the crowds went to in order to get answers about their behaviors in alignment with the law. However, once Jesus came on the scene, the crowds started following him because of the miracles he performed. The crowds began to see there was something about Jesus, even before he revealed he was one with his father. This made the Pharisees jealous, and these evil intentions caused them to conspire to trap him in his words so they would have reasonable cause to bring him before the proper officials to have him crucified. One passage in Matthew demonstrates the Pharisees evil intent:

Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap him in his words. They sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians. Teacher, they said, we know that you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You arent swayed by others because you pay no attention to who they are. Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar or not? But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me? Show me the coin used for paying the tax. They brought him a denarius, and he asked them, Whose image is this? And whose inscription? Caesars, they replied. Then he said to them, So give back to Caesar what is Caesars, and to God what is Gods. When they heard this, they were amazed. So, they left him and went away. Matthew 22:15-22
Mar 29 (News On Japan) - Many project teams remember when work was primarily based on email chains, phone calls, and endless spreadsheets. However, digital transformation is rapidly changing the way businesses manage plans, tasks, and priorities.

Powerful project management software comes to the rescue, helping teams stay on track and maintain control.

Professionals across various fields use these smart online solutions to plan tasks, assign resources, forecast workloads, and control budgets. They choose a wide range of tools, from simple spreadsheets to powerful enterprise systems with built-in analytics.

How to make the right choice? Below you'll find a selection of the most popular online project management tools in Japan.

10 most popular project management software in Japan

Each program below has its own target audience and is built on a distinct concept. Some emphasize structure and visualization, while others focus on analytics or integration with other systems.

Its time to take a closer look at each.

1. GanttPRO

GanttPRO solves a wide range of tasks and project challenges, regardless of team size or industry. The key advantage of this project management tool is its powerful Gantt chart, created with a precision rarely found in competitors.

The program helps managers and team members quickly create tasks and break them down into smaller subtasks using a convenient work breakdown structure (WBS) system. It's easy to build dependencies between activities, highlight project milestones, set deadlines, and identify critical paths on a timeline here.

The resource workload management feature is particularly valuable as well. The program shows in real time which team members are overloaded and which have available capacity.

GanttPRO supports a baseline, allowing you to compare actual progress with the originally planned work at any stage. Built-in budget control allows for linking tasks to costs and tracking spending.

Many Japanese project teams value this tool for its ready-made templates for IT, marketing, manufacturing, construction, and other industries.

2. Microsoft Project

The next tool often chosen by project teams in Japan is Microsofts well-known work management product. For many, it is considered the standard for corporate project management.

MS Project offers basic capabilities for work planning, assigning tasks to responsible parties, managing activities using a multi-level work breakdown structure (WBS), calculating a critical path on a Gantt chart, and more.

The cloud-based version has made the tool more accessible to distributed teams.

This tool is highly appreciated, but many teams consider it outdated or overloaded with unnecessary features. Therefore, they often switch to substitutions.

Luckily, there are many Microsoft Project alternatives, as discussed in this article.

3. Kanna

Many teams plan and manage projects of any complexity in Kanna. This Japanese platform was originally developed for the construction industry. It is often chosen by distributed teams working across multiple locations.

Some of the program's key tools are a Gantt chart and communication features. Built-in reporting forms allow teams to easily collect and analyze data.

Kanna users appreciate its simple mobile app. With it, team members can track task progress, upload files, and receive instructions directly from their smartphones.

4. Bordio

The next tool in this list is for those who need to track project tasks and constantly see how they are distributed over time in relation to the team's actual work schedule.

Bordio seamlessly combines work planning with personal calendar management for each project participant.

Managers easily move tasks around based on specific days and times. This tool's user-friendly interface allows you to quickly assess your team's workload. You can add time estimates to tasks at any time.

5. Kantata

Kantata, formerly Mavenlink, is suitable for companies of all sizes and levels of expertise.

This service integrates basic project management functions, analytics, and financial reporting. It also helps with resource allocation and managing staff availability.

With Kantata, you can quickly track your team's workload.

Built-in time tracking and invoicing functionality make managers' lives significantly easier. They can monitor the profitability of any project and respond to any potential deviations.

6. TaskFord

This task management solution emphasizes AI functionality integrated into a certain workflow. This is a popular choice among businesses with remote workers. It automatically displays time according to the specific time zone.

TaskFord allows you to structure project activities based on deadlines and priorities. It analyzes workloads and suggests optimal schedules and shifts.

This program features integration with calendar services and a built-in filter and tag system for quick access to relevant tasks, even in projects with hundreds of items.

7. Scoro

Project teams choose Scoro because it combines a powerful work management system, invoicing, time tracking, and an accessible CRM. The program offers unified functionality from planning customer engagement to project closure.

Scoro users can forecast budgets and compare planned funding with actual spending.

The tool offers accessible analytics and the ability to generate useful reports. Teams appreciate the program for its transparency throughout all stages of the project lifecycle.

8. Kerika

Kerika is also quite popular in the Japanese market. This simple project management solution helps teams manage tasks and projects by integrating with Google's diverse ecosystem.

Kerika users get convenient Kandan boards, which provide easy task visualization and minimize chaos.

The program is known for its work-in-progress (WIP) limit feature, which allows you to easily manage tasks in progress. Additionally, you get collaboration tools that allow you to leave comments, tags, mentions, and attach files.

9. Planfix

Users of this program know how to use its extensive features to control all project workflows and avoid chaos and risks.

It is easy to configure. With Planfix, you can plan workflows of virtually any complexity without programming skills. It also allows you to create custom task types, fields, and statuses, adapting them to your business. A built-in CRM module and flexible access rights system make work easier.

With Planfix, you can easily send notifications, create child tasks, and analyze your activities.

10. nTask

Project managers in Japan also frequently rely on nTask. This tool helps them manage all processes at different stages of the project lifecycle.

The program offers various types of work visualization, including simple lists, Gantt charts, and Kanban boards. You can easily plan and track work time here, as well as analyze project resources and assign them to performers.

It also has a built-in module for advanced risk management. Managers can easily identify risks, assess their likelihood, and assign responsibility for their progression.

Each of the tools described above is a well-thought-out and proven solution. Testing them is just the first step. You need time to determine which one best suits your needs.

Choose wisely and plan more accurately with powerful project management solutions

Project management requires a wide range of skills and talents, from simple task monitoring to sophisticated resource, risk, and analytics management.

Modern PM software helps teams plan work from start to finish. Therefore, choosing the right solution becomes more than just a technical decision, but a strategic business advantage.

The programs described above cover a variety of needs, from small project planning to managing large campaigns. Regardless of your industry or team size, you can find the right platform.

Many project teams in Japan are actively using these tools. Now's the time to make your choice.
Antimicrobial Resistance Research Society of India launches in Bengaluru

March 30, 2026 | Monday | News

To promote high-quality research in AMR and foster interdisciplinary collaborations

Antimicrobial Resistance Research Society of India (AMRRSI), a multidisciplinary national initiative dedicated to advancing research, knowledge exchange, and policy dialogue in the field of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), was formally launched during its Inaugural Conclave on 28th March 2026 at Chanakya University, Bengaluru, as part of the Superbug Summit 2026 (2628 March 2026).

AMRRSI brings together academicians, clinicians, microbiologists, industry leaders, public health experts, and policymakers to collaboratively address one of the most pressing global health challenges of our time  antimicrobial resistance.

The mission is to promote high-quality research in AMR; foster interdisciplinary collaborations; encourage innovation in diagnostics, therapeutics, and surveillance; support evidence-based policymaking; and strengthen capacity building and knowledge dissemination across India.

The launch symbolises a united national effort to strengthen collaboration, accelerate innovation, and build sustainable solutions to combat AMR.

"This is more than just the beginning of an organisationit marks a moment where we come together to rewrite the narrative of antimicrobial resistance. What started as a vision two years ago, through discussions, persistence, and collaboration, has now taken shape as a national platform dedicated to tackling one of the most pressing global health challenges", said Dr Saravanan Matheshwaran, Associate Professor at the Department of Biological Sciences and Bioengineering, IIT Kanpur, and Vice President, AMRRSI.


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HOKKAIDO, Mar 30 (News On Japan) - A large number of people gathered at Ishikari-Numata Station in western Hokkaido on March 31st to witness the final run of the JR Rumoi Line, bringing an end to its 116-year history as trains made their last journey through snow-covered rice fields.

The Rumoi Line, spanning 14.4 kilometers, is the shortest main railway line in Japan, and its final day drew crowds of visitors and local residents eager to bid farewell.

At the station, many expressed a deep sense of loss, with voices noting that the closure would make the area feel lonelier and that the lines long history made its end particularly emotional.

Opened in 1910, the line once played a vital role in transporting coal and timber, supporting the regions industries, but as coal mines closed and the local population declined, ridership fell steadily, leading to the decision to discontinue operations.

For residents, the loss of the railway raises concerns about daily life, particularly for those without access to cars, as one local noted that switching to bus services would significantly limit access to essential trips such as hospital visits, requiring early departures and long waits before returning home.

Even after the lines closure, Ishikari-Numata Station is expected to remain as a central hub for the town.

Murakami Yoshiki, a member of the Numata Town regional revitalization team, said that while the loss of such infrastructure is inevitable, it is important to consider how to carry forward its legacy and build for the future.

On the final day, ceremonies are scheduled to be held at three stations along the line to mark the occasion.

Source: FNN
Pakistan has announced it will soon host talks between the US and Iran, although there was no immediate word from the two nations.

It was also unclear in the announcement on Sunday whether the talks would be direct or indirect.





Pakistan is very happy that both Iran and the US have expressed their confidence in Pakistan to facilitate the talks, foreign minister Ishaq Dar said in a televised speech after top diplomats from Turkey, Egypt and Saudi Arabia met in Islamabad.

Pakistan will be honoured to host and facilitate meaningful talks between the two sides in the coming days.

Pakistan later said the diplomats had departed for their home countries. The talks were originally scheduled to continue on Monday.

Pakistans foreign ministry did not answer questions, and Irans mission to the United Nations declined to comment.

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Pakistan has emerged as a mediator, having relatively good ties with both Washington DC and Tehran.

Pakistani officials have said their public effort follows weeks of quiet diplomacy, while providing few details.



American sailors and marines aboard USS Tripoli (LHA 7) (US Central Command via AP)

Meanwhile, Irans parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, dismissed the talks in Pakistan as a cover after some 2,500 US marines trained in amphibious landings arrived in the Middle East.

He said Iranian forces were waiting for the arrival of American troops on the ground to set them on fire and punish their regional partners forever, according to state media.

Iran also threatened to attack homes of US and Israeli commanders and political officials in the region.

A spokesman for the Iranian militarys joint command, Ebrahim Zolfaghari, cited the targeting of residential homes of the Iranian people in various cities and other malicious actions, state media reported.

In Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the military will widen its invasion of Lebanon, expanding the existing security strip in that countrys south while targeting the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group.

No details were released.





The war has threatened global supplies of oil, natural gas and fertiliser and disrupted air travel.

Irans grip on the strategic Strait of Hormuz has shaken markets and prices, and now the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels entry into the war could threaten shipping on another crucial waterway, the Bab el-Mandeb strait to the Red Sea.

We dont know at what moment our homes could be targeted, said Razzak Saghir al-Mousawi, 71, describing relentless airstrikes as Iranians crossing into Iraq urged the US to end the war.

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I am definitely afraid.

More than 3,000 people have been killed in the war that began with US and Israeli strikes on Iran that triggered Iranian attacks on Israel and neighbouring Gulf Arab states.

The war continues on the digital front as well.



Egyptian foreign minister Badr Abdelatty, Saudi Arabias foreign minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud, Pakistans foreign minister Ishaq Dar and Turkish foreign minister Hakan Fidan in Islamabad (AP)

Pakistan said the foreign ministers met in Islamabad without US or Israeli participation, days after the US offered Iran a 15-point action list as a framework for a possible peace deal.

Egypts Badr Abdelatty said the meetings are aimed at opening a direct dialogue between the US and Iran, which have largely communicated through mediators.

Both this war and last years 12-day war began during rounds of indirect talks.

Iranian officials have rejected the US framework and publicly dismissed the idea of negotiating under pressure.

But Press TV, the English-language arm of Irans state broadcaster, reported last week that Tehran had drafted its own five-point proposal that reportedly called for a halt to killing Iranian officials, guarantees against future attacks, reparations and Irans exercise of sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran has eased some restrictions on commercial ships in the strait, agreeing late on Saturday to allow 20 more Pakistani-flagged vessels to pass through.



Carrying her belongings a woman crosses the Shalamcheh border crossing between Iran and Iraq (Leo Correa/AP)

It sends a clear signal that Iran remains open for business with the world, provided the United States abandons coercion, said Asif Durrani, Pakistans former ambassador to Iran.

An adviser to the UAE, Anwar Gargash, called for any settlement to the war to include clear guarantees that Iranian attacks on neighbours will not be repeated.

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Mr Gargash said Irans government has become the main threat to Persian Gulf security and called for compensation for attacks on civilian infrastructure.

Iran on Sunday warned of escalation after Israeli airstrikes hit several universities, including ones that Israel claimed were used for nuclear research and development.

Concerns over Irans nuclear programme are at the heart of tensions.

The paramilitary Revolutionary Guard warned that Iran would consider Israeli universities and branches of US universities in the region legitimate targets unless offered safety assurances for Iranian universities, state media reported.



A member of the Iranian Red Crescent Society at Hypercar, an auto service centre, amid damages which according to the firms officials were caused by strikes in Tehran (Vahid Salemi/AP)

US colleges have campuses in Qatar and the UAE, including Georgetown, New York and Northwestern universities.

If the US government wants its universities in the region spared, it should condemn the bombardment of Iranian universities by midday on Monday, the Guard said in a statement.

The American University of Beirut moved classes online and called it a precautionary measure.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said on Saturday that dozens of universities and research centres have been hit, among them the Iran University of Science and Technology and Isfahan University of Technology.

Both sides in the war have threatened to attack civilian facilities, which critics have warned could be a war crime.

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In Lebanon, officials said more than 1,200 people have been killed.



Displaced people who fled Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon sit inside tents used as shelters as a rainbow breaks through the rain in Beirut (Emilio Morenatti/AP)

There were fears of more deaths after Mr Netanyahu, speaking on a visit to northern Israel, said Israel was determined to fundamentally change the situation in the north.

He said Hezbollah still has residual capability to fire rockets at us.

Late on Sunday, Israels military said that over the past 24 hours its fighter jets had dropped more than 120 munitions in Tehran, targeting sites used for weapons research, development and production.

Israels military said its air force had intercepted two drones launched from Yemen early on Monday morning.

The Iranian-backed Houthi rebels claimed responsibility for launching their first attack in the current war  a missile fired at Israel, which was also intercepted  early on Saturday morning.

And Iranian media reported early on Monday that one of the facilities of Tabriz Petrochemical was struck in a northern province of the country. They said no hazardous materials had been released.

Iranian authorities say more than 1,900 people have been killed in the Islamic Republic, while 19 have been reported dead in Israel.

In Iraq, where Iranian-supported militia groups have entered the conflict, 80 members of the security forces have died.

In Gulf states, 20 people have been killed. Four have been killed in the occupied West Bank.

A young man who moved from Connecticut to Israel last year to join the military was killed during a combat operation in southern Lebanon on Saturday just weeks after he completed training, it emerged.

The Israeli military identified the soldier as Sergeant Moshe Yitzchak Hacohen Katz, 22. He was originally from New Haven, Connecticut, according to family members.
As the war in Iran threatens to imperil US president Donald Trump's legacy, the political stakes also are rising for two of his top lieutenants: vice president JD Vance and secretary of state Marco Rubio.

The pair, widely viewed as potential successors to Trump, have been thrust into still-developing negotiations to end the war at a moment when the Republican Party is already weighing its post-Trump future.

Vance has taken a cautious approach, reflecting his scepticism toward prolonged US military involvement, while Rubio has aligned himself closely with Trumps hawkish stance and emerged as one of the administrations most vocal defenders of the campaign.

Trump has said both men were involved in efforts to force Iran to accept US demands to dismantle its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes and allow oil traffic to pass freely through the Strait of Hormuz.

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JD or Marco?

With the next presidential election due in 2028 and term limits barring Trump from running again, the president has been putting the succession question to allies and advisers in private, asking "JD or Marco?," two people familiar with his views said.

The outcome of the US military operation now in its fifth week could shape the two men's 2028 prospects, political analysts and Republican officials said.

A swift end to the war that favours the US might bolster Rubio, who also serves as Trump's national security adviser and could be seen as a steady hand during a crisis. A prolonged conflict could give Vance space to argue he reflected the anti-war instincts of Trumps base without openly breaking with the president.

Trump's own standing is also at stake. His approval rating fell in recent days to 36 per cent, its lowest point since he returned to the White House, hit by a surge in fuel prices and widespread disapproval of the Iran war, a four-day Reuters/Ipsos poll completed last week found.

Some Republicans say they are watching closely for which senior aide Trump appears to favor as the Iran conflict unfolds. Some see signs of Trump leaning toward Rubio but note he could change his mind quickly.

"Everyone is watching the body language that Trump makes on Rubio and not seeing the same on Vance," a Republican with close ties to the White House said.

The White House rejected the idea that Trump is signalling a preference.

"No amount of crazed media speculation about Vice President Vance and Secretary Rubio will deter this administration's mission of fighting for the American people," spokesman Steven Cheung said.

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From Trump rivals to likely heirs

Vance, 41, a former Marine who served in Iraq, has long argued against US entanglements in foreign wars. His public comments on Iran have been limited and calibrated, and Trump has noted the two have "philosophical differences" on the conflict.

Once a self-described "never-Trumper," Vance wrote an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal in 2023 saying Trump's best foreign policy was not starting any wars during his first four years in office between 2017 and 2021. The White House has downplayed any rift between the president and vice president.

Standing alongside Trump in the Oval Office earlier this month, Vance said he supported Trump's handling of the war and agreed with him that Iran should not obtain a nuclear weapon.

Vance could take on a more direct role in negotiations if Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner make sufficient progress, a person with knowledge of the matter said.

"Vice President Vance is proud to be a part of a highly effective team that, under President Trumps bold leadership, has had incredible success in making America safer, more secure and more prosperous," a Vance spokeswoman said.

Donald Trump frequently askes his aides "JD or Marco?". Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

A senior White House official, who like others in this story was granted anonymity to speak freely about a sensitive topic, said Trump tolerates ideological differences as long as aides remain loyal, adding that Vance's sceptical views have helped inform Trump about where part of his voter base stands.

A person familiar with Vance's views told Reuters the vice president will wait until after the November midterm elections before deciding on whether to run in 2028. Vance won the straw poll at the Conservative Political Action Conference's annual gathering, with about 53 per cent of the more than 1,600 attendees who voted favouring him as the next Republican nominee.

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The results released on Saturday also showed Rubio gaining ground, finishing second at 35 per cent, up from just 3 per cent last year.

Rubio, 54, has said he will not run for president if Vance does, and sources familiar with Rubio's views say he would be content as Vance's running mate.

But any perceived vulnerability for Vance could encourage Rubio and other Republicans eyeing bids.

"Trump has a long memory," said Republican strategist Ron Bonjean. "And he may call out Vance for his lack of allegiance. And if Trump remains popular with the MAGA base, that could hurt him by not getting the endorsement of the president."

Trump has floated the idea of Vance and Rubio running together, suggesting they would be hard to beat.

Trump doesn't want to anoint anyone.

"Trump doesnt want to anoint anyone," the senior White House official said.

A March Reuters/Ipsos poll found that 79 per cent of Republicans have a favourable view of Vance, while 19 per cent viewed him negatively. Some 71 per cent had a positive view of Rubio, while 15 per cent viewed him unfavourably.

In comparison, 79 per cent of Republicans viewed Trump favorably and 20 per cent unfavourably.

Rubio, whose 2016 presidential aspirations were snuffed out after a bitter confrontation with Trump, has long since set aside any frictions with the president.

State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said Rubio "has a great relationship, both professionally and personally" with Trump's team. Rubio and the White House were forced into damage control after he angered some of Trump's conservative backers when he suggested that Israel pushed the United States into the war. But in the weeks since, Trump has praised Rubio's efforts.

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Asked whether Rubio was concerned that a protracted war might damage his political future, a senior State Department official said: "He has not spent a second thinking about this.

Differences on display

Matt Schlapp, a conservative leader who runs CPAC, said the Iran campaign will have big political consequences.

"If it is seen as successful at getting the job done...I think people will be politically rewarded for doing the right thing," Schlapp said. "If it goes on and on and on... I think the politics are tough."

Republicans remain broadly supportive of the US military strikes against Iran, with 75 per cent approving compared to just 6 per cent of Democrats and 24 per cent of independents, Reuters/Ipsos polling showed.

World One month into Iran war, only hard choices for Trump Read more

At a televised Cabinet meeting on Thursday, the contrast between Rubio and Vance was on display.

Rubio gave a full-throated defence of Trump's attack on Iran. "He's not going to leave a danger like this in place," the secretary of state said.

Vance was more measured, focusing on options for depriving Iran of a nuclear weapon. He closed by wishing Christians and US troops in the Gulf a blessed Holy Week and Easter.

"We continue to stand behind you," he said to servicemembers, "and continue to support you every step of the way".
Sex Education star Aimee Lou Wood has said playing photographer Pattie Boyd in a Beatles biopic feels quite intimidating.

The actress, also known for playing Chelsea in the third series of The White Lotus, will portray George Harrisons former wife in the upcoming films from Sir Sam Mendes, about the lives and careers of the Fab Four.

Filming has already begun with Wood yet to have her anticipated first proper day on set.

Aimee Lou Wood will star as Pattie Boyd (James Manning/PA)

Speaking about taking on the role, Wood told The Standard: With this one, everyone knows these people so its very different, and its quite intimidating.

Ive gone and done my fittings with my blonde hair and my blue eyes. Im really stepping into a different person.

We look like them so its kind of trippy.

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The 32-year old admitted the preparation for the role will be different from how she usually takes on characters and will require a level of discipline.

She added: I can sometimes be like, lets just see how it goes, and throw paint at the wall and see, which is great for certain things, but I actually cant do that with Pattie.

I am going to have to really prep, and I am going to have to really be detailed about that, because she is someone who is so recognisable, and obviously not do an impression.

Aimee Lou Wood appeared in The White Lotus (Yui Mok/PA)

I have to be specific whilst also being free, so I think thats a good muscle to flex, but it scares me.

The Beatles  A Four-Film Cinematic Event stars Normal People actor Paul Mescal as Sir Paul McCartney, fellow Irish actor Barry Keoghan as drummer Ringo Starr, Babygirl actor Harris Dickinson as John Lennon, with Woods onscreen husband, Harrison, played by Stranger Things star Joseph Quinn.

The four films are due to be released in April 2028, with Wood joined by Lady Bird actress Saoirse Ronan, The Lady star Mia McKenna-Bruce and Shogun actress Anna Sawai playing pivotal women in the story of the Beatles  Boyd, Linda McCartney, Maureen Starkey and Yoko Ono respectively.

Alongside playing Boyd, Wood will also portray Jane Eyre in a new television adaptation of the Charlotte Bronte novel  a role which she thinks will feel more like home to her.

Harris Dickinson as John Lennon, Paul Mescal as Paul McCartney, Barry Keoghan as Ringo Starr and Joseph Quinn as George Harrison (John Russo/Sony Pictures/PA)

Despite this, she is careful to make sure she continues to push herself out of her comfort zone especially this early on in her career.

She added: I can understand why people do that, I can understand why because the more eyes that are on you, the more scared you are to fail.

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So I can see why people go, let me just do what I know I can do, but thats then the death of your own creativity.

Entertainment Beverley Callard says Im A Celebrity helped with her low self-esteem Read more

Wood is also known for playing the loyal and bubbly Aimee Gibbs in the hit Netflix series Sex Education  a role which won her a Bafta TV award in 2021 for best female performance in a comedy.

She recently received two nominations for the upcoming 2026 Bafta TV awards including in the supporting actress category for her role in Sky Atlantics The White Lotus.

Wood was also nominated for best lead actress for her role in the BBC comedy series Film Club, which she also co-created.
Rege-Jean Page has said it was strange and very intense to navigate stardom after starring in Bridgerton.

The 38-year-old actor shot to fame with his role as the Duke of Hastings in Netflixs raunchy period drama and left the show after its globally successful first series.

Speaking to Esquire UK, Page told how he has navigated life in the spotlight since starring in the Regency romance.

Page has said fame is not normal (Esquire UK/Christianah Ebenezer)

He said: It is strange, its not normal.

How I navigate it is very much about what is useful, what serves me in my job, in being able to deliver what I need to deliver to an audience, and a lot of that is just grounding.

It does get quite loud on the inside, like it was very, very intense, that combination of conversation, and I think I worked quite consciously to be able to navigate that environment with some normalcy for myself.

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Since appearing in Bridgerton he has focused on his film career, starring in Netflixs big-budget spy film The Gray Man (2022) alongside Ryan Gosling and Chris Evans.

Page has also launched a production company  A Mighty Stranger  and speaking about taking creative control in his work, he said: I think theres an illusion of how passive an actors role needs to be.

We know all the writers on Beyonce or Taylors albums, but we also expect that that is their product that they crafted for us in an artistic manner.

Its a fairly natural thing for most people to have authorship, some degree of authorship, over the stories theyre telling.

Page has opened up about taking creative control as a producer (Esquire UK/Christianah Ebenezer)

Page also discussed his upcoming romance film You, Me And Tuscany, which will see him star alongside Halle Bailey.

The actor, who is of Zimbabwean descent, said: I think its important to normalise your own existence.

To normalise seeing two black leads in a film that is about a universal experience of escaping to find true love in Italy.

He added that the film, directed by Kat Coiro, is a very fun and frivolous ride with some integrity.

The full interview with Rege-Jean Page is available in Esquire UK.
A man has appeared before a court charged with the murder of former Sinn Fein official Denis Donaldson.

Mr Donaldson was shot dead in Co Donegal in April 2006, months after admitting his role as a police and MI5 agent for over 20 years.

Antoin Duffy, aged in his 40s, of no fixed abode, appeared before the non-jury Special Criminal Court on Monday afternoon charged with the murder of Mr Donaldson at Cloghercor, Doochary, between April 3rd and 4th in 2006.

He was also charged with the possession of a shotgun and ammunition.

He was arrested earlier in the day following his extradition from Scotland on foot of a European Arrest Warrant.

Detective Garda Adrian Ahern told the court that he arrested Duffy at Casement Aerodrome in Baldonnel on Monday afternoon.

He said he later met Duffy at the Criminal Courts of Justice in Dublin, handed him a copy of the charge sheet, and showed him an original copy of the charge sheet.

Ireland Boy in suspected murder-suicide case in Dublin died from asphyxiation, inquest hears Read more

He was also charged with the attempted murder of another man in November 2007 in Co Donegal, and with possession of a shotgun and ammunition on the date and location in question.

Appearing before judges James Faughnan, Patrick McGrath, and Sarah Berkeley, he was remanded in custody before the next court appearance on April 13th where he is to appear in person.

He was also granted legal aid by the court.
A Roscommon man living legally in the United States has recounted his terrifying ordeal at the hands of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.

Speaking to the Roscommon Herald from his home in Minnesota, Jonathan Cunniffe has recalled his chilling story of being stopped at gunpoint and detained by ICE agents last month.

He explained that he has been fully legal since moving to the US about three and a half years ago. He has all the required paperwork, including a green card, a work visa and social security card.

Jonathan, who is a licensed medical massage therapist, also made it clear that he doesnt have a criminal record or even a speeding ticket.

On the morning of February 19th, he was driving to his workplace in Cambridge, Minnesota, located approximately 45 minutes from his rural home where he lives with his wife LaShae.

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When he stopped at a filling station to fill up his car, he firmly believes that ICE agents in plain clothes overheard his Irish accent when he went to pay at the register. Before he knew it, he was being followed by an unmarked SUV.

They followed me for about 25 minutes and took every turn that I took and were right behind me.

They took my documents, which are all legitimate and looked them over. And they were saying Oh, they arent real, they arent real.

e claims he was dragged from his car, assaulted and then bundled into the back of the ICE SUV before being taken to a building in Minneapolis where he remained handcuffed in a room for six hours.

Jonathan claimed he was assaulted again and subjected to physical aggression and intimidation, despite repeatedly telling ICE agents that he was in the US legally.

I didnt think I was going to make it out of that room if Im being honest with you.

They were questioning me about when I came over here. They were bringing up images of me and my wifes social media. I was completely terrified,

Jonathan believes that he was eventually released from detention after constantly repeating the assertion that his wife had contacted the Irish Embassy. Feeling battered and bruised and very disoriented, he eventually managed to find his way back home.

What made matters worse for him was that he lost his job the next day for missing work despite explaining to his company what had happened to him. We think that theyre just scared of the ICE situation.

I barely sleep anymore. My wife has a panic attack every single time I have to step foot out of our door.
A man who smirked at a woman after raping her on three different times while she slept was jailed for 10 years.

William Kavanagh, (58), Wolfe Tone Street, Kilmallock, Co Limerick was convicted of three counts of raping the woman, following a retrial at the Central Criminal Court, sitting in Limerick.

Kavanagh had previous convictions for breach of a safety order, harassment and criminal damage.

Judge Sean Gillane, with the consent of the victim, agreed to lift reporting restrictions, allowing Kavanagh to be identified publicly.

Kavanagh was previously arrested and charged with 20 counts of indecent assault and five counts of raping the woman.

He contested these charges at trial and was acquitted by a jury of all of the indecent assaults; the jury could not agree on a verdict on the rape charges.

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Another jury found Kavanagh guilty of the three rape charges by a majority decision (of 10 to two) following a retrial earlier this month.

The prosecution was led by senior counsel, Alice Fawsitt SC, with Lily Buckley BL, assisted by Detective Garda David Gee, Bruff Garda Station.

Outline the facts, Det Garda Gee said the victim was prescribed antidepressants, with a side effect being sedation, causing a person to sleep heavier than normal.

On three separate occasions, having gone to bed and having taken her medication, she awoke to find the accuseds penis penetrating her vagina, said Det Garda Gee.

Prosecuting counsel Alice Fawsitt, said the victim told Kavanaghs trial that after raping her a second time he had a smirk on his face.

She said (Kavanagh) told her that her medication was dangerous, he couldn't wake her and he could have done anything to her, said Fawsitt.

'Smirking, exploiting, belittling'

Gillane said he agreed with the Director of Public Prosecutions that Kavanaghs smirking was his way of exploiting and belittling the victim.

The judge said Kavanaghs rape, as well as his comments to her later, had made the victim physically sick and disgusted.

The victim said that after the rapes she did not care if she lived or died.

Death would have been easier, the woman said, reading a victim impact statement.

He raped me while I was already in a vulnerable state. To this day, I struggle to be alone as I get intrusive thoughts bringing me back and reliving the rapes, said the woman.

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I still have nightmares of the incidents, she added.

Kavanagh was found guilty of raping the woman on occasions when she was prescribed sedative medicine, which Judge Gillane said was an aggravating factor in Kavanaghs exploitation of the occasions on which she was taking medication, and this added to his level of culpability.

Judge Gilllane said this had a particularly egregious consequence for the victim, in that she became reluctant to take her prescribed medication due to Kavanagh interfering with her in her sleep.

Vulnerable situation

The judge said the impact on the woman spoke for itself and that she had been in an extremely vulnerable situation at the time of the rapes.

Judge Gillane described Kavanaghs previous evictions as disturbing.

Kavanagh, was represented by senior defence counsel Brian McInerney, with Liam Carroll BL, instructed by solicitor John Lynch.

McInerney told the court Kavanagh continues to deny the tapes and that Kavanagh did not accept the jurys decision in his retrial.

I have the clearest instructions that while he acknowledges the jury returned majority verdicts of guilty, he does not accept these verdicts and continues to assert his innocence, said McInerney.

Judge Gillane said he was satisfied that an 11-year headline sentence was appropriate.

After taking into consideration Kavanaghs long work history and that he is not a young man, soon to turn 59, the judge reduced Kavanaghs prison sentence to 10 years.

Kavanaghs name was added to a national list of registered sex offenders.

Kavanagh did not show any emotion after the sentence was imposed.

If you have been affected by this story please contact the 24 Hour Rape Crisis Helpline on 1800 778888 or the Garda Confidential Line on 1800666111.
Tripoli, Libya (PANA) - A meeting has been held at Libyan Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation in Tripoli to review logistical and technical arrangements for the success of Fourth Africa-Turkey Summit, a major continental and regional event, to be hosted by Libya
All Irish peacekeepers in Lebanon are safe and accounted for, the Minister for Defence has said.

Three Indonesian peacekeepers have been killed in the south of the country in recent days.

It came amid rising tensions in the region after Israel and the US began bombing Iran more than four weeks ago, which has threatened global supplies of oil and disrupted air travel.

The Irish Defence Forces can confirm that all Irish personnel are well and accounted for. We wish to extend our sympathies to the families of the peacekeepers who lost their lives in the service of peace. Our thoughts are also with those injured in the attack.



Oglaigh na pic.twitter.com/io0mcF2AEj  Oglaigh na hEireann (@defenceforces) March 30, 2026

Israel has launched a ground invasion of Lebanon while targeting the Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah.

On Sunday, the Indonesian peacekeepers were attacked when a projectile exploded near a village in south Lebanon.

Helen McEntee strongly condemned attacks on Indonesian personnel with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil) in a statement on Monday evening.

These incidents represent a deeply concerning further escalation and have resulted in the deaths of three peacekeepers and serious injuries to others, she said.

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My thoughts are with their families, friends and colleagues, and I wish those injured a full and speedy recovery.

Those serving under the UN flag do so in pursuit of peace and stability.

These incidents are an attack on the very principles of peace, cooperation and international solidarity.

I am in daily contact with the Chief of Staff of the Defence Forces, and all Irish personnel serving with Unifil are safe and fully accounted for.

Earlier, Taoiseach Micheal Martin condemned the escalation of violence.

The role of the peacekeeper must be respected and honoured at all times.

Both Israel and Hezbollah must do everything in their power to keep peacekeepers from harm.

I have been briefed by our Defence Forces and all Irish personnel serving in Lebanon continue to be well and accounted for.

There are more than 360 Irish peacekeepers on a six-month deployment to a Unifil base in southern Lebanon.

The United States and Israel wanted to have UN troops removed from the area in 2026 but an extension to 2027 was agreed after negotiations.

Ireland will have taken part in peacekeeping in Lebanon for almost 50 years by the end of 2027.
Spain said it has closed its airspace to US planes involved in the Iran war, another step by Europes loudest critic of US and Israeli military actions in the month-long conflict.

The country earlier said the US could not use jointly operated military bases in the war that Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has described as illegal, reckless and unjust.

Defence minister Margarita Robles said the same logic applied to the use of Spanish airspace.

Neither the bases are authorised, nor, of course, is the use of Spanish airspace authorised for any actions related to the war in Iran Margarita Robles, Spanish defence minister

This was made perfectly clear to the American military and forces from the very beginning. Therefore, neither the bases are authorised, nor, of course, is the use of Spanish airspace authorised for any actions related to the war in Iran, Ms Robles told reporters, describing the war in Iran as profoundly illegal and profoundly unjust.

Mr Sanchez has called on the US, Israel and Iran to end the war, saying earlier this month: You cannot respond to one illegality with another, because thats how humanitys great disasters begin.

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US secretary of state Marco Rubio said that Spains leaders are bragging about cutting off its airspace, even as Washington has pledged to defend the Nato member.

He said that the transatlantic military alliance is useful for the US, because it allows us to station troops and aircraft and weapons in parts of the world that we wouldnt normally have bases, and that includes in much of Europe.

But if Nato is just about us defending Europe if theyre attacked, but then denying us basing rights when we need them, thats not a very good arrangement, Mr Rubio told Al Jazeera on Monday.

Thats a hard one to stay engaged in and say this is good for the United States. So all of that is going to have to be re-examined.

After Mr Sanchezs government denied the US use of the Rota and Moron military bases in southern Spain, US President Donald Trump threatened to cut trade with Madrid.

The US made trade threats last year, too, when Mr Sanchez said his government would not increase its defence spending in accordance with a deal agreed to by other Nato members following Mr Trumps pressure.



Spains Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has been one of the most vocal critics of the war (Omar Havana/AP)

At the time, Mr Sanchezs government said Spain could meet its military commitments by spending 2.1% of gross domestic product on defence, instead of the 5% the rest of the 32-nation military alliance agreed upon.

Mr Sanchez has also been among the most vocal critics of Israels actions in the war in Gaza, which has invited criticism from Israels government on several occasions.

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Spains new decision against a Nato ally is rare, though not unprecedented.

Nato did not comment, referring questions to national authorities.

In an incident that strained transatlantic ties, France and Italy blocked the US military from using their airspace for an operation targeting Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in 1986.

In 2003, Turkey refused to allow US troops to use its territory to invade Iraq, though it did allow overflights.

France and Germany firmly opposed that war but allowed US and British fighter jets to fly over their airspace.

Frances then-foreign minister Dominique de Villepin  despite a famed UN speech against the Bush administrations plans to invade  told the French parliament at the time that there are practices between allies that exist that we must respect, including overflight rights.
Donald Trump has openly considered seizing Irans Kharg Island oil terminal in the Persian Gulf amid continued attacks by the United States and Israel on the Islamic Republic  even as signs of progress emerged in ceasefire talks.

Tehran, meanwhile, struck a key water and electrical plant in Kuwait as part of its ongoing campaign targeting the Gulf Arab states, as well as an oil refinery in northern Israel.





As a diplomatic effort being facilitated by Pakistan towards ending the war continues, US president Mr Trump said Iran had agreed to allow 20 oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz starting on Monday as a sign of respect.

At the same time, with 2,500 US marines now in the region and a similar sized contingent on its way, Mr Trump raised the idea of taking Irans Kharg Island.

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Maybe we take Kharg Island, maybe we dont, he told the Financial Times in an interview published early on Monday. We have a lot of options.





REPORTER: You had offered a 15-point plan to Iran. Did they ever come back and give a response?@POTUS: "Yeah... They gave us most of the points  why wouldn't they?... and just to prove that they're serious, they gave us all of these [oil] boats." pic.twitter.com/fGRhahm5Mm  Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) March 30, 2026

Sirens sounded at dawn near Israels main nuclear research centre, a part of the country that has been targeted repeatedly in recent days.

Israels military also said it had taken out two drones launched from Yemen, where the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels entered the war on Saturday with its first missile attack.

Later, a fire broke out at an oil refinery in the northern city of Haifa, one of only two in Israel, either from a missile strike or from debris falling from an interception. The blaze was quickly extinguished.

Iran kept up the pressure on its Gulf Arab neighbours, as Saudi Arabia intercepted five missiles targeting its oil-rich Eastern Province. Bahrain sounded a missile alert, and a fireball erupted over Dubai as an incoming missile was taken out by defences.

In Kuwait, an Iranian attack hit a power and desalination plant, killing one worker and injuring 10 soldiers, the state-run KUNA news agency reported.



The war has displaced many people in Lebanon (AP)

Desalination plants remain crucial to water supplies in the Gulf Arab states, and an Iranian attack previously damaged a desalination plant in Bahrain during the war.

The facilities are typically paired with power plants, because of the large amount of energy required to remove salt from the water to make it drinkable.

Israels military launched a new wave of attacks on Iran, saying it was striking military infrastructure across Tehran.





I am pleased to share a great news that the Government of Iran has agreed to allow 20 more ships under the Pakistani flag to pass through the Strait of Hormuz; two ships will cross the Strait daily.



This is a welcome and constructive gesture by Iran and deserves appreciation. It  Ishaq Dar (@MIshaqDar50) March 28, 2026

Iranian media also reported that one of the facilities of Tabriz Petrochemical was struck in a northern province of the country. They said no hazardous materials had been released.

In Lebanon, which Israel has invaded on the ground, an Indonesian peacekeeper was killed and three others wounded when a projectile exploded near a village in the south.

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Over the weekend, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the military will widen its invasion, expanding the existing security strip in the south as it targets the Iran-linked Hezbollah militia.

Meanwhile, Spain has closed its airspace to US planes involved in the Iran war, defence minister Margarita Robles said on Monday.

Spain had already said the US could not use jointly operated military bases in the country for operations related to the conflict.

Spains government under Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has been Europes most critical voice of US and Israeli military actions in the Middle East.

Irans attacks on the energy infrastructure of the region and its stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the worlds oil is shipped in peacetime, has sent oil prices skyrocketing and given rise to growing concerns about a global energy crisis.



Iranian missiles struck in Beersheba, southern Israel (AP)

As pressure has grown on Mr Trump to bring an end to the conflict, the US has presented Iran with a 15-point plan that includes it agreeing to open the Strait of Hormuz to shipping. Iran, meanwhile, has produced a five-point plan with its own terms, including maintaining its sovereignty over the key waterway.

Pakistan announced on Sunday that it would soon host talks between the US and Iran, though there was no immediate word from Washington or Tehran, and it was unclear whether discussions on the monthlong war would be direct or indirect.

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The Pakistani foreign minister Ishaq Dar the talks would be held in the coming days.

Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One late Sunday that the US was negotiating directly and indirectly with Iran, though Iran has insisted that it has not been in any talks with Washington.





.@POTUS on Iran: We destroyed many targets today, and we're negotiating with them directly and indirectly. They gave us 20 big boats of oil going through the Hormuz Strait, and thats taking place starting tomorrow morning, over the next couple of days. pic.twitter.com/EC3EVUExAr  Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) March 30, 2026

Were doing extremely well in that negotiation but you never know with Iran because we negotiate with them and then we always have to blow them up, Mr Trump said.

Earlier, Irans parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, dismissed the talks in Pakistan as a cover after more US troops to get to the area. He said Iranian forces were waiting for the arrival of American troops on the ground to set them on fire and punish their regional partners forever, according to state media.

In the interview with the Financial Times, Trump suggested it could mean a longer-term commitment if the US decided to try and take Kharg Island, saying it would mean we had to be there for a while.

I dont think they have any defence, he added. We could take it very easily.
US President Donald Trump threatened widespread destruction of Irans energy resources and other vital infrastructure if a deal to end the war with Tehran is not reached soon.

In a social media post, Mr Trump said great progress is being made in talks with Iran to end military operations.





But the US president bristled that if a deal is not reached and if the Hormuz Strait is not immediately reopened, the US would broaden its offensive by completely obliterating all of their Electric Generating Plants, Oil Wells and Kharg Island (and possibly all desalinization plants!).

On the ground, the war showed no sign of letting up as Tehran struck a key water and electrical plant in Kuwait, and an oil refinery in Israel came under attack.

Israel and the US launched a new wave of strikes on Iran.

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Mr Trumps social media post and earlier comments in an interview with the Financial Times (FT) that suggested American troops could seize the countrys Kharg Island export hub highlight how he has repeatedly said that talks with Iran are ongoing  and even going well  though Tehran denies negotiating directly.





The United States of America is in serious discussions with A NEW, AND MORE REASONABLE, REGIME to end our Military Operations in Iran. - President Donald J. Trump  pic.twitter.com/0MWL2hSNmK  The White House (@WhiteHouse) March 30, 2026

But at the same time, he has continually ramped up his threats, as thousands more Marines and other US troops pour into the Middle East.

It remains unclear where the diplomatic effort facilitated by Pakistan stands.

Irans attacks on its Gulf neighbours could add another element of uncertainty to any talks.

The United Arab Emirates, which has long billed itself as a beacon of safety and stability in a volatile region, has been hard hit in the war and increasingly is signalling that it wants Iran disarmed in any ceasefire, a term Irans theocracy is unlikely to accept.

Were doing extremely well in that negotiation but you never know with Iran because we negotiate with them and then we always have to blow them up. US President Donald Trump

In the interview with the FT, Mr Trump said his preference would be to take the oil in Iran  a move that would require seizing Kharg Island, the terminal through which nearly all of Irans oil exports pass.

Maybe we take Kharg Island, maybe we dont, he continued. We have a lot of options.

Also in the interview, Mr Trump said that the US had about 3,000 targets that it would still like to hit in Iran, but added: A deal could be made fairly quickly.

He told reporters aboard Air Force One that the US was negotiating directly and indirectly with Iran.

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Were doing extremely well in that negotiation but you never know with Iran because we negotiate with them and then we always have to blow them up, Mr Trump said.



(PA Graphics)

Twice during Mr Trumps second term, the US has attacked Iran while in the middle of negotiations, once with the strikes on February 28 that started the current war and also in June 2025.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei acknowledged that Tehran had been given a 15-point proposal from the Trump administration, but said there had been no direct negotiations with Washington so far.

Earlier, Irans parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, dismissed the talks in Pakistan as a cover to get more US troops into the area.

He said Iranian forces were waiting for the arrival of American troops on the ground to set them on fire and punish their regional partners forever, according to state media.

The US has already launched airstrikes once that targeted military positions on Kharg.



Portraits of Hezbollahs late leaders Hassan Nasrallah, right, and his cousin, Hashem Safieddine, are seen, as smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike in Lebanon (Hassan Ammar/AP)

Iran has threatened to launch its own ground invasion of Gulf Arab countries and mine the Persian Gulf if US troops land on its territory.

To get an amphibious invasion force to Kharg would mean transiting the Strait of Hormuz and most of the Persian Gulf.

Experts say that holding the island would also be a challenge, because in addition to its missiles and drones, it would be well within artillery range from the Iranian mainland.

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Meanwhile, sirens sounded at dawn near Israels main nuclear research centre, a part of the country that has been targeted repeatedly in recent days.

Israels military also said it had taken out two drones launched from Yemen, where the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels entered the war on Saturday with their first missile attack.

Later, a fire broke out at an oil refinery in the northern city of Haifa, one of only two in Israel, either from a missile strike or from debris falling from an interception. The blaze was quickly extinguished.



Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike in Lebanon (Bilal Hussein/AP)

Iran kept up the pressure on its Gulf Arab neighbours, as Saudi Arabia intercepted five missiles targeting its oil-rich Eastern province, Bahrain sounded a missile alert and a fireball erupted over Dubai as an incoming missile was taken out by defences.

In Kuwait, an Iranian attack hit a power and desalination plant, killing one worker and injuring 10 soldiers, the state-run KUNA news agency reported.

Desalination plants are crucial to water supplies in the Gulf Arab states and an Iranian attack previously damaged a desalination plant in Bahrain. The facilities are typically paired with power plants because of the large amount of energy required to remove salt from the water to make it drinkable.

Israels military launched a new wave of attacks on Iran, saying it was striking military infrastructure across Tehran, and explosions were heard in the Iranian capital.



(PA Graphics)

Iranian state media reported a petrochemicals plant in Tabriz, in the north, sustained damage after an airstrike and firefighters had to put out a blaze.

Iran confirmed that the head of the Revolutionary Guards navy, Rear Admiral Alireza Tangsiri, had been killed in an Israeli airstrike, as Israel claimed last week.

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In Lebanon, which Israel has invaded by ground, an Indonesian peacekeeper was killed and three others were wounded when a projectile exploded near a village in the south.

Over the weekend, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the military will widen its invasion, expanding the existing security strip in that countrys south as it targets the Iran-linked Hezbollah militant group.

In Iran, authorities say more than 1,900 people have been killed, while 19 have been reported dead in Israel.



Irans stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz has sent oil prices skyrocketing (Leo Correa/AP)

Two dozen people have been killed in Gulf states and the occupied West Bank.

In Lebanon, officials said more than 1,200 people have been killed, and more than 1 million have been displaced.

Six Israeli soldiers have died in Lebanon, while 13 US service members have been killed in the war.

Irans attacks on the energy infrastructure of the region and its stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the worlds oil is shipped in peacetime, have sent oil prices skyrocketing and given rise to growing concerns about a global energy crisis.

In early trading, the spot price of Brent crude oil, the international standard, was around 115 US dollars (87), up nearly 60% from when the US and Israel started the war with attacks on Iran on February 28.

As pressure has grown on Mr Trump to bring an end to the conflict, the US has presented Iran with a 15-point plan that includes it agreeing to open the Strait of Hormuz to shipping.

Iran, meanwhile, has produced a five-point plan with its own terms, including maintaining its sovereignty over the key waterway.
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Exclusive BusinessCompaniesFast fashion Made by Shein: The ultra-fast fashion giant is pitching itself to Aussie clothing labels Jessica Yun March 30, 2026  11:00pm Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add more. Share A A A

Its a deal that ambitious fashion labels hoping to crack the global market can only dream of: access to half a billion customers across 160 countries; clothes made essentially to order; and relinquishing the burden of back-end operations and logistics to a sophisticated global operator that has spent 14 years perfecting its artificial intelligence-powered business model. This is the pitch that ultra-fast fashion giant Shein is making to Australian fashion labels in the hope that they will be recruited as applicants to its Xcelerator program, which acts like a global launching pad. Were looking for digitally savvy brands in Australia who provide different value, complementary value, to the Shein offering, said Shein senior director Cui He. I believe there are lots of them. So wed really love to have conversations with them. A pop-up space, Cafe Shein, at an event in Parramatta Town Hall, Sydney, in May 2025. Louie Douvis Shein describes the Xcelerator program, first launched as a pilot in Britain in 2023, as a global brand partnership platform that serves as a springboard for emerging or established brands to scale rapidly by plugging in to Sheins vast supply chain network of on-demand garment manufacturers, global logistics, fulfilment and distribution, and its ecommerce platform.

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Since rolling out across the US, the Philippines and France, Xcelerator now has 20 brands in its program. Most notable is UK label Missguided, relaunched through Xcelerator in 2023. Others include Dancing Leopard, Cosmina, Athiral, Jian Lasala, Arc by Sigmas, and Sumwon Studios. It has undoubtedly helped them achieve international scale: together, revenue from participants has exceeded $US400 million, though a solid chunk of this has been contributed by Missguided. The idea is simple: the brand designs the clothes, receives and tests samples, and retains control over the labels intellectual property and creative direction. In turn, Shein offers its supply chain as a service to its industry peers, converting competitors into partners, and opening up new revenue streams in the process. The brand will develop the product, present the brand, they will set the pricing, said He. We would run anything sort of backstage  sampling, manufacturing and also our ecommerce platform management. If youre a swimwear or menswear brand in particular, Shein would like to see you apply.

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Were looking for brands who already have their own identity. They know who their customer is. They have a very strong brand identity, visual identity, also capabilities to develop commercial product, said He, who leads the Xcelerator program. Ecommerce understanding is very important. In Australia, the Singapore-headquartered clothing juggernaut  along with competitor Temu  is eating up a growing share of our wallets. About 2.9 million Australians spent nearly $2 billion at Shein last year, according to the latest Roy Morgan data. Through Xcelerator, Shein is asking Australian brands to join the same platform that has led to its own global success, which often came at the expense of smaller players. The big, looming question is: would many Australian labels want to be part of this? Brand association is one of the most powerful and fragile assets a fashion business owns, said fashion consultant Elizabeth Formosa. Partnering with Shein means your brand sits inside an ecosystem that has faced ongoing scrutiny around labour practices, intellectual property and environmental impact. Thats a reputational equation, not just an ethical one.

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Tara Skene-Haygarth, director of the Shein-owned Aralina brand, at the Cafe Shein pop-up last year. Louie Douvis The mechanics of the Shein machine Founded in 2008 by Chinese-American entrepreneur Chris Xu, the entity now known as Shein was then called ZZKKO and focused on search engine optimisation and the sale of wedding dresses. In 2011, it operated largely as a drop-shipping company for womens clothing, footwear and accessories, expanding across international markets like Europe and Russia. In 2015, it adopted the name Shein, which it said was easier for customers to remember. The online shopping boom during COVID lockdowns turbocharged its growth in the 2020s, pushing up Sheins valuation from $US30 billion to $US50 billion. But geopolitics has shifted Sheins playing field: US President Donald Trumps executive order to remove the de minimis loophole subjected small packages to steep tariffs that forced Shein to jack up the price of its products. To diversify, Shein has decided to shift its focus to less hostile regulatory environments, such as France, Germany, Brazil and Australia.

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Australia is a very highly developed ecommerce market with lots of digitally native ecommerce brands, said He. Its our top target market. We believe there [are] huge opportunities. Related Article Exclusive

Modern slavery Is your new car or TV fuelled by forced labour? The $100b trade risk But Sheins greatest challenge is to shake off its reputation for fuelling overconsumption by producing poor-quality clothing to the masses. A 2025 Greenpeace study of 56 items found 18 items exceeded the European Unions acceptable limit of hazardous chemicals. It has been repeatedly dogged by accusations of slave labour in its supply chain that Shein has tried to rectify by publishing a sustainability report and auditing suppliers more aggressively. Common customer complaints include thin fabrics that tear after one wash; inconsistent sizing due to the thousands of suppliers it uses; and loose buttons or sequins that can become a choking hazard. Shein director He acknowledged quality as one of the companys biggest challenges and said addressing it was a top priority for leadership executives.

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There [are] different opinions, but actually there [are] a lot of people, a lot of loyal customers, [who] come back to Shein because of the quality and the value for money, she said. I think there is more we need to do in terms of communication and local engagement to debunk this misunderstanding about Shein being not on the quality side. Moving to the more premium end of the market is one way Shein is trying to shore up its legitimacy. While it has been predominantly known for $9 tees, you can now find boutique-style labels flogging higher-end items for $80, said He, made with better quality materials, design and detailing. But it is a widely held sentiment among Australian brands that they have felt pressured by global disruptors such as Shein and its associated race to the bottom on price, said Formosa. For those brands, partnering with Shein may feel like a significant compromise, not just strategically, but in terms of what their brand represents.

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Shein also says its on-demand business model does the opposite of adding to landfill: it makes batches of 100 or 200 items of clothing at any given time and only makes more if there is demand for it. The nations leading advocacy body for the fashion industry is sceptical. Sheins business model creates a fundamentally uneven playing field for Australian brands and designers, said Australian Fashion Council executive chair Marianne Perkovic. Related Article Exclusive

Online shopping Inside Shein, the fast-fashion giant extolling the future of retail Australia is already the worlds biggest fashion consumer per capita, with over 200,000 tonnes of clothing going to landfill each year, and Sheins model is built on accelerating exactly that cycle. Despite Sheins claim that brands retain control of their intellectual property, Shein has amassed a string of legal disputes in several countries over the years, including Australia, often settled confidentially. Online-only fashion site The Iconic sued Shein over trademark infringement that was eventually and quietly settled.

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An exit strategy should also be carefully scrutinised, said Perkovic, who warned long-term arrangements can be difficult to unwind. The terms around exclusivity, pricing control, customer data and brand assets deserve as much attention as the revenue projections, she said. The Business Briefing newsletter delivers major stories, exclusive coverage and expert opinion. Sign up to get it every weekday morning.
West Wits Mining has taken aim at one of the markets favourite risk topics  fuel supply  unveiling a multi-layered diesel security plan to keep its Qala Shallows underground gold operation in South Africa running smoothly while the site waits for a grid power connection.

The company says it has secured access to an estimated 163,000 litres of diesel across its on-site storage and supply arrangements  enough to cover up to 4 months of planned mining and development under current consumption profiles.

West Wits Minings diesel-powered mobile machinery at its Qala Shallows gold project, where the company is bolstering fuel security ahead of a planned grid power connection.

West Wits has historically maintained up to 40,000 litres on site, which it says provides around three to four weeks of operational cover. To beef up that capacity, the company is currently moving a 23,000-litre mobile storage unit to site, with installation expected to be completed in April 2026.

Upon commissioning, total on-site storage capacity is expected to increase to 63,000 litres  more than a month of diesel supply. West Wits has also lined up access to a further 100,000 litres via an alternative supplier network, with the first 23,000-litre delivery timed to coincide with the new mobile site storage coming online.
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Exclusive BusinessConsumer affairsPetrol prices Some Uber trips now cost 40 per cent more than others. These are the hardest-hit areas Elias Visontay Updated March 30, 2026  7:23pm ,first published 4:25pm Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add more. Share A A A

Uber trips from CBDs and wealthy pockets of Sydney and Melbourne now cost as much as 39 per cent more than journeys of identical distance and duration booked in outer suburbs, under a new pricing model that disproportionately lifts prices in well-off areas. Last Monday, the $218 billion company overhauled its fee structure so that it could pay drivers more, in what it said would amount to an earnings increase of 6 per cent, on average, nationwide. Unlike its rivals, which have introduced temporary levies to help drivers cope with soaring fuel costs, Ubers fare increases are permanent. Uber has refused to outline how much customer fares would rise, but this masthead last week reported the ride-share giants new pricing strategy treats riders within various parts of cities differently, breaking with its long-term model under which the main price variance was determined by surge multipliers to help attract drivers to areas with high demand. Now, this masthead can reveal the exact fare structures and price ranges. They highlight how riders in inner-city and affluent suburbs face markedly more expensive trips, and significantly more price volatility (depending on what time of day they book), than Uber customers in areas such as outer western Sydney and the Mornington Peninsula, outside Melbourne.

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Ubers new pricing structure sets a range for trips across different parts of each city, comprised of a base rate similar to a flag fall fee, and per kilometre and per minute rates, all of which vary based on where a trip begins. Instead of specific amounts, each of these rates have set ranges, with a low and high end determined by the time of day of the trip and whether it falls in a peak period. Surge pricing  a multiplier applied to an Uber fare that is activated at times of high demand for rides in a certain area to encourage drivers to rush there  will continue to apply on top of the new pricing regime. New trip minimums of $11 in Sydney and $11.50 in Melbourne have also come into effect as part of the changes. The complex system makes for an opaque and puzzling fare scheme that will leave riders struggling to predict what their trip will cost. Several Uber drivers who spoke to this masthead said they were also confused by the regime.

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Sydney In Sydney, Uber customers across the northern suburbs  a large area that stretches from the lower north shore and North Sydney CBD, north to Hornsby, and out to the Northern Beaches  now face the citys most expensive Uber trips. During peak windows, trips from this area will start at $6.65 and be charged at $1.81 a kilometre and 65 cents a minute. Prices are similarly high in Sydneys eastern suburbs  an area taking in Paddington, down to Randwick and the south-eastern beaches, north to Bondi Beach and eastern suburbs around the south head of Sydney Harbour such as Vaucluse and Rose Bay  with fares during peak windows starting at $6.54 and charging $1.75 a kilometre and 66 cents a minute. These prices are significantly more expensive than the upper limits in areas such as outer western Sydney, where, during peak windows, a trip starts at $3.59, with charges of $1.50 a kilometre and 42 cents a minute.

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In a hypothetical 10km, 20-minute trip taken at the same peak time of the day, a customer whose trip starts in northern Sydney would be charged up to $37.75, while the same duration and distance would cost $26.99 from outer western Sydney. These prices dont include Ubers booking fee and the state government levy. However, in non-peak windows, when the variable rates are at their lowest, the trip could cost as little as $21.48 in northern Sydney, but no less than $24.94 in outer wester Sydney, under a system that sets fares relatively consistently regardless of timing in parts of western Sydney but which introduces broad fare volatility in eastern and central parts of the city. Fares are also substantially higher than average for trips from Sydney Airport. This comes amid a $60 flat taxi fare trial at the airport. Melbourne In Melbourne, Uber customers booking trips from the CBD and inner suburbs such as Richmond, Port Melbourne and Essendon, as well as airport bookings, have been hit with the largest fare increases.

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In peak windows, trips from the CBD, Richmond, Port Melbourne and Essendon can start as high as $6.01, and charge $1.59 a kilometre and 43 cents a minute. Across the rest of Melbourne, some areas have been stung with higher per kilometre rates, while others have higher per minute rates. The discrepancies are illustrated through a hypothetical 10km, 20-minute trip taken at the same peak time of the day. Such a trip from inner Melbourne now costs up to $30.51, $28.73 in north-eastern suburbs such as Reservoir, Heidelberg and Epping, and $28.30 in northern suburbs such as Tullamarine, Broadmeadows and Craigieburn. By comparison, trips with shorter durations but similar distances would leave riders in inner southern suburbs such as Caulfield and Bentleigh, and outer eastern suburbs such as Ringwood, Rowville and Croydon Hills, feeling the new fare increases more acutely.

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Uber did not respond to a request for comment. The Business Briefing newsletter delivers major stories, exclusive coverage and expert opinion. Sign up to get it every weekday morning.
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BusinessMarketsEnergy Oil giant Shell says tax hike could hurt Australias hunt for fuel Nick Toscano March 30, 2026  11:00pm Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add more. Share A A A

Global energy giant Shell is cautioning Australia against taxing gas exporters windfall profits, declaring it would destabilise vital trade ties with Asian partners and make it harder for the government to secure increasingly scarce deliveries of petrol, diesel and jet fuel from the region. Labor has asked Treasury to model a new tax on Australian energy companies that stand to reap huge profits from selling liquefied natural gas (LNG) overseas, as the war in the Middle East chokes a fifth of the worlds supply and sends prices rocketing to multi-year highs. Shells Curtis Island liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant. Bloomberg It comes as crossbench MPs, unions, environmentalists and some energy experts have been advocating for a 25 per cent tax on gas giants windfall profits, which they say could deliver billions of dollars of revenue and be used to help households deal with worsening cost-of-living strains and energy price shocks. The price of petrol in Australia has jumped again this week to the unprecedented average of $2.53 a litre for regular unleaded. The push has gained the support of some of the countrys most prominent musicians, including Jimmy Barnes, Missy Higgins, Amyl and the Sniffers, Angie McMahon, John Butler, and King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, who have added their names to an open letter to the federal government.

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A 25 per cent tax could raise more than $17 billion each year to invest in climate solutions and help Australians with the rising cost of living, said the letter, co-signed by more than 100 Australian artists. Opposition frontbencher Andrew Hastie, meanwhile, has called on his Coalition colleagues to keep an open mind about increasing taxes on gas companies. Cecile Wake is the Country Chair and executive vice president of Integrated Gas Australia at Shell. Renee Nowytarger In a speech to be delivered at an industry conference on Tuesday, the head of one of the countrys largest gas producers, Shell Australia chair Cecile Wake, issued a plea for the government to beware of short-term easy solutions  such as the proposed windfall tax  that could fundamentally erode the investment case for the development of critical new energy supplies in the future. I understand why governments look for additional levers when cost-of-living pressures are real and immediate, as they are now, she says in a draft copy of the speech.

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Increasing the fiscal burden on gas exports is not the answer. Shell, one of the worlds largest energy companies, produces gas for domestic use and export markets from projects in Western Australia and Queensland. Wake is expected to tell delegates on Tuesday that a 25 per cent windfall tax on LNG would send a strong negative signal to key Asian trading partners, which depend on Australian LNG deliveries for their energy security, and could jeopardise reciprocal trade arrangements right when we are dependent upon those partners to continue to provide secure supplies of liquid fuels. With just two domestic oil refineries still operating, Australia relies on imports, mostly from larger refineries in Asia, to supply more than 80 per cent of its petrol, diesel and jet fuel. The government and Australias fuel industry are in talks with fuel suppliers in Asia and worldwide to lock in additional cargoes amid growing alarm that refiners inventories are depleting. The Strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping channel that usually carries a fifth of the worlds crude oil supply and LNG supply, remains effectively shut. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is seeking to leverage Australias role as a major LNG supplier to ensure the nation isnt left behind in the global oil supply crunch triggered by the war in the Middle East. Last week, he struck an agreement with Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong to support the flow of LNG and oil products, including diesel, between the two countries. Singapores refineries are a major liquid fuel supplier to Australia.

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Loading Australia is the worlds third-largest exporter of LNG  natural gas that has been super-chilled until it turns into a liquid so it can be shipped around the world. Australia sold $65 billion worth of LNG in the year to December. Major economies in Asia, including Japan and Korea, are particularly reliant on Qatari LNG shipped through the strait to power their heaters and electric grids. They are increasingly looking to Australia to make up for the drop-off in shipments due to the fall in supply caused by the Strait of Hormuz closure and drone strikes on key Qatari production assets. Since the war on Iran began on February 28, one-off LNG cargoes from Australian projects are said to have sold for more than double their pre-conflict prices, fetching up to $US25 ($35) per million British thermal units. Analysts say Australian oil and gas exporters stand to benefit significantly. During the last global gas crunch, caused by Russias invasion of Ukraine, Australias LNG export earnings almost doubled, from $50 billion in 2021 to $90 billion in 2022, sparking accusations that the industry was reaping war profits.

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The Greens on Monday said the push for a 25 per cent gas tax was gaining momentum after parliament approved a motion for an inquiry into the industrys taxation, which is set to report back before the May federal budget. While people are struggling to pay bills and seeing the cost of living go through the roof, gas corporations shouldnt get a free ride, Greens leader Senator Larissa Waters said. The oil and gas sector says higher global LNG prices will already flow through to Australians via higher tax receipts under the existing profit-based tax regime, the Petroleum Resources Rent Tax. Australian Energy Producers, an industry group, argues the push for a 25 per cent tax would push effective tax rates to around 80 or 90 per cent for some companies, destroying Australias ability to compete for global investment. The facts are that the oil and gas industry is already Australias second-largest corporate taxpayer, contributing $21.9 billion in taxes and royalties last year alone, Australian Energy Producers chief executive Samantha McCulloch said. The Business Briefing newsletter delivers major stories, exclusive coverage and expert opinion. Sign up to get it every weekday morning.
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LifestyleHealth & wellnessWomen's health Women are used to bleeding. Heres how to know when things arent normal Lauren Ironmonger March 30, 2026  4:30pm Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add more. Share A A A

Bleeding is a fact of life for most women, as a normal part of the menstrual cycle and not immediate reason to panic. But bleeding can also be a sign that somethings wrong. The menstrual cycle makes bleeding a normal part of life for many. But knowing when to seek medical attention is important. iStock Dr Rebekah Hoffman, chair of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners for NSW and ACT, says its very common for women to delay seeking help for abnormal or heavy bleeding. Its expected that women bleed frequently, she suggests as a reason for this complacency.

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Its not talked about how much bleeding is normal, and people can presume that their levels of bleeding are really normal when in fact theyre double protecting, theyre actually flooding (bleeding out), she says. About half of Australians, for example, do not seek medical help for heavy periods despite these having a debilitating effect on their lives. Meanwhile, menstrual stigma  a sense of shame and lack of education around periods  is common. From abnormal to heavy bleeding, vaginal or rectal bleeding, we spoke to the experts about when this might be a cause for concern. Menstruation or between cycles There are lots of things that can cause bleeding in between cycles, and some of them are very benign, but some of them are concerning, says Professor Louise Hull, an obstetrician gynaecologist and head of the endometriosis group at the University of Adelaides Robinson Research Institute.

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Abnormal vaginal bleeding is also a common symptom of uterine cancers, rates of which are rising faster than any other type of womens cancer in Australia, with the sharpest increase among women aged 25 to 40. Perimenopause or menopause Menstrual disturbance or irregularities are common during perimenopause or menopause due to changing hormone levels. Lots of women find their bleeding gets heavier, and the frequency of their periods gets closer together before they stop, Hoffman says. Often, people will bleed more in the 12 to 18 months before they stop bleeding ... it can be like being a teenager again, where its really hard to manage. And that can be really distressing.

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While this can be normal, Hoffman says heavy or abnormal bleeding should always be checked by a medical professional. Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) can also cause abnormal bleeding. Sometimes its a bit of adjusting to the medication, says Hull, but left untreated it can lead to something more malignant. According to experts, any bleeding during pregnancy is abnormal, and reason to seek medical advice. Getty Images Pregnancy and early postpartum

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Any bleeding during pregnancy is considered abnormal, says Hull, and a sign to seek medical attention. Particularly in early pregnancy, we want to make sure the little ones fine, the hormones are OK, and the pregnancys well supported. Sometimes it [bleeding] can be associated with a miscarriage or an ectopic pregnancy, she says. About half the time, people will get some bleeding, and usually, its as the placenta grows, it can grow into a little blood vessel, and you get a bit of bleeding, and it settles down, but youd always want to get that checked out. In early postpartum, Hull says some bleeding is expected two to four weeks after giving birth and this should progressively lighten. However, Hoffman says that if bleeding continues, or gets heavier and is accompanied by other discharge, odour or fever, you should seek medical attention.

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Bleeding during or after sex Bleeding during or after penetrative sex can be caused by friction or dryness. Especially if youre using any toys or anything like condoms or things that youve not used before, you might cause some inflammation or some irritation, Hoffman says. But post-coital bleeding can also be a sign of cervical cancer, so she urges anyone experiencing it to consult a healthcare professional and ensure theyre up-to-date with their cervical cancer screening. Other times, it can be a matter of a benign polyp or soft cells sitting close to the surface of the cervix, says Hull, which can be a simple fix.

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Editor's pick Cancer The bowel cancer symptom women can often miss Bleeding from your rectum Any bleeding is abnormal coming from the rectum and needs an examination, Hoffman says. That might be a hemorrhoid thats bleeding, a fissure or a little tear, some people eat beetroot and then after their stools look like theres blood. And thats a very benign cause, but essentially, you need to have a chat to your GP. Bleeding from the rectum is a common symptom of bowel cancer  which Hoffman points out is becoming more common among younger Australians.

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Its important to know your family history of bowel cancer, and what age they were diagnosed because that would change what our recommendations were for testing, says Hoffman, who urges everyone to have conversations with family about rectal bleeding and what it means. Endometriosis around the bowel can also cause bleeding in this area, Hull adds. What to do if you notice bleeding If youre experiencing any unexpected bleeding, the best thing to do is seek medical advice, whether or not its accompanied by pain or changes in blood colour. Its a matter of any change in your symptoms, whether youve seen it once, whether youve seen it twice, whether youve had it before, Hoffman says.

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Finally, she urges people to remain up to date with screenings  which for bowel cancer now starts at age 45, and for cervical cancer, starts at 25. Advice here is general in nature. Always talk to a healthcare professional if you are concerned about any of the symptoms below, and call 000 if you are experiencing heavy bleeding or severe pain. Make the most of your health, relationships, fitness and nutrition with our Live Well newsletter. Get it in your inbox every Monday.
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Updated NationalNSWDefamation War of words erupts after Telegraph apologises for undercover cafe stunt Michaela Whitbourn Updated March 30, 2026  1:23pm ,first published March 30, 2026  9:52am Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add more. Share A A A

A fresh row has erupted between a Sydney cafe and a pro-Israel activist over a stunt described internally by The Daily Telegraph as undercover Jew, just hours after the tabloid apologised for causing distress to the eaterys owner and staff. Ofir Birenbaum entered Cairo Takeaway, a popular Egyptian restaurant in Newtown known for its public support of Palestine, wearing a Star of David cap. A Telegraph journalist was in tow to capture any reaction. Loading Birenbaum subsequently filed Federal Court defamation proceedings against the restaurant over comments made after the incident. It returned fire with a cross-claim against him. The Telegraph, which was not a party to the litigation, published a joint statement on Monday with Birenbaum and Cairo Takeaway that said the disputes had been resolved on confidential terms and noted the parties hope that the fact of a resolution can be a positive example for others.

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In the statement, the News Corp outlet apologised for causing distress to the cafes owner and staff, and Cairo Takeaway apologised to Birenbaum. It appeared to mark the end of the dispute, but a flurry of further statements has cast that resolution in a different light. Birenbaum said in a separate statement on Monday that he had been completely vindicated by the settlement and [this] was never a stunt. Rather, it was legitimate public interest journalism at a time when antisemitism in Sydney was escalating, visible, and dangerous, he said. Activist Ofir Birenbaum was at the centre of The Daily Telegraph sting. Nine News His lawyer, Rebekah Giles, said in her own statement that the settlement was an important win for her client and the Australian Jewish community.

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Public interest journalism matters, she said. Full credit must go to Ofir Birenbaum for having participated in this exercise at a time of increasing antisemitism. In response, Cairo Takeaway issued a statement via its lawyers, OBrien Criminal & Civil Solicitors. Cairo Takeaway owner Hesham El Masry said it was disappointing further statements were issued after the joint statement was published. Jessica Hromas Cairo Takeaway did not intend to make any statement about the confidential settlement of the legal dispute, it said. A joint statement had been agreed between the parties, and it was specifically agreed that nothing inconsistent with that statement would be published.

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It said the further statements were inconsistent with that joint statement in both word and spirit. Cairo Takeaway disputes Mr Birenbaums categorisation of the  operation that he engaged in with The Daily Telegraph as legitimate public interest journalism. It is hard to believe that The Daily Telegraph would apologise for the distress it caused to the staff and owner of the Cairo Takeaway if it currently viewed the story as legitimate public interest journalism. The restaurants owner, Hesham El Masry, said the further statements were disappointing. We thought there would just be the joint statement and we could all then move on with our lives, he said.

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Giles responded that her client was free to explain his reasons for participating in this public interest journalism investigation. Documents leaked to online media outlet Crikey shortly after the incident in February last year revealed the News Corp publication orchestrated the story under the name UNDERCOVERJEW. It intended to lift the lid on what its like being Jewish in Sydney and proposed using video glasses to film the interactions, according to an internal planning document. The incident caused an immediate stir and prompted a flurry of headlines  for news outlets other than the Telegraph. Footage emerged of a hospitality worker berating News Corp journalist Danielle Gusmaroli as she left the restaurant with a photographer and videographer.

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Birenbaum launched defamation proceedings against Cairo Takeaway in August last year. The case was listed for a seven-day hearing from May 18. Birenbaum had denied the cafes version of events, which were posted to its Instagram page. He also denied wearing smart glasses to film the interaction. Footage captured the exchange between Daily Telegraph reporter Danielle Gusmaroli and an employee at Cairo Takeaway. In response, the cafe launched a cross-claim against Birenbaum for alleged trespass. On 11 February 2025, Jewish man Ofir Birenbaum, who was wearing a Star of David cap and pendant, and representatives from The Daily Telegraph newspaper, entered the Cairo Takeaway in Newtown, resulting in an incident with Cairo Takeaway staff, the joint statement said.

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All parties are pleased that the legal disputes arising from this incident have now been resolved on confidential terms. Cairo Takeaway said it accepts that Mr Birenbaum was polite to staff when he entered the premises and purchased a drink and apologised unreservedly to him for the false and defamatory statements to the media, Instagram posts and comments by members of the public directed at him on its social media accounts. The Daily Telegraph acknowledges that entering the Cairo Takeaway without notice, to see if Mr Birenbaum would be treated differently for the purpose of a news article, caused distress to the staff and owner of the Cairo Takeaway. The Daily Telegraph unreservedly apologises to Cairo Takeaway and their staff for causing that distress. Be the first to know when major news happens. Sign up for breaking news alerts on email or turn on notifications in the app
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Welcome to Brisbane Times Queensland public sector column, Public Circus. This week: a deep dive into the long-awaited public health service overhaul, a familiar reviewer, the (not) hiring freeze, and more. Almost 18 months into the parliamentary term, the Crisafulli government has finally pulled the trigger on its sweeping overhaul of hospital and health service boards. Gazetted on Friday, the cabinet-approved changes announced by Health Minister Tim Nicholls saw 50 new faces added (including three high-profile LNP figures) and 41 reappointed. Circus has delved deep into the governments overhaul of the states 16 hospital and health service boards, announced by Health Minister Tim Nicholls on Friday. Matt Dennien What wasnt made clear by Nicholls was who was leaving  either through their choice not to seek reappointment or a failure to make it through the selection process.

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One who has decided to jump despite having tenure until 2028 is Adrian Carson, formerly a Metro North board member. Circus readers may remember Carson popping up as a principal with former health director-general and private-sector revolving door regular Shaun Drummonds new consulting firm, Create Health  which has netted almost $2 million from the service. Carson was announced as a founding principal at the firm in December 2024, and Metro North says he had complied with all protocols around his declared conflict of interest. He will end his time on the board from April 1. A Metro North spokesperson told us on Monday this resignation was tendered back in August. Carson has also been contacted for comment.

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But back to those who were up for reappointment this week. Related Article Queensland government Former LNP figures land new health board roles in long-awaited overhaul The highest-profile departures are those of four chairs: Chris Boland (Cairns and Hinterland), Dennis Campbell (Darling Downs), Janine Walker (Metro South) and Cheryl Vardon AO (North West). Six deputy chairs are also out the door: Teresa Dyson (Gold Coast), Dr Kerry Maley (Mackay), Eleanor Milligan (North West), Jan Chambers (South West), Michelle Morton (Townsville), and Jeffrey Dunn (West Moreton). Of those reached by Circus so far, all have indicated it was their decision to step away.

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And beyond those first-time appointments with direct party political links to the LNP, Circus has also found at least one other with some less obvious ties. Jade Wellings, a new Wide Bay board member, was a Fraser Coast council colleague of first-term Hervey Bay MP David Lee. Lee described her as a friend, thanking her for her amazing media, social media, and practical support and advice during his campaign. One health sector source also closely following the changes, who spoke to Circus on condition of anonymity, noted that despite the LNPs rhetoric around putting doctors and nurses back in charge, the new and returning board members were very doctor heavy. Amid the deluge of doctors, the source added that First Nations folks and community figures were also conspicuously absent. The government has noted a number of nurses  or others with past nursing experience  were among the appointments, pulled from a field of 1025 applicants and assessed through a process run by Queensland Health.

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And despite the silence from Nicholls on if and how widely the government has flexed its newly self-awarded powers to dismiss the 50 or so folks with terms not ending until 2028 without cause, Circus has heard it has. Word is three of the four such Gold Coast board members have been given marching orders, as have two of the four at Metro South  the identities of which Circus is still trying to nail down. Our source says when looking at the decisions with a capability, and even political, lens, some sackings still dont make sense. I think it was just making room for others, they said. Circus is not suggesting that any appointees are not qualified or suitable for their roles.

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Back to the future, and close to home, for Bleijies industrial relations review pick On the topic of government appointments, this column noted with interest Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijies appointment of Glenn Ferguson AM as the lead figure of an independent state industrial relations and workers compensation scheme review. Its not the first time Bleijie has handed Ferguson such work. As attorney-general in the Newman years, he appointed the former Queensland Law Society and Law Council of Australia president to chair the WorkCover board. Fergusons firm, FC Lawyers, has previously donated to the LNP and reportedly sponsored a 2019 fundraiser for then-state opposition leader Deb Frecklington and Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton. One of Fergusons three directors at the firm, Chloe Kopilovic, was given the WorkCover board chair gig by Bleijie this time around. In 2022, the firm posted photos of an even more youthful looking trio to mark Kopilovics 10-year work anniversary.

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Both are also directors of the Uniforms 4 Kids charity founded by Queensland Human Rights Commissioner Debbie Platzs mother, Yvonne Pattinson OAM. The also-in-focus Platz, Circus readers may be aware, is married to Ferguson. Related Article Exclusive

Queensland government Watchdogs silence on controversial government bill sparks alarm Frecklington, who as attorney-general signed off on the recruitment of the former senior police figure to the watchdog position, was asked about that connection late last year and dismissed any preferential treatment. I mean, its almost, I hate to say it... but it is offensive to her career, she told News Corp at the time. Circus does not suggest any preferential treatment of Ferguson, either, only that he has a longstanding professional relationship with Bleijie.

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But back to the review. Given Bleijies past comments on the matter, Circus will be curious to see if the long freedom of association leash Ferguson has been given might extend to changes to the union encouragement policy, which lays out a proactive approach to allowing worker organising. Detail of TMRs (not) hiring freeze deepens  and spreads wider Despite assurances from Transport and Main Roads there was no hiring freeze within the department, another Circus contact has spilled the beans on the tightening on recruitment. Last week, we revealed morale within the department was terrible due to the stretched workforce caused by the refusal to fill vacant positions, backfill or slot in secondments. This week, another whisperer from elsewhere in the department, Translink, backed up our reporting on the bureaucratically dubbed vacancy management plan.

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Circus has seen an internal document outlining changes to the vacancy management process in the department, which now requires approval from the very top, director-general Sally Stannard, to advertise for all permanent positions and any temporary roles for three months or more. This includes any extensions of secondments. The department insists there is no such hiring freeze. Facebook / Transport and Main Roads Queensland Typically, according to the Circus source, advertisements for new roles would have been approved at a local level  likely through a team director and finalised by human resources. Now it comes from someone at my level, goes through the director, goes to the general manager, goes to the DDG [deputy director general], then goes to the DG, they said.

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Theres just so much red tape, and its almost like its been done on purpose to stop us doing it. The source said the freeze on filling vacant positions had the same result as cutting positions from the public service. Youve got permanent positions available that you would normally advertise for. Theyve all been cancelled, they said, saying there were now many public service jobs that no longer exist. But a spokesman again denied there was any such freeze across the department or any specific division within the department. TMR continues to advertise and fill positions to ensure our workforce is optimally positioned to deliver critical infrastructure projects and operational requirements, they said.

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Circus has now also heard from multiple sources in the Queensland Fire Department  which has been contacted for comment  about its own foray into such feats of human resourcing. A joyfully named Establishment and Resource Governance Subcommittee, spun up last May, has taken charge of all hiring, including the filling of even secondment-driven vacancies of more than six months. Acting-up in roles is said to have all but ceased  let alone then being made permanent. Effectively, they have just been stifling hiring in the administration side of the department, one source told us. (And this is an administration which plays a more vital supporting role to the frontline than the label suggests.) Many roles are said to have not been filled, with the workload spread among remaining staff causing the kind of morale problems you might expect. This is said to have peaked in about October last year, when the then still relatively new chief operating officer Dr Rebecca Denning began hosting regular town hall-type meetings of the troops. We hear theyre also happening over in the Rural Fire Service Queensland arm.

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Sound familiar? While the firies are being less direct than Circus has heard from TMR, the (not) hiring freeze has been a topic of discussion at all meetings on the admin side. They have assured us that all FTEs are safe, but its just when people leave that the issues arise, the source said, describing the outcome as a cascade of burnout. Education on notice over unpaid award bump Education Minister John-Paul Langbroek dropped the news in parliament last week that some 10,500 teachers had been underpaid a combined $8.7 million since September. The issue (of human error, as the minister put it) came about because of the miscalculation of a change in the teachers award, which overtook enterprise agreement pay for those on Band 2.

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Teachers were promised the underpayment, an average figure of $830, would land on April 1. Langbroek also told parliament he expected the department run by director-general Sharon Schimming to improve its processes to minimise the risk that this happens again. Langbroek alerted parliament to the underpayment. Jamila Filippone The underpayment perhaps takes on a greater relevance with other news out last week about the governments stalled bargaining process with the teachers union. The timeline for arbitration of the pay deal, which expired last year, now wont see hearings happen before October. Given the State Wage Case is an annual process, there might be a few more teachers landing a pay increase by then.

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CS Energy chief executive departs just nine months in the job In government-owned corporation land, the big news on Monday was the announcement of Brian Gillespies departure as chief executive of CS Energy. The significance is that Gillespie was appointed to the role only, er, back in June. Board chair Tony Bellas gave little away for the reason behind the change in his statement. Brian has worked closely with the CS Energy board to provide leadership, rebuild the executive team, and position the company for the next phase of Queenslands energy transition in a dynamic and rapidly changing energy market, Bellas said. On behalf of the board, I thank Brian for his commitment to CS Energy and wish him well in his future endeavours.

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Bellas said the board had started a search to appoint the next chief executive, and that he will serve as executive officer on a temporary basis until then. Know more? Come join the Circus. Have a curiosity for the Public Circus tent? Email us on m.dennien@brisbanetimes.com.au or james.hall@nine.com.au (or sing out more securely via mattdennien@protonmail.com and @mattdennien.15 on Signal).
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The alleged discovery of dozens of 3D-printed handguns on the Gold Coast has led to the arrest of two Brisbane men.

A Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross was stopped at Surfers Paradise on Saturday, and police seized a black plastic container from the boot.

3D-printed guns allegedly found in Queensland. Queensland Police Service

Officers allegedly found 34 Glock-style 3D-printed guns, 800 rounds of nine-millimetre ammunition, handgun magazines, rifle magazines, plastic rifle trigger guard assemblies and a hard drive containing blueprints for printing 3D firearms inside.

Photos supplied by police at the scene show weapons with the distinctive lined textured associated with mass-produced machines widely available at office and electronics stores.
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NationalVictoriaWine Families and regional businesses hopeful fuel excise cut will bring relief Benjamin Preiss and Adam Carey March 30, 2026  6:24pm Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add more. Share A A A

From cutting back on driving practice for their 16-year-old son to putting off a flight to Canada to visit her terminally ill father, Andrea Cosentino and her family have made sacrifices  large and small  to navigate the current fuel crisis. The family has stopped making discretionary trips, such as driving the kids to the bus stop or taking a country drive on the weekend, so they can still afford to pay for trips for which there is no alternative, such as her partner Malcolm Smiths cross-city commute from Hurstbridge to Laverton. Andrea Cosentino and Malcolm Smith with their children Ben, 16, and Ella, 12. Andrea and her family have changed many of their driving habits. Ben is on his L-plates, is driving fewer hours and is catching the train more. Joe Armao The family is one of many hoping for some relief at the bowser after the federal government halved the excise on fuel for three months, lowering the price of petrol by 26.3 a litre. The Albanese government will also cancel the heavy vehicle road user charge of 32 a litre for three months to help ease pressure on the transportation industry.

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Petrol prices Fuel price cut for Easter as fears grow nation will be in recession by Christmas The cuts will commence on April 1, and cost taxpayers $2.55 billion. The move comes as the latest weekly fuel monitoring report from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission shows average diesel prices in Melbourne had risen by 124.7 a litre to 303.6 between February 20 and March 25. Cosentino said the temporary cut to the fuel excise tax was not a bad thing and would provide some relief for a family budget that is being squeezed harder than it has in several years. We know its a great thing for right now, but what does it mean for later on? Cosentino said of the cut. Could it mean that in three months [fuel] goes up by 50?

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The three-month suspension of the heavy vehicle road user charge would provide desperately needed relief to trucking companies, some of which are on the verge of parking their trucks rather than carrying on at a loss, Victorian Transport Association chief executive Peter Anderson said. Were pleased the road transport industry is being acknowledged for the value it contributes to the standard of living that we all enjoy in our communities, Anderson said. Keeping in mind, if the road transport industry stopped, the economy stops and, of course, with the sudden increase in the cost of fuel weve been placed in a position commercially as to whether we park the trucks or go broke. Anderson said that ultimately, trucking operators must pass their rising fuel costs onto consumers to stay in business.

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In regional Victoria, soaring diesel prices are threatening to inflict a heavy blow on winemakers who are in the middle of grape harvesting. In a typical season, diesel consumption represents up to 7 per cent of operating costs for Handpicked Wines on the Mornington Peninsula. But that has risen to about 9 or 10 per cent since the war in the Middle East began. Handpicked Wines is moving towards electrification to reduce emissions and exposure to fossil fuel prices. Joe Armao Chief winemaker Peter Dillon said other businesses in the winemaking chain were also starting to pass on the added fuel costs, which included services like cartage and bottling lines. Everybodys seeing that pressure on their underlying business.

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Dillon said that while the changes announced on Monday were appreciated and provided a level of optimism, the big question is where the total ceiling for prices ends up landing. Winemaker Cameron Wilson said Handpicked had cut diesel use significantly as part of its environmental focus. Handpicked Wines winemaker Cameron Wilson at the Mornington Peninsula winery. Joe Armao Whereas other wineries might use chemical sprays to control weeds, they use machinery which required more tractor movements. Because we are organic, realistically we still need to rely on tractors for a significant amount of work, which ultimately means depending on diesel as well at this stage, he said.

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Related Article Middle East at war The fuel crisis is hitting Australia hard. Heres what the country is doing in response However, even before war in the Middle East, Handpicked Wines  which operates eight vineyards across Australia, including three in Victoria  was already moving towards electrification to reduce carbon emissions and lower exposure to fluctuating fossil fuels prices. Australian Grape and Wine chief executive Lee McLean supplies of diesel and fertiliser were stable, but prices were rising, and this impact would vary by region. He said there was limited capacity to pass on increased costs to consumers. This means many businesses will be forced to absorb at least some of the increases, further tightening already stretched profitability. Victorian Farmers Federation president Brett Hosking said the temporary fuel excise cut might help consumers, but did little to tackle the unique challenges facing farmers.

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On an isolated bush block in the states far north-east in a squalid camp without running water or electricity, cop killer Dezi Freemans seven months on the run came to an end. Its not clear how or when the 56-year-old fugitive found his way onto the 35-hectare Murray River Road property in Thologolong, where he was shot and killed by heavily armed police on Monday morning. Freeman was living in a collection of shipping containers and portable houses set among what one local described as a whole heap of crap. Aerial videos of the property, taken from a news helicopter in the aftermath of the siege, show a ramshackle camp spilling out around three shipping containers, a donga and a broken-down bus surrounded by plastic tarps, camp chairs and cheap tables.

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The circular encampment was dotted with haphazard piles of metal waste, 50-gallon drums, a wheelbarrow and discarded commercial bins. He was apparently cooking his meals with a small gas-powered camping stove and some pots and pans left out to dry in the sun. Nearby is a small set of solar panels. Dominating the scene is Victoria Polices armoured Bear-Cat vehicle, which appears to have delivered heavily armed officers right onto Freemans doorstep. The land is one of only a handful of privately owned blocks sandwiched between the vastness of Mount Lawson State Park to the west and south and Lake Hume, fed by the Murray River, to the north. The area was nearly burnt out in January by the bushfire that engulfed the Walwa-Mount Lawson State Park area and burnt through 120,000 hectares over a month. Victoria Emergency maps show the fire came within a few hundred metres of Freemans hideout. It remains unclear whether he was there at the time, but he would have been near dozens of firefighters.

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Freeman was believed to be living in the remnants of a camp left behind by the lands registered owner, Richard Arnold Sutherland, who himself enjoyed living off-grid before he moved interstate. Related Article Exclusive

Porepunkah shooting A doona and a surprise tip-off: The bizarre final moments of Dezi Freeman There are several shipping containers. Richards an eccentric engineer, and so theres a whole heap of crap. Richard lived in his shipping containers  off grid. Hes an off-grid guy, said a former local familiar with the property. There is no suggestion Sutherland even knew Freeman had taken up residence on the land. The former local said Sutherland had moved interstate to live with family after being diagnosed with cancer. Sutherland could not be reached for comment.

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The Thologolong property is a long way from where this saga started  more than 150 kilometres, a two-hour drive or a near two-day walk  from a similarly decrepit property in Porepunkah where he shot and killed two police officers on August 26. How Freeman arrived there  and who may have assisted him  remains an active investigation despite his death. Chief Commissioner Mike Bush said in a press conference announcing Freemans death that there was no one else on the property at the time, but a number of vehicles were found. Its a rural property. No doubt at some point well be able to describe it and provide photographs, Bush told reporters.

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Its a very remote community. That is now forming part of a crime scene that will be totally examined. In the seven months Victoria Police were hunting for Freeman, the search never really left the region stretching from Mount Buffalo to Benalla  some two hours away. The remote property in Thologolong, where Dezi Freeman was shot dead by police. Justin McManus Officers involved in the search for Freeman, dubbed Taskforce Summit, scoured hundreds of square kilometres in the alpine regions looking for the cop killer but found no trace of him for 216 days. The revelation that the states most hunted man was hiding far to the north-east came out of nowhere only days ago, sources say.

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Victoria Polices elite Special Operations Group surrounded Freeman at 5.30am on Monday. Cornered on that little plot of Thologolong, Freeman chose to die rather than surrender in the squalor that ultimately became the location of his last stand rather than a refuge. Read more on Dezi Freemans death: Visual story : Death knock: From mountain murders to a massive manhunt

: Death knock: From mountain murders to a massive manhunt News: Dezi Freeman killed in shoot-out with police after seven months on the run Be the first to know when major news happens. Sign up for breaking news alerts on email or turn on notifications in the app.
ROAD TOWN, British Virgin Islands, March 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- 1inch, the leading DeFi ecosystem, today announced that AI agents can now directly access its infrastructure via the 1inch MCP, enabling them to plan and execute swaps, analyze portfolio data, and interact with onchain markets in real time.

1inch enables AI agents to access API suite, including swap execution, via MCP

The rapid growth of AI agents has driven strong demand for infrastructure and data to support them. In response, 1inch has opened access to its industry-leading API infrastructure via the 1inch MCP in its business portal. This enables developers to seamlessly integrate 1inch's full suite of APIs into their agents, giving them access to best-in-class data, infrastructure, and execution.

"Agents, not humans, will be executing the majority of swaps by 2030," according to Sergej Kunz, 1inch co-founder. "However, the agent economy cannot eliminate market competition. Trading outcomes are still defined by data and execution quality; poorly informed agents will underperform skilled humans. That is why choosing the infrastructure around the agent is as important as the strategy."

Today's enhancement to the 1inch MCP Server enables developers and enterprises to build goal-oriented, agentic workflows powered by 1inch APIs. AI agents can now directly access 1inch's full suite of 15 APIsincluding Swap, Balance, Portfolio, Token, Gas Price, and Transaction APIsproviding comprehensive capabilities for data access, trading, and onchain execution.

These workflows are still aware of the policies and controlled by the developers. They incorporate rules around supported elements like chains and token pairs. Developers can also set limits on variables like slippage thresholds and execution limits. They can even choose how transactions are signed to avoid mistakes.

This new functionality expands the 1inch MCP launched last month, which initially introduced connectivity between AI coding assistants and the 1inch ecosystem through three core tools: search, example discovery, and code retrieval.

The 1inch MCP now provides:

Agent-native execution & automation - Supports end-to-end AI workflows, from search and code generation to analysis and trade execution. Portfolio and balance data enable informed decision-making, while execution is supported across all 1inch swap types (Classic, intent-based, and cross-chain), with built-in support for goal-based agents, gasless transactions, multi-agent coordination, and policy-aware automation.

Supports end-to-end AI workflows, from search and code generation to analysis and trade execution. Portfolio and balance data enable informed decision-making, while execution is supported across all 1inch swap types (Classic, intent-based, and cross-chain), with built-in support for goal-based agents, gasless transactions, multi-agent coordination, and policy-aware automation. Faster workflows (days to minutes) - AI instantly retrieves relevant docs, code examples, and API detailseliminating manual searching and dramatically accelerating development time.

AI instantly retrieves relevant docs, code examples, and API detailseliminating manual searching and dramatically accelerating development time. Living, searchable documentation - All APIs, SDK examples, and integration guides are continuously updated, fully searchable, and embedded directly into the developer workflow.

All APIs, SDK examples, and integration guides are continuously updated, fully searchable, and embedded directly into the developer workflow. Seamless integration & broad compatibility - One-line setup with support across 10+ tools (Cursor, VS Code, Claude, Codex, JetBrains, Gemini, etc.), enabling quick adoption in existing environments.

As autonomous software becomes a core interface to Web3, 1inch is positioning itself to serve the next generation of builders creating secure, reliable, and scalable agent-driven products.

Disclaimer: The 1inch MCP Server provides API-level infrastructure for developers. It is non-custodial and does not execute transactions on behalf of any party. Users can refer to Legal Notice.

About 1inch

1inch accelerates decentralized finance with a seamless crypto trading experience for 27M users. Beyond being the top platform for low-cost, efficient token swaps with $300M+ in daily trades, 1inch offers a range of innovative tools, including a secure self-custodial wallet, a portfolio tracker for managing digital assets, a dedicated business portal giving access to its cutting-edge technology, and even a debit card for easy crypto spending. By continuously innovating, 1inch is simplifying DeFi for everyone.

Website | 1inch Business | 1inch Network | Follow on X | Explore Blog

Contact

PR lead

Pavel Kruglov

1inch

[email protected]

Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2945535/1inch_AI_Agents.jpg

SOURCE 1inch
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Weve all been there, scrolling through social media only to realise weve been staring at our phones for 20 minutes instead of two. But it seems West Australians are turning away from the digital realm  and into the analogue space. According to a new report, the average Australian spends roughly five hours and 52 minutes a day online, and an average of 19 hours 28 minutes a week on social media. Craft Club founder Molly Wellington. Indigo Lemay-Conway The E-Safety Commissioner lists a variety of signs and symptoms people may feel from spending too much time online. These include: ongoing headaches, eye strain and sleep disturbance, neck, back or hand pain, regularly checking your device while trying to complete other tasks, withdrawing from offline friends and activities and a decline in performance in work or study. Now, there appears to be an increased focus on switching off the phone  and indulging other avenues to get your brain working.

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Set up for art connoisseurs and newbies alike, Craft Club  which runs from 6pm to 8pm every second Thursday at Fremantle Piazza  allows for people to connect outside of social media through their love of crafting. When I started it, there wasnt anything like it in Perth. Also, there was nothing to do in Perth in winter, which is when the club began, founder Molly Wellington said. Editor's pick Perth business A lot of people are sad: Freo businesses struggle over bridge woes The first club session was around three years ago, but it was sporadic in timing, so essentially I have been doing it more consistently over the last six months because I thought that there was a need, and there definitely is. Also I selfishly just have a list of like a hundred projects that I want to do myself and I never do them if Im just doing them at home on my own, she said with a laugh. Tickets to the craft club are sold out ahead of sessions. Crafters can either bring their own project and tools or use the supplies Wellington brings to start something new.

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On alternating Tuesday evenings, Wellington hosts workshops which vary between patchwork, junk journaling, keychain making and more. While she champions the analogue idea at her sessions, it was on social media that she first stumbled across the trend. The hilarious thing is that I noticed it on the internet a lot which is really funny to me. But in real life I feel like people just want to get off their phones, she said. A lot of the conversations that I keep having on the nights are with people who say, Im so hooked on my phone, I just need to have an excuse as to why Im not looking at it, or the other night someone said that they felt really gross that they brought their phone to look up something during for their project because  they just wanted to be here in the moment. It definitely feels like [the analogue trend] is popping off right now and Im seeing other clubs and things pop up in Perth as well, which is so good because normally you just see them over East. Painting therapy Also offering a space to break free of the digital realm is The Painted Teapot in Subiaco.

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The studio offers book-in sessions where people can paint a piece of blank pottery, ranging from cups and plates to teapots and vases. Owner Kalpanie Fernando said the studio became popular after COVID-19 when people discovered how positive arts and crafts can be for mental health. I definitely think there are a lot of people that are way more into arts and crafts now than there was pre-COVID. I dont know if that was a catalyst for this change in mind and this kind of shift, but definitely a noticeable change, she said. The Painted Teapot owner Kalpanie Fernando. Indigo Lemay-Conway I think we all got a taste of what a work-life balance could look like when people started spending more time at home, working from home, being able to pursue arts and hobbies and have family time. Fernando said that her bookings have shifted from parents and children to mostly adults looking to escape from stressful work days and excessive screen time. Ill be honest, 95 per cent of my bookings are adults or at the very least over 15-16 year olds, she said.

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There has been an enormous shift and theres a lot more people who do this kind of thing in their spare time. I think they use it as an excuse to get away from the digital world, honestly. Pottery painting sessions come with an $8 studio fee plus the price of the pottery which starts at $20. Philippe Giguere-Simmonds has been a regular at The Painted Teapot, using sessions to relax from his job as a haematologist. I ran across it during COVID, and I thought oh gosh, I havent done that in years and so I sort of got back into it then, he said. It was a nice creative outlet that gave me something durable and nice at the end that I could use. I like using all of my pieces, eating off of them and drinking from the mugs and stuff. Giguere-Simmonds said concentrating on painting feels repetitive and meditative for him. Craft classes

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PoliticsWAPetrol prices WA caravan parks brace for Easter as cancellations fill up quick despite fuel pain Hamish Hastie March 30, 2026  4:15pm Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add more. Share A A A

West Australian caravan parks are still preparing for an Easter influx as booking cancellations are snapped up by travellers willing to cop the extra cost of fuel. The Iran conflict has had an immediate impact on fuel prices, with the monthly average price of unleaded in Perth metro soaring from $1.64 per litre in February to $2.21 per litre in March, while diesel jumped from $1.80 per litre to $2.57 per litre. In regional WA, the price of diesel is heading toward $3.50 per litre at some service stations. Easter holidaymakers are being urged to see through their plans, despite high fuel prices Louie Douvis The jump in prices has fuelled fears that regional tourist towns are heading towards a visitor  and spending  cliff, with Premier Roger Cook and the Tourism Council of WA urging holidaymakers to push ahead with their plans and spend their money in the regions. RAC head of communications Rhys Heron said while the groups caravan parks were receiving more inquiries from travellers, bookings remained strong for Easter.

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Heron recommended anyone going on an Easter road trip to research and stay up to date on fuel availability by checking in with the local visitor centre, council, and FuelWatch. Bathers Paradise Caravan Park in Esperance said they had seen about 30 bookings cancelled for the Easter period, but those vacancies were filled quickly. One of the concerns from holidaymakers was whether the town would have enough fuel at the end of their trip. A manager at Bathers Paradise told this masthead no Esperence station had run out of fuel yet. With WAs regions facing the dual issues of the clean-up from Tropical Cyclone Narelles rampage in the Mid-West and Gascoyne and fuel availability, Cook issued a plea for holidaymakers to push on with their plans if safe to do so. In terms of Easter please, everyone, dont cancel your holidays. Phone your tourism operator, your hotel, your accommodation provider, see how theyre feeling, he said.

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Above all, if you have plans and that they can go ahead. Please take the opportunity to go and spend your tourism dollars in regional WA. Its an important time of the year for them. Its time that we all support each other, and, importantly, support our local tourism operators. Tourism Council WA chief executive Evan Hall said the tourism sector welcomed the Commonwealth decision to cut the fuel excise. The Australian Governments announcement to halve the fuel excise for three months will provide much appreciated cost relief for Western Australians undertaking their regional road trips these April school holidays, he said. With the Easter long weekend and school holidays, and the ANZAC Day long weekend, April is a peak tourism season for much of regional WA, generating $140 million and 810 tourism-funded jobs in local regional economies.

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No need for COVID-style mandates: Cook Cook said there are no plans to mandate COVID-19 era restrictions on fuel use  yet. Related Article Petrol prices WA premier threatens emergency powers to get fuel stock information Speaking after a National Cabinet meeting where Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced a halving of the fuel excise to 23.6 cents per litre, Cook said the state was following the national alertness plan, which was currently at level two. This means that we are taking precautionary measures to shore up fuel supply and encouraging Western Australians to only buy the fuel they need no more, no less, he said.

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Let me be clear, there is no desire to mandate covid era restrictions on Australians and there is no need to at this stage at our current level two settings. If we need to move to level three, an approach will be developed by national cabinet that provides incentives and mechanisms to encourage other voluntary measures. It would not be until we get to level four that we would consider any mandated demand management responses, and we are all hopeful that we will not get to that point, but if we do, it will be done as part of a plan to be considered by the National Cabinet. Albanese also flagged that the GST charged on every litre of fuel was also being looked at. Cook said he was waiting for modelling to come back to see what measures could be taken.

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Cook rejected calls from the WA Greens to follow Victorias suit and introduce free public transport to help families struggling with extra transport costs. We already have significantly lower fares, and thats a permanent arrangement, not just for the next month, he said. After talking tough last week, urging WAs big fuel importers to given the state confidential commercial details of fuel stocks and contracts by Tuesday, Cook revealed only one company has told him they would provide the information. I can only vouch for one. I was contacted personally by one of the fuel companies to say, yes, we want to get that information to you, he said. When asked what will happen if the companies dont play ball Cook said: Theyll come through, you watch, and if they dont, well act.

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WorldMiddle EastMiddle East at war Trump threatens to blow up Kharg Island as Albanese seeks certainty on war claims Matthew Knott Updated March 30, 2026  10:04pm ,first published 5:00pm Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add more. Share A A A

Canberra/Washington: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has called for more clarity from Donald Trump about his aims for the war in Iran, as the US president muses on the possibility of seizing the regimes oil supplies or completely obliterating Kharg Island and Iranian desalination plants. Albaneses more forceful language after a month of war in the Middle East came as Trump insisted that the war could end soon after progress in negotiations, even as the Pentagon orders the deployment of 10,000 more troops to Iran. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he regarded the Iranian regime as abhorrent and reprehensible, but was unsure whether foreign military intervention could achieve true regime change. Alex Ellinghausen I want to see more certainty in what the objectives of the war are, and I want to see a de-escalation, Albanese told reporters on Monday. So a de-escalation is in the global economys interests. Elaborating in an interview with the ABCs 7.30 on Monday night, Albanese said he would like to see a timeframe on the conflict and recognition of the economic damage it continues to cause.

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Later on Monday night AEDT, Trump posted on Truth Social that the US was in serious discussions with a new, and more reasonable, regime to end our military operations in Iran. Related Article Middle East at war US-Iran war as it happened: Iran warns US ground troops will be set on fire; Pakistan meets with regional powers for talks to end war Great progress has been made but, if for any reason a deal is not shortly reached, which it probably will be, and if the Hormuz Strait is not immediately Open for Business, we will conclude our lovely stay in Iran by blowing up and completely obliterating all of their Electric Generating Plants, Oil Wells and Kharg Island (and possibly all desalinization [sic] plants!), which we have purposefully not yet touched, Trump wrote. This will be in retribution for our many soldiers, and others, that Iran has butchered and killed over the old Regimes 47-year Reign of Terror. Trump told the London Financial Times in his latest interview that the US military had another couple of thousand targets to go in Iran and that a deal could be made fairly quickly.

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But in the same interview, Trump said he wanted to seize Irans oil resources, a move that would mark a major escalation in the conflict. To be honest with you, my favourite thing is to take the oil in Iran, but some stupid people back in the US say: Why are you doing that? But theyre stupid people, he said. Taking Irans oil would require a risky military operation involving the invasion and occupation of its main export hub, Kharg Island, which also houses an Iranian naval base. Trump said that taking Kharg Island would also mean we had to be there for a while. The US has sent dissonant messages about the next stages of the war. Trump has pushed for ceasefire talks with Iran even as the military ramps up forces in the region. Thousands of US troops amassed in the Middle East at the weekend, including an amphibious assault team. Members of the 82nd Airborne Division were also on their way.

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Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday night (Washington time) that Iran gave America most of the 15 demands it issued to Tehran to end the war, even as it remained unclear whether either side was negotiating. US President Donald Trump, on board Air Force One, said the US and Iran had been meeting directly and indirectly and that Irans new leaders have been very reasonable. AP They gave us most of the points. Why wouldnt they? he said, declining to specify what concessions Iran had offered. Publicly, Iran has rejected the US 15-point list of ceasefire terms delivered by the Trump administration via intermediaries in Pakistan, and has countered with five conditions of its own  including maintaining sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz. The president said on Sunday that the US and Iran had been meeting directly and indirectly and that Irans new leaders have been very reasonable, claiming they would permit 20 more oil cargo ships through the Strait from Monday (Washington time) as a sign of respect.

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But negotiations did not preclude further military action. Loading Were doing extremely well in that negotiation, Trump said. But you never know with Iran because we negotiate with them and then we always have to blow them up. Trump also suggested that the US had already achieved its goal of regime change, saying: Were dealing with different people than anybodys dealt with before following the killing of many of Irans senior leaders, including supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Albanese said he regarded the Iranian regime as abhorrent and reprehensible, but was unsure whether foreign military intervention could achieve true regime change.

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Middle East at war Ideally people will come out and overthrow the regime. But its complicated Whether that is going to occur or not is something that I think needs to be outlined, he said. Albanese said that history tells us that regime change imposed from outside is very difficult. [It] tends to happen from the bottom up within a country, rather than being imposed from outside, because military action against a nation will tend to promote nationalism within that nation. He did not go as far as Liberal frontbencher Andrew Hastie, who at the weekend described the war as a huge miscalculation and criticised Trumps lack of consultation with allies. Albanese said he believed the US and Israeli strikes had clearly achieved the other two aims: stopping Iran from getting a nuclear weapon and degrading Irans ability to fund terror proxies throughout the region.

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Related Article Middle East at war War escalation fears grow as Yemens Houthis launch missile barrage at Israel Iran is still believed to possess 440 kilograms of highly enriched uranium, which would probably require a complex ground operation to remove. Irans parliamentary Speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, accused the US of sending messages about possible negotiations while at the same time planning a ground invasion. Tehran was ready to respond if US soldiers were deployed, he said. As long as the Americans seek Irans surrender, our response is that we will never accept humiliation, he said in a message to the nation. With Bloomberg, Reuters Get a note directly from our foreign correspondents on whats making headlines around the world. Sign up for our weekly What in the World newsletter.
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Updated WorldMiddle EastIsraeli-Palestinian conflict Discriminatory by design: Israel passes law to hang Palestinians convicted of deadly attacks Julia Frankel Updated March 31, 2026  8:24am ,first published 5:32am Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add more. Share A A A

Jerusalem: Israels parliament has passed a law approving the death penalty for Palestinians convicted of murdering Israelis, a measure that has been harshly condemned by the international community and rights groups as discriminatory and inhumane. The passage of the bill on Monday (Israel time) marked the culmination of a years-long drive by the far-right to escalate punishment for Palestinians convicted of nationalistic offences against Israelis. The law makes death by hanging the default punishment for West Bank Palestinians convicted of nationalistic killings. It also gives Israeli courts the option of imposing the death penalty on Israeli citizens convicted on similar charges  language that legal experts say in effect confines those who can be sentenced to death to Palestinian citizens of Israel and excludes Jewish citizens. It will not apply retroactively to any prisoners Israel currently holds, including the Hamas-led militants who attacked the country on October 7, 2023, triggering the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.

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After the final 62-48 vote in favour, lawmakers erupted into cheers. Israels firebrand Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, who spearheaded the push for the legislation, brandished a bottle in celebration. Far-right MP Limor Son Har-Melech, one of the bills original sponsors whose first husband was killed in a Palestinian militant attack in the West Bank, smiled through tears. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem this month. AP Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who came to the Knesset to vote for the bill in person, did not immediately react or speak. The legislation, which says it will take effect in 30 days, is certain to face legal challenges that may stall its implementation.

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Minutes after the bill passed, the Association of Civil Rights in Israel said it had already petitioned Israels highest court to challenge the law. It called the legislation discriminatory by design and said the parliament had enacted it without legal authority over West Bank Palestinians, who are not Israeli citizens. Amichai Cohen, a senior fellow at the Israel Democracy Institutes Centre for Security and Democracy, said that under international law, Israels parliament should not be legislating in the West Bank, which is not sovereign Israeli territory. Many in Netanyahus far-right coalition seek to annex the West Bank to Israel. Israeli Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben-Gvir (centre), and members of parliament celebrate after passing the law approving the death penalty for Palestinians convicted of murdering Israelis. AP The United Nations Human Rights Office urged Israel to repeal the law, saying it was discriminatory and contravened Israels obligations under international law. The implementation of this new law would violate international laws prohibition of cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment, the UN wrote on X.

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Additionally, this law further entrenches Israels violation of the prohibition of racial segregation and apartheid as it will exclusively apply to Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Israel, who are often convicted after unfair trials. Related Article Updated

Israeli-Palestinian conflict Entirely unacceptable: Ambassador condemns Australian sanctions on senior Israeli ministers The vote capped a daylong debate in the parliament. During earlier deliberations, lawmakers raised other concerns, including that the bill does not allow clemency, which contradicts international conventions. Opposition lawmakers at times appeared to plead with their colleagues to vote against the bill. Before the vote, Ben Gvir  who has been sanctioned by Australia and other nations over settler violence in the West Bank and advocating for the displacement of Gazans  described the law as long overdue and a sign of strength and national pride.

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From today, every terrorist will know, and the whole world will know, that whoever takes a life, the State of Israel will take their life, he said. On his lapel he wore the pin that has become his signature: a small metal noose. Gilad Kariv, of the Labor Party, condemned the bills stipulation that a unanimous judgment was not required to impose the death sentence. A law in which a person can be sentenced to death without a unanimous conviction. Is this justice in your eyes? Is this the sanctity of life that Israeli tradition has taught us? he asked. The bill contravened international law, he added, and risked turning Israeli soldiers and prison guards into war criminals against their will.

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Some, like Aida Sliman of Hadash, the leftist Jewish-Arab political party, left the chamber in dismay before the votes were complete. Related Article Middle East at war US-Iran war as it happened: Trump threatens to obliterate Kharg Island if deal not reached; Fuel excise cut to combat soaring petrol prices Experts say the legislation has two key elements that will effectively limit the death penalty to Palestinians. First, the bill makes the death penalty a default punishment for nationalistic killings in military courts, which try only West Bank Palestinians and not Israeli citizens. It says that only in special circumstances can military judges change the sentence to life imprisonment. It gives Israeli civilian courts more leniency in sentencing, with judges having the option to choose between the death penalty and life imprisonment.

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The second element is how the bill defines the offence punishable by death: killing that rejects the existence of the state of Israel. It will apply in Israeli courts, but only to terrorist activities that are motivated by the wish to undermine the existence of Israel. That means Jews will not be indicted under this law, Cohen said. The foreign ministers of Australia, Britain, France, Germany and Italy released a statement on Sunday urging Israel to abandon plans to pass the law, calling it de facto discriminatory and saying the death penalty was unethical and had no deterring effect. Though Israel technically has the death penalty on the books as a possible punishment for acts of genocide, espionage during wartime and certain terror offences, the country hasnt put anyone to death since Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann in 1962. The Public Committee against Torture in Israel says the state has consistently voted in favour of abolishing the death penalty at the UN. Israels Shin Bet security agency had  until recently  objected to the practice, believing it could spur further revenge plots by Palestinian militants.

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Some opposition MPs worry that the bill could harm future hostage negotiations. Israel exchanged some 250 hostages taken during the October 2023 attack for thousands of Palestinian prisoners. There is a separate bill under consideration dealing with punishment for the October 7 attackers in Israels custody. AP Get a note directly from our foreign correspondents on whats making headlines around the world. Sign up for our weekly What in the World newsletter.
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Analysis WorldNorth AmericaCuba The Crab: The Castro who could end communism in Cuba Benedict Smith March 30, 2026  2:45pm Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add more. Share A A A

Washington: Since Fidel Castro swept to power in 1959, Cubas communist regime has weathered CIA assassination plots, American blockades and even a US-sponsored invasion. The Castro family still controls Cuba more than six decades later, but its grip on power is slipping. This could be the moment the United States is able to quash what it regards as a communist irritant right under its nose  and it could be Castros grand-nephew who lets it happen. Raul Guillermo Rodriguez Castro in Havana in January. AFP As the grandson of Cubas de facto ruler, Raul Castro, some refer to Raul Guillermo Rodriguez Castro as Raulito or little Raul. To others, the hulking figure is El Cangrejo  The Crab, a derogatory nickname for such a powerful individual, referring to the fact that he was born with six fingers on one hand.

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But now the 41-year-old is emerging as a force in his own right. As the regime teeters on the brink of collapse amid a US stranglehold on oil imports, US President Donald Trumps administration has opened talks with him. Theyre looking for the next Delcy in Cuba, one source said, referring to Delcy Rodriguez, the Trump-approved leader of Venezuela who took over after Nicolas Maduro was detained. Former president Raul Castro in 2024. AP US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has reportedly opened back-channel communications with Rodriguez Castro. US officials are also said to have met him on the sidelines of the Caribbean Community conference in St Kitts and Nevis in late February. The Cuban media now calls him the Crab who moves forward.

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This third-generation Castro is shaping up to be the man who could end his familys decades-long stalemate with the US  and perhaps the Castro dynasty altogether. Related Article Explainer

Trump diplomacy Cuba is finished: What does Trump want with the island nation? Rodriguez Castro is the son of Raul Castros eldest daughter, Debora Castro Espin, and Luis Alberto Rodriguez Lopez-Calleja, head of the Cuban military conglomerate Gaesa. According to a cousin, he attended military school before studying accounting and finance at the University of Havana. He reportedly moved in with Raul Castro from the age of about 11, and their close bond survives to this day. When his grandfather took over as Cuban president in 2008, he became a constant presence at his side, effectively serving as his bodyguard.

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In many photographs of the former president, the younger Castro can be seen lingering in the shadows. In 2016, Rodriguez Castro was formally appointed head of the Direccion General de Seguridad Personal, in effect a praetorian guard to protect Cubas leaders. Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel holds up a Cuban flag during the May Day parade last year, alongside Raul Castro (right) and (behind him) Rodriguez Castro. AP Beyond that, he maintains strong links to the military, is thought to own nightclubs in Havana, and is a fixture on the islands party scene. In 2023, one woman claimed to Peruvian media that she was run over by Rodriguez Castro while she was driving a horse-drawn carriage in Holguin, leaving her unable to walk, according to CiberCuba. The same report said he was known for his life of luxury and dissipation.

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Cuban-Venezuelan political scientist Miguel Alonso said Rodriguez Castro, like the descendants of Cubas other ruling families, represented an emerging oligarch class. They have enriched themselves by plundering the public treasury, he said. If this new and emerging social group resembles anything, its the Russian oligarchs descended from old leaders of the Russian Communist Party and their families. Cubas then-president Fidel Castro in 1997. Canadian Press To his critics, Rodriguez Castro is used to the blunt exercise of power but lacks political finesse. His prominence in the regime comes from the fact that he controls access to his 94-year-old grandfather. Hes a big man who is used to the unlimited exercise of power, said Sebastian Arcos, a Cuban human rights activist and director of the Cuban Research Institute at Florida International University. Hes not the sharpest knife in the drawer.

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Now, as the Castros grip on power seems to be failing, The Crab has sidled into the foreground. Many Cubans believe the regime is closer to collapse than at any point in its 67-year history, as it is slowly throttled by the US blockade of cheap oil from Venezuela. It emerged on Sunday (Washington time) that the US is planning to let a Russian oil tanker dock in Cuba, giving it enough fuel for about a week, though Trump said that Cuba is finished  whether or not they get a boat of oil, its not going to matter. Loading Protesters are taking to the streets, uncollected rubbish piles up on corners, and power blackouts regularly plunge the country into the dark for hours at a time. Furthermore, Trump has appeared only too willing to exert American muscle in South America, sending special forces to capture Maduro, the Venezuelan leader, from his Caracas compound in January. Cuba, he says, is next.

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But Rubio reportedly sees Rodriguez Castro as representing the younger, entrepreneurial class of Cubans who believe communism has failed. As Raul Castros favourite grandson, The Crab also has the trust of the man widely considered to be Cubas real leader. People seen during a blackout in Havana this month. AP In March, Rodriguez Castro appeared at two public events alongside Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel, Raul Castros hand-picked successor, who is widely seen as a figurehead. Quite how the 41-year-old found himself at the heart of talks that will determine the fate of Cuba is unclear.

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Some believe it is simply that Raul Castro put his grandsons name forward as a trusted channel of communication. Related Article World politics A stolen boat, a deadly gunfight and a supposed plot against Cuba Jorge Javier Rodriguez, reportedly a friend of The Crab, was detained by US immigration agents in July 2025, raising the prospect that he could have been used to pass along a message to the security chief. A White House official told Londons Telegraph that Cuba was a failing nation whose rulers have had a major setback with the loss of support from Venezuela. We are talking to Cuba, whose leaders want to make a deal and should make a deal, the official claimed.

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Venezuelan political analyst Joelvin Villarroel believes Rodriguez Castro could balance the demands of the current regime and the US, as the Trump administration seeks to turn Cuba into a client state. The Americans are aware that they hold ample leverage and that current geopolitical circumstances would favour armed intervention, he said. The Cubans will negotiate in order to survive such changes. Former US president Barack Obama (right) talks to Raul Castro in Havana in 2016. On the left is Rodriguez Castro. AP Others are more sceptical. Jose Daniel Ferrer, a Cuban human rights activist who has been arrested dozens of times by the regime, was released from prison in October at the request of the US and now lives in exile in Miami. When he met Rubio in November, the secretary of state hailed his courage and resilience in the face of oppression. Ferrer, for his part, told the London Telegraph that Rubio is the best friend of the Democratic family of Cubans.

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Citing trusted sources in the administration, he said the US goal was to eradicate the regime and believes this will probably require a military intervention as Cubas leaders attempt to cling to power. Arcos believes Rodriguez Castro is simply a convenient channel of communication to Raul Castro, who remains the ultimate authority on the island. Fidel Castro exhales cigar smoke in this 1985 image. AP He cannot be a Delcy Rodriguez, he said. He is not qualified to be a transitional figure. He is not a politician. He is not even a technocrat. He is a thug. Rodriguez, the Venezuelan president-elect since January, has skilfully walked a tightrope since she took power.

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She has managed to make overtures to Trump  the president refers to her almost fondly in his monologues  while keeping onside the other powerful Venezuelan families who will move against her if it appears she is turning them into a vassal state. Related Article Analysis

Venezuela crisis Five scenarios for a post-Maduro Venezuela  and what they could signal to the wider region But Venezuela is not the same as Cuba, where the system of power is more hierarchical and opaque, making it difficult for Rubio to identify and cultivate a new leader. Alonso noted Rodriguez Castro did not have a formal role in any of the islands traditional power bases: the historical leaders such as Raul Castro, the governments public faces such as Diaz-Canel or Gaesa. If Washington can use a Rodriguez Castro to prise Cuba from the grips of communism, it will be a sweet victory after decades of defiance.

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But if betting on The Crab fails and the regime proves intractable, then another military intervention looms. The Telegraph, London Get a note directly from our foreign correspondents on whats making headlines around the world. Sign up for our weekly What in the World newsletter.